Addams Family Values (1993)

On any day of the week, you could expect a newborn baby to be nurtured and loved by his older sister. Except, of course, if it's Wednesday. Pubert is the latest addition to the Addams family and, to prevent sibling rivalry escalating to fratricide, Wednesday and Pugsley are shipped off to summer camp and a nanny is hired. Debby Jellinsky is great with wrinkling baldies, which makes her the perfect nanny for Pubert and the unlikely wife of Uncle Fester. The question is..."Is she grave-digging or gold-digging?"

Christina Ricci fulfills all the promise that she showed in the first film, as she really steals the film from her more established co-stars.

The scenes at camp produce some of the best one-liners, and it is great to see an American film that is self-mocking about its image conscious rich societies. Lines from Ricci like " Is that your overbite?" and "When they woke up all their old noses had grown back!" are superb!
Add a little bit of romance between Wednesday and another kid at the camp and you have something for everyone in this wonderfully funny and worryingly endearing movie.

I'll give it 8 out of 10 stars.

The Addams Family (1991)

The Addams step out of Charles Addams' cartoons. They live with all of the trappings of the macabre (including a detached hand for a servant) and are quite wealthy. Added to this mix is a crooked accountant and his loan shark and a plot to slip in the shark's son into the family as their long lost Uncle Fester. Can the false Fester find his way into the vault before he is discovered?

The performances in this movie are superb. It's a black comedy, and as such, it requires a certain kind of actor. The kind who has the right look, the perfect comedic timing, and the ability to deliver lines so blankly it almost hurts. Raul Julia, Anjelica Huston, and a young Christina Ricci somehow all manage to deliver. They're truly a delight to watch, delivering the most macabre lines without even coming close to cracking a smile, yet having me in stitches every time. Even Christopher Lloyd, playing a far more energetic character, manages to bring in a maniacal edge to the performance. I don't think there's an actor in the movie who doesn't understand the role they play.

The script is great material for them to work with too, extremely witty, rarely, if ever, falling on it's face, and complemented with some fantastic sets. And let's not forget the music. From the legendary theme tune, to the  jingles accompanying the visual gags, to the booming organs during the heavier moments, it's spot-on. The whole movie works as one to capture the Addams atmosphere, macabre as it's ever been.

Sure, there's a plot too, but while it drives the movie on, you'd watch this movie for the wonderful theme, not for an intriguing plotline.

I'll give it 10 out of 10 stars.

The Conjuring (2013)

In 1971, Carolyn and Roger Perron move their family into a dilapidated Rhode Island farm house and soon strange things start happening around it with escalating nightmarish terror. In desperation, Carolyn contacts the noted paranormal investigators, Ed and Lorraine Warren, to examine the house. What the Warrens discover is a whole area steeped in a satanic haunting that is now targeting the Perron family wherever they go. To stop this evil, the Warrens will have to call upon all their skills and spiritual strength to defeat this spectral menace at its source that threatens to destroy everyone involved.

The Conjuring is a nail-biting, hiding-behind-hands movie. If you've been disappointed with the likes of Paranormal Activity and Insidious, this one is likely to deliver in areas where they failed.

The particular incident they are brought in to deal with is described as surrounding a spirit "so malevolent" it was hidden from the public until only now. In fairly Amityville-like circumstances, a family move into a new house and discover the basement is sealed; boarded-up behind a doorway.

It's not at all surprising what follows, once they decide to take a look in the basement but it is surprising how James Wan has managed to take such a tired theme of haunting and possession and revive it so convincingly.

I am no stranger to these kind of movies but this one truly tops them all for tension and terror.

I particularly liked the way the film took a turn for the comical somewhere in the middle, only for perhaps five minutes, then came back firing on all cylinders as it headed to the finale. If this was intentional, to lure us into a false sense of security, it worked beautifully.

If you enjoy classic horror like The Exorcist, The Amityville Horror and Poltergeist, I can almost guarantee The Conjuring won't disappoint you.

I'll give it 9 out of 10 stars.