Chills and Thrills featuring Color Out of Space, Chappie, Jennifer’s Body…

Welcome to The ScreenSlut’s Chills and Thrills, a monthly column of mini-reviews where I talk about movies and TV shows that I have found interesting, compelling, forgettable or just horrifically bad.

June was a bit of a slow month in terms of viewing stuff. Damn work always getting in the way of my horror and sci-fi obsession. But I did watch a few things, that I hadn’t seen before or had completely forgotten how much I loved.

Color Out of Space (2019)

Color Out of Space

Color Out of Space has been on my watchlist for a long time. I was a bit hesitant about watching it, just because after Mandy which I loved, I didn’t think we could get two out of two for Nicolas Cage films. He has definitely made a comeback after his weird hiatus of making children movies.

Color Out of Space is definitely what you would want when you think of a Lovecraft film, which is good because it is based on H.P Lovecraft’s short story of the same name. The plot is fairly simple. It follows the Gardeners who have moved to the isolated farmstead in rural New England to escape the hustle and bustle of 21st-century life.

They are a normal family with their own trials and tribulations to get through. But one night, a meteorite crashes into their backyard. This meteorite is very strange, seeming to melt into the ground and has an otherworldly glow that cannot be explained. Soon it starts to affect the Gardeners in weird and unusual ways.

There is not much else that goes on in Color Out of Space, but it was just interesting to watch how each family member was affected by this meteorite. And even though you can guess pretty early on what is happening, that does not stop you from experiencing an overwhelming sense of dread throughout the whole film. For a Lovecraft adaptation, I think it hits the right spot perfectly and will definitely please any fans of his work and cosmic horror.

Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh (1995)

Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh

So since Candyman (2021) is coming out this year (which I am very excited about), I thought I would go back to watching some of the older stuff. As I mentioned in a previous Chills and Thrills, I have watched the first one of the series, but my memory is a bit vaguer about the later films. I believe I definitely liked one of the sequels more than the original, at least in my youth. 

Farewell to the Flesh is set 3 years after the original film. Now located in New Orleans, it focuses on a school teacher, whose father was murdered while investigating the deaths of three men killed in a manner similar to those in the Candyman legend.

The second one in the series definitely holds up and in a way, I do think my younger self was correct for once. I liked that we got to explore more about the Candyman’s background and the protagonist in this had a connection to him.

Jennifer’s Body (2009)

Jennifer's Body

Due to Pride month, I heard a lot about Jennifer’s Body making the rounds on Twitter, praising it not only for its queerness but also for just a fun horror movie. I never watched it when it was first released, as the teenage boy drooling over Megan Fox probably put me off. So I was excited to watch it for the first time.

Jennifer’s Body follows two teenagers who could not be more different. Needy is a reserved bookworm and Jennifer is a conceited cheerleader. Things start to go awry for the friendship after a fire happens at a bar. Jennifer turns up later after things have calmed down, but there is something different about her – she craves human blood.

Even though this is a comedy horror, it is pretty dark how it all unfolds. I wouldn’t say that I was wowed by Jennifer’s Body overall. It was pretty interesting in the first half, but once the brutal killings were out in the open at least for Needy, it seemed to lose all momentum for me. I would still recommend it for comedy-horror fans, however, especially as the soundtrack is especially banging.

Red Planet (2000)

Red Planet

I find it is so hard to find a sci-fi that isn’t completely artsy or cerebral. But then with Red Planet, we have a movie that is so devoid of any plot, that you yearn for some heady sci-fi after all.

Red Planet is about humanity trying to find a way to live on Mars since Earth is dying. Yes not exactly original in its premise, but you know it was 2000. Anyway, on the descent to the red planet, the ship suffers life-threatening damage due to a gamma-ray burst. With time and oxygen running out, the captain of the spaceship orders the crew to go down to the planet to locate the automated habitat. However, the damage to their ship is not the only tragedy in store for them.

There is nothing particularly wrong with Red Planet as such. It just so boring that, I was waiting for the end to happen. I mean different things are happening in it, such as killer robots, mysterious atmosphere changes, alien life forms, but it is all so lacklustre in its approach.

The Hidden (1987) (Rewatch)

The Hidden

For a pretty old film, this alien sci-fi holds up pretty well. The story is engaging and intriguing as it develops. The special effects will not blow away modern audiences, but it holds up fairly well and all the cast are fantastic to watch in their roles.

The Hidden follows a cop and an FBI agent who are tracking down seemingly benign citizens who are going on increasingly violent crime sprees. Beck, the cop is perplexed by these changes to the ordinary law-abiding citizens. But Gallagher offers his own interpretation that they are being possessed by psychotic alien parasites. Sceptical but wanting to stop this madness, Beck must work with Gallagher to stop this menace, before it is too late for humanity.

If you are a fan of Kyle MacLachlan, off-beat science fiction and brutal violence, you will enjoy this.

Chappie (2015) (Rewatch)

Chappie

I am all for robot movies that give you feels. Though I really enjoyed Real Steel, I much prefer when we have robots that are the ones giving us their adorableness. And on rewatch, Chappie has all that cuteness and more. Sometimes it was hard to bear, how adorable his character was. It is a real shame that we will never see a sequel to this, that it makes my heart cry.

Chappie starts in Johannesburg, where crime is kept down by the use of robots designed by the Tetravaal Company, designed by the engineer Deon Wilson. Deon wants to create artificial life, but the head of the company refuses to listen and orders him to abort the project. However, Deon decides to take a robot destined to be recycled to test out his AI. On his way home, he is kidnapped by some low-level criminals, who force him to boot up this damaged robot so they can use it in heists. But Deon’s programme is unlike the other robot’s finished code, as he needs to learn.

For me, this is probably the perfect heartfelt robot film that deals with the meaning of artificial life that seeks no harm. And it also manages to be serious, yet funny at the same time, which is a hard line to balance on.

That’s all for this Chills and Thrills.

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