Thursday Movie Picks - TV Edition: Horror
How have we already reached the final Halloween theme from the month? Wandering Through The Shelves always finishes her months with TV picks, so our final spooky pick is TV shows centered around horror. This category is hard not to reuse old picks because I've only watched so many TV shows about horror, but thankfully this past month I actually watched three new shows that all fall into this category.
1) What We Do in the Shadows - About the daily lives of a group of vampires in Staten Island. I have no idea why it took me so long to get into this FX show but I love it. I prefer it to the movie version and every single episode makes me laugh my ass off. The episodes stream next day on Hulu if you don't have cable, and I highly recommend it.
2) Squid Game - A group of people in debt are given the chance to play children's games to win a large sum of money, only losing will mean sudden death. Like everyone else on the internet, this Netflix series pulled me in, but the ending is beyond annoying. It doesn't ruin everything that came before, which is very good and very horrific, but it wasn't my favorite.
3) Midnight Mass - A priest in a small island town is suddenly making miracles happen, but for what price? This 6 part mini series on Netflix is a very slow burn, but one I found fascinating...until the last episode when stupidity takes center stage and the film ends on a really uncomfortable note from a disabled character that just felt..wrong. I still think it's worth the watch, but I just didn't love the ending.
I have not heard of Squid or your last pick but I so want to see your first pick...the movie and the series. It looks hilarious.
ReplyDeleteThat's impressive that you've managed to avoid Squid Games on the internet. It's everywhere for me.
DeleteI've been thinking about watching Squid Game as the premise itself is interesting but I ended up discovering Ted Lasso and I just fell in love with that show as I am so eager for season 3 as I hope Ted, Rebecca, and the rest of the AC Richmond club beat the shit of Nate, Rupert, and West Ham not just with skills but also with kindness. Football is life.
ReplyDeleteTed Lasso is my favorite thing on TV right now. Love it!
DeleteEven if Midnight Mass is my third favorite Mike Flanagan show, I'm really happy to see it on your list!
ReplyDeleteAs for Squid Game and What We Do In the Shadows, I've yet to watch either of them. I have heard nothing but praise for them though!
They're very good! I liked Midnight Mass, I just thought it could've used better writing for the finale. There was a lot of stupidity. lol
DeleteI've heard of your first but haven't seen any of these. Actually the last one sparks my interest the most. I don't have Netflix but maybe some day I'll catch up with it.
ReplyDeleteOof am I glad to see the back of these themes! I'm just not enough of a horror fan to come up with picks easily. This time I went with a theme within the theme. Since a continuing horror story isn't something I gravitate toward, I did try American Horror Story because of Jessica Lange (and later Kathy Bates) but it was just too ghoulish and graphic, I went with three anthologies that I watched from time to time. Their major claim to fame is the amount of famous faces (both current and future) that appeared in all of them.
Hammer House of Horror (1980)-British anthology series created by Hammer Films consisting of thirteen hour-long episodes featuring various kinds of horror-witches, werewolves, ghosts, devil-worship, voodoo etc. The stories were populated with some of the leading performers in England at the time-Peter Cushing, Denholm Elliott, Diana Dors-as well as future stars like Pierce Brosnan who were just starting out.
Circle of Fear aka Ghost Story (1972-73)-Similar in construction to House of Horror but produced in America offered tales of the supernatural horror with an astonishing list of talent-Jodie Foster, Gena Rowlands, Jason Robards, Patty Duke, Patricia Neal, Tyne Daly, Helen Hayes etc. every week.
Thriller (1960-62)-Anthology series hosted by Boris Karloff originally was conceived more in the mystery/thriller vein of Alfred Hitchcock Presents but moved more towards Gothic horror shortly after its debut. Again, the cast list is packed with future stars-Mary Tyler Moore, Elizabeth Montgomery, William Shatner, Leslie Nielsen and Cloris Leachman to name only a few.
I think of these three you'd probably enjoy Midnight Mass the most too. I enjoyed it until that last episode. I haven't seen any of your picks this week! They're all new to me.
DeleteMidnight Mass is new to me but excellent choices with Squid Game and What We Do in the Shadows. I LOVED the film and have watched a few episodes of the TV series. I'll get around to watching the remaining eps I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the film too but the characters in the show are so much more interesting for me. I hope you like it!
DeleteI can't believe I didn't remember What We Do In The Shadows for my list. I'm soooo behind on the latest season. Not sure I'll check out the other two but they sound interesting.
ReplyDeleteSince I binged everything it all kind of ran together for me, but I liked it!
DeleteI have seen an episode or two of What We Do in the Shadows...it isn't for me. Would still like to see the movie.
ReplyDeleteMidnight Mass - what did the disabled character do?...I've forgotten.
I felt weird about the show curing her disability, then ending the show on her getting it back..it felt strange.
Delete