May '20
Seeing as this guy has so much material, I still haven't seen all of his movies, so I sought out a few titles I haven't seen.
Hearts in Atlantis (2001) - This has quite a few Stephen King tropes in it, which is never a bad thing. It's a period piece primarily set in the late 60s and deals with a lot of childhood stuff in a Connecticut suburb. David Morse plays the modern day character reflecting on this youthful self played by a tiny Anton Yelchin living with his selfish somewhat of a bitch mother. They rent out a room in their house to a gentleman named Ted, played by the hypnotic Anthony Hopkins, who befriends the boy and has a second sight about a lot of things. He tries to keep his presence hidden from certain figures, and you can take a guess as to whether that works out for him.
You don't hear a lot about this movie, but it was pretty good. It's somewhat of an innocent summer children at play story about working for pennies, saving up for bicycles, falling in love, and dealing with bullies. It's not a horror story, which is why it may be overlooked by some, but it's rather good.
Apt Pupil (1998) - Tragic angsty teen idol Brad Renfro is a high school student in 1984 with a fixation on Nazi history. When he spots an aging ex-Nazi played by Ian McKellen in his city, he finds out where he lives and gets right into blackmailing him for horror stories about his war crimes.
Ian doesn't want to dwell on these things he isn't proud of, but the kid keeps pushing and forcing his hand until the two are regularly hanging out. They both seem to hate each other, but they spend a lot of time together. Too much time, it seems. The kid's grades suffer, forcing him to focus on school instead of old war talk, but he wont have it. He keeps on pestering the old Nazi until shit gets dark, re-awakening his Nazi sentiments and turning the kid into a real asshole.
Yesterday was an ideal time to give this one a watch because it was Ian McKellen's 81st birthday. The movie was directed by Bryan Singer and featured Bruce Davison, which makes it an interesting buildup to all three of them collaborating on the first X-Men movie two years later.
Dolores Claiborne (1995) - Kathy Bates is mostly known for her character of Annie Wilkes in Misery, but she also did a decent job in this story about an older woman accused of killing the sickly old woman she was taking care of. She isn't arrested for it, but a joyously smug detective keeps her on a short leash while he gathers evidence to convict her as she reflects on the incident, her job as a housemaid, her strained relationship with her daughter (Jennifer Jason Leigh), and her abusive drunken husband.
What I found interesting about this is some blatant parallels to his other story Gerald's Game. Both of these novels were written in 1992 and featured eclipses that coincided with child molestation plots.
Being set in Maine, she makes mention of sending someone to Shawshank, and those little bits are always fun to look out for. Back then, Castle Rock Entertainment was kind of a big deal, but I don't see as much out of them as I used to.
None of these are quite horror, but some of them have a few of the necessary vibes to them. I think my favorite of the bunch was Hearts in Atlantis, with the other two tied.
Hearts in Atlantis (2001) - This has quite a few Stephen King tropes in it, which is never a bad thing. It's a period piece primarily set in the late 60s and deals with a lot of childhood stuff in a Connecticut suburb. David Morse plays the modern day character reflecting on this youthful self played by a tiny Anton Yelchin living with his selfish somewhat of a bitch mother. They rent out a room in their house to a gentleman named Ted, played by the hypnotic Anthony Hopkins, who befriends the boy and has a second sight about a lot of things. He tries to keep his presence hidden from certain figures, and you can take a guess as to whether that works out for him.
You don't hear a lot about this movie, but it was pretty good. It's somewhat of an innocent summer children at play story about working for pennies, saving up for bicycles, falling in love, and dealing with bullies. It's not a horror story, which is why it may be overlooked by some, but it's rather good.
Apt Pupil (1998) - Tragic angsty teen idol Brad Renfro is a high school student in 1984 with a fixation on Nazi history. When he spots an aging ex-Nazi played by Ian McKellen in his city, he finds out where he lives and gets right into blackmailing him for horror stories about his war crimes.
Ian doesn't want to dwell on these things he isn't proud of, but the kid keeps pushing and forcing his hand until the two are regularly hanging out. They both seem to hate each other, but they spend a lot of time together. Too much time, it seems. The kid's grades suffer, forcing him to focus on school instead of old war talk, but he wont have it. He keeps on pestering the old Nazi until shit gets dark, re-awakening his Nazi sentiments and turning the kid into a real asshole.
Yesterday was an ideal time to give this one a watch because it was Ian McKellen's 81st birthday. The movie was directed by Bryan Singer and featured Bruce Davison, which makes it an interesting buildup to all three of them collaborating on the first X-Men movie two years later.
Dolores Claiborne (1995) - Kathy Bates is mostly known for her character of Annie Wilkes in Misery, but she also did a decent job in this story about an older woman accused of killing the sickly old woman she was taking care of. She isn't arrested for it, but a joyously smug detective keeps her on a short leash while he gathers evidence to convict her as she reflects on the incident, her job as a housemaid, her strained relationship with her daughter (Jennifer Jason Leigh), and her abusive drunken husband.
What I found interesting about this is some blatant parallels to his other story Gerald's Game. Both of these novels were written in 1992 and featured eclipses that coincided with child molestation plots.
Being set in Maine, she makes mention of sending someone to Shawshank, and those little bits are always fun to look out for. Back then, Castle Rock Entertainment was kind of a big deal, but I don't see as much out of them as I used to.
None of these are quite horror, but some of them have a few of the necessary vibes to them. I think my favorite of the bunch was Hearts in Atlantis, with the other two tied.
1418 views
