guldo

... and my favorite season is definitely this season. I've seen it a few times now, and I'm currently binging the series yet again. All of the seasons have their charm, and they're all good, but this one speaks to me the most.

The atmosphere and setting is sublime in it, as is the pacing, script, and the bizarre characters. All of the seasons does contain bizarre characters, but this one feels more tightly nit for some reason.

The mere fact that it mostly takes place in this relic of an hotel, built in true Art Deco style with all its shadowy lights and its beautiful and aesthetically linear, dark corners is alluring. And although it's a hotel where darkness roams it's suffocating and dimly lit halls, I feel the pull. Making me want to go there and experience the gloom in its many faceted designs. It's a beautiful thing.

As for the actors, Dennis O'Hare is magnificent in it, I just love him in this season, but then again, he is an awesome and versatile actor. He's always great in whatever he does. They're all bloody fantastic, mind you, but none shines as bright as Evan Peters. He is an incredible actor, and here in this season, he really comes into his own. He is a hidden giant, an actor rarely talked about in the upper strata of celebrities, but who deserves so much more recognition than he gets. So much more. This role fits him like a glove, and he delivers in a way most would only dream of. In my opinion he has earned his place among the truly great ones. There are a lot of good actors out there, but rarely am I as impressed as I am by Evan Peters's versatility and utility as an actor. It seems like a natural state for him, and he is the crown jewel of this season above all. But that being said, all of them performed majestically in this season.

If there's only one season you might be interested in watching, this one would be it. I couldn't recommend it more.

I had high hopes for this movie. It starts off pretty well, slow paced, setting the isolated stage in a good way, odd characters and an eerie setting. I liked it. Then it started getting creepier and creepier and it felt like I was in for something good and different, and I was. Just not consistently the way I hoped for as it only lasted up to a certain point, and then it dropped the ball. Suddenly it felt like the movie didn't know what it wanted to be, as it went in different moods and directions.

It did try to get back on the creepy track here and there, but it was not enough. The illusion of a really creepy and eerie setting was over, and the rest was a rather bland mix of pointless motions which had me simply waiting for the end of the movie so I could go and do something else. It's a shame, I wanted it to keep on the way it initially did. That would have set it apart from other horror movies, but alas no, it wasn't meant to be. It just had to try to add some action into the mix, and not in a good way. The whole premise was explained and I lost interest in it.

One of the rules when making creepy and unsettling stories; do not explain! Do not! That ruins everything. I don't want to know what the monster or horror is, I want my mind to try to fill in the blanks. I don't want it explained to me. I can take the fact that I don't know what I just saw is, that makes the effect that much greater. The thing about not knowing what the evil really is, not knowing where it came from, that's a great part of the horror it represents. The fear of the unknown is as old as all living things and should not be ruined when making these movies. Once you explain it, it's over. How copywriters and directors misses this point again and again in movie after movie is completely beyond me. If you can avoid it, don't show the monster, but if you do, make sure it gets maximum effect and not for shock value. Ever since Alien there's not a monster in any movie that tops that one, so don't go over the top trying to beat it, because you won't succeed. In this one the monster worked, it was creepy as hell, even though we got to see it so it was well done in this circumstance, until they explained it. Do not ever explain the monster!

Just like the movie Smile, which also showed a great initial promise, this movie simply faded away into just another horror movie that explains a really good and mysterious premise and then ruins it because of it, that couldn't keep itself together, and so became just another easily forgotten movie. It is indeed a real shame as it showed such promise from start.

Perhaps the director will learn from his mistakes and do better next time.