Horror Film Diary Week 2

I am posting this far later than I Intended because my neurological condition took me out for most of the week but here’s what I watched last week and Happy Valentine’s Day. 

Insidious the Red Door (2023)

This was my favourite of the whole franchise. 

Being back with the lamberts was such a good return to form and exploring the aftermath of the events of the second film and the effect this had on their family , particularly Dalton and Josh’s relationship gave the story the grounding that we needed. 

While I can understand that after the events of the second film they were scrambling to try and figure out a way for the story to continue without the Lamberts it really did lose a lot of cohesion and made me care way less. 

This was such a great directorial debut for Patrick Wilson and the effects in this were insane. All the deceased that Dalton and Josh saw were so well done and the lighting of Dalton when he is possessed gave me chills and was so effective. 

Final Destination 2-5 

We had seen the first in the series recently so started at 2 so I could get a refresher and so my partner could finish the series. 

Final Destination 2 (2003)

This was about the same for me as the first one. The characters were fun enough and the kills were interesting but it wasn’t really anything to write home about. 

Final Destination 3 (2006)

This is the best in the series in my opinion. 

The mass casualty event being the rollercoaster is possibly one of the best set ups for the formula, the cast was great with Mary Elizabeth Winstead easily being the best focal character of the series and the kills were some of the best in the franchise. 

The tanning bed scene will forever go down as one of the best kills in history and the double coffin transition was DIABOLICAL. I cannot hear love rollercoaster without thinking of this scene. 

The Final Destination (2009)

As soon as we started this one my partner turned to me and said ‘was this released in 3D’ and that’s possibly one of the most damning things about what is easily the worst installment. 

While the set up for this film wasn’t the worst, each kill is tainted by its awful PS1 style effects that are jimmied in just to exploit the 3D cinema craze of the late 2000’s and the change of the way death carries out the kills. 

Firstly, the director in an interview stated he chose to work on this film due to the 3D element and that he really wanted to utilise the technology in a way that didn’t feel gimmicky. I’m sorry David, but as soon as you film a man getting squished through a fence and turning into gummy looking N64 gore sticks, you failed. 

Secondly what was interesting and subversive about death being this Karmic force and the kills being products of a series of accidents resulting in a sort of Rube Goldberg Machine, is taken away as soon as we see an invisible force unscrewing nuts and bolts out of objects and moving things like some sort of shite poltergeist. 

Final Destination 5 (2011)

This one is an improvement on the previous, but we are still a victim of Polter-death and the 3D gimmick. 

This is the film in the franchise that makes it most clear that this concept started off as a script for a possible X files episode with its focus on investigation and trying better to understand death. 

The twist was amazing and such a good way to round out the series. 

I am excited for Bloodlines and loved the trailer, but it will be a shame to ruin such a perfect ending. 

Psycho (1960)

This is part of my research watching for some content about POV horror. 

Psycho is such a classic and still holds up so well today. I remember watching this in my early teens, stealing it from my Mum’s Hitchcock collection and losing my mind at the killer reveal. 

There isn’t a lot to be said that hasn’t already been said a million times, If you haven’t seen it, fix that. 

In terms of POV horror, the POV shots in this are an interesting story telling device. While obviously horror cinema in this period was very subversive with all the censorship laws, to some extent the POV of violent acts is a commentary on voyeurism and the act of the audience seeking out violent cinema. However, the main function I believe in psycho is to intentionally limit the information the audience has access to. By BECOMING the killer through POV we lose access to any of their features and therefore only know their identity through the observations of the other characters. While in later slasher films we see the Shape or Freddy and know who the culprit is from the get-go, Psycho leads us to believe in the truth presented because we cannot verify ourselves, making the twist even more effective. 

Rear Window (1954) 

Another Hitchcock for POV mini project. 

I don’t know where Alfred keeps finding all these baddies but, Grace Kelly was fucking beautiful. 

Another absolute classic utilising POV as a story device. We get all the information at the same time in the same way as Jeff, which means we draw the same conclusions. We are complicit in his investigation and feel the same sense of accomplishment when our conclusions are proven right. 

Obviously, the viewing of neighbours and the commentary on their lives speaks to voyeurism and encourages us to interrogate our observations. Like Peeping Tom which I watched in the previous Horror Diary, the main character is a photographer which informs a lot of the shots we see and also helps to expand upon the commentary of observation and Scopophilia. 

Again , Nothing I can say will ever be new, Hitchcock is the GOAT and you just need to see it and trust that I’m right. 

This week I’ve been watching Valentines Day adjacent Horror and will make a diary post about what I’ve been watching. Tonight, as part of my V Day date myself and my partner will be watching Heart Eyes. 

I am hoping that next week I will finally grow the balls to make some horror tik toks but if you are interested I am very active on Letterboxd and post mostly jokey reviews over @Cenosprite.