|
Dark Angel: The Ascent (1994) Dir. Linda Hassani  “In a church! I couldn't possibly!” “Why not, child?” “I would surely combust!” This one got recommended to me through the Chromecast home menu because it noticed I was watching more and more low budget dreck, but it’s also sorting for well-liked material among this set, I’d wager. I am not a connoisseur of the Full Moon Video library or the complete works of Charles Band, but this is a pretty good movie, especially relative to similarly-budgeted stuff. It’s about the world’s most likeable demoness escaping Hell to learn about humanity and spread God’s final judgment to sinners a bit early. The movie has a strong visual imagination, plenty of B-movie sensibility, is well-paced, and knows how to keep it silly and fun without descending into incoherence.  Metalocalypse: Army of the Doomstar (2023) Dir. Brendon Small  "But you can't even hear the bass." "But you can always feel it." The epic conclusion to Brendon Small’s epic metal band parody takes a little while to really get going, and might have benefited from being a “klok opera” like 2013’s previous entry, which went only 45 minutes. But it picks up where it left off, even with some age creeping into the voicework (Toki just doesn’t sound right), to finally resolve whether the metalocalypse will consume the Earth. The release of the movie has also been paired off with a new album and tour, both of which I recommend. The tour is nothing but the biggest bangers. This is also the first metalocalypse anything that gets away from South Park-style cutout art, which leads to a very anime ending. I would say that if you are not familiar with the show, this movie will not do a lot for you. Pet Sematary Bloodlines (2023) Dir. Lindsey Anderson Beer  “Stay the gently caress out of Ludlow.” This Vietnam War-era prequel has flashes of inspiration (the movie has PTSD themes and eventually returns to Vietnam), interesting visual work, and great character actors, but it’s relying too heavily on callbacks to previous movies. David Duchovny has never been worse, which is saying a lot, because he’s often terrible these days. It’s very strange, because on the whole he has a nothing part, and the strongest aspect of his character is the hair dye. I would’ve just skipped this in his place. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016) Dir. Burr Steers  “A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages. She must be well-trained in the fighting styles of the Kyoto masters, and weapons and tactics of modern Europe.” The book this is based on was probably the high-water mark of the mid-2000’s zombie craze, and at one point was a Natalie Portman vehicle. Then it went through seven years of development hell while zombie media died down. The movie does a lot with a little. The PG-13 rating is juxtaposed with some fun zombie-vision camera work, especially while they are getting beheaded. If you enjoy looking at beautiful men and women in period dress, with passable fighting sequences, it can get you through some of the dull parts, as the movie is a bit longer than the joke can be sustained. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) Dir. Tobe Hooper  “Peel that pig and slice him thick.” Outside of the intro, Tobe Hooper makes no attempt to top the visceral feel of the original and instead attempts to make a “black comedy.” The problem is that it’s not very funny, and the movie repetitively drags itself out to an inverse torture porn scenario: I couldn’t wait for most scenes to end. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was maybe 30 minutes too long, and this is about an hour too long. Dennis Hopper is left with almost nothing to do, which is criminal. Caroline Williams does her level best, and there's spots of real fun here and there involving a skin mask, but there's not much there there. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 (1990) Dir. Jeff Burr  “So, how do you like Texas?” Every actor does an excellent job and it was nice to see a TCM movie that cared about pacing. Working especially well for the movie are Ken Foree and a young Viggo Mortensen. Working against it is that we’ve now seen all this stuff twice before. As I understand it the fourth ones goes into “how could this ‘family’ have more and more members wandering around?” But this one has the first satisfying ending in the series. 1. Bride of Chucky (1998) 4/5 2. Dark Angel: The Ascent (1994) 3/5 3. Dog Soldiers (2002) 4/5 4. The Howling 2: Your Sister Is a Werewolf (1985) 4/5 5. Metalocalypse: Army of the Doomstar (2023) 4/5 6. Pet Sematary Bloodlines (2023) 1/5 7. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016) 2/5 8. The Power (2021) 2/5 9. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) 1/5 10. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 (1999) 3/5 11. Willy’s Wonderland (2021) 2/5 Name Change fucked around with this message at 02:51 on Oct 10, 2023 |
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 00:49
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 6, 2024 22:15 |
|
|
27. Monster A Go-Go (1965) Bill Rebane is an inspiration. None of his films are particularly good and I love them all. Now, this is no Demons of Ludlow...and it's no Twister's Revenge...and it's not even The Game...and not much happens in it...and it loves to tell us things through hilarious faux-philosophical narration and scenes of scientists talking in an attempt to trick us into thinking something is happening in this movie...but it stars a 7-foot guy who was locally known as The Corn King so it can't be all bad. I just wish the Corn King had more scenes. From the moment the inappropriate rock-and-roll opener hits you know you're in for a great time. The echoey borderline-incomprehensible dialogue and scenes of people stopped at the side of the road are very good, too. Don't get me started on the scenes where they tell us that things are mangled worse than anyone has ever seen and then proceed to not show us the supposed mangling, or the part where they show us the burned astronaut who is clearly not burned. I absolutely love the part where two people are making out in a car and Bill decides the thing to do is launch into a monologue about causality and change and how our choices can doom us like he's writing dialogue for 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors. It's very funny to hear that the only good scene, the moment where the Corn King attacks a group of sunbathers, was one of Herschell Gordon Lewis's additions. It's hilarious how this movie really wants us to believe that an astronaut can get affected by radiation and become a giant and that a scientist can "inject antidote" into him until he's "normal". Great stuff. Huge fan of the climax of the movie being the Corn King stumbling down a sewer until we learn through narration that the astronaut people thought he was was actually found floating in the ocean. They walk among us! Spooky. So far this is the worst Bill Rebane movie on the Arrow box set I own but at one hour (despite feeling much longer) it's at least short and pretty funny in its own incompetent way. I had a good time. Rating: 0.5 Lead Suits Out Of 5
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 01:23
|
|
|
 #30.) 24 Hours of Terror (1964; digital; dir. Gastone Grandi) With mobsters and an infiltrator hiding out at a secluded house, a mysterious figure begins killing them off, one by one. Much more of a slow-cooking thriller than a horror, with suspicions rising between the survivors as time goes on, and an ever-incoming 'merchandise' MacGuffin keeping the group from fleeing the house. But with murderous figures keeping their faces off-screen, exaggerated musical stings, the strong sense of isolation for the characters, and night-time exteriors of crickets and shadows, the film does have a fair claim to a partial horror labeling. The tone never fully settles into that mode, even when a cackling murderer is taunting the survivors, but the movie is well-made, with some of the most intense bongo-drumming I've ever heard used in the musical score. The finale's reveal is dissatisfying, but logical enough, and there's a fight that really highlights why Foley is commonplace for the sound of punches. Despite the nice cinematography, and enjoyable moment-to-moment atmosphere, this one ended up leaving me with a disappointed feeling. I hope audiences in 1964 had a better time than I did. “In Paris, you're known as a tough guy.” Rating: 6/10
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 01:35
|
|
|
12. The Old Dark House (Criterion Channel) - looking through their collection of Pre-Code Horror Movies I saw this one which was directed by James Whale and figured it was probably decent. And it is! 11/10 for atmosphere. Karloff is another lumbering mute character, Ernest Thesiger (Dr Pretorious from Bride of Frankenstein) is great, and there’s some neat cinematography for 1932. Not a stone-cold classic like Bride or The Invisible Man but still great. If your forecast calls for a rainy evening, this is an excellent one to put on! 4/5
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 01:41
|
|
|
12. New Nightmare 1994 Directed by Wes Craven Join you. You've given me a way to join you. A great idea trapped in a mediocre movie. New Nightmare never really says anything, except for some commentary from Wes Craven as Wes Craven bemoaning endless sequels that waste their source material that is forgotten almost immediately. 👻👻.5/5 Personal Challenge 12/22 1. Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989); 2. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995); 3. Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998); 4. Halloween: Resurrection (2002); 5. Halloween (2007); 6. Halloween II (2009); 7. Halloween (2018); 8. Halloween Kills (2021); 9. Halloween Ends (2022); 10. A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child (1989); 11. Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991); 12. New Nightmare (1994) Individual Bonus Challenges 3/13 CineD HORROR THREAD POLL CHALLENGE - Halloween (2018) ROB ZOMBIE 20TH ANNIVERSARY CHALLENGE - Halloween (2007) THE SAMHAIN CHALLENGE - Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995) Meta Bonus Challenges 1/4 NEW-TO-YOU - Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989); Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998); Halloween: Resurrection (2002); Halloween II (2009); Halloween Kills (2021); Halloween Ends (2022) Total 12/31 twernt fucked around with this message at 02:04 on Oct 10, 2023 |
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 02:01
|
|
|
 22) Popcorn (1991) Trailer Seen on: Shudder A group of college film students holds a horror movie marathon in an old theater to raise funds for their next project. One of the students, though, has been troubled by dreams of an insane murderer, and soon she and her friends are being hunted by someone who knows her well. Man, I never thought I'd be describing a slasher film as fun and bouncy, but here we are. A lot of Popcorn's charm comes from its central conceit - the movies they're showing at the marathon are William Castle-esque gimmick films, with giant flying mosquitos, shocking seats (a la The Tingler) and smell-o-vision, and the movies-within-the-movie are a lot of fun on their own (and this was two years before Joe Dante's Matinee!). The film is also kind of a celebration of the communal experience of seeing horror movies together in a theater, a theme also worked into the plot, where an avant-garde filmmaker is the killer come back for revenge...or is it? I was kind of surprised when the movie shows its hand with about half an hour left, when most films of this type would have saved a big revelation for the last 10 minutes or so - I actually enjoyed the villain. And it has a great genre cast - Dee Wallace! Ray Walston! Tony Roberts from Amityville 3D! Kelly Jo Minter! You have to suspend disbelief for a lot of the film, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Bonus points for the horror-themed rap song at the end of the movie.  23) The Mutations (aka The Freakmaker; 1974) Trailer Seen on: Amazon A college professor moonlighting as a mad scientist is trying to create plant/animal hybrids; his failures reside at a nearby carnival's freakshow. When a group of his students get a little too close to to the truth, they start disappearing and returning as unspeakable creatures. I've always had this movie in the back of my mind after reading about it in the early 1980s in a sci-fi movie compendium, and I finally got around to watching it. It's pretty skeevy! Donald Pleasance is the mad scientist; he's recruited a deformed circus freakshow owner (Dr. Who's Tom Baker, nearly unrecognizable under heavy prosthetic makeup!) to bring unwilling test subjects to him. There's way more nudity than I was expecting here for some reason, as all the pretty coeds end up on Pleasance's operating table topless; there's also long bath scenes as well. There's a whole subplot with Baker's character and the local carnival freaks - as they constantly remind him, he's one of them (a very, very heavy undercurrent of Tod Browning's Freaks is here, this movie was clearly partially inspired by that film), but he views himself as a temporarily disadvantaged handsome womanizer, as he's helping out Pleasance, who has promised to fix his deformities in exchange for being his muscle. I can't tell if the movie actually wants you to be sympathetic with his character or not, because it's really hard to feel bad for him - he goes to a prostitute (also naked) and she makes him pay extra so she'll say she loves him, but he also delivers up people to fate worse than death and verbally abuses the people at the carnival he runs, so welp. There is a really neat human/venus flytrap hybrid and a plant that gets fed rabbits, but not much else interesting.  24) Metamorphosis: The Alien Factor (1990) Trailer Seen on: Youtube A scientist experimenting on alien cellular tissue creates a bunch of mutant life forms. When one of the critters bites and infects him with the alien DNA, he mutates into a big goopy beast, and the shady corporation he works for will do anything to keep the experiments quiet. Five years before Species, we got a film with a similar plot - it apparently originally started out as a sequel to The Deadly Spawn, one of my favorite movies I watched for the challenge last year. There are echoes of it here, but it's by and large its own, uh, beast. This one really kind of impressed me - the acting is so bad it's good, and there's like three locations used for the entire film, but I know where the money went - to the fantastic and creative menagerie of alien critters the film shows off. They're really quite charming (including one that looks like a boglin, a fearsome but so-ugly-it's-cute yapping alien dog and a venus fly-trap thing). The big monster is shown a lot and it looks really good for a movie of this kind and budget. It shoots out tentacles to latch onto people and spits out flying parasites! There's also some pretty effective body horror and loads of goop and blood. The guy is shown slowly mutating and it's really effective and gross. The movie also gets points for not being afraid to kill anyone, although I took some of those points back by the end, as way too many people who looked like they were in for a toothsome end show up just fine for some reason. All in all I can't quibble too much, this is about as fun as trashy low-budget B-movie horror can get; if you're a fan of creature features, you might actually enjoy this one.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 02:26
|
|
|
 22. I Saw The Devil quote:First, the good: Unflinching gore, some pretty cool fight setpieces, and a truly hateable villain. This is absolutely Korea's The Killing Joke and it delivers on all fronts: chilling, grisly, dark and moody. It's also impeccably shot. ½ / 51. [•Rec] 2. Attack the Block 3. The Wolf House 4. Bird with the Crystal Plumage 5. Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein 6. Perfect Blue 7. Juju Stories 8. The Invisible Man 9. Tetsuo: The Iron Man 10. Ringu 11. Pearl 12. Exorcist III 13. A Bucket of Blood 14. Labirynth 15. Slotherhouse 16. Stoker 17. Lords of Salem 18. MAY 19. Wild Things 20. The Lost Boys 21. Possessor 22. I Saw The Devil
Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 02:46 on Oct 10, 2023 |
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 02:31
|
|
 #9: Tales From The Crypt BITE-SIZED HORRORHISTORY LESSON the 70s. And with that, I have completed this challenge and watched films from 5 decadesI'm generally not fond of anthologies. But there was a British one I quite liked, the one where most of the stories were about men falling in love with vaguely woman-shaped inanimate objects. So I was willing to give this one a shot. I didn't like it. Very simple EC Comics style stories where somebody does something wrong and gets cosmically punished for it. The presentation does little to enhance the material, although the performances are pretty good. With this kind of simple morality tale horror, there's a particular story I don't care for. The one where someone in a position of power is unrelentingly awful to some poor person or people, until eventually at the end they get some kind of supernatural comeuppance. I don't enjoy those stories at all. This movie has two of them. Even if you did like that kind of story, two of them is simply too many in a single anthology that only have five stories. You need more variety than that. Our Cryptkeeper in this movie is Ralph Richardson in a robe. Don't get me wrong, you could certainly do worse. But he's hardly the character the Cryptkeeper would become in later adaptations. So yeah, I didn't like Tales From the Crypt but I think even more anthology-inclined people wouldn't be very impressed. ----------------
|
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 02:39
|
|
|
Bruteman posted:
Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 02:52 on Oct 11, 2023 |
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 02:53
|
|
|
 The Company of Wolves, 1984 When I get movies to watch for these marathons, I just go random lists I find by googling the word horror and some decade or whatever. Or just go by half memories of stuff I heard mentioned or saw somewhere. I never look up info on any of the films beyond maybe imdb.com scores, so I legit don't know what I'm getting into most of the time. So to my surprise, The Company of Wolves was not the werewolf horror I thought it would be based on the name and poster. It is horror and it has werewolves, but it is a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood through some girl's dream. Like as in the whole movie is a dream from start to finish, and you know it from the very start. And because it is a dream, it got this sort of otherworldly feel and look. It is very much a movie more about fairytales, folklore and fantasy before it is a horror film, and if it wasn't for all these in your face, barely metaphors for things like puberty and sex, it could almost be a children's movie. The actual horror stuff is really cool with some of the special effects and that scene 20 minutes in with a man ripping the flesh of his own face as part of his werewolf transformation was really awesome. It is a very different movie from what most people think about as a horror film and I'd put it in the same camp as other 80s fantasy films like Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal before werewolf horror like The Howling and An American Werewolf in London. Very different, but glad I made it a part of my October marathon.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 02:54
|
|
|
50th Anniversary Exorcist Exorcist III  (Film 13/31) What can I say about this that hasn't already been said? It's a great film. It's a great detective movie, horror film, actors showcase, and fantastically tight writing. It touches on some grand philosophical points, but also has genuine intimate moments of friendship. It's my favorite horror film. I feel like there's something new to notice every time. All of the characters are characters. Nobody's wasted, and even the studio-inserted exorcism works. The hospital chaplain is almost a nod to the first film, there to tell the audience that the terms have changed. It should have its own thread, really this whole series should. 5/5
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 02:59
|
|
|
 7. Creepshow One of my favorite horror movies. I got the comic book as a kid, then saw the movie after I wore the comic out. I love all the shorts except the last one. To this day, the one about the bugs just seems like a filler, and a crap way to end such a good collection. The crate gave me nightmares for so long. Stephen King playing Jordy "meteor poo poo!" Verrill cracks me up every time, and the ending is depressing. The standout is Something to Tide You Over with Leslie Nielsen as a sinister ex seeking revenge on his ex-wife and her new man, who is played by Ted Danson. Also, the kid is played by Joe Hill, King's son. And he still gives me goosebumps when he does his evil grin. 4.5/5 
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 03:07
|
|
|
9/31 Magic (1978) This is a movie that threads the needle on telling a story that could easibly be ridiculous. Anthony Hopkins plays a charmless magician who takes on a ventriloquist dummy to improve his act. He constantly suffers under the cripling fear of failure, relying on the dummy (Fats) to get him through. Sad. Suspensful. As things frequently do with dummies, events begin to turn murderous. Hopkins gives an outstanding performace as the deeply troubled Corky, as well as the voice of Fats, giving a certain range of emotion to the wooden dummy I wouldn't have thought likely. Ann-Margaret plays a woman who makes ridiculously terrible choices in men, but you can't help but fear for her. Burgess Meredith is here, as well, and that's awesome. 8.7/10
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 03:28
|
|
|
 #31.) The Great Satan (2018; Tubi; dir. Dimitri Simakis, Lehr Beidelschies, and Nic Maier) Spliced together from thousands of sources, this delirious streak of video effluvia tells the story of the Devil of Christianity as seen through the lens of (mostly) American pop culture. Commenting on the effects, acting, music, cinematography, and such is pointless; it's all about the editing. Picturing the editor software timeline for cutting all this together is almost vertigo-inducing. Part of the fun, of course, is playing 'identify the sample,' and if you've seen a fair amount of trash films, you'll have some familiar footage cropping up. Multiple DeCoteau films appear, along a slew of Full Moon productions, and material from stuff as mainstream as Tom Cruise, Schwarzenegger, and Bill Cosby films (and Mac Tonight). The heavy metal contingent is well-represented, with Ozzy, Danzig, Gene Simmons, GWAR, W.A.S.P., and more in attendance, and just as many evangelists materialize to spread their words of doom. The film does slide off on tangents at times, like supercuts of head explosions, impalings, boobs, and pentagrams, but the video bulimia effect isn't particularly diminished as a result. This may be targeted to a very niche audience, but thankfully, I'm in that niche. “Wow, it's great to be a vampire!” Rating: 8/10
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 03:28
|
|
|
28. P2 (2007) I can't stand Ernest Hemingway. Sure, I learned a lot from studying his writing, but his writing itself? Hate the stuff. As soon as the villain mentioned he had been reading Hemingway I knew this movie knew what it was doing. I didn't realize this was a Christmas movie! That was a fun surprise. There's a lot about this movie I didn't know, actually, other than that it was directed by the same person who did the Maniac remake which my partner always found interesting. This is one of those movies that takes place in a single setting, featuring our protagonist kidnapped by someone and struggling to get out - in this case a security guard who has been watching her on the cameras and just wants to spend Christmas with her. He's such a nice guy, you see, once you get to know him. Two things really make this movie work - the gritty dialogue and realistic tension from the villain that plays perfectly with his handsome and "nonthreatening" looks, and the sheer creativity in which the parking garage setting is used. Like Stage Fright, which I reviewed recently, this movie used parts of the setting in super creative ways and did things I had never seen done before. There's a scene in an elevator that impressed me a lot, and a scene where the villain uses the underside of a van extremely creatively. It keeps things tense and it keeps you guessing because it sets up plenty of red herrings and flickers of hope that it delights in blowing out along the way. I have to wonder if the movie was going to be even meaner at one point but I think they hit the right balance. There are some memorable scenes of bloodshed and some really gross and visceral uses of cars, tire irons, and lockpicks, but it's Wes Bentley's slime-dripping dialogue that never veers into cartoonish evil or cliche that really works. I can imagine a movie like this being made in the modern day and it being hamfisted in a deeply unpleasant and condescending way. This one, though, trusts the audience to realize how messed up it all is and to understand the nuance of it all. It fumbles a little bit in regards to an incident where it's revealed via security cam footage that protagonist Angela was groped on an elevator after a party but for 2007 it's basically as tastefully done as you're going to get. There is animal death in this movie for those who are bothered by this, and it's pretty gruesome too. I love how this movie was shot. Little shaky cam, long stretches where you can clearly understand what's going on and the idea of the setting, and more importantly scenes with actual light and color and music. There are also some great security camera views that add a lot of texture to the cinematography. Again, between the handling of the subject matter and this it's a movie that doesn't really feel like it's from 2007 in a good way. For all the positives though I think it lacks a special spark that would bring it to the level of my favorite single-location-kidnapping-movies in The Loved Ones and 10 Cloverfield Lane, as it does plenty of things well but few things exceptionally well, but if you're on the hunt for an interesting and underrated and very tense time, I recommend it. Rating: 3.5 Elvis Records Out Of 5
Erin M. Fiasco fucked around with this message at 03:40 on Oct 10, 2023 |
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 03:31
|
|
|
13. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010 Directed by Samuel Bayer HISTORY LESSON 2010sDid you really think your boyfriend could wake you up? I'm your boyfriend now. It's one of those "darker, grittier" reboots we all love so much. Freddy is more scary than silly, which makes sense in context. Otherwise, it mostly doesn't work. 👻👻/5 Personal Challenge 13/22 1. Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989); 2. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995); 3. Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998); 4. Halloween: Resurrection (2002); 5. Halloween (2007); 6. Halloween II (2009); 7. Halloween (2018); 8. Halloween Kills (2021); 9. Halloween Ends (2022); 10. A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child (1989); 11. Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991); 12. New Nightmare (1994); 13. A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) Individual Bonus Challenges 3/13 CineD HORROR THREAD POLL CHALLENGE - Halloween (2018) ROB ZOMBIE 20TH ANNIVERSARY CHALLENGE - Halloween (2007) THE SAMHAIN CHALLENGE - Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995) Meta Bonus Challenges 1/4 NEW-TO-YOU - Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989); Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998); Halloween: Resurrection (2002); Halloween II (2009); Halloween Kills (2021); Halloween Ends (2022) Total 13/31
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 03:37
|
|
|
10: Fear X Birthplace of Horror/ History (2000s) I've seen most of the good stuff from the year I was born, so I checked out where I was born, Winnipeg, and came across this one. Terrible title, but John Turturro is the lead so I figured it would be decent. Didn't realize until I started that it was a Nicolas Winding Refn movie, too. As it turns out, it bankrupted him and shut down his old studio. It's not bad, but pretty slow and unsatisfying. Turturro plays Harry, a mall security guard who's wife is killed in a seemingly random shooting that also kills a Dea agent. He's spent all his time since obsessing over security footage and trying to find out what happened, and starts to believe there's a conspiracy. It's well acted; Turturro does a great job of course, and James Remar shows up in the back half as a very conflicted part of the conspiracy. The conspiracy itself is pretty disappointing, The whole plot is laid out by three guys in a room discussing it, and it ultimately was somewhat random/wrong place wrong time.. You can definitely see Refn's fingerprints on this, but its pretty clear that it's an early effort from him.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 03:42
|
|
|
MacheteZombie posted:Have u ever watched the tie in specials for it and the sequel? They're great too Forgot to respond to this - I haven't! I do own a VHS copy of Sticks & Stones and I heard mixed things about the sequel but I'm willing to try just about anything at this point.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 03:44
|
|
|
 20 (31). Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors (1965) Directed by Freddie Francis; Written by Milton Subotsky I got my first Vincent Price in a couple of days ago so seems only right to get my first Cushing too. I think I got Lee earlier. But 2 out of 3 in an old school UK anthology is a good spooky season time in my book. And I get some bunch Donald Sutherland. And it helps that knocked off a bunch of challenges for me. This isn’t really anything special though. I spent the whole film going “its ok, wait until we get to the Lee and Sutherland bits” but they’re nothing special either. They’re not bad or anything. All the usual subjects are here delivering the usual basic charm. They’ve done this kind of thing before and they know how to do it. Throw a bunch of jerks into a room, have someone ham it up as a creepy host, have some fun telling some stories, and then stick it to them. They ain’t breaking the mold but you know what you get every time. And there’s some fun in the segments for sure. The singer who is just a total culturally insensitive rear end. Lee hamming it up as the snooty art critic. The corny silliness of the Sutherland story ending. I particularly enjoyed the idea that the one guy had some pain in the rear end vines that were tough to kill and he went to the Ministry of Defense about it. And they took him up on it. Think they’ll help me clear out my yard? I swear that mint will attack you too and I can’t cut through this poo poo either. All in all its very corny and familiar but that’s kind of what it has going for it. Its just that easy Hammer/Amicus vibe that feels right for the season. This one isn’t going on the favorites list or anything but if some friend wanted me to watch it again I probably wouldn’t mind. Basebf555 posted:
 21 (32). Pet Sematary: Bloodlines (2023) Directed by Lindsey Anderson Beer; Written by Lindsey Anderson Beer and Jeff Buhlerl Based on Pet Sematary by Stephen King Watched on Paramount+ I wanted to like this, I really did. I love King, I like the Pet Sematary series, I thought the remake was fine, and I generally just don’t vibe with the harsh way so many judge new mainstream films, especially streaming ones. Like if you don’t like that kind of film just don’t watch it. You don’t have to just because its new and available. So I came in very very willing to be a contrarian but to be honest at best this film feels half cooked. There’s simultaneously too much going on and not enough. The characters feel poorly developed and there’s too many of them and too many strings that just don’t get proper development. Like off the top of my head Jud’s girlfriend (one of those sisters who all look aline but are different ages so they confuse the poo poo out of me) just disappears for half the film and then becomes a key part of the final act. Her having a prior relationship with the First Nations sister feels like it never comes up but then it matters big. And for that matter Jud’s relationship with her brother and Timmy feels entirely undeveloped until the end when there’s flashbacks of it. Like the hell? That’s across the board. This secret sect of people protecting the town isn’t developed at all. What was the deal with the priest? And why get David Duchovny, Henry Thomas, and Pam loving Grier if you’re just gonna sideline them for most of the film? None of this is confusing or hard to follow or anything, its just all kind of lazily put together with no effort to flesh it out or focus on anything. And there’s stuff I liked. I liked the way that they really kind of leaned in on the idea that the resurrected folks had that kind of Wendigo hunger. There’s some vague allusions in the other films but Timmy seems to be going full on zombie/wendigo hunger. I would have loved to see them dig more into that. Or anything really. This film is just 84 minutes and holy poo poo they did not ask for a single extra minute did they? Just focus and get into the meat of something. Instead we get these really half developed ideas of lore and character history. They’re not necessarily bad but they’re not good either. They’re just tossed around. Its not the worst thing ever. But its not good. It fails to ever really dig in. It doesn’t feel like the previous films and doesn’t ever form its own identity. It abandons its characters and lore ideas to sink or swim on their own. Its so short it never gets annoying or boring or anything and it moves quickly enough that I never got antsy. But I never got engaged either and I only care enough to realize that if Jud went through all this poo poo and STILL started all that poo poo with the Creeds then he’s a real rear end in a top hat. What the gently caress, dude? You could have at least told him the whole story. Way to be an rear end in a top hat. I’m glad you grow up to be John Lithgow and not Fred Gwynne. No disrespect to Lithgow but I don’t want to think less of Gwynne Jud.  22 (33). Jack-O (1995) Directed by Steve Latshaw; Written by Brad Linaweaver, Patrick Moran, and Lee Shapiro Watched on Youtube A movie so bad it killed John Carradine and Cameron Mitchell. Seriously, its rare to encounter a film THIS badly made. Like as amateurish and poorly made as people like to insist every mediocre Hollywood film is in their hyperbolic responses. Or I guess its rare if you’re not seeking it out, which I rarely do. This is apparently some kind of trash film favorite but I actually just pulled it off a list of films set in Florida because I needed that for a challenge and it had the clear Halloween theme. I knew literally nothing else about it when I pressed play and boy was I not prepared for just how bad it was from the acting to the audio to the effects to the story to the low rent Pumpkinhead/Michael Myers whatever its explicitly stealing from. Also that thing all these low rent producers like Band do where they just reuse footage from other films and shove it in there. And poor Linnea Quigley getting paid to take a shower. Apparently the thing fans appreciate the most about this is a train wreck audio commentary where the producer Fred Ray is a condescending dick to director Steve Latshaw until he gets furious and storms off. I listened to a little of it and they seem like assholes. At least the film’s reasonably well shot. Really I don’t know what to say about this. Its poo poo. I guess if you enjoy that you might have fun with it. A lot of people seem to. I was just waiting for it to end so I could go take a poop.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 03:53
|
|
|
Erin M. Fiasco posted:Forgot to respond to this - I haven't! I do own a VHS copy of Sticks & Stones and I heard mixed things about the sequel but I'm willing to try just about anything at this point. I haven't seen Sticks and Stones but it sounds like it uses a lot of the same footage from Curse of the Blair Witch. The three I've seen are Curse, The Burkittsville 7 and the sequel tie in Shadows of the Blair Witch, recommend all 3 for Blair Witch fans.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 04:13
|
|
|
October 9 - Freaky After So the obvious comparison here is Happy Death Day given they had the same director and had the same concept of taking a movie in another genre and adding a a slasher movie to it. I think Freaky pulls the concept off better than Happy Death Day did. It's a lot more energetic, has a better group of characters (including the killer), and is over all a lot more fun. Both Kathryn Newton and Vince Vaughn get a lot to do as the mind swapped pair and when it cut between their storylines it wasn't like I was going, "Can I go back to the interesting one?" It did lean a bit into the self-referential horror film cliches in a way that was kind of tired twenty years ago; I could have done without the standard "the minority character dies first" jokes. There was plenty of other quirkiness and humor that did land for me, though, and it was more hit than miss there. So that was a lot of fun. Not a movie with a lot to chew on, though. Even the gender roles were relatively downplayed which doesn't leave a lot to talk about there. Freaky was just a solid horror comedy that made me smile.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 04:39
|
|
|
 8. Creepshow 2 Not as good as the first, but still a fun movie. Three stories this time, two of which are really good, and one absolute stinker (Again, at the end). I have a hard time deciding if I like "Old Chief Wood'nhead" or "The Raft" better. As a kid, I liked "The Raft" the most, but now that I'm older I think I like the charm of "Old Chief Wood'nhead" more. 3.5/5
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 05:03
|
|
|
 #32.) The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976; Prime Video; dir. Charles B. Pierce) A hooded killer stalks the secluded areas of Texarkana. The movie is presented in something of a reenactment style, as the film was inspired by the real-life Texarkana Moonlight Murders, though the narration is hands-off for large stretches. Some awkward insertions of comedy don't quite jibe with the factual atmosphere the narrative approach lends things, but considering how grim the film would be without them, and the era in which it was released, their presence is understandable, if not exactly welcome. The replication of the 1940s period is impressively done, and for a fan of old cars, there's a lot of eye candy on display. The look of the killer is memorable (no wonder it was ripped off by the Friday the 13th series), and his attacks are brutal enough to cut through any lingering levity from other scenes. Even when a trombone is involved. Considering that the plotting was (somewhat) constrained to the actual events, the pacing and escalation are handled well, though the ending is rather anticlimactic. It's interesting to consider how this sort of 'this really happened' hook, the same used by The Texas Chain Saw Massacre two years earlier, would die off for so long in favor of found footage and mockumentaries in the American horror genre, if you consider the true crime sector a separate thing, letting thrillers have it instead. With my only previous Charles B. Pierce films being the Boggy Creek series, I have to admit, I was taken by surprise with the quality and professionalism of this one. “That's not what excites him. He's abnormal.” Rating: 7/10 CineD HORROR THREAD POLL CHALLENGE (Bracketology Tournament list) CLEARED
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 06:04
|
|
|
 14. The Hills Have Eyes dir. Wes Craven (1977)  Watched in glorious 720p on tubi. An lean 70s horror with all the grime and brutality that promises, but it suffers pretty for being pretty heavily inspired as Texas Chainsaw Massacre, both are about a normal but kind of insufferable group of people who are driven to their edge and picked off by a cannibal family in the hot sun, but only being very effective instead of one of the most perfect movies ever made like TCM. Also some pretty gross actual dead animals of questionable origin, according to wikipedia (I had to look it up because I was surprised how real it looked, which turns out was because it was real). This does have a pointed undercurrent about class and morality going for it though. I liked it but it's not quite a new favorite as far 70s classics go. ½/5, and a portable radio to call your friends on in the desert  . No challenges again, but not that I'm past my initial goal of 13 I'm gonna shoot for the full 31. I'm on pretty good track for it. Challenges Completed (9/13): CineD Horror thread poll GOAT Goats (Tapes list, House List), Horror Adjacent, That Guy (Keith David), Exorcist 50th anniversary, The Birth of Horror (Minneapolis), Animals of Unusual Size (Godzilla and Anguirus), Rob Zombie (Zombies), Back of the Videostore, Picnic in Space (period piece)  Meta Challenges (15/18): New to Me (6/6), Around the World (4/4, Europe/Asia/Australia/South America) History Lesson (5/5, 2000s/1950s/2010s/1980s/1990s) Horror's For Everyone (0/3)  Bingo card 22 Still the same as before. Erin M. Fiasco posted:I love The Blair Witch Project because it feels so authentically like a college project from people who are above-average-but-still-clearly-learning. Like, those early interview segments were straight out of actual projects screened in journalism classes I've taken I love how their early arguments, like the one about missing focus when interviewing the woman at her home, are really the same basic argument they have once things are going downhill in the woods: dodging blame for an understandable mistake they made that nevertheless sucks to have to own up to. It's all people having bitten off a little more than they can chew, just less and less fun as time goes on.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 06:44
|
|
It really is so good, even without the question of the reality of it all.
|
Basebf555 posted:
 11.) Spawn Mark A.Z. Dippé | 1997 | Digital rental rewatch I saw this movie when it first came out and I was 10 with my dad and my then four-year-old brother, knowing nothing about Spawn other than he was a superhero and that he might be homeless? So naturally once the movie began with talk of demons burning down the Gates of Heaven, it was all downhill from there. (Funny enough, I told my brother I was watching this and he’s still pissed I made him watch it.) Now over 25 years later, it’s time to revisit it and uh, it sucks? First and foremost, the CGI has aged horribly. There are puppets of Violator and the Spawn suit does look cool, but it’s not enough. John Leguizamo is incredibly annoying as Clown. I’ve only read a smattering of the comics, but I don’t think it would’ve made me enjoy it more. Hell, it might have made me hate it (Terry, one of the supporting characters was changed from African-American to Caucasian for the film). Overall, it was pretty bad, and I’m glad to avenge my younger self. Though to be fair, I am more of a Savage Dragon guy. Rating: Total: 11/31 New: 10 Rewatches: 1 Individual Bonus Challenges: 7/13 General/Meta Bonus Challenges: 15/18 or 3/4 My Letterboxd list (in progress)
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 07:04
|
|
|
 #9: Signs (2002) Childhood TraumaI didn't watch horror movies as an actual child. Instead, I watched this while visiting my older sister at graduate school when I was a teenager. I was staying in a bedroom that had been vacated after one of her roommate's graduated and from my bed I had a view out a window at a neighbor's roof that, trying to get to sleep at night, seemed very similar to the one from this movie where you see the alien standing on the roof of the barn out of the daughter's window. So, this seems a lot more tame than it did at the time to the horror-uninitiated. It's got a slow build, and while some of that is the strongest material, with the TV footage of the aliens being legitimately creepy, there's probably more stage-setting than necessary, particularly given the slow pace it's delivered with. I still have some affection for this one, but it ended up weaker than I'd remembered it.  /5 #10: The Crazies (1973) Birth of HorrorI'm counting one county over in southwest PA as close enough, particularly since it's directed by Pittsburgh's favorite adopted son, George Romero. A military bio-weapon is accidentally released in a small town, with the infected suffering from mania, rage, or simply dying. We follow the military's attempts to contain the spread of the disease as well as a small group attempting to escape. Not a lot of big scares, rather a disturbing portrayal of society falling apart. The procedural aspects of the military trying to get things under control is interesting and has a grounded cynicism. Similarly, the escaping group behave intelligently, with the movie balancing our sympathy for them not wanting to be forced into quarantine with our understanding that it would be better for the rest of the world if they were. As with a number of other Romero films, the exploration of personal and systemic failures amplifying each other is at the heart of things, with the two colliding for an impressively bleak ending.  /5 #11: Meg 2: The Trench (2023) When Animals of Unusual Size Attack!Even worse than the first. Feels like a mockbuster with a budget. There's one cool shot (the POV eating shot from inside the shark's mouth) and nothing else I can think to recommend it. Shark big, though.  /5 #12: The Exorcist (1973) The Exorcist 50th Anniversary ChallengeHadn't seen this in forever and this seemed a good opportunity for a rewatch. I'd forgotten how late into the movie the actual exorcism happens, but all the time before that is well spent. The opening section in Iraq is a compelling short on its own, and leaves us with a strong enough impression of Max von Sydow's character to last through all the other character introductions. I don't think I ever found it scary, but as a dramatic religious thriller, it's fantastic.  /5 #13: Intersect (2020) Back of the Video Store ChallengeSome science people gently caress around with time travel which causes vaguely Lovecraftian bullshit to happen. Sci-fi horror, particularly with a focus on the science, is something I enjoy, and this poster, which I saw flipping through what was streaming in the horror section on Amazon, seemed to promise that. And unlike most of the movies, I'd never heard of it, so I could legitimately count it as being selected based on the box art. Well, it's gone unrecognized for good reason, it's an absolute slog with amateurish production from top to bottom. The film goes deep on the backstory for the main character, which is cliched and broadly drawn, making most of the movie's focus a belabored anti-bullying/anti-religion message. The writer/director's previous work was a documentary about Richard Dawkins, who also voiced the computer in this movie, so I suppose it's honestly felt, but that doesn't make it any less hamfisted. To the extent the movie bothers with it, the fake science is nonsense even by the standards of this sort of thing and the horrifying threat it unleashes never amounts to much. Can't think of any angle from which to recommend this.  /5
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 07:09
|
|
|
Greekonomics posted:Though to be fair, I am more of a Savage Dragon guy. Hell yeah, me too! I still get Savage Dragon to this day, it's got about 267 issues so far and many more to go. Erik will never retire.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 07:43
|
|
|
Bats (1999) Dir. Louis Morneau  “Don't you see? They want me! Because I can control them. I made them that way. Come to me!” Not a celebrated film, given that Hollywood has been making pictures like this since roughly the end of World War II, but an example of pre-Asylum monster movie filmmaking that at least takes a certain sense of pride. The practical effects work really keeps the movie enjoyable and the set-pieces are well done, so there’s almost nothing to complain about except the 100% rote characters. Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994) Dir. Kim Henkel  “Well, first, I'm gonna kill you. It ain't no fuckin’ biggie.” This film starts as the story of two lousy teenage actors, and also Renee Zellweger (doing a lot with bad writing) and Matthew McConaughey (doing a lot of whatever he wants). For a while that only barely serves to make it enjoyable. When the script eliminates the deadweight and makes it a psychological game between Zellweger and the “Family,” ending with a weird role reversal, it’s better. 1. Bats (1999) 3/5 2. Bride of Chucky (1998) 4/5 3. Dark Angel: The Ascent (1994) 3/5 4. Dog Soldiers (2002) 4/5 5. The Howling 2: Your Sister Is a Werewolf (1985) 4/5 6. Metalocalypse: Army of the Doomstar (2023) 4/5 7. Pet Sematary Bloodlines (2023) 1/5 8. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016) 2/5 9. The Power (2021) 2/5 10. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) 1/5 11. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 (1990) 3/5 12. Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994) 3/5 13. Willy’s Wonderland (2021) 2/5 Name Change fucked around with this message at 08:12 on Oct 10, 2023 |
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 08:09
|
|
|
8. Screams of a Winter Night Your standard group of college kids goes up to a remote cabin in the woods for undefined reasons, a cabin whose original owners were all mysteriously killed in an event that we hear under the credits but don't see. (Which is kind of a neat touch but also kind of irritating.) They end up telling stories about various spooky things they've heard of- two teenagers being attacked by a short sasquatch, three frat pledges spending the night in a haunted hotel, a cemetery with a curse placed on it by someone whom the locals refused to let be buried there, and a shy girl who gets attacked by her blind date and goes homicidal in response. Interestingly enough all the stories feature the main cast of the movie in various roles. The good thing I'll say about this movie is that the atmosphere is occasionally neat and there is a sense of dread in places, like there's the suggestion that something scary might happen. However, this really only works if something scary does actually happen at least once or twice and here's where we run into problems. None of the stories have any meat to them, even for shorts; they all play out in the most simple way. Teens go out in the woods, tiny sasquatch attacks. Two guys go into the cemetery, ghost things attack them. Girl stabs a guy, later stabs another girl. The frat guy story doesn't 100% end like you'd expect but only because the ending feels completely random; I get that they're thinking it's spookier if things aren't explained but that only really works if the build does. In between we get a lot of people walking places or holding boring conversations. I guess they were hoping pure style could carry it but it's not nearly stylish or slick enough to manage it. I appreciate that this is a small local film (made in Louisiana) and everyone's trying, but they just don't get there. This fills Bite-Sized Horror and because it's from 1979, it finishes off History Lesson. 9. The Evil of Frankenstein Dr. Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) and his assistant Hans (Sandor Elés) are driven out of yet another town and end up circling back to his old stomping grounds of Karlstaad, where the Doctor built his first monster some years ago. He figures he can get by without being recognized while the carnival is in town, but alas he gives himself away in a fit of pique at the Burgomaster and ends up in the mountains, where he and Hans befriend a deaf-mute beggar girl (Katy Wild) and find Frankenstein's original creature buried in a glacier. Frankenstein opts to thaw out and revive his creation, and enlists the help of unscrupulous hypnotist Zoltan (Peter Woodthorpe) to help get the creature under control. Zoltan manages to do this, but gets the monster under his control and starts advancing his own sinister agenda. This is a nice and cozy Hammer horror; they'd established the formula by now but hadn't wrung it dry, and the odd storyline is a great showcase for Cushing's grand performance as the unscrupulous mad scientist. Frankenstein is arguably less outright horrible in this one, if only because there is a more obviously horrible person at work, and Cushing gets to really have fun with the character's outrage at the Burgomaster stealing most of his stuff. Wild doesn't get to do much but be menaced by various ne'er do wells but she's an interesting presence nonetheless, not the classic bodice-straining Hammer beauty (though there is one of those, rest assured.). The monster (played by Kiwi Kingston this time) has seen better days- this being coproduced with Universal means he's allowed to have the classic flat head (and Frankenstein's lab has a lot more exploding spark machines) but the design and makeup look kinda shoddy. (It doesn't help that the "glacier" he's found in is clearly composed of plastic wrap.) It's odd because for the most part this movie looks pretty good, they just foul up in a few places. The end is perhaps predictable but it's a fun ride, no classic but an enjoyable evening of spookums. This being a UK joint means I'm now 2/4 on Around the World.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 08:20
|
|
|
8. The Oblong Box Picnic At Hanging Rock in spaceHistory Lesson (1960's)Around the World (Europe)Vincent Price's brother is horribly mutilated in Africa after a misunderstanding and is locked in a tower back in England. He comes up with a scheme to escape which goes wrong and ends up going on a murder spree. I have to say, I was ready for this one to be a slow burn because it's a Poe adaptation, but nothing could prepare me for how bland this was. I'm still not sure how you could put both Vincent Price and Christopher Lee in the same movie and do next to nothing with either of them. 2/5 9. Sole Survivor  Rob ZombieA woman cheats death after being the sole survivor of a plane crash. The problem is she LITERALLY cheated death, and now death wants her soul back and is willing the send his minions out to get it. I really liked the concept of this one. I also appreciated how straight everything was played. There were no tricks or loopholes or Rube Goldberg deaths, just "by the way, it's not natural to cheat death, this is gonna cause issues..." 4/5 10. The Dunwich Horror  A creepy dude asks a professor if he can borrow the Necronomicon. Needless to say, the professor says no, but the creepy guy isn't willing to take no for an answer and decides to open a portal to another dimension. Lovecraft adaptations are pretty hard to do, but this one was just a huge swing and miss. The whole movie felt like taking an Ambien. Even Dean Stockwell spent the whole time talking like he was on NPR. Even the big ending was like, "Right... Was that it then?" 1.5/5 11. Night of the Creeps  That Guy Dick (Dick Miller)When a goofy little alien shoots a jar of brain slugs at earth, a hapless dope comes across it and immediately gets infected. 30 years later, two nerds end up releasing the brain slugs and it's up to them and Tom Atkins to stop them. I'm sure everyone has already seen this one, so I'll keep it short. There's a ton of fun bits in this one, and any movie with Tom Atkins and Dick Miller as Walter Paisley is gonna be a banger. 4/5 12. Flesheater  SamhainA farmer pulls a stump out of the ground in the middle of the woods for some reason and uncovers the grave of Bill Hinzman. Bill bites some horny teens and it goes on like that until it ends. The main draw to this movie is that it's a vanity project for a dude who really wants to be a zombie. For the few of you who don't know, Bill Hinzman played the first zombie in Night of the Living Dead, and it seems like he really rode that poo poo as far as it could take him. He gets more screen time than any other zombie, he gets multiple close ups, and most embarrassing of all, every time a naked girl is on screen, which happens a lot, he's always there to awkwardly grope at them and "accidentally" feel their breasts. Other than that, it's a super generic zombie movie with no twists and next to no plot. Weirdly enough though, the gore and special effects are actually pretty solid. It's the kind of movie you put on when you're doing something else. 2.5/5 challenges: Freddy Vs. Jason Horror Adjancent Birth of Horror Box Art Exorcist at 50 Bite Sized Horror Picnic At Hanging Rock... in Space Rob Zombie That Guy Dick Samhain New-to-You 6/6 History Lesson 5/5 (60's, 70's, 80's, 90's, 2020's) Around the World (Europe) HIFE: Women HIFE: POC 
Biff Rockgroin fucked around with this message at 08:31 on Oct 10, 2023 |
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 08:28
|
|
|
11. The Black Demon Yikes, this was dire. What if we made a movie like Meg, but didn't put in anything even remotely entertaining? It starts out okay, but for a giant shark movie there is just way too much time spent on other things. Family, guilt, morality, everything gets discussed at length, again and again, but it means the shark isn't on screen or even an actual part of the plot. If the boat sank and the people were stuck it would've been nearly the same movie. I like the idea of the shark being sent by nature gods to avenge the destruction of nature by an oil platform, but in the end it doesn't change anything to the giant-shark-kills-people formula. For some reason the shark makes people hallucinate, but oddly enough this also doesn't really make a difference. Get eaten by a shark, or see some colored jellyfish and get eaten by a shark? The result is very much the same and it didn't even add trippy visuals. Boring, not enough shark, not enough death, some cool ideas that end up not being used at all, a big disappointment. Counted for WHEN ANIMALS OF UNUSUAL SIZE ATTACK 
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 08:33
|
|
|
BioTech posted:11. The Black Demon The other major issue is that Josh Lucas is terrible in this.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 09:22
|
|
|
15.) The Exorcist 3 (1990, Shudder) I had pretty much just always heard "all of the Exorcist sequels are bad" all my life until recently in this thread and the general horror thread, and with a hot (steaming pile) new sequel out in theaters it felt like the perfect time to not waste any money on that and check out one of the other maligned sequels. All I knew about E3: Judgement Day was that one jumpscare that got ruined for me by everyone talking about what a great jumpscare it was in an otherwise forgettable film. I don't know what to say that hasn't already been said more eloquently by people who have seen this more than I have, but so far this is the single most solid banger of October. What a GOOD loving movie. It's exactly the kind of poo poo people should be pointing directly at when they complain about movies not getting made the way they used to. So much of it is boiled down to just adults having conversations, and they're well acted, loving fascinating conversations from lived-in characters, but it never forgets to be a compelling, well shot horror movie with moments of dread and spookums either. Goddamn this was a delight. Five out of Five Spring Loaded Scissors THE EXORCIST 50TH ANNIVERSERY CHALLENGE16.) The Call (2020, Shudder) Several years ago, teenager Tonya's sister disappeared after attending a daycare run by an elderly couple. Suspecting foul play, Tonya and her two friends made it a point to take revenge on the old woman by harassing and attacking her year after year. Bringing along a new kid to their latest run-in with the older pair, the woman finally has enough after the fact and takes her own life. But when her spouse invites the quartet of teenagers in, it's not with apparent malicious intent: his wife put all of the children into her will. All they need to do to claim her inheritance is take a one minute phone call ... with the WOMAN BEYOND THE GRAVE!! So yeah, this is a loving stupid movie, with bland teflon-brained teenage leads. But the husband and wife are Tobin Bell and Lin Shaye so this is really just an excuse for them to cast a paycheck effortlessly, and for us to hoot and holler and eat it up when Bell talks about games and Lin Shaye channels her inner Robert Englund as a potential ghost/witch/zombie psychologically tormenting the kids who made her life a living hell. It's not good, and the set-up drags like hell, but once the kids start talking to Lin Shaye's corpse and things get a little more surreal it picks up a tiny bit. Two out of Five Rotary Phones In Coffins 17.) Poltergeist (1982, Prime via Cinemax) (Rewatch) It wasn't the clown. Hell, it wasn't the Bloodborne-rear end skinny ghost, or the child-eating tree. Quite frankly, I barely even remembered any of that stuff aside from some of the iconic images that pop up around Poltergeist, since I hadn't watched the movie since I was a (pre?) teen. I don't remember finding it all that scary then, around the time I was really digging into horror movies whenever we'd go to the rental store, because I'm pretty sure I remembered building up the movie in my head as something worse than it was. It was because of my freaking older sister, who would sing-song the "They're heeeeere!" any time a TV went to all static in the house precisely because she knew it bothered me even though I hadn't even seen the movie at the time. It was one of her favorite movies and she made sure to prime me to be terrified of The Ring many many years later by instilling a lifelong uneasiness around dead air on TVs. Good riddance to television sign offs and dead channels, imo. Anyway, re-watching this for the first time since I was in middle school made me a lot more able to appreciate the craft that went into it; not just the special effects, but the pacing, the character work, and the legitimate tension and danger that it puts the family through. Great loving movie, even if the hiss of TV static still bothers me a little. 4 out of 5 Chairs Stacked On The Table CHILDHOOD TRAUMA 18.) Poltergeist 2 (1986, Prime via Cinemax) Unfortunately, while I respect a lot of what Poltergeist 2 tries to do, it's an absolute mess. The pacing in this one by comparison to the expert build and release tension rollercoaster of the first film is all over the place. Putting a human face onto the evil they faced in the predecessor robs The Beast of a lot of his power. Craig T Nelson feels like he's auditioning for an upcoming sitcom with the way he hams up a fair number of his scenes. The whole movie is just kinda sad from knowing that the teenaged daughter from the first one is never seen or mentioned because her actress was killed. As far as sequels to iconic films go I appreciate a lot of what they tried to do here to mix-up the stakes and to follow the characters with how the events of the original haunted them both figuratively and literally, it just didn't really come together without whatever magic sauce the combination of Spielberg and Hooper had. Some good creature effects, though! Even if we have to cancel the tequila worm for really not understanding consent. 2 out of 5 Desecrated Cemetaries Total: 18 Watched: Saw X, The Vigil, Huesera: The Bone Woman, Deadtectives, Shutter, Demon Knight, The Frighteners, VHS 85, Totally Killer, The Nun 2, Deliver Us, Wolfkin, Challenges: 8/13 (Horror Adjacent [Deadtectives], "THAT GUY" [Demon Knight], CineD Poll [The Frighteners]) Bite-Sized [VHS 85] Samhain [Totally Killer], Space Picnic [The Nun 2], Exorcist@30 [Exorcist 3], Trauma [Poltergeist]) History Lesson: 5/5 (1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, 2020s) New to You: 6/6 (Saw X, The Vigil, Huesera: The Bone Woman, Deadtectives, Shutter, Demon Knight) Around the World: 2/4 (Asia [Shutter] Europe [Wolfkin]) Horror is for Everyone: 2/3 (Female Director/Themes [Huesera: The Bone Woman] POC Director/Themes [Horror Noire])
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 13:04
|
|
|
Greekonomics posted:
I can assure you that the CGI in this movie is just as godawful as it was when it was released.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 13:30
|
|
|
Well I already kinda started a horror movie month without knowing about this threads existence until today, so gently caress it - I'll go all in and try to get to 31. Despite enjoying horror movies I haven't actually seen a lot compared to other fans, including many of the hugely important ones. So let's fix that this month. So far I've watched, which are all new to me: 1. Midsommar 2. M3GAN 3. Creep 4. Last Night in Soho 5. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) 6. Wrong Turn 7. Creep 2 Actual comments/reviews will be posted later on when I have more time to write them up. I'm not very good at analyzing or writing about movies so please excuse the shallow takes I'll be posting. Planning to burn through the ones on Netflix first so I can end the subscription sooner.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 13:30
|
|
|
Random Stranger posted:I can assure you that the CGI in [Spawn] is just as godawful as it was when it was released. POVRay-rear end lookin CG 
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 13:57
|
|
|
Random Stranger posted:I can assure you that the CGI in this movie is just as godawful as it was when it was released. The stuff in Hell is particularly funny — the devil's mouth doesn't move when he talks, and the other hellspawn underneath him cycle through the same 2 seconds of animation like they're in the background of Street Fighter II. EDIT: ^^^ Yeah, that's the stuff lol
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 14:05
|
|
|
11) Run Rabbit Run (2023) I wish I had any idea what was happening here. I'll admit I was multitasking a little, but to the same extent that I've easily enjoyed movies before. This one I think was just jumbled and didn't make much sense. It tried to be all twisty, and that's a tough row to hoe if you can't execute it well. 2 out of 5 bunnies 12) Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022) [HIFE: LGBTQ] This was great!! Why did I think this was going to be much more annoying than it was. Like, sure, it has some of that Gen Z cringe (for me as an elder Millennial), but all of the characters were well-fleshed-out and actually pretty decent. A slashed where the real danger is teenage stupidity. Loved it. 4 out of 5 bodies 13) Ma (2019) New to me, though I should have watched it sooner. Octavia Spencer is an absolute gem and even though it's not a GOOD movie, by any means, it's a very entertaining watch. 3 out of 5 shots 14) The Pale Blue Eye (2022) A "thriller" based on a religious-cult-esque slaying and sacrifice kind of thing. Other than that it was Christian Bale whispering for 90 minutes and... Edgar Allen Poe? Nice to see Harry Melling get work, but eh. 2 out of 5 casks of Amantillado 15) V/H/S/85 (2023) [Bite-Sized Horror] Ugh. Ever since this franchise started year-dating their anthologies, they've been wildly weighted toward style over substance. VHS 1 had some really really good shorts. VHS 2 had some really good shorts. Since then, I've been liking it less and less. This one had... maybe one good short? One and a half? The rest fell very flat, and I never really gelled with the overarching "story" either. 2 out of 5 80s references 16) Jeepers Creepers (2001) Watched this for my wife's bingo card (Childhood Trauma). Honestly, I remembered this being pretty good twenty years ago, and I STILL contend that this is a really really good first 20 minutes. After the monster becomes, well, a monster, it just gets so boring. If it were a creepy guy, or better yet some sort of "entity" in a giant truck, it would have been fascinating. But eh, it's just a monster of the week movie. 2.5 out of 5 bad creature designs 17) Pet Sematary: Bloodlines (2023) I'm going back and forth on this one. On the one hand, the whole "guy comes back from Vietnam and is he just traumatized or is something else going on?" angle that started the movie was pretty good! But as it meanders around to being a sort of generic-ish zombie movie that tried to tie into the Pet Sematary "franchise". By the second time they pulled the SOMETIMES DEAD IS BETTER catch phrase, I was over the whole movie. 2 out of 5 dead animals. (bingo card is at home and I'm at work, picture next time)
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 14:39
|
|
|
Weird Sandwich posted:Well I already kinda started a horror movie month without knowing about this threads existence until today, so gently caress it - I'll go all in and try to get to 31. Despite enjoying horror movies I haven't actually seen a lot compared to other fans, including many of the hugely important ones. So let's fix that this month. So far I've watched, which are all new to me: Welcome! Jaded horror fans who have seen it all love to hear about first time experiences with the classics so you are a valued poster.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 14:45
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 6, 2024 22:15 |
|
|
 16. Renfield (2023) This was a lot of fun to me. It uses the Dracula story to talk about abusive relationships but mostly to give us a comic book action movie that at times stylistically makes me think of Batman Returns era Tim Burton. While it may not stand the test of time, it was exactly what I needed. With lots of some bloody bits to match the kicking off walls, this was an easy action horror romp to watch. No challenges met here!  31 Challenge: 1. Last Voyage Of The Demeter, 2. The Evil Of Frankenstein, 3. No One Will Save You, 4. The Meg 2: The Trench, 5. Mindwarp, 6. Damien: Omen II, 7. Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, 8. Black Belly Of The Tarantula, 9. Dracula 3000, 10. The Horror Of Frankenstein, 11. V/H/S/85, 12. Totally Killer, 13. 2001 Maniacs, 14. Frankenstein And The Monster From Hell, 15. Resident Evil, 16. Renfield Bonus Challenges: GOAT tape, GOAT house, FvJ20th, Meta Challenges:
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 15:04
|
|
