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Basebf555 posted:Well I sure am glad I was a little generous with my rating of the first Bigfoot movie, because this one I'm watching now is so so much worse. I would've hated to give American Bigfoot a 0 and then had nowhere to go from there. Embrace the negative star.
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May 1, 2023 23:15
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I will never understand why it's so hard to make a good Bigfoot movie. They did it once with Legend of Boggy Creek, so we know it's possible.
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May 1, 2023 23:32
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Gripweed posted:I will never understand why it's so hard to make a good Bigfoot movie. They did it once with Legend of Boggy Creek, so we know it's possible. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNiurQPnodo
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May 1, 2023 23:50
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Gripweed posted:I will never understand why it's so hard to make a good Bigfoot movie. They did it once with Legend of Boggy Creek, so we know it's possible. The problem isn’t how hard it is to make a good one, it’s how easy it is to make a bad one. There’s no copyright or anything so any no talent hack can put a dude in a cheap suit, go into the woods or swamp, and make a cheap piece of crap. And the more crap gets made and associated with the idea the less anyone is gonna want to put any real time and effort into making a good one that will just get lost in the sea of poo poo. It’s like that trash Winnie the Pooh horror. It’s not a bad idea but some no talent hack rushed out the first one and it sucked. So now there’s less chance anyone actually makes a good one because the idea has already been soiled.
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May 2, 2023 00:20
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STAC Goat posted:The problem isn’t how hard it is to make a good one, it’s how easy it is to make a bad one. There’s no copyright or anything so any no talent hack can put a dude in a cheap suit, go into the woods or swamp, and make a cheap piece of crap. And the more crap gets made and associated with the idea the less anyone is gonna want to put any real time and effort into making a good one that will just get lost in the sea of poo poo. Oh my god… Bigfoot is Amityville. edit: beaten https://imdb.com/title/tt15536618/
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May 2, 2023 00:22
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Challenges are up! Added them to the second post of the thread. Mostly business as usual if you've done these threads before, but the final two are a little different.   CHALLENGE TIMEUnless otherwise noted, a film can only count for one challenge at a time and must be a first-time watch for you. 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)
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May 2, 2023 01:13
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O I like that a lot as a contrast to the October one. It’s a little more measured and with more room for finesse with the meta challenges. They’re like palette cleansers for each other. It’s super neat.
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May 2, 2023 01:31
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Yeah, that's a really cool set of challenges. Already got a few in mind to check off starting tomorrow!
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May 2, 2023 01:33
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Yeah, I'm pretty pleased with the line-up as well. Time to start planning the roadmap...
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May 2, 2023 01:34
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Gripweed posted:I will never understand why it's so hard to make a good Bigfoot movie. They did it once with Legend of Boggy Creek, so we know it's possible. Low budget indies aside, what I don't get is why nobody has ever tried putting some real money into it. I'd love to see someone put like 30 million into a Bigfoot movie. Cocaine Bear cost like 30 million. The closest we've had was definitely Harry and the Hendersons, but I want something scary.
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May 2, 2023 02:24
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For the "Second Chance" challenge I'm debating between three movies that are popular but I rated low the first time around: Insidious, Hostel, and The Grudge. If anyone thinks one of these is more worthy of a revisit, let me know. Hostel and The Grudge I haven't seen in at least ten years, Insidious I watched a few years ago.
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May 2, 2023 02:26
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 The Company of Wolves (1984) Another in the series of “cover art that scared me in the video store as a kid” movies. The Good: Angela “loving” Landsbury and David “He was in everything” Warner. If either ever put in a bad performance, don’t tell me about it. The transformation scenes are so cheesy and yet oh so good. Also, the poster art still owns. The Bad: It’s a Cannon picture. They don’t always mean the best SFX in the business. The Ugly: Once you notice a woman wearing full makeup to bed in any movie, it’s hard to unsee it. So bad for the skin, yo. Total: 2 Challenges complete: Holy Terror
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May 2, 2023 02:33
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The Berzerker posted:For the "Second Chance" challenge I'm debating between three movies that are popular but I rated low the first time around: Insidious, Hostel, and The Grudge. If anyone thinks one of these is more worthy of a revisit, let me know. Hostel and The Grudge I haven't seen in at least ten years, Insidious I watched a few years ago. The Grudge could be worth a shot since we're now so far removed from the J-Horror craze. You might be able to appreciate the movie better simply because there aren't movies just like it coming out all the time anymore.
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May 2, 2023 02:35
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Brain Damage is one of this weeks Bracketology films and I was planning on skipping it since I didn’t like it the first time. But I guess that makes it the easy choice for a second chance.
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May 2, 2023 02:47
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Highly recommend Jigoku for the Holy Terror challenge if you haven't seen it!! I apologize in advance for anyone who gets upset by this review. Evil Dead 2013 - Challenge: Horror High  The 2013 take on Evil Dead sure is gross. I appreciate that this isn't just a straight up remake, the setting is basically the same but the characters and their reason for coming out to a remote, decrepit house is very different. Mia and David, a pair of siblings mourning their mother's death, visit an old family cabin to help Mia get sober, along with a pack of bitter friends. The rotting family home gives the film a good gothic vibe and makes the house itself feel personally antagonistic. Right off the bat we get into withdrawal as a form of possession in its own way. Jane Levy's performance as Mia is solid; this kind of concept could very easily derail with a weaker actor but she really sells it. I get why it's there and yeah no one is actually going to be surprised that demons are real in an Evil Dead movie but the opening scene kind of gives it all away in a way that felt cheap to me. The question of what's real and what's not is answered immediately. I'm aware of how elderly this makes me sound but some of the violence here is just too much for me. And funny enough, the same was said about the original film back when it came out, and that one never bothered me! This is an extremely well-paced film, excellent effects work, and I absolutely appreciate the craft behind it (and the insane ending) but it's really not my kind of movie in the end. A True Jar Jar Fan fucked around with this message at 04:37 on May 2, 2023 |
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May 2, 2023 02:47
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Gunna need a master list for the "of the dead" "living dead" challenge because knowing me I did that a personal challenge already, but I'll recognize by name!
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May 2, 2023 03:55
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dorium posted:Gunna need a master list for the "of the dead" "living dead" challenge because knowing me I did that a personal challenge already, but I'll recognize by name! This might help. https://boxd.it/ccesw
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May 2, 2023 04:04
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Alright y'all, just did my first movie. A Wounded Fawn (2022 - Shudder)  Synopsis I really want to be brief because you should absolutely go into this one blind. A woman recovering from an abusive ex goes on a weekend getaway to a cabin in the woods with a man she's just started dating when she starts to pick up on some major red flags. Review This movie is SICK and I can't recommend it enough. It's got heavy neo-giallo vibes, but in a way that feels authentic and not as much of a gimmick or parody as most neo-giallos end up feeling. It starts as a small, claustrophobic, nearly 2-character stage play slow-burn (think Wait Unitl Dark) that eventually becomes something else entirely. It's got crazy 70's art horror / psychedelic vibes with some really stunning and creative imagery. Part of the reason why I loved it so much is that it ticks certain boxes for me and fits the same niche as some of my favorite horror movies, but I want to avoid mentioning them because it'd spoil all of the fun. For those who have seen it, though - Evil Dead (Ash's darker ED1 freakout vs. the ED2 one), some of the classic, older japanese horror movies (Uguetsu, Kwaidan, Onibaba), the entire giallo spectrum from leather-gloved-whodunnit to psychedelic-mindbending-freakout, Hellraiser, Lovecraftian horror, and maybe some bits of Mandy, too. It's stylish and clever, with some excellent cinematography and effects. It seems self-aware enough to be a little bit campy but it becomes a nail-biting spectacle by the time things get going. The two main leads really carry the film and they're both spectacular. In particular, Josh Ruben, who stared in Scare Me, is really great. This is the first time that I've seen him in a mostly straight-faced role, and I thought he killed it. It also features a very memorable Pearl-esque credits sequence. The director also made Jakob's Wife (2021) with Barbara Crampton, so I might check that out next. Would recommend to fans of: Argento, Raimi, Jodorowsky, Greek Tragedy, Fulci in his trippiest states Rating:  .5 / 5Movies Completed - 1/13 discoukulele fucked around with this message at 12:24 on May 2, 2023 |
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May 2, 2023 06:34
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gey muckle mowser posted:Challenges are up! Added them to the second post of the thread. drat, good challenges! E: does anyone have any suggestions for Drawn and Quartered? I was initially thinking one of the Hellboy animated movies, but I'm not sure if those even qualify as horror. Plex sure seems to think so but I'm not sure Plex is the ultimate authority on the subject. If anyone is looking for a good Challenge of the Dead pick, I found this on STAC Goat's Boxd list, and it's on YouTube officially: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbxGF2PbrPE I don't know if it's actually good but people say it's a low budget cheese fest with a surprising amount of heart and some truly bad comedy so it sounds like it's right up my alley. Shaman Tank Spec fucked around with this message at 07:56 on May 2, 2023 |
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May 2, 2023 07:06
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Maniac Cop (1988) -- Make it bigger than AIDS. Friday the 13th in NYC but it's a beefcake zombie cop taking revenge on the corrupt bureaucrats who got him sent to prison. Or, anyone he happens to come across, doesn't seem to matter that much. Featuring: - Fun dual protagonists in Tom Atkins and Bruce Campbell. - A 3rd act car chase that could best be described as "excessive" - An entire set of scenes (the mayor's office) that were filmed on a toaster - A pretty good looking practical stunt with a dude ramping off a truck into the ocean: vvv Timestamp'd vvv https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bNGmlQ__74&t=4784s ~*Progress Tracker*~ 01. Idle Hands Horror High, History Lesson 90s02. Maniac Cop History Lesson 80sIf Idle Hands doesn't work for Horror High I will watch Evil Bong do not test me you have been warned. discoukulele posted:Alright y'all, just did my first challenge movie. Stage Fright owl sure gets around... 
Takes No Damage fucked around with this message at 03:41 on May 3, 2023 |
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May 2, 2023 08:27
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 - (4). Scream 2 (1997) Directed by Wes Craven; Written by Kevin Williamson Watched on Paramount+ I'll try and keep it simple because I've already reviewed Scream 2 and spelled out my thoughts there, and they really haven't changed in 25 years. There's a really good movie in here with the OG characters that's filled with a lot of invested pathos and good slasher stuff. I don't often go for slasher stuff because it often is just victims that exist to die instead of full ones who feel like they're living but the Scream crew does. And then there's that other film that is a standard sequel filled with young Hollywood stars with paper thin characters and cheesy writing all lining up to be killed. And that one's probably partially deliberate as an extension on the metaness of the original... but its also probably just bad sequel stuff and Kevin Williamson becoming himself a leader of the tired tropes in Hollywood at that time. Its a weird combination of elements that doesn't always flow well. There's moments where I feel direct disappointment going from the Gale, Dewey, and Randy show to Sidney's side of the movie. And that's sad. Sidney deserves better. But this film is really trying to do a lot at once. And at the heart of most of it I do see Craven's clever take on the genre and elevating the slasher. And in other ways I see what I didn't like about Williamson's writing and that era of horror in general. Like Buffy barely even exists in this film except to be killed off. And that would be fine if it was a well done play like with Drew in the first film but its not. There's like half a dozen cameo kills in this and Buffy is really just a standard dead coed. And do we really need that in our film? Isn't there some fat that could be cut here? And of course there's the basic reality that this was a rushed production for Craven and that Williamson's script got leaked so he ended up rewriting the thing and changing up the characters and killers. And all that adds to its over stuffed, sometimes clumsy story and character stuff. That said while I do think this is kind of bloated and starting to fall into the genre traps it was so expertly critiquing and updating in the first film I still think it does a LOT right. And ultimately I guess I think it does more right than wrong. And I just like Scream. I like the characters. The OG ones. And while there may be too many cameos its a pretty solid list of actors and a fun list of "I remember you!" so its not without its charm. And its still a Scream film and its still Wes Craven and he's a good director above all else. And I'm not sure there's any director I've seen who has dealt with more troubled productions and still managed to crank out a decent film. So while it does sometimes struggle to hold its parts together it largely walks the line and is a solid watch. I'm mostly over analyzing it as a sequel to an all time classic and a film I've watched countless times over the last 25 years. And I can still watch it and enjoy myself so that says more than all my nit picks do. And hey, there is the sheer silliness of Luke Wilson in Stab.  3 (5). Mostly Ghostly 3: One Night in Doom House (2016) Written and directed by Ron Oliver; Based on a story by R.L. Stine Two years ago for some reason I went on a little binge of RL Stine adaptions - most of which were Disney Channel things - but I apparently burnt out before I finished this series. And boy... I don't remember it. I mean I do slightly. I recall them being generic Disney Channel things that weren't unwatcheable but weren't good but also were clearly for tweens. I remember the weirdness of recasting the whole film except for the one main ghost girl who had clearly gone through puberty in the time between movies despite being ghosts. And that's it. I don't remember anything else. But even i'm not obsessive enough to rewatch them. So it looks like we recast everyone again. Sorry, Bella Thorne. Even the ghost girl got recast and now she's in a short skirted schoolgirl outfit which is real weird considering she wasn't in the other films but I guess our tweens have all hit puberty now? Hey, Peter Deluise is back. I sorta remember him. And its weird that the ghost brother is white now when he was black in the second film but he was white in the first film I think so... I don't know. I think I may be devoting too much thought to Disney Channel productions. Ok, about the movie? I dunno its a dumb Disney Channel thing. I suspect not watching it in a marathon of other Disney Channel movies makes it all a little easier for me to enjoy but I'm not gonna test that theory. It was mostly fine and had some promising elements. Jamie Kennedy possessed by a demon is a nice start. And my common sentiment in reviews for the other films were they never really felt like scary stories but this does seem to be one complete with some horror references. But you know what? They never spent a drat night in the Doom House!!! I mean they went into it late and it was filled with lots of bad cgi but it was barely a night. That's just false advertising. That being said the demon that possesses Jamie Kennedy is played by Gary from Legends of Tomorrow and he has some pretty good Nosferatu makeup and really chews some scenery great. He's only around a little bit but he's fun when he is. I guess that sums up this film really. There's some decent little bits but they're few and far between. But everything in between isn't exactly bad. Its just not very good either. Its hard for me to compare this against the previous ones because I don't really remember them. And I definitely still got tired of the Disney Channel of it all well before the ending. But its an actual horror story with horror stuff. Family friendly of course but still. And some nice casting cameos. Still... I'm glad there's not another one.  4 (6). Man-Thing (2005) Directed by Brett Leonard; Written by Hans Rodionoff Come for the rough theater-turned-tv CGI budget, stay for the shaky cajun-via-Australia accents. Man Thing was part of a big deal between Marvel and a short lived film studio called Artisan to produce a bunch of Marvel movies before Disney bought them and the MCU happened. And Man Thing was supposed to be a big theatrical release after the huge hits of X-Men, Spider-Man, and Blade. But Artisan shut down and Marvel wasn't involved at all in the production of this and when they saw it they thought it was so bad that it just ended up released as as SyFy Channel Original. Which hey, boobs on tv. That's something. If nothing else it sounds like this might have been one of the steps along the way of Marvel deciding it was best to handle things in house and keep a tight eye on how these movies get made. I guess that might be a bad thing if you hate the MCU and want more movies like this. But well this isn't good. It isn't the worst super hero or horror film you've ever seen or anything but its just not good either. The effects aren't actually terrible. I guess they used a lot of practical effects to make Man Thing happen and he doesn't look half bad. We don't see him for awhile but when we do they're not too shy about showing him and he looks and moves decently. There's definitely some rough effects that feel like they could have been fixed with a better post production budget. Or at least helped. And really the whole movie has a weird, cheap look to it or forgettable track. The sort of stuff that feels like it could be worked on. But then again you can only polish something so much. And ultimately its just not a very good or interesting story. Its a very standard monster and man vs nature story and setup that doesn't really go any extra yards to give it depth or do anything deeper. And its just not super well done with what's there which leads to some curious choices like two folks who haven’t shown that much romantic chemistry to this point deciding to get it on and start stripping in a lot of burning cars. Its just not very well done really. Better than I expected for a "SyFy Original" but certainly much worse than you'd expect from a theatrical release definitely making it clear why this one got demoted. Not the worst thing I've seen in awhile, definitely not the worst thing I'll see this month, maybe not the worst thing I've seen tonight? Not even something I feel the need to be harsh on. But its not good. Its cheap and ugly. Its not well done. Its not good.
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May 2, 2023 08:29
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2. Nosferatu (1922) Finally, a massive blindspot for me filled in, thank you challenges. Anyway, it's as fantastic as its reputation suggests! I can only imagine how frightening it'd have been in 1922, because plenty of it is still pretty eerie now. Max Schreck's Count Orlok is iconic for a reason, there's no way a look and a performance that good could be anything but. I watched the BFI version, which also includes a genuinely beautiful score. I'm always surprised by movies this old being paced as quick as they are, there's zero filler, all straight to the point. I'm glad I finally got around to watching this just because it's obviously so influential, I feel like I've missed hundreds of callbacks and allusions to this in other movies. Counts for challenge #5: Shooting Zombies and meta-challenge History Lesson (1920s) Watched so far: The Borderlands, Nosferatu (Shooting Zombies) Total: 2/13 Gyro Zeppeli fucked around with this message at 15:20 on May 2, 2023 |
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May 2, 2023 14:45
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Movie #2: Hood of the Living Dead (2005) 9. Challenge of the Dead "How the gently caress you explain a dead motherfucker walkin' around biting people?" After a young man is gunned down by thugs in a drive-by, his scientist brother uses an experimental cell regrowth formula on him in a last ditch effort to save his life, accidentally turning him into a zombie. This of course means the hood is full of zombies five minutes later. Our hero and his white colleague try to contain the infection before the cops throw their asses in jail. Hood of the Living Dead is a movie with a vibe, and that vibe is "a handful of friends had a video camera, a budget of 10 bucks and a love for zombie movies". The movie is as low rent as it gets, and is objectively not a good movie in so many ways, but I always have time for a movie with a lot of heart and Hood of the Living Dead is definitely that. It's obvious everyone involved in the project cared a ton, and did the best they could with their limited resources. I was surprised by how earnest the movie is. There's not a hint of irony to be found anywhere, and it's charming. A genuine appreciation for zombie movies shines through, but not in an annoying "heh look at us make REFERENCES" kinda way. It honestly feels like a bunch of guys just wanted to do their tribute to Romero's Living Dead series and they kinda pulled it off. Yeah, the effect budget is "extra large bottle of fake(?) blood", most of the actors seem to be someone's friends, and because the crew had extremely limited access to locations, most of the movie takes place in the director's living room, a park, or someone's car, but man, I had a good time! I have seen a lot of movies with orders of magnitude more money and resources that didn't come close to this level. The best part: The movie's soundtrack is wild. You have a mix of what sounds like music library MIDI tracks and some gas station dollar bin level rap. I got mental whiplash when a dramatic, tense scene suddenly broke into a rap song that starts "Man I love that snatch, feelin' on her tits".  / 5The movie is on YouTube, on the production company's own channel, for free: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbxGF2PbrPE My May 2023 Movies: 1. Black Friday!, 2. Hood of the Living Dead (Challenge of the Dead) Shaman Tank Spec fucked around with this message at 15:13 on May 2, 2023 |
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May 2, 2023 15:09
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Shaman Tank Spec posted:drat, good challenges! I've counted the two Hellboy animated films towards challenges in the past; they're full of monsters and demons and the like, they totally count. Especially Blood and Iron, the one set in a haunted gothic castle with vampires and ghosts and a werewolf. As for other animated horror movies, Shudder has Mad God and The Spine of Night available, though I haven't seen either and can't comment on their quality. You could also go for stuff that is more aimed at kids, I'm sure - stuff like Frankenweenie or Coraline or Nightmare Before Christmas or the Hotel Transylvania movies, if you haven't seen any of those.
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May 2, 2023 15:21
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Shaman Tank Spec posted:E: does anyone have any suggestions for Drawn and Quartered? I believe The Wolf House is on tubi, in addition to the suggestions from Class3KillStorm Gripweed posted:The Grudge could be worth a shot since we're now so far removed from the J-Horror craze. You might be able to appreciate the movie better simply because there aren't movies just like it coming out all the time anymore. Yeah, I think this is the way I will go. Thanks!
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May 2, 2023 16:17
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gey muckle mowser - can I ask that the Fresh Hell challenge be amended slightly to "movie released since the October Challenge"? It doesn't change it much, while maintaining the spirit in full by allowing all movies that came out since the last time we did this.
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May 2, 2023 16:17
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7. Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning - 2004 Directed by Grant Harvey The Ginger Snaps Collection  It has the most interesting premise because in the Ginger Snaps series -- a prequel that includes characters from the later movies and doesn't even really pretend that they aren't the same people running around in the 1800s for some reason. The downside is that it's the most conventional Ginger Snaps movie. It's still pretty good though with a fun finale and a heartwarming message about the importance of family. The first two were just better. 💀💀💀/5 Spooky May Spring Cleaning 7/13 1. Basket Case 2; 2. Basket Case 3: The Progeny; 3. 3 from Hell; 4. Attack of the Blind Dead; 5. The Ghost Galleon; 6. Night of the Seagulls, 7. Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning Collections * The Basket Case Trilogy 🧺🧺🧺/🧺🧺🧺 * The Firefly Collection 🤡🤡🤡/🤡🤡🤡 * The Blind Dead Collection ⛪⛪⛪⛪/⛪⛪⛪⛪ * The Ginger Snaps Collection 🐺🐺🐺/🐺🐺🐺
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May 2, 2023 16:30
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 Terror at Bigfoot Pond The Bigfoot: I'll admit that I did soften on this Bigfoot as the movie went on, only because I started to realize that it at least had some self awareness to it. At first I thought it was maybe the goofiest Bigfoot I'd ever seen, and that's still true but I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt and say that some of that was intentional. The goofiest thing about it was the performer in the suit. The concept of the movie is that this Bigfoot is creeping around the outskirts of this little camp, and the cameras are catching glimpses of him but of course the characters take a while to figure out what's going on. So you have a bunch of scenes with this performer in the suit sneaking around looking like Snidley Whiplash and then also their favorite move was to randomly strike the iconic Patterson-Gimlin pose, but over and over again. At no point is there any feeling at all that this thing is actually a creature and not just a drunk guy in a suit. But like I said, as the movie went on I started to get the sense that they were acting like that on purpose, it's hard to come to any other conclusion when you eventually have the Bigfoot donning one of the campers bandanas and trying to imitate them. Not the mention the ultra closeups of the Bigfoot's face which are ridiculous in their own right. Score: 2/10(would've been a zero if not for the bandanna) Everything Else: Now this is where I just have nothing to even be generous about. The actors are horrible, and that's fine that's to be expected. But really the whole setup of the movie is egregiously bad, like "why did you even bother" type stuff. I mean they literally didn't even have a real pond(and yet they put Bigfoot Pond in the title) to work with, they thought they could somehow shoot this thing next to a large mud puddle and pretend it's a small lake/pond. At one point the characters decide to go skinny dipping and it's an incredibly sad sight as they strip down and then sit in a small circle in the middle of this gross mud puddle. In another scene they dance around a campfire and the women take their tops off but like....why? Are these people nudists? I know I'm a loser but I've never been at a camp site with a bunch of friends where the women just all the sudden take their tops off for no particular reason. When the poo poo hits the fan it gets even worse because the characters are wearing GoPro type cameras(which is barely justified) and they narrate their own life or death struggles in the most forced artificial way possible. No surprise, but this is another one with no special effects to speak of, so all the kills are either off camera or laughably bad. Score: 0/10 So total score of 2/20, overall this is a movie that shouldn't have been made except for the fact that a Bigfoot wears a bandanna and taunts the camera with the Patterson-Gimlin pose. 1. American Bigfoot 2. Terror At Bigfoot Pond Basebf555 fucked around with this message at 17:05 on May 2, 2023 |
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May 2, 2023 16:32
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For the sake of the "Tales from the Cryptids" challenge, do aliens count as cryptids?
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May 2, 2023 17:04
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gey muckle mowser posted:Challenges are up! Added them to the second post of the thread. As much as I usually get all the challenges done, not sure on this one. Part is the countries unless it includes multiple films (2 from S. Korea, 2 from the North America..etc.), and a good chunk is it's been scary busy at work. Last Saturday, we had such a crowd coming for movies we stayed open past our usual close time with the phone ringing off the hook from people asking us to hold off closing because they were on their way. I didn't get home until after midnight and could barely stay awake enough to finish a late dinner.
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May 2, 2023 17:20
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OK, time to clear out the backlog of reviews. What I've watched so far only contributes to the History Lesson and Geography Lesson challenges, so I'm not missing out on anything there. 1. The Fear (1995) (first viewing) (watched on Tubi)  Starting this challenge off with an incredibly  experience. The Fear follows a psychology student who is trying to complete his thesis by corralling some barely-willing friends to go to a cabin in the woods to study their fears. Our protagonist accomplishes this by having them speak to Morty, a life-sized wooden mannequin from his childhood (although it's not clear if this was the initial plan, because he seems to have forgotten about Morty's existence until they stumble upon him in a drawer). This one's got a lot going on, and it's a wild ride. The general outline is that Morty eventually comes to life and starts killing everyone off one by one, usually playing into their fears in some way, but this movie beautifully rides the line between competence and incoherence. There's a convoluted backstory involving repressed childhood trauma. It's presented as a mystery plot, but instead of well-plotted clues, the protagonist's girlfriend has repeated epiphanies based on absolutely nothing. In fact, the movie is rife with non-sequiturs, unresolved plot points, and even the occasional continuity error. I particularly liked when a character invites himself to stay at the cabin claiming his house has been damaged by heavy snowfall, even though the movie was clearly shot in the dog days of August and the characters spend half the film outdoors in t-shirts. This one has it all: goofy kills, ample T&A, even a Wes Craven cameo. As a final treat, although The Fear is far from the only '90s horror movie to feature a rap song about the villain over the end credits, it's usually not a horrorcore song about a killer mannequin. There's even a music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvL6NyzdT5o MOOORTAYYYYYYYYYY CHALLENGE: This contributes to "History Lesson" (1/5 completed) at my first '90s film of the challenge, as well as to "Geography Lesson" (1/5 completed) as my first North American film of the challenge. --- 2. Pearl (2022) (first viewing) (watched via Amazon rental)  Glad to finally catch up to this one. The prequel to the sleazy slasher X, this is a kind of origin story for that film's antagonist, the titular Pearl (Mia Goth). We see Pearl's upbringing in Texas in 1918 at a formative time when the already-trouble girl sees her Hollywood dreams die and is finally pushed over the edge into violence and madness. This is a superb character study, which is a nice surprise because that's never stood out to me in a Ti West film before. Goth is really bringing out the best in him, both with her knock-out performance and as a co-writer. Not that West is slouching in the director's chair here--the movie's got a deliberate throwback feel to the Technicolor era which can alternately disarm and intensify the mood as needed. I'd generally call myself a Ti West fan, although admittedly he's gotten mixed reviews from me. I adore The House of the Devil and thoroughly enjoyed X, but the others I've seen have generally been mediocre. This certainly brings the batting average back up. CHALLENGE: This contributes to "History Lesson" (2/5 completed) at my first 2020s film of the challenge. --- 3. The Shout (1978) (first viewing) (watched on Criterion Channel)  Anthony (John Hurt), an experimental electronic composer and part-time church organist, lives, not entirely happily, with his wife Rachel (Susannah York) in a small English village. Their lives are upended when a mysterious stranger named Crossley (Alan Bates) shows up and basically invites himself into their home. Crossley claims to have spent 18 years living amongst the Aboriginal Australians and learned various magic abilities, including the ability to produce a terrifying shout that kills those who hear it. Crossley comes to hold a strange power over the couple, casting a love spell over Rachel and generally subjugating them to his will. The story is presented by way of a framing device in which Crossley is telling the story (to a young Tim Curry!) after the fact. Crossley openly presents himself as an unreliable narrator, and admits to changing the sequence of events and varying the climax every time he tells the story to "keep it alive." To that extent, it's not the tightest narrative at times, but reasonably effective as a psychosexual mood piece. CHALLENGE: This contributes to "History Lesson" (3/5 completed) as my first '70s film of the challenge, as well as to "Geography Lesson" (2/5 completed) as my first European film of the challenge. --- CHALLENGES: 1. Horror High 2. Tales from the Cryptids 3. Holy Terror 4. Fresh Hell 5. Shooting Zombies 6. Drawn and Quartered 7. Woke in Fright 8. Second Chance 9. Challenge of the Dead 10. Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things 11. It's-a Me! 12. History Lesson (3/5 completed)--The Fear (1995) ('90s); Pearl (2022) (2020s); The Shout (1978) ('70s) 13. Geography Lesson (2/5 completed)--The Fear (1995) (North America via USA); The Shout (1978) (Europe via UK) Crescent Wrench fucked around with this message at 14:22 on May 5, 2023 |
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May 2, 2023 17:28
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Movie #3: Hellboy Animated: Blood and Iron (2007) 6. Drawn and Quartered "Lady, I was going to cut you some slack because you're a major mythological figure - but that? That's crazy talk!" Cards on the table: I loving LOVE Hellboy. I own very few physical books anymore, but I have bought all the Hellboy albums. I backed the board game. Hell, I even saw all the live action movies in theaters, even the godawful third one. My love for Hellboy comes from two things. First, Mike Mignola's art is gorgeous. He has a very unique style, where he is able to use fairly simple shapes, very limited palettes and extreme contrasts to create incredibly evocative pictures that make your brain kind of fill in the blanks.  Now, from this perspective, Hellboy Animated: Blood and Iron is a huge disappointment. I wasn't really expecting a movie that looked like a living Mignola picture, but I still wasn't expecting something that looks like the Saturday morning cartoon version of someone's webcomic. Whereas Mignola's art drips with style, this is aggressively bland and soulless, often downright ugly with a mixture of traditional animation and computer effects. The other reason I absolutely love Hellboy is the writing, which draws in influences from folklore and legends to tell stories that feel rooted in real mythology, but with his own twists. Mignola has created a world of supernatural horrors that is often scary, but even more often sad and melancholy. I can still pinpoint precisely the moment I became a life-long Hellboy fan: this page in the first Hellboy album I ever bought.  So how about that front? Are we doing better? For the most part, yes. The screenplay was written by some guy, but it's based strongly on Mignola's writing so even though it might not always feel quite like the real thing, at worst it feels like good fan fiction. And there are scenes and moments that have that real Mignola feel, like legions of skull-faced ghosts doomed to mutely haunt a mansion until their killer is brought down.  Blood and Iron was a pretty OK movie, but I can't help but feel a bit bummed out by it, because god damnit, Hellboy deserves better. OK, so they have the live action movies' cast members and they do a good job, but the movie looks like crap for the most part, and the soundtrack feels like someone lifted it off a generic music library. It just has that slightly off feel where you can tell that nobody composed the piece for this specific scene, so even though the mood and tone might be close to what's happening on screen, it's just generic background music that doesn't in any way match up to the scene's pacing and beats. This all being said, Blood and Iron passes the pizza test: it might not be the best Hellboy I've ever experienced, but it's still pretty good -- and a god drat mile better than that third movie. The best part: Even though most of the movie has this washed out and crappy look, there are a couple of scenes where inexplicably they do try to mimic Mignola's use of angular shapes, bold, flat colours and incredible contrasts. Not surprisingly, those scenes are by and far the coolest looking in the whole movie.  Man, why couldn't the whole movie look like this? / 5My May 2023 Movies: 1. Black Friday!, 2. Hood of the Living Dead (Challenge of the Dead), 3. Hellboy Animated: Blood and Iron (Drawn and Quartered) Challenges completed: 2
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May 2, 2023 17:44
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Gripweed posted:I will never understand why it's so hard to make a good Bigfoot movie. They did it once with Legend of Boggy Creek, so we know it's possible. As long as you don't need it to be horror, there's nothing wrong with Harry and the Hendersons. Mostly I just wanted to recommend Harry and the Hendersons ITYOL 2023. A.o.D. fucked around with this message at 19:15 on May 2, 2023 |
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May 2, 2023 18:10
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Watched my second movie today, Return of the Living Dead Part II. A couple of junior high bullies open up a tank of some sort of nerve gas that brings the dead back to life and gradually zombifies the living. Also the living dead in this appear to be at least semi-sentient, if not wholly cognizant of their situation. At any rate, it purports to be a comedy, but really isn't that funny. The only laughs I got out of it came from the trio of idiots who evidently appeared in the original; two of them come in contact with the gas and gradually succumb, in the meantime all three of them get increasingly hysterical and stupid and it's great. Other than that, the movie doesn't have much going for it. Gags involving the zombies themselves feel incredibly forced and just don't work. I haven't seen the original which I understand is a classic, and I hope to watch it as part of the October challenge. For now though, it's out of the scope of what I'm looking to do. 1.5/5. There's not much to recommend this movie. Not even Bobby from Twin Peaks can save it. Fulfills challenge #9: Challenge of the Dead. Contributes to Challenge #12: History Lesson. (1980s) Contributes to Challenge #13: Geography Lesson (North America) Within the scope of my personal limitations, I don't think I can fulfill all the challenges, but I'll keep track and do as much as possible here. Once I watch my 13 movies on Youtube, I might look elsewhere to fill out the challenges if there's time left in the month.
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May 2, 2023 18:27
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3. Shed of the Dead (2019) Gave it a shot just to fill in the challenge, and because the cast looked weirdly stacked (Kane Hodder! Michael Berryman! Bill Moseley! Brian Blessed!). And all I can honestly say for it is someone really, really liked Shaun of the Dead. Because this is basically a fan film of it, just a little bit worse in every respect. Also I should have seen it coming, but everyone in the cast I'd heard of get maybe 20 seconds of screentime each. It's not egregiously bad, just really derivative and kinda annoying about how much it desperately wants to be a movie that already exists. Counts for challenge #9: Challenge of the Dead and meta-challenges History Lesson (2010s) and Geography Lession (Europe) Watched so far: The Borderlands, Nosferatu (Shooting Zombies), Shed of the Dead (Challenge of the Dead) Total: 3/13
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May 2, 2023 18:48
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Technically I did a re-watch of The People Under the Stairs on Saturday, but I'm aiming for 13 first time watches so I'm not adding it to my count (and it doesn't qualify for the Second Chance challenge because it has always ruled). Beyond hitting 13 first time watches, I will also try to get all of the GMM challenges done (and am still knocking things off my Letterboxd "horror 52" challenge, there is some overlap with stuff on there and the challenges so I will probably watch a bunch of those this month). 1. The Monster Squad (1987) This is one that has been on my list forever, I think I've owned a copy for over a decade and I knew the general deal (and that Wolfman's got nards). If I saw it as a kid, it would probably be one of those movies I watch every year around Halloween, I loved this. Dracula has come to town and he's got all the classic monsters under his control as he searches for an amulet that will let him open a portal to limbo and let monsters take over the world. Unfortunately for Dracula, he's up against the Monster Squad. Tom Noonan as Frankenstein was super charming. "Creature stole my Twinkie!" 4/5 2. The Last Broadcast (1998) A group of fellas take their "Fact or Fiction" show into the woods, trying to track down the Jersey Devil - but only one returns and is charged with murdering the rest. The Last Broadcast is a 'documentary' made about the case. It has a low budget TV expose type of feel, flat narration and very slow. The documentarian focuses on examining their grainy footage, mistakes from the local police, and charming talk about the internet and IRC chats. It starts to pick up when he brings in a data retrieval expert who starts to piece together the mangled film from the crew's cameras - by the climax I was really sucked in, but the ending takes a sharp turn into dumb lazy nonsense which tanked the rating a bit. Available on Shudder (at least in  ) Completes GMM Challenge #2 Tales from the Cryptids 2.5/5First time watches: 2/13 GMM Challenges: 1
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May 2, 2023 19:57
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Does Naked Lunch count? I don’t know what genre it is but I know it’s got monsters in it.
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May 2, 2023 20:02
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Gripweed posted:Does Naked Lunch count? I don’t know what genre it is but I know it’s got monsters in it. Yes, it's horror-adjacent enough to count
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May 2, 2023 20:20
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I'm kinda tempted to watch Suburban Sasquatch as my Tales from the Cryptids film but I'm not sure watching it alone and sober is the correct environment for this poo poo Would it even count considering I've seen the Red Letter Media episode on it? I haven't seen the movie, but I've seen clips of the movie and kind of have a pretty good idea of what to expect.
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May 2, 2023 20:36
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Ha! I was considering Suburban Sasquatch too. That category has a loootta trash.
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May 2, 2023 20:47
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