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My Biggest Surprise is a great idea, gently caress you X-Ray for usurping me with your better suggestions.
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Nov 1, 2017 14:18
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I stole it from the podcast I Don’t Even Own a Television so I should say gently caress Myself for being a thief.
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Nov 1, 2017 14:20
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Lurdiak posted:I'm really sorry that the Scream Stream caused you such an unpleasant experience and ruined your month. It's difficult to balance my desire to experience movies I haven't seen fresh with the chat and my desire to inform viewer of offensive, sensitive or overly shocking content that may show up in the features. Yeah I don’t blame you. It’s difficult especially with the anthologies since they have lots of different stuff in them. Just sucked a lot is all.
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Nov 1, 2017 14:21
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Here's my list. October 1 - The Ruins October 2 - Bride of Re-Animator October 3 - Black Sabbath October 4 - Death Bed: The Bed that Eats [People] October 5 - Haunted Mansion October 6 - Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things October 7 - The Fog October 8 - The Ceiling at Utsunomiya Castle October 9 - The Ghosts of Kasane Swamp October 10 - Blair Witch October 11 - The Witches October 12 - The ABCs of Death October 13 - Friday the Thirteenth October 14 - Saturday the Fourteenth October 15 - Bram Stoker's Dracula October 16 - The Happiness of the Katakuris October 17 - Prom Night 2: Hello, Mary Lou October 18 - Cabin Fever October 19 - Hell House LLC October 20 - The Girl With All the Gifts October 21 - Kung Fu Zombie October 22 - The Blackcoat's Daughter October 23 - The Void October 24 - I Drink Your Blood October 25 - The Beyond October 26 - Death Spa October 27 - Chopping Mall October 28 - Snake Woman's Curse October 29 - Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer October 30 - The Eternal Evil of Asia October 31 - Rabid So this year, watching a movie a day was legitimately a challenge for me. I was extremely ill the first two weeks of the challenge, I've had over seventy hour weeks, and on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I have fourteen hour days. On top of those time constraints, the last few years of the horror movie challenge have really gutted my "I should really watch that sometime" list for horror movies. The only movie that I had on my list that was really part of that was Henry. Consequentially, I wound up watching a lot of stuff that I'd put as just middle of the road. Best Picture: It's got to be Henry. That's an exceptional movie in general, not just "good for a horror film". Runner ups are The Girl With All the Gifts for breaking the zombie movie mold and doing something interesting with it, The Void for having a cool, fast paced bit of fun with plenty of monsters, Black Sabbath for being a fun horror anthology and giving me an Italian horror film that I did not hate, and Rabid for being a good early work from a master. Worst Picture: The ABCs of Death takes it for giving me about 24 absolutely terrible short films that could easily be the worst picture on their own but sticking them all together in one movie; I'm sure there were probably one or two that rose to the level of "did not hate it" but I can't remember them in the flood of absolute poo poo that movie is. Runners up are Saturday the Fourteenth for being a terminally unfunny "comedy", The Fog for being absolutely incompetent film making, and The Blackcoat's Daughter for being boring and incoherent with a godawful plot twist. Best Surprise: There's two standouts for me in this category but I'll give the nod to Prom Night 2 since it could have been a boring slasher sequel but instead turned out a pretty fun movie. The other film that was close is Hell House LLC which could have been yet another lovely found footage movie and instead was a really creepy, atmospheric film. Other nice surprises were Blair Witch which also wasn't the lazy cash in I thought it would be, Friday the Thirteenth for having the best short film slasher as its opening before it settled into being boring for the rest of it, and I Drink Your Blood which managed to sneak some decent stuff into its exploitation film. Biggest Disappointments: For films where I went in saying, "This is going to be great!" and then it ended and I was going, "That was not good," the big loser is The Ceiling at Utsunomiya Castle because I wanted a solid ghost story and got a kind of weak samurai film that happened to have a ghost show up. Others are Kung Fu Zombie which I felt didn't really do a great job with the kung fu, Bram Stoker's Dracula which squandered a great cast on a lifeless adaptation (this is a BBC production, FWIW, not the Coppola version which also squanders a great cast), and The Beyond which really firmly made it obvious that Italian horror is not my bag. Most  ?! A really tough category since I saw quite a few crazy movies this year. I'm going with The Eternal Evil of Asia for being the most watchably insane film for me. Runners up are Death Bed because it was an attempt to make an art film about an evil bed, Death Spa for not making a single bit of sense, and The Happiness of the Katakuris because it did not have "Death" in the title and was directed by Takashi Miike.Films I'm disappointed I didn't get to fit in (maybe next year): The House the Dripped Blood is top of that list; I overlooked that it was available for streaming until yesterday and then I had to pick between a few good movies for Halloween. Black Sunday was one I had on my list that wound up getting pushed off of it due to other selections. I didn't watch a silent horror film this year and The Hands of Orlac and the Testament of Dr. Mabuse were the ones I was considering. There were some 70's exploitation flicks that I kind of wanted to check out even though I think I wouldn't have cared for them much; Driller Killer and Black Christmas are the notable entries there.
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Nov 1, 2017 14:29
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1. Masters of Horror: Cigarette Burns (2005) 4/5 2. Demons (1985) 3/5 3. Maniac Cop (1988) 4/5 4. Messiah of Evil (1973) 4/5 5. Shivers (1975) 3/5 6. Maniac Cop 2 (1990) 3/5 7. Demons 2* (1986) 3/5 8. Road Games (1981) 3/5 9. Maximum Overdrive (1986) 1/5 10. Cat People (1942) 3/5 11. The Lure (2015) 4/5 12. Death Spa (1989) 3/5 13. The Church (1989) 5/5 14. The Void (2016) 2/5 15. Prometheus* (2012) 3/5 16. Alien: Covenant (2017) 1/5 17. Strip Nude for Your Killer (1975) 1/5 18. Society (1989) 2/5 19. The Devils (1971) 5/5 20. The Kiss of the Vampire (1963) 2/5 21. Dellamorte Dellamore aka Cemetery Man (1994) 5/5 22. The Devil Rides Out (1968) 3/5 23. The House by the Cemetery (1981) 2/5 24. The Black Belly of the Tarantula (1971) 2/5 25. The Invisible Man (1933) 4/5 26. Invaders from Mars* (1986) 2/5 27. The Burning (1981) 3/5 28. As Above, So Below (2014) 4/5 29. Inferno (1980) 4/5 ]30. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959) 3/5 31. All the Colors of the Dark (1972) 2/5 32. The Vampire Lovers (1970) 4/5 33. Amer (2009) 3/5 35. The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears (2013) 3/5 36. Countess Dracula (1971) 3/5 37. Devil Fish aka Monster Shark* (1984) 1/5 38. 47 Meters Down (2017) 2/5 Good example, X-Ray, don't mind if I do it likewise: *means a rewatch. Favorite & Biggest Surprise: The Church. I only watched this because I had Demons 1 & 2 on the list, and someone in this thread or the horror one mentioned The Church was supposed to be Demons 3. Since I wasn't that impressed with either of the first two movies once it came down to the demons slaughtering the people in their respective locked buildings, I really didn't expect to like The Church all that much, and appreciated it all the more for going down a much different path. And it's a film that has never been on my radar before this October. Least Favorite: Alien Covenant, because it has such a big example to live up to, and because I hate how unsympathetic and poorly-drawn the crew of the Covenant is compared to the Nostromo's. Honorable Mentions: Dellamorte Dellamore was an oddball film from the twilight years of Italian horror cinema and really unpredictable. Ken Russel's The Devils had a fantastically stylized cinematography, and made me appreciate his work all over again. The Lure, for being such an insane concept, and pulling it off drat well. Final Thoughts: Just quoting myself from my previous post: quote:I'm really grateful for the challenge, as it got me to see films I've been meaning to watch for years, but never made time for. The absurd thing is, I can easily compile a just-as-long list of more films I still need to see. There's plenty of material left for the next Halloween challenge. I've seen neither the original nor any of the Hammer Frankenstein films, there's quite a few important films from Hooper, Romero and Craven I haven't watched, a lot of Cronenberg, most Asian horror, etc. I've made a pretty decent dent in my giallo watch list, but there's plenty more there too. So, I'm definitely going to be back next year!
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Nov 1, 2017 14:49
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49. The Evil Dead: Owns. Plus it kick-started some beautiful careers to say nothing of a franchise without a single dud. Yeah, I loved the Evil Dead remake, suck it. 50. Evil Dead 2: An all-time great but my heart still belongs to the first. Until I get a chance to type it all out, here's my list for the year: https://letterboxd.com/cutchbassidy/list/haloween-binge-17/ Rewatches: Dawn of the Dead, Saturn 3, Mars Attacks, Cabin in the Woods, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Birds, Twice Told Tales, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Spaced Invaders, Psycho, The Evil Dead, Evild Dead 2, Army of Darkness Favorite: Going for a new-to-me film for this on principle leaves [REC] as the standout winner. Not only was it a good, tense movie despite its subgenre of antagonist but found footage was the appropriate style in which to film it. Up until this movie, I have merely tolerated FF and enjoyed movies despite it. Those that worked best as FF films were limited to begin with. But [REC] is just great. Least Enjoyable: Sorry goons, The Church sucked. Attack of the Killer Tomatoes sucked harder but at least set out to be bad where this just failed me entirely. I see why it's so popular but not for me. Shame as Demons and Demons 2 were hellaciously fun rides. Best Goon Recommendation: As I'm sure we all do, I watched some movies based on other goons' posts in this thread. Cast a Deadly Spell was the standout of those items for me. It was so fun and its budget made for cheap yet endearing effects around a fun, pulpy comedy. I fell in love with this one early on and need to track down a hard copy. Most Surprising: Dead of Night has aged so well. It has also been so very influential despite its decreasing presence in general knowledge. If this had never been made, Psycho would not exist, either. Bonus points for not only being a completely batshit insane ride but one made in 1945!!! Favorite Viewing Experience: No contest, Psycho at my projector party. My kids, a blossoming Hitchcock fangirl, and her husband all saw it for the first time. My wife, a buddy, and I all rewatching. Everyone went quiet with no commentary beyond some kudos to details here and there through the whole run time. This masterpiece stands indifferent to the sands of time. Conversation about the movie continued the next day. A mixed age/gender/culture/first language group that had a previous family film to indulge in rum and beer while chattering instantly taking the next film seriously says something definitive about Hitchcock's work. Going in a Future Projector Night: I've posted in two threads now about my October projector night. This was the second year and it will continue to be an annual tradition. I have no hard rule for the programming beyond it being a triple feature, at least one black and white film gets screened, movies that feel like they'd do well at a drive-in get bumped up the consideration list, the first feature is a family flick, and I try to introduce guests to something new to them. It's Alive is top of the list for 2018. Well, after Nightmare Before Christmas as some kids we are going to invite will definitely show up if we open with that. Anyway, It's Alive is so good despite the absurd premise, low budget, and passing of time. More people need to see it and I will do my part. Bonus points for being a low-fi drive-in grade wonder of creature features. Versus: Which is the best, The Evil Dead or Evil Dead 2? ED2 is easily the better made movie with the glorious laughing deer needing individual mention. But TED is better plotted, better paced, endearing in its low quality to not suffer for it, and has a more unique identity. So it's a tie. I can't have one without the other. Hell, I can't watch them individually as they always have to be a double-feature. If we need to pick a best then Army of Darkness, bitches. Forever and always dearest to me of the franchise. Best Animated Film: Frankenweenie is a new favorite. I had avoided it for years because dead dog  but now want to go back in time and kick my own rear end. I missed this pile of fun on the big screen and will never forgive younger me. More black and white projects need the greenlight these days.
Butch Cassidy fucked around with this message at 15:27 on Nov 1, 2017 |
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Nov 1, 2017 15:14
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I liked almost everything, so almost everthing is 4 out of 5. Get Out, 2017 4/5 The VVitch: A New-England Folktale, 2015 4/5 Körkarlen, 1921 4.5/5 Cloverfield, 2008 4/5 Tucker and Dale vs Evil, 2010 4.5/5 The Incredible Shrinking Man, 1957 4/5 Orphan, 2009 4/5 Cat People, 1982 3.5/5 The Blob, 1958 3.5/5 The Blob, 1988 4/5 Hellbound: Hellraiser II, 1988 4/5 Deep Red, 1975 4/5 Sleepy Hollow, 1999 4/5 The Neon Demon, 2016 4/5 Green Room, 2015 4.5/5 Scream, 1996 4/5 Scream 2, 1997 3.5/5 Scream 3, 2000 3.5/5 Carnival of Souls, 1962 4.5/5 Drácula a.k.a. Spanish Dracula, 1931 4.5/5 Demonic Toys, 1992 3.5/5 Son of Dracula, 1943 3.5/5 Horror Express, 1972 4/5 Inferno, 1980 4/5 Hausu, 1977 5/5 Don't Torture a Duckling, 1972 3.5/5 The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, 1970 4/5 Lake Mungo, 2008 5/5 The Rocky Horror Picture Show, 1975 5/5 Snowbeast, 1977 1/5 Oasis of the Zombies, 1982 2/5 Witches' Mountain, 1975 2.5/5 Dagon, 2001 4/5 The Toxic Avenger, 1984 5/5 The Curse of Frankenstein, 1957 4.5/5 Re-Animator, 1985 5/5 From Beyond, 1986 5/5 Got nothing to add really. Lake Mungo took me by surprise both in format and how great it was as ghost story, so it was a big treat. Also just loved every second of Hausu after the 20 minute mark when they got to the house. While not favorites, I just loving loved Horror Express, The Incredible Shrinking Man, The Neon Demon, Deep Red and The Bird with the Crystal Plumage. Just great movies that I enjoyed for how invested I got in them.
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Nov 1, 2017 15:21
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 I think I just love John Carpenter title cards. Simple yet effective. Definitely one of those "everything has been said ad nauseam" films, but Halloween has really not lost any of it's power or effectiveness since 1978. It's not gory at all, so there's nothing in that aspect of it that could become "dated"(it's much like Texas Chainsaw in that way). All of the technical stuff is perfect, Carpenter is a born filmmaker and the raw talent is extremely obvious. Crane shots, long tracking shots, wide shots, the whole bag of tricks is utilized to great effect in this film. I think my favorite thing about it is how visually dark it is. The blacks are so black that it actually makes the movie scarier, and I never ever watch it during the daytime for this reason. The deep shadows are crucial to making the film what it is, they turn a normally safe environment on it's head and make every dark corner potentially threatening. It makes for iconic moments like this one:  But then again, my favorite shot in the entire film takes place during broad daylight, I just love how long Carpenter holds this one.  The scariest shoulder in horror history. Anyway, the simplicity of Halloween is maybe quaint to some who watch it today, but for me it still works to create the ultimate in horror movie tension and intensity. Even after seeing it many times, if you really try to see things from Laurie's perspective(i.e. pretend you don't know that Michael is the avatar of Samhain or whatever), the situations are absolutely terrifying in no small part because of that simplicity.  I hadn't seen this for three of four years, but I liked it more this time than I remembered from last time. The director(Rosenthal) smartly kept thing's simple just like the original, Laurie's being stalked by Michael in a mostly empty hospital. That's mostly it. The atmosphere carries the rest. Where it's let down is the cinematography, it's just not up to the same level as the original. On the one hand that's odd, because Dean Cundy is still the DP, but it also obviously makes some sense because the guiding hand of Carpenter was not always there(just how present he was during shooting I actually don't know). To go back to what I was saying about the original's ultra black shadows, I don't think Halloween II is dark enough. There's efforts made to make sure there's plenty of shadows and that the hospital feels mostly empty, but in the end a lot of the movie looks like this:  So it feels like it's caught halfway between and just ends up looking muddled and a bit boring most of the time, with a few exceptions. Michael is a really scary and creepy monster, but he's even scarier and creepier when he's not so visible. The movie is still good though and certainly easier to recommend than any of the later Michael-focused sequels. And so ends October 2017. I have agree with Fran that this is the best year yet, I think it's great that so many people participated and seemed to be discovering a lot of new horror along the way. Thanks to everyone, especially Fran and Lurdiak. October has always been a special month for me but all of the festivities on this forum have really amped that up to a whole new level in the past few years. Lets keep it going!Only speaking for myself, but I have a go-to list of at least 8 or 10 Christmas horror movies for December! Best New Discovery: Looking at my list, I didn't have any mind-blowing 5/5 masterpiece experiences this year, but I did really enjoy The Tingler and 13 Ghosts a lot. I can definitely see myself revisiting those in future years. Biggest Disappointment: The Murders in the Rue Morgue had all the potential to be great, and I thought would be, but it was mediocre. Nothing worse than mediocrity when you're expecting greatness. Favorite Rewatch: I really saw The Wolfman in a different light this year, specifically Chaney, who I'm starting to have a kind of odd respect for. In the past I was not a fan. Final Tally 1. The Wicker Man 5/5 2. Deadly Blessing 3/5 3. Night Creatures 4/5 4. Shock Waves 3/5 5. Slugs 3/5 6. Venom 3/5 7. Maximum Overdrive 4/5 8. Christine 5/5 9. The Tingler 4/5 10. The Masque of the Red Death 5/5 11. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 5/5 12. The Funhouse 3/5 13. Poltergeist 5/5 14. Lifeforce 5/5 15. Invaders From Mars 3/5 16. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 4/5 17. The Seventh Curse 4/5 18. The Mummy 4/5 19. Curse of the Mummy's Tomb 3/5 20. Hellraiser 5/5 21. Hellbound: Hellraiser II 4/5 22. Child's Play 5/5 23. Cult of Chucky 3/5 24. Leviathan 2/5 25. Pumpkinhead 4/5 26. Phantasm 5/5 27. Murders in the Rue Morgue 2/5 28. The Abominable Dr. Phibes 5/5 29. The Devil's Candy 3/5 30. The Visitor 3/5 31. Prince of Darkness 4/5 32. Critters 2/5 33. Killer Klowns From Outer Space 3/5 34. Horror of Dracula 5/5 35. Brides of Dracula 4/5 35. Dracula Has Risen From the Grave 4/5 36. A Nightmare on Elm Street 5/5 37. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge 3/5 38. A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors 4/5 39. Horror Express 4/5 40. Road Games 3/5 41.13 Ghosts 4/5 42.The Devil's Backbone 3/5 43. Halloween(2007) 3/5 44. Halloween 2(2009) 5/5 45. The Wolfman 4/5 46. Dracula 4/5 47. Frankenstein 5/5 48. Bride of Frankenstein 5/5 49. It Follows 5/5 50. The Evil Dead 4/5 51. Evil Dead 2 5/5 52. From Beyond 5/5 53. The Fog 5/5 54. Return of the Living Dead 5/5 55. Halloween 5/5 56. Halloween II 3/5
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Nov 1, 2017 15:50
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1. It 4/5 2. mother! 4.5/5 3. Awakening 2/5 4. Evil Dead (2013) 3.5/5 5. Evil Dead 2 5/5 6. Army of Darkness 5/5 7. They Look Like People 1/5 8. Frailty 4/5 9. Gerald's Game 2.5/5 10. The Hills Have Eyes 3/5 11. Hocus Pocus 4.5/5 12. Sennentuschi 3/5 13. Beetlegeuse 5/5 14. Cube 3.5/5 15.Pet Sematary 2.5/5 16. Ghostbusters (1984) 6/5 17. Pod 2/5 18. The Sinner (8 part Mini) 3/5 19. Under the Shadow 2/5 20. Hell House LLC 4/5 21. Hellboy 2/5 22. Gremlins 2 4/5 23. Goosebumps 4/5 24. Eyes without a face 2/5 25. Extraordinary Tales 2.5/5 26. Asylum: The Lost Footage 2/5 27. Van Helsing 3/5 28. Freddy vs. Jason 3.5/5 29. Creep 4.5/5 30. sadako vs. Kayako 3.5/5 31. Jigsaw 3/5 32. The Exorcist 5/5 Favorites: Army of Darkness for the rewatch, since I was really excited to share it with my son. For new movies I know it's kind of controversial, but mother! really stuck with me. Hell House LLC gets an honourable mention for the "Long Island Lucifer" bit, I still think about that and laugh like once a day. Least Favorite: Looking over that list They Look Like People was probably the only one I really didn't like. I'm pretty forgiving with movies, especially horror, but that one was just so dull. Biggest Surprise: Honestly, I'd go with Goosebumps. I assumed it was going to be terrible but it was a pretty great family style Halloween flick and I expect we'll be watching it again next year. Final Thoughts: I'm really glad I joined this, having a goal and some structure forced me to watch some things I probably wouldn't have gotten around to otherwise. Also the biggest thing for me was involving my kid where I could, and that's something I hope to do in future. I've always liked creepy stuff and I got him into a lot of it very early on so this was a great opportunity to solidify some of that. Thanks for running it
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Nov 1, 2017 16:02
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Halloween night. Got in an old favorite, one I've wanted to revisit for a while, and a classic I hadn't seen. A little tribute to Romero and Hooper as well, RIP. #43 The Fly (1986) rewatch - The effects are wonderful, especially the final bits of transformation at the end, but what really makes the movie I think are the performances. Goldblum is at his best and Geena Davis plays the whole thing perfectly. 5/5 #44 Land of the Dead rewatch - This movie is pretty alright. Doesn't quite have the punch of Romero's earlier works but it's a lot of fun and goes in heavy on the social commentary and gore. Dennis Hopper unfortunately never goes quite as big as I'd like him to in his role here. 3/5  #45 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 - I knew it was a big change from the first, but wasn't entirely prepared for how completely unhinged it is the whole way through. Dennis Hopper is loving fantastic. 4/5 This was a lot of fun for me. I've always liked horror but never watched a lot of it so I tried to catch up on some of the classics. There's still a lot left I need to see, but I might need a little break from the genre. Favorite Discovery: Demons - Didn't know anything about this going in, just the recommendation in the thread and I liked the poster, and it ended up being one of my favorites ever. Texas Chainsaw Massacre was probably the best of my first time watches this year, but that was kind of expected and Demons was a hell of a surprise. Worst: Entity (2012) - forgettable boring trash but at least I only rented it by mistake Earliest: Häxan | Newest: Raw Counted up a few things I thought might be interesting: 1920s: 2 | 1930s: 1 | 1960s: 1 | 1970s: 8 1980s: 21 | 1990s: 6 | 2000s: 2 | 2010s: 5 US: 25 | Italy: 6 | Germany: 3 | Canada: 3 | UK: 3 | France: 1 Hong Kong: 1 | Poland: 1 | Japan: 1 | Mexico: 1 Romero: 4 | Carpenter: 4 | Hooper: 4 | Cronenberg: 2 | Soavi: 2 | Lamberto Bava: 2 | Del Toro: 2 total: 45 | rewatches: 11 | first time: 34 | in theaters: 3 *-rewatch 1 Butterly Murders [4/5] 2 Candyman: Day of the Dead [1/5] 3 The Fog [4/5] 4 Demons [5/5] 5 Demons 2 [4/5] 6 Prom Night [2/5] 7 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre [5/5] 8 In the Mouth of Madness [4/5] 9 Inland Empire [3/5] 10 Vampyr [4/5] 11 Scanners [4/5] 12 The Manitou [4/5] 13 Crimson Peak [4/5] 14 Planet of the Vampires [3/5] 15 Raw [5/5] 16 Friday the 13th Part 3 [2/5] 17 Entity (2012) [1/5] 18 Nosferatu [3/5] 19 Poltergeist [4/5] 20 *The 'Burbs [5/5] 21 Re-Animator [4/5] 22 Cemetery Man [4/5] 23 Halloween II [3/5] 24 Creepshow [3/5] 25 Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter [3/5] 26 *Hellraiser [5/5] 27 *Hellbound: Hellraiser [5/5] 28 *Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth [3/5] 29 The Entity [4/5] 30 The Lure [4/5] 31 *Cronos [3/5] 32 The Church [5/5] 33 Body Bags [4/5] 34 Christine [3/5] 35 *Dawn of the Dead [5/5] 36 *Day of the Dead [5/5] 37 *Suspiria [5/5] 38 Pumpkinhead [3/5] 39 *House [5/5] 40 Häxan [3/5] 41 The Brood [4/5] 42 The Last House on the Left [2/5] 43 *The Fly [5/5] 44 *Land of the Dead [3/5] 45 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 [4/5] Letterboxd list
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Nov 1, 2017 16:38
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I succeeded my challenge of 31 new movies (37 in total) and once again am glad I front-loaded a lot of movies early in the month because the end of the month was rather hectic The list; Crowhaven Farm Eyeball The Devil Rides Out Girls Nite Out The Asphyx Shock Wave The Night Brings Charlie Of unknown origin Plague of the zombies The Devils Dead Calm The Quartermass Xperiment Young Frankenstein * The Boy Angel Heart Trick R Treat * Don't Deliver Us From Evil Nightbreed The Castle Of Terror Puppet Masters Twice told tales Body bags* The Seventh Curse Hell House LLC The Love Witch Maniac Wolfen The Gorgon Angel For Satan Lord Of Illusion The Hound of Baskerville Necronomicon Ghostwatch * Asylum* Curse of the werewolf My Death Day Creepshow 2 In demonstration of how bad of a month it personally was, I didn't even get to want WNUF all the way though : / Not that I'm much a reviewer, but I regret not being able to post a review for more of these Awards (only applying to first watches): Best Find - The Devil Rides Out Most Overrated- The Devils Worst - Dead Calm (there were technically worse movies, but this one really irked me)
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Nov 1, 2017 16:40
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1. Gerald's Game - 3/5 2. Ouija: Origin of Evil - 2/5 3. XX - 2.5/5 4. Sadako vs. Kayako - 3.5/5 5. Little Evil - 2.5/5 6. Channel Zero: Candle Cove - 3/5 7. Grave Encounters 2 - 3/5 8. Halloween - 2/5 9. The Bad Batch - 2/5 10. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) - 4/5 11. Friday the 13th - 2.5/5 12. A Nightmare on Elm Street - 4/5 13. The Loved Ones - 4/5 14. Tales of Terror - 3/5 15. Body Bags - 2.5/5 16. Pumpkinhead - 3/5 17. The Phoenix Tapes '97 - 3.5/5 18. Wes Craven's New Nightmare - 3/5 19. The Babysitter - 2.5/5 20. Tales from the Hood - 4.5/5 21. The Others - 4.5/5 22. The Eyes of My Mother - 3/5 23. Session 9 - 3/5 24. The Howling - 4/5 25. Pulse (Kairo) - 2.5/5 26. Phantasm - 3.5/5 27. Creep 2 - 4/5 28. Halloween III: Season of the Witch - 4/5 29. Raw - 4.5/5 30. Night of the Demons (1988) - 5/5 31. Cabin in the Woods - 3.5/5 (rewatch) 32. Murder Party - 3/5 --- Favorite: Night of the Demons (1988) As the only 5/5 on my list I think it wins by default. I absolutely loved this film. Halloween films are always such a delight, and this film is only second to —and not by much— Trick r' Treat in capturing the spirit of the holiday. The haunted house is excellently run down and the mood lighting everywhere adds a lot. The monster effects are genuinely well done for a lower budget, campy 80s horror, and genuinely creative too the lipstick nipple god a pretty visceral reaction from me. The genuinely funny writing complements the large cast of laughable stereotypes as well, anytime Sal spoke with his extremely heavy New York accent it got a laugh from me. Runner-up: Raw — every bit as frenetic as the trailer. Worst: Ouija: Origin of Evil I lucked out this year and didn't watch anything genuinely bad, but large swaths of this film were pretty boring or otherwise basic. Flanagan is a good director and you could see his eye for scares shine through occasionally, but it's largely by the numbers. Better than it had any right to be, sure, but not anywhere near as fun as his other films. I also watched it after Gerald's Game, so expectations were high and I could not stand looking at the priest in Ouija after that scene in Gerald's. Runner-up: Little Evil — has the occasional laugh, but otherwise just a comedy you'd just put on in the background at best. Most Surprising: The Loved Ones I thought the trailer had given everything away, but boy was I wrong. I loved Byrne's newer film (The Devil's Candy) and this one held up quite well. Aside from a questionable side plot, this film was a huge surprise both in it's content and quality. Runner-up: Creep 2 — a surprise both in quality, and that I didn't know it existed until it came out. Most Disappointing: The Bad Batch A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is probably my favorite film from 2015, and the prospect of a cannibal film starring Jason Momoa and Keanu Reeves sounded great. Unfortunately the execution wasn't as fun as the premise. Overly long and meandering with an ending that fizzles out. Runner-up: Halloween — I love Carpenter but generally don't like slashers so I'm not sure what I expected. I will re-evaluate this one in the near future. Final Thoughts: I think I made out quite well this year. In previous years I balanced out a lot of my list with a friend who has different tastes, so I would end up seeing a lot more films I didn't like. Since I did my own thing this year, I had a much stronger showing. I also only had one rewatch (a spontaneous decision to throw on Cabin in the Woods yesterday) since I didn't screen any favorites for other friends this year. I think next year I'll account for some films I want to rewatch, as it's been over a year since I saw last saw The Thing and that just ain't right. I also ended up watching way more anthology films that I would have otherwise thanks to Scream Stream so thanks Lurdiak. Tales from the Hood was a real treat for me.
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Nov 1, 2017 16:42
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Here's my list, from most enjoyed to least, sorted by year. *s indicate rewatches, with thirteen of those, and thirty-four movies that were new to me. /5*House, a.k.a., Hausu (1977) *Candyman (1992) /5Cat People (1942) *Suspiria (1977) House on the Edge of the Park (1980) Inferno (1980) *Fright Night, a.k.a., Night of Horror (1985) *Hellraiser, a.k.a., Clive Barker's Hellraiser (1987) *Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988) *Scream (1996) 28 Days Later... (2002) Cult of Chucky, a.k.a., Curse of Chucky 2 (2017) Happy Death Day, a.k.a., Happy Birthdead (2017) /5A Lizard in a Woman's Skin, a.k.a., Schizoid, a.k.a, Carole (1971) The Witch who Came from the Sea (1976) Contamination, a.k.a., Alien Contamination, a.k.a., Contamination: Alien on Earth, a.k.a., Toxic Spawn, a.k.a., Aliendrome (1980) *Friday the 13th (1980) *Saturday the 14th (1981) Nightmare Beach, a.k.a., Welcome to Spring Break (1989) Jack-O, a.k.a., Jack O'Lantern (1995) *Scary Movie 2, a.k.a., Scarier Movie (2001) Thir13en Ghosts (2001) Scooby-Doo (2002) *Saw, a.k.a., Décadence (2004) Saw III (2006) Saw IV (2007) Saw V (2008) Vampire Dog (2012) Zombeavers (2014) The Abandoned, a.k.a., The Confines, a.k.a., Confined (2015) Patchwork (2015) Tales of Halloween, a.k.a., The October Society Presents: Tales of Halloween (2015) Holidays (2016) Little Evil (2017) /5Night of the Bloody Apes, a.k.a., Gomar: The Human Gorilla, a.k.a., Horror and Sex, a.k.a., Sex Monsters (1969) *Don't Look in the Basement, a.k.a., Don't Go in the Basement, a.k.a., The Forgotten, a.k.a., Beyond Help, a.k.a., Death Ward #13, a.k.a., The Snake Pit (1973) Lisa, Lisa, a.k.a., Axe, a.k.a., California Axe Massacre, a.k.a., California Axe Murders, a.k.a., The Axe Murders, a.k.a., The Virgin Slaughter (1974) Toxic Zombies, a.k.a., Bloodeaters, a.k.a., Blood Butchers (1980) Night School, a.k.a., Terror Eyes (1981) *Scooby-Doo! and the Reluctant Werewolf (1988) Scary Movie 3, a.k.a., Scary Movie 3.5 (2003) Saw II (2005) Saw VI (2009) Saw 3D, a.k.a., Saw: The Final Chapter, a.k.a., Saw 7, a.k.a., Jigsaw Puzzle 3D, a.k.a., Saw 3D: The Final Chapter (2010) Kill, Granny, Kill! (2014) R.L. Stine's Mostly Ghostly: One Night in Doom House (2016) 13 Demons (2016) /5nada! Favorite movie: Pretty close, but I've got to give it to Candyman over House by virtue of fitting the Halloween mood more. Of the ones that I hadn't seen before, it would be Happy Death Day, I guess, for being a fun theater experience with a friend. Least favorite: Saw 3D. Whatever. Biggest surprise: The Witch who Came from the Sea. Surprisingly deep with the characterization, especially for a video nasty. Biggest disappointment: A Lizard in a Woman's Skin. Contained no lizard people! Most Halloween-flavored: Jack-O. A demon with a pumpkin for a head goes around killing people with a scythe (and other things) on Halloween, while a kid has visions of an evil wizard in a graveyard and his parents run a haunted house in their garage. Final thoughts: I drifted away from my initial goal of knocking down the number of video nasties I hadn't seen pretty quickly, and ended up watching much more modern DTV stuff than planned. I only watched one movie made in the first half of the 20th century, so maybe next year, I'll make an effort to include more early horror movies. Biggest regret would be going through the Saw series, but at the same time, knocking out a series I haven't seen in full before is starting to become a little bit of a tradition with these threads, and I can only go up from there. The challenge, as always, made the month quite fun for me, and though it ate into time I could have used for other projects, I'm glad I got to share the tradition with a new friend. And all of you in this thread, even when I went 'That reaction is nuts.' Darthemed fucked around with this message at 03:30 on Nov 2, 2017 |
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Nov 1, 2017 16:49
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Butch Cassidy posted:Favorite Viewing Experience: No contest, Psycho at my projector party. My kids, a blossoming Hitchcock fangirl, and her husband all saw it for the first time. My wife, a buddy, and I all rewatching. Everyone went quiet with no commentary beyond some kudos to details here and there through the whole run time. This masterpiece stands indifferent to the sands of time. Conversation about the movie continued the next day. A mixed age/gender/culture/first language group that had a previous family film to indulge in rum and beer while chattering instantly taking the next film seriously says something definitive about Hitchcock's work. We don't see eye to eye on The Church, but Psycho II is seriously underrated, and absolutely worth watching for any fan of the first one. Give it a try. Hannibal Rex fucked around with this message at 18:27 on Nov 1, 2017 |
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Nov 1, 2017 18:02
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23. Lisa and the Devil I really liked this one. The dream imagery was fantastic, solid soundtrack, and as usual wonderfully framed shots by Bava. It reminded me a lot Fall of the House at Usher at times, the family cursed in a hellish house trying to shoo away unwanted guests before its too late. The Maximilian character was fantastic and stylish as hell. Telly Savalas was wonderful as Leandro and struck a great balance between menacing and comedic. His complaints about the Contessa had me cracking up. The ending goes full out crazy to the point of confusion, but I couldn't let that stop me from loving the movie. 3.5/5 Watched: Motel Hell, The Burning, Carnival of Souls, Microwave Massacre, Cult of Chucky, Tomb of Ligeia, The Mutilator, Friday Part 4, Friday Part 6, Frankenstein (31), Dead & Buried, The Babysitter, Night of the Comet, Five Dollas for an August Moon, Phastasm: Ravager, Fall of the House of Usher, Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key, Peeping Tom, Freaks, Hellraiser, Jigsaw, Bride of Frankenstein, Lisa and the Devil
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Nov 1, 2017 18:22
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#11 Jason X I was ready to love this movie. I thought "totally wacky space stuff should be fun!". But it was so. boring. It started strong, but it just kind of lost momentum in the middle. The finish was strong. Uber Jason killing the holographic teens in sleeping bags was really funny. The best moment in the entire film is when they wake up the girl who's been frozen for 500 years and they're like "relax, Jason is dead, he's in the lab next door" and she's like "no you loving idiots, he's not dead!" "Yes he is." "okay, show me" and it cuts to straight to them zipping up a body bag, since obviously Jason wasn't dead and killed a person already. Obviously my description of it is worthless, but in the film, it's just perfect comedic timing. There's also some pretty decent space ship design, which isn't something you would expect in a F13 movie. #12 Friday the 13 (2009) UNTAGGED SPOILERS This is the only F13 movie I had seen before starting this marathon. I watched with a group on dvd soon after it came out. I remember liking it. So I was expecting it to hold up pretty well. Wow. It was quite disappointing. It's just the most generic, late-2000s, post TCM remake style dark and gritty-looking film. Unlike virtually every other F13 film, this one uses a lot of quick cuts and as a result, the action is very muddled. It has a few good ideas despite its generic presentation. There's a whole beginning segment where a cast of teens are introduced. When you've seen a lot of movies in this genre, you immediately start trying to figure out who the survivors are gonna be, and who the real pieces of poo poo you want to die are. It turns out to be a neat fakeout, and Jason kills all of them in the first 10 minutes and then a new cast is introduced. It's a passable movie, but it's just so generic it doesn't have any of the charm normally associated with the franchise. So (almost) wraps up the first franchise I marathoned. The only "Jason movie" left to watch is Freddy vs. Jason. But before I do that... #13 A Nightmare on Elm Street This is the only film in this franchise I had seen before. Honestly, it doesn't do much for me. I picked up more great details than on my first viewing, but the movie just doesn't really hook me. It's hard to describe why. It's competantly made and higher concept that it initially appears. I just don't really get it. I much prefer the next one... #14 A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge This is a little more my pace. poo poo gets way crazier in this one. Instead of just existing in people's dreams, Freddy also starts being able to "possess" a person who sleepwalks. To the point where he actually manifests in what appears to be the real world. Or course, just like the first one, there are lost of layers of dreams, so it's possible he never actually enters the real world, but I'm not super interested in dissecting "what's real". One of the coolest aspects of both films so far is how they blur the line between dream and reality in a way that doesn't feel like it's challenging you to "figure out" what's real, but instead just presenting you with the whole thing. This one has an absolutely amazing effects sequence where Freddy emerges from someone's chest. This actually lead to a running joke between me and my best friend during the rest of our marathon. I was talking about how the character's legal defense in court when he's accused of the murders committed by Freddy could just be "exhibit A: *Freddy comes out of his chest*". So for the rest of the marathon, whenever some character would doubt that killings were supernatural in nature, one of use would reference "exhibit A". You kind of had to be there. #15 A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors This is even more my poo poo. It's dumber, but in a really cheesy and campy way that really worked for me. Freddy is a TV at one point. Bring back Nancy from the first film is great. Unlike most slasher films, this one has a cast of teens who are almost all likeable. The way they team up to take on Freddy is fun. While this was definitely one of my favorites of the franchise, I don't have a lot more to say about it than it was fun in a way that worked for me. I think this one might introduce Freddy's origin as well, but I can't remember for sure. #16 A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master BAADDDDD and DUMMMMMMMMB. Boring. This one is kind of like the last one, but worse. There's only one good scene in the movie, and it's when Alice get's sucked into the black and white movie she's watching in the theater. Oh and when that one girl turns into a giant bug because she's scared of bugs. The prosthetic effects in that scene were stupidly good. Uh, I guess it's also kind of neat when Alice embraces the fact that she absorbs her friends powers when they die, meaning that every time Freddy kills one of her friends, she becomes stronger. Their final fight is really crazy. To bad the whole first 2/3 of the movie isn't very good. Oh also, at the beginning of this movie, a dog in a dream pees on a dreamworld version of Freddy's grave, which causes hell to open up and spit him back out. It's one of the most ludicrous excuses for a dead villain to come back. I actually suspect this was to directly mock F13's various ways that Jason comes back. #17 Wish Upon A brief intermission from the NoES franchise, we rented Wish Upon. It's basically a "monkey's paw" scenario. It starts pretty strong, but the writing for the main character just isn't there. She never really puts 2 and 2 together, even at the very end of the film, doesn't seem to grasp the situation. There are a few good moments, but overall the movie plays things very safe and never gets particularly interesting because of it. It wasn't terrible, but I don't really recommend it. The end credits sequence is the best part of the movie, and it's just a series of different octagonal shapes. I mean it, it's a really neat and visually interesting sequence that's way better than anything that happened in the movie. #18 A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child Somehow a movie with a child in it is not the worst movie in the franchise. This movie is pretty much on par with the last one. It has some neat ideas and I ended up liking it better than Dream Master. It has one of the coolest and craziest effects in the franchise (after "Exhibit A", of course), where some Videodrome poo poo happens with a motorcycle. Don't watch this movie, watch that scene on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4Cl_wmoPVI. The gimmick in this film is that Alice's unborn child is dreaming in utero, which is allowing Freddy to access Alice's dream powers to prey on her friends. Or something. This one also does a lot more with Freddy's lovely backstory. That stuff is all bad. But nothing could be as bad as... #19 Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare What the gently caress is this pile of garbage? This is NoES's equivalent to Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday. It's actually way worse. If this movie had come out after Jason Goes to Hell, I would be making a "hold my beer" joke here. This movie throws about a dozen different and terrible ideas at the screen without any regard to what sticks. The opening text make you think it's going to be some crazy poo poo. It claims that Freddy has killed all children and adolescents in America. That's right. Freddy alone has instigated a "Children of Men" scenario. There is only one teenager left. Okay. So what does the movie do with this premise? Well, it's a dream. Sort of. From what I can tell, it's actually true, but Freddy then opens a portal to... another dimension? an alternate reality? It's unclear. And sends this kid through it, so that he can spread fear of Freddy to this new place. Okay maybe that's completely wrong. That's how I read all the things that happened. In this new dimension, they do encounter a town where there are no children, because of Freddy. So. Who knows. The funniest thing about this entire movie (no, It's not when Freddy plays a videogame) is that it has the exact same twist as Blade Runner 2049. Do not watch this movie. It's not nearly as fun as any of it sounds on paper. #20 Cult of Chucky Needing a break after that loving garbage movie, we decided to check out the new Chucky movie. We've seen all the others, but it's been a few years. My friend is way more into Chucky than me, and she didn't care for the last one (Curse of Chucky), but I didn't mind it. This movie isn't terrible, but it's kind of an aimless mess that doesn't really accomplish anything. It also seems to be the case that the doctor actually did mean when when he brought in Chucky dolls to his psychiatric care facility and he wasn't secretly trying to build a "Cult of Chucky". Jennifer Tilly shows up again, which I was really excited about, but she doesn't really do anything. They brought back Alex Vincent as Andy from the original film(s?), but he also doesn't really do anything. So the doctor is just incompetant, Jennifer Tilly exists just to bring a doll to a place that already has a doll, Andy accomplishes nothing, and really... what even is Chucky's goal here besides "kill people for fun"? An aimless mess with a few funny parts. I think it's cool that Brad Dourif gets to work with his daughter in one of his most iconic roles. I don't blame them for making these movies. But like, make them better. edit: I hate to just keep going with one giant post, but I can't go back and write these write ups weeks ago like I should have, so... here come more: #21 Wes Craven's New Nightmare The crown jewel of "Freddy Movies". While the original A Nightmare on Elm Street certainly shows Wes Craven's attention to detail and solid grasp of the psychology of horror, this is where it really shines. It's such a gutsy thing to do and play completely straight. The "Why are you calling me Nancy?" moment is absolutely chilling. The whole end segment is great. Very "Hellraiser 2". It's easy to see how Wes Craven went on to do Scream soon after this. Meta-exploration of the horror genre is a clear interest here. Really every part of this movie is top notch. Robert Englund playing himself was especially effective. Definitely the best NoES in my opinion. Of course it kind of needs the others to exist, so you can't really watch it in a vacuum. #22 A Nightmare on Elm Street(2010) Ew. Everything I said about Friday the 13th(2009). It's the same poo poo. And I mean they are from the same shop. Both movies are produces by Michael Bay, Brad Fuller, and Andrew Form. There's no sense of humor in this film at all. Freddy is reduced to just a gross killer-pedo. And that's it. Nothing interesting about any of it. Do not watch. And finally, it's time: #23 Freddy vs. Jason Oh man. A lot of people seem to give this movie poo poo. But it's loving great. It's a hoot. The intro is a bit rough, because there's some heavyhanded exposion to make sure everyone knows "the rules" of how both Freddy and Jason work. But then it gets right to it and it's great. It's got a lot of neat callbacks to both series. The drug "hypnocil", which was primarily used in Dream Warriors, is introduced without fanfare here. It's later explained by the plot, but fans of NoES will understand what's going a bit sooner. The plot is actually one of the most coherent plots in both franchises. No one remembers Freddy anymore, so he can't haunt their dreams. But Jason, who cannot die, counts as being always asleep and Freddy exploits this to get Jason killing again, but this time on Elm Street. We just have to pretend that somehow these locations are geographically close for the plot work. Elm Street should be in California and Crystal lake in New York, but just hand wave that. Jason's killings cause people to look into the history of killings on Elm street and get people talking about Freddy again. This causes Freddy to gain power. But wait, Jason is stealing his kills! Freddy can't absorb the souls of people that Jason kills, so now they have to fight. And holy poo poo is their big final showdown epic. It should be stupid. It is stupid. But it's great. This movie rules. Okay. Time for a new franchise... #24 Halloween So, having never really watched F13 or NoES, I've always been a Halloween fanboy. Michael Myers was always my favorite. The John Carpenter original basically invented the slasher genre as we know it today. Maybe a bit tame by today's standards, but impeccable cinematography and musical coordination. That's one thing that really hurt the early F13 films. Their sound tracks weren't well choreographed to what was happening on screen. Not a problem John Carpenter has ever had. I'm not going to talk too much about this film because everything that I would say about it alone is what everyone says. Legendary classic. Cornerstone of the genre. #25 Halloween II Well, this is the one that pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the franchise, and it's not a good one. Michael Myers breaks into a school just find a child's drawing of a family and stab the sister. Then he writes "SAMHAIN" in blood on the chalkboard. Because. Because I guess while he was catatonic in Smith Grove, he learned about ancient Celtic sacrifices. What. The only good thing I have to say about this film is that I have a soft spot for sequels that pick up immediately when then previous film ends. And now for something completely different: #26 Halloween III: Season of the Witch Well I've found the second-best Halloween movie. I had never seen this before. I knew all about it by reputation. I was quite worried that knowing the gist of what happens in it would decrease my appreciation for it. It did not. So much goes on in this film, and it's a pretty great ride. And the ending is surprisingly powerful for how corning the rest of the film is. That cut to black was just brutal. I've been singing the jingle for the last week. I'm not even mad that it's stuck in my head. It rules. #27 Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers Remember at the end of Halloween 2 when Dr Samuel Loomis (or "Sammy Loomy" as I like to call him) blew up both himself and michael? Haha neither of them died. Sammy Loomy has a burn scar on right side of his face that is different in every scene, and his right hand is burned too. Laurie Strode died some time after Halloween 2, but she had a daughter. Someone mentions this in earshot of Michael's comatose body and he instantly wakes up and escapes. Great loving going. This movie is noteable because it has the absolute worst mask design for Michael. Laurie's daughter Jamie has continual nightmares about Michael, which must have been genetically passed down from her mother, because how the gently caress else would she even know what Michael looks like. The movie ends with Michael being shot so much that a sinkhole opens up and swallows him into hell where he belongs. At least according to Dr Sammy Loomy. Only after that do we find out that the spirit of Michael Myers has infected Jamie, and she murders her foster mother in a scene reminiscent of the first kill in the original halloween. This movie isn't very good, but compared to the poo poo that comes after it, it's pretty well put together. #28 Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers For loving what? What did anyone ever do to Michael Myers? What a douche. In this one, it turns out that Michael survived the sink hole in a scene that is basically exactly what happens with John Rambo in First Blood. He' still psychicly connected to Jamie, who is now 99% mute. Also there's now a runic tattoo on Michael's arm. This movie is real bad. Also a mysterious shadow man who looks like the exorcist is in the movie. More on him in the next movie. #29 Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers This one's all about children and babies. I'll cut to the end: It turns out that Dr. Sammy Loomy's coworker at Smith Grove has actually been trying to harness the fundamental power of evil and has been doing cult poo poo to control Michael Myers and attempt to recreate the effect with other children. He is the mysterious "Voice Man" who tells children to kill their families as part of ritual sacrifice or some poo poo. Who writes this crap. But terrible crap ideas aside, this one is okay. It's dumb as poo poo, but it moves along at a decent clip. It's definitely "so bad it's good/entertaining" territory, but it's not unwatchable boring or anything. Young Paul Rudd. #30 Halloween H20: 20 Years Later This one wipes out every movie after Halloween 2. Thank god. Look at the title, though. That's some ID4 poo poo. Young Josh Hartnett. I forget who it was, but another poster nailed it when they said that Jamie Lee Curtis's portrayal of Laurie's PTSD from the events of the first 2 films is by far the most interesting part of this movie, and way better than anything else that happens in it. The movie is competent and manages to be funny a few times. LL Cool J is a real highlight. Basically watch H1 and then H20 and you've seen all the good Michael Myers related Halloween Movies. #31 Halloween: Resurrection Um... if you got rid of the beginning of the film with JLC being killed of in the dumbest way possible, the reality show part of this movie is pretty fun. So the movie offends me quite a bit right out of the gate with the bad open, but once it's on to the main plot, it's fine. Busta Rhymes is great in it. This is fun dumb one. Definitly pick this over like, H5. #32 Halloween (2007) (Rob Zombie remake) I've seen this a bunch of times now. Originally, I really didn't like the backstory/young Michael stuff. But I think that was just bias. This movie is pretty great, and suffers mostly from a weak 3rd act. It starts strong and has a strong middle, and just kind of peters out, in my opinion. Although the very end bit is good, so it's not like it ends on a bad note. More importantly, this movie needs to exist so that Rob Zombie's Halloween II can exist. Unfortunately, I DIDN'T HAVE TIME TO WATCH IT Snak fucked around with this message at 19:51 on Nov 1, 2017 |
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Nov 1, 2017 18:53
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Hannibal Rex posted:We don't see eye to eye on The Church, but Psycho II is seriously underrated, and absolutely worth watching for any fan of the first one. Give it a try. I saw this shen I was a kid and have vague memories of liking it but nothing about the movie itself. I'll have to grab a copy and watch it! Butch Cassidy fucked around with this message at 19:34 on Nov 1, 2017 |
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Nov 1, 2017 19:26
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Final Tally: 1. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) 2. TCM: The Beginning 3. Halloween (2007) 4. Friday the 13th (2009) 5. Hollywood Ghost Stories (1986) 6. Halloween 2 (2009) 7. A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) 8. Scream 4 9. Texas Chainsaw 3D 10. Mother! 11. Never Sleep Again 12. Lurdiak's Scream Stream 10/06 13. Scream Stream 10/07 14. Scream Stream 10/08 15. Crystal Lake Memories 16. Dracula (1931) 17. The Limehouse Golem 18. Frankenstein (1931) 19. The Mummy (1932) 20. The Invisible Man 21. The Bride of Frankenstein 22. The Wolf Man (1941) 23. The Phantom of the Opera (1943) 24. Creature From the Black Lagoon 25. It Came From Outer Space 26. Night of the Comet 27. Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) 28. Return of the Living Dead 29. Phantom of the Paradise 30. The Guest 31. House of 1000 Corpses 32. Insidious 33. The Devil's Rejects 34. God Told Me To 35. Carrie (1976) 36. The Shining (1980) 37. The Texas Chansaw Massacre (1974) 38. Halloween (1978) 39. Lurdiak's Scream Stream 10/31 Favourite Film: Ostensibly it's going to be the original versions of Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Halloween. But that's not super fun, so I figure I'll write about my favourite film I watched for the first time this year. It's a hard decision to make, as there's been plenty of quality films this year. Enough of them that none really stand out as being better than the others. But, I think that what I came away enjoying the most was Trick R' Treat as part of Lurdiak's Oct 8th stream. The film's particular voice and gleeful mean spiritedness (but not crassly so) really won me over, and met high expectations after years of being talked up as one of best films of the Noughties (Note: I really hate that word). Worst Film: Easy, Texas Chainsaw 3D. This is a garbage film. It shows off enough effort to suggest they could have done better, but not anywhere near enough to be watchable. It's bad decision after bad decision, and I regret any money I have paid that may have made it's way to the assholes that made it. For such an excellent film, I don't really understand why TCM attracts such god awful sequels. Biggest Surprise (In a good way): The last segment of Spirit's of the Dead, Toby Dammit by Frederico Fellini. After what was a mediocre to passable anthology film, I was surprised and delighted by some capital-A Art. It's a gorgeous looking exploration into the life of a glorious rear end in a top hat the titular Toby Dammit, whose played by a young and surprisingly gorgeous Terrance Stamp, in a story that's barely inspired Poe's story 'Never Bet The Devil Your Head'. It's the reason that a generally forgettable piece of disposable cinema will be immortalised in film history. Thanks Lurdiak. Biggest Surprise (In a bad way): Easily Campfire Tales. I'm probably on a government watch list now because of that film. Thanks Lurdiak. Best Non-Film Halloween-y thing: Vincent Price's closing rap to Thriller. Just imagine me pursing my lips, bringing my finger tips up to them, and going 'M'wah!' Final Thoughts: Well, at least I can definitely say I watched over 31 films over the season, even catching over 31 in the month alone. Mostly, the things that I learned was that Horror Remakes kinda suck. Even when they're good they're still kinda bad. And that Rob Zombie is a fairly promising but still fairly flawed Director, but he's getting better with each film as he goes along. I can't say it enough, but Lurdiak really is the MVP of the season with their Streams. Doing God's work in introducing and reacquainting this forum with both the best and the worst this genre can offer. My only regret is not living anywhere that you can pay online for Pizza, otherwise I would be committed to watching every night. Also, I really like using the word 'Titular'.
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Nov 1, 2017 19:28
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So final tally: I didn't/don't really want to do stars or /5 or whatever, but I'll happily do thumbs up/down. (* indicate movies I've seen before) #1 Friday the 13th - thumbs up #2 Friday the 13th: Part 2 - Thumbs up #3 Friday the 13th: Part 3 - Thumbs down #4 Friday the 13th: Part 4 - thumbs way down #5 Friday the 13th: Part 5 - Thumbs up #6 Friday the 13th: Part 6 - 2 thumbs way up #7 Friday the 13th: Part 7 - meh #8 Little Evil - thumbs up #9 Friday the 13th: Part 8 - meh #10 Jason Goes to Hell - thumbs up #11 Jason X - thumbs down #12* Friday the 13th (remake) - thumbs down. #13*A Nightmare on Elm Street - eh. Like one thumb up for being technically good #14 A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge - Thumb's Up #15 A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors - Thumbs up #16 A Nightmare on Elm Street 4 - thumbs down #17 Wish Upon - Thumbs down #18 A Nightmare on Elm Street 5 - thumbs down #19 Freddy's Dead - Thumbs way down #20 Cult of Chucky - thumbs down #21 New Nightmare - 2 thumbs up #22 ANoES Remake - thumbs down. #23 Freddy vs Jason - thumbs up #24* Halloween - thumbs up #25* Halloween 2 - thumbs down #26 Halloween 3 - thumbs up #27 Halloween 4 - down #28 Halloween 5 - down #29 Halloween 6 - down #30* Halloween H20 - Up #31 Halloween Ressurection - meh #32* Rob Zombie's Halloween - thumbs up Favorite film? Not to be confused with Best Film. Gonna pick Freddy vs. Jason on this one. It was just a really fun way to cap off mainlining 2 franchises I'd never seen before. If I had to pick a different one, it would be F13 part 6. With Freddy vs. Jason being the one I was surprised was good. Worst Film? Oh man. Uh... Freddy's Dead. Runner up: F13 part 4. I really didn't like that one. Final Thoughts: Well this was a really educational marathon for me. Being a horror fan, it always felt like there was this giant gap in my knowledge of horror, having never seen ANY Friday the 13th movie before the remake, and having only seen the original Nightmare on Elm Street. I didn't know what I was going to like or not like. I'm really surprised that I ended up digging Friday the 13th so much. I always assumed that I was going to find it kind of dumb. But I like the formula and the execution. And after seeing all the Halloween movies, I gotta say, I think I actually like Jason more than Michael now. Michael works really well in the first Halloween, but every attempt to expand on him or give him purpose or backstory is just loving terrible. At least until the Rob Zombie films, which do a pretty good job making a 2 film character arc for him. But Jason... Jason doesn't have that problem, outside of Jason Goes to Hell, which is a clear outlier. My bestie, who watched every movie in this marathon with me, ended up liking Freddy the most. She had seen a few more of the films than me, but not many. This was a really fun even. I did a really bad job participating until the eleventh hour. I logged like 20 movies in the last 2 hours, which is barely in the spirit of the thread. But I had fun watching the movies, and I liked reading everyone's posts about their own watchthroughs. I'm really happy with my "completing major franchises" goals that I did for my marathon, but I'm a bit jealous of people who had a lot more variety. I hope everyone had a good Halloween. Snak fucked around with this message at 20:14 on Nov 1, 2017 |
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Nov 1, 2017 20:01
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#1: mother! (wild and intense) #2: Ravenous (rewarding) #3: The Bay (at no point entertaining or engaging) #4: Candyman (pretty darn good) #5: We Need To Talk About Kevin (heart-wrenching) #6: Black Christmas (1974) (pretty good) #7: Black Christmas (2006) (really awful) #8: The Thing from Another World (enjoyable) #9: Gerald's Game (well appointed) #10: Alien: Covenant (I love this movie) #11: Spirits of the Dead (enjoyable) #12: The Mothman Prophecies (nice atmosphere, features my childhood home) #13: Patchwork (never as funny as I wanted it to be) #14: Little Evil (perfectly pleasant) #15: Contagion (good) #16: Fire in the Sky (entertaining enough, the aliens completely deliver) #17: Re-Animator (loving great) #18: The Fly (1986) (still great) #19: Dead Ringers (fantastic) #20: Life (Calvin's my boy) #21: The Babysitter (slick and entertaining) Favorite Re-Animator! This is one I've been meaning to watch, and was encouraged to do so by this challenge, so much appreciation for that. Jeffrey Combs is delightful, and I love it's style of goofy horror. I'm confident this is one I'm going to return to next year. Least Favorite Black Christmas (2006). What a waste of time and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Ugly and pointless, every change to the original is for the worst. I never would have stuck all the way through it if it weren't for this challenge, so gently caress you all for that. Final Thoughts Somehow I managed to both watch more movies than I planned to, but few of the ones specifically on my list, which I think was basically a combination of saving some of the things I was more excited about to the end colliding with some burnout. I'll have to keep that in mind next year, but overall, a good time, and a fun way to push myself to take some movies off my to-watch shelf. Thanks to everyone who organized it.
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Nov 1, 2017 20:24
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I already posted my list, but I like the idea of the best/worst/most surprising movies, so here goes: Favorite movie: Psycho Cop Returns It wasn't even a scary movie, it was just way too fun. I watched it with a small group of friends and we were having a great time, cheering on the Psycho Cop. Least favorite movie: The Slayer I technically watched "worse" movies than this, but this one was just abysmal. It had so much promise, but the story was godawful, and the ending was so incredibly stupid and insulting that it ruined anything decent about the rest of the movie. Biggest surprise: three way tie Viy was a huge surprise because every Russian movie I've had to watch with my girlfriend so far has been total poo poo, so it was surprising that not only was Viy entertaining, but it was also a solid horror movie. Rec was surprising because it's the first found-footage movie I've ever seen that I've genuinely liked and didn't spend the whole time watching it tearing it apart. Graduation Day was surprising because of this sick rear end song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c21UTycyo8 I had a ton of fun this year, and next year I plan on writing more in depth reviews with pictures and all that jazz.
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Nov 1, 2017 20:58
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Movies Watched NEW: 24 I Walked With A Zombie 3/5 Dead & Buried 4/5 The Mummy ('59) 3/5 The Resurrected 3/5 Critters 3/5 Cemetery Man 5/5 ! Roadgames ('81) 4/5 mother! 4/5 Christine 4/5 Willow Creek 3/5 Castle Freak 4/5 Wait Until Dark 4/5 Curse of the Mummy's Tomb 3/5 The Mummy's Shroud 3/5 Blood from the Mummy's Tomb 4/5 The Uncanny 3/5 Venom 3/5 Tales of Terror 4/5 Body Bags 5/5 Spirited Away 5/5 Dr. Terror's House of Horrors 3/5 Asylum 2/5 Curse of Frankenstein 3/5 Ghoulies 2/5 REWATCH: 14 The Return of the Living Dead 5/5 Pumpkinhead 4/5 Night of the Creeps 4/5 Demons 5/5 Demon Knight 5/5 Suspiria 5/5 Friday the 13th: Part 2 3/5 Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter 3/5 Black Sabbath 4/5 Halloween ('78) 5/5 Trick 'r Treat 5/5 Halloween III: Season of the Witch 4/5 Carrie 5/5 Creepshow 2 3/5 TOTAL: 38 Favorite film: Well, I saw Suspiria 4k restoration and the original Halloween in theaters, which is pretty hard to beat. Other mentions, Carrie also clicked with me BIG TIME, more than ever before. Same with Return of the Living Dead. I did also stand outside of a movie theater for at least an hour discussing mother! with my friends, and only left because I was starving. I could have kept talking about that movie for hours. Biggest Surprise: Cemetery Man - Italian Dead Alive, but with Evil Dead's Ash as the protagonist. Yes please. It's a new favorite and the best of the new watches for me. Dead & Buried also deserves a mention for this, because that movie is loving amazing. Scream Stream answer: Body Bags, hands down. Biggest Disappointment: The Resurrected - Dan O'Bannon, you let me down with your supernatural detective monster story. So much potential, but a weird mess of a film. Scream Stream answer: Asylum - This one is on Edgar Wright's 100 favorite horror movies, and I can't fathom why. It did not click with me. I'll go ahead and mark this one down as worst movie. Best Crowd Reaction at my Horror Movie Night: a double feature of Demons and Demon Knight. I blew their loving minds. Final Thoughts: I think this has been my favorite Challenge I've participated in, hands down, partially from Scream Stream and just getting really lucky with a bunch of great movies. I'd say 75% of my picks were done with a randomizer and a pull list, and even though I barely scratched that list (there's still close to 80 I didn't watch), it was awesome. Even my re-watches were great. I made a point to only rewatch movies I hadn't seen it at least 2 years (except for the Friday the 13ths, but it did land in October; and Demons, because it was perfect for a horror movie night), and every single one was good fun.
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Nov 1, 2017 21:12
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I'm going to follow Darthemed's example here and order by rating./5 Motel Hell (1980) Trick 'r' Treat (2007) (rewatch) Bride of Frankenstein (1935) Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) 4.5/5 Gremlins (1984) /5Magic (1978) Better watch Out (2016) Tales of Terror (1962) Tales from the Hood (1995) Necronomicon (1993) 3.5/5 House (1986) Ms. 45 (1981) The Babysitter (2017) Black Sabbath (1963) The Girl with All the Gifts (2016) Happy Death Day (2017) /5Gerald's Game (2017) Dead & Buried (1981) Scare Campaign (2016) A Dark Song (2016) Body Bags (1993) The House that Dripped Blood (1971) 2.5/5 Kwaidan (1964) Twice-Told Tales (1963) From Beyond the Grave (1974) /5Female Vampire (1975) The Uncanny (1977) Dr. Giggles (1992) S&Man (2006) The Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) Asylum (1972) 1.5/5 976-EVIL II (1991) Campfire Tales (1997) Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965) /5The Houses October Built 2 (2017) 976-EVIL (1988) Dance of the Dead (2005) House II: The Second Story (1987) Maniac Cop (1988) Wish Upon (2017) Requiem for a Vampire (1971) Looks like I watched a pretty even amount of good and bad this year! At the very least my arbitrary review scores are proven to be fair and balanced. Favorites: Once, a few years ago, I partially watched the beginning of Gremlins late one night and turned it off to fall asleep. Presumably, after midnight my time, but obviously before midnight Gremlins-time. That was a mistake. Those are both really fun movies! Motel Hell was also an unexpected weird joy. Disappointments: Someday I will find a good "erotic" lesbian (presumably vampire) horror film, but alas it was not to be this year. I only watched two, because they were both so mediocre and because they were foreign, which means I have to pay far more attention to them. Biggest Surprise: I was surprised by Tales from the Hood and how focused it was on social issues. And I was depressed by how little has changed since 1995. But let's be real here the biggest surprise was 976-EVIL II, which is a loving terrible movie but for this scene. Watch it please it's really unbelievable. Why I ended up watching this after finding even the first movie pretty unwatchable I have no idea, but it was worth it. Final Thoughts: I've done this for three or four years now, and there's probably three things I should work to improve for next year. I don't ever go into this with a plan. At the least I could winnow down a list of 50 or so flicks I want to get watched. As it is I end up with a pretty big pile of things I still want to watch and kind of regret not getting too. Most likely I'll still watch them before next year, but a plan would allow me to have more of a sense of accomplishment. I could do a better job of pairing films. The only two that I watched sequentially that fit thematically were Tales from the Hood and Maniac Cop, but Tales probably took away most of the enjoyment I could get out of MC. Well, Tales and mounting evidence of systemic police issues in our society. ...on second thought maybe watching films mostly at random works out better. In general, I should pay more attention to what I'm watching. I'm generally playing a mobile game or skimming threads here or generally distracting myself while watching, which probably leads to me missing cool poo poo that happens, and me choosing less foreign works so I don't have to devote 100% of time to the screen. That's real bad form.
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Nov 1, 2017 21:46
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Somewhat past the adjusted deadline, and already have the final films reported, but gently caress it, still wanna do the write-ups and final retrospective thoughts for posterity's sake. Tucker & Dale vs. Evil: Somewhat frontloaded comedically, but had an absolute blast and was laughing my rear end off regardless. A perfect blend of pitch black humour with lighthearted slapstick, with just enough sincerity between it's very likable leads to make it work. The Blair Witch Project: An understandably divisive film, and admittedly not quite as suspenseful for me on the rewatch, but goddamn it, I still love this movie. Practically a case study doing a lot with very little and letting the viewer's imagination do the work. I just love the rural, naturalistic atmosphere this film exudes as well as how it plays on the primal and realistic fears of getting hopelessly lost and the body and spirit completely breaking down in times of crisis. The Exorcist: I would be remiss if I participated in this thread and didn't use it as an excuse to knock-off this longstanding pick for me from the Shameful thread, and it seemed like a suitable enough movie for number 31. Knowing a chunk of the more iconic setpiece moments going in, I was worried it might be completely dialed up to 11 for a lot of it, but it was actually a much slower burn than I had anticipated, much of the film paced and acted more as a drama than a horror. On that front, I do feel that the film is generally stronger in it's quieter moments where the gravitas of Reagan's situation is gradually built up and nobody (including Reagan) is quite sure what exactly is going on, than it is in it's more over the top moments where the demon inside has taken full control and is shouting/performing obscenities and unnaturally contorting Reagan's body (not to say that I think the latter is necessarily bad mind you, in context it's used sparingly enough as a fine way to escalate the situation). Not one of the scariest films ever made as it's as it's pop-cultural reputation precedes, but an all-around solid horror-drama all the same. Final List (No ratings, cause I'm loving terrible at assigning numerical ratings to things): 1. It 2. Werewolf (MST3K) 3. Army of Darkness 4. Frankenweenie 5. Corpse Bride 6. Paranorman 7. Coraline 8. The Nightmare Before Christmas 9. The Shining 10. Room 237 11. Teenagers from Outer Space (MST3K) 12. Little Shop of Horrors 13. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street 14. Cannibal! The Musical 15. Friday the 13th 16. Friday the 13th Part II 17. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter 18. Psycho 19. Beetlejuice 20. Ghostbusters 21. The Descent 22.The Giant Gila Monster (MST3K) 23. Over the Garden Wall 24. Get Out 25. Don't Breathe 26. Green Room 27. Battle Royale 28. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 29. Tucker & Dale vs. Evil 30. The Blair Witch Project 31. The Exorcist Favourite Movie: As an animation junkie, gotta go with Coraline and The Nightmare Before Christmas as two of my favourite animated movies ever. Horror wise, think I have to go with The Shining, and for stuff I hadn't seen before Get Out, Battle Royale, Little Shop of Horrors & Psycho were probably my personal stand-outs. Also going put a blanket pick for all of the comedys/horror-comedys I watched this month, which were basically all a blast. Least Favourite Movie: Easiest answer would be to go with one of the MST3K films (sans commentary of course), with The Giant Gila Monster being the most obvious pick of the three with it's grainier audio than the other two and it's more scattershot focus. There's also Room 237, which though strangely captivating in its' subjects absolutely outlandish theories, the dry presentation and repetitious nature of the film does start to wear a bit over the course of a full film. Final Thoughts: All in all, just had an absolute blast and glad I managed to make it to 31. Honestly kind of reinvigorated me from having slowed down on my movie backlog recently and having fallen out of the Shameful thread for way too long. Definitely going to make a point to do it again next year (and possibly the Spring one I believe I saw mentioned here if I recall correctly). Trash Boat fucked around with this message at 22:35 on Nov 1, 2017 |
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Nov 1, 2017 22:03
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26. The Resurrected (1991) This is an adaptation of Lovecraft's "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" that I haven't read and so can't comment on how much this resembles the story. The film opens like an old school detective flick as a femme fatale type of lady shows up at a PI's office, asking to look into her husband's increasingly weird behavior. He's a chemist at a cosmetics (?) company and started spending more and more time doing weird research in the carriage house. Turns out it's not because he's really into ham radio when he's caught receiving exhumed bodies. Despite the initial setup, the film doesn't really retain this detective movie flavor and comes off disappointingly flat at times, most at the beginning, as the cinematography, editing and acting aren't that great. Once things get weird though it doesn't tend to matter as much, and the story and cheesy 80s-style effects carry it through the end. Not amazing but entertaining enough, especially by the 90s standards. 27. Singapore Sling (1990)  So I think what happens is that our noir-ish would-be protagonists, heart-broken over the disappearance of his girlfriend and complete with monotone voiceover, gets injured somehow and stumbles at the doorstep of a house inhabited by a mother and daughter (at least nominally). He's hit over the head and captured by the younger woman, yada yada yada, there's some rape and torture, and people get killed. I've seen this film described as arthouse grindhouse and that's a great way to quickly describe, as you'll probably like this one if you're into these genres. The cinematography is in beautiful dreamy B&W, over stylized sets and what appears to be intercut flashbacks and/or forwards result in a very surreal feeling that only the bizarre poo poo that happens now and then shocks you out of. If you ever needed further proof to the theory that anything is a dildo if you'r brave enough, this movie definitely delivers. I wouldn't say it's scary or even entertaining but it's certainly an interesting experience that I might revisit later to pay more attention to some of the details and try to make more sense out of it. 28. Santa Sangre (1989)  My first Jodorowsky movie other than Jodorowsky's Dune  The film starts with a traveling circus show that escalates into a ton of real life drama when a woman sees her husband cheat on her while hanging 10 meters in the air by her hair. One thing leads to another and people are attacked with acid and arms are cut off. Flash forward to years later, and the child of the couple escapes from a mental institution to join his now armless mother in their quest for revenge.Not being familiar with Jodorowsky's other work, I can't put this one in context, but apparently it's one of the more accessible movies and I had no problem at all following and engaging with the story, rather inconsistent aging of the characters aside. While Singapore Sling was an interesting experiment, I think that this film success much more at being an actual entertaining thriller/horror film while also reaching its artsy aspirations. The film looks great, the performances are good and it can be legitimately creepy and disturbing. 29. Brain Damage (1988)  A guy meets an escaped space alien brain parasite that injects some goo into the host's brain that gets them super high, but on the downside, needs to feed on other brains. Turns out the previous owners kept the parasite weak by feeding it only animal brains but our protagonist doesn't know that, or even that it takes over and murders people at first. Dunno if this is supposed to be "drugs are bad mkay" thing but it's fun as hell either way. The parasite can look a bit crappy sometimes but it's such a well put together movie for a low budget horror flick that keeps moving at a good pace and is super entertaining throughout. There are some tense scenes and great kills, it's funny at times so what more can you want from a low budget 80s movie? It's on youtube too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8blOSTg_yZY 30. The Hidden (1987)  Model citizens suddenly become extremely violent robbers and murders and we follow They clearly had a ton more budget to at least rent Ferraris and film chase scenes and other effects and it shows on the overall production values. It plays a bit more like a conventional thriller, but it certainly doesn't gently caress around as it opens with a bank robbery, goes into a chase scene with the aforementioned Ferrari set to a badass 80s rock soundtrack. It does waste a bit of time on some buddy cop stuff that probably wasn't really necessary and the ending is a bit cliched but overall it's still very fun and enjoyable sci-fi thriller. 31. From Beyond (1986)  The big cult classic for the finale! A mad scientist opens a portal to another dimension, gets his assistant into a mental institution and himself sucked into another world. A scientist is called in to evaluate whether the guy is legitimately crazy or is fit to stand trial. Logically, she decides to just recreate the experiment to see what really happened. Things don't go as planned. Apparently also based on a Lovecraft story. Well what can I say. It's simultaneously a ton of fun but I couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed by the end. It's one of the better written horror B-movies, the effect the monsters are appropriately sleazy and Barbara Crampton does a good job of playing both a scientist and a messed up S&M dominatrix. But just a little something is missing to get it to the Re-Animator level. Like with the S&M stuff - it's set up well in advance in the script, she gets all dressed up... and gets talked out of it. The ending is a rather conventional big fight too. But that said, it only suffers a bit when compared with Re-Animator, as it is, it's one of the most fun horror B-movies I've seen.
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Nov 1, 2017 22:05
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Sorry for the late turn in but I've been feeling sick today, and I watched my final film as part of last night's scream stream... 1. We Are The Flesh (2016) 2. The Void (2016) 3. Gerald's Game (2017) 4. A Cure For Wellness (2016) 5. Armynel (2012) 6. Beyond The Gates (2016) 7. Scream Girls (2008) 8. Residue (2017) 9. Sound (2016) 10. The Psychic (1977) 11. We go on (2016) 12. The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007) 13. A Dark Song (2016) 14. The Monster Project (2017) 15. Critters 3 16. The Mist (2007) 17, Reel Nightmare (2017) 18. The Burrowers 19. The ABCs of Death 2.5 (2016) 20. Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers (1988) 21. Inside Scarlett (2015) 22. Vault of Horror (1973) 23. Sinister (2012) 24. Spirits of the Dead (1968) 25. Campfire Tales (1997) 26. Noroi: The Curse (2005) 27. Voodoo (2015) 28. Another (2014) 29. The Uncanny (1977) 30. Koala Executive (2005) 31. Burial Ground (1981) 32. Cult of Chucky (2017) 33. The Thing on the Doorstep (2014) 34. The Mind's Eye (2015) 35. Freaks of Nature (2015) 36. Dr. Giggles (1992) 37. circuitry man (1990) 38. Shadow: Dead Riot 39. House on the Edge of the Park (1980) 40. The Prowler (1981) 41. The Burning (1981) 42. Raw (2016) 43. Grand Piano (2013) 44. Dead of Night (1945) 45. Chillerama (2012) 46. The Midnight Hour (1985) 47. The Collection (2012) 48. A Blade in the Dark 49. The Green Inferno (2013) 50. The Borderlands (2013) 51. Seasons of the Witch (2016) 52. The Godmonster of Indian Flats 53. Absurd (1981) 54. Axe (1974) 55. A Bay Of Blood (1971) 56. The Beast In Heat (1977) 57. The Ghastly Ones (1968) 58. Bloody Moon (1981) 59. Cannibal Man (1973) 60. Happy Death Day (2017) 61. Demon Hunter (1980) 62. Don't Go In The Woods Alone! (1981) 63. House on Straw Hill 64. Fight For Your Life (1977) 65. Toxic Zombies (1981) 66. Gestapo's Last Orgy (1977) 67. I Spit On Your Grave (1978) 68. Island of Death (1976) 69. Madhouse (1981) 70. Mardi Gras Massacre (1978) 71. Nightmares in a Damaged Brain (1981) #72. Doctor Terror's House of Horrors (1965) A group of gentlemen find themselves in a train carriage with an old man who reads their fortunes via the Tarot and finds each of them meeting an unhappy end... I'm of two minds about this Amicus anthology. On the one hand, it's Amicus, it's going to be worth watching, especially with the talent on board. On the other, this is one of their weaker entries. Like, there's a bunch of really interesting ideas started, but most of them don't even have endings at all, and just stop before we reach a denoument. That's just lazy writing, I'm sorry. And that's a big deal for me, so it really hurt itself this way. I give Doctor Terror (etc)  out of Five#73. Asylum (1971) A young doctor reports to an asylum for a new job only to find that the head doctor themselves has gone mad and is now a patient. The man now in charge tasks him with a challenge to prove his worth for the job: Go and interview the patients, both men and women, listening to the stories that found them locked up, and use his skills to determine which is the doctor. This one goes in the complete other direction from the previous Amicus joint. Instead we have very blah acting and corny stories buffeted by bonkers endings and fun special effects. Like, there's stuff I've NEVER seen in 70s anthologies going on in this one. It has to be seen to be believed. I give Asylum out of Five#74. Night of the Bloody Apes (1968) We open on a female Lucha Libre match wherein a throw goes wrong and one woman winds up with a fractured skull basically rendering her brain dead, and her opponent wracked with guilt, being consoled by her detective boyfriend. Meanwhile, the head doctor at the hospital's son is dying of leukemia, so he comes up with a plan that makes perfect sense: Kidnap a gorilla, and use it as a donor for a heart transplant, of course. This leads to his son turning into a half-man, half-ape that goes on rampages raping and killing across their small town. Luckily the doctor has a solution: Kidnap the brain dead woman and transplant HER heart into his son! Has he found a solution, or is he only making things worse?? Aaaand back to the Video Nasties I go. This is the only entry from Mexico on the list, but I'm sure the ACTUAL heart transplant footage had something to do with the inclusion. Besides that, the gore is pretty good for a 60s film. The thing about Mexican horror in my experience that's so weird is that the plot always seems to meander, and I mean meander, but somehow the actual scenes and acting feel vibrant and more alive in a way that's hard to describe. Like, I want to spend time with these characters, even if it's just going on a road trip (and boy do Mexican horror movies have lots of driving scenes). I always have a good time with these things, no matter how cheesy. I give Night of the Bloody Apes out of Five#75. Night of the Demon (1980) Not to be confused with the rad as hell Jacques Tournier film from the 50s, this movie sees a college professor and his class take a trip into the woods to investigate a string of brutal killings they suspect to be perpetrated at the hands of a Bigfoot! How many will survive this fateful trip?? While this basically apes (heh) the formula of the Boggy Creek films, it's a bit more mean spirited, with flashbacks to other kill stories every five minutes seemingly. And while the film is very bad, with dark, grainy camera work, and wooden absolutely terrible acting, it still gets high marks for its creativity. At one point Ol' Sass takes a camper by the sleeping bag and whirls it around his head helicopter style! The opening kill leading to the title card has the victim's blood fill up a bigfoot print on the ground! This film is the most interesting-boring film I've seen since Messiah Of Evil! I give Night of the Demon out of Five#76. Snuff (1975) There's a cult leader in South America who brainwashes women into doing his bidding, believing him to be the messiah. He sets up a big plan to have a famous Hollywood actress get with a guy one of his girls knows, so she gets pregnant, and then kills her, sacrificing the baby. This film is more notorious for it being an edit of an older movie, The Slaughter (1971), with at the very end a scene claiming to be the film crew actually killing a woman on camera. Obviously, the killing is fake. However, it drummed up a lot of controversy over the years, because the advertising claimed otherwise. The effects aren't bad either, the whole thing reminds me of the first couple Guinea Pig films. To be honest, the main movie itself isn't terrible. It's not great, but it's not bad, and is a VERY obvious dramatization of the Mansion Family killings, particularly that of Sharon Tate and co. Considering it wasn't long after that Slaughter was made, that's a pretty ballsy move. There's even one scene in the copy I watched where a whole scene in the middle of the movie is in black and white for no real reason like some 90s indie movie. I have no idea if this was intentional or a flaw in my copy. Regardless, this wasn't as bad as I had been expecting for years. I give Snuff out of Five#77. SS Experiment Love Camp (1976) This film is set at a concentration camp in WW2 exclusively for women who are turned into sex toys for the soldiers. As it stands, the head of the camp years ago suffered an injury to his testicles, and sets up a series of "experiments" where the hunkiest of the Nazis have sex with the prisoners, with the ulterior motive of pressganging the very best sex-haver into becoming a testicle-donor for himself. Yeah. This really is one of the tamer Nazisploitations out there, with only like, three torture scenes in the whole movie (yes that is very few for the genre). Mostly it feels like a weird sex movie, almost a comedy, because of its bizarre premise. Though I'm pretty sure that the reason it's on the list is, much like Night of the Bloody Apes above, it features very real surgery footage. Yup, you get to see a real live ball transplant on the screen! I give SS Experiment Love Camp out of Five#78. Dude Bro Party Massacre III (2015) We start out with the hero of the (non-existent) previous two movies, Brock, giving a recap about how a crazy horribly burnt cleaning lady went on a rampage two years ago, killing a huge swath of the brothers at Delta Bi Theta only to be killed by the then pledge himself. The next year, her daughter sought out revenge, wearing her cut off face and going by the name Motherface and killing more Delta Bi brothers left and right. Then immediately after this flashback, his therapist kills him. Cue Brock's twin brother Brent transfering to his Chico college to get to the bottom of his murder, pledging into Delta Bi himself. After (yet another) house prank causes deaths of hundreds, the crusty old dean (Nina Hartley!) suspends them all, and sends them off for the weekend to an abandoned old Sorority House by the lake (the lake itself being over a flooded town--another victim of a Delta prank), scheming with the local police chief (Patton Oswald!) to get rid of Delta Bi once and for all! Meanwhile, to everyone's surprise, Motherface has also returned to kill off Frat Bros yet again! Will Brent unmask the killer and avenge his brother, or will he too be part of the massacre?! Okay, this was a pretty good capper for the month for me. It's a silly satire of the Greek House killer subgenre of slashers, and it doesn't take itself too seriously, but it never actively winks at the camera, despite some times breaking the fourth wall. It made me laugh a bunch of times, especially with the way it lampooned the more sorority based sexy content by being full of unspoken homoeroticism (just count the amount of tanktops that get ripped off chests for example). Sometimes the humor is bizarre, but the entire time I was getting the jokes, so I'm glad to have finished on such a light note. I give Dude Bro Party Massacre III out of Five
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Nov 1, 2017 22:18
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drat, 70something was the number I was going for but I only made it to 57. I slowed down a bit at the end, which is typically how it goes.
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Nov 1, 2017 22:23
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Basebf555 posted:drat, 70something was the number I was going for but I only made it to 57. I slowed down a bit at the end, which is typically how it goes. I have an irl friend who also does this each year and she made it to 80 
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Nov 1, 2017 22:24
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I'm not really a ratings guy. I hope that's not that big a deal. I tried to break my movies down into tiers or something and I just couldn't make it work. I just tend to have really forgiving but equally critical views of movies so reducing it down always feels hard. Sorry. Best Movie: Ghostwatch or Hell House, LLC probably. Both genuinely scared me and were a little surprising in doing so. I think they're the only films of the month that did that which is why they stand out. May was another standout. Get Out was an obvious stand out although I wouldn't call it a classic or anything. Green Room was another one that got under my skin in a really serious way. And The Babysitter was a fun surprise. And even though I don't really count it since it was a rewatch As Above, So Below really did cement itself as one of my favorites this year. Most Disappointing Movie: Nightbreed was the biggest disappointment as I just found it to be a slog. 31 was very disappointing as I'm a Rob Zombie fan and that one just felt lazy and pointless. Others like Darklands, Shallow Grounds, and The Devil's Chair were just forgettable movies. Audition and The Stendhal Syndrome both made me uncomfortable in ways that I just didn't enjoy and wouldn't revisit again. All in all I think I got lucky and watched very few duds this year. Biggest Surprise: This has to go to the Chucky series. I just kind of had an idea in the back of my head to rewatch Child's Play and hit up the sequels as possible years to fill. As it turned out I don't think any of them qualified for new years but I just got into the series and remain surprised by that. There's just so much happening and the franchise changes itself up in genuinely interesting ways so often. The Curse/Cult "rebirth" was totally unexpected and I'm really glad I ended up seeing them. It was so weird and cool to see Chucky just end up in a gothic haunted house story and now I just want to see him pop up in other classic horror tropes. As it is I definitely will see any future Chucky movies just to see what the hell they get up to. Movies I'm Disappointed I Didn't Get To: From Beyond, Cronos, The Beyond, Hush, Raw, Creep, Jaws, The Eyes of My Mother, Martin. They're all movies I had on my radar and with one more week probably would have checked out, but I just ran out of time. Well, Cronos and From Beyond I just decided not to spend money on. I had Suspiria pegged as a big one but Amazon pulled it right at the start of October which sucked. I never did finish the Phantasm series or continue with the Friday the 13th series, but truthfully I just wasn't feeling them the way I was Chucky. I'll definitely finish Phantasm in time and revisit the Jason stuff. If it doesn't happen before then it will definitely be some of the basis of next year's list. My full list and all the other stuff was in my last post but I don't want to clog up the thread any more than I already have. STAC Goat fucked around with this message at 22:31 on Nov 1, 2017 |
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Nov 1, 2017 22:26
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I watched one new horror movie per year from now to 1986. I didn't give numeric ratings so sorry about that. 1. It Comes at Night (2017) 2. Don't Breathe (2016) 3. The VVitch (2015) 4. Goodnight Mommy/ Ich Seh, Ich Seh (2014) 5. Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) 6. Sinister (2012) 7. Sleep Tight / Mientras duermes (2011) 8. Let Me In (2010) 9. Thirst / Bakjwi (2009) 10. Martyrs (2008) 11. [REC] (2007) 12. Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006) 13. Noriko's Dinner Table / Noriko no shokutaku (2005) 14. Three... Extremes / Saam gaang yi (2004) 15. A Tale of Two Sisters / Janghwa, Hongryeon (2003) 16. The Eye /Gin gwai (2002) 17. The Others (2001) 18. The American Nightmare (2000) 19. Stir of Echoes (1999) 20. Biozombie (1998) 21. Cure (1997) 22. Thesis (1996) 23. The Addiction (1995) 24. In the Mouth of Madness (1994) 25. The Eight Immortals Restaurant: The Untold Story (1993) 26. Candyman (1992) 26. The Resurrected (1991) [oops did I miscount somewhere??] 27. Singapore Sling (1990) 28. Santa Sangre (1989) 29. Brain Damage (1988) 30. The Hidden (1987) 31. From Beyond (1986) Favorite: I always find it difficult to say, as there are different aspects that I like about different films/albums/bands etc. Since I have to pick one, I'd go with Martyrs. It's one of the few films that were truly, seriously disturbing and yet had an actual point other than pure shock value in itself. Least favorite: As I was only watching new movies, I mainly went by ratings or recommendations, and managed to avoid really everything really lovely. It's probably not the movie's fault but I didn't really engage with Tale of Two Sisters and kind of tuned out by the end and can barely remember anything as a result. I might've been just tired though so don't hold that against it Final thoughts: Even starting early I barely managed to make it, cramming 4 movies in the last two days, when I typically only watch hour long TV shows on workdays at most. I have no loving idea how some of you managed 70+  Still I appreciate the challenge and how it got me to see a ton of movies I would've never thought out otherwise. Most of them were good to great so can't complain there. I also gained a great appreciation for the range of movies that exists - you've got really tense and creepy thrillers, action-packed gore fests, low key terror and pretentious art films. On the other hand, watching so many in a row leaves little time to think about each individual one, so I think I might need to revisit a few of them soon.
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Nov 1, 2017 22:40
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mobby_6kl posted:Least favorite: As I was only watching new movies, I mainly went by ratings or recommendations, and managed to avoid really everything really lovely. It's probably not the movie's fault but I didn't really engage with Tale of Two Sisters and kind of tuned out by the end and can barely remember anything as a result. I might've been just tired though so don't hold that against it The US remake (The Uninvited (2009)) is MUCH worse with this issue FYI. To the point that it took me far too long into it to realize I was watching a remake in the first place, because I just didn't care.
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Nov 1, 2017 23:33
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Amusingly The Uninvited was just some random horror I had recorded on my DVR to maybe watch some time. It spent a few months on my DVR before I deleted it for space well before October. But then when I was reading about A Tale of Two Sisters (which I liked but definitely think it had some dreamlike tone problems that sometimes made it hard to follow or fully engage with) I recognized it as a bad remake. Now I'm mildly curious to seek it out just to see how bad it was.
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Nov 1, 2017 23:38
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My summary post: 31 films, not counting the Scream Stream films. 1. Monster Squad 2. A Dark Song 3. Deathgasm 4. The Devil's Candy 5. Ghoulies 6. Pumpkinhead 7. Society 8. The Gate 9. Leviathan 10. From Beyond 11. Don't Kill It 12. The Houses October Built 13. The Reaping 14. Rawhead Rex 15. Raw 16. The Burrowers 17. Ghostwatch 18. Residue 19. Freaked 20. Tucker and Dale vs. Evil 21. Harbinger Down 22. Midnight Meat Train 23. The Howling 24. Residue (miniseries) 25. Hell House, LLC 26. The Dark 27. Found Footage 3D (2D version) 28.The Alchemist Cookbook 29. Grave Encounters 30. Detention 31. Basket Case Standouts: Residue was a surprisingly good Lovecraft pastiche, especially for its budget. It's in this category because it exceeded low expectations. A Dark Song just oozed atmosphere and occult menace. I'm surprised it hasn't gotten more buzz elsewhere. Worst: The Reaping - I doubt anyone who has seen the movie can even remember what it's about, beyond a few generalities. So very tedious. Closing Remarks: The October Challenge got me to watch some new things I'd never seen and to rewatch some things I'd read about in the horror thread, making all of these films seem at least a bit novel. On top of the Scream Stream films, this was a lot of time in front of the tv, but it cast October in a nice halloweeny light and gave me an escape from some personal things that cropped up just before the challenge began. I'll look forward to next year, and perhaps planning some films in advance.
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Nov 1, 2017 23:43
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a foolish pianist posted:
That is correct. Couldn't tell you anything that wasn't in the trailer.
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Nov 1, 2017 23:44
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I've seen the Reaping more than once and could totally tell you the plot of the movie but every time I've read a post like that and felt compelled to defend it I lose all interest before I'm finished typing the po... But yeah, I dig religious horror stuff so I think I gave the Reaping a few chances to change my mind but its just sort of a lot of whatever.
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Nov 1, 2017 23:46
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I definitely watched more than 31 horror for October but I got bored with the yearly pick because it became really difficult in the 90s and I only had Shudder and Amazon. So that was a terrible idea.
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Nov 2, 2017 00:34
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Final tally. All movies were previously unseen and have been graded on a five-star scale: 1. They Look Like People **** 2. The Awakening *** 3. Gerald's Game **** 4. Little Evil *** 5. The Wicker Man **** 6. Demons ** 7. Creep *** 8. Splinter *** 9. Halloween **** 10. Halloween 2 *** 11. Tourist Trap * 12. The Lure **** 13. As Above, So Below *** 14. Phantasm *** Was going for fifteen originally but real world obligations and Super Mario Odyssey conspired to limit me to fourteen. No five-star finds this year, unfortunately. Favorite: Probably Halloween. I'm not in love with it like some people, but it gets the nod based solely on the score and camerawork. Gerald's Game puts up a pretty good fight for second place, and might've taken the top prize if the final act was a little better. Least Favorite: Tourist Trap by a goddamn country mile. What a pointless, dull, artless thing that is. Biggest Surprise: The Wicker Man. I was totally caught off-guard by the fact that this movie is essentially a very horny musical. It was a very pleasant surprise. I only regret not watching it back to back with The Lure, which is another very horny musical.
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Nov 2, 2017 01:43
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I just watched Army of Darkness, one of the most immensely watchable movies ever made. Magnanimously good. Watched the International version which I hadn't seen before, on the recent blu-ray. Like a middleground between the US theatrical version and the director's cut, with the S-Mart scene. I dig it! Gotta be pound for pound the most slam dunks in one-liner history. Great Scott, it's November!
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Nov 2, 2017 02:26
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I had a really busy month so I didn't have time to watch anything outside of the Scream Stream. I didn't even get to rewatch Coraline! But on the plus side, almost everything in the Scream Stream was new to me, so I still get a decent list. The Vault of Horror Probably one of Amicus' best, and with one of the better framing devices. Some really funny and memorable endings for each of the shorts. Just campy enough to be fun. 3.5/5 ABCs of Death 2 I'd never watched a film in this series, and I'm told this is the best one. With so many short films included, unevenness is expected, but the interesting, creepy, funny and memorable ones definitely outweigh the duds. There's some really hosed up poo poo in there. 4/5 Spirits of the Dead This movie has 3 shorts based on Poe stories, and honestly the first one is bad. It has some interesting shots, some neat ideas, and Jane Fonda wearing next to nothing, but it's a confusingly edited dull mess. That said, the second and third features are so loving strong that it remains one of my favorite things I watched this year. I really want to see more things directed by Louis Malle. 4/5 Campfire Tales This movie's painfully 90s in the worst ways, unimaginative, poorly directed, self-serious, and creeps on a child. Everyone in it feels like they're completely phoning in their performance, to boot. The only thing to recommend it is Ron Livingston screaming to no one in particular "I JUST HAD REALLY GREAT SEX". Skip it. 1/5 Trick 'r Treat From the writer and director of Krampus, this modern anthology captures the spirit of Halloween really well. It's a bit mean-spirited, and it suffers a bit from some Modern Horror Movie tropes and bad cinematography, but overall this is a very fun film by someone who clearly loves the season of Halloween and horror movies. 3.5/5 The Uncanny House cats that kill people. On a shoestring budget. That's all you need to know. Peter Cushing does his best to sell this absurd concept. This movie's fun in the dumbest possible way.  3/5 Kwaidan Holy poo poo. Unlike a lot of anthologies, every segment in this 3 hour film is directed by the same man, Masaki Kobayashi. With a very strange directorial approach that mixes theater-like sets and costuming with modern editing and cinematography, this movie is a dreamlike masterpiece. The second tale probably drags on longer than it needs to, especially since the 3rd tale is by far the most entrancing one, but that's a very small mark against a unique and memorable masterpiece. I'm very intrigued to see more work by this director. 4.5/5 Tales from the Darkside: The Movie Often dubbed the secret Creepshow 3, this anthology featuring work from Romero and King has a fun enough framing device and interesting second and third shorts, but is dragged down by an honestly amateurish first segment, which has terrible writing, costuming, sets, and effects, and pretty mediocre acting despite the best efforts of a young Steve Buscemi. When your creature looks worse than the average Are You Afraid of the Dark episode's monster, you need to get back to the drawing board. 3/5 Dead of Night For a movie made in the 40s, this one doesn't skimp on the terror. The movie starts off a bit slow, and the first two segments are somewhat tame, but the creativity, terror and nightmarish imagery soon picks up. This film has one of the strongest framing devices I've seen in an anthology, which makes sense since it was perhaps the very first horror movie to use the anthology format. Highly recommended. 4.5/5 Chillerama Bad. Gave up on this one partway through. If you love Troma, you might get something out of this immature gross-out tribute to their work. But probably not. 1/5 Tales of Terror Edgar Allan Poe, Vincent Price, Peter Lorre. Need I say more? Very good performances carry this obviously low-budget affair. Vincent Price is the narrator and plays a character in every segment, and that alone makes it a must-see. 4/5 Body Bags This abortive TV series turned TV movie got a blu-ray release a few years ago, and it definitely benefits from the wider aspect ratio. You'd never guess this was meant for TV. John Carpenter just oozes sleazy charisma as the host of this anthology, and while 2 of the 3 segments don't tell very original tales, the acting and directing is very solid in all 3 of them. The middle segment is very creepy and has some wonderful stop-motion effects. I would love to live in the alternate universe where AMC actually went ahead with this show. 4/5 Tales from the Hood Spike Lee presents a horror anthology about racism and socioeconomic issues affecting black Americans. Oh, and killer dolls. Great host, great segments, clever social commentary. It'll probably disappoint people who see the title and poster and expect some kind of blaxploitation camp fest, but to anyone who actually wants to watch a good horror movie that addresses a lot of injustices minorities still face in the US, you should really seek this out. 4/5 Cat's Eye Kitty cat! This movie's framing device is an adorable stray cat who somehow gets involved in each of the tales, and is the central character of the third one. The first segment is mediocre, the second is decent, and the third one is incredible. General Sebastian, the cat protagonist, is a remarkable actor as far as screen animals go, and I do hope he wasn't too mistreated during filming to get some of his reactions. The film does lightly break the fourth wall at one point to reassure us they didn't actually set a cat loose in traffic. Keep an eye out for the many references hidden throughout the film! 3.5/5 The House That Dripped Blood Despite Cushing and Lee's best efforts, this 4-part anthology is not Amicus' strongest. The titular house never even drips any blood, and the ending to the framing device feels pulled out of the writer's butt. Still a fun enough watch. 3/5 Black Sabbath(italian cut) Very stylish film that freely adapts the works of Anton Chekhov, Aleksei Tolstoy and Guy de Maupassant. A mini-Giallo, a creepy vampire tale, and a spooky dead lady. Karloff kills it as the vampire in the second tale. There's not much to say about this movie other than that it's really good and that it features a lot of very beautiful women. 3.5/5 Twice Told Tales Another All-price anthology, this one isn't quite as strong as Tales of Terror. Adapting the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne, it features a lot of scenes where characters make sure we remember the premise of each segment. The last tale in particular feels meandering and much longer than it needs to be. The highlight is seeing Price and Sebastian Cabot have a good natured conversation over drinks. These masterful actors inject a warmth and humanity in even the most mundane dialogue that makes it captivating. 3/5 Torture Garden One of the least appropriately named Amicus anthologies, features no garden and no torture. Each segment is certainly creative, although the framing device is a bit confusing and questionable. The typical Amicus cheapness started to wear a bit thin for me at this point in the Scream Stream, but at least the performances in this one are above average. Always great to see the Cush. 3/5 From a Whisper to a Scream (aka The Offspring) Price's last horror performance was as a librarian in this film's framing device. The loose thread connecting each segment is that weird violent poo poo happens in this town. Price later said he regretted working in this film, and it's obvious that the first segment, featuring creepy attempted rape and necrophilia, is the reason why. Even though I consider the payoff of an undead baby taking revenge on his father worth it (zombaby!), it's a very sleazy and weirdly edited segment that, at the very least, should not have been the foot the film leads with. The other 3 segments all feel like slightly lower budget episodes of Tales from the Crypt. They all have that peculiar 80s grime to them. Some interesting practical effects and fun twists, as well as an appearance by a very confused Cameron Mitchell. 3/5 From Beyond the Grave This film's framing device features Peter Cushing as the mysterious owner of an antique shop, who sells cursed items to the protagonists of each segment. Which makes the title of the film completely inappropriate, in typical Amicus style. Definitely one of the higher budget Amicus productions (though that isn't saying much), it has some truly bizarre tales and some neat, if cheap, effects. I'm obviously running out of things to say about these Amicus anthologies, because despite not repeating their tales, they all feel very similar. I did learn that British folk loving love seances. 3/5 Necronomicon (aka Necronomicon: Book of the Dead)(1993) What in god's name is this movie? Adapting the works of HP Lovecraft and featuring the main himself as the protagonist of the framing device, the stories take a lot of liberties, to say the least. This film has a very strange tone, going from slightly dull to sleazy to comedic to completely bonkers at the drop of a hat. The practical effects in this film are top notch, accentuated by very bizarre and colorful lighting that brings to mind Schumacher's Batman films (if they weren't terrible). The only way I can describe this movie is "a hell of a ride". 4/5 Dr. Terror's House of Horrors There's no character named Dr. Terrror and this movie takes place in a train.  This is the first and worst of the Amicus anthologies, and while it has a lot of interesting moments, surprisingly good effects and decent performances, it also suffers from a truly infuriating problem: Each segment just stops abruptly. There's no proper ending to any of the stories, and it's both frustrating and disorienting. To cap it off, the wraparound features a completely nonsensical twist. Even Lee and Cushing can't save this one.2.5/5 Asylum Oh Amicus, why won't you leave me be? At least this one is set is an asylum. The framing device is set up as a mystery this time, where a young doctor hoping to be hired by the asylum must determine which of 4 patients is the former head of psychiatry, who recently suffered a breakdown and manifested a new personality, complete with false history. I have to give the movie points for the insane direction this framing device goes in. 3/5 Dude Bro Party Massacre III I'm always worried when a comedy group I like attempts a film. Space Cop, Miss March and other horrific flops by modern sketch celebrities have left me pretty wary, and horror comedy is already a bit of a double edged sword. Thankfully, this film knows exactly what it is. Opening with a flashback to the non-existent parts 1 and 2 (essentially a montage of completely absurd violence and gratuitous breasts), this movie uses a typical slasher premise (a female serial killer stalking a fraternity) to hang a bunch of dumb jokes on it. Despite often veering into absurdity, the humor never detracts from the through line, which means the film manages to remain mostly coherent, something a lot of comedies by sketch groups have trouble with. Even though this film is 4 parts comedy and 1 part horror, the actual kills are executed fairly well with fun practical effects, and the killer (Motherface) has some great Freddy-style one-liners. The movie is also completely unsubtle about turning slasher movie tropes on its head, as along with making the killer a woman and the victim young college boys, it's full of unsubtle beefcake shots and homoerotic overtones (that while played for laughs, are never homophobic). This movie is very stupid. but it's also quite funny and a fun ride overall. 4/5 Total New Movies Watched: 24 Best Overall Kwaidan, probably. It's really long and slow moving, but it's completely gorgeous. Oichi the Earless is one of the best things I've ever seen in my life. Worst Overall Chillerama. If it wasn't for the creep shots of the 12 year old, Campfire Tales would just be another forgettable 90s horror movie, and I've seen tons of those. Chillerama actually made me angry watching it, though. There's nothing more painful than an unfunny comedy, and that's exactly what Chillerama is. Biggest Surprise Dead of Night is really good and creative. Of course I've seen many great movies from the black and white era, but even the best Universal monster movies just aren't scary by modern standards. Dead of Night gave me genuine chills, something that's really rare for such a horror veteran as myself. Final Thoughts Amicus is best in small doses.
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Nov 2, 2017 03:44
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Coraline! That's another one I never got around to. Again. I've owned that DVD for years.
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Nov 2, 2017 03:52
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