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Uh, Terror Tract sounds like a hoot. Officially adding it to the watch pile.
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Sep 28, 2020 19:00
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 #8) The Conjuring (2013) Not a good sign when I'm saying “poo poo, this is stupid,” to myself three minutes into a film. I ran a vacuum for part of this viewing, so there were two things audibly sucking in the room. Aside from the film's lionizing of the Warrens, which throws a deep shadow across the movie, I found it hard to shake the impression of this being largely a retread of The Amityville Horror, but glossier and more dependent on jump-scares. It's shot quite nicely, I'll give it that, but it feels so lifelessly executed that I found myself rolling my eyes far more often than I was able to take it seriously. Maybe this is me projecting, in light of the imitators that sprang up in the wake of this movie's success, but it feels like a deeply cynical estimation of horror audiences' desires. As the Horror Bracketology thread has shown, horror is a wonderfully diverse genre, and while there's certainly room for something like this, there's just so many more movies which find it an opportunity to be creative and, every once in a while, truly unique (e.g., the Chiodo Brothers). At the same time, there's also much worse, and far lower-aiming, horror movies out there. So maybe I'm just irritated more by this one's success, and what it led to, than anything else. Well, that and the utterly hackneyed conception of witches it uses, which I'd probably be fine with if it embraced the pulpiness of its premise more.  Rating: 6/10Watched on Dollar Tree Blu-ray Darthemed fucked around with this message at 19:15 on Sep 28, 2020 |
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Sep 28, 2020 19:05
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4) Daughters of Darkness (1971) It started slow, and I initially had pretty low hopes for the movie. But it evolved into this really interesting, gothic, sexually charged retelling of the Countess Bathory story. Except there were also... vampires? I don't know, parts of it didn't make sense, but it was DRIPPING with mood and tension. The actor who played Inola was pretty bad, but everyone else was just the right amount of cheesy to make it work. Very fun. 3.5 / 5 5) Snuff (1975)  Laughing about that tagline - "the bloodiest thing", yeah, right. There's two scenes where there's like a trickle of blood. I literally cannot tell you the plot of this movie. It's a... Charles Manson-esque cult? Where they run around doing crimes? And uh... and that's it? And someone's filming a movie? And there's a carnivale? And uh... and the acting is atrocious and the overdubbing is even worse? And all of the characters look the same and I couldn't tell you a single name? That's about all I got out of this. It autoplayed after the last movie I watched on Tubi, and it was a waste of an hour+. 1 / 5 Total: 4 1. Don't Look Under the Bed (1999) / 2. Mom and Dad (2017) / 3. Daughters of Darkness (1971) / 4. Snuff Count Thrashula fucked around with this message at 19:16 on Sep 28, 2020 |
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Sep 28, 2020 19:10
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3. Nosferatu 1922 | dir. F. W. Murnau  You have hurt yourself… your precious blood! Hutter, a young estate agent, leaves behind his loving wife and travels to Transylvania, to sell a house to Count Orlok. While staying at the count’s home, he discovers that Orlok is the titular vampire, who has become obsessed with Hutter’s wife Ellen. He races home to prevent the count taking her for his own. The BFI restoration of Nosferatu is stunning. For a film pushing 100 years old to look this crisp and detailed is astonishing to me. The film is filled with incredibly striking shots, which largely come down to clever use of lighting. In a particular favourite of mine, Orlok is framed against a doorway with firelight behind, surrounding him with an eerie glow. This is the first silent feature film I’ve watched from start to finish (this month is going to be all about milestones), and it’s amazing how much it does without dialogue, without moving cameras, and without sound effects. Special effects are limited to a couple of composite shots. Just excellent framing, lighting and some good physical acting get the job done. Plague as a confounding factor to the Dracula story is interesting and pretty successful. The idea that mass death has become something people expect serves to emphasise just how much killing Nosferatu is getting up to for people to think something else must be going on. Max Shreck is something to behold as Count Orlok. He barely seems human in his movements and the way he holds himself. I can’t imagine what audiences in 1922 thought when they saw him rise out of that coffin. Despite never having seen this film before, I’ve basically watched the ending already via cultural osmosis. It’s still a sight to behold though, and like every other part of this film does so much with so little. 4. The Changeling 1980 | dir. Peter Medak  It’s an old house. It makes noises. John, a famous composer, is involved in a car crash, and his wife and daughter are killed. Still grieving, he moves into an old mansion to work on his new composition. The house turns out to be spooky, and he finds himself compelled to solve its mystery. John mentions that he needs somewhere to be completely alone with his work, and that’s a wish I can respect, but anyone who’s seen a horror movie would surely run a mile upon seeing what must be the least inviting house imaginable. It couldn’t have been more obviously haunted if Zach Bagans was hanging out on the front step. This is the first film I’ve watched for the challenge that genuinely spooked me. There’s a couple of very nice scares involving the very creepy wheelchair on the poster We’re treated to one of the more intense seance scenes that I can remember with fun use of automatic writing and some excellent camerawork. The use of camera movement and placement is generally excellent. I don’t remember noticing any flat shots, and the camera is frequently used as an effective stand-in for the presence in the house. When I was watching it felt like the haunting mystery was being solved a little too quickly, so I was pleasantly surprised when it added a pretty compelling political murder thriller element. It feels more modern than it’s 40 years, but if anything places this distinctly outside of the modern era it’s John running right up to a US senator on an airfield without being at the very least knocked out with the butt of a rifle, if not just shot on sight. I’d be amazed if Guillermo Del Toro isn’t a big fan of this film. I rewatched The Devil’s Backbone recently, and some of the shots of the drowning kid in The Changeling were clearly a big source of inspiration. It’s a rare film that has a very satisfying conclusion without also feeling too neat and tidy and The Changeling manages that very deftly. Movies Watched: Don’t Look Now | Frankenstein | Nosferatu | The Changeling Rewatches: 0 Total: 4 They Shoot Zombies Don't They: 29%
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Sep 28, 2020 19:31
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#3: 1931 Frankenstein The way they talk about Frankenstein recently moving into the light house, and how it's delaying the planning of the wedding, it's clear that this obsession is a fairly recent thing for him. And then he gives it up fairly easily, even leaving the monster to his boss to destroy before going off to plan his wedding and never checking in to see how it went. So unlike in the book where creating life is a lifelong obsession that spells his doom, in the movie it's more like a hobby that he gets way too into. Like that episode of Parks and Rec where the guy tries to make a claymation movie. But the real stand out of the movie is the mob. Holy poo poo what a good mob. It's big enough to split into three separate respectably sized mobs. They've got torches, lanterns, crude wooden club, bloodhounds, it is a fully kitted out mob. You get great shots of the mob setting out, the mob searching, and the mob taking its bloody revenge. A full mob arc. The only thing you could criticize them for is the lack of pitchforks. Is the Frankenstein mob still the greatest movie mob of all time? 3 Movies Watched: Dracula, Dracula, Frankenstein
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Sep 28, 2020 19:33
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 Overlord (2018) "How does it feel, the blood of eternity flowing through your veins?" It's D-Day eve, soldiers behind enemy lines, a mission to complete, and the Nazis have a secret lab in which they're doing awful Nazi things. This is one of those movies that does exactly what it says on the tin, so I don't have a lot to talk about. The first half hour feels like the set-up for a solid action war movie, except it's spooky season so you know things are going to get wetter and gorier, and then they do, and it's great. Wolfenstein: the Movie, kinda. 4/5SA October Horror Challenge Count: 4/40
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Sep 28, 2020 20:21
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NUMBER 1 FULCI FAN posted:4) Daughters of Darkness (1971) I'm so glad you got to watch this! Whenever there's non-sexual violence it does sort of wilt and becomes remarkably silly, and I'm thinking specifically of that glass bowl scene. The rest is just so heart rendingly beautiful though, and that scene in which the countess becomes incredibly horny whilst Stefan recounts her past crimes still gives me chills.
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Sep 28, 2020 20:32
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6. 30 Miles From Nowhere (2020) Watched On: Shudder A group of friends reunite at a summer home to remember a friend that committed suicide. It takes about a third of the movie for anything to really happen but it keeps a sense of weirdness going to tide you over before weird things start appearing at the windows. You also get to know the characters pretty well and I was honestly set to hate them but these people are actually pretty likable. Just acting like rowdy college friends trying not to be too bummed out... then they all started being terrible. Old issues with each other bubble up and everyone starts to crack up after the funeral and go after each other. It took a long while to really get to what was actually going on. Once it did though it's pretty fun, probably could have shaved ten or so minutes out the movie somewhere though. Certainly didn't go the direction I thought it would either. The villain of the movie once they reveal themselves is doing A+ work chewing the scenary and making a show of it. Massively stupid ending though. Like, gently caress it was dumb. Not a waste of time at all but I probably don't see myself watching it again either.
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Sep 28, 2020 20:42
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 #9) The Last House on the Left (1972) One of the prime combinations of the horrific and absurd. Cutting back and forth between the worlds of home and the criminals keeps the moods ping-ponging, and while it doesn't work for a lot of people, I feel like it effectively shifts the silliness from one into the other, swapped for the grimness, before merging them once the criminals get to the house. Considering the time at which it was made, it doesn't pull many punches, and the way it juxtaposes tones (particularly with the music) provides enough dissonance to put things on edge even in the calmer scenes. It's almost like the criminals are invaders from another film, I think there's a tendency for people to dismiss this as a nasty, spiteful little film, one which Craven made when he was still undeveloped as a director. And it is a very unpleasant film. I bought this a few years ago, and it's just been sitting in the shrink-wrap until today, because I haven't been in the mood to undergo the experience it offers. But I think it earns the repellence and notoriety by not being as superficial as people might want to paint it. The criminals are practically caricatures, but they also have regular moments throughout the film in which they're shown to be conflicted, hiding a lot behind their bluster. And the grief of the parents is believable, before they move into revenge via chainsaw and dick-chomping. The choice to show so many of the characters in moments of absolute comfort, following the brutal denouement, is a concise capper on the many intentionally cross-wired moods throughout the film. Rating: 8/10Watched on Blu-ray
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Sep 28, 2020 20:45
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2) Ring - 1995 The TV movie version. This is super low budget, but competently made. Shot on video, mostly on location, simple lighting, basic score, and most scenes are only two characters. The plot differs somewhat from the theatrical version and it looks and feels nowhere near as spooky, but it's still decent for what it is, a low budget adaptation. In this one Sadako is hot and naked half the time though so uh, different tone. 5/10 Not bad, but since the other one exists not necessary to watch.
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Sep 28, 2020 20:51
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#5) Southbound (2015) Oh boy what a joy this anthology is. I'm a huge fan of horror anthologies and somehow this was nowhere on my radar. It's not my _favorite_ one, certainly, it has some flaws, but all in all it's very solid front to back. My main gripe is that the tones are just so dark and muted the whole way through that it becomes a little muddy and hard to follow. But, each short blends well into the next one, and they all feel unique and interesting enough to stand on their own. The Accident and the girls who break down in the van (I forget the name) were my favorites. The Accident especially is just fantastic. I don't want to spoil anything but it plays to one of my favorite tropes - the normal event that turns out being someone losing their mind. Recommended. 4/5 Total: 5 1. Don't Look Under the Bed (1999) / 2. Mom and Dad (2017) / 3. Daughters of Darkness (1971) / 4. Snuff (1975) / 5. Southbound (2015) Debbie Does Dagon posted:I'm so glad you got to watch this! Whenever there's non-sexual violence it does sort of wilt and becomes remarkably silly, and I'm thinking specifically of that glass bowl scene. The rest is just so heart rendingly beautiful though, and that scene in which the countess becomes incredibly horny whilst Stefan recounts her past crimes still gives me chills. Yeah, that scene was incredible. I love when scenes build tension right up to the point of "okay this is where something will happen and the scene will cut" and then it KEEPS GOING. Really great. Count Thrashula fucked around with this message at 21:59 on Sep 28, 2020 |
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Sep 28, 2020 20:52
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5. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari 1920 | dir. Robert Wiene  Awaken for a moment from your dark night. Francis tells the story of his encounter with Dr. Caligari and Cesare, a somnambulist who can only be awoken by the doctor. My second silent film ever! Thanks, October challenge. If anything this restoration is even more impressive than that of Nosferatu, although it does appear that the print might have been in better condition to start with. There are certainly fewer noticeable scratches and stains. To think that this is a 100-year-old film is absolutely incredible. The first thing that struck me was the wild set design; everything is abstract and impressionistic and there’s not a right-angle to be seen. Because I am uncultured swine, it reminded me of Day of the Tentacle. This is a film of both outlandish and banal horror. I think I’d been watching for about half an hour before it struck me that no-one seemed at all concerned for Cesare’s wellbeing, or the fact that he was being carted around in a box by the grimiest looking doctor. Maybe this trick was new in 1920, but I laughed out loud when I realised that everyone had fallen for the old dummy-in-the-bed routine It’s a bit more dialogue and narration heavy than Nosferatu, and you really feel the text cards sapping the pace in the first half. Fortunately, it was worth pushing through for the final descent into madness and a great ending that has spawned many imitators over the last 100 years. 6. The Haunting 1963 | dir. Robert Wise  Next vacation I must really go somewhere else. Doctor Markway, a paranormal researcher, invites people touched by unexplained phenomena to assist with his investigation into Hill House. If you haven’t noticed, I’m watching lots of old films for this challenge. For whatever reason, I’ve always preferred films with more modern style, techniques, and sensibilities. October (or pre-October) is challenging (  ) my preconceptions rather nicely, and none more so than this excellent film. It really does feel like a contemporary film shot in black and white for stylistic reasons. The themes, acting style, and manic camera work don’t feel like anything else I’ve seen from this era. I’m impressed.As the guests stay in the house goes on, we start to see their fears and desires spill out and make a big lovely mess everywhere. At times it really does feel like the most exciting group therapy session. I was rooting for Theo and Nell so hard from the moment they first laid eyes on one another (please let me find someone who looks at me like Theo looks at Nell in those first few scenes together), so it was like a cold knife through the heart when Nell calls Theo “one of nature’s mistakes”. Obviously, she was completely in the grip of the house at that point but why you got to make me so sad. As the house turns up the pressure, I got to appreciate all the little grudges that the film so carefully sets up between the characters. The obnoxious Luke ends up being great misdirection; he sticks out so obviously from the rest of the group that you almost don’t notice the little ways that everyone is pissing each other off until the poo poo really hits the fan. I feel like maybe I’m repeating myself a little, but this is yet another film I’ve watched for this challenge that does so much with that simple combo of clever camera work, careful sound design, and beautiful lighting. No wonder people get upset about modern reliance on digital effects. Movies Watched: Don’t Look Now | Frankenstein | Nosferatu | The Changeling | The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari | The Haunting Rewatches: 0 Total: 6 They Shoot Zombies Don't They: 30%
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Sep 28, 2020 20:58
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 12) The Monster Maker - 1944 - TubiTV I wouldn't consider this a bad or schlocky film, but more an exasperatingly average entry into the Mad Scientist subgenre when it didn't have to be. Even Ace the Wonder Dog looked like he was phoning it in. I think it would've made for a better film if they didn't use a tweaked version of acromegaly, cut the lab gorilla, and built up some of the characterizations. I will concede the makeup was pretty decent.  13) The Undying Monster - 1942 - Youtube This one was a pleasant surprise in a few ways. First, a classic era werewolf film I wasn't aware of, and secondly one that actually doesn't forget it's a 'modern' setting. I thought it was a nice touch to treat this more like a murder mystery, though it does seem to be confused on how it handles the supernatural aspects. We have the standard superstition vs science arguments, but instead of the standard Scooby Doo type reveal we have visible werewolf transformation with fur/fangs/claws being witnessed by multiple people end up being explained as a brain chemistry thing. For as much as we gripe about Hollywood going the remake route too much, this is a film I'd like to see remade. This would make a good pairing with The Beast Must Die.
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Sep 28, 2020 20:59
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4. Quatermass Xperiment (Creeping Unknown in the USA) ( 1955)  Some fun facts this is actually a Hammer Studios production before they became known for horror and it's the first of 3 Quatermass films all by Nigel Kneal. Also its Quatermass not Quartermass. It's based on a BBC television series of the same name. Because of this film's success as a horror film and the success of Curse of Frankenstein Hammer became kind of synonymous with horror. Overall the film is tightly done it clocks in at a breezy 78 minutes and doesn't waste any time. The key stand out here is the guy who plays the afflicted astronaut totally mute he imbues the character with nuance and you really feel for the guy. Also, it's got a great monster design in something that is totally alien appearing. I really enjoyed it overall and while it kind of stalls out bit in the middle there's enough going on that i didn't lose interest in what was happening which is the case for some Hammer films where they'll have a great beginning , then a great ending , and middle point to connect those two. I plan on watching X the Unknown , after this another Hammer production tht kind of started initially as a Quatermass film. 4/31 Hollismason fucked around with this message at 21:22 on Sep 28, 2020 |
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Sep 28, 2020 21:18
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TheKingslayer posted:5. Southbound (2015) NUMBER 1 FULCI FAN posted:[b]#5) Southbound (2015) The Accident is maybe the best single segment from any anthology in the past decade or so. Top 5 anyway.
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Sep 28, 2020 21:24
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gey muckle mowser posted:The Accident is maybe the best single segment from any anthology in the past decade or so. Top 5 anyway. That's the hospital one, right? It's spectacular.
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Sep 28, 2020 21:26
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 3. Ginger Snaps (2000) Dir: John Fawcett Been meaning to get around to this for years, but for one reason or another, I was never quite able to make it work. Very glad it finally happened! Lots of elements here that are extremely my poo poo: light body horror, chain-wallet period angst, and great practical work. Despite being filled with intense melodrama, the characters still feel very well-observed and I found the sisters' relationship very engaging. It's absolutely not subtle about lycanthropy as metaphor for puberty but hey, subtlety's for chumps. I will say it's a bit too long, but otherwise, one of the best horror movies from the 2000s. It feels incredibly of its time but hasn't aged very much on a tonal level. Side note: was it law in the late 90's/early 2000's that every "alternative" horror film has the same Fear Factory riff from Demanufacture? I heard it in Faust: Love of the Damned last year too. Friends Are Evil fucked around with this message at 21:31 on Sep 28, 2020 |
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Sep 28, 2020 21:26
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Ah I'm just going to add the ones I've watched from yesterday and today, going to try to get the 30 if I can, I don't know if that's over enthusiastic lol. 1) Bliss (Joe Begos)  Is this the Painting? While there are definitely bits that come across as really rushed over all the film was pretty cool, I'm glad I saw it. The visual style is striking and something about how unlikable the characters are made me enjoy it a lot. The main character is so horrible and narcissistic plus the film has over the top gore/sex, which if you're in the mood for it is pretty entertaining. It's hedonistic and has a pretty fun spin on the vampire genre, even though the last parts of the film kind of land a bit flat for me. 3/5 2) Vivarium Lorcan Finnegan  It's not cruel, it's just nature. I'm always into films which mess with the idea of parenthood/motherhood specifically being something horrific and Vivarium nails it. The film has a great concept, it's visuals are surreal which adds to the unnerving feeling and at no point did you feel it was dragging. 4/5 thrashingteeth fucked around with this message at 22:01 on Sep 28, 2020 |
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Sep 28, 2020 21:57
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1. Sputnik (2020) - A very well made creature feature. The cast, gore, creature design were all great. The downside was the rather unremarkable script. It doesn't cover any new ground which felt like a bit of waste of the rather unique and beautiful creature and its physiology. It does have an emotionally sweet ending that I liked and overall was an enjoyable flick. 3.5/5
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Sep 28, 2020 22:15
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7. Maniac Cop 2 (1990) Watched On: Shudder A first time watch for me in spite of seeing the original a few times. I know Robert Davi is some kind of Sinatra worshipping shithead these days but seriously, this movie came out in 1990 and he's dressed like it's 1939. I wouldn't exactly call this a good movie but they are relentless with the stunt work. Car chases, car crashes, stunt people flying out windows, and so many explosions. That long scene of Cordell on fire towards the end was sure something too. This was at least just fun as hell to watch... and oh my god a movie tie-in rap song during the credits. Amazing.
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Sep 28, 2020 22:57
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Tarnop posted:5. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari Don't feel uncultured - DOTT was deliberately aiming for that style. You're close when you call it impressionistic, by the way; the style is actually called Expressionism. In an Expressionist film the mise en scene is designed to reflect the emotions of the characters. Caligari, one of the most important films of the genre, uses a crazed distortion of reality in this way to reflect the disquiet surrounding the events in the town.
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Sep 28, 2020 23:12
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 #10) Synesthesia (2005), a.k.a., Gimme Heaven This was a bit of a puzzle for me, narrative-wise. We start with the mysterious death of a foster parent, leaving a young woman reorphaned, then move on to a man with synesthesia, working as part of a group of Yakuza-employed video voyeurs (think Sliver, but city-wide). Add in a serial killer by the name of Picasso, who might also be a synesthete, and the loose threads start to connect. This was a 'go with it' movie for me, to an extent, just trying to keep up with the theme suggestions and narrative crumbs I was being given. There was clearly a lot rolling around in the scriptwriter's mind, and the set-dressers and costumers did a great job of matching that with dense visuals. Plenty to mull over, lots of implicit communication between characters (which was the main source of difficulty for me, despite the story being laid out linearly), and the twists were unpredictable. I'm gonna have to revisit this one to understand it better, but with this first viewing, I'm impressed, and feel like I'm going to be thinking about it the rest of the week. Rating: 8/10Watched on DVD
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Sep 28, 2020 23:13
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 #1) Zombie Flesh Eaters, a.k.a Zombi 2 1979, Dir. Lucio Fulci Unrivaled atmosphere is bogged down by paper-thin plotting and characters. All of the ocean shots are gorgeous. Shooting on location in NYC and Santo Domingo gives the proceedings more gravitas than if they had just stuck to the typical Italian sets. The pacing is a little out of whack; feels like it takes forever for everyone to get to the island, and then once they do get there, boom, movie over. The gore and T&A are present in ample quantities. I can only imagine what it would have been like to watch this as a 13-year old on VHS. Wiki says that the first choice for director was Enzo G. Castellari, but he turned it down. Oh, what could have been. **** (out of *****)
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Sep 28, 2020 23:16
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5, X the Unknown (1956)  Another early Hammer production this film actually got started as another Quatermass film , but Hammer was unable to secure the rights to the name Quatermass from Nigel Kneal. Nothing is really lost in it. This is like many fifties film an atomic horror picture. What's interesting to me is that this came out a full 2 years before The Blob, and its really basically The Blob. There's some nifty special effects in this that surprised me. Especially nice is a face melt that you see which I was surprised at how gorey it was for a 1950s film. Overall a tight plot with a short run time again benefits the film with there being no sub plots whatsoever. There's a Scottish dude named Haggis which I thought was funny. Some good special effects really help this with some notable miniature and projection effects that no doubt inspired a lot of the blob special effects. This film really helped cement so to speak Hammer as a horror film producer. I would say its worth checking out if you liked the Quatermass films as it has basically the same structure as those films. Unknown horror, scientist figure out how to stop it. Solid production values and while nothing to write home about some solid performances all around. 5/31
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Sep 28, 2020 23:16
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 14) Shock - 1946 - Youtube This was a rarity in being a Vincent Price film I hadn't seen yet. Storyline's a pretty average 'person sees murder committed and ends up in the clutches of the murderer'. If Price wasn't in this, it'd be forgettable. As always, Price brings his A game and makes this one worth a watch.  15) A Walking Nightmare - 1942 - Youtube This feels like an average mystery film that they weren't too confident about so they slapped in some horror elements to make sure they got butts in the seats. A wealthy banker goes missing and his friend hires a private detective/psychic to take the case. The banker turns up later as a zombie and the investigation ends up in a classic old dark house. While definitely not a good film, it's not really bad either. More along the lines of aggressively mediocre. While I wouldn't go watch it again, having it on for background noise's doable.
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Sep 28, 2020 23:20
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2)The Bridge Curse-Netflix It's not super original, in that it takes a lot from other asian horror flicks, but it mostly works for me, and pulls off kind of a neat twist, but I'd have to rewatch to see if it cheats at all.I don't think it does, but I also might not have been paying close enough attention. It bounces between a documentary crew in the present researching some college kids who were all found to have committed suicide after participating in an urban legend ritual on a bridge. Walk up the stairs at midnight on a leap year. there's an extra step. but don't turn back or you'll get yours. it sort of plays fast and loose with being found footage, because it mostly isn't. That said it's still pretty decent. There's nothing too bad about it, even if it doesn't reinvent the wheel /5count so far 2/31: Haunt, The Bridge Curse
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Sep 28, 2020 23:22
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 Fade to Black (1980) "I only wanted your autograph." I have conflicted feelings about this movie. I think the premise is cool - a guy who spends all of his time watching and obsessing over movies, through a series of events, snaps and starts killing people in reference-y ways - and I love the look of it all. Dennis Christopher is having a good time doing bad Cagney impressions and I loved the Mummy scene. My problem is that they want you to feel for Eric, but he gives off big incel vibes and it turns me off. Consider the scene where he jerks off to a Marilyn Monroe poster while mumbling about the 'loving bitch' who stood him up (with a horror classic on in the background)... felt a little too Todd Phillips for me. It's just really uneven. And that's not even getting into the disaster of a character that is Dr. Moriarty. 3/5SA October Horror Challenge Count: 5/40
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Sep 28, 2020 23:50
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 4. Jeepers Creepers - Dir: A Piece of poo poo - 2001 What a movie. I think its still one of the best of the early 2000's horror. It slyly borrows from so many sources and its super lean and does what it wants to do with a lot of great gags and tricks. I was really ready to just hate this thing out of pure spite, but goddammit. I'll just focus on everyone else in the physical production of this movie and applaud them for the work. Anyone else associated with this film can go burn in hell!
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Sep 29, 2020 00:28
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Jeepers Creepers is the best first half of a movie of the early 2000s. After the monster reveal it lost me.
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Sep 29, 2020 00:29
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Jedit posted:Don't feel uncultured - DOTT was deliberately aiming for that style. Thanks for that. Feels nice to know someone's reading, and I appreciate the notes
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Sep 29, 2020 00:44
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NUMBER 1 FULCI FAN posted:Jeepers Creepers is the best first half of a movie of the early 2000s. After the monster reveal it lost me. The monster design is not nearly as cool as the marketing thinks it is.
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Sep 29, 2020 00:44
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6. Quatermass 2 (1957) The second Quatermass film from Hammer. Apparently it was quite successful but Curse of Frankenstein came out the same month and made mad cash so Hammer decided to chase down that gothic horror dollar. Brian Donlevy returns as Quatermass, rear end in a top hat scientist. No seriously he's kind of a rear end in a top hat to everyone in this film. I think that's part of his charm. Also, according to Nigel Kneal Dulvaney was still the wrong choice for Quatermass, apparently and this is according multiple people Donley was a functional alcoholic. He turns in a great performance though as Quatermass and its to bad he didn't return in Quatermass and the Pit. The set up here is a Invasion of the Body Snatchers alien invasion. Its pretty light on the horrific elements but when they do turn up they're really well done with the aliens looking well alien not like little green men. Overall its my least favorite of the 3 Quatermass films with Quatermass and the Pit being my favorite. Still it's worth checking out and the sets , production values are pretty decent , acting is good, and the pace like all Hammer Horror at that time is fairly brisk. Also there' some well done miniature effects and matte paintings. 6/31
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Sep 29, 2020 00:49
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TheKingslayer posted:The monster design is not nearly as cool as the marketing thinks it is. I don't love the monster but I think by the time he shows up you're invested enough in the brother and sister that they carry it. I love the ending of the film. Its a very powerful moment and I'm sad Gina Philips never did much beyond it. But its tough for me to appreciate the film anymore because of... you know... pedophiles.
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Sep 29, 2020 00:52
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Jeepers Creepers is a great 20 minute short film with a mediocre feature film wrapped around it.
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Sep 29, 2020 01:04
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2) Dave Made A Maze (2017) Starting to go through my backlog of unwatched discs with this surreal horror comedy. I enjoyed it and I admire its imagination - it's a bit of a coincidence that I was just talking about Caligari, because it definitely has an Expressionist feel to it. And it has a couple of exceptionally well done scenes, such as when they find Puppet Brynn. However, there were a few things about it that I really wasn't comfortable with. The Maze is a reflection of Dave's mind, filled with all manner of things from his life. So what does it mean that the vagina is a trap that everyone has to be warned away from, and that Dave "learned this the hard way" by touching it? The most obvious interpretation is that he's blaming his girlfriend for his own failure to complete anything, a narrative which isn't exactly countered by her constantly arguing with him when he says he needs to complete the Maze.
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Sep 29, 2020 01:04
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Dave Made a Maze is cute and I don't think the themes are too overt to take away from it too much, but yeah, I don't think its perspective is a healthy one.
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Sep 29, 2020 01:11
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 #11) Annabelle (2014) A little more life and shading to it than The Conjuring, but still an absolutely cookie-cutter haunting movie. The reduced stakes don't do it any favors, and are the main reason why I'd rate this lower, but I do feel like it gets a little more mileage out of the time period dressing, not that that affects anything more than communications availability. Only the slightest feeling of tension, deflated by the blatant telegraphing of every development, because why work for that when you can just throw another jump-scare at the camera? Actively regressive/antagonistic against possible depth to its story. Rating: 5/10Watched on gey muckle mowser Blu-ray (despite my dislike of this movie, thank you, GMM!)
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Sep 29, 2020 01:12
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 2) Annabelle "Mothers are closer to God than any other living creature." Huh? I don't get why they made the cult seem similar to the Mansons in name, because nothing else is similar. Also the audio levels are so uneven, and I got jump scared by the musical cues more often than the visuals themselves. The beginning of the film is good at building tension, with the jiffy-pop vs sewing machine and the quick cuts, but I don't feel like anything else hit that hard until the climax of the movie. And it was still jumpscares, not tension building. I like visually that the cult woman keeps showing up with/as the doll, but then that doesn't link up at all with their demon possession deal; I don't think the demon would continue to use her form after her body was no longer there. Another nitpick - Mia's doing all this research into the supernatural and demons, but you never see her even attempt any warding or cleansing etc. I'm already so tired of the "magical black person" trope and it's not even October. Alfre Woodard is so good as Evelyn. (I love her monologue about her daughter) But her martyring at the end seems to fall a little flat. You do sit with that kind of grief forever, but that doesn't immediately translate as "I'm cool to die whenever on a whim." At least Father Perez kinda connects the end to the beginning with another quip about good and mothers. Also I could not for the life of me stop thinking about Rosemary's Baby because the apartment seems so similar, even though the two are nothing alike. Bechdel Test: pass 2/5
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Sep 29, 2020 01:22
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 16) The Devil Bat - 1940 - DVD To absolutely no one here's surprise, after seeing this one as a little kid, I wanted a devil bat of my own. I would've named him Bosco and we would've watched horror movies together and get Dracula pops from the Ice Cream Man and... Okay, I still would like a devil bat of my own. Overall, movie's not bad. It's a slightly better than average entry into the Mad Scientist subgenre in that the scientist has a better motivation for his actions aside from 'because I can'. He feels he's been taken advantage of by the cosmetics company he's designed formulas for so he trains bats to attack whoever smells like a special aftershave he made for this. I do feel the humor element dragged and the film would've been better without it. I know it was the style at the time to have the goofy humor character in nearly everything, but I think it detracted more than it worked.  17) Monster on Campus - 1958 - TubiTV This was a pretty standard drive-in era science gone wrong film, but seeing as Jack Arnold directed, it's a puzzle that the man who gave us Creature from the Black Lagoon and Incredible Shrinking Man gave us this. The biggest flaw the movie has is the same one that comes up anytime evolutionary regression's shown and that's it's always shown wrong. *gives Star Trek the stinkeye* I've taken a bunch of classes where evolution's been covered even taking into account what the theories of the day were and it's always jump straight to neandertal and even then, they get the look wrong. This is probably a no big deal for most people, but for me it makes my eye twitch. Still, with that said, this is perfectly fine for a drive-in movie marathon with ample beer. M_Sinistrari fucked around with this message at 02:17 on Sep 29, 2020 |
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Sep 29, 2020 01:48
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I'll do 31 without binging trash from the bowels of Prime. 1. Scary Stories  Documentary on the Alvin Schwartz books. As much as I love the books, there's a whole lot of nothing here. There's a series of segments on the book being banned in the 80s, focused particularly on one school in Seattle, but the documentary's coverage is incredibly superficial. There's also a very brief segment where contemporary authors talk about finding the line with horror for elementary school students. That could be quite interesting, but it's dropped in a minute. Instead, we mostly get Schwartz's son talking about his life as the son of a moderately famous author. R.L. Stine stands in as a children's horror author and relays such fascinating anecdotes as "People said I was Stephen King for children. One time I saw Stephen King and told him that people say I was like him for children. He said, 'I know.'" The rest of the runtime is padded out by a whole lot of people showing up, saying they liked the books, and disappearing forever; a woman getting a tattoo; and Schwartz's teenage grandson letting the world know he's the cool Scary Stories guy. 1/5
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Sep 29, 2020 02:02
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