DIrected by John Pogue. Written by Pogue, Craig Rosenberg, Oren Moverman and Tom de Ville. Starring Jared Harris, Sam Claflin, Erin Richards and Olivia Cooke.
Plot: a crazy professor and three of his students go to an abandoned house to experiment on a possessed girl.
In 1974, Professor Coupland (Harris) takes three of his students to experiment on a supposedly possessed girl named Jane (Cooke). As the experiments go on and nothing happens, the college pulls their funding, so the professor moves them all to an abandoned house. Brian (Claflin), one of the students, gets upset by the lack of ethics in the experiments and forms an attachment to Jane. But that’s not going to stop the professor.
The professor believes that possessions and spirits are all made up by the human psyche itself and that there are no outside causes. Even when there’s evidence otherwise and his students begin to believe, he won’t budge. He’s a giant dick. I liked everyone else in the movie, but he pissed me off to no end. As a matter of fact, I loved Brian so much that I wanted Jane to be well so that they could run off and live happily ever after at the end. But it’s a horror movie and that was not to be. As a matter of fact, I absolutely hated the ending. It dropped considerable points because of it.
This movie is one of those “based on true events” stories. There’s even all these old pictures shown at the end of the movie. But the photos shown aren’t the photos of the actual people and the actual people didn’t die during the experiment. As a matter of fact, there was no Jane and there was no occult and there was no fire. The only thing that rang true was the fact that the original experiment was trying to decide if ghosts were conjured up in the human mind.
With no rules, no scares and no boob shots when there could have been, I won’t recommend this to the masses. But it may be good for one viewing. DJ didn’t watch it though and after I gave it a so-so score, he wasn’t hurt that he missed it.
I suppose I could list my favorite movies here, but instead I'll give you a strange glimpse into what makes me TaraRomero.
1. I met George Romero. He was the kindest and sweetest man. He talked to me for longer than he should have with the line getting longer. He also held my hand. And when he noticed the ladybug I have tattooed on my wrist, he said he liked it and asked me it's name. Till then, it had not had a name. Now, I call him George.
2. I love stickers. All stickers. I just adore them. I even ask for stickers for Christmas! As a matter of fact, the birthday that just past, every member of my immediate family gave me sticker packs as gifts. Affordable and extremely appreciated.
3. I have never put much stock in astrology or horoscopes, but I LOVE the magic of the MBTI. Omg. I am an INFP and it actually sounds just like me. Introverted mostly. Creative always. Heart before head and not the most logical. Totally me! For better or worse.
4. It's no surprise I count horror so high up on the list of things that make me, me. However, it's so within my soul that I was part of the Horror Club in college. Interesting bunch. And even took a Horror Lit class as an elective. I got an A.
5. Coffee always makes me happy. Always. I'm particularly fond of caramel macchiatos. But I'll drink black coffee if it's the only thing available.
6. I hate shock for the sake of shock and endings that depress me. I always mention the movies Within (2016) and the Eli Roth produced, written and starred in, Aftershock (2012), as proof of this distate I have. I abhor the idea that just because I like horror, some people think I'd actually praise a movie that lets you think the "Final Girl" just made it through the night, only to slap her in the face with a tsunami.
7. We are big time animal people. I mean, if I could, I'd have an elephant, a bear, a zebra, a penguin, an otter and a meerkat, living with me. Seriously though. We have 2 dogs right now and 2 cats. Both cats we picked up when they each came to our front door hungry. And both dogs we got from 2 different sets of neighbors. Both who, unfortunately, don't know how to care for pets long-term. But they're happy and healthy now!!
8. Revisiting my love of horror, one of the above cats, my cat, is a little black guy named Church. Because Pet Sematary. His middle name is even Pascow. To give credit where credit's due, the name was DJ's idea. But he loves horror too!
9. I'm big into art. Along with movie posters and an Anne Frank quote, I have some actual paintings on my wall. I really think Dali paints beautifully when he wants to. And if I don't get to see Michaelangelo's Pieta in person some day, I will be very disappointed.
10. Lastly, I find Emily Dickinson's poetry intriguing. I took an elective course about her as well. But do you know I injected horror even there? I was given a poem to dissect and I picked one on death, of course. Then, I researched old "Death Photos" and even printed out copies for everyone in the class. They were so interested in looking at them that it stopped them from all looking at me, and I was able to deal quite well with my stage fright. Haha
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