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Franchescanado posted:
 77) All Hallows Eve - 2013 - TubiTV I thought I'd reviewed this before, but after doublechecking my letterboxd, my reviewed movies list, even my imgur to check for a poster image, nope. Turns out I haven't so here we are. This one's an anthology focusing on Halloween when an unlabeled video tape appears in a trick or treat bag and gets watched to horrifying results. I've said in the past, I've generally found something good in anthologies. Here, best I can say is Art the Clown does have a distinctive look, and the effects are decent for the budget. The rest, is simply not good. To begin with the wraparound. I don't know if something's changed with kids and trick or treating, but even with math not being my strong point and being caught up in the joy of the holiday, having fun with my friends, I guarantee that with one shake of my bag I would know how much of that bag was candy, spare change, dental floss from that one house that will get toilet papered later on, and cheapy plastic toys. I refuse to believe a kid would not know a VHS tape just appeared in the bag at some point. Each of the three stories involve Art the Clown in some way and pretty much are all variations of 'woman in peril-dies horribly'. While, yeah, that's a pretty common core for a ton of horror movies, there's a definite meanspiritedness here. I know that sounds ridiculous to say about a horror film of all things where people die in myriad ways, but meanspiritedness is something you know when you see it. I just don't have the time in my life for this sort of thing. I'm never sitting through this again.  78) All Hallows Eve 2 - 2015 - TubiTV Another anthology of sorts. This one's more short films that didn't get much attention on their own slapped with a wraparound repackaged as something new. I'd already seen some of the shorts elsewhere. Overall, it comes across as kinda lazy. This had its moments. Art the Clown isn't in this one, instead we get a pumpkin faced Trickster who I really wouldn't be surprised if he's really Art the Clown in a disguise. This wasn't really worth my time.  79) Terrifier - 2016 - TubiTV I know, why would I sit through this when I didn't like All Hallows Eve and all this is, is the third story of All Hallows expanded to feature length? Don't know. Probably to give it another chance, see if the people behind it have grown any in thier craft? Yeah...no. This was a slog to get through. Considering I've sat through all but the last ten Amityville Horror franchise, that's saying something. Plot's pretty much Art's on a kill spree. I know that pretty much fits the plot of a majority of slashers, but with this, that's pretty much it. We get nothing really more on Art beyond possibly something paranormal and he kills gruesomely. This felt like a better budgeted August Underground effort. I know there's more than a few of the slashers from the 80s Golden Age that were just as bare boned, but with those, there was a certain goofiness/cheesyness inherent that simply isn't present here. I will give credit to the effects being pretty decent for a fair part, but the rest was just meanspirited crap. Never watching this again.  80) Terrifier 2 - 2022 - Theater I was not going to see this one. I had no interest in seeing this one. I watched the trailer, rolled my eyes and muttered 'Oh God, this poo poo again..'. But, when you get put on assisting with theater hopper duty, here we are. As much as I do not like the Art the Clown crap, I do want the people who paid to see this have a good time not disrupted by underage teens being bratty, vaping, and unruly during their showing. To start, why the hell is this over two freakin' hours? Good God, this could've easily been cut down by 20-30 minutes with nothing lost. Every criticism I had of Terrifier can be applied here since this films pretty much a 'second verse, same as the first'. There is a kinda sorta halfassed flailing at an attempt of plot with this one which probably accounts for the 10% less meanspiritedness, but that's more of a side glance in the right direction than an actual step. There's plenty of gore here, big whoo. It reaches the point to where the gore gets boring. For as much has been made of 'ooh people were fainting and throwing up during screenings!1!', I could go to a screening feeling off from eating an iffy salami sandwich, puke from that and they could claim 'ooh the movie made her barf!' when, no, I just happened to eat something crappy again. The director says a Terrifier 3 will happen and there's enough for a 4 to happen. With how little material content is here, they could probably hit a Terrifier 10 by the time they hit enough content comparable to Friday the 13th or Halloween 3 or 4. The only positive I can say for this film is the poster looks nice. The rest is just a waste of time and you're better off spending that time elsewhere. 
M_Sinistrari fucked around with this message at 05:24 on Oct 18, 2022 |
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Oct 18, 2022 04:45
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M_Sinistrari posted:78) All Hallows Eve - 2013 - TubiTV   #89.) Intermedio (2005; Tubi) A group of idiots head into a set of tunnels running under the Mexico/USA border, in hopes of scoring some discount weed. Then a wizard starts killing them off, using the ghosts of the tunnels. I had a sinking feeling as soon as the opening credits rolled and I realized I'd selected a movie from The Asylum, but to be honest, this wasn't as bad as I was expecting. Sure, there's characters yelling at each other and going in conversational circles instead of going for a more interesting way to fill time, but the setting is a neat and underused one. Edward Furlong is here, playing a burnout. Moving past that, tension never really varies in intensity, and character deaths just abruptly happen, without even a minute of foreshadowing to allow dread to build up. The ghost CGI is decent, and kept to a minimum, to its benefit. There's a story thread about a couple of the characters hoping to get closure on the disappearance of their fathers decades before, and it's contrasted with a father who lost his son in the tunnels, but despite these being the core character arcs, neither leads to much. The actors are trying, but there's no help from the script. Respect to Steve Railsback, who plays the wizard, for making his character actually compelling in the short time that he gets to deliver dialogue. If this had been maybe half the length, it might have been solid, but it's stretched so thin that it's annoying to watch. “Well, you got five seconds to make poo poo something you do know.”  Rating: 5/10
Darthemed fucked around with this message at 04:59 on Oct 18, 2022 |
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Oct 18, 2022 04:55
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Movie #14 Halloween Ends, 2022 Halloween Ends, Or; The Everyday Horror of Dating a Cop. I liked this a lot more than I expected to but I can totally understand why people didn't! A huge amount of the movie takes focus away from both Laurie and Michael, instead following newcomer Corey Cunningham (a combination of Friday the 13th director Sean Cunningham and Friday the 13th actor Corey Feldman, a cutesy reference even if it does say "yeah, Michael Myers is Jason in these movies.") Michael's strength and regenerative abilities make absolutely no sense but I can't say that I really care about that. Things don't actually start getting spooky until 40 minutes into this movie, but I dug its atmosphere enough that that worked fine for me. Halloween Kills focuses on the immediate aftermath of a horrible tragedy, Ends focuses on the long-term, including lots of realistically misdirected anger. Jamie Lee Curtis does get plenty to do here (unlike Halloween Kills) and I really enjoyed her well intended but flawed attempts at healing. This is absolutely a movie made of other movies, what's surprising is that David Gordon Green picked some really divisive films to use as its DNA in addition to classics. There's a shot of Corey watching The Thing, and this is, in part, a movie about transformation. There's a mayhem in a mechanic yard scene that feels straight out of Christine, another John Carpenter classic. But then there's both elements of a low key version of Freddy's Dead (a town deranged by Michael's past chaos) and Nightmare on Elm Street 2 here (Michael's first murder scene is sexualized in its staging as a love scene between two men) along with the whole Tommy Jarvis storyline from the middle of the Friday the 13th series. If anything, Halloween Ends feels like a farewell not only to Halloween but to the lingering remnants of the 70s and 80s horror genre in general. It's a very weird way to end a trilogy in 2022, but I found it comforting in an odd way. If nothing else, I appreciate that Green's three Halloween films are all extremely distinct from one another. A True Jar Jar Fan fucked around with this message at 05:14 on Oct 18, 2022 |
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Oct 18, 2022 05:10
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   34. House (1977) The record-winning movie for inspiring the most sick-rear end posters to be made? Fever dream fantasy. A colorful madcap spree, ridiculous and enthusiastic, bursting with imagination and silly joy. House plays with framerate, animation, cutout and transition effects, all with the same giggling energy as a middle schooler making a Powerpoint presentation into their plaything. All that plus a cute cat and high-flying kung fu kicks. I wouldn't recommend House to anyone looking to be horrified, but it demands to be watched if you want to have a good time.  .5 / 5.jpg)  This is the titular film for the Hausu category, which gives me another Spooky Bingo! 
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Oct 18, 2022 05:10
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24: Halloween Ends Femme Fatale Kind of neat to see this getting put into so many different squares but I'm picking this one because both Laurie and Jaime Lee Curtis are both bad asses. Now, full disclosure, I'm one of the people who liked Kills, so take that as you will. I thought this was great, better than kills but not as good as 2018 (that shot where Laurie gets lit up behind Michael is my top moment from the entire series). I appreciate that they did something different than just "Michael sneaking around killing everyone". I'll admit I don't get exactly what they were trying to do Was Corey evil all along or did they honestly try to fold in some Thorne stuff? They also seemed to do that thing they did in Kills where they want to make Michael supernatural without explicitly making him supernatural. All in all though I'm happy with it, but I totally get why it's a divisive movie.
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Oct 18, 2022 05:11
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 The most interesting part is the poster, just cause scarecrows are kind of cool. Husk (Brett Simmons ; 2011) After Dark I have almost nothing at all to say about this movie. I went to the list of After Dark films and picked Husk because it's a cool word and can be like an insect husk or like a skeleton. This is an incredibly generic movie that's just based around corn maze spoops. A listless mass of young people are driving to do nebulous partying when they hit an unspecified amount of crows that were just kind of there, I guess. The crows are not important because there's spooky corn and then they get aspooped by scarecrows but the scarecrows are zombies. And there's a haunted house. And the scarecrow-zombies do a surprisingly large amount of arts and crafts. I'm not joking. When you get possessed you have to make your own uniform ; this is a plot point. It's not bad but it's like an algorithm trained on TVTropes wrote it. It's just fine. It's a white bread and mayo sandwich. /10 26 down, 5 to go 
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Oct 18, 2022 05:21
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I had to be a groomsman in a wedding and work was keeping me busy, but I've still been keeping up. If for whatever reason you want reviews that are a little more in depth, my Letterboxd is here. 4. The Snake Girl and the Silver Haired Witch A little girl meets her birth parents and finds out she has a scarred sister that's forced to live in the attic. The sister might also be a snake girl. This is a pretty solid kid's horror movie that doesn't insult the viewer's intelligence and is surprisingly rough when it comes to putting kids in mortal danger. The main little girl is hilarious due to how insanely agreeable to everything she is. At one point her sister demands that she move into the attic and her response is basically just, "Yeah sure! If that's what you want!" 4/5 5. Tombs of the Blind Dead A group of young people go on a vacation and after an argument, one decides to bail and camp out in some ancient ruins that just so happen to be inhabited by undead Templar knights. This was another super hyped movie that I was a little underwhelmed by. The zombies are excellent and I loved just watching them move around, and the ending was a fun little twist. I just wish there was a little more to the story. 3.5/5 6. Evil Dead Trap After receiving an apparent snuff tape in the mail, a late night television host decides to do the dumbest goddamn thing and investigate the source. Her and a crew arrive at an abandoned military base and soon start getting just completely wrecked. I'm usually not super into gore movies, but this one hit a little differently. The kills are all super brutal and cruel, and one of the traps is a great example of misdirection. The reveal at the end is completely over the top and I loved how unashamed it was. 4/5 7. Hard Rock Zombies A rock group travels to a small town and is harassed for about ten minutes until a family of ghouls murders them. The lead singer of the group randomly wrote a song using an ancient book of latin spells that has the power to raise the dead, so they're soon back in action and ready to take revenge on the ghouls. I don't really know what to say about this one. It's a completely awful and inept movie that's almost impossible to succinctly describe. The whole thing feels like a vanity project for some forgotten hair metal band, but apparently the rock band was assembled using random musicians. Even still, it's kind of funny for what it is, even if it's awful. 2/5 8. Drag Me to Hell A young woman makes a decision that for personal gain that ends up evicting an elderly woman from her home. Her new-found success is quickly disturbed as she finds out the elderly woman has afflicted her with a demonic curse that will doom her soul to hell in three days. I tend to ignore newer horror movies, but for whatever reason, I never realized that Sam Raimi directed this one. Needless to say, it's filled with wall to wall gags and bits and I loved every second of it. 4.5/5 9. Intruder A crew of supermarket employees are working late when they're menaced by one of the employee's ex-boyfriends. Soon the crew starts getting killed off one by one. I mostly was interested in this one due to its connections to Sam Raimi and the whole Evil Dead gang. What I didn't realize is just how gory it was going to be. Sam Raimi goes from directing to acting in this one, and in a big surprise, he's a pretty natural actor. Other than the gore and the novelty of seeing Sam Raimi mug for the camera, this one is a fairly standard slasher, but it's a pretty solid one. 3.5/5 10. From a Whisper to a Scream Vincent Price hosts this anthology horror film featuring Clu Gulager (who passed away in August) as a nebbish man who lives with his ailing sister and begins to get fed up with rejection, a con man who is killed and resurrected by a black magic practitioner, a carnival glass eater who falls in love with a woman against the wishes of his employer, and Cameron Mitchell as a Civil War soldier who's taken captive by a group of orphaned children. This is a pretty underwhelming anthology horror film in that all the good stories are front loaded, meaning that half way through, the movie just stops being entertaining. Still, having Vincent Price, Clu Gulager, and Cameron Mitchell adds a lot to the movie, even if they don't get a ton of screen time. 2.5/5 11. Deranged This is just an Ed Gein movie. That's it. As it turns out Ed Gein isn't a super compelling figure to have as your horror movie villain. He was a momma's boy dork who only killed two people before he was caught. His grave robbing is obviously heinous, but when you have Richard Chase throwing babies in a blender and Ed Kemper having sex with his mother's decapitated head, stealing some corpses and wearing their skin feels quaint. Luckily the movie is more of a comedy than anything else and the old guy from Home Alone plays Ed Gein, so that's pretty entertaining. 1.5/5 12. The Serpent and the Rainbow A hot shot anthropologist is tasked with investigating Haitian Zombification by a pharmaceutical company who thinks they can use something from the ritual as an effective anesthesia. As it turns out, the voodoo might actually be real... This is supposedly based on a book about the true life experiences of an anthropologist who involved himself in the world of voodoo, so you know its all bullshit. There are some creepy moments in it, but I found myself more interested in the political side of the movie, which isn't good news if you're watching a horror movie. Still, it's a solid enough movie. 3/5 13. Sukkubus A group of shepherds move their cattle into the mountains and soon find themselves being driven to lechery. The youngest of them finds a gnarled stump that looks a bit like a face, and soon enough, the three drunkenly build a woman doll out of the stump. The stump soon turns into a sexy stump witch and starts terrorizing the three lonely shepherds. I really liked the idea behind this movie. There's something creepy about willing something to life and having it immediately turn on you. The gore is unconvincing, and the ending is way too abrupt, but the stump witch is pretty fun, and I'm not gonna argue with watching a gorgeous Italian actress run around naked. 3.5/5 14. V/H/S 94 It's an anthology found footage movie. Everyone already knows what VHS is. I don't know why I keep watching these. This one has better stories than Viral, but it mostly does nothing with the "1994" motif. Guess I'll watch V/H/S 99 next because I hate myself. 2/5 15. In the Mouth of Madness An insurance claim investigator is tasked with tracking down a missing author, but soon finds out he may be becoming a part of the author's magnum opus. I enjoyed this one way more than I was expecting. Sam Neill and Jurgen Prochnow are both really good in their roles and seem to be having fun with it. The Lovecraftesque story really worked for me, and I loved all the creature effects. 4/5 16. The Resurrected A private investigator is hired to investigate a wealthy man who's been obsessively working in a dilapidated family home. It soon becomes apparent that the man is getting into some real wild poo poo and might have figured out how to resurrect the dead. This is based on the Lovecraft story The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, but unfortunately, In the Mouth of Madness turned out to be a much better Lovecraft adaptation, even though it wasn't one at all. There are some really messed up body horror scenes here, but the movie is so slow and the main actor is so uncharismatic that it feels like a chore to get to them. 2.5/5 17. To the Devil a Daughter A satanic priest, played by Christopher Lee attempts to use a young nun he's groomed since birth for a ritual to create an avatar of Astaroth, the duke of Hell. Unfortunately for him, a know-it-all occult novelist is aware of his plot and vows to prevent it from happening. I love Christopher Lee, and he's great in this one, and the story itself is pretty good. Unfortunately, the nun is played by a very young Nastassja Kinski, and it's pretty clear that the director is almost definitely a a weirdo sex pervert, because she ends up being super sexualized. It's pretty off-putting, but ignoring that, it's still a fun gross rear end devil movie. 3.5/5 18. Silver Bullet When the residents of a small town start showing up brutally murdered, a young kid soon figures out a werewolf is behind the killings. Enlisting the aid of his screw-up uncle, the boy has to take out the werewolf before it's too late. I liked this one way more than I assumed I would. I can't believe I'm saying this, but Gary Busey was really good. It was filmed pre-motorcycle crash, so he's not completely off the rails, but he's still a lot of fun. The werewolf effects were pretty good and the story is surprisingly light for a movie where a bunch of people get brutally murdered. 19. Spine Nurses are targeted by a serial killer who ties them up and cuts out their spine. This movie is shot on video and it's pretty clear that it was an excuse for the director to indulge in his fetish. Every victim is tied up in what look like bondage knots to me, and the camera lingers on the tied up women. The story is pretty pointless, and the big reveal is just kind of boring. SPOOKY BINGO: Paperbacks from hell: The Serpent and the Rainbow Masters of Horror: In the Mouth of Madness (John Carpenter) A Perfect Getaway: Tombs of the Blind Dead The Devil Made Me Do It: To the Devil a Daughter Yuppie Nightmare: Drag Me to Hell Picnic At Hanging Rock: Sukkubus Goodnight, Mommy: Deranged Dead and Buried: From a Whisper to a Scream (RIP Clu Gulager) Children of the Damned: The Snake Girl and the Silver Haired Witch Tales of Terror: V/H/S 94 Origin of Evil: Hard Rock Zombies (1985) V/H/S: Spine To Serve Man: The Resurrected (the resurrected corpses crave blood and meat and it's heavily implied that several of the murder victims have been consumed) Full Moon: Silver Bullet 
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Oct 18, 2022 05:22
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Darthemed posted:You seem to have a phantom 77. Thank you so much for the catch. It's been so crazy at work this weekend that I think at times the only reason I remembered my name is it's on my lanyard.
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Oct 18, 2022 05:26
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16. ABCs of Death (2012), PlutoTV At nearly 3 hours long, I knew I was in for a ride with this one. Unfortunately it has quite a few more misses than hits. I'm not going to go through every short, but the movie did put the absolute worst one ("Pressure", wherein a kitten gets stomped to death for some reason) right next to the absolute best one ("Quack" by Adam Wingard, which was hilarious and was an excellent palate-cleanser after the previous short which very nearly got me to turn the movie off). The first few shorts were pretty solid and got the movie off to a good start, meanwhile the last few all sucked and left me with a bad taste in my mouth at the end. All of the Japanese shorts universally sucked for some reason. It was nice seeing a Lee Hardcastle joint among the crowd, he never disappoints. Here's hoping the sequel is better overall; it's got a better rating on IMDb which is promising I guess. 1. 'Tales from the Crypt' (1972) 2. 'Trilogy of Terror' (1975) 3. 'Southbound' (2015) 4. 'The Vault of Horror' (1973) BONUS: 'Smile' (2022) 5. 'Creepshow' (1982) 6. 'The House That Dripped Blood' (1971) 7. 'All Hallow's Eve' (2013) BONUS: 'Deadstream' (2022) 8. 'Cat's Eye' (1985) 9. ' The Monster Club' (1981) 10. 'Body Bags' (1993) 11. 'The Field Guide to Evil' (2018) BONUS: 'Hellraiser' (2022) 12. 'The Dark Tapes' (2017) 13. 'Trick 'r Treat' (2007) 14. 'Deadtime Stories' (1986) BONUS: 'Halloween Ends' (2022) 15. 'Black Sabbath' (1963) 16. 'ABCs of Death' (2012)
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Oct 18, 2022 05:30
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Franchescanado posted:
 14.) Dead & Buried Gary Sherman | 1981 | Criterion Channel This was a really fun movie! It reminds me a lot of Hot Fuzz and Re-Animator. It kind of drags a bit in the middle, and you can pretty much guess the twists, but it does a great job of creating a spooky atmosphere. The special effects are pretty neat (watching a guy get acid pumped in his nose is a hoot) and the opening sequence does a great job of setting the stage for the film. It also has a banger performance from Jack “Grandpa Joe” Albertson. Highly recommended. Rating: ½ Got my first SPOOKY! Franchescanado posted:
 15.) Straight Outta Nowhere: Scooby-Doo! Meets Courage the Cowardly Dog Cecilia Aranovich | 2021 | HBO Max I didn’t really go into this expecting anything groundbreaking, and I still was underwhelmed. I was curious because I have some fond memories of watching Courage as a kid with my little brother, but Courage and Scooby-Doo don’t really gel together that well. I can’t explain why but things just felt off, maybe that has to do with the absence of creator John Dilworth. It’s not like I hated it or anything, there’s some nice joke and callbacks and even some solid songs (though I don’t think Eustace needed to rap). One other issue is that I wish Marty Grabstein had been allowed to talk as Courage instead of just babbling (though that started back in the series so it’s not really the movie’s fault). Overall, just kind of meh. (RIP Thea White) Rating: ½ Total: 15/13 New: 13 Rewatches: 2 My Letterboxd list (in progress) Bingo card:  Greekonomics fucked around with this message at 08:42 on Oct 18, 2022 |
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Oct 18, 2022 08:24
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 81) The Black Phone - 2021 - Peacock+ After the recent batch of crap I've sat through, I was in dire need of sitting through something potentially decent. Thank God this was good. Based off of Joe Hill's short story which it turns out I have, but haven't read yet, the plot follows Finney, a 13 year old who's kidnapped by a serial killer. His survival depends on the ghosts speaking to him through a disconnected phone in the basement he's locked in. Seriously, if Joe Hill didn't look so much like his Dad, his writing style would've given it away. There's enough of his Dad's distinct writing flair here. The setting is handled expertly, the actors did a great job, the ending satisfying. I highly recommend this one.  82) Bad Candy - 2020 - TubiTV This one's a horror anthology that so badly wants to be Trick r Treat '07 it hurts. The film's not bad, just tonally all over the place. It's at least 20 minutes in before we even get the title showing. The quasi-wraparound is a couple DJs telling scary stories on the air, but this one tends to keep things a bit fuzzy if these are real or just stories. Instead of Halloween Sam, we get the nowhere near as charismatic Bad Candy, a sort of demonic soul eating clown. The respective stories are near knockoffs of the ones in Trick r Treat for the most part with some that just don't really go anywhere. Without question, this film has a lot of Heart. The passion's there, but the execution's a bit fumbly. I loved the look of the batguy, and the end credits montage was kinda fun. With some extra tweaking and polish, this could've been really good. Instead, it's okay enough.
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Oct 18, 2022 08:40
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#26 - The Blue Hour A Thai coming-of-age gay romance focused on a bullied loner who hangs out with his lover at a haunted pool. This was very different from my other picks. It has a sincere and gentle arthouse vibe, focusing on loneliness, trauma and how to find solace through love. The supernatural aspect isn't even present till nearly an hour in and even then it is quite light. I think the movie is going for a twist near the end, but I assume it might've been culture-related as it wasn't really that clear. I'm still not really sure how I feel about the movie, it is slow and beautiful, but also feels out of place in the horror genre with such a strong focus on other things. I keep going back to The Devil's Backbone, which I also saw for the first time during this challenge, and it has similarities in how the supernatural aspect is just a small part of the drama which is happening, but I thought the story in TBD was far more engaging than this. Counted for "Thrilla in Manilla"I #27 - The Ranger  A group of punk kids hides in a national park only to get hunted by a murderous park ranger. Pretty standard affair, though I really disliked most of the punk kids. I get that the victims in a slasher should be bad people getting their comeuppance so you don't feel bad about cheering on the killer, but these guys were real assholes. My biggest peeve was how it was shot, everything had this very even, uninteresting lighting making it looks like a sitcom TV series and that really clashed with the tone. Still, the ranger was obviously having fun and the lead did a pretty good job. I recognized her from somewhere and now realize she played in The Transfiguration, a fantastic vampire flick I really enjoyed. Counted for "Punk Vacation" 
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Oct 18, 2022 08:46
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M_Sinistrari posted:Considering I've sat through all but the last ten Amityville Horror franchise, that's saying something. I think the most terrifying thing in this thread is that there's been ten Amityville movies since you did your complete watch of the series. Wasn't that like two years ago?
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Oct 18, 2022 09:34
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Jedit posted:I think the most terrifying thing in this thread is that there's been ten Amityville movies since you did your complete watch of the series. Wasn't that like two years ago? People just keep breaking the lease on the house, but in this market you can always get more renters.
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Oct 18, 2022 09:38
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17. Diary of a MadmanSpooky Bingo: Picnic At Hanging Rock The death of French magistrate Simon Cordier (Vincent Price) leads a group of people to gather at the reading of a diary he left in hopes of explaining what led to his demise. His story starts with his visit to a condemned murderer who swears he had no memory of or control over his actions, something the magistrate dismisses until, after the murderer's death, he too is haunted by a strange ghostly presence (voiced by Joseph Ruskin.) Simon tries to wave off these visions as a symptom of loneliness, and takes up his old hobby of sculpting, in the process meeting a beautiful model named Odette (Nancy Covack.) She's married to a struggling artist, but wants a better life for herself. Meanwhile the spirit- calling itself a Horla- reemerges, urging Simon to kill. I'd seen the trailer for this a few times, it's an interesting early-60s Price vehicle based on the stories of Guy de Maupassant, who I never realized wrote tales of disembodied horrors from another dimension. The film, showing so much from Simon's perspective, portrays the Horla as real, but there's also the distinct possibility that he is genuinely mad, haunted both by loneliness and his wife's suicide (something never explained in detail, but she apparently took their son with her)- it recedes when he's talking with Odette, only to emerge to sow distrust with his new relationship. I'm increasingly convinced that one of the reasons Price was such a dominant figure in horror is his vulnerability. When he plays innocent you believe him implicitly, and Simon Cordier is nothing if not a man seemingly innocent but driven to horrible deeds. He could, of course, play an excellent villain, but he always brings a note of sympathy, and he carries the film through some of its slower moments as it tries to maneuver all the melodramatic pieces into place. I also think Covack does a nice job, she's not just pretty but vivacious, flirty, and yeah, kinda deceptive. All in all it's a pretty solid film, notable for its elements of cosmic horror and the way it balances them with a more traditional morality play. 
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Oct 18, 2022 09:43
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Jedit posted:I think the most terrifying thing in this thread is that there's been ten Amityville movies since you did your complete watch of the series. Wasn't that like two years ago? Something like two or three years ago. But with how insanely cheap and quickie some of the films are, it could easily be 50+ in that amount of time.  83) The Last Matinee - 2020 - Shudder This was a delightful slasher throwback. Plot follows a slasher who feasts on eyeballs killing people attending a movie in a declining theater. For as long as I've had this on my watchlist, I regret not watching it sooner. I enjoyed this every bit of the way. A particularly nice touch is the movie being shown in the theater is an actual film, not a little something shot just for use in this film. Everything here meshes. From everyone's motive for being at the theater, to the editing. Once I would've been bothered by all the eye trauma in this one, but after waking up during cataract surgery Definitely a recommend from me.  84) Candy Corn - 2019 - TubiTV Storyline is the basic murdered misfit gets resurrected to get revenge on their killers. It's a common enough plot, plenty to work with to bring fresh ideas to the table. Unfortunately that's not what happened here. This was just a mediocre across the board entry. While the cinematography did sell me on the Midwest in autumn, it really didn't sell me that it was set on Halloween aside from some set dressing and mentions It had potential, but just dropped the ball.
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Oct 18, 2022 12:12
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25: Carry On Screaming (1966) Picnic at Hanging Rock It's a period piece, though the movie's about as old to us as its 1900s setting was to them Women are being kidnapped by monsters and a detective is on the case. Parody of Hammer and Universal monsters. I haven't seen a Carry On film since I was a kid. I don't hear people talk about them much any more and wasn't sure if they'd aged horribly. This one at any rate has just aged blandly. I expected it to be a lot more bawdy and innuendo filled. A few jokes worked for me, I like wordplay gags (character picks up severed ear: "this ear?" "that there" etc). One of the main jokes is "I hate my wife", which I guess audiences identified with back then. Production values are better than I expected, with nice sets and costumes. I can't even remember the plot, it didn't seem important. I didn't hate it but can't really recommend it either. Total: 25 Scream 4; Scream 5; Burke & Hare; Pet Semetary (1989); Lake Mungo; Season of the Witch; Childsplay 3; Boris Karloff: the Man Behind the Monster; Piranha (2010); Dead and Buried; Black Sabbath; The Curse of the Cat People; The Company of Wolves; Halloween Specials; The Cremator; Hack-O-Lantern; Goosebumps; Strip Nude for your Killer; Vampire in Brooklyn; Mad God; Alligator; The Wizard of Gore; The Host; Peeping Tom; Carry on Screaming 
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Oct 18, 2022 12:17
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Xenomrph posted:16. ABCs of Death (2012), PlutoTV The sequel is a huge step up in overall quality, imo. With 26 shorts there are definitely still some stinkers but it’s definitely worth checking out if the format appeals at all and you want to see it done better.
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Oct 18, 2022 12:57
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And now, a break from the film marathon for some shorts: Short Cuts -Watch 60 minutes of short films. Write a review for each one. (Please write them in a single post, and try to provide links where possible.)  In Between - 14:06 - a scientist tries to extricate himself from a space inbetween worlds following a particle accelerator accident https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUv6AGNl4-0&ab_channel=CosmicFilms This is a pretty minimalist one - one actor with dialogue, one location, hints of something not right around the edges (again, a bad year for cats in horror films). The actor is pretty good, if a little over the top, although I think it's intended - he's been driven mad by the accident. His fate and much of what's going on seems ambiguous, especially in regard to how it ends.  Sound from the Deep - 28:52 - a research vessel searching for new oil and gas deposits in the rapidly melting Arctic ice investigates a strange noise emanating from the deep. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti231UvSvfQ&ab_channel=SoundfromtheDeepProject This was probably my favorite of the shorts, a very nicely done production with some good acting and great special effects. This is basically At the Mountains of Madness updated for the modern day. I like the implication that global warming is not only going to screw up the climate, it's going to release things which should have stayed long buried. Has a nice sense of building dread, and the end does not disappoint.  Exit - 20:19 - three Russian construction workers encounter a strange spatial anomaly in an unfinished building. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mh60Z8KC1Tw&ab_channel=ALTER This is another one that is kind of ambiguous - the three workers are related, and their personality traits (grounded; loyal to family; driven to greed) are each their undoing as one by one they are drawn into the dark space in the building. Not much actually happens, nor do we learn their ultimate fates; it's just meant to be unknowable and spooky. 
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Oct 18, 2022 13:23
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16. Halloween Ends 2022 | dir. David Gordon Green Peacock I'm gonna keep this spoiler free.  An audacious entry that solidifies Halloween as one of the most bizarre horror franchises. I can't imagine the mainstream audience embracing this film. I know long-time Halloween fans will gripe about it's plot for years, if not outright dismiss it. Slasher fans aren't gonna be into this one, very much. David Gordon Green made a Halloween film just for me. I'm flattered, really. The intro rules. The ensuing plot is bonkers.* The last 40 minutes are crazy. I audibly gasped multiple times. I said "They can't actually be doing this," and laughed, and just kept repeating that as the tension mounted. It was actually making me cringe with anxiety because it was unpredictable. And you know what? This movie made me happy for Laurie. This is the Laurie I've wanted to see, apparently. (Fans of H20 Laurie will have a lot to love here.) Sad, but accepting, healing, and still strong and brave as gently caress. She can love again and she can connect with people again. This is a side of Haddonfield I've wanted to see for years. There's a dark unrest inside everyone from decades of pain and fear. Healing is slow and painful, and people are quick to try and destroy the ones trying to move on. *Who would have thought that Halloween Ends would be a heteronormative retelling of A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge? NOT ME. As a Laurie story, I liked it. As a Michael story, I'm fine with it. Michael as an influencing evil force is interesting. It's not the Michael people expect or want. As a Cory story, I liked it. Allyson, however, kinda gets the short end of the stick, acting as a foil for everyone else. She's great, though. I love Allyson. It feels like an 80's or 90's paperback horror novel that got tied into a franchise, and I'm here for it. I liked it, but I'd be an idiot to recommend it to someone. Maybe in a few years people will come around on this one and will see it for the trees instead of the forest. People would like it more if it were called Haddonfield and weren't so tied to wrapping up Laurie's story, or tied to the identity of a "trilogy". What a wild flick. edit: Twin Peaks The Return: Halloween edition. Yeah, I said it. Re-Watches: An American Werewolf In London | City of the Living Dead | Scream 3 | Hocus Pocus New To Me: Practical Magic | Pacific Heights | The Lift | The Others | The Keep | Sleeping With The Enemy | Cat People | The Phantom of the Opera (1925) | Warlock | Targets | White Zombie | Halloween Ends Total: 16 
Franchescanado fucked around with this message at 13:49 on Oct 18, 2022 |
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Oct 18, 2022 13:35
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Franchescanado posted:
 #24. Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (Paramount+) In order to avoid being eaten by a modern day witch, a young boy narrates three spooky tales. Had not a great night due to work bullshit last night, so needed something light and peppy to throw on super late. I'd heard this referred to as "the officially unofficial Creepshow 3" and thought that that tone might work, so I threw it on. I know George A. Romero helped produce this, and I believe wrote the screenplay for one of the segments (based on a Stephen King short story, so keeping with the Creepshow vibe), but without him behind the camera I don't think it's possible to get the correct EC Comics tone. The best segment - the Romero one, "Cat From Hell" - comes closest to matching that general feeling, and also includes the best camera work and general stylization, but it still lacks those dynamic lighting screens and garish colors that replicate the detail-less EC Comics reaction panels that populated the original Creepshow film. And without those kinds of stylistic touches, I also have to wonder: what's the point? Breaking down the three short films, you end up looking at this:
At the end of the day, this is fine, but not terribly interesting overall. It feels a lot more like Creepshow 2 than Creepshow 1, mainly because without the stylization, the whole thing feels kinda cheap and more padded than it should be. I don't know how much of that is also due to losing Romero behind the camera, but I have to assume that didn't help matters any either. In the end this gets a tepid recommendation, mainly for the first two stories here, but the last third really drags it down. /5 Watched so far: The Empty Man, Hocus Pocus 2, Smile (2022), It Came From Outer Space, Watcher, The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb, Bats, Choose or Die, The Curse of the Werewolf, "Werewolf By Night"/various Halloween episodes, The Thing From Another World, Hellraiser (2022), Knife + Heart, A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 5, The Innocents (1961), The Bone Snatcher, The Blob (1958), Friday the 13th (2009), We're Going to Eat You, various shorts, Waxwork, Halloween Ends, The Revenge of Frankenstein, Tales from the Darkside: The Movie Class3KillStorm fucked around with this message at 16:00 on Oct 18, 2022 |
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Oct 18, 2022 14:38
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40. Dark Circles Chalk me up as another one who's completely blindbox luck-of-the-draw on their After Dark selection, and I don't think I got stung quite as bad as others who did the same thing. A couple and their newborn move from the city out into the sticks, where some Home Invasion Stuff happens. Or does it? It's pretty generic and leans on jumpscares faaaaar too hard, but there's also some really good tension and if you get antsy about babies in danger, it'll get under your skin. Plus newborn care sleep deprivation and burnout is a really good diegetic way to justify the "are they hallucinating" trope and video baby monitor is a deep well that it just loves going to for spooks. It does commit the cardinal sin of "we've saved all the actual plot for the final scene which we're just going to explain to you", though. 3 out of 5! 40/31, watched: Scary Movie, Final Destination 4, Happy Death Day, Final Destination, No One Gets Out Alive, Smile, Freaky, Body Bags, Alien Psychosis, The Invisible Man, The Last Exorcism, Final Destination 2, Werewolves of the Third Reich, Unfriended, Final Destination 3, Hellraiser (2022), Deadstream, Final Destination 5, Village of the Damned, Piranha 3D, The Awakening, The Ruins, Sissy, Happy Death Day 2 U, Crush The Skull, Hell Fest, Diary of the Dead, Trick 'r Treat, Swimfan, Slumber Party Massacre (1982), The Ranger, Evil Dead (2013), Halloween Ends, Ouija: Origin of Evil, Parents, Duel, Tiny Cinema, Shutter, Evil Dead (2013 Extended Version), Dark Circles 
Gyro Zeppeli fucked around with this message at 14:58 on Oct 18, 2022 |
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Oct 18, 2022 14:53
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Franchescanado posted:
 85) Fried Barry - 2020 - Shudder I have no idea what the hell I just watched. Best I figure is a drug addict gets abducted by aliens and one possesses his body to walk among us. This didn't feel like a standard movie, but more a collection of stream of consciousness ideas. From what I gather this is a you love it or hate it film, though in my case it was just so weird that I'm just confused. If it sounds like it might be up your alley, definitely give it a watch.   86) Fingers - 2019 - Shudder In this one, a woman repulsed by physical imperfection pretty much loses it when a co-worker is missing a finger. The film's listed as a horror-black comedy, but it just wasn't quite working for me but I was still willing to keep going. But once it hit the dog death/mutilation and it completely lost me. While this one might be just the thing for some, it definitely wasn't for me and it does make me iffy about watching anything else the director does at this point.
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Oct 18, 2022 15:06
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#22: The Child (1977)Origin of Evil A young woman becomes a live-in nanny for a little girl whose best friends all live in the cemetery. This one hit the sweet spot for me. The performances are all a little amateurish, the music drops in and out unexpectedly, most of the dialogue is ADR, and you can tell certain makeup appliances were used more than once. It adds up to one off-kilter viewing experience that nevertheless adds to the vibe rather than detracts from it. It's very much a "sinister kid" movie, but with the added wrinkle of a horde of zombies doing the kid's dirty work. My only complaint is that when the movie switches gears in the third act it loses a lot of its ramshackle charm and becomes something closer to your standard zombie movie. It's so much better in the first hour with its gloomy settings, overacting evil little girl, and fog machine cranked to 11. It's on Shudder, and I highly recommend it for fans of zero-budget drive-in nonsense. .5 out of 5#23: Coven (1997) Dead and BuriedAn alcoholic writer finds his new support group is a little too clingy. RIP Mike Schank. I've been a huge fan of American Movie since it was released, but somehow I never sat down to watch Coven all the way through. I think I didn't want to ruin the idea that Mark Borchardt had any talent at all as a filmmaker, but turns out I didn't need to worry. There are a lot of very effective shots that make it clear Borchardt definitely had an eye for black-and-white cinematography. He just needed to find someone to write a script for him. Borchardt plays a man who struggles with substance abuse, to the point where he spends a lot of time talking to his pills. He reluctantly joins a support group that is actually a cult of some type, and they don't want him to quit. The idea isn't fleshed out very well and Borchardt's dialogue tends to fall into a pattern: "Get the gently caress away from me, man! I don't want your help, man! loving leave me alone, man!" etc. out of 51. Dracula (Spanish)(1931) 2. Trick r Treat (2007) 3. Ghost Ship (2002) H20 4. The Devil Within Her (1975) Goodnight, Mommy 5. Ghost Story (1981) Paperbacks From Hell 6. Nomads (1986) Punk Vacation 7. Mad Doctor of Blood Island (1969) Thrilla in Manila 8. Skeleton Man (2004) Osteology 9. Muppets Haunted Mansion/Simpsons Treehouse of Horror XXXI Halloween is Special 10. Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf (1985) 11. Werewolf of London (1935) 12. Cat People (1942) Golden Years 13. Mortuary (1983) 14. Unmasked Part 25 (1988) Zombie Honeymoon 15. The Alien Factor (1978) Spaced Invaders 16. Deadstream (2022) Glitches 17. Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989) Whispers in the Dark 18. Fury of the Wolfman (1975) Full Moon 19. Night of the Howling Beast (1975) To Serve Man 20. Elvira’s Haunted Hills (2001) Scream, Queen! 21. The Mummy’s Ghost (1944) 22. The Child (1977) Origin of Evil 23. Coven (1997) Dead and Buried 
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Oct 18, 2022 15:30
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 18. Hellraiser (2022) I had a lot of fun watching this. The visuals are a lot of fun, with Cenobite designs that I think are better than the originals for the most part (hard to think of something topping the original Pinhead since it's so iconic, but Jamie Clayton looks incredible), and a couple of cool set pieces outside of that. The scene where Leviathan descends from the heavens was a particular standout for me, the sense of grandeur and enormity really impressed me. The plot is passable, I don't love the idea of the puzzle box as portrayed in this movie, but it works fine when I'm not trying to compare it to the original Hellraiser. If I am to compare it to the original Hellraiser, the thing I really miss is the arch, almost soap opera-like acting and story. Everything in the new one is played just a little bit too straight for me, I'd like more absurdity, but that's a fine line to walk without Pinhead becoming a Jigsaw-type so I can see why they erred on this side. 3/5
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Oct 18, 2022 15:46
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 Whispers in the Dark 1. Alien - Director's Cut! I've seen Alien twice and it's one of my favorites, but I'd never seen the Director's Cut before. Somehow it's... shorter than the original cut? Huh? It also adds some weird scenes, mixes with the pacing, and while I enjoyed it, I'd honestly call it inferior to the original cut. Why? Well, while the original film is a long, tense atmospheric affair - almost boring in some places - this one actively managed to screw up the pacing in the finale so bad I was bored waiting for her to run back and forth to the self-destruct zone! The way they moved some cuts around, swapped in others, and added something genuinely super creepy (that was worthwhile) - I felt like the script got confused in a bad way. Which is a bummer, because the movie otherwise is itself and a delight to watch. Fantastic practical effects, great ship models, great...everything! - The chestburster scene was so much worse than I remembered. Just a pitch-perfect piece of body horror, and knowing it's coming makes everything about the facehugger so much worse. - The bit at the end where Ripley's in her undies? I never knew that that was literally edited to remove her bush hair and LMAO now that I know that it looks so much sillier. Please let her wear underwear that fits and covers her entire butt please... please.... - It is so weird looking at the list of changes and realizing they snipped more dialogue than I realized, such as Ripley's line "I don't trust anyone". Wild. Why would you do this, director? And finally: the added scene where Ripley finds a horrific nest under the ship and torches it? That was awesome! ... yet it felt like it came from another movie entirely. I'm actually happy it was removed in the original cut. It's more Aliens than Alien, which just... it works on its own. It doesn't need more gore, it just needs the perfect atmosphere and horror of something Bad hunting the crew in the void of space. Overall, a great intro for horror movies this season. I've been late getting to watching this month thanks to IRL health stuff, but I refuse to miss out on watching spooky stuff. Refuse! e: Bonus link to all the changes made in the 'cut! Also a link to the cut horror scene, in case you want to see it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuTk4Qc7JGI StrixNebulosa fucked around with this message at 15:53 on Oct 18, 2022 |
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Oct 18, 2022 15:51
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 Paperbacks From Hell  2. The Beast with Five Fingers! Based on a short story by WF Harvey. Also qualifies as an old movie as it dropped in 1946, but I want to watch a different old movie for that square. So, The Beast with Five Fingers! A fascinating, eerie mood piece: it's horror/mystery, about an old one-handed man who plays piano in his mansion, with his live-in maid, a composer who converts music for one-handed play, and a fellow who lives in and reads books about the stars. He's found dead! His will is to be read, so his relatives come from England, and everyone gets to hang out as the cop investigates how he died. Then... another person dies - strangled! By a hand that crawls around on its fingers! And when they check, the old man's hand has been cut off! Gasp! I shan't spoil it, but I rather enjoyed the mystery, in how they dealt with the hand, the deeply gloomy atmosphere, the cop poking his nose in everywhere, and of course - the squabbling over the will, and who gets the old man's fortune. I won't call it a great film, though. Just a good one. I loved the effects, so have a few screenshots to see you on your way:  
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Oct 18, 2022 17:22
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9. The Descent **** One that I'd always meant to get around to, but kept getting pushed back on the watchlist for no real reason. Glad it finally caught up to me, as I was particularly impressed with the technical side of things - I really got the feeling they were all trapped with a camera crew in a real cave set. I'm sure watching any kind of behind the scenes footage would instantly ruin the movie magic, but the cinematography really made this and turned it from what would've been a fairly run of the mill horror into something more memorable. Not sure how I feel about the end (I watched the original, European version but read up on the American cut) but mainly because another high profile movie has done something similar in recent years, so it's not the fault of The Descent that it feels a bit 'done' to me. 10. Sinister ***½ Always assumed this one fell into the realm of Conjuring style horror that bores me, so was relieved it wasn't just a jump fright laden stereotype. My girlfriend had seen this one before so it was fun to hear her 'ooh' at little bits and pieces she picked up on during the rewatch while I'm just seeing what appears to be a mundane scene of breakfast preparation. I always enjoy movies where you're tasked with putting bits and pieces together, sending you down wrong directions then everything just clicking just before the reveal. Definitely better than expected, and had a satisfying conclusion to top it off. 11. Halloween **** Rewatch I'm glad this held up as well on rewatch for me, when I watched it on release I felt it did everything right for a reboot - the use of, we shall say 'temporary,' characters who only exist to bring new watchers up to speed is effective and the feel of the 78 movie when Michael returns to Haddonfield is spot on. Ignoring the original Halloween II isn't really any issue for me, despite quite enjoying it, and I liked the family dynamic and the toils it's taken on Laurie over the years. Strong ending, good kills, exactly what I was hoping for when it was announced, and just as strong the second time around. 12. Halloween Kills ***½ Rewatch The middle movie for me does exactly what I hoped for when a filmmaker knows he's essentially safe to essentially just make a filler movie because there's almost a guarantee of a finale. Nothing of any massive consequence really happens (until the very end, anyway) and instead gives me what I've wanted from a Halloween film for years - a town that's reeling from the past events, a motif that has barely been touched on. The mob mentality, including the awful 'Lets Go Brandon'-esque catchphrases, feels genuine and when you bash your head against the wall because everyone feels so drat stupid, well... that's sadly realistic too. I loved seeing the doctor/nurse characters leave the house in the first movie on that rewatch, the little details making it feel like there's a cohesive vision planned with the interconnection feeling like the original Halloween/HII movies, continuing straight on from where we left things. Bringing back characters from the original era was just a great idea that lets a side story play out nicely. It's just a blast of kills, traditional Halloween sequel hospital action, and yelling at the screen infuriation. 13. Halloween Ends *** Hmph. The thing that bothers me most is every issue I have with the latest entry could have been resolved with better writing, as there's nothing that's irredeemable going on. Relationships that don't make sense could've been written into the time jump rather than literally being a 1 day whirlwind. Elements of Michael's character that are present could've been shown to a degree in the last two movies (and according to a review of a test screening, in fact were but were removed). Half of me just wishes the overall story they run with for the most part was just written for a non-Halloween film, as I genuinely liked the central idea... I'm just not sure it fit into the Halloween mold for this timeline. The beginning itself was fantastic, and really set me up for a world of possibilities, but I can honestly say what we got is not what I expected. Where the first two films felt like a single entity, a lot of this just comes from left field and it makes me wonder if the extra time between production due to Covid made them rethink the direction they were going in, and thus we ended up with something that feels so disjointed.
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Oct 18, 2022 17:50
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 87) Where the Scary Things are - 2022 - Paramount+ With a plotline of a group of kids find a creature they film for viral videos, and a comment blurb of 'Like The Goonies and Stand by Me', despite never having seen The Goonies, I was willing to give this a go. Yeah...no. About the only similarity is there's a group of kids. The kids here are unlikable. They're recording and blackmailing other kids and teachers along with filming the creature's kills all for internet clout. As I've said before, I understand with the younger set having essentially grown up online they have a different relationship with the Internet compared to an old fart like me. The kids here are highly motivated by likes and views and that aspect is just unrelateable to me. Parts of this film are not bad, the setting, the look of the creature, and the premise. But the rest, just falls apart. Seeing this concept revisited by someone else with more skill and focus would definitely be interesting. Otherwise, just skip this.  88) Slices of Life 2010 - TubiTV I was iffy about sitting through this one because the poster art was giving me that gut instinct that this was going to be poorly done mess that I can barely make it through because better movies are waiting for me. I really need to listen to that gut instinct more. This one's an anthology. An amnesiac woman wakes at a seedy motel and searches for clues to her identity in three sketchbooks she finds. While there is promise in the premise, it's definitely not there in the execution. Now, I've sat through plenty of microbudget films that were fine, sat through tons of films with amateur directors and/or actors that were fine, and sat through way too many films with bumbly scripts that were fine enough, but here it was just a mess where they were hoping slathering enough blood around would cut it. Narrator: No, it doesn't. This was just a waste of time that's better spent watching other movies.
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Oct 18, 2022 18:17
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What's the legality of switching spaces for a movie in bingo? I just realized the movie Spine was a much smarter choice for Osteology than for V/H/S and I have a bunch of SOV videos I can watch for that instead.
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Oct 18, 2022 18:30
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 21) Watcher (2022) Challenge: Femme FataleThis one scared the hell out of me. There’s a natural vulnerability in Julia’s situation as a young American who’s moved to a country where she doesn’t speak the language. Her husband works long hours, but since she doesn’t have a career of her own, his job has to be a priority over her growing sense of unease. There’s a sense of slow-burn horror from Julia’s encounters with her peeping tom neighbor, but the thing that really got to me was how so many people, including her husband, assume that Julia is overreacting and make light of the situation. She’s treated as this sad, lonely woman who’s working herself up over nothing, even when it turns out that the man who followed her in the supermarket is the same neighbor who keeps staring into her window. It’s infuriating. And then every new intrusion feels worse because you know that she can’t rely on anyone. There’s this brilliant moment at the end where the stalker cuts Julia’s neck in a way that silences her screams, literally taking her voice after everyone’s ignored it for all this time. Then her husband is there, just steps away while she’s paying the price for his lack of faith in her. The story is paced really well, and it’s helped along by some solid performances and a great overall look.  22) The Deep House (2021) Challenge: H20The underwater haunted house idea is fantastic, but the movie doesn’t make the most of its premise. For one thing, Ben is a completely insufferable character, and I can’t understand why Tina would sign on for a dangerous dive with someone who’s so lovely to her when they’re filming. The spooky house stuff works okay, but the haunted bits feel pretty thin, partly because the action scenes are shaky and annoying to watch. I’d have enjoyed this more if the characters had been more interesting or If the script had made more of a mystery out of the place. Shooting underwater was impressive, but it feels like this movie was more into its gimmick than in giving us a good story.  1. The Wind (1986) | 2. Sole Survivor (1984) | 3. Blair Witch (2016) | 4. Horror in the High Desert (2021) | 5. The Lurking Fear (1994) | 6. The Chill Factor (1993) | 7. From Within (2008) After Dark | 8. Scalpel (1977) Origin of Evil | 9. Savageland (2015) V/H/S | 10. Dumplings (2004) To Serve Man | 11. Don’t Let Her In (2021) Full Moon | 12. The Spell (1977) TerrorVision | 13. Tremors (1990) | 14. City of the Living Dead (1980) | 15. Smile (2022) Goodnight, Mommy | 16. Hellraiser (2022) They Always Come Back | 17. Halloween Kills (2021) | 18. Deadline (1980) Paperbacks From Hell | 19. Halloween Ends (2022) Zombie Honeymoon | 20. Hell High (1989)
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Oct 18, 2022 18:50
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Biff Rockgroin posted:What's the legality of switching spaces for a movie in bingo? You can only go forward, never back.
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Oct 18, 2022 18:58
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Gripweed posted:You can only go forward, never back. Correct. I'd have used Halloween Ends for They Always Come Back, but I went with Warlock instead since it has two sequels. We live, we learn, we watch different movies.
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Oct 18, 2022 18:58
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Franchescanado posted:Correct. Speaking of, do we get to know if there are more challenges or is "lol deal with it" part of the fun too? No real preference from me either way. I'm just right at the tipping point of deciding if I want to completely fill the bingo card vs. just watching for fun so I thought I'd ask quick.
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Oct 18, 2022 19:05
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Xiahou Dun posted:Speaking of, do we get to know if there are more challenges or is "lol deal with it" part of the fun too? There are no other film-related challenges besides Bingo.
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Oct 18, 2022 19:09
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Biff Rockgroin posted:What's the legality of switching spaces for a movie in bingo? Watch Bones (2001) and then you can go “Ah man I should’ve picked that for Horror Noire”
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Oct 18, 2022 19:20
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28. V/H/S/2 (2013) Directed by Eduardo Sánchez, Gregg Hale, Simon Barrett, Adam Wingard, Jason Eisener, Gareth Evans, Timo Tjahjanto 🎃 Tales of Terror 🎃  "Tape 49" A private investigator takes on a new assignment and regrets his decision. It's a bit of a retread of the wraparound from V/H/S but you have to get the people in the spooky house to watch the spooky tapes. 👻👻/5 "Phase I Clinical Trials" A guy gets a cyborg eye and regrets his decision. The premise is interesting, but this short really glosses over the implications of being haunted but being completely unaware of it. 👻👻.5/5 "A Ride in the Park" A mountain bike dude goes for a ride on a lovely day and regrets his decision. It's a zombie short, but they pack a lot into its runtime. 👻👻👻/5 "Safe Haven" A documentary crew visits a cult compound and regrets their decision. This is my favorite of the bunch, mostly because it's nice to finally see one of these doomsday cults actually pull it off. 👻👻👻/5 "Slumber Party Alien Abduction" A dog is decides not to run away from his idiot family and regrets his decision. This one gave me a headache and the dog deserved better. 👻/5 October Challenge 6/? 1. Blood Feast (1963), 2. Sunshine (2007), 3. Relic (2020), 4. Mortuary (2005), 5. A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), 6. Perfect Blue (1997) Spooky Bingo 22/36 1. Rodan (1956), 2. Carrie (2013), 3. Gargoyles (1972), 4. Ticks (1993), 5. Penda’s Fen (1974), 6. Crimson Peak (2015), 7. A Field in England (2013), 8. The Ghost of Yotsuya (1959), 9. Carnival of Sinners (1943), 10. Hatchet for the Honeymoon (1970), 11. The Purge (2013), 12. Halloween with the Addams Family (1977), 13. Life After Beth (2014), 14. Puppet Master (1989), 15. Ice Cream Man (1995), 16. Horror Movie: A Low Budget Nightmare (2017), 17. The Slumber Party Massacre (1982), 18. The Man in the Orange Jacket (2014), 19. The Church (1989), 20. Skeleton Crew (2009), 21. The Ranger (2018), 22. V/H/S/2 (2013)  Total 28/31
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Oct 18, 2022 19:20
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18. Alison’s Birthday (1981) - 3/5 A bit frustrating, because I realized partway through that this had a similar premise to a H.P. Lovecraft story, so for a lot of the time I was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. I don’t think it’s a coincidence— they even namedrop the Great Old Ones— so is this really folk horror, mini-Stonehenge or no? The second half even plays out like a Call of Cthulhu session: investigation around town for information about the threat, scuffles with cultists, leading to a ritual summoning that must be stopped. It doesn’t really matter, it was just something to think about as things unfolded. But apparently according to the internet. cosmic horror and folk horror are two different things?
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Oct 18, 2022 19:20
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Franchescanado posted:There are no other film-related challenges besides Bingo. Thank you. Good to know. Also, delightfully cagey and specific phrasing.
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Oct 18, 2022 19:23
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Franchescanado posted:
 33 (43). Bad Candy (2020) Written and directed by Scott B. Hansen and Desiree Connell Watched on Amazon Prime Picked this one at random because it had that Halloween vibe. It was ok. It looks good. Its stories are fine although a day+ later I kind of don’t have much memory of them. That’s probably the issue. Nothing stood out. Its kind of obviously trying to be a second Trick ‘r Treat complete with a demony dude who is just kind of hanging around for no discernible reason. I guess everyone’s being a dick and he’s overseeing them getting punished? Like its vaguely that same deal but it feels a little unfocused. Nothing struck me as bad and I never really lost interest but there was a point where I came to the realization that there wasn’t some bigger design that would link everything together in the wraparound or anything and that we were just running through ok little stories. The “bunnies” one felt like maybe it was gonna be the linking one and it was probably my favorite if mostly for Derek Russo being kind of fun. Its the silliest one but probably the most fun? But then it ends and there’s more and its just… ok. Its not an unfun little anthology. It just doesn’t have that thing that makes it memorable or one cohesive piece. Trim a couple of the stories out, unify that wrap around idea around the bunnies or something. I dunno. There’s obviously a limited budget here but for the most part they do a great job with it. The movie really does have a great look, like they just filmed it in the most enthusiastic Halloween decorating town in America. Most of the cast does a good job. Costumes all look ok. Effects aren’t great but they’re minimal and the whole thing is goofy enough that you kind of just go with it. No need to get mad that the cgi looks goofy in a kind of goofy Halloween movie. Its got some edge and had some less than family friendly themes but never felt like it went too far or anything for me. I dunno. It was fine. Just… I’ve already kind of forgotten most of it.   - (44). Halloween Kills (2021) Written and directed by David Gordon Green; Written by Scott Teems and Danny McBride; Based on Characters by John Carpenter and Debra Hill Watched on HBOMax So my big thing was “how is this gonna hold up?” I loved it last year but so many people hated it. Like really hated it. That didn’t super phase me. I think there’s a real disconnect with slasher fans and the Halloween franchise. It feels like so many people are going to see slashers for the “fun kills” and “root for the shark” and that was never really what Halloween was. Halloween’s always had a focus on characters, victims, and story and Michael is the force of nature that they have to survive. There’s brutal kills and Michael plays with his food but that was never the point. The point was always Laurie and Loomis and Jamie. So that’s why I like Halloween and don’t like most slashers that are about kill counts and gore. They’re just different things. Still, I couldn’t deny that part fo why I loved Halloween Kills was how much I love Halloween. So how would it play on a second viewing when its just a film and not the new Halloween? I guess my answer is I don’t love it, but I still really like it. This probably does go more to the “fun kill” or “bad rear end action” department than a lot of Halloween movies. Whether its the fight with the firemen or the vigilantes all dying in darkly comical ways. That stuff definitely felt a little outside the lane of Carpenter’s blueprint and a little more towards what slashers have become since. But I think the core of the film is not only still character, but in an idea that was played with the Thorn Trilogy but really focused on here. Hadonfield as a victim. And I always loved that idea because it speaks to the nature of evil and trauma. Laurie is a victim obviously. But so many people are affected and warped by it. From Laurie’s family who has to deal with the trauma she’s working through, to Tommy and the other victims who crossed paths with Michael all those years ago and still feel it, to just the entire town wrestling with the idea of such senseless violence and tragedy. And that’s of course a universal idea. All you gotta do is turn on the local news to see it. There’s insane and mindless violence everywhere and it takes a toll on us. And that’s the core of the movie’s whole theme of “Evil Dies Tonight.” And the movie’s answer is “nope.” You can’t kill evil. Not with the death penalty or a good guy with a gun or drone strikes or an angry mob. Evil exists. You can’t just out rage and murder it. When people give in to it they just become obsessed and blind and hurt themselves like Laurie does or they get others hurt like Tommy’s mob and the random patient. Its blind anger and trauma and all it does is create more trauma. Truthfully some of the dialogue and writing on this is clumsy and on the nose. But it does feel at least partially deliberate. A lot of people make declarative statements like they’re in an action film and its awkward. But its because they think they’re in an action film. Its them all getting swept up into this madness. And its a bit much sometimes but I love the overall theme and execution. So yeah, I do think its a bit clumsy at times. And I think the film probably wanders a bit outside the Halloween lane and into other slasher lanes and then back into Halloween themes and nostalgia. And that probably left a lot fo people unsatisfied or annoyed that it wasn’t more of one or too much of the other. But it still really works for me. I like that Laurie spends most of the film recovering because it speaks to the fact that she was obsessed and Michael was always just randomly targeting her. And that speaks to the original idea and extended theme here that bad poo poo happens. There’s no rhyme or reason. There’s no secret explanation or conspiracy. poo poo just sucks sometimes. Evil just happens. And you can survive it and recover from it or you can wallow in it and all hell breaks loose.
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Oct 18, 2022 19:23
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