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I'm in for 62 this year. Gonna try and set a new record for myself. I was in for the Horror challenge earlier this year, in...May? But had to drop out of that due to sudden emergency gallbladder surgery knocking me out of commission for a while, so it's time to make up for that. I'm gonna kick things off tonight and follow my usual plan of "Random stuff that catches my eyes." But this time, with Shudder! Been getting into the spirit of thing by watching Castle Rock for the past couple of days. I like it a lot - tons of fun and King Easter eggs. Only about halfway through, but I'm impressed so far. Several Goblins fucked around with this message at 20:39 on Sep 25, 2018 |
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Sep 15, 2018 00:28
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No goal, just gonna watch a poo poo ton of movies and hopefully my terrible half-assed reviews don't bug people too much. Starting this poo poo off with a rewatch...
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Sep 15, 2018 00:40
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Choco1980 posted:The Gamera movies are worth a watch. The 60s/70s "Showa" run are insane in all sorts of ways. The Heisei trilogy from the 90s is some of the best kaiju cinema of all time (made by the same guy who made GMK later). I can't speak for the 00s Gamera movie as I've not seen it. Sweet, thanks for the recommendations! I'm excited to look into these. I definitely agree that the 90s Gamera trilogy is some of the best kaiju content out there. I haven't watched any of the earlier ones so if I get through my current list they're probably good ones to add. Do you have any thoughts on the Rodan and Mothra (60s or 90s) stand-alone films?
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Sep 15, 2018 01:28
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I’ll be in, going for 31 first time watched between now and October 31. Well, hopefully by October 26 because RDR2 may be occupying most of my spare time by then. I’ve been getting some rewatches done over the past few weeks and only have a few left before I start on new content.
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Sep 15, 2018 02:19
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 1. Strait-Jacket-1964: 8/10 (Rewatch) William Castle directs and Joan Crawford tears up all the scenery. It's honestly pretty fun, it maybe could be more fun considering it is about some axe murders (and no one wields an axe like Joan) and some parts really drag, mostly when they concentrate on Joan's daughter and fiance and his family (although the fiance's father telling his wife that drinking some milk would help her relax made me laugh). We also get George Kennedy and some rather obvious Pepsi schilling.
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Sep 15, 2018 02:24
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Goals: 31 movies. Finish off the top 50 of They Shoot Zombie. 10 foreign language movies. 3 movies from 7 different decades.
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Sep 15, 2018 02:50
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I've put together a list of 90s horror that I had not watched yet. I was thinking about a theme and realized that outside the obvious choices, I wasn't as familiar with 90s horror as I would like. My goal is to watch as many as possible, at least 15, 31 ideally.
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Sep 15, 2018 02:59
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Filmstruck Horror. Watch House and be sure to pick Filmstruck + Criterion when you sign up. Gutting the library is not worth saving $4.
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Sep 15, 2018 03:25
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UltimoDragonQuest posted:Filmstruck Horror. Watch House and be sure to pick Filmstruck + Criterion when you sign up. Gutting the library is not worth saving $4. This is awesome, thank you. Going in the infodump post
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Sep 15, 2018 03:29
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I just checked out the staff picks and saw someone suggested Spookies. This is a perfect time for you all to read The Strange Saga of Spookies. https://thedissolve.com/features/oral-history/788-the-strange-saga-of-spookies/ Also Franchescanado do you need assistance with the Hulu horror list? I can knock out a letterboxd list pretty quick.
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Sep 15, 2018 03:57
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Woohoo! Last year I took the "31 years in 31 days" challenge Hollis put on and nailed it. And I absolutely loved it. It took me out of my comfort zone for movies and forced me to watch stiff I never would have if I hadn't had to fill a year. And I've always told myself to watch more movies from other decades that I missed as I'm really kind of shallow in a lot of ways and have a lot of glaring absences in what I've seen. So it just seems perfect to keep the ball rolling and do Another 31 Years In 31 Days. Last year was 2017 to 1987, so this year is 1986 to 1956. And boy are there some glaring missing classics. I did some searching on the streaming services and here's my tentative list as of right now. 1986: Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (Shudder) 1985: Demons (Hoopla/Shudder) 1984: C.H.U.D. (Shudder) 1983: Sleepaway Camp (Shudder) 1982: Tenebre (Shudder) 1981: The Beyond (DVD/Amazon/Kanopy); Possession (DVD) 1980: Prom Night (Amazon) 1979: Nosferatu the Vampyre (Shudder) 1978: Martin (DVD) 1977: Suspiria (Hoopla) 1976: Alice Sweet Alice (Amazon) 1975: Jaws (DVD) 1974: Texas Chainsaw Massacre (DVD) 1973: Don’t Look Now (Kanopy); The Wicker Man (Shudder); Season of the Witch (Amazon) 1972: Wicker Man (Shudder) 1971: The House That Dripped Blood (Shudder) 1970: I Drink Your Blood (Shudder); 1969: The Oblong Box 1968: Kuroneko (Kanopy) 1967: Spider Baby (Amazon); 1966: Dracula: Prince of Darkness (DVD) 1965: Fists in the Pocket (Kanopy); 1964: Blood and Black Lace (Shudder); 1963: The Birds (Starz) 1962: Carnival of Souls (Amazon) 1961: The Innocents 1960: Little Shop of Horrors (Amazon/DVD) 1959: The House on Haunted Hill (Amazon) 1958: The Blob (Kanopy); 1957: 1956: The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Kanopy) That's gonna change as we go because I like to be organic and I might discover other stuff as I go. Especially in the 50s-60s as I had limited options but I assume I'll get more on my DVR from TCM and AMC come October. But those are the movies that jumped out to be as such obvious classics and cult classics I've never seen. Its got me pretty excited to finally fill a lot of embarrassing holes. I mean, I haven't seen Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Or House on Haunted Hill? Or Jaws? Who hasn't seen Jaws? It feels wrong to me to be starting my count in September. October is my Halloween month and the marathon has been my Halloween tradition way before i got involved in this forum and thread. But I think I'm gonna watch some of the more modern movies I want to see as a warmup. Ones that don't fit into the '86-'56 timeframe and aren't absolute MUST watches I want to save for October. The bubble movies that have been on my list for years but I never get around to. They won't count towards my official total but they'll be in the mix. But I have some non-horror I have to get off my DVR first so it doesn't fill up when I'm not watching anything but horror (and sports) in October.
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Sep 15, 2018 04:11
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Untrustable posted:Also Franchescanado do you need assistance with the Hulu horror list? I can knock out a letterboxd list pretty quick. Please! That would be great
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Sep 15, 2018 04:13
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STAC Goat posted:Woohoo! If you can’t find anything else for 1957, both I was a teenage Frankenstein and I Was a Teenage Werewolf are on YouTube.
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Sep 15, 2018 04:23
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Franchescanado posted:Please! That would be great Starting now. I'll post the list when finished.
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Sep 15, 2018 04:28
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UltimoDragonQuest posted:Filmstruck Horror. Watch House and be sure to pick Filmstruck + Criterion when you sign up. Gutting the library is not worth saving $4. Oh good. I was looking for some place to watch Kuroneko.
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Sep 15, 2018 04:37
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 1)Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (1920) We're all familiar with the story of Jekyll and Hyde especially since most of us were assigned to read the book in school at some point. This is my first time watching the 1920's movie after seeing tons of pictures of it in Famous Monsters. The 1920's movie isn't so much based on the book but the theatrical adaptation. In this take of the story, Dr. Jekyll is young and goodly to the point he's practically regarded as a saint in the flesh. He's kinda-sorta engaged to Millicent, the sheltered daughter of Sir George Carewe who pretty much partied it up in his youth and now rips on Jekyll for not living it up while he's young. This along with Jekyll getting all frisky when he meets Gina, the Italian dance hall girl is what motivates him to make the potion that turns him into Hyde because as much as a goodly person he is, he got horny and wants to party up without repercussions. Naturally, no good's going to come of this. Here's where the story tends to date itself which is expected as the book's from 1886. Nothing Hyde does aside from the trampling of the child really stands out as depraved debauchery by today's standards. Assholish, yeah. Dickish, yeah. But nothing I haven't seen going down Central Avenue on a Friday night. Jekyll comes across odd in that he runs the free clinic in the poor side of town and really has no personal life. Not sure what it says about our modern society in that we'd probably be more suspicious of someone like Dr. Jekyll than we would of a Mr. Hyde. Well, despite Jekyll remembering all the stuff Hyde gets up to, he still keeps on taking the potion until he's changing without it. Sir George witnesses this and gets killed for it. Eventually people finally start catching on there's something more between Jekyll and Hyde and go to confront Jekyll about it. When Millicent is close to discovering Jekyll is Hyde, he poisons himself and it's said that Hyde killed Dr. Jekyll. All in all, this was worth it to watch from a historical perspective. John Barrymore hams it up to such scene chewing glory the only other actor I've seen pull off this level is Avery Brooks. Also of note is this is Nita Naldi's first role. On a sad note is Martha Mansfield who plays Millicent passed away four years later while filming Warrens of Virginia when her elaborate period costume caught fire resulting in terminal 3rd degree burns.  2)The Golem: How He Came into the World (1920) The main plot of The Golem is fairly straightforward. Set in medieval Prague, the ghetto's Rabbi predicts a wave of persecution for his people, which back then was pretty much any day ending in 'y'. The Rabbi decides to craft the Golem to defend his people with the help of his assistant. There is a side plot of one of the Holy Roman Empire's knights, Florian getting involved with the Rabbi's daughter which we all know already that no good's going to come from this especially with the Rabbi's assistant already giving her the eye. The Golem's originally given simple tasks like helping around the Rabbi's house. My favorite part here is the Golem going into town armed with shopping basket and list just bulling into a store for some grocery shopping. I can only imagine how that sort of thing would play out Wal-Mart. Probably have them open up more than two registers. The Emperor invites the Rabbi to court during the Rose Festival to show off his magic and the Golem gets brought along and earns quite a few 'how you doin'?' gazes from the ladies at court. During this time, Florian arranges to go hook up with the Rabbi's daughter since no one's going to be around. Maybe it's me, but considering the Rabbi's known to be able to perform real magic, if I was Emperor I wouldn't be so quick to want to tick off anyone capable of this sort of thing much less give them reason to get upset at me. Anyway, it's during a display of magic where the court was advised to be silent which naturally they don't manage and the palace begins to fall apart around them. As the Golem manages to save them all, the Emperor grants protection to the people of the ghetto. While everyone's celebrating not getting evicted from the city, the Golem starts acting odd. Turns out during his creation process and invoking the spirit Astaroth, there's an eventual condition/clause that Astaroth will take control of the Golem and wreck havoc. As a precaution, the Golem's deactivated. Naturally this doesn't last as Florian is caught in the Rabbi's daughter's bed by the apprentice who activates the Golem with Astaroth Inside with the end result being Florian gets chucked off the topmost point of the Rabbi's house and the house set on fire. Astaroth gets dispelled out of the Golem who goes back to being chill, then later deactivated by a child he picks up. The deactivated Golem gets carried off by the people in the ghetto as the film ends. This is another film worth seeing for it's historic value. I've sat through it a few times and still can't stop staring at the big old gap in Florian's teeth. From the design of the Golem, it's obvious that it influenced later films such as Karloff's Frankenstein. While there were three Golem films, only the 1920 one remains with the other two, The Golem (1915) and The Golem and the Dancing Girl (1917) are considered lost with some rumors of copies potentially existing in an archive somewhere. For those who've never sat through a pre-Hayes Code film before, they might be surprised at seeing Florian and the Rabbi's daughter in bed together since before the code, all sorts of content we're used to seeing in modern films were happening way back then.
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Sep 15, 2018 05:04
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Here is a curated list of Hulu Horror. Just remember: if this is the stuff I put in, imagine what I left out. https://boxd.it/230Q2
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Sep 15, 2018 05:36
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1- Winchester Pretty mediocre, but it’s saved by some good performances. Helen Mirren is of course great as Lady Winchester, who has been behaving very erratically and keeping men working around the clock on her mansion, creating empty rooms, doors that don’t open, and stairs to nowhere, and Jason Clarke (who I’m seeing in more and more stuff and finding very dependable) is the psychiatrist sent out to evaluate her. I’d say the biggest problem with this film is that it doesn’t know what it wants to be. It’s partially a character piece about Lady Winchester, part giant haunting film, part vengeful ghost story, but it never really settles down and picks what it wants to focus on. It looks very good though, what story there is isn’t awful, and the two leads as I mentioned are both really good in their parts, so it’s not a total waste of time but not something I’ll ever watch again. 2- The Blackcoat’s Daughter This was very good. I’d heard good things about it but didn’t really know what it was about, and I’d recommend going in fairly blind; this one goes in some interesting directions. I really loved the pacing of it, too; it’s very much a slow burn, but it feeds you just enough twists and hosed up bits to keep you engaged. This one I recommended for sure.
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Sep 15, 2018 05:38
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CopywrightMMXI posted:If you can’t find anything else for 1957, both I was a teenage Frankenstein and I Was a Teenage Werewolf are on YouTube. Appreciated. I wasn't finding many options for that year.
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Sep 15, 2018 06:16
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Well, I no longer have to feel great shame about not having seen this one. 1. Godzilla (1954) What a wonderful movie. I found it technically impressive, with wonderful special effects (that honestly age pretty well due to being b/w and night scenes), chilling sound effects, good camera work and a brilliant soundtrack. This was one of the more scary Godzilla films with some scenes that must have been extremely shocking for post-war Japan. I went in thinking that it would have a straight up nuclear technology is bad message, which is present, but I left with a more complex, ambiguous take on the benefits and dangers of powerful science. Godzilla is an important film that laid the blueprint for nearly every monster movie to follow. e: thought seeing all the posters was neat, added one CRAYON fucked around with this message at 17:48 on Sep 15, 2018 |
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Sep 15, 2018 06:40
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Evolution (2015) 1/31 Directed by: Lucile Hadzihalilovic  A distressingly wet film. As a piece of body horror, there's something to be appreciated about the subtle ways in which the body horror manifests, though I'm not sure it ever quite clicked for me. The cinematography/production design is drat great and adds immensely to the uncomfortable vibes this movie exudes. If you're looking for something with quietly unnerving Shadow Over Innsmouth vibes, you'll find things to like here.
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Sep 15, 2018 08:43
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CopywrightMMXI posted:If you can’t find anything else for 1957, both I was a teenage Frankenstein and I Was a Teenage Werewolf are on YouTube. Night of the Demon is 1957. It also happens to be pretty much the best horror movie of the 1950s. Jedit fucked around with this message at 09:40 on Sep 15, 2018 |
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Sep 15, 2018 09:38
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1. Mandy Everyone has been gushing with praise about this and it's definitely deserved. Nicolas Cage turns in a fantastic performance. The music is amazing. Visually I think I like it more than the directors prior film. I would say that people expecting something incredibly explosive they may be a bit disappointed. The film definitely has some gret fights sequence but it does take a bit before thing start happening. Only thing I'd say is that Richard Brake was not in the film enough. Oh he opening quote is from a executed criminal Douglas Roberts.  / 5
Hollismason fucked around with this message at 15:55 on Sep 15, 2018 |
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Sep 15, 2018 14:12
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1. The Beyond (1981) I'm a little surprised it took me this long to see The Beyond. It's got all the themes that are up my alley. The zombies in the movie were great and many of the later scenes reminded me of playing Resident Evil back in the day, even down to the groaning and movement. The occult elements were also pretty intriguing for me. The only thing that really fell flat was the score. The music during many of the horror scenes just didn't feel like it matched what I was watching most of the time. Overall though this was really great and a good way to open my challenge viewing. 3 1/2 out of 5
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Sep 15, 2018 14:52
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Gonna try to be in for 31. I'll probably watch that many, but I kind of hate writing and feel really bad at it, so we'll see how many write-ups I do.
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Sep 15, 2018 15:48
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1. Hellraiser (1987) Since my renewed interest in horror came from rewatching Lord of Illusions, I figured I'd check out Clive Barker's directorial debut. Overall, I enjoyed it a lot! The special effects and makeup were top notch and the movie was incredibly well realized for a first-time director. I just wish Clare Higgins's performance as Julia was a little more human. I understand it from a character perspective, but it made for some really strange interactions with the rest of the cast, especially her family. I'm excited to follow this up with the sequel.
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Sep 15, 2018 15:55
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 HERE WE GO 1. The Blob (1988, Chuck Russell) Now THIS is how to do a remake. Retain everything that was good about the original and expand on it in fun and interesting ways. I like the original, but this one beats it by a country mile. We still get all of the trappings of the classic alien monster feature: the small town, the old man discovering something weird in the woods, the teenagers that nobody believes. Only now we also get: an abundance of spectacular practical goo and gore effects, more developed characters, and a government conspiracy. I can't stress enough how wonderful the effects are. I know it's trite to harp on CGI, but seeing the humongous blob oozing its way through a crowded movie theater and not seeing a drop of computer effects fills me with glee. And unlike the original, this film doesn't shy away from showing the grisly effects of people being consumed by the monster. These are some seriously gnarly makeup effects. I let out an audible laugh when the girl in the car had her face get sucked into itself. These are effects that Stuart Gordon or Frank Hennenlotter would be proud of. Something else I admire about this is how unpredictable it is in terms of which characters are going to die. Nobody's safe in this movie. Not the handsome jock that seems like he's going to be the main character, not the local sheriff with a crush on the lady working at the diner, not the lady working at the diner, hell not even children. This is pretty much the perfect movie of its type.    (4.5 hosed up blob victims out of 5)
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Sep 15, 2018 16:46
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Jedit posted:Night of the Demon is 1957. It also happens to be pretty much the best horror movie of the 1950s. Yeah, if you haven’t seen it, Night of the Demon ought to be on the list. It crushes.
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Sep 15, 2018 16:55
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2. Prom Night (1980) Rolling along with another movie that at this point I can't believe I hadn't seen yet. The first thing I can praise about Prom Night are the characters. The characters I'm supposed to feel something for and like or effective. It makes the slow going of the first hour really pay off because I'm invested in these characters that thrust into mortal peril but also rooting for a few more to get maybe get what's coming to them. The kills and action are visceral and produce some great tension. Something that stood out to me is that you could strip away a few things in Prom Night and just make it a teen drama with the same setting. For the most part that's what it feels like before people start getting picked off. 4 out of 5. This is on my list any time good slasher movies.
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Sep 15, 2018 17:14
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1/31 The original Halloween is a masterpiece of simplicity. The score is a basic 1970s synth library and a piano made over three days. The killer's costume is nothing but a white mask and a boilersuit and he never speaks a single word. There are only a few kills, none with any particular blood or gore. But the inherent creepiness of The Shape as he stalks Haddonfield serves to underscore what many regard as the first "true" slasher featuring all of the stereotypical components. Halloween II was not originally planned to exist, and I think in some ways you can tell. While some mention how it picks up literally right where the first film left off, it actually picks up before the ending with Laurie telling the kids to run for help and being attacked by Michael Myers one last time. They went so far as to refilm parts of the ending to retcon Michael's escape. The general intention of Halloween II seems to be "the same but more". The score has the same basic structure, but performed entirely on a synthesizer and more deeply layered and tweaked. While the first film had only 4 murders (three of which were actually on-screen), the second kills off 3 people in the first 13 minutes and amps up the blood. Characters display incredible stupidity in order to be murdered, such as the teenage girl who reacts to finding her door open while alone at night by dropping her phone mid-conversation and repeating "Who is it?" while slowly walking through her house before getting stabbed in the throat. Blood is even added unnecessarily, such as a child in the hospital with a razor blade stuck in his mouth from tainted candy who never once has a bearing on the plot. The budget is increased by over a million dollars to allow multiple massive, fiery explosions, including one that comes out of nowhere so hilariously that it feels like something from a Troma parody. There are also changes to Myers' motivation, which makes for some confusion compared to his prior film. Laurie is suddenly revealed to be Michael's long lost sister, supposedly explaining why he came to Haddonfield (as opposed to originally returning home on the 15th anniversary of his first murder). This leads to Michael alternately taking and ignoring opportune targets in favor of pursuing Laurie. It doesn't make much sense, especially for a film that still wants a high body count that requires Michael to go out of his way to kill others. Had Michael simply followed his supposed target to the hospital and killed her like we're told he intended, the film would have been over in 30, maybe 45 minutes. Instead he begins slowly and methodically killing the entire hospital staff first over most of the film's runtime, delaying long enough for Loomis to adventure all around Haddonfield before finally making it to save the day. You can't capture lightning in a bottle twice. Simply repeating the first film with a bigger budget, more kills, and more blood eliminates the simplicity and originality that marked the Halloween. The result is a film for excitable teenagers on a night out that does little to inspire fear or excitement in anyone looking for more than a few kills. Released in 1981, what would have been fresh in 1978 is already old hat. A sequel must innovate in order to be anything more than a cash grab, and Halloween II makes clear exactly what its intentions are. chitoryu12 fucked around with this message at 17:56 on Sep 15, 2018 |
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Sep 15, 2018 17:33
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You all are off to a hell of a start, great movies and great reviews so far. Reading first impressions of movies like Hellraiser and The Blob are what I wait all year for.
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Sep 15, 2018 17:42
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There’s no way with my schedule that I’m going to be able to watch 31 movies this month. However, I who need to practice writing, so I will pledge to do a write-up for every horror movie I see this month.
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Sep 15, 2018 18:01
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Jedit posted:Night of the Demon is 1957. It also happens to be pretty much the best horror movie of the 1950s. Friends Are Evil posted:Yeah, if you haven’t seen it, Night of the Demon ought to be on the list. It crushes. Ohh, thanks. This definitely seems more up my alley.
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Sep 15, 2018 18:14
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 2. Godzilla Raids Again (1955) This was kind of a mess. It felt rushed and not nearly as well constructed as the first film. The battles were a rather small portion of the overall runtime, and that isn't a bad thing when the human element is executed well. This was unfortunately not the case as we were presented with a weirdly paced tale with which I had a hard time connecting. The most interesting part was getting to see the first attempt at Godzilla fighting another monster, Anguirus. The fight scenes had little impact or punch, other than when Godzilla bites the neck of Anguirus and he lets out a series of shrieks which made me feel sad for the spiky monster. This fight caused city wide destruction, but the main characters just party in a bar afterwards and joke about one of their impending marriages. Disappointing movie that I probably would have liked more if I hadn't watched it directly after the original. Anguirus is sweet though.
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Sep 15, 2018 18:17
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So I'm going for at least 5 films from each decade, beginning with the 1930s through the 2010s. Hopefully the total will be in the 50-60 range, because I'll be watching more than 5 from some of my favorite decades. Only managed to squeeze one in last night, but a great place to start,  Frankenstein(1931) I grew up with Frankenstein in my DNA, without really even knowing it. My father had grown up with it, some of my favorite movies had been heavily influenced by it, and Karloff of course was an iconic figure in my mind long before I'd ever actually seen the film. Frankenstein's lab, the lightning, the sunken eyes of the monster, the windmill, it all feels like ingrained cultural knowledge that I've always had in me. Around my house growing up, Karloff and Lugosi were Gods. I watched a 20 minute documentary on Karloff that was on the same disc(I have the Universal Monsters blu ray set), and it was very interesting to learn some things about his career at the time of his casting in Frankenstein. I didn't realize how old he was, that he was in his 40s and already a bit of a journeyman actor who's career didn't seem destined for greatness. It actually gave me some interesting info on my next selection, The Old Dark House, which turned out to be Karloff's followup to the huge hit that was Frankenstein. Universal saw an opportunity to make him into a movie star and their marketing machine went into overdrive. So today I'm watching The Old Dark House, and then of course following that up with Bride of Frankenstein. Total: Frankenstein(1931)
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Sep 15, 2018 18:53
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I'm unabashedly nostalgic for the AMC Monster Fests during the late 90s (particularly the giant monster/kaiju one in 1999). Eventually I lost interest in their annual marathons as they morphed into "Fear Fests" and began to play total trash. An example I'll never forget is Pinata: Survival Island (2002). Did SyFy gift AMC the syndication rights? Anyway, in recent years I decided to start my own Monster Fest, with a bunch of leniency in what I can include. So here's me double dipping - I'll participate in this thread because I'm doing it anyway. Not sure about a 31 move total but who knows. This has been low key weekend and I'm off to a solid start: Phenomena (1985) - No harm in beginning with a weird loving movie that no one ever talks about. The Iron Maiden soundtrack is a baffling choice and causes the movie to come across as selling itself short. Why? The movie's tone whenever the band isn't playing has an eerie ambiance, like The Shining in the Alps, and it is very effective. A soundtrack like this would be great for a movie without much craft, to distract and inject cheese into a void (hey that reminds me... a Maximum Overdrive watch might be fun) - I do not know who wrote this movie (was it only Dario Argento?) but it is so convoluted that I couldn't help but think of movies written by a committee that end up with so many ideas crammed in that it is a mess. Not saying Transformers: The Last Knight is comparable, only saying why is there insect telepathy, a serial killer, a lonely scientist with a chimpanzee, and a deformed child all in one film? - Must admit this is my first Dario Argento movie, and I'm intrigued. You might see Inferno and Suspiria reviews at some point. The Relic (1997) - This is straight up bad. Even Stan Winston's monster is uninteresting and moves around stiff, jerkily, it anatomically makes no sense and is disproportionate, not buying it at all. I couldn't tell if much CGI was used, which I usually appreciate, but this seemed dated by at least a decade. - This is the Jurassic Park era so the existence of this science-gone-awry movie makes total sense, but what is with the insertion of supernatural themes? They are at odds with each other. The creature is simultaneously an evolutionary, once-occurring aberration but also a legendary beast that tribes knew about? Makes no sense. And how sentient was it? This isn't explored but hinted at, as it tauntingly licks one of its would-be victims. - At least the two main leads (whatever did happen to Penelope Ann Miller?) did not have a cliche love story. Tom Sizemore is a cool actor IMO.
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Sep 15, 2018 18:57
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I'm in for at least 31, probably closer to 50 but we'll see how the month goes. I don't have any real plan, which is why I will probably end up with a lot of roller coaster double features like this! 1. Mandy (2018)  A man seeks revenge on a cult after they abduct his wife. Nicolas Cage is incredible, and this is Cage at his finest crazy. I know that the Suspiria remake is coming later this year, but this is probably more like the original than that remake is. Lurid and overwhelming colors and music. It's great! I watched this on VOD and now I want to go and see it again in the theater. /52. The Row (2018)  Riley is attending college and pledging to a sorority on the row, as you do when you're a hot girl in college. Meanwhile her cop dad is inadvertently shooting another cop and facing an internal investigation. Why? I guess so he's only slightly involved in the investigation of girls getting killed and having body parts removed. It doesn't matter please don't watch this. It's all pretty sorority girls having pool parties and then getting murdered off-screen. It's over-edited, with far too many party scenes that are just cut-cut-cut-cut a-party-is-happening-but-i-can't-follow-it nonsense. Plus, the actual whodunit is so predictable it hurts. 0.5/5 graventy fucked around with this message at 19:16 on Sep 15, 2018 |
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Sep 15, 2018 19:13
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 Nightbreed: The Director's Cut 2/31 Directed by: Clive Barker Charming in its own way, but it's a bit of a mess and a let down from Hellraiser. I get what Clive Barker was trying to go for, and I'm sure more of his vision shines through here than it did on the theatrical release. It still kinda feels like Little Monsters with gore effects. David Cronenberg is a surprisingly effective villain and maybe my favorite bit of the film. At times, it almost seems like Nightbreed was an excuse for Clive to hang out with him (which in Barker's defense, was probably hella tight).
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Sep 15, 2018 19:18
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Unfortunately as a director I don't think Barker ever realized that potential he showed with Hellraiser. I agree that Nightbreed is over-ambitious and a bit of a mess.
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Sep 15, 2018 19:28
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| # ? May 2, 2024 05:18 |
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Goal: 34 movies Dates: September 30th - November 1st but only counting Sept. 30 through Oct. 31 as the November day is just a cool off lap after the marathon. Details: Still going through a long term internet outage with a company disinterested in fixing the problem. No streaming. Want to watch the unseen movies from our DVD and Blu-ray shelves which include one South Korean and one Chinese film purchased after reading posts in last year's Horrorfest thread. The friend I had been saving A Cure for Wellness to see with won't be stateside anytime soon so just gonna watch it. Also going to place a couple movie orders on Amazon with my next couple paychecks. Want also to pick at least two goon suggestions as these threads tend to turn me on to some cool stuff. My Blu-ray copy of November came in while I was camping. I was sold by the .gifs posted in the horror thread. And House of Wax was a good movie, if I remember correctly. Had been wanting some new Vincent Price so that'll be it! Probably a Blu-ray with the 1933 and 1953 versions included. As has become tradition, we will be hosting a projector triple feature in the yard the weekend before Halloween. One family has autistic children attached to Nightmare Before Christmas so, despite my opinion that it is a Christmas film, it will be first up. If they tap out of the event, I'm replacing it with Coraline. Second feature will be The Blob (1958) as obligatory monster flick. Then a short which will be part III of Trilogy of Terror if my pre-order arrives on time. Third feature to be Fido that I may introduce new people to what is becoming a seasonal family favorite. Homemade beef stew, pies, homemade brandied whipped cream, bread bowls, growler from the local brewpub, hot mulled cider over a campfire, rum to spike cups of cider, and chips as has become the traditional menu. May add hotdogs if any fussy eaters attend. Possibly. Going to do several iterations of new vs. remake during the month, as well. The Blob, House on Haunted Hill, The Fly, Body Snatchers. A friend and his Siberian wife aren't much into horror. Plan to make them sit through November. Selling it as a black and white film regarding Estonian folklore should gets butts on the couch. My son is a fan of the Halloween franchise. I will be ordering the first three with my next check to catch up as I've never actually watched one through. Then we will head to town and see the new one when it hits the theater. And, yes, I know the third film is unrelated. My Daughter loves Phantasm. Her birthday present last year was a set of the movies. We'll work through those, of course. If not, she'll kill me as it's been effort for her to save then for the season. And thanks for the thread title! Reminds me to keep an eye out for a hard copy of the first Demons film.
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Sep 15, 2018 19:50
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