Entertainment Swindon

If you’re staying in this weekend and looking for a festive scream on the sofa, then we’ve put our top ten list to view on Paramount+

Scream:

The movie that spawned sequel after sequel and surprisingly each sequel was itself a great movie! This would become one of horror’s greatest entries, Wes Craven proved with Scream that, even with decades’ passing, he hadn’t lost his touch.

The 1996 opening scene has become iconic in the genre of horror, equal to the original Halloween & Jaws movies. And from that moment Drew Barrymore is killed by Ghost Face, the movie does not let up.

It’s nearly 30yrs since the first movie and you can find all six movies on Paramount+ so if you’re after a Halloween binge, then Scream is definitely your go to horror franchise.

The Orphan – First Kill:

Whether you’ve watched Orphan or not, its prequel Orphan – First Kill is an awesome film that follows off from the success and cult popularity of the first movie. First Kill serves as the backstory of its infamous character Ester played by Isabelle Fuhrman.

We find out that Ester is a 31yr old woman from Estonia living in a psychiatric hospital and is actually called Leena who suffers from a rare disorder called hypopituitarism which gives her the appearance of a 9yr old girl. She may look like a sweet little 9yr old girl, but behind those innocent looks is a psychotic killer who first seduces a guard and then kills him so she can escape the mental facility. Leena later on finds that she resembles a young American girl named Ester who went missing. Ester’s family take Leena in thinking they have found their lost daughter, giving Leena the chance of a new life, the life she has always dreamed of which she will do anything to keep, including murder.

Children of the Corn:

This reboot of the original movie based on Stephen Kings book, is worth a watch, is it as good as the original? Well a purist fan of the original film and the book will say no… But… If its a murderous gorefest movie you are after, then this movie is definitely one to watch.

It actually serves a both a reboot and prequel, giving a little more to the story than the original movie. Released almost 40years after the original has a body count that goes on and on which is great for those of you that want to see lots of killings. The very reason it’s a great movie, is that its not a great movie.

The story evolves around a dying town where the cornfields are dying, a GMO corporate has caused a dangerous fungus to start growing on the corn which has infected the town. The towns adults are wanting to let the corn die and receive government subsidies, but the kids have other ideas, well it is the Greta Thunberg world we live in where kids today are vigilante eco warriors. The kids form a murder cult killing the adults to protect the corn and start killing off the adults which is entertaining enough to sit through the movie before the movie brings in a lanky CGI corn monster that looks like it was designed by 12yr old kid in their IT lesson at school, but most likely, they just run out of budget.

Grab a few beers, relax and settle in for a crap but worth watching movie.

Pet Sematary – Bloodlines:

Paramount+ has both the original Pet Sematary & its sequel, and now Bloodlines, which is the prequel to the original movies which gives background to why the sematary is there in the first place.

Set in 1969, and follows its main character Jud Crandall who wishes to nothing else but to leave his home town, but finds that he and his family legacy connects him to the Pet Sematary and its ancient evil.

Reviews have not been kind, but we think it’s definitely worth watching. Not as good as the original, but when ever does a sequel better its predecessor? Apart from Empire Strikes Back that is.

Friday the 13th:

You are in for a frightfest horror binge here! Paramount+ has the complete boxset (yes, thats right, I said boxset, I’m Gen X, a generation that used to get a move out of a box that we rented for a couple of days from Blockbuster, a store in every town that was the 20th Century verion of streaming today).

Grab a load of beers and popcorn, put on your hockey mask and sit back to most of the Friday the 13th movie franchise. Unfortunately you will have to start with the 2009 reboot of the original movie before you go onto the 1981 Friday the 13th Part II followed by the rest of the movies taking you up to Part 8 where Jason takes a trip to New Yorks Manhattan.

There are a few horror franchises in the slasher section that have become cult, there’s Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream and yes Friday the 13th… These movies don’t disappoint, they promise you blood, guts and copious amounts of killing, often is some ingenious gruesome manners.

Dexter:

Our TV series addition to our what to watch this halloween, meet Dexter Morgan, a crime scene forensic technician with a secret, he’s actually a homicidal maniac with a mental compulsion to kill, he really cant help himself and he’s very good at what he does.

There are eight seasons to this show, so you better get the popcorn ready along with plenty of beers and Dominos Pizza on speed dial, you wont want to stop watching this binge worthy show where although Dexter is the murderous bad guy, you will fall in love with him and support his murder spree and life outside of the Miami PD and his murderous hobby.

Play Dead:

We’ve literally just finished watching this new release to Paramount+

Although seemingly on a low budget, we liked it…. It starts with a botched a crime that goes wrong leaving on assailant dead (or is he?) and the other fleeing from the scene home to his sister Chloe injured.

Unfortunately, TJ the young lad that has fled the scene tells his sister that his accomplices body and phone is at the morge. So Chloe who is also a Criminology student has to play dead to get into the morge and retreive the phone.

Obviously, this is a horror film, so things dont quite turn out that simple and we find out the mortician is a psycho selling body organs and Chloe is about to find herself in a whole lot of trouble.

Will she get out alive? Or will she be carved up? I think we all know the answer to that question, its low budget but entertaining with a few fun gory scenes to laugh at. So worth the watch.