Day 14: Para Elisa (2012) 1h 15m

Have you ever heard the Patton Oswalt bit about his TiVO?  I feel that way with some of the movies Netflix puts in their horror listing when I'm counting to the number I rolled.  It seems that since I enjoyed some of the foreign horror films I've watched on this blog that Netflix has the idea that I must like all foreign horror.  "But you like the horsee shows! NO TiVO! BAD TiVO!"  Bad Netflix!

Para Elisa comes to us from Spain and revolves around a spoiled shit of a college girl whose mom won't lend her 1000 Euros for a trip with her friends because the mother had just paid for her to take a trip to London.  Her drug dealer boyfriend sees a poster for a babysitting job, calls the number, and hands her the phone.  She eventually goes to find out that the girl she is supposed to baby sit is a grown ass woman that the mother has completely fucked up in the head.  After being drugged, our leading lady wakes up to realize that she is not meant to babysit, but to become a living doll for the daughter to play house with.

This movie wasn't for a horror fan.  This is more for the vanilla movie watcher that wanted to watch something scary.  Yes, the premise is kind of fucked up and the mother/daughter relationship is bizarre but it really didn't keep me invested in the film.  In addition, a leading character that I instantly did not like (as obvious above) really gave me no one to root for.  Plus, you see the ending coming way to early.  I know that's a constant complaint I bring up on here, but I want to be surprised.  Just once.

I give Para Elisa 1 creepy doll out of 5:

Day 2: Curse of Chucky (2013) 1h 37m

Normally, when you reach the 6th film in a horror series you're expecting it to be awful.  Truthfully, the only terrible thing about Curse of Chucky is that it was a straight-to-DVD release.  Sure, the last few films were overly campy and comedic, but Curse of Chucky returned to its horror roots and deserved a shot on the big screen.

At this point everyone should be familiar with the Good Guys doll known as Chucky.  The doll is possessed by the spirit of a serial killer (Charles Lee Ray) that used the Vodou diety Danbala/Damballa to transfer his soul and escape death.  He then spends the movies killing people and attempting to transfer his soul into a child.

Curse of Chucky keeps this overall premise but through the addition of skillful camera work, good acting (even from the child), and the doll being made to have an extra frightening look make this film tower over the rest.  I could go on about how much I loved the new doll design.  The eyes of it looked human, sometimes having veins or dilating pupils.  They also create a total change in the face from when it's just a possessed and from when Chucky is in full control.

The writers of this film also chose to expand the back story of Charles Lee Ray, right up to his soul transfer into the Good Guys doll in the first film.  They also throw in nods to the last five films, acknowledging them as cannon, but not dwelling on them to keep the focus on this film.

I was honestly blown away with how much I liked this film.  I really like the first Child's Play.  I was a kid when it came out and was piss-my-pants scared of the entire concept   Curse of Chucky made me remember why I was scared of that film as a kid.  I'm not saying this is cinema brilliance, but fuck was this a good horror film.

I give Curse of Chucky 4 Good Guys dolls out of 5: