Are You Afraid of The Dark.

I know I’m gonna miss Game of Thrones every Sunday (or Monday here in the PH) since Season 7 just ended last week and Season 8 is rumored to be shown if not August next year then early 2019 which sucks if the latter is deemed true (I’m hoping not since two years is far too long). Anyways, the CGI is making GOT more and more expensive by the season especially with the Dragons on it. I heard each episode now cost a hefty $10M USD or so although I thought it was all worth it considering the viewership all over the world. I bet no other HBO series would top that to date as it’s also the most pirated show ever lol. I’ve never had any favorite TV series since “Ghost Whisperer” and GOT’s level is up the ante. It’s sad GOT will already end next year (or whenever it is) because I just recently came to love it now it’s coming to a close. Nothing last forever really, no matter how high their rating is, six bad-ass years. 

Pan's Labyrinth

(El laberinto del fauno)

2006 | Spanish-Mexican dark fantasy film
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Moving on, I’ve always been fascinated with dark fantasy films and I enjoy fairy tales with a dark twist to them. I’m a fan of films by Henry Selick and Tim Burton, I love their gothic cinematography (Sweeney Todd, Coraline, Beetlejuice etc. to name a few), the dark filter and ghostly white complexion of the actors amuses me more than it daunts me. My sister and I share the same taste when it comes to movies so every time we find something belonging to that genre we always recommend it to each other or watch them together.  She recommended this foreign film called Pan's Labyrinth written and directed by Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro months ago and I found it very dark despite the presence of fairies and children what more the era, post Spanish Civil War. It was pretty lengthy as it centered around the protagonist of the story named Ofelia who travelled to Spain with her sick and pregnant Mother to meet Sergi López, her mother’s new husband, a sadistic army officer. 

While exploring, Ofelia met a faun Pan (a fairy) who told her she’s the lost princess. The faun Pan also compelled her to complete three risky tasks (which would cost her life if she fails) so she could be immortal. The tasks were namely: first—retrieving a key from the belly of a giant toad; second—retrieving a dagger from the lair of the Pale Man, a child-eating monster; the faun refused to give Ofelia the third task because couple of its fairies were eaten by the child-eating monster while Ofelia’s working on her second task because of her disobedience. The faun Pan gave Ofelia another chance which would require a blood of an innocent be taken to the labyrinth, her baby brother’s blood. Ofelia refused so the faun declined to help her any further.  Ofelia died by the way after Sergi López shot her while carrying her baby brother (he saw Ofelia talking to someone he cannot see). In the end, Ofelia’s blood was enough (being an innocent) and she became the queen of the underworld. 

Pan's Labyrinth is wicked in the sense the story spawned from some twisted mind, I mean who would've have thought about infusing war and fantasy together in one film? I think there's something more to the film which I'm having a hard time deciphering. 

And again another dark film from the same Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro called Mama recommended to me by my horror freak sister because of her infinite fascination with del Toro’s works lol. This time around it was written by Andrés Muschietti (based on his 2008 Argentine short film Mamá) with Guillermo del Toro as executive producer.

Mama

2013 | English-Spanish 
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The film started with a murder scene, Lucas (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau aka Jaimie from GOT), all messed up in business suite commanding his daughters (Victoria, a 9 year old and Lilly, 1 year old) to pack their things and hurry then later on drove off in the middle of snow covered roads with no concrete destination. Victoria asked her dad Lucas to slow down because he’s driving insanely fast but their car skid and fell off the slippery road. Lucas took her kids to an abandoned cabin house in the middle of the forest. He thought about committing suicide but changed his mind. No longer thinking straight, Lucas attempted to kill his daughter Victoria with a gun but was taken by some paranormal or mythical creatures in the cabin. 

Five years later, Jeffrey (Lucas’ twin brother) who never ceased looking for his brother and nieces received a news that the kids are alive and found living strangely inside a cabin house in the middle of a forest (the car was found first, the hound dog led the search crew to the cabin). Strangely, the two kids are now what seems to be beastly creatures with no recollection of their childhood and behave like animals. There was a custody battle as to who would care for the kids and Jeffrey eventually won with the help of Dr. Gerald Dreyfuss . The girls were also put in a welfare clinic under the psychiatric care of Dreyfuss. Veronica told Dreyfuss someone called ‘Mama’ took care of them when their father disappeared. Dreyfuss interpreted it as Veronica and Lilly's ‘imaginary mother’ due the absence of their 'real' mother. 

Odd things started happening inside the house. Annabel (Jeffrey’s girlfriend) often hear the girls talking to someone they call ‘Mama’ and strange noises inside the girls’ room. One day, Jeffrey saw something strange protruding from the wall. The inexplicable being hurled Jeffrey towards the stairs which almost caused him his life as he was in a coma for days leaving Annabel to take care of the girls. Jeffrey fortunately got out of coma after he dreamt about his brother, he told him to save Victoria and Lilly. 

I later on found that the woman the kids call ‘Mama’ jumped off the cliff and died in the water, she's been looking for her long lost child. In the absence of her child, she took care of Victoria and Lilly instead when the two were left alone in the cabin. Dreyfuss before his death found ‘Mama’s’ baby though which Annabel discovered after rummaging through his files. To make the long story short, Annabel found that the baby in the box is Mama’s baby so she gave the baby's corpse back to set Victoria and Lilly free. Mama refused and want the two kids, Lilly, being so young opted to go with the ghost mother whilst Victoria stayed with Annabel and Jeffrey. The End. I enjoyed this film really, it wasn’t predictable plus the dark theme. I thought it was a horror movie slash fantasy flick.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️  - highly recommended

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️  - somewhat highly recommended

⭐️⭐️⭐️    - it was alright.

⭐️⭐️       - nah.
⭐️           - waste of time.