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Got behind but made it under the finish line 13: Titane Scream Queen Well, that was weird. I’d say I liked it, overall, but I’m really unsure what it was going for or trying to say. 14: Master Horror Noire Turns out Regina Hall is a really good actor. I can’t think of anything other than the Scary Movies that I’ve seen her in, though she was usually one of the best parts of those, but she turns in a good performance here. This is one of those movies where the horror part is really adjacent and barely there, and just something that helps tell the larger story. I’m kind of torn on how I feel about that, because the horror bits were all quite good and I would have liked to see more, but the main plot was also really great and worth seeing. And that’s my target passed and all challenges hit. Phew
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Jun 1, 2022 03:59
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With 10 minutes to spare, 39. Blood and Black Lace was brilliant, beautiful, and finished the challenges with  6. The King in Yellow. 5/5
Sono fucked around with this message at 05:48 on Jun 1, 2022 |
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Jun 1, 2022 04:56
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18. You Won't Be Alone (2022) (first viewing) This folk horror film (in case you're cramming and need to fill that challenge in the next 12 hours) takes place in 19th century Macedonia. As we open, a woman finds a witch hovering over her baby daughter, Nevena. Desperate to save her child, the woman pleads and convinces the witch to at least let her raise the child until she is 16, at which point the witch can claim her. The witch inexplicably agrees. Fast forward 16 years later, where the daughter, Nevena, is mute because she has been raised hidden away in a cave far from society. This is ostensibly because the witch can't enter the cave, but the witch circumvents this in about 90 seconds and thus the entire endeavor is pointless. Despite all this effort, after about five minutes the witch gets angry that the feral Nevena isn't able to live in the world independently and abandons her. For the rest of the movie, Nevena, who has witch-like powers allowing her to take the form of dead people, takes over several adults and children she meets, both women and men, as she tries to explore life as a human. The movie is both meandering and repetitive. It feels like the filmmakers were embarrassed to be making a movie about a witch and tried to disguise it as a cut-rate Terrence Malick film. It's two hours of shots of people wandering through fields, with languid, whispered narration like "My life is like a river. It flows and flows, and still it stays in the same spot." This wasn't the worst film I watched for the challenge, but I hated its pretensions. --- CHALLENGES: 1. Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched The Blood on Satan's Claw (1971) 2. Scream, Queen! Death Drop Gorgeous (2020) 3. 4. Music of the Night Nocturne (2020) 5. Behind the Screams Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror (2019) 6. The King in Yellow The Fifth Cord (1971) 7. Short Cuts (various short films) (misc) 8. A Perfect Getaway Baskin (2015) 9. Hidden Gems 12 Hour Shift (2020) 10. The Price is Right House on Haunted Hill (1959) 11. Horror Noire Tales from the Hood (1995) 12. All Hail the King 1922 (2017) 13. Sins of the Past The Wolf Man (1941)
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Jun 1, 2022 05:02
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Seeing the movie Anguish tonight in theaters on a 35mm print. Never seen it before so I’m hoping for a good one.
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Jun 1, 2022 05:06
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One last minute watch for movie #21, X: A very self-aware, pitch black satire of and homage to the slasher horror genre. A group of adult performers find their way to an isolated Texas ranch to make a film and the first half of the movie is mostly light, with lots of entertaining, silly bad movie-within-a-movie acting. It takes a hard turn into brutal horror a little after the halfway mark, when the director character announces "The story can't just suddenly change midway though!" The creepy Texas death farm is an obvious Texas Chainsaw Massacre parallel but there's also a lot of Scream here, with the characters in the film calling attention to the structural norms and flaws of the film they're making that all then pop up in the actual movie, matched with an on-screen televangelist broadcast that more or less tells us that's going to happen (though it unfolds in an unexpected way.) Some of the gross, ludicrous violence is way more Friday the 13th than Texas Chainsaw and there's even a bit that's straight out of one of Tobe Hooper's less famous films, Eaten Alive. Ti West really nails that feeling that sits right on the boarder of horrifying and hilarious with some of the scenes here. We even get a superficial, badass one liner from the Final Girl to wrap the whole thing up. The whole cast is solid and the film does a good job of slowly endearing the characters to the audience instead of just letting them be anonymous victims. Mia Goth is great and I'm always a fan, and she wears some fantastic bright blue Texas Chainsaw Mascara. I was worried this was going to be a "dementia makes people evil" plot but it's thankfully not, at all. The monstrous things people do to other people are conscious, horrible choices, not mental illness. Instead, America's love of fire and brimstone violence (religious or otherwise) and its repression and fear of sexual expression has turned regular people into monsters.
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Jun 1, 2022 05:30
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A True Jar Jar Fan posted:One last minute watch for movie #21, X: I really liked this movie and I liked it even more when the credits rolled and I learned Mia Goth also played the old lady.
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Jun 1, 2022 05:36
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19. Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight Challenge 11: Horror Noire It's 11:13 here so I'm getting this one in just under the wire. Challenges done! There's something fundamentally weird about a movie that has both Billy Zane at his Billy Zaniest and a relatively earnest depiction of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Ya know, except for the part where he bled on a demon and it exploded. I was too young for Tales From the Crypt when it was airing, so I don't have any nostalgia for it, but drat I sure understand the appeal. All the time the writers could have spent on nuance they spent on puns instead. I'm glad they did. The practical effects are just as goofy and gooey as you would hope, even if the digital effects are very much of their era. The story is fine too, reminding me nicely of From Dusk Till Dawn. Not that the story is the point here. When you're a child you want to be Billy Zane. When you're older you realize you're the Crypt Keeper.
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Jun 1, 2022 07:14
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Going by "its not tomorrow until you pass out" rules I made it?!? 59 (78). Slumber (2017) Directed by Jonathan Hopkins; Written by Richard Hobley and Jonathan Hopkins Watched on Amazon Prime I like Maggie Q. I really do. It just seems like she’s not in a lot of good stuff. I was really enjoying the sitcom she was just in but now that’s canceled so so much for that. Maybe its just the unusual course of her career. American model in Asia becomes protege to Jackie Chan and star in China and jumps to Hollywood but its mainly type cast in sexy action roles (and knowing Hollywood probably a little fetishized too). Mediocre B horrors aren’t a great place to break out of a career trajectory funk but it seems to be where I see her the most lately. And I do think she more or less helps elevate this thing. I mean she’s not Meryl Streep but she’s most of the life in this thing (although I thought Kristen Bush played an excellent distraught mom). The film is itself perfectly fine but its derivative as hell. The sleep paralysis idea is what got me here and seemed like it had a lot of potential as an unexplored idea but the film really just sort of turns into Poltergeist/Insidious/The Conjuring pretty quickly. There’s even a random eccentric guy who knows the answers somehow because I guess we need that in this kind of movie. It feels too divided on ideas and influences. Maggie Q’s family drama and trauma feel unnecessary and not truly explored and the main family in danger are just supporting players in this thing. If it came back to Maggie’s story in a satisfying way maybe that would be ok. If the family took main stage that would work. But things never feel like they come together or pay off enough to close that book. There’s a big finale and a screwy ending but I dunno. It just didn’t feel like it had that punch it needed. But truthfully none of the movie really felt like it had that punch. A good ending can fix a lot of that but this is one where I just finished up with someone asking how I interpret the ending and I just didn’t really feel like I cared enough to think about it too much. Movie was over and i was content with that. I’m out to find a better Maggie Q movie. Maybe I should just go back and rewatch/finish Nikita. I dunno. I’ll probably see her next in another mediocre B horror. Its what I do. 60 (79). 3 FrankenSHORTCUTeins (Frankenstein (1910)/Frankenstein’s Monster’s Monster, Frankenstein (2019)/The Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters (1972)) 13 Frankenst13ns: 12/13 Yeah, I’m still cheating! Another DIY Anthology to help me finish off one of my challenges. Sue me. Or disqualify me from prizes. That’s cool.  Frankenstein (1910) Directed by J. Searle Dawley Watched on Youtube Allegedly the earliest screen adaption of a story that’s been adapted so many times I was able to watch a dozen of them this month and still have at least half a dozen I had on my list to spare. I think this is also the earliest film I’ve ever watched. Its an old, short silent film so it has its flaws but its really a pretty smooth watch and a different and cool take on the story. Not a straight adaption by any means the big thing is really that it takes much less of a science approach to the story and more of a magical one. The creature is basically a goblin and he’s literally born in a cauldron. Frankenstein talks about discovering the secret to life and death but the way he talks about it he could be talking about finding magic words or a spell as much as a scientific formula or harnessing the power of electricity. He’s just pouring stuff into a cauldron that could be eye of newt for all we know. Maybe a kind of alchemy. And the birth scene is really pretty cool and revolutionary for the time. A very cool reverse construction of a person like something out of that classic Hellraiser scene. Its very cool and more than 100 years later still looks real good. There’s also a bit of an odd metaphorical ending. The classic story obviously deals with metaphor, with who the monster really is and the cost of blind ambition and pursuit of glory. The Creature is always a bit of a dark reflection of the Doctor’s ambitions and morals. This version takes that a real step further though and basically presents the Creature as basically the darkness in Frankenstein made manifest. And to that end his end is basically just kind of seeing that evil for what it is? Or overcoming that evil by being willing to devote himself to protect his wife? Or a bit of both? Its interesting and different. I’ve seen a version of Frankenstein that has him fight gargoyles and demons this month so I’m all for different takes. Its actually interesting. I watched a dozen Night of the Living Dead adaptions this month and most of them are just cheap and lazy knockoffs. But Frankenstein is just as much public domain and there’s a lot more creativity and free flowing ideas in their adaptions. Maybe that’s just a matter of time and the iconic status of the two stories in the cultural zeitgeist? Maybe in 100 years there will be a ton more NotLD films that do lots of fun stuff? Or maybe its just that NotLD really inspired the entire zombie genre so there’s hundreds of films and TV shows that may not have “Living Dead” in the title but still build from it. Or maybe its that Frankenstein is a written story originally so its just always had more room for interpretation to the screen where people seem to just default to copying something already visual like NotLD. I dunno. Just something interesting at the end of this month with the films I watched. But a good little film and definitely worth a watch if you have the time. And you should. Its under 15 minutes and freely available on Youtube or wherever. And its pretty cool and different. And its very cool that something made so long ago can hold up like that.  Frankenstein’s Monster’s Monster, Frankenstein (2019) Directed by Daniel Gray Longino; Written by John Levenstein Watched on Netflix A weird little film. I’m not even really sure what the takeaway for it is. Just an odd idea for a joke that David Harbour had fun with I guess? I definitely had some laughs with the pretentious artist sendup or overly serious satire play or Alfred Molina’s Actor in a Box thing. Or the lie of a legacy. But I dunno what to do with it or the core thing about his dad. Like I guess it connects back around to Frankenstein and creator/monster stuff? Maybe David Harbour’s dad was a monster like Frankenstein was? Maybe he has to carry that legacy and name the way the Creature does? Maybe his pursuit to find the secrets and relationship to his dad is much like the Creature’s desire to find the love and acceptance of his creator and understand his world and life? Maybe the question of whether the Creature had replaced the Creator in the play speaks to the question of whether Harbour’s dad is only now flawed because he set out to uncover it? I dunno. I can see ways how this all loops around stuff but not really a way it connects. But I also suspect its not really supposed to. It feels like part of that surrealist humor that is big these days and which I’ve just never really gotten. I’m just too much of a square and need too much of a clear idea or something. But still, it was an amusing little piece and it did make me chuckle and laugh a fair bit and it didn’t last long enough to bug me. And it probably would work more for people more into that kind of stuff and not so in need of answers or something making sense.  The Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters (1972) Directed by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass; Written by William J. Keenan and Lou Silverstone Watched on AmazonPrime Basically a spiritual sequel to Mad Monster Party but this one’s animated instead of the classic Rankin/Bass stop motion stuff. Its actually structured really similarly to that special and in that way feels a bit derivative. But I find that stuff charming there and I find it charming here again. Just a loving send up of Universal horror stuff with a ton of little gags and references. I especially was amused that the hotel bellhop was named Norman. He was a bit deranged. I wonder what his relationship with his mom is like. There’s some badly dated misogynistic humor. The female characters kind of exist to be objects of attraction or “nags”. That sucks. “Different time” and all but still sucks. I vaguely recall the first special having similar issues but there’s no Phyllis Diller here to help steal the attention. There’s no Boris Karloff either but Bob McFadden actually does a great impersonation and I wouldn’t have known if I didn’t look it up. Its not a world changer and it probably runs a bit long and drags in the middle. If I’m honest I feel like every time I revisit a Rankin and Bass special I come away with that same reaction. All the charm and magic I have nostalgia for but I discover the story is a little thin and the middle kind of drags. And that’s the case here too. But its like 40 minutes so it really doesn’t drag for long. And as long as that stuff with the Invisible Man’s wife isn’t too much of a turn off (and I couldn’t blame you if it was) I think its a fun little time. I bought it on Amazon Prime and it turns out it also came with a Halloween special Jack O’Lantern. So I’m gonna have to make a note of that for October.  61 (80). Frankenstein 1970 (1958) Directed by Howard W. Koch; Screenplay by Richard H. Landau and George Worthing Yates; Story by Aubrey Schenck and Charles A. Moses 13 Frankenst13ns: 13/13 If you’re gonna do a Frankenstein marathon through the month you gotta finish it with Boris Karloff, no? I’ve heard very little about this and what I have isn’t great. Its definitely an odd little footnote in horror history. I actually liked it though. It drags a bit in the middle and the story is very much just kind of there, but that’s not terribly different from many of the Universal (or Hammer) sequels. And I do enjoy Boris Karloff running around a spooky mansion and he plays a very fun evil Doctor Frankenstein. Its always great when Karloff actually gets to speak and really act fully. He was great and even though he was great as the mute Monster its a shame that’s what he’s mostly remembered for when he really was a great all around actor. In a lot of ways this felt like a fitting end to his legacy in the Universal Frankenstein films. This isn’t a Universal and its probably not in continuity, although truthfully there’s nothing keeping it from being a direct sequel. Its fun seeing Karloff get to play Frankenstein instead of the monster mistakenly called Frankenstein. And the whole thing has a nice finality to it all with his age and the film’s ending and basic story. The idea of the Frankenstein name coming to an end and the Doctor willing to do anything to extend it the only way his family really knows how to create life. Its a bittersweet and fun twist on things and ironically so similar to the Peter Cushing Frankenstein who took up the mantle the year before. Maybe Karloff and the filmmakers were influenced by Curse of Frankenstein a bit? Who is to say? But it feels like a very nice epilogue for Universal and bridge to Hammer. Its not a great film but I don’t think its a bad film at all. Its a kind of typical Universal-type sequel really. Under 90 minutes and charming, with a great KARLOFF performance and a bittersweet ending to his legacy that makes up for some of the bland story or supporting character elements.  62 (81). Children of the Corn: Runaway (2018) Directed by John Gulager; Written by Joel Soisson King Spring II: 17/13 I told myself about a week ago when I hit 13 King films that I was done with that challenge and moving on to the rest. But I still had Children of the Corn films to go and I had started this month saying the plan was to watch all of them so that kept bugging me. I could say I finished all my challenges… but that wouldn’t be entirely true. So bit by bit I’ve been watching the lagging ones… and really not wanting to watch another but wanting to just close this book. So I said “ok, put the last one on the end of my list and watch it while I’m writing reviews and finalizing my poo poo.” So I did. And I still just want this to be over. This isn’t the worst CotC sequel at all. Its a serviceable little film I guess, and I suppose meant to be a direct sequel to the ’09 remake? I dunno. This stuff all blurs together. And while there’s a bit more creepy kid cult written into this and a bit of corn it still mostly feels like a film that could have any name and just got a few things added to sell it and hold onto the rights to the name. Yeah, there’s a creepy kid cult but now they drink blood and do magic. I guess sometimes they always do magic but there’s no consistency and no real through line. At this stage the entire franchise is such a mess that the notion of continuity or consistent rules is comical but like I didn’t hear “He Who Walks Behind the Rows” once during this thing. Its basically just some lady being haunted by a creepy kid. And then some loose cult explanation stuff? I thought Marci Miller actually did a good job with not a lot she’s given. And she basically has to carry the whole movie and its loose ideas and plot. But its not enough to save this film. She doesn’t bring it down or anything and if anything she probably makes it pretty tolerable. And like… its not absolutely terrible or anything. Its just super, super whatever and I dunno. Just stop making these films or at least read King’s story. That’s it! I’m done! Somehow I completed all my challenges! I’m nuts but I’m determined! And now I’m so happy to be done and have no idea what I’m gonna watch tomorrow. Maybe I won’t watch anything. Maybe I’ll read a book or start a fire or play a video game or something. That would be nice. But I won’t be checking off a challenge watching a bad Children of the Corn sequel or Night of the Living Dead knockoff! Not anymore! 🌻💀 Spook-A-Doodle Half-Way-To-Halloween ’22: Return of the Fallen & King Spring II💀🌻 Watched - New (Total) 1. Magic (1978); - (2). A Quiet Place (2018); 2 (3). A Quiet Place Part II (2020); 3 (4). Benny Loves You (2019); 4 (5). Strait-Jacket (1964); 5 (6). Werewolves Within (2021); - (7). The Curse of Frankenstein (1957); - (8). Children of the Corn (1984); (9). The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958); - (10). The Evil of Frankenstein (1964); - (11). Frankenstein Created Woman (1967); - (12). Night of the Living Dead (1990); - (13). Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice (1992); - (14). Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest (1995); 6 (15). National Theatre Live: Frankenstein (2011); 7 (16). The Shallows (2016); 8 (17). Leviathan (1989); 9 (18). Piranha 3DD (2012); 10 (19). Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering (1996); 11 (20). Stephen King’s Night Shift Collection (The Boogeyman (1982)/Disciples of the Crow (1983)/The Woman in the Room (1983)); 12 (21). Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror (1998); 13 (22). The Ghoul (1933); 14 (23). Children of the Corn 666: Isaac's Return (1999); 15 (24). Night of the Living Dead (2014); 16 (25). Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969); - (26). Night of the Living Dead (1968); 17 (27). The Changeover (2017); - (28). Salem’s Lot (1979); 18 (29). Children of the Corn: Revelation (2001); 19 (30). It Came from Outer Space (1953); 20 (31). Morgiana (1972); 21 (32). Never Hike Alone: the Ghost Cut (2020); 22 (33). Freaky (2020);- (34). Attack the Block (2011); 23 (35). The Horror of Frankenstein (1970); 24 (36). Firestarter (2022); - (37). Phantasm (1979); - (38). Dolores Claiborne (1995); 25 (39). Phantom of the Paradise (1974); - (40). Phantasm II (1988); 26 (41). Mimesis: Night of the Living Dead (2011); 27 (42). Night of the Living Deb (2015); - (43). Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead (1994); 28 (44). Phantom of the Opera (1943); 29 (45). Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell (1974); 30 (46). The Raven (1963); 31 (47). Titane (2021); - (48). Phantasm IV: Oblivion (1998); 32 (49). Phantasm: Ravager (2016); 33 (50). The Entity (1982); 34 (51). Children of the Corn (2009); - (52). Braindead (1992); 35 (53). Children of the Living Dead (2001); 36 (54). Invitation to Hell (1984); 37 (55). Don’t Breathe (2016); 38 (56). Another Night of the Living Dead (2011); 39 (57). Ticks (1993); 40 (58). Vampire Academy (2014); 41 (59). I, Frankenstein (2014); 42 (60). The House at the End of Time (2013); 3 (61). Midnight Kiss (2019); 44 (62). Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021); 45 (63). Birth of the Living Dead (2013); 46 (64). Monsters vs Aliens (2009); 47 (65). Night of the Animated Dead (2021); 48 (66). Children of the Corn: Genesis (2011); 49 (67). The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963); 50 (68). Blackenstein (1973); - (69). 1408 (2007); 51 (70). Night of the Living Dead 3D (2006); 52 (71). The Devil Rides Out (1968); - (72). ParaNorman (2012); 53 (72). Night of the Living Dead: Darkest Dawn (2015); 54 (73). Frankenstein’s Army (2013); 55 (74). Headspace (2005); 56 (75). The Wretched (2019); 57 (76). Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated (2009); 58 (77). Short Cuts of the Living Dead (Night of the Living Carrots (2011)/Paris by Night of the Living Dead (2009)/Night of the Living Bread (1990)/Night of the Living Doo (2001)/Dawn of the Deaf (2016)); 59 (78). Slumber (2017); 60 (79). 3 FrankenSHORTCUTeins (Frankenstein (1910)/Frankenstein’s Monster’s Monster, Frankenstein (2019)/The Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters (1972)); 61 (80). Frankenstein 1970 (1958); 62 (81). Children of the Corn: Runaway (2018) 📺Series: Moon Knight (2022); Midnight Mass (2021); Lisey’s Story (2021); The Haunting of Hill House (2018); Wolf Like Me (2022); Salem’s Lot (2004); 📺 💀GMM Challenges: 14/14💀 🌽King Spring II: 17/13🌽 🧑💻Return of the Fallen: 14/14🧑💻 ⚡13 Frankenst13ns: 13/13⚡ 🧟Knockoffs of the 13 Dead: 13/13🧟
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Jun 1, 2022 11:02
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alrighty, review dump. Started watching random non-challenge stuff so I just ended up doing 13 new-to-me movies and the F13 bonus challenge 5. Lifeforce (1985) "You mean life after death?" "Yes." "Is there?" "What?" "Life after death." "Do you really want to know?" "No." "Well, to answer your question, yes, I think there is." Lifeforce kicks rear end, what a mess. The beginning space sequence is fantastic, the camera is constantly rotating and things are positioned in various parts of the frame to disorient you. So many audacious setpieces, and the effects for the victims are incredible, especially in the first half. A desiccated zombie charging into the bars of a jail cell and exploding into dust is going to stick with me. The manpires are cast aside so casually it's hilarious, they both get "killed", turn out to still be alive in a twist, only for one to be killed offscreen and the other to get like a 5-second dramatic speech at the end before getting owned. I agree with those who don't like the middle as much, not because it's slow but because the procedural aspect was kinda negated by most of it advancing arbitrarily via telepathy, though the same device was very cool when used to deliver exposition that would be impossible to provide otherwise. Despite all the talk of femininity and masculinity I'm not convinced the movie actually has anything to say about them at all. But what a spectacle. 7.5/10 6. Baskin (2015) "You die as you sleep, you resurrect as you wake up. So, fear not." alternately: "gently caress the police. You goddamn sons of bitches." Undisputed surprise hit of the challenge for me. It's a loving nightmare, it's fantastic(al). Just unsettling and nasty and wrong start to finish. From the beginning it's impossible to tell whether what is happening is real, but usually you don't want it to be. The characters are casually hostile to everyone, you've got some indulgent long takes that are downright voyeuristic, and just when it seems like it's going to devolve into haunted-house schlock, it pulls up before diving deeper. As Above, So in the Mouth of the Martyrs' Uncut Kill List-rear end movie. Ugh. 8.5/10 7. Candyman (1992) I spent most of the time I was watching this overthinking it, but it appears the only notes I took were "climbs with the hook", so I'll have to come back to it. The Phillip Glass score definitely stood out, it seemed like it was able to start on a dime and never lose effectiveness despite its repetition. I thought Tony Todd's rendition of the character fairly flat at first, but he steadily increases his expressiveness over the course of the film and the end result is quite satisfying. 8/10 for now 8. Candyman (2021) "No, I get it. It's the hood, gentrification, et cetera." This has a lot of little touches I appreciate, like everybody's retelling of the story being ever so slightly different, and the art explainer piece having some typos. I thought it also did well taking advantage of advances in special effects to show off the monster that is invisible except in mirrors. But overall it gets too complicated for its own good, even as it simplifies itself by e.g. having every single cop be white whereas in the original the majority were Black. Some of the reveals work and others just don't. Even the ending: you have the nice big cathartic cop-murder climax, but then more cops just show up so she's in the same position she was a minute ago? Take what you like from this and leave the rest. 6.5/10 9. Head Count (2018) has a couple well-constructed moments (Zoe jumping, double-Sam) but is likewise disappointing. Too many characters for how poorly-developed they are; woah there's a guy who likes drugs so when weird stuff happens they ask him if he drugged them!! Groundbreaking. There's a scene transition where the cut is constructed as a jumpscare, sting and all, for no apparent reason. I had the sinking feeling the whole time that the brother character's sobriety and isolation would amount to absolutely nothing except a plot device, which turned out to be the case. I would've taken "the brother is also a monster" or "the brother is sober because he knows drugs make you more susceptible to desert monsters, and no friends means no friends for it to imitate" over what we got. The most pleasant surprise was when the monster counted down straight from 4 to 1 instead of one-by-one, which I think is the definition of damning with faint praise. 5.5/10 10. A Quiet Place Part II (2020) "..." A mostly worthy sequel. II loses most of the melancholy silence of the first one but trades for some non-diegetic sound manipulation that creates some nice moments (I'm mostly thinking of when Emmett returns to the despondent Regan). Continues the tradition of strong survival gimmick scenarios. Third act is a bit overwrought with the dual narratives, but it comes together. Excellent performances, especially given the limitations imposed by the plot. Action sequences are fun despite the sheer number of them eliminating most of the monsters' mystique. 7.5/10 11,12,13. The Fear Street Trilogy (2021) consistently refused to disappoint and is kinda really good? Some things don't land for everyone (like the "reveal" of the storyteller's identity in part 2, which did nothing for me because I saw the preview at the end of part 1 and assumed the one from Stranger Things was the main character. Plus, how do you even tell a story like that?) but even most of the things that seem goofy (like someone getting stabbed a million times and being saved by CPR) turn out to be audacious storytelling tricks. Hell, part 3 has multiple layers of fakeouts (like the moment Sarah says she will make a deal with the Devil, which seems like the final piece of the puzzle that puts the whole picture together, and then is immediately subverted). Great fun and rewarding whether you want to pay close attention to the mystery, be walked through a parade of shout-outs to various horror genres, or just enjoy a variety of children suffering horrible fates while hoping at least some of them make it through. I didn't read the Fear Street books growing up but I did read Goosebumps and these really felt like a nice R-rated version. Combined 8/10 VROOM VROOM fucked around with this message at 12:23 on Jun 1, 2022 |
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Jun 1, 2022 12:18
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  [s12] Stuffed UK, 19m A horror-comedy musical about human taxidermy, yes please! This was so much fun. A bizarre premise but both actors bring a lot of heart to it and the songs are really loving good. Highly recommended! [s13] The Rave Estonia, 16m A young woman is convinced by friends to come to a rave but when they find the secret stash of drugs the evening takes a bad turn. Solid bad trip horror, not super original but with some cool and creepy visuals.  [s14] The Expected Sweden, 15m Stop-motion animation about a couple expecting a baby. A little slow, a soundtrack would have spiced things up a bit. Not bad though. [s15] Netflix & Chill Netherlands, 7m [s16] The Surrogate Ukraine, 6m [s17] And Then He Kissed Me Russia, 14m Three shorts about date nights gone wrong, although it differs for who. First one was the best. Second has some good creepy animation.  [s18] Pan Germany, 17m A woman at a party has to deal with her animalistic urges. Very well made, engaging throughout, great ending. [s19] Demon Huntress Brazen Finland, 4m Short action-horror proof-of-concept ala Buffy, not my thing. [s20] Lost Lithuania, 1m Not a lot of choice for some countries. Very short, it’s horror I guess.  [s21] Arrêt Pipi Belgium, 5m A nightly bathroom break at a remote gas station turns bad. Based on a classic urban legend, this was good, and packs a lot of action in a short time.  [s22] Piggy Spain, 14m An obese teen girl goes for a swim at a remote pool, only for some class bullies to pass by and steal her clothes. This was really good with a great performance from the lead actress. Apparently this has now been made into a full-length, and I’m definitely interested to check that out. [9] Kadaver (Cadaver) Norway, 2020 Weird poo poo happens in a hotel during an immersive theater experience that takes place in an abandoned hotel in an apocalypse setting. While there are some good ideas and visuals the plot becomes needlessly convoluted and doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense when you think about it a little.   [10] Luz Germany, 2018 Minimalist, art-house horror, very drawn out at times but quite captivating if you’re in the right mood.It is shot on 16mm which adds some needed texture to the otherwise quite sterile sets. The fact that it is only a brief 70 minutes helps too.    [11] Extra Ordinary Ireland, 2019  4. Music of the NightA driving instructor must use her other-worldly gifts to save a lonely man’s daughter from a rock star looking to use her for Satanic purposes. This was a great little horror comedy. Very Irish. Will Forte does his schtick as the fading pop-star. Overall it is very charming, mostly down to Maeve Higgins in the lead role who is great.    [12] Das Höllentor von Zürich (Gates Of Hell, Zürich) Switzerland, 2018 When choosing my Eurovision of horror theme I didn’t expect there to be a horror movie that actually dealt with the Eurovision Song Contest but here we are! Lara is an artist who wants to perform at Eurovision but spends most of her days getting high and watching Kinderegg-surprise youtubes. When she notices some hair in the bath and wants to push it back down the drain, her finger gets stuck. Highly inventive 127 hours remake, with many shot-by-shot recreations, including the split screens. Gross as gently caress, funny and overall just extremely impressive considering the pretty much non-existent budget, although the hyperkinetic Danny Boyle-imitative visual style takes some time to get used to. Somehow this only has 31 views on letterboxd, despite the full movie being available for free on youtube. Watch this!
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Jun 1, 2022 12:56
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I watched a couple more films over the past few days that I don't have time to properly log beyond the first one here, so here is a very quick rundown: #24 - The Conspiracy (2012) Aaron and Jim, two filmmakers creating a documentary about conspiracy theories, meet Terrance, a local kook who stands on street corners with a megaphone shouting about conspiracies and new world orders to anyone who will listen. Terrance agrees to a series of interviews, but he suddenly disappears partway through the making of the film. Aaron and Jim start to go through his research and find themselves falling down a rabbit hole of crackpot theories that just might have some truth behind them. This is a solid found footage/fake documentary film. I liked the cast and the premise is pretty good. I think it could’ve leaned a little more into the horror elements in the act of the film, but for the most part it’s pretty effective. A film about conspiracy theories hits a little different now than it would’ve in 2012 - the theories presented here mostly seem like harmless nonsense, but in recent years we’ve seen conspiracy theories directly linked to the rise of fascism and an armed insurrection and it doesn’t all seem so harmless anymore. Worthwhile if you’re a fan of this kind of film, but nothing essential. I enjoyed it well enough. 3/5 #25 - The Lawnmower Man (1992) Pretty terrible, although the early 90s CGI is kind of charming because it reminds me of the weird animations that used to play at bowling alleys. Completely unrelated to the Stephen King short story it takes it's title from. 1.5/5 #26 - Old (2021) I really like M. Night, his movies have such a weird tone to them. This borders on comedy at a couple moments but is mostly a Twilight Zone-style sci-fi thriller with a premise that isn't as goofy as it first sounds. I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected to. wavering between 3.5 and 4 out of 5, probably go for the higher score just because there's a scene with a woman crawling through a cave that made me laugh because all I could think of was the Futurama episode with the '80s guy saying "My only regret... is that I have... boneitis."
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Jun 1, 2022 15:04
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 #28. The Lazarus Effect (Prime) After a freak accident, a scientist is brought back to life with an experimental drug... but comes back with strange powers and not quite herself. I threw this on late at night, trying to work in one more movie for the challenge, even though I'd been prioritizing non-horror movies and finishing "Stranger Things" season 4 recently. This one was quick, so that ticked off all of my boxes. However, since I apparently don't learn my lessons very well, I ended up with something strangely akin to this year's Firestarter reboot, which was easily the worst film I have seen in 2022 so far. The Lazarus Effect follows some similar beats - namely a woman who starts developing strange powers and uses them to enact bloody revenge - but instead of pyrokinesis we get the far more prosaic general telekinesis, but also telepathy and some kind of "rot touch" that destroys anything she touches. (The ending also makes it seem like Olivia Wilde also develops the ability to remote takeover people's minds, since the surviving Final Girl character seems to get her neck broken by a fireman(?), but it's not well shot and visually confusing, and the film sprints past it anyway for a lame pre-credits stinger that doesn't have any impact.) You know, as you do when you have a near-death experience and take a magic super-anti-death drug. The film also has some obvious Re-Animator touches, about scientists dabbling around with forces they don't comprehend with magic super-science glop (though they don't have the decency to make their knockoff science slime glow or look cinematically interesting here!). But the odd thing is it also seems to be drawing parallels with another Stephen King story, Pet Sematary, in that it's about people who see the inherent wrongness of bringing an animal back from death (and it coming back wrong somehow) but jump to applying that to a human being anyway. Unlike that book (not so much either of the film adaptations), however, The Lazarus Effect does not understand that the horror stems not from "spooky dead things" but from the incredibly intricate plotting, of small mundane details building up over time, of seeing the terrible end results coming well in advance but from being powerless to stop yourself from heading there anyway. Instead we get a whole lot of sitting and milling around in generic scientist lab sets being theoretically startled by lights being shut off and on and the terror of Olivia Wilde with CGI blacked out eyes. Oh, they also try to steal the best kill scene from Prom Night II and end up doing it way worse, so there's a weird bunch of sources that this film is cribbing from. I'm fairly disappointed that this is how my May Challenge ends - not with a bang, but with a long, drawn-out fart. It's only spared the ignominy of being the worst thing I saw this month by the strength of its cast - besides Wilde, an odd mix of up-and-comers before they got their big breakout (Evan Peters pre-X-Men, Donald Glover pre-"Community") and solid character actors (Mark Duplass, Ray Wise is in it for like a minute) - and by Firestarter somehow being worse. Still, don't take as any kind of compliment or endorsement. This thing should have stayed dead.  /5Watched so far: Night of the Living Dead (1968), Escape Room (2019), The Company of Wolves (GMM Challenge 9), Shutter (2008) (GMM Challenge 3), bunch o' shorts (GMM Challenge 7), Black Sunday (1960), The Hallow (GMM Challenge 1), Dr. Strange 2, Madhouse (1974) (GMM Challenge 10), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941) (GMM Challenge 13), Memory: The Origins of Alien (GMM Challenge 5), Trollhunter (GMM Challenge 8), Friday the 13th Part 2 (SBLT Challenge), The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane, Firestarter (2022) (GMM Challenge 12), Happy Death Day 2U (GMM Challenge 2), The Editor (GMM Challenge 6), Anna and the Apocalypse (GMM Challenge 4), Bones (GMM Challenge 11), Men (2022), Intruder (1989), My Heart Can't Beat Unless You Tell It To, Hellboy: Sword of Storms, They Live, Slaughterhouse (1987), Stepfather 2, Village of the Damned (1995), The Lazarus Effect
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Jun 1, 2022 16:47
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 Time's up, no more logging after this point! Once again feel free to write up summary/total/whatever posts. I'll be drawing names for the prizes this weekend.
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Jun 1, 2022 17:20
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92 This is a great one. Totally didnt expect what we got out of this one and the way it played so well. I really dont want to say too much more, but the leads are great and the movie GOES. Just a great one if you've never seen it.   Out of 5All Challenges Complete:  and I'm done.
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Jun 1, 2022 17:38
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Glad I went for a low number this month, wound up being fairly busy/got sucked in watching X-Files and never had the energy for movies. 1: The Crow 2: Koko Di Koko Da  Perfect Getaway3- Lords of Salem Hidden Gems4: The Green Knight Woodlands Dark and Days BewitchedShort Cuts5: The Old Dark House Sins of the Past6: Dr Strange and the Multiverse of Madness Rated PG7. The Last Man on Earth The Price is Right8. Riding the Bullet All Hail the King9: Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon Behind the Screams10. Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park Music of the Night11. Friday the 13th (2009) 12. Men 13: Titane Scream Queen14: Master Horror NoireThanks Muckle, fun as always. I do feel like some of the challenges could do with updating, there's a couple where I feel like I've drained all the good ones that fit out of them, and I imagine it's worse for the ones out there who consistently watch 3 a day in these things.
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Jun 1, 2022 18:17
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This was fun, even if I felt that my choices ended up puttering out at the end; hopefully in October I'll be more focused on the movies and less so on other things, so I'll go for better options overall. I did manage to more than double my initial plan of 13, and completed all 14 challenges. Below is a summary of everything I watched this month. For clarification: anything bolded was a first time watch, anything italicized was something I had seen before but not watched for at least 5 years, and anything underlined was seen in a movie theater. 01) Night of the Living Dead (1968) 02) Escape Room (2019) 03) The Company of Wolves (GMM Challenge 9) 04) Shutter (2008) (GMM Challenge 3) 05) bunch o' shorts (GMM Challenge 7) 06) Black Sunday (1960) 07) The Hallow (GMM Challenge 1) 08) Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness 09) Madhouse (1974) (GMM Challenge 10) 10) Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941) (GMM Challenge 13) 11) Memory: The Origins of Alien (GMM Challenge 5) 12) Trollhunter (GMM Challenge 8) 13) Friday the 13th Part 2 (SBLT Challenge) 14) The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane 15) Firestarter (2022) (GMM Challenge 12) 16) Happy Death Day 2U (GMM Challenge 2) 17) The Editor (2014) (GMM Challenge 6) 18) Anna and the Apocalypse (GMM Challenge 4) 19) Bones (2001) (GMM Challenge 11) 20) Men (2022) 21) Intruder (1989) 22) My Heart Can't Beat Unless You Tell It To 23) Hellboy Animated: Sword of Storms 24) They Live 25) Slaughterhouse (1987) 26) Stepfather 2 27) Village of the Damned (1995) 28) The Lazarus Effect
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Jun 1, 2022 18:54
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My wrap-up: As always, big thanks for organizing this, gey muckle mowser. The challenges are cool and it's fun to be pushed out of my comfort zone and take the time to watch, for instance, 100 year old horror movies. Not all of the challenges produced movies I ended up loving but hey, they were still experiences. And ultimately I did discover some truly great movies this way, like Vampyr, which I would definitely list as one of this year's highlights. My biggest regret is not having people to watch movies with anymore, because cheesy horror movies just aren't terribly fun to watch alone which meant that some of the trashy movies I'd picked out ahead of the time ended up sitting on the shelf collecting dust, while I tried to find movies that were interesting solo and sober. But still, as always, a very fun experience. I'll definitely be down for round four in October. Movies watched: 17/15 Challenges completed: 13/13 Challenge movies: Ghostbusters Afterlife (Rated PG) Vampyr (Hidden Gems) The People Under the Stairs (Horror Noire) Rock & Roll Nightmare (Music of the Night) Nosferatu (Sins of the Past) Shadow of the Vampire (Behind the Screams) Witchfinder General (The Price is Right) Shorts (Short Cuts) Creepshow (Hail to the King) The Queen of Black Magic (Perfect Getaway) Child's Play (Scream, Queen) The Ritual (Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched) Knife+Heart (The King in Yellow)
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Jun 1, 2022 20:13
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Here’s my summary post: My goal was 13 films and I ended up watching 24 (22 new and 2 rewatches) and completing all 13* challenges: 1.) Psycho (1960) 2.) Mothra (1961) 3.) The Birds (1963) (rewatch) 4.) The Sadist (1963) 5.) Season of the Witch (1972) 6.) The Crazies (1973) 7.) Firestarter (2022)  12. All Hail the King8.) Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) Watch any film from the Friday the 13th franchise (in place of 7. Short Cuts)9.) Saturday the 14th (1981)  3. Rated PG10.) House (1977) 11.) Men (2022)  1. Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched12.) The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970) 6. The King in Yellow13.) Dead Heat (1988)  10. The Price is Right14.) Night of the Creeps (1986)  9. Hidden Gems15.) The Lost Boys (1987)  2. Scream, Queen!16.) Tales From the Hood (1995) 11. Horror Noire17.) Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) 18.) Birth of the Living Dead (2013)  5. Behind the Screams19.) White Zombie (1932)  13. Sins of the Past20.) Troll Hunter (2010)  8. A Perfect Getaway21.) Green Room (2015) 4. Music of the Night22.) Dawn of the Dead (1978) (rewatch) 23.) Office Killer (1997) 24.) Parents (1989) I had fun! I had hoped to finish with Near Dark before it left Shudder, but well...  I’ll probably see you all in October my Spook-a-Doodles! *I did the Friday the 13th challenge in place of the Short Cuts.
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Jun 1, 2022 20:57
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This was my first year participating and I had a great time! The challenges were nice, my two favorite new discoveries are Phantom of the Paradise and Magic. Worst non-challenge movie was Godzilla Raids Again, worst challenge movie was The Gorilla but that one was still fun sometimes! Only one movie I watched out of the 21 total was a rewatch. Final list: #1 - The Company of Wolves #2 - Godzilla Raids Again #3 - Queen of Earth #4 - Yokai Monsters: 100 Monsters - Challenge 1: Watch a folk horror film #5 - The Book of Birdie - Challenge 2: Watch a film that deals heavily with LGBQT+ themes #6 - Godzilla vs. Hedorah - Challenge 3: Watch a film rated PG or PG-13 #7 - Phantom of the Paradise - Challenge 4: Watch a horror musical #8 - Document of the Dead - Challenge 5: Watch a documentary about a horror film or filmmaker #9 - The Bird with the Crystal Plumage - Challenge 6: Watch any giallo or giallo-influenced film Challenge 7: Watch 60+ minutes worth of horror short films and review them. The Pledge (1981, 21 minutes) The Sermon (2018, 12 minutes) Consume (2017, 20 minutes) Backwoods (2019, 15 minutes) #10 - Rift (Iceland) - Challenge 8: Watch a film from a country you've never seen a film from. #11 - Magic (1978) - Challenge 9: Watch a film from Franchescanado's Letterboxd list of Horror Film Hidden Gems #12 - The Abominable Dr. Phibes - Challenge 10: Watch a film featuring Vincent Price #13 - Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight - Challenge 11: Watch a film directed by a black filmmaker #14 - Christine (1983) - Challenge 12: Watch a film based on the works of (or written by) Stephen King #15 - The Gorilla (1939) - Challenge 13: Sins of the Past #16 - Delicatessen (Rewatch) #17 - Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare #18 - Yokai Monsters: Along With Ghosts #19 - Mothra (1961) #20 - Hatching (2022) #21 - X (2022)
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Jun 1, 2022 21:55
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Challenge roundup: 1. Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) (secret bonus challenge): 7.5/10 2. The Slumber Party Massacre (1982): 3. What Have You Done to Solange? (1972): 8/10 4. The Happiness of the Katakuris (2001): 8.5/10 5. Lifeforce (1985): 7.5/10 6. Baskin (2015): 8.5/10 7. Candyman (1992): 8/10 8. Candyman (2021): 6.5/10 9. Head Count (2018): 5.5/10 10. A Quiet Place Part II (2020): 7.5/10 11,12,13: Fear Street Trilogy: 8/10 Hadn't done a May challenge before, was nice to keep it chill and bounce around through a bunch of new stuff. MVP definitely goes to Baskin, watch it if you wanna have a real bad time.
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Jun 1, 2022 22:16
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Welllll May was much busier than expected so I certainly didn’t hit my goal but I have a few more reviews to catch up on. 5. Willy’s Wonderland  What a bizarre film. Clearly banking off the success of stuff like 5 Nights at Freddy’s, this film features murderous animatronics in a abandoned (I think?) Chuck E. Cheese-esque restaurant. Cage stars as the mute protagonist and lets just say he makes some fascinating choices. The film is cyclical, it stars with Cage being duped into janitorial work and proceeds as follows- he cleans up some stuff, fights a killer animatronic, takes a break, drinks an energy drink (I was loving shocked this wasn’t an actual drink that Cage invested into), plays some pinball, and goes back to work. This routine is NEVER broken. It doesn’t matter if he is in the middle of a life or death situation, if his timer goes off, Cage takes a break. It’s a choice. But I’m not making GBS threads on this bizarre character trait- it makes a film that would otherwise be pretty rote and unspectacular into something interesting. It also leads to the best scene of the film, one of Cage’s greatest moments- the pinball victory dance. If you love Cage, you need to see this scene. It’s what I love about a guy like Cage when he uses his influence, takes a script like this, and produces it. He can do whatever the gently caress he wants, make these choices, and put something on celluloid that is truly straight from his bizarre heart. The surrounding film is just ok, the other characters aren’t anything special and the backstory of the animatronics is pretty silly. The monsters themselves look pretty good however! That brings me to the last odd choice of this mute Cage character, with every monster he fights he easily beats them, barely breaks a sweat. You are waiting for his backstory to explain why he is so good at these 3 specific tasks (cleaning, pinball, killing haunted animatronics) but it’s never explained. And to the films credit, I kinda like it that way. It’s cheap and underwhelming at times but I applaud its strange choices- Cage hijacks this one and I think it’s for the better. 3.5/5 6. Deadtime Stories  An anthology I somehow never caught, Deadtime Stories was pretty decent. A strangely immature and horny uncle babysitting his nephew tells him some equally horny but also spooky fairytales-gone-macabre before bed. It’s a cheese-fest, very 80s and goofy. But there are some very fun, goopy, and bloody effects to behold. I enjoyed it as an pretty average anthology of the era. But by far the best part was this incredibly cheesy credit song please check this poo poo out- https://youtu.be/N9ORIZ7xCbI 3/5 7. Def by Temptation  Fun low-budget succubus tale with some really great gore scenes. I read that a lot of the spooky atmosphere and visuals came from Ernest Dickerson who rules (I love Bones). It’s a pretty silly morality tale that is surprisingly chaste/religious in it’s message. I do always love any film in NYC that portrays it as having danger and temptation at every corner, a truly evil place! It’s always a charming touch. 3/5 Welp, I will definitely do better for the October challenge...one month after my second child is born  !
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Jun 2, 2022 00:42
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Opopanax posted:Thanks Muckle, fun as always. I do feel like some of the challenges could do with updating, there's a couple where I feel like I've drained all the good ones that fit out of them, and I imagine it's worse for the ones out there who consistently watch 3 a day in these things. Yeah I agree, I had a bunch of ideas for different ones but when I started looking at what titles were reasonably accessible for people to find and watch, many just didn’t have enough options out there to be fair. I didn’t want anyone to have to buy something or subscribe to a specific streaming service to complete a challenge. For example I almost went with “Watch a Pre-Code Horror Film” as a challenge but a lot of those films are either relatively hard to find or they are stuff like Frankenstein/Dracula that most people have already seen. I think if I were to do it again I would come up with a lot more challenges that were much more specific, but only require a subset of those so people could pick and choose which ones they wanted to tackle. Basically what Fran did with the “Spooky Bingo” last year but without the Bingo part.
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Jun 2, 2022 01:39
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I do really really love getting all the challenges at once though, that helps a lot
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Jun 2, 2022 01:54
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This was fun! Thanks again for organizing and making this happen Final list: 1. What Have You Done To Solange? 2. Kadaicha / The Stones Of Death 3. Frankenstein Created Woman 4. Night Of The Living Dead (1990) 5. Strait Jacket 6. Slaughterhouse Rock 7. It Came From Outer Space 8. The Changeover 9. The Body Snatcher (1945) 10. Anarchy Parlor 11. Cruising 12. Found Footage 3D 13. Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? 14. The Skeleton Key 15. The Tingler 16. The Dead Zone 17. Slaughterhouse 18. Antebellum All challenges complete! #1: Woodlands Dark - Kadaicha / Stones Of Death #2: Scream Queen - Cruising #3: Rated PG - Skeleton Key #4: Music Of The Night - Slaughterhouse Rock #5: Behind The Screams - Found Footage 3D #6: The King In Yellow - What Have You Done To Solange #7: Short Cuts - a whole bunch of 'em #8: A Perfect Getaway - Anarchy Parlor #9: Hidden Gems - Whoever Slew Auntie Roo #10: The Price Is Right - The Tingler #11: Horror Noire - Antebellium #12: All Hail The King - The Dead Zone #13: Sins Of The Past - The Body Snatcher
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Jun 2, 2022 02:10
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In Summary: Total films: 19 + 6 shorts, all new to me Challenge films: 1. Woodlands Dark and Days BewitchedNoroi: The Curse 2. Scream, Queen! Eating Raoul 3. Rated PGDoctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness 4. Music of the NightPhantom of the Paradise 5. Behind the ScreamsShadow of the Vampire 6. The King in YellowDeep Red 7. Short CutsThe End of All Things Peephole Mr. Creak The World Over Other Side of the Box They Hear It 8. A Perfect GetawayPulgasari 9. Hidden Gems12 Hour Shift 10. The Price is RightThe Masque of Red Death 11. Horror NoireTales From the Crypt: Demon Knight 12. All Hail the KingChristine 13. Sins of the PastFreaks Plus these others: Night of the Living Dead (1990) Strait-Jacket Choose or Die Ghosts of Mars Frankenstein Created Woman Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel I actually watched several more horror movies this month and didn't log them due to laziness Best Film: Phantom of the Paradise Worst Film: Hell House LLC II
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Jun 2, 2022 02:20
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Thanks for running the May Challenge, gey muckle mowser. It was fun and I watched a lot of new stuff! I originally intended to watch 13, but ended up with 40 that were new to me. This included films I watched for Bracketology and for my self-imposed challenge to watch 13 non-American films from the 1960s. Favorite 3 - Don’t Torture a Duckling (1972) - The Skeleton of Mrs. Morales (1960) - The Eyes of My Mother (2016) Challenges Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched - The Other Lamb (2019) Scream, Queen! - A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985) Rated PG - Madhouse (1974) Music of the Night - Suck (2009) Behind the Screams - Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006) The King in Yellow - Don’t Torture a Duckling (1972) Short Cuts - A Warning to the Curious (1972) - Curve (2016) - Waffle (2020) - The Pickman Model (2021) A Perfect Getaway - The Medium (2021) Hidden Gems - The Eyes of My Mother (2016) The Price is Right - The Tingler (1959) Horror Noire - His House (2020) All Hail the King - The Dead Zone (1983) Sins of the Past - The Old Dark House (1932) SECRET BONUS LIMITED TIME CHALLENGE - Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) Complete List - Matango (1963) - Mill of the Stone Women (1960) - The Brainiac (1962) - Kill, Baby… Kill! (1966) - Night of the Living Dead (1990) - Strait-Jacket (1964) - National Theatre Live: Frankenstein (2011) - Frankenstein Created Woman (1967) - Gamera, the Giant Monster (1965) - The Other Lamb (2019) - A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985) - Madhouse (1974) - The Changeover (2017) - Genocide (1968) - The House That Screamed (1969) - It Came from Outer Space (1953) - The Whip and the Body (1963) - Suck (2009) - Morgiana (1972) - Don’t Torture a Duckling (1972) - The Pickman Model (2021) - Waffle (2020) - Curve (2016) - A Warning to the Curious (1972) - The Snow Woman (1968) - Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) - The City of the Dead (1960) - The Skeleton of Mrs. Morales (1960) - Phantasm II (1988) - Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead (1994) - The Devil Rides Out (1968) - The Medium (2021) - The Eyes of My Mother (2016) - The Tingler (1959) - His House (2020) - The Vampire Doll (1970) - The Dead Zone (1983) - The Old Dark House (1932) - The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963) - Celia (1989)
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Jun 2, 2022 21:09
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Well, 19 movies, 7 challenges randomly met, ashamed that I didn’t watch a single giallo this year. Not one movie that really hated, so I think it was time well spent! Best Movie: World of Kanako: So much energy, but more horror adjacent. Great: The Berlin Bride (Scream, Queen!): Weird and good! Koko-di Koko-da: Scandinavian groundhog day, of course it’s depressing. Leptirica (A Perfect Getaway): Dear lord this freaked me out on a 5$ budget Kwaidan (Music of the Night): Sooo pretty, soo long, very chill. Hellbender Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: Made with love, pleasantly surprised The Changeover: So good, but also so bad. Like the growing pains of a young adult. Good: Morgiana: Ah. love me some gothic costume drama Vampire Doll: Spooky vampire, short movie. Nice. A Cure for Wellness: Boring vampire, long movie, but gorgeous. Nice The Found Footage Phenomenon Behind the Screams: Covers most of the genre, not bad. Les Diaboliques Hidden Gems: Dunno, not much of a gem for me. Return to Oz Rated PG: Puppets! Phantasm 2: Perfect nightmare logic Not so good: Frankenstein Created Woman: It’s a Hammer movie alright No One Gets Out Alive: Muddled, generic, skippable It Came from Outer Space: Ok I guess? Phantasm III: You can’t just badly copy Evil Dead! Final Prayer: Eh
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Jun 3, 2022 01:13
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Considering how work's been during May and coming up on Jurassic June, I made a good call to just aim for 13 this go. Only reason I'm up and posting this recap is for how heavy I was scheduled on top of also pulling extra hours is I'm waiting for my pain meds to kick in so I can sleep. At least my paycheck'll be sweet even if I might not have the energy to spend it. Anyway, here's my recap list: 1) After Midnight 2) Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched 3) Titane 4) The House with a Clock in its Walls 5) Stage Fright 6) Blood & Flesh: The Reel Life & Ghastly Death of Al Adamson 7) Death Walks on High Heels 8) various short films 9) Virus: 32 10) Censor 11) The Mad Magician 12) Sweetheart 13) Rose Red 14) The Boogie Man Will Get You I did all the challenges in order because it was easier that way this time. As always this was very fun, and reading everyone's reviews have added more films to my evergrowing watchlists. Much thanks to GMM for running this. You did a drat good job.
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Jun 4, 2022 08:18
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Thanks for participating everyone! I'm a little behind schedule with tallying the results and drawing a winner. I tried keeping up with the thread over the course of the month and then my job exploded so I didn't have a chance, now I get to go back through like 10 pages of posts to make sure I didn't miss anyone. Working on it tonight and will have results hopefully in a few hours.
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Jun 6, 2022 01:06
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FINAL SUMMARY TIME (sorry for the delays and thanks for your patience, life keeps getting in the way) - 38 people participated in the challenge this month. - of those, 32 met the goal of watching at least 13 horror movies - 19 people also completed all 13 challenges Thanks everyone for participating, this was the first one of these I've ran and I enjoyed doing it. PRIZE DRAWING TIME Everyone who watched 13 movies got one entry into the drawing, and if you also completed all of the bonus challenges you got an extra chance to win. In the spirit of the thread, I channeled the dark arts and asked the spirit world to select a winner (or maybe I used Excel and the first google result for "random number generator"), and the results are in... ...the winner is VROOM VROOM! Congrats! I will be sending you a PM about your prize.Thanks again to everyone who participated!
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Jun 8, 2022 02:36
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Congrats to the winner! Had a great time as always, especially since I have a kid due on Sept 30 and doing the October marathon night be tricky.
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Jun 8, 2022 02:59
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Congrats to the winner! As usual I had a good time reading reviews from folks and watching my own spookadoodles
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Jun 8, 2022 03:03
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all I do is win mfers. thanks for playing (and contributing cool reviews that are very nice to read, especially in the future when searching the forums to read what people have to say about a movie)
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Jun 8, 2022 03:10
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Congrats, VROOM VROOM!
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Jun 8, 2022 03:11
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Congrats VROOM VROOM!
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Jun 8, 2022 03:45
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Congrats VROOM, step forward to claim the prize
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Jun 8, 2022 04:00
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Hell yeah. This was fun, thanks everyone
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Jun 8, 2022 06:40
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Another fun time with the spook a doodle crew, well done VROOM VROOM and thanks gey muckle mowser!
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Jun 8, 2022 08:56
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I am so glad I am finally getting in on these things. Thanks to gey muckle mowser for organizing, congrats to VROOM VROOM for the big win, and as always a tip of the hat to the whole thread for some fun recommendations and discussions.
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Jun 8, 2022 10:00
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| # ? May 2, 2024 05:52 |
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Congrats to VROOM VROOM, and thanks a lot gey muckle mowser for organizing and hosting the challenge! It was a lot of fun, even if I got too busy to actually write up most of my films.
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Jun 8, 2022 12:45
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