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Hubie Halloween Dir. Steven Brill 2022 United States🇺🇸  Why am I starting this most joyous season with what I was expecting to be a real stinker of a modern era Adam Sandler comedy? I was indecisive and pressed for time. However, I was pleasantly surprised by this. It wasn’t great, but it exceeded my very low expectations. Enough bashing, let’s actually discuss the movie. The plot follows a cowardly man named Hubie who loves Halloween and just wants everyone to have a safe time. However, everyone is a total rear end in a top hat to him. On this particular Halloween though, his tormentors start disappearing one by one. Could it be the recently escaped inmate of the asylum? Or maybe its the new neighbor with a fear of the full moon? Or maybe it’s something much more sinister… The movie captures a bit of that classic 90s/early 00s era of Sandler comedy. Hubie’s mumbly simpleton voice evokes Bobby Boucher from Waterboy, along with his love of him momma. His giving nature is similar to Mr. Deeds. The whole thing is like an amalgamation of his entire comedy career. Some may call it lazy, but it just made me nostalgic for those classic comedies. The humor is a bit hit or miss, but I was still giggling throughout, sometimes genuinely sometimes kind of in a secondhand embarrassment kind of way. The script is kinda crap. A lot of the dialog is just characters directly expressing the situation or their feelings. It’s one of those things that makes me think this movie could have, or maybe should have been, a PG instead of PG-13 for how childish and simple it can feel at times. It doesn’t even feel like a hard PG-13 either. They probably could have made a few cuts and got it. Beyond the dialog, the pacing feels a little wonky. They set up a lot of leads for the mystery, but they mostly spin their wheels for an hour before concluding in a somewhat satisfying way. For example, I wound up thinking Ray Liotta would be a bigger part of this movie, but he just disappears for about an hour before showing up at the end. One little aspect I enjoyed is how many fun little horror references are sprinkled throughout. I caught references to Jaws, Halloween and The Fog among others. Really enhances the fun autumn feeling of the movie. It does look pretty good and elevates this mediocre comedy to a decent watch. I give it 3 tactical thermoses out of 5.
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Oct 1, 2022 08:28
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1. Halloween (1978) Watched On: Shudder  My favorite of the slasher genre. Mike is my guy. I won't labor on a review of such a well traveled classic too much. A big thing I enjoy is how... blank Michael/The Shape is as far as motivation, as a viewer you can mostly impose anything you want on him with what you're given. A mindless killer, a sicko that got such a thrill killing his sister he wants to replicate the feeling again, maybe Michael has transcended his humanity and become The Shape/Boogeyman. Future films may ruin that mystique but in this 90 minutes Michael is a truly unknowable horror set loose in suburbia. Mask Rating: 10/10. The one that started it all. The sequels seem to struggle with making a version of it that doesn't look just awful. We'll check those out later though.  Favorite Kill: Bob Getting Nailed To the Wall This has to be the signature Michael kill. Especially considering future movies try to replicate to diminishing results. This is the first hint you get that Michael might be more than he appears, displaying a level of strength far above what his frame suggests. Before the mannerism was played out the head tilt after the kill is chilling.  Favorite Shot  This watch I think this one worked really well for me. I love the use of Laurie's POV and while Michael is a blank slate facially he's got a very, "Oh there you are..." body language to him. They put you right in this claustrophobic, tense situation to great effect. 2. Dracula (1931) Watched On: Blu Ray  I know people that don't really give the Universal monster movies much a chance because they feel anything in black and white or that old has to be corny, I gotta say though, Dracula is a total creep here. Lugosi and Dwight Frye are tremendous and as a fan of Dracula, Dead And Loving It I have to take an aside to give props to Peter MacNicol who does a top notch tribute act to Frye in that movie, he's got that mad laugh nailed. I've also always liked the scene where Van Helsing outs Dracula with the mirror and after a light freak out Dracula is just like, "Yeah, I'm a vampire. So what? Later, nerds!" and takes his leave, Lugosi had a great grasp of Dracula's noble but slightly off aura. I also can't see why anyone wouldn't just take the plunge on watching Dracula, it's only 76 minutes!  My face when the guests show up for movie night. TheKingslayer fucked around with this message at 09:33 on Oct 1, 2022 |
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Oct 1, 2022 09:13
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 2) The Last Winter - 2006 - Prime Here strange things happen to a group working on building an ice road up north. I have to say this did have an interesting take on what was going on. It leaves things vague as to was what the team experiencing was the effects of toxic gas, cabin fever, or the angry spirits of the plants and animals that eventually became fossil fuels, however the ending tended to imply the latter was what was happening to a point. However, as far as the rest, it was a fairly bland beat for beat eco-horror film that's practically interchangeable with any of the others that have been made over the past fifty years or so. I don't regret sitting through it, but it's not getting a rewatch or recommendation. Lord knows I've sat through way, way worse, but it does have me wonder if this is pretty much it for eco-horror? We have the usual stereotypical character types behaving the same way they always do, the particular environmental issue being brought to life, and the 'we're all doomed' style ending. Just once I'd like to see something different like the greedy rear end in a top hat has a turn around and starts to work on fixing the problem, or an ending while things are bad, there's some hope on finding a way through this and while we might still fail to some degree, we're at least trying.
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Oct 1, 2022 09:18
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My favorite time of year. I started watching a month back and have been dumping my reviews over on my Instagram because I just couldn't wait. Anyways all my movies have to be new watches to count for for my 31 (or 61 for Instagram). I keep track of what I'm thinking of watching over on this list: https://trakt.tv/users/evil-vin/lists/halloween-2022 1. Gonjiam Haunted Asylum (2018) A group of ghost hunting live streamers bite off more than they can chew in an old asylum. Wow. There was a good bit of time with Gonjiam where I was ready to right it off. For found footage it's shot really nice it's not distracting. Plots kind of slow, but the payoff creeped me out (first time this year). But then the creepy stuff almost became silly and kind of ruined it for me. Still thought it was okay. Recommended.
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Oct 1, 2022 09:41
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3. The Mummy (1932) Watched On: Blu Ray  Been a while since I'd seen this one and it was the next disc in the box set so why not pop it in? Now is it just me or does the mummy feel like the least appreciated of the big four Universal monsters? A good undead strangling to punish grave robbers I guess isn't sexy enough for today's audiences. The initial makeup for Karloff in in the sarcophagus is so drat cool looking, makes me think it's a shame the 1999 film didn't go with more practical effects for Imhotep considering how well these hold up. It's easy to see why Karloff was considered the more the iconic actor among the Universal Monster leads, he's so haunting, obsessed, and menacing as Imhotep/Ardath Bey. Much like Dracula thanks to the craft and runtime The Mummy just breezed by. This line also got a pretty decent chuckle out of me when it came up. "The British Museum works for the cause of science not for loot"
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Oct 1, 2022 10:59
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OK, going to attempt 31 new-to-me films, including challenges. Not sure how realistic that is this year, but let's start with a double bill: Scream 4 (2011)  It's a while since I'd seen a Scream movie and this did not endear itself by starting out with multiple fake-outs. The meta stuff is this franchises thing, but it's not saying much it hasn't before. There's a new expert on tropes. The only new thing is the rise of social media. It's good to see the gang again and it's an entertaining movie, but it's just another scream. Scream 5 (2022)  AKA Scream It's Ghostface. Again. We start out with the mandatory scary movie phone call but this time the girl acts snooty, saying she only likes "elevated" horror and lists the Babadook, VVitch, Hereditary and other films I love before Ghostface stabs the gently caress out of her. I felt attacked. There's a new thing to get meta about - the Legacy Sequel. Tropes explored include the toxic fanbase whining about their childhood being ruined by movie changes, which doesn't work as a meta commentary on the Scream franchise which has stuck so rigidly to a set formula. So the in universe Stab franchise had a recent sequel that we're told was a big departure from its predecessors that upset the fans. It felt like the movie really wished there was an equivalent Scream entry. Other tropes include killing Legacy Characters. This was done well enough, and made it feel like no one was invincible anymore. But goddamn it Dewey, you went out like an idiot. Unnecessary reverence for things in the original is certainly a feature of legacy sequels and the almost deification of the original killer counts here though they don't explicitly say that's what they're doing. You'd think he was Palpatine or something. The killers in these movies could be anyone, and I don't mean that in a tense or intriguing way; it comes off as random, like the writers pick names from a hat when they start act 3 and then make up a dumb motive afterward. Of the two I preferred this one. They were both entertaining, but I can't say I'm super psyched about the upcoming Untitled Scream Sequel (2023) Total: 2 Scream 4; Scream 5
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Oct 1, 2022 12:04
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4. Halloween 2 (1981) Watched On: DVD (Television Cut)  This is the first time I realized I even had the television cut included in my box set and considering I've never seen this version I decided, why the hell not? I will say upfront, while I like some of the additional scenes and slight changes it doesn't at all make up for what gets removed for television. That out of the way, you can really tell that they threw some money at sequel because things are blowing up, catching fire, the kills seem more violent and the exterior shots are a little more complex. The performances from Curtis and Pleasance are still top notch and I'd say at times better than Halloween. The pacing is a bit off in a way I can't put my finger on, the movie seems to drag a little. All in all though it's a worthy sequel even with it's wrinkles. A thought I had is that some of the rougher parts of Halloween Kills would be slightly smoothed had Halloween 2 stayed in most the recent continuity but I also understand it's a bit hard to write around Michael getting blown the gently caress up and Laurie being the sister in a way that doesn't seem stupid. Anyone else find it weird that Ben Tramer just happened to have a nearly exact copy of an outfit Michael got by killing a mechanic and looting a general store? I get the mask would be something you could buy but the same clothes? Favorite Shot  Best Kill  I mean, come on. Ben Tramer GOT IT. Few people in horror movies get a death this cool and poor Ben doesn't even speak a line of dialogue. It's tremendous stuff. The Mask  This is... maybe a 6/10? Michael looks bloated and weirdly grimy in a way I don't really like. From certain angles he looks like a little kid in an oversized mask. But for all I know that might have been the point.  The Carpenter TimelineCarpenter and Hill didn't want to make a second film and I don't blame them. Halloween itself is a neat little package with a truly scary open ending, I love it. It's a real shame though that producers demanded a sequel and this timeline is closed by Michael dying in an action movie tier explosion along with the additional baggage of Laurie being Michael's sister. Those gripes aside, I still like what we have here. Halloween 2 still manages to feel like a mostly natural extension of the first movie and it would probably feel pretty good if they were cut together into one long film (though I dunno if I'd want to sit through that in one go). Even if I don't like some of the choices I have to applaud that they didn't just copythe first movie AND went bigger, at times more violent, and expanding the world of Halloween a little more. The timeline they've built here is going to get a thumbs up from me. Turns out all you need to stop The Boogeyman is a bunch flammable gas and a psychiatrist that's fed up with his bullshit.
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Oct 1, 2022 12:25
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1. Saloum (2022) | Shudder I don't have a lot to say about this one. It’s overly confusing, you don’t have enough time to get to know a single character, and the plot constantly gets bored of itself and becomes something else. There’s some cool visuals though, and it seems like the first draft of a decent story. 2.5/5
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Oct 1, 2022 12:35
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1. The Mysterians (1957) - 2.5/5 stars The origin of the “Mars needs women” trope? It definitely doesn’t feel like Toho cheaped out on this production. Filmed in scope and color in the Fifties; lots of scenes with lots of extras; good attack sequences with a nicely designed monster. Definitely not the originator of the A-bomb panic trope— there were parables of alien planets destroyed in nuclear wars before this. I always find Japanese anti-war messages slightly amusing in their self-interest— if they had won WWII, I doubt they would have had so much media making the case for peace after. It may sound goofy. but I watched this basically for two reasons: moving Takashi Shimura up my most watched actor list, and because it was the origin of the name of one-hit wonders ? and the Mysterians, known for their rather catchy tune, “96 Tears”. Shimura is functional in his role— this is hardly Ikiru, but I wasn’t expecting much after his similar merely functional turn as a scientist in Gojira.
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Oct 1, 2022 13:40
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In for at least 13 but aiming for 31.
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Oct 1, 2022 14:25
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2. Final Destination 4 God, I love these dumb movies. I know 4's generally regarded as the worst one, and seeing it in 2D when it's clearly meant for 3D means a bunch of the kills hit way less than they should, but the formula is solid. The "Why Can't We Be Friends" needledrop got a genuine laugh out of me for being so on-the-nose. And "I've been trying to kill myself all day!" is one of the all-time great lines of cinema history. 3 out of 5.
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Oct 1, 2022 14:29
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M_Sinistrari posted:
Right on, I've been meaning to see that. I rewatched Chopping Mall recently, love those Corman cast members. Dig them in Rock 'n' Roll High School too. Good story by the way! I think Slumdog could possibly be a decent watch even for a horror fan (Boyle did direct 28 Days Later). Big tense dramas like that seem pretty palatable across the genre lines I think. Not that it's the point of the story, hell, we've all been there.
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Oct 1, 2022 14:38
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In for 31 new movies this year. 1. Bloody Muscle Bodybuilder In Hell Watched On: Tubi Referred to as "the Japanese Evil Dead," it very much feels like a shot-on-video Evil Dead fanfilm. The most charming part of this movie has to be the special effects: a lot of stop motion, goofy puppets and still pictures in motion. But god drat, for a movie called BLOODY MUSCLE BODYBUILDER IN HELL, it barely has any muscles and almost no bodybuilding! I was expecting a lot more ludicrousness than I ended up getting, but it's like 63 minutes long and looks like it was shot over a weekend by some college students, so if you're into that vibe go for it.
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Oct 1, 2022 14:56
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I'm in for 31 again. I'm hoping for a bingo card again this year; last year it got me to watch some stuff I might never have otherwise (Like Dead & Buried for instance)Xiahou Dun posted:But if anyone has any historical horror, hit me the gently caress up. Horror and period pieces are my chocolate and peanut butter, so them going well together makes me very happy assuming it's any good. Basically anything that is set before the invention of film makes me really happy, so if you have a pet favorite please feel free to let me know. Xiahou Dun posted:It’s arguably my favorite horror movie and I’ve been obsessed with the soundtrack since it came out in theaters. What up, posting buddy! Also a fan of historical horror, Ravenous is one of my favorite all-time movies, and I listen to the soundtrack every year walking around on the season's first snowfall. You've likely seen a bunch of these, but maybe not all: Good to Great Historical Horror Apostle Bone Tomahawk (tainted by racism/Craig Zahler being a PoS) The Burrowers The Company of Wolves (minus the intro) Errementari: The Blacksmith and the Devil Fascination A Field in England Gretel and Hansel Hagazussa Kwaidan Le Pacte des Loups Monstrum Roh (technically modern but in impoverished rural Malaysia without modern technology) Tumbbad (1918, so technically misses your 'pre-film' guideline) Fine to bad Historical Horror Black Death Burke and Hare The Pale Door The Reckoning Tale of Tales
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Oct 1, 2022 15:28
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#1 They Look Like People A guy thinks people are being secretly taken over by a malign force, and while crashing on his friends couch he begins preparing to fight back. It's a micro-budget DIY think , most of the movie is two guys in a house. But it's well made for the limitations. Good premise, but not the execution I wanted. I want at the very least a strong possibility that the guy is right. But in They Look Like People it's pretty unambiguous that the guy is just schizophrenic. It's mainly about how hard it is to maintain adult male friendships. It's a pretty well executed little movie. And the ending is genuinely suspenseful. Soft recommendation.
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Oct 1, 2022 15:31
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 #1. The Empty Man (HBO Max) An ex-cop investigates the disappearance - and eventual suicide - of a bunch of teens, believing it to be tied to a local legend about an "Empty Man" that will come after you when summoned. I'd heard that this film was going to be leaving HBO Max soon, and with no follow-up streaming location announced and no physical home video version ever released, it may end up being lost to time. So I jumped at the chance to see it before it possibly drops off the face of the Earth forever, and I hate to say... it wouldn't be a great loss if it did vanish. That's not me trying to be cruel, though. Everyone who worked on it obviously tried and it looks and works better than a lot of junk that seems to stick around in perpetuity. But the script feels padded and meandering, and the 136 minute run time is far too long for what the film has to sustain it. The opening pre-title 20 minute stretch is incredible looking and works like gangbusters, honestly; had the whole movie been centered around that it would have worked much better. Alas, once the film gets to Missouri, all of the energy gets drained out and it just becomes a slog to get through to the ending, as the film turns from something interesting into something more rote and prosaic. (Hey, just like real Missouri!) The detective story stuff is fine, but unspectacular, and the horror elements fade into the background for long stretches. It makes it less of a ghostly murder mystery and more of an overlong episode of "Law and Order: Supernatural Victims Unit." I also don't feel like the twist ending - that our wounded ex-cop main character is actually a construct meant to be a new vessel for the Empty Man creature of the title - works, or is well established as being a possibility. It also seems to fly in the face of how the Empty Man is presented to this point - like, it's a nightmare shadow skeleton monster who does a "Bloody Mary"/Candyman-style "I'll come for you when you summon me" bit, and murders you in 3 days in a way designed to look like suicide. Why does he need a human body? What does he have to gain from this? And why would you form a cult to worship a giant unknowable death skeleton if all he ever does is sit around and then eventually murder anyone that tries to talk to him? I can understand the temptation to leave a lot of dangling threads and seemingly unknowable answers, to heighten the mystery angle, but tying it so directly to a spooky monstah angle leaves the film feeling like an odd mish-mash of ideas at times. And the added run time just leaves too much time for that incongruous pairing to stop working properly and eventually turn grating. I dunno - looked at as a shaggy dog kind of film, a victim of time and circumstance (one of the last 20th Century Fox Studios films released before the Disney merger was complete, dumped into theaters weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns begin and ultimately performing so badly that no one wants to make an effort to preserve it in any capacity, regardless of its merits - hey, that's capitalism, baby!), it's still only fine. Looked at as a horror movie or as a mystery movie, and it ends up feeling lacking by the end of it. Tightening up the script and the runtime would help, but I ultimately don't know if there's any way to salvage it into something incredible and worthwhile, short of stopping it right after the title card first appears. I'm still glad I saw it before it presumably vanishes forever; I just don't think I'll be mourning it when it's gone.  /5Watched so far: The Empty Man
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Oct 1, 2022 15:39
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2. Eye in the Labyrinth - 1972 - [Tubi] A woman searches for her missing boyfriend at a seaside artist commune where people start dying. I wasn't sure about this one till around the halfway mark and things started escalating - before then the move stagnated as the main character arrived at the commune and got used to life there. The ending was a little abrupt and reminded me of an early Agatha Christie novel, but overall I liked it a lot and knowing the whole story, a rewatch could be even better. 4/5.
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Oct 1, 2022 15:42
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TheKingslayer posted:The Mask That's actually the same mask from the first film. The weird look and shape is due to a different actor playing the character, so his head shape makes the mask look different than it did before. And the yellowing and grimy look is because it got tossed under producer Debra Hill's bed for the years between the first and second films. (Hill was a prolific smoker, and that caused the white spray paint to begin to yellow over time.) Time and irreverence were not kind to what may have been one of the most important film props to come out of the 1970s.
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Oct 1, 2022 15:59
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1. Missing (2022) Fantastic Fest 2022 @Home  I'm in the middle of Fantastic Fest @Home and so far this is the best one I've seen in the festival. The second feature film from Shinzo Katayama (friend of Bong Joon-Ho and assistant director on his incredible Mother [2009]), Missing is an extraordinary and lengthy look at a serial killer, a daughter, and the daughter's dad who goes missing after being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Is it all as simple as that sounds? Is anything ever? Twists, turns, and a heaping amount of depression follows, in addition to homages to Memories of Murder, another Joon-Ho film. Not as good, but still fairly surprising and with some breathtaking scenes, including its final (and maybe most memorable) one ***** Watched so far: Missing (2022) Chris James 2 fucked around with this message at 17:13 on Oct 1, 2022 |
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Oct 1, 2022 16:00
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Fate Accomplice posted:2. Eye in the Labyrinth - 1972 - [Tubi] This one's definitely going on my list. The Christie style giallos are my favorite.
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Oct 1, 2022 16:13
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Another historical/folk horror movie to check out is Eyes of Fire, which is about a sleazy preacher who gets run out of his village and takes his followers to start a new colony in a place that the natives say is cursed. And then surprise! It really is cursed! It's more creepy than actually scary, but the cinematography is awesome and it has a cool dreamlike feel. 3) Blair Witch (2016)  I went to The Blair Witch Project on opening night, and it was fun to sit in a crowded theater and see something so different from the average wide release. But when I tried a rewatch a couple of years later… meh? The sequel didn’t thrill me either, so when this new one came out, I didn’t bother with it. When this popped up in my Netflix recommendations, I put it on in the spirit of not overthinking my picks this year. And it started out fine. It’s about a group of 20-somethings, including the little brother of Heather from the first movie, heading to the Blair Witch Zone to make a documentary about looking for answers. Tension is added by a pair of locals who are the kind of people who hang a confederate flag in their house despite living in a union state. Couldn’t wait for them to die. The fact that they were lying to the rest of the characters seemed clear from the start, so that subplot didn’t add much. And after that, things got into running around and screaming with a handheld camera, which is never something that works for me. The movie did have some nicely gross bits though, and it definitely expands on the Blair Witch mythology. Folks who are more into found footage would probably enjoy it more than I did. 4) Horror in the High Desert (2021)  While I don’t like found footage in general, I do love mockumentaries and fake broadcast movies. Horror in the High Desert starts out as a straightforward true crime doc about a missing hiker named Gary Hinge. The production quality lines up with just what you’d expect for that sort of thing, and some of the actors, especially the one playing Gary’s sister, are really convincing in the talking head interview format. During this part of the movie, it's easy to slip into the mindset that this story is real. The script shares just enough about Gary to make us feel like we understand him a little. That humanizes him enough to raise the stakes for the rest of the story, but it also brings to mind that true crime trope of talking earnestly about how the victim was a great mom or a loving friend so that the piece can seem like more than a ghoulish exploitation of their death. As things move on, we learn that Gary was out in the wilderness looking for something, There are some strange hints, a major “oh poo poo” development, and then we see some of the footage Gary shot on his final trip into the desert. This last chunk of the movie isn’t quite as smooth and believable as the rest. I found one of the actors a little distracting, and the found footage part includes too much filler and a makeup that didn’t work for me. Neither of those things were a big deal though, and apparently there’s supposed to be a sequel out this month that I’ll hopefully get to check out as part of the challenge. 1.The Wind (1986) 2. Sole Survivor (1984)
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Oct 1, 2022 16:16
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The full 31 is aggressive for my schedule lately, so I'm going to aim for 20. 1) Barbarian (2022) Just hit this one up at the tail end of its theater run here, after everyone kept telling me to go see it without reading anything about it. And, hey! they were mostly right. I had a blast watching this. I'm not even sure how much it will hold up to scrutiny or how coherent it was overall, but it was fun as gently caress, and I'm glad I saw it while it was still in theaters. The first act was by far the most effective for me in terms of suspense. Did a great job keeping me guessing at whether this guy would turn out to be a creep or was just socially awkward. By the end, I was completely sure he had set up their whole meeting and had been stalking her / researched her interests. So, it was a genuine shock when he turned out to be a decent guy. And then the abrupt turn in the second act hit me just right and I spent the next 20 minutes absolutely cackling (whereas the person I saw it with said this is when the movie totally lost her lol). The final act never totally brought it together or tied everything up for me in the way I was hoping it would. But, getting to see a solid, original horror movie in a chain theater with a crowd in TYOOL 2022? I'm not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth here
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Oct 1, 2022 16:24
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 #6.) The Alpha Test (2020; DVD) What if Alexa/Siri/whatever was a full-fledged android assistant? That's the premise here, with an Alpha Helper given as a prize to an intern for coding quality. Unfortunately, everyone in his family except the coder's little sister is an rear end in a top hat, so the android is soon being abused. To the film's credit, it makes the mistreatment of the machine feel consistently uncomfortable. I can't quite say that it's due to the performance of the actress playing Alpha, because it hardly ever feels like she's robotic, even from the start, so there's no real sense of her 'becoming human.' And the family members are so cartoonishly lovely that it's hard to really care when the robot turns murderous; if anything, each kill is a relief, because it means one less screeching caricature. The basic story comes through well enough, but virtually each scene has something getting in the way, whether it's bad acting, ridiculous sound effects, or something that just doesn't make sense in the story's context. Balancing that out is the fact that the film goes much larger in scope than I was anticipating, even if budget means that most of that escalation is off-screen, so it's a real back-and-forth with this movie. But considering that it was written, directed, shot, produced, and edited by the same person, I ended up won over by something I went into with very low expectations. “Hey, every guy's a beer guy.” Rating: 6/10
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Oct 1, 2022 17:09
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2. Sunshine (2007) Directed by Danny Boyle "Not your god, mine!"  It looks fantastic and Cillian Murphy and Cliff Curtis both do a great job. The problem is that it's a science fiction adventure in which all of the tension comes from people messing up, until it's a slasher movie for no good reason. The crew was doing just fine sabotaging itself and one of them already had space madness. You don't need this other person talking about star dust and whatnot as they stab their way through the mostly interchangeable people left on the ship. They should have done more with the other ship. Lots of wasted spooky potential there. 👻👻👻.5/5 October Challenge 2/31 1. Blood Feast (1963), 2. Sunshine (2007)
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Oct 1, 2022 17:14
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 2)The Color Out of Space (shudder) Not a perfect film, by any stretch, but I like its autumnal vibes. Nice looking film, some good weird vibes and one of the better Lovecraft adaptations. Nic Cage gets to go full Nic Cage, though it doesn't work as well as it does in say Mandy. .5/51)The Munsters, 2)Color Out of Space
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Oct 1, 2022 17:21
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Biff Rockgroin posted:I don't want to bombard you guys with multiple paragraph reviews, so I'm usually less motivated to write shorter reviews specifically for this thread.  Plenty of people post long reviews, writing out your thoughts is the point of the thread. I used to do a blog too and would just copy/paste here, although I just stick to Letterboxd these days.
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Oct 1, 2022 17:24
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Gripweed posted:#1 They Look Like People Oh man, I'm a fan of this one, and I had an odd tangential experience related to this film. I was at a work training to help with clients in crisis, kind of a mental health first aid class, and they showed us a short film in which a few people notice one of their neighbors displaying concerning symptoms, such as talking to himself, delusions of being surveilled, etc. The thrust of the film is how to support someone, encourage them to seek help, etc. Cue me watching along: "wait... wait a minute... is that... is that the dude from They Look Like People?" Needless to say, I bought into his performance. https://vimeo.com/275749126
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Oct 1, 2022 17:32
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 3) The Seed - 2021 - Shudder Whelp, this was a thing. Storyline follows an Instagram influencer and her friends go to one of the friend's dad's remote place in the Mojave to livestream a rare meteor storm. Of course, strange poo poo ends up happening when a meteor crashes in the pool. I get the feeling they were aiming for a horror-comedy with this, but not only is the horror/comedy ratio off, the comedy style just doesn't particularly mesh when it does show up. Pacing for the most part, just ambles along. While the actresses are fine, their characters aren't particularly relatable, but this could just be a generational thing on my part. The practical effects are nice, alien's look is okay enough. As much as the plot does go from point A to point B, this does feel like it's someone's first writing project, and they weren't given the advice I was when I started writing of 'Savage your darlings'. Essentially this just means that one has to be harsh when self editing, even when it means cutting out parts you particularly like for the benefit of the story. For example in this film, it does quickly establish the main characters personalities, but ends up spending more time going on over what it already established on what's the basic 'Space Alien horny for Earth Women' plotline. That time spent could've been better utilized giving us more about Edna. All we're given is she's considered the weird neighbor who's into 'science stuff', see that she has some knowledge about the aliens, but ends up committing suicide. All we see of her is her corpse. It makes me curious about what did she know, what had happened that ended up with her out in the desert eventually killing herself. What happened with her dog that was mentioned? Equally, the bit with Brett the landscaper was probably funny for some, but the story wouldn't be impacted if he was cut completely. There is potential here, but as the final result goes, it's middling.
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Oct 1, 2022 17:39
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 The Munsters I'm a huge fan of Zombie's films but I went into this one pretty skeptical. There were two main concerns, first that the comedy would fall completely flat, and secondly that the overall look of the movie wouldn't come together. Well, I was very pleasantly surprised on both fronts. It's not perfect, there are some moments here and there that don't land, but overall I really enjoyed the way the chemistry between the characters and all of the actors involved seemed like they were having the time of their lives. And that probably comes from the fact that they're Zombie regulars who all came in with the same "gently caress yea we're actually doing this" attitude and it shows. The characters are actually well written and a lot of the comedy comes from the individual personalities of the characters, not just dumb one liners(not that there aren't some of those too) Visually I really love the movie. It hits that sweet spot where it does feel like a sitcom but at the same time there's so much love put into every setting and every costume, it's just a lot of fun to watch each scene and notice all of the details. It's certainly a very specific style, people who don't like over the top garish colors aren't going to be into it but for me it was perfect. The main criticism that I've heard the most, which is that the story doesn't really deliver the classic Munsters experience until the very end, doesn't apply so much to me personally because I wasn't coming into it with any particular love for the original show. So this was a bit of a surprise win by Zombie in my opinion, he delivered when I was ready to accept that he probably wouldn't. A fun way to kick off the season.
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Oct 1, 2022 17:44
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3. The Oracle USA, 1985. Dir. Roberta Findlay  Jennifer moves into a new apartment with her husband, inherits a haunted planchette (the little doo-hickey that comes with the ouija board) shaped like a hand from the previous tenant, and gets supernaturally wrapped up in the aftermath of a murder plot. Spooky hi-jinks abound. It was a weird and mostly incoherent-seeming mess that was still a lot of fun, and was way more engaging than it had any rights being. At times it felt like two separate movies, an 80s slasher and a supernatural seance-y thing, but not in a bad way. 7/10, easy. To make sure I had things to write about for this challenge, I've been keeping a notepad file open and writing little observations as I watched the movie. What a fun way to engage with a movie. It felt like I was having a dialogue with the film while I was watching it. What follows are a few scattered thoughts (heavy spoilers throughout): Firstly, I have to talk about Farkas. God what a fascinating character. We're first introduced to him as he picks up a sex worker in Times Square (the 80s sleaze of the place is captured brilliantly) and unceremoniously murders her after she pokes fun about him not being able to get it up. What could've been just another faceless mook in a 80s supernatural slasher is elevated by having him be played by Pam La Testa, a woman. That's right, Farkas is a trans man, a plot point meant to be a twist were supposed to be shocked by in the finale when the woman who hired him to kill her husband casually misgenders him. Despite being a murderous misogynist scumbag, Farkas is living his best life (until he gets his face ripped off by the ghost of one of his victims), and I'm proud of him. Amazing overacting by Chris Maria de Koron, playing Pappas the Super of the apartment building. Real Tommy Wiseau energy coming out of his performance. Is Tommy Wiseau secretly greek? Great lighting, love the neon giallo colors. The planchette was a fun character, because it really did feel like a character. This odd little hand statue holding an ostrich-feathered quill, spirit-writing gibberish that everyone except the audience is somehow able to read. They keep throwing it away, it keeps getting spooky yet ineffectual revenge on them and coming back. Pappas the super takes it for himself to try and get winning lottery numbers, it summons illusory cthulhu babies that crawl all over him forcing him to stab himself to death. That sort of thing. Charming little baby, perfect hand child. Total drama queen. Jennifer, the main character, constantly dresses like a victorian ladies maid or an old west school marm. There's a scene where she gets it on with her husband (awful man, very unsupportive, gets decapitated by a monster hand in a trash chute), and the very next scene she's put on bedclothes that look like they came from Queen Victoria's closet. In another scene she goes to a new years eve party dressed like an extra from Crimson Peak. Oh , did I not mention this is a Christmas movie? Because this is totally a Christmas movie. Also who the gently caress, in a new years eve party, counts down from 20? Fantastic ghost effects throughout the film. Skeletons in televisions, silhouettes in showers backlit in garish green lighting, rotting head flying through windows, the afformentioned monster hand in the trash chute. Great poo poo. Hella spooky. This film has it all. What's that, credits? Filmed on location in New York City? Yeah, no poo poo. I could smell it through the screen.
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Oct 1, 2022 18:28
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Going for 31! 1. The Fly (1958) The evergreen sci-fi story of scientific hubris. The Fly has no less than three intense and memorable special effects-driven reveals showing off the horror of what David Hedison has done to himself with his sci-fi experiments. Most movies would be lucky to have one! There's a great suspense build from him wearing a black towel over his head like a hangman's cowl and communicating by thumping the table - despite Patricia Owens trying to be the good caring wife, you just know it's gonna be awful when his new face is revealed. And it sure fuckin' is, whew!! Did I mention that Owens is a terrific classic movie screamer? The high points are really high but there's so much dull talky flab around them. The Fly has the plodding pacing that's common to '50s flicks; a whole low-energy murder investigation is dragged out before we even get to the flashback where the real story begins, and the dialogue is too flat to sustain interest. There was a point in the movie where I was more excited by Hedison's huge goofy outdoor lounger than anything the characters were chattering about. I do admire the clever work leveraging the premise so that a scene of people trying to catch a fly in a living room becomes tense action, but it's only mundane filler when you want to see more of what's lurking in that lab!  / 5
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Oct 1, 2022 18:40
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I'm going to go for 31 this year. My personal best is 44 films but that was the one year I was working night shifts for all of October (so easy to pound out 2-3 movies if all the work you have to do is walk around the area every hour). No way am I going to get close to the record, maybe I'll sprint a bit and get 2 off a day and hope for 3, but yeah not likely. If and when I hit 31 I will go for an overrun and see what I can do. I'm just thankful that my work has adjusted my schedule so we aren't working afternoon shifts every other week (my work schedule is hosed and I don't want to get into details). Whenever I had a week like that I'd be lucky to get 1 watched before I left for work or came back from work. Plus, having to get all my other responsibilities done. Enough about my dumb work poo poo. I seriously spent all of September adding random horror movies that came to mind on my phone. Like I'd be boiling some rice for dinner and realize "Hm, I haven't seen Se7en since I was a teenager" and added it to my list. I'll be pulling from there for the most part. The plan is also to watch an entire series (Child's Play is first-up) and of course Halloween Ends because watching horror in the theatre is awesome. A local concert hall is also doing a screening of Phantom of the Opera 1925 with a live orchestra on Halloween night. That is super tempting to go to but it's going to boil down to my budget and if any friends are going to call me up (which is likely going to happen). I'm trying to get some variety in my watches by seeing horror movies in theatres. Another local arthouse theatre does horror movie showings every October and I'm actually about to check out their schedule to see what's playing. To anyone new to this challenge because I've seen some posts of people kinda worried and shy: don't be. It's chill in here. Life happens, if you can't hit your goal because of personal stuff it's all cool. Nobody is going to come to your house and slap you because you didn't hit your challenge and nobody is going to poo poo on your review. I can't write detailed Ebert-level reviews and last year I had to tap-out because of personal issues. Just have fun, the spirit in here is we all love horror and are celebrating it.
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Oct 1, 2022 19:10
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 #7.) The Thing (1982; Blu-ray) I've seen this more times than I can remember, and MacReady frying the chess computer still annoys me. There's other people on the base who might have wanted to use that, dude. Yeah, his final line in that scene serves as an epithet against the movie's actual antagonist, shapeshifting is some large-scale cheating, but even so... Ah, but anyway, still fantastic. Desolate, with cinematography that makes me shiver to see it, and a level of paranoid mistrust between the survivors that you'd usually have to go to a war movie to get. Plus some of the best drat practical effects work in cinema history. Honestly, some of these shots still make my jaw drop thinking about how they were put together and executed. Part of what makes me like this movie so much is that the characters genuinely do the best they can under the circumstances. They're scared, confused, and under assault by something they can't fully comprehend, but they still try to handle their situation with intelligent approaches. Things still go to poo poo, because hey, that's life, but at least they're behaving in rational ways for as long as they can. Something I've noticed the last few times that I've watched this is that I don't remember every scene. Some are unforgettable (like the defibrillator scene), but others make up that logical, natural progression of events, so they fade away, because it's just moving along through things that need to occur, or it involves one of the characters with less screen time. And I'm not upset to have those little portions forgotten, because it means I get to rediscover them the next time I watch it. And I hope to rewatch this many more times; it's just that good. “I know how this one ends.” Rating: 9/10
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Oct 1, 2022 19:14
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Yeah, we’re all having fun in here. I know there’s lots of places at SA where you gotta walk on eggshells but the horror community here is super friendly and chill. Just watch what you can, write what you want, and enjoy yourself.
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Oct 1, 2022 19:14
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I'm out of town with mediocre Internet, so starting off with a bunch of shorts towards my world tour goal that I saved on my laptop... which I forgot the charger for. - (1 - Martinique) Nanny - A one-minute short, essentially Red Riding Hood with the wolf replaced by the devil, and the reveal that she's actually in a coma being tended to by Grandma. Too much to cram into 60 seconds. 2.5/5 - (2 - Costa Rica) Coffee - Short about an oblivious dude making coffee for his creepy, possessed girlfriend. Great creep factor, and it sticks the landing. 4/5 - (3 - Moldova) Dji. Death Fails - Nicely animated and hilarious horror-comedy-music video about the Grim Reaper failing to collect a soul. 5/5 - (-, whoops, also Costa Rica. Same director even.) There's Someone at Home - A woman comes home and is somehow crept up on and blindsided by a dude wheezing very, very heavily. 1/5 - (4 - Aruba) Alto Vista - Highly symbolic film that I think is ultimately about a woman killing her abusive boyfriend. 2.5/5 - (5 - Bahrain) Cloven - Ye old ghost hitchhiker tale, but in a burka. Really well shot. 3.5/5 - (6 - Equatorial Guinea) Maria Ada - Mostly decent setup and closeout of a ghost tale. The problem is the middle bit, where they rely on a classroom full of 7 year olds, clearly amped up about being in a movie, to pretend to be terrified of a ghost. 2.5/5 - (7 - Uzbekistan) Tashkent Tram-shark Attack - So bad it's good film about a tram car with the head of a shark reaking havoc. The director clearly only had one picture of a tram car, so the tram-shark is always oriented the same way. He did, technically, animate the jaw. Hilarious for 8 minutes; it manages to overstay its welcome at 10. 3/5 - (8 - Brunei) Teluki - Another based-on-the-folk-tale Short about a boy being followed home by a ghost after taking a shortcut through the woods. Not graphic, but pretty brutal - a kid is convinced to drown himself by the ghost, they show the washed up corpse, and then cut to the father in mourning. 3.5/5 - (9 - Bosnia and Herzegovenia) Kiyamet - Nicely animated but painfully slow vision of the war between heaven and hell. Would make a good Devil May Cry setpiece. 2/5 Sono fucked around with this message at 19:45 on Oct 1, 2022 |
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Oct 1, 2022 19:37
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Quote is not edit.
Sono fucked around with this message at 19:44 on Oct 1, 2022 |
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Oct 1, 2022 19:41
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3. Happy Death Day That was a lot of fun! Scream crossed with Groundhog Day is a killer pitch and it totally lived up to it. Even the killer reveal took me totally off-guard and Jessica Rothe did a great job as the lead. Even got me with the final scene fakeout. 4 out of 5! 3/31, watched: Scary Movie, Final Destination 4, Happy Death Day. Gyro Zeppeli fucked around with this message at 19:59 on Oct 1, 2022 |
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Oct 1, 2022 19:47
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 1) Hocus Pocus 2 (2022) Trailer Seen on: Disney+ It's nearly 30 years after the Sanderson witches had their night of chaos in Salem, and for most in the town they are just a memory or a tourist opportunity...until a new set of teens accidentally resurrect the sisters once again. This time, they're not just content with devouring the life force of children - they're seeking a spell that will make them the most powerful witches in the world. My daughter picked this one to watch first; she loves the first one, a film that I never saw when it originally came out and that I am sort of baffled by its now-cult status. I think the original is a funny showpiece for Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy and Sarah-Jessica Parker but not something I'd consider making a yearly tradition. And now that Hocus Pocus 2 is out, I can definitely say I prefer the first one. This is a formulaic retread of the original - there's teen drama, the witches are resurrected, they sing songs, threaten kids, fish-out-of-water scenarios abound - and while it managed to get a few chuckles out of me (Kathy Najimy flies on roombas like roller skates), overall it was pretty meh. One thing that doesn't do the film any favors is it lacks the edge of the first one - yes, the witches are slapsticky as hell, but they were devouring the life force of kids and killing them (and they show it!), but in this one they drop that element to go for a generic "most powerful spell in the world" setup that isn't really spooky. The new teens are okay, the adults are okay, the original three witches do the best they can, and they even get Doug Jones back as zombie Billy Butcherson. There's a flashback scene to when the witches were kids, and the young actresses they got for that part are spot-on, especially the one doing Bette Midler. But it's all just sort of there and non-offensive, a family friendly Halloween flick through and through...and that's okay, maybe just not my thing. And there's a redemptive ending that I feel kind of comes out of nowhere, and even my daughter was surprised by that. Daughter's scary scale and final thoughts: out of 10 spooks - "It was ok but...they ended it like that?!"
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Oct 1, 2022 20:15
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1. Last The Night 2022 "School's out... FOR MURDER!  I have some choices lined up, but I'm also playing the Most Dangerous Game™ by letting a random shuffle pick horror movies for me. And this was a randomized choice. Awesome premise (during COVID, an unpopular high school teacher hears kids threatening to report him for a fake sexual assault on Zoom, and decides to hunt them down one by one) hampered by the fact that there is maybe ONE likable character in the movie. The teenagers are so obnoxious and grating that you really wanna see them get murdered, despite that the movie treats them as protagonists, and the murderous teacher is so unhinged that you don't really mind if he gets killed either. Ultimately there's no real stakes, because it doesn't matter who gets killed or in what order, because everyone is just irritating. Rating: 3.6/10 Dead Teenagers PKMN Trainer Red fucked around with this message at 00:21 on Oct 2, 2022 |
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Oct 1, 2022 20:46
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| # ? Jun 9, 2024 09:19 |
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 #8.) Hikiko-san, a.k.a., Scream Girls (2008; Youtube) A group of Japanese school girls digs too deep into an urban legend about a girl who was bullied to death, that being the titular Hikiko-san. As with most Japanese ghosts, prying into Hikiko-san's affairs proves to be a bad idea; but for one of the girls, who's accused of being behind the monthly murder of children, and subsequently faces extreme bullying at school while enduring abuse at home, Hikiko-san's legend becomes her only solace. The movie looks cheap, but a number of the actresses have good chemistry, which goes a long way in helping this go by without being too much of a drag. As much as the events of the movie will allow, anyway. I dunno, if I knew about an urban legend of a ghost of someone who died as a result of bullying, maybe I wouldn't call someone by that ghost's name while bullying them. Doesn't seem prudent. There are chunks and pieces that work, like the occasional reluctance of some of the bullies before they're drawn back into their behavior loops, but for the most part, this feels more like soaking in the protagonist's misery than experiencing a ghost story or urban legend realization. Also, Hikiko-san's manifestation is fairly boring, she's 'just' a mutilated schoolgirl with teleportation. I guess I've been spoiled by more outlandish yokai. “If it's hell, just don't come to school.” Rating: 5/10
Darthemed fucked around with this message at 02:18 on Oct 3, 2022 |
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Oct 1, 2022 20:49
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