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FancyMike posted:6. The Evil of Frankenstein (1964, dir. Freddie Francis) Cushing is the best, I love his Frankenstein, he's such an arrogant dick. I think "Evil" is the 4th one in the series though? He's also really great as Van Helsing in the Hammer Dracula films, and also great in basically everything he ever did.
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Sep 18, 2018 21:33
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I’m in this challenge for 31 movies (if not more), just like the last two years. This year for a more “rounded” horror movie experience, I was thinking of putting together a 25-space “bingo card”, and I’d love suggestions. I was thinking broad horror tropes/genres/styles/time periods, so some bingo squares I’d thought of included: Creature feature Sci-fi horror Psychological horror Ghost story Body horror Horror-comedy Remake Multi-movie series Slasher flick Black and white movie Foreign film Different decades (2010s, 2000s, 1990, etc) Zombie movie Any other suggestions?
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Sep 18, 2018 22:08
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Franchescanado posted:
While not starting my thing until late evening on the last day of September, I will be doing this. I hated The Mist. Even more, I hated that I hated it. Such a great story ruined by some awful CGI. Learned that a black and white director's cut is included with the Blu-ray and ordered it just to set aside for October. I'm really looking forward to the rewatch from a different point of view. Probably leave my wife out of it as she would hate me for the moment anyone having seen it can guess.
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Sep 18, 2018 22:19
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FRAN CHALLENGE #1: Love Something You Hate
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Xenomrph posted:I’m in this challenge for 31 movies (if not more), just like the last two years. The Hooptober challenges on Letterboxd are a pretty good way to throw a wrench in things. Maybe look into some of the stuff on their challenge for ideas? https://letterboxd.com/cinemonster/list/hooptober-cinco-your-terror-is-a-locked-room/
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Sep 18, 2018 22:56
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Before I hit 90s movies, my wife and I decided to watch a sequel we had never seen despite loving the original. Poltergeist 2: The Other Side If I didn't know any better, I would have said this was originally an unrelated movie that got shoehorned into a Poltergeist sequel. Reverend Kane is a fantastic villain and the actor does a great job. There are some great special effects and the infamous tequila worm sequence is particularly gross in a wonderful way. But overall, the movie is just dull and I'll probably forget most of it in a day or two. The attempt at extending the mythos of Poltergeist was clumsy and unneeded. There wasn't anything really interesting done with the characters. But it's not the worst horror sequel you're going to see. So, ratings wise, 2/5.
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Sep 18, 2018 23:03
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7. Little Monsters (1989) If this doesn't count as horror I will happily remove it from my watch list. This film is pretty light hearted and Howie Mandel turns in an energetic performance that's off the charts. It's for sure not straight horror but a few scenes and themes really land. Fred Savage slowly learning he's becoming a monster, seeing a baby subjected to these nightmare creatures, and then being drawn into the machinations of Boy all serve to show that while there is fun to be had being pranksters there are consequences and darker sides to the world of being a professional monster. 3 out of 5. Wonderful sets and makeup along with Howie killing it as Maurice. TheKingslayer fucked around with this message at 15:45 on Sep 19, 2018 |
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Sep 18, 2018 23:07
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Little Monsters is scary as hell so I definitely think it counts.
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Sep 18, 2018 23:08
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CHECK IT OUT, GO AHEAD
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Sep 18, 2018 23:31
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I'll fight people who say Little Monsters isn't horror. I love that movie not only now but as a kid. The book is super fun too and a lot darker in tone.
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Sep 18, 2018 23:40
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Windows 98 posted:Reading this thread is so frustrating. Like Choco I have decided to stay strict to October. Y’all cheatin’ Hey! I'm not! I have declared that all of my September rewatches do not count! Me last night: "Oh, that's a great movie I have picked out for tomorrow. And it's not like someone is going to post about how much they hate it by the time I finish my rewatch!" Day -13 - The Wicker Man  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mx1oU1IiZ3k On April 29, a stuck up, hyper religious police officer arrives at a remote Scottish island to investigate the disappearance of a child. He finds that the residents of the island have reverted to paganism and they block his attempts to investigate. But their May Day celebration is coming up and they have special plans for it. "We don't commit murder around here, Sergeant. We're a deeply religious people." That's a line that really gets to the heart of The Wicker Man. The clash of cultures, the removal of Christianity from its dominant position in society, and the subtle threat buried in an innocuous statement. Is murder a sin if you don't have a commandment against it? Is it murder when God demands that someone die? This is a movie that wears its themes on its sleeves and you can feel that it was written to address the fading power of religion at that time and question what was going to take its place. It reminds me a lot of The Exorcist in that it's a movie intended to directly challenge the religious viewer; though The Exorcist has a happier ending than this one for Christianity. Something else I've always appreciated in the film is that it seems like a bit of a response to those people who looked at New Age spiritualism as an idealized version of what they thought were ancient beliefs. The Wicker Man says, "Yes, it's free love and passion and nature, but it's also blood and terror and pain." These people may be out of step with Christian values, but they're harmless. At least until the surface is scratched a bit. It makes the movie a bit of hippie-sploitation film as life on Summerisle is commune like and the cult's influence is spreading. Adding to the horror is that the worst death imaginable is one where people are singing folk songs around me as I die. I remember back when it was impossible to get a copy of The Wicker Man. There was basically one VHS release in the early 80s and then nothing forever. It's not like they could show it on television. When I finally got to watch it, I thought it was worth the wait. Definitely a great movie. For what it's worth, I watched the 99 minute cut. I have the two disk set with the 88 minute cut as well but I've never watched that because what kind of monster would want to watch that?
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Sep 18, 2018 23:41
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5. The First Purge (2018) I know the series is polarizing online because some people don't like the premise or the fact the politics are not subtle in any way (the third film released in 2016 was subtitled "Election Year"). I like the series. It's campy, ridiculous, fun and have a morbid Halloween-esque vibe because of how the population counts down to this one night where they wear masks and get into mischief. Though more of the murdering and rampaging kind. The First Purge is a prequel to the first three and shows how the Purge (one night a year where all crime is legal from 7pm-7am to allow societal frustations to vent) came to be. Like the series has been the politics here are not subtle at all. The film flat-out opens up with a new party made up with people who want to make America great again came to power and even has a line about how the NRA started to fund them. So, yeah, as someone who always enjoyed politics I get a campy kick out of stuff like that. The movie is what it is advertised as the first Purge with the protagonists trying to survive the night for the most part. It is mindless, violent and the politicals are even MORE blatant and unsubtle than any of the other entries the NFFA (the fascist party) sends militia dressed as KKK (complete with hoods and logos) to shoot up the low-income neighbourhoods. There are so many other bits that will remind you of Charlottesville and Trumpism I cannot even begin to describe.. I enjoy this kind of over the top political poo poo even if others might not. There is a bit of story there to show how the Purge came to be but it really exists in dialogue from NFFA scenes in between the violence.  /5
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Sep 18, 2018 23:50
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Hey, the rules are to watch horror movies. They don't say they can't be PG non-scary kids horror. Little Monsters is 100% "Kids' Horror" and counts 100%. Earlier today in the Scream Stream Discord, Ramadu decided I have to watch Ravenous as part of my October watches as I've never gotten around to seeing it, and that got me thinking, I'm going to be trying to watch as many new-to-me as I can (hopefully hitting triple digit numbers, but I won't be sad if all I do is top my personal record from last year of 78), and was wondering if a fun thing I could do would be to let the people of the thread slot in films they think are shameful that I've missed or whatever besides my normal freestyle approach. It'd be awkward at best however, the most I can do is post a link to my not 100% reliable letterboxd watched list, and for sanity's sake allow people only one demanded film of me each? I dunno, this could be a stupid idea that won't work at all. I'll give it a week and if the thread likes the idea I'll link my list for you all? Feel free to shoot down the idea.
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Sep 18, 2018 23:57
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Not to be "that guy" or anything but the rules clearly state that family-friendly monster/Halloween movies that are G/PG and not scary to anyone over the age of 7 are not disqualified. Ernest Scared Stupid and Hocus Pocus are stated as examples and anything similar are more than fair-game.
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Sep 19, 2018 00:07
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Hollismason posted:His names Tarman. him name is tarman black zombie
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Sep 19, 2018 00:32
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Butch Cassidy posted:So, I have a spare Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) on Blu-ray. A goon won it in last year's thread but never sent me a correct address after attempts to contact to fix the error. So I sat on it until this year. As before and with everything in life, there ain't no such thing as a free lunch. Ok so unless I somehow skimmed over it earlier no one wants to go to bat for Fido or Pontypool? OK then: Watch Pontypool. I just finished a rewatch and it remains one of the most unique setups for a horror movie I've ever seen. It's essentially a zombie film that isn't a zombie film, if that makes sense. Its about a radio host and his crew in a radio station when some strange reports start coming in... I don't want to ruin it for anybody. I can say that it takes the concept of "What you can imagine is far more horrifying than what you can see" (for the most part) and just jams with it. It's claustrophobic, it's weird, it's contemplative, taut, philosophical, violent, maybe a bit funny. I really enjoy Pontypool and have yet to see anything like it since the first time I watched it. Just watch and tell me what you think about it. I'm no film analyst but it certainly gave me some stuff to think about. I don't want to call it a "high concept" movie but it just hit on some things that really got stuck in my head. Like I just repeated them over and over and over over over over over over I'll do Fido but I'm not gonna rewatch as I've seen it fairly recently. I just want more people to see it. Fido is a zombie movie where the zombies didn't win and people domesticated them. It delves into a world that won against the undead tide but still suffers from it's after effects (mainly anybody who dies, even a natural death, still rises). A giant corporation helped win the zombie wars and now builds helpful collars to keep the zombies reined in as pets and house servants; but what happens when the collar malfunctions and a neighborhood starts to rack up a body count? It's almost Fallout-esque 50s nostalgia with zombies and gore, and Tim Blake Nelson. My memory of this movie isn't as fresh since I did not do a rewatch today. It's like if a Norman Rockwell painting had a kid walking a zombie to the soda fountain in small town. I just wanted to highlight these 2 films because they are both really good and interesting (yet very different) takes on a zombie apocalypse. If you want something a little unique and a little nudge nudge wink wink in the genre, watch these films. Edit: I'm not counting Pontypool for the challenge because I haven't started yet and my theme this year is remakes. I only watched it so I could tell you all it's still good 10 or so years on. Untrustable fucked around with this message at 00:39 on Sep 19, 2018 |
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Sep 19, 2018 00:36
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Justin Godscock posted:Not to be "that guy" or anything but the rules clearly state that family-friendly monster/Halloween movies that are G/PG and not scary to anyone over the age of 7 are not disqualified. Ernest Scared Stupid and Hocus Pocus are stated as examples and anything similar are more than fair-game. I don't think anybody has ever been called out on in these threads for watching something that wasn't horror. I think the best rule of thumb is that if a Blockbuster employee could conceivably shelve the movie with horror, then that's good enough. This is a place for watching movies, having a good time, and maybe making a few discoveries along the way. I don't think anyone should worry too much about trying to find the line between what is and is not horror.
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Sep 19, 2018 00:41
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8. Terrifier (2018) So I jumped on the train. Terrifier felt to me like a classic drive in exploitation movie that just went all the way and didn't apologize. I would say I enjoyed it for the most part. Art is by no means a slasher you would root for like Jason in some of the movies. He's brutal, sick, and totally awful (in the right ways). How the story turns out in the end is also a nice little different touch. 3 out of 5. I might have to watch it a couple more times honestly. I think I'd like it more on a second go.
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Sep 19, 2018 00:43
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I'm happy that so many people are watching Terrifier.
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Sep 19, 2018 00:54
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Untrustable posted:Watch Pontypool. I just finished a rewatch and it remains one of the most unique setups for a horror movie I've ever seen.  PM me a shipping address if you want the Body Snatchers disc.
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Sep 19, 2018 01:43
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I really should rewatch Fido, it just didn’t stick with me the first time despite having such a great cast. It was filmed in the city where I grew up so I think I was mainly distracted by seeing parks I used to hang out in
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Sep 19, 2018 01:49
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 Rabid (1977) 4/31 Directed by: David Cronenberg Nowhere near Cronenberg's best, but you can see aspects of his voice and style begin to crystallize here. I wish the rabies aspect was explored a little further rather than serving as a new twist on the zombie formula. The body horror use feels like more of an aesthetic choice at this point in his career, rather than carrying the psychological weight his films are known for. Marilyn Chambers is great here and I appreciate how much of a downer this ends on. It's a good trashy movie and one of the more effective zombie films of it's time, but probably on the lower tier of Cronenberg's filmography. Do ratings matter here? Friends Are Evil fucked around with this message at 02:23 on Sep 19, 2018 |
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Sep 19, 2018 02:07
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Retro Futurist posted:I really should rewatch Fido, it just didn’t stick with me the first time despite having such a great cast. It was filmed in the city where I grew up so I think I was mainly distracted by seeing parks I used to hang out in There's a challenge for that! Friends Are Evil posted:Do ratings matter here? Nope, just a write-up or review. But plenty of people do ratings Franchescanado fucked around with this message at 02:45 on Sep 19, 2018 |
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Sep 19, 2018 02:41
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I wasn't able to fit in another movie today because of 8 hours of car bullshit, but does anyone have any recommendations for more movies like The Void? Creepy practical creatures and cults and such.
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Sep 19, 2018 03:24
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6) Mandy Basically, if you watched John Wick on bath salts, you’d have a similar experience. Incredible visuals. /5Watched (6): Puppet Master 4, Puppet Master 5, Terrifier, Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires, Martyrs (2008), Mandy
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Sep 19, 2018 03:38
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Lumbermouth posted:I wasn't able to fit in another movie today because of 8 hours of car bullshit, but does anyone have any recommendations for more movies like The Void? Creepy practical creatures and cults and such. So with those criteria I'd say Dagon The Resurrected (It fits the tone) The Endless The Babysitter ( horror comedy ) A Dark Song ( not really cultish but i think it fits) Baskin Jug Face Lord of Illusions ( Directors Cut only!) The Devil Rides Out God Told Me To Kill List Suspira ( of course) Starry Eyes Thirst ( 1970s) Messiah of Evil Wake Wood Wicker Man (Duh, Both)
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Sep 19, 2018 03:40
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BioTech posted:I knew it wouldn't be a popular opinion so afterwards I read up on the praise to see what I was missing and I just can't parse it. I’m with you on Wicker Man, don’t get the love for it at all. Cant back you on TCM though. The dude writhing on the ground after get clocked over the head is incredible.
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Sep 19, 2018 04:53
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5-Sleepaway Camp A rewatch from one I haven’t seen in nearly two decades, and boy was it worth a rewatch. It’s a mostly by the numbers slasher film, boosted by some really effective makeup on the victims. What sets it apart is the ending, which I won’t spoil here. I’m sure most of you know it, but it’s one of those ones that really needs to be enjoyed as a surprise once if you can. I love how it telegraphs the killer right from the start (despite trying the world’s weakest red herring), but then when you think you have it all figured out that last 2 minutes happens and hoo boy. It was also worth a rewatch because man, I missed how insanely homoerotic thing movie is when I was younger, but on a rewatch it is overt.
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Sep 19, 2018 05:11
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Ah hell I wasn't gonna do it but sign me up for 17 movies. I really can't do 31
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Sep 19, 2018 05:17
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 As Above So Below (2014) - Fran challenge #1, as I am not a fan of found footage at all, but I've seen this one spoken of in the horror thread positively. I really wanted to like this more than I ended up liking it. The physical descent into hell is such a powerfully mythic, resonant angle that can easily play with feelings of both awe and terror, the absolute unknowns of life, the undying past, etc. Also I'm actually a huge nerd about alchemy and the system of symbology and meaning behind it. But mostly we got a well-executed, well-acted, but otherwise falling into standard traps found footage. Our introduction is really more found footage Indiana Jones (or maybe Robert Langdon?) than Paranormal Activity, and I appreciated the agency of Scarlett in particular throughout the story. However, that does soon give way to a lot of cliches of the found footage category that I'm not into. Creating "panic" by having everyone shouting all the time and waving the camera around even in still moments being the worst. Much like The Descent, the best frightening scenes are the caving disasters and claustrophobic natural spaces. Outside of a handful of cool images (the silent corridor, the uncorrupted corpses), the supernatural bits tend to bore, except when they veer back towards Indiana Jones, but then things stop being horror for a few moments anyway. But truthfully I just wish the movie followed through on its religiosity in a more consistent way. I think there's some real good horror in sin and religion, especially in the Gnostic trappings that the film takes on. But it ends up just being aesthetics here. It's weird because the film makes it clear that finding the Philosopher's Stone isn't about treasure and riches, but it also isn't about wisdom and enlightenment. It seems to be super powers instead? It's not even forgiveness, because while they all have something they feel guilty about, the filmmakers are very careful that none of our main characters have actually done anything bad or that demands any kind of justice. And Scarlett, the eventual bearer of the Great Work of alchemy, isn't the wisest or most self-actualized of the group, she's just pretty good at solving the kind of puzzles you'd expect to see in a Dungeons & Dragons campaign guide. Combined with the whole boring "let go of your past and be happy stuff" over any kind of genuine change or repentance it's sort of, I dunno, embrace these pop psychology listicles and you'll be rewarded with ability to resurrect the dead and heal the sick. Whatever! Still, while the characters could be better drawn, they are charming and well acted. The catacombs themselves do plenty of heavy lifting And I was especially tickled in a lizard brain recognition kind of way by how well the closing shots (something about the whole manhole sequence and the gravity play really worked for me) evoked the last lines of Inferno: We mounted up, he first and I the second, Till I beheld through a round aperture Some of the beauteous things that Heaven doth bear; Thence we came forth to rebehold the stars.
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Sep 19, 2018 05:39
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6. Trick R Treat (2009) ...Wow, I am honestly a little ashamed to say it took me this long to watch this one. I remember when it was advertised when 300 went on home video, its shelving and release two years later when it became a cult film. This is an amazing Halloween film because its like those scary stories you heard around the time that blew your childhood minds at the end with the twist. But these are all very adult stories and holy poo poo how things just end up with little details early on in the stories making sense. I really don't want to talk of this movie more because the blinder you go in watching it the more impact it will have. Though I will say its about a small town in the middle of Halloween with the usual children going house to house, teenagers having Halloween parties, adults having their fun and all the typical goings on but with really morbid and horrifying stories to go along with it. Complete with every story wrapping around with one another. Please, watch this one if you haven't already. /5
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Sep 19, 2018 06:35
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2. Mandy Hooooooooooooly poo poo, this was amazing. Awesome visuals, great soundtrack, plenty of violence, just such a satisfying trip. If I had to say one bad thing about it I guess it would be the cult leader's monologue goes on for way too long, but that is such a small thing in an otherwise great movie. Also, I can't stop laughing at ocarina of crime Ingmar terdman posted:Did that ocarina of crime have a metal name too
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Sep 19, 2018 08:25
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 13) Supernatural 1933 It figures after 12 good films, I was due to hit a clunker. The premise for Supernatural is Ruth Rogen who murders three of her former lovers after 'an orgy in her sensuous Greenwich Village Apartment' and ends up on death row. A Dr. Houston is convinced that Ruth's spirit will move on and continue killing so he wants to be able to experiment on her remains to I guess prevent this. Ruth's fourth lover who turned her in does scam seances and is looking to scam Roma, an heiress who's brother has passed on. Well, of course the seance goes wrong and Roma gets possessed by Ruth. By now Ruth knows her ex is the one who turned her in to the police and wants revenge. The concept's good but drat the execution fell flat. There's a variety of reasons as to why such as Carol Lombard really didn't want to make a 'horror' film and wanted to stick to comedies, and Randolph Scott felt he was miscast. If there's a film deserving of a remake, it's this one just to see what they can pull off. The elements of vengeful killer's spirit, possession, and seances are a solid combination for making something decent. However, I'm still wondering what makes an apartment sensuous.  14) The Mummy 1931 After that last one, I needed a palate cleanser. For as much as pictures from this one gives the expectation of seeing Karloff in the bandages, it's only a little bit in the beginning, with how smooth Ardath Bey is, you don't really feel like you got hit with a bait and switch. To my knowledge, this is one of the few classic Universal monster movies that isn't based off a book like Phantom or Dracula. I also liked that with the 'Mummy Franchise', Imhotep's story is just the first movie with the rest being centered on Kharis and the Tanna leaves angle rather than come up with a reason for Imhotep to be ressurrected again for another movie. One person I want to talk about is Noble Johnson who plays the Nubian. He was one of the actors who was pretty much a go to when you needed someone to play an 'exotic' type. He was in King Kong, Murders in the Rue Morgue, Most Dangerous Game and a ton of others. While most just think he was just a character actor or a bit player, he did start the first all African-American film studio-the Lincoln Motion Picture Company which was the first to make films that didn't show African-Americans as stereotypes as well as feature an all African-American cast. He did eventually resign as president of Lincoln, the reason varies between Universal had an issue with one of thier actors setting up a rival studio to because he was in such high demand as a character actor, he was burning out managing a double business life. All in all, one of my faves and to this day I can't hear Swan Lake without thinking of this one.
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Sep 19, 2018 13:06
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3. The Bird With the Crystal Plumage 1970 | dir. Dario Argento Another acclaimed giallo, considered by many to be top-tier Argento, which I'm only now watching.  It's a stand-out gialli due to it's restraint. It's minimal on nudity and sexualized violence. It's more interested in the mystery of who the killer is and their threats against the main characters and less focused on getting to the next murder. It's not especially gory, which actually made several moments stronger for me (I found the relatively tame Psycho-esque razor blade attack in the phone booth rather gruesome). Argento also shows colorful flourish with his backgrounds, costumes and blood, but he hasn't dove head-first into his technicolor insanity (which I love) in Suspiria, Inferno and Deep Red. Vittorio Storaro's cinematography is still fantastic. There are some wonderful shots used for great suspense. One of my favorite shots, during the final confrontation, has our lead, Sam, run into a dark room with the door he enters from as the only source of light. All we hear are his cautious footsteps, all we see is a vague shadow in the darkness. Spooky stuff. The restraint means there's nothing to distract from the plot and structure of the mystery, which is the movie's biggest flaw. Without spoiling it, the film provides all the keys of the mystery within the first thirty minutes (probably less). It is our incompetent leads who can't piece them together. Sam is a struggling author who is witness to an attack by the serial killer. The police include him in their list of suspects, and they also give him full access to all the evidence and suspects so he can help them with the mystery. There were a few fun twists at the end, which I appreciate. Despite the weak central mystery, it's still a fun young Argento picture, and would be an excellent first step into the giallo genre without getting too weird. Recommended! 4. Critters 2 1988 | dir. Mick Garris This is why people like Critters!  I don't have nostalgia for this franchise, which made the first movie underwhelming for me. Thankfully Garris gets how these little guys can be fun while also seeing the charm of the characters in this sleepy small town. It has more of everything the first film needed: more humor, more gore, more energy, more mayhem, apparently more T&A by the director's wife, more sincere charm, and most importantly more creativity. While Critters will always be considered a Gremlins knock-off, this film managed to give the franchise a stronger identity. Recommended. Movies Seen: Hell House, LLC | Dagon | The Bird With the Crystal Plumage | Critters 2 Total: 4
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Sep 19, 2018 13:08
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3. Tombs of the Blind Dead Pretty standard horror movie, but with a strong monster design, some good use of a creepy location and a sinister ending that make it better than average. I can't believe this was released as some sort of Planet of the Apes sequel in the US.
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Sep 19, 2018 14:32
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8. The Bride (2017) This may be one of the weirdest movie experiences I've ever had. I realized a few minutes in that the subtitles of this Russian film were...ignoring most of the dialogue? Entire conversation would be replaced with inane stuff like [DOOMSDAY MUSIC], which wasn't exactly helpful. So I switched to the English dub, which may be one of the funniest things I've ever heard. The dialogue is rushed in delivery and absolutely, mind-bogglingly terrible. I think I would have enjoyed the film overall if it wasn't for the marred viewing experience. It plays out like a Russian filmmaker attempting to create something inspire by James Wan with a little bit of the fairytale gothic thing that Del Toro does. The plot is predictable, but there was just something charmingly average about this movie and it's goofy dub that I enjoyed. /59. The Predator (2018)  Oof. I went into this blind, not knowing anything about the plot, the trailer or the tumultuous production history. I still would have seen it, being a Predator fan, but the only difference would be going into it with different expectations. The end result is still an awful film and one of the worst I've seen this year. Being rushed, poorly edited, having a cringe-worthy script and ridiculously terrible plot are just a few of the marks on this movie for me. The casting is uninspired and good people are given nothing to do. Keegan Michael Keye is the soldier who tells "Yo Momma" jokes and not much else. Thomas Jane has Tourette's Syndrome, and that's the extent of his characterization. I've never thought Olivia Munn was a decent actress and she certainly doesn't carry this film either, but in her defense, her dialogue is atrocious to begin with. And one of the biggest plot devices is an autistic child who's portrayal comes across as downright offensively stereotypical. It's bad. 0.5 /510. Hell House LLC (2015)  For the longest time, I mistook this for The Houses October Built, a film I didn't care for at all. Found-Footage and I have a weird relationship. I like very few of them, yet I'm compelled to watch all of them that get released. I like the concept so much that I want to see it done well, and this one does that! Replaying the events of a tragedy at a haunted house attraction, we see what lead up to the night in question through the documentation of the crew preparing the house for opening night. It's eerie and well put together, leaving just enough questions to really have a lingering effect on wondering what really happened inside Hell House. I highly recommend it. /5
Several Goblins fucked around with this message at 15:33 on Sep 19, 2018 |
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Sep 19, 2018 15:30
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 House of Frankenstein(1944) Picked this up last year in the Universal Dracula blu ray set, which I highly recommend for anyone who only has the basic Universal Monsters set and wants to fill in some of the gaps. The Dracula set has both "House" films, Son of Dracula, Dracula's Daughter, and Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein. So I consider it pretty essential. Anyway, this is only my second time having seen House of Frankenstein, and I enjoyed it even more on rewatch. It plays almost like an anthology, as each monster gets their little introduction and turn in the spotlight. I also didn't really notice any drop-off in production values here, sets still look great and overall it's just a very nice looking film. As for characters, one of the best things about House of Frankenstein is the decision to cast Karloff in the main role as Dr. Niemann. I actually enjoy Glenn Strange's performance as the monster, but he really doesn't have a whole lot to do and I'm sure Karloff wasn't interested in donning the makeup again for such a thankless role. Instead he gets to chew scenery and make ridiculous evil faces throughout the movie, which spices it up in a way that really helps keep things consistently entertaining. His presence is sorely missed in House of Dracula. This is also our introduction to the Larry Talbot with a death-wish character, who becomes more or less the main hero of these movies. Chaney is, as per usual, the most human character in the film and you can't help but root for him.  House of Dracula(1945) Watching this back to back with House of Frankenstein, I appreciated how willing they were to disregard the events of the previous film when necessary. As a result, House of Dracula feels a bit like a remake, but also is very much a direct sequel. We find Karloff and the Monster exactly where we last saw them, decomposing at the bottom of a mud pit. Both Talbot and Dracula approach a renowned physician in search of a cure for their conditions, of course one of them may be a bit more honest in their motives than the other. I really love John Carradine in these movies, he's the one who jumped out at me above the others on this viewing. Physically, I think he's close to a perfect Dracula. Thin, yet still powerful looking, and with a face that's very literally shaped like a vampire's fang. He looks like he could jab you with his chin and suck your blood that way. He also makes fantastic faces:   For a late-night movie I continued on with Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein, which I had never seen before. I'll write that up later today. Total: 1. Frankenstein(1931) 2. The Old Dark House(1932) 3. The Bride of Frankenstein(1935) 4. The Mummy(1932) 5. The Invisible Man(1933) 6. The Wolfman(1941) 7. House of Frankenstein(1944) 8. House of Dracula(1945)
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Sep 19, 2018 15:37
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4. Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (1972, Sergio Martino) I didn't realize until someone pointed it out in the horror thread recently that this is an adaption of Poe's The Black Cat. Cool. It's a great story and this film does it justice. This is the second Sergio Martino giallo I've seen (the other being The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh), and I can now say I'm a fan. Many gialli seem to consider their characters as ancillary to the murder story (often cardboard, underdeveloped or otherwise uninteresting), but Martino does the opposite. Here he keeps his characters as the centerpiece of the film, which adds depth to a sub-genre that, we should admit, isn't rife with it. The abusive relationship between the main couple works nicely as a catalyst for the distrust and hate that drives the story. And the character of Floriana adds a wonderful spice to the whole thing. She's just wonderful. All the acting here is well above average for giallo standards. In terms of gore this won't do a whole lot to scratch the gorehound itch (though it surely meets its nudity quota). But what it lacks in gore it makes up for in, well, everything else. Martino's direction is delicate and suave. His shots glide and flow with smooth confidence, and he's not afraid to throw in interesting shots that punctuate a scene, like a straight down tracking shot. He really knows his poo poo. In terms of cinematographic adeptness, I'd definitely put him above Fulci. And maybe even above Argento (depending on the movie, I guess. Argento's quality varies wildly). His style reminds me more of Bava who I consider the greatest Italian horror director. This is definitely one of the best directed gialli I've seen. In fact, this is one of the best gialli I've seen period. I loved it.     (4.5 Satan cats out of 5)
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Sep 19, 2018 15:50
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 7. Hellraiser: Judgment (2018, dir. Gary Tunnicliffe) This is an ugly movie. There's the piss filter over all the boring, uninspired torture scenes, and then the cop stuff which is shot and edited like the shittiest tv procedural with no budget. And it turns out that cop is actually the killer they are tracking, what a twist. I want to say it doesn't feel like Hellraiser, and the themes of judgment and punishment and then bringing god(lol) into it don't make any sense for the Cenobites and what the story originally was; but at this point there are so many more lovely Hellraisers than good and none of it has been cohesive or made any sense after the second. So, whatever. It's another dtv Hellraiser, not the worst of them I guess, but I'd rather rewatch one of the Rick Bota movies. I had a hard time staying awake. Thankfully it's short and available to watch for free on Vudu. 1/5 Total: 7. The Untold Story (3/5), The Sleep Curse (4/5), The Faculty (3/5), Demon Knight (4/5), Return of the Living Dead (4/5), The Evil of Frankenstein (3/5), Hellraiser: Judgment (1/5)
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Sep 19, 2018 15:56
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Spatulater bro! posted:4. Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (1972, Sergio Martino) My biggest complaint against that movie is that the poster implies it's an Edwige Fenech movie, and while she's in it for about a 1/3rd of the run-time, she's not in it as much as I want. Which would just be the whole run-time. She's the best part of the movie, for me.
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Sep 19, 2018 16:25
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 4. Unsane (2018) Sawyer has a stalker, and it has ruined her life. She moves away from her friends and family to a new city to escape, but she still never feels truly safe. After admitting to some suicidal thoughts while talking to a counselor, she is involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital, only to discover that her stalker is working there... or is she having a psychotic break? This is an excellent psychological horror/thriller that goes to some pretty dark places. Claire Foy puts in a really fantastic performance in the lead role, and Joshua Leonard is extremely creepy as her stalker (also I later learned that he is Josh from The Blair Witch Project). The most immediately noticeable and unique thing about this film, though, is that it was shot entirely on an iPhone. The effect is strange at first - the aspect ratio is a little unusual and I believe it is 30 FPS - but it looks surprisingly good and the fact that it looks a little "off" only adds to the general feeling of unease and paranoia that permeates the film. I certainly wouldn't want this to become the new standard, but it is an interesting experiment. I like how it works as a criticism of the awful US healthcare system, too, especially regarding mental health issues. The hospital basically churns through patients with zero regard for their well-being, just to squeeze as much money out until their insurance runs dry. Sawyer's attempt to get help just makes her situation and mental health dramatically worse. I definitely recommend this one, both for the interesting technical aspects of it and for being an excellent psychological horror/thriller in general.
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Sep 19, 2018 16:39
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