My Weekend Watch List – Reviews - Michelle Scott Horror Author

Last week, I gave you my weekend watch list. Watching all four of them was quite a ride! I had a great time with each of the movies, but they were all very diverse. So let’s dig into my weekend watch list reviews.

The Wrestler

I’d seen this movie before, but once I got into it for the second time, I realized how much I loved Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei’s performances. It’s a heartbreaking story of two people who are trying to live out their dreams. Director Darren Aronofsky has an amazing ability to make the viewers care about the characters (which makes his other movies like Mother! so difficult to watch). I felt everything in this movie on a gut level. Randy “The Ram” Robinson had been a successful wrestler in his heyday, but at the time of the movie, he’s a has-been. Unfortunately, as much as he tries to lead a normal life, he finds that he can’t function. Randy is a complex character. He’s not really a good guy, but he’s certainly not evil. He’s just very self-centered. I give this movie a five out of five stars, just as I did back when it came out. A side note is that I’d forgotten how bloody this movie is. I can handle body horror pretty well, but watching Randy and his opponent roll in broken glass and barbed wire made me cringe. For some reason, the blood in this movie seemed much more real than the same thing might be in a horror movie. I’m not sure why.

Resurrection

I went into this movie blind, and I’m glad I did. I had no idea what was in store, which made it even scarier. The story line is pretty simple: a mother keeps running into an old ‘friend’ that she hasn’t seen in thirty years. The more the mother sees her ‘friend’, the more she goes into a downward spiral and becomes more and more unhinged. Rebecca Hall’s acting is amazing. It is painful to watch her lose herself over her obsession with her friend. At first, it’s impossible to understand why she’s so upset at seeing this man again, but then she gives a remarkable monologue about their relationship. The horror in this movie is subtle at first because it starts out with personal relationships. As the movie progresses, a supernatural element comes into play. By the end of the movie, Resurrection becomes out-and-out horror. This was a great movie, and I’m sorry to have waited so long to see it. I give it four out of five stars. (Content warning: the movie deals with grooming and predatory relationships with teens.)

The Cursed

This is not your ordinary werewolf movie! I had heard that it was similar to VVitch by Robert Eggers, and while that’s true, there is a chest-bursting scene that I swear came straight from Alien. Although the plot is fairly basic, the movie was so tense! I loved every minute of it. The movie begins during WWI, which is a time period that isn’t often used in horror (although it should be). Then the story goes 30 years backward in time to a manor house in rural England. The cinematography is wonderful. I don’t know much at all about movie making, but the filter they used made everything so dull and gloomy—a perfect backdrop for what was happening. There might not be any surprises in this movie, but if werewolves are your thing, I highly recommend it. Four out of five stars.

Pearl

I saw this movie last, and it was my least favorite. Even though it was a good movie, I found Pearl herself to be very annoying. Don’t get me wrong; I loved Mia Goth’s performance. But Pearl is such a brat! Which I guess is the point. What I did like about it was its crazy cheerfulness. Everything in this movie was larger than life, including Pearl herself. I think my favorite part of the movie was the end credits in which Mia Goth grins at the camera for an outlandishly amount of time. As her smile becomes more and more unhinged, tears squeeze from her eyes. It’s like she’s trying so hard to be normal which, when you see the movie you’ll realize, she isn’t. I give this movie three out of five stars.

So there it is! My review from my weekend watch. I’ll be doing another weekend watch soon, so stay tuned. If you like my commentary on horror, give my blog a follow. I’d also appreciate a follow on my Bookbub page!