1. Horror movies only. Not "Halloween" movies, geared for children like Hotel Transylvania or Casper. Horror comedies, yes. Psychological thrillers are case by case.
2. No TV for obvious reasons. It just takes too long.
3. No repeats or movies I've already reviewed. Unfortunately, that rules out The Exorcist, my all-time favorite horror movie.
Ready? Let the horror commence!
This is what I would classify as "atmospheric horror." There's no real violence or gore, just some mild body horror and a lot of reliance on surreal visuals and gaslighting.After being caught cooking the books to get a promotion, Lockhart (Dane DeHaan) is charged with a specific task: go to Switzerland and retrieve Mr. Pembroke (Harry Groener) from a ritzy sanitarium so Pembroke can either unfuck the financials or take the blame (I wasn't clear which outcome and it doesn't matter anyway). Lockhart notices that things are really creepy at this remote "wellness" facility but it takes him an embarrassingly long time (two and a half fucking hours!) to put it all together.
This movie had way better cinematography and production design than it deserved. It's kind of a half-baked Shutter Island/One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest/Gaslight pastiche with a dash of Hitchcock's Spellbound. Fortunately, Dane DeHaan's wheelhouse is this kind of horror and he sells it, even when it's bargain basement. I did feel kind of bad for Mia Goth, stuck playing the wide-eyed, damaged-girl-with-a-secret. Hopefully the rest of her career will only be up from here.
As a warning, this does involve a fairly graphic sexual assault and some nudity. Not for children.
I don't generally like giving starred reviews because films are such subjective experiences but for the occasion, I'd say this is three lit pumpkins and two squashed ones. Great atmosphere, bad plot.
Pumpkin rating: 3/5
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