Just in time for spooky season, Netflix and Hulu stocked up their streaming services with original scary movies. However, with the surplus of thrillers out there, which platform is worth turning to to get a scare?
One Netflix original, “The Silence,” follows Ally Andrews, a deaf 16-year-old girl, and her family through a surreal threat to the world’s existence. Like “A Quiet Place,” the family must navigate to safety while staying absolutely silent as thousands of underground dinosaur-like creatures attack at any noise they hear.
Although Netflix added this film to the horror genre, one may say that it is not scary. With only a few moments where creatures popped up at unexpected times, the movie was not frightening, rather it felt like a feature that could be shown on Discovery Channel.
With that being said, the movie gave light to how we, as humans, make so much noise in our everyday average activities. If this film turned into a reality, humanity would have to change its whole existence to conform to silence, which would be scary enough to think about.
Another film that disappointed on scariness was Hulu Original, “Pure.” Its strangeness and weirdness took this movie over the top and not in a good way. It follows four girls and their fathers on a Daughter’s Day religious retreat. The purpose of the retreat is to keep or restore the girls’ pureness and absolute virginity. The fathers make the girls sign a contract that discloses their freedom and chastity to them.
This movie gets to the point where a viewer might think that the fathers are controlling their daughters in an incestuous kind of way. The fathers make the daughters wear all white gowns, they put rings on their wedding fingers and take photos like they just got married. Some of the fathers even request the daughters to wear their hair in a certain way or smile in a specific manner because “they like it better that way,” or “it’s cute when they smile.” Overall, this movie does not resonate well with some of its watchers and, unfortunately, does not exceed potential in its scariness.
One movie that did meet horror standards, though, is Netflix original, “The Open House.” The 2018 film, starring Dylan Minnette from “13 Reasons Why,” follows a mother and son through a time of disparity.
The duo must find a new house to live in after a sudden car crash killed Logan’s (Minnette) father. However, living in a family member’s mountain vacation home does not live up to being a luxury vacation experience.
Throughout their stay, weird things keep happening in the house. Slamming doors, random banging, strangers popping up at the home and other mysterious noises make this movie worth the thrill, leading to some of its viewers watching on the edge of their seats.
The area that this film lacked greatness was its ending. Although the events leading to the end were climatic, the ending itself was boring, unexciting and left watchers with a “that’s it?” feeling.
Another movie’s ending that left viewers unamused was Hulu Original “Wounds.” This disappointing film follows bartender, Will, played by Armie Hammer, after he found a lost haunted cell phone at the bar. Upon taking the phone home, Will started receiving messages saying “Help me” and disturbing photos of broken teeth in a pool of blood. When Will goes through the phone to find evidence of the owner, there are videos of dead bodies and moving, haunted skulls. These scenes were scary, but the rest of the movie had viewers grossed out.
The movie was infested with insects, literally. Cockroaches were everywhere as they were used as a sign of something terrible coming. People with katsaridaphobia, or the fear of cockroaches, should not watch as this feature even gave viewers without the fear a close call.
The ending left off with a bit of a cliffhanger which possibly foreshadowed a sequel that most people, after watching that movie, will probably never watch. The gruesomeness and lack of plot will not have people crawling back for more.
Each film needs some work, and it would be great to see both Netflix and Hulu elevate their standards with their original movies. Netflix’s movies, however, seemed to be created and directed better than Hulu’s, as Hulu’s looked cheap and mediocre. Hulu should just stick with its television series.
All four movies are available for streaming on Netflix or Hulu now.
By Cammie Dutchess, Features Assignment Editor
jonesdca17@bonaventure.edu
