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Franchescanado posted:SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #3: Horror Noire  2019, first watch, Amazon rental I'd definitely recommend this one, though I'd caution that it's not really a companion piece to Get Out (which you should also check out.) They're different projects and I'd grade them on different metrics. I went in mostly blind, save for what's in the trailer, though the plot is not particularly twisty. A real treat, with a good mixture of eerie events, comic relief, and scares. Unlike the aesthetic digressions I criticized in Midnight Meat Train, the visuals here are purposeful and consistent. The opening act has some great, oogie atmsophere, encouraging you to pay attention to weird background events and odd synchronicity (in ways that remind a bit of Pontypool's lead-in), and once things get rolling it's punchy and fun. Find yourself. Watched: 1.) Cabinet of Dr. Caligari [Classics], 2.) Occult [J- and K-horror], 3.) Son of Frankenstein [Threequels, Samhain Challenge #1], 4.) Game Over [India] 5.) Candyman [Clive Barker], 6.) Knife + Heart [New Releases], 7.) Butterfly Murders, 8.) The Phantom of the Opera (1925) [Classics], 9.) One Cut of the Dead [J- and K-Horror], 10.) Hatchet III [Threequels, Samhain Challenge #2], 11.) Neighbours: They Are Vampires [India], 12.) Midnight Meat Train [Clive Barker], 13.) Us [New Releases, Samhain Challenge #3]
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Oct 11, 2019 01:38
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October 10 - Kill Baby... Kill! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwEF-kV2exY For every one of these threads I dip my toe into Italian horror movies despite the fact that I just haven't enjoyed them. I absolutely hated Bava's Bay of Blood, for example. On the other hand, I did find one I enjoyed a year or two ago with his Black Sabbath. Kill Baby... Kill! was made kind of halfway between those two so maybe I would kind of enjoy it? In a remote village, a ghost girl is killing people by making them kill themselves. A doctor comes to the village to autopsy one of the victims and he gets help from a woman who grew up there and only recently returned. They find a coin in the victim's heart because there's a saying that you have to have money in your heart to rest peacefully after a violent death (what?). There's a witch in the village who has been trying to protect people from the ghost girl. Can they stop the ghost before there's more victims? Well, since this is a horror movie the answer is obviously "no". Right off the bat I have to mention that my DVD in this case was terrible. Pan and scanned down from 1.85:1 to 1.33:1 and a godawful dub that I'm sure dated to the 60's. I'm positive this was a no effort VHS transfer and I could tell that the was some interesting framing and cinematography that was being shredded here. So I'm not going to hold those problems against the movie. In fact, I wound up enjoying what I could see and that makes me want to watch this again except with a decent transfer and the original language. This does present me with a bit of a problem, though. I found this movie to be a bit disjointed and I don't know if that's a result of the terrible dub rushing over plot points or the script just jumping around a lot. What I could see of the cinematography I liked, but I couldn't see it very well. I feel like there's a good movie here and my crappy box set DVD is getting in between me and it. I guess that makes this a strong recommendation against St. Claire Entertainment's Cult Horror Collection and a hesitant, "I'd like to see it properly" for the actual film.
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Oct 11, 2019 01:40
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3. Body Bags - 1993, on Shudder I’m kind of embarrassed that I’ve never even heard of this before, or at least forgot about it completely. Maybe I had read about it and assumed it was bad because of its origin being an aborted tv show reworked into anthology film. Fun cast and fun little stories, tied together with John Carpenter being a weirdo in the framing device. Standout segment for me is definitely the Stacy Keach one where he gets evil hair implants, but theres a decent little slasher in there as well. Really liked it. 4.5/5 Dang I really need to log more of these. 
Drunkboxer fucked around with this message at 17:42 on Oct 27, 2019 |
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Oct 11, 2019 01:45
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 17. Man Bites Dog (1992) Dir: Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel, Benoît Poelvoorde (Criterion Channel) About as black a comedy as you could ever get. One of the bleaker films I've seen in a while. The film takes a mockumentary format, following a serial killer around as he indiscriminately kills dozens of people and goes on diatribes. The format itself raises interesting questions about objectivity in documentary and how we become complicit in horrible acts through viewing.. As the camera crew continues to follow this man around, they go from passive observers to active participants in his murders. I'd argue this film is still incredibly provocative today, maybe even more so than it was back when it was released. The violence found within is still incredibly shocking, in part because the film does have a strong sense of morality and even a contempt for the main character. This.... this isn't a film for everyone. Even though the main character is obviously not someone you're meant to sympathize with, he still goes on horribly sexist and racist diatribes. if you're sensitive to images of strong violence or sexual assault, avoid this like the plague. I get the feeling that Von Trier took this as a huge point of influence when making The House That Jack Built, though I would argue this has far more to say than that film. 1. Candyman 2. The Wailing 3. Spookies 4. One Cut of the Dead 5. Viy 6. The Driller Killer 7. Tammy and the T-Rex 8. Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives 9. Scary Movie 10. Ice Cream Man 11. Freaks 12. The Hills Have Eyes 13. Spider Baby 14. Lady Terminator 15. All The Colors of the Dark 16. Tales From The Hood 17. Man Bites Dog
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Oct 11, 2019 01:47
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Random Stranger posted:October 10 - Kill Baby... Kill! I'm rather happy that poster caught an unexpected twofer. And now need to check out the half I haven't seen.
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Oct 11, 2019 02:18
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Man Bites Dog is still one of the most unpleasant movies I’ve ever seen. It’s really well made, but I can never get that image of the guy from the camera crew gleefully raping that woman out of my mind.
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Oct 11, 2019 02:26
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Random Stranger posted:October 10 - Kill Baby... Kill! Yeah, Kill Baby Kill is one of those mood pieces that works better for the visuals and atmosphere than the plot, a bit like Suspiria, and that experience will def be ruined by a lovely transfer. There's a good bluray from Kino.
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Oct 11, 2019 02:30
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 11. The Devil’s Rejects: I wasn’t too high on House of 1000 Corpses, but this was solid. It trades the twisted carnival atmosphere of the first movie for a more western feel and it works a bit better here. The characters are more fleshed out and though there’s less gore, the violence feels more brutal. The Freebird scene was tight.
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Oct 11, 2019 02:33
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Lumbermouth posted:Man Bites Dog is still one of the most unpleasant movies I’ve ever seen. It’s really well made, but I can never get that image of the guy from the camera crew gleefully raping that woman out of my mind. Yeah, I'll probably never watch it again for a long time. It's still really effective.
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Oct 11, 2019 02:42
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#9: The Crazies (2010) Watched on DVD There's essentially nothing new here, yet despite that, it's above average in most regards. Looks good, sounds a bit better than fine, well acted, more than a few moments of good tension, but not really scares. It's a serviceable movie that's recommendable to watch once, but it's hard to be really passionate about it.  /5Watched: 1. From Beyond 2. Evil Dead 3. Phantasm 4. Candyman 5. Phenomena 6. Boar 7. Mandy 8. A Quiet Place 9. The Crazies
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Oct 11, 2019 02:44
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bonus: akuma-kun episode 1 Live screening  Based on a manga a dying Faust helps a little boy team up with Mephistopheles to hunt and kill yokai. They only showed one episode but it was a blast silly , fun and completely unexpected. I guess you can find fan subs out there somewhere. And It’s definitely worth checking out. I’m not counting for my list or anything because it’s like a half-hour long episode of a tv show, but wanted to share.  he wants money and chocolate
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Oct 11, 2019 02:45
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 #69) Orgy of the Dead (1965), a.k.a., Orgy of the Vampires Tubi again! Written by Ed Wood! Narrated by Criswell! Roughly half of the credits are for dancers! A light bit of framing plot with a couple who have a car crash leads into the bulk of the film, which is The Emperor (played by Criswell) hanging out in a graveyard to watch exotic dancers pulled from the afterlife. The couple watches from the bushes, get caught and restrained (by a wolfman and a mummy), and all the while, the fog machine puts in hard work. And that's pretty much it. At one point they cut to footage of a rattlesnake that's on starkly different film stock and lighting. The dialogue between The Emperor and his main attendant, Black Ghoul, is amusing enough, but is usually in the form of two to three sentences after five minutes of dancing, and then back to the dancing. One of the dancers ("Cat Dance") went on to appear in the first and third Naked Gun movies. Occasional shots of the mummy and wolfman grooving on the sidelines was a cute detail. I dunno, there's just not much to talk about here. It's in one gear for about 95% of the movie. And while it runs in that gear fine enough (except when they announce that one of the dancers is going to dance with the skeleton of the husband she killed, and she immediately sets the skeleton off to the side), even considering the era and budget, it's much more tedious than titillating. rating: 4/10"If I am not pleased with tonight's entertainment, I shall banish their souls to everlasting damnation!"
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Oct 11, 2019 02:50
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I'm falling behind on my updates! 8) Who Can Kill A Child? Tough to take this movie seriously when it twiddles its thumbs for so long that it has to force the characters to be borderline lobotomy patients. Not much atmosphere to speak of but when poo poo hits the fan it hits hard. Too bad we had to sit through genocide film reels and the worst protagonist in history to get there. 2/5 9) Seventh Curse Is that Chow Yun Fat? Is that Maggie Cheung? IS THAT A BOTCHLING? IS THAT A SKELETON KUNG FU FIGHT?! 5/5 10) Lake Mungo* Rewatch of one of my all-time favorite horror flicks so I'm not going to give it a rating. A friend who isn't a huge horror head said she had seen Heredity and Haunting of Hill House (Netflix) and wanted a movie that felt similar. I enjoyed it like I always do -- the best movies are ones where you pick up new things every time you see it and Mungo hasn't stopped feeling fresh to me despite its deliberate pace and lack of spoops until, you know THE spoop. But the main thing I realized while watching this is that Mike Flanagan 100,00000% saw Lake Mungo before making Hill House. The parallels between Nell's story and Alice Palmers is too on beat to be a coincidence. After talking about it we watched the individual takes episode of Hill House and goddamn that still holds up too. I don't know what I'm trying to say here other than that I caught those signals in a major way on this watch. If you're interested in Hill House but don't have 10 hours to dedicate to it, go for Lake Mungo. 11) Halloween 2018 I dunno what everyone sees in this. Maybe it was hyped up too much for me. It had some moments but mostly felt like a tonal mess. The kills were all bland and uninspired, characters just kind of floated through the plot and didn't felt like they had any impact on it no matter if they were Laurie's family or redshirts with lovely slasher set pieces. It was fine, but so much of that is on the virtue of almost everything else Halloween related being dog poo poo. 3/5 12) Terrified How come every movie with terrifi__ in the title is complete dog poo poo? Seemingly trying to be in the vein as an Insidious or Conjuring but forgets that those movies don't just have well thought out jump scares, they have well thought out jump scares that are happening to characters you care about who have been put into awful situations. Terrified is about a bunch of non-characters in a spook-a-doodle fun house. I've never seen so much occur in a movie while so little actually happened. Shudder's ratings are full of people saying this movie is one of the scariest things they've ever seen and there's no loving way this Shudder Exclusive's ratings aren't astroturfed to hell and back. 1/5 1) One Cut of the Dead 2) Castle Freak 3) The Void 4) Knife + Heart 5) Spookies 6) Hell Night 7) Amsterdamned 8) Who Can Kill a Child? 9) Seventh Curse 10) Lake Mungo* 11) Halloween 2018 12) Terrified weekly font fucked around with this message at 03:58 on Oct 11, 2019 |
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Oct 11, 2019 02:51
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 The Little Shop of Horrors, 1960 One of Roger Corman's "classics". He cranked out b-movies nonstop that no one cares about, but this one stuck around with its own cult following. It's a trashy dumb comedy mixed with the horror idea of an overgrown carnivorous plant. Some clumsy dork brings his special plant that he has been growing at home to the flower shop he works at in an attempt to save his job. The plant seem sick, but he finds out it grows and become healthy after he cuts his finger and end up feeding it blood. The plant becomes a sensation as it keep growing, but must be fed every night. You don't have to be genius to figure out where the horror bit comes in. It's a Roger Corman movie, so of course it's trashy and cheap looking. The horror is lame and the nonstop string of jokes are corny. Yet I see why this is a cult classic. It got enough going for it that I never felt bored, and while none of the jokes really landed for me, I was entertained. Not the best movie from the early 60s, but I'm glad I finally watched it.
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Oct 11, 2019 03:33
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13. Wrinkles the Clown 2019 | dir. Michael Beach Nichols  A documentary that examines the viral videos and cultural impact of Wrinkles, a scary clown hired by parents to scare their children. I'll say that the film has a few twists and metatextual plays with the documentary format that are best left unspoiled. While it's revelations and deconstructions aren't as grandiose as F for Fake or Exit Through The Gift Shop, the filmmakers and Wrinkles know that the unknown is more interesting than direct fact. So there's large sections of the documentary I will exclude from this review.  Wrinkles does posit a moral quandary. Is it bad for a parent to threaten their child with a scary clown? How is it any different than the rewards Santa Claus brings, or old traditions like Krampus or Judeo-Christianity's promise of everlasting torment in Hell for being bad? What are the psychological effects? What does Wrinkles the Clown say about current iterations of folk-lore and urban legends, and the way creepypastas are a fabric of pop culture. What about imitators? What about all the children that love Wrinkles? What about all the kids that call him up with the most violent disturbing threats that would land an adult in jail? Another layer to this film are the interviewees, which are mostly children and their parents. It's probably not nice to say that the children are absurd, but it's hard not to draw comparisons to Christopher Guest mockumentaries with how ridiculous they get. Sometimes it's hilariously charming, other times it's kinda sad in a cringey sorta way. I'd like to see this movie get a little more love. At a 75 minute run-time, it's pretty much absolutely worth spending time going down the creepy clown rabbit hole. Recommended Movies Watched: Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom | Annihilation | Evil Bong 2 | Overlord | Dead of Night | The Ruins | Under Wraps | Attack The Block | Don't Go In The Woods | Body Snatchers | Island of Lost Souls | Village of the Damned (1960) | Wrinkles the Clown Rewatches: 2 Total: 13 Edgar Wright's 100 Favorite Horror: 4/20 (blaze it) Super Samhain Challenge: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
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Oct 11, 2019 03:54
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 #70) Aloha, Scooby-Doo! (2005) Back from Scotland, the gang heads to Hawaii. 'Cause why not? I went to go put away left-overs in the kitchen while the opening credits and their chill song played, and as soon as I heard the song end, I asked my partner "Are they surfing yet?". They were. And then the phrase "Wiki Tiki" was spoken at least two dozen times in the first fifteen minutes. Anyway, residents and real estate agents are under threat from a kidnapping tiki creature, which has a brigade of tiny tiki creatures as underlings. It also has intimidating surf skills. In spite of the hang-gliding, motor-boating, surfing, and jet-skiing action that dresses up the water-set scenes, this was almost unrelentingly dull. The wiki plot only picks up a handful of additional details after it's initially established, and a lot of the investigating is spent wandering around going 'Wow, look at this Hawaiian setting!'. Tia Carrere was in this, as was Adam West, but neither of them get much to play with. Carrere's character is the main kidnapping victim, so she's out of the picture for the majority of the movie. And once again, a Scooby movie wastes Tom Kenny in a drab performance. Teri Garr plays the mayor, and gets a decent chunk of screen time, and she's fine. I couldn't help but be curious how she got involved with a Scooby movie, though. Ultimately, there's nothing going for this one to warrant recommendation, but it's fine to throw on in the background, I suppose. rating: 5/10"Let me guess. You want to leave and never come back?"
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Oct 11, 2019 04:23
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https://twitter.com/KennethJWaste2/status/1182506213143207937?s=20
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Oct 11, 2019 05:03
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I've been lazy about writing this up so let's get this out of the way: BONUS: Halloween (1978) - A great way to start the season, I'm considering this a bonus since I've seen Halloween before. 1. Halloween 2 (1981) - Nowhere as good as the original this Mike Myers feels more like a slasher villain as he barely gets any choking in here. 3/5 2. Belladonna of Sadness (1973) - Taped this off TCM after someone had mentioned the TCM horror movies for the month. I was scared for awhile this might have been some sort of porno because of its weird sexual imagery. I'd say Belladonna of Sadness barely counts other than the devil is a big character in the story of a woman who keeps getting abused by society, The art is great but at the same time, a lot of it is pans across stationary art. 3/5 3. Boar (2018) - I really enjoy dumb creatures features and this works out pretty well. The boar itself has great presence when it shows up and doesn't look like some sort of CGI abomination. 3.5/5 4. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre Part 2 (1986) Man this starts great and then kinda goes nowhere for a while. The sets are super cool like at the house and radio station, and the family is pretty fun too. But the rest of the characters are kind of just there. 2/5 5. Dead Snow(2009) - This was dumb, but the special effects are pretty fun. Enjoyed it 3/5 6. Ghost Stories (2018) Man I liked this movie for a while. It was like a great gimmick to tell an anthology story, with a debunker going around being creeped out by stories. Then it goes off the rails and left a bad taste in my mouth with the Wizard of Oz ending. I hate that and I really shouldn't take it out on the rest of the movie when I enjoyed it up until that point. 3/5 7. Evilspeak (1981) SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #1: The Best Month Yikes. I hated this. It bored me to tears. Yes, it gets crazy in the last 15 minutes, but there's not enough craziness sprinkled around to keep this one interesting. 1/5 8. One Cut of the Dead (2017) This movie is great. I had a ball with it. Watch it as everyone in the thread has already said 4/5 9. The Grudge (2004) I've somehow avoided this. I'm really sad I did because I've seen every part of this movie in other movies over the years. It's really competent though and worth a watch. 3.5/5 10. Joker (2019) Are we counting this one? I would say it's a thriller. I wouldn't say I enjoyed this, but I did like it. (I don't know if I'd subject myself to it again) It's super well done, and honestly more effort than a film based on a comic book deserves. 3.5/5 11. Annabelle: Creation (2017) This is a cool haunted house movie. The monsters are pretty cool, characters are a bit dumb. Fun watch. 3/5
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Oct 11, 2019 05:13
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 SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #3: HORROR NOIR#14: The First Purge (2018)  I have seen all of the other Purge films before (but not the show), and overall I've liked them to varying degrees. The first one introduces the basic premise (which is simple and brilliant while also being wildly ridiculous), but that premise is mostly squandered by restraining itself to a simple house invasion story. The sequel "Purge: Anarchy" is where the series really starts to stretch its legs and improves on the concept by expanding its scope to the entirety of downtown LA. It was easily my favorite of the series (I honestly don't remember much of "Election Year," just that it was more of the same sprinkled with some over-the-top political commentary) until now. I think this one edges out "Anarchy" by virtue of a stellar cast of people I actually gave a poo poo about, and pulling off the rare feat of being a prequel that actually adds to the mythos instead of feeling like a cheap cash-grab. I was seriously expecting Skeletor to be hiding in the closet at the end, since they notice blood on the ground and Nya says she thought she had already cleaned it up. That's a weird line that had an obvious payoff that went nowhere, so now I'm wondering if there is an alternate ending. It would have made more sense, instead of having Skeletor randomly bumblefuck his way in behind the mercenaries and die rather unceremoniously in gunfire. I was hoping one of the named characters would get to kill him, but alas. Dimitri is a loving badass, and there were moments in the hand-to-hand fight down the stairwell that felt a little bit like the Raid movies. Great action, great characters, and great world building for a prequel to three other films. I really enjoyed how they actually tried to explain how a ridiculous national "holiday" like this could hypothetically begin as an experiment, and even the person who came up with it immediately realizes this was a bad idea. I wish her death hadn't been so anti-climatic, though. Class3KillStorm posted:Are the other Purge movies as fun as this one was? If so, I may have to check out the remaining films or the show. The first one isn't really "fun," it takes itself way more seriously than the rest of them do and feels at times more like a less interesting "Funny Games" than the action/thrillers that the rest of them become. If you liked this one, I'd say watch them all in order and enjoy the ride. You can do way worse, but I think "The First Purge" might be the overall best of the series. 4/5 Watched: Midsommar; One Cut of the Dead; Apostle; Wolf Creek; Lake Mungo; Viy (Challenge #1); Demon Knight; Witchfinder General; Razorback; Joker; A Quiet Place; Spider Baby, or the Maddest Story Ever Told (Challenge #2); Hereditary; The First Purge (Challenge #3) Total: 14
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Oct 11, 2019 05:25
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 #12 Pumpkinhead 1988 Prime The story of this one is nothing all that interesting (though I like the notion of the monster being this folk creature that’s been utilized as a dark avenger by these rural families for generations.) Instead, this one’s all atmosphere. It takes place in the 50’s and then jumps forward into the 80’s, but this setting seems stuck in the mid 19th century regardless. This movie has ample Halloween vibes, from the spooky pumpkin patch cemetery set to the syrupy orange light that filters through so many scenes. Pumpkinhead doesn’t pack much in the way of surprises, but it’s decent. 3/5
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Oct 11, 2019 05:31
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A quick one to keep myself from falling too far behind. Thankfully I've got the Canadian long weekend coming up, and in addition to whatever movies I watch on my own time, a friend of mine has taken it upon himself to spend a good portion of it running me through his hand picked Godzilla beginners course after I asked him for suggestions. A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master: Between the fashion, hairstyles and music, this movie is so goddamn 80's it hurts. Anyway, I didn't like this one anywhere near as much as 1 or 3, but didn't dislike it either. There are some ideas I actually really like here, like Freddy using Kristen's/Alice's dream pulling abilities to his benefit, and Alice taking taking on her friends' strengths after death. The problem is, the new cast feels much more underdeveloped and one-dimensional than the cast in in 3 (Sheila especially, who I think has all of two scenes before her death sequence halfway through the movie), not helped by the the fact that the first half is seemingly more interested on resurrecting Freddy and killing off the surviving Dream Warriors than it is in giving significant development time to the new cast beyond Alice and Rick. That being said, Freddy is still a fun villain (and honestly not as Flanderized as I thought he'd be by this point), I like the way the film deals a bit more in dream logic than previous films did, and the last third in particular showcases some solid body horror. Movies Watched (8): Stereo, Crimes of the Future, Perfect Blue (Challenge # 1), Halloween III: Season of the Witch, Event Horizon, Ernest Scared Stupid, The Invisible Man, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master Samhain Challenges Completed: 1/3
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Oct 11, 2019 05:48
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SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #3: Horror Noire   11. Def by Temptation (1990) This is shockingly good for something that was released by Troma. I’m not trying to knock Troma here, because they’ve given me plenty of solid entertainment over the years. But a lot of their movies have this sense that they were put together for fun, a little bit of cash, and some filmmaking experience. Def By Temptation feels more like a passion project. It’s about a temptress demon who sets her sights on Joel, a sheltered ministry student who’s come to New York to reunite with K, his childhood friend. Things out start a little slow, and it took me a bit to figure out that all the Samuel L. Jackson scenes are flashbacks. The demon is active enough to keep things interesting even during the setup though, and there are some fun twists in the second half. I loved when the sad guy who has no luck with women turns out to be a federal agent trying to clear a case for a supernatural task force. K (Kadeem Hardison) and Joel (the movie’s director, James Bond III) have a great sense of chemistry, and their friendship is the movie’s emotional center. Unfortunately that proves to be a bit of a drawback when K’s attempt to save his friend gets him killed and we never have a chance to see Joel’s reaction to that. Def by Temptation has a strong moral and religious theme that manages to feel earnest without being preachy. Joel wants to travel and gain experience in order to be a better minister, maybe because, as his grandmother reminds him, faith without works is dead. That’s why K’s attempt to take on the demon by force ultimately fails. Joel has to rely on his faith to survive, and even then, we know his victory is a temporary one. Given the low budget, the quality is a little uneven. A few of the performances could be better, and the music doesn’t always fit. It’s got good practical effects for this kind of movie though. It also looks great, with lighting that swaps between pretty or dramatic depending on the scene. One look at the IMDB page of the cinematographer, Ernest R. Dickerson (who was featured in the Horror Noire documentary), makes it easy to see why. Apparently the DVD includes a discussion between Dickerson and Lloyd Kauffman where Dickerson explains that he and James Bond III basically directed Def by Temptation together, with Dickerson handling most of the look of the movie and Bond directing the actors. I remember spotting this in video stores back in the 90s and assuming that slangy title + religious elements would add up to an underwhelming experience, but now I'm thinking I should give a few more of those VHS boxes I used to leave on the shelf a try. I also kind of want to rewatch the chunk of Horror Noire that talks about this movie while it's still fresh in my mind. Watched: 1. Burn, Witch, Burn (1962); 2. TerrorVision (1986); 3. Evilspeak (1981) - Challenge #1; 4. Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971); 5. The City of the Dead (1960); 6. The Witches (1966); 7. The Crimson Cult (1968); 8. A Return to Salem’s Lot (1987) - Challenge #2; 9. Next of Kin (1982); 10. The Ritual (2017); 11. Def by Temptation (1990) - Challenge #3
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Oct 11, 2019 06:23
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Xenomrph posted:I have access to the following streaming services, please recommend me a giallo movie that isn’t Blood & Black Lace: The Red Queen Kills Seven Times was pretty solid.
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Oct 11, 2019 06:25
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Lumbermouth posted:Definitely check out The Purge: Anarchy. It’s where the series starts to get blatant about “no this is literally class warfare.” I pulled this one from a page back but more people are watching The Purge films it seems so as a fan I'll give my two cents. The original is a mediocre home invasion movie that really doesn't hold up even with the sequels in context. I'm serious, I can't watch it after the sequels (and I watched it in original release). The sequel, Anarchy, is where they explore the backstory more and where it gets really good. You just really, really, REALLY have to enjoy absurd, schlocky and not-subtle-at-all themes. I usually do that by thinking of them as twisted Halloween films about people that wear masks and do mayhem. After Anarchy is the next film, Election Year, which is by FAR the most political film in the bunch (I mean, it released in 2016 with "Election Year" as the subtitle with "Make America Great" as the tagline). Anarchy and Election Year also have Frank Grillo who plays a Punisher-esque character who adds a hell of a lot to the films and is a highlight. The First Purge doesn't have him (it's a prequel) but works by just refining all that came before but also has ridiculously unsubtle commentary the Klan showing up to purge where even the all-black cast are like "are you loving kidding me?" in self-aware response. So, yeah, I'd skip the original Purge and go into Anarchy if anyone wants to get into the films and see what you think. There is honestly, seriously nothing of consequence that happens in the first film. 23. The Craft (1996)  Yeah, I am absolutely not the demographic for this one and was not when it came out in my middle school years. That’s likely why I’m not watching it until now. It’s really part of that trend in the latter half of the 90s when Hollywood cast teen magazine idols into horror movies and aggressively marketed them towards high schoolers. Is that a knock against it? I wouldn’t think so but its a product of the times at the least. I can see why at the very least the alternative kids back then worshipped this movie along with The Crow and other 90s relics. Though I will say it has a good concept of high school girls getting into witchcraft only to find out it has a dark side that strikes back when misused. A great concept but, drat, does it bring up those awkward years to anyone over the age of 30. It distracts from a great concept it has going. .5/5Total: 1. One Cut of the Dead (2017), 2. Chopping Mall (1986), 3. All the Creatures Were Stirring (2018), 4. Creepshow 2 (1987), 5. Black Christmas (1974), 6. Dracula (1931), 7. Frankenstein (1931), 8. The Monster Squad (1987), 9. All Hallow’s Eve (2013), 10. The Addams Family (1991), 11. Grizzly (1976), 12. The Mummy (1932), 13. See No Evil (2006), 14. The Invisible Man (1933), 15. Why Horror? (2014), 16. Bad Moon (1996), 17. Head Count (2018), 18. The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), 19. House of 1000 Corpses, 20. The Wolfman (1941), 21. Body Bags (1993). 22. Us (2019), 23. The Craft (1996) Super Samhain Challenges: Justin Godscock fucked around with this message at 06:51 on Oct 11, 2019 |
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Oct 11, 2019 06:48
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11. The Blood Spattered Bride I'd apparently seen this before and forgotten about it, so even though I recognized each scene as it was playing I was still not quite sure how it all ended. Not the worst way to see this honestly. A young newlywed couple goes to stay at the husband's vast estate, where the young bride finds herself overwhelmed by her older husband's sexual aggressiveness. She's soon troubled by nightmares of a mysterious woman, compelling her to attack her husband. It's an intriguing and loaded setup, but I was actually just a little disappointed by the ultimate revelation of what's going on. Though the fact that this is based on Carmilla should have been a dead giveaway in retrospect. It does slow down a bit- and get a little corny- once we figure out what's going on, though the finale is appropriately brutal and disturbing. This movie's take on sexuality is hella hosed up as you might imagine. It's a flawed film, but still an unsettling one. (Also, be warned: there's a scene of a fox in a trap that seems a little too real, though I can't find any details on whether it was or not.)
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Oct 11, 2019 06:50
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 21. Rubber's Lover (1996) Youtube Will someone else please tell what in the gently caress I just watched? Then direct me toward a hardcopy. TIA. https://youtu.be/jpRaYTBs2XU 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), 16. Annihilation (2018), 17. Westworld (1973), 18. Kuroneko, 19. In the Tall Grass (2019), 20. Sound of Horror, 21. Rubber's Lover Decade - 1920s, 1930s, 1940s (II), 1950s (I), 1960s (IV), 1970s (III), 1980s (I), 1990s (II), 2000s, 2010s (VIII) Black & White:Color - 7:14 By Country - Canada (II), Japan (III), 'Murica (XIII), New Zealand (I), Spain (II) New:Rewatch - 17:4 Super Samhain Challenge - 1. Westworld (1973), 2. N/A, 3. N/A
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Oct 11, 2019 07:45
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 14 (16). The Black Cat (1934) Recorded off TCM tonight, so should be on their site/app for a few days. Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff team up for the first time in a story about American Newlyweds who become caught in the middle of a cat and mouse game between two potentially mad men with a deep grudge. As said this was the first of eight Universal films that Karloff and Lugosi appeared in together, but for me its also the first time I’m seeing either outside their iconic roles. Well, sorta. I had never seen Lugosi until Dracula a few nights ago but I have seen Karloff in Old Dark House and heard him in numerous voice work including of course How the Grinch Stole Christmas!. But he was mute in that one role so this is the first time I’m seeing him… you know… in a speaking role that I can actually see. I really enjoyed him. He plays an insidious, intelligent, evil character in the reign of Vincent Price and I really enjoyed it and bought in. Lugosi meanwhile does a good job walking a line between a character who at times seems like he might be a noble man and other times potentially a barely hinged psycho. That might be a bit much but a man who introduces himself to you as a man who just escaped 15 years in Russian gulag and says goodbye by flaying a man alive and blowing up the house on top of himself and a satanic cult ain’t exactly someone I feel at ease with. I also found it cute how both were introduced kind of playing with the iconic roles. Lugosi taking a long carriage ride past a cemetery and Karloff with the slow setup in silhouette. It was cute. As was the final little joke ending of the silliness of the story. I did find the film a little slow to get into, and Karloff’s satanism wasn’t really explored enough to seem entirely worth its inclusion. I mean, what was he planning for the big night if some people hadn’t shown up at his doorstep? But the themes in play of guilt, revenge, PTSD, and the animosity between these two at least half insane individuals turns into an enjoyable little tale. Watching them sit down to play a game of chess with the same casualness they use other’s lives as pawns to screw with each other was effective. I don’t think I’d call it a must watch and I imagine one of those seven other Lugosi/Karloff teacups might be a better film. But it’s not a bad one at all. But how come everyone in Universal horror films builds self destruct switches into their homes?  15 (17). The Unknown (1927) Recorded from TCM, available on something called Flip Fling. Lon Chaney is Alonzo, a thief hiding from the law in a circus by pretending to have no arms. But he becomes obsessed with the beautiful daughter of the circus’ owner even thought growing close to her risks exposing his secret. But Alonso’s obsession grows and he’s truly willing to do anything to be with her, to horrifying results for all involved. So I got my second Bela Lugosi film after Dracula a few nights ago and I followed it up with my second Tom Browning film. Well 3rd. I saw Freaks back in college which is why it won’t be my 1932 entry (although I have it recorded and do hope to get to it). This is also my first Lon Chaney. I started it a week ago and then I decided i didn’t want my first Chaney film to be this instead of one of his bigger roles… but whatever. I fully intend to watch Hunchback of Notre Dame and Phantom of the Opera but I haven’t been able to get in the right headspace for them yet. I don’t see any real harm in watching Chaney do something else. And man, was that a silly concern because Chaney absolutely blew me away with this performance. Its absolutely amazing. Its not just the physical work he does with his legs and feet, which is in and of itself absolutely amazing and unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. But the emotion and acting he’s able to convey without dialogue is nothing short of eye opening for me. All month I’ve been dreading and avoiding silent films as I go through my list but Chaney just showed me that there’s no need for that. He was able to do everything any actor is capable of doing with words. He’s amazing throughout the entire film, especially the way he’s able to flip into the menacing monster with such ease, but the pivotal scene where he laughs in hysterical madness and despair at the cruel twist of fate is absolutely terrifying. I became scared of what Alonso would do in that moment. Credit of course to Tom Browning as well. Its just a great film that moves along at a brisk pace (granted, its only 50 minutes but still) with nary a story element lacking or left unclear. Joan Crawford is also great (and gorgeous) as the conflicted object of Chaney’s desire who is wrestling with her own fears and trauma. Its funny, this film is weirdly fitting to today’s sexual politics. Malabar is a big ole “sex pest”, Nanon is horrified by the way men have treated her and is taking a “MeToo” moment, and Alonso may be cinema’s first “friend zoned incel.” Also I had no idea there were treadmills in 1927. Apparently the modern exercise treadmill was patented in 1913 and they’ve been around in some form since the first century and the Roman Empire. I feel real dumb right now. Anyway, I would emphatically recommend this to anyone who hasn’t seen it. Its really a remarkable film and an amazing performance. And a quick watch. Its listed as one of the “1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die” and I would completely agree. I’m still way behind on my years and I really need to start making a point of doubling up to get ahead of this. This was a really good double feature to make me a little less "scared" of doubling up on these films. Luckily the first round of baseball playoffs is over which should free up more leisure time for me. But my team has advanced so my focus remains very divided. Hell, I’m not even that far ahead just on 31 movies. I’m on a slow start and we’re a third through the month.  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); - (13). Halloween (1978); 12 (14). Dracula (1931); SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #2: 13 (15). Q (1982); 14 (16). The Black Cat (1934); 15 (17). The Unknown (1927)
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Oct 11, 2019 08:55
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16. Hell House LLC (2015) - I really tried to give this a chance on account of all the love it gets in the horror thread, but this is about as far from my jam as it's possible for a horror movie to be. The fake documentary aspect is sold reasonably well, I guess, which mostly means that for the first half of the movie any time something remotely spooky happens we rewind, freeze frame for ten seconds, and then have a scene of people talking about it just in case you were asleep the first two times. Everything is signposted as as explicitly as possible, so you know exactly when you're going to see the really spooky bit, and then again (with title card) for when you're going to see the sort of pseudo-twisty spooky bit. And the spooky bits really, really aren't. I tend to be down on found footage as a whole, but occasionally one of them will get wild at the end in a way that's pretty cool. Borderlands/Final Prayer, the better V/H/S segments, even Ghostwatch came up with something punchy for a finale. Here, though, it's like 80% camera glitches. So someone heard stuff is scarier when you don't show it, let the viewer's imagination work, blah blah blah. But, like, I know what you're not showing me in these bits, movie, because you show me elsewhere. It's some guys in robes, or a clown mannequin with a head that's not supposed to turn. Tamest poo poo imaginable, and I've never empathized with Mario enough to find anything inherently spooky about a bad pixel in a digital recording. So that basically just leaves the characters I don't care about and a bunch of plausible but extremely uninteresting dialogue. At least I got to spend some time thinking about how cool it would be to put together a haunted house as long as I wasn't working with these jerks. I'm glad so many people enjoyed this, but it's not for me. Given that even people who love this say the sequels fall off a quality cliff, I am avoiding them with extreme prejudice.
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Oct 11, 2019 09:32
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SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #3: Horror Noire 14)Horror Noire Shudder  really good doc, sorry I slept on it. There's a lot of things I either haven't seen or it made me want to revisit. I didn't like Bones when I saw it, but that was opening night in theatre almost 20 years ago. /5
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Oct 11, 2019 11:51
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HOUSE, HOME and/or ROOM OF HORROR with special bonus AMITYVILLE ENNUI 18) The House that Screamed (1969) - watched on Tubi (it's one of the "Elvira's Movie Macabre" features) Trailer It's the 1800s and Headmistress Madame Fourneau runs her French boarding school for troubled girls with an iron fist. She expects utmost discipline, and repeat offenders are flogged (something played up in the trailers and poster art but it's only one scene in the film). A new girl at the school, Teresa, is tormented by the other students, including Madame Fourneau's right-hand girl, Irene. However, one by one, the girls at the school have begun disappearing and never heard from again...but are they running away? Or is foul play involved? Released as La Residencia this Spanish film is a super slow burn that deals a lot with repressed sexuality and its affects on everyone at the school. I though it was a very claustrophobic film - there's a shower scene where all the girls are dressed in flimsy robes so they're dressed (but they're not), and the headmistress' young son is trapped in the school's furnace vents while trying to look at the girls, so something titillating turns out to be nightmarish. Oh, and the ending actually is a bit of a shock - no one is safe, and I have to imagine that (spoiler that gives away the end of an infamous early '80s slasher flick) Juan Piquer Simon had to have been influenced by this before he made Pieces, because there's an element to the ending that is taken right from this earlier flick.  19) The House Where Hell Froze Over (1974? 1977? there are several dates online for this one) - watched on Tubi Trailer Lesley is a depressed young woman living in a remote house with Kevin, her brother (or possibly her lover). When a hitchhiker and other people in the area begin to be brutally murdered, people close to Lesley begin to wonder...is it her, or her brother who no one has seen? Originally released as Keep My Grave Open, this film is directed by one S.F. Brownrigg, and it's not great (I'm going to be watching one of his other movies later, and folks I'm not looking forward to it). The worst thing about it is it's one of those "scary films" where nothing is scary because it's so drearily shot and you can't see a drat thing in many of the scenes that take place at night. The film's maybe one saving grace is lead actress Camilla Carr - she's pretty good at playing crazy. The film also features an early role for Stephen Tobolowsky (Ned! Ned Ryerson! You know, from Groundhog Day?), but aside from the novelty of that, it's a pretty grimy, slow-moving film. Do not spoil the incredible twist ending of The House Where Hell Froze Over! AMITYVILLE ENNUI  20) The Amityville Curse (1990) - watched on YouTube Trailer A young couple buys a house in Amityville and invite their friends over to help rennovate it. Instead they're greeted by supernatural events as the house has a murderous curse attached to it... Hoo boy. The fifth movie in the Amityville series is the first one that is in-name-only - it's the first one without the iconic 112 Ocean Avenue house and there's only one brief, generic mention of the DeFeo murders. Here, the house is (was) a rectory where a priest was murdered years earlier, and it's implied that it's the source of the haunting. The characters in this film are super generic and the young couple and their friends are all intensely annoying. They're tormented by cats! Strange voices! Gusts of wind and spiders! Are you scared yet?! There's the movie's weird lady who comes to help and she's like an Irish version of Tangina from Poltergeist. The most surprising thing is that this is more like a murder mystery than a horror film - it beats you over the head very early on that the priest's killer is one of the young couple's friends who's staying at the house. Nothing of real interest happens until the end, when the young female lead gets to go ham on the bad guy with acid and thrown saw blades, but overall it's generic and boring as hell. This one doesn't even have the saving grace of being unintentionally hilarious like Amityville 4.
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Oct 11, 2019 12:13
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 11. NEXT OF KIN (1982) - Shudder Decent retro thriller about a woman who inherits her mother's convalescent home and inherits with it ~f a m i l y s e c r e t s ~ For me the film felt pretty slow at first, but I think it's pretty good once it starts to pop off in the back half. There are some genuinely creepy scenes and images and the paranoia and tension get pretty good. I was watching this on a dual monitor and kept 2-screenin' it. I don't know if I just wasn't connecting with it or if I didn't give it a fair shake. I would watch it again, it seems like a good thriller in the vein of a BLACK CHRISTMAS or something like that. 3 out of 5 maternal lies 12. IN THE TALL GRASS - Netflix Two people wander into a field to answer a call for help and soon discover this ain't no normal field. I really like the premise; it's creepy, surreal, and Lovecraftian in the sense of being confronted with something ancient and unknowable. The performances are pretty good and Patrick Wilson is always a treat. The film makes no sense but mostly that's all in good fun. Unfortunately, the plot and writing that kick off the climax and denouement fell apart for me. One character in particular makes a horrible decision that didn't feel natural and rendered the climax a little annoying for me. The film gets extremely confusing at the end and not in a pleasurable way. Also big old content warning for harm to dogs and harm to pregnant women (with implied threat of sexual abuse). Ultimately, this is a schlocky horror flick that reminds me of random stuff I used to rent from convenience stores when I was a kid. I had fun but in all honesty, this should have been a short film (or it should have gotten MUCH weirder). 3 out of 5 dilapidated churches
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Oct 11, 2019 13:21
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 Little Shop of Horrors, 1986 Of course I wasn't going to bed seeing the original without watching the remake. I had this movie taped off TV on VHS as a kid at some point, and I would rewind it a lot to two songs over and over again until it got taped over by some episode of X-Files or whatever. In that sense, it's the first rewatch of this year's marathon. I said songs alright. This one is a musical, all 50s rock 'n' roll and doo-wop. It's amazing stuff. The plot is more or less the same as the original, only handles slightly better in my opinion. The songs are great and the plant looks loving amazing. Maybe it is nostalgia, but this hit hard. The songs, the plot. Such an amazing time watching this. I mean, it got Steve Martin playing the sadistic dentist, and loving Bill Murray to play the masochist patient. I forgot to mention in the review of the original that Jack Nicholson played the role of the masochist getting off on the dentist torture. I think he did a better job playing that role, but Bill Murray did it funnier. An amazing movie that ties in with the 50s nostalgia that was going on in a lot of 80s movies. So glad I watched this.
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Oct 11, 2019 14:37
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 Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 1986- This was such a different movie from the first. I wasn't too pleased with the first one, but now after this, I might miss the slowness to it. Made Leatherface goofy, which fits the rest of the movie tbh. 3.5/5
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Oct 11, 2019 15:05
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 56) Prom Night IV: Deliver Us from Evil - 1992 - TubiTV Another entry where the only connection to the other films is prom happens in it. I really don't know why it was included in the franchise because it has nothing in common with the other films and could stand alone as its own film. It's more of a straight horror with a killer priest who manifests stigmata and became a killer from the sex abuse he recieved from priests who capture him claiming he's possessed. The capture eventually fails and there we go. This one's pretty average as a slasher and you'd be better off going with something else to watch.  57) Prom Night - 2008 - Prime I have no clue why this film was made other than that stint where some doof in Hollywood got the idea of remaking a lot of the old classics from the late 70s/early 80s to the point most barely had anything in common with the original beyond title. This one's a standard by the book slasher which is unimaginative even when comparing to film from the early slasher glut. It's so bland, not even Idris Elba can make it worth watching more than once. Final Thoughts: Prom Night as a focus for a horror film works. As I said before, it's enough of a cultural marker to work with. Just look at some of the daytime talk shows where there'll be guests still upset at not attending prom which was decades ago. There's plenty of possibilities from cursed dresses, obsessives who turn homicidal over that perfect date or to be crowned king or queen. However I really don't see why a prom night focus would necessitate being a franchise.
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Oct 11, 2019 16:02
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 #71) Tarantula (1955), a.k.a., Tarantula! When will man stop tampering in God's domain?! Oh wait, there's adorable giant guinea pigs, never mind. Yes, science is being put to odd ends in this film, with a scientist developing a growth serum applicable to all kinds of animals. Sad to say, it disrupts a white-bread romance, and causes a spider to grow to enormous size before escaping and feeding on anything it can find in the nearby countryside. Pretty standard stuff for a '50s creature feature, while a B-plot of acromegalia afflicting those working in the laboratory gives the human side a stab at pathos. Some of the townsfolk interactions are cute, but most of the chatter is cookie-cutter 'What's going on here?', 'It's a monster!', 'We've got to stop it!' material. And about the most unimaginative resolution of the fight against the spider you could imagine. Probably did its job for teens at the drive-in, but I can't imagine I'll ever feel an urge to revisit this. rating: 5/10"And the next morning, he began to... change."
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Oct 11, 2019 16:07
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 22. Bubba Ho-Tep (2002) Blu-ray Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis in an Elvis/JFK buddy flick? Directed by Phantasm's own Don Coscarelli with a bit part played by Reggie himself. And the scarab is a little prop twitched around the set on a string.  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), 16. Annihilation (2018), 17. Westworld (1973), 18. Kuroneko, 19. In the Tall Grass (2019), 20. Sound of Horror (1966), 21. Rubber's Lover (1996), 22. Bubba Ho-Tep (2002) Decade - 1920s, 1930s, 1940s (II), 1950s (I), 1960s (IV), 1970s (III), 1980s (I), 1990s (II), 2000s (2002), 2010s (VIII) Black & White:Color - 7:15 By Country - Canada (II), Japan (III), 'Murica (XIV), New Zealand (I), Spain (II) New:Rewatch - 18:4 Super Samhain Challenge - 1. Westworld (1973), 2. N/A, 3. N/A
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Oct 11, 2019 16:08
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I give Bubba Ho-Tep a solid 5/5 and not afraid to say I cried at the end.
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Oct 11, 2019 16:25
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mary had a little clam posted:12. IN THE TALL GRASS - Netflix In the Tall Grass is somehow simultaneously a very, VERY hosed up movie and yet also kind of unimpactful. STAC Goat fucked around with this message at 17:48 on Oct 11, 2019 |
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Oct 11, 2019 17:37
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 #72) The Kiss of the Vampire (1963), a.k.a., Kiss of Evil When a newlywed couple's car breaks down, it strands them in a town with what turns out to be a vampire problem. And, naturally, the vampires set their eyes on the bride. It's a Hammer film (presented by Universal), so the sets and costuming bring considerable life to the film (especially in the ballroom masquerade), while the score is that usual orchestral brusqueness. Partway through, there's a well-done (though certainly not original) bit of mindfuckery, which gave things more substance than I expected from something that began with a gush of red paint. The protagonist's surname is Harcourt (a nice fit for Harker), which is just one of the numerous touches which make this quite an interesting condensation and adaptation of Dracula. A magical showdown, village-wide conspiracy, demonization of sophistication, and a hidden cult are some of the other fine points, and while the ending makes for a sharp drop, the escalation to it is most savory. I don't think this one usually gets brought up when Hammer films are discussed, which is a shame, as it's a film that, while it does employ a lot of their signature flair, also veers off from their usual vibes. Up there in the best of the new watches for me this month. rating: 7/10"Come just as you are. We shall not be formal."
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Oct 11, 2019 18:25
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#21: The Univited Just adult siblings who go on vacations alone together and then buy a house together. Normal brother sister stuff. I've never been fond of horror movies that try to make everything scary. You know what I mean, from the opening scene there's a blue filter over everything and it's dark and there's tense music, even before a ghost or a killer has even done anything. The Uninvited is about as far away from that as you can get. Before ghost stuff happens everything's bright and cheerful and gay. It's all in the full sunlight, there's cheerful comedy music in the background, the totally platonic siblings have their constant banter and jokes. That stays around for awhile even after the ghost shows up. Like, they know they've got a ghost in their house and it's specifically targeting their friend, but you'll still get a pratfall with a Looney Tunes sound effect. The Uninvited is honestly more of a romantic comedy with a ghost in it than a horror. The romance doesn't really work with me. It's based entirely on the fact that the girl is the only young woman in the entire town the guy isn't blood related to, and the guy is the only man under the age of 55 the girl has ever seen. The guy approaches the girl and she reciprocates and it's all fine, but not really very compelling. But the comedy is good, there's some solid well written banter. And the few scares are pretty good. Let's be serious, letters in a circle and an upside down wine glass in the middle as the planchette is way classier and spookier than a retail Ouija board. But despite the seriousness of the situation, with the ghost and the murder and the secret past and the evil lesbian therapist, it all felt rather light and airy to me. I don't really know if that kind of tone situation worked for me to be honest. I looked up info on the movie after I watched it and it's been on multiple "scariest horror movie" lists and I just don't understand that. Like, look at the poster, with the guy dramatically casting the candelabra at the ghost. In the actual movie he's just like, "oh you don't like people laughing in this house? well hahaha gently caress you ghost" and just casually tosses the candelabra in the ghost's direction dismissively. And then makes a joke about mothers-in-law The Uninvited is a well written movie with good dialogue, but if you want thrills and chills, look elsewhere Gripweed fucked around with this message at 19:57 on Oct 11, 2019 |
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Oct 11, 2019 19:55
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