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23. Return of the Living Dead - 5/5 (Amazon)quote:Maybe the funniest horror-comedy I've seen, but also the most horrifying zombie movie. Man what an incredibly tight first act, that intro sting is on par with Always Sunny's best. Amazingly, Return is actually punk as gently caress and doesn't just use the aesthetic as set dressing. Authority figures are bumbling morons terrified of their own higher ups, and always put their subordinates in the line of fire first.
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Oct 6, 2018 03:57
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Random Stranger posted:2017: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3834342 It hurts my eyes! It's crazy looking back.
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Oct 6, 2018 04:05
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 FRAN CHALLENGE #3: Hometown Horror Well, this'll be easy...  8. October 5 - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre I've always loved horror, and I've lived in Texas my whole life, but I hadn't seen this movie until tonight. My local Blockbuster never carried it when I was a kid, and over the years it's become one of those movies that you feel like you've already seen through osmosis and imitators. I doubt I have anything new to say about this movie, but I did enjoy it. It's certainly gruesome, but a lot tamer than I was expecting. Oddly enough, I think my favorite part is the first half hour, before the massacring starts. Reminded me a bit of Easy Rider. The radio newsfeed at the beginning just listing off nonstop horrible stories was a nice touch, and I loved the old man lying on the ground speaking in vague omens.
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Oct 6, 2018 04:11
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The previous threads should be in the OP.
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Oct 6, 2018 04:13
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25. An American Werewolf in London (1981) Yet another 80s horror classic I have not seen yet. Yes, we all know John Landis’ terrible judgment involved in the filming of the Twilight Zone Movie. If you want to know about that one please Google it because I’m not going to derail this fun challenge. But I always liked his films from this era. He was able to mix black comedy, meta filmmaking without being obnoxiously fourth wall breaking and fun characters who talked to one another in unique dialogue. This film is also known for being Rick Baker’s entry into legendary make-up of the werewolf and his victims. The film is about two Americans (Jack and David) back-packing across Europe starting in northern England and working south towards Rome. Along the way they stop in a small town where the locals seem off and hostile towards them. They decide to leave but ignore their advice of staying on the road and “avoiding the moors”. Obviously they ignore this and are savagely attacked by a creature. Jack is killed and David is put in hospital with bite wounds. From there the film shows him meeting a nurse in hospital, the curious doctor investigating what happened and the eventual turning during the next full moon. There is also another subplot with Jack returning as a corpse only David can see which is so deliciously morbid I won’t say anymore. All with a very dry British wit and dry humor towards this little thing called a werewolf that might be attacking someone in the garden (the reactions towards the werewolf attacks are black comedy for this reason). The film is honestly amazing because while it’s known for the werewolf scenes (particularly the first transformation) the characters and pacing are so well done it brings you deep into the movie.  /5Franchescanado posted:
26. The Evil Dead (1981)  I never saw The Evil Dead for one very simple reason: it had a special sticker on the VHS box saying that Blockbuster would not rent it to anyone under 18. So I got my first taste of Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell horror with Evil Dead 2 in high school and since then became a massive fan of Ash and the Boomstick. But for whatever reason I never got around to watching the original for one reason or another (even though I did see the 2013 remake which I do recommend). Time to end that. The Video Nasties were a moral panic in the UK in the 80s over low-budget horror with lots of blood/gore being sold on VHS when the home video market was in its infancy. There is an actual list of 72 films that were considered to be so horrible they were banned for sale in the UK. The one I decided to watch is the one that, as mentioned, took me too long to watch so here it is. Evil Dead is the original “cabin in the woods” film. A group of young people go out to stay in a cabin and encounter an evil beyond their comprehension. This one is notable as the start of Sam Raimi’s career and it’s clear why he began what he is today. The sheer amount of raw attention to detail, cinematography and practical effects despite budgetary limitations is astounding. I also noted he really expanded a lot upon (because Evil Dead 2 became a re-imagining of this film's ideas) what he achieved in this original in the sequels and even the TV series (worth watching) in terms of imagination but you all knew that. /5Total: 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 (1984), 24. Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990), 25. An American Werewolf in London (1981), 26. The Evil Dead (1981)
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Oct 6, 2018 04:28
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Watch a Video Nasty*
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drat, in 2015 I had 21 (28) on Oct 23rd and was never heard from again. I'm sitting her racking my brain trying to figure out what took me out in the last week of October 2015. I wanna say I had family in the hospital but I think that was true of the summer of 2015 and winter but not the fall. I just punked out on that one, I think.
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Oct 6, 2018 04:34
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Almost Blue posted:Dang, I wish this had popped up in the May challenge! I've seen something like 25+ video nasties this year and I've watched three documentaries about them. The major ones I haven't seen are The Burning and Alice Sweet Alice, so I guess I'll have to track one of them down. Alice, Sweet Alice is on Tubi.
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Oct 6, 2018 04:41
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Retro Futurist posted:23 How does it compare with KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park?
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Oct 6, 2018 05:15
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Franchescanado posted:You specifically can have this exception, since I knew there'd be an issue for you with this challenge before posting it. Oh you...you're too much. Okay, I love you again. Also, for everyone else, Fran did say you could watch movies ABOUT the Video Nasties, and if you have Shudder, there's some pretty great documentaries on there about them, I highly recommend. (My schedule's all flipped turned upside down for health reasons but I'll try to update my views in a few movies)
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Oct 6, 2018 06:30
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 2. Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror I've loved the few Hammer Horror films that I've gotten to see, but when I went to their wikipedia filmography page I felt a little overwhelmed so I figured this would be a good place to start. It gives a nice overview of their big horror series, but I didn't feel like I learned anything super insightful about the company. It also felt like it spent a little too much time on some of the more sci-fi and fantasy aspects of Hammer. I think it could have been a better documentary overall if they just kept to the horror titles and reduced the total running time by about 45 minutes. /5
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Oct 6, 2018 06:40
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Choco1980 posted:
Seconding this. I watched them all and they're very drat good.
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Oct 6, 2018 06:47
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5. House on Haunted Hill (1959) Available on Amazon Prime but its public domain so you should be able to find it on Youtube or something  Vincent Price classic about an eccentric millionaire who invites a group of strangers to a party for his wife at a haunted house with the promise of a cash prize if they can survive the night from the threats of both the ghosts within the house and the cat and mouse game between Price and his wife. This is one of those films I’m embarrassed to put on here. I’m embarrassed I’ve never seen it. I’m embarrassed I didn’t love it. I’m embarrassed I have nothing really useful or new to say. I’m embarrassed that much of the film was effectively spoiled to me because I’ve seen the 1999 remake. Who would have thought that would stay true to the original in so many ways? Why have I seen the sequel and not the original? I guess the sequel was just in that period of my life where it was readily available and the original was just something I never came across on AMC’s Fearfest or TMC or weekends in syndication. I actually kind of questioned if I had ever seen because it just seemed like I should have. But this was definitely a new watch. The movie is at its best when Price and Carol Ohmart were vamping at each other. Price is of course a legend and he carries the film much of the way, but Ohmart is pretty great and matches him and they probably should have given her more screen time and less to the useless hero character whose name isn’t worth remembering. Scares wise its a movie that seems to rely pretty heavily on the 50s version of “jump scares” and without accounting for 50s sensibilities it just didn’t do a lot for me. And more Carolyn Craig. She just spent half that film shrieking. The story is fun enough and I can’t blame it for me already knowing what was going to happen. I guess a lot of its success at the time was due to gimmicks like having skeletons flown over the heads of theater goers and stuff like that. That’s fun and there’s definitely a lot of classic horror imagery and stuff. Like, even though I’m sure I haven’t seen the film I’m certain I’ve seen some of the shots here or there. I don’t know. I actually feel kind of bad for not liking this more. But it is what it is. I didn’t dislike it. I’m glad I’ve finally seen it and mostly enjoyed the viewing. And looking at reviews I guess William Castle wasn’t really known for trying to scare you but rather be a little cheeky and gimmicky? The story certainly does that and I can see the way it would have been more fun for me at the time or at least if I hadn’t seen a bad remake 40 years later. c'est la vie. STAC Goat fucked around with this message at 08:48 on Oct 6, 2018 |
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Oct 6, 2018 07:44
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One more… 6. Demons (1985) Available on Shudder  Mario Bava’s son Lamberto and Dario Argento team up for a cult classic about a group of random strangers invited to the premiere of a new horror film that turns out to be a trap to transform the viewers into demons and… start the apocalypse? Honestly motives aren’t exactly laid out. Its punk music and demons. That was a pretty fun ride. I could easily see this as a good companion piece to Return of the Living Dead. Out the same year its got so much in common in look, tone, soundtrack. Its like Return’s cousin from Italy. Its not as good as Return and isn’t going to make any of the top of my lists, probably, but I can absolutely see why this is a cult classic and I had a lot of fun with it. Some of the demon designs are a lot of fun and effects work without ever really getting too gratuitious for me. Which is weird since its like all gore and monster stuff. But it felt like the right amount for what it was. I was a little antsy early on when there was what felt like a VERY long amount of time where the movie was just watching a bunch of people watch a movie. I’m sure it was less than 10 minutes but it felt like a lot more. And honestly, even 10 minutes of that seems like a bit much. I almost feel like it was done for a laugh on the part of the filmmakers. “Lets make a second movie that we make our viewers watch before our movie really starts.” I honestly don’t have a lot to say about this. Is this a “giallo” film? I’ve been struggling to really understand what that term means. It seems to suggest Italian films high on gore and sexual stuff and things I imagine were taboo, maybe a little low on narrative and deep plot, but with atmosphere and tone to it. I’m not sure. Are Demons, Suspiria, and Beyond giallo films or am I just lumping all Italian horror together? Because they all feel very different but all have some pretty similarities and things in common. I don’t know. Like I said, it was a fun little ride that reminded me a bit of a better film but I just don’t have much left to think about it or anything afterwards. No regrets, a good entry, just not exactly an eye opener or thought provoker. That puts me 1 ahead of my years pace which means I can maybe start to tackle Fran’s challenges tomorrow. I just want to make sure i stay ahead of the pace and I’ve done none of those and they’re really piling up. I gotta start hitting some 60s films to balance my years but I really don't see a lot available from that decade that speaks to me. That will either be a tough bunch of movies or a lot of good surprises. I might sneak something random and modern in tonight before bed.  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) / 5. House on Haunted Hill (1959) / 6. Demons (1985)
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Oct 6, 2018 08:47
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 106- House of Laughing Windows 1976 - DVD Stefano, an artist goes out to a rural church to restore an unusual fresco of St. Sebastian by Legnani. Once he's there he learns the fresco was never finished by the artist who went missing, he starts looking into the 'painter of agony' as he's called in the village. Of course, we know no good is going to come from this. As far as gialli go, House has a different vibe from the usuals. The volume of gore/sex is pretty low and most things happening are fairly believable. While normally this might detract, with the cinematography and building of dread, it works well. The ending can be quite a surprise for some, upon additional viewings, it's the only one that fits. Definitely recommend this one.  107- The Wicker Man 1973 - DVD I think this is probably my top favorite Christopher Lee film. It was definitely my first exposure to paganism that wasn't the cobbled together stuff my parents' friends practiced. Police Sergeant Howie is asked to come to Summerisle to look into the disappearance of a child, Rowan Morrison. Right from the start we pick up that Summerisle is far more different than the usual remote community. As Howie investigates he learns far more than he expected to. Christopher Lee considered this his best film and, yeah, can't argue that. His portrayal of Lord Summerisle is the best, and his theological sparring with Howie's some of my favorite scenes in the film. My other favorite is the happy ending. I have the 2001 Anchor Bay wood box edition with the standard version and the director's cut. While the differences are minor, the additional footage in the director's cut just brings everything out more such as Lee's reciting the poem outside Willow's window. I also have a copy of the novelization which I highly recommend as it adds still more to the plot and fleshes the characters out . If you've not seen this film already, stop reading and go see it. Time to keep your appointment with the Wicker Man.
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Oct 6, 2018 09:18
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Hot Dog Day #89 posted:
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Oct 6, 2018 09:37
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18) Revenge of Frankenstein (1958) I'm so in love with Cushing's portrayal of Frankenstein. This one has a really interesting plot, as well. Francis Matthews and Michael Gwynn were wonderful co-stars, and this version of the creature was... interesting. It didn't have the same draw as Christopher Lee's creature, but it had a bit more pathos. Well, it's tough to even call this one a "creature" since it was basically a regular person who had stitches on his head. Very good, one of the better of the Hammer films I've seen this month. 4/5 Watched (18): 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, Revenge of Frankenstein
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Oct 6, 2018 10:04
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Franchescanado posted:It hurts my eyes! It's fun looking at people finding Let The Right One In every year and having the same discussion about it.
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Oct 6, 2018 11:01
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#25. Microwave Massacre (1982) An average over the hill schmoe has a wife who just got a new oversized microwave to further her experiments in bad cooking. In the midst of a drunken fight, he ends up killing her, and after accidentally trying a bite, realizes he likes human meat far more than he ever liked her. Soon he moves on to having to find his own new food stocks on the street. Oof, this one is lousy as all creation. First off, it's a bad comedy, where all the standup style jokes of the lead (who was also the beloved voice of Frosty the Snowman in all the old Ruby-Spears specials!) were bad when this movie came out 35 years ago. Now they're just painful, and not in the good way. On top of that there's plenty of visual slapstick as well, equally unfunny. There's very little gore even, and the whole thing is just bad, and I mean bad-bad, not so bad it's good. 0 out of 5. Franchescanado posted:
#26. The Last Horror Film (1982) Vinny (Joe Spinell!)is a horror film fanatic, and his obsessions take him from his low life in New York to Cannes, so he can try to recruit his idol, Jana Bates (Caroline Munroe!) to make a horror film with him. Bates herself is in the running for best actress that year at Cannes, but the people around her career are slowly getting killed by a masked assailant, while someone films these encounters... In a lot of ways, this film makes for a good companion with the film Maniac. Both star Spinell as an obsessed weirdo stalking Munroe, and both have all kinds of good special effects, as well as a sleazy aftertaste-though this one in the ritzy high class French Riviera rather than the dirty New York. The plot is also a legit whodunnit, with Vinny being the main, but hardly only suspect in the murders. Finally, another neat feature is that they shot this film actually in Cannes, guerrilla-style, and much of the film industry in 1981, particularly the horror element, is on display, in plenty of billboards and crowd scenes set to a rock soundtrack. At one point you can even spy French director Jean Rollin working at his own booth in the background of a sequence. out of 5#27. Who Can Kill A Child? (1976) Ted and Evie are British tourists visiting a small island town off the coast of Spain, and are expecting their third child. The town however is strangely deserted save for the children, who our couple soon realize have some sort of mental infection of some kind compelling them to treat all adults as deadly enemies that need to be killed... Well, this is a pretty unique film. One might see it as a Spanish knock-off to Stephen King's "Children of the Corn"...except King didn't publish his story until the next year, making this a wholly original concept. The film has a strange rhythm, where I can't say it's constantly ramping up, as it's more a start and stop bit, with plenty of plateaus in the tension and action, but it never dips, and whoo boy the final 20 minutes are jaw-dropping. Highly recommended. out of 5#28. All The Colors of the Dark (1972) Jane is a troubled woman. As a child, her mother was murdered in front of her, and recently a car accident caused a miscarriage. Now, she can't bring herself to be intimate with her common law husband, Roger. First, her sister has her see the psychologist she works for for help, and then Jane meets a new neighbor who convinces her to come enter into her new age coven to instead try to fix her problems. The entire time however, Jane is sure she's being stalked by the man who murdered her mother, but can't quite tell what is real or not anymore... Wow is this a weird movie. Like, it moves in ways akin to a giallo in the plot, but at the same time the whole film is filled with bizarre imagery and camera angles, and feels like when you're in a dream--and not the fun kind, but the kind where you're trying to run but your legs don't move. Also, it feels like it reaches an ending several times before it actually does, and leaves the viewer second guessing throughout. It's a really bizarre film, one of the weirdest I've seen from Italy in the 70s. out of 5
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Oct 6, 2018 12:00
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Watched GIRLS NITE OUT which promised to be a goofy slasher (It's a guy dressed in a bear costume) but proved to be pretty uneventful with a wacky final five minutes. Hal Halbrook classes up the joint but clearly filmed his scenes in one night. More impressive though is that the whole production was done over 3 nights. Sadly the results show. Also watched THE HOUSE ON SKULL MOUNTAIN, which if nothing else is an awesome title. It's a Blacksploitation flick and has plenty of charm, but I think suffers from some real dubious politics.
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Oct 6, 2018 13:18
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Franchescanado posted:
"Do I look like I'm going to attack you??.... and I'm surrounded by all this radiation!"  Some scientists come up with a machine that emits radiation, killing all insects within a mile of it by causing them to become insane and kill each other. Despite saying the machine "only effects lower life forms, like animals and plants", the use of this machine has some unintended consequences as the recently dead are brought back to life. Once reanimated, the zombies can reanimate other dead through the use of living human blood (I don't know, just go with it) . They are also cannibals I went in with low expectations and was pretty impressed. The groaning noises the zombies make are notable and add creepiness to them. The movie has strong elements, a good plot and a message about technology let loose before it's actually been thoroughly studied. It's not the most tightly paced, some scenes are badly lit and the characters make some dumb choices, but it's all excusable / 5
Dr.Caligari fucked around with this message at 14:29 on Oct 6, 2018 |
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Oct 6, 2018 13:57
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20. Hardware (1990) on Hulu This has been on my radar for a while, and I was operating under the assumption that I'd love it based on images I've seen. Unfortunately, what the movie has in style is undercut by the story. I don't think this is a "style is substance" situation either. The late 80s dystopian setting is really cool and weirdly nostalgic to me, and it seems like most of the effort was put towards building the world up. Despite this, the movie primarily takes place in a single apartment, and all the world building seems wasted. Similarly the killer-robot looks rad as hell, but once it starts moving around it doesn't seem as scary. Overall I had mixed feelings about the movie. 2.25/5 Movies seen: 1. Terrifier | 2. A Nightmare on Elm Street | 3. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge | 4. A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors | 5. Scream | 6. Mandy | 7. November | 8. Salem's Lot | 9. The Resurrected | 10. Demon House | 11. Pumpkinhead | 12. Prom Night | 13. Tales from the Crypt | 14. Carnival of Souls | 15. The Fly II | 16. Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker | 17. Resolution | 18. The Endless | 19. Spontaneous Combustion | 20. Hardware
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Oct 6, 2018 14:35
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 108- Alucarda 1978 - DVD I watch probably more nunsploitation films than I should admit to so I'm used to this sort of film pushing the limit. With Alucarda, first time I sat through it, I felt that I sat through something actually sacrilegious. So of course I had to pick up a copy when I could, though I'm not sure how well of a Catholic that says of me. Just mentioning the basics of two girls meet at an orphanage/convent, become friends, disturb a grave, make a deal with Satan, friendship gets upgraded to way more intimate, messed up stuff happens, and the inevitable exorcism isn't doing justice to this film. This one has to be watched. The massive amount of surreal in this film is intense. As the director got his start working with Jodorowsky, it all makes perfect sense. I highly recommend this one for watching. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcbWjdshbFE
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Oct 6, 2018 14:38
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So it's cool if I do write ups for the Scream Stream movies right? Just surprised none have popped up in the thread.
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Oct 6, 2018 14:38
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Choco1980 posted:#25. Microwave Massacre (1982) An average over the hill schmoe has a wife who just got a new oversized microwave to further her experiments in bad cooking. In the midst of a drunken fight, he ends up killing her, and after accidentally trying a bite, realizes he likes human meat far more than he ever liked her. Soon he moves on to having to find his own new food stocks on the street. Yep this is the correct score. It's a comedy gore film that decided to leave out the gore and rely solely on the comedy. Only the comedy 100% fails.
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Oct 6, 2018 14:58
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CRAYON posted:So it's cool if I do write ups for the Scream Stream movies right? Absolutely.
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Oct 6, 2018 14:59
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mobby_6kl posted:That was me, but I'm glad you liked it! It definitely does have all the right pieces for a fun horror flick but something about the actual execution felt off and I couldn't fully enjoy it. Maybe I was in the wrong mood or just I needed a drink first? Anyway, I'm definitely in the minority on this one so if anyone hasn't seen it, do give it a try and you'll probably enjoy it. Never watch horror without plenty of beer.
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Oct 6, 2018 15:05
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Fran Challenge: Hometown Horror  Fran Challenge: LGBTQ Horror  10.  Set in my home duchy of Styria, the film Apparently I could have gone for the triple challenge by watching one of the sequels, but this was dreadful enough. Previously: Creepshow II, Monster Squad, Mandy, Shock, Devil Fetus, Black Cat, Suspiria, Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires, Vampire's Kiss
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Oct 6, 2018 15:09
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married but discreet I regret to inform you that a film may only fulfill a single challenge at a time. Pick one, friend. Franchescanado fucked around with this message at 15:46 on Oct 6, 2018 |
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Oct 6, 2018 15:42
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Franchescanado posted:
I forfeit both then!
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Oct 6, 2018 15:49
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24. Silver Bullet - Gary Busey completely makes this movie. That and the fact that he builds aa rocket-powered wheelchair for Corey Haim. There's also a rocket-powered wheelchair/car chase. It's great. I really appreciatd how Gary Busey isn't brave like an adult in this kind of movie usually would be in contrast to the children. He plays it so he's scared as hell but trying to act brave for his niece and nephew. Both kids are great too. 25. Serial Mom - This movie has literally everything, including now retroactive digs at Bill Cosby. Kathleen Turner is absolutely perfect as a suburban housewife who has suppressed her negativity for just a little bit too long. It's heavy-handed and cartoonish, but that's why it's brilliant. 26. Leviathan - Good, but not great, although I feel like this could easily turn into a comfort watch. I thought it was going to be a knock-off of The Abyss (same year), but it ended up being more of a mashup between The Thing and Alien. Buys into a lot of clichés, but it's a pretty fun ride. Also, I don't think I've seen a movie where Ernie Hudson didn't have a mustache until this. 27. Roadgames - Going into this, I knew that it was more of a Stacy Keach movie than a Jamie Lee Curtis movie, but I was still disappointed. She's so underutilized in this that she feels misused. It's basically Rear Window in a car, but they way it's executed feels ill-advised. Jimmy Stewart has a lot of other characters he plays off of like Thelma Ritter, Grace Kelly, and the detective. Stacy Keach has no one for most of the runtime. He just talks to himself. They try to get around this by having two points where Keach picks up hitchhikers (including Jamie Lee Curtis) but they both leave so quickly that it barely matters. Moments that are mined for tension also feel off. Keach goes to confront the killer in a bathroom but they audience has been tipped off that it isn't killer so he's raving to a guy in a bathroom for no reason. Weirdly, Jamie Lee Curtis is in danger in this scene, but this is given no attention. Then the movie chickens out on the ending too. Ugh. 28. The Slumber Party Massacre - I wasn’t totally on-board with what this movie was doing. I'd heard that this was a feminist slasher (it was written by Rita Mae Brown), but I don't really see in the final film. Maybe it got lost in going to the screen. I'll have to read up on this one some more. I will say that the direction is kind of flat and meandering, so that might have something to do with it. There are some wonderful moments throughout though. Some particular standouts are the self-reflexive moments as a movie within the movie appears to unleash evil (as well as call people) and the constant the comparisons between the killer's weapon of choice and his masculinity (which gets a fantastic symbolic castration at the end). But my absolute favorite bit was when three of the girls were sitting around the corpse of a pizza deliveryman and the following exchange happens: "He's dead, alright.” “He’s so cold.” “But is the pizza?” “Ugh!” “What? Life goes on." Grizzled Patriarch posted:Alice, Sweet Alice is on Tubi. Thanks! I'll check it out.
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Oct 6, 2018 15:51
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married but discreet posted:I forfeit both then! Seems a little unreasonable, since it's a rule that's clearly been discussed and applies to everyone, but you can forfeit them if you want. edit: The one movie per challenge isn't meant as punishment, but to get people to watch more movies they normally might not. Franchescanado fucked around with this message at 16:25 on Oct 6, 2018 |
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Oct 6, 2018 16:21
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Franchescanado posted:Seems a little unreasonable, since it's a rule that's clearly been discussed and applies to everyone, but you can forfeit them if you want. Oh don't get me wrong, I just want to do the challenges with better movies.
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Oct 6, 2018 16:27
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11/31 Rules were made to be broken. But you need someone like Panos Cosmatos to make it work. Mandy is a surprisingly simple story when you get down to it. Red Miller and Mandy Bloom, a recovering alcoholic lumberjack and an artist with an abusive childhood, live together in a ridiculously gorgeous home of glass and wood in the Shadow Mountains. Their simple life is interrupted when Mandy attracts the attention of the Children of the New Dawn, a hippie cult whose leader wants Mandy for himself. Let's just say things take a turn for the worse for everyone involved, but especially the cult. Panos Cosmatos is already known for his psychedelic film style, but Mandy is a magnum opus like no other. Many directors use the color palette of a scene to frame and heighten the mood, but Cosmatos will change from shot to shot or even within the shot as he sees fit. Water looks like shimmering liquid crystal when he wants it to, scenes are flooded with monochromatic light that shifts and fades, the light itself fades in and out from black to full blast repeatedly, and camera effects blur movement and blend faces. Several times the movie deviates to an animated dream sequence. The film has several title sequences inserted into the movie, sparkling and styled like pulp fantasy novels. Not only does it become increasingly unclear whether you're seeing something truly supernatural or the result of a drug-induced haze, it plays with your perspective and makes you question whether you're truly seeing what you thought you saw on the screen. The performances that Cosmatos gets from his actors are tremendous. This is the most Nicolas Cage that Nicolas Cage has ever been and possibly ever will be, but it might be the one movie where his gnashing of the teeth, screaming, crying, and bugging his eyes out of his skull actually fit perfectly. Linus Roache takes the villainous role of Jeremiah Sand (which Cage was originally offered) and performs a perfectly hammy cult leader still unable to get over his insecurities even as he tries to paint himself as a god. Andrea Riseborough is like the archetypal "mysterious waif", but one who lived 20 years past the plot of her movie and is now trying to get by with her husband. The music is one of the last works by Jóhann Jóhannsson, who died of a drug overdose in February. The insanely 80s soundtrack of electronica, industrial metal, and hard rock often say more than the characters ever could. As for the horror, this is a film of tension and gore rather than jump scares. The Black Skulls, the infamous demonic bikers everyone saw in the trailers, are lit in a way that ensures that you can't ever really see the details of their faces or outfits even when in full view. In one scene, the clicking of an empty gun is practically the loudest thing in the movie. Amazingly for such a trippy and thematically dark movie, there's still moments of insane comedy that had the audience at my screening laughing while unsure if it was appropriate. As the film progresses, it only gets bloodier, a God vs. Satan allegory with the line blurred between who's who. Mandy is a film that comes once in a generation. While its success will likely lead to many imitations, I don't think any will achieve what Panos Cosmatos did. This film requires a visionary, not mere imitation with light filters and trippy imagery. Mandy is a singular, uncompromising vision.
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Oct 6, 2018 16:32
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4. Hannibal I feel like this movie gets an unfairly bad rap because of how utterly terrible the book was. Julianne Moore isn't Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling, but she doesn't need to be, given the passage of time between this and The Silence of the Lambs. John Mathieson, of whom I'm not generally a fan, shot the poo poo out of this; it's an utterly gorgeous movie. And I think this was the first Hans Zimmer score I ever truly loved. It's a bit weirdly edited, in that the stuff in Italy feels like it's from a completely different movie (although Giancarlo Giannini is magnificent) and it's just not paced very well, though. I have a huge Ridley Scott boner, though, so it's possible I have a natural soft spot for this movie. Also, Gary Oldman is a complete treasure in this. Today is a triple-feature. I finished Hannibal, giving myself a bit of a break and then I'm doing Prometheus, and then finally I'm giving myself a palate-cleanser with Trick 'r Treat (which I've never seen). That will get me back on track with my calendar. 
Timby fucked around with this message at 16:37 on Oct 6, 2018 |
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Oct 6, 2018 16:33
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6. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer 1986 Fun story about Henry making friends with Otis and his sister Becky. They're all just struggling to get by but by banding together, they're able to- Oh Henry, hey, ack, hey, don't do that, ack, stop. Ugh. Well, as I was saying, Henry and friends are- Aw jeez, Otis and Henry, would ya stop? C'mon now. Oh how sweet, Henry and Becky are falling in love. Otis! Super bad timing pal, give them some alone time would you? Aw dang, Otis, this is pretty terrible. This is really pretty terrible. Ok now everything is terrible. This is all terrible. Everything is terrible. The end. *This movie was just bleak and depressing and at the end my feeling was that the world is scary and terrible and sometimes everything won't be ok in the end. I am pretty sure that's exactly what the filmmakers were going for.* 4/5 7. Mandy 2018 I am really bummed that this wasn't being shown in any theaters nearby. This thing was an audio/visual spectacle. I LOVED the title cards interspersed throughout the film. This movie feels like a dark fairy tale and my only real critique of it is that the story feels a little slow at times because it is so straight-forward. Last night I was showing my wife select parts of the movie because I didn't think she'd enjoy it overall, but would appreciate some of the visuals on display. While doing that I was struck by how vividly I could recall so many moments. The encounters in the second half feel etched in my brain after just a single viewing. I watched Avengers:IW recently and I don't think I could recount a single battle in it off the top of my head, but I remember exactly how each of Red's skirmishes in Mandy went down. Very cool movie. 5/5 8. Critters 1986 Little alien furballs land in a small town and begin attacking and harassing a family there. This movie was so much fun. There's a scene early on where a girl and her boyfriend sneak off to fool around in a barn. The setup has been done a million times but I was struck by how great the scene in Critters showcases how important music is to setting expectations in a horror film. The music is light and whimsical, so even though you expect that something will likely happen to them while they're secluded in the barn, you know it isn't going to be anything TOO horrific. I loved the humor in this film, it reminds me of Gremlins and Tremors but I wouldn't say Critters is as good as either of those. One of the best gags in the movie comes at the very end: The critters are escaping in their spaceship, but stop their escape for a quick moment to blow up the family's house and then speed off laughing about it. They're dangerous but also they're bratty little troublemakers and they revel in it. I am looking forward to seeing Critters 2 which I've heard is also a really fun time. 4/5
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Oct 6, 2018 16:35
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COOL CORN posted:18) Revenge of Frankenstein (1958) You're my favorite poster this year because you're having all of the same thoughts I did a few years ago when I discovered Hammer, it's really fun to see that.
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Oct 6, 2018 16:40
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FRAN CHALLENGE #4: Worst of the Best or Best of The Worst  9. October 6 - Survival of the Dead I don't think George Romero has ever been considered a great director, but he's certainly highly-regarded in the horror world, so I decided to watch his worst movie. I'd only seen the original trilogy and none of his movies from the 21st century, so it's probably unfair to jump in on the last one, but holy poo poo this movie sucks. It's baffling. Why does the internet still work? Electricity? Why are there still late night TV shows? And money? Why is there an island full of Irish people off the coast of Delaware? Why is there all this subterfuge about Janet having a twin sister when it has zero effect on the plot? All of this sounds like it would at least be entertainingly bad, but it's not. It's just tedious. Endless dialog about a Hatfield/McCoy blood feud, delivered by some of the least charismatic protagonists I've ever seen. It looks like a cheap TV show and the CGI is terrible. The lighting during the nighttime shots is especially gross; it just looks like they're on a movie set. Even the climactic action sequence is bad; shot after shot of somebody firing a gun at a zombie, edited together in 20 minutes with no thought for pacing or flow.
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Oct 6, 2018 17:07
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Lester Shy posted:
The feeling I got off this one was Romero just going through the motions since everyone expects a zombie film out of him at this point. Even Diary was a bit of a clunker with that same feel.
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Oct 6, 2018 17:14
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Y'all I just watched Return of the Living Dead for the 1st time and, holy heck, 4/5!!! So funny, so nihilistic, so punk. Can't believe it took me so long to watch this one. This totally tracks with Dan O'Bannon's other work, too. Makes perfect sense as a piece in his filmography.
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Oct 6, 2018 17:28
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| # ? May 29, 2024 12:38 |
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 The most appropriate cover art. 13. The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960) - DVD I understand the negative to lukewarm reviews this has received on Letterboxd. But, signing in to log this one, I am surprised. Hammer was on point, as always, with sets, color palette, lighting, acting, costumes, and dickering with the base story. Jekyll is an antisocial obsessive whose life is coming apart at the seams. Hyde is an absolute sociopath. Lee plays an absolute prick and sells it. Save the doctor, everyone here is repugnant. And Hammer takes that ball running through brothels, dive bars, opium abuse, and doesn't even shy away from a family pimping their own niece. The sheer glee with which Hyde engages in increasingly disturbing levels of debauchery and violence may just be the best film depiction of inner monsters. Allusions to narcotic and barbituate abuse are worn on the sleeve. Definitely a piece that stands discrete from Hammer's usual formula of technical elevation of hammy base material. Tally: N/A Psycho (1960)*, 1. Halloween (1978), 2. Halloween II (1981), 3. Carnival of Souls (1962), 4. The Blob (1988), 5. I Bury the Living (1958), 6. Dead Men Walk (1943), 7. Nosferatu (1922), 8. Les Revenants (2002), 9. The Mummy's Hand (1940), 10. House on Haunted Hill (1959)*, 11. Lifeforce (1985), 12. The Gorilla (1939), 13. The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960) Years Spanned: 82 (1922-2004) Tally by Decade: '20s (I), '30s (I), '40s (II), '50s (II), '60s (III), '70s (I), '80s (III), '90s (0), 2000s (I) * Rewatch Butch Cassidy fucked around with this message at 17:36 on Oct 6, 2018 |
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Oct 6, 2018 17:30
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