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 2) Evil Dead Rise - 2023 - Theater I liked this more than I thought I would. I'd seen the trailer and was 'okay'. It didn't put me off, but it didn't have me in 'neeeed to see' mode. Still, I did plan to see it if time allowed. I'd heard mixed from those who'd seen it, mostly going over 'oh MY GOD the cheese grater scene!!!'. As the stars aligned, I headed in to see it with my popcorn, diet soda, and eager looks from concessions ready to hear my opinions on it when I got out. For the first showing on a weekday, the auditorium was pretty packed. First thought was how refreshing a short run time is for a horror film since this one hits the ground running from the start. No moment is wasted, and it all goes to giving you enough to know about the characters, and actions all lead to something. Plot follows the uncovery of a Book of the Dead and the resulting shenannigans from reading/playing a reading aloud from the book. While, yeah, that's pretty much the plot for every Evil Dead film, this one still keeps the trend of bringing up some new elements into things. The Book of the Dead here is different from the Raimi one and the one in the 2013 film, leading to a popular theory that all three were the books from the test Ash botched in Army of Darkness. I think there might be something to that, but I'm still not fully sold on it. Each book did invoke a particular powerful deadite, such as the Raimi brought The Faceless One who made Ash's hair start to grey, the 2013 one brought the Taker of Souls/Abomination and Rise's brings the Marauder. I'm kinda looking forward to if they do a movie with all three books. The call backs in this one were nicely handled. Just enough to put a smile on the face for those who caught them, but not overdone to where it's a hair away from having sparklers and a brass band drawing attention to them like some other films do. The acting was solid in this one. The kids were the right amount of obnoxious that it wasn't a gut punch when things happened, but you weren't really surprised when things did happen. If I have a negative to say about this film, it's the cheese grater scene. For as much as people went on about it, I sat there thinking 'that's it?'. I've barked my hand worse on a cheese grater doing bulk mozzarella. I did worry for the cat, but nothing happened to it and I got the sense the cat booked it out of there asap with all the deadite commotion. The blood elevator scene was nicely done, and hopefully it'll replace some of the usual gif posts of The Shining's elevator. All in all, this is a definite recommend from me. If you've already seen one Evil Dead film, you're good to go on this one. gey muckle mowser posted:
Book of the Dead + Kids = The Inevitable gey muckle mowser posted:
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May 6, 2023 00:55
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Blue Sunshine - 1977 Synopsis A bad batch of acid turns unsuspecting boomers into murderous zombies years later. Review I really wanted to like this more than I did. On paper, it ticks a lot of boxes for me - sci-fi, body horror, psychedelics, camp, cult status. And it has some really good and memorabe scenes (notably the first murder sequence that occurs). Unfortunately, in between those moments, it's just so bland. There was a lot of space to play up the paranoia of the situation, but it just kinda fell flat for me. It's also a bit striking to me that for a movie with this kind of setup and bursts of outrageousness, I really can't remember any good bits of dialog. I think that I would've liked it more if they either leaned more into the tension, or just went head-first into the gonzo cheesiness.  Completes the challange - High Horror Rating:  .5 / 5Movies Completed - 2/13 Challenges Completed - 1 1. High Horror - Blue Sunshine (1977)
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May 6, 2023 01:01
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Chris James 2 posted:Columbine's the reason for a lot of things about 3 Man I wish we got that movie
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May 6, 2023 01:45
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#1 The Evil Dead (1981), rewatch And we're off! I saw these movies for the first time in like 2014, and found that I liked the original much better than the others - preferred the meanness, I guess. Anyway, this time around, I dunno, it just felt like it lacked something. It's a labour of love, but you can really feel the movie pressing up against the budget, and running through the same beats over and over. Don't get me wrong, it was entertaining (and gruesome); I guess I've just changed.  4/5#2 Evil Dead 2 (1987), rewatch  So the first go around, I was kind of cold on ED2; it felt too cartoony, and I found the half-remake aspect distracting. Anyway, this movie loving rules. It feels like Raimi finally had the budget and the technical ability to really do what he wanted. The scene where the camera chases Ash through the woods and then through the house, circling around and busting through doors, is just phenomenal. It goes through all these wildly inventive sequences without ever falling into a rut or repeating a trick, and the goofier sense of humour really landed this time around. I had a similar experience with rewatching Raising Arizona last year. Anyway, from what I understand there are a couple of other regulars who were also underwhelmed by ED2; I watched this before the challenge started, but this could be a great candidate for Second Chance. 5/5#3 Army of Darkness (1992), rewatch  Didn't love it the first time, didn't love it this time. For me, this movie is undermined by the cheesiness of the medieval characters. I know this is what the movie is going for - hell, I know that making a serious flick would be a complete misunderstanding of what Evil Dead is all about - but it just tears me out of the movie to watch these nonspecific ren-faire dorks. The middle third, where Ash goes off on his own to get the book, is top-tier stuff, tremendously fun. The battle at the end has its moments, too. I just don't like the setting. 3/5#4 Evil Dead (2013), rewatch  Solid movie. This is a remake of the original, in tone as much as in plot, really dialing in on the awful cruelty of the demon - this thing wants to hurt and horrify everyone, and it's really good at doing that. After a certain point you start to feel sorry for the survivors, because poo poo just keeps happening to them. God, poor Eric, he gets it worse than Mia somehow. It does still have that ED wackiness, but it's more of a like death-metal album cover thing than Tom and Jerry. 4/5
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May 6, 2023 02:29
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Catch-up time! 3. Gaia (2021) The Last of Us – now with 200% more South African jungle! The Good Find me an African horror movie that doesn’t have beautiful landscape shots. Seriously. Just try. Also, the movie has really impressive acting for only a cast of four. The Bad The “man bad, forest good” speeches are heavy-handed. They feel like a teenager discovered Ted Kaczynski’s manifesto and didn’t know it was the ramblings of a looney. The Ugly It’s hard to watch Gaia in the wake of HBO’s The Last of Us. And that’s unfair because now this movie will never be anything but “a lesser version of that show” instead of judged on its own merit. 4. The Queen of Spades (1949) Alexander Pushkin’s version of Faust begs a tough question: Who really plays a card game - the player or the cards themselves? The Good The film is lush, with both the look and feel of a classic Hollywood period piece. The overall production - costumes, sets, large-scale scenes, and direction - are all on point. The Bad Even streaming on Shudder, viewers may not consider this “horror” since much of the film lacks scares, monsters, and kills. But it is classic [literary] dark romance in line with any of the sub-genre’s masters. The Ugly Other than the painful Jewish stereotype bookseller, I got nothing here. The film is beautiful and I’m glad to see a once-lost movie be found, preserved, and appreciated. Now, if only someone could discover a full print of Greed. 5. Hebi musume to hakuhatsuma (The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch) (1968) Japanese horror also had a cheesy, drive-in, B-movie phase. The Good Secret labs with bubbling flasks! Rubber snakes! Spiders on strings! Expository narration! Shocking reveals! Theremin! It’s all here. The Bad The exact same things that make it good can turn people away. The Ugly Like so many films of the era, the FX do not hold up to HD viewing. So viewers have shut the brain off and roll with it. TOTAL: 5 COMPLETED CHALLENGES: Holy Terror
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May 6, 2023 02:40
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#7: Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi File 05: Preface True Story Of The Ghost Of Yotsuya 3. Holy Terror A major character is a shinto priest and a shinto exorcism takes up a large portion of the running time 12. History lesson 2010s 13. Geography Lesson AsiaTaking up some time after the events of Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi File 04, Director Kudo calls the band back together with big news; The videos are selling better. So he wants to make another. This one investigating the unearthly face which appeared in the background of an independent film. This episode isn't as high key as 4, which makes sense because Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi File 4 is amazing and easily among the best horror movies ever made. But it's still quite good, builds on everything that has happened so far, and drops a major bombshell. You know Kaidan, those classic Japanese folk tales that were collected in like the 1700s and have been part of Japanese cultural canon ever since? What if they weren't actually collections of existing folktales? What if they were actually totally new made up stories intended to create the ghosts and monsters they describe through the power of collective belief? And then once they existed, they would serve as go-betweens which would allow an ancient god to enter our world. Certainly has implications for Kappa, Slit-Mouthed Woman, and Toilet Hanako. We get a really fun spin on the classic exorcism sequence, and one of the most upsetting simple horror things when they see how long Amy has been standing there. It also confirms that Director Kudo is the greatest horror movie hero of all time. You may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like.  Challenges in progress 12. History lesson: 1990s (The Relic) 2000s (The Mothman Prophecies) 2010s (Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi File 05: Preface True Story Of The Ghost Of Yotsuya) 13. Geography Lesson: North America (The Relic) Asia (Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi File 05: Preface True Story Of The Ghost Of Yotsuya) Challenges complete 2: Tales from the Cryptids: Mothman Prophecies (because of mothman) 3. Holy Terror: Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi File 05: Preface True Story Of The Ghost Of Yotsuya (because of Shinto) Gripweed fucked around with this message at 03:03 on May 6, 2023 |
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May 6, 2023 02:59
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gey muckle mowser posted:
Along with The Invisible Man's Revenge (1940s), Evil Ed (1990s), Man Thing (2000s), and Viral (2010s) this makes 5 decades but I’m just gonna keep track to see if I can hit them all.  9 (16). This Island Earth (1955) Directed by Joseph M. Newman and Jack Arnold; Written by Franklin Coen and Edward G. O'Callaghan; Based on This Island Earth 1952 novel by Raymond F. Jones Watched on Svengoolie Watching movies with Svengoolie can be different kind of experiences. Sometimes the commercial breaks and gags break up the flow of the film. Sometimes all that stuff helps you through a tough film. But sometimes it all kind of clicks and that's definitely what i felt here. This Island Earth is what it is. You can kind of see why its a heavily influential sci fi film but you can also kind of see why its a MST3K entry. Its clearly doing a lot of stuff that became so common in the genre going forward but its also a little silly in that way 60s sci fi has aged. And ultimately like much of its genre its a lot of talking in the lead up to the action or big stuff. The margin of "big stuff" happening in this film isn't very strong. But I dunno. I flowed along with it well. And in this case that definitely was at least in part me just really enjoying the Svengoolie show. I haven't been feeling great and I just got real comfortable with this. With all the goofy Svengoolie stuff but also with the very comfortable, cheesy nature of the film. And its not like silly in a bad way or anything. Like its a perfectly fine movie for its time. A little dry and thin for modern sensibilities. But I watch a lot of Svengoolie and 50s sci fi and its a pretty good one of them. And you can definitely see why it stood out from the pack and left such a mark. So yeah, not a great film. but a fine one. And a very enjoyable Svengoolie watch. And really something I really needed. gey muckle mowser posted:
 10 (17). A Field in England (2013) Directed by Ben Wheatley; Written by Amy Jump I have no idea what the hell this was. At suggestion I watched this with subtitles and while they helped I still had no idea what people were saying half the time. The gibberish was so pronounced it kept waking up my Alexa and confusing it. This is the worst kind of movie watching experience for me and not because of the unpleasant visual and audio poo poo that it did, although that stuff sucked. But because I kept having to rewind the film because I just had no idea what the gently caress was going on. Eventually I just gave up trying too make sense of it. I really just don't get it. Like at all. I also thought it looked kind of ugly which is weird since everyone loves its look. I dunno. I don't get it. Completely. Don't get it at all.  11 (18). Scream: The Inside Story (2011) Directed by Daniel Farrands Watched on Youtube I really just needed something to watch while catching up on reviews. And I am deep into Scream now so was happy to pop this up on Youtube while I wrote. Its a solid if kind of dry retrospective on the original classic. Its like a TV doc thing or something and feels like it. Kind of weirdly feeling like the template that would become true crime docs which is kind of ironic considering it came out around Scream 4 and that film's themes are really about the rise of true crime media and the kind of death of empathy in this stuff being entertainment and celebrity. But that's neither here nor there. The most interesting tidbit I got from this was Wes's own hesitation to make Scream because he had grown disenchanted not with the genre "rules" or the things that come up in Scream but in stuff like the misogyny and treatment of women. Wes saying reading the opening scene and not knowing if he wanted to make another scene of a young woman being tortured. Also really interesting to learn that the iconic decision for Drew Barrymore to be one and done was really her decision and a kind of fortunate accident. Its a nice collection of trivia bits and production details but also a very nice look at all the key cast and crew getting a fair amount of time and respect. And a nice way to see how Wes and everyone really thought about this stuff and how much is really built into Scream as more than just a slasher. It was an unnecessary watch that I wasn't sure I'd do but as a huge Scream fan and someone very much enjoying their current marathon and anticipating the new film it was a very enjoyable watch. 🌼💀Spook-a-Doodle Half-Way-to-Halloween ’23: Spring Cleaning💀🌼 Watched - New (Total) - (1). Scream (1996); 1 (2). The Invisible Man’s Revenge (1944); 2 (3). Viral (2016); - (4). Scream 2 (1997); 3 (5). Mostly Ghostly 3: One Night in Doom House (2016); 4 (6). Man-Thing (2005); - (7). Vampires (1998); - (8). Vampires: Los Muertos (2002); 5 (9). Vampires: The Turning (2005); 6 (10). Evil Ed (1995); - (11). Scream 3 (2000); 7 (12). Do You Like Hitchcock? (2005); 8 (13). Day of the Dead: Bloodline (2017); - (14). Scream 4 (2011); - (15). Scream (2022); 9 (16). This Island Earth (1955); 10 (17). A Field in England (2013); 11 (18). Scream: The Inside Story (2011); Completed Collections: 3/13 - The Invisible Man; Mostly Ghostly; John Carpenter’s Vampires; Return of the Fallen: 2/13 - Viral; Day of the Dead: Bloodline; Spook-A-Doodle Challenges: 3/13 - Day of the Dead: Bloodline (Challenge of the Dead); A Field in England (Horror High) Meta Challenges: History Lesson - The Invisible Man's Revenge (1940s); This Island Earth (1950s); Evil Ed (1990s); Man Thing (2000s); Viral (2010s); Meta Challenges: Geography Lesson - The Invisible Man's Revenge (North America); Evil Ed (Europe); Man Thing (Australia/Oceania);
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May 6, 2023 08:22
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META-CHALLENGES
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STAC Goat posted:[Scream 4] Being a Scream fan I'm sure you're aware of how Scream 4 was intentionally set up as a false reboot and all, but I think it might be helpful for me to note here that poo poo was real in 2011. We thought we were watching The New Cast of Scream. It made some sense for Gale and Dewey to take a backseat in the second half (if anything, during my first watch I found it a little odd that Sidney was still very much the main character throughout). There was no guarantee any of the original characters would return beyond this and it was almost guaranteed that one or more of them were going to bite it. When it hit the "second ending" and I saw that it was all coming down to those three, I had the biggest smile on my face. Some of the polarization around the movie is due to it being made very much for the kind of fan who was skeptical and apprehensive about reviving the series, while those that were all-in on the idea were disappointed that they didn't follow through. Considering the meta nature of the series I'm sure it wasn't a coincidence that the villain of Scream 5 is a disgruntled fan that specifically wants to facilitate what's essentially "Scream 4 but for real this time."
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May 6, 2023 09:21
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SidneyIsTheKiller posted:Being a Scream fan I'm sure you're aware of how Scream 4 was intentionally set up as a false reboot and all, but I think it might be helpful for me to note here that poo poo was real in 2011. We thought we were watching The New Cast of Scream. It made some sense for Gale and Dewey to take a backseat in the second half (if anything, during my first watch I found it a little odd that Sidney was still very much the main character throughout). There was no guarantee any of the original characters would return beyond this and it was almost guaranteed that one or more of them were going to bite it. When it hit the "second ending" and I saw that it was all coming down to those three, I had the biggest smile on my face. I'm sort of loosely familiar with the Scream 4 history. Like I know the original script had Sidney seemingly dying early on and being taken out of much of the film and the killer surviving to the next film. So I can definitely see how it would have been expected as a restart ala Scream 5/6. I actually wasn't very aware of it in 2011. Just not a time in my life I was very plugged into movies and had a lot of stuff going on. I only finally saw it when Wes died 4 years later. So yeah I can definitely see how Gale and Dewey getting backseated makes sense in that regard. Also probably gives some context for why Hayden/Kirby seemed to make such an impression on people if they really expected her to be the next generation. Speaking of... gey muckle mowser posted:
 12 (19). Scream VI (2023) Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett; Written by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick Watched on Paramount+ The end of my Scream marathon and a drat fine film to cap it. I was both looking forward to this because I love Scream, dig Radio Silence, and really enjoyed Scream 5… but also apprehensive because some fo the early press for the film seemed to be selling it as one of those “in the city no one will hear you scream” things that is rooted in the racist right wing “urban jungle” bullshit. Go ahead. Scream in New York City. I promise you people will listen. They’ll have an opinion too. But thankfully the film didn’t go that way. It doesn’t totally make use of its NYC setting but it does do a pretty even handed job with the density and close quarters of the city. People all around you, some of them friends, some of them indifferent, maybe one of them an enemy. But just people. The setting change does effectively change the feel of this to the point where it doesn’t exactly feel like a Scream film. That’s clearly deliberate. The Scream films are largely about terror in a small town where you know everyone but that doesn’t make you safe, it might give you less privacy and make you less safe. The switch to the city means the killer might not be someone you know. You don’t have familiar places or people you’ve known your whole life to hide. There’s actually not enough city horrors in my opinion and this does a good job capturing some of the situations ripe for horror/slasher terror like those narrow hallways apartments, cluttered alleys, and packed subways. Woodsboro kills were all about the slow wait for the silence of the suburbs to break. NYC kills are about something suddenly stabbing through the field of noise. I like Melissa Barrera as the new Sidney. She’s an absolute bad rear end. I don’t know how I feel about the Billy stuff. It really kind of feels unnecessary and like a tease of something I’m not sure we really wanna see. The Core Four is cool. Are the original Woodsboro Trio? No. But they’re cool. Jenna Ortega is just killing it these days and this is no exception. And Mindy and Chad are a fun kind of split of Randy with one being the earnest goof and one the kind of relentlessly much film rules nerd. You know she’s got a Letterboxd account no matter what she says. But really its mostly about the family bond they have through their shared trauma. Just like Sid, Gale, and Dewey (and Randy… but not long enough) had been through hell together and it gave them a trust and bond that exceeded the personal stuff these four not only actually like each other but they love each other and fight for each other. Its a crew I’m hopeful I get to see again. This one kind of backs off the meta film stuff a bit, which feels like another conscious decision to be less what Scream was and be a new version of it. The one rules rant is basically saying as much. Its not a sequel, or a sequel, its a franchise now which means its all about keeping the ball rolling and all bets are off. The change in setting obviously being a big part of that. The deemphasis on the meta stuff a big part of that too. I though the film was doing something about obsessive online fanbases and conspiracy rabbit holes and the ability to make people believe any lie and radicalize ala Qanon. But it kinda doesn’t really commit to that. I actually am kind of hopeful that what we got about online circles of psychotic Stab/Ghostface obsessors and the little tease that Stu might be alive could mean a 7th film could finally get us that abandoned idea of Stu’s cult of Following killers. Fingers crossed. But that’s not really what we get here. We do get a very hardcore Ghostface. With a loving shotgun! This film is vicious. The body count is bigger than ever and the kills are brutal. Maybe not the slashing that slasher fans come for. Way less focus on watching young women get stabbed like an Italian director with the one metaphor he knows. But holy poo poo, people get hosed up in this. Its a different Scream for sure but one I really liked. Radio Silence pay a ton of tribute to Wes Craven and what he made with Scream as a franchise in 5 but here they really seem to be doing their own thing. Neve Campbell is missed in the big picture, as of course is Dewey, but it also doesn't feel like their or Gale's story anymore. Not really. The "legacy" characters and stuff give us a link to the past but its the Core Four who are the focus here now and we've left Woodsboro. And to that extent as much as I think Neve should have gotten paid I don't mind that Sidney has moved on. I hate saying it but I didn't actually miss her. And that's a real testament to what they've built with this Scream revival/reboot/requel. And I say that as someone who loves Wes Craven and his Scream and cast of it. And while nothing here has reached the level of that original classic I'm starting to really dig Radio Silence's Scream and cast and I'm game for more.  13 (20). My Best Friend’s Exorcism (2022) Directed by Damon Thomas; Screenplay by Jenna Lamia; Based on My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix Watched on Amazon Prime This wasn't quite what I expected. The first act of the film feels like Evil Dead and Megan's Body tossed into a blender with 80s MTV and I was really digging it and expecting something very manic and darkly funny. but it plays itself a LOT straighter than I expected. I mean there's definitely some jokes in here but they're very dry. The second act kind of spends a lot of time doing the usual high school obsession stuff with some random kids getting their lives ruined and our main girl's life falling apart. Its all very.. I dunno. We're here for 80s pop songs and freaky possession poo poo and maybe some hosed up deadlite type stuff? Right? The last act ramps poo poo up though and is a lot of fun. Christopher Lowell is hilarious as the rad mall Jesus bro Exorcist. Its a really inspired play on the expected and Lowell is just an absolute ton of fun in the role. MVP for sure, which is a bit disappointing since I was pulling for the girls. But it is what it is. He’s great. And a pretty wild ending that definitely isn’t the usual exorcism film ending. All in all the film isn’t half bad. At its worst its a little dry and derivative. At its best its kind of inspired and a fun twist on familiar things. It just never really shifts into the next gear I was hoping it was gonna. Definitely a bit of a disappointment in that regard. I get the sense the novel its adapted from is a much more sincere YA coming of age with a quirky humor. I’m not sure that quite adapted here, or maybe just came up against the sort of built in expectations of the horror genre when you’re clearly taking inspiration from stuff like Evil Dead and Exorcist. I don’t know. But all in all a decent watch. And it could maybe click a little more with people more tuned into that YA thing? Great soundtrack though. And lots of vomit. And tapeworms, man. One of my greatest fears and genuinely eeked me out. 🌼💀Spook-a-Doodle Half-Way-to-Halloween ’23: Spring Cleaning💀🌼 Watched - New (Total) - (1). Scream (1996); 1 (2). The Invisible Man’s Revenge (1944); 2 (3). Viral (2016); - (4). Scream 2 (1997); 3 (5). Mostly Ghostly 3: One Night in Doom House (2016); 4 (6). Man-Thing (2005); - (7). Vampires (1998); - (8). Vampires: Los Muertos (2002); 5 (9). Vampires: The Turning (2005); 6 (10). Evil Ed (1995); - (11). Scream 3 (2000); 7 (12). Do You Like Hitchcock? (2005); 8 (13). Day of the Dead: Bloodline (2017); - (14). Scream 4 (2011); - (15). Scream (2022); 9 (16). This Island Earth (1955); 10 (17). A Field in England (2013); 11 (18). Scream: The Inside Story (2011); 12 (19). Scream VI (2023); 13 (20). My Best Friend’s Exorcism (2022); Completed Collections: 4/13 - The Invisible Man; Mostly Ghostly; John Carpenter’s Vampires; Scream; Return of the Fallen: 3/13 - Viral; Day of the Dead: Bloodline; My Best Friend's Exorcism; Spook-A-Doodle Challenges: 4/13 - Day of the Dead: Bloodline (Challenge of the Dead); A Field in England (Horror High); Scream VI (Fresh Hell); Meta Challenges: History Lesson - The Invisible Man's Revenge (1940s); This Island Earth (1950s); Evil Ed (1990s); Man Thing (2000s); Viral (2010s); Meta Challenges: Geography Lesson - The Invisible Man's Revenge (North America); Evil Ed (Europe); Man Thing (Australia/Oceania);
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May 6, 2023 09:59
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STAC Goat posted:I really just don't get it. Like at all. I also thought it looked kind of ugly which is weird since everyone loves its look. I dunno. I don't get it. Completely. Don't get it at all.
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May 6, 2023 13:08
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Movie #6: Knock at the Cabin (2023) 4. Fresh Hell "He said they have the most important job in the history of the world!" "Jehovah's Witnesses?" I'm gonna be honest -- I almost turned off the movie when "Written and Directed by M. Night Shyamalan" popped up during the credits. That urge only increased, when the movie opens up with the world's most precocious child, who is dropping hot takes on LGBTQ issues while talking with Dave Bautista. But I do love me some Bautista, so I kept watching. And while the result is definitely not the worst Shyamalan film I've seen, the film also had a lot of really frustrating problems. Since the movie is still pretty new, I'll spoiler all the actual movie discussion here. OK so the basic gist is that a family is taken hostage by four armed strangers at their summer cottage somewhere in Pennsylvania. The four explain that only the family can prevent the apocalypse, and they can only do this by willingly killing one of three of them. Failure to do so will lead to the complete and permanent end of humanity. This is not a bad idea, and in the hands of a more competent filmmaker it could have been a cool story, but Knock at the Cabin kind of plays its cards too soon. After the family refuse for the first time and one of the captors (played by Rupert Grint) gets murdered as some kind of punishment, the captors turn on the television and show breaking news coverage of apocalyptic earthquakes wrecking the Pacific North West. At this point any reasonable ambiguity is gone. It's no longer a question of if the captors are truly equally unwilling participants in some divine misery play to prevent the end of the world, or just four lunatics. But the movie doesn't realize this, and tries to keep muddying the waters. Ooh, maybe the four people are actually criminals! Ooh, maybe one of the captors was actually a homophobe who somehow induced shared delusional visions in three other people in an effort to bash a gay man he had a run in with a decade earlier. Ooh, maybe it was just the biggest coincidence in the history of coincidences that a third of the United States got blown up by tsunamis and earthquakes the moment these guys say "no" to the proposal. And not content with this, the film does the exact thing again: they say no, we see live news coverage of the apocalypse and the family go "hmm but hang on here, you guys are just delusional, you can walk away and nothing will happen, just you see". The film also tries to very clumsily build sympathy with our participants. The movie features plenty of flashbacks to show how adorable and unique and nice the family's life until now was. We didn't need that. The situation is tragic and horrible enough on its own. Conversely, the captors, who are supposed to be complex and real characters, literally get one sentence of backstory, said into the camera. The movie obviously wanted to make us sympathize with them, but didn't give us a lot of reason to do so. The most insulting thing, though, is that Shyamalan tries to tie the movie in with real world terrorist attacks by suggesting that maybe these captors are just like them. Get it, remember that horrible thing you saw on the news? Well this is exactly like that! Those terrorists also had shared delusions, and maybe these captors do too! Like I said, with a more competent writer/director this could've been cool. It could have been a small and tight character piece with a cool horror scenario, but instead the end result is a very hamfisted and clumsy movie. Like with some other Shyamalan movies, the portrayal of the apocalyptic events also borders on comedy at times, and I seriously lost it when we saw live footage of airplanes cartoonishly plummeting to the ground one after another. What about the non-plot parts? Well the movie looks good. There are lots of cool shots in the film and this might be Shyamalan's best looking movie to date. The Best Part: Dave Bautista. None of the actors get a lot to work with, but he does a good job with what he got. Who would ever have guessed that Batista from the WWE would turn out to be a really good actor? / 5 My May 2023 Movies: 1. Black Friday!, 2. Hood of the Living Dead, 3. Hellboy Animated: Blood and Iron, 4. Psycho (1960), 5. Mandy, 6. Knock at the Cabin Challenges completed: 1. Horror High (Mandy) 4. Fresh Hell (Knock at the Cabin) 5. Shooting Zombies (Psycho) 6. Drawn and Quartered (Hellboy Animated) 9. Challenge of the Dead (Hood of the Living Dead) Shaman Tank Spec fucked around with this message at 14:09 on May 6, 2023 |
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May 6, 2023 14:07
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7. A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (1971) Giallo is probably my biggest total blindspot for horror, beyond the obvious big hitters like Suspiria and Bird with the Crystal Plumage. But after seeing this, I totally want to remedy that, because this loving ruled. Weird in a really compelling way, lots of really strange shots and production choices, but it totally comes together, like the handheld shakycam whenever filming from Carol's point of view. I also totally understand why people were so worried Rambaldi had just killed a bunch of dogs and had to prove in court that it was fake, cuz that whole scene was god-drat horrible. Great soundtrack too, especially the first and possibly only case of diagetic church organ chase music. Could have done without the crash cuts from psychadelic nudity straight to Leo Genn's face looking stern though, felt like the movie was punishing me. Counts for challenge #11: It's-a Me! and meta-challenge History Lesson (1970s), thus completing History Lesson meta-challenge! Watched so far: The Borderlands, Nosferatu (Shooting Zombies), Shed of the Dead (Challenge of the Dead), Djinn (Holy Terror), Yeti: Curse of the Snow Demon (Tales from the Cryptids), Dolly Dearest (Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things), A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (It's-a Me!) Total: 7/13 Gyro Zeppeli fucked around with this message at 15:41 on May 6, 2023 |
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May 6, 2023 14:18
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A True Jar Jar Fan posted:Me, every time I watch a Ben Wheatley film A Field in England didn’t do much for me either, In the Earth is similar and a little better but still not at the level of Kill List. Shaman Tank Spec posted:Movie #6: Knock at the Cabin (2023) 4. Fresh Hell I assume you mean you almost turned it off because you were unprepared to watch a film by one of our greatest living auteurs? (Kidding obviously but I do like him a lot)
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May 6, 2023 14:27
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 3. Under the Shadow (2016) A slow burn of distress. Narges Rashidi plays Shideh, a woman living in Tehran during the Iran-Iraq war with ambitions to be a doctor, who is not very good at putting a bright face on things as every aspect of her life deteriorates. The film opens with her being told that she'll never be allowed to complete her studies due to her past political activities. She's in a spat with her husband, who is himself a doctor and would prefer she settle for the role of stay-at-home mom. Her young daughter is a constant pain in the rear end in the believably-frustrating way that is practically the signature move of the elevated horror genre, at least every elevated horror movie with something to say about domestic life. Iranian religious enforcement is taking a toll on her, you can tell from her Jane Fonda workout to a contraband VHS tape that wearing the hijab would not be her first choice. And war inflames every tension and anxiety - her husband is drafted, air raid warnings are coming in every other day and forcing her to huddle with her daughter in the basement, life becomes suffocatingly defined by the boundaries of her apartment, her daugher picks up a fever that refuses to break, the building is torn up by an unexploded missile, her neighbors flee the city one by one to increase her isolation. When the flickers of the supernatural finally coalesce into a djinn trying to steal her daughter, it could almost be a relief to have just one external awfulness to blame for everything. But the djinn is a spirit of the air, it's all around you, a malice permeating everything. It's an evil wind pressing against those taped-up windows, flapping the tarp that was feebly draped over the hole gouged by that missile. It's also extremely sharply realized with understated effects work. The djinn is visualized as a haunted chador. It swoops through most shots in the quick lunging language of jump scares, then at its most threatening it stretches out to engulf. Only the briefest explicit mentions are made of Muslim faith, such as when a more faithful neighbor points out that djinn appear in the Quran and thereby underlines skeptical Shideh's quiet rejection of faith. But the social strangulation of the Iranian clerical regime is made palpable, not least when the morality police jail Shideh when they find her fleeing into the night from the haunting while "improperly" dressed. The distinctly Persian symbol of the chador being a baleful, misanthropic force thus transmutes the ratcheting misery that Under the Shadow spends most of its runtime building into a cultural critique. If your modern ambitions and lifestyle are out of step with the "traditionalists," then life is a horror movie as those reactionary forces try to claw your life backwards. It feels like a memory from Iranian-born writer-director Babak Anvari, "God, wasn't this period just awful?", but given that he currently lives in Britain and Iranian film censorship meant that Under the Shadow was filmed in Jordan, the underlying awfulness does not much change even if there is not presently a war aggravating it. Despite the craftsmanship, thought, and care that went into it, I can't say I loved Under the Shadow as an experience, though. Having 50% of your movie be a mother and puffy-faced child miserable with their situation and each other is rough watching. The spooky poo poo is a well-executed pleasure, but the domestic misery is sometimes a slog more fun to talk about as a concept than to watch unfold. / 5For challenges, this crosses off Holy Terror by prominently featuring Islam, History Lesson: 2010s and Geography Lesson: Middle East. Vanilla Bison fucked around with this message at 16:21 on May 6, 2023 |
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May 6, 2023 16:15
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STAC Goat posted:I get the sense the novel its adapted from is a much more sincere YA coming of age with a quirky humor. I’m not sure that quite adapted here, or maybe just came up against the sort of built in expectations of the horror genre when you’re clearly taking inspiration from stuff like Evil Dead and Exorcist. I don’t know. But all in all a decent watch. And it could maybe click a little more with people more tuned into that YA thing? Ehhhh yes and no? I think the novel is definitely for adults, albeit adults who are a little more sympathetic to reading novels with teenage protagonists than most; there are one or two scenes that would make your average YA reader vomit. Heathers is the touchstone a lot of the contemporary reviews used alongside The Exorcist. but it does seem like in the adaptation they targeted it at a slightly broader audience that now includes the 17yos with Jenna Ortega as their Letterboxd profile pics
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May 6, 2023 16:22
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8. The Addams Family (2019) Well, that was just a drat delight. Fun animation, great character designs, a bunch of genuinely funny gags (the running gag of Fester being carelessly injured by everyone else to no reaction got a laugh every single time) and a lot of callbacks and references to previous Addams Family adaptations and to other horror franchises. The plot basically follows every other adaptation, the family vs the regular world (in this case, a reality show building new town literally named Assimilation), but that whole concept just works. Especially in animation, since they can really go wild. Just a sweet, fun little movie. Counts for challenge #6: Drawn and Quartered Watched so far: The Borderlands, Nosferatu (Shooting Zombies), Shed of the Dead (Challenge of the Dead), Djinn (Holy Terror), Yeti: Curse of the Snow Demon (Tales from the Cryptids), Dolly Dearest (Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things), A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (It's-a Me!), The Addams Family (Drawn and Quartered) Total: 8/13
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May 6, 2023 17:02
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6. City of the Living Dead (1980) (first viewing) (watched on AMC+/Shudder)  I had this on my master list of horror movies to watch already, so I was glad to see a specific challenge for the "of the living dead" suffix. Like most other Lucio Fulci movies I've seen, this favors letting interesting visuals carry a sloppy narrative, although this one admittedly has a straightforward enough premise with a clear ticking clock element. A priest in the fictional town of Dunwich has hanged himself, which has (somehow) opened the gates of hell, causing the dead to rise. Humanity is doomed unless our heroes can put a stop to it all before All Saints Day, which is just 48 hours away. And our protagonists here are truly a motley crew: we've got a a psychic medium, an investigative reporter, a therapist, and his neurotic patient, a local artist. I dug the design of the zombies, and I particularly liked the frequent use of worms and maggots to highlight that we're dealing with rotting flesh here. There's also a memorable scene where our heroes are pelted by a storm of maggots, and the production does NOT skimp out here. There's got to be a layer of maggots an inch thick on the floor by the time it's done. The zombies themselves have a cool move of tearing out the back of someone's skull to get at their brains, and there are spirits that appear to have the psychic ability to make people bleed from the eyes and vomit up their innards, too. There are certainly ample issues with the plotting here--that ending shot is nonsensical to the point where the prevailing theory online is that someone spilled coffee on the final reel and they couldn't reshoot the missing footage--but the movie is usually too much fun to let your brain drift to nitpicking. And that's all I really want out of a Fulci movie. CHALLENGE: "Challenge of the Dead." --- CHALLENGES: 1. Horror High 2. Tales from the Cryptids 3. Holy Terror 4. Fresh Hell 5. Shooting Zombies--Ringu (1998) 6. Drawn and Quartered 7. Woke in Fright 8. Second Chance 9. Challenge of the Dead--City of the Living Dead (1980) 10. Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things--Dolls (1987) 11. It's-a Me! 12. History Lesson (4/5 completed)--The Shout (1978) ('70s); Dolls (1987) ('80s); The Fear (1995) ('90s); Pearl (2022) (2020s) 13. Geography Lesson (3/5 completed)--The Fear (1995) (North America via USA); The Shout (1978) (Europe via UK)' Ringu (1998) (Asia via Japan) Crescent Wrench fucked around with this message at 16:55 on Jul 20, 2023 |
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May 6, 2023 17:50
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I love city of the living dead, one of my fav zombie flicks haha
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May 6, 2023 18:20
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I saw it for the first time in a screening in a tiny theater with like five other people. Sat in the front row so the relatively small screen would fill my vision entirely. Amazing and overwhelming experience
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May 6, 2023 18:22
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9. White Dog (1982) An actress accidentally runs over then adopts a dog, to later discover it has been trained to attack and kill black people. It plays out much like most other animal attack movies, but the whole racial subtext of whether racism is innate or learned gives it a bit of extra depth. I'm not sure if it ever quite lives up to the idea, and a few moments lean more toward the exploitation aspects a little too hard, but when it's trying (like most of the scenes with Paul Winfield playing the trainer attempting to tame the dog, and the heartbreaking ending), it actually does come across as a bit thoughtful. Fantastic Ennio Morricone score too. Counts for challenge #7: Woke in Fright Watched so far: The Borderlands, Nosferatu (Shooting Zombies), Shed of the Dead (Challenge of the Dead), Djinn (Holy Terror), Yeti: Curse of the Snow Demon (Tales from the Cryptids), Dolly Dearest (Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things), A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (It's-a Me!), The Addams Family (Drawn and Quartered), White Dog (Woke in Fright) Total: 9/13 Gyro Zeppeli fucked around with this message at 19:54 on May 6, 2023 |
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May 6, 2023 19:35
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 5. The Medium (2021) (dir. Banjong Pisanthanakun) Shudder Geography Lesson: Southeast Asia (Thailand)(would've been a good pick for "Holy Terror" too) This is presented as a documentary about Nim, a middle aged woman from the Isan region of Thailand who is the shaman of the goddess Ba Yan. Essentially, Nim is possessed by the god, but fortunately Ba Yan is benevolent. For generations the role of shaman has been passed down through the women in Nim’s family, and we learn that it was actually Nim’s sister Noi who was supposed to be the current shaman, but rejected it in her youth. While conducting interviews, the film crew learns that the goddess may be moving to a new host soon, and so begins following Nim’s niece Mink around as well. Sure enough, Mink starts to show signs of possession, but her increasingly disturbing behavior makes Nim question if this is really Ba Yan’s doing, or if something more sinister has taken over. This is a really cool movie! While possessed, Mink is basically a Thai Deadite, gleefully inflicting graphic violence and cruel psychological torment on those around her. There are some genuinely scary and disturbing scenes, and the whole last act is pretty intense. The religious themes are interesting - I don’t really know anything about Thai culture, but the film presents a clash between ancient traditional beliefs and modern religions, especially Christianity (which Noi converts to for the sole purpose of rejecting Ba Yan). Someone with more insight into the religions of Thailand could probably do some interesting analysis on this. At over two hours, this is pretty long for a found footage-style movie, and I think it probably could’ve used a little tightening up, especially in the first half. It’s not a huge problem, but even just 10-15 minutes trimmed out probably would’ve helped. Still, it’s paced well and it never dragged for me. Recommended for sure! 4 broken eggs out of 5 Total: 5 Watched: Lokis, a Manuscript of Professor Wittembach | The Manitou (Challenge #3) | Spoonful of Sugar (Challenge #1) | Faust (Challenge #5) | The Medium | Challenges: History Lesson: 3/5 - 1920s, 1970s, 2020s Geography Lesson: 3/5 - Europe, North America, Southeast Asia
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May 6, 2023 22:20
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 4. Dawn of the Dead (2004) Shot with pleasing verve whenever violence and chaos erupt; an early sequence of Sarah Polley enveloped on all sides by her suburban neighborhood's apocalypse is the high water mark. A slow motion shot of a propane tank fireball shockwave knocking over a zombie horde is a fun teaser for director Zack Snyder's later predilections. When things are in zombie survivalist mode, however, James Gunn's writing is completely mediocre, and that's most of the film. Being stuck in a mall waiting for things to get worse gives the characters nothing to do except play out their one cliché. There's just nothing here to shock or intrigue you if you've seen a zombie movie before, save one particularly cruelly chosen zombie victim. Dawn of the Dead vaguely enjoys setting up potentially optimistic beats, like a pregnancy bringing new life into the world, a friendly fellow survivor a rooftop away, a boat to escape onto the water with, and then pops them in front of you like bubble wrap. But it never feels like the expression of a grand nihilistic thesis or anything, just the filmmakers playing with the toys they grew up on.  .5 / 5Checks off Challenge of the Dead and History Lesson: 2000s.
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May 6, 2023 23:31
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I’ve said it before but I think Dawn of the Dead is a real interesting case of Gunn’s mean sense of humor but sentimental style coming up directly against Snyder’s nihilistic and celebration of destructive action approach. There’s scenes in the movie you can completely reimagine in your head in Gunn’s voice. There’s an early one where the group enters the mall and “Don’t Worry Be Happy” is playing in the background. In Snyder’s hands that’s dark. In Gunn’s hands it’s probably setting up a punchline. On the flip side of this were purely a Snyder film it probably would have been a grade harsher without as many moments of individual character levity or sentimentality. It’s very interesting if you’re familiar with both guys now.
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May 6, 2023 23:41
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STAC Goat posted:A reaction to A Field in England How'd you do with The VVitch for reference? I'm curious how much of this is just bending your ear to Early Modern English and how much of it is the rest of the movie. I didn't like it that much either, but I at least liked it better than Wheatley's other stuff because the English Civil War is a cool setting. Anyway, review :  Project Wolf Hunting (2022/3) ; Kim Hong-seon This is a very well made movie that I didn't like much at all. A bunch of criminals wanted in Korea are being extradited from the Philippines but their escape/boat heist is interrupted by a zombie murder-punch man. It's really hard to write much about this because from any kind of objective stand-point this is very well made (barring one glaring exception), but I was checking my watch for most of the two hours. Not due to any flaws in the film, but just because it somehow Matrix-dodged its way around my (pretty loving wide and eclectic) tastes. There's an absolute poo poo ton of gore and it's all in that Alex Jones-with-a-paper cut style, great red arcs like a hudson sprayer. I abstractly like the huge cast of characters and how none of them are safe, but in practice it felt very much like if I bumped into the same people twice while I was out shopping, only the second time they walked into a wood chipper. I just wasn't invested in any of them as people, and the plot is pretty much that sentence I gave up top with no additions besides specifics. It works best as an effects reel and I don't actually want to watch an effects reel for 2 solid hours. And I just don't like punch-men as monsters, even if this is probably as cool as you can make a punch-man. If you feel differently you might love this movie and I wish you all the best. However, there 1, 1 and a half effects that are just straight up bad. They try to do a knife going in and out of a face with CGI and that has never worked for me, yes I know it's quite popular in Asia, I disagree. Whatever. But the real part where they drop the ball and spike it into the Earth's core is with that god drat CGI wolf. That thing was absolutely egregious. It's in an otherwise effects-heavy sequence (when the punch-man is stitched together in the flashback) so maybe you weren't supposed to pay attention to it, but they didn't fool me. It would've been pretty bad 20 years ago. It looks like it came out of Reboot. It would've been better if they just put a rolled-up rug in there. 7 and counting Fresh Hell (since it was only recently released in the US) Geograph Lesson (1 for Asia)
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May 7, 2023 00:17
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Xiahou Dun posted:How'd you do with The VVitch for reference? I'm curious how much of this is just bending your ear to Early Modern English and how much of it is the rest of the movie.
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May 7, 2023 00:42
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STAC Goat posted:I dug the VVitch. I definitely didn’t think it was the Old English although that was certainly an extra hurdle. It was the meandering plot, the visual stuff, the vague sense of anything solid. The whole thing just flopped hard for me. Yeah the “plot” being just stuff happening in sequence absolutely murdered my interest. And anything with hallucinations has to be really careful or they might destroy any sense of stakes.
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May 7, 2023 00:51
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11. Evil Ed - 1995 Directed by Anders Jacobsson 🎃 History lesson 🎃  Is it possible for a movie to be incredibly goofy and violent, but also surprisingly boring? Yes, it is. There are definitely a handful of great little moments in Evil Ed. It's just kind of a slog to get from one to the next. 💀💀/5 Spooky May Spring Cleaning 7/13 1. Basket Case 2; 2. Basket Case 3: The Progeny; 3. 3 from Hell; 4. Attack of the Blind Dead; 5. The Ghost Galleon; 6. Night of the Seagulls, 7. Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning GMM Challenges 3/13 1. Horror High - Bliss 2. Tales from the Cryptids - Mongolian Death Worm 3. Holy Terror - Incantation 4. Fresh Hell 5. Shooting Zombies 6. Drawn and Quartered 7. Woke in Fright 8. Second Chance 9. Challenge of the Dead 10. Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things 11. It's-a Me! 12. History lesson - Evil Ed 13. Geography Lesson Completed Collections * The Basket Case Trilogy 🧺🧺🧺/🧺🧺🧺 * The Firefly Collection 🤡🤡🤡/🤡🤡🤡 * The Blind Dead Collection ⛪⛪⛪⛪/⛪⛪⛪⛪ * The Ginger Snaps Collection 🐺🐺🐺/🐺🐺🐺
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May 7, 2023 01:44
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STAC Goat posted:I’ve said it before but I think Dawn of the Dead is a real interesting case of Gunn’s mean sense of humor but sentimental style coming up directly against Snyder’s nihilistic and celebration of destructive action approach. There’s scenes in the movie you can completely reimagine in your head in Gunn’s voice. There’s an early one where the group enters the mall and “Don’t Worry Be Happy” is playing in the background. In Snyder’s hands that’s dark. In Gunn’s hands it’s probably setting up a punchline. On the flip side of this were purely a Snyder film it probably would have been a grade harsher without as many moments of individual character levity or sentimentality. It’s very interesting if you’re familiar with both guys now. You're right on with this. A lot of the meaner story beats, including the ending, feel like they were intended as dark comic zingers by Gunn but are told straight by Snyder and end up landing flat in a weak middle ground.
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May 7, 2023 01:48
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Yeah even like one of the bigger moments towards the end when Sarah Polly offs a zombie. Snyder plays it as a “bad rear end” moment where you can definitely see how that would have played as a dark joke when Gunn probably wrote it. I mean it’s early in Gunn’s career so maybe his script and style is less refined. But you can see both auteurs in the movie and really notice their differences trying to fit together.
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May 7, 2023 02:36
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STAC Goat posted:Yeah even like one of the bigger moments towards the end when Sarah Polly offs a zombie. Snyder plays it as a “bad rear end” moment where you can definitely see how that would have played as a dark joke when Gunn probably wrote it. How are you making me want to rewatch a Zach Snyder movie.
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May 7, 2023 02:38
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12. Do You Like Hitchcock? - 2005 Ti piace Hitchcock? Directed by Dario Argento 🎃 History lesson 🎃  It would be easy to blame the creepy, unlikable protagonist for ruining this, but there really isn't anything especially great about it. It's definitely not Argento's best work. At best it's a competent thriller that rips off Hitchcock while telling you that it's ripping of Hitchcock, which somehow makes it okay? One of the characters says the titular line at 52:41. 💀💀.5/5 Spooky May Spring Cleaning 7/13 1. Basket Case 2; 2. Basket Case 3: The Progeny; 3. 3 from Hell; 4. Attack of the Blind Dead; 5. The Ghost Galleon; 6. Night of the Seagulls, 7. Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning GMM Challenges 4/13 1. Horror High - Bliss 2. Tales from the Cryptids - Mongolian Death Worm 3. Holy Terror - Incantation 4. Fresh Hell 5. Shooting Zombies 6. Drawn and Quartered 7. Woke in Fright 8. Second Chance 9. Challenge of the Dead 10. Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things 11. It's-a Me! 12. History lesson - Evil Ed; Do You Like Hitchcock? 13. Geography Lesson Completed Collections * The Basket Case Trilogy 🧺🧺🧺/🧺🧺🧺 * The Firefly Collection 🤡🤡🤡/🤡🤡🤡 * The Blind Dead Collection ⛪⛪⛪⛪/⛪⛪⛪⛪ * The Ginger Snaps Collection 🐺🐺🐺/🐺🐺🐺
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May 7, 2023 03:25
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3. Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell (1995) This kicks rear end. It’s a little less watchable than I was hoping (which is based on the film quality and a bit of dragging in the pacing early on), but still totally worth checking out for what is obviously an homage to Evil Dead done on a budget even I could scrounge up. A grudge ghost lurking in a necklace at Shinji’s identical father’s house takes advantage of the arrival of a medium to claw her way back into the physical realm, and from then on it plays out more or less as you’d imagine. But not exactly as you’d imagine, because it stands on its own even if you don’t get the many, many references to its inspiration, particularly in the last 15 minutes or so where Shinji seems to suddenly remember his defining character attribute from the title and descends to the basement to collect Chekhov’s barbells. Bonus points for all that goop and being just over an hour.
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May 7, 2023 04:50
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 All of the posters are terrible so I didn't try very hard Don't Look Now! (1973) ; Nicholas Roeg I somehow had never even heard of this movie. The They Shoot Zombies list was the first time I've ever clapped eyes on it, didn't even know the pitch, just went in blind. Holy loving poo poo that's a really good movie. I don't have any insights that I think will be new after 50 years but hot drat. If anyone is like I was and wants a nice little psychological thriller, go loving watch it right now. Also you see a lot of Donald's sutherly lands. So, you know. I do have one question : was something wrong with the version I watched or did they really have that much un-subtitled Italian? If the latter, good on them. 8 and counting Shooting Zombies History Lesson (1 from the 70's) Geography Lesson (Europe)
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May 7, 2023 05:41
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 - (21). Fright Night (2011) Directed by Craig Gillespie; Screenplay by Marti Noxon; Based on Fright Night by Tom Holland I remember liking this one a bit more the first time I saw it, at least enough to be on the other side of those usual arguments about remakes. You know the ones. But remakes don't bother even when they're uninspired, but they especially don't bother me when they do something different. And this one is definitely at its best when it just goes all in on the action. Its a little wacky and the CGI doesn't all work but its fun and its definitely different. The first part of the film sort of drags a little probably more so because there its mostly doing just a modern update of the original. And we have an absolutely stacked cast here. I mean Toni Collette's just sort of around. I'm also kind of sucker for using those weird pop up suburbs in horror movies. There's such an eery atmosphere to those little towns in the middle of nowhere that just have rows of identical housing and zero population traffic because no one actually lives there. They just sleep there between commuting back and forth from work. So like all the parts here are good and maybe it was just that I'm feeling sick or that I had just watched the original a few weeks ago so the story was fresh in my mind but I was sort of like "ok, lets get on with it" for a bit. But the film definitely clicks when Colin Farrell is just cut loose. That's probably part of the slow burn feel of the first half because we're nt hiding anything here. We know he's the bad guy. But its not until they just let him go full on villain instead of "suspicious neighbor" that things really take off. And again, the CGI and action here is sometimes wacky but its also fun. And once the movie shifts gears it never really lets up. Well there is like one scene where David Tennant's Vincent Price is giving a backstory for some probably unnecessary personal stakes and added melodrama. But its quick and not too disruptive or anything. We get back to Farrell going full on Dracula with a budget and writhing around like an animal when he's hurt. I love that interpretation of vampires and its fun here. And like the whole thing is barely over 100 minutes. Its a solid film. Not the original of course and probably not some super necessary world changer. But a solid little horror film with some fun action. Not a bad time. gey muckle mowser posted:
 - (22). Brain Damage (1988) Written and directed by Frank Henenlotter Watched this almost exactly a year ago and just didn't know how I felt about it. Rereading my old review the short version is that I liked some of what it did, didn't like some of the "transgressive" stuff it did, but ultimately felt like it never felt like a fully finished script as opposed to like someone's interpretative psych journals and dreams laid out into something coherent but not exactly meaty. So it felt like a good film to give a second chance especially since I didn't really remember many of the details at all. But I gotta say I feel exactly the same. There's definitely some fun with the idea here. I enjoy that the evil brain parasite is kind of a gentleman. I think the main guy is... fine but he's not exactly compelling. Then again he's playing a moron who is high out of his mind all the time so he pulls that off effectively enough. But I dunno, it just doesn't feel like the story goes anywhere. I mean its a simple enough story of a problem spiraling out of control but its the meat on the bones that feels thin. And there's a lot of metaphor and ideas here. Drug addiction, some sex stuff, general existential crisis? It feels like Henenlotter's going through some stuff here and we're getting glimpses at it. But it also feels like he hasn't really worked it out yet so the film doesn't either. And I mean, that could work. Some people like that kind of storytelling and it can be very intimate and provocative when done well. But I dunno. I wouldn't call Henenlotter a bad filmmaker but I'm not sure he's a good one either. He's an interesting one. And a highly competent one. This is a weird rear end idea that easily could have gone off the rails a bunch of times and its a testament to his ability that he actually did tell a simple little story here. And there's some very good puppetry and effects at work that hold up well. But I dunno. The whole thing just never really comes together for me. Its ok, but just never clicks. And I just feel like I may be a lot warmer on the film if it wasn't for that sexual assault scene. Its not only gross but just like entirely unnecessary. Just why?  14 (23). Fright Night Part 2 (1988) Directed by Tommy Lee Wallace; Written by Tommy Lee Wallace, Tim Metcalfe, and Miguel Tejada-Flores; Based on Characters by Tom Holland I actually got the vaguest sense I'd seen this before. One of those movies I maybe caught on TV a long time ago and just remember random parts of? Also kind of reminds me of that Jim Carrey vampire film which came out a couple of years earlier? So could be some confusion there? I dunno. Anyway this is fine. Julie Carmen's pretty good as the seductive lead vampire of her big coven of weird and varied vamps. We got wolves, we got rollerskates, we got a big buff dude who loves him some bugs. And really the vampire bowling scene is just plain fun. Feels like there should have been more of that. The problem is in part the one real drawback of the first film. Charlie's just not that interesting. Its kind of nice to see his love interest get to play smart hero instead of damsel in distress but we still kind of have to care about Charlie's plithe and I dunno... I don't.. And Peter Vincent's around doing stuff. But again, its just not that interesting. There's interesting stuff here for sure and it feels at least half like its own film. But Charlie and Peter feel like they're kind of doing the same thing again and that just isn't as interesting as it was the first time. Its not a bad film and it does its own thing. And really, its worth it for the coven of vampires. But I dunno. I just couldn't care about Charlie. Weird learning there were ideas for more sequels but they and this all kind of flipped right out of the gate because right before release the producers were murdered by their sons, the Menendez Brothers. Yeesh. 🌼💀Spook-a-Doodle Half-Way-to-Halloween ’23: Spring Cleaning💀🌼 Watched - New (Total) - (1). Scream (1996); 1 (2). The Invisible Man’s Revenge (1944); 2 (3). Viral (2016); - (4). Scream 2 (1997); 3 (5). Mostly Ghostly 3: One Night in Doom House (2016); 4 (6). Man-Thing (2005); - (7). Vampires (1998); - (8). Vampires: Los Muertos (2002); 5 (9). Vampires: The Turning (2005); 6 (10). Evil Ed (1995); - (11). Scream 3 (2000); 7 (12). Do You Like Hitchcock? (2005); 8 (13). Day of the Dead: Bloodline (2017); - (14). Scream 4 (2011); - (15). Scream (2022); 9 (16). This Island Earth (1955); 10 (17). A Field in England (2013); 11 (18). Scream: The Inside Story (2011); 12 (19). Scream VI (2023); 13 (20). My Best Friend’s Exorcism (2022); - (21). Fright Night (2011); - (22). Brain Damage (1988); 14 (23(. Fright Night Part 2 (1988); Completed Collections: 4/13 - The Invisible Man; Mostly Ghostly; John Carpenter’s Vampires; Scream; Return of the Fallen: 3/13 - Viral; Day of the Dead: Bloodline; My Best Friend’s Exorcism; Spook-A-Doodle Challenges: 5/13 - Day of the Dead: Bloodline (Challenge of the Dead); A Field in England (Horror High); Scream VI (Fresh Hell); Brain Damage (Second Chance); Meta Challenges: History Lesson - The Invisible Man's Revenge (1940s); This Island Earth (1950s); Fright Night Part 2 (1980s); Evil Ed (1990s); Man Thing (2000s); Viral (2010s); Meta Challenges: Geography Lesson - The Invisible Man's Revenge (North America); Evil Ed (Europe); Man Thing (Australia/Oceania); STAC Goat fucked around with this message at 07:41 on May 7, 2023 |
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May 7, 2023 07:36
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 5. M3GAN (2022 technically but really 2023) Finally, some good loving camp! M3GAN is a tongue-in-cheek delight, starting right out the gate with a facsimile toy commercial that's absolutely pitch-perfect in its obnoxious tone, and running rampant by the end when the robo-doll cuts loose with over-the-top dialogue and wild body movement. You will predict every single development in the story but you'll enjoy them all as they come in. Amie Donald as the doll's physical actor and Jenna Davis as the voice both do terrific work elevating the character from the basic concept of "iPad Chucky" to something that's a treat to watch in every scene, both when she's marzipan sweet and when she's a full-on dancing and singing murder monster. I am down for any horror movie that wants to stage the villain busting a move before they commence the stabbing. M3GAN flirts with some tedious "kids raised on screens" parenting politics at points. But it's not strictly an anti-technology rant. A discussion with a child therapist makes a case for how distractions from grief can seem nurturing but must be temporary in order for the person seeking them to change; the robo-doll as a perfect attention machine is a palliative for family and friendship that never needs to be outgrown. I don't quite buy the following argument that it's good to eat poo poo and feel lovely when life serves you a poo poo sandwich, but it's a good context for how M3GAN's prioritization of "emotional protection" becomes the motivation of a jailer.  / 5Knocks off the challenges for Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things and History Lesson: 2020s.
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May 7, 2023 08:38
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gey muckle mowser posted:
Not gonna read the review yet because this is also on my watch list, but saw the score at least and glad to see it's not a turkey. Will report back!
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May 7, 2023 08:51
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Xiahou Dun posted:
I have this penciled in as my selection for Second Chance. I had also never really heard of it except as the movie I'd never heard of that would dominate best of lists. It went right through me the first time I saw it, though.
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May 7, 2023 12:11
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#5 Soft and Quiet (2022), first watch This movie follows a group of women concerned about the direction of their country as they get together, share ideas, and gas themselves up for a home-invasion. I didn't know going in it was a single-shot movie; it was really well-done, with hardly any noticeable connection-shots, and the thing takes place around dusk, which adds an extra challenge to things. The movie itself is more of a thriller than a horror, but hey, I heard about it in the main thread so it counts. The protagonists are maybe the least sympathetic of anything I've seen so far this month, though there is a sort of tragedy in watching as this new-formed group dynamic pushes each of them into this situation none of them would have the will to get into herself. It was really excellently-acted, as well. 4/5 #6 Evil Dead Rise (2023), first watch Yeah so my planned marathon didn't work out, but I managed to catch this slightly later. Anyway, the premise is that one of those evil books makes its way into a condemned, decaying highrise in some city and decides to eat a family instead. And it was great! This is gonna sound odd, but I appreciated that it didn't really raise the scale over the previous movies - it still has this mostly tight, contained cast and setting. Alright, you've got that initial massacre, to explain why their neighbours don't help, but after that it's strictly a family affair, and every kill and busted door really counts. The whole pregnancy subplot felt kind of bizarre and out-of-place, but I guess you've got to give something to the normal people who see this by accident. 4/5 May Challenge: Fresh Hell, being a movie released in 2023#7 The Night Eats the World (2018), first watch.  A man rides out the zombie apocalypse in his own personal Parisian apartment block. A really great mood piece, where there are all these dangers, but they're distant and easy to ignore, for a while at least. It does one of those things I loved about Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, extended sequences of a character doing something carefully and thoroughly, which is somehow made enthralling. Sometimes that thing is survival, and sometimes it's trying to construct meaning when no-one else can see it, but it's all good. It's such a sparse apocalypse - you get absolutely zero information about what's happening to the world, just lots of time to ponder how screwed Sam is. I'm reluctant to say this, because IMO there is zero good Lockdown art, but sometimes this felt like a pandemic movie that got made a couple years early. I really liked the ending - you have no idea if the enormity of Paris is good or bad for him. It's just a whole lot of potential stuff that can happen, and he might live or die or prosper or fail, but it's not over yet. 4/5 
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May 7, 2023 12:43
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10. Scream 3 I was racking my brain to work out which movie to watch for this challenge, since I'm pretty positive on most of the real classics, so I've gone instead for the entry in one of my favourite franchises that's more or less universally agreed upon being the worst entry. And, after rewatching it...it still is, sadly. After all the hurried post-Columbine hard cuts, it just feels so toothless and bland compared to the rest, and especially sucks given the whole spiel in the movie about hysteria regarding violence in movies. The voice changer gimmick is such a lazy cop-out too, a real "we've run out of ideas to set up kills" move. At least it nails its colours to the mast of "we're scraping the barrel now" early with the Jay and Silent Bob cameo. I can tolerate comedy and silliness, but this movie leans on it far too hard at the expense of everything else. Counts for challenge #8: Second Chance Watched so far: The Borderlands, Nosferatu (Shooting Zombies), Shed of the Dead (Challenge of the Dead), Djinn (Holy Terror), Yeti: Curse of the Snow Demon (Tales from the Cryptids), Dolly Dearest (Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things), A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (It's-a Me!), The Addams Family (Drawn and Quartered), White Dog (Woke in Fright), Scream 3 (Second Chance) Total: 10/13
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May 7, 2023 13:51
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7. A Field in England (2013) (first viewing) (watched on Hulu)  This one's making the rounds for this challenge, and I generally agree with the lukewarm reviews. The plot here is pretty loose, and I found it a little confusing. Our backdrop is the 17th century during the English Civil War. Our protagonist, Whitehead (Reece Shersmith), is an alchemist's assistant who's been sent to track down O'Neil (Michael Smiley), a rival who stole documents from Whitehead's master. Whitehead, a sheltered, bookish coward, is singularly unsuited to bounty hunting, and before long he find out that O'Neil has captured HIM, as well as some army deserters he befriended along the way. O'Neil has some kind of nonsensical plot to make Whitehead use a divining rod to find buried treasure, and this for some reason involves tricking Whitehead and his companions into eating a stew made of magic mushrooms in order to... well, it's not clear why this is necessary at all. O'Neil and his cohort just hold them at gunpoint anyway, and if anything their psilocybin haze just slows the work down and gets people killed. I couldn't make heads or tails out of why the war was relevant, what Whitehead's role in the battle was if he wasn't a soldier, how O'Neil was in the right place at the right time to capture Whitehead for his scheme, etc. From some loose research, it seems like this film's biggest fans make claims about it's less about the literal narrative and more about broad allegorical implications, but to me it was thematically incoherent. This might not matter so much if this delivered for our "Horror High" category, but the film's treatment of the mushroom trip, which should be the main draw, is pretty muddled. The film largely fails to deliver on the trippy visuals, and what's even supposed to be hallucinatory or not is pretty confusing because not all of the characters are even under the influence at the same time, or, in some cases, at all. Director Ben Wheatley would revisit some of these ideas and styles with In the Earth, and I'll definitely be going back to that one first if I want a dose of nature and cinematic psychedelics. CHALLENGE: "Horror High." This also contributes to and completes "History Lesson" (5/5 completed) as my first 2010s film of the challenge. --- CHALLENGES: 1. Horror High--A Field in England (2013) 2. Tales from the Cryptids 3. Holy Terror 4. Fresh Hell 5. Shooting Zombies--Ringu (1998) 6. Drawn and Quartered 7. Woke in Fright 8. Second Chance 9. Challenge of the Dead--City of the Living Dead (1980) 10. Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things--Dolls (1987) 11. It's-a Me! 12. History Lesson (5/5 completed)--The Shout (1978) ('70s); Dolls (1987) ('80s); The Fear (1995) ('90s); A Field in England (2013) (2010s); Pearl (2022) (2020s) 13. Geography Lesson (3/5 completed)--The Fear (1995) (North America via USA); The Shout (1978) (Europe via UK)' Ringu (1998) (Asia via Japan) Crescent Wrench fucked around with this message at 16:56 on Jul 20, 2023 |
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May 7, 2023 16:42
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