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 That we don't find out what happens to this lady is one of my biggest criticisms of this film. Edit lol I'm very dumb : Seoul Station (2016) ; Yeon Sang-ho God help me, I enjoyed the animated Train to Busan prequel. My expectations were about where you'd expect for "animated prequel to a pretty good but not super memorable movie". But then it's an entirely functional and pretty decent zombie movie? It's not exactly a feast for the eyes, but the story's rock solid and well paced. I'm not sold on the slightly herka-jerk motion everything has, especially how it sometimes looks with walking, but it's only distracting because I was wondering if it's stylization or logistical constraints or both. (Seriously if anyone knows for sure, please let me know.) It's not great. I don't think everyone should run out and see it. But it's a shockingly solid B+, and there's a version of this that's even higher. Drawn and Quartered I guess throw on another for Asia? What does keeping score mean In a game we play by ourselves. Xiahou Dun fucked around with this message at 19:22 on May 27, 2023 |
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May 27, 2023 04:07
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It's not a double posting if there's 15 hours in between them. Kadaicha (1988) ; James Bogle A real estate developer has built a suburb over an aboriginal burial ground, and now a vengeful spirit is giving teenagers rocks in their dreams before killing them in the guise of deadly Australian wildlife. It's basically the silly "Indian burial ground" trope + a dash of Nightmare on Elm Street except it actually plays with some of the colonialist themes you'd expect from that premise. That being said, it doesn't do a very good job of playing with those themes. The material is there from the incredibly obvious central conceit to some (slightly) more subtle things like the history teacher's lecture being about the creation of Australia as a penal colony. But the movie doesn't do much with them besides "colonialism is bad, guys" ; which, sure, yeah, colonialism is in fact no good, very bad, don't do it : I just think there could've been something more interesting and specific. The kills aren't much to write home about, but not bad. The magic-rock-summoned monster animals are almost non-existent, but that's because they're mostly represented by a hand-held Sam Raimi-lite POV perspective. On the upside, it is in fact an Australian movie with a strong theme of colonialism from the 1980's so I get to check challenges off like a motherfucker. Woke in Fright* History Lesson (1980s) DONE with 6 contiguous decades Geography Lesson (Australia) DONE (North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia/Oceania) *I'll admit this is kind of marginal because of how poorly it handled the themes. If there's complaint, I'll just watch another thing too.
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May 27, 2023 19:21
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10. Child’s Play (1988) I didn’t grow up a horror fan—despite spending a lot of time on the precipice because of the way I loved stuff like Beetlejuice, Aaahh!! Real Monsters, and Halloween episodes—and so I missed out on a lot of stuff, but I was very happy to have missed out on Freddy and Chucky for many years. I knew nothing about them but what they looked like and that they killed, and that was enough for me to want to err on the side of caution and stay away…but I was being silly. I’ve since caught a bunch of NoES and it’s awesome, and now I’ve seen the first Chucky movie. And it’s awesome. A silly story that is nevertheless neither too self-serious nor too goofy, a couple of fun kills (the doctor!), and great effects in the last 20 or so. Can’t wait to see how this little fucker becomes a queer ally
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May 27, 2023 21:46
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 11. Black Sunday, AKA The Mask of Satan (1960) A superb gothic chiller of the old school. Full of crypts and cobwebs, corpses and creaking doors. There is a classic horror sensibility on display that knows the perfect creeping pace to glide through a castle's corridors, but also some fresh imaginative spikes of the grotesque. I will not soon forget the hammering in of an iron maiden mask, nor the exquisitely macabre sight of scorpions crawling from the eye sockets of Barbara Steele's freshly disturbed corpse. Steele probably could have carried a far worse picture with the strength of her charisma in a double role as both haunted Christian damsel and undead bride of Satan. Instead she's the magnet for human emotion amidst Mario Bava's rich forest of brooding shadows. Great stuff.  / 5For challenges, this is a Mario Bava joint and so checks off It's A-Me!, and is an Italian production satisfying Geography Lesson: Europe. Vanilla Bison fucked around with this message at 06:28 on May 29, 2023 |
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May 28, 2023 07:11
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 70 (95). Something in the Dirt (2022) Written and directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead ”You gonna murder me?" "Nobody's getting murdered.” Love Benson and Moorehead so been pumped for this. But as I am inclined the more I want to watch a movie I tend to push it back for some reason. Right away it was interesting that these guys usually tell stories about old friends stuck in a messed up situation and dealing with the complications of their relationship. Here we basically watch a new relationship being formed under very odd circumstances. The two guys click and get along quickly and this weird event pulls them together a lot deeper than you'd think very quickly. But they don't actually know who the other guy is and neither do we. But they like each other and this freaky thing is happening so hey, whatever. Both guys' lives aren't going great and the introduction of something that could maybe change it is enough to just go all in. There's a ton of ambiguity here and a lot of little details I picked up even hours later as I thought about it. The movie doesn't really give you any straight answers and purposely overtly identifies itself as unreliable narrator through the faux documentary criticizing the documentary within it for reenacting and faking footage. And we know that happened but that doesn't mean something else didn't happen. Its all over the place. A genuine supernatural event? Lead poisoning induced madness? Two lonely dudes broing out? A dangerous predator preying on a vulnerable victim? I really have no idea and its all pretty equally possible and more. And its all so well delivered and played out in a way where you never quite know what's up. I think you could probably compare this a bit to something like Lake Mungo but that one disappointed me a bit in how it handled its reveals. This one handles them all more subtly and ambiguously and I really dug that. I really do just love Benson and Moorehead. I just dig their vibe and I dig the way they really tell human stories in a horror/sci fi setting. The event here is really just an excuse. We're watching these guys and learning who they are as they learn who each other is. Evaluating if any of this was really ever a good idea or if its already too late to bail. Or is quieting loneliness and having a sense of purpose enough reason to just take the risk despite the red flags? Like most of their films this one feels like one that will be very rich in rewatches. I've been meaning to rewatch a number of their films and this joins the list after enough time passes. Its just hit after hit for me and these guys though and I really can't wait to see what they do next. Part of me wants to see them get more studio opportunities like with Marvel's Moon Knight but part of me just wants them to keep making the weird indie stuff they've been doing so well. gey muckle mowser posted:
The Invisible Man's Revenge (and others) hit North America). Evil Ed (and others) hit Europe. Man Thing hit Australia/Oceania; Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (and others) hit Asia, Under the Shadow completes the 5 coming from Iran for Middle East/Africa. Definitely gonna try and get the last two regions in for closure.  71 (96). Under the Shadow (2016) Written and directed by Babak Anvari Watched on Netflix A solidly spooky film if I'm totally honest about I probably should have watched when I was feeling a little more clear headed and healthy. Just caught it in the middle of a bad insomnia run and I found myself distracted a number of times by subtitles or the slow burn. But neither of these were bad things and I quite like slow burn. Under the Shadow is compared to Babadook a fair bit and that's understandable as both clearly are about parenting and drawing a metaphor for the difficulties and shame in mistakes. I think they're maybe a little less on the nose here? The parenting issues are clearly part of it but also clearly is the oppression under which Shideh is living. The oppresive government, a society that denies her ambition and opportunity, a husband who seems to sympathize a bit too much with them instead of her at times. That's all clearly part of this. I mean look at that title. And of course its all set in the middle of a war to make matters worse. The setting of the haunted apartment building is one I love. There's just not enough apartment building horrors and its such an environment rife for paranoia and horror from who is living next to you, above you, or below you. Always noises and movement in the hallway. The other night someone rang my doorbell at 3 AM and my heart raced for half an hour. I've become such a lame suburbanite. But the paranoia of always hearing voices and footsteps and the people knocking on the wrong door or just in passing. And then add in the aspect of the bombings causing the building to gradually become abandoned and empty. Its really a very haunting atmosphere that builds and builds. And again plays into the metaphor of all of this as Shideh just stubbornly refuses to give in to all these patriarchal pressures to leave and then once she does want to leave she is stuck there trying to be a good mother. Its a really effective push/pull of everything she's struggling with. I do feel like the finale could have been a bit more climactic. It didn't really feel to me like it tied much together or showed any big changes for Shideh. Not that I think she necessarily needed to change to much. She might be a little stubborn with her husband and a little short with her kid but they're kind of being jerks too. Its never in any doubt that the family loves each other, these are just problems they're going through in a difficult situation. So I'm not sure those felt like big enough things like in Babadook to make for a kind of therapeutic metaphor ending. And the action and horror of it is promising on its own but then just sort of ends. I dunno, this might be where my mental state hurt my viewing a bit but I felt like by that point I was pretty well focused but just kind of felt like there could have been an extra 10 minutes or so of horror finale. Still, good spooky stuff with solid human stuff and an unfamiliar setting and voice telling a familiar and relatable story. Definitely worth the watch even if its not jumping up my lists.  72 (97). Marrowbone (2017) Written and directed by Sergio G. Sánchez Watched on Amazon Prime I dig me a good spooky Spanish horror. I suspect they tend to be influenced heavily by Guillermo del Toro since so many of them seem to lean in heavy to his style of gothic storytelling and distressed children and horror as sad sentimentality as much as scary moments. This certainly followed suit. And while I would have happily watched a film in spanish it was definitely the cast of Mia Goth and Anya Taylor Joy that drew me in. Sadly both ladies feel a bit underused as does the other recognizable face in Stranger Thing's Charlie Heaton. There' all there and an important part of the story but its really much more of George MacKay's film. And he's really quite good. Everyone is and its a very good ensemble. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't hope for a little more of the ladies. The overall story is very sad and haunting. The reveals are well handled so that you think you know what's coming but aren't sure even after they surprise you a bit. And people seem to dislike the epilogue but its more kind of sad sentimentality that definitely resonates with me. A story about love and how much strength that will give you to do just about anything for someone but also how it can basically destroy you when you lose it or give in to it. Not my favorite of the style but another film of this Spanish gothic horror style I really enjoyed.
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May 28, 2023 07:36
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Pretzel Rod Stewart posted:10. Child’s Play (1988) It's truly bizarre that out of all the 80s slasher franchises, loving Child's Play is the most consistent and current one running 
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May 28, 2023 08:43
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Oh look, 100 films. Dear lord.  73 (98). The Pope’s Exorcist (2023) Directed by Julius Avery; Screenplay by Michael Petroni and Evan Spiliotopoulos; Story by R. Dean McCreary, Chester Hastings, and Jeff Katz; Based on An Exorcist Tells His Story and An Exorcist: More Stories by Father Gabriele Amorth What a silly, stupid movie. This is very much what you'd get if James Wan remade The Exorcist. Its actually kind of shocking how much this movie just wholesale takes from the Exorcist. It went way beyond exorcism movie tropes, of which this films hits every one of whether they fit or not. There's an MRI scene. I made a joke mid way through that I almost had Exorcist Bingo but needed a few more and then they all happened so I had to yell BINGO. And this might all be intentional homage or pastiche? The film certainly seems like its borderline parody at times. But its played straight and I really do think its more than it was done earnestly as just the most Exorcist movie they could make while also doing their Wan-esque wacky action and Davinci Code plotting. And then there's Crowe's accent and casting Franco Nero as the Pope. If nothing else this film really felt like it nailed the sensibility of italian knockoffs. Its a spaghetti Exorcist movie. It isn't without its charm and it stays moving well enough. Everything's shallow and kind of silly and everything is something you've seen before. but seeing it all mashed together balances somewhere between bemusement for me and probably genuine enjoyment with people more into that kind of wacky vibe. I keep saying "wacky" but its not like a comedy. But it also kinda is. I dunno. Its weird movie and a very common movie at the same time. Its sure something. I'd bet money this crosses over with the Conjuringverse given time.  74 (99). Three (2002) Directed by Kim Jee-woon, Nonzee Nimibutr, and Peter Ho-Sun Chan; Written by Jojo Hui, Kim Jee-woon, and Nitas Singhamat An uneven anthology that honestly just runs too long for the quality of the shorts. Not really shorts though as they all go roughly 40 minutes I guess. I wasn't keeping track. But the whole thing did feel long and at those lengths it felt less like an anthology of shorts and more like the first few episodes of a tv anthology. And ultimately the first two just aren't that great. Kim Jee-woon's Memories has some spooky imagery but it feels like its going through a checklist of tropes from J-horror at the time. The story itself never really clicks or feels like much and the scares don't really lead anywhere. Nonzee Nimibutr's Wheel is an ok enough little ghost story but it does nothing special including not really making use of its gimmick of creepy puppets. Just kind of a whatever ride when its said and done. Peter Chan's Going Home is where things pick up for sure. Its a better, more haunting, and weird story. Eric Tsang had a good presence as the sad everyman and Leon Lai walked the line well of crazy, pathetic, and sad. Its a creepy story and even if I kind of figured the end twist early on its less of a shocker thing and more just a very punching sad thing. And I love them apartment horrors. I wouldn't say this is a must watch or anything but its very good. Is the one segment worth sitting through the other two? I don't really think so. They're not the worst or anything but they're long for what they are and the return just didn't feel worth it. Still it finishes on a high note and a good story so the thing doesn't feel like a chore or waste by the time I was through. Still uneven and too long but I've certainly seen worse.  75 (100). Men (2022) Written and Directed by Alex Garland Watched on Showtime Uh... ok. I didn't actually realize this was the Annihilation dude until after I started the movie. I had been meaning to watch Men all month but I rewatched Annihilation last week and it left me very cold so I don't know how i would have felt coming into this. I think my problem is kind of the same as it is in Annihilation. Very impressive visuals and weird rear end poo poo. An easy enough set of themes to follow. But all feeling kind of shallow and not like it really amounts to much when done. Like maybe I'm dumb. Maybe I'm not getting the deep imagery and point. Maybe I'm being a dumb man. But I basically get the elevator pitch and I don't really see much else. Still. The first half of the film is very creepy and unnerving. Jessie Buckley is very good and carries much of it herself just expressing what she's going through without many words. And them there's Rory Kinnear. I admit, I didn't get it. I get tricked by that thing all the time. I mean its not like its something you're looking for, right? I noticed it finally pretty deep into the movie and that all clicked. And again, I understand the theme. Priest, adolescent, cop, threat. Men. But again, I dunno. Feels shallow. But impressive by Kinnear no doubt and whether he gets credit for fooling me or I just get blamed for being dumb it worked. And the film's obviously visually and audibly striking. That very much seems to be Garland's thing (along with vague shallow philosophy/sociology) and he's doing it here. First the really gorgeous and hauntingly sinister house, woods, and town and then the really mind fuckery finale stuff. And like I'm sure that alone was worth the price of admission for many and I get that. Its weird, freaky stuff. But I dunno. Not enough for me. Still I'm not saying this is a bad film or anything. I'm not entirely sure if I liked it. But its a great cast doing great performances. Great visuals and atmosphere set by Garland. A perfectly appropriate theme that may not have been deep but is worth being said as long as it sends a bunch of dudes away all annoyed that more than one person is saying something for women for once after generations of mostly just objectifying and gutting them in horror. I'm just not sure its worth the sum of its parts. Ultimately I think Garland kind of does his films a disservice reaching for the philosophy/sociology. I just don't think he's got a lot to say there and then that becomes the lasting feeling instead just a very well shot, well acted film with a creepy mood and a perfectly timely theme. But maybe that's me looking for more than is there. For many clearly what is there is enough.
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May 28, 2023 11:25
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Agreed on Men and for me it suffered coming out at the same time as Watcher and Resurrection, both of which did a way more effective job at following an isolated woman menaced by a male world. I wish Garland had gone deeper with the Green Man myth stuff; I liked the atmosphere but it didn't feel magical enough to fully work, if that makes sense.
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May 28, 2023 15:04
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14. Death's Roulette (2023) (first viewing) (watched via Paramount+)  Seven people awaken in a mysterious cliffside mansion, having found themselves kidnapped. A mysterious voice gives them a deadline, literally: they've got one hour to choose one of the group to die, or else they all die. They've got three rules. First, they must unanimously vote on the person chosen to die. Second, the person chosen to die must agree. Third, the person chosen to die CANNOT volunteer themselves. I chose this mistakenly thinking it would qualify for a challenge--more on that later--but, putting that aside, I'm a sucker for any movie that has the characters stuck in some specific scenario they've got to work through. Even a by-the-numbers movie of this sub-genre is right up my alley. That being said, this is indeed pretty rote for this kind of premise. Some of the twists here aren't too hard to predict. If you don't immediately suspect that, gasp--the mastermind is one of the very same people in the group of seven!--then I envy you, because it must be exciting seeing your first movie. The twists pile on. Would you guess that these seeming strangers all have a deep personal connection that explains why they were chosen? Would you believe our antagonist has completely unexplained resources, including a seemingly limitless budget? Would you guess that all is not as it seems? Competently made and solidly acted (I didn't know the cast, although Maribel Verdú is more well-known to English-language audiences for big roles in Y Tu Mamá También and Pan's Labyrinth). You can throw this on if you're attuned to the style. CHALLENGE: NONE. Letterboxd incorrectly lists this as a Colombian production, but I got suspicious when every single character talked about being from somewhere in Mexico, and lo and behold... 15. The Last Matinee (2020) (first viewing) (watched via AMC+/Shudder)  After getting burned on missing out on my South American pick, I doubled down with this joint production between Uruguay and Argentina. It's Montevideo in 1993. Our protagonist is Ana, the daughter of an projectionist at a dingy movie theater. Ana cuts her overworked father a break and insists on taking care of the last screening of the night so he can get a break. Wouldn't you know it, she chose the ONE night a killer pulled down the sliding metal storefront doors, broke the lock, and snuck around picking off the scant theatergoers one by one. This one is a straightforward slasher, but stylish and fun, with plenty of nods to giallo tropes. It's a tight 88 minutes, but it manages to spend time up front giving the audience just enough broad strokes characterization so you know who everyone is. There's plenty of eye trauma thanks to the killer's ocular fixation, and there was even a pretty novel death you don't see enough in these movies, when two teens necking in the theater get jointly impaled directly through the backs of their heads and through their kissing mouths. That one was definitely a rewind moment for me. A fun throwback. CHALLENGE: This contributes to and completes "Geography Lesson" (5/5 completed) as my first South American film of the challenge. 16. Don't Torture a Duckling (1972) (first viewing) (watched via Amazon rental)  I ended up going with a different Italian for my final challenge and double up on Lucio Fulci. We're in a small Italian village where young boys start turning up dead, whipping the town into a frenzied hysteria. There are plenty of suspects with valid motives, and even some premature arrests and false confessions, there's ample misdirection until the culprit is revealed. This is probably the most cohesive narrative I've seen from Fulci, although I still say tight potting isn't his strongest suit. There may be one red herring too many, and I think the eventual killer's motivation is a little opaque and not something you could deduce yourself on the first watch. That being said, this is a compelling film overall. The gore can be a little gnarly at times. In terms of the child victims, Fulci threads a fine line between not really showing much actual violence against kids in the moment, but not shying away from showing the aftermath, either. You do see dead kids and you do see the damage. And there's a pretty brutal scene of a posse attacking one of the murder suspects. The movie is perhaps overstuffed with characters--there are multiple people investigating the crimes, and the actual final protagonists don't really break out from the pack until the third act. Still, it's the best movie about child murder I've seen since Proxy. CHALLENGE: "It's-a Me!" Challenges officially completed! --- CHALLENGES: 1. Horror High--A Field in England (2013) 2. Tales from the Cryptids--Suburban Sasquatch (2004) 3. Holy Terror--Satan's Slaves (2017) 4. Fresh Hell--Evil Dead Rise (2023) 5. Shooting Zombies--Ringu (1998) 6. Drawn and Quartered--Mad God (2021) 7. Woke in Fright--Knife+Heart (2018) 8. Second Chance--Don't Look Now (1973) 9. Challenge of the Dead--City of the Living Dead (1980) 10. Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things--Dolls (1987) 11. It's-a Me!--Don't Torture a Duckling (1972) 12. History Lesson (6/5 completed)--The Shout (1978) ('70s); Dolls (1987) ('80s); The Fear (1995) ('90s); Suburban Sasquatch (2004) ('00s); A Field in England (2013) (2010s); Pearl (2022) (2020s) 13. Geography Lesson (5/5 completed)--The Fear (1995) (North America via USA); The Shout (1978) (Europe via UK); Ringu (1998) (Asia via Japan); Satan's Slaves (2017) (Southeast Asia via Indonesia); The Last Matinee (2020) (South America via Uruguay/Argentina) Crescent Wrench fucked around with this message at 00:56 on Jun 2, 2023 |
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May 28, 2023 15:31
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 #22. Prince of Darkness (2019) (4K Blu-ray) A group of grad students is brought in to examine a giant container of mysterious green liquid in a church basement, which just might be the Antichrist. Much spookiness and discussions of theoretical quantum physics ensues. Things have been hectic the last few days, as I'm getting ready to move several states away. (Movers are here now, as I type this out.) I wanted to give my UHD tv one last fair spin before I packed it up, and I wanted to also take a gander at some of the Shout Factory 4K discs I had bought from one of their last sales. I settled on Prince of Darkness because it had been a while since I'd seen it and it's never a hard sell to get me to watch Prince of Darkness again - I know that it's not one of director John Carpenter's most beloved masterpieces, but I still think it's fairly high on his overall filmography. And second tier John Carpenter is still better than a lot of people's A-tier, y'know? I know John Carpenter is not really an actor's director, but leaving someone like Donald Pleasance to his own devices was a smart move - I think he gives a terrific performance as a devout religious man whose worldview gets dealt a nigh-fatal blow by the presence of pure evil. Victor Wong is also decent, though in the script's designation of him as Reason vs. Pleasance's Faith position, he unfortunately gets a bunch of half-understood theoretical physics gobbledygook to spit out. Which Wong does, because he's a pro, and he knows when best to just walk away from trying to make any of this stuff make sense; it's not like the audience ultimately cares, so best not to dwell on it. There's a lot of understated creepy moments in here, mainly tied to the low-fi tech workarounds that Carpenter was using. It's primitive, but video segments inserted against film or simple voice distortion can sometimes be enough when the atmosphere and tone are correctly handled. It doesn't go as big as something like The Thing did, but the pacing still builds and builds to an appropriately chaotic ending. (Even if, as I never noticed before, I think technically the finale takes place over a full day of the remaining heroes digging Dennis Dun out of a wall, and all of the villain zombies just stand around and let them, I guess. Fair play on the Devil's side, not something I would have expected.) Still, minor quibbles about scripting or performances/characters aside - and you still have to hard side-eye Jameson Parker's "heroic" avowed sexist and porn-stached lead character - Prince of Darkness can still be a riot. So long as you don't go in expecting it to make a ton of logical sense.  /5Watched so far: The Seed, Witchboard, The Visitor, Mad God, Eyes Without a Face, A Field in England, Dolly Dearest, Black Sabbath, The Boxer's Omen, Survival of the Dead, Deep Red, Road Games, Abominable, The Omen, Lyle, His House, The Mutilator, The Last Matinee, Infinity Pool, Witchfinder General, Ready or Not, Prince of Darkness I have to be honest - since everything's so up in the air and so much of my stuff is getting shipped down the Atlantic corridor now, I'm not sure how likely it is that I will end up squeezing in any more spooky viewings this month. I'll hold out hope - I do have a bit of time, a computer and a spare tv on hand for the next few days - but this may be it for me. And if that's the case, then I'm fine with it; I still did all of the challenges and passed my initial goal of 13, so I'd call this year a success, overall.
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May 28, 2023 15:34
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11. Influencer (2022) Well-made and beautiful (thanks, Thailand!) twisty psychological thriller about Instagram influencers. And that makes it sound bad, but it’s actually pretty good! It sort of reminds me of Sophia Takal’s New Year, New You on Hulu in that both are non-boomery critiques of social media from people the right age to Get it but still properly feel ambivalent about it, although it’s played a lot straighter here. The location sort of sets it apart from a lot of similar joints. I think movies set in places like this starring white people will always feel a little colonial, but 1) I think that’s in service of the message for the most part and 2) it seems like directorially some gestures were made in this direction, like a slow pan to the older Thai men in charge of the boat who are clearly just doing their jobs while Madison is taking selfies and CW is sitting there looking mysterious. I don’t know if this is intentional but lol that that woman is named “Content Warning”.
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May 28, 2023 16:23
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 14. Gaia (2021) (dir. Jaco Bouwer) Hulu  Geography Lesson - Africa (South Africa)While out doing some maintenance on trail cams, a park ranger is forced to stay with two wilderness survivalists after accidentally stepping into one of their game traps and severely injuring her foot. The men are father and son, and it soon becomes apparent that the young man has never known another life, and that the intense and unsettling father seems to worship the forest they live in, or more specifically, the massive network of fungi that lives below it - the largest living organism on earth. This is OK. There are some neat original ideas in the premise, but I could've done without the Last of Us-style fungus zombies that look sort of neat but are basically just forgettable generic movie monsters. The idea of an unknowable and nearly god-like being that can mess with your mind is much creepier to me, this would've been cooler if it explored that a bit more. The story is kind of weak, too, and I didn't really buy most of Gabi's actions. Plus it keeps doing this thing where something creepy happens, then we find out it was a dream when Gabi wakes up with a gasp. I guess it's supposed to be the fungus influencing her, but by the fourth or fifth time it happens it feels more like the filmmakers wanted to add scary scenes but didn't know how to work them into the actual plot. Neat premise, mediocre execution. 3  out of 5Total: 14 Watched: Lokis, a Manuscript of Professor Wittembach | The Manitou (Challenge #3) | Spoonful of Sugar (Challenge #1) | Faust (Challenge #5) | The Medium | Ringu (Challenge #8) | The Boxer's Omen | Magic (Challenge #10) | Clearcut (Challenge #7) | The Meg (Challenge #2) | The Suspicious Death of a Minor (Challenge #11) | Birth of the Living Dead (Challenge #9) | Angel's Egg (Challenge #6) | Gaia Challenges: History Lesson: 6/5 - 1920s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2010s, 2020s Geography Lesson: 5/5 - Europe, North America, Southeast Asia, Asia, Africa Pretzel Rod Stewart posted:I don’t know if this is intentional but lol that that woman is named “Content Warning”. it's definitely intentional
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May 28, 2023 17:46
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Class3KillStorm posted:
It's not about that. The street people outside won't let the group leave, but also won't come into the church itself. But those of the group who have been directly possessed by the entity in the canister are inactive during the day unless they're approached - Lucifer is, after all, the Prince of Darkness. The race to dig through the wall to get Walter out is to get the job done before the sun goes down and it can start controlling them completely again.
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May 28, 2023 17:55
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11. Employee of the Month (2023) Vudu A woman realizing she contributes nothing meaningful to her company except for that they'd technically be worse off gender-representation-wise if she were gone, despite doing all the work that keeps them afloat, is at the forefront of a series of increasing accidents at the workplace Tries to keep the balance of being darkly funny with a surprisingly brutal death or two and some harsh satire truths laced in. Hard to keep the fun going and staying fun in one setting with as little characters as it has for as long as it does (don't let the runtime fool you, 73 minutes pre-credits does feel a bit stretched for this one). I liked the effort more than I didn't though, and I really liked the ending I don't know how much more of these I'll be able to do before the month's up unfortunately. Really wanted to keep my streak of hitting at least my goals, but work and sleep stretched me surprisingly more than usual this of all months, and Wednesday might be my next actual day to focus on watching stuff (beyond the finales of Barry and Somebody Somewhere; I love horror but I gotta see how Barry ends). Hopefully next month's better, I've got to see stuff for the Tribeca and Chattanooga festivals. Funny if this is my stopping point, something from last Tribeca PS don't be fooled if you try looking this up on Letterboxd; because of its Tribeca 2022 appearance it's listed as a 2022 film, but there's also already a 2022 Employee of the Month, that's also French! This one's directed by Veronique Jadin in her feature debut and just got a VOD release this month *** 11/13 (Beau is Afraid, From Black, Enys Men, Fear 2023, Renfield, Malum, The Devil's Doorway, Outpost 2023, Creepypasta, Influencer 2023, Employee of the Month 2023)
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May 28, 2023 22:25
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11) We Have Always Lived In The Castle (2019) An adaptation of Shirley Jackson's classic gothic novel about an extremely eccentric family whose lives are disturbed by the arrival of a cousin. Being something of a drawing room drama with little room for flash, so long as it hewed closely to the plot of the book - which it does - it was always going to stand or fall on the strength of its cast. Luckily, they're quite good. Alexandra Daddario is convincignly fragile as Constance, Sebastian Stan walks the line between manipulative and charming as the cousin whose motives may have been misinterpreted by the paranoid Julian and Merricat, and Crispin Glover is Crispin Glover. Taissa Farmiga as Merricat is perhaps the weakest link, but it's also the hardest part of the four leads to play. Verdict: recommended if you like Jackson's work, and you can gently caress off if you don't.
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May 29, 2023 01:05
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 The Addiction (1995) ; Abel Ferrara I think this is one of those movies that breaks rating schema because how you feel about the premise and general idea is how you're going to feel about it. A philosophy grad student (who is both dissertating AND taking classes?!?!) gets bit by a vampire and then has on a very arty but very blunt metaphor for addiction. It's pretty much a 1 to 1 of heroin to drinking blood. Basically it's as if Jim Jarmusch directed Trainspotting but had vampires instead of heroin, so I personally feel like I do about that whole tone. It's beautifully shot (once you get the aesthetic), most of the performances are amazing (for niche goals) and I like a lot of the short game, but the plot and pacing are just a sequence of vaguely connected events : I'm really glad I watched it, but it grated on me the entire time because it didn't give my brain enough to latch onto. Plus there's a bonus Christopher Walken and some good 90's New York stuff. Horror High Remaining : Holy Terror It's-a-Me
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May 29, 2023 01:07
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Jedit posted:It's not about that. The street people outside won't let the group leave, but also won't come into the church itself. But those of the group who have been directly possessed by the entity in the canister are inactive during the day unless they're approached - Lucifer is, after all, the Prince of Darkness. The race to dig through the wall to get Walter out is to get the job done before the sun goes down and it can start controlling them completely again. Do they ever come out and say that, though? I always thought it was just that all the zombies were posted up to protect the Antichrist while it was merging/consuming Susan Blanchard, which is why they weren't moving around. Sentries don't need to move, after all, and the Devil has bigger things on his mind moment to moment at that point.
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May 29, 2023 02:22
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#18: House at the End of the Street Gonna be honest, I started watching this thinking that at least I'd be able to get a higher up entry on that They Shoot Zombies list, since I was criticized for being unambitious with Happy Birthday To Me at #900. Turns out I had this confused with Last House on the Left. No one is putting House at the End of the Street on any good lists. Basic story is Jennifer Lawrence and her mom move in next to a murder house where a teen girl went nuts and chopped up her parents with an axe, and then disappeared. Now the son who was away at the time lives alone in the house. He's dreamy so Lawrence falls in love with him, but then, twist, he's been keeping the killer sister locked up in a secret subbasement. Turns out she killed her parents because of brain damager her brother blames himself for, so he's been keeping her safe and hidden this whole time. No, the movie up to this point was not good. But I think it could have been. Eventually the sister gets out and almost kills more people and the brother trying to restrain her accidentally kills here. I was sitting there thinking, I am not feeling emotions about this, but I absolutely could be. A better script, really get into the overlapping sorts of guilt the brother has, this could be really good. A kind of slasher movie version of Of Mice And Men. But then, extra twist, it turns out it's not his sister. The accident that gave he said gave her brain damage actually killed her, the brother killed the parents, and he's been kidnapping random women and dressing them up like his sister and keeping the in his secret basement. Congratulations, House at the End of the Street. The one thing you had going for you was the premise, and you threw it in the trash for a much worse premise. At the end we do get a long trapped in a house with a killer sequence which, in fairness, does achieve basic tension. Like, it's not particularly good or clever, but while it was happening I looked at my phone less often. But it's still nowhere near enough to make the movie worth watching.
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May 29, 2023 02:33
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 12. Big Legend (2018) CHALLENGE MOVIE: Tales from the CryptidsA generic ex-soldier turns generic monster hunter when his fiancé is killed by a dumpy Sasquatch. The Good The movie opens by tacitly acknowledging how Nissan Xterra’s are still driving around despite not being made for over a decade. Also, it’s really hard to make the Pacific Northwest forests look bad on screen. The Bad So dull. So drawn out. There are long shots where the movie says “watch the hero do EVERYthing.” That’s okay, movie. We can assume the hero walked around on his hike, then looked at a cliff, then turned away from looking at the cliff, then walked along a riverbank, then filled his water bottle, then drank some water, and then walked some more. The Ugly Adrienne Barbeau and Lance Henriksen are in this movie. For all of about ten minutes, combined. 13. Knock at the Cabin (2023) CHALLENGE MOVIE: Fresh HellA family vacation is ruined by not just the apocalypse, but unwanted house-guests, as well. The Good Dave Bautista just keeps getting better as a leading actor. I really hope he doesn’t get complacent and stale over a series of near-identical roles (see Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s career). The Bad Objectively this isn’t a BAD thing but depending on the viewer and their past experiences with his filmography, it may be: Knock at the Cabin is definitely an M. Night Shyamalan movie in all his ways. His strengths, his criticisms, all of it’s here. The Ugly I feel odd because I figured out the “twist” (if it can be called that) very early on. This "oh, I get it" feeling is happening faster and faster with each new movie of his I watch, and I can’t tell if that’s a good or bad thing. Total: 13 Challenges Completed: Holy Terror, History Lesson, Second Chance, Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things, Woke in Fright, Tales from the Cryptids, Fresh Hell
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May 29, 2023 02:40
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#23 Nosferatu: a Symphony of Horror (1922), first watch A grandaddy of film horror, which happens to be an unauthorised adaptation of Dracula that was buried under copyright law for a few decades. The plot races along, and the exaggerated expressive style of the silent movies is very charming. You have to play along with the movie to an extent - all the scenes of Orlok creeping around at night appear to have been filmed during the day, from camera limitations I would imagine, and I was a bit slow to pick up on the convention of tint for time-of-day. Orlok himself is iconic for a reason. He's so still, where the other characters are full of life, and his sillhouette, his black clothes and white hands & face, all feels like something from another world dropped into the setting. It's all just so eerie.  3/5 I watched this for Shooting Zombies, it being the highest unseen movie on the list. #24 My Heart Can't Beat Unless You Tell It To (2020), first watch  Siblings struggle to care for their younger brother, a vampire. A good sad movie. Everyone's lonely and they're all one mistake away from disaster. It's fascinating to watch Dwight and Jessie, who are basically serial killers, but without any of the compulsion or satisfaction. They kidnap people and drain their blood with the same drab efficiency they plan their meals. It's grimly funny at times - I keep thinking about the scene where the brother, finding a photo of a young man in the wallet of this homeless Honduran guy he has kidnapped, assumes the picture to be of his son, and gets all maudlin about it, while the other guy tries to explain in Spanish that the photo is just some guy who was meant to give him a job and never showed up. I think it works better as an allegory than it does as a horror movie, but I enjoyed it all the same. 4/5 #25 Saloum (2021), first watch No screenshot; watched through Shudder Three mercenaries find themselves besieged by rapacious spirits while fleeing a gold heist in Senegal. An excellent action-horror, very From Dusk Til Dawn. There's a long build-up before the supernatural business kicks off, but it didn't feel like filling time. The mercs are interesting guys! I think I would have enjoyed the other version of this movie just as much, the one with no ghouls where it's just about them outwitting the police and getting away with the gold. The one thing I'd ding it for is the camera-work in the action scenes, it was a bit too jerky. Maybe it was necessary for the swarm-of-bugs effect to work. Anyway, the action scenes worked in spite of the way they were shot, not because of it. 4/5#26 The Legend of Hell House (1973), first watch  Four supernatural investigators are hired to spend a week in a murder-house renowned for its hauntings. I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. It's a very straightforward premise, but it's executed excellently. There's this fussy methodical way that the characters go about investigating the house, which is cool and oddly soothing. This also becomes a great way to generate tension, because you just KNOW the ghosts aren't going to let it work. The conflict between the characters is not so much reason versus faith - which always feels trite in a movie where the supernatural is so clearly real - but more about different methods to handle the supernatural, about professional pride. Anyway, the haunting parts are great, the investigators are trying so hard not to get ruffled, and the ghosts are trying so hard to make an impression. Just an excellent haunted house flick.  5/5 #27 Ring (1998) (aka リング, Ringu), first watch  I somehow missed the J-horror (and A-adaptation) wave of the early '00s, aside from hearing other kids talk about them. They talked about the mechanics of the haunted video tape, and the phone calls, and how the title is a reference to the ring of sky visible from the bottom of a well. For some reason none of them picked up on the unsettling presence of technology, or the general theme of motherhood, or the multiple meanings associated with the word "ring", so all those things were a lovely surprise. I would say this was a great mystery movie that also happened to be horror, and I mean that as a compliment. Sadako is used sparingly, but to great effect each time, and I appreciated how understated the ticking-clock aspect was. Oh, and I loved the final reveal, that Sadako doesn't give a gently caress if you buried her body, she's going to hurt people and the only way to get off the list is to put someone else on it. It's just so amoral, it rules.  5/5 drat what a hot streak
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May 29, 2023 04:16
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Perfect Blue - 1997, Japan - Challenge # 6 - Drawn and Quartered A pop star leaves the music circuit behind to become an actress and her world begins to spiral out of control; there are some old standards here that fit within expectations of the psychological thriller genre, but it all comes together with a masterful blend of horror both surreal and ordinary. One of those movies where a film within the film starts to influence and reflect reality, I'm always into that. The constant doubling, the blurred lines of dream, waking, and fiction, the menace mixed with melodrama; it all feels very Twin Peaks, and then in the other direction Mulholland Drive in 2001 feels like it owes a lot to this film. There's a lot of Hitchcock here too in the way we're introduced to some of the film's mysteries, it's great! The jumps and match cuts are so good, the score is fantastic, and as a horror film it's absolutely haunting. Just spectacular filmmaking in every way! It's always fun watching a 90s film where "what the heck's the internet?" is a plot point. The Internet horror here feels way ahead of its time; fan obsession quickly turning toxic, the obliteration of privacy, the casual objectification of women. Between this and Lain the following year, there's some really depressing prophetic imagery here.
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May 29, 2023 05:35
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 12. Vampire Hunter D (1985) In my personal adolescent development, in the early timeline of my anime consumption between Robotech and Ninja Scroll, there came Vampire Hunter D. You could not have constructed a better gateway drug for me at that moment in time. I appreciated cartoons like Transformers that had robots with guns, I had a boyish thirst for violence, but I was getting bored with the good guys. I wanted something that made me feel adult. And of course there is nothing better for that than something deeply childish that has the right stylistic trappings of Cool. I didn't so much like or even understand Vampire Hunter D so much as gape at it and absorb the idea that there were cartoons out there that had tits in them, and people getting sliced in half and spewing their guts everywhere. Mind blown. Everything besides the central image of the cooler-than-cool vampire hunter badass (a huge black cloak with a huge scimitar and a pilgrim's hat permanently shadowing his eyes) had faded to nothing in my memory. So given the film's status as a minor classic, a flick that plenty of other people had the same formative experience with by renting it on VHS tape from their local video store in the '90s from a shelf labeled "Japanimation," I was curious to see it on the far side of my filmwatching journey and see what I actually made of it. Well, friends, I wouldn't say I regret it, but take my advice - if a piece of media was a hot shock to your young consciousness, leave it be in the past. The images of your memory will be more powerful than the images any artist could have made. Vampire Hunter D has some killer moments where it just breathes in the vibe of barren dread, a post-apocalyptic sci-fantasy horror hybrid with the gunslinging badassery of the high western. When it commits to its mission of convincing you that this is the coolest most mysterious guy in the universe and this is the most depraved lair of villainy ever to be found, the movie is absolutely beautiful. The artists shamelessly ripped off the evil castle's exterior design from The Dark Crystal and plopped it right in, a cluster of eldritch spires jutting from a wasteland and surrounded by perpetual lightning strikes to set the perfect ominous mood. Great stuff. But this movie is just super dumb whenever it opens its mouth, and it opens its mouth way more than young me ever bothered to listen to. The script is way too higgledy-piggledy with a half-dozen subplots left to run wild despite the svelte runtime. And the dread of confronting the big bad vampire, which is so acute after a magnificent opening, can't help but seep away when characters come and go from that sinister castle of his with surprising ease. After all these years, my new verdict is, merely decent.  .5 / 5Revisiting this one qualifies my viewing for Second Chance, and as a Japanese production it qualifies for Geography Lesson: Asia.
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May 29, 2023 06:35
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Class3KillStorm posted:Do they ever come out and say that, though? I always thought it was just that all the zombies were posted up to protect the Antichrist while it was merging/consuming Susan Blanchard, which is why they weren't moving around. Sentries don't need to move, after all, and the Devil has bigger things on his mind moment to moment at that point. They don't explicitly say it, but someone does say that the minions stop attacking as soon as the sun comes up.
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May 29, 2023 09:11
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I did a somewhat impromptu double double feature of two guys I loved back in the early 2000s, who disappeared to TV for a bit, and now are back to different results. 76 (101). The Lair (2022) Directed by Neil Marshall; Written by Neil Marshall and Charlotte Kirk Neil Marshall's Wife Guy phase continues with a whimper. I have a theory on what happened with Neil Marshall. I watched Amy Seimetz' Sun Don't Shine last week and saw an interview with her where she talked about what it meant to her to be a "filmmaker" and how she liked working with other filmmakers because they understood what went into bringing their visions to light and could help make yours a reality. I think Neil Marshall used to be that. The indie director with a clear vision and cast and crew that he was familiar with and helped make his visions a reality. Then he went into TV directing and did a great job. Now he's back in film and it feels motivated by giving his wife a showcase but it doesn't feel like he's got the same vision or network of collaborators. He doesn't really feel like a "filmmaker" anymore. We call it "auteur" a lot but that's kind of a loaded term since it implies one man doing it all when really there's so many people involved. But Marshall feels like he's just kind of a director now and if he has the great production team of HBO behind his back, great. But well.. he doesn't have that here, does he? I don't begrudge him being a "Wife Guy". I find it kind of charming really. Who doesn't want to make the person you love's dreams come true? But not to be mean but Charlotte Kirk is... not great. I'm not sure she's quite bad but that feels a relative term. Everyone in this cast feels off. And I'm sure some of them are good actors... or competent ones. But something is off and its way more than just the accents. There's some decent action directing. That's what Marshall still does well for sure. And with a small budget increase or production improvements some of these scenes probably would have worked better. But this just isn't much. The acting is sub par, the writing is questionable, the monsters are kind of generic, the CGI feels unfinished, and well... its just not a good film.  77 (102). Doomsday (2008) Written and directed by Neil Marshall When Neil Marshall got a budget and decided to make a pastiche of the 80s apocalypse movies he seems to have loved like Mad Max, Escape from New York, and Knightriders he sure did just go ahead and pay homage to every single thing he could think of didn't he? Truthfully I wasn't feeling this during its first act. I feel like I've seen a lot of those kind of 2000s era movies where its a bunch of generic soldiers shooting at stuff in battle tanks in the dark. It wasn't a bad version of this or anything. Marshall directs action well. But it really wasn't hooking me or feeling like anything special. And then it got weird. I think I perked up right around the time there was an extended dance number. That was unexpected. And it seemed designed that way because after that nothing every quite felt familiar again. I mean it was all stuff I'd seen but like suddenly we're in a castle and dudes are on horseback. Marshall starts throwing his influences and favorite things at the wall and its quite the ride. Its still all a bit derivative and shallow. I don't remember any character names and they're all one dimensional tropes of the genre. Everything is a trope of the genre really. But its EVERY trope of the genre. And Marshall seems to be having a fun time just hitting every note he wants to and he does a good job with it. Its familiar ground but its well executed. And Rhona Mitre brings it home. I've always been a fan of her but she just does a killer job here as the tropey post apocalyptic bad rear end. Snake Plitskin would be proud. Its a fun ride. I wouldn't say i love it or anything although certainly that might just come down to me not being the biggest fan of the particular sub genre of punk post apocalyptic madness. But Marshall executes it well and Mitre delivers in the lead and its overall a fun time that surprised me a bit.  - (103). X (2022) Written and directed by Ti West Watched on Showtime I'm a big Ti West fan and was pumped when he came back into making horror films. I guess the pandemic had some silver linings. I enjoyed X when I watched it last year but my lasting memory was that it got a little too wacky and mean for my tastes at the end. So I was very curious to revisit it, especially since when I saw it last I don't think I had much of an idea of who Mia Goth and Jenna Ortega were. Although if I'm being totally honest it wasn't West, Goth, or Ortega I was most excited to see. I really wanted to hear Brittany Snow sing. And even though that was kind of a joke comment when I made it at the start of the film it proved really very appropriate as I rewatched. That's a GREAT scene. Snow's beautiful voice with that gorgeous song about change playing over the sadness of Pearl's pain and regret playing out in the split screen. Also while Ortega's character is sitting there contemplating a decision to make a change. Its all so wonderfully constructed and performed. There's this great moment when Ortega says she wants to be in the movie and there's thee quick cuts to everyone with "Oh poo poo!" faces except Goth's Maxine who just has this sly, smug smile. Its such a subtle little character defining moment. All in this scene that communicates so much about all its characters including its kind of newly introduced villain in Pearl and also basically serves as this moment where the film turns. Now to be honest I LOVE the first half of this film and the vibe West sets with this cast of characters. So my memory was that I was a little disappointed when it shifted into the kind of campy slasher. But maybe I was more prepared this time but it didn't bother me really. The second half wasn't quite as silly or mean as I remembered in my head and the slasher played out much more naturally than I thought. Its still not quite my thing and I'd say I enjoyed the first half of the film more than the second half. But I enjoyed the second half a lot more this time. Its a brisk and fun play on the slasher routine and I think West actually really nails the ending here. Which he doesn't always do. So yeah, really good film the second time around. Maybe got a little too camp for my tastes or maybe the tonal shift just plays a little unsatisfying for me. Just something keeping me from saying I really love this film. But I really enjoyed the film for sure. So much is done well, so much talent is in play, and there's so many unique and memorable parts. And West sets such a great mood as he always does and then disrupts it in very uproarious fashion. Even if parts of it weren't quite my taste its really just a very well done execution of a difficult trick. And a really good film.  78 (104). Pearl (2022) Directed by Ti West; Written by Ti West and Mia Goth Watched on Showtime Well I wasn't expecting that. I don't quite know what I was expecting. I had managed to stay spoiler free on Pearl and didn't so much as even watch a trailer. I love Ti West, I dig Mia Goth, and I thoroughly enjoyed X so I knew I was in and I've been anticipating finally watching this for awhile. But man I didn't expect at all what this was and its really quite delightful. West so masterfully capturing this very recognizable sense of classic Hollywood stuff. Watching Pearl ride her bike from her farm just conjures up these images of Dorothy in Wizard of Oz. And its such a well done pastiche. The Technicolor look to things, the orchestral score, swipe transitions. And very clear things like that bike/Dorothy thing that very much seem deliberate. West is creating this vibe of the classic Hollywood film and that all serves in purpose of Pearl's whole dream and mindset. Her desperate desire to be a star as she sees them on the silver screen. And the vaguely surreal reality feel the whole thing has also fits Pearl's state of mind so well. The idea that there's something very off and that the way she sees the world probably isn't the way the world looks to the rest of us. But we're kind of seeing it from that cinematic perspective she does. This actually weirdly reminded me of Tobe Hooper's Eaten Alive. They're very different films but they share the theme of an unstable person just snapping through a series of events while a gator is around. I sort of wonder if this was an influence on West. But Pearl feels like a much fuller and fully realized character. The fact that Mia Goth is listed as a co-writer feels like it really comes through in how much Pearl feels like a fully realized character with depths. And its really impressive how much Pearl and Maxine's characters intersect and connect. Not in a clumsy or overly convenient way. It all feels very natural. When Pearl met Maxine she said that they were the same and we can really see what she meant as we get to know Pearl now. Which not only makes for a really enjoyable film as we get to know Pearl but makes me really curious what West and Goth have in store for the third film with Maxine. I'm pumped. Ti West is back and I think he might be better than ever. I've always been a fan and I was sad that his film career kind of dried up so its exciting to see it come back so strong. I'm still not entirely sure he's mastered the art of nailing the ending. As much as I loved the journey in this film I'm not sure I felt fully satisfied by the ending. But that's a Ti West thing really. And the journey is so good I don't mind it that much at all. And waiting to see what happens with this composite character of Pearl and Maxine next is going to be very fun. STAC Goat fucked around with this message at 14:13 on May 29, 2023 |
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May 29, 2023 13:48
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12. Uncle Sam (1996) Yeah, I know it’s Memorial Day—it’s the same poo poo. We have like twelve troop holidays but at least this one I don’t have to go into the office! This is honestly really fun: I love a theme, and murderous abuser fascist who stans Amerikkka lends itself to some pretty appropriate kills, like hanging a rude teen by a flagpole or blowing up a disfavored politician with fireworks. I think even if you’re a big troophead you can find someone to root for here; heroic Isaac Hayes who lost a leg for imperialism and has complicated feelings about it, but if you’re nasty tankie scum like my rear end you’ll probably enjoy yourself more. Beware a slow start, but I dug this stupid DTV slasher!
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May 29, 2023 17:42
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 13. The Wolf House (2018) jesus CHRIST, I was ready for some creepy little stop motion puppets or whatever but not for this melting nightmare world. The Wolf House wields experimental animation techniques to make for an instantly unsettling surreality. The background set animates by being repainted between frames as well as containing physically moving objects, characters or individual body parts move freely between existing as paint on the walls or as physical papier-mâché constructions that don't so much "move" as fluidly assemble or destroy themselves in front of our eyes. And to top it off, this is an animated oner where the set bleeds into a new form and reconstructs itself in front of our eyes, instead of breaking the dreamlike spell with the harsh division of a cut. It's mesmerizing, sometimes beautiful, sometimes merely busy, never resembling anything I've seen before. (Even that insanely creepy scene with Satan from The Adventures of Mark Twain is only barely in the same ballpark.) The story being told by this freaky and artful presentation is, unsurprisingly, cryptic and allegorical. It's framed as a story told within one of Chile's real-life horror stories, Colonia Dignidad, a fairy tale where a girl named Maria flees the colony into the woods after being punished and tries to hide from a big bad wolf in an abandoned house. Fear of the wolf is omnipresent, seething in every one of voice actress Amalia Kassai's whispered line reads, but something even more disturbing forms the core of the story when Maria begins transforming two pigs into children to live with her in the house, and through her imposed motherhood begins to recreate the abuses she fled. I have no real knowledge of Chilean culture or history, so a lot of this probably went right over my head. Yet even in my ignorance, seeing Maria use honey to "heal" the children after an accident by sculpting them into blonde-haired, blue-eyed German-singing dolls in her own image is viscerally disturbing. A rare film so legitimately creepy that I'm not sure I want to know more. / 5For challenges, The Wolf House is a stop motion animation satisfying Drawn and Quartered, and is a Chilean production for Geography Lesson: South America.
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May 29, 2023 21:11
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 I'm outright disquieted by how badly I want to grow a mustache right now. Tumbbad (2018) ; (Rahil Barve, Anand Ghandi) It's primary stress on the first syllable and on honest geminate on that "b", in case anyone was wondering. It's a classic story. Dark god in a well hungers for grain, guy distracts it with doughboys while he robs its underpants, guy becomes rich, hubris, etc. Really solid story. Pacing was distinctly fairy-tale which was a bit weird at first but I came to love it. I had a fun 3 hours watching a 100 minutes movie and learning Hindi. It ruled. Big thanks to the resounding chorus in the horror movie thread. Holy Terror Done Now to find a random giallo I haven't watched.
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May 30, 2023 02:14
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I finished the last of my challenges with this one! I'm going to see if I can fit in anything else in the next couple days before posting a summary. The Blackcoat's Daughter - 2015, US - Challenge # 8 - Second Chance  I saw this one when it was released and didn't like it at all but so many people I respect hold it in high esteem that I wanted to give it a second chance. Turns out that was a good idea! Two girls at boarding school are left behind during winter break and spooky stuff starts happening. Meanwhile in another place, a hitchhiker slowly makes her way to the school. I love snowed-in settings and folksy horror but a twist in the third really made me frown last time! I thought it was unearned and didn't work at all on a visual level the first time around. This whole story works a lot better knowing all the twists; motivations felt baffling the first time around but make more sense now. Honestly the film would be better if there was less mystery about what happened, and more about how it gets there. The structure is just odd, though the atmosphere is great throughout. There's a lot here about feeling distant from your parents and it's a film full of family; directed by Oz Perkins, son of Anthony Perkins, with an excellent score by his brother Elvis Perkins. It's a bummer that this is the only film Elvis Perkins has scored, it really is a fantastic, eerie soundtrack. A very different film from Psycho, but it is kind of cool seeing Anthony Perkins' son make his debut with a film that plays with expectations of structure and who's actually the lead character. The whole film is more effective to me now as a parent than it was when I first saw it; the idea of something being really wrong with a kid and absolutely no one knowing quite how to deal with it. That's much scarier than demons! Maybe a weird thought but honestly I think it would have been better if this was two films, released years apart, Psycho/Psycho II style. Or maybe X/Pearl style, simultaneously filmed? You actually could edit these parts into a film and its sequel very easily! I know I know, franchise film making is especially gruesome right now in 2023, but I kind of want to see The Further Adventures of Emma Roberts a decade later. More than any other genre horror lends itself to sequels, why not? Anyway, yeah, this was a lot better than I remembered. Religious and sexual shame (both straight and gay!), the simultaneous fear of rejection and desire to reject family, finding family where you can (even if it's with a demon!), there's a lot of great stuff here.
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May 30, 2023 04:21
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 - (105). Deep Rising (1998) Written and directed by Stephen Sommers Deep Rising is a film that I can't quite tell if it benefits or ages from time. On one hand those effects were probably cutting edge for 1998 and as broad and B as everything else maybe that pushed it over the edge at the time. On the other hand 25 years later those effects are pretty shaky but that kind of leans into the whole B movie vibe of this. A new film that's B is just kind of cheap or bad. But watch that same film 25 years later and its charming and quaint. And I guess that's where this one falls. The cast is actually shockingly good. I mean its a whole bunch of character actors and B players but its a pretty good collection of them. I'm actually sad so many of them bite it early. I mean I get it. Its a horror action film. People gotta die and the team of mercenaries are first in line. But if you want notes they start with "more Djimon Hounsou and Kano". And Una Damon was fun. Why'd she have to die so early? She wasn't even a merc. Still I always get a kick out of watching Famke Jansen play that sort of femme fatale role she payed so well and that feels a bit gone now. And everyone else is more than capable of carrying their weight. I mean I admit I'm not entirely sure why Treat Williams was a thing. I guess he was very handsome? I suppose I can't judge as a fawn over Famke. Ok, lets end this before it gets creepy. Deep Rising is a silly, dumb, and B movie built entirely on tropes from better films. But like... its all very B in a charming way and competently done and even when the effects are bad they're definitely memorable in a kind of funny way. That one late shot of Treat and Famke on a jet ski flying away from an explosion? That could have been a parody. It was amazing. So is this a good film? No, probably not. But did I enjoy it? I think I did. Its dumb fun I guess.  - (106). 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) Directed by Dan Trachtenberg; Written by Josh Campbell, Matt Stuecken, and Damien Chazelle Watched on Paramount+ It took until this moment for me to realize that the linking element between this and Cloverfield is not the vague idea of an alien/interdimensional attack as the third film kind of retcons as a justification for the franchise but rather that both these movies were very clear 9/11 responses. Cloverfield recreating the horror and terror of the attack on NYC in a spectacular and fantasy way and this touching on the sort of response from those “prepared”, those in shock, and those scared. Both do a good job capturing the kind of shock and confusion of the moment. So often film fans criticize characters in movies for not acting rationally or quickly in a world changing crisis. And yet having lived through 9/11 in NYC and as anyone who has ever suffered some sort of shocking tragedy or loss can attest we all struggle to be our best in those moments and there’s no such thing as an inaccurate reaction to terror, fear, and your entire world changing in a moment. Of course the core of this film is the very tense thriller between John Goodman’s menacing “savior”, Mary Elizabeth Winstead's skeptical victim, and John Gallagher's possibly naive third wheel. All three do a great job in their roles. Goodman is always terrifying even in those moments where you think he might really be telling the truth and acting in good faith. There's that clear need for control and respect and to be obeyed that you can tell looms over every moment good and bad. Winstead is great as the strong willed captive capable of escaping and outsmarting her captor more than once but also really not sure if its the right move. But the way she's constantly able to read Goodman and react to him without overtly saying any of this. And Gallagher is probably underappreciated as the doofy guy who maybe trusts Goodman a bit too much and doesn't see the red flags but once he's got more than himself to think of and really starts looking proves himself capable and just plain decent. He's really such an important part of this story both as a foil and confidante for Winsted but also in that shocking moment in which Goodman forever crosses a line and the options of what to do are completely taken away as the situation becomes desperate. Its a great thriller ride as that tension and the desperation ramps up and sometimes roller coasters. The cat and mouse game played between the characters that is sort of reversed as Winstead is often in psychological control even if she's still in mortal danger. And all told in this small setting with so little really happening away from these characters. At least as far as we know. The finale COULD waste all of this. I've seen some people disappointed that it doesn't come sooner or go bigger but truthfully I feel like it could have easily gone the other way and undermined the danger that came before it. But I think it all really works and Winstead kills it in her complete exasperation that she escaped this terribly impossible dangerous situation and prepared for another terrible impossible dangerous situation only for the completely unexpected terrible impossible dangerous situation to reveal itself. But also in her continued will to just fight and survive no matter what new terrible poo poo she finds herself in. And the final note of her choosing to keep fighting and define herself as a fighter rather than a survivor is just perfect. Someone should really give Mary Elizabeth Winstead a loving action franchise already. Lets stop loving around. Its been awhile and I wondered if this would hold up but it really really did. I had a great time with it and its some tremendous work from the cast and a very well moving tense thriller with a spectacular finish that could jump the shark but really worked for me. And really, I just love Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Seriously... give her more kickass roles. She's incredible. gey muckle mowser posted:
 78 (107). M (1931) Directed by Fritz Lang; Written by Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou Watched on Max Its hard to believe this was made in 31. Its my first Fritz Lang film but his grasp of how to make a modern film at the very birth of it is uncanny. Hitchcock, Whale, Browning. They all were great but also had a learning curve when the talkies started. But man, Lang's just up and running right away. The dialogue and space between it, the score, the narration, the sounds used as plot and atmospheric points. None of this would stand out to the modern eye but if you watch the best films from that time its wild how ahead of the pack Lang is. And its more than just his grasp of the sound, its the shot work and editing. Its just such a natural modern feel to it despite the age. Its pretty remarkable. There were a few iffy spots although with something like the sound just dropping out for a whole scene I imagine that has more to do with what was lost over the last 92 years rather than what was in the original print. Plot wise I think the story maybe drags a little in the middle with the duel investigations and man hunts. Its fairly typical of the time for there to be more talking than action but this is a longer film than most of its contemporaries and Lang has a much better handle of the tightness and editing of the script. But that also means that there's like a lot more time spent on this stuff and it gets to feel kind of repetitive at times. But its pretty wild how timeless this feels and how it could well be the groundwork for countless crime thrillers or commentary on the state of things. From questionable police work to mob justice to monologues on capital punishment to the ultimate message of the emptiness of "justice" or "vengeance" to heal the pain of loss and tragedy. Again, to the modern viewer a lot of this will feel simple and quaint but its pretty ahead of itself back in '31. I suppose I appreciate this film more than I like it. But its exceptionally well made and its another very excellent villain performance from Peter Lorre. And as my first introduction to Lang's work it certainly made a good first impression. Not a favorite of mine or anything I'm personally gonna rave about but a really incredibly well put together film for its time. That wraps up the last of my challenges, and covers 10 decades. I still haven't watched a film out of South America to get all the regions so I'll try and sneak that in. Not much time left and still a lot of films I'd like to watch. But all the challenges are done at least. And woe if I manage to keep this insane number under 120. edit: It occurs to me I may have misread this challenge. I went to the letterboxd list and sorted it by highest ratings and M was the highest I hadn't seen. But it occurs to me that the list is itself already ranked and Repulsion is the highest I haven't seen on that. So I guess maybe I'll try and get that in? I kinda hate making limited space for Roman Polanski. Maybe I'll eat the loss. I dunno. STAC Goat fucked around with this message at 09:33 on May 30, 2023 |
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May 30, 2023 09:29
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 Reminder that tomorrow is the last day of the challenge, and that all movies must be logged by noon EDT on Thursday.Posting a "wrap up" post with your totals and all that can be done afterwards. This is not required but will save me the trouble of digging through posts when figuring out who is eligible for the prize drawing
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May 30, 2023 14:35
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Well life got in the way of my Bigfoot quest a bit but here's a few more for the road... Bigfoot: The Conspiracy The Bigfoot: Very little Bigfoot in the movie, and what Bigfoot there is tells you pretty clearly that the filmmaker was not that interested in making a Bigfoot movie in the first place. It's really just a framing device to tell his little Spy vs. Spy/Good Man Protects His Family From Government Assassins story. Maybe not exactly fair to give a Bigfoot like this a low score because it's not really what the movie is going for, but at the same time this is a simple question of whether or not the movie delivered a good Bigfoot. It did not. Score: 1/10 Everything Else: Woah, this movie is legit, look at how many festival nominations it scored!  It's a very self-serious movie about government spooks trying to catch Bigfoot for reasons that I know were explained but my eyes glazed over. The main protagonist however is a regular dude who loves his family and also loves to sit around glowering off into the distance. From what I can tell, the director of the film cast most of his family in the movie. None of them are particularly good actors and the script is something one of those new AI tools could write. It's bad! I give it a few sympathy points for a family getting together and making a movie, that's pretty cool I guess. Score: 2/10 Total Score: 3/20 1. American Bigfoot 2. Terror on Bigfoot Pond 3. Scream 6 4. Clawed: The Legend of Sasquatch 5. M3GAN 6. Exists 7. Terrifier 2 8. Primal Rage 9. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 10. Signs 11. Dawn of the Beast 12. Interviewing Monsters and Bigfoot 13. Bigfoot: The Conspiracy
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May 30, 2023 14:39
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Xiahou Dun posted:
Death Laid an Egg
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May 30, 2023 15:59
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MacheteZombie posted:Death Laid an Egg Sure. It’s trivially available, new to me and seems wild. Excellent choice. I’ll do that tonight, then probably tack on a capstone rewatch of something as a little bow. Thanks for the suggestion.
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May 30, 2023 16:12
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Happy to help!
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May 30, 2023 16:17
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Probably my last post for the month. I beat my goal of 13 new-to-me movies (and almost doubled it), and finished all of the GMM challenges (which are laid out at the bottom of this post for easy review).  24. Auntie Lee's Meat Pies (1992) Karen Black and her army of Playboy Playmates run a cannibal meat pie business and worship Satan. Michael Berryman is there. Pat Morita is the local sheriff. This alone is enough to get me in the door, but there's also a ton of other bizarre choices, including the Playmates each killing a member of a metal band in their own themed 'show boobs and do murder' room - and one of the family members is an adult baby in a giant crib. Chaotic, and stupid, but a ton of fun - surprisingly good pacing and gore too. Big recommendation. 4/5 25. Human Lanterns (1982) It felt like this had backstory from another movie (not sure if that other movie exists or not - if it does, I haven't seen it) but essentially two rich dudes hate each other and it gets centered around this lantern contest. Yep, one of those classic "embarrassed by your nemesis so you have to hire a psychopath to help you win a lantern contest" type of stories. tbh this felt like 2 different movies at the same time but it had lots of great fight scenes - a real action/horror hybrid, with lanterns made of human skin and a spooky villain with an outfit that looks like Bigfoot's skeleton. Fun! 3.5/5First time watches: 25/13 GMM Challenges:
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May 30, 2023 17:58
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SUMMARY POST - Title, Challenge (if applicable), decade, county. I liked everything I watched! Two rewatches (one for the Second Chance challenge), 15 new to me watches. I finished all the challenges. I think my count was higher last time but I ended up having less time than expected this year. Of my new watches, my favorites were Suddenly in the Dark, Perfect Blue, and History of the Occult. Sorry for the sloppy formatting!! Nosferatu Shooting Zombies 1920s, Germany The Abominable Snowman Tales From the Cryptids 1950s, UK Black Sunday It's A Me 1960s, Italy City of the Dead Of the Dead 1960s, UK Return of Daimajin Holy Terror 1960s, Japan Blacker Than the Night 1970s, Mexico The Other Side of the Underneath Woke in Fright 1970s, UK Lair of the White Worm (Rewatch) 1980s, UK Next of Kin 1980s, Australia Poison for the Fairies 1980s, Mexico Suddenly in the Dark Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things 1980s, Korea Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell 1990s, Japan Perfect Blue Drawn and Quartered 1990s, Japan Evil Dead 2013 Horror High 2010s, US The Blackcoat's Daughter (Rewatch) Second Chance 2010s, US History of the Occult 2020s, Argentina Rewilding Fresh Hell 2020s UK
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May 30, 2023 18:45
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gey muckle mowser posted:
Just reposting my counts to make it easier to find. 1. Horror High - Cocaine Bear (2023) 2. Tales from the Cryptids - Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend (1985) 3. Holy Terror - The Menu -( 2022) 4. Fresh Hell - Nefarious (2023) 5. Shooting Zombies - It Follows (2014) 6. Drawn and Quartered - Mad God (2021) 7. Woke in Fright - M3gan (2022) 8. Second Chance - Parasite (2019) 9. Challenge of the Dead - Nudist Colony of the Dead (1991) 10. Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things - Evil Dead Rise (2023) 11. It's-a Me! - An Angel for Satan (1966) 12. History lesson Cocaine Bear - 2020s It Follows - 2010s An Angel for Satan 1960s Nudist Colony of the Dead 1990s Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend 1980s 13. Geography Lesson North America - Evil Dead Rise - California Europe - An Angel for Satan - Italy Middle East/Africa - Saloum - Senegal Asia (China, Japan, Korea, India, etc) - Rampant - Korea Southeast Asia - The Medium - Thailand
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May 30, 2023 19:17
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I don't suppose any one has recommendations for movies that qualify for Woke in Fright or Challenge of the Dead that were made in Central/South America, Middle East/Africa. Australia/Oceania, or Southeast Asia?
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May 30, 2023 19:19
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I'll do my summary post too, since I probably won't get around to watching anymore. I think I made out pretty good in this series! I'm absolutely evangelical about both History of the Occult and Coming Home in the Dark, both are brilliant and more people should totally watch them. The only ones I watched this time around that I really didn't gel with at all are Shed of the Dead, which is absolute bargain basement Shaun of the Dead rip-off, and Bliss, which is the movie equivalent of being talked at by someone on coke, which I guess is the vibe it was going for? At least I did finish all the challenges, and got 17/13 watched. The Borderlands 2010s, UK Nosferatu Shooting Zombies 1920s, Germany Shed of the Dead Challenge of the Dead 2010s, UK Djinn Holy Terror 2010s, United Arab Emirates Yeti: Curse of the Snow Demon Tales from the Cryptids 2000s, USA Dolly Dearest Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things 1990s, USA A Lizard in a Woman's Skin It's-a Me! 1970s, Italy The Addams Family Drawn and Quartered 2010s, USA White Dog Woke in Fright 1980s, USA Scream 3 Second Chance 1990s, USA There's Something Wrong with the Children Fresh Hell USA, 2020s Bliss Horror High 2010s, USA History of the Occult 2020s, Argentina Coming Home in the Dark 2020s, New Zealand Braindead 1990s, New Zealand Beau is Afraid 2020s, USA Razzennest 2020s, Austria Metachallenges: History Lesson 5/5: 2020s, 2010s, 1990s, 1980s, 1970s Geography Lesson 5/5: Europe (Germany), North America (USA), South America (Argentina), Oceania (New Zealand), Middle East (UAE) Gyro Zeppeli fucked around with this message at 19:27 on May 30, 2023 |
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May 30, 2023 19:23
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Gripweed posted:I don't suppose any one has recommendations for movies that qualify for Woke in Fright or Challenge of the Dead that were made in Central/South America, Middle East/Africa. Australia/Oceania, or Southeast Asia? I just watched Gaia, which is a South African film with strong environmental themes. It's only an OK movie but it would qualify for Woke in Fright
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May 30, 2023 19:26
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