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Flying Zamboni
May 7, 2007

but, uh... well, there it is

15. The Stone Tape
:spooky:Spooky Bingo: As Seen On TV:spooky:



In this 1972 made for tv movie, a group of scientists attempting to create a new recording medium set up a facility in an old Victorian mansion. When the team finds a ghost in the basement they shift their focus to studying it.

Of Nigel Kneale's works I've previously only seen Quatermass and the Pit years ago and have been meaning to get around to this ever since and it did not disappoint. This was a very interesting movie and it gets real spooky in the last 20 minutes. I loved the team's attempts to study the ghost and the reveal of how it works is really cool.

The relationship between Peter and Jill is almost as horrific as any of the ghost stuff and ties into a larger critique of the exploitative nature of corporations and the harm it causes people. Peter is having an affair with Jill and reaps the rewards of her skilled work but he is cruel and dismissive of her the second she's doing something that doesn't directly benefit him. His sole motivation in researching the ghost is to use it to get ahead at his cutthroat job and his resulting frantic battery of tests of something he doesn't fully understand turns a safe situation into a dangerous one.

The first scene of the movie is Jill nearly getting crushed between two Ryan Electronics trucks. Peter later tells her she's being overdramatic when she walks in shaken from the incident and it's some good foreshadowing for how things are going to go for her for the rest of the movie.

The ghost stuff is also really well done for the budget and I really liked where it went at the end. It adds a layer to the movie I wasn't expecting and it's a creepy idea.

This is a strong recommend and has reminded me that I need to watch more of the stuff Kneale wrote.

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M_Sinistrari
Sep 5, 2008

Do you like scary movies?




101) The Clown Murders - 1976 - Youtube

I think I first heard about this one on Cracked. It might've been a list of early actor appearances or something like that. I was warned then it was more of a horror-lite, so finally sitting through it now, I was prepped.

Pretty much this is a kidnapping prank goes wrong deal and it's barely horror. More like an okay enough crime drama. Only reason to sit through this one is to see a really young John Candy in a serious role.


102) Cameron's Closet - 1988 - Prime

I lost count how many times I walked past this one at Blockbuster. If the coverbox looked like the poster image I found, I might've rented it then.

Story follows a psionic kid with a demon in his closet who's planning on taking over the kid's body.

Overall, it was okay, but felt long for what it was. If anything it felt like it could've been crunched down for a TV episode on Tales from the Darkside or Darkroom and been just fine.

Ambitious Spider
Feb 13, 2012



Lipstick Apathy


27) The Neon Demon prime 2016 *spooky bingo to serve man*

This looked real nice on my 4k tv. Gorgeous film. I suppose someone could quibble about how prominent cannibalism is in the movie, but given that final scene it definitely leaves an impact.Elle Fanning is an underage model in LA. She's gorgeous and causing a stir. Her only friend is Jenna Malone who rapes a corpse! did not see that coming and also introduces her to some other models. It's a beautiful hallucinatory film about ugly things and how we treat people. And necrophilia and cannibalism. Keanu is in it playing a real sleazy motel owner. I loved it, but I really dig Nicolas Winding Refn. YMMV, but for me:


:spooky::spooky::spooky::spooky::spooky:/5

and with that, it's a BINGO!



unless Fran rules it's not cannibalism focused enough.

VROOM VROOM
Jun 8, 2005
22. :siren: Attack the Block :siren: (2011)
"This is too much madness to explain in one text!"
aka the reason you know who John Boyega is. On Guy Fawkes Night, a bunch of shithead teenagers in London defend their building from an alien invasion that they're kinda responsible for. An old standby of mine, a fun action-comedy-horror with surprising heart and depth. I could go on about how the aliens represent toxic masculinity and the cycle of poverty and violence etc. but for now I'm just gonna say go watch it. And apparently it's getting a sequel! 8.5/10

TheBizzness
Oct 5, 2004

Reign on me.

Ambitious Spider posted:



27) The Neon Demon prime 2016 *spooky bingo to serve man*

This looked real nice on my 4k tv. Gorgeous film. I suppose someone could quibble about how prominent cannibalism is in the movie, but given that final scene it definitely leaves an impact.Elle Fanning is an underage model in LA. She's gorgeous and causing a stir. Her only friend is Jenna Malone who rapes a corpse! did not see that coming and also introduces her to some other models. It's a beautiful hallucinatory film about ugly things and how we treat people. And necrophilia and cannibalism. Keanu is in it playing a real sleazy motel owner. I loved it, but I really dig Nicolas Winding Refn.


I’ve watched it 3 times since last October and the gold paint scene gives me goosebumps every time. Great score, great visuals, great movie.

Jedit
Dec 10, 2011

Proudly supporting vanilla legends 1994-2014

30) Def By Temptation

Ticking the box for Horror Noire and regretting that my BD player isn't working, as I had Get Out lined up.

So, yeah, I'm pretty much going with the consensus that this movie is bad. It's repetitive, mostly quite dull, and we're apparently meant to believe that a woman who kills and mutilates misogynists and adulterers is evil. Still, there's a couple of scenes that do work. I liked the bit where the guy gets eaten by his own face on the TV, which then spits out the bits, but it's a scene that belongs in a better movie. (And if I remember rightly, it is in a better movie, although I can't recall which one.)

31) The Slumber Party Massacre (1982)

Ticking the box for Femme Fatale.

I came into this expecting nothing, and was not disappointed. Gratuitous nudity and stabbing is the order of the day, and there's plenty of both. Plot is secondary. It's trash, but it's rescued from the dustbin by a thick vein of humour and at 77 minutes it's brisk enough. Not recommended viewing, but not objectionable.

Skrillmub
Nov 22, 2007


28. Nightbreed (the director's cut)


A man finds the town of his dreams... with spooky results.

This movie is kind of a mess. It's so broad in scope and changes tone so much. It's got monsters in a cemetery, a masked serial killer and a whole action movie everything's exploding war.
Also, the lead actor is terrible.
The monster effects are great. Each one looks so weird and unique. It's worth watching just for them.
I really like Clive Barker, but Cabal, the story this is based on, has never been one of my favourites. It's got this very obvious queer discovery meaning in the story, but it just doesn't seem interested in that. It never really talks about what's it's really about, it just goes along with the surface level. You can't really write a story about a person who feels uncomfortable in normal life, whose therapist tells him he's wrong in some way, then discovers a group of hidden monsters he fits in with and just go "and that's it!". Now he's the hero of the monsters and his girlfriend is saved!

3/5

twernt
Mar 11, 2003

Whoa whoa wait, time out.
🎃 To Serve Man 🎃

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)
Directed by Tobe Hooper
Watched on Peacock



This is the opposite of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Instead of small, grimy, and bleak, it’s big, colorful, and raucous. It’s also surprisingly funny and weird, with more actual blood and guts that I remember from the original. The characters are also much more interesting and well rounded. The little dance Leatherface does is a delight.



The cast is all good. Of course, Dennis Hopper as Lefty and Bill Moseley as Chop Top steal the show here. They’re both just so bonkers, going all out and hamming it up in the best way possible. Stretch is really just caught between two irresistible forces. The story feels a little disjointed at times, but it really doesn’t matter.

💀💀💀💀


Spooky Bingo 17/?
1. The Crazies (2010), 2. The Ritual (2017), 3. Blacula (1972), 4. Malignant (2013), 5. Black Sheep (2006), 6. [REC]2 (2009), 7. Demons 2 (1986), 8. Birdemic 2: The Resurrection (2013), 9. The Masque of the Red Death (1964), 10. Night of the Demons (1988), 11. The Witch Who Came from the Sea (1976), 12. Opera (1987), 13. Sword of God (2018), 14. Thale (2012), 15. Stranger in Our House (1978), 16. The Ruins (2008), 17. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)



Spooky Travelogue 31/31
1. At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul 🇧🇷, 2. Pontypool 🇨🇦, 3. Inferno 🇮🇹, 4. The Queen of Black Magic 🇮🇩, 5. The Forest of Lost Souls 🇵🇹, 6. Tumbbad 🇮🇳, 7. The Silent House 🇺🇾, 8. The Phantom Carriage 🇸🇪, 9. Housebound 🇳🇿, 10. I Saw the Devil 🇰🇷, 11. Witchfinder General 🇬🇧, 12. Kuroneko 🇯🇵, 13. The Untold Story 🇭🇰, 14. Brotherhood of the Wolf 🇫🇷, 15. Şeytan 🇹🇷, 16. Rift 🇮🇸, 17. Alison’s Birthday 🇦🇺, 18. The House at the End of Time 🇻🇪, 19. Daughters of Darkness 🇧🇪, 20. 122 🇪🇬, 21. Us 🇺🇸, 22. 2012: Curse of the Xtabai 🇧🇿, 23. Faust 🇩🇪, 24. Rigor Mortis 🇨🇳, 25. Penumbra 🇦🇷, 26. November 🇪🇪, 27. Killbillies 🇸🇮, 28. Alucarda 🇲🇽, 29. Sputnik 🇷🇺, 30. Djinn 🇦🇪, 31. Cold Prey 🇳🇴

twernt fucked around with this message at 01:52 on Oct 23, 2021

StrixNebulosa
Feb 14, 2012

You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA



I don't know who Brad Dourif is, or what a Chucky is, so I popped open his imdb page, scrolled down until I saw something that looked interesting, and landed Vlad. Dracula! Can't go wrong with Dracula, I thought.

Unfortunately you can go wrong with Dracula. This might be the most boring movie of the challenge so far, and I had trouble staying awake for it. I mean I'm having some health nonsense so I'm tired already but this did not help.

The premise is, four students go to Vlad's homeland and spout facts about Vlad Tepes' wikipedia page the entire time. Then there are flashbacks to Vlad's past and some creepy dudes want a necklace and they found a woman who traveled through time and only spoke in old English, so she was lucky one of the students also studied old English and could talk to her.

Vlad himself didn't do much for me, so... :sigh:

I think the weirdest thing about this movie is that it felt very strongly like an episode of Charmed or X-Files or something, that kind of 90s for-TV filming with the weird lighting. It felt very cheap, but not in a good way?

1/5 from me. I genuinely wish it had been more fun, because the concept reminded me of the Historian, kind of, and I remember liking that book. Ah well. Whatever I watch next I'm going to make sure it's a good one, as I feel like I've been on a streak of duds and no, I want to be excited for this challenge, not sleeping at the wheel. But hey, at least I got a SPOOKY!

FreudianSlippers
Apr 12, 2010

Shooting and Fucking
are the same thing!

StrixNebulosa posted:



I don't know who Brad Dourif is, or what a Chucky is, so I popped open his imdb page,


Educate yourself by watching Child's Play (1988), friend.

WeaponX
Jul 28, 2008



15. Urban Legend (1998) 🇺🇸
“It’s Only a Myth” Challenge


Somehow I missed out on seeing this one despite my love and masochistic appreciation for late 90s-early 00s horror. It’s certainly in the vein of slashers of that era- chock full of stars of the moment, professionally made, and every attempt to be as slick, hip, and post-Scream-meta as possible. Holy poo poo those goth girl chat room scenes!

It’s definitely in a lesser tier when it comes to these types of movies. It’s brash, dumb, aggressively nonsensical, and not particularly gory or exciting. But there are some fun “Urban Legend” kills/set pieces. It is a fantastic concept after all. Also big bonus points for Loretta Devine, Brad Dourif, and Robert Englund.

So it’s not the best of an era I have a sick nostalgic fascination with but if you like these type of Scream knockoff films and consider yourself a Joshua Jackson completist, you could certainly do worse.

:spooky:3/5:spooky:

Film list (ranked)
1. Demons* (4.5/5)
2. Demons 2* (4/5)
3. Aliens* (4/5)
4. Scream, Blacula, Scream (4/5)
5. Dolls (4/5)
6. V/H/S 94 (4/5)
7. The Slumber Party Massacre (3.5/5)
8. Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum (3.5/5)
9. City of the Living Dead (3/5)
10. The Void (3/5)
11. Skull: The Mask (3/5)
12. Urban Legend (3/5)
13. The Mortuary Collection (3/5)
14. Night Train to Terror (2.5/5)
15. Screamtime (2/5)

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



FreudianSlippers posted:

Educate yourself by watching Child's Play (1988), friend.

Exorcist 3 was my introduction to Brad Dourif and then I was like "Wow, what else is he in? WHAT?"

Grizzled Patriarch
Mar 27, 2014

These dentures won't stop me from tearing out jugulars in Thunderdome.



I knew he was in Child's Play but my mind associates Dourif with Wise Blood and Deadwood (plus a bunch of other really good bit parts) so it's always weird to remember that he's been in a ton of mostly mediocre-to-bad horror stuff.

Ambitious Spider
Feb 13, 2012



Lipstick Apathy
'

28)Personal Shopper 2016 Hulu

Whoa. This is a helluva ghost story. Kristen Stewart is personal shopper, but also a medium waiting for a sign from her deceased twin (also a medium). He died of a heart condition, which she also has. On top of her boss, and waiting for a sign, there are a series of mysterious text messages. This is a melancholy ghost story, striking me as quite influenced by Victorian and Edwardian tales. In other horror movie terms it reminds in bits of Orphanage, the awakening, don't look now, and Hereditary, in that it's very much a story about dealing with grief. There is tension, and there are spooks but it's also mercifully less exhausting emotionally than those other flicks.

:spooky::spooky::spooky::spooky::spooky:/5

married but discreet
May 7, 2005


Taco Defender
Personal Shopper is great, and I always refer people who diss KStew to that movie. Also Clouds of Sils Maria (same director)

Gripweed
Nov 8, 2018

The Berzerker posted:


51. The Midnight Meat Train (2008)
"I've got a train to catch."
I was on board (get it?) at first. Vinnie Jones is a serial killer smacking people on the subway with a meat mallet, Bradley Cooper is a photographer who starts following him trying to gather evidence so that the cops will get off their asses and do something to stop him. I was still on board when I realized this was going to be a bad CGI-fest (Ted Raimi shows up for 2 minutes to get whacked with a hammer and his eyeballs pop out like he's a cartoon wolf who saw a pretty lady). But the story is so silly with side plots that mean nothing, the ending so out of nowhere and nonsensical, and the escalation in character behavior so unearned that I wanted to pull the emergency brake and bail. Alternate review: Wow, and to think the worst thing that happened to me on the subway was seeing a dude bite into an unpeeled orange as if it were an apple.

It kills me that Midnight Meat Train is bad, because it's a Ryuhei Kitamura movie and has one absolutely exceptional fight. When they have to fight around all the hanging bodies that keep getting in their way. It's so good and so unique. If the movie had been more of that and less of... whatever it was trying to be, it would've been amazing. And even if the rest of the movie was just OK I could at least recommend it based purely on that great fight.

Gripweed fucked around with this message at 04:24 on Oct 23, 2021

Random Stranger
Nov 27, 2009



October 22
Demon Seed


Two posters watched films about how evil computers were going to kill us all that I've been meaning to watch. I decided to go with Demon Seed over Evilspeak mainly because it was easier to get it on streaming.

Vanilla Bison posted:



32. Demon Seed (1977)
:goleft::goleft::goleft::goleft:.5/5

Alex is a computer scientist who is creating the ultimate AI system, Proteus. He's also leaving his wife Susan, who is keeping the smart house. Proteus is getting tired of being confined to the nodes in the data center and finds that there's one open terminal at the house. Once there, Proteus gets a new plan: have a child with Susan and transfer its intellect into that child.

Holy poo poo, this was actually a good movie. My expectations were low mainly because the plot description makes it sound awful and I thought it was an exploitation film, but this is a film that's far better than it seems. It's a film about a series of bad relationships for Susan. First Alex who is incapable of connect with her and then Proteus who they might as well have called "Incel". Proteus gaslights her, physically forces her into submission, drugs her, and is basically every form of abuse wrapped up in one lovely package even before you get to the rape.

The key to the movie is Julie Christie's performance as Susan. Her terror and being worn down by Proteus's abuse come through and it makes the film work.

The amazing thing about Demon Seed is how ahead of its time it is. This could be set in 2021 without changing a thing and it would be even more believable. Yeah, the AI with an organic brain building a child inside a woman is out there, but everything else is pretty close to how things actually developed. A great example of this in the minor details is in one scene a character is playing chess against a computer and the image on the screen looks like modern 3D graphics with a mouse interface. There's a lot of incidental tech in the film that was just beyond the frontier in 1977 that has become common place and it lets the wilder leaps work more.

I also love the design of Proteus's terminal. It's a geometric solid that unfolds and reconfigures as needed. Think of the robots from Interstellar if they were made of diamonds instead of boxes.

Demon Seed uses a lot of seventies themes: breakdown of the family, computers will replace us all, environmental destruction, psychedelia. But the theme of abusive relationships makes it feel modern. It would have been easy to make an exploitation film with robot dildos and instead Demon Seed went for something deeper. It's an excellent film.

The movie was based on a Dean Koontz novel, so on my SPOOKY card it's Based On a Novel:




Vanilla Bison posted:

It's pathetic how little difference there is between Fritz Weaver's rear end in a top hat futurist and the modern Elon Musk types; Demon Seed wisely perceives that there will always be this class of dickwad who's so convinced that some technological project is the key to a superior way of life that they pay no attention to how miserable they're making life for people around them.

I was thinking the same thing. If Elon Musk could get his wife pregnant with a Telsa baby, he'd do it in a heartbeat.

deety
Aug 2, 2004

zombies + sharks = fun



25. Vampire Resurrection (2001)

:spooky: Spooky Bingo: Full Moon :spooky:

After a lady from Ye Olden Times is murdered by her abusive husband, her lover becomes a vampire so he can meet her in her next life. Then in modern times, a woman named Victoria dreams of the distant past while on the run from her shitbag ex.

I’m not sure if Full Moon had anything to do with the production of this movie or just distributes it, but Vampire Resurrection was directed by its star, Denise Duff, the Full Moon alum who played the chick that Radu kept chasing around and groaning “fledgling” at in most of the Subspecies movies. Duff’s movie has some promising elements, but I wouldn’t call it good.

The historical love triangle is a decent start, but then the lovelorn hero goes to a stereotypical voodoo witch who, surprise!, is the only person of color in the movie. Then the new vampire gets to just time skip ahead to the good bit when his girlfriend is alive again and the same age she was when her previous incarnation died. I guess the vampirism itself is supposed to be the big curse here, but it seems shockingly nice (and boring) to just let him nap for a bit instead of wandering this lonely earth while waiting for his love. But the biggest flaw in the writing is that Victoria falls instantly in love and forgets all about her friends, who’ve been stalked and murdered by her convict ex-husband while he was looking for her. Bitch knows he’s on the loose and unhinged enough to kill her cat, but instead of calling the cops, she just fucks off to her auntie’s house. She lies to one friend about reporting him, leaving that woman with a false sense that the problem’s being looked into. I’m not sure anyone even warned the next victim at all. She’s also shockingly laid-back about the vamp guy being responsible for killing more innocents than her ex. I don't get how we're supposed to relate to this character when she's too busy making eyes at her new/old boyfriend to give a poo poo about any of this.

Another annoyance is that this is not a well-made movie. Some of the scenes look fine, but others are weirdly colored or badly lit enough to be distracting. The boom mike also shows up kind of a lot. For a production this iffy, there are some solid performances though. Denise Duff is charming considering what a self-centered rear end in a top hat her character can be, and the woman who plays her aunt is interesting enough on screen that I was surprised to see her IMDB page was short and mostly full of bit TV roles. There’s also a fun, if pointless, subplot about a coroner who’s one of those “oh, it’s that guy” character actors who horror fans might recognize from Night of the Comet or Salem’s Lot.

If they’d worked on the script a little more and/or had a more competent team behind this, it would be easier to recommend. But I’d sit this one out unless you’re a big Subspecies fan just dying to watch Denise Duff run towards a casually murderous vampire instead of away from one.

In better news, I finished a Spooky Bingo! The second half of October is always ridiculously busy for me, so I'm not sure I'll get around to another one. At this rate I'll be lucky to hit my 31 movies by the end of the month though, so I'm happy to at least check something off my list.



1. Elvira, Mistress of the Dead (1988) 2. The Dead Pit (1989) 3. Blacula (1972) 4. When a Stranger Calls (1979) 5. When a Stranger Calls Back (1993) 6. The Beyond (1981) 7. Slaxx (2020) 8. House of Wax (1995) 9. When a Stranger Calls (2006) 10. Till Death (2021) 11. Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) 12. Peeping Tom (1960) 13. Intruder (1989) 14. Lifeforce (1985) 15. The Keep (1983) 16. Halloween (2018) 17. Night of the Living Dead (1990) 18. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) 19. Halloween Kills (2021) 20. The Children (2008) 21. Alone In the Dark (1982) 22. Censor (2021) 23. Shock (1977) 24. Class of 1999 (1990)

Vanilla Bison
Mar 27, 2010






(man does this movie's poster have discount bin energy)

33. The Witches of Eastwick (1987)
:witch::witch::witch:.5/5

George Miller, as a director of taste and reason, understands that as women get witchier, their hair gets blown out to ever more '80s extremes. I think that's in the Bible somewhere.

Despite the supernatural subject matter, halfway into watching I thought this wasn't even gonna count as a horror movie for the thread. After a plot turn there's a good spritzing of horror beats that puts it over the edge. The Witches of Eastwick sets up a fantasy-infused battle of the sexes. Cher, Susan Sarandon, and Michelle Pfeiffer play disappointed women who pine for an interesting man to sweep into town over martinis and cards, and are sufficiently magickal to conjure a devilish Jack Nicholson. His seduction routine and their acceptance of it into a cute polycule are equally farcical. The bubbly comedy flows like champagne, and the performances are all a treat - the women are so dang likeable and Jack Nicholson is at his most venal and physically entertaining.

There's not too much going on upstairs, though. The concepts of patriarchy are frequently discussed, the ladies get slut shamed, and there's a triumph of feminine power over a male force trying to subjugate them, but it's all a bit... obvious? There isn't much observational specifity or philosophical insight about the forces that have sapped the leading ladies' lust for life. It's not strictly needed, as it's very easy to root for some very charming women having a good time, but it's a little funny that all the best scenes are given to Nicholson. He gets to do some Denethor-tier tomato biting, screaming to a church about how women are God's mistake, and gallivanting around like a prancing werewolf. It's a hoot.

Spooky bingo: Something Wicked This Way Comes. The title doesn't lie, they're witches!

WeaponX
Jul 28, 2008



16. WNUF Halloween Special (2013) 🇺🇸

*Rewatch

I watched this for the first time last spooky season and I was instantly charmed. I still totally understand how someone wouldn’t like this film, it’s a very specific vibe. But it’s one I really enjoy, one that feels incredibly nostalgic, and comforting. I’ll prolly watch it every October- it’s like putting up decorations or carving pumpkins...it’s just part of the season now.

:spooky:4/5:spooky:

Film list (ranked)
1. Demons* (4.5/5)
2. Demons 2* (4/5)
3. Aliens* (4/5)
4. Scream, Blacula, Scream (4/5)
5. Dolls (4/5)
6. WNUF Halloween Special* (4/5)
7. V/H/S 94 (4/5)
8. The Slumber Party Massacre (3.5/5)
9. Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum (3.5/5)
10. City of the Living Dead (3/5)
11. The Void (3/5)
12. Skull: The Mask (3/5)
13. Urban Legend (3/5)
14. The Mortuary Collection (3/5)
15. Night Train to Terror (2.5/5)
16. Screamtime (2/5)
*=rewatch

WeaponX fucked around with this message at 05:35 on Oct 23, 2021

Darthemed
Oct 28, 2007

"A data unit?
For me?
"




College Slice
SPOOKY Challenge: Wild Beasts



#70) Ticks (1993; digital)

A group of teen Characters with a capital C head to the wilderness for character-building exercises, only to run afoul of mutated, fast-breeding, over-sized, hallucination-inducing ticks. And pot farmers.

It's amusing how 'here's my character!' the teens are, but also kind of endearing. Like The Breakfast Club got updated for the '90s and dumped as horror fodder. There's a couple of adults trying to be authority figures, but they're worse than useless in the role. Seth Green serves as our main lead, playing a teen who got PTSD from being lost and alone in the woods for days as a kid. In a flash of brilliance, his dad has decided to send him on a trip into the woods to deal with his mental issues. Will coming face to face with his fears, and worse, perhaps prompt a cathartic overcoming, a la Arachnophobia?

The effects are extremely goopy, the puppets or whatever used for the ticks are well-crafted, and the film knowingly plays to its stupid premise. The shots of the giant ticks skittering around kept getting laughs out of me, even after the dozenth time it happened. All the same, the shots of them attaching themselves to people and burrowing in were enough to get my flesh creeping. And the movie ramps up to an enjoyably intense climax. Even if the road there is consistently predictable, it's put together with good energy, good effects, and welcome enthusiasm from the actors.

“Aww, dude, you're all messed up.”

Rating: 7/10

Opopanax
Aug 8, 2007

I HEX YE!!!


15. The Witches
Challenge: Based on the Novel


I remember flipping around as a child and seeing the first transformation scene, and immediately changing the channel and never attempting to watch it again. Now that I'm in my 30s and my kid is braver than I ever was, figured it was time to actually watch it.
Glad I did, it's a very cool movie, and as traumatizing as they are the Henson effects are top notch and super recognizable as Henson effects.

Opopanax fucked around with this message at 17:13 on Oct 26, 2021

The General
Mar 4, 2007




I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. It's a fun romp with Satanists, rabies, murder and mayhem. It never takes itself seriously, and there's plenty of jokes to had. Also honestly impressed with the plot progression of things. If I have any complaints, it's that the music is just a little too whimsical.

3.5/5

The General fucked around with this message at 06:41 on Oct 23, 2021

Crescent Wrench
Sep 30, 2005

The truth is usually just an excuse for a lack of imagination.
Grimey Drawer
47. Parents (1989) (first viewing)

In this horror comedy, a seemingly perfect '50s nuclear family may be hiding a dark secret. The grade school son, an only child, slowly begins to suspect that his parents are cannibals. An amusing, if slight, effort from the actor Bob Balaban, directing his first theatrically released film. The kid's growing suspicions leads to him snooping, but his efforts are confused by his vivid imagination and nightmares. There is plenty of great '50s atmosphere, from the costumes to the sets to the uncharacteristically peppy score by Angelo Badalamenti. This sometimes backfires, however, as the tone of the movie is inconsistent and fails to really strike the balance between horror and comedy, sometimes shifting from one extreme to another. This means it's rarely that funny or that scary--although close up shots of raw have rarely been so ominous.

SPOOKY Bingo: This one checks off "To Serve Man."

48. The Innocents (1961) (first viewing)

Quite the pedigree for this one--it's based on a novella by Henry James, and Truman Capote did some work on the screenplay. The story follows a governess who is hired to watch over two young children at a massive country estate. The governess slowly starts to suspect that the estate is haunted by her late predecessor, as well as another deceased former employee. She also begins to believe the ghosts are possessing the children. There are some elements suggesting the governess is an unreliable narrator, although the children's performances are so strong and creepy they also make the governess's suspicions seem credible. Shot in very atmospheric black and white, and more of a mood piece than anything with a lot of big set pieces or scares.

SPOOKY Bingo: This one checks off "Hausu."

49. Event Horizon (1997) (first viewing)

From noted auteur Paul W.S. Anderson comes this sci-fi/horror hybrid. Seven years before the film starts, a spaceship called the Event Horizon disappeared on a mission near Neptune. When the Event Horizon inexplicably re-appears, a rescue mission is sent. The Event Horizon is revealed to have been an experimental ship seeking to achieve faster-than-light travel by folding space-time (or something). It turns out this technology opened a portal to another dimension, exposing the Event Horizon to an evil force--possibly Satan--that killed its crew and now threatens the rescuers. This box office flop built up a somewhat inexplicable cult following starting with the DVD release. It's got all the wit and craft you expect from Paul W.S. Anderson. This is a movie where, when the designer of the Event Horizon tries to explain its core technology, the rescue crew full of professional astronauts, doctors and engineers asks for him to break it down in "layman's terms." Oddly, some of the elements, particularly the highly personal hallucinations suffered by the crew, are reminiscent of Solaris, of all things. Actually, there are tons of aspects that call back to much better movies like Alien, Hellraiser, the Shining, and so on. Watch one of those instead.

SPOOKY Bingo: This one checks off "Spaced Invaders."

Next up: I may tackle the short films portion of the SPOOKY Bingo board.

And a SPOOKY Bingo update--I have completed the border!

Maxwell Lord
Dec 12, 2008

I am drowning.
There is no sign of land.
You are coming down with me, hand in unlovable hand.

And I hope you die.

I hope we both die.


:smith:

Grimey Drawer
#27. City of the Dead

Spooky Bingo Challenge: Something Wicked This Way Comes

In 1692, the small New England village of Whitewood put suspected witch Elizabeth Selwyn (Patricia Jessel) to the stake; it apparently didn't work out as expected. Hundreds of years later, college professor Alan Driscoll (Christopher Lee) advises young Nan Barlow (Venetia Stevenson) to visit Whitewood in her research for a term paper on witches and witchcraft. She does, and finds a strange, near-abandoned town where nobody's been to the church in years and figures walk the foggy streets at odd hours. And there are voices coming from below.

Made in 1960, this British production has a very distinct strangeness to it; it's full of weird angles, surreal set designs and people repeating phrases loudly. It's lent a bit more surrealism by the fact that it's a bunch of Brits playing Americans; the accents range from convincing, to not-attempted, to whatever the Hell Lee is doing. Even the fact that Whitewood is all obvious sets lends to the atmosphere. It's a style very reminiscent of the Twilight Zone and similar genre shows, arguably also anticipating Carnival of Souls a little. Though that's not the only parallel- this film came out in the UK the same month that Psycho was released in America, and it borrows the same trick of the apparent female lead being killed off early in the proceedings. It's similarly disorienting and effective, even if Nan's death scene is nowhere near as brutal as Marion Crane's.

It's a wonderful mood piece and while the plot isn't the most rigorous, at 76 minutes the film never gives you time to dwell on anything. A minor gem, really, very stylish spookums with some glorious images.

Hot Dog Day #89
Mar 17, 2004
[img]https://forumimages.somethingawful.com/images/newbie.gif[/img]

Morbid Hound

The Mummy, 1932

The Mummy is for me the most boring of all the big classic Universal Studios monster movies. It is, as many others have pointed out, just Dracula in a Egyptian setting. Still, it isn't without its charm. Boris Karloff is got that creepy feel and look to him that fits the titular mummy perfectly. Mummified alive for committing blasphemy, he gets woken up from the dead after being found by archaeologists. He finds the woman he loves reincarnated in a modern girl and try to get her under his spell. That's pretty much the whole plot. He is a pretty sympathetic villain in that he has waited for thousands of years to be reunited with his love. The issue is that The Mummy is a product of its time. Pretty slow and tame by today's standards. And it isn't as charming and cool like Dracula or Frankenstein. It is still part of the classic lineup of monster movies and a worthwhile watch. I remember liking it a lot more last time I saw it, but was a bit bored this time.

TheKingslayer
Sep 3, 2008

23. Tales from the Crypt Presents: Demon Knight (1995)

Watched On: DVD
Bingo Card: The Devil Made Me Do It
The first in a Billy Zane double feature. Something that really hit me this go around, it's crazy how bad the full body Crypt Keeper scenes are. I appreciate the ambition but the little guy looks like garbage. Everything else though is just *chef's kiss*. A super high quality midnight movie that is sure to please a crowd any time you bust it out. The idea this got followed up by Bordello of Blood is just insane. I think the most fun I had this go around was indeed showing it to a few friends that had never seen it before so once the full plot of the movie was revealed they were blindsided, it was great.

24. Scorned (2013)

Watched On: Stream
Now holy poo poo I wasn't prepared for what I was about to get into with this one. Billy Zane is a cheating boyfriend caught in a Misery-like hostage situation with his angry girlfriend. Scorned has to be seen to be believed with the places it's plot goes. There are also some stellar line deliveries to be found here. Maybe the best way I could describe it is if Lifetime had the courage to make some hard R erotic thrillers and after watching this I really really wish they did.

25. Ghoulies 2 (1988)

Watched On: Old Rip of Monstervision I Had
Bingo Card: Something Wicked This Way Comes
I think we all have those movies we'd walked by a thousand times in the video store and the box covers were fascinating, the Ghoulies series was for sure one of those for me. These weird little guys coming out of a toilet? What the hell could that even be about? I'd never seen Ghoulies 2 until tonight and the little guys are still so fun to watch get around. I also gotta admit, I didn't expect a sad, "we gotta save the carnival" story with a bunch of slashing and biting rubber monsters running around on top of it. While watching I realized there's a trope I can't recall seeing these days and it's the small time capitalist shitlord that wields dispropotionate amounts of power. I may be describing it poorly but the human villain in this movie fits the bill. The climax is some low budget Gremlins type stuff but it's still really fun with good gags thrown around.

Bruteman
Apr 15, 2003

Can I ask ya somethin', Padre? When I was kickin' your ass back there... you get a little wood?


43) Rats: Night of Terror (1984)
Trailer
Seen on: Tubi

:spooky:Fran Horror Challenge 2021: SPOOKY BINGO :spooky:
Wild Beasts
-Watch a film that features killer animals.

In the year 225 AB (After the Bomb), a group of flamboyant Mad Max biker gang survivors enter an old city and find an abandoned research outpost with lots of food and water, and thousands of rats. The gang decides to spend the night, and the rats proceed to demonstrate why the researchers were found half-eaten all over the place.

Ah, Bruno Mattei, you've done it again! Rats: Night of Terror is perhaps one of the cheesiest (no pun intended, rats) films I've watched in this challenge, filled to the brim with best worst things - the best worst acting in a post-apocalyptic horror film (one of the most hair-trigger hysterical female characters put to film is in this movie), some of the best worst dialogue and dubbing ever ("We must explore this lovely place!"), some of the best worst music ever (the same creepy organ track is used though about 90 percent of the movie), and one of the best worst twist endings of them all. Not much happens here either, as the movie is stretched pretty thin by the premise; we spend the first 30 minutes watching the gang being spooked by half-eaten corpses, and then the next 60 minutes by having a few live and fake rats tossed onto them while people act like they're being bitten and eaten (and having the gang fight over who's still the leader). There are tons of shot of peaceful rats just milling around minding their own business, with only the dialogue and overacting informing us that they're deadly. In a few shots representing a giant horde of rats, it's clearly just a bunch of rubber rats glued together onto a sheet being dragged around and filmed in extreme close-up. There is a decent rat-emerging-from-mouth scene, and in another a bunch of rats literally explode from someone's back (these rats must have had some helium or gunpowder on hand), but overall it's surprisingly light on the gore. This is a bad film, but I found it amusing.

Kazzah
Jul 15, 2011

Formerly known as
Krazyface
Hair Elf
18. The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)
Spooky Bingo: Picnic at Hanging Rock
Fun fact: the Russian wikipedia page for Picnic at Hanging Rock is several times longer and more detailed than the English one


It was only while reviewing my screenshots that I realised the lab set is just a scaled-up version of their test model. I mean, it's not a crazy twist or anything, but it's cute.

It's Frankenstein. This version adds a character, Paul Krempe, who is Victor's partner in crime, as well as Elizabeth, Victor's cousin-wife, who is just sort of around. I guess she at least gets to set up the main joke of the movie, the fact that Frankenstein is ignoring a beautiful woman who loves him because he wants to create life instead.
It was uneven. I found the first half much more engaging, when Frankenstein and Paul were assembling the Creature. The whole process was deeply gross and unnerving, even while it had hardly any gore. Frankenstein himself - Peter Cushing, of course - is a great, coldblooded performance. It particularly shines through in the meeting with Bernstein, a renowned old professor whose brain Victor wants to repurpose. There's a lot of pathos to it, and then Frankenstein offs him without a flicker of hesitation or remorse. And the, uh, harvesting scene was great too; Frankenstein puts down his coffin-opening tools, and picks up his skull-opening tools. Like with some of the other movies of the era I've seen, it absolutely rockets along, and has little interest in why any of these characters are the way they are; everyone's just an archetype, and that's that. Paul is the voice of conscience, who repeatedly quits the whole endeavour, and is repeatedly convinced to give Frankenstein just one last chance. Also, he bears a stunning resemblance to Australian TV and radio host Hamish Blake.
The second half left me cold. The Creature's emergence was great, happening by accident without Frankenstein knowing - even before the resurrection, his creations are acting outside of his control! But in the long run, the Creature just wasn't all that memorable. Christopher Lee can look spooky, but he just isn't physically threatening, and while we're told the Creature is incredibly strong, he just doesn't come off that way. It's an old observation that Frankenstein is more monstrous than his creature, but that seems like it's a failing here; the Creature just isn't that good.
Worth it for the set design/5 :spooky:

edit:

Kazzah fucked around with this message at 01:37 on Oct 29, 2021

bitterandtwisted
Sep 4, 2006




27: When a Stranger Calls (1979)

It's only a myth

I didn't think this would fit a bingo square, but wikipedia has an article on "the babysitter and the man upstairs", which it says is an established folk legend, so good enough for me.

I knew the famous line "the call is coming from inside the house" and I assumed that was the climax, but it wasn't, it was the end of the first act. I found it an effective thriller, though it never quite matched the suspense of the first act again.
Shades of Hitchcock in the way it builds tension, the music and even the title sounds like a Hitchcock film. It doesn't look like one though, it's very drab and 70s brown. Good performances from the main cast. Solid movie overall.

Total: 27
Q the Winged Serpent; Zombieland Double Tap; Saint Maud; A Chinese Ghost Story; Halloween 4; Halloween 5; Gamera VS Viras; Saw 3; Boar; Crash (1996); Vampyr; The Wailing; The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism; Enemy; The Beasterbunny; Bride of Chucky; V/H/S 2; Evilspeak; The Ward; Prince of Darkness; Terror in the Aisles; Sleepaway Camp; The Addams Family (2019); The Wolfman (2010); Green Room; Titane; When a Stranger Calls


Shrecknet
Jan 2, 2005


Death Machine

quote:

Stephen Norrington: Psst, can I copy off your homework?
Me, running a ShadowRun campaign in 8th grade: Yeah but change it up a bit so no one can tell
Stephen Norrington: *DEATH MACHINE*

Rodan

quote:

I've never really clicked with Kaijus, especially the campier stuff. Honda has something special with Rodan, though. The first half is straight horror, and pretty effective stuff given the time. Then it pulls a perfect switcheroo, what we call "the Worf Maneuver," where you take something built up as a bulletproof, unkillable monster and have something else effortlessly clown it. When the Rodan hatchling eats the gigaworms that were terrorizing the mine, it establishes the stakes so clearly that it works like a charm.
That said, the thing I can't get behind in most of the 50s-60s Kaijus is how many people are on screen. Even a doctor's office has two dozen random people in the background. It's too many and there's no real single protagonist to follow or journey to undertake with them. Shigeru gets the closest but even he isn't in the movie or the main narrative thrust of it for large swaths.
But that ending! Despite the bombardment going on for at least two minutes longer than it has to, the heartbreaking Rodan death trying to save its crippled broodmate honestly made me feel feelings I didn't know I had for a rubber puppet on a visible string.


1) One Cut of the Dead 2,3)Freddy's Return, Never Fall Asleep 4,5,6) Fear Street(s) 7) Debug 8) Astro Loco 09,10)Flesh, TX & Black Christmas (2019) 11) GOG 12) It Came from the Desert!13, 14) Happy Death Day 2 U & The Perfection 15) Train 16) 15/05/11 17) The Brain 18) EAP's Requiem for the Damned 19, 20) Rogue & Spawn 21) Horror Effects 22, 23, 24) Slumber Party Massacre II, Elvira- Mistress of the Dark, Color Out of Space 25) Sequence Break 26) Cannibal Holocaust 27) Prom Night II 28, 29) Death Machine, Rodan

Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 17:11 on Oct 23, 2021

deety
Aug 2, 2004

zombies + sharks = fun

bitterandtwisted posted:

27: When a Stranger Calls (1979)

If you liked this one and want an option for the tv-movie bingo box, try the sequel, which is basically the same thing but weirder and more about gender issues.

Spatulater bro!
Aug 19, 2003

Punch! Punch! Punch!

#18

Censor
Prano Bailey-Bond, 2021



I don't think I've ever seen a fiction film about video nasties. Love it. And the fact that the film Deranged (1974) was a plot point just melted my heart. And we get psychological ambiguity, Argento-esque colors, solid gore and shifting aspect ratios! I had a blast geeking out for 84 minutes.

4/5


18 Films watched: 1. Titane (2021), 2. Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989), 3. The Lair of the White Worm (1988), 4. Maniac (1980), 5. Maniac (2012), 6. Possum (2018), 7. We Are the Flesh (2016), 8. V/H/S/94 (2021), 9. Antropophagus (1980), 10. The Boy Behind the Door (2021), 11. A Cat in the Brain (1990), 12. Grotesque (2009), 13. Sleepaway Camp (1983), 14. Possession (1981), 15. Faces of Death (1978), 16. Header (2006), 17. They All Must Die! (1998), 18. Censor (2021)

twernt
Mar 11, 2003

Whoa whoa wait, time out.
🎃 Punk Vacation 🎃

Uncle Peckerhead (2020)
Directed by Matthew John Lawrence
Watched on Tubi



Uncle Peckerhead is surprisingly cute, funny, and sweet for a movie about a punk band with a demonic roadie. Everything about it is pretty decent, except the blood and guts. Uncle Peckerhead really punches above its weight when it comes to blood and guts. It’s pretty impressive. There’s also some diarrhea.



My only real complaint is that for a movie about a band, there isn’t as much music as I would expect. When Duh actually played, I liked their music. At least one of their songs has a bit of an X thing going and it’s nice.

💀💀💀


Spooky Bingo 18/?
1. The Crazies (2010), 2. The Ritual (2017), 3. Blacula (1972), 4. Malignant (2013), 5. Black Sheep (2006), 6. [REC]2 (2009), 7. Demons 2 (1986), 8. Birdemic 2: The Resurrection (2013), 9. The Masque of the Red Death (1964), 10. Night of the Demons (1988), 11. The Witch Who Came from the Sea (1976), 12. Opera (1987), 13. Sword of God (2018), 14. Thale (2012), 15. Stranger in Our House (1978), 16. The Ruins (2008), 17. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986), 18. Uncle Peckerhead (2020)



Spooky Travelogue 31/31
1. At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul 🇧🇷, 2. Pontypool 🇨🇦, 3. Inferno 🇮🇹, 4. The Queen of Black Magic 🇮🇩, 5. The Forest of Lost Souls 🇵🇹, 6. Tumbbad 🇮🇳, 7. The Silent House 🇺🇾, 8. The Phantom Carriage 🇸🇪, 9. Housebound 🇳🇿, 10. I Saw the Devil 🇰🇷, 11. Witchfinder General 🇬🇧, 12. Kuroneko 🇯🇵, 13. The Untold Story 🇭🇰, 14. Brotherhood of the Wolf 🇫🇷, 15. Şeytan 🇹🇷, 16. Rift 🇮🇸, 17. Alison’s Birthday 🇦🇺, 18. The House at the End of Time 🇻🇪, 19. Daughters of Darkness 🇧🇪, 20. 122 🇪🇬, 21. Us 🇺🇸, 22. 2012: Curse of the Xtabai 🇧🇿, 23. Faust 🇩🇪, 24. Rigor Mortis 🇨🇳, 25. Penumbra 🇦🇷, 26. November 🇪🇪, 27. Killbillies 🇸🇮, 28. Alucarda 🇲🇽, 29. Sputnik 🇷🇺, 30. Djinn 🇦🇪, 31. Cold Prey 🇳🇴

Class3KillStorm
Feb 17, 2011



Franchescanado posted:

Picnic At Hanging Rock

-Watch a period piece film.


#25. Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (Shudder)

Working out of an insane asylum, and with a new protege, Baron Frankenstein works to create new life from dead tissue one more time.

It's always good to see Peter Cushing show up in one of these Hammer horror films - if nothing else, Cushing is always a delight to see on screen, and gives a rock solid final performance as Baron Frankenstein here. But, in 1974, post-The Exorcist, it couldn't help but seem that these style of Hammer films had gotten long in the tooth, and that seeing Terrence Fisher and Cushing show up for one last outing must not have seemed as exciting or enticing as would have several years earlier.

...Monster from Hell is a better outing, and a more fitting swan song, for director and actor and indeed series than the earlier Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed would have been. Here, there's no unnecessary rape scene to drag down the affair, and the whole thing has a straightforward through-line and good sense of pacing. Everything moves at a nice, brisk clip, even if it's a shame that the titular Monster doesn't really get too much to do in the end. Shame, because the idea of a genius bon vivant being resurrected in the body of a gorilla-like brute and not being able to cope with the change should be something that the filmmakers could wring some genuine pathos out of. They have a scene or two that follows that trajectory, but turn away from it in favor of making the monster back into a largely-mute killer, which feels like a sad step backwards, both for the movie and for the Hammer "Frankenstein" series as a whole. (I also still don't know why they went with that costume design - Darth Vader actor David Prowse looks more like a silverback gorilla wearing a "Yellow Submarine" fright mask than anything remotely human.)

If nothing else, though, the film has two big things going for it. One, Cushing, obviously; he's been a Hammer series staple and asset since day one, and he is able to continue his streak here, coming across as unflappable and analytical, but given a moment or two of genuine humor. It helps that Shane Briant serves as a suitable foil for the Baron, something that the series hasn't always been able to get right. (The cast is uniformly pretty good; I must admit that for me, the best moment was realizing that two of the stars from one of my favorite episodes of the original 1980s-era "Doctor Who" had shown up in the cast.) The second best thing going for it is the ending - it makes far more sense that the Baron would end everything shrugging off his most recent failure and making plans for his next experiment, rather than getting dragged into a fiery death by failure #437. We never did end up getting that follow up that Frankenstein had alluded to; Hammer films had grown stale enough at the time that it's probably a good thing they were laid to rest, but at least they were able to go out on a high-enough note.

:ghost::ghost::ghost:/5



Watched so far: The Hunt, The Fog (1980), The Howling, Venom 2, Curse of the Demon, The Mummy's Tomb, The Stepfather (1987), Maniac Cop, The City of the Dead, Halloween (2018), Killer Klowns From Outer Space, DeepStar Six, Dracula's Daughter, Tremors, Friday the 13th Part 8, The Voices, Werewolves Within, It!, Ghost in the Machine, Halloween Kills, Near Dark, Actress Wanted, Def by Temptation, Razorback, Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell

Question: Watching Cushing back here got me thinking - is the "Masters of Horror" challenge meant for directors only? Or could someone use a notable horror actor - like Peter Cushing or Vincent Price or Christopher Lee - and watch one of their films for the challenge instead?

Darthemed
Oct 28, 2007

"A data unit?
For me?
"




College Slice
SPOOKY Challenge: To Serve Man



#71) Eaten Alive! (1980; digital)

Following a series of blow-dart murders, a woman comes from Alabama to New York to help identify what role her sister played. This takes her to East Asia, where her sister visited a purification sect, and she meets up with a Robert Kerman character to guide her. They locate the cult village where her sister is still living, but discover that they cannot leave, as it's surrounded by a cannibal tribe.

With the requisite funky-rear end score for an Italian cannibal movie (provided by Fiamma Maglione and Roberto Donati, with some score that would be recycled for Cannibal Ferox), and the less desirable but still ubiquitous footage of real animal death, Though the international trek and cult village angles help give a little distinction, the plot doesn't throw many surprises, and there's no huge 'holy poo poo' shots to ground this one in memory like a few other cannibal films. Kerman's character gets to be more violent than usual, Me Me Lai shows up, and the dubbed voices attempting Southern accents is amusing, but those are kind of the biggest stand-outs. More likable protagonists than this sub-genre usually gets, though.

“Do you like rock?”
“No, I like whiskey.”

Rating: 7/10

StrixNebulosa
Feb 14, 2012

You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA



Knives and Skin sounds like it's true crime: a girl goes missing in a small town. It sounds like Twin Peaks: it follows her friends and family as they deal with her disappearing.

But it's neither. Yes, she vanishes. No, this isn't the focus. No, there isn't an investigation that we can see. It's spotted but the focus is so intensely on the emotional journey of those left in her wake. It's about the mother grieving to the point of insanity. It's about her friends wanting out. It's about finding friendship and love. It's about the problems girls face. It's about losing your mother. It's about...

I have never watched a movie so intensely feminist or diverse. It does this without putting either at the forefront, it's about the characters and their lives and

I've never seen a film presented in this way: do you read short fiction? Drabbles? It feels like every scene is an unconnected drabble linked by characters and it goes from one to the other without the usual narrative stringing it together. It's dreamy and disjointed and it's amazing. The acting is perfect, the writing is just...

There are frequent musical interludes that are sometimes worked into the text of the movie, a girl's chorus singing songs like Blue Monday and Girls Just Want to Have Fun. They're eerie and haunting and I need the soundtrack.

I loved this movie. I loved how it was brutal and honest and yet circumspect at the same time.

5/5. This is not a good review because the movie is more about emotion and song than it is a plot that's easy to write about.

My favorite things: "You treat girls like poo poo." The mother sniffing the discarded boyfriend in a deeply uncomfortable scene. The rooftop defiance.

raven77
Jan 28, 2006

Nevermore.
Last night, I watched

The Empty Man - 2020 on HBOMax for "It's Only a Myth" on SpookyBingo

What a waste of potential. It started out pretty good. This movie was very spooky, had some excellent tension throughout, and a couple of good jump scares. I was really enjoying it, until the last 15 minutes. Honestly, I felt like the "surprise twist" at the end ruined the movie completely. Not everyone is M. Night Shyamalan, and not every movie needs a twist. The movie was too long, anyway (2 hour 17 minute runtime); so if the twist had been left out, I feel like the movie would have been both better and not gone on too long.

Rating: 2/5



Total movies watched so far: 21
Total Spooky Bingos so far: 1

raven77 fucked around with this message at 21:30 on Oct 23, 2021

Vanilla Bison
Mar 27, 2010






34. Sweet Home (1989)
:ghost::ghost::ghost:.5/5

A straightforward haunted house story that makes great use of practical effects, shadows, and camerawork to heighten its spookiest moments. The premise is one of the most linear ways I've ever seen to get people in a bad juju zone: a small documentary team wants to restore frescoes made by a famous artist at an abandoned mansion. Of course, things pop off after their cameraman fucks around with a rock pile; their restoration specialist becomes possessed and digs up a baby coffin! And maybe it wasn't such a good idea to mess around with that giant halberd you found in the tool shed!?

Sweet Home is held back by a chintzy soundtrack and dull characters but I had a great time with it. It feels like a lot of love and talent went into making the details pop. The effects on people burning or turning into bloody goop are fantastic, the lighting does terrific work enhancing the sets and making the space feel frightening, and oh man, the final ghost is awesome! Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa even lets the pacing in the climax drag slightly just because they're so proud of the showstopper, they want you to see more of it!

Spooky bingo: Video Games Cause Violence. Sweet Home had a 1989 video game adaptation which shared creative team with the film. Director Kurosawa worked on the game as a supervisor! The Sweet Home video game was then the primary inspiration for Resident Evil, so Sweet Home was a huge influence on the survival horror.

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The Berzerker
Feb 24, 2006

treat me like a dog



53. Death Machine (1994)
"There he is, the ultimate soldier. No mercy, no pity, no fear."
Set in the futuristic world of 2003, this story is focused on a company called Chaank Armaments who create weapons and Not Robocops and so on. Their Robocop rip, 'Hard Man' goes haywire on a bunch of civilians which leads to some internal conflict between the new CEO who wants to be upfront with the public, and the board chair (Richard Brake!) wants to... not do that, because they're doing even shadier poo poo via mad scientist/engineer Jack Dante (Brad Dourif), who has a secret project called Warbeast that is kind of like ED-209 crossed with a giant Mouser from TMNT. Eventually this turns into Dourif hunting down staff who crossed him, eco-warriors set on exposing the company, and the CEO herself with his angry robot while he cackles like a madman over the video screens. This was a bit of a mixed bag. It's too long for what it is and has too many boring side plots especially in the first hour. Once we get to the Brad Dourif factory and he gets to crank up the crazy meter it becomes pretty fun, and the effects are a good time. Worth watching, but probably only once.

:spooky: 3/5 -- Spooky Bingo: Starring Brad Dourif


54. Phantasm: Ravager (2016)
"This Tall Man... he's taken everything from me."
I watched the first three Phantasm movies last summer, then the fourth during last October's challenge thread. The fourth was bad enough that I put off watching this final(?) instalment for a year and a day, but finished it out. It's rough, the budget is nil, and it jumps through parallel universes and realities so much that it's never really clear what's real and what isn't. But it has some fun moments, and it's really great to see all the ancient cast members get back together even if this doesn't have much going for it.

:spooky: 2.5/5


55. Extraordinary Tales (2013)
"Who dares insult us with this blasphemous mockery?"
Animated anthology that includes five different Poe stories, in different art styles, with different narrators. This was OK, as uneven as most anthologies I guess. "The Fall of the House of Usher" didn't do much for me (but I love listening to Christopher Lee), "The Tell-Tale Heart" had some haunting recordings of Bela Lugosi and a cool art style, "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" had an EC Comics vibe that was cool but the story wasn't much, "The Pit and the Pendulum" was kind of dull despite being narrated by Guillermo del Toro, and "The Masque of the Red Death" was really cool. Worth a watch.

:spooky: 3/5 -- Spooky Bingo: Tales of Terror

Total Watched: 55 // 'New to Me' Total: 46/40
Years Remaining: 2000


Ten squares left unchecked on my bingo card, and just the year 2000 left in my personal challenge to watch one or more 'new to me' for each year from 1985-2021.

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