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married but discreet posted:The Hunger is cool as hell tho so who knows. It introduced me to Bauhaus, so major points with me on that one.
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Jul 2, 2022 19:10
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I really really liked Censor, the use of a changing aspect ratio to help tell a part of the story ruled. Meta narratives are almost never middle-of-the-road, they're great or terrible, so I understand if it didn't work for you. I went back and found my review from when Censor first came out, and really my summary was and is that it isn't nearly as smart as it thinks it is, but it's interesting enough to make up for it. I've actually never seen the original Witches, only the Anne Hathaway remake on a plane. I'm excited for it. Cache really disappointed me when I first saw it. I heard about impossible video tapes and thought there would be more mystery and horror (I'd never seen a Haneke before at that time). It turns out the movie I wanted to see was actually 2012's Resolution. I'll watch it again knowing what it actually is and see if I like it. Samfucius fucked around with this message at 04:27 on Jul 3, 2022 |
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Jul 2, 2022 21:52
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I'm updating the spreadsheet late and I do believe that this is the first week we have no US films. In fact 3 out of 4 are British films. Happy 4th of July! Also it turns out The Witches isn't 80s! I guess I lied about this being 80s Week. 
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Jul 3, 2022 15:50
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1990 is basically the '80s
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Jul 4, 2022 03:31
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The Hunger vs Cache for me comes down a lot to style vs. substance. Not to claim that both movies only have one or the other, but The Hunger is Tony Scott at his flashiest gothiest brother-imitatingest, with an aesthetic that almost certainly was a huge influence on the likes of The Matrix, and Cache is about as deliberately sterile as you can get. On the other hand, behind the static shots of Cache is an incredible depth of meaning that the viewer can take in, and even simple camera movements sometimes can be interpreted as something. Hunger looks cool as hell for its own sake. You can of course read some sort of capitalism creating an endless chain of exploitation message into the Hunger if you want, but Cache is very explicitly about French colonial guilt and post 9/11 surveillance – interestingly juxtaposed with America’s foreign adventures. I’m not sure if making the message so clear towards the end, with France antagonizing the offspring of its colonies out of guilt and shame, was to the benefit of the movie. Maybe for me personally I’d have preferred some ambiguity in its overall structure rather than in its individual elements, if that makes sense. Hunger leaves itself less open to that kind of nitpicking because I am the one coming up with a political reading in the first place. Hunger is also sort of dull when you look past the flash, whereas Cache is fascinating to look at and think about. Still, I don’t know. I really like the flash. Will think about it for a bit. Censor is one of the rare movies where I go against CineD/Spookadoodle crew consensus – it’s gratingly annoying how hard it tries to make sure that everyone understands it, it’s frustratingly trying to eat its cake and have it too when it comes to deciding whether horror movies are a bad influence on our minds, and to be really unkind it feels like a dumber Berberian Sound Studio or 8mm. The Witches is an eternal classic that I rewatch regularly, perhaps the best horror movie for kids ever made, just incredibly charming and perfectly balancing the fine line of going just a bit too far for a child’s comfort without being completely inappropriate. So this one’s easy for me. married but discreet fucked around with this message at 19:02 on Jul 4, 2022 |
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Jul 4, 2022 18:56
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Censor vs. The Witches This one isn't even close, Censor wins by a hundred miles, and it doesn't even need to be a good movie to do so. I never watched The Witches as a kid so I have no nostalgia for it, but I did read the book and the movie shits all over the entire point. Roald Dahl used to say that children's books not only could be horrible and scary, but should be, because the life of a child is inherently terrifying and they want to know that other kids feel the same way and can deal with it. Except for the last five minutes, this follows that philosophy to a tee. I get what they were going for and the mice were incredibly cute, but the cuts to the story make the whole thing feel rushed and disjointed and the ending absolutely ruins the whole point. The reason the concept of a "good witch" is never mentioned in the rest of the movie is because the original story is about the fact that there are a lot of adults who are gleefully awful to children. They aren't secretly good, they're not being controlled, they just like exercising control over the weak. The mice transformation is supposed to be a blessing in disguise because Luke will die around the same time as his grandmother, and never have to be alone in the world without someone who loves him. Allowing him to transform back into a human boy because of a "good witch" you introduced five minutes ago is shmaltzy bullshit that ruins his bittersweet ending, and the actors clearly know it. Samfucius fucked around with this message at 03:56 on Jul 5, 2022 |
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Jul 5, 2022 03:32
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Samfucius posted:The mice transformation is supposed to be a blessing in disguise because Luke will die around the same time as his grandmother, and never have to be alone in the world without someone who loves him. Jesus. I feel better about what they showed us kids in the 80s now over that.
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Jul 5, 2022 15:17
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The recent witches movie with Anne Hathaway was awful, but one thing I am now appreciating in retrospect is that they didn't sanitize that part of the movie. In the 1990 version Luke asks grandma "how long do mice live?" and then gets cut off by the arrival of good witch ex machina, but the newer one has the canon book answer "oh, about 9 years, same as me."
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Jul 5, 2022 19:17
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Susan Sarandon twice in two weeks, I must be dreaming!
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Jul 5, 2022 19:56
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The Hunger was dope. Cache I found to be incredibly boring to watch. Its got a lot to say sure, but the overwhelmingly sterile filmmaking approach left me so bored more often than not. I just bounced right off it.
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Jul 6, 2022 15:50
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I did notice on the LB there were a lot of low reviews calling it boring. I'm not sure if it was the stream atmosphere, but it felt like a tense thriller to me, in any case it'd make an incredible double bill with I Stand Alone, in both theme and mood. E: and I wont vote for it due to real animal cruelty, of course
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Jul 7, 2022 10:35
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Hey, hey, its Thursday. If you're anything like me things are pretty active for you right now and its proving tough to watch films of any kind. I have two of these week's films left to see, although I'm going back and forth on if I want to bother with Cache and am once again leaning against with it being compared to I Stand Alone. But either way we all still have some time. Just under 48 hours to be exa... uh... vague. But that's time, in theory. As long as you don't have a bunch of other things you need and want to do too and have no idea how you're gonna get everything done. But sometimes you just need to chill with a movie or something to keep from going insane, right? Vote or change your vote until 12 noon EST July 9th (or when I get to the computer)
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Jul 7, 2022 17:17
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If you take out the scene of the chicken being killed in a way that you'd see on a farm there's literally nothing that comes even close to objectionable in Cache.
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Jul 7, 2022 17:35
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Sometimes it’s not about objectionable content for me. I’ve seen vulgar films I just found boring because they’re so clearly trying to garner a reaction. In the case of a lot of these Noe and Hanake directors for me it’s definitely a tone. I just generally don’t want to watch a movie that makes me feel miserable unless it’s got a good reason. And even then… I better be in the right place.
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Jul 7, 2022 17:45
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Not to speak for SP, but I think the comparison to I Stand Alone is because they deal with similar themes in vastly different ways, but also come from directors who do have similar styles. I'm voting for Caché in this match-up. I don't think it's perfect; the political message is particularly heavy-handed, even if it hits slightly differently than in 2005. What it does well is create a marvelous sense of paranoia, and is constantly shifting what the audience expects for a viewpoint. The attention to detail is remarkable, too. Haneke is sometimes meaner to his audience, but this time I really think he's trying to get the audience to ask questions (even if somewhat angrily, but not in an upsetting way unless you are a big fan of European hegemony). I think at worst you could regard some of those questions as being too obvious, especially so many years later. I still think it's a very well-constructed psychological horror, and that's what I am choosing it for. I don't really think The Hunger is bad, but the lack of either strong narrative or consistently interesting characters put me off it a bit. It does have some amazing individual scenes, and the mood of the whole thing is amazing. Even if it borrows its aesthetics heavily from Blade Runner, it still looks good. I think these are evenly-matched films. There's no particular nostalgia for me around The Witches, and while I like the transformation scenes and the puppetry, I did not really love or hate it. I guess the only think really going for it is that it's a truly scary movie made for kids, which is rare but not enough to sway my vote. Censor was more of what I like, at least when it got trippy. I wanted a lot more of that in the film, but compared to its competition, I'd much rather watch it again.
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Jul 7, 2022 18:41
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I got The Witches in today. It’s been a long time. It’s a good time. I’d say the plot is a little thin and the ending is a little (lot) easy. I prefer it to the book ending from what I’ve learned though. And it’s a kids film so that stuff is kind of par for the course. The horror is heavy though. The puppet and prosthetic stuff is great and pure nightmare inducing and everything moves along at a steady if maybe even too fast pace. Like I said, kind of thin. That being said I didn’t enjoy Censor at much at all. The lead is very good and there’s good mood and atmosphere but I found the characters and themes thin and they failed to pull me in. It felt like there was too much focus on the video nasty thing and I didn’t really care. I dunno if it was saying nasty films are harmless and fine and it’s the people who feel strongly about it protecting people from them are the hosed up ones or that those films really are gross and exploitative and triggers that can hurt people. Or both. I dunno. I don’t mind that the film doesn’t seem to have a clear thesis on them but it felt like it took up a lot of space compared to the actual character drama and horror movie. Dunno. I just didn’t feel it. So yeah. Witches didn’t blow me away but Censor didn’t click for me at all. So easy vote for me.
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Jul 7, 2022 19:08
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I'm gonna watch The Hunger tonight but in general Tony Scott is extremely my thing and Haneke is extremely not my thing(including Cache, which didn't really do much for me), so The Hunger is very likely to get my vote.
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Jul 7, 2022 20:14
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Kangra posted:Not to speak for SP, but I think the comparison to I Stand Alone is because they deal with similar themes in vastly different ways, but also come from directors who do have similar styles. Yes, absolutely, they both use their flawed protagonists as a lens to explore wider societal issues, but they're very different films, Cache is definitely more Goat friendly.
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Jul 8, 2022 00:14
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I just really don’t trust Haneke and while I haven’t written the film off I have three other films I want to see before this “week” is up and I’m deep into Stranger Things S4 which are basically all movie length episodes and if I don’t watch by Cache by noon on Saturday I’m just never gonna. So we’ll see.
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Jul 8, 2022 00:19
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I thought The Hunger was really good. Being Scott's debut film I think you can see that he was leaning a bit on his brother's visual style because he hadn't quite developed his own yet, but that's certainly not a bad thing considering who his brother is. It does lack some oomph in the plot department, it doesn't really have much of a story but the actors combined with the atmosphere and aesthetic made it a very very entertaining watch for me. It gets my vote easily.
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Jul 8, 2022 15:14
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The Hunger vs. Cache The very definition of style over substance versus all substance no style? What a matchup. The Hunger wanted to be a music video more than a movie, and I knew before checking that it came out the same year as Total Eclipse of the Heart. The fact that it focuses on the transient lovers' perspectives rather than the sad immortal bisexual is pretty unique, but it never does anything with those perspectives rather than put spooky sex on screen. There seems like there's an allegory for addiction in here, but it's a muddled one because it makes drugs look loving awesome, consequences be damned. This is the platonic ideal of a movie that a 13 year old baby goth uses to define the next four years of their life, and that's fun for the first 15 minutes, but it doesn't make for a good film and by the second act I was bored. I really just wanted to know how they thought they would get away with never turning the lights on in a hospital. Cache is completely beige in comparison, and the message is really reductive (yes, Haneke, white people loving suck) but I stayed engaged because it was actually trying to say something. I didn't adore either movie but I'm voting for Cache.
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Jul 8, 2022 22:55
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I just watched The Hunger. As everyone has said more style than substance/story but that didn’t bother me too much because the story felt so familiar and self explanatory. It’s the basic predatorial vampire thing. All sexy and eternal life but really it’s all a lie from monsters who will use you and already are but you just don’t realize it. It feels like a bridge between films like Ganja& Hess and Daughters of Darkness to Anne Rice and Twilight. There in speaks the vampire problem and the problem with most “deconstructions” or “anti war” films. People don’t see the predators and the death and monsters. They just see the sexiness of whatever appeals to them. People are dumb and selfish and don’t care if a kid dies horrifically in the middle of the sexy music video or if it’s all a scam. People will always fall for the scam and be victims of the predator. I think I saw more of Tony Scott that others did. That whole sexy violence but the ugly truth of it feels common in his films. I don’t think he’s super judgmental about it. I don’t think he’s trying to open anyones eyes or judge them like SOME directors seem to do. He’s just making his dual films and it’s probably why they work. When they work. I’ve seen Domino twice and the Last Boy Scout gave me a headache. But I think it’s basically his mode. I’m wandering. I liked Hunger well enough. It’s sexy. Susan Sarandons never looked better. It’s also very overt about what a monster Deneuve is. I’m surprised people seem to enjoy the first part more because I definitely connected more with Sarandons story. The climax is muddled and I think it falls short of being a really complete work. But it kept me engaged and it feels like it had its influence on the path of vampire films for better or worse. I didn’t like it enough to just vote for it outright but I’m gonna try and get Cache in. And I can’t see me liking that more. So that’s me. If I watch Cache I’ll probably vote for Hunger but if I don’t I’ll probably abstain. I’m a weirdo.
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Jul 8, 2022 23:19
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Running late this week and whoops, forgot to finish the write-ups. No major shock here. Censor had its fans but Witches had the benefit of a lot of contemporary enjoyment and a ton of nostalgia. Is that what propelled it to a win over just plain being the preferred choice? Who knows? But the result is the same. Two Brits and a Kiwi are NOT a Tarnop team but it was Tarnop’s powerhouse Predation that eliminated Fran’s Femme Fatales last year in the Sweet Sixteen. We could have gotten a rematch of that fight but Basebf’s Two Brits and a Kiwi pull off the upset and head into the clash with Predation next round. I swear I’ll get the team builder right next time.  Pretty much the same results here. The Hunger caught some flack for being a little thin in the story area but got a lot of love for its style and influence. And it turns out that was more than enough to carry it to a win over Cache. For Michael Haneke that drops him to 0-2 in Bracketology and knocks off another top seed in mbd’s Uplifting Austrian Filmmakers. They’ll have to save their good thoughts and wholesome content for next year. And for SH’s Team Vampires and Coke its a birth into the Sweet Sixteen and a matchup against Deb’s Team Quite Good Directors That I Enjoy. Ok, sorry for the rush. I’m behind this week. Lets get to the new movies. 2. Terrence Fischer’s Dracula: Prince of Darkness vs. 7. (Deb’s Team Erotic Thrillers) Jon Dahl’s The Last Seduction  This is maybe the most interesting test of our loose definition of what makes it into the tournament and “the votes will decide” I think we’ve had. I love the Last Seduction (bad and unnecessary bigotry twist aside). I think Linda Fiorentino is one of the most underrated and failed actors of a generation and its an incredible performance that should have made her an A-lister (and which history says would have gotten her Oscar noms except that the Academy rules disallowed it). Its a much better film IMO than a lot of the other naughty 90s thrillers that used sex as a crutch. The Last Seduction uses sex as a plot device but its a story about characters. But I have no idea how to argue that the movie is horror. And we’ve had less horror thrillers come up in here but the problem is that its opponent is arguably one of THE films associated with horror for many. I wouldn’t call Dracula: Prince of Darkness a great film but its considered by many to be the zenith of Hammer’s Dracula series. Its lacking Peter Cushing but its got Christopher Lee back as a nearly feral Dracula and so much of the Hammer style is on full display in a film that is downright silly at times and setup but in a way that is very charming and fun. Hammer is in a lot of ways what I think of as horror and this film is in a lot of ways the platonic ideal of that style. So how does this matchup go? I’ve seen both films multiple times and on paper I’d say The Last Seduction is the better film. But is it the better horror? I don’t know which way I’d vote here. Would I really vote the film I think is less good for the genre? I don’t know. So if I don’t know how I’ll go here what about people watching these films for the first time or who feel differently about them or who don’t care about the horror label? I dunno. This is an interesting matchup that I don’t even know how I’m gonna vote on. And solo vs team, thriller vs horror, safe vs risqué. There’s a lot going on in this one. Dracula: Prince of Darkness is out there and available upon request. The Last Seduction is available on Roku, Vudu, Tubi, Pluto, and Plex. 9. William Castle’s 13 Ghosts vs. 16. (twernt’s Buggin' Out) Just Philippot’s The Swarm  Buggin Out’s gotten this far feasting on weak draws but its tough to know if that trend’s going to continue here or come to an end. 13 Ghosts is probably one of Castle’s more known horrors although perhaps more for its questionable remake than people who have actually seen Castle’s film? Castle took down one of the few decent films on my Knockoffs of the Living Dead team last round but he’s been eliminated in the second round of every tournament so far. His campy, silly style can be a bit hit or miss with people but probably depends a lot on who he’s up against. So what is the Swarm? That’s tough to say too. Some reviews have it written off as boring family drama using the killer bug thing to hook people in. Some reviews call it an effective slow burn and one of Netflix’s better horror entries, although its worth noting this isn’t a Netflix film just one of the international films it bought the distribution rights. The Swarm was actually selected for Cannes in 2020 before Covid cancelled it. So what’s can we expect here? I’m really not sure. Its two movies that feel like real wild cards. I love Castle’s whole thing and have been anticipating watching this one even without 3D glasses or Ghost Vision, but my goofy tastes definitely aren’t representative of the group’s. And The Swarm seems like it could go either way. It is a French film though and those do scare me. But I’m still curious, not just to watch these two films but also to see how the matchup plays out. Teams are dominating the Sweet Sixteen so far but Hitchcock was actually the only solo director to lose to a team this round. So Castle’s got some pressure on him. And twernt’s looking to get his second team into the Sweet Sixteen. So let the best movie win. 13 Ghosts is out there and available upon request. The Swarm is available on Netflix That’s our week. Two solo vs team matchups to see how the Sweet Sixteen looks and two matchups I really don’t know how they’re gonna go. Hope I can actually find time for them this week. Good thing I only have a couple of Stranger Things episodes/movies left. As always the goal is to just have fun and watch what you want. We try and make sure every film is reasonably available, some are a little harder to find than others and not everyone has the right streaming services so if you need help ask and help might be right around the corner. Vote or change your vote until 12 noon EST July 16th (or when I get to the computer) Next Week! 1. John Carpenter vs. 8. Tarnop’s Agents Provocateur 10. mbd’s Czech This Out vs 15. twernt’s Dracula.co.jp Spreadsheet Letterboxd List
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Jul 9, 2022 17:46
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Ah well, no shame in losing to the Hunger. Glad the Witches won against the horrid Censor. Not seen a single movie this week! No idea whats gonna happen!
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Jul 9, 2022 18:05
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Usual streams at usual times in usual places 
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Jul 9, 2022 23:26
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I haven't seen a single one of this week's movies, next week's teams look loving awesome and I've gotten my first bit of good news about my Covid derailed career in a long while. Good times please continue rolling.
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Jul 10, 2022 06:50
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This particular Hammer Dracula has more of a pacing problem than some other Hammer films. Part of it is that you wait for Dracula to show up, and then when he does he doesn't say a word. A lot of Hammer fans will argue that's what makes it great, that it's actually one of Lee's most underrated performances. I'm not in that camp, I much prefer when Lee gets a chance to deliver some smooth one-liners and there's only so much he can do with a snarl. Also this is a series where Dracula's go-to attack seems to be yanking people by the arm, so I just feel you need Lee to provide as much screen presence as he possibly can and not having him speak limits him. That said, I'm still voting for it. The Last Seduction is a very well made film on a technical level, and it has an excellent lead performance by Fiorentino. It's not that there's anything particularly bad I can say about The Last Seduction, but for me Hammer is like pizza. Pizza doesn't have to be a 10/10 to be enjoyable, because I like the basic elements enough to be perfectly happy with a 6 or 7 out of 10 pizza. So objectively I could understand why some people might consider The Last Seduction to be the better film, but I'm not voting objectively so I usually lean towards Hammer and I'm doing it again here.
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Jul 11, 2022 15:02
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The Swarm was decent but I'm going for 13 Ghosts. In both matchups this week it really just came down to my personal preference for the classic spooks over more modern, slow burn thrillers. I felt like The Swarm had more potential to go a little wilder with the locusts but it held back, trying to be more of a meditative character piece. The last act should've escalated a lot more than it did.
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Jul 14, 2022 14:03
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I also kept hoping The Swarm was going to go a bit harder with the creature feature portion of the story. The family drama wasn't terrible or anything but I didn't think it made up fully for lack of locust carnage lol
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Jul 14, 2022 14:52
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Its Thursday! For once I think I'm actually caught up, if only because I watched the bug movie this morning (and yeah, fine but meh). But you still have time to watch movies. Just under 48 hours. Then votes are in and we have the last matchup of the second round. But every thing in its time. We're not done here yet. Vote or change your vote until 12 noon EST July 16th (or when I get to the computer)
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Jul 14, 2022 17:20
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The Swarm vs 13 Ghosts 13 Ghosts is the absolute definition of campy 60's horror fun. There are visible wires, the gimmick barely matters, and the plot makes no sense upon seconds of consideration but drat, it's earnest and genuinely thrilling to watch. Not because it's scary, oh no, but because your best friend and you will be hooting and hollering, guessing dialogue before it happens, and realizing that the standards are so low, you too can make a movie. The Swarm is a slog. Netflix locked itself into the dubbed version of this movie, and despite the voice actors all sounding like valium addicts they still couldn't make it any more boring. If I'm supposed to be scared of an animal make it do something scary.
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Jul 15, 2022 01:42
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The Last Seduction is really boring to me and I didn’t care for it one bit. I’ll gladly vote for an erotic thriller if it involves Billy Zane or is either somehow erotic or thrilling. One could say I was hoping for the last seduction to happen so the movie would be over. Dracula: Prince of Darkness I don’t really gel with Hammer horror but at least it was horror so I’m voting for that. The Swarm is sort of remarkable in how long it manages to keep up the pretense of not having a real dumb underlying premise, but then sadly it just doesn’t pull off a good pivot to shlock, or anything really. Though I gotta say I felt very sympathetic for the lady, her plan totally would have worked if people hadn’t constantly hosed with the locusts. Then the ending is tremendously anticlimactic and I was left thinking that’s it? 13 Ghosts are maybe a few too many ghosts, maybe five would have been better, give em some time to shine. For real thought the movie is very cute, not exactly a masterpiece but I’ll never not love a gimmick – it’s no Tingler of course but it’ll do to beat The Swarm.
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Jul 16, 2022 02:20
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I’m not really sure the locust lady’s plan of feeding her increasingly growing locust population neighbor pets and her own blood to the point of physical and emotional exhaustion was a truly sustainable business plan. For me the big problem is that the moms gradual breakdown into less rational choices that make the situation worse didn’t have any decent foil of a relatable character being put at risk. The mom stays the story protagonist and everyone else is just a supporting character so while they’re all basically more rational players the story is all told from the moms perspective so they’re just kind of annoying supporting players to her. And weirdly the film kind of wusses out on the natural end for that of her sacrificing heraelf.
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Jul 16, 2022 02:39
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The Swarm really felt like something that needed a rewrite or two. It was very close to being very good, but isn't, yet it's not so much a bad result as an incomplete one. 13 Ghosts is kind of insubstantial, but it's entertaining enough and knows what it is, so I guess it wins. I wasn't really too excited by either match-up this week. I don't really like noir much at all, and Hammer Horror is fine for historical influence but not really my cup of tea. Although the main reason I dislike noir is that I have zero interest in watching dumb characters make bad decisions, and that's noir's bread and butter, but then Last Seduction turns it around to make the femme fatale the lead. It still wasn't quite enough for me, especially as aside from a few lines that taken out of context indicate the lead might actually be a vampire, it's not very effective as horror. Great performance from Fiorentino, which makes it kind of a coin-flip for me. Dracula: PoD doesn't make the best use of Christopher Lee. It does feature a very good performance by Barbara Shelley as Helen, though, and it's still a decent effort overall.
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Jul 16, 2022 07:02
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The Last Seduction vs Dracula: Prince of Darkness The Last Seduction was more interesting to watch, but the Drac film was an actual horror movie. Voting an unenthusiastic Drac.
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Jul 16, 2022 07:44
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Sorry for the delay. I’m feeling kind of crummy today. But I’m sitting here with a cleansing smoothie sure to make me crap myself so lets get this done before I make things more awkward than I already have. Well its a decisive victory for Terence Fisher and Christopher Lee. Despite a Dracula entry that most found a bit lackluster it still picks up a comfortable victory over The Last Seduction. Did Dahl’s net noir not resonate with people, did Hammer’s style just resonate more, or was the horror hurdle just too much? Tough to say. But however it happened this is the end for Deb’s genre pushing Erotic Thrillers team and for Terence Fisher it keeps his winning run going into the Sweet Sixteen and into a HUGE matchup against George Romero.  A BIG victory for William Castle as 13 Ghosts charms most of the voters with its Ghost Vision and unique Castle goofy horror thing. Maybe a stronger opponent would have taken down the gimmicky legend but The Swarm just didn’t go far enough or hard enough for most of the voters and seemed to leave most wanting for more. So that’s the end of the surprising Cinderella run for twernt’s Buggin Out team. They’ll always be able to take credit for knocking off a #1 seed in Dario Argento. But for Castle it gets him over the hump and into the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in 3 tournaments and lines him up for an old school clash with Deb’s Silent Scream. Ok, time to finish up the second round! 1. John Carpenter’s Cigarette Burns vs. 8. (Tarnop’s Agents Provocateur) Brian DePalma’s Sisters  Carpenter is still looking to make a real run in Bracketology and there’s this narrative going around that its because he has weak films and keeps drawing duds. This is a lie. The reality is that he’s faced some fierce competition falling in the second round in 2020 to Ridley Scott’s Alien and in the Sweet Sixteen last year to Charles Loughton’s Night of the Hunter. And things aren’t going to get much easier for him this round because he’s up against a Criterion and cult classic from Brian DePalma. I quite like Cigarette Burns and think its one of the better episodes of Masters of Horror, and I also think its a film that many will enjoy as its pretty weird and sleazy if limited by its tv origins (premium cable though, so not THAT limited). But its hard for me not to be pessimistic as it goes against DePalma’s sleazy psycho sexual Hitchcock meets giallo meets Cronenberg I dunno what. I’m trying hard to be objective and fair but this is the point of the tournament where I realize all my favorites are falling and the rest of the run is gonna be rough for me as it reflects a certain taste. And DePalman and Tarnop’s Agents Provocateur are very much of that taste. My and Carpenter’s approach may be too “normie” for this crowd and drawing one of the last things he made for a tv anthology feels like it could be a repeat of the cycle. Carpenter draws a very good but under known entry in his consistent oeuvre and falls to a killer opponent. Life is pain. Cigarette Burns is Season 1, Episode 8 of Masters of Horror which is available to stream on Tubi TV, Plex, Fandor, Screambox, Vudu, and Roku. Sisters is available to stream on HBO Max and the Criterion Channel. 10. (mbd’s Czech This Out) Jan Švankmajer’s Faust vs 15. (twernt’s Dracula.co.jp) Shunji Iwai’s Vampire  Czech This Out making its second appearance after knocking off Jack Arnold and Team Universal in the first round, this will be Jan Svankmajer’s first film officially in Bracketology after he made it all the way to the finals of the HalloweeNIT before losing to Roy Ward Baker. But Baker is eliminated and Jan is still here so can he do what Baker couldn’t and pick up a Bracketology win? Having seen this and 3 other films of his in October I can tell you, if you haven’t seen one of his movies you’re in for something weird. I mean, real weird. Like even weird for Bracketology weird. I think its gonna be a real treat to fans of that kind of stuff and surprisingly I rated it 3 1/2 stars even though I was pretty sick of him at that stage. But it always comes down to who your opponent is. twernt’s vampire team has already knocked off Steven Spielberg, Rob Zombie, and Don Coscarelli in this tournament so what’s one more name? And this one has been described by many as an update to Romero’s Martin, a film that is a big SA favorite and picked up its own win in Bracketology in 2020. Now super weird vs super miserable is not what I consider a good time but as we all know my tastes range very different than most. Is this too much for some? Which one will click with more voters when the week is done? Tough to say but gonna be an interesting if difficult way to finish the second round. Faust is available to stream on Kanopy and OVID as well as on Youtube. Vampire is available to stream on Roku, Vudu, and Plex. And that’s our week… and the second round! We’re really getting close to the end now. Even though 2 rounds may not seem deep we’re in our 29th week and have now dropped 76 entries down to 16. In just 4 weeks we’ll be starting the Elite Eight and then the Final Four 2 weeks after that. Its go time and this is when real heartbreaks happen and the great teams start showing out. I guess I should get working on that video before I run out of time. As always the goal is to just have fun and watch what you want. We try and make sure every film is reasonably available, some are a little harder to find than others and not everyone has the right streaming services so if you need help ask and help might be right around the corner. Vote or change your vote until 12 noon EST July 23rd (or when I get to the computer) Next Week! - The Sweet Sixteen! 3. twernt’s Spooky Swinging Sixties vs 10. Deb’s Horror Musicals 4. Tobe Hooper vs. 8. Goat’s Ladies Night XX Spreadsheet Letterboxd List
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Jul 16, 2022 19:24
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Notably the first time the individual directors thoroughly trashed the teams?
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Jul 17, 2022 00:12
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The solo directors aren’t actually doing badly. They have 11 head to head wins to 17 for the teams. There’s just less of them. But currently there’s 5 solos and 9 teams I. The Sweet Sixteen which is the best percentage solo has had all tourney. So they’re holding their own. But yeah there’s so many teams that’s probably yhe first time we’ve had two head to head matchups both won by the solo. And so decisively. It was a good week for cheesy 60s name directors.
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Jul 17, 2022 00:23
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STAC Goat posted:I’m trying hard to be objective and fair but this is the point of the tournament where I realize all my favorites are falling and the rest of the run is gonna be rough for me as it reflects a certain taste. What is your taste? I feel like I have a pretty good handle on what you don't like, but if someone were to ask me to recommend a video that STAC would love I don't think I'd know where to start.
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Jul 17, 2022 02:25
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I dunno. I like ghost stories. I like human character stories. “Elevated horror” I guess. Some campy stuff. Some heavy stuff. Carpenter and Craven. Some camp. Personally I don’t think my taste is terribly specific. Others may disagree or know me better. But I think it’s easier to separate what I don’t like than what I do. I like to try new things and mix it up. But I don’t like exploitation or misery or extremity or overly surreal. And that stuff tends to win out here. But I think if you had to define my taste it would probably be safe, comfortable horror. The mainstream standbys. I’m a basic bitch. Or I’m just a self deprecating Eeyore who has defined himself by rejection here. That could be all.
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Jul 17, 2022 02:49
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