Movie Night! Double Bill – 'Stung' and 'Dead Shack'

 I've been feeling pretty low the last few days so I'm afraid it hasn't been much of a week for reading. The plan right now is to just make it to the weekend so I can regroup a little and then have another crack at everything next week instead. Do you ever have those kind of weeks...?

What it has been a week for though is catching up on movies that I want to see again as well as ones that I've never seen before. A little bit of horror to take me away from things, you know how it is ;o)

Have a quick look then at what I've been watching over the last few days. I'm rubbish at keeping up with movies so you've probably seen these already but if you haven't then I'd recommend these two, especially with Halloween getting closer...



'Stung' (2015)

It's the same drill every summer for Paul and Julia, two catering staffers who have been hired to wait tables for a fancy garden party at the remote country villa of eccentric recluse Mrs Perch. All they need to do is set the tables, greet the guests and make sure the drinks are flowing. However, what they weren't counting on was having to fight off a colony of 7ft tall mutant killer wasps nesting in the grounds who have their sights set on the party guests!

'Stung' is a bit of a favourite of mine and so, when I was looking for something that would make me jump (and close all the windows), it was an easy choice to make. I jumped at all the right moments and twenty five minutes into the movie, I very quietly got up and made sure that all the windows in my flat were firmly closed... What? Don't judge me :o)

'Stung' is one of those movies that has a little something for everyone. If you're like me (really afraid of wasps), this is a movie that will really freak you out. The little mutant wasps are bad enough but when they start to grow, that's about the time my skin starts to crawl and I'm listening out for buzzing. You can see the 'jumps' coming but wasps freak me out anyway so that just makes it worse for me!

If wasps don't actually bother you that much, 'Stung' is still a fun 'creature movie' with some creepy looking giant wasps that splatter nicely when attacked with a blunt object. It's a shame that we don't get to know the supporting cast better but to be honest, all they're there for is to be hosts for wasp eggs and they do that really well. Matt O'Leary's 'Paul' steals the show as the 'aimiable stoner who has to step up', Lance Henriksen is as gruff as ever but so understated that I didn't realise he was in it until I saw the end credits...

A little something for everyone then, definitely watch 'Stung' if you haven't already.



'Dead Shack' (2018)

While staying at a cabin in the woods during the weekend, three teenage kids discover their neighbor is 'feeding' guests to her zombie family. In short order, the battle is on as the kids fight to save themselves and their family.

'Dead Shack' was a film that I'd been meaning to watch for ages and then I realised it was on 'Shudder' and that was it really, it was going to be watched :o)

'Dead Shack' is also a film that was fun to watch but a little hit and miss for me. The main thing against it was that for a 'comedy horror', it just wasn't that funny. Actually, it just wasn't funny at all. And that's ok, your mileage will vary and there was plenty more happening so it wasn't a complete loss. The expectation had been set though and it wasn't met as far as I'm concerned.

What 'Dead Shack' is though is a study of family, where you find it and what you are prepared to do in order to either keep your family together or to protect it (or both at the same time). You put that together with the kind of jump scares that you get from any zombie movie (it's refreshing to see the zombie source material being treated a little differently here) and you get a very thoughtful movie that still has enough gore and scares for any self respecting zombie fan, you can't lose really ;o)

I think 'Stung' is more my kind of horror but 'Dead Shack' does have a lot going for it, I'm really glad I gave it a go in the end.

As you have probably gathered by now, I'm always looking for new horror movies to watch (or to be pointed at old ones that I still need to check out), any recommendations from you lovely people? Any and all suggestions will be gratefully received :o)

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