31 Days of Hallowe'en Challenge : Day 3

It's Day 276 of the year and the main project. That means we are on Day 3 of the Hallowe'en and Horror movie challenges. If you want to follow along on my lists on Letterboxd, my 31 Days of Hallowe'en challenge is here and the 31 Day Horror Challenge hosted by Nightmare on Film Street is here.

Starting off with my own 31 Days of Hallowe'en, my theme today was Horror Movie From 1995. I picked The Prophecy.

A former priest turned detective lands a strange murder case, where his victim has no eye sockets and was carrying an ancient bible. He's then visited by two different angels both connected to the dead body. The detective learns they are after a soul of a serial killer. The first angel manages to collect the soul, but is injured and ends up passing the soul to a little girl, possessing her. Time is running out on them exorcising the girl and stopping a war in heaven.

I had the chance to see this in cinemas 30 years ago. It's one of those movies that sets itself in a vague enough timeframe, that it's pretty timeless looking. We're taken on a journey of faith from a few different points of view. That of the fallen priest and a very faith driven angel. It asks you to ask yourself who the monster is and where you would stand if you knew heaven was real?

The prompt for the #31DayHorrorChallenge hosted by Nightmare on Film Street is AirBnB of Horrors. I ended up picking The Rental.

Two couples decide to spend the weekend at the seaside, and rent a house together. After dinner on the first night, when Charlie and his sister-in-law Mina are left alone for a few hours, they end up having an affair. In the morning, the two already regretting their actions, discover they had been recorded by a hidden camera. Confronting the landlord, Mina's husband Josh beats him up leaving him bleeding in the tub. As Charlie's wife Michelle learns of the situation, she steals the car and runs off. While Josh is confronting Mina, an unknown man has run Michelle off the road, killing her. Before long, Charlie begins to hunt for her, only to meet the same fate. The killer then returns to the house using a crowbar on Josh and Mina. The movie ends with the unknown killer removing his cameras and starting over in another location.

This is a slow paced film, that almost feels like it's two different movies until the last ten minutes. The first half is a soap opera style drama and the last half a crime thriller. I've got mixed feelings on this one. It's almost too close to reality which is what makes it disturbing. But at the same time, it's also predictable.

I'll be posting every day this month, so come back tomorrow and see what's on the slab.