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39. Critters (1982) - Rewatch #13 For my friend’s birthday on Saturday he had chose Brightburn and Critters Attack! as the two movies to watch, but his wife hadn’t seen the original Critters. So that she would know what was going on, very important in a plot-centric series like Critters, we watched the original in the afternoon. The bounty hunters continue to be the best part of the series. 40. Brightburn (2019) - Owned #9  So close. There’s potential here, and I think with a better script this might have gotten there. When the kid is doing his thing, it’s great - you get an overwhelming sense of menace, kinda like the feeling you get when reading It’s A Good Life. But the writing doesn’t quite get there - like any moment where the parents try to bond with their alien forest baby just don’t land as authentic to me. Still, I’m glad I watched it, it was a good change of pace from the usual fare. 41. Critters Attack! (2019) - New To Me #19  Unlike this movie. This was at a Halloween/birthday party, so I wasn’t paying the most attention due to a lot of riffing happening, but I’m 100% certain the riffing was better than what I *was* seeing in this movie. It was expected, so I’m not even disappointed, and the whole experience was a great bunch of friends watching terrible movies together, so I have no complaints. Don’t rent this one on your own, though.
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Oct 28, 2019 18:26
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 #157) Tales from the Crypt (1972) Tubi. Might have just been added to their line-up? I was already wearing a TftC shirt, so this seemed like a natural pick. A catacombs tour group are forcibly told a series of tales, in which bad people get comeuppance. Any resemblance between said people and the tour group's members is purely coincidental. I liked this quite a bit. Part of that might have been from how favorably it compared to The House that Dripped Blood, which I'd watched earlier this month, but even without that contrast, this would have been a cool, gruesome batch of stories. The acting is good, the sets are tasty, and a good sense of who the main characters are as people (beyond their immediate circumstances) is communicated in each segment. Loved that lake of fire shot in the finish. A solid anthology, though I wish they'd pick a more high-energy segment to go in last place.  rating: 7/10"All in good time."
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Oct 28, 2019 18:59
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#26: The Lighthouse (2019) Watched in theaters This movie is an ordeal in very good ways. The craft involved is remarkable, it's not an aping of black and white film making so much as a synthesis of those conventions paired with modern techniques. The cramped aspect ratio hits you from the get go, it's a lovely detail that reinforces what the cinematography and performances create. Everyone in the film is trapped, not just the main duo, but also the figures from the duos past and the individual on the shore (and for that matter, the audience at times; this is a movie that intentionally dwells in tedium). Efforts to break this stasis and the theme of unattainable forbidden knowledge are the core of the movie, played to the hilt by Dafoe and Pattinson. Both turn in performances that mark among the best in their careers, Dafoe in particular astounds. The only loss of score may be alleviated with a rewatch and may have been due to lack of sleep, but there were small bits in the middle that felt just as purgatorial to me as it did the characters, and while I enjoy films that force us to feel unpleasant things, near-boredom is not wholly enjoyable. .5/5#27: The VVitch (2015) Watched on Netflix Back to back Eggers! I adore The Witch, and for a movie I've watched a half-dozen times in a a few short years, it still doesn't fail to inspire dread, apprehension, disgust, horror, and immense satisfaction. ATJ is an immense talent and Thomasin is one of my favorite and most admired horror protags, she has integrity but stays flexible, she acquits herself well in horror situations while still feeling human, and importantly, she gets hers; meek and mild she is not. The commitment to the period is unique and helps this stand out, the cinematography and sound design all build the disquieting atmosphere that The Witch dwells in. This is a must for all lovers of horror, but it's also just an immensely capable movie, regardless of genres. /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 22. Castle Freak 23. Suspiria 24. Suspiria 25. Chopping Mall 26. The Lighthouse 27. The VVitch
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Oct 28, 2019 19:37
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  SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #9: HACKERS#27 Pulse 2001 Tubi I don’t watch a ton of J-Horror, but I’ve consistently seen this one recommended here and elsewhere. The summary of this movie billed it as “a website allows people to communicate with the dead,” which sort of obliquely describes part of this movie’s plot, but really feels inaccurate. It’s not surprising that a summary would fail to capture this film’s story, for a couple of reasons. It’s an unusual conceit, unlike anything I’ve seen before, it has an atypical narrative structure, and it’s delivered in a meandering, dreamlike fashion that can at times make it hard to ascertain exactly what is going on. Some of that is necessary, and intrinsic to the kind of story this is. Pulse is a movie that posits (or at least, a character suggests this notion, which is never confirmed in the movie but is the only explanation offered,) that the dimension where ghosts exist has filled to capacity, causing ghosts to spill over onto the physical plane. Those ghosts, wanting to stem the overcrowding of their world, have begun trying to lead people into a state of isolation and alienation so extreme that they enter a third state of being, between life and death, where they simply cease to be. Very little is explained in this movie. It’s unclear if the characters all exist in the same world, or if their increasing isolation has sent them into their own place where they can’t see other people. It’s not always clear which characters are alive or are apparitions or after-images. Even before anything supernatural has begun, the characters in this movie behave in a flat, somnambulant way that implies that this process of annihilation-by-detachment has started long before the characters realize. This movie lives in imagery, and it’s rich with chilling and evocative scenes. It lulls you into a contemplative state with its slow pace and quiet soundscape, and this dreamy, morose vision just washes over you. Sometimes this works against it, though. I had to look up a plot summary of this picture halfway through to make sure that I hadn’t missed something major. It would’ve helped to clarify some things about the world and structure of the movie, starting out. By presenting all these disparate elements (many of which never really come together coherently,) and in an unusual paired two-narrative structure, the movie sets you up to be puzzling out a mystery that will ultimately frustrate you. One weird thing that seems like it should’ve been an easy fix? It’s unclear until over halfway through the movie what the A-plot protagonists are actually doing. They hang out on a rooftop garden, and begin the movie by talking about a data disk that they urgently need, the retrieval of which sets the plot in motion. This makes it seem like they’re involved in plant research, or something? And it makes it seem like there’s a connection between their story and the B-plot, which involves a computer scientist and a research project. But in fact, the A-plot characters are just clerks at a plant store, and the narratives are not explicitly related, save for being two experiences of this same ghost-crisis. The “website” aspect of the movie never totally makes sense, either. These sorts of issues are problematic because they can take you out of the movie. But when you’ve accepted that answers aren’t necessarily coming, you’ll be rewarded with an eerie, moody experience with engaging visuals, which is not only doing something really unique, but also has a lot of heart, and offers a surprisingly insightful glimpse of the internet for a horror movie from 2001. 4/5  SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #10: NAVEL GAZING#28 The 7th Curse 1986 Prime So that critic that said that Van Helsing is for dick-brained gamer freaks or what ever? He should check this poo poo out. This movie starts with an action scene that seems almost as if it was ripped from an entirely different movie, before jumping to two guys in a townhouse discussing how they have to remain celibate due to “the blood curse”. This picture moves at a hundred miles an hour. Blink and you’ll miss something, but it won’t really matter because the plot here is almost total nonsense anyhow. And it whips rear end. This movie is like Holy Flame of the Martial World meets Indiana Jones. The villain is a skeleton puppet who transforms into one of the monsters from Alien. The characters make a big deal about needing spell reagents to seal him away and then they just blast his rear end with an RPG anyways. I’ve seen a few of these big spectacle, high fantasy Chinese movies now and they never fail to make me grin like an idiot. 4/5
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Oct 28, 2019 20:01
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42. Howling VI (1991) - New To Me #20 I needed to start finding some movies to check off Hooptober challenges, so landed on this one for the 6th movie in a franchise. I’ve only ever seen Howling 1, but I suspect it isn’t a real cohesive series? This felt very much like a singular movie. A curiosity circus show catches a werewolf, but the werewolf was after the owner of the curiosity show, who happens to be a vampire. Low budget, but reasonably fun. The vampire is hamming it up appropriately, the sheriff is as bumbling as he needs to be, etc. The only thing is there were quite a few weird decisions on the sheriff’s part to carry the plot forward, but if you assume maybe there’s something in the water in this town, it works. SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #8 - Happy Holidays 43. Uncle Sam (1996) - New To Me #21  Someone on these very forums mentioned this as a perfect movie for this challenge, and I couldn’t agree more - it has a holiday in it and is a horror movie. Turns out, it’s actually a pretty fun horror movie! Written by Larry Cohen, it involves a Gulf War vet coming back from the dead. Turns out he was/is an rear end in a top hat and starts killing people during the 4th of July celebration in the small town he’s from. At first it appears that he’s only killing people who disrespect the country, then he just starts killing anyone he can. Some super stupid shenanigans happen, but it works in a movie like this. Lots of fun. 44. Extra Terrestrial Visitors (aka Pod People, 1983) - New To Me #22  God help me, I watched this without the help of the bots. A mashup of ET and random forest monster movies, this is *not* good in any way. There’s an inexplicable stop-motion every-day-objects-dancing scene right in the middle complete with goofy music. That may be the best part of the movie. The monster killing people leaves a strange star design on their forehead… just because? Even if gravity is what kills them? “Impassable roads” that look like a mild winter day in Michigan? This is not a good movie and I’m glad I never have to watch it again. On LBD, Hobgoblins actually scored lower as an 80s horror movie, and having watched that just a few months ago, I think this is actually worse. Movies So Far - 44: Rewatches: 13 - Deep Red, One Cut Of The Dead, The Endless, Train To Busan, TCM 2, Zombi 2, Halloween 3, The Witch, Jason X, Piranha, The Ritual, As Above So Below, Critters New To Me: 22 - 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, Hatchet 2, Sadako vs. Kayako, Phantom Of The Paradise, Brightburn, Critters Attack!, Howling VI, Uncle Sam, Extra Terrestrial Visitors Finally Watching Owned Movies: 9 - 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, Phantom Of The Opera, Brightburn Challenges Filled: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8
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Oct 28, 2019 20:08
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 #158) Late Fee (2009) Tubi. A couple visit a video store to rent some horror for Halloween night. After agreeing to the late fee policy without reading it, and promising to have the rentals back before midnight, they head home with two DVDs and watch them, making this an anthology. Shamelessly, people in the rental store recommend Wicked Lake and Flesh for the Beast. Warning bells. At least the rental store is dressed up nicely; there's even a cardboard Shaw Brothers logo stuck in the kung fu section. The first segment is pretty much a twist on a segment from Creepshow 3 (but with more tentacles) that takes forever to get going. The second is a woman getting arrest by a Hell-cop and sent to Hell-court, then sentenced to Hell-jail. This sucked. I felt bad for the actors, most of whom seemed to be putting in a decent effort. The sets were OK, but the shooting pulled everything down. It's amateurish, sure, but it also looks washed-out, and not in a way that puts it to any distinct aesthetic service. I'd rank this slightly below Creepshow 3, on reflection. At least that had a couple of jokes that landed. rating: 3/10"Hardcore horror, huh? Funny, you don't look like you can handle hardcore horror."
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Oct 28, 2019 20:36
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 16. One Cut of the Dead Another movie I never heard of before starting this challenge. Got to see this one on the big screen and holy crap it was awesome. This was so much fun and I felt like I was truly watching something fresh. I make a point of not rewatching movies because I feel that there are still so many amazing films I haven’t seen yet. This movie is one of those rare exceptions where I could see myself gladly sitting down to watch it again. I’m not the biggest movie buff, so I’ve never seen a movie done in one shot before. I loved how the script allowed the movie to cover up for mistakes, like the camera man falling down while running through the field, by just explaining it away during its second half. Harumi’s “POM!” as she was escaping everyone trying to hold her back had me laughing out loud. It was a perfect mix of humor, horror, and clever movie making. 5/5
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Oct 28, 2019 21:25
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28: Not a Creature was Stirring Challenge 8: Holidays I was going to just watch Holidays but then I spotted this this morning and figured I'd go for one nobody had mentioned. It was ok, a Christmas themed anthology with the framing device being a couple on an awkward first date. It has kind of the opposite problem that most anthologies do in that the shorts all feel like they need a bit more time; there are some cool concepts there that I wouldn't have minded seeing expanded (which the exception of the Scrooge bit as it's played fairly straight). Not great and definitely feels like an indie/student film in a lot of places (I actually thought it was Canadian at first as it has that feel), but worth a look if you've seen all the other Christmas horrors. 29: V/H/S: Viral ABCs: V Challenge 12: Cavalcade of Creepiness I had this on while I was cleaning up so I was only half paying attention, but I liked it. Feels like it has a budget and only having 3 shorts let it find a good balance between letting the stories breathe and letting them overstay their welcome. Nothing as good as the cult thing in 2 but nothing dire, if you liked the first two you'll like this one. Opopanax fucked around with this message at 14:57 on Oct 29, 2019 |
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Oct 28, 2019 22:07
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28. SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #10: Navel Gazing - Mansion of the Ghost Cat/Black Cat Mansion (1958), recommended by Random Stranger My second Nakagawa, and while it's much less visually arresting than Kaidan it does have a coherent story and characters. I'm not sure how I feel about that trade, but probably net positive if I'd had a higher quality copy of this - the mansion is still a pretty cool set. The story here feels more clearly Japanese than Kaidan's, as while we've still got a terrible person doing terrible things to trigger ghost vengeance it happens via cat spirit this time. Which has me clearly hitting the limits of my Japanese ghost knowledge, because I have no idea whether we're dealing with any actual ghosts or whether it's all bakeneko powers, but I suppose it doesn't matter - this is still clearly a ghost story and most of the ghosty vengeance happens just like in Kaidan via hallucination-induced murder. There's probably some scholarly work out there on this topic; I don't think it's unique to Japanese stories, but it does seem to be a much more common and consistent motif there. An excuse for killing, a means of explaining away ghosts as acute psychosis, something about addictive qualities of murder, something else entirely? Digging into it will go on my to-do list somewhere between watching Exorcist III and building a rocket but if anyone's got a relevant link handy I'd appreciate it. Anyway, pretty cool movie and I really appreciate Nakagawa's pacing - none of his ghosts spend half an hour flitting around in the background and shifting furniture. When it's revenge time, they get right to business. 29. SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #8: Happy Holidays! - Maniac Cop (1988), set on St. Patrick's Day I remember passing over this one as a kid because why is it even in the horror section? Just sounds like any other random cop movie. Possibly this was informed by what my parents told me about cops, which was more or less "they carry guns and can legally murder you, so I tend to be polite" and I have slowly realized this is maybe not what everyone heard growing up. With an adult perspective, I can appreciate that it's in the horror section because it features fantastical elements like maybe-zombies and the police force considering it a problem when someone dressed as an officer is witnessed murdering people. It's a fun ride and a more carefully considered treatment of the subject than I would have expected from the title, but that's a lot less surprising when you see the list of people involved and it still ends up feeling pretty toothless by modern standards. I think what I appreciated most is that, even though Larry Cohen produced rather than directing, parts of it look just like a Larry Cohen movie - this is definitely the New York he always loved filming. For like half a dozen scenes, at least, which is enough to get me thinking about who cool Q and God Told Me To are. There were obviously some budget or scheduling issues, though; the finale is supposed to take place during the St. Patrick's Day parade, but none of the actual cast ever get a chance to interact with a parade. Feels like a terrible missed opportunity.
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Oct 28, 2019 22:10
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 #159) Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968) Could have been called Dr. Acula & The Women. Partner wanted something "less depressing" after Late Fee, so I went with something I knew would be professionally crafted and acted. Drac is back, again! Big surprise that the strategy of 'Ha ha, you can't cross running water! Whelp, that's our whole thing for defeating you,' didn't work out well. Sauciness abounds, there's a romance sub-plot that isn't too tiresome, we get out of Dracula's castle as a home base, there's some very nice use of colors, and we get an atheist protagonist in the '60s (though the film's set in 1906). I didn't really care about the priest redemption arc, but that was basically the only flat note in the film for me. Just a fun romp, if predictable, and a nice pick-up after a round with some unenjoyable trash. I really liked how infuriated Lee played Dracula for most of this. rating: 7/10"The truth? Oh, what do you want with that?"
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Oct 28, 2019 22:19
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Weekend catch-up time. Passed my previous target, so just trying to run up the score and complete the challenges. Speaking of which...Franchescanado posted:SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #11: All Hail The King  #32. Pet Sematary (2019) (iTunes) The Creed family moves from Boston to rural Maine, next to a busy road and with a mysterious burial ground on their property. When the beloved family cat is run over, patriarch Louis and next door neighbor Judd bury it in the hidden burial ground, only for the cat to come back to life, changed and more sinister. And then daughter Ellie goes into the road... Was going to go see this when it was new, but my nephew had been born less than a month before hand. Now that he's been around for seven months or so... lol. The film looks fine and is acted well enough, but as an adaptation it's pretty terrible. The scary part of the original "Pet Sematary" story is tied into how precise King's plotting is, how much is based off of seeing the consequences of decisions made at one point in the story that the protagonist doesn't learn from and is doomed to repeat. The scary part of the 2019 movie is a scary kid whispering sinisterly and sometimes stabbing people, which is a lot less interesting. Even the implied threat of the ending, with the whole family coming back as an evil zombie family feels like a damp fart of an ending. I found myself laughing at this thing more often than feeling afraid or thrilled. Not recommended.  /5 #33. Insidious (Netflix) The Lambert family moves into a new house, and after spooky noises and instances begin to ramp up, son Dalton ends up falling into a coma. Despite moving, Dalton remains comatose and the spooky noises follow. Turns out Dalton is trapped in a psychic nether-realm by a demon, and father Josh needs to go in after him. I see Insidious as the filmic equivalent of a carnival haunted house - all loud, sudden noises and nonsense, no substance or true scares. There's a whole long drawn out middle to the movie that wants to be the next Poltergeist, while failing to offer the same heart or the same tension. Also, the whole thing boils down to Nite Owl running away from Darth Maul in an poorly lit warehouse. Dull, plodding and not at all scary. Avoid. /5 #34. Wounds (Hulu) Bartender Will witnesses a violent fight break out at his bar one night, where a regular gets viciously injured. Afterwards, he finds a lost phone, dropped by a group of college students, which ends up containing disturbing images. Strange things begin happening to Will and his girlfriend Carrie, as Will begins to suspect that supernatural forces are focusing on them. My aunt ended up picking this one because Armie Hammer is hot, and while he and the rest of the cast is fine, the script doesn't add up to all that much. There's a long stretch in the middle where the film alternates between trying to ape something like 8MM and being a fairly middling relationship drama, where Hammer tries to hook up with bar regular Zazie Beetz. The whole thing ends up culminating in a weird and weak psycho drama moment, where Hammer ends up screaming into his bar regular's facial wound and millions of cockroaches pour in, cockroaches being an ongoing symbol of the monster/metaphor for Will's oncroaching madness. Dull and plodding, the thing that jumps out at me is how much this movie relies on text messages and then said texts aren't really focused on or shot in large enough close ups to read. Not 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), The Wolf Man (1941), Brainscan, The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), Pet Sematary (2019), Insidious, Wounds
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Oct 28, 2019 22:25
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Darthemed posted:I really liked how infuriated Lee played Dracula for most of this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4doWCIfHqio
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Oct 28, 2019 22:27
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34. The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016) Watched On: Netflix SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #10: Watch a horror movie you haven't seen that you discovered from this year's challenge thread I never would have given this one a second look on the Netflix horror scroll if I hadn't heard from the Horror thread that it was surprisingly good. And indeed it was! It's a tight, well-acted supernatural medical thriller with solid performances and exquisite pacing. The movie establishes a mysterious premise to explore within its first ten minutes or so (massacre in home, body buried under house) and then spends the rest of the movie ratcheting up the tension. Furthermore, all of that tension is through our main characters discovering this strangeness throughout their normal examination routine. The duo of Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch do a lot of damned good work in this; there's never a scene that feels unnatural or expository and that kept me in the movie as the stakes got higher. They act like intelligent people would in a situation that is rapidly getting out of hand. It's a simple and incredibly well-made movie, both creatively and technically (the sound design in particular). Highly recommended.
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Oct 28, 2019 23:39
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quote:#24: Viy (SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE # 1) quote:#25: Hausu quote:#26: Train to Busan quote:#27: Baskin Watched: 27/31 1. The Fog, 2. Evil Bong, 3. The Silence, 4. Death Ship, 5. Cannibal Women and the Avocado Jungle of Death, 6. Scream, 7. Who Can Kill a Child, 8. The Seventh Curse, 9. Killer Condom, 10. Zombie, 11. Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island, 12. C.H.U.D., 13. Satan’s Slaves, 14. Scooby Doo and the Mask of the Blue Falcon, 15. Deep Red, 16. Cemetery of Terror, 17. End of the Wicked, 18. Scooby Doo: Camp Scare, 19. Carrie, 20. Mother!, 21. Gremlins 2: The New Batch, 22. Scream 2, 23. Invasion of the Body Snatchers, 24. Viy, 25. Hausu, 26. Train to Busan, 27. Baskin Super Samhain Challenges:
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Oct 29, 2019 00:33
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36.) Kolaiyuthir Kaalam 2019, first watch, Amazon Prime Shruti (Nayanthara) is the adopted heir to the sprawling Lawson estate in Sussex, recently arrived from India to claim her inheritance. Some extensive flashbacks provide our hagiography of her deceased parents, in case adopting a precious (deaf and mute) orphan didn't give you enough implied characterization. A masked killer begins picking off the staff on the estate one by one, eventually hunting the isolated Shruti. Kolaiyuthir Kaalam is typically discussed as a remake of Mike Flanagan's Hush, and you can clearly see the inspiration, but they're not that close together - in addition to a larger body count and a more traditional slasher, there's a family fortune at stake, so there's the traditional final act explanation of the sordid plot. I wish I could say this was a good time, but it's just kind of flabby. Hush isn't one of my all-time favorites, but a remake with a lot of dead weight can highlight the strengths of the film it's riffing on. There's less of an arc to Shruti's struggle with her assailant, and lengthy backstory and exposition detract from what ought to be a tense game of cat and mouse. Little things like choices in shooting and pacing undermine this movie, which is aiming for beats of hopelessness or grim humor as Shruti fails to outmaneuver the killer, but never gives those moments the attention and space they need to strike home. The climactic struggle is likewise not as well-foreshadowed and satisfying as in Hush - Shruti initially deafens her attacker by accident and doesn't really get to capitalize on the leveled playing field.
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Oct 29, 2019 00:37
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Dagon’s a fully Spanish film with an American director, right? Trying to hammer out my last two challenges with a Stuart Gordon double feature.
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Oct 29, 2019 00:52
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SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #13: MANIAC 43: Hellraiser III: Hell On Earth (1992) Dir: Anthony Wilcox (Hulu) I was really upset with this the first time I watched it because of how it turns the unique atmosphere of the first two into just another movie with a kill count, but over time, I've grown to love this dumb, dumb mess. From the Cenobite who shoots CDs to Doug Bradley loving devouring the scenery to the night club that tries way too hard, I find it really hard to hate this nowadays. There's always something that makes me laugh, which is more than I can say for pretty much every Hellraiser sequel to follow. Any film that has Pinhead playing practical jokes on a priest can't be all bad. 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 34. A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) 35. Neon Maniacs 36. Hagazussa 37. Aenigma 38. Cure 39. The Lawnmower Man 40. The Last Wave 41. Body Bags 42. Blood Rage 43. Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth Friends Are Evil fucked around with this message at 01:01 on Oct 29, 2019 |
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Oct 29, 2019 00:56
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Lumbermouth posted:Dagon’s a fully Spanish film with an American director, right? Trying to hammer out my last two challenges with a Stuart Gordon double feature. Seems so, from the wikipedia page at least. The production companies listed all seem to be Spanish and it was released in Spain theatrically first, so I think you're safe.
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Oct 29, 2019 00:57
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whoops wrong thread
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Oct 29, 2019 01:05
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# 29 ROSEMARY’S BABY (1968) No two ways about it, this is a horror classic. Here in California, high winds knocked my Internet access out so I dusted off an old DVD copy of a movie I haven’t seen in a decade. During this viewing, I found myself saying “Oh my god….” and “Oh no….” as Rosemary and her narcissistic husband fall prey to their neighbors' strategic moves to invade their lives. As an adult, this stuff hit me pretty hard because by now I’ve had experiences with people, especially the religious and elderly, who are sweethearts on the outside but have not-so-pure motives. Soon it becomes obvious they are collecting information on you and giving you gifts…. with strings attached, expectant of who-knows what kind of favors. Worst case scenario: you are manipulated to birth the Devil’s child. Poor Rosemary was stuck in a more pretentious, polite circle, and of course was a traditional woman of the 1960s, so she had limited power and could not tell her neighbors to gently caress off and tell her husband to quit being such a detached piece of poo poo and defend her. Indeed, Mr. Woodhouse is perhaps among the great cowards of cinematic history. Satanism is not the source of horror in Rosemary’s Baby. Hell, substitute Satanism with any cult or religion with the same bad people and you get the same thing. The horror is about witnessing someone be abused, vicariously experiencing their isolation, and seeing them not realize the truth until it’s too late… SCORE: 8.4 / 10 *** # 30 RE-ANIMATOR (1985) Franchescanado posted:SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #11: All Hail The King  In a rather unfortunate coincidence, here is another movie that involves women not being treated well, to put it mildly. This is partly why I have always been hesitant to watch Re-Animator, due to "that" infamous scene. But I am a bit tired of Stephen King, so I went with this loose H.P. Lovecraft adaptation. The truth about Re-Animator is that it is outrageous and gross, but also dryly funny and tongue-in-cheek. Tonally, it is somewhere in the ball park of Robocop (1987) and The Evil Dead (1981). Jokes such as a Talking Heads poster on the wall, then a talking severed head becoming a plot element later, are abundant. Not to mention the deadpan delivery of "Who is going to believe a talking head?" which made me laugh. Another truth about Re-Animator: it is a solid movie. The killer soundtrack pays homage (or blatantly rips off, depending on how you look at it) to Psycho (1960). The performances are fun - I bet a lot of fun went on during filming, at least I hope so! The villain, an ego-driven neurosurgeon, was a fun character that reminded me of a dad scaring his kids on Halloween - the actor definitely "got" it and fit the role perfectly. The climax is small-scale but utterly insane. No really, this movie is bonkers. This is an example of a Horror Thread Challenge getting me out of my comfort zone, and it paying off. SCORE: 7.3 / 10
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Oct 29, 2019 01:26
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Watch an H.P. Lovecraft adaptation you haven't seen
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 17. The Lawnmower Man Challenge 9 - Hackers - I've known about this movie forever from the segments in the Mind's Eye, but have never watched it because I knew it probably wouldn't be that good. And turns out that was pretty much right. It's definitely memorable for the CG scenes (about half of them actually hold up somewhat decently), but everything else is just kinda all over the place. The characters are very weak, they are mostly one-dimensional, and everybody is constantly making very questionable decisions. I think it's an important film as being a very early heavy CG cyberspace film, but it isn't good. 2.5/5 18. Demon Knight Challenge 3 - Horror Noire - I had seen a few scenes with the Collector, so knew this would be pretty fun, and turns out it was! The story was told extremely well, there was a lot going on, but it was introduced bit by bit and paced very well. The monsters were great, the characters were all well written, and Billy Zane brought so much life to the movie as the Collector. Definitely a fun pick, recommended. 3.5/5  Rewatch #4 - Cabin in the Woods Challenge 13 - Maniac - I wasn't really sure what to do here, but Cabin is probably as close as I have to a guilty pleasure horror movie (even though it's not too guilty to enjoy). It's a great deconstruction of horror movie setups, the writing is fun, the characters all work extremely well, it escalates pretty hilariously.  Rewatch #5 One Cut of the Dead - Still good the second time, definitely notice a lot of new things the second time around. Noticing all the little pauses and oddities is the biggest thing, I really appreciate the care put into it all, especially things like the camerawork getting shaky after the fall. This is a great movie, and there's really not much like it. 19 New Movies - 1: K-12 2: Gozu 3: The Wailing 4: Phantom of the Paradise 5: Viy (SC1) 6: One Cut of the Dead 7: Happiness of the Katakuris 8: Little Monsters 9: Shadow of the Vampire 10: Bone Tomahawk (SC2) 11: Ichi the Killer 12: The Witch 13: Hereditary 14: Tammy and the T-Rex (SC4) 15: The Purge: Anarchy (SC6) 16: Boa vs. Python (SC7) 17: Black Christmas (SC8) 18: Lawnmower Man (SC9) 19: Demon Knight (SC3) 5 Rewatches - Event Horizon, In the Mouth of Madness, The Cell, Cabin in the Woods (SC13), One Cut of the Dead
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Oct 29, 2019 01:31
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 32. The Lighthouse - Theater In the 1890s, a grizzled old lighthouse keeper takes a new assistant under his wing. 4 weeks on a secluded island with no wifi and no Playstation. In that kind of loneliness, be careful that your mind doesn't start to play tricks on you... This film was a lot to process. First things first, it's in black and white and it's beautiful. There are stunning shots every 5 seconds and the lighting is luscious and evocative. The performances are amazing, which is important because there's only two characters basically. Willem Dafoe was born to play a salty sea dog and I think Robert Pattinson holds his own as a shift younger man slowly falling under the spell of Dafoe's ol' chunk of coal. I also want to recognize the sound design and score. This is an incredibly sonic film and I think "rhythm" is huge theme. The rhythm of the sea, of the daily grind, of boredom, of masturbation, of the slowly creaking gears of a giant lighthouse lamp... This is a tough film to recommend because it absolutely will not work for plenty of of people giving it a fair shake. It's light on narrative, heavy on mood. It's obtuse and abstract instead of concrete. It's not a tight film, instead luxuriating and shivering in the cold, claustrophobic tension of the island. It reminds me a lot of A FIELD IN ENGLAND or maybe a teeny bit of ERASERHEAD or A GHOST STORY. It's weird, it's unfriendly, and it's in a way unsatisfying. But it's haunting. There are scenes that feel etched into my brain, sounds I can't get out of my head. There's almost nothing like it in theaters this year and Eggers has done something extremely fascinating. Right now, I'm feeling a strong 4 out of 5 sardonic seagulls but this has the potential to grow in esteem for me over time.
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Oct 29, 2019 01:35
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Alright! I've been bookmarking a bunch of movies on Youtube and I don't want to be keeping these things on my bookmarks bar until next year. So I'm gonna spend the next couple days just barreling through these fuckers. It's my Youtube Movie Marathon! #64: St. Francisville Experiment  A lot of found footage movies stumble on the most important part; making the movie feel real. But when St. Francisville Experiment tells me these characters are all film students, I absolutely believe it. Way too many cameras. Every character has a camera! And not in some "see the events from multiple points of view!" way, in a "I don't want to figure out how to shoot this with just one or two cameras" way. With a standard found footage horror movie, where there's only one camera moving around at any point, you know where you are because you're seeing from that one point of view. Even if the camera goes shaky or there's amateur camerawork or whatever. When there's four cameras, all of them used by amateurs and occasionally going shakey, and the movie switch between them willy nilly, it's a loving mess. It's established quite early that the house has power, and lights. So the character's refusal to turn on lights becomes extremely aggravating very quickly. They turn on lights in the main room! At some points they literally say they should turn on lights while in other rooms, but then just don't. the characters never stop talking. It's kind of hard to build atmosphere or tension when there are four morons constantly talking over each other The attempts at scares are few and far between, and absolutely pathetic. It's funny, early on I was thinking that since they're just in a house in the middle of a city, it was going to be really dumb when wild poo poo started happening and they didn't just leave. But St. Francisville Experiment expertly avoids that problem by never having anything scary or even all that notable happen. Eventually, all the characters decide that they are very scared, and go off to different parts of the house to do a witch prayer. Scary stuff happens to each in turn(this is where their refusal to turn on lights really pisses me off), and they leave the house. Movie ends. St. Francisville Experiment has bad characters, terrible acting, nothing scary, no story, and completely misuses the found footage format. Give it a pass.
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Oct 29, 2019 01:40
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 33. The Lighthouse (2019) (theater) Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson play two lighthouse keepers stationed on a remote island together. They are both a little odd, and are secretive about their pasts. When it comes time for them to be relieved, a massive storm strikes the island and doesn't let up for weeks. Stranded, they begin to wear on each other and start to slip into madness. This is the second feature from director Robert Eggers, whose debut The Witch set a very high bar. I'm pleased to say that this lives up to my expectations - it's a weird, beautiful, and funny film, and I've never seen anything else quite like it. It definitely has elements of horror, as well as fantasy and drama, but more than anything it's a dark comedy, and a surprisingly funny one. The black and white cinematography is gorgeous, and the unusually narrow aspect ratio adds a sense of claustrophobia to the film and also allows for some interesting framing. Both leads (who are essentially the only actors in the film) give stellar performances, and they take turns one-upping the other with ridiculous monologues and wild drunken antics. Dafoe is ultimately the highlight, but Pattinson really holds his own. Just as he did in The Witch, Eggers writes the dialogue using period-accurate language. I found it a little difficult to understand at first, but once I got used to the way they spoke it wasn't too bad. I don't want to say much else because it's the sort of film that needs to be experienced. Easily one of the best (and weirdest) films of 2019, in any genre. 5/5 Total: 33 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) | November (Challenge #5) | The Monster Squad (Challenge #7) | April Fool's Day (Challenge #8) | Fido (Challenge #10) | In the Tall Grass (Challenge #11) | Trilogy of Terror (Challenge #12) | The Lighthouse Samhain Challenges:
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Oct 29, 2019 02:19
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October 28 - One Cut of the Dead [No trailer because the trailer has spoilers] I was going to watch Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein tonight, but this is my last free movie slot of the month and even a cursory glance tells you what the most popular movie of the month is. I'm usually out of the loop on those (hence my October 30th movie) for a variety of reasons. This time, I decided, I'd go for it. So I jumped through some really annoying hoops and I'm watching the clear winner of this month of horror movie watching. A movie crew shooting a low budget zombie movie suddenly finds themselves in the middle of a real zombie attack. Will they survive despite the director insisting that the show must go on? For a movie called "One Cut of the Dead", there's two cuts! One at the very beginning when the director shouts, "Cut!" and one at the end. This is false advertising! I recall when I watched Train to Bussan a few years ago for one of these threads, I said it was a decent zombie movie but the genre was so oversaturated that decent wasn't enough to cut it with me anymore. One Cut, on the other hand, works by completely shattering the mold. It's just amazing. I had a ton of questions come up as I was watching the movie and not just the obvious ones. And shockingly, watching all the way to the end through the credits they answered every single one of them. The film sets up some big promises and then pays off not only the ones you'd expect but the ones that are implied in the movie. It's an incredibly rewarding viewing experience as a result. It's also the movie that left me incredibly happy with the ending. It was a bit on the nose for the themes, but it was exactly what I wanted to see in the end. This is an incredibly uplifting movie in a way I wasn't expecting at the outset. And that, everyone, is how you talk about One Cut of the Dead without your post being a giant block of spoiler text. Watch this movie, it's one of the most enjoyable films I've seen in a while. Random Stranger fucked around with this message at 02:47 on Oct 29, 2019 |
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Oct 29, 2019 02:44
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7. Child's Play (2019) (Netflix DVD)   "This is for Tupac!" - Chucky I went into this movie fully expecting nothing, but ended up really liking it. It's not so much a remake as a re-imagining, and it could probably have stood on its own without the Child's Play label slapped on it. The major difference, of course, is that unlike being possessed by a serial killer now Chucky is an AI with filters removed. I think this is best emphasized in the three set-piece deaths. The movie goes out of its way to show Andy's mom's boyfriend Shane and Gabe the building maintenance man as bad people, so the audience feels a certain pleasure at their deaths. But Doreen, Andy's kind neighbor, suffers the same fate as the other two when she comes between Andy and Chucky. Although it didn't bother me on a first watch, the tone is a little inconsistent, going back and forth between comedic and more straight horror. I thought Gabriel Bateman did a great job as Andy in this movie and is good at producing agonized expressions. (For those of you unfamiliar with it, here he is a little younger in this relevant music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qG8iAtpavK4) This is one of the better remakes that I've seen and look forward to a rewatch. 4/5 8. Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989) (Shudder)    "You think if you kill them all it will go away." - Dr. Loomis A direct continuation of the previous installment. Michael Myers has survived the climax of Halloween 4 and is again looking to kill his niece Jamie, but now they are psychically linked. The climax with Michael fighting Dr. Loomis is pretty decent, and there are some okay death scenes. The scenes of the cops with wacky noises is a strange choice, kind of like the slide whistle preceding Nedry's death in Jurassic Park. The end of this movie I assume leads to the next (Curse of Michael Myers) with the whole Man in Black thing, so I'll have to watch that at some point. I liked this one a little more than the last, but I'm still not jazzed on this series. 2.5/5
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Oct 29, 2019 02:48
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What’s the deal with different versions of The Lawnmower Man? The only version I can find to rent is a really long Director’s Cut and I have no desire to sit through almost two and a half hours of that movie
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Oct 29, 2019 02:49
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Super Samhain Challenge #12: Cavalcade of Creepiness 29. XX (2017): This is pretty decent. I think the first and last segments are the strongest. The first one is a creepy tale about families that don’t communicate. The second story, about a mom preparing for her daughter’s birthday party, is the only one I disliked. The third was fine, pretty standard young people in nature stuff. The last one was cool, kind of like a sequel to Rosemary’s Baby. It’s not a great movie, but worth a watch. Alfred P. Pseudonym fucked around with this message at 03:42 on Oct 29, 2019 |
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Oct 29, 2019 03:12
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Youtube Movie Marathon Part 2! #65: Eyes in the Dark  Eyes in the Dark has a weird structure. A found footage movie about some people going to a cabin and eventually getting killed by bigfoot. But there's also two other short found footage movies about people getting killed by bigfoot in the same forest cut in. Which ruins the tension and escalation of the main story. It starts off with a short about a couple scientists getting killed by bigfoot. So as soon as the main story starts, I was just waiting for these people to encounter bigfoot. But instead it fucks around, establishing the characters, being like, "ooh is there something in the woods, are these people in trouble?" And I'm like, yes, you already established the bigfoot. And these characters are not interesting or entertaining enough to distract me from wondering when bigfoot is gonna show up. If you removed the interludes Eyes in the Dark would be a stronger movie but it would also be less than an hour long. And it would still have not great acting and not great characters and bad dialogue Eventually the titular eyes in the dark show up, and the movie picks up a lot. But there's also like 15 minutes left in the movie by that point. Also, turns out they're wolf monsters, not bigfoots. Congrats movie, I was convinced they were gonna be bigfoots. Of course maybe that's because they make bigfoot noises until it's revealed they're wolf monsters, after which they howl. Dick move, movie. The wolf monster attack scenes are pretty great. I'm sure if you saw the wolf costumes in broad daylight, they'd look like Halloween store trash. But the movie never lets you get a good look at them. And the glowing red eyes draw your attention. After sitting through the whole rest of the rather underwhelming movie I was not expecting it to do the monsters so well. Eyes in the Dark does eventually deliver the goods, the last ten, fifteen minutes are a solid found footage wolf monster attack movie. But it takes a long time to get there. I can't say I'd recommend it, but I wouldn't warn anyone away either.
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Oct 29, 2019 03:14
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gey muckle mowser posted:What’s the deal with different versions of The Lawnmower Man? The only version I can find to rent is a really long Director’s Cut and I have no desire to sit through almost two and a half hours of that movie Just finished the Director's Cut, having not seen the theatrical cut or even knowing much about the movie. My understanding is that a lot of extra time is spent on the titular character's arch in the DC, whereas it is rushed in the theatrical. The best part of the movie is IMO the lawnmower man's transition from intellectually disabled, to clever, to psychotic because the actor did a good job with it. Dean Norris also has a weird accent in this. Like, I don't know what the hell he was doing or supposed to be. (Nothing to do with the cuts, just a side observation)
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Oct 29, 2019 03:32
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16. The Autopsy of Jane Doe Pleasantly surprising. Aside from the father having exact knowledge about everything whenever it was convenient, it was really well done. I was surprised at all the things they brought back from earlier in the movie.
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Oct 29, 2019 03:57
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 45. Color Me Blood Red (1965, Herschell Gordon Lewis) Criterion Channel  46. Two Thousand Maniacs! (1964, Herschell Gordon Lewis) Criterion Channel I've said it before with Blood Feast, but I like HGL's "hygiene film from hell" aesthetic. There's something both unsettling and hilarious about it. Here, you have him do a riff on Corman's A Bucket of Blood that goes even farther. Though, while it's missing the satire, it does end up being even more silly. Two Thousand Maniacs! reminds me a bit much of living in North Georgia. Actually really like the music for this, it adds some real authenticity. Excellent murders, too. Going to do four more to get to an even 50. Definitely finishing with Night of the Living Dead and House on Haunted Hill, but might do a double of Alien and Predator in 4K.
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Oct 29, 2019 04:22
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With theater tickets purchased for the rest of the week, I'll be able to finish with a solid 75 movies watched for the challenge and several others that don't count. 64. Re-Animator (1985) THE SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #11: All Hail The King  Jeffrey Combs has a way to bring dead animals back to life. After moving back to the states and in with his new medical student roommate, he decides to try larger targets. Luckily his new roommate has access to the morgue. Things go poorly. Pretty sure this is my first Lovecraft movie and it was decent. Nice effects and a good story. 65. It Came from The Desert (2017) THE SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #10: Navel Gazing  Using alien DNA from a recovered meteorite, the US government is breeding giant, intelligent ants fueled by ethanol when the ants break free and kill everyone in the base. Some time later, college kids are hosting a kegger nearby to celebrate winning a motocross race. In a very video game-y way, the heroes have to rescue their friends and kill all the ants, because it is based on a video game. One of the better low budget video game movies and just fun in general. 66. Virgin Witch (1972)  Two sisters head to the big city to become models. One catches a break and lands a gig at the remote house of the owner of a well known modelling agency. It turns out she is a witch and the house is used for their ceremonies which the one sister is super into and asks to join in. The other sister less so. A little light on the story, probably to make room for all the nude modelling and nude satanic rituals, but a bit fun, especially seeing someone so enthusiastic about getting to take part in a satanic ritual. 67. Blood and Black Lace (1964)  A fashion model turns up dead and when her journal turns up the next day everyone gets all shifty eyed knowing that the contents would make them a suspect. The only way to get that journal is of course to kill whoever had it last and then look through their purse until you either find it or run out of fashion models. Really wonderfully shot with good acting to keep you entertained and guessing. 68. Night of the Hunted (1980)  From the poster and title you might think this is some sort of Most Dangerous Game knockoff. You would be wrong. It starts with a man discovering a woman with what turns out to be Memento disease on the side of the road. Naturally the first thing he does when he finds out she can’t retain memories is have sex with her then tells her not to leave the apartment. Her doctor shows up after he leaves and takes her back to the office park where she and the others with Memento-itis are being held until they go mad and kill themselves and each other. A very boring movie and having a rape/murder occur certainly doesn’t improve it at all. 69. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)  The pumpkin king of Halloween town is bored and goes wandering in the woods. He stumbles into Christmas town and instantly becomes obsessed with it. Back home, he decides that he shall be the new Santa and to prevent any confusion, has the real Santa kidnapped. A charming Tim Burton/Danny Elfman musical told with some pretty stop motion animation. 70. Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) THE SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #12: Cavalcade of Creepiness  Four episodes of the tv show redone as an anthology. Made famous for other reasons. The first segment is a Trump supporter getting to experience first hand the receiving end of Nazis, the KKK, American GIs and, in a sense, capitalism’s lack of concern for the working class. The next segment is Scatman Crothers hanging out in retirement homes giving the elderly a chance to be young again, even if only for one night. The third segment finds a lost young woman who gives a little boy a ride home stuck in his cartoonish home as this is the little kid who can do things with his mind. The final segment is where they found the only actor who could out ham William Shatner and that would be John Lithgow. A gremlin is on the wing of an airplane ripping it apart and Lithgow is the only one who sees it. A nice selection of episodes to remake and all made well save for the unfortunate accident. 71. Dead & Buried (1981)  Strangers that wander into Potter’s Bluff are soon attacked and killed by a mob of residents, some sporting cameras. The local sheriff really dislikes all these murders occurring in his town, he dislikes the fact that the bodies disappear even more. When they start showing up alive and walking around town, he gets really upset. A well done movie and well done effects. 1. Killer Workout (1987) 2. Ænigma (1987) 3. Killer Fish (1979) 4. Rear Window (Theater) (1954) 5. House on Haunted Hill (1959) 6. Nail Gun Massacre (1985) 7. Paranorman (2012) 8. Night of the Comet (1984) 9. Corpse Bride (2005) 10. 13 Ghosts (1960) 11. Vampyr (German) (1932) #1 12. Amuck (Italian) (1972) 13. Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951) 14. Fascination (French) (1979) 15. Lake of Dracula (Japanese) (1971) 16. Sorority House Massacre (1986) 17. Prophecy (1979) 18. Sorority Massacre 2 (1990) 19. Leviathan (1989) 20. Night of the Lepus (1972) 21. Puppet Master (1989) 22. Ice Cream Man (1995) 23. Return of the Living Dead 2 (1988) 24. The Giant Claw (1957) 25. One Cut of the Dead (Japanese) (Theater) (2017) 26. Return of the Living Dead 3 (1993) 27. Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis (2005) 28. Spider Baby (1967) #2 29. Dollman (1991) 30. The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960) 31. The Addams Family (Theater) (2019) 32. Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave (2005) 33. Ganja & Hess (1973) #3 34. Arcade (1993) 35. Terrorvision (1986) 36. I, Frankenstein (2014) 37. Drácula (Spanish) (Theater) (1931) 38. The Snake Woman (1961) 39. The Bat (1959) 40. Witchfinder General (1968) 41. Homicidal (1961) 42. In the Mouth of Madness (1994) 43. Caltiki, the Immortal Monster (Italian) (1959) 44. House of Wax (1953) #4 45. Q: The Winged Serpent (1982) 46. Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988) 47. Mr. Sardonicus (1961) 48. Prince of Darkness (1987) 49. The Fog (1980) 50. Piranha 3DD (2012) 51. Rawhead Rex (1986) 52. Viy (1967) #5 53. Psycho Shark (2009) 54. Return to Nuke ‘Em High Volume 1 #6 55. Phantom of the Paradise (1974) 56. Return of the Killer Tomatoes (1988) 57. Memory: The Origins of Alien (Theater) (2019) 58. Monster Squad (1987) #7 59. Black Christmas (1974) #8 60. The Hunger (Theater) (1984) 61. Mind Warp (1992) 62. Brainscan (1994) #9 63. Vampyros Lesbos (German) (1971) 64. Re-Animator (1985) #11 65. It Came from The Desert (2017) #10 66. Virgin Witch (1972) 67. Blood and Black Lace (1964) 68. Night of the Hunted (1980) 69. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) 70. Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) #12 71. Dead & Buried (1981)
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Oct 29, 2019 05:10
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Hahaha, yeah, that was the moment in the movie at which I perked up and started grinning. #160) Scooby-Doo! Mask of the Blue Falcon (2012) Aww, this was cute. Shaggy and Scooby convince the rest of the gang to attend a fan convention, and their comic book/TV hero Blue Falcon (a real Hanna-Barbera series) is getting a gritty live-action reboot movie. The original actor (voiced by an Adam West sound-alike) is upset about not being asked to be involved, on top of his already low income from back episodes, and then someone dressed as the Blue Falcon's nemesis begins wrecking convention events. This was the most Hanna-Barbera-loving Scooby movie I've seen. There's an Atomic Ant poster in the background of the pre-credits scene, the opening credits have the gang running through various Hanna-Barbera properties, con-goers are dressed as characters (including one dude as Speed Buggy, and a pair of kids as Space Ghost and Metallo play-fighting), and so on. Add the fact that Frank Welker (voice of Scooby and Fred) also originally voiced Dynomutt, Blue Falcon's sidekick, and the meta angles of the Blue Falcon actor's frustration, and there's a lot to play with here, even though it never gets close to being explicitly reflective. Also, Velma is just pissed throughout the movie to be at a geeky convention, which felt weird, but amusing. An unsatisfying villain motivation was my biggest problem with this movie, but aside from that, things were good, and exceeded my expectations for a Scooby-Doo animated film. rating: 7/10"You shall be avenged!"
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Oct 29, 2019 05:12
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31. The Neon Demon I guess it's a horror movie? Of sorts? Eventually? I dunno, if this doesn't count I'm not stopping here anyway. Elle Fanning plays an aspiring young model arriving in L.A., who instantly catches the industry's eye. Photographers, designers, all are taken by her beauty. Other models are a little bit jealous. Also the hotel owner she rents from is a weird creep (Keanu Reeves), and there's a wildcat in her room one night so that's a problem. I... did not really dig this movie. I think it's supposed to be a critique on beauty culture and how things like the modeling and fashion industries play on and exploit young women, which, true, but I don't think it cuts deep enough on that. The male photographers and designers are kinda pigs, but all the real violence and horror is situated elsewhere, and they're kind of complicit in the situations that lead to it, but eh. Fanning's character is never really given much interiority or motivation, it feels at times like she's this pure beauty icon who cannot help but drive men and women mad, which itself is part of that same beauty myth. I feel like there's a contradiction there? Not that I'd be roasting this movie for being slightly undercooked feminist commentary if I felt it were engaging as a story, or even as a mood piece. But the story isn't well presented, often feeling like it isn't actually going anywhere, until it very quickly does, then there's a weird protracted epilogue. As far as mood goes, well, that's the thing, Refn just doesn't build a lot of dread or unease, or a sense that things are wrong outside of people being bitchy. There are a lot of pretty images but there's no real emotional connection. In the end I was left thinking, "Well that was some horrible stuff we saw happen. Sucks to be those people." That's 31 for me, but yeah, I know I'm going further.
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Oct 29, 2019 05:22
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#39: Lake of the Dead (1958) This was the first film on the Scream Stream last night, and it's another one of those obscure pieces of cinema that I would never have watched had it not been for the stream. It's a very strange mystery movie set in a remote cabin by a lake (more of a pond really, but not the point) where a group of middle-aged friends go to spend some downtime. Turns out the lake house has a macabre history involving a murder/suicide and subsequent drowning victims in the lake, supposedly due to an undertow. People seem to think the house is haunted, and when they discover evidence that the cabin's owner (Bjorn, the twin brother of Lilyan, one of the people spending the week there) might have drown himself, too. They set out to discover the mystery which Bernhard, a novelist, wants to turn into a book. It's a relatively short film, and it's mostly a slow melodrama, but the acting isn't bad and if you can follow the plot (which I had a little trouble doing while following along with the chat, but reading a review afterwards helped piece some details together) the ending delivers a memorable twist and a batshit crazy explanation for what exactly happened. If you're into old movies, and old mystery whodunnit type movies specifically, it's definitely worth checking out. 2.5/5 #40: Possession (1981)  Holy loving poo poo this movie.  The second movie from the Scream Stream last night, "Possession" follows Sam Neill and his soon-to-be-ex-wife Isabelle Adjani (who I had never heard of before, but gently caress she acted her rear end off in this) as their toxic marriage completely breaks apart. Their poor son Bob, a 9-ish year old kid, is tragically caught in the middle as mom and dad continue to have a series of truly horrendous fights that are captivating in their raw brutality the way that driving by a horrible car accident can be. Both Neill and Adjani deliver amazingly unhinged performances, to the point of making you feel uncomfortable and more than a little disgusted by their words and behavior. I thought this was the movie, that it was an intense family drama with some horrific depictions of domestic and sexual abuse, and the title "Possession" was meant more in the way of being possessive about someone, or of an unhealthy relationship. I started to wonder why this was chosen for the Scream Stream, even though it was excellent and well-acted. Then the movie goes into another gear that I did NOT see coming. Jesus loving Christ. Lovecraftian tentacle monsters and hentai sexual encounters. Brutal murders and an epic freak-out in a subway station that you just have to see to believe. Stuff that the movie does not allude to, at least not that I picked up in this first watch, until it's just happening and leaving you asking what the gently caress this movie even is. And then in the end, everybody dies because either the world ends or somebody just dropped a nuclear bomb on Berlin, or something. It's... insane. Is this a story about the antichrist being born in the incubation tube of a toxic marriage, and ending the world? Or just a hosed up Lovecraftian horror unleashed on the psyche of an unsuspecting woman? I have questions to say the least. Holy poo poo. I will definitely be watching this again. Incredible movie, but extremely extremely disturbing on many, many levels. Trigger warnings for everything imaginable, so be warned going in, this movie doesn't have a nice bone in its body and I kind of love it for how hosed up it gets, and then every time you think "oh this can't possibly get any worse," it gets 10 times worse. Great acting, great camera shots, and completely unpredictable at every step. I can totally see this as an influence to Ari Aster's work, so if you're into his stuff, definitely check this out. Highest of recommends. 5/5 Watched: Midsommar; One Cut of the Dead; Apostle; Wolf Creek; Lake Mungo; Viy (Challenge #1); Demon Knight; Witchfinder General; Razorback; Joker; A Quiet Place; Spider Baby, or the Maddest Story Ever Told (Challenge #2); Hereditary; The First Purge (Challenge #3); Killer Condom; Road Games; Next of Kin; Zombie aka Zombi 2; Suspiria (1977) (Challenge #4); Phantom of the Paradise; In Her Skin; Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon; Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead; Troll Hunter aka Trollhunter (Challenge #5); The Tunnel; Profondo Rossa aka Deep Red; Body Melt; Suspiria (2018) (Challenge #6); Sadako vs. Kayako (Challenge #7); Black Christmas (Challenge #8); Unfriended (Challenge #9); Unfriended: Dark Web; Triangle; The Wailing (Challenge #10); Gerald's Game (Challenge #11); The Lighthouse; Body Bags (Challenge #12); Dr. Giggles (Challenge #13); Lake of the Dead; Possession Total: 40
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Oct 29, 2019 05:27
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30: The Lighthouse ABCs: L Hell yes. This was my most anticipated movie this month and I was worried I wouldn't get it in, but managed to get there tonight and it lived up to my hype. Absolutely gorgeous, the black and white work so damned well here and while I didn't like the smaller ratio at first, as it kept going I really started to enjoy the claustrophobia it added. Dafoe was, as mentioned, born for this role, and Pattison was a pleasant surprise (I know he's legit a good actor but this is the first non Twilight thing I've ever actually seen him in). There was definitely some stuff that went over my head and I'm looking forward to reading write ups by smarter people, but it's one of those cinematic experiences that's just a delight to experience. E: V OK! Opopanax fucked around with this message at 05:51 on Oct 29, 2019 |
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Oct 29, 2019 05:31
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Retro Futurist posted:Dafoe was, as mentioned, born for this role, and Pattison was a pleasant surprise (I know he's legit a good actor but this is the first non Twilight thing I've ever actually seen him in). Watch Good Time!
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Oct 29, 2019 05:45
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SUPER SAMHAIN CHALLENGE #10: Navel Gazing  29. Occult (2009) This challenge wasn’t as hard as it could have been because a couple of weeks back, I started keeping a list of movies that reviews here made me interested in. I didn’t write down the username of whoever put this one on my radar, but if you posted about it earlier in the month, thanks! I’m not a fan of found footage in general, but I do sometimes like the ones about news broadcasts or documentaries that go off the rails. Occult follows a documentary film crew investigating a random knife attack that killed two people and left one man permanently scarred. It starts with the general facts of the attack as well as interviews with witnesses and people close to the victims. Then the survivor tells the crew something that gives their project a surprising new thing to focus on. Everything unfolded in a very natural way, with hardly any of those typical found footage wobbly camera jump scares. Occult is more about atmosphere and a growing sense of dread. One of the things I like about newsy found footage is that the good ones often involve a gradual breakdown of the barriers between the subject and the person behind the camera, and Occult delivers on that front. That ending went right where I assumed it would given how petty or malicious all the “miracles” seemed to be. Thankfully that didn’t spoil the fun of the rest of the movie. I’m pretty sure at this point that I’ll be able to get my 31 movies in, but I’m not sure if I’ll finish all the challenges given how hectic last weekend was. Prepping for a Halloween party + hangover + cleaning up after the Halloween party = no time for watching. I may be able to swing it if nothing unexpected crops up though. Watched: 1. Burn, Witch, Burn (1962); 2. TerrorVision (1986); 3. Evilspeak (1981) - Challenge #1; 4. Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971); 5. The City of the Dead (1960); 6. The Witches (1966); 7. The Crimson Cult (1968); 8. A Return to Salem’s Lot (1987) - Challenge #2; 9. Next of Kin (1982); 10. The Ritual (2017); 11. Def by Temptation (1990) - Challenge #3; 12. Halloween III (1982); 13. House by the Cemetery (1981); 14. The Dorm That Dripped Blood (1982); 15. Phenomena (1985); 16. Color Me Blood Red (1965) - Challenge #4; 17. Girls With Balls (2018); 18. Tarot (2009) - Challenge #5; 19. Jug Face (2013); 20. Wake Wood (2009); 21. Happy Death Day (2017); 22. Poltergeist II (1986) - Challenge #6; 23. Wolfman’s Got Nards (2018); 24. Spookies (1986); 25. The Midnight Hour (1985) - Challenge #7; 26. P2 (2007) Challenge #8; 27. Dan Curtis’s Dracula (1973); 28. Interface (1985) - Challenge #9; 29. Occult (2009) - Challenge #10
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Oct 29, 2019 05:59
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deety posted:I’m not a fan of found footage in general, but I do sometimes like the ones about news broadcasts or documentaries that go off the rails. I feel like the way you mention this assumes that you've already seen it, but if you haven't I highly recommend "Lake Mungo."
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Oct 29, 2019 06:28
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