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I was bored earlier and watched Toad Road since it was mentioned and I had the time (plus it was on Netflix): I feel like the movie needed a few more beats before the movie actually ended. There was so much of hosed Up Druggies being hosed Up Druggies that the actual Toad Roadishness of Toad Road felt like an afterthought. Don't get me wrong, I didn't expect (or want) a retread of BWP, but I felt there was much to mine of reality taking a turn for the strange that wasn't really done. The brief times it was done were awesome (I didn't even realize the gate in front of Sara the first time because I figured it was my wi-fi connection crapping out*). I had trouble getting invested with the post-Road stuff, because after a brief foray into literal Hell, the mundane Hell of James being treated as if he killed Sara and not knowing if he did or not wasn't as strong. There's a beat during Jame's did I kill you or not? where it felt like he was actually talking to a Sara that was in the room with him. I think having that is Sara alive or not, as an example of a fluid reality, would have been interesting. Thoughts on characters: James felt like a a guy from a bad place in life that still believed in having a better life, for himself (note when he talks about wanting to go back to school) and for those he cares about (worrying about Sara doing levels of drugs, even warning her off initially). Sara, by contrast, is a person from a Good Place that desperately yearns for a worse place in life. I know that description of Sara is weird, but think about it: when she finds out about the notion of Toad Road, she really likes the idea of being able to walk to Hell, finding it beautiful. Her first trip encourages her even further, with imagery that most would dissuade. And was it just me, or did Sara's hair color change from scene to scene, especially when the two walk in the forest for the last time? Overall, an okay movie that should have been longer. Hell, I just realized it's barely over an hour. Plus, it's a shame that actress-Sara died of a heroin overdose shortly after the film's release.  * Non-spoiler spoiler: watch this on a computer or something with a good screen and connection. I know it's somewhat true about every film, but this one had some things near the end that look a lot like Netflix-Dropping-To-Low-Quality mode.
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Feb 6, 2014 09:16
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MisterBibs posted:I had trouble getting invested with the post-Road stuff, because after a brief foray into literal Hell, the mundane Hell of James being treated as if he killed Sara and not knowing if he did or not wasn't as strong. There's a beat during Jame's did I kill you or not? where it felt like he was actually talking to a Sara that was in the room with him. I think having that is Sara alive or not, as an example of a fluid reality, would have been interesting. Having thought about this more, I think Sara is appearing as a ghost and/or metaphorically to him. That scene is framed by Sara appearing through swirling mists, and ended by her rising up and away from him laying on the ground during their walk through the gates. Literally or metaphorically, he stopped at the fifth gate, but just before that scene he reached the sixth gate as marked by her narration. She was attracted to the site because she found the idea beautiful, and did not agree that the end would be hell. Keep in mind, though, that she had now way of knowing what was past the fifth gate until she passed through them. The narrator is Sara after she passes through all the gates. That does not mean she is alive, but through death or supernatural assumption, she has risen beyond physical existence. And yes, the news that the actress died of an overdose is just terrible. Makes the movie very haunting, especially since the minute cuts are to a hallucinatory scene of her violently overdosing.
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Feb 6, 2014 10:00
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Toad Road doesn't work without the real world implications (t barely does with the real world implications), but the infuriating thing about it was that you can tell that it could have gotten there.
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Feb 6, 2014 10:11
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You know, the longer it's been since I've watched You're Next, the more I appreciate it. I'm thinking it's easily the best I've seen in 2013 and up until now. Carrie might be 2nd. Are there any recommendations like You're Next I could check out? I was just so bored and quite frankly appalled with the vile and mean-spirited horror of late (Sinister comes to mind). You're Next felt so fresh in comparison and brought back that scare/uneasy laugh-release I like in horror. I still can't quite put my finger on how to describe it.
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Feb 6, 2014 11:02
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Hodgepodge posted:Wait, how is Jacob's Ladder not topping everyone's list? I thought it was an '80's movie - but I see it was 1990... Ok, Jacob's Ladder and Candyman are my top two.
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Feb 6, 2014 11:04
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Well, I used a sick day yesterday to watch Frankenhooker. What the gently caress have you people been smoking (and don't say "supercrack")? It's hilariously terrible, but I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it to anyone whether I disliked them or not.
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Feb 6, 2014 13:32
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Wizchine posted:I thought it was an '80's movie - but I see it was 1990... Ok, Jacob's Ladder and Candyman are my top two. People always wank over Jacob's Ladder but forget about Angel Heart that came out a few years earlier. They are both psychological thrillers, sort of horror, and have a twist ending. They seem like 80s versions of The 6th Sense. Angel Heart is known for Lisa Bonet being nude in opposition to her Cosby Show pedigree. It has Mickey Rourke when he still looked human also. Now that I think of it, the cage like Otis elevator in the movie gave me nightmares when I was a kid. temple fucked around with this message at 14:00 on Feb 6, 2014 |
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Feb 6, 2014 13:54
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The wanking over Jacob's Ladder is justified. It's crazy scary just because there's no logical explanation for what the gently caress is happening to poor Jacob or the things he's seeing until the ending, and all the logical explanations that keep getting thrown at him don't make quite enough sense. That's just plain unnerving. Plus it was probably the only time in Macauley Culkin's career that he was actually adorable.
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Feb 6, 2014 15:03
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Jedit posted:Well, I used a sick day yesterday to watch Frankenhooker. What the gently caress have you people been smoking (and don't say "supercrack")? It's hilariously terrible, but I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it to anyone whether I disliked them or not. Super Crack  Frankenhooker is just one of those movies where you have to have a high tolerance for really bad and offensive movies. I like the movie, personally, but I not only don't expect anybody else to like it I wouldn't even mention that I've seen it unless someone mentions having seen it or asks me straight-out if I've seen it.
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Feb 6, 2014 16:40
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I haven't seen Frankenhooker in many, many years but Basket Case and Brain Damage are both reallly loving dope so I'm willing to give Frank Hennenlotter the benefit of the doubt in most things. I just remember Frankenhooker had the ill interactive video case and the time it came up in one of my college classes when we were studying Frankenstein and I was the only one who'd seen it and everyone else assumed it was a porno.
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Feb 6, 2014 16:42
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The thing I liked about Frankenhooker is that for about a month after I saw it, I was convinced the main dude was Micheal J Fox.
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Feb 6, 2014 16:46
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temple posted:People always wank over Jacob's Ladder but forget about Angel Heart that came out a few years earlier. They are both psychological thrillers, sort of horror, and have a twist ending. They seem like 80s versions of The 6th Sense. Angel Heart is known for Lisa Bonet being nude in opposition to her Cosby Show pedigree. It has Mickey Rourke when he still looked human also. Now that I think of it, the cage like Otis elevator in the movie gave me nightmares when I was a kid. Good call, that one is awesome. Although a little more cheesy than Jacob's Ladder. I'm okay with cheesy when it is Robert De Nero as Lucifer, though. Jacob's Ladder leans more to the psychological horror end of the genre (Toad Road as well). Angel Heart plays to both crowds, though, with some really gruesome deaths. Hodgepodge fucked around with this message at 17:46 on Feb 6, 2014 |
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Feb 6, 2014 17:39
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Jedit posted:Well, I used a sick day yesterday to watch Frankenhooker. What the gently caress have you people been smoking (and don't say "supercrack")? It's hilariously terrible, but I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it to anyone whether I disliked them or not. But where else are you gonna see a room full of exploding hookers?
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Feb 6, 2014 18:04
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temple posted:People always wank over Jacob's Ladder but forget about Angel Heart that came out a few years earlier. They are both psychological thrillers, sort of horror, and have a twist ending. They seem like 80s versions of The 6th Sense. Angel Heart is known for Lisa Bonet being nude in opposition to her Cosby Show pedigree. It has Mickey Rourke when he still looked human also. Now that I think of it, the cage like Otis elevator in the movie gave me nightmares when I was a kid. Angel Heart is decent, but it's hobbled by some seriously bad acting in the last act. Also, Mickey Rourke loving hates tables in that movie.
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Feb 6, 2014 18:42
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Hodgepodge posted:She was attracted to the site because she found the idea beautiful, and did not agree that the end would be hell. The movie is a little inconsistent on that, though. Sure, she does have a line where she says it might be something better, but she otherwise regularly refers to it as Hell, which is generally considered a Uncool Place To Be. The movie starts with her saying "Once, I met a guy who told me about a place that contained the seven gates that led to Hell, and I thought it was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard." While we're talking about the movie, I'm having a bit of a problem wrapping my head around the framing story. Was James waking up in the snow forest represent him finally being kicked out of the 'completely different level of Hell' Sara's post-5th-Gate narration states? Or did he somehow go back to try and find/rescue Sara?
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Feb 6, 2014 20:24
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Starscream posted:But where else are you gonna see a room full of exploding hookers? Anywhere I go, bro, anywhere I go.
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Feb 6, 2014 20:26
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To break from the conversation about exploding hookers, anyone see Dark Touch? It just went up on the netflix. "In a remote town in Ireland, eleven-year-old Niamh finds herself the sole survivor of a bloody massacre that killed her parents and younger brother. Suspecting a gang of homicidal vandals, the police ignore Neve's explanation that the house is the culprit..." Seems like standard haunted house or ghost stuff, then it gets a bit more into Carrie territory, then gets much, much darker and more depressing when it's revealed that her parents abused her in every way possible, and while nothing is shown graphically it's very heavily implied, and her powers are a coping mechanism/response to the abuse she suffered.. Disturbing and sad. Great movie to watch at the end of a long day!
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Feb 7, 2014 05:00
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Whispering Machines posted:To break from the conversation about exploding hookers, anyone see Dark Touch? It just went up on the netflix. It came to my attention because it's the latest from the writer/director of In My Skin. Definitely someone to keep an eye on if she's going to continue to make unconventional films like these.
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Feb 7, 2014 05:16
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I some times like to draw a line between horror movies that use horror elements to entertain, and the horror movies that use horror elements to, well, horrify. Dark Touch is definitely in the latter, and frankly, I found it too disturbing to form any coherent opinion on. It's good at being disturbing and sad and scary, though.
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Feb 8, 2014 01:11
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Yeah, that's how I felt. Well done, and effective, but not entertaining the way a ghost/haunted house/monster/etc horror would be- the supernatural elements were just a distraction from the trauma. Even the ending, where Niamh and the other abused children reenact the scenes and language of their abuse with the neighbors who meant well but were oblivious to the what her parents did to her, while violent and self destructive, is really more heartbreaking than anything.
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Feb 8, 2014 06:26
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So I'm fresh off my first viewing of YellowBrickRoad on Netflix and had to just stare at a wall for ten minutes afterward because holy gently caress. Watched it with a group of friends as a nice cap on our Friday night and the standard commentary on the showing suddenly stopped as things got going half-way through and then we all just kind of took the rest of the film in, eyes agape. As the movie finished, we all looked at each other, said quick, monotone goodbyes, and went our separate ways. Did anyone else have this kind of reaction? I've seen so many "scary" horror movies over the years, but this just inspired abject horror of an entirely different level.
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Feb 8, 2014 07:43
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Cugel the Clever posted:So I'm fresh off my first viewing of YellowBrickRoad on Netflix and had to just stare at a wall for ten minutes afterward because holy gently caress. Watched it with a group of friends as a nice cap on our Friday night and the standard commentary on the showing suddenly stopped as things got going half-way through and then we all just kind of took the rest of the film in, eyes agape. As the movie finished, we all looked at each other, said quick, monotone goodbyes, and went our separate ways. Personally I thought it was pretty unremarkable, aside from the gimmick which has been done before and better by a dozen movies before ending like In The Mouth Of Madness. It had potential, but never did anything with it and some parts of the second half were just bad or inexperienced filmmaking.
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Feb 8, 2014 08:30
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YellowBrickRoad has an interesting premise, but I felt like it became increasingly incoherent as it went along. The ending was meaningless and not a bit as clever as the filmmakers thought it was. Anybody seen Lord of Tears?
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Feb 8, 2014 08:49
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Cugel the Clever posted:So I'm fresh off my first viewing of YellowBrickRoad on Netflix and had to just stare at a wall for ten minutes afterward because holy gently caress. Watched it with a group of friends as a nice cap on our Friday night and the standard commentary on the showing suddenly stopped as things got going half-way through and then we all just kind of took the rest of the film in, eyes agape. As the movie finished, we all looked at each other, said quick, monotone goodbyes, and went our separate ways. You should go watch A Field in England.
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Feb 8, 2014 16:41
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Yellowbrickroad was decent, but yeah people are right here in saying the ending just falls apart. It's like it wanted to suddenly be a very different flavored film, like almost something Lynchian. I was impressed by the fact that the story was very much the sort you'd expect to find as a found footage film, yet it was not one at all. Also I dig settings where things like sound or other non palpable factors make people untrustable/monsters like this or Pontypool, or the Siren game series etc.
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Feb 8, 2014 16:45
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The scariest part of Yellowbrickroad is the part where the girl admits to selling popcorn and telling lies. But she's in her 30s! Sorry for the spooky post guys.
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Feb 9, 2014 01:14
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I just watch Day of the Dead for the first time since the 90s. It is way better than I remembered. When I was younger I was bored by this one, but watching it now I was completely enthralled by the human conflict.
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Feb 9, 2014 02:33
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saulwright posted:You should go watch A Field in England.
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Feb 9, 2014 03:30
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CopywrightMMXI posted:I just watch Day of the Dead for the first time since the 90s. It is way better than I remembered. When I was younger I was bored by this one, but watching it now I was completely enthralled by the human conflict. Dawn might be the better film, but I find myself watching Day more and more as I get older. Romero could really write some compelling dialogue back in the day. And then he wrote Bruiser.
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Feb 9, 2014 04:34
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I posted this a few months ago and was hoping that someone else has seen it besides myself. It's a Miike film, so if you're a fan of his or a fan of horror at all, you need to check this out: Lesson of Evil It's one of the better "horror" films I've seen in the past year or two. Just watch it. It's so great. Also, have any of you seen My Little Eye? It's a low budget horror with Bradley Cooper from over a decade ago. I remember seeing it and liking it quite a bit. xzoto1 fucked around with this message at 05:29 on Feb 9, 2014 |
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Feb 9, 2014 05:25
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Glamorama26 posted:Dawn might be the better film, but I find myself watching Day more and more as I get older. Romero could really write some compelling dialogue back in the day. I dunno, I kind of liked Bruiser. The funny thing about Romero is that his work ages exceptionally well, and I would argue it improves with age, almost like wine. Sure, he may be about the most heavy handed metaphor crafter in the biz, and his dialoguemay be stilted as hell, but pretty much every film he's made post NotLD has received scorn upon release and praise after the fact. Hell, I think Monkey Shines is one of his best works (I haven't seen his 3 non-horror films yet) despite it being a total flop.
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Feb 9, 2014 05:56
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xzoto1 posted:Also, have any of you seen My Little Eye? It's a low budget horror with Bradley Cooper from over a decade ago. I remember seeing it and liking it quite a bit. It is on Netflix right now. Thought it read really weird but found it pretty entertaining. Really, really weird to reiterate.
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Feb 9, 2014 08:51
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Choco1980 posted:I dunno, I kind of liked Bruiser. The funny thing about Romero is that his work ages exceptionally well, and I would argue it improves with age, almost like wine. Sure, he may be about the most heavy handed metaphor crafter in the biz, and his dialoguemay be stilted as hell, but pretty much every film he's made post NotLD has received scorn upon release and praise after the fact. I totally disagree with you on Bruiser having any merit, but am intrigued to know what you liked about it. I have a high tolerance for bad films (especially by guys I like, I spent a lot of Carpenter's The Ward trying to convince myself that it was good), but I could find nothing worth a poo poo in that one. I do agree that Monkey Shines isn't bad at all, the premise is just on the page goofy. Oh yeah, I somehow just saw Paul Schrader's rendition of Cat People thanks to Scream Factory's recent release of it and holy poo poo, I was really into that movie. Gorgeous, hypnotizing and effortlessly bizarre effort. Really strong, they knew how to produce some remakes in the late 70s/80s. And on Yellowbrickroad, I agree with the poster who said In The Mouth of Madness did a lot of similar stuff better, but something about the music playing all around them in the middle of nowhere really creeped me out. It's flawed, but I'd still recommend horror fans give it a go.
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Feb 9, 2014 09:01
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Glamorama26 posted:
Monkey Shines is entertaining as hell.
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Feb 9, 2014 10:06
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Always wondered, is Monkey Shines that monkey segment in Merlin's Shop Of Mystical Wonders or what? I just know it has monkey toys.
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Feb 9, 2014 10:13
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Dissapointed Owl posted:Always wondered, is Monkey Shines that monkey segment in Merlin's Shop Of Mystical Wonders or what? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095652/?ref_=nv_sr_1 It was George Romero's first studio film or something. It's hilarious.
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Feb 9, 2014 10:30
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Dissapointed Owl posted:Always wondered, is Monkey Shines that monkey segment in Merlin's Shop Of Mystical Wonders or what? Monkey Shines features a paraplegic man who hires a helper monkey who goes nuts. No toys, just actual crazy monkey. The poster probably confused you...  "Please. Kill. Mojo." Watch Shakma and Monkey Shines back to back and oh God, get drunker as you go. Glamorama26 fucked around with this message at 11:07 on Feb 9, 2014 |
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Feb 9, 2014 11:04
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Monkey Shines isn't about a toy monkey? What a gip! If I want a killer monkey movie I'll just watch that Terror Tract anthology with Brian Cranston.
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Feb 9, 2014 11:30
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How is this a gip? It's a REAL crazy monkey torturing a crippled guy. Just read that sentence. Dear Lord. It's the very reason why truly great horror movies rule; there are no rules. EVERYONE will eat poo poo.
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Feb 9, 2014 12:48
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Just chiming in on the love for Monkey Shines, it's wonderful! Martin is still Romero's best movie I really must dig my copy out.
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Feb 9, 2014 12:57
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