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And the last couple movies to round out the month. I'm glad I stumbled upon this challenge as I needed the motivation to finally clear out a good chunk of my backlog. Of course reading other's reviews has expanded my backlog quite a bit as well... 40. House (1977)  A bunch of high school girls go to what turns out to be a haunted house for vacation and end up meeting their various fates. What a fun, silly movie. Saw this in the theater with a crowd that was way into it. I think a large part of the charm was due to the director having only directed commercials until them so several of the gags were set up like commercials. Definitely worth watching. 41. The Wicker Man (1973)  A very Christian police officer is sent to a remote Scottish isle to investigate the disappearance of a young woman. The town's pagan tendencies don't sit well with him. Christopher Lee is the lord of the isle and explains to the officer that this is just how life is there. As the officer's investigation winds to a conclusion, all the pieces come together to setup things for the wicker man. A weird and interesting movie, almost a musical with how much singing is in it. 42. The Wicker Man (2006)  Nic Cage plays a CHiP with PTSD who gets a letter from an ex on an island in Washington that her child has gone missing. Threatening the island residents with police powers he doesn't have, Cage tries to find the little girl while being very confused by the fact women are in power. Even with Cage's frantic acting, not that good of a movie. 1. Suspiria (1977) 2. The Last Shark (1981) 3. Evils of the Night (1985) 4. Little Shop of Horrors (1986) 5. Death Spa (1989) 6. Belladonna of Sadness (1973) 7. Orca (1977) 8. Evil Toons (1992) 9. Dracula's Daughter (1936) 10. Invisible Woman (1940) 11. Slumber Party Massacre (1982) 12. Slumber Party Massacre II (1987) 13. Slumber Party Massacre III (1990) 14. House of Dracula (1945) 15. Invisible Agent (1942) 16. Sleepaway Camp (1983) 17. Sleepaway Camp II (1988) 18. Venom (2018) 19. The Mummy's Hand (1940) 20. Nosferatu (1922) 21. Terror in the Midnight Sun (1959) 22. Invasion of the Saucer-Men (1957) 23. Häxan Witchcraft Through the Ages (1922) 24. The Mummy's Tomb (1942) 25. The Mummy's Ghost (1944) 26. The Mummy's Curse (1944) 27. Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920) 28. The Invisible Man's Revenge (1944) 29. Phantom of the Opera (1925) 30. Werewolf of London (1935) 31. Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943) 32. Carnival of Souls (1962) 33. Abominable Snowman (1957) 34. Halloween (2018) 35. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) 36. Ghost Shark (2013) 37. Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (1978) 38. Return of the Living Dead (1985) 39. Altered States (1980)
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Nov 1, 2018 04:11
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31. V/H/S (2012) Watched On: Hulu I felt very uncomfortable watching this movie, both in a "this is spooky" and a "this is sleazy" way. This was initially meant to be my final film and to fulfill Fran Challenge #13, but it didn't sit right with me. I liked the framing device and I thought a lot of the found footage cinematography was pretty good and how it made the bigger effects in Amateur Night and 10/31/98 more realistic. But holy poo poo are all but one of these shorts super loving rapey. The first person nature of all of them made me feel like a participant in some upsetting scenes. Even if that was the filmmakers's intention, the fact that it's so pervasive really turned me off. The exception is 10/31/98, where thankfully no one tries to assault or coerce a woman, and the film is better for it. That and the MU330 on the stereo as the group is driving to the party.
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Nov 1, 2018 04:20
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Alright, my final entry in the October Horror Challenge. Needed to end the month on a high note, so I watched these classic zombie films I'd never seen and whadda ya know? Four new favorites. This makes 999 films watched on Letterboxd, so I have to choose my 1000th carefully (it will probably be the new Suspiria). 59. Night of the Living Dead - 4/5 (Amazon) quote:I'm deeply saddened by how zombies have become a haven for reactionary survivalist fantasy, because the ideals laid out in Night of the Living Dead are transgressive as hell. The cops fighting back the zombies are compared to—in no uncertain terms—a white mob pursuing a pogrom. They are essentially everything the genre has become today: the fantasy of free-reign license to kill "the other". 60. Dawn of the Dead (Theatrical Cut) - 4.5/5 quote:whys ken foree look so much like rami malek 61. Day of the Dead - 5/5 (Shudder) quote:The last thing I expected from this trilogy was a genuinely tense horror movie, drat. Day of the Dead steps back (somewhat) from the rambunctious zombie massacre of Dawn and focuses a more lowkey human horror. One of the finest examples of slow burn horror. 62. Zombi 2 aka Zombie Flesh Eaters - 4/5 (Shudder) quote:"A shark fights a zombie" sounds like some 2004-era meme poo poo, but it's real and actually lives up to the hype. Highly unethical, but I'll be damned if it isn't insanely loving cool and unique. I did feel bad for the shark though, Italian directors do not give a gently caress.
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Nov 1, 2018 04:36
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 31) Suspiria (2018) Just got in but wanted to just say so good. Fantastic. Different for sure but totally hits all the right notes in its own way. Great way to end the season.  /5
Ambitious Spider fucked around with this message at 04:45 on Nov 1, 2018 |
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Nov 1, 2018 04:43
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It's the big night! Happy Halloween Challenge Thread (while there's still time)! #48. The Wolf Man (1941) (Starz) -  /5Larry Talbot returns home from America and gets bitten by a werewolf. As he grapples with his condition, the bodies start to pile up. Is there anything Larry can do to free himself from this curse? One of the better Universal Monster movies from this period, the film turns Lon Chaney Jr.'s "aw shucks" dumb palooka shtick into a strength. Of the stable of Universal contract actors, only Chaney the Second could probably reasonably convey the internal conflict of someone who knows that they're in a dire situation, but too reluctant to do anything to solve the problem one way or another, someone who can be easily pushed around from one position or another by people with more authority than he has. It's also a pretty handsomely mounted production, and the makeup effects are great (even if the design is too bulbous for my tastes). It is annoyingly repetitive at times, though - I think three different people repeated that stupid "[a man] may become a wolf when the Wolf's Bane blooms/and the autumn moon is bright" poem within the span of about 10 minutes before the midpoint. If you can get past that, it's pretty good. Recommended.  #49. Freddy vs. Jason (Blu Ray) - /5Freddy Krueger has been forgotten by the children of Springwood, so he resurrects Jason Voorhees and sends him to kill some teens and raise some fear, to get back into their dreams. However, Freddy can't control Jason, who keeps killing more and more of his intended victims, sending the two to an inevitable (and bloody) confrontation. Okay, I admit - I can't be objective about this movie. It was the first Freddy or Jason movie that I saw on the big screen, so it's kind of a "right of passage" movie for me. I love this ridiculous thing, warts and all. It's my favorite Freddy movie, my favorite Jason movie, my favorite movie to come out of that terrible early 2000s period for horror. It's dumb in all of the right ways, knows a ton about its titular antiheroes, and is cannier about its setup than most people recognize. It's also got some incredible gore scenes, some of the best for either series. I don't know what else people really wanted from this movie, but it gave me everything I wanted from it. Highly recommended. 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, Summer of 84, Bride of Frankenstein, Jigsaw, Son of Frankenstein, Critters 3, Leviathan (1989), Killer Klowns from Outer Space, Mark of the Vampire, 31, The Mummy's Hand, The Wolf Man (1941), Freddy vs. Jason
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Nov 1, 2018 04:43
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Time for Friday the 13th! Previously I had only seen 1-4 of the series, but I just got the bluray set of the first 8 movies. Which is out of print apparently? I had to snag it on eBay. 28. Friday the 13th (1980) I've seen this a few times now, and I still enjoy it. Some fun kills (axe to the face, machete decapitation), plus I love Betsy Palmer as Mrs. Voorhees. 29. Friday the 13th: Part 2 (1981) I'm not a fan of hillbilly bag-head Jason. For a character whose look became iconic, this version is just not visually interesting. This one seems meaner in tone than the first. Also apparently sexual harrassment is how you flirt with women! 30. Friday the 13th: Part 3 (1982) Yay hockey mask! Not that memorable otherwise outside of the kills. 31. Friday the 13: The Final Chapter (1984) This one is fun. The best set of main characters so far. Solid slasher movie that's more fun than the last couple. 32. Friday the 13th: Part 5 - A New Beginning (1985) The opening bit with actual Jason was cool at least. The rest was not very memorable, and when they unmasked the killer I had no loving idea who the guy was until the little flashback. Wish we had gotten actual Jason. 33. Friday the 13: Part 6 - Jason Lives (1986) This one is probably my new favorite. Alice Cooper music, fun characters, and the best Jason yet! Just a fun slasher movie. 34. Friday the 13th: Part 7 - The New Blood (1988) Jason fights a psychic girl, and it's pretty fun! Love this Jason design with the swampy look and exposed spine. Also, watch as Jason kills with a large variety of gardening tools! Even if the movie isn't that great, I always enjoy Jason killing a bunch of people. Haven't time to watch the rest yet, but right now my ranking is: 6 > 7 > 4 > 1 > Remake > 3 > 2 > 5 MetalPriestess fucked around with this message at 05:06 on Nov 1, 2018 |
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Nov 1, 2018 05:01
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 Them!, 1954 There's plenty of 50s sci-fi horror that I like, but this one I kind of love. It's definitely one my favorites from this era of both science fiction and horror. It's the standard big bug mutants caused by radiation plot that was common of the time. It got long scenes of scientists talking to military and government people about the monster and how to stop it, and the US army killing it at the end. It got all the tropes in check and this is the movie that does them spot on. It starts with a mystery in form of people gone missing in strange ways and a little girl wandering from the scene of the crime too traumatized to say anything. Clues gets sent to the FBI and they send two scientists from the Department of Agriculture who think they can identify the problem. It's loving ants. Huge loving ants. The effects are as good as you'd expect from the 50s, but they look cool in their low tech ways. The scientists are the smart people who figure out how to deal with the thing, and shockingly, one of them is a woman. So not only is this a super cool pro-science sci-fi (for a genre that's suppose to be about science, there are way too much anti-intellectual stuff out there that's all "science bad and scientist mad"), it's also kind of progressive for next to tons of other movies from the time where the woman is just an assistant at best and just get in the way of the men. There's no scenes like that and she is just as competent as her dad. It's as close to perfection as you'll get from one of these movies and one you can actually enjoy as a movie without having to make fun of how outdated and cheesy it is. Classic all the way.
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Nov 1, 2018 05:05
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Franchescanado posted:
#14: Apostle (2018)  This was just okay. I was pumped to watch it given the trailer and how much I loved both the Raid movies, but this just felt middling to me. I started off really invested in everything; I liked the journey to the colony and the slow introduction of its rituals and underlying secrets, but it never really went anywhere I cared about too much and it had some pretty big pacing issues. I doubt this is a new criticism, but it could've lost half an hour from the middle to absolutely no detriment. There were a few moments of brutal and creative violence but nothing that was memorable enough or fun enough to define the movie. All of this would've been fine if the rest of the movie had a better atmosphere, but most of the time it didn't quite give me the tension or unease I was hoping for, and the mystery wasn't interesting enough for me to spend time chewing on that either. It probably sounds like I hated this but it's more just that I was disappointed. I don't regret watching it, but it was a bit too long and mostly forgettable. Franchescanado posted:
 Personal goal met!#15: The Lure (2015)  Yeah! Never really seen something exactly like this before and it was great watching something with such a huge personality. The story was fun, the color palette was wonderful, and as soon as it hit the grocery store musical number I was completely sold on whatever this movie wanted to throw at me next. There should be way more horror musicals in my humble opinion. And I think that's it for me this month! A little disappointed that I didn't get all the challenges knocked down as well, but I'm pleased I met my personal goal. I think I tried this thread for a bit in a previous year but checked out much earlier, so maybe next year I'll be able to get in a full, respectable 31. Watched (15/15): #1 As Above, So Below (2014), #2 Shutter (2004), #3 A Dark Song (2016), #4 The Endless (2017), #5 Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell (1978), #6 Blade II (2002), #7 Tag (2015), #8 Tale of Tales (2015), #9 Under the Shadow (2016), #10 Blood Feast (1963), #11 The Hitcher (1986), #12 The Beyond (1981), #13 Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979), #14 Apostle (2018), #15 The Lure (2015) Fran Challenges (8/13): #1,
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Nov 1, 2018 05:07
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31. Aquarius (StageFright) (1987) This was a really solid slasher movie. I really like the idea of a ballet troupe slasher and the villain is great. The owl mask is awesome. The worst thing a slasher can be is forgettable and I'll remember this one for a while. Recommended. 3.5/5 very good 32. Psycho II (1983)  This movie was about as good as a sequel to Psycho could be. I'm glad the Psycho "franchise" didn't really become a thing until long after the original movie. The Hitchcock original and the three sequels feel almost like separate entities. Psycho II picks up years after the events of the original, right as Norman Bates is being released from the mental institution with the support of his doctor played by Robert Loggia. Although some claim that releasing Norman will be disastrous and lead to more murders, certain members of his community support him and try to help him reintegrate into society. Norman seems to have a handle on his mental health, but, as people begin to mysteriously die, Norman starts to doubt his sanity. I thought this movie was really good and worth the watch. Norman Bates the character seems real and Anthony Perkins does a pretty good job reprising the role (although he's not the best actor let me just say). I definitely recommend to any fans of the original Psycho and pretty much anyone else. 4.5/5 great 33. Psycho III (1986)  Tony Perkins is back as Norman Bates and also as the director. This is a good looking movie. Lot's of imagery from the original Psycho and Vertigo as well. Jeff Fahey is in this movie and that makes it worth watching automatically. He plays a pretty scummy character and yet still manages to be likeable. I was right with this movie until the nun died but the movie's not ruined by it or anything. In fact it's quite good overall. Recommended to anyone who's seen Psycho II. 4/5 Very good. 34. Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990)  After Psychos II & III you might wonder what could possibly come next. Psycho IV is what. An interesting and entertaining movie, it essentially ignores II & III and tells a different story. Anthony Perkins plays Norman Bates again. I really like the setup in this movie and the way the story's told. An in-depth talk radio show is discussing sons who murder their mothers. Well, Norman is perfect for this show so he calls in. Without identifying himself he confesses to murdering his mother, claims he'll murder again, and what comes next is a series of flashbacks into Norman's childhood, and in between flashbacks we come to understand Norman and his current situation. This movie works for me and if you've made it as far as Psycho III, you need to do yourself a favor and watch Psycho IV as well. 4/5 very good
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Nov 1, 2018 05:08
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Sorry if these are short. It's Halloween night, I am tired, and I ended up watching a lot more movies than I meant to this month. 55. Eyes Without a Face (1960, dir. Georges Franju) [filmstruck] It's simple and straightforward, the sort of story that's been told many times, but the execution is on another level. Visually it's just so impressive. The music is a little strange but I think I liked it. 4/5 Franchescanado posted:
 56. Phenomena (1985, dir. Dario Argento) [shudder] Another fantastic Argento giallo. Loved the way it went from hazy and dreamlike for most of it's runtime to all out crazy at the end. Nice to see Donald Pleasence as not Loomis after so many bad Halloween sequels this month. 4/5 Franchescanado posted:
 57. Pulgasari (1985, dir. Shin Sang-ok) [youtube] North Korean kaiju made by a director kidnapped from the South by Kim Jong-il, with some Toho Studios staff tricked into helping. For propaganda it's not all bad and pretty fun at times. It is a slog though, felt twice as long as it actually was. The story of how it happened is definitely more interesting than the film itself. 2/5  58. Visible Secret (2001, dir. Ann Hui) [dvd] Shu Qi's Left Eye Sees Ghosts Not a unique ghost story, but it's charming and well done with some nice striking imagery at times. Takes a little while, but cranks up the horror towards the end. Is there anything more frightening than the thought of being haunted by the ghost of headless Anthony Wong? 4/5  59. Braindead (1992, dir. Peter Jackson) Classic. Can't believe it took me so long to finally see this one. Not all of the humor is exactly my style but it was really great. Good clean fun. 4/5 These last three were this year's Halloween viewing:  60. The Lure (2015, dir. Agnieszka Smoczynska) [blu-ray] *rewatch It's a mermaid horror fantasy weird sex musical, there's really not too much more to say than that. Nothing especially stuck out to me on rewatch but the songs are pretty good and I love the style of it. 5/5 Franchescanado posted:
 61. Halloween (2018, dir. David Gordon Green) [theater] Alright. Fine. Adequate. Definitely the best of the Halloween 2s but never rises above that to be anything too special for me. Don't really have thoughts one way or the other on the score except it's nice to hear the theme competently used again after watching 4-resurrection this month. Now that I've seen them all I can say the only two I really love are the original and 3. 3/5  62. Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982, dir. Tommy Lee Wallace) [blu-ray] *rewatch I feel like one's enjoyment of this movie now really depends your level of tolerance for dirtbag protagonists. All I can say is it works for me. Between the score, the weird as hell script, and Tom Atkins, Season of the Witch is the one Halloween sequel that feels something like a Carpenter movie. It's so strange and fun and I love it. 5/5 Total: 62. The Untold Story (3/5), *The Sleep Curse (4/5), The Faculty (3/5), Demon Knight (4/5), Return of the Living Dead (4/5), The Evil of Frankenstein (3/5), Hellraiser: Judgment (1/5), Vampyres (3/5), We're Going to Eat You (3/5), The Slumber Party Massacre (4/5), The Eternal Evil of Asia (3/5), ~*28 Weeks Later (3/5), Phantasm II (4/5), Ravenous (4/5), Carrie (4/5), The Beyond (4/5), ~The Ward (1/5), Village of the Damned['95] (2/5), Amer (4/5), Halloween 4 (2/5), Halloween 5 (2/5), Manhunter (4/5), Revenge (5/5), ~Nightbreed (3/5), Mandy (4/5), Shivers (4/5), The Purge (2/5), The Purge: Anarchy (3/5), Satanico Pandemonium (2/5), The Purge: Election Year (2/5), ~Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (4/5), The First Purge (4/5), The Addiction (5/5), Tales From the Hood (5/5), ~Angst (4/5), Apostle (3/5), ~Tenebre (4/5), The Invisible Man (4/5), Halloween 6 (1/5), Halloween H20 (2/5), Possession (5/5), The Old Dark House (4/5), ~Alucarda (4/5), Halloween: Resurrection (1/5), The Pit and the Pendulum (4/5), Corpse Mania (4/5), ~The Oregonian (3/5), Near Dark (4/5), ~Tales From the Hood 2 (3/5), ~The Crazies (3/5), Spooky Encounters (4/5), The Curse of Frankenstein (4/5), Onibaba (4/5), *Demons (5/5), Eyes Without a Face (4/5), ~Phenomena (4/5), ~Pulgasari (2/5), Visible Secret (4/5), Braindead (4/5), *The Lure (5/5), ~Halloween 2018 (3/5), *Halloween 3 (5/5) *-rewatch (5) ~-fran challenge (13/13 completed)
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Nov 1, 2018 05:19
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Fran Challenge 13: What we’re all waiting for 40 - Halloween III Season of the Witch Didn’t care for it. Everyone is awful and very few actions anyone take make any logical sense. I do like the idea of taking the franchise in different directions and I wish that worked out. I also like how the villain’s plan is both absurd and ridiculous, while also being horrifying. I also kind of dug the ending. What I liked wasn’t enough to weigh over what I didn’t, though.
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Nov 1, 2018 05:28
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October 1 - Mom and Dad October 2 - The Love Witch October 3 - Zombie October 4 - Rings October 5 - DeepStar Six October 6 - Shiver of the Vampires October 7 - Sadako vs. Kayako October 8 - The House That Dripped Blood October 9 - Invaders From Mars October 10 - The Hills Have Eyes October 11 - Burnt Offerings October 12 - Belladonna of Sadness October 13 - Vampire Circus October 14 - Poltergeist III October 15 - It Came From the Desert October 16 - Ganja and Hess October 17 - The Monster of Frankenstein October 18 - Scream and Scream Again October 19 - Exorcist III October 20 - The Driller Killer October 21 - Creepy October 22 - Last House on the Left October 23 - The Alchemist's Cookbook October 24 - Wishing Stair October 25 - The Fall of the House of Usher October 26 - The Ninth Configuration October 27 - The Slit Mouthed Woman October 28 - Tales from the Hood 2 October 29 - The Company of Wolves October 30 - Blood Freak October 31 - Dracula So this year's challenge is likely to be the last one I complete while in school, unless I somehow manage to gently caress up four separate classes in the next the few months. I'm glad for that because it's put enormous time pressures on me (technically, I should be completing some homework right now as I type this up. Because I always have multiple assignments that take ten to twenty hours to complete due each week. Why, yes, I do long for the sweet embrace of death, why do you ask?). I actually applied for my spring graduation today, in fact! That means come next October I'll actually be able to dedicate some time and effort to this. I'm gunning for your 200, M_Sinistrari! I've got to say, I love these threads. Everybody just chilling with their spooky movies. And everyone getting that not every movie is going to connect with every viewer so the "gently caress you Underwear Girls Slaughterhouse 5 is a masterpiece!" stuff is almost unheard of (besides, everyone knows Underwear Girls Slaughterhouse in Space is the best of the series). I love the feedback loops we get in this thread where someone discovers some interesting, obscure movie and within two weeks half the thread has watched it and has opinions on it. I love seeing those of us who are dedicated to a new films only challenge have to go further and further afield for their movies. I love the people in the thread watching classics for the first time. I love the people who go all-in on a theme and try to watch a ton of related movies and poke at all the differences. The horror movie challenge threads are fantastic and everybody posting in them is cool. I wanted to call out the Fran Challenges as a great idea even though I decided early on that I didn't want to actively pursue them. Giving people additional goals was pretty cool and it added something to the thread. I might have decided that they weren't for me, but I did appreciate that they existed. Okay, time for some categories: "Why did I watch this?" - The Alchemist's Cookbook was a well made movie about mental illness that was an incredible bummer as a result. I should have known to avoid Rings because sequels to The Ring are always terrible. Driller Killer was a poorly made movie about lovely people that's only remembered for the controversy it set off. But the "winner" in this category is Last House on the Left which is yet another 1970's rape/revenge flick that seems to get off on the slow torture and rape of the women for the first half of the movie and then try to justify it by killing the perpetrators in the second half. That's a formula that always leaves a bad taste in my mouth and I would have been better off never watching Last House at all. Best Movie for Someone Other than Me - I may not have cared for these movies, but I could recognize the skill involved in making them and I felt that I was just the wrong audience. The Ninth Configuration relied on the audience being horrified that God doesn't exist. Invaders of Mars had a lot of stuff that children would enjoy, though as an adult the story's structure didn't work for me. Zombie is a big name in Italian horror but I hate Italian horror. The winner here, though, has to be Ganja and Hess which is an artistic vampire movie with some creative themes that just weren't engaging to me personally. Biggest Let Down - "Oh man, this is going to be awesome..." [ninety minutes later] "What the gently caress?" Burnt Offerings sounded like a cool haunted house movie and had some great acting but it takes too long to find its feet. Mom and Dad promised me crazy Nick Cage going crazy and chasing kids and gave me about a minute and a half of that around an hour into the movie. DeepStar Six couldn't even live up the promise of a cheesy movie about giant crab monsters. But the biggest disappointment of the month was Sadako vs. Kayako. I was promised ghost fight hijinks and a story that interweaved the two biggest horror franchises in Japanese history and I got two stories that had nothing to do with each other until the last five minutes where the ghosts fight off screen and the movie ends abruptly as something interesting is happening. Cheesiest Fun - Scream and Scream Again doesn't make a lick of sense but it's got some great talent in it and some wild scenes. The House that Dripped Blood gives four Tales from the Crypt style stories with the last one ending on an especially absurd (and fun) note. Vampire Circus delivers on both vampires and circuses, though the circus is pretty small. Blood Freak, however, is a Christian exploitation movie about how pot and scientifically altered turkeys combine to give a man a turkey head that thirsts for blood and only Jesus can help him. Oh, and it's directed by someone who aspires to be as talented as Ed Wood. Blood Freak is amazing. Best Fairy Tale - I had a lot of fable based movies this year for some reason. The Love Witch is a great love letter to 60's and 70's horror cinema that looks fantastic. The Company of Wolves is all about fairy tales and has some impressive wolf effects. Also some not so impressive wolf effects. Wishing Stair takes the Monkey's Paw to Asian ghost girls but doesn't live up to the promise of wishes going awry. The clear winner here is Belladonna of Sadness which might be the best movie I watched this month. Even if it's not, it was by far the most beautiful. Best Sequel - Well, it's obviously not Poltergeist III even though it's better than you might expect thanks to a breezy story that keeps mirror ghosts coming. Tales from the Hood 2 is a respectable follow up to the classic with some timely, though very heavy handed messages. Is it fair to call Dracula a sequel? No, but I'm putting four movies in each category and I wanted to mention again that the direction is better than the well known film shot on the same sets. The winner here is definitely Exorcist III which had some flaws, but also had some fantastic scenes about trying to get into the head of a demon.
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Nov 1, 2018 05:32
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By my count I've completed my challenge: 31 films I've never seen before viewed and reviewed. Here they are in all their glory: 1. Prom Night 2. Cape Fear 3. 13 Ghosts 4. The Haunting 5. The Innocents 6. The Thing from another world 7. Final Exam 8. Pieces 9. The Gate 10. Invasion of the Body Snatchers 11. Blood and Black Lace 12. Body Double 13. The Reflecting Skin 14. Les yeux sans visage 15. Freaks 16. Army of Darkness 17. Them! 18. The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms 19. Halloween II 20. Gremlins 21. Dagon 22. Demonic Toys 23. The Stone Tape 24. Prince of Darkness 25. Split 26. The Nanny 27. The Addams Family 28. Aquarius (Stagefright) 29. Psycho II 30. Psycho III 31. Psycho IV: The Beginning
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Nov 1, 2018 05:37
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#47 Attack of the Killer Tomatoes 3/5 Helicopter Crash Ad-Libs Much better than I expected, but I have a fondness for late 70s comedy. There's a lot in this that looks and feels like The Muppet Movie. The undercover guy blowing his cover at the tomato campfire was great. #48 Wish Upon 1/5 Sluts For Wontons Fran Challenge: Let your stupid friend pick a terrible movie It's the monkey paw story with an unsympathetic protagonist. The PG-13 cutaways are unbearable. The ending might carry this to the lofty heights of so bad it's good. #49 Diabolique 3/5 Wicker Coffins There's a lot of good stuff in here but this is so much longer than it needs to be. It has slow noir pacing and a finish that feels like a Twilight Zone gag. Some twists become unsatisfying after 2 hours. #50 Se7en 5/5 loving Boxes Incredibly good. The back half is full of tension even knowing whodunnit and the ending. The Patriot Act subplot in a 1995 film might be the most impressive prediction of our dark future since BTTF2. #51 Minutes Past Midnight 3/5 Games Of Chupacabra Whac-A-Mole There's some fun stuff in here. The puppet short is made by really talented people. Feeder is a really good idea that doesn't feel developed enough. The chupacabra short is one of the better Evil Dead knockoffs I can remember. #52 Rosemary's Baby 4/5 Spoilers Because I Googled Tannis Root During The Movie Fantastic. It's great how the action isn't cackling evil but the unremarkable manipulation of Rosemary. "They promised you wouldn't be hurt, and you haven't been, really." Gorgeous colors, sets, and wardrobe. #53 The Love Witch 3/5 The production is wonderful. I love the costumes and set decorations. Robinson is great but the secondary cast are mostly duds. #54 Tales From The Hood(re-watch) 4/5 "Monster" Tattoos Someone loses a fight to a puppet! Like several funny episodes of Tales From The Crypt with a better host. The CGI is bad but in a charming way. #55 Tales From The Hood 2 2/5 It's not great. The CGI skeleton opening credits are very fun. I really wish the final short used nameless stand-ins rather than actual historical figures.
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Nov 1, 2018 05:44
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No screenshots as I'm tired and coming off the beer and scotch at my sister's après-trick-or-treat party. 61. The Mummy (1959) - Blu-ray Way better than the original Universal film. But still far from my favorite Hammer. 62. The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) - Blu-ray Good, especially in the final act. Doesn't hold a candle to the previous three films, however. 63. The Evil Dead (1981)* - DVD It's The Evil Dead, I don't actually have to write anything about this low budget masterpiece. 64. Evil Dead II (1987)* - DVD Still great. 65. Hocus Pocus (1993)* - DVD Had fun watching this with my sister every Halloween season for years. She had it on at her party and it remains a sentimental favorite. N/A It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)* - DVD Also on at the party and still awesome. 66. Army of Darkness (1992)* - DVD  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, 50. The Slumber Party Massacre (1982), 51. Village of the Damned (1960)11, 52. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)*13, 53. The Blob (1958), 54. Corpse Bride (2005), 55. Phantasm II (1988), 56. The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962), 57. Piranha (1972), 58. The Fly (1986), 59. The Return of the Living Dead (1985)*12, 60. Scream of Fear (1961), 61. The Mummy (1959), 62. The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), 63. The Evil Dead (1981)*, Evil Dead II (1987)*, 64. Hocus Pocus (1993), N/A It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966), 65. Army of Darkness (1992) Years Spanned: 96 (1922-2018) Tally by Decade: '20s (I), '30s (V), '40s (IV), '50s (VII), '60s (XII), '70s (IV), '80s (XVI), '90s (VI), 2000s (VIII), 2010s (V) B&W/Color: 25/43 Rewatch/Total Counted: 12/66 Countries: 'Murika, Canada, Blighty, France, Germany, Estonia, China, South Korea, Japan Fran Challenges Complete: * Rewatch
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Nov 1, 2018 05:57
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One more for the Road. #125. Suspiria (2018) In 1977, American Suzy Bannon gets enrolled in the prestigious Markos Dance Academy in East Berlin. However, there are strange and sinister goings ons behind the scenes... I'll be honest, I came into this with strong reservations, as I felt that the original film from 40 years ago didn't need a remake. I couldn't have been more surprised by what I got. There's a kernel of similarities between the films, especially in the first half or so, but I would say there's as much in common with the two films, as say the Universal Frankensteins and the Hammer Frankensteins. It is unfair to compare the two. That said, this film is a dizzying tour de force. The camera near constantly moves in vertigo enducing zooms and angles. The acting is intimidating. The violence, when it happens, is sudden and dramatically graphic, particularly in the final act that jarringly switches gears. I am still processing what I watched tonight less than two hours later, and can't wait to see what people think when the movie comes into wide release Friday. out of 5
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Nov 1, 2018 06:09
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Franchescanado posted:FRAN CHALLENGE #1: Love Something You Hate Predator 2 (1990) [Blu-ray] Rewatch, from probably 15 years ago, when I didn't much care for it. The ethnic gangs and whole "urban jungle" thing still don't sit great, and the supporting cops grate, including Bill Paxton. But the more the movie moves into the federal operation and focuses on Danny Glover the better it gets. I enjoyed the movie more the longer it went, when I think on my first watch I'd kinda checked out by the end and didn't appreciate it. https://i.imgur.com/6dgHgTa.gifv New (31): #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), #39 The Last House on the Left (1972), #40 The Exorcist (1973), #41 Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018), #43 Tremors (1990), #44 Phase IV (1974), #45 Hold the Dark (2018) Rewatch (15): #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), #42 The Guest (2014), #46 Predator 2 (1990) Personal Goal (5/13): Alien 3 (Assembly Cut), The Beyond, Beyond the Black Rainbow, The Brood, Fran Challenges (12/13): #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), #6 [Video Nasties] The Last House on the Left (1972), #13 [What We've All Been Waiting For] The Guest (2014), #9 [Stranger Danger] Tremors(1990), #11 [Dead & Buried] Phase IV (1974), #4 [Worst of the Best] Hold the Dark (2018), #1 [Love Something You Hate] Predator 2 (1990)
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Nov 1, 2018 06:15
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I kind of petered out a couple weeks ago. I just got burned out on horror movies,. But I watched exactly double my original goal of 13, and it was all new to me, so I'm pretty happy. I could have run the numbers up if I hadn't included 5 seasons of TV shows (I watched the 4th season of Channel Zero, but I didn't feel like writing it up) but I enjoyed the experience. Thanks to Fran for running things and everybody else for participating! I'll never forgive you for making me watch Survival of the Dead. Final Total: 26 1. Hell House LLC 2. Channel Zero: Candle Cove 3. Grave Encounters 4. Channel Zero: No-End House 5. Tucker & Dale vs. Evil* 6. Rope* 7. Der Nachtmahr 8. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre* 9. Survival of the Dead* 10. Lake Mungo 11. Jigsaw 12. Tenebrae* 13. Opera* 14. Halloween 15. Channel Zero: Butcher's Block 16. A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night 17. Tetsuo: The Iron Man 18. The Eye* 19. Dark, Deadly & Dreadful 20. As Above So Below 21. Chernobyl Diaries 22. Hour of the Wolf* 23. Apostle 24. The Wicker Man 25. Sleep Tight* 26. The Haunting of Hill House* *Fran Challenge (10/13 Completed)
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Nov 1, 2018 06:20
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#25 / 31 - Hellbound: Hellraiser 2 (1988) I genuinely like this one better than the original. While the first one is essentially a vampire movie that takes a hard left turn into what-the-gently caress-town at the very end, Hellbound starts at the level the first one ended at and only gets more and more insane and horrifying. This movie might genuinely have some of the coolest and weirdest horror imagery you'll ever find in a decently-budgeted movie. Also, Clare Higgins is loving terrifying even when there's nothing going on of note. She just looks at everything like she wants to kill and eat it and it does so much for Julia as a character.
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Nov 1, 2018 06:39
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#26 / 31 - Crystal Lake Memories (2013) This is one I've been watching on and off instead of blowing through in one sitting, and I just finished it up. It's pretty worthwhile if you're even remotely a Friday the 13th fan. This is probably the most comprehensive history of the series that has ever been put to text or video, and at six loving hours I don't think any documentary on the subject will ever top it.
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Nov 1, 2018 06:54
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I thought I was gonna have a ton of time in today to squeeze in some more movies, but life happened so straight through to the Halloween finale and last of Fran’s challenges. Because screw one movie, its all Halloween movies tonight.Franchescanado posted:FRAN CHALLENGES 57 (62). WNUF Halloween Special (2013) Available from Prime.  Someone is watching a VHS copy of a local broadcast from WNUF on October 31st, 1987 where a news anchor plans to investigate a local haunted house with some paranormal specialists and see if they can uncover something evil. I didn’t like this at all. It had its moments but its priorities were so weird. Like, the vintage seeming commercials were cute and all but they just keep happening over and over and over and over and over. They have to make up like 1/3rd of the film. And they’re not anything special. They’re not like funny or clever or anything. They’re just commercials like you would have seen in ’87 on a local channel. Which again, was cute, and nostalgic. But holy poo poo man, FF through them! They actually aired the same carpet commercial twice. Why? Was the joke that you made us watch perfect copies of bad local commercials for 90 minutes? Was this a prank? I was really hoping for something along the lines of Ghostwatch given the premise but Ghostwatch took that seriously and tried to War of the Worlds people while WNUF is obviously just trying to be a nostalgic lampoon. Which is fine. I can enjoy that and I probably do to a limit. But the first half hour isn’t even the Special. Its the news broadcast before the special. It takes an hour for them to even step foot in the house. The pacing is ridiculous and I’m not sure they remember to write jokes for half the film. I feel like they had a pretty good idea or short story and then just stretched it out to a full feature film with commercials. Dumb. Sad I left this for Halloween. The Houses October Built was better. Or there was probably something better than both. Should have watched Satan’s Little Helper. Ah well. Weirdly Wikipedia says that since 2011 the writer/director Chris LaMartina has been working as a Creative Director of Storytelling for ad agencies. So he makes commercials for a living. So I guess the guy has a passion. I don’t get it, but congrats, bud. Live your dream. - (63). Hocus Pocus (1993) Available from the Freeform App (or played a zillion times every October on Freeform).  On October 31st, 1693 the Sanderson Sisters were hung by the town of Salem for murdering children, but they cast a spell to be resurrected some day when a virgin lights a candle. 300 years later an angsty teen boy new in town tries to impress the hot girl by lighting the candle (and confessing to being a virgin in the process, to impress her) and releases the witches! Now they must run out the clock before sunrise and keep the witches from regaining their power and hanging around. Delightful. I haven’t watched this in years but I’m gonna make a case that this is one of the bigger cult classics of the season. Here me out. There’s “cult classic” as we so often describe movies that we just all watch a whole bunch and love and maybe weirdly have posters of or quote lines of or something. But then there’s CULT CLASSIC. Like Rocky Horror Picture Show cult classic. Well its the 25th anniversary of Hocus Pocus this year and Freeform celebrated with an anniversary special (which I didn’t watch because its 90 minutes and I’m not a tween) and the town of Salem celebrated by theming their annual Halloween parade after the film. In fact, the town of Salem has apparently embraced the hell out of the film according to Wikipedia and claims a ton of tourist money directly off the movie (which was actually filmed in part there). They claim tourism was way up this year and connect it to the anniversary. You gotta admit, that’s pretty cult classic. Ok, the movie itself. As I said, delightful. Bette Midler is great and Kathy Najimy and Sarah Jessica Parker (who I never really thought of as funny) are hilarious in the slapstick sidekick roles. They’re just always doing wacky things in the background. Either SJP really, really embraced her character or Kenny Ortega did a hell of a directing job. Seriously, just watch her as she’s standing around in every scene. Its hilarious. It might drag on a little in the end but that might have just been that I was watching it with commercials on the Freeform App and they seemed to backload them. The final act is also spent kind of making the witches more menacing than fun and that doesn’t fully click. But for most of the film they’re fun as hell and this was well worth a rewatch and a good rebound from WNUF. Things I learned about the movie this year: - Kenny Ortega also directed a guilty pleasure favorite of mine Newsies. That makes me smile. He also directed the High School Musical movies. I have no idea how to feel about that. - Mick Garris wrote this! I also found out while looking up Mr. Boogedy last night that he directed the Disney Sunday Night Movie Fuzzbucket which gave me nightmares forever as a kid. So between that, Critters 2, and The Stand I think Mick Garris was my very first favorite horror director before I even knew I was a horror fan. Dude gave me nightmares at 6. - Doug Jones is the zombie! I never did watch Shape of Water this month because I wasn’t all that convinced it was a horror. And I meant to watch the Fear Itself episode Skin and Bones. Seriously, go watch that if you haven’t. Its great and Jones is absolutely terrifying in it. And hey, Garris created Fear Itself! 58 (64). Night of the Demons (1988) Available from Prime.  A group of dumb, obnoxious teens go to the dilapidated old mortuary Hull House to party on Halloween because they’re dumb, obnoxious teens. And a bunch of demons start to possess and kill them because its on old mortuary named Hull House on Halloween. Duh. Man, everyone was watching this one this year and I wanted to as well but once Fran’s challenge came out it seemed obvious I should save it for for that. And there was enough hype that I decided I’d leave it for my big Halloween Finale movie. Oddly I’ve actually seen the 2009 remake before. I don’t remember it super clearly (and it seems to have left so little of a mark that links to it lead to copies of the original) but I vaguely recall it being a relatively faithful remake down to costumes and lipstick and stuff but being mostly forgettable and mediocre. Biggest difference I can remember is that it tried to give things a plot about why things were happening and how to stop it. This is probably the better way and probably a big part of the reason why this is way more fun than the remake. Like, no plot, no explanation, no exposition, no nothing. Its just Halloween, they hosed with seance poo poo in a haunted place, so evil is loving with their poo poo. Simple, straightforward, just ride it out. Obviously the comparison to Evil Dead makes a lot of sense and given the timing (just a year after Evil Dead 2) it makes sense that this was probably a knockoff. Some similarities in theme to Return of the Living Dead too. But it doesn’t come close to any of those. I don’t think it really comes close to another one it reminded me of that I saw earlier this month, Demons. But all that being said, it was still a fun ride and a good way to end my Halloween marathon. I can’t say I have much to say about it, but that’s not a huge problem. Like i said, its just evil poo poo happening on Halloween and go for the ride, and that’s fine and fun. Probably not one I’ll seek out again, but one I’d definitely watch with some friends or when I come across it randomly and watch in the background. And with that I think I’m gonna call that a wrap. Its after 1 AM so Halloween is technically over. 64 total movies, 58 new. Was gonna try and get a round 60 new movies today but ah well. Next year. 13/13 Fran Challenges, all 31 Years for the second year. It was a hell of a month. Recap/overview of the month sometime tomorrow. Happy Halloween, guys! I had a blast! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CafQsKXVb-w&t=18s 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) / - (44). Scream 3 (2000) / Fran’s Challenge #11: 40 (45). Scream 4 (2011) / Fran’s Challenge #12: 41 (46). Possession (1981) / 42 (47). Devils of Darkness (1965) / 43 (48). I Drink Your Blood (1970) / 44 (49). The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967) / 45 (50). Blood and Black Lace (1964) / 46 (51). The Astro-Zombies (1968) / 47 (52). Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) / 48 (53). Ghost Stories (2017) / 49 (54). The Birds (1963) / 50 (55). Tales from the Hood 2 (2018) / 51 (56). The Haunted World of El Superbeasto (2009) / 52 (57). The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell (2018) / 53 (58). Mr. Boogedy (1986) / 54 (59). The Houses October Built (2014) / 55 (60). The Blackcoat’s Daughter (2015) / 56 (61). Hush (2016) / 57 (62). WNUF Halloween Special (2013) / - (63). Hocus Pocus (1993) / Fran’s Challenge #13: 58 (64). Night of the Demons (1988)
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Nov 1, 2018 06:56
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Annual re-watch finale! Night of the Living Dead (1968)  This is my favorite horror movie. It's almost midnight on Halloween here so I'm keeping this to some notes: -The Criterion transfer is absolutely worth it and one of the best of the many restoration jobs they've done. I felt like I really got a feel for the layout of the house for the first time and if the lighting had always looked this good then Romero would probably have a better reputation as a director -I've developed more appreciation for Duane Jones's groundbreaking performance as Ben over the years. Little details from the shock he feels after his first act of violence, to the combination of tenderness and frustration with which he regards Barbara, to the obvious years of pent up anger with the Mr. Coopers of the world bubbling up to the surface all at once. It's a remarkable feat and probably still underappreciated. -This is an aspect of the film that's often criticized, and it's not exactly the most feminist thing in the world, but I've always thought it was a bold and interesting choice that Barbara, the character we spend the first fifteen minutes of the movie with, ends up catatonic for most of the rest of the movie. It's still startling to see someone in a horror movie respond to an impossible attack with not just fear but honest-to-god trauma in a way that feels very realistic and piles on the tension. It provides the movie with a subtler version of the protagonist swap in Psycho, which may be how Romero was able to get away with making a movie with a black leading man in the sixties. -The fact that Romero's zombies can use tools is absolutely terrifying and I can't think of any other zombie movies that picked up on this. The scene with the little girl and the trowel is in my opinion, the most disturbing I've ever seen in a horror movie, especially with the distorted screaming playing over it. -The ending hurts more every year. 5/5  sCHALLENGE COMPLETEDAll reviews here Films watched: 36 Fran challenges completed: 13/13 Best discoveries: Q the Winged Serpent, A Page of Madness Biggest disappointment: The Canal Best thing learned: Chinese vampires hop around everywhere like kangaroos because rigor mortis means they can't bend their knees Smilie review scale:  Happy Halloween!!! Dr. Puppykicker fucked around with this message at 07:21 on Nov 1, 2018 |
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Nov 1, 2018 07:19
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35 - Creepshow THE absolute best horror anthology movie ever made, required October viewing, and a Scream Stream staple. Romero, Savini, and King do their best to attempt to recapture the spirit of EC horror comics they all read as youths. The film has comic book panel frames around certain scenes, creative colorful lighting that evokes both Giallos and, more importantly, the classic 4-color printing of old comics, and literally transitions the beginning and end of each short into a comic book page. The film is mean, funny, bizarre, creative and wildly entertaining, not to mention full of EC style ironic twists. Savini's effects are top notch here, creating some truly memorable creatures and shocking gore, while the film is held together by several great character actors. Though all the shorts are fun, Something to Tide You Over features amazing villainous acting by Leslie Nielsen and perhaps one of the best makeup jobs I've seen in horror. And Romero's great editing means that the 2 hour length isn't felt at all, while John Harrison's score is equal parts spooky and deliberately corny. If you ever grew up watching Tales from the Crypt on HBO, this movie is essentially the blueprint for the formula, but with a style all its own. If you've never seen it, you're missing out. 36 - Creepshow 2 This 1987 sequel is a significant step down from the original. Plagued by budget problems, the film only has 3 shorts (tied together with an incredibly ugly and poorly voice acted animated wraparound), and to get the movie to 90 minutes, they stretch the first short far past how long it should go, and it suffers greatly from it. While it's amusing to see Tom Savini as the live action "Creep", hosting the program and selling the fictional Creepshow comic books, throwing puns around in Joe Silver's voice like a lesser John Kassir, the much longer connecting segments do nothing but take you out of the story. That said, even though I don't like them on the whole as much as the ones in the original, the segments we do get are still quite good. Old Chief Woodenhead is about twice as long as it needs to be, but at least we get some good acting and strong characterization in the endless buildup to it. The Raft has some of the most disgusting melting effects ever put to film, and The Hitchhiker might be my favorite of all the Creepshow segments. There's a persistent rumor that the very uneven Tales From the Darkside: The Movie, which has nothing to do with the Tales from the Darkside tv series, is essentially the "real" Creepshow 3 (had most of the same people involved, unlike the horrible mid-2000s official creepshow 3). More specifically, the rumor is that the Cat From Hell segment was supposed to be included in Creepshow 2, but couldn't be produced for budget reasons. I don't know how true that is, but a fourth strong short would definitely have helped this feel like less of a step down from the first movie. Still, it's not bad at all, and it's always fun to watch both films back to back. 37- Hack-O-Lantern Fran challenge: The Night We've All Been Waiting ForThis title has nothing at all to do with the events of the film (no one is hacked and jack-o-lanterns are barely involved), the acting ranges from bizarre to atrocious, the editing is confusing, the plot makes little sense and the effects are unimpressive, and yet this is still a very fun time. This movie merges the satanic panic and the slasher craze into one film, and sees a devil mask clad maniac go around killing various people while a satanic cult wearing very similar clothes prepares to anoint a local teenager as their chosen emissary of satan. Are these events related at all? Is our anti-christ the killer? The cult leader? Someone else unrelated? The movie doesn't do a very good job answering these questions. But this film is full of intentional and unintentional comedy, entertainingly baffling moments, awesomely goofy satanic imagery, and weird violence. I'd call the movie so bad it's good, but it's clear that some of the entertaining parts of it are clearly intentional. It's hard to separate that from the stuff that's entertaining because it's bad, like the satanists not being able to draw a proper pentagram or coordinating their devil dance very well. Definitely worth at least one watch. 38 - The WNUF Halloween special I already sort of reviewed this one when I reviewed Ghostwatch, but I will say this: This is one of my favorite releases of all time and I think it is best enjoyed going in with as little information as possible. All you people who have to search wikipedia while watching something, just knock it off for one night and watch this piece of local news history. Honorary Reviews The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell This show is both delightful and annoying. Christine McConnell is a very charming and talented woman who has exquisite taste in style, and her interactions with her cast of misbegotten puppets are adorable. The problem is that the filler material between cooking/creating/sowing segments are a little... off. They're both very hackneyed in that 90s sitcom kind of way, but also way too tryhard edgy for the overall tone of the show. The puppet crew is always trying to murder and torture each other and neighbours for fun, and one of the characters is constantly making references to having sex with basically everything. For something that's presented like a mix between Fraggle Rock and The Addams Family, it's a little jarring. Like not in an offensive way, it's just... weird. Still, that's no reason not to check out this delightful show. It's full of great creatures, amazing creations and good old fashioned spooky aesthetics. Castlevania Season 2 In most ways this is a huge step up from season 1. The plot actually progresses, instead of all being setup and central characters meeting for the first time like Season 1. There's fun references to the games in every episode, crazy violence, fun anime style action, hilarious dialogue, and a surprisingly well fleshed out cast of villains. My only problem with the season is that even though the plot progresses quite a bit, the heroes don't really do much until the last 2 episodes. A lot of time is spent on Dracula's generals bickering with each other while the heroes are essentially doing research on how to stop Dracula's macguffin. While it's all very strong characterwise, the fact that the villains never get around to doing much evil and the heroes don't go on much of an adventure makes things feel a bit.... anti-climactic once everyone suddenly realizes the season is almost over and a bunch of things get resolved in a single episode. Still, for a video game adaptation, this is like top 10, easy. If you at all consider yourself a fan of the games or just want to see a good animated drama with vampires, violence, comedy and swearing, don't skip out on this show. It's certainly better written than certain other popular violent medieval dramas. Final Tally38 films watched, 7 over my personal goal. All Fran challenges met. And all of it while I was busy running the Scream Stream! I gotta admit, I'm a little burnt out on horror for now, and watching movies just to meet arbitrary goals makes it a lot harder to get into them than if you were watching them for fun. Now I can finally relax, sit back, and... take on a huge editing project that's overdue. Sigh. Lurdiak fucked around with this message at 07:45 on Nov 1, 2018 |
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Nov 1, 2018 07:19
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Gonna have to slim down the reviews to make sure I cover everything I watched before the deadline strikes. They'll probably turn out even more 'train of thought' than my other reactions, as a result. Apologies.  #115. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, a.k.a., Halloween 6, a.k.a., Halloween VI: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995) Out with the Danielle Harris, in with the Paul Rudd and more druid cult dopiness. A loss on every front. The tease of another boy hearing whatever call Michael did was the most interesting part to me, while the druid cult hospital felt like the weakest. If they'd grown out the thing with Tommy more, and shown all of the remaining survivors scarred by their encounter (lean into the supernatural affliction to justify it, if you want), I would have liked his presence more. Throw them into a support group, maybe. I disliked how crassly they dumped out the Jamie character, especially after the good work Harris had put into the role. / 10  #116. Trilogy of Terror, a.k.a., Tales of Terror, a.k.a., Terror of the Doll (1975) The Karen Black Variety Hour! Three Tales from the Crypt-level short story segments, with Black playing the main character in each. As a made-for-TV movie, it's not bad, but it loses something for me after watching the also-MFTV Dark Night of the Scarecrow earlier in the month, and much preferring that one. Not to be down on Mr. Matheson, but even for the time, the stories don't have much originality to them. It is neat seeing how much influence the third segment surely had on Child's Play, though. And to spot a piece of TV Carnage in its original context. / 10         #117. Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) That's it? They brought JLC back for this weak go? You could fill out a bingo card of '90s horror trappings with this, for good or bad. JGL and Josh Hartnett. And JGL getting killed off before the opening credits even start, but still getting his name in them. I liked LL Cool J 's character in this more than in Deep Blue Sea. Is this the first Halloween sequel that erases previous sequels from continuity? It is, right? Tag that on as another fault of the movie, but one which had a more lasting effect on the series than anything else about it. Also annoying how fast it rockets through the rest of the movie as soon as Michael and Laurie make eye contact. / 10 #118. The Fall of the House of Usher (1950) Hey, you know what this story about crumbling aristocracy and implicit inbreeding needs? A spooky witch creeping around the castle! And an explicit curse laid upon the family! And a butler! And a drugging subplot! And gunplay! Sets were nice and the acting was OK, but the additions to the story (including a framing device of it being read out of a book to entertain drunks at a country club) didn't bring any improvements to the narrative or presentation. Understandably forgotten, but at least it's a non-sci-fi horror movie released in the early '50s, and it does comb together a traditionally spooky atmosphere, despite being somewhat stiff. You could do worse. / 10
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Nov 1, 2018 07:20
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Franchescanado posted:FRAN CHALLENGE #5: Birth of Horror The Brood (1979) [Blu-ray] This gets pretty entertaining at the end, but the first hour is heavy on melodrama with there being only mild scares coming from the stiff and unexpressive Brood. Pretty film, I really liked its color palette, but just a little dull. Hard to comment much on it being a 1979 movie as I don't actually recall the year all that well. https://i.imgur.com/FcrK3Ig.gifv New (32): #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), #39 The Last House on the Left (1972), #40 The Exorcist (1973), #41 Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018), #43 Tremors (1990), #44 Phase IV (1974), #45 Hold the Dark (2018), #47 The Brood (1979) Rewatch (15): #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), #42 The Guest (2014), #46 Predator 2 (1990) Personal Goal (5/13): Alien 3 (Assembly Cut), The Beyond, Beyond the Black Rainbow, The Brood, Fran Challenges (13/13): #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), #6 [Video Nasties] The Last House on the Left (1972), #13 [What We've All Been Waiting For] The Guest (2014), #9 [Stranger Danger] Tremors(1990), #11 [Dead & Buried] Phase IV (1974), #4 [Worst of the Best] Hold the Dark (2018), #1 [Love Something You Hate] Predator 2 (1990), #5 [Birth of Horror] The Brood (1979)
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Nov 1, 2018 07:25
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  #119. Halloween: Resurrection (2002) Dumb. The few moments of functioning entertainment aren't enough to make up for the absolute smear job the movie throws on Laurie in the opening portion. The technology premise is ludicrous for the time, but whatever. That's not as big a problem as the characters, who function in clichés and stupidity. It pains me to see Busta Rhymes so uncharismatic. Did get a laugh out of him haranguing Michael to the point where Michael just turns around and walks off, though. Going with my initial rating for this, but it's really soured in memory over the couple of days between watching it and writing this up. Wait, this was from the director of Halloween II?! Oh, and The Birds II, that makes more sense. / 10 #120. The Rainbow Man, a.k.a., 虹男 (1949) Watched on Youtube, with machine translation of machine-guessed interpretation of the Japanese dialogue. It was a mess, with lines like "I was worried so much that I could not stop worrying about it," "Tekken 5 university care," and "You may have taken away rather than taking pictures of shrimp or walking, please." But from what I could follow, it was an interesting film. A professor is found dead, and despite all the evidence pointing to a young woman who associated with him, no one can really believe she did it. A group goes to investigate the cabin where the professor was doing research, and encounter a spiritual presence, with warnings from locals and an unhinged artist into whose work the spirit has crept. Seems like something that Kiyoshi Kurosawa might have seen once or twice. But the most interesting part was the depiction of the spirit, which is done in this black and white film through the interjection of silent frames of shifting color gradient. It's not quite as artistic as you might hope, but it's an intriguing way of representing something so alien to the experiences of the characters. / 10  #121. The Creeper (1948) Man, I let myself get too hyped up for this when I read the synopsis about a scientist developing a serum to turn men into cats. The movie really doesn't deliver any of the fun you might expect from that set-up. Instead, it gets by on a lot of allusions to the work the scientist did in the old laboratory, prior to where the movie picks up, and that pushing of the story's work covers the cause of fear for the female lead, the instigation of the antagonist's evil ways, and the troubles in the present location. Problem is, it's not put together in a way that gradually uncovers the scientist's earlier wrong-doings in an enticing exposure, it just kind of passes the buck when the time comes for a plot development to come into play. And if you're hoping for something playing on similar themes to Cat People, you're out of luck. Hell, Bride of the Gorilla probably opens itself to deeper reading. You get some shadow-play scenes and dismissal of the female lead's fears by the men around her, but there's so much that falls flat with the story-telling that you can guess where and how the end will come pretty much as soon as all of the characters are introduced. And it ends with the female lead gladly accepting her submission to a man's command that she not try to convince anyone of what she believes happened. Phooey. / 10  #122. Scream and Scream Again, a.k.a., Screamer, a.k.a., Doctor Diabolic (1970) So yeah, it'd be hard for a movie to live up to that poster, but this one hardly lives up to the cast credits. Vincent Price, despite being a key figure in the plot, is present for maaaybe a dozen scenes, Lee shows up in about half of that, and Cushing is killed off in his first or second scene. There's a neat story here, but as Maxwell Lord said, it's presented in a way that tries to make it hard to understand what's going on. Since it's a mystery being investigated and pieced together by the actual main characters, there's some clever thoughts leading to that approach, but the execution doesn't really make an effort to match the structuring of the investigation. As a result, a first-time viewer is likely to just be confused for the first third or so. I'm still not sure if the whole movie takes place in a fascist state, or if that's just one of multiple locations. / 10
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Nov 1, 2018 08:00
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 CHALLENGE COMPLETED! What We Do in the Shadows: An absolute joy from start to finish. Manages to take the relatively simple comedic premise of documenting a group of vampires living together in modern society, and just completey rolls with it for all it's worth. I get the distinct impression that everybody involved just had a blast making this movie, and the enthusiasm definitely shines through in the finished product. Special shoutout to the dinner party scene, which was probably some of the hardest I've laughed at a movie scene in recent memory. Night of the Living Dead: Wanted to close out with something particularly noteworthy, and with Night of the Living Dead having had it's 50th anniversary this month, it seemed to me the prime candidate. And yeah, this movie still loving rules. Absolutely ahead of its time in its depictions of a zombies, violence and the social tensions that would arise from such an outbreak, all capped off with a poignant undercurrent of racial tension that, intentional or not, still reads just as well today as it ever has. Movies Watched (31): Mandy, Hobgoblins (MST3K), American Psycho, Mimic, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, The World's End, Carnosaur, Lake Mungo, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, Dracula, Gorgo (MST3K), Monsters, Inc., Halloween (1978), Halloween (2018), The Evil Dead, Motel Hell, Venom, Slither, The Return of the Living Dead, Trick 'r Treat, Creepshow, Tales From the Crypt, It Follows, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives, Freddy vs. Jason, What We Do in the Shadows, Night of the Living Dead Challenges Completed (13/13): #1 (It Follows) #2 (Frankenstein), #3 (American Psycho), #4 (Mimic), #5 (Carnosaur), #6 (The Evil Dead) #7 (Gorgo (MST3K)), #8 (Slither), #9 (Motel Hell) #10 (Halloween (2018)), #11 (Creepshow), #12 (The Return of the Living Dead), #13 (Trick 'r Treat)
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Nov 1, 2018 08:06
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FRAN CHALLENGE #10- Fear and Now #35- Suspiria (2018) Heavy stuff. Argento's original was as pure a mood piece as you can make, so the remake actually has a lot of room to explore the premise. Set in the mid-70s in West Germany- while the Red Army Faction were running about, and that's actually part of the story- the tale of a new student at an avant-garde ballet school run by witches brings in revolutionary politics, the agony of making art and subsuming oneself to someone else's design, women's liberation, all sorts of topics, and it's presented with the kind of brutal surrealism that characterized much German art at the time. There's a lot going on, and at times it risks a certain coldness, being a Very Serious Horror Film indeed, but it manages a unique intensity and atmosphere that justifies the solemnity. Tilda goddamn Swinton being who she is helps a lot, and it's a strong cast in general, including one face I was glad to see again. I can't imagine busting this one out every Halloween, but like I said, good heavy stuff. #36- House on Haunted Hill (1959) And so I decide to end the evening, and the marathon, on a familiar classic. This movie really is Halloween to me, spooky fun in a murky old house full of cobwebs and severed heads and spooky scary skeletons. Vincent Price is a millionaire who promises 10K to his guests if they spend a night in a haunted house (hey, that was a lot of money back then), and his gorgeous wife who hates him is also in attendance. It's Elisha Cook Jr. who nearly steals the film, though, as the caretaker who's utterly convinced the house is full of murderous ghosts, and who also gets increasingly wasted as the night goes on. The handsome macho hero guy is instantly revealed as totally useless, and so it's up to little Nora (Carolyn Craig, who screams a LOT) to survive the attentions of various sinister forces. William Castle gives the picture just the right atmosphere, a little cheesy and a little campy but not at the expense of genuine tension. It's the kind of movie that starts with a scream in the dark, ends on ghoulish laughter, and in between makes sure to hold your attention. This IS a movie I can watch every Halloween. And with that, I'm done. It's been great, honestly, I've always been meaning to watch more movies and this was a great excuse. Didn't get to as many of the Fran Challenges as I could, but let's hand out some Awards: Best New-to-me Movie: Ugetsu. A moving Japanese tale of desperation and social decay in the midst of war. Worst Movie: Robot vs. The Aztec Mummy. Look I know the Mexican film industry wasn't exactly large or even really "fully in existence" in the late 50s, but there's no loving way even the most poverty row production can justify half its running time being summing up the previous movies in the series. Most Pleasant Surprise: The Sadist. Seriously check this out, it's actually really tense and I'm surprised I hadn't heard of it before. Runner-up goes to Phenomena / Creepers, which I had heard some things about but not enough to prepare me for the reality. Biggest Disappointment: WNUF Halloween Special, probably. I kinda get what they're going for, but it goes on too long for too little payoff. Best Overall Film: Night of the Living Dead. George, you were something special. Full List: Brain Eaters The Phantom of the Opera (1925) Deep Red Toxic Zombies The Sadist Devil Girl From Mars The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue FleshEater Shivers Invasion of the Saucer Men The Evil Venom Doctor Butcher, M.D. Robot vs. The Aztec Mummy Creepshow Halloween (1978) Ghostkeeper Ugetsu Splatter University Phenomena/Creepers Re-Animator The Lost Boys Scared to Death The Shining The Howling Isle of the Dead WNUF Halloween Special The Devil Rides Out / The Devil's Bride The Bride of Frankenstein Strait-Jacket Night of the Living Dead (1968) Halloween (2018) Hell of the Living Dead Scream and Scream Again Suspiria (2018) House on Haunted Hill (1959) Fran Challenges Completed: 2, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 13. Eh, not bad. Good night, and Happy Halloween! Next Year in Transylvania!
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Nov 1, 2018 08:38
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 30. Baskin (2015) Watched on Youtube If I had to give an elevator pitch for this, the closest I could come to is probably "Turkish Hellraiser," but that isn't quite doing it justice, since honestly Hellraiser's violence feels clinical by comparison - there's a very Grand Guignol approach to the gore here. The first half of this movie is an effective slow burn, and then things get crazy really fast. The plot is basically nonsensical - there's kind of a nightmarish nesting doll of dreams within dreams within dreams going on, and there's a lot of exposition that feels like it's out of a freshman epistemology course, but everything else is effective enough to make up for it, and this film's vision of the devil is so coldly creepy that what is saying isn't all that important (though I have to admit, I felt bad because I spent half the movie trying to figure out how they made the mask look so realistic, only to find out they used an actor with a rare skin condition, and that sort of thing is something I've always had mixed feelings about). This is a debut film, and I think the extent to which the director wears his influences on his sleeve is a little excessive, but I'd totally be interested in seeing more from him. .5 / 5---  31. The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) Watched on Youtube Vincent Price hamming it up in classic fashion, with tons of gorgeous art deco set design and baroque flourishes. Billed as a horror-comedy, though most of the humor is of the gallows variety, and its appropriately dry, with a few exceptions. Price steals the show, of course, though the rest of the cast are no slouches either, and it's one of his campier roles, which is fair considering he's playing a skull-faced megalomaniac who talks through a voice box hooked up to a phonograph while trying to recreate the biblical plagues as an elaborate revenge plot. It's also insanely impressive that he is able to overact when he has one facial expression and doesn't even open his mouth for the entire movie.The deaths are pretty creative (the interpretation of the plague of frogs was great) and also some of the funnier bits, like the plane cockpit full of rats and Price tapping on his jar of locusts because they aren't going down the tube. Though honestly I think the funniest part is that this dude goes to all the trouble of setting up these biblical plague deaths, and then not only does them in the wrong order, but just flat-out gets some wrong (the rats and bats) and I guess just eventually gives up by the time he's impaling people with a brass unicorn head launched via catapult (!). This is just a good, fun, movie that is really pretty to look at, and you can definitely see traces of its DNA in the Saw series and even V for Vendetta. If you like anything else Price has done, you're probably gonna like this. .5 / 5--- So Far: Tremors | Blood and Black Lace | Cube | Killer Klowns from Outer Space | Kuso | The Fog | Borgman | The Tenant | Braindead | Al Final del Espectro | The Boxer's Omen | Phase IV |Der Student von Prag | The Invisible Man | Balada Triste de Trompeta | Gozu | Annihilation | Hour of the Wolf | Viy | The Quatermass Xperiment | Cat People | Society | Return of the Living Dead | Dark Night of the Scarecrow | Possession | Les Diaboliques | Pontypool | Planet of the Vampires | Leák | Baskin | The Abominable Dr. Phibes Total: 31/10 Challenges: Years Spanned: 1913 - 2018 Decades Represented: 1910s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s Countries Represented: 15 (United States, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Colombia, Hong Kong, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Russia, France, Canada, Indonesia, Turkey) Challenge Complete!All Fran Challenges complete! Overall, that makes 31 movies filmed across 103 years in 15 different countries. All of these were first views, and a whole bunch of them are movies I probably never would have watched without seeing reviews and recommendations in this thread. Thanks again to Fran for setting this up, and to everyone who participated. This was a ton of fun. Anyway here's some random superlatives. Favorite Movie: Possession Least Favorite Movie: Leák Weirdest Movie: Tossup between Kuso and The Boxer's Omen Most Fun Movie: Tossup between Braindead and Return of the Living Dead Most Stylish Movie: Blood and Black Lace Grizzled Patriarch fucked around with this message at 08:51 on Nov 1, 2018 |
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Nov 1, 2018 08:39
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 From Dusk Till Dawn, 1996 If you were to go into this movie knowing nothing about it other than this being some kind of horror movie, you'd think it would be one of those super dark crime thrillers. The two main guys are criminals on the run that kill people left and right as it suits them, and Quentin Tarantino's character rapes and kills the hostage from the bank. So you are set up for a messed up movie about two evil psychopaths. They take a family on vacation as the new hostages and escape to Mexico. And that's when the movie change from that into action comedy about vampires. They stop at a bar for truckers and bikers, and it turns out to be trap that vampires use to get fresh prey. poo poo happens and the whole thing is a lot of fun. There's some badly dated CGI, but nothing too bad. Everything looks cool and it is a good drinking movie.
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Nov 1, 2018 08:55
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 63. A Bay of Blood (1971) drat that was hard for me to follow. The plot is kind of a mess of flashbacks and monologues but that really isn't the main focus of A Bay of Blood. The focus of this film is the gruesome murders that are filmed in such an intimate, disturbing way. The way the kills are shot is very effective at feeling tense and creepy. It definitely holds up today as a frightening look at murder. The film is regarded as one of the most influential films in the horror genre, leading directly to the slasher subgenre, and for good reason. I definitely recommend checking this one out. I'm pretty excited for my eventual rewatch where I can try to nail down if the story is really as messy as it seemed or if I just wasn't paying close attention. Final scene questions: What the hell was up with the final scene? Was it supposed to put an exclamation point on the idea that this was all a bunch of senseless murder that ultimately had no point? Or, was it remind us that we're watching a movie and everyone is "playing" dead? It really caught me off guard. Franchescanado posted:
 64. The Invisible Man (1933) I have to make a confession, this is the first Universal horror movie I have seen. I'm happy to report that I greatly enjoyed it. This fits in the category of horror films where someone makes a great scientific discovery that leads them down a path of madness. The Invisible Man is played by Claude Rains who absolutely nails the role of an arrogant scientist turned psychopathic by his own brilliant discovery. He comes off as damaged and sympathetic towards the beginning but slowly spirals out of control into a much more menacing figure that is beyond saving. For a film made in the 30s I was quite surprised how spooky and darkly funny it was. Another thing that surprised me how well the special effects worked. They still hold up today, which absolutely blows my mind. I was totally expecting to laugh at some corny effects, but honestly everything looked amazing. I'm definitely going to have to watch the documentary to see if it explains how they pulled it off. Franchescanado posted:
 65. Shin Godzilla (2016) To start, I want to tell a little story. When the poster for Shin Godzilla first came to my attention something about it drew me in and made me really want to see it in theaters. At this time I was definitely a casual Godzilla fan. I had rented a few DVDs from Netflix and I would watch the dubbed versions whenever they showed up on television, but I wasn't in all that deep. Somehow I made it to the single showing of Shin Godzilla they had in my area and it ignited a love for Godzilla I never knew I had. After that day I started buying all the Godzilla films that were available on bluray with the goal of eventually watching them all. That goal sort of fizzled out, but even after that I watched Shin Godzilla more than a few times. Fast forward to September of 2018. I'm feeling the urge to watch Shin Godzilla again, but while lurking the Horror thread I notice people talking about the October Challenge where they binge horror movies. After looking into it I learn that kaiju movies are a-okay binge material and decide to finish that goal I had long ago. I love this film. Shin Godzilla is a political satire that revolves around solving an epic problem that just happens to be a giant monster. It's largely about the bureaucratic quagmire that you have to wade through to get something done, to save lives. The large number of characters in this film exist to communicate that good people and good ideas are what ultimately save the day, even when these people have to fight every second against rules and traditions. Despite having a runtime of nearly 2 hours, and focusing mostly on political drama this movie feels short. It just moves at such a blistering pace that you have to buckle up and pay attention or you're going to miss out. Shin Godzilla manages being witty and funny while also being downright somber when it needs to be. It knows exactly when to pull it's foot off the gas so you can exhale and take in the moment. Expertly, it uses it's brilliant score to assist in dictating these tonal shifts. The music perfectly highlights a nation heroically coming together to solve a problem. It also sets the mood when the power of Godzilla seems insurmountable and the destruction unrepairable. Like the soundtrack the character of Godzilla is a sort of background tool, used to manipulate the direction of the political machine and the people within it. This doesn't mean that he isn't important, or isn't handled with care. The ways in which Godzilla appears in this film are so damned elegant, and dare I say, perfect. His design is quite horrifying in a way that manages to be bizarre and scary in this day and age. He is as they say in the film, a "god incarnate" that mutates to the situation in order to push our protagonist, the people of Japan, to their political and scientific limits. I love this film. Please watch Shin Godzilla, even if you have never thought about seeing a Godzilla film. That means I have completed my personal challenge of watching the 29 (live action) Godzilla films from Japan. Tomorrow I hope to post a couple more write-ups to finish out Fran's challenges. I've already watched the films I just ran out of writing time tonight.
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Nov 1, 2018 09:17
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 Near Dark, 1987 This is one of my favorite vampire movies of all time and the one that should be remembered as the vampire movie of the 80s over The lost Boys. There's nothing gothic about this one, just gritty and dirty "realistic" vampires. They live like criminals and drifters, and the only vampire rules are they got to drink blood and they got to stay way from sunlight. There's no crosses, holy water or even fags. The main guy get bitten by a girl and they take him in to see if he is fit to join. These are real scumbags and that's a lot of the charm. That bar scene where they kill people in a small road side dive bar is glorious. The only thing I don't like is how easy it is to cure vampirism and turn them back to humans. Other than that, this one is loving great. Hot Dog Day #89 fucked around with this message at 10:47 on Nov 1, 2018 |
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Nov 1, 2018 10:44
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Capped my goal of 15 off on Halloween night and with a classic that I'd never seen before... The Exorcist - 1973 Seeing this for the first time at 32, it's absolutely clear that this is an incredibly seminal, influential, important film. That being said, I came away fairly underwhelmed. The problem was twofold: that the film doesn't speak to my actual fears, and that the film has been referenced, ripped off, and riffed on so many times and in ways that were more personal to me. That aside, it's clearly a "great" film. Perfectly constructed, beautifully shot, wonderfully acted, and with obviously amazing effects. Tons of little moments worked well for me, and the film was a really smooth watch with ideal pacing and constantly engaging. Naturally, it had a huge number of those "So that's where that trope came from!" moments—much like when I first saw Halloween last year. But unlike that film, I've seen several riffs on The Exorcist that speak much more to my specific fears; right before the challenge began I watched Poltergeist which I felt was much more "my" version of this story that played with fear-based metaphors that worked much better for me. But as a nonbeliever, someone losing their faith has no weight. Catholicism in general is silly to me. And demons, if they existed, just might have a point. The film did its due diligence to that end, showing that the nonreligious family went through all the correct rational, scientific, and psychological approaches to the problem before falling back on Catholicism. But it just didn't work for me, because at the end of the day the core premise just didn't speak to me. It couldn't even play as a metaphor for developing mental illness or the mental and emotional changes of puberty because the film goes out of its way to say that those are specifically not what's happening to Regan. Strangely enough, it reminded me a lot of my experience seeing Rocky for the first time a few years back. Despite getting a ton of pop-cultural knowledge of the film over the years, the film was very different from my expectations. With Rocky I assumed it was all boxing and training, and with The Exorcist I assumed it was all priests vs. Pazuzu. But while Rocky delighted me in having so much more depth than I'd assumed, The Exorcist just had more movie. Again, it's probably just because I've seen the "a traumatized family waits around while experts solve their supernatural problem" thing so many times, but here it just missed the mark for me. I'm not really even sure how to grade this. Clearly it's objectively a better movie than my enjoyment of it implies and I'm absolutely willing to say I'm wrong on this. But I'll go with my personal feelings, even though it feels... blasphemous. Grade: B Return of the Living Dead (A+) Hausu (A+) Cast a Deadly Spell (A+) The Thing (rewatch) (A+) The Love Witch (rewatch) (A+) The Visitor (1979) (A) Nosferatu (1922) (A) Pumpkinhead (A-) Curse of Frankenstein (A-) Revenge of Frankenstein (B+) Night Creatures (B+) The Exorcist (B) Invasion of the Saucer Men (B-) Pieces (C+) The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (C+) feedmyleg fucked around with this message at 13:08 on Nov 1, 2018 |
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Nov 1, 2018 12:17
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Darthemed posted:#117. Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) This was definitely because Scream made horror "cool" again before producers ran the Scream style horror movies into the ground like a mole on crystal meth. I remember at the time people being pretty enthusiastic about H20, though in fairness that may have been due to finally having a Halloween sequel that wasn't godawful.
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Nov 1, 2018 12:33
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 Zombie Flesh-Eaters a.k.a Zombi 2 Had to squeeze in more Italian gore before I give up on the marathon. Everyone knows this one. Zombies. Zombies everywhere. The zombie vs. shark underwater fight. The eye gouge scene. The voodoo drums in the background. It's on of the most zombie of all zombie movies.
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Nov 1, 2018 12:51
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Franchescanado posted:
All challenges complete! I also surpassed my goal of 31, so  37. Ginger Snaps (2000) (blu-ray) Ginger and Brigitte, two death-obsessed teenage sisters, are inseparable from each other but are total outcasts at school. For fun, they enjoy staging and photographing their own deaths. When they are attacked by a vicious beast in the woods one night, Ginger is mauled and almost killed, but Brigitte is shocked to see that her wounds have already started to heal by the time they get home. Ginger's body begins to go through some changes - terrible cramps and pains, mood swings, bloody discharges, hair in new places - that seem to be tied to a monthly cycle. She has received the most terrible of curses - puberty. Oh, and lycanthropy. I love this movie. It's a great werewolf film, which I feel there aren't enough of. It also has some strong feminist themes, which is definitely not common in horror (although it has become somewhat more common in the 18 years since this film came out). You can certainly argue that equating menstruation and female sexuality with turning into a monster is the opposite of a feminist message, but I think that this misses the point. Ginger, who already had some extremely morbid and violent tendencies to begin with, does end up a monster, but it is her irresponsible behavior and abuses of sex/power that are the main cause of this. Brigitte, on the other hand, who is really the protagonist of the film, actively rejects Ginger as a role model - even after being exposed herself, she stays true to who she is. If nothing else, it features a female character filling a traditionally male role, and she acts entirely through her own agency. 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 | Phantom of the Opera (1943) | Ghost Stories | Ginger Snaps Total: 37 Fran challenges:
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Nov 1, 2018 13:45
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 Trick 'r Treat, 2007 And with that I finish my marathon. The one true horror anthology that's all about Halloween. I'm sure I could squeeze in a few more movies, but I don't want to pass out drunk and drown in my own vomit. The last loving 12 hours or so, I been drinking beer, booze and on top of that, eating candy like gently caress. It's way, way late to say happy Halloween anymore. It's time to retire this marathon.
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Nov 1, 2018 14:13
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My all October horror movie marathon leading up to Halloween for 2018: It Comes at Night, 2017 4/5 It, 2017 4/5 The Son of Kong, 1933 3.5/5 The House of the Devil, 2009 4/5 Night of the Creeps, 1986 4/5 The Brood, 1979 4/5 Körkarlen, 1921 4.5/5 Blood Feast, 1963 3/5 Frankenhooker, 1990 4/5 The Devils, 1971 4.5/5 Friday the 13th, 1980 4/5 Sleepaway Camp, 1983 4/5 Dr. Cyclops, 1940 4/5 Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht, 1979 4.5/5 Ed Wood, 1994 4/5 Dracula's Daughter, 1936 3.5/5 Hereditary, 2018 4.5/5 City of the Living Dead, 1980 4/5 Terror Firmer, 1999 4/5 Mighty Joe Young, 1949 4/5 Cat People. 1942 4/5 Body of the Prey a.k.a. The Revenge of Doctor X, 1970 1/5 The Black Cat, 1934 4.5/5 Funeral Home a.k.a. Cries in the Night, 1980 3.5/5 The Rocky Horror Picture Show, 1975 5/5 Young Frankenstein, 1974 5/5 Plan 9 from Outer Space, 1959 ?/5 Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, 1969 4.5/5 Dog Soldiers, 2002 4.5/5 The Haunting, 1963 5/5 The Deadly Spawn, 1983 4.5/5 Them!, 1954 5/5 Near Dark, 1987 4.5/5 Zombie Flesh-Eaters a.k.a Zombi 2 4/5 Trick 'r Treat, 2007 4.5/5 Yes, that's a lot of 4/5, but I'm good at picking movies I like or know I'll like.
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Nov 1, 2018 14:28
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Final count: 1. In the Mouth of Madness 2. A Tale of Two Sisters 3. Phenomena 4. Creepshow 2 5. Mandy 6. Them (2006) 7. Killer Klowns From Outer Space 8. As Above So Below 9. Hold the Dark 10. Halloween (2007)* 11. Halloween 2 (2009) 12. The Autopsy of Jane Doe 13. A Dark Song 14. Twin Peaks: The Return 15. Revenge 16. Lifeforce 17. Nightmare on Elm Street* 18. Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge* 19. Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors* 20. Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master 21. Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child 22. Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare 23. Errementari: The Blacksmith and the Devil 24. Apostle 25. Tales of Halloween 26. Halloween (2018) 27. Hereditary 28. Friday the 13th* 29. Friday the 13th: Part 2* 30. Friday the 13th: Part 3* 31. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter* 32. Friday the 13th: Part 5 - A New Beginning 33. Friday the 13th: Part 6 - Jason Lives 34. Friday the 13th: Part 7 - The New Blood Total * rewatches - 8 Favorites - Mandy, Twin Peaks: The Return, Revenge, In the Mouth of Madness
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Nov 1, 2018 14:31
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| # ? Jun 9, 2024 04:44 |
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Franchescanado posted:
 Halloween(1978) I guess I'll just say a few words about the new UHD release, the movie itself has been fully covered here by now. As usual with UHD, some of the more noticeable improvements were to the color palette that you get with the HDR/Dolby Vision. An example that really jumped out at me right away was Annie's car(especially the interior), which is a much deeper and saturated red then it was before. The natural greens of the neighborhood trees and bushes also become a more striking visual, but in that case you might argue it's a negative because it makes the California setting less convincing as October in Illinois. The grain is pretty even and not obtrusive though, which is something I was worried about(the recent Predator release has a few scenes where it's an issue). And once the house goes dark and it's Laurie vs. Michael, those shadows are deeper and darker than they've ever been before, making those scenes even more effective.  Halloween III: Season of the Witch(1982) I had a good time this year with Season of the Witch by mostly paying attention to everything Atkins says and does. It's amazing how much of an rear end in a top hat he is, it really is something that this is the character that was chosen as the protagonist. One thing I noticed in particular this time is that if he'd been able to maintain any semblance of a normal relationship with his ex-wife, he'd at least have been able to save his own kids. Like, if you're ex-wife trusts you on any level, and doesn't think you're a completely worthless dirtbag, you'd probably be able to call her and say "Listen, I know we've had our problems but I need you to just trust me at this moment and immediately take those Silver Shamrock masks away from the kids". Instead he can barely get three words out before she's telling him to gently caress off. So that's it folks, November 1st is always a pretty depressing day but next year always seems to come faster then you think. I had to haul rear end but I was able to complete all Fran Challenges! Love Something You Hate: The Phantom of the Paradise Queer Horror: Dracula's Daughter Hometown Horror: Serial Mom Worst of the Best: Cursed Birth of Horror: C.H.U.D. Video Nasties: Blood Feast The World is a Scary Place: Audition Once in a Lifetime: Carnival of Souls Stranger Danger: Revenge Fear and Now: Summer of '84 Dead & Buried: Night of the Living Dead Masters of Horror: Tales of Halloween The Night We've All Been Waiting For: Halloween 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) 47. Revenge(2017) 48. Night of the Living Dead(1968) 49. Return of the Living Dead(1985) 50. Tales of Halloween(2015) 51. Carnival of Souls(1962) 52. From Beyond(1986) 53. Halloween(1978) 54. Halloween III: Season of the Witch(1982)
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Nov 1, 2018 14:33
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