Greetings! It is the Halloween season yet again and I am very excited as it is that time of year where I can watch scary stuff every night and enjoy every moment of it. I didn't get into the season at first...actually I didn't even like scary movies until I started undergrad and then something changed where I really got into the horror craze be it good, bad, gorey or funny just don't let it be boring. I will be running two blogs over the next month as a test to see how good I am at following through with my writing and blogging. This is the first of the two and it is dedicated to movies. Each Night I will dedicate this blog to one scary movie that I watched during that day or evening. So lets kick off with a movie I watched a little after midnight...
Yes I give your Coraline! I know what you are thinking, this film isn't a scary movie! Its a little kids film! Well I will work through this to convince you it totally is not...just a kid's film.
Well we start our film with our young heroine Coraline who has been ripped out of her happy place and forced to move to a new town with her parents so they can better research their books. They move to a rather creepy old house that was blocked off into several full sized apartments with odd and interesting neighbors to boot. Coraline is just kicking around, bored and dissatisfied with her life when she finds a strange tunnel in the house leading to an alternate world where everyone pays her exclusive attention and she can finally live in the world of her dreams...or is it her nightmares. All is not as it seems as the denizens of the house and the other world reveal their true natures, will she be able to discover the truth in time before she is swallowed up by the evil within?
This movie starts out with a little creepiness where a creature made up of sewing needles tears apart an old doll and fashions a new one in the likeness of our main character. The creepy doll display really follows through in this movie not only starting with the dolls but the whole buttons for eyes deal (see below).
We learn later on in the film the whole sinister angle behind the button eyes but I won't spoil that for you. We also need to take a look at the setting. This is about as bleak and creepy as you can get with bland coloration in the real world scenes and odd imagery when she goes to the other world at night. The way that the "Pink Palace" is laid out you would expect some sort of monster to just rip out and steal your soul right away.
Of course even with the background and the story the biggest creep factor is in the cast of characters. Even those that you see during the day display that little bit of being off that makes it go that extra mile. Even Coraline's father who is voiced by one of the people from They Might Be Giants has that slight bit of creepiness to him that is only accentuated by the darker maddening touch of the other world.
In the end this movie gets a 6 out of 10 for creep factor, 7 of 10 entertainment value and a 4 of 10 scare factor. This movie is much creepier than it is scary and even with the little twist int he end where the dream world becomes a nightmare you still realize that this is just a children's film and can only go so far. At the same time don't let that hurt your opinion as this goes to show you that even children's films can be creepy.
No comments:
Post a Comment