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WeedlordGoku69
Feb 12, 2015

by Cyrano4747

Franchescanado posted:

:siren: FRAN CHALLENGE #5: Birth of Horror :siren:

Motherfucker I have to try and find something from 1994, which to my knowledge was basically a dead zone for horror movies :cripes:

e: actually, this might not be that bad, I thought In the Mouth of Madness was 95 but apparently it's 94. There's also Cemetery Man, Phantasm 3 and New Nightmare for movies I know are at least decent, and for stuff I've never seen that looks interesting, there's Death Machine, Dark Waters, Brainscan, Nadja, Red to Kill, Embrace of the Vampire, and Wolf.

notably, though, that's a pretty huge cross-section of the horror movies released in 94 according to Wikipedia, and the entire rest of it seems to be straight-to-video crap.

WeedlordGoku69 fucked around with this message at 00:21 on Oct 4, 2018

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feedmyleg
Dec 25, 2004
In the Mouth of Madness? Cemetery Man? New Nightmare?

Or go for the more interesting option and watch some DTV schlock you would never otherwise watch and have a good time with a bad movie.

mobby_6kl
Aug 9, 2009

by Fluffdaddy
^^^
In the Mouth of Madness. Also gently caress you 1994 goddamn.

Here's a handy table I made last time for 31 years in 31 days, with the top IMDB horror movies per year (sorry anyone older than me):



Franchescanado posted:

:siren: FRAN CHALLENGE #5: Birth of Horror :siren:




:ghost: Watch a horror movie released in the year you were born.

or

:ghost: Watch a movie set in the year you were born.
How about both, at the same time? :v:

That would be kind of normal for movies set in the present day, but this one explicitly has two time periods.

1. Night of the Creeps (1986)



This movie makes the same mistake in the opening that Commando does, that is revealing the space nature of the threat in the opening shot and scene. (Sadly that's the only thing they have in common) Here we get to see a shootout between some ugly aliens, one of whom then bails out from the main spaceship and lands on earth in the 50s. Coincidentally, a literal ax murderer mental patient escapes the nuthouse at the same time and murders the girlfriend of a guy investigating the alien crash, who in turn gets infected somehow.

The rest of the movie takes place in '86 as our collage bros try to score during pledge week. They're supposed to dump a corpse from a hospital in front of a frat house, but instead stumble into a secret lab and re-animate the corpse of the infected guy from the 50s. The rest is basically a zombie movie.

The film really has everything you'd ever want from a cheesy sci-fi horror flick, but sadly I thought it was held down by the execution. There's weird dialog, the acting is pretty bad, direction is boring and the editing sabotages some potentially great scenes. None of it is bad enough to be funny, but sufficiently bad to be detracting. In once case the guy gives his new girlfriend a shotgun, but in the next she's wearing a flamethrower that he had. Another time a guy tries to set the creatures on fire for seemingly no reason, as nothing was set up previously. There's a lawnmower scene, but it's nothing like Dead Alive and cuts immediately before you can see anything.

It's not bad but I honestly expected something much more fun. It definitely had the potential.
:spooky::spooky:.5 / 5

Justin Godscock
Oct 12, 2004

Listen here, funnyman!

LORD OF BOOTY posted:

Motherfucker I have to try and find something from 1994, which to my knowledge was basically a dead zone for horror movies :cripes:

New Nightmare is a good choice but, yeah, until Scream comes along 90s horror is a barren wasteland (unless you like lovely 80s horror sequels, some of which are DTV, as a "bad movie night" option).

TheKingslayer
Sep 3, 2008

Justin Godscock posted:

All I remember about Halloween Resurrection is Busta Rhymes fights Michael Myers.

My definition of a "bad movie" has always been you will forget all of it except for the part that is just plain stupid.

The movie sucks.

Busta doesn't just fight Michael, he Kung-Fu fights Michael and electrocutes his balls.

WeedlordGoku69
Feb 12, 2015

by Cyrano4747

feedmyleg posted:

In the Mouth of Madness? Cemetery Man? New Nightmare?

Or go for the more interesting option and watch some DTV schlock you would never otherwise watch and have a good time with a bad movie.

I thought ItMoM was 1995 for some reason, and I legit forgot what year Cemetery Man came out period. Plus I wasn't super excited to rewatch New Nightmare, I remember that movie being okay but nothing special.

feedmyleg
Dec 25, 2004
Anyone have ideas for horror movies based on horror movie fandom? Or centered around the watching of a horror movie/movies? Popcorn, Demons, and Scream would all count. Bonus points for drive-ins.

WeedlordGoku69
Feb 12, 2015

by Cyrano4747

feedmyleg posted:

Anyone have ideas for horror movies based on horror movie fandom? Or centered around the watching of a horror movie/movies? Popcorn, Demons, and Scream would all count. Bonus points for drive-ins.

Dead End Drive In seems obvious.

Random Stranger
Nov 27, 2009



mobby_6kl posted:

1. Night of the Creeps (1986)

This movie makes the same mistake in the opening that Commando does, that is revealing the space nature of the threat in the opening shot and scene.

: Remember when I said I would kill you last?

: *HISSSS*

: I lied.

Justin Godscock
Oct 12, 2004

Listen here, funnyman!

Random Stranger posted:

: Remember when I said I would kill you last?

: *HISSSS*

: I lied.

You might have given Disney an idea for their Predator reboot.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe

feedmyleg posted:

Anyone have ideas for horror movies based on horror movie fandom? Or centered around the watching of a horror movie/movies? Popcorn, Demons, and Scream would all count. Bonus points for drive-ins.

Chillerama :haw:

Alfred P. Pseudonym
May 29, 2006

And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss goes 8-8

Does it count for the hometown challenge if I can only find a Rifftrax version? Do those count? Otherwise the only Oklahoma horror movie I can find is arguably Twister, which I’ve seen plenty of times.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe

Alfred P. Pseudonym posted:

Does it count for the hometown challenge if I can only find a Rifftrax version? Do those count? Otherwise the only Oklahoma horror movie I can find is arguably Twister, which I’ve seen plenty of times.

You're on the right track with Paxton, but wrong movie. Near Dark is set in Oklahoma, at least partially.

Alfred P. Pseudonym
May 29, 2006

And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss goes 8-8

Basebf555 posted:

You're on the right track with Paxton, but wrong movie. Near Dark is set in Oklahoma, at least partially.

Well I was gonna go with Terror at Tenkiller (a lake I’ve been to!) but this is a solid fallback.

Guy Goodbody
Aug 31, 2016

by Nyc_Tattoo

Alfred P. Pseudonym posted:

Does it count for the hometown challenge if I can only find a Rifftrax version? Do those count? Otherwise the only Oklahoma horror movie I can find is arguably Twister, which I’ve seen plenty of times.

According to the Wikipedia, the following horror movies were shot in Oklahoma

Fingerprints
Hellraiser Judgement
Near Dark
Offerings
Splinter
Terror at Tenkiller

And the most terrifying movie of all,

SMP
May 5, 2009

20. Friday the 13th Part III - 1.5/5

quote:

The guy's handstand kill was pretty funny but it's an otherwise mind numbing experience. Why I continue watching these, I don't know. I guess I have a sick sense of obligation as a horror fan.

I will continue watching these until I physically can't take it anymore.

Franchescanado posted:

:siren: FRAN CHALLENGE #5: Birth of Horror :siren:
:ghost: Watch a horror movie released in the year you were born.

21. Dark Waters (1993) - 4/5

quote:

Dario Argento's Dark Souls.

A hackneyed comparison but I was really feelin it here. Everyone in this film could have been lifted right from the Souls games' cast of weirdos. Always mumbling and acting like they're in on some joke the viewer isn't. Its all about the atmosphere with this one: oppressive, rainy, and medieval as all hell. There's an interesting mystery too, but the film is pretty lethargic about getting much into it. Clues are doled out almost as an afterthought, and then it kinda just lets loose at the end. Somehow, despite all that, there's a strong Lovecraftian payoff. Cults, candle light, Catholics, and catacombs. Hell yeah.

Great shout on this one FancyMike, it turned out to be extremely my poo poo.

Money Bags
Jun 27, 2013

12. Blood and Black Lace (1964) [Shudder]



Glad to get in a proper Giallo this October and I hope it's not the last. I think it's fair to call the plot of this movie labyrinthine, although it's not quite as impenetrable as the other Bava film I've seen, Bay of Blood. The twists and turns kept me guessing until all was revealed and boy how refreshing is that. The plot delivered but the style and the brutal-af killings delivered in spades. The part where the killer murders a girl by pressing her face up against a red-hot furnace was my favorite kill in the movie that I can recall. A gem of a movie, I expect that the re-watch value will be high.
4.5/5 - Greatness

Dr.Caligari
May 5, 2005

"Here's a big, beautiful avatar for someone"

LORD OF BOOTY posted:

Motherfucker I have to try and find something from 1994, which to my knowledge was basically a dead zone for horror movies :cripes:

Brainscan

Thanks for reposting that top horror list. I remember referring to it often last year.

Alfred P. Pseudonym
May 29, 2006

And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss goes 8-8

3. Terror at Blood Fart Lake (2009)
This movie is very bad. It appears that some failson and his friends borrowed his mom’s late 90s era digital camcorder for the weekend. It looks awful, and the acting is worse. I get it’s intended as comedy but the girl who talks in a 1930s mid-Atlantic accent about the pictures the whole time was unbearable. This could be forgiven if the jokes were funny. They weren’t. This movie is only 74 minutes long but it felt like all night.

Mover
Jun 30, 2008


I'm looking at 1989 for horror and there's some good choices. CHUD 2 Bud the CHUD, The Church aka Demons 3, Tetsuo: The Iron Man, Vampire's Kiss. I already did Santa Sangre this month and highly recommend it for any other 89s. I'm even curious about The Exorcist III, if only for cameos by Patrick Ewing and Fabio.

WeedlordGoku69
Feb 12, 2015

by Cyrano4747

Mover posted:

I'm even curious about The Exorcist III, if only for cameos by Patrick Ewing and Fabio.

Exorcist III is so, so loving good

it's not quite on the level of the original but it's very easily the second best movie with The Exorcist in the title

Hollismason
Jun 30, 2007
An alright dude.

Mover posted:

I'm looking at 1989 for horror and there's some good choices. CHUD 2 Bud the CHUD, The Church aka Demons 3, Tetsuo: The Iron Man, Vampire's Kiss. I already did Santa Sangre this month and highly recommend it for any other 89s. I'm even curious about The Exorcist III, if only for cameos by Patrick Ewing and Fabio.

Hrmmm

1989 you say

Well here it goes

The Church, Exorcist 3 , Vampires Kiss, Pet Sematary , Intruder, Leviathan, Parents , Puppet Master, Shocker, Society, Warlock, Tetsuo the Iron Man,

Hollismason fucked around with this message at 03:04 on Oct 4, 2018

Mover
Jun 30, 2008


Hollismason posted:

Hrmmm

1989 you say

Well here it goes

The Church, Exorcist 3 , Vampires Kiss, Pet Sematary , Intruder, Leviathan, Parents , Puppet Master, Shocker, Society, Warlock, Tetsuo the Iron Man,

Oh yeah, Society is huge. I'm trying to do more first time watches for the rest of the challenge this month but I'm tempted to go back just because it's so great. Maybe if I can manage a movie night with some people who are going in blind.

Lumbermouth
Mar 6, 2008

GREG IS BIG NOW


Franchescanado posted:

:siren: FRAN CHALLENGE #5: Birth of Horror :siren:




:ghost: Watch a horror movie released in the year you were born.

or

:ghost: Watch a movie set in the year you were born.


Oh gently caress yeah, Near Dark was released in my birth year and I've been looking for an excuse to watch that.

Dr.Caligari
May 5, 2005

"Here's a big, beautiful avatar for someone"

Mover posted:

I'm looking at 1989 for horror and there's some good choices. CHUD 2 Bud the CHUD, The Church aka Demons 3, Tetsuo: The Iron Man, Vampire's Kiss. I already did Santa Sangre this month and highly recommend it for any other 89s. I'm even curious about The Exorcist III, if only for cameos by Patrick Ewing and Fabio.

If you haven't seen The Exorcist III , you need to like now

Hot Dog Day #89
Mar 17, 2004
[img]https://forumimages.somethingawful.com/images/newbie.gif[/img]

Morbid Hound

The Son of Kong, 1933

King Kong from 1933 not only one of the greatest monster films ever made, it's one of the greatest and most important movies ever. It broke so much new ground and it still look amazing after all these years. And it's not just the case that movie historians and nerds looking back at it as a masterpiece, but it was also a huge financial success for the studio. So you'd think the studio would give Ernest B. Schoedsack a bigger budget and more time to make a good sequel. Nope. They gave him an small budget and even less time so it could come out the same year as the first one. The movie is one hour and 10 min long, and most of it is spent on the hows and why they are going back to Skull Island. You don't see he titular son of Kong until 40 min into the movie and this Kong is tiny next to his father. This is an inferior movie in every way. Still, it's kind of worth watching. The story isn't too bad and there's some cool monster fights once they are on the island. It doesn't have much to go on, but it's always cool seeing more stop motion fights. It's not a movie I'm going to feel the need to watch again any time soon, but it was pretty nice as a one time event.

Lumbermouth
Mar 6, 2008

GREG IS BIG NOW


14. Magic Cop (1990)
Watched on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAFS5J-_Us4)

I was looking for a companion piece to The Seventh Curse and this was on YouTube. Closer to a supernatural action comedy than a straight horror movie, I nevertheless had a good time. If anything, it could have used more Taoist magic and evil Japanese flower sorcery. It was definitely the coolest part of the movie, from both a cultural and special effects perspective. But in between the weird creepy detective and speeches about police principles, you get some cool zombies with heads filled with magical ice and a hilariously straight-laced priest cop protagonist. I just wish there were better ways to watch these Hong Kong horror films than VCD rips.

Guy Goodbody
Aug 31, 2016

by Nyc_Tattoo
Amazon has the first 9 Puppet Master movies on DVD for $8.04. They also have the first 9 Puppet Master movies and the first three Killjoy movies on DVD for $7.99.

Are the Killjoy movies so bad it's worth spending five extra cents to not get them?

Vincent
Nov 25, 2005



02. The House That Dripped Blood (Peter Duffel, 1971. Starring Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Nyree Dawn Porter, Denholm Elliott, Ingrid Pitt and Jon Pertwee. Written by Robert Bloch. Yes, the author of Psycho!)



4 stories, 1 house.
This is an anthology type english movie in which different sets of people get into horrific situations after renting a gothic style house in the english countryside (like, the mansion itself is gorgeous, so I can't blame 'em for wanting to stay). Of the 4 stories, only the Jon Pertwee one left me disappointing, since I thought it was a bit more camp and ridiculous than the rest. Plus, he really can't hold a candle to the acting coming from Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Denholm Elliot. Still, over all, the movie is very. very enjoyable.


The house itself has an eerie atmosphere (it's also nice that we see different parts or angles of it during each story). The connecting story about the cop is whatever, but it serves the purpose of introducing each new narrative.


Rad as gently caress, spanish language poster.

BONUS: I thought about doing some mini reviews of horror-themed music videos that I like or find interesting. Here's the first one

The Creepshow - Zombies Ate Her Brain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FBlLSI6lak

Short and sweet with some crazy hairdos. Basically, a good psychobilly song with a fun video done in like, a day or two I guess.

Darthemed
Oct 28, 2007

"A data unit?
For me?
"




College Slice

Guy Goodbody posted:

Amazon has the first 9 Puppet Master movies on DVD for $8.04. They also have the first 9 Puppet Master movies and the first three Killjoy movies on DVD for $7.99.

Are the Killjoy movies so bad it's worth spending five extra cents to not get them?
Not quite, but it's a close call.

Trash Boat
Dec 28, 2012

VROOM VROOM

Did a rewatch of the full Three Flavours Cornetto/Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy over the last couple of nights (Shaun of the Dead being my most recent previous viewing two Halloweens ago, and Hot Fuzz and The World's End not for about 4-5 years). Still an all-around joy to watch, and proof absolute that being a comedy by no means precludes you from having incredibly tight editing, production and scripting. There's just so much raw attention to detail being considered in all of these, be it the Queen-choreographed fight sequence in Shaun of the Dead (and over a decade before Edgar Wright would focus on music-synchronized action so hard in Baby Driver), the frankly insane amount of callbacks and payoff to just about every line and shot in Hot Fuzz, or the pub names in The World's End tying into the events of the film. And all of it is tied up nicely with a strong thematic throughline of interpersonal relationships, developing responsibility and growing up.

Movies Watched (7): Mandy, Hobgoblins (MST3K), American Psycho, Mimic, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, The World's End
Challenges Completed: #3 (American Psycho), #4 (Mimic)

Friends Are Evil
Oct 25, 2010

cats cats cats




19. Ava's Possessions (2015). Directed by Jordan Galland.
Seen via Netflix DVD

Kinda surprised this didn't get much traction from genre nerds. The concept of a post-possession movie where the host is trying to make sense of the damage they caused or what happened while they were gone is loving brilliant. It always bothered me that most of these possession films gloss over the weird, life-ruining implications of something else controlling your body. Treating it as a metaphor for addiction is a really keen angle I've never seen explored until now. I just wish the actual movie was better. They kinda back out on the premise towards the end, which is a bummer. The technical execution ranges from being adequate to being weirdly slipshod (especially when they try to convey the demon who used to possess her communicating in any way). Still recommend this.

Friends Are Evil fucked around with this message at 05:51 on Oct 4, 2018

M_Sinistrari
Sep 5, 2008

Do you like scary movies?




94- Don't Go in the House 1979 - PRIME

I first caught this one late night on cable when I was deathly sick with the flu. I'd missed the title credits but in my cough syrup fuzzed head I could still recognize this had to be a 70s era horror film. Wasn't until years later when I was working at Blockbuster that I finally found out the title.

This one's got a skeezy feel almost like a Henlotter. It's totally the grim and gritty end of Disco 70s.

Story's a variant off Psycho with Donny who's lacking in social skills, been abused by his mother who dies and he keeps her corpse in the house. Donny starts hearing voices and goes on an incinerating spree. Overall the film's particularly good for the era. Dan Grimaldi who plays Donny would eventually end up on The Sopranos.


95- Messiah of Evil 1973 - PRIME

First time watch on this one.

Kinda started out a bit slow in my opinion, but when it picks up, that was more than enough to make up for the slow start. It has a surreal quality that doesn't get out of hand like it does in some films to the degree you're wondering if they took this avenue because the script really sucked. I like that you're left a bit unsure if all of this has been a hallucination or it all did happen since the presentation is done well enough that either option or both combined work.

Definitely recommend this one for a watch.

TheBizzness
Oct 5, 2004

Reign on me.

Guy Goodbody posted:


Are the Killjoy movies so bad it's worth spending five extra cents to not get them?

If not having them means it will keep you from ever watching them, it might be worth more than that.

CRAYON
Feb 13, 2006

In the year 3000..



28. Mothra (1961)

Mothra, while not being devoid of any meaning or message, sets out first and foremost to be a fun movie. I think all of the actors did great, making you either love or hate them depending on their role. The lead, played by Furankî Sakai was just awesome. He was funny, charismatic and heroic when he needed to be. For a kaiju movie with a fairly long runtime (101 minutes) it flew by thanks to the interesting human story and excellent pacing.

The action scenes and miniature effects look great. Mothra's puppet moves well and looks cool tearing up the city. There was quite a lot of blue screen that definitely hasn't aged well, but you should expect that from a 60s monster movie.

Overall Mothra really surprised me, it's definitely one of my new favorites.

Name Change
Oct 9, 2005




#8
Dracula (1992)

"I've crossed oceans of time to find you."

This movie is actually too good for me to watch with commentary on. It's one of the great last hurrahs for practical effects, it's a masterpiece of camera work clever for its simplicity, and so many of the shots are amazing. There hasn't been a vampire movie to top this since its release, even with Reeves' performance so disliked that it has its own section on Wikipedia. Between this and Much Ado About Nothing, he's lucky to have made it as an action star shortly after.

:spooky::spooky::spooky::spooky::spooky::spooky:

Choco1980
Feb 22, 2013

I fell in love with a Video Nasty
Got my whole day's worth in one post here:

13. Pet (2016) A lonely shy man that works as a janitor at the local dog pound meets a woman on the bus and immediately, obsessively falls for her, stalking her every move. Eventually he builds a cage and locks her in it, however his motives might not be as cut and dried as they appear...

This was a fun one. More than half the runtime of the film are the two leads bouncing off each other and seeming to chase each other in mental circles, while the other half would be sudden bouts of graphic violence, and suspense at the outside world coming closer and closer to find out the truth. It's a good little mental film that I think deserves more attention.

:spooky::spooky::spooky: :spooky:out of 5

14. The Doctor and the Devils (1985) Dramatizing the real life crimes of Burke and Hare, we find Dr. Thomas Knox, a highly skilled anatomist in 19th century London, running out of bodies for scholarly study, and resorting to paying graverobbers for new specimens. Enter Broom and Fallon, a pair of ne'er-do-wells who find out of this scheme and that the fresher the bodies, the better the pay. And how much fresher can you get than newly-killed?

Despite the horrific nature of the real life case, I can't really call this film "scary". It's extremely high in its British pedigree, with an all-star cast, and the direction of Freddie Francis, famous for his Amicus horror films of the 60s and 70s. There's also a high eye for the detail of things, where each set is carefully constructed right down to the muddy slums. I mean, it's a fine film, but nothing to give you nightmares.

:spooky::spooky::spooky: out of 5

Franchescanado posted:

:siren: FRAN CHALLENGE #5: Birth of Horror :siren:

15. Ghost Dance (1980?) After an archaeological dig finds an old mummified corpse of a Pueblo cult leader, a local Medicine Man becomes possessed by the spirit and sets about magically killing those he feel wronged him, leaving it up to the local university staff, and tribal shamen to find and stop this magical menace.

The question mark on the date is because some sources place this movie as being made in 1980, and some in 1981. As some pretty good things were created in 80 (like this guy!) I'll call it there. That said, this is a pretty poor film. I don't know if it was just my print, or a really bad lighting tech or what, but half the movie was shrouded in near complete darkness and near impossible to make out. The story seemed okay I guess, and I appreciated that while it didn't really go very far into colonialism issues, it at least felt halfway respectful of the Native cultures, and not nearly as racist as I expected from the description. That said, it'll be a pass from me.

:spooky: out of 5

16. Creep (2015) Aaron, a videographer, is hired by Peter to follow him around for a day. However, Peter turns out to be very strange, and appears more and more dangerous as the day goes on.

It's so refreshing to see a "found footage" horror film that doesn't sit itself firmly in the ghost corner. Instead we have a very realistic horror film with no fantastic elements, but quite a bit of mounting tension. Mark Duplass does a simply fantastic job as Peter, first just seeming a little odd, only to slowly get more and more threatening as the movie continues. I've heard that the sequel is even better, and plan on watching it later this month.

:spooky::spooky::spooky::spooky::spooky: out of 5

17. Eyes Without A Face (1960) (commanded by Dr. Caligari) A doctor's daughter has been horribly disfigured in an auto accident. Mad, the man and his assistant kidnap young women to attempt to use them as donors for face transplants for her.

This French film has, for years, been a sort of kryptonite for me, where it's taken many attempts to sit down and actually watch it. I seem to always try when I'm tired, and conk out like, immediately. Something about French Black and White films. Anyways, the plot here is pretty brisk and sparse, and the real meat of the film is its visual flair. Much of the imagery is strikingly dynamic for its time, such as the daughter's creepy masked face, or other quiet angles. Not only that, but there's rather graphic surgery shown (all fake of course) which is shockingly gory for the time, many years before even Night of the Living Dead. Also, for my own personal health reasons, it's always strange to me seeing films of the past about "futuristic" transplant science, where in places like this, or say "Frankenstein '80", transplant surgery, and immunosuppression are nowhere near modern style. It's very jarring to me.

:spooky::spooky::spooky: out of 5

18. Housewife (2017) Holly had a traumatic childhood, where her mother went mad and murdered her sister and her father. Now all grown up and married, one day they couple find themselves reunited with their old girlfriend, and as the three way relationship sparks up, she introduces Holly to her religious organization, and its enigmatic leader who is some sort of psychic emotional healer, leading Holly's life to spiral into maddening chaos.

Well then. Made by Turkish Can Evenol, this film is a leaps and bounds improvement over his past film, Baskin, which itself was a darling of the horror community, but lacked much in the way of cohesion. That is not a problem with this film, which is a complete story, from alarming beginning, to rising middle, to maddening ending, without sacrificing the disorientation or fantastic eye for visual design that Evenol is clearly showing to be his auteur touch. The film reminds me of the sort of hidden gems I loved in the 90s and early 00s that are mindscrews set in lavish upscale settings, while still dripping with the red stuff. Definitely recommended.

:spooky::spooky::spooky::spooky::spooky: out of 5

duck.exe
Apr 14, 2012

Nap Ghost
3. The Maze (1953)


A bachelor breaks off his engagement when he inherits his late uncle's Scottish castle. When his fiance and her aunt visit, he looks like he aged 20 years, he locks their bedroom doors at night, and there's reptilian footprints all around. The first time I watched this I expected some kind of Innsmouth curse deal, but then they show the monster and it's a dude in a hilariously bad frog suit crawling around on all fours until he leaps out a window. There's little to recommend here beyond maybe watching it to see how to build up a little tension then gently caress it up in the monster reveal.

:spooky:.5/5

Jackapol
Sep 16, 2007
Huh huh buhhh.

Franchescanado posted:

:siren: FRAN CHALLENGE #4: Worst of the Best or Best of The Worst :siren:




:ghost: Watch a highly regarded director's worst movie.

or

:ghost: Watch a notoriously bad director's best movie.

4/31 Event Horizon


So looking through my list of potential films this season, this one occurred to me that it is probably Paul W.S. Anderson's best film, definitely his best horror film to date, and between this and Soldier there's really not much else that comes close especially compared to his horror output. He somehow did 4 Resident Evil movies and only the first is close to watchable, forgettable but at least watchable, and Death Race is at best a Sunday hangover movie. 1997's Event Horizon is actually a pretty decent space horror film that feels like they actually put some effort into creating and detailing the world it takes place in, really this is the only one I can say solidly is a good film. The visuals are great and some of the scenes are more haunting than I remembered, backed by a surprising decent cast. Fishburne is a great presence and I always think that Sam Neill is in more horror films than he's actually in, and maybe I just think of him from here and Jurassic Park, cause here he is a creepy gently caress. I also thought Laura Dern was in this for the first while before I realized it wasn't her, but still a good performance. One of the better space horror films that stands on its solid unnerving visuals and performances.
Best W.S. Anderson film before he jumped on the mediocre train to Resident Evilville.:spooky::spooky::spooky::spooky:/5

Jackapol fucked around with this message at 09:43 on Oct 4, 2018

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SomeJazzyRat
Nov 2, 2012

Hmmm...
:skeltal:The List:skeltal:
1. Welcome to Willits (Fran Challenge 1: Love Something You Hate)
2. Multiple Maniacs (Fran Challenge 2: Queer Horror)
3. The Phantom of the Opera 1925 Featuring commentary by Andrew Lloyd Webber (as portrayed by Paul F. Tompkins)
4. Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (Fran Challenge: Hometown Horror)
5. Dawn of the Dead (2004) (Fran Challenge: Best of the Worst)


So, some people on these forums will swear that Zach Snyder is Legit Good™. I am not in that camp. However, I have been hearing for almost 15 years now that his Dawn of the Dead remake was Legit Good™, so this was a good opportunity to get on that.

So yeah, as a collaborative medium, this film has two major names attached to it. Both Snyder as director, and screenwriter James Gunn, who wrote this right between the first live action Scooby Doo film and it's sequel. And as a film, it's fine. I can't really have any serious objections to the way it was shot, it's plot, the characters, etc. All the parts of this film was built to a specific design to fit a specific tone and specific emotion, and executes it nearly flawlessly. It does some pretty great work establishing the speed and believability to it's outbreak, and giving it's characters small lines and moments to reflect the enormity of the disaster and massacre in its wake. But there's this nagging thing in the back of my brain that kept me from fully enjoying it, and it's this film's attitude.

To be clear, this is a very post-9/11 film. It has this vague message about the Bush administration, his authority, and the mindless, reality TV show watching Sheeple who put him in power. It's a kind of mixed metaphor, and I think it's because the people behind the camera don't really know what it is they're railing against. Certainly they understand Bush is bad, or that uneducated people voted for him because of his friendly, 'I'd have a beer that guy', take charge attitude. But it has neither sympathy nor understanding of how or why he got into power, be it economic disparity or the broken education system or white entitlement or corporate interests or hundreds of other factors. Instead the film just rages at the state of the status quo impotently, slinging centerist 'everything is bad' venom every which way. It's a kind of holier-than-thou, South Park style iconoclastism that is undeserved considering how much more broken things get 15 years later. And that attitude pervades even a lot of the film, showing on screen and swiftly killing a zombified fetus because 'the normies say we can't do that, it's crossing the line, nya nya'. It's edgy teenage Blink-182 poo poo from a generation who don't know how good they have it.

But otherwise, the film is decent bit of filmmaking. It carries a decent amount of tension and unpredictability, and a surprising mean streak for a major horror film. Plus, the dad from Modern Family is in this and calling people homophobic slurs. That's really weird.

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