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I'm in.
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Apr 28, 2017 21:26
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| # ¿ Apr 30, 2024 20:43 |
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I´ve had a lot less time than I anticipated this month so I am not sure if I will be able to make the 13 but I will try. 1. Lights Out (2016) I've been watching David Sandberg's Youtube horror shorts for years so I might be giving him too much leeway but Light's Out is pretty good for a first film and I feel like it shows a lot of potential. The gimmick of a monster that can only be in darkness is not an entirely new one, Darkness Falls from the early 00s used it as well for one, but I feel like this film used it's gimmick a lot better. So much that you begin to really pay attention to the placement of lights in every scene and Sandberg makes sure that where the ligths are and how they work is always established well before things start happening. Diana is absolutely terrifying when she's a silhouette with glowing eyes lurking in the shadows, highly reminiscent of the pirates from The Fog, but as soon as we get a good look at her and her actual features she becomes a lot less scary. There is something a bit off about the ending that I can't quite put my finger on and on the whole the films treatment of mental illness is quite skeevy but on the whole I feel it's good enough that I am actually excited for Annabelle 2 despite having seen Annabelle 1. 2. Mask of Satan/Black Sunday (1960) My only problem with this film is that it begins far too strong and never quite reaches the brilliance of the opening scene where the iron Satan mask is nailed into the witches face before they try to burn her. The rest of the film is great and absolutely drenched in Gothic atmosphere but it never quite reaches those heights again. The film seems to make no distinction between vampires and witches which was actually very common in folklore, especially in Eastern Europe where they were seen as being one and the same, but not something you see in films often. 3. Deathdream (1974) A soldier returns home from Vietnam, despite reports that he was killed in action, a changed man. He has become anti-social, surly, and prone to burst of violent anger. He also needs to drink human blood to keep his body from decaying. I really liked this film. I don't understand how it is obscure enough that I only heard about it last year despite being a lifelong horror fan. It feels like it should be at least a cult classic. It has some really striking imagery like Andy wearing black leather gloves and sunglasses at night and the frenzied bulging eyes and blood covered mouth with clenched teeth once he really gets into the bloodlust. I really like that the film never explicitly explains why Andy is back or what exactly he is. His mother wishes he'd come back and he does but there is no exposition to explain why her wish came true, it just did. 4. I Walked With a Zombie (1943) Another film that leaves thing ambiguous. We know Jessica is catatonic but it is never made clear whether this is actually the cause of a voodoo curse or just a tropical fever. The films offers several explanations for the events some supernatural and some rational but all of them plausible and in conflict with each other. Who is Carrefour? Is I was expecting this film to be a lot more racist, since zombie films from that era tended to be really racist. There is a bit of the "the blacks are superstitious and primitive" but it all comes from the mouths of the white descendants of slave owners who admittedly are the main focus of the story. Aside from the hulking bug-eyed zombie Carrefour and the mysterious black clad saber-man the native characters are all humanized and shown as being decent people. 5. Tales From the Crypt (1972) A somewhat strange film. It is of course based on the EC horror comics but since it is an Amicus production so everything is quite British. It feels a lot more austere and serious than the comic it's based on. Instead of a gleeful pun spouting ghoul the Cryptkeeper is a monkish figure played by a very stern Sir Ralph Richardson. There is still a slight undercurrent of camp in the stories themselves that shines through the veneer of stuffy Britishness. It is of course an anthology and the frame story is a group of people getting lost in a crypt and encountering a mysterious man who shows each person a horrifying vision involving them. My favorite story is the one involving Arthur Grimsdyke (Peter Cushing), a drat near saintly old man who makes toys for children and takes care of numerous dogs, being persecuted and eventually driven to suicide by his rich neighbor who is personally insulted at the thought of a poor person living in the same street as him. Of course Grimsdyke doesn't stay dead for long and when he does he's one of the creepiest looking undead I've ever seen with nearly white skin and empty gaping eye sockets. The weakest story I find is the one about the wish granting Chinese statue. The final punchline is good but maybe I've just seen far too many iterations of the Monkey's Paw to not be bored by it. 6. The Evil Dead (1981) My favorite film, ever. I've probably seen it at least a couple dozen times but this was only my second time seeing it on the big screen. I think I might be the only person that likes it far more than Evil Dead 2 or Army of Darkness. I remember being blown away by it the first time I saw it, then I watched Evil Dead 2 and it just felt like a less funny and less scary version of the same film. Then I saw Army of Darkness and like number 2 I liked it a lot but felt it didn't compare to the suberb original. Now the first one was made by beginners for barely any money and it shows but much like with the Texas Chainsaw Massacre the rawness actually adds to the film. The monster make-up is primitive and basic but looks really creepy and the more advanced and complex effects in the latter films feel like they've aged a lot worse possibly because they were far more ambitious and out there. My favorite scene in the entire film is near the end where Ash is simply walking around the cabin while the soundtrack and camera go crazy. The actual monsters make no appearances but the supernatural presence in the cabin is shown almost entirely through strange camera movements and sounds. Like one shot where Ash walks across the room and the camera, suspended from the ceiling above him, follows and each time it passes the beams in the ceiling it makes a strange wooshing sound. There is also another shot where Ash appears to be literally standing on top of the lens. Just a fantastic film even if the acting is atrocious and some of the shots are a bit out of focus.
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May 28, 2017 23:52
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