January: The Dump Month

Henry James is most remembered for his popular short story Turn of the Screw, which was recently made into a movie (again). Even though I simply do not vibe with Stranger Things, I do try to see everything Finn Wolfhard is in because I do like him as an actor. Also, his hair looks like my sons, so that's pretty cool. I felt Finn was very creepy in the movie. I think he did a good job, and if anyone is criticizing it, they missed the point. I also love universal Studios and I always want to give them the benefit of the doubt no matter what when it comes to horror.
With that being said, I did not expect The Turning to be good. It's not that the base material is not good, it's not that I think anyone involved with making the movie is incompetent. The only good thing to come out in January, is me. Capricorn gang rise up. In all seriousness, January is notoriously considered the "dump" month for movies studios don't expect to do very well. There are a lot of reasons why including it being too cold in the midwest part of America, Chinese New Year, and everyone revisiting Oscar nominated movies instead.
The Turning is a story that I do like, and I think it was a pretty fair adaptation. I thought the movie was stylistically pretty, but I wish that they used more cross dissolves in the film. The Innocents is another movie based on the original novella and it's remembered for the cross dissolves and I think they kind of add "credence" to this being more than a haunting. It's a psychological horror. And that's
"the point" I think a lot of people missed when they talk about Wolfhard's portrayal of Miles
I hate to be one of those people that are like "you have to be *smart* to understand the movie", but I really did like the ambiguity of the ending of the short story The Turn of the Screw and I feel like movie adaptations fail to get that across. I feel like there is opportunity for a version of The Turn of the Screw to be in the same discussion as Shutter Island, Fight Club, or Black Swan.

But anyway, I personally did like this movie overall. I don't think it's going to defy expectations and do well/be critically acclaimed. I think this is going to go down as a dump month movie. But here are some January releases I did like over the years. They aren't all horror movies because most horror movies released in January are not that interesting or great.

Save The Last Dance
I generally do not like movies where the antagonist is named Nikki(e) because it enforces the (true) stereotype that everyone named Nikki(e) is a bitch. However, I really like this movie and I think it's one of those movies that are like, kind of ~woke~. Essential viewing for white women that date black men or at least they should be required to watch Kerry Washington's monologue about once a year. Black women are not jealous of white women. There's layers to this sh*t. My man is Asian, so I don't have a dog in this fight, but it is something I notice.

Like, I have a very weird relationship with recognizing my own privilege. I am considered to most people to be on the lighter side (that's why I self tan lol) and I have type three hair. But, I mean, look at the people I hung around growing up.... I did have the experience of being treated a certain way because of my skin and hair. When I went to college and people were saying I looked exotic or whatever I was like wtf... But it's because I was around a lot more black people in college. The funny thing is, most of my friends from high school that I talk to the most are Black or Korean.
So I just wanna say if I ever act like Sara (Julia Styles) it's because I'm still learning and would like to be called out if I do a microagression or am problematic. I know this movie wasn't particularly amazing or groundbreaking, but I really love to dance so I wanted to include it.

The Grey

You know what I just said about being problematic? Ok, well I'm not sure if we're still mad at Liam Neeson. If we are I will delete this. This movie came out way before he said what he said. And I do kind of look at him with an asterisk now. Liam Neeson is a good actor *but...ya know. I stan Star Wars and I am an apologist for the prequels. I also don't expect much for white men on terms of being inoffensive because that group of people have gone a long time without any real consequences to their actions. So, I think that I am a little bit biased because he is one of my faves. Like, he's fu*kin' Aslan and it's hard for me to look at him with negativity because I am biased so maybe I am 100000% in the wrong for even mentioning Liam Neeson. It's worth noting that he did seek help because he knew his actions were wrong and evil. I don't know why he repeated that because I feel like that is something he probably should have Taken (lol sorry) to the grave
That being said, The Grey is an exciting movie that proves you can make CGI animals not look terrifying (I would @ a certain company, but I do not want to offend the monopoly mouse overlord). And when I say they are not terrifying I don't mean the the wolves were not scary or realistic. They were. But they looked like really big wolves and not sleep paralysis demons. Taken also came out in January, so maybe Liam Neeson is just the king of January. I don't really care for that series, but a lot of people seem to like it. I know Tre does.

I know this isn't exactly a psychological thriller, but what if those wolves weren't even real and the people died from exposure to the elements? What if those "evil" wolves were manifestations of "angels of death" coming to put the crew out of their misery? One of the characters hallucinates seeing his daughter again before he is dragged away by the wolves. So he pretty much died Little Match Girl style.  I know that some First Nations people believed that wolves caused mental illness and death. And, like most atheists, the main character made this huge deal about being an atheist so..... There is also a Germanic saying: Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is". So, maybe they were cute little Baltos and Ottway was seeing them differently because being alone at the mercy of nature is pretty scary. And, let's get one thing straight. THEY ALL HAD HYPOTHERMIA. Here is a pretty good case report about what it's like to have hypothermia in the wilderness.

Any idiot off the street should know that wolves do not act like that, but apparently
animal rights groups were mad about the way that the animals were portrayed so...ok. I think that's kind of weird because a lot of people aren't going to be in a position where they are stuck out in the wilderness like that. I don't think anyone is going to go out of their way to fight a wolf. And this is coming from a woman who lives in a place where it's normal to see coyotes. I grew up going to a summer camp where we knew mountain lions were in the are and it wasn't like they were hunting lil band camp kids.  I would sometimes see in the in the (very, very, VERY) far distance and be like #naturegirlNikFlair. My grandparents had access to a cabin (idr if they owned or if it was a time share or what) in Big Bear and I was like "where tf are the bears?"
It's very very possible my experience with wild animals isn't universal because as I type this I'm like....Ok, that's actually kind of weird.

 Maybe the animals activists do have a point because sharks really don't go out of their way to hunt humans, and yet we all love a good (or bad) killer shark movie from time to time. Another weird childhood experience. I'm not afriad of sharks. I grew up in San Diego, I saw sharks at Sea W*rld all the time. I've seen little sharks in the ocean. I love sharks. If I thought it was ethical, I would have a pet shark right now.


Mama
I don't know if I have the attention span of a carrot or what, but I prefer short horror films to long ones. And the short that the movie Mama was based on was one of the scariest things I've seen in a long time. It even scared Guillermo del Toro and he is scary for a living. So crappy of one sister to completely shut the other sister out when overcoming such an obstacle when they should have done it together. I doubt the other sister wanted to get with that by themselves. And that is a comment on the short film and not the elefante in the room. 

Anyway, I know this movie had mixed reviews or whatever. I really liked it and I really like Jessica Chastain. This movie opened at number one at the box office. The second movie at the box office was what? Zero Dark Thirty. Jessica Chastain, the queen of January. I want to do a separate post on the symbolism and meaning of this movie eventually, so I will keep all of that to myself for now. This is a cute and creepy little fairy tale that should have let you know the remake of IT was going to be good. The first part, at least. I still think our girl Mama made a cameo in IT and you can't change my mind. (x) I consider The Devil's Backbone and Crimson Peak to be siblings and Mama is their favorite cousin. If that makes sense.

Here are some other movies released in January that were good, but I didn't write about them because I did not see those in theaters.

-The Silence of the Lambs
- PADDINGTON (!!!!!!!!!!)
-Black Swan
- Split (Should I do a What The Franchise?)
-The Book of Eli
-The Machinist
-  The Kid
- Cloverfield