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ruddiger posted:
Venom is so much fun. My buddy still randomly yells "It's a BLOODY BLACK MAM-BA!" at me in an Oliver Reed voice.
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May 11, 2022 23:43
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Samfucius posted:
spoiler tag stuff like that please, seems minor but the movie’s been out less than a week and I’m sure there are folks still avoiding any kind of spoiler and yeah I wish the rest of the film was as good as the last 30 minutes, but zombie Strange cloaked in the souls of the damned is everything I wanted from a Raimi superhero movie
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May 11, 2022 23:47
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Yeah, good call. Wasn't thinking because it actually doesn't matter in the story. Even with spoiler tags I'd never put something important in this close to release.
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May 12, 2022 00:52
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5) Boris Karloff: The Man Behind The Monster (2021) Challenge: Behind the Screams An interesting documentary on the life and career of Karloff, focusing as much as possible on his work away from Universal. Most of the first half is narrative or interviews with the filmmakers who were inspired by Karloff; having been gone for more than 50 years now there is nobody left to talk to about those times. In the second half, though, there are many more personal stories from people who worked with him including Dick Miller, Christopher Plummer, Ian Ogilvy and Peter Bogdanovic. All of them paint a portrait of Karloff that matches the description of him given by Stephen King in Danse Macabre - a consummate professional who went out as he came in, as a gentleman. A strong recommend.
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May 12, 2022 01:01
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#12: The Possession of Michael King After his wife dies, a dude goes full Reddit atheist and sets out to make a documentary where he proves there is no afterlife by doing everything in his power to get possessed by a demon. You can guess what happens. The thing about found footage movies is, I always approach them with a desire to watch them as if they were real artifacts from our world. That's the whole found footage goal, right, on some level to suspend your disbelief a step beyond what you do with normal movies. TPoMK has a scene very early on featuring a character played by Dale Dickey. Dale Dickey is a fantastic actress, I have endless love for Dale Dickey, she has been excellent in everything I've seen her in. But I can't suspend my disbelief when the movie opens with Patty the Daytime Hooker. The audio on my copy was hosed up, all the voices were too low. I'm not a sound guy I can't describe it, but like bassy, I guess? Like I could hear them but I needed to turn the volume up to understand them. And the movie has loud jump scares. So I had to simply accept not understanding a decent amount of the dialogue. Great job, movie guys. One big thing TPoMK has going for it is that since the guy is trying to get possessed and actively documenting it, the movie moves along at a very good clip. There's no staring at an empty room waiting to see if something moves, no wandering around in the woods, this dude goes in hard and gets hosed up fast. The real problem is the lead guy. He loved his dead wife and is a bit of a cringe atheist. And that's it. The whole movie is about the character's descent into being a hosed up demon guy, but the character is insanely thing. You need something like Jeff Goldblum's eccentric charming genius in The Fly, or Nicholas Cage's weird dad in The Color Purple. You need a character with a little bit of depth and this guy has nothing. The Possession of Michael King's fat pace keeps it from being truly interminable like the worst found footage movies, and it does have Dale Dickey in it, but I'm still calling it a safe pass. 1) One Cut of the Dead, 2) Land of the MinotaurCH8, 3) Terra Formars, 4)The Great Buddha ArrivalCH5, 5) BogCH3, 6) Satan's Cheerleaders, 7) Zombie For Sale, 8) JeruZalem, 9) CandymanCH11, 10) Curse of the Crimson Altar, 11) PreyCH2, 12) The Possession of Michael King
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May 12, 2022 01:14
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Morgiana 1972 Directed by Juraj Herz  Morgiana makes more sense if you know that the original idea was to have a single main character with multiple personalities, but that was forbidden by the Czech government. Instead, we get two sisters played by a single actress, which is kind of genius. Iva Janžurová is fantastic as both Klára and Viktorie Trangan. The other characters are kind of flat, but it's really a story about just these two and their shared but separate journeys. I'm not sure if it's a good movie, exactly, but was very interesting even when I wasn't entirely sure what was happening. 💀💀💀1/2 Spooky Non-American 1960s Challenge 8/13 1. Matango (1963), 2. Mill of the Stone Women (1960), 3. The Brainiac (1962), 4. Kill, Baby… Kill! (1966), 5. Gamera, the Giant Monster (1960), 6. Genocide (1968), 7. The House That Screamed (1969), 8. The Whip and the Body (1963) Bracketology 7/? 1. Night of the Living Dead (1990), 2. Strait-Jacket (1964), 3. National Theatre Live: Frankenstein (2011), 4. Frankenstein Created Woman (1967), 5. The Changeover (2017), 6. It Came from Outer Space (1953), 7. Morgiana (1972) GMM Challenges 5/13 1. The Other Lamb (2019), 2. A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985), 3. Madhouse (1974), 4. Suck (2009), 5. Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006) twernt fucked around with this message at 02:16 on May 12, 2022 |
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May 12, 2022 02:12
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Movie #10, Challenge #8: - Watch a film from a country you've never seen a film from. Rift (Iceland, 2017)  Rifts in the land, in relationships, and in homes both emotional and physical. A blunt title and I dig it. Two men who've recently broken up reunite at a vacation home in the middle of nowhere and things get tense. This is a horror-lite film focused more on the remains of a failed relationship than on scares; the scariest thing is an absolutely heartbreaking childhood story. And that works! There's a solid chemistry between the leads, the landscapes are both gorgeous and frightening in their emptiness, and the bits where it does get spooky are definitely unnerving. It's a tough message, but I agree that trauma never fully heals. There's definitely a folk horror angle here with this place being "wrong," but this isn't a film that's interested in building up its mythology. Whether certain things are true or not, the focus is fully on reconciling trauma either way.
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May 12, 2022 03:28
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Time for short films! I found these selections at a YouTube channel called Famous First Films (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOb-xABgTt19pM4hez1bTrw), a repository for early efforts from many well-known directors. This is a great resource, yet the channel seems pretty obscure. I plugged this one in the October challenge, too, and there's enough material that I bet I'll be using it again in another challenge or two. Definitely worth browsing! 3. (various short films) (all first viewings) Knife Point by Carlo Mirabella-Davis (26:19) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaGV9NqvyFY) From the director of Swallow. A down-on-his-luck salesman hitches a ride from a religious family, but during the trip he learns their faith runs a little deeper than just the weekly services. This is the second-longest one I watched, but it's extremely thin. The characterization and plot development are extremely predictable, and what details are provided are either underwritten or irrelevant. (For example: why is it called Knife Point? The opening scene sets an interesting note as we see our protagonist spreading his sales kit of knives out over the bedding at his seedy motel room. Is there a reason the director chose a product that can be used as a weapon? Is the title some kind of foreshadowing, or perhaps a pun? If it was, I missed it, because his job and his product are never mentioned again.) The Contraption by James Dearden (7:43) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAlc9uM4Bnk) This one is from the writer of Fatal Attraction. Pretty bare-bones here, this short shows our silent protagonist toiling away at constructing the large, titular device. A reasonably hypnotic atmosphere carries the opening minutes, primarily from the sound design of hammering, sawing, clanging, etc. The nature of the device becomes apparently around halfway through, and the point seems to be to set up the sole line of voice-over at the very end. Daylight Hole by Matt Palmer (6:01) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JpeDQ_jSjo) This is the only one from my Famous First Films selection where the filmmaker remains anonymous to me, even after looking at his filmography. This one also relies a lot on sound design. In fact, that's the explicit premise, as a filmmaker takes a trip to a local cave to record sound for a project he's working on. Again, some neat atmosphere, built as much by the audio as the visuals while we watch our protagonist venture into the cave, guided by his microphone. Not in the service of much more than a quick jump scare at the end, sadly. Foxes by Lorcan Finnegan (15:37) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlWeMcDWdqY) A husband and a wife appear to be the sole inhabitants of a sprawling housing development. The husband is away at work all day. The wife's photography career appears to be at a standstill, so she begins roaming the empty suburbs with her camera, and starts noticing a group of foxes. I haven't seen the director's film Vivarium, but from what I know about the premise and some stills, it seems like he carried over some of this film's approach to the visuals of the endless rows of identical houses. It's an effective setting, although there is a pointless scene with a visit from the wife's sister that breaks up the feeling of true isolation. Arkane by Keith Thomas (7:58) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQbynsB1EvM) Brought to you by the director of the forthcoming Firestarter reboot--I guess we'll be seeing some reviews of that this weekend. This one is pretty muddled. A nurse comes up with a scheme to steal blood from an old woman she treats. It's not really clear why the blood would have resale value. It turns out the old woman's a witch, which might explain why someone would buy the blood, but this also seems to come as a big surprise to the thieves. Nothing much here. Happy Halloween by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (5:26) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJIO6ZUbBvM) This is the most overtly comedic short I watched, which is fitting since this is the directing duo behind this year's Scream movie. Some poor put-upon office worker has to suffer through his bro co-workers trying to prank him on Halloween. Basically just a set up to a weak punchline. Geometria by Guillermo del Toro (6:29) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeAt-0Ub9wI) Early short from the director of Mimic, a largely forgotten '90s horror/sci-fi vehicle for Mira Sorvino. A little kid makes a dark pact to avoid failing his geometry test. This one's also just a set-up to a punchline, but at least it's a funny one. Doña Lupe by Guillermo del Toro (33:20) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFe-1w3cmMk) Another one from Guillermo. Sadly, this just straight up isn't a horror film, despite being consistently billed as such. An old lady rents out her extra rooms to some crooked coke-dealing cops. The old lady finds out and there's a shootout. The end. CHALLENGE: "Short Cuts." --- CHALLENGES: 1. Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched 2. Scream, Queen! 3. Rated PG 4. Music of the Night Nocturne (2020) 5. Behind the Screams 6. The King in Yellow 7. Short Cuts (various short films) (misc) 8. A Perfect Getaway 9. Hidden Gems 10. The Price is Right 11. Horror Noire Tales from the Hood (1995) 12. All Hail the King 13. Sins of the Past
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May 12, 2022 04:14
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 The Changeover (2017) This didn’t really land for me. There wasn’t anything too specific, but the story just didn’t grab me. Technically everything seemed fine - it was a decent looking movie, had a good soundtrack that I vibed to. There was some uninteresting characters and acting, particularly in the boy witch/love interest, but I guess that’s just par for course with these kinds of movies. I’m clearly not the target audience. The demon idea was somewhat interesting, if not entirely consistent - some of the rules didn’t make sense, but maybe that’s because I wasn’t giving this my full attention? 8/13 Movies: What Have You Done To Solange?, Kadaicha, Frankenstein Created Woman, Night Of The Living Dead (1990), Straight Jacket, Slaughterhouse Rock, It Came From Outer Space, The Changeover 2/13 Challenges: #1 Woodlands Dark (Kadaicha), #4 Music Of The Night (Slaughterhouse Rock), #6 The King In Yellow (Solange)
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May 12, 2022 04:15
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11. Pennywise: The Story of IT What wound up being my accidental last viewing of Panic Fest 2022 (I got sick a week ago and lacked the strength to do anything requiring more thought than "sleep, occasionally post, and catch up on Better Call Saul" during that time) was a decent and comprehensive 2-hour documentary on the making of the miniseries adaptation for Stephen King's It. It covered a lot of ground in such a way that kinda left me thinking both "this is way too long" and "this didn't go into some parts of the creation/filming enough for how long it was". As a feature film presented in a film festival (that also included some great entries and some poor entries), I wound up with the impression it'd have been better served as a bonus feature on a re-release of the miniseries. Something cool/to appreciate if you're a fan or just wanting to know more, but not essential *** 11/13+ (Presence 2022, Bitch rear end, Dawn Breaks Behind the Eyes, The Outwaters, Masking Threshold, When the Screaming Starts, The Abandon 2022, To the Moon 2022, Dawning 2022, La Pasajera, Pennywise: The Story of IT) I'm feeling better and planning on seeing Firestarter 2022 this Saturday. Not sure if I'll watch the original first to compare/prep
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May 12, 2022 04:22
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 My Demon Lover (1987) Challenge #3: Rated PG Denny is unlucky in love but things seem to turn around when she meets Kaz. They date, fall in love, but troubles arise when they try going all the way cuz' Kaz was cursed to turn into a demon whenever he gets horny. Pretty hilarious film, toward the end it goes completely off the rails like a cartoon, much like a Leslie Nielson spoof. Every time Kaz gets "pozazzed" he turns into something different, there's absolutely no rhyme or reason to it, but it's a great excuse to show off a dozen different practical make-up effects. It's definitely more comedy than horror but there is just one scene that's complete  nightmare fuel they also manage to fit in a legit stunt where two people hang onto the outside of a speeding car à la Death Proof, and then throw in a huge explosion toward the end cuz why the gently caress not.5/5
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May 12, 2022 06:20
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King, King Superfan, and King in name only. Midnight Mass (2021) Written and directed by Mike Flanagan Watched on Netlflix Return of the Fallen: 5/13 - Team K🖕ng Super loved that. No huge surprise. Big Mike Flanagan fan, big Stephen King fan. This isn't a King adaption technically but I mean... Flanagan clearly loves King and at this stage I don't think its much of a spoiler to say that this is so very clearly a spiritual successor to Salem's Lot. I feel weird just saying that like maybe I’m spoiling something even though I had it figured out from the first episode or two and it reveals itself by like Episode 3. But I’m a huge Stephen King fan so I felt like I was kind of watching it with a cheat code. This isn’t a remake or adaption or knockoff or anything. Its a truly original story and Its been a year so you’ve probably heard the premise by now if you’re interested, and if not maybe the word “vampires” would draw you in. I don’t know. Taking a chance I guess but I don’t really think that’s a spoiler at all. This story isn’t some big mystery, its a character drama like most King and Flanagan stories. You’re focus shouldn’t be on the “what” but the “who, where, why, and how”. Flanagan’s move to tie vampirism and the original story to Catholicism is super interesting, and I think for more reason than just me being a lapsed Catholic. Certainly my experiences added some familiarity to all of this. This really might be the most Catholic horror or movie I’ve seen. Its not just the religion and ritual stuff but the whole community thing. The pros and cons. A good parish can be a comfort to all in it, a beacon of strength and help during the most difficult times and something that brings people together. A bad parish can be something parasitic and toxic. Taking money and time from the community for selfish means, feeding terrible ideas opposite of the love and inclusion Christianity is meant to represent, and with people at the top who are either deeply misguided and lost in their own stuff or deeply narcissistic and there for the power and judgment. The second I made the connection to Salem’s Lot I was like ‘yeah, you make the evil vampire henchman THAT Rosary Club lady.” Every parish has one. Yeah there’s all the obvious Catholic/vampire stuff. Its a religion that claims to consume their savior’s body and blood every mass. Its basically asking for a vampire metaphor. And I’ve definitely seen a few spins on it although I don’t think I’ve seen one quite this deep. Because I do think it can go very deep even beyond that surface stuff. Like the entire ritual and rhetoric of Catholicism certainly lends to the vampirism thing. Its what makes it so easy to cherry pick Bible verses to rationalize this insane poo poo. Book of Revelations would cover like 50% of horror films if you’ve got an experienced reader used to squeezing out their preferred interpretation from the Bible. But its that community and trust that really makes this all possible and kind of able to believe in the story. Why would people go along with this? Why would they buy this insanity? Its selfishness to some degree of course. Health, youth, power. But its that insular community that is way too easy to infect. There’s a reason Christian communities lead the world in being victims of pyramid schemes. So happens this pyramid scheme is vampirism and mass murder. There’s maybe some pacing issues with the story. Maybe it gets a little bit to get going and maybe it finishes up a little too quick once poo poo really hits the fan. I’m not sure. I like a good slow burn character piece and I think Flanagan and the cast do a great job with it. Powerful scenes of Riley/Father Paul, Riley/Erin, or loving Bev don’t work as well without all that time spent getting to know them and all the other supporting characters don’t have the same impact if we only know them for an act or two before they become part of this whole madness. And I know a lot of people found the thing too monologue heavy but that all worked well for me. It didn’t feel unnatural to me. Maybe that says more about my tendency to pontificate but most of the big speeches come at big moments with big ideas and feelings behind them. If you’re not gonna give speeches at AA meetings when do you give them? You’re mileage may vary but it all worked for me. The ending is also probably too corny for some, and I can respect that. Flanagan walks the line for me. He’s obviously very sentimental but I don’t agree at all with the criticism that he writes too happy endings. There’s always tragedy and heartbreak and there’s a poo poo ton here. When poo poo hits the fan it REALLY hits the fan. There’s no sequel setup here. There is a lot of closure and sentimentality. The fundamental question of what faith is and what it truly means. All these people who talk about faith and values. Some who held to their believes even at the sacrifice of themselves. Some who gave in and seek forgiveness and peace. Some who showed they were never truly believers in any sense of the word and embrace the evil and cling to it. The end sequence is very on the nose but I appreciated the idea of it. Weird thing is I’m even kind of interested in attending mass now. In large part I think because of the theme at work here that if you turn your back on something you only hand it over to the monsters. There’s value in community and good that can come from it. There are also those who pervert and abuse it and they can chase you away. Religion, politics, family, whatever. But if you care then it might be worth fighting for. Taking the risk, pushing back, and keeping the Bevs from taking control and doing more harm. I dunno. I’m probably more likely to watch some more Flanagan and King than go to mass. But its on my mind. In the end Midnight Mass gave me a lot to think about and fully engrossed me. I don’t think its revelatory or anything. You’ve seen most of the themes and elements in some way or form. Its probably more pulp than fine art, but its drat engaging pulp and a riveting binge for me. Watching it with someone else slowed me down from the usual 1-3 day timeline for a binge but I still saw it all in a week and I think the slowed down pacing does help let stuff sink in better and let me go back on a few things between episodes. Its not perfect, its not for everyone, but its right up my alley in a bunch of ways and I had an absolutely great time with it.  - (28). Salem’s Lot (1979) Directed by Tobe Hooper; Screenplay by Paul Monash; Based on 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King King Spring II: 8/13 I wasn’t actually planning to rewatch this at all but Midnight Mass was so clearly a spiritual successor to it that I kind of couldn’t help myself. Plus as soon as I explained the connection to my mama she insisted on watching it since she loved MM so much. Salem’s Lot feels like arguably King’s most influential piece. Just counting adaptions alone you have this, its Cohen sequel, the 90s Rob Lower version, and a new one coming. You have the spiritual successor in Midnight Mass and the technical prequel in Chapelwaite. And you have so many classic vampire movies and shows whose creators credit Salem’s Lot for inspiration such as Fright Night, Lost Boys, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Of course much of that is the book and not the film, and not all of those stuff is a King creation. But the combination of them in his classic novel and this right time and place first King tv mini series seems to have left such a long line of people who took something from it. Its crazy to think of this as the first King mini series. There’s been so many King minis and adaptions its easy to forget it all started somewhere. And even though it might be a little rough around the edges as a tv production its honestly ahead of a lot of the King stuff that’s been made in the decades since. A lot of the credit there probably belongs to Tobe Hooper. A genius who seemed capable of adapting to almost any style and making a quality film he basically created an entire legacy here. And where would Mick Garris be if he hadn’t? Not to mention guys like Mike Flanagan and Frank Darabont. It definitely doesn’t age amazingly and there’s definitely flaws. It seems like people new to it don’t appreciate it much and I get that. For me its one of those things I saw young and first and stuck with me so much. It was probably my first look at the Nosferatu style vampire. The glowing eye vampires. The floating at the window. The basement fo drones. Even staking a vampire in his coffin probably came here first for me. Now maybe some of those things DID come here first, or maybe it was just the right timing. That’s what this ultimately is to me. Part nostalgia but also part how King and Hooper really came along at the right time with this and how much came from it. Maybe that doesn’t hold up as much to a new viewer today but it feels like a bit of a significant film in horror to me and if nothing else its one that scared me as a kid so will always have a place for me.  18 (29). Children of the Corn: Revelation (2001) Directed by Guy Magar; Written by S.J. Smith King Spring II: 9/13 Crud. Crap. We’re back to just finding any old generic horror script and tossing some corn into it. Seriously, this one kind of doesn’t even try and make the bad guy much of a spooky farm kid like the previous forced ones. This is basically just a devil movie that they wrote in some exposition lines about a kid farm cult and threw some corn around willy nilly. I dunno. Maybe there’s more there but it took me three ties to get through this and I ended up watching it while doing other stuff to get it done. And I don’t regret that. There just didn’t seem to be anything here at all. Not even some fun before they were famous cameos or special effects. This feels like the bottom of the barrel for the franchise. Just a super bad, super generic story with the brand stamped on. I mean I guess if you want to see the classic Freddy bathtub scene reenacted with corn stalks… Man, I hope this is the bottom of the barrel for this franchise. Four more to go. I honestly would have much rather watched a movie about Michael Ironside as a priest fighting the devil. Did we have to half rear end that into a Children of the Corn movie? 🌻💀 Spook-A-Doodle Half-Way-To-Halloween ’22: Return of the Fallen & King Spring II💀🌻 Watched - New (Total) 1. Magic (1978); - (2). A Quiet Place (2018); 2 (3). A Quiet Place Part II (2020); 3 (4). Benny Loves You (2019); 4 (5). Strait-Jacket (1964); 5 (6). Werewolves Within (2021); - (7). The Curse of Frankenstein (1957); - (8). Children of the Corn (1984); (9). The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958); - (10). The Evil of Frankenstein (1964); - (11). Frankenstein Created Woman (1967); - (12). Night of the Living Dead (1990); - (13). Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice (1992); - (14). Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest (1995); 6 (15). National Theatre Live: Frankenstein (2011); 7 (16). The Shallows (2016); 8 (17). Leviathan (1989); 9 (18). Piranha 3DD (2012); 10 (19). Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering (1996); 11 (20). Stephen King’s Night Shift Collection (The Boogeyman (1982)/Disciples of the Crow (1983)/The Woman in the Room (1983)); 12 (21). Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror (1998); 13 (22). The Ghoul (1933); 14 (23). Children of the Corn 666: Isaac's Return (1999); 15 (24). Night of the Living Dead (2014); 16 (25). Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969); - (26). Night of the Living Dead (1968); 17 (27). The Changeover (2017); - (28). Salem’s Lot (1979); 18 (29). Children of the Corn: Revelation (2001); 📺Series: Moon Knight (2022); Midnight Mass (2021); 📺 💀Spook-A-Doodle Challenges: 2/13💀 🌽King Spring II: 9/13🌽 🧑💻Return of the Fallen: 5/13🧑💻 ⚡13 Frankenst13ns: 6/13⚡ 🧟Knockoffs of the 13 Dead: 3/13🧟
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May 12, 2022 07:22
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STAC Goat posted:King, King Superfan, and King in name only. I loved Midnight Mass for a lot of the same reasons. Plus that vampire feeding frenzy in the church is just  . What a great payoff to the slow burn
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May 12, 2022 12:53
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 Eyes of Laura Mars(Challenge: Hidden Gems) So I'm for sure getting my 13 movies in for the overall challenge but it's looking like I probably won't make it this time on the bonus challenges. Even so, I couldn't pass up a chance to check out something from Fran's hidden gems list. Two things jumped out at me right away when I started watching Eyes of Laura Mars. First, the cast is very exciting. Faye Dunaway, Tommy Lee Jones, Brad Dourif, and Raul Julia? Yes please! And Brad Dourif is actually a pretty major role in the film, when I saw him pop up initially I expected he'd just be a minor side character. Secondly, the screenplay was at least partially written by John Carpenter. And I know there's a whole situation there, Carpenter didn't like the changes they made to his script and all that, but it's always nice to fill in whatever obscure holes I still have in my Carpenter viewing history. The film itself is very stylish. It's funny to think about how many horror movies take place in the world of fashion or modeling, but I guess there's a reason for that because it's usually a great combination. The plot has giallo/whodunit elements, and I don't know that I'd call it a "scary" movie but there certainly is plenty of tension as suspects rise and fall and you start to narrow things down. This is a type of story(person has psychic visions where they see through the eyes of a killer) that I think we've all seen before, but the rock solid cast make it consistently engaging and I think the ending is good because it's one of those situations where you kick yourself for not thinking of it earlier. Definitely an easy recommend, unless you're just not in the mood for a slower burn thriller type film.    1. Intruder 2. Spookies 3. Subspecies 4. Megalodon Rising 5. The Spine of Night 6. Eyes of Laura Mars(Hidden Gems)
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May 12, 2022 14:48
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6. Night of the Living Dead 1990 | dir. Tom Savini  I love Tony Todd, and I think Patricia Tallman is interesting in this. The special effects rule, of course, and for 88 minutes, that's really the biggest selling point for the film. I don't find the cast as compelling, especially Bill Mosely, who I like, because they, like the majority of the film, feel like facsimiles of an iconic film. The original Night has had it's images ingrained in the heads of horror fans for decades, and it will continue to be an important visual and cultural reference point. I appreciate when this film deviates from the original, but it doesn't work as well for me. In the end, maybe it would have been more fun if Tom Savini had just made an original zombie film. Recommended if you've already seen the original. 7. The Strangers 2008 | dir. Bryan Bertino Rewatch  I saw this in theaters when it came out, and the crowd's energy was palpable. Even now, 14 years later, I could hear the voices of people screaming from the scares and gasping from the tension. The Strangers aren't exactly the most competent killers. They were just lucky enough to find a ridiculously foolish couple to torment. The greatest issue at the heart of the film is the main couple. We have James and Kristen, played by Scott Speedman and Liv Tyler respectively. James gets all the characterization. Every layer given to his personality and every decision he makes paints him as insufferable and incompetent. Kristen is a bit more competent, but she is only defined in relation to James. The film begins with both crying. James has proposed and Kristen has said no. The return to a house they are vacationing at (they've just attended a wedding and are set to embark on a road trip, which, unbeknownst to Kristen, was to be a celebration of their engagement), and the tension between them means their relationship is probably over, because James wants marriage and Kristen does not. We do not get further explanation for this, so we must infer from the rest of the film that Kristen also realizes James is a well-meaning tool. We'll actually spend the most time with Kristen, but we'll never truly get to know her, because all of her actions are reactions to her environment and oppressors and James's dumbassery. For instance, Kristen and James both have a bizarre interaction with a woman who bangs on their door at 4am asking if some women (not Kristen) is home. Kristen is reasonably freaked out, and when the Strangers start stalking around, she understands she is being hosed with and it's a home invasion. James? He's incredulous. How could they possibly be victims of a home invasion? It takes him way too long to be convinced of any real danger, and by then it's too late. The meat of the film is it's visual narrative of The Strangers stalking around in the background, like Michael Myers in Carpenter's Halloween. The masks and mannerisms of The Strangers are (I feel safe saying this years later) iconic. The film has a tight run-time of 86 minutes, and while I appreciate a taut thriller, I think this film needs to milk the quiet background stalking for at least one or two more minutes of run-time. It is far more engaging and scary than the more explosive moments. Ultimately, I feel like The Strangers is successful in execution despite it's flaws. So many of it's moments are seared into my memory, and that isn't from bad film-making. The film feels a little weightless with it's two leads. That keeps the film from feeling too misanthropic, but I think it would be remembered more fondly if it had leaned more into that tone. There's an excellent sequence with Glenn Howerton that is maybe the most brutal and depressing moment in the film, because the film has set up an inevitability that creates a dread the audience has to sit with for a long time. If you're frustrated by characters making bad decisions when there are more logical approaches, you may be greatly disappointed with it. The movie is called The Strangers, though, and I'm here to watch those spooky folks do their thing, so in the end, I think it's satisfying. It's flawed, but it gets my Recommendation. Total 7 New To Me: Nightmare Weekend, House of Usher (1960), The Whip and the Body, Full Moon High, Frankenstein Created Woman, Night of the Living Dead )(1990) Rewatch: The Strangers Extra Credit: Are You Afraid of the Dark? (2019) miniseries Challenges: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
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May 12, 2022 15:27
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Does Studio 666 count as a musical? I can’t find a straight answer and I don’t want to pay for it and have it not count
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May 12, 2022 16:29
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5. You Won't Be Alone Categorized as horror and technically about witches who kill people and stuff their organs inside their own body to take on their form like a doppelganger, You Won't Be Alone is stylistically more like a Terrence Malick film, filled with twilit landscape shots and ASMR-like voiceover as the camera montages little moments from life. It follows one of these witches who is supposed to live an isolated life in the woods, only entering civilization to kill animals or people and drink their blood. But she finds herself too curious about others to do so and ends up taking on a series of different identities among the 19th century Macedonian villages that form the setting. Her outsider status and ability to take on different ages and genders gives her a frank view into both the misogynistic cruelty and loving comradery that she finds there. However, her witch mother is not content to just observe from a distance and wait for her to eventually become disgusted with people, and she ultimately forces a confrontation and choice between the way of the pariah or a compromised, hiding existence among humans. Like some Malick films, the balletic camera movements and soft piano start to feel rote and overbearing by the end but there's an interesting thematic exploration here and the witch's final role especially has some real emotional weight to it. Not at all what I expected but presently surprised. 3.5/5. 2) A Nightmare on Elm Street 3) Scream 4 4) Scream 2022 5) You Won’t Be Alone 6) The Night House 7) Audition 8) Dracula (1931) 9) Suspiria (1977) 10) Drag Me To Hell 11) Us 12) Men 13) Night of the Living Dead (1968)
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May 12, 2022 16:54
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gey muckle mowser posted:
 #12. Trollhunter (HBO Max) A group of student filmmakers set out to make a documentary about bear poaching in Norway. However, they bite off more than can chew when they hook up with a troll hunter and follow his pursuits fighting the legendary creatures. I'm pretty positive that I've never seen a film from Norway before, so this would make a decent introduction. Or, I suppose it would if I knew anything about the general Norse/Scandanavian/whatever else troll myths the film is dabbling in. Since I don't, I'm credulous enough to take the film at its word, but I don't know how much of this is supposed to be a joke or taking the piss out of said myths. Like, you tell me that trolls are giants what eat rocks and too stupid to really be alive and sometimes they turn to stone in the sunlight and sometimes they explode, and I'll just roll with it, but if there's a deeper meaning or a gag going on with all of this, it's going right over my head. For what it's worth, I was semi-surprised that one of the camera-people got eaten in the second half; I really didn't figure the movie was going to go there. Once it did, though, it sort of underscored the lack of payoff for one of them getting bitten. He kept having sickly spells and everything throughout; I figured they were gonna end up saying the troll-ism is like vampirism or lycanthropy, and dude was gonna turn into a troll by the end. Instead, they were just like "oh, you have troll rabies" and... that was it. No big payoff, no sad ending, no nothing. It really feels like a letdown, like the movie had no real idea how to pay off all of the elements that it had set up and just sort of petered out at the end, substituting "governmental bureaucratic clampdown" over "troll mythology payoff", and it can only feel disappointing. I dunno - it was an enjoyable enough watch, but I feel like it may be trafficking in a lot of stuff that isn't quite ubiquitous or universal for it to have instant appeal. Which is fine, you want to make a film for an audience that will appreciate it, but I'm just not terribly sure who the audience is supposed to be here.  /5Watched so far: Night of the Living Dead (1968), Escape Room (2019), The Company of Wolves (GMM Challenge 9), Shutter (2008) (GMM Challenge 3), bunch o' shorts (GMM Challenge 7), Black Sunday (1960), The Hallow (GMM Challenge 1), Dr. Strange 2, Madhouse (1974) (GMM Challenge 10), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941) (GMM Challenge 13), Memory: The Origins of Alien (GMM Challenge 5), Trollhunter (GMM Challenge 8)
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May 12, 2022 17:08
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CHALLENGE TIME 
8. A Perfect Getaway
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 The King in YellowDon’t Torture a Duckling (Non si sevizia un paperino) 1972 Directed by Lucio Fulci Watched on Tubi  Don’t Torture a Duckling is strange and kind of slow, then very grim, but still kind of slow, until the very end when it transcends space and time to become something completely amazing. The scene with Maciara and the pop song is also amazing and I almost forgot about it because I was so preoccupied with the idea of shoving all of my thoughts into a single sentence. 💀💀💀💀 Spooky Non-American 1960s Challenge 8/13 1. Matango (1963), 2. Mill of the Stone Women (1960), 3. The Brainiac (1962), 4. Kill, Baby… Kill! (1966), 5. Gamera, the Giant Monster (1960), 6. Genocide (1968), 7. The House That Screamed (1969), 8. The Whip and the Body (1963) Bracketology 7/? 1. Night of the Living Dead (1990), 2. Strait-Jacket (1964), 3. National Theatre Live: Frankenstein (2011), 4. Frankenstein Created Woman (1967), 5. The Changeover (2017), 6. It Came from Outer Space (1953), 7. Morgiana (1972) GMM Challenges 7/13 1. The Other Lamb (2019), 2. A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985), 3. Madhouse (1974), 4. Suck (2009), 5. Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006), 6. Don’t Torture a Duckling (1972) twernt fucked around with this message at 02:37 on May 13, 2022 |
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May 12, 2022 17:38
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Opopanax posted:Does Studio 666 count as a musical? I can’t find a straight answer and I don’t want to pay for it and have it not count The challenge says musical OR something heavily involving music or musicians. So I think you’re good.
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May 12, 2022 18:23
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36 Cujo has always been a mixed bag for me. It's an exciting premise, but one you cant really do for 90 minutes straight, but even the dramatic padding they put around this movie isnt very compelling and really drags the movie down. I enjoy Dee Wallace as much as the next horror nerd, but if I were to have my way I would've gotten someone in the 80's known exclusively for her work in the romance/drama field and really do a deeper dive into the relationship and build a solid foundation of where they're at and THEN we throw her into hell. It would have to be so incredibly jarring and cataclysmic that I think you just need a better actress for it. Really devastating poo poo. Here I was just waiting for Cujo, like I imagine anyone would be, but we dont really get there till the 45 minute mark. It's a fine movie, but just dragged down too much.   out of 537  This movie still rocks. Just punk in and out, lots of fun and probably one of the best creeper features of the 80's. that looming sense of dread when everything kinda hits that the world is effectively over and most of humanity is burnt toast. It helps that this movie isnt like huge budget too, its just dirty enough to feel real and grounded. I'm sure if it were any better you'd get like some zombie level hordes, dramatic helicopter escapes and a lot less character and charm. out of 538  This was surprisingly good. Especially when you learn her motivation, I was definitely on Ma's side for the bit after that section, but then she kinda goes one step too far and then takes a huge rear end leap over all the other steps into some demented stuff. Yeah, that movie was definitely an interesting study and Octavia Spencer plays some great unhinged in this one too. out of 539  Still a classic. Everyone was talking about it in the other thread so I just felt compelled to watch it. I think it just holds up incredibly well despite the lack of aura of mystery around it 22 years later. It's still very compelling, disorienting and does so much with so little. Its a case study in what you can do when you got zero budget and you're just figuring out things by sheer will and imagination. out of 5
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May 12, 2022 19:18
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13/13 - Dead of Night (1945) 13. Sins of the Past I don't know what you write about a movie like Dead of Night, a movie that basically popularized an entire subgenre of horror films. The movie has a timeless quality to it, aided by a really loving scan of the negative from Kino Lorber. It's really interesting to see how much of the material from this movie has been picked up, dusted off, and repurposed for other projects. You could do an entire month of movies based on the ventriloquist dummy segment alone and still have extras to spare. More than 75 years later, the movie is still thrilling, engaging, and a whole lot of fun. Easiest rating to give so far. 
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May 12, 2022 20:38
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Sorry for falling behind. I’m in the process of getting a new tv and it’s been a hassle, and there’s King of Gate and Best of the Super Juniors to watch. 4.) The Sadist James Landis | 1963 | YouTube Three schoolteachers are on their way to a Dodgers game only for their car to break down in front junkyard only to find it taken over by a gun-wielding psycho and his mute girlfriend who then takes them hostage. This was a nice little surprise! It’s surprisingly tense and it has some great cinematography by Vilmos Zsigmond. The actor playing the psycho is kinda goofy (MST3K fans will remember him from Eegah!), but overall he’s pretty good in the role. Overall, a fun little movie. Rating:  5.) Season of the Witch/Hungry Wives George Romero | 1972 | Blu-ray A really cool feminist film about an unhappy (and abused) housewife turns to the occult as a way to cope. It’s really interesting and I think it’s really cool how the film kinda cuts between reality and dreams. Overall, I just found it effective how the film leaves it up to viewer whether or not any of the occult stuff is actually real. Rating:  6.) The Crazies George Romero | 1973 | Blu-ray I really dug this movie. It almost feels like the missing link between Night of the Living Dead and both Dawn and Day of the Dead with an incompetent and crumbling military overseeing a mass pandemic, along with heavy Vietnam parallels. It’s pretty cool and feels in a way almost like a zombie movie from point of view of the zombies (emphasis on almost). I also liked how it’s hard to tell with Clank, one of the protagonists, whether or not he’s infected or if he’s undergoing PTSD from his time in Vietnam. Really good, and I do relish the opportunities to explore Romero’s non-Dead films. Rating: ½ Total: 6/13 New: 5 Rewatches: 1 My Letterboxd list (in progress)
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May 12, 2022 21:40
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8. Riding the Bullet All Hail the King I will never understand why King let Mick Garris so much of his stuff. This is like all the other Garris adaptations I've seen, it's not terrible or anything, but it is extremely mediocre. There are some funny bits and David Arquette is good, but it seems to have trouble knowing what tone it wants and it looks like a sunday afternoon TV movie. I don't think I've read the story (or I did it was long enough ago that I don't remember) so I can't say how faithful an adaptation it is, but it's straightforward enough. Bland but not the worst movie I've ever seen.
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May 12, 2022 22:26
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Opopanax posted:Does Studio 666 count as a musical? I can’t find a straight answer and I don’t want to pay for it and have it not count STAC Goat posted:The challenge says musical OR something heavily involving music or musicians. So I think you’re good. Yep definitely. Something like Green Room would count too
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May 12, 2022 23:10
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Greekonomics posted:
I saw this for the first time maybe two years ago and loved it, it feels way ahead of its time. As much as I love Romero's zombie movies, I wish he had done more stuff like this and Martin
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May 12, 2022 23:15
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Opopanax posted:8. Riding the Bullet I’m not a fan of his movies at all, except for maybe Critters 2 and Sleepwalkers (and that’s a big maybe), but I’m a huge fan of his podcast, Post Mortem, and after listening to him talk, I can easily see how King was charmed into working with the man. He’s an absolutely delightful person and is just a huge nerd about horror films.
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May 12, 2022 23:22
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#13: The Green Knight Challenge 1 Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched  King Arthur's horny fuckup nephew fucks up so bad he has to go on a quest everyone fully expects will end with his death. Along the way he keeps loving up, instantly gets robbed, befriends a cute CGI fox, and gets involved in a bisexual couple's weird sex games. Sound like a rollicking comedy? Yes it does but it turns out it's The Green Knight, a weird trippy fantasy thing. I was really surprised with how much the main guy sucks, and that the movie is entirely about how much he sucks. The visuals are of course great. You've probably seen the trailer, you know it. Fantastic fairytale stuff. The halo crowns are particularly good. They aren't fancy or shiny, they're just metal bands nailed together. But they work, they look magisterial despite all that. I think that's what the whole movie was going for; yes everyone ihere is constantly covered in poo poo and smells like poo poo, but there is still something to them that elevates the human spirit. Bit long though. Especially the Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge segment. That goes on for quite a while. Overall it's a funky trip but I would like to see this movie done as a straight up comedy starring, maybe John C. Reilly? But keep the meeting in the green chapel exactly the same. Straight up John C Reilly comedy until the chapel, then that plays out identically. 1) One Cut of the Dead, 2) Land of the MinotaurCH8, 3) Terra Formars, 4)The Great Buddha ArrivalCH5, 5) BogCH3, 6) Satan's Cheerleaders, 7) Zombie For Sale, 8) JeruZalem, 9) CandymanCH11, 10) Curse of the Crimson Altar, 11) PreyCH2, 12) The Possession of Michael King, 13) The Green KnightCH1
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May 12, 2022 23:43
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6. The Night House Part House of Leaves, part What Lies Beneath, this is a sweet movie about grief, suicide, secrets, and depression. Rebecca Hall is excellent, playing a widow who's husband unexpectedly shot himself. She bristles with anger instead of sadness, pissed at her husband, pissed at life. Being pissed makes other people uncomfortable and that pisses her off too. It's really good and while the underlying mystery is mostly held back until the very end, it all comes together in a series of twists that are textually satisfying while also acting as potent metaphor. The horror is doled out really effectively with lots of varied scares and imagery. The rest of the cast doesn't particularly stand out but it's cool cause Hall has it all on her shoulders. If you have face blindness it will be very hard to follow the plot. 2) A Nightmare on Elm Street 3) Scream 4 4) Scream 2022 5) You Won’t Be Alone 6) The Night House 7) Audition 8) Dracula (1931) 9) Suspiria (1977) 10) Drag Me To Hell 11) Us 12) Men 13) Night of the Living Dead (1968)
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May 13, 2022 00:15
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6) The Strange Colour of Your Body's Tearsz (2013) Challenge: The King in Yellow There are four things you should expect to find in a typical giallo: stylistic shooting, a killer with a knife, naked women and no discernible plot. This French giallo homage has all of them in spades. It's so cut up as to be incomprehensible, not just as a movie but even within individual scenes as the DP masturbates over his own cleverness. There is no character development, no logic nor any attempt to apply any. There is, however, copious amounts of stabbing and gratuitous nudity. Anyone who doesn't like giallo will hate this movie; anyone who does will find it an inferior and shoddy copy of the genre's hits. Avoid.
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May 13, 2022 00:55
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Short Cuts The Pickman Model 2021 Directed by Tim Troemner 7 minutes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89Ai1YX4u_k A painter describes his eponymous painting method. 💀💀 Waffle 2020 Directed by Carlyn Hudson 10 minutes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLOYmmFAsYI Two ladies enjoy a nice pajama party and eat waffles. 💀💀💀 Curve 2016 Directed by Tim Egan 10 minutes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dD3Fawk4y0 A woman wakes up in a precarious position. 💀💀💀💀 A Warning to the Curious 1972 Directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark 50 minutes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7xJSQY8Ssw A man unearths a very important hat. 💀💀💀1/2 Spooky Non-American 1960s Challenge 8/13 1. Matango (1963), 2. Mill of the Stone Women (1960), 3. The Brainiac (1962), 4. Kill, Baby… Kill! (1966), 5. Gamera, the Giant Monster (1960), 6. Genocide (1968), 7. The House That Screamed (1969), 8. The Whip and the Body (1963) Bracketology 7/? 1. Night of the Living Dead (1990), 2. Strait-Jacket (1964), 3. National Theatre Live: Frankenstein (2011), 4. Frankenstein Created Woman (1967), 5. The Changeover (2017), 6. It Came from Outer Space (1953), 7. Morgiana (1972) GMM Challenges 7/13 1. The Other Lamb (2019), 2. A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985), 3. Madhouse (1974), 4. Suck (2009), 5. Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006), 6. Don’t Torture a Duckling (1972), 7. Various shorts
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May 13, 2022 02:37
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9: Behind the Mask, The Rise of Leslie Vernon Behind the Screams What a fun surprise this was. I’ve been aware of it for years but always thought it was played a little straighter, but this was a lot of fun. Neat little deconstruction and I liked Englund’s Loomis take. Not a big fan of the “twist” but it worked well enough. Definitely not perfect, it feels like an early meta commentary, but came out nearly a decade after Scream. I’d like to see an updated “reboot” type movie (and apparently something is in the works).
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May 13, 2022 03:45
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14/13 - Bones (2001) 11. Horror Noire Bones is a wild movie for a number of reasons, least of which is that Snoop Dogg plays a supernatural ghost hustler. Is Snoop Dogg a good actor? Not particularly. Does it work in this movie? Absolutely. I knew a ton of people with this soundtrack when I was younger, but nobody that had actually seen the movie... well, now I have, and it's sure something. It's not amazing, but it's absolutely entertaining. A lot of the practical effects for this movie are really cool, which is an unusual contrast because the special effects are... not great with age. Special highlight goes to actor Michael T. Weiss, who I absolutely loved from the cult TV show The Pretender, and he's just MAGNIFICENTLY gross in this movie. Big fake flabby cheeks? Acne pockmarks? A really terrible Richard Nixon impression of a voice? God he's a great lovely scene chewer in this one.  Additional points for having a rap song that summarizes the plot of the movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ytrh3v9O1U PKMN Trainer Red fucked around with this message at 04:07 on May 13, 2022 |
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May 13, 2022 03:57
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PKMN Trainer Red posted:14/13 - Bones (2001) Ernest R Dickerson rocks.
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May 13, 2022 05:01
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4. Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror (2019) (first viewing) Delivering what the title promises, this documentary does an admirable job given its compact runtime. The film tracks black representation in cinema on both sides of the camera, from The Birth of a Nation to Get Out and beyond. In addition to a pretty good roster of actors and directors among the talking heads, there's also an academic perspective included with some film scholars, including the professor who wrote the titular book. It's a short documentary, so it has a light touch, but it's reasonably effective for the scope. CHALLENGE: "Behind the Screams." (This one obviously also works for its namesake "Horror Noire" challenge category, or can be used to come up with other ideas that qualify.) --- CHALLENGES: 1. Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched 2. Scream, Queen! 3. Rated PG 4. Music of the Night Nocturne (2020) 5. Behind the Screams Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror (2019) 6. The King in Yellow 7. Short Cuts (various short films) (misc) 8. A Perfect Getaway 9. Hidden Gems 10. The Price is Right 11. Horror Noire Tales from the Hood (1995) 12. All Hail the King 13. Sins of the Past
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May 13, 2022 05:23
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Movie #11, Challenge #9 Watch a film from Franchescanado's Letterboxd list of Horror Film Hidden Gems Magic (1978)  A great Showbiz and Psychosis movie with absolutely compelling performances from start to finish. Anthony Hopkins plays Corky, a subpar stage magician who finds new life in a foul-mouthed ventriloquist named Fats. This film falls largely on the drama side of the horror/drama genre, but there's an awesome sense of tension and by the end even little niceties from earlier in the film feel like acts of aggression. Corky channels the worst parts of himself through Fats and there's a true sense that the people in his life want to help him. His agent (an excellent Burgess Meredith) isn't a shady manipulator, he really does want to help Corky get well. Corky knows he needs help and violently rejects it; he sees acceptance of his problems as an admission of failure. There's something to be read into here about the fear many men have of getting help and looking "weak," and this is part of Corky's core being. This isn't a Killer Dummy Movie and it would be easy to tell a campy version of this same story, but everyone here brings their best and it's just so genuine that it really does feel heartbreaking rather than silly, even when we've got a dummy on screen dropping lewd insults.
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May 13, 2022 05:25
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 Aval or The House Next Door (2017) Challenge #8: A Perfect Getaway This is an Indian horror film, and its going to be hard to describe because it's just completely baffling but essentially it's about some indian people that live in some kinda complex in the middle of no-loving where. We have the "main characters" Krish and Lakshmi they are married and live in house number one. Immediately when the movie opens we have a bollywood montage how they meet fall in love and get married. Then we have Jenny and her dad that live in house number two which is being hainted by chinese ghosts of people that lived there 80 years ago. The movie is two loving hours long and each half is practically a different movie. The first part is agonizingly horrible, a chore to sit through, it felt like there was no effort going into it and it was VERY difficult to follow. The second half was actually pretty good we get to see more haunting how the ghosts are going hog wild and we have a flashback bit in black and white where we see what happened to the chinese family in the past that felt more familiar because it was all chinese and not indian. The move even ended with a pretty good twist. Overall though, it felt like the film was made by two different people and the first one had never made a movie before and that just cancelled out the rest. ?/5
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May 13, 2022 07:30
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gey muckle mowser posted:
 9) Virus: 32 - 2022 - Shudder This one is an Argentina-Uruguay production. While I'm not 100% on if I've seen anything from Argentina, I'm 100% certain I've never seen anything from Uruguay. Despite the basis being the overdone 'trapped in a violent apocalyptic outbreak', this film does manage to pull out some interesting tangents. Story follows Iris who's surprised by her estranged husband to watch their daughter while he has to take an exam. She ends up taking her daughter with her on her overnight security guard job and they're trapped when a viral outbreak turns people into bloodthirsty maniacs. While this sounds like a 28 Days Later knockoff, it is and it isn't. A fair amount of reviews call the Infected zombies but that's about as accurate as it was for 28 Days Later for the most part. Here, the Infected after they attack have a 'cooldown' of 32 seconds which does get utilized for some nicely tense moments. They're also taken down by the same lethal damage anyone else would, but near the end we're given the hints that once they die, they resurrect into proper zombies which I thought was a creative touch. I also particularly liked that the characters were more nuanced than the norm in this subgenre. For example, Iris isn't particularly a good parent, treating her daughter more like a buddy rather than being a Mom and not being a responsible person for the most part, but it's gradually revealed she's like this because of the death of her infant son and hasn't allowed herself to properly mourn because she feels responsible for that death. Through the events she experiences, she's able to finally confront her pain, start healing and acting rather than reacting. I wasn't too big on the animal deaths, but they didn't feel gratuitous like in some other films. Overall, this is definitely worth a watch.
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May 13, 2022 09:02
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 1. Horrors of Malformed Men (1969)  1. Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched- Watch a folk horror film Please let me know if you disagree this is a folk horror and I haven't given enough in my review to make it clear - I didn't know it was going in but feel it qualifies after seeing it. This is really out-there - like the Island of Doctor Moreau meets the Wicker Man as an escape from a mental asylum sets forth a series of events which reveal a terrifying family secret on an isolated Japanese island. The mystery is peeled back layer by layer as the protagonist finds himself in the middle of a legend and patiently bides his time to reveal just what the gently caress is going on - to bonkers results! I loved the atmosphere created, the pacing does a lot of work in how enjoyable I found this. Some really cool cinematography and production design/effects. Bat-poo poo inventive, I really liked it! 3.5/5  2. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)  3. Rated PG- Watch a film rated PG or PG-13 The poster shared in this thread with the Scarlet Witch being strangled by the Evil Dead hand sums up how I felt watching this film. I went in expecting a lot of middling, obvious superhero shenanigans and then at the start there's a giant eyeball gag straight from Evil Dead 2. The references just kept coming and I have to say the plot was a roller-coaster, I dare anyone to say they predicted how the hero would win the day - it was inventive and fun with loads of scares and stupid Raimi poo poo, it's his best film in ages. It has a nice little heart and simple point to advancing a character in the Marvel universe, too. The LGBTQ+ pin seen throughout was a nice touch to costume. 4/5  3. Salo: 120 Days of Sodom (1975) Who watches this and says they enjoyed it? That's not the point, of course. I had to look away a few times, definite boak material. The point about the banality of evil is made super clear - the fascist rulers of a town marry each others daughters, kidnap a bunch of young men and women then head to a mansion in the hills in order to live a debauched and cruel life (as the aeroplanes and tanks of the Allies roll in, which we hear happening throughout). It's very well shot and has a script that give moments to strangle the human spirit throughout, quite an achievement. I must admit I kinda laughed when the evil bastards were doing a cancan dance in the middle of a bunch of horrific torture, looks like they were genuinely having a great time. 3.5/5  4. Last House on Dead End Street (1977)  5. Behind the Screams- OR watch a film where the characters are making a horror film (e.g. Shadow of the Vampire, New Nightmare, etc) Okay so I am making an effort to watch a bunch of gross "extreme" horrors because I have shied away from them all my life, they just make me want to be sick or put me in a depressing mood. Salo was the one I remember seeing on TV when I was about 16 and it literally made me sick at the time - this is on a bunch of "extreme horror" lists and it's about a man released from prison who decides to get involved in the pornography business by making all the local pornographers star in his snuff films. It looks like it was made for about $20, stars a guy who looks like Meatloaf's kid brother and is so badly dubbed you wonder if there is an issue with your copy of the film. BUT for some reason it's watchable and at moments very good, as the killer uses a mask and different methods of murder he garners a small group of degenerates around him and the soundtrack uses (free copyright) orchestral tracks and some chanting which create quite an artistic experience. It's smarter than it looks, it reminded me a lot of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. I never thought I'd heartily recommend any of these trashy looking no budget horrors but this get's a thumbs up from me. 3.5/5 Watched: 1. Horrors of Malformed Men (challenge 1) 2. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (challenge 3) 3. Salo: 120 Days of Sodom 4. Last House on Dead End Street (challenge 5) 3/13 challenges complete
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May 13, 2022 12:31
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gey muckle mowser posted:
9) The Haunted Mansion (2003) This was a fairly competent early 2000s kids movie. Nothing extraordinary, but I didn't hate it. There were some legitimate spooks in here, and I feel like a kid would actually get a nice fright out of it. Overall, perfectly average. 2.5/5
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May 13, 2022 13:13
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