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03. Satanic (2016) Kind of a neat image, doesn't really mesh with anything else in the movie though. Some kids tour LA looking for Satanist stuff, and find a whole bunch of it. Not good at all. There were parts that worked well, there were scenes I liked. The narrative gestures towards something interesting with LA being kind of a shithole, full of grubby everyday horror. But it just doesn't ever come together. It's all so rote and by the numbers, every scene feels like an ad for a horror movie, but not for the same one. There's a big event in the middle that changes how all the characters feel and act, but it totally breaks the thing in half. It doesn't intensify the cracks established in the first half, it just sort of turns the characters into different people. The low budget doesn't help. It's not unlike Blair Witch in that a lot of the horror is implied rather than shown, but it's just not scary. A character runs off-camera, and we hear the sound of flames and screaming, but don't see anything. At the very least, I appreciate the ending for going super dark. Also, the depiction of Hell as a very small concrete room is fairly original and viscerally unpleasant. I watched this because it was on Shudder. There was, in retrospect, a way smarter way to shrink my backlog. Ah, well.
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May 13, 2022 14:43
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gey muckle mowser posted:
 10) Censor - 2021 - Prime This was not an easy pick since going through Fran's list for me was pretty much "seen it, seen it, seen it, own it, seen it, own it, own it...". Thankfully, I found something and whoooo it's a Something. I had to sit through this twice because there were so many layers to sift through, and I'll likely sit through it again because I know I'm probably missing a few layers. Being that I lived through the big Satanic Panic and Horror Movie Backlash in the 80s, I went in watching with all those old memories coming back since being a Horror loving metalhead back then pretty much meant at worst-people were assuming it was only a matter of time before you were on the news for some sort of evil cult murder spree, and at best-you needed to spend some time in an asylum because being interested in all that wasn't normal or healthy. I still remember my Mom was planning for us to visit England again in the 80s and in the tourist do's and don't's packet we got, it had Fangoria magazine listed as forbidden to bring in the country. Storyline here follows Enid, who's a censor for the film board during the Video Nasties era. She takes her job in 'protecting the public' very seriously, but as she's reviewing 'Don't Go in the Church', strange things begin to happen. A point I tend to bring up (to mixed responses) when censorship is called for be it towards movies, video games, music...take your pick is it speaks more about the loudly outraged than what the content is. For example, during the PMRC hearings, the Washington Wives couldn't stop going on about all this obscenity and lewdness in Heavy Metal and Rap music that looking back, spoke more about how perverse their minds were than what the actual content and context was. For how many times over the decades I've seen this happen, it almost always turns out the ones who were the most loudly outraged had something to hide. In the case of this movie, Enid most certainly has something to hide. My interpretation of events is that Enid had something to do with her sister's death. Most likely an accident, but whether it was from a kid's dare or sibling being awful to the other and it turned tragic, who knows. Enid repressed the memories to the degree they were never able to find her sister's body. There was no kidnapper since they would make it not entirely Enid's fault at what happened to her sister. I think her parents have some inkling of what might've happened since they've had Nina declared dead. Enid clings to the idea her sister's still alive much like a child hopes everything will really be okay when it's not. The combination of the Amnesia Killer's claim he doesn't remember along with the visuals of 'Don't Go in the Church' cut too close to home for Enid and she spirals into madness until she's had a complete break from reality. Another key point that tends to get memory holed in reality is the media jumping to conclusions in the pursuit of ratings. Child's Play 3 was claimed to be the motivation for the murder of James Bulger, but there was no proof and the likely motive far more complex than watched a movie. Halloween was blamed as the motive for a murder that ended up being the murderer was on PCP and cocaine. Most remember the movies getting blamed, but not the truth of what happened because that doesn't generate the sensational headlines. In this film, the film 'Deranged' is blamed for the Amnesia Killer's actions, but it's later revealed he never saw the film. Overall, I liked the film. I particularly liked the use of actual film-film and VHS. I'm not as good as some of my co-workers who'd be able to tell what mm film and/or cameras used at a glance, but it was a nice nuance that I felt added to the imagery. Definitely a recommend from me.
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May 13, 2022 15:54
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RobbZombae posted:
It’s such a bonkers movie that it’s hard to label it as anything really, but yeah I think your justification makes it count.
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May 13, 2022 16:58
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1. Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched
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gey muckle mowser posted:
 7.) Firestarter (2022) Keith Thomas | 2022 | AMC Theater I’m not going to go too in-depth considering it is only just opening today but this was fine. I never saw the original film or read the book (me read a book? Without pictures?!  ) so I have nothing to compare it to. It wasn’t bad, and there were in fact some cool moments, but I wouldn’t say it grabbed me. I’m sure if you were familiar with King’s body of work you might feel differently though.Rating:  Total: 7/13 New: 6 Rewatches: 1 Challenges: 12. All Hail the King (Firestarter (2022)) My Letterboxd list (in progress)
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May 13, 2022 18:27
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hey it’s Friday the 13th, so here’s a  SECRET BONUS LIMITED TIME CHALLENGE  Watch any film from the Friday the 13th franchise- Does not need to be new to you - You can also do a double feature of Never Hike Alone/Never Hike in the Snow, but it’s got to be both since they are each under an hour. - You must watch it today and post your write up no later than tomorrow. You can substitute this challenge for any other challenge you haven’t completed yet. Once again this for today only! No extra rewards for completing this in addition to the other challenges other than getting to watch a great movie (or a bad one depending on which entry you go with).
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May 13, 2022 19:03
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gey muckle mowser posted:hey it’s Friday the 13th, so here’s a Can we bank this as a wildcard for the challenge, or do we have to pick which challenge it's replacing upfront?
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May 13, 2022 19:21
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Funny, I had plans tonight to watch Never Hike Alone: The Ghost Cut tonight, so that's great. The Ghost Cut is apparently a version that "includes Disappear, Never Hike in the Snow, and Never Hike Alone cut into one cohesive anthology timeline including some additional scenes and very special guests" - it's 1hr22m if anyone wants to drop that on their watchlist for today.
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May 13, 2022 19:27
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Count Thrashula posted:Can we bank this as a wildcard for the challenge, or do we have to pick which challenge it's replacing upfront? You'll have to pick the challenge it's replacing as you log it The Berzerker posted:Funny, I had plans tonight to watch Never Hike Alone: The Ghost Cut tonight, so that's great. Neat, I didn't know that existed. I don't think I've seen Disappear so I may check that out tonight too.
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May 13, 2022 19:44
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The Berzerker posted:Funny, I had plans tonight to watch Never Hike Alone: The Ghost Cut tonight, so that's great. Well this is what I'm doing over takeout tonight, hot drat.
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May 13, 2022 19:46
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10. Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park Music of the Night Holy poo poo, I'd heard of this but always thought it was a joke, like the Family Guy Xmas special one, but turns out it's real. It takes place in the comics Kiss universe, where they have talismans that literally give them superpowers, and has Kiss fighting an army of animatronic robots at an amusement park after their creator goes mad. Look, you're either on board or you're not, whatever you expect from this movie is what you're going to get. It doesn't make much sense, the effects are bad, the guys are terrible actors, and the big climactic battle is filmed at night and nearly impossible to see; but it's kind of cozy in that 70s TV movie kind of way.
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May 13, 2022 20:23
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Got a little behind on my reviews. 5. The Tommyknockers (1993) "Late last night and the night before, Tommyknockers, Tommyknockers, knocking on my door." I haven't read the novel in a long time, but I remember it being one of the most bananas King books. The general premise of The Tommyknockers is that a writer in small-town Maine (shocking!) trips over a metal thing sticking out of the ground in the woods, and she starts digging it up. It's alien in origin, and the more that is uncovered, the more it starts to change the residents of the town. Mostly this means they're rude, and invent weird machines, and everything has a silly green glow. It's from 1993 so the effects are corny, and the story was pretty rough to begin with, but the leads (Jimmy Smits and Marg Helgenberger) do a fine job. I think I avoided this for so long because of its length more than anything but it definitely has a certain charm to it. 3/5 --  12. All Hail the King 6. Motel Hell (1980) "It takes all kinds of critters to make Farmer Vincent's fritters." This was tons of fun. Rory Calhoun runs a farm and sells popular smoked meats, and if you've ever seen a horror movie, you can probably guess the secret ingredient. There aren't a lot of surprises or twists, but it just breezes by with some fun dark humor, a great pig head mask, chainsaws and shenanigans. Plus, Paul Linke (who plays the sheriff) looks a lot like Tim Baltz, which made it a lot funnier to me for some reason. 4/5 --  9. Hidden Gems 7. The Changeover (2017) "If you change something, it changes you." Counting this for GMM's challenge 3, since TMDB says this was rated PG-13 (though I can't verify that anywhere else, probably because this was buried on release and hardly anybody has seen it). This popped up in Bracketology this week. Based on a book from the 80s, it's about a 16 year old named Laura who spends a lot of time taking care of her 4 year old brother Jacko, since their father killed himself and their mom is now working constantly to make ends meet. Jacko runs into Carmody Braque, a creepy old... I don't know, energy vampire, parasite wizard, whatever... who marks him and starts draining his life while Laura tries to stop him. I can see why people say it was made into a film to capitalize on the success of Twlight - it has some similarities, with a girl who turns to a hunky mopey teen boy 3.5/5 --  3. Rated PGTotal Watched: 7 // GMM Challenges Complete: #12, #10, #9, #8, #3, #2
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May 13, 2022 20:32
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 19 (30). It Came from Outer Space (1953) Directed by Jack Arnold; Screenplay by Harry Essex; Story by Ray Bradbury Aliens: We have only crashed here by accident! We mean no harm! Dude: Then why are you kidnapping people and impersonating them and stealing poo poo? Aliens: We need materials to fix our ship and we must blend in so we are not noticed! Dude: So why not just tell everyone and ask for help? Everyone thinks I’m crazy! Aliens: You will be too frightened by us and attack! We must hide our appearances and actions! We understand the concept of war! Dude: Do you understand the concept of gaslighting? I enjoyed that but I can understand why others might not. I’ve been watching Svengoolie for like two years now so I’ve really built up a strong tolerance for 50s sci fi films and an appreciation for the better ones. I definitely think this is one of the better ones. Arnold is just a good director and he makes a much better film than the average one of these. He also had this tendency to be at the forefront of a lot of stuff and I do not consider it an exaggeration to say that he is and under-appreciated forefather of the modern sci-fi, creature feature, and even acton blockbuster films. He seemed to have an incredible grasp of the evolving technology of special effects and filming and how to build a film that featured them with becoming a long slow build or tacky delivery system like so many of his contemporaries. People will probably think exclusively of the sort of giant bug and tiny man stuff he dd with films like Tarantula and The Incredible Shrinking Man but I’m also thinking of stuff like the water scenes in Creature From The Black Lagoon. He just seemed very capable of using that stuff to make and enhance a film in a way directors seemed to struggle with at the time and that is basically required for anyone directing a major motion picture these days. And even still you can watch big name directors like Zack Snyder and Michael Bay who seem to find a new film trick they like and instead of folding it into their films it kind of takes them over. Arnold had a handle on how to balance that stuff that still evades directors regularly. Unfortunately for him here the big technical advancements he was using were stereophonic sound and 3-D technology. The former is obviously very standard these days and unlikely to impress or show up to someone watching their TV and her usual set up. And 3-D is kind of just a gimmick that I've never really gotten big deal with or enjoyed and think it tends to just look bad especially when you're not wearing some of those goofy glasses. I mean I can understand why people would be interested in 3-D technology on paper but it never turns to work out very well and when you come back and look at it later it just looks silly. But fortunately in this case Arnold integrates it into his film well enough that I don’t think it was too distracting or film breaking. The weird alien eye visual stuff just kind of plays like a stylistic choice about the way humans perceive aliens or vice versa or something. I dunno. I didn’t know it was 3D at the time so I was just like “oh, that’s odd but kind of cool” and then afterwards when I read the 3D thing I said “Oh, yeah, that explains that.” There’s also the aspect of Arnold kind of pushing back on the Red Scare stuff of the time and instead of telling a story about alien invaders he told one about a bunch of aliens who just crashed and want to get home and its our suspicious, violent nature that makes the enemy. That’s interesting and this very much feels like one of the first places to try that. Spielberg says it was the inspiration for Close Encounters. But its another one of those things that’s become a sci-fi trope so it can be hard to really give it the credit it deserves when you’ve probably seen it a bunch. And probably better because as I joked about earlier its a bit clunky how the aliens are peaceful but also not. The humans have some pretty good reasons to be concerned. Then again maybe that’s the point? This feels less like a very simple “aliens good, humans bad” idea and more like a nuanced take on relations between countries or tribes. That both sides have reasons to be concerned and fingers on the trigger but there’s no actual necessary conflict there. A film made in the growing Cold War that seems like its probably directly addressing the unclear reason for such hostility and the possible terrible consequences of letting them get out of control. So yeah, I can understand why people wouldn’t be into this. And I grant that my appreciation is at least in part academic instead of an emotional response to the film. Its entirely possible to appreciate a film but not enjoy it. But i do think I enjoyed this. Maybe just because I’m out of Svengoolie movies on my DVR for the first time in a year and it has that same familiar feel. I even looked up some Svengoolie clips for this movie on Youtube just to complete the fix. So maybe its not for everyone but I had a good time and the movie feels like its got some layers.  20 (31). Morgiana (1972) Directed by Juraj Herz; Written by Juraj Herz and Vladimír Bor; Based on book Джесси и Моргиана by Alexander Grin I’m not entirely sure what to make of that, which in fairness is my general reaction to Czech New Wave films. Finding out that the original story was one woman with split personalities and that government censorship forced them to change it kind of helps give more context but also not really? Like I’m not sure how that story would work at all in this context. Maybe, I guess. This is just a simple story about someone who wants to kill her sister. I guess the original is like a deception where we don’t know there’s only one person and the “sister” is still trying to kill her “sister” and just like bi be really knows the deal until the end? That definitely would have added more punch. Much of the film just felt a little drab to me. I know people who would be shocked at that word because obviously its very colorful and rich in costume design and Iva Janžurová gives a lively dual performance as both sisters. And that’s definitely enough for many and I can’t blame them. I kind of felt like I was dragging for much of the movie. It felt like I had accidently popped on the Czech version of Downton Abbey. Which again, is a show that millions love and find incredibly engaging but I’ve just never given a look because it feels like something that would bore me. Maybe some of that is a cultural thing. I can hook into a 50s American sci fi film and read into the political and cultural subtext and elements of it but give me a European period piece and I turn into an uncultured slub and indictment of the American school system. Or maybe I just don’t care about aristocratic people in fancy clothes plotting to undo each other. I dunno. Its not a bad film by any means. Obviously very stylish and the story plays out in an easy way despite any language barriers (or just me being distracted and tired). Subtitled films can sometime be a challenge fo 100% concentration but Morgiana’s got the same structure of like a good silent film where you can follow the flow of the narrative even if you were ignoring the dialogue. And again, Janžurová does a commendable job in an always challenging job of playing two distinct characters that take up almost 100% of the screen time. I would have liked to see the version of this with her playing the same character with distinct personalities. That sounds more interesting to me than what it became. But I dunno. This one just didn’t click for me.
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May 13, 2022 20:48
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The Snow Woman (怪談雪女郎) 1968 Directed by Tokuzō Tanaka Watched on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gf3LEegIOa0)  The Snow Woman, aka Ghost Story of the Snow Woman, is based on the same story used for one of segments in Kwaidan. Despite the quality of the version available on YouTube, you can still tell that this is a fantastic-looking movie. The lighting is great and really helps to set the mood. The scares are pretty mild, people are the real monsters, and you know how it will end, but it's still a great version of the story and full of emotion. 💀💀💀1/2 Spooky Non-American 1960s Challenge 9/13 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), 9. The Snow Woman (1968) 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 21:14
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I’m going to a double feature tonight of one of the f13 movies double billed with Freddy’s Dead. You’d think they’d pair it with part 3 since both movies are 3D, or part 6 since Freddy’s Dead is also the sixth Elm St movie. They’re showing part 5. 
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May 13, 2022 21:29
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gey muckle mowser posted:hey it’s Friday the 13th, so here’s a Well, I didn't think I was going to have time for the May challenge, but this roped me in. I'm in for 13 starting with Never Hike Alone: The Ghost Cut. I'll be using the bonus challenge to sub in for the Short Cuts challenge.
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May 13, 2022 22:35
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15/13 - Never Hike Alone: The Ghost Cut (2020) BONUS CHALLENGE  Never Hike Alone: The Ghost Cut combines three popular Friday the 13th fan films from a single director into one viewing experience, which was interesting to me in a somewhat unexpected way. Conceptually it's nothing worse than anything in the actual F13 series, and the production design is honestly high enough quality that it doesn't feel out of place compared to any of the later Jason movies. The accessibility of professional filmmaking equipment has been huge to amateur filmmakers, and I think something like this screened next to something like Jason Goes To Hell is really representative of how far amateur filmmaking has come in the last two decades. The most interesting element, however, is watching director Vincente DiSanti put together three different films across a three year period and then loosely edit them into a single presentation. Even on a casual viewing you can see how DiSanti gets progressively more confident as a filmmaker over the years, which lends a somewhat uneven tone to the movie as the middle section (Never Hike in the Snow) feels more technically confident than the rest of the movie. I would argue the weakest part of the presentation is the way that the Ghost Cut has been edited together -- the full length presentation sets out to create what is essentially a single movie timeline, but the timeline itself is broken up by the shorts' individual titles and credits. I would argue that since the original filmmaker is the one doing the editing, and has access to all the original production files, it should have been equally easy (but significantly more engaging) to remove individual titles and instead present all the production information at the end (like something similar to V/H/S does). I don't think it's a problem necessarily, but it does break the immersion that DiSanti is trying to create by dropping title cards every few minutes. If nothing else, I appreciate there being some Jason content that doesn't take itself too seriously, given that nobody in the history of the franchise has seemingly taken it too seriously either. Nothing masterful, but a fun watch for Friday the 13th.  
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May 13, 2022 22:38
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 8. Shadow of the Vampire (2000) "This is hardly your picture any longer." It's 1921, John Malkovich plays F.W. Murnau, trying to get Nosferatu made. What the crew do not know, however, is that Murnau's hired actor for the role of Count Orlock, is an actual vampire. Willem Dafoe is absolutely awesome as 'Max Schreck', truly unhinged, and this has great support from folks like Udo Kier, Cary Elwes, and Eddie Izzard. I was glued to this, the slow escalation as filming progresses is done so well, building so much tension. As Dafoe's face gets more and more maniacal, you can tell that his willingness to cooperate is waning, and the conclusion is very satisfying. Best thing I've watched for the challenge so far (perhaps tied with Penda's Fen.) 4.5/5 --  5. Behind the ScreamsTotal Watched: 8 // GMM Challenges Complete: #12, #10, #9, #8, #5, #3, #2
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May 13, 2022 22:44
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It was my birthday yesterday so I decided to just watch some old favorites. 40  Where do you even really start with this movie. It's formidable in its presentation, its slow descent into madness and not holding itself back in any regard. It reminds you why David Cronenberg is a master of his craft, even that young with ideas still percolating and growing and mutating. It's such a delightful movie to behold and it continues to be eternal in its prescience in where we are now as a culture and what we've become without considering what technological leaps could/would do the human mind and body. it was screaming as a warning of a future to come and we just didnt get it or didnt want to see it.  out of 541  There's a wry sense of humor in this one that just permeating everything. Even at its most bleak and nihilist feeling there's this underlying humor carrying the entire script and screenplay. It's also really hard to top the final gore fest. Like there's a lot more gorier movies out there, decades removed from this, but goddamn theres a certain level of glee and fun they had with the gags and detail in such a sight to behold. They really pulled out all the stops for it and swung for the fences. out of 542  Like Re-Animator is just a classic in every sense of the word. Just delightfully creepy, gross, macabre and so exceptionally well done on a production level it just feels like a stand out of the genre in every way. Yeah not much else to say. It's always a treat watching this one. out of 5
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May 13, 2022 23:38
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Watch any film from the Friday the 13th franchise Friday the 13th Part 2 1981 Directed by Steve Miner Watched on AMC+  It's apparently been a year since I saw Part 1 and I still hadn't watched Part 2, so I did the thing. It's put together better than the first one, but it's also more conventional in a lot of ways. Part 2 just isn't as novel as Part 1 -- objectively better but less fun somehow? Also, Jason is kind of a doofus. When he can surprise the camp kids, he gets the job done. Otherwise, he bumbles around falling on his butt and getting tricked by sweaters. 💀💀💀 Spooky Non-American 1960s Challenge 9/13 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), 9. The Snow Woman (1968) 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 8/13 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, 8. Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)
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May 14, 2022 01:05
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The Berzerker posted:Funny, I had plans tonight to watch Never Hike Alone: The Ghost Cut tonight, so that's great. Now that I watched it, I don't recommend this, I think it would work better to watch them in release order FYI
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May 14, 2022 02:21
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Any particular reason? I generally prefer stringing shorts into a pseudo anthology so that seemed ideal for me. Is there a big enough problem/difference to just make a playlist?
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May 14, 2022 02:48
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I feel like the quality will jump around less if you watch them in release order, the most recent short is the best one and should be what it ends on, just my opinion though follow your heart 
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May 14, 2022 03:09
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ruddiger posted:I’m going to a double feature tonight of one of the f13 movies double billed with Freddy’s Dead. You’d think they’d pair it with part 3 since both movies are 3D, or part 6 since Freddy’s Dead is also the sixth Elm St movie. Undoubtedly too late, but just alternate between screaming "THAT'S NOT JASON" and "gently caress YOU, ROY" the entire time.
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May 14, 2022 03:24
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11. Friday the 13th (2009) I like Slashers and don't like Giallos so this suits me just fine. Nice to get this one off my list, too; I've seen the Nightmare remake and the two Zombie Halloween, but hadn't gotten around to Jason. Suprisingly good. I think the way they did it was smart, you've basically got three movies crammed in here, but they aren't exactly story heavy, and the takeout beginning actually works really well with pacing, let's them space the kills out some more. It doesn't do anything new or different or exciting, but what it does it does well, and sometimes that's just want you want.
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May 14, 2022 03:27
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The Berzerker posted:Now that I watched it, I don't recommend this, I think it would work better to watch them in release order FYI I watched this today as well and I think I agree with you. The added bits in between to try and segue between Snow and Alone don’t really add anything. 1. Never Hike Alone: The Ghost Cut - BONUS CHALLENGE As for my take on it as a whole, there’s a lot of good ideas in here that I don’t think we’re executed to the best of their potential. The filmmakers are a little too devoted to sticking to the traditional F13 formula, which doesn’t really work when you have such a limited cast. Way too much time is devoted to the protagonist in Alone having a big showdown with Jason, making the whole thing feel a bit too action-oriented to me. I’d have rather seen them take advantage of the whole YouTube video filming aspect of the short to move in a bit more of a found footage direction to shake things up a bit. Still, though, there’s some impressive technical work for a fan film and it was nice to see some actors from the series show up here. All in all, a good effort, but one that doesn’t quite hit the mark. Russian Guyovitch fucked around with this message at 03:39 on May 14, 2022 |
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May 14, 2022 03:37
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Is it like one short, and added bridge, and another short? Because I think I’d prefer that to just some random shorts. I like structure and to just sit down for a feature. Or is it like weirdly and heavily chopped up to intertwine stuff and change the story? Because I’d probably skip that. I’m sorry for the questions. I’m just curious but not curious enough to watch a Friday the 13th fan film twice.
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May 14, 2022 03:41
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STAC Goat posted:Is it like one short, and added bridge, and another short? Because I think I’d prefer that to just some random shorts. I like structure and to just sit down for a feature. Or is it like weirdly and heavily chopped up to intertwine stuff and change the story? Because I’d probably skip that. It starts with a music video, then one short, and then the other. They attempt to bridge the space between them with some very short interstitials but they're relatively inessential.
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May 14, 2022 03:48
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7. The Touch of Her Flesh (1967) Directed by Michael Findlay  What exactly can you expect from a '60s stag film in regards to horror? Quite a lot, bizarrely. Now, is it reinventing the wheel, or offering something that deserves reappraisal, probably not. What it is doing however is flying the flag for gorgeously directed exploitation cinema.   Our lead is Richard, a man who discovers his wife has been cheating, and in his grief, runs straight into oncoming traffic. He's introduced as an arms dealer, and his encounter with death leaves him bound to a wheelchair, and without the vision in one eye. The analogy to veterans of warfare coming home to find their wives and girlfriends liberated in their absence is clear, and Richard takes this about as well as one would expect. What follows is a scandalous rampage, as Richard takes out his anger on hapless go-go dancers and prostitutes, killing them with phallic weapons like blowguns. Joyfully his reign of terror is ended in a way that grants power and agency to his victims.  If you like boobs strung together by murder, you might have a good time. 3.5/5
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May 14, 2022 03:56
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Movie #12, Challenge #10 - Watch a film featuring Vincent Price The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)  A fashionable musician/doctor/phantom unleashing Biblical plagues to avenge his wife's death with the help of his beautiful robot assistant: Perfect Bumbling police investigations: Eh The costume, sets, and makeup here are awesome, the whole film is a visual delight. Some of the police nonsense is funny but it too often distracts from wonderfully campy mayhem. Each death Phibes orchestrates is elaborate and weird and he just has so much fun rocking out after each one! This movie has a Murder By Ornate Frog Mask scene so you know it's a good one. The second "organ playing madman that speaks through advanced computer tubes" horror comedy of the month for me.
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May 14, 2022 04:23
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I'm gonna be busy tomorrow so I'm just dumping my letterboxd Never Hike Again reviews here without my usual formatting so that I don't forget and miss the deadline Never Hike Alone: Reading the reviews on Letterboxd and I felt insane. This is pretty boring for a while, with found footage-y stuff that doesn't work for me, then it is pretty good for like 10 minutes of Jason, then it turns into pure nonsense. I watched this via the Ghost Cut and I don't recommend making the same mistake I did Never Hike Alone in the Snow: This was fine! It had some cool gore and fun moments, a bit of drag but not as bad as Never Hike Alone itself. Overall experience maybe a 2 out of 5 tbh Using this to replace the Short Cuts challenge. It kind of is that challenge in a way anyway
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May 14, 2022 04:52
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16/13 - From a Whisper to a Scream (1987) 10. The Price is Right I've seen most of Vincent Price's output, so I'm surprised I hadn't seen this. Well, I guess it makes sense, because this is an anthology horror film where VP handles the wraparound segment, so it's not exactly his most notable movie. What I will say is that for a horror anthology, this one is wildly entertaining, but not because it's good. It's a pretty terrible movie all things considered -- especially considering that this movie was made five years after Creepshow essentially perfected the genre -- but it's so unintentionally funny at parts that it becomes amazing. Several parts of the movie are delightful because of how simply bad taste it is. Y'all want a zombie rape baby? How about a super clumsy voodoo segment with a magical old Black guy? Human pincushions? TORSO PIÑATAS?! This movie's got it all. Honestly, I suspect this would have been absolutely incredible to watch with beer and pizza, you folks should consider doing it, it's on YouTube. It's also got a whole lot of very GIF-able moments. 
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May 14, 2022 05:01
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gey muckle mowser posted:
 Never Hike Alone (2017) The way it opened with a drone shot I assume so we can see the vastness, and isolation, of the environment, was a good idea, and it helped make the film seem more "expensive". Thought it was really cool how they switched from the dialogue heavy found footage style at the beginning (which I'm not a fan of) to normal third-person when the movie picked up, no dialogue, leaning heavy on the tremendous sound track. Initially I was skeptical because a FT13th film with only one person means only one grisly death scene which is not nearly enough but they managed to make it work. However I wish they didn't do the second ending into the ambulance it would have been perfect otherwise. 4/5  Never Hike in the Snow (2020) For only thirty minutes too many people and too much going on, not enough death, not enough Jason. Feels like a circle jerk just to show off these old guys that I grok are from the franchise but I'm not familiar enough to know who they are so I'm just watching old guys acting badly. The idea of doing Jason but IN THE SNOW is a good premise but they ENDED the hiking in the snow in the first minutes of the movie?! It would have made more sense to culminate the film in that scene not begin there then completely leave it behind and do something else. 0/5 TheMopeSquad fucked around with this message at 06:10 on May 14, 2022 |
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May 14, 2022 06:03
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gey muckle mowser posted:hey it’s Friday the 13th, so here’s a ugh okay fine I will actually get posting as this has given me a good reason to get around to watching 1. Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) (and I'll mark the occasion by counting it for challenge #13: Sins of the Past) Before this my F13 watch history was 1) Jason X when I was a small baby child, 2) F13 (1980) for a challenge a few years back, and 3) that's it, and all I knew and remembered was that this was the proper introduction of Jason and that he doesn't have the mask yet. All things considered, I had quite a good time. The beginning and end sections were funny and clever, especially the very last sequence, which has a hilarious visual gag that tells you exactly what's about to happen (Paul brings Ginny into the cabin and carries her to a bed on the very far side in front of a massive window, which tells you Jason's about to come through it, and then a wide shot reveals that there was another bed in the center of the room the whole time, which tells you Jason's definitely about to come through that window) and still fits in an even funnier bit (the jump-heartwarming return of Chekhov's dog), and the totality of it smooths over the fact that they're basically just running back the ending of the first one. The larger cast allows some nice moments of the characters reflecting on the legend of Jason, even as it means that a bunch of time has to be dedicated to killing them off, not all of which is particularly interesting (though it does execute a number of nice classic jumpscares), and even if there are a number of bland or botched line reads. It does continue to be interesting to see the beginnings of the F13 franchise knowing a bit about what it becomes. I was surprised by Jason's intelligence as well as his some-guyness; I certainly was not expecting to see him get kicked in the nards, so good on Ginny for making that last chase more of a back-and-forth than your standard horror movie trope. It's pretty inconsistent overall, I was feeling it drag a bit in the middle, but the highs were much higher than I was expecting, so I will give it a nice 7.5/10.
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May 14, 2022 07:58
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 The Dead Zone (1983) Challenge #12: All Hail the King Johnny Smith goes into a coma after a car crash then wakes up five years later to discover he has gained a terrifying extrasensory ability that allows him to witness peoples futures (or pasts). Shortly after starting the film I was reminded of this amazing SNL sketch that I will share with you all: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-xz0z1gU1M I don't have too much to say about this movie, its solid, but besides the performance from Walken (and Sheen!) it's pretty routine. For a David Cronenberg directed film it's incredibly tame. There is the one scene with the serial killer that's about to drop his head on the scissors that was too gruesome I had to cover my eyes (thankfully they didn't show him do it). I don't think I would watch it again or anything but I will add this to my Walken vocabulary:  4/5 TheMopeSquad fucked around with this message at 09:08 on May 14, 2022 |
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May 14, 2022 09:00
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Movie 8: Shadow of the Vampire (Behind the Screams) You monster! We had an arrangement! Shadow of the Vampire is a fun movie with a brilliant idea. On the surface it's a retelling of the filming of Nosferatu, the first ever vampire movie. Doctor Murnau is a bold visionary who wants to film a horror movie like no other, and initially it seems like this is just going to be a movie documenting the conflicts and problems faced by the production team as they tried to cater to their directors whims and fancies. But then things get spooky. If you haven't watched the movie, stop reading here. Apparently Murnau has found his Count Orlock from some forgotten little talent agency, some minor Moscow method weirdo named Max Schreck nobody's ever heard of. Schreck, he says, has gone ahead to Czechoslovakia to absorb the local flavor. The will only be addressed as Count Orlock and while his methods may seem a bit strange, they are crucial to his art. And then people start dropping off. Is Max Schreck just a bit too deep in his role or is there something even worse going on? It's a great idea! I watched Nosferatu just the other day, and my big takeaway was that Max Schreck was amazing as Count Orlock. The way he carried his body, his expressions, his eyes wildly rotating in their sockets... he didn't seem human half the time, so this movie takes that idea and runs with it: what if he WASN'T human? What if he was just some thing Murnau found and made a bargain with? Much like with the original, once again Nosferatu himself is the real attraction here, and I wasn't surprised to see after the fact that he was played by Willem Dafoe. He really runs wild with the role, even though he doesn't look as creepy and otherworldly as the original. Possibly my favourite scene in the movie is a quiet night time scene where two of the crew are out drinking when Orlock stumbles upon them. They discuss the book "Dracula" and Orlock recounts his view of the book, using small insignificant things most people wouldn't have even paid attention to, to illustrate what it's like to live for so long that you forget most things we take for granted. Cary Elwes is also fun as the manic and possibly doped to the gills camera visionary with probably the worst German accent in movie history (beating several other candidates from this very movie). I also enjoyed how they recreated many of Nosferatu's iconic scenes with the movie's actors, possibly using period equipment or at least nailing the look really well. Definitely worth a watch! It's not a masterpiece or anything, but it's a really fun take on the "let's make a movie about the magic of making movies" take. E: Holy poo poo, Eddie Izzard was Hatter?! ,5 / 5My May 2022 Movies: 1. Saturday Morning Mystery, 2. Ghostbusters Afterlife (Rated PG), 3. Superstition, 4. Vampyr (Hidden Gems), 5. The People Under the Stairs (Horror Noire), 6. Rock & Roll Nightmare (Music of the Night), 7. Nosferatu (Sins of the Past), 8. Shadow of the Vampire (Behind the Screams) Shaman Tank Spec fucked around with this message at 13:19 on May 14, 2022 |
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May 14, 2022 13:07
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gey muckle mowser posted:
 #13. Friday the 13th Part 2 (iTunes) A new group of camp counselors is being trained on how to operate a camp next door to Camp Crystal Lake, 5 years after Mrs. Voorhees' rampage in the first film. After a pair of them wanders in Crystal Lake, Jason follows them back and begins picking off the new counselors. I've always maintained that Part 2 is one of the "good" Friday the 13th films, mainly due to solid filmmaking fundamentals. What I didn't really appreciate until this most recent viewing was how grimly funny it can be, how many kills are setups for either a black-humored gag (like the guy in the wheelchair bouncing down an impossibly long staircase after death) or as a punchline (here's a happy ending with the dog returned to the heroes PSYCH!). Director Steve Miner is clearly trying to have some fun with this project, though his favored stylistic element of having someone pop up dead-center in the frame staring into camera doesn't work so well without the 3D conversion element they'd use in the sequel. (Also, I think this is the last one in the series to rely on extreme undercranking slow-motion as a stylistic effect, and I'm not sad to see it go.) That said, what makes the film work is that they know when to ditch the jokey elements and go back to their tense, giallo-influenced slasher roots, and from that perspective 2 is one of the best in the series. I forgot how affecting a late scene was where protagonist Amy Steele is hiding under a bed and pisses herself in fear; it's a rare thing to see in a horror movie, and it mostly works. On the whole, it's not a very good movie - almost none of the F13 films are - but it is a solid enough template upon which to build a long-lasting series. /5Hey, look at that. I hit my goal of 13 on the 13th with a Friday the 13th movie! That's fun. But I still have some challenges to complete and time in the month to burn, so I guess I'll keep adding on. A-like so...  #14. The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (Shudder via Joe Bob Briggs) A teenage girl lives alone in a big house, seemingly with no parental oversight. When the local pervert and his domineering mother begin taking a keen interest in her life, things begin to spiral out of control. A surprisingly tense and straight-forward little thriller, this thing is anchored by two dynamite lead performances by a pair of veteran pros - Jodie Foster and Martin Sheen - just on the cusp of breaking out into larger stardom. Foster is a chilly but fascinating lead, portraying everything through a brittle iron facade; Sheen is suitably unnerving as the creepy town pedo who everyone both knows about yet doesn't want to do anything about. (I was worried he was gonna be pulling an annoying motormouth schitck the whole time, but when he showed up halfway through, slowed down and icy, I got chills - I don't think anything was as offputting as a moment where he bullied the crippled boyfriend into lighting his cigarette by just tapping the end of it.) It's slow-paced and has fairly small goals, but it still as a magnetic pervasiveness all the same. Which makes it an interesting choice for a Joe Bob Briggs presentation. On the whole, I think he adds to the experience, breaking in infrequently to offer some insights and debunk certain superstitions that annoy him (since it is a Friday the 13th presentation). However, there was one moment where he interrupted a scene part-way through that stuck in my craw. This was an interesting new find for me, yet if you're looking to experience it, I don't think the Last Drive-In version is the way to go, ultimately. /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), Friday the 13th Part 2 (SBLT Challenge), The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane
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May 14, 2022 15:14
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Movie 9: Witchfinder General (The Price is Right) The law is with me, remember. The thing that makes Witchfinder General work is that even though it's not based in true events, it might as well be. Matthe Hopkins was a real guy, and there's no doubt that witchfinders and inquisitors did get up to all kinds of shady poo poo and murdered a lot of innocent people for supposedly being witches and in in league with Satan. The movie is a good old fashioned revenge tale. A cornet in Cromwell's army goes after the Witchfinder General and his sadistic second in command after they brutalize and hang the uncle of his bride and rape her. Vincent Price is the eponymous Witchfinder General, and he's pretty drat good in the movie. He's extremely Vincent Price but brings a lot of dignified menace to the role. A lot of the movie is extremely, insanely, profoundly 1960s British. The fight scenes especially are some Captain Kirk level theater fighting bullshit, which is kind of a shame, because when the movie isn't attempting action, it's pretty drat effective. Price has perfected the act of standing by impassively threateningly, while people are subjected to torture or cruel murder. This is all helped a great deal by again remembering that the movie's horror is grounded in history and dumb poo poo like tying people up and throwing them in water to see if they'd drown and be proven innocent actually happened. I can see why the movie ended up on British shitlists for years, because some of the torture and violence is brutal as hell even though the blood is extremely fake. Plus if you can't get behind a dude just loving whaling on Vincent Price with a loving hatchet, what can you get behind? One scene that's going to stick in my head for a while is one where a bunch of kids are happily baking potatoes in the ashes of three innocent people who they just watched getting burned at the stake. Normal everyday things becoming twisted and nightmarish is a staple of good horror. / 5My May 2022 Movies: 1. Saturday Morning Mystery, 2. Ghostbusters Afterlife (Rated PG), 3. Superstition, 4. Vampyr (Hidden Gems), 5. The People Under the Stairs (Horror Noire), 6. Rock & Roll Nightmare (Music of the Night), 7. Nosferatu (Sins of the Past), 8. Shadow of the Vampire (Behind the Screams), 9. Witchfinder General (The Price is Right)
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May 14, 2022 15:31
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For the F13 bonus challenge, it’s ok if you want to just post what you watched by tonight and do a proper write up later on, I know it’s short notice and people may be too busy on the weekend to write much. But you do have to at least post what it is you watched and what challenge you are subbing it in for (if you want to do that, it’s optional).
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May 14, 2022 16:39
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gey muckle mowser posted:
 11) The Mad Magician - 1954 - DailyMotion I think at this point of my life, it's quicker to list what I haven't seen of Price's work than what I have seen. I had planned to watch this during one of the previous challenges, but at the time it didn't hit my subcriteria of being easily accessible for streaming somewhere so everyone's got a chance to watch, and I wasn't going to go to some sketchy site. This was a fun one. Pretty much it follows the theme of House of Wax with a genius at his craft driven mad by someone interfering his work. In this case it's stolen rather than destroyed in House of Wax. As always, Price is pure perfection in this, and it's a high recommend from me.
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May 14, 2022 17:29
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5. Friday the 13th Fan Films Never Hike Alone (2017) (first viewing) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7K_wkQSM8xM) Never Hike in the Snow (2020) (first viewing) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbl0DmPR9fo) Nice timing on this challenge! I wanted to celebrate Friday the 13th, but I watched through my series box set within the last year, so it was welcome to have something new to me. The first film, Never Hike Alone, is from the perspective of a hiking/camping/wilderness blogger shooting a video in the woods around Crystal Lake. He finds some old trail markers, which eventually lead him to the abandoned camp. The blogger wasn't looking for the camp, although he was familiar with the legend of Jason Voorhees and realized what he stumbled into once he got there. I was worried that the premise was going to result in found footage trash, but there are only limited shots using the blogger's own camera. I think the framework is there mainly so they can have a solitary protagonist but give him a reason to talk once in awhile. Someone earlier said the films try too hard to stick to the formula, but I don't see it at all. I remember the series being about Jason racking up a high kill count against groups of horny counselors, not a one-on-one cat and mouse game. It's solid enough, and there's one pretty cool visual in particular during the climactic battle when Jason gets popped in the side of the neck with an axe, and blood slowly starts oozing through the holes in the front of his hockey mask. There's an unnecessary final segment that breaks up the feeling of isolation, although the filmmakers managed a nice get in terms of an actual character from the franchise by snagging Thom Mathews, reprising his role as adult Tommy Jarvis from Part VI. The film has an open ending to lead into the rest of the series--the production company has Never Hike Alone II, III, and IV on the way. The second film, Never Hike in the Snow, is a short prequel, and is supposed to take place three months before the events of Never Hike Alone. However, the events here don't really make any sense in a prequel timeline. (Here, Tommy Jarvis appears to be some kind of rogue Jason hunter, and he ends the film in the back of a cop car. Three months later, he's suddenly the chief paramedic for the local EMT crew? Here, we have at least two Jason killings that result in an active police investigation at Camp Crystal Lake, but three months later the protagonist just wanders into the camp and has no idea that it was even there, let alone the site of a missing person/multiple homicide investigation just a few months prior?) This one is half the length, but twice as stuffed with plot and characters. It also does not function as an independent film--it's entirely set-up, it feels like the first episode of a TV show rather than a stand-alone product. The titular idea of a wintertime Camp Crystal Lake is pretty neat, although not much is done with it. The opening kill is a little gnarly, at least. I am a total newcomer to fan films, so I did not know what to expect. These two pleasantly surprised me with the production value. There's a clear enthusiasm for the franchise, and I liked the balance between respecting the roots and trying to tell a new story. The acting is definitely uneven, and I do hope whatever storyline they have plotted out over the remaining films isn't as disconnected as these two installments were. Overall, nothing earth-shattering, but these were enjoyable enough that I will watch the future installments. CHALLENGE: "Watch any film from the Friday the 13th franchise," substituting for "Rated PG." --- CHALLENGES: 1. Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched 2. Scream, Queen! 3. 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 14, 2022 18:04
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