Double Features

It’s not everyday that I go to the movies, and this week felt like the time to take a breather from all the door-knocking I’ve been doing for the past few weeks before that.

I decided to treat myself to a couple of movies back-to-back over the course of two days. I had enough SCENE points to get them both and my snacks for free but then again, I wasn’t thinking clearly on location. I took a cab there and back on both days and the money quickly added up, but only cause it’s a bitch to get there by bus. I should have picked another theater.

Oh well, lesson learned, don’t use a taxi unless it’s late at night or inclement weather. (like it’s a gale roaring outside right now, what in Maker’s name are you up to Lewa?) So, here are the movies I saw this week.

The Nun

I’ve been wanting to see this since it was announced after I was introduced to The Conjuring by my brother and his girlfriend. I’m such a brave soul having watched both of them alone in the basement after dark and survived. I’ve had a few nightmares afterward but wasn’t spooked enough to sleep with the lights on or put crosses all over my room. (I’m not religious but still) The one thing that piqued my interest was Valak: the demonic nun seen in the second Conjuring film. While Valak scared me during that one scene in the hallway and the painting, still, I was interested in learning about the demon’s origins. Therefore when The Nun was first announced, I was immediately excited for it. I was actually alone in the theater when I went to see it. I don’t need a man to cuddle when I get scared, I can handle myself!

So, to sum it up, I thought The Nun was very scary in many ways. First you have your typical horror elements like the suspense; you know it’s quiet and Sister Irene is trying to figure out where that noise is coming from until something suddenly appears and makes you jump. I was on the edge of my seat waiting for something to happen and was met with a jump or shock. But the real thing that made it scary was the atmosphere of the film. I mean hello, church and cemetery, those are always places in horror films that make it dark and eerie like you shouldn’t be there, especially if there’s some evil entity loose. But at least now we know were Valak came from and when Ed and Lorraine were showing the video of Maurice possessed, we know how that happened when it was shown again at the end! Great movie 9/10.

The Predator

The Yautja are a species that are still quite new to me. Before this one, I had only seen the original 1987 film which was good. I read a YouTuber’s post that he enjoyed it for the action and humor and I went into the theater with the belief I was going to go “holy shit” or laugh my ass off but I didn’t. There was not a single time in this film where I laughed, all the banter between those soldiers were all idiots in my books. The only human character that was interesting was the young boy with autism. I nearly growled with rage when one of the marines called the boy the R word and then the other guy told him not to use it because the boy is [redacted]. I don’t care if it’s just entertainment. It is NOT okay to use that word in any setting because it is extremely hurtful and further enforces the stereotypes of people on the spectrum like me and other people with intellectual challenges.

Anyway, the other issue I had was the sudden switch of Predators and the film basically turned into one of those military-kill-all-aliens films. That can be done in good or bad ways. Aliens kind of had the same element but those marines were more interesting and the suspense killed it (in a good way). Here it was just not as exciting but the Predator films that I’ve seen have never been meant to be as eerie as the Alien ones. They just shot the fuck out of the big Predator before even getting an answer what it was. I guess that’s why I liked the first film better. So yeah, all I cared about was the Yautja who got decent screen time and they were badass but not as intimidating as in the original film. I was also displeased that their tech fell into human hands at the very end. What a shame. 3/10 and that’s just me. 

Oh and if I had a dollar for the number of times every character dropped the F-bomb, I’d be rich.

If you like horror movies, I definitely recommend The Nun, but if you’re a fan of the Predators themselves and have certain expectations maybe you should skip this one. I heard the AVP films explore the lore of them so I think I’m going to watch them both real soon.

Alright it’s pizza time!

👽Emily