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Drunkenly watched the MST3K episode for Werewolf last night. A bewildering mess of poor editing, confusing plotting, bad and often inconsistent accents and costume design that looks closer to a giant bat than a werewolf. It practically seems custom made for the MST3K treatment (and may very well could have given it's 1996 release date), and as such, makes for prime riffing material, with several bizarre editing choices in particular stealing the show for me (highlights including a pile of explosive barrels being driven into with no build-up and seemingly out of nowhere, and a werewolf mauling scene in which both actors involved literally never share a shot with one another). On the subject of MST3K, as someone who's really been digging into the Netflix classic episodes collection over the last half year or so but doesn't quite have the encyclopedic knowledge of the episodes/movies covered that others do, Teenagers From Outer Space would count for the purposes of this thread, correct? Assuming so, that and The Giant Gila Monster are the only horror tangential episodes I have left to watch from the Netflix collection before moving on to other avenues for my MST3k fix. Movies Watched (2): It, Werewolf (MST3K)
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Oct 2, 2017 22:29
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Trash Boat posted:Drunkenly watched the MST3K episode for Werewolf last night. A bewildering mess of poor editing, confusing plotting, bad and often inconsistent accents and costume design that looks closer to a giant bat than a werewolf. It practically seems custom made for the MST3K treatment (and may very well could have given it's 1996 release date), and as such, makes for prime riffing material, with several bizarre editing choices in particular stealing the show for me (highlights including a pile of explosive barrels being driven into with no build-up and seemingly out of nowhere, and a werewolf mauling scene in which both actors involved literally never share a shot with one another). That's where I got my AV! Episodes on Netflix that would apply: -Manos: The Hands of Fate -Horrors of Spider Island -Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonder -Pod People -Zombie Nightmare -The Giant Gila Monster -Teenagers From Outer Space From the new season: -Reptilicus -The Beast of Hollow Mountain -Yongary -Cry Wilderness (though I don't think it's intentionally a horror movie? I think it wants to be a Spielbergian friendly-monster film)
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Oct 2, 2017 22:42
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graventy posted:All right, now that October proper is here I can stop procrastinating and post. There is no method to my madness all choices are arbitrary and random, which I think particularly stands out in yesterday's double feature: House 2: The Second Story is the one to watch, though I don't know if that's positive or negative thing. Definitely check it out though because it's memorable as hell.
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Oct 2, 2017 22:43
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How about some kickin' rad Halloween tunes from all of your favorite horror movies, curated by your pal Franchescanado?
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Oct 2, 2017 23:41
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13: Snowtown (2011) I'd heard a lot about this one as the Aussie answer to Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. It's very well performed, especially Daniel Henshall who as serial killer John Bunting seamlessly swaps from urbane smiles to emotionless brutality. I was quite surprised by how graphic it wasn't, with only one particularly gruesome scene and most of the murders taking place off camera. The big flaw for me in the movie was that it's based on a true story with which I was already familiar, so there wasn't really any suspense. Also, and you may think this is strange, it's real and that makes it less disturbing. Michael Myers doing what he does in Halloween is creepy because it's outside normal experience, but real serial murder - however gruesome - is within my ken.
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Oct 2, 2017 23:48
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8/31, The Gate: I'm a sucker for that 80s genre of kids horror films, and this one is a great one. Tiny Stephen Dorff has to fight some creepy little demons dudes and one huge awesome demon monster thing, and boy are his parents going to be mad about the house when they get home. I also love it when the dog mysteriously returns at the end. 5/5 goofy demon dudes
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Oct 3, 2017 00:02
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Franchescanado posted:I'd say watch a Jean Rollin film so you can see the difference between the two filmmakers and you get to see a justifiable "art-house lesbian vampire" film. Similar concept, waaaaay better execution, great imagery, cool dream logic, etc. Will do! Random Stranger posted:House 2: The Second Story is the one to watch, though I don't know if that's positive or negative thing. Definitely check it out though because it's memorable as hell. Will do! The Second Story is a really wonderful punny subtitle.
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Oct 3, 2017 00:08
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Movie #9: Gerald's Game Generally well appointed, with one overwhelmingly intense moment and a real left turn of an ending. Pretty good overall.
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Oct 3, 2017 00:26
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So, recently, I found the Halloween Blu-Ray collection for $40. I picked that poo poo up in a heartbeat, so now I own all of the Halloween movies, including the two from Rob Zombie. I'll be tackling those first. I haven't watched the third movie yet, and I'm in no rush to get to the Rob Zombie remakes, but I can go ahead with the main series ones. 1. Halloween Talk about a classic. John Carpenter penned and directed this movie in 1978, which brought upon a resurgence for the slasher genre. His antagonist was Michael Myers, who killed his sister when he was six years old and was committed to an asylum for the next fifteen years. The movie follows a girl named Laurie Strode (played by Jamie Lee Curtis, daughter of Janet Leigh, who may have the most famous death scene in any horror movie ever) and her friends, as Halloween night approaches. Laurie is going to be babysitting that night, and expects it to be a simple night. It is far from simple. Michael escapes from the asylum, returning to his hometown, Haddonfield. From there, he begins to stalk Laurie, killing her friends, and doing everything he can to kill Laurie. His doctor, Sam Loomis, is following Michael, trying to prevent the massacre he knows is coming, trying to keep the evil contained... Halloween is a fantastic movie. It's nearly bloodless in its killings, and gave us one of the Big Three slasher villains (the other two being Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees), and my personal favorite. Michael is your classic implacable man, seemingly unkillable and only slowed down by things that would put any of us six feet under. He has a single minded purpose, and that purpose is murder. In this movie, part of what makes Michael so intimidating is that he has no motivation for what he does. He's just out there, killing people, and we don't get a loving reason why. The scares are more about building tension and atmosphere; Michael appears a couple of times before Laurie, only to seemingly disappear as soon as he's out of sight. Michael never speaks a single word, barely even makes a noise even when he's attacked; at the end, Laurie has jammed a wire coat hanger into his eye and Loomis has pumped six revolver rounds into him, but he shows no sign that it has really bothered him that much. Those six bullets, by the way, knock him into a two story fall, but when he's checked on, he's nowhere to be found, leading us to... 2. Halloween II This sequel was filmed a few years after the first (1981), but takes place the same night, just minutes after the first film has ended. Michael is nowhere to be found, his victims are starting to be found, and Laurie is being sent to the hospital for the injuries she's suffered from Michael's attack. Of course, Michael is still kicking and looking to kill Laurie, since there wouldn't be much of a sequel without it. The people of Haddonfield are starting to panic, since the casualties include the sheriff's daughter, as well as a few other high schoolers. The hunt for Michael Myers has begun, but it doesn't take long for an innocent man to be killed in the hunt (by being hit by a car and blown up, no less). Meanwhile, at the hospital, the EMTs are trying to wind down from their busy night, the nurses are trying to keep their night simple, and Michael is trying to keep his night bloody. He succeeds...Until Loomis uses an oxygen tank to blow up both himself and Michael Myers. This movie was also pretty damned tense. Michael is still shrugging off whatever can be thrown at him, while dropping people like flies. However, this movie does give a reason for his obsession with killing Laurie; she's his sister, and Michael won't be satisfied until he's killed all of his family. Laurie was put up for adoption after the deaths of her parents, having forgotten her connection to Michael. Halloween II also ramped up the blood and gore, especially compared to the first movie. However, it still tries to build tension and atmosphere, but falls kind of short of the mark, unlike the first movie. Halloween II is still a classic, though, and definitely worth a watch if you've never seen it. Halloween: 5/5 Bloody Knives Halloween II: 4/5 Bloody Knives How was that? It's been a while since I've done this...
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Oct 3, 2017 01:00
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#4 - Hatchet (2006, dir. Adam Green) This was a fun one, though not without caveats. On the positive side: the gore is loving ridiculous. Victor Crowley pulls some straight up Riki-Oh poo poo on several of his victims; the standouts to me were the old guy getting split down the middle like a loving log and the porn producer getting his head quite literally twisted off his shoulders, but the rest of the movie provides some pretty fun moments. Similarly, the sense of comedic timing is on point; the movie never quite reaches Evil Dead 2 levels of overt splatstick, but it comes very close at times, and there's some genuinely hilarious dialogue from some of the characters (most notably the token black character; I didn't catch his name, but every word out of that man's mouth is solid gold). The movie also has some really nice cinematography in parts; some of it is very muddy and dark, but some shots are very visually pleasing. On the negative side: first off, Victor Crowley really isn't that menacing. Hodder plays him like a Putty from Power Rangers on PCP, and that's roughly what he looks like, too; the lack of menace is amplified by the fact that, eventually, the protagonists just start beating the living hell out of him and running away whenever they see him. This is a genuine shame, because in the few parts of the movie where Green seemed to realize just how ridiculous Crowley looked and opted not to show him fully, it actually kinda works and he's fairly scary; eventually, though, he becomes less Jason and more TCM2 Leatherface, and (as much as I love Leatherface in TCM2) this is to the movie's detriment. Second off, this movie has a... pretty bad relationship with marginalized people; the black character is better than usual, but he's still one of precisely two black people in the entirety of a movie set in the Louisiana Swamp (which stretches believability more than anything involving Crowley, to be frank), the Asian character has an exaggerated accent and there's a big laugh line where the black character calls him "fake Jackie Chan," and the women are either the final girl or absurdly vapid and unlikable. This isn't anything really unique to the film- most of the slasher genre is pretty bad about these things- but Hatchet really kind of calls attention to it in a way that most actual 80s slashers don't, and frankly, I remember being a little creeped out by it before I even discovered progressive politics (this is a rewatch for me, though with enough time passed that I'm not actively counting it as such). It definitely feels like a product of the type of horror fan who resembles Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons in look and demeanor, except his shirt's got Jason Voorhees on it instead of a Green Lantern logo. Neither here nor there: this movie's aesthetic is loving weird. It was apparently shot on 35mm, according to IMDB, but throughout the movie I couldn't shake the feeling that it was shot digitally and then either transferred to film or made to look like film; it looks like the missing link between a mid-80s slasher and a Saw sequel. Rating: 3.5/5 Total: 4 Wrong Turn (2003), Suspiria (1977), Mars Attacks (1996), Hatchet (2006) WeedlordGoku69 fucked around with this message at 01:08 on Oct 3, 2017 |
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Oct 3, 2017 01:03
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Leavemywife posted:How was that? It's been a while since I've done this... Perfect, but I just want to know, you're not skipping Halloween III are you? Edit: poo poo, sorry I just saw that you mentioned it. Can't wait to see your reaction!
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Oct 3, 2017 01:06
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1)Ghostwatch 2)Willow Creek 3)Mother! 4:Q 5)Vampyros Lesbos 6)Saw the final chapter 7)Trilogy of Terror 8)train to busan   9)The living Skeleton This movie has a lot going on. Bats! Ghost Ships! Revenge from Beyond the Grave! Skeletons! But it's all done incredibly well. It's spooky and atmospheric and hits mostly all the right notes for me.  .5/5
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Oct 3, 2017 01:17
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Started the October run last night, throwing this post in as a list-holder, reactions to follow. Planning to focus on stuff from the video nasties list that I haven't seen yet, and introducing a new friend to some classics that she hasn't seen, plus some recommendations from her that I've not seen. * indicates rewatch. 1. Lisa, Lisa, a.k.a., Axe, a.k.a., California Axe Massacre, a.k.a., California Axe Murders, a.k.a., The Axe Murders, a.k.a., The Virgin Slaughter (1974) 2/5 2. Thir13en Ghosts (2001) 3/5 3. Contamination, a.k.a., Alien Contamination, a.k.a., Contamination: Alien on Earth, a.k.a., Toxic Spawn, a.k.a., Aliendrome (1980) 3/5 4. 28 Days Later... (2002) 4/5 5. *Don't Look in the Basement, a.k.a., Don't Go in the Basement, a.k.a., The Forgotten, a.k.a., Beyond Help, a.k.a., Death Ward #13, a.k.a., The Snake Pit (1973) 2/5 6. House on the Edge of the Park (1980) 4/5 7. Inferno (1980) 4/5 8. Little Evil (2017) 3/5 9. Night of the Bloody Apes, a.k.a., Gomar: The Human Gorilla, a.k.a., Horror and Sex, a.k.a., Sex Monsters (1969) 2/5 10. Night School, a.k.a., Terror Eyes (1981) 2/5 11. Kill, Granny, Kill! (2014) 2/5 12. Jack-O, a.k.a., Jack O'Lantern (1995) 3/5 13. *Scream (1996) 4/5 14. *Fright Night, a.k.a., Night of Horror (1985) 4/5 15. *Suspiria (1977) 4/5 16. A Lizard in a Woman's Skin, a.k.a., Schizoid, a.k.a, Carole (1971) 3/5 17. Toxic Zombies, a.k.a., Bloodeaters, a.k.a., Blood Butchers (1980) 2/5 18. *Friday the 13th (1980) 3/5 19. *Candyman (1992) 5/5 20. *Saturday the 14th (1981) 3/5 21. Cat People (1942) 4/5 22. Nightmare Beach, a.k.a., Welcome to Spring Break (1989) 3/5 23. *Hellraiser, a.k.a., Clive Barker's Hellraiser (1987) 4/5 24. *Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988) 4/5 25. Holidays (2016) 3/5 26. *House, a.k.a., Hausu (1977) 5/5 27. The Witch who Came from the Sea (1976) 3/5 28. Cult of Chucky, a.k.a., Curse of Chucky 2 (2017) 4/5 29. Happy Death Day, a.k.a., Happy Birthdead (2017) 4/5 30. *Scooby-Doo! and the Reluctant Werewolf (1988) 2/5 31. Zombeavers (2014) 3/5 32. *Saw, a.k.a., Décadence (2004) 3/5 33. The Abandoned, a.k.a., The Confines, a.k.a., Confined (2015) 3/5 34. Scooby-Doo (2002) 3/5 35. Tales of Halloween, a.k.a., The October Society Presents: Tales of Halloween (2015) 3/5 36. Vampire Dog (2012) 3/5 37. Saw II (2005) 2/5 38. Saw III (2006) 3/5 39. R.L. Stine's Mostly Ghostly: One Night in Doom House (2016) 2/5 40. 13 Demons (2016) 2/5 41. Patchwork (2015) 3/5 42. Saw IV (2007) 3/5 43. Saw V (2008) 3/5 44. Saw VI (2009) 2/5 45. *Scary Movie 2, a.k.a., Scarier Movie (2001) 3/5 46. Scary Movie 3, a.k.a., Scary Movie 3.5 (2003) 2/5 47. Saw 3D, a.k.a., Saw: The Final Chapter, a.k.a., Saw 7, a.k.a., Jigsaw Puzzle 3D, a.k.a., Saw 3D: The Final Chapter (2010) 2/5 Darthemed fucked around with this message at 16:20 on Nov 1, 2017 |
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Oct 3, 2017 01:22
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October 2 - Bride of Re-Animator I don't think it's overstating things to say that the original Re-Animator is one of the greats. But I had heard that the attempts to revisit the film didn't remotely live up to the original so I never bothered checking them out. But it's October and I have 31 new movies to watch so it's time for me to see if that was true. So somehow Herbert West survived the end of Re-Animator and fled the country with his pal Dan until the heat was off. Then they decide to come back and go to work at the other hospital in Arkham and set up their new lab in a former mortuary next to a cemetery. Dan wants out but West promises him they can build a new body out of spare parts for his dead girlfriend and they decide to go for it. Then all the things that you'd expect to go wrong with this plan do. So obviously Jeffery Combs is absolutely fantastic. The way he deadpans in even the most horrific situations ("She's hysterical."  ) makes West such a memorable character. Sadly, nobody else in the film is really a memorable character; I thought the pathologist might have been, but he vanishes for almost an hour after the film starts getting underway. The first half of the film felt kind of slow and dull to me. Then the second half got deeper into the weird and crazy stuff that I wanted out of Re-Animator though the puppetry doesn't have quite the same skill. It gives the film kind of a half-baked feeling, particularly the very ending where everything is resolved by the roof suddenly caving in for no good reason. I think I would have had more fun seeing more of West's crazy hosed up experiments. Those were often my favorite moments where I was going, "Oh poo poo! I can't believe they did that!" but there weren't enough of them. The titular "bride" was kind of a let down for me. Disconnected from the original, I think this would have been a kind of quirky horror film that didn't live up to its potential. Compared to the original, it's more of a disappointment. Also, Gozu has the better "guy hurls a really bad looking dog puppet into a wall" scene. Ambitious Spider posted:9)The living Skeleton I'm glad someone else watched The Living Skeleton since I thought it was pretty interesting. I felt it was like an EC Comics horror story with its gothic style and atmosphere and revenge story, only produced in Japan for some reason. Random Stranger fucked around with this message at 01:52 on Oct 3, 2017 |
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Oct 3, 2017 01:49
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Random Stranger posted:House 2: The Second Story is the one to watch, though I don't know if that's positive or negative thing. Definitely check it out though because it's memorable as hell. In terms of horror films named House, the Japanese one from 1977 is definitely the one to watch, and I will physically fight people over that.
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Oct 3, 2017 02:05
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Skwirl posted:In terms of horror films named House, the Japanese one from 1977 is definitely the one to watch, and I will physically fight people over that. Well, obviously, but if we're talking about films in the American horror series called House, then you go with House 2. Also, everyone here has already seen the Japanese House and telling someone that they need to would it would be insulting because it would assume that they hadn't. 
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Oct 3, 2017 02:22
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Movie #21: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) 42 years on and this movie is still really loving effective. I've not watched it in 15 years or more and forgot about most of it or outright confused it with the remake. The cinematography is on point and there's some beautifully framed shots (the store owner beating the hitchhiker silhouetted by his trucks headlights is a real highlight.) This movie deserves it's status as a classic. Beginning of October update: 21 out of 65 completed. I actually need one more movie to have a solid 65. First suggestion I'll add it to the list. https://boxd.it/1cXu4
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Oct 3, 2017 02:35
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Untrustable posted:
From Beyond.
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Oct 3, 2017 02:37
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 #1. Axe (1974) This was probably as good a way as any to get into the video nasties. Isolated farmhouse with a young girl and her near-comatose grandfather get invaded by some cut-rate versions of the criminals from Last House on the Left, defensive murder ensues. Low-budget enough to be especially uncomfortable with the sexual coercion and assaults, and to make the violence seem near-unbelievable. But it did hold our attention, even if just to crack jokes every once in a while, usually about the Bob Ross hairstyle of Hoodlum #3, who also wrote and directed the film. Nothing too notable outside of a few striking shots.  / 5 #2. Thir13en Ghosts This was quite a bit better than I expected, not just because of the titling and Matthew Lillard's presence, but because I heard so many jokes about it way back in middle school. The set and creature design were great (KNB, hell yeah), and as an update of a William Castle movie, it hit a great balance between not taking itself too seriously and doing its ghost house thing. I would have liked to have seen more expansion of the individual ghost characters (the mother and son pair in particular felt wasted), but I had enough fun with it that I threw on the commentary after the initial viewing, and listened to the set designer and a KNB guy (Berger, I think?) give some extra detail on everything. An extremely goofy ending, and a jarring tonal shift with the end credits music, but definitely enjoyable on the whole. / 5 #3. Contamination (1980) This was half blast, half snoozer. Both I and the person with whom I was watching it fell asleep around the same time, but I woke up after just ten minutes, so I don't think I missed much; since it's a movie scored by Goblin, some dreaminess seems perfectly fine. An interesting take on the alien mind control story, with some fantastic practical effects, especially on the cyclops (there's a credit for it in the first five minutes, so no spoilers for its existence), and some wonderful sound-work for the eggs. It felt like the dubbing hurt this a bit more than most Italian horror, since the vocalizations and facial expressions were so divorced from each other so often, but the basic story came through fine. Kind of a rushed and disappointing ending, though. / 5
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Oct 3, 2017 02:51
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I've decided to do full reviews on a friend's blog of things that I'm watching in order to share with friends and family. I linked to the full review of each film if you're interested. I thought this might be tidier for the thread than copying the long reviews to the forum. #3 Videodrome - This is the kind of narrative you'd expect from Cronenberg. It's not straightforward, and some of the message might only be clear to him, but it's a film that will stick with you because of the visuals and overall theme. James Woods is excellent, and Debbie Harry is impossibly hot. Also it's a Cronenberg movie. Just look at this awesome poo poo: *some spoilers if you've never seen it before* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xa1IKLIGdaw&t=150s #4 Neon Maniacs - This movie feels like the director knew a guy who owned a costume shop, so he slapped something together over a weekend. It hits every 80's slasher horror trope with absolutely no additional plot or exposition whatsoever. It's goofy as hell, and really fun to watch with friends and beer. You can watch it for free if you have Amazon Prime Video. I recorded a podcast with a friend for this one. #5 The VVitch - The Witch is a masterpiece of filmmaking and storytelling. If you're looking for the intersection between art and horror, The Witch is exactly where you should start. It's completely engrossing and feels like looking through a portal into the 1600's. Not many films make me feel this way, and it's a perfect movie for the Halloween season. Get the Blu Ray, dim the lights, turn up the volume, and enjoy a true gem of American cinema. Completed: Bay of Blood, Night of the Hunter, Videodrome, Neon Maniacs, The VVitch Trot_to_Trotsky fucked around with this message at 03:00 on Oct 3, 2017 |
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Oct 3, 2017 02:57
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20. The Seventh Curse - As promised, this fits in pretty nicely with the Shaw Brothers horror lineup. It's not nearly as crazy as Boxer's Omen, but it has a higher budget and a lot more Kung Fu. And a ton of great entrances for said Kung Fu scenes. And my favorite horror/comedy/kung fu archetype, the stalker who will eventually win over the hero's heart by constantly trying to get them both killed. This is one of those movies like The Evil Within that has tons and tons of great gifable moments but I think you'd be better served not knowing they're coming so you just get a modest random nobody death below. Watch this. Also watch Boxer's Omen, which in addition to ruling is accidentally Marxist in a really cool way that I didn't even get around to describing when I was writing about it because there's so much other stuff to say about it. I don't mean to denigrate Seventh Curse by talking about another movie in its writeup, but you have to watch both of them and this seems like a good gateway movie.
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Oct 3, 2017 03:43
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Basebf555 posted:From Beyond. Alright you win. From Beyond is movie 65. Not sure where I'll slot it into the list. Probably as a double feature with Re-Animator.
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Oct 3, 2017 03:44
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^^^ I always thought I was the only one here who saw Neon Maniacs. I used to have it on VHS. I always found it to be a fun movie too.
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Oct 3, 2017 03:44
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Halloween (1978) Wow. I had somehow never seen this (was always a Freddy fan, and 80s teen kid tribalism is weird like that), and I had no idea not only was it still effective, it is drat effective. All from the simple decision to shoot everything POV of the killer. Just fantastic. Donald Pleasance, despite not really doing much detective work, is great at building the looming threat of Myers before the first teen is cut open. It's a masterclass in shot framing and tension-building, and I loved almost every minute of it. Movies Watched:Midnight Meat Train, IT, Nightmare on Elm Street (2010), Saw 7, Phantasm, Demons, Rockula, House of the Devil, 31, Deathrow Gameshow, Nine Miles Down, The Carrier, Halloween (1978)
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Oct 3, 2017 03:52
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10. When a Stranger Calls (1979) dir. Fred Walton The first act is a short film all it's own, and a masterful one. Impeccably edited, tense, and even when it taps into the most played campfire story cliches it still feels fresh and frightening. The editing in the final moments, with strange and erratic cuts, is experimental. But after the sequence ends, it's as if the film doesn't know what to do with itself. The story has concluded and we're treated to an hour long epilogue that never reaches the heights of the early climax. It's a series of ideas that could potentially work, but never pay off. We learn a bit too much about the stranger without ever getting a good grasp on who he truly is. Are we supposed to be sympathetic to him or is he completely deranged? There are unexplored thoughts -- a scene where the naked killer stares at himself in a public bathroom mirror that plays as if it were ripped from an Abel Ferrara film ultimately piddles out. A subplot with a woman he meets at a bar ends with her being cast aside for a bookending climax which never matches the intensity of the opening. It's one I'm glad I saw, but it's reputation set the bar too high. 11. Peeping Tom (1960) (Rewatch) dir. Michael Powell Saw it as a midnight movie and while it looks amazing on film it's a bit too slow for that timeslot. This is a prime time flick, as seedy as it may be. I had forgotten many of the details of the movie, but one sequence really stands out as exemplifying the movie's thesis on cinema. The girlfriend, Helen, settles into the director's chair as the projector begins to whir. A small, comfortable smirk comes across her face as she relaxes -- she is about to watch a movie. It's that pleasant sensation that we all experience as we sit down in the theater ready to be told a story. But the story repulses her, it instills intense and uncontrollable emotions, and as powerful cinema is meant to do it forces her onto her feet in reaction. She is overcome by the fear and confusion. This is what cinema does. Powell's thesis uses snuff as a metaphor for the raw power of art, his director stand-in films the sublime, only the purest and most authentic of emotions. The film's title implies voyeurism, but it's not curiosity that kills -- it's expression. Overall, an exceptional film. 12. What We Do in the Shadows (2014) dir. Jermaine Clement & Taika Waititi Very charming and was something nice to relax with after work. Plays with the vampire mythos in ways that although they've been done before feel new with the dry New Zealand wit that Waititi and Clement excel in. I dunno, man, I can't say much academic about this, I just love Stu. Watched: It (2017); The Invisible Man; mother!; Carnival of Souls; Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III; Dementia; Ghostwatch: Behind the Curtains; Snuff; The Last House on Dead End Street; When a Stranger Calls; Peeping Tom; What We Do in the Shadows (Total: 12)
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Oct 3, 2017 03:56
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Day 2. Watched The Crazies (2010) in the background this afternoon. This is one I enjoy, although its not a classic or anything. Timothy Olyphant is a good leading man and I've always enjoyed Radha Mitchell and Joe Nelson. Its a simple enough premise that just plays itself out. I think the whole thing drags a little at the end but mostly its enjoyable ride. I'm ashamed to say I've never seen the original. Amazon lists it as being on the Shudder channel but I can't find it in a search. Are the movies that are exclusive to Amazon's Shudder commercial that I'm missing out on because I subscribed off Amazon? That's weird. 2 (5). The Boy (2016)  Ok so its a simple enough premise. Isolated old mansion, weird old couple, unsuspecting nanny, creepy doll. Nothing groundbreaking here but who isn't creeped out by porcelain dolls so worth a try. For the second entry out of two what seemed like a very predictable and well tread story took a really weird turn half way though... and then took another weird turn. It was enough to keep me engaged. I'm not sure I'd call this a good movie. I think there could have been a good movie if the script had been cut down by 10-20 minutes and the story condensed a little as it really dragged at times. And it used jump scares to keep things going that worked for me at the time but feel a little cheap in retrospect. There's also a really compelling subtextual story underneath this all about an abusive victim suffering from loss gets used by a new set of manipulative abusers. Like the whole idea of Greta crazily accepting caring for a ghost doll kid because she's grieving the loss of her unborn child at the hands of her abusive ex... only for it to turn out that there was no kid and there was just another abusive obsessed psycho and his hosed up parents who were taking advantage of her pain is really hosed up when you get to thinking about it. But the problem is the movie entirely glosses over it in the final 10 minutes. They don't ignore it. She specifically lashes out in anger and shock about the realization of it all. But its all happening in the middle of the final chase and she's literally rushed past her shock to try and escape. It feels like a waste. Basically this movie felt like a script that had some real potential in it if it had been done with a little more love or style but it kind of glossed past that stuff for cliches and tropes. Still, it kept me involved, made me jump or cringe a couple of times, genuinely surprised me in a way that made me feel stupid for not realizing earlier, and has me thinking. So I can't entirely dismiss it. October Tally - New (Total) - (1). V/H/S (2012) / - (2). V/H/S/2 (2013) / 1 (3). Let Us Prey (2014) / - (4). The Crazies (2010) / 2 (5). The Boy (2016) 
STAC Goat fucked around with this message at 04:13 on Oct 3, 2017 |
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Oct 3, 2017 04:08
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13. The Visitor mood-setting music from the soundtrack, the incredible main theme of "The Visitor" (it rules)  Hahaha, what the gently caress did I just watch? This movie is awesome and terrible and so very, very weird. It hooked me right away by going into the backstory of what's going on: Long ago, an evil extraterrestrial called Sateen - the ultimate evil (get it?) - hides on earth and gets busy with earth women, spreading his "mu-TANT" genes endowing evil and psychic powers on the children born in his genetic line (go back and watch that full video I linked there, if that piques your interest you may want to watch his). Space Jesus (Franco Nero, the original Django) sends what is basically an intergalactic exorcist played by the legendary John Huston(!) to Earth to deal with the most recent bad seed in Sateen's line, an 8-year-old girl who has begun to torment her mother for a sibling... So this is an Italian film made on location in Atlanta, Georgia, and it's a blender of all the popular mid-late '70s horror and sci-fi films. It's like they combined equal parts of The Omen and Rosemary's Baby with a dash of Close Encounters of the Third Kind and 2001. It's plodding and has a ton of filler and is predictable in a lot of ways - but there are some really neat and effective scenes here (the electronic bird in this sequence is creepy), and some really off-the-wall fever dream poo poo. I'm impressed by the star power here - Huston, Shelley Winters, Mel Ferrer, Glenn Ford - most of whom seem bored or are content chewing the scenery. The little girl isn't a great actor, but her mom (Joanne Nail) is good and loving Lance Henriksen(!!) is really great in this as the insidious paramour of the girl's mom in league with the evil worshippers. I don't know if I can say this is a wholehearted recommendation, but if you like weird ambitious bad movies, you might like this.
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Oct 3, 2017 04:20
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Bruteman posted:13. The Visitor The Visitor is the only film out there where God and the Devil play pong against each other.
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Oct 3, 2017 04:28
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Movie #22: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 This movie has Pumpkinhead syndrome. Whereas the first movie was dark and brutal and heavily atmospheric, this movie is campy and fun with over the top gore and some really fuckin funny lines. Also I like to imagine that everything that Dennis Hopper does in the final third of the movie is strictly improv brought on by mescaline. Just like Pumpkinhead 2, TCM 2 is a great movie on it's own. Though when done as a double feature the tonal shift will tear your body asunder.
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Oct 3, 2017 04:36
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TCM2 deserves so much better than to be put in the same company as Pumpkinhead 2. It's more of an Alien/Aliens situation, where the two movies are about equally good but different enough to almost make it an apples-oranges comparison.
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Oct 3, 2017 04:49
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Why does everyone hate on P'head 2? It's a great monster movie. Just not a great follow up to the original.
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Oct 3, 2017 05:05
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Busy month but I'm gonna try for 31 anyway! Luckily I have tomorrow off, so I can catch up.
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Oct 3, 2017 05:06
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Untrustable posted:Why does everyone hate on P'head 2? It's a great monster movie. Just not a great follow up to the original. It's not terrible, but it's a big step down in quality, whereas TCM2 isn't- TCM2 is just different, not worse.
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Oct 3, 2017 05:39
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I have a now 3 year running tradition of watching Halloween appropriate movies every day in October, so I figure I might as well be a part of this challenge. Movie 1 - Pandorum: I watched this yesterday. This one was okay. The supporting characters were extremely supporting characters in that they basically existed to give the main character people to play off of and nothing else. The creatures to me came off as basically space orcs, so they weren't super scary to me. I also think they were underutilized. I thought the end of the movie was pretty cool though. Movie 2 - The Creature from the Black Lagoon: Tonight's movie. I resolved this year to make an effort to watch a higher number of older movies, so I'm going to be alternating every day between more modern ones and the older movies. This one I had fun with. I've really only seen the creature in stills, and it looks way more impressive in action. Like, I really liked its design and movements. It actually reminded me in some parts of the movements of the xenomorph from Alien so I gotta wonder if that was an influence for Ridley Scott. It was funny to me that in spite of never actually being to Florida that I correctly identified some of the outdoor shots as blatantly being in Florida. But this movie made me look forward to seeing more old monster movies. Really enjoyed it.
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Oct 3, 2017 05:45
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Untrustable posted:Movie #22: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 I think I said this in the horror thread but TCM 2 is basically Evil Dead 2, it's pretty much the same plot but with better set dressing
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Oct 3, 2017 06:01
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Gothika is tight, pulpy and good with just enough going on under the surface to keep it interesting to me. I forgot to start here yesterday but I didn't want to lose track of my posts so I'm writing a short bit about these on my challenge movies on my blog instead: https://gamingdetritus.com/2017/10/2017-october-horror-challenge-i-tales-from-the-crypt-demon-knight/ https://gamingdetritus.com/2017/10/2017-october-horror-challenge-ii-gothika/ It's easy to see why it was forgotten though, a horror movie like this released in the same year of Freddy vs. Jason, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, and a brief theatrical re-release of Alien wasn't going to stand out even if it didn't get an immediate reputation for being a train wreck. Prior to changing my list up to this one I watched Inferno, Ernest Scared Stupid, and Grim Prairie Tales. Bruteman posted:13. The Visitor Good guys are triumphant music playing as God has difficulty using an escalator five minutes one of the greatest moments in any movie. I think that's my favorite of the many filler moments after opening up with that incredible vision scene and backstory followed watching like 1/3 of a professional basketball game. This movie would have been legit amazing if it had anything going on in the many filler moments.
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Oct 3, 2017 06:05
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21. Fermat's Room - It's a horror movie about mathematicians of course it's cool. You could fairly criticize it for being a little too straightforward, but I did not particularly mind while I was watching and I don't think I mind in retrospect either. Lots of good performances (Fermat in particular has a couple scenes that are perfect) and some A+ shots of night driving which was an unexpected bonus. If you're the sort of person who has read the Pascal/Fermat correspondence you should definitely watch this, and if you're not that sort of person you should be. Plus, I mean, mathematicians. They are always adorable: 
Irony.or.Death fucked around with this message at 06:27 on Oct 3, 2017 |
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Oct 3, 2017 06:19
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LORD OF BOOTY posted:It's not terrible, but it's a big step down in quality, whereas TCM2 isn't- TCM2 is just different, not worse. I must respectfully disagree. I don't think Pumpkinhead 2 was a step down in quality at all. I think it was a step away from the atmosphere and general feel of the first film, but I wouldn't consider it worse than the original. It's apples and oranges just as much as TCM and TCM 2 or Alien and Aliens. I suppose we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one, though I am able to see where you're coming from.. I'll have to watch both back to back some time soon and see if a few years has made any difference in how I view the Pumpkinhead movies. We can all agree that 3 and 4 are poo poo though right? Edit: I am always open to the possibility that I am wrong and my rose colored glasses are fuckin me up. Untrustable fucked around with this message at 06:36 on Oct 3, 2017 |
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Oct 3, 2017 06:34
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I haven't actually seen the later Pumpkinhead sequels, and I have no desire to whatsoever.
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Oct 3, 2017 06:36
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1. House 2 (1987) Barely a horror movie, more of a fantasy movie with horror elements. Comedy, for the most part, falls flat; I wasn't bored though. Creature effects and claymation are pretty cool. Has nothing to do with the first House. Watched: 1. House 2 (4/5) Bonus: REC (4.5/5), REC 2 (4/5), Halloween 2007 (2/5)
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Oct 3, 2017 07:12
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