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Unfriended:The Dark Web absolutely slaps. A classic haunted house story, where initially weird happenings lead to the discovery of a secret doorway and revelations about the dark past of the house. But it’s not a house, it’s a laptop, it’s not hidden rooms but folders, there’s no ghosts but posters. Granted, there is a lot of stupid bullshit that you have to look past for the story to work, but that’s the same in a lot of horror. Just walk out of the house/log off, and have no fun at all. The only other move like that I’ve seen is Searching (extremely recommended by the way), and it makes me wonder how much mileage is in that gimmick. And how does one feel watching a movie like that in the theatre? I’ll definitely check out Unfriended 1, although I hear it’s far worse. Slither It’s goopy fun, the best of what James Gunn has to offer. Nothing really interesting going on for me. Voting Unfriended.
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Feb 26, 2022 16:19
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Slither is the best. Better than the rest. I’m not voting anyway but if I did it would be that lmao
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Feb 26, 2022 16:26
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Rampage was very bad. I’m a Friedkin fan, and this was a fascinating bomb. Probably the most surprising thing about it was how it looks like a made-for-tv movie, but it’s Wes Anderson’s regular DP Robert Yeoman. I do think there’s an interesting story in this film, but it’s weird to make a fictionalized story about Richard Chase, partially because the real crimes are too extreme for a film. What’s in this film is pretty neutered compared to the real story, and yet it still comes off as try-hard extremism. So while Case’s real story does make for a good exploration of the Death Penalty for heinous crimes born from mental illness, to try and tell it with the safety of a fictional story, it has a lot against it rather than for it. And the technical aspect of this film is bonkers bad, so the whole thing just feels like poo poo. Dementia 13 is a great looking movie with a basic plot that blends Psycho with something like an Agatha Christie whodunnit. It’s the perfect tone for throwing on for a lazy Sunday, and I am a big fan of that kind of movie. I did rewatch Slither with my SO, and I was happily surprised that the movie is still effective as a horror film, and a gross-out film, as well as a comedy. I loved it all over again.
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Feb 26, 2022 17:17
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 Stream Time!!! Saturday 7pm EST Roy Ward Baker vs. Tarnop’s The Brutal Brits Sunday 7pm EST Basbef’s Tales From the Necronomicon vs. Goat’s GdT's Creature Features With pre-streams from Mister Roger's Neighborhood And just a heads up that next week I'll be streaming on Sunday and Monday
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Feb 26, 2022 18:52
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Whoopsie. Someone's late. In what I honestly thought would be a closer matchup James Gunn’s Slither gets a decisive victory over Unfriended: Dark Web. Its not really a surprise. Slither is a local favorite but Stephen Susco’s little sequel that could seemed to win a lot of fans this week and did a lot better than the results show. Still, them’s the breaks. Sometimes you get an easy draw and sometimes you get a rough one. That sends Darth’s conceptually Goat confusing Team Double Bubble aka Kids & Creations back to the benches and maybe splits up all those random teams for other themed teams that don’t make my eye twitch so much? Who knows? And for Gunn its his first win in Bracketology (and probably only unless he makes a career change or someone makes a pitch for comic book gore) and it sends Deb’s 3rd team into the second round as Horror Comedies is lined up for a battle with a heavy contender in Tarnop’s Revenge of Predation.  And we have our third shutout of the tournament! Coppola’s Dementia 13 joins Beetlejuice and Witchhammer but still no one has picked up 100% of the ballots! Did the competition have something to do with that? Sure, probably. No one seemed to like Rampage. But you play the cards you’re dealt. Its an impressive debut for the film legend and it propels supergroup looking Fran’s Team Auteur into the second round and a clash with Deb’s Team Quite Good Directors That I Enjoy. For Friedkin it sends him packing early for the second year in a row and to an 0-2 record over all. The silver lining is that like a couple of other directors he seems to be drawing all his weakest films early so he might be able to go on a run next year. Although he’s now down to 5 films so he’ll need a partner to make that happen. But I know a guy. On to a new week! 3. Roy Ward Baker’s Asylum vs. 14. (Tarnop’s The Brutal Brits) Ben Wheatley’s In the Earth  Baker is the very first winner of the HalloweeNIT Tournament and that scored him a spot in this tourney, so perhaps appropriately the last film drawn for him in that tourney is the first one drawn in this. Now there wasn’t exactly a crowd for that one so Asylum might still be new to many here but maybe not as its also heralded as one of the favorite Amicus anthologies of its era. And it seems like a very good lead in to Ben Wheatley’s weird latest film. Wheatley’s making his second appearance in Bracketology having played Sightseers last year but losing to Lars Von Trier’s The House That Jack Built, although his partner Neil Marshall picked up an earlier round win with The Descent. Wheatley’s got a chance here to even off his record and start carrying his weight with a film that sounds super, super weird and right up this crew’s alley. Asylum is a bit of a cult classic but those 70s Hammer/Amicus films don’t seem to do it in the tourney the way more modern trippy existential stuff does. I’m not even really sure what In The Earth is about. I got very little sense from the reviews and I’m worried to read too much and spoil myself and get scared to watch. Because this actually looks like a really fun double feature of the easy classic anthology leading into the bigger feature. I’m hoping this one’s gonna be fun and we can find out who wins or if the HalloweeNIT is a path to glory or just a really dumb extra idea from me. Asylum is on Shudder, AMC+, DirectTV, Fandor, Hoopla, Shout TV, Spectrum, Pluto, and Tubi. In The Earth is on Hulu and Kanopy. 5. (Basebf’s Tales From the Necronomicon) Stuart Gordon’s Daughter of Darkness vs. 12. (Goat’s GdT's Creature Features) Rahi Anil Barve’s Tumbbad  In what seems to be an oddly common pattern this year we draw yet another TV movie from a big name director. In Stuart Gordon’s case he really just has burned through most of his library drawing 7 movies across the first two tournaments to an impressive 5-2 record. But he’s running out of films which forced him to team up with some others this year, but once again its the goon favorite being called to bat. On the flip side Guillermo del Toro is in a similar boat having played 6 films and now relying on a team and he sits this round out and lets one of looser teammates join the fight. Barve’s Tumbbad has nothing at all to do with GdT unlike most of the other films on this team but it did feel like it fit to me bring a real magical fairytale feel to the horror genre and some very vivid settings, creature designs, and effects. If I’m honest it was a bit of a cheat since I could have put some other GdT produced films on the team but this felt right and its a film I absolutely love. So as much as I want this team to advance (and its honestly one of the few teams I really do care about) I’m just happy one of my favorite recent films is getting screened. And Stuart Gordon is always a crowd pleaser and I’m a child of the 80s so I was in love with Mia Sara. So looks like another fun night to me. May the best movie win. Daughter of Darkness is on Youtube. Tumbbad is on Amazon Prime. That’s our week. For once four movies I’m actually really into watching. Two I’ve seen and two I’ve not. Some classic names and some new names. Our 15th country of the tournament. This is what Bracketology is all about. Vote or change your vote until 12 noon EST Mar 5th (or when I get to the computer) Next Week! 4. Wes Craven vs. 13. Deb’s Silent Scream 6. George Romero vs. 11. Goat’s The Silver Spoons Spreadsheet Letterboxd List
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Feb 26, 2022 18:53
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James Gunn ftw forever and always God bless
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Feb 26, 2022 19:47
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Fun movies coming up. In The Earth sort of really messed me up since it was the first movie I've seen to actually acknowledge the pandemic, and make it a part but not the point of the movie. It's a very interesting one.
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Feb 26, 2022 23:41
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M_Sinistrari posted:Since this is the first time I've heard Dawn described as mean, I'm really curious on how and where. You've already got me putting it on rewatch, so I'd love to hear your perspective before going in. I missed this because I was doing the new round. For the record I was talking about Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead, not the original Romero. It was written by James Gunn hence why I put it in the same category as Slither. When I was younger I loved both films and watched them dozens of times. Recently I revisited Dawn and just felt it too mean and misanthropic for me, so I was worried Slither would feel the same way. It was a tiny bit but not as much. The different collaborators and directors probably played into that. Gunn is more playful than Snyder and Snyder has his own stuff I don't like. And you've got comedians like Fillion and Banks in play. So they're very different movies. As for why I find Dawn mean, I feel like that's kind of self explanatory and my guess is you thought I was talking about Romero's... which I don't think I'd ever call "mean." Hell its probably the least mean of his Dead films. But the remake is harsh. Everyone's got an edge, everyone's jaded, everyone's basically taking thrill in puling the trigger, and the narrative is just an unrelenting pace of brutality and bad endings. It was just too much for me when I rewatched it probably 2 years ago. Maybe that's me getting old. Maybe that was watching it in the middle of a pandemic and all these rough times when we're all kind of beat down and I'm just generally tired of how mean everyone is. I dunno. But luckily Slither didn't have the same impact on me, although I'm not itching to rewatch it.
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Feb 27, 2022 21:27
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Anybody watch Daughter of Darkness yet? I had some technical difficulties this weekend and was unable to join the streams. This is the second time in a row one of my teams has drawn a movie I've never seen before, kinda embarrassing.
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Feb 28, 2022 15:54
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The stream consensus was that it was dull, but I didn't think it was entirely bad. Anthony Perkins put in an excellent performance, and it had the charm of an early 90s Canadian action-drama, like Highlander: The Series. I think it easily loses to Tumbbad, but Tumbbad is a very tough film to draw against. Maybe it'll find a few fans here?
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Feb 28, 2022 17:18
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Daughters of Darkness Big meh here. It’s supposedly set in Romania but filmed in Hungary and it never stops looking like that. Has elements of what makes Stuart Gordon a fun horror director, the leech vampire tongue in particular is nice, but I was bored for most of it. Seems like a quick paycheck work. Nothing to say here. Tumbbad A labour of love, an epic scale horror/fantasy movie that to me doesn’t belong in either the creature feature of GdT section. Tumbbad, easy. Asylum I’m really not a fan of these cheap british horror productions in general, but Asylum is far, far better than it has any right to be. The overall vignettes aren’t too interesting, but when it comes to the brief horror meat, it’s exceedingly gleeful in its madness. How they could do the robot section with a straight face I do not know, but it ruled. This could have beaten a lot of movies in this tournament, but it’s up against a real strong movie sadly. In the Earth (reposting my review form the October challenge) Absolutely surreal sci-fi horror, not because of the actual plot but because it’s the first movie to me that has the Covid pandemic as a backdrop. Holy poo poo. Movie starting out with quarantine zones, people in hazmat suits, disinfections, a global pandemic killing millions, I guess this is a sci fi horror alright, but no, it’s just the real life ca. 2020 backdrop to something completely different. But seeing people act like, well, myself, apprehensive of standing close to each other, sanitizing their hands, just small touches. The entire world today, it’s woven into the story of isolation, madness, communication, the more I think about it the more it fascinates me. It’s loving wild how crazy the world has become, and seeing it in a movie both pulled me out of it and also really drew me in. It feels so outrageous but it’s real. Oh dear is this how that my little pony fan felt seeing a photoshop of a cartoon in nazi Germany? Art injected into real life suddenly making everything feel more real? All the other movies that came out this year, it’s like Covid never happened, which is mind-boggling when you think about it. Are we just so set in our ways that we will never accept what happened, what is happening right now? Our movies are pretending like nothing ever happened, like nothing is happening right now. As you can see the movie affected me, and I’m voting for it.
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Feb 28, 2022 17:39
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STAC Goat posted:I missed this because I was doing the new round. For the record I was talking about Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead, not the original Romero. It was written by James Gunn hence why I put it in the same category as Slither. When I was younger I loved both films and watched them dozens of times. Recently I revisited Dawn and just felt it too mean and misanthropic for me, so I was worried Slither would feel the same way. It was a tiny bit but not as much. The different collaborators and directors probably played into that. Gunn is more playful than Snyder and Snyder has his own stuff I don't like. And you've got comedians like Fillion and Banks in play. So they're very different movies. I knew you were talking the Snyder one. You do make some interesting points, so I'll keep those in mind while doing a comparison rewatch.
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Mar 1, 2022 14:42
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5. (Basebf’s Tales From the Necronomicon) Stuart Gordon’s Daughter of Darkness vs. 12. (Goat’s GdT's Creature Features) Rahi Anil Barve’s Tumbbad Daughter of Darkness Oof this was not a great draw for Stuart Gordon. Daughter of Darkness is not really awful or anything, it just doesn't have a whole lot going for it. If it had been the pilot for a TV series I would have watched it. Instead, it's just a forgettable movie about some weird vampires. Tumbbad On the other side of the spectrum, Tumbbad is delightful and I'd recommend it to pretty much anyone. It's visually fantastic and has a solid message about greed as a curse. This is an easy Tumbbad vote for me.
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Mar 1, 2022 15:50
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I actually enjoyed Daughter of Darkness a lot, although it should go without saying that it's nowhere near the level of Gordon's best stuff. But I definitely appreciate a t.v. movie that is shot in an interesting location, and Mia Sara is a much better lead than you typically get in this type of thing. Throw in a very entertaining supporting performance by Perkins and I think by the standard of t.v. movies this has to be one of the best. Of course, we aren't grading these things on a curve and from what I've heard about Tumbbad(haven't watched it yet) it's probably a better made film in every aspect so I'll probably be voting against my team on this one. Oh well.
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Mar 2, 2022 20:23
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Perkins is definitely the highlight of Daughter of Darkness for me. The lead was alright. I just felt the movie lacked any real pizzazz to make it stand out or be more interesting. It had a "going through the motions" feel a lot of the time. I also kept thinking Jack Coleman's role was a prequel to his Heroes character lol
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Mar 2, 2022 21:36
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Its Thursday! Its Thursday? gently caress. Let me check the calendar. gently caress, it is. What happened to this week? Sleep deprivation, fasting, and visiting family has really hosed with me. That's life, right? But there's still about 44 hours to watch the movies. I only really need to watch Gordon's myself and I started it last night and just got bored and distracted. But I'll have two more nights to do it. And you have time too if you want to get the movies in and especially to get your votes in. Vote or change your vote until 12 noon EST Mar 5th (or when I get to the computer) For the matchup I did finish I'm voting Asylum over In The Earth. Both movies were fine and neither blew me away but Asylum was cozy and easy while In The Earth gave me headaches and waves of nausea. Its probably not entirely fair that I watched it on a fast day in a rough week but obviously In The Earth was trying to create a certain amount of discomfort and unease. And that's just not a style of horror I enjoy and whenever the film turned on its A/V tactics it was like pressing a button. I woke up this morning still in pain from a headache... which again probably had something to do with the fact I haven't eaten a meal in two days. But it was definitely triggered by In The Earth and I don't think that was an accident. And ultimately that kind of mind trip "I smoked too much weed and I'm gonna blow your mind" horror just isn't my thing and the movie didn't feel like it had enough meat for me (hmm... meat). Asylum on the other hand has a really fun wraparound, a great cast, and solid stories. And while nothing really elevates into a full hit nothing ever falters either. Its just an easy little watch I'd do again easily. So it gets my vote.
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Mar 3, 2022 21:59
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I still have one to watch (In the Earth) so no decision made there, Asylum was enjoyable but didn't blow me away. The other match up is an easy vote for Tumbbad as many have said.
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Mar 3, 2022 22:01
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Tumbbad whipped rear end. Great pick by whoever nominated it
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Mar 3, 2022 22:11
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Daughter of Darkness sucked. I mean it wasn't terrible. Not even the worst movie I watched tonight. But it was dull and uninspired. I haven't rewatched Tumbbad yet and I do plan to do that tonight or tomorrow but its a no brainer for me. Sorry, Mia Sara.
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Mar 4, 2022 04:03
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Stream Time!!! Sunday 7pm EST Wes Craven vs. Deb’s Silent Scream Monday 7pm EST George Romero vs. Goat’s The Silver Spoons With pre-streams from Mister Roger's Neighborhood
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Mar 5, 2022 00:33
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MacheteZombie posted:Tumbbad whipped rear end. Great pick by whoever nominated it Yea I watched it today. Just no way I can vote for my team in good conscience. Tumbbad kinda has it all, a little bit of everything, and it's shot really well too.
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Mar 5, 2022 02:57
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I kept trying to think about In the Earth to see if I could draw something more out of the experience of watching it, but it just doesn't hold together for me. It's definitely very present and a timely film, and on many levels of craftsmanship it's superior to what it's up against. However, it takes some really strong elements but then devolves into trippiness, as if it ran out of something more to say in the end. The story doesn't hold up in the world it's set in, and only works well on a meta-narrative sense. Perhaps that is the point of it, I suppose, but that isn't the sort of story I respond to. Maybe I'm also a little bugged by the excessive use of strobe lights. Asylum was quite a fun time, and despite the cheesiness the horror is good quality. Of course maybe it is easier to tell a few, tighter stories than one big one incorporating several big themes. But since I don't think In the Earth pulls off its higher degree of difficulty, I'm opting for the one that works better for what it's doing.
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Mar 5, 2022 04:02
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I enjoyed In The Earth but I'm a sucker for the type of thing it is doing. It was sort of clinical though, like I didn't feel huge emotional stakes it was just sort of happening. And it was kind of annoying / hard to look at the screen for some of the trippier bits. I voted for it but I expect Asylum will win and that would be fine too. This pace is perfect btw. I pretty much always have time to get to all of the movies.
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Mar 5, 2022 05:34
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Yeah my problem with it is that it doesn’t seem overly interested in it’s characters or world or anything. And maybe that was intentional to mirror the obsession and isolation stuff but it just made for a very detached viewing for me. Even the Covid stuff that everyone kind of talks about feels like it’s just kind of there and doesn’t actually serve much purpose. I made up a sub genre of films called “Woah” which is like when you’re in college and your roommate smokes too much and randomly says something like “what if this is all the dream of a giant?” and you’re supposed to respond with “Woah!” That’s this to me. And ultimately I just walk away from them the same way I walked away from my high roommate.
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Mar 5, 2022 05:46
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Long day. Sorry I’m late. In the closest matchup of the tourney so far Ben Wheatley’s In The Earth sneaks past Roy Ward Baker’s Asylum by a narrow 7-6 margin! It seemed divided all week as In The Earth’s trippy and seizure inducing approach didn’t click for everyone but neither did Asylum’s old school cozy and simplistic spooky tale horror. But in the end its just one vote that separated them. For Tarnop’s Brutal Brits they make the second round for the second year in a row and Wheatley evens up his record at 1-1. For RWB its back to the drawing board as he didn’t have the same success in the big tourney he had in HalloweeNIT and he’ll have to wait to see if he gets a second shot next year.  Much less of a competition in this one as Barve’s modern day fairy tale Tumbbad cruises to a dominant victory. Gordon’s Daughter of Darkness picked up one vote although I don’t think anyone took claim to it or voiced why. Most people’s opinions seemed set the other way. Either way its the first time Stuart Gordon hasn’t pulled off a first round victory and the earliest he’ll ever go home taking Sam Raimi and Michele Soavi home early as Basebf’s Tales From the Necronomicon to the benches. That’s a big upset for Barve and it sends GdT’s Creature Features back into the second round for the second year in a row. Ok, new matchups, new masters of horror to be upset. 4. Wes Craven’s Stranger in Our House vs. 13. (Deb’s Silent Scream) F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu  Oh Wes. Oh, poor, poor Wes. Maybe one year you’ll finish working through the bottom of your films and get to the great ones but its not gonna be this year. I mean, Nosferatu? C’mon. What’s the point of this one except as an excuse for you to finally watch or rewatch Nosferatu? Because you should. Its a classic for a reason. Its the second oldest film we’ve seen in Bracketology (and Morneau made the oldest in The Haunted Castle). It actually just turned 100 yesterday! How’s that for timing! And if you’re thinking “Hey, that’s Linda Blair! The girl from the Exorcist. Maybe this will be a hidden gem.” Its not. Its not that. Its yet another in this strange trend this year of big name directors drawing bad TV movies. And I’ve seen this one. Its a bad TV movie. So you know… watch Nosferatu but spare yourself the 100 minutes. You don’t need to see this. Lets all just try and walk away from this matchup with some dignity intact. Honestly Wes’ movie’s got a bunch of positive reviews and seems solidly in the middle in opinions. So you might like it. I didn’t hate it/ But c’mon. We know how this is gonna go. Why do we have to go through the embarrassment? Stranger in Our House is on Crackle, fubo, Plex, and Tubi Nosferatu is everywhere. Its public domain. 6. George Romero’s Monkey Shines vs. 11. (Goat’s The Silver Spoons) Christopher Landon’s Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones  This one seems like a weird and toss up matchup. There’s a lot of movies on Silver Spoons and Landon’s lineup I think could take this matchup handily but The Marked Ones is a wild card. Opinions of it seem completely divided by people who consider it a refreshing reup for a franchise with diminishing returns and people who just don’t like the franchise and think it is diminishing returns. In another matchup I’d think its flat out dead in the water since our crowd doesn’t tend to like the modern Hollywood stuff like PA. But Romero’s bringing a deep cut to the matchup. None of his Dead films or more notable entries, but one about a monkey butler. And like… monkey butler kind of sounds like a winner here but reviews for this aren’t great. Still, in a contest of crazy trash vs mediocre Hollywood I wouldn’t bet against crazy trash. So is that the way this gonna play out? Landon is 0-1 already having played Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse last year to a very negative response and he runs the risk of going 0-2 here. Romero on the other hand has never failed to reach the Sweet Sixteen. So can he keep that streak going or will the kids get an upset? Sequel Alert: The Marked Ones is the 5th of 7 Paranormal Activity films. And yes, there’s actual continuity here. At least in the first 6. As a matter of fact with The Marked Ones Landon seemed to be making a concentrated effort to loop the previous films that had a kind of loose meta plot into one more coherent one that incorporates elements and characters from all the previous films. That being said if you don’t want to watch 5 Paranormal Activity movies I don’t think you have to. The Marked Ones is a kind of attempt to pull the meta plot together but its also largely a stand alone story. The rest all play directly off each other in the same family but this goes with a new cast of characters in their own adventure. There will be references and crossovers that you won’t get and the end might just get confusing as hell. But I do think you can watch this alone. But I also think you’d get more out of it if you had seen the previous four movies. Although I can’t say if it would be a good or bad thing to watch all five in one week. Paranormal Activity is on Netflix, Paramout+, Pluto, and Spectrum Paranormal Activity 2 is on Paramount+ and Pluto Paranormal Activity 3 is on DirectTV, Epix, Paramount+, and Hulu Paranormal Activity 4 is on DirectTV, Epix, Paramount+, Hulu, and Spectrum Monkey Shines is on Max Go, Pluto, and Tubi Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones is on Hoopla and Paramount+ That’s our week. Honestly doesn’t seem like a killer lineup but it is a bunch of wild cards and at least one matchup that seems in real doubt. And one classic film to enjoy. And one franchise to binge if you really want to. And Linda Blair and horses and monkey butlers. So really, a little bit of everything. Vote or change your vote until 12 noon EST Mar 12th (or when I get to the computer) Also Letterboxd now has an algorithm that figures out similar movies. And apparently its friends with the Random Number Generator.  Next Week! 3. Deb’s NYC Grime Connection vs. 14. twernt’sTerror in the Pews 5. mbd’s Never Going to Australia vs. 12. twernt’s But what I really want to do is direct. Spreadsheet Letterboxd List
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Mar 5, 2022 19:28
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Well I feel a little better at least that it's not just my guys getting knocked out by t.v. movies.
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Mar 5, 2022 19:42
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Its a curious epidemic. Woe to you if you made a TV Movie. The RNG will find you.
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Mar 5, 2022 19:46
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Nosfera2 Fast 2 Furious
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Mar 5, 2022 21:58
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Me trying to find something nice to say: Well, I've been meaning to watch Monkey Shines. 
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Mar 5, 2022 23:59
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I unironically like Monkey Shines. It’s flawed, it has some pacing issues cuz it’s too long, but that’s more from Romero’s ambition and trying to adapt a whole novel. It’s still an interesting story about a guy in perfect health having his entire life taken from him, all his privilege stripped from him, and dealing with the existential pain of a new reality as an paraplegic. Then there’s ideas about illegal animal testing and “has science gone too far?” plots, and how bizarre animal and human connections can get. There’s a missing subplot that makes some of the plot incomprehensible because it’s vague and confusing, but I kinda like how the messiness of it gives the viewer room to make their own connections or fill in the blanks. Also, I showed the movie at a movie night once, and it’s a very entertaining movie with friends. I also had a friend leave because she’s afraid of monkeys, and the movie is actually really scary for people with that fear.
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Mar 6, 2022 02:00
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Monkey Shines is amazing and I'm glad that people will get a chance to see it.
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Mar 6, 2022 05:12
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The Berzerker posted:Me trying to find something nice to say: Well, I've been meaning to watch Monkey Shines. Haha same
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Mar 6, 2022 17:33
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I really enjoyed Summer of Fear/Stranger in Our House. It's a disappointment that it's as straightforward as it threatens to be, and includes many regressive and misogynistic tropes, but what it does have is an amazing ending. Any film that includes a hot goth serial killing witch in a car chase is bound to steal my heart. Nosferatu is the better film for innumerable sensible reasons, but I have to vote with my heart, there's no escaping it, SiOH might be my favourite Wes Craven film so far.
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Mar 7, 2022 07:22
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I think I'm most excited about the Wes Craven movie, cuz I'm trying to finish his Filmography, but it's already dead in the water against Nosferatu. Nosferatu is such a seminal work in film, and a landmark in my personal history of horror, having seen images and moments from it at a very young age and having a fear of Count Orlok imprinted on my mind.
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Mar 7, 2022 13:54
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Was it Nosferatu or was it that Are You Afraid of the Dark episode?
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Mar 7, 2022 14:58
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Basebf555 posted:Was it Nosferatu or was it that Are You Afraid of the Dark episode? It was both, and Ernest Scared Stupid. Ernest Scared Stupid's opening credits is a great montage of creature features and old horror movies, and there are multiple Nosferatu clips in that. So that was my first introduction. Then it was the Are You Afraid of the Dark Episode, where Count Orlok escapes the silver screen to kill people. And then I saw the actual movie.
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Mar 7, 2022 15:34
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Monkey Shines is not a good movie, but it is well put together. I'll always have a soft spot for it for it's ending, where our hero spends about 15 seconds whipping his head around with a monkey doll in his mouth, trying to break its neck, while Romero cuts between like 6 or 7 different angles on this scene. It's ridiculous, but somewhere around cut 3 it starts to become sublime. Back in the far off days of the mid 00's, I kept meaning to make a YTMND of that footage tied to a never ending repeat of the chorus of Peter Gabriel's "Shock the Monkey," but, well, 
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Mar 7, 2022 21:43
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Well, here's the modern low-effort version! SPOILER FOR MONKEY SHINES MONKEY SHINES vs. PETER GABRIEL I know, it loses something without the infinitely repeating 10-second compressed audio clip. The thing I really like about Monkey Shines is that it is unmistakably ridiculous without ever being cartoonish. The monkey is so cute most of the time that I can't help but love it.
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Mar 8, 2022 06:10
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Monkey Shines is fun and I suspect its gonna win. Its got cute monkeys, Tom Savini effects, and a wild and fun ending. That being said I didn't feel fully satisfied with it. It feels like a bit of a mess. Too many ideas, not enough pay off on some stuff. It felt like it was doing a kind of deep idea of whether the anger and psychotic behavior was coming from "animal instinct" or the guy's own self pitying anger and rage. I was really pulling for an ending where the monkey just kind of stops and leaves the guy alone to be angry because in a kind of Frankenstein thing the monster was never really the monster after all. And we very nearly got that. If the film had ended with the monkey pissing on him and walking away while he just screamed I would have probably loved it. Instead we get a crazier but kind of less earned ending IMO. It was fun, especially with the group watch, but when it was over I just didn't have that satisfied feeling I want when a film is over. The Marked Ones kind of has a similar problem though. I like it. I like Paranormal Activity, Landon, and found footage and for the most part I think its a very good spooky little story. We watched an extended version that added a bunch of early exposition and lurking around in hallways and while I don't think they necessarily hurt the film I do thinks it tighter 84 minute version is probably a bit snappier. But the "problem" is how much of the film is wrapped up in PA mythology. I didn't realize that Landon had written 2, 3, and 4 so most of that meta plot stuff was probably his. And he does a good job dropping easter eggs in here while pulling it all together into a more coherent and intriguing picture. It makes me wish he had been involved in 6 to see how he paid it off, and I might just rewatch Ghost Dimension anyway for the hell of it. But watching it with a bunch of people who hadn't seen the previous films or hadn't seen them in awhile and me acting like an annoying tour guide pointing out all the links it hit me how much the film does rely on you picking up on that stuff. And ultimately the ending is much more about the meta stuff than it is the actual story at hand. That's something I never much like in middle sequel films. You know the thing. When like the second film of a trilogy uses its ending to set up the third film instead of resolving the second. Its fine to set stuff up. I love that kind of thing. But you have to give a satisfying end to the movie at hand as well. And the Marked Ones kind of just tosses its story to the service of the meta plot and if you're not invested or knowledgeable about that stuff you probably go home kind of disappointed. So its two films I really enjoyed that are both flawed and left me feeling unsatisfied. As I said I think Monkey Shines is gonna win this thing. It feels more of a crowd pleaser and self contained thing. But I like PA and got all the links so I think I enjoy Marked Ones more. So I'm giving my vote there. I also watched Summer of Fear and its not terrible but its not really good either. Just kind of a typical TV movie of the time, albeit a decent one from a good director who did a lot of TV and didn't seem to take it as an insult. But still the film doesn't have as much meat as it needs and while its a perfectly fine ride and a fairly fun ending its probably not gonna stand a chance against Nosferatu. I haven't rewatched Nosferatu yet and truthfully its been a long time since I've seen it. So maybe I'll be disappointed. But I would be surprised if that's the case and I'd be even more surprised if it didn't win this matchup. Maybe next year, Wes.
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Mar 8, 2022 08:19
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| # ? Jun 6, 2024 22:31 |
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Summer of Fear feels like an episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark for adults, or maybe an Outer Limits episode. I like the lethargic pacing and the softened tone of TV-appropriate thriller, but there's only brief moments of good filmmaking. It's not entirely a good movie, and loses out a full thumbs up rating because it's highs just aren't very high, the story isn't dynamic, the tension of the growing suspicions between Linda Blair's character, Rachel, and Lee Purcell's character, Julia, never grows suspenseful or thrilling. It seems to insist maintaining the slow revelations half an hour after the audience is privy to what's going on, instead of embracing it and focusing the attention to more of Rachel's struggles to get everyone around her to acknowledge Julia is replacing Rachel in everyone's life. This is a proto Single White Female plotline, where the main character's identity and place in their life is stolen/absorbed by another. This existential fear of being replaced by an imitator has deep roots in the human psyche, and even manifests in the extreme with Capgras Syndrome. For teenagers, whose world view is shaped by youth and limited experience, where petty disagreements can fell whole friend groups, this can be a reality-shattering and painful experience that pulsates between the internal "Who am I?" and the external "Who are these people? What is this world? How can they be oblivious to what I see?" The use of witchcraft with this doppelganger plot complicates these themes. On a story-telling plane, I like the inclusion of witchcraft, because I like witchcraft. The most interesting parts of the film are Rachel discovering evidence of Julia's spells and curses against her and the family. Thematically, it's muddier. Witches are a two-sided blade of storytelling, because they carry such weight in culture. One, they are a symbol of misogyny, which we've seen examples of in films like Witchhammer and Witchfinder General, where it is a label given to a woman to be destroyed for a multitude of reasons (psychosexual, political, plain ol' sadism, etc.). To be a witch is to be an evil woman in league with Satan and demons. Witch has also been re-appropriated for a more positive, empowered, feminist term for women who shirk societal shackles, it tends to refer to those who practice paganism, or practice a connection to nature and the greater planes of thought, or even simple alchemical healing. This is a story about a woman destroying another woman through witchcraft. It's hard to interpret the witch character as the more modern, positive connotation (it's a film from the late 70's, so America hasn't had it's second of witch-hunting through the Satanic Panic yet), when her powers are used for rather petty means, like loving with horses (because she doesn't like them and they know she's evil), going to prom in a dress she's magically fitted, and getting a bedroom to herself. I don't fully understand Julia's mission. She seems to want to replace Rachel more than destroy her, but is willing to destroy her once she stands up for herself. This also makes sense with how Julia steals Rachel's boyfriend Mike, but makes less sense with Julia trying to seduce and gently caress Rachel's father. There is room to infer that Julia gains powers from seducing men, and she has a magnetism that attracts them, but then Rachel's cousin, who is also smitten by Julia, is mostly ignored by her compared to the other men available. So Julia is a witch, which is defined by using curses and spells to destroy the other women in the family with petty punishments so she can seduce men. This also doesn't fully express why Julia does these things. She has already assumed the identity of another woman, and has a clean slate from which to work with. Why is she then compelled to gently caress all this up? Is she something of a chaotic spirit who only exists to destroy? Will she assume a new identity once she has destroyed and drained this family, or is that only reserved for when these plans fail? Is there an endgame, or is she simply moving alongside her id and compulsions despite the greater complications they cause? (With the film's conclusion, it's hard to see anything but the latter.) Craven cited Polanksi as the main inspiration for this film. You can sorta see it, in broad strokes, with the central fear of having your identity and world stolen from you by a greater force, however Craven manifests it directly with another woman (instead of an occult conspiracy of Satan worshippers, or internalized fears and hallucinations, or paranoid reality-bending delusions caused by bizarre settings). I do think the film is most effective when Rachel, bed-ridden with disgusting rashes that echoes Biblical plagues of boils, is gaslit by her mother into allowing Julia permission to borrow her dress and boyfriend for prom. It reflects a natural schism of perspectives between adults and teenagers that is stressful, painful and unfair. If only the script were written with Rachel becoming paranoid sooner, with more evidence uncovered earlier, with maybe more room for the audience to question the film's realities, and for more opportunities for Rachel's concerns to be ignored by her family, this might be bumped up to a full thumbs up. (I have it as a 2 out of 5 stars, currently.) However, the film is just not stressful enough. And while I appreciate Craven's attempts at humanizing Rachel, that's also where his thoughtfulness ends. I think making a TV film also challenged him in fascinating ways, as he couldn't use the extremism of his earlier films to punctuate this one. I liked the bizarre imagery of Rachel finding the horse-hair charm, and I wish the film had given us more of those moments. As it stands, it's a growing pain in Craven's filmography. The existential threat of losing your place in the world is overshadowed by gender dynamics that paint the women as one-dimensional and petty. I much prefer his next film Deadly Blessing, which is weirder, messier, but more interesting. ('78 to '84 has Craven release six films in as many years, and Nightmare seems to be the only good one.) Easy vote for Nosferatu, but I am glad I saw this one, for completionists sake. Franchescanado fucked around with this message at 16:31 on Mar 8, 2022 |
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Mar 8, 2022 14:31
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