The Midnight Man (2016) dir. Travis Zariwny, IFC Midnight
We made it–through the drudgery that is summertime, we now find ourselves in the most glorious of months, October. The weather cools, my Halloween playlist becomes the only option for my workday tunes, and my love of all things spooky hits an annual high for (at least) 31 straight days. This includes my compulsion to watch nearly every horror movie available for streaming.
I’m not that picky; I have certain sub-genres I’m not really into (torture porn/body horror, zombies) and some I’m very into (haunted houses, slashers, occult). Another list can go either way, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised on occasion (found footage, home invasion/stalking). My standards are abysmal, but I’m disappointed when it’s aliens. It’s possible the “criticism” part of my college film theory & criticism class didn’t really take and I’m just easy to please
Last month saw the release of the newest installment of the Conjuring franchise, The Nun, which was largely panned by critics and received a 27% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. I didn’t see it (will probably stream when available), but the Critic’s Consensus on Rotten Tomatoes was as follows:
The Nun boasts strong performances, spooky atmospherics, and a couple decent set-pieces, but its sins include inconsistent logic and narrative slackness.
I’ve spoken with friends who agree that it’s bad, and I’m sure it’s every bit what the reviewer here says.
My argument (see: opinion screamed into the void) is not that there are no bad horror movies. My title may have been a little misleading and clickbait-y (Buzzfeed, New York Times, call me 😉 ). It should probably have read “Why bad horror movies are still just a whole heck of a lot of fun,” because for the most part, it’s true. The still at the top is from 2016’s The Midnight Man, which I came across on Hulu and watched a few weeks ago. It is a 33% on Rotten Tomatoes and is truly bonkers. The plot is uneven, the ending is a bummer; Robert Englund, who will literally be in anyone’s horror movie who asks, is featured in a supporting role. But I still had fun seeing where it all went, enjoyed some twists, and jumped a few times. They built a world in a dark Bloody Mary-type game that I was interested in exploring, an old spooky house I could spend hours staring at, and some weird and unsettling set pieces (again, see the photo above).
I’ve turned movies off. My standards are not so low that just any will do. But I’m a sucker for atmospherics and aesthetics, twists on old tropes, and well-dressed actors. I am going to watch each and every episode of the CW’s Riverdale, and I am not ashamed.
I think the ability to create a sideways world to our own that can be explored and can constantly surprise you is worth so much more than people realize. Sure, there are formulas and tropes, but those formulas and tropes can be deployed in so many different ways, and I personally would like to see them all.
Is this a long and drawn out way of letting myself feel okay for watching The Bye Bye Man (21% on Rotten Tomatoes) on a plane and enjoying it? For being absolutely rapt (and a little spooked) watching The Boy (28%)? Or scaring myself silly during the 2006 remake of When a Stranger Calls (I can never look at full length windows in secluded country homes ever again, also, 9%).
Probably. I’m a devourer of stories, a connoisseur of weirdness, and I crave the adrenaline that comes with getting a real good spook. I am incurably curious and have to know how it all ends, every detail, and then still get sad when it ends. When I truly love a television series, I want to squeeze every single bit out and eat it like a peanut butter smoothie. So I want to see every haunting, every cat and mouse slasher, every sinister plot to destroy humanity or kill the babysitter.
If you need me, I’ll be scrolling endlessly through the horror section of every streaming platform.
On another note, a(n extremely) Not Bad recommendation:
The Haunting of Hill House (2018, Netflix) has captured my heart and disturbed my slumber. I would recommend it even to those who don’t consider themselves ardent horror fans–it’s a family drama with some ghosts that explores relationships between adult siblings as they come to terms with the reasons behind two deaths and their own tangled memories of their childhoods. It will make you cry and be afraid to go to sleep.
And for anyone interested, my long and strange Halloween playlist:
Emily Merrick has a blog 