What I've Been Watching: September Edition

Hi everyone! I've been super stressed for the last few days... our internet has been messing up constantly and so I've not been able to blog for what feels like ages! I even had to use the data hotspot from my iPhone just to get Friday's post up! I'm so relieved that it's all back in working order... that is for now!! We are currently in the process of changing our internet provider so hopefully I won't have to deal with a continuous lack of connection and annoyingly slow streaming for much longer :( Here's the latest in my monthly 'What I've Been Watching' series, finally! I always try to keep spoilers to a minimum and just give you all a rough outline of what the movies or tv shows I've watched are about; apologies if I end up giving a little too much away. I hope you all enjoy reading!

 The Frankenstein Chronicles (2015)

This TV show was brought to my attention by an advert that kept popping up whenever I was watching something on ITV and that advert definitely sparked my interest right away when I noticed that it was a period drama with a spooky/fantasy/paranormal twist. That's my favourite genre when it comes to shows. However, the thing that most compelled me to watch it was the fact that Sean Bean was playing the main character! The show is set in Victorian London, where after discovering a strange apparently reassembled body washed up on the shores of the Thames river, plus several other similarily grotesque bodies, a police inspector suspects the culprit might be scientist trying to bring people back from the dead. It is a new take on the 19th century novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, and I really enjoyed it. I have just found out that ITV have recently started filming a second season too! 

A Cure For Wellness (2016) 

I wanted to watch this movie when I discovered that actress Mia Goth was in it, because she was fabulous in her role in the two-part movie, Nymphomaniac, which I thought was great! She has very unique look and in this movie in particular, I realised that she has a look that would be awesome in a horror movie! A Cure For Wellness is defined as a 'science-fiction psychological thriller' movie, in which a young executive is sent to the Swiss Alps to a remote spa centre to inform his company's CEO of a problem that requires him to head back to America. This spa appears to be idyllic, the perfect tranquil location to receive treatment for the stresses of life and for ailments, but the executive (played by Dane DeHann) soon comes to learn that all is not as it seems. There are strange goings on at the wellness centre, patients disappearing and curious 'therapies' available, and it's not long until the lead character discovers the eerie history of the land where the centre is built and about it's previous occupants. I'd say more about what happens but I don't want to spoil it! It's a long movie, 2 hours 26 minutes to be exact, so it is slow in parts but I prefer long movies with more detail, extra time to tell us more about the characters and such. I always enjoy movies with a science or/and medical theme, so I liked it a lot. If you give it a watch, let me know what you think :) 

Electrick Children (2012) 

Apart from A Cure for Wellness, this was the only other non-horror movie I watched last month (I went to see the new IT movie and it was AMAZING!). I'm a big fan of different movies, the kind that are released at film festivals, independent ones with quirky storylines and often a more realistic feel than mainstream movies. I like discovering new actors and the fact that these movies are for the most part less dramatic, without those scenes added just for the entertainment factor, but this does not mean that they are any less entralling with dynamic, interesting characters! Electrick Children is not the typical coming-of-age movie, even though it is based on a journey of self discovery, of acceptance and friendship. The leading role played by an actress known for 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)', Julia Garner, is a 15 year old girl who has been raised in a polygamous Mormon community, so a big theme of the movie is her discovery of the World outside of her religious upbringing, which has left her very naive and impressionable. Without giving too much away, she discovers that she is pregnant and believes that a forbidden cassette tape must have had something to do with it after she listened to it. This is how little she understands about reproduction, however it may also be her mind's way to coping with the trauma of abuse. After her family tell her that her marriage has been arranged, she runs away and goes in search of the artist from the casette tape. Also starring in this movie is Rory Culkin, younger brother of Macaulay Culkin, who I've never seen before so that was cool! Are you a fan of independent movies? I'd love some recommendations!

 Mommy Dead and Dearest (2017) 

Last month, I watched A LOT of documentaries and reawakened my passion for them! I absolutely love documentaries, especially documentary movies where the running times are longer than an hour. I am very much into crime documentaries and at the moment, HBO ones seem to be my favourite (although my all-time most beloved documentaries will always be those presented by Louis Theroux!). I've just chosen the two documentaries that I found most interesting to talk about in today's post but I also saw The Imposter (2012), The Pig Farm (2011) and The Fear of 13 (2015), all of which I'd recommend watching, although the Pig Farm one dragged on a little. Anyhow, 'Mommy Dead and Dearest' is a fantastic documentary, following a murder investigation involving Gypsy Rose Blancharde who was charged with planning the murder of her mother, with her boyfriend actually committing the killing. The documentary makers interviewed several people including Gypsy Rose herself, and explored the circumstances that drove her to plan such a horrific act. We discover that Dee Dee Blancharde (the mother) suffered with a mental illness which caused her to convince everyone in her life (family, neighbours, doctors) to believe that her daughter was severly ill, which one day Gypsy Rose would find out after growing up completely in the dark about the deception her mother had created. Feeling trapped in her life, Gypsy Rose searched for an escape and found one when he met her boyfriend, who was later convicted of the murder. What caused him to kill his girlfriend's mom? Why did Gypsy Rose decide to go to such diabolical measures to get away from her mother? Watch this documentary and find out! 

 Hemlock Grove (2013)

I'm not gonna lie, I'm literally just watching this series because my current #MCM is in it, haha! With the release of the new adaptation of Stephen King's IT, tumblr seems to be filled with gifs and photographs of the gorgeous Bill Skargaard (who plays Pennywise the Clown in the new horror movie), and saw a couple from this show that made me have a mighty need to watch it! Hemlock Grove is a Netflix original horror series filled with supernatural beings. I love horrors, the paranormal and hot blood-covered men (yes, we already know I'm weird!). The series is based in a former steel town in Pennsylvania which is home to an array of extraordinary characters, and when a teenager is found murdered in a most shocking way, there is a hunt for her killer. Thus, we discover more about the strange people who live in this anything-but-normal town. Overall, it's a great show to binge watch (there's three seasons up on Netflix guys!), but there are quite a few 'corny' parts, which you see a lot with many modern horrors, both tv series and movies alike. Bill Skarsgaard and Landon Liboiron are in it and that makes it worth watching in my opinion! *insert 28 heart-eyed emojis here*

 Thought Crimes: The Case Of The Cannibal Cop (2015) 

This documentary was really interesting; it was one of those shows that really gets you thinking and considering what you believe to be right or wrong. In Thought Crimes (2015), we are introduced to the case of Gilberto Valle who has been accused of conspiring to kidnap women. The most shocking element of his apparent plan was that it involved murder and/or cannibalism. He argues that his 'plans' were all fantasy, which he was discussing with other like-minded people and that he never really intended to carry out any of the things he said online in 'dark web' forums. His case was a very tough one to prosecute because the arguement arose on whether people could ethically be charged for their deepest thoughts and fantasies. People should be allowed to express their desires, because there's a lot of people especially within fetish communities who fantastise's, however bizzare or taboo to the non-kink world, are purely fantasy-based and are of course never intended to be a reality. So even if people think what the hell! about this guy's thoughts- he cannot help what his preference are, and is it harmful for him to think about or discuss them just within the realm of fantasy? The documentary questioned, do we start prosecuting people based on fantasy-talk, even if it seems very detailed? This is potentially pushing taboo sexuality back into the shadows, and constricting freedom of speech rights. Or, should people who display these interests be monitored in case they could commit crimes in the future? It makes you think, how do we really know that some people won't go on to actually try to carry out their fantasties? It was highlighted that Gilberto had researched keywords on google and discussed specifics about what he wanted to do and who with. A lot of what he talked about online was shocking, but there is still no definitive proof that he would have ever commited these acts. It is understandable that some of his fantasties would have been detailed, since it's natural for someone to think about sex a lot since it is one of the driving instincts of humans, and many people have intricate ideas of how they would like their deepest, and sometimes darkest, fantasties to play out. I don't want to explain anymore about the storyline because you should go watch the documentary :) I'd love to hear your thoughts! 

So, these were my six most enjoyed watches of September. Have you seen any of the shows or movies that I've mentioned? I'm super happy that I'm managing to keep up with my movie-watching streak, especially when it comes to horror movies! I re-watched part 1 & 2 of 'Stephen's King IT (1990)' and the new Annabelle: Creation, plus I've already watched four this month and we are only 10 days in, haha (I mean, is it even Halloween if you don't watch horror movies!?). You'll have to wait for my October edition to read all about them! 

Thankyou for reading!

♥

What TV series are you hooked on right now? 

 Also, I'd love to know what your favourite spooky movie is!

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