Friday, October 9, 2015

Halloween Mini-Reviews: Bloodworx and Ouija

8) Bloodworx


* spoilers *

Two best friends enlist in an experiment to test allergy drugs for a surprisingly high amount of money and find out that the doctor's have lied to them. The trial is actually for human regeneration and has some disturbing side effects. This one was a random pick I saw on TV. I had never heard of it before and it was pretty decent. I liked a lot of concepts used even if they would crumble under any sort of scientific scrutiny. All the people who received the real drug start to act in a bizarre manner and crave every dose. They start to injure themselves because it doesn't really effect them any longer and attack and eat each other. The rationale is that since there is no danger, these dangerous behaviors are suddenly totally okay which is interesting to watch but with a huge suspension of disbelief. A lot of the story lines and logic have been seen in other movies, so not much seems new here. Playing God is bad and superhuman people are bad. The acting isn't great and the doctor running the show is just about the biggest moron I've ever seen. It's a gory, fun movie that I wouldn't ever watch again.

My rating: 3/5 fishmuffins

9) Ouija


Five friends mess with a Ouija board and invoke an evil spirit that hunts them down one by one. This is a paint by numbers horror movie. Jump scares everywhere with very little building of atmosphere or suspense. This is not scary and loses its effect very quickly. There is a slightly unexpected twist, but it's effect is diminished by the very bad CGI that overpowers the film and the super cliche ending. There's no reason for the ending either: no rationale, no explanation, nothing. It's simply lazy writig to open up for a worse sequel in the future. The characters are slightly less cardboard than usual, but they make the most stupid decisions I've ever seen. The only thing good about this film is Olivia Cooke. When her best friend dies in the film, I feel for her because she has this accessible, emotional quality about her. The "Hi Friend" messages from the ghosts was a little creepy at first when it showed up in unexpected places, but that was ruined when the monster was shown too much. Ouija is lackluster and lazy and bound to be at least a small franchise if it makes any money.

My rating: 2/5 fishmuffins

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