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For how much of a nightmare quarantine lockdown's been and continues to be, there is not enough words to say to describe how much I've looked forward to this and how it's lifting my spirits. My October 2020 Criteria 1) Watch two films a day minimum, no maximum. We're watching movies until eyes bleed! 2) No films I've already reviewed in past October or May challenges. 3) Do all Franchallenges. Now the hard part's waiting until the 27th. edit to add #3, didn't think it needed to be said but might as well. M_Sinistrari fucked around with this message at 23:55 on Sep 25, 2020 |
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Sep 25, 2020 21:28
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 1) Sparrows - 1926 - Youtube When I first saw Sparrows way back when, I'd already seen some silent films. Phantom of the Opera, a really bad edit of Metropolis, a ton of Keystone Cops shorts, and some Keaton and Chaplin. Sparrows was my introduction to the concept that silent era films could deal with seriously unsettling stuff. The movie's main setting is a baby farm in the middle of a swamp chock full of alligators and deep sucking mud pits. For those not familiar with the concept of baby farms, they were an alternative to orphanages. For a lump sum an unwanted infant or child would be taken in and cared for in what was presumed to be a better environment than the orphanage. The actuality was the children ended up in rampant neglect and malnutrition as the baby farmers found it more profitable to collect the money and murder the children or sell them off to whomever. Notorious baby farmer Amelia Dyer was believed to've murdered over 400 babies and children she'd taken in and told the police that they'd know the ones she'd done by the white tape she strangled them with before dumping them in the Thames wrapped up in parcel paper. Baby farms still exist today, and while not quite the murder factories of before, they are connected with human trafficking. The baby farm in Sparrows is pretty much par with the children being neglected and on a starvation diet while being forced to work Mr. Grimes' potato farm. If they misbehave, they're drowned in mud pits. Mary Pickford plays Molly, the eldest of the children who tries to be acting mother to the younger ones. Acquaintances of Grimes come to the farm with a kidnapped baby they're ransoming off, but when the kidnapping makes headline news, Grimes decides to drown the baby in the swamp. Molly fights him off with a pitchfork and when he decides she needs to go to the swamp too, she takes the kids and leads them on a tense escape through the swamp. The ending's upbeat but after everything that's happened in the film, a downer ending would have everyone a wreck. This early example of Southern Gothic horror was Pickford's only entry into the subgenre. This was also the film that perked my interest in Hollywood/film history as Pickford was the producer on the film and the fact there were women producers back in the '20s blew my mind. My mind would be blown further learning of how many women directors and screenwriters were around back then.
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Sep 27, 2020 14:19
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gey muckle mowser posted:whoa total surprise who the first two reviews would come from I know it sounds silly, but I get a bit nervous being first post out the gate.
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Sep 27, 2020 14:52
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Spatulater bro! posted:What was your count last year? I think it was 100-something. I'd have to go digging for the thread to be exact.
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Sep 27, 2020 17:00
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 2) Cabinet of Dr. Caligari - 1920 - DVD I could've sworn I did this one before, but apparently not. For how much this film's been analyzed to Hell and back several times over, I'm not sure what I can add to all that. This film has been so influential, I can't imagine what films would look like if this one hadn't been made. Equally, I can't imagine this film not being made because of the state of the world post-World War I. It's been said by many, including Roger Ebert that this is the first horror film. That is wrong and those insisting it should sit in silence and contemplate the depths of their wrongness. The wraparound of the film was a change made by the director who wanted to keep the film more dreamlike. The writers hated it since they wanted to keep it more real horror. I don't see why it can't be both. Maybe it's a me thing or just the volume of horror films I've sat through, but even with the wraparound, Caligari's line of being able to cure Francis sounds pretty ominous. It leads me to the interpretation that the events with Cesare happened but Francis and Jane went insane from them and ended up in Caligari's asylum. The copy I sat through's not the best but what I've seen of the 4K release, it looks glorious. There's probably rips of it up on Youtube. I consider this one of the must see films if one has any interest in movies.  3) Hunchback of Notre Dame - 1923 - Youtube I'd seen the 1939 one with Charles Laughton first so I'm a bit partial to that one. It's been ages since I read the book. I can't speak on the four film adaptations before this one as I've not seen them and am not sure if they're considered lost like so many films of the silent era, but going from what synopsis' I've come across, it doesn't look like there's been any faithful adaptation of the original novel. Storyline's similar enough to the ones of the films to follow. Chaney's makeup is iconic and he pretty much carries the film on his shoulders. He did end up with some lifelong health issues from the makeups he used to pull off Quasimodo's look. I did like this one, but I do like the Laughton one just that skosh more.
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Sep 27, 2020 17:27
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 4) Fall of the House of Usher - 1929 - Youtube House of Usher was never one of my favorite Poe works. Not sure why since I'd read the story before I learned of the relative of mine who was buried alive way back when. Going from what I remember of the story, this adaptation is substantially trimmed down but it does make it up in setting and ambiance. Some of the scene shots would make lovely desktops.  Le Diable Au Couvent - 1899 This one's just over three minutes but it is a very packed three minutes. Not even needing storycards, it's a concise well paced plot. Storyline is a devil comes out of the baptismal fount, masquerades as the priest, scares a group of nuns coming to service, calls up a variety of demons and devils while transforming the church into something with more of a diabolic aesthetic and start partying it up. I'm pretty sure one of the devil kids is flipping the camera off. The arrival of holy spirits manages to clear out the devilparty, but not the devil who started it all. Attempts by others to shoo him out fail until St. Michael gets involved. I enjoyed this one a lot and it makes me wonder in I had more enjoyment of this three minute film than I've had in some two hour+ epics on how much one can do with so little. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozGOB67V4lc  The Haunted Castle - 1896 Best I've been able to research, this is the first horror film. It's little over three minutes and is concise with it's plot. Essentially a couple soldiers are exploring a castle and have to deal with an assortment of specters, witches, and other horrors. To our jaded horror sensibilities, this isn't scary by any stretch. I've coughed up scarier stuff than this film. But to the audiences then, the camera effects probably had them fainting in the aisles. I did have to chuckle at the appearance of the devil since it came across like he'd been told last minute that Azazel called in sick so he's got to cover a 3pm haunting and ends up winging it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPmKaz3Quzo
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Sep 27, 2020 20:49
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 The Merry Frolics of Satan - 1906 Mostly a variant telling of Faust. An engineer working on developing high speed global travel is approached by an alchemist who sells him a trinket that can make this happen. Turns out the alchemist is Satan so we know this isn't going to end well. The engineer goes home and uses the trinket which manifests a trunk that servants in livery pop out and pull out another trunk until there's several trunks and servants who promptly pack up everything in the house including the engineer, his family and his assistant and turns the trunks into a a high speed train. There's an accident on a bridge which kills the engineer's family, but he's more about continuing on the trip which ends in his going to Hell and getting roasted on a spit. This one leans more dark fantasy than what I'd consider pure horror. There are some creepy art in the scenery, particularly in the inn where the engineer and his assistant try to get something to eat and the engineer's not phased at all over his family's death is unnerving. The tinting's a nice touch, especially during the surreal parts like the space carriage flight. I love the look of the enchanted horse, it's the right mix of alien and plausible. I don't know who's playing the engineer's assistant but he hams it up to where he's more of a focus than the engineer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I36uHkb9YE4  Frankenstein - 1910 For me growing up, this was considered a lost film. How it was found is probably enough of a story to make a film on that alone just due to all the controversy that still gets debated. The bare bones is that the surviving print came into the hands of Alois Dettlaff, from there, the rest of the story depends on what you read and who you talk to. The story I first heard was he found it in his barn back in the '70s where they had a lot of silent films stored from when his family ran a theater and he made copies with his name plastered all over it to make a buck. Variations claim Dettlaff was a film preservationist who had no clue about how significant a film he'd found, that the film was part of a collection he'd bought off a relative, his copies are from a 16mm print/35mm print, he got the film in the early '50s and didn't store it in a proper preservation environment, he refused to make a preservation copy until he was at risk of the film degrading to unviewable, he tried to get a preservation copy made but no one would do it, the only maintenance he did on the film was a yearly hand cranked unspooling, he would light up single frames from his collection in his pipe to show they wouldn't burn easily so he couldn't've been a film preservationist or collector, and he would hold private showings of the film while boasting he'd make a fortune off it. There's probably more but that's what I recall off the top of my head. I do call bullshit on his not knowing what he had since a copy of Frankenstein that's older than the one seen on the Saturday afternoon horror movie's going to stand out as a something even if you don't know it's considered lost. I will also presume Dettlaff had a knack for pissing people off just going from some of the vitriol in the story variations. As far as the movie goes, it's public domain, though the copies Dettlaff had made are not because of his additions. It's definitely an unusual adaptation of the novel. I did have to smirk at Victor's discovering the Miracle of Life after two years in college when I know people three years into college and still iffy on what their Major is. Instead of the monster being crafted from corpse parts, it's brewed in a vat and it's an impressive scene even watching with modern eyes. The monster's look completely works after you see his brewing up scene, though the only horrifying bit's that hair. I should know as I have that same bedhead, and yes, it's horrific. Overall, it's not bad, but the feeling of watching a movie you never thought you'd see in your lifetime is something special. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67ENQibFW9w  5) L'Inferno - 1911 - Youtube First off, much thanks to Spatulater bro! for finding a much better upload of this than the one I had. This is one I've been wanting to see since I first heard about it. I'd seen stills and loved the style resembling the Gustave Dore art I really like. I did not expect how incredibly faithful to the Dore art this film was. It's gorgeous, but as it took three years to make this, it had better be gorgeous. This was Italy's first full length film. Most I've found in researching describe this film as being three hours long and had two intermissions. Looking around online, I've found uploads going from little over an hour or less so I'm not sure which is the more accurate. I was kinda surprised and impressed with the volume of nudity in the film. This had the most side boob, front boob, behind sack, and bare rear end I've seen outside of porn. I highly recommend this one not only for its place in film history, but also because it's a gorgeous film.
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Sep 27, 2020 23:40
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Spatulater bro! posted:M_Sinistrari, I'm immensely impressed with the films you're watching (and also the pace at which you're watching them). This is going to be an amazing thread. Since one of the things I've been doing to pass time is transfer over my reviews from past challenges to my letterboxd, it's had me thinking of really digging around at so many I haven't reviewed for the challenge.  6) House of Mystery - 1934 - Youtube Pretty much a standard killer ape film of the era and so painfully dated it physically hurts. It gave me a headache. I always go into watching one of these and expecting they're going to mangle things when it comes to non-western cultures, but here they go a special level of ignorant. Storyline's an archaeologist goes to India, steals treasure and a dancer from a temple of Kali and dissappears. Naturally his investors who didn't get repaid are ticked off and track him down. They find him twenty years later. He's in poor health and states there's only two million left of the treasure. He states the treasure is cursed and when he tried to pay back a couple investors years back and they died shortly after. They still want their money so he offers for them to stay at his mansion for a week to prove the curse is real and if they still want the money after the week, he'll fork it over. Sit through enough of this subgenre and you know the rest. Red herrings, fumbling detective with a competent detective, goofy characters, and a couple that falls for each other by the end of the movie. Where this film tanked for me was the cultural mangling. India being called Asia, that's expected, but when it veers into mixing Native American cultural elements with India, a Scotland Yard detective with a clearly American accent, repeatedly mispronouncing the name of Kali, and having gorillas in India, well, my brain can only handle so much before it starts hurting. Even taking into account this is from the '30s, that's still no excuse for the degree of mangling here. I'd only recommend this as a 'you won't believe this poo poo' watch.  7) The Old Dark House - 1933 - Youtube After the last film, I really needed this one. Nothing like some James Whale to make everything better. The title pretty much says it all. Some travelers end up taking shelter from a downpour at the Femm mansion. The butler's hesitant to let them in but he does and we meet the Femm family. As we learn quickly, the Femm family's got issues to put it mildly. Whale said this film was his favorite of his works and it shows. The dry wit's given that perfect touch of camp which just pulls you in. The cast is on their A game here, and just by the cast and performance alone, one can consider this a companion film to Bride of Frankenstein. I do consider it one of the finer pre-Code films out of the few I've seen so far, and it's one of the pre-Code films I recommend to friends who don't belive me about the sort of content in them compared to the films made after the Hayes Code. From Rebecca's unmistakably thirsty lingering gaze on Margaret while she's changing out of her wet clothes, the casual fooling around between Roger and Gladys, Rebecca's describing the 'lustful' behavior of her relatives years back, Sir William's asexuality, Morgan's bond/relationship with Saul, Horace's atheism, and Sir Roderick are all the sort of things that would've put the authors of the Hayes code into seizures and weren't uncommon in pre-Code films. I do have to question the story stating that the casting of Elspeth Dudgeon as Sir Roderick was due to no elderly man having the right look. Seeing Sir Roderick face on and hearing the voice, it's clear it's a woman in the role. I believe the casting choice was deliberate by Whale. It fits the enclosed world within the mansion. It's queer in both definitions of the word which makes a good case for this film to be a companion to Rocky Horror Picture Show. It also fits Whale's critique through subversion style. I can't recommend this movie enough. It's Whale at his A game.
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Sep 28, 2020 02:35
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STAC Goat posted:And thus begins my personal struggle of trying to hold out until October... I envision STAC as Mark and the rest of us are all floating out the window trying to talk him into starting his October run. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vV1V0U41HI4
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Sep 28, 2020 05:45
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 8) Vampyr - 1932 - DVD First time I saw this it was on VHS way back when. I vaguely remember not being impressed though the coffin scene had my full attention. Watching it again after I expanded my movie palate, it's definitely a very intriguing film. Unlike most vampire films of the era, this one shies away from the usual expectations. There's no urbane vampire or show of fangs. Here the focus is more on the mystical aspect of the vampire which I feel makes for a more horrifying depiction. She looks like someone you wouldn't give a second glance sitting on the bus. The film's dreamlike quality meshes with this extremely well. Adding to the odd feeling with this movie is it's a sound film shot in the manner of a silent film. On one hand this makes sense in that sound was really new at the time and many directors were having to learn a new style of filming. On the other, it almost feels like the dream world of the film's trying to leak into ours. The story tends to amble along the traditional formula of early vampire films. The hero, Gray is an occult student who happens to stumble on this while on holiday. He doesn't quite come across as the traditional protagonist in wanting to kill the vampire, but more seems to be interested in studying it. It feels like this is a young Van Helsing's first legit supernatural encounter. While the film's not particularly scary, it has plenty of scenes that stick in the head. The way the skulls react when the vampyr enters the room, the doctor suffocated in the flour mill, the shadow minions going about their tasks, just stick with you even when the movie's over. I recommend this one for it's unique depiction of a vampire and just because it's that drat good.  9) White Zombie - 1932 - DVD I can't remember which I sat through first, this or Night of the Living Dead. This film's probably going to be disappointing to those expecting what's become the zombie standard. However if one's looking for traditional old school zombies smothered in mood, this is the film to sit through. Right from the start, the film sets the tone and place and keeps on going. Neil and Madeleine are getting married on a friend's plantation, but we know something's going to take a turn as we meet Murder Legendre with his zombie posse on the way. We learn that Legendre runs a sugar mill staffed by zombies of his own crafting. Those who were his enemies are now zombies he keeps close as his personal guard. It turns out Neil and Madeleine's friend has a thing for her and has gone to Legendre for help to have her choose him. We know how this is all going to end up playing out. For what's been said about this being a low budget film for the era, it doesn't particularly show. From my understanding, Universal gave them permission to film at night so they used several sets from other films. I definitely recognize the halls from Dracula. Lugosi really sells the portrayal of Legendre. He's suave, charming and clearly someone who's bad side you don't want to be on. Neil on the other hand is a total wet noodle that I find myself wishing he gets zombified so he's got some usefulness. The depiction of the zombies is unsettling. While we know these are the drug dust made zombies, we see no sign of their former humanity. A zombie falls into the mill machinery and there's no reaction. Later on when one's shot with no bleeding, it makes one wonder if just maybe there isn't something more going on. My only complaint is the film could easily do with 50% less screaming vulture. This would make a nice pairing with Serpent and the Rainbow.
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Sep 28, 2020 07:26
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 10) House of Horrors - 1946- DVD This was a pretty good middle of the road film, though the title does set the wrong expectation. A starving artist decides to commit suicide after the most recent attempt to sell his art fails. Instead of drowning himself, he saves another man he sees drowning. The man has a very distinctive face that inspires the artist so he takes him home. Turns out the man is a murderer known as The Creeper. They end up hitting it off as friends and soon the critics who lambasted the artist's work start dropping like flies. The main reason to sit through this one is Rondo Hatton. From what early pictures I've seen of him, he was handsome but he developed acromegaly in adulthood. His distinctive look drew the attention of Hollywood and he had some success playing heavies and support roles. He passed on from a heart attack which is fairly common to those who have acromegaly. The Classic Horror Film Board's modeled and named their award the Rondo after Rondo Hatton. This is the sort of film I'd thrown on while doing something else. And the cat lives.  11) Bluebeard - 1944 - TubiTV I remember when I first read the story of Bluebeard. It was one of those generic horror stories for kids books. The final image was of the wife having opened the forbidden door and agast at the corpses, doesn't see her husband's hand about to grab her. About the only thing in common the movie has with the story is the string of women's deaths. This one definitely leans more towards a horror-thriller than just horror. The story centers around a puppeteer/artist who kills his models when they fail to live up to his idea of perfection in the late 19th century. It's not a bad film, though sometimes the cast's accents don't quite mesh and for it's setting there's more strong women with fewer men than would fit, but that's understandable considering when the film was made and most men would be in the war. Carradine pretty much carries the film. Overall, this wasn't a bad film to sit through.
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Sep 28, 2020 11:55
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 12) The Monster Maker - 1944 - TubiTV I wouldn't consider this a bad or schlocky film, but more an exasperatingly average entry into the Mad Scientist subgenre when it didn't have to be. Even Ace the Wonder Dog looked like he was phoning it in. I think it would've made for a better film if they didn't use a tweaked version of acromegaly, cut the lab gorilla, and built up some of the characterizations. I will concede the makeup was pretty decent.  13) The Undying Monster - 1942 - Youtube This one was a pleasant surprise in a few ways. First, a classic era werewolf film I wasn't aware of, and secondly one that actually doesn't forget it's a 'modern' setting. I thought it was a nice touch to treat this more like a murder mystery, though it does seem to be confused on how it handles the supernatural aspects. We have the standard superstition vs science arguments, but instead of the standard Scooby Doo type reveal we have visible werewolf transformation with fur/fangs/claws being witnessed by multiple people end up being explained as a brain chemistry thing. For as much as we gripe about Hollywood going the remake route too much, this is a film I'd like to see remade. This would make a good pairing with The Beast Must Die.
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Sep 28, 2020 20:59
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 14) Shock - 1946 - Youtube This was a rarity in being a Vincent Price film I hadn't seen yet. Storyline's a pretty average 'person sees murder committed and ends up in the clutches of the murderer'. If Price wasn't in this, it'd be forgettable. As always, Price brings his A game and makes this one worth a watch.  15) A Walking Nightmare - 1942 - Youtube This feels like an average mystery film that they weren't too confident about so they slapped in some horror elements to make sure they got butts in the seats. A wealthy banker goes missing and his friend hires a private detective/psychic to take the case. The banker turns up later as a zombie and the investigation ends up in a classic old dark house. While definitely not a good film, it's not really bad either. More along the lines of aggressively mediocre. While I wouldn't go watch it again, having it on for background noise's doable.
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Sep 28, 2020 23:20
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 16) The Devil Bat - 1940 - DVD To absolutely no one here's surprise, after seeing this one as a little kid, I wanted a devil bat of my own. I would've named him Bosco and we would've watched horror movies together and get Dracula pops from the Ice Cream Man and... Okay, I still would like a devil bat of my own. Overall, movie's not bad. It's a slightly better than average entry into the Mad Scientist subgenre in that the scientist has a better motivation for his actions aside from 'because I can'. He feels he's been taken advantage of by the cosmetics company he's designed formulas for so he trains bats to attack whoever smells like a special aftershave he made for this. I do feel the humor element dragged and the film would've been better without it. I know it was the style at the time to have the goofy humor character in nearly everything, but I think it detracted more than it worked.  17) Monster on Campus - 1958 - TubiTV This was a pretty standard drive-in era science gone wrong film, but seeing as Jack Arnold directed, it's a puzzle that the man who gave us Creature from the Black Lagoon and Incredible Shrinking Man gave us this. The biggest flaw the movie has is the same one that comes up anytime evolutionary regression's shown and that's it's always shown wrong. *gives Star Trek the stinkeye* I've taken a bunch of classes where evolution's been covered even taking into account what the theories of the day were and it's always jump straight to neandertal and even then, they get the look wrong. This is probably a no big deal for most people, but for me it makes my eye twitch. Still, with that said, this is perfectly fine for a drive-in movie marathon with ample beer. M_Sinistrari fucked around with this message at 02:17 on Sep 29, 2020 |
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Sep 29, 2020 01:48
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 18) Haunters: Art of the Scare - 2017 - SHUDDER Like how seeing the first snowflake would send some kids into orbit excited for winter, or seeing a neighbor start setting up a Santa display for Christmas. For me, it was the signage announcing the Amling's Haunted House. I'd immediately change into a bouncing pig-tailed wild thing near howling the Haunted House sign's up as if somehow my Mom missed seeing the bigass sign. From that moment, I'd be on my best behavior. Do all my chores without griping, start my homework on my own with no prompting, practically be on company manners around family just to make sure there was absolutely no reason for us to not go to the haunted house. Over the years I went through that haunted house so many times I repurposed my Brownie sash with all the braveheart awards I got for going through. Even as a teen, still went when my friends considered it something for babies. So, with that said, I was really curious about this documentary. I loved the segment on the history of haunted houses, and the interviews with the haunters was fascinating. I loved the bit on Universal Horror Nights and hope to go someday. Then we hit the vomiting elephant with diarrhea in the room: McKamey Manor. I've heard about the place over the years, seen the Youtube footage and I know it's not my sort of thing. McKamey came across obnoxious and my concept of a haunted house doesn't involve getting hurt by the haunters. Having seen the interviews with McKamey in the documentary, well, if someone told me McKamey's a sociopath, I'd believe them. It's only natural for haunted houses to evolve along with sensibilities, and there's always going to be people who want a more extreme experience. But McKamey's not that. That he's gone from a ten page waiver to a forty page waiver and doesn't use safewords should be indicator enough that not offering a haunted house, a terror experience or horror interactive theatre. People have come out of McKamey's with PTSD. It's not just him either. The interview with Grace where she changed her mind about going through the first time and McKamey's wife tracked her down in the car to bring her back doesn't reflect well, same as McKamey tricking Grace back because he wants 'footage' is not sane or healthy. It probably makes me a bad person to say this, but if McKamey ever ends up arrested and given jail time, I would take joy in that.
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Sep 29, 2020 06:03
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 19) Attack of the Crab Monsters - 1957 - TubiTV I'm not sure how scary the giant crabs in this movie were back in the day, but looking at how tired and puffy their eyes are I keep wondering if they're just hungover from a bender and lashing out. And now I'm envisioning the party they must've had looking like something out of the Crab Rave video on Youtube. As far as the movie goes, it's perfectly fine Corman drive-in fare and good for a movie night with friends and plenty of beer.  20) Horrors of the Black Museum - 1959 - DVD I freely admit I would love to take a tour of the real Black Museum. Unfortunately this isn't possible going from the last time my fiance researched it as a possible stop for our eventual honeymoon. Instead, I make do with documentaries and this film. Only complaint I have on this one is the HypnoVista prologue is overlong and draggy. The rest of the film is wonderful. Plotwise, any of us'll know where it's going, so we're here for the ride not the destination. Gruesome murders in lurid color, Michael Gough rocking his role. Only other person I could see in the role is Vincent Price. I would love to see a specialty showing of this on the big screen. Definitely worth a watch.
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Sep 29, 2020 08:50
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 21) Frankenstein 1970 - 1958 - DVD This is the Frankenstein film near everyone seems to forget or only remembers when they want to rag on it. Pity since this is the sad ending of the Classic Frankenstein franchise. I admit I'm getting a little misty eyed typing this. It's set in 1970, though the only futurey thing here is it's possible to purchase an atomic reactor for the home. Here we have Karloff playing the last living member of the Frankenstein family. He's old, in poor health and disfigured from being tortured by the Nazis because he wouldn't cooperate with them. The family fortune's gone, and he has to resort to letting in a TV crew to film a special about his family. Of course he's working on a new monster in the basement and when he runs out of parts, he turns to using the film crew as needed. As expected, the monster lashes out at the Baron and they both die in a cloud of radioactive steam. It's once the lab's radiation's dropped enough, they find a recording left by the Baron. It turns out as he was the last of the family, he was making the monster to be his heir and carry on the Frankenstein name. On a meta level, it was also the end of the Classic franchise as Curse of Frankenstein came out the same year and Hammer would now be the face of Frankenstein films. This is a better film than some consider and worth a watch.  22) Monster of Piedras Blancas - 1959 - Youtube This one always kinda felt like it was the Creature from the Black Lagoon's California cousin. It's standard B-movie fare, though the severed heads were gruesome enough to be edited out for TV. My only gripe is I would've liked to've seen more of the monster. From what we see of him here, he's pretty much running on appetite. Compare that to the Creature where we see he's curious and has some intelligence. This film makes a fine entry into any B-movie marathon.
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Sep 29, 2020 12:04
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 23) Curse of the Faceless Man - 1958 - Dailymotion One of my longtime favorites, and I'm still surprised at how much they packed into a film little over an hour. I'm also a bit surprised that not much has really been done for genre films regarding Pompeii. Story's essentially the body of a gladiator slave is uncovered during a dig and whether it's ancient curse or background radiation his remains are still in the ash/pumice shell. He reanimates and is interested in one of the scientist's fiance. It turns out the reanimated Quintillus died while trying to save the senator's daughter he was in love with and the fiance's her reincarnation. In his mind, Vesuvius is still erupting and he's still trying to save her. And here I go getting misty eyed again. The makeup's very good for the era, same for the effects when Quintillus finally makes it to the sea and dissolves having finally saved her. Unlike most genre films of the time, this one's not campy or schlocky. I recommend this one as a fine entry to a 50s era monster marathon.  24) Manster - 1959 - Youtube I think this might be the first two headed monster film. Cribbing elements of just about every film covering the duality of human nature, we have the story of an American reporter who's been working out of Japan for the past few years. It's been a strain on his marriage, but he's got one last story to cover before returning to the States. The reclusive scientist Dr. Suzuki has apparently had a research breakthrough on his evolutionary changes study. Of course, while Larry the reporter just sees an interview to do, Dr. Suzuki sees new test subject. Larry gets knocked out and injected with a serum to chemically induce evolution. When he wakes, Dr. Suzuki extends an offer for Larry to join him on a vacation around Japan. What Larry doesn't know is that this is all to keep him distracted with all the things an outsider thinks about Japan so Suzuki through his assistant are able to observe any changes happening in Larry. Larry dives right in to the whirlwind of sake, geishas and group baths ignoring the strange aches, pains and mood swings he's having. Once the eyeball pops open on Larry's shoulder we know more's to come. This film's pretty standout for it's time in that it was not only filmed in Japan, it had a mostly Japanese crew and a substantial amount of Japanese actors. Normally a genre film would've gone the fake it to make it route to keep things cheap. Effects range from very good like the eye on the shoulder and the eventual split to smirkworthy like the second bestial head. Cast does pretty well with all things considered from Suzuki's twisting the Western habit to see his country as 'exotic playland' into a distraction to further his experiments and Larry's complete cluelessness until too late that he's changing. Overall, this is a better than expected for its time film.
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Sep 29, 2020 15:11
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 25) The Haunted Strangler - 1958 - DVD This is an interesting for it's time entry. Karloff is a Victorian era novelist and social reformer who takes interest in the case of the Haymarket Strangler. He's convinced the man who was hung at Newgate was innocent and had he been able to afford a proper legal defense, he wouldn't've been convicted. He plans to figure out who the true killer is to make an official argument that there should be good legal aid for everyone. He does start uncovering his proof, but then the murders start up again. Overall, this one's pretty tight. It does meander a little in parts but that's a minor nitpick. I still marvel that at the time Karloff was somewhere in his 70s when making this and he was still energetic enough for the amount of activity in the role. I'm just into my 50s and I wouldn't mind that sort of energy at all. I do recommend this one for it's eventual twist.  26) The Hideous Sun Demon - 1959 - TubiTV A pretty standard entry into the dangers of radiation subgenre where a scientist gets injured while experimenting with a new radioactive isotope. During his recovery, it turns out when he's in sunlight, he turns into a reptilian monster. I didn't think much of it when I was a kid, but especially after having had to work graveyard shifts I can't wrap my mind around someone becoming so desolate about only going out at night. Even taking account not much would be open after a certain time and TV had an end of broadcast day, I'm still not quite seeing it. The monster makeup's really distinctive and makes this movie worth a watch. The movie does tend to be wordy at times but overall, still a good B-movie for a marathon.
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Sep 29, 2020 20:54
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 27) Curse of the Crimson Altar - 1968 - Dailymotion I freely admit that I've wanted that horned hat Barbara Steele wears ever since I first saw a still from this movie, and I would find a way to be able to wear that hat every day for the rest of my life. Forget the Red Hat Society, I'll start the Horned Hat Society and we'll buy so much from the Spirit Halloween store that they decide to go year 'round stores. Apparently this one is supposed to be an adaptation of Lovecraft's Dreams of the Witch House. Maybe it is if you're going by the most literal interpretation of the title and slap on some psychedelia since every Lovecraft style film had to have some. To me, it's a standard secret cult in the UK film in Tigon Studios style. On that alone, it's a perfectly comfortable entry in any Hammer/Tigon/Amicus marathon. What bumps it up that skosh more as a watch this is it's one of the few Christopher Lee and Karloff films. This was also Karloff's last major studio film. After this it was the films in Mexico. As far as I'm concerned, it's worth a watch.  28) Frankenstein's Bloody Terror - 1968 - DVD I admit, there's a not zero chance that I've probably bought this movie multiple times under each of the titles its been released under over the years. Equally, I've never seen this one in its original 3D. Despite the title, there's no Frankenstein. Instead we have Paul Naschy's first Waldemar Daninsky film and it's such a packed roller coaster, you don't miss the lack of Frankenstein. There's werewolves fighting humans, vampires fighting humans, werewolves fighting werewolves and werewolves fighting vampires. Prior to this film, Spain didn't have much of a presence in the genre. This film's success is what got the ball rolling. I highly recommend giving this a watch along with the rest of Paul Naschy/Jacinto Molina's films and I'm not just saying that as a fangirl.
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Sep 30, 2020 00:32
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Justin Godscock posted:M_Sinistrari, every year you amaze me with your commitment to this challenge. I have no idea how you do it. 28 films already? That's incredible and I'm not being sarcastic. I love horror movies and I love talking about horror movies. I watch a ton of horror movies and shows throughout the year. It's just during the challenges that I'm able to combine it all and be open about it.
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Sep 30, 2020 00:47
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 29) Creature of Destruction - 1967 - Youtube I really don't know what to make of this one. Premise is a hypnotist who believes we all carry a primitive ancestor within us uses his assistant to prove his theories. Of course something goes wrong and she manifests a sea creature so woeful looking the Creature of the Black Lagoon and the Monster of Piedras Blancas would be embarrassed by proximity. I've seen homemade costumes that look better than the monster in this one. I'd consider this skippable. There's better out there to watch.  30) Brides of Blood - 1968 - DVD Since I'm missing the first of the Blood Island series (yeah, I know I'm slacking.), I'll start with the second film. Standard drive-in fare of travelers to Blood Island find more than they bargain for. We have a scientist here to study the after effects of the atomic bomb tests, his neglected wife, and a guy from the Peace Corps. They meet the locals who are on edge but won't say why. It comes out the locals were moved here from their original home and the jungle here's mutated from radiation. They're essentially being held hostage by a mutated beast that demands women or everyone dies, and things roll on from there. There was a plan to have a gimmick to give female patrons the chance to become a Bride of Blood. It would've involved giving out a packet with two cheapo wedding look rings and a fake marriage license. It ended up getting vetoed for fear of possible lawsuits involving minors. As far as the Blood Island films go, this one's pretty standalone. It just establishes the mutated jungle and it can be skipped compared to the next two films.  31) The Mad Doctor of Blood Island - 1969 - DVD This one's a standard Mad Doctor entry with Dr. Lorca experimenting on humans with chlorophyll and ending up with plant hybrid monsters. It had a gimmick of taking the Oath of Green Blood and drinking a packet of green gel/liquid that would make the viewer safe from turning into one of the people-plant monsters. The oath's been posted on Youtube, but I've not found anything so far about what the green goo was or how it tasted beyond a production consultant drank one and felt sick. I usually pair this one up with the next one in the series as a double feature.  32) Beast of Blood - 1971 - DVD I remember seeing this for the first time on Son of Svengoolie and he did give a warning about the surgery scene being more intense than what he usually had on the show. This had me really excited for the movie, and also prompted my grandma who was babysitting me to call my Mom at work over "Oh my God what are you allowing the baby to sit through?!?!" One yelling match later, I'm watching my movie and my grandma's in another room saying one of the many full rosarys she'd end up saying for me over the years. This one picks up right after the last one. The survivors of the last film, after recovering go back to Blood Island where it turns out the monster and Dr. Lorca have survived. This film had the gimmick of printing fake $10 bills that when unfolded was an ad flier for the movie. Pretty much if you liked the other films in the series, you'll like this one. And yes, the surgery scene was wonderfully gruesome and gory.
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Sep 30, 2020 06:31
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Kvlt! has posted, so as I said in the main thread, time to see how close I get to my 200 count. 33) Gorgo - 1961 - TubiTV I love this one, it's the UK's kaiju. After a volcano eruption salvagers and marine life start turning up dead. Not long after a giant monster rises from the sea, attacks an island off the coast of Ireland and is driven off. It's eventually captured and put on display at Battersea Park only for it to be revealed from what studies have been done that the 65' tall monster is just a baby. Mom soon arrives in her full 200' glory and she's pissed. The ending to this one always gets me sniffly. Originally the film was potentially going to be set in Japan as an homage to Godzilla, but then France was considered an option before Australia came up. Apparently Australia was rejected with the reason 'no one'll care if a monster attacks Australia' (WTH?) before settling on Ireland and London. There's a novelization that I need to track down and a comic run that's been reprinted here and there. I recommend this one because one can never have enough kaiju.  34) #Alive - 2020 - Netflix I really hadn't planned on going back to Netflix. I cancelled years ago when they ramped up their original content that I wasn't interested in while cutting back noticeably on their catalog. Only reason I'm on the thirty day trial is my fiance wanted to watch Cobra Kai and he made a good argument about my catching up on Sabrina and Kingdom. After the reviews dorium and Ambitious Spider made on this one, I figured I'll give it a watch. Not long into it, my thoughts went in this order: Ooh, they're diving right on in...fuckernuts, I'm going to have to do another update for technology on the zombie thing I've been writing. This was really good. In some ways it reminded me of The Night eats the World, but not so grindingly depressing. I really liked that they didn't have the obligatory rear end in a top hat villain that you usually see in these films like the wannabe warlord, or apocalyptic religious fanatic. It's just the focus on the survivors, the situation, and the zombies which really makes for a solid, compelling story. I highly recommend this one, it's just that drat good.
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Sep 30, 2020 12:16
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feedmyleg posted:
He'll watch some stuff and definitely watch the Scream Stream, I won't insist he sit through something I know isn't his sort of thing. He sat through Haunters with me and I think the McKamey segments bothered him more since he's a former EMT and he couldn't believe they didn't have paramedics on scene by default. We each have a tablet so there's never an issue over who wants to watch what when. Since my sleep schedule's been shot to hell with lockdown, he knows I'll get up during the night and end up watching something until I get tired again. Since he's on WFH currently, I'll watch on my PC or tablet with the headset on so it doesn't bleed through his work headset.
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Sep 30, 2020 16:53
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 35) The Ghost - 1963 - Prime This was a nice period murder mystery. The very wealthy Dr. Hitchcock dies while taking a risky cure which has to be given in a very precise dosage leaving a few smiling faces that fall when the Will gets read. Then it's a whirlwind of betrayals, stabbings and lies in a rush to find Dr. Hitchcock's wealth. When it comes to murder mysteries, I'm kinda picky. Comes from my introduction to them being Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes. This one was right up my alley.  36) Blood Beast Terror - 1967 - Youtube Over the course of time we've seen plenty of werewolves, werecats, weregators, werespiders and such. Here we have a blood sucking weremoth. Film's pretty decent overall, though it does have pacing issues in some parts. Peter Cushing's a delight as always. It worked really well when I converted it to a Ravenloft session way back in the day. It'll fit fine in a random Hammer/Tigon/Amicus monster marathon.  37) Scream, Baby, Scream - 1969 - DVD Holy poo poo, a film Larry Cohen was involved with that I didn't know about. Here we have the team up of a mad artist and a mad surgeon, psychedelics, zombie-like men and more. It's Cohen's writing so you know it's going to be something to watch.  38)Theatre of Death - 1967 - Youtube I think I spent near half the runtime of this one wondering if I'd seen it before. It's one of the downsides to having watched so many horror movies over the years. I hadn't seen this one and my fiance's still smirking over the idea there's a Christopher Lee film I haven't seen. This was pretty good. Lee runs a Grand Guignol style theater and murders start happening in the area making it a question about if the theater's involved. While it's not a Hammer film, it does kinda have a hint of a Hammer feel if that makes sense. Very much worth a watch in my opinion.
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Oct 1, 2020 01:10
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 39) The Blackcoat's Daughter - 2015 - Netflix Often a good or compelling story will have me thinking about the what ifs and what happened next. Possession films tend to have me thinking as the credits roll, usually it's what happened next. Did they remember anything of what happened during the possession, did the family ever recover from the experience, was there any aftereffects from the possession? Blackcoat's Daughter scratched that mental itch for me. I was surprised that this had the same director as I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House as I didn't really like that one. It was draggy and so much of a slow burn you wanted to get up a couple times to make sure it's still lit. This one takes the route of skipping around its timeline. When I've seen this done in other films, it's either really drat good or it's a sign of bad/pretentious writing. Thankfully here it's the former. The story's mostly centered around a prestigious Catholic school where a couple of the school girls are left behind when everyone else is off on a week long break. Strange things soon start happening. It's revealed through the timeline skips that one of the girls has been so miserable and lonely at school that summoning and being possessed was her answer to not being alone. She's caught while performing a rite with severed heads in the boiler room and detained in a mental hospital where an exorcism's performed. As the demon's cast out, she begs it not to leave. Years later she returns to do the severed head rite to summon it back, but the boiler's unused and cold, the entity's long gone. Left alone again, she breaks down crying. This was really good. It highlighted the extremes someone might go when they think there's no other option while also pointing out that sometimes the option taken doesn't pan out like hoped.
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Oct 1, 2020 06:25
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STAC Goat posted:Did you know the director is Anthony Perkins' kid? I've only seen those two films but it seems like he's very good at setting mood but both pieces relied heavily on the payoff. Blackcoat's Daughter kind of worked, I Am The Pretty Thing was big "that's it?" I found that out when I was looking up the film during the stream to figure out how much longer we had to go. I knew Perkins' kid had done some acting, but not directing. I'm willing to give him another chance with how much I liked Blackcoat.
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Oct 1, 2020 06:47
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 40) Blood Freak - 1972 - Archive.org Without question, I've sat through a ton of horror films of varying quality. I could break them down into categories such as 'waste of time', 'give a second chance', or 'not sure if serious or satire'. Blood Freak's definitely in the latter category. I'm not sure if it's the strangest drug PSA ever made or a satire of drug PSAs. It starts with a Vietnam Vet trying to get his life together who comes across Angel who's very much into spreading the Word. They go to her house where her sister Ann is having a party with her hippy friends. While Angel's preaching, Ann's trying to get the Vet to toke up with them but he refuses. Later on Ann gets him to try some and of course, he's immediately addicted to the Devil's Lettuce. He also gets a job at the girls' dad's turkey farm where of course they're doing experiments on the turkeys to get a higher yield faster but they don't know if the meat's going to be fit for human consumption. Guess who gets to eat the turkey meat to see if it's okay with a bribe of more weed as incentive. He has a seizure after eating a whole turkey and gets dumped into the woods to hide the body where he mutates into a guy with a demented looking turkey head that now craves the blood of potheads. With that much of a synopsis, one can see why I don't know what to make of it. I hope it's a satire otherwise having a PSA about 'Don't eat turkey when you've got the munchies!' is an unusually specific PSA.
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Oct 1, 2020 09:56
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TrixRabbi posted:Edward attends high school because the Cullens are trying to blend in and appear as normal members of the community. I suppose there's no reason they couldn't claim home schooling, but like it's one of the least baffling things about Twilight. The main argument I remember was it was presenting those abusive dynamics as something desirable and romantic to a demographic that more likely than not doesn't have the relationship experience to judge something like he sabotaged your vehicle so you don't leave as something really hosed up. I don't think the backlash would've been so huge if the abuse presented as romance was there. It was practically almost the entire 'how to tell you're in an abusive relationship' checklist.
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Oct 1, 2020 14:43
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 41) Blood on Satan's Claw - 1971 - Youtube This one's a bit of a mixed bag of doing things incredibly well while lacking in others. Movie's set during the 17th century when a plowman digs up unnatural remains in a field. He goes to bring attention to them but by the time he returns with the authorities, they're gone. Not long after the young people of the village are seen playing with some of the bones and they begin to change. To start with where the movie did things right: 1) It pays attention to it's setting history. Most films of this sort just call it at the Christian vs Pagan/Satanist angle. Here we also see the other direction of thought of Reason vs Superstition that would eventually bloom into the Age of Enlightenment. 2) It gets the dialect of the time period correct. Until fairly recently, it's been a mixed bag when it comes to showing period accurate dialects. It's either the Try Hard where they slather on the 'thee', 'thou', and 'prithee' without even bothering to look at the grammar rules; the Deadwood where it's mostly accurate until a word sound silly and they swap for something modern (consarn got swapped for modern swears); or the Don't Bother where they just go modern dialect. It's one of those things one might not think much about, but it really helps shape the film's setting. It put a smile on my face considering how many primary sources I went through for research papers on the era and hearing what I'd read. Where the movie dropped the ball: 1) It does feel a bit 'busy'. It's like a combined anthology of multiple stories shaped around a central event. While some more recent anthologies are going this route, here it doesn't quite have a smooth overall tone. 2) Touching a bit on the previous, but it does have shifting inconsistencies. Some in the occult touched are able to slice off the devil skin they manifest while others are murdered and worse for theirs. With no reason given, it comes across as meanness for shock value. 3) Showing the Devil. For most of the movie, you only see parts and hear it's whispering/buzzing voice which builds on it's unnatural creepiness. When you see it full on at the end, it's a muddied mask and robes. 4) Angel's Eyebrows. I know this one sounds ridiculous, but while I understand they were wanting to convey her becoming more evil, how it comes across looks like they slapped on some Vulcan eyebrows while not even bothering to cover her natural ones. It was enough to make me chuckle at each closeup. 5) The shift in the Judge's attitude. He started out really good being an advocate for reason over superstition, but near the end he shifts to the standard religous crusader fighting Satan with a two hander. It's a jarring shift. Overall, the film's pretty decent. I'd fit it in a marathon with similar films. Interestingly, while I was looking for a poster image, I came across some considering this as Folk Horror which makes me wonder is Folk Horror something involving modern day such as The Wicker Man or Midsommar, or is it anything involving ancient practices appearing outside its historical era?
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Oct 1, 2020 16:24
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 42) The Fiend - 1972 - Archive.org First time I sat through this one years ago, I wasn't particularly impressed. Watching it again, still not particularly impressed. Story's a widow who's a member of a full on fire and brimstone religious group has turned over her home to them for use as a church and recruiting spot. They're the standard see sin everywhere, avoid modern medicine..etc...type. The widow's son's dominated into following along, but it turns out he acts out and is the Nude Killer that's been in the news for strangling women and leaving them to be found naked. It all builds to an ending that was pretty much expected. From my understanding, everyone involved with this film would rather it be forgotten. I'm not sure why as it's not a bad film. The singing's pretty decent and the story's just average. I doubt I'll sit through it again, just because I've got other stuff to sit through.  43) The Devil's Daughter - 1973 - Dailymotion I know I've said it before, but I really miss the old TV Movie of the Week. While some were forgettable, we did get some gems like Duel, Night Stalker, Night Strangler and Trilogy of Terror. This one's pretty good. Diane finds out after her mother passes that she was part of a Satanic cult who is still very interested in her. She rejects them and strange stuff starts to happen. Ending was a bit of a surprise which was nice considering how often I can usually guess these things. This is perfectly fine as a lazy afternoon watch.
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Oct 1, 2020 20:51
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Franchescanado posted:Fran Challenge #1: Horror Noire I'm still searching around but this might be the challenge I can't do because any of the films that meet the criteria, I've already seen.
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Oct 2, 2020 00:07
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STAC Goat posted:Eve's Bayou is on one of the streaming services. I'm not sure if its strictly horror but I seem to recall it being talked about in Horror Noire. It's a drama with some horror trappings. It is a pretty good movie.
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Oct 2, 2020 01:07
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First off, thanks to everyone who offered suggestions. You've pointed me into some solid directions that if I will definitely find a few options to roll with. 44) The Beast of Yellow Night - 1971 - TubiTV Pretty much a 'From most of the people who brought you the Blood Island series'. In this one Satan saves a WWII deserter on the condition he becomes his servant. He accepts and occasionally turns into a scaly looking wolfman. This one was okay enough. I'd fit it in any of the 'shot in the Philippines' horror movies from that era marathon.  45) The Asphyx - 1973 - Youtube I first heard of this one in Fangoria's 101 Best Horror Movies You've Never Seen. It's a good book and it pointed me towards many films I might never've known about like The Ugly and Day of the Beast. This one has a unique premise of during the Victorian era, a scientist philanthropist notices an unusual smudge on the photos he takes of people at the moment of death. The parapsychology society he belongs to take it as evidence of the soul leaving the body, but the scientist isn't so sure. Some experiments later and he comes to the conclusion that the smudge is an 'asphyx' which claims the soul at the time of death and that theoretically if he's able to trap an individual's asphyx it will grant immortality. We've all seen enough films about quests for immortality to have an idea where this goes. For so long I thought I was pretty savvy on the films from the Hammer/Tigon/Amicus heyday glut, so this one not even being on my knowledge radar was a kick to the hubris even though there was practically little to no mention about this film in the various horror mags of the time or about this period in horror film history. My theory on why this is, is because it didn't quite fit in with the horror trends at the time of monsters and madmen. This touches on the questions of the cost of pursuing extended life/immortality, the nature of death and the soul, and is immortality something worth pursuing. For a horror film of the time, that's some pretty heady stuff to wrap the mind around. Still is, but we're a bit more used to horror dealing with meaty concepts. I can't recommend this one enough, and to slightly spoil things, the guinea pig is pretty much the only one who has a good ending.  46) Werewolf of Washington - 1973 - Dailymotion The US Press Secretary is a werewolf. Well, since 2020's not over this is still on the table with murder hornets and Italian cocaine boars on the rampage. This is a horror-comedy of sorts that satirized several politicians from the Nixon era. While at the time this film was really funny, now it comes across painfully dated at best and really confusing at worst. Unless you know the relevant people of that time and what was going on, the humor doesn't really work. It illustrates a point that gets made towards films centered on a topic du jour tend to either not age well or get dated faster than fresh milk can spoil in the heat. At this point in time, this film's more of a curio from the past. Unless you're already knowledgeable about the era or are going to do some prepwork reading up beforehand to watch this, I'd say skip it to watch something else.
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Oct 2, 2020 04:47
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 47) The Norliss Tapes - 1973 - Youtube This was another of the TV Movie of the Week entries. A fair amount of the time, they were also used as a sort of test ground for TV pilots such as The Six Million Dollar Man and Get Christie Love!. Norliss Tapes was another though it never made the jump. The plot is essentially a found footage. Norliss, a writer who's been working on a book debunking all things supernatural goes missing, leaving behind a bunch of audio tapes detailing his recent investigations and his disappearance. His friend and publisher finds the tapes and we watch the events he's listening to. The first tape involves a widow swearing she's seen her dead sculptor husband lurking around his studio. As Norliss investigates, bodies start turning up drained of blood... If this sounds a bit similar to Night Stalker, it does. Dan Curtis who was behind so much of TV Horror at this time, including Kolchak was behind this as well. Had this been picked up for a series, it would've followed the format of one of the tapes being played with a different investigation by Norliss with potentially learning more about why he's disappeared. As to why Kolchak ended up with a series and not Norliss, who knows. It could've easily been Kolchack the underdog was more relatable. There are some really good moments in this such as the undead sculptor. He's not quite a zombie, ghoul, or vampire but he's definitely a force to be reckoned with. I recommend this in a classic 70s era TV Horror marathon.  48) The Sentinel - 1977 - DVD From what little I remember when this came out, the critics weren't fond of this one. Doing a bit of Googling to double check, there were plenty of comparisons to The Exorcist, Rosemary's Baby and The Omen and/or calling it an incomprehensible mess. Shows what they knew, they were making the wrong comparisons. With those films, the focus was on a specific singular such as Satan's child or a specific possession. The Sentinel is a different thing altogether. The storyline starts with Alison, a successful model who's got issues managing to get a great deal on an apartment in a brownstone. Her neighbors are a special level of strange and at the top floor is a creepy looking blind priest who spends his time staring out the window. Strange things soon start happening like unexplained noises and Alison starting to have fainting spells. When she gets in touch with the rental agent to complain about her neighbors making noise, she's told there are no neighbors, it's only her and the priest who are tenants. From there, things only get more ominous and goes off the rails closer to the end. The Sentinel has more in common with the haunted/possessed house subgenre. For those of us who've sat through a ton of horror films, we already know how it's going to play out for the most part, but at the time this was released, it was introducing several new concepts such as perhaps the Catholic Church isn't quite looking out for Alison's best interests. The film also faced the same criticism Freaks had in hiring several real physically unique people to portray the damned from Hell. The cast list is pretty impressive, there's some definite notables and early appearances of some who would move on to bigger roles. For example, the couple at the end are Tom Beringer and Nana Visitor in what I think are their first movie roles. I do feel it's worth seeing at least once. After all, how often are you going to see a cat birthday. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gLYQBuguhs
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Oct 2, 2020 11:12
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 49) Demonoid - 1981 - Youtube This was the sort of film you'd see at the rental place, decide to give it a chance based on the coverbox, and end up with feeling the sting of coverbox promise. Storyline's around possessed left hands taken out of a cult's chamber in a mine. I wouldn't quite say it's actively bad. There's some decent parts in the beginning and end, but the rest of it's pretty mediocre. It feels like it was a 'pray it does better on home video' kinda thing. Overall, this is pretty skippable  50) One Dark Night - 1983 - TubiTV When I first saw this as a teen, I didn't like it. I felt it was boooooring and took too long to get to the good stuff. Revising this, it's definitely one I had to do some growing to appreciate. It begins with six girls found dead in the apartment of Raymar the occultist. It turns out Raymar was a psychic vampire who fed off the bioenergy of terrified girls. He was also a telekinetic. At the same time, Julie's drawn the ire of the snobby Sisters club for daring to date one of their exes. They offer for her to join thier group after a hazing, though it's really more for revenge over her dating choice. Of course the hazing's set to take place at the same mausoleum Raymar's just been interred. We know where this is going. This film's big strength is the atmosphere it builds. Yeah, it's got a lot of walking down corridors slowly, but it does build the tension well conveying that sense of uncomfortable quiet walking down the marble halls, and add that to the silence of the floating corpses gives that unease of genuinely not knowing what's going to be around the corner. It's definitely worth a watch.  51) This House Possessed - 1981 - Youtube It's probably a Sign that if I remember watching a TV movie but not remember what it was about, it probably wasn't good. Yeah, this one's not particularly good. Storyline starts with a couple teens sneaking on a property for some makeout time only to have the house attack them. It then shifts to a rockstar having a breakdown on stage so he decides to buy a house on the spot to go recover in with his private nurse. Guess which house he happened to buy? The rest of the story's as predictable as can be and told as bland as it can be. It turns out the house isn't haunted like most of the synopsis of this film claims, but more techno semi-sentient. Demon Seed did a better job of handling the concept. This one's pretty skippable.
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Oct 2, 2020 16:33
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 52) The Midnight Hour - 1985 - Youtube This TV movie's so 80s my hair boofed and my nightshirt spontaneously popped shoulderpads. Storyline's the traditional curse gets activated on Halloween and needs to get broken before it becomes permanent. I liked the soundtrack on this and overall the makeup wasn't too shabby. I found it overall fairly fun. I'll definitely be adding this to my seasonal viewing. Franchescanado posted:Fran Challenge #1: Horror Noire  53) Vampires vs The Bronx - 2020 - Netflix Vampires and Gentrification. This combo goes so well together I'm surprised we haven't seen it sooner. While this one is PG-13, it completely works. The horror comes from multiple angles. Where to begin on this one...right from the start there's ample references and callbacks to all things vampire connected. I liked the little touches like the influencer's message chat mentioned things like people disappearing and what local businesses were now gone. I liked the varying approach to depicting gentrification being damaging to the neighborhood. Even the most oblivious out there knows about how the apartment rents go up, but seeing the local businesses go and get replaced with stores like a buttery (Who the hell goes to a store just for flavored butter? You can make that stuff at home.) or stores carrying more pricey goods instead of reasonably priced goods. I also liked how it presented the varying local attitudes ranging from 'I'm outta here' to trying to keep the neighborhood together. The cast did a wonderful job and I can honestly say I never expected to see Method Man as a priest. I enjoyed this very much and would put it in a double feature with Monster Squad.
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Oct 2, 2020 22:31
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Watch a horror movie with a predominantly black cast
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 54) Color Out of Space - 2019 - Shudder My Mom's biggest gripe about Lovecraft adaptations was that they always fell flat when it came to showing eldritch horrors. Only film she felt came close was the Horror in Rock n Rule which convinced her that animation was the way to go. I think this movie would've changed her mind. I thought the mutations were handled well, though I did get Carpenter's The Thing vibes from the alpacas in the barn mutation. Cast was hit or miss with me. I didn't like Lavinia, but Ward Phillips was done exceptionally well. If they do end up having this be a sort of launch point for new Lovecraft adaptations, as long as the actor for Ward's the same, I'm very interested in seeing where it goes. Overall, I liked this and recommend it.  55) Color Out of Space - 2010 - Prime This is my favorite adaptation of the story. It does have a side lead in story that works pretty well with the main story showing off the layers of the Color's corruption, and I really liked the choice of filming in black & white and saving the color for the Color. Combined I feel it comes closer to the flavor of the original story. Another highly recommend from me.
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Oct 3, 2020 05:05
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 56) Ava's Possessions - 2015 - Prime This one was good but had they not crammed in multiple films worth of content, it could've been great. The film takes place in a reality where it's commonly known that demons are real, and possessions happening are such a known thing that there's a version of AA to help people recover after an exorcism. The story starts with Ava's exorcism after 28 days of being possessed. She has no memory of what happened during this time, but soon learns the serious damage that happened during her possession. She's lost her job, friends, boyfriend and is potentially facing jail time. Ava ends up taking a plea deal where part of it is attending possession rehab. The program entails learning about and coming to terms with actions taken while possessed and learning how to resist potential repossessions. Failing the program will result in being committed to a facility capable of handling the formerly possessed who can't or won't resist repossession. Just from that alone would've made a compelling movie. But then there's an intricate murder investigation with a twist opening up the door for further story. This was good also but crammed in as it is, everything doesn't get fleshed out as much as it can. All this stretched out into two movies minimum would've really made it shine. If you're looking for something that goes beyond the traditional 'gets possessed then exorcised-The End', give this one a try. It's worth it.  57) The Shed - 2019 - Shudder Overall, I liked this though with a few tweaks this could've gone from good to pretty drat good. Stan, an orphan living with his abusive grandfather ends up with a vampire in the back shed. This is on top of the daily bullying he and his only friend Dommer receive as well as the Sheriff's taunting him about in a month he won't be going to juvvie next time he gets into trouble. A goodly portion of the film focusses more on the shitshow Stan's living in and how he tries to cope with it until his friend Dommer learns about the vampire. To Stan, the vampire as it's already killed his grandfather and the dog is something to be destroyed, while to Dommer it's the weapon they can use to get back at the bullies who make their lives a daily hell. The last portion of the film is full on vampire fighting goodness. I absolutely loved the vampire look following the old 'Salem's Lot style. The gripes I have are mostly to editing such as they could've cut the stake making portion of the prep montage to half and freed up more time for something else like further characterization. I consider this worth a watch.
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Oct 3, 2020 09:21
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 58) DeadTectives - 2018 - Shudder I admit when it comes to ghost hunter films, I do have a soft spot when it's the hunters are hucksters and they come across real deal ghosts. So this one was right up my alley. The ghost hunters here have been getting by with their special effects guy's work, but now their ratings are dropping. So they are going to 'investigate' the most haunted house in Mexico, but they quickly learn, it's the real deal here. This one was really good. The pacing from 'this isn't real' to 'Holy poo poo this is real!' was handled well and the ending set up to be both a positive end or open up to a possible sequel.  59) La Llorona - 2019 - Shudder I thought this was the other La Llorona film that was out, but I was definitely not disappointed with this one at all. It is a bit of a slow burn and there are parts that are rough to get through. Story begins Guatemala where the huge trial of a retired general over his actions during a genocidal massacre on the Mayans decades ago is occurring. The given testimonies are devastating and he's found guilty only for the verdict to get overturned on a technicality and he goes home. The public's rightfully pissed off and surround his house holding protests. Between the crowds outside and the general's growing erratic behavior in the house, the majority of the servants quit. Not long after a young woman, Alma applies for a servant's job at the house and soon the supernatural events ramp up. There are layers on layers in this one. There's the general's family coming to grips with what he told them happened vs the trial testimony, the general's steadily deteriorating mental state, visions of what actually happened at the massacre, Alma's enigmatic comments, and the ending reveal. This one really packed a punch. I liked the take of La Llorona as a bringer of justice. Count this on my recommended to watch list.
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Oct 3, 2020 18:46
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