Nightmares In Red White and Blue

No other movie genre in the world is more persecuted or misunderstood than the Horror genre.  Horror films are often blamed for violence in the youth of America, and are often held responsible for everything else that goes wrong (cop-out for either bad friends or bad parenting).  By interviewing some of the biggest names in the genre and scanning their movies, this documentary shows how the Horror film has evolved in America, and how those Horror films are closely tied to all kinds of Terror that befall the country.

The Good:
Some people like the smell of Folders in their cup (Product placement anyone?), some like "the smell of napalm in the morning", and then people (like me) love the smell of zombies enjoying a meal, while ghosts and killers continually terrorify the normal middle-class man trying to live the American dream.  okay, so I don't really smell that in the morning, I mean how would I finish my eggo waffles with the smell of rotting corpses?  It's not that I'm a naturally dark person, unless I'm standing in the dark, in that case you can barely see me, ga-der!  I'm a naturally happy person who has the hyperactivity of a squirrel with rabies, but I'm also a person who loves the unsettling/fearful feeling one gets from Horror films.  But this morbid genre isn't just to scare people, this documentary shows that each Horror film has a message it's trying to get across.  An Example would be the movie "Drag Me To Hell", because beneath the awesome B-Story it gives, it preaches there are bad consequences for bad choices you make.  So because she was selfish and shamed the gypsy, she got a whole butt-load of crohns coming her way.

The Bad:
I thought it was awesome to see how each horror film applied to something people were afraid of historically in their time, and it was very insightful to see how the genre has an ultimately positive effect on people psychologically.  There was a lot of talk on the psychological part of Horror, and personally I thought that was more interesting than the Historical aspect, but that's just me, so they should have included more.

The Ugly:
If you are a person who's skeptical about this morbid genre, or if you're already a fan, then I urge you to see this film.  I've always loved Horror films because they help me to face some of my own fears head-on, so little by little I live a more fearless life like Taylor Swift, but this documentary taught me more about the historical-importance these films hold.  This doesn't mean I'll watch any Horror film coming my way, because there are some films that cross lines that shouldn't be crossed, but the documentary did show me that beneath all the terror is a message that is worth being heard.

4 out of 5

Black Death

The Good:  During this film one cannot help but think about "The Lord of the Rings", due to Sean Bean being decked out in his Boromir attire, which actually helped A to like the movie since their taking forever to make "The Hobbit".  This is a gritty movie that showed how the bubonic plague corrupted certain people and turned them into monsters, so it definitely wasn't a happy one to watch.  We must say that although it was dark and occasionally disturbing, it was sometimes very artistic and beautiful (especially if you're a sadistic nutjob).  Like always Sean Bean was awesome, he was after all A's favorite character in the "Lord of the Rings" movies, only this time he's like Boromir with a hernia!  Huge shout out to Eddie Redmayne, who plays the curious monk that follows Sean Bean.  He seemed very familiar, like i'd seen him in other movies, but he really shined in this movie, and stole every scene that he was in.

The Bad:  Seeing Sean Bean dressed up like a crusader gives people the impression that there will be many battle scenes, and that's also what the trailer tries to make you think.  Yet after watching it, A was puzzled that there weren't as many, but then again it's a movie about the plague and not the crusades.  Some of the violence was a little bit over the top, and could make even the strongest of people cringe... unless you're Hannibal Lector, and if that's the case you better see a shrink before you go AWOL!

The Ugly: The Truth about this film is pretty ugly.  It was a good film to watch, as long as you have something else to accomplish at the same time, or else you'll either be bored to death or scared to death.... by the Black Death! Boom Shaka Laka!!! That was a great punchline!

2 out of 5