The Foxy Film Fan

The Paranormal Activity  series has become infamous for its routine of constant jumpscares and its title has become somewhat synonymous with lazy popular horror which people will line up to see year after year on opening night. Admittedly, I am not a big fan of the series in terms of its convoluted storyline and difficulty with upholding simple historical accuracy in films and sequences which flash back to previous decades. However, bearing all of that in mind, I do firmly believe that Paranormal Activity (particularly the first film in the series) is extremely important to the horror genre as a whole, even with its glaring flaws and reliance on jumpscares, simply due to the fact that it made horror films something that were easily accessible and easy to create for those who initially believed they might not have the budget for it. Prior to Paranormal Activity  perhaps the most notable cheap horror movie was The Blair Witch Project  a film which might be unnerving on its first v

I, like so many others, was skeptical when I heard news of the new M. Night Shyamalan film. For years he’s been disappointing film goers of all kinds, and with the release of the likes of The Last Airbender it became questionable who his target audience even was anymore. It almost began to seem as though he had lost sight of who he was, as though he wasn’t even the same director responsible for classics like The Sixth Sense . The announcement of Split failed to excite me, and though the premise seemed fascinating I refused to get my hopes up, especially with a trailer that provided enough room for one to imagine the film hastily devolving into another laughably bad mess like The Visit did. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case. In fact, Split was so good that there were many instances in which I had to remind myself that I was in fact watching a film by the same man who made After Earth and The Happening . The premise to Split is simple and not unlike that of an episode of

In a genre filled with quick cuts and constant jump scares, The Babadook offers the exact opposite. Focusing on a grieving widow who is struggling to raise her son alone after the loss of her husband, The Babadook  gives a more sincere and heartfelt look into the horror genre than most other films. In fact, one might even say that it offers love and empathy and is straining to comfort its viewers despite the horrific themes and occurrences which take place in its one hour and thirty-five minute runtime. Of course, that isn't to say that the film isn't absolutely terrifying in the instances that it needs to be, while viewers watch the son and mother duo screech and dodge attacks from the terrifying Babadook, a twitching eerie tophat wearing monster lifted from the pages of a horrific children's book which has decided to latch on to and torture this particular family. The film is decent, and I'll admit that the main reason I am so attached to it and adore it so muc

Starring the always fantastic  (and often eerie) Tilda Swinton, "We Need to Talk About Kevin" is a phenomenal film based on an equally fantastic novel which presents the difficulty of raising an out of hand child from the perspective of the mother, who sees a terrifying darkness and lack of empathy within her own son which she fears she cannot do anything about. Ezra Miller is wonderful in his portrayal of a teenager brimming with rage and hatred toward the world around him, though one must suspend their disbelief at the notion of him being the son of Tilda Swinton and John C. Riley. Questionable genetics aside, his brooding and angsty performance is almost too good, and it's expertly paired with the sort of haughty arrogance found in most troubled teens. Though the film is a slow burn and stumbles awkwardly through its pacing at time, the movie's narrative is greatly assisted in its frequent usage of flashbacks and flash forwards, which meld together to create

Embers (2015) Taking place in a post apocalyptic world in which a disease which makes creating and maintaining memories impossible, Embers  offers a glimpse into the lives of several different people who have their own ways of grappling with the harsh world in which they have no way of knowing who the people around them are. Interspersed between these glimpses into the lives of those too poor to afford a way to escape the disease, we are offered a look at the empty life of a young woman who lives in a shelter with her father, untouched by the disease but horribly bored with nothing to do but test her memory time and time again. With its fascinating premise, beautiful and meticulous camera shots, and slow atmospheric soundtrack, I really wanted to like Embers . Unfortunately, Embers  failed to hold my attention throughout the course of the film, as it wavered awkwardly from scenario to scenario and fell into the trap of repetition as married couples forget one another and give ea

A Series of Unfortunate Events (2017) Like many other people in their twenties I spent my adolescence eagerly devouring the books within the grim and gothic Series of Unfortunate Events , I was among the first to watch the Jim Carrey adaptation of the film, and naturally I binge watched the entire Netflix series in one sitting. Regardless of the interpretation, I adore the aesthetic, dark humor, and grim yet educational dialogue which shows children that it's alright to be a little eccentric and asks them to embrace their strangeness without shame because its what makes them unique individuals. One could even say that in a strange way it's almost a John Waters and Tim Burton collaboration for children, which makes for media that is absolutely delightful whether it takes the form of a book series, a film, or a Netflix adaptation. The Netflix adaptation of A Series of Unfortunate Events  is perhaps even more true to the dark nature of the series than the previous film ha

Starry Eyes (2014) The subject of fame is one often tackled in cinema, partially due to the fact that filmmakers and screenwriters are encouraged to write about subjects which they feel they have a decent understanding of. This leads to a wide variety of films all tackling the subject of fame in some way, but rarely do they aim to do so in a horror setting. Typically, audiences are rooting for someone's quest for fame in a comedy, romance, or drama. In the case of Starry Eyes, audience members are left conflicted as our protagonist goes to increasingly dangerous and drastic lengths as the promise of stardom is dangled in front of her face, forever pushing her to go further and further beyond her moral limits in some vain effort at achieving her dreams. Its a premise we've seen time and time again, typically under the guise of romantic comedies or a heart wrenching drama. Unfortunately for our protagonist, she's not in a comedy where she'll meet up with her future

Horror is a genre I hold near and dear to my heart. It's a genre of filmmaking which I believe is extraordinarily deep and explores parts of the human psyche which other genres of art refuse to delve into. Fear is one of humanity's most primitive and instinctual responses, and horror aims to tap into that sensation. However, keeping that in mind I cannot simply neglect to even acknowledge the ugly aspects of horror which people tend to think of when the genre is mentioned; the Hostels, Saw Vs, and Human Centipedes of the genre. After all, there's no smoke without fire, and if the hideous "torture porn" subgenre of horror can't be described as a raging dumpster fire, then I'm not sure what can be. I would, however, like to briefly condemn the use of phrases such as "torture porn." While there are quite a few movies in the horror genre which spend a sickening amount of time focusing on gore and torture, to compare them to pornography demean

People often lapse into claims that horror has been reduced to a bloody and disgusting genre which lacks the depth and beauty of classics like those which were made by Alfred Hitchcock. However, this is hardly the case, and I encourage those of you who feel this way about horror to simply will yourself to dig a little deeper into the genre and truly explore how poignant and beautiful horror can be. Bearing that in mind, here are five modern horror movies which should inspire you to understand that horror is still so much more than blood and guts. 5. The Others A beautiful mood-driven film in which Nicole Kidman lives in an enormous home with her two children, who are both ill and will be harmed if allowed into the sunlight. Slowly, the claustrophobia of being locked away in the darkness begins to weigh on her, though the film refrains from any sort of outlandish responses and instead continues to slowly unravel as we witness a loving mother gradually lose her sanity while still

Patriots Day (2016) Patriots Day  is a new release starring Mark Wahlberg, J.K. Simmons, John Goodman, and Kevin Bacon. It centers around the bombing of the Boston Marathon in 2013, and frankly, it's a film which I will be avoiding this year. Before you roll your eyes and accuse me of censoring art or of being too sensitive, allow me to elaborate on why I won't be viewing Patriots Day  and why I avoid other similar films. While there are certain disaster films which explore tragedies in human history from a historical standpoint (such as the abundance of fantastic films centering around the holocaust), these films often focus on the light at the end of the tunnel, they make themselves about the heroes who helped and about the victory over those who caused such horrendous events. Films about events such as September 11th on the other hand seem to do nothing but monetize off of a horrible event without attempting to offer much else in terms of content. They expect people

Why Him? (2016) Perhaps my first mistake with the new comedy Why Him? was going into it with any sort of expectations at all. I've been a fan of Bryan Cranston ever since seeing him as the goofy father in Malcolm in the Middle  and I've always admired his abilities as a serious actor and as a comedic one. Bearing that in mind, I suppose I unintentionally found myself with moderately high expectations when going into this movie. Not necessarily high expectations, but certainly not expectations that were as low as they probably should have been. First and foremost, allow me to offer this piece of advice: if you laughed during the trailer you will probably laugh during the movie, most likely at the scenes you laughed at during the trailer, because those are essentially all of the big comedic moments of the film. If you didn't laugh during the trailer, then you're simply going to find yourself bored and wondering why you thought seeing this movie was a good idea. T

Fences (2016) Featuring phenomenal performances from Viola Davis and Denzel Washington, Fences  is a beautiful and oftentimes frighteningly realistic depiction of a man forever unhappy with himself. Through the poignant and deep script, adapted from the play of the same name written by August Wilson, Fences  shows how the selfish and cruel actions of one man can tear apart his life as well as the lives of those around him, including those who he claims to love. Admittedly, Fences  is not an easy film to watch, there is almost no music at all and its dialogue driven nature can sometimes make one feel as though they have been forced to sit in silence and watch a family tear itself apart from the inside out - all because of the emotionally and psychologically abusive head of the household. The writing of the film is phenomenal, effectively transferring the fantastic dialogue of the play to the big screen, however dialogue is mostly all that the film has to offer. In fact, before

As we make our way into the new year and 2016's teaser trailers for the releases of 2017 come closer to being actual films, it's time to start preparing for the big releases of this year. Here are the films which, based on their trailers, I am personally excited to see this year, in order from least to greatest. Hopefully these films prove to be as phenomenal as their trailers promise, and aren't just the product of some clever editing and captivating music. Also, please note that there are plenty of other films I am looking forward to, these are just the ones which I'll definitely be viewing on their opening release date. Alien: Covenant The grotesque yet beautiful art of H.R. Giger has endlessly fascinated me; it's a sort of repulsive combination of science fiction with twisted horror elements, a melding of man and machine, and Alien: Covenant  seems to visually carry on this spirit as another predecessor of the original (and phenomenal) Alien  film.