Little Evil– With running so much horror back to back I felt it would be a good to shift into a horror comedy title to cleans the pallet. And Little Evil was a disappointment. A goofy take of Omen and various other That Kid Ain’t Right movies, Little Evil follows new step-dad, Gary, try to bond with his step-son, Lucas. His time dating (and marrying) Samantha was a whirlwind so they haven’t spent too much time together. Lucas is a quiet kid and when the disturbing events around Lucas start stacking up it’s clear there is some deviltry at work. As a horror movie and as a comedy, both halves barely show up. I was surprised at how safe this movie played everything. Anything scary comes down to lighting in the scene, not the action. Lucas does one thing really messed up, but even that was pretty tame all things considered. There’s no real suspense, surprises, and a body count so low it barely registers. it often felt like nothing much was happening. The comedy is a few chuckles here and there and most of that comes from Bridget Everett. If you are a big fan of Adam Scott, this might be worth watching if you want to see him play his role in Parks and Rec again, but in a different setting. I like Evangeline Lilly too but nothing the actors do make me want to recommend this.

The Witch– Here we find the classic tentpoles of horror: isolation, paranoia, and possession. It’s the 1630s and a family recently immigrated from England has made their home at the edge of a forest. The move isn’t going well. The planted crop has mostly failed so any sustenance and income is essentially non-existent. With that stress weighing on the father, the youngest child, Samuel disappears under the watch of the eldest daughter, Thomasin. This puts the mother into hysterics and the rumors of a witch living in the woods start to take over. As the family tries to continue on, signs of evil encrouch futher into the home and everyone starts to turn on Thomasin, thinking the abductions are her fault. They lean on their faith as the decent into madness continues. Of all the movies I’ve watched this season, this is my favorite. I think isolation and paranoia are the most effect avenues to make real horror and The Witch does a lot to keep the questions popping up and the dread moving in. There’s a little bit of gore so the squeemish need not worry. Everything flows through Thomasin (huge props also go to Harvey Scrimshaw who plays Caleb, this kid can act) and I was with her for the whole trip. Religion is a big part of this story as the families faith makes their interactions drastically change as each event unfolds (there’s a whole lotta blame being flung about). I am on the fence about the ending. I can see why it was done but I’m not sure how effective it is. Less is more might have been the way to go.