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Best Horror Movies on Netflix: Scariest Films to Stream
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Editor’s Note: This post is updated monthly. Bookmark this page to see what the best horror movies on Netflix are at your convenience.
Is it Halloween when you’re reading this? If not we’re still close enough with fall here and the month of October almost upon us! It’s the time of year where we like our drinks spiced with pumpkin or apple, our flannel light, and the movies we consume scary. And lucky for you there are more than a handful of worthwhile scary movies on Netflix.
There is nothing quite as fun as embracing the spooky, the creepy, the scary, and things that go bump in the night. Thankfully we have horror movies to help us down these paths. If you ever find yourself in need of a thrill or a chill, check out some of the best horror movies on Netflix, we’ve gathered here.
Enjoy your tricks and treats.
Looking for the best horror movies on Netflix UK? Click here!
As Above, So Below
We know what you might be thinking: a found footage horror movie? Yes, this was one of the later adherents to a genre craze that got run into the ground during the 2000s and early 2010s. However, As Above, So Below is the rare thing: effectively creepy. With a crackerjack premise about the real Catacombs of Paris being a secret gateway to Hell, the film casts an energetic Perdita Weeks as a modern day Indiana Jones in a Go-Pro helmet. She and her colleagues make the unwise choice to go off the tourist-guided path in the catacombs, which is home to the remains of more than 6 million people who died between the early middle ages and 18th century.
But once deep below the City of Lights, the film’s dwindling protagonists find themselves crawling beneath a wall with the words “Abandon all Hope Ye Who Enter.” And things just get bleak from there. This is a ghoulish good-time for those who are willing to indulge in the gimmick storytelling.
Apostle
Apostle comes from acclaimed The Raid director Gareth Evans and is his take on the horror genre. Spoiler alert: it’s a good one.
Dan Stevens stars as Thomas Richardson, a British man in the early 1900s who must rescue his sister, Jennifer, from the clutches of a murderous cult. Thomas successfully infiltrates the cult led by the charismatic Malcom Howe (Michael Sheen) and begins to ingratiate himself with the strange folks obsessed with bloodletting. Thomas soon comes to find that the object of the cult’s religious fervor may be more real than he’d prefer.
The Blackcoat’s Daughter
Some kids dream about being left overnight or even a week at certain locations to play, like say a mall or a Chuck E. Cheese. One place that no one wants to be left alone in, however, is a Catholic boarding school.
That’s the situation that Rose (Lucy Boynton) and Kat (Kiernan Shipka) find themselves in in the atmospheric and creepy The Blackcoat’s Daughter. When Rose and Kat’s parents are unable to pick them up for winter break, the two are forced to spend the week at their dingy Catholic boarding school. If that weren’t bad enough, Rose fears that she may be pregnant…oh, and the nuns might all be Satanists.
The Blackcoat’s Daughter is an excellent debut directorial outing from Oz Perkins and another step on the right horror path for scream queens Shipka and Emma Roberts.
The Evil Dead
1981’s The Evil Dead is nothing less than one of the biggest success stories in horror movie history.
Written and directed on a shoestring budget by Sam Raimi, The Evil Dead uses traditional horror tropes to its great advantage, creating a scary, funny, and almost inconceivably bloody story about five college students who encounter some trouble in a cabin in the middle of the woods. That trouble includes the unwitting release of a legion of demons upon the world.
The Evil Dead rightfully made stars of its creator and lead Bruce Campbell. It was also the jumping off point for a successful franchise that includes two sequels, a remake, a TV show, and more.
Gerald’s Game
We are living in a renaissance for Stephen King adaptations. But while there have been many killer clowns and hat-wearing fiends getting major attention at the multiplexes, the best King movie in perhaps decades is Mike Flanagan’s underrated Gerald’s Game. Cleverly adapted from what has been described as one of King’s worst stories, Gerald’s Game improves on its source material when it imagines a middle-aged woman (Carla Gugino) placed in a terrifying survival situation after her husband (Bruce Greenwood) dies of a heart attack during a sex game.
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Handcuffed to a bed in their remote cabin in the woods, Gugino’s Jessie must face the fact no one is coming to save her in the next week… more than enough time to die of dehydration or the wolf prowling about. Thus the specter of death hovers over the whole movie, seemingly literally with a monstrous shade emerging from the shadows to bedevil Jessie each night. A trenchant character study that frees Gugino to show a wide range of terror, determination, and finally horrifying desperation, the movie delves into the shadows of a woman haunted by trauma and demons almost as scary as her current situation. Almost.
The Gift
Who knew Joel Edgerton had it in him?
The Gift is the Australian actor’s writing and directing debut and it doesn’t disappoint. Edgerton stars as Gordon “Gordo” Mosely. He’s a nice enough middle-aged man if a little “off.” One day while shopping he runs into an old high school classmate Simon (Jason Bateman) and his wife Robyn (Rebecca Hall). After their brief encounter, Gordo takes it upon himself to start dropping off little gifts to Simon and Robyn’s home. Robyn sees no problem with it at first. But Simon becomes disturbed, perhaps because of the unique past Simon and Gordo share.
Many horror movies understand there must be a twist of some sort or at the very least an unexpected third act. Even still The Gift‘s third act switch up is particularly devastating because it’s so mundane and logical. The Gift ends up being an emotional drama disguised as horror.
The Girl with All the Gifts
Just when you thought there was nothing left to be done with the zombie genre, in comes a shocking and original idea… one that has sadly grown only more scary in 2020 with regards to The Girl with All the Gifts. A brilliant little indie from Colm McCarthy, this underrated gem imagines a zombie apocalypse as something closer to a viral pandemic that lasts for generations…. and one where a vaccine is always just out of reach.
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Thus enters the class of Helen Justineau (Gemma Arterton). Years after a fungal infection ravaged the planet, turning the infected into “hungries” (breathing zombies), their offspring have shown a creepy ability to retain the ability to think, learn, and love… even as they crave living flesh.
Hence the students in Helen’s class, including her favorite Melanie (Sennia Nanua). The child is special… too much so when it’s believed her biology could create a vaccine that would spare anymore humans turning “hungry.” But to harvest her body, the military will drag Helen and Melanie through an urban hellscape which has reduced London to an abandoned refuge for Hungries and feral children who likewise hunt uninfected humans for food.
The Golem
The Golem is such an awesome monster from Jewish mythology that it’s hard to believe they don’t make more movies about him. Well now they have. The Golem isn’t a straight-up remake of the 1915 movie of the same name so much as it is the next step in the evolution of this grim mythological beast.
During the outbreak of a plague, Hanna (Hani Furstenberg) will do whatever it takes to defend her community from outside invaders. Unfortunately, and in true fairy tale fashion, the creature she conjures up to defend her community quickly develops a murderous mind of its own.
Green Room
Green Room is a shockingly conventional horror movie despite not having all of the elements we traditionally associate with them. You won’t find any monsters or the presence of the supernatural in Green Room.
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Instead all monsters are replaced by vengeful neo-Nazis and the haunted house is replaced by a skinhead punk music club in the middle of nowhere in the Oregon woods. The band, The Aint Rights, led by bassist Pat (Anton Yelchin) are locked in the green room of a club after witnessing a murder and must fight their way out.
Horns
A horror vintage for a distinctly acquired taste, Alexandre Aja’s Horns is a bizarre fairy tale for adults. As much a revenge fable as a typical chiller, this movie which put “Harry Potter in Devil Horns” is actually something of a grim love story based on a novel by Joe Hill.
Daniel Radcliffe plays Ig Perrish, an outcast in his local community who wants nothing more than to forever be by the side of his lifelong love Merrin (Juno Temple). After her brutal unsolved murder prevents that, Ig swears he’d sell his soul to get revenge.
Funny thing is the day after he makes such a proclamation, horns begin growing from his forehead. The greater they grow, the easier it is to get sinners around him to confess their most hidden shames, and indulge in others. But with the clock ticking before he becomes a full-fledged demon, and his soul is presumably claimed by Beelzebub, there is only a narrow window before he can get revenge while raising a little hell.
Hush
In his follow-up to the cult classic Oculus, Mike Flanagan makes one of the more clever horror movies on this list. Hush is a thrilling game of cat-and-mouse within the typical nightmare of a home invasion, yet it also turns conventions of that familiar terror on its head.
For instance, the savvy angle about this movie is Kate Siegel (who co-wrote the movie with Flanagan) plays Maddie, a deaf and mute woman living in the woods alone. Like Audrey Hepburn’s blind woman from the progenitor of home invasion stories, Wait Until Dark (1967), Maddie is completely isolated when she is marked for death by a menacing monster in human flesh.
Like the masked villains of so many more generic home invasion movies (I’m looking square at you, Strangers), John Gallagher Jr.’s “Man” wears a mask as he sneaks into her house. However, the functions of this story are laid bare since we actually keep an eye on what the “Man” is doing at all times, and how he is getting or not getting into the house in any given scene. He isn’t aided by filmmakers who’ve given him faux-supernatural and omnipotent abilities like other versions of these stories, and he’s not an “Other;” he’s a man who does take his mask off, and his lust for murder is not so much fetishized as shown for the repulsive behavior that it is. And still, Maddie proves to be both resourceful and painfully ill-equipped to take him on in this tense battle of wills.
Insidious
Insidious is the start of a multi-film horror franchise and a pretty good one at that. Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne star as a married couple who move into a new home with their three kids. Shortly after they move in, their son Dalton is drawn to a shadow in the attic and then falls into a mysterious coma from which they can’t wake him.
It’s at this point that the Lamberts do what horror fans always yell at characters to do: they move out of the damn house! Little do they know, however, that some hauntings go beyond mere domiciles.
The Invitation
Seeing your ex is always uncomfortable, but imagine if your ex-wife invited you to a dinner party with her new husband? That is just about the least creepy thing in this taut thriller nestled in the Hollywood Hills.
Indeed, in The Invitation Logan Marshall-Green’s Will is invited by his estranged wife (Tammy Blanchard) for dinner with her new hubby David (Michael Huisman of Game of Thrones). David apparently wanted to extend the bread-breaking offer personally since he has something he wants to invite both Will and all his other guests into joining. And it isn’t a game of Scrabble…
It Comes at Night
Surviving the apocalypse comes with a certain amount of questions. For starters, what do you do after you survive a global pandemic thanks to your secluded cabin in the woods…and then someone comes knocking? That’s the situation that the family consisting of Paul (Joel Edgerton), Sarah (Carmen Ejogo), and Travis (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) find themselves in in It Comes at Night.
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When Paul and his family come across another family in the woods seeking shelter and water, they hesitantly welcome them in. But this soon proves to be a dangerous decision. Having guests in the real world is annoying enough to deal with and it only becomes harder when you suspect that any one of them could be sick with a highly-contagious, utterly fatal illness.
Paranormal Activity
Ignore the sequels. Yes, you know they’re bad and we know they’re bad. But long before “the Ghost Dimension” (whatever the hell that means), there was this eerie surprise hit that started it all. A movie which was estimated to be the most profitable movie of all time in its day–earning $193.4 million worldwide on a budget of $15,000–Paranormal Activity put Blumhouse Productions on the map and is still a supremely affecting piece of atmosphere.
Presented as the true story of a young, and not wholly likable, couple (Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat), the film follows the pair as they attempt to document the bumps they’re hearing in the house at night–only to discover a demonic presence and some repressed memories for one party. A still brilliant exercise in sound design, tension, and the uncanny ability to trick audiences into believing what they’re seeing is actually happening, this remains the best found footage horror movie ever made.
Poltergeist
Before there was Insidious, The Conjuring, or a myriad of other “suburban family vs. haunted house” movies, there was Poltergeist. Taking ghost stories out of the Gothic setting of ancient castles or decrepit mansions and hotels, Poltergeist moved the spirits into the middle class American heartland of the 1980s. With a smart screenplay by no less than Steven Spielberg (and, according to some, his ghost direction), Poltergeist finds the Freeling family privy to a disquieting fact about their new home: It’s built on top of a cemetery!
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You probably know the story, and if you don’t you can guess it after decades of copycats that followed, but this special effects-laden spectacle still holds up, especially as a thriller that can be enjoyed by the whole family. Fair warning though, if your kids have a tree outside their window or a clown doll under their bed, we don’t take responsibility for the years of therapy bills this may inflict!
Red Dragon
The often overlooked other child of the Hannibal Lecter movie family, Red Dragon is no The Silence of the Lambs, no matter how much it wishes it was. Nor is it as visually evocative or luscious as Ridley Scott’s decadent Hannibal. Nevertheless, we find this prequel to both films to be at least worthy of association with the former, and ultimately more satisfying than the latter. A definite attempt to reshape Thomas Harris’ first novel to feature the Lecter character into a Silence of the Lambs clone, Red Dragon still has quite a bit to enjoy.
At the top of the list is of course Sir Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal for the third and final time. Definitely his hammiest iteration of the character, even a campy Hopkins is impossible to resist given the not-so-good doctor’s droll wit or distinct taste palate. Director Brett Ratner’s framing around Lecter is competent enough, and he wisely gets a superb supporting cast who can overwhelm any shortcomings.
Edward Norton is a compelling lead FBI detective; Philip Seymour Hoffman is delightfully repellent as a tabloid journalist who suffers a terrifying fate; and Ralph Fiennes roars as the serial killer who inflicts that fate on Hoffman. It may be no Manhunter–Michael Mann’s first adaptation of the source novel–but Red Dragon‘s the one on Netflix. So love the one you’re with!
The Silence of the Lambs
If you are only going to watch one Hannibal Lecter movie, this is the all-time masterpiece which remains the sole horror movie to win an Oscar for Best Picture. An absolutely gripping thriller even 30 years later, Jonathan Demme’s movie is an all-time great because of stellar performances and a sharp screenplay told by an even sharper eye.
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Best Horror Movies on Hulu
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Here is the movie that kicked off the serial killer craze in Hollywood during the ’90s. Yet more than the gory details, what lingers in the mind are little things like an opening sequence that introduces Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) as the lone woman on an elevator full of FBI ubermensches, or the way Anthony Hopkins breaks his unrelenting stare to mispronounce “Chianti” with dripping disdain for the Yokel sent to interview him. Every facet of this movie works, and thus it hasn’t aged a day. We do recommend watching it with a side of fava beans, though.
Sinister
One of the better Blumhouse chillers to come out of the 2010s, Sinister is the case of a brilliant elevator pitch meeting a superior pair of talents in director Scott Derrickson and star Ethan Hawke to bring it to life.
The setup of the movie is simple: There is a pagan demon god who will consume the soul of any nearby children whenever someone sees him. And not just him, but recreations of his image on walls. And wouldn’t you know it, true crime journalist Ellison (Hawke) just moved into a house with an attic full of home movies stuffed to the gills with Bughuul. And Ellison’s daughter is right downstairs. Uh oh.
Sleepy Hollow
As much a comedy as a horror film, Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow should always be on the table when discussing October viewing options. After all, this demented reimagining of Washington Irving’s classic short story, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” never forgets the selling point is to have them rolling in the aisles. And more than a few heads do just that.
As a film with the most varied and imaginative uses of decapitation, Sleepy Hollow cuts a bloody path across Upstate New York. In fact, despite its American setting, we might as well confess what Sleepy Hollow really is: a modern version of a Hammer horror movie.
Burton incorporates all of his favorite tropes here: The intentionally stuffy faux-British acting (even though all the characters are of Dutch descent); the exaggerated and formal clothing; more than a few heaving bosoms; and lots and lots of gore. This film is so perfectly macabre and gleefully grotesque that you might even be forgiven for not noticing at first glance how dryly funny and deadpan a place this Sleepy Hollow tends to be.
Splice
What if Dr. Frankenstein banged his monster? That is just one of several creepy elements to Splice, a weird psychosexual sci-fi/horror hybrid. Directed by Vincenzo Natali and starring Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley as the world’s worst scientists, Splice follows two not-so-smart doctors who attempt to play God by creating an entire new species of creature they name Dren (Delphine Chanéac).
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At first a computer-generated child with alien eyes and a roping tail, Dren soon grows from girl to young woman, seducer to… well, something even more unexpected. Weird, unpleasant, and ultimately unshakable like that one bad dream, Splice plays with ideas of identity, gender, and parenthood.
Sweetheart
Don’t let the name fool you, Sweetheart is very much a horror movie. What kind of horror movie, you ask? Well, after a boat sinks during a storm, young Jennifer Remming (Kiersey Clemons) is the only survivor. She washes ashore a small island and gets to work burying her friends, creating shelter, and foraging for food. You know: deserted island stuff.
Soon, however, Jenn will come to find that the island is not as deserted as she previously thought. There’s something out there – something big, dangerous, and hungry. Sweetheart is like Castaway meets Predator and it’s another indie horror hit for Blumhouse.
Tucker and Dale vs. Evil
Tucker and Dale vs. Evil is a fantastic little satire on the horror genre that, in a similar fashion to Scream, is packed with laughs, gore, and a bit of a message. When a group of preppy college students head out to the backwoods for a camping trip, they stumble upon two good-natured good ol’ boys that they mistake for homicidal hillbillies.
Their quick, off-the-mark judgment of Tucker and Dale lead to these snobs getting themselves into sticky, often bloody, and hilariously over-the-top situations. Tucker and Dale vs. Evil rides a one-joke premise to successful heights and teaches audiences to not judge a book by its cover.
Under the Shadow
This 2016 effort could not possibly be more timely as it sympathizes, and terrorizes, an Iranian single mother and child in 1980s Tehran. Like a draconian travel ban, Shideh (Narges Rashidi) and her son Dorsa (Avin Manshadi) are malevolently targeted by a force of supreme evil.
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This occurs after Dorsa’s father, a doctor, is called away to serve the Iranian army in post-revolution and war-torn Iran. In his absence evil seeps in… as does a quality horror movie with heightened emotional weight.
Underworld
No one is going to mistake Underworld for high art. That obvious fact makes the lofty pretensions of these movies all the more endearing. With a cast of high-minded British theatrical actors, many trained in the Royal Shakespeare Company, at least the early movies in this Gothic horror/action mash-up series were overflowing with histrionic self-importance and grandiosity.
Take the first and best in the series. In the margins you have Bill Nighy and Michael Sheen portraying the patriarchs of warring factions of vampires and werewolves, and a love story caught between their violence that’ shamelessly modeled on Romeo and Juliet. It’s ridiculous, especially with Scott Speedman playing one party. But when the other is the oft-underrated Kate Beckinsale it doesn’t matter.
The movie’s bombast becomes the movie’s first virtue, and Len Wiseman’s penchant for glossy slick visuals, which would look at home in the sexiest Eurotrash graphic novel at the bookstore, is its other. Combined they make this a guilty good time. Though we recommend not venturing past the second or third movie.
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altalksaboutstuff · 4 years
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Shantae and the Seven Sirens First Impressions (Insert I whip my hair back and forth joke here)
No spoilers?   Well ok, I'll try.   I suck at knowing what is or is not a spoiler though.   I'll give it my best go.
… or should I say my best Ret-2-Go! 
First some back story to frame this:
Shantae and the Seven Sirens is probably the game that I've been looking forward to playing all year and it was about a year ago now that we first got the teaser trailer/opening for this game too.   I've watched that trailer over and over. on my birthday I saw the Studio Trigger movie Promare and the Shantae and the Seven Sirens trailer (also animated by Studio Trigger) was shown with the other movie trailers.  Its really good, both the movie and trailer, so good that after seeing the trailer my wife asked me if the games were based off the anime (They didn't know that Shantae isn't an anime at the time.)   This was also after spending pretty much the whole summer of 2019 playing Shantae Half Genie Hero again and again.   I think I mentioned that on my last video game related post about that game, where I was essentially shilling for Wayforward for free.  
I'm typing this out on a keyboard on a Shantae and the Pirate's Curse desk mat.  
On my right by the mouse is a very enthusiastic Rotty Tops.  
My current wallpaper is Shantae.   
I like this series, a lot.   I think about this series a lot.   I hold myself back from going on tangents when talking to others except for Tumblr and perhaps one day I will make a Youtube video (previously I had made one out of my last post for Half Genie Hero but it won't render correctly. I think it is corrupted so I essentially have to make a new one, maybe at a later time)
Basically I'm a huge tool or as some others would say I’m a huge fan of the Shantae videogame franchise.
I could also write about how now how Games with Gold has Shantae and the Pirate's Curse available for download, since it is available to claim until June 30th, 2020 but I'll mostly touch on that game later.   Lightly.
I pre-ordered the physical version of Shantae and the Seven Sirens for the Switch, I got the Collector's Edition with all the bells and whistles and I was going to wait for it, but I caved.   I just couldn't wait for the release so I got the digital version on Xbox One back on May 28th, 2020.   I paid for the same game twice.   I don't do that often, I can't even think of any other time that I've done that except for maybe with remakes or re-releases, but never for a new game.   I think.   I justified it as the Xbox version has achievements that I can get to show off my digital e-Peen.   I also have digital versions of Pirate's Curse and Half Genie Hero on Xbox One while I have physical copies of the games on Switch but those digital versions were from Games with Gold.   While I did pay for the Gamepass Ultimate Service, $1 for three years, its not really the same thing.
Well the other day at around 3AM I finished my first play through of the game clocking in about 10 hours and 40 minutes and these are my first thoughts.
I think the most succinct comparison for this game to another is Tomba! For the Playstation One.   There's “comparisons” between the two – like Tomba! has seven evil pigs, Shantae has Seven Sirens, both are platformers and while Shantae is a Metroidvania Tomba! is … kind of one too, I guess?
The main comparison to Tomba! that I can think of being that you get directives with spoken keywords and you go to the corresponding area on the map to complete the objective and along the way you get power ups to better help you explore and fight bosses.     
Unlike the other Shantae games I've played, there isn't a real central hub.   I think that the first town you go to is supposed to be the de facto hub, Arena Town, on Paradise Island but they did away with that for a teleporter room to make fast travel easier.   You no longer have to talk to Sky to grab a flight on her bird but you feel like an outsider visiting these towns.   And hey, that makes thematic sense since you are visiting the island on vacation but the other games had that home HUB level. That feels like a weird point to mention missing when I played the game because for one it fits the universe a lot better and two it makes actual sense to do that but what I've come to expect in a Shantae game something about it just doesn't feel right.
I think that's the best way to describe this game, its not bad it just doesn't feel right.    A lot of this game just doesn't feel right to me.   This is my first take of this game and is why I wanted to specifically make this a first take and not a real “review” review.   I just to say that something about Shantae and the Seven Sirens feels off.   I don't know how else to describe it so I don't want to imply there's some kind of quick fix rather this is an issue with the heart and soul feel.   I've talked to friends when discussing media in the past – video games, movies, etc. and when dealing specifically with sequels and prequels -   I think that it's really hard to make a good sequel.   A game, movie, book, etc can be great on its own and sometimes even better than the original but how it fits in as a sequel can be its undoing or even a miss-step.   In that way its almost easier to make a new intellectual property.   You have to put enough of your IP in the game (or whatever media) so that it feels like it fits in the universe and that's the long and short of what makes this game not feel right.   To be fair this is very much a Shantae game.   You've got Shantae, Bolo, Risky Boots and the others, you've got familiar enemies, you have dances and genie powers, you collector heart squids to make heart containers and there's in universe references to things that happened in the previous game, heck you are there on vacation as mentioned you would at the end of Half-Genie Hero but I just don't feel that magic, that Shantae magic.   Its frankly kind of unfair to describe my biggest issue as a feeling and describe it in terms of magic.   How is that fair to say or any kind of constructive feedback at all?   Well I will try to break down and it is what I kind of missed from what I expected going into the game.
First thing is my problem with the transformations.   That Studio Trigger trailer (that I mentioned earlier) shows Shantae turning into a monkey.   Shantae even mentions how she can turn into a monkey at the beginning of the game.   But all those animal forms she had previously are gone.   Poof.  
That in and itself isn't a problem since this game does have new animal transformations that are pretty cool and satisfying to use like a Newt, a Tortoise, a Squid, a Gastro Drill (think a hermit crab that can drill through the earth/sand) and a frog but my dumb brain up until the end of the game was expecting to unlock some of her classic animal transformations.   Like I was expecting to fly around as the harpie and shoot up walls as the monkey and swim around as the mermaid in addition to dashing around as the Newt or barreling into enemies as the Tortoise.   These new forms sounded like they were going to be bonus: both in the sense of what Shantae says at the beginning of the game and how they are presented to you as gifts when you save the other half-genies.   Same with the dances.   This game has four dances that you acquire from Fusion Stones. The dances don't transform you into an animal but you get dances that do things like heal the surrounding environment and enemies or charge electrical devices.   And that’s neat, but more on that later.   That’s a positive.  I’m in my nit pick section now.
My next issue is: What does Shantae do? I don't mean the character in the avatar sense because you need someone to control, but specifically why am I Shantae?   You have your hair whip and the ability to dance but none of the power or transformations are yours.   I think part of the reason my brain was like “Cool, I can't wait to get the mermaid transformation to use in tandem with the squid triple jump” is because all the powers you get are borrowed from the other half-genies but it doesn't come across like you won't be able to later use your classic abilities. Is it another being on vacation thing, like Shantae just didn't pack her harpie form?   Other than Shantae being the main character of the series and possessing the ability to use magic as a half-genie, what is the reason why it is Shantae we are playing as?   What in particular is important about Shantae having this adventure?   I worry if I have conveyed what I mean here since it does sound a bit unclear.
I don't want to be too hard on Shantae and the Seven Sirens because this isn't just a Shantae franchise problem, to be fair, take Metroid for example.   In a typical Metroid game it starts with the protagonist Samus Aran tripping and she then will lose all her powers as they roll out of her and fall down a sewer drain for example.  
The idea that you were previously powerful canonically but have to start again at square one isn't always framed smoothly in video games but with Shantae and the Seven Sirens it makes it a point during a few times to tell you that your powers are all borrowed especially at the end.   But to go back and contrast that with a Metroid game - I feel like the power-ups still fit Samus Aran and are hers to use (until presumably the next game), and sure someone else could use them - they generally fit to what we understand the character to use for attacks and abilities.   I think that's why in this instance it sticks out so much in my mind.   I feel like any of the other half-genies could have done this adventure just the same.   Zapple could have gotten Fusion Stones and borrowed the other half-genies powers for example to save the day.   
At the end Risky tells you that she got Shantae specifically to go along as a contingency plan in accordance to what happens during the ending but like, what happens is ultimately a mistake involving one of Shantae's non-magical friends.   I assume from the towns that I visited in game that the other half-genies have non-magical friends too.   It wouldn't be a stretch for them to have a similar happen stance occur.   
The other big problem, and maybe this is a   for me problem, was Risky Boots role in this game.   Risky Boots just oozes a larger than life villainess personality - I absolutely love Risky Boots as a character.   In Half-Genie Hero though, Risky wasn't really in the game.   You thwart her in the beginning and she doesn't show up again until the end game.   In Shantae and the Pirate's Curse, Risky Boots is there for pretty much the whole game and you develop a really good frienemy rapport with her.   This was a hole that I thought that this game would fix but it doesn't … at least not really.
What you get is there is a lot more of Risky Boots on screen in this game than Half-Genie Hero (and you realize there was even more once you get further in the game) and yet it feels like there was a lot less Risky Boots in this game.   You see Risky Boots time and again and you have multiple fights with her (they are set up and paced like the mini-boss) and she will tell you something about why she is there.   But then run off, rinse and repeat.   There are also a few other moments where she shows up and at the end of the game but its an issue of quality over quantity.   Like you de facto see Risky Boots more in this game but its always in short doses to advance the plot.   She also has a moment at the end of the game (which is kind of lackluster in my opinion) that feels hollow.   Like she's there but not really and without spoiling too much its because she is unconscious.   I haven't played this game through a 100% and I assume that maybe she has something to do with the better endings that I haven't unlocked yet but first time through she feels like an afterthought to piece together what is going on with the Sirens more than anything.   Like, oh hey Risky Boots is in Shantae, remember?   Much like with Shantae, I wonder why is Risky Boots in this game other than that its because it is a Shantae franchise game?   It kind of breaks my man-child heart.
Also Jake Kaufman didn't do the soundtrack which kind of explains why none of the in-game tracks really got stuck in head.   I liked Arena Town and the Dungeons theme, Armor Town's music is ok too.   But while Half-Genie Hero and Shantae and the Pirate's Curse soundtrack really wowed me with noticeable tracks that stuck out, this was more “It's ok” with a few noticeably less meh tracks.
If I had to guess why this game feels the way it does, its this one review I saw on the Xbox Marketplace inadvertently nailed it on the head but I think what they found as a positive, I took as a negative.   Shantae and The Seven Sirens mixes Pirate’s Curse with Half-Genie Hero, but I think they took what was wrong and mixed it.   Its from a review by ExcitedData11 entitled Good stuff!
That is ultimately what I think lead this game to be what it is – it's trying to fix Shantae Half-Genie Hero by mixing in what it was perceived to be missing.   On the one hand, I totally get it.   When Shantae Half Genie-Hero came out it got some less than charitable reviews. Thankfully it was successful and overall praised by those fans who Kickstarted it.   Shantae Half-Genie Hero game was coming hot off Shantae and the Pirate's Curse which is to a lot of people – the best Shantae game.   And I honestly think that falls into what I was saying earlier – its hard to make a good sequel especially since the previous game in the series was the most beloved.   Its really hard to capture lightning in a bottle the same way again so they did something different.  
Now this is just my opinion (Duh! the whole thing is, but I want to re-iderate here especially since I'm extra talking out of my butt in this part)   but to me with Half-Genie Hero they didn't put as much emphasis on the story as with the Pirate's Curse, and in a way went back to the drawing board.   The in-game jokes about the game being a soft re-boot of the Shantae series specifically call this out - Shantae and the Half-Genie Hero was largely about who Shantae is and where did she come from?   Who is Shantae's mother?   What happened to the Genies and the Genie Realm? The games dances and transformations were all of Shantae's classic animal forms with some new things mixed in too.   
When I wrote earlier about Shantae and the Seven Sirens and how its a Shantae game but why does it have to be Shantae I feel like Shantae Half-Genie Hero in stark contrast HAD to be about Shantae, its all about her.   In Shantae and the Pirate's Curse I feel like it had to be about Shantae too, the real main character of that game was Risky Boots but her relation to Shantae as Shantae's rival was important to understanding Risky Boots.   Shantae is important in that way.   That's why in Shantae and the Seven Sirens, Shantae just being on vacation story continuity alone doesn't really do it for me.   Its also why Risky Boots wanting the power of the Island and falling back on Shantae as a contingency plan doesn't do it for me either.   Mixing what is wrong with Half-Genie Hero also mixed out part of what was right with the game.   
But at this point, I feel like I've been way to uncharitable to this game.   Its mean.   I'm kind of being a big meany and misleading you.   “Well why don't you just say it? This game must be terrible! -3000 out of 10!”
I feel like I'm saying this game is bad and pointing and prodding over essentially an intangible essence. This game is actually good but if I lead with just that and didn't say my other piece I feel like it would also be wrong.   Its super easy (and popular?) to just lay into a game as being bad on the internet.   This is the post video game review culture that we have for better or for worse from things like the Angry Video Game Nerd (the better) and Gamer Gate (the absolute worst.)   Despite my earlier comments - I did like this game. Really, I enjoyed playing it and I think over time as I replay it I will like it more and more or at least I assume that I will based off of my previous gaming tastes and experiences with this franchise in particular.
Like sequels, reviews are tricky.   For me I think I realized this when I was in the 5th  grade and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time got a perfect score from Gamespot.   It still kind of irks me but at the time I felt like that was big mistake, a HUUUGE mistake.   Especially now when looking back at the game, its faults are a lot more glaring but at the time I can now think –   This was a 3D Zelda, the first grand adventure of its time.   People were waiting for this forever it probably felt.   
In contrast I also think of games I really like that when I first played them I didn't really care for – namely No More Heroes.   I really enjoy revisiting that game and its probably in my favorite games of the 2000s decade but I first played it, meh.   I didn't really like it.   Now a days I could go on and on talking about it.
Tastes change, initial impressions change, where we are in the world changes things and our relation to media too.  I've seen a few reviews really laying into this game and then give it a 6 or 7 out of 10.   That is kind of bizarre but I also feel like maybe right?   Numbers seems inherently trivial to me now.   This game could be a 6/10 but it also feels like it could be an 8/10 too based off of my impression.   What I can say that is more concrete is that its good. I would recommend you play this game
Ok first impression is over -
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First off, though I want to say that the game mechanics are more streamlined for play.   I love the animal transformations but stopping to dance pulls you out of the game play and immersion especially since that is so pivotal to playing the game especially when more than one is used in tandem.   This also gives the other dances more of an ump especially since they have powerful effects on the stage/level/enemies.   In Shantae Half-Genie Hero you have the destruction dance that blows up the whole stage but it takes some time to get to.   With the dance function, you cycle through about 4 sets of possible dances to get to it.   You are essentially just waiting to use a really powerful move, which I feel like if you need to use it, you probably want to do it right away and in the meantime you are a sitting target.   You also have to wait to use the monkey transformation or harpie or mermaid transformations.   That's kind of a pain when you use them just to move around.   Its not long a long waiting time, its not like a load screen where you are doing nothing but still you have to wait.   Its a lot of waiting.   You had to wait to use anything.   The game does sort of correct that with a metronome power up to speed up the time between available dance cycles but you still wait.  
With only four dances total you still have to wait a beat to get to them but then all of them are available to use at once.   And outside of that as previously mentioned each one of the animal transformations is used in tandem with a button press and the environment.   While something like the frog requires water for use or sand for the Gastro Drill, you can also dash whenever you want as the newt or charge up and smash into things as the tortoise the same.   None of the animal transformations seem out of place or missed and they flow better this way with the game play.   I never once missed a platform, hit or moving around in any of the animal forms except on rare occasion which every time was from my own input. Shantae is a platformer too so ease of mobility is definitely something you want while you play.
Expanding on the point of mobility - travel between points on the map is also easier.   No longer do you have to walk to Sky and ask to fly to a location.   As you play you uncover warp rooms and you can warp at will to any of the open locations to fast travel around the island.   As previously mentioned I do miss the HUB town from Half Genie Hero but this is markedly an improvement that also thematically makes sense too.   While I miss Scuttle Town that decision was good.
I also like the characters in this game a lot.   Outside of the series mainstays (Risky Boots ♥_♥ ) we meet other Half-genies (Well... more on that some other time) such as 
Harmony 
Plink
Vera 
Zapple 
and ...Fillin (or Ima Goodgirl or … hmmm?)
I also have to say that I was totally de-lighted to meet Armor Baron.   Any adjective less than delighted undercuts this character and I absolutely had no idea going into this game that he was in it.  My reaction was pretty close to Skys in-game reaction.   Just trust me your going to love Armor Baron.
While the meetings with Risky Boots are less than my ideal, I really, really like how the fights play out similarly to how you fight Risky Boots at the end of Shantae: Half-Genie Hero.   It feels like a genuine Risky Boots/Shantae battle and I really like that level of polish.   Going back to my point of why is this a Shantae game and the difficulties of making a sequel this is really a tick in the good sequel feel column.   I just wish I felt this more.
Lastly when talking about characters and maybe this is a spoiler or not (Sorry. Maybe sorry?) Bolo is voiced by Ross.   More specifically the Newgrounds/Youtuber Ross O'Donovan also known as Rubber Ninja   (formerly Rubber Ross uhm... errr, I guess that's his Gameplay channel on Youtube now?   So maybe he is still Rubber Ross?) and also a former Game Grump.   I don't know Ross personally but from what I do know about his personality from reading his Tweets and watching his animations and videos from when he was on Game Grumps 
that is a perfect choice Wayforward.   10/10 and that's keeping up with all of the other characters voices too.   Christina Vee (Valenzuela) returning portrayal of Shantae and Risky Boots (and also Harmony) is also very good.   This series has always brought a lot of talent in that department.
Aesthetically this game is gorgeous, the high definition character sprites/graphics from Half-Genie Hero all return and there are new character portraits that look really nice like the next step in terms of polish.   Studio Trigger did the opening animation and the other in game cutscenes put together in house look really, really good.
This game is wonderful, truly.   I don't want you to take away anything else.   It is absolutely worth your time and you will have a good time playing it but it just misses the mark.   I would love to say that this game is Shantae perfected but its not.   Not yet anyways.   It is some combination of a step forward and a step back.   I think I still have more to experience and definitely more to say.   My first completion was way over the time limit for a notable clear time and I didn't complete the item collection 100% either.   I am reasonably sure that once I finish this game with a faster time, higher completion, on new game plus and a combination of all 3 of those criteria combined I will find out more about the story.   I'll get the “Good ending” -s and I'm also sure I will also get better and more efficient with playing the game. Maybe then some of my not great first takes will change too.   Shantae games (and Metroidvania games in general) get better with replaying and when you learn the in and outs.   I still have a pretty good memory of Half-Genie Hero even though I haven't played it in a few months.
Maybe I'm a sucker but I also want some DLC.   Give me a version where you play as Risky Boots (please, I miss her) and what could also be fun is a game from the perspectives of the other half-genies in game where you switch between them all at each point before they are captured and play a sort of soft redesign of each dungeon and boss and the end can be the lead up with a particular Siren.
There's a lot that I look forward to this game and this series future.   I plan to look up the achievements I missed and collect them.   I also need to go back and play the original and Risky's Revenge sometime too.   I would like to do a proper review of this and the other games in the future.
Now if you'll excuse me, there's a Speedrun of Shantae and the Seven Sirens that I have to go fail a few times.
(Note this post originally had pictures and GIFs for visual aid/jokes but after trying to post it about 5 times with no luck and coming back, I just deleted them all.  I’ve come back and edited some things that look weird and I think I’ve gotten them all, but apologies if I missed some.  WOMP)
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britesparc · 4 years
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Weekend Top Ten #403
Top Ten Disney Villains
Chalk another one up to “topics I thought I’d already covered”…
So this weekend, or thereabouts, sees the release of Frozen II, which is cool because it uses the “II” instead of the “2”, which makes it seem all moody and epic. At the time of writing, I have not watched it, because I do not believe it is out. However, I will watch it, and not just because I have two little girls who at various points have been utterly nuts for Elsa and Anna. No, I will also watch it because Frozen is rather great and I’m interested to see what happens next. Hopefully Elsa will get a girlfriend. That’d be nice for her.
There are lots of things you could discuss when talking about Disney movies (and by Disney movies I mean specifically the animated “classics”, from Snow White to Wreck-It Ralph, from Cinderella to Moana; I am discounting Pixar movies for the time being, however). There’s the principle characters, the songs, the settings, the dresses… but today I will be discussing The Villains.
What is a Disney movie without a Big Bad? I mean, Winnie the Pooh, I suppose. Arguably Ralph Breaks the Internet. Even more arguably, Moana. Stuff like Dumbo and Pinocchio certainly have bad guys, but not over-arching nemeses. Anyway, where was I?
Yeah, so, Disney Villains. Iconic. Often terrifying. Sometimes hilarious. Kinda sexy? Yeah, sure, why not. They tend to get the best lines; often the best songs; sometimes they’re played with relish and gusto by the best actors. Although some villains sometimes have a bit of nuance, depth, or tragedy to them, most of the time we’re in strict hissing panto territory, and I don’t think that diminishes the films one iota. As our big, broad entertainment enjoys putting wrinkles in its evil linen – be it the fraternal intricacies of Loki or the self-pitying emotional outbursts of Kylo Ren – we do enjoy shades of grey. Therefore it’s all the more entertaining when somebody properly goes for it as a bad guy, and pulls out the Full Palpatine.
I’m not sure, either, quite why Disney excels at female villains. Even when their titular heroines are a bit wet – like Ariel or Aurora – the bad girls are full-throated, evil joys. Ursula and Maleficent are the best bits of those movies, Jamaican crabs notwithstanding. And, yes, they both get to be a bit sexy too. Is it some kind of dark undercurrent of misogyny, of Disney exploring tropes of the fallen woman? Is it something primordial, like a dark inversion of maternity (there are quite a few Wicked Stepmothers in Disney, after all)? Or is it just coz the animators liked drawing sexy bad girls? We’ll never know.
One notable – and unincluded – villain here is Hans, from Frozen (spoiler alert). He just slipped off the list – but then so did quite a few famous others. Hans is interesting because he’s an absolute bastard, conniving and scheming and murdering his way to the top in as sociopathic manner as possible. His heel turn was, for me at least, a surprise, and part of Frozen’s beautiful unpicking of common Disney fairytale tropes. The perfect love-at-first-sight duet partner turns out to be a lying, manipulative toe-rag. Although the film predated the #MeToo movement, Hans is the perfect poster-boy. Whilst his early-days civility and lack of a show-stopping villain theme song means he’s not quite as memorable a character, it’ll be interesting to see if Frozen II pulls off as successful a switcheroo, or has a villain that resonates as strongly with the film’s themes.
But enough of this guff. Let’s get wicked.
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Scar (Jeremy Irons, The Lion King, 1994): pretty much the dictionary definition – alongside Alan Rickman in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves – of “upper-class English villainy”. It’s just delightful to listen to him enunciate his wickedness. This is Iago-level bastardry. Oscar-worthy.
Ursula (Pat Carroll, The Little Mermaid, 1989): ditto Ursula, who also brings a delightful, raw sexuality to an otherwise rather chaste movie (especially one that’s so concerned with body transmogrification). Great set of pipes, too.
Mother Gothel (Donna Murphy, Tangled, 2010): less of a sneering monster but more realistic in her purely wicked gaslighting. A case study in belittlement and subtle mental torture. Also another case of “belting villain song”.
Maleficent (Eleanor Audley, Sleeping Beauty, 1959): no real nuance, and sadly no real numbers, but Maleficent gets a nod due to her phenomenal visual design, an epic and iconic dragon battle, and just by being the embodiment of unreal, emotionless evil. A literal devil.
Gaston (Richard White, Beauty and the Beast, 1991): not the sneering evil overlord or psychological manipulator, but an early example of toxic masculinity and patriarchal suppression writ large (the size of a barge, in fact). Swagger, ego, and – horror – popularity, rallying the town behind his hate. Also – again – cracking tune.
Prince John (Peter Ustinov, Robin Hood, 1973): Disney doesn’t just do cold evil with its villains; much of the time they’re funny, too, and Prince John is like Captain Hook in being essentially a bumbling idiot used chiefly for comic relief. But he’s funnier than Hook, and with his thumb-sucking schtick, has a better, er, hook, too.
Professor Ratigan (Vincent Price, Basil the Great Mouse Detective, 1986): full disclosure, I’ve not seen this since I was a kid, but I loved Ratigan. Again, cool song; again, tremendous performance. But he managed to be both aloof and sneery yet utterly, primally terrifying; at the end, with his wild face and ripped clothes, he freaked out Young Me so much. Also one of the few Disney villains to actually flat-out murder someone.
Doctor Facilier (Keith David, The Princess and the Frog, 2009): AKA “The Soul Man”, Facilier is an interesting character that explores cultural roots of the film’s New Orleans setting, giving him a vibe (and, frankly, an ethnicity) that makes him unique. Plus he’s really creepy, with his scary “Friends on the Other Side” (great number), and a frankly unsettling death scene.
Lady Tremaine (Eleanor Audley, Cinderella, 1950): ploughing a similar manipulative furrow as Mother Gothel, Tremaine – the quintessential Wicked Stepmother – is a malicious, quiet presence, rarely shouting, never getting physical; she simply strips away everything of Cinderella’s until she’s left with a torn and tattered dress and no means of escape. She is The System which is all-controlling, and only magic is enough to defeat her.
Jafar (Jonathan Freeman, Aladdin, 1992): similar in his own way to the melodramatic villainy of Scar or Maleficent, Jafar also adds some baser human wants and lust for power. He’s a more physical villain, with some of Scar’s eloquence but more of Gaston’s personal need for growth, success, and – well – a bit of a legover. Doesn’t get a good song till The Return of Jafar, though.
So there we are: top Disney gits. Shame I didn’t have room for Mad Madam Mim from The Sword in the Stone, who was so nearly there, along with Hook and Hans. I did, however, veto supporting villains, henchmen, and second-tier bad guys, if you’re wondering where Smee, Iago, and Tamatoa are. Maybe that’s the subject for another Top Ten? Shiny!
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