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I'm gonna try for the basic 31 in 31, though it may be tough cause I've got a newborn coming next week. No specific special goals beyond hitting a few I haven't seen and a few animated/kid oriented movies to watch with my older son. Will probably go see It, Mother, and Friend Request with the wife. What else is coming out, anything palatable looking? Not that it'll stop me if not
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 05:40 |
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# ? Jun 10, 2024 05:44 |
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Congratulations!!! (pre-emptive)
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 05:45 |
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MOVIE TWO The Wicker Man - Robin Hardy, 1973 I went into this expecting a horror film, and instead got a musical. English folk is low-key one of my favorite musical genres, so when the recorders and tambourines came out and the movie started to shamble to life as a surreal, semi-gleeful film about the follies of religion, I was thrilled. On the whole, this was entirely what I expected it to be, totally in line with similar 70s English movies where people buried under lumpy sweaters trample the wide-angle heath under a chilly, bare sun, which is also one of my favorite genres. I really like textiles, I guess, and old whitewashed inns lit by bare bulbs. What I didn't expect was for it to be written by Anthony Shaffer - he's not my favorite of the two Shaffers, but he and his brother share a talent for witty, earthy dialogue and the propulsive fascination of the inquisition. Where Peter turned this towards the frothy and gossipy, Anthony embraced the English trappings of the whodunnit, which is present here. It's nice to see movies that simply tell a story from beginning to end, with minimal fuss. This and The Brood have both delivered - we follow the exploits of a conceit from start to finish, with each scene illuminating and illustrating the overall theme, while simultaneously propulsing the plot. It's very economical and it's very effective - by zeroing in so earnestly on its own plot, there's no room for any irony, which would kill it entirely. Some of the post-hippie sexuality aspects are kind of silly (the innkeeper's daughter dancing around naked and slapping the walls is particularly disruptive), but because it's all woven so tightly into the narrative and supported by the cinematic mood, it functions. There's a sense of internal logic that I really appreciated. It just kind of goes. Everyone knows the ending, but they do a great job of making the journey itself entertaining and diverting. The focus on Christianity vs paganism - legitimacy vs fringe - is extremely solid and kind of provocative, and I appreciate the strength of writing in the characters. The protagonist, Sgt Howie (played by an increasingly sweaty Edward Woodward) throws himself full-bodied at the island, arriving with a haughty urgency that smacks of xenophobia, and you kind of hate him for being a prude. In the end, you kind of respect him, but he never really arrives as a likable protagonist, and he's unlikable in a way that feels real and strange and legitimate, and I like how this forces you to kind of stay above the movie in an analytical position. It's almost a challenge from the movie to the viewer, and in a funny way it sort of unlocks the surreality. If the main character had been blandly likable, it would become too easy to lose yourself inside the narrative, and part of the fun is seeing how everything is woven together. 9/10 screaming martyrs
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 05:46 |
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Hollismason posted:Congratulations!!! Thanks bud Magic Hate Ball posted:MOVIE TWO The music in Wicker Man is pretty drat good too, given the lyrical constraints they were working under it could easily have been bad silly instead of good silly. And Howie is one of the great unlikeable protags of all time, he's unpleasant without being monstrous, just a garden variety conservative and mild bigot.
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 05:49 |
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Yeah, I'm jamming to it on Spotify right now. I just love the mood of the film. My parents took me to Scottish games all the time when I was a kid so there's something very homey and nostalgic for me about people playing bagpipes and weird, pale children doing maypole dances, and the way all those trappings of English culture violently collide with an ultrasexual pagan sacrifice ritual is legitimately unsettling. The way it keeps a playful air while maintaining an oppressive mood of creepiness is kind of impressive. Shaffer has a keen understanding for how audiences enjoy a: learning and b: playing games, even if that's not what they consciously sit down to do.
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 05:56 |
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In for this, hopefully not too late but my fiancée and I usually shoot for a movie a day in October anyways. It's already been a bit of a busy week so I'm at 3 so far IT I'm honestly not going to say too much on this one as it's no doubt been covered already and I'm sure you're all planning on seeing it, but I did greatly enjoy it. I'm not very attached to the original (if Tim Curry wasn't in it it would be out in the cornfield with The Stand miniseries) so I was looking forward to it from the start, and I think they did a very good, if not particular deep, job. mother! Literally just got back from this one so I'm still working it through in my mind. Definitely worth watching if you like a more cerebral film without a bunch of jump scares. The biggest impression I have is how much it felt like a nightmare; not in a pure horror way, but like how you'll be having a bad dream where bizarre things happen, and you just kind of move along with it and don't think too deeply on it. It has that dreamy quality to it without being just plain weird and inaccessible. Strong recommend. Awakening This one is older and was on Netflix. Fairly typical setup (science lady goes to a haunted school to prove there's no ghost) but they do some unique things with it. Also has a really strong cast. It wasn't amazing but far from the worst thing I've found clicking random Netflix titles.
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 06:04 |
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1. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) 2. TCM: The Beginning 3. Halloween (2007) 4. Friday the 13th (2009) Again, it's maybe of note that I saw the extended version, as I couldn't even find the theatrical outside of shady sites and russian youtube. Well I'll say, I started really liking this film. As it went along, I kinda started liking it less. Not enough to really dislike or offend, just that it was somewhat lessened. It's an extremely strong opening, being kind of a companion to Jason Goes to Hell's opening. Jason's is the chase distilled to pure excitement turned into in a fun subversion. Here, you get that first three quarters before the chase. Only it's in fast forward, quickly and viciously ramping up to the total massacre. And it stops just short of that final girl chase, choosing to save it for later. It's just as knowing as Jason Goes to Hell was, but chooses to celebrate the structure and playing it boldly straight. But in doing that, the film plays it's cards early, forcing it to evolve to keep from repeating itself. And as a result, it falls into similar trap that TCM and Halloween did in their remakes, being that it changes for changes sake, and not to much benefit. Namely it's just the fact that they make Jason a little too 'smart'. I'm not entirely against him being more intelligent, it's fine that he's more proactive and willing to use traps. I actually really like the moment he turns on the lights at Camp Crystal Lake to help find his intruders. But it's that he's become almost 'too' clever, using too many tricks and tools compared to how Jason's always been presented. I can believe that he's created an underground network of tunnels, just less so that he cannibalises bike parts and other bits to create a detection system. And I can appreciate that Jason understands the importance of keeping his Machete sharp, just not that he's naturally figured out the best way to do so is a sharpening wheel. And you can tell this is from a post-Saw world with how sadistic Jason can be. But Jason isn't so much psychotic as he is brutal, simple, and single minded. It suggests, again, a kind of inventiveness that he never had the opportunity to be taught, and a kind of glee that sits behind his stoicness. He's always just beelined straight to his victim and using the best immediate tools to do the job, even if all he had was his hands and a skull to smash. And not to say that isn't in here, but using a compound bow to lure his victim seems not in the spirit of the series. Though the kill that followed, being the machete to the lid followed by a flash of tits, totally is. Might even be my new favourite kill. As for the actual on screen Jason, it's a great mix of pre-undead Jason with the raw, hate-filled 400 pounds of muscle that the Hoddor years personified. Everything else they changed is pretty much needless nitpicking. At least you can tell that the creatives behind it are indeed fans of the series, and understands what it means to have the title Friday the 13th. And perhaps they're the only ones behind these films who have, considering how shoddily the series has been treated. But to get back to my point, in Part 3 Jason got the mask just cause he happened to kill a dude who had a hockey bag. It's pretty unceremonious. And it's not betraying that moment having it moved to some dude's attic. But the one thing I have to comment is the very overt weed culture that pervades a lot of the first half. I do think it kinda works, as it gives the film the barest of an inciting incident, as well as creating a different vibe than it's predecessors. But the fact that it keeps coming up suggests a very strong weed culture behind the camera, and an assumption that it's a lot more universal than it actually is. Maybe it was an attempt to reach a different generation of 'youth' culture, but youth culture can also include a lot of things like shitposting and hot political takes that tie into your Steven Universe tumblr. I just think that they should have kept it a little more broad, and a little more light on the usage. As well, the way it pervades the film keeps suggesting a connection to Jason, at least as much as there is a connection between Jason and Sex. At least the latter makes sense, considering the legend attached to him since the very first film suggest that sex is what caused him to drown. But within the film weed reads as something completely incidental to Jason, only seeming to come up as it's grown within Jason's territory. And that any connection between Jason killing these people who've touched weed seems to be more for them invading in his territory, and less so for the fact that they're stealing his drugs. Not to say that I think Weed is what's dragging this movie down, it's just a little puzzling that there's quite a bit more of it here than you'd expect. One thing that I think has been a bit of a running theme in the last couple of movies I've watched is a focus on the visual look of these films. And I can't really say that I really noticed much of anything in terms of cinematography. That's also to say that I didn't really notice anything particularly awful either. It's fairly middle of the road, and that's fine. I could tell that they were trying for something that would read as cinematic on the big screen, and on occasion landed something unique. Such as the fire poker that follows from the exterior of the house, through a dude's skull, into a door, and into the interior hall, inches away from the protagonists. And it's all done in one continuous shot. But that middle of the road quality is kinda representative of the whole film. As a whole it's not super interesting, but on occasion something will shine through that shows more than a little effort on everyone's behalf. From the crew to the cast, nothing is particularly interesting until they are for a brief moment. Maybe the sexual titillation is gratuitous, but at least it isn't particularly scuzzy or gross about it. And I think that for a Friday the 13th film, I think it's perhaps the most appropriate tribute that they could made, creating a film that's perfectly serviceable and not abjectly awful.
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 10:10 |
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#5: The Hills Have Eyes (1977)[ (rewatch) This is well trod ground and it's taken me forever to come in here to add this so I'll keep it short. It's weird how I liked cliches in this movie that I normally roll my eyes at, I guess because it help originate them? Family pet death as a bloody preamble to the actual movie, sticking a baby in there in a blatant effort to raise the stakes -it all works here. It's really cool how as the movie goes on it's less of a slaughter and more of a war of attrition between two families. Dog revenge is awesome, the abrupt end to film is awesome, the whole thing is awesome. 10/10
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 14:08 |
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The Hills Have Eyes is definitely a story of dog revenge and the dog is absolutely the main character.
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 14:12 |
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Basebf555 posted:The Hills Have Eyes is definitely a story of dog revenge and the dog is absolutely the main character. In your mind are the dogs husband and wife or brother and sister?
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 14:17 |
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Drunkboxer posted:In your mind are the dogs husband and wife or brother and sister? Husband and wife for sure. That dog definitely had a "gently caress everything my wife is dead" thing going on.
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 14:28 |
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Basebf555 posted:The Hills Have Eyes is definitely a story of dog revenge and the dog is absolutely the main character. Shoot, he even gets his own flashback sequence in the sequel.
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 14:35 |
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Short Film Pre-Show: Junk Head 1 2013, dir. Takahide Hori | YouTube (This does not count towards my total since it only has a 30 minute run-time, but I wanted to share anyway) The story is a little convoluted: it is the future, there are humans, clones, and robots. Humans have lived underground for many years and have mutated. Our main character is a human from the surface who falls to the underground and his head is separated from his body. He is rescued by underground dwellers who put his head in the body of a robotic child. They believe he is a savior, but he doesn't remember who he is. The underground dwellers then try to protect him and take him somewhere, but the tunnels are full of dangerous creatures. This is a stop-motion animation short (supposedly) created entirely by this guy: Takahide Hori I say supposedly, because if it is true, it is mind-blowing. The video begins with a preface that it took him 4 years to create everything. This guy must be an insane workaholic. The character designs are unique and fantastic, with a lot of clever and fun ideas for the monsters (some reminiscent of Half-Life creatures), but the models looks perfect. I don't know what process he used to make them, but it would be hard to improve them. The sets, while simplistic, have texture, excellent mood-lighting, and have a lived-in look. The camera angles and movements are cinematic, sweeping around the characters (it's probably the most impressive thing outside of the animation). Even the story, while convoluted to explain, is delivered simply, visually, intelligently, and with humor and terror. The monsters are weird, violent, the action gets slightly gory at times, and the (many) chase scenes are energized by fear. To add to the sheer insanity of one man accomplishing all of this, this is his only film credit I have been able to find. Fans of Robert Morgan will feel at home with the character designs and the weird world of Junk Head 1, but JH1's storytelling is much more straight-forward, less surreal, but still has that dangerous whimsy with a hint of melancholy throughout. Takahide Hori ran and Indie GoGo to create a part 2, but I guess he's found success elsewhere, because Junk Head has been made into a full-length feature and is starting to make circuits in film festivals. I look forward to it! / 5 The Main Feature: Cemetery Man aka Dellamorte Dellamore 1994, dir. Michele Soavi | Rental From the director of The Church comes a zombie horror sex comedy with plenty of ammunition! aka :The Movie Holy poo poo. Where to begin. Have you seen The Church? If you have, imagine The Church, but with more punk influences, a sense of humor, and more sex (well, less demon sex, and more human/zombie sex). Oh, you haven't seen The Church? Okay. How about this: What if Dead Alive had John Constantine as the main character, played by Bruce Campbell, directed by Return of the Living Dead-era Dan O'Bannon? Then you would be getting close to what this movie is. Francesco Dellamorte is in charge of a grave yard where the inhabitants don't stay buried for longer than a week. With the help of his slow assistant Gnaghi, they arrange funerals, bury the dead, keep the grounds, wait for the zombies to return, and then re-kill them with headshots or decapitation. Frank doesn't know if it's just his cemetery, or if it's every cemetery, but he is really loving good at his job. If you think being a bad-rear end cemetery zombie patrol is a lonely job, think again. Despite being a weird absolute-rear end in a top hat, he hooks up with plenty of hot babes. Well. Sort of. A woman (Anna Falchi; ) starts visiting the cemetery to visit her recently-deceased husband. Something supernatural pulls her into having an affair with Frank (and if he isn't being pulled in by the supernatural, he's an opportunistic rear end in a top hat...actually, he's that either way). This creates a lot of problems, including obsession and possibly insanity. The lines of reality start getting blurred once Frank sees "her", and all hell seems to break loose. The dead want to return, they are Death's property, and Death is inevitable, and Frank's already loose morals start turning murderous. This movie is all over the place in the best way. Personally, I love movies with nightmarish logic, a heightened sense of reality merging with fantasy, and enough surrealism and abstract ideas to leave me thinking about what the gently caress I watched. The movie looks great, especially the sets. It's willing to go into some hosed-up taboo territory, but with a sense of humor and enough self-awareness to allow Frank to be a terrible person without making the audience feel terrible for watching him. It's a very funny, hosed up movie. There's also a lot of charm to be found, especially with Gnaghi, the slow assistant. Though his mental faculties is a little confusing, he's a lonely sweetheart who likes his job, likes Frank, and loves eating brown slop while watching TV (what the hell is WarBlob? Can anyone tell me?). This isn't going to be for everyone (the best movies aren't). I know a lot of people like their horror plots to be more concrete. However, if you're looking for an insane Italian-American horror film that goes wherever the gently caress it wants and invites you to come along, check this out. Personally, I'm excited to have found a new favorite horror movie, especially a ("traditional") zombie movie, a genre that I have fallen out of love with (despite some of my all-time favorite horror movies being zombie films). / 5 (It really should be a 4.5, but at that point I might as well round up) It's so early (not even October!), but if I had to recommend any must-watches from my movies so far, I'd say Dead & Buried and Cemetery Man for sure. Movies Watched NEW: I Walked With A Zombie, Dead & Buried, The Mummy ('59), The Resurrected, Critters, Cemetery Man REWATCH: SHORT FILMS (not counted in goal): Junk Head 1; TOTAL: 6
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 16:29 |
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From the Horror Thread:flashy_mcflash posted:Its more about exploitation/genre films in general rather than strictly horror but just a heads up that Shudder just added my favorite of Mark Hartley's docs, Machete Maidens Unleashed, which is about low budget Phillipino productions in the 70s. Its a really sad, fascinating look at an industry must people don't know about. Great interviews with Roger Corman and Joe Dante, among others. This is one of my favorite documentaries, and it 100% counts towards the challenge. I guarantee you will find some hidden gem films that you will want to check out.
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 16:36 |
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Ughhhh I haven't watched a horror movie for over 48 hours. Gonna do some catching up this weekend. On the plus side, I was looking at Starz and for $8 I can have access to like 3 movies I was planning on paying to rent anyway(The Funhouse being one of them), PLUS they have all the Friday the 13th's and a few Halloween sequels that I wouldn't otherwise be able to watch.
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 17:05 |
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Basebf555 posted:Ughhhh I haven't watched a horror movie for over 48 hours. Gonna do some catching up this weekend. It's kind of annoying that Starz had two levels of premium cable or whatever. Get off your high horse Starz.
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 17:12 |
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#7 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - Glad I got to see it for the first time in a theater. It really made the experience, especially with regards to the sound being so much louder than I'd ever have it at home. The movie 100% lived up to its reputation and finally seeing the original sure did make that '03 remake look real bad. 5/5 They showed a ~20min Tobe Hooper tribute before the film which was unfortunately not great and ended by showing the entire Hooper directed music video for Billy Idol's 'Dancing with Myself' Total: 7 Butterly Murders [4/5], Candyman: Day of the Dead [1/5], The Fog [4/5], Demons [5/5], Demons 2 [4/5], Prom Night [2/5], The Texas Chainsaw Massacre [5/5] Letterboxd list
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 17:42 |
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Drunkboxer posted:It's kind of annoying that Starz had two levels of premium cable or whatever. Get off your high horse Starz. That's so weird. I always get annoyed when I see a movie on Starz, click on it, and then see that little lock and realize that for some reason its not part of what I'm already paying for.
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 17:51 |
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4. The Eyes of my Mother Didn't enjoy this one all that much. It felt a bit excessive at points, and not in the good way, but at the same time I was mostly just bored in between the shocking scenes. Wasn't a fan of the decision to make it black and white. I'm sure there's an audience for this, but it wasn't my thing and never really clicked. 2.5/5
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 19:34 |
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tweet my meat posted:4. The Eyes of my Mother Me right now:
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 19:45 |
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Drunkboxer posted:#5: The Hills Have Eyes (1977)[ (rewatch) gently caress yeah. The casting in that movie is also perfect. They don't have to push that the family is a bunch of inbred mutant weirdos because they found actors who fit right into their roles.
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 20:26 |
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6: Dnevnoi Dozor (2006) The sequel to Nochnoi Dozor is much closer to an action movie than a horror movie, but I realised I've never watched my DVD copy and it's the Director's Cut to boot, so in it goes. At 139 minutes it's a bit long in this form. Most of what it adds appears to be an extension of the truck chase and the deleted sequence containing the coolest shot from the trailer, but I'm sure there's a couple of other scenes added as the whole thing feels much more coherent than it did on first watch. Disappointing that it wasn't released with the integrated subtitles that made the first movie's reputation in the West, though.
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# ? Sep 23, 2017 00:44 |
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7. Messiah of Evil Fantastic low-budget surreal horror, by the future creators of the Howard the Duck movie no less! A young woman arrives in a California coastal town looking for her artist father who's stopped corresponding with her and, as most of these stories go, she picked the worst time to come - a sinister force is taking over the town. There's an effective sense of dread throughout the whole movie. There's lots of long, quiet, creepy shots, and a minimal amount of blood; much of the worst action is left to the imagination, clearly due to the budget, but it's one of those cases where it's better for it. I love how there's this relatively big town where the story is set but the movie really makes you feel like no one but the main characters (and, at night, the antagonists) are there - it's clearly that way for budgetary reasons but it creates this sense of isolation that heightens everything else in the story. Definite Lovecraft feel to this, if that sort of thing piques your interest. Really glad I saw this.
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# ? Sep 23, 2017 01:12 |
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1. IT( 2017) , overall I enjoyed the film. The cast was just fantastic , however I didn't find it as scary I feel as the mini series. Definitely one of the better adaptations of Kings work and the " you all float " inspiration was a great reveal. It's the best I think they could have done. Didn't find Pennywise that great otherwise it was really great.
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# ? Sep 23, 2017 01:38 |
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Franchescanado posted:First off, if you haven't seen Opera, put that one on your list. I would put X over 5 all day ever day, don't @ me
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# ? Sep 23, 2017 01:43 |
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I think I'll watch a 1986 film so any suggestions
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# ? Sep 23, 2017 01:47 |
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Hollismason posted:I think I'll watch a 1986 film so any suggestions Looking for something new or just a classic suggestion?
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# ? Sep 23, 2017 01:49 |
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Something on Prime , Shudder
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# ? Sep 23, 2017 01:49 |
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Night of the Creeps is on Shudder. edit 2: Yes it is Franchescanado fucked around with this message at 01:58 on Sep 23, 2017 |
# ? Sep 23, 2017 01:54 |
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Hollismason posted:Something on Prime , Shudder I think you happened to pick a bad year for Shudder and Prime. The Fly, From Beyond, TCM 2, Night of the Creeps, and Friday the 13th Part 6 are all 1986 but I don't think any of those are on Prime or Shudder. Maximum Overdrive is on HBO.
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# ? Sep 23, 2017 01:55 |
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Basebf555 posted:I think you happened to pick a bad year for Shudder and Prime. The Fly, From Beyond, TCM 2, Night of the Creeps, and Friday the 13th Part 6 are all 1986 but I don't think any of those are on Prime or Shudder. Franchescanado posted:Night of the Creeps is on Shudder. Oh yea? Nice, yea that's probably the answer then. Whoops, quote is not edit. Sorry.
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# ? Sep 23, 2017 01:56 |
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Basebf555 posted:I think you happened to pick a bad year for Shudder and Prime. The Fly, From Beyond, TCM 2, Night of the Creeps, and Friday the 13th Part 6 are all 1986 but I don't think any of those are on Prime or Shudder. Night of the Creeps is on Shudder? edit ARGH
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# ? Sep 23, 2017 01:57 |
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You also got Invaders From Mars and Henry. And Blue Velvet. I guess I'd say it's a horror neo noir.
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# ? Sep 23, 2017 01:59 |
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And Chopping Mall, forgot about that. That's on Prime.
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# ? Sep 23, 2017 02:02 |
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I'm counting Blue Velvet so Imma watch that
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# ? Sep 23, 2017 02:03 |
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Hollismason posted:I'm counting Blue Velvet so Imma watch that Good call. I love Night of the Creeps and Henry, but I'm not quiet about my Lynch love.
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# ? Sep 23, 2017 02:04 |
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Manhunter!!!!
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# ? Sep 23, 2017 02:23 |
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Ended up watching The Dark Half couldn't find Blue Velvet
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# ? Sep 23, 2017 02:34 |
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If you can tolerate Crackle, Night of the Creeps is on there as well.
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# ? Sep 23, 2017 02:35 |
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# ? Jun 10, 2024 05:44 |
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The Dark Half is a underrated gem of a movie.
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# ? Sep 23, 2017 03:03 |