Hello there and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks a weekly series where you share your movie picks each Thursday. The rules are simple: based on the theme of the week pick three to five movies and tell us why you picked them. For further details and the schedule visit the series main page here.
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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Halloween Edition/Television Edition - Horror
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October 29 - Halloween/Television Edition: Horror 
Locke & Key (2020 - )
This, if you didn't know, is based on a graphic novel of the same name written by Joe Hill (Stephen King's son). I have been waiting for an adaptation of this since I read it a few years ago and there had been a pilot episode shot in 2011 that was never picked up for a full series. While overall I did enjoy this new adaptation, I thought the depiction of the supernatural stuff was pretty decent, season one is still a bit of a disappointment. The problem is that I remember the graphic novel to be much more sinister in tone and this adaptation is just too PG and YA-ish. I'm hoping they make the tone in the second season darker and not waste such a great horror premise.
Hey
it's October again and it's time for the Halloween
Edition. Take a look at what's in store for the rest of the month.
Last week of the Horror Edition and it's also the TV Edition. My picks today are the most recent horror TV series I've seen the past year.
True Blood (2008 -2014)
I had seen this back when it aired then had stopped until about season 3 or 4 and finally completed the series this year. Basically watched right from the start again. Overall I enjoyed it; it was a fun sexy horror dark comedy.
I had seen this back when it aired then had stopped until about season 3 or 4 and finally completed the series this year. Basically watched right from the start again. Overall I enjoyed it; it was a fun sexy horror dark comedy.
Castle Rock (2018 - )
If you like Stephen King adaptations I'd recommend this though this isn't really an adaptation. It's new stories based around characters and settings made famous in some of King's books. I prefer the second season, less confusing and it has a more identifiable character that the story features, which was a younger Annie from Misery.
If you like Stephen King adaptations I'd recommend this though this isn't really an adaptation. It's new stories based around characters and settings made famous in some of King's books. I prefer the second season, less confusing and it has a more identifiable character that the story features, which was a younger Annie from Misery.
Servant (2019 - )
I
really like this. It's basically about this couple whose baby died, I
think from SIDS, and with the wife unable to accept the death, the
family, upon a friend's advice decide to use a doll in place of the baby.
The wife proceeds to treat it like her baby, alive and well. The series
begins when the couple bring in a live-in nanny to care for the doll
baby when the wife ends her maternity leave and restarting her job, which brings the weird to a
whole new level. This series has such super creepy atmosphere and you
can't decide who to be afraid for more, the young nanny staying in a
household where one its members is suffering a mental illness, or
the couple who have opened their home to a stranger from unknown
origins. Locke & Key (2020 - )
This, if you didn't know, is based on a graphic novel of the same name written by Joe Hill (Stephen King's son). I have been waiting for an adaptation of this since I read it a few years ago and there had been a pilot episode shot in 2011 that was never picked up for a full series. While overall I did enjoy this new adaptation, I thought the depiction of the supernatural stuff was pretty decent, season one is still a bit of a disappointment. The problem is that I remember the graphic novel to be much more sinister in tone and this adaptation is just too PG and YA-ish. I'm hoping they make the tone in the second season darker and not waste such a great horror premise.
The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020 - )
This is from the team that brought The Haunting of Hill House. This time it's an adaptation of The Turn of the Screw. Like the other series, this too was a slow burn, it only really started to get good for me from episode 5 (just like on Hill House) where things start to make a lot of sense and we begin to see the connections. While not as great as Hill House, Bly Manor was still good and features some similar things like: a lot of jumps between past and present, characters who aren't fully aware of their being, a character self sacrificing to appease the restless and it is similarly more sad tragic horror rather than jump scares horror. Now I'm eagerly anticipating what other literary house this anthology is going to tackle. Some have speculated it's the Eel Marsh House from Susan Hill's The Woman in Black which I am so for, that house is creepy. Another literary house I think would be interesting is Hundreds Hall from Sarah Water's The Little Stranger.
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Every year around this time of year I swear I'm going to start True Blood and I never get round to it. I've heard such great things about it, though.
ReplyDeleteWell it did take me about 8 years from the season I stopped watching before picking it up again and completing the series :).
DeleteLocke and Key has been on my to-watch list for ages but I really want to tackle the graphic novel first. I read some of Joe Hill's other works and quite enjoyed them, so I'm confidend I'll love this too.
ReplyDeleteLocke and Key is the only one of his works I've read and only the first volume. I definitely recommend reading it before watching the TV series.
DeleteI loved season 1-4 of True Blood. Such a great show. The Servant is one I plan on watching too, and I just finished Bly Manor. That was pretty good.
ReplyDeleteServant season 2 is coming early next year I think. You can just wait and binge it all then.
DeleteI might see the first 2 because they sound the best to me. I can’t watch a film about someone who lost a baby to SIDS. A dear fr8end of mine lost her baby at 9. Months. I held him and she was so happy. When he died, it was devastating. She now has 2 healthy girls but I couldn’t watch that one you mentioned because of this.
ReplyDeleteSIDS is so tragic especially as the cause is unknown, so how to prevent it is unclear.
DeleteI have seen True Blood almost fully and then Locke and Key too. Others I have heard of (except The Servant) and am trying to watch soon. I didn't enjoy Locke and Key at all, I thought it was indeed too PG. I waited for something a lot scarier.
ReplyDeleteServant is on Apple TV, I suppose it was overshadowed by The Morning Show.
DeleteThe Haunting of Bly Manor is the only I've seen and I loved it. It made me cry too much though.
ReplyDeleteI like Bly Manor but I love Hill House so it was more emotional for me.
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