READERS' CHOICE #34-B: IT CHAPTER ONE (2017)

THRILL SCALE 1-10

9

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Yes, in the theatre when it came out, and I don't believe I've seen it again since

BEST SEQUENCE

It may have been surprising when I didn't even mention the scene where Georgie meets Pennywise in my previous review, and I probably should have - it's an iconic scene and it was totally fine when Tim Curry performed it. I'll give it the edge in this movie, though. Bill Skarsgård is terrifying and it's a perfect introduction to his take on the character - immediately more off-putting, and more animalistic with the way he's constantly drooling and hungrily eyeing Georgie. The kid who plays Georgie is also a pretty good actor. It's just a great introductory scene, an excellent first scare, and it gives us an idea of things to come 

BEST LINE

"I'll take him! I'll take all of you! I'll feast on your flesh as I feed on your fear"

- That's some nice alliteration, there, Pennywise!

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

86%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"Well-acted and fiendishly frightening with an emotionally affecting story at its core, IT amplifies the horror in Stephen King's classic story without losing touch with its heart."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"In the summer of 1989, a group of bullied kids band together to destroy a shape-shifting monster, which disguises itself as a clown and preys on the children of Derry, their small Maine town."

DIRECTOR

Andy Muschietti

MAIN CAST

Bill Skarsgård, Jaeden Lieberher, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Dylan Grazer

THOUGHTS

• This is a great adaptation of IT in so many ways. The actors are great and the characters feel real, and some of the best scenes from the book are brought to life (scenes like Eddie meeting the leper or the blood geysering from Bev's sink). Beyond that, there are also some effective updates to old scenes and some cool additions whole cloth - for my favourite scene I almost picked the slideshow projector scene, which was a nifty update to the kids flipping through a photo album, and brand new sequences include most of what happens in the house on Neibolt Street, like Richie in the room full of clowns
• And speaking of Richie, again he's my favourite character, this time played by Finn Wolfhard. All of the child actors are consistently great, though, believable and genuine. It's also always fun to hear the kids swear like sailors
• And, as Pennywise, Bill Skarsgård is chilling. The voice is creepy as hell, as are the unnatural way he moves, and the ways he can contort his face (that bizarre smile is just a way Skarsgård can position his mouth, and he can naturally point his eyes in opposite directions). This Pennywise is way scarier than Tim Curry's, and yet, Skarsgård is also so immediately, unmistakably evil that we do lose some of the playfulness in Curry's performance, the joyfully malicious way that Pennywise likes to toy with his victims
• Also terrifying, the way that this movie uses Henry Bowers, who I've always considered one of the scariest parts of the book. He's not supernatural, he's just a violent, sadistic kid - a real danger as opposed to an otherworldly one
• I would never call this a horror comedy, it's way more focused on the horror side of the equation, but what jokes we get are pretty funny and character based so they don't distract from the scares
• Quite a few jump scares, which I've discussed a few times now - I have no problem with jump scares as long as they're done well. Although, while thinking of this review it also occurred to me, what even is a bad jump scare? What factors are there between effective horror filmmaking and hacky, uncreative button pushing? If anyone has examples of movies that use jump scares poorly I'd love to hear them, and hey, at least according to a few reviews, this very movie might be thrown out as one example

Up next: Wrapping up our time with Pennywise and the Losers Club, IT Chapter Two

READERS' CHOICE #34: STEPHEN KING'S IT (1990)

THRILL SCALE 1-10

6.5

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Never

BEST SEQUENCE

Whenever Pennywise turns feral and shows his yellow eyes and sharp teeth it's pretty creepy, and I liked the Losers' first showdown with Pennywise when they were kids. The fortune cookie scene was also fun. But the actual scariest scene was probably Bev's cup of tea with Mrs. Kersh

BEST LINE

"I'll kill you all! Ha Ha! I'll drive you crazy and I'll kill you all! I'm every nightmare you've ever had! I am your worst dream come true! I'M EVERYTHING YOU EVER WERE AFRAID OF!"

- Pennywise, almost jumping out of a picture in a photo album to threaten the kids

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

68%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"Though hampered by an uneven second half, IT supplies a wealth of funhouse thrills and an indelible turn from Tim Curry as Pennywise."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"In 1960, seven pre-teen outcasts fight an evil demon who poses as a child-killing clown. Thirty years later, they reunite to stop the demon once and for all when it returns to their hometown."

DIRECTOR

Tommy Lee Wallace

MAIN CAST

Tim Curry, Richard Thomas and Jonathan Brandis, Annette O'Toole and Emily Perkins, John Ritter and Brandon Crane, Harry Anderson and Seth Green, Dennis Christopher and Adam Faraizl, Tim Reid and Marlon Taylor, Richard Masur and Ben Heller 

THOUGHTS

• To avoid confusion, when I'm referring to the movie, the book or the character, I'll use capital letters for IT
• Stephen King is my favourite author, and IT is my favourite book - not just by King, at this point I think it's safe to say it's my favourite book, period. I first read it in high school, and since then I've probably read it at least 6 or 7 more times, which is not nothing for a book that weighs in at over 1,100 pages. It's definitely one of his scariest books, but it's also so much more than that. I love it for the characters and the world, the little details and the broad strokes. Give or take a couple of multidimensional entities, IT has a relatively simple plot - seven kids get scared and hunted by a shapeshifting monster, they fight it, and then they do the same thing 27 years later as adults. However the book contains so many memorable tangents and vignettes that might not be essential to the plot but they all combine to equal one of the most fulfilling reading experiences I've ever had
• Which is all to say that we're here to discuss the adaptations of the book, not the book itself. I don't think a movie needs to be 100% faithful to a great book in order to be a great work in its own right (and Kubrick's adaptation of The Shining is actually a pretty great example of this in how it deviates from its source material), but I do think anyone adapting IT has an uphill battle in deciding what to show and what to cut, and I think it's fair to remember that I know exactly how great this story can be and it's pretty impossible to force myself to ignore something like that
• So yes, somehow this was my first time seeing the 1990 TV miniseries IT, and I'll be honest, I was prepared to be underwhelmed. I expected Tim Curry to be fun as Pennywise, but I didn't really expect much else to hold up very well. I'm happy to say, though, that I was quite entertained throughout the whole 3+ hours! 6.5/10 might seem like a pretty underwhelmed Thrill Score, but I liked a lot of the choices that were made and it's fun to see a new depiction of a work you're familiar with
• But is it scary? There's the rub. They were definitely a little hamstrung by making this for network TV and needing to tone down the violence and the disturbing imagery (although it did still get darker at times than I expected). I'm positive that most people think of Tim Curry's Pennywise when they think of this movie, and I have no doubt that he caused a lot of nightmares for kids who saw this at an early age, but he just wasn't that scary. Fun to watch, and delightfully malevolent, but aside from a few intense scenes and some effective makeup work he was more comical than anything. It is a great performance, though, to the point where it might be very surprising to learn that Pennywise had less than 20 minutes of screentime for the whole movie
• So outside of Pennywise we mostly have scares coming from IT terrorizing the Losers Club in other guises. Some are scarier than others, but when adult Bev goes back to her childhood home and meets the woman living there, Mrs. Kersh, it was the most chilling scene for me, especially when Mrs. Kersh morphs into a twisted version of Bev's father
• As much as I've rhapsodized about the book IT, however, there is one aspect of the story that I've always found disappointing, even going back to my very first time reading it - the fact that the creature IT, this all-powerful shapeshifting being who can read minds and turn into its victim's darkest fear, eventually had one final physical form and it was essentially just a big spider. For a book that was bursting with limitless creativity this was just such a letdown for a big climactic battle, and this movie definitely did not change my mind on that front. The creature effect was kind of fun in a very cheesy way, but it deflated a lot of tension. And I laughed out loud when the main characters defeated IT once and for all by basically just beating the hell out of it
• And speaking of the Losers Club (the self-appointed nickname for the seven main characters), I thought the actors were pretty good for the most part. Seth Green was my favourite kid as Richie (and he would go on to have the biggest career of all the child actors by far), but ironically Harry Anderson was my least favourite adult actor, also as Richie. I have a fondness for Harry Anderson, and I've liked him in other things, but as Richie he was just annoying and without any of the more endearing qualities found in Seth Green's performance or in the character from the book (probably my favourite book character, incidentally)
• So, in conclusion, I'm glad I finally got to watch this movie/miniseries. I don't think there's anything that it did better than the book, but that's an extremely high bar to clear for me and it was great to see some of this story brought to life. Also, if they hadn't decided to make a few changes to the source material we never would have gotten to see Bill's sweet, sweet ponytail

Up next: We'll find out if the 2017 movie IT Chapter One is a more effective adaptation than this one (spoiler alert, it is). But it's been quite some time since the last time I saw it, so how much more effective honestly remains to be seen

READERS' CHOICE #35: DONNIE DARKO (2001)

THRILL SCALE 1-10

7

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Yes, but not for a very long time. Maybe not since university, but maybe not since high school (which would have been when it was released or shortly after)

BEST SEQUENCE

When Frank appears in the movie theatre

BEST LINE

"Why are you wearing that stupid bunny suit?" "Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?"

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

87%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"Richard Kelly's debut feature Donnie Darko is a daring, original vision, packed with jarring ideas and intelligence and featuring a remarkable performance from Jake Gyllenhaal as the troubled title character."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"After narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a man in a large rabbit suit who manipulates him to commit a series of crimes."

DIRECTOR

Richard Kelly

MAIN CAST

Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, James Duval, Maggie Gyllenhaal

THOUGHTS

• Having not seen Donnie Darko for a long time, I remembered liking it but I didn't consider it a favourite of mine. Upon rewatch, that sentiment pretty much stands. It's worth watching but also kind of a mixed bag, and maybe not as effective as some people remember
• Frank the Rabbit is genuinely creepy and anytime he shows up there's a shiver down the spine, including a couple of pretty good jump scares. His voice is also extremely unnerving. However, he's quite a bit less scary once we learn that he is, indeed, just a guy in a Halloween rabbit suit
• Jake Gyllenhaal is really fantastic in this, one of his first starring roles (October Sky came out 2 years earlier, another movie that I quite like). As Donnie he's very likeable, while still legitimately off-putting at times. It's a tricky balance to pull off, and also somewhat similar to how I described his performance as Lou in Nightcrawler, a connection I didn't even remember until about halfway through Donnie Darko, as the two characters share some qualities but they're still very distinct performances. Unless some surprise movies get added to my list this is the last we'll see of Jake Gyllenhaal and he's had a pretty great showing in these reviews. Looking at his filmography, there are even a few other thrilling movies that may have been considered, including Zodiac, Prisoners and Source Code
• A few times during this watch I thought, "wow, they're really trying to be edgy." And while I think there's some truth to that and while I think the movie is most effective when the effort to be edgy isn't quite so obvious, it may also be fair to acknowledge that it's easy to forget that the movie is set in 1988, a fact which is even easier to forget watching the movie 20+ years after its release date in 2001. So I'll give a little bit of a concession that perhaps what I perceived as forced edginess was also intended to show the general awfulness of people in the Reagan-era 1980s
• The plot is convoluted, but in a good way, a way that intrigues instead of frustrates. When I sat down to watch it on my streaming service of choice the runtime said 2 hours and 13 minutes, and I thought there was no way that could be right. In fact, I had accidentally pulled up the Director's Cut, which is something I've had to consider a few times in this blog. I decided to forgo the Director's Cut in favour of the theatrical version, since the general consensus online is that the longer version mostly just over explains the plot and, therefore, removes some of the ambiguity and mystery. Any Director's Cut defenders out there?
• Very strange to see Seth Rogen in a tiny role with very little to do, and as a really terrible person. It was his first movie but he was also in Freaks and Geeks on TV previously (which wasn't exactly a smash hit at the time, so maybe the small part in Donnie Darko shouldn't be surprising, but still strange to see)
• Also someone who'd go on to bigger things, including the horror genre, Daveigh Chase plays Donnie's younger sister. A year later she'd play Samara in The Ring (not to mention the voice of Lilo in Lilo and Stitch, also released in 2002)
• Great soundtrack, including several songs that I will forever associate with Donnie Darko - "The Killing Moon" by Echo and the Bunnymen, "Mad World" covered by Gary Jules (originally by Tears for Fears) and "Head Over Heels" also by Tears for Fears. Richard Kelly originally wanted to use "Never Tear Us Apart" by INXS for the opening scene, which is funny to think about considering how appropriate it was to start the movie with a song by a band called Echo and the Bunnymen. One might even call it a little on the nose with how much we'd be seeing of a sinister-looking bunnyman
• Finally, a couple of references to other movies we'll be talking about: the movie that Donnie and Gretchen are watching in the theatre when Frank appears is The Evil Dead. Evil Dead II is #25 on the readers' list, and I might even review The Evil Dead as well when that comes along. As well, early in the movie there's a shot of Donnie's mother reading Stephen King's book IT, which I'll be reviewing...

Up next: Yep, that's right! Coincidentally, after a quick cameo in Donnie Darko, it's time to review IT (which I'll continue to spell with all capitals, since it gets incredibly confusing at times to talk about the book/movie and not just read it as a pronoun; hopefully information technology doesn't need to be discussed in the following reviews). And yes, reviews! Because that's not all, folks, we'll be looking at all the variations of IT, starting with the 1990 TV miniseries which, believe it or not, I have never seen. See you next time, when we'll all float down here!

READERS' CHOICE #36: PARANORMAL ACTIVITY (2007)

THRILL SCALE 1-10

8

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Yes, at least once, and I'm almost certain I've seen it multiple times. However, I couldn't say how many times total, or even when the last time was

BEST SEQUENCE

The original ending, which was changed after Paramount acquired the movie but which is still available on YouTube

BEST LINE

None worth mentioning

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

83%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"Using its low-budget effects and mockumentary method to great result, Paranormal Activity turns a simple haunted house story into 90 minutes of relentless suspense."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"After moving into a suburban home, a couple becomes increasingly disturbed by a nightly demonic presence."

DIRECTOR

Oren Peli

MAIN CAST

Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat

THOUGHTS

• 8/10 is a perfectly respectable Thrill Score, but in my memory it was higher, maybe even approaching a 10/10. It's still good, but this speaks to the movie's effectiveness upon first watch, before you know all the tricks it has up its sleeve. If you haven't seen Paranormal Activity, you should watch it, and hopefully your first viewing experience will also be a 10/10. Also, stop reading, because of spoilers
• Of certain horror movies, it's often said that your imagination can create things far scarier than the filmmakers ever can, and Paranormal Activity subscribes to this belief. And while I don't disagree with this in principle, I also think it makes a difference when there's still the potential to see something terrifying. Paranormal Activity plays with dark spaces and things happening just out of your field of vision, and on first viewing you may be afraid that something will suddenly appear in frame, or be right there when the camera turns a corner. However, knowing that this never really happens in this movie deflated some of the tension for me, especially combined with having a pretty good memory of all the big scares. Don't get me wrong, I still jumped a few times, but I also knew what to expect and when
• A while back, during my review of REC, when talking about horror found footage I made the claim that Paranormal Activity is pretty flawless in its execution of the idea. Upon rewatch this may have been giving a little too much credit, as there are still times when it strains belief that Micah would rush to grab the camera while spooky things are happening. However, what really stood out in my memory, and what still makes this movie far more believable than most found footage horror, is the fact that the majority of the scares, especially the big ones, happen while the camera is unmanned and passively watching Katie and Micah sleep. Of the found footage movies I've reviewed so far I can now say that REC is quite a lot scarier, but kudos to Paranormal Activity for being thoughtful about its logic. And by the way, eventually we'll be watching The Blair Witch Project, film #20 on the readers' list
• Also of utmost importance for found footage movies is the conviction of the actors, and Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat are both pretty convincing, especially late in the movie when they're scared out of their minds. Earlier in the movie there are times when they still come across a little actorly, but hey, they're also playing characters who are fully aware that they're being filmed, so maybe this is intentional. Also, Micah's kind of a jackass, huh?
• Depending on your metrics, Paranormal Activity was the most profitable movie ever made. Initially costing $15 000 to make, it had a worldwide box office of $193 355 800. Therefore, it's not surprising in the least that it spawned sequels. I definitely saw the first two sequels, but beyond that I couldn't say for sure. And finally, beyond just spawning a franchise, some might say it also spawned a horror empire. It was the first horror movie produced by Jason Blum and Blumhouse Productions, the company which would also bring us Insidious, Sinister and The Purge, as well as many others, including Jordan Peele's first two movies, Get Out and Us

Up next: Another movie I've seen before, but not for a very long time, Donnie Darko from way back in 2001 

BONUS REVIEW: FRIDAY THE 13TH (1980)

THRILL SCALE 1-10

8

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Yes, several times, but most recently in May of 2016

BEST SEQUENCE

Gotta go with the final jump scare. I knew it was coming, I knew exactly what would happen and what it would look like, but it still got me

BEST LINE

"Did you know that a young boy drowned? The year before those two others were killed? The counsellors weren't paying any attention. They were making love while that young boy drowned! His name was Jason."

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

64%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"Rather quaint by today's standards, Friday the 13th still has its share of bloody surprises and a '70s-holdover aesthetic to slightly compel."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"A group of camp counsellors trying to reopen a summer camp called Crystal Lake, which has a grim past, are stalked by a mysterious killer."

DIRECTOR

Sean S. Cunningham

MAIN CAST

Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, a bunch of people you've never heard of, and Kevin Bacon

THOUGHTS

• You may be wondering how I can pinpoint with such precision the last time I saw this movie, in May of 2016. Well, there's an easy answer for that: ever since my wife and I started dating, in 2016, with every Friday the 13th that rolled around on the calendar we would watch the next movie in the franchise. Always in order, never watching the next movie when it wasn't on a Friday the 13th, and finally, after almost 7 years, we finished the franchise this past January by watching the 2009 reboot. And now, appropriately enough in October, we have the next Friday the 13th, so we decided to start all over again and we plan on keeping the tradition going. We'll have a fair while before the next one, though; the next Friday the 13th isn't until September of 2024
• I feel like I should stop worrying about spoilers, especially with movies like this. If you haven't already seen Friday the 13th, you probably don't care about spoilers for a movie that's 43 years old (which, of course, is a way of saying that spoilers shall follow)
• Franchise antagonist Jason Voorhees, one of the most famous slasher villains of all time, and one of the most prolific by body count, only appears in this movie for about 10 seconds as a child, and it might be debatable if he even appears at all. Instead, the killer is Jason's mother, Pamela Voorhees. Not seen on camera for the majority of the movie, when Betsy Palmer finally shows up as Pamela, she gives us a fantastically campy performance (pun unintended), while still being chillingly unnerving, especially when we see the closeups of her face and her imitations of her son's voice
• Hell of a way for Pamela to go, too, when things come to a head
• Before Pamela shows up, since we can't actually see her during the kill scenes, the deaths are most effective due to the pretty impressive gore effects. These were provided by the legendary Tom Savini, whom I have mentioned in these reviews before - he worked with George Romero on Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead
• The best death scene was probably Kevin Bacon getting an arrow through the throat. This was only Kevin Bacon's fourth movie, by the way, and perhaps because of this he gets knocked off pretty early. He also doesn't make much of an impression, unless you count a particular shot of him in a speedo. If you know, you know
• Even though I've seen this before, a few times, I didn't know going into it what I would score it on the Thrill Scale. Early in the movie the score was sitting pretty low, but it did gradually tick higher as the movie went on. Despite this, I am definitely of the opinion that Halloween is miles better than Friday the 13th (being two slasher movies cut from the same cloth). If you have the opposite view and think that Friday the 13th is the superior movie, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this
• I kept wondering why I considered Halloween to be better, and I came up with two possible explanations: firstly, Halloween absolutely benefits from Jamie Lee Curtis's lead performance as Laurie Strode, and Friday the 13th doesn't have any characters who even come close to that level of relatability or personality. Secondly, the obscuring of Pamela Voorhees as a killer leads to an unexpected antagonist, and there are some effective first-person shots from Pamela's perspective, but to be unable to see who's doing the killing does lessen the impact, at least for me
• And, now that we've restarted the Friday the 13th rotation, there's a pretty good chance that I'll keep up the movie review tradition and keep reviewing each movie in the series as the day comes along. So for now we shall say farewell to Pamela Voorhees, but next time we'll properly say hello to Jason, although still perhaps not how most people picture him; he doesn't get his hockey mask until movie number 3. See you next September, Jason with a bag on his head!

READERS' CHOICE #37: THE BABADOOK (2014)

 

THRILL SCALE 1-10

10

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Yes, once, shortly after it was released

BEST SEQUENCE

When the Babadook enters Amelia's bedroom, or when Samuel sees the Babadook in the car

BEST LINE

“I’ll soon take off my funny disguise

(Take heed of what you’ve read…)

And once you see what’s underneath…

YOU’RE GOING TO WISH YOU WERE DEAD”

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

98%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"The Babadook relies on real horror rather than cheap jump scares -- and boasts a heartfelt, genuinely moving story to boot."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"A single mother and her child fall into a deep well of paranoia when an eerie children's book titled "Mister Babadook" manifests in their home."

DIRECTOR

Jennifer Kent

MAIN CAST

Essie Davis, Noah Wiseman

THOUGHTS

• When choosing a movie to watch, it seems like some people place high importance on the "new" compared to the "already seen". It also may not be surprising to learn that I have no such requirements; if I enjoyed a movie in the past, it's definitely up for a rewatch somewhere down the line. Despite this, and despite having extremely positive memories of The Babadook as a movie (not that it's a positive movie, it's very grim, but you get my meaning), I haven't rewatched it since shortly after it was released
• In such situations, of course, the fear is that the memory of the film will hold up better than the viewing experience upon rewatch. Fortunately, I had no such issues here. The Babadook was just as effective and just as chilling as I remembered, and perhaps even more so, with the added benefit of a modicum of surprise, since I remembered the general idea of the movie, and several of the important moments, but I didn't remember how thoroughly it chilled me to my core
• I'm talking full-body shivers, all the way up and down my spine, at many different points during the movie; practically throughout the whole thing. I'm pretty sure I felt this sensation more during The Babadook than any other movie I've reviewed so far
• I only listed two cast members above, and there are a few supporting characters I didn't include, but this really is a two-hander between Essie Davis as the mom, Amelia, and Noah Wiseman as the son, Samuel, especially towards the end and the climax of the movie. They're both fantastic. Davis goes through such a wide range of emotions, and just the way she delivers her lines provided a few of the previously mentioned full-body shivers. And this may seem like a backhanded compliment, but it's not meant to be - I like that Samuel is played as legitimately off-putting and, at times, obnoxious, and yet this doesn't affect our sympathy towards him. He's not a typical movie kid, the likes of which I've disparaged in this very blog, he's the kind of kid that you might sometimes want some time away from. And yet, his love for his mother is always very apparent, lending the events of the movie a wonderfully genuine quality
• The Babadook was critically acclaimed from the jump, and as far as I know it's still held in high regard, but I can kind of understand if some people don't find it as scary as I do. A story about a spooky goth-looking guy in a top hat who pops out of a creepy children's book, it's a pretty specific vibe that might not match your particular flavour of frights. But if we view the Babadook as a physical manifestation of Amelia's grief and depression, perhaps that will hit a little harder for some people out there
• And, somewhat related, a few times I was strongly reminded of Hereditary, another one of my favourite horror movies from the past decade, a movie I'll be reviewing eventually (#12 on the readers' list), and a movie that came five years after The Babadook
• Finally, I feel like I would be remiss if I didn't mention that at some point since its release, the character of the Babadook became a gay icon of sorts. And while the common consensus is that this came about due to Netflix mistakenly categorizing The Babadook as an LGBT movie, and while I've always seen this to be one of your standard, garden-variety memes, that's not to say that one can't find meaning in some unlikely sources below the surface. So if, for you, the Babadook is openly gay, I want you to shout it loud and proud. Just remember, when you're shouting it, "Babadook" should be pronounced to rhyme with "book" and not with "toque," which is a pronunciation that my brain absolutely refuses to let me remember

Up next: One of the most profitable movies ever made, and one of the most influential, Paranormal Activity from 2007

READERS' CHOICE #38: THE WARRIORS (1979)

 

THRILL SCALE 1-10

6.5

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Never

BEST SEQUENCE

The bathroom fight between the Warriors and the Punks. In fact, I was going to give this movie a 6 on the Thrill Scale, but then I rewatched this scene and was like, "yeah, that's pretty good!" So I bumped the score up by half a point

BEST LINE

"I'll shove that bat up your ass and turn you into a popsicle"

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

88%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"As violent as it is stylish, The Warriors is a thrilling piece of pulp filmmaking."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"A street gang known as The Warriors must fight their way from the Bronx to their home turf on Coney Island when they are falsely accused of assassinating a respected gang leader."

DIRECTOR

Walter Hill

MAIN CAST

Michael Beck, James Remar, Deborah Van Valkenburgh, David Patrick Kelly (I could list the rest of the guys who played the Warriors, but none of them were in much else)

THOUGHTS

• I think I just wasn't on this movie's wavelength
• Going into it, I had a pretty good idea of what the movie was about, but the main unknowns were what the movie would do with its premise and how violent it would be. There was some good fight choreography, but it all felt kind of bloodless. The thing is, I'm not entirely convinced that more realistic violence would have improved things, either, so this might just be a movie that didn't stand much of a chance with me
• I admire the commitment to this absolutely ridiculous premise. It's a very sincere movie, and the tongue is far removed from the cheek, unless the self-awareness is pitched at a level which is imperceptible to me
• It almost felt like the movie was writing checks it couldn't cash, what with the wide variety of creatively themed gangs shown in a couple of different montages, and then only a few of the gangs featuring in the plot of the movie itself. I was glad we got to see the Baseball Furies, though, they were pretty cool
• They definitely cast a lot of guys who look pretty great while doing a whole lot of running
• Some good needle drops, especially "Nowhere to Run," courtesy of the radio DJ character, who I liked as a plot technique. Fun fact, the DJ was only ever shown from the nose down, but if we'd seen her full face we might have recognized her as Lynne Thigpen, perhaps best known as The Chief from the Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego TV show
• It was kind of hard to choose the best line for this one, as there were a few contenders. Runners-up would be David Patrick Kelly clinking the bottles on his fingers and whining "Warriors, come out to play-aaay," or Roger Hill bellowing "CAN YOU DIG IT?" to the huge assembly of gangs
• Finally, I'm almost certain that the first time I ever heard of this movie would have been when Rockstar released the 2005 video game The Warriors. I bought the game but never played it. Having watched the movie, I can now absolutely understand why it would be a perfect choice for video game adaptation. A bunch of fistfights, with thematically different groups of enemies, and while running through different parts of New York, I wouldn't be at all surprised if The Warriors influenced the format of many other video games, especially some of the arcade brawlers out there. And, I'm happy to confirm, that since watching the movie I have repurchased the video game digitally, and eventually I'll (hopefully) get around to playing it

Up next: 2014's The Babadook