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Franchescanado posted:Also, I forgot to mention in my write-up for Body Snatchers that the screenplay is by Larry Cohen, Stuart Gordon, Dennis Paoli and Nicholas St. John. Just one of those names is enough to get me to watch a flick, let alone one directed by Abel Ferrara. whoa, I didn't know that. I'll have to check out that version.
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Oct 7, 2019 16:27
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 #9 The Blob 1988 Crackle The Blob feels, if nothing else, like a faithful and competent update of the original, and true to the feeling of creature features of its era. I’m not super well-versed in those, as I’ve only seen a handful (not including the original Blob,) but it is interesting to note the ways in which a feeling of nostalgia for the memory of those pictures have actually made this a less “accurate” feeling remake. In addition to that, the ironic detachment of this postmodern production actually makes it feel less cynical and dark than some of the 50’s pictures I’ve seen, which tend to be much more brooding and moody than The Blob 88, which is tinged with some of the warm sentimentality of something like “American Graffiti”. The Blob is a movie that calls for a stand against conformity, not only as an aesthetic and a posture, but in active resistance to Cold War imperialism. It’s fairly light on thematic content, but that’s an admirable position to occupy. The effects work in this is top notch. The Blob is a delight to see in every incarnation, though I did feel that its depiction and its traits were inconsistent across the movie. Every shot that features the monster is imaginative and gorgeously grotesque, and they give you plenty of them by the time the picture comes to a close. If you’re into monster movies, this is essential viewing. My personal tastes desire a little more weirdness than The Blob offers- I would’ve loved to have seen the sequel implied by the stinger- but this is a skilled, respectable remake. 4/5
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Oct 7, 2019 16:34
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 14. House of Wax (1953) DVD It's been so long since catching this on a cable horror marathon that I'm counting it as a first time viewing. A fun time with some great visials and solid acting but otherwise a generic film. Hope to nab a copy of Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) to compare before month's end. And just noticed that I nonconsecutively covered the the fourth year of three decades in three movies: 1943, 1953, and 1963. Watched - 1. Get My Gun (2017), 2. The Last Man on Earth (1964), 3. It Stains the Sands Red (2016), 4. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), 5. Errementari: The Blacksmith and the Devil (2017) *Tied for Current Favorite*, 6. Halloween (1978), 7. One Cut of the Dead (2017), 8. Phamtasm II (1988), 9. Ramekin (2018), 10. Les Affamés (2017), 11. Braindead (1992), 12. Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943), 13. The Haunting (1963) *Tied for Current Favorite*, 14. House of Wax (1953) Decade - 1920s, 1930s, 1940s (I), 1950s (I), 1960s (II), 1970s (II), 1980s (I), 1990s (I), 2000s, 2010s (VI) Black & White:Color - 3:11 By Country - Canada (I), Japan (I), 'Murica (X), New Zealand (I), Spain (I) New:Rewatch - 11:3
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Oct 7, 2019 16:49
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Butch Cassidy posted:
The Blu-ray not only includes a 4K restoration in 3-D of House of Wax, it also has a good SD encode of Mystery of the Wax Museum as an extra.
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Oct 7, 2019 16:57
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 Franchise: Blair Witch When the franchise is mentioned as the Blair Witch Phenomenon, as ridiculous as it sounds today, back in '99 phenomenon's the only way to describe something we'd never seen before. Nowadays, any sort of viral marketing's considered a standard practice. But back in the late 90s, the Internet was still finding it's feet, TV shows were getting into the habit of mentioning the AOL Keyword for the program, depending where you were your only choice for a connection was dialup and paying by the minute, and the idea of being connected 24/7 like today did sound like sci-fi. The viral campaign for Blair Witch did genuinely have people wondering if the legend was real or that some amateur filmmakers went missing in the woods since back then it wasn't like today with being able to look up someone having an acting career or a social media page. The film's website really did a good job with pulling you into the setting. You had photo evidence to click through, exclusive clips that took a bit to download so the anticipation you had built up to make it feel like you were really watching something confidential when it finally loaded up enough to start watching. On top of that were the 'mockumentaries' which added to the feel that just perhaps there might be something real at the core. It's not surprising that with this much hype and worldbuilding that things would branch into books, games, toys, and even trading cards. I think if there'd been Blair Witch bedsheets and pajamas, we'd be approaching Star Wars levels of merchandising.  43) The Blair Witch Project - 1999 - DVD This is the film that depending who you ask, either blessed us or cursed us with the Found Footage genre since this was the one that caught the wider public's eye compared to The McPherson Tape or arguably Cannibal Holocaust. On it's own, the film's rather tame. However once you add on the extras like sitting through the Curse of the Blair Witch and/or Sticks and Stones:An Exploration of the Blair Witch Legend mockumentaries first, the film gets a bit creepy and unnerving. The Blair Witch: A Dossier book is a good companion piece to the movie, though The Blair Witch Files book series is pretty standard Young Adult fare, focused on a relative of Heather's investigating to find out what really happened to Heather and crew. The comics issued at this time I remember were pretty decent. Of the video games that came out, I remember the Rustin Parr one being okay enough with Legend of Coffin Rock and The Elly Kedward Tale being lousy. I do remember the play controls on all three being a bit janky. A new Blair Witch game came out for PC and Xbone this year, but I haven't played that one. The books, Blair Witch: The Secret Confessions of Rustin Parr, and Blair Witch: Graveyard Shift were released between this movie and the next. Graveyard Shift takes place before the film and involves original characters. Confessions centers on Rustin Parr's confession and the priest who heard it's investigation. In 2015, a documentary, The Woods Movie was released on the making of this movie.  44) Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 - 2000 - DVD Understandably, many were expecting something similar to the first movie with this one. The behind the scenes saga could probably be a movie on it's own. First, there were differing opinions on the idea of a sequel. Artisan wanted one pronto, while Haxan wanted to wait so Artisan went on anyway. The director wanted to explore the repercussions of the first film along with the blurring of reality/fantasy with how much of the public seemed to go along with the media campaign premise of the first film was real, and the version he filmed was ambiguous regarding the mental states of Patterson and group. Artisan decided otherwise, forced reshoots and recut the film to what we ended up with. I am very curious to see what the original version of the film was like. What we ended up with feels confused in where it was going, which fits considering the studio meddling. It does improve slightly when paired with the mockumentary Shadow of the Blair Witch. The author behind the Dossier book for the first film, did another for this one which gives an 'in universe' explanation for this film being a different style than the first and more insight into the characters. I'd say if you haven't sat through this one already, it's worth a sit through to say you've seen it.
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Oct 7, 2019 17:29
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I might be able to swing the DVD featurimg both but Blu-ray is too spendy. Just today took delivery of Kuroneko, Onibaba, Bubba Ho-Tep, Universal set of Creature from the Black Lagoon, and waiting on both the original Texas Chansaw Massacre plus House. Mix of DVD and Blu-ray. Oh, also a copy of the original Godzilla plus its English release to compare with the kids. Think I've about spent my wad.
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Oct 7, 2019 17:30
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1. The Box Thriller, not horror, but thrillers count according to the OP. I remember seeing the trailer back in 2009 and wanting to know how they stretched the short story to film length, and also what the deal is with the mysterious dude's face. The reason for the Box doing what it did was one of the safest and more predictable ways they could have gone, but it worked. A little convoluted after the Box decision and mean-spirited at the end, but it worked. Thank god the actors dropped their ridiculous accents any time things got tense. 2. Terrifier I hate gore for gore's sake, and I don't know why I watched this one through to the end. I'm glad people who make and enjoy these types of movies have an outlet for their bloodlust I guess. Oddly few of the victims in the movie "deserved" their fate, as the horror movie definition of "deserved" goes - they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. 3. In the Tall Grass One of the better Stephen King adaptions, I never read the short story but looked it up on Wikipedia and enjoyed the mostly happier ending in the movie. There were a few times I was checking the clock in the middle, but once the third act kicked in it was great. I never quite liked Stephen King's way of almost always literally personifying the evil of the story in usually a single person, when the evil grass messing with time and space could have been a great antagonist on its own, or perhaps even a more natural flowing conflict between the people than "man is driven homicidal by a magic rock". I mean the foundation for a better conflict was already there, in multiple ways. 4. IT: Chapter 2 The movie was already long, but I could've watched another two hours of Pennywise doing spooky stuff to play with his food. Loved that they didn't wait too long so we got new scenes with the kids, who had better chemistry than the adult actors. Never read the book, but apparently a lot of the mythology was cut, which left a lot of questions. Looking forward to watching 1 and 2 back-to-back next Halloween.
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Oct 7, 2019 17:31
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 Magic 1978 Shudder- First time watching this and Anthony Hopkins does not disappoint. The conversations between Corky and Fats are believable . There's also some shots that are great. When Ben Greene confronts Corky in the cabin and asks him if he could go 5 minutes without speaking as Fats, the dummy side eyes Corky, unsure if he could do it. 4.5/5
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Oct 7, 2019 18:57
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Franchescanado posted:SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #2: Dead & Buried If anyone's needing a leg-up on this one, you can include The Creature From The Black Lagoon, The Fly (1958) or The Satanic Rites of Dracula. And of course you can always watch Evil Bong!
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Oct 7, 2019 19:00
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Jedit posted:If anyone's needing a leg-up on this one, you can include The Creature From The Black Lagoon, The Fly (1958) or The Satanic Rites of Dracula. And of course you can always watch Evil Bong! I'm either going Night of the Creeps for Dick Miller or All The Colors of the Dark for George Hilton.
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Oct 7, 2019 19:02
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Jedit posted:If anyone's needing a leg-up on this one, you can include The Creature From The Black Lagoon, The Fly (1958) or The Satanic Rites of Dracula. And of course you can always watch Evil Bong! Oh nice, Satanic Rites of Dracula is on my list for the month anyway. edit-- oh gently caress I might finally watch Lords of Salem since Sid Haig is in it. Count Thrashula fucked around with this message at 19:16 on Oct 7, 2019 |
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Oct 7, 2019 19:09
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Jedit posted:If anyone's needing a leg-up on this one, you can include The Creature From The Black Lagoon, The Fly (1958) or The Satanic Rites of Dracula. And of course you can always watch Evil Bong! Who died that's affiliated with Evil Bong?
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Oct 7, 2019 19:09
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Also Hatchet/Hatchet 2 since John Carl Buechler died this year. Franchescanado posted:Who died that's affiliated with Evil Bong? I hope not Kvlt!, he hasn't posted in a while 
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Oct 7, 2019 19:18
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Franchescanado posted:SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #2: Dead & Buried Damnit I watched Little Shop of Horrors like two days ago! Jedit posted:If anyone's needing a leg-up on this one, you can include The Creature From The Black Lagoon, The Fly (1958) or The Satanic Rites of Dracula. And of course you can always watch Evil Bong! I assumed most people would take it as the "Watch a Sid Haig movie" challenge
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Oct 7, 2019 19:20
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Gripweed posted:I assumed most people would take it as the "Watch a Sid Haig movie" challenge  He has at least 8 qualifying films that are good to great. Triple that if you're open to schlock.
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Oct 7, 2019 19:22
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#14: Species SETI gets a response, an alien signal including the process to make some kind of methane fuel cell which produces near infinite clean energy, and alien DNA with instructions for combining it with human DNA to create a hybrid. Ben Kingsley decides to ignore that first part for the time being and do the second thing. You might think, oh, the aliens want to create an ambassador or some kind of link between the two species. But Kingsley apparently figures it's just for fun, it's like a science experiment? So he locks the hybrid, called Sil, in a big glass box and doesn't let her interact with anyone. One night she has a nightmare and some kind of alien organ moves under her skin. Which makes sense that she would have some kind of alien organ, because she's part alien. But Kingsley decides that must mean she's evil, and orders cyanide gas to be pumped into her cage to kill her. Sil escapes and gets her first human interaction; a homeless man tries to rape her and she knocks him away, killing him. Shortly afterwards Sil boards a train, has a nightmare about her alien nature, and gets pulled into this cocoon thing. A train employee, the first human being to ever be nice to Sil, goes to investigate, disturbing the cocoon, and Sil lashes out and kills her. OK, that's the setup, that's the beginning of Sil's story. So you gotta keep that all in mind when fuckin Alfred Molina shows up and, after being given an extremely cursory overview of the situation, essentially declares that Sil is a remorseless killing machine controlled by evil alien DNA to destroy humanity. And the movie just takes that as read for the rest of it's way too long runtime. And that's it, the movie is basically ruined by the massive disparity between Sil's early characterization and the way it treats her for the next hour and a half. You can't put the lead character through all that misery from conception, and then say that oh clearly her lack of concern for human life is just because she's fundamentally evil. And she also stops being the lead character, and becomes basically just a slasher villain, with the team chasing her taking over as our leads. And the team chasing her is terrible. Great actors, all of them, but godawful characters. They aren't interesting, they don't have character arcs, and their investigation is terrible. They're always one step behind Sil. Which sounds like it should be exciting, but it turns out having an investigation where the detectives are always the precise same distance away from catching their target is really boring. Every scene has the exact same chance of this is gonna be where they catch her as the scene before and the scene after. After a loving hour of that Sil fakes her own death, they give up on the investigation, there's an interminably long party scene where they celebrate the end of the investigation, and then Sil shows up, for some reason deciding that she needs to gently caress one of th guys who was chasing her? It makes no sense. And then there's an interminably long chase scene through a sewer and then into a cave, some godawful CGI, and finally, after an hour and forty five minutes, it's finally over. The weird thing is, if I heard they were doing a Species remake, I'd be excited. Because with just some very minor tweaks this could've been a really good movie about fear of women's sexuality. Unfortunately, as it is Species is a really good example of fear of women's sexuality. The alien monster does have great tits and gets them out a lot though. So it's not all bad.
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Oct 7, 2019 19:39
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I caught a couple of Scream Stream flicks over the weekend as well, may as well log them. Both of these were so engrossing that I found myself 100% focused on the screen and barely paying attention to the chat. So great start Lurdiak. The Ravenous  I thought this might be a boring way to kick off the stream but it really delivered a fresh and interesting take on the zombie subgenre. That's extremely difficult to do, doubly so for such a low budget. The acting is good enough for what the film needs it to be, but the world building was what I thought was the most enjoyable here. The zombie plague is unique here, and I had a lot of fun observing scene by scene the various bits of information you get about how the zombies behave and what that means for people trying to dodge them and get to safety. There were also a few scenes that were legit scary, as in pulse pounding WTF GET THE HELL OUTTA THERE!!! type stuff. And this(along with Alucarda) is a film that I didn't even know existed until Friday night. Alucarda  I'm sure I wasn't the only one who assumed this was a vampire movie right? Anyway it's absolutely bonkers and one of those films that I'd never know about if not for SA horror thread people because there's nobody I know in regular life that would even consider watching this kinda stuff. I'm also glad that I watched this at my parent's house, because in my apartment with thin walls I'd probably have cops knocking on my door with all the screaming that goes on in the film. I really had zero idea where it was going from scene to scene because it was one of those movies that seemed like it had no rules. And that's a great feeling to have when you watch horror. Watched: 1. Child's Play(1988) 2. Child's Play(2019) 3. VHS: Viral 4. Tales From the Crypt 5. Viy 6. House of Frankenstein 7. Van Helsing 8. The Shining 9. Salem's Lot 10. Poltergeist 2: The Other Side 11. Pumpkinhead 2: Blood Wings 12. The Ravenous 13. Alucarda
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Oct 7, 2019 19:51
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 8. The Exorcist III (1990, dir. William Peter Blatty) shudder Brad Dourif and George C Scott are great but I don't know about this one overall. Kinda long and uneven, but when it's good it's very good. Worth it for the moments when it commits to the bonkers nonsense and a solid ending. 3/5 Franchescanado posted:SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #1: The Best Month  9. Dracula (1958, dir. Terence Fisher) Nothing against Lugosi, but I prefer Christopher Lee. Beautiful sets, great actors, and a nice pace, it's quite a bit better than the '31 film. Like a lot of the great monster movies it's simple, asking little of the viewer, while being a complete delight to watch. I love the vampire in sunlight effects. 4/5  10. Trouble Every Day (2001, dir. Claire Denis) prime video Claire Denis' sex cannibal movie. Mostly quiet and uneasy, with a couple scenes of seriously intense and troubling violence. Not sure all that was necessary though, just having Vincent Gallo on screen for that long is gross enough. 4/5 Franchescanado posted:SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #2: Dead & Buried  11. Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954, dir. Jack Arnold) blu-ray One of the better Universal monster movies I've seen. It feels obvious to say, but this one's got three main things going for it: Julie Adams, a good monster suit, and the incredible underwater photography. Nothing else matters, I don't need to care what happens in a movie this beautiful. 4/5 Watched (11): 36.15 code Père Noël | Tetsuo II: Body Hammer | Devil Fetus | The Wolf Man | Don't Torture a Duckling | Prime Evil | Lurkers | The Exorcist III | Dracula | Trouble Every Day | Creature from the Black Lagoon
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Oct 7, 2019 19:52
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FancyMike posted:11. Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954, dir. Jack Arnold) blu-ray Worth pointing out that Creature From the Black Lagoon was made like 20 years after stuff like Dracula, The Mummy, and Bride of Frankenstein. It definitely shows, it's very slick and has the feel of a modern blockbuster.
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Oct 7, 2019 19:58
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Basebf555 posted:Worth pointing out that Creature From the Black Lagoon was made like 20 years after stuff like Dracula, The Mummy, and Bride of Frankenstein. It definitely shows, it's very slick and has the feel of a modern blockbuster. Yeah it's got a cool feel that's sort of a mix of old Universal (b&w, the acting) and the Hammer updates (gorgeous modern cinematography and effects/makeup)
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Oct 7, 2019 20:05
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 #9. The Fly (1986) (Purchased on iTunes) A brilliant scientist invents a teleportation machine, but during its first human test, ends up merging his DNA with that of a common housefly. As the scientist begins to decay and mutate into a new human-insect hybrid, can he find a way to regain his humanity? And what will this do to his new relationship with a loving reporter? A rarity in the sci-fi and horror genres, David Cronenberg's The Fly remake is a film anchored by a believable tragic love story. Beyond the effects (which are phenomenal) and the acting (also phenomenal), the script makes for a completely whole love story between the two leads, which grounds the first half. This also dovetails nicely in the second half, where the love story turns more into a tragic Love Story-style melodrama, where one of the principals is slowly dying of an unknown disease. Because this is Cronenberg though, slowly dying to a cancer or AIDS is here rendered as "slowly falling apart as you turn into a 7-foot tall bug-man hybrid monster." It's incredible to remember that Jeff Goldblum was once a highly promising actor, instead of the benevolent meme shortcut his late-stage celebrity has been cast as. I think this is his best performance ever, and the amount of emoting he can do through layers of latex add-ons and prosthetic teeth is amazing. Credit too to Geena Davis, who keeps the film grounded in an understandable humanity, to counterpoint Goldblum's slow descent into madness. If there's one thing here that didn't age well, it would be the overly creepy ex-boyfriend character, who crosses way too many lines to totally earn a heroic about-face at the film's conclusion. You still feel bad when his hand and foot get melted off by Goldblum's fly spit, but since he spends the beginning of the film creepily stalking Geena Davis and letting himself into her apartment, it's a moment that plays against itself. If you can look past that element though, the rest of the film more than makes up for that bum note. Highly recommended.  /5 #10. Joker (Theatrical) A poor, struggling clown-for-hire is pushed to commit an act of violent self-defense, which gets called an act of vigilantism. As his madness spirals closer to a final breaking point, the city experiences a growing wave of clown-themed violence, culminating in the "birth" of the DC Comics supervillain. It's fine enough as a film, but as a psychodrama or thriller Joker is curiously inert. Joaquin Phoenix struggles mightily to make the movie work in spite of itself, but for however good he is, the pre-Joker Arthur Fleck is really just a collection of tics and performative mugging in search of a script. Phoenix looks incredible, somewhere on the Christian Bale The Mechanic spectrum of overly emaciated and taut, but his visible skeleton and creepy dance moments still don't really create a complete or compelling character. I liked the last third a lot more than the first two acts, since the film really starts to pick up once Arthur confronts Thomas Wayne face-to-face and gets punched in the face for his troubles, but that scene is also indicative of one of the film's problems as a whole. There's an odd structure to the whole plot design of the script, since "startling revelations" feel like they get picked up and just tossed off as the whole thing starts picking up steam in the back half. None of these character beats feel like they get a chance to breathe, and the scene where poor Zazie Beets gets shuffled out of the picture feels like at least one character beat too far. (I mean, Beets didn't have much else going on in the flick, but still, that scene's attempt to recontextualize her whole relationship with Arthur as a psychotic delusion feels unearned and never really addressed in the conclusion.) Like I said, it's fine almost in spite of itself, but that's all it ever is. If you're in the mood for a Scorsese rip, you'd be better off going to the source material that they're blatantly aping here (specifically Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy). /5 #11. The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (Purchased on Vudu) Atomic bomb testing in the arctic awakens a frozen dinosaur, which eventually makes its way to New York City and begins attacking the citizenry. More like The Bore from 20,000 Fathoms. I can appreciate the craft of Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion animation, the detail that went into making that dinosaur and believably lighting it; I can't appreciate any of the rest of it, which was boring, talky, stagy and sometimes nonsensical. The Beast shows up quickly in the beginning and then disappears for long stretches until the end, which made me struggle to stay focused on the screen, or even to stay awake. I liked the ending, where the Beast gets caught up trying to destroy the Cyclone roller coaster on Coney Island before the coaster is set on fire. I can appreciate the NYC "rampage", whose footage was recycled in a thousand 80s and 90s movies it feels like, and I guess the brief scene where it destroys a lighthouse is neat. All of the rest of it was dumb and pointless. Hard pass. /5Watched so far: The Curse of Frankenstein, Villains, Horror of Dracula, You're Next, House on Haunted Hill (1959), Halloween 4, Army of Darkness, A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), The Fly (1986), Joker, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
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Oct 7, 2019 20:15
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5. Trick R Treat A Halloween classic, always worth a re-watch.  6. Alucarda  All the things I hate about Italian horror movies, except it's in Spanish. Oh well, even a bad movie can make for a good stream and Alucarda' got great resting witch face. quote:1. The Shining [5/5 Spooks]
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Oct 7, 2019 20:16
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FancyMike posted:Yeah it's got a cool feel that's sort of a mix of old Universal (b&w, the acting) and the Hammer updates (gorgeous modern cinematography and effects/makeup) The cinematography is absolutely insane. It's probably the best looking of the original Universal monster movies. Nothing else considered, it's objectively better than all of them, visually, except arguably Bride of Frankenstein and The Invisible Man. It's fair to give credit to how much time has passed, since it came out in 1954. Technology evolved, directors got better, audiences expected more. But, the thing that is missed by most people: Underwater photography is insanely hard. Friends that have known me for a while now and have talked with me probably remember that I've been a scuba instructor for over a decade now, and worked full-time in the diving industry for about five years. I've met plenty of photographers that worked for Nat Geo, the Discovery Channel, had met James Cameron on his documentary works, etc. Underwater photography is a small world, because you not only have to be a great photographer, you also have to be a great diver, and you also have to have a budget to afford the lighting and equipment. If you talk to any of them, they will tell you that Creature From The Black Lagoon is a masterpiece. Not only did they have to film it with giant cameras with black and white film stock, they had to use it in underwater housing for the cameras, which can double the size and weight of a camera, depending on the gear. Plus they had to have at least two divers for lights. Plus a diver in the Gilman suit. Plus probably one or two safety divers, just in case something went wrong. Whoever they hired for any of those roles, basically couldn't make a mistake. You don't get to just go in the water and sit on the bottom and film. One touch of the ground would make and silt and detritus shoot up and ruin clarity for at least half an hour. So your camera guy, your lights, and essentially your safety divers, would have to maintain buoyancy and orientation for as long as possible, get as many takes as you can on your air (maybe about 10-15 minutes at a time, maybe 20-25 minutes if they're in lesser depth, safer conditions and have big enough tanks), and then start doing your safety checks on the way to the surface. Then you've gotta do your in-between dives and swap out gear and do safety checks before trying to film again. On top of all that, they have to maintain the director and cinematographer's vision, as well as help create the illusion that they are in a lagoon in a jungle in a foreign country. (Although a lot of it was filmed outside of my hometown of Jacksonville, Florida; go Jags!) This is already all an insane feat now. Think of all the problems they had with Jaws, 21 years later. And Creature did it all while basically inventing the rules, in 1952-53. It's nuts. Amazing movie. Franchescanado fucked around with this message at 20:30 on Oct 7, 2019 |
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Oct 7, 2019 20:25
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Jack Arnold did amazing work in the 50s. The Incredible Shrinking Man is probably his masterpiece but Creature and It Came From Outer Space and Tarantula are all worth seeing.
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Oct 7, 2019 20:39
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Catching up after a busy weekend! 6. Isle Of The Snake People (1971) - Owned #3  This was alright. Low budget. Karloff's last role, so that was interesting. There was a lot going on and it didn’t always make the most sense. 7. One Cut Of The Dead (2017) - Rewatch #2  Echoing countless others, go in blind, etc.. Great movie, and holds up to a third viewing just fine. 8. The Endless (2018) - Rewatch #3  This was a rewatch, and I still really like this movie. The concept is really cool, the acting is decent enough, and has some fun cosmic horror running throughout. The movie, while tackling a *big* concept, never feels like its reach exceeds its grasp - it handles most everything weird happening very confidently. 9. Child’s Play (2019) - New to me #3  I'm not certain I liked this. It was towards the end of a Friday night movie marathon, so I was maybe less attentive than I otherwise could have been, but without the soul of a serial killer propping him up, this felt more like a movie in the Chopping Mall franchise than a Child's Play movie. I was sceptical that Aubree Plaza could play a mother, but she won me over by the end. The kid did a good job as well. But for the most part is was just OK. 10. Train To Busan (2016) - Rewatch #4  This was a rewatch, and this movie still maintains it's ability to evoke thrills and pathos at every turn. While bringing nothing really new to the table, it manages to perfectly execute every set piece, every character, to provide one of the top examples of this kind of movie, and simultaneously shows *how* to bring video game sensibilities into a movie. 11. Memory: The Origins of Alien (2019) - New to me #4  This was a fun documentary. Most of the major players who were involved in one way or another get interviewed, and keeping the focus on just Alien and not any of its sequels (though they all get mentioned and footage shown at some point) kept it detailed enough over the run time that it never became boring. 12. Who Can Kill A Child? (1976) - New to me #5  A very slow beginning to this one, and lead male Tom is a complete jerk to his wife by not telling her what he saw - fitting for the theme of the movie. Opening with war crimes and ending with an incredibly savage escalation in violence, the pacing of this movie was odd. But even with that in mind, it was startlingly effective. 13. The Seventh Curse (1986) - New to me #6 I love Hong Kong movies. The attitude of jumping from comedy to horror to action at the drop of a hat, providing whatever the scene needs right now, gives folks a severe whiplash if they're new to HK cinema, but after you watch a few (I've been watching them for 20 years now), it is a rollicking good time. This movie is bonkers. I loved it.  Movies So Far - 13: Rewatches: 4 - Deep Red, One Cut Of The Dead, The Endless, Train To Busan New To Me: 6 - Dolls, Borderlands, Child’s Play (2019), Memory: Origins Of Alien, Who Can Kill A Child?, The Seventh Curse Finally Watching Owned Movies: 3 - Werewolf Of London, She-Wolf Of London, Isle Of The Snake People
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Oct 7, 2019 21:09
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As much as I should be doing the years, watching the original The Thing just made me very curious how it compares directly with Carpenter’s classic. And since its been awhile since I’ve watched it I ended up being really motivated to go fire it up when I finished the original. - (11). The Thing (1982) Available on Starz streaming. The same basic tale of an Alaskan research center who stumble on an alien specimen only to discover its still alive and poses an eminent threat to them and the world as a whole. But instead of a vampire carrot this Thing is a parasitic shape shifter meaning it could be anyone and no one can be trusted. I’ve seen this film many times, but was there always a really goofy looking spaceship crash at the start of it? I’ve never noticed that before. Have I just never paid attention to the first few seconds of the film? My first big takeaway is I still love this for the nth time I watched it, but I’m not sure which I’d say is the better film. Both work in very different ways, but with the same basic cores of a good ensemble cast, strong lead, and fast pace. I think they might be very comparable quality films, although Carpenter’s feels like it has more watchability. I mean, I can see myself firing up the original with a lady or someone who might be curious to see how the two compare and enjoying the charm and fun of the film again. But I know I’ll watch Carpenter’s twisted, Lovecraftian, nihlistic horror show again. There’s just much to see. Its also interesting saying “Lovecraftian” now as I haven’t watched the film since I started this journey a few years ago. Now I can really see how much Carpenter was influence by Lovecraft with his “Apocalypse Trilogy” and how this film actually reminds me quite a bit of movies like From Beyond and the work of Stuart Gordon or Brian Yuzna. I wasn’t familiar with them all those years I was watching these Carpenter films but now i can see the common threads and inspirations. I did wonder how the effects and look of the Thing would hold up but they do so GREAT. I think the big key is just how utterly inhuman and freakish it is. Nothing you see really makes much sense, its just this horrific thing from another world that is hard to really comprehend. And that carries over and still works nearly 40 years later. Another fun takeaway that I’ve never noticed before is Carpenter paying homage to the original film and trying his best to fit that original film into the Norwegian base that first discovers the Thing in this version. I obviously never realized that having never seen the original before now, but its a fun little easter egg and a cool nod from Carpenter showing his respect for a classic. Reading up on these I was shocked to learn that the movie was kind of a bomb back in ’82 and everyone hated it. It even derailed Carpenter’s career and cost him the job directing Firestarter. How nuts is that? Like, the reviews for it are TERRIBLE. Just the most dismissive and insulting stuff. They really, really, REALLY hated this movie back in 1982. Something about ET being in the theaters and people not wanting such a dark and cynical contrast to the uplifting family alien film? I dunno. Its hard to be mad in hindsight considering Carpenter’s career. Even he seems to take that view and that he wouldn’t have made the films he made if people hadn’t ripped him apart as badly as they did. But its really a trip to find that out about a film you’ve thought as a classic your entire life. Ok, I’m a nerd and if I don’t close this circle its gonna bother me. Plus I’ve still got a bit of a crush on Mary Elizabeth Winstead from my BrainDead rewatch.  11 (12). The Thing (2011) Available on SyFy streaming. Following in the tradition of “not quite sequels” this one takes us back to the Norwegian research team who discovered the space ship and alien and shows us how everything went to hell and got us to where Carpenter’s film picks up. So I really wanted to like this but its just not very good. Its not the worst thing or anything, but its incredibly redundant and uncompelling. While Carpenter paid respect to the original and then did something completely different this version nods at Carpenter and then… just basically remakes his film. Just bigger, slower, and with inferior changes. I mean, checking for teeth fillings? That’s how you replace one of the most memorable and tense scenes in horror and sci-fi history? Seriously? It does that thing so many sequels and remakes do of just trying to make everything bigger. Carpenters has these gorgeous shots of the snow and wasteland, so this film does bigger shots. The others had a space ship in the snow, so this one has one the size of a football field. Carpenter’s has a grotesque monster the lurches and thrashes and horrifies everyone who sees it, so this one has one bigger that leaps through buildings and eats people whole. And as is often the case, the CGI just looks worse than the physical effects of 30 years earlier. There’s definitely some horrifying visuals of body horror but it just feels much more artificial and fake. And the little “bugs” just kind of felt silly to me. The pace also was so much slower than the other two versions. The original doesn’t have the wall to wall horror that Carpenter’s had, but it keeps the story moving and bridges the gap with charming characters and banter. This one felt like it was lurching along at times and waiting for something to happen (in a bad way). Winstead is totally capable of playing a lead in this kind of story, but she’s given nothing to work with or room to go with it. Its borderline insulting when she pieces together what’s happening and everyone dismisses her as hysterical. And what was the point of that when everyone just finds out its true like 2 scenes later? That being said, I watched this with commercials and the terrible SyFy/NBC app crashed the stream twice while I was watching it. So I don’t know how much of the pacing problems were there and how much were created by the circumstances of the viewing. I try to avoid commercial versions for this reason, but you work with what you have. I also don’t know what might have been cut from the film. The runtime is actually 4 minutes shorter than the Wikipedia listed runtime. There were some noticeable Norwegian curses censored. But I don’t know if anything more significant went. Maybe that would explain why I didn’t even notice characters disappearing or dying. Or maybe that’s because they were poorly defined and used as canon fodder in a sloppy story. I don’t know. I want to be nicer to this for some reason. I just can’t. Maybe if I hadn’t watched it right after Carpenter’s I’d feel different. Maybe if you’ve never seen Carpenter’s a lot of this would feel new and different and if you hadn’t seen it in awhile it would feel like a respectful homage or cover with some twists. I don’t know. The way I watched it it just felt like a competent copy that didn’t need to exist because it offered nothing better or truly different. Unless you wanted to see a spaceship, I guess. I still sort of want a 4th Thing movie with Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kurt Russell, Keith Davids, and that guy who played Scott (he’s probably dead). I checked. He’s been dead a really, really long time. That’s sad. But he would have been 119 so he probably wouldn’t have fit my action cast anyway. September Pre-Game Tally - New (Total) 1. NOS4A2 (2019); - (2). Splice (2009); - (3). Drive Angry (2011); 2 (4). The Twilight Zone (2019); - (5). Event Horizon (1997); - (6). BrainDead (2016); 3 (7). The Dark Tower (2017); 4 (8). The Collector (2009); 5 (9). The Bad Batch (2016); - (10). Rose Red (2002); - (11). Salem’s Lot (1979) October Tally - New (Total) 1. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920); 2. Nightmare Cinema (2018); 3. Dead of Night (1945); The Queen of Spades (1949); 5. Tragedy Girls (2017); 6. House of Wax (1953); SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #1: 7. The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016); 8. In the Tall Grass (2019); 9. The Night of the Hunter (1955); 10. The Thing (1951); - (11). The Thing (1982); 11 (12). The Thing (2011)
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Oct 7, 2019 21:09
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Because no one asked: It's the something's-in-the-beach-eating-people showdown spectacular! Which movie about monsters hiding in the sand of specifically a beach setting preying on swimmers when they think they're safe will reign supreme?  6) Blood Beach (1981) Bizarre incidents near the Venice Beach Boardwalk have the town frightened. A local woman disappears while walking her dog; said dog in turn is attacked while later digging around the spot its owner vanished from. A teen, buried in the sand by her playful friends, is nearly crippled when something tears at her legs. The local police are baffled by the total lack of leads. Who or what is committing these crimes and how can they be brought to justice? Look at that poster! Look at it! Isn't it great? Doesn't it make you at least a little intrigued for what kind of campy action we'll be seeing? Well stop. About 96% of this movie is a sloppy police procedural that occasionally shows you a person get sucked into the sand the same way over and over. The movie saves its budget by following around the police for the majority of the running time while they mostly do a whole lot of nothing to resolve any of the conflicts or escalate tension. And even worse the police aren't even interesting! Settings change and character pairings shift from scene to scene but the sluggishness of the plot makes the entire production feel like a lesser Corman weekend shoot. John Saxon is good as the chief but his performance too easily outshines the rest of the cast. Burt Young is a detective who constantly degrades southern California in favor of Chicago and is rarely funny. Otis Young (The Last Detail) is given the unenviable task of alternating between being Burt Young's straight man and being forgotten by the movie altogether. The lead, who is Some Dude, (ed. note: real name David Huffman; stabbed to death in 1985) adds zero charisma to the proceedings. The lead actress, Marianna Hill (Star Trek: TOS (Dagger of the Mind); Norman Schwarzkopf's cousin) is given nothing to do except talk wistfully to Some Dude and occasionally get yelled at by a homeless woman. The cast is way too interesting for all the bland stuffing and fluff this movie is full of. Cops talk to each other. Cops talk to family of the missing people. Cops yell at the city council for being stingy NIMBYs. Someone gets got. The stakes stay the same. It's not compelling, interesting, or satisfying. It is a neat poster though. A wasted cast/10  7) Sand Sharks (2011) There are literal sharks swimming through the sand freely devouring people on the beaches of a small island community. Can Brooke Hogan, selachologist, help tip the scales and stop the monstrous threat? Lemme tell you 85% of all you need to know about this movie: it wants to be a comedy. The other 15%: the parts of this movie that really shouldn't work actually kind of do and it's everything else that's a mess. It's mostly a Jaws spoof with a mix of goofy characters and straight men. It's a really weird balance with some pretty noticeable shortcomings but overall it somehow functions. Corin Nemec (aka Parker "Parker Lewis Can't Lose" Lewis) is the leading goofball with a performance overstuffed with gags and jokes. A large percentage of them miss but it's still the most compelling effort of the film. Brooke Hogan does a perfectly fine job selling scientific lines and out-acts the walking stiff that portrays the sheriff in several scenes they share. A majority of the performances are functional enough for what they're written to be, again discounting the sheriff. The comedy is hit-and-miss in the sense that it's mostly a miss. However I'm willing to credit a particularly morbid scene that features a handful of gags involving an unceremoniously bisected victim. Whatever the weakness of the comedic portions of the film are it's the action and pacing that are the absolute death knell of this attempt at a movie. The sharks are mostly in service to the film's comedic timing, of which there is none. The plot lurches and reels as scenes are welded together in a genuine effort to resolve arcs that rarely matter and further B plots that don't add enough. There are a handful of scenes that work and feel smooth that make everything else feel even worse than it otherwise would. It's still not the worst movie I've seen in recent years but I would advise against spending your time on this. Brooke Hogan, Selachologist/10  8) The Sand (2015) A group of college-ish kids are throwing a beach party during Spring Break. While searching for driftwood to feed the bonfire some of the guys find a Big Gooey Thing and set it down on the nearby sand. The following morning, a majority of the partygoers have vanished, and the remainder find themselves in a very strange predicament... Basically a bunch of twenty-somethings play The Floor Is Lava at a beach for 85 minutes. It starts almost as a found footage movie but this only pertains to the party itself to establish character dynamics. As soon as the main cast wakes up the following morning the camera is abandoned for the better. The group's efforts to understand their situation and their options has its ups and downs but there are a couple decent curveballs thrown that helped me power through the negatives. The biggest problem with this one is also recurring: most every sequence in this movie is well-placed but too long. Everything takes too long. Each sequence is in the correct place doing the correct thing but is most often stretched too far to keep the movie moving as it ought. Trying to get into the trunk? Good ideas, takes too long. Trying to get to the picnic table? Good ideas, takes too long. Jamie Kennedy shows up to yell at everyone? Good ideas, takes too long. On the other hand the performances are fine enough, the effects are weak but not leaned on while still being better than the previous two movies, I like the monster, and I like the ending. So I had a good time even though I was mentally trying to edit it as I was watching. This...isn't bad. Its peak is Rainy Saturday Afternoon Cable Option but it's fun enough for that niche. I may not be in a rush to ever rewatch this but if it came on at a party setting I'd be fine. Little wiggly strands/10 ~~ So who wins the first and only something's-in-the-beach-eating-people showdown spectacular? Oh my gosh The Sand, hands down, it's not even a contest. It's clearly the most focused of the three I'm reviewing in this post and as a result it's the one that feels the most like a real movie as opposed to a blended selection of cop show vignettes or a throwaway sub-SyFy original.
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Oct 7, 2019 21:11
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STAC Goat posted:Disney did a big push last year for the 25th anniversary complete with like a takeover of Salem. Franchescanado posted:SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #2: Dead & Buried R.I.P. Julie Adams, Oct. 17, 1926 - Feb. 3, 2019  #46) Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) The last of the films in my Universal Monsters Blu-rays that I hadn't seen. Well, I'd seen most of this on an old VHS recorded off some network TV broadcast, but getting to see it in 'proper' presentation was a drastically different experience, and a very nice one, for the most part. Such good underwater filming for the time; lots of blatant innuendo for a non-comedy of the time, too. Outside of that, I think this is probably my least enjoyed of the bunch. The basic idea is cool as hell; undiscovered creature in the wilds, parallel evolved into bipedal amphibian form, encountering humans who've intruded on its domain. Too bad the movie doesn't live up to that potential. Dull characters, of-the-time portrayals of natives, clunky dialogue, and an arc (once the humans know the amphibian's there) that I'm sure was predictable even at the time of release. When they're exploring underwater, with just the strong score and beautiful camera-work for tension, it's very good, and if this had been done as a silent film, I'd probably adore it. I'd place Adams as the brightest of the human cast. Even when she's just standing around looking at her surroundings, there's a charming sense of excitement and involvement in her eyes. Big respect also to the uncredited(!) Ben Chapman, who plays the creature on land, and manages to effectively emote through the full-body costume. And to the similarly uncredited Ricou Browning, who does the same while swimming. Shame on you, Universal. The underwater work for this is stellar (thanks for the info on how much work goes into underwater shooting, Franchescanado!), and even with the '?' credit precedent set in Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein, that work really should have been given its due. That said, I can't help but get a laugh out of how often the creature's menace is just his arm sticking up over shore or through a port-hole. If not for the strength of the creature's design, and the underwater scenes, I'd be rating this a point lower. But as FancyMike said, those two things and Adams are all that really matters for this movie. At least the creature gets some well-deserved revenge in the sequels, and a happy ending in The Shape of Water. While I'd put this as my least favorite movie from the box set, I think I felt the most badly for the Gill Man's situation. It's like seeing some assholes storm into the woods and shoot an animal trying to defend its territory, and it keeps me from having any sympathy for the human 'heroes.' rating: 7/10
Darthemed fucked around with this message at 21:27 on Oct 7, 2019 |
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Oct 7, 2019 21:21
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I'm gonna go for 31 again this year. Had a great time last October and saw a bunch of movies I might have never checked out otherwise. 1. Midsommar 2019 Man, Ari Aster really knows how to portray really intense emotional tragedy... just brutal, haunting. I love how confident the pacing in this movie is. It didn't feel slow because every little thing encountered along the way seemed to fluctuate back and forth between odd and ominous. The sense of foreboding is there the entire movie but it's never overt enough for the group to run for the hills. The whole thing just reminded me of that Ralph gif from The Simpsons:  I will watch anything Ari makes as he's clearly making what he wants to and so far both of his releases have been really imaginative and interesting. 4/5 2. Maniac Cop 1988 My thoughts while watching Maniac Cop: Wait, Tom Atkins is in this? My man! Happy Happy Halloween! Silver Shamrock! Wait, Bruce Campbell is in this? Nice. I enjoyed Maniac Cop, but I don't think it really does anything special. There's a straightforwardness to it that made the movie kinda flat for me. I may check out part 2 later this month. While looking up the date, I saw this on imdb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2375737/?ref_=fn_al_tt_3 Uh, Nicholas Winding Refn's Maniac Cop? Ok, I'll watch that. 2/5 3. Satan's Little Helper 2004 The opening scene of Satan's Little Helper is a mom driving her son home in a car. There's something so off about it and I can't put my finger on it. It feels like the mom and son aren't really talking to one another, or maybe they were recorded at different times and cut together. It's just off. I got shades of Tommy speaking in The Room, where he's speaking english but doesn't come across like a normal person. That said, I'm glad I stuck around because I like most of the rest of this movie. A little kid befriends a masked murderer in his neighborhood and helps him install "halloween decorations" around the town. The masked "Satan" of the film is great because despite not speaking, his body language and mimery give him a ton of personality. This movie is completely tonally different from Terrifier but the villains in both movies have a lot in common. They're both playful, but Terrifier leans heavily into gore and viscera, while Satan's Little Helper leans heavily into an almost sitcommy plot of "wait, the guy in the mask isn't my boyfriend at all!" I'd rate this one more highly if the ending wasn't so abrupt and unfulfilling. The start and end of this thing are pretty bad, but the gooey center is pretty sweet. 3/5 4. Dude Bro Party Massacre III 2015 This movie is wonderful. With that title, I thought it was going to be more stupid than actually funny, but the movie is legitimately funny throughout. It IS really really stupid, but it reminds me a bit of something like Kung Pow where a lot of the jokes are terrible, but then occasionally one lands and redeems the others. The movie does a good job poking fun at slasher movie tropes. There are several funny scenes where the camera focuses on and sexualizes the boys in the same way that many slashers ogle women. There are a lot of great gags here. I had such a fun time watching this one. 5/5 5. You're Next 2011 This one is a rewatch for me. I first saw it before I'd seen a whole bunch of slashers, but remembered enjoying it at the time. This rewatch elevated it for me. You're Next is great because it completely works as a straightforward horror movie, but is enhanced by the ways it subverts several common slasher movie tropes. I love so much about this movie and don't want to spoil anything about how this one plays out. If you're at all interested in slashers, you absolutely owe it to yourself to watch this one. It's on Tubitv to watch for free with ads. I watched it yesterday and "ads" just meant a single ad before the movie. Ok, on to a few things I love about this one: So many slashers have a single near-invincible opponent who only loosely obeys the rules of reality. The start of the movie has a teaser that the killer is in the house, then the attack starts from outside, then there's an attack from inside the house. The reveal that there are multiple killers and that one had been living in a closet in the house demystifies the whole thing. This is just one of several moments that emphasize that the killers are just people, not unstoppable forces. By the end of the movie you know why they're there, who else is involved, and the motivations for the whole thing. The highlight of the film, obviously, is Erin. She is incredibly capable and adaptable. Holy gently caress, I love near the end when she becomes a hardcore version of Kevin from Home Alone. I also absolutely love when she takes out one of the killers with a meat tenderizer. We're all familiar with a villain getting shot once, or bashed over the head and knocked out, only for them to disappear and re-emerge later on. When Erin gets one of these guys down, she makes absolutely loving sure that they are dead and done before she stops bashing their heads in. Gah, I love this one. 5/5
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Oct 7, 2019 21:30
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 5. Viy - Challenge #1 - Pretty cool. The story/characters were strong enough to provide full immersion in the world, though the effects were definitely the highlight here (particularly the last 30 minutes or so). Worth watching for the creative older effects and great sets. 3.5/5 6. One Cut of the Dead - Going into it blind is definitely the way to go, I absolutely loved it. First I thought it was interesting and impressive as a one cut movie, looked for many possible cuts (there are a couple spots where it could have happened?). thought it was pretty good for what it was, though a bit short, and not quite sure where the enthusiasm about it was coming from...then it continued, and is now definitely one of my favorites. Such a unique concept, and the second layer perfectly explaining all those awkward and weird moments made it so satisfying. Am very excited to show this to more people. 5/5 7. The Happiness of the Katakuris - Weird movie about a family that's been through some harder times trying to make it as a bed and breakfast type place in the mountains. However, the guests keep on dying (through no fault of family really) and they keep cleaning up and burying them since that sort of bad publicity would ruin their inn's chances. Throughout all of this they keep a positive attitude, happily singing and dancing. whenever effects are needed, it switches into claymation, which is really weird. Overall it's pretty fun, but very weird... 3.5/5Rewatch: Event Horizon - Really great acting, effects, and general production values, it was particularly fun seeing Laurence Fishburne as the captain after having just rewatched the Matrix a few days ago. I liked how a lot of the flashaways/visions were used to ramp up tension instead of being used as jumpscares. Loved so many of the sets - particularly the meat grinder hallway and gravity drive, which still hold up really well. It really is a pretty fun movie. Goals - 7/13 - 1: K-12 2: Gozu 3: The Wailing 4: Phantom of the Paradise5:Viy 6:One Cut of the Dead 7: Happiness of the Katakuris Rewatches - Event Horizon
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Oct 7, 2019 22:07
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Jedit posted:If anyone's needing a leg-up on this one, you can include The Creature From The Black Lagoon, The Fly (1958) or The Satanic Rites of Dracula. And of course you can always watch Evil Bong! Larry Cohen's filmography is also on the table for this, sadly.
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Oct 7, 2019 22:38
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COOL CORN posted:Also Hatchet/Hatchet 2 since John Carl Buechler died this year. By a strange coincidence you already answered the question - John Carl Buechler had a small role in Evil Bong.
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Oct 7, 2019 23:10
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 #47) Night of the Demons (1988), a.k.a., Halloween Party Unrated version! Picked this tape up at a thrift store last month. Had to do a repair job on it after rewinding for the first time today and having the tape snap off of the reel, but after that, smooth rolling. So many laugh-out-loud moments in this. Got a "What the gently caress is this movie?" at the opening shot of the convenience store scene from my partner, before she caught on to Angela's plan and loved it. After watching Witchouse earlier this month, it was a relief to revisit the, uh, 'inspiration' for that Full Moon rip-off. This one has some allusions of its own (e.g., an Evil Dead II-like rushing of the evil force up from the basement), but they read much more as genuine homages than lazy staplings. While the actors feel generally amateurish (outside of Linnea Quigley), it's the right kind of vibe to make the hang-out feel real. Stooge is such a believable rear end in a top hat, the acting shift for Angela's change-over is distinct and done well, and Quigley's dazed stare had me wondering if she might have actually been tripping while filming. What really works for this movie are the special effects. From Quigley's boob tricks to the faces of the possessed, you can tell the SFX team shot for the moon. The set design is another high point, with cobwebs, spooky shadows, irregular lighting, and craggy furniture really helping to imbue Hull House with a sense of innate menace. And Angela's costume is fantastic. All those touches come together to make what could have been a painfully simple story (see: Witchouse) into a fun and wild trip. There may be just a few too many characters in the mix, but on the other hand, that lets them pack in more kills. The 'Halloween rules' explanation dump towards the end is the clunkiest piece of the movie, but it gets the job done. Hella refreshing for a movie from this time to have the black guy survive to the end. Angela's dance scene should be running in a montage loop in some horror hall of fame. rating: 7/10"Festering gently caress-wads!"
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Oct 7, 2019 23:27
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STAC Goat posted:I’ve seen this film many times, but was there always a really goofy looking spaceship crash at the start of it? I’ve never noticed that before. Have I just never paid attention to the first few seconds of the film? Yeah, I never remember that part either.  13. Cube (1997) (re-watch) (digital) A group of strangers wake up in a strange maze-like structure with no memory of how they got there. Each room is shaped like a cube, with hatches on all 6 sides that lead to other nearly identical rooms. The group quickly finds out that some are rigged with traps, and there isn't any clear way to figure out which rooms are safe and which are deadly. They must work together to figure out how to survive and escape, but that becomes difficult when suspicion and paranoia start to set in. It's a simple and intriguing premise, like the classic Twilight Zone episode "Five Characters in Search of an Exit" but with more gore. In some ways it is a precursor to films like Saw and Escape Room, but it still feels fresh and unique over 20 years later. The concept is great, and figuring out the way the system works along with the characters is interesting and fun (it gets into some advanced math I don't understand but is apparently all accurate). Some of the traps are very memorable, especially the one in the opening scene, and the effects look mostly decent. There are a couple moments of bad late-'90s CGI but they are very brief. Visually there isn't much to write home about (it's a handful of actors on a single set for 90 minutes) but it looks nice for what it is. The dialogue is sometimes not great and the characters are shallow - nothing truly awful, but they are the biggest flaws in an otherwise really solid movie. This is a cult classic for a reason - it's smart, fun, and original. 4/5 Total: 13 Watched: Dead of Night | Child's Play (2019) | Escape Room | Hell Night | The Wind | Evil Dead (2013) | Cure (Samhain Challenge #1) | Tigers Are Not Afraid | The Craft | Tower of London | In Fabric | Popcorn | Cube
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Oct 7, 2019 23:28
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M_Sinistrari posted:
I consider Blair Witch 2 to be an interesting failure. They took a very smart approach to making a sequel to a film that really shouldn't have one and then screwed it up by piling bad late 90's horror conventions onto it. I'd kind of like to see the director's cut of it; I doubt it would fix all the problems but it likely would play up the interesting aspects. Jedit posted:If anyone's needing a leg-up on this one, you can include The Creature From The Black Lagoon, The Fly (1958) or The Satanic Rites of Dracula. And of course you can always watch Evil Bong! Looking up recent deaths in film, one of India's major horror film directors, Shyam Ramsay, died last month. I've never seen anything by him and the prospect of a Bollywood horror film is awfully tempting.
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Oct 7, 2019 23:34
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Jedit posted:By a strange coincidence you already answered the question - John Carl Buechler had a small role in Evil Bong. I know he's mostly a VFX guy, but does anything Buechler's worked on count towards the second Samhain challenge, or is this limited to actors/directors? Have a few things in my to-do list that he did, but if not, I can always watch Spider Baby to honor Sid Haig. Friends Are Evil fucked around with this message at 00:25 on Oct 8, 2019 |
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Oct 8, 2019 00:22
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Random Stranger posted:I consider Blair Witch 2 to be an interesting failure. They took a very smart approach to making a sequel to a film that really shouldn't have one and then screwed it up by piling bad late 90's horror conventions onto it. I'd kind of like to see the director's cut of it; I doubt it would fix all the problems but it likely would play up the interesting aspects.
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Oct 8, 2019 00:29
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#15: Silver Bullet "Hey Dan, I went to a weird garage sale and bought a werewolf costume and a wheelchair motorcycle. Let's make a movie!" What a fun movie to wash the taste of Species out of my mouth. You got a wheelchair motorcycle, gore, a werewolf, Gary Busey playing the world's best uncle, the guy from Lost, a town full of morons, and a strong moral about the danger of Lutherans. It's funny, early on when they set up the dynamic where the mom was overprotective and Gary Busey was underprotective, I thought that was gonna be the movie. The mom tries to hide from the werewolf problem and Garey Busey wants to run towards it, and the kid's caught in between. But instead as soon as that dynamic is established, it and the mom are completely dropped to make room for werewolf attacks and wheelchair motorcycle antics. A wise move. I love the feel of the town. Tars Tarkas Mills is a town populated exclusively by morons and oafs. The dad of one of the werewolf victims seems like he's gonna be smart, because he wears a suit, but he just goes all in right away on wandering around the woods at night with a gun. Also he looks like he's wearing a bald cap but I don't think he is. Which is weird. The gore is great. It's very bloody and excessive while also being completely unrealistic. This is the ideal movie to watch when you're nine. It's largely kid friendly, but it's got just enough swears and fake blood to make a kid feel like they're watching something they shouldn't. I recommend Silver Bullet, it's worth it just for the werewolf church scene alone.
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Oct 8, 2019 00:36
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 Critters That was bad and I did not like it. I was expecting a fun, schlocky, mean-spirited Gremlins ripoff. What I got was a clumsy riff on Spielberg sentimentality with a lot of paper-thin, unlikable characters. I LOATHED the way the mother was written. It completely overshadowed anything good about this movie. She was possibly the worst example of a shrieking, helpless, hysterical woman that I've ever seen in cinema. At one point toward the end she fired a shotgun, which I thought was going to be the beginning of some kind of mama-bear arc, but instead she just screamed and started crying immediately. The setup with the bounty hunters was way more interesting than I'd assumed, but it went nowhere. They hosed around the entire movie before they cheaply deus ex machina'd the whole thing at the end. There was never any build of tension throughout, just a series of scenes of the family screaming and running to a new place, the Critters not doing much of anything, repeat. The whole thing played like a riff on the Kelly-Hopkinsville encounter, which was unexpected and cool, but I was never invested in anything that was happening on screen. The creature designs were great, the puppets themselves were solid, but they didn't really do anything of interest—more tribbles than Gremlins. What a letdown. Rating: 2/10 Hobo with a Shotgun: 9/10, Demons: 9/10, The Fog: 8/10, Demons II: 7/10, The Changeling: 4/10, Critters: 2/10
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Oct 8, 2019 00:40
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 15. Shock (1946) DVD Was rather distracted the other day and not going to count this one. But I did see enough of it and don't want to wait for a partial re-watch later tonight to log it. A young Vincent Price brains his wife and takes care of the catatonic witness. Nothing special but well acted and shot with enough meat on the bone to be worth the time. Another good one to play in the background while doing something else. Watched - 1. Get My Gun (2017), 2. The Last Man on Earth (1964), 3. It Stains the Sands Red (2016), 4. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), 5. Errementari: The Blacksmith and the Devil (2017) *Tied for Current Favorite*, 6. Halloween (1978), 7. One Cut of the Dead (2017), 8. Phamtasm II (1988), 9. Ramekin (2018), 10. Les Affamés (2017), 11. Braindead (1992), 12. Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943), 13. The Haunting (1963) *Tied for Current Favorite*, 14. House of Wax (1953), 15. Shock (1946) Decade - 1920s, 1930s, 1940s (II), 1950s (I), 1960s (II), 1970s (II), 1980s (I), 1990s (I), 2000s, 2010s (VI) Black & White:Color - 4:11 By Country - Canada (I), Japan (I), 'Murica (XI), New Zealand (I), Spain (I) New:Rewatch - 12:3
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Oct 8, 2019 00:41
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