October 31st: Extraterrestrial (2014, Netflix)

This film is directed by the Viscious Brothers, a group reponsible for Grave Encounters and its sequel.  I didn't realize that going in and expected just your run of the mill "people find aliens and aliens go bwah!"

I was so wrong.  I'm so glad that I'm reviewing this one for the actual day of Halloween becuase it is actually just such a shocking movie.  Not in any way that you go "OH MY GOD!" but in the way that at the end you utter to yourself "oh...wow."

In it, a group of horror tropes go on a booze and drug filled trip to a cabin in the woods, a classic set up.  That classic setup is used as the backdrop of characters that we learn to care about, learn to loathe and learn to go "oh shit!" when something happens.

The aliens in the movie seem almost completely omnipotent, with mind control powers, the ability to cut down trees in perfect places and survive .20g shotgun blasts.  

It really is one of those films that draws on every trope you can ever imagine, but still manages to shit on every trope ever imagined.  By the time you end the movie, you're so hopeless and just exhuasted that you can't even keep going.  And you thank the movie for ending.

This is an example of the Viscious Brothers' great direction and writing and I REALLY hope to see more from them in the future.  I still remember being exhausted by Grave Encounters and its sequel the first time I saw them.  This movie is no different.