I liked the film, quite a lot more after 24 hours of digestion, but purposely using Emma Roberts to play Kiernan Shipka 9 measly years later was totally unnecessary imo. It would have been so much better to just slightly age Kiernan then the audience would have a had a better grasp on the timelines
The rest of the film was fine, but it seemed to me the only reason to do such a thing was to try and make your film appear more complicated than already was and it already had more than enough going on than to need to add such a confusionary tactic like that.
It's actually weird because in the beginning when I looked at Kiernan Shipka I thought she looked like a softer cuter version of Emma Roberts. If not for the bullet wound shown, my undivided attention to the film and or my reading inside this board I would have had a total and complete WTF at the credits and would have rated this film badly so I can see how it's easy for someone casually watching this to be totally confused at the end
Had that not been done it would have got a 8/10, but gets a 7/10 instead. I also didn't like the title change to The Blackcoat's Daughter in place of February(a perfect title imo) Even after googling I don't know what The Blackcoat's Daughter signifies, anyone?
She was in a mental hospital, and she assaulted/possibly killed an employee there to escape (very brief flashback shows this, also the driver's license for "Joan" is shown and it's a thin blonde woman, but not Emma Roberts).
I think, with the hair and eyebrows groomed to the same color, Kat and "Joan" actually look quite a bit alike, especially on a second viewing. Maybe more like sisters than the same person, but I'll believe it. I look pretty different from how I did 9 years ago, though much of mine is due to weight gain and different colored hair lol.
But are you sure? I'd think Kat's parents would know the girl who murdered their daughter and if she was out of prison.
Yes absolutely sure that was the clear intent in the film, but you bring up something completely new and interesting that kinda shakes the foundation of this. If my daughter's head was removed I would want to see the girl responsible regardless of age, mental status or demonic possession though I can imagine them possibly being shown that school picture that they did a weird scene with.(And maybe since she was institutionalized they didn't want to even see her face, it's quite possible)For some reason nobody brought that bit up until now(everyone catches something different). Thinking back it's creepy the amount of time that the father spent with Joan/Kat and he even saw her with a towel revealing the bullet wound and all he has to say is how much she reminds him of her daughter, when in fact Rose looked nothing like Kat/Joan, though the mother seemed to have a really bad sense about Joan, that weird scene in the car where she says she looks nothing like her daughter and that she means nothing, that she is nothing.
Maybe after 9 years and her being whisked away to a mental hospital, he and his wife could have had a pretty skewed image of the 14 young girl who did it and they certainly would not expect her to be free, out in public, sitting on a bench at random, maybe I'm making excuses for the director because I really liked the film. Back to the matter at hand, I also felt very confused with the 2 girls thing because I'm much more familiar with Emma Roberts face( I recently binged Scream Queens though I'm not proud of itξΆ) than Kiernan Shipka's, I was in a literal state wtf(what and why). It's always easy to make someone look older in film and TV, only when they have to show a much younger version of someone do they choose another actor, well until this film came around.
Gotta give the writer/director his due though, I haven't played a film through my head back and forth this much and written so much in different threads for a horror film practically ever and that means he did one heck of job.
I'm already looking forward to Oz Perkins' next endeavor I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House(201?) This film(February aka TBD) is the first time he's had control of both writing and direction and that will be his second. The three other films he's written have been mostly intriguing, I really enjoyed Cold Comes the Night(2013) with Bryan Cranston and Removal(2010) with Billy Burke, then there is The Girl in the Photographs(2015) which I've just seen recently and I wasn't impressed with the acting and the direction, I felt there was a good horror flick underneath it all but director Nick Simon didn't have the right vision, no atmosphere, bad pacing.
So still I ramble about Mr Perkins, I'll be watching his next film glued to the screen and likely a few times. Sorry for veering off the highway with this post jgbloyd, this sh!t always happens with the morning coffee if I respond to a post, regardless the content, that is if you didn't look at it and say tl;dr which is an expression I've just recently picked up on and a useful one in many cases and some can be applied to a lot of 18 paragraph user reviews.
reply share
Thank you for mentioning this director's next project, I will keep an eye open for it! Also, have you watched Mike Flanagan's movies? Absentia got me hooked, it is one of the best low budget indies I've ever seen. I was equally impressed by Oculus. Hush was great, not as scary IMO (I don't believe in ghosts, but for some reason supernatural movies are my jam), but very well acted by the lead (playing a deaf woman). I finally saw Before I Wake, it was more of a dark fairytale than a horror movie. It was his least strong movie, but still a 6.5 in my opinion (the overpowering music in the last ten minutes really ruined the ending).
There isn't really too many iconic horror film creators nowadays and the ones we have are often making questionable quality horror flicks more often than not(Eli Roth)(M.N.S.). Most times I barely recognize directors in horror, a lot of times it's a one off guy for larger budget films, someone I've never heard of or will not likely see again or someone I don't ever want to see again,lol. John Gulager has made some solid seriously gore filled romps with the Feast Trilogy and a personal fave of mine Piranha 3DD(albeit an immense guilty pleasure), but then he made that crap Tv flick Zombie Night(2013) has a Children of the Corn reboot coming up that can go either way. James Wan is currently the reigning king of theatrical released horror flicks with countless flicks steadily good quality, not to mention he's made some epic action/thriller types along the way. The fact that he produces, writes and directs all of his work is really incredible. He's laid down some of the most solid multiple sequel flicks that will keep earning and earning. I wonder what this guy is actually worth, may have to do some googling(update googled it $50 million) nice cushion to sit on,smh.
As far as Mike Flanagan's films I missed his two early films Still Life (2001) Makebelieve(2000), but just about everyone on Earth missed those two with combined vote total of 95 votes, two films made while he was seemingly sharpening his pen while doing his editorial jobs, But after those I've seen em all: Before I Wake(2016) a 7/10, not really a horror flick, but still a pretty cool fantasy/ light horror elements/ drama.
Hush (2016) A very solid film about a 7.5/10
Oculus (2013) Perfection, I admit I gave it a 10/10 a very rare rating outside of TV, but after just watching it for the second time three years later just recently I still stand behind it.
Absentia (2012) I gave a 7/10, I know a lot of people love it, but I didn't quite share that much admiration for it, just like my rating for Oculus, different tropes for different folks. I liked it quite a bit though as per the 7/10
Unfortunately Flanagan's next flick: Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016) is something I will only watch for the sake of having watched(actually maybe I'll pass on it) it and knowing it was just as crappy or worse than the first film in which I gave a 3/10 it's got a 4.4.10 on IMDb and it's getting a worldwide theatrical release ffs because so many idiots paid to see the first film that had a $5 million dollar budget and managed to pull in a $150 MILLION DOLLAR PROFIT in theater sales alone. πππππππ Look for Ouija 7: The Board is Back(2022) ξ
That's why my heart relies mostly on indie horror flicks made strictly for direct to VOD and or DVD/BluRay sales. That's usually where most of the good ones come from and PG-13 ratings are basically unheard of in them.
I'm glad you mentioned James Wan, because I think of his films as canon now, even though he's only been around for a bit over a decade. Insidious scared the crap out of me, those types of supernatural films absolutely terrify me (though, like I said, oddly enough I'm not particularly open to ghosts). Saw was just amazing. Dead Silence gave me nightmares, and I am pretty well jaded by now. I'm seeing Conjuring 2 this weekend in the theater instead of the drive-in (where I usually go for horror movies, because who doesn't like to have a beer and get scared with their friends?), and am prepared to metaphorically crap my pants (can you tell I'm a fan?).
Ouija was terrible. TERRIBLE. I am hoping this will be the rare sequel improves on the original. I cannot friggin' BELIEVE it made that much, when something like It Follows or The Witch had to wait over a year for a (limited) release.
Not the biggest fan of Eli Roth, though I have a little crush on him (sigh). He seems like he'd be fun to hang out with. I really liked Hostel II, but his other films are 5/10's for me. Well, I did like Green Inferno quite a bit, but I don't know that I'll watch it again.
Have you seen Lovely Molly? You might like that one - it's the director of The Blair Witch Project (can't recall his name offhand). I also liked his bigfoot movie, Exists, though I ended up feeling pretty sorry for poor bigfoot:/
Yeah, I was expecting it to be like a split personality or something because as it is, it makes no sense. Only reason I can think is that maybe they wanted it to play out like a twist, but if you saw the trailer well... you wouldn't need to watch the movie to figure it out. I'm still confused as to whether she went insane and saw/heard demons or if she actually became possessed at some point. But ff she was possessed did the priest's exorcism actually get rid of the demon/s and then she went insane? I'm probably overthinking it...
-When you're jaded enough everything can seem like a cliche-