Wild Card Wednesday: 10 Day Movie Challenge

I came across a 10 Day Movie Challenge on Facebook. The challenge requires you to post a single picture, once a day for 10 days, of a movie that impacted you. The catch is, you can't write or say anything about the film on why it impacted you, what it means to you, your favorite quote - or anything.

I participated in the challenge on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. While it was fun, and I loved when my friends recognized the film despite the inconspicuous scenes I chose, I hated not being able to discuss what makes the films so great to me. So, in case you didn't catch the posts I made for the challenge, also enjoy the films I posted about, or are curious why it may be worth watching, I decided to discuss them here!

Day 1: Stand By Me

Sometimes it takes a weekend long group adventure to see a kid's dead body to grow up a little. Based off the the Stephen King short story, The Body, and released (just 8 years before I was born) in 1986, this film displays the life long impact our short childhood has on our growth into respectable adults. More importantly, it discusses our childhood friendships and the impact those connections can have on our hearts and our futures. As we get older, a lot of things change, but the memories that we have with our very best friends - whether they're still our friends in the present or not - always remain the same, and the things they taught us live through us forever.

Day 2: The Never Ending Story

Released in 1984, this film blossoms from all corners of fantasy into the most beautifully moving child-hero tale. Every kid grows up wondering if there's more to meets the eye; Santa Clause, Leprechauns, The Easter Bunny, and yeah, books that are telling a real-time story about a real life place where is takes us, the reader, to save the land, Fantasia, from "The Nothing". The Never Ending Story was a film that I watched constantly as a child. The scene I chose to document was one that made me cry every single time I watched it. The film itself kept my childhood alive. It kept me imagining, and it will always have a strong place in my heart and in my movie collection.

Day 3: The Lord of the Rings

My love for all things fantasy only continued to grow from The Never Ending Story. I wrote my own fantasy based stories about kids going on adventures similar to Stand By Me, The Goonies, and The Never Ending Story...etc. I was in love with the concepts of adventure and mystery, and friendships that could shake the world. Then in 2001, when I was just 7 years old, The Fellowship of the Ring was to premier in theatres. With heavier, adult concepts, I truly believe this fantasy taught me more about life than any other film I'd watched before. Every other adventure I'd fallen in love with and enjoyed held a happy air throughout it's story. Every fantasy had ended with all loose ends tied off. Sunsets and smiles. The Lord of the Rings series was the first fantasy of my time that showed that sometimes life is going to ask things of you that you don't like and/or are not ready for. Sometimes you're going to be a Frodo, and when you are, let there be a Sam. And when you're not a Frodo, always, always, try to be a Sam for those around you. This film isn't just about walking for 12 hours. This film is about war - historically, fictionally, and metaphorically. It's about loss, and love, and friendship in the most unlikely of places. It can be about depression, and fear of beginning at all, let alone beginning again. It's about good, and evil, and corruption of the good that's left. It's about how life isn't full of happily ever afters like we've always been led to believe. Yes, it's about success, but sometimes when you succeed, you lose a piece of yourself on the journey. Sometimes when you return home, it doesn't feel like home anymore. Sometimes life gets dark and it takes away people that you love, things that you thought you enjoyed, and pieces of yourself that you're going to miss. And sometimes, THAT'S your "happily ever after until the end of [your] days".

Day 4: Crimson Peak

"Love makes monsters of us all"

is the concept that drives this dark romance 'with ghosts IN it' (not to be confused with a 'ghost story'). While this Guillermo Del Toro dark fantasy has been deemed a 6.5 out of 10 stars on IMDb, the scenery, metaphors, and use of colors are worth noting. The story is a literal metaphor for itself - a concept I think was missed by the general audience. Certain characters wear certain colors to display particular aspect of their personalities. Black, crimson, gold, and navy are prominent, purposefully placed, and obviously noted in the title. There are also symbolic animal and insect references. Edith is a butterfly. Lucille is a black moth. Black moths feed on butterflies. The dog that Edith finds outside of the mansion and decides to keep is a Pomeranian which is said to help manifest your desires. Even more important than the use of color and symbolism is the dark perception of love this story tells and what love has the power to do to people/make people become. This deserves it's own post, and perhaps one day I'll get the chance to discuss it, but for now, those are the strong bullet points, making it my absolute favorite film.

Day 5: Call Me By Your Name

I've actually already written an entire review on both the book and film for this incredibly raw love story. I'm not typically a fan of romance, but this story is a beautifully heartbreaking and honest perception of first love. To read my full review, click HERE.

Day 6: Stuck In Love

• I personally loathe Hollywood romances that contribute to this unrealistic and unhealthy perception of love that our society and culture seems to cling to. I also very strongly relate to Lily Collins character, Sam, in this depiction of first loves, new loves, last loves, and rekindled loves. I think Stuck In Love shows multiple examples of how real life love and relationships are not always perfect. Sometimes they're messy and ugly, and very rarely do they ever end with a horse and carriage, sunset, happy ending. Another film I enjoy that has similar concepts is He's Just Not That Into You.

Day 7: IT (2017)

If you've kept up with my blog, you know that Andrés Muschietti is one of my favorite directors. He directed one of my top five horror films, Mama, and he works very closely with my other beloved director Guillermo Del Toro. I loved Muschietti's darker re-telling of Stephen King's IT, and I felt like he did really well at portraying real fear in ways that the original miniseries didn't. Where the miniseries made Pennywise goofy and monster-like, Muschietti displayed darkness and honesty, which made everything feel far more personal, believable, and real - making it far more unsettling. My love for dark tales and coming-of-age stories collides in this dynamically terrifying horror story.

Day 8: The Exorcist (1973)

I first watched this complete game-changer of a horror film when I was 12 years old. Not having a fully developed standpoint on religion at that point in my life, the film broke me. After seeing the movie, I could not handle the sound of someone coming down my basement stairs. And I still, to this day, cannot watch the scene of Reagan crawling down her stairs backwards. Not only were the sFX in this film way before it's time, but the idea that there could, in fact, be something evil and dark beyond our reality and beyond what we know, is earth shattering. Especially to a prepubescent Kaleigh. This film set STANDARDS for horror. And trust me, that's not just MY opinion.

Day 9: Super 8

"Bad things happen. Bad things happen, but you can still live. You can still live." It's just roughly 3 lines, but boy do those words have an impact on me. Following the story of a son who loses his mother in a sudden and tragic accident and has a poor relationship with his father who is also grieving the loss of his wife, we're taken on a wild, Goonies-like adventure with a group of friends who bite off a little more than they can chew while simultaneously attempting to film the greatest movie of all time. So, yes, another coming-of-age film, but this time with aliens!

Day 10: Hereditary

This is one of my more recent posts - and boy, do I have a lot to say about this! To learn more about why this made my top 10, check in this Shudder Sunday!

If you're interested in participating in the original challenge itself, here's the literature to copy and paste for each caption:

"Day __ of the 10 Day Movie Challenge: I am to post just one image, no explanation, from 10 movies that had an impact on me. 10 movies, 10 images, no explanations."

If you want to nominate friends, then feel free to change the verbiage a bit.

Anyway, thanks for reading, and happy playing!