|
 19. Blood and Black Lace (1964) Went with this one because it's the most popular Bava I had not watch. I liked this less than Black Sunday and Black Sabbath, but more than A Bay of Blood, Shock, or Lisa and the Devil. Giallo movies can be hit or miss for me but this was solid. There's a spooky killer with black gloves (of course) - and a spooky mask and hat! The murderer seems to be killing off a series of models, and of course all of the men are real sleazy creeps about everything. Absolutely loved the look of this, so much color everywhere, and the soundtrack was really cool too. A solid way to finish off my final challenge even if the story dragged at times.  3.5/5 Completes GMM Challenge #11 It's-a Me! I've hit my goal of 13 new watches, and I've finished all of the GMM challenges too. I'll still be watching stuff, though! First time watches: 19/13 GMM Challenges:
|
#
?
May 19, 2023 23:17
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 4, 2024 21:50 |
|
|
7) The Brood (1980) Challenge: Woke In Fright Classic Cronenberg about a woman externalising her mental health issues as killer children. I was 100% certain that I'd watched this before, but it was completely unfamiliar to me. I may have read enough about it that the Mandela Effect kicked in. I wouldn't call it part of his top tier. He always went a bit ropey when dealing directly with psychology, and this is no exception. But there's enough memorable scenes to keep it going, and Ollie Reed is excellent as the radical psychiatrist Raglan. Should I need to justify the challenge: the whole movie centres on Nola's suffering, which she kept pent up for a lifetime because nobody wanted to hear about it. It's a solid criticism of how we deal with mental health, pushing the problems aside as if they weren't real until they become all too real.
|
|
#
?
May 20, 2023 00:20
|
|
|
 - (66). Monkey Shines (1988) Written and directed by George A. Romero; Based on Monkey Shines by Michael Stewart I watched this just over a year ago with friends and the weirdest thing is reading my old review I had a completely different interpretation of the film that time. Back then I thought the main guy was a total rear end in a top hat and that the whole thing was borderline metaphor or red herring about him being the bad guy. Like I really, really didn't like this guy. I actually sympathized with the guy more this time. He's definitely being an rear end in a top hat but I saw how lovely things were for him and how much the terrible circumstances and betrayals he was experiencing were just putting him in a terrible place. And the developing relationship with Ella just leaving him more and more isolated and angry. Not so much because she was necessarily influencing him but that they were influencing each other. That they were getting too co dependent and isolated from everyone else and things weren't going in a good direction. The supernatural/sci fi element is maybe a little low effort and it feels like the film could have been more as a full on metaphor and message film. I think this is kind of what I don't like about a lot of sci fi, that it feels like deeper human ideas often get sidelined for the science fiction. And maybe that's why I've had two completely opposite reactions to it. The ideas here of "animal instinct" and "sin" are overtly stated. A mad scientist messing with nature with terrible consequences. A man falling into a hole and wrestling with his nature and darker elements. Animal being used and experimented by man and turned into a "slave" thinking for itself and lashing out. Codependency of man and animal for better and worse affecting each other symbiotically. All these threads are here but it doesn't feel like they really get fleshed out because we're really focused on killer monkey finale! And don't get me wrong, its a good killer monkey finale. Its a good film. Jason Beghe is good in a role that asks a lot of him as a paraplegic going through some real highs and lows. I mean I guess it would be better if a real paraplegic had been given the opportunity but its the 80s. Speaking of A+ effort for the gratuitous sex scene. I mean yeah its pretty unnecessary and just kind of an excuse to get an actress to show her boobs and climax on camera for no great story reason. But its a creative one. I guess that's it. This is kind of a B horror film? But its a real effort one. I mean I guess it was actually one of Romero's first money studio films and obviously a big production especially with the live animals and puppet work so heavily used. But content wise you can kind of see why this sorta bombed. It looks goofy and B. But its obviously a film that Romero and everyone went into giving their best and coming out with a pretty good film. And certainly a unique one.  - Crooked House (2008) Directed by Damon Thomas; Written by Mark Gatiss Watched on Amazon Prime I guess this won’t technically count here since its actually a 90 minute 3 episode TV miniseries from the UK. Odd. But it was on my list for my challenge so its here unofficially. That was, you know... fine. Its a TV miniseries made up of 3 30 minute episodes but it actually plays much better as a 90 minute film. Its an anthology but the third episode is really kind of the wrap around paid off. The first two episodes are perfectly quant little british ghost stories. You know the type. Period pieces, snobbish Brits kind of asking for it, family secrets and terrible stories about the people who got devastated by the colonialists and capitalists, and some spooky ghosts. Nothing especially memorable or interesting but perfectly fine little British ghost stories that are eery in a way that is safe to watch with your kids around Christmas time as they seem to tend to do. So like I dunno. That does seem like a British tradition and these first two episodes probably would have been perfectly fine fill ins for tradition? But the third story pulls it together. The young man who has been excitedly eaten up these ghosts stories takes the next step in his bad decision tour and courts some ghost stories for himself. I know horror fans who insist they'd absolutely read out of any blood scripted book they find and open any forbidden door and that's basically who we got here. And he gets what he wants and follows down the road long past the point he should stop and then its too late and poo poo gets weird and hosed up. This feels much more heavy and much creepier than the previous pieces but it also works well for that because its those quaint British ghost stories that lulled our protagonist into his bad idea that this could be fun. And boy does that not work out for him. I don't think its great but for what it is its all perfectly fine. As I said I think it plays better in 90 minutes than 3 nights but its kind of a low level engagement either way. But its eery and simple and familiar but in a cozy way. And then it ends big and strong. Makes for a solid watch that lulls you in and then spooks you with the jump scare.  - (67). I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) Directed by Jim Gillespie; Screenplay by Kevin Williamson; Based on I Know What You Did Last Summer by Lois Duncan Watched on Netflix 25 years ago I walked out of the theater and said I hated I Know What You Did Last Summer and that Kevin Williamson was a hack propped up by great directors. I've held this opinion ever since and come up against fans but I finally decided to revisit. And now I must say... I hate I Know What You Did Last Summer and think Kevin Williamson is a hack propped up by great directors. The first and maybe worst problem of the movie is that the characters are such loving assholes. Its not just that they're spoiled teens who treat everyone else like poo poo. Its not just that the entire premise of the film is that they murder a guy and ditch his body. They're just complete assholes even to each other. Now the story probably wants to and could do something with the idea of how the trauma of what they did rips them apart and destroys their relationships. But the film really doesn't do that. It introduces us to them as assholes, immediately does the deed, and then jumps forward to them after their relationships have deteriorated. So there's none of that. Its just assholes. And I read a little about the book and it feels like Williamson intentionally makes them bigger assholes. Like the book starts the year after with the kids being stalked, which inherently puts us in a position to sympathize. And when the book does reveal what the kids do they call an ambulance, they don't ditch the body. So like they're actually humans there. Here the movie just introduces us to under the worst conditions and then what? I didn't read the book so I can't say how it handles things but its gotta be better than this. You could say the idea is to make the protagonists unlikable enough that we don't feel bad for he slasher killing them. And maybe. Certainly that falls into the formula of the slashers Scream was trying to move away from where characters exist solely to die. But this movie has us spend time with our unlikable protagonists. And when the killer shows up the first thing he does is kill the kid they've been bullying. So what the hell? I truly can't tell where this film's sympathies lie at any given moment. By the end it sure seems to want to flip things back around to feeling for our protagonists but like... it doesn't work. They're still the spoiled assholes who treat everyone like poo poo and ran into a dude and ditched his body in the water. Nothing's changed. Apparently there's a cult following for Sarah Michelle Geller's character as having a well defined character. I didn't see it. Rather I think she stands out because she's the only one of the bunch who doesn't seem like a totally self absorbed sociopath. Gellar and Jennifer Love Hewitt are fine I guess. So are Prinze and Philipe. Lets be real, its a stunning cast of stars of the time put out there in tight clothes to sell as a slasher. They're not working with anything. The characters are shallow, unlikable, and stock. The dialogue at best bland and is occasionally deeply painful in its cheesy earnestness. And the story's just loving stupid. I mean really. If you think about it even a little bit its incredibly loving stupid. How the gently caress did the killer get a body and 100 crabs out of a trunk in a matter of minutes in broad daylight without even leaving a wet trunk? That's hardly the biggest problem but its emblematic of just how loving stupid this script really is when you think about it at all. And the final twist is not only dumb but it manages to completely invalidate the entire movie without actually doing the one thing it seems meant to do in alleviating guilt. Its just a loving disaster. This is a dogshit movie that works only as a nostalgia driven, horny as hell, brain dead slasher/murder mystery. Watch to see JLH get chased around by a guy with a hook while not wearing a bra. That's it. Otherwise the only redeeming quality of this film is exposing Kevin Williamson as a lovely writer when Wes Craven or even Robert Rodriguez isn't driving the car.
|
|
#
?
May 20, 2023 04:26
|
|
|
7. The Devil's Doorway Shudder I'm always happy when I find a found footage film I actually like, being how rare it is and all. Delighted to find one that's Irish. Aislinn Clarke contributes a satisfactory effort with what's thus far her only feature-length, as two priests investigate reports of bleeding statues. One's optimistic, one's skeptical. Both are in for a surprise The style works well, making this at least look (if not also feel) like it could blend in with period Hammer films. There's some good scares (the best being more lowkey than others), and Lalor Roddy does an excellent job as the hardened-by-life (and its atrocities amidst the church) Father Thomas, providing its best and most biting scenes **** 7/13 (Beau is Afraid, From Black, Enys Men, Fear 2023, Renfield, Malum, The Devil's Doorway)
|
|
#
?
May 20, 2023 13:59
|
|
|
 7. Blood Vessel (2019) Great title, good premise, awful movie. I literally stopped in the middle of viewing to do some self-assessment and ask myself if I was depressed, because I've been dealing with some personal poo poo lately and everything in the movie was leaving me totally void of enjoyment. A quick genre flick about vampires on a WW2 boat should bring me some smiles even if it's a load of crap. Blood Vessel just sucks though, at every opportunity it settles for the laziest decision it can make, not a single fresh beat to be found anywhere in the execution. And the color grading is atrocious. You can't even appreciate the makeup work on the Nosferatus because 90% of the picture is the shittiest gray-blue digital day-for-night murk that you've seen the since the mid-2000s, and the other 10% is the same thing with a flat red tint. A hideous boring nothing.  / 5
|
|
#
?
May 20, 2023 18:40
|
|
|
9. Suburban Sasquatch (2004) This is definitely the kind of thing you’re supposed to watch after a few drinks and it’s maybe twenty minutes too long, but I couldn’t make it through any given 30 seconds without grinning like a loon. What a stupid delight!
|
|
#
?
May 20, 2023 20:26
|
|
|
30. Slash/Back - 2022 Directed by Nyla Innuksuk 🎃 Geography lesson 🎃 North America  A pretty decent kids on bikes adventure movie with some creative creature effects and likable characters. It doesn't break a lot of new ground, but the scenery is fantastic and it's a really underrepresented point of view for a horror movie. 💀💀💀/5 Spooky May Spring Cleaning 13/13 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; 8. Saw III; 9. Saw IV; 10. Saw V; 11. Saw VI; 12. Saw VII 3D: The Final Chapter; 13. Jigsaw GMM Challenges 12/13 1. Horror High - Bliss 2. Tales from the Cryptids - Mongolian Death Worm 3. Holy Terror - Incantation 4. Fresh Hell - The Pope's Exorcist 5. Shooting Zombies - The Fall of the House of Usher 6. Drawn and Quartered - Violence Voyager 7. Woke in Fright - Tales from the Hood 8. Second Chance - The Fly 9. Challenge of the Dead - Survival of the Dead 10. Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things - The Pit 11. It's-a Me! - Baron Blood 12. History lesson - Alice, Sweet Alice (1970s); Evil Ed (1990s); Do You Like Hitchcock? (2000s); Blood Moon (2010s); Hellraiser (2020s) 13. Geography Lesson - Slash/Back (North America) Completed Collections * The Basket Case Trilogy * The Firefly Collection * The Blind Dead Collection * The Ginger Snaps Collection * The Saw Collection
|
|
#
?
May 20, 2023 21:13
|
|
|
 20. The Comic (1985) Found this on Arrow. The synopsis says, "In a future police state, a stand-up comic murders a competitor for a job, then gets mixed up with a stripper." I guess that's the story, sure. It's one of those movies where you're not sure if the people making it are either (1) super artsy fartsy and bad at making movies, or (2) just really bad at making movies. Incoherent, ostensibly about a comedian who is willing to do anything to get a gig but turns into a bunch of baloney nonsense and drags on forever and ever, I hated this but was simul-watching with friends so we all just sat through it, mad. 1/5 21. Holidays (2016) It wouldn't be a horror movie challenge without an anthology (at least for me). This features eight shorts, each focused on a different holiday - Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Halloween, Christmas, and New Year's Eve - and like most anthologies, it's a mixed bag. Most of them just end with a bit of a shrug and an "oh, okay sure". The Valentine's Day short (Dennis Widmyer of Starry Eyes and the Pet Sematary remake) is a bit predictable but solid compared to the rest, helped by a great lead. The Easter short was the most memorable, and I was really into the Father's Day short until it ends with another "oh I guess that's it" - but it had good build up. The last three (Halloween, Christmas, and NYE) are bad or bland - Kevin Smith's Halloween short is atrocious and features the Epic Meal Time guy who I can't stand whereas the Christmas short features Seth Green a a fun premise that ends way too quickly to breathe. YMMV depending on your appetite for shorts - there is no wraparound or larger narrative to speak of, each short ends with a greeting card listing the title and director, then the next one starts. A resounding "ehhnn". 2.5/5First time watches: 21/13 GMM Challenges:
|
|
#
?
May 20, 2023 21:25
|
|
|
 #10 Ms. 45 (1981) Rage against the sewing machine! After she is raped, a silent seamstress gets in the revenge habit (that’s a nun pun, son). The Good The movie grabs the viewer right from the opening scene and then doesn’t let up. Viewers can find their pulses raise and adrenaline flow the whole time; The camera work and many of the performances (especially Zoë Lund) are stunning. The Bad Halfway in, the movie shifts gears from a tense psychological story of abuse and survival and into a boilerplate action-revenge flick, complete with generic ‘70s music, disposable characters, and ethnic stereotypes. The Ugly Sexual violence survivors should know that the first half may be a difficult watch. The assault(s), immediate aftermath, and lingering trauma are all horrific, intense, and realistic. (Thankfully none of it comes off as gratuitous, salacious, titillating, or voyeuristic. Nor should it.) Total: 10 Challenges Completed: Holy Terror, History Lesson, Second Chance, Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things
|
|
#
?
May 20, 2023 22:44
|
|
|
twernt posted:30. Slash/Back - 2022 Son of a-  Slash/Back (2022) ; Nyla Innuksuk A movie that I was going to love no matter how it was executed, so it's official rating is gonna be "undefined". It's cute and has a new perspective and I'd like to see more like it. The acting was super variable, with each of the characters having pretty obviously been cast for their ability to do one thing, so they just do that : the Maika and Uki's actresses especially seem really good at their one main emotion (tween disaffection and pure chutzpah, respectively) and absolute dogshit at anything else. Really though, I'm just echoing everyone else so I want to focus in on one dichotomy, the special effects : When they try to do anything close-up with that CGI polar bear, you just wish they hadn't. I started to feel really depressed when it killed the cop, because I was worried the rest of the movie was going to be like that. But then the practical parts of the vampire-worms in the human skins are great! Quick framing, a decent mask and a good actor : better than most CGI still. Also, shout out for having big ol' chunks in Inuktitut. gently caress yeah. Now who do I have to bully until there's more Native American/First Nations horror movies? Just hand Stephen Graham Jones some comically large bags of money and put him in charge of finding projects with it. I Guess I Should Make a Neater Outline of My Progress Tales from the Cryptids (Indigenous) Fresh Hell (Projects Wolf Hunting) Shooting Zombies (Don't Look Now!) Second Chance (Ringu) Challenge of the Dead (Survival of the Dead) Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things (Slash/Back) 6/11 Total History Lesson : 5 (70's, 90's, 2000's, 2010's, Now) (I'm gonna watch an 80's because that pisses me off too, don't worry) Geography Lesson : 4 (North America, Africa, Europe, Asia) And then I've got another mess of movies just floating around but I stopped caring about over-all numbers. I'm already at about a dozen so I'll be fine without paying attention.
|
|
#
?
May 20, 2023 23:56
|
|
|
8) The Man Who Killed Hitler And Then The Bigfoot (2019) Challenge: Tales From The Cryptids Challenge: History Lesson (1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 2010s, 2020s) So there's this man, right, and he killed Hitler. And then he killed Bigfoot. That pretty much sums up the plot, so it's bulked out with flashbacks to his relationship with a woman before he went to war. From the general scarcity of plot and the huge contrivances made to have it happen, it seems quite likely that this is a movie in the classic AIP mould where they'd come up with a cool title (and sometimes even the poster art) before actually writing the script. As a horror movie it doesn't really work at all and barely even qualifies; one telegraphed jump scare is all there is to try and shock. But it's a nice little character piece for Sam Elliott and I'm always happy to see him work.
|
|
#
?
May 21, 2023 00:34
|
|
|
Xiahou Dun posted:Son of a- Two different categories though! I think we felt the same way about it, but you said it better. 31. Baskin - 2015 Baskın: Karabasan Directed by Can Evrenol 🎃 Geography lesson 🎃 Middle East/Africa  Baskin is so stylish and gross you would swear that it's French. It looks great -- the lighting and color are especially nice. There's also a lot of blood and various other goops. I'm not sure what any of it means, but I'm sure that if going to hell means writhing around in blood and feces I would rather not do that. 💀💀💀.5/5 Spooky May Spring Cleaning 13/13 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; 8. Saw III; 9. Saw IV; 10. Saw V; 11. Saw VI; 12. Saw VII 3D: The Final Chapter; 13. Jigsaw GMM Challenges 12/13 1. Horror High - Bliss 2. Tales from the Cryptids - Mongolian Death Worm 3. Holy Terror - Incantation 4. Fresh Hell - The Pope's Exorcist 5. Shooting Zombies - The Fall of the House of Usher 6. Drawn and Quartered - Violence Voyager 7. Woke in Fright - Tales from the Hood 8. Second Chance - The Fly 9. Challenge of the Dead - Survival of the Dead 10. Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things - The Pit 11. It's-a Me! - Baron Blood 12. History lesson - Alice, Sweet Alice (1970s); Evil Ed (1990s); Do You Like Hitchcock? (2000s); Blood Moon (2010s); Hellraiser (2020s) 13. Geography Lesson - Slash/Back (North America); Baskin (Middle East/Africa) Completed Collections * The Basket Case Trilogy * The Firefly Collection * The Blind Dead Collection * The Ginger Snaps Collection * The Saw Collection
|
|
#
?
May 21, 2023 02:57
|
|
|
 8.The Menu (2022) Pretty, witty, and chock-full of petite pleasures; there's great chuckles to be had from listening to overheard strains of chatter and reading droll text overlays describing dishes. The Menu looks from the outset like it will be a satire on rich foodies and the pretensions of haute cuisine. Over time it reveals itself as something closer to Joel Schumacher's Falling Down, with Ralph Fiennes in the role of a successful white guy going on an ill-justified rampage because of a career's worth of accumulated petty grievances. There's not more than a shred of realism here to hang any social critique on, anyway - instead it's a simmer of spectacle, watching the awkward and artificial structure of a meal at The Most Exclusive Restaurant steadily heat up into confusion, violence, and dread. The "course" structure is a string of escalatingly ridiculous reveals, and it's the classic fun of anticipation watching each step further towards the perverse. The worst aspect of The Menu is simply that, after getting to enjoy the well-observed and humorous variety of personalities in the diners at the beginning of things, they start clamming up into identical postures of silent fear by the end. Keep the good dialogue flowing through the dessert!  / 5 9. Knock at the Cabin (2023) Normally, the phrase "Christian horror" evokes demons, possessions, Satan as an antagonist. Knock at the Cabin is instead a Chick tract put to film. The more I think about the comparison, the truer it rings. Four visitors come upon a family and try to convince them of something seemingly crazy with fate-of-the-world stakes. It's not as noxiously bigoted or crass as most Chick tract excesses but you can see how the narrative forms a Christian evangelist's perspective on the act of evangelism, with the bringers of truth being placed into the role of home invaders despite noble intentions. I usually love that kind of high concept dilemma - how do you possibly persuade someone of something impossible - but a sour taste started percolating in my mouth as I noticed the curious apathy in the script towards the actual convincing methods of the invaders, and the surplus of sympathy directed to their feelings and sacrifices. The sickly energy that I associate with Jack Chick screeds comes out in a shrill emotionality, infecting every performance except Dave Bautista's. It's a weird bombast that feels off even in the heightened circumstances. By the end, Knock at the Cabin even mirrors one of Chick's most tiresome conventions: the fresh convert preaching to the still-disbeliever, whose skepticism has now festered into an agitated, near-lunatic denial of the obvious. I don't care for M. Night Shyamalan's Signs but that at least felt like a genre movie that covered faith in its subject matter, rather than a parable squeezed in the shape of a genre movie. Knock at the Cabin at least holds your attention in the moment through arresting camerawork and Bautista's skill; he's emotionally vulnerable, weary, distraught, polite, but always retains his towering physical menace (until a speech given crumpled in a chair in the last act). Yet the longer I stew on it after the fact, the more distasteful this picture becomes to me.  / 5For challenges, this one came out in 2023 so crosses off Fresh Hell.
|
|
#
?
May 21, 2023 07:25
|
|
|
 - (68). Annihilation (2018) Written and directed by Alex Garland; Based on Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer Watched on Showtime I dunno, I just don't really get this. I mean I think I do. I don't think its terribly deep. I know people who love it and say it really touched them and I don't wanna take that away. Its cool it works for some people so well. I had a big review written for this last night that my laptop crashed and erased and I'm actually glad because it was kind of a mean rant about "sci fi fans" that was probably really unfair and just a group of people I made up in my head. I'm actually really glad there's an audience for this. For me it just bored the hell out of me. I don't know. I'm gonna try and do this without being mean. For me the problem with sci fi is often two things. One, I'm not really interested in the sci fi future elements that drive so many of these and enamor so many fans. Future worlds full of spaceship adventures or dystopian nightmares where the world has gone to hell on paths we're concerned with today. I just rather be here, now, I guess. The other thing is that these kinds of ideas and philosophical questions often come up in these films and are treated as very deep and serious elements but I find they're usually handled very shallowly without adding much to the conversation. They point out something bad or sad that's been pointed out many times before and then the film just kind of gets sidetracked by those enamoring sci fi elements and leaves the conversation unresolved. And then that's "thought provoking" and "leaves the audience asking questions" but like... that's just because you stopped talking. Not because you said anything interesting. Was that mean? I hope not. I dunno. Its a pretty film filled with visuals and stuff that feels like the main draw. Its a talented cast who do well with characters that feel a bit one note to me. There's obvious themes of loss and change and whether to fight or accept that are there and clearly do resonate with many. But it just feels shallow to me. I just never feel like we go deep with the characters or these issues or anything. And the ending that people go crazy for... I dunno. I just don't get anything from it. The film drags for me and then doesn't leave me with anything in the end. And like none of that cool A/V stuff really is much more to me than a light show. I dunno what to say. Its just not my thing. I guess that's it really. Its just not my thing.  48 (69). Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971) Directed by Yoshimitsu Banno; Written by Yoshimitsu Banno and Takeshi Kimura Watched on HBOMax That was a fun one and a weird one. Well "weird" is becoming a relative term with these movies. Its clear that like they were in this place with these movies where they kept bouncing back and forth between wanting to keep cranking out the same stuff to make the money and do something new and different. And they sure come up with some weird stuff trying to be different. I wasn't super sold on the idea that smog and pollution was worse than Godzilla. I mean I appreciate the idea and all and yeah, serious world threatening problem. But rampaging firebreathing monsters that destroy entire populations once a year also kind of a problem. It feels like you could actually do something interesting with playing kaiju as a parallel to natural disasters. I guess the current Monsterverse is going the exact opposite route making them into some kind of sentinals of the earth or something. I dunno. Its weird because... you know... rampaging monsters murdering lots of people and puppies and stuff. But I digress. Turning the pollution into a giant partially man made kaiju is an inspired idea. Its kind of weird and nonsensical that it just randomly turns into a space ship sometimes so that it can spread smog. Like I get it but its weird. But hey, we're weird now. I get it. Its not as weird as some of the other plots in the last few of these movies. Hedorah is a pretty cool looking monster even beyond the idea. And I mean its fun to do a different monster that's more than just a giant dinosaur or bug. I don't know if I'm totally sold on Godzilla's face turn. Maybe he's maturing now that he's a dad? Maybe he just needed a weekend away from the kid? I get the sense the idea her is Godzilla found mutual ground with humanity over protecting the Earth. Which is cheesy but ok, whatever. I've been really hesitant about the idea of Godzilla being treated as the good guy since that first really tragic movie but I guess ever since he became a dad I've just softened up. I'm soft that way. Its fun and kinda silly but also kinda well meaning about a something important. I'm glad I got back on this kick and I'm definitely gonna try and finish these by the end of May. They're a very fun and easy palette cleanser and I got that momentum back I lost around movie #7 or 8. There's a lot of them. And I'm only in the first "era". Wait are these really named after Japanese emperors? That's weird.  49 (70). The Thing with Two Heads (1972) Directed by Lee Frost; Written by Lee Frost, Wes Bishop, and James Gordon White Watched on Svengoolie Well that was a weird one! Its tough to really get a handle on what The Thing with Two Heads is even trying to be. One part old school sci fi mad scientist movie. One part blaxploitation action/murder mystery film. Sometimes very seemingly camp and poking fun at itself and at the same time dealing with a serious issue of racism in a way few films of that time were? I really struggled at times to know if something was being done intentionally or not. And then came that ending which was so perfect and hilarious it just sold me on this thing entirely. You know that weird thing going on where some people compare every POC horror with some kind of social or political idea to Get Out? Well this one is actually kind of a bit like Get Out? Go figure. Its not a good film. Its a weird one. There's the dirtbike scene in the middle of the film that feels like it goes on for like half an hour or something. Its weird. The film doesn't seem to ever pick a tone or genre or point. It doesn't ever really commit to the blaxploitation thing or the whole "prove my innocence" thing or the mad scientist sci fi thing. Its just a little of a lot. Its weird. And this is a movie that for sure benefited from watching on Svengoolie since his corny jokes and trivia bits about the surprising number of Oscar winners involved in this thing really kept this moving and interesting. I don't know that I'd ever recommend anyone watch this straight. But I wouldn't tell you not to. Its a weird one for sure and if nothing else it left me with a big smile on my face. Oh happy day...
|
|
#
?
May 21, 2023 08:48
|
|
|
17. Razzennest (2022) Finally got around to watching this after the horror thread talked it up a few weeks ago. And I'm glad I did! A sorta found footage setup, told through the director's commentary of a pretentious art film. The writing is absolutely brilliant, Manus the mad South African director especially is hilarious. The format does mean a few parts feel a bit contrived and feel like everyone has to think out loud since it's basically an audio drama, but it's forgiveable because when it works it really does come together. A novel concept done really well! And there's a coffee machine full of boiling piss. 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), There's Something Wrong with the Children (Fresh Hell), Bliss (Horror High), History of the Occult, Coming Home in the Dark, Braindead, Beau is Afraid, Razzennest Total: 17/13 Gyro Zeppeli fucked around with this message at 13:37 on May 21, 2023 |
|
#
?
May 21, 2023 13:21
|
|
|
I think the movie of Annihilation isn't actually that deep. It's got a moderately complex visual metaphor, but it's glossing over most of the meat of the premise. The film it most reminded me of is Sunshine in that it has a big convoluted sci-fi premise that it doesn't really do justice in order to give the kind of limp-wristed faux-deep "message"that seems profound but is incredibly well-trod ground. The kind of thing that sounds serious but not if you're just reminding the audience it's a possible topic for discussion. Even though it's well executed, it didn't really have much staying power with me. But then again I'm one of the "sci-fi people", so I expect an actual sci fi story instead of just another genre with a coat of laser-paint.
|
|
#
?
May 21, 2023 15:53
|
|
|
Xiahou Dun posted:Even though it's well executed, it didn't really have much staying power with me. I feel like this after every Alex Garland movie, I wish I liked them more than I do.
|
|
#
?
May 21, 2023 16:06
|
|
|
Xiahou Dun posted:I think the movie of Annihilation isn't actually that deep. It's got a moderately complex visual metaphor, but it's glossing over most of the meat of the premise. The film it most reminded me of is Sunshine in that it has a big convoluted sci-fi premise that it doesn't really do justice in order to give the kind of limp-wristed faux-deep "message"that seems profound but is incredibly well-trod ground. The kind of thing that sounds serious but not if you're just reminding the audience it's a possible topic for discussion. Even though it's well executed, it didn't really have much staying power with me. Yeah like the mean version of my review was that sci fi like this feels like talking to a freshman philosophy student to me. There’s a worthwhile conversation and all but it’s clear the kid just started reading and isn’t adding anything new to the conversation. They’re just real excited to be in it. But more simply yeah. It just feels like the movie starts a bunch of conversations and the goes “look at the pretty colors”. I dunno. A True Jar Jar Fan posted:I feel like this after every Alex Garland movie, I wish I liked them more than I do. I liked Ex Machina more but I think that’s a tighter story with a smaller cast so it’s all about the hype focus on those characters rather than the familiar robot/life stuff. STAC Goat fucked around with this message at 16:37 on May 21, 2023 |
|
#
?
May 21, 2023 16:35
|
|
|
It’s a shallow take of a deep topic. Just generally going “what does it really mean to be human, man? *bong rip” is lame. You gotta dive in and do some Jaques Cousteau poo poo instead of just saying that there’s something deep. Which is why someone should make an absolutely baroque adaptation of Blindsight.
|
|
#
?
May 21, 2023 16:58
|
|
|
 12) Saloum - 2022 - Shudder As I've learned with more films from Africa becoming more available, they are very much a mixed bag. I remember during one of the past streams where I missed the showing, but reading the side chat, the film that was from Nigeria ended up with a whole lot of apologizing over having gone in a blind watch and the content was iffy at best. Still, I figured to give Saloum a go. Overall, it was pretty decent. It's a mix of crime thriller and horror done in a ratio that works pretty well. The first half or so is a quite engaging crime thriller. The actors chemistry completely sells it that they're a group of mercenaries who've been together for years. Once they get to the town is when the horror angle ramps up and it's very top notch, but then I'm a total fan of the ancient lands soaked in old magic/mysticism that are just waiting for the right circumstances to reawaken thing. Definitely a recommend from me. gey muckle mowser posted:
|
|
#
?
May 21, 2023 21:32
|
|
|
32. Wolf Creek - 2005 Directed by Greg McLean 🎃 Geography lesson 🎃 Australia/Oceania  It's grim and brutal, but I don't think it really adds up to anything except for the fact that life can be grim and brutal. To be fair, if it had come out much earlier, it could have been Australia's Texas Chain Saw. There's a lot of violence for a movie with such a small cast. The three protagonists get enough character development to be sympathetic. John Jarratt is great at balancing folksy and menacing. 💀💀💀/5 Spooky May Spring Cleaning 13/13 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; 8. Saw III; 9. Saw IV; 10. Saw V; 11. Saw VI; 12. Saw VII 3D: The Final Chapter; 13. Jigsaw GMM Challenges 12/13 1. Horror High - Bliss 2. Tales from the Cryptids - Mongolian Death Worm 3. Holy Terror - Incantation 4. Fresh Hell - The Pope's Exorcist 5. Shooting Zombies - The Fall of the House of Usher 6. Drawn and Quartered - Violence Voyager 7. Woke in Fright - Tales from the Hood 8. Second Chance - The Fly 9. Challenge of the Dead - Survival of the Dead 10. Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things - The Pit 11. It's-a Me! - Baron Blood 12. History lesson - Alice, Sweet Alice (1970s); Evil Ed (1990s); Do You Like Hitchcock? (2000s); Blood Moon (2010s); Hellraiser (2020s) 13. Geography Lesson - Slash/Back (North America); Baskin (Middle East/Africa); Wolf Creek (Australia/Oceania) Completed Collections * The Basket Case Trilogy * The Firefly Collection * The Blind Dead Collection * The Ginger Snaps Collection * The Saw Collection
|
|
#
?
May 21, 2023 23:49
|
|
|
 10. Jennifer's Body (2009) Diablo Cody's writing gives the late '90s/early '00s teenage sex farce genre its very own Rocky Horror Picture Show: Jennifer's Body is camp, meta-commentary, and a curious sincere sweet pathos of its own. Mostly it's hilarious. I cackled so many times between the indie band offering up a victim to Satan for success, J.K. Simmons buried under tweed and impossibly bad hair, and at the center of the spectacle, Megan Fox, blazing through every high school sex-obsessed mean girl stereotype like she was a runner blasting through finish line tape. Like with Rocky Horror, it's almost a fool's errand to unpack all the dense comic bullshit. There are real intense feelings in the material here but they're wrapped in layers of self-parody. Amanda Seyfried's sexual yearning for Fox is in some part an earnest portrayal of repressed small town queerness, yet also a lurid exploitation trope present so that a smoldering lesbian kiss can be served up in the film's advertising - and then that same lurid aspect is called out and mocked in a battle to the death atop a bed where the two suggestively grapple with and insult each other. Fox is femme fatale devourer of men, classic horror sex to violence cause and effect, yet also a feminist subject who after being victimized by men's predation is revenging herself in a sort of undead precursor to Promising Young Woman - and then the film lampshades the absurdity of that lens by making her targets conspicuously harmless high school dudes instead of anyone who might deserve her violence. When I was ready to chalk up the whole thing as farce, I was unnerved by the genuinely creepy transposition of Seyfried having sex with her boyfriend with her horrific visions of Fox consuming her prey. It really got under my skin watching Seyfried's gasping terror at bloody apparitions which is, in the moment, indistinguishable to her partner from the throes of passion. A traumatic sexual experience rendered with appropriate gravity in the same film that quips about the murderess "going both ways" when she attacks a female target. The text refuses to solve down into a single answering equation.  .5 / 5For challenges, this one checks off Woke in Fright with its fascinating tangle of sexual identity.
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2023 01:17
|
|
|
Well gently caress. Now I wanna watch Jennifer’s Body.
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2023 01:23
|
|
|
12. Don't Look Now (1973) (rewatch) (watched via Amazon rental)  Revisiting this one for the "Second Chance" category. This film stars Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie as John and Laura, a couple who have just lost their young daughter in an accidental drowning. Most of the film takes place after her death (although the timeline is a little complicated) as the couple relocates to Venice for John's work. He's been hired to restore a dilapidated church, and the two are trying to pick up their lives and deal with their grief. Then Laura meets a pair of old women, sisters, one of whom claims to be psychic delivering a message from their late daughter. Laura buys in, and John's somewhat willing to swallow his own incredulity to make his wife happy. But the tension increases. The psychic begins to interpret her visions as a warning that John is in danger unless he leaves Venice. There's a killer dumping bodies in the canal. And what to make of the child John keeps seeing out of the corner of his eye, the one wearing the same red raincoat his daughter had on when she died? I first watched this about 3 or 4 years ago, having grown curious seeing this film I'd never really heard about cleaning up on various lists of the best horror films. The They Shoot Zombies, Don't They? list has it at 34 right now. Rolling Stone's list from last October put it all the way at number 4. In 2011, Time Out even named it the number 1 all-tie best British film of any genre whatsoever. Well, I've seen it twice now, and frankly I still don't get it. I generally find Nicolas Roeg pretty cold as a director, and despite being a meditation on grief, this film largely lacks any spark of humanity. The leads do what they can, but Roeg seems determined to try to elevate the undercooked screenplay with overwrought filmmaking. I mention before the timeline is hard to pin down--that's because Roeg chooses an editing style that intercuts the past, present, and premonitions of the future in a deliberately disorienting way. This one went right through me the first time I saw it. On a second viewing, I could admire the deliberate stylistic approach a bit more, but it's in service of something thin and, quite frankly, hacky. Ooh, shots of the lake where the daughter drowned dissolve into shots the canals of Venice! Whoa, man, the psychic is blind! She's got, like, second sight! Oh, the little girl John keeps seeing is really a serial killer dwarf? Well... OK. Usually I can see what I'm missing with an acclaimed film, but this is just a whiff for me. CHALLENGE: "Second Chance." --- CHALLENGES: 1. Horror High--A Field in England (2013) 2. Tales from the Cryptids--Suburban Sasquatch (2004) 3. Holy Terror--Satan's Slaves (2017) 4. Fresh Hell--Evil Dead Rise (2023) 5. Shooting Zombies--Ringu (1998) 6. Drawn and Quartered 7. Woke in Fright--Knife+Heart (2018) 8. Second Chance--Don't Look Now (1973) 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 (6/5 completed)--The Shout (1978) ('70s); Dolls (1987) ('80s); The Fear (1995) ('90s); Suburban Sasquatch (2004) ('00s); A Field in England (2013) (2010s); Pearl (2022) (2020s) 13. Geography Lesson (4/5 completed)--The Fear (1995) (North America via USA); The Shout (1978) (Europe via UK); Ringu (1998) (Asia via Japan); Satan's Slaves (2017) (Southeast Asia via Indonesia) Crescent Wrench fucked around with this message at 14:05 on May 22, 2023 |
|
#
?
May 22, 2023 02:27
|
|
|
32.The Resurrection of Charles Manson (2023) - Absolutely terrible flick about a cult trying to revive Charles Manson. 1.5/5 33. Grave Encounters 2 (2012) - A bit of a favorite. Although not as good as the first one, some of the asylum's new tricks in this one - especially the hole in the wall that goes from horizontal to vertical when you pass through it - are unique. 4/5 34. Aquarium of the Dead (2021) - Asylum flick that I came across when trying to find a cheeky answer to the challenge. Even for the Asylum, this is poo poo. Jaws (3D)/Alien/Deep Blue Sea mashup where most of the characters are suicidally stupid, most of the kills are offscreen, and most of the zombie creatures look like they were rendered on a PS2. 1.5/5 35. Honeygiver Among the Dogs (2016) Bhutan's entry on my world tour. More film noire than horror, as a police detective keeps an eye on a witch/demoness/sorceress who's been accused of murdering the abbess of a monastery in a remote village and ends up uncovering a conspiracy to frame her. A bit overly long. 3/5 36. M.F.A. (2017) Woke in Fright - After an art student sees her rapist die in an accident, she gets the idea to start murdering rapists. Brings up the obvious issues with rape on college campuses - no one believes the victim; the rape survivors group is pushing for emergency phones and rape whistles rather than men stopping rape. Is it still a horror movie when the killer is completely justified? (Yes, it is. Or y'all wouldn't be ranking Friday the 13th films on a bimonthly basis). 3.5/537. Lady Hyde (2022) - Tubi decided to autoplay this after the last one, and I'm always down for a good gender-swap Jekyll & Hyde. Except this isn't that. This is a remake of a Jess Franco film about a woman 38. Eraserhead (1977) Second Chance - Still 90 minutes of umbilical cords being scary. Still filmed in a wind tunnel. 2/5Not quite done, but checking myself: 1. Horror High - Awakening of the Beast (1970) 2. Tales from the Cryptids - The Abominable Snowman (1957) 3. Holy Terror - Attachment (2022) 4. Fresh Hell - Knock at the Cabin (2023) 5. Shooting Zombies - Eyes Without a Face (1960) 6. Drawn and Quartered - Evil Toons (1992) 7. Woke in Fright - M.F.A. (2017) 8. Second Chance - Eraserhead (1977) 9. Challenge of the Dead - Zombie rear end: Toilet of the Dead (2011) 10. Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things - Poison for the Fairies (1986) 11. It's-a Me! - The Fourth Victim (1971) 12. History lesson The Spiral Staircase (1946) The Abominable Snowman (1957) Eyes Without a Face (1960) Night Watch (1973) House (1985) Evil Toons (1992) Dry Season (2006) The Skin (2011) Knock at the Cabin (2023) 13. Geography Lesson North America - House (1985) Europe - Death Line (1972) Central/South America - The Skin (2011) Middle East/Africa - Dry Season (2006) Asia (China, Japan, Korea, India, etc) - Zombie rear end: Toilet of the Dead (2011) No Australia or Southeast Asia, yet. First to the two remaining entries on my world tour list, which are from Grenada and French Guiana.
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2023 03:50
|
|
|
 - (71). Night of the Creeps (1986) Written and directed by Fred Dekker What a loving weird rear end movie. I've seen this before. I know i've seen this before. I absolutely remember it. But I couldn't remember a thing about it coming in. Everything was familiar when it happened but I had no idea it was coming. I think that's mostly because of how loving scatter brain and bizarre this film kind of is. It switches between like three different movies in the first 10 minutes. People say and do absurd things like ask to store their box of brains in the basement or randomly confess murders to some kid they just met. It sometimes drops a super meta joke super dryly. Its sometimes extremely clever and sometimes incredibly random. Its a wild ride for sure and an entertaining one but so weird. The core story is a pretty simple 80s zombie tale without a ton of surprises and with the cliches and tropes seemingly purposely turned up to 11. That 80s douchey frat was so on the nose my underwear just spontaneously wedgied itself. And there's just a gratuitous boobs shower scene because... its the 80s? Or because its making it particularly gratuitous for a laugh? Who knows? And you know its not even until this moment that I realized the horror director name thing. Its weird and wild and fun. Maybe trying very hard to be something? Maybe not totally perfect? Probably a little too heavy on the cliches and tropes like a homage in the middle of the thing its homaging as its happening? I dunno. But its fun. And that's what counts.  50 (72). Slumber Party Massacre (2021) Directed by Danishka Esterhazy; Written by Suzanne Keilly; Based on The Slumber Party Massacre by Rita Mae Brown ”Are they out slumber partying us?” This was goofy fun. I've never seen the original. Avoided it because I don't like slashers and on its face it seems like such an obvious extreme of the misogyny of 80s slasher and horror. But I've heard its really a subversive feminist thing so I've been meaning to see it. And normally I absolutely would have watched it before seeing the remake/reboot/whatever. I'm usually good like that. But I just didn't. What can I say? It happens. But this is fun. Its all very over the top and silly about what its doing but its fun. There's no deep meaning here or anything. Just having a lot of fun with turning those old misogynistic tropes on their head in a borderline cartoon way. It does a good job kind of walking the line between parody and straight. I think the film kind of loses something when it just kind of turns into a slasher. Like just a regular old slasher. But that happens so late into the film and still kind of works in the meta "whoops, be careful what you ask for" sense. So I didn't really mind it too much. It just kind of changed the tone and pace of the film right at the important part. I know what it was going for but I dunno. Maybe if hadn't been a TV movie it could have gone a little harder into that stuff. Or maybe if I was a slasher fan I would appreciated the actual slasher part of the slasher parody more. Who knows? But I liked it. Its a fun movie. Not perfect, not great. But any flaws and nits I can pick are countered by fun elements and good performances. I guess I should probably watch the original one.  - (73). I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998) Directed by Danny Cannon; Written by Trey Callaway I hate the original so like obviously I wasn't too excited to rewatch the sequel. That being said I didn't remember the sequel at all and it doesn't have Williamson's involvement so who knows? Clearly its just a generic bad slasher sequel. Its got the sexy young stars in their tank tops and it introduces a small crew of hotel people including Jack Black, Jeffrey Combs, and Jennifer Esposito so it has a larger body count. A smarter script would have used these people as red herrings for the killer and done some intrigue or something. But this isn't a smart script. Its not a clever script. Its a bare bones sequel. Still considering I think the first film is a loving terrible mess of writing that thinks its way more clever than it is I actually was cautiously hopefully early on that a generic slasher would be better. And I mean I definitely had an easier time with this film. Its not making me mad. Which isn't to say it isn't stupid or bad in ways. It absolutely is. But its not really trying and it certainly doesn't seem to think its outsmarting anyone. So whatever. At least the protagonists aren't all sociopaths. Well Julie still is I guess. And she forgets all about Brandy at the end. But at least she's not outwardly projecting it all film this time. But the film drags and is badly paced. None of those extra characters or kills add anything. I was sort of enjoying Mekhi Pfifer's energy at first but he just becomes obnoxious quickly. Brandy is just there but at least she has more presence than Will. Black and Combs are there and feel super wasted in that as they barely do anything. I was initially thinking the decision to take the setting from a rainy dreary fishing town to the Bahamas to be fun but then they make that place rainy and dreary and abandoned and its all an excuse to introduce voodoo in a dumb way. Which is probably racist but its so nothing I don't even know. Ultimately its a bad film because its just a lot of bad uninspired elements done poorly. And yet I still found that preferable to the first film which thought it was doing more and just made a mess of things. So I think I might like this more than the first film. Or at least I hate it less. I don't really hate it at all. Its just another bad slasher on the pile I'll probably forget about again.
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2023 04:12
|
|
|
The City of the Dead - 1960, UK - Challenge #9 - Challenge of the Dead It's always funny seeing modern New England portrayed as this secretive place that's just barely out of colonial days. The whole region is just lost in a giant, woodsy mist like it's Silent Hill. Once we get to the town of Whitewood, it's actually appropriate at least! Christopher Lee plays a professor of witchcraft studies at an unnamed university. I love listening to Lee lecture, jealous of all his students here! He sends his brightest student, Nan (a charming, adorable Venetia Stevenson,) to the town of Whitewood to learn more than she bargained for. Released the same month and year as Psycho, this film has a very similar protagonist swap midway through. Unfortunately the secondary leads here are a lot less interesting and switching our attention to them kind of sabotages the film's momentum. It's still a fun ride, but the first half is definitely stronger than the second. A very nicely shot film but the story doesn't do a whole lot to differentiate itself from other witch stories of the time. The tone is bizarre, showing pity for women accused of witchcraft and then shortly later jumping to "well on the other hand they were actually incredibly evil." Still, I'm always interested in films where God and Satan are absolutely real, but God remains the weaker of the two. A True Jar Jar Fan fucked around with this message at 04:23 on May 22, 2023 |
|
#
?
May 22, 2023 04:20
|
|
|
#19 Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988), rewatch Exactly what it says on the tin. I first watched this for the challenge a year or two ago, and this really cements it as a favourite. It wastes absolutely no time before getting into hardcore klown hijinks. There's a pie-throwing scene, a clown-car scene, a working balloon bloodhound, all the hits. The mid-movie escalation from shenanigans to a sort of klown death-squad roaming the streets, harvesting bodies with a giant lego vacuum-train, just hits the spot for me. There's this very relaxed attitude to the whole thing. During the climax of the movie, as the heroes are running through the mazelike klown ship, one of them asks "Which way should we go now!?", and the other replies "Does it matter?". Like yeah, of course, it doesn't matter what decisions they make, this scene is going to play out the way it's going to play out, just go along with it and have some fun. Also I missed the first time around that like half the town's population is in the ship when it explodes, oh well. It's not quite as concentrated as last year's Night of the Creeps, but there's a similar vibe there. Watch this if you've just had a string of Downer Horror and you want a pick-me-up. 4/5 #20 The Lair of the White Worm (1988), first watch  Four young people fall afoul of a mysterious priestess and an ancient thing. Another very entertaining horror-comedy, with a standout cast. Amanda Donohoe is the central part, being bad and playing with her food and just seeming utterly at home in the world. A very young Hugh Grant and Peter Capaldi are also in it, Grant establishing his own stereotype and Capaldi being unrecognisable. I love how sensible and straightforward the kids are; they just immediately clock when Eve has been hypnotised. They only get fooled when the audience gets fooled, basically, which is much less frustrating. It also has some solid dream sequences, which really tap into that intriguing senselessness of real dreams.  Majorly horny horror movie, which you don't see that much of these days. 4/5 #21 Demonic (2021), first watch aka DEMON⸸C  A woman, estranged from her mother, agrees to interface with her in a sort of virtual reality for the sake of medical science. A bit of a miss. There are some good parts here; the dream-world has this very distinctive feel to it, that I don't think I've ever seen in a movie before. And I genuinely loved the twist, that the whole thing is being orchestrated by a Catholic black-ops anti-demon death squad. I'm kind of at pains about that last point, because it's so utterly at odds with the supposed premise that it feels like a waste, but at the same time, if it weren't such an insane discontinuity with the supposed premise, it wouldn't be such a fun twist. The mind-world ends up feeling underused, and though its style of nonreality is unique, nothing in there is as strange or memorable as what you get in The Cell. The ending of the movie didn't really work for me either; it relies on the viewer being invested in Carly's relationship with her mother, when I mostly cared about how things were with her two friends. Anyway, worth it for the twist, but don't expect a classic.  2/5 #22 Clearcut (1991), first watch  A Canadian lawyer, representing a Native reservation against a logging company, gets dragged along when one of their members kidnaps the head of the company. It's good! Another thriller-y one, which reminded me at times of First Reformed, in the overwhelming rage at this thing that's happening to the world. The lawyer, Maguire, takes part in a sweat ceremony, where he is asked what he truly desires. Shortly afterwards Arthur comes into his life, kidnaps the exec, Rickets, and brings the two of them (and an elder, Wilf) out on this nightmare camping trip. Maguire is sometimes a captive and sometimes a collaborator, full of uncertainty, always changing sides, sometimes flipping back and forth within a single conversation. Arthur (Graham Greene) is the main presence of the movie: angry but utterly calm; driven to action but in no great rush; dismissive of Maguire but still trying to change his mind. What makes this a horror movie is the steady intrusion of the supernatural. Arthur seems to just be wherever he needs to be, at all times. You start to wonder if he's even real, or if this is all some fantasy of Maguire's, if he needs this external presence to realise the violence he wants to do to Rickets. The only explanation offered by the film comes from Wilf, who brings up the story of Wisakedjak, a sort of trickster spirit sent to teach humans harmonious living, who instead becomes overwhelmed with the need to punish them. Arthur's fate - descending into the lake without concern, seemingly unaware he's surrounded by water - is a perfectly eerie image, and is my favourite presentation of the supernatural - something that seems wrong, but can't be categorised or understood.  Also has some lovely nature photography, and really captures how dark the forest can be during the daytime. 4/5 This is my movie for Holy Terror. It's not explicit or showy in the way of something like The Exorcist, but it uses myth and ritual in a key way, and I'm glad I wound up watching it - there's no way I would have heard of it without this.
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2023 09:39
|
|
Xiahou Dun posted:It’s a shallow take of a deep topic. Just generally going “what does it really mean to be human, man? *bong rip” is lame. You gotta dive in and do some Jaques Cousteau poo poo instead of just saying that there’s something deep. Annihilation is a classic turn your brain off movie. Just enjoy the spooky poo poo.
|
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2023 13:38
|
|
|
33. Even the Wind Is Afraid - 1968 Hasta el viento tiene miedo Directed by Carlos Enrique Taboada 🎃 Geography lesson 🎃 Central/South America  A colorful gothic horror movie set at a ladies' boarding school with a dark secret and a harsh headmistress. It's superficially similar to The House That Screamed, which came out a year later and also takes place at a ladies' boarding school with a dark secret and a harsh headmistress. Even the Wind Is Afraid is much more grounded and feels like it takes its time to build tension. You could also read that as being slow. 💀💀💀.5/5 Spooky May Spring Cleaning 13/13 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; 8. Saw III; 9. Saw IV; 10. Saw V; 11. Saw VI; 12. Saw VII 3D: The Final Chapter; 13. Jigsaw GMM Challenges 12/13 1. Horror High - Bliss 2. Tales from the Cryptids - Mongolian Death Worm 3. Holy Terror - Incantation 4. Fresh Hell - The Pope's Exorcist 5. Shooting Zombies - The Fall of the House of Usher 6. Drawn and Quartered - Violence Voyager 7. Woke in Fright - Tales from the Hood 8. Second Chance - The Fly 9. Challenge of the Dead - Survival of the Dead 10. Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things - The Pit 11. It's-a Me! - Baron Blood 12. History lesson - Alice, Sweet Alice (1970s); Evil Ed (1990s); Do You Like Hitchcock? (2000s); Blood Moon (2010s); Hellraiser (2020s) 13. Geography Lesson - Slash/Back (North America); Baskin (Middle East/Africa); Wolf Creek (Australia/Oceania); Even the Wind Is Afraid (Central/South America) Completed Collections * The Basket Case Trilogy * The Firefly Collection * The Blind Dead Collection * The Ginger Snaps Collection * The Saw Collection
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2023 14:13
|
|
|
Weekend catch-up time. Gotta get those last challenges done with. #17. The Mutilator (aka "Fall Break") (1984) (Shudder via Joe Bob Briggs) A group of college friends visit a beach house owned by one of them while on fall break. There, his insane father stalks and kills most of them. You guys know the story of how Manos: The Hands of Fate got made? How a fertilizer salesman made a bet with a friend that he could make a classic horror movie for no budget, and then he went and made one of the worst pieces of poo poo ever committed to film (and lost his bet)? Something similar happened here, just no bet with a friend - some lawyer got a bug up his rear end to make a film, so he scraped together some money and went and shot a cheapie slasher film (which was the style at the time) on the beach with students and friends. And I can admit that it's better shot and has semi-decent makeup effects (and has a jaunty little opening number), but everything else is similarly Manos-level terrible: acting, scripting, pacing, shooting, all of it is just awful. And boring, on top of that. Apparently this one of those movies that people kept clamoring for Joe Bob to show on "The Last Drive-In." I don't understand that one at all, and it seems like Briggs is approaching this with the same attitude of working through obligations. His periodic inserts do little to help enliven the experience, but at least he can manage to drag attention back to the screen when he cuts in. Thank God for small favors. /5 on its own merits/5 with Joe Bob inserts #18. The Last Matinee (2020) (Shudder) A crazed serial killer stalks, kills and mutilates people inside of a movie theater. An okay little thriller. On paper, this has all of the elements to garner my interest - it has that 80s synth-style score, the garish giallo lighting, a couple of okay slasher-style attack scenes, and it wraps up in less than 90 minutes (far less since the first 2 minutes or so is lost to a bajillion company cards - I think this is seriously the most amount of pretitle company inserts I've ever seen on a single title). In practice, most of the cast is fairly bland, so I was struggling to maintain interest in their eventual outcomes; small kudos for trying with most of the cast, but you needn't have bothered with bending over backwards to keep that annoying kid actor alive, movie. What works does work, I just don't think there's much here that makes this stand out as all that special, either. That in-universe movie that they were watching looked like it sucked out loud, though. Everyone who stayed in the theater after the first reel deserved what they got. (Yes, I know that it's just footage from a real movie made by the guy playing the killer. No, I will not ever bother seeking it out. Life is too short for lovely "Frankenstein" movies.) /5This also completes the "Geography Lesson" challenge, as I have watched films from North America (Mad God, USA! USA!), Europe (Eyes Without a Face, France), Asia (The Boxer's Omen, Hong Kong), Australia (Road Games), and now South America (The Last Matinee, Uruguay/Argentina). gey muckle mowser posted:
 #19. Infinity Pool (Purchased on iTunes) While on vacation at an island resort, a fatal accident sends a writer down a harrowing and metaphysical journey of hedonism, violence and self-discovery. Comparing Brandon Cronenberg to his famous father, it seems like the elder Cronenberg is distinctly interested in matters of the Body, while the younger is more interested in matters of the Soul. David is fascinated by flesh, and what changes to it can due to a person's psyche, whereas Brandon seems fascinated by the extrication of the psyche from corporeal matters altogether. At least, that's what I get from this heady and metaphysical feature follow-up to his debut film Possessor. That was a story about a broken assassin who could remove her psyche and plant it into other people, and how that left her adrift in both her own life and in theirs; this is a story about a repressed man who manages to witness his own death from a third-person perspective and how that irrevocably changes him, revealing sides of himself he didn't expect to be there. From there, the story goes down a rabbit-hole of violent outbursts and extreme hedonism, as lead character James (Alexander Skarsgaard) gets dragged along in the wake of Gabi (Mia Goth, flat brilliant as usual) and her coterie of rich friends. Since all of these people can afford to buy their way out of trouble in this fictional island nation and its out-of-nowhere perfect cloning technology, they feel entitled to go on debauched benders of sex and violence and let their clones take the brutal punishment, and James finds himself first enraptured and then repulsed by how far his new "friends" can go. What remains interesting throughout is how James' repressed egotism plays into everything - he is pretty much always a passive participant in the things that happen to him, yet Gabi was right that she easily tricked him into becoming part of their little "group" by playing to his ego, and that his refusal to take responsibility for what has happened doesn't change anything about him. The experience of being "liberated" from his own death reveals how little depth their is to James, and to all of the other rich folks here, since when they finally take off their masks - ironically, when they end up putting them on to go and rob a powerful general for no real reason other than spite - there's nothing to any of them except greed, anger and lust. Which is true of the rich people in our world today, even without magical cloning technology; don't go giving Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos ideas here, Brendan. Of the two, the father is probably always going to remain more famous, since he has decades of formative work under his belt and years of scholarship already existing. But I confess that David Cronenberg's extremely clinical approach can sometimes work against him, as it ends up being far too detached, too remote, too weird to really sink into the humanist elements that are always floating around in there. Conversely, I see a lot more disgust and nihilism in Brandon's work, but I think that his hallucinatory and far more approachable big-budget mainstream veneer does a lot to hide that from people. Either way, it's leading to exciting output from the younger Cronenberg. It's an interesting split between father-and-son here; I hope they continue to have overlapping works, and overlapping success, for many more years to come. /5Watched so far: The Seed, Witchboard, The Visitor, Mad God, Eyes Without a Face, A Field in England, Dolly Dearest, Black Sabbath, The Boxer's Omen, Survival of the Dead, Deep Red, Road Games, Abominable, The Omen, Lyle, His House, The Mutilator, The Last Matinee, Infinity Pool And, by my reckoning, that is now  ALL CHALLENGES COMPLETED for me this year.
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2023 21:23
|
|
#16: An Angel for Satan 11. It's-a Me! 13. Geography Lesson: Europe(Italy)  A classic gothic horror story about a cursed statue of a beautiful woman pulled from a bog, but with an extra dash of Hammer style sexiness. Would you believe me if I told you there is a modern day young woman who looks exactly like the statue because it was modeled after he ancestor who wanted her beauty to live on forever? Can you guess where the story will go from there? I believe the answer is yes. The one thing that holds An Angel for Satan back is how little sexiness there is. It's a 60s Italian horror about a woman who is just so hot she drives herself and others insane with her hotness. You'd expect nudity. Maybe the version Tubi has is edited? Also despite the title there is no satan. But as it is, it's a perfectly enjoyable little gothic time, and the chick is really very hot. [sub][sub]Challenges in progress 13. Geography Lesson: North America (The Relic) Europe (An Angel for Satan) Asia (Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi File 05: Preface True Story Of The Ghost Of Yotsuya) Challenges complete 1: Horror High: Naked Lunch 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) 4. Fresh Hell: M3gan 5. Shooting Zombies: Happy Birthday To Me 6. Drawn and Quartered: The Spine of Night 8. Second Chance: As Above So Below 10. Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things: Beware! Children at Play 11. It's-a Me!: An Angel for Satan 12. History lesson: 1980s (Beware! Children at Play)1990s (The Relic) 2000s (The Mothman Prophecies) 2010s (Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi File 05: Preface True Story Of The Ghost Of Yotsuya) 2020s (Scream) Gripweed fucked around with this message at 13:26 on May 23, 2023 |
|
|
#
?
May 23, 2023 00:09
|
|
|
39. Blinded (2006) - Grenada's first feature, a melodrama about a domestic abuse victim who shoots her husband. There are some strange narrative choices here - we start with the kill scene, then flash back to their life from their first meeting, and the husband seems fine, even being compared positively to a friend who won't put a ring on it, and there's no sign of the abuse (not letting her go out, not letting her have friends) that's mentioned in the fatal confrontation. We then replay the death and jump to her getting out of prison 14 years later in what was clearly a self-defense killing after he came at her with a gun. According to a title card, she's going in search of her son. According to what's depicted, she goes to the husband's grave, cries, and the son also shows up at the grave. And they don't recognize each other, despite her not having aged a day, the son giving his first name, and the fact that they're both visiting the husband's grave... The end. The lead can act, but this seems to be her only film. (Although I learned in October that a lot of international stuff isn't on the movie sites at all). The antagonist is fine. The film is 90% the two of them, so the fact that the rest of the cast is rough doesn't matter much. 3/5 40. Anuktatop: The Metamorphosis (2016) - The best I was going to do for French Guiana. A documentary/fantasy, I took "everyone wanders off now and again into a parallel, at times almost ghostly world" too literally. Instead, it's mostly a "day in the life" documentary of the Wayana tribe, with a few very brief scenes of an elder discussing the spirit world while an orb floats through the village. And a bizarre ending of a shaman summoning a storm onto a spaceship launch that is narratively disconnected from everything else. 3/5
|
|
#
?
May 23, 2023 04:30
|
|
|
 13) The Medium - 2020 - Shudder In this one a documentary crew goes to film a shaman, Nim who also acts as a medium for a local Goddess. During the filming, the shaman's niece, Mink begins manifesting the signs that she will be the next shaman/medium, but that's when things start going off the rails. Well, this was interesting in parts, though it was a bit overlong. It could've easily been trimmed down and still kept to the plot. It also gets convoluted as Mink's symptoms continue, and more family secrets come out to where at that point I was convinced everyone except for the baby and the dog were awful to varying degrees. I do have strong issues with the dog death that happens as you can clearly see the dog's in distress when Mink's actress picks it up and puts it in the cooking pot. Other parts that had me raising an eyebrow were bits like they allowed the at this point possessed Mink to wander around the house when there's vulnerable family present. Most other films have the vulnerable sent away for their safety at some point. I have a hard time believing there were no options present whether it was go to a neighbor's place, a hotel, or to a temple. I won't be sitting through this one again. gey muckle mowser posted:
|
|
#
?
May 23, 2023 05:21
|
|
|
The Other Side of the Underneath - 1972, UK - Challenge # 7 - Woke in Fright A series of terrifying vignettes set within a failed group home for schizophrenic women. Emotional, sexual, religious shame, otherworldly and immediately familiar. The sound design is such an absolute sensory assault, I can't even imagine how powerful it would be in a theater! Lots of cool visuals using projection upon projection as part of the picture. A film that feels way ahead of its time in multiple ways. Surrealism punctuated by the occasional shard of sharp reality that just serves to make the nightmare that much worse. There's a ton of Christian imagery among the nightmares, hopeful, redemptive symbols immediately attached to suffering and societal failure. Surprisingly, the ending isn't crushing; outcast women find a common connection by reaching outside of the culture they've been placed in, into something elemental. One of those "watch this one a dozen times and find something different each time" films. The abject horror and disorientation I felt was still grounded within recognizable issues of shame, health care and the treatment women receive, every moment is purposeful even when it's beyond me. Relentless surrealism doesn't often connect with me (I'm sorry I can't find anything in Inland Empire, I've really tried) but this one absolutely got into me. There were a couple bits that lost me, but the rest is so strong that it all works out.
|
|
#
?
May 23, 2023 05:39
|
|
|
 51 (74). The Driller Killer (1979) Directed by Abel Ferrara; Written by Nicholas St. John I dunno. I had avoided this for a long time i think because I kept associating it with New York Ripper which I absolutely hate. I've mostly enjoyed Adel Ferrara though. I wouldn't say I love him or anything but he seems to have a good ability to capture authenticity and way people really feel in film. He also captures the spirit of NYC and its own personality as I've seen. So I was told this was nothing like Ripper and I'd be helped by the NYC setting... and that was true. It was my old neighborhood so it was fun to see and it definitely wasn't as gross or sleazy as I feared by the Ripper/Fulci association or the Video Nasty label. That being said I didn't get much from this. Its still pretty trashy and sleazy. Which like I didn't have a huge problem with but also don't get anything from. This is about as cheap and roughly made as it could be while still being a film that feels like a film. Its roughly written, acted, filmed, audio mixed, paced. Its rough. And its slow. It feels long probably because there's very little story or driving narratives or anything. Its a rough watch. And I'm not personally sure I see what makes it special or important. I guess the thing would be that its one of the early cases of a story where the protagonist loses his mind and becomes the monster. But its a rough version. I watched Vampire's Kiss a few days back so it pales in comparison. Now Kiss came like 10 years later but Taxi Driver came like 3 years before this. So I dunno. If people say a film influenced them it influenced them. And maybe Ferrara's cheap, trashy, exploitative approach was an inspiration and accessible thing in a way Scorsese's masterpiece isn't. I don't know. But I didn't get much from it. There are elements of real authenticity. The scene where some people waiting for the bus have to try and politely ignore the dude making a scene. The way sometimes you find yourself living close to someone like a bassist who keeps playing that same chord over and over and over. The terrible disappointment of getting a horrible pizza and then the contradictory frustration of someone hoarding the whole thing. These are definitely human moments and NYC moments. But overall the movie didn't work for me. Maybe if it had approached its core story with more focus on the homeless people and what they went through or something? Instead of on this guy who is better off than them but murdering them because of his problems. Maybe that's it? Maybe this is also kind of an early version of that "mad as hell" guy movies where some guy loses it and "cleans up the streets". But that stuff is gross and bad and this just left a bad taste in my mouth. Much like that pizza would. I think my biggest problem with Video Nasties is that a lot of the time the movies on that list are famous just for being infamous. Its not a list of really good movies that offended someone, its just a list of movies that offended someone. So there's some good movies on that list but there's a lot of really terrible ones that maybe didn't deserve to get banned but really don't offer much more than what offended someone. This probably isn't quite there but it does sort of feel like a film that is elevated by the controversy of it being "censured". Its not as extreme or gross as you'd expect but I also don't think its really as good or foundational. I don't know. I'd love to hear a different take on it but I just fell really flat with it.  52 (75). Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972) Directed by Jun Fukuda; Written by Shinichi Sekizawa Watched on HBOMax Another weird one but one that definitely takes a step back. That is apparently deliberate as the studio didn't like the returns on their weird pollution kaiju with Hedorah. I liked that film. The monster was different and cool and the film really focused on it and Godzilla. But we're taking a step back here and this means a few things. One it means a return of old monsters like Gedorah and Anguirus. I don't mind that. Gedorah is a little try hard but I like Anguirus. I'm all for him being Godzilla's sidekick even if I'm curious how they resolved their issues. Part of the blowback also feels like its in them kind of having fun at the expense of Gedorah by making the main character of this a guy making up really silly monsters out of real world stuff like "homework" and 'moms." At least they kind of kept the pollution angle with the real bad guys. But its those main ones that feels like the biggest and worst pullback. The problem with this Godzilla movie is that there's just not a lot of Godzilla. Or any of the other monsters. They have a big fight for the last act but the hour before that is this dumb sci fi spy story with aliens and goofy characters running around in action scenes. This is familiar because it was the vibe of the last few sequels and I'm not exactly happy to have it back. When you do something real goofy with the kaiju like have them speak in word balloons and have Godzilla just order Anguirus to go check something out like he's a gofer I can get on board because I came for the monsters. But these human stories aren't well executed and they're not what we came for. I don't mind humanity and humans in my monster movies. But do it well... and make sure its still a monster movie. The finish is good enough but like its a bunch of monster fighting after a lot of human/alien nonsense. I got more out of Godzilla vs Hedorah because there was a real story there. The fighting all was built and had gravitas. Its a silly film, but its a better constructed one. This is a silly film that also just feels like they tossed together a silly story to get to the same fights with one new monster. And if I thought Gedorah was kind of try hard you don't wanna hear what I think of Gigan, Is he a cyborg? His fins are a buzzsaw? Whey is everything on him so pointy? That can't be pleasant day to day. I dunno. I'm in the home stretch and these are still goofy easy palette cleansers. But that one was a bit of a letdown. And I just gotta say it. Building a skyscraper with Godzilla leaning on it is just in bad taste.  - (76). Last Night in Soho (2021) Directed by Edgar Wright; Screenplay by Edgar Wright and Krysty Wilson-Cairns Watched on HBOMax Really do dig this. Don't get the hate. Feels like it comes from folks who either want it to be all male driven juvenile like much of Wright's earlier work or a full on gross, misogynistic giallo as it takes some influence from. I dunno. I dug it. I dig its style and vibe and music. I dig the cool little tricks the editing plays with mirrors and Ellie's unclear perception. I dig the Stephen King'esque vibe of Ellie having the shining and feeling out of time and between worlds. I feel like it probably takes more or as much from that as the giallo so many horror fans are obsessed with and I hate. It takes the good parts of the giallo like the color and style and sensuality but ditches the misogyny and male gaze and trashiness. It does something most giallo doesn't do and actually makes a murder mystery that makes some sense and leaves some real clues along the way. It seems like maybe that's what so many people hate? That the ending murder mystery was so ungiallo like. It didn't have some woman being stabbed in her underwear as some random guy with some very dated ableism or something revealed as the killer. Instead it went more off book and supernatural with it. I dug that. Its much more my thing. And the ambiguity of it all. That Ellie doesn't really choose to judge or punish. This isn't about revenge or brutality or cruelty. Not for her. Maybe for the killer. That's the giallo in it. Tremendous performances from the leading ladies of Thomasin McKenzie and Anya Taylor Joy. Really great two up and coming actors kicking rear end and making names for themselves. McKenzie doing such a good job as the Ellie out of time and place who is learning who she is and suffering from what she's experiencing and learning. Taylor Joy as the confident and vivacious Sandie weathering the harsh realities of her dreams and trying to hold onto herself. Loved it. And not to be forgotten Diana Rigg still bringing it like in her Avengers and Muppets days. Ladies just killing it. I like Edgar Wright before this. Mostly. Some love, some not so love, but like. I think this is his most mature and evolved film to date. Its different. It share similarities with Baby Driver's seriousness and tone and there's stylistic threads that run through all his films. But this feels different and that feels cool. A director going out of his comfort zone and doing something else. And I think doing it well. And something welcome with more films that ain't about dudes or reduces women to those few roles they've had in horror for generations. I'm curious to see what he does next and happy it won't just be the same kind of stuff. Dunno what it will be but I'll be watching.
|
|
#
?
May 23, 2023 08:04
|
|
|
Blood and Black Lace (1964) -- Mixup at the stage light factory... Oops! All gels!! I mean, look at this poo poo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfguxYMHCzU A bunch of coked up fashion shop employees get picked off by Spirit Halloween Darkman in order to cover up a murder. Then to cover up that murder. Then to cover up THAT murder etc. A decent little thriller and textbook early giallo. ⚞💀Progress Tracker💀⚟ 01. Idle Hands 🎃History Lesson 1990s🎃 🎃Horror High🎃 02. Maniac Cop 🎃History Lesson 1980s🎃 03. Skinamarink 🎃History Lesson 2020s🎃 🎃Fresh Hell (released in North America in January)🎃 04. Ginger Snaps 🎃History Lesson 2000s🎃 05. The Night Eats the World 🎃History Lesson 2010s🎃 06. Terrifier 07. Alligator 🎃Tales from the Cryptids🎃 08. Evil Dead II 09. Blood Quantum 🎃Woke in Fright🎃 10. Blood and Black Lace 🎃It's-a Me!🎃
|
|
#
?
May 23, 2023 08:23
|
|
|
Sorry for spamming the thread. A big review catchup after a bought of insomnia. 53 (77). The Manson Brothers Midnight Zombie Massacre (2021) Directed by Max Martin; Written by Mike Carey and Chris Margetis Watched on Amazon Prime This was way better than it had any right to be. I couldn't sleep and was feeling down and just wanted a horror comedy so I popped this on half hoping it would be bad enough for me to doze off and take it off my watchlist. But it actually amused me. I heard about this a year or so ago on Svengoolie. Corny dad jokes, wrestling, and zombies are a combination that definitely should entertain me and it did. Probably not for everyone. You may need to be kind of familiar with the inner workings of wrestling to get the more workplace comedy aspects of this. But they were very good and very clever. At the very least you probably have to like have seen The Wrestler. And the humor is definitely very small and dad joke and kinda corny rather than uproarious or quotable or mean or anything. Like one of the running gags is just the good natured behemoth Stone constantly engaging in malapropisms and revealing silly lifelong misunderstandings to the frustrated bemusement of his loving brother. The Manson Brothers of Chris Margetis are Mike Carey really very amusing as the leads. I don't know a lot about them. They're Chicago local wrestlers and they do some podcasts or something. That's all I know. But they actually have some charisma and acting chops and comedic timing. And this movie makes a very important decision that a lot of wrestling movies don't by not casting wrestlers. There's this idea in the wrestling world that since wrestlers are performers they can all just act. And well... its wrong. Its very wrong. But while this cast seems to be made up of a mix of veteran actors and MMA fighters and weightlifters and probably a wrestler or two from the looks of the action it also seems to have actually done casting and found people with some basic acting skills. Maybe its Chicago and its legendary improv and comedy foundation? I imagine a lot of it is also just the writing and directing because like even Randy Couture and Bas Rutten are carrying the own here. And I've seen Randy in stuff and he wasn't good. And Bas is about exactly what you'd expect from an old fighter. But they work here which really feels like a testament to the directing and just everyone knowing everyone's strengths and the right tone to go with. Its not great. Its not gonna change your world or make anyone a star. Its basically exactly what a wrestler zombie movie is in your head, except its actually pretty well done. Its a solid, decent, reasonably well acted, kinda funny movie that even has a sorta story. I mean the story's basically just "wrestlers vs zombies". And the film doesn't even treat the death of loved ones as too big a deal because its all very campy. And there was one or two jokes that made me worry we were gonna wander into MAGA territory. But all in all this just amused me and was fun.  54 (78). Santo vs. the Vampire Women (1962) Directed by Alfonso Corona Blake; Written by Alfonso Corona Blake, Rafael García Travesi, Antonio Orellana, and Fernando Osés Having watched the Manson Brothers Wrestlers vs Zombies movie that definitely pays some homage to the old luchador horror movies I figured it was about time I finally watched myself an El Santo movie. I'm a big wrestling fan and a big fan of those old classic horrors so I was kind of excited about this despite the MST3K reputation. And really there's a lot I liked in here. Its clear the movie is taking after the classic Universal monster movies and I love them so its a great vibe that they really do a good job copying. The vampire coven scenes are very cool and sinister and the whole thing has that old classic vibe. I also loved the idea of the vampire goons who were just big wrestler dudes with no sleeves and capes. Or Santo's opponent being replaced by a vampire, Santo realizing something is wrong when he uses dreaded deadly karate, and unmasking him to reveal a werewolf! Really fun stuff. The problem is that its the 60s and this feels like a movie from the 30s. There's awkward elements and slow pacing that feels natural for the time when filmmakers were still kind of figuring this whole thing out but feels like either Mexican filmmakers a bit behind the curve here or copying something they maybe shouldn't. What makes it worse is those old Universals generally ran around 70 minutes but this is at a more standard for the 60s 90 minutes. That means there's a little extra filler and downtime and slow pacing here than back in the day. Its overall not a great movie and I can certainly see why it become a mocked film for those who like to be mean. But I also see why its a beloved cult classic for those who just wanna enjoy the campiness of it all and classic horror sensibilities. And really what isn't fun about the idea of a wrestler who is basically a prophesied soldier of God against the forces of evil and monsters themselves? I'm not sure why it took me so long to get around to one of these but I don't expect it to be my last. Flawed but charming and fun.  55 (79). I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer (2006) Directed by Sylvain White; Written by Michael D. Weiss A truly dreadful film that really walked the line between being bad enough that I just couldn't continue watching and being such nothing that I just kept toughing through it to complete the collection. I'm not sure it was worth it. Considering I hated the first two entries of this franchise suffering through the terrible DTV third was a questionable decision in the first place. Still I figured how bad could it be? I hated the first two so what's one cheaper version with a new cast? But christ its just a terribly made movie at near every level. I'm not gonna suffer through reliving this. There's a million bad things. The curious choice to rely so heavily on natural lighting so that the look changed even within scenes. The utter nothingness of all the characters to the point where I genuinely couldn't keep track of them through the film or tell you who the protagonists were until like 30 minutes in. Even then I don't really get it. There were like 6 kids including 4 girls at the start. Then one dude died and there were 2 girls and 2 guys left. Where'd those other two girls go? And who is that third girl on the poster? I sincerely have no idea who that blonde on the end is. She wasn't a main character. How did she get on the art? Did she get cut from the film or something? I guess Sylvan White came onto this real late and only had two weeks to cast and do pre production. Which certainly explains why its so bad. White's not a good director but like he's made some perfectly competent bad films. I even kind of like The Losers. This film just is crap though and its clearly just the definition of cheap and dirty cash in. And such a weird one like 8 years after the last movie. What led them to rush it out like that? Were the rights running out or something? Its a terrible film you should not waste your time on even if you're some kind of I Know What You Did Last Summer superfan or something. I don't care that they made the Fisherman supernatural. Nothing about him made any sense in the last two films anyway and that's just slasher sequel standard. Its just absolute garbage worse than most cheap slasher sequels. Just poorly made, poorly prepared, poorly funded, barely watcheable, crap.
|
|
#
?
May 23, 2023 09:03
|
|
|
 14) Parasite - 2019 - HBOMax I first watched this some years back when it first hit streaming. Going from my archived review on Letterboxd, I thought it was well made but just didn't click with me at that time so I'd likely give it a second watch later on. It doesn't happen often, but just one of those things that happens on occasion. As it's been a few years and I've watched more stuff, I figured to revisit this one as it fit the challenge of something I've already seen that's well received by the thread, but I wasn't quite on the bandwagon. My view of the film being well made is unchanged. It's definitely earned the awards it's won. As far as the not clicking part, upon reflection I think that was mostly from at that time I really haven't watched much modern society setting Korean films compared to how much I've watched historical settings or clearly horror/zombie entries. Certain nuances were too strange to me. In the years since my watch, I've broadened my horizons more so on the rewatch, a lot more was understandable and not strange anymore. However, with all that said, this film's just not quite my thing. Thrillers in general are fairly hit or miss with me. I won't go out of my way to see it again, but I will definitely recommend it to those who I know would love it. gey muckle mowser posted:
|
|
#
?
May 23, 2023 10:04
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 4, 2024 21:50 |
|
|
More catchup insomnia spamming. Sorry.  56 (80). Fall (2022) Directed by Scott Mann; Written by Scott Mann and Jonathan Frank Watched on Starz ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod This film loving wrecked me. You can definitely poke some holes in it. The first act is very rushed and we really spend no time fleshing our characters out or progressing from tragic death to a year of downward spiral to our questionable road to recovery. And to that end the characters are bit shallow although they define themselves well over the course of the film I think. And yes, at the basic core these people are morons. Its very stupid to climb a very high tower that's been abandoned from maintenance in the middle of nowhere without telling anyone where you're going or doubling up on the water or emergency equipment or something. I'm not a climber but I'd assume professional climbers would have a satellite phone or something? Are those still a thing? Point is you think you'd plan for something to go wrong. And there has to be a better climbing outfit than cutoffs and keds. But I think that stuff is insignificant really. I also really have no patience for the complaint of stupid characters. People are stupid. The world is filled with thrillseekers who make bad decisions. Grieving people make stupid, irrational decisions. These aren't plot holes, they're the characters. And the complaint about them not being defined runs contradictory to the fact that this is in fact definition. It may not be definition that you like but it is. Regardless once they start climbing that loving thing all that goes out the window because this movie is loving tense. Amazingly shot with scenes and shots that are both gorgeous and utterly terrifying. They apparently shot this whole thing on a hundred foot tower they built on a mountain and holy loving poo poo that's insane. Every time the camera looked down I was in utter panic. And the film keeps such brutal tension and borderline vomiting stress throughout. I also think its two tremendous performances from Grace Caroline Currey and Virginia Gardner. Just really great. And if you do think the characters are a bit shallow all the more impressive at how well they defined them without a lot of writing. Maybe they don't quite pass the Bechdel Test and the melodrama between them feels a bit unnecessary at first. But the two give such impressive harrowing performances and accomplish so much with very minimal writing and dialogue. There's not a lot of passionate conversations or anything here. Its two people in an impossibly stressful and dangerous situation working out bigger problems than their personal poo poo. But they do such a good job defining the characters and their relationship in the process. Really A+ performance form both ladies who are also just complete bad asses for the physicality and excess of this performance. Seriously, find me another movie that asked its two leads to spend most of the film acting a hundred feet in the air on a loving pole or swing from wires and poo poo. Badass ladies. Like I said, you can pick at it. But I don't want to. It was a film I felt viscerally and that I had to recover from afterwards. Just really remarkable stuff definitely worth seeing. Maybe not some kind of all time film or anything but a harrowing survival thriller that scared the living poo poo out of me for the better part of an hour and a half.  57 (81). Invasion aka Infection (2005) Directed by Albert Pyun; Written by Cynthia Curnan 60 minutes of footages with maybe 20 minutes of content stretched out with 15 minutes of credits. This is barely even a movie. Its at best an idea or a short. It could have probably been a very solid 20 minute short. It could have probably been a decent film with more effort. The film was apparently shot in a day or two but I don't see how that is some kind of achievement or excuse. It looks like something quickly and poorly thrown together. The concept is fine, even interesting. There's been a number of dashboard camera horrors the last few years and the one positive thing you can really say about this is that Pyun was ahead of the curve by quite a bit. And maybe if he had made some real effort he could have made something special and revolutionary. He seems to get a lot of credit from his fans for being experimental but what's the point of an experiment you don't finish? I start and stop a lot of projects too but I don't expect anyone to appreciate my quarter built table. I definitely don't appreciate a quarter made film. And the funny thing is I was kind of into it at first. I honestly can't think of too many things scarier than driving at night down unpaved roads into unmarked wooded areas. poo poo is hosed. Its a very good atmosphere and setting and the concept of the dashboard cam and the police radio had real potential. But that dries up really quickly and most of this film is just people yelling incoherently over an unchanging image. The whole thing is nothing and then there's some random weirdness about time travel or something midway through? I have no idea. There's these flashes that go unexplained. Nothing really feels like it means anything because nothing is fleshed out or feels like its written past the basic idea. Again, this is just a barely started film. They didn't just not finish the film, they really barely got started. Ultimately it just kind of annoyed me. I don't like these directors who seem to make a career out of making cheap low effort DTV horror films because they know they can make some money with low overage and flooding the market. You know who you are Band and DeCoteau. That seems like a more telling example of the complaint a lot of people have towards mainstream hollywood films being cynical cashins. Like at least those movies tend to have a lot of effort and time put in even when there isn't a ton of artistic merit. But there's a poo poo load of cheap horror that have none of that. I don't know if Pyun is that guy. I've only seen a couple of his films but neither felt like an actual finished film. Maybe he's just not capable of finishing a film. Maybe he's got ideas and not scripts. Not everyone is meant to be a storyteller or feature filmmaker. But I was honestly just kind of annoyed by taking such a small amount of real footage and stretching it out like this to make it appear to be a feature film from a distance. Such a waste of time and a feeling of deception. If you don't have enough footage for a feature than just don't make a feature.  58 (82). Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973) Written and directed by Jun Fukuda Watched on HBOMax I'm not gonna lie, I'm let down. Not only do you kill off Anguirus and the rest of Monster Island in the cold opening but you replace him with a robot? Watching Jet Jaguar fight Gigara and Megalon sort of felt like I was watching the birth of anime or something. Which obviously has its many many fans and I can understand why this film in high circulation helped birth a lot of fans of that stuff in its own way. But you know... that's not my thing and I'm here for monsters. And Godzilla doesn't even show up until there's like 15 minutes left. What a diva. I guess rumor is this was at some point a solo Jet Jaguar film that they wussed out so added Godzilla to. That would make sense. Its certainly more of a Jaguar film than a Godzilla film. But its really more of a film about Jaguar's two dads doing boring spy stuff about an undersea water kingdom in an alliance with space aliens to fight humans or something. Just to be clear 20 years before we started with Godzilla destroying Tokyo as a danger of humans playing with atomic weapons and now we have humans still playing with atomic weapons and wiping out a third of a civilization and needing Godzilla to save them from their monsters? That's... something. I'm not saying I'm on Seatopia's side. They probably should have tried diplomacy before hitting the kaiju button. But poo poo's pretty messed up. I dunno. I've got pretty used to these silly dumb sci fi human plots monopolizing things. There's a trend going on though. It seems like there's a deliberate choice made to move away from the kaiju of the 60s and into these robots and aliens of the 70s. Which I guess makes sense historically but under other circumstances this is probably where I'd start to tune out. But there's two more films in this era... which I guess means this creative change didn't work out. So I'm gonna get this done. RIP Anguirus though. They did Monster Island dirty, And Seatopia still lost a third of its population. Not for nothing but Godzilla's world is a loving nightmare. Its weird how desensitized everyone is to all the horrific tragedy and genocide and alien invasions and monster attacks. Pollution came to life as a monster. How is everyone so loving calm all the time?
|
|
#
?
May 23, 2023 10:32
|
|