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19. Häxan 1922 | dir. Benjamin Christensen | In Theaters Live score performed by Jamie Saft.  I didn't hear any of the narration, so this was a completely audio/visual experience, which were beautiful. There were quite a few witchy looking people in the audience, which was very exciting. Everyone loved it. It's funny seeing in a single movie how far we've come and also how little has changed when it comes to superstitions and fear of non-Christian religions. Jamie Saft's composition was moody and ethereal. I thought he did an excellent job. Recommended! 20. Friday the 13th Part 7: The New Blood 1987 | dir. John Carl Buechler | In Theaters Another re-watch, this time a lesser-favorite Friday the 13th.  I had a triple inspiration to watch this movie. First, I've been listening to the podcast In Voorhees We Trust with Gourley and Rust, and this was the most recent episode, with Anthony Jeselnik as the guest. Jeselnik's enthusiasm for this film, as well as my inability to remember some of the segments they discussed, made me want to revisit this one specifically. I've wanted to rewatch each of the films they've discussed, but I've refrained in order to watch things new to me. The second inspiration was the sheer fact that The Friday the 13th series is my most rewatched horror series; it's like a mental comfort food for me. This being one I've rewatched the least makes it still exciting to revisit. The third inspiration was the Friday the 13th game being made free this month on Playstation. It's addicting. It made me want to rewatch at least one of the movies. I think this is the most I've enjoyed this film. The flaws are certainly there. The heavily edited gore makes most of the kills lame. The characters are so lovely to each other that it's a burden to spend time with them (I prefer the Fridays with likeable characters, like Parts 1 and 2). The pacing makes the promised psychic battle very short and last-minute. Jeselnik made a valid argument on the podcast, saying that this movie's flaws are present in every other Friday. This movie still has a lot of high points. Tina's fun, Melissa is a sassy mean girl, Jason looks fantastic, most of the kills would be creative if you actually got to see them, and of course Dr. Crews. What makes this film unique--outside of Tina being psychic--is having Dr. Crews as the 2nd villain. Even in between Jason killing people, Dr. Crew's ill intent creates it's own stakes and drama. It allows more of the character action to be focused. The movie does it's best to keep this storyline balanced with the partying teens next door, and it mostly succeeds. It just would have been better if the teens actually had fun together, instead of just hearing snippets of their fights. I do like that both Tina and Nick have troubled pasts, would be been fun to explore that more. There are some fun unexpected scares as well. It just needs more of them. Recommended! 21. What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? 1962 | dir. Robert Aldrich | rental She's got Bette Davis eyes!  Holy Hell. The tension this movie creates is palpable. It never gives you any sense of relief or that cathartic rush of tables being turned. It's just misery dished out while we watch with impotent rage and disgust. Sunset Boulevard mixed with Misery. What really solidifies this movie as a classic is easily thanks to Bette Davis as the violently delusional Baby Jane Hudson, as well as the victim of her abuse, Joan Crawford as her crippled sister Blanche. It all starts with the sister's acting as the neighborhood's hidden secret, a haunted house-type abode in a California neighborhood. The pieces play out with methodical precision and grows in Hitchcockian suspense as the cracks in the sisters relationship are revealed while Baby Jane descends deeper into madness. It's interesting that Bette Davis and Joan Crawford starred in this film. It's a harsh look back and youthful success while growing old and unwanted. It's a fun contradiction, since this is considered the greatest work, even though they are playing characters who feel like shadows of their former selves. It's also strange knowing this movie was made in 1962. It feels ageless, while reflecting a very specific time and change in culture. It's also feels like we haven't improved much when it comes to recognizing mental illness, which is the central terror to this film. Baby Jane is capable of seeming sane for moments at a time--indeed she is a great actress--but then the facade crumbles and we see her react to her confusion with violence. Pretty scary stuff when there are still weekly crimes committed by the confused and mentally ill with treatable issues. Absolutely captivating film. I loved it. Highly Recommended. 22. Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things 1972 | dir. Bob Clark (as Benjamin Clark) | Prime Franchescanado posted:
This was filmed in Florida. However, it was filmed in Dade County, which is South Florida; I'm in North Florida.  What a confusing film title. You'd think this would be about children playing with dead things. Instead, it's a group of eccentric actors being bullied by their director to perform satanic rituals. This was a conflicting experience for me. The directing is pretty good. I like the grimey aesthetic. I always like a satanic ritual going wrong. The zombie effects are fun and gross. There are some excellent creative choices. Anya Ormsby freaks out wonderfully. Orville the zombie is gross. But I can't just can't stand our main villain, Alan the director. His pretentious over-acting makes his obnoxious personality infuriating. The main reason the characters don't just ditch him is because he's somehow their boss, and will lose their jobs if they leave. I don't really understand why they went with him in the first place. There's mention that they're planning on filming a movie, but they don't bring any cameras, they never rehearse any lines, there's absolutely nothing by way of a production ever happening. They certainly talk about it all the time, but Alan's entire focus is on performing a satanic ritual, which everyone is weirdly enthusiastic about. They dig up dead bodies and play with them and they're mostly okay with it. It's bizarre. It's also weird that this film came out before Texas Chainsaw Massacre, since the zombie effects look like Leatherface in a way. It's also only a few years after Night of the Living Dead, which it owes a lot of credit to. However, Night of the Living Dead incorporates it's zombie premise within the first act. It jumps head-first. This movie promises Dead Things to play with, but they don't start playing back until there are only 20 minutes left. In the mean-time, we have to deal with Alan being the worst person in the world, while everyone else grumpily plays along. I do like this movie JUST ENOUGH. I give it a soft-recommendation for someone wanting an older b-movie and a historical relic of the zombie genre growing, and to see where Bob Clark learned from his mistakes. Movies Seen: Hell House, LLC | Dagon | The Bird With the Crystal Plumage | Critters 2 | Serial Mom | Monster Squad | The Neon Demon | Motel Hell | Vampyr | Possession | Under The Skin | Martyrs | The Curse of the Werewolf | The Old Dark House | Children of the Corn | Assassination Nation | The Leopard Man | Halloween 2 | Häxan | Friday the 13th Part 7: The New Blood | What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? | Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things Total: 22 Fran Challenges:
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Oct 7, 2018 20:50
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Watch a film that was filmed in the state you currently live in.
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STAC Goat posted:Stephen King apparently loved it, though. I don’t know what that’s about. I think King is willing to indulge cynicism. I doubt there's more to it than that. -- 2) Murder Party - Second time I've seen it in the past few months. Liked it a little less this time; once the overt comedy of the first half ends there's zero energy as you wait for the film to stop. Still not a bad movie, though. 3) Video Dead - It's like an attempt at an Italian stylistic nonsense extravaganza but it only 20% succeeds. Fun to watch with an audience but I would've fallen asleep otherwise. Too much Jeff, not enough aerobics. Franchescanado posted:
4) Sleepaway Camp - In case the one other person on this forums that hasn't seen this movie but also reads this thread is going through my posts, this section will have unmarked spoilers. I'd known about the twist ending for about as long as I'd been on the internet but this was my first time seeing the film. I was going to use this one for my birth year challenge and then, hey, the movie happened and I realized I could slot it here instead. Knowing about the ending made it a little more fun for me. This isn't exactly a Poirot adaptation and I don't think, given the time spent on Angela giving people silent intense staredowns, that the identity of the killer is ever really in doubt. I honestly don't know what to do with this film. It's part legitimate summer camp comedy and part "small children hatcheted to death" style slasher. The two aspects of the film don't gel in the way that other mixed bag horror films can. I think it's reflective of Angela's demeanor as she tries to grow into her social surroundings; when no one's messing with her scenes have a "normal" mood for an 80s summer camp film and when people mess with her murders happen in what feels like a different movie altogether. This movie would make a lot more sense thematically as a pseudo-revenge style slasher if it didn't end with Angela naked on the beach growling like a feral animal. When I sit down and think about Angela for the majority of the runtime, including the ending but minus the animalistic screaming and emotional violence from her adoptive mother, I see the rough edges of a coming out narrative featuring a very shy and nervous kid who wants to kiss a boy and not rock the boat and how enough of the people at the camp are jerks that ruin everything. From that perspective the killing spree seems less the work of a prototypical slasher villain and more the horrendously violent lash-outs of someone who really just wants to be left alone. I think there's a sympathetic narrative in here. ...but then there's the matter of the story beginning with Peter's forced emotional changes and the final shot being Angela's primal roar as two counselors look on in disgust. I guess I'll say that it was a choice that made it easier to get the movie funded and distributed while providing a strong potential for positive word of mouth advertising at a time when films were released in a way that the buzz the ending could generate would be highly important to its ability to make money. The movie feels sympathetic in a way I didn't expect going in but still exploitative in the way I'd assumed it would be. I don't know if I'll ever rewatch it but it passed the time well. Franchescanado posted:
5) The House on Sorority Row (1983) - This was much better than I thought it would be! I don't have an exhaustive knowledge of the early 80s American slasher boom but in general I assume them to be fair-to-middlin' late night fare until proven otherwise. This was well constructed with a more interesting shot selection than I'm used to from the time. I don't know if I have any real deep thoughts on it; it feels like a competent film that knows how to show its influences in a non-intrusive way. I don't think there's much here that's groundbreaking but it is highly entertaining for all the right reasons. If this had been a movie I'd grown up with I could see myself making all kinds of excuses for it but as it stands I came to it now so all I can offer is warm appreciation. Very rewatchable.
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Oct 7, 2018 21:13
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Adlai Stevenson posted:I think King is willing to indulge cynicism. I doubt there's more to it than that. Oh, I wasn't implying something deeper. I mentioned it because I thought we all kind of knew King is kind of an outspoken liberalish guy so he didn't seem to fit the "stick it to SJWs" image. From the little I read it sounds like he just found it reminiscent of grimy, exploitative stuff he watched growing up. Similarly in the reviews I read I saw people (favorably and unfavorably) compare Roth to Roger Corman and William Castle. So whatever. There's no accounting for taste.
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Oct 7, 2018 21:22
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26. Unfriended: Dark Web - 3.5/5quote:haters will say it's fake 😂
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Oct 7, 2018 21:26
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mobby_6kl posted:^^^ I actually saw it last summer when I was doing a big superhero movie kick to get hyped up for Infinity War (yes, it's not MCU but I tossed some "other Marvel" in there). Blade 2 still holds up. It's a fun creature romp with Del Toro's strengths all at play and Wesley Snipes will forever be Blade. But, the film falls apart in the final third because there are some dumb story twists and I kinda checked out after it. I really do have to give the edge to the original Blade because as someone said it's such a perfect comic book movie. It's a marvelous origin story that has some amazing world-building and excellent performances by Snipes and Dorff. The CGI is pretty late 90s terrible but that's really a small thing to complain about when the film itself is so drat great. I don't recommend watching Blade Trinity: it sucks still even with Ryan Reynolds giving a pseudo-Deadpool performance in it. Justin Godscock fucked around with this message at 22:15 on Oct 7, 2018 |
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Oct 7, 2018 22:00
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25 - Paranorman Laika’s forgotten middle child. While I think Kubo is a better film overall, I really really love this one. It looks gorgeous of course, but it’s also a really unique story with a great message, and a real love letter to zombie movies. Norman is a young boy who can see and talk to the dead, and he gets caught up in an ancient curse. It starts out pretty boilerplate but it goes in some pretty different directions as things play out. It’s definitely geared towards a younger crowd but if you like Laika’s other films it’s worth checking out.
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Oct 7, 2018 22:11
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I always thought that Coraline was the forgotten Laika. ParaNorman is super popular around me, at least.
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Oct 7, 2018 22:12
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 1. Tremors (1990)  FRAN CHALLENGE #5: Birth of Horror I have no idea how I made it this long without seeing Tremors, especially since I've seen two of the sequels. Even all these years later, it's pretty obvious why this became a cult classic. Yes, the acting is hammy as hell, the dialogue is stilted, and the characters are painted in broad strokes at best. But there's a hell of a lot of effort that went into this, and it shows - there are tons of little unnecessary details that bring the town to life and contribute to the dusty, grungy feel of it (I especially liked Chang's shop and Bacon / Wards' truck). The graboid design is great - it feels simultaneously alien and just realistic enough to be plausible, and the prop work really knocked it out of the park. The paranoid gun nut couple steal pretty much every scene they're in, and the fact that their worldview ends up being vindicated, even for the wrong reasons, gives the whole thing a sort of red-state Jaws vibe.  / 5---  2. Blood and Black Lace (1964) I've only seen a couple of Bava's films, so I was long overdue for this one considering its enormous impact on Argento and the slasher genre. This movie is stylish as hell from start to finish - even the opening credits are some of the best I've ever seen, and the baroque set design is gorgeous (credit to whoever came up with the vastly superior English title, too). The distinctive giallo lighting is there, of course, but it's not completely drenched in it like some of the latter films. The whodunnit plot still holds up well, and even after the major twist is revealed, there's another one waiting in the wings. The violence is more restrained than I was expecting, though there is one particularly memorable kill, but the tension and atmosphere do a great job of making the killer feel appropriately menacing. Under the hood, there's nothing as psychologically complex or subversive here as in his earlier The Whip and The Flesh, or Peeping Tom, which seems like an obvious influence. Still, it's an absolute must-see if you're at all interested in Italian horror. / 5---  3. Cube (1997) This is a fun movie, and more clever than it seems on the surface. It's basically a more claustrophobic, cerebral cousin of movies like Saw, and it avoids most of the traps that other films like this fall into by holding some of its cards close to its chest even as the credits roll. There aren't any long-winded explanations about what's going on (looking at you, Sphere), or any cuts to sadistic bureaucrats watching everything unfold on hidden monitors, etc. There's just a giant rubik's cube full of deadly traps, and whoever or whatever is ultimately responsible for its existence seems utterly indifferent to what is happening inside. The characterization isn't super deep, but the way their arcs and personalities shift and warp along with the setting is pretty effective (I also didn't notice until the credits ran that all of them are named after famous prisons, which is a nice touch). My only real issues are that the bulk of the plot momentum comes from one character repeatedly having an "of course!" moment that falls a little flat after the third time, and that the very end goes off the rails a bit in a way that wasn't really necessary. Still a recommended watch, and a master class in making a small, cheap set pay massive dividends. / 5 So Far: Tremors | Blood and Black Lace | Cube Total: 3/10 Challenges: 1 2 3 4
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Oct 7, 2018 22:13
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Coraline's been on my list every year and if I don't get to it this year I'm gonna be really mad at myself.
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Oct 7, 2018 22:13
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STAC Goat posted:Coraline's been on my list every year and if I don't get to it this year I'm gonna be really mad at myself. I haven't seen a better animated horror film yet. Most animated films pale in comparison, even. I might rewatch it for the challenge, in fact!
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Oct 7, 2018 22:14
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Woah. Will Vinton, one of the co-founders of Laika Studios, died two days ago. I'm definitely going to rewatch Coraline sometime.
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Oct 7, 2018 22:18
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poo poo. 
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Oct 7, 2018 22:21
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mobby_6kl posted:^^^ "some blood flying from the bed" is kinda underselling the scene, imo
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Oct 7, 2018 22:26
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Franchescanado posted:19. Häxan Every Halloween party I throw, Hakan is running on loop on the TV and it's always a hit. I mean, no one is like "whoa Hakan that poo poo is tight" and sits down with some popcorn, but without fail anytime someone ventures into the room with the lights off and the TV on they stop and get lost in whatever the gently caress is happening for a few seconds before snapping back to reality.
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Oct 7, 2018 22:32
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9. Slumber Party Massacre 3 (1990) Same poo poo, different movie. It continues in the hallowed tradition of the slumber party franchise of being entirely by the book, while taking out any of the twists that made the first one a pretty fun ride and adding things from the second that make it worse - rock sing-a-longs, for example. Jackie's parents are selling their house, and they leave her home alone (big mistake) so she has a slumber party, which in these films basically just means a themed party where the girls are in nightwear. The villain has a motivation that is never entirely explained. He has this shrine to his uncle, who he claims is a former cop. Was he fired after ignoring calls for help in one of the earlier movies? Is that entirely unrelated to the SPM "lore"? He's not a particularly good killer because the massacre starts with far too many still alive, which makes it a confusing jumble of bodies every time he attacks. It almost made me long for the rock opera nonsense of the second film. Other than the cliches that it hits with a beating regularity this movie does not tie in to the previous two at all, which is disappointing. Why make a 3 and not tie it in somehow? /510. Dagon (2001) rewatch  Paul and his girlfriend are vacationing with a much older couple on a boat. One boating accident later, and our couple winds up separated in Imboca, a weird Spanish town inhabited with fish people, though, they just seem rude, at this point. Then Barbara disappears and things take a turn. The movie works pretty well as a group watch, because you can joke your way through the slow and ponderous beginning until you get to the pretty good chase and great flashback and final scenes. Overall this was better the second time around. /511. Demonic Toys (1992)  Two cops chase some thieves into a warehouse, inhabited by a chicken-loving security guard, oh and also some demonic toys. A baby, a teddy bear, a clown snake, and a small robot all walk out of a Five Nights at Freddy's game and into this warehouse to terrorize our humans. I wasn't really a big fan. It's cheap crazy nonsense that doesn't manage to be crazy enough to make up for the cheap and nonsense parts. /5
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Oct 7, 2018 22:37
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27. Escape from Tomorrow (2013) I decided to take a break from blood, gore, killers and creatures and go for something more cerebral. For the next film in the challenge I’m going for some surrealistic psychological horror in the form of a trip to Disney World. Escape from Tomorrow is a film that got some infamy on release because it was filmed guerilla style in Disney World and Disneyland by the filmmakers. Anyone who knows Disney’s reputation knows they are very strict on the IPs and the Disney Parks are of no exception. The filmmakers had to take great pains to avoid getting caught including filming the whole movie on the types of cameras tourists would use. The film is about a family going to Disney World and on the last day the father starts to have a mental breakdown and sees disturbing images and experiences bizarre things. The film follows the basics of psychological horror in that you really aren’t sure what is real and what isn’t which to me is pure horror. The protagonist is a father who got fired from his job on the last day of his Disney vacation and tries to have fun with his family regardless but is obviously now having an existential crisis. What I love about this film is that anyone who has had any kind of significant tragedy or crisis in their life knows that kind of psychological limbo you get into where you do and think things that make your cringe hard later in life. This film plays on those fears with a sharp contrast of happy Disney visuals to good effect. You can slowly feel the father falling apart and the costs to his family. Then the movie gets really, really weird and insane in the final third which I was not expecting at all. I’m not even sure it really happened which is psychological horror for you. /528. Creepshow (1982)  Creepshow is a horror-comedy anthology series directed by George A Romero that is an homage to the EC Comics of the 40s and 50s. It starts off like any series of horror short stories where the first ones are kinda tame, have some shock imagery, but don’t really have a story. I admit I felt disappointed after the first two stories. Then they pick up becoming more and more personal and character driven. All of a sudden I felt more captivated into knowing what happens next. The Crate short story in particular is the highlight of the entire movie mixing pitch black comedy, campiness and good old fashioned creature effects and corn syrup/red food coloring as blood. /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 (1984), 24. Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990), 25. An American Werewolf in London (1981), 26. The Evil Dead (1981), 27. Escape from Tomorrow (2013), 28. Creepshow (1982)
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Oct 7, 2018 22:43
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6) Slumber Party Massacre - what is this nonsense The internet tells me this was originally written as a spoof of slashers before the studio pushed for a more straightforward take on the genre. Directed by Amy Holden Jones, who went on to write Mystic Pizza because why not, and written by Rita Mae Brown (?!?!?! wow) this one settles into a really fun ride after an awkward series of opening scenes. The beginning feels like what was shot to make the studio heads happy with the change in script direction. Lots of nudity, a couple kills performed on characters we know little to nothing about, and a killer that wanders around on screen in full daylight with minimum presence. I paused the movie during the chase portion of the second kill and considered swapping to another option before I saw who the director was and read a few paragraphs on its production. After getting something to eat and committing to being in a better mood I hopped back in. Thankfully the rest of the movie is much better than the start. Whether due to its inception as a comedy or the preferences of the writer and director nearly all of the characters with lines feel much more like they received actual creative consideration compared to the vast majority of interchangeable slasher victims. From the neighbor hunting snails with a cleaver to all the girls being big Dodgers fans (Cey homered, of course) to the schmucks who admit the girl's basketball team could easily beat them up to the interplay between Valerie and her sister this is a really fun set of characters. It's a series of screenplay choices that I greatly enjoy especially given the genre. There's very little here that's simply lazy or passed over. I think the movie as it stands, once you get 15 minutes in, is a great example of people working under a set of cross purposes demanded by their bosses and still coming up with something fun and distinct. Adlai Stevenson fucked around with this message at 23:30 on Oct 7, 2018 |
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Oct 7, 2018 23:26
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14. The Blob (1988) So I guess my "theme" for today was "horror movies I'd seen and liked as a kid but haven't seen in over 20 years". I remember this being on HBO, possibly, or renting it or something. I can't really recall where or how I watched it, or if I've seen the whole thing. It's really drat good, and watching it with a fresh set of eyes I can appreciate how well they captured the essence of a 1950's "alien thing devours the town" monster movie, but with the kind of effects you could only achieve and get away with in the 80's. The small town feels like one of those Generic Anytown USA towns you'd see in a monster movie, and there's a great build-up where you learn just enough about the people of the town to care when they're fighting for their lives against a thing without reason or form. The movie has a few great "hey it's that guy" moments, like brief appearances from Bill Moseley and Frank Collison (look him up, I guarantee you've seen him before). The creature effects, I don't feel it needs to be said, are top-notch as is the gore and there are some truly horrifying scenes of people mid-blobbing that are painful to watch. It's the kind of stuff the 1958 original wouldn't have even dared to attempt if they could. It's a movie that pays perfect homage to its namesake, released 30 years after the original. And speaking of... Franchescanado posted:
15.  Psycho II (1983) I hit upon a second theme as I started watching this, which was "horror movies that pay homage to and capture the feel of older classic horror films". Psycho II is more than an homage though, it's the best sequel one could possibly hope for to a true genre classic. The movie didn't really need to be made, but I'm glad it was because it's really drat good. It manages to strike the perfect balance of being just similar enough to the original that it flows organically from it, but it builds its own universe and adds its own elements to the mythos. Anthony Perkins steals it yet again, but everybody else does phenomenal work as well. The pacing and direction feels close enough to Hitchcock's own without aping it, and I appreciated one particularly silly nod to Hitchcock where the Hitchcock silhouette from Alfred Hitchcock presents is seen against Norma's old dresser. Also it's fun to contrast the moral sensibilities of the slasher-era early 80's with the early 60's. This movie has some straight-up Jason kills and a moment of full nudity, and comparatively speaking Psycho II doesn't really push the envelope the way the original did because by the time Psycho II came out the envelope had already been pushed. At any rate, it's a really good movie and if you haven't seen it yet I'd highly recommend it.
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Oct 7, 2018 23:29
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 115- Simon, King of Witches 1971 - DVD I first saw this back in my teens during my pagan phase and drat if it didn't open my eyes to being somewhat critical of the other wannabe witches and warlocks. Here we have Simon Sinestrari, a true mage seeking to ascend to godhood. However, that he lives in a sewer and sells occult trinkets is enough to make some wonder if he's legit. Andrew Prine does great as a very cynical Simon. One of the scenes that clicked with me is when he's in jail talking with Turk about how what the witchy communities are doing isn't the real deal by any stretch and how could you even expect them to when they're not even pronouncing deities names correctly to even be heard. His near eyerolling at the ceremonies he goes to just makes it believable as an expert surrounded by the clueless. I liked how the film touched on magical actions of any type do have not so nice repercussions. And as for any potential influence this film had on my picking my username......maybe.  116- Horror High 1973 - DVD I've got a major soft spot for this one since it clicked with me along with Vernon looking like a guy I had a mad crush on as a teenager. You could argue this one as a retelling of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. Vernon's the standard smart shy guy more than ready to graduate and get to college fast. Of course he has to deal with people like the rear end in a top hat gym coach, sadistic english teacher, the jerk of a janitor, and football playing bully. He's pretty much by himself since his dad's away a lot and his only sympathetic friend is Robin who he might have a thing for. Burying himself in his biology and chemistry work, he creates a potion which changes the balance of power when he drinks it. We know where this is going to go from here. I'm still pretty surprised at how well the gore is in this one for the era especially since I first caught it on regular TV with barely any edits. While the plot's pretty much as expected, there is effort taken to sympathize with Vernon and get gleeful when the revenge happens. Yeah, it's a fave of mine so definitely worth a watch.
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Oct 7, 2018 23:53
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15) Series 7: The Contenders (2001) In America's most popular reality TV show random people are selected to kill each other on live television until one remains. The only prize - survive three seasons and you're free. And did I mention that the reigning champion is nine months pregnant? Presented as a marathon of the seventh season complete with massively intrusive camerawork, human interest segments, cheesy music and dramatic reconstructions, it's a ruthless examination of how utterly soulless the reality genre is. There's some very hard scenes to watch, but I don't think any of them measures up to the thought that this movie is 17 years old now and nothing has changed. I'm counting this one as my Queer Horror challenge, as it's a pivotal plot point that one of the Contenders is gay.
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Oct 8, 2018 00:14
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Tonight I watched The Legend of Boggy Creek. Isn't that a fantastic poster? I don't really have much to say, it's just wonderful The narrator speaks like he's reading a children's book, and it immediately draws you in. The testimony of Fouke residents makes you completely believe it. You're in Fouke, hearing the story of their encounters with the Fouke Monster. Even in the last twenty minutes or so, which is just a straight recreation of a terrifying evening, no narration or testimony, it still keeps that tone. You are being told a story by someone you have no reason to doubt. I've really enjoyed some of the movies I've seen this month, but this is the first one I'm gonna recommend. We all love the Giallos and the Video Nasties and the torture porns, but I hope everybody in this thread finds some time this month to take a break, head on down to Fouke, Arkansas, and hear the story of the strange creature that prowls the bayous. Also, there's a song in the middle in case you need to pee https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bSQBVlrEYU
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Oct 8, 2018 01:06
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Franchescanado posted:
 23. John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars (2001). Directed by John Carpenter I'm not quite sure why this one's always considered the worst Carpenter movie. Yeah, it's terrible, but some of his late-period stuff is way worse (Escape from LA and The Ward come to mind). At least this fails spectacularly.The ambitious world-building is pretty much wasted in favor of a stealth Doom movie. It's a matriarchy, but the women are still being objectified by dudes all the time? Also, I'm not sure Carpenter thought through the implications of having the characters look at the native Martian ghosts who are also stand ins for native Americans and go "yeah, let's kill them". Some of the set design honestly reminds me of B-movies, which isn't even a bad thing. Easily his worst soundtrack, but it's still kind of charming. John Carpenter going industrial metal was a mistake. Friends Are Evil fucked around with this message at 01:35 on Oct 8, 2018 |
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Oct 8, 2018 01:07
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Knocked out another one on this lovely uneventful Sunday. #14 - C.H.U.D. (1984) - As I get older my patience for schlock dwindles gradually, and I suppose in part for that reason this movie didn't do it for me. However, I would argue this movie is also loving boring schlock. The first half is a standard "conspiracy" movie, with officials denying a dark secret that a photographer and a cop (in disconnected threads until the end) have uncovered, with all the cliches, monologues, and shouting at slimy authority figures that is to be expected, but very drawn out in a terrible screenplay. There is also the pointless pregnancy subplot of the photographer's girlfriend. Even in the final half, when things pick up a bit, the cannibalistic humanoid underground dwellers are hardly to be seen, and in the few glimpses we get they are laughable. Another problem is how scenes abruptly cut to another. If you want suspense, build a moment. This movie failed at that. I think nostalgia for late night channel surfing is what propelled this to cult classic status, but in terms of weird TV experiences at 3:00am, there is much better stuff out there. 3/10
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Oct 8, 2018 01:07
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Just in case anyone's feeling daunted or discouraged by how far M_Sinistrari has already gone in this challenge: they posted their life story a while back in the horror thread, and assuming every part of it's true, they're basically horror royalty. Anyone who grew up knowing Forrest J. Ackerman and Christopher Lee personally to any extent is gonna make the rest of us look like absolute chumps where this stuff is concerned, pretty much guaranteed.
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Oct 8, 2018 01:37
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 Körkarlen, 1921 My first rewatch of the marathon. I saw it last year and it's maybe one of my all times favorite movie from the 20s. Because I'm lazy, I'll just copy paste what I wrote in last year's thread: quote:Or The Phantom Carriage as it is called on the way too expensive The Criterion Collection DVD. One of those early horror movies from before horror movies really was a thing. A drunk hobo is telling a couple of other drunk hobos on new years eve about how the last one to die before the new year have to drive death's carriage and collect the souls of the dead for the whole new year. Each day feels like a hundred years and there's no escape until the next person takes over at the upcoming new years eve. He later gets beaten down and his hearts stops just as the year end. The carriage comes for him and it turns out the driver is his friend that died last new years eve. The hobo is forced to look back at his life and see what a horrible rear end in a top hat he was and how he really hurt people with his lovely behavior. The movie builds up to really loving dark ending when he sees who the first to die that new year is, but it pulls off a much brighter ending about hope, forgiveness and salvation at the very last second. A bit disappointing as it could easily been one of the darkest endings ever, but still a nice movie over all. Not that much horror by modern standards, but a really amazing movie. One of the best movies from the 1920s.
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Oct 8, 2018 02:45
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Franchescanado posted:
03. Sangre Eterna (2002, Dir. Jorge Olguín, written by Carolina García. Starring Blanca Lewin, Juan Pablo Ogalde, Patricia López, and Claudio Espinoza.) (Watch it here  Set in Santiago, this vampire horror movie is about a group of impossibly good looking role-playing goths who bit more than they can chew (no horror review is complete without a bad pun.)  From the director that "started" the horror genre in Chile only 20 years ago. Yep, only 20! Its practical effects are hella good for a local production, specially certain scene that happens during the first part of the movie. It is also very fun to watch as the characters go to parties in places that I and a lot of people went, like Blondie discoteque.  Other than that, the atmosphere is very well done, the plot is ok (I think it is a bit thin for what it is, but as a sophmore movie from Olguìn, it ain't bad!) and the performances are very fun to watch. Lewin and Ogalde carry the movie though.  I recommend it if you want to watch a movie that sort of kickstarted the horror genre for broader chilean audiences and helped some other productions get to big commercial theaters. And if you want to watch some hot goth roleplayin guys and girls. 
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Oct 8, 2018 03:04
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FRAN CHALLENGE #5: Birth of Horror  13. October 7 - Opera My second Argento film in as many days. I liked this a bit more than Tenebrae; the plot wasn't quite so unbelievable. With Tenebrae, I had no idea who the killer(s) were until they were revealed. With Opera, it's obvious from the moment he first appears onscreen. Knowing basically nothing about giallo or Argento, it's interesting to see the genre trademarks showing up again. I'll have to add Suspiria to the watchlist to get a taste of a paranormal giallo story. I'm a huge baby who can barely stand to put in eye drops, so the eye torture made my skin crawl. The bullet through the peephole was shocking and impressive for a movie made in '87. Edit: Just realized this was my 13th movie, which means I've met my goal for the month. I'm gonna see how high I can run up the numbers. Lester Shy fucked around with this message at 03:55 on Oct 8, 2018 |
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Oct 8, 2018 03:35
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Can't fall behind.... 5/31 From Beyond 1986 Now this is a pretty decent film that's really elevated by Jeffrey Combs always great presence, but is let down by the felling that there's not enough material for a full film. I really like the effects and the story but it felt like there was enough for maybe an hour that they had to stretch out, it really felt like it was based on a novella or short story that just didn't have enough for a whole film. The colors and contrast really make this worth watching on the biggest screen you can find. What is there is pretty great and definitely worth a watch, and Jeffrey Combs is seriously always a treat. Great little horror film that feels almost complete and kind of a basis for similar types of films .5/56/31 Mr Vampire 1985 Ahh one of my all time favorite Hong Kong horror films, just a fun time with good old hoppy vampires and sexy ghosts. Just a great entry into the horror films from Hong Kong, if you'r looking to start this is a great film to enter with. The action is the kinda ya just don't really get anymore, with interesting takes on the classic monsters and spookies, and who knew sticky rice was so drat powerful. A really solid film that spawned at least 2 good sequels, the odds 3 and 5 are pretty good with 2 and 4 being just ok, highly recommended. One of the best of the Hong Kong horror films of the 80's /57/31 Murder Party 2007 Was browsing Netflix when I spotted this, and at only an hour nineteen minutes I could do worse. Very average, with some moments of fun or interest in a surprisingly large sea of hipsters sitting around doing drugs and talking about it, just nothing for a film with such a simple premise. I liked main guy and his commitment to his costume, and the tale of the chainsaw was hilarious, but not enough there to really be anything but a barely above forgettable.This is one mid-ought of a film, so many flip phones and printing out directions, definitely gonna check out the directors later films. A small film with a decent premise executed in what comes off as a bit amateurish in they way the events play out, but pretty manageable with it's short run time. Pretty good lead in a perfectly fine but unremarkable film. .5/5
Jackapol fucked around with this message at 04:10 on Oct 8, 2018 |
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Oct 8, 2018 03:59
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LORD OF BOOTY posted:Just in case anyone's feeling daunted or discouraged by how far M_Sinistrari has already gone in this challenge: they posted their life story a while back in the horror thread, and assuming every part of it's true, they're basically horror royalty. Anyone who grew up knowing Forrest J. Ackerman and Christopher Lee personally to any extent is gonna make the rest of us look like absolute chumps where this stuff is concerned, pretty much guaranteed. More like I'm just old enough to've experienced a different era of fandom. I do miss the days before everything got Corporatey and Internet Wierd. poo poo, I remember what it was like when you could just get an autograph and not have to pay for it. Back then you could write an actor and have a very good chance of them writing back instead of getting some PR form letter or whatever it is they send out now. It was a good time that sadly I just don't see ever happening again.
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Oct 8, 2018 04:11
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9/31 - Unsane A woman moves cross country and changes her entire life to try and escape her frightening stalker. She is shown to be suffering from PTSD forcing her to see a therapist. The fun begins when she is committed against and starts behaving erratically. Did they actually commit her against her will or is she actually crazy? I really enjoyed the ride until they answered this question. After that it becomes a predictable and pretty paint by numbers slasher film. Overall it’s a pretty decent film. 10/31 - Psycho (1969) I’ve seen a lot of Hitchcock’s other popular movies but had somehow missed out on this one, though I have absorbed most of it from cultural osmosis. Even though this is on the Queer Horror challenge list I personally didn’t get anything out of it I thought would apply and I have another movie lined up for it anyways. Whenever I watch a movie made before my adolescence I try to think of the effect it would have had on audiences in that era. I can definitely see a 1960s audience being frightened by the shower scene and the mother reveal being a huge mindfuck. I thought Anthony Perkins was outstanding especially during the “diner” scene where he snaps for just a moment. Also got a kick out of the boyfriend being named Sam Loomis!
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Oct 8, 2018 04:23
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Knocked a couple of challenges off the list, still sticking with new-to-me movies. FRAN CHALLENGE #1: Love Something You Hate 8: Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) This was a surprise. I don’t like Jarmusch - most of the time watching his movies feels like tedium brought to life on the silver screen. Granted, I've seen only Ghost Dog, Dead Man, and Down By Law. But, nothing much seems to happen and it takes forever to happen. But OLLA had a dynamic that I didn’t feel in the other Jarmusch movies I’ve seen. The realistic dialogue felt natural. While vampirism played as addiction isn’t new, it had a world-weary rock-n-roll theme to it that worked well (reminded me of A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night, coming out the following year). The leads were fantastic, they *felt* like they had been in a relationship for hundreds of years. The movie was also very good looking. It was also a very Detroit movie. I like to think that every movie that uses the abandoned Packard Plant in a scene is happening simultaneously in different buildings or sections.  FRAN CHALLENGE #5: Birth of Horror 9: The Tenant (1976) This was an interesting movie - it didn’t hold together as well as, e.g., Rosemary’s Baby for me, because I didn’t find the main character very engaging. He was a creep from the beginning, and I don’t think the movie intended him to be much more than somewhat opportunistic. But maybe it did, it was later and I was tired while watching this so there was probably a lot that passed right over me. Overall I’m glad I finally saw it, some good performances from other actors in the movie. I knew he fled the US on a guilty plea to statutory rape, but after watching this I read the details, which I had never read about before. Ugh. The poster above has a really unfortunate tag line. List (9): Savageland, Ghostbusters (2016), Creep, Vampyr, Hereditary, Frontier(s), Butterfly Effect 3, Only Lovers Left Alive, The Tenant Challenges Fulfilled: #3 Hometown Horror: Butterfly Effect 3, #1 Love Something You Hate: Only Lovers Left Alive, #5 Birth Of Horror: The Tenant
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Oct 8, 2018 05:01
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4. Hobgoblins (1987, Rick Sloane) [Blu-ray] This is a terrible movie, though one of the best episodes of MST3K. How does it fare without the riffing? I actually appreciate how this isn't trying to be serious and is a bit goofy. Reminds me of the silly short videos I'd make with my cousins. / 5
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Oct 8, 2018 05:16
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#32. November (2017). Set several centuries ago in Estonia, this film tells of a peasant boy in unrequited love for the local Baroness, and a peasant girl unrequitedly in love with him. This Shakespearan love triangle is then set against the backdrop of the area's rich mythological lore, where things like witches and werewolves are commonplace, as is a creature known as a "Krall" which would be when a person crafts a servant out of whatever they choose, and then makes a deal with the devil to place a soul inside it. This was a very singular movie I must say. Its stark black and white photography does much to reinforce the harshness of the poverty the people are living in. Also, the story is quite dense, with lots of wild folklore unfamiliar to someone from the West like me, and many different subplots working together. It's quite a well done film worth taking a look at. out of 5#33. Creep 2 (2017) Our arguably "main" character from the first film returns, now finding himself in a bit of a midlife crisis. So he winds up recruiting a lady videographer and admits to being a serial killer in the purpose of having her document a day in his life. I'm really impressed with the Creep films, and how they continue to keep the central character interesting and tension providing, not to mention keep the use of "found footage" style filmmaking relevant. I'm very interested to see where they go with the announced part 3. out of 5#34. I am the Pretty Thing That Lives In The House (2016) Lily is assigned as a live in nurse for an elderly woman with dementia. The house itself is old and creepy, and the woman is a successful author who wrote a book about a woman being murdered that may in fact be non-fiction. Sigh. I really wanted to like this one. It's got some intensely spooky atmosphere, and is a fine story. But...it's just dreadfully lacking in substance. The main character, who often is the only character, just quietly monologues in a near whisper, and there is very long stretches where nothing really happens at all. I just couldn't help but be bored watching nearly the whole way through. What a shame. out of 5#35. Nailgun Massacre (1985) After a brutal gangrape in a small town, the men who are possible suspects start getting taken out by a wisecracking masked assailant with, as the title suggests, a nail gun. This is an extremely low budget film, with a cast of obvious locals, but it's definitely a case where it's so bad it's good. So much of it is hilariously dumb and inept you can't help but enjoy it. Also, it's got an amazing 80s synth soundtrack that is far better than the movie could ever deserve. out of 5
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Oct 8, 2018 05:22
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Guy Goodbody posted:Tonight I watched The Legend of Boggy Creek. I actually enjoyed this movie, it's just so unique and authentic. I'm not sure if you watched this as part of the JBB Drive-In series, but he added some trivia to the movie and his guest seemed to have a genuine interest in the movie. How this movie was filmed, by the people who were there wanting to tell the story, and the local following that got behind its making and release..... it's just a thing I'm not sure could happen in modern connected times, for better or worse.
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Oct 8, 2018 05:24
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Let's see what I got: Bonus: Best Worst Movie (2009): I was a bit disappointed with this, I would have preferred it to be more about the production rather than the ifamy since. 1.The Changeling (1980): Thought I'd watch something serious for my first movie this year. A widower moves into an old house, thats haunted. I liked the first half of this a lot the setup, the mood, the house. And then nothing really happened. (just like this review, eh?) /52.Cast A Deadly Spell(1990): I loved this one its a bit goofy but it kind of needs to be. Detective H P Lovecraft (not that one) is hired to find the Necronomicon in 1940s LA where everyone uses magic. /53.Orca: The Killer Whale (1977): When a killer whales mate is killed it wants revenge. Yawwwwn.  /54.Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead (1994): Picking up from the last one, Reggie and Mike continue their hunt for the tall man. While not a great movie it's a lot of fun and I love the sets. /55.Nail Gun Massacre (1985): This movie is dummmmb, a slasher where the killer goes around killing rapists (and others) with a nailgun. I'm not sure if I enjoyed this more because I watched on the Scream Stream with others. A lot more porny then I would have liked. Got a little backtracked this weekend. I hope to get back on track this week now that I'm less busy.
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Oct 8, 2018 05:38
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 24. Kuroneko (1968). Directed by Kaneto Shindo. Watched on FilmStruck Needed something good to wash away the trash I've been watching. I don't think this works quite as well for me as Kaneto Shindo's other atmospheric horror, Onibaba. but it's still a hell of a film that comes close. Gorgeous black and white photography and an uncomfortably bare score turn this into something really beautiful. At some points, I can't help but feel like Kuroneko may have had some kind of influence on Under The Skin. Not just in terms of the same basic "otherworldly woman/women lead men to their realm and dispose of them" premise, but in terms of the abstracted staging through which they accomplish this. Obviously, this doesn't go to nearly the same levels of formal abstraction as that film's sets, but the bamboo that surrounds their home takes on very unreal qualities. It's also interesting that compared to it's contemporaries, Kuroneko is one of the only Japanese films of its era I can think of which unambiguously depicts samurai as being viciously entitled men who profit on and gloat about the suffering and subjugation of others. The only other thing that comes to mind, Ugetsu, that comes close to this take still takes pains to show there are some samurai who mean well. Of course, I still have a lot of gaps in the Japanese folk horror genre, so this may be my ignorance talking. Friends Are Evil fucked around with this message at 06:24 on Oct 8, 2018 |
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Oct 8, 2018 06:16
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 "You're too late." "Why?" "It's the rules." #11-#17 The Motherfucking SAW Marathon Saw (2004) Saw II (2005) Saw III (2006) Saw IV (2007) Saw V (2008) Saw VI (2009) Saw: The Final Chapter (2010) I had only ever seen the first Saw before I started this, and I forgot how cheap the production was. Cary Elwes and Danny Glover hold the whole thing down and the rest of it is made with the two remaining nickels. The dialogue is also really, really bad. The sequels are not much better production-wise and clearly the studio appeal is the low-budget concept (shoot everything on a cheap-rear end indoor set! recognizable actors need not apply!), but the mix of elaborate cruelty and Jigsaw's supernatural ability to create convoluted intrigue is pretty entertaining in a "why stop now?" way. It's incredible how profitable these movies were compared to what they cost. They also lose a lot if you don't marathon them. The callbacks get longer and longer as we go along, we eventually have jigsaw puzzles that take place well before the first movie chronologically, and there's a lot of fun with non-linear storytelling. The ending sequences get more and more hilarious. You can pick the Saw movies up on blu ray pretty cheap, and I'm glad I waited for this event to go through them. Edit: The last three are pretty awful.
Name Change fucked around with this message at 06:38 on Oct 9, 2018 |
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Oct 8, 2018 08:37
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8. Martin (1978) Watched on DVD  Martin believes he is a vampire. His uncle agrees and believes he is the evil carrier of a family curse. His cousin things he’s the victim of a deranged family obsession. Either way he stalks women to drink their blood… and do “sexy stuff”… as he remembers/fantasizes about a time when his vampirism was more “gothic” and “romantic” as seen in the movies. Perhaps this is most notable as the first team up between legendary director George Romero and special effects master Tom Savini. This is probably not going to be popular but I didn’t like this at all. It seems a very popular film around these parts and I was pretty well hyped for it but I could never get into it. I never really found myself believing or caring about the central mystery of whether Martin was a vampire or just a sick person. Maybe because I didn’t care about Martin. He didn’t come off dangerous, he didn’t come off sympathetic, he barely spoke or emoted. I briefly found myself wondering if Martin just had some kind of genetic blood disorder or something that the family held onto crazy superstitions about. But the movie wasn’t interested in answering any questions in that regard, and that’s fine. I respect the intended ambiguity of the piece. I just never really cared or found myself engaged. Part of it might have been the “sexy time” stuff. The first scene of the film disturbed me quite a bit and I actually briefly considered abandoning the film all together. I’m not a fan of the idea of censorship but I can certain see how this film landed on the “video nasty” list. Others should be free to judge for themselves if they have different sensibilities but it definitely pushed mine. And perhaps worse it made Martin wholly unsympathetic to me from the start. I wasn’t scared by Martin, but I was disgusted by him. The home invasion scene and the finale are obviously the center pieces but they just didn’t do a lot for me. The home invasion felt… dry? I don’t know. And the action of the finale felt kind of out of nowhere and just didn’t work for me. I don’t know. This is maybe a film I’ll revisit some time to see if maybe a different mood or a second viewing helps me see what others see. Maybe. It’s possible the same things I found so offputting are the things others find appealing so I’d just be subjecting myself to them a second time for no purpose. But I do appreciate the idea of the film and respect both Romero as a director and this forum as reviewers. It won’t be this month but maybe down the line I’ll give it another go. Right now I probably have to find something more... enjoyable, because two unpleasant films I didn't enjoy in a row threatens to kill momentum. I had a couple of films lined up but they're all a little too dark and risky, I think. I might need to throw in something random and "light".  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) / 7. The Green Inferno (2013) / 8. Martin (1978) / STAC Goat fucked around with this message at 08:44 on Oct 8, 2018 |
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Oct 8, 2018 08:41
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 The List1. Welcome to Willits (Fran Challenge 1: Love Something You Hate) 2. Multiple Maniacs (Fran Challenge 2: Queer Horror) 3. The Phantom of the Opera 1925 Featuring commentary by Andrew Lloyd Webber (as portrayed by Paul F. Tompkins) 4. Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (Fran Challenge: Hometown Horror) 5. Dawn of the Dead (2004) (Fran Challenge: Best of the Worst) 6. Creep 2  Rarely is there a movie that seems built specifically for you. A type of film which can make you crack up, gleam with realization, and capture you in ways you don't even understand. A film that you would be afraid to share with someone, because you would fear they would just not get it. Films like those are amazing discoveries that come around maybe once every couple of years. I liked Creep a lot. But I loved Creep 2. It is loving hilarious and loving unnerving at the same time. It's so weirdly twisted and conceited, you can never exactly know if and when any of the characters are honest in their revelations or are lying about everything. Later on the film, not that it's a joke, but I bust a gut realizing that the film was actually a romantic comedy. I cannot overemphasize how much I loved this film. And I watched it in unideal conditions: On a bus/while walking, in the midday sun, split over two parts. And despite all that, I was trying my damnedest to not blurt out laughing or flipping out in the middle of midday traffic sitting next to strangers. Hell, I let the whole credits play because I wanted to absorb it all 'it' being Sara Loves Her Juicy Fruit. Hilarious. 7. I am the Pretty Thing That Lives In The House  To be honest, I'm probably not capable of giving this film a fair review. I watched this during Scream Stream, joining about 15 minutes into the film, and I missed a lot of dialog due to the fact that my laptop speakers are poo poo and because I watched it in a noisy environment. This is a film light on content, and the slowest of slow burns. A work that demands your full attention, to lose your own Self in its atmosphere and carried by it's tension. But if you're watching the Scream Stream, you'll want the discord chat opened. The chat and live reactions are great and entertaining when things just keep happening. So you have this slow, demanding piece of art, and your attention is being divided by this little box of people impatiently waiting for things to happen. And once someone makes a good barb, you have an entire peanut gallery tearing into it, myself included. It was perhaps the absolute worst way to watch this film. That said, I can't say I hated it. For what the film set out to achieve, I think objectively it executed it admirably in both craft and ambition. It's story, setting, characters, everything in this film is incredibly light and lean, and part of that is by design. It's a gothic short story, given wide berth to explore and develop it's tone. The events and what it means for the characters is almost secondary to the emotions and feelings that are actively happening. It's not really scary and nor is it really trying to be that scary. It's much more preoccupied with the Gothic aspect of Gothic Horror. I'm not a fan of it's ambiguity, but I'd say that's more due to my taste. Likely it was because I was starting to lose interest due to the conditions I saw it in. It's fine, I hope that other people will have more positive experiences watching it themselves. I just can't muster much in the way of enthusiasm.
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Oct 8, 2018 09:59
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4. Maximum Overdrive (1986)  So you know it's gonna be gud! No seriously Who Made Who is pretty great so this could've been 90 minutes of black screen just as well. Well, the movie itself is not good, exactly, but pretty fun. This is another movie I might have seen pieces of before, the bridge scene definitely felt extremely familiar, but not beginning to end. There's a comet and/or UFO near the Earth that causes all machines to go nuts and try to kill the humans, who in our case are stuck in a truck stop. So it's kind of Assault on Precinct 13 and Terminator and Christine. All of which are admittedly better movies. There are a few appliances involved but mainly it's trucks. I don't think we've even seen cars try to kill anyone. I probably should've liked Night of the Creeps better than this but I honestly thought this was more fun. Kids get ran over with a steamroller, a gas station owner happens to have a rocket launcher, people communicate with cars using morse code, waitress freaking the gently caress out, etc. .5/5
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Oct 8, 2018 11:17
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