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I'm down for 13 films! (And presumably 13 challenges!) FAKE EDIT: And 13 cheers to gey muckle mowser for organizing!
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Apr 28, 2023 23:22
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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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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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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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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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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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4. Ringu (1998) (first viewing) (watched on AMC+/Shudder)  Catching up with my highest-ranked unseen feature on the "They Shoot Zombies, Don't They?" list. In fact, I hadn't even seen the American remake either until a couple of years ago. You know the story: there's a mysterious VHS tape making the rounds. If you watch it, you get a phone call informing you you've got one week to live. The movie itself follows a newspaper reporter investigating the tape, and the heat is on once she watches it and has her own one-week countdown in effect. It's a solid slow burn with a mystery element and good pacing. I enjoyed seeing some good-old fashioned shoe-leather investigate reporting with the protagonist looking through old newspapers, calling remote bureau offices, and pounding the pavement for interviews. It kept the movie grounded even as the supernatural elements were revealed. I also skimmed through the 2002 American remake to refresh my memory. A memorable scene on a ferry aside, there's not much to recommend it over the original. It manages to be both flabbier and thinner by adding 20 minutes of runtime despite dumbing down the plot. It leans much more on jump scares than atmosphere and suspense. And fast-forwarding through the movie also highlighted the fact that it's got one of the ugliest color palettes I've ever seen--every drat shot has a nauseating, hospital green tint to it. Even a character looking at a sheet of white paper under fluorescent lights has a sickly pallor to it. Stick with the original here. CHALLENGE: "Shooting Zombies." This is 32 on the They Shoot Zombies, Don't They? top horror films list. Incidentally, the next highest ranked I haven't seen is 36, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) This also contributes to "Geography Lesson" (3/5 completed) as my first Asian film of the challenge (via Japan). --- 5. Dolls (1987) (first viewing) (watched on Tubi)  From director Stuart Gordon comes Dolls, the follow-up to his classic debut one-two punch of Re-Animator and From Beyond. Dolls was apparently filmed before From Beyond, even using some of the same sets (to the film's credit, this wasn't obvious to me), but it came out after From Beyond because of the time needed for the various special effects. The story follows a young girl, her father, and her evil stepmother, who have to take refuge in a spooky mansion after their car gets stuck in the mud during a storm. Turns out the old husband and wife who live in the house have a collection of dolls and, wouldn't you know it, the dolls have turned evil because they contain the spirits of people the old couple has captured and killed? The movie isn't overly goopy, especially compared to Gordon's first two films, and the concept of tiny dolls is a little silly, although it manages some good visuals here and there, like the screencap I chose above. The acting is a big detriment, as, for all his qualities, Stuart Gordon is not much of a director of actors. His most-loved films are carried in large part by letting pros like Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton do their thing, but he doesn't have the ability to drag good performances out of middling talent. The actors here are mostly no-names from Gordon's stable, and the performances here range from flatlines to outright grating. The child actor is overly cutesy even by child actor standards. Then there's the punker played by Bunty Bailey (perhaps most famous as the girl in the "Take On Me" music video). She puts on a British accent so broad I was shocked to learn the actress is legitimately English. Still, you're not watching a killer doll movie for nuanced acting. Dolls is mid-tier Gordon, but it knows what is in and gets in and out in 77 minutes. You could do worse. CHALLENGE: "Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things." This also contributes to "History Lesson" (4/5 completed) as my first '80s film of the challenge. This contributes to "History Lesson" (3/5 completed) as my first '70s film of the challenge. --- CHALLENGES: 1. Horror High 2. Tales from the Cryptids 3. Holy Terror 4. Fresh Hell 5. Shooting Zombies--Ringu (1998) 6. Drawn and Quartered 7. Woke in Fright 8. Second Chance 9. Challenge of the Dead 10. Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things--Dolls (1987) 11. It's-a Me! 12. History Lesson (4/5 completed)--The Shout (1978) ('70s); Dolls (1987) ('80s); The Fear (1995) ('90s); Pearl (2022) (2020s) 13. Geography Lesson (3/5 completed)--The Fear (1995) (North America via USA); The Shout (1978) (Europe via UK)' Ringu (1998) (Asia via Japan) Crescent Wrench fucked around with this message at 16:43 on Jul 20, 2023 |
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May 5, 2023 16:21
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6. City of the Living Dead (1980) (first viewing) (watched on AMC+/Shudder)  I had this on my master list of horror movies to watch already, so I was glad to see a specific challenge for the "of the living dead" suffix. Like most other Lucio Fulci movies I've seen, this favors letting interesting visuals carry a sloppy narrative, although this one admittedly has a straightforward enough premise with a clear ticking clock element. A priest in the fictional town of Dunwich has hanged himself, which has (somehow) opened the gates of hell, causing the dead to rise. Humanity is doomed unless our heroes can put a stop to it all before All Saints Day, which is just 48 hours away. And our protagonists here are truly a motley crew: we've got a a psychic medium, an investigative reporter, a therapist, and his neurotic patient, a local artist. I dug the design of the zombies, and I particularly liked the frequent use of worms and maggots to highlight that we're dealing with rotting flesh here. There's also a memorable scene where our heroes are pelted by a storm of maggots, and the production does NOT skimp out here. There's got to be a layer of maggots an inch thick on the floor by the time it's done. The zombies themselves have a cool move of tearing out the back of someone's skull to get at their brains, and there are spirits that appear to have the psychic ability to make people bleed from the eyes and vomit up their innards, too. There are certainly ample issues with the plotting here--that ending shot is nonsensical to the point where the prevailing theory online is that someone spilled coffee on the final reel and they couldn't reshoot the missing footage--but the movie is usually too much fun to let your brain drift to nitpicking. And that's all I really want out of a Fulci movie. CHALLENGE: "Challenge of the Dead." --- CHALLENGES: 1. Horror High 2. Tales from the Cryptids 3. Holy Terror 4. Fresh Hell 5. Shooting Zombies--Ringu (1998) 6. Drawn and Quartered 7. Woke in Fright 8. Second Chance 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! 12. History Lesson (4/5 completed)--The Shout (1978) ('70s); Dolls (1987) ('80s); The Fear (1995) ('90s); Pearl (2022) (2020s) 13. Geography Lesson (3/5 completed)--The Fear (1995) (North America via USA); The Shout (1978) (Europe via UK)' Ringu (1998) (Asia via Japan) Crescent Wrench fucked around with this message at 16:55 on Jul 20, 2023 |
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May 6, 2023 17:50
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Xiahou Dun posted:
I have this penciled in as my selection for Second Chance. I had also never really heard of it except as the movie I'd never heard of that would dominate best of lists. It went right through me the first time I saw it, though.
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May 7, 2023 12:11
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7. A Field in England (2013) (first viewing) (watched on Hulu)  This one's making the rounds for this challenge, and I generally agree with the lukewarm reviews. The plot here is pretty loose, and I found it a little confusing. Our backdrop is the 17th century during the English Civil War. Our protagonist, Whitehead (Reece Shersmith), is an alchemist's assistant who's been sent to track down O'Neil (Michael Smiley), a rival who stole documents from Whitehead's master. Whitehead, a sheltered, bookish coward, is singularly unsuited to bounty hunting, and before long he find out that O'Neil has captured HIM, as well as some army deserters he befriended along the way. O'Neil has some kind of nonsensical plot to make Whitehead use a divining rod to find buried treasure, and this for some reason involves tricking Whitehead and his companions into eating a stew made of magic mushrooms in order to... well, it's not clear why this is necessary at all. O'Neil and his cohort just hold them at gunpoint anyway, and if anything their psilocybin haze just slows the work down and gets people killed. I couldn't make heads or tails out of why the war was relevant, what Whitehead's role in the battle was if he wasn't a soldier, how O'Neil was in the right place at the right time to capture Whitehead for his scheme, etc. From some loose research, it seems like this film's biggest fans make claims about it's less about the literal narrative and more about broad allegorical implications, but to me it was thematically incoherent. This might not matter so much if this delivered for our "Horror High" category, but the film's treatment of the mushroom trip, which should be the main draw, is pretty muddled. The film largely fails to deliver on the trippy visuals, and what's even supposed to be hallucinatory or not is pretty confusing because not all of the characters are even under the influence at the same time, or, in some cases, at all. Director Ben Wheatley would revisit some of these ideas and styles with In the Earth, and I'll definitely be going back to that one first if I want a dose of nature and cinematic psychedelics. CHALLENGE: "Horror High." This also contributes to and completes "History Lesson" (5/5 completed) as my first 2010s film of the challenge. --- CHALLENGES: 1. Horror High--A Field in England (2013) 2. Tales from the Cryptids 3. Holy Terror 4. Fresh Hell 5. Shooting Zombies--Ringu (1998) 6. Drawn and Quartered 7. Woke in Fright 8. Second Chance 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! 12. History Lesson (5/5 completed)--The Shout (1978) ('70s); Dolls (1987) ('80s); The Fear (1995) ('90s); A Field in England (2013) (2010s); Pearl (2022) (2020s) 13. Geography Lesson (3/5 completed)--The Fear (1995) (North America via USA); The Shout (1978) (Europe via UK)' Ringu (1998) (Asia via Japan) Crescent Wrench fucked around with this message at 16:56 on Jul 20, 2023 |
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May 7, 2023 16:42
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You son of a bitch, you may have sold me on Suburban Sasquatch.
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May 7, 2023 18:58
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This is why this thread is so much fun. I wholeheartedly cast my vote for the original instead of the remake. The remake looks like someone applied baby's first horror movie puke-green filter over the whole thing. The direction and screenplay are hacky--when pros like Naomi Watts and Brian Cox can't overcome the script, what hope is there for the male lead, who has the look and feel of someone who walked straight off the pages from a Sears catalog? I even disagree with gmm's specific point about the tape itself. The tape in Ringu is cryptic, eerie, and has subtle clues about its origins. The tape in The Ring has generic spooky images that are about as scary as a flaming skull gif on a Geocities page. FAKE EDIT: But, snarky review aside, I think Ringu is a more interesting watch because it's kind of ground zero for the wave of American remakes of Japanese horror films. If you can't do a side-by-side, I'd personally like to hear about how the original feels on a rewatch and considering what it was compared to American horror at the time. Why was it so fresh? Why was it such a shot in the arm? Crescent Wrench fucked around with this message at 00:08 on May 8, 2023 |
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May 7, 2023 23:57
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SidneyIsTheKiller posted:I say either watch the one that you haven't seen as recently or the one you liked the least. You aren't sure why we'd compare the Ring, the Japanese movie that inspired a wildly successful and popular American remake AND kick-started the years-long trend of further Japanese remakes, to American horror of the time to see the impact it had?
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May 8, 2023 00:56
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SidneyIsTheKiller posted:Like, I wouldn't bother trying to compare Seven Samurai to 50s Westerns to measure its impact on the Western genre, I'd just go straight to Magnificent Seven I think this gets to the heart of the difference between the approaches for sure. I guess the question is, using that example, if you think Seven Samurai only influenced Westerns through the funnel of the Magnificent Seven, or if, more broadly, it's just a high-profile example (is it the first?) of Western directors looking to samurai films. I think you could look at it from both angles and they're both interesting. Maybe I'm weighing my preferred approach a little more heavily because of my preference for Ringu, who knows.
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May 8, 2023 02:08
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8. Satan's Slaves (2017) (first viewing) (watched on AMC+/Shudder)  Last October, I watched the 1980 Indonesian oddity Satan's Slave. That film combines an extremely casual approach to logic and narrative (Phantasm is a common reference point) with overt religious themes about how the characters have fallen away from the path of Islam. I was aware of this loose remake, and the "Holy Terror" and "Geography Lesson" categories provided just the one-two punch I needed to check it out. This version--which was the biggest Indonesian box office hit of 2017-- is directed by Joko Anwar, who also did the excellent Impetigore, itself one of my favorite first viewings of the October 2021 season. Tara Basro, evidently Anwar's leading actress of choice, is the anchor performance in both films. Like the original, this movie is about the ways in which a woman's death leaves her partner and children reeling. Spookiness ensues after her burial, and it eventually comes out she had a dark secret--she was part of a Satanist fertility cult, which is coming back to collect on the youngest child. This one doesn't go as heavily into the religious aspect as the original, which literally climaxes in a "pray the demons away" finale, but there are less overt references to the family's secular ways opening them up for the demonic influences. The family seeks help from the author of an occult zine, but also the village's Islamic scholar. Some of the scares are a little predictable--the camerawork has a constant tell where anytime something conspicuously drifts out of frame, you know what's coming--but the atmosphere, strong characterization, and some great sound design elevate it above similar fare. This is filmmaking several tiers above the original, although the 1980 version has it's own charms, of course. Anwar also made a sequel--looks like I have the option of stretching out the Satan's Slave party to at least one more challenge. CHALLENGE: "Holy Terror" for contrasting the more common Satanist themes against the backdrop of Islam. This also contributes to "Geography Lesson" (4/5 completed) as my first Southeast Asian film of the challenge (via Indonesia). --- CHALLENGES: 1. Horror High--A Field in England (2013) 2. Tales from the Cryptids 3. Holy Terror--Satan's Slaves (2017) 4. Fresh Hell 5. Shooting Zombies--Ringu (1998) 6. Drawn and Quartered 7. Woke in Fright 8. Second Chance 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! 12. History Lesson (5/5 completed)--The Shout (1978) ('70s); Dolls (1987) ('80s); The Fear (1995) ('90s); A Field in England (2013) (2010s); Pearl (2022) (2020s) 13. Geography Lesson (4/5 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)
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May 12, 2023 03:53
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9. Evil Dead Rise (2023) (first viewing) (watched via digital purchase)  The latest spin on hapless protagonists reading the Book of the Dead and fighting off Deadites mixes up the setting, if nothing else, by confining the action to the top floor of an apartment building. This one is closer in tone to the 2013 film than the original trilogy, playing it pretty straight and eschewing the humor that elevated the best of the franchise. I don't know about this one. The basic framework for an Evil Dead movie is pretty malleable, but something like this with a dour tone feels like wasted potential. The characters range from forgettable to mildly annoying. The plot contrivances to keep us in the apartment would be more forgivable if they utilized the setting in a more creative way. And the serious tone makes the requisite Evil Dead references feel shoe-horned in. Nowhere is this worse than a bookend story about a cabin in the woods that is detached from the main narrative. On the plus side, there were some moments that honor the visual creativity the Raimi originals are known for. There's lots of interesting camera perspectives, like shots through a peephole, POV shots from the perspective of a bathtub faucet half-obscured by water, and a nice shot in the reflection of a piece of shattered glass wielded by the main Deadite. And, as expected, there's some fun gore, although I honestly found the 2013 film more memorable in that regard. I will give a couple shout-outs to the bloodshed. There's some creative use of a cheese grater, although that's effective more for the anticipatory wincing of more realistic violence than it is for the actual goop. A rampage seen only through a peephole is also effective for what's left to the imagination. The post-Raimi/Campbell movies have been fine, but I also can't say I'm thrilled about this direction for the franchise. CHALLENGE: "Fresh Hell." --- CHALLENGES: 1. Horror High--A Field in England (2013) 2. Tales from the Cryptids 3. Holy Terror--Satan's Slaves (2017) 4. Fresh Hell--Evil Dead Rise (2023) 5. Shooting Zombies--Ringu (1998) 6. Drawn and Quartered 7. Woke in Fright 8. Second Chance 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! 12. History Lesson (5/5 completed)--The Shout (1978) ('70s); Dolls (1987) ('80s); The Fear (1995) ('90s); A Field in England (2013) (2010s); Pearl (2022) (2020s) 13. Geography Lesson (4/5 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)
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May 14, 2023 15:37
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twernt posted:
The first four came out when I was in college, and it somehow became a tradition for us to go see every one of these stupid things. I hopped off the train as soon as I graduated and I've never revisited them, although I do ponder it from time to time.
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May 14, 2023 17:53
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Sono posted:
This will always have my favorite subtitle of any sequel ever. House II: The Second Story.
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May 15, 2023 03:41
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10. Suburban Sasquatch (2004) (first viewing) (watched via Tubi)  I was considering this based on the excellent spotlight episode of Best of the Worst, and Shaman Tank Spec's review gave me the final nudge I needed. In this true z-grade, shot-on-video feature, Bigfoot is terrorizing the town of Woodstown, Pennsylvania, for extremely unclear reasons. Despite the no-budget filmmaking and schlocky premise, director Dave Wascavage had pretensions of telling a deep story about man's relationship with nature. Unfortunately for him (but fortunately for bad movie fans), the storytelling is as incomprehensible as the filmmaking. The entire film alternates because scenes featuring our various protagonists--a Native American hunter, an intrepid wannabe reporter, and a cop with a personal grudge against the monster--and scenes featuring the introduction of nameless victims soon to be slaughtered by Bigfoot. It's always a little risky watching a bad movie you've seen featured on Best of the Worst, etc., because there's the risk that they showed all the good parts already, but Suburban Sasquatch is just wall-to-wall entertaining. Like Shaman Tank Spec, I watched this solo, sober, and in frequent hysterics. There's so much to nitpick that I was frequently rewinding in disbelief to confirm what I'd just seen. Even a simple shot-reverse shot conversation is rife with errors, from the color temperature to the blocking of the characters jumping wildly with every cut. The 180 degree rule is a mere suggestion to Dave Wascavage. Seriously, you name it, he hosed it up. Is that character using a flashlight in broad daylight? Yes. Did the arm that Bigfoot ripped off a victim re-appear re-attached in the very next shot? Yes. Did that character's dialogue include a typo from the script that they just left in? Yes. Did the director cast his grandma? Yes. Did grandma just sneak a glance directly into the camera, Pee-Wee Herman style? Yes. Highest recommendation for fans of bad movies. CHALLENGE: "Tales from the Cryptids." This also gives me bonus points for "History Lesson" (6/5 completed) as my first 2000s film of the challenge, because why the hell not? --- 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 7. Woke in Fright 8. Second Chance 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! 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 (4/5 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)
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May 16, 2023 14:54
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11. Knife+Heart (2018) (first viewing) (watched via AMC+/Shudder)  This French slasher is set in Paris in 1979, and follows the cast and crew of a gay porn studio that finds it's actors are being stalked and slain by a mysterious killer. Although this one does lend itself to the snappy elevator pitch of "a gay giallo"--and it is that, for sure--there's quite a bit going on here. Yes, it's got the gloved killer, the stylish lighting, and some loose plotting that favors a kind of cinematic intuition over rigid logic. But the sex and violence is mixed in with humor and, dare I say it, even moments of heart. Our lead character, Anne (Vanessa Paradis), is the director at the studio. Although she eventually digs deep into investigating the murders, are first she's so indifferent that she cares more about mining the deaths as plot ideas for the porno they're shooting. (Although the scenes they film with horny cops investigating the fictional versions of the killings are indeed the funniest parts of the movie. I wish I had a gif of the horny cop thrusting at his typewriter during an interrogation.) That callousness carries over to her personal life, which she spends drunkenly trying to manipulate and abuse her ex-girlfriend back into the relationship. The cops don't try too hard to find to why gay porn actors are being picked off, and there's an interesting mixture of themes involving sexuality, commerce, art, danger, and death, all placed just before the looming AIDS epidemic. The investigation into the murders itself takes the film into some vaguely mystical, fantastical places, and the departures from strict realism give the film an interesting flavor. It looks great, it sounds great (the M83 score is excellent), and it certainly feels like a modern take on giallo rather than just a rip-off. And don't forget to stay for the mid-credits coda. CHALLENGE: "Woke in Fright." --- 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 7. Woke in Fright--Knife+Heart (2018) 8. Second Chance 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! 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 (4/5 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)
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May 18, 2023 04:30
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12. Don't Look Now (1973) (rewatch) (watched via Amazon rental)  Revisiting this one for the "Second Chance" category. This film stars Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie as John and Laura, a couple who have just lost their young daughter in an accidental drowning. Most of the film takes place after her death (although the timeline is a little complicated) as the couple relocates to Venice for John's work. He's been hired to restore a dilapidated church, and the two are trying to pick up their lives and deal with their grief. Then Laura meets a pair of old women, sisters, one of whom claims to be psychic delivering a message from their late daughter. Laura buys in, and John's somewhat willing to swallow his own incredulity to make his wife happy. But the tension increases. The psychic begins to interpret her visions as a warning that John is in danger unless he leaves Venice. There's a killer dumping bodies in the canal. And what to make of the child John keeps seeing out of the corner of his eye, the one wearing the same red raincoat his daughter had on when she died? I first watched this about 3 or 4 years ago, having grown curious seeing this film I'd never really heard about cleaning up on various lists of the best horror films. The They Shoot Zombies, Don't They? list has it at 34 right now. Rolling Stone's list from last October put it all the way at number 4. In 2011, Time Out even named it the number 1 all-tie best British film of any genre whatsoever. Well, I've seen it twice now, and frankly I still don't get it. I generally find Nicolas Roeg pretty cold as a director, and despite being a meditation on grief, this film largely lacks any spark of humanity. The leads do what they can, but Roeg seems determined to try to elevate the undercooked screenplay with overwrought filmmaking. I mention before the timeline is hard to pin down--that's because Roeg chooses an editing style that intercuts the past, present, and premonitions of the future in a deliberately disorienting way. This one went right through me the first time I saw it. On a second viewing, I could admire the deliberate stylistic approach a bit more, but it's in service of something thin and, quite frankly, hacky. Ooh, shots of the lake where the daughter drowned dissolve into shots the canals of Venice! Whoa, man, the psychic is blind! She's got, like, second sight! Oh, the little girl John keeps seeing is really a serial killer dwarf? Well... OK. Usually I can see what I'm missing with an acclaimed film, but this is just a whiff for me. CHALLENGE: "Second Chance." --- 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 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! 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 (4/5 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) Crescent Wrench fucked around with this message at 14:05 on May 22, 2023 |
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May 22, 2023 02:27
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13. Mad God (2021) (first viewing) (watched via AMC+/Shudder)  The much-anticipated feature is the directorial debut by visual effects giant Phil Tippett (you may have seen his work on niche film franchises like Star Wars, Robocop and Jurassic Park). Tippett starting working on Mad God in 1990, but put the project on hold for two decades when he became convinced stop-motion animation was out and CGI was in. He eventually picked it up again and, fueled by a successful Kickstarter and tons of volunteers, we got the finished film. It's 83 minutes of stop-motion, with only a handful of human actors, most pretty subtle. The film is obviously a visual treat, but, although it's certainly not a non-narrative feature, the story here is somewhat inscrutable, at least on the first watch. A character credited only as "The Assassin," decked out in a gas mask and other steam punk gear, is lowered via diving bell into a hellish underworld on some sort of mission involving a crumbling map and a briefcase full of dynamite. He makes his way through a mechanistic hellscape of bizarre machinery and even more bizarre creatures. What happens from there does seem to follow a pattern, at least in the sense of dream logic--if I'm interpreting things right, you might even map it onto a traditional, if warped, three act structure. And even if you aren't getting a clear read on the plot beats, there's enough in the way of consistent visual motifs and thematic unity and a method to the madness. Still, it's easy enough to enjoy the vibe and go along for the ride. The world Tippett has created is a harsh one, kind of reminiscent of watching a nature documentary that shows the brutality of the food chain in unsparing detail. So it's bloody and scatological, but it's also funny at times. Life is cheap here, and there are ample gags in the ways the faceless bottom-feeding creatures getting wiped out at a moment's notice. Sometimes they seem terrified, sometimes they seem oblivious, sometimes they walk head-on into danger and you'd swear they were smiling if their heads weren't made of featureless lumps of hair. The color palette mainly sticks to drab industrial and earth tones, with some warmth from reds and oranges. Yet it doesn't feel too muted thanks to the overflowing creativity on display, from the care and detail put into the puppets and animation to the designs themselves. And, most importantly, 83 minutes is about right for the mood--and, honestly, drat impressive for the dedication to the craft in every frame. CHALLENGE: "Drawn and Quartered." --- 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! 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 (4/5 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)
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May 24, 2023 02:56
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twernt posted:36. Phantasm IV: Oblivion - 1998 Hell, that's practically still an interesting prank with the original Phantasm.
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May 24, 2023 22:51
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twernt posted:Harsh but completely fair. The final entry kind of sort of wraps things up, maybe? it was all a dream Oh, don't get me wrong, I say it with love. I'm such a Phantasm junkie I've even seen Ravager at least three times. Crescent Wrench fucked around with this message at 14:43 on May 25, 2023 |
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May 25, 2023 04:02
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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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Got a couple of bonus flicks in before the deadline. Getting my reviews in now, recap post forthcoming. 17. Triangle (2009) (first viewing) (watched via AMC+/Shudder)  Our protagonist is Jess (Melissa George), a frazzled single mother who's snuck away for a day trip on a yacht with some friends. She shows up with a palpable sense of dread and, indeed, when they hit the open sea a sudden, massive storm capsizes the boat and strands them. They're adrift until an ocean liner happens by, but the ship is abandoned, and Jess starts having awful feelings of deja vu. This one is pretty hard to discuss without going into spoilers, so before I get into specifics I'll just say this was an enjoyable ride in terms of figuring out the mystery and the mechanics of what was going on, although it's not as tightly plotted as it could have been. I would be curious to rewatch it sometime going in with foreknowledge of what's happening to see how it holds up logistically as well as thematically. OK, into spoilers. What we have here is a good old-fashioned time loop. Jess's friends are being picked off one by one by a masked a killer, who is eventually revealed as... the Jess from another timeline. Future Jess warns herself that the only way to break the cycle is to kill everyone onboard the ocean liner, and soon the Jess we've been following finds herself repeating the events she's seen later in the time loop. The complications build as it becomes unclear how much agency Jess really has here, and the movie ends with a final layer--this series of events leads with the death of her son, and she deliberately re-enters the time loop in an attempt to correct the timeline. Who knows how many times she's repeated this? The ending of the movie retroactively adds some extra oomph and emotional stakes, which would inform a rewatch. On its own, the time loop gimmick leads to some pretty cool images--there's a wonderful sequence where a character who is bleeding out stumbles off to find a place to die, only to come across piles of her own corpse from other timelines--but this approach isn't consistent. Nitpicking isn't the point, except to say that when it comes to having a super-tight grasp on temporal mechanics, this ain't Primer. But I'll probably come back to this one sometime just to watch it through a more informed lens. 18. It Follows (2014) (rewatch) (watched on Blu-ray)  Ending this month's challenge with an old favorite. The front of my Blu-ray proudly proclaims "The best horror movie in over a decade." Well, we just inventoried the best horror movies of the century over in the main horror thread, and I definitely agree that It Follows is my favorite thing that came along in at least a decade. I saw it three times in the theater and keep coming back. I'll assume you've seen it--correct this if you haven't--and dispense with any plot summary. On this rewatch, I really enjoyed keeping track of all the anachronisms that make the film feel strangely displaced from time. The victim in the opening segment uses a cell phone, and of course one of the characters has the infamous clamshell smartphone, yet they're watching '50s sci-fi movies on a rabbit-eared, wood-panel TV set (that's on top of a bigger TV set). The film score is straight '80s synth stuff, yet the characters go see an Audrey Hepburn movie at an old-fashioned theater that still has an organist. One character struts around in a jean jacket smoking pot like a '70s high school burnout. I think keeping the movie unstuck from time is an interesting aspect of the universal themes regarding the loss of innocence and moving into adulthood. My Blu-ray is from the time of release, so it's sadly a bit skimpy on features. The only commentary track is from a critic, which is always hit or miss, although I'd be curious to see what they have to say about these observations. Still one of my favorite films of the past ten years. --- 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)
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Jun 1, 2023 15:12
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MAY CHALLENGE 2023 RECAP A hearty thank you to gey muckle mowser for organizing this heading this up. This was a pretty fun batch of challenges, too. The "Woke in Fright" title is inspired, still smiling at that one. And thanks to everyone who posted in this thread, whether you went in hard and watched dozens or movies or just added a little chatter, it's always a blast seeing people react to the reviews and bounce off of each other. I was able to complete all 13 challenges, and add in a few extra movies on top of that. Highlights: I was very glad to finally get caught up with Pearl, which is probably my second favorite Ti West second only to House of the Devil (and, hell, who knows if it gains steam with rewatches). The Fear and Suburban Sasquatch are excellent entries into my schlock/b-movie canon. And I never make enough time to revisit favorites during these challenges, but I'm glad I carved out time for It Follows. Lowlights: You know, I certainly had criticisms of some of the films I watched, but this time around I can say I honestly didn't watch anything that was a total slog or made me angry. I'm letting this batch off without any demerits on the record. 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) Movies Watched (18 total): The Fear (1995); Pearl (2022); The Shout (1978); Ringu (1998); Dolls (1987); City of the Living Dead (1980); A Field in England (2013); Satan's Slaves (2017); Evil Dead Rise (2023); Suburban Sasquatch (2004); Knife+Heart (2018); Don't Look Now (1973); Mad God (2021); Death's Roulette (2023); The Last Matinee (2020); Don't Torture a Duckling (1972); Triangle (2009); It Follows (2014)
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Jun 1, 2023 15:28
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VROOM VROOM posted:Feel free to give it a rewatch before reading this to see if you can piece it together, but Triangle is one of my GOATs because (massive ending+rewatch spoilers) "time loop" is just what it wants you to think until the end, where it turns out that Jess and her kid are loving dead. The beginning of the movie at the house actually happened, as did the car sequence+crash at the end, and they died. The part where Jess abuses her kid also happened, but the movie hides this from you until the end because it wants her to be a sympathetic character on a first watch. But in death Jess refuses to accept responsibility for her actions and let go, so she keeps trying to cheat Death to get her son back. Hence the story of Sisyphus. The cab driver at the end is literally Charon. This is pretty tantalizing, I may have to hold off on reading your spoiled section until I actually rewatch to see if I come to similar conclusions myself. So don't be surprised if you suddenly get tagged in the horror thread months and months down the road... Basebf555 posted:As we finish up this year's May Challenge, which was excellent, I do want to mention to everyone that Fran has passed the torch to me(at least for this year) and I will be running the October Challenge. I'm in the process of putting together the bonus challenges and if anyone wants to PM me some suggestions I'd appreciate the contributions. Thanks in advance for the October challenge. (And enjoy the breather, Fran.) Of what you're brainstorming right now, I think my priority request would be finding ways to allow for more rewatches. Whether this means a smaller set of challenges for October or just allowing rewatches to qualify for more challenges I am not as particular about. I don't have strong feelings on announcing them early, just so long as they go up when the thread does. I do see October 1st is on a Sunday, so that might be a good opportunity to put it up a couple days early to give us an extra weekend, at least.
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Jun 1, 2023 16:57
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I think anyone who's going to engage in these challenges is enthusiastic about making a good faith effort to seek out new stuff and explore film from cultures they aren't usually exposed to. I haven't seen anyone rules lawyering the challenge as it stands.
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Jun 2, 2023 17:37
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gey muckle mowser posted:
 Wow! Obviously this is just a little luck and a cherry on top, because I've been looking forward to these challenges ever since I got hooked on them a couple years ago. Thanks again for all the effort curating this!
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Jun 3, 2023 20:28
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ANNOUNCEMENT!