|
 Idle Hands is probably the best late-'90s stoner teen comedy/horror extended homage to Evil Dead 2's hand in existence. It's directed by a former Corman employee (Rodman Flender, who also directed Leprechaun 2), and with a decent budget at his disposal, there's a lot of nice touches packed into the film. It's dumb, but fun, and Devon Sawa pulls off some impressive physical comedy to rival Bruce Campbell in portraying a guy with a possessed hand (eventually played in the film by the guy who did Thing in The Addams Family). Also, you get to see the singer from The Offspring get scalped. 
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2014 03:00
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 17, 2024 04:43 |
|
|
Lurdiak posted:Like I said, my grandfather's funeral service was this week-end. Sorry, I missed that. Totally understandable
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2014 03:05
|
|
|
Day 26 - Carriers Wasn't able to find a copy of any of the suggested movies but I did manage to find something. Rounding out the last of the infection themed movies for the week, Carriers is one that I hadn’t heard anything about. It’s got Chris Pine in it and came out the same year as Star Trek but apparently Captain Kirk’s star power is only so useful. It also stars a few other people you’d recognize like Agent 13 from Winter Soldier and that dude from Law & Order: SVU. Together you get a pretty decent cast for a pretty decent movie about being a huge rear end in a top hat in an apocalypse scenario. Full review behind link. Not sure what to do for the last 5 nights. Don't think I'll go with a theme and instead just watch some movies I've heard good things about that I haven't checked out yet.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2014 05:19
|
|
|
Tonight's "Opening Act" crap shoot movie I don't have high hopes for? 35) The Last Exorcism Part II (2013)  Well that was garbage. Its not the first nor the last time a movie I really, really liked turned into a sequel I really, really didn't. Not the first (or second) time this countdown. I'm glad I didn't watch it right after the original and let it tarnish that feeling. It wasn't surprising when I looked it up and saw that there were very few people in common behind the first and second movie. The second's just so silly and cliche and that ending is absurd. God, that was crap. Tonight's "Feature Attraction" I've been holding off on all month so I hope it delivers? 36) House at the End of the Street (2012)  Unnecessarily wordy name aside I was much more pleased with this one. It wasn't at all the home invasion film I was expecting (which I suppose is the point behind the title) but is instead a pretty tricky psychological thriller. It twists and turns and while not every move is a complete surprise I think it does a good job keeping you guessing. You might guess right (I did a couple of times) but you probably won't be confident in those guesses especially if a couple of others fall through. And unlike a lot of twisting and turning films I think this makes sense. At the very least I didn't notice any glaring plot holes. Its some solid performances from the leads, including Jennifer Lawrence slumming it in a horror film and doing a good job in the Scream Queen role. And I enjoy her character. She's strong, smart, beautiful, talented, all the stuff you expect the heroine to be... but she's also kind of a brat and her mom and friends look at her sideways a number of times when she's kind of walking into her horror story making questionable decisions or having questionable motivations. Now to decide on tonight's "Late Night Showing" as I doze off in bed... The Tally Only first time films watched in October count to the challenge. Any repeat viewings are Ineligible (I). Pre-October Warm Up V/H/S (2012) / V/H/S 2 (2013) / Sinister (2012) / Quarantine 2: Terminal (2011) / State Of Emergency (2011) / We Are What We Are (2013) Week 1: Oct 1st to 7th 1) Insidious (2010) / 2) Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013) / 3) Enter Nowhere (2011) / 4) The Nurse (2013) / 5) American Mary (2012) / (I) Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight (1995) / 6) Re-Animator (1985) / 7) The Lords of Salem (2013) Week 2: Oct 8th to 14th 8) Paranormal Activity (2007) / 9) Trollhunter (2010) / 10) The Woman in Black (2012) / 11) 1408 (2007) /12) Dead Before Dawn (2012) / 13) ParaNorman (2012) / 14) Paranormal Activity 2 (2010) Week 3: Oct 15th to 21st 15) The Hole (2009) / 16) The Den (2013) / 17) Ravenous (1999) / 18) All The Boys Love Mandy Lane (2006) / 19) John Carpenter's The Ward (2011) / 20) The Devil's Pass (2013) / 21) Blood Glacier (2013) / 22) You're Next (2011) / 23) The Coed and The Zombie Stoner (2014) / 24) Paranormal Activity 3 (2011) Week 4: Oct 22nd to 28th 25) Torment (2013) / 26) Paranormal Activity 4: Unrated Edition (2012) / 27) Ghoulies (1985) / 28) The Day (2011) / 29) The Barricade (2012) / 30) The Last Exorcism (2010) / 31) Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy (2010) / 32) Antisocial (2013) /33) Odd Thomas (2013) / 34) Rapture-Palooza (2013) / 35) The Last Exorcism Part II (2013) / 36) House at the End of the Street (2012)
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2014 07:24
|
|
|
29: The Iron Rose (1973) A young couple go on a date after meeting at a wedding. Their wandering takes them to a huge cemetery where they frolic and have fun for a bit too long. As night falls, they get shut in to the necropolis, and find they can't figure out where the exit is. Slowly the couple lose their grip on sanity as well. (Don't believe Netflix, who claims that there is someone stalking them inside the gates. There isn't even a hint of this.) I normally like Jean Rollin as a filmmaker. His movies have a strange, dreamlike feel to them, and often are weird and engaging. Sometimes however, the atmosphere becomes too opaque, and any sort of message, or at all a plot, gets lost in the imagery. This is just such a case. I can't tell if there's supposed to be some artistic metaphor for something, or if Rollin just wanted an excuse to shoot at a graveyard at night. What I know about him and his filmography, it could go either way. And unfortunately, my enjoyment suffers for it.  /five.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2014 13:41
|
|
|
Day 27 - [REC] I figured I’d start the “whatever the hell I want it’s the end of the month and I’ve stopped caring” theme week with [REC] since it actually flows from the infection theme from last week. I have been wanting to see this movie for years but only just now found a copy. It was, unfortunately, a dubbed copy instead of one with subtitles but I’ll take what I can get. This one had been fairly well hyped up and I was worried that it wouldn’t be able to live up to the expectations. Thankfully, most of the praise seems to have been well deserved.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2014 20:17
|
|
|
The scariest thing from this movie was the intro from the old Chiller show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok6uzndOmPA
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2014 20:21
|
|
|
Can I have some recomendos for 80s horrors? I'm doing the challenge (kinda) with my fiance but we wanted to do 80s stuff. We've seen most of the major stuff. What am I missing.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2014 20:28
|
|
|
Gozinbulx posted:Can I have some recomendos for 80s horrors? I'm doing the challenge (kinda) with my fiance but we wanted to do 80s stuff. We've seen most of the major stuff. What am I missing. Monster Squad.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2014 20:35
|
|
|
Night of the Comet is 80s as gently caress if you want a time capsule.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2014 21:05
|
|
|
Gozinbulx posted:Can I have some recomendos for 80s horrors? I'm doing the challenge (kinda) with my fiance but we wanted to do 80s stuff. We've seen most of the major stuff. What am I missing. Return of the Living Dead Neon Maniacs The Lost Boys
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2014 21:09
|
|
|
Everyone should see Repo Man but it's sort of on the fringe of the genre.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2014 21:31
|
|
|
Last night's "Late Night/As I Doze Off" feature turned out to be this gem... 37) Zombie Hunter (2013)  Don't watch this, in case you for some reason like me thought that Danny Trejo killing zombies sounded like fun and you could go for a good campy movie with hot chicks and bad dudes. Its really, really, really bad and Trejo is barely in it.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2014 23:33
|
|
 SCREAM STREAM ON MONDAY??????? It's true! Begins at 8:30 Eastern. Tonight's features are near and dear to my heart as my personal favorite horror sequels of all time:  Gremlins 2: The New Batch and...  Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors Don't miss the final(?) stream!
|
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2014 00:44
|
|
|
Day 28 - Equinox is the movie that answers that age old question, how many fillings does scifi grandmaster Fritz Leiber have? Which is the goofy way of saying that this is a movie that's more notable for the people involved with it than the actual result. It was a super low budget (apparently less than $7000) feature that seems to have been built from the let's gather everyone we know and make a film school of thought. A bunch of friends go up into the mountains around LA for a picnic. In (As an aside, every time I get out to LA I intend to go to Bronson's Canyon and every time I don't make it.) If the plot sounds familiar to you, it's because Sam Raimi essentially remade it as The Evil Dead. In fact, there's some shots during the exposition that he directly lifted for his movie. Of course, Raimi is a better filmmaker than the director here. The reason I made a crack about the fillings at the start is that cameraman Ed Bagley Jr. (yes, the same one) loves pushing his camera down people's open, gaping mouths. The movie was directed by Dennis Muren and if that name is unfamiliar to you, he's won an absurd number of academy awards for special effects for his work on things like Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Terminator 2. They did some impressive things on their effectively no budget production like some stop motion work (done by someone else well respected in the field, Jim Danforth), but the film suffers from shooting everything in bright daylight. There's just no atmosphere to this movie.
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2014 01:16
|
|
|
Lurdiak posted:SCREAM STREAM ON MONDAY??????? It's true! Begins at 8:30 Eastern. Tonight's features are near and dear to my heart as my personal favorite horror sequels of all time: I am so sad I'm at work during this one. I love both of those movies so goddamn much.
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2014 01:23
|
|
|
23. The Last Broadcast (1998) Well. That was total garbage. I'm disappointed in my choices lately, the last 4 movies I watched were not that great. It wasn't totally godawful. There were times when I thought this might be finally getting somewhere, but then it just never happened. I guess the idea wasn't overdone at the time, and the basic idea was interesting and had potential. The documentary style was poorly done, the pacing was weird, the intro to everything was weird, the way it told the story was weird... it just wasn't made well. Maybe this was more accurate for tv documentaries in the 90s, but it just seemed really off to me. If anything I guess it's kinda cool as a time period piece of the rise of the early internet. Or maybe its one of those movies that if I saw as a kid I might have found more frightening or something.. I mean, I thought (and still consider) The Blair Witch Project to be one of the best horror movies ever made. The Last Broadcast however was a total pile of poo poo. Don't even get me started on the "twist." I mean.. what the gently caress was that. Anyway, I clearly need an actual decent movie to watch next.
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2014 01:31
|
|
|
Amber Sweet posted:If anything I guess it's kinda cool as a time period piece of the rise of the early internet. Or maybe its one of those movies that if I saw as a kid I might have found more frightening or something.. I mean, I thought (and still consider) The Blair Witch Project to be one of the best horror movies ever made. The Last Broadcast however was a total pile of poo poo. Don't even get me started on the "twist." I mean.. what the gently caress was that. I recall then Blair Witch was blowing up the guys behind The Last Broadcast kind of threw a fit because they were getting ignored. Of course, their movie wasn't nearly as good...
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2014 02:23
|
|
|
Movie 27: Gremlins 2 I couldn't pass up the chance to watch this one after Lurdiak announced that it was in scream stream. This is a really fun movie, with tons of crazy gags and jokes. poo poo hits the fan early, and the movie doesn't slow down at all. It also serves as a great satire of the first one and a satire of sequels in general. It's also impressive how so many characters (and gremlins!) have distinctive personalities developed in such a short run time. Scream Stream was fun too!
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2014 03:14
|
|
|
Dang, my dance card's full else i'd be in the stream too. Those movies are great. Anyways, I got a package today, presumably from Cthulhusnewzulubbq, containing movie 30: Razorback (1983): In the Australian Outback a journalist investigating kangaroo slaughter is first attacked by some hunters for snooping, and then by a giant boar. By giant, I mean like, rhino-sized. An average, dog-sized boar can be scary if it's angry, so you can imagine the threat of a beast like that big enough to tear down houses. Her husband then comes to investigate her disappearance, teaming with an old hunter with a grudge against the beast, and a lady tagging and tracking the local boars. I enjoyed this movie a lot. But then, I'm a sucker for all the weirdness of the 80's. I have to say, for 1983, the effects were pretty good in this film. But then, this was from the height of the ozploitation movement, so I guess the money was there at the time. I was surprised they pulled a Psycho and killed the journalist off a half hour in. I'm sure the parallels were not accidental. Anyways, if 80's, and/or Aussie flicks are to your liking then this really should be on your watch list. /five
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2014 03:18
|
|
|
Choco1980 posted:Dang, my dance card's full else i'd be in the stream too. Those movies are great. Glad it worked out! Apparently the director started out his career with music videos, including The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star". Fun factoid.
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2014 03:44
|
|
|
  In this movie, a girl and her family visit the estranged uncle, only for her to fall into the centuries-long aftermath of a witch's execution. Michael Gough turns in a nice and sinister performance, while the young woman (Candace Glendenning) does a decent job acting as though the situation is loosening her grip on reality. I don't know that I'd call the film mean-spirited, but it really doesn't have any mercy for its characters. The violence is infrequent, but when it does show up, it's pretty gruesome for the time. A lot of the same spirit of suspicion and fear as Rosemary's Babyis present, though this isn't as sophisticated a production. Decent score, too. Darthemed fucked around with this message at 06:35 on Oct 28, 2014 |
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2014 06:32
|
|
|
 MOVIE 31Bug (1975) After an earthquake hits a small desert town, strange mutant cockroaches swarm the land, capable of creating fires with their hindquarters and eating the ash. However, due to the pressures of surface air, they can't survive. A local college biology teacher becomes obsessed with the creatures and grows mad, crossbreeding them with common roaches to make hyper-intelligent palmettos. Yeah, that ends up going about as well as you'd imagine. Though he did not direct it, William Castle co-wrote and produced this film, his last he worked on. And boy is it a doozy. The violence, when it happens, is surprisingly graphic (I remember being five and seeing a scene on tv from this where a woman's hair catches on fire, and the film didn't disappoint me when it came on). The bugs are suitably gross. And the actors are incredibly dumb, with the lead going pants-on-head crazy by the end of the film. I only dimly remembered that hair scene as a kid, and nobody mentioned the mad scientist angle, so when the film changed gears half way through, I was pleasantly surprised. /fiveI'm still going to watch other new to me horror this month, but it's all gravy from here on out.
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2014 06:55
|
|
|
cthulusnewzulubbq posted:Glad it worked out! Apparently the director started out his career with music videos, including The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star". Fun factoid. Russel Mulcahy went on to direct Highlander. I have fond memories of Razorback. "Wakey wakey, hands off snakey."
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2014 07:21
|
|
|
38) Alyce Kills (2011) Solid psychological thriller about a slightly disturbed young lady who accidentally pushes her best friend (and infatuation) off the roof and consequently goes completely unhinged. The beginning is a little slow as we stumble around with these people but its good in keying us into some important background elements without directly telling us. (A) Alyce has been estranged from her friends for awhile after an awkward situation with her friend where she was accused of "going Single White Female" on her and (B) Alyce does in fact seem to be in love with her friend as when she jokes about going lesbian with her Alyce looks completely game and heartbroken when its all a joke. In general Jade Dornfeld does a very good job as Alyce really getting across in a believable way these feelings she's obviously hiding and keeping to herself and the embarrassment and hope she has when they come up. She also travels a long journey into guilt, self destruction, and ultimately crazy land and Dornfeld does a very good job conveying this without much dialogue or exposition. The movie does tension pretty well. The scene on the roof carries an air of panic and when Alyce starts to slip into the seedy world of drugs and encounters sketchy people the scenes carry the proper air of danger with them. Alyce's breakdown is slow and takes up the majority of the film, which might be my main criticism. It MIGHT have been better if that part had been paced a little faster as when she starts getting violent and going batshit crazy it all happens at once. On the other hand her breakdown taking up the majority of the film and her eventually killing spree happening in a very short amount of time is probably more realistic and more true to that kind of breakdown. Despite the dark nature it has a sense of humor about itself like the scene after Alyce kills someone and casually struggles to figure out the best way to chop up the body using kitchen utensils or the quite hilarious final scene of Alyce stumbling into her apartment with a couple of bodies as cops stand there watching uncomfortably and Alyce is unphased. All in all, an interesting and different film that I definitely want to give a second watch. I'd definitely recommend this. I'm not saying its a great film but I think its unique and worth a watch. 39) The Possession (2012)  This? It was a solid, even good film. I think there were strong performances put in by Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Natasha Calis as the 10-year-old possessed girl. The characters were likable and sympathetic so you feel for what they're going through. There was some genuinely creepy imagery and moments and any time you put a kid in danger I'm going to feel uneasy. But the movie never fully clicked for me and never scared me or made me fully uncomfortable. It didn't have that same mood and tension you feel in movies that inspired it like The Exorcist or other similar movies I've watched this month like The Last Exorcism, Paranormal Activity, or Lords of Salem. I think part of that is that they start the creepy, big stuff kind of early (which I appreciate) but the family doesn't really seem to raise the alert in proper time. That's a tough game to play and I've talked at length about it especially with the Paranormal Activity movies but you have to find a way to make things properly scary and dangerous early enough in the film while still giving the people reasonable motivation to still be engaged at the proper level to keep the story going. In this case we get hundreds of moths flying around the possessed girl, daddy getting stabbed with a fork, and a teacher killing herself in front of the box all relatively early in and no one seems to be getting properly worried yet. Dad eventually does and the film starts to come together as the demon reveals herself to mom too in a pretty tense and good scene but by then we're already deep into the movie and it feels like these moments could have come earlier. I did enjoy the slight shift on the cliche as instead of a Christian priest exorcist we had Jewish aids this time around. That made me smile. Christians aren't the only people who deal with demons. Its super late and I have to get up early so I might not do the "doze off/late night feature" tonight. Also, ever since I carved a couple of pumpkins tonight my house has been making strange noises. So if I don't post about movies tomorrow assume I was murdered by a malevolent spirit I unleashed from the crummy little pumpkins my supermarket had in stock. Maybe its the spirits of Halloween disappointed at my lame jack-o-lantern offerings, but hey, they were my first try ever. But if I die assume these are the prime suspects:  The Tally Only first time films watched in October count to the challenge. Any repeat viewings are Ineligible (I). Pre-October Warm Up V/H/S (2012) / V/H/S 2 (2013) / Sinister (2012) / Quarantine 2: Terminal (2011) / State Of Emergency (2011) / We Are What We Are (2013) Week 1: Oct 1st to 7th 1) Insidious (2010) / 2) Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013) / 3) Enter Nowhere (2011) / 4) The Nurse (2013) / 5) American Mary (2012) / (I) Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight (1995) / 6) Re-Animator (1985) / 7) The Lords of Salem (2013) Week 2: Oct 8th to 14th 8) Paranormal Activity (2007) / 9) Trollhunter (2010) / 10) The Woman in Black (2012) / 11) 1408 (2007) /12) Dead Before Dawn (2012) / 13) ParaNorman (2012) / 14) Paranormal Activity 2 (2010) Week 3: Oct 15th to 21st 15) The Hole (2009) / 16) The Den (2013) / 17) Ravenous (1999) / 18) All The Boys Love Mandy Lane (2006) / 19) John Carpenter's The Ward (2011) / 20) The Devil's Pass (2013) / 21) Blood Glacier (2013) / 22) You're Next (2011) / 23) The Coed and The Zombie Stoner (2014) / 24) Paranormal Activity 3 (2011) Week 4: Oct 22nd to 28th 25) Torment (2013) / 26) Paranormal Activity 4: Unrated Edition (2012) / 27) Ghoulies (1985) / 28) The Day (2011) / 29) The Barricade (2012) / 30) The Last Exorcism (2010) / 31) Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy (2010) / 32) Antisocial (2013) /33) Odd Thomas (2013) / 34) Rapture-Palooza (2013) / 35) The Last Exorcism Part II (2013) / 36) House at the End of the Street (2012) / 37) Zombie Hunter (2013) / 38) Alyce Kills (2011) / 39) The Possession (2012)
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2014 10:12
|
|
|
Anthologies: Creepshow, Creepshow 2, Chillerama, Necronomicon, Body Bags, Trick r Treat. Dracula: Horror of Dracula, Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, Taste the Blood of Dracula, Dracula A.D. 1972, Dracula(1931), Nosferatu: The Vampyre, Bram Stoker's Dracula. First Time Viewing: Inferno, The Conjuring, Oculus, Night of the Creeps, The Town that Dreaded Sundown. Ultimate Halloween Movies Evil Dead 2, The Howling, Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead... Hellraiser: This series seems to be a common topic of discussion in the general horror thread, and I doubt I have anything new to add but I have to watch this at least once a year. The "reformation" scene is disgusting to watch every single time, it never really seems to lose any of its impact. I consider Frank to be one of the great horror villains of all-time, his (sequel spoilers) surprise return at the end of Hellraiser 2 is my favorite part of that movie. This is one of a handful of films here towards the end of the month that I consider perfect. There is nothing I would change about Hellraiser. Child's Play: This may not necessarily make it onto most people's "Ultimate Halloween Movies" list, but it had a significant impact on me as a kid. Chucky terrified me until I was big enough to convince myself that if he came for me I could kick his rear end. Anyway, no matter how many times I see it, Child's Play always surprises with how restrained it is. Its a much slower burn that most people probably remember, and the moment where Chucky finally reveals himself to the mother is built up to over the entire first half of the movie. The first half is full of foreboding shots of the doll, some POV shots from its perspective, and a few times he slowly turns his head in a menacing way but still uses his Good Guy scripted catch phrases. So when Chucky starts scurrying around and flying at people with a banshee scream, its actually scary and once the climax of the movie starts it doesn't let up until Chucky is in several pieces. One thing I really noticed this time is just how big the Chucky doll actually is. Its HUGE. If an animal that size was trying to attack me I'd poo poo myself, he's as big as like a medium sized dog. So I'm at 25 down, 5 to go with 4 days left. I'll be watching Halloween 1-3 on the last night so I may even go over by a movie or two.
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2014 15:23
|
|
|
 25) Return of the Living Dead Part II (1987)- I feel like part two just didn't have the edge or the spirit to make up for obviously not having the resources of the original. The re-animation music was downgraded from goofy rock to a lame jazzy synth sample and much of the humor during this became forced and puerile- "Ha ha! That lady zombie needs glasses! That one fell down!" These were the symptoms in just one scene. The characters are also what made ROTLD fun, and while it was a godsend to see the interplay between James Karen and Thom Mathews return, everyone else just kinda sucked (especially that goddamn kid). To be fair it's still head and shoulders above a lot of dreck, but it pales to its predecessor and consequently becomes more boring than it really should be. /5
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2014 18:40
|
|
|
 After Brides of Dracula, I started loosing steam with Hammer films, but this one kicked rear end. A very unique revenge plot carries things, along the smoking hot Susan Denberg, some great shots and the ever great Peter Cushing. .5/5At this point I'm at 33 movies and have completed my goal of 31 movies. Now I am working on the 'hard mode' of 31 New-to-me movies, which shouldn't be too hard.. only 4 to go! Dr.Caligari fucked around with this message at 22:10 on Oct 28, 2014 |
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2014 22:07
|
|
|
Movie 32 new to me The Den (2013): A woman conducting a socialogical survey via a chatroulette type program (the eponymous "den") finds herself attracting the wrong interest and witnesses what may be a woman being murdered. Before she knows it, her entire life is getting hacked, and those closest to her are suffering as well. I liked this experimental movie, that is filmed entirely with incidental cameras. There is no fourth wall. It's a novel approach to the found footage appoach. Though the very last minute that breaks this is disappointing. Worth a look. /five
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2014 22:31
|
|
|
Day 28 - You're Next I kept hearing all of these good things about You’re Next and I could never understand it. I mean, sure, you can have a really creepy home invasion style horror movie but it’s been done so much. And it wasn’t just horror fans that were saying it was great; actual film critics were also talking about how it was so good. So, even though that style of horror usually isn’t my favorite, I figured I should give it a chance. I am so glad I did. This movie takes the normal tropes and clichés of the home invasion films and tweaks them to be supremely entertaining. Only three more to go. Need to figure out some more actually good horror films that I haven't seen yet to close out the month.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2014 00:05
|
|
|
10/26: Purge: Anarchy There's a bunch here that on paper are great ideas - I would love a Frank Grillo on-the-run movie - but nothing here works. It sucks. Even the scenes where they use these ideas have something wrong with them. 10/27: Inferno Like all Argento movies it looked really, really great the whole time. I thought the story was kind of cool and the way it switches to different characters for long periods of time effectively keeps you on your toes. That being said, I liked Deep Red, Suspiria and Tenebre much more than this. Admittedly, It takes me multiple viewings to really 'get' most Italian horror movies, so I'll probably appreciate it much more over time. Next up: Stage Fright (Owl Version) / ???? Maybe The Shout / Halloween / Trick r Treat (Good Version)
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2014 00:38
|
|
|
Day 28 - Shutter is a Thai take on the Japanese ghost movies of the early 2000's. It winds up not being as slick as its Japanese cousins with lower production values, but there's quite a few clever moments in it. On their way home from a wedding, a photographer and his girlfriend run over a woman on a secluded road. He convinces her to drive off. Afterward, strange things appear in the photographs he takes and something spectral is stalking both of them. This sets them down a road that's more twisty than it first appears. One issue with this film is that the boyfriend is a complete douchebag. Pushing his girlfriend into a hit and run is among the least douchie things he does. The movie attempts to paint him as not such a bad guy, but it's not really successful. Of course, at the end the big twist is that he is a complete douchebag. Another issue is that the ghost isn't extremely threatening. There's a few sequences that make it seem like "Yeah, now I'm going to do something awful!" but it tends to just appear, make horrifying approaches, and then vanish. There's other victims in this movie, but their suffering is offscreen. Before long it makes the ghost feel a bit toothless. There's one great sequence that will only make sense if you know a bit about Asian superstitions and buildings. At one point rear end in a top hat boyfriend is getting chased by the ghost out of his highrise apartment and he runs into the stairwell. he dashes down a lot of steps but cannot reach the bottom. Then he spots the sign that he's on the fourth floor, the floor above him is the fourth floor, and the floor below him is the fourth floor. The word "four" in most Asian languages is associated with "death" because they're often pronounced the same and so many buildings in Asia skip the number four when they number their floors. Shutter's ghost story is much more in line with western ghost stories even if the style is more Asian. The ghost is after people who have wronged it. It is seeking justice rather than just petulantly lashing out at anyone who comes close. It gives the story a better arc, but at the same time it kind of limits the options for horrible things the ghost can do to people. Tomorrow I'm watching The Living Skeleton, another Japanese ghost movie. But apparently this one involved pirates!
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2014 02:58
|
|
|
Movie 28: Eraserhead Well this was weird. I knew that it was Lynch, but I didn't really know what to expect aside from that. It's about a man named Henry and he lives in an run down building and has piles of dirt everywhere and a deformed lady who sings in his furnace and bowls of water in his drawer and it's just bizarre. He also has a weird "baby" that he raises. This is a pretty unsettling film. The plot isn't really important, and not really comprehensible either. This film is more about exploring your inner feelings and thoughts. My interpretation of this film is it it is all Henry's nightmare. Yeah, that seems pretty obvious, but I think it explores his fears of being in a serious relationship. He fears meeting her family (the dancing chicke thing, the general weirdness in those scenes) and he fears having a child. He dreams of his neighbor because he wants to be free and like all guys who are dating, think that women are now attracted to him. I imagine my reading is pretty common though, and Lynch has said that no one has read the movie as me intended. Movie 29: Finders Keepers I just watched this on Netflix, although the end credits list it as a SyFy movie. It definitely has TV level cinematography. This is about a newly divorced woman who moves into a new house with her daughter. Of course the house has a dark past, and her daughter finds a Mexican voodoo-type doll named Lilith that possesses her. The all star cast in this one includes Tobin Bell, Jaime Pressley, and Patrick Muldoon. This is a pretty tame movie, and it really doesn't show much. The storyline is just a series of cliches and illogical scenes.The acting is quite poor too, with the exception of child actress Kylie Rogers, who actually did quite well. If you're flipping through the channels and come across this, keep flipping.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2014 04:15
|
|
|
 This was something of a disappointment. Basically, there's a murder in New York, and clues point towards a werewolf. The movie dragged out the 'what could it be?!' angle long after it stopped delivering much of a pay-off, and tried to pull off some equivalency between displaced Native Americans and hunted wolves. It felt like an average manhunt thriller with those two unusual pieces wiggled into the works. The film was adapted from a novel, so maybe some fault is owed to cutting out some development scenes somewhere. On the plus side, it was all shot very nicely, had Gregory Hines in a supporting role, and featured a score by James Horner that seemed to come from the days when he was only lightly reusing pieces of his earlier works.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2014 06:20
|
|
|
 26) The Witches (1990)- Discussion in the horror megathread and a heaping helping of nostalgia made me sit through The Witches again for the first time in years. Swedish veteran Mai Zetterling is perfect as a convincingly tender yet tough-as-nails grandmother and Anjelica Huston is there just being all kinds of wicked awesome. Jim Henson is on board for some really great effects sequences and, hell, the music is all over the place from synth organ funeral processionals to sweeping children's adventure themes. Even the shots are dynamic for a "children's movie"- rarely does the camera sit still on a static medium angle. The movie is oddly paced (the central witches' gathering scene is almost as long as to resemble a stage play) but it's engaging enough to carry itself through to the credits. This is the one movie that really seemed to scream "dark, wry world of Roald Dahl" more so even than the classic Chocolate Factory or the animation-driven Peach. /5
cthulusnewzulubbq fucked around with this message at 07:50 on Oct 29, 2014 |
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2014 07:30
|
|
|
Darthemed posted:
Yeah, there are some key bits that are quite a bit different than the book (the book is pretty darn good). The bit in the movie where they make something resembling baby sounds to lure victims closer is pretty creepy though, iirc.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2014 08:30
|
|
|
I'm a bit behind, but here is my list to date. I'm sad it's almost over. Except for a handful of cases these are generally first time viewings. 1. Night of the Living Dead (B+) Classic, low budget and high originality. Still disturbing. Second or third viewing. 2. Shadow of the Vampire (B-) Artsy, pretty, goofy, gruesome, uneven, worth seeing. 3. The Fly, original (B) Gently horrifying, great pathos at times, and a cool ending. 4. Fright Night (A) An example of the 80's at its most charming. Fun, dark, sexy and scary. A new favorite. 5. The Cabin in the Woods (C+) Clever and funny, but I really don't enjoy teen death movies much. Probably would be a solid (B) for its original ideas and clever execution if I did. 6. Evil Dead 2 (A) A gushing fountain of creativity, style and humor. A masterpiece of sorts. Hadn't seen it in over 10 years. 7. House (C-) American film, not Japanese. Very dumb but also very weird. I can't help find some parts mildly unsettling. 8. Let the right one in (A+) Truly beautiful and disturbing, with remarkably graceful direction. Bad CGI tarnishes one minor scene, otherwise it's a real gem. 9. Grabbers (B) Cute and competent execution of a tricky concept, blood sucking monsters can't get you if you're drunk. Set in Ireland... Great effects, likable cast, it's a small, fun movie that works. 10. The Lair of the White Worm (A-) Oh boy. Now I have to watch every Ken Russell movie. 11. Big trouble in little china (X) Impossible to rate on any scale, really, it's too engraved in my brain. Since it has parts that have always scared me I count it as horror, among like twelve other genres. 12. Ginger Snaps (A+) The Canadian government paid for this. That's amazing. This movie is amazing. It temporarily ruined every other movie for me. This was my first viewing. I will watch it until I die. 13. Invasion of the Body snatchers, 1970's (B-) Leonard Nimoy is a lovely psychiatrist. 14. Re-animator (A-) Morbidly hilarious with an incredible anti-hero. Great garbage. 15. The Asphyx (C+) Silly yet charming Victorian era proto-Ghostbusters. 16. The Omen (D) Incredibly un-suspenseful and overly Catholic, a giant bore. 17. From Beyond (B-) Barbara Crampton, oh my... and cool monster make up. But it's no Re-animator. 18. Alligator people (C-) Beverly Garland jumped over real alligators for this dumb movie. 19. Basket case 2 (???) Retains very little of the first Basket Case's charm. It has none of the first movie's gleeful gore and salaciousness (apart from one stand out scene), though the second movie is somehow even weirder than the first. I can't quite recommend it. It's like a bad dream. 20. Plan 9 from outer space (A+) Incompetence so shocking and hilarious it becomes a style, and begets a classic. 21. Lords of Salem (D) Incompetence so dull and monotonous it negates any style and is eminently forgettable. This would have been an all right student film. It's embarrassing otherwise. 22. Dog Soldiers (B+) Great execution of a decently fresh idea with a likable cast and cool practical werewolf effects.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2014 12:54
|
|
|
1st: Nightmare Factory 2nd: The Town that Dreaded Sundown 3rd: Shivers 4th: ABC's of Death 5th: Re-Animator 6th: Creepshow 2 7th: Nosferatu (bonus movie: Virgin Witch) 8th: The Stuff 9th: A Nightmare on Elm Street 10th: Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy 11th: Eraserhead 12th: Demon Knight & Bordello of Blood 13th: Sorority House Massacre 14th: ABC's of Death 2 15th: House on Haunted Hill 16th: Evil Dead 2 17th: Stitches 18th: Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Meyers If I didn't know Paul Rudd's career now, and saw this movie, I would have assumed he would never work again after seeing this. Dr. Loomis has become a caricature. Michael Meyers is now a man possessed by a demon worshiped by a Druid(?) cult. It's extremely gory, which is distracting compared to the almost-bloodless original. I actually like the idea of a serial killer in the vein of the big four (Freddie, Jason, Leatherface, Michael) as an unstoppable force of death being worshiped and manipulated by a cult for their own agenda. I however, do not like this in the context of Halloween, which started with suspense and subtlety. 2 s out of 5 got tired of seeing baby dick19th: Dracula (1934) Another one of my favorites. It kind of fizzles out towards the end, but it's still a very good looking movie with a nice score. When I have kids, their first foray into horror will be Nosferatu and the original Universal Monsters. 4 s out of 5 are afraid of rubber bats20th: Night of the Creeps This was another late-night IFC movie that I watched growing up. I wasn't sure what I was watching, or if it was all a fever dream: zombies, slugs, aliens, the 1950's and the 1980's meshing, it's goofy humor and odd sight gags. I love the guy that eats a sandwich in every shot he's in (especially hovering over a dead body). 4 s out of 5 thrilled me21st: Cabin Fever The Netflix thread got derailed about this movie, and I never knew it was so polarizing. Everyone I know that's seen it at least likes it, a few love it. It's not really a go-to movie for me to watch, but I love watching it with someone who's never seen it. I found out my roommate had never seen it, so it was time to watch it. It's a very goofy movie, and I love the cast (Shawn Hunter? Sweet Lou?). The movie takes place in its own eccentric universe (Bugs Bunny? Slow-Mo Karate? Harmonica in the Throat?) and never takes itself too seriously. The set is interesting. Also, knowing that Eli Roth has actually had a flesh-eating virus adds a bit to the experience. And Deputy Winston the Party Cop is one of my favorite characters in any movie. 3 s out of 5 gotta stay and party, man.22nd: The Awakening A slow burn. Reminded me a lot of The Orphanage. I liked the twist, but it seemed like it belonged to a different movie. I enjoyed the atmosphere and I now have a crush on Rebecca Hall. 3 s out of 5 showed up on camera23rd: The Mansion of Madness I was a little too stoned to really grasp this movie. I found this, and thought it was a Hammer film. It's weird, creepy, unsettling. I don't know if I'd watch it again. 2 s out of 5 went insane24th: Friday the 13th Part 4 If I have a friend that's never seen the Friday the 13th series, and wants to know what they're all about, this is my go-to. While Part 2 is probably my favorite, Part 4 has everything that made the original series special. 80's fashion, sex, nudity, drugs, alcohol, sophomoric sex jokes, Tom Savini violence, a large cast, twins(!), goofy outsider character (Crispin Glover!), pre-zombie Jason. It's such a fun movie. 3 s out of 5 are dead fucks25th: House (1977) Wow. 4 s out of 5 love Gorgeous26th: Shadow of the Vampire Watched this based on this thread. I remember seeing clips of this movie as a trailer for some VHS or DVDs, I'm not sure which. Very good movie. Willem Dafoe is becoming one of my favorite actors now that I'm branching out into his more extreme roles. Great cast: Malkovich Malkovich, Snape, the other Python member... Made me want to watch Nosferatu again. 4 s out of 5 fingernails27th: Black Sunday Beautiful black and white movie. I'm not the biggest Mario Bava fan, but I think this is my favorite by him. Surprisingly gory, and very well shot. I've been in the mood for classics, especially black and white movies (I re-watched Eraserhead the other day just for this). 3 s out of 5 believe in vampire witchesI'm almost caught up! Does anyone know any good classic horror movies anywhere from the 1950's to the end of the 1970's? I'd love to watch more Hammer Horror films, but I can't spend the money on them. I have Amazon Prime, Hulu Plus, HBO Go, and Netflix. I'd prefer anything from the Criterion Collection (I watch it on an Xbox 360, and some of the movies that should be on streaming--Flesh for Frankenstein, Blood for Dracula--don't show up), but I'll take anything interesting.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2014 15:49
|
|
|
Return of the Living Dead: The best horror-comedy of all-time. Almost every single scene is hilarious and pretty drat scary at the same time. A girl talks about how she fantasizes about being torn apart by a group of old men, and you laugh because you know that's exactly whats going to happen. Then it actually does happen and its a very scary moment, but you still kinda chuckle because hey, be careful what you wish for. Every scene is like that. When Frank and Freddy are wracked with pain because of the rigor mortis, its easy to laugh because they are making ridiculous faces and moaning in the most over-the-top way possible. Then you think about whats actually happening to them and its a pretty disturbing idea. The zombies are pretty goofy in the way they act and speak, but then you have an extended shot of a paramedic's head being eaten that is legitimately gross. The juicy zombie that comes out of the tank is pretty mind-blowing, I have no idea how they pulled that off in 1985. I'm sure its a pretty simple make-up but I'd rather not know how it was done to preserve the mystery. I just can't figure out where the actor's real head would be, I guess maybe they could have used a short person and put the zombie head on top. Usually that kind of technique is pretty obvious though, here its almost impossible to tell(the fact that its head gets lopped off in a single wide-shot was my only clue). Then of course, there's the soundtrack. I usually don't like rockin soundtracks like this in horror movies, but in this case the tone of the movie fits with the music so perfectly. There are a few scenes that are 100% dependent on the kick-rear end music, like when the guys cremate the first body and the camera slowly pans up to the sky. The music in that scene elevates it to another level, making it one of the most memorable in the movie. This is one of those movies you could show someone if they were wondering what's so great about 80's horror.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2014 15:50
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 17, 2024 04:43 |
|
|
Franchescanado posted:I'm almost caught up! Does anyone know any good classic horror movies anywhere from the 1950's to the end of the 1970's? I'd love to watch more Hammer Horror films, but I can't spend the money on them. I have Amazon Prime, Hulu Plus, HBO Go, and Netflix. I'd prefer anything from the Criterion Collection (I watch it on an Xbox 360, and some of the movies that should be on streaming--Flesh for Frankenstein, Blood for Dracula--don't show up), but I'll take anything interesting. Criterion Collection makes this easy since I've been watching a ton of movies from that period off of the Criterion stuff on Hulu. Kwaidan is an incredible movie, probably the most artistic horror anthology ever made. I just watched Kuroneko and that was fantastic, too. I'm saving Jigoku for the 31st, but I've been told repeatedly that it's an astounding film. Getting away from Japanese horror films, Eyes Without a Face was really creepy. They have Cronenberg's The Brood up for streaming though I wasn't thrilled with that one. Carnival of Souls has a great atmosphere. Random Stranger fucked around with this message at 17:56 on Oct 29, 2014 |
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2014 17:53
|
|