This is one of the earliest horror movies I ever watched and for sure one of my favorites back in the day because it was based on a true story. However, watching it this time, I see where it is really a story of a story and it is "Inspired" by, not based on a true story.
Take that and add in the monumental performance from Lily-Rose Depp and you have an almost masterpiece. The way she moves her body and changes her voice you can see is real without much enhancement or any at all. The transition from her character to the possessed is incredible.
One of the issues that I really felt was off was a scene where Carrie lifts a bunch of furniture and her Mom when arguing about the dress. All the items come slamming down. There is a bunch of noise in the sound design, but a stack of coasters are perfectly nestled together after a 6-foot drop
I want to know more about the house. I am curious if it was more contingencies that allowed for the final event, or if that was really the plan. They say it is the plan, but it feels weird to force yourself to be a cat-in-the-corner rather than the aggressor on home ground. Granted he never dies
Part of that question really comes from the performance of Willem Defoe. He looks like Captain Ahab from Moby Dick and sounds like it too. Combine this to the writing and language choices, you have this poetry in the presentation. There are times of meta jokes as well
This version of the story spends so much extra time on everything. Slow walks through the hallways. Indecisions on what to do. How to search for something in the library. Her doodling in her notebook and the way people stare at her. Everything just feels like it took too long.
I think why this movie series has done a bit better than others consistently is there is some historical reference. Believe what you will, but Ed and Lorraine are real people. They claim to have been hunting and exorcising ghost/demons since the 60s
So the story is ok. There is a good mystery the holds on for about half the movie, and then the second half is more of action. However, the action is punctuated by this weird explosive body thing that just keeps happening, and I am not sure how I feel about it.
Can we talk about how a 1999 movie caused more physical fear than anything I have watched in years? Not because of the trees falling or the tents flying in the air, but because the claustrophobia. Oh my goodness that is such a good scene in the tunnel. And Heather Donahue is fantastic
This is a cosmic horror, that is light on horror and heavy on mysterious thrills. There are for sure some well crafted and scary initially, they either last too long or you get too much time to see what is happening to worry about it.
This though, might be his best work. I can see the conflict in his eyes as he progresses through the movie and there is a time near the end where he is confronted with having alcohol, he has been 8 years sober, and you can see the fight. That is acting. Rebecca Ferguson is good, and has a dope hat
The fact that this is Jordan Peele has always surprised me. It was even more so in 2017 when this came out and we all knew him as the comedian. Now, we have this movie plus Us and Nope, maybe more, that we attribute to his outstanding horror filmography.