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drat I saw that was on Prime but didn’t add it to my watch list. I will have to go back and do that.
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Oct 5, 2018 01:12
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Getting caught up on a few films I missed doing write-ups on in the past few days, so pardon the scant accompanying reviews Count Dracula (1970) A retelling of the classic Dracula tale with a twist... Dracula starts off old and has to feast to grow younger. This is an interesting take on the story we know so well and with Jess Franco directing Klaus Kinski and Christopher Lee, this has to be something, right? Turns out...it does not. Everything is kind of dull. Christopher Lee does the best he can, but just doesn't catch that Dracula magic of earlier. Klaus Kinski makes a good Renfield , but literally has no dialog and just eats flies (which according to trivia, were real flies even though they had props) . In addition to just being 'flat' , this movie just seems to drag on. Dracula shouldn't ever have a mustache  / 5Night Of The Devils An Italian take on the novel The Family of the Vourdalak. A worthy movie, but falls short of the other, earlier movie which was based on the same book Black Sabbath /5
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Oct 5, 2018 01:14
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FRAN CHALLENGE #2: Queer Horror I should start off by saying that I made assumptions about this movie going in. I had heard that one of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies was very gay, and I didn't believe it. I assumed that maybe there was just a Top Gun style volleyball scene, or maybe just the role of a slasher movie protagonist is inherently feminine so putting a guy in that role seemed "gay". But either way, I assumed this movie wasn't going to actually be that gay, and I would righteously denounce all the people who had used this movie for the LGBT horror challenge, and then I'd watch one of those movies about lesbian vampires Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2 Freddy's Revenge is a gay movie. It's a gay movie way more than it's a horror movie. It's as much an adaptation of Lionel Johnson's The Dark Angel as it is an sequel to Nightmare on Elm Street. It's the story of a teenage boy realizing he's gay, which in his mind he means he's a monster, a pervert. His feelings towards men aren't just feelings, they're wrong, he's doing violence to them. It's an experience that I hope is becoming less common, as homosexuality is more accepted and there's more and better representation. Nowadays kids can see gay people on TV who aren't scary old perverts like in the gay bar sequence. I wonder what the deal is with the dogs. They feel like at some point in production they were gonna be a bigger thing, but from the way they were shaking their heads I guess the actual dogs didn't like wearing the masks, so they got cut down to just that brief appearance. That bring me to my real issue with the movie; it's so busy being a gay parable it kinda forgets to be a horror movie, or a Nightmare on Elm Street movie. There's only a couple actual dream sequences, and it's almost completely lacking in the inventive propwork and kills of the first movie. Also I kept thinking I knew the actress who played Lisa from something but I looked it up and I haven't seen anything she's been in, which means I was confusing her with someone else which means I'll never be able to figure out who I was actually thinking of. So I gotta take points off the movie right there. My verdict is Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2 Freddy's Revenge is fully realized parable about growing up gay in a homophobic society, that has hopefully become much less relevant over time. But it's not very good as a horror movie What the gently caress are they gonna do for Part 3?
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Oct 5, 2018 01:37
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I really hoped that one benefit of watching these slasher movies is that I'd stop getting them mixed up. But in writing that post I kept accidentally calling the movie Friday the 13th Part 2 and having to go back and fix it
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Oct 5, 2018 01:38
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9/31 I got permission from Fran to use this, so ha! Tromeo And Juliet is the classic tale of Romeo & Juliet filtered through the infamous Troma Entertainment. This $350,000 movie was written by a young James Gunn, before he would shoot to fame with Guardians of the Galaxy and then be unfairly removed from it by a Nazi troll. It also stars a young Sean Gunn, before he would shoot to moderate attention as Kirk on Gilmore Girls. Like any good Troma film, this is comic nastiness distilled. On-camera nipple piercings, masturbation, severe head trauma, and incest are only some of the things that appear in this bizarre and irreverent take on Shakespeare. Despite the low budget, they make sure to include plenty of blood and gore and recycle as much as they can (including the penis monster). Amazingly, it still manages creepiness on a level above some "real" horror movies. In particular, the incest scenes between Juliet and her father are played almost completely straight and devoid of humor as he locks her in a plastic cage in a dark room. There's also some surprisingly detailed and Shakespearean original prose added by Gunn, much of which is spoken by the late Lemmy Kilmister. Overall, I give this a definite yes to any Troma fans or Shakespeare fans. Despite the liberties it takes and the gross-out humor, it's quite a faithful adaptation of the original story and guaranteed to entertain even if only unintentionally. chitoryu12 fucked around with this message at 17:30 on Oct 7, 2018 |
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Oct 5, 2018 01:44
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15. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1973) Jesus, but this is the most 70s movie I've ever seen. It's almost like a Hemingway horror story: young people encounter weirdos, go into an old house, visit the house next door and get murdered. It's somehow lean and ponderous at the same time, which is weird to think about. The thing that struck me the most about viewing this was just how little on-screen violence there was. I think Franklin's death is the only one that has blood spraying from it. Most of the horror is sold by a poo poo ton of reacting and screaming and the freaky as hell human flesh mask that Leatherface wears. I'm not sure if I really enjoyed it, as the takes are long and the last act was straight up like 15 straight minutes of screaming, but I'm glad that I watched it. It's interesting to see the predecessors to the films you enjoy.
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Oct 5, 2018 01:58
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Texas Chainsaw Massacre works because of how filthy it looks. The world just looks dirty and cheap and tawdry. The violence doesn't need to be that brutal because you're already uncomfortable and grossed out
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Oct 5, 2018 02:03
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Day 4 - Rings https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECZA6o9NL78 Part of the reason I watched the original version of The Ring during my rewatch was that I saw this sequel was available for streaming and I thought it might be nice to have it in mind. The Japanese sequels to The Ring go so far off the rails that I don't think I can even describe them. They're incoherent trash that doesn't even deliver on the iconography that made the original so special. Rings doesn't have that problem. There's lots of video watching and weird shenanigans and Samara even gets to have a few kills instead of just hanging out in the background until the end of the movie. Unfortunately, everything else about Rings stinks. So there's a biology professor who lectures on quantum physics while not understanding them and he's found the video tape so he decides to set up a rave/experiment where he has undergrads watch the video, monitors what happens, and then has them copy it and show it to someone else right before they get killed. There's also a woman whose high school boyfriend went off to college and then stopped talking to her so obviously there had to be something seriously wrong there. Well he watched the video and because he was going to die in a couple of hours she watches the video and then they go off to follow new clues that appeared in the video and find out what happened. They just stumble into what is all of the not interesting parts of the first movie except for some reason the ticking clock doesn't come into play at all. I'm not going to hold a movie to the "rich" lore of The Ring. If they want to write a new back story for Samara and her mother, sure, fine, whatever. I'll roll with it. But the new back story is extremely close to the old back story just with a different father and sexual abuse. And since this movie is explicitly a follow up (Samara's body was recovered and given a burial), it's confusing why they did it this way. And the old rules stop working for no good reason and nobody ever bothers defining new ones. There's no sense of the progression of time, I think the movie ends two days after the woman watches the video. There are a few interesting ideas in Rings, but I suspect that the movie is a mash up of about three different scripts with no one talking to each other about it. A group of people making a video watching circle could have been an interesting premise. A scientist using the video to probe the afterlife could have been interesting. A total reboot could have been interesting. Having Samara strike at bad moments in ways that take advantage of the ubiquitous of video in 2017 could have been interesting. And instead the movie is just filled with half hearted stabs at it. The ending is especially stupid as Samara e-mails herself to the entire Internet. Seriously. This is why you have to have a good ghost filter on your e-mail and don't open attachments titled "You Will Die In Seven Days.mp4". Best worst part of the film? At the very end they forgot that they were making a sequel to The Ring instead of The Grudge. "Which long haired Japanese ghost are we writing about? Ah, they're all the same. Nobody will notice."
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Oct 5, 2018 02:04
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 The House of the Devil, 2009 Why watch an old horror movie when you can watch an modern horror movie trying to recreate the look of an old one? The House of the Devil is very much trying to recreate the horror of the very late 70s and early 80s with a satanic panic type of plot and it taking place in 1982. And you know what? It does a pretty great job of it. If I didn't know poo poo about this movie and I was told it was from the early 80s, I'd believe them. It takes it's time to build up the plot, and most important of all, the atmosphere. Some might say it kind of drops the ball at the end when it gets more violent, but I didn't mind. It's a nice slow build up to it and I loved every second of the movie. The plot is simple, like all good horror plots are. College girl says yes to babysitting job, it's not quite a babysitting job after all and she is stuck alone in a house out in nowhere. poo poo gets more creepy the longer she spends in the house. Not in any cheesy way, just her slowly putting together the pieces that there's something very much wrong with the whole thing. If you are looking for great retro-horror, then this is the perfect movie for you. Also, if this had been made maybe three-four years later, it would have had a wicked synthwave score.
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Oct 5, 2018 02:09
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Guy Goodbody posted:Texas Chainsaw Massacre works because of how filthy it looks. The world just looks dirty and cheap and tawdry. The violence doesn't need to be that brutal because you're already uncomfortable and grossed out Yeah, as soon as Tweaker Shaggy got picked up by the kids in the van, my immediate thought was "oh... oh boy this guy is no good." Like even before all the slaughterhouse talk.
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Oct 5, 2018 02:13
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#2 Shutter (2004) A Thai horror film about a young couple who starts to notice odd things showing up in their photographs after perpetrating a hit and run. Solid. Reminds me of The Ring in a few ways, namely the horror in each surrounding a form of image capture and corresponding analog tech. Ghosts showing up in photographs is nothing new, it's a time-honored horror tradition, but this movie makes it the entire point and uses the concept in some fun ways. Photographs feel like an inherently good vehicle for horror. They're a more restrained and repeatable delivery mechanism for the "killer appearing in the bathroom mirror" gag with the added benefit of variable levels of urgency, meaning the concept can lend itself both to tension and release. Plus, movies in general are a sort of zoomed out version of this concept, so it's inherently a bit creepy to be watching a horror film that explores it. I don't think this movie gets particularly meta but to some extent it's hard to completely buck the idea that the movie itself is exposing some previously unseen presence. Anyways, I dunno. There were a few effective scares, particularly towards the end, though I wish the sound effects accompanying them were toned down a bit, and I enjoyed aspects of the overarching mystery. Based on what I looked up, I'm not super interested in checking out the 2008 American remake, but this one was pretty good. I don't know that I'd feel the need to ever watch this again, but I'm glad I saw it once. Watched: #1 As Above, So Below (2014), #2 Shutter (2004)
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Oct 5, 2018 02:30
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Franchescanado posted:
 13. Fright Night (1985) (watched on DVD) Charley, a high school kid who loves horror movies, witnesses a murder at his new neighbor's house. He becomes convinced that the man, the handsome and charming Jerry Dandrige (Chris Sarandon), is a vampire. His suspicions are soon confirmed, but once Jerry realizes that Charley knows his secret, he attempts to kill him. Desperate, Charley seeks help from TV host Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall), an actor famous for playing vampire slayers in low-budget horror films, and together they set out to kill Dandrige before he can claim any more victims. I saw this for the first time maybe 8-10 years ago and was very lukewarm on it then, however I liked it quite a bit more this time. My biggest complaint is that the main character is awful - he's a stupid dweeb and the actor that plays him is completely awful. He's supposed to be a big fan of horror movies, but doesn't know that you can defeat vampires with crosses and garlic? Plus he's a total dick to his girlfriend for most of the film. The kid who plays his friend "Evil Ed" is even worse. Luckily, Chris Sarandon is perfect in his role - he strikes just the right balance between charming and predatory. McDowall is also great, and the film really picks up once he enters the story. There are also a lot of really great special effects throughout, and some excellent atmosphere. The inside of Dandrige's house is basically Dracula's castle, with a huge staircase covered in cobwebs. If it weren't for the horrible main character/actor, I think I'd be way more into this one, but I do still appreciate it for a being a pretty good vampire film and I can see why so many people really love it. Franchescanado posted:
 14. The Vampire Lovers (1970) (watched on blu-ray) Mircalla is young, beautiful, and mysterious, and it seems that wherever she goes, other young women fall ill... the plot of this film is actually pretty complicated and I'm having trouble summarizing it in a way that makes sense and isn't super long, so - it's a gothic horror film about lesbian vampires, and Peter Cushing is in it. Also, lots of boobs. Seriously though, this is a pretty excellent Hammer adaptation of Sheridan Le Fanu's classic vampire novella "Carmilla". Hammer was used to pushing the boundaries of sex in their films, but fairly explicit scenes of lesbian vampires (for the time, anyway) were pretty daring even for them. Despite the exploitative nature of the nudity, this is a pretty faithful adaptation and the material is treated seriously. Peter Cushing is only in a few scenes, unfortunately, but the rest of the cast is excellent too. If you like Hammer films, this is a really good one and I highly recommend it. It just has a lot more boobs than most - whether that is a good or bad thing is up to you. As the poster says - "Caution: Not for the mentally immature!" Movies Seen: The Witching Season | Lifeforce | Terrifier | Unsane | I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House | From Beyond | 13 Ghosts | The Ritual | Child's Play | Twice-Told Tales | Beyond the Gates | Cat People (1982) | Fright Night | The Vampire Lovers Total: 14 Fran challenges: gey muckle mowser fucked around with this message at 02:41 on Oct 5, 2018 |
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Oct 5, 2018 02:37
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Pick a film that you have seen before that you hated, did not like or just didn't get. Rewatch it, and re-evaluate.
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1922 (2017) [Netflix Streaming] A farmer kills his wife to steal her land and it mentally fucks him and his son up. Not to be rude, but could have used a better performance at its center. Thomas Jane has a very square jaw, but there has to be an actor that can do a Nebraska accent and create an interesting character at the same time. Movies doesn't look bad, very professionally dour, but not notably good looking either. No particular reason to watch this. So Far: #1 The Terror (2018), #2 The Cabin in the Woods (2011), #3 Gone Girl (2014), #4 Annihilation (2018), #5 Seven (1995), #6 Mandy (2018), #7 Dead Alive (1992), #8 Would You Rather (2012), #9 1922 (2017)
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Oct 5, 2018 02:40
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 FRAN CHALLENGE #1: Love Something You Hate 5. 10/4 - Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil - This movie immediately popped in my head when I saw the challenge, because every streaming service I'm subscribed to has recommended it to me for years, and it covers two subgenres I've never liked: horror comedy and redneck horror. And... eh, it's fine. Labine, Tudyk, and Bowman are all super charming and have great chemistry together, but I just didn't think it was very funny. "It's true, Chad. You're half hillbilly!" did crack me up, but that's about it. It's nice, light, and fun, but I don't understand the universal praise it's gotten. Lester Shy fucked around with this message at 16:54 on Oct 5, 2018 |
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Oct 5, 2018 02:41
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Alright, caught up on the Fran challenges! 11) Nosferatu (1922) FRAN CHALLENGE #2: Queer HorrorSeen on: Shudder When I went looking through one of the posted lists to see a possible film I hadn't seen before that would apply for the challenge, I picked this, mainly because I've always wanted to see it (for all I've heard of the movie and F.W. Murnau, I had no idea he was gay - it was interesting digging a little further and reading about his life.) Just from looking at Google, this appears to be one of the main restoration versions from the mid 2000s, including restored title cards, proper film speed (I guess old B&W version were sped up from what I read), and colored tinting to deliniate scenes filmed in daylight/nighttime/indoors. For something filmed so long ago, a lot of this still looks great. Orlok's design is iconic for a reason and Max Schreck really brings him to (un?) life; I loved the bits where he first introduces Hutter (ie Harker, since Nosferatu is essentially Dracula with the serial numbers filed off) to his castle. The guy manages to do creepy and comical pretty well, but when he goes full vamp, it's effective. I was also surprised by the bittersweet ending, given how nearly every version of the story ends. 12) Toxic Zombies FRAN CHALLENGE #3: Hometown HorrorSeen on: Tubi I live in western Pennsylvania; everything I could find on this film says it was made in Pennsylvania but doesn't specify where. If I had to bet on it, it was probably in my neck of the woods - the presence of Romero regular and Pittsburgh-based actor John Amplas is a giveaway. This is one of those movies written and directed by one guy (who also plays the male lead). He plays a government worker whose family gets caught up in the mayhem caused when his corrupt bosses use a deadly chemical to spray a bunch of nasty marijuana farmers and their crops. It seems the spray turns anyone its exposed to into a bloodthirsty cannibal, and soon everyone in the woods is running for their lives. This movie was originally released as Bloodeaters and Forest of Fear, and either one of those is a better name because the spray's victims aren't actually undead, just turned into mindless murderers. There's actually not a whole lot of flesh-eating either; most of the attackers use weapons against their prey. As a result, it's really talky and boring, slow-moving, the gore sucks, people die in really dumb ways and nobody really tries hard to fight against the non-undead zombies. The picture quality (at least on the service I watched) is also poo poo - I had to squint to read the title text! Bleah. 13) Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers FRAN CHALLENGE #4: Worst of the Best / Best of the WorstSeen on: Youtube I didn't even consider looking for a "worst of the best" here, I knew there had to be gold going through some other B- or Z-movie director's work to find their "best." After looking over a couple of lists of directors, I realized I've somehow never seen a Fred Olen Ray movie before, and after doing some cursory research, Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers appeared at the top of these and seemed like a no-brainer. Dear lord. This is how it starts:  In a nutshell: a cult of Egyptian chainsaw(?!) worshipping hookers - led by Leatherface himself, the late Gunnar Hansen, who is barely acting and barely threatening - are luring johns to their doom and carving them up with chainsaws. A film-noir style detective who's searching for a missing girl (Linnea Quigley!!) and who is rarely seen not smoking a cigarette, narrates the whole thing and gets drawn into the cult's plan. I think it was somewhere in that first scene where scream queen Michelle Bauer puts plastic up over her Elvis painting, puts on a shower cap (and takes everything else off), and is carving a guy up with a chainsaw and it looks he's copping a feel on her boob, then she just chuckles and pulls his hand away, showing it's dismembered from his body - that's when I knew I was in for something special. This is a horror comedy, with the emphasis on the comedy. It's like a bootlegged, bloodier, sleazier version of a Naked Gun movie with terrible actors, endless double entendres and groaner puns (references to cuts, pieces, etc.), some dismembered body parts, naked women, and a lot of incredibly fake blood sprayed all over the naked women. They throw a ton of jokes and visual gags at you, and like in Naked Gun/ZAZ style, not all of it hits, but I was surprised how much of it did, even if it is incredibly corny. The detective's narration is actually kind of funny and grew on me. Linnea Quigley does the virgin dance of the double chainsaws! I don't think it beats her Return of the Living Dead dance scene, but it's still funny. I don't know if I'll watch another Fred Olen Ray movie, but I'm glad I watched Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers. 14) God Told Me To FRAN CHALLENGE #5: Birth of HorrorSeen on: Shudder So here's one made/taking place in 1976, a great period for religious horror movies (I watched the, uh, unique vision that was The Visitor for last year's challenge). It's by the legendary Larry Cohen - I'd seen and loved Q: The Winged Serpent and The Stuff when I was a kid in the late '80s but wasn't aware of this one until much later. And true to form, this one is excellent as well. The film has a great, simple hook. It involves a repressed Catholic NYPD cop who investigates a series of horrific, random mass murders committed by seemingly normal people in New York. When asked, the murderers (one of them is a pre-Taxi Andy Kaufman!) all give the same reason for why they did it: "God told me to." As he investigates further, he risks setting off a religious crisis, uncovers a conspiracy involving something not-of-this-earth, and discovers more about himself than he ever wanted to know. Filmed guerrila style, there's a lot here that is still terrifying today, particularly about how cold and brutal the violence is in the film. The opening scene of a sniper in downtown New York randomly shooting and killing pedestrians - men, women and children - is chilling, especially given the mass shootings we deal with today. There's also a scene where the cop confronts a man who describes, perfectly calm and with a smile, how he murdered his wife and children, and it's hosed up. And then poo poo gets REAL WEIRD (btw don't google this movie if you want to watch it, the little summary google gives you spoils this aspect of the film in the following spoiler - if you think you want to see this, go in blind! Also if you need a movie to watch for Fran's Queer Horror challenge, this might fit the bill) man, what is it with the late '70s and films mixing religion and sci-fi? The Visitor with Space Satan and Jesus last year, and now this. We discover that the being mind-controlling the murderers in the film is a powerful psychic hermaphroditic half-man/half-extraterrestrial (played by Richard Lynch) who is shown bathed in sickly yellow light and has a fantastic Cronenberg vagina on his chest. It's supremely bizarre and creepy, as are the scenes where we see women pulled up naked into spaceships and impregnated with alien children (this is all done pretty vaguely for the most part, but the spaceship we see one woman pulled into is clearly a Space 1999 Eagle!) Bruteman fucked around with this message at 02:47 on Oct 5, 2018 |
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Oct 5, 2018 02:42
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I'm mainly a lurker, but I just wanted to chime in and say I genuinely adore this thread every year. Just the mass amounts of people contributing, and the friendly conversation and criticism about horror films is just wonderful to read. I love how a movie can just work entirely for one viewer, and then just leave the next person who watches it cold. It's such a subjective genre and it's interesting reading what did and didn't work for people. I usually do an informal "watch as many horror movies as possible" thing in October, partly inspired by this thread. This is the first year I'm recording all the films I watch though. Probably won't do extensive reviews (I add a sentence or two in my Letterboxd), but I wanted to share what I've watched thus far. I'm also thinking of going back and doing the challenges (The hometown one is super easy though, I'm from Wilmington, NC and we've had a fair amount of decent or at least note-worthy horror flicks shot in our town - The Conjuring, Blue Velvet, Silver Bullet, Maximum Overdrive to name a couple) just to liven it up a bit. Speaking of, does anyone have any good recommendations for horror flicks released in 1991, that's NOT Silence of the Lambs? I wanna watch something new for that challenge. So far all the films I've watched have been new to me, but I'm looking forward to sharing some of my classic faves with the gf this year (Aw yeah seeing The Thing on the big screen next week): 1. Castle Freak 2. Murder Party 3. Phantasm 4. The Howling Also I saw Mandy two weeks ago and I don't do drugs but it was the closest to doing hallucinogens I can imagine without ever having done the real thing. Thanks for letting me ramble, this thread and community rocks.
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Oct 5, 2018 02:44
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Conrad_Birdie posted:Speaking of, does anyone have any good recommendations for horror flicks released in 1991, that's NOT Silence of the Lambs? I wanna watch something new for that challenge. My pick would be The People Under the Stairs, which is probably my personal favorite Wes Craven movie. It's extremely underrated. I don't think it's available on any of the major streaming services right now though.
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Oct 5, 2018 02:51
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Lester Shy posted:It's nice, light, and fun, but I don't understand the universal praise it's gotten. ...because it's nice, light and fun? The charm carries the movie, in my opinion, and the two leads are great. It's the kind of splatter comedy I could recommend to a kid just getting into horror, like there's some really gnarly gore but it flies by and is played entirely for laughs. It's not "hilarious", and I don't think most people who praised it really thought it was. It's kinda chuckleworthy, and I think that's good enough. It's leagues loving better than other attempts I've seen at modern slasher parody comedy, like Final Girls or Happy Death Day.
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Oct 5, 2018 02:53
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10/31 Hollis has let me watch far more 80s Hong Kong horror than I ever would have expected. Human Lanterns may very well be my current favorite. This 1982 kung fu horror film is set in what looks like the Ming dynasty. A swordsman, desperate to win a lantern contest against the man who stole his favorite lady, hires a man that he humiliated in a sword duel years before. This proves to be a mistake, as the lantern maker gives him exactly what he wants. Just...not from the sources he expects. The film resembles a mix between kung fu and Hammer Horror. The color palette is bright to the point of glowing, including a glow-in-the-dark mask for the killer as he cartwheels and backflips around the sets like a wuxia villain. Likewise, what would normally be typical slasher movie chase or fight scenes are full of flips and unexplained floating through the air. When the lantern maker actually gets his hands on a victim, you see it in excruciating and painful detail. Human Lanterns holds a lot of appeal. It's an atypical slasher, but also an atypical kung fu movie. It surprisingly manages to bridge the gap between both genres in a way that feels natural to both. chitoryu12 fucked around with this message at 17:30 on Oct 7, 2018 |
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Oct 5, 2018 03:04
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Hiruko, the Goblin is another option for 1991, it's basically a Japanese mash-up of The Thing and Evil Dead with some really good practical effects. I have no idea where to find it now, though. I saw it on Youtube a while back but the only full version I see now is without subtitles. Which, I mean, you can pretty much get the gist without them, but still.
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Oct 5, 2018 03:17
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12. Human Lanters (1982)(  This was more serious in tone compared to the other Hong Kong Horror from Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest . It works though despite being filled to the brim with fight scenes ( the last 20 minutes of the movie is like one long fight scene) and kind of disturbing gore special effects. I think comparing it to a Hammer horror film is really apt because the some of the sets feel right out of a Hammer film. Overall the acting is good, the fighting choreography is pretty drat great, the parts that are suppose to be scary in fact do come off as scary which is kind of rare in some of these films. Production quality is really high as well. Just a really drat well made mash up. It doens't have that sheer reach for the stars insanity of practical effects that the other 80s Shaw Wuxia Horror has but it has a lot of loving style. I mean the villian basically has a insane laboratory of sorts. / 5
Hollismason fucked around with this message at 03:28 on Oct 5, 2018 |
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Oct 5, 2018 03:25
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22. Scream 2 - 3/5quote:Two hours is way too long for a slasher film, which is also the main problem I had with the first film. I rated Scream pretty low because of it, but I enjoyed this one despite the length, so I should probably re-evaluate at some point. Still, it's hard to see the runtime as anything other than padding to give you time to "forget" the identity of the killer. It's about as ideal as a slasher can get, fun murders and a plot that's actually interesting, but it's all so long winded. It feels like it could benefit from a snappier pace, for humor's sake at least. Maybe I just missed the boat on seeing this at a time when it would be considered tense or scary.
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Oct 5, 2018 03:52
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FRAN CHALLENGE #3: Hometown Horror 7. Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations Well, this was certainly a movie set in Detroit. Well, an alternate timeline Detroit where Michigan still had capital punishment in 2009. It wasn't good. It maybe wasn't completely awful. It was, however, terribly mediocre and forgettable. I don't remember enough of the first one to compare the two in terms of quality, and I didn't see the second. I only watched this to hit up the hometown challenge, as it's set in Detroit, and I wanted to try and stick with new-to-me movies. The time travel shenanigans follow the same trajectory I remember - the more you travel through time, the more things get hosed up. So far that's pretty similar to the first. The twist here is what if there's someone else leaping and murdering people?!?! It's the evil leaper from Quantum Leap, basically. But ultimately it doesn't do anything much for the formula the first movie followed - it's still every leap bringing a new level of misery to his life. List (7): Savageland, Ghostbusters (2016), Creep, Vampyr, Hereditary, Frontier(s), Butterfly Effect 3 Challenges Fulfilled: #3 Hometown Horror: Butterfly Effect 3
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Oct 5, 2018 04:36
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16) The Quatermass Xperiment (1955) This was an interesting one. It was slow, and plodding, but I think that allowed some of the ideas to breathe a bit. It felt like a stretched out Twilight Zone episode, and I mean that in a good way. 3/5 17) Plague of the Zombies (1966)  Hm. I’m torn on this one. It had moments of being a really good proto-zombie flick. But in this one I think the plodding pace worked against it. I still enjoyed it, but probably my next to least favorite Hammer movie so far (above The Mummy). 2/5 Watched (17): 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, Mummy, Shining, Horror of Dracula, Quatermass Xperiment, Plague of the Zombies Count Thrashula fucked around with this message at 05:25 on Oct 5, 2018 |
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Oct 5, 2018 05:21
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Justin Godscock posted:I remember watching Shaun of the Dead at 19 and anyone who does so in the 18-25 age range will have an existential crisis after watching it. While it is very much a horror-comedy the themes of interpersonal relationships, responsibilities and growing up are so very powerful in the trilogy that I still remember the impact they had on me over a decade later. If you saw this movie recently after seeing it earlier like I did and sympathize with Pete more than you are doing well in life. I mean, Shaun and Ed did come home drunk from the bar at 4AM and blasted loud music with a sleeping roommate in the house. To Pete's credit, when he finds out the reason (the break-up) he calms down and tells them to keep it down. I might have to rewatch this film now. Cheers for contrasting the trilogy's handing of the themes of growing up between films more elegantly than I'd probably be able to.  I'll definitely cop to having related to Shaun from time to time more than I'd like to admit, as well as falling on both sides of the Hot Fuzz duo, depending on the situation and who I'm associating with at any given moment. Another thing I think is worth mentioning too, in relation to your point about each film taking differing perspectives on the themes of growing up, is how those themes are mirrored/complimented by each showcasing completely different types of friendships between Pegg's and Frost's characters between movies, from the unwavering friendship between Shaun and Ed, in spite of everyone else's insistence that Ed is only holding Shaun back, to the completely new friendship between Angel and Danny, which as you mentioned gives Angel a fresh perspective and convinces him to loosen up a little, and finally the irreparably damaged friendship between Gary and Andy, where the only connective tissue left remaining is Andy's last desperate strand of hope that he can help Gary change his destructive ways, despite being continually disappointed and dragged down with him.
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Oct 5, 2018 05:29
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 #9 Frailty (2001) Director's commentary on "Only demons should fear me. You're not a demon, are you? The angel said you were. I can't believe that. I won't." Bill Paxton's passion project! Texas director, Texas actors, Texas setting! Axe murdering! Really fun listening to Paxton talk about virtually every shot, set, and actor in detail, even if it's something that's in frame for two seconds. He knows the name of every actor (most of them were small-time people he knew that he was doing a favor). Of special note is that one of the actors was his acting coach. I really miss Bill Paxton and I never knew the guy. This really feels like Paxton's "student film" where he puts together what he learned over twenty years of being in movies. I mean, it's better than a student film, but it feels down to the core like something he's always wanted to make. He loves every element of it. I for one love that somehow Matthew McConaughey became a romantic comedy lead for like ten years. McConaughey going back to weird movies feels like a return to the norm, though he still does his fair share of Oscar bait too.
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Oct 5, 2018 06:06
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23. Gremlins (1984) I think I might have committed the biggest sin any 30-something in this thread has confessed to: I have never seen Gremlins. I've seen all the usual 80s nostalgia flicks like Back to the Future, Ghostbusters and Indiana Jones and others but not this gem from Joe Dante. Well, time to fix that. This is a great flick because honestly even though it was made in 1984 it really does not feel dated or aged at all. The practical effects all hold up, the 80s-ness isn't overwhelming and above all else the directing and photography is so well done it is now timeless. I won't bore anyone with the details because you all know the story. A man brings a Mogwei (the creatures) back home to his family and all seems well. The creature is friendly but has strict rules over no sunlight, no water and especially no feeding after midnight. The cynic would say "well, all of this could have been avoided if the shopkeeper explained what would happen". But, would you believe it? Then if you didn't take the implied warning seriously then the results are your learning experience. It's a thought I had watching this and might have been the food for thought for kids about knowing where there is danger when it is not super freaking obvious. I won't say anymore. As one might expect, none of these rules are obeyed or taken seriously and hell breaks loose. The final third is a non-stop sequences of madness as the creatures run wild over the small town. There is so much black comedy here as well that it made me grin. This is a great film. /523. Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)  Might as well make it all up and watch the sequel as well. I said earlier in the thread that Joe Dante did not want to make a sequel to Gremlins. He felt there was nothing more to be told though Warner Bros spent the rest of the 80s trying to get a sequel done. Eventually, they told Dante they would give him complete creative control in exchange for returning. That was enough to get him to return and he made a film that was not only more comedic and meta but seemed to give a middle finger to the entire idea of a sequel to Gremlins. And it is awesome. This movie is just plain nuts and as Seanbaby once said “There is nothing more lovable than a movie that just plain doesn’t give a gently caress.”. Christopher Lee as a mad scientist? A Grandpa Munster lookalike giving dry commentary? The not-at-all-subtle Trump Tower jabs (in 1990)? The non-stop movie parodies? Gizmo being more than just cheap comic fodder? This movie decided it didn’t want to play along with anyone or any trend and it is just plain glorious to watch. The practical effects are back and the creative genius is expanded upon by not just having a bunch of reptilian Gremlins but an entire drat cast of creatures. It’s difficult to not watch the final half of this movie with a giant grin. I mean, holy crap, I’m sorry I never saw this one before. /5 Total: 1. The Conjuring 2 (2016), 2. Terrifier (2016), 3. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), 4. Split (2017), 5. The First Purge (2018), 6. Trick 'R Treat (2009), 7. Wolf Creek (2005), 8. King Kong (1976), 9. Halloween II (2009), 10. Pumpkinhead (1988), 11. House on Haunted Hill (1959), 12. House on Haunted Hill (1999), 13. What We Do in the Shadows (2014), 14. Ghostbusters (2016), 15. Bride of Chucky (1998), 16. Seed of Chucky (2004), 17. Nightbreed (1990), 18. The Axe Murders of Villisca (2016), 19. Ghosts of Mars (2001), 20. Haunters: The Art of the Scare (2017), 21 Annabelle (2014), 22. The Stuff (1985), 23. Gremlins, 24. Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1984) Justin Godscock fucked around with this message at 06:27 on Oct 5, 2018 |
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Oct 5, 2018 06:08
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 98- Grapes of Death 1978 - DVD I freely admit I'm embarrassed with how long it took me to sit through this one. I had a chance ages ago to rent it because of the title, but the then boyfriend of the time dismissed it as 'some artsy piece of poo poo'. Suffice it to say, while there are many reasons that boyfriend's an ex, this was but one of those. As my first Rollin film, I'd say this one's a good one to start with. There's a straightforward enough story with just enough of Rollin's touches to be a warmup to Rollin's other films like The Demoniacs. The plot centers around the effects a pesticide has on the local vinyards with the wine made for the festival. The pacing and buildup are excellent, it doesn't feel like there's any filler parts. The ending feels a bit slapped together compared to how the rest of the film flows. It doesn't ruin the film for me, just more a 'well, that's dissappointing' kinda thing. I'd have to say this one's my fave of what I've seen so far of Rollin's work.  99- Tales that witness Madness 1973 - DVD Another anthology, kinda standard overall save for a young Joan Collins and seeing treeboobs. Ending's pretty much a non-surprise when you've sat through as many horror films as most of us have. While there's other anthologies I'd recommend as better, that's not to say this one's bad. It's just average.
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Oct 5, 2018 06:32
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Fran Chalłenge 2: queer horror 22- XX An anthology of four short films, with a Tool video for a framining device. The hook here is that they’re all directed by women. I have to say I dug it, it’s rare to find an anthology without a weak link but these all had something going for them.you have: something that sounds like it came right from r/creepypasta, but one of the better ones; the one St Vincent did that’s basically a big setup to a punchline that was pretty worth it; a short little monster movie with some good makeup effects; and an anti christ bit told from the mothers perspective. All of them were good and different from each other and I’m glad I finally checked it out as it’s been on my Netflix list since at least last year
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Oct 5, 2018 06:37
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Franchescanado posted:
 HOLY poo poo. This was an absolute blast from start to finish. I heard this was a gory film but I was blown away by just how playful it gets with its gore. The gags start small - a gross wound shooting pus, an ear falling off into custard - and they just build up in absurdity and grossness until you get things like a zombie impaled on a wall light with its head glowing like a jack-o-lantern, or a dude with his legs chewed down to bones. I haven’t seen anything else by Peter Jackson pre-LotR (which I’ve never finished, I was too bored by Two Towers to bother to RotK) but how the heck does a guy go from directing this to bloated 3-hour Tolkien adaptions? /5
duck.exe fucked around with this message at 08:14 on Oct 5, 2018 |
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Oct 5, 2018 07:21
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2. It (2017) Available on HBO Go  Remake of Stephen King’s classic 1986 novel and 1990 TV miniseries that scarred a generation of clown haters about an evil force that preys upon the children of Derry Maine until one group of random “losers” realize that the only way they can survive it is by joining together and taking it on. So like so many I was a child of the 80s and can still vividly remember sitting in my childhood home with my tube tv and a push button cable box being scared to death and riven to my bed by Tim Curry’s Pennywise the Clown. I own the miniseries and have watched it many times since, and yeah, its not great and it banks on nostalgia a lot. But also its Stephen King and its got all the charms and freaky stuff. And Curry’s monster is iconic and belongs in the pantheon of 80s horror monsters with Freddy, Jason, Chucky, Michael, and Pinhead. I’ll fight anyone to the end on that. That takes us here and my expectations weren’t TOO high but I was optimistic. Right off the bat, I think this version of Pennywise is great. Is he as terrifying as Curry’s? I have absolutely no idea because I’m not 10 years old anymore as I was when I first saw Curry’s. But this one is good and terrifying. I absolutely love the way it moves and how every iteration and form it takes moves in the same way. I want to credit Bill Skarsgård for his performance but the God’s honest truth is I don’t even know where he ended and the CGI began. I think that’s a genuine testament to Skarsgård and the makeup because you show me a still of him as Pennywise and I can only be sure its CGI when the giant gaping mouth opens or something starts spinning around or he grows tentacles. Pennywise isn’t a clown (and I kind of disagree with those who say he was meant to look normal to lure children in, as he really only does that with Georgie and he’s pretty terrifying when he does). Pennywise is a thing. An evil. With King’s works and his often apparent inspiration from Lovecraft Pennywise could well be called an Old One. He’s just an evil force that can be anything it pleases and this version really embraces that. The 1990 series was obviously limited and banked heavily on Curry’s ability to just be terrifying. Skarsgård could pull that off, of that I have no doubt, but modern CGI also means they went all out. And maybe they could have cut back a little to make Skarsgård stand out more, but also why would Pennywise hold back when his sole purpose is to scare the poo poo out of you and eat? Also, I made a point to watch Castle Rock before i saw this because I saw some say they had a hard time with Skarsgård in that role without seeing Pennywise. So I wanted to give myself that clean viewing and then see It. My ultimate conclusion is that Skarsgård is a creepy motherfucker and I hope that he gets permanently cast as every undefinable evil in a Stephen King adaption until they remake The Stand and cast him as Randall Flagg. Deal, Hollywood? Don’t tell me that’s not a good idea. Then maybe he can take another shot at the Gunslinger. As for the movie itself I enjoyed it, although it wasn’t great. A lot of it felt a bit rushed. While I kind of like the decision to split the kid part and adult part up I think it probably heart the characterization of the kids. I think we get to know them a lot better when we see them in both forms and see the traits that carry over. I also think we just got more time to get to know them in the miniseries format before the poo poo hits the fan, but that’s kind of unavoidable in this format. I’ve seen people say Mike gets robbed of his character by making Ben the historian, but I don’t totally agree. Yeah, Mike’s left kind of short changed but so are a bunch of the characters and really Mike doesn’t have a lot going for him as a kid in the ’90 version either as far as I remember. His strength is as the adult who stayed behind and studied the history when the rest left, forgot, and became successes. He's basically the narrator of that version but as an adult. I don’t know how this version will deal with him and that part of the story in Chapter 2 but its not really Chapter 1’s fault that kid Mike was kind of a dud. I actually think they tried to give him a little more by giving him the bolt gun to replace the slingshot as their weapon of choice. It didn’t really work, but I think they tried. But like I said, I still enjoyed the film. It was a solid little horror and a solid coming of age film. The kids all did a good job even if I only recognized the one from Stranger Things playing Richie (who I think probably got short changed more than Mike). Skarsgård did great in the most important role. I can’t tell if it would work on a 10 year old the way the 90 version worked on 10 year old me but I want to think it does. Those kids and that sense of childhood to draw them in, and the loving monster that makes up all their nightmares to scare them back to bed. I don’t know and I guess only 10 year old’s whose parents might have made the wrong call on what they could watch do. STAC Goat fucked around with this message at 10:18 on Oct 5, 2018 |
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Oct 5, 2018 10:11
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Ok, that was last night’s. Now tonight’s. 3. The Beyond (1981) Available of Shudder  Lucio Fulci’s classic tale of a woman who inherits an old hotel (really a bed without the breakfast) only for it to be bedeviled by a rash of deaths, strange happenings, and a creepy blind lady who warns the owner to abandon the hotel. Why? “I can’t tell you.” Maybe next time go with “Its built on a doorway to Hell.” Small note, I’ve actually owned a DVD of this for like 15-20 years I bought on a whim because the art I choose as my poster drew me in. But somehow I bought a region 2 DVD and was unable to ever find something to play it. I have no idea how I got my hands on a Region 2 DVD in America and haven’t actually tried it on any of my recent players and have no idea if it would play. Its just collected dust on my shelf for pretty much half my life. I’m just gonna say it, I didn’t like it. More I didn’t like the directing/film crafting. Long lingering reaction shots that went on long enough to feel sloppy and drag down the acting performances. Absurdly exaggeratedly loud sound effects that only served to pull me out of the story (that had to be the noisiest hospital cart in history). Gorey deaths that start impressive and then just go on, and on until I can’t help but stare at the paper mache. And what the hell was that theme song? I’m also not sure there was even a plot to this film. I mean, “opens a doorway to hell to let evil out” gives you a lot of leeway for random evil poo poo to happen but you could try and craft a narrative to it. What was the point of that one guy who discovers secrets we already know before he gets taken out by evil? And what the hell was Emily’s deal anyway? And what did the doctor mean asking Liza who she really is? That gets mentioned and then boom zombie apocalypse. And what the hell was the deal with the girl? I mean, did I just totally miss it or did this not make a ton of sense? Look, I don’t want to do nothing but hate on it. I actually was generally impressed by the gore. Its not really my thing but I’m not necessarily opposed to it. And this film does a good job with it, especially in the opening piece in sepia tones. I got a few genuine cringes and crucifixion scene really holds up very well and hides its tricks well. The spider scene doesn’t do as good a job hiding but is still pretty effective and creepy, even if it probably went on a bit too long. But it holds up and I get that its a draw and a hallmark of the era. And really there’s definitely some artistry to this. I think the leads all do a fine acting job even if the directing and story hurts them at times. There’s a lot of good themes I caught from the blindness when witnessing evil or the images of hell/purgatory. I can see the artistry in Fulci. I believe this is the first piece of his I’ve seen and while I was unaware it was part of a thematic trilogy going in I already have The House by the Cemetery on my possible list for this month so I might add City of the Living Dead and give Fulci a full chance. We’ll see how it goes. Oh, this was apparently the uncut version that was only recently released by Quentin Tarrentino. I don’t know what difference that makes but perhaps some of the editing problems I have and overly long scenes are a direct result of that. I don’t know. 4. Trilogy of Terror (1979) Available on Amazon Prime  A made for TV anthology from Dan Curtis (Dark Shadows) that stars Karen Black in three stories. First as a teacher being stalked by a depraved student, then as twin sisters at war with each other over their natures, and finally as the terrified victim of a Zuni fetish doll that must have snorted a ton of cocaine. We’ll go in order for the sake of my thought process. The first two pieces are interesting ideas but I think the short time really hampers them. Julie is an interesting story idea but it just never really has time to breath or sink in. Black could have done a lot more in that role but the time constraints didn’t seem to allow it and I think that hurts the piece. Millicent and Terese is less interesting and I was actually disappointed that the “split personality” thing wasn’t just a red herring since it seems so obvious so early in the story. Again I think this story could have benefited from being longer, spending more time away from the sisters or with Millicent, and maybe told from the perspective of the boyfriend or something? I don’t know it just didn’t work the way it was told at all. Now I know that the big draw here is the Zuni doll segment and it absolutely delivers. While I think the other pieces were hampered by the short story format and would have made better features this is the opposite and absolutely benefits from the condensed story. We get just enough time to get to know Amelia and play a little tense “is there something in the dark?” and then that crazy little thing is let loose. And its loving amazing. And like while the jaded part of me might get all hung up on why its so hard to fight an 18 inch toy the fact that its just so loving rabid and nonstop takes that away entirely. Amelia just has no time to think or breath and they use the moments she does get really well to have her just shocked into not knowing how to process this crazy or what to do about it. And the ending delivers great. All in all its not a great set of films by any means but anthologies really always benefit most by a strong ending and this has a great one. I mean, watch the last segment alone if you really don’t want to waste the time on the others. Julie’s kind of interesting but the middle piece is totally skippable. But I’m glad I finally saw the Zuni piece. I’ve always been aware of that doll’s image but a few weeks ago when it was being discussed in the main thread I suddenly realized I had no idea where it came from and decided I was gonna watch this. Very glad I did and I can essentially thank the horror thread and posters. Ok that puts me 1 ahead on my total and 1 behind on my years. Not bad at all considering how much of my time has been occupied by baseball and other sports. That’s probably not gonna let up too much with the NHL and NBA seasons starting but this is the real tough week with tons of playoff baseball games and that’s my real love. So keeping par is key and I’m right around there. Of course Fran’s challenges are super backlogging. I’m gonna have to start on them real soon or its going to become untenable.  September Tally - New (Total) 1. A Cure For Wellness (2016) / - (2). Slither (2006) / 2 (3). Castle Rock (2018) / - (4). The Forsaken (2001) / 3 (5). The Night Eats the World (2018) / 4 (6). The Girl With All The Gifts (2016) / 5 (7). The Voices (2014) / 6 (8). Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010) / 7 (9). Jug Face (2013) / 8 (10). Coherence (2013) / 9 (11). A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (2014) / - (12). Vampire in Brooklyn (1995) / 10 (13). Excision (2012) / 11 (14). Spring (2014) October Tally - New (Total) 1. Suspiria (1977) / 2. It (2017) / 3. The Beyond (1981) / 4. Trilogy of Terror (1979)
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Oct 5, 2018 10:21
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DukeDuke posted:I haven’t seen anything else by Peter Jackson pre-LotR (which I’ve never finished, I was too bored by Two Towers to bother to RotK) but how the heck does a guy go from directing this to bloated 3-hour Tolkien adaptions? Check out his slightly earlier film Bad Taste, especially if you enjoyed the grossness and craziness of Dead Alive. The Frighteners is good too, although much tamer.
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Oct 5, 2018 11:57
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 Invasion of the Saucer Men - 1957 watched via YouTube This was cute. I'm a sucker for camp and 50s teens and sci-fi, so I was in the bag for this from the get-go. As a horror entry this is pretty weak, but as light sci-fi it was an enjoyable romp. Wikipedia lists it as an early “comedy horror”, though, so it counts for these purposes. It’s got a decent amount of DNA in common with The Blob which came out a year later, where two teens have to run around a small town in the middle of the night trying and failing to convince the townspeople, doctors, and police that there is an alien menace on the loose. However, I actually think Invasion is a little more interesting and complex than The Blob in what it’s trying to say, even if it does so relatively poorly in comparison. It’s also just nowhere near as good as The Blob from a writing, technical, or performance standpoint. The design of the aliens is very cool if extremely cheap, their tactics are inventive and creepy, and there are a few eerie moments—the shots of the dripping hypodermic needles extending from the alien fingers were terrific and genuinely skin-crawling. The themes are a bit shaky, but interesting. It’s got an extremely anti-military and anti-police bent to it, which I loved. The military are hiding the alien menace from the public in order to not create a panic, as per usual, but they’re wildly incompetent at their job while thinking that they’re doing great work. Not only that, but the new teenage recruit questions the wisdom of hiding information from the public and criticizes the ethics of the military on the matter. But while it shows the establishment in a poor light, it also has conflicting messages on what we should think about the youth. The two main teens serve as a stark contrast to all of their friends. While most are out at lover’s lane to smooch and drink alcohol, our heroes are there to get secretly married and abstain. The film points directly to overindulgence in alcohol being the real problem at the foundation of this all, but then the people who actually solve the problem at the end of the story are the drunk teens who save the drunk, philandering scam artist. The moralizing adults only got in the way and leave the story living in ignorance of the alien menace. But the first act is a ton of fun and exactly what I wanted out of the movie: a light, fun, nostalgic romp with some fun gags and some solid spoofery. It really moves for a while, and in the first 10 or 15 minutes there’s about 5 scenes I cracked up at. The rest of the film fluctuates between being a bit of a meandering slog and a bit cliche, and the ending is a bit of a let-down. The military just leave, forcing the kids to take care of the problem with their car lights. While it’s appropriate to the story, it feels very small compared to the build-up of army vs. aliens and was a poor payoff for so much running around. But I suppose that’s the idea. It never quite makes a concrete point, but I appreciate that it tried. If anything, you come out of the film with the idea of “It’s okay to drink and canoodle as a teenager, but don’t overdo it! And definitely don’t drink and drive.” And that the solution to the alcohol problem is “shining a light on the issue”. Blunt, but effective enough for me. Overall a fun bit on nonsense. For the most part it’s a sci-fi b-movie with only a hint of horror—just enough to get the nice young lady next to you at the drive-in to hold you close. But not too close. B- September Tally - New 1. Pumpkinhead - 1988 (A-) October Tally - New 1. Pieces - 1982 (C+), 2. Return of the Living Dead - 1988 (A+), 3. Invasion of the Saucer Men - 1957 (B-) Years Spanned 31 (1957-1988) Average Rating B+ Tally by Decade '50s (I), '80s (IV) feedmyleg fucked around with this message at 16:46 on Oct 5, 2018 |
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Oct 5, 2018 12:23
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Time to play catch up with a double feature. Both are bad, but for entirely different reasons House of purgatory (2016) I found this on Amazon Prime Canada. The plot synopsis was that a group of teens go to a haunted house named Purgatory and encounter their own personal hells in there. I was intrigued by this and at 75 minutes I figured it would be worth a watch. It’s the type of movie I initially thought was okay for a low budget horror but as I started reviewing it and really thinking about it I kind of started to hate it more and more. This is obviously a super low budget film and the sets are pretty minimal. The actors all look way too old to play teenagers and there's some characters and plot points that add nothing to the film. Still, it was kind of charming in its own little way. What I really didn't like was the thematic implications in this movie. These teens really didn't deserve their fates in this movie. Most of their "sins" are things that are really outside of their control, or situations in which they were already the victim, and this just leaves a sour taste in my mouth. One more thing - I was reading other reviews for this and it’s worth pointing out the director wrote a glowing review for it on IMDb under a barely-disguised sock puppet account. Fran Challenge: Love Something You Hate30 Nights of Paranormal Activity With the devil Inside the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo I find this challenge kind of hard because there’s not really much I don’t like in horror - j-horror and bad parodies are pretty much it. I looked deep in the horror section on Prime and came across this. With very few exceptions, these parody movies are always terribly unfunny but I thought maybe this one would have a few laughs so I'd give it a shot. So this parodies horror movies such as Paranormal Activity and The Devil Inside and...The girl with the dragon tattoo? And um, The Dark Knight... and Adele and whatever else they could think to include in a 2013 movie. Oh, and there’s lots of reality show references. There’s probably as much reality show stuff as horror movies.I'm not sure when these parody movies started targeting everything under the sun but it definitely isn't making them any funnier. The only good movies of this type at least have some reverence and understanding of the source material. Plot doesn’t matter to garbage movies like this. It’s always just the same thing - take a recognizable scene from a movie and make a sex joke with it. Bonus points if you can get casual homophobia, transphobia or racism in as well. This movie is pretty bad, but it’s probably no worse than the later scary movie series or the Haunted House series. And to give credit where it’s due, the concept of regular reality shows capturing paranormal activity could be interesting in the right hands. I did let out a small laugh at a Ghost reference in this, but this movie is still definitely not worth watching, even out of morbid curiosity. Watched (11) 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; Alone in the Dark; House of Purgatory; 30 Nights of Paranormal Activity...;
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Oct 5, 2018 12:26
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4. The Fog (1980) This one was pretty fun. I should have expected that from Carpenter I guess. I really appreciate how local it all feels. Kind of like Jaws in that respect. Adrienne Barbeau is great as the radio DJ. Anybody got recommendations for seafaring horror?
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Oct 5, 2018 12:37
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gey muckle mowser posted:Check out his slightly earlier film Bad Taste, especially if you enjoyed the grossness and craziness of Dead Alive. The Frighteners is good too, although much tamer. Really, all of Jackson's pre-LotR work is worth checking out on some level. Heavenly Creatures is a legit great movie and Meet the Feebles is as audacious as Dead Alive. Neither are horror films, though, so save them for after October. 
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Oct 5, 2018 13:42
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Random Stranger posted:Really, all of Jackson's pre-LotR work is worth checking out on some level. Heavenly Creatures is a legit great movie and Meet the Feebles is as audacious as Dead Alive. Neither are horror films, though, so save them for after October. After October I assume we'll all be busy trying to watch 31 Thanksgiving movies
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Oct 5, 2018 13:58
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Guy Goodbody posted:After October I assume we'll all be busy trying to watch 31 Thanksgiving movies That's absurd. There's only 30 days in November for Thanksgiving movies.
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Oct 5, 2018 14:33
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| # ? Jun 1, 2024 12:51 |
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Uh Halloween lasts from the beginning of October to the day before Thanksgiving
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Oct 5, 2018 14:58
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