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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. You can check out my spreadsheet (  ) for some BotW ideas. It shows the director's average rating and their top-rated horror film. Though you'd need to cross-check it with Netflix yourself. Could also work for WotB if they only made one horror movie.
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Oct 25, 2018 14:02
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M_Sinistrari posted:
I haven’t seen the others but... Martin loving rules?
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Oct 25, 2018 15:30
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TheBizzness posted:I haven’t seen the others but... Martin loving rules? Yeah Martin is kinda held up as an under appreciated classic by most everyone who sees it I thought. Season of the Witch (aka Hungry Wives) is pretty bad though.
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Oct 25, 2018 15:45
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Martin now sits as my second favorite Romero film. #1 is still Creepshow, and #3 is Dawn of the Dead.
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Oct 25, 2018 15:49
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Drunkboxer posted:Yeah Martin is kinda held up as an under appreciated classic by most everyone who sees it I thought. Season of the Witch (aka Hungry Wives) is pretty bad though. Both Martin and Season of the Witch are ones it took me time to appreciate. Season of the Witch, I don't plan on buying but will watch it on stream.
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Oct 25, 2018 16:16
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Franchescanado posted:
I was perusing Shudder looking for something that I've seen before to put on in the background. They have Zombie! I own the DVD, but what the hell. So instead of putting it on in the background I sat and watched it attentively. And whadya know, Lucio Fulci is dead. 32. Zombie (1979, Lucio Fulci) (rewatch) Source: Shudder  Of all the myriad flavors of zombie films throughout history, my favorite by far are the 70s and 80s European variety. These directors, especially Fulci, knew what zombie fans wanted: gore, nudity, and tons of gnarly looking zombies. If Romero's forte was filling a zombie film with social commentary, then Fulci's was filling it with absurd levels of gratuitously gory violence. And Zombi 2 is his magnum opus of gory zombie goodness. The film absolutely revels in its over the top violence. Fulci's camera doesn't know the meaning of restraint. Every bit of sinew, every spurt of blood, every piece of torn flesh must be fixated on at length. We wouldn't want even a single inch of that awesome gore makeup to be missed. And the effects ARE awesome. I absolutely love Fulci gore. It's just realistic enough to be effective, but there's always a thin layer of artifice over it to make its abundance tolerable. The infamous eyeball scene, for example, would almost be too difficult to handle if it weren't for the woman's head looking slightly phony as the giant splinter gets driven into her face. Something else I adore about these Italian films is the music. It's the element that most overtly differentiates them from American horror. The score for Zombie Flesh Eaters is one of my favorites. The tone it sets is difficult to describe, but it's quintessential 70s European horror. The characters in Island of the Living Dead are about as bland as you'd expect from this sort of movie. The main British guy has a bit of a personality I suppose. The only character I'd consider somewhat interesting is the doctor, but even he's not given much to do except mope around lamenting about their dire situation. But remember, this is Fulci. This is a movie that puts characters in place solely for the purpose of having their necks torn apart. And boy does it deliver on that front. Zombie 2: The Dead are Among Us is most definitely one of my favorite zombie movies. It was a delight to experience it again.    (4.5 zombie-fighten' sharks out of 5) _____________________________________________ Total: 32 Watched: The Blob (4.5) | Mandy (5) | The Hands of Orloc (4) | Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (4.5) | Fright Night (3) | Black Magic Part II (4) | Body Melt (3.5) | Suspiria (5) | The Old Dark House (4.5) | The Nude Vampire (3.5) | The Thing From Another World (3) | Phantasm (4) | Basket Case 2 (3) | Murders in the Rue Morgue (2) | The Tenant (5) | The Howling (3) | Calvaire (3.5) | Hereditary (5) | Nothing Left to Fear (1) | The Black Cat (4) | The Killing of a Sacred Deer (4.5) | The Hills Have Eyes Part II (0.5) | Cannibal Holocaust (3) | Apostle (2) | Christine (3.5) | Winterbeast (4) | Terrified (3) | Halloween 2018 (4) | Revenge (1.5) | The Witch in the Window (3.5) | The Bloodstained Shadow (3) | Zombie (4.5) Fran Challenges: Countries: USA (19) | Italy (5) | France (3) | Argentina (1) | Hong Kong (1) | Germany (1) | Belgium (1) | Australia (1) Decades: 1920s (1) | 1930s (3) | 1950s (1) | 1970s (8) | 1980s (6) | 1990s (3) | 2000s (1) | 2010s (9)
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Oct 25, 2018 16:38
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FRAN CHALLENGE #11: Dead & Buried
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A couple rewatches: Alien vs Predator (2004) [Netflix Blu-ray] I have a soft spot for the xenomorph monster design and Sanaa Lathan, so this wasn't a total waste to revisit, but it's just not very good. The Matrix-style slow-motion pans around the flying chestbusters are so tacky. Alien vs Predator: Requiem (2007) [Blu-ray] What an improvement. Making a predator a near-protagonist is a great call. Weird they didn't copy it for the one they actually called The Predator. Watching them back-to-back makes it clear how much a step up this one is right from the start, when they copy the ending shot from the previous movie but all of a sudden it's lit well. And a challenge: Franchescanado posted:FRAN CHALLENGE #10: Fear and Now Halloween (2018) [Theater] This is only the second Halloween movie I've seen, after the original, which honestly didn't much land with me. This, however, is fantastically made, from the lightly entertaining beginning to the wonderfully tense climax. And, holy poo poo, a movie managed to cast Judy Greer as "the mom" but then not totally waste her talents. New (24): #1 The Terror (2018), #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), #16 Godzilla (1954), #17 The Vault (2017), #18 Cargo (2017), #19 Berlin Syndrome (2017), #22 Dawn of the Dead (1978), #26 Seven in Heaven (2018), #27 Happy Death Day (2017), #28 Into the Forest (2015), #29 Hardware (1990), #30 Prodigy (2018), #31 The Survivalist (2015), #32, Honeymoon (2014), #33 Child's Play (1988), #37 Halloween (2018) Rewatch (13): #2 The Cabin in the Woods (2011), #3 Gone Girl (2014), #4 Annihilation (2018), #5 Seven (1995), #15 A Quiet Place (2018), #20 Doom (2005), #21 Predator (1987), #23 Gremlins (1984), #24 The Andromeda Strain (1971), #25 Split (2016), #34 Dawn of the Dead (2004), #35 Alien vs Predator (2004), #36 Alien vs Predator: Requiem (2007) Personal Goal (4/13): Alien 3 (Assembly Cut), The Beyond, Beyond the Black Rainbow, The Brood, Fran Challenges (5/11): #7 [The World Is A Scary Place] Godzilla (1954), #3 [Hometown Horror] Dawn of the Dead (1978), #2 [Queer Horror] Into the Forest (2015), #8 [Once In A Lifetime] Dawn of the Dead (2004), #11 [Fear and Now] Halloween (2018)
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Oct 25, 2018 16:49
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34. Winterbeast (1992) Fran Challenge: Dead & Buried I might have fallen asleep during Winterbeast. I might have been asleep the whole time. Honestly I think I probably was asleep the whole time. It seems like I had vivid, nonsensical dreams that didn't make a drat bit of sense, a constant and confusing melange of beasts of all shapes and sizes attacking random people randomly. It's edited presumably by a restless narcoleptic who fell asleep at the controls. Winterbeast is like someone took a bunch of clips of your home movies over a period of 5-10 years, and spliced in shots of monster attacks taped off of late-night cable seemingly at random. There's not a lot of information about Winterbeast online, but I did find this discussion post from a friend talking about the director dying in 2015. Could he be lying? Maybe. Seems like the only place being friends with the director of Winterbeast might score you points is this here forum. Either way, I'll watch something by another dead director to be safe. It's something all right. It gets a pumpkin for sheer perseverance.  /5
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Oct 25, 2018 16:53
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Franchescanado posted:
 50. The Mist (2007)*ish - Blu-ray I hated this movie when I first saw it. Beyond one bit off needless exposition and some wonky television-style camera work in the middle, it was awesome. Except there was one nore problem, the CGI was so God damned awful that it ruined the whole thing. gently caress everything. That it should have been black and white to make the most of of the mist itself is not worth complaint because modern audiences suck and the CGI requires all my indignation. Then I watched a re:view of The Mist where RLM mentionned the director's cut simply being a black and white edit. Bought the Blu-ray last year and have been sitting on it to give anorher go, this season. Fran's challenge is but a bonus for my money and patience So, what do I now think? The wonky mid-film camera work is more annoying here. Such beautiful shots had been established prior that it was a real step down in quality. Improved again leading to the climax. The contrast granted by the mist really made this pop, proving B&W was the only correct decision. drat the producers for requring a theatrical release in color. The CGI is still nothing more than serviceable here. At least the poor coloration is no longer a concern and the texturing plus basic quality can hold up okay. Better CGI or a bumped budget for more practical creature effects were what this deserved. At least the creatures come out able to hold their own against chinzy B-film monsters in this cut. Worth special mention that this had an obvious budget and still ran with a large cast. And it worked, the casting was on point. A lot of other movies have failed here but this just worked out so well. TL/DR: Excellent movie in, as God and Darabont intended, black and white. Hot garbage in color. 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), 47. Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat (1989), 48. Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982), 49. The Mist (2007)*ish 1 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 (VII), 2010s (V) B&W/Color: 21/29 Rewatch/Total Counted: 6/49 Countries: 'Murika, Canada, Blighty, France, Germany, Estonia, China, South Korea, Japan Fran Challenges Complete: * Rewatch Butch Cassidy fucked around with this message at 17:07 on Oct 25, 2018 |
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Oct 25, 2018 17:03
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Is Deathdream (Dead of Night) streaming anywhere besides Youtube?
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Oct 25, 2018 17:07
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Spatulater bro! posted:Is Deathdream (Dead of Night) streaming anywhere besides Youtube? Only Youtube, Google and Shudder that I can find so far.
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Oct 25, 2018 17:20
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Boris and Bela double feature! Bedlam (1946) Challenge: Dead and Buried  A reluctant social reformer (Anna Lee) is wrongly committed to the infamous Bedlam Asylum after trying to expose cruel treatment by the warden (Boris Karloff). Wants to be a Dickensian period melodrama, but put Boris Karloff in a powdered wig and an insane asylum and a horror movie's gonna break out. This isn't a bad thing. Boris is of course excellent as the evil warden, in a performance, making his character sinister, genial, and ultimately pathetic. However, I was surprised that the real standout here is Anna Lee as our proto-feminist heroine. Her portrayal balances her character's wit, compassion, and courage with a realistic sense of trepidation, self-interest, and fear. There's a scene where she attempts to persuade a pacifist sympathizer on the outside to smuggle her a weapon just in case that's absolutely heartbreaking. A really effective film, interesting for its surprisingly enlightened feelings about mental illness and exploitation as well as its atmosphere and performances. 4/5  sWhite Zombie (1932)  Unfortunately, no one slams into the back of a Dragula in this. Bela Lugosi stars as a voodoo priest in this early sound film that feature's the screen's first zombies. The sets and atmosphere are tremendous, particularly the final cliffside sequence and an early scene set in a zombie-staffed mill. Has the fable-like storytelling and dreamlike qualities of silent films, and Bela's devilishly charismatic as ever. The problem here is that it has the a bad case of "1930s romantic leading couple". Ideally, it would be a little bit easier to tell the difference between before and after the zombiefication process. Surprising to see "bullets don't work on them!" in the first ever zombie movie. 3/5  s
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Oct 25, 2018 17:43
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M_Sinistrari posted:Only Youtube, Google and Shudder that I can find so far. It's not on Shudder. That's a different movie called Dead of Night from 1977.
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Oct 25, 2018 18:02
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Spatulater bro! posted:It's not on Shudder. That's a different movie called Dead of Night from 1977. drat, I guess they pulled it since I know it used to be available on there.
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Oct 25, 2018 18:07
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Spatulater bro! posted:Is Deathdream (Dead of Night) streaming anywhere besides Youtube? It's on VUDU! For free (with ads)! It was on Amazon Prime for the longest time, too, but now it's gone.
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Oct 25, 2018 18:15
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Franchescanado posted:It's on VUDU! For free (with ads)! Sweeeet
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Oct 25, 2018 18:20
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 Hausu (1977) What a terrific film. Just as good as everyone told me it was, and I liked it as much as they all told me I would. So fun, inventive, and bizarre in all the right ways. It also came up in my "What films could be described as basically an episode of Scooby-Doo", which helped me to adjust my expectation going in (and sold me on finally biting the bullet on it). It's apt, as the film is a live-action cartoon with all the humor and camp that I love from that era, but chock-full of terrific gore. The whole thing is absolutely gorgeous, the pacing is incredible, the editing is amazing, the effects are next-level (despite some unfortunate blue-screening), and the characters are just ace. On a thematic level I'll be looking to do a deeper dive with subsequent viewings, but the way the film speaks to the roles of women in post-war Japanese society was perfect and bled through all aspects of the film. I'm really not surprised there was enough juice here to spin off into a number of other media. I feel the film to be difficult to write about because I just want to create a list of everything I love, which is everything in the film. So I'll keep it short and say that overall, this was just an incredible viewing experience and one that I'll be repeating many times over. Grade: A+ I feel the need to dive into classic Japanese horror. Would Sweet Home be a good place to go next? Or should I go Tetsuo? And what if I want something as similar as possible? Hausu (A+) Cast a Deadly Spell (A+) Return of the Living Dead (A+) Pumpkinhead (A-) Curse of Frankenstein (A-) Revenge of Frankenstein (B+) Night Creatures (B+) Invasion of the Saucer Men (B-) Pieces (C+) The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (C+)
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Oct 25, 2018 18:46
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Sweet Home would be a pretty great follow-up to Hausu, it works from a very similar base but goes in a more grounded direction with it.
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Oct 25, 2018 19:05
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Franchescanado posted:
 #37. Dead & Buried (Vudu) -  /5The townspeople of Potter's Bluff keep killing the tourists... and the tourists keep coming back to life and reintegrating themselves into the town. Can the sheriff find out what the cause of all of this is? This is a pretty effective, small scale thriller. It feels a bit like a giallo, in that it prioritizes some of its set pieces over the narrative, which can make the pacing feel disjointed at times. (There's a scene where [quote]a transient gets killed[/spoiler] that feels like unnecessary padding and studio-enforced extra gore; the scene where the family is attacked feels similarly unnecessary, though that does follow on to more direct plot-directing stuff.) Or, I should say, a giallo by way of the old EC Comics, since the ending scene feels ripped directly from an old "Tales from the Crypt"-style comic. The gore scenes feel less lurid than those comics, though, coming across as far more visceral, which further lends to the off-balance nature of the film. (There's a scene early on where a man is set on fire, then later killed with a needle into the eyeball in his hospital bed that feels exceedingly cruel, especially as the start of the movie.) However, that ends up being both a strength and a weakness, as bad special effects - like the doctor getting his head melted by acid from the inside out - end up spoiling the back half. That padding and meandering plotting ends up also detracting a bit from the film for me this time, since it felt like the movie was losing focus to try and stick in one more violent outburst when it didn't need to. The film has one great performance in it, by way of Jack "Grandpa Joe" Albertson as the mortician Dobbs; he has a standout monologue early on about how he views his profession as an unappreciated art which ends up coloring your whole perspective on the film on rewatch. However, most of the other performances are perfunctory or bland, which pulls the film down a bit. Even at just over 90 minutes, I think this one was maybe a bit too long - if this could have been a proper "Tales from the Crypt" episode, say, it might have seen as one of the best. A bit tighter focus, and less insistence on the gore scenes, would have really helped sell what was in there. As it is, I'd still recommend this one, but on a rewatch, maybe not as enthusiastically as I might have in the past. 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), Hotel Transylvania, Psycho (1960), Halloween III, The Creature Walks Among Us, Train to Busan, Frankenstein (1931), The Addams Family, Bedeviled, Halloween (2018), The Old Dark House (1932), Pumpkinhead, Friday the 13th Part 2, Dead & Buried
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Oct 25, 2018 19:48
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 52. Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003) Toky SOS continues the story of the last film, keeping the same Godzilla design and timeline. Early in the film it's setup that the Mothra and the Shobijin from the Showa era Mothra film are canon. Dr. Chujo, also from Mothra, is told by the Shobijin that Mothra is upset that humans are altering the cycle of life by bringing Godzilla back as a cyborg in the form of Mechagodzilla. At first I thought this was just a plot device to section off the film with the Godzilla vs. Mothra part and the Godzilla vs. Mechagdozilla part, but it becomes a bit more than that, just a little bit though. The characters range from who cares to okay. I think that Dr. Chujo, who is again played by Hiroshi Koizumi, is really underused. His son is a military mechanic that struggles with knowing about Mothra wanting the humans to dismantle Mecha G, and his desire to see the giant Mech he has bonded with have glory in battle. That arc is probably the most interesting to me, even if it ends up in the sorta weird territory by the end. Other supporting characters aren't even really worth mentioning. It takes a little bit to get there but once the action starts it pretty much carries through to the end of the film. The quality of action scenes remains consistent from the last film. It doesn't matter if Godzilla is fighting Mothra or Mechagodzilla, both are choreographed well and full of awesome effects. The action being high quality and a large chunk of the film is good, because despite a couple interesting character moments and callbacks, the human plot is kind of bland.  53. The Seventh Curse (1986) What a lovely, goofy film. The weirdness starts from the opening with the whole movie being framed as a story being told at a cocktail party. This is interesting because it kind of makes you think about if the guys telling the story are just talking a big game to the ladies at the party. Once everything gets rolling it never really stops. Tons of kung-fu action intermixed with crazy gore and practical effects. It really is a joy to watch. The villain especially had me cracking up with his high pitched voice and insane magical abilities. Amazingly the finale of the film one ups itself 10 times over when an H.R. Giger Xenomorph looking thing battles a "blood ghost" that looks more like a crazed fetus than a ghost. The whole movie is fun as hell but the ending is truly something special, something that transcends my skills at reviewing a film. Check this one out for sure. Franchescanado posted:
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Oct 25, 2018 19:49
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feedmyleg posted:
Neither of those really feel like Hausu, but I can vouch for Tetsuo. It has more punk Cronenberg/Eraserhead vibes, but it’s great. It’s also easier to find and super short. Nothing feels like Hausu does.
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Oct 25, 2018 20:19
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Agreed that Tetsuo is nothing like Hausu but is nevertheless a must-watch.
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Oct 25, 2018 20:26
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#101. Hereditary (2018). ...You know what? I'm not sure how to easily summarize this sans spoilers. It's about a family, and it's about how death can easily disrupt that family. And it's about...something else. Regardless, it's fantastic. All the actors are putting in 110%, the story is a slow build, and it's beautifully shot. Honestly, it probably gave me more fear than any other film I've watched this month. It's real good and worth your time. out of 5Franchescanado posted:
#102. Fascination (1979) In 1903, after a successful robbery, a man betrays his fellow criminals and holes up in a nearby chateau, where two lovely and strange women are. The women in turn do their best to keep their "guest" within their walls until further guests are to arrive at midnight... I'm a huge fan of the works of Jean Rollin. Of all the many European filmmakers of the 60s and 70s that combined (often explicit) sex and horror, he was the most artistic and talented, with his movies often having more to say than simple morality tales. This film is no exception, with a slow start up, but a second half that leaves you asking more questions than you started with, and honestly, might be one of my favorites of his. out of 5#103. The Wizard of Gore (2007) Ed Bigelow is a hipster guerrilla reporter, following on stories of strippers and underground parties and the like. He visits a magic act by the name of "Montag The Magnificent", which entails the titular wizard pulling audience members on stage and dismembering them as an illusion, only to later have these same people found the next day with matching injuries to their "performance". Slowly as Ed investigates the act further, reality starts blurring for him, and he becomes less and less sure that "seeing is believing". I had a lot of fun with this one. Made right in the prime of the alt-model subculture still being "sub", it's filled with lots of pretty faces, and wild effects. Not to mention the heck of a cast, of Crispin Glover, Brad Douriff, Jeff Combs, and Bijou Phillips. My only real complaint is you can tell it's a little too proud of itself and that smugness glimpses through. But it's still a lot of fun. out of 5#104 Strange Rituals (2017) After a drunk driving accident, a group of friends find themselves spiraling into a nightmare of death, living dead, and voodoo magic. This little backyard film is very strange. Like, it's definitely got the "just use my friends" diy aesthetic of people not being really actor caliber and most of the sets being just like, people's apartments, and the whole thing shot on a digital camcorder. But then on the technical side are real talent. Like, the cinematography, everything to do with the sound, and even the makeup effects are all professional grade. It's a very weird schism, but it makes for an entertaining movie at least. out of 5
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Oct 25, 2018 21:01
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 34. Bride of Chucky (1998) (blu-ray) Back when Chucky was still Charles Lee Ray, he had a girlfriend named Tiffany. She has been carrying a torch for him since he was killed 10 years ago, and has been following his, uh, "exploits" since then. She obtains his body from a police evidence locker and brings him back to life with a voodoo ritual. Shockingly, Chucky doesn't make the best boyfriend, and after some comedic bickering and light domestic violence Tiffany's soul ends up trapped in a doll as well. Together they set out to retrieve an amulet that was buried in Charles' grave, in hopes of transferring their souls back into human bodies. The Child's Play series has always been pretty goofy, but this film makes the leap into outright horror/comedy. Jennifer Tilly is the highlight of the film, she's just the right amount of ridiculous and has great chemistry with Brad Dourif's Chucky. The humor is a little hit or miss, but it mostly works. Like a lot of films from the late '90s, it uses some CGI that has aged horribly, which is a shame because when the film does stick with practical effects they are pretty good. The puppetry on Chucky has definitely improved since the last film, too. Overall this is a fun movie, and I think the turn towards comedy was a good move. It definitely isn't as good as the first two Child's Play movies, but it beats part 3 for sure and fans of the series will definitely enjoy it. It's also '90s as gently caress, especially the soundtrack. There is a industrial/goth cover of "Crazy" that is one of the worst things I've ever heard. Movies Seen: The Witching Season | Lifeforce | Terrifier | Unsane | I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House | From Beyond | 13 Ghosts | The Ritual | Child's Play | Twice-Told Tales | Beyond the Gates | Cat People (1982) | Fright Night | The Vampire Lovers | The Vampire Doll | Frightmare | Honeybee | Murder Party | Child's Play 2 | The Beyond | The Night of a Thousand Cats | Mandy | My Soul to Take | Apostle | Near Dark | Child's Play 3 | The Phantom Carriage | Halloween (1978) | Halloween II (1981) | Halloween (2018) | Creep 2 | The Quatermass Xperiment | Darling | Bride of Chucky Total: 34 Fran challenges:
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Oct 25, 2018 22:28
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Franchescanado posted:
 Blood Feast(1963) My enjoyment of this film was definitely increased by watching the Joe Bob Briggs Last Drive-In episode. I see Blood Feast as more of a historical curiosity than a movie that I'd actually want to watch on a regular basis, and it was very interesting to hear Briggs describe the type of person Herschel Gordon Lewis was. Briggs knew Gordon Lewis for years before his death in 2016, and it's just funny to hear that a person who ended up as horror royalty had zero desire to see his films celebrated and preserved as "art". In the end he made way more money by developing innovative marketing techniques after retiring as a filmmaker, and he seemed to view his films as products with a shelf life. Once it had run it's course in the drive-ins, toss it in the garbage. The movie itself has effective gore scenes, even to this day, and they're even more impressive when you consider the non-existent budget. The only magnetic presence in the film is Mal Arnold, who apparently did that all by himself because the accent he uses was all his idea and Gordon Lewis wasn't particularly happy about it. But overall it doesn't really hang together as a real movie and that's why I don't think I'll be returning to it any time soon. I can certainly see why it was so popular at late-night drive ins though. Total: 1. Frankenstein(1931) 2. The Old Dark House(1932) 3. The Bride of Frankenstein(1935) 4. The Mummy(1932) 5. The Invisible Man(1933) 6. The Wolfman(1941) 7. House of Frankenstein(1944) 8. House of Dracula(1945) 9. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein(1948) 10. The Boogeyman Will Get You(1942) 11. The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms(1953) 12.Gojira(1954) 13. Creature From the Black Lagoon(1954) 14. The Night of the Hunter(1955) 15. The Curse of Frankenstein(1957) 16. Brides of Dracula(1960) 17. The Tomb of Ligeia(1964) 18. Blood and Black Lace(1964) 19. Frankenstein Created Woman(1967) 20. Quatermass and the Pit(1967) 21. Don't Look Now(1973)22. Dracula A.D. 1972 23. Phantom of the Paradise(1974) 24. The Wicker Man(1973) 25. Nosferatu The Vampyre(1979) 26. The Fog(1980) 27. An American Werewolf in London(1981) 28. Prince of Darkness(1987) 29. A Nightmare on Elm Street(1984) 30. C.H.U.D.(1984) 31. Candyman(1992) 32. Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh(1995) 33. Mimic(1997) 34. Scream(1996) 35. Audition(1999) 36. Cursed(2005) 37. Saw(2004) 38. Drag Me To Hell(2009) 39. Slither(2006) 40. Freddy vs. Jason(2003) 41. The First Purge(2018) 42. The Void(2016) 43. Lords of Salem(2012) 44. Hereditary(2018) 45. Summer of '84(2018) 46. Blood Feast(1963)
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Oct 25, 2018 22:34
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Is this parody or an example of how lazy 90s horror was?
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Oct 25, 2018 23:06
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Yes.
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Oct 25, 2018 23:11
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On that note, if Bride or Seed of Chucky have any sort of "problem" it's that they were made in that post-Scream period of late 90's horror where it was always night and everybody dressed like they either shopped at Hot Topic or The Gap and nowhere else. I can't even describe the aesthetic, "neo-gothic"? Like lots of shades of dark and high contrasts... in stuff like the Scream series, The Faculty, IKWYDLS and the two Chucky movies, etc. Some people love that poo poo "ironically" or whatever but I really can't stand it and I was of-age when that stuff was going on.
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Oct 26, 2018 00:05
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King Vidiot posted:On that note, if Bride or Seed of Chucky have any sort of "problem" it's that they were made in that post-Scream period of late 90's horror where it was always night and everybody dressed like they either shopped at Hot Topic or The Gap and nowhere else. I can't even describe the aesthetic, "neo-gothic"? Like lots of shades of dark and high contrasts... in stuff like the Scream series, The Faculty, IKWYDLS and the two Chucky movies, etc. Some people love that poo poo "ironically" or whatever but I really can't stand it and I was of-age when that stuff was going on. Same, I was in high school when Bride of Chucky came out and I have zero nostalgia for that stuff. It did not age well.
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Oct 26, 2018 00:11
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King Vidiot posted:On that note, if Bride or Seed of Chucky have any sort of "problem" it's that they were made in that post-Scream period of late 90's horror where it was always night and everybody dressed like they either shopped at Hot Topic or The Gap and nowhere else. I can't even describe the aesthetic, "neo-gothic"? Like lots of shades of dark and high contrasts... in stuff like the Scream series, The Faculty, IKWYDLS and the two Chucky movies, etc. Some people love that poo poo "ironically" or whatever but I really can't stand it and I was of-age when that stuff was going on. Dracula 2000
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Oct 26, 2018 00:12
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Franchescanado posted:FRAN CHALLENGE #12: (Self-Described) Masters of Horror Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) [Amazon Prime] I was wondering if this was going to be a bit hokey for a while, with the whole murder tableau thing, but once you get to the core trio bouncing off each other I was really sucked in. Michael Rooker is as good as advertised, I was blown away by Tom Towles, and Tracy Arnold is incredibly sad as Becky. Good flick. New (25): #1 The Terror (2018), #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), #16 Godzilla (1954), #17 The Vault (2017), #18 Cargo (2017), #19 Berlin Syndrome (2017), #22 Dawn of the Dead (1978), #26 Seven in Heaven (2018), #27 Happy Death Day (2017), #28 Into the Forest (2015), #29 Hardware (1990), #30 Prodigy (2018), #31 The Survivalist (2015), #32, Honeymoon (2014), #33 Child's Play (1988), #37 Halloween (2018), #38 Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) Rewatch (13): #2 The Cabin in the Woods (2011), #3 Gone Girl (2014), #4 Annihilation (2018), #5 Seven (1995), #15 A Quiet Place (2018), #20 Doom (2005), #21 Predator (1987), #23 Gremlins (1984), #24 The Andromeda Strain (1971), #25 Split (2016), #34 Dawn of the Dead (2004), #35 Alien vs Predator (2004), #36 Alien vs Predator: Requiem (2007) Personal Goal (4/13): Alien 3 (Assembly Cut), The Beyond, Beyond the Black Rainbow, The Brood, Fran Challenges (6/12): #7 [The World Is A Scary Place] Godzilla (1954), #3 [Hometown Horror] Dawn of the Dead (1978), #2 [Queer Horror] Into the Forest (2015), #8 [Once In A Lifetime] Dawn of the Dead (2004), #11 [Fear and Now] Halloween (2018), #12 [(Self-Described) Masters of Horror] Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)
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Oct 26, 2018 00:13
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Basebf555 posted:Dracula 2000 That's definitely going on next year's October watchlist, holy poo poo. I completely forgot it existed and I still haven't seen it. I looked it up just now and to my complete lack of surprise, Jonny Lee Miller's in it.
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Oct 26, 2018 00:36
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King Vidiot posted:On that note, if Bride or Seed of Chucky have any sort of "problem" it's that they were made in that post-Scream period of late 90's horror where it was always night and everybody dressed like they either shopped at Hot Topic or The Gap and nowhere else. I can't even describe the aesthetic, "neo-gothic"? Like lots of shades of dark and high contrasts... in stuff like the Scream series, The Faculty, IKWYDLS and the two Chucky movies, etc. Some people love that poo poo "ironically" or whatever but I really can't stand it and I was of-age when that stuff was going on. Wow, I just finished the write-up for my next batch of watches and I talk about this issue a little bit. I was going to watch some more films tonight and add them but I'll just post what I got now. Keep in mind my words were written yesterday so don't take it as me being detached or aloof or anything. 39. Halloween: H20 (1998)  I plan on seeing the 2018 Halloween this weekend and in the spirit of that decided to bang this one out. We all know the story of the Halloween series. The first is a classic, the second is an OK horror sequel. The third one is fine if you just watch it as a Halloween-set horror flick and the less said about 4, 5 and 6 the better. I tried watching those latter three last year and stopped after 5 because they are just bad. For some reason I skipped H20 which was the big comeback of Jamie Lee Curtis but saw Resurrection in high school (sucks) and the Rob Zombie remakes which aren’t horrible but their own thing. Zombie looked to be perfect to remake Halloween but he made Michael Myers more than just “The Shape” and his music video direction really took over (which makes me wonder if The Devil’s Rejects was a fluke, great flick). I think it’s appropriate to finally watch H20 because like I said the marketing was about Jamie Lee Curtis’ big return. Yeah, this one isn’t any good either. I think what annoyed me the most stems from my recent rewatch of the original Halloween. It has this absolutely raw sense of tension mixed with small town aesthetics and dread. H20 is your late 90s slasher complete with self-awareness and teenagers straight from a teen magazine and at times feels dated with forced humor and constant levity despite this being a horror film. So, yeah, it sucks even though it was supposed to be the big relaunch of the series at the time. They eventually got it right after how long. /540. Saw (2004)  Another rewatch for me, again it’s the overrun and after watching 31 new horror flicks for me I figured rewatching old ones might yield new thoughts after all the years. I might go on for a bit over this one because I still like it and will defend it even though the sequels got more and more convulted and less cerebral. I am biased because I watched Saw in 2004 completely blind as to what to expect except that horror fans were raving about it. At the time the genre was saturated with PG-13 horror flicks and slasher films with self-aware characters and “Who is the killer?!” mysteries. At the time watching Saw it reminded me of Se7en in a lot of ways from the cinematography to the vibe and the intense dread of dealing with a serial killer who was really smart and two steps ahead. I became a fan of it the second that ending hit because holy poo poo did it floor me. I really cannot describe what a blast of fresh air the film was because it took the “Who is the killer?!” mystery from the late 90s horror genre and subverted it plus did the ONE thing slasher movies seemed to be afraid to do: have the killer win and everyone dies because he was smarter than them. Until the sequels moved continuity around the idea that Lawrence and Adam were dead after the events of this film just stunned me deeply as the credits rolled. If Scream ended the reign of slasher movie tropes then Saw ended the reign of self-aware slasher movie tropes. Though it brought in the torture porn genre (that it fanned the flames of with the sequels getting more and more grotesque) which is another debate for another time. I still like this film. It’s a thriller with a darkly entertaining and methodical villain in Jigsaw and finally gave the genre another mascot to join the Jasons and Freddys of the world. The plot is a little convoluted (nowhere near the sequels, however) but only twisted enough to keep you guessing. /5Total: 1. The Conjuring 2 (2016), 2. Terrifier (2016), 3. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), 4. Split (2017), 5. The First Purge (2018), 6. Trick 'R Treat (2009), 7. Wolf Creek (2005), 8. King Kong (1976), 9. Halloween II (2009), 10. Pumpkinhead (1988), 11. House on Haunted Hill (1959), 12. House on Haunted Hill (1999), 13. What We Do in the Shadows (2014), 14. Ghostbusters (2016), 15. Bride of Chucky (1998), 16. Seed of Chucky (2004), 17. Nightbreed (1990), 18. The Axe Murders of Villisca (2016), 19. Ghosts of Mars (2001), 20. Haunters: The Art of the Scare (2017), 21 Annabelle (2014), 22. The Stuff (1985), 23. Gremlins (1984), 24. Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990), 25. An American Werewolf in London (1981), 26. The Evil Dead (1981), 27. Escape from Tomorrow (2013), 28. Creepshow (1982), 29. Microwave Massacre (1983), 30. Venom (2018), 31. Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018), 32. Lights Out (2016), 33. The Ritual (2017), 34. Halloween (1978), 35. C.H.U.D. (1984), 36. Carnival of Souls (1962), 37. The Exorcist (1973), 38. Summer of 84 (2018), 39. Halloween: H20 (1998), 40. Saw (2004) Fran Challenges:
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Oct 26, 2018 00:52
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 Fran Challenge #9: Stranger Danger 29. The Hidden (1987) This was a delight. I was a little worried when I went to Facebook and said I’d watch the first horror movie that I haven’t seen and am able to get a hold of, and someone suggested this with “it scared me as a child, but maybe it hasn’t held up.” There isn’t anything scary, but it fits in neatly with things like Critters, combining buddy cop antics with an extraterrestrial invader. Everything just works for an 80s sci-fi action movie with horror undertones - it isn’t particularly horrific, but IMDB calls it Action, Comedy *and* Horror, so I think it counts. Good mindless shoot outs, some fun violent fish-out-of-water gags, and a touch of the feels to round everything out in a weird way. Watched List (29): 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, The Endless, The Witch Who Came From The Sea, Behind the Mask: The Rise Of Leslie Vernon, The Old Dark House, Cold Moon, Rec 2, Phenomena, Mandy, It (2017), Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man, Nightmare City, The Ghost Of Frankenstein, The Phantom Of The Opera, The Hidden Fran Challenges Fulfilled(8): #1 Love Something You Hate: Only Lovers Left Alive, #2 Queer Horror: The Old Dark House, #3 Hometown Horror: Butterfly Effect 3, #5 Birth Of Horror: The Tenant, #6 Video Nasties: The Witch Who Came From The Sea, #7 The World Is A Scary Place: Ringu 0, #9 Stranger Danger: The Hidden, #10 Fear And Now: Mandy, #11 Dead And Buried: The Ghost Of Frankenstein
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Oct 26, 2018 02:16
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Day 25 - The Fall of the House of Usher https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QslKMIOeME8 Vincent Price is ripped in this movie! Philip goes to the crumbling manse of the Ushers to visit his fiance Madeline. But her brother Roderick insists that they cannot marry: the family is cursed and insists that the bloodline ends with them. Phillip won't have any of that so he tries to take Madeline away but the house itself seems to conspire to drive him away. And Roderick himself takes drastic steps once Phillip isn't deterred. If this movie were any more gothic it would have to shop at Hot Topic (alternative joke: if this movie were any more gothic, it would have to sack Rome). Okay, Poe was taking his cues from gothic novels that already existed when he wrote, but this really leans into the archetypes. I think it worked for me in part because it's an old-fashioned story not seen any more. I appreciated that the house was haunted (probably) though the ghosts were never seen (I wouldn't count the dream sequence). This is a small movie with a cast of just four speaking parts, but there isn't really a whole lot of room for anyone else in the movie. This is a battle of wills between Phillip and Roderick (no, Madeline doesn't get a say in what she does, don't be silly) and it doesn't need much more than them. Obviously Price is great as Roderick, though Mark Damon's Phillip is a pretty bland leading man. That ending is fantastic, too. I was thinking that the movie might soften things a bit but Corman sticks with Poe. Well, sticks with Poe thematically at least. I think my favorite Corman/Price/Poe collaboration is still The Masque of the Red Death, but The Fall of the House of Usher is still pretty good. Also, I'm disappointed that Vincent Price's An Evening with Edgar Alan Poe is only 52 minutes, though it is on YouTube if anyone wants to spend not quite an evening with Edgar Alan Poe and Price reciting some stories as a stage show.
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Oct 26, 2018 03:00
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FRAN CHALLENGE #4: Worst of the Best or Best of The Worst Little Evil  There is some good stuff in this movie. Everything with the step-dad support group is good, there are some good jokes, and a lot of talented actors. Kate from Lost, the mom from Mrs. Doubtfire, Turk, Clancy Brown, they all do a great job. Also the guy from Parks and Rec is there. He's fine. What kills it is the script As I said, there are a few solid jokes. But they are pretty far between. The rest of the comedy is pretty not very good. And the constant mediocre comedy undercuts any kind of drama you could get from the situation. It's not like Ghostbusters, where there's humor but there's also stuff you're supposed to take seriously. Although there should be. When the demon hunter dies, it could've been a chance to actually up the stakes, make it seem like stuff is getting important. But since it's played 100% for laughs, and doesn't generate any laughs because it's not funny, it just completely falls flat. The really big problem is that there's no emotional core. You'd think, OK, a family dealing with the fact that their son is the antichrist, great. But it's not about the family, it's about the guy from Parks and Rec. The first hour of the movie is just him dealing with annoyances. Kate from Lost has nothing going on as a character, they never even say what she does during the day. And the kid isn't a character at all for the first hour. He doesn't speak, he just exclusively does spooky horror movie kid stuff. He finally becomes a character an hour in, and that is also the scene where Parks and Rec completely turns on a dime and decides he really does care about the kid. That turn wasn't building over the course of the movie or anything, it just happens in that scene. The movie is an hour and a half but it felt at least two hours long. Little Evil has a few solid jokes and plenty of good performances, but mostly isn't funny or entertaining
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Oct 26, 2018 03:12
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Guy Goodbody posted:FRAN CHALLENGE #4: Worst of the Best or Best of The Worst You better put respect on Sally Field’s name.
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Oct 26, 2018 03:24
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 The Rocky Horror Picture Show, 1975 What the gently caress do I even write about this movie at this point? I see it every year. Not just in these October marathons, but also when I get really drunk and got no idea what to do with my self. I know just about all the songs, all the lines by hearth. It's the ultimate rock 'n' roll musical paying tribute to classic horror and sci-fi. A masterpiece of old school glam rock. And probably some kind of proto-goth culture thingy. Is there really a need for me to even talk about the plot? If you like musicals, 70s glam rock/50s rock 'n' roll and old school horror/sci-fi, then of course you know this movie. It's a loving classic for a reason.
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Oct 26, 2018 03:53
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#27- WNUF Halloween Special Heard a lot about this last year, so I decided to give it a go. A found footage thing, with a 1987 local news broadcast leading into a special investigation of a supposedly haunted house. A lot of work went into trying to make this authentic, with a believable VHS aesthetic, local ads, etc. The ads are part of the problem. There are realistic ad breaks throughout, and whoever's playing the video sometimes fast forwards through stuff, but not always, and also in true TV special investigation fashion they make sure to take their sweet time actually going into the murder house. Which would be okay if there were a good payoff, but... well, just no. Without going into specifics, it just fails to deliver. By the time anything happens, there's not enough time left to do anything interesting. Too much time spent on the buildup and on the ads, and the humorous 80s cheese, while not overdone or unrealistic, still gets in the way of it being actually scary, which- I think it's trying to do. Found footage movies require you to strike a balance between leaving a mystery within what the camera doesn't capture, and still having enough happen on screen that it's a satisfying narrative, and this just fails to get there. The reporter guy gives a good performance, though, he's exactly the kind of sleaze you find chasing a lurid story while not really taking it seriously.
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Oct 26, 2018 03:56
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35- Halloween 2007 Figured I’d finally check out the Zombie ones, I’m not really sure how to feel about it really; I appreciate that Zombie wanted to do something different and not just a more violent version of the first one, but I don’t really dig the whole origin story approach. I think Michael works better as a force of nature, just a little kid who snaps for no reason and has black eyes like a shark. Spending so much time on why he is how he is isn’t a BAD idea, but It didn’t really land for me. The cast is good though, and once we get past the origin I enjoyed it a lot more.
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Oct 26, 2018 04:15
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