My horror-at-home trend continues as three more join the cult of Weekly Review. While Maniac and Paranormal Activity 2 failed to really excite the terror within me, a massive theatrical viewing of The Shining served as the easy highlight in a week that also involved screenings of The Counselor, Diana, Last Vegas, Blue is the Warmest Color, and 12 Years a Slave.

MANIAC (2013)

After hearing relatively poor things, I decided to give this film a chance because it was on Netflix Instant and had nothing better to do. Although seriously flawed, I certainly found things to like about it and it was an acceptable hour-and-a-half of gory tension. Maniac depends on an uncommon POV conceit that gives the film a bit of unique character but also provides for some of its more embarrassing moments. Moments where Elijah Wood narrates aloud to himself are simply laughable, particularly when he is typing on a “Find Singles Online” type of site and reading aloud to himself like a self-editing elementary-schooler, but the chuckles halt abruptly as scalps start popping off and the blood flows like thick strawberry syrup. As a frothy slasher flick, the gory goods help bandage the less flattering elements, making it watchable, especially for this time of year, in spite of its serious issues.

C-

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 (2011)

While it packs more scares and less predictability than the second installment in the franchise, Paranormal Activity 3 still doesn’t manage to capture the first-time surprise of the original film. This time around though, we’re introduced to some new elements that bump up the intrigue and works in a cliffhanger that actually legitimizes a next chapter but the writing is on the wall. There’s an inescapable sensation of property being wrung for all its worth with this franchise, but that hoodwinking business is kept mostly at bay by a perpetual sensation of unease. I guess I’ll end up watching the fourth.

C+

THE SHINING (1980)

While Weekly Review typically only covers films that I’ve seen at home, for the first time, my theatrical viewing of The Shining was simply too good not to mention. Viewed at the stunning Cinerama Theater here in Seattle, it was entirely terrifying to hear The Shining‘s haunting, screechy score blast from the surround sound speaker setup, making for an audio assault that completely envelopes the audience with panic and dread. Take that intrusive, stressful score and add it to Stanley Kubrick‘s precisely woozy camerawork and Jack Nicholson‘s eyebrow-dominated face nearly 70-feet wide, grinning like a mad man or dead-eyed and equally terrifying, you better believe it was one of the finest viewing experiences in theaters I can recall. To date, this is still my favorite horror movie as well as one of my favorite films.