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9. The Fog (1980) Not much I can say about this one that you guys don’t already know. I’ve seen it several times, but this is the first time on blu-ray - just picked up the Scream Factory version from a goon a few weeks ago. It looks better than ever, especially because I’m used to seeing a mediocre DVD version. Every time I watch this, I like it a little more, and now I think it’s one of Carpenter’s best films. The music is fantastic and might be my favorite score of his.  out of 10. Life (2017) This was a pretty decent sci-fi/horror movie, somewhere between Alien and Gravity. A capsule returning from Mars is retrieved by the crew of the ISS, and in the soil samples they find a single-celled organism that comes back to life after being exposed to air. They are at first elated to find proof of extra-terrestrial life, but the creature quickly grows large and dangerous... and you can pretty much guess how the rest of the film plays out. I enjoyed this well enough, although at only ~105 minutes it actually felt a little too long, maybe because the pacing is off or something. There is a sequence that really felt like the climax, and when I paused it to answer my phone I was surprised to see that there was half an hour left in the film. Overall good and pretty entertaining, recommended if you like sci-fi/horror, but not essential.  out of watched so far: Night Train to Terror - Murders in the Rue Morgue - It Comes at Night - Dark Night of the Scarecrow - Suspiria - Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me - You're Next - Hobgoblins - The Fog - Life gey muckle mowser fucked around with this message at 13:44 on May 29, 2018 |
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May 27, 2018 19:09
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25. Eko Eko Azarek: Wizard of Darkness (1995) - 3/5. This thing has an extreme case of adapted-from-manga-serial bad pacing. We start by establishing a satanic cult that does effigy-based magical murdering; it's not very inventive, but I really love this shot and the movie holds it far longer than most would so I'm optimistic about production quality if not script.  Then there's a long boring hole that would contain character development if it had a better script. Then there's panic and running around aimlessly that might be tense if we had characters. Then there's character reveals that would have felt like they came out of nowhere if there had been any sort of substance they theoretically could have arisen from, but nowhere was really the only option so whatever. There's just enough weird goofy poo poo to keep me from regretting the watch, but can't actually recommend it. The biggest problem is that we've got the inverse of the escalating insanity you get from, say, Shaw Brothers horror - you're sold high school witch vs. satanic cult and everyone talks about magic a lot, but there's barely any of it and by the end you've got cultist teacher just swinging an axe around and then they wrestle a little. The story could have made for a solid character piece in more capable hands, even. Just a giant disappointing mess of hints at what could have been a better movie. But then a guy is magically assassinated via shoe-lace tying and I can't stay mad at it.  
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May 27, 2018 22:11
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Rabid 1977, dir. David Cronenberg | Shudder Another new-to-me Cronenberg. I'm experiencing zombie fatigue again, despite this being more parasitic vampirism, like human leeches. Not as compelling as other Cronenberg films, but Marilyn Chambers is great in the lead role. The skin peeling was very gross. 3 out of 5  | recommended(Movie List) 20: As Above, So Below | Mirror, Mirror | Magic | Day of the Dead | Kill Baby, Kill | Tourist Trap | Five Dolls For An August Moon | The Shallows | Baskin | The Endless | Tetsuo: The Iron Man | Deep Red | Daughter of Dracula ('72) | Peeping Tom | Fright Night ('85) | Phantasm | The Brood | The Blob ('58) | Santa Sangre | Rabid
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May 27, 2018 22:56
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8. Dead Snow 2: Red v. Dead (2014) Dead Snow 2 is, like the name suggests, a sequel to Dead Snow a Norwegian film about a group of friends that find some Nazi gold while on a trip to cabin somewhere in the mountains of Norway. This of course awakens the Nazis themselves who want to retrieve the gold by ripping the friends to pieces literally. It's part Curse of the Cannibal Confederates and part Evil Dead 2 and though I haven't seen it since 2009 I remember it being good fun. The sequel picks up literally the same second the first one ended and from there goes on to a much bigger and bloodier story with a body count and budget several times larger than the first one. I however feel it isn't quite as strong as a film. Mostly it just feels like it's a bit too long and a lot of the non-splatstick humor pretty cringey. Especially anything that involves the Zombie Squad, a group of American nerds that travel to Norway to fulfill their dream of fighting zombies since their jokes mostly involve quoting Star Wars. It feels very Big Bang Theory. The funniest part of the film is the gonzo gore and the a certain zombie who keeps dying in increasingly horrific ways only to be brought back to life again and again more and more ragged each time in way that is a bit reminiscent of Jack from American Werewolf in London only instead of trying to convince the protagonist to kill himself this zombie just follows him around like a faithful but useless puppy. This film is a bit strange to watch for two reasons. Firstly because although it is set in northern Norway it is actually filmed in Iceland, where I live. There is a scene where the characters are gearing up in a hardware store that I was in last Friday. They try to make it look more like Norway by having cars with Norwegian plates, having most of the signs be in Norwegian, but there are a couple of scenes where it is really obvious that it's Iceland either from a landscape standpoint or just from Icelandic text slipping through. I'm even pretty sure that one of shot, of some people running away from zombies down a country road, was filmed just up the road from where I went to summercamp as a kid and where I accidentally gave my friend a concussion while we were making a splatter film. Of couse no one who isn't familair with either Iceland or Norway is going to notice this so it doesn't really matter to an international audience. The other thing that makes this film stick out from the other films I've watched in this challenge is the fact that I'm in it. This is me:  the guy being operated on that is. Back in 2013 my friend told me a casting agency was looking for zombies for Dead Snow 2. We both showed up and filled out a few forms and had our pictures taken. Then a few months later I got a call that I had a gig as a background extra for the film. I did a couple of days of chasing people around and marching back and forth across swamps while wearing a silicon mask that very convincing for a glorified Halloween mask but not quite good enough to withstand a closeup. Mostly I sat around and waited with the other extras while the crew set up various shots but it was good fun. The catering was really good. Then a few weeks later I get a call from the film again. They saw that I wrote that I am an amputee in the "special skills/talents" parts of the casting agency's form and they wanted to do a scene that required my special talents. They wanted to have a zombie lose his leg, have a plunger shoved into the wound and have him walk around on the plunger. So I went to the production's HQ, which was in some old workshop or warehouse in a industrial district, and the effects team started trying to figure out ways to achieve the effect. First htey did a bunch of measurements and casts of my stump. I visited two or three times but nothing they built could withstand having someone walk on it. They were starting to consider going to Össur, one of the world's leading prosthetic manufacturers, and have them cook something up. I knew from experiance that would be very expensive and possibly take a long time since that's where I get my legs from in the first place so I suggested that they'd just take one of my old legs and use it as a base for the effect. Then after that I had one more day of shooting. This time I got actual make-up and a foam-latex mask that was actually modeled after the director glued to my face. I also got some really itchy contact lenses. Since there was a lot of fake blood involved I wore two layers of long underwear with a layer of plastic wrap between them and then the Nazi uniform over that and I still goat soaked to the skin. The effect didn't quite work. The plunger stick was reinforced with iron so it could withstand me putting my entire weight on it but the rubber plunger itself couldn't so the handle pushed right through it and into the muddy ground. Then after shooting was over they returned the leg and I've since used it in a couple of shorts of my own. One of which is the fake trailer Video Hell Spawn which can now be seen in the Troma/Body Bag Productions anthology film Grindsploitation 4:Meltsploitation available now on VOD! Yes, my longest post so far is a shameless plug.   
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May 27, 2018 23:07
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26. Fear in the Night (1972) - 5/5. A Hammer production I don't remember seeing much discussion of, possibly because it does not have a monster in the title. A woman marries a teacher who works at a boarding school out in the countryside, Peter Cushing is the headmaster, and there's a mysterious maybe-hallucinated (no, obviously) attacker and also maybe ghosts or something. The movie set me up to wonder which of three different ways it was going to zig, then zagged hard in a reasonably satisfying way. Also I now have a terrible crush on 1970s Joan Collins.
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May 28, 2018 04:59
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 The Devil's Bride aka The Devil Rides Out Several others have already talked about this film, but thank you Hollis for finally marking this one off my list. It's really not that easy to find. It struck me while watching it just how rare it is to see Lee play this sort of leading role. He's an unambiguous hero here, I like to imagine this is the kind of poo poo Lee got up to in his real life when he was a younger man. Just going around from place to place helping friends, getting into supernatural jams and using weird occult knowledge to get out of them. Just seems like the kind of thing he'd be into. It really is amazing though how much this film does with so little. Fisher obviously is one of the big talents that makes that happen, every scene involving rituals or black magic is infused with a ton of tension due to the combination of the script, the score, and the cast's excellent performances. It all fits together, but it could easily fall apart if just one of the pieces weren't there. And it wastes absolutely zero time, which is fantastic; within five minutes we know exactly what the game is and we're along for the ride. So I can see why this film is often held up as THE prototypical Hammer film, even if a few of the earlier ones are maybe more iconic or historically significant. Completed: 1. The Raven 2. The Last Man on Earth 3. The Mad Magician 4. A Dark Song 5. Dark Waters 6. Tremors 7. Tremors 2: Aftershocks, 8. Tremors 3: Back to Perfection, 9. Tremors 4: The Legend Begins 10. Tremors 5: Bloodlines 11. Tremors 6: A Cold Day In Hell 12. Ghoulies 13. Puppetmaster 14. Puppetmaster II 15. Puppetmaster III: Toulon's Revenge 16. Cold Hell 17. Raw 18. Lake Bodom 19. Four Flies on Grey Velvet 20. Rawhead Rex 21. Humanoids From the Deep 22. Manhattan Baby 23. Spider Baby 24. The Invisible Man 25. The Invisible Man Returns 26. Inferno 27. Mother of Tears 28. No One Lives 29. The Black Room 30. The Devil Commands 31. Subspecies 32. Bloodstone: Subspecies II 33. Cat People 34. Psycho II 35. The Devil Rides Out Basebf555 fucked around with this message at 15:13 on May 28, 2018 |
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May 28, 2018 14:15
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11. Santa Sangre This movie was good, but kind of loving weird. But in a good way. It makes it creepy and atmospheric, and this is worth watching. Poster after me, pick my final two movies. Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime.
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May 28, 2018 15:08
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#16 - The Slayer (1982) I found this movie on my laptop but had no recollection as to how it got there. Surely this is the work of supernatural forces, especially since I was looking for one or two more movies to watch for this challenge. It most certainly isn't because I got it when I was drunk months ago. That being said, I was pretty pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed it. The main narrative focuses on two couples in their 30s who take a vacation to a remote and isolated house on an abandoned island. The main character is plagued by dreams she believes to be violent premonitions, which appear to start coming true as people start to get killed by an unseen murderer. The setup sounds very slasher-generic and I was all set for a low budget and schlocky experience, but it's pretty clear that the movie is a cut above something like The Mutilator.  Dreams play a major role in the film and as it progresses you begin to wonder what's a dream and what isn't. The main character, Kay, has this experience along with you -even burning herself with a cigarette at one to make sure she isn't dreaming.  The ending is ambiguous, and could be one of 4 (by my count) interpretations. Either 1) the whole film is one long premonition in the form of a nightmare that a young Kay is experiencing, 2) the final scene is a dream, and the killings were in fact perpetrated by a monster that lives on the island, 3) Kay is the killer, and her dreams are her subconscious driving her to murder or 4) the creepy pilot that breaks into the house at the end is the killer. The movie doesn't seem to care which one is "real" and is content to leave you guessing. Solid 80s slasher with a pretty decent twist. A must watch if you're a fan of the slasher genre in general. 🎣🎣🎣🎣/5
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May 28, 2018 15:55
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Leavemywife posted:11. Santa Sangre Have you seen Blue Velvet? It's on Prime.
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May 28, 2018 16:03
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The Woman in Black (Herbert Wise, 1989) It has its reputation on one particular scene and that scene is very scary indeed. The rest is ok too. This made me realise how much i like single protagonist horror movies. No idiot friends, no dependents, just a character alone with fear. I guess it’s more of a literary tradition than a cinematic one - books more easily able to carry inner headspace, ancillary characters able to fill time, add relief. Well... this is slow, dull at times even, and perhaps hindered by its made for tv-ness, but it when it works it works. No I haven't seen the remake. B+     So far: Satan's Cheerleaders B \\ Shriek of the Mutilated B \\ Adrénaline B+ \\ Death at an Old Mansion B+ \\ Mark of the Devil B \\ Messiah of Evil A \\ The Haunting of Morella B- \\ The Manson Family A- \\ Daughters of Darkness B+ \\ Devil Foetus B+ \\ Simon, King of the Witches B+ \\ Mansion of the Living Dead A- \\ Seeding of a Ghost B+ \\ The Mafu Cage B+ \\ Red Spirit Lake B \\ Hunchback of the Morgue B+ \\ Pin B+ \\ The Blood Splattered Bride B \\ Edge of the Axe B+ \\ The Plague of the Zombies B+ \\ Shutter C+ \\ A Touch of Unseen B- \\ Nosferatu B+ \\ Night of the Seagulls A- \\ Vampire Circus B+ \\ Island of the Fishmen B- \\ The Woman in Black B+ \\
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May 28, 2018 16:26
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Drunkboxer posted:Have you seen Blue Velvet? It's on Prime. I have not! Pick another one, too!
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May 28, 2018 16:55
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Leavemywife posted:I have not! Pick another one, too! I feel like I'm curating your whole month though. Well, if you don't mind ads try Killer Klowns from Outer Space, just because it's a dumb movie that terrified me as a kid. It's on TubiTV, which is a free streaming service that has some commercials spliced in.
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May 28, 2018 17:26
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Drunkboxer posted:I feel like I'm curating your whole month though. Well, if you don't mind ads try Killer Klowns from Outer Space, just because it's a dumb movie that terrified me as a kid. It's on TubiTV, which is a free streaming service that has some commercials spliced in. I have that on DVD somewhere...
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May 28, 2018 18:17
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31. Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship & Videotape Actually watched this before Tales from the Hood, but didn't include it because I didn't realize horror-related documentaries were applicable. Really enjoyed this, I wasn't aware of much of the history surrounding video nasties. I'd like to know more & apparently there's a second documentary from the same people so I'll check it out when I get the chance. 32. The Premature Burial A Poe-cycle Roger Corman gothic goodness. Lovably melodramatic, with occasional dips into psychedelic hallucinations. 33. Cursed I'd heard this was awful, but I really enjoyed it. There's a fantastically put together stalking sequence in a parking garage about halfway through this. Some of the productions problems come through in the movie (Christina Ricci & Jesse Eisienberg's hair change a few times throughout), yet it's remarkable how well it comes together. Has weird cameos by Scott Baio, Craig Kilborn, and Bowling for Soup. 34. I'm Dangerous Tonight Shelly from Twin Peaks fights a red dress (made by the Aztecs) because whoever wears has their basest impulses unleashed. Not as good as that description, and it's hampered by the restrictions of television. 35. Vampire in Brooklyn Whatever. Choco1980 posted:It's funny, that anti-jump scare is literally the only thing I ever praise the film about.
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May 28, 2018 18:25
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03. Pet Sematary Two (1992)  A pretty much unnecessary sequel but did have some good parts, mostly involving Clancy Brown. I appreciated the references to the original, and it did have a couple brutal scenes (dirt bike + face and the potato truck deaths). I do have to say the introduction of the undead dog was actually freaked me out a little as well. Rating 3/5 04. Street Trash (1987)  A movie with an accurate title. After reading up on this movie it seems it was made almost exclusively to showcase the special effects. I also read the quote from one of the people involved about how the intention was to offend everyone and I think it delivers on that front. I think edgy teenage me would have liked this, but overall it's far too rapey and incoherent to be of much worth. Rating 2/5
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May 28, 2018 22:14
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#17 - Eyes Without a Face (1960) A psychopathic surgeon and his assistant attempt to restore his daughter's face by stealing skin from unsuspecting victims. It's hard to say much about something considered a classic, and one of the best possible examples of the genre. The doctor is obsessed with being in control ("Smile... Smile... not too much.") and I imagine there's a lot to be said about the movie as a parable for growing up and leaving the influence of your parents.   An obvious classic and definitely a must watch. Still legit creepy even after all these years. Glad I finally got around to seeing it.  /5
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May 29, 2018 00:31
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27. Faust (1926) - 4/5. Murnau, so obviously almost every frame is gorgeous. The pacing isn't as tight as Nosferatu, though - things move extremely quickly through Faust's pact, then sort of fall off the rails. It makes sense that you'd want to give more space to the love story, but there's actually very little screen time spent on that. Mostly it's Mephisto mugging at the camera, but Emil Jannings is so much fun in the role that it remains pretty watchable even if it feels like the story is not being well-served. He's also by far the most interesting character. He's pretty good to Faust early on, when they're experiencing the world on his terms, and he only really ramps up the dickishness after Faust drags him to church to stare longingly at Gretchen. I can't quite tell whether he's irritated about this, bored after Faust's (apparently) extended brooding phase, or if this is supposed to be about a slow reveal of his malevolence to the audience. The latter possibility would be kind of weird, though, since we're talking about the devil and pretty much all of this happens outside Faust's awareness. The story itself is a very strange one. Faust's first life seems to have been more or less a good one from the divine perspective, although it's looking to conclude with failure and frustration on the human scale. Every time he slips farther into Mephisto's hands, it's an almost-direct result of his interaction with his fellow man rather than an internal weakness. This is especially odd since Mephisto appears to be the direct cause of the plague in the beginning, while his actions in the second part are all very small and petty - so is he responsible for the world's suffering, or is the world bad on its own and he's just treating it like a playground? Faust's second pass at youth with Gretchen doesn't seem particularly amazing, and there's not really any reason to believe things would have turned out well for her and her family if he hadn't come by. So is this a story about how love is the best and it is good that Faust made a deal with the devil in order to experience it no matter how much misery came with? Is the angel just loving with Mephisto, and whatever kind of life was led any trace of virtue in it would be deemed victory in the wager? We're left with a god who might as well not exist, doing nothing and forgiving everything. His only real presence is that Mephisto thinks his symbols are gross.  I don't know where I was going with any of that. Theology gets real fuckin' weird real fast when you try to take it seriously. It's fun to look at, though.     I could keep going, of course. You owe it to yourself to see this for the visuals alone.
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May 29, 2018 05:02
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9 - The Killing of A Sacred Deer A successful surgeon (Colin Farrell) befriends Martin, the son of one of his former patients, but soon finds out the youth is somewhat unhinged. When the surgeon's family starts getting sick, Martin claims that he's the cause and presents the doctor with a terrible choice. This movie, directed and co-written by Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster, Dogtooth) is incredibly tense and awkward throughout. Every scene is just a little bit off-kilter, but rather than being used for comedic effect like in The Lobster, the detachment and strange speech patterns of the character greatly increase the tension. The cinematography of this film is deliberate and beautiful, with lots of crane shots and slow pans, close-ups and just strange blocking. The entire first 40 minutes of this film feel like being on a rollercoaster that's very slowly ticking up towards the first fall. The tension is nigh-unbearable, and this is only enhanced by the disturbing score. Everyone's performance is amazing and totally appropriate to the roles they have. Raffey Cassidy in particular is pitch perfect as the daughter. At times I was slightly reminded of Kubrick's style, but that might just be because of Nicole Kidman's presence at a fancy party. The film does have some weaknesses though. While many of the off-kilter moments in the film are obviously played for black comedy when things are getting dire (in particular a very awkward conversation between Colin Farrell's character and his young son), some of the moments that feel like they were meant to be creepy or absurd in a sad way also come across comical. It's possible that actually was the directorial intent, but in my opinion it ends up undercutting the tragedy and misery of the situation in a way that detracts from the tone of the film. And while the film isn't concerned with the "how" of the situation, the viewer is left wanting to know more about what's happening, and the lack of an answer and of a cathartic ending leave the whole affair feeling somewhat anti-climactic, despite the film having a definitive climax. Also, there were significantly more children in their underwear than I feel was strictly necessary, but I might just be over-sensitive to such things. 4/5
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May 29, 2018 05:03
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Irony.or.Death posted:This is especially odd since Mephisto appears to be the direct cause of the plague in the beginning, while his actions in the second part are all very small and petty - so is he responsible for the world's suffering, or is the world bad on its own and he's just treating it like a playground? Murnau's Faust is an amalgamation of multiple versions of the tale, all of which have different views on what exactly Mephistopholes is supposed to be, which explains why he may seem so schizophrenic in the film. For what it's worth, in Goethe's version, which I think is closest to the film in terms of structure, Mephisto isn't the Devil as we traditionally know him from Christian folk tales, but rather the embodiment of destruction and the negation of everything. His overarching goal is tearing down all creation, which he considers intrinsically flawed. Yet through his actions, he ultimately serves a cosmic purpose, advancing humanity by constantly challenging its established structures. Mephisto being a servant of God, if in a very roundabout way, is an important aspect of the text, and I think it's something you can partially see in Murnau's adaptation as well.
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May 29, 2018 12:47
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11. Waxwork (1988) Wow, this was a super fun movie and not what I expected at all. A group of students visit a mysterious waxwork, where they are given a special private tour at midnight. Inside, they find that the displays are more than they seem, and as people begin disappearing they must find a way to stop the evil director of the museum. I've been meaning to check it out for a long time, and had even purchased it on DVD at one point (but returned it after realizing it was lovely non-anamorphic widescreen), but just never got around to it. It's funny, sometimes bloody, and completely over-the-top. If you like 80's horror/comedies, this is definitely one of the better ones I've seen.  out of 12. Kuroneko (1968) This was also a really great film, although on the complete opposite of the spectrum from Waxwork. After being raped and murdered by a band of marauding samurai, a woman and her mother come back as ghosts to get revenge on all samurai. When her husband comes home from war, he is hired to kill the ghosts, but he is conflicted when he finds out their identities. The film is slowly paced, with beautiful and haunting cinematography, and it focuses on the characters rather than scares or violence (although there is some of both). I haven't seen much Japanese horror from this era (I can only think of Kwaidan and Jigoku), but I liked this one better than both of those. Highly recommended.  out of watched so far: Night Train to Terror - Murders in the Rue Morgue - It Comes at Night - Dark Night of the Scarecrow - Suspiria - Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me - You're Next - Hobgoblins - The Fog - Life - Waxwork - Kuroneko
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May 29, 2018 13:43
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If you enjoyed Kuroneko, check out Onibaba. If you watched Kuroneko on Filmstruck then Onibaba should be available there too.
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May 29, 2018 13:52
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Basebf555 posted:If you enjoyed Kuroneko, check out Onibaba. If you watched Kuroneko on Filmstruck then Onibaba should be available there too. I will, thanks!
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May 29, 2018 14:00
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A Field in England (Ben Wheatley, 2013) I’ve always felt like i should be across this guy’s work more. I found this just ok. Not smart or bold enough to pull it all off. Personal feeling that it would have been a lot better if it had maintained the illusion of the period. Never once did it feel untied to the 21st century. And it’s not the camerawork or fantastical elements. It’s the lad dialogue and humour. Looked nice. B    So far: Satan's Cheerleaders B \\ Shriek of the Mutilated B \\ Adrénaline B+ \\ Death at an Old Mansion B+ \\ Mark of the Devil B \\ Messiah of Evil A \\ The Haunting of Morella B- \\ The Manson Family A- \\ Daughters of Darkness B+ \\ Devil Foetus B+ \\ Simon, King of the Witches B+ \\ Mansion of the Living Dead A- \\ Seeding of a Ghost B+ \\ The Mafu Cage B+ \\ Red Spirit Lake B \\ Hunchback of the Morgue B+ \\ Pin B+ \\ The Blood Splattered Bride B \\ Edge of the Axe B+ \\ The Plague of the Zombies B+ \\ Shutter C+ \\ A Touch of Unseen B- \\ Nosferatu B+ \\ Night of the Seagulls A- \\ Vampire Circus B+ \\ Island of the Fishmen B- \\ The Woman in Black B+ \\ A Field in England B \\
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May 29, 2018 16:33
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 The Bat Watched this one on Price's birthday, making it the fourth new Vincent Price film I've seen for this Challenge. I'm beginning to run a bit low, at least as far as Price's well-known classics. But now that I've seen so many of them I'd like to start tracking down some more of my favorites on blu ray, like The Tingler or Tomb of Ligea. Anyway, The Bat. I was surprised that this turned out to be a bit of a proto-slasher. Released in 1959, a year before Psycho or Peeping Tom and four years before Bava's The Girl Who Knew Too Much, The Bat features a murder mystery, a masked killer(with a unique weapon to boot), and victims being knocked off one-by-one. Price is great as usual, but this is more of an ensemble piece than a Price showcase, and the cast is pretty consistently good. It's nothing flashy, I think some more flourishes with cinematography and lighting could've elevated it into unappreciated classic status(like The Tingler), but it's still competently made and overall looks very nice. I believe there are two versions of The Bat available on Prime, so make sure you check out both and go with the one that looks better(one of them looks very good). Completed: 1. The Raven 2. The Last Man on Earth 3. The Mad Magician 4. A Dark Song 5. Dark Waters 6. Tremors 7. Tremors 2: Aftershocks, 8. Tremors 3: Back to Perfection, 9. Tremors 4: The Legend Begins 10. Tremors 5: Bloodlines 11. Tremors 6: A Cold Day In Hell 12. Ghoulies 13. Puppetmaster 14. Puppetmaster II 15. Puppetmaster III: Toulon's Revenge 16. Cold Hell 17. Raw 18. Lake Bodom 19. Four Flies on Grey Velvet 20. Rawhead Rex 21. Humanoids From the Deep 22. Manhattan Baby 23. Spider Baby 24. The Invisible Man 25. The Invisible Man Returns 26. Inferno 27. Mother of Tears 28. No One Lives 29. The Black Room 30. The Devil Commands 31. Subspecies 32. Bloodstone: Subspecies II 33. Cat People 34. Psycho II 35. The Devil Rides Out 36. The Bat Basebf555 fucked around with this message at 16:38 on May 29, 2018 |
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May 29, 2018 16:34
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12. Blue Velvet This movie was kind of loving weird, in that vague, dreamy, odd-world way that felt familiar. I couldn't place my finger on it at first. Kyle McLachlan and Laura Dern do excellent jobs in this movie, but Dennis loving Hopper takes the cake as Frank, the crazy sexual deviant psycho who has kidnapped Dorothy's husband and child to make her his sex slave. Frank, prior to the film's beginning, had sliced off Dorothy's husband's ear as a message to her; "You stay alive, baby. You do it for Van Gogh." The movie is kicked off when Jeffrey (played by McLachlan) returns home to help his father, who just suffered a stroke, run his business, and Jeffrey finds the ear. From there, he does some detectiving, trying to figure out what the hell is going on in his hometown; he had taken the ear to Detective Williams and became friends with his daughter, Sandy (played by Laura Dern). From there, poo poo gets weird. For example, at one point, Jeffrey has broken into Dorothy's apartment, where she discovers him hiding; at knife-point, she makes him strip and a little action happens before Frank bursts in; Jeffrey is able to get hidden again, but then Frank does some loving whippets, dry humps Dorothy, and is generally sadistic toward her. I can't properly describe this movie. It had a kind of Twin Peaks vibe to me, from McLachlan's investigating, the weirdness of the people, some wanton brutality, so I decided to look up who directed this movie. I should have been able to guess that it was David Lynch. All of the stuff I've seen by him (which isn't much) has that dreamy quality to it, like something is discreetly off, like when you go into a room that's been slightly redecorated, or had the furniture moved around in it. All in all, it's a good movie, and one you should probably just watch if you're into Lynch or weird detective movies. As a final note, this movie made me realize how tall Laura Dern is; McLachlan is 6', and she's only a couple of inches shorter than him. That's not a huge revelation or anything, but it's one of those things I had never noticed before. 13. Killer Klowns from Outer Space If there is a movie I'd describe as a kult klassic, we've got it right here. This movie is weird, funny, slightly creepy (especially when you think about it for a bit), and entirely worth watching if you want a creature feature, alien invasion, poo poo has hit the fan movie. The title tells you all you need to know; it's about some Killer Klowns that invade Earth, and their weird alien technology that lets them kidnap and kill people. It's like a parody of old monster movies, but it also feels played straight to me; it's an earnest, genuine parody/homage, where the writers and director (the Chiodo Brothers, who have done claymation and puppetwork on plenty of other movies, like Team American, some Simpsons gags, Critters, and Ernest Scared Stupid), were completely on board with honoring these movies and poking fun at them all the same. The original title was just Killer Klowns, but the last bit was added so people didn't think it was a slasher movie or something. And these aren't aliens that invaded and took over some clowns and a circus troupe; oh no, they're straight up loving alien clowns that cocoon people inside of cotton candy, have popcorn guns, make killer dog balloon animals, killer pies--if it's a clown or circus thing, they are loving there to murder you with it. This is definitely worth watching, especially if you love creature features, alien invasions, old monster movies (like the Blob, for example), think clowns are spooky--this is just worth watching. Seriously, go watch the poo poo out of it. I cannot recommend it enough. Well, that's thirteen for me! I might do one or two more movies, but I think I'll just pick my own for those. I've got some stuff in my backlog that needs to be taken care of, even if I can't remember what it is right now. For everyone who picked movies for me, thank you! I watched a lot of stuff I wouldn't have normally even thought about and even liked most of it. For the complete list of what I watched: My 1. The Church (Franchescanado) 2. Society (Several Goblins) 3. Prom Night 2 (Almost Blue) 4. The Lost Boys (Franchescanado) 5. The Babysitter (Lt_Tofu) 6. Chopping Mall (Basebf555) 7. The VVitch (Lurdiak) 8. Death Spa (Basebf555) 9. The Ritual (Franchescanado) 10. Asylum (Drunkboxer) 11. Hush (gey muckle mowser) 12. Bone Tomahawk (Drunkboxer) 13. Santa Sangre (Franchescanado) 14. Blue Velvet (Drunkboxer) 15. Killer Klowns from Outer Space (Drunkboxer) When counting up the movies I had watched, I found that I had misnumbered a few of them, but that's okay. I got to watch more movies that way!
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May 29, 2018 23:09
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9.The House By the Cemetery (1981) A scholar moves into a old creepy house with his wife and young son to continue the work of his colleague who allegedly committed suicide after murdering his mistress. Soon spooky things happen though surprisingly for a Fulci there is little to no eye trauma. I love Fulci. I love how he manages to nail this strange borderline between cheesy and creepy. I love how wet and squishy the gore always sounds in his films. I love how little he cares about logic. So obviously I love this film. I don't think it's quite his best but it's near the top at very least. I've heard that when he was making The Beyond he really wanted to do his version of a haunted house film but the studio pressured him into including zombies since that was on brand for him. Which is why in that film the zombies act more like vengeful ghosts until the very end when suddenly it turns into a more traditional zombie horde for a couple of minutes before going back into otherworldy dream logic. This film feels more like a haunted house film in that almost everything takes place within the walls of the house and there is a lot of eerie disembodied crying and things going bump in the night. It is however not by any means a traditional ghost story since it is also a slasher and it even has a dash of Frankenstein thrown in. The main villain is Dr.Freudstein and I adore how he looks. On paper he is supposed to be a very old man using human flesh and blood to unnaturally sustain his life but he has the crusty maggot infested skin and slow shambling movement of a zombie, seems to have the power to move things from far away and make sounds like a ghost, and his face looks so alien that it seems doubtful that he was ever human.    10.You Were Never Really Here(2018 or possibly 2017 if you count festivals I guess) Lynne Ramsay is very good at making uncomfortable films that get under your skin. You Were Never Really Here is no exception. Joaquin Phoenix is Joe. Joe is a former soldier who is a specialist of sorts who seems to mostly save kids from kidnappers when the parents don't want the police involved. In a lot of films he'd be a stonecold badass. In this film he is socially awkward and suffering from mental illness as a result of both childhood trauma and from his time in Afghanistan, neither of which are ever explicitly stated but only shown through fragmentary flashbacks. He dresses more like a middle aged carpenter than a action hero and lives with his elderly mother. Of course he takes a job that seems to be straightforward but turns out to be a huge mess. I'll leave it at that as far as the plot is concerned since this film is still in theaters in some places. You Were Never Really Here is an intense film about an intense man in very intense situations. The soundtrack mirrors this in that some of the tracks feel so chaotic and hard to pin down that they are hard to listen to. Which is very appropriate.   
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May 30, 2018 02:32
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05. The Ring (2002) - Rewatch  Holds up decently (the last time I watched it was at least 10 years ago) but can't compete with the first time. I'm not sure why but I still like the idea of a video that kills you after you watch it. Rating 4/5 06. He Never Died (2015)  An okay movie with Henry Rollins as the Biblical Cain. Not too much to say about this one but it was decent. Rating 3/5 07. Last Shift (2014)  Probably would be better if it was shorter. As it is the movie drags and despite building some good tension is ultimately forgettable. Rating 2/5
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May 30, 2018 02:56
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 Annihilation I thought maybe I was cheating a bit when I decided to include this for the challenge, but after watching it I can say it definitely qualifies as horror. There's a bunch of different flavors of horror in this movie too; yea there's a monster in it but the film also goes way beyond that into(believe it or not)Tarkovsky territory. The Shimmer is very Zone-like, in that the normal laws of physics seem not to apply within it, and towards the end we even get some pure existential horror along the same lines as standing at the threshold of The Room. Of course, this being an American sci-fi film starring Natalie Portman, Garland makes these things more literal and we do get more concrete answers than are provided by Tarkovsky's Stalker(but not perhaps, Solaris). But I liked it, the final discovery inside the lighthouse is extremely compelling, while also being creepy and off-putting, and imo it leads to a very satisfying ending. It's far from a perfect film though. Visually I didn't really like it, it's just extremely garish and frankly ugly looking most of the time. Portman is not great, she's always solid but it seems like she doesn't do as well in fully throwing herself into roles when it's one of these big sci-fi projects(not even thinking of Star Wars here, mainly Thor). She's also a tiny person and it makes it a bit hard to take her seriously as a former soldier who is proficient with weapons. Personally I'd have preferred to see Tessa Thompson in the lead role. We're in the home stretch here! I'm considering what to watch tonight to finish things out, and I'll probably reward myself for knocking off all these first-time viewings with some classic rewatches. Completed: 1. The Raven 2. The Last Man on Earth 3. The Mad Magician 4. A Dark Song 5. Dark Waters 6. Tremors 7. Tremors 2: Aftershocks, 8. Tremors 3: Back to Perfection, 9. Tremors 4: The Legend Begins 10. Tremors 5: Bloodlines 11. Tremors 6: A Cold Day In Hell 12. Ghoulies 13. Puppetmaster 14. Puppetmaster II 15. Puppetmaster III: Toulon's Revenge 16. Cold Hell 17. Raw 18. Lake Bodom 19. Four Flies on Grey Velvet 20. Rawhead Rex 21. Humanoids From the Deep 22. Manhattan Baby 23. Spider Baby 24. The Invisible Man 25. The Invisible Man Returns 26. Inferno 27. Mother of Tears 28. No One Lives 29. The Black Room 30. The Devil Commands 31. Subspecies 32. Bloodstone: Subspecies II 33. Cat People 34. Psycho II 35. The Devil Rides Out 36. Annihilation
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May 30, 2018 15:34
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The director was pretty open about Stalker being the main inspiration for Annihilation. Not to say that mainstream audiences have any idea what Stalker is. I talked about it with a lot of my friends after watching it, and none of them had heard of it.
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May 30, 2018 15:39
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Franchescanado posted:The director was pretty open about Stalker being the main inspiration for Annihilation. Not to say that mainstream audiences have any idea what Stalker is. I talked about it with a lot of my friends after watching it, and none of them had heard of it. I think probably the epitome of what makes something like Annihilation so different than actual Tarkovsky is the scenes where they enter The Zone/Shimmer. In Annihilation we get a scene of the characters literally crossing a (lame looking imo) threshold, in Stalker you get an extremely meditative and thematically important scene that also manages to be eye-popping visually.
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May 30, 2018 15:48
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10 - Train to Busan An overworked businessman takes his daughter to Busan via train so she can see her mother for her birthday. Unfortunately, the zombie apocalypse decides to happen, ruining their birthday plans. So there's two things I hate in horror movies. Fast zombies and CG blood. This movie is full of both of those things. But it's still a really goddamn good film. It's not trying to reinvent the wheel: it's a zombie movie, with the typical slow buildup of the zombie situation escalating as the characters realize what's going on and try to find a safe place, but the twist here is that the focal characters are on a train when things go south. All the characters in this film are really strong, but not overwritten in an obnoxious way like your typical bad modern horror film. The cast of survivors is diverse and full of familiar archetypes that you come to understand very quickly, but none of them feel like caricatures, even the comically selfish CEO who, spoilers, gets a bunch of people killed by being a dick. The movie is tense, thrilling, creepy, eerie, exciting, sad, and human. There are a couple of twists on how the zombies work in this film, but the movie doesn't make a big deal out of it or act like it's clever for subverting your expectations, the "rules" are just something the characters learn over time and use to their advantage to try and survive. Everything that happens in the film is set up ahead of time, like a good movie should do. The train stops a few times and people move across the cars, so you never get sick of the same location. The action setpieces are surprisingly good for a movie that's not primarily action. This movie is incredibly low on forced exposition, and its social commentary, while not exactly subtle, isn't spelled out in a grand monologue. In short, it's just a drat good zombie movie that isn't stupid or insulting and doesn't try to be ironic. And they even say the Z-word! I still have to dock a few points for the bad CG. When will K-horror and J-horror learn, get a drat smoke machine, that CG smoke isn't fooling anyone. And CG blood will just never look real. 4/5
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May 30, 2018 16:05
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Basebf555 posted:I think probably the epitome of what makes something like Annihilation so different than actual Tarkovsky is the scenes where they enter The Zone/Shimmer. In Annihilation we get a scene of the characters literally crossing a (lame looking imo) threshold, in Stalker you get an extremely meditative and thematically important scene that also manages to be eye-popping visually. The novels also made a bigger deal about crossing the threshold.
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May 30, 2018 16:07
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Ogroff: Mad Mutilator (Norbert Georges Mount, 1983) One of those godsends, falling in the so bad it’s transcendent realm. A masked axeman lives alone, killing anyone who parks their Renaults or Citroens in the woods near his home. Death just happens, over and over without reason or cause, in a loose association of images with no carriage of time and place. From Mr. Mad Mutilator to trees to a stray lumberjack up for a chainsaw fight to a zombie horde to a vampire in cardinal robes - it’s everywhere, it’s unstoppable. An unintelligible, unearthly nightmare put on screen. Mostly dialogue-free with groans, screams and a neat synth score providing the soundtrack. I could have happily just listened to it (which sometimes was all i could do as i don’t think they metered a single shot in this). A-     Cuadecuc, Vampir (Pere Portabella, 1971) The film as vampire: feeding on the (Jess) Franco production, bringing cinema back to life, carrying it over to its otherworld. And the film as a stake through the heart of the (Francisco) Franco regime. A     The Blue Jean Monster (Lai Kai-ming, 1991) An accident turns a cop into an electricity-fed, impervious to pain, passive smoke-activated vengeance monster. And he’s also got a domestic life to deal with. Leans much more on the comedy side of horror-comedy. Stupid dumb humour of the highest calibre, at its best during his birthday party where his friends try and test his humanity with sutra party blowers. Non-stop entertaining. Non-stop everything. B+     So far: Satan's Cheerleaders B \\ Shriek of the Mutilated B \\ Adrénaline B+ \\ Death at an Old Mansion B+ \\ Mark of the Devil B \\ Messiah of Evil A \\ The Haunting of Morella B- \\ The Manson Family A- \\ Daughters of Darkness B+ \\ Devil Foetus B+ \\ Simon, King of the Witches B+ \\ Mansion of the Living Dead A- \\ Seeding of a Ghost B+ \\ The Mafu Cage B+ \\ Red Spirit Lake B \\ Hunchback of the Morgue B+ \\ Pin B+ \\ The Blood Splattered Bride B \\ Edge of the Axe B+ \\ The Plague of the Zombies B+ \\ Shutter C+ \\ A Touch of Unseen B- \\ Nosferatu B+ \\ Night of the Seagulls A- \\ Vampire Circus B+ \\ Island of the Fishmen B- \\ The Woman in Black B+ \\ A Field in England B \\ Ogroff: Mad Mutilator A- \\ Cuadecuc, Vampir A \\ The Blue Jean Monster B+ \\
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May 30, 2018 16:25
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28. Matango (1963) - 3/5. Rich kid and friends have fun on a yacht, then a storm breaks it and leaves them stranded in thick fog. They find an island and check it for people/food/etc. There probably used to be people, because there's an old derelict ship washed up on the beach, but they don't do so hot on the food front. Plenty of mushrooms all over the island, but they are deemed unsafe to eat. Most of the movie is about the interpersonal conflict you'd expect from this sort of setup. With just a light dose of maybe-hallucinated intruder sneaking in during the night. Eventually the food situation gets bad enough that, of course, someone tries eating the mushrooms and...well, I'd try to avoid spoiling things but the US title is "Attack of the Mushroom People" and the imdb description is a single sentence: "Shipwrecked survivors slowly transform into mushrooms." So, yeah, that stuff happens. You'd have a basically complete shipwreck movie without that stuff, but then rapidly-growing fields of laughing mushrooms and human-mushroom transformation, and a downbeat ending even though you're told right up front that only one person dies. I respect the hell out of that. I don't think there's enough going on here to support a second viewing but that's an almost-never sort of thing for me anyway. 
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May 31, 2018 03:03
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11 - Veronica A young girl tries to contact her father with a Ouija board during a solar eclipse. She soon finds that she's opened the door for something else entirely. So let me just say that I hate The Conjuring, I hate demonology, I hate the Warrens, and all that loving bullshit. The entire concept is just a long running scam used to exploit the gullible and excuse disgusting abuse by church figures. So the fact that this is one of those movies where we're not dealing with ghosts or demons but nebulous "entities" that can just do whatever's narratively convenient was already a point against the film. However, the movie has more going on than your average James Wan piece of crap. There are several really interesting visuals throughout the film, and the family at the center of it is really charming. Veronica is a big sister who has too many responsibilities due to her negligent single mother, and she's a genuinely nice kid, and you feel bad for her. The film also explores what it's like to be a teenager in a bad situation, with people expecting adult responsibility from you but still treating you like a child, and not having any real power or control over your life. Veronica's younger siblings are very believable and likeable kids, not at all your obnoxious typical US kid casting stiuation. The supernatural manifestations in the film are for the large part pretty low-key, but they're used effectively. The "rules" aren't always clear, and as usual in these things there's really no reason that the spooky forces slowly ramp up their manifestations other than to make the film have a satisfying arc, but this can be excused. The cinematography of the film is strong, as is the casting, and there's a few genuinely creepy moments, and that's really all you can ask of a film like this. It's not The Exorcist, but it's several notches above something like Sinister or The Grudge. It's a classier sort of "spooky entity" film. Oh, and the film frightened me to death and I'm now posting as a ghost. 3.5/5
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May 31, 2018 10:33
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A Quiet Place 2018, dir. John Krasinski | In Theaters Well this was tense. I was a big fan of how quiet the movie was. I'm a big proponent of visual storytelling, and the first half of the movie manages to tell a simple but emotionally fulfilling story. There's a few weird moments in the 2nd half of the movie (so by the time the military had started their failed attack on the monsters, they were able to publicly print the 'IT'S SOUND!' newspapers, but there wasn't enough time/people to experiment with frequencies or concentrated sound attacks like we've used in various military functions since George W. Bush?), but since we've already spent an hour enamored with this family in this horrific world, they do not detract from the overall quality (something I call the Air Tank rule, from the air tank in Jaws exploding from a gunshot like it's an O2 cannister).  The acting is great. I like Krasinski's acting enough, but I appreciate that he balanced the screen-time between the rest of the cast and not making it All About Survival Dad. Emily Blunt manages to be great when given the chance, but, despite being in some of the most tense scenes in recent years, could have used more screen time to flesh out her character (which would make her turn to being a shotgun-wielding bad-rear end more palatable or more fulfilling). Millicent Simmonds deserves some strong recognition as the oldest child in the family. It's exciting that the role of the deaf daughter actually went to a deaf actor, but I think a lot of people are distracted by applauding the decision of having a deaf actor, and are ignoring that she shines alongside her seasoned co-stars, despite it being her second movie ever. It's great. The other shining here is Charlotte Bruus Christensen, the Danish director of photography, who carries the story-telling with beautifully shot sequences and claustrophobic suspense. (Many would recognize her from her work on the goon favorite film The Hunt starring Mads Mikkelsen). Krasinksi not only shows that he's adept at making a good and unique movie, but that he's very good at surrounding himself with amazing talent. For the creature design: I thought it was fine, my friend who saw it with me thought it was great. It's a really good movie with some flaws that don't really impact the film. It succeeds in it's use of visual storytelling while staying emotionally fulfilling and grounded in the world. It's tense and frightening but keeps away from excessive gore and on-screen violence, which will satisfy audiences who prefer their scary movies bloodless (I appreciate that they at least try to acknowledge how messy a pregnancy would be). The sound design is great. Best of all, with a premise that could easily be stretched into at least a single season of television in an industry where streaming services are grasping at every interesting script floating around, this movie manages to tell it's story well in 95 minutes. Overall, it's the 2nd best Tremors. 3 out of 5  | recommendedI'm usually frustrated by movie trailers and tend to avoid them; the bait-and-switch of this trailer was a very pleasant surprise, and is a tactic I wish more films publicity would incorporate. (I remember that Get Out incorporated more explicit supernatural images in it's trailer to build up it's mystery.) I also found out after the movie that corn drownings (and grain drownings) actually kill close to 50 people a year. (Movie List) 21: As Above, So Below | Mirror, Mirror | Magic | Day of the Dead | Kill Baby, Kill | Tourist Trap | Five Dolls For An August Moon | The Shallows | Baskin | The Endless | Tetsuo: The Iron Man | Deep Red | Daughter of Dracula ('72) | Peeping Tom | Fright Night ('85) | Phantasm | The Brood | The Blob ('58) | Santa Sangre | Rabid | A Quiet Place
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May 31, 2018 13:08
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As I've said before, my one issue keeping A Quiet Place from being a masterpiece is the big boombastic michael bay score often cutting the tenseness of the required silence at the knees. I at first was also annoyed at the prevalence of jump scares, but it actually works when you think about times you've tried to be silent-every little noise is startling.
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May 31, 2018 13:19
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Choco1980 posted:As I've said before, my one issue keeping A Quiet Place from being a masterpiece is the big boombastic michael bay score often cutting the tenseness of the required silence at the knees. I at first was also annoyed at the prevalence of jump scares, but it actually works when you think about times you've tried to be silent-every little noise is startling. It's weird, because the movie doesn't become bombastic until, what, after the waterfall scene or something? The first act has this really minimal score that I was really digging, but then it just kept growing louder and louder.
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May 31, 2018 13:25
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#18 -Veronica (2017) Unlike what Lurdiak just said, I do like demonology and all that bullshit hokum in movies, but I do feel like they can end up retreading the same ground time and time again and can be pretty boring if not done well. I think this movie dodges this trap for the most part due some clever ideas for the manifestations and some spooky scenes. Yes, it uses the dark, out of focus, figure that we've seen a billion times for the entity, but it's hard to fault it for that because it's a "real" image that people experience during sleep paralysis and nightmares. There's also a surprise gory scene that I enjoyed. Unfortunately you can see the twist (if you can even call it that) a mile away, but that didn't bother me much. Also the kids' dad looks like Killer BOB from Twin Peaks so I don't think it would have played out much better had she actually managed to contact him. 👻👻👻/5 Lurdiak posted:11 - Veronica I'm also a ghost now.
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May 31, 2018 14:18
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12 - Bram Stoker's Dracula It's Dracula, you know the plot. So this isn't the first time I've watched this movie, but it is the first time I've successfully sat through the entire thing. From frame 1 this film rubs me the wrong way. The costuming and set design is so incredibly campy that I have to constantly remind myself I'm not watching a Mel Brooks comedy. For something that cost a fair amount of money, everything just looks cheap in a weird undefinable way, from the obvious styrofoam "stone" to the shoddy blood effects. The idea to try to make Dracula more of a tragic figure, directly state him to be Vlad Tepes, and make his victimization of Mina a reincarnation-related courtship is not entirely a bad one, but all it does for the film is extend the running time. And it's a weird direction to take in a film that slaps Bram Stoker's name in the title, since none of that poo poo was in the book, and many small moments from the book are omitted entirely. Gone is the classic stay in the village that warns Harker not to associate with the count, the only Romanians - sorry, gypsies - that show up in the film are vampires or nameless servants of Dracula. It's pretty impressive to make a story about a foreigner raping and killing women of London more racist, but this film manages it. Indeed, the themes of the book are also lost in this adaptation, as is the tone. This is hardly a horror film, it's a romance with swashbuckling action that very occasionally becomes horrifying. Everyone in this movie is overacting. That's excusable for Gary Oldman as Dracula, since it's not like Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee gave restrained performances, but it doesn't really work when Dr. Seward, Renfield, Van Helsing, Quincey Morris, and random extras are also piling it on thick. Keanu Reeves is horribly miscast as Jonathan Harker, and Anthony Hopkins as weird insane Van Helsing just made me wish he was playing Dracula instead. I know this movie is beloved, but I honestly can't see why. The only things I can say I truly enjoyed in this film were the incredibly out of place graphic vampire sex scenes and the creature effects (which are top notch). Watch the Leslie Nielsen film instead. 2/5
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May 31, 2018 14:24
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