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Two rewatches: The Cabin in the Woods (2011) [Blu-ray] Frequently amusing, but never scary. The central metaphor never really comes together either. Still, entertaining. Gone Girl (2011) [Blu-ray] Still kicks rear end. Awful people being awful to each other in creative ways. Also, Carrie Coon. So Far: #1 The Terror (2018), #2 The Cabin in the Woods (2011), #3 Gone Girl (2014)
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Oct 1, 2018 16:22
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14. Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932, Robert Florey) Source: DVD (library) I don't recall ever reading the Poe story so I can't speak for how accurate this film is to its source, but something tells me they took some major liberties. The plot is ridiculous. A bizarre carnie sideshow exhibitor named Dr. Mirakle (Lugosi) kidnaps women and injects them with blood from his ape companion named Erik. Why is he doing this? Well I'm not entirely clear but I believe he's searching for a mate for his ape. And it has something to do with evolution somehow. So the girls whose blood doesn't match Erik's get killed and dumped into the river. There's a protagonist whose girlfriend catches the eye of Dr. Mirakle who thinks she just might have really good ape blood. Horror ensues. There were only two things I like about this movie: Lugosi's wonderfully hammy performance, and the nice cinematography. Everything else is corny and uninteresting. The story is silly, the ape isn't scary and the third act is dumb as hell. Speaking of the ape, I think that part bugged me the most. Anytime they'd show it from a distance it was clearly a person in a lovely looking ape suit, but when they'd cut to a close up it was a real chimpanzee about 2/3 the size. The swap is jarring and ridiculous. Were audiences ever actually convinced by this? Seeing the characters' horrified reactions to a friendly looking chimp is perplexing. I expected more from a Poe story with Bela Lugosi.   (2 terrifying apes out of 5) Spatulater bro! fucked around with this message at 15:35 on Oct 4, 2018 |
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Oct 1, 2018 16:30
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4. The Blob (1988) - DVD My wife picked this morning's movie. "I've never seen a blob movie, before." She was amazed that I hadn't, either. Between the amazing practical effects, better than average projected backgrounds, mean spirit, and balls out plotting, it overcomes all of its flaws to just be awesome. My wife was cringing, gagging, and covering her face for a bonus. Best characters, in order: 1. Homeless dog 2. Homeless man 3. Pharmacist Oh my God, I am in love with this poster.  Tally: N/A Psycho (1960), 1. Halloween (1978), 2. Halloween II (1981), 3. Carnival of Souls (1962), 4. The Blob (1988)
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Oct 1, 2018 16:41
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Choco1980 posted:Annnnd, Sinistri beat my record from last year before October even started. And you all wonder why some of us think the head start is horsegarbage. I still see the head start as preseason warm-up my opinion is likely to change when I come up three movies short on the 31st and decide to count my 2 week head start
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Oct 1, 2018 16:44
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 The Wicker Man(1973) This felt like the natural place to go after Phantom of the Paradise, and required viewing for me considering it was my staff pick this year. I like using The Wicker Man as my personal sign that the season is upon us, I think it's perfect for that. It's not the traditional spook-a-doodle with the foggy graveyards or monsters that I like to save for the very end of the month, and the majority of the film takes place in daylight. I think of it as saying goodbye to the light for the month, after this the darkness takes over. I've posted about The Wicker Man probably 4 or 5 times now in these challenges(as have others), so everything that's been said about the music has probably already been said. But, as I mentioned in the staff pick section, Lee considered this role to be the best of his career. The most interesting and most fun to play. And I think it shows, everyone involved really seems to be having a hell of a time.    Nosferatu The Vampyre(1979) - Available on Shudder Just a beautiful film from start to finish. The first few times I saw this, Kinski's presence overrode everything else in my mind, and rightfully so. He's not human, there's just nothing there(a statement that could apply equally to the character or the actor). He expresses despair over his situation, his inability to die, but even that is somehow hollow. Kinski plays the character as someone who has been beaten down by time, and he can no longer see humanity as anything other than a cause of bitterness and resentment. The opening credits over images of real, desiccated human remains underlines that aspect of him as well. But Kinski aside, Herzog's visuals are as good here as they are in any of his films, Aguirre and Fitzcarraldo included. There is a constant haze hanging over everything that creates a dreamlike quality, it makes me feel like I'm immersed in an old school fairy tale but for adults.   The pacing is maybe a bit slow for some, and I do think it slows down a little bit too much in the final third. That said though, the ending is a pretty solid gut punch that isn't seen in many Dracula adaptations. This is certainly a must-see for any Dracula/vampire connoisseur. And with that, we've hit October 1st, and I'm headed into the best decade of horror the 1980s. 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) 11. The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms(1953) 12.Gojira(1954) 13. Creature From the Black Lagoon(1954) 14. The Night of the Hunter(1955) 15. The Curse of Frankenstein(1957) 16. Brides of Dracula(1960) 17. The Tomb of Ligeia(1964) 18. Blood and Black Lace(1964) 19. Frankenstein Created Woman(1967) 20. Quatermass and the Pit(1967) 21. Don't Look Now(1973)22. Dracula A.D. 1972 23. Phantom of the Paradise(1974) 24. The Wicker Man(1973) 25. Nosferatu The Vampyre(1979) Basebf555 fucked around with this message at 16:56 on Oct 1, 2018 |
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Oct 1, 2018 16:53
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 82- Slime People 1963 - YOUTUBE First time watch with this one. While not particularly good or bad, this one's more 'meh' than anything. It feels like a script for a 50s era film that got dusted off. I'd consider this okay to have on when you need background noise while doing something else, otherwise there's far better movies to go watch. I could've skipped this one.  83- Last Man on Earth 1964 - PRIME I think out of all the adaptations of I am Legend, this one's the most faithful. The pacing on this one's great. The flow of seeing how the world is now and Morgan's routine with the flashbacks of how everything got this way is handled so well that by the end we see how Morgan's fate was inevitable. Overall, I'd recommend sitting through this version over Omega Man or I am Legend.  84- Night of the Living Dead 1968 - DVD Not sure what to say on this one with all that's been said already. This is the film that set the standard for zombies, relegating the traditional Voodoo style to the sidelines and setting up the essential formula for many zombie movies to come. I do enjoy watching this with someone who's never seen it before and watching their reactions. End always shocks them. This one's become one of my Halloween viewing staples.
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Oct 1, 2018 17:08
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M_Sinistrari posted:84- Night of the Living Dead 1968 - DVD I highly recommend upgrading to the recent Criterion blu ray. For the first time ever it feels like you really do have a definitive version of the film that will hold up for years and years to come.
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Oct 1, 2018 17:15
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Basebf555 posted:I highly recommend upgrading to the recent Criterion blu ray. For the first time ever it feels like you really do have a definitive version of the film that will hold up for years and years to come. I'll keep that in mind since Criterion's always done a great job on releases to me. I've got the Millenium edition I picked up some years back.
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Oct 1, 2018 17:23
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I keep managing to lose track of this thread. Playing catch-up, will hopefully get better at staying up-to-date. #6. Beetlejuice (iTunes) -  /5Beetlejuice is weird - I know that it was one of those movies that I watched a fair amount as a kid; I know I watched the cartoon adaptation when it was on; I know I had a couple of the action figures. But if you asked me if it was an important film to me when I was a kid, I don't know that I'd agree, not compared to Tim Burton's follow-up movie Batman, anyway. On its own merits, when viewed as an adult, I'd say that Beetlejuice is the better movie. It's a funny, weird romp, with an absurd amount of inventiveness that it knows how to deploy for maximum effect. The problem is all of the stuff that turns the film's attention away from that - I found myself a bit less attuned to all of the stuff with main characters Adam and Barbara this time (at least when they're not pulling their faces off), compared to the more animated Deetzes and their oddball friends. Of course, Michael Keaton makes the film work, and without his stellar turn, I think this film would end up totally lost in the shuffle. Franchescanado posted:
 #7. The Horror of Party Beach (YouTube) - 0/5 Z-grade garbage that was apparently filmed not 2 miles from my current apartment, but I'll be damned if I could tell that - the film is ineptly shot and all of the beach scenes look like they could take place anywhere. The acting is atrocious, the score is a deadening cacophony (seriously, the scene where the fish monsters are created sounds like someone threw an orchestra into an industrial washing machine), the suits are stupid, the whole thing is inept, and the back half spends way too much time doing that very "1950s monster movie" conceit of trying to scientifically explain the monsters away that ends up sucking out all of the energy and bringing the thing to a screeching halt. I don't care about the biological underpinning of why the monsters need human blood, I just want to watch the fish monsters attack some random sexy 1950s coeds and what do you mean this stupid, benighted thing didn't even come out in the right decade?  I mean, look at this stupid thing, he's walking around with a mouthful of hot dogs. How are people supposed to be scared by this? I hate this stupid loving movie, and I hate myself more for not watching it with some smartass robots in the bottom corner trying to save it from itself. Watched so far: Cat People, Halloween 5, Mom and Dad, Hell House LLC, A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010), Beetlejuice, The Horror of Party Beach
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Oct 1, 2018 18:11
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FRAN CHALLENGE #3: Hometown Horror
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Now everybody do the zombie stomp (Duh doo duh doo)
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Oct 1, 2018 18:16
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If any Amazon Prime users are interested in 50s and 60s dinosaur and monster movies, you might want to check out "Jurassic Dinosaurs of the Movies" (for some reason Amazon lists it incorrectly since the the title is "Fantastic" not Jurassic) It is a series of like fifty movie trailers, the campy kind with melodramatic words flashing on the screen. It ranges from the familiar (Ray Harryhausen stuff) to the obscure (The Loch Ness Horror)
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Oct 1, 2018 19:06
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Movie may suck but that costume owns. 
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Oct 1, 2018 19:15
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I just saw this thread, and I was already planning to do something similar so this works out great. My goal is at least 31 horror movies I have never seen before, with a minimum of one a day. I expect to overshoot that at least a bit.
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Oct 1, 2018 19:46
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My first movie was Friday the 13th Part of my OCTOBER HORROR CHALLENGE is to watch classic horror movies that I've never seen, and I have never seen any of the Friday the 13th, Halloween, or Nightmare on Elm Street series. I was kinda worried that actually watching these movies would be like a couple months back when I tried to watch the old Scooby Doo cartoon. That is to say, there's literally no reason to watch it, I had already absorbed everything of value just from cultural osmosis. But Friday the 13th was a pleasant surprise, it's really good! I'm not good at reviews so this is just gonna be random things I thought while watching the movie. Nobody knows there's a killer until the end. That means that it completely escapes the horror movie cliche of people dying for dumb reasons. You can't call someone dumb for going to the outhouse by themself or investigating a voice in the rain when they have no reason to suspect they might get murdered. It also reminds me of that thing Alfred Hitchcock said about how a five minute scene of people having a dull conversation can be really tense if you let the audience know there's a bomb under the table. The characters aren't deep, but I think that's a benefit. They're just teens having fun and fixing a camp. You see them actually working hard to get the place fixed up, so it sucks when it's all ruined by a murderer. they sneak off to gently caress, but c'mon they're teens alone in the woods what would you expect? The one exception is that racist guy who was always loving around. I was glad when he died, gently caress that guy. The killer is great too.Betsy Palmer does a fantastic job as the unhinged loving mother. The fact that she's just a lady makes the final confrontation way more interesting, because she can be hurt and killed just like her intended victim. I hate the Paranormal Activity-style daemon killers where there's nothing the protagonist can do but wait for the monster to decided to stop loving around and kill them. One thing that surprised me was how it doesn't really set up a franchise at all. At the end the killer is dead, and the idea that Jason Voorhes is actually out there is just a delusion from a severely traumatized young woman. If anything, the only real sequel hook I could see is that Alice becomes the killer trying to avenge Jason. I know that's not how it shakes out, of course, so I'm interested to see how Part 2 handles it. So all in all: Friday the 13th is good!
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Oct 1, 2018 20:03
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Guy Goodbody posted:My first movie was Friday the 13th I would highly highly recommend you listening to In Voorhees We Trust With Gourley & Rust. This Friday's episode will be Part 7. They're long episodes, but they're big fans and it's like rediscovering the series with them. If you don't know anything about the series, maybe wait until you've watched Parts 2 & 3 before listening, as they're not the tightest about spoiling future films. Really, that goes with everybody that likes podcasts and F13 series. It's a great podcast to listen to while cooking/cleaning/etc. There's a promo code to get a month subscription for free, so as of now you'd be able to listen up to Jason X without paying anything.
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Oct 1, 2018 20:09
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Guy Goodbody posted:Part of my OCTOBER HORROR CHALLENGE is to watch classic horror movies that I've never seen, and I have never seen any of the Friday the 13th, Halloween, or Nightmare on Elm Street series. I was kinda worried that actually watching these movies would be like a couple months back when I tried to watch the old Scooby Doo cartoon. That is to say, there's literally no reason to watch it, I had already absorbed everything of value just from cultural osmosis. Your random thoughts are exactly what I'd be interested in reading if you're really going to be watching that stuff for the first time. One of the best things about this is reading people's initial reactions to movies I've loved for years, which we don't get very often in the day to day of the horror thread.
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Oct 1, 2018 20:14
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Guy Goodbody posted:I'm not good at reviews Guy Goodbody posted:A really good review
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Oct 1, 2018 20:16
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Yeah, this is why I tell people ignore the inner critic that says "I don't know how to write good reviews, especially for ("movie everyone's seen")". Some of us have seen a movie so many times, and a fresh face's first viewing holds insights we're just not capable of anymore. I've been very impressed with the write-ups this year, and it's only the first of October.
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Oct 1, 2018 20:20
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Franchescanado posted:Yeah, this is why I tell people ignore the inner critic that says "I don't know how to write good reviews, especially for ("movie everyone's seen")". There's also the misconception that writing reviews means something beyond simply "putting your thoughts in writing." Like it needs to be professionally written or something. In fact lots of professional critics' reviews bug the poo poo out of me with how unnaturally they read. I swear those Film Comment people must have a thesaurus sitting next to them as they write.
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Oct 1, 2018 20:28
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Basebf555 posted:Your random thoughts are exactly what I'd be interested in reading if you're really going to be watching that stuff for the first time. One of the best things about this is reading people's initial reactions to movies I've loved for years, which we don't get very often in the day to day of the horror thread. I've already got the first four Friday the 13th movies, the first two Nightmare on Elm Street movies, and the first Halloween. And a Stuart Gordon boxset. I can't promise any classics beyond that, my viewing list will be mainly determined by what i can find cheap at Half Price Books Franchescanado posted:I would highly highly recommend you listening to In Voorhees We Trust With Gourley & Rust. This Friday's episode will be Part 7. They're long episodes, but they're big fans and it's like rediscovering the series with them. If you don't know anything about the series, maybe wait until you've watched Parts 2 & 3 before listening, as they're not the tightest about spoiling future films. aw man. I don't want to sign up for Stitcher. I downloaded the free Stitcher app on my phone and it wanted me to give them all my personal information before I could listen to anything, even free podcasts you can just download from wherever. I don't trust them. Spatulater bro! posted:There's also the misconception that writing reviews means something beyond simply "putting your thoughts in writing." Like it needs to be professionally written or something. In fact lots of professional critics' reviews bug the poo poo out of me with how unnaturally they read. I swear those Film Comment people must have a thesaurus sitting next to them as they write. I mainly meant that I don't know how to structure a review, do that thing where one point flows into the next
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Oct 1, 2018 20:38
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As a fellow insecure writer who worries he's putting up too many massive blocks of poo poo no one reads, I also say that was a really enjoyable read and if its any indication you're going to be one of the posters whose reviews I make a point to read all month. What I REALLY enjoyed about it is that I watched Friday the 13th 1 and 2 last year and hated them, am gonna watch 3 for Fran's challenge, and had just got done rereading my reviews from last year's thread. So I absolutely loved reading your first time reactions and how different they were from mine. Some of it was a perspective I genuinely didn't see when I watched it, some of it is just different tastes, but its great seeing what other people think and making you think some more about it. And if we're both planning to do Part 3 and maybe 4 then it will be fun to see how far we diverge or start to find mutual ground.
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Oct 1, 2018 20:41
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Guy Goodbody posted:aw man. I don't want to sign up for Stitcher. I downloaded the free Stitcher app on my phone and it wanted me to give them all my personal information before I could listen to anything, even free podcasts you can just download from wherever. I don't trust them. For what it's worth, it's been the least intrusive streaming service I pay for. Guy Goodbody posted:And a Stuart Gordon boxset. You lucky sonofa
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Oct 1, 2018 20:41
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12) The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) (Amazon) Wow. This is my first actual Hammer movie ever, and I loved every moment. I watched Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires (which wasn't solely Hammer), but it didn't have the same pure Gothic horror feel that this one did. Cushing's Frankenstein was perfectly dickish and became more and more unhinged as the movie went on, and Lee's Creature was absolutely perfect. To think that they basically put Bub from Day of the Dead on screen in 1957, with effects that looks as good if not better, is astounding. Can't say enough good things about this one, and I'm excited to dig further into the Hammer catalogue now. Watched (12): Puppet Master 4, Puppet Master 5, Terrifier, Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires, Martyrs (2008), Mandy, Babadook, Ghost Stories, Behind the Mask: the Rise of Leslie Vernon, Curse of the Puppet Master, Devil's Candy, Curse of Frankenstein
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Oct 1, 2018 21:01
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COOL CORN posted:12) The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) (Amazon) YES! Keep going! Hammer is the best.
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Oct 1, 2018 21:12
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Franchescanado posted:
11. "Best" of the Worst  Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers This challenge was a hard one (also my first), and my first gut instinct was to go with John Carpenter's worst. But then I did some research into Ghosts of Mars and... well no, I'm not going to track down a copy of Ghosts of Mars and sit through an early-2000's sci-fi horror starring Ice Cube. Not today, the first day of MOTHERFUCKING OCTOBER!!   Ahem... so I decided to use this challenge as an excuse to finally watch Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers, the most noteworthy/notorious movie from director Fred Olen Ray, a director mostly known for directing movies with the word "bikini" in the title. I've had the blu ray sitting around for a while, and this was a movie I'd heard of since I was a little horror VHS-obsessed kid and I can still remember the movie box and how sleazy I felt just looking at it even then. So where do I begin? Do you like Blood Feast? Do you wish Blood Feast had a ton of boobs and chainsaws in it? Well you're in luck! The main reason to watch this movie is Michelle Bauer*, she totally steals every scene she's in even if it's just standing in the background of an ancient Egyptian ceremony bugging her eyes out and staring around the room. The movie opens with a guy who's a dead ringer for 80's Donald Trump getting disemboweled and dismembered by a topless Michelle Bauer in a shower cap with a chainsaw. Sadly it never really gets any better than that, but the final chainsaw fight between Linnea Quigley and Michelle Bauer comes close. I'm not going to lie and say this was a "good" movie, but it has a lot of charm and I can see why it has a cult following. Recommended if you have a stomach for schlocky sleaze. *and by total coincidence that I really didn't plan for, happy birthday Michelle Bauer!
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Oct 1, 2018 21:31
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All right! I'm gonna go for 31 since this is my first time. I'm from Chile and I'm gonna do at least one chilean horror movie (I'll try to do more, but it really depends if I can get my hands on them or find some streaming service with them).
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Oct 1, 2018 21:52
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Friends Are Evil posted:
This and Coherence make for a great double feature on uncomfortable dinner parties.
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Oct 1, 2018 22:46
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 15. Carrie (1976, dir. Brian De Palma) [hulu] drat it took me a long time to see Carrie. Everyone knows this one already. Piper Laurie is the best. Gets its hooks in right from the start, though maybe there would have been a better way to shoot that opening scene. De Palma is a creep. The movie is very good I like the part where everybody dies. 4/5  16. The Beyond (1981, dir. Lucio Fulci) [shudder] Hotel built on a gateway to hell, it gets opened. Great atmosphere and feeling of Hell leaking into the world. Spiders that take a very long time to kill someone. Fulci really likes to focus on the blood. I enjoyed the several shots in a row at the beginning where we pause on a bit of gore, then zoom in on it. Very good. 4/5 Franchescanado posted:
 17. The Ward (2010, dir. John Carpenter) Carpenter seems to be a popular choice for this challenge, but how are there so many people who think Ghosts of Mars was his worst? That movie is fun and good and I like it. The Ward is clearly the worst, and I would know having just finished watching all of his horror features. Boring asylum movie with a ghost and a predictable twist. Bad script, and Carpenter brings nothing to it. It doesn't even feel worth really discussing in relation to his other work except it doesn't contain any of what made him great and could have been directed by anyone. I guess the actors were fine at least. 1/5  18. Village of the Damned (1995, dir. John Carpenter) [starz] Thought I'd watch both of the Carpenters I hadn't seen to make sure I knew which one was worst. This is one I really wished was better. I was onboard at the beginning, and the blackout and town dealing with the results of it were so good. But there's nothing interesting once the kids arrive. Disappointing. 2/5 My bottom three Carpenters, from best to worst: Village of the Damned, Vampires, The Ward  19. Amer (2009, dir. Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani) [blu-ray] A visually intense, hyper-stylized, psychadelic best of Italian horror influences experience. I feel like there are quite a few very specific references, especially in the middle segment, to things I haven't seen but I still loved it. The whole movie is intense even when very little is actually happening. Don't listen to anyone who calls it a giallo. There is some clear influence but it is definitely not giallo. 4/5 October 1st means it's time for some Halloween:  20. Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Meyers (1988, dir. Dwight H. Little) [shudder] Why did they keep making these? Why am I still watching them? Michael kills some people. Loomis is a dick and I don't like him. Don't like the way it uses the classic Halloween theme. Not unwatchable, but it sure is boring. 2/5  21. Halloween 5 (1989, dir. Dominique Othenin-Girard) [shudder] Why did they keep making these? Why am I still watching them? Michael kills some people. Loomis is a dick and I don't like him. Don't like the way it uses the classic Halloween theme. Not unwatchable, but it sure is boring. 2/5 Total: 21. 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), The Slumber Party Massacre (4/5), The Eternal Evil of Asia (3/5), ~*28 Weeks Later (3/5), Phantasm II (4/5), Ravenous (4/5), Carrie (4/5), The Beyond (4/5), ~The Ward (1/5), Village of the Damned['95] (2/5), Amer (4/5), Halloween 4 (2/5), Halloween 5 (2/5) *-rewatch ~-fran challenge
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Oct 1, 2018 22:52
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Franchescanado posted:
#3. Insidious (2010) Soon after moving into a new house, a family starts having terrifying encounters, and one son goes into a deep coma. Soon they discover that it is not their house that is what's haunted, but their boy... I was challenged to watch something I knew I wouldn't like, and James Wan's low effort, sterile, Hollywood ghost flicks fit the bill. Having never got more than a couple minutes into this, I finally watched the dang thing today. Everything about it feels very much like they're trying to pay a very low cost to scare you, from the child endangerment, to the shaky camerawork, to the "demon" painted up like Darth Maul. If it weren't for Lin Shaye as a psychic trying to help the family, carrying every scene she's in, the film would be a total loss. As it is, I can't in good conscience recommend this film. out of 54. Baby Blood (1990) (Commanded by Windows98) A French woman gets impregnated by a strange alien parasite, and then becomes helpless to the entity growing inside her, commanding her to feed it blood to grow and survive. This was a wild and weird one in many ways. It's not at all afraid of the red stuff, and is in fact pretty over the top with it. The story was strange and continued to escalate as it went, keeping me at attention, up until its bizarre climax. One surprise to me was how well done the English dub performance was, where if you squint, you'd almost think it was the natural actors acting (except for two bits where the track suddenly lapses into French again oddly. This seems true of every copy I could find). Anyways, if you're looking for something odd and gory, you can't go wrong here. out of 5Franchescanado posted:
5. The Tenderness of the Wolves (1973) Set in post-war Germany, Fritz is a man of many labels. Thief, black-marketeer, police officer, pedophile, cannibal. Through this failing town of poverty, he indulges in his vices of young boys in near plain sight while the police grow ever more suspicious of the man. Based on a very real serial killer of the 1920s, this movie is crawling with grime and sleaze as we watch Fritz continue to seduce underage boys, and commit various other crimes, while those around him celebrate his friendship. It's a depiction of a town whose policeforce is understaffed and overcorrupt. It's the kind of film you want to take a shower afterwards from. out of 5
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Oct 1, 2018 23:02
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LORD OF BOOTY posted:If you've seen my version and the original: what did you think of my change to the ending? It's simultaneously the change I'm proudest of and iffiest on. I actually prefer your cut, ending and all, way more than the original. The original ending just goes on a little too long and leaves too little to the imagination. Your cut reminds me of (spoilered just in case) the old freeze frame sudden endings seen a lot in Giallo films, or something like the end of Sleepaway Camp. You get a final image/scene that sits there with you and leaves you understanding the general gist of what just happened, and what probably will happen, but not showing you. To sum up, good work! The movie didn't grab me in general, but your version got much closer than the original to doing so.
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Oct 1, 2018 23:04
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11) Phantom of the Opera (1943) I felt like watching another Universal movie while I had the box set out anyway, so went for the one I haven't seen before. I shouldn't have to summarise the plot, which is just as well as like a real opera the movie eschews much of it in favour of songs. On the other foot, it's a really good looking movie. It was the first - and I think only - Universal horror picture in colour, and it absolutely pops with rich reds and blues. Jack Pierce also did an excellent job on the Phantom's injuries; although it doesn't compare to the horribleness of Chaney's design, it looks extremely realistic. Fun fact: the role of composer and pianist Franz Liszt is played by Fritz Leiber, whose son Fritz Jr wrote several horror novels famously adapted into movies including Conjure Wife.
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Oct 1, 2018 23:13
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Sodomy Hussein posted:Alien: Resurrection Shower thought: Alien: Resurrection is the definitive ending of Firefly (because Joss Whedon can't write more than about 7 different characters in anything)
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Oct 1, 2018 23:43
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 The Whip and the Body (1963) A very young looking Christopher Lee plays Kurt, a dishonored nobleman who was cast out from his family after he pushed one of his lovers into suicide with his cruelty. He now returns to the family's castle, gothic and loaded with shadows and hidden passageways, on the eve of his brother's marriage, supposedly to make amends and reclaim his fortune.  you're telling me you wouldn't let 1963 Lee spank you? This film is interesting for a few reasons, getting to see Mario Bava directing Lee chief among them. It's also unique in its overtly sexual and explicit exploration of sadomasochism on screen. But while the film and its colors look absolutely gorgeous, it drags its feet far too often, gets too self serious, and Lee is surrounded by some of the most wooden acting I've seen even in a low budget horror film.  Still, the the kinky, violent, lustful scenes between are remarkable even outside of the time period this was filmed in, and Bava is quite brilliant in how he uses them to address and redirect sympathies and reveal psychology before the, perhaps misguided, ending revelations. Worth watching, but I've since read some fairly over-the-top praise for this movie and its place in Bava's catalogue that I can't agree with entirely. 
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Oct 1, 2018 23:45
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The cool thing about Baby Blood English dub is that Gary Oldman does the voice of the Fetus. It is super creepy compared to the Italian sing song voice.
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Oct 1, 2018 23:46
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Franchescanado posted:
12. The Night HE Came Home(town Horror)  Halloween So I got lucky for this challenge, I live in Illinois and two of my favorite classic horror movies are set there. But I've seen Child's Play so many times, I figured I'd return to one of my criminally under-rewatched movies and watch Halloween again. It only seemed appropriate for October 1st. So right off the bat, one of the first things I noticed was that Donald Pleasance doesn't make a good first impression as Dr. Loomis. In the car ride scene, he seems to be trying to hide his accent and he's coming across really flat. He makes up for it later with his infamous stalking-around-in-a-bush-for-a-whole-night bit. Seriously, I think he's creepier than Michael Myers in this. I also noticed a detail or two that I missed the first couple of times, and how I missed this first one I don't know. The marathon that the kids are watching on TV features the original The Thing, and John Carpenter himself is apparently the horror host in VO. The second detail was that on Laurie's bedroom wall there's a portrait of James Ensor, the Belgian painter most well-known for his paintings of disembodied, creepy masks. No way was that unintentional. Also I admired John Carpenter's framing and lighting a whole lot more this time, particularly one scene where Laurie has just stabbed Michael with a knitting needle and then we see an overhead, skewed shot where she's spotlighted with the hallway light through the archway. Movie's still fantastic, and I can't wait for the new one. I haven't even seen Halloween II so I guess I get to go into the new retcon without the baggage of all the ridiculous sequels. Except III, but that doesn't count.
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Oct 2, 2018 00:14
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Murder Party (2007) I caught this on Netflix on the weekend. It’s Jeremy Saulnier’s directorial debut. In this film a lonely traffic cop finds an invitation to a Murder party and gets exactly what he was looking for. This movie was good but I will concede that the satire of art students isn’t really my thing and since that’s the whole movie I felt a bit of a disconnect. Despite feeling like I was on the outside of an in joke, I still found this to be very well made and entertaining. It’s very fast-paced and gets genuinely tense at times. I’ll recommend this. Hell Fest (2018) I caught this movie yesterday at the theatre. I was really into it’s atmosphere and for a while I was thinking this movie may be a future cult classic. By the time the movie was over my assessment had changed. This movie has great atmosphere but not really much else going for it. We follow a group of college students into a Halloween horror park and the main girl gets stalked by a Myersesque masked man. Who is he? Why is he doing this? We never really learn the answer to these questions. It’s random and frustrating that we have such an underdeveloped character. It’s extra frustrating as he has several chances to kill the main girl but doesn’t take them. Maybe if there was a point to his killings we would understand why. The main characters are probably the least likeable group I’ve come across in a horror movie in a long time, perhaps ever. There’s the main girl (typical horror movie virgin) the horror obsessed girl, the love interest and 3 non-descript characters. It’s really hard to get behind anyone in this movie. If we actually cared about the characters this may have helped make the stalking scenes more effective. I did enjoy the atmosphere in this movie. The setting, the theme parks, the Halloween imagery is all over the place and it’s great. We get all sorts of ghouls here and it made me want to go there. There’s also a really good kill in this movie. Overall though I am lukewarm on this. It will definitely get you in the Halloween spirit so that’s a plus. But the overall blandness of its characters hurts it to an irreparable degree. This movie could have been great but it ultimately feels like we’re watching a Cabin in the Woods style scenario that goes as planned. Watched (8) Always Watching: A Marble Hornets story; Terrifier; Boys in the Trees; Creature from Black Lake; Parents; Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat; Murder Party; Hell Fest
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Oct 2, 2018 00:21
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poo poo it's already October. I've been working pretty much non-stop and it kind of crept up on me. Is it too late to participate? I've scraped together a list of 21 (will try for more but not sure I'll have the time). Creep - First time watching Creep 2 - First time watching Halloween - Rewatch Halloween II - First time watching Halloween III: Season of the Witch - First time watching A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors - First time watching Dr Phibes Rises Again - First time watching I Walked with a Zombie - First time watching A Page of Madness - First time watching Mandy - Rewatch Murder Party - Rewatch Spider Baby - First time watching The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari - First time watching The Invisible Man - First time watching The Killing of a Sacred Deer - First time watching The Lure - First time watching Shivers - First time watching The Void - Rewatch The Blackcoats Daughter - First time watching A Dark Song - Rewatch Dead and Buried - First time watching
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Oct 2, 2018 00:28
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Also two more shorter reviews for movies I watched the last couple of days but don't have as much to say about. Green Room Brutal and gory but not gratuitous, tense, self-contained, well shot and well acted. It's about as close to a perfectly built horror or thriller as we've seen recently. While I can appreciate it for that, it didn't do much for me beyond that kind of technical level. I like Saulnier's filmmaking, but I was kind of much more engaged when the film was about a punk band loving up their car and going on tour.  The Blood Beast Terror This kind of sucked. Love the title though. Victorian detective versus mad scientist's shapeshifting vampire moths certainly isn't a premise without promise, but a goofy looking blood beast that's almost cute certainly doesn't help matters along. A very unexpected digression into a full length play-within-a-play precautionary tale about the evils of mad science was probably the most interesting bit tbh. Apparently Basil Rathbone was cast as the mad scientist across from Cushing as the inspector at one point, but died before he could film the part. That, maybe, would have been something. Which brings me up to 10 movies watched for the challenge so far, as I haven't been tracking it post to post.
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Oct 2, 2018 00:30
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Mitoboru posted:Is it too late to participate? Not in the slightest. In fact today is the day some people are starting.
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Oct 2, 2018 00:32
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| # ? Jun 4, 2024 20:32 |
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Jedit posted:11) Phantom of the Opera (1943) I find it hilarious that you identify Fritz Leiber by his horror novels, not his enormously influential fantasy stories. Also, his strong supporting role in the horror film Equinox. 
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Oct 2, 2018 01:14
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