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   THE CHALLENGE BEGINS TODAY, APRIL 30TH, RIGHT NOW THE CHALLENGE ENDS JUNE 1ST, @ 12PM EST You will have to have logged your final movie at this point. Final remarks and totals can be posted after 12PM, but new movies to add to your total will not be counted. (big thanks to Franchescanado, as the majority of this OP is stolen directly from past challenge threads) The Rules: 1. Watch movies appropriate to the challenge (see below for what counts) 2. Write a review 3. Discussion is welcome and encouraged, however maybe take any long derails to the regular horror thread. 4. Don't be a dick.  Goals & Requirements: The most common goal among participants is 13 movies, and many may go for 31, but there is no mandatory amount of films. You can participate with as much or as little enthusiasm as you want. You can watch as many movies as possible - we've had people literally watch hundreds! You can create any personal goals for yourself you'd like. Pick a subgenre to dive into, catch up on recent releases, rewatch some old favorites, etc. If you are working from a Letterboxd list, feel free to share it! Or go with no theme at all and watch whatever you feel like on any given day. Chaos reigns! The only requirement is to watch a horror movie and then write about it. You can write as much as you'd like, really break down a film and dig into some analysis, or it can just be a couple of sentences sharing your thoughts, but you have to write something. No need to give a numerical or star rating or anything like that, but many people do. I'm not enforcing any particular minimum review length, but if your review can fit into a single tweet it's probably not long enough. Screenshots/gifs are always fun and welcome too, but certainly not required in any way.  Challenges & Rewards: At the end of the month there will be a drawing for a fabulous prize, and to be eligible you need to have watched at least 13 films. One entry per person no matter how films you watch beyond that goal of 13.  Challenges will be posted Monday 5/2 around noon EST. See the second post of this thread for details once those are up. Completing all 13 challenges will earn you an extra entry into the drawing, plus the eternal respect and admiration of your peers. Wow! What Movies Can I Watch? movies, for the sake of this challenge, are considered anything longer than 60 minutes  Horror Movies Thrillers Horror Comedies or Musicals Movies Set During or Around Halloween (Hocus Pocus, The Guest) Documentaries about horror films or horror-related topics (serial killers, the supernatural, etc) Family Friendly movies that meet the above requirements (Alvin & The Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein)If you have questions about whether or not a movie counts, feel free to ask me here or via PM. I'm not going to be overly strict about what is/isn't horror during this challenge, just don't try to argue that Saving Private Ryan counts because it's about the horrors of war, or that Scenes From a Marriage is about the horrors of divorce, and you should be good.  What DOESN'T Count TV Shows (This is CineD, not TVIV) mini-series Masters of Horror episodes MST3k episodes (you must watch the actual, unedited movie)There is a big grey area of what's considered "fair", and it gets exhausting trying to pick and choose what is justifiable. I love Stephen King's The Storm of the Century, and Twin Peaks The Return, but the mini-series format is wildly inconsistent in length. It's a little unfair for someone to watch a 45 minute episode of Masters of Horror and it counts the same as Never Sleep Again, which is a four hour investment. It also creates the grey area of "Is ____ show a mini-series? Technically season one is self-contained." Let's just avoid it altogether. Please just watch something else. Keep in mind, this is a FILM forum, and this is a MOVIE challenge. There will be the inevitable naysayer who posts "I don't care what the rules say, I'm going to count Netflix's The Haunting of Bly Manor." Just play nice and watch a movie instead. I probably won't call you out, but it will be ignored when it comes to tallying results.  That's it! Hopefully I didn't miss anything, but feel free to ask anyway questions or add any comments. Go! Have fun! gey muckle mowser fucked around with this message at 02:22 on May 1, 2022 |
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Apr 30, 2022 15:30
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CHALLENGES Some of these are oldies but goodies taken from Fran's old threads, some are new. If you aren't sure if a film qualifies for a particular challenge, just ask in the thread or via PM. If you need any suggestions I'm sure the thread will be happy to recommend something as well. Challenge rules: - Each film must be new to you - You can only complete one challenge per film, even if the film would qualify for more than one - In your write up, mention why the film fits the challenge (if it's not immediately obvious)  1. Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched- Watch a folk horror film - OR Watch the documentary Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched  2. Scream, Queen! - Watch a film by a LGBQT+ director - OR Watch a film that deals heavily with LGBQT+ themes. You will need to include these in your write-up.  3. Rated PG- Watch a film rated PG or PG-13 - OR Watch the film Psycho Goreman  4. Music of the Night- Watch a horror musical - OR watch a film that heavily features music and/or musicians as part of the plot  5. Behind the Screams- Watch a documentary about a horror film or filmmaker - OR watch a film where the characters are making a horror film (e.g. Shadow of the Vampire, New Nightmare, etc)  6. The King in Yellow- Watch any giallo or giallo-influenced film 7. Short Cuts- Watch 60+ minutes worth of horror short films and review them.  8. A Perfect Getaway- Watch a film from a country you've never seen a film from.  9. Hidden Gems- Watch a film from Franchescanado's Letterboxd list of Horror Film Hidden Gems (Fran since I assume you have seen all of those, you are exempt and can instead watch whatever you want for this challenge!)  10. The Price is Right- Watch a film featuring Vincent Price 11. Horror Noire- Watch a film directed by a black filmmaker - OR Watch a film with themes that predominantly relate to POC. You will need to write about these themes in your review.  12. All Hail the King- Watch a film based on the works of (or written by) Stephen King  13. Sins of the Past- Watch a film released before 1950 
gey muckle mowser fucked around with this message at 20:36 on May 2, 2022 |
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Apr 30, 2022 15:30
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I'm in for 13 movies
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Apr 30, 2022 15:43
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In for 13+
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Apr 30, 2022 15:52
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In for 13 and starting the first now!
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Apr 30, 2022 15:57
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Put me down for 13 Fridays
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Apr 30, 2022 16:01
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I'm in for at least 13 Considering the Panic Fest is ongoing (virtually; Shudder gave a 20% off pass purchases with the code Shudder20) and Firestarter and Men both come to theaters soon, I might have that done very quickly
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Apr 30, 2022 16:08
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My goal is going to be 31, which might be ambitious depending on how busy I am this month, but we’ll see!Chris James 2 posted:Considering the Panic Fest is ongoing (virtually; Shudder gave a 20% off pass purchases with the code Shudder20) Neat, I’m gonna check that out. Also if anyone wants a good source of horror movies to watch this month, Shudder has a free one-week trial and it’s only like $6/mo after that. Their library could be helpful (but in no way required) for a couple of the challenges as well.
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Apr 30, 2022 16:15
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13 is my minimum 31 the upper goal.
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Apr 30, 2022 16:17
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Awesome! So glad this is back. I'm in for 13, at least, with the goal of all of them being new to me. #1. Night of the Living Dead (Shudder via The Last Drive-In) A disparate group of survivors hole up in a country farmhouse when the living dead begin attacking, but internal conflicts threaten to destroy them all before the zombie horde can. Not including this one, of course. I've written about the pleasure of seeing the original Living Dead film with a mostly unaware audience before, either in the regular horror thread or a previous challenge thread. Most new audiences, raised up on a diet of "The Walking Dead" and the 2000s era zombie films, come into this one giggling over the stilted acting in the beginning and the (admittedly a bit goofy looking in hindsight) first zombie attack; that slows down once the rotting body is found in the farmhouse and well and truly dies as things just get progressively worse and worse. It has a continuing power to unnerve, even in the wake of all of its successors and imitators, and the ending still packs a wallop almost 60 years later. My ears perked up a bit more this time at a line said by one of the doctors on the TV report at the 2/3rds mark: "The bereaved will have to forego the dubious comforts that a funeral service will give... They're just dead flesh, and dangerous." Certainly a fitting line for Our Current Plague Years, and a sign that a film can still surprise you with relevancy decades after it was released. Proof that while the words may change, the song never does. All that said, while Night of the Living Dead is an incredible film, it has a strange pace that lends itself to nervous energy. It's a strength for the film itself, but that makes it the wrong topic for a Joe Bob Briggs cover on "The Last Drive-In." While there's a lot of detail that Briggs can provide, and a healthy series of Film Studies 101 interpretations he does cover, ultimately pulling away from the film does a lot to dilute the power of its ever increasing tension. I can appreciate the desire to celebrate all sorts of Horror Hosts over the years, but the presentation is further hampered by an appearance by Svengoolie; I like his shtick, but it applies best to drive-in schlock and low budget trash, not subversive nasty thrillers like this one. Ultimately, there are multiple avenues to find and watch Night of the Living Dead out there, with the Criterion Collection's remaster being the best option; if you somehow haven't seen this one before, make sure you see it uncut and sans interruptions. The drive in may never die, but not every movie benefits by being there. /5/5 with interludesWatched so far: Night of the Living Dead
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Apr 30, 2022 16:24
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I’m in until the end, let’s just see how many I can get in this month. The List https://boxd.it/gp7Mc Will also be revisiting old favorites as well since its my birthday month and it's not a birthday month without a revisit to The Thing or Dawn of the Dead or From Beyond.  Though I need to think of a franchise to run through this month. I've completed: Friday the 13th A Nightmare on Elm Street Child's Play Leprechaun Attempted but not completed: Hellraiser Tremors Texas Chainsaw Massacre Saw Thinking about : Resident Evil Underworld dorium fucked around with this message at 17:47 on Apr 30, 2022 |
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Apr 30, 2022 16:53
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Excited to participate and love the thread title Going to go for at least 13. Going to rewatch some older Godzillas if those count. A True Jar Jar Fan fucked around with this message at 22:24 on Apr 30, 2022 |
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Apr 30, 2022 17:42
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I'm in with an initial list of 13 mostly extreme horrors I haven't caught yet, and I have another 13 more modern films waiting I'll attempt if time allows once I watch 'em for a total of 26. I'm not a big fan of gore/extreme horror but I'm going to have an attempt at watching anyway... This May hurt a little.  https://letterboxd.com/robbzombae/list/13-for-half-way-to-halloween-2022/
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Apr 30, 2022 18:39
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I’m in for at least 13, but I am going to go with the flow and probably watch more than that.
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Apr 30, 2022 18:42
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This go, I'm aiming to do just 13. Needless to say, I'll probably doing more than that. Mostly I'm long term planning for October's go to be the all out extravaganza. Since today's a long one for work, I'll start tomorrow.
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Apr 30, 2022 18:54
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Going for 13, haven’t watched too much horror since the October challenge and I’m definitely ready to catch up on my watchlist. Just going to go with the flow and let the challenges give me some guidance.
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Apr 30, 2022 19:03
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1) The World of Kanako There's some very obvious comparisons to be made to Fire Walk With Me or Gone Girl here, and I think those are not only true, but absolutely compliments. Add in a little over the top psychedelic Japanese direction, and you have yourself a really fun and twisty movie. 4/5 2) Eyes Without a Face / Les Yeux Sans Visage This felt very much like a "modern" (20th century at least) fairy tale, but with a cruel doctor instead of a cruel stepmother, and the fair maiden is locked away in a clinic instead of a castle tower. It's a very gripping story, and the practical effects are VERY effective for something that's nearly 70 years old. The first surgery scene is downright unsettling. 4/5 Edit-- it's also worth mentioning how IMMACULATE the Criterion transfer of Eyes Without a Face is. It's stunning. Count Thrashula fucked around with this message at 19:32 on Apr 30, 2022 |
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Apr 30, 2022 19:20
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Count Thrashula posted:1) The World of Kanako I’ve heard the name of this one but didn’t know anything about it, sounds awesome. RobbZombae posted:I'm in with an initial list of 13 mostly extreme horrors I haven't caught yet, and I have another 13 more modern films waiting I'll attempt if time allows once I watch 'em for a total of 26. I'm not a big fan of gore/extreme horror but I'm going to have an attempt at watching anyway... I wish I could watch Horrors of Malformed Men again for the first time, it’s bonkers.
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Apr 30, 2022 20:29
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I'm in for that unlucky 13, friendos. 1/13 - Cat's Eye (1985)  I love anthology horror films, so a good first choice was one of the best Stephen King adaptations -- Cat's Eye! Cat's Eye is based on two stories from Night Shift (one of King's best short story collections) and a new story created as a segment and a wrap-around for the rest of the movie. I would say the biggest weakness of the movie is that while all three segments are iconic in their own way, the second one -- The Ledge -- is good but slows down the pace too much for a really effective horror anthology. A lot of the rad dark energy generated by the ending of the first story stalls out while the second story does dark comedy, and while that's great, it means the third story has to work extra hard to bring the mood back and I'm not sure that it totally does. Still a great anthology, though, with multiple memorable moments.  
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Apr 30, 2022 21:09
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100% in. Been waiting for months and have been tinkering with my list nonstop! 🌻💀 Spook-A-Doodle Half-Way-To-Halloween ’22: Return of the Fallen & King Spring 💀🌻. The short version is I have 3 main goals here. 1) 13 Stephen King entries. 2) 13 films from my fallen Bracketology teams. 3) Any Bracketology films this year I didn't get to or that come up. I'll do challenges if they come. I'll do other scavenger hunts I have or movies I just feel in the mood for. I'll go overboard as always. Should be fun. gey muckle mowser posted:What DOESN'T Count As I do every year I will humbly suggest that if you just allow mini-series and say "it all counts as one entry" than the only person hurt by that is the one who chooses to spend 6-10 hours for 1 entry when others are getting 3-6 films in that time. And this has nothing to do with the fact that I'm theming my month off of Stephen King, Mike Flannagan, and Mick Garris. I swear. Now I'll drop it and just not count them as official entries if I watch them and nothing changes. Thank you for hearing me. The park needs new benches and too many dogs poop on my lawn.
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Apr 30, 2022 21:19
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Awesome! I'm in for 13 and maybe 31 but I don't even have a list yet.
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Apr 30, 2022 21:25
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Sweet! Put me down for at least 13 films too. This is lucky for me, because I'm probably going on a family trip in October. I'm probably going to try and watch some of the DVDs/blu-rays/UHDs I've accumulated, but I'll end up winging it.
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Apr 30, 2022 21:41
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I love this idea. At the end of the month I'm moving so I'll take it easy on myself and go for 13.
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Apr 30, 2022 22:05
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Well I think I can do 13, I'll just watch all the Bracketology stuff as usual 
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Apr 30, 2022 23:10
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I'm gonna take this opportunity to watch these arrow box sets I've been sleeping on: Phantasm, House, Hellraiser, and The Ring, and also this Friday the 13th scream factory collection.
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May 1, 2022 00:26
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I’m also planning on going through stuff I bought on physical but haven’t really watched. Again, keeping it pretty loose, though.
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May 1, 2022 01:10
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I usually have a decent sized stack of unwatched movies to go through too but I haven’t bought much in the past couple of months. I might actually hit up my local shop this week and grab a couple things, I’m sure there have been some good recent releases that I’ve missed.
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May 1, 2022 01:26
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Let's gooooo
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May 1, 2022 02:10
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I'm down for at least 13 (and watching my second of the day right now), focusing on the challenges once they're up.
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May 1, 2022 02:11
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Put me in for 13
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May 1, 2022 02:12
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I'm always down. In for 13
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May 1, 2022 02:16
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I did 31 for both months last year, and it was a little exhausting; this go around I'm just going to watch 13+. Previously I've included some moderately-spooky thrillers; my big stipulation for 2022 is I'm going to watch 100% Horror-rear end horror. Also try to work on my Shudder backlog, because I pay for that site but I don't use it enough.
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May 1, 2022 02:42
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I vaguley remember people counting The Green Knight for last year's challenge, was that legit? I know it's by A24 and has a big scary monster so I assume it's pretty close to horror at least.
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May 1, 2022 03:09
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Gripweed posted:I vaguley remember people counting The Green Knight for last year's challenge, was that legit? I know it's by A24 and has a big scary monster so I assume it's pretty close to horror at least. There’s monsters, ghosts, and witches. I’ve seen movies with a lot less horror elements called horror. It’s also a pretty dark and harsh tone and story.
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May 1, 2022 03:17
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I haven't been watching too many movies lately, but I'm going to say I'm in for 13 "new to me" horror movies and see how it goes.
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May 1, 2022 03:22
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3) The House That Jack Built (rewatch, wife hadn't seen it) "Some people claim that the atrocities we commit in our fiction are those inner desires which we cannot commit in our controlled civilization; so they are expressed instead in our art. I don't agree. I believe Heaven and Hell are one in the same. The soul belongs to Heaven, and the body to Hell. The soul is reason, and the body is... all the dangerous things, for example, art and icons." I pasted about 5 different quotes above before I settled on one. Wow. I, uh... I'm going to need a while to think about this. The message is heavy-handed. Sure. I'm actually surprised that I didn't catch on to the metaphorical overtone going on at the beginning of the movie, but it certainly paid off. This is definitely Lars Von Trier at his Von Trieriest, but I absolutely loved it. It was unsettling, it was well-acted, it was philosophical in some ways. I just.... loved it. 5/5
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May 1, 2022 04:04
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1: The Crow We were flipping around to find something and my wife went “hey, I’ve never seen The Crow”, and god knows when the last time I saw it was, so we figured we’d go for that. Goddamn what a time capsule, this thing is so aggressively, grungily 90s and I love it. The effects are definitely dated, but in a way that ads to the charm, and it’s loaded with great character actors (I completely forgot Tony Todd was in this and it’s nice to see him get to be cool as poo poo). Lee is terrific, losing him really was a tragedy in more than one way; he just nails that blend of insane, creepy, and charming and shoulders a lot of weight. I was also wondering why you never see Michael Wincott anymore and looked it up, apparently he’s going to be in Nope so that’s cool.
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May 1, 2022 04:08
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2/13 - The Happiness of the Katakuris (2001) 4. Music of the Night What happens if you take Hausu and smush it together with The Sound of Music? This movie, basically. A horror farce musical that's heavy on the comedy, this movie has a little bit of everything -- including a handful of sequences inspired by the vaguely creepy stop motion work of Jan Švankmajer. What's interesting is that a lot of the horror elements are there, including zombies, suicide, murder, 'hide the corpse' comedy, and a dash of body horror and yet it's all played so lightly that it comes off as comical rather than truly dark. A sumo wrestler literally crushing a woman to death during sex? Suicide via slit throat? Played for comedy, naturally. I think where the movie really succeeds is that it absolutely smashes through genres without a care in the world. It's a different movie every ten minutes, and I respect the hell out of it for it. One of Takashi Miike's best.
PKMN Trainer Red fucked around with this message at 23:15 on May 2, 2022 |
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May 1, 2022 04:21
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Sure, I actually watched We’re All Going to the World’s Fair this morning so might as well do 12 more. 1) 2) A Nightmare on Elm Street 3) Scream 4 4) Scream 2022 5) You Won’t Be Alone 6) The Night House 7) Audition 8) Dracula (1931) 9) Suspiria (1977) 10) Drag Me To Hell 11) Us 12) Men 13) Night of the Living Dead (1968)
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May 1, 2022 04:32
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#1 - The Company of Wolves The thin line between dreams, reality, and cinema and between desire and revulsion, a coming of age awakening with heavy symbolism unfolding in stories within stories within stories. Wild set design and a fascinating, bizarre tone that rapidly moves from PG fairy tale to R horror and back again. Little Red Riding Hood as a folk horror film with the added bonus of Satan riding a shiny white Rolls Royce through the 18th century woods.
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May 1, 2022 05:14
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