No, this has nothing to do with the election.
Tis the season! I’m way late to this. It was October 15th by the time I realized I haven’t watched any horror movies. I’ll try to knock out 4 more by Halloween. To start:
Krampus– Great, great movie. From the guy that brought us Trick R Treat, comes a story of a family with the misfortune to meet Saint Nicholas’ shadow, Krampus. From the folklore of Austria and Germany comes Krampus, a being that punishes bad children at the end of the year. Max, a boy around 10, is a good kid who loses his faith in Santa Clause when his immediate family comes to visit his home for Christmas. With his belief gone and a wish of ill will towards his family, Krampus hears it and comes knocking with his minions. What starts off as a Christmas movie along the lines of A Christmas Story and Home Alone, Krampus descends into a chaotic monster movie. The build up is just right, everything is calm and step by step the horror comes closer to the house. Stranded and alone, the once bickering family is forced to rally together to survive Krampus’ game of cat and mouse. There are some awesome practical creature effects and a rather surprising ending. I love how Krampus looks. Tall, but hunched over, horns, crazy looking hands. No dialog keeps him extra creepy and different masks hide his face (like the elves) but you can see his eyes and sometimes his real mouth. It’s rated PG-13 so the gore is very low, but there is some crazy stuff that will send younger kids running for the hills. Bonus points for the awesome animated segment for Krampus’ backstory. A great idea with phenomenal follow through (it looks fantastic), I recommend this one a lot.
Dear Zachary: A Letter To A Son About His Father– This isn’t a horror movie. It’s a documentary. I’m putting this here because it’s real life horror and it’s so mind boggling it fits here. When Andrew Bagby is killed by his deranged girlfriend, his family and friends are devastated. His parents devote their lives to get justice for their son. The girlfriend flees to her native Canada and the parents follow her there when she’s arrested. With the start of the judicial process underway, it’s discovered that she is pregnant with Andrews child. Andrew’s childhood friend, Kurt Kuenne, a film maker, decides to travel the country to collect the stories of Andrew from all his friends and family. The goal is to show Andrew’s son, Zachary, who his father truly was through the dozens of people he touched in his life. While Kurt is doing this, the crazy woman was bailed out not once, but twice by the Canadian government. The reasoning by those in power defies logic. A lunatic was set loose and the results were so catastrophic that many people lost their jobs and new legislation has been pushed to reform Canadian bail law. Like all the best documentaries do, this one one stick to you long after you finish watching it.