|
 Super Samhain Challenge #7: Monster Mash-Up 25. The Gate Two kids digging around in their yard accidentally stumble across a portal to Hell. Demonic forces start trying to find their way out of it, and soon you've got ghosts, zombies, a bunch of tiny homonculi, and more. Rated PG-13, this has sort of a "for older kids" vibe, still trying to be scary but with a certain Spielbergian tone as well- with just a touch of the 80s Satanic Panic going on too. For the most part the kids are believable, though it's weird that the older sister's high school friends go out of their way to tease an 8-year-old. I guess I don't remember teens like that. It takes a while to get going, but there are some genuinely remarkable effects, and the finale is appropriately intense. I also appreciate how it comes to rely on the bond between the lead kid and his older sister, it's pretty sweet.
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 08:39
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 9, 2024 21:56 |
|
|
 Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari, 1920 I got to get at least one movie from the 20s into these marathons and you can't go wrong with Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari. Dr. Caligari got this goth as gently caress somnambulist, a sleepwalker, as a sideshow attraction. The somnambulist can answer any question in his death like trance, so that's the show in case you wonder why people would pay to see someone sleeping. Murders starts to happen every night as the carnival stays in town and you don't have to be a genius to figure out who is committing them. What makes this movie so interesting is that it's a part of the German expressionism. You can see the buildings and landscape twisted and crooked, giving the world of the film this a dreamlike, nightmarish even, look. That and the color filters of the film to show the mood makes this a very great visual experience. It was a bit slow and boring for me at the start, but around the half way mark when the action really started to happen, I remembered why I like this movie and had a good time watching it. Dr. Caligari turns out to be more than just a sideshow barker and is a real doctor, so I'm wondering, is he the first mad scientist in cinema history? I know we got Frankenstein from 1910 by Edison Manufacturing Company, so I guess that might be the first, but Frankenstein is from a book. Should Dr. Caligar be counted as the first original movie made mad scientist?
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 10:14
|
|
|
“So do I need to watch the sequels to these Universal classics to get the true taste?” “Not really, most of them can wait.” “Cool.” “Oh, but you know that awesome Invisible Man movie you’re about to watch that is all about that deranged madman role played by Claude Rains?” “Yeah, that’s gonna be amazing.” “Well the sequel casts Vincent Price in that role in one of his first films.” “…”  36 (47). The Invisible Man Returns (1940) Watched on DVD. Vincent freaking Price’s Geoffrey Radcliffe is on death row after being wrongly convicted of murdering his brother but luckily for him his best friend and partner is Dr. Frank Griffin, brother of the original Invisible Man, and he shares the family secret to get Geoff out of prison. Now Geoffrey must evade the police, fight his brother’s killer, and find a cure before he loses his mind. I went in hoping for the full majesty of maniacal madman that we know he’s capable of, but mentally prepared for a muted “first film” young Price a decade before he found his calling. We get little flashes of Price’s madness but ultimately they focus more on him being a a tragic anti-hero with a pretty justifiable obsession. You gotta assume that the people making this film thought to themselves “we’ll never match the brilliance of Claude Rains so better to not try and do something different and focus on the before Rains lost his mind.” Its a reasonable course to take. After all, how could they know that the young actor they cast in their lead would one day become the icon of crazed madmen in horror? Its somehow such a perfect casting that they just understandably didn’t take advantage of because how could they have know? A tragedy all on its own. That aside, the film’s alright. It leans more into the wacky comedy and light romance than the maniacal and it does a nice enough job. I wouldn’t call t funny, but it was very giggle worthy. Its the sort of thing I remember watching on Saturday and Sunday afternoons between Godzilla and Three Stooges stuff. Just light, fun stuff. And hey, Vincent Price was a handsome fella before he was a creepy fella. Franchescanado posted:SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #7: Monster Mash-up There’s at least 4 Universal monster mashups on my list but still trying to use the challenges to get something off list I wouldn’t have watched otherwise. So dug around on streaming services and this looked like it could be fun.  37 (48). Blood Fest (2018) Available on Showtime. A group of horror fans attend Blood Fest, the biggest horror convention in history that converts 700 acres of land into recreations of all the classic horror movies and tropes. Unfortunately its all a setup by the event organizer to “save horror” from “glitter vampires and soap opera zombies” by creating the “horror movie to end all horror movies” complete with DIY vampires, zombies, and such. Obligatory Fyre Fest joke. This was… fine. Not especially good, not especially bad. Its like… remember when you were a kid and someone would give you one of those cheap knockoff toys? Its like… what someone made a whole big budget horror mashup with dollar store knockoffs of horror icons. Knockoff Jason. Knockoff Jigsaw. Knockoff Deadites. Knockoff Sadako. Its… ok. Sorta fun and schmaltzy… but not really that good. There’s meta jokes that… are fine. They’re not super original or insightful but they don’t really take themselves that seriously so like, whatever. If Scream is the standard and Cabin in the Woods is the self important one and Dale and Tucker vs Evil is the one that just goes for it then Blood Fest is the one that… you know.. shows up and does an adequate job. That’s it. This film was perfectly adequate for what it was trying to do. There’s a twist. Its not that surprising if you were paying attention. Its… adequate. Its weird, but not like weird enough to talk about. Just… ok. That happened. Zachary Levi shows up as himself. And does an ok couple of jokes. And then was gone. Some guy named Gavin Free does too. I don’t know who that is so I didn’t get anything from it but if you do I’m sure it would have been… ok. Blood Fest is fine. Its just… fine. 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); 30 (39). Faust (1926); - (40). Halloween: The Curse of Micheal Myers (1995); - (41). The Bride of Frankenstein (1935); 31 (42). Dracula’s Daughter (1936); SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #5: Tourist Trap: 32 (43). The Golem (2019); SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #6: Sometimes They Come Back: 33 (44). Nightmare on Elm Street (2010); 34 (45). Happy Death Day 2U (2019); 35 (46). The Phantom Carriage (1921); 36 (47). The Invisible Man Returns (1940); SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #7: Monster Mash-up: 37 (48). Blood Fest (2018) STAC Goat fucked around with this message at 11:42 on Oct 22, 2019 |
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 10:29
|
|
|
Franchescanado posted:SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #6: Sometimes They Come Back 28) Phantasm 3 1994  Reggie meets up with a kid defending his house Home Alone style from looters. These guys keep coming back as deadites. They then meet up with a woman called Rocky and they go on a road trip It's not quite up there with the second film, but it's still fun and the characters are likeable. 29) Phantasm 4 1998  As traditional, it starts where the last film left off. How does little Timmy escape? It's been like five years between movies so what do you do, recast the character? Have him die offscreen? No, he's not mentioned once. OK, what about Reggie, how does he escape? The Tall Man just lets him go. Laaaame. Reggie then goes on a road trip to find Mike and he gets harrassed by deadites along the way. The world is becoming more dead, with town after town deserted and this is the strongest part of the movie. There are hints of backstory for the Tall Man, which was quite intriguing but it's not developed very much. There's a lot of flashback scenes with unused footage from the first film, most feel like padding, one or two would have been cute character moments if they'd been left in the original. The franchise is definitely feeling tired at this point. 30) Phantasm 5 2016  It looks like a fanfilm. It's heavy with cheap cg and looks terrible, but there was a short section with giant spheres superimposed on stock footage of buildings being demolished that honestly came across as charming, like a 50s B-movie 90yo Angus Scrimm still growls "Booooy!" at 50yo Mike. Everyone is so old. Except Reggie who hasn't aged in 40 years, he looks great. Shades of TNG's "All Good Things" here with Reggie hopping between different times and possibly it's all just a dementia induced hallucination which they lean into towards the end but then the movie keeps going another 15 minutes so maybe not. I wouldn't say it's a great end to the franchise, but it was neat to get one more outing for the Tall Man before Angus Scrimm passed away. Poor Reggie didn't get laid after five movies of creeping on ladies way out of his league.
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 10:47
|
|
|
SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #7: Monster Mash-up 24)Godzilla: Tokyo SOS I own a digital copy. I come here today, not to talk about my son's ambitions, but to talk to you about mothra"  It's the only millenium series sequel. So after the events of the last film, godzilla has vanished, mechagodzilla (built on the bones of the original godzilla) is all busted up, and to top things off, the twins are there to tell the japanese government to return the original godzilla's bones to the sea or Mothra is going to come ruin their day. Of course Godzilla returns, and any plans to scrap Mechagodzilla are scrapped as well. The monsters and the miniature work are all fantastic. Mothra has never looked better:  The human plot, like with most godzilla movies isn't great, but it doesn't get in the way. The human team piloting mechagodzilla doesn't have the showa era style charm of the team from Godzilla vs Megaguirus, but they're not a detriment either. Solid Godzilla flick, and solid monster mash-up .5/5
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 11:11
|
|
|
 26 D-Tox aka Eye See You (2002) [Wyoming] Fed agent Malloy (Sylvester Stallone) takes down a serial cop-killer but at great personal cost. Several months later, drowning his sorrows with booze, he is forced to check in to a cop-only detox facility located in an abandoned military bunker deep in the Wyoming mountains. When they get snowed in and the bodies start dropping it turns out the case might not be closed just yet. This is one of those mid-90s grim “thrillers” that is basically a horror movie. The concept is good and there are some fine performances, but the cliché writing and flat direction prevent it from being more than just decent.  27 Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006) [Maryland] A documentary crew follows a budding serial killer as he prepares to make his mark. This was a very entertaining deconstruction of slashers and all their tropes, clearly made by people with a lot of love for the genre. The two leads are excellent and play off each other very well. I like that the movie has the confidence to drop the pov-style footage for the 3rd act and turn into an actual slasher movie. The way everything came together in the finale, following the exact structure and rules that have been outlined before while still changing things up enough to be surprising was really well done.  28 Downrange (2017) [California] A group of people travelling together get pinned down by a sniper after their car gets a flat on a remote road. A solid premise that delivers good tension throughout and some really gnarly gore. Making the characters a bunch of people carpooling who don't really know each other instead of a group of friends made for a different dynamic between them which was interesting. The main characters are well developed and act smart and/or realistic, with no dumb, out-of-character moments just to further the plot. There are some interesting twists and I appreciated how nihilistic the ending was.
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 12:40
|
|
|
Zwabu posted:I saw this in the theater when I was pretty young, like maybe twelveish. Without going into all the disturbing details, it's kind of fascinating that it's a very direct, horrific moment with how it's filmed. Like you mention, the murderer is not only someone the victims recognize, but they are set up to the audience as a likeable comic character. Then the human mask comes off, as you said, and they show they are a depraved cruel monster. The actual assault and strangulation happen while all we see is a character's face. There's no (apologies for this) thrusting, or sexual movement that would happen in a modern film (like The Nightingale, for instance), just a character losing her grip and becoming a shocked shell of a person, giving up. If it weren't for the direct, but brief nudity, it could arguably pass in a PG-13 film. Despite that, it's absolutely harrowing. Also, the Babs murder was pretty brutal. It leaves everything to the imagination, which is just brutal, cuz they were my favorite character. Then they follow up the murder with some excellent morbid slapstick humor mixed with anxious tension with trying to remove the tie pin from her hand set with rigor mortis in a moving potato truck. I hadn't really thought about parents taking their kids to see this. I know my parents generation considers Hitchcock's films "family friendly" because they're mostly all unrated and lack violence and nudity. This movie is kinda nuts for that. He doesn't even give resolution to the main character! The credits just roll! Great movie. BioTech posted:As an aside, would any of the movies below qualify for the Monster Mash-up challenge? I don't want to spoiler myself by reading plots of going through lists of actors to see their roles, but if someone has seen them and can confirm there are two monsters in them I'd appreciate it. This is the only one that I've seen from that list that would technically qualify, because Krampus has a bunch of different monsters that help him torture the family. Franchescanado fucked around with this message at 12:50 on Oct 22, 2019 |
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 12:44
|
|
|
I've decided that I'm gonna change it up and post a Super Samhain challenge every day, so everyone has more time to work on them rather than anxiously scramble during the last days of Spooky Season. SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #8: Happy Holidays! Thanks to FancyMike for designing this torture device   Watch a horror film that you haven't seen that takes place on a holiday that isn't Halloween, All Hallow's Eve, Samhain, (edit) Dia De Los Muertos, etc.or Watch a slasher that you haven't seen named after a holiday or a well-known cultural event.An example of a well-known cultural event: Graduation Day, Happy Birthday To Me, Prom Night, etc. Franchescanado fucked around with this message at 16:26 on Oct 22, 2019 |
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 13:11
|
|
|
Time for everyone to watch Uncle Sam!
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 13:34
|
|
|
It might just be that I'm only searching in English, but I'm genuinely disappointed that there seem to be no horror movies set on Golden Week or Purim.
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 13:38
|
|
|
Some of you lucky ducks could use Night of the Comet for Christmas horror.
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 14:12
|
|
|
Your reminder that Critters 2 takes place on Easter. I have no idea what I'm watching for this but given I've seen almost no Valentine Day or Christmas horrors it shouldn't be too hard to find one. Just a matter of finding the right one.
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 14:15
|
|
|
Anonymous Robot posted:Some of you lucky ducks could use Night of the Comet for Christmas horror. I wouldn't consider anyone who hasn't seen Night of the Comet to be a "lucky duck"
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 14:17
|
|
|
Iron Crowned posted:I wouldn't consider anyone who hasn't seen Night of the Comet to be a "lucky duck" They get to see it for the first time!
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 14:19
|
|
|
for a less obvious pick - Terror Train is set on New Year's Eve
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 14:20
|
|
|
Found this handy wiki list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holiday_horror
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 14:27
|
|
|
Wow, there were three April Fools horror movies in the US in 1986 and then basically never again. I wonder what happened in 84-85.
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 14:32
|
|
|
28. Rabies (2010) A brother and sister on the run, a group of teens going to play tennis, two cops, a park ranger and a psychopath all find their paths crossing with violent results. Apparently, this movie is bleak, unpleasant and depressing. Sorry about that. It's noteworthy for being Israel's first horror movie, and it certainly gets points for trying, at the very least. The "Rabies" of the title doesn't refer to the disease itself, but more the human condition, where people can be driven to acts of extreme violence for emotional reasons, and the emotional and actual ramifications of such acts. So yeah, definitely bleak. Don't get attached to anyone. 29. End of the Wicked (1999)  The misadventures of a coven of witches led by Beelzebub himself, particularly Lady Destroyer, who wants to punish her son for the crime of... looking after her and buying her things. This movie features an actual goat being killed, which came out of loving nowhere and did nothing to improve the mood of this fundamentalist Christian propaganda piece. It's a Nollywood movie, shot for about 50p with some handheld cameras from Dixons apparently, but hey, at least they didn't get the boom mic in any of the shots (because there was no boom mic, so a good portion of the dialogue is garbled). Apparently this movie was made by one of those churches that really do kill people they think are witches, which just makes things even more awkward. Also contains a scene where Lady Destroyer asked for a big floppy dick so she can rape her daughter-in-law. This is clearly a film for all the family, provided your family is the Firefly clan. 30. Rabid (2019) SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #6: Sometimes They Come Back - Watch a horror remake you haven't seen.  After a road accident leaves her badly disfigured, Rose is treated with a revolutionary stem cell treatment that seems to work perfectly... but it also leaves her with strange cravings and hallucinations, and her body appears to start going through disturbing changes... I like David Cronenberg and I like the Soska Sisters, so I was very interested to see what they did with this remake. True to form, the Sisters take the film in a more feminist and female empowerment direction than the original (in Cronenberg's version, we know very little of Rose - she's little more than a prop to spread the disease, but here we follow her from the start and see her journey from victim to confident woman to... something that wouldn't have looked out of place on the set of The Thing), and the effects and body horror are turned up to 11 in this remake... but it feels like the Sisters don't have quite enough confidence in their film to let it tell the story on its own, so they have to have some really awkward exposition scenes. The one that stands out the most to me is their version of the Santa scene, where an infected man in a Santa suit staggers into the hospital and is promptly shot by cops, while the doctor screams at them that, "he was looking for help!". That scene loses a lot of its impact without a line full of children watching Santa getting shot up. This film also features CM Punk, AJ Lee and a character called "Brad" Hart, for the wrestling fans. 31. Battle of the Damned (2013)  SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #7: Monster Mash-up - Watch a horror film that you haven't seen that features two different monsters. (Zombies and Robots) After a viral outbreak in Asia turns the population of a city into ravening zombie-like creatures, a mercenary is sent in to recover the daughter of a CEO who's trapped in the city before it is destroyed. This movie stars Dolph Lundgren. Playing a character called Max Gatling. Who seems determined to take on half of infected Singapore with just his bare hands and a combat knife. At one point he rescues the girl he's been sent in to find by pulling up on a motorcycle and telling her to climb on... and the girl has a hairstyle that makes her look worryingly like a young Edward Furlong. The rest of the cast of characters are also peak action cannon fodder - the "leader" of the group of survivors who inevitably betrays them at a key moment; an ethnic (Chinese) warrior destined to have a badass death; his tough girlfriend... And just when you think this film can't get any more ridiculously action movie, a bunch of robots arrive to knock seven bells out of the infected side-by-side with Dolph. There's even a robot dog. Don't get me wrong, this movie's not great. But it's entertaining for its absurdity. New: (24); Jacob's Ladder (1990); Dead Ringers (1988); Prom Night (1980); Exists (2014); Cure (1997); Ravenous (2017); Alucarda (1977); Who Can Kill A Child? (1976); The Seventh Curse (1986); God Told Me To (1976); Blacula (1972); The House That Jack Built (2018); Viy (1967); Mystics in Bali (1981); Eyes Without A Face (1960); Killer Condom (1996); Next of Kin (1982); This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse (1967); Satan's Slave/Pengabdi Setan (1980); Velvet Buzzsaw (2019); Cemetary of Terror (1985); End of the Wicked (1999); Rabid (2019); Battle of the Damned (2013) Rewatched: (7); Exorcist III (1990); Halloween (2018); Dead Snow (2009); What We Do In The Shadows (2014); Zombie/Zombi 2/Zombie Flesh Eaters (1979); Deep Red/Profundo Rosso (1976); Rabies (2010) Letterboxd list
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 14:37
|
|
|
SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #6: SOMETIMES THEY COME BACK Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers(The Producer's Cut) This version of Halloween 6 is considered the alternate cut because of a massive mistake made by the studio after a test screening of the film. The wikipedia entry describes the test audience as mostly "14 year old boys", and so they did not react well to the last 20 minutes or so of the movie. We can debate all day about which ending is better, but the tragic mistake here for me is that the decision to change it cut half of what was already a fairly limited final performance from Donald Pleasence. This guy was the core of the franchise, he passes away during post production, and you decide to cut half his screentime in favor of reshooting the ending? Sorry, I just can't support that regardless of what the test audience was saying. There are some minor differences leading up to the finale(The Man in Black shows up a few more times). But really what this comes down to is that the Producer's Cut has an(admittedly goofy)ending that features Loomis and at least attempts to pay off the Cult of the Thorn/druid thing in a definitive way. It also gives Tommy an ending that actually feels relevant to the movie you just watched, as opposed to having him simply beat Michael to death with a pipe. Personally, I like it. I enjoy creepy cults and Samhain. And I think by this point, Michael has so obviously become an inhuman monster that I don't have an issue giving him a more supernatural backstory. I'm not one of those people will allow a sequel to effect the way I view the original. I don't own either cut of Halloween 6, but given the choice I'd buy this one over the theatrical. It's truer to what came before it(remember, all this was set up in Halloween 5), and it doesn't spit in the face of Pleasence's contributions the way the theatrical cut did. Watched: 1. Child's Play(1988) 2. Child's Play(2019) 3. VHS: Viral 4. Tales From the Crypt 5. (SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #1)Viy 6. House of Frankenstein 7. Van Helsing 8. The Shining 9. Salem's Lot 10. Poltergeist 2: The Other Side 11. Pumpkinhead 2: Blood Wings 12. The Ravenous 13. Alucarda 14. Horror of Dracula 15. Dracula: Prince of Darkness 16. Midsommar 17. Candyman 18. Hellraiser 19. An American Werewolf in London 20. Bad Moon 21. Prince of Darkness 22. The Fog 23. (SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #2)House of 1000 Corpses 24. The Devil's Rejects 25. 3 From Hell 26. (SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #4)Crawl 27. (SAMHAIN CHALLENGE# 3) Ganja & Hess 28. Aenigma 29. City of the Living Dead 30. Halloween 31. Halloween II 32. Halloween III 33. Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers 34. Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers 35. (SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #6)Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers(Producer's Cut)
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 15:13
|
|
|
SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #5 - Tourist Trap - Mongolia! 30. The Doll (2017) - New To Me #14  So I thought this challenge would be difficult. I’ve seen movies from all over, like most of us. But as folks were posting about the Nigerian scene, I thought I’d dig a bit further, and using LBD to do the looking made that very easy! There are 2! Horror movies made in Mongolia according to LBD (IMDB shows three, so *shrug*) and Amazon has some of them streaming! Score! This movie was surprisingly competent. Not *great*, mind you, but decent enough to watch. It’s a Monkey’s Paw/Djinn, with a bit of rape revenge thrown in, kind of story, where a spook-a-doodle doll feeds on a blood offering and grants wishes, that eventually start going sidewise. The subtitles weren’t fantastic translations, but the acting was decent, the script was ok even if it did try to throw a few different things against the wall. The effects, where they existed, were not super bad. All in all, a decent watch and fantastic for there only being two horror movies produced in Mongolia (out of 50 total!). 31. The Hitch-Hiker (1953) - New To Me #15  31 movies! But I’m not done - I’ll need to keep going to fulfill both this challenge and the Hooptober challenge. This one counts towards Hooptober. I included this because LBD does list horror as a genre tag, although it is right on the edge. A hitch-hiker holds two guys hostage to drive him to Mexico, all the while telling them they are dead as soon as they outlive their usefulness. It was intense, gripping, and well done. Every scene showcased something and ramped up the tensions. I might rewatch this in Noirvember, since it also straddles that line. Movies So Far - 31: Rewatches: 9 - Deep Red, One Cut Of The Dead, The Endless, Train To Busan, TCM 2, Zombi 2, Halloween 3, The Witch, Jason X New To Me: 15 - Dolls, Borderlands, Child’s Play (2019), Memory: Origins Of Alien, Who Can Kill A Child?, The Seventh Curse, Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde, Hell House LLC 2, The Red Queen Kills Seven Times, Bones, Hobo With A Shotgun, Without Name, The Doll, The Hitch-Hiker Finally Watching Owned Movies: 7 - Werewolf Of London, She-Wolf Of London, Isle Of The Snake People, Creature From The Black Lagoon, Revenge Of The Creature, Paranormal Activity, Eyes Without A Face
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 15:18
|
|
|
 33. Dog Soldiers (2002) Dir: Neil Marshall (Netflix DVD) Another one I've been waiting to watch for years, in part because of how much I took to The Descent when it first came out. Very clear to see that it's a film that spent the majority of its (small) budget on the creature suits, which rip. The film cuts around a lot of the gore as a result, which is understandable but still somewhat annoying. Unfortunately, the editing and cinematography in this film feels incredibly of it's time. Lots of shaky shots/weird fades that probably felt visceral back in the day, but are pretty sloppy now. I get the feeling I probably would have dug this film a whole lot more if I had seen it in the late 2000s or something. Still, you could do a whole lot worse with werewolf movies. 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) 29. Stay Alive 30. Hobgoblins 31. Knife + Heart 32. Rats: Night of Terror 33. Dog Soldiers
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 15:35
|
|
|
Franchescanado posted:I've decided that I'm gonna change it up and post a Super Samhain challenge every day, so everyone has more time to work on them rather than anxiously scramble during the last days of Spooky Season. The first movie I watched for this year's challenge was Dial Code Santa Claus/3615 code Père Noël/Deadly Games and it's awesome I'd definitely recommend checking it out
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 15:58
|
|
|
#25) Coraline (2009) I've seen this a couple times now and it's still just as good of a movie. It's not the kind of movie I tend to want to sit down and watch on a whim, but since it was on, I watched it, and of course I enjoyed it. The characters are charming, the situation is downright chilling sometimes, and the art and voice acting are wonderful. 3/5
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 16:00
|
|
|
Franchescanado posted:
Just wondering if something like 3 From Hell, which has a brief Halloween scene before a climax taking place during a Day of the Dead celebration, would count for this.
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 16:01
|
|
|
Dr. Puppykicker posted:Just wondering if something like 3 From Hell, which has a brief Halloween scene before a climax taking place during a Day of the Dead celebration, would count for this. Personally I'd vote yes here, because the Day of the Dead stuff is really what stands out as memorable to me.
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 16:02
|
|
|
But it says a holiday that isn't Halloween, Samhain, All Hallow's Eve, etc.? Or is the question whether Day of the Dead falls into the "etc." or Halloween, etc.? (I'd say it does)
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 16:05
|
|
|
COOL CORN posted:But it says a holiday that isn't Halloween, Samhain, All Hallow's Eve, etc.? Yea the issue is whether the short bit that takes place on Halloween disqualifies the movie, or if it still qualified because the second half takes place during the Day of the Dead.
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 16:09
|
|
|
Basebf555 posted:Yea the issue is whether the short bit that takes place on Halloween disqualifies the movie, or if it still qualified because the second half takes place during the Day of the Dead. Sure, that makes sense. I guess my question is, even if the whole movie took place during Day of the Dead, is that too Halloween-adjacent to qualify for the challenge. Or maybe I'm just being a pedantic rear end 
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 16:17
|
|
|
The Phantom Carriage is a genuinely great film that inspired Kubrick and Bergman AND it's a stealth New Years movie, so if anyone's looking to sate their New Years horror fix, it's an easy recommend.
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 16:17
|
|
|
Basebf555 posted:Yea the issue is whether the short bit that takes place on Halloween disqualifies the movie, or if it still qualified because the second half takes place during the Day of the Dead. Disqualified for it. Any Halloween-adjacent holiday, including Dia De Los Muertos, is a no-go.
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 16:19
|
|
|
#18: House of 1000 Corpses (2003) Watched on Tubi Rob Zombie does Hellbilly TCM, and the result is... kind of a fun mess? It's like he took a script aggregate of all the 'weird family' horror flicks, ran them through a wood-chipper, then slapped on some grind house racing stripes. I have a lot of fun during a good portion of H1KC, but there are more than a few bits that are just clunkers. It's somewhat oddly paced, and after a wonderful Sid Haig opening, he sadly vacates for most of the rest of the picture. /5#19: Final Prayer/The Borderlands (2013) Watched on Prime This movie amuses the hell out of me. I feel invested in the interactions between our two leads, suitable spookiness simmers throughout most of its lean running time, all building to a finale that is simultaneously scary and goofy. Quick and easy without taking itself overly serious, I really enjoy this and recommend it. You might not love it, but there's a lot to like, particularly the novel ending. .5/5#20: Lake Mungo (2008) Watched on DVD A pretty fantastic film, Lake Mungo is a documentary style horror flick about the death of a teen girl, ghostly happenings following her death, and the emotional fallout among her family and the greater community. There's just a pervasive melancholy over the whole film that creates such a superb atmosphere. For a movie that makes a point of examining the artifice within its own subject matter, nothing about the family or emotions feels artificial. Their grief, hope, dread, anger, all of it rings true and keeps me so engaged with the movie. It swaps around a variety of filming techniques to match the proceedings, and not only does it look good throughout, but a lot of effort is made to avoid bouncy, unpleasant found-footage moments, which is appreciated. Haunting ambiance, genuine emotion, in and out in under an hour and a half? Lake Mungo is well-crafted and supremely effective. .5/5#21: High Tension (2003) Watched on Prime Alexandre Aja's second film, first horror outing, is nasty, brutish, and rather ridiculous. It was my second time seeing it, first for my wife, and I think a good portion of your enjoyment will depend on how novel the finale lands for you. I remember finding it quite neat, but on rewatch just found it lacking, while she still enjoyed it. I wish there was another pass on the script to make the killer a bit more engaging rather than a focus on maximizing the carnage, at times excellent carnage though it may be. Watch the movie in the original French, the dubbing is quite poor imo. /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 18. House of 1000 Corpses 19. Final Prayer/The Borderlands 20. Lake Mungo 21. High Tension
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 16:22
|
|
|
Franchescanado posted:Disqualified for it. Any Halloween-adjacent holiday, including Dia De Los Muertos, is a no-go. Actually that didn't even enter my mind, that fact that Day of the Dead is basically Halloween by a different name. Makes sense then to disqualify it. Anyway, a ton of people are watching 3 From Hell regardless so probably good encourage some other options.
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 16:23
|
|
|
 97) Friday the 13th Part III - 1982 - DVD Saw this at the show too. I still remember the audience ready to go after the dude who kept opening the theater doors letting the light in on the screen. The 3D was of variable quality. It was really good on the minor stuff like the laundry on the clothesline flapping, but the stuff going straight at the camera was a bit janky. It's pretty standard to the formula for a Friday the 13th film. It was originally going to pick up with Ginny prepping to track down Jason and her confrontation with him, but Amy Steel declined reprising the role. This is also the one where Jason adopts the trademarked hockey mask. While some insist in the flashbacks that Jason intended to rape Chris when she encountered him, I have to disagree. Jason's shown no indication of anything beyond devotion to his mother and killing people around Crystal Lake. Overall, I liked it. It was novelized twice. I've got the second one that was published by Signet and need to find the other by Avallone.  98) Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter - 1984 - DVD At the time this one was supposed to legitimately be the last Friday film. Once the box office numbers came in, that put the kibosh on that. This one's notorious for how rough it was on the actors, such as having to perform their own stunts which could be dangerous. One actress developed hypothermia from being submerged in the lake for too long. Corey Feldman was reported being a brat on set, but considering how lovely the director was to people, it's understandable. Overall, it was an interesting entry to the franchise with the possibility of Tommy becoming the new Jason.  99) Friday the 13th: A New Beginning - 1985 - DVD This was an interesting entry to the franchise. Picking up with Tommy arriving at a halfway house to prepare him to return to society after his institutionalization following the events of the last film, it's only a matter of time before people start turning up dead. The plan with this film was to set up Tommy becoming the new 'Jason'.I remember the twist in this one being fairly divisive at the time whether it was 'truly a Friday the 13th film' or not. Now it's a common option for a twist in slasher films and it's rare to find anyone kvetching whether this one's a true Friday the 13th film anymore. Critics slammed this one to as an unimaginative slasher to no horror fan's surprise. I like it as it does attempt to show the aftermath of surviving a slasher.
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 16:25
|
|
|
 The Lighthouse A dark, hilarious, visceral, fun, bizarre, beautiful fever dream. I could've watched it go on another for another two hours, or more, perhaps a lifetime, a lifetime of sea-spray whipping off the rocks and stinging at my face, an endless void of intoxicated reverie and madness at the end of the world, the wind gnawing through the damp, sodden threads of my woolen sweater, piercing my skin and muscles to my very bones, encrusting my soul with salt and barnacles, pulling me ever closer to the glistening cliffs, beckoning me into the maw of the sea's soothing, icy embrace... ...wait, where was I? Oh, yes. This movie was very, very, very good. I would call it a "perfect film" by my personal definition. It just is, an idealized version of itself, singular and fully-realized. Dafoe is just world-class here, Pattinson is terrific as well. I want to dress like those two men for the rest of my days. And also find a nice rock at the edge of the world, with an, etherial, captivating, riveting, stimulating light, a mother pulling me back to her luminous womb... Rating: 10/10 Creepshow: 10/10, Beetlejuice: 10/10 (rewatch), The Lighthouse: 10/10, Sleepy Hollow: 10/10 (rewatch), Ghoulies II: 9/10, Hobo with a Shotgun: 9/10, Parasite: 9/10, Demons: 9/10, The Fog: 8/10, Critters 2: 8/10, Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter: 8/10, Demons II: 7/10, Ghoulies: 6.5/10, Slugs: 6/10, The Changeling: 4/10, Critters: 2/10 feedmyleg fucked around with this message at 17:26 on Oct 22, 2019 |
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 17:23
|
|
|
12. Eli What I expected/wanted: A modest but earnest attempt at "Jacob's Ladder, but with a kid battling a terminal illness". What I got: Nothing like that. A mostly boring and predictable beginning until the very end, which even the final twist couldn't save. None of the plot actually made sense and I don't even think there was any clever foreshadowing.
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 17:45
|
|
|
Franchescanado posted:SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #6: Sometimes They Come Back  #28. Thirteen Ghosts (2001) (AMC on YouTube TV) After wealthy ghost hunter Cyrus Kriticos dies during his latest ghost catching expedition, he leaves his fantastical glass house to his nephew Arthur and his family. When Arthur and his family arrive at Cyrus' house, they discover it is actually a machine with a sinister purpose... and the house is full of 12 vengeful ghosts. Tony Shaloub stars in "Mr. Monk and the Haunted House." So when my baby sister was little, she used to love watching the original 13 Ghosts all the time, especially when eating lunch. I don't know why, but there was something about beanie-weenies and that particular old black-and-white horror movie that she loved. So, I figured I'd watch the remake for SS Challenge #6 in her honor. I don't know why I slept on this movie for so long. It's ridiculous and fun and gloriously over-the-top cheesy. The premise is dumb and the movie knows it, but it also knows it's just a pretense for random jump scares and loving renditions of spinning gears and rotating glass floors. (Seriously, this movie is worth watching from a set design perspective alone - I love that nonsense glass house which has the Event Horizon engine hanging out in it for no real reason.) Oh, and for letting Matthew Lillard just run around and mug for the camera and flop around like a dying fish. I can respect a movie that knows that sometimes dwelling on a ridiculous premise can be purely an avenue towards letting an actor go off the deep end or throwing some other special effect at the screen. Sidenote, I also love that the big twist is undone purely by a combination of one, the evil uncle forgetting that his nephew was a math teacher and thus would be able to count the ghosts and two, everyone forgetting about the stereotypical black lady best friend/babysitter character, so she could show up and shut everything down. Yes, the movie is dumb and overproduced, and it knows it, but it's also a fun carnival ride of a movie, and it knows that too. Recommended.  /5Watched so far: The Curse of Frankenstein, Villains, Horror of Dracula, You're Next, House on Haunted Hill (1959), Halloween 4, Army of Darkness, A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), The Fly (1986), Joker, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Beyond the Gates, The First Purge, Rodan, Killer Klowns from Outer Space, Halloween II (1981), The Addams Family (2019), The Mummy (1932), Jason X, It Stains the Sands Red, The Invisible Man (1933), Zombieland, Terrified, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3, Chopping Mall, Halloween 6, Thirteen Ghosts (2001)
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 17:56
|
|
|
Question for the Monster Mash-Up challenge regarding Ghostbusters (or any other franchise relevant to the question): Would the distinct variety of ghost designs/abilities qualify them for the challenge, or would they fall under a single blanket designation as ghosts? And if the latter, are there any other monsters in Ghostbusters 2 that would qualify it?
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 18:06
|
|
|
I think the bigger question is, have you really not ever seen Ghostbusters?
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 18:16
|
|
|
Trash Boat posted:Question for the Monster Mash-Up challenge regarding Ghostbusters (or any other franchise relevant to the question): Would the distinct variety of ghost designs/abilities qualify them for the challenge, or would they fall under a single blanket designation as ghosts? And if the latter, are there any other monsters in Ghostbusters 2 that would qualify it? The only thing I think that might qualify as a non-ghost is Gozer, but even that is debatable. Viggo is definitely a ghost, just a particularly powerful one. Probably doesn't work.
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 18:18
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 9, 2024 21:56 |
|
|
T3hRen3gade posted:I think the bigger question is, have you really not ever seen Ghostbusters? Of course I have, multiple times. Just never watched 2 for whatever reason and was planning to rectify that this year.
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 18:22
|
|