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 3. Spookies (1986) Dir: Brendan Faulkner, Thomas Doran, Genie Joseph (YouTube) I didn't think I was going to come across something crazier than Cathy's Curse in this challenge, but Spookies managed to pull it off. Functioning as half outsider art and half a SFX artist's kickass demo reel, this movie is borderline incomprehensible from a plot perspective. And that's before you get into the mandated reshoots that seem to have nothing to do with the original footage? Monsters just come and go, as abruptly as they entered. I don't think I've laughed hard at anything this year than the farting mud monsters. This movie rules. Friends Are Evil fucked around with this message at 23:11 on Sep 28, 2019 |
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Sep 28, 2019 23:08
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Darthemed posted:A few too many filler scenes to pad out the run-time; again, if it had been trimmed down to more of a claustrophobic focus on the doctor's obsession with his patient, this could have really been something striking. For all my moping about how it could have been improved, it's not that bad, and while the neat touches draw out the dullness of the lesser portions, they also show that there were some good ideas behind the film. It's just that they happened to end up smothered. This movie sounds like someone chucked a bunch of extra nonsense into Eyes Without a Face, so if you haven't seen that one yet, you may want to try it. edit: I just looked this up and apparently both movies came out in the same year? Wild. deety fucked around with this message at 23:34 on Sep 28, 2019 |
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Sep 28, 2019 23:29
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3)Paranormal Activity:The Marked Ones Seen on TUBI  Unlike the very mediocre 4, this one kind of rules.I'd almost say it started as a completely different movie that they slapped the paranormal activity name on, except it does a way better job of expanding the mythology than any of the other sequels. It's not middle class white people in a haunted house which is a breath of fresh air on its own, and the teens are lovable losers, who are also somehow way more on the ball than the protagonists than the other flicks. Though admittedly that's a pretty low bar. It's also more of a possession film than a haunted house movie. And the end gets pretty silly When the teens get the local gang dude who's brother was also killed by the coven to roll up with a bunch of guns on the witches with the line "lets smoke these bitches" and also allows the other teens to continue recording his crimes. That said it's way more entertaining than any of the other sequels and I enjoyed myself.  /5
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Sep 28, 2019 23:49
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deety posted:This movie sounds like someone chucked a bunch of extra nonsense into Eyes Without a Face, so if you haven't seen that one yet, you may want to try it.  #10) Dead Men Walk (1943) Elwyn Clayton was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatsoever about that. He was also an evil twin with a medical doctorate, as well as a Satanic sorcerer, and after his death, he came back as a vampire. Unfortunately, after taunting his good doctor brother, things kind of fell into a blatant rip-off of the latter half of Dracula, complete with Renfield and Mina analogues. As such, the first third or so of this movie is its best part; after that, it kind of spins its wheels while following formula. Fun for having numerous scenes of old men being snippy with each other, and for most of those scenes featuring the same actor in both roles. I was almost grinning with how much the movie was throwing at the wall with the start, and I deflated heavily as I realized how little of it was going to come into play. Sorcerous powers? Just gonna use that to fade away once a dialogue exchange finishes. Vampiric resurrection? Gonna keep those attacks off-screen. Satanic alignment? Just a couple of throw-away lines. They didn't even really do anything fun with the 'one actor playing twins' dynamic. What a bummer. It wasn't all bad, though. The actors carried themselves well, the dialogue was passable, the twin scenes were believable enough (even though it was just cutting back and forth between the two stage positions), and a house catches on fire while the fight goes on within it towards the end. The predictability from being such a rip-off is its only major fault, and to be honest, I've seen Dracula-brand movies that have done it worse. If I were to go back for a rewatch, knowing what's in store, I'm sure I wouldn't be so put out with it. What a wasted wild premise, though.  rating: 5/10
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Sep 29, 2019 00:21
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Flying Zamboni posted:Phantom Of The Paradise (1974) I've been watching a lot of DePalma lately and this is by far my favorite (with Blow Out a close second). It's just so delightfully weird and there isn't a weak performance in the film. Jessica Harper is especially wonderful and good god Paul Williams is great as an absolutely evil character. I really love how DePalma not only took all the good stuff from The Phantom of the Opera (particularly the somewhat mediocre 1943 musical remake of the silent), but really "got" the parallels to Goethe's Faust that really were only barely touched upon in prior films. It's mind-boggling why this wasn't a huge hit in 1974 (outside of Winnepeg, allegedly), but then again, The Rocky Horror Picture Show was a dud the following year.
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Sep 29, 2019 00:36
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 9) Children of the Corn - 2009 - Prime After how much of a clunker the last one was, I'm really not surprised they decided to go with a remake this time. To its credit, it does follow the original short story much closer than the first film, such as having age appropriate actors, though it still diverges in parts such as Burt having been a Vietnam veteran and the 'be fruitful' ceremony in the church. Stephen King was approached to contribute to the film, but stated through his lawyer he wanted nothing to do with it. As far as adaptations go, it wasn't too bad.  10) Children of the Corn: Genesis - 2011 - TubiTV I have absolutely no idea why this one's part of the Children of the Corn franchise other than putting something out to keep holding onto the franchise rights. It's probably okay for a creepy cult film though not even Billy Drago can save this one, but it really doesn't belong as part of the franchise. I would've been upset if I actually paid for this instead of a free stream.  11) Children of the Corn: Runaway - 2018 - Prime This is an odd one. It feels more like it's a sequel to the '09 remake rather than just another add on to the main franchise. The premise picks up from the end of that one where Ruth does end up torching the corn and ends up on the run with her son. I'm not sure what's more infuriating, a halfassed entry into a franchise or one that's got some solid promise and you don't know what the hell happened in the execution. Edits seem almost haphazard in their assembly as it cuts from Ruth having a vision and breaking the ambiance to showing a moment in the diner and cutting back to Ruth's vision. If anything, I'm surprised John Gulager produced something this choppy. I expected better from him. As far as this one goes, it was just disappointing as all hell. Final Thoughts: Having sat through them all, it feels like no one really had a steady eye of where to go with the franchise. While it doesn't seem like one could do much with a cult of creepy kids worshiping some elder earth entity, there's a fair amount they could've done with some creativity. Why not show the fall of Gatlin? While a good many adults were killed off in the initial slaughter, what about the ones who might've escaped? Imagine them trying to warn a neighboring town and everyone thinks they're on a corn likker bender? While the corn cult's centered on Gatlin, what about other nearby towns? Will the cult spread? Considering children environmental activists are the new interest in the news, what if some of the corn cult infiltrated them and now have access to world leaders? All in all, there's some good in the franchise but a lot of clunkers. Best to pick and choose when doing a marathon.
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Sep 29, 2019 00:40
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1. Black Sunday (1960) Watched On: Kanopy I wanted to start my challenge out with a classic that I’ve never seen before and Kanopy has a bunch of Mario Bava movies available. Black Sunday is a gorgeous movie: its set and lighting design, and the makeup effects are incredible even today. The bubbling and crawling of Asa the witch’s face reforming was nicely gross now and I can’t imagine how audiences in the 60s reacted to it. However, I think it’s a movie that I could throw on in the background of a party and still get the same amount of enjoyment out of it. The slow pace and static action would be more palatable if you were observing it while conversing. The dialogue also suffers from the Italian tendency to overdub every line later and there are some real weird line readings in the version I watched. All in all, it’s a movie I respect, even if I’m not sure I like it.
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Sep 29, 2019 01:26
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I'll be in for 31 again this year. I mostly try to watch movies I haven't seen but will also watch some that I own that I haven't seen in a while. I will also be watching the Nightmare on Elm Street series (maybe or maybe not including the reboot) since I found the series cheap at Half Price Books and I haven't seen most of them for 20+ years. Looking forward to any challenges as well, that was fun last year!
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Sep 29, 2019 01:53
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 #11) The Ape (1940), a.k.a., Gorilla You know, when you're a medical scientist that no one likes, working on experimental ways to cure paralysis, sometimes you have to kill the gorilla that escaped from the local circus, make a costume out of its body, and go around killing people so that you can drain their spinal fluids for the sake of curing a young woman who hasn't walked in the past ten years. Too bad those murders are a very small part of this movie, so most of it is spent in exchanges of "I can't walk!" "You can!" "I can't!" "You can!", and getting grilled on his practices by a former colleague. Some obnoxious kids and local ape-hunters round things out, but they don't amount to much more than faces standing around. The gorilla is obviously fake, including a scene or two of it being a projector shot, and the shambling around is all funny, no scary. Karloff puts in a good performance, though, and this movie certainly doesn't deserve the spot it has in The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made. The ending is hokey, but slightly touching despite that, and I finished the movie tipped more towards a positive impression, but not by a wide margin. Not even something to throw on in the background, but also not something that'll make you mad at how poorly it's made. Middling, okay, not bad, ehh. rating: 5/10
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Sep 29, 2019 02:21
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No set amount, will probably be a mix of rewatches and stuff I haven't seen before blah blah blah... 1. Child Eater-2016: 6/10 So yeah, this movie has a cool name and a cool poster and...uh...a serious lack of child eating. Seriously, no kid actually gets eaten but people lose eyeballs and those do get eaten so there's that. It's competently made, the acting isn't that terrible but this is one of those movies where you just wish they had gone further with the concept because whether we admit it or not, us Horror fans kinda admire a director willing to have a few kids eaten in their movie. Oh and the gore is sparse but not that bad either, it's actually not the complete piece of poo poo I was expecting so that's the only bit of praise I can really give it.
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Sep 29, 2019 02:39
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2. Blood and Black Lace (1968) Watched On: Amazon Prime I thought I didn’t like giallo, but I think I might just not like Argento because this movie was loving amazing. It’s a dramatic technicolor parlor mystery with absolutely beautiful shot composition (the scene around the purse with the diary in it at the fashion show in particular is incredible) and a Christie-like framework that gives a more believable rationale to the killings than a lot of the slashers/giallo I’ve seen. The deaths are sensational, but not pornographic. Mainly, I just love how messy it is. Every character is a soap opera stereotype acting their asses off in a vibrantly colored world of secrets and fashion. Even the eventual reveal and denouement were really satisfying. I am absolutely going to watch more Bava giallo and I highly recommend this one.
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Sep 29, 2019 02:46
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 #12) Idle Hands (1999) This is close to being my ideal for a teen horror comedy. Jokes that still make me laugh out loud twenty years on, well-handled performances, great practical effects, a minor role for Fred Willard, on-point physical acting, tight control on the momentum and ramping, goofy insults ("You evil-hosting gently caress-stick!"), a member of The Offspring getting scalped, music videos and studio-domain clips on TV, a beefy soundtrack, a made-up fast food chain, inventive kills, and a showdown in a high school (with a bong as the final weapon). The director (Rodman Flender; not a fake name, he also directed Leprechaun 2) makes his influences very clear, with Argento lighting popping up, obvious Evil Dead II homaging, a Leatherface shout-out, and so on. He's aware of how obvious they are, cracking a joke in the commentary about how the opening credits are 'inspired' by those of Se7en, and they're put to good use (that Argento lighting getting big play for the burial/zombie rising scene). It's not without its problems, of course, as the three or four girl characters with lines are thinly characterized at best, there's a spot of cartoonish violence against an animal, the fake head shows its animatronic nature a little too clearly, there's a minor under-current of homophobia, and a high school in the late '90s having an auto shop is maybe the most unbelievable thing in the entire movie. But it might be Jessica Alba's best performance? Better than Fantastic Four, for sure. And Graeme Revell contributes a great and memorable score that feels a little Halloweeny in the main theme, but builds into its own thing. The script does a great job of changing things up after they've had some time to shine. Anton's known his hand's possessed for a few scenes? Have him chop it off. Microwave it for good measure. Then have it spike its fingers in a pencil sharpener, run that for a while, then stick it in a puppet with THC-reactive eyeballs. Not to everyone's tastes, sure. But I'm very fond of this stupid little movie. rating: 8/10
Darthemed fucked around with this message at 23:20 on Sep 29, 2019 |
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Sep 29, 2019 03:27
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4. Overlord 2018 | dir. Julius Avery  Overlord is tense and unrelenting. Mixing the excitement of a modern war film, even one set in WW2, with horror is incredibly fun. The film manages to be a pulpy adventure, but never schlocky. Everything is played straight-faced, and never downplays the horrors of war. This has some of the most disturbing death scenes I've ever seen in film (the photographer character begging them to keep him alive as he wheezes his final breaths was rough). It's incredibly gory and visceral. The special effects, many of which are physical, are wonderful. I don't really mind that the film left me wanting more time in the underground facilities, because what we got was satisfying. There are some wonderful segments. The opening plane/parachute/water segment is pure adrenaline rush. The movie maintains unrelenting stress throughout, but it never gets to be too much. We still get time to see the characters develop, deaths are surprising, heroic moments are earned. Honestly? This movie just kicks so much rear end. I think it's positive qualities outweigh any criticisms I might have for it. Highly Recommended, a Must Watch Movies Watched: Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom | Annihilation | Evil Bong 2 | Overlord Rewatches: Total: 4 Franchescanado fucked around with this message at 04:04 on Sep 29, 2019 |
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Sep 29, 2019 03:44
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Random Stranger posted:You might want to check out The Happiness of the Katakuris, then. It's a horror/comedy he directed that isn't quite as grotesque as Gozu, but goes in some pretty weird directions. Seen it and love it! Great recommendation though. I agree with the other poster who said this is a good watch for anyone who hasn't checked it out yet. It's free on prime right now! Anyways, next up! #2: Spider Baby or, the Maddest Story Ever Told (1967)  I don't have a ton to say about this one. It's a lot of fun. The basic idea is that there's this inbred disease that causes people to regress mentally to the mindset of primal instinct and savagery. A group of children with this syndrome live out in the country in an old mansion along with their caretaker. With their parents long gone, the children's extended family come to visit in an attempt to take over the house and its fortune, but end up having a bit more to deal with than they bargained for. What follows is a tight 1 hour and 21 minutes of creepy kids, inept adults, and lots of spiders. I'm more than a little unclear on most of the finer details of the conceit but that's kind of besides the point. The acting is appropriately hammy, the set and prop design is enjoyable, and it's just generally a good time to see everything play out. My main complaint is that I was hoping for more actual spider-driven creepiness; the spiders themselves aren't as menacing of a presence as I was expecting they'd be (they're often a bit cute), though that's maybe more a matter of expectation. This one's pretty easy to recommend if you're looking for something lighter, and the final 5-10 minutes are especially fun, so you'll be left enjoying yourself. Also, I've had the song "Santa Baby" running compulsively through my head all week only with the word "Spider" standing in for "Santa", so I'm hoping now that I've finally watched this one my brain will let me rest. Watched (2/31): #1 Gozu (2003), #2 Spider Baby or, the Maddest Story Ever Told (1967)
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Sep 29, 2019 03:54
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Official start to spookadoodle month!!! I've decided my challenge is going to be to finish up the Hammer Horror movies I haven't seen. Which means a lot of lovely sequels, mostly. #1) Quatermass and the Pit (1967)  I saw the original "The Quatermass Experiment" (1953) last year and remembering enjoying it, but I didn't feel like it was anything special. A pretty by-the-numbers 50s sci-fi romp. But this one is way different. Here we have higher budgets, actual FX bordering on modern-looking gore effects (but let's be real, it's still very tame 60s fare - the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark is 10 times worse), and an incredible performance by Andrew Keir as Bernard Quatermass. Whereas the 1953 film had a sort of stuffy, gruff professor Quatermass, Quatermass and the Pit shows the professor as a sort of lovable buffoon with a heart of steel and the cojones to match. The film is paced on par with Hammer's other early films (which is to say: slow but deliberate). And wow, Hammer were the absolute experts at perfect final shots/music with credits over them. I can't say it's going to be one of my favorites going forward, just because I'm not as emotionally connected to Quatermass as I am with Frankenstein, Dracula, etc., but it's still a fine film. 7/10
Count Thrashula fucked around with this message at 04:14 on Sep 29, 2019 |
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Sep 29, 2019 04:07
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Last year my wife and I did 31 horror flicks for October as lurkers and had a blast, we love spookadoodles and it was a great excuse to mainline our faves in quick succession. This year, we join as participants, albeit with short, crappy reviews, if any. However, we have an X-factor sure to melt our minds and chill our veins... we just got home from the hospital with our newborn son. 
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Sep 29, 2019 04:50
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Franchescanado posted:4. Overlord Yeah I liked Overlord a lot. I love Iain De Caestecker and wish he would get more roles, that whole scene you are talking about is great. It's disturbing and then when he comes back to life, sits up and chugs the water, and goes "*burp* I feel really good *hiccup*" I laughed really hard, great delivery on that line
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Sep 29, 2019 05:22
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I’ll try for 31, why not. #1 Class of 1999 1990 Watched via Tubi This one definitely backloads the horror elements. It draws a lot from movies like 1990: The Bronx Warriors and Escape 2000 in its depiction of a dystopian US landscape where teenage gangs run the terrain. Towards the end, after introducing the murderous android faculty, it starts cribbing a lot more from Terminator. This isn’t an amazing picture, but I was impressed by the degree to which they work to make this weird demilitarized dystopia feel authentic. More than that, though, it reminds me of what really draws me to horror: more than any other genre, horror movies tend to be interested in justice. Because they’re tawdry and obscene, they aren’t obligated to adhere to the values of a society that is, let’s face it, murderous and tyrannical. It won’t surprise anyone to hear that the killer robot teacher movie isn’t brilliantly scripted, but it does anticipate the Clinton administration’s aggressive push towards a school-to-prison pipeline, and insightfully points out the way in which waging inhumane war abroad fundamentally changes the way we view ourselves at home, and how that’s borne out in our policing and our schooling. Coward respectable movies never bother with this kind of poo poo. This movie’s alright by me. If you like dystopian sci-fi, you could do worse. It’s rarely boring, the effects are fun, and it clips along okay. 3/5 Anonymous Robot fucked around with this message at 04:12 on Sep 30, 2019 |
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Sep 29, 2019 05:28
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#1: Midsommar I watched this for the first time four days ago, and I was expecting a spiritual successor to the 1973 "The Wicker Man" and got exactly what I was looking for and a whole lot more I wasn't expecting. This movie hit a really raw nerve with me and I wanted to understand it better, so I watched it again today to try and suss out my feelings both on the themes it explores and the ending itself. This movie digs deep (and I mean deep) into issues of personal loss and the handling of grief, emotional relationships, and ends with either a triumph of personal rebirth or complete damnation depending on how you interpret it. And honestly? There are no "villains" in this movie in the traditional sense. Horrible things happen to innocent people, but it's done in such a way that it messes with your sense of reality. This movie hosed me up. Before I get into the plot, I need to explain that my girlfriend lost her father to cancer earlier this year. Handing that and being a positive and supportive influence for her has been a hard and monumental learning experience. Which is why I wanted to punch the character of Christian in the face so many goddamn times in this movie. In short, the main character is a young woman named Dani who suffers a very traumatic and personal loss (literally the first 5-10 minutes of the film) and her callous and emotionally distant boyfriend Christian was already trying to break up with her, but then feels trapped by her tragedy and instead invites her on a trip to Sweden with his friends to study a pagan community celebrating its once-in-a-lifetime Midsommar festival for his post-grad thesis. What follows is a series of events that you can pretty much predict from the jump, except it's shot in complete daylight with the most beautiful countryside you can imagine as a backdrop. The sheer attention to detail in the background is amazing, and if you're paying attention, the entire plot of the movie is literally written into the communal walls of this "idyllic" community. But then, poo poo goes south. Complete spoilers going forward, but if you haven't seen this yet, it is an incredible piece of work from Ari Aster who previously wrote and directed "Hereditary" (which I still haven't seen and plan to cover later this month, so I definitely saw this movie first). The biggest question for me is do you feel happy for Dani at the end of the movie? Clearly the loss of her entire family put her in an emotionally vulnerable state that made her perfect fodder for Pelle to suck into his web of indoctrinated psychopathy, but at the end of the day the "cult" weren't trying to trick her, they were genuinely open and excited for her to join their hosed up family, because they actually believed the crazy things they espoused. She was absolutely manipulated by Pelle to get her there, but it left her in a place where her life could actually be better going forward, at least until she turns 72 and has to jump off a cliff to complete their version of the "circle of life." But then again, the British couple were straight up murdered and offered for sacrifice just because they freaked out at the cliff jump ceremony. Did they do anything wrong? Nope. But they still died. And poor Simon being strung up in a chicken coop with his lungs flayed back (still alive) was one of the most horrifying things I've ever seen, holy poo poo. Also, I would argue that the crazy sex ritual with Christian and the redhead girl is absolutely sexual assault on Christian. He was intentionally drugged up and manipulated into that scenario while she was a willing participant, and the fact that he's been a lovely boyfriend (and person in general) throughout the film kind of the clouded the fact that he was the one being raped in that scene. That's a bold choice and something I don't think I've ever seen before, and quite frankly don't want to ever see again. It's a hard watch. This isn't a typical horror movie, there are no jump scares here. 90% of the film is shot in broad daylight and even that fact kind of fucks up your perception of time and place, which only adds to the building sense of dread and discomfort. I wholeheartedly recommend this movie, but at the same time I don't know if I'll ever be able to watch it again. It has some problems I didn't bring up the "cognitively unclouded" incest-bred Oracle for starters but the performances are genuinely awesome, and the cinematography is straight-up Oscar worthy. It's like the ying to "The VVitch"'s yang. 5/5 T3hRen3gade fucked around with this message at 07:21 on Oct 7, 2019 |
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Sep 29, 2019 06:58
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 Franchise: Leprechaun After how many clunkers I sat through for Children of the Corn, I needed something fun as a palate cleanser and the Leprechaun franchise is definitely fun. The only constant is the Leprechaun's gold gets stolen and does what it takes to get it back. The main complaint that gets mentioned is there's no consistency to the franchise which would be correct if we were seeing the same leprechaun in each film. The only films with the same leprechaun is the first film and Leprechaun Returns, the rest are different leprechauns.  12) Leprechaun - 1993 - DVD I think this was the film that made me realize I have a soft spot for depictions of mythic characters usually presented as nice and helpful being shown as malevolent or just plain mean. The story's pretty straightforward. A farmer while in Ireland manages to trick a leprechaun of his gold and returns to North Dakota thinking he and his wife are set for life. The leprechaun, however, has a different opinion and follows the farmer to reclaim his gold. The farmer manages to imprison the leprechaun, but the stress of his wife being killed by the leprechaun and fighting it triggers a stroke before he's able to kill it. Ten or so years later, the farmhouse is bought by new people and during the renovating of the house, the leprechaun's freed and back hunting for his gold. Interesting tidbit is that the film was originally planned to be straightforward horror but it was Warwick Davis who suggested adding in some humor which I believe really enhances the film. Jennifer Anniston is said o be embarrassed by the film even though it was her first role. Of course, this means should I ever meet her, I'm going to try like hell to get her to sign my copy of this.  13) Leprechaun 2 - 1994 - DVD The premise of this one is a leprechaun looking for a wife. When his first attempt is foiled, he's stuck waiting 1000 years before trying again with the descendant of his first choice. Overall, it's about standard to form and I really liked how they showed the passing of generations over time with the sketches.
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Sep 29, 2019 07:55
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Ok, I'm still waiting for October 1st (as hard as that is). But I actually was kind of "pre-gaming" all month because I was in the mood, but it kind of shifted into mostly TV horror and stuff that isn't really horror but was kind of tangentially on my list anyway. I'm trying to fast now until the 1st to make sure I'm real hungry and have a lot of room, but here's what I pre-gamed so far in very quick writeups I did as I was going. 1. NOS4A2 (2019) Available on Watch AMC and Shudder. An adaption of Joe Hill’s (Stephen King’s son) book about a young woman who discovers a magical ability to harness her creativity in a way that could help stop a fellow “creative” who has been preying on children like a vampire for decades. I liked it, but didn’t love it. I went in expecting a vampire story and its something else entirely, which took some adjustment but I eventually really liked. I dug the whole crazy, no limits idea behind “creatives” and what it meant for the expanded world and the little easter eggs dropped about Hill and King’s works. That was one of many things about this that felt inspired by King, although I don’t know what came from Hill’s writing and what came from the tv adaption, but there’s a lot there. The really out there but interesting magical idea. The very full and real feeling characters. The maybe slightly too long pacing. Even a little maybe unnecessary creepy sex stuff. Not totally sure if it nailed the landing? Very, very King and I like King. I also really liked Ashleigh Cumming’s performance and she’s now on my radar to see her other work and it might have bumped Hounds of Love up my watch list as its been lingering on the far end of it for awhile. The rest of the cast is pretty good too. Zachary Quinto as a deranged monster, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as an unexpected force, and Jahkara J. Smith as the damaged walking example of the cost of the magic. They all did a good job, Cummings just really stood out to me since she had to carry must of the series. I think it was hurt a fair bit by the obvious setup for a second season rather than a true ending. But that’s TV for ya. I will say that while I thought a second season was a terrible idea most of the way through I thought they set it up ok. Wouldn’t be my choice creatively but I’ll come back for the solid cast and interesting idea. I might check out the book this October too. In general its put me in the mood to rewatch/read some King and visit some Hill.  - (2). Splice (2009) Available on HBO Go. Vicenzo Natali (Cube) tells a modern Frankenstein story when Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley splice human DNA with other stuff and create a whole new species that is one part scientific breakthrough, one part child, and one part monster. This is freaky loving movie. That’s mostly what I remember from my previous watch and that I was left too freaked out by it to really shape an opinion. I’m not really sure anything changed on the second go, except that I knew the freaky stuff was coming. But that didn’t really make it any less freaky. I don’t know if its a good film but its an ambitious one with lots of weird psychological, moral, and sexual stuff thrown in there. I’m not really sure it has anything say about them, more that it just kind of had a bunch of stuff. Guillermo del Toro is listed as an Executive Producer and while I can’t find any evidence that he really had anything to do with the film the evolving creature designs definitely feel like they have his mark and is one of the main reasons to watch. Good, complicated acting performances from Brody and Polly is another. But the main reason you’d want to watch this - or not want to watch this - is for some really hosed up poo poo on multiple levels.  - (3). Drive Angry (2011) Available on Showtime Anytime. Nicolas Cage has escaped from hell and with the help of Amber Heard is on a blood, sex, and bullet ridden road trip to hunt down the satan worshiping cult who killed his daughter and rescue his infant granddaughter from becoming their sacrifice, all while a demonic Accountant is hot on their heels. Also his name is John Milton. Because someone remembered their high school english classes. I mean, if you hear “Nicolas Cage on a demonic revenge killing road trip” not only do you have to ask which one it is but you have to figure you’re in for a fun time right? But this film is completely soulless and artless. I didn’t expect Mandy or anything but I thought, this has to be kind of fun. But it just isn’t. At all. Cage does that thing where if you didn’t know better you’d swear he was a bad actor, but he’s really not trying. William Fichtner tries to have a little fun as a smarmy demon but is clearly half asking it. Heard is there to be the unexpectedly bad rear end hot girl who isn’t actually there for sexual objectification but its totally forced and flat. I don’t blame any of the actors since its a perfectly talented cast even down to the secondary characters but the film is directed by the guy who brought us Dracula 2000 and its sequels and was written by the guy who did Jason X. And its got all the style and artistic quality you’d expect from that collaboration. The two also teamed up for the My Bloody Valentine remake and now I’m curious to see how bad that one is for a laugh. The director is apparently Wes Craven’s long time editor but he clearly learned nothing from him. All in all I feel confident saying this is the worst of Cage’s demonic revenge road trip films but since I can think of at least four of those off the top of my head it might only be fair to watch the rest to judge for sure. The film did end with a totally hilarious Meatloaf song over bad CGI and direction choices which kind of made everything worth it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIOXHgz7WcY  2 (4). The Twilight Zone (2019) A CBS All Access original. Jordan Peele reimagines Rod Sterling’s iconic sci fi/horror anthology series that explores the social, political, personal, and psychological problems spinning around people’s minds through the prism of nightmares and terror. Or something smart and clever like that. Its just September. You know what the Twilight Zone is. I liked it. That seems like an unpopular opinion but I did. That isn’t to say it was hitting home runs much or that there weren’t some bad episodes. But that’s the appeal of anthologies to me. Each episode is a fresh start and new story. Sometimes things work, sometimes they don’t. One episode could be one viewer’s favorite and another’s most hated. The finale “Blurryman” was probably the stand out episode for me. It ended on a high note. I’m not sure it made a ton of sense but I don’t really care. I don’t need things to make sense in The Twilight Zone. It’s the Twilight Zone. Its madness and confusion and crazy. Yeah, sometimes it has something to say but sometimes its just fears and nightmares and I thought the finale did that in a fun way that felt right. Besides that its funny that all my standout episodes were written by Glen Morgan (“A Traveler”; “The Blue Scorpion”), Heather Ann Campbell (“Not All Men”), or both (“Six Degrees of Freedom”). None of it was high art or anything but they all worked for me, kept me engaged, and really gave me that thing that I want to feel from The Twilight Zone. Traveler was also directed by Ana Lily Amirpour and Blue Scorpion by Craig William Macneill and I thought it showed the jump from tv directors to quality film directors. “Replay” was another good episode that might have been a bit on the nose but still mostly worked for me. I didn’t really dislike “The Comedian” or “Nightmare” either. They weren’t great but perfectly fine watches. I guess the only episodes I really didn’t like were “The Wunderkind” and “Point of Origin”. And that seems like a pretty good percentage. I’m glad I watched it in a binge rather than week to week as it seems like opinions really soured with each new episode waiting for something to blow people away, but I was good just going to each episode and taking what it gave me. I’d recommend if it interests you.  - (5). Event Horizon (1997) Available on Starz Whatever. In the not nearly distant enough future the Event Horizon was designed to open a gateway in time and space to make faster than light travel possible, but it disappeared for 7 years and a rescue crew sets out to Neptune to respond to a sudden distress call from in the orbit of Neptune. What they find is a horrific mystery of where the ship has been, what happened to its crew, and what the ship wants to do to them. Love this film. That doesn’t seem like a minority opinion around these parts so there’s probably not a lot that I can add. Sam Neil is great. The cast in general is a great 90s cast that reminds me of my huge crush on Joely Richardson and that Jack Noseworthy once existed. I love how grimy and beat up the Lewis and Clarke looks. I swear one of the chairs is held together with duct tape. Its obviously they took the aesthetic from Alien a bit there. I imagine sci-fi is the appeal for a lot of people but its just a haunted house story in a space ship. It does a great job with ambiance and atmosphere. Bad CGI has a minimal impact. I never felt like they fully nailed the ending but its still a really good ride. I once wore out a VHS copy made off of cable but its been awhile since I’ve seen it. Still holds up great and was a fun watch to move me into the horror mood fully.  - (6). BrainDead (2016) Available on Amazon Prime. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is stuck working for her brother the Senator in 2016 as everyone on Capital Hill appears to be losing their minds and jumping to political extremes, extreme partisanship, and just full on bonkers ideas only to discover that it may all be the result of bugs from outer space eating their brains and controlling them in a plot for world domination. In hindsight that sounds kind of comforting. I really liked this when it first came out and I still did. Just a fun little tongue in cheek story. Winstead is a very charming lead and the whole supporting cast is good. I love the musical recaps and the sense of humor. Seeing the end with the setup for a 2nd season on Wall Street is interesting now that I know they wanted to do more seasons there, in Silicon Valley, and Hollywood. I don’t take the politics of it too seriously but if you do you might take offense to the general “extremism on both sides, compromise is the answer” theme of it. I don’t think it was really trying to push a political message and I just enjoyed it outside that even though I have pretty strong political views that aren’t “centrist”. But if you don’t separate art from stuff like that then it might really bother you. I had fun.  3 (7). The Dark Tower (2017) Available on Showtime Whatever. A young boy with “The Shine” dreams of other worlds where the Man in Black attempts to destroy the Dark Tower at the center of everything and bring about the Apocalypse and a Gunslinger who hunts him down. Dreams that eventually become a nightmares and amazing adventure for the young man. Idris Elba and Matthew McCoughney star in this loose Stephen King adaption. Ok, its not horror but that’s kind of why I’m watching it now and not October. Its still Stephen King… sorta. To be honest I haven’t read past the first book and a half so for all I know this is a faithful adaption of the next 5 1/2, but it doesn’t feel right or like King. It feels mostly like a lifeless Hollywood action film, more like one of those YA movies that tend to always bore me. Elba and McCoughney really aren’t given a lot to do. They’re fine but it feels like a paycheck. I don’t know that it was bad or boring but it definitely wasn’t good or exciting. I just kind of sat through it and then was glad when I could see it was almost over. Even the climax just kind of happens and barely registered. One minute everyone was shooting and fighting and then it was over. I should really give the books another go. Even 1 and 1/2 way through I know King had a lot more interesting and crazy ideas than this did.  4 (8). The Collector (2009) Available on Amazon Prime, Shudder, Hoopla, Vudu, and TubiTV. A thief picks the same night to rob a house that a serial killer picked to plant preposterously elaborate death traps for the family that lives there and ends up being the one person who can save them. Oh my God. I’ve actually started this movie once or twice before and just not felt it and turned it off. Maybe “originally conceived as a Saw prequel” just sends me running. But it seems to get a some love in the main thread and I’m kind of trying to do bubble movies in September so I figured I’d give this one a look. I really should have followed my instincts because this was just one of the most unpleasant viewing experiences I’ve had in awhile. I just hated that and spent most of the movie in a cringed position audibly gasping at the constant barrage of poo poo. If people ask “what is torture porn?” I think this would probably now be my first case to present. I hated this film. But at least its off my list and I can take its sequel off too. Ugh. I need a shower. And some uppers or something. I feel viscerally ill.  5 (9). The Bad Batch (2016) Available on Netflix. Ana Lily Amirpour (A Girl Walks Alone At Night) tells the story of a young woman sent to the Bad Batch, a desert wasteland considered outside the US where “undesirables” are sent, and is forced to learn how to survive in a land where people do unspeakable things to survive and predators come in different forms. This is another film that really isn’t horror at all but was on my list because of the horror connection of its source, but that's kind of working out well to knock stuff off my list that wouldn't really fit in October anyway. I liked Amirpour’s first film for the most part and liked her episode of Twilight Zone (“A Traveler”) I just watched so I was curious to see this one. I can say that I really see an auteur style and tone to Amirpour’s work. She has a feel and voice that I really dig and is very immersive. But at the same time she kind of… meanders. Even the Twilight Zone episode was kind of a very engaging episode that just kind of went… somewhere at the end. Bad Batch went places… and then went other places… and then cut back around… and then got at a place that sorta made sense. I don’t hate it but I don’t really love it either. As a director she sets a very good world, brings out some strong performances in actors, and makes some really beautiful shots and art. But as a writer she could probably stand to reach a point in a little more focused and quicker way. I dunno. I’m comfortable calling her a young auteur so I don’t want to crap her voice too much. Her style is her style. I enjoy it, although maybe in smaller doses more. I'm curious to see how she grows.
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Sep 29, 2019 08:43
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I'm in for 31 again this year. My updates may be sporadic, as I just moved and will only have internet service at work for a short time, but that's not gonna slow down my spookadoodle intake!
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Sep 29, 2019 09:41
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OK gonna commit to 15 movies I haven't seen before Could be an easy target or not, depending on work commitments, but I'm free this weekend so let's start with 1) Brain Damage 1988  A turd monster will get you high if you supply him with human victims. There's a lot of weirdly erotic imagery. Brian moans in ecstasy as he's taken from behind by this phallic creature. There's a long scene with him in the shower with a naked bodybuilder. And of course there's the blowjob scene where he fucks a girl's brains out Elmer's a funny guy. I was reminded of Audrey 2 2) Onibaba 1964  In war-torn Japan, a woman and her daughter in law eke out an existence killing passing soldiers and selling their gear, until a man comes between them. There are some horror elements and imagery with the demon towards the end, but it's a bit of a stretch to include this. Prime labelled it horror so it counts  Whether or not it's a horror, it is a very good film. The core conflict is the old woman's fear that her daughter in law will leave her for this man and she'll be unable to survive alone in this dangerous, lawless land, and she'll do anything to prevent this happening. Lot of sexual tension here. Great atmosphere and use of drum and jazz music. The world building is excellent, you really feel the danger everyone is in at all time because of a war nobody has any stake in or cares who wins. The women are predators who hunt in the long grass, but are at all times vulnerable and sympathetic 3) Slugs 1988  Killer slugs. That's it. Pretty standard killer creature movie. Well made with a few very good gore shots. The main cast are solid. The pre-credit scene in the lake was laughably bad. So, so cliched, the actress was terrible and slugs can't swim! You're making Slugs, not Leeches! Also the slugs can move real quick when no one's looking and a fill the floor of an upstairs bedroom while you're shagging, and the slugs have teeth and jaws and sometimes it's not slugs but worms that kill people. Whatever. It's killer slugs. It's pretty good.
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Sep 29, 2019 10:36
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1. Messiah of Evil (1973) I think my expectations for this movie were a bit too high thanks to a ton of people I follow on Letterboxd giving it five stars. That rating isn't too far off though. The movie starts out pretty slow but it manages to create a really creepy atmosphere with the townfolk who are just a bit...off. The acting was pretty decent and the soundtrack worked really well. There was even a theremin in there at some point! I kinda regret that I only had a crappy DVD copy here to watch it, there are a ton of really beautiful shots with vibrant colors in this movie that deserve at least BluRay quality. 3.5/5
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Sep 29, 2019 10:57
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1) Dead Mountaineers Hotel (1979) Inspector Grebsky is invited to the titular hotel - yes, it really is called that - to investigate odd goings on. When he arrives, he finds that the goings on are even odder than he thought and so are the guests. A series of mysterious murders ensue. What is going on? Based on the novel of the same name by the Strugatsky brothers of Roadside Picnic fame, this is definitely a Soviet-era movie. More specifically, it's a Soviet-era movie made in one of the satellites - Estonia, in this case. This means it is very cheap, but makes up for it by doing everything with mood and characters - something horror movies frequently ignore when they're able to go for impressive VFX. As a result it has aged very painfully, yet still has a few powerful dramatic beats that carry it. The final monologue in particular is killer. I don't know if I'd recommend it, but if you have 80 minutes spare and fancy a change of pace it's on YouTube with English subtitles.
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Sep 29, 2019 12:16
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Tales from the Hood (1995) This is a pretty drat great anthology that just oozes style throughout. We get 4 short stories plus a wraparound segment. The stories involve premises that are tragically times less, such as corrupt cops, child abuse, corrupt politicians and gang violence. The movie is almost 25 years old but it just as easily could have been made today. Still, I never got the feeling that this movie was being too heavy handed. Since it's a horror film we get our fair share of zombies, killer dolls and the supernatural. The movie has great visual effects. The film does not shy away from the gore. I wasn't crazy about the second story as I find child abuse to be a touchy subject but every other short was great. And even the child abuse story had some humour too. The real highlight of this is the wraparound segment itself. Clarence Williams III puts in a delightful performance as the funeral director Mr. Simms. As a big plus, even though you may think you see the end coming you really won't see how far things go until it gets there. I highly recommend watching this film. Pet Semetary 2 (1992) I am not the biggest fan of the original Pet Sematary, but when I saw this at a garage sale earlier this year I figured it would be worth the fifty cent price tag. After his actress mother is killed in an on-set accident, Jeff Matthews (Ed Furlong) and his dad (Anthony Edwards) move from LA to Maine to get away from the craziness of Hollywood. Jeff gets bullied at school and makes friends with Drew, another outcast. After Drew demonstrates the resurrection power of the cemetery, Jeff starts to wonder if it could resurrect his mother. This movie gets a little crazy from there. Like the first film the central theme is dealing with grief, but the film isn't concerned with going too deep into that or adding anything new. Instead, the focus is on the monsters created by the titular cemetery. We get a dog with glowing, red eyes and a zombiefied rear end in a top hat cop. We also get what may be the meanest bully I've ever seen in a movie like this. Although the movie is fun when it focuses on its monsters, it does drag a little when it focuses on its main plot. Still, this is probably worth checking out if you haven't seen it. Watched: Brightburn, Tales from the Hood, Pet Semetary 2
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Sep 29, 2019 14:03
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blood_dot_biz posted:Also, I've had the song "Santa Baby" running compulsively through my head all week only with the word "Spider" standing in for "Santa", so I'm hoping now that I've finally watched this one my brain will let me rest. Just in case anyone wants a different Spider Baby earworm, a band from my area wrote a song about that movie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P31OsgIis1I
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Sep 29, 2019 14:10
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1. House of 1000 Corpses dir. Rob Zombie, 2003  It has been quite a while since I've watched Zombie's debut film. Like, more than ten years, at least. I remember disliking it when I first watched it, but now? It's still not a good film, sure, but there's an enthusiasm and adoration that just oozes out of the film. In doing so, it does lose some semblance of basic filmmaking language, sure; there's also somewhat of an identity crisis, with Zombie not able (or willing) to fully commit to camp or horror, but it's oddly charming enough to ride a fine enough line that it never really becomes a disservice. Even though it's uneven, House of 1000 Corpses is at least memorable. Ultimately, though, it probably loses more as it ages, as Zombie was so deftly able to capture the macabre and horrific nature of the Firefly clan in The Devil's Rejects later on. Whether he was able to continue that streak with 3 From Hell, I'll hopefully find out by the end of the month, but the introduction of the motley crew remains an endearingly average watch. 2/5 I, Butthole fucked around with this message at 11:34 on Oct 1, 2019 |
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Sep 29, 2019 14:19
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UltimoDragonQuest posted:Can't believe you failed to mention the incredible foley work in the shower scenes. The squeakiest clean. And the back that literally snapped like a twig! 2. Hard to Die (1990) Really glad this was brought up here. Hard to Die is basically a parody of Sorority House Massacre II with most of the cast making a return. There isn't really much to be said about the story, it's dumber than a bag of hammers but you have to admire how few fucks were given when they were looking for excuses to get the ladies naked/into lingerie. Orville Ketchum is a bigger badass than John McClane and the shootout at the end of the movie is absolutely spectacular, I had tears in my eyes because I was laughing so hard. 3/5 Also I noticed this gem at the end of the credits: 
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Sep 29, 2019 14:26
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T3hRen3gade posted:#1: Midsommar I loved Midsommar for the same reasons you did, and I think Hereditary is even better so you're in for a treat. CopywrightMMXI posted:Tales from the Hood (1995) Yeah it's kind of scary how relevant this film still is today, if not even more so. I didn't bother to see it for a long time because I always associated the title with dumb crap like "Leprechaun in the Hood", but it's a legit great horror anthology.  4. Hell Night (1981) (Shudder) As part of a combined fraternity and sorority hazing ritual, four college students must spend the night in old abandoned mansion, where they are told a story about a horrible murder/suicide that occurred there. The leader of the fraternity intends to scare them throughout the night using hidden speakers and creepy costumes, but it soon appears that maybe the urban legend has some truth to it. As far as early '80s slashers go, this is a pretty decent one. The basic premise has been done many times, but I'd say this film is a little better than average in its execution. Linda Blair (best known for playing Regan in The Exorcist) is pretty good in the lead role, and while I wouldn't call the rest of the cast "good" they are still better than the actors in many other similar films from the time. There really isn't a whole lot to say about this one. I thought it dragged a lot in the middle, but it picks up again later and the ending is pretty decent. If you like slashers from this era you could certainly do worse, but it's hardly essential either. Recommended to fans of early '80s horror, but it's probably skippable for everyone else. 3/5 Total: 4 Watched: Dead of Night | Child's Play | Escape Room | Hell Night
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Sep 29, 2019 15:12
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#2) The Abominable Snowman (1957) The early Hammer movies play on a lot of the same tropes that later Universal pictures did - white colonists come to a "savage" land (I think the word is even used in this one) and are treated as kings while they look into whatever the theme of the movie is: mummies, zombies, or in this case, yetis. However, The Abominable Snowman seems to put a little more of the focus on how the British expedition is actually exploiting the (presumably) Tibetan people, and the joke ends up being on them in the end (no spoilers here). Between Dr. Rollason telling his comardes that the land they're in is actually quite beautiful and shouldn't be called savage, and the Sherpa Kusang's accusatory "you made me look at it! I've seen what man shouldn't see!", you start to feel a bit like maybe our heroes aren't quite heroes. Even Dr. Rollason himself finds disaster due to his hubris. But, despite the progressive leanings of the narrative, it was humorous to look up the actors to see if any were of Tibetan descent - or heck, from anywhere on that half of the world. Spoilers: none were. This isn't a surprise from a movie filmed in the 50s, but it's still a ridiculous thing to see. The Lhama of the monastery (played by Arnold Marlé) having a German accent was especially funny. All in all, it's a fun adventure film with a creepy bent to it, and Peter Cushing is wonderful in everything he does, but I doubt I'll watch it again. 4/10
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Sep 29, 2019 15:49
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 #13) Mikey (1992) Killer kid movies are an odd sub-genre. Usually, there's a lot of camera work-arounds to separate the child actor from the violence, and while that's good for making sure they don't develop any long-term trauma from a dumb acting gig, it also tends to make things look less believable. In Mikey, they don't bother with that. Played by Brian Bonsail, who retired from acting two years after this film's release (after starring in Blank Check), Mikey is a real creep. Killing off the family he has at the start of the movie, he gets adopted by a new family, and adjusts to life in a new town. He does so by developing a crush on a new friend's older sister, plotting to put her boyfriend out of the picture, disturbing his teacher (played by Ashley Laurence from Hellraiser), and making tapes of his bad behavior. His new parents are resistant to hearing any word of their new son's possible problems from the half-a-dozen or so people who come to them about it, and things lead to the conclusion you'd expect. There are times when this movie works, and times when it really doesn't. When Mikey is skulking about in shadows, setting up traps, baring his nuttiness through ham-fisted dialogue, and watching from trees, he's a believable little psycho. When he's directly attacking people twice his height, most of the issues that people bring up about what they'd do when being attacked by Chucky come up, but without the hand-wave of it being a magically-animated doll. So when he's swinging a hammer claw into someone's arm, for the film to stay on the rails, they have to just sob and not make any move to push him away. And no attempt is made to explain Mikey's apparently hella strong arms for being able to swing a bat and pull a bow-string with adult force. Those issues don't detract too much from the creepy atmosphere, which might be because the film doesn't aim too high with that. This kid is a weirdo with violent tendencies, it says, and if you can buy that, we've done our job. Thanks to some suitably odd eye and facial muscle work by Bonsail, that's a premise that's easy enough to accept. There are some neat touches (like a Rube Goldberg-esque marble machine in the classroom), but also some threads that are just dropped. Instead of adding a touch of commentary in the vein of Sliver on Mikey's need to record his crimes, it's just something he does. While it's under-baked in several spots, it does come out ahead of other '90s killer kid movies like Daddy's Girl and Milo, but doesn't quite have the chops or intensity to reach The Good Son's level. rating: 6/10
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Sep 29, 2019 15:51
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1. Childen of the Corn It's one of King's short stories that stuck with me despite having read it maybe 15 years ago. Sad to say that the adaptation does not even come close, it's just very pedestrian all around. Above all, I found the art design lacking. King does a great job describing how grotesque the corn art is, and it really gives you this sense that something very hosed up is going on. In the movie the protagonists have to pretend to be horrified by adorable homemade corn figurines. Also He Who Walks Behind The Rows, oh dear, just don't show him at all instead of making him alternately move around like Bugs Bunny and manifest as, what, some fog? I don't even know what this was supposed to be. The movie could either have gone more balls to the wall or much more restrained, but did not, and the result is just sort of bland. It's also folk horror, which just needs to be knocked out of the park to be any good at all. I'll mention a few positives though. The protagonists have good chemistry and having the main child played by an adult was a very good decision. There was one spooky scene with a demonic voice that's sadly immediately deflated , and I sort of enjoyed the video gamey finale. Also, dude throws a molotov cocktail at a corn field and misses
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Sep 29, 2019 15:52
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2) Castle Freak Sigh. Okay, I think this is really where I'm gonna start diverging from a lot of the CineD horror thread guys and become the realist poser but that's okay. I've always wanted to like the Gordon/Coombs/Crampton Loosecraft trilogy more than I do and this really drove home why I can't get entirely on board with it: the really grody rapey sex poo poo in all of them. In From Beyond (iirc) it's played super over the top and goofy, in Re-Animator its just one really gross scene and mileage will vary based on who is watching it. Castle Freak has no tongue in cheek (though certainly somewhere else, multiple times) and it makes those scenes borderline unwatchable for me. All that aside, this is easily the weakest of the trilogy though it's pulling from the strongest source (sort of: The Outsider is top tier Lovecraft there just isn't an entire movie or even half of a movie there). The movie seems to have a lot of lofty ideas and is incapable of spinning all of those plates. The family dynamic is fine but nobody gets any real characterization considering there are only three characters: drunk, nag and girl. The movie also chooses to split the POV - at first you think this is going to be the daughter's movie, then it's almost entirely Coombs' until the end when it's back to the girls. Crampton is such a non-character here that it cuts half of the tension in the finale because somehow, someway, you don't care about Barbara Crampton. It also cuts off the drama of Coombs' sacrifice because he's barely in the last act of the film. Coombs is also horribly miscast here. He's not a dad - he's too hammy. He needs to play mad scientists and loons and nothing else. He's also the absolute worst at playing inebriated I've seen since Nicole Kidman in Eyes Wide Shut just holy poo poo I know you're a stage guy and gestures have to be grand so people can pick it up in the back rows but Gordon needed to tell him to dial it back. This movie is just not light-hearted enough for whatever that performance is. Still, the chemistry between these three comes off the screen and limps along to a watchable conclusion complete with a great final chase and some really impressive makeup effects. I should probably give this a two, but like I said, something makes me want to like these movies more than I do. I've seen Re-Animator and From Beyond multiple times now and this was only my second pass with Castle Freak. Probably my last too. 2.5/5 3) The Void I don't have a ton to say about this one because it is the definition of an adequate movie. Better quality than a SciFi Channel movie of the week but that's about its ceiling. Bad, BAD acting and a plot straight out of a cobbled together Call of Cthulhu tabletop RPG one-shot (seriously try to explain the villain's plan). The impressive and goopy monster effects are what keeps this movie watchable even if they're shot in strobe and edited like a seizure to keep you from ever getting a great look. The seeds of good filmmaking are here and I'd love to see what they could do with a bigger budget. The cult members look too much like Painted World Guardians from Dark Souls for me to take seriously. 2.5/5 1) One Cut of the Dead 2) Castle Freak 3) The Void weekly font fucked around with this message at 16:57 on Sep 29, 2019 |
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Sep 29, 2019 16:44
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 14) Leprechaun 3 - 1995 - DVD This one has to be my top fave in the franchise simply with Leprechaun in Vegas. It's pure campy fun with leprechaun loose in the city while tracking down a missing gold coin that grants one wish. The ante gets upped when a college student who lost his tuition gambling only to win it back with the leprechaun' coin ends up getting an infected bite which is turning him into a leprechaun. Even with as many times as I've seen this one, I still crack up when he's in the hospital and his EKG readings pop as dancing leprechauns on the paper. This is the sort of film that makes me really want a Leprechaun vs Wishmaster in Vegas to happen.  15) Leprechaun 4: In Space - 1997 - DVD This entry's a bit of an odd one in for once the leprechaun's not interested in gold, but more interested in being a ruler. Best way I can think of describing this film is it's a live action cartoon when you see things like a man's head get flattened like a pie and the leprechaun flipping off the crew after he's blown up. Overall, it's okay. I just prefer others in the franchise more.
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Sep 29, 2019 17:01
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HOUSE, HOME and/or ROOM OF HORROR with special bonus AMITYVILLE ENNUI 1) House (1985) - watched on Amazon Prime, also available on Tubi Trailer Popular horror novelist Roger Cobb (William Katt) moves into his aunt's house after she commits suicide to write a novel about his experiences in the Vietnam War. He's divorced and haunted by the memory of the war and a squadmate he left behind (Richard Moll), as well as his son, who went missing in the house's pool a few years prior. In addition to dealing with a nosy neighbor (George Wendt), the house itself starts manifesting creatures and other spooky poo poo to harass Roger. So this is one that I caught the tail end of on TV years ago but I never got around to watching entirely. There's an interesting pedigree here, as a bunch of people involved in its making worked on Friday the 13th movies (Sean Cunningham produced, Steve Miner directed, Harry Manfredini does the soundtrack and Kane Hodder did stunts). Fred Dekker (Monster Squad, Night of the Creeps) also is credited with the original story which, if IMDB is to be believed, was much darker than the final product and was rewritten to be more of a comedy. That's actually my biggest problem with this movie - you can see that this could have been way darker but the humor blunts the potential scariness of the film too much. Still, I can't say that this is too tough a watch. It benefits greatly from the presence of Katt, whose acting I've always enjoyed and is a great straight man here, and I always like seeing Wendt and Moll outside of their more famous TV roles. Some of the jokes are good, but it's almost like a much (much!) less gory version of Evil Dead 2, with a bunch of similar gags (possessed mounted animals on the wall moving, objects flying around, dismembered body parts that continue to move and harass the main character, etc.) It seems weird that this is rated R, it feels almost easily like a PG-13 if they toned down the profanity. Overall, House feels a little toothless as a horror film, but it would be a fun flick to show to someone who isn't as keen on watching hardcore horror.  2) Demon House (2018) - watched on Amazon Prime Trailer Paranormal investigator and TV star Zak Bagans investigates an allegedly haunted house in Gary, Indiana that drove out the last family that lived in it. I'd never heard of Zak Bagans until RedLetterMedia reviewed this film a while back, and I'd never watched his show before (I watched a few episodes of that Ghost Hunters show on Syfy a while ago, so I get the gist of it), so I have no preconceptions about the guy or his work. So, uh, I found nearly everything about Bagans and this film off-putting. Bagans' narration is somehow both monotone and overwrought. People act weird and/or freak out and become violent after they stay in the house for a while (mostly the people involved in the production). Weird camera angles, freezes, flashback and voiceovers abound. Nothing conclusive is shown. Suicides, murders, health issues, accidents and other misfortunes surrounding the people involved in the filming are offered up not as coincidence but as proof of cursed activity. I mean, I get why the story got real-world play in headlines, mainly because there were a bunch of officials (local cops, clergy and CPS) involved who claimed to witness firsthand some of the weird poo poo that went down, but this film just feels truly exploitative. There's also a whole social element here that might explain why people (especially the kids) are troubled, being murdered and/or trying to commit suicide and/or acting out in the town - it takes place in a primarily black neighborhood, black families are involved, headlines are shown in the film that there's a high violence rate in Gary, a third of the population is in poverty, etc. - it is clearly a tough place to live - but the film makes only the briefest token effort to talk about the social issues impacting the residents and instead plays it off as "nooo, you see demons LOVE to get into this poo poo, they're attracted to it!" Bleh. This movie was boring as hell and nothing happened. Anyhow, Bagans describes the house as "the next Amityville," which is a great segue into... AMITYVILLE ENNUI  3) The Amityville Horror (1979) - watched on Amazon Prime Trailer I had no idea about the Amityville Horror phenomenon of the late '70s until I found a copy of the book in my dad's office in the late '80s. At the time, I was into anything that involved the supernatural (ghosts, cryptids, etc.) and I devoured every book I could find on that stuff. Even though the events have long since been dismissed as a hoax, 12-year-old me was fascinated by the book, with its descriptions of green slime emanating from the basement walls, the red room and, of course, the glowing eyes of Jodie the demonic pig (and its footprints in the snow). That stuff really stuck with me for a long time. I'd never watched the movies (of which there are approximately a billion now), but we gotta start somewhere! A year after the murder of the DeFeo family by Ronald DeFeo Jr. at 112 Ocean Avenue, newlyweds George and Kathy Lutz (James Brolin and Margot Kidder) move their family into the house. They soon beging to experience terrifying events over the course of the following 28 days that eventually force them to flee. Whatever impact the book had on me is entirely missing here. This feels like a TV movie, and I'm pretty sure I've seen some scarier made-for-TV movies than this. There are jump scares, cat scares, demonic voices, black slime. Clergy who enter the house are struck ill. Money mysteriously disappears! Checks bounce! Windows won't open! Babysitters are locked in closets! A nun plays basketball!! Brolin does his best Jack Nicholson impression as a guy who's already kind of a dick being driven insane by the house while Kidder smokes, cries and looks pensive. I thought Rod Steiger was the one bright point as the priest who believes in what's going on but his superiors think he's nuts (probably my favorite scene in the film is their confrontation). Things pick up a bit in the last act when the walls start bleeding and Jodie shows up, but it's just okay at best. My biggest issue with the movie is you're not really told or shown enough about these characters to care about them - George is sullen right from the start and goes off the deep end quick, Kathy is just there to fret and the kids are interchangable and we learn nothing about them, save that the daughter has a new imaginary friend in the house's demons. Compare it to Poltergeist, another haunted house movie with a family being tormented by evil spirits and ends with them driven from their house. You give a drat about the Freelings and that movie has you on the edge of your seat, but the Lutzes? They're cardboard cut-outs, and the movie ends in probably the most anticlimactic manner possible. Watched so far: 1) House (1985) 2) Demon House (2018) 3) The Amityville Horror (1979)
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Sep 29, 2019 17:22
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3. Martin (1978) I really liked how understated Romero's excursion into the vampire genre plays out. The movie delivers just the right amount of backstory (but not sentence too much), the acting is fine and the flashback sequences really help you to understand Martin's situation. Definitely one of the more interesting takes on a modern vampire film. 3.5/5
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Sep 29, 2019 17:37
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#3) Frankenstein Created Woman (1966) It's interesting how Hammer markets their movies around a premise that, honestly, doesn't show up much in the actual movie. "Frankenstein Created Woman" is a catchy title, but it's more like "Frankenstein was brought back from the dead and in turn brought back someone else from the dead who in turn possessed the body of a dead young woman who for some reason came back without her facial scar, but WITH a fake looking blonde wig". I don't think that would fit on the poster as well. I'm a sucker for Peter Cushing as Frankenstein, but with this being #4 in Hammer's Frankenstein series, they're starting to wear a bit thin. 6/10
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Sep 29, 2019 17:44
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4. One Cut of the Dead (2019) Dir: Shinichirou Ueda  (Shudder) I've never seen so many people tell you to go into a movie blind as I have with One Cut of the Dead, and I have to join that crowd. It's one of the best horror comedies I've seen in a long time, though. It really does deserve being seen with the freshest eyes you've got.
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Sep 29, 2019 18:19
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3. The Devil's Rejects Re-watch. Rob Zombie's finest film without a doubt. It is focused, has a purpose and direction, and doesn't feel like just an excuse for some hosed up poo poo (which his other films feel like). The acting is fantastic, and the camera work is also fantastic. There are still some lovely editing left over from his House of 1000 Corpses schtick. I highly recommend you check this out if it has been on your watch list. So many moments I forgot about as I re-watched it reminded me of just how good it is, and how disappointing it is to see Rob Zombie fail again and again after it. I love this movie! Great stuff. Rated 5/5
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Sep 29, 2019 18:36
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