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 34. Candyman (2021)  quote:I was more than a casual Candyman fan. From the iconic performance of Tony Todd to the haunting Philip Glass score to the perfect mix of blood and tragedy, I would call 1991's Candyman extremely my poo poo. It was 'elevated horror' 20 years before there was such a thing.  / 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 23. Retribution 24. Clearcut 25. Don't Torture a Duckling 26. Carnival of Souls 27. Possession 28. Tigers Are Not Afraid 29. Gamera 2: Attack of Legion 30. Noroi: The Curse 31. The Mortuary Collection 32. Titane 33. Triggered 34. Candyman (2021)
Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 06:05 on Oct 19, 2023 |
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Oct 19, 2023 06:03
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gey muckle mowser posted:the other characters' reactions to Angela at the very end kind of crack me up, they're way more shocked about her having a penis than they are about the fact that she is holding a child's severed head Frankly I'd kill to have her voice and figure so maybe she has the right idea.
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Oct 19, 2023 06:21
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#12: V/H/S/85 (Scott Derrickson, David Bruckner, Mike P. Nelson, Gigi Saul Guerrero & Natasha Kermani, 2023) What can I say, I'm a sucker for this series' schtick, though there is still a frustrating tendency to undermine the most effective moments. The boat shooting was downright harrowing and the murder family hilarious, the immortality twist was just unnecessary! Bonus points for the Throbbing Gristle. 3.5 / 5 #13: Siege (Paul Donovan & Maura O'Connell, 1983) Raw and antifascist, If not for the general "look" it could have been made today. 4/5
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Oct 19, 2023 07:34
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17. The Prowler (Joseph Zito ,1981) The first ten minutes of this were way more intriguing than a slasher has any right to be. A multiple time-period whodunnit framing an excuse to show off some of Tom Savini's most impressive kill effects out there.
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Oct 19, 2023 08:51
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18. Mar Negro Something in the water is affecting the fish near a small village in Brazil. Snapper (or Peroa, I think the subtitles literally translated some of the character's names) (also he's played by Markus Konká) and Tired/Cansado (Tiago Ferri) are out fishing and pull up a vicious mercreature that attacks Snapper before being dispatched. Snapper's wound gets worse over time and soon he's acting strangely. Meanwhile, the opening of a cabaret/brothel attracts a bunch of the townsmen, but the fish served at opening night comes from the same tainted waters, and soon enough a whole bunch of people are lurching around, eating people, and spewing black goo. It falls to a handful of survivors- including the fisherman's young wife Fernanda (Kika Oliveira) and a mistreated albino man named just Albino (Walderrama Dos Santos)- to fend off the monsters. I picked this film because it's come up on my Amazon recommendations a lot, which probably says something about my viewing habits. It took a little while to get the subtitles working properly, but that's not the only problem here alas. The first half of this movie suffers from a truly leaden pace, slowly introducing a bunch of characters, very few of whom are particularly likable or really that interesting. There's this weird subplot with the albino having a rare occult book in his possession and having satanic visions, and then he disappears for a good half hour. When the thing finally turns into a zombie movie, there's plenty of blood and gore (and blood-covered topless women), but alas the sheer excess isn't enough to save it. The action doesn't flow very well and none of the gory bits are particularly creative or interesting (with the exception of one bit at the very end.) There's the occasional flash of something interesting in the story but it's like the filmmakers weren't confident enough in their own ideas and just focused on aping the likes of Evil Dead and Brain Dead (with the occasional bit of The Thing.) Everyone's so drat unpleasant, there are a lot of homophobic slurs thrown around and some potentially homophobic/transphobic stuff with the brothel owner (I am not sure what was intended with this character and I do not care enough to look more closely), the ending feels random, it all aims for satire but fails. I kinda respect the low-budget ambition here but pretty much nothing works. And with South America accounted for, I can cross off  Around the World! This gives me my first Bingo. 
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Oct 19, 2023 10:00
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Petey Wheatstraw (1977) Dir. Cliff Roquemore  After a light-hearted romp involving child murder and everyone being gunned down at the funeral, Rudy Ray Moore makes a deal with the Devil to take revenge on his gangster rivals on the standup circuit, agreeing to marry the Devil's daughter. In exchange, Moore takes possession of the Devil's walking stick, and with it deific powers beyond the ken of mortals. But can he find a way to back out of the deal with the help of this same walking stick? Or will he finally be cornered by the Devil's army of demons and entrapped in a snare of his own making? Honestly pretty funny throughout, greatly aided by Moore's iconic delivery. 1. Bats (1999) 3/5 2. The Bogeyman (2023) 3/5 3. The Boogeyman (1980) 2/5 4. Bride of Chucky (1998) 4/5 5. Dark Angel: The Ascent (1994) 3/5 6. Death Line 2/5 (1972) 2/5 7. Deep Red (1975) 5/5 8. Demons (1985) 3/5 9. Dog Soldiers (2002) 4/5 10. The Haunting (1999) 1/5 11. House on Haunted Hill (1959) 2/5 12. The Howling 2: Your Sister Is a Werewolf (1985) 4/5 13. The Lair (2022) 1/5 14. The Last Man on Earth (1964) 4/5 15. Matriarch (2022) 3/5 16. The Meg 2: The Trench (2023) 4/5 17. Metalocalypse: Army of the Doomstar (2023) 4/5 18. Nightmare on Elm Street II: Freddy’s Revenge (1985) 5/5 19. Nightmare on Elm Street III: The Dream Warriors (1987) 5/5 20. Nightmare on Elm Street IV: The Dream Master (1988) 3/5 21. Pet Sematary Bloodlines (2023) 1/5 22. Petey Wheatstraw (1977) 4/5 23. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016) 2/5 24. The Power (2021) 2/5 25. Prom Night (1980) 2/5 26. Santo and Blue Demon vs. the Monsters (1970) 3/5 27. Slaughterhouse (1987) 3/5 28. The Superdeep (2020) 1/5 29. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) 1/5 30. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 (1990) 3/5 31. Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994) 3/5 32. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) 2/5 33. Willy’s Wonderland (2021) 2/5 Name Change fucked around with this message at 10:57 on Oct 19, 2023 |
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Oct 19, 2023 10:55
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The Burrowers On Tubi (Film 18/31) Well poo poo, this came out of nowhere. It's a Western. Clancy Brown leads a small group of frontiersmen into "Indian country" on a search for some kidnapped women after finding a raided homestead. It's real good. This goes Lovecraft in the best ways.The creature design is weird and original, and feels well thought out and authentic. This is a monster movie where yeah of course man is the monster - but so are the creatures and they're all exceptionally vile. The film frequently reminds us of how fragile humans are, and that our own faults will doom us. One of these faults is pervasive and abhorrent racism, which the film does not celebrate. Some scenes are appropriately uncomfortable to watch. 5/5
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Oct 19, 2023 12:59
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So did West actually kill that cat? I watched ReAnimator last night like a lot of people did and I still haven't fully come to a conclusion on that. I feel like he may not have, because he'd just found this place to set up his experiments and I don't know if he would've done something to risk getting Dan upset like that. He also probably doesn't have the emotional intelligence to understand that putting it in my fridge probably isn't going to garner the best reaction either. He also wouldn't pass on a readily available test subject if the opportunity came along.
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Oct 19, 2023 14:30
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 Well it's definitely dead NOW.
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Oct 19, 2023 14:33
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Of all the quotable lines from Re-Animator, "Do you agree it's dead now?" THUD "Do you agree it's dead now?" always gets the dumbest laugh out of me.
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Oct 19, 2023 14:39
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Nah, he didn't kill it. The cat just died in an accident and he saw it as a subject, since it was dead anyway. He's just also an obsessive gay little weirdo so he didn't realize how badly his message would go over. I mean I don't think he did anything wrong. He SAID he would explain later. 
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Oct 19, 2023 14:39
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 123) The Fury - 1978 - Max As much as in current era we have people believing humanity will eventually merge with technology as the next big change, back in the 70s, the belief was we'd develop psionics. Studies were done on ESP, and we had plenty of films with telekinesis, pyrokinesis, and telepathy. This was one of them. The book this one's based on had to be the longest draggiest slog I've read until the last third or so which is where the bulk of the movie's adapted from. Even then, the first chunk of the movie leans more espionage thriller, but it's worth getting through it to the good stuff. The ending is completely worth it.  124) Grindhouse - 2007 - DVD This one made me heartsick for the way it used to be. I miss when it wasn't digital. One of my fondest memories was back when I worked at my Dad's record shop and he had an arrangement with the movie theater next door that UPS would drop off the film reels by us and we had a key to get in to drop off the film and be able to turn on our store's heating since the wiring was weird between the two, and I had the reels for Fantasia in my hands. I wondered how far could I get running before Disney's lawyer-ninjas parachuted in to stop me. I miss when it was just a bunch of trailers before movies. I can't stand Noovie and the other preshows, and the old coming attraction music still puts a smile on my face. I miss balconies and the velvet curtains opening before the show and closing afterwards. I miss when it was no big deal to stick around after the movie to catch the next showing. You just lifted your feet so the ushers could clean around you. I even miss the soft 'fwiip fwiip' sound your shoes made when you walked on a sticky part of the auditorium floor. Thanks to the times my parents couldn't find a babysitter, I saw a fair amount of grindhouse cinema when I was little. This film hit enough of the right points it took me right back short of being able to smoke in the lobby. It's also the first blu-ray I bought because it had the whole film including trailers. I think part of the reason this didn't do well at the theaters is too many didn't get the point. Theater I saw this at, people lost their minds at the Machete trailer, they cheered and clapped. They were cheering and clapping during Death Proof and Planet Terror. I wished I could see the fake trailer movies in a sequel. It was wonderful, I felt young again. If this ever gets an anniversary showing on the big screen, I'm there. Another highly recommend from me.  125) Hatchet for the Honeymoon - 1970 - Prime Pretty much Bava's take on Psycho. A young man has a compulsion to murder young brides in their wedding gowns to uncover his memories of a past trauma. This one starts more like a giallo before shifting gears into the more supernatural angle. The amount of mannequins in this one makes me wonder what influence this film might've had on Maniac 1980. This one's definitely worth a watch. I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints.
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Oct 19, 2023 14:45
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 9. Snapshot (1979) director: Simon Wincer | challenges: AROUND THE WORLD (Australia), HORROR IS FOR EVERYONE Snapshot is a fairly slow thriller about Angela, a young woman trying to survive in the world with absolutely no support structure. The film is very successful at making every interaction seem nefarious, like everyone wants to take advantage of Angela. Another layer of tension is added by her ex-boyfriend stalking her. Despite the fact that Snapshot is pretty low on exciting moments I quite enjoyed it. Angela is a good character that I felt attached to and really wanted to see how things turned out for her. Check this one out. Feel like this one works for HORROR IS FOR EVERYONE as the main driving force of fear and tension stems from the main character being a woman.  10. Petey Wheatstraw (1977) director: Cliff Roquemore | challenges: HORROR IS FOR EVERYONE, EXORCIST 50TH ANNIVERSERY CHALLENGE While Petey Wheatstraw isn't a perfect film by any means I think it does a lot right. It's a ton of fun and the enthusiasm of everyone involved is infectious. My favorite scene was the one with Petey strolling down the street using his devil cane to help people. I wonder if this scene inspired the Psycho Goreman scene with Mimi and PG walking down the street using PG's powers on haters. Highly recommend checking this one out.  11. Yokai Monsters: 100 Monsters (1968) director: Kimiyoshi Yasuda | challenges: HISTORY LESSON (60s), PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK…..IN SPACE!!! 100 Monsters is a film that doesn't quite a live up to it's name but is still overall enjoyable. The problem is that it comes nowhere close to delivering on the one-hundred monster promise. A majority of the film is about a conflict between a rich rear end in a top hat threatening to displace a community and destroy a shrine. One of the tenants is masterless samurai who investigates and kicks rear end. Maybe a bit basic, but it's done well and fits nicely with the folklore monster bits. My main issue was I didn't really dig a lot of the monster costumes that weren't cool rubber suits or puppets but were just well made Halloween style costumes. A lot of them felt out of place and looked pretty similar to each other. The rubber suits and puppets were great though!  12. Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare (1968) director: Yoshiyuki Kuroda Spook Warfare does exactly what I was hoping a sequel to 100 Monsters would, increase the amount of rubber-suit monsters and show them a lot. It drops the dramatic capitalism and class system pondering plot for a simpler bad demon vs good ghosts story and it's better for it. Definitely recommend checking this one out if you just want to watch some fun rubber-suit monster action. If there were a dub I think this would be a great way to get a kid interested in horror. film log 1. Satan's Blood (1978) | 2. Tragic Ceremony (1972) | 3. The Night of the Hunted (1980) | 4. Bio Zombie (1998) | 5. Curfew (1989) | 6. The Shiver of the Vampires (1971) | 7. Crazy Desires of a Murderer (1977) | 8. Autopsy (1975) | 9. Snapshot (1979) | 10. Petey Wheatstraw (1977) | 11. Yokai Monsters: 100 Monsters (1968) | 12. Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare (1968) challenges complete - PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK…..IN SPACE!!! - EXORCIST 50TH ANNIVERSERY CHALLENGE - HORROR ADJACENT - NEW-TO-YOU - AROUND THE WORLD - HORROR IS FOR EVERYONE
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Oct 19, 2023 15:19
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Really loving how much Petey Wheatstraw is popping up. I'm planning on watching Snapshot myself next week - that cover just kept speaking to me and plenty of goons have recommended it so I'm excited.
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Oct 19, 2023 15:29
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Russian Guyovitch posted:Review batch #4... 22. Evil Dead Rise – (Watched on Max) An earthquake opens up a long abandoned vault under the garage of a condemned apartment building. When a teen climbs down into the vault to explore, they discover the Necronomicon, along with some mysterious recordings. When they decided to listen to one of the recordings, they unleash deadites into the building, dooming all of the trapped residents. Another solid entry in the franchise, in my opinion. It doesn't have the full-on slapstick comedy of ED2 or AoD, but it's still clear that the deadites in this one are having a grand old time loving with the people trapped with them before they kill them, and there's definitely some stuff that would feel right at home in any of the original three films (I'm looking at you, hallway eyeball kill). Mean-spirited, but still fun, I definitely recommend this one. 23. Moloch – (Watched on Shudder) In a small Dutch town, a local man starts compulsively digging holes in the local peat bog, and uncovers some mummified remains before dying of a heart attack. The find prompts a team of archaeologists to come to the area, and several more bodies are discovered. Could this be related to the local legend of Fieke, a woman falsely condemned for witchcraft? And more importantly, what does it mean for single mother Betriek and her family, who live on the edge of the bog? I was pleasantly surprised by this one. The Shudder exclusives can be real hit or miss, but this had a great slow-burn, spooky vibe the whole way through, and I enjoyed the payoff. Also, the best children's stage play I've seen in a horror movie in years. All in all, a good folk horror/witch/ghost story with a solid metaphor about the danger of repressing trauma rather than dealing with it. 24. Road Games – (Watched on Shudder) Stacy Keach is driving a truck load of pork across the Australian countryside when he begins to suspect that the driver of a green van that he keeps encountering is responsible for the string of murders that are being reported on his radio. With the help of a young hitchhiker he picks up along the way, he pursues his quarry, but perhaps sleep deprivation and isolation have driven him mad, and he's the true danger on Australia's highways. Once you get past the fact that the two leads of this Australian film are inexplicably American, you've got a fun little thriller on your hands. Keach does a great job of portraying a man who has perhaps let the loneliness of his job get to him just a bit too much, cruising Australia's rural highways carrying on one-sided conversations with his dingo companion. I do feel they dropped the ball a bit with the ending, but the journey there more than made up for it for me.
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Oct 19, 2023 15:30
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Speaking of Sleepaway Camp, 2 has always been my fav. It's really funny, and Angela is really charming as the villain. It's like a chill mild send-up of Friday the 13th movies.
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Oct 19, 2023 15:30
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Erin M. Fiasco posted:Really loving how much Petey Wheatstraw is popping up. I'm planning on watching Snapshot myself next week - that cover just kept speaking to me and plenty of goons have recommended it so I'm excited. I wrote that blurb about Snapshot a few days ago right after watching but I've been thinking about the film a lot since then. I think I liked it a lot more than comes through with my review.
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Oct 19, 2023 15:40
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31. Terrifier 2 (2022) Oh what a friend we have in Artemis T. Clown Esq. Felt like I needed some kind of blowout for my 31st movie, and what better way to let off some fireworks than this. It is exactly the movie you think it is, for better or worse, and it would never work for even a fraction as well as it does if it wasn't for just how perfect Art The Clown is, and how good David Howard Thornton's mime act of playing him is. It does run long and it could have really stood to drop a judicious 20 minutes, but obviously, every kill is a highlight, and the sfx are all as fantastic as you'd expect from a movie where the effects are the real selling point. "The food's a little funny at the clown cafe!" 4 out of 5! Watched so far: Saw X, Wishmaster, F13 Part 6, One Cut of the Dead, The Exorcism of God, The Stuff, Razorback, The Curse of Frankenstein, Demon Knight, Freaky, V/H/S, Trick 'r' Treat, Goodnight Mommy. Matriarch, Last House on the Left, Phantasm, Dude Bro Party Massacre III, Exorcist: Believer, No-One Will Save You, VHS/85, Hellraiser, Totally Killer, Beaten to Death, Hellraiser II, Annabelle: Creation, Unfriended: Dark Web, House of 1000 Corpses, Phantasm 2, Re-Animator, From Beyond, Terrifier 2 And on that note, I cross 31 movies for the challenge!
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Oct 19, 2023 15:52
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39. The Fury 1978 Directed by Brian De Palma  Those films of his father's death have unleashed an incredible emotional force. A very spry Kirk Douglas just really wants to find his son, who has magical brain powers, who is kidnapped in the opening action sequence. When the keffiyeh-clad gunmen showed up at the beginning, I was prepared to sit through a thriller in which an shadowy Arab menace was abducting America's most super-powerful children. Luckily, the villains were part of an unnamed branch of the government. At least they're evil American bureaucrats. It's interesting seeing Amy Irving, in one of her earliest movies, holding her own opposite Kirk Douglas and John Cassavetes. 👻👻👻.5/5
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Oct 19, 2023 15:54
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 26. Swamp Thing (1982) A fine mix of horror and sci-fi and "superhero" movie. TBH I expected worse despite Adrienne Barbeau and Ray Wise but it wasn't bad - decent action scenes, some schlock, silly bad guys. An entertaining watch if not an entirely necessary watch.  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, 17. Petey Wheatstraw, 18. The Fury, 19. Lust Of The Vampire, 20. Dead End Drive In, 21. Dark Harvest, 22. Seven Footprints To Satan, 23. The Dreaming, 24. The Devils, 25. Frenzy, 26. Swamp Thing Bonus Challenges: GOAT tape, Meta Challenges:
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Oct 19, 2023 16:29
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 #25. The Vampire Lovers (Vudu) Carmilla, a vampire lady with lesbian tendencies, feeds on the beautiful and rich aristocratic girls of eighteenth-century Germany. Was still feeling kinda blah last night, so I threw on something that was, hopefully, not gonna need too much of my attention if I didn't want to give it. I think I might have overmodulated a bit, though, since this was really dull and repetitive even when I was paying attention. Part of that is probably the time it was made in - they couldn't be super super overt with their lesbian overtones, so while that is very much present, they display it mainly in breathy asides. (And lots of casual nudity, too - it's not a prudent picture, it just doesn't wanna linger on two ladies making out.) But that also gets hampered by Ingrid Pitt's cold-fish routine as main antagonist Carmilla, who seems less like a true lesbian and more like an opportunist, especially when the filmmakers start contriving reasons for her to seduce and consume men too in the back half. I was hoping for more, here, is I think the big thing - more overt queer theming is the big thing, which is probably not realistic considering where the industry and the audience was at that time. But I also wanted more Peter Cushing, more action, more of anything to grab onto while watching it. Cushing is the best thing about the film, but he disappears for the majority of the middle, which only weakens the proceedings. There's also too much standing around in drawing rooms and fretting over a girl's sick bed for most of the movie - they essentially follow the beats of the whole "Lucy getting sicker while Dracula eats her until she dies" bit twice, and in great detail, in the film, but there's no heat or urgency in either of them. (Hell, that's the real issue I have with the film as a whole - sure, it's about a lesbian vampire threatening the very Victorian English status quo - of 18th century Germany - but it's paced like watching paint dry.) This was one of those films that had been on my "to watch" list for years; now that I've seen it, I can only register disbelief at the idea that it was/is considered a minor classic. Not recommended. /5 Gonna count this towards the Horror is For Everyone: LGBTQ+ meta-challenge, which finishes that one off for me. Also finishes off another Bingo line, this time fourth column down. Watched so far: As Above So Below, The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster, Saw IV, The Exorcist, One Cut of the Dead, Slugs, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Saw X, The Return of the Living Dead, Tales of Halloween, No One Will Save You, Destroy All Monsters, Cujo, Dracula: Prince of Darkness, Hocus Pocus, A Bucket of Blood, Mama, Child's Play 2, Friday the 13th Part 6, The Mummy's Ghost, Brain Dead, Saloum, Perpetrator, The Blob, The Vampire Lovers Individual Challenges = 13/13 NEW-TO-YOU = 6/6 HISTORY LESSON = 5/5 AROUND THE WORLD = 3/4 HORROR IS FOR EVERYONE = 3/3
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Oct 19, 2023 16:34
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9. The Conference (2023) Netflix  A team-building conference for municipal employees to celebrate a (unknown-to-some corrupt) deal goes awry when someone starts killing them off at the same time secrets start coming out Decent Swedish slasher with some gross kills and some effective humor that ultimately suffers from being a bit too long and wrapping some of its strands up a bit suddenly even with/despite that length. Coworkers can be just as dangerous to you as the guy in a goofy oversized mascot mask trying to kill each of you is *** 10. The Devil on Trial Netflix  A documentary about the case, and trial, depicted in the third Conjuring film, The Devil Made Me Do It. The trial of Arne Cheyenne Johnson is still the only court case in US history where a defense tried to make a case that a defendant was demonically-possessed during committing the crime (him getting in a fight with his drunk landlord and stabbing him to death), which occurred months after an exorcism attended by the Warrens where Arne begged a demon to go into himself and leave the younger brother of his girlfriend alone The Warrens each lived long enough to see the entire Amityville Horror film franchise, and the first The Haunting in Connecticut film, released inspired by their work; Lorraine also survived long enough to see 5 of the so-far-8 films in the Conjuring cinematic universe directly based off of their likenesses and tales. Over $1.5bil grossed at the box office in her lifetime The Glatzel family got $4,500 cash for giving the Warrens permission to put their story into a book they sold almost 4 decades before the film. The Warrens got over $81,000 just from the one book “The Warrens made a lot of money off of us. If they can profit off of you, they will.” What more needs to be said? *** 10/31 (NightMare, Appendage, VHS85, Pet Sematary: Bloodlines, Totally Killer, The Pope's Exorcist, It Lives Inside [2023], The Puppetman, The Conference [2023], The Devil on Trial) Chris James 2 fucked around with this message at 17:07 on Oct 19, 2023 |
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Oct 19, 2023 17:04
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 126) Zombie Holocaust - 1980 - Prime I first saw this under the title of Doctor Butcher M.D. (for Medical Deviant). And it was just kinda 'meh'. I more remember how bad the dubbing was to the point even the audio of a saw cutting into someone was off by a few seconds. Finally sitting through it under it's original title and it's still kinda 'meh'. It's got cannibals and zombies in for twice the flesheating, but it does neither too well and that it would've been better if they picked one and stuck with it.  127) Shock Waves - 1977 - Peacock First time I saw this was when I was little and it was on regular TV. I mostly remember not being particularly impressed. Too much running around, not enough zombies. I mostly figured since it was on TV where they cut out the really good stuff, the movie in full had to be better. Fast forward to years later and I rented it from Blockbuster. This time I was more 'that was it?'. Revisiting it again, and I think it suffers from inexperienced filmmakers. The concept of the Nazis making underwater soldiers is a good one. I really wouldn't be surprised if they actually were working on something like that. The imagery of the undead rising from the water or lurking in the water ready to pounce are very good and memorable. The setting of the derelict hotel is nicely atmospheric. This is one I wouldn't mind seeing remade even though there's no one on the level of Cushing they could cast. I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints.
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Oct 19, 2023 18:02
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14. Hellbound: Hellraiser II Goat's GOATS (House)I knew that the Hellraiser sequels got bad pretty fast, but I didn't know it was THIS fast. For every cool or interesting thing in this movie, there are 3 embarrassing things. My biggest issue was giving Pinhead a backstory. Pinhead is an unknowable demon, why the hell would he be made better by letting everyone know that he used to be a jug-eared wormy dude? 2/5 15. Razorback  Big Mean AnimalsAround the World (Australia)This movie makes me think that every single Australian is a gibbering freak. Still, for a big animal movie, this one is pretty good. There's a shocking amount of quality cinematography and interesting visuals as well, which makes sense considering Russel Mulcahy was doing Duran Duran videos before this. The only thing that threw me off was the movie trying to make pigs looks scary. You see one of those little dudes skidaddle with their little hooves and you can't help but go, "awwww!" 4/5 16. Hiruko the Goblin  Around the World (Asia)Not quite what I was expecting from the director of Tetsuo: The Iron Man, but I still really enjoyed it. All the creature effects were fun, and I kind of dug the whole "Evil Dead meets Ghostbusters" vibe. 4/5 17. Deadly Games  This is one of those movies I want to write a lot about, but it's not worth the effort. I don't even know what to say. The plot makes no sense, all the women look alike, which makes it hard to tell what's going on, there's very few kills, and 90% of the movie is women chatting about the strength of their friend's relationships. One of these days we really need to talk about these "lost on tape" horror movies. So far, each one I've seen has been awful. 0.5/5 18. The Abomination  I mostly watched this because it had the same director as Repligator, so I thought it'd be as goofy. Turns out I was wrong, but that's okay. It's super low budget and awful for sure, but I was kind of impressed with how it used what limited budget it had. The creatures were shockingly decent too, and the plot wasn't as nonsensical as you'd imagine. 2/5 19. The Last Horror Film  I kind of love Joe Spinell. That dude can't not be sweaty and bedraggled. I can't say too much because I don't want to spoil anything, but this one was a super watchable slasher with an ending that'd probably piss some people off, but I personally loved. 4.5/5 20. The Company of Wolves  I honestly was expecting a lot more from this one. I like werewolf movies, but this just didn't scratch that itch for me. It wasn't bad, I just thought the "anthology inside a real movie" thing didn't work. That being said, I like the concept of "wolves are weird little guys, right?" and the set design and creature effects were really good. I just wish I could like this movie more. 3/5 21. Ginger Snaps  Goat's GOATS (Tapes)HIFE (LGBT)Ginger Snaps seems to be a favorite around here, so I won't be too mean about it. I really hate the 2000's aesthetic, and this movie is drenched in it. The main two girls do a good job, but that's about it. I've heard people like this movie for it's feminist and LGBT themes (I don't really get the LGBT themes, but I'm just some straight dude, so I'm probably just missing something obvious), so I like that it's got that going for it, but I never really got into it as much as I wanted. Also, as a side note, did anyone think they were setting the mom up to also be a werewolf but then decided not to go down that path? 2/5 22. The Tokoloshe  Around the World (Africa)This movie seems to be two different movies. What I mean by that is the first 70% sets up all these characters and ideas, and you get really into it and want to see what's going to happen, but then randomly, almost all that is abandoned and it becomes a completely boring by-the-numbers monster movie. It's a real shame too because the concept is pretty strong, I just wish they had done SOMETHING with it. 2/5 challenges: ALL CHALLENGES COMPLETE 
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Oct 19, 2023 18:08
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48. Blood Harvest (1987) Bill Rebane is back, and this time his stunt casting actually works! Look, if a movie promises me Tiny Tim playing an unsettling clown and it gives me a whole bunch of scenes of Tiny Tim playing an unsettling (and apparently Lutheran) clown, you can't knock it for false advertising. He's around a lot more than the Corn King was in Monster A Go-Go. This movie, oddly enough, is one of Bill's most Movie-Feeling Movies. I think without the context of who Bill Rebane is it could fade into the background with a similarly weird slasher like The Mutilator or Slaughterhouse, and it seems like it has found its cult following in that wheelhouse. From a pure craft perspective it's no worse than a lot of slashers of the time. Of course, it gains its notoriety through the aforementioned stunt casting and songs and for how utterly bizarre it can be. Despite looking like a regular slasher, it's dripping with Rebane-isms, like how absolutely none of the characters seem to have consistent goals or relationships until the Big Twist, and then the Big Twist is followed by three or four other twists that make things worse, and also an exposition dump which is also not very good. There are the usual stretches of very little action, but those are less frequent than most of his other stuff. Another pro of this movie is that there's some decent atmosphere and the main actress is a lot of fun. There's also a lot of blood and full-frontal nudity, so sleazy sorts rejoice! I actually really liked Merv, Tiny Tim's character. I also liked a certain big plot twist a lot until the aforementioned seven-twist-pileup happened. There are some extremely funny lines, unintentionally so, and you can hardly say it's a boring film so it's a step up from Monster A Go-Go or Invasion From Inner Earth. It's also a better made movie than his following and final film Twister's Revenge, though that one has a monster truck destroying twenty different buildings and fighting a tank so I'd say they're about equal. The ending is hilarious, cliches abound, there's an absolutely ridiculous scene involving a bucket of blood in the refrigerator, and there's also a sequence where "one thing leads to another" with the main character and a side character who isn't the love interest and no one really cares, and really it's a whole misdirect of a film that might not even be intentional because there's little logic to be had here. Still, the slasher deaths are pretty darn good, even if nothing at all feels like it was cut together in the right order. Right now I'd still say that Demons of Ludlow is Bill's best movie, with the sharpest use of atmosphere and great ghostly mayhem, but Blood Harvest at least has a memorable major character and some good music, even if it's mostly a goofy little mess. At this rate I'm going to watch this man's entire filmography. Rating: 2 of the 95 Theses Out Of 5
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Oct 19, 2023 18:16
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14. Carnival of Souls A woman miraculously survives a car crash and then faces a series of bizarre occurrences while trying to start a new job in a new city. I liked this a lot! There is a fantastic atmosphere of dread and loneliness even in scenes where Mary is surrounded by other people. She is an isolated person going through a bizarre experience most people don't want to even bother trying to help her with and every frame of the movie reinforces Mary's increasing loneliness and distance from those around her. Overall this is an eerie movie that mixes aspects of supernatural and psychological horror very well and is a strong recommendation from me.
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Oct 19, 2023 18:36
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 17. Dead of Night (1945) The coziest horror anthology you ever did see. Mervyn Johns ends up in a house of strangers and realizes, unnerved, that he foresaw these events in a dream. From that setup I expected disbelieving reactions and everyone getting more freaked out as everything Johns predicts come to pass - but NOPE! Instead the pack of cheerful Brits all treat this as a great conversation-starter, and soon are swapping tales about their own run-ins with the supernatural. Frederick Valk as a sourpuss psychologist is the only skeptic, but it's played like a parlor game, where everyone's goading him to come up with a scientific explanation for this little number. Dead of Night ends up feeling quite lighthearted and even slight as a result. Yet there is something very clever going on with the moodbuilding here, the spinning of a well-crafted yarn; it's like how a really good campfire storyteller can start by joshing around but then capture your attention so assiduously that you don't even notice when the vibe shifts. The first ghost stories we hear in Dead of Night are short blips, the kind of petite urban legends you can imagine a friend of yours swearing by. Then things stretch longer, going macabre with a haunted mirror, lulling you back into silliness with an outright goofball tale of a ghostly golfer, then plunging fully into the creep zone with a sinister ventriloquist dummy. Finally as we come to the home stretch, the framing story is teed up to resolve with a wild energy that would have been unimaginable an hour ago, and a great ending to boot. So even though Dead of Night isn't likely to tingle your spine very much, and its hokey old-fashioned-ness makes it impossible to recommend to anyone who struggles to appreciate older cinema... I found it a really pleasant ride, that gave me the pleasant autumnal fuzzies the same way I see people talking about Michael Dougherty's Trick 'r Treat from 2007. Dead of Night is impressively influential, too. That stock-sounding idea of a ventriloquist dummy? This is only like the 2nd time that concept appeared on film, everyone else ripped it from here! Martin Scorsese loves it, Stephen Sondheim loved it, it's worth checking out!   .5 / 5Challenges: Bite-Sized Horror, History Lesson: 1940s  18. Dracula's Daughter (1936) Pretty lighting and a great performance of cursed desperation by Gloria Holden can't save a movie that's shoddy in most every other aspect. Whether intentional or not, Otto Kruger playing a "heroic" psychiatrist is insufferable to watch on screen, in a way that sours the whole experience. He's such a garden variety misogynist prick, who sneers off the feelings of people around him in practically every line he gets! God I'm getting steamed just thinking about it, picture every negative stereotype you could have of an upper-class English rear end in a top hat who's convinced the natural order of the universe is him on top looking down his nose at everyone else, and then think about if you could endure a story that valorized his arrogance. Holden gets one terrific scene of sapphic bloodlust for a girl she plucks off the street. But the picture around her is drowning in garbage talky scenes with Kruger and his disrespected secretary, or with the knuckleheaded police whose attempts at comic relief fail at laughs and succeed at killing any sense of spookiness. The 1931 Dracula had Lugosi's delectable villainy to power through the slow bits. Dracula's Daughter puts Holden in a position more of pain and sympathy. It should be interesting but it's a more delicate concept that needs dramatic support from the writing, which is simply too weak. Rather than the surface story, then, the most interesting aspect of Dracula's Daughter to unpack is its relationship with queerness. Previously in Dracula, the power of the vampire was obviously sexual; Dracula had his brides, was an attractive foreigner who was swooping in and taking away the daughters of high society in an erotic embrace. Now in Dracula's Daughter, Holden is a vampire "daughter" of Dracula, heir to the same "tainted blood," but she views her cravings as a curse. Holden's face tells a whole story of repressed lust and self-hatred as she makes a female victim undress. Then when she isn't giving into her urges, she tries to attach herself to the stereotypical straight white male Kruger, forcing some kind of relationship with a deeply unattractive a-hole so she can "treat" herself with his godawful psychiatric advice, become normal. This is all kind of metaphorical, it's not so blatantly coded that you couldn't miss it, yet it definitely resonates with the narrative of a lesbian trying to force herself into a straight shape but cursed to misery and loneliness for it. And that undercurrent lends extra shadings of power to Holden's performance and make some sense of her passivity and unhappiness as the dramatic engine at the heart of the story. It's not enough horsepower by itself to hang a good picture on, but it's something.   / 5Challenges: Horror is for Everyone: LGBTQ+ themes  Getting seriously spooky on this bingo card!
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Oct 19, 2023 21:03
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9. Escape Room: Tournament of Champions I had a lot of fun with the first one and this one is just as good. I'm a sucker for a movie where strangers are stuck in a dangerous situation and they have to work together to try to survive. As I'm watching this one I realized that if the Saw movies were more of this and less of the gruesome bodily harm, I'd like them so much more. I recommend this and the first if you like weird puzzle room movies like Cube. 4/5 10. Intruder  Excellent. So much fun. So gruesome. So creative with the shot selection and the scene transitions like in the picture there where a camera is in a shopping cart. There's another shot of someone talking on a phone from the perspective of the phone rotary dial. I absolutely loved this one. Had never heard of this one until recently and it's a hidden gem. 5/5 11. The Faculty  Never saw this one back in the day. It was fun to slip back into a movie set in a high school that came out the year I was about to enter high school in real life. This cast is wild. Hell, just The Faculty has Mrs. Packard from Twin Peaks, Famke Janssen, Jon Stewart, Robert Patrick, Mr Kruger from Seinfeld, and of course Blade 2 Enjoyer, Harry Knowles. I wanted to see this one because I've liked all of the other Kevin Williamson penned movies I've seen (Scream, Scream 2, I Know What You Did Last Summer) and I wanted to check out the rest. The Faculty is a lot of fun. There's some CG (or maybe stop motion) that looks kinda of rough but overall I like the characters and the way the story plays out. It's one I'll be revisiting with the knowledge of how everything plays out to see if there are any subtle nods. 4/5 12. Horror in the High Desert  I don't remember how I heard about this one initially. Horror in the High Desert is a faux documentary about a solo wilderness vlogger who goes off into the Nevada wilds and disappears. The story is told through interviews with friends, family, investigators, local reporters, and footage taken by the missing person himself. It's evident that this was made on an small budget but the performances are mostly pretty good. The overall story didn't do a whole lot for me. It ended and I just thought "that was it?" There's a lot of build-up but the payoff was pretty underwhelming to me. The footage and performances looks pretty authentic, I just don't think the story they tell is very compelling. 1/5
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Oct 19, 2023 21:10
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15. Nightmare (1981) Top tier lovely kid lmao. The plot is a bit sluggish unnecessarily and the mkultra aspect of it was pretty silly. There's some decent kills and the hide n seek scene was really good/creepy. Like most video nasties I don't get why it got the label. Nothing in it is as shocking as other stuff released at the time. It's a mostly standard slasher punched up by the killers backstory and the lovely kid. 3.5/5 16. A Dark Song (2016) I was pretty hyped for this based on the reviews I was seeing and it delivered. Loved the shots of the ritual symbols getting more fleshed out as the rituals went on. That looked super cool. It's incredibly tense and looks great. There's a moment where they show the bright outside with a wonderful blend of colors then a hard cut to the interior cold and dark that was just so well done visually. Builds up to a really great cathartic ending. I don't think it quite nailed it in full, but overall the film punches above its weight class. 4/5 17. Maximum Overdrive (1986) Horror comfort food. Emilio Estevez being hunky, several lovely business/religious guys getting dunked on, and some pure 80s cocaine fueled action. A guy gets hit in the nuts by a soda can then shot in the dome by another can and dies. That's the level this movie is operating on. It's good. 3.5/5 18. A Blade in the Dark (1983) Solid giallo made by Lamberto Bava at the top of his game. I really dug the concept of Bruno the composer making music for a horror film that ties into the real murders around him. The music he plays is creepy and effective but also evolves with the film we're watching as Bruno gets sucked into his own murder mystery narrative. You can kinda see the loose threads at times of this being a tv miniseries reworked for film, there's a few plot threads and characters don't go anywhere and just stagnant once their presence as a red herring is revealed. Wasn't much of a fan of the killer reveal but I'm a fan of the person that played the part so I'm not gunna hate on it too much. 3.5/5 19. Dashcam (2021) Maybe it's timing, most people I know hated this movie because of the lead's personality, but watching this post covid I can't help but laugh at her stupidity. The singing shtick was cringe as hell though. For a found footage flick it's surprisingly ambitious with its scope, there's a lot of sets, action, and a decent amount of sfx. The changes in location really stood out to me, we traverse apartments, shops, the woods, a closed theme park, a dirty rear end trailer, and a spooky empty house. Maybe more places I forgot. The fun house mirror set was dope. I also dug some of the bigger moments involving Angela and the effects they did. The number of times there's a smash close up of her face in the camera is pretty meh though. Shame Annie Hardy is a crazy person irl, she does some solid work in this movie. 3/5 20. E-Demon (2016) Very solid screenlife horror flick. Not the greatest acting, but what it delivers on is a wild ride of demonic possession. It's pretty light on sfx, so it leans on the scope of the possession and the paranoia of the characters losing trust in one another as they realize the demon's powers. I was surprised by how many extras they tossed in by the end since it starts with a typical small main cast. The pranks was a fun setup to the escalation that was about to happen. Surprised the director of this hasn't done anything else tbh, this was a good debut and I'd be up for more antics with the E-Demon. 3.5/5 21. V/H/S/85 (2023) Yeah I'm still in for these. The virtual reality one is probably the weakest but also has such a great ending reveal I can't harp on it too much (the creature design blows sorry). I really dug how one of stories is broken up within the anthology that was a neat concept. The dreams one has some cool visual style going for it. The Death god segment ruled hard. The wraparound was a neat idea but I think it needed some more to it to really punch it up. Most of the segments do a good job of nailing the aesthetic of actual vhs/80s degradation. Maybe too costly but I'd kill for them to have filmed the whole thing on VHS. 3.5/5 22. Totally Killer (2023) Has all the pieces for a fun spin on the Happy Death Day/Freaky brand of horror comedy movies but doesn't quite hit the same level as those. I think it's that most of the horror set pieces fall a little short at times and the finale reveal was pretty weak. The 80s Blake reveal was a good gag. There's some great sets and the jumping between the times using the sets to highlight that change was cool. That's said the cast is fantastic, I hope Kiernan Shipka does some more flicks she makes a great lead for it. Olivia Holt is also pretty awesome. Julie Bowen sold the poo poo out of her big scene. Another stand out for me was Ella Choi as 80s Kara. I definitely dig this trend of taking familiar comedy setups and making them horror lol. I'd be up for another one involving this cast. 3.5/5
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Oct 19, 2023 21:16
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 128) The Innkeepers - 2011 - TubiTV This one had been highly recommended by people whose movie opinions I take seriously. At most I was cautioned that it was a bit of a slow burn so I could adjust got a time when I'd really be in the mood for a slow burn. I'd even seen some of Ti West's other work and I liked it. I got to watching and waiting for things to hit the kickoff aaaand....that was it. The film started so slow and dull that I was craving anything remotely spooky. It was like when you've had hospital food for what feels like too long, you're beyond ready for anything not from the hospital, the first taste of non-hospital food tastes out of the world, even if it's just McDonalds. Other slow burns I've sat through at least tossed out a little something to keep the anticipation going and that just didn't seem to happen here for me. This film obviously worked for others, but just didn't click at all with me.  129) Slotherhouse - 2023 - Hulu Here we have a cinematic first. A slasher sloth. With that much of a head's up, I knew exactly what I was getting into watching this. It's a horror comedy that leans for the most part towards comedy, but doesn't come off like comedy salad with horror croutons like some films do. This was a stupidly fun movie that doesn't take itself seriously and you shouldn't take it serious either. We're watching this because we want to see how a sloth pulls off being a slasher and it delivers. Just sit back and enjoy the ridiculousness with blood splatter. And the cherry on the top of all this is the song playing over the credits is a custom song synopsis of the movie. I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints.
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Oct 19, 2023 21:36
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MacheteZombie posted:19. Dashcam (2021) I've seen people say this a few times so I googled it to find out more, and apparently she went on a tear on reddit fighting back against anyone who didn't like her in the movie. I don't think she ever admitted to being Annie Hardy but check out this post history: https://www.reddit.com/user/Mrultimatetruth/
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Oct 19, 2023 21:37
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#42: Thirst (1979) (new to me) A group of elites gaslights a woman into becoming a vampire and you'll never guess what happens. The main character is a woman who purportedly is a descendent of Elizabeth Bathory. That makes her a blue chip draft pick for a cabal of blood-drinking elites who desperately want her on their side for reasons that are never quite explained. They don't like the term "vampires," and that's mostly because they aren't vampires. They need prosthetic fangs to bite people, get killed just as easily as regular people, and have no supernatural powers to speak of. They say they drink blood to keep themselves young, but they're all dumpy middle-aged upper-crusters. They also don't go out at night and hunt people — they get all their blood from "farms" where lower-class people are drugged and "milked." So yeah, they're not vampires. Becoming a vampire isn't as easy as being bitten on the neck — it takes months of intense psychological conditioning. They're just rich weirdoes who need an elaborate infrastructure to indulge in their pointless fetishes. And I suppose that's this movie trying to make a point about class. Early on one of the "vampires" calls drinking human blood "the ultimate aristocratic act," which is so on the nose it's practically up it. It tries to be a vampire take on "The Prisoner" but lays all its cards on the table in the first scene, so you're just sitting there wondering if anything unexpected is going to happen. Aside from what happens to Henry Silva, it doesn't. /5#43: Dracula's Dog (1977) (new to me)  Turns out Dracula had a dog and you'll never guess what happens. It's called "Dracula's Dog," what do you expect? .5/5October Challenge Tally: (new watches in bold) 1. Trick 'r Treat (2007) 2. Motel Hell (1980) 3. TerrorVision (1986) 4. Halloween Kills (2021) 5. Nightmare City (1980) 6. Spookies (1986) 7. Dawn of the Mummy (1981) 8. Halloween Ends (2022) 9. Demons (1985) 10. Demons 2 (1986) 11. Assignment: Terror (1970) 12. Black Roses (1988) 13. Here Comes Hell (2019) 14. Death Spa (1989) 15. Paganini Horror (1989) 16. Hellraiser III (1992) 17. House of the Wolf Man (2009) 18. Tombs of the Blind Dead (1972) 19. Blades (1988) 20. Delirium: Photo of Gioia (1987) 21. A Chinese Ghost Story (1987) 22. Hocus Pocus (1993) 23. House on Haunted Hill (1959) 24. Popcorn (1991) 25. Maximum Overdrive (1987) 26. Van Helsing (2004) 27. The Addams Family (1991) 28. Octaman (1971) 29. Eyes of Fire (1983) 30. The Howling (1981) 31. Evil Dead II (1987) 32. Phantom of the Opera (1925) 33. Friday the 13th Part III (1982) 34. Friday the 13th Part VII The New Blood (1988) 35. Jason X (2001) 36. Blood for Dracula (1974) 37. Flesh for Frankenstein (1974) 38. M3GAN (2022) 39. House of Dracula (1945) 40. Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021) 41. Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1971) 42. Thirst (1979) 43. Dracula's Dog (1977)
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Oct 19, 2023 22:13
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32. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) As far as generally unnecessary remakes of classics go, I actually quite like this one. It dares to ask "what if we took TCM and made it even meaner and nastier and more nihilistic", and more filmmakers should ask themselves that. It obviously doesn't ever get close to matching up to the original, but as early 00s slashers go, it was up against some pretty weak competition, and looks better in comparison. Hell, there have even been worse TCM movies in the meantime. I remember a youtube video I watched on it a while ago who said that this one is the movie people who haven't seen the original think the original is, and that feels pretty accurate. It's very dated though, a more 2003 movie you'd be hard-pressed to find, check out that soundtrack for proof of that. R Lee Ermey always earns his money in anything he's featured in too. "I guess that's what brains look like. Kinda like...lasagna." 3 out of 5! Watched so far: Saw X, Wishmaster, F13 Part 6, One Cut of the Dead, The Exorcism of God, The Stuff, Razorback, The Curse of Frankenstein, Demon Knight, Freaky, V/H/S, Trick 'r' Treat, Goodnight Mommy. Matriarch, Last House on the Left, Phantasm, Dude Bro Party Massacre III, Exorcist: Believer, No-One Will Save You, VHS/85, Hellraiser, Totally Killer, Beaten to Death, Hellraiser II, Annabelle: Creation, Unfriended: Dark Web, House of 1000 Corpses, Phantasm 2, Re-Animator, From Beyond, Terrifier 2, TCM '03 Gyro Zeppeli fucked around with this message at 23:11 on Oct 19, 2023 |
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Oct 19, 2023 23:08
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49. Stay Alive (2006) Infamously the "YOU DIE IN THE GAME YOU DIE IN REAL LIFE" movie. I knew I was in for an incredible time when we popped the Unrated DVD in and it opened with, in order:
Other things I noticed in this movie:
And that's in the first thirty minutes. Incredible! Look, this movie is so bad. But it's also a movie with a horse-drawn carriage drive-by death and so many inconsistencies and anachronisms and of-the-time editing decisions and completely incorrect gamer lingo and absolutely insane characterization that it becomes an utter laugh riot. Why does Frankie Muniz's character exist just to be told to shut up? Why does everyone know the story of Elizabeth Bathory, and why is she this major reveal in a movie about a game that kills you in real life? Literally no scene works here and I loved every one of them. It all spirals into a completely nonsensical - and I mean more than it started - series of weird Saw traps and a supernatural plot to hunt a witch by impaling her with stakes and burning her blood. At one point they go to Loomis Crowley's house and I swore I saw the poster for Daikatana, which would have been absolutely hilarious if it was. The game can't decide whether it's Elder Scrolls or House of the Dead. I love that the goth girl's name is October. I have friends who would gladly base their whole Thing on her in 2023. Maybe this movie was just ahead of its time. The worst part about this movie, and its cardinal sin, is that almost every single death outside of the opening scene and the carriage death is cut in such a way that they happen just out of frame or offscreen. There's blood but there's no impact, no ripping, no tearing. I genuinely think that if this movie was just more violent and the Unrated Cut was the one that got the theatrical release...well, it still would be terrible for so many reasons but I think it would be something like The Room because it's so consistently unintentionally funny that it would make for great cult viewing. It could have been a sublimely bad film instead of just a hilariously bad film. Then again, the ending sequence where Frankie Muniz uses the game to navigate the house in real life and unlock doors for the protagonists and then plays the game using a Dualshock makes up for it, to say nothing of the deadly Alienware laptops that factor into the spectacularly funny climax. I was in fits laughing by the ending. I can't believe this movie is real. Shoutouts to the protagonist's NES controller tragically dying in a fire. Like if you cry every time. Rating: 0.5 Roses Out Of 5
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Oct 19, 2023 23:47
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Oct 20, 2023 00:05
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M_Sinistrari posted:
How gory is this one? Seems like something my partner would enjoy but she doesn't do gore if it's semi-realistic at all. Fake blood is OK.
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Oct 20, 2023 00:08
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 27. Murder Party A comedy horror that is so stupid it hurts. In a good way. 3.5/5
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Oct 20, 2023 00:16
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gey muckle mowser posted:How gory is this one? Seems like something my partner would enjoy but she doesn't do gore if it's semi-realistic at all. Fake blood is OK. the inciting incident that sends Alpha on her killer rampage is she sees an Instagram post of the poacher who captured her.
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Oct 20, 2023 00:22
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love the jump scare (with scare chords—it was intentional!) that is just him appearing in frame *~*~*~*~*~*~
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Oct 20, 2023 00:23
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4) Elvira's Haunted Hills (2001) Challenge: Horror Adjacent (horror comedy) Meta challenges: New To You (3/6), Horror Is For Everyone (LGBTQ), History Lesson (2000s) While travelling to Paris to launch her one-woman revue, the Mistress of the Dark finds herself staying at Castle Hellsebus, where every Roger Corman Poe movie is taking place at the same time. Hijinks ensue. I didn't like Elvira's first movie. The script was dire, the plot was barely there, and Cassandra Peterson, nice person though I believe she is, can't act - which is a bit of a drawback when you're playing yourself. This follow-up movie represents more of the same broad, bawdy humour and I didn't expect to like it much either. And to be fair, it still wasn't great. But her style works better in parody than in original material. There's an obvious deep affection for the movies being lampooned, with several nice touches that aficionados of horror B-movies will spot right away. I also particularly enjoyed the running gag with the stable hand being a handsome Italian dubbed into English. Richard O'Brien is also on hand to ensure that no piece of scenery went unchewed. Overall, a soft recommend. If you like Elvira or you like the Corman movies, you won't be too disappointed.
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Oct 20, 2023 00:26
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