By JOHN LILIES & LANA CARBON
NOVEMBER 1ST, 2019
[Lana] That time of year is once more upon us. John and I have spent the entirety of the month of October watching a movie per day for our annual 31 Movies for the 31 Days of Hallowe’en list. Our chosen theme this year was movies from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. So, without further ado, let’s get right to the list.
[John] (Quick side note - a number of people have asked where these movies can be found. We have access to an extensive film library but some of these can be found on Netflix, Prime, and other servers. Beyond that, you may need to do some digging.)
1. The Autopsy of Jane Doe, 2016 - England
[John] When it started, we saw that it takes in place in Virginia and so we wondered what makes it an English film. It has a Norwegian director, not English. It was filmed in parts of the UK, so we suppose that it's the filming location that makes it an "English" film. Actors range from Scottish, English, Irish, to American. So, with at least part of the cast originally hailing from across the pond, that adds to the origin merit, I guess.
The cast includes Brian Cox (Good Omens, Penny Dreadful, Shetland), Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild, Milk, Lords of Dogtown), Ophelia Lovibond (Guardians of the Galaxy, Thor: The Dark World), and Michael McElhatton (Game of Thrones, The Fall, The Hallow).
My thoughts… Not a bad movie, actually. It had thriller-type elements, which I enjoy. The story of the central character was intriguing. I definitely will have "Let the sunshine in" going through my mind for a while.
[Lana] I had actually seen this one before so I was very curious as to what John would think of it. I quite enjoyed the path of discovery of who this dead woman was. Not bad chill moments for those who scare easily.
2. Gwen, 2018 - England, Wales
The cast includes Eleanor Worthington Cox (The Enfield Haunting), Richard Harrington (Hinterland, Coronation Street, Requiem), Mark Lewis Jones (Chernobyl, Carnival Row, Apostle), and Richard Elfyn (Apostle, Doctor Who, The Crown, Hinterland).
[John] I won't really describe this one because it ended up not really fitting the bill for us. We don't know how this landed in a list marked as horror, when really it's more of a dark story. I'd barely call it a thriller, even. So... we are adding movie 2a to make sure we have a proper one that more meets our criteria.
[Lana] This was a graphic, dark drama with some bloody moments. It definitely was not a horror or thriller.
2a. The Lodgers, 2017 - Ireland - filmed at Loftus Hall (and other locations)
The cast includes Charlotte Vega (Another Me, The Refugees), Bill Milner (X-Men: First Class, Apostle), Eugene Simon (Game of Thrones, Ben Hur), and David Bradley (Harry Potter, Hot Fuzz, After Life).
[John] I was curious about whether anything strange was experienced by the cast and crew while filming this movie, so I did a bit of reading and didn’t find much. You can click here to read one bit that I read and you can click here to read another bit.
While watching this one, these were the thoughts I had:
-Disturbing incest 'family requirements'.
-Silly 'you aren't very smart' moments.
-Weird water people.
So, I don't think I really got that into this one. Definitely not scary, but incest - even in theme and mention - is always stomach-churning. At the end of this movie, Lana’s only response was, "Well then." I suppose that's about all I've got for it, too.
3. Wake Wood, 2009 - Ireland
The cast includes Aidan Gillen (Game of Thrones, Peaky Blinders, Bohemian Rhapsody), Eva Birthistle (Brooklyn, The Last Kingdom), and Timothy Spall (Secrets & Lies, Vanilla Sky, The Enfield Haunting).
[John] This one had some moments of brutal gore - I couldn't watch those parts… too much violence and gore for me. However, it made me wonder, if you had an opportunity to bring back a loved-one, if only for a short time, would you consider it? How far would you go to see your child again? Also, I'm always surprised by how many people can be aware of and involved with these rituals, etc. and yet they're such 'back-alley' or 'black market' things - you know, the whole town knows about it but it’s all a secret? I also always wonder who designs these rituals. Who decides or creates these details?
I feel like I keep seeing aspects of other movies in all of the new movies we watch now. This one had aspects of Pet Sematary and there was a scene that made me think of Carrie, too. The one thing that keeps coming to my mind is, "When will people learn?"
[Lana] Never. If they did, we would never have these movies. If these people had common sense, we wouldn’t want to watch.
4. Eat Locals, 2017 - England
The cast includes Freema Agyeman (Doctor Who, Law & Order: UK, Sense8), Adrian Bower (The Last Kingdom, Jude), and Charlie Cox (Daredevil, Stardust, The Defenders).
[John] Many of these actors are quite recognizable and this is really a great vampire movie. I don't usually enjoy vampire movies but this one was funny and well worth the time.
[Lana] Some of the best vampire movies blend in an element of humour and don’t overdo the blood and gore. You have to expect some blood… they are vampires after all, but this wasn’t too bad.
5. The Unkindness of Ravens, 2016 - Scottish
The cast includes Michael Brewster (no acting credits), Ross Campbell (no acting credits)... it seems like much of the cast are relatively unknown actors.
[John] This one is really more of an art, indie film. It’s more about showing the horrors of PTSD and is definitely not what would be considered a typical horror movie for today. Refreshingly different, though at times quite violent and gory, so of course I averted my eyes and, well, wrote these notes. I also watched some Tasty recipe videos on Facebook. Those are great when trying to avoid bloody violence on the TV, in case you need an avoidance activity. Lana struggled in this one too actually, because of the number of scenes featuring eyeballs. He has a thing with eyes - he can't even handle me putting drops in my own eyes. So, those scenes were rough for him. Overall, a nice change from the horror movies we've become accustomed to.
[Lana] It was the best that I've seen in quite a while, for the story. Outside of the gore, and eyeball scenes, I couldn't really stop watching it.
[John] Eyeballs.
[Lana] Pffffffffffffffffffft!
[John] Eyeballs.
6. Don't Knock Twice, 2016 - Wales
The cast includes Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica, Riddick, Oculus), Lucy Boynton (Bohemian Rhapsody, Miss Potter, Apostle), and Nick Moran (Harry Potter, Eat Locals).
[John] This one involves a witch and an abandoned house. If you don’t want to invite the witch into your life, don’t knock on the door twice. This was a fairly typical story of a mother being desperate to reconnect with her distanced daughter, going to extreme lengths to maintain their relationship. Maybe I've become desensitized to horrors and thrillers, but honestly all I want is a movie that sincerely scares me right off the start, drawing me in and holding me there. Only a few minutes in and I was able to say this movie was definitely not accomplishing that. Lana’s comment was, "So dumb."
[Lana] Yep. Bad movie. Not worth the time.
7. The Mirror, 2014 - England
The cast includes Jemma Dallender (Alter Ego, The Executioners), Joshua Dickinson (Redcon-1, Ransom), and Nate Fallows (Coronation Street, An American Exorcism).
[John] Meh. Nothing at all fantastic here. Three friends purchase a supposedly haunted mirror and begin filming their lives in the hope of gaining evidence of the existence of ghosts, for the James Randi million-dollar contest. It’s filmed in a documentary/found footage style, which I sometimes enjoy.
[Lana] The concept of proving the paranormal and using the James Randi contest is a solid one but it just didn’t reach its potential in this film.
BONUS MOVIE - IT Chapter 2
The cast includes James McAvoy, Bill Hader, Bill Skarsgård, and Jessica Chastain.
[John] This one was not within our theme this year, but we couldn't resist watching it because it is IT, and it was mostly shot in one of our favourite little towns here. Also, some of my relatives were on the crew, assisting with all kinds of filming needs and, maybe a relative's car might have been used in some scenes… maybe. So, we really needed to go to this one. Sadly, I feel like they shouldn't have bothered finishing the story in the remake and they should have just left it with Chapter 1. The original film with Mr. Curry will always be my preference and though I did get some good laughs out of this Chapter 2, I feel like I could have better used those three hours of my life. I don’t think I was expecting greatness out of this but I was expecting more than I felt I received.
[Lana] There were okay moments and Bill Hader did an excellent job as an adult Ritchie. I almost feel like they were stuck between the 90’s mini-series and the book version, and this film got muddled up in itself somewhere in between.
8. Altar, 2014 - England
The cast includes Olivia Williams (The Ghost Writer, The Sixth Sense), Matthew Modine (47 Meters Down, Stranger Things), Antonia Clarke (Anna, Skins), and Steve Oram (Good Omens, Urban Myths).
[John} Not much originality here. Typical story. Nothing new or exciting. I’m starting to wonder if it's the movies that aren't intriguing me or if I'm just so desensitized to "horror" now that very little can actually excite me.
[Lana] Yes John, I think you are becoming desensitized a bit to the genre but, in this case, there was nothing new or inventive.
9. The Green Marker Scare, 2012 - Ireland
Animated - the majority of actors have few acting credits to their names.
[John] I think if we had known more about this before watching it, we would not have included it. It’s a cool idea, as the whole movie is drawn by kids aged 9-11 and none of them knew the full story so as not to damage their young minds in any way. The plot is about a young woman who loses her father and she thinks he was murdered and begins her own investigation. I would not call this a horror. It's a super cool concept and done well, but I'm having a hard time seeing the horror aspect to it. We may have misread this one.
[Lana] It was labelled as a horror when I chose it and I thought by the description that it would, at least, be different and refreshing. I will be honest… I totally lost interest and couldn’t even tell you how it ended.
[John] Yes, I think we probably should have added in a 9a to replace this one, but the concept of adding yet another movie to our long list was just well beyond my capacity.
10. Fear in the Night, 1972 - England
The cast includes Judy Geeson (To Sir With Love, The Lords of Salem, Gilmore Girls), Joan Collins (Dynasty, Land of the Pharaohs), and Peter Cushing (Star Wars, The Curse of Frankenstein, The Hound of the Baskervilles).
[John] I always feel like a children's choir (boys choir, at that) singing at the beginning of a movie - any movie at all - is an indication that all Hell is about to break loose. Place that movie in the 50's-70's and I feel like it's practically guaranteed. This movie was certainly no different.
A man with an artificial arm strangles a woman and there you have the setting… is the woman mentally unwell? Is she truly experiencing what she claims to be? I love it when these old stories mess with the character in a way that it's really sanity that comes into question. To me, that's the scariest type of horror.
[Lana] Older horror is still the better horror if you ask me. They relied more heavily on the psychological aspect instead of CGI or blood and guts (in a lot of cases). That is how I enjoy my chills and thrills.
11. Cry of the Banshee, 1970 - England
The cast includes Vincent Price (do you need acting credits here?), Hilary Heath (Wuthering Heights, The Oblong Box), and Stephan Chase (Maleficent, Macbeth).
[John] Immediately, this provides a look at how barbaric people were (1500's) and sadly, can still be. It made me think about how certain we are today, that some things are real and some are not. We laugh at people and call them crazy for believing particular things and talking to themselves and behaving differently, yet we also feel other occurrences are definite and we swear by them. So many people suffer as a result. This movie is not so thought provoking but that is where my head went while watching it. What this movie is actually about is witches and "devil hounds", banshees, and a town’s reaction. And, with all of that said... my feeling about the movie was “meh”.
[Lana] I believe this is one of the few in a series where Vincent Price plays this Witch Hunter General type character but don’t quote me on that. Price certainly knew how to play the cruelty in a character. This was not one of my favourites of his films, however.
12. The Canal, 2014 - Ireland
The cast includes Rupert Evans (The Boy, The Man in the High Castle), Antonia Campbell-Hughes (3096 Days, Rare Beasts), and Hannah Hoekstra (The Fury, App).
[John ] A film archivist is given an old 16mm film reel with footage from a horrific murder that occurred in the early 1900's in his house. Things happen…
This one gets violent and gory quickly - in a flash. There are some really disturbing scenes. In this movie, you will find influences from Asian horror (think The Ring, The Grudge, etc.). It isn’t a bad movie, really. There are a couple of cheesy moments but generally a it’s decent enough movie.
[Lana] This is another movie that slides into the “just okay” category for me. Nothing particularly stood out as original or with an intriguing twist that hooks you in to the story. It was fine.
13. Grabbers, 2012 - Ireland
The cast includes Stuart Graham (Hunger, The Whistleblower), Michael Hough (Game of Thrones, Damaged, Murdoch Mysteries), and Richard Coyle (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, The Fall).
[John] An island off the coast of Ireland, with bloodsucking aliens and mass citizen intoxication... stay drunk, stay alive. This was actually fantastic - a horror comedy. I’m hard to please when it comes to ‘funny’ but for this, I don’t have much more to say but that it was thoroughly enjoyable.
[Lana] This was quite good. I was laughing throughout.
14. Aura, 2018 - England
The cast includes Shane Taylor (Bad of Brothers, The Day of the Triffids), Rula Lenska (Coronation Street, Casualty), and Denise Moreno (Raw, My Life in Ruins).
[John] Kirlian Photography apparatus is found by a couple in their new house. They begin playing around with it and of course, they release ancient evil. This was not the worst movie we've seen but most certainly not the greatest.
[Lana] Honestly, I just love the fact that they were using Kirlian Photography in a movie. Could the movie have been better? Sure. It will still earn a thumbs up from me though, simply for using such unique equipment.
15. Lord of Tears, 2013 - Scotland - filmed at Ardgour House
The cast includes David Schofield (Gladiator, The Last Kingdom), Alexandra Hulme (The Devil's Machine), and Jamie Scott Gordon (The Unkindness of Ravens)
[John] There is cross-over actor involvement and style with The Unkindness of Ravens (Lord of Tears came first). Very much an indie art psychological horror. There is potential here - it is a good movie for what it is.
[Lana] I don’t know what it is about Scotland and birds… first crows, now owls. I enjoy it though.
16. Another Me, 2013 - Wales
The cast includes Sophie Turner (Game of Thrones), Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Vikings, The Tudors, Gormenghast), and Claire Forlani (Meet Joe Black, NCIS: Los Angeles).
[John] This is more of a teen thriller, but generally and all around, one of the better movies we watched in this theme. Not scary… twins in the womb, one survives - you can likely guess the rest.
[Lana] The talented cast went a long way in helping save this movie from being the disaster it could have been.
17. Urban Ghost Story, 1998 - Scotland
The cast includes Jason Connery (General Hospital, The Line), Stephanie Buttle (Silent Cry, Crimetime), Heather Ann Foster (Taggart, The Key), and James Cosmo (Braveheart, Highlander, Troy).
[John] A girl dies in a car accident but is revived by doctors - did something come back with her? This was... really not great.
[Lana] What do you mean? This was wonderful. You put it on, climb into bed when you are having trouble sleeping, and you will be dozing within minutes.
[John] So true. So very true.
18. Whistle & I'll Come to You, 1968 - England / UK
The cast includes Michael Hordern (Watership Down, Middlemarch, Paddington Bear) and Ambrose Coghill (Doctor Faustus, Canterbury Tales).
[John] A university professor blows a whistle and unleashes a Hell.
Okay, I had high hopes for this but I’m really not sure about it. It's a short film and I love old black and white films but this one felt like it was really taking a long time to get to the story and then it ended. I think it's worth the watch if you can find it and I don't know that I'd want to see the 2010 remake, but this was definitely not scary or creepy. It was different, though, so I'll give it points for that.
[Lana] I understand that, but not all of the movies we watch for Hallowe’en are actually horror movies. Although we do mostly pick horror movies, we have previously picked some that have just fit a “Hallowe’en” bill and not necessarily horror. The movies don’t all have to be scary.
[John] True dat. I think I just keep aching to find that movie that will get under my skin… because I am just that disturbed. I think what threw me off from this one was the effects, because even for the time period, they just seemed ridiculous.
[Lana] I really liked this one but maybe that is because I know its origin. The story is by famous ghost story writer M.R. James and nothing says Halloween more than ghost stories. Though, I must admit that it is an incredibly slow burn and the “special F/X” don’t exactly hold up in today’s landscape.
19. The Passing, 2015 - Wales
The cast includes Dyfan Dwyfor (Requiem, The Library Suicides), Annes Elwy (Little Women, Electric Dreams), and Mark Lewis Jones (Chernobyl, Carnival Row, Apostle, Gwen).
[John] A man lives in a remote area of Wales, as though time hasn't touched his property and technical advances haven't reached him. A young couple crashes their car near his home and he saves them and takes them in until they heal.
This was rough. I had a hard time with this one.
[Lana] This is a disturbing film for many reasons, none of which had anything to do with typical horror fare.
20. Apostle, 2018 - UK / Wales- filmed in Wales
The cast includes Dan Stevens (Legion, Downton Abbey), Richard Elfyn (Gwen, The Passing, Hinterland), and Paul Higgins (Line of Duty, Silent Witness).
[John] So... cults are bad. If you aren't sure about that, watch the gory vulgarity of this movie. This one had too much violence for me. I suppose it begs the question (again)... how far would you go to save your family? There was much of this film that I couldn't watch and still, the sounds alone were enough to make me feel seriously nauseated. If you can't handle gore and violence, steer clear of this one.
[Lana] They took this further in the blood and gore category than they really needed to (if you ever really need to take that route at all), because the story was so intriguing on its own. I am a fan of Dan Stevens’ acting when he plays a character who is slightly off-kilter.
21. Shed of the Dead, 2019 - England
The cast includes Kane Hodder (Friday the 13th), Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes 1977), and Bill Moseley (House of 1000 Corpses).
[John] Here, we have nerds and zombies. Not much more needs to be said. This was hilarious and gross… honestly - kind of fantastic.
[Lana] I liked it. I liked it. I liked it. This gave me Shaun of the Dead vibes, which is definitely a good thing.
22. Nails, 2017 - Ireland
The cast includes Shauna Macdonald (The Descent), Steve Wall (Vikings), and Leah McNamara (Vikings).
[John] A woman goes for a run and is hit by a car. The rest of the movie involves her recover in a creepy hospital where she uses a computer to speak. This movie was actually fairly decent until the end. Why do they do dumb things at the end to make these movies ridiculous?
[Lana] I started singing “I Believe I Can Fly” at the scene John is talking about. Too ridiculous.
23. A Dark Song, 2016/2017 - Ireland
The cast includes Steve Oram (Good Omens, Midsomer Murders, Altar) and Catherine Walker (Shetland).
[John] Another story about a woman aching to bring back someone she lost. She meets up with an unprofessional, supposed occultist and they perform a ritual to get what they each want. It doesn't go well. Also, the occultist? Well, he's a total jerk. This movie did nothing for me.
[Lana] Meh, it was okay. The concept was kind of interesting, to put oneself through all of that. It is somewhat how I imagine a real occult ritual may occur.
24. Without Name, 2016 - Ireland
The cast includes Alan McKenna (Happy Valley, Coronation Street, Midsomer Murders), Niamh Algar (Vikings), and James Browne (Vikings).
[John] Confused. I’m not entirely sure what happened here. Is it a haunted forest? Is the forest protecting itself? Are these drug-induced hallucinations? I could not figure it out.
[Lana] It was messed up. It gave me a headache.
[John] Yes... my eyes are still seeing flashing lights. Warning... if you experience seizures or migraines / are triggered by strobe lights / flashing lights, pass on this movie.
25. The Hallow, 2017 - Ireland
The cast includes Joseph Mawle (Game of Thrones, Ripper Street, Sense8), Bojana Novakovic (Edge of Darkness, Drag Me to Hell), and Michael McElhatton (Game of Thrones, The Fall, The Autopsy of Jane Doe).
[John] A young couple with a wee baby moves to a remote home in the woods... what could go wrong?
This was actually done fairly well and is different from the average, so I enjoyed it. There were some scenes I couldn't watch but I still felt it was a better movie than many of the others we watched.
[Lana] One of the nice things about watching these movies from the UK, and especially Ireland, is seeing their original interpretations of myths that have changed and softened over time. Faeries (not fairies, like Tinker Bell) were something to be feared and protected against.
26. Haunted, 1995 - England
The cast includes Aidan Quinn (Practical Magic, Benny & Joon, The Handmaid's Tale [original]), Kate Beckinsale (Underworld, Vacancy, Van Helsing), Anthony Andrews (The King's Speech, Brideshead Revisited, The Scarlet Pimpernel), and John Gielgud (Murder on the Orient Express, Julius Caesar, Gandhi).
[John] A professor lost his sister when they were children. Before she is buried, he had a moment of thinking he heard her and then he saw her corpse open her eyes. But, as an adult he tries to disprove the existence of ghosts and mediums. Of course, things happen…
What's real here? What is happening? WHAT IS WITH ALL THE INCEST IN THESE MOVIES?!?!?!?!?? Wow this was bad!
[Lana] I don't know. I just don't know. I expected better with this cast. Did I just expect too much going in? I didn’t know while we were watching that this was based on a book but I have been informed that it is quite good…maybe we should give it a try one day.
[John] You can go right ahead with that. I’m out.
27. The Company of Wolves, 1984 - England
The cast includes Sarah Patterson (Snow White), Angela Lansbury (The Manchurian Candidate, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Murder She Wrote), David Warner (Tron, The Alienist), and Stephen Rea (The Crying Game, V for Vendetta).
[John] The English countryside, a young woman, a dream, and wolves. Well, let's remind ourselves that this was the early 80's and dreams are weird. I don't know how old this girl is supposed to be, but she seems 12 or 13, yet the men she's encountering are much older and she is clearly experiencing desires... which, okay, but the men in the dream, and their actions… it all seems so wrong.
[Lana] It seemed, on the surface, like the film belongs in the family of classics like The Princess Bride, Labyrinth, and Legend, but is the black sheep of the family that didn’t get all the love and care the others did.
28. The Baylock Residence, 2019 - England
The cast include Kelly Goudie (Unholy), Sarah Wynne Kordas (Forbidden Fruit, Car Park), and Lindsay Foster (Castle Boulevard, Cry From the Heart).
[John] Estranged sisters, one dies and the other inherits the home, but something isn't right...
[Lana] Well, that was different.
[John] It was... um... yeah. That. Maybe it's just because we had watched so many at this point, but I really have nothing to say about this one.
[Lana] There is another movie out there about this place. It makes me want to watch it to compare them in the hope it may be better.
29. The Dark, 2005 - Wales
The cast includes Sean Bean (Game of Thrones, The Frankenstein Chronicles), Maria Bello (A History of Violence, Secret Window), Sophie Stuckey (The Woman in Black, Silent Witness), and Maurice Roëves (Macbeth, Judge Dredd, The Last of the Mohicans).
[John] Welsh lore leads a mother to trying to get her deceased daughter back. Not a bad movie... better than some we have watched.
[Lana] Nothing in this movie would ever have happened to me. As soon as I saw the cliffs where the husband lived, I would have been out of there. That is no place to raise a small child.
[John] Or go walking while the sheep are around…
30. Under the Skin, 2013 - Scotland
Scarlett Johansson (The Horse Whisperer, Lost in Translation, Avengers) ... essentially the only main actor.
[John] I'm just so confused. Not a bad movie... quite different, which made it more enjoyable but still... what was going on in this movie? Is she an alien murderer and the biker dudes are the cleaners? What is the alternate reality - or is it not an alternate reality? I honestly don’t know what to think about this one. I liked it but it confused me, but it was different and refreshing, but it confused me.
[Lana] I’m just picturing how they got ScarJo to be in this film… “So, we’ll pay you $3 mill for you to drive around in a van, pick up strangers, get naked, and feed those guys you seduce to your house.”
31. Byzantium, 2012 - Ireland
The cast includes Saoirse Ronan (Hanna, The Lovely Bones, Mary Queen of Scots), Gemma Arterton (Watership Down, Urban Myths, 100 Streets), Sam Riley (Control, Maleficent, On the Road), and Caleb Landry Jones (X-Men: First Class, Get Out, The Dead Don't Die).
[John] Revenants fighting to exist against the odds. This was an interesting story and maybe one of the better movies we watched, if only because the story had more to it and it had more character depth than others.
[Lana] I loved the contrast between the female leads in every aspect of their characters. It is also nearly impossible not to cheer on the relationship between Eleanor and Frank… they are just so darn lovable.
[John] Well friends… that was our 31 for 2019. I cannot believe this was our fifth go at 31 movies for Hallowe’en. We started this ridiculous endeavour in 2015 and Lana is insisting we continue for… well, in his mind there is no end. We certainly have enough theme ideas to keep us going for a while and we are already working on the plans for our 2020 installment. Not all of the movies we watch are scary, nor do they need to hold a thrill. Many are hilarious (intentionally or not) and some just - are there.
We’d love to hear from if you have watched any of these movies - or if you find them and watch them, let us know. And, while you hear from us a lot in the next year, still stay tuned to read about which 31 movies we watch for our 2020 Hallowe’en adventure. (I still can’t believe it’s already been a year since our last bout of Hallowe’en movie fever!)
Thanks for joining us on this fantastically strange journey! See you again soon!
