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For first time viewing I would suggest watching the theatrical cut if possible. Well I can never resist a good horror challenge thread. But I can't count this one for the total so maybe I'll come up with a demon/possession movie that I haven't seen to substitute for it.
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Jan 1, 2019 19:35
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Lurdiak posted:'Tis on Prime. Maybe in Canada. Here it's $3 though for an HD rental so yea if you haven't seen The Exorcist it's worth spending $3.
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Jan 1, 2019 19:50
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https://letterboxd.com/basebf555/list/january-horror-watchlist/ Here's the list I'll be working from when I need something to fill in for one of the official selections.
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Jan 2, 2019 05:10
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 Night of the Demons As far as classic 80's horror goes, this might've been the biggest one still out there that I'd somehow missed. And I can certainly see why it's a beloved cult film. Right from the opening credits I could tell I was going to like it, that animation is probably a great mood setter during Halloween season. Then you've got a pretty big role for Linnea Quigley, some impressively convincing special effects, and a nice cast of characters similar to(but not as good as) Return of the Living Dead. The first third of movies like this with the character intros and all the pieces kinda coming together before the poo poo hits the fan is actually pretty crucial for me. If you can make that stuff entertaining then it's probably a winner and that's what happened here. My only criticism is that it kinda lost steam at the end, as the group gets whittled down and there's only a few left. But I'll definitely be revisiting it in future Octobers, and the version available on Shudder/Prime is very good quality. My plan for the rest of the month is to keep these reviews short and very casual, and I expect to get up to around 15-20 films by the end.
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Jan 2, 2019 15:37
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I think the marketing made it clear that The Birds would eventually attack. But Hitchcock was going for a different kind of suspense than in Psycho. The Birds is about knowing what's going to happen but not exactly when or where. There are a lot of shots in it that I think would have to be said to have been an influence on It Follows, because the first half of the movie had a lot of ominous birds in the background. Sometimes the characters take note of them, sometimes not, but Hitchcock of course makes sure that the audience notices. Psycho's marketing was more subtle I guess, it seemed to be more focused on the hotel, like "something really bad goes down here at this hotel but you have to see the movie to find out!" Then the movie itself goes on for a pretty long time before Norman is introduced so its easy to forget that the movie you're watching is even called Psycho(or I imagine it would've been if you saw it before it was so iconic). The Birds is a little more clear about it's intentions early on.
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Jan 2, 2019 19:17
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I have to agree that The Birds is not one of Hitchcock's best, even though it's often brought up in those terms. I guess it would look a lot different on anyone else's filmography, but with Hitchcock I have a hard time putting it in his top-10. Like Fran said, Vertigo and Psycho blow it out of the water. So do Rear Window, North by Northwest, and The Trouble With Harry. Really, I can't think of very many Hitchcock films that I don't prefer over The Birds. But yea it says something about Hitchcock that even with all that taken into consideration, The Birds is still essential viewing for any horror fan. There's a solid argument to be made that Hitchcock is THE best filmmaker who ever lived.
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Jan 3, 2019 14:55
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As always with Hitchcock though, the scenes that land are extremely harrowing and memorable. Tippi Hedren getting completely mauled by the birds in the house towards the end really is extremely effective, although Hedren certainly suffered for it, by all accounts that was not a fun scene to shoot.
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Jan 3, 2019 15:16
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If you like weird offbeat Hitchcock romances definitely check out The Trouble With Harry. Two people find love and get together by bonding over the disposal of the corpse of the woman's husband. Preferably watch the most recent restoration, which is absolutely jaw dropping and was shot in VistaVision. Top 10 Hitchock List: 1. Vertigo 2. Psycho 3. Rear Window 4. The Trouble With Harry 5. North by Northwest 6. Rebecca 7. Foreign Correspondent 8. The Man Who Knew Too Much 9. To Catch A Thief 10. Rope I haven't seen Spellbound or Notorious, two films that a lot of people probably would have in their top10. Basebf555 fucked around with this message at 16:32 on Jan 3, 2019 |
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Jan 3, 2019 16:12
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drat I'm 0 for 3 so far, I just recently saw Audition in October. I think it's another one that might be divisive, it's going to be a little too slow and methodical for some. Should make for interesting discussion.
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Jan 3, 2019 16:34
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I considered watching The Burbs last night as a substitute for The Birds because it gave me a chuckle but I decided against it.
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Jan 3, 2019 16:44
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Windows 98 posted:Audition is definitely more in line with what I watch, I am sure I am going to love it. Miike is fantastic. I loved Imprint and Ichi The Killer was mostly great even with the out dated CGI and even if it looks like its edited to be a 90s music video. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts because in some ways Audition is not what you'd expect from Miike depending on what else you've seen of his work before now.
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Jan 3, 2019 18:27
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I had no idea anyone else was gonna do Henry + Angst but I did exactly the same thing. Watching Henry for the first time in a few years, this newer transfer is pretty "great". I use the quotes because in this case great means gross. The movie is just that much grimier and more disgusting than ever before. Specifically Otis, he has to be one of the most nauseating characters ever put to film. Angst I'd never seen before, and it definitely has its moments that are just as disturbing as Henry. Erwin Leder is an animal in this film, it's actually a somewhat different type of killer than these movies typically portray but brutally realistic. The voiceover narration helps drive home the message that this man is singularly focused, which makes him scarier. Not for the faint of heart and definitely one to add to the list of movies that I'd be very very careful about recommending, it's still well made and probably deserves more recognition. 1. Night of the Demons 2. Angst
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Jan 6, 2019 18:18
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I've seen every selection so far 
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Jan 7, 2019 16:18
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I've never seen I Walked With A Zombie, so it wasn't my write-up. I'd have included that in my list but I haven't seen it available on any of the streaming services I use.
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Jan 8, 2019 19:44
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Class3KillStorm posted:Is there a post or a doc or anything that lists out what all of the films that have been assigned already were, so if people want to play catch-up they can quickly see where they left off? Or is this more of a free-form thing, not a "everyone watch this one movie today together" thing? You're definitely allowed to catch up and watch movies at your own pace throughout the month. So far we've had: The Exorcist The Birds Audition Sleepaway Camp Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer Let the Right One In Dawn of the Dead Frankenstein +Bride
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Jan 8, 2019 22:20
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STAC Goat posted:Both films are available on Starz if you have it. Any one of us could get hit by a bus crossing the street tomorrow. Watch Bride of Frankenstein.
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Jan 8, 2019 22:22
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STAC Goat posted:I mean, I was leaning towards "it could get pulled off the streaming service by October." But yeah, your version works too. Bride of Frankenstein is worth whatever price you might need to pay to see it, but you can't pay any price if you're DEAD.
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Jan 8, 2019 22:28
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Yes! Looking forward to this one, I meant to watch it this past October.
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Jan 9, 2019 18:14
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married but discreet posted:I saw The Burbs during the last horror challenge and really wouldn't count it as a horror essential. It's a perfectly fine and enjoyable comedy with a charismatic cast and capable director but the horror is toothless and the satire severely undercut by the cowardly ending. Probably Lurdiak throwing me a bone because nothing from my list had been selected yet. But...  I really enjoyed The Burbs! True, it's more thriller than horror if you just read a plot synopsis, but I think Dante brings enough spooky atmosphere to the movie to tip it into horror territory. It's definitely a horror comedy though, and the cast is excellent for that. Hanks is predictably great(he's so perfect for roles like this), but I had a few pleasant surprises when I saw that Bruce Dern and Carrie Fisher were in the movie. The resolution is pretty predictable, I'll give you that, but I think as an overall package it was too funny and entertaining for me to care.  Watched: Night of the Demons, Angst, The Burbs
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Jan 10, 2019 02:44
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I feel like Feldman was playing like some trickster god in this movie actually. He seemed like he always knew what was gonna happen in advance and was kinda just enjoying the proceedings in that way that old gods are often portrayed. Plus he gets the fourth wall breaking moment at the end.
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Jan 10, 2019 17:53
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chitoryu12 posted:This is another one I've seen. I wonder what to replace it with... I'd recommend The Company of Wolves, which is available on Prime.
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Jan 10, 2019 21:36
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Thread is slowing down, lets watch some movies this weekend! I'm planning on several replacements that I have ready for some of the selections I had already seen: Sure, maybe Captain Kronos isn't "essential" but it seemed like a pretty funny movie to substitute for Let the Right One In. Shows how varied the vampire subgenre can be.
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Jan 11, 2019 15:35
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Hollismason posted:Don't even loving talk to me if you haven't seen Candyman Watch some classics you haven't seen yet doofus
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Jan 11, 2019 21:28
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 Alice, Sweet Alice The creep factor in this movie is extremely high. One of the more interesting and compelling "creepy child" films I've seen, Alice Sweet Alice is basically an American giallo made in 1976, right in between Black Christmas and Halloween. So I think you'd have to call it a groundbreaking film, one of those forerunners that helped kick off the slasher boom of the 80s but not one of the chosen few that so often gets the credit. The violence in the movie is pretty gritty and disturbing, I imagine the opening murder especially would've been controversial in 1976. The mask used by the killer is really great, which is another reason why I'm not sure how the movie wasn't more popular in it's time. The reveal of the killer is maybe a bit unsatisfying, but all the more reason why someone else could've been substituted in there for a few sequels. I'll be looking to buy this at some point, because the version on Prime is pretty shoddy. Watchable, but I'd really be interested to see what the film would look like with a legit blu ray transfer.
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Jan 12, 2019 15:29
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 Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter Maybe stretching the definition of "essential" just a bit, this movie is definitely essential for any Hammer fan. Do you want to see a Hammer film where the main character is basically a hybrid of Van Helsing and Leone's Man With No Name? Well, you should. You should want that. The lead actor is no Eastwood of course, but still, in this movie people basically have quickdraw duels with swords. It's also a pretty fresh take on the vampire, this one is more of a succubus or something that steals it's victim's youth(similar to Lifeforce). It's a perfect setup for a whole run of sequels which sadly never happened, although it looks like several comic book adaptations have been made including one as recent as 2017. Well worth the $4 rental because the list of classic Hammer that I haven't seen yet is getting short. This is one of those lesser known Hammer flicks that I'd love to see show up one day in that huge comprehensive box set that we always fantasize about in the horror thread.
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Jan 13, 2019 14:56
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 White Zombie Looking into this film in more detail, it was actually made a few years earlier than I'd thought, 1932, only a year after Lugosi became popular for playing Dracula. Reading the wiki page, there appears to be some confusion as to why Lugosi would opt to appear in a low budget movie like this so soon after Dracula, but given the way he was typecast his entire post-Dracula career, I imagine the offerings weren't all that varied. In White Zombie Lugosi plays a very Draculaesque character, only instead of vampire thrawls he has an army of zombies. I was pleasantly surprised by how openly the topic of zombies are discussed and shown on-screen, for 1932 I wasn't expecting the idea of the zombie to be as clearly defined and fleshed out. I mean, you've got zombies being shot point blank and walking it off, zombies being led to the edge of cliffs causing them to walk off like lemmings, these are zombies that really wouldn't be out of place at all in a modern zombie film. And they're referred to as zombies throughout, no hesitation whatsoever about using the z word. The budget was so low that they filmed White Zombie on the Universal lot at night, and actually I think it gives the movie a look that really works. It's very shadowed at all times, all scenes feel like they take place either at dusk or the middle of the night, and everything feels very cold somehow despite taking place in Haiti. A great example of budgetary restrictions creating decisions that end up being a perfect fit for the subject matter. There are three versions of the film on Prime, so check each one out to make sure it's the best one available. White Zombie is also only a little over an hour long, so it's not much of a time commitment for how interesting a piece of history it is in the context of the zombie mythos. Watched: Night of the Demons, Angst, Alice Sweet Alice, Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter, White Zombie
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Jan 14, 2019 16:25
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Am I completely in the minority for thinking that the Karloff makeup is actually an upgrade in Bride? I know I've heard that a lot as like the one token criticism people throw out against Bride, that Karloff's makeup job isn't as good but I've always felt the opposite.
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Jan 15, 2019 20:02
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STAC Goat posted:I don’t even know what to make of Dr. Pretorius. It feels like Whale just wanted to make a film about him and instead worked him into a Frankenstein sequel. He’s amazing and I could watch a million films about him. Like, at no point did I expect the Frankenstein sequel to have this crazy dude who gets wasted in crypts after arranging skeleton center pieces and has a hobby of growing Lilliputians. Sure, sure. Lets do a spinoff of him and Minnie. That’s the next Universal franchise, right? I think you could argue that Pretorius was just as influential as a character as Dr. Frankenstein was, Cushing's Dr. Frankenstein seems to have taken so much from it and overall the modern idea of the "mad scientist" is really more of a combination of the two. His presence is such a genius move but also a risky one, I mean how many times have we seen a sequel where it feels like they shoehorned new characters into the story unsuccessfully? STAC Goat posted:I’m gonna say I like the Frankenstein makeup more here but I think a lot of that is Whale’s better directing and the gradual progression of burns and stuff that the Monster picks up through the two films. Overall Karloff's just given a whole new task in this film. Instead of subtle, silent mannerisms and reactions which he did a great job with he's a more nuanced Monster showing more and learning more. And really, a great job and a very deserving 1-2 punch of why he's so celebrated and beloved. I think for me it's his hairline that I like a lot more in Bride. Gone are the awkward looking bangs and they're replaced with like bare scalp that's been pulled up and stapled to the sides of his head or something. More effectively "monster" imo, but then I guess the more awkward innocent look of the original had it's own purpose too.
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Jan 16, 2019 14:58
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Gonna watch a classic tonight I just haven't decided what it'll be yet. With the exception of The Burbs I haven't been able to count any of the official selections yet. I can't remember if it's come up in here yet, or just the general Horror thread, but a great choice for anyone looking for a underseen classic is The Changeling, which was just added to Shudder this month. One of the best atmospheric spooky ghost stories ever, and starring George C. Scott who is always excellent.
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Jan 17, 2019 17:36
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I.....thought I'd seen The Haunting but it seems like I actually haven't? I must've been confusing it for something else. Oh well, gives me something to watch tonight! Gonna rent it from the Playstation store
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Jan 17, 2019 20:53
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 The Haunting(1963) Wow, this is a stunning film, absolutely beautiful to look at from start to finish. Within 10 minutes I knew the Hill House set was going to be one of my all-time favorites, it's just so packed with all kinds of textures and patterns but at the same time always elegant, never too busy. Obviously the lighting is a big part of that though, I think The Haunting would have to be considered one of the most excellently lit horror films ever made, up there with Cat People, Suspiria and all the rest. Having seen the recent Netflix t.v. show it was fun to see a few of those characters show up here with some of the same traits, but in the end the stories are very different. Here the focus is much more on the Nell character, and her struggles to fight against the influence of the house, rather than just using her as the spark that kicks off the plot for the others. I wouldn't call the movie scary necessarily, but there is certainly a feeling of increasing dread as you start to understand what the house wants and how it is going about accomplishing that goal. Really though the visuals are 90% of what I'd recommend about this film and I felt like I could've watched this completely without any sound and still enjoyed the hell out of it.   
Basebf555 fucked around with this message at 15:19 on Jan 18, 2019 |
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Jan 18, 2019 15:14
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 Pet Sematary Two Well that's a dumb name for a sequel, gotta use either Roman numerals or "Part X" in my opinion. I'd seen the original but never gave Pet Sematary Two a chance, probably because of Furlong. Well, Furlong is not great here but he's also given a lot of help to keep things entertaining. Namely:  Nobody told me this movie has a batshit Clancy Brown stomping around as like a proto-Edgar from Men in Black? Totally makes the entire movie and probably one of the most drastic improvements I can think of that were made to a film just with one single bit of casting. It goes from what would've been a forgettable piece of trash to something extremely watchable and even recommendable. The movie is actually quite gory too, which I didn't expect but it was a welcome addition and I thought the amped up violence fit the tone perfectly. Is it essential? No, I would never make that argument. Is it a solid followup that I'd recommend to b-horror fans? Yea, it's got enough going for it that its going to fall solidly in the middle of the pack as far as under the radar, borderline D-TV horror sequels go. Watched: Night of the Demons, Angst, Alice Sweet Alice, Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter, White Zombie, The Haunting, Pet Sematary Two
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Jan 21, 2019 15:44
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This is my favorite behind the scenes video about Dracula: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_smVQFEMops&t=7s I think it really shows what Coppola was going for and you can't say he didn't pull it off. It won the Oscar for costume design for a reason.
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Jan 22, 2019 04:32
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Lurdiak posted:Doesnt that mean you have Blade 3 and Van Helsing? We don't speak of Blade 3 around here. A badge of shame that Dominic Purcell will never get rid of.
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Jan 22, 2019 19:05
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Lurdiak posted:Van Helsing is so close to being a fun dumb movie instead of a fun bad movie, and their terrible Dracula is a big part of the problem. I don't have much of an issue with him(he's more blah to me than actively bad), I think the script is the problem there. It starts strong and ends strong but for a Sommers action blockbuster it really meanders in the middle. This is a pretty common criticism that I have about a lot of genre films but it needed to be about 20 minutes shorter, 131 minutes is too long for a dumb fun action flick unless it's just perfectly streamlined and edited.
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Jan 22, 2019 19:16
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Let me also throw out The Burning as a very solid substitute for anyone who has seen the Friday the 13th series and wants to watch something similar. I'd love to see an alternate universe where Cropsey ended up being the big mainstream hit slasher and Friday the 13th became a one-off cult film.
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Jan 23, 2019 19:55
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Henry is able to project a facade of vulnerability that he draws people in with. Otis is just a disgusting oaf who also happens to be a murderer but obviously the movie makes the point that Henry is much more dangerous.
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Jan 24, 2019 03:35
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STAC Goat posted:I don’t know if this is an “essential” in the broad sense of the thread, but it very much felt like an essential for my own viewing as its just one of those films I’ve kind of gone through life as a horror fan somehow never seeing and always meaning to. It was even intended for my October marathon before I ended up replacing it with The Beyond for 1981. So I’m glad I saw it and the werewolf subgenre is so shallow compared to some of the other horror sub genres and the Howling seems like a major part of that. Matter of fact it looks like all the sequels are on Prime along with Ginger Snaps, Dog Soldiers, and a bunch of others I haven’t seen like Company of Wolves and Late Phases so I might make February a werewolf month. Apparently Prime got werewolf crazy lately. Yea all four of those are top tier werewolf movies, and all very different too so they'd make a great marathon. The most "essential" are probably Ginger Snaps and Company of Wolves, but I'm sure plenty of people would go to bat for Dog Soldiers as essential too.
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Jan 25, 2019 14:52
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Hollismason posted:Dog Soldiers is legit one of the best werewolf films ever made. It's also a great "hey, it's that guy!" movie, there's like 5 different "that guy"s in it that most people would probably recognize or find familiar.
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Jan 25, 2019 15:01
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married but discreet posted:What about Dog Soldiers tho? If you want to make Dig Soldiers: Werewolves vs. Grabboids, go ahead and do it we'd all be there opening night I'm sure.
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Jan 25, 2019 15:04
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