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  • Locked thread
Name Change
Oct 9, 2005


STAC Goat posted:

You know what, I LIKE Halloween II. I think. I haven't seen it in forever but I remember loving the idea of "its over... NO ITS NOT!" and the tension of the chase in the hospital.

My hopes are that I can finish up my challenges in time to:

A) Watch some more Friday the 13ths so I can say with confidence that its a bad franchise.
B) Go old school AMC Fear Fest and watch a bunch of wacky Halloween sequels on October 31st and sincerely love them.

Is it weird that I am already planning my next October to be nothing but horror serials?

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Franchescanado
Feb 23, 2013

If it wasn't for disappointment
I wouldn't have any appointment

Grimey Drawer

Sodomy Hussein posted:

Is it weird that I am already planning my next October to be nothing but horror serials?

Yes.

Because there's a May challenge thread as well.

STAC Goat
Mar 12, 2008

Watching you sleep.

Butt first, let's
check the feeds.

Sodomy Hussein posted:

Is it weird that I am already planning my next October to be nothing but horror serials?

I'm actually recording movies for next October's 31 Years with the hopes to save them on my DVR for the next 11 months.

edit: Also I just hit a low place in "what am I doing with my life?" planning out what I'll be watching on my DVR 11 months in advance.

STAC Goat fucked around with this message at 22:04 on Oct 24, 2018

Ambitious Spider
Feb 13, 2012



Lipstick Apathy
I don’t care what anyone says, I like the thorn trilogy, and Halloween 4 has one of the best opening credits sequences of all time.

:colbert:

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

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

Fun Shoe

STAC Goat posted:

You know what, I LIKE Halloween II. I think. I haven't seen it in forever but I remember loving the idea of "its over... NO ITS NOT!" and the tension of the chase in the hospital.

I watched it last October and I have to say that I like Halloween II as well. Obviously the key is you have to have enough distance from the original that you're not constantly comparing it to something it's not living up to. But I enjoy the hospital setting and there's enough there to make it feel like a worthwhile sequel in my opinion, first thing that comes to mind is that it's shot by Dean Cundey, and I do think that he successfully maintains the feel of the original.

Franchescanado
Feb 23, 2013

If it wasn't for disappointment
I wouldn't have any appointment

Grimey Drawer
I like Halloween 2 enough, but revisiting it this month was a disappointment.

Class3KillStorm
Feb 17, 2011



Franchescanado posted:

Woah woah woah. You keep these crazy hot takes out of my precious thread before they catch it on fire.

FvJ is the 3rd best Freddy Movie and maybe the 5th best Friday, and there are only three Halloween movies in existence, Halloween, Halloween 3, and Halloween 2018. Some say that a Zombie made a good Halloween 2, but that's an urban legend.

Now I wanna know which Freddy movies and which Friday movies are ranked better than FvJ.

Justin Godscock
Oct 12, 2004

Listen here, funnyman!
The only thing I didn't like about the original Halloween 2 was they decided to make Laurie Strode related to Michael Myers which to me takes away Michael's mystique. He supposed to be pure evil and not human. But as a horror sequel in the 80s it isn't a bad film.

Franchescanado
Feb 23, 2013

If it wasn't for disappointment
I wouldn't have any appointment

Grimey Drawer

Class3KillStorm posted:

Now I wanna know which Freddy movies and which Friday movies are ranked better than FvJ.

NoES 3
NoES 1
NoES 4
FvJ
NoES2
NoES5
New Nightmare*

*I haven't seen New Nightmare in almost a decade, and a lot of people consider it their best. So it's at the bottom of the list because I honestly can't rank it without a rewatch.

Part 2
Part 4
Part 1
Part 6: Jason Lives
Part 5: New Beginning
Part 3
Part 7: The New Blood
FvJ
Part 8
Jason X
Remake
Part 9

But that list changes everytime I rewatch them. I watch most of them at least twice a year.

edit: I know that's different than what I posted, but writing it all out made me think about their ranking a little harder.

Justin Godscock
Oct 12, 2004

Listen here, funnyman!
When you say "Remake" are you referring to the F13 or NOES remake?

Franchescanado
Feb 23, 2013

If it wasn't for disappointment
I wouldn't have any appointment

Grimey Drawer

Justin Godscock posted:

When you say "Remake" are you referring to the F13 or NOES remake?

There is no NoES remake.

Justin Godscock
Oct 12, 2004

Listen here, funnyman!

Franchescanado posted:

There is no NoES remake.

Good answer.

Though I will add the F13 remake was better than I expected because they made Jason scary and brutal again and I'd rank it higher. That's just me.

Franchescanado
Feb 23, 2013

If it wasn't for disappointment
I wouldn't have any appointment

Grimey Drawer

Justin Godscock posted:

Good answer.

Though I will add the F13 remake was better than I expected because they made Jason scary and brutal again and I'd rank it higher. That's just me.

My ranking isn't exactly based on quality, but also on how quickly I'd rewatch it. I like the remake, I think it's a good entry, but it's low on my rewatch radar.

Jolo
Jun 4, 2007

ive been playing with magnuts tying to change the wold as we know it

25. The Slumber Party Massacre 1982
An escaped lunatic torments girls at an overnight party.

Nothing really stood out for me in this movie. It seemed like it was trying to be funny at times but almost nothing in the movie was actually funny. I do like that the killer in this movie is just a dude in blue jeans. I liked the boobs also.
2/5

26. Bride of Chucky 1998
Chucky is back and he has a girlfriend.

I liked how this movie leaned more into the humor. The references to Bride of Frankenstein were a fun nod. Something about this movie felt very muddy... something about it feels like there were a lot of different ideas of what this movie should be like and that these ideas would shift from scene to scene. Tilly does a great job as Tiffany and she was the highlight of the film for me.
3/5

27. Tales from the Crypt 1972
Several strangers end up in a crypt where they are shown a vision of their demise.

I've never read any of the TftC comic or seen the HBO show. I enjoyed this movie which felt a bit like watching 5 episodes of a tv show. Each of the segments featured a morality tale about the consequences of being a bad person in life. I especially liked the sequence with Peter Cushing as a kindly neighborhood caretaker who is viciously provoked repeatedly by a total rear end in a top hat who lives nearby.
4/5

28. Tales from the Crypt presents: Demon Knight 1995
A demon pursues a man into a small town.

There's only one good part of this movie. The seductive and charismatic demon played by Billy Zane. He chews the scenery and really hams it up and is pretty entertaining. Wait, two things because the Inventor Uncle from Gremlins is also in this movie and he's pretty good. The rest of it is totally forgettable. People band together, there are monsters, the whole thing feels really by the numbers. There's a demon, there's a maguffin that can hurt him, there are heroic sacrifices. Meh.
2/5

29. Tales from the Crypt presents: Bordello of Blood 1996
Vampires run a brothel and start killing people.

This movie sucks rear end. This movie seems to think that it is campy and fun, but instead it's dumb and none of the "jokes" are funny. This thing reminds me of a guy my mom dated who made "jokes" like saying "hump dayyyyy" on Wednesdays. Dennis Miller makes a bunch of jokes that don't land and then laughs at his own jokes. There are jokes about a fat corpse being fat. There are jokes where the punchline is a fart noise. There's a bunch of really homophobic jokes. This whole thing loving sucks. It's the worst thing I've seen this month.
1/5

Dr.Caligari
May 5, 2005

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

Franchescanado posted:

:siren: FRAN CHALLENGE #10: Fear and Now



:ghost: Watch a horror movie released in 2018.


I'm going to be a little lenient here and allow anyone who's already seen the new Halloween in theaters and posted about it to go back and edit their post to count for this challenge.

The Witch In The Window

It's been covered in this thread a lot already , but I really enjoyed this. I felt the pacing was fine and it was hitting on all cylinders. I think my prejudices toward this movie also boosted this, as I expected something generic, but rather was met with something effective and rather original, even if the end was a little twisty.

:spooky::spooky::spooky::spooky::spooky:/5

Franchescanado posted:

:siren: FRAN CHALLENGE #11: Dead & Buried





:ghost: Watch a film made by a director who is now deceased.

or

:ghost: Watch the film Dead & Buried

A perfect chance to watch this movie I've been meaning to for a while;



This carries the bonus of (I believe), the whole cast being deceased and my first silent horror of the season and wooo boy was it a fine one.

Lon Chaney plays a villain who had his legs unnecessarily removed as a child. This injustice has led him to a life of crime and becoming the underworld boss who goes by the name 'Blizzard', looking for revenge as well as to loot the city of San Francisco. No, not just government buildings, but using tens of thousands of armed foreign migrants (hmm) he plans to loot the entire city.



This pre-code horror moved smooth enough for it's age and had some great camera/color/shadow work. Lon Chaney plays a great villain and the contraption he uses to appear legless is effective, but also has to be quite painful.



This film had some stiff competition that came out with it in 1920, but I still think it's worth a watch if this era is your thing.

:spooky::spooky::spooky::spooky:/5



Up to date on Fran challenges again!


Apologizes for the scant reviews, I'm going to try to give some beefier ones on the next few.

Dr.Caligari fucked around with this message at 23:43 on Oct 24, 2018

Random Stranger
Nov 27, 2009



Day 24 - Wishing Stair

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVYoBKEr2Qo

I had never heard of this Korean horror movie, but the premise sounded like it had some promise. At an all-girls art school where everyone is hyper-competitive, there is an old staircase cut into the hillside. The students say if you climb it counting each step as you go sometimes there will be one extra step. If you stand on that extra step and make a wish to the spirit that lives there, then it will come true. Going in I was hoping to see some weird stuff happen with people using these steps to go after each other and things going horribly wrong. Basically, the Wishmaster threshhold where maybe it's not a good movie but I want to see some crazy poo poo.

And it turned out that wasn't the movie. Instead this is more Monkey's Paw with a different hook. One of the students gets into a fight with her lover and competitor for a spot and shoves her down a flight of stairs breaking her neck. The lover commits suicide but a girl who had a crush on her from a distance wishes her back and then she goes early 2000's Asian cinema ghost girl on the school.

So it wasn't the movie I hoped it was going in, but time to judge it on what it was. And it was fine. Perfectly average, middle of the road fair. It didn't do anything to stand out, but it also didn't do anything so egregious that would make me strongly dislike it. It has some fine creepy stuff (though one sequence is a direct lift from The Ring and isn't even subtle about it). The high school drama didn't work for me, mainly because this movie was so small scale.

The worst part of the movie was the absurd fat shaming where the overweight girl even grunts like a pig when she laughs. That actress was the best part of the movie, too, as she got to be a creepy possessed stalker. The other characters that the movie focused on were just there.

I'm hitting the low points because there's so little that stands out in this movie as a high point. It's perfectly average with some minor faults, which I guess make it below average overall but not really that far below. I guess the other major positive of the movie is that it recognizes that ballet dancers are inherently creepy. They're like clowns, except clowns aren't nearly as self-destructive.

SomeJazzyRat
Nov 2, 2012

Hmmm...
:skeltal:The List:skeltal:
1. Welcome to Willits (Fran Challenge 1: Love Something You Hate)
2. Multiple Maniacs (Fran Challenge 2: Queer Horror)
3. The Phantom of the Opera 1925 Featuring commentary by Andrew Lloyd Webber (as portrayed by Paul F. Tompkins)
4. Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (Fran Challenge 3: Hometown Horror)
5. Dawn of the Dead (2004) (Fran Challenge 4: Best of the Worst)
6. Creep 2
7. I am the Pretty Thing That Lives In The House
8. Silent Hill
9. The Undertaker and his Pals
10. Re-Animator
11. Hell House LLC
12. The Purge (2013)
13. Interview With The Vampire (1994)
(Fran Challenge 5: Birth of Horror)
14. He Never Died
15. Leatherface
16. Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
17. Demons (Demoni)
18. Saw (2004)
19. Possession (1981)
(Fran Challenge 6: Video Nasty)
20. Saw 2
21. Saw 3



I think the franchise finally found its footing. Still did not like this one. It finally got to the point of being actual torture porn, extensive with scenes of overt suffering and agonizing pain. In fact, the story itself seems to be nothing but a vehicle for extended sequences of mental anguish and debilitating trauma. And I, personally, do not enjoy that. I can't engage with it straight faced, as the film revels in creating agony in the empathetic members of it's audience. And trying to watch it emotionally detached just reveals the film as exceptionally ridiculous, with tragic moment after tragic moment crash into one another. It revels in creating Fargo-esq Stupid People Tragedies, but it's all played so straightforward and dire that it robs any of the fun. It may be a more competent production than 2, but it isn't any more fun watch at an additional 15 minutes longer.

Adlai Stevenson
Mar 4, 2010

Making me ashamed to feel the way that I do
As of this post I'm finally caught up on the Fran challenges :toot:

Franchescanado posted:

:siren: FRAN CHALLENGE #9: Stranger Danger



25) The Babysitter (2017) - It's nice to realize when people you know understand your taste

A weak willed and put upon kid stays up past his bedtime one weekend and sees his :krad: babysitter get up to some rather diabolical shenanigans after hours.

I like the mood, the tone, the everything. The broad characters work for the comedy used. The humor works for me at virtually all levels and at virtually all times. This, in turn, makes the violence pop for me more strongly because it's often a hard mood swap. Overall the onscreen graphics worked for me and helped push the film's sense of style. Ken Marino is in it which is always a plus.

I'm having a genuinely difficult time crafting a write up for this movie because my primary reaction to the watching experience is wanting to somehow turn it into an embarrassing body pillow and hug it while I fall asleep. This is my favorite movie I've seen this year to date and it's not close. It's not the best necessarily; that's probably Daughters of Darkness. But it's what I'll likely be watching a couple times a year while other, better, sharper, less personally effective movies get left behind.

Franchescanado posted:

:siren: FRAN CHALLENGE #10: Fear and Now



26) Thoroughbreds (2018) - I guess this counts, not that I'm complaining

And now I'm having trouble expounding on this movie because as good as it is I'm already mentally filing it away under, "Sure, it was good and I'd recommend it but I probably won't rewatch it for at least a decade. No no, really, you should watch it, it's great! I'll come over after it's done though, I've got other things to do, it's been a busy week and I need to finish up some laundry." My mental library is very precise.

Seriously though that's it

Franchescanado posted:

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



27) Seizure (1974, Oliver Stone) - also starring Herve Villechaize as THE SPIDER

As houseguests fill his family's country estate for a weekend gathering a critically acclaimed author can't help but feel a building sense of dread as scenes and figures from his nightmares start appearing in the real world.

Part intriguingly bizarre home invasion thriller, part overindulgent freshman film embarrassment, it's Oliver Stone's first movie! Overall it's an interesting attempt to mix both grounded and surreal elements in an increasingly homogeneous blend. Certainly particular characters and scenes show the rapid tilting well. Many other sequences, however, are more on par with what you would expect of a young filmmaker with more ideas than technique.

On the balance there is indeed a heartening amount of technique on display considering it's a low budget first effort. It's not enough to keep the movie from being out of its depth and ultimately disappointing but I'd be surprised if if many people found this a boring experience. Villechaize plays an escaped mental patient/reincarnation of an ancient French despot/monologuing knife fighter, for example. His character is one of many facets of the film that elicits a "is this seriously happening right now?" reaction. Too many of those facets are to the detriment of the film, however, with not nearly enough of the surrealism functioning well enough and the effective portions not having the strength to counterbalance the dead weight.

If I wasn't familiar with Stone's later films I would have assumed that some of the weaknesses of over exposition and forcing themes too hard were a result of being afraid that he wouldn't necessarily get the chance to direct again and he wanted to get these things out there, man. But it's Stone so in some ways it's par for course with his weaker efforts.

Watch if you're bored and want a slice of lumpy surrealism I guess. There's some real gold in here, just not enough.

Darthemed
Oct 28, 2007

"A data unit?
For me?
"




College Slice

#75. One Dark Night, a.k.a., Entity Force, a.k.a., Mausoleum, a.k.a., Rest in Peace, a.k.a., Dark Night, a.k.a., Night of Darkness (1983)
Raymar, a renowned psychic provocateur, has died and been interred at the local mortuary. As his estranged daughter learns more about the nature of his powers, a young woman (Meg Tilly) is angling to get into a three-woman clique called the Sisters, and their intended final hazing for her is to stay the night at the local mortuary.
Oh man, I loved this. Picked it out because the thumbnail poster made it look like it was an animated film in the style of Reiji Matsumoto, but I'm totally happy with what I got instead. Extremely '80s, very weird grounding on which the simple premise operates, and wonderful special effects. The play between the Sisters pulling pranks to try and freak out Tilly's character is angled neatly against the burgeoning resurgence of Raymar's spirit, their bitchy infighting earlier is fun while building a sense of their dynamic, and the movie really cuts loose as it hits the finale. Corpses all over, drawn-in blue lightning, pink fog, Tilly (allegedly) actually freaking out in the mortuary, a psychic showdown, telekinetic rampages, and more. I hope Arrow or Vinegar Syndrome or someone has put a clean-up of this out on Bluray, I'd love to see it in clean contrast and vibrant coloring.
:spooky: :spooky: :spooky: :spooky: :spooky: :spooky: :spooky: / 10


#76. Revenge of the Radioactive Reporter, a.k.a., Atomic Reporter, a.k.a., Nuclear Mutant (1990)
This was one that tended to catch my eye in the video store as a kid, but I never got around to renting it, because I'm sure my mom wouldn't have agreed. That's a shame, because I feel like I would have been really gonzo for this at that age. Melty practical effects, creative set-piece kills, one-liners, Canadian DTV scuzziness. A villain who's picky about people calling him 'Dick' instead of 'Richard'. It's pretty much a low-rent rendition of Darkman as part of the body-melt horror pool. The actor for the main character's brother is maybe the worst part, giving his lines weird intonations and flat dramatics. But by and large, it's a movie that hits the right note with indulging in and enjoying its low-budget schlockiness, coming out somewhere between the average '80s Troma output and Radioactive Dreams.
:spooky: :spooky: :spooky: :spooky: :spooky: / 10


#77. Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead, a.k.a., Phantasm III: The Third Power (1994)
Things are more on track with the first movie than in Phantasm II, Mike is Mike again, Reggie's horning it up, dreams and reality melt together, and we've got a militant black woman who likes nunchaku. Too bad she lets Reggie worm his way in. I'd also like to see a fanedit that excises the kid as much as possible. Put in some more shots of the car instead. But Scrimm is great (though the Tall Man is a little too chatty for my liking), the weirdness is at a good level, the exploration of the metal spheres' nature doesn't detract from their presence and mystery too much, and the shift back away from the Hollywood vision for Phantasm earns it a lot of good will. The repetition of the last shot is becoming more of a joke than a sting at this point, unfortunately. At this point in the series, I'm starting to accept that the first was lightning in a bottle, but I'm holding out hope that part 4 will catch a little more spark.
:spooky: :spooky: :spooky: :spooky: :spooky: :spooky: / 10

Darthemed fucked around with this message at 02:56 on Oct 25, 2018

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

Morbid Hound

Funeral Home a.k.a. Cries in the Night, 1980

Watching some random b-movie is always a gamble. Often you end up with boring shitfests like the one I watched two nights ago. Other times you end up with a nice surprise like this one. Funeral Home is very much a low budget horror, but is competently made. It looks a bit too dark at times due to camera/film quality, but it's not so bad that you can't make out whats happening. The plot is pretty straight forward. Old funeral home way out in the country is turned into a tourist home, and the grandma who runs it really don't want people down the basement. There's not that much horror going on besides we keep getting hints that something creepy with this old house and basement. There's no kills until half an hour into the movie, but it picks up after that. This isn't some underrated classic or anything, but it wasn't boring, and the story and characters kept me invested in the plot. It got the right things going for it, so it is worth watching if you don't mind a bit slower thriller rather than a full on gorefest.

Lumbermouth
Mar 6, 2008

GREG IS BIG NOW


Franchescanado posted:

I'm posting this one a little early so as to give everyone some time to figure it out.

:siren: FRAN CHALLENGE #9: Stranger Danger



:ghost: Ask an offline/non-Goon* friend/family member/person to recommend you a horror movie to watch.

26. The Prowler (1981)
Watched On: Amazon Prime

A friend of mine suggested that I watch this because of Tom Savini's special effects work. Make no mistake, it is the star of this movie. Every knife slash, pitchfork thrust and explosive shotgun blast is incredibly well done and holds up well under close-up. However, the movie that this gore is attached to is meandering and half baked. The intro set at a post-WWII sock hop where our army surplus-clad killer pitchforks a necking couple was a surprising start, but after that it's cliche after cliche. And whoo boy does this movie take its time with every single shot, a notorious hallmark of cheap movies. At the height of the action, they spend something like 5 whole minutes on the phone with a lazy hotel clerk pretending to do his job IN REAL TIME.

This would be a soft recommend with about 10-15 minutes of editing, but I found myself looking at my phone more often than not.

King Vidiot
Feb 17, 2007

You think you can take me at Satan's Hollow? Go 'head on!

Basebf555 posted:

Careful everyone, if you say three positive things about Jason X it will summon The Lurdiak.

The only thing me and Lurdiak will ever totally agree on is that Jason X sucks.

Ambitious Spider
Feb 13, 2012



Lipstick Apathy
typed out a whole thing but accidentally deleted so, abridged version:

27)Van Helsing (netflix)

Campy AF, everybody overacts everything, is a bit of a slog, but also feels super rushed and nonsensical. That said mostly enjoyable as a bad movie. And there were some cool bits, and I loved the visuals and set design, even if the CG seems like it was ripped out of a ps2. Really makes me wish there was Guillermo Del Toro take on the universal monster mashup movies.

2.5/5

Alfred P. Pseudonym
May 29, 2006

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

:siren:FRAN CHALLENGE #7: The World is a Scary Place:siren:
26. Suspiria (1977):
This movie is beautiful. Love the lighting and set design. The opening murder is fantastic. Builds up suspense well through the second act. The end feels a bit rushed though. It’s pretty abrupt. Overall I really liked this though.

e: with that, I think I’m up to date on all the Fran Challenges!

UltimoDragonQuest
Oct 5, 2011



#39 Nightmare on Elm Street 5 3/5 Escher Churches
There's a lot to enjoy in this mess. Freddy is a cartoon character and the quality of sets is all over the place but the final showdown is great. The Amanda Krueger history stuff might roll over to so bad it's good. The terrible rap over the credits is a delight. It's nice to see Raptor Kid from JP.

#40 Halloween: H40: The Curse of Laurie Strode 4/5 Podcast Bribes
Challenge #10
The kills are brutal and Prepper Laurie is interesting change from most genre savvy protags. The rando slashed teens are underutilized but what's there is well written. You can tell there were some edits but it's not like the movie needed more of the boyfriend.

#41 The Birds 2/5 Pet Store Imposters
Huge disappointment. There are some nice shots but the tension never comes together for me. It's a 2 hour B-movie and my least favorite Hitchcock. Compared to Psycho this feels like Hitchcock slumming it and not adding something new to creature movies.

#42 Microwave Massacre 4/5 Lady Sandwiches With Mayo
Microbudget insanity. The voice of Frosty The Snowman becomes a homicidal cannibal. Almost drifts into John Waters territory with the kitschy decor and bizarre relationships.

#43 Tucker & Dales vs Evil 4/5 Forest Suicide Pacts
Holds up 8 years later. The first half is funnier than the second but it's not a terrible drop-off. Lots of fun slapstick and callbacks.

#44 Sometimes They Come Back 1/5 Unpaid Library Fines
This movie sucks and I'm mad Lurdiak subjected us to it. The undead greaser bullies are almost good enough to make me recommend this movie. Those assholes love their work.

#45 Night of the Demons 2 4/5 Blessed Super Soakers
Very strange and enjoyable sequel. The horny teens are sympathetic and the nun is great. There's lots of action and little details that pay off. The hand painted crosses on the holy water balloons are a nice touch.

#46 Vertigo 5/5 Strapless Bras Designed By Aircraft Engineers
Hitchcock returns to form...5 years earlier. This is the rare movie that keeps going for 40 minutes after the expected ending and completely works. The visuals are perfect and Stewart is great. The tinted scenes and floating head are a little cheesy.

44/50 They Shoot Zombies
3 Movies Watched from 4/7 Decades
Fran: 1,2,5,7,10

Darthemed
Oct 28, 2007

"A data unit?
For me?
"




College Slice

#78. Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, a.k.a., Halloween 4 (1988)
Man, it would blow to live in Haddonfield, at any point along its timeline. MMyers breaks loose again, goes hunting relatives again, gets shot down again. Danielle Harris was the bright spot of this movie, as Donald Pleasence seemed a little confused to be back in this franchise. Not much of this really holds up when thought about, but it spins enough atmosphere to float past all but the most glaring nonsense. Multiple Shatner faces was a cool visual, but why would such a small town have allowed the continued sale of those masks? Especially in the first few years after '78, the chances of getting shot for wearing it had to have been high, and it seems like something the local stores would have just gotten used to dropping from their seasonal orders.

I'm picking on such a small dumb detail because there's not much in the film that really stood out to me otherwise. Having Michael get so action-movie-ish with his pursuit really didn't work for me. The ending felt completely like a twist thrown in just for the sake of having one, and since it's supposed to stick around as a detail in the next two sequels, it's even more annoying. What I did like was the lighting and camera-work. The kid's nightmares were probably the best part of the movie for me, more giallo-like delirium would be a welcome shift in the series at this point. Pretty gross having a cop's daughter wear a "POLICE DO IT BY THE BOOK" shirt.
:spooky: :spooky: :spooky: :spooky: :spooky: / 10


#79. Dreams in the Witch-House (2005)
Expectations were low for this (a post-'80s Stuart Gordon Lovecraft adaptation without Combs or Crampton?), but it did the limbo right under them anyway. Took one of Lovecraft's more cosmic stories and stripped all of that right out to get it down to TV budget, hosed around with the chronology of the elements kept from the original climax, inserted a fistfight with a witch as a replacement climax, and had the protagonist being suspected of infanticide instead of having his geometrical lucidity disintegrate. Ezra Gooden did a fair job in the main role, and the lighting, sound, and other standard technical fronts were decent, but trying to update the setting to a semi-modern version brought more problems than benefits, especially with Gilman having a computer only when the scripting thought about it for a scene. Gordon's need to stick in some nudity was painfully at odds with the tone of the story, the effects for the familiar were embarrassingly bad, and there were moments when the cheapness of production would really show through. In the context of the chopped-down script, though, they got from start to finish with general clarity. Still a let-down all around, though.
:spooky: :spooky: :spooky: :spooky: / 10


#80. Grave Encounters 2 (2012)
Some neat ideas, but what a mess of execution. Film school dweeb is too deep into the first Grave Encounters movie, decides to visit the actual filming location with a whole gaggle of acquaintances, and a lot of stuff from the original gets repeated in sloppier fashion. Footage is included that doesn't even make sense with the framing device of the film dweeb's own footage being sold to the original film's distributor, cuts go by like they were processed in a Slap Chop, there's so many characters dragged along that it's hard to tell who was even originally present, and the ghosts lost any sense of subtlety. I did like that the first film's survivor was still banging around in the tunnels, and his derangement, while played really broadly, was one of the more entertaining parts of the film. As sloppy and jumbled as the progression of the film was, I feel like it generally earned the spin into chaos at the end. I may be pulling harder for it than I would have been if the friend who recommended this series hadn't been commenting "This is so bad," every five minutes or so. Still want a third entry that treats this one as a real film and goes investigating it.
:spooky: :spooky: :spooky: :spooky: :spooky: :spooky: / 10


#81. Paranormal Activity 2 (2010)
And a much less engaging spin on found footage, though it's better about sticking to things that could have been filmed by the camera set-up shown. Apparently this is a prequel to the first Paranormal Activity, but it's been so long since I last watched that one that any connections were lost on me. The ramping of the haunting effects was handled well, the father being an overbearing piece of poo poo and getting worse once things started getting weird was too, and the movie did a good job of making me dislike everyone but the character who got kicked out at the end of the first act. The baby monitor interference seemed kind of underused, and having the non-dad characters ignore the possibility of checking footage after they'd done it earlier in the film got weird. You could argue that there was ghostly pressure or fear keeping them from doing so, I guess, but it didn't quite gel for me. The Poltergeist scene rip was a bit of an eye-roller for me, but I'm glad the animal violence didn't go any further than it did. Good pulse-check on where mainstream horror was at the start of this decade. I don't have anything more complimentary than that to say about it.
:spooky: :spooky: :spooky: :spooky: :spooky: / 10

M_Sinistrari
Sep 5, 2008

Do you like scary movies?




179- Cronos 1993- PRIME

This one and Devil's Backbone are the films that cemented Del Toro as one of my favorite directors.

I really liked this take on the concept of vampirism with the quest for immortality. The cast was incredibly good which really pulls you into the story. I admit to getting misty eyed when the antique dealer's granddaughter cleared out her toybox so he has somewhere safe to sleep from the sun.

This is definitely a must watch.


180- Dellamorte, Dellamore 1994 - DVD

While one of the ads for this had the tagline "Zombies, Guns, and Sex! Oh My!", it's really more a reflection on life and relationships with plenty of zombies and one of the best portrayal's of Death I've seen.

The dark humor here's right up my alley and the cinematography's excellent. Ending tends to throw people off but to me, it makes sense.

Maxwell Lord
Dec 12, 2008

I am drowning.
There is no sign of land.
You are coming down with me, hand in unlovable hand.

And I hope you die.

I hope we both die.


:smith:

Grimey Drawer
Fran Challenge #11- Dead and Buried

#26- Isle of the Dead

Set in Greece during the Balkan Wars, the film stars Boris Karloff as a strict general who, with an American journalist in tow, travels to an island to visit his wife's grave, only to find it was cleaned out years ago by peasants. They stay at a hotel where one of the guests dies of a plague that's been ravaging the country, and so they're all put under quarantine. A very somber low-key drama for much of its running time, as people question whether science, superstition, or anything at all can keep death at bay, and slowly the general and a housekeeper start thinking on the Greek legend of the vrykolakas, which is basically a kind of vampire. A beautiful young woman (Ellen Drew) falls under suspicion as she's the most healthy of the group, and things start to get very spooky and very savage near the end. It's a slow burn but the climax is as moody and shadowy as you could hope for, and Karloff is in top form- this may be his best performance, though honestly he gave so many great ones. Also of note, Jason Robards' father- who also went by Jason Robards- plays a doctor. Great stuff from Val Lewton.

STAC Goat
Mar 12, 2008

Watching you sleep.

Butt first, let's
check the feeds.

Took a break from the years for a night (even though it sets me back and puts some pressure on) because I really want to revisit another slasher franchise I’ve been meaning to for years.

- (42) Scream (1996)
Available on Starz



Wes Craven’s classic that revitalized the slasher genre by taking on its criticisms head on. Neve Campbell stars as a Sidney, a young girl reeling from the murder of her mother who is stalked by a serial killing slasher with a flair for drama and an unclear grudge against her. The movie that launched a franchise, dozens of name careers, and an entire sub genre of imitators and even a fundamental change to how horror movies were cast. For better or worse.

Still a great movie. I made this argument in the made thread a bit ago when it came up that many felt Scream was the best movie to show to non-wrestling fans and others felt that it was actually for deep horror fans. I think its both. Wes Craven does a great job making a film that is both a love letter and evolution to the slasher sub genre that he was such a part of but also to extend a hand to those who are critical of it and ask them to give his chance. He’s got the characters who are huge fans and quoting movies and talking about “rules” and asking trivia questions. And he’s got the characters who are talking about how lazy and insulting and desensitized the genre is. And those characters aren’t the bad guys being pretentious like they might be in another movie, their opinions are heard out. Wes Craven turns to fans and says “I know what you love, I’m gonna give you a great version.” and then he turns to the critics and says “I understand what you don’t like, let me show you a better way.”

Scream is - to me - a direct address against like Friday the 13th and the idea that you just need to have “the shark” slaughter a bunch of nameless random teenagers and its fun because gore and death is entertaining. Scream’s filled with characters that feel full and real and fun to watch which makes the danger they face matter. Sidney’s got a whole life story, family, friends, motivations, and conflicts. And they’re shown to us and established through the first half of the movie instead of say… being spelled out in an exposition dump in one scene before the killings start. And in a genre where the killers often either get really ridiculous motivations and origins or no effort at all the Scream killer——s—— gets motivation that kind of flat out says do I really need a backstory to be a crazy serial killer? It kind of plays that whole aspect of slashers for fun.

Its also a lot of fun watching all the characters interact knowing the identity of the killer. Like, I’ve seen this tons of times but this time I happened to watch with the killer really front in my mind and it really gave me a fun aspect watching the interactions knowing when someone was just messing with other people.

After watching so many Wes Craven films this October that can compete for “his worst” and being genuinely scarred and broken a little by Last House on the Left its nice to revisit one of Wes’ great films and remember why he’s the Master that he is. Was. That still makes me sad when I remember it.

And yeah, yeah. Kevin Williamson is an important part of this. I don’t want to brush over that. Its probably fair to say that without Williamson the characters wouldn’t have felt as natural and still work today.

And hey, W. Earl Brown is in Scream. I didn’t realize that.



- (43). Scream 2 (1997)
Also Available on Starz



Sidney is in college and trying to move on with her life but unfortunately for her Gail went and wrote a trashy book about the “Woodsboro Murders” which has been made into a trash move Stab. The attention not only draws out the media and harassing prank callers but also a copycat killer. So Sidney has to weather another crazed serial killer with unknown motives while the other survivors of Woodsboro try to figure out which of their friends - or them - is killing everyone this time.

I have a lot to say about this movie, starting with my memory of seeing in the theaters in high school on a date. I remember the date and the girl but the only thing I remember about the movie itself was the crowd erupting in cheers when Sidney double tapped Laurie Metcalf. I mean, I forgot Timothy Olyphant was the second killer. Or that there was a second killer. Or that Olyphant is in the movie. But I remember the girl.

And seriously, EVERYONE is in this movie. Portia Di Rossi, Timothy Olyphant, Luke Wilson, Heather Graham, Joshua Jackson. Like I remember Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jada Pinkett Smith, Omar Epps, Laurie Metcalf, Rebecca Gayheart, and Jerry O’Connell. But the cast never loving stopped. Everyone was in this movie. But I used to watch Duane Martin play ball in the Cage when I was a kid so I always had a soft spot for him. Luckily he got to mostly hang out with the cool kids.

And that’s a big part of the problem. All the new characters are so shallow and empty. Scream does such a good job of having full characters and Scream 2 does such a poor job. There’s this really enjoyable like 45 minutes of the film where Sidney and her friends disappear and Gale, Dewey, and Randy are together and combatting Ghostface and it saves the film. Without that I’d hate this movie. But I got really engaged during that whole mini-film. Unfortunately that ends and there’s like another 30 minutes.

Scream 2 really feels like it does everything wrong that Scream did right about the slasher genre. Where Scream had a bunch of real feeling characters Scream 2 has a ton of extra one dimensional people who just serve to be lambs to slaughter. Where Scream’s established characters means that when the killer is finally revealed it clicks and we know them well enough to go with it without missing a beat. Scream 2 has to give a last minute exposition dump because their character’s motivations are complete and total mysteries, because their characters are mysteries.

I was reading the Wikipedia entry and one critic summed it up perfectly saying "the film's killer could literally be anyone as the audience is never provided with enough information about the new characters to form an opinion about them.”

Also while Scream still feels like it works 20 years later Scream 2 is 90s as gently caress. I mean, the end credits are done over Less Than Jake. This is a soundtrack that includes Sugar Ray, Master P, and Everclear.

And another thing. I’m not terribly defensive of David Arquette or Dewey but it feels like they took a pretty likable, normal guy from the first movie who was just a little bit goofy when his little sister was being a brat or a sexy celebrity was flirting with him and turned him into a walking joke. Like Courtney Cox spends half the movie reminding us he’s a decent dude but he’s limping around, banging his head, and stepping in stuff all over. Its just another case of sequel flaw where you take what worked and turn it up to 11.

All that being said, it wasn’t terrible. There really is a lot of good when the original characters are there and the absolute heart break of the movie is Randy’s death… and I’m shocked I’m saying that about a Jamie Kennedy character. If this movie had ditched like half the Young Hollywood new cast, focused on the OG characters and a few new ones, it probably could have been a pretty good film. Instead it was ok for a slasher sequel.

I did enjoy how completely trashy and lovely everything having to do with Stab was. It really did a great job satirizing the stuff that Scream was breaking away from in the genre. It would have been funnier if the movie itself didn’t make a lot of the same mistakes and backstep.

Watching I was tempted to blame this on Wes and an absence of Williamson but it turns out he wrote this film too. Reading about it I’m surprised to find out that there’s a whole drama around the script (I wasn’t big on the internet in 1997). Apparently a script leaked revealing the killers so Wes claims they rewrote it last minute while Williamson claimed it was just a dummy script and they had 3 different ones with 3 different killer reveals and the actors weren’t told what was real until it came time to film. Whichever story is true, I think it explains a lot about this film. There’s no way you can write a film with 3 possible endings with 3 completely different sets of reveals and twists without making all the possible options and buildup complete blank slates. You can’t set anything up or play with it. All those fun scenes in the original I talked about of Billy and Stu messing with people can’t exist. Which explains why all the potential killers literally disappear from the film for 45 minutes while the OGs make a good film.

Ok, I’m done. Also, my spell check keeps turning Olyphant into Elephant.


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) / Fran’s Challenge #1: 7. The Green Inferno (2013) / 8. Martin (1978) / 9. Malevolent (2018) / - (10). Dead and Breakfast (2004) / 10 (11). Night of the Comet (1984) / 11 (12). Jaws (1975) / 12 (13). Black Swan (2010) / Fran’s Challenge #2: 13 (14). Happy Death Day (2017) / - (15). Hell House, LLC (2015) / Fran’s Challenge #3: 14 (16). Hell House, LLC 2: The Abaddon Hotel (2018) / 15 (17). Carnival of Souls (1962) / 16 (18). The Last House on the Left (1972) / 17 (19). The Haunting of Hill House (2018) / Fran’s Challenge #4: 18 (20). My Soul To Take (2010) / Fran’s Challenge #5: 19 (21). Motel Hell (1980) / 20 (22). The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) / Fran’s Challenge #6: 21 (23). Don’t Look In The Basement (1973) / 22 (24). All Cheerleaders Die (2013) / 23 (25). Sleepaway Camp (1983) / 24 (26). The House That Dripped Blood (1971) / 25 (27). The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane (1976) / 26 (28). Friday the 13th Part III (1982) / Fran’s Challenge #7: 27 (29). November (2017) / Fran’s Challenge #8: 28 (30). Escape From Tomorrow (2013) / 29 (31). Horror of Dracula (1958) / Fran’s Challenge #9: 30 (32). The Open House (2018) / 31 (33). The Innocents (1961) / 32 (34). The Brides of Dracula (1960) / 33 (35). Resolution (2012) / Fran’s Challenge #10: 34 (36). The Endless (2018) / 35 (37). The Oblong Box (1969) / 36 (38). Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966) / 37 (39). Ex Machina (2015) / 38 (40). Night of the Creeps (1986) / 39 (41). Night of the Demon (1957) / - (42) Scream (1996) / - (43). Scream 2 (1997)

Butch Cassidy
Jul 28, 2010



49. Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) - DVD

A solid movie and I really wish the franchise had succeeded as an anthology series. Good effects, one particular bad background that looks surreal enough to work anyway, solid acting, dub no worse and maybe even a bit better than the first, fun premise, and quality acting. I'll go ahead and say that my wife and I like this better than the original.

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)7, 19. Horror Hotel (1960), 20. Event Horizon (1997)*, 21. In the Mouth of Madness (1994)3, 22. Frankenstein (1931)*, 23. Monster from a Prehistoric Planet (1967), 24. The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), 25. The Funhouse (1981)6, 26. Beetlejuice (1988)5, 27. Fright Night (1985)2, 28. Son of Frankenstein (1939), 29. The Terror, 30. A Cure for Wellness (2016), 31. Blood Diner (1987), 32. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), 33. The Killer Shrews (1959)9, 34. The Devil Bat (1940)9, 35. The Bat (1959), 36. Alien Apocalypse (2005)*, 37. Dave Made a Maze (2017)8, 38. Wrong Turn (2003), 39. Last Woman on Earth (1960)4, 40. Halloween (2018)10, 41. I Sell the Dead (2008), 42. Village of the Damned (1995), 43. Beast from 10,000 Fathoms (1953)*, 44. Gamera (1965), 45. Parents (1989), 46. Rigor Mortis (2013), 48. Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat (1989), 49. Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)

Years Spanned: 96 (1922-2018)

Tally by Decade: '20s (I), '30s (V), '40s (III), '50s (V), '60s (VIII), '70s (III), '80s (X), '90s (III), 2000s (VI), 2010s (V)

B&W/Color: 20/29

Rewatch/Total Counted: 5/48

Countries: 'Murika, Canada, Blighty, France, Germany, Estonia, China, South Korea, Japan

Fran Challenges Complete: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

* Rewatch

Adlai Stevenson
Mar 4, 2010

Making me ashamed to feel the way that I do
My last post was sloppy and offends the sense of improvement I've been enjoying this month as I've been reactivating the part of my brain that likes to talk about movies and all the things that go with that. I can't do much about The Babysitter's review because I don't have the vocabulary to describe the taste of a cinematic scooby snack. And my Seizure write up needed another pass to fix basic writing errors but otherwise contained the impression I wanted to project. Thoroughbreds, though, was like an unmoving lump in my mind that just broke up in the past hour and now the ideas are flowing.


After finishing the movie I realized that I had enjoyed my time spent on it but the rush that typically accompanies seeing a movie I liked in the moment rapidly faded into nothing. Within thirty minutes of hitting the credits I felt surprisingly ambivalent without really understanding why. I had enjoyed the performances, especially of the two leads. The pacing was excellent. The shock of the proceedings was effective. The ~big scene~ was notable and landed with a fierce amount of strength. Yet afterwards I felt strangely unsatisfied while only being able to think of one real flaw: I didn't like Anton Yelchin's role in the story. It seemed minor, though, so I simply thought of the movie as "merely" imperfect but still struggled to understand why I couldn't maintain my enthusiasm for the movie I had just enjoyed. Then I spat out a nothingburger of a review.

The charge that blew the dam was me realizing why I didn't like Anton Yelchin's character. It's almost entirely spoiler territory from here on. And if these are things you understood immediately while watching the movie, well, you caught on faster than me. This movie fully engrossed me and as a result it took a while for this to fully sink in as I went over the details again. Then I realized that one scene that I had liked meant way more than I initially realized it did.

In the moment I thought that the step-dad's takedown of Taylor-Joy was merely a harsh but accurate sequence that helped establish a stronger motive for the following plot developments. I didn't realize it was literally describing the structure of nearly every scene in the movie.

What had bothered me about Yelchin is that he only seemed to exist for the girls to triangulate dialogue off of. His abandonment of the assassination plan had me thinking that some further development was coming and when it didn't, and the next time he shows up he's at another dead end job so that Taylor-Joy has someone in the know to talk to, I felt deflated. I didn't get the point of his character.

It wasn't until hours later that I understood that this isn't a movie about two girls and the way they handle a rekindled relationship under duress. It's about one girl, Taylor-Joy, and how the people around her only matter--both to her within the movie and to the movie itself--according to the terms with which they interact with her life. No character is ever shown or featured outside of the attention of Taylor-Joy. The examples of the scenes she is not present for are Cooke's confrontation of the horse (a moment Taylor-Joy digs into and finds out about), Cooke's ending monologue (an attempt to connect with Taylor-Joy), and the step-dad's confusion with the tracking lights (that occurs while Taylor-Joy's focus is on the step-dad's circumstances). If they aren't on Taylor-Joy's mind, they don't exist. For as much time is spent on Cooke's character and the contrast that she provides of "abnormal" behavior in comparison to Taylor-Joy's "normal" behavior she is ultimately another satellite orbiting Taylor-Joy. So Yelchin's job isn't to have any real significant plot impact. He's there to show how the girls' attitudes are progressing and then at the end he's the only character left that Taylor-Joy can deliver those particular key lines of dialogue to without raising suspicion, so back in he goes.

To the credit of Taylor-Joy and the filmmakers the film feels distant and dehumanizing even when I didn't understand while watching exactly what they were putting together. It's an unyielding movie about a manufactured girl who makes everyone, including the audience, think that there's more to her than her base desires and manipulations. She didn't read the letter.

So now I understand why, after being captivated by the journey, I reflexively distanced myself from it as soon as it ended: it's like a cinematic ice sculpture. Striking, graceful, finely crafted, and freezing cold to be near.


I feel better now.

Adlai Stevenson fucked around with this message at 10:10 on Oct 25, 2018

STAC Goat
Mar 12, 2008

Watching you sleep.

Butt first, let's
check the feeds.

I can sleep in November.

- (44). Scream 3 (2000)
Available on Starz.



After a few years of serial killers jumping out of the woodworks to kill her and everyone she knows Sidney makes a rational decision to move to the mountains in a highly secure home away from all people. Unfortunately she’s drawn out when yet another Ghostface shows up on the set of yet another Stab movie and just starts going bugshit crazy.

I went into this with very low expectations after 2 (and my terribly sloppy and disjointed criticisms of which I have like half a dozen more I didn't even mention) but it honestly was probably a better film. A lot of that is owed to the fact that it takes itself way less seriously and gets really campy. Like, there were scenes in this movie that wouldn’t have been out of place in Scary Movie - you know, the other “Scary Movie.” Reading about it it sounds like that was largely a response to Columbine and the criticism that was getting thrown at movies and Scream in particular. Honestly, after the mess of 2 that was probably for the best. It also means even though the new characters are once again pretty one dimensional and shallow that’s played for laughs and their kills are all purposely lampoonish. I’m not particularly a fan of big wacky kills so that wasn’t my thing, but its much more accessible than big gorey kills of people you don’t give a poo poo about.

It also gives me a chance to finally throw some hate at Kevin Williamson because he didn’t write this one and apparently his original script for this movie was eventually adapted into The Following. So hate vindicated!

Although I also read that there was a plan to have Stu survive and inspire a cult/group of teen kids. So The Following with Matthew Lillard in the lead role and Neve Campbell in the Kevin Bacon role is actually something I kind of want to see now.

One criticism that I sort of understand but it still stands out. Patrick Dempsey’s character is completely misplaced in the big happy ending and final act. Reading apparently he wasn’t in it originally and then they put him in when they realized he had just disappeared from the movie. I understand that. Obviously Dempsey was in there as a red herring for the killer so I get how they got there. But still, Ghostface could have just killed the guy in the final act. There was no reason to have the weird stalker cop end up living with Sidney and her surrogate family (that her dad isn’t invited to). Like… you knew that too, Wes, because you didn’t even have them kiss or anything.[spoiler] But I do sort of understand it, but I don’t agree with it.

And I would like to officially apologize to the 90s as gently caress soundtrack to Scream 2 because the soundtrack for Scream 3 is PRODUCED by Creed. There’s a loving Creed poster on Sidney’s fake bedroom wall.

All in all a better film than 2 because of the changes it makes. You can see Wes’ touch more, I think, without Williamson there. Like the entire [spoiler]ghost mom
thing is so Wes Craven. I’m not saying its a good movie but its an acceptable sequel to a film that never should have had sequels. Critics seem to hate it and think its everything Scream satirized, but I think that while that might be true at least it was self aware about that. Scream 2 wasn’t and I think it was much more of what Scream was mocking and what Williamson kept putting out after with that I Know What You Did, Teaching Mrs. Tingle, Halloween H20 stuff. And it wasn’t aware of that at all, hence the rest of Williamson’s horror career.

And Dewey actually seems like a person again. Even if they made him fall down like 4 times.

Boy did the Young Hollywood casting well drive up fast. Going from a very silly amount of recognizable people in 2 to this. But they did get Parker Posey to be all Parker Posey like. That’s always fun.

And its so weird to think that the best part of a franchise is Jamie Kennedy’s character.

I have no idea if I’ve ever seen this before. I went back and forth on it before and during the movie and i still don’t know. There were scenes I remembered vividly but I didn’t remember any story and I actually thought I knew the killer and I wasn’t right at all. So I have no idea if this is a new watch or not. I’m defaulting to not.

But seriously, The Following with Matthew Lillard and Neve Campbell. I’d give it a shot.

Guy Goodbody
Aug 31, 2016

by Nyc_Tattoo
Are there any movies on Netflix that would qualify for Challenge #4: Worst of the Best or Best of The Worst? I'm not a big movie guy so I don't know enough about directors or reputations to come up with one.

Franchescanado
Feb 23, 2013

If it wasn't for disappointment
I wouldn't have any appointment

Grimey Drawer

Adlai Stevenson posted:

My last post was sloppy and offends the sense of improvement I've been enjoying this month as I've been reactivating the part of my brain that likes to talk about movies and all the things that go with that. I can't do much about The Babysitter's review because I don't have the vocabulary to describe the taste of a cinematic scooby snack. And my Seizure write up needed another pass to fix basic writing errors but otherwise contained the impression I wanted to project. Thoroughbreds, though, was like an unmoving lump in my mind that just broke up in the past hour and now the ideas are flowing.


After finishing the movie I realized that I had enjoyed my time spent on it but the rush that typically accompanies seeing a movie I liked in the moment rapidly faded into nothing. Within thirty minutes of hitting the credits I felt surprisingly ambivalent without really understanding why. I had enjoyed the performances, especially of the two leads. The pacing was excellent. The shock of the proceedings was effective. The ~big scene~ was notable and landed with a fierce amount of strength. Yet afterwards I felt strangely unsatisfied while only being able to think of one real flaw: I didn't like Anton Yelchin's role in the story. It seemed minor, though, so I simply thought of the movie as "merely" imperfect but still struggled to understand why I couldn't maintain my enthusiasm for the movie I had just enjoyed. Then I spat out a nothingburger of a review.

The charge that blew the dam was me realizing why I didn't like Anton Yelchin's character. It's almost entirely spoiler territory from here on. And if these are things you understood immediately while watching the movie, well, you caught on faster than me. This movie fully engrossed me and as a result it took a while for this to fully sink in as I went over the details again. Then I realized that one scene that I had liked meant way more than I initially realized it did.

In the moment I thought that the step-dad's takedown of Taylor-Joy was merely a harsh but accurate sequence that helped establish a stronger motive for the following plot developments. I didn't realize it was literally describing the structure of nearly every scene in the movie.

What had bothered me about Yelchin is that he only seemed to exist for the girls to triangulate dialogue off of. His abandonment of the assassination plan had me thinking that some further development was coming and when it didn't, and the next time he shows up he's at another dead end job so that Taylor-Joy has someone in the know to talk to, I felt deflated. I didn't get the point of his character.

It wasn't until hours later that I understood that this isn't a movie about two girls and the way they handle a rekindled relationship under duress. It's about one girl, Taylor-Joy, and how the people around her only matter--both to her within the movie and to the movie itself--according to the terms with which they interact with her life. No character is ever shown or featured outside of the attention of Taylor-Joy. The examples of the scenes she is not present for are Cooke's confrontation of the horse (a moment Taylor-Joy digs into and finds out about), Cooke's ending monologue (an attempt to connect with Taylor-Joy), and the step-dad's confusion with the tracking lights (that occurs while Taylor-Joy's focus is on the step-dad's circumstances). If they aren't on Taylor-Joy's mind, they don't exist. For as much time is spent on Cooke's character and the contrast that she provides of "abnormal" behavior in comparison to Taylor-Joy's "normal" behavior she is ultimately another satellite orbiting Taylor-Joy. So Yelchin's job isn't to have any real significant plot impact. He's there to show how the girls' attitudes are progressing and then at the end he's the only character left that Taylor-Joy can deliver those particular key lines of dialogue to without raising suspicion, so back in he goes.

To the credit of Taylor-Joy and the filmmakers the film feels distant and dehumanizing even when I didn't understand while watching exactly what they were putting together. It's an unyielding movie about a manufactured girl who makes everyone, including the audience, think that there's more to her than her base desires and manipulations. She didn't read the letter.

So now I understand why, after being captivated by the journey, I reflexively distanced myself from it as soon as it ended: it's like a cinematic ice sculpture. Striking, graceful, finely crafted, and freezing cold to be near.


I feel better now.

This has safely sat in my top 5 movies of the year since seeing it in theaters, and I'm glad that these things finally clicked with you. Very nice write-up.

Franchescanado
Feb 23, 2013

If it wasn't for disappointment
I wouldn't have any appointment

Grimey Drawer

Guy Goodbody posted:

Are there any movies on Netflix that would qualify for Challenge #4: Worst of the Best or Best of The Worst? I'm not a big movie guy so I don't know enough about directors or reputations to come up with one.

This has been the most subjective challenge, since even a director's worst movie will still have it's fans, or it may be just merely good while the rest of their work is great, etc. So, here are some ideas from Netflix.

Best of the Worst:
Deep Blue Sea, The Conjuring,

Worst of the Best:
Little Evil, Scream 4, The Village, Death Note, Oculus or Hush, Hold the Dark


Netflix tends to really only have big-name movies and recent movies. Amazon Prime and Shudder, or even YouTube, would yield you more options. You could also just google around for "Greatest Horror Directors" and then see what their worst movie is and watch that. Or you can watch Plan 9 From Outer Space or something.

M_Sinistrari
Sep 5, 2008

Do you like scary movies?



Franchescanado posted:

:siren: FRAN CHALLENGE #11: Dead & Buried

:ghost: Watch a film made by a director who is now deceased.


181- Land of the Dead 2005 - DVD

I was so hyped up for this one when I first heard about it, I'd read that leaked script multiple times, got my tickets for opening day, even did the watch Night, Dawn, and Day for pre-movie prep. I liked the movie a lot and felt that the franchise had ended on a good note.

On this rewatch, still feel that way. What nitpicks I have are just the general ones I have with trends in zombie films.


182- Diary of the Dead 2007 - DVD

When I first heard of this one getting made, it did sound interesting as it was going to be same Deadverse just new perspectives with how things have changed in our society. My first watch, it was okay. Wasn't as good as Night-Dawn-Day-Land, but it wasn't awful.

Watching this for the challenge and it's more..meh. I'm reminded of a line from the old Chaosium Call of Cthulhu modern era rulebook I had that was something like "While it's great to have a Gortex parka when investigating the Great Ones in Antarctica, a tactical nuke's not going to do anything to Cthulhu but make him radioactive". Yeah, having smartphones during zombierise is nice but nothing's particularly different. Everything in this movie's essentially cribbed from the earlier Dead films.


183- Survival of the Dead 2009 - DVD

I never thought I'd say a Romero film was bad. I'm one of the few who liked Martin, Season of the Witch, and Bruiser. Survival is so bad it makes me wish George just called it at Land and worked on some of the other scripts he had going on. It feels like the expectation was for Romero to keep cranking out zombie films.

Franchescanado
Feb 23, 2013

If it wasn't for disappointment
I wouldn't have any appointment

Grimey Drawer
:siren: FRAN CHALLENGE #12: (Self-Described) Masters of Horror





:ghost: Watch a staff pick!

or

:ghost: Watch an episode of Masters of Horror*


*an "episode" must be at least 55 minutes to qualify, though most of them are 58-59 minutes.

gey muckle mowser
Aug 5, 2003

Do you know anything about...
witches?



Buglord

Franchescanado posted:

Worst of the Best:
Oculus or Hush

I think you meant to say Best of the Best for these two. :colbert:

Franchescanado
Feb 23, 2013

If it wasn't for disappointment
I wouldn't have any appointment

Grimey Drawer

gey muckle mowser posted:

I think you meant to say Best of the Best for these two. :colbert:

I like Oculus! Hush is fine! But plenty of people on here hate it and the director.

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Guy Goodbody
Aug 31, 2016

by Nyc_Tattoo

Franchescanado posted:

This has been the most subjective challenge, since even a director's worst movie will still have it's fans, or it may be just merely good while the rest of their work is great, etc. So, here are some ideas from Netflix.

Best of the Worst:
Deep Blue Sea, The Conjuring,

Worst of the Best:
Little Evil, Scream 4, The Village, Death Note, Oculus or Hush, Hold the Dark


Netflix tends to really only have big-name movies and recent movies. Amazon Prime and Shudder, or even YouTube, would yield you more options. You could also just google around for "Greatest Horror Directors" and then see what their worst movie is and watch that. Or you can watch Plan 9 From Outer Space or something.

I actually liked Zombieland more than it deserved, so I think I'll give Little Evil a try. Thanks

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