31 Days Of Horror Movie Challenge: Day 12

Each day in October, three brave souls from our gang of Groovy Goolies (co-editor Paul Childs, Boardgames Master Aaron Nash and Ultimate Movie Geek Nathaniel Jepson) are watching horror films from around the world and across a wide spectrum of the horror genre, so expect slashers, ghosts, cultists, demons, vampires, cannibals, zombies, kaiju, aliens and more!

Paul’s Choice – Jack The Giant Killer (1962)

”What!!?” I hear incredulous readers cry! “Jack The Giant Killer is a quaint little family friendly fantasy adventure with a comedy, borderline racist leprechaun (but it was a different time so it’s OK) and shonky stop-motion monsters which wish they’d been animated by Ray Harryhausen!”

Well I see your protest and I raise you one of Pendragon’s army of witches:

And that’s the image that endured in my head long after the chimpanzee (yes, really), the He-Man/Prince Valiant haircuts and the cross-eyed sea monster. That and the creepy little music box sequence at the start (shudder).

While not quite up to the standard of the Sinbad movies or Clash of the Titans it’s still a fun adventure. And despite it clearly being filmed entirely in California, it does make me want to go back to relive 1980s family holidays in Cornwall.

Good Sunday afternoon entertainment – until it isn’t and it’s suddenly nightmare fuel which stays with you long into adult life.

Aaron’s Choice – I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)

Now this is the true definition of a guilty pleasure. Released on the back of the success of Scream (and supposedly sold as part of the rights to that film), I Know What You Did Last Summer stars a host of 90’s heartthrobs all being stalked by a man with a hook. Yes it’s super formulaic but that not necessarily a bad thing.

This is definitely one of those films where you know exactly what to expect but it does have some clever twists and turns during it’s well paced runtime. The plot is your usual slashy revenge horror, but it feels fun and fresh. There is far less focus on the murders then a lot of the 90’s horror films, with more focus going on building suspense and mystery. I like the fact we don’t have an unstoppable masked killer hunting the teens. It makes a nice change.

The acting in great throughout with some notable performances from Ryan Phillipe, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. The script gives them enough room to feel natural while being tight enough to make the friends feel like a true unit.

Out of all the 90’s slasher flicks is say this is still one of my favourites. It has a great cast, Some clever writing and tight direction. It was popular enough to spawn numerous sequels (the second film is also pretty darn good. The others not so much).

Well worth checking out for a fun slasher filled night in.

Nathaniel’s Choice – The Conjuring 2 (2016)

Our resident YouTuber is sharing his thoughts via a video every day. Check out his video review of the Nun-tactic, based-on-a-real-ish-story sequel, The Conjuring 2 below: