Bria Lou Reviews

I hadn't heard of this film before seeing it on the bucket list. The premise was an interesting one that could go in a few different directions, so I was interested to see how it would play out. I have mixed feelings about this one. The film moves slowly at first. We spend a lot of time getting to know and understand our main character, Carole, but because it's a psychological horror, with so much of it being centred on Carole's thoughts and emotions, having this time to understand her is beneficial. This is a psychological horror in the truest sense. All of the horror starts from Carole's mind, and for most of the film that's where it stays. And even when this horror becomes real, this happens as a result of Carole's thoughts. It's really interesting watching the character's descent into paranoia and madness. Seeing the way things escalate to mirror her state of mind really allows the audience to see what she's thinking, and it's fascinating to ...

  I hadn't heard of this film before seeing it on the bucket list, but I did like the premise so I was looking forward to seeing it. I liked this film a lot. It's really fun watching older murder mysteries; seeing the way that tropes have grown and changed over the years is fascinating. But it's also equally fascinating to see the way things have stayed the same - the eclectic group of characters is definitely something that has continued to be portrayed in modern murder mysteries. One of the things that this movie explores is violence against women, and in particular, violence against vulnerable women. Looking at this issue through the trope of a murder mystery is very effective at forcing an audience to look at a real issue by packaging it in a fun and somewhat familiar plot. The film is quite slow moving, which always surprises me in films that have such a short runtime. Particularly for a murder mystery. With only 80 minutes to play with you'd expect the action to n...

  I'd only seen the 2019 remake of this movie, so this was a new watch. I had no idea how close or far apart the movies would be, or if they'd have the same twists, but I liked the direction the newer one went in, so I was looking forward to seeing this version. I also always look forward to psychological horrors in particular, which made me even more intrigued about this one. I really liked this movie. The beginning of the film does a good job of establishing the character of Jacob. You really feel like you know him and he's a great character to follow. We get the psychological horror aspects from almost the very beginning; we have a character who very obviously cannot trust his own mind, and that's a really interesting dynamic from an audience point of view. This is the character we're following, so if he can't trust his mind, we can't trust anything we see either. And the more the film leans into this, the better it is. It's great that the film can do...

I'd never heard of this film before seeing it on the bucket list, and seeing that it was another vampire film didn't really fill me with confidence. But the fact that it's directed by Kathryn Bigelow really intrigued me, as this isn't the kind of film I'd associate with her.  I didn't love this one unfortunately.  From the start it feels a lot more grounded than a typical vampire movie. It's very rooted in reality.  It gets into things right from the start. It takes less than 15 minutes for our main character to be bitten, which is great. We know what we're here for, we know what vampires are, we don't need a long explanation. The characters aren't the most interesting. We only ever get to know them in this situation, so while the vampire aspect is interesting, it gets old, and eventually we have to be able to either connect with, or somewhat like, the characters to stay interested in the story.  The issue is that some of them are two-dimensional...

  I'd never heard of this film before, and went in fairly blind, so I knew almost nothing about it when I pressed play. This film was fine, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to. It grabs you almost from the very beginning with the shock of the opening scene. Having no idea what was about to happen, it really takes you by surprise. This is a ghost story, and one of the most interesting things about it is the images of the ghosts. If we weren't on the main character's side before, seeing what she sees endears us to her. Even though there aren't a lot of special effects, the make-up alone makes the ghosts look scary. I liked the horror scenes a lot more than the world-building ones. I didn't care much about the background characters so it would have been nice if a bit less time was spent on them. Despite being a shorter movie, it feels longer than it is, in both a good and bad way. Good because it feels like we get a full story with real characters. Bad bec...

  I'd never heard of this movie, let alone knew that David Bowie starred in a horror movie, so I was intrigued about this one. Though also a bit sceptical, as I don't always love vampire-themed horror movies. I liked this film a lot. The beginning is intriguing. We're kind of thrown in at the deep end without knowing much about the characters, and figure things out as we go. It's not surprising that music was such a large focus, but it ties in with the story so easily. Whether it's actual singing, playing or the score, it all becomes a major feature of telling this story. I love that the film plays with the ideas we've always had about vampires - particularly the difference between eternal life and eternal youth, which in many vampire movies are treated like one and the same. Not only does it explore this, but it actually bases the story on it. The visuals, including the make-up, are done so well. The ageing looks incredibly realistic, the gory scenes are done w...

  This was one of the ones I was most looking forward to based on the premise alone. I thought it sounded so great and, if done well, had the potential to be genuinely scary. That being said, other than the written description, I knew nothing of the history of the movie. I had mixed feelings about this film. I liked it for the most part, but it wasn't what I thought, or really wanted, it to be. The collection of characters is so interesting, particularly because most (if not all) of the actors portraying people with conditions actually had these conditions in real life. Most of them appear to be professional sideshow and/or circus performers, which just adds to the authenticity of the characters, and the story itself. The writing is great. As with the characters, everything feels completely authentic. The pace of the story is odd - it takes a long time to set everything up, but because it's such a short movie, once the horrors begin, there's not a lot of time to really expl...

  I'd never heard of this film before the bucket list, and I felt slightly wary that it was billed as an action/thriller movie rather than horror. I'd definitely say it has elements of both, and I completely loved it! The opening scene was definitely horrific, and horrifying, so I immediately saw why it was classed as a horror. Especially when you go in blind, it just takes you completely by surprise. It does a good job of really drawing the viewer in. And after this, you're really intrigued to find out where the story is actually going. The murder scenes are so brutal and shocking - despite how graphic the first one is, each additional one is still a shock to the system. These scenes, and the way they're shot, are what make the film a horror. They're really well done. The story is so engaging. It's not just a serial killer movie, and it's not just a revenge thriller; it's never too much of one thing. The scenes last the right length of time, and you...

  I'd never heard of this film, but it had a really interesting (if vague) premise, so I was looking forward to seeing it. I liked this film. It gets into the action right away - we're meeting characters, we're seeing murders, at 12 minutes in we're already invested. I really liked the development of the relationship between the main character and the journalist. It's always interesting in horror movies when we get relationship development, whether romantic or platonic, in the midst of some horrific event. Sometimes these relationships are the most compelling when they're not the main focus of the story. It has a really interesting score and soundtrack. It almost feels out of place with the tone of the film, but for some reason, it works. Not only is it memorable, but it underscores the scenes in a way that really makes you pay attention. While looking up some of the background of the film, I saw that there was a significant difference between the original Itali...

  This is a re-watch that I was really looking forward to. I love this movie and have seen it multiple times so I was really glad to see it on the list. And as always, I loved it on this re-watch too. It hits you over the head from the very beginning. That opening scene is so brutal, and comes so out of nowhere that you have no idea where the film is going.  It's nice to get to know the characters, but we don't get to know them enough to easily differentiate between them. Before they get into the cave, a lot of them are interchangeable, and in the cave with low light, it can get way too easy to get people mixed up. We get into the cave quickly, and once we do, the anticipation never really lets up. Even on a first time blind watch, with no idea what could happen, the atmosphere alone is so tense and unsettling that you're just waiting for something bad to happen. A lot of the dialogue feels inauthentic or hits the ear wrong, but because the plot is so strong it doesn't ...

  This was a re-watch that I was looking forward to. I'd only seen the film once before this watch, so many years ago that I couldn't remember it, and even the 2021 sequel doesn't stick in my mind, so I felt like I was going into this one fresh-ish. I really like this movie. Not enough horror movies make use of urban legends, and it's such an easy topic to create a scary movie out of. This one does a really good job of creating a myth around a figure, and actually making it scary, before we really get into the story. It moves slowly, but you become so invested in the story that you don't even notice, or really care. You become so wrapped up in the legend of Candyman, and the writing does a really great job of creating it in a way that gives the whole story a tense and creepy undertone without us having to see him, or even knowing if the legend is really true. But they also do a great job of making the story powerful. The scene where we are told the story of what hap...

  This is another film that I'd never heard of before the bucket list, and I didn't really know what it was about before putting it on so I went in blind. I liked this movie. It gets right into things from the very first second, immediately engaging the audience in a really effective way. We don't know the context of the situation or who these people are, but we don't need to. The story is really compelling. We're thrown into this world, with a character who could be either a victim of a villain, and neither we as the audience, the characters around him, nor he himself, really know which one he is. The characters are great to watch. Between the 'horror' moments, the film kind of plays like a drama. We get to see the different relationship dynamics, we get to know who these people are, and the more interested we are in them, the more invested we are when the 'horror' moments happen. Because the film is so short, there's a limit to how much can hap...

  One thing I would add to the bucket list is a lot more psychological horrors. I feel like this is a really underrated sub-genre, particularly when looking at classic movies, so even though I knew nothing about this movie, seeing it classed as a psychological horror made me excited to see it. I liked this film. The best thing about movies like this is the way everything builds. Going in blind, you don't even really know what the movie is about, so you get to fall deeper and deeper into it in the same way that the main character does. The pace is great, a lot happens in a short space of time. You're immediately invested, and the more room there is for weirder things to happen, the more interested you are. This does sometimes make the film feel longer than it is, as it packs a lot into a short time, but because you're interested in what's happening the runtime never really becomes an issue. As the audience, we feel like we're living in this apartment alongside the ch...

The film is called 'Mask of Satan' on the bucket list poster and I actually prefer that name! I'd never heard of this film before seeing it on the bucket list, but the premise looked really interesting so I was looking forward to seeing it. I liked this film, but I feel like the idea of it was better than the execution, at least for me. Witches and witchcraft are always interesting genres for horror movies, and there's definitely not enough of them on the list. But combining that with revenge and female rage is such a great idea and makes for a satisfying watch. But this film also manages to be a vampire movie, which turns the typical witch movie on its head. I probably would have preferred it to lean further into the witch aspect but I appreciate the way these are mixed. I wanted to see a lot more of the female characters. Their stories carried the film, so I wanted to know as much about them as possible. And while we do follow them, it wasn't enough for my liking....

  I hadn't heard of this film before the bucket list, and the premise was a bit vague so it felt like going in blind. Unfortunately I didn't love this one. This is a 1973/4 movie, but even for the 70s, everything feels old-fashioned. And it doesn't seem that this was a stylistic choice; it wasn't set further in the past. If I had to guess the time period I would have said much earlier. We're thrown into the story with not much context. We don't know who we're following or why, which is a positive and negative. On the one hand, we're able to understand the main character's frame of mind because she's also in a new place with no context for what the town is. But on the other hand, it makes it harder to get into the story. And for me it was hard to get into for quite a while. The film is at its best when it really leans into the horror. Sometimes subtle horror really works, but for this one in particular I would have preferred much more overt horror...

  I'd seen this film a few times before this re-watch, but it had been a good few years so I was looking forward to seeing it again. I liked this film. The cast of the film is great. Gregory Peck and Lee Remick are fantastic in their roles, but Henry Spencer Stephens is fantastic as Damien. The film rests on his performance and it really works because of how authentic he feels in the role. I loved the feel of the film. You could watch two minutes of any scene and know that it's a 70s movie. In an era where a lot of films look the same, it's great to watch older movies and see how distinct they feel to their decade. It's really well written - the way things are teased out slowly is really impactful. As the viewer, due to how iconic the movie is, even on a first watch we know exactly who and what Damien is. But the fun of the film is seeing the people around him, particularly his parents, figuring things out. The horrors are created really well. The scariest thing about t...

  I'd heard of this film in passing but didn't know much about it - and even then it was probably the remake that I was hearing about, so this version wasn't really on my radar. I liked this film. One of the first things that stands out is how good the writing is. The dialogue works so well with the individual characters, and you're invested almost immediately. This is the second film on the bucket list starring Vincent Price, who is clearly a horror icon, and it's not hard to see why. He was the best thing about 'The Masque of the Red Death' and 10 minutes in, he's already one of the best parts of this movie too. I really want to check out more of his movies. The characters are really fun. The film makes a point of saying that the host picked people specifically for their differences, and while we don't explore all of the characters as much as we'd like to, it's great to have the mix of personality and mentalities, particularly when it comes...

  I had heard great things about this film for years but just never got around to watching it, so I'm really glad that it was on the bucket list to give me the excuse to finally check it out! I knew very little about the film before putting it on, so the first 10 minutes were intense. And it doesn't really let up. The film mixes psychological horror and bloody gory violence really well, when usually we'd expect one or the other. It elevated the film from just being a revenge story, to being a story about trauma amongst a host of other themes. One of the best things about the film is the friendship between Lucie and Anna, and the way this is depicted. You get to know them by seeing how they interact with each other. Both actresses did an amazing job with these characters. They really allowed the audience to understand their complexities and why they make the decisions they do. It goes in an interesting direction. I had no idea how the story would move on after the 50-minute ...

  I'd never heard of this film before it was on the bucket list, but after seeing that it was a black vampire movie I was looking forward to seeing it. I ended up having mixed feelings about the film. It took a little while to really get going, and in that time I didn't feel like we got to know the characters as well as we could have. It's shot in a really interesting way. It feels like a product of its time, and very 70s, but the grainy footage also gives everything a sense of authenticity and realism. One of the things about this film that really works is the dialogue. The characters feel extremely authentic and that's down to the way they speak and the conversations they have with each other. At times, when the plot isn't focused on the fantastical, it feels like watching a documentary. I can't say this is the most entertaining movie. While the characters are great, not much happens, and there's often a while between events. So when something of note does...

  This is a re-watch that I was really looking forward to. I've seen all of the Final Destination movies countless times and really love the franchise as a whole, so any time I have an excuse to watch one of them, I'm always down! This one in particular, while not my favourite of the franchise, is iconic as the one that started it all, and certainly earns the 'classic' title. First of all, we have to talk about the originality of the story. It's an idea that allows the audience to put themselves in the characters' situation in a way that's both fun and genuinely scary. But this one in particular, starting off on a plane, was a great way to capitalise on real common fears. Even if you're not someone who's scared of flying, seeing the plane scene definitely sends a chill down your spine. And then on top of that, you realise it's a vision, and you're forced to think about what you'd do in that situation. The actors are all great, whether pla...