Film Reviews: Movies To Watch
This Spooky Season
Movie Review: Rosemary’s Baby
By: Leo Cepeda
Rosemary's Baby is an interesting film. This movie takes place in the 1960s and starts with a married couple moving into a new apartment to start a new life and was planning to have a baby. The married couple is Rosemary Woodhouse and Guy Woodhouse, played by Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes, respectively. All was well until they witnessed the death of a person that Rosemary knew. Shortly after, new characters were introduced and Rosemary had this strange dream.
What I like about this film is when Rosemary is dreaming. We see shots of different people, different places, and different moments. Music plays an important role as it creates suspense inside her dream. One specific dream that Rosemary had is where there are characters surrounding her and one interesting character did something to her. Rosemary thought this was a dream but later thinks it might not be a dream. This created suspicion, which will later become important.
As the couple prepare for the baby, Rosemary is pregnant and we get to see what life is like as a pregnant woman. Not only pregnancy changes someone physically, but also mentally. Rosemary experiences extreme pain losing weight, changes in appearance, and her emotional state has altered. Everyday, she is in pain whilst getting judged because of weight gain during pregnancy.
Throughout the movie, we now see Rosemary’s suspicions becoming a reality. She has to accept the reality that Guy is not the father, but Satan himself is. In my opinion, the true horror of this film is that everyone was planning to have Rosemary’s baby to themselves, Rosemary trusted these people only to be backstabbed by them for other purposes. The fact that the spawn of Satan must be taken care of by Rosemary herself. After all, she is the mother. It shows the journey of Rosemary's suspicions consuming her by avoiding everyone, her friends, her husband, and seeking help. Her anxiety was increased and shown through the film with suspense.
What I don’t like about the film is that it is slow at the beginning and we never get to see Rosemary’s baby. The movie only mentions the baby. However, we never see the baby and how terrifying it is. I believe that it is a crucial part to show the baby because the title is misleading being called “Rosemary’s Baby” without showing the baby. Overall this movie is very interesting and should be watched, especially around Halloween or if anyone is interested in watching some old classic movies.
Child’s Play, is it Worth Watching?
By: Maddisyn Da Silva
October, the month known for horror, is the perfect time to indulge in some spine-tingling films. For many, horror movies are associated with excessive gore and the sole goal of terrifying the audience, which isn’t everyone's preferred genre. However, one classic horror movie that isn’t too terrifying and boasts practically no gore is the original "Child’s Play" (1988). The film follows a young boy who eagerly wishes for a 'My Buddy' doll for his birthday. This doll, advertised as a child's best friend forever, is named Chucky. Once he receives the Chucky doll, many strange incidents start to unfold.
Personally, I found "Child’s Play" to be quite enjoyable. Despite having prior knowledge of the film's premise, I had never actually seen it until this month. So, I rented the movie and watched it for the first time. During the viewing, I appreciated many of the scenes featuring Chucky and the development of the main characters. However, I must admit that some scenes were a bit frustrating to watch, thanks to the sometimes annoying 80s movie tropes. Nonetheless, most of the movie was engaging. The jump scares and gore didn't seem too excessive to me; the jump scares weren't overly frightening, and the gore was mostly limited to non-graphic depictions of dead bodies.
While the majority of people are familiar with the character Chucky, many might not see the point of watching the film due to its widespread fame. However, as I mentioned earlier, experiencing it for myself made it much more enjoyable. In the end, "Child’s Play" is a good horror movie that strikes a balance between being suspenseful without being overly terrifying. I would recommend it to those who prefer their horror with less gore. For those who prefer a heavier dose of gore, you might want to consider something else for your movie night.
Carrie (1976), Odd but Strangely Enjoyable
By: Yaretzi Ayala
It’s the time of the year when everyone decides to watch Halloween movies, but many struggle with which movie to watch, mainly because of how large and broad the genre of horror itself is, some prefer more thriller and mystery while others prefer more gore instead. A movie I would recommend for the Halloween season is a classic horror film named “Carrie”, specifically the 1976 version based on the Stephen King novel, a famous author who is also responsible for “IT” and “The Shining”. Now although the movie “Carrie” does fall under the horror genre, it’s more uncomfortable to watch than terrifying so it's easier to watch for those more easily spooked. The movie itself centers around a teenage girl, Carrie, who is an outcast to the rest of her peers and even to her extremely religious mother once she discovers her telekinesis abilities.
I enjoyed the movie “Carrie” as it doesn’t rely on jumpscares or excessive gore to unease the viewer like many modern horror films nowadays but instead uses how unusual and weird the character Carrie acts around her surroundings as a girl who has been sheltered all her life and doesn’t know of the world or even her own body due to her extremely religious and abusive mother who constantly manipulates Carrie into thinking the way her body grows is from her sins. I also really enjoyed the acting of Sissy Spacek who plays the main character of Carrie as she portrays so much emotion mainly through her eyes, with them being nearly wide open for most of the film it expresses how unfamiliar she is with the life all around her, usually the main emotion being portrayed through her being fear and uncertainty. Not only through her eyes but also in body language she shows Carrie as a weird and antisocial girl like how she always lowers her head down to be unseen or how she hides her face with her hair.
The movie does a great job of making the audience both disturbed and sympathetic towards Carrie, as yes she is weird and slightly creepy, you can’t help but feel bad for her and want her to have a happy ending. And if you enjoy plot twists this is a great option for you as especially in the ending many twists occur constantly leaving you shocked with your jaw dropped. Although I did enjoy this movie it isn’t perfect either. At times there were a bit too many unnecessary montages or scenes that played longer than needed, and the effects of course are dated from being from the 1970’s. Another flaw of this movie is the sexual scenes and nudity scenes that also last for a bit too long but I wouldn’t worry about them as they are few and far between each other. But just because of its flaws, it shouldn’t discourage you from at least giving the classic horror movie a watch this Halloween season.