So far I have watched a couple of slasher movies, one movie I can't say what it was about since it will give to much of it away, and two ghost stories. Given the basic plot outline for Wicked Little Things, I was expecting another ghost story. To my surprise it isn't a ghost story but I'm not really sure if that is a good thing. I didn't mind the change of pace. Sure I have my favorite subgenres but I love horror movies in general. There isn't one I won't watch, as this blog will attest to.Wicked Little Things starts off in the year 1913. We see some kids working in a mine when an accident happens and burries the kids inside of the mine. We find out later that the owner of the mine was cleared of any wrong doing through some newspaper clips. From there we jump forward to the present time and meet Karen Tunny (Lori Heuring). She is moving her family after her husband had passed away. She finds out that her husband's family owns a house outside a small Pennsylvania town. Since he had ownership of the house she decides to live there. The reasons, there is a quick think about health reasons, are never to clear as to why she decides this. She has two daughters, Sarah (Scout Taylor-Compton) and Emma (Chloe Moretz). Sarah is the oldest and more against the move.
They notice some strange things right away. Like blood on the door and talk about zombies in the hills around the house. Emma hears something like childrens laughter and goes to check it out. She gets deeper and deeper into the woods though. Once Karen discovers this, she goes out in search of her daughter. Eventually she finds Emma just outside of the old mine. As they head back home they get lost and soon enough it is dark out. They come across the home of Hanks (Ben Cross). Hanks knows about the kids and knows that blood on the door will keep them away. But is it already to late for them all?
The effects are a little more gory this time around. The kids themselves don't really look like zombies. They are pale of course and have a cuts here and there but you won't find flesh hanging off of them which would make a little more sense since they have been dead for a long time now. Hanks says at one point that they hunger and that they do. They carry things around that you would find in a mine, pick ax, shovels and the like and they know how to use them. When they do use them on us humans, the blood goes flying. We also get to see some of the kids chowing down on some pig and human meat.
The acting from the main leads was real good. Out of the three, I think Scout Taylor-Compton impressed me the most. By the way, she is signed up for the remake of Halloween playing the part of Laurie Strode. If you want to know how she will be in a horror movie, this is a good way to find out. You will also find Geoffrey Lewis. He has a small part to play but it was good to see him in a horror movie. I was going to list some of the kids that played the zombies but none of them are listed on IMDb.
Wicked Little Things is a movie I enjoyed. It had some good acting and effects. The story, while nothing to really brag about, wasn't all that bad. I have certainly seen less story played out of the screen before. The reason I didn't out right love this movie is two fold. First there are the kids. To me, they just weren't all the scary. The way the kids looked and the story around them felt more like this should have been a ghost story instead of a movie about zombies. Most times there is a reason for zombies and I just couldn't figure out why they would be zombies. Ghosts, at least movie ghosts, can have their revenge so I just didn't see the point of having zombies. The other reason was that at first it seemed like we were only dealing with a handfull of kids. That was all that talked about for the most part and they showed us some pictures of some of the kids but it was always the same kids in the pictures. I could be wrong but each time they showed the kids, in the woods or where ever they were at the time, it felt like I was seeing more and more kids each time.
A plot hole that I, and others, found is that we are told the kids won't attack their own blood. One of the girls who died was a Tunny. That means mom is fair game but the oldest daughter shouldn't be. Yet they do attack the oldest daughter. Of course that doesn't mean they were going to hurt her but it was strange. Then again, maybe she wasn't of Tunny blood. Over all it wasn't to bad of a movie. I never got a creepy vibe from it but I still liked that they actually had some kids as zombies. Not something you see very often. To bad they didn't look the part a little more.
3 out of 5 Pig and human guts look a lot alike
3 comments:
Before I forget Miss Heather, thanks for the name of your company. I will handle that first thing in the morning, as I am still waiting for my credit card to be refunded (frowning).
Mmmm, well you still gave this one a 3, which is really not a bad score to me Heather - not when you assign it anyway. I mean this as a compliment so hopefully you will take it that way and understand my point (sticks out tongue). You and I are both "sick" enough that a 3 from you, might easily be a 4 from many other reviewers. That is why I say a 3 from you is simply not a bad score to me at all (grinning, as I wipe the blood off my pick axe).
You liked the acting for the most part, sort of liked the plot, and noted that there was more gore anyway. So when I finally get the series, it will be another one I will look forward to watching (smiling). From what you have said, I think (without watching it anyway) I would be inclinded to agree with you Miss Heather. This one almost sounds like it might have been more logical if the kids were ghosts rather than zombies.
While I reckon there is no true "set in stone" rule on what zombies are suppose to look like, as you noted the makeup really did not suggest zombie to me either. From your description of their appearance, they sound closer to ghosts to me than zombies, except for the cuts anyway. So a different take on the zombie genre anyway. As you said, at least zombie kids would be a fairly different concept for me too. Who knows, I may appreciate them more once I have watched this one (smiling).
Although I do have to admit Miss Heather, I am really a lot like you. Tell me it is a horror, and I will watch it. Even on ones that I think were poor overall (ones I would give low scores too), I have yet to not find something that I felt was done well. It might be the effects, acting, whatever - you understand what I mean. Over the years there may have been a horror that I thought was simply a total waste of my time. But if there is, I simply can't remember it now. So it could not have made that much of a negative impact on me anyway, lol. (Hmmm well that old one puny bone one might come close, hehehe. Roflmao, sorry I could not resist that one.)
I realize you have two more from the series to go, and I hope I am not putting the evil eye of you sweet lady, hehehe. But overall to this point, it seems like you have actually thought highly of most of these. One got a 5, which is a nice surprise to me, and several others got high marks too. It sounds like this series will be a really nice addition to my horror collection. I am looking forward to watching everyone you have reviewed so far.
I have purchased some sets before, and I would really enjoy the first dvd I popped in. Then each time another disc went into my player I would think, well maybe this will be another good one, lol. You know what I mean - you buy a set, one is a strong movie, and the rest are much lower overall. That does not sound like the case with this series at all. That is another reason I am looking forward to be able to order this one in the morning. I may even have to debate their shipping options too, so it arrives a bit quicker, hehehe. I am not sure where this company would ship the series from, but I am betting it is somewhere on the east coast.
Sort of odd really. I have noticed that packages I have shipped east arrive farily quickly. On the other hand, packages shipped to me from the east, seem to come on a fairly slow camel train, lol.
Another really nice review from my favorite horror "expert". I know you can not rush things and have them turn out as well as your reviews do sweet lady. But whenever you get the chance, hehehe.
Btw, I am not so sure about just how similar they really are (pig and human guts), real world anyway, lol (yeah it is sick puppy time). You know, someone I worked with decades ago, is now the top dog on the 11th floor of your nearest hospital facility Miss Heather (grinning). I have seen him being interviewed in some documentaries. If I ever make it back to my old stomping grounds and you want to find out first hand - I will be glad to make a call and set things up for you pretty lady. That would be a real hoot too, being with you while you watched something, hehehe. (Hey, I did warn you it was sick puppy time right, winking). Keep your special cards and letters coming whenever you can please Miss Heather. We sure do love em (smiling, tips my hat).
Miss Heather, I just wanted to thank you once again sweet lady, for you help on your company. I just placed my order, duplicating the one you made, the set + 1, and they should be delivered tomorrow according to my order message.
So hopefully I will be watching a few of these flicks starting tomorrow, that to you maam (tips my hat).
Well howdy again Miss Heather (grinning), I sort of feel like I am on a roll now, lol. This is the last of the series that I had watched early on, and I just got through watching it start to finish (without falling asleep with the flu making notes that make no sense now, lmao).
I sort of had a bit different take on this one from you I reckon maam. But close enough I am not really sure the end result is different anyway, hehehe. First on the why the house issue - mom explained to Lewis (I enjoyed him too) that her husband had been sick for a long time. She said they had never had much money, and his illness took basically all they had. While she did not say it clearly, it seemed if they had owned a house it got sold to pay for hubby's medical expenses. She found the deed to this house while going through his papers after hubby died. So she realized they at least had a house they could move into.
This is sort of strange I guess. I am not really sure if the kids are suppose to be ghosts, zombies, or a cross between the two (shucks you know what they say about mountain folk in-breeding like that too, lmao). Sorry that one was bad, but I just could not resist it (ducking as Miss Heather throws items at me), hehehe. From the story the kids should clearly be ghosts, killed in the mine which is apparently in the wooded area off the Tunney's back yard area. So since they are hanging around, to me they should be ghosts.
The locals that Sarah meets refer to the kids as zombies, but the female said it was just a local urban legend - well initially anyway, hehehehe. Yes maam, they did indeed chow down on the pig that Hanks left or them and non-pigs, hmmm, I guess we could call it another white meat, besides pork and chicken (grinning). Since they are eating meat that would suggest they are zombies in a way too.
But my take on the kids is they were far more ghosts than zombies. But again Miss Heather, flip a coin, ghosts or zombies or a combination of the two, I think it is bascially six of one, half dozen of the other in many ways.
It will be interesting to see "Sarah" in the remake of Halloween, especially now that I have already seen her in this flick. I do agree with you, I was really impressed with both the acting from everyone here, and the effects. It was not exactly a blood bath, but more gory by far than the first two I had watched were.
I have a prediction to make about Miss Emma too. Whether she elects to stay in acting or not, I predict in about 10 years she is going to be a true heartbreaker, just like someone I know who has a horror blog with the intials H.S. (tips my hat to the pretty lady).
Overall I really enjoyed this one Miss Heather. I still just said it was basically a ghost story with an odd twist, so that may be part of the reason I did not get to concerned about the ghost/zombie issue. The appearance of the kids, especially their eyes, made me think of them more as ghosts too. You are also right too on the fact the number of kids seemed to increase as the movie progressed too. I noticed that one especially when outside Hank's near the end and just sort of said...that is sort of odd.
But this may be a twist you did not pick up on that I found really interesting too sweet lady. I could find nothing in the extras that mentioned it, and watched the credits carefully when I began to wonder. They did not give the filming location, but there were other hints during the credits.
I began to look at the pics of the kids, and the kids themselves and more and more I began to think that several of them looked European in origin. But more and more they struck me as being European in the concept of the "old communitst" parts of Europe. Sure enough, the movie was made in either Romania or Bulgaria. Now that one really surprised me a bit, as the setting did indeed look like it was set in a real mountain setting to me. A lot of films over the years have been filmed in North Carolina (many in the Wilmington area primarily) but throughout the state too. I was really thinking while watching the setting, that it could easily be the western part of North Carolina where it was filmed.
When I have finished with my comments on this series, i will pop this one back in and pay more attention to vehicle license plates, etc. I also want to watch all of the credits again to see if I missed the filming location the first tme too.
Even though I saw the kids more as hungry ghosts than zombies, the end result was the same for me I think. I liked this one, but I also think your 3 is a valid grade for it too. I thought it was a nice little flick, but like you I did not have any shivers at all from it. Nor did it really offer me any true surprises at all. But another reason that made me feel the kids were ghosts was the very ending scene too, when the bedroom door is closed (smiling, tips my hat).
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