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Anonymous Robot posted:God, I wish I could find Phantasm 2 on any streaming service! Oh snap. I'm gonna try and find this for my Samhain Challenge.
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Oct 19, 2019 19:07
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gey muckle mowser posted:aw man, I think StageFright is great! I think it's pretty well liked around here too. It's been a while since I last saw it, but it may be one of those Italian films where you kind of have to throw logic out the window to enjoy it though. It was very much colored by the ending. I could have dealt with the "killer hiding out among the mannequins final scare, then gets shot by the old maintenance man" ending. But when the final shot of the movie was our killer, with a bullet in his head covered in blood, opening his eyes and smiling directly at the camera, it felt like the whole movie was giving me the finger. Anyway, here's more of me not liking giallo touchstones. I'm really glad I found Blood and Black Lace this challenge. It definitely feels like the movie I've wanted all the other giallo to be. 26. Suspiria (1977) Watched On: Tubi This is the third Argento film I've seen, his most highly regarded and definitely the best of the three I've seen, but it still left me cold. All the things you hear about it are true: the film is beautifully shot and lit, the production design is fantastic and the Goblin score is creepy and effective. But I still didn't really like it. I've seen a lot of images and clips of the movie in horror documentaries and the like and all of them either come from the beginning or the end of the movie. Which is accurate because just about dick all happens in the middle. There's a lot of atmosphere but such little structure that the atmosphere slowly began to become annoying. My girlfriend said something along the lines of "the soundtrack is trying to prime me to be scared and then nothing happens." A second pass at the script specifically aimed at the "dreamlike fugue peppered with 10 minute chunks of pure exposition" pacing could have definitely helped. I don't think I would have been nearly as frustrated if the protagonist wasn't so passive. This is an issue I had with Opera and it seems to be a running Argento theme. Jessica Harper spends most of the movie either too drugged up to react or just observing the tableaus around her. I need characters to care about in horror movies and this doesn't really have any. I've tried my damnedest to like Argento and I appreciate the good things in this movie, but I think he's not for me.
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Oct 19, 2019 19:17
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#14: The Lost Boys (1987) Watched on HBO Lost Boys is horror movie cotton candy. It looks rather nice, and its use of young, sexy, biker vampires is a pretty neat choice, but its too insubstantial and doesn't satisfy me. Too much of the movie is stuck in its 80's sensibilities and wacky side characters, it gets tedious rather than engaging.  .5/5#15: The Devil's Rejects (2005) Watched on Prime It's mean, grimy, unpleasant, and overall not the horror I go for on a regular basis, though I do quite like it when I make a point of watching it. There's a lot of intent behind TDR, but I like the whole and I like most components, though some bits I really don't like. I really love the moments where the trio has time to act like a family, and I think the bits of sadistic horror that come along the way work just fine too. I rather don't like the bits with the sheriff, and the bits at the whorehouse don't really work super well for me either. I guess it comes down to enjoying it piecemeal, though respecting the hell out of it regardless of what personal faults I find. .5/5#16: Slugs (1988) Watched on Prime Didn't do it for me. While there were a few moments of quality goopy meltings, far too much of the movie's scares, and budget savings, relied on actors flailing around as they are assailed by mutant slugs just concealed from the camera. I found it to be overall rather mediocre in most respects, with extra marks for the aforementioned meltings. /5#17: The Midnight Meat Train (2008) Watched on Hulu I quite like this movie, and I quite like the short story it's based on, but it still feels like there's something in the script dragging it down. It looks good, Vinnie Jones is great, and when we get moments of murder train, it's driving and gory and quite satisfying. The 3rd act twist feels a bit wonky every time I see it, though it's not bad so much as plucked from a wholly separate movie. .5/5Watched: 1. From Beyond 2. Evil Dead 3. Phantasm 4. Candyman 5. Phenomena 6. Boar 7. Mandy 8. A Quiet Place 9. The Crazies 10. Friday the 13th 11. Ginger Snaps 12. The Collector 13. Body Bags 14. The Lost Boys 15. The Devil's Rejects 16. Slugs 17. The Midnight Meat Train
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Oct 19, 2019 19:19
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Anonymous Robot posted:God, I wish I could find Phantasm 2 on any streaming service! All the Phantasm films are on the Arrow Amazon channel, but that might not be available in the US
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Oct 19, 2019 19:27
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Peacoffee posted:The book is definitely a lot better than the movie, since the movie doesn't really ever seem to want to get into the psycho-political stuff as much. But the idea definitely is what gave the Joker his smile. Interestingly Heath Ledger's as well as Phoenix's Joker have gone even further in exploring that, what with Joker's adoption drama plotline . Yeah, I think what left me cold is that there seemed to be a lot there on the table with this dude who was traumatized and disfigured and had real reason to be pissed off, this manipulative snake who had a hand in the original act and the murder of his father, this hyper sexual duchess playing games, etc. But it all got kind of left on the table when the second act kicked off and they just went for a simple romance with none of that other stuff. I've never read the original so I had no basis of comparison besides the obvious Joker inspiration. And I guess that too probably created some retroactive expectations where I was expecting him to be all Joker-like.
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Oct 19, 2019 19:44
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#40: Puppet Master 5: The Final Chapter Wandering around a hotel for 80 minutes. Puppet Master 5 firmly ends both parts of the shorter and more entertaining pattern. It pick up the day after the events of Puppet Master 4 and they got the same actors back which is impressive for this kind of movie. Instead of three evil puppets, now there's just one, but it's more powerful and has a different head. At one point it demonstrates the ability walk through walls, which you think would be useful in a killer doll movie, but it on'y does it one time. There are no new good guy puppets. Decapitron gets a new head for one scene, but that's it That's the real problem, this is the first Puppet Master movie not to introduce anything new, no puppets, no new lore or ways to use the Puppet magic. It's just people and puppets wandering around a hotel. And since the puppets are very firmly good guys now, there's no danger until the evil puppet shows up. And it only kills like two people, and in the same fashion as the less powerful evil puppets from the previous movie. It's weak as hell. Puppet Master 5: The Final Chapter is just boring. Nothing more to say about it.
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Oct 19, 2019 19:49
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Franchescanado posted:SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #6: Sometimes They Come Back  #119) Wicked City (1992) Hong Kong live-action remake of the theatrically-released '87 horror anime film, which was an adaptation of the first book in a series of novels. Monsters, guns, an "anti-monster squad," drugs, and beautiful women are mixed together in a loose-flowing story. While Tsui Hark is only listed as producer, there're anecdotes of him directing scenes along with the credited director, Peter Mak. The special effects were quite a bit better (most of the time) than I'd expected, and some of the shots were downright inspired. The glow-in-the-dark tendrils one monster manifested, in a room saturated with blue light, is an image that's gonna stick with me for a while. The visuals over-shadow the under-powered story (monsters are dealing drugs, police try to stop them, lots of double-crossing ensues), but the story's at least coherent, as bare-bones as it is. The B-plot of a romance between a human and monster cop plods along without much passion, and is probably the weakest part of the narrative. The score is an interesting mix of synths, but I've gotta give the edge to the dark jazz grooves in the '87 version. There's also an issue of hard cuts in the score's audio when it changes shots, for some reason. The pacing of this movie is weird. At times, it moves like a roller-coaster, then it throws on the brakes for exposition, then tries to jump back to the high-action flow. There is some interesting subtext that you can read into the role of Hong Kong as the neutral ground in which 'true' humans and 'impostor' monsters mix, and a villain's plan to turn it into a place controlled by monsters, but it doesn't go too deep with that, I feel. It's a lot easier to just be like 'That's a cool motorcycle/woman centaur thing,' or 'Wow, these hues.' If the visuals weren't so compelling, this would be a point lower. rating: 7/10"Although I'm a monster... I am also persecuted by monsters."
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Oct 19, 2019 20:05
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Watch a horror remake you haven't seen.
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 28 (36). The Invisible Man (1933) Watched on DVD, available on Starz Claude Rains plays a scientist who has found a way to turn himself invisible, but at the cost of his sanity as he terrorizes all those around him and makes plans for world conquest. Originally I had intended to watch The Mummy and this back-to-back. That got sidetracked for some reason or another but it would have been very interest in hindsight since the two films feel in polar opposites in a lot of ways. The Mummy has Karloff in some amazing makeup and costume, but only shows it for one scene at the beginning and then goes to Karloff without most of it. On the other hand the Invisible Man flaunts its amazing (for the time) effects and costume all film and we only see Claude Rains’ face briefly in the final scene. Karloff plays Imhotep very muted and he spends most of his time pointing and praying. Rains plays Griffin as an absolutely deranged madman laughing maniacally and flailing his arms around. The Mummy is very dry and unlike other Universal Horrors has no real levity or humor. The Invisible Man has Rains basically pulling pranks and Una O’Connor just being delightful. Despite pretty intense power Imhotep as an almost simple and intimate goal of reclaiming his lost love. Griffin gains the ability to walk around in the cold naked without people seeing him and forgets his girlfriend exists and wants to take over the world. Its just very striking how different the two were in such extremes. Invisible Man even takes the douchey guy hitting on the female lead that is standard in all these films and throws that for a loop by just acknowledging he’s a tool and making his existence kind of miserable. I have to wonder if Whale did all this intentionally, having seen what Universal was doing and wanting to sort of lampoon it. Then again maybe he was just keeping to the spirit of HG Wells’ work and it just happened to work out so well in that way. Needless to say I found it absolutely wonderful. It might well be my favorite of the Universal movies but its hard to really judge. Its definitely a stand out and one I am sure I will be rewatching. Please don’t take my comparatively small writeup as a negative. Its just that its such a tight, easily definable film. Claude Rains shows up, Claude Rains goes crazy, poo poo flies around the place, people react as best as they can. Fin.
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Oct 19, 2019 20:36
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11. Saw Rewatch for the first time in a long while. I enjoyed it. The back and forth between the police tracking down Jigsaw and the dread of the situation with the men in shackles works well. One of things I remember most about the movie is Jigsaw's hideout turning him into an almost Riddler-esque villain. I had high hopes that the sequels would feature more elaborate getaway plans and setups but they went in a totally different direction. The scene where Adam pretends to die from a poison cigarette is a great bit of comedic levity in a movie that spends so much time being cold and bleak. The who did this? and will the captives make it out? aspects of the movie stay interesting throughout and it's a real tragedy that the sequels all doubled down on the traps and gore. 3/5 12. Saw II This movie isn't terrible and the core battle of wits between a detective and a madman could be compelling with better direction. Instead, much of the movie is focused on misery and stupid characters making stupid decisions. The ending is decent and was enough to keep me interested in where future movies would go. Donnie Wahlberg does decent work here and his anguish is believable. The other characters exist to be victims and I couldn't tell you any of their names or anything else about them. 2/5 13. The American Scream This was a really good documentary about people in the Northeast U.S. (I forgot the State, Massachussets?) who dedicate lots of their spare time to converting their homes into haunted house attractions for Halloween each year. I really enjoyed it and getting a glimpse into both the lives of the people creating the houses and how their friends and family either encourage or tolerate their obsessions. 4/5 14. Piranha 3DD or 3DoubleD I had a good time with Piranha 3D. It's kind of at odds with itself if you ask me. The gore is really extreme and upsetting while the comedy is actually pretty funny at times. I suppose it's good for a very specific audience that wants silly comedy but detailed horrific gore. For example, I know my wife would enjoy the comedy but I would never recommend we watch it because the violence is more than she'd enjoy seeing. I think that leaning more towards the comedy is a good idea for the sequel, BUT This movie feels like it was written by people who think they're the funniest people in their friend group. This humor is like bottom of the barrel terrible. "Hey what if a piranha bit a guy's dick?" "Hilarious bro, put that in!" "What if we get Gary Busey and David Hasselhoff in the movie?" "Ok, should we write jokes around that?" "Uh, nah, the joke is that they're in the ovie and people remember them from other stuff. The joke is the reference itself." "Hilarious bro, let's call up Busey right now." The only saving grace of this movie is the wonderful David Koechner who plays an incredibly sleazy waterpark owner who absolutely doesn't care about anything except making money and seeing breasts. The best part of the entire movie is him stepping over a little girl who is begging for help, turning back to her to say "I'm sorry" before reaching into a lockbox and throwing a wad of crumpled up cash on her. 0.5/5 for David Koechner 15. Saw 3 Ugh, blech. Triples down on traps and gore. Somehow this loving thing is nearly 2 goddamn hours long. This thing is miserable. The detective subplot is completely dropped to make room for more people in horrible situations. This movie features a torture tourist who goes from room to room to encounter a new scene of torture. Somehow despite the movie being almost two hours long, there isn't time to make the audience give a poo poo about any of the characters. The end sets up a rehash of the plot of the second movie with a child in danger and a person having to play along to potentially save them. This movie is garbage. The only thing that kept me from quitting here is that I wondered what direction the next movie would go considering both Jigsaw and his accomplice seem to be dead at the end. 0/5 16. Saw 4 Oh my god, why am I still watching these. Awful again. A cop is appointed the torture tourist for this movie. He goes from scene to scene encountering torture. All of the characters are either cops or victims. There aren't characters in these movies anymore. There's a brief moment where it seems like the cop is smart enough to not play along with the games, but then 10 minutes later he is willingly strapping a person into a horrible torture device. This movie and Saw 3 are loaded with flashbacks that flesh out details about the previous movies that don't actually matter or enhance the story a single bit. A series of flashbacks in this movie try to make Jigsaw more sympathetic in the most short-hand half rear end way possible. The script feels like it was written in 10 minutes and the ending is maybe the worst I've ever seen. The entire plot is the torture tourist goes to the next torture spot. That's the plot of the last movie too. Full spoiler filled rant about the end Donnie Wahlberg is the main character of the second movie, he ends the second movie captured in an ankle shackle like the two guys in the original movie. In Saw 3, he escapes that shackle but is captured again. In Saw 4, he spends the entire movie suspended in a torture device only to get crushed and killed in the last five minutes. He's the only character aside from Jigsaw with any kind of characterization but they do nothing with him for two entire movies. He plays a cop in 2 but he plays a victim in 3 and 4. Jigsaw and his accomplice are dead, so I was kinda hoping they'd go really kooky and bring one or both of them back to life with science or something. The end comes around and it's like the writers remembered at the last minute that people want to know who is setting up all of the murder traps. At this point the only living characters left are Jigsaw's wife, main character cop, side cop A and side cop B. The dramatic reveal is that it's side cop A. There's no real justification for this. It's just like, well, we have to make it someone and the audience will probably be pissed if it's a random character that we haven't introduced yet. It being the wife is too obvious because she has a direct connection and being the main character cop doesn't make sense. Let's flip a coin on the remaining two cops and then call it a day. I legitimately think this is how the decision was made. Upon finishing the movie I had to look up the writers just to see who was responsible for this. The previous 3 movies were written by the writers of the original. Saw 4 had new writers. Two guys. Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan, writers of Piranha 3DD. They also wrote Saw 5, 6, and 7. I'm done. I'm out. No more of these. Game Over. 0/5
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Oct 19, 2019 20:43
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23.) Tigers Are Not Afraid 2017, first watch, Shudder via Prime Definitely check this out if you have Shudder - it's visually creative and beautifully somber. This falls into my finicky criteria for magical realism, though you don't have to be a fan of that genre to get something out of it. Cops are the worst. 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], 14.) The Taking of Deborah Logan, 15.) People Under the Stairs, 16.) L'Inferno [Classics], 17.) The Host [J- and K-horror], 18.) Hell House LLC 3 [Threequels], 19.) Stree [India, Samhain Challenge #4], 20.) P [Samhain Challenge #5: Thailand], 21.) Lord of Illusiosn [Clive Barker], 22.) Child's Play [New Releases], 23.) Tigers Are Not Afraid
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Oct 19, 2019 21:09
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#41 Demonic Toys I thought it wouldn't be fair to watch Puppet Master vs Demonic Toys without having seen Demonic Toys first. You know how sometimes a movie makes you feel bad? Not emotionally, physically. Demonic Toys is one of those movies. I feel tired, I have a headache, and there's a soreness in my muscles that wasn't there before. I don't want to talk about Demonic Toys any more.
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Oct 19, 2019 21:24
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 #120) The Burning (1981), a.k.a., Carnage, a.k.a., Cropsy Up on Youtube. Young campers stick a skull-candle in the cabin of the caretaker as a prank, he wakes up, freaks out, and catches himself on fire. After skin grafts fail to take, he's released from the hospital, unhinged and bound on revenge. Yeah, a young Jason Alexander is in this, with hair, and he's already funny and charismatic this early in his career. It's also Fisher Stevens' film debut, something that didn't register with me until I checked the credits; ditto for Holly Hunter. There's a dickhead jock (played by Larry Joshua) that does a great job of making you want him killed off first. The chatter between campers, which is loaded with come-ons and sexual mockery, is largely believable, though it does get a little obnoxious after a while. I don't know anything about the real-life Cropsey legend, but the version they use in this is enjoyable creepy. The movie's also much better at building a camp feel than any Friday the 13th entry; I'd put it up there with Sleepaway Camp and Cheerleader Camp. The score has some nice variety, pulling off banjo get-downs and slow-creep synth drones with equal skill, and while it gets too obvious with its strings in some of the scares, it's done well overall. Got a good laugh out of the descending tones for reveals of pieces of the skinny-dipper's clothing. The gore is above average, better on the make-up and weapon effects than the blood (though not up to what I expect from Savini), and the kill scenes pack a respectable punch. The fade-to-red screens were a weird touch, but didn't disrupt the flow. As for the story, it proceeded in predictable fashion, but with enough style and competence behind it to keep things enjoyable. Eh, I can see why this is considered a classic, but I can't say I'll revisit this anytime soon. I am surprised it hasn't received a reboot, though its association with the Weinsteins makes that more understandable. rating: 7/10"That's the world bantam-weight jerk-off champ over there."
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Oct 19, 2019 21:43
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Franchescanado posted:SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #6: Sometimes They Come Back Can a challenge film also be part of my regular list? I have a physical copy on my list that meets the challenge requirement.
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Oct 19, 2019 22:43
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Untrustable posted:Can a challenge film also be part of my regular list? I have a physical copy on my list that meets the challenge requirement. I'd ask Fran to know for sure, but I don't see why not. On that note, does the original of something that got remade count towards this challenge or is it just the remake itself? Never seen either version of Child's Play, so I was thinking about doing a double-header.  28. Phantom of the Opera (1925) Dir: Rupert Julian (Amazon Prime) This is actually my first time watching a straight retelling of Phantom of the Opera (Phantom of the Paradise rules, but doesn't count because it's way more of its own thing). There's a lot of stuff in it that are still genuinely impressive today. The makeup Lon Chaney wears when revealed as the Phantom still impresses me, even more so when you learn that he designed the makeup himself. The set design feels appropriately cavernous and gothic. There's a block of the film rendered in full color which must have been mindblowing to see back in the day, especially given how it comes and goes without fanfare. Sadly, I didn't really connect with this beyond the historical context.. The film really suffers from serious pacing problems, which makes sense considering the film got recut into multiple different forms before we got the version we know. Lon Chaney really owns the role of the Phantom with his body language and movement, but there's not much else that really grabbed me. It feels remarkably workman-like. It's a film I respect more than I actually enjoy. Watched: 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 Pt 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 18. Prime Evil 19. Bride of Re-Animator 20. The Phantom Carriage 21. Thinner 22. Robot Monster 23. Color Me Blood Red 24. A Bay of Blood 25. Errementari: The Devil and the Blacksmith 26. The Lighthouse 27. TerrorVision 28. Phantom of the Opera (1925) Friends Are Evil fucked around with this message at 23:11 on Oct 19, 2019 |
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Oct 19, 2019 23:07
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It's hard to believe that Demonic Toys introduces a plucky teenage homeless girl just to kill her off 20 minutes later. That feels so pointlessly cruel in a relatively tame film.
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Oct 19, 2019 23:15
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 SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE 4 Suspiria https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPs2ExUL_bc Well, Dario Argento, this is your last chance with me. I haven't liked any of your movies that I've watched so far, but this is your masterpiece and I'm willing to give it a shot. There's also so much texture on everything in this movie A young woman goes to a famous ballet school in Europe. As she arrives, mysterious deaths begin to surround the school, starting with a girl who fled that very night from something sinister within it. Let's cut to the punchline: I liked this movie. I liked the visual style which I'd have to describe as a direct assault on the viewer. I liked how the story flowed; it may have been a chain of loosely connected incidents but they're interesting. I liked the atmosphere which was built in a large part by the visual style by how the school always feels wrong. I'd disliked a lot of Italian horror, but not this. It's really hard not to be struck by the visuals in Suspiria. I'm sure that people far more into it than me have talked about the choices of distorting effects on the camera in certain memorable shots and the aggressive use of lighting. The lighting in particular was impressive; you only notice lighting in films when it's especially bad or especially stylized. Here it's used so effectively for mood. Even the choices of camera angles is interesting in Suspiria, there's a lot of unusual shots choices that work for mood. I can keep going on the visuals forever. The way that things are framed in shots. The use of tons of textures in backgrounds. This is a gorgeous movie and I'm wondering where this Argento was in the other films I've watched by him. The visual style really is the major reason to watch Suspiria. The rest of the film is also good, it's just that style is so outstanding that it overwhelms everything else. I don't even mind the abrupt ending because what else do I need after that. I'm glad I finally saw this movie. I don't know if I'll go for a lot more Argento, but this one was worth it. Franchescanado posted:SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #6: Sometimes They Come Back drat it. I've been doing the challenges on the weekend when I have extra time and now I have to watch three movies this weekend. It doesn't help that the Suspiria remake is an Amazon produced movie. I've been doing the challenges in order but when the universe lines up so neatly for you, I guess I'm off to watch it right now. Untrustable posted:Can a challenge film also be part of my regular list? I have a physical copy on my list that meets the challenge requirement. I think I'm the only poster in the thread who is counting the samhain challenge films as separate from their challenge. And I'm a weirdo, so don't be like me.
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Oct 19, 2019 23:23
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 #121) Valentine (2001), a.k.a., Scream If You Can A horror movie based on middle school trauma, with David Boreanaz, Denise Richards, and Katherine Heigl? Oh, my... Thirteen years after humiliation at a dance (leading to stays in juvie and a mental hospital for the humiliatee), the girls from that dance start getting killed off. Who could be doing it? Boreanaz playing a drunk who wears a brown suit to a funeral is something special, it's like he's studying under Tom Atkins' character in Halloween III. It's kind of impressive how not a single one of the protagonists is likable, except the one who gets killed in the first fifteen minutes (Marley Shelton, as Kate, comes closest out of the remainder). Richards in particular is unbearable, lacking the bubbly doofiness of her role in Starship Troopers or the knowing playing-against-type of Drop Dead Gorgeous. It might be uncharitable, but it feels like Paris Hilton's popularity at the time played into most of the characterizations. Unsurprisingly, Tara Reid was also in the cast running. Beyond that, things are really dull, slipping into nonsensical for how pre-planned some of the murders are. This film's director also did Urban Legend, and was much more successful with that one. And the soundtrack, hoo boy. We've got Marilyn Manson, Disturbed, Orgy, Rob Zombie, Static-X, Filter (there's a seductive dance scene to a remix edit of "Take A Picture"), and Linkin Park, among others. To quote Wikipedia, "This soundtrack compilation was lampooned in a sketch by Saturday Night Live, which humorously pointed out that many of the bands featured on it were not only unknown to a mass audience but have oddly nonsensical names." This and the Book of Shadows soundtrack are ready to go head-to-head. Don Davis (you know, the guy who scored all the Matrix movies) handles the score here, and while it's put together decently, it rarely enhances whatever's happening on-screen. Scream wannabes get derided, and not always unfairly, but I would much rather have had a slasher that tried for some bit of cleverness than the bland drag-on that I got with this. I have a very minor impulse to read the novel from which this was adapted, just to find out if the source material was as dull as the adaptation. rating: 5/10"Paige, today at work I wrote a column about computer monitor dust wipes. Isn't that enough pain for one day?"
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Oct 19, 2019 23:26
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Zombieland 2 (2019 Theatre) The first movie was a somewhat muddled movie but largely entertaining due to the chemistry of the cast, an impressive cameo and slick stylistic choices. The sequel follows a lot of the same blueprint but can’t reach its’ successors heights. We join our cast as they have now set up camp in the White House. We learn that zombies are evolving but some of these evolutions really don’t matter to the story and are just used for quick gags. The only evolution that really matters is the T-800s - zombies that are tougher, better fighters, and harder to kill than the rest. The plot is set into motion when Little Rock leaves the group so she can find people her own age and perhaps even a boyfriend out in the wild world. This leads to the rest of the gang trying to find her. They’re joined by Madison, a ditsy blonde who has survived the zombie apocalypse by hiding in freezers. All the roads lead to Tennessee, where the new super zombies are converging upon a hippy camp. The movie really doubles down on its stylistic choices and I feel that it really overdid it. The rules pop up on the screen all the time and it gets really distracting. They also revisit the Zombie Kill of the Week/Year jokes which surprised me, as in the original that was a holdover from when this was supposed to be a tv show. I don’t mind this as it leads to good gags. The chemistry between the core cast is really great, and Zoey Deutch’s Madison is a welcome addition to the cast. Her interactions with Emma Stone in particular are great. The politics of this movie are a little muddled but I felt they were ultimately positive. There are a lot of jokes bashing hippies, vegans, pacifists, etc, but when it comes down to it none of these characters are forced to compromise their core values when faced with a deadly conflict and it doesn’t condemn their dreams of creating a utopia out of dystopia. Overall this isn’t a bad movie but what felt fresh in 2009 doesn’t hold up quite so stongly now. This movie really does really amplify the weaknesses of the previous movie and the good stuff isn’t quite as strong. I would recommend checking it out if you enjoyed the first one, but you might want to wait until this become available to watch at home. Watched (23): Brightburn, Tales from the Hood, Pet Semetary 2, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, One Cut of the Dead, Leatherface (1990), Summer of 84, Viy, Mandy, In the Tall Grass, Street Trash, See No Evil, Haunt, Idle Hands, Horror Noire, Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night 2, Doom Asylum, Eaten Alive, The Craft, The Wolfman (2010), 3 from hell, The Most Powerful Witch 1&2, Zombieland 2 Samhain Challenges: 1. The Best Month - Viy 2. Dead and Buried - 3 from Hell 3. Horror Noire - Horror Noire 4. Inktober (legend) - The Wolfman (2010) 5. Tourist Trap - The Most Powerful Witch 1&2
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Oct 20, 2019 00:53
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Random Stranger posted:I think I'm the only poster in the thread who is counting the samhain challenge films as separate from their challenge. And I'm a weirdo, so don't be like me. I’m starting to have genuine anxiety that I won’t finish this challenge, but I’m determined to try and do all my goals. Not just the 100 Years and the Samhain Challenges, but my own personal want list like the Halloween movies. By my count for me to watch all the films I have planned I’ll need to watch 44 more in under 12 days, for a total of 80. That seems… unlikely. And it doesn’t even factor in future Samhain Challenges or whims. But its not a challenge if its easy so we’ll see.  - (37). Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989) Watched on DVD, available on Shudder. A year after Michael hunted down his niece Jamie, was left for dead, and Jamie attacked her froster mother in a disturbingly familiar way things haven’t gotten much better. Jamie is traumatized and mute in a children’s hospital and under the care of Dr. Loomis and Michael survived… was nursed back to health by a hermit? Ok. Jamie appears to have some kind of psychic connection to Michael and Michael is back because he doesn’t like that poo poo. Despite what the poster says, they really weren’t ready for Michael this time… especially compared to last time. Here’s what continues to work about the franchise, sympathetic victims. When Jamie is crying out in fear with no noise coming out my heart breaks. So do the people’s around her. Too often in these slasher movies victims are discarded and treated as cannon fodder and it takes me out of the movie. But Jamie is an innocent child and everyone around her just desperately wants to help and save her. Even the foster family who went through hell are still there and love her. Even her foster sister’s friend just wants the kid to be happy and feel loved. Its loving heartwarming. And in turn I then care about whether those people live or die because I just plain like them and feel bad that they’re dying not because they’re in the way or did something stupid or had sex in a cabin. Just because they were trying to be good people and putting someone else first when self preservation would have told them to run the other way. I’d go so far as to argue that the Halloween series makes a point to juxtapose the “pure evil” of Michael with some genuine human goodness. And without some kind of “power of love” element. They could have easily just had written the foster family out and had Jamie be alone. It would have made sense. But they both wrote in some heart and in the process also made the movie meaner when they punish those characters for giving a drat. I mean, there’s assholes who eat it too but it is a slasher. Loomis is still a dick, of course, and I stand by my other theory that the he’s the real main character of these films and Michael is HIS boogeyman and greatest nightmare. He’s not wrong, but he doesn’t even care that he’s an rear end in a top hat to people because he knows his life’s purpose is to try and stop Michael from killing more people and he’s been failing desperately in that for decades. If one mute traumatized 9-year-old girl is what’s standing between him and ending this nightmare then he doesn’t care if he’s an rear end in a top hat to that little girl. He doesn’t care if he has to dangle that girl as bait. Any decent man and doctor that was there is gone now and he’s just an obsessed monster in his own right. Ok, all my Halloween defense made this is definitely the most tedious of the sequels (to date) that’s just kind of doing the same stuff competently but with diminishing returns. I’d be fine with it if it was all done in the name of ending the story but… well, you know. The psychic thing is stupid and not surprisingly within a year of Friday the 13th Part VIII’s own “not-Carrie.” But I like Jamie and I think Danielle Harris was a very good child actor. Or maybe its just fundamentally compelling watching a little girl scared to death being chased by Michael. Either way it continues the formula of one scary Michael boogeyman, one deranged Loomis, and one terrified and likable victim caught up. Making Jamie evil probably would have been a more interesting direction but I don’t know if it would have been any good. At least this sort of worked in the end as a kind of closure thing. You know… if such things happened in horror films. “Man in Black”? That can’t be good.  29 (38). The Black Castle (1952) Watched on Youtube An english nobleman risks great danger traveling to the castle of a sadistic count who he believes is responsible for the disappearances of two of his friends as revenge for a past between them. Yet another Universal and Boris Karloff feature, but my first exposure to Lon Chaney, Jr. But the thing is that neither really has very much to do in this. The whole setup is that our hero is wandering into a snakepit filled with the Count’s many traps and henchmen including Karloff and Chaney. On paper I love that, but I think there was a little too much of it and nothing ended up having great impact. Chaney makes no real impact at all. Karloff is good (but old) but just really a supporting role you wouldn’t think much of if it wasn’t him. The film is all Richard Greene and Stephen McNally, who I guess were both big stars at the time outside horror but who I’m not familiar with. They do a perfectly fine job. Everything about this film is perfectly fine. It has a good atmosphere, its that familiar Universal gothic castle tale. Its the first film directed by Nathan Juran - who would go on to do films like Attack of the 50 Foot Woman - and the first film produced by William Alland - who would go on to do Creature from the Black Lagoon amongst other films. So there’s plenty of talent and formula and the right parts. But the film kind of has the feel of just putting the pieces together without the magic. The Universal horror days were one their way out in ’52, Karloff was an old man, Lugosi’s career and life had taken a sad turn. This film feels like the dying embers of something that could have been something very fun, but was just kind of alright. 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: The Best Month: 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: Dead & Buried: 13 (15). Q (1982); 14 (16). The Black Cat (1934); 15 (17). The Unknown (1927); - (18). Halloween II (1981); 16 (19). The Seventh Victim (1943); 17 (20). The Beast With Five Fingers (1946); 18 (21). The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923); 19 (22). The Curse of the Cat People (1944); - (23). George A. Romero's Land of the Dead (2005); SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #3: Horror Noire: 20 (24). Ganja & Hess (1973); 21 (25). Drácula (1931); 22 (26). Universal Horror (1998); - (27). Happy Death Day (2017); 23 (28). The Phantom of the Opera (1925); - (29). Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982); SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #4: Inktober: 24 (30). Velvet Buzzsaw (2018); - (31). Frankenstein (1931); 25 (32). The Mummy (1932); 26 (33). The Raven (1935); - (34). Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988); 27 (35). The Man Who Laughs (1928); 28 (36). The Invisible Man (1933); - (37). Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989); 29 (38). The Black Castle (1952)
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Oct 20, 2019 01:00
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 29. Stay Alive (2006) Dir: William Brent Bell I had some unfinished business with this movie. See, I saw an article about this in Game Informer when I was 12 and it legit scared the poo poo out of me. A video game that kills people who play it? Too scary for me. I was kind of a wimp back then, but given the history, I figured I'd give it a watch now. It's absolute trash, but also a nearly perfect document of cringy mid-2000s gamer culture. Jimmi Simpson from Always Sunny is great in this as the lovely friend in the group who has definitely called someone the n-word while playing Counter-Strike. I remember when I read the Game Informer article, they made a big deal about this finally being good gamer representation and how this would be the first movie to accurately depict video games and video game culture. Aside from the obvious caveats, the actual video game they play itself doesn't seem too distant from the fake games you heard gamers complaining about in the first place. The camera keeps switching from first to third person for seemingly no reason in ways that video games don't. It's hilarious how many signifiers of then-contemporary gaming culture show up in this, from one of the characters complaining that he'll miss a G4 TechTV show to the Alienware compluters everyone carries around (because they're REAL GAMERS). Quite bad, but this might be a bad movie I keep coming back to. Watched: 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 Pt 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 18. Prime Evil 19. Bride of Re-Animator 20. The Phantom Carriage 21. Thinner 22. Robot Monster 23. Color Me Blood Red 24. A Bay of Blood 25. Errementari: The Devil and the Blacksmith 26. The Lighthouse 27. TerrorVision 28. Phantom of the Opera (1925)
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Oct 20, 2019 01:30
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27. Happy Death Day 2U (2019) Watched On: HBO Go SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #6: Watch a horror sequel you haven't seen. A fun little sequel to the fun little original. I appreciated that this movie was simultaneously a retread of the initial concept, while expanding the themes of personal morality outside of just self-improvement. Jessica Rothe carries the whole movie once again, showcasing both the frustration of having to relive the same day again AGAIN and the heartbreak of eventually having to choose between love and family. Even if it wasn't as immediately engaging as the original, the sci-fi and parallel dimension elements definitely kept me on my toes. It's a lot more schticky than the original, but I kind of appreciated that. It gave some of the less developed characters in the first movie (mostly Lori and Danielle) a little more time to shine. If you liked the first one, check it out. If you didn't, I don't think this will change your mind.
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Oct 20, 2019 01:46
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SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE 6Suspiria (2018) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KS2Xk8LJYA Suspiria confronts you with the truest expression of existential terror: interpretive dance. In cold war era Berlin wracked by terrorism, a former amish girl has arrived to join a famous dance troupe. But the troupe is run by witches who do evil things. So this is very much one of those remakes that goes into full re-imagining. They start from the same general concept and tell a story that's completely different. Argento's is a mystery: what is happening at the school and what is with these freaky deaths? Guadagnino's is a fantasy, a fairy tale of witches and magic. I went into this not wanting to just compare the original and the remake but it's impossible. The original made creative use of lighting for stunning effects; the remake is so underlit that in several scenes I paused the movie to bring up an interface to make sure my television didn't go into low power mode with its backlight. The original was sharp in its use of color; the remake is almost entirely gray and when it isn't gray it's brown. And when I say "gray" I mean people in gray walking down gray halls with gray floors none of which are properly lit. It's like they said, "Well we're going to get compared so let's go in the completely opposite direction.". The dramatic color does eventually show up, but over two hours in before they start using it and even then it's done by desaturating the image and tinting the whole thing so it looks terrible. And it really doesn't help that the original movie was a brisk 92 minutes, the remake is a turgid 152 minutes. Suspiria desperately needed an editor to go to town on it. There's extra scenes that aren't needed, sequences that go on for three times as long as necessary. There's a lot of "mood building" that doesn't actually build mood. There's a lot of things in the movie that they spend a lot of time on that don't add anything to the film: the terrorism backdrop, the abusive Amish, the life story of the old German doctor, the faculty hanging out over dinners. It feels like the kind of thing a bad writer would add to a movie to make it "more artistic" and the a good writer would excise because two and a half hours is a lot to ask from a viewer. A problem with execution that really bothered me was in the killing dance sequence. The violence being inflicted on the body of the dancer in the mirror studio didn't remotely match the dance moves that were killing her. They weren't interacting with her or representing her body being forced through the same motions. It wasn't following the rhythm of the music. The intention of that scene was clear and the execution of it was poor. It's a good example of the missteps in this movie. There's some good ideas in the Suspiria remake but the movie is weighed down. If it was under two hours, I'd say give it a try but it just drags on and on needlessly. There's even an epilogue that's unnecessary and a mess (SURPRISE! HAVE SOME HOLOCAUST!). This is a movie where the individual parts are better than the whole.
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Oct 20, 2019 02:19
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 31. The Ritual (2017) Netflix Drinking, hiking, desire to bum around the northern peninsula, bitchin' hip flask, unabashed smoking? Loved it. Totally freaked out my wife as a bonus. 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), 23. The Similars (2015), 24. Creatur from the Black Lagoon (1954), 25. The Mummy's Tomb (1942), 26. Drag Me to Hell (2009), 27. Deathwatch (2002), 28. Wake in Fright (1971), 29. The Mummy's Ghost (1944), 30. City of the Living Dead (1980), 31. The Ritual (2017) Decade - 1920s, 1930s, 1940s (III), 1950s (II), 1960s (IV), 1970s (IV), 1980s (II), 1990s (II), 2000s (III), 2010s (X) Black & White:Color:Hybrid - 10:20:1 By Country - Australia (I), Britain (I), Britain/Gremany (I), Canada (II), Italy (I), Japan (III), Mexico (I), 'Murica (XVIII), New Zealand (I), Spain (II) New:Rewatch - 26:5 Super Samhain Challenge - 1. Westworld (1973), 2. Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), 3. N/A, 4. The Mummy's Ghost (1944), 5. N/A
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Oct 20, 2019 02:40
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 #122) Ju-On (2000), a.k.a., Ju-On: The Curse Youtube. Started Ju-On: The Grudge, but as I was picking through the titles for it, I realized it was the third in the series, so I decided to start at the start instead. A teacher's student stops coming to class, the teacher goes to the student's home to investigate, and the teacher stumbles into a strange situation. This had a strong TV movie vibe to it, not just because of the picture quality, but also because it was split up into short segments, about ten to fifteen minutes or so each. What I described above is the entirety (without spoilers) of the first segment, for instance. At first, there wasn't much evident connection between them, but by the fourth(?) one, elements start to reappear. I dunno, I felt like I was missing some cultural info for parts of this. Like, why is a boy meowing like a cat posed as such a scary moment? It's not normal, sure, but I'm gonna need more than that to go with it when it treats the boy meowing as the scarier capper to a corpse crawling down the stairway. The ending came so suddenly I did a double-take at the end credits rolling, but up to that point, the atmosphere was built and maintained well enough to keep me happy. One that kind of demands multiple viewings to put it together right. rating: 7/10"Is it possible for a person who lost a jaw like that to still be alive?"
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Oct 20, 2019 02:46
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#42: Curse of the Puppet Master Curse of the Puppet Master is basically a new continuity. Leech Woman is back without explanation despite being burned to bits in Puppet Master 2. Torch and Decapitron aren't here. There's no reference to the formula, or ancient Egyptian magic, or demon puppet men, even Toulond's name is never spoke aloud, just seen on a sign. The puppets are animated in a way that doesn't require any kind of green fluid. There are no unrelated psychics either. Curse of the Puppet Master has a pretty good standalone horror story. It could be a good episode of The Outer Limits. The owner of a puppet museum, and current owner of Toulon's puppets, hires a young man to carve a perfect puppet in the hopes that Toulon's work can be replicated. But the young man begins to have horrifying dreams, and there's hints that when he completes the puppet, something unfortunate will happen to him. A genre savvy watcher will probably figure out the twist pretty easily, but it's a good twist and the movie manages to have a romance and some conflict and stuff on the way so you aren't just waiting for the twist. Touland's puppets barely enter into it. There's a bit of good puppet violence, but you don't get all the shots of the puppets walking around or emoting that made the earlier movies charming. This is also the third Puppet Master with no boobs, but there's an awful lot of hunky dudes in just their boxers. The problem is that it just ends. Like, I checked Wikipedia to make sure Tubi hadn't cut it off early. And then I checked to see if the next one picks up immediately afterwards, and it doesn't. It's just a very abrupt, unsatisfying ending. Which is a shame, because I'd been reasonably enjoying Curse of the Puppet Master up to that point. It felt way more like an episode of a TV show than a movie, but a decent, well executed episode of a TV show. And then it ended and I'm just like, "that's it?" So that's the second Puppet Master movie I'm unsatisfied with. This is a bad trend for the rest of the series! But a guy does get his dick drilled off.
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Oct 20, 2019 02:52
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Short writeups because I'm sick as balls. #6 - Revenge (2017)  Hahaha this one loving owned. Started out kind of slow, but once things picked up, they got pretty amazing. .5 / 5#7 - The Furies (2019)  Pretty amusing cyberpunk Battle Royale clone. I initially thought it played its hand a little too quick by revealing the BR clone aspect, but there's some other neat twists and turns, and some loving gnarly gore. Worth a look. / 5#8 - Tammy and the T-Rex:  THE GORE CUT (1994) Holy loving poo poo this movie is buck wild. I've seen this before, but I hadn't seen this version (obviously), and... while I think the PG-13 rated cut is an interesting curiosity, the R-rated cut is genuinely one of the best bad movies of all time. Like, right hand to God, this is Miami Connection tier. If this is coming to theaters in your area, see it; it's a way better theater movie than you'd expect, because it gets amazing reactions out of people.  / 5#9 - The Ranger (2018)  Slasher in the woods, except this time it's punks vs a psycho park ranger. I think I've seen people be kinda down on this one in the thread, but I liked it. Heavy Green Room vibes, including a scene that feels like it's trying to top the arm scene (and I'm not really sure which I'd pick). / 5
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Oct 20, 2019 02:53
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LORD OF BOOTY posted:Short writeups because I'm sick as balls.
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Oct 20, 2019 02:55
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I did not hit her, I did not! oh hi toulon
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Oct 20, 2019 03:15
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"I'm just sitting up here thinking, you know. I got a question for you." "Yeah?" "You think puppets like to kill like guys do?"
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Oct 20, 2019 03:19
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15. Waxwork Hello new av! I had never thought this was going to even be a C-tier movie until someone here mentioned it being fun, and turns out it loving RULES. Genuinely one of the most fun I've had watching a movie in ages! It's absolutely brilliantly cast top to bottom, every single character no matter how small looks like they could have their own movie. It's lovingly absurd and the sense of humour is wicked, clearly inspired by Joe Dante & John Landis, there's a lot of blood and gore and the ending is HorrormasterAnthony's birthday party. Go watch it right now. Seen: 1. Children of the Corn, 2. Night of the Comet, 3. The Ruins, 4. Butterfly Murders, 5. Boxer's Omen, 6. Corpse Mania, 7. Lair of the White Worm, 8. Gothic, 9. All The Colours of the Dark, 10. One Cut of the Dead, 11. A Blade in the Dark, 12. Tales from the Darkside,13. House of 1000 Corpses, 14. Spider Baby married but discreet fucked around with this message at 03:34 on Oct 20, 2019 |
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Oct 20, 2019 03:28
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#18 The Lighthouse (2019) I loved this movie. I'm not going to talk about the plot but I also think this is kind of one of those movies you can't really spoil. It's visually stunning, the music and sound design is overwhelming in the best way possible, the dialogue is poetic and had me hanging on every word, the actors are great, and it all comes together to create this beautifully haunting, gross, oppressive atmosphere that's a real treat to spend your time with. Absolutely the type of movie you want to see in theaters if possible. The more I love something, the more I usually have trouble talking about it in terms other than just lists of details I enjoyed, and this is similar. It takes me a while to put together concrete thoughts about things like this because I'm not thinking much when watching them, I'm just sort of letting the entire thing wash over me. I'll spare you too much of that sort of discussion, but I will say that the highlight of the movie for me was when Willem Dafoe's character delivers what I think was maybe a 5 minute monologue, cursing Robert Pattinson's character and describing in poetically horrific detail exactly how he's going to die in the sea. If this entire movie was just Willem Dafoe's character talking to the camera, I'd probably have been fine with it. Anyways, this movie is great and I highly recommend it. Watched (18/31): #1 Gozu (2003), #2 Spider Baby or, the Maddest Story Ever Told (1967), #3 Viy (1967), #4 Mondo Cane (1962), #5 Dark Water (2002), #6 Blood and Black Lace (1964), #7 Daughters of Darkness (1971), #8 Sliders of Ghost Town: Origins (2016), #9 One Cut of the Dead (2017), #10 Possum (2018), #11 EGG. (2005), #12 Adventures of Electric Rod Boy (1987), #13 House of 1000 Corpses (2003), #14 Ganja and Hess (1973), #15 Q (1982), #16 Hungry Stones (1960), #17 The Ruins (2008), #18 The Lighthouse (2019) Challenges (4/6): blood_dot_biz fucked around with this message at 03:32 on Oct 20, 2019 |
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Oct 20, 2019 03:29
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#23) Deep Red / Profondo Rosso (1975) What can be said about this movie that hasn't been said? At the risk of starting an argument here, it's practically the movie that put the whole giallo genre on the map, and exploded Dario Argento's career. It's got it all - mystery, intrigue, a handsome debonair leading man, twists, turns, murders, spooky things, and the creakiest black leather gloves you could ever ask for. Giallo films are hands down some of my favorites, and this is in my top 3 for sure. Between the amazing cinematography, the amazing soundtrack by Goblin, and the ... okay, well the story is a little hokey but that doesn't even matter. It's a fun ride from beginning to end. :spook: 4/5
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Oct 20, 2019 04:04
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 #123) Ju-On 2 (2000), a.k.a., Ju-On: The Curse 2 Youtube. Released the same year as the first one, this entry starts off with an extended flashback (wrapped in a light gauzy filter) to re-establish the main points of that one. So that lets them burn off about fifteen minutes right off the bat, with the down-side that I could feel my good will towards it dissolving at the flashback went on. And then it went on for another fifteen minutes. Yes, thirty loving minutes of copied-over footage from the first movie to open up this one. That's approximately forty percent of the movie. What the hell. Anyway, once it finally gets into new material, things are okay. I guess. It puts down some clearer examples of how widely the curse can spread. My partner felt that the curse's rules for spreading were way too arbitrary, and I kind of agree, but I like how it's implicitly a plague that'll swallow the earth, given enough time. I can't get over how much of a cheap cash-in sequel this felt like, though. It really seems as though there should be a fan-edit merging the first two into a single two-hour movie. I'd like to think that this is the least necessary entry in the series, but we'll see. rating: 6/10"What? You sold the house?"
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Oct 20, 2019 04:05
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Franchescanado posted:SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #5: Tourist Trap #19 Pulgasari (1985)  Went with North Korea for this one. A while ago I was reading about their history with movies and got super interested in it. I wrote down a bunch of things I wanted to check out but I never actually followed through, so this is both the first North Korean horror movie I've ever seen (not that I think they have any other ones) and also just the first North Korean movie in general I've ever seen. This was... fine. The story behind its production is, unfortunately, the most interesting thing about it. I won't get too deep into it because other sources can sum it up way better than me and also because I imagine a lot of you have heard about it before, but the short of it is that Kim Jong-il was a huge movie buff and ended up kidnapping this movie's director and forcing him to make it for him. It's a wild story that's absolutely worth reading about if you haven't already. As for the finished product, it's probably my least favorite of the month so far. There are much worse ways to spend an hour and a half, but the movie's sort of slow and took me a few goes to actually get through. The monster itself is super good. Baby Pulgasari is legitimately cute, and adult Pulgasari is perfectly goofy. The suit was made by Toho, so it's not that surprising, but it turned out great. Unfortunately, the monster is sort of barely on screen. When it's there, the movie is fun, but more often than that we just get people talking about the monster. I didn't care about any of the actual people in this movie but we sure do see a lot of them, and it makes this not all that long movie feel sort of bloated. Because of the context surrounding it I'm glad I finally watched it, but if you don't care about that and aren't otherwise a rubber suit fanatic, then I'd probably give this one a pass. Watched (19/31): #1 Gozu (2003), #2 Spider Baby or, the Maddest Story Ever Told (1967), #3 Viy (1967), #4 Mondo Cane (1962), #5 Dark Water (2002), #6 Blood and Black Lace (1964), #7 Daughters of Darkness (1971), #8 Sliders of Ghost Town: Origins (2016), #9 One Cut of the Dead (2017), #10 Possum (2018), #11 EGG. (2005), #12 Adventures of Electric Rod Boy (1987), #13 House of 1000 Corpses (2003), #14 Ganja and Hess (1973), #15 Q (1982), #16 Hungry Stones (1960), #17 The Ruins (2008), #18 The Lighthouse (2019), #19 Pulgasari (1985) Challenges (5/6):
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Oct 20, 2019 04:16
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#43: Retro Puppet Master Ok, we're back with Toulon in WW2, telling the story of how he got the secret of animating puppets in 1902 in Paris. Which invalidates the previous story of how he got the secret as shown in Puppet Master 2 and Puppet Master 3. BUT, we're also animating puppets without the green fluid. so we're all over the place. Young Toulon is played by Mark from The Room, giving his absolute all to an accent I can only describe as "European". Some of the scenes are hilarious with all the obviously American actors all trying their hand at "European" accents. Their performance perfectly matches the quality of the dialogue, with lines such as, "I thought you just coughed for the customers! Is it real now?" We get a whole new cast or puppets for this prequel. None of them are as memorable or charming or characterful as the standard puppets. Which I kinda appreciate. I think it's neat that they're all way cruder and simpler than the old Puppets, because they were made by Toulon when he was just starting out as a puppet maker like 30 years before he made the crew we know and love. Bad acting, bad writing, it's almost an hour before there are any animate puppets. It has decent "so bad it's good" potential for people who are into that sort of thing, but I just found it boring. I'm now at 4 Puppet Master movies I enjoyed, and 3 I didn't. I hope Puppet Master 8 brings the spark back
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Oct 20, 2019 04:21
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https://twitter.com/KennethJWaste2/status/1185764840301879296?s=20
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Oct 20, 2019 05:17
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SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #6: Sometimes They Come Back This is a great challenge because it made me choose a film that I wouldn't have otherwise watched! But also it sucks because it made me watch this total piece of poo poo   26. A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) (digital) Wes Craven's original A Nightmare on Elm Street is one of the best horror films of the '80s, and maybe of all time. It spawned a franchise not only because it was popular, but also because the premise - a monster who enters your dreams and kills you as you sleep - allows for lots of cool and creative visuals and ideas to be used. Over the years, Freddy transforms a woman into a cockroach, replaces his finger knives with hypodermic needles, and controls an unlucky guy by pulling out his tendons and moving him around like a marionette. The wild and often goofy dream scenes are what most people remember about the series, and for good reason. With nearly 30 years of improvements in CGI and a bigger budget, this remake could've really gone nuts with the dream sequences, but instead it completely shits the bed by trying to replicate scenes from the original film and doing an incredibly bad job of it. I've heard this was bad, but it's even worse than I was expecting. Robert Englund's Freddy didn't just look like a burned guy - he was demonic and tormented his victims with glee. Here, Freddy just looks like an actual burn victim covered in scar tissue, and under all the makeup Jackie Earle Haley isn't able to really emote at all. He spouts a couple of forced sounding one-liners but is otherwise devoid of any personality. The rest of the cast is made up of the most generic stock characters ever, and I didn't like or care about any of them for even a moment. Actually, I didn't like or care about any aspect of this movie at all, so I'm going to stop writing about it. What a piece of crap. PS - A lazy trope that I really dislike is when a film gives us an exposition dump by having a character go on the internet and do "research" by just googling stuff. This movie does this FOUR loving TIMES. 0.5/5 Total: 26 Watched: Dead of Night | Child's Play (2019) | Escape Room | Hell Night | The Wind | Evil Dead (2013) | Cure (Challenge #1) | Tigers Are Not Afraid | The Craft | Tower of London | In Fabric | Popcorn | Cube | Uninvited | Galaxy of Terror (Challenge #2) | Brightburn | Body Bags | The Tingler | The Wax Mask | Cube 2: Hypercube | Dark Water (2002) | The Ruins (Challenge #4) | Viy | The Haunting | Bones (Challenge #3) | A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) (Challenge #6) Samhain Challenges: gey muckle mowser fucked around with this message at 05:19 on Oct 20, 2019 |
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Oct 20, 2019 05:17
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Movies 9, 10, and 11 out of 31: Ghost Ship House of Wax Return to House on Haunted Hill  Purchased: It was a Christmas gift the year before last. Status: Actually opened because I had to show my friend House of Wax to prove it is "the mid-2000s distilled into a single horror movie". Ghost Ship: I have a fondness for the Dark Castle films but especially Ghost Ship. For all the questionable narrative choices and bad CG, there are redeeming qualities to this movie, such as the sets and the opening tight wire kill. 3 "Not Fallings" out of 5 House of Wax: This is pure 2005. Not even sure if it was made in 2005. It just is 2005. It has some pretty good gore I suppose. A good, lazy Sunday type of horror movie. Filler. Popcorn movie. Generic. Forgettable except for the chase scene through a melting wax house. I also found out that filming that chase scene burned down 7 million dollars worth of backlot. 2.5 "Helenas" out of 5 Return to House on Haunted Hill: B-b-b-bonus SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #6: Sometimes They Come Back since Return to House on Haunted Hill is a sequel to a remake and I haven't seen it. Ah gently caress this movie. Not even Jeffrey Combs could save this. The Blu-ray had this weird "choose your own adventure" option and of course I took it. I got one choice in the first 30 minutes and then maybe 5 more choices total and they all seemed inconsequential, except for when I read about the feature it said they filmed 60 whole extra minutes of stuff for the CYOA version; so maybe my choices made the movie bad. I'm going to err on the side of the movie is just bad though. Highlight of the movie is a pretty good scene where Jeffrey Combs cuts someone's face off. 1.5 "Simple Survivals" out of 5 One more thing: Why did I give the ratings with what appear to be nonsense words? Well, every movie listed had one weird thing in common: Each one (save for House of Wax) had a music video for a song featured in the movie. Ghost Ship had a video for 'Not Falling' by Mudvayne. House of Wax has 'Helena' by My Chemical Romance as the closing theme. Return to House on Haunted Hill has a video for 'Simple Survival' by Mushroomhead. It's weird that there was a time where home video releases had a music video in the special features. It seems weird to me anyway. Untrustable fucked around with this message at 09:12 on Oct 21, 2019 |
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Oct 20, 2019 05:42
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7. SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #1: The Best Month - Viy 4/5 What a weird little spooky gem. Thanks to MacheteZombie for recommending it. I've seen Bava's Black Sunday, but never seen or head of this film until now. In fact, to my knowledge, this is the first Russian horror film I've seen. The folkloric roots of this story made it feel like Gothic fairy-tale, equally eerie and whimsical. There's also a uniqueness that seems inherent to it's Russian origins that I can't quite put my finger on. At least I'm assuming it's the background of the film that adds this quality I can't quite put into words, judging solely on having little experience with Russian film in general. It's slow and contemplative, dry and oppressive, with moments of silliness that break up the tone. The nights spent with the witch's corpse are genuinely unsettling and well-done. Khoma is the only one dealing with this situation, the only one who sees anything beyond daily peasant life in this film, and you really feel for him as he endures these situations that are unique to him and that he has to face alone. But at the same time, he feels like an old cartoonish drunk. Khoma may as well be Don Knots in The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, at times. His situation is both unbelievable and terrifying, but his cries for help and his prayers seem almost silly in the face of the very real horrors happening around him. Approaching the climax of the film, the arrival of the monster/skeleton horde and Viy itself, may be one of my favorite scenes in the history of film, just from an aesthetic standpoint. Overall, it was a journey that dragged at points, despite it's scant run-time, but was rewarding in ways that definitely caught me off guard. I wish I was better at these write-ups to explain the nuances of the film in ways it deserves, but for now, I'll just say it was an awesome experience. 8. SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #2: Dead & Buried - Three From Hell 3/5 In my House of 1,000 Corpses write-up, I said that fanboy feelings for Rob Zombie's films were still alive and well after seeing House for the first time in years. That bias returns in Three From Hell. This movie isn't great, probably isn't even good, and is unfocused and meandering at best. That being said, I loved it. Zombie didn't care much for continuity between House of 1,000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects and that holds true here. From a basic standpoint, the Rejects are the same characters, but have again shifted personalities somewhat. First, it was both wonderful and heartbreaking to see recently deceased Sid Haig in his very short time in the film. He looked and sounded as frail as he was, but here and there that Haig voice boomed through just a tiny bit. The guy gave it his all, right up until the end, and he'll always be one of my favorite horror and exploitation legends. I'd take another 80 years of ol' Haig thundering through the screen as Captain Spaulding or hanging out with Pam grier. Secondly, Otis returns - no longer an albino cult leader, or Manson-esque serial killer, but something more akin to a "too old for this poo poo" killer with somewhat of a sense of humor. He plays well off of new addition to the cast Richard Brake as his half-brother "Foxy" Coltrane. The two give each other poo poo as often as they crack dumb jokes at one another. Third, Baby Firefly comes back to us a little more unhinged than we've seen her in the previous films. Never exactly an icon of sanity, her time in prison seems to have made her the most volatile of the trio, with Otis frequently seeming to be the more collected between them. Again, this movie isn't what The Devil's Rejects was. It's fan-service. It's goofy. It's all over the place, from tone to plot. And I could pull it apart in a thousand ways, just as much as I could praise it. But, at the end of the day, I had fun watching the Firefly family dick around on the big screen again. 9. Frankenstein's Army 2.5/5 (Rewatch) Another rewatch because I haven't seen it since it came out. I remember thinking this was an incredibly cool and spooky film, but my rewatch didn't really do it any favors. Russian Soldiers, near the end of WWII, wander across a secret German lab where strange and monstrous creatures are being produced. All this is documented by war propagandist cameraman, meaning the film is a found-footage horror, and that's what really bums me out. The concept is fun and has a lot of promise, and the creature design is some of the coolest, most batshit crazy stuff I've ever seen outside of Clive Barker works. However, the found-footage horror means you don't get to see as much of these things as you want, and what could be tense and moody feels more frantic and jerky. Also, maybe it's just me getting used to my new surround sound system, but this movie is loving loud. In a bad way. The sounds of screams, gunfire, machinery and metal can punctuation or add overbearing terror to a horror movie like this, but I felt like that was 85% of the movie's audio. I found myself having a hard time even determining what was happening in several scenes, as the camera flits around and tinny, scraping noises ring out through echoing bunker hallways. Maybe I'm just getting old. It's a fun concept that is overall hurt by it's format. The monster designs are dope, though. 10. Psycho (1960) 5/5 (Rewatch) I don't have much to say that hasn't been said a million times over about Psycho. It's wonderful, it's iconic, it's great every time I watch it. However, I will say that every time I watch it I appreciate Anthony Perkins more and more. It's such a great performance and it's so much fun to watch Norman Bates flicker between "normal" and unhinged. You can see fantastic subtle changes on Perkins' face and the way he carries himself that add so much to the movie and to his character.
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Oct 20, 2019 05:44
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Gripweed posted:I'm now at 4 Puppet Master movies I enjoyed, and 3 I didn't. I hope Puppet Master 8 brings the spark back  #124) Scooby-Doo! Legend of the Phantosaur (2011) OK, um, hmm. Well, this continues the streak of having a very cute opening sequence. And then Shaggy gets diagnosed with something that means he absolutely must avoid scares, for the sake of his health. Shaggy is of the belief that without him, the entire Scooby gang would have to be disbanded, but Daphne knows a place where there's a paleontological dig going on, that she's sure will be scare-free. Once they get there, dinosaur ghosts, biker gangs, and Velma's male double (on whom she instantly forms a crush) get into the mix. Maybe the most notable wrinkle, though, is the hypnosis of Shaggy, which makes him fearless whenever the command word is triggered. They get more mileage out of that gag than you might expect. There's a lot of "Why would you do that?!" details to the villains' plans, but the movie spends a lot of time with what works, and relatively little on the stuff that doesn't. It makes for one of the more consistently enjoyable entries in the Scooby canon, with a highlight being Shaggy's midnight motorcycle race down a series of Dead Man's _____ landmarks. Oh, and Fred Willard voices the hypnotist, forever getting the names of the Scooby gang wrong. This also features Daphne doing one of the most irresponsible things to ever crop up in a piece of Scooby media, and it's handled with no comment on the reckless insanity of it. All in all, pretty good Scoob stuff. rating: 7/10"Is that a dog?" "Broadly speaking, yes." Darthemed fucked around with this message at 05:50 on Oct 30, 2019 |
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Oct 20, 2019 05:58
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