When Richie was being pursued out of town by the cop car I thought he was going to do something clever like stop and wait for the cop to get out of his car, and then floor it suddenly. Otherwise he should've just drove to the next major city where the cop has no jurisdiction.
The ending you described is not the ending I just saw on Amazon. The movie made no sense at all. It didn't explain why everyone is stuck and cursed, why sawtooth jack was even there, why he would the brother want him if he knew what would happen to him. Why Kelly and Richie and kissing and dancing each like nothing has happened and he's just seen his mother kill herself and his brother is some deformed pumpkin. Why every years boys die and no one thinks thats strange or get punished for it??? The movie is just a complete waste of time
I feel like the curse isn't a mystical curse, just the farmers guild keeping everyone there. Otherwise where would they be getting cars feom if they couldnt leave town. But if that's the case, then using the word cursed when there actual mystical stuff going on is just going to confuse the audience.
As soon as you said the brother left, I knew he was saw tooth…almost like Pumpkinhead with Lance Henrickson…cult classic. I died when Nick said “who carved all those G.D. Jack-o-Lanterns😂
Two things just kept running through my mind the ENTIRE movie.... 1) Why are teenagers with sticks hunting a demon from Hell that will destroy the town if it wins and you know it's coming EVERY YEAR... it's the 1960s... I'd have the entire US Army out there with guns and tanks protecting the town... WHY BOYS WITH STICKS?!?! 2) That's an awfully high body count... and they turn on each other and the townsfolk? The owner of the shop was out to protect his store as soon as it started, so it's obvious this must happen EVERY YEAR or he wouldn't have been out there like that... so, once again... how many people die every year? How do shops stay open when the kids kill the townsfolk? This town would have a population of 5 after a few years of this. How many families are DESTROYED EVERY YEAR? Man, I just kept thinking of the body count and how many families are affected... the whole "lets throw a party for the winner" after 20 kids in town were just brutally murdered? Seems so "no". I really liked the premise while hating the execution of the story... ya, I was kinda like "this needs to be better explained to work for me".
I think Richie WANTED to do the run INITIALLY because it seemed like an important "coming of age" ritual for the boys of the town, something to mark your strength and maturity. And Richie was maybe a little jealous of his brother, who was last year's winner & was beloved and is now, we are told, just livin' the good life on the West Coast. Finally, I think Richie wanted to do the run because he was was desperately grasping at ANY chance to GET THE HELL OUTTA TOWN~~and killing Sawtooth Jack seems to be the only way to finally leave that cursed town behind.
OMG, how many plot points are going on all at once in this movie? But, the most out there is the confrontation between Saw Tooth Jack and his brother. Why would he want Richie to kill him knowing full well what the results will be? I'll give it a go when it comes on a streaming service, because I like atmospheric movies set in small towns. A quick comment about the director, David Slade and his other works: "Hard Candy" and especially, "30 Days of Night" (which can pretty much be placed on the horror classic list) are two excellent movies. This was a terrific review, per usual. Great Job!
@@dd-sl4ev the town loses, the town is basically destroyed and the community is free to escape, no more sacrifices. The book has a lot more explanation without over engineering things, I wouldn't expect to follow the book but I think the movie could have been a lot more streamlined if it just pulled that thread through versus it being so anticlimatic after all that build up and then try to do a quick sidebar to just circle back to what would essentially be the same outcome they could have had 20 minutes earlier... I also think seeing the town blow up and people fleeing it completely(like they are prisoners making a grand escape)would have been a better way to end the film.
I agree it probably makes sense for the Harvest Run to only happen every 5 or 10 years, maybe have a wider age range of kids too. I assume they stop and kill the winner every year by blockading the road when they take their prize for a test drive, the farmer probably just collects the car and trades it in towards the next one.
It was specified but I got the feeling this year was particularly lethal. Nothing much went according to plan. The kids managed to kill the shop keeper and eat. The cop lost his car. At the start of the movie we saw only one casualty before his brother fuxked him up. I get the feeling the brother was a lot more competent and gave the town a harder time.
I feel there are several inconsistencies they might be able to explain away such as Richie's motivations being made to be the classic in his brother's shadow stereotype however the inconsistencies are too much and, even though I am a fan of ambiguity in storytelling, this had so many it ruined my enjoyment of the film. A perfect example being; Why does Jack spend more time killing the innocent kids rather than getting to the church? Why waste his time with this? I can understand if he had to defend himself but that made no sense at all - especially if he is able to show conscious cognitive decision making like he demonstrates several times through the film. I was BEYOND frustrated that the main couple have both a car and gun and still the situation results in that way. She doesn't even bother to come after him? After all this? Seriously? I honestly expected her to burn the field down which ties in with her back story but no. She just...drives off? So she's free I assume? And....nobody in this town can...just...do that same thing? With only one cop in the town? It's just...baffling. I also have to confess, I predicted that those that kill Jack become him VERY early as it explained the elder brother's absence and why the parents weren't eager for their son to partake. Overall a cool concept ruined by plotholes and empty attempts to portray meaning through artistic license.
i really liked the movie but was disappointed with the ending when richie died and didn’t break the cycle /: also i think the casualties work because it’s the same thing like the hunger games but at the same time i think it doesn’t make sense.. i’m also curious when jim made richie kill him (instead of the bully killing him) when he knew what would happen to richie if he “won” the run and what would happen if richie got jim into the church?
The year after year really doesn't work for this type of story i feel like it should be maybe ten year's? To give the town some time so they can make more boy's for the Harvest.
I think Richie wanted to leave because he probably just wanted out of the small town and have the life his brother supposedly had. When the older brother left he asked him to take him with him. I wish it was better explained just how this Sawtooth creature came back to life. That didnt make alot of sense. Good review, like the video.
I’ve not seen this, but it strangely sounds like it would have worked better as a PG13 Nightmare Before Christmas style dark children’s fantasy, rather than a supposedly adult horror movie.
I saw it at an Alamo last night and it seemed like it had promise as like an allegory for Vietnam and military service being expected even if the war is ultimately pointless, but the movie seems to not be aware that this is the subtext of that there is any subtext. The characters run around screaming at each other and also butchering each other? You know, because they haven’t eaten in three days. It’s real dumb
I agree with Nick that she should not have been nominated for "The Fablemans." That spot belonged to either Mia Goth, Danielle, or Viola. Andrea Riseborough deserved her surprise nod despite what the naysayers say.
OMG, Dark Secrets of Harvest Home! I remember watching that miniseries when I was 14-15 years old. It was pretty creepy back then. I believe it starred Betty Davis and I remember Rosanne Arquette played the daughter.
well they starve the kids for days, so they're hungry. also it looks like the monsters guts are removed and replaced with lollies candy and chocolate. What I didn't get was why the fuck were the kids killing each other
I saw this movie based on all the good reviews and it really sucked. It seemed like the movie was pasted together. The scenes did not flow together well the acting wasn't that great, especially the cop. He was over acting way too many times where it got comical and took my attention away from the movie. The story really didn't tell an origin or why or how what was going on was going on. I really didn't care for or get attached to the actors either If they lived or died. The stupid father and the idiot mother that stabbed herself in the neck for no real reason aside from shock value. The first pumpkin monster was a little punk that was easily taken out but the second one was freaking terminator demolishing anything that got in its way. The part were the monster went into the cellar and blood immediately flew out was so idiotic as if it wouldn't have been immediately ambushed by that many kids with weapons. And then the part of holding the kids in the their room for 3 days was even stupider like the kids wouldn't hide food in there ahead of time or their parents wouldn't just give them something to eat as if they were all being watched individually or the kids wouldn't come out and immediately start eating instead of hunting the monster. The first group of kids in the beginning came after the monster like vicious organized bounty hunters but why was the second group of kids scattered and murdering each other with no direction like a bunch of bumbling idiots? And the idea of giving the "winner" a house and "Corvette" for defeating the monster sounded like something a 5 year old would come up with. Has the writing these days really gotten this bad that If they give us a crap Sandwich, we love and praise it?
When you mentioned girls couldn't participate, I just KNEW you were going to say she killed him and broke the curse. I guess kudos to them for not taking the obvious route...? Oh well, I tried 🤷🏿♀️ 😂😂
The movie seemed so interesting but literally nothing was explained. How did it start? What’s the curse? I agree there were a lot of boys there I was so confused cause they said they were a small town. And for this to happen every year and the parents not to know what’s going on make no sense. Even if they didn’t know none of the winners come back so like???
I was surprised that Sawtooth Jack’s body count was as high as it was, considering who/what he actually is. Plus, when Richie sees him at one point in the movie he’s completely chill and only reacts defensively
I wanted to like this movie, but it was all over the place. I felt like the movie didn't know what it wanted to be. It felt like they wanted it to be part The Outsiders, with the greaser looking kids and the other Preppy looking group.
The hunter:hunted power balance was weird. The town boys are frenziedly hunting Sawtooth Jack and consume him, but they simultaneously fear SJ, who can definitely tear them to pieces (incl an Army of Darkness-level mass purée) no matter how many boys SJ faces?
This just makes me want to watch Pumpkinhead again. Sounds interesting enough with a couple beers in me. The Town That Dreaded Sundown is another one that seems like it has a similar vibe.
I saw the trailer and I knew who the creature was for the next year...painfully obvious... the purge meets pumpkinhead meets twilight meets DIVERSE panderverse...stupid, stupid, stupid idea
I really wanted to like this movie, I mean there is a lot to like, I think the production value was there and I really like the setup all leading up to the night,. but I think it started falling apart right after his friends gets killed in the corn field I think onward on it just goes down hill, but dont get me wrong there aparts that are good but overall it ends up falling flat.
Ok I had to pause this movie to come and watch the review. Thank you for breaking it down and I can understand the rating . They definitely could have done more .I like the idea of starting it off with the boys being locked away and then letting everything progress. That seemed like a good idea .
The movie captures several really obvious biblical themes, it also has strong Freemason themes. What I find curious is the perversion of the biblical themes, contrasted with the Freemason themes which were actually spot on. Subtle at times, but spot on.. I did like the creature, he was scary and unnerving. I liked a couple of the characters, actually literally a couple: the two main characters. I liked the spooky vibe and the cinematics. There were some untied loose ends, which maybe I missed. But are all the children part of this sacrifice, or is it just that nobody cares if they murder people on this night, because some are just killing whoever. Not sure if I missed it. It was a good combo of jump scares and like slow burn scares.
I liked the cinematic of the movie. Specially the mum scene and the scene where Richie got burried alive. But that’s about it, very halloweenish cinematic vibes. The story made no sense at all… was very disappointed in the end
Just finished it. Took me 3 days. That should tell you how terrible it was. I’ll just rewatch 30 days of night and be like, oh, that’s when you did good work.
How much screentime does Richie's older brother Jim (Britain Dalton) have exactly? Is he even an important character and does he get character development?
You gorgeous men. Not going to lie my buddy asked if I tried to talk to ya. I said some times. You're very supportive. Wanna buy a gorgeous cat? Haha but seriously
His motivation to do the run was to prove to his family that he was smart. That he was just as good as his brother. He had something he wanted to prove.
It's a cute film, even though it makes no sense - really well shot and some scenes are super gross. But the two of you need to at least wake up for filming reviews, if not read books. This was just ... sad.