Sydney the Beautiful, Sydney from THE EYE (2008)

It was a regular day in January when we watched on Netflix THE EYE (2008), that is the American remake, not the original from Hong Kong. I knew of the original version, and I also knew of the remake but had not watched either of them, so that particular day in January seemed like a good day as any to fix that.

I am not going to lie, I was immediately engrossed in the story thanks to—oh god, I can’t believe I am going to say this—thanks to Jessica Alba. That woman was so beautiful to watch. I am sorry feminists everywhere, I have failed you… anywhohow, Jessica Alba aka Sydney’s looks is what made the movie for me.

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Yeah yeah, the whole cornea transplant/ability to see Death sounded cool on its own, but when you add to the mix a very cute Sydney, who happens to have an enviable life (hello fancy job, fancy apartment, fancy neighborhood), who is going thru some pretty amazing experiences (hello creepy black shadows, creepy mutating rooms, creepy visions of fire), well, that is how you make a goddamn good gripping story.

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

The scene with the photograph when Sydney realizes—thus us at the same time with her, AH!—that the reflection she sees on the mirror is not her own, that’s when she 1) completely loses it (she was already messed up at this point), and 2) gets the validation she was looking for (no one believed her she was “seeing things”, not even her Doctor friend). This photograph vs. mirror incident is what finally triggered sympathy from the Doctor friend who, thanks to his very questionable ethics, gives the cornea donor info to her so they can go visit the family and can get some answers. The donor was a Mexican woman who, Ay Dios Mio, was believed to be a Bruja!

This is when things got a bit cheesy for me and I was serving major eye rolls, I mean…

Well, after the whole Bruja situation gets resolved and we move towards the end of the film, that’s when the story started to pick up steam again because (surprise!) there is going to be a big (huge!) tragedy where dozens of people are going to die in an accident but (oh yes!) beautiful Sydney is going to save all of them thanks to her ability to see the black creepy shadows. So yeah, this last scene was cool but would have been cooler had it not ended the way it did; you guessed it, no one died, that was in total contrast to the original version, but hey, I am not going to talk about the original version just yet ;)

And this is how the movie ends, Sydney loses her sight yet again due to the before mentioned accident where no one died but where some exploding glass got into her eyes. But worry not, Sydney is not only beautiful but also resilient and bounces right back into her old normal. Yep, Sydney and everyone around her had a happy ending, including myself double wink ;) ew I’m gross.

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See you very soon,

- Marath

© 2016-2019

Yes to YAZ! – Queen of the Damned (2002)

Hello horror family. I hope things are going well on your side of the world. Me? I cannot complain, my personal life is good, work life is good, but, do you know what, my horror life could use a little love right now, so let’s do just that, shall we?

Today I would like to talk about Queen of the Damned (2002) and the reasons why I enjoy watching it over and over again, but first, I would like to quickly go down memory lane and reminisce about the day I watched it for the first time at the movie theater. I was in college, admittedly more focused on my social life than on academics, I remember going to the screening alone for some reason, absorbing every second of the experience since I was already a hardcore Anne Rice fan, curious as to how they were going to successfully adapt my favorite book of the Vampire Chronicles, a book which, by the way, seventeen years later still remains as one of my favorites from the entire collection (13 books and counting). I too remember the shock after realizing that Jonathan Davis from KoRn lent his voice for all the songs (the man even had a cameo appearance as a scalper for Lestat’s concert), which I remember finding both amazing and disorienting since his band was kind of a big deal for me at the time and my brain could not process what was happening in front of my eyes: favorite nu metal band, favorite fiction author, favorite book of the series, compelling Vampire characters, great soundtrack (Deftones, Static-X, Ticky, etc.), plus the great original score and songs from Davis, all of it together on film in an almost obscene display for my eyes and ears.

Wow, I hadn’t thought about that day in ages. Do you do this? Reliving vividly special past events? I see it as a gift and a curse, luckily, today it was the former.

Okay, so now that I have stablished how special the movie was for me, I would like to jump in and give you my Yes to YAZ! list of my top 5 characters/elements in Queen of the Damned. Here we go!

5. Lestat: I liked the fact that stylistically they chose to make him a brunette as I believe that added to the bad boy, rockstar sex appeal. Perfect hair? Check. Pale skin? Check. Slim body? Check. Tight jeans? Check. Sexual voice when speaking? Check. Extra sexual voice when singing? (Thank you again, Jonathan Davis.) Check. Commanding, intimidating presence? Check and check!

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This was by far my favorite musical performance:

4. Flashbacks: The movie took elements from book 2 and book 3 (Lestat the Vampire, Queen of the Damned, respectively) of the Vampire Chronicles and at the same time took creative liberties as one would expect from a Hollywood adaptation (Magnus turned Lestat into a vampire, not Marius, just saying), yet the film worked just fine and unless you were an Anne Rice fan you would have never noticed the inaccuracies. I really appreciated going back in time and seeing all the period wardrobe and a “young” Lestat being mischievous as a brand new vampire.

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3. Jesse: Not her looks, but the character’s choices reminded of me. Crazy? Yes. Does anyone care? No, no one does.

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2. Marius: Strangely enough, I found myself responding more to him than to Lestat… there was something so incredibly attractive about Marius… also, paintings.

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1. Queen Akasha: No explanation needed, I mean, just look at her!

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Seriously, the ending of this seductive and destructive dance scene was, in my humble opinion, the money shot of the entire movie:

Okay my horror friend, this is it for now.

In Love and Fear,

- Marath

© 2016-2019

Wow, Whoa – A GHOST STORY (2017)

Original Post Date: 01.08.19

Hello! Happy New Year! 2019 is here and so am I. Let’s talk movies, shall we? (keeping this one short and sweet) 

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Have you watched A Ghost Story (2017)? Yes, the main character is a ghost, but no, it is not a horror movie. Regardless, I enjoyed it a lot (omg the ending!) and was inspired by the amazing cinematography, I mean, I liked it so much that I was “Wow-ing” and “Whoa-ing” all throughout the film due to its powerful visuals. Don’t believe me? Just take a quick look:

Like I said, whoa! (and short and sweet, bye)

- Marath

© 2016-2019