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1. Body Melt (1993), Australia Body Melt is a pretty apt name even though the film has somewhat fewer actually melting bodies than the name suggests but more than it's fair share of contorted, torn, imploding, and writhing with seemingly sentient mucus bodies. Body Melt is part of a small subgenre of body horror sometimes called Melt Movies or even "Meltsploitation" where the complete disintegration of the body is the main focal point. The most notable examples outside of this are of course Street Trash, The Incredible Melting Man, Slime City, and The Stuff. Some have also categorized Society as a Melt Movie but I think it's more melt adjacent than fully melt. It doesn't really go as far with it's satire of the health/fitness industry as one would hope but it's good fun and has a weird detour early on where two of the characters visit a service station run by yokels reminiscent of the mutants from The Hills Have Eyes but it all fits together pretty well in the end and has a lot more creepy hallucination/dream sequences than I was expecting from film that is otherwise mostly a showcase for schlocky gore effects all of whom look really gross in the best possible way. Not a good movie to pair with food. Also anyone who has ever seen an episode of quintessential Australian soap opera Neighbors will recognize actor Ian Smith who played the fuddy-duddy mild mannered shopkeeper Harold on that show from 1987 to 2009 (with a five year break that one time Harold killed himself by walking into the sea) here Smith plays a very different character as the sinister Dr. Carrera. You can tell they knew people wouldn't expect Smith in this role because for the first few seconds Dr. Carrera is on screen we only see him from behind him turning around was probably a shocking reveal to Australian audiences in 1993. The soundtrack is great fun and consists largely of extremely early 90s electronic music which sometimes fits the scene perfectly and other times clashes with it in just the right way. It's a fun film even if , or maybe because, it's extremely mean spirited, vile, and generally sleazy.   
FreudianSlippers fucked around with this message at 21:47 on May 5, 2021 |
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May 5, 2021 21:43
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| # ¿ May 18, 2024 22:25 |
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2. What Have You Done to Solange? (1972) Italy The protagonist, Italian teacher Enrico Rosseni, is pretty off putting. He comes of as a creep (he's having an affair with a student) but isn't quite gross or assholish enough for it to be fun. Mostly he's just a bit dull. The central mystery doesn't really get rolling until more than an hour into the film where the titular Solange is first mentioned and it soon becomes very clear just what is going on but it's still pretty well put together and if you enjoy giallo in general you'll probably enjoy this. The sexualized nature of giallo violence is taken a step further than usual as the victims are all killed by a knife wound to the genitals. Basically the most explicitly phallic symbolism I've ever seen in a giallo or slasher and that's saying something. This is one of several giallo films that while mostly Italian takes place in another country. Of the top of my head Death Walks on High Heels, Lizard in a Woman's Skin , and The Living Dead in the Manchester Morgue are three other Italian productions that take place fully or partly in England. Also notable is the masterful but underseen Short Night of Glass Dolls which takes place entirely in Prague. This is nothing unique to giallo or even Italian films. Anyone who has ever seen a European film will notice that even today every one of them starts with the logos of at least two production companies and five or more film funds from different countries. This is because there isn't quite as much money in the European film industry (or rather industries as each country and/or region has its own) as in the American one and if you want to make a movie on anything more than a shoestring budget you need to collaborate with someone across borders to ensure the maximum amount of grants and financing and to ensure the broadest possible release area. One interesting sidenote is that while I'm pretty sure that like all Italian films of that era Solange was filmed entirely MOS (without sound recorded on set) and dubbed afterwards but from what I gather unlike most films where every actor would speak their own language on set regardless of what it was because it would be dubbed over anyway in this film everyone spoke English on set which has the effect that the lip movement matches the dialogue a lot more than it usually does in these sorts of film.   
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May 6, 2021 18:36
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3. The Zero Boys (1986) USA A paintball team that calls themselves The Zero Boys stumbles upon an abandoned house when on a trip in the countryside and they soon find out that the house hides a bloody secret. Fortunately the Zero Boys brought their submachine guns. I really wish this was a better movie than it is. The idea of mashing together action and slasher is great but the film doesn't really excel enough at either genre for it to work. The kills are few and mostly underwhelming and outside of the opening shootout (which is great) there isnīt nearly enough action. One thing I think harms the film is that the killers are just some random dudes and fairly dopey looking and easily dispatched so they're never really threatening or scary. If the killer had been an unstoppable juggernut in the tradition of Jasion or latter Thorn Curse Michael Myers I think it wouldīve been a much more interesting dynamic. It's pretty well directed and there are some cool and fun moments and a pretty interesting and creepy proto-"torture porn" element involving video but it never really clicked for me. Also the titular Zero Boys are bunch of douchebags.    4. Crawl (2019) USA  A simple premise: One woman, her dad, his dog, and a whole bunch of hungry alligators trapped in flooding house during a hurricane. Of course it's a little bit more complicated than that. There's of course the interpersonal familial drama and what not but the simplicity of the central premise is a big part of what I like about the film. It's streamlined and focused in a way that is only achieved when you don't overcomplicate. It's basically I'm a big practical effects nerd but I think the CGI gators in this film are actually a showcase for the pros of CGI as they get a long of long shots full of action and expression that would be pretty hard to achieve outside of releasing actual live alligators on the cast. It's not quite as good as I was expecting, but that's my own fault for hyping myself up, but still a blast and a fun ride throughout. also the dog is adorable.   
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May 9, 2021 20:34
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Retro Futurist posted:For the Mexican movie do English GDT movies count? Been meaning to check Crimson Peak off my list. That's something I think about a lot. Like are Cobra or The Zero Boys a Greek films even though both have American casts and and are set in America because the directors are Greeks? Alternatively is Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, a film directed by an American but with an entirely Japanese cast speaking Japanese dialogue based on a Japanese subject filmed in Japan an American film? I have yet to come to a conclusion.
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May 10, 2021 20:15
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The 1968 Whistle and I'll Come For You is by far the best M.R. James adaptation. It's mostly a middle aged dude mumbling and eating but when it gets spooky it goes full on boundless terror. Night of the Demon comes close but it's such a loose adaptation that it barely counts. The Stalls of Barchester, Honest Hearts, and The Ash Tree are all good though if you have a taste for somewhat dry British TV stuff. I'm working on an even looser adaptation of the same story ( Oh, Whistle and I'll Come For You, My Lad that is) but my main worry is that it won't live up to the classic. The recentish version is alright.
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May 10, 2021 21:37
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5. SHORT CUTS The Black Tower (1987) UK  23 minutes A young Londoner going about his business spots a strange black tower peering slightly over the rooftops in his neighborhood. Soon he begins noticing identical buildings around the city and begins to wonder what their purpose is. Soon however he becomes convinced that all of them are one malevolent structure that is following him around the city. The presentation for this one is a bit unusual. The entire film is told through narration by a protagonist whom we only glimpse briefly in a few shots. In one we see his chest as he gets up from bed, in another we see his fingers as he does his dishes, and other appearances are similarly fleeting and unclear. Most of the imagery is of cityscapes with the titular tower either there or not. When I first began watching I couldn't help but feel that with this mostly audio presentation this might as well have been a radio drama but around the halfway point there is a sequence where the protagonist attempt to outrun the tower only to find it at every corner. This is shown by a sequence of rapid cuts between the tower in various different locations with the only real sound being the fast rhythmic patter of running feet. Near the end of the scene each shot cuts closer and closer to the tower until it almost fills the entire screen with a small section in the upper corner where the sky still shows through. At this moment I realized that this exact frame had been shown several times before in the film but I never realized that what I was looking at then was a close-up of the tower. This rather subtle reveal was honestly chilling in it's simplicity I get the feeling the film is supposed to be some sort of metaphor for depression or mental illness in general. Depression has often been euphemistically referred to as "The Black Dog" so a tower isn't much of a stress but mainly because of how inescapable it feels and because the protagonist makes frequent attempts to ask other people about the tower and at best he is ignored which eventually leads to him self isolate to avoid the tower and eventually get committed to a hospital The scariest film about hostile architecture I've ever seen.    The Signalman (1976) UK 38 minutes  A upper class twit bothers a railway worker at his job. A great example of the 1970s A Ghost Story for Christmas TV adaptations of classic ghost stories. Not quite as good as the gold standard of that genre the 1968 Whistle and I'll Come to You but still definitely one of the best. Most of the film is two men, the aforementioned toff who one day randomly decides to drop in on a railway signalman and start asking him about his job and life. The signalman reveals that for some time he has been haunted by a specter that appears only shortly before fatal accidents on the line and that specter has been appearing again recently. He is torn on whether to report the possible danger to his superiors and be branded a madman if nothing actually happens or not to warn anyone and simply watch as disaster unfolds knowing he might've prevented it. I've never read the story this is based on so I don't know how much justice it does to it but I feel it really nails the spooky atmosphere and ratcheting tension that any good ghost story needs. It also has a fair share of striking imagery and a great use of disconcerting sound. The specter itself is also very effectively spooky in the few times we glimpse it.   
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May 13, 2021 02:46
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6.The Night Strangler (1973) USA Cranky veteran reporter Kolchack, now residing in Seattle after being run out of Las Vegas, soon gets involved in the investigation of a eerie series of strangulation murders that appear to be carried out by a rotting living dead corpse. He soon discovers that an almost identical series of murders takes place every 21 years going back to the 19th century. A follow-up to the 1972 TV film The Night Stalker which has a very similar plot and structure. Kolchack discovers something supernatural with a series of killings, gets into arguments with his editor about publishing it, the police begin to hassle him for getting in their way. It being so similar to the previous film isn't detrimental because it's a formula that works really well. Which is probably the reason the films got a TV show based on them that created the "Monster of the Week" structure that later inspired shows like The X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Supernatural. Especially The X-Files who had a few episodes with Eugene Tooms, a killer that was no-doubt heavily inspired by the ghoul in this film in that he carries out similar killings every 30 years. Something about the combination of investigative procedural and supernatural horror really works for me. Darren McGavin's performance as Kolchak is a great mix of grizzled and witty. In a lot of ways he feels like a hard boiled detective straight out of a film noir. It's got a great soundtrack and cinematography and the effects aren't too shabby, especially considering that this was made for TV. This and the first film   
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May 17, 2021 01:13
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Also they say Samhain like it's written instead of the correct "Saw-whin". SMH
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May 18, 2021 19:58
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I've never understood brackets. I think it's one of those wacky American things I'll never fully comprehend like customer service, baggers, and a military.
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May 18, 2021 23:00
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The City of the Dead (1960) Nan Barlow, a university student travels to a isolated New England village to research witchcraft under suggestion from her history professor Alan Driscoll. She expects a sleepy little hamlet but finds THE CITY OF THE DEAD. Possibly the foggiest movie ever made rivaled only by The Fog and possible The Mist. It's a fairly simple story. Of course Alan Driscoll the character played by Cristopher Lee turns out to be not only in on the witchcraft but seemingly one of the top Satanists. Do I even need to spoiler this part? I mean why would they even have Cristopher Lee in the film if he was only playing a professor? It would've been an amazing twist if Professor Driscoll had turned out to be just a passionate historian or even if he would've shown up to save the day. What we got was still goof if predictable. . The one thing that did surprise me is that Nan is actually killed halfway through the film via a brilliant match cut with a sacrifical dagger coming towards her and then it cuts to a cake being cut at her cousin's birthday party. It felt a bit like Psycho before Psycho. Have us follow the main heroine for a while and then have her suddenly die and have the rest of the film revolve around solving her murder. Her boyfriend "Dick" and her brother, both of whom are Serious Men of Science who don't believe in all of this witchcraft poppycock are sadly a bit dull but they carry the plot forward decently enough. The actual ending of the film has them dispatch the witches by holding a cross near them which causes them to immediately catch fire from the holy shadow of the cross falling upon them. Strangely the cross in question is found in the same cemetery the witches have been walking back and forth through apparently for 300 years without burning up. As silly as this is it was also fun as hell and I wouldn't be surprised if the classic 90s Build Shooter BLOOD took inspiration from this scene as a large chunk of that game revolves around setting fire to robed Satanic cultists and watching them write around in screaming agony. Albeit using flareguns and napalm instead of a cross. Other than the countless foggy shots of ominous robed figures in derelict graveyards the highpoint of the film might actually be the opening scene in which we witness a witch burning. Some of the locals have really interesting faces and watching them jeer and sneer as they demand the witch be burned was a great time. A Somewhat boilerplate Witch/Satanist film plot wise but it more than makes up for it by oozing foggy spookiness out of every necrotic pore. oh and also the "Superstition, Fear, and Jealousy" sample from Dragula is taken from this film.   
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May 20, 2021 23:33
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FreudianSlippers posted:The City of the Dead (1960) I should add that this is a British film despite being set in America and though I have, uncharacteristically, done zero research I feel like a good chunk of the actors are Brits putting on varyingly convincing American accents. But at least they're in New England where half the accents sound at least partly Britishesque.
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May 21, 2021 23:11
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8. Evilspeak (1981) USA Coppersmith, a geeky military school cadet, who is bullied for being Clint Howard, gets revenge on his tormentors via the power of computers and Satan. I had heard about this film before as a sci-fi horror about evil computers so I was a bit confused when this started out on a beach in the16th century with a bunch of people in robes performing a Satanic ritual after a mild scolding from a Spanish priest. As soon as it cut to the next scene in the modern day (of 1981) I figured it was just backstory but I still found it pretty interesting how the film combined Satanic supernatural horror with sci-fi elements. Or maybe the other way around, sci-fi horror with Satanic elements. In a lot of ways it's very similar to Carrie except with computers instead of psychokinesis. The bullies in this film are, in true 80s movie bully fashion, just absolutely despicable and basically pure evil. Every scene they're in they're doing or saying something horrible to Coopersmith culminating in them drunkenly sacrificing his puppy to Satan for fun . Which makes it all the more enjoyable when Coopersmith finally harnesses the powers of Darkness to destroy them all. Basically Carrie except with dudes. There's a lot of cool animations on the computer as the ritual progresses    Like the last film I watched, City of the Dead, , Evilspeak has one really great match cut: in the first scene of the film a topless lady is decapitated as a ritual sacrifice to Satan and her head flies out of flame and a soon as it does they cut to a football flying through the air. also the soundtrack rules and is really expressive and fun. Like near the start Coopersmith finds a wolf mask in the cellar of the church and as soon as he hold it up a sound that is eerily similar to a wolf howling kicks in on the soundtrack. There's also a part where there's a bunch of skeletons in the dungeon and there's what sounds like a tiny bit of xylophone, the official instrument of skeletons.   
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May 23, 2021 21:29
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Cushing as Arthur Grimsdyke is one of my favourite revenants in media. I have a soft spot for walking corpses with no eyes.
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May 24, 2021 23:28
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Hollismason posted:I could use some recommendations for Cinco challenge. I'm not familiar with Mexican horror. I've seen Cronos but its been a long time. I'd rather something that is not really intense. El Santo and the Blue Demon vs The Monsters is good clean fun. The Mummies of Guanajuato featuring El Santo, Blue Demon, and Mil Mascaras is even more bonkers.
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May 25, 2021 00:42
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| # ¿ May 18, 2024 22:25 |
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I got one more movie in before the deadline but still fell short. will edit this post with it later.
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Jun 1, 2021 15:53
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