A desperate single mother moves with her three children into the notorious, supposedly haunted, real-life Amityville house to try and use its dark powers to cure her comatose son. Things go horribly wrong.
Director:
Franck Khalfoun
Stars:
Jennifer Jason Leigh,
Bella Thorne,
Mckenna Grace
A teenage Leatherface escapes from a mental hospital with three other inmates, kidnapping a young nurse and taking her on a road trip from hell, while being pursued by a lawman out for revenge.
An evening of drunken prank calls becomes a nightmare for a pair of teenagers when a mysterious stranger turns their own game against them...with deadly consequences.
Five medical students, obsessed by what lies beyond the confines of life, embark on a daring experiment: by stopping their hearts for short periods, each triggers a near-death experience - giving them a firsthand account of the afterlife.
A young couple go on an adventurous vacation to Thailand only to find themselves haunted by a malevolent spirit after naively disrespecting a Ghost House.
Director:
Rich Ragsdale
Stars:
Scout Taylor-Compton,
James Landry Hébert,
Mark Boone Junior
12 years after the tragic death of their little girl, a dollmaker and his wife welcome a nun and several girls from a shuttered orphanage into their home, where they soon become the target of the dollmaker's possessed creation, Annabelle.
A popular college student graciously accepts a social outcast's online friend request, but soon finds herself fighting a demonic presence that wants to make her lonely by killing her closest friends.
Director:
Simon Verhoeven
Stars:
Alycia Debnam-Carey,
William Moseley,
Connor Paolo
A quintet of college kids take a road trip to an abandoned house and unintentionally drink infected water that turns them slowly insane and murderous - but this is no accident.
Director:
Joe Leone
Stars:
Angelica Arroliga,
Gabriella Chiulli,
Nicholas M. Garofolo
A teen girl discovers a magical box that will grant her seven wishes. As she uses her wishes for personal gain, bad things begin to happen to those around her. She discovers an evil entity lives inside the box and may be behind the gruesome deaths. Written by
kyleallencole9
I have to say I really did not go into 'Wish Upon' expecting to like it. I have been almost entirely put off the supernatural horror genre by failed attempt after failed attempt. The only upside to that is that when I do come across one I enjoy, I really enjoy it. 'Wish Upon' is not a bad film at all.
Let's get the negatives out of the way first so we can finish on a high. The only ones I see are that the "wish" element to any film can be incredibly frustrating in terms of the way the characters use them (or misuse them). There are times when you just want to scream at the screen. Then again I've never been lucky enough to be granted any wishes, so what would I know?
The other downside comes in terms of the death sequences (which are actually a strength in a different way, which we'll get to soon). The negative side is that they are trying to be like 'Final Destination' and yet failing in every way. What made the death scenes in 'Final Destination' so brilliant was that every one of them had their own little mini-twist. It made you think they were going to die in one way, and then did it in the completely opposite way. 'Wish Upon' felt like it was going for something similar, but all it really ever achieved was dragging out the inevitable.
Into the positives of the movie now. Let's start with why the death sequences were also well done. What I liked about them was that for a PG-13 movie they were extremely graphic at times. They pushed the envelope to the absolute limit and got away with it. 'Saw' would be proud.
The dialogue and character development were also extremely strong for a horror movie. Joey King in the lead role did an excellent job of carrying the movie and making sure we cared about the things that were happening and the people they were happening to.
Finally the ending was a real bonus for me. It was unique. Without giving anything away I'll simply say it is a lot more abrupt than expected. It didn't fall into the usual extended cliché horror movie ending. I liked it.
Whether people will find 'Wish Upon' scary is a tough one for me to judge. There certainly is a lot more potential for audience members to find it terrifying than there is a lot of other modern horror films. If you're in two minds about seeing this one my advice would be to give it a chance. It might just pleasantly surprise you.
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I have to say I really did not go into 'Wish Upon' expecting to like it. I have been almost entirely put off the supernatural horror genre by failed attempt after failed attempt. The only upside to that is that when I do come across one I enjoy, I really enjoy it. 'Wish Upon' is not a bad film at all.
Let's get the negatives out of the way first so we can finish on a high. The only ones I see are that the "wish" element to any film can be incredibly frustrating in terms of the way the characters use them (or misuse them). There are times when you just want to scream at the screen. Then again I've never been lucky enough to be granted any wishes, so what would I know?
The other downside comes in terms of the death sequences (which are actually a strength in a different way, which we'll get to soon). The negative side is that they are trying to be like 'Final Destination' and yet failing in every way. What made the death scenes in 'Final Destination' so brilliant was that every one of them had their own little mini-twist. It made you think they were going to die in one way, and then did it in the completely opposite way. 'Wish Upon' felt like it was going for something similar, but all it really ever achieved was dragging out the inevitable.
Into the positives of the movie now. Let's start with why the death sequences were also well done. What I liked about them was that for a PG-13 movie they were extremely graphic at times. They pushed the envelope to the absolute limit and got away with it. 'Saw' would be proud.
The dialogue and character development were also extremely strong for a horror movie. Joey King in the lead role did an excellent job of carrying the movie and making sure we cared about the things that were happening and the people they were happening to.
Finally the ending was a real bonus for me. It was unique. Without giving anything away I'll simply say it is a lot more abrupt than expected. It didn't fall into the usual extended cliché horror movie ending. I liked it.
Whether people will find 'Wish Upon' scary is a tough one for me to judge. There certainly is a lot more potential for audience members to find it terrifying than there is a lot of other modern horror films. If you're in two minds about seeing this one my advice would be to give it a chance. It might just pleasantly surprise you.