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It's that time again!   THE CHALLENGE BEGINS TODAY, APRIL 28TH, 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. The Rules: 1. Watch movies appropriate to the challenge (see below for what counts) 2. Write a review 3. Discussion is both welcome and highly encouraged, however if the discussion turns into a long derail please move it 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. You can participate with as much or as little enthusiasm as you want, but to qualify for the prize drawing at the end of the month you must watch at least 13. 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. There is no specific minimum review length required, but if your review can fit into a single tweet then it's probably not long enough.  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 by Monday 5/1. See the second post of this thread for details once those are up. Completing all 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-adjacent films of other genres (horror comedies, musicals, etc) 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/limited series* episodes of Black Mirror, Cabinet of Curiosities, Masters of Horror, etc MST3k episodes (you must watch the actual, unedited movie)* something like the '90s It that was originally a miniseries but later released on DVD as a single film is OK. Bottom line - this is a film forum and a movie challenge, so TV shows do not count. If you log one, I'm probably not going to call you out, but I will ignore it when it comes time to tally the results at the end of the month. That's it! Hopefully I didn't miss anything, but feel free to ask questions or add any comments. Go! Have fun! 
gey muckle mowser fucked around with this message at 23:38 on Apr 28, 2023 |
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Apr 28, 2023 23:16
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 CHALLENGE TIMEUnless otherwise noted, a film can only count for one challenge at a time and must be a first-time watch for you. For the challenges, make sure you are saying in your write-up how the movie fits the challenge (unless it’s super obvious like a movie with Bigfoot in the title for the cryptid one). e.g. for Holy Terror mention what the religion is. And if it’s for the Geography meta challenge, try to mention what country the film is from and not just the region, mostly because it’s interesting and I want to see what people come up with for the tougher regions! If anyone has questions on what qualifies for a particular challenge, ask away in the thread or PM me. I’m not gonna be too much of a stickler unless you are obviously trying to BS it. And in case it’s not clear, there are 13 challenges but you could potentially finish them all with only 11 films. You’ll still need to watch minimum 13 films total though for the overall thread goal. 1. Horror High - Watch a horror film that features drugs (recreational or medicinal), alcohol, or abuse/addiction as a major theme or as an important part of the plot 2. Tales from the Cryptids - Watch a film featuring any cryptid (Bigfoot, Jersey Devil, Loch Ness Monster, etc - anything on this list would count https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cryptids) 3. Holy Terror - Watch a horror film about or prominently featuring any religion/faith - EXCEPT Christianity or Satanism 4. Fresh Hell - Watch a horror film released in 2023. 5. Shooting Zombies - Watch the highest ranked film on the "They Shoot Zombies, Don't They?" list of 1,000 greatest horror films that you haven’t seen (and have access to) 6. Drawn and Quartered - Watch a horror film that is entirely or predominantly animated (stop motion counts) 7. Woke in Fright - Watch a horror film with themes related to social issues - race, LGBTQ+ issues, mental health, etc. In your review you must mention what the theme is and how it factors into the film. 8. Second Chance - Rewatch a classic or well-regarded horror film that you’ve seen before, but either didn’t like or liked but not as much as you expected to based on its reputation. In your write up you need to say what your original impression was, and whether or not it has changed with this rewatch. 9. Challenge of the Dead - Watch a film with a title that ends in "...of the Dead" or "...of the Living Dead" 10. Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things - Watch a film about evil/possessed dolls/toys - OR watch a film about evil/possessed children 11. It's-a Me! - Watch a film directed by Mario Bava - OR any Italian horror film made between 1960-1980 META-CHALLENGESThese can overlap with other the challenges and with each other, and can be applied retroactively to films you have already watched. 12. History lesson - Watch films from at least 5 different decades 13. Geography Lesson - Watch films from at least 5 of the following regions:
Europe Central/South America Middle East/Africa Australia/Oceania Asia (China, Japan, Korea, India, etc) Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, etc) gey muckle mowser fucked around with this message at 00:07 on May 3, 2023 |
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Apr 28, 2023 23:16
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I'm down for 13 films! (And presumably 13 challenges!) FAKE EDIT: And 13 cheers to gey muckle mowser for organizing!
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Apr 28, 2023 23:22
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In!
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Apr 28, 2023 23:24
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gently caress it, I'm in
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Apr 28, 2023 23:29
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In for 13 films- will prolly fall short but I’ll try!
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Apr 28, 2023 23:33
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oh hell yeah, i've been wanting to try this. i'll go for 13
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Apr 28, 2023 23:46
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In for 13. Possibly beyond.
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Apr 29, 2023 00:08
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In with two down so far. Will do some small write ups later.
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Apr 29, 2023 00:08
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Oh nice I’m in. Time for some spring cleaning.
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Apr 29, 2023 00:23
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I can't wait to get started. I saw Beau Is Afraid today in theaters. Loved it, but it's only got one or two horror moments in the film, and is otherwise a surrealist dark comedy, so I'm not counting it. I'm in for a minimum of 13, but I'll probably exceed that.
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Apr 29, 2023 00:33
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There's a good chance I'm going to be very busy in October, so gently caress it, I'm in for 31, and I'm starting with an Evil Dead marathon.
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Apr 29, 2023 00:40
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I'll try to do 13. As always aiming for new releases first, new-to-me in general no matter what The timing's going to be tough because I usually rack these things up from new films via the help of theaters, but Beau Is Afraid (which I'm counting if/when I can see it) and Evil Dead Rise (which I already saw) are the only new ones playing in theaters till June 2 Shudder won't be helpful either, they've got 3 new films all month and I've already seen 2 of them (Consecration and Huesera: The Bone Woman; I haven't seen Influencer but that's at the end of next month)
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Apr 29, 2023 00:57
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Never done one of these before (and have no doubt I'll gently caress this one up) but lately I've just been sorting my library by Horror and Year and randomly picking something I haven't seen yet, maybe this will motivate me to keep at it. Probably going to be a bunch of old classics that everybody is already familiar with but they'll be new to me dang it! Pretty sure it was after midnight when I finished the 2nd half of Boxer's Omen last night, does that count 
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Apr 29, 2023 01:23
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In for 13, might get to 31 but not being certain on that. For once, release delays work in my favour, since it means I can go see Beau Is Afraid and count it. After seeing Evil Dead Rise, I've got a real hankering for some possession movies, so I'm gonna be leaning especially (but not exclusively, due to challenges0 toward them.
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Apr 29, 2023 02:15
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Hell yeah. I'm in for a nebulous amount of movies higher than 13. Already watched Honeymoon (2014) which had a couple of pretty bright spots in a lot of aggressively meh packaging.
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Apr 29, 2023 03:29
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Going with 13 or more and starting with a rewatch of a favorite that I just picked up on blu-ray: Lair of the White Worm, 1988 An absolute classic, one of the all-time best horror comedies. Any movie where the first line is YEEHAW while a scientist digs up a monster skull is going to be good, and the very next scene is an electro-folk performance while a worm puppet parties as a means of explaining the mythology to the audience. I love it. Amanda Donohoe is a campy delight, Sammi Davis is adorable, and young Hugh Grant and Peter Capaldi are great bros. Lady Sylvia Marsh is one of my favorite horror villains and also one of the most fashionable, every outfit is iconic. Probably the highest innuendo-per-line rate of any spooky movie that doesn't have Elvira in it, the dialogue gets better every time! The trippy nightmare scenes are infamous but there's a lot of quieter humor too, from the casual banter to the numerous white worm-like objects that pop up (white garden hoses, vacuum cleaners, etc.) The worm puppet itself is always funny! A brave young archeologist attacks the home of a vampire snake queen armed with bagpipes in one hand and a mongoose in the other. What other movie would possibly feature a bagpipes vs. Snake Vampires battle? 
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Apr 29, 2023 03:47
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I’m gonna watch 5 movies so I can get my PG tag bc I am the number one PG fan here lol
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Apr 29, 2023 04:13
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Put me down for 13, but might possibly do more. I need to redeem myself after my poor showing last time
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Apr 29, 2023 04:40
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O good someone else posted a review so I'm not literally the first. (Also, gently caress yeah, Lair of the White Worm.) Honeymoon (2014) ; Leigh Janiak Newlyweds Bea (Rose Leslie) and Paul (Harry Treadaway) are honeymooning in a cabin on a lake. In the middle of the night, bright lights are visible peering in through the windows and Bea comes back possibly changed after sleepwalking in the woods. I know Janiak mostly from her Fear Street series so I was curious to see her earlier work. And it's a pretty mixed bag : the highs are quite high, and the lows are pretty mediocre. The premise itself is a rock-solid one that would be at home in one of the better runs of Twilight Zone/Outer Limits/Tales from the Darkside, and Rose Leslie (eventually) gets to put in some really good work. But they desperately wanted you to connect with the young couple and the characters aren't strong enough. Instead of Bea and Paul coming off as rich characters with full inner lives, they feel more like throw-away stock characters that should die in 5 minutes but instead are for 87. I know it sounds dumb to whine about a lack of good characters in this, but there are exactly 4 characters in the whole thing and 2 of them are barely in it so you feel every single B-tier quirk as it's stretched out. Honestly my biggest takeaway is that I'd be much more interested in a short story from Bea's perspective. Paul is a loving drip and I think you could do some really cool stuff with her inner monologue and how much she knows at any given time. 1 down out of ?????? Now I kind of want to rewatch the first season of Downton Abbey.
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Apr 29, 2023 04:43
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I'm in. Of course. And I'm overdoing it. Of course. Goal #1: To watch the films from my fallen Bracketology teams. There is fatefully about 13 of them. Goal #2: To finish up those Letterboxd Collections that now taunt me since someone gifted me Pro. Again, there's about 13 horror ones. Fate. Goal #3: The challenges in here. Goal #4: Just general clean up of films I've been meaning to watch the last few years that I never get around to or cleaning off my DVR. And probably something like a Scream marathon to watch the new film. And whatever takes me. Last couple of years i did 13 Stephen King films but I'm skipping that this year because I'm just running short on them and I would have to watch some real scraps and a bunch of mini series. And I'm not against that but it was just too much. But who knows? Maybe I'll do that too. I'll get crazy and overdo it as always. And I want to no gifts. And I'm not gonna start until May because I'm silly that way and there's a few movies I wanna clear off these last few days. But I'll be anticipating the start as I read all of your reviews and add more movies to my list. 🌼💀Spook-a-Doodle Half-Way-to-Halloween ’23: Spring Cleaning💀🌼   
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Apr 29, 2023 05:24
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I’ll watch the Steve kostanski films I haven’t seen, so that should probably round it up to 5.
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Apr 29, 2023 05:28
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https://boxd.it/mx3DU Only have added what I’ve watched today. Will probably spend some time combing through my last few lists for these and put what I didn’t end up watching on here. Really aiming for more new to me stuff than rewatches, but I already know The Thing is gunna happen, at least 1 Romero dead movie, probably some Carpenter and Cronenberg (well more) and some 4K upgrades happening in May.
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Apr 29, 2023 05:49
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CelticPredator posted:I’m gonna watch 5 movies so I can get my PG tag bc I am the number one PG fan here lol No sale
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Apr 29, 2023 06:04
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Lame. Watching movies is a lot of work
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Apr 29, 2023 07:08
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1. Scream 6 Another decent entry. I'm a total sucker for Ghostface running around slashing so I'll always give these higher scores. Some cool set pieces help a lot. 3.5/5 2. Vicious Lips Watched as part of bracketology. Goofy genre blending flick that's really only horror for like 10 minutes. Cool setup, dragging rear end middle, solid ending. The Albert Pyun special. 2.5/5
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Apr 29, 2023 07:55
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heck yeah gonna do my usual 13 new-to-mes. Got a few classics I've been saving that I hope'll fit into the challenge e: gonna go ahead and list some of my unseens here for my own notes and so everyone can see my shame Psycho The Exorcist The Blair Witch Project Paranormal Activity (any) really anything before, say, 1964 The Silence of the Lambs Rosemary's Baby Carrie Re-Animator VROOM VROOM fucked around with this message at 12:31 on Apr 29, 2023 |
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Apr 29, 2023 09:05
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I'm in for a minimum of 13 with each of them something I've not reviewed for previous May or October challenges. So far I'm finding sticking with the 13ish for May and going hog wild crazy for October's working pretty good for me.
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Apr 29, 2023 14:05
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I’m in for 13+. I can’t wait to see what challenges are in store for us.
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Apr 29, 2023 14:22
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So stoked that this is back. I'm in for 13. No real rhyme or reason to any of my future choices, outside of whatever challenges end up being posted. However, since I'll be moving at the end of May and have plenty of stuff to do - both personal and work and moving-related - beforehand, I don't know if I'm gonna commit to doing all of the challenges or 13 new-to-me films or anything like that. It's more of a "let's aim for 13 and see where that takes us" kind of vibe this year.
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Apr 29, 2023 14:46
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I'm in for at least 13 that are new to me. I'll mostly be focused on the challenges itt, chipping away at what is left on my my HORRORx52 list, and Bracketology movies. Thanks for organizing, gmm!
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Apr 29, 2023 15:28
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1. The Borderlands/Final Prayer (US title) (2013) British found-footage following a team investigating a report of a miracle in a rural village church. Surprisingly great! Some genuinely pretty creepy stuff, and the dynamic between the main three characters is really well-written and natural. Almost a sitcom vibe between them, in a good way. It's the kind of movie that benefits from a low budget, because a lot of the scares are done using fairly mundane stuff, it almost feels like a student film with a lot of polishing. A loving fantastic ending too, which is rare for found footage. 4 out of 5! Watched so far: The Borderlands Total: 1/13 Gyro Zeppeli fucked around with this message at 16:54 on Apr 29, 2023 |
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Apr 29, 2023 15:46
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May as well go ahead and get started with what I've seen so far. #1. The Seed (2021) (Shudder) A trio of young women visit the countryside to party and live stream a meteor shower. However, when a strange rock lands in their pool, they find themselves the victims of alien mind control. Will they be able to escape? On the one hand, I should be able to appreciate this purely as an exercise in DIY low-budget filmmaking, wherein every choice is dictated by the resources on hand. (Have access to a remote party house for a few weeks? Set 95% of your film there! Have a pretty decent alien hand puppet your friend made? Make it a starring role!) It's an ethos that has lead to many great films, after all, especially in the horror and sci-fi genres. On the other hand, I don't know that The Seed has the character or charm of something like a The Evil Dead or a Psycho Goreman, which is really the secret sauce that make these kinds of low-budget scrappy films worthwhile. The characters are all fairly one note, the dialogue is blah, the alien puppet is not as impressive as the filmmakers want to believe, and the whole thing just doesn't add up to much. Some impressive make up work and trippy hallucination visuals help keep this from the bottom of the barrel, but I was just less than enthused with the whole thing. Not recommended. /5 #2. Witchboard (1986) (Shudder via Joe Bob Briggs) After playing with a Ouija board at a party, a young woman starts to come under the thrall of the entity contacting them through it, while strange and violent deaths pile up around her boyfriend. Said boyfriend must team up with her ex, his former childhood friend, to combat the evil spirit. On a different track, this was a film where you can tell the writer/director had a lot of passionate thoughts about Ouija boards and "progressive entrapment" or whatever, but no real clear idea how to string them all together into a coherent narrative. I also want to credit the film for being so obviously focused on character setup above all else, but none of the actors are particularly strong here, so all of that work ends up being for naught. There's not too much in the way of effects work, but what is there is impressive enough for a low budget 80s film; one moment (the sheetrock crushing death) legitimately got me to jump, and shocked me for how impressive it was. There's moments that work here, but they feel too sporadic to make for a truly enjoyable experience. Speaking of sporadically enjoyable experiences, I'd normally say that such a film would be perfect fodder for a showing on "The Last Drive-In", since Joe Bob cutting in to wax laconic about this or that can sometimes help flagging interest when a film has weak pacing. Instead, while I would agree that Witchboard has pacing issues in its back half, having Briggs pop in to go on about "Witch's Night" (aka Walpurgisnacht) at length was not a super helpful experience because of how long it dragged on. Seriously, the film is supposed to be only about 95 minutes or so, but the TLDI episode stretched past midnight. We doubled the run-time of the whole experience! I don't need that much Witchboard and Witchboard-adjacent things hanging around in my life! It just makes an already mediocre experience last twice as long as it needs to! If you have to seek out this film - and I don't think you do - make sure to do it without the interruptions, and get out of there quicker. /5Watched so far: The Seed, Witchboard Not exactly an auspicious start to this year's challenge for me; hopefully I can find some better choices in the near future.
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Apr 29, 2023 16:09
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I'm in for 13 to begin with.
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Apr 29, 2023 16:38
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VROOM VROOM posted:e: gonna go ahead and list some of my unseens here for my own notes and so everyone can see my shame Perfect opportunity to watch a whole bunch of Universal Monsters classics
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Apr 29, 2023 17:10
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VROOM VROOM posted:heck yeah gonna do my usual 13 new-to-mes. Got a few classics I've been saving that I hope'll fit into the challenge You might want to consider some vintage Hammer stuff. Their Dracula (1958) has the first pairing of Christopher Lee as the Count and Peter Cushing as Van Helsing with an absolute insane amount of boobs for the late 50's. Great stuff, one of those things that every horror fan loves but doesn't get quite the press of the really big pillars like Universal Monsters or Carpenter. Or just follow your heart and chase your horror bliss. I'm just gesturing vaguely to cool stuff. Anyway.  Cooties (2014) Cary Murnion, Jonathan Millot A surprisingly okay horror comedy about teachers at an elementary school who are besieged by murderous zombie kids after one eats an infected chicken nugget. I bumped into this via streaming roulette and was pleasantly surprised. Bizarrely stacked cast of Elijah Wood and a bunch of TV comedy names. The set up is mildly painful in how straight it's played with Eljiah Wood's very sad substitute teacher/struggling novelist, but it gets better once things get moving and you understand a lot of the humor is very second-third season of Community where the joke is that they're playing with the structure of tropes in ways that aren't a straight parody. Like how Rainn Wilson is cast as the over the top jock-y PE teacher, and despite looking exactly like the schlub from The Office the movie frames it as if they cast David Boreanaz. It's not gonna blow you away, but it's an okay hour and a half that will give you some good chuckles if you like meta-humor where the joke is that they're messing with jokes. Not exactly rushing to tell everyone to check this out, but it was an okay way to spend a rainy midnight. 2 out of ????? Hurley from Lost tripping shrooms in a van is an underused framing device
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Apr 29, 2023 17:36
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A True Jar Jar Fan posted:Perfect opportunity to watch a whole bunch of Universal Monsters classics After I put off watching it for so long, I'm evangelical about people watching The Invisible Man (1933) which might be a perfect movie.
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Apr 29, 2023 17:41
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yeah I almost started listing Universal/Hammer movies until I realized it was all of themXiahou Dun posted:Peter Cushing as Van Helsing with an absolute insane amount of boobs This sounds like an interesting take on the character, definitely gotta check it out then
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Apr 29, 2023 17:43
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VROOM VROOM posted:yeah I almost started listing Universal/Hammer movies until I realized it was all of them You bastard. Lol.
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Apr 29, 2023 17:51
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I'm also doing a spring cleaning thing. Spooky May will be a good chance to finish some collections I've got in my backlog. Basket Case 2 - 1990 Directed by Frank Henenlotter The Basket Case Trilogy  Frank Henenlotter got a budget and used most or all of it to create some really inventive looking characters. Otherwise, it's like Night Breed without any of the magic. The effects and makeup are fantastic though. I can't emphasize that enough. 💀💀.5/5 Spooky May Spring Cleaning 1/13 * Basket Case 2 - 1990 Collections * The Basket Case Trilogy 🧺🧺/🧺🧺🧺
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Apr 29, 2023 18:14
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