Destroy All Neighbors (2024)

My husband is a pretty big fan of horror movies. Personally, I prefer comedies. Horror-comedies like Destroy All Neighbors is a perfect middle point for both of us to watch and maybe enjoy.

William (Jonah Ray) has been struggling for the past three years to finish his prog rock album. Things keep getting in his way like his day job as an audio engineer or needing the right speakers or the neighbors making too much noise. When a new neighbor named Vlad (Alex Winter) moves in next door and starts making tons of noise, William is hesitant to confront him about it. Finally getting up the courage to ask Vlad to turn the volume down, William accidentally kills the man. And his prog rock idol. And another neighbor. But to William, they aren’t really dead. They are just another step on the road to prog rock godliness.

While Destroy All Neighbors isn’t as funny as Tucker & Dale vs Evil, it is a fun time. The comedy lies with the weird things Vlad says and the utter insanity of prog rock itself. Maybe not knowing if William was going insane or if the undead were actually real was supposed to be funny. But I don’t think there were any points where I actually laughed out loud, only chuckled a bit. Instead, the horror part takes a bigger foothold in the movie. There is quite a bit of blood and there is a sort of gory running joke.

Did I enjoy it? Yes. Would I watch it again? Probably not. I wish it had a little more comedy but that’s OK. I know not every horror comedy was meant for me.

Rating: C

Deadstream | Halloween 2022

Sadly, we are nearing the end of the Halloween season. There are only a few more movies to go before we reach the dreaded Christmas movie season. In the hopes of finding a really amazing Halloween movie this year, I turned on Deadstream, a Shudder original movie.

YouTuber Shawn Ruddy (Joseph Winter) has recently done a few things that caused him to get cancelled. After a six month hiatus, he is back with a livestream. He stream spending one night in a haunted house. When he accidentally releases vengeful spirit Mildred Pratt (Melanie Stone), the fight for his live becomes more than just an internet stunt.

There haven’t been a lot of good movies this season. Grimcutty and Sissy currently hold the top spots on my Top 5 list. However, Deadstream is fighting to get that top spot. If you have spent any time watching YouTubers, you will probably relate a lot to the audience watching Shawn’s livestream. We do see some comments from them occasionally and they are hysterical. From people not believing anything he’s doing to people making fun of him for being scared to people giving advice on what to do. The only thing the comment section is missing is the terrible racist/misogynistic/asshole people. Then again, Shawn is a young white guy. He probably wouldn’t get a ton of those comments anyway.

My favorite part of the movie, though, is how they add the comedy to the scary parts. Sometimes the ghosts will attach Shawn in a funny way, sometimes Shawn says something completely out of pocket, and sometimes it’s a combination of both. Every time I thought I was about to lose interest, there was something different to bring me back in. Deadstream isn’t like any other horror comedy movie I have watched. I might actually add this one to the annual list of movies to watch in my free time.

If you couldn’t guess by now, yes, I recommend watching this one. While I would classify any of the gory parts as “unrealistic gore,” there are some head explosions and whatnot. But they are all played for laughs, not for terror. I think Deadstream is pretty safe for any adult to watch. It’s probably not for the kids, though. Keep them away. Far away.

Hayride To Hell | Halloween 2022

Last night, my husband and I attended the world premiere for a movie filmed nearby. Hayride To Hell was filmed in Willistown Township, PA and stars Bill Moseley from Repo! The Genetic Opera and House of 1000 Corpses and Kane Hodder from Friday the 13th Part VII through Jason X. This was lining up to be a good movie.

Farmer Sam (Bill Moseley) is fighting to keep his farm. Many of the town officials want him to shut down his annual hayride, even though it is an extremely profitable event. Between traffic problems, rowdy patrons, and not being able to make payments to the bank, Sheriff Jubel (Kane Hodder) and the commissioner Betsy Butte (Allyson Malandra) have a point. But Sam won’t go down without a fight. He gathers his family and farmworkers to put on one last hayride for the naysayers. If only they knew it was their last.

When I heard about the premiere, there wasn’t a ton of information on Hayride To Hell. Would it be a slasher film? Would it be a thriller? A comedy? Well, it’s a little bit of everything. It’s not a straight comedy but it’s also not really a slasher. Yes, there are a lot of deaths. I believe the body count is somewhere around 12. But there is a lot of really funny bits in there. At the Q&A after the movie, we found out that many of the best scenes were improved by the cast. I didn’t realize how funny these guys could be.

As of right now, Hayride To Hell doesn’t have a distributor. It sounded like they should have a deal set sometime in the next few months. Unfortunately, that means I can’t give you any information on where you can find it. But, if you do hear something about it coming to a theater or streaming service near you, you should definitely check it out. Especially if you like horror comedies.