Chills and Thrills featuring Stargate, Blood Vessel, Full Eclipse…

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. This entry features old school sci-fi and supernatural horror, as well as some modern vampire and ghost stories.

Stargate SG:1 (Rewatch)

Stargate SG1

I watched this when it was first out, and I have to say I don’t think that I really got how good it was. On a rewatch, I was completely suckered in. Admittedly the first season was pretty hard to get through, but that tends to be the way with sci-fi series. But the rest of it is absolutely fantastic.

If you don’t know this follows on from the feature-length film, also called Stargate – which is not required viewing but definitely recommended. However, they explain all the backstory in the TV show. Stargate SG:1 follows a team of Air Force special operations, that use the stargate to visit alien worlds. 

Though there is a lot of knowledge and technology to be gained from these visits, their main mission is to find weapons to help them defend against the Goa’uld. The Goa’uld think of themselves as gods and want to use all human life as hosts or slaves.

I am only on season 3 at the moment, but thoroughly enjoying it. They deal with the personal stories of each character, who are intimately involved in the struggle against the Goa’uld in one form and another. But they also have a lot of fun episodes. If you like the format of Supernatural where there is an overarching story but lots of silly episodes in between – this will be up your alley. 

The Blackcoat’s Daughter

The Blackcoat’s Daughter

I am all for oddball films, but sometimes they just go a bit too weird for my tastes. Unfortunately, The Blackcoat’s Daughter (also known as February) was one of them. I was not already on board, as I am not a fan of Kiernan Shipka. It is not so much her acting, though I am not exactly thrilled with that either, I just cannot stand her face at all. 

So perhaps my mini-review is not exactly without some bias. However, The Blackcoat’s Daughter was just a bit random. I am OK with a lot of exposition for the viewer, but it was widely unclear what on earth was happening throughout it.

Two girls are left at a boarding school over winter break, as their parents have not arrived to pick them up. The Catholic school is rumoured to be run by Satanists, and as they soon find out there might be something up at the school. 

There are a few timelines that jump from one another, that are meant to be connected in some way. It felt like it was leading to something bigger, but I felt ultimately disappointed by the ending. For what turns out to be quite a simple premise, it felt dragged out.

Wind Chill

Wind Chill

This wasn’t a bad film, it was quite intriguing throughout. But once you think about it, the two main characters’ problems could have been solved if they had just gone with their gut decision in the beginning.

Two college students only known as the Guy and the Girl are sharing a ride home for the holidays. Taking a scenic shortcut, they are run off the road by another driver and their car breaks down. Thinking that the worst of their problems is the freezing cold, they soon find out this stretch of road is haunted by the ghosts of all those who have died there.

The story and characters are fairly engrossing and even the twist as such keeps you engaged with it. But I wish they had done more with it, and perhaps involved the characters as part of this mystery a bit more. The ending, however, just seems pretty pointless to me.

Blood Vessel

Blood Vessel

I was sold on this as it was Nazi vampires on a ship – like really what more can you want from a horror movie. I did enjoy this for most of it, but it wanes a bit when things start getting hairy. 

Survivors from a hospital ship that has been torpedoed on a life raft when they see an ominous German minesweeper drifting towards them. With seemingly no crew onboard, they board the ship looking for supplies and food. Once onboard, however, they find some corpses and soon realize they aren’t the only ones on the ship.

A few of the interesting characters, that I thought had a lot of potential, ended up being killed off too early. This was quite clearly a low budget movie, and you can see this with the makeup effects. The vampires are not particularly original in design and not as scary as they could be. Also, the summary which says it is Nazi vampires is quite misleading.

Full Eclipse

Full Eclipse

This is a TV movie, so don’t expect it to be high production, but it is rather enjoyable. They did not have the budget for full-scale werewolves, but I believe it will satisfy werewolf fans as werewolf movies are thin on the ground. 

A police officer is recruited in a special team of officers, that have a reputation for being able to reduce the crime rate to minimal levels. Max Dire, soon after joining their group realizes that they have a supernatural edge, in that they are werewolves and that their methods are deadly.

It does go a bit weird and I think that they didn’t know what to do with the plot once the reveal of the werewolves happens. I was hoping that there would be more of a conflict between the team leader and Max before the final showdown.

Aurora Teagarden Mysteries

Aurora Teagarden Mysteries

OK, this is a hallmark mystery movie series so if you have watched any hallmark movies, you should know exactly what you are getting into. 

Aurora Teagarden is my favourite at the moment because she is a librarian who solves mysteries, which is a lot more exciting than most library work, I can tell you.

All the mysteries are fairly benign, with not a lot of gore or blood at all. You do see dead bodies, but they are rather tame. I definitely recommend this, if you need a bit of a pick me up and a break from more serious movies. It is such a charming and light-hearted mystery that you can just whack on to take your mind off things.

That’s all for this Chills and Thrills.

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