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 3)The Living Dead Girl (criterion)  Highbrow HorrorI've always felt Jean Rollin deserved a criterion edition or two, and I guess this is close enough. He always punches his above his weight and elevates even the sleaziest movies he makes. Anyway, the titular living dead girl is brought back to life by grave robbers accidentally spilling some chemical. She's basically a vampire, and after wandering back to her chateau, and feasting some more she becomes horrified at what she's become. Only to have her old girlfriend want to pressure her into feeding to keep her alive, which leads to a tragic and gruesome conclusion. It's a solid flick, though obviously outclassed by Fascination and Iron Rose.  /51)The Munsters, 2)Color Out of Space 3)Living Dead Girl 
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Oct 3, 2022 00:15
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Anyone have a suggestion on where to watch A Tale of Two Sisters? I’ve been meaning to watch it for a long while but never got around to it, and now it seems to have disappeared from streaming services. I wouldn’t even mind buying a physical copy but the UK bluray appears to be region locked and the only other option is an old DVD that’s kinda pricey for what it is.
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Oct 3, 2022 00:16
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Out of my movies-so-far: Saint Maud: you could watch this for Femme Fatale, The Devil Made Me Do It, or maybe Highbrow Horror. The Devil's Doorway: would work for Femme Fatale, The Devil Made Me Do It, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Goodnight Mommy, or V/H/S. Come True: doesn't really fit anything. Maybe Glitches, but it's a stretch. You should watch it anyway, because it rules, and it's not that hard to get a bingo.
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Oct 3, 2022 00:23
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 1. Eyes of Fire (1983) Frontier folk horror that's packed full of fun psychedelic special effects. After finishing it I watched an interview with the director and the fact that he was an experimental photographer before working on this really shows. The film starts strong when a preacher and his followers are cast out of town leading them to encounter an ancient evil in the woods. From there it continues to ramp up and get stranger and more surreal as it reaches its conclusion. Unfortunately a lot happens in the last half hour that seemed a bit too rapid-fire and confusing. It would be interesting to check out the uncut version (titled Cry Blue Sky) since it seems like quite a bit was cut. bingo: 
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Oct 3, 2022 00:24
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 Have you ever wanted to see Jesse Plemons unconvincingly fight a wendigo with a shovel? Antlers (Scott Cooper, 2021) Jesus this was disappointing in ways I can't even understand. It has a bunch of cool bits, it certainly looks like it could do something interesting. It's got some really good acting in it! Shame that there's really nothing for them to do. It's just so disappointing. You've got a little kid hiding his meth-addict father who's turning into a flesh-eating antler beast on a pretty decent practical set! The kid's not bad either! Keri Russel is acting the hell out of the bland dialogue and she's clinging to the tiny bits of themes she can get her hands on as she tries to connect to the boy and makes parallels to her own abusive past but... there's fundamentally no there there. Themes are just invoked rather than explored. I was expecting Reely the Reel to come out and tell me that exploring what any of this could be was left as an exercise to the reader it was so sparse. And then the actual horror stuff is just kind also there, I guess? Like it's not bad, but there's really only one spot of real gore-gore and then most of the rest of the violence happens either off screen or is so fast it might as well be. We were all set up for a cool transformation sequence! But they just cut away to some hot Volvo product placement and then later circle back to show the remains of the transformation sequence. And it looks cool! But rather than doing some cool "the real horror is in your imagination" thing it just made me wish something had actually happened. As a rule, I don't gently caress around if I'm watching a movie. I don't care if other people do, doesn't affect me, but if I'm watching a movie I tend to either be watching it or I'm not, I'm not gonna like fold laundry or whatever and have a movie on in the background. Yeah, this movie got me playing chess on my phone and it was better than most of the actual film. The best parts of it were 1) I started watching it after the bingo card had been posted so I didn't gently caress myself over by being early today and 2) antlers are technically made of bone, unlike horns, so I'm totally justified in marking a square. 3/10 4 down, 27 to go. 
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Oct 3, 2022 00:39
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October 2 - Constantine: City of Demons: The Movie Flipping through HBO Max's horror recommendations since I'm probably dumping the service soon, I spotted this animated film from the less than stellar DC comics animation studio. I've hated about 90% of what they put out but I like Hellblazer and haven't seen this, so why not? Maybe I'll get lucky.  Things I did not expect to see this month: John Constantine literally loving the city of Los Angeles. And yes, I do know what "literally" means. Years after an attempt to save a girl using magic he didn't understand goes horribly wrong, Constatine is contacted by the one survivor of that night because the survivor's daughter has fallen into a coma that medical science can't explain. Her soul has been stolen by a demon to draw Constantine to Los Angeles in order to eliminate some demonic competition for the souls of the city. Constantine is a tricky character to get right. To me, the key components are that he's a smarmy bastard who gets through situations entirely on attitude, he's the kind of wizard who knows poo poo rather than the kind that shoots magic beams, and he fucks up everyone and everything around him walking away often physically unscathed. He's a protagonist rather than a hero since he's definitely not on the side of angels. A lot of Constantine stuff, especially in the past ten years, have misfired badly by trying to pull him away from his roots as a horror character and make him more of a urban fantasy, hard-boiled hero. And that's what City of Demons does. Lots of making light shows to zap monsters and charging head long into danger. The story was by J. M. DeMatteis who is a well known comic book writer but he's also 180-degree opposite of what I'd want in someone writing Constantine. DeMatteis is known for his lighter touch and personally he has a very feel-good new age spiritually set of beliefs. He can't write an angry Constantine who knows he's damned and is going to drat everyone else with him out of spite. Apparently, this movie was edited together from a web series (the title calls it "The Movie" and it's feature length so it still counts  ) and it feels incredibly disjointed. Constantine is there to eliminate five demons. Count them, five. Here's pictures of them. Here's another character showing up to tell him he needs to eliminate five demons. So he's going to hunt them down and confront them in turn, right? Nope, he just goes to where they're all hanging out together even though they're supposed to be competitors and deals with them all at once. The action moves in a similarly herky-jerky way, jumping from plot to plot, strung along as a series of incidents rather than a coherent narrative. I've never been impressed by the quality of animation in the DC animated movie universe (note: not the DCAU which is its own, much better thing) and that continues here. Everything is animated flat with no flair or stylization. Constantine should be an excuse to go moody and expressive with the animation and it's just generic. There are a handful of scenes where they suddenly remember that this is based on a horror comic and those are kind of effective and creepy. But they're really few and far between. So overall, a disappointing movie that didn't deliver on what I wanted from it and was a bit of a mess regardless. It's not completely incompetent, just generic.  Bruteman posted:
While there's always the differences in pacing and editing that make it tough for people not used to them to go back to classic film, I can't really argue with your daughter's score. This 1933 Dracula is carried almost entirely by a few strong performances and a handful of really well shot sequences. Too much of it feels like they ripped the stage play's scenes and staging directly without considering the difference that film makes. How much someone likes the film is almost solely dependent on how much they enjoy Lugosi's performance. Leatherhead posted:Watch Warlock! Warlock doesn't get enough love. It always seems to remain obscure. Maybe it's because it didn't spin off into an enormous franchise.
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Oct 3, 2022 00:55
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#2: Battledogs All I knew about this movies is what I gleaned from the poster, So that's A: Everybody in Manhattan is a werewolf. Which sounds awesome. And B: it's super low budget and lovely. But still, everybody in Manhattan is a werewolf! You gotta be able to have some fun with that concept no matter how low your budget is Than I started watching it and discovered it's an Asylum movie. So 90% of the runtime is army men talking in rooms. Also there is not a single practical werewolf costume or even werewolf mask. And the main guy looks like if you took the guy from Bones and photocopied him too many times. Stay the gently caress away from Battledogs. 
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Oct 3, 2022 01:08
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  3) Bring it On: Cheer or Die Claiming Femme Fatale, directed by Karen Lam Last year, the sy-fy channel put out a direct-to-TV remake of Slumber Party Massacre, which I watched for last year's challenge and liked quite a bit, so when they announced that they were putting a horror spin on the Bring it On franchise this year, I was pretty excited. Besides horror movies, teen movies are another top genre for me, so this should have been tailor-made for me to like it. Unfortunately, it's one of the worst movies I've seen all year. The elephant in the room that all the reviews I've seen have complained about is the complete refusal to show any blood on screen, and the decision to barely show any violence at all. Normally this would be fine, there's nothing wrong with implied violence in a PG-13 movie, but the way they do it is comical and feels like some exec read the script and was like "well, you're not doing any of THAT" but then also wouldn't let them make any changes, so you get a ton of awkward poo poo like the teens coming across a body that had its head bashed in with a toilet seat, but then they roll her over and she just has a single scratch on her forehead and there's no blood anywhere in the room. A character gets wounded by an arrow and it just flops around loosely like they barely even attached it to his shirt. It's never played for laughs or done even slightly creatively, it feels like a movie that got edited for content sometime after it was done. Every 'scary' shot is a pastiche of something you've seen done in a dozen different movies, so there's never really any tension anywhere. It's all laughably flat and amateur. The cheerleading/teen movie segments aren't any better, just going through the motions with no real life or energy. Every character is a shallower than normal version of a teen movie archetype, and they try to lampshade this fact later but it just makes it worse. The dialogue is awful, with a bunch of shoehorned in references to other horror movies and pop-culture spooky stuff that feel like they're there to let us know that the writers have some affection for the material, but if they do I don't know why they made this. The only time anyone involved looks like they're having fun is in the behind-the-scenes cheerleading rehearsal footage that plays over the end credits. If I have to give it points for anything it would be that it's fairly good about representation and there's nothing gross about it in that way, something that I feel can still go sideways when there are marginalized people in a horror movie. I finished this movie hours ago and I'm still heated about what a waste of potential it is. It should've been a slam dunk, they could've just copied straight from a dozen other teen horror comedies and come up with something that would've still been derivative but at least it wouldn't have been a total waste of time. 1/5
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Oct 3, 2022 01:48
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Franchescanado posted:Behind the Screams
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Oct 3, 2022 01:54
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If anyone needs a Femme Fatale or Horror Noire pick, new Candyman is legit a good punchy little side-qual/soft reboot directed by an African American woman (Nia Dacosta). In and out quick, well shot, great cinematography, couple of little stumbles but it makes up for that in flavor and style and awesome little shadow puppets. Useless to me but that fills multiple spots and is a pro pick, so I thought I’d throw that out there to help folks.
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Oct 3, 2022 01:58
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 The Curse of the Werewolf, 1961 One and a half hour long movie, over 20 minutes spent on a prologue on why our main character was born a werewolf (no points for guessing rape) and nearly a whole hour before a single proper werewolf attack. Was it a bit boring? Yes. Was it worth it too see some blood and a bit of werewolf parkour in the last few minutes? gently caress yes. Classic horror is always worth the wait and buildup. The werewolf looked kind of lovely and cheesy as hell, but that's a part of the appeal of these kind of movies. This is a the only werewolf movie by Hammer Studios, which is a pity as I'd love to see how they would have done this in the 70s. And it is very much a Hammer film as I was thinking it looked so much like one the whole time, but I legit didn't know it was one when I put the DVD on as it was distributed by none other than Universal Studios in the states and that was the version I was watching. So I was thinking the whole time "wow, didn't know Universal tried to reclaim their classic horror properties in the 60s by making a Hammer style movie. How come I never heard of that?". Anyway, the plot takes place in eighteenth-century Spain. The lack of a modern setting and the English accents of the actors alone should have clued me in this was a Hammer production, not Universal. Some mute woman is raped by an old beggar that's been locked up and forgotten in a castle dungeon for many years, she gives birth on Christmas, which is mocking the birth of Jesus in the Lord's eyes, so the baby is cursed. He grows up to become a werewolf during full moons, but learns to control it. Then as an adult, he gets triggered by various stuff and he starts killing people as a werewolf. It is a simple dumb horror movie you just watch to soak in that old school Hammer style and feel. Very much worth it for classic horror fans.
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Oct 3, 2022 02:05
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 SPOOKY BINGO: Tales of Terror -Watch an anthology film #12.) Curse, Death & Spirit (1992; Youtube) The first film from Hideo Nakata (director of the original Ring, Ringu 2, and The Ring Two), this is a quick little anthology of three tales. The first deals with a cursed doll, the second with a mystical waterfall linked to the realm of the dead, and the third has a group of friends visiting an inn haunted by a spirit. That's where the title of the anthology comes from, I guess. The direction makes good use of lighting for some creepy moments, and the actors are generally good in their roles, though due to the brevity of the segments, nobody gets particularly deep characterization. That said, there's an appreciable tenderness and humanity to the segments, as the first two deal with deceased family members, and the introduction and exploration of the mystery in each segment is well-handled, drawing viewers along with the protagonists as they find out what they've fallen into. I was ready to write off the second segment, because what I thought was the ending felt like a Goosebumps episode, but then it pulled a twist that more than redeemed the story for me. That was really the only bump in the movie for me, otherwise it all went down smoothly. All three stories involving spirits of some sort, but with different twists on their motivations, helped keep the anthology feeling tight, complemented by the low-fat pacing. Not a great anthology, or an especially memorable one, but it is interesting to see where Hideo Nakata got his start. Also amusing that the last segment makes prominent use of a video camera (and a rural hotel), considering his ties to the Ring series. Out of the segments, I think I have to give the win to the cursed doll story, for having the most touching emotional content; waterfall gets second place, thanks to the twist; and the inn gets the third place, as it doesn't really throw any curveballs. Decent fare for J-horror junkies. “That woman wants me to stay here forever.” Rating: 6/10
Darthemed fucked around with this message at 04:48 on Oct 3, 2022 |
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Oct 3, 2022 02:15
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4. Rodan (1956) 空の大怪獸 ラドン Directed by Ishirō Honda Watched on HBO Max "What's taking so long? Our handguns are useless!"  A solid kaiju movie for sure. Aside from the fact that this is Rodan's first appearance, the most interesting thing may be the monster-in-a-mine action that takes up the first half hour or so. There's some real human drama and actual blood. It's also the first time, as far as I remember, where there are other smaller prehistoric creatures. Also, because Rodan is a flying kaiju, it's the JASDF's time to shine. After seeing a dude in a suit stomp on countless little tanks and trucks, we get an extended dogfight between Japanese Sabre aircraft and a colossal pterosaur. 👻👻👻.5/5 October Challenge 3/31 1. Blood Feast (1963), 2. Sunshine (2007), 3. Relic (2020) Spooky Bingo 1/31 1. Rodan (1956)  Total 4/?
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Oct 3, 2022 02:39
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7. Phenomena Where to watch? Tubi For Free https://tubitv.com/movies/326253/phenomena  Dario Argento is back! This time with a super young Jennifer Connelly before Labrynth. It also stars the very excellent Donald Pleasance. So two great actors in this film. Also it has a chimpanzee in the film. This giallo supernatural film is really fun fact this made more money at the Italian box office than Gremlins or the Terminator. Anyway its a excellent giallo film. It has good gore, a killer loving soundtrack again by Goblin and metal songs from Iron Maiden which is a change for Argento. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyM1GMnvBtM Anyway this is one of my favorite Argento movies. I just really love it.
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Oct 3, 2022 02:47
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5. Yokai Monsters: Along with Ghosts Japan, 1969. Dir. Yoshiyuki Kuroda, Kimiyoshi Yasuda Picnic At Hanging Rock (Feudal Japan) A group of swordsmen bandits plan to ambush a courier and steal an important document. When, instead of listening to the old man who tells them not to shed blood in the area for fear of contracting a curse, they decide to do it anyway and kill him as well, a chase breaks out as the old man's grand-daughter (with a set of mysterious dice in hand) flees across country to her estranged father, the bandits give chase in search of the document, and various yokai from japanese mythology torment them for being a bunch of shitheads. The movie had some great atmosphere (I love a good misty bamboo forest), and the little girl gave a wonderful performance, but the yokai themselves were fairly hit or miss, and all in all the movie was a little too slow to really keep my attention. This is the third in a loose trilogy, seemingly mostly built around reusing yokai props. YM: 100 Monsters, and YM: Spooky Warfare were much more slapstick in presentation, and while this still carried over a bit of the off-beat and at times misplaced humor, it was definitely the darkest of the three thematically. Overall an enjoyable enough, but mostly forgettable watch. 5/10. Scattered thoughts (spoilers throughout): Hey, little girl's estranged father, carving your dead wife's bones into a set of loaded dice? Kinda hosed up. For real. 
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Oct 3, 2022 03:02
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Golden Years -Watch a movie released before 1960 The Spiral Staircase, 1946  A gothic thriller with a serial killer that preys on women with anything he perceives as imperfections. Helen (a great, emotional performance by Dorothy McGuire) is a mute young woman working in a mansion full of resentful, bitter family drama. Fearful that she'll be the next target, her normal routine turns into a paranoid, fearful nightmare. Great sets and a core mystery with plenty of believable suspects. None of the romance in this film worked for me at all, but the suspense is solid and there's a chubby, lazy bulldog who gets a bunch of scenes where he just loafs around doing nothing. He's perfect. The middle of the film is a little slower than it should be, but the first and last acts are great. 
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Oct 3, 2022 03:14
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And now that I'm at home with Internet and electricity and all that good stuff. 1. (10 - Antarctica) South of Sanity ( A Perfect Getaway ) - Filmed as a way to pass the time at a research station, the film features a bunch of researchers getting slashed. It's essentially a 90's PG-13 slasher, but replace the teenagers with middle-aged roughnecks. Also, I suppose, technically a giallo. It starts a little slow, and the protagonists are not too bright, but it ramps up nicely at the end once the protagonists realize that all their missing friends (missing in Antarctica in the winter; as I said, they're not too bright) have been murdered. 3.5/52. (11 - Greenland) When the Darkness Comes ( Hausu ) - A dude figures that the best way to cheer up his recently dumped buddy would be to spend a night in a murder house. This does not end well. This is really weirdly paced - they get through the setup, including a trip to the library for lore, then go into the house, where the protagonist falls asleep until the exact minute that the ghosts are supposed to let loose. Then there's a whole 'nother lore dump, turning this from "strange murder 20 years ago" to "a shaman dumped 18 different kinds of spirit in this house 200 years ago, let me tell you about every creature in Greenland folklore." Then they basically cut away from the climax of the film to try to get away with a swerve ending. 2.5/53. (12 - Kazakhstan) Sweetie, You Won’t Believe It - Great horror comedy. A guy gets away from his wife, goes fishing with his buddies, and they piss off some mobsters, who in turn piss off a psychobilly. A bit of a Tucker & Dale vs. Evil thing going on, as the mobsters keep getting increasingly upset with our goofball protagonists, blaming them for the murders that the redneck is doing. Plus more weirdness. 5/5 And I might as well take Short Cuts off the board: - Short Cuts (13 - Zimbabwe, 24 minutes) Botso: The Indignation: A Christian Horror Film - Botso lays hands on his mother, which lands him alone in a nightmare of the savannah, haunted by ghosts. Very atmospheric, with some great creep to it, but a bit slow. Eventually the ghost of his father gifts him with pieces of paper with "Deut", "VS", "1", "5", and "6" and he learns his lesson (Deut 5:16 - “Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you." This kind of ignores that those pieces could be put together in different orders, including Deut 6:15 "I'm God and I'm going to gently caress you up for sport."). 3/5 (14 - Saudi Arabia, 15 minutes) Folaim: My Friend Satan - Following that up with a Muslim horror film. Satan is basically that annoying dude who always wants to do stupid poo poo and won't go away, until he lures the protagonist into drinking alcohol at a party and poo poo goes south fast. Eventually driven away by the name of God... he then goes on to lure another guy into a strip club. Not going to rate because there's sizable dialogue and no English subs, but it's an effective piece regardless. (15 - Suriname, 12 minutes) Trypps #6 (Malobi) - Single-shot take of a Halloween celebration in Suriname, which consists mostly of half a dozen people walking to the town square, dancing for a bit, and then walking away. 2/5 (16 - Uganda, 12 minutes) Attack on Nyege Nyege Island - Promoting your music festival with a short film in which commandos show up and murder everyone, while an omniscient narrator shits on absolutely everything, is certainly a choice. IT IS ALSO THE BEST MOVIE EVER. 5/5 (17 - Lebanon, 10 minutes) The Shower - Bleak and brutal film. Man gets in shower, ghosts/demons/something traps him in and fills it to the ceiling with water, man dies. Pretty freaking distressing. 4/5
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Oct 3, 2022 04:35
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 7. The Vigil (2019) A pure, rock solid haunting story, told nearly to perfection. Dave Davis plays a man who's recently left an Orthodox Jewish community in New York. He's in an awkward spot between two worlds, not socialized enough to the basics of talking to girls and submitting resumes due to his closed-off religious upbringing, struggling to make rent. So he accepts a request to serve as a paid shomer, a watchman to keep a vigil through the night and say psalms over the body of a recently deceased recluse. It's short notice, because of course the last guy they tried to hire mysteriously ran off into the night. But what's so scary about spending five hours in a room with a dead body? What was that about a Mazzik demon this guy thought he was being tormented by? Say, are those mysterious creaking noises I hear?? It's scary enough being in your own home when something creepy is going down, but it's so much worse to be trapped in someone else's. The Vigil makes the sparse light sources and close confines of an apartment after hours feel absolutely suffocating. Writer-director Keith Thomas is patient to let you stew in that atmosphere and let the tension build. Lots of long, effective shots of a shadowed stairway or unlit dining room, while the soundtrack builds a merciless electronic drone. Your eyes burrow into the background that hangs conspicuously in the frame, just waiting for something awful to come, practically feeding yourself up to the pit in your stomach. Worn tropes like phantom phone messages and movement underneath sheets feel restored to their full power by meticulous, understated filming. It is simply a fantastic creepy buildup and when things pop off the manifestations of an evil spirit are taut and effective (and impressively low budget for how much punch they pack). The final confrontation is a stunner that will linger on my mind for a long time. Come for the novelty of The Vigil's Jewish mythology, stay for the workshop on how to make all these classic elements scary again for all that we've seen them a hundred times.  .5 / 5 For Spooky Bingo, I cannot overstate the Jewishness of The Vigil, it absolutely hits the religious themes for checking off The Devil Made Me Do It. 
Vanilla Bison fucked around with this message at 19:03 on Oct 10, 2022 |
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Oct 3, 2022 05:24
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Which challenge would Werewolf by Night fall under? The Specials one?
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Oct 3, 2022 05:34
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3. BarbarianGoodnight Mommy (the challenge this meets is kind of a spoiler so I'm hiding it) On that note, I managed to avoid spoilers for this one and I'm really glad I did, and I strongly encourage anyone who hasn't seen it to go in blind. I wouldn't strictly call it a twist, but holy hell that reveal has got to be a top ten. So much great set up and tension there leading you to think you know where it's going ("He's definitely evil" or "I bet it's a subversion and she's actually a murderer or something") and then bam, The Mother runs in and smashes Keith's head into paste, what a moment. I doubt I have much to say here that hasn't already been said. It's a fun ride, love that Justin Longo's character looks like he's going to get a redemption arc and then just immediately blows it, and Brake is great for being in such a sedate role. I really liked that every thing was explained but nothing was spoon fed (or bottle fed) to you. Overall just a smart, fun thriller and I can't wait to see what he does next.
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Oct 3, 2022 06:11
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Hollismason posted:7. Phenomena Absolutely rocks, Motorhead on there too! I love that period of 80s Italian horror movies with metal going on. Demons too of course. And that's a fun box office fact, good for Dario.
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Oct 3, 2022 06:15
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Opopanax posted:Which challenge would Werewolf by Night fall under? The Specials one? Full Moon if its an hour plus? But rumor is its gonna be under an hour. So yeah in that case I guess the Special or Short Cuts.
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Oct 3, 2022 06:20
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2. Mad God This one's tricky to describe, as I'm not entirely sure of the extent to which it has a plot. Scenes flow into one another but between a total lack of intelligible dialogue and a general refusal to explain context, I can't say for sure that what's happening is supposed to be a single coherent narrative. It seems to take place in a post-apocalyptic, dystopian landscape where bad poo poo keeps happening to all sorts of weird monsters and puppet creatures. This was a lifelong dream project for visual effects veteran Phil Tippett (the famed Dinosaur Supervisor on Jurassic Park who I guess fell asleep on the job), and it's done almost entirely through stop motion and puppetry with the occasional bit of live action. It's full of gore, bodily fluids, and weird creatures. Honestly the best way to describe it is it's like a lot of grunge videos that MTV would play in the 90s, though here the music is more droning and minimalist. I will say there's a point where this film nearly lost me simply because it's a lot of heavy imagery and mood to dump on someone with a minimum of context, and I don't think I was prepared for it to be quite as story-light as it is. I was able to refocus though, and go along with it for what it is, as grim and nasty as it gets (and the film is very fond of weak and/or innocent creatures getting crushed by larger ones, with sounds of screaming monkeys and crying babies upping the intensity.) It's clearly made with a lot of deliberate care and succeeds at establishing an oppressive mood, and evoking themes of destruction, creation, etc. Very strong stuff, not for all tastes, but whatever Tippett's vision was I think he's managed to realize it, and that's worth celebrating.
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Oct 3, 2022 06:34
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Franchescanado posted:
 7) Nope - 2022 - Prime I was iffy about going to see this one for what's possibly the most ridiculous reason. Since I've really enjoyed Peele's work so far, it's only a matter of time before he makes something lousy and I'm not ready for that yet. See, told you it was ridiculous. What changed my mind was a small family I sold Nope tickets to. Up in Box Office, it's very common to get asked if we've seen a film yet, what our opinion is on it. They asked if I'd seen it yet and I explained my reason why I hadn't at that point and just needed to hear more opinions. They said they'd let me know what they thought of it if we bumped into each other later. We did and as they were telling me it was really good, their son who was probably all of 7 or 8 says really loud: "There's a big alien BUTT in it!". That did it, I had to see it now. So I did and Peele's counter on how long before he eventually makes something lousy has been reset. God this was so good. I had to sit through this twice because there's so much packed into it, and I'll likely go sit through it again at some point. If you've seen the trailer, you've got the gist. Strange things are afoot around a horse ranch. And strangeness abounds. From the start the groundwork is laid. With the beginning chimp attack, to Otis Sr.s death to the eventual reveal of Jean Jacket, everything connects for a solid story. While there's tons of theories out there on elements of the film raging from interesting to pretentious fart huffing, to toss my hat in the mix, I don't think that Jean Jacket is an alien. This comes from talking with a co-worker who's taking Animal Biology courses. Pretty much we've all heard about our studies on deep sea life, but what hasn't gotten much mention are the studies on life in the stratosphere. Ever since there's been hurricanes and tornadoes, bacteria and such has been pulled up to the stratosphere so it's not impossible for something to survive and evolve up there. Jean Jacket's true appearance, electromagnetic ability and feeding style is reminiscent of sea life. Hell, if I want to stretch a bit and look at medieval art that shows fantastic objects floating in the sky, for all we know that could be life from the stratosphere diving down some to see if the dinner pickings are better lower down. Anyways, the actors do a phenomenal job. The cinematography's a feast for the eyes. Only nitpick I have is when the prank gets pulled on OJ. I live in the southwest where it's almost up there with Australia where the local wildlife would love to have you for dinner. It's more unusual that OJ doesn't have a weapon of some kind on him when there's the chance of bears, coyotes, or cougars deciding the ranch's horses look like an all you can eat buffet. Anyone pulling a prank like they did on him would've had the chance of getting hurt beyond a punch. But considering how minor that is on the scale of things and everything else being so good, it's not a big deal. This one's another highly recommended from me. 
M_Sinistrari fucked around with this message at 07:10 on Oct 3, 2022 |
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Oct 3, 2022 06:37
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 #13.) The Lawnmower Man (director's cut; 1992; Blu-ray) The early-'90s dreams of virtual reality's potential come to life in this film with Stephen King's stamp of disapproval. A mentally limited man, Jobe, is used as an experiment by a scientist specializing in mental alteration through VR, and the experiences (along with some nootropic drugs) make him something more than human. Probably the first thing that would strike people watching this today (besides the 1992 CGI) is the handling of Jobe's mentality. It's played a bit (a bit!) over the top by Fahey, but... The character is treated in a sympathetic way, though it's still uncomfortable and dated. The story consistently focuses on how someone of his intelligence is susceptible to exploitation, whether malignant or well-intentioned. Brosnan's scientist character (Dr. Angelo) even lures Jobe into agreeing to the experiments by telling him that being smarter will prevent people from taking advantage of him, even as he does that very thing. And that sense of separation, the belief in distance between them because of their comparative intelligence, is a key part of what leads to everything going to pieces. Initially, Jobe is a gentle soul, not wanting confrontations, but knowing the difference between right and wrong. He has friends who care for him, and he deeply cares about them in return, even being willing to stand up to people he knows can hurt him to defend those friends. But as his intelligence and knowledge increase, he hardens. His willingness to use violence increases, he develops contempt for the people around him, he gives up the comics that used to bring him such pleasure. He becomes willing to exploit other people. Even without the interference of the company employing Dr. Angelo, which desires military applications, it's easy to see how the chain of events could only lead to disaster, or at the very least, the breaking of an innocent man. It's tragic, in a way that the psychedelic CGI aesthetic and neon-laced bodysuits can't obscure. And Jobe understands his simultaneous rise and fall, because his new state won't permit him to not comprehend it. And then he uses telekinesis to drive a lawnmower into the living room of a dirtbag father to kill him. Yeah, the movie has faults, but I still think it deserves fair reevaluation from modern eyes. And while the CGI may prove a hang-up for a lot of viewers, it works for me. The obvious artificiality works to enhance the disjunct from reality; these manifestations are something unnatural, something that should not be. Apart from that, in a lot of ways, it's a respectable attempt at a contemporization of Frankenstein, even if it does fall short. So try to set aside the expectations generated by the reputation this movie has developed over the years, and go into it with an open mind, judging this on its own merits. And try not to let the fact that it opens with a chimp in a helmet running around with a gun ruin that for you. “I never realized it was so complex. So disturbing.” Rating: 8/10And here's how I felt about it back in 2019.
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Oct 3, 2022 06:38
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Heavy Metal posted:Absolutely rocks, Motorhead on there too! I love that period of 80s Italian horror movies with metal going on. Demons too of course. And that's a fun box office fact, good for Dario. Nobody would have blamed Jennifer Connelly for not wanting to make another movie after all she clearly had to go through for this (including but not limited to a chimpanzee biting her fingertip off) but thank God she stuck around.
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Oct 3, 2022 06:40
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Finishing the weekend blitz with some relaxing Halloween specials for Spooky Bingo! It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966, 25 minutes) A mellow slice of pumpkin pie, sweetness with just a little ginger kick of that adult dry wit that makes Charlie Brown material work. I didn't grow up with much respect for good ol' Charlie Brown, because even though I was an eager reader of the funny pages, by the time of my youth Charles Schulz was in his long late creative slump. Those late Peanuts strips were emotionally muted and always ended with a weak observational statement for a punchline, never any sting. So it was refreshing to watch this and enjoy people being smug, upset, miserable, full of feeling, with punchlines that still have some wry crackle to them. And Vince Guaraldi's gentle piano jazz is a perfect fit for cool autumn nostalgia. .5 / 5  Muppets Haunted Mansion (2021, 52 minutes) "Don't worry folks, we're not going to be explaining ALL the jokes." LMAO, John Stamos baited me into that goddamn jump scare. Chock-a-block with rapid-fire cameos, meta jokes, and general satisfying silliness. The premise is that Gonzo and Pepe are doing a House on Haunted Hill survive-the-night challenge at Disney's haunted mansion, and it's a good choice, they deliver a nice double act between Gonzo's fearless Goth enthusiasm and Pepe's, uh... skirt-chasing Taraji P. Henson? Look, it works! A bunch of people hated Matt Vogel's Kermit voice, the CG floating ghost effects are a cheat that dodges the need for any creative blocking with the puppeteering, but I don't mind. This special exists to provide an hour's worth of constant joke patter and it's got the goods, even finding time for a surprisingly touching moment with Gonzo realizing his one true fear amidst the fluff. I'll hold out hope for more legit Muppet movies but if more specials like this are the future for these characters, I can roll with it! "Gee, nobody says goodbye here, they just ghost you."   / 5 
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Oct 3, 2022 06:48
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 Whoever told you that British people are subtle and classy were lying. The Lair of the White Worm (Ken Russell ; 1988AD/0 Anno Xiahou) I guess I was born in a good year for horror because I thought I'd seen all of the good stuff. I was very wrong, because Lair of the White Worm isn't actually another movie that had a similar box that I did see (and sucked) and instead it's what it is, which is AMAZING. Where has this secret little horror-comedy gem been hiding? Rural snake cultists in rural England? You're doing the exposition via trad-rock local band at a local folklore dance party?!?! I love this movie just for the idea. I didn't know that was a thing that could exist and I'm suddenly very civic minded. It takes a split second to get the tone, but only because that's how long the human body needs to adapt to process so much high octane camp. O! But even more amazing : baby Hugh Grant. Baby Hugh Grant fighting snake cultists. Baby Hugh Grant bisecting an old woman with a great sword. Ouroboros/10 all hail spooky bingo, bringer of better movie decisions 5 down, 26 to go. 
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Oct 3, 2022 07:08
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3.) Raven’s Hollow (2022) | Shudder This movie is about Edgar Allen Poe hanging out in a town with a murderous raven monster… thing. Apparently, the dumbshit nonsense that transpires inspires him to write “The Raven” (a quiet poem about regret and age.) It’s one of the dumbest ideas I’ve seen make it to screen. 1/5 4.) Glorious (2022) | Shudder  Ryan Kwanten spends most of the runtime talking to a god (JK Simmons) in a bathroom stall. It’s a great (and highly original) low-budget premise executed well enough. If you’re a fan of pitch-black comedy, this is worth watching. 3.5/5
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Oct 3, 2022 07:12
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Franchescanado posted:
 3.) The Howling Joe Dante | 1981 | 4K UHD I picked this up a while back at Best Buy because it was on sale and it was a Scream Factory release. I knew nothing about it going in (though in hindsight I’m familiar with one of the sequels, Stirba Bitch from a Spoony video). Fortunately for me, I did enjoy this movie. I do prefer An American Werewolf in London, but this is a fine film too. It’s a little silly, but in a good way. The idea of a weird werewolf cult is pretty cool and the transformation effects are really neat. I also appreciated all the little wolf-related easter eggs in the film. Overall, this was a pretty great werewolf movie. Rating: Total: 3/13 New: 3 Rewatches: 0 My Letterboxd list (in progress) 
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Oct 3, 2022 07:20
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Franchescanado posted:
 8) Antlers - 2021 - HBOmax The impact of Quarantine on movies is huge to put it mildly. One of the big ones was films being delayed. Depending where you were and how long your lockdown was, film releases were forgotten, and many had to be remarketed adding to the budget recoup. Antlers was on the many forgot it coming out list since it was delayed twice. Based on the incredibly good short story 'A Quiet Boy' by Nick Antosca, the film suffers from what many films based on a short story end up dealing with. There's not enough there to fill out a feature film, and here's where the film really feels it. Story is still essentially the same, teacher takes interest in a troubled student who's dealing with more than just lovely homelife. The 'padding' used to extend the story is some of the most generic options taken. Characters are barely introduced to just add to the kill count or provide exposition to move things along. Where the film does shine is the mood it establishes in the setting. Small dying town with overcast skies is a wonderful mood builder. The monster's design was quite good. The actors were good but not given enough to really shine proper. Overall, it was okay. Mostly I'm still a bit salty on losing out on snagging the teaser poster since everything got pulled when my theater was closed. 
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Oct 3, 2022 09:02
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Lets do this!! I haven't watched a horror movie in weeks to prepare myself to this. As always my goal is to watch at least 31 horror movies, all first-time watches. I do have some classics on stand-by in case things get too dire and I need a reminder why horror is the best. #1 - Orphan: First Kill  I remember the original being okay and after all the praise for this sequel I expected something entertaining, but sadly it wasn't that great. There is a truly fantastic twist about an hour in, but it takes a while to get there, but the worst part is all the potentially great consequences that moment should lead to are rushed to get to an uninteresting finale. What a waste of a fun idea. Counted for "They Always Come Back" #2 - Beast  Idris Elba and his two daughters are attacked by a killer lion. Don't expect anything other than that, because while the movie is competently shot and has a few nice character moments there is not a single original idea in there. It ticks all the boxes you expect of a killer animal movie, adds nothing new or unique and while it never bores you'll forget about it right when the credits roll. Counted for "Wild Beasts" Not the great start I hoped for, but nothing dire either. 
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Oct 3, 2022 09:26
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gey muckle mowser posted:Anyone have a suggestion on where to watch A Tale of Two Sisters? I’ve been meaning to watch it for a long while but never got around to it, and now it seems to have disappeared from streaming services. I wouldn’t even mind buying a physical copy but the UK bluray appears to be region locked and the only other option is an old DVD that’s kinda pricey for what it is. It's in Shudder UK. Is it not on the US version?
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Oct 3, 2022 09:40
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gey muckle mowser posted:Anyone have a suggestion on where to watch A Tale of Two Sisters? I’ve been meaning to watch it for a long while but never got around to it, and now it seems to have disappeared from streaming services. I wouldn’t even mind buying a physical copy but the UK bluray appears to be region locked and the only other option is an old DVD that’s kinda pricey for what it is. It depends on your library, and I think it might be US-only, but it's on Kanopy.
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Oct 3, 2022 09:57
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3. Belzebuth (2017) A cop in Mexico investigates mass murders of children in Mexico which might be related to a priest who is seen at the sites. I really liked Belzebuth, it's great twist on the tired serial killer demon / exorcism genre. The final act being a roller coaster of action helps too. Highly recommended. Available on shudder Lets say this counts for "devil made me do it" 
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Oct 3, 2022 10:14
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Hollismason posted:7. Phenomena Phenomena owns. This was the song I couldn't get out of my head after watching it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJZ__uy7T_Y Xiahou Dun posted:The Lair of the White Worm (Ken Russell ; 1988AD/0 Anno Xiahou) I remember catching this on Sci-Fi or some other cable channel and then immediately going out and renting the video to show my friends, this movie is wild and really funny. Also some great retroactive recognition with Hugh Grant and Peter Capaldi.
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Oct 3, 2022 10:56
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 3) Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) Trailer Seen on: Tubi After discovering fossil evidence of a humanoid missing link between sea- and land-dwelling animals, a group of explorers and scientists travel to the mysterious Black Lagoon in the Amazon to pursue further discoveries, and instead find a living, extremely territorial gill man who has eyes for leading lady Julie Adams (same, not gonna lie). As a kid, the Creature really fascinated me because it didn't look cheap and looks great in all the underwater scenes, which are really well shot - the memorable sequence where Adams is swimming in the lagoon and the creature is swimming underneath her, fascinated, mirroring her movements is neat. I had also forgotten that, what feels unlike a lot of similar movies from the era, it really goes to great lengths to make you feel sympathetic for the creature, which was not lost on my daughter; most of the scientists want to leave it alone once they discover it, but there's always the one egotistical guy who insists on creating trouble and making the group overstay their welcome (my daughter was rooting for that guy to get it, she was very happy when it happened). After the fifth or sixth time the creature appears and the movie plays its "Da da DAAAAA!" musical sting motif, my daughter said "he must really hate having that music following him around and giving him away." I knew having her watch MST3K would pay off. My daughter's scary rating and thoughts: out of 10 spooks - "I felt really bad for the creature, he just wanted to be left alone. He was kind of scary but kind of cool."
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Oct 3, 2022 11:28
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Jedit posted:It's in Shudder UK. Is it not on the US version? It was at one point I think but it’s not on there right now. Greekonomics posted:It depends on your library, and I think it might be US-only, but it's on Kanopy. I’ll check this out, thanks!
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Oct 3, 2022 11:48
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5: Lake Mungo (2008) H20 Ghost of a girl who drowned in a lake appears in photos. I'd heard general praise about this film but knew nothing about it, so I expected a spooky lake movie with a ghost that goes boo. I was not expecting a documentary style film. It's a mixture of interviews with the family and the psychic they hire and found footage elements. It's an unusual way to tell a story, but it does it well, and has a natural feeling to it. It's different and interesting. 6: Season of the Witch (1973)  Master of Horror: George A. Romero A suburban housewife dabbles in witchcraft, has relationship issues. I was really hoping this would be the witch version of Martin and there's hints of that in the musical cues and style and especially the ambiguity of whether the magic is real. However it differs in one important way - it's boring as poo poo. Real slog to get through. Most interesting thing that happened in the first 80 minutes was the protagonist buying fennel while the entirety of the song "Season of the Witch" plays. The acting's a mixed bag, though at least the lead is decent. Total: 6 Scream 4; Scream 5; Burke & Hare; Pet Semetary (1989); Lake Mungo; Season of the Witch 
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Oct 3, 2022 12:21
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| # ? Jun 9, 2024 12:46 |
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Opopanax posted:Which challenge would Werewolf by Night fall under? The Specials one? Yeah, that's gonna be under Halloween Is Special, if it's not over 60 minutes in length on release. It's a little long to call it a short film, although I guess it technically is, but I came up with Halloween Is Special specifically so people could watch that kinda thing and let it count. Darthemed posted:If we're going the documentary route, can we watch multiple sub-hour documentaries to get a total of an hour or more of viewing? Or is it one hour-plus documentaries only for this challenge? This one had me stumped, cuz no one's ever asked before. Do one film that's over an hour long, since there's already two blocks that let you watch short films. Thank you for asking.
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Oct 3, 2022 12:52
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