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Franchescanado posted:
9. Hostel (2005)  So this takes place in Bratislava which is pretty close but is actually filmed at least partially in Prague (main train station for sure, made to look like Austrian/German one) and the surrounding area. Blade 2 would've been an obvious choice but I've seen it already, and there are some local movies but it's hard to tell how "horror" they really are. The film's been on my radar since its release but I always avoided it due to the torture-porn allegations, but ended up being pleasantly (if that's the word) surprised. Though dumb as hell, I thought the setup was pretty good for this kind of movie: three friends are backpacking through europe with a big focus on getting high and loving, and after a small fight in an "Amsterdam" club are told there are hot girls in Odessa, Ukraine, or closer in Bratislava who will jump on any foreign cock. So of course our bros immediately head out there. If this sound like I'm describing Eurotrip, yeah it's very similar up to this point to the point where I had to double check I'm watching the right movie. There are a few problematic elements to this movie, like few somewhat homophobic remarks, obviously its attitude to women, and worst of all, its treatment of Slovakia. I'm sure some nationalists or other patriots would find it offensive but frankly after Eurotrip it's just hilarious how the country keeps getting represented as a complete shithole, with roving gangs of kids, corrupt, SS-uniformed police, and of course hostels that look like 4-star hotels because everything is so cheap. Oh and mass murder factories. Anyway, our gang arrives to the hostel and spend the first night partying with the three gorgeous ladies. Everything is so amazing, that their Icelandic friend decides to check out and disappears the next morning apparently, and MMSs them a strange looking photo with a Japanese girl with whom he supposedly left. At this point I was a bit concerned, because this was like 30-40 minutes into the movie and 1 of our 3 characters was already dead. Are they just going to torture the remaining 2 guys for one hour straight? Turns out that's not really the case, after a few unpleasant but short scenes where we don't really see anything, the movie turns into a more of a revenge flick.  /5E: Fran challenges: 1 2 mobby_6kl fucked around with this message at 09:17 on Oct 13, 2018 |
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Oct 13, 2018 08:28
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Franchescanado posted:
  25. The Funhouse (1981) - DVD To quote IMDB, because this entry is interesting: "The film was unsuccessfully prosecuted as a video nasty a few years after its release. Some commentators have questioned its attempted banning, given that the film is fairly tame in comparison to other entries on the list, leading some to suggest it was mistakenly chosen instead of the infamous Last House on Dead End Street, which was released under an alternative title The Fun House and oddly didn't appear on the list." There are some good shots in this movie A great villain design. Nicely grungy pack of absolute motherfuckers through and through. Particularly the alcoholic mother. But a too slow start and pile of complaints on the other hand. Whatever, it's a trashy, disgusting, lowbrow movie and perfectly enjoyable. I'm glad it exists even if it won't be a regular rewatch. It's a shame Hooper ended his career on Djinn. Though I may now have to revisit that. Was it really so generic a project or just pale in comparison to the rest of his wonderfully grungy filmography? 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), 14. November (2017), 15. Doghouse (2009), 16 Sssssss (1973), 17. Maniac (1934), 18. Thirst (2009), 19. Horror Hotel (1960), 20. Event Horizon (1997)*, 21. In the Mouth of Madness (1994), 22. Frankenstein (1931)*, 23. Monster from a Prehistoric Planet (1967), 24. The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), 25. The Funhouse (1981) Years Spanned: 95 (1922-2017) Tally by Decade: '20s (I), '30s (IV), '40s (II), '50s (II), '60s (V), '70s (II), '80s (IV), '90s (II), 2000s (III), 2010s (I) B&W/Color: 13/13 Rewatch/Total: 3/25 Fran Challenges Complete: 1 2 * Rewatch
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Oct 13, 2018 08:28
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Random Stranger posted:Here's an anime horror movie that's on youtube that illustrates how good anime is: Unfortunately, it's not at all the same kind of bonkers as the Dracula one, just a heads up. There's nothing wrong with it though. Anyways, on to my write-ups: Franchescanado posted:
#55. Teaching Mrs. Tingle (1955) A trio of high school students get in trouble when one tries to cheat for their final grade. When they go over to the horrid teacher's (the aforementioned Mrs Tingle) home, things quickly get out of control, and they end up taking her captive, with great potential for violence along the way. This movie watching was the result of me looking for someone who has only directed one movie, and that it's even marginally horror. In this case, Kevin Williamson, the writer for Scream. The fact that he specializes in pg-13 vapid 90s teen flicks shows in full here. It's bad, real bad, with lame dialogue and teen actors (including Katie Holmes in the lead) that can't hold a candle to the adult cast. This is especially true of the role of Mrs. Tingle, played by Helen Mirren, who just carries the whole film on her back and makes you wish you were watching her in something better. The rating is all on account of her. out of 5#56. Splinter (2008) A young couple on a anniversary trip run afoul of a criminal couple on the lam who take them captive. The foursome then encounter a strange new life form of rapidly growing spine-like splinters that take over animation of whatever they implant themselves in, and are fully capable of fusing themselves together, forcing the group to take shelter in an all-night gas station. Wow was this a cool monster flick. Lots of clever scary designs, and truly wince worthy violence. On the other hand, the cast of characters are all dumber than a five pound sack of rocks. Nonetheless, A good movie. out of 5#57. CreepTales ("2004"). A group of monsters have a party to watch their favorite movie, CreepTales, which is a collection of different short films. They very in quality, but some of them are really good, especially one where Tom "Voice of Spongebob" Kenny plays a punk purse-snatcher (and he sings his own theme song!) or one where a rundown housewife sick of her husband gets a magical vacuum. The quotes in the release date is because these shorts come from a variety of times and sources, extending from 2004 to 1998, but the anthology itself did not come out until that year. I'd say it's most fun in a party atmosphere, like how I saw it. out of 5
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Oct 13, 2018 08:43
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#21 The Howling 2/5 Lingering Shots of Burgers I don't think I get werewolf movies. The effects are really nice but this did nothing for me beyond an eerie vibe. American Werewolf In London is about the same with better gore and jokes and I don't love that either. #22 Hell Comes To Frogtown 4/5 Exploding Chastity Belts This is an insane movie that should not exist. It had a higher budget than They Live. How did this happen? The mutant frog costumes are gross and the action is pretty good. #23 Venom (2018) 3/5 Symbiote Bunnies The first act is really slow but it turns into a fun, strange movie. Body horror, homoerotic buddy cops, and some monster brawling. The symbiote has pretty good slime for something that's mostly (only?) cgi. #24 Venom (1981) 4/5 Snake Shipping Mix-Ups Klaus Kinski wrestles a rubber snake. That's all I need. The fish-eye snake POV shots are nice. I thought this was German for some reason and was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be extremely British. #25 Dagon 4/5 Smashed Statues of Jesus It's really slow until the characters reach land and the directing is hideous. The last hour is good enough to overcome this. It's a good spooky town full of creepy villagers and things escalate to a bizarre and unexpected conclusion. I need to watch Castle Freak. #26 Demonic Toys 3/5 Gunned Down Monchichis I'm a big of criminals stumbling into horror scenarios. I can never get enough of humans fighting puppets and this movie delivers. The toy destruction is all very satisfying. The creepy kid is not the best performance and the toy robot that shot lasers deserves better. #27 The Fly (1986) 4/5 Exploding Baboons Challenge #5: Birth of Horror This is really good. It's a straightforward monster movie that thrives on well-acted, sympathetic characters and great creature effects. I love the makeup for each stage of the Brundlefly transformation . Everything is oozy and disgusting. #28 Ringu 1/5 Secret Wells Challenge #1: Love Something You Hate I hate the remake. I hate this. It feels like a procedural and the mystery loses a lot when you know more than the characters at every turn. The well scene is great but I can live without the rest. I appreciate this film for spawning The Ring 2, the funniest and best time I have ever had in a theater. #29 Goosebumps 3/5 Runaway Ferris Wheels Better than a 20 year late cash-grab has any right to be. It's not my favorite small town monster takeover but it's a good time. Stine's creepy house is great. It's a shame the protagonist is the dullest boy alive and the abandoned amusement park is barely used. #30 Poltergeist 3/5 Lazy Housing Developers The endless parodies weaken the horror but this is good. I love the Amblin/80s time capsule. These are the special effects I grew up with and I still enjoy them. There are a few terrible composite shots that ironically would have aged better as objects hanging from a string.  #31 Phenomena 4/5 Chimps Operating A Chair LiftChallenge #7: The World Is A Scary Place. Weird and very good. The last ~15 minutes are hilarious. I love the phone falling down the hole and bringing the 20 foot cord with it. The metal soundtrack is a strange choice that doesn't match the action half the time but it works. I really like the spooky house and town. "Suspiria but not as good" is a summary I can't disagree with but it's a good movie. They Shoot Zombies 43/50 3 From 7 Decades: 3/7 Fran Challenges: 1,5,7
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Oct 13, 2018 09:33
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 131- Toolbox Murders 1978 - DVD Anything billed as 'based on a true story' is going to get me nosing around to find that true story. Sometimes it's a legit claim like Deranged, others like Compliance take several dramatic liberties from the true story to the point it's insulting. With Toolbox Murders, it's more of a kinda technically correct. There were no real murders in an apartment complex by someone with powertools who kept a woman captive. There have been murders with powertools and women have been held captive by crazies, but that's about it for the true story angle. Pretty much this is a prototype of what would become a bog standard slasher. If it wasn't for the controversy that exploded around it, it probably wouldn't even be a blip on the radar. Much like the 'Think of the Children!!' scare back in the 50s with EC Comics, a new scare was starting with 'ZOMG!! Horror movies will make a generation of sociopathic killers!!'. Experts came out of the woodwork with papers insisting horror movies like this will desensitize impressionable young minds and groom them to be maniacs ready to start slashing. Pearl clutching fears aside, nothing happened. At least until the advent of video games taking over as the new 'ZOMG!! They'll turn children into killers!!' scare.
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Oct 13, 2018 11:22
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Franchescanado posted:
24. Trick or Treats (1982) Prime  1982 was a pretty good year for horror, with a few total classics being released within a few months of each other. This movie is not one of those classics, but I wanted to watch something new and it is definitely halloweeny so I picked it. The plot's kind of a mess. A father is wrongfully committed by his wife to a mental institution, then escapes and sets out to murder her (and their son?). If he's so uninsane why is he acting so crazy? His wifes not home and he ends up attacking the baby sitter after a number of humorous (?) adventures including eating at a diner in drag and robbing winos at knifepoint. These antics run parallel to the antics of the totally not insane killer's son, who keeps tricking the baby sitter into thinking he's killed himself. Pretty weird movie. The acting is really broad and I can't imagine it scaring anyone, but it's campy and not always boring, so I guess I kind of liked it. 2.5/5 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 | 21. The Haunting of Molly Hartley | 22. Hold the Dark | 23. Truth or Dare | 24. Trick or Treats Fran Challenges: Drunkboxer fucked around with this message at 13:16 on Oct 13, 2018 |
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Oct 13, 2018 13:00
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25. The 'Burbs (1989) (umpteenth rewatch) Just some random thoughts I had on this rewatch: What struck me about this movie this time I watched it was just how good the cast is. I don't think it'd be remembered nearly as well if the cast wasn't so drat charming. Really makes me wish Carrie Fisher had been in more movies. I hadn't noticed that it's TCM2 and not the original that Hank's sees while flipping through the tv, so that's cool. Definitely a good Halloween movie and worth a watch if you haven't seen it yet. 4.5/5 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 | 21. The Haunting of Molly Hartley | 22. Hold the Dark | 23. Truth or Dare | 24. Trick or Treats | 25. The 'Burbs Fran Challenges:
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Oct 13, 2018 13:15
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25) Curse of the Werewolf (1961) Definitely not my favorite Hammer horror, but not my least favorite either. The first half or so is a SLOG, but once it ramps up it gets pretty good. Solid 3/5. 26) Splinter (2008) Scream Stream watch. I enjoyed it! I wasn't expecting to because I disliked most of the characters, but the effects were really good, and the "creature" movements were really unique. Also a solid 3/5. Watched (26): 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, I Am The Pretty Thing..., Nail Gun Massacre, Tucker and Dale, Coraline, Children of the Corn, Brides of Dracula, Curse of the Werewolf, Splinter Challenges completed: #1 (Babadook), #7 (The Brides of Dracula)
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Oct 13, 2018 13:47
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18. Splinter I was surprised how much I liked this. Overall I thought they did a great job as a low budget horror film with what they had.The acting and performances were really hit or miss for me honestly. However, the movie has some pretty decent practical effect that I really enjoyed. There's some half way decent gore in the film as well. Plotwise things are a bit ridiculous but overall a decent film. /5
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Oct 13, 2018 14:08
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26. Vampire Boys (2011) QUEER HORROR CHALLENGE I picked this honestly because the thumbnail looked like a Chuck Tingle book cover. On that front it didn't disappoint. This was just about an hour of softcore gay pornography with a vague vampire theme. The vampires could walk in the day for this movie, likely because it would have been impossible for the low budget production to shoot so much at night and the vampires themselves are this odd attempt to be cool that just comes off as comedic. My favorite part maybe is how the acting is generally so bad that the characters sound like idiots no matter what they're doing. I ain't mad at it because I pretty much knew what I was getting, but I can't recommend it at all. 1 out of 5
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Oct 13, 2018 14:14
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Butch Cassidy posted:It's a shame Hooper ended his career on Djinn. Though I may now have to revisit that. Was it really so generic a project or just pale in comparison to the rest of his wonderfully grungy filmography? It's not great, but it's also not terrible. There's a little bit of cool Hooper stuff in it but not much. I'm kind of lukewarm on his filmography after The Mangler though. I've heard that Djinn was taken away from him after he finished it, as it was considered too subversive and got re-edited and partially re-filmed by a different director. The few people that got to see the original cut (who are admittedly friends of Hooper) say it was one of his best movies.
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Oct 13, 2018 15:26
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27. Hellraiser IV: Bloodline (1996) ONCE IN A LIFETIME CHALLENGE (Kevin Yagher) We took Pinhead to space, baby! As the planned end of the series at the time, I love it. The early parts feel like a return to form in the atmosphere and imagery along with bringing in a more seductive Cenobite in Angelique. I'm especially a fan of the of first segment that takes place during the creation of the The Box. I was also a big fan of the second segment since it was nice seeing Kim Myers again since I've had a crush on her from when I saw A Nightmare On Elm Street 2 as a teen. What a lady, she's beaten both Freddy AND Pinhead. I really expected something a lot worse and other than dodgy CGI I think it's a very worthy but markedly weaker film to stand with the first two and really wrap up a trilogy. I think the pseudo anthology format helps a whole lot and makes this not feel like a slog at all, it was a very easy watch. Also some of the kills are fantastic. 3 out of 5
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Oct 13, 2018 15:33
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Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter (1974) Challenge: Once in a Lifetime  Hammer's attempt to revitalize their horror genre and make a new franchise by incorporating elements of the old-fashioned heroic swashbuckler. Don't worry though, a maiden in a low-cut bodice dies covered in neon-red blood every fifteen minutes so you don't forget who made it. No one would mistake this for one of Hammer's strongest efforts (Horst Janson isn't exactly Cushing or Lee) and I think it's a little bit too leaden for the heroic swashbuckler tone they're going for. Still, there's some fun to be had here, such as a scene where Kronos and his aide have to use the process of elimination to figure out how to kill a vampire they have captive, or the genuinely effective final showdown in a gothic castle. It's a shame that Captain Kronos never got to fight Lee's Dracula and that director Brian Clemens never really got to make anything else. 3/5  sHammer has uploaded the whole film to youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsWAVsRefSg
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Oct 13, 2018 15:47
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16) Contamination  FRAN CHALLENGE #6: Video NastiesSeen on: Tubi A public health official, a cop and a former astronaut Compared to a lot of other Italian horror from the same period (late 70s/early 80s) that I've seen, this film by "Lewis Coates" (ie Luigi Cozzi) is positively restrained. I'm amazed that the lead lady didn't have a nude scene - she does have a shower scene but again, absolutely restrained compared to what I've seen (of course the lead men treat her character like poo poo because of her no-nonsense nature, so I guess that is keeping with the times). Of course the reason Contamination made the Video Nasties list is the violence, which is pretty much the only good trick the film has; the explosions are done in slow motion and while the blood and guts are clearly fake, it's still pretty effective. I haven't read anything official but I wonder if James Cameron saw this before making Aliens because the effect at the end of the movie (hilariously given away by crediting the designer in the opening credits!) is a super primative version of what got into his film six years later. Outside of the egg and alien stuff, this is a pretty standard, slow-moving potboiler/conspiracy thriller with an ok Goblin soundtrack. Compared to what had come out in the years before, it's laughable this was on the Video Nasties list. 17) Crystal Lake Memories - the Complete History of Friday the 13th Seen on: YouTube I had two slow work days this week, and I passed the time by watching this five-hour-plus (!) documentary covering the series. My exposure to Friday the 13th as always been limited - I've only ever completely seen 2 (good), 7 (loved the makeup and telekinetic stuff), 8 (woof) and the in-name-only TV series that amazed me as a preteen in the late 80s by the amount of gore it had (along with War of the Worlds - that was a strange time for TV syndication). Length aside, those five hours went by quick - this is a really charming, enthusiastic look back on the movies, the reboot and even the TV series! Aside from a few obvious absentees (Kevin Bacon and Crispin Glover), they get back the directors, writers, makeeup artists/production staff and actors to go over each film (each one gets about 30-40 minutes). I was also amazed at how much production info they give - there are tons of outtakes, storyboards, production photos and documentary video taken at the time the movies were filmed. They show a lot of unedited scenes that were axed by the MPAA and discuss how each movie fit into the culture at the time and the audience response to each one. I'm not even a fan of the series, and I'd recommend watching this if you haven't already seen it or are interested at all in the evolution of the franchise.
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Oct 13, 2018 15:59
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 20)Veronica also: Franchescanado posted:
my first fran challenge! I quite enjoyed it. That whole thing where people are doing something completely normal, and something creepy happens in the background, and they don't notice totally works on me. The most frustrating part her dumbass friends just leave her hanging and don't help her at the end. like you helped get her into this mess, don't just run away! Definitely not the scariest movie ever, but really solid posession/haunting flick 4/5
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Oct 13, 2018 16:01
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19. Corpse Mania (1982 , Shaw Brothers)  Directed by Kuei Chih-Hung ( Boxers Omen, Hex, Bewitch, Coward Bastard, Curse of Evil) Necrophilia, Murder, Kung Fu, and Giallo? This movie from Hung is best described as a Chinese Giallo. I say that because the protagonist wears a disguise and the movie is driven forward by the police trying to figure out the killings of prostitutes. It even includes POV shots for the killer. It has excellent direction with some fantastic dolly shots , overheads, and tracking shots. You can just feel Argento's influence on so many of these shots that are in this film. The sets are fantastic, the acting is good for a Shaw Brothers, the mystery is good, the gore and practical effects are good. There's even a classic detective ending. The film is not as extreme as Hung's other films .This is not though without its moments of grossness and uh its definitely out there with some of the stuff it shows in graphic detail. Not hardcore but there's some really gross stuff in this film as well as some fantastic bright red blood splattering. I'd say the thing I didn't like about it was some of the acting from some people is kind of bad and also the film moves at such a break neck speed it can be a bit difficult to keep up. Plus some of the scenes are just in there I guess for padding I dunno there's some scenes where it like "Does this really need to be in this" . At a run time of less than 90 (82 minutes to be exact so little over an hour) the film never drags or spins its wheels and in typical Shaw Brothers fashion the ending is very abrupt. Highly Recommended . /5
Hollismason fucked around with this message at 16:36 on Oct 13, 2018 |
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Oct 13, 2018 16:20
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 132- Buio Omega 1979 - DVD I first saw this many years ago when I was back at Blockbuster and it was under the title Buried Alive. Clamshell had a big warning label on it and I nearly broke my ankle carefully having to climb up two shelves to be able to reach it. With that much risk, I hoped the rental was worth it. Even as heavily editied as the VHS version was, it was worth it. You could call this 'Buio Omega: A very hosed up romance story'. It starts with the death of Francesco's fiance by sorcery from Iris, Francesco's housekeeper who's madly in love with him. Francesco doesn't handle his fiance's death well so he digs her body up and takes her home. Iris goes along with all this because of her love for Francesco even though he has no feelings for her. Of course this is going to take a turn for the even worse, much like the leftovers that end up at the back of the fridge. The edited VHS version was pretty intense and the restored versions on DVD are even moreso, and I think this is one of the films that ended up going to trial to prove the effects were just effects. Not to everyone's tastes, but if it is, it's worth a watch. I know I could've used this for the Fran challenge but it felt like it was lazy if I went with it considering the amount of Italian horror I sit through.
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Oct 13, 2018 16:56
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24. Apostle (2018, Gareth Evans) Source: Netflix At first I was totally into this. It's gorgeously shot and the air of mystery was awesomely thick. I got Wicker Man vibes, which filled me with anxious hope that the film's payoff would be something memorable. I also like Dan Stevens a lot. He plays a great dark mysterious character. So during the first half or so I was thinking we may have a 5-star movie on our hands. But then the movie began revealing its hand, and what I hoped was something intriguing turned out to be somewhat by-the-numbers. It's not that all the small details were conventional (the head drill was quite something), but the general tone and structure felt disappointingly familiar. But worst of all the movie is overlong and exhausting. Really, this thing shouldn't have been 130 minutes. It's more concerned with being exciting than it is with being interesting, an as a result the last act is a bloated mess. Ultimately this is a beautiful looking disappointment.   (2 glasses of blood out of 5)
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Oct 13, 2018 17:35
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 #23. Child's Play 2 (iTunes) -  /5The Play Pals toy company, makers of the "Good Guys" toy line, rebuilds the Chucky doll from Child's Play, as a way to combat bad publicity. This brings Chucky back to life, who makes an immediate bee-line to former target Andy Barclay, now living in a foster home. I'm surprised how well this one holds up. I noticed this time around how much more vibrant it came across than the first one - Child's Play was a fairly chilly and muted film, to allow Chucky to pop on the screen. Child's Play 2, on the other hand, embraces a more comic book feel, so colors are more saturated across the board. It helps sell everything as a more heightened, more fantastical experience, which is fitting, since Chucky is a more front-and-center element here. In that vein, I think the end sequence, set in the "Good Guys" factory, is one of the best of the whole series, since it's a ridiculous, over-the-top action scene. Fun fact: As a child, I was terrified of Chucky, mainly because "My Buddy" was one of my favorite toys when the original came out. CP2 was probably the thing that most helped me get over that, since the edited version was on USA during the day all the time back in the early- to mid-90s. So I probably don't have true objectivity when it comes to this film, but I like it anyway.  #24. Halloween II (1981) (DVD) - /5Laurie Strode, the sole teen survivor from Michael Myers' Halloween night rampage, is taken to the local hospital. Myers, still alive, follows her there and starts murdering all of the hospital staff to get to her. Dull and repetitive, this is not a worthy follow-up to John Carpenter's seminal original film. The hospital setting ends up being a lot less interesting and relatable than the suburban setting from the previous film, and there isn't a single non-irritating hospital worker among the dozen or so victims-in-waiting. I'm also not a fan of the Michael Myers bait-and-switch car crash explosion that keeps Loomis out of the proceedings in the b-plot; that just feels like it leads to a lot of wheel-spinning in the middle. This is compounded by how many people Myers takes out on the way to killing his single target, so the film feels aimless and padded. It has a strong beginning and a strong ending and a whole lot of garbage in between. Watched so far: Cat People, Halloween 5, Mom and Dad, Hell House LLC, A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010), Beetlejuice, The Horror of Party Beach, Wes Craven's New Nightmare, The Return of the Living Dead, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2, Murder Party, Anaconda, Dracula (1931), The Ritual, Blade II, The Beyond, Sleepaway Camp, Lord of Illusions, The Mummy's Ghost, Children of the Corn II, The Mummy's Curse, The Prophecy, Child's Play 2, Halloween II (1981)
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Oct 13, 2018 18:35
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The worst part about the October Horror Challenge is that I have negative free time so I don't watch anything unless I actively carve out a chunk of time for it (most of the films I've watched this month have been accompanying writing long reports or doing homework that consists of twenty pages of calculations). So as I'm shuffling through films to watch I keep going, "Oh! I've been meaning to watch that! No. It has to be a horror movie. But there's a great horror movie that I'd enjoy rewatching... No! Horror movies I haven't seen only!"
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Oct 13, 2018 19:05
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24. ApostleFranchescanado posted:
I'm with Spatulater bro! a few posts up on this this one. It is a beautifully shot movie that starts off as a way darker version of The Wicker Man but just doesn't manage to bring all of the moving parts together into something great. I can't stop comparing it to Hold the Dark, which I also found full of scenes and ideas that were great on their own, but didn't translate into a cohesive, fulfilling experience. I don't regret watching it and there is plenty of there that will stay with me The vice being applied to the boy's head, camera going to his pov, the slight pop and a red haze slowly washing over the view was just nasty However, but it was too long and juggled just a few too many things for its own good. Enjoyable, but flawed.
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Oct 13, 2018 19:19
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Last night I had some folks over for a horror movie night, a sequel to last year called "Shameful Omissions" - classic horror movies that folks kinda know through cultural osmosis but haven't seen. We tend to get a couple movies that are new to at least half the people attending, and a good time is had by all. This year we had Cat People (not really what I would call a shameful omission, but I wanted to be sure to have a classic I haven't seen yet), Nightmare On Elm Street (1984), and Halloween (1978). Then after folks left I watched another one on my own. 13. Cat People (1942) - Fantastic looking movie, I love the noirish light and shadow playing throughout the movie. The frights are, understandably for a 1942 movie, not too scary. The movie plays with sexuality as a frightening, lethal thing in a less direct way I didn’t expect - I had expected more of a traditional lycanthrope movie, but the movie never directly implies whether that's real or not (until the end). This is a tragic movie about a woman who has lived with, and continues to live with, a fear that prevents her from getting close to anyone, even the man she married. REWATCH - Nightmare On Elm Street (1984) - This is my third rewatch. A classic. The people I was showing it to on my “Shameful Omissions” horror movie night (watch classic horror movies you really should have seen - Cat People I don’t think is quite at the same level, but I wanted to make sure to watch a new-to-me movie too). Folks were riffing on the movie at first, pointing out how its dated, etc., but by the end were into it. REWATCH - Halloween (1978) - I’ve seen this countless times, but again, several folks came over and hadn’t seen it yet. I think this is a stronger movie, and held people’s attention. The scares weren’t as scary to them as a newer movie, but it was still effective. The slow burn before the stabbin’ starts I think started to irk some people, but once it got going they were into it, and even forgot their earlier criticism of “there’s no way those are high school students”  14. Banshee Chapter (2013) - Fun romp through number station and MKULTRA conspiracy theories. If Hunter S. Thompson and Timothy Leary spent the weekend getting high, reading HP Lovecraft and then sobering up and making a movie, it might end up something like this. Maybe with a larger budget we could have gotten more views of the weird, but what is in the movie is used well. The actors do a fine job with their characters and the scares are legit. List Of New To Me Movies (14): Savageland, Ghostbusters (2016), Creep, Vampyr, Hereditary, Frontier(s), Butterfly Effect 3, Only Lovers Left Alive, The Tenant, The Screaming Skull, Hell House LLC, Ringu 0, Cat People, Banshee Chapter Fran Challenges Fulfilled(4): #1 Love Something You Hate: Only Lovers Left Alive, #3 Hometown Horror: Butterfly Effect 3, #5 Birth Of Horror: The Tenant, #7 The World Is A Scary Place: Ringu 0
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Oct 13, 2018 19:45
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#11- The Evil I more or less randomly selected this one after a long period of indecisiveness. It's a crude but atmospheric haunted house movie, starring Richard Crenna as a psychologist whose group of friends show up to help renovate his newly bought house, only for something to be awakened in the basement trapping them all inside. You've got the standards, cobwebs everywhere, a big storm outside, etc. but it works to set the mood and some of the scares are quite effective. The ending is a little on the goofy side, though. On the whole a decent little chiller.
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Oct 13, 2018 19:49
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2. Hereditary Slow burning psychological horror. I was really impressed with the camerawork and how everything looks. Honestly would work almost as well removing all the "horror" elements and just as a family drama. I was kinda disappointed with the last act, but still a great movie. I can see how some people would be turned off early though, as it does take a bit of time to ramp up. 3. The Endless Somewhat of a followup to one of my favorite recent-ish horror movies Resolution. Aaron receives a tape from the cult him and his brother escaped from. Based on what they see, they decide to return to the cult to visit. Only they find out that nobody in the cult actually sent the tape. I found that having watched Resolution adds some neat information to a lot of the characters, but it's not essential at all to understand what's going on in this. Also while there's a good amount of humor, it's not quite to the level of Resolution (which at times was basically just a comedy). Most of the movie revolves around the relationship between Aaron and his brother Justin, whose lives have not been all that fulfilling after leaving the cult. (Also as an aside, I'm noticing that so far all three of the movies I've talked about to this point have a very family-centric theme). A lot of the mystery of what happened in Resolution is basically explained here more in detail as the brothers find out what makes this area so weird. I enjoyed this, but I'm not sure who exactly I'd recommend this to. It's fairly unique. 4. The Ritual Netflix movie about four friends who take a trip into the wilderness to memorialize a fifth friend who was killed during a robbery while one of the four watched. The scenery of this is absolutely gorgeous, otherwise I didn't find much to recommend it over numerous other similar movies where people go off the beaten path in the woods and bad stuff happens. The use of Norse mythology could have been nice but I think wasn't fully taken advantage of. Not bad for passing the time and may deserve a look just for the visuals (seriously the woods and landscape are just beautiful) but nothing I'd really go out of my way to watch again. 5. Lords of Salem Rob Zombie movie dealing with witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts. I did not particularly like this, and I have usually enjoyed Rob Zombie's work. Coven of witches try to give birth to Satan's baby with results that don't quite pan out. As they're caught and burned, they curse the decedents of the witch hunters who caught them, as well as the women of Salem in general. Fast forward to present day, and it's time for revenge! The ending sequence is one of the more goofy things I've seen in a movie in awhile, not necessarily in a good way. I know Rob Zombie's not really been knows for restraint, but I think this movie would've been helped a lot if he had shown some. 6. Capture, Kill, Release Found footage movie about a couple who talk about planning a murder. A couple (Jennifer and Farhang) gets a camera, and go about planning a random murder, filming the results. I'm a fan of found footage movies in general, so I enjoyed this largely. I thought both of the leads did a good job making the characters identifiable-you could imagine some slightly bored suburban couple talking about planning a murder as "a lark". There's a funny little bit where they discuss who their target is going to be and Jennifer accuses Farhang of being racist, homophobic, and sexist because he talks about not wanting to kill a minority, gay person, or woman. Of course things escalate out of control as they don't seem equally dedicated to the plan. Really fun movie that takes a dark turn quickly. 7. FRAN CHALLENGE #7: The World Is A Scary Place - Be My Cat Found footage movie about an aspiring director living in Romania who makes a movie to convince Anne Hathaway to come work with him. Wasn't really sure what t expect from this, what it ended up being was one of the better depictions of an obsessed, crazed individual that I can remember seeing. Basically the whole of the film revolves around the performance of Adrian, who is the Romanian director in question. He goes back and forth between jovial and utterly insanely chilling and it's impressive to watch. The concept is somewhat odd in general, but Adrian's performance pulls it all together and make this a worthwhile watch. It's not quite the same tone, but I definitely got some Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer vibes from this.8. The Dark Tapes Found footage anthology. V/H/S, only not as good as any in that series (maybe as good as Viral, if you're really hard on that one). The individual shorts weren't bad necessarily, just kinda not to memorable and somewhat derivative of other things-it seemed like all of the ideas had been done better in other places which doesn't work well with shorts imo. Some of the effects really detracted form the movie-the various monsters were shown really too clear and made them come off as funny rather than scary. Again, a decent time waster I guess and I'm a sucker for anthologies but unless you really like found footage not really anything to bother with. alansmithee fucked around with this message at 20:29 on Oct 13, 2018 |
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Oct 13, 2018 19:58
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Franchescanado posted:FRAN CHALLENGE #3: Hometown Horror Dawn of the Dead (1978) [YouTube] https://i.imgur.com/g42uu58.gifv The rumors are true: this takes place in the Monroeville Mall. The weird faux-natural water features were particularly nostalgia-inducing. Nailed it as well with Johnstown and the Philadelphians' distasteful reaction. Great movie in general, I really connected with the characters and their struggles, and as a Pittsburgher I'm really pleased I picked this for the hometown challenge. https://i.imgur.com/ndIiaik.gifv Watched: #1 The Terror (2018), #2 The Cabin in the Woods (2011), #3 Gone Girl (2014), #4 Annihilation (2018), #5 Seven (1995), #6 Mandy (2018), #7 Dead Alive (1992), #8 Would You Rather (2012), #9 1922 (2017), #10 Infinity Chamber (2017), #11 Venom (2018), #12 Dagon (2001), #13 Demonic Toys (1992), #14 Murder Party (2007), #15 A Quiet Place (2018), #16 Godzilla (1954), #17 The Vault (2017), #18 Cargo (2017), #19 Berlin Syndrome (2017), #20 Doom (2005), #21 Predator (1987), #22 Dawn of the Dead (1978) Fran Challenges: #7 [The World Is A Scary Place] Godzilla (1954), #3 [Hometown Horror] Dawn of the Dead (1978)
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Oct 13, 2018 20:01
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Random Stranger posted:The worst part about the October Horror Challenge is that I have negative free time so I don't watch anything unless I actively carve out a chunk of time for it (most of the films I've watched this month have been accompanying writing long reports or doing homework that consists of twenty pages of calculations). So as I'm shuffling through films to watch I keep going, "Oh! I've been meaning to watch that! No. It has to be a horror movie. But there's a great horror movie that I'd enjoy rewatching... No! Horror movies I haven't seen only!"
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Oct 13, 2018 20:07
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Random Stranger posted:The worst part about the October Horror Challenge is that I have negative free time so I don't watch anything unless I actively carve out a chunk of time for it (most of the films I've watched this month have been accompanying writing long reports or doing homework that consists of twenty pages of calculations). So as I'm shuffling through films to watch I keep going, "Oh! I've been meaning to watch that! No. It has to be a horror movie. But there's a great horror movie that I'd enjoy rewatching... No! Horror movies I haven't seen only!" I'm in a similar boat. My day is basically: Wake up --> take the kids to daycare --> work --> pick up kids --> family time/dinner/feed the baby --> movie if I'm lucky --> bed --> repeat.
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Oct 13, 2018 20:25
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UV code for Predator (1987) for whoever wants it. With the right services (Movies Anywhere or iTunes, I think) this should get you the 4K version. Please post if you use it so others don't bother. FGG71KGF4CZZ7BWD
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Oct 13, 2018 20:27
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18) Train to BusanFRAN CHALLENGE #7: The World Is A Scary Place Seen on: Netflix A divorced Korean businessman is escorting his daughter via bullet train from Seoul to Busan to visit his estranged wife. Just before they leave, the zombie apocalypse happens, and an infected straggler quickly turns a large number of the train's passengers into rabid attackers. It's up to the survivors to figure out how to survive the trip, as well as each other. I put off watching this movie until now because of general zombie media fatigue, and I kind of regret it. While Train to Busan doesn't do anything new for a zombie movie, I gotta say, what it does, it does drat well. The action setpieces are great, and I love the whole light/dark line of sight stuff they did with the zombies for those sequences. The actors are also really good, even if many of them are the usual archetypes for this sort of story, and you really give a poo poo about them, which raises the stakes and makes the peril they're in feel more harrowing. And man, that ending...uh, this room is really dusty, I'm not tearing up, I'M NOT. Easily one my favorite of the movies I've watched so far in this challenge, thrilling from beginning to end. 19) Zombi Holocaust (aka Doctor Butcher M.D.) Seen on: Shudder  Mods plz rename me to "Snuff Maximus" A strange cult of cannibals is devouring parts of corpses in hospitals in NYC. When a group of doctors and others heads to a remote Asian isle to find the source of the Kito cult, they run across gut-munching cannibals, oatmeal-faced growling zombies and a sinister doctor. This movie is really weird. It felt like I was watching Fulci's Zombie/Zombi 2 again, and a little research after the fact shows that this isn't coincidental - apparently it shares sets, a star (Ian McCulloch) and the same producers (I think). What's even weirder is the version on Shudder is the U.S. cut with the "Doctor Butcher M.D." title - they cut a bunch of plot scenes from the original (where the picture above comes from) and added a totally unconnected bit at the start with different zombies that was part of another movie, filmed by Roy Frumkes (who also made the Document of the Dead documentary on George Romero I watched earlier in the challenge). Not that any of that helps the movie or makes a difference. You get a bunch of cannibals who are the source of most of the gore by hunting people down and trapping them (some of it is pretty well done, and there's some scalping near the end that is pretty nasty), zombies that don't do jack poo poo (one goes out in a great way with an outboard motor), and a whole lotta gratuitous nudity from the film's leading lady. The soundtrack is also really messed up, with lots of weird synths. Unfortunately this isn't a classic or a "so-bad-it's-good" movie, it's mostly just sort of dull, and aside from the fact I wrote in my notepad file that I keep for all this, I forgot I had watched it several days later.
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Oct 13, 2018 21:12
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Wrapping up a classic horror series, it's Friday the 13th The Final Chapter This was a good place to end the series, I think. It's been very formulaic, each one is pretty much the same movie. I thought the Final Chapter was the weakest entry, but it was still enjoyable. The slightly weird inclusions of a child mechanic, two identical girls but one wants to have sex and the other doesn't want to have sex, and literally the least effective vengeance quest ever, spiced up this retread of a story I've watched three times before this month. Now Jason is definitively dead. I have a question about the timeline. Part 1 happens, and there is no Jason or Jason related activity at Crystal Lake for five years. Then Part 2 happens, five years after Part 1. Part 3 seems to take place just a few hours after Part 2. The Final Chapter is a little fuzzier, but it could be literally the next day, or maybe up to a week. I don't think more than a week is reasonable, it seems like Rob started his revenge quest immediately on hearing that Jason's body has gone missing. All that is to say, it's been less than a week since Rob's sister was killed in Part 2. So when and how did he get all those newspaper clippings? There weren't that many newspapers put out in between his sister's death and the start of his quest! It doesn't make any sense! Crispin Glover is also in the movie. He's really good, and gives a good amount of depth to a character that probably should just be obnoxious. I kinda like that they had the scene establishing that Tommy makes props and masks as a hobby, at a professional level no less, apparently just to explain why he was able to do his own makeup so well when he dressed up like kid Jason I'd say overall Friday the 13th The Final Chapter is the weakest Friday the 13th, but it's still good fun and if you've come this far you might as well see how it ends
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Oct 13, 2018 21:17
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 31. The Fly (1958). Directed by Kurt Neumann. There's actually a shocking amount of good body horror for the era, but try as it might, this version never really hooked me the way Cronenberg's does. The flashback framing device where the detectives are trying to piece together what happens is awful and I think it saps a whole lot of tension. There's also the weird quirk of her remembering experiments she couldn't possibly be around for? Hope that doesn't come off as some pedantic CinemaSins poo poo, but it took me out of it. If it let scenes play out in chronological order, I really think this would have aged better. The film doesn't really give us a good sense of who Andre was before the teleporter experiments, and this is the first time I've ever seen Vincent Price underused in a film. How does he scream with a fly's body? Friends Are Evil fucked around with this message at 21:41 on Oct 13, 2018 |
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Oct 13, 2018 21:37
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Friends Are Evil posted:
My favorite behind the scenes story with this was filming the end bit in the garden, Vincent Price and Herbert Marshall kept getting the giggles that they ended up going through a bunch of takes.
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Oct 13, 2018 21:43
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 15. Critters 2 (1988) - This was just dumb critter fun. The gremlin knock-offs are doing their thing, the bounty hunters are doing their thing. A few gags here and there for the chuckles, a couple of mildly bloody parts, and we have another Critters movie. I know I’ve seen the original as a kid, I wasn’t sure I had seen this - rewatching it, I’m fairly confidant I did not see it so I’m counting it as a new-to-me movie. List (15): Savageland, Ghostbusters (2016), Creep, Vampyr, Hereditary, Frontier(s), Butterfly Effect 3, Only Lovers Left Alive, The Tenant, The Screaming Skull, Hell House LLC, Ringu 0, Cat People, Banshee Chapter, Critters 2 Fran Challenges Fulfilled(4): #1 Love Something You Hate: Only Lovers Left Alive, #3 Hometown Horror: Butterfly Effect 3, #5 Birth Of Horror: The Tenant, #7 The World Is A Scary Place: Ringu 0
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Oct 13, 2018 21:59
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FRAN CHALLENGE #4: Worst of the Best or Best of The Worst Watch a highly regarded director's worst movie.  7. Ghosts of Mars (2001) 8. The Ward (2010) Dir John Carpenter Seems there was some discussion which is worse of Carpenter's films - Ghosts of Mars or The Ward. I am not 100% sure I've ever watched Ghosts of Mars from start to finish in one sitting, probably not even all of it with the couple of attempts I've made watching parts of it. I've also never seen The Ward as I've just assumed newer Carpenter are absolute dog poo poo. So, the only way to settle which is worse I decided to watch both. Back to back. Jfc what am I doing with my life? Natasha Henstridge tells a story in flashbacks about how she and her team, including Jason Statham, Pam Grier, and Clea DuVall, were sent to go pick up Ghost of Mars started off as Escape From Mars, but, as those who were unfortunate to watch it, Escape From L.A. killed any chance of the studio letting Carpenter do another Snake Plissken film and also reduced its budget. It really shows. The sets, costumes, and some of the effects look really low budget. As does the dime-store Alice Cooper main bad guy, who is credited as 'Big Daddy Mars'. I really need to stress that, like someone mentioned before, the music in Ghosts of Mars is absolute poo poo. I felt embarrassed on behalf of everyone involved. The fight scenes are just badly choreographed 'You punch me, I punch you' fights, with everyone looking as agile and limber as Stan Lee in his last few cameos. The weapon of choice of the Mars ghosts is saw blades that kind of look like a production assistant picked up on sale on the way to the shoot. For all it's flaws though, including the very limited set of locations and, for that matter, colour palette, it is never dull. Also, it looks really cheap and a lot of the acting is bad, but Ice Cube trying to act cool will not ever stop being funny to me. There is definitely a good idea in there with the essentially unkillable enemy since it will repossess the next person it can find after its host dies. Unfortunately in the film the characters figure that out, mention they should be careful, and then completely ignore it. Oh The Ward. What to say? A girl gets admitted to an institution and discovers it holds a dark secret. There is a ghost girl and...zzzz I fell asleep. IMdB tells me it's 89 minutes. Eighty freaking nine minutes! I am sure I watched this for hours! It commited the cardinal sin of any horror film. It was boring. I don't have anything to say about this film, it's a bit of a void, a nothingness. It is The Thing That Simply Was. I think there were some ECT segments and various slashing with knives and the most boring and lazy 'twist' ending (is it a twist if it is so lazy that most people probably figure it out half way through anyway?). That's all I remember. There's some competence in there (it is Carpenter after all though it's evident he'd rather be getting high and playing video games). Apparently the experience of making Ghost of Mars convinced Carpenter to leave Hollywood permanently, until he came back to make The Ward, and we can all just ask why? So in the end Ghosts of Mars is in many aspects the worse film but it is infinitely more enjoyable. There was a mention that Carpenter's worst film is actually Memoirs of an Invisible Man but gently caress that, I'm done here. Ghosts of Mars .5 / 5The Ward / 5Movies Seen: Creep | Creep 2 | Halloween | Halloween II | Halloween III: Season of the Witch | The Void | Ghosts of Mars | The Ward Total: 8 Fran challenges: Mitoboru fucked around with this message at 00:34 on Oct 14, 2018 |
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Oct 13, 2018 22:41
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17.  The Houses October Built I like the idea of a real documentary being combined with an element of faux documentary. It's been done to great effect, the movie S&Man comes to mind. But what happens if you shop around your pseudo-real-documentary and it makes it big, so big you feel compelled to totally re-shoot and re-edit your original effort into something a little more polished and way less real and charming? Well, you get The Houses October Built. What started as a unique concept, namely a documentary about real Halloween haunts gives way to a haunt that's a little too real, turned into a streamlined horror movie where characters we barely know are immediately besieged by haunt actors who lead them into a deadly situation with barely any breathing room and barely any pretense of this being a "documentary" in any traditional sense. What I'll give the movie credit for is that they do use footage from real haunts, that lends at least some authenticity to the whole proceeding. But these characters really play up their own fear. They're ostensibly in search of the most extreme haunt but they seem to barely be able to handle even the most bog-standard off-the-beaten-path haunt. And there are two ways they could've handled the climax, they could've gone the Saw route and made some elaborate trickhouse where everybody dies in stupid ways, or they could've gone for verisimilitude where we don't really "see" much but the murders feel more real for how mundane they are. They went for the latter, and I'm kind of divided on that. The movie's so mediocre that by the time the ending comes around, I was kind of hoping they'd go whole hog and just make it bloody, while at the same time it's kind of a relief that they didn't because in a movie like this you don't want to go too Hollywood Torture Horror. In all, kind of disappointing but not as bad as other people have said. Also I was curious about the original cut of the movie, the one that took off and led to the slicker version. Luckily it's on the blu ray and... Now this is more like it. Right out of the gate, they even spend more time with the protagonists and we get a better sense of who they are and what their roles are in the documentary. There's a lot more emphasis on Brandy, she basically serves as the host now and is actually given poo poo to do and she interviews haunt actors in-character. The real interviews and real haunt footage is way more interesting here than the glossed-over footage in the remake. That being said, the Blue Skeleton build up is really transparent here, even moreso than in the remake. And anything that isn't them just filming real haunts feels kind of amateurish, which I guess you'd expect from such a low-budget production. It's interesting to see the original, unedited footage from the real interviews that they re-used in the remake though, it kind of loses something when it's relegated to quick-cut interludes. But anyway this is way too many words about The Houses October Built. The remake is just okay, the original documentary/pseudo-documentary is really interesting, but you need both to really get the whole experience. I guess the thing to take away from it all is that these people would've been better off just making a loose documentary where they interview the people who run professional haunts. They didn't need the "real dead bodies and real murder" angle at all, it just kind of distracts from the actual interesting poo poo.
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Oct 13, 2018 23:23
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20) The Devil's Double (2011) The story of Latif Yahia, who in 1987 was forced to become the body double of Uday Hussein. There's a certain amount of fictionalisation to it, particularly at the end, but the fiction isn't the horror here. As a whole the movie puts me in mind of Snowtown, but where Snowtown is grimy The Devil's Double is polished simply because the narcissistic, murderous sexual sadist moved in the highest circles of power instead of in a poor small town. And it's no less disturbing for that. I watched this one for the Once In A Lifetime challenge, as director Lee Tamahori's only movie that could be considered genre. Fun fact: Saddam Hussein and his own double are played by Philip Quast, better known in this parish as Father Pearse Harman in Channel 4's gritty urban vampire series Ultraviolet. Jedit fucked around with this message at 23:57 on Oct 13, 2018 |
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Oct 13, 2018 23:55
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 133- The Prophecy 1979 - YOUTUBE When it comes to 'message' movies, they're very hit or miss with me. Generally if the movie's still coherent and a good story with the message removed, it's likely to click with me. If the story falls apart without the message or approaches the viewer with almost constantly beating them over the head with the message as if they've got the memory of a goldfish, it's a don't bother to finish watching with me. In the case of The Prophecy, it clicks.Dr. Verne and his wife are asked by the EPA to mediate a dispute between the local Rez and a papermill. The Native Americans are claiming the mill's polluting the river while the mill's claiming everything's fine. Both sides are blaming the other for the disappearances happening in the area. Soon as we start seeing the mutations happening from the pollution, we pretty much know there's something else responsible. The environmental pollution message is handled well. You see the effects with a casual gaze with a light touch of exposition. The viewer isn't treated like a clueless doof who needs to be reminded 'pollution bad!' every other scene. Even taking out the message and looking at just the 'what's causing these disappearances in the area' is still a solid monster film. Overall, this film does come across a bit dated in parts, but it's still a good film. After all, it's given us scenes like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxBQZPkdQMM
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Oct 14, 2018 00:47
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 24. October 13 - The Wicker Man I always feel like a dullard when I don't like a classic movie, and I just finished heaping praise on Apostle, which draws heavy influence from this, but I just didn't like it. The constant musical numbers are like nails on a chalkboard, and the entire cast, save for the pearl-clutching, virginal police officer, are slimy weirdos. Nothing about this was relatable or engaging. Maybe it would have been better if I'd seen it 40 years ago, but I don't grade movies on a curve. Total: 24 1. Hell House LLC 2. Channel Zero: Candle Cove 3. Grave Encounters 4. Channel Zero: No-End House 5. Tucker & Dale vs. Evil* 6. Rope* 7. Der Nachtmahr 8. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre* 9. Survival of the Dead* 10. Lake Mungo 11. Jigsaw 12. Tenebrae* 13. Opera* 14. Halloween 15. Channel Zero: Butcher's Block 16. A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night 17. Tetsuo: The Iron Man 18. The Eye* 19. Dark, Deadly & Dreadful 20. As Above So Below 21. Chernobyl Diaries 22. Hour of the Wolf* 23. Apostle 24. The Wicker Man *Fran Challenge (8/8 Completed)
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Oct 14, 2018 01:18
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35. The Apostle - 3.5/5 (Netflix)quote:A great horror movie hamstrung by trying to do too much. Evans tried to pull off a slow burn, but made what feels like two separate films: a paranoid thriller in the first hour, and his trademark lunatic bloodbath in the second. Both "films" are exceptionally done, but don't come together in a way that feels right for the pacing. Most of the plot setup in the first half is all but abandoned in the second, which feels a bit wasteful. It would benefit from being a much leaner movie. Everything he shot fuckin rules though, so I get why the movie is so extra. Tough decisions.
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Oct 14, 2018 02:26
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| # ? Jun 6, 2024 11:34 |
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It's been a while since I've updated with what I've seen, so I have a lot from the past week. 29. Ghosts of Mars - I guess a lot of people aren't fans of this but I had a fun time with it. Amazing how cheap it looks on $28 million budget. Doesn't really feel like the same filmmaker who made the stuff Carpenter made in the 70s and 80s, but it feels like the same guy who made Vampires (which I actually quite like). Similarly to that movie, this is Carpenter making a western within the context of a different genre. The transplanting of all the "savage" native American onto brutish Martian ghosts. But it also suggests that Earth/Mars society becomes matriarchal so that's cool. 30. Poltergeist - I got to see this in theaters. This was actually only my second time watching the movie, but I absolutely love it. I'd hardly call Poltergeist polemic in its politics, but it is remarkable in how it attacks the cultural zeitgeist of the 80s. The Freelings do receive wealth which trickles-down as Ronal Reagan (whose receives a quick mention) championed. It's just their profit ends up being ghosts unable to rest because the Freelings live where they do. A corrupt system, which Craig T. Nelson is very much a part of, is responsible for what is unleashed on them. It's great. 31. Humanoids from the Deep - m almost ashamed to say that I kind of half-liked this. The film moves at quite a clip and is never boring – which I was a bit surprised by – but the numerous pointless rape scenes bring the movie down. There's also something to be said about all the rednecks immediately assuming the murderer/rapist is the one native American guy, and the film takes a stance against this, yet it simply displaces all of the racist "they're here to steal our women" anxieties onto fictitious fishmen without the realization that they come to stand in for minorities. This does have a kind of cheap optimism that admire though. It's something that's apparent in many other Roger Corman produced films from this era. It's a bit disappointing in the face of everything this movie contains as its spirit doesn't match the content of the movie. I watched the making of immediately after it was over, which explained some of the stranger aspects of the film (the more shocking stuff was shot in post-production with a different crew), but I still don't really quite jive with it. There's something deeply nasty about Humanoids from the Deep, although I do enjoy some elements from it. 32. American Psycho - I liked this a little more on re-watch, yet I still don't think it totally works. The biggest problem for me is the voice-over, which I almost never have a problem with in movies, but here almost everything Bateman says is already conveyed through visuals. It doesn't allow the audience to infer and connect-the-dots on their own. The card scene is fantastic though. I admire Harron's filmmaking and Bale's performance. It just feels too self-satisfied in its satire. Maybe what it says about Wall Street culture, capitalism, and consumer culture was more interesting when it first came out. 33. The Birds - I was drifting in and out of sleep for the first hour of this rewatch, but the second hour is top-of-the-line Hitchcock. The attic sequence where the birds attack Tippi Hedren had to have been an enormous influence on Dario Argento. The violence incomprehensible, absurd, vicious, and beautiful. Actually this whole movie feels very proto-giallo. It makes me wonder how influential it was on in Italy. 34. Night School - A pretty rote slasher. Has some good cinematography, but it's not terribly interesting other than in who the killers is revealed to be as it transforms the movie into being about internalized misogyny. A professor's girlfriend is pushed into insanity by his constant affairs, and she kills the other women he has affairs with not out of jealously but because she needs to be respected by him. He does end up having to pay for what he's done too. 35. Edge of Sanity - Thank goodness somebody made a slasher out of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. Anthony Perkins is quite good in his dual role, and whenever he turns into Hyde he seems to age about 15 years. His performance as Hyde brings to mind the acting in German Expressionist films. His face and limbs contort beyond reality but remain authentic. His accent is bizarre though. Very sexually charged. I guess that's why they thought of Anthony Perkins. The sexuality is actually the driving force behind the narrative and it rests of a glib yet stylish sequence where a young Jekyll spies on a couple copulating in a barn. He accidentally reveals himself and gets humiliated by them, which causes him to murder people who display carnal desires once he becomes Hyde. (Side note: He becomes Hyde after his pet monkey accidentally mixes ether with cocaine) There's a lot of strange things going on in the his character's differing attitudes toward sexuality. He seems to want to purge all traces of it. Yet he's also impotent. He can only get off by forcing other men to have sex. Also an early scene where he begs a prostitute to make him pray and he breaks down in front doing so. I've no idea what to make of it, but Christian imagery is linked to sex a few other times in the film. 36. Innocent Blood - Good, but not great mashup of crime movies and vampire movies. Anthony LaPaglia is a bit of a deadweight as the lead in this, but Anne Parillaud is very spirited and Robert Loggia gives a wonderful performance. Loved the big band score this had and all the random cameos like Frank Oz, Sam Raimi, Dario Argento, and Forrest J. Ackerman. I think if you're a big fan of John Landis you'd find a lot to love in this because it's very him. 37. Bordello of Blood - Somewhat of a mess, but an enjoyable one. Dennis Miller makes for a good rear end in a top hat but I could do without his homophobia. Everybody is a bit over-the-top, which is fun to an extent but it gets to be a bit much after a while. It feels like chunks got taken out of the movie because characters will sometimes jump from location to location with little reason why. (At the end a vampire suddenly appears in a church, even though that's the last place they'd want to be.) It's very short though. I think it's only about 75 minutes without the Crypkeeper scenes or credits. Also, Shout Factor's making of is fascinating. It gives a lot of information about how badly the production went, not all of which is evident from the movie. 38. Strangeland - I kind of admire how oddly structured this is, but it feels like a prequel to another movie. It's almost like Strangeland is the origin movie for a slasher villain and we've already seen several sequels, but none of those exist. Features a baby boomer-like distrust and fear of the internet. It makes the strange choice of setting one character up as the protagonist and then following her father for the rest of the movie as he tracks down her kidnapper and deals with the aftermath. It's actually a bit upsetting as it makes her character a prop as her trauma is turned into a sideshow rather than something that's explored in any genuine way. Also, the movie suggests that mental illnesses and cannot be dealt with. And that's bad. Franchescanado posted:
39. The Toolbox Murders (1978) - I also admire the odd structuring of this movie too. All of the titular murders occur in the first 20 minutes. It almost feels like a clipshow you'd see on YouTube or something. After that, the plot veers off into an investigation into who committed them, which is cut short by an early reveal of the killer. This is actually good, because the bits with the detectives are easily the weakest sections. A bit fascinating in its representation of society. Almost no male character is deemed to have any virtue at all. The women mostly disappear after the opening, and Laurie isn't necessarily given virtue but she is given compassion, which no one else is granted. Also, despite the 2004 version being a "remake," the two films have next to nothing in common.
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Oct 14, 2018 02:32
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