|
Basebf555 posted:Alien Covenant digital code: Dibs!
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2017 22:48
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 10, 2024 03:00 |
|
|
Oh yea and just FYI it's one of those FoxRedeem codes where you have to go there first and then choose which service to use from there.
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2017 22:49
|
|
|
Done. Gonna order a Hammer set with my next paycheck and do this up! Thanks a bunch.
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2017 22:51
|
|
|
#15: Gerald's Game Spectacularly creepy movie. One of the few movies I can think of where the psychological elements are just as grueling as the physical elements. The film starts uncomfortably, and puts the viewer in a very simple "what would you do" scenario, and milks it for all the tension its worth. The highlights here are Carla Gugino and Bruce Greenwood, who manage to make the voices in your head tense and all-too-real. Flanagan's cinematography and blocking are great, everything looks nice and polished, and characters movements make great emotional sense, even if their movements make little physical sense (intentionally so). There's some really tough content in this one, and I'd be genuinely fascinated to hear if this film treats its subjects with respect. Upon a day or so of reflection, it seems like it does, but I'd gladly defer if an argument is brought otherwise. The big letdown here is the ending. Even though it gives Carel Struycken more room to do his thing, it feels more like the film pushing for a super thematic ending rather than a simpler emotional ending, cutting about 5 minutes from the epilogue would have done wonders for this movie. It's not excellent, but it's pretty darn good, and well worth a look-see. Completed: Beyond the Black Rainbow, Rabid, The Driller Killer, Phantasm*, Phantasm II, Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead, Phantasm IV: Oblivion, Phantasm V: Ravager, The Prowler, The House of the Devil, From Beyond, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Apt Pupil, Wait Until Dark, Gerald's Game *denotes rewatches X-Ray Pecs fucked around with this message at 17:50 on Oct 7, 2017 |
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2017 23:26
|
|
|
 NIGHTBREED (Director's Cut) I had no idea what this was, other than "a Clive Barker joint, so expect some psychosexual gore" and now that I've seen it (I never saw the Theatrical cut), I can't say I enjoyed it much. It was OK, monsters exist, our audience insert joins them accidentally, his girlfriend loves him so much he breaks their laws and invites the local yahoo sheriff's wrath, they fight back. There were definitely some neat makeup effects and the secondary villain (Decker/Burlap Sack Man) is really effective and good, but it feels too much like a 14 year old's AU livejournal where he's a badass undeadite fighting normies. I think what got me most is that there is a hidden city, away from all human eyes, where the undead and monstrous congregate to live. It's been hidden since Man hunted the Nightbreed. I seriously could not get over that Midian ended up being like, an hour from Calgary. There's never any "we cast a veil on our city to hide it from human eyes" explanation; anyone can (and indeed does) just go there by car, no problem. 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), Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama, Nightbreed
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2017 23:30
|
|
|
7. Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare So I decided to watch this prior to listening to the We Hate Movies review of it. As an aside, anyone not listening to We Hate Movies totally should, as they're doing their annual Spooktacular of bad horor movies this month. Anyway, this movie is basically a cartoon, and at times literally so. It's a weird experience of having these very corny visual gags by Freddy interspersed with incredibly mean spirited murders that touch on aspects of child abuse. This experience doesn't really work. I feel like this movie was mostly just leaning on special effects, high concepts, and some star cameos. There's no real soul to this movie, and it's obviously been edited and revised into a mush of nonsense. Some of the effects are pretty cool, like the transforming home exterior. The movie touches on a concept of every single child in Freddy's town now being dead, with the adults walking through their lives like zombies. This pretty cool idea gets addressed with a cartoonish looking carnival and a cameo by Roseanne and Tom Arnold. Great. This movie has a sense of fun to it, but it's just not funny. Anyway, I'm doing Fire in the Sky next off the They Shoot Zombies list and lord help me please let it not be terrible.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2017 00:02
|
|
|
15/31, Raw: Just go watch this movie - it's fantastic. Also, I hope it's not a realistic depiction of hazing at French universities. 5/5 raw rabbit kidneys
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2017 01:11
|
|
|
#16: Hell House LLC I'm not a huge found footage person, but I've got a hit/miss ratio better than 1 for the genre, so I decided to give this one a whirl. It's okay, decent, not bad, not great, middle of the road affair. The characters aren't too special, and the film doesn't play a whole lot with the dynamics and quirks established. The idea of a truly haunted house is an open playground to really get crazy, but the film holds back and keeps with some pretty bog-standard scares and frights, though quite a few are well-executed. The film reaches its height with its first climax, which makes great use of cross-cutting between multiple video sources of the same event, and ends on a very effective note... and then the film keeps going, running through a couple more good spots to end the film, but it keeps throwing in one more scare. With a better editor and a more solid grasp of character, this film could have been a blast. Stick with Hauntedween instead for your actual haunted house needs. Completed: Beyond the Black Rainbow, Rabid, The Driller Killer, Phantasm*, Phantasm II, Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead, Phantasm IV: Oblivion, Phantasm V: Ravager, The Prowler, The House of the Devil, From Beyond, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Apt Pupil, Wait Until Dark, Gerald's Game, Hell House LLC *denotes rewatches X-Ray Pecs fucked around with this message at 17:50 on Oct 7, 2017 |
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2017 01:17
|
|
|
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  10)Light’s Out Pretty good. You can tell it's produced by James Wan, so your mileage may vary, and it's kind of Babadook-lite thematically . It's got some cool concepts, and it's executed pretty well. My main problem is that it's just pretty good. Like it's just missing that certain something.  .5/5
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2017 01:46
|
|
|
Raw is showing up on Netflix soon (if it isn't already there) Anna's everyone on this thread should give it a shot. It's probably my film of the year (well, either it or Colossal).
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2017 01:50
|
|
|
#9 NightBreed : Directors Cut 1990 ( Shudder ) I'm counting this as a 1990 even if the director cut didn't come out till 2014. Whatever. This is like one of my FAVORITE horror films. The story, David Cronenberg as the villian!! Like seriously David Cronenberg is the VILLIAN in this movie and it is glorious. This is also a super queer film which I always like but it's queer in a really subtle way . You got all these great concepts and it's disappointing that we never saw another film. Can we talk about the practical effects!! You got some amazing creature designs in this film which is wonderful. You got a crazy good story as well. I love fantasy horror and this hits all the right notes. 1986, 1987 , 1988, 1989 , 1990, 1992, 1993, 2016 , 2017 22 Years to go ( I was going to watch Castle Freak but just really wasn't in the mood)
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2017 02:40
|
|
|
Hollismason posted:Sort of like Asia Argento's name (it's not Asia like the country it is Ah Se Ah) Okay this I did not know and now feel silly about.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2017 04:29
|
|
|
Also Asia is not a country #10 Bedeviled (Korean ) , 2010 ( Shudder) This was a crazy good South Korean Revenge film? I dunno I think it could also be called gently caress the patriarchy . So it's always really surprising to find foreign films that I had heard of but didn't yet watch. I would say expect a real slow burn to the mid point of the film then poo poo get's crazy. Hard to talk about the film without ruining it because the premise is really interesting there are parts of the film where you will be like "Motherfucker!" and jut be like loving angry at life and poo poo. It's super gory as well when it get's going. It's real good.   1986, 1987 , 1988, 1989 , 1990, 1992, 1993,2010 , 2016 , 2017 Hollismason fucked around with this message at 05:02 on Oct 5, 2017 |
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2017 04:50
|
|
|
23. Raw - My favorite things that horror movies do better than any other artform are make people uncomfortable and make metaphor literal. So it's strange and disappointing that I don't love this movie. I think most of it can be blamed on the setting, but still, I've seen plenty of films that were enjoyable despite being ostensibly about college students. There's just so much time here dedicated to events, characters, and themes that I cannot possibly care about while the interesting stuff is only rarely touched on. The ending is relatively okay at least, but as is so common I'd have more respect for it if it had more respect for the audience and cut off just a few seconds earlier. Maybe I'm just in a bad mood and should give it a shot some other time, but this feels like much less than the sum of its parts. I do love this shot enough that it grabbed my attention back long after I'd given up on enjoying the movie, at least. 
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2017 06:57
|
|
|
#11 The Lure (2015) A Polish musical about man-eating mermaids that perform as singers in a strip club. It certainly is as weird as it sounds, but it is also unironically enjoyable and I really dug it.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2017 09:34
|
|
|
Had the urge to give Army of Darkness a rewatch after the discussion a few pages back. Don't really have anything to add that hasn't been said already; whereas Evil Dead 2 deftly blends horror and slapstick comedy in roughly equal measure, Army of Darkness is just a straight up dark fantasy Three Stooges starring Bruce Campbell. A completely different beast from the rest of the Evil Dead franchise proper, but an absolute joy to watch through and through regardless. Movies Watched (3): It, Werewolf (MST3K), Army of Darkness Trash Boat fucked around with this message at 10:26 on Oct 5, 2017 |
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2017 10:13
|
|
|
BioTech posted:#11 The Lure (2015) Yessssss.  edit: To clarify, this is one of my favorite films this year. Franchescanado fucked around with this message at 12:53 on Oct 5, 2017 |
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2017 12:47
|
|
|
The Plague of the Zombies For some reason (literally judging by the cover probably), I imaged this being a low budget snore fest. It is none of those things. Instead, it's a well made Hammer Gothic which features Haitian-style zombies and wonderful sets . I'm surprised to not see this recommended more often, it has everything you would want in a 60s Hammer film /5Of Origin Unknown Another entry that I knew nothing abojt other than the cover and title. It might not be a surprise I was expecting an alien creature type movie and once again got something completely different. It's probably a good thing, because given a one or two sentence summary I would have probably passed this up. How good could a movie be where a guy spends an hour and a half chasing down a rat? It turns out...pretty drat good! /5
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2017 13:29
|
|
|
Of Unknown Origin is really good. I caught that on USA or something when I was around 10 or so and I remember really wanting to make the bat Peter Weller uses.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2017 13:53
|
|
|
The Lure owns owns OWNS
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2017 14:57
|
|
|
Yeah it's real fun
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2017 15:09
|
|
|
Last night I paid my respects to Stan Winston, can't believe it will soon be an entire decade since his death. First up... As much as I have unconditional love for Stan Winston's work, Leviathan seems like one of those movies where they set out to make a no-holds barred monster flick, but then the monster showed up on-set and the director was like "ok change of plans, now we're going to build up to the monster slowly and only show short glimpses of it until the finale." Not that I dislike the monster's design, but it seems to not quite fit with the tone the rest of the movie is going for. The early scenes seem to be channeling much darker material(The Thing, Alien) than what you'd expect for a what ends up being basically a gigantic large-mouth bass, but like I said, the fully developed monster isn't actually on-screen very much. It's easy to see why Leviathan was criticized a bit as a rip-off of better films, there are scenes where those influences are almost a bit too obvious. But the other side of that coin is that those influences are fantastic films, and Leviathan's "homages" are very effective. The costumes, set design, and makeup effects are all at a much higher level than you'd expect from a mostly forgotten film. The cast goes a long way as far as elevating Leviathan too, with Weller and Hudson as the driving force of most scenes. But you also have Daniel Stern and Hector Elizondo as solid side characters. And since this is a monster flick where Stan Winston's designs are one of the main draws, instead of spoiling any of that good stuff I'll just leave you with one of the better shots in Daniel Stern's long and illustrious career:  Review of Pumpkinhead coming a little later... Completed:The Wicker Man, Deadly Blessing, Night Creatures, Shock Waves, Slugs, Venom, Maximum Overdrive, Christine, The Tingler, The Masque of the Red Death, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Funhouse, Poltergeist, Lifeforce, Invaders From Mars, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, The Seventh Curse, The Mummy, Curse of the Mummy's Tomb, Hellraiser, Hellbound: Hellraiser II, Child's Play, Cult of Chucky, Leviathan First-Time Viewing Total: 12
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2017 15:20
|
|
|
There are so many things wrong or illogical with this poster, half of which are diving safety hazards that would kill those people. It's fascinating and kind of impressive how they managed to work a woman's rear end into the design when the male counterpart is in a surface-supplied dive set-up (without the actual umbilical--the thing that feeds them air--or even a bail-out bottle). I haven't seen the movie, so maybe these things are answered with "science"? I'm also disappointed that the monster is a fish thing? I always thought it was a plesiosaur, pliosaurus, or liopleurodon
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2017 15:29
|
|
|
The movie takes place at some point in the future so I think we're just supposed to assume the dive suits are more advanced in some way than what we have. The tech is really just there to look good though, they don't really get into discussing how any of it works at all. But if I'm remembering correctly the poster is just a way to get a woman's rear end in there, in the movie they actually all(whoever it is that survives, I won't let on exactly who!) wear the suits when they escape. Oh yea, and Ernie Hudson is 100% correct, he gets one of the more infuriating deaths you can possibly have in a monster movie. Survives literally until 30 seconds before the credits and then sacrifices himself when the monster does that "last second final attack" thing that happens in every one of these movies. Basebf555 fucked around with this message at 15:35 on Oct 5, 2017 |
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2017 15:32
|
|
|
Basebf555 posted:Oh yea, and Ernie Hudson is 100% correct, he gets one of the more infuriating deaths you can possibly have in a monster movie. Survives literally until 30 seconds before the credits and then sacrifices himself when the monster does that "last second final attack" thing that happens in every one of these movies. This bit is terrible, and also that inexplicable shark scare that lasts about thirty seconds and amounts to nothing.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2017 16:04
|
|
|
a foolish pianist posted:This bit is terrible, and also that inexplicable shark scare that lasts about thirty seconds and amounts to nothing. I can see what they were probably thinking with that one. I think the shark is there to make you think that this is the last scare, they just need to escape this shark and they're home free. To lull you into a false sense of security that the monster isn't coming back, but it doesn't really work.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2017 16:08
|
|
|
5. Shivers Very early Cronenberg. This one didn't do much for me, mainly because the two doctor/scientist characters were so completely blasé about having a developing epidemic of sexually transmitted artificial parasites on their hands, until it's far too late. I realize that's beside the point the movie is trying to make, but whatever. I do appreciate that, leaving aside the insane doctor responsible for the whole thing, 6. Maniac Cop 2 It had some surprisingly great action setpieces, as well as Robert Davy, Claudia Christian and the amazing Maniac Cop rap at the end, but story-wise, this went nowhere. It seems like they tried to set up the Maniac Cop as a sympathetic horror franchise "hero" like Jason, but they never added anything interesting to his background. The slow unraveling of the mystery behind the killer was great in the first one, but here we already know everything. The subplot of the stripper-murdering serial killer trying to buddy up withe the cop was just WTF, but not in a way that went anywhere interesting. Hannibal Rex fucked around with this message at 16:14 on Oct 5, 2017 |
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2017 16:10
|
|
|
#15 Raw - Very good and I'm not usually very squeamish but this one got me pretty good in a few spots. 5/5 Total: 15 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], In the Mouth of Madness [4/5], Inland Empire [3/5], Vampyr [4/5], Scanners [4/5], The Manitou [4/5], Crimson Peak [4/5], Planet of the Vampires [3/5], Raw, [5/5] Letterboxd list
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2017 16:16
|
|
|
Where you all watching the lure at
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2017 16:19
|
|
|
FancyMike posted:#15 Raw - Very good and I'm not usually very squeamish but this one got me pretty good in a few spots. 5/5 It's all in the sound design. I was surprised with how little on-screen violence there is.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2017 16:21
|
|
|
Hollismason posted:Where you all watching the lure at It's for rent on Amazon Prime, and the Criterion DVD/Blu-Ray comes out within a week.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2017 16:21
|
|
|
Franchescanado posted:It's all in the sound design. I was surprised with how little on-screen violence there is. It was pulling the hair out and gagging that got me the most
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2017 16:29
|
|
|
FancyMike posted:It was pulling the hair out and gagging that got me the most That one was rough! The one that got me was the first time the sister starts chewing on the scalp of the person in the car accident; the crunch and the sounds of teeth scraping the skull. Amazing sound design all around.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2017 16:31
|
|
|
I got TCM 40th Anniversary Restoration yesterday. A bit into October, but I'll be watching it soon.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2017 17:45
|
|
|
Day 4 report. Watched Jennifer’s Body again as my morning rewatch. I didn’t think much of this the first time through but awhile back someone in the horror thread compared it to It Follows and made it sound more interesting than I remember. I ended up picking it up cheap and meant to watch the two of them together and see if I missed something. Never got around to it until now. I still don’t really care for Jennifer’s Body. Its not bad, just mediocre. They don’t do a lot with it beyond Fox and Seyfried and while Seyfried probably carries a bit Fox is pretty weak and I never really get anything from this “no, I’m mocking my own wooden acting and the fact that I’m largely just a sex symbol” thing she does. But there’s some fun in it. Speed it up, take it a little less or more seriously, I don’t know. Its a shade off from being a good movie. I intended to watch It Follows but I’m falling behind on my new movies/31 years so I decided to pass on another movie I didn't love the first time through. Maybe later in the month. 4 (9). Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (2015)  You either know these movies and what they’re about or you don’t care. Its another family and another kid dealing with a strange presence in their house that they come to accept is there thanks to video cameras catching evidence. And a weird plot across the movies I was a big fan of the original and in general I’m a big fan of good found footage movies. I know its a polarizing genre and many find it lazy but when done well I think it does a good job using basic human fears and tensions in place of scary monsters. Paranormal Activity worked so well for me because it dealt with that little thing we’ve all experienced where you’re alone in a room and the hair stands up on the back of your neck or you feel a slight breeze or hear a small noise and for a second you wonder “Am I alone?” There’s maybe 20 minutes of actual action in Paranormal Activity if I’m being generous but the movie is all about the fear and horror of realizing there’s something in your home, in your bedroom, while you sleep. And that’s why I watch horror movies in the dark. Its why I set my bed up against a wall that I can put my back to. That inherrent fear. But like most horror franchises there’s diminishing returns with the tricks in the sequels and the movies add way too much convoluted plot to try and stretch out the story. I was cool with the story of a couple who had a spirit in their house. Now we’ve got another movie with another family and another kid talking to “Toby” and some confusing conspiracy that connects the films in a way that they don’t really need to be. But hey, its the last one and I’ve largely enjoyed the series. So why not? For a series I enjoy because of what’s unseen and plays with your paranoia it was probably a bad sign that the tag line is “for the first time you will see the activity.” And sure enough seeing things just kind of falls flat for me. It didn’t especially scare me (jump scares aside) and it wasn’t especially original or monstrous. What’s more, the fact that the family has actual incontrovertible video evidence of the scary poo poo really early into the movie really makes it hard to accept the old “Why don’t you leave the house?” question. I like to play that game when I watch a horror movie with people. We all declare at what point of the movie we’d just run away in terror. This family spends a real long time saying “the camera’s just glitchy” and tucking their kid into bed in the haunted room well past the point of freaky poo poo clearly happening on camera. In fact, the camera doesn’t even directly play into when they all accept the danger. They basically all get converted into believers by physical contact that we just observe through the camera. And man… that meta plot. I don’t know what to say about it, really. Its entirely unnecessary and feels like it falls apart under any scrutiny. Still, I’m generous and once again I wasn’t bored or forcing myself to watch. Maybe that’s because I just wanted to see the end of the franchise but what PA does well it does well. But I’m glad its done and if you’ve never seen the franchise its probably not worth going further than the original and digging into the conspiracy. 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) / 3 (6). Beyond the Gates (2016) / - (7). Child’s Play (1988) / - (8). Jennifer’s Body (2009) / 4 (9). Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (2015) STAC Goat fucked around with this message at 18:24 on Oct 5, 2017 |
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2017 18:00
|
|
|
gently caress ghosts man, if I were locked into a mortgage they'd have to literally drag me into the bowels of hell to get me to leave.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2017 18:06
|
|
|
7. Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: There were a handful of chuckles throughout but nothing worth watching this crap. 8. [REC]: WICKED PISSAH. Anyone in this thread who hasn't seen it needs to put it on their shortlist for the challenge.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2017 18:16
|
|
|
Basebf555 posted:gently caress ghosts man, if I were locked into a mortgage they'd have to literally drag me into the bowels of hell to get me to leave. I've already decided that if I made enough money to basically live wherever, I'd like to find the most haunted house I could afford and move into it.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2017 18:18
|
|
|
I try to be sympathetic with the real world reasons why someone would put up with a ghost in their haunted house because they can't afford to go stay in a hotel for more than a night or two or just move or something. Its why I just kind of have fun with it and do the game with people where we all just declare our "I'm getting the gently caress out" point. But Ghost Dimension really, really pushes the limits of what a sane person would put up with because doing otherwise would gently caress up their personal finances or inconvenience their lives. I mean, at least the Poltergeist family started sleeping in a room together at some point and didn't just keep joking around about camera glitches while getting wasted at night. I mean, a very key part of the plot of Ghost Dimension hinges on the fact that even after the family becomes convinced Toby is real and dangerous and even have started to suspect that there's some crazy time traveling satanic witch conspiracy in place they still don't seem to mind that their kid drew satanic witch ruins around her bed (including way high up that there's no way she should have been able to reach on her own) at Toby's say so and just tuck her into bed under them. Like, they're crayon. Maybe you could clean some of that up so it doesn't look like a doorway that might do something crazy like magically turn into a time travel tunnel she'll walk through. Ghost Dimension is kind of dumb. The Boy was actually a fun edition of "When Do You Get the gently caress Out?" Because right when it got to the point where I was ready to call the lady absolutely crazy for staying in the house the movie threw a giant curve ball at me that I didn't see coming at all to justify it.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2017 18:20
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 10, 2024 03:00 |
|
|
#12. The Poughkeepsie Tapes This pseudo-documentary tells the tale of a serial killer working out of the aforementioned city in Southwest New York State. He operated for years without getting caught, but also narcissistically filmed much of his actions on an old VHS video camera. This film goes back and forth between his footage and interviews with various law enforcement officials and families of victims, telling his story. This film has some small notoriety in some circles because of its scarcity. See, it was supposed to be released in 2007, then got delayed, and ultimately shelved. It got a video on demand release in 2014 that only lasted a month. A home video release is finally on the way for this year in the near future. That said, it is a dark and troubling film in some ways, as the killer's home videos all have an intensely dirty, voyeuristic feel to them, like an amplification of the "killer's gaze" phenomenon that slashers made so popular. However, the film does kind of fall apart in the last half hour, as it starts to raise the killer's plans and mastery up to like, comic book supervillain levels and it just kind of ruins the disbelief. That said, it's a good creep-out film to watch when it hits the home shelves soon. I give The Poughkeepsie Tapes out of Five#13. A Dark Song (2016) A Welsh woman rents out a manor for a year, and hires an Irish Gnostic Magician to help her summon her guardian angel to grant a boon on her. But that means sequestering themselves in the place without any outside reach. Will they be able to succeed at such dangerous goals? This was an okay little piece. Not bad, not great. It's very deliberately small, making you feel a real sense of place. Also, it feels like one of the more realistic portrayals of major Magick I've seen on film. The ceremonies are arduous and meticulous, and very time consuming, and you can't tell anything is happening until suddenly it does. Magick is not easy, and this film does nothing to sugarcoat this, so I have to admire it for that. I give A Dark Song out of Five#14. The Monster Project (2017) Four small time Hollywood wannabes with their own complex interpersonal and solo issues decide to start their own tv series wherein they seek out and interview real monsters (found through craigslist, natch). They rent a spooky old house on the night of a lunar eclipse, and set up to interview a Skinwalker (basically a Native American werewolf), a vampire, and a girl claiming to be possessed by a demon. Surely this will all work out fine, right? This film plays out like a found footage affair, but honestly I found myself instead feeling more like we were just swapping between various first person perspectives, which I think served much of the movie far better, especially one hallucinatory scene that would be impossible to record. The film itself can almost be broken down into three acts: First the setup of all of this, where we get to know the filmmakers, and their ideas and everything, then the interviews which are what they are, and then finally all hell breaks lose, and it feels like at times we're in a haunted house attraction there's so much non-stop action going on. Normally having too many different things to worry about in a horror film makes it too distracted, but the filmmakers here instead use it to give us barely any time to breath between setpieces, and to keep the panic levels ramped up, which I have to appreciate. Another highlight of the film in my opinion is the way the special effects were done. There is much in the way of practical effects, which look pretty darn good some times, but that doesn't mean they don't use CG for some things, and that as well is used only in certain ways, with a tightrope walked between quite discreetly. I often find found footage completely dull and by the numbers, but in this case I had a good time. Probably because by the end it has that "First Person Perspective" feel going on much stronger. I give The Monster Project out of Five
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2017 19:15
|
|
