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13 Ghosts (1960) One of my themes for this October challenge will be ghosts and haunted houses since I've been listening to The Evolution of Horror Podcast and am currently on the ghosts section. I found this movie pretty entertaining for what it is. While movies like The Haunting (which I watched tonight and will be reviewing next) are genuinely creepy/scary, 13 ghosts seems more like a lighthearted whodunit. The best character is definitely Elaine Zacharides played by the amazing Margaret Hamilton. The kid was pretty good too as a huge fan of the occult but kind of loses something in the middle when he's being overtly gullible. Overall the movie was worthwile. 3.5/5 Good Film 1. Prom Night (1980) 2. Cape Fear (1962) 3. 13 Ghosts (1960)
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Sep 20, 2018 06:59
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Random Stranger posted:There are two sequels and two remakes of the film. One of the remakes is animated! I haven't seen any of them. A Chinese Ghost Story ends so conclusively that I didn't want to see any sequels, even if they were just sequels in name only. As for the remake, the fact that it came out in 2011 and I don't remember hearing anything about it doesn't bode well. Maybe I'll check out one of those movies in October if I can dig them up. I never saw any of the remakes, and I remember III being pretty superfluous, but A Chinese Ghost Story 2 is absolutely fantastic, with a ton of great characters, amazing over the top creatures and a pretty cheeky dig at government corruption underlying the main plot. I don't know how difficult it is to get a hold of in the US, but it's on youtube.
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Sep 20, 2018 12:36
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SMP posted:I immediately followed this up with... A lot of people like Halloween 2, it's just slightly unnecessary and is the origin of the convoluted ideas that ultimately marred the later sequels (possible cult connections with the Samhein references, the sibling connection, etc.). It's still a good movie and slasher.
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Sep 20, 2018 12:37
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Justin Godscock posted:8. King Kong (1976) I kind of hope that you follow this up with King Kong Lives. It's not a good movie, it's an infamous bomb, but I'm hoping it's one of those so bad it's entertaining films. I saw it in theaters and the only thing I can remember about the movie is King Kong gets open heart surgery.
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Sep 20, 2018 13:06
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5. Serial Mom 1994 | dir. John Waters John Waters delivers his biting satire in an absurdly polished 1950's nuclear family aesthetic.  It's funny how much of Waters voice comes through despite cleaning up his act for studio films. It helps that a lot of the satire of this film--American culture's fascination with crime and celebrity, Normy life being destroyed by a counter-culture figure, a love of violence and gore, absurd sexuality--has popped up in his other films before, especially Female Trouble, which is the trashploitation version of this story, in a way. It also helps that John Waters gleefully makes fun of everyone, including slasher films and horror enthusiasts like himself, but it's a joyful parody. This film bites like a playful dog. Of course, the cast is wonderful. Kathleen Turner's murderous mother is perfect (it's probably my favorite role she's done), Sam Waterston plays her clueless husband, Matthew Lillard as the horror hound son, and Ricki Lake as her sell-out daughter, plus a few other great appearances, like Waters-regular Mink Stole as the terrified neighbor plagued by obscene phone-calls. They all fit perfectly in this weird world. The unsung hero of the film is composer Basil Poledouris. Not only is his score absolutely perfect, but it alone elevates the satire, tone and energy of the film. It all works because of his cheerful upbeat tones playing while Beverly stabs people with scissors. The cinematography by Robert M. Stevens is also perfect, and feels similar to his film The 'Burbs (which would make a great double feature with this). Highly recommended. Movies Seen: Hell House, LLC | Dagon | The Bird With the Crystal Plumage | Critters 2 | Serial Mom Total: 5
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Sep 20, 2018 13:09
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 17) Mummy's Hand 1940 Pretty much the story to this one is a retelling of sorts of the '31 Mummy. Instead of a forbidden love between Imhotep and Anhk-es-en-amun, we have Prince Kharis who's in love with Princess Ananka, and when she dies he is overcome with grief to the point of stealing sacred tanna leaves to resurrect her. Naturally this doesn't go well and he's buried alive for his crime along with being packed in tanna leaves. Now we know this REALLY isn't going to end well. As horrifying as being buried alive is, Kharis gets the additional kick to the nuts in being kept semi-alive by the priests of Karnak sect that feeds him a tea from 3 tanna leaves with the warning of a brew of 9 leaves will have him walking. Much like every horror movie that has a forbidden book of evil that someone just has to read aloud, the archaeological group that finds Kharis' tomb has to go give him the 9 leaf brew to see what happens. For the most part, the priests of Karnak are pretty successful with picking off members of the expedition until the High Priest gets interested with the only woman on the expedition.  18) Mummy's Tomb 1942 Mummy's Tomb picks up 30 years after Hand with the remaining priests of Karnak sect who's been keeping Kharis kicking seeks revenge for Ananka's tomb despoiling by killing off who's left from the earlier expedition and their descendants. The current sect High Priest heads off with Kharis for Massachusetts. Again, the sect does pretty well towards its goal until the High Priest gets interested in Banning Jr.'s girlfriend.  19) Mummy's Ghost 1944 Not sure how long's elapsed storywise from Tomb, but story picks up again in Massachusetts with Kharis' rampage is somewhat known but that it was caused by a resurrected mummy is just sensationalism. Again, the priests of Karnak, though now called priests of Arkam for some reason are going on another attempt to avenge the pillaging of Ananka's tomb and bring back both mummies to Egypt. While again, things are mostly going well for the sect until Amina enters the picture. She's the reincarnation of Ananka and of course there's going to be trouble with the High Priest interested in her as well as Kharis' interest in her. The ending in the swamps was a good one in my opinion.  20) Mummy's Curse 1944 This one feels like a last pass money grab. It's not so much awful, but more slapdash thrown together. It's understandable with the War going on and tastes changing to more light hearted fare for escapism. It picks up some time after Ghost when the swamp is drained and the two mummies are discovered. While presumption would leave us to figure Curse is picking up after Ghost, unless Mapleton, Massachusetts has had an inrush of Cajun immigration, locations have been changed. Yet again, what's left of the sect tries to recover the mummies which does not go well for the usual reasons. All in all, having marathoned all four films, they're not bad. They're perfect afternoon fare. There is some sloppiness here and there such as the priests of Karnak becoming the priests of Arkam with no explanation. We're treated to more of the mummy as we're used to seeing in the depictions, all swaddled in bandages. It's also a good question to how much tanna leaves have been preserved since the plant's stated multiple times to be extinct and the priests have been keeping Kharis kicking over the centuries not to mention Kharis is pretty much a tanna leaves junkie. There's also wondering that at some point there would be some warning or cautioning of the priests of the sect about keeping celibate until the goals have been achieved. Because of how close together they were filmed, they do have a sameness about them, to the point of when I'd be catching these on Svengoolie, there were a few times where they'd start to show one and get mixed up during commercial break and resume showing another.
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Sep 20, 2018 13:15
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Creature from Black Lake (1976) This was okay. It’s part of a Bigfoot crazed of the 70s that I’m not really too familiar with. Two “college” (35 year olds) go to Louisiana to investigate rumours of a Bigfoot type creature. The locals aren’t too interested in sharing info but eventually the students meet people who want their help. It’s fairly comedic for the most part. It’s more fun watching the main characters interact with the townsfolk than anything else. Some of the shots of the swamp look pretty nice too. This isn’t a strong recommendation to rush out and watch but it’s not a waste of 90 minutes either. It’s just a completely average movie. [b]Watched (4): [b] Always Watching: A Marble Hornets story; Terrifier; Boys in the Trees, Creature from Black Lake
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Sep 20, 2018 13:40
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CopywrightMMXI posted:Creature from Black Lake (1976) I've always loved the poster for this movie but it's one of those where you know the movie can never live up to it. 
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Sep 20, 2018 14:08
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 5. I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016) Lily, a hospice nurse, takes a new job as a live-in caretaker for Iris Blum, an elderly woman who is an author known for her horror novels. Iris, suffering from dementia, always calls Lily "Polly", which Lily dismisses as just a symptom of the disease until she discovers that Polly is a character in Iris's novel "The Lady in the Walls" - a character who was brutally murdered in a house much like the one she is currently living in, and she begins to question whether the book is actually fact or fiction. This is a pretty decent ghost story, with some excellent cinematography and atmosphere. It is an extremely slow burn, so if you are looking for action or a more standard haunted house movie (like say, The Conjuring) you will be disappointed. There are a couple of scares, but more often the film just builds a sense of dread without trying to make you jump. More than anything, I thought it captured the feeling of reading a scary novel alone in a dark house (even if that isn't strictly the point of the film). I liked the music, too - it is minimal but effectively unsettling. Perkins also directed The Blackcoat's Daughter, which was one of my favorite horror films of 2015. Stylistically this feels very similar, although I don't think it is as good. Still worth your time though if you like slow burn ghost stories. Movies Seen: The Witching Season | Lifeforce | Terrifier | Unsane | I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House Total: 5
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Sep 20, 2018 14:30
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Elvis Perkins is Anthony Perkins son so kind of interesting his son grew up to make horror movies.
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Sep 20, 2018 16:09
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Hollismason posted:Elvis Perkins is Anthony Perkins son so kind of interesting his son grew up to make horror movies. didn't know that, that's pretty cool
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Sep 20, 2018 16:11
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 9. Destroy All Monsters (1968) There were a lot of things about this film that I really enjoyed, but overall I came away kind of disappointed. I thought that the design of the space vehicles, weapons, and bases were all really cool. Specifically, the Moonlight SY-3 was a badass spaceship. The sheer amount of monsters that you get to see is great, and I even learned about some that I had never seen before. I believe my problems with the film stem from the expectations that it lays in the opening. It kind of lulls you into feeling like a kid a again by showing you a bunch of monsters, you can't help but think that the movie is going to be full of battles and monsters stomping through cities. While there are some parts like that, overall the movie is about a space team thwarting invading aliens. Usually I am totally on board for the weird sci-fi shenanigans in Godzilla films but I felt like this one was weirdly paced, and tonally had no clue where it wanted to be. There were some pretty shocking scenes involving gunshots to the head and suicide that felt a little out of place. Now that I think of it the entire movie was kind of a tonal mess. The culminating battle was extremely brutal but also mixed in shots of the baby Godzilla dancing. It's weird, as I am typing this review out all of the stuff I've described sounds like stuff I would enjoy. I definitely did not hate the film, but maybe Destroy All Monsters would benefit from a more informed rewatch in the future.
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Sep 20, 2018 18:09
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Jumping in on this! My goal for the challenge is 31 movies, and I've already gotten a couple in. I'll do my best at talking about them but I like almost everything I watch and I don't have lots of deep thoughts rolling around in my head, though I like reading everyone else's!! Right now I'm doing my "prep work" for my yearly vacation to Halloween Horror Nights in Orlando during the first week of October, so I'm focusing on movies related to that, and then I'll branch out once I'm back from the trip. Finished a rewatch of S1 of Stranger Things before the challenge started, and here's what else I've watched so far: 1. Killer Klowns From Outer Space  This was a ton of fun and had me cackling. I've never watched it before but it was pretty much exactly what I expected it to be. I loved the clown designs (v important to find the weirdest one on screen at any given moment and say "that one's me") and hated every single human character. I like how hard they went on the clown stuff and the variety of goofy clown kills ("what you gonna do with them pies, boys?"). The theme song is a bop. There's gonna be Chucky scarezone at HHN so I'm working my way through all the Child's Play films cause...why not? I saw the first one when I was in middle or high school, but everything else is new to me! 2. Child's Play  The only thing I actually remembered from this movie was the voodoo doll kill, which is pretty gnarly. I liked Andy's mom a lot, she was a really sympathetic character so it's a bummer that apparently she spends the rest of the series (in the ones I've seen, anyway) in an institution. Chris Sarandon in turtleneck sweaters has extremely powerful 1980s energy. The doll effects are pretty drat great, and once Chucky starts running around and killing, the movie really picks up and there were some legitimately tense scenes (whenever Chucky was hiding under the couch or the bed and someone slowwwwly knelt down I'd be biting my fingernails). Biggest complaint was that I could do without the attempted sexual assault on the mom when she went to the bad part of town, but horror gotta horror, I guess. 3. Child's Play 2  I actually liked this one better than the first! Didn't waste any time in getting Chucky back in action and didn't really let up from there. That OSHA nightmare of a toy factory was wild, I loved it and I loved that they were like, okay we killed Chucky like three times in the first one, so we gotta outdo ourselves with this one. This was a really, really fun movie. Loved Andy's foster sister and was pretty surprised that his foster dad didn't have a redemption or scene where he came around on Andy. Always good to see Beth Grant, who is such an expert at playing absolutely terrible women like the teacher in this movie. Literally my only complaint is that the kid playing Andy had two years to practice pretending to be knocked out without fluttering his eyelids wildly and still couldn't get the hang of it. 4. Child's Play 3  This one had its moments, but it was a little disappointing tbh, especially after 2. I was ready for another wild ride after the opening scene with the lovely CEO getting brutalized with toys but it was actually kind of a boring movie. This is maybe my fault though, because I started folding laundry partway through and maybe didn't give it as much attention as I should have. I did like the idea of a guy who had such a boner for shaving heads that his first thought on finding a doll was "oh yeah, this thing's getting shaved." The carnival set pieces at the end were pretty cool. Most unrealistic thing in the movie was that a kid who had a handheld videogame thingy would get all excited about an ugly talking doll, c'mon. Delving into the more modern Chucky films next, which I'm looking forward to, even though there are so many more than I thought there were?? smilingpear fucked around with this message at 18:14 on Sep 20, 2018 |
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Sep 20, 2018 18:11
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So far your reactions are spot-on, at least in my opinion. Child's Play 2 is one of the best horror sequels of all time, and Child's Play 3 is a major step back from that.
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Sep 20, 2018 18:20
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Killer Klowns from Outer Space sitting in my PVR for a bit, would it be ok for a 6 year old or does it get super gorey/violent?
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Sep 20, 2018 18:31
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Retro Futurist posted:Killer Klowns from Outer Space sitting in my PVR for a bit, would it be ok for a 6 year old or does it get super gorey/violent? It's not gory or violent, but it's still somewhat unsettling. I know quite a few people who cite that as the origin of their clown fear. It's a goofy movie, but the tone is kinda played serious. I remember they suck someone's blood through a silly straw, but it's pretty tame despite that. You know your kid better than us.
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Sep 20, 2018 18:36
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Would anybody be interested in a free blu ray copy of Christine? I'd have given it to Fran to use as a prize but I decided against that because it's a weird situation where I took the UHD disc I just bought and put it into an older blu ray steelbook(look nicer on my shelf). So you'd be getting a UHD case with a regular blu ray inside, kinda lame but hey it's free! I have access to mailing supplies at my job and I'm very willing to pay a few bucks to get Christine into someone else's hands, its so drat underrated. I guess the only caveat is that you have to watch it for the challenge and be able to PM me your address. First person to post a reply gets first dibs.
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Sep 20, 2018 18:41
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Basebf555 posted:Would anybody be interested in a free blu ray copy of Christine? I'd have given it to Fran to use as a prize but I decided against that because it's a weird situation where I took the UHD disc I just bought and put it into an older blu ray steelbook(look nicer on my shelf). So you'd be getting a UHD case with a regular blu ray inside, kinda lame but hey it's free! I have access to mailing supplies at my job and I'm very willing to pay a few bucks to get Christine into someone else's hands, its so drat underrated. Gimme it.
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Sep 20, 2018 18:43
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Basebf555 posted:So far your reactions are spot-on, at least in my opinion. Child's Play 2 is one of the best horror sequels of all time, and Child's Play 3 is a major step back from that. Good to hear! I'm glad I wasn't missing anything when it came to 3 but it's still a bummer that it didn't live up to 2. Retro Futurist posted:Killer Klowns from Outer Space sitting in my PVR for a bit, would it be ok for a 6 year old or does it get super gorey/violent? There's nothing SUPER gorey or violent (bloodiest scene I can think of is a corpse being used as a ventriloquist dummy) and the violence is definitely cartoonish but imo 6 is too young for this one. I think the goofy kills and teenage boy-level sexuality makes it a perfect movie for a pre-teen just getting into horror, but much younger than that and you might be getting into nightmare territory.
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Sep 20, 2018 18:46
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Franchescanado posted:It's not gory or violent, but it's still somewhat unsettling. I know quite a few people who cite that as the origin of their clown fear. It's a goofy movie, but the tone is kinda played serious. I remember they suck someone's blood through a silly straw, but it's pretty tame despite that. I think a clown knocks a dude's head off at one point? Also the shadow puppet T-Rex freaked me out when I was kid
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Sep 20, 2018 18:47
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Lurdiak posted:Gimme it. Done, I'll wait for the PM and put it in the mail hopefully tomorrow.
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Sep 20, 2018 18:47
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Lurdiak posted:Gimme it. drat you. Retro Futurist posted:Killer Klowns from Outer Space sitting in my PVR for a bit, would it be ok for a 6 year old or does it get super gorey/violent? Fun fact, you already showed him Ernest Scared Stupid, which is the same effects team that directed Killer Klowns. In fact, all of the trolls in ESS are actually the Klowns from Killer Klowns, only repurposed and given new costumes and new paint.
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Sep 20, 2018 18:50
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Retro Futurist posted:Killer Klowns from Outer Space sitting in my PVR for a bit, would it be ok for a 6 year old or does it get super gorey/violent? Klowns had a very profound effect on me when I saw it at 8. I could say it gave me nightmares, but it’s more accurate to say that I just didn’t sleep for a week after seeing it. It’s the most I’ve ever been scared of a movie ever. So yeah show it to that 6 year old.
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Sep 20, 2018 19:04
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 The Boogieman Will Get You(1942) This was a nice find, I had it sitting around on one of those Mill Creek DVD sets. They're mostly terrible but usually within each set there is a gem or two, and the image quality of this film was actually way above what I typically expect for Mill Creek. Those that enjoyed Tales of Terror on Lurdiak's Scream Stream will remember how great Peter Lorre can be with the right comedy partner, and as it turns out Karloff really has some very solid comedy chops. There are some goofy gags here, but also a lot of more straightforward lines that you'd find in a typical horror movie except they take on a comedic tone due to Lorre's frenetic energy and Karloff's deadpan delivery. Now, how exactly the Boogieman factors into this story I have no idea, even after having seen the movie! The story involves Karloff's mad scientist character as he bumbles his way into a groundbreaking scientific discovery. Of course, to make an omelette you have to break some eggs.... This was a fun way to close out my little run of 40's horror, but I'll be honest, it's not my favorite decade so I'm happy to move on into the 50's and 60's. Although I'm doing one final run through each decade at the end of October and I'm saving Cat People for that slot. 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) 9. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein(1948) 10. The Boogeyman Will Get You(1942)
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Sep 20, 2018 19:11
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10. Friend Request (2016) I've enjoyed films that play with our anxieties about social media and online culture, especially the almost omnipresence of cameras and recording devices along with the social ramifications of it all. Films like The Den do this in really chilling ways while still be grounded in some kind of reality. Friend Request on the other hand feels like the most cheap way to cash in on that with a teen market. There isn't any kind of statement here to be made. A bunch of privileged college kids think a disturbed outcast type is too weird for their friend to hang out with and after the outcast girl freaks out she's unfriended by the popular girl. After that a supernatural turn of events begins picking off our main character's friends one by one through social media. The worst part I think is there are no lessons to be learned about acceptance or what addiction to social media can do to people. There is just something evil that comes after these people for no real crime other than not continuing a friendship. None of them victims deserved any of what happens through the whole film and it's like a pointless exercise in misery. There is what I thought to be an interesting twist towards the end, but it's not worth sitting through the run time. 1 out of 5. Just avoid this one unless you're big into this sub-genre.
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Sep 20, 2018 19:14
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 #2. Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers -  /5Woof. This one's rough. I know Halloween 4 isn't great, but it has its moments, and that great intro sequence makes up for a fair amount. (The first 4 Halloween movies all had great intros. Starting here, that kind of just... stopped.) This one, though, I'm struggling to come up with any positive elements at all. I guess it was nice that Donald Pleasence got to keep working; I like the idea of Michael Myers being animated totally by rage, but they really didn't do anything with this characterization, and that explanation by Loomis seems to come out of left field in the climax. Otherwise, I struggled to pay attention to this movie, and when I was there, it wasn't doing anything to actually engage me - it's rote, it's dull, I don't understand why they wanted to replace the previous teen lead with someone even worse, and the gore effects aren't even that good. Don't bother with this one, there's better Halloween sequels out there. Watched so far: Cat People, Halloween 5 Retro Futurist posted:Killer Klowns from Outer Space sitting in my PVR for a bit, would it be ok for a 6 year old or does it get super gorey/violent? Is it weird that I used to love this film when I was kid? Like, I had my mom rent it from the local Phar-Mor video section multiple times between the ages of 6-8, just because I was that into it. I mean, my parents were super lenient when it came to movies, so I was the kid who had seen things like Aliens and Predator and Robocop well before I was 7 years old. So, it's probably not too bad if you're kid has a tolerance for blood and violence and stuff like already (and what's in there is pretty broad and outlandish, so it may not be so bad even if they don't), but yeah, you'll be the best judge of what your kid can handle. Maybe you should rewatch it on your own first, see if it fits within what you deem acceptable, and then show it to your kid later? smilingpear posted:Good to hear! I'm glad I wasn't missing anything when it came to 3 but it's still a bummer that it didn't live up to 2. One thing to remember is that Child's Play 3 was, like, super-rushed compared to 2. I think it came out less than a year after 2 first hit theaters, and writer/series creator Don Mancini has said in the past that he was too creatively tapped out to do 3 properly. I have a weird soft spot for 3, in that I don't think it was the worst thing that they could have done within the constraints they had, but yeah, it's not very good. Class3KillStorm fucked around with this message at 20:48 on Sep 20, 2018 |
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Sep 20, 2018 20:30
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 7. Monkey Shines (1988). Directed by George Romero. My first exposure to Romero's non-Dead, non-anthology work. It's filled with so many bizarre ideas and concepts, and while it's kind of a mess and half of the ideas don't work, I still enjoyed myself. It goes a little more body horror than I expected, with the turning monkeys into brain junkies and seeing through it's eyes bit. The pacing is rough, though giving the main character enough time to adjust to his disability was a good call and adds a lot of tension to the film. He calls the monkey a gently caress face, so it can't be all bad.
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Sep 20, 2018 22:19
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Going for 31, which is a lot more than I usually do in my personal October horror-marathons. Let's hope my sanity is fully destroyed. I just kicked it off with Lon Chaney's Phantom of the Opera. This film really is all about The Phantom, with only one other characters being at all interesting, so it's fortunate that he's thoroughly entertaining, switching rapidly between diabolical glee and theatrical dejection, all surprisingly clearly articulated despite Chaney's disfiguring make-up. It was a nice surprise that I knew nothing about what would happen from the masked ball scene onwards, which is when the movie really begins to shine, moving as briskly as any modern thriller or action movie to the Phantom's final act of defiance.
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Sep 20, 2018 22:56
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 8. Vampyres (1974, dir. José Ramón Larraz) Lesbian vampire movie that's also kind of a ghost film. Opens with the couple murdered while having sex, and now they're vampires haunting this castle and drinking the blood of whoever passes by. Can't remember how it ended up on my radar and I'm not at all familiar with the genre, but it was pretty good. The movie is still kind of an excuse to have a lot of sex and nudity, but it gets better as it goes along and does really manage to create a spooky atmosphere. And it manages to deliver on the build up to some pretty effective and brutal violence. Not bad at all. 3/5  9. We're Going to Eat You (1980, dir. Tsui Hark) Kung fu cannibal comedy horror. It's strangely a little light on the horror elements for a movie with a village full of cannibals and such a high body count and quite a bit of gore, but I think there's enough for it to qualify. Characters are as silly as you would expect, the jokes uneven, and the plot is pretty bare bones. The fights are pretty good and there's a bit of rollerskate action at the end that is hilarious. Didn't quite love it, but had a good time. Butterfly Murders is still the Tsui Hark martial arts horror I'd most recommend. 3/5 Total: 9. 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), Vampyres (3/5), We're Going to Eat You (3/5)
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Sep 20, 2018 22:59
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Friends Are Evil posted:7. Monkey Shines (1988). Directed by George Romero. I like how the tiny 8 pound monkey can overpower full grown adults
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Sep 21, 2018 00:04
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That's because despite their size those monkeys have the strength of 10 men.
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Sep 21, 2018 00:10
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6. My Bloody Valentine (2009) I enjoyed the Friday the 13th remake so much that I thought I'd check out this slasher redux starring the other Winchester brother. Big mistake. I haven't watched a lot of horror movies, but for some reason the central conceit of My Bloody Valentine was ludicrous to me: pickaxe murderer comes back to pickaxe murder again, with no motivation for doing so. The entire cast of characters is incredibly unlikable and not even in a fun way where you enjoy watching Pickaxe Man murder them. The movie only gets muddier with the lamest loving third act reveal I've seen in a long time. Like, outside of the 'mental illness causes serial murder' nonsense, the whole thing felt like the writers didn't know how to end the movie. Did anyone see this in theaters to judge the 3D effects? Even outside of the Doctor Tongue's 3D House of Pickaxes stuff, all the kill effects just looked cheap and jarring.
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Sep 21, 2018 00:50
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You can actually go back to the beginning of the current horror thread and read opinions about My Bloody Valentine because the thread has been around that long, and coincidentally began right around the time of the movie's release.
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Sep 21, 2018 00:53
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3/31. - Jason X I went into this knowing that it was supposed to be pretty bad and actually had a half decent time! I did F13 1-8 last challenge and I would say this is more entertaining than a couple of those at least. Don’t get me wrong it looks and feels like a SYFY movie, but there are some excellent kills Cyro-face smash and “He’s screwed”. And I lost it when frozen Jason fell over and chopped the dudes arm off. It did seem a little strange that 400+ years into the future we have the tech to reattach limbs in a matter of minutes and rebuild people synthetically but the weapon of choice is still... bullets and artillery? It also sucks that the biggest douche in the whole movie dies off screen and I wish they had explored the Crystal Lake simulation a little more. Otherwise though, I had an alright time coming in with no or low expectations.
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Sep 21, 2018 01:10
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Day -11 Jaws https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pxkU9GVAoA You know, I think this Spielberg kid might have a future in show biz! I'm having trouble finding things to say about the most successful horror movie in history. It's a legitimately great movie and isn't just coasting on popularity, but everyone already knew that. I'm watching Jaws and I'm thinking that the lesson people took from it is "You can make one crowd pleaser and dominate the entire market for a season!" rather than "You make a great movie with popular appeal and good things may happen." It's interesting how the movie can be so cleanly divided into two halves which almost feel like they were shot in two different styles. The Amity scenes are about building the community. It's shot more slowly while at the same time there's lots of wandering around town. But at the same time, I don't have a great view of how the beaches are laid out in Amity, there's about six or seven different coastal sequences and none of them really connect with each other. And then on the Orca it's all about defining that space, where everyone and everything is and what they're doing. Brody is lost on land trying to get the beaches closed, but he has a place at sea. It's a shame the sequels are so bad. I mean Jaws 2 is just mediocre, not really any better worse than the other aquatic animal attacks people but they won't shut the beaches movies that got released in the wake of Jaws. But Jaws 3 is worse than that, and I haven't seen the house that Jaws 4 bought for Michael Caine so I can't comment on that. So is it Jaws or Vertigo that has the best rack-focus shot in cinema history?
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Sep 21, 2018 01:20
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4) Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) My next double bill of 30s original and later remake. If you've seen House of Wax then you know exactly what to expect here: brilliant wax sculptor loses collection (and parts of anatomy) in horrible fire accident, builds new collection using murder victims, ultimately discovers why we have all those health and safety regulations regarding vats of molten wax. It's a good example of how horror never used to be the pigeonhole for directors that it is today, being directed by Michael Curtiz, who went on to direct The Adventures of Robin Hood and Casablanca. Sadly, though, it suffers from a relatively crude Technicolor process - it would have been better in monochrome - and while 30s horror stalwart Lionel Atwill is game, he's no Vincent Price. Still, he's backed up with talent like Fay Wray and Holmes Herbert so it all works.
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Sep 21, 2018 01:27
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Jedit posted:4) Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) I like this movie, and I actually dig the weird 2-tone technicolor. It's strange and cool.
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Sep 21, 2018 01:34
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6. The First Purge - 4.5/5quote:This movie fuckin rules. I've grown really sick of post-apoc media assuming wanton murder is a natural conclusion, so I was really pleased with how The First Purge subverted that. Seeing the community come together was so refreshing. Never let anyone tell you it's human nature to be greedy. The "satiric" depiction of the state is upsetting, given the reality of it, but it's a very cathartic movie. There's nothing quite like seeing fascists get gunned down and torn apart with some John WIck poo poo.
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Sep 21, 2018 01:51
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5. Fright Night (1985, Tom Holland) This is a movie that appeals more to my 15 year old self than my current 35 year old self, and I wish I had seen it back then because I'm positive it would have been one of my favorites. I mean it's pretty cool, it has fun effects and makeup, and good performances (except for the kid's friend - what the hell sort of acting was that?), but it's just a bit, I dunno, straight forward? There weren't any surprises. But that could very likely be due to my overexposure to these sorts of vampire stories over the past three decades (many of which are probably influenced by this). Despite not loving it I am glad to have finally seen it.   (3 Amy vampires out of 5)
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Sep 21, 2018 02:07
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| # ? Jun 3, 2024 18:23 |
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Random Stranger posted:Day -11 Jaws Have you seen Duel? The foley for the shark's sinking remains were taken and surprisingly slightly altered from his earlier mad trucker movie. Which remains one of my favorite films despite being a very early work and made for a T.V. slot.
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Sep 21, 2018 02:19
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