The Purge (2013)

Like most of the people I know, I was expecting something more from "The Purge". Unlike the other home invasion horror films that have been recently made, such as "You're Next" and "The Strangers", the audience is given the reason why the killing and violence are about to happen. That doesn't say that there aren't any sudden twists of reveals in "The Purge", only that the characters know ahead of time that the violence is coming or is at least possible. So why did "The Purge" fail to live up to expectations? For me, the movie felt more like an action flick than a horror film. There's little reason to be scared when the victims know why they're being scared, knowing full well that the killers are not insane.


The annual Purge is about to commence, a patriotic holiday of sorts where the American population is allowed to commit murder, rape, and assault on anyone they like, except for high ranking government officials. The Sandin family is your typical well-to-do family unit, with father James as the bread winner, earning his wealth by selling the very security systems that is going to keep his family safe. He has a beautiful and caring wife, Mary, a teenage daughter, Zoey, who is seeing a boy too old for her, and a tween son, Charlie, who doesn't agree with the meaning behind the Purge. It's because of Charlie that the Sandin family becomes involved with a group of Purgers after Charlie opens the security doors and lets an unknown man into their home after he begged for help. It's only a matter of time before the Purgers force their way in and try to Purge the world of their chosen target as well as the Sandin family.

Daybreakers (2009)

“Daybreakers” was a great idea that turned into an ok movie. While it has some “meh” moments in the plot such as how Willem Dafoe’s character is cured from his vampirism, I do appreciate the side effects of what happens to a vampire when they don’t drink fresh human blood after a while. Turning into an animalistic killing machine is pretty cool and makes sense in addition to being awesome to watch and a great motivator to solve the vampire society’s most pressing issue. Besides some weak story choices, “Daybreakers” does offer a cast of known actors such as Ethan Hawke, Sam Neill, and Willem Dafoe to keep us entertained.

In 2019, most everyone has become a vampire and the human blood supply is quickly running out. If you don’t drink your blood, you’ll eventually turn into a mindless beast that kills anything and everything you see, so the vampire boss types want to find a cure as quickly as possible. Edward is a scientist who is working on finding a cure but falls into the wrong crowd, normal humans, and finds a cure that he was not expecting. Now cured but human, Edward is in a world of trouble and is being hunted down by his boss because becoming human and losing your vampire powers was not the objective!

Favorite moment – Sam Neill being creepy as the vampire boss, trying to have as much fun with the role as he can.

"I can be a vampire and look all pensive like Brad Pitt too!"

Sinister (2012)

"Sinister" was my favorite horror movie that I saw in the theaters last year. I was hooked and enthralled from the very beginning and up to the last 15 or so minutes. When the big reveal came as to why and not who the killer was, I was sadly disappointed. I was really hoping for any other reason than for the one that was given. In my opinion a secret cult would have been the most awesome explanation. But when I noticed that the dates of the murders were at times too close for a mentor/victim relationship to occur, I knew that my hopes were dashed. But this is still an awesome movie with its storyline, spooky home movies, and decent cast. 

Ellison Oswalt is a true crime novelist who is struggling to write his next big hit. He moves his family into the house where a gruesome murder took place and doesn't tell his wife about it. He soon finds a box full of Super 8 home movies that contain graphic murder scenes including the one that happened at his new home. He becomes obsessed with finding out who filmed the movies, hoping that he can solve the murders and gain the fame (and fortune) that would come from it. Unfortunately it only leads him and his family further down a dark and dangerous.

Favorite moment - there is a scene that was very beautiful in the way that it was timed. Ellison (played by Ethan Hawke) is walking through his house, surrounded by the ghost/spirits of children. They move out of his sight just at the right time, running around him and simply being creepy.