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Lamanda posted:Anyone want to join me in HARDCORE MODE where you can only complete one (1) or part of one (1/*) challenge per movie? I was thinking about doing the opposite - completing all of them in 11 movies, since any shorts watched for Bite-size or Samhain wouldn't count towards the total - then moving on to my list.
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Sep 30, 2023 13:28
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 1. Saw (2004) dir. James Wan blu-ray rewatch Haven’t seen this one in years and wanted to revisit before going to see Saw X soon. I’m not sure I’d say I’m a “fan” of the Saw franchise, but I usually find them entertaining despite their many flaws. This first entry is actually a pretty solid film though, and holds up better than I thought it might. It feels almost like two different films stitched together - the locked room mystery with Dr. Gordon and Adam, and the Se7en-style investigation of the Jigsaw serial killer. The two characters trying to escape their situation is the main focus and the stronger part of the film for sure, but there is more good stuff in the rest than I remembered. I can even see some Italian horror influence in parts, which I’ve never really picked up on before - the doll always reminded me of the one from Deep Red, identifying the killer’s location by a faint sound on a recording is straight out of The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, and Tombs of the Blind Dead features an abandoned mannequin factory (creepy mannequins in general feel like a giallo trope to me). Maybe I’m reading too much into things, but after Malignant wore its giallo influences on its sleeve I don’t doubt that James Wan was conscious of this on some level. It’s not a great looking film - the mid-2000s color scheme of washed out bluish-gray permeates most of it (although the mannequin factory has some nice rich reds) and the frenetic editing is often obnoxious. The repeated use of extended flashbacks to events that took place like 20 minutes ago is dumb as heck - you can see the seeds of the soap opera stuff that defines much of the franchise here, but it’s really not so complex a story to require so much over-explanation. I wonder if those parts were added after test screenings or something, they feel totally unnecessary. The film ends on a high note - the twist is a classic and was genuinely surprising the first time I saw it, and the musical cue that accompanies that scene (“Hello Zepp”) is really well done, both because the timing is great and because it’s a banger of a track. I still don’t think Saw is a modern classic exactly, but its influence on the following decade of horror is undeniable and it isn’t hard to see why it spawned such a popular franchise. 4 wildly unfair games out of 5 Total: 1 Watched: Saw Challenges: 0/13 History Lesson: 1/5
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Sep 30, 2023 13:35
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3. Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives! Challenge: FvJ 20th Anniversary Challenge, History Lesson (80s) "Why'd they have to dig him up? Some people got a strange sense of entertainment." Still the platonic ideal of the slasher movie. Hits every single beat so perfectly that it's still one of the absolute blueprints of the entire genre. Really struggling to have much to say about it because everybody already knows how good this one is, and how much of a landmark it is. See it if you haven't, it's probably the best of the entire franchise, and it truly hits the ground running with one of the best cold opens in slasher history. 5 out of 5! Watched so far: Saw X, Wishmaster, F13 Part 6
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Sep 30, 2023 13:43
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 6) Insidious: The Red Door - 2023 - Prime The trailer had me intrigued in being a continuation of the first two films, especially with having the actors playing the kids from the earlier films back. That the plotline was going to be centered around the aftermath of the other films pretty much sealed the deal with me since it's an area that doesn't often get addressed with films such as this or slashers in what happened after since it's unrealistic for everything to go back to the normal before things happened. This one picks up with Dalton going off to college. His parents have divorced, his grandma's passed on. While Dalton and his dad have no memory of the paranormal events, there's still that miasma of something's not settled. Of course the hypnosis that's been hiding Dalton's ability gets cracked and both he and his dad's powers start stirring again. Other than a bit here and there that didn't feel as strong as the rest, I did enjoy the film. I felt it left at a good point to conclude the Lambert family's story. There's still potential in the franchise, but they can move on from the Lamberts.  7) Insidious: Chapter 3 - 2015 - Peacock When I first heard of this one, I figured it was doing the usual of continuing on from the second film with most of the same characters. Turned out it was a yes and no. It's a kinda sorta prequel with the paranormal investigators and them getting together. Overall, it was pretty good. It elaborated more on The Further, gave us a new creepy antagonist ghost and fits in well with where the first film starts off. While I still have yet to sit through the fourth film because I'm cheap, I'm expecting more of the same, a decently solid paranormal horror.
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Sep 30, 2023 14:17
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3) Body Melt (Australia, 1993) A really pathetic attempt at a horror comedy in the style of Frank Henenlotter. The plot synopsis is tried and true; a new drug has side-effects, mayhem ensues. Problem is, the filmmakers didn't know what to do with it. Instead we get "humorous" scenes with inbred bogans, the joke being they're inbred bogans. There's elderly people in tracksuits, they are exercising you see. A kid on roller-skates says "gently caress". The camera work is kinda inventive at times, adding some much needed excitement to scenes. There's two or three scenes with the titular body melting, they're not all that bad. Do a google image search and you've seen all the ten seconds the movie has to offer.   AROUND THE WORLD 3/4NEW-TO-YOU 1/6
Lamanda fucked around with this message at 15:43 on Oct 31, 2023 |
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Sep 30, 2023 14:34
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gey muckle mowser posted:1. Saw
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Sep 30, 2023 14:35
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In for 31 but I won’t kill myself trying to hit that number this year! The usual mix of rewatches and new.  In preparation for the new VHS I wanted to go back and watch 1,2, and 4 again. I love these movies and I’ve seen them a ton so I won’t go on at length here. While you can easily fall back on the same old tropes, and ppl often do, I really think found footage anthology has unlimited potential. You can do so much with it and I will always be down for more. It’s why I love this series so much, it’s crazy highs and pathetic lows, I hope they never stop. I’m not sure what they are going for with the “year/decade” format now. I get using that to create some sort of thru-line but re-watching the first 2 it seems unnecessarily restrictive, I don’t see why you can’t just jump around different eras. The cynical part of me says it’s a producer (probably rightly) saying if you slap 80s-90s and a heavy dose of nostalgia on this title you will get more attention. But at the same time, some great stuff has been done with those parameters so who knows. 1. V/H/S CineD HORROR THREAD POLL CHALLENGE Really blew my mind the first time I saw it, was so excited for the format. Looking back there are growing pains for sure- way too much invested in the wraparound which is almost always the worst part of anthologies. But Amateur Night and 10/31/98 are great bookends. It’s needs some trimming, I totally forgot about The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger which isn’t a great sign. Cool idea at the time but the webcam stuff has been done so much, and much better, watching in 2023. But this one started it all and it’s always worth a rewatch. 3.5/5 2. V/H/S 2 BITE-SIZED HORRORThe pacing is better, much tighter, and its ends of two absolutely fantastic segments. Safe Haven is just a masterpiece of anthology horror, it’s nasty, it’s clever, it uses the format dynamically. Just perfect. All segments are solid, although again they can’t quite figure out what to do with the wraparound. But this one has gotten better in my eyes this time around. 4/5 3. V/H/S 94 94 was my favorite going into the rewatch and I think it keeps that spot. Although it’s a very tight race with 2. There’s segments in the others I love but this one hits a sweet spot. A lot of that is of course do to our favorite little slimy boy Raatma. That face melt is still one of my favorite things ever. All the segments are good and unique, there’s no fat on them. Unfortunately this one has the absolute worst wraparound, I have no idea what they were going for but it’s so flat. It’s so bad it made me cheer when they pretty much abandoned the wraparound in the sequel. But it doesn’t spoil the bunch for me. 4/5 
WeaponX fucked around with this message at 14:44 on Sep 30, 2023 |
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Sep 30, 2023 14:36
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I'm gonna aim for a lazy 13, targeting a broad mix of unseen newcomers, half-forgotten classics that haunt my memories, and fond favourites that I've been separated from for far too long. 
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Sep 30, 2023 14:41
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Shrecknet posted:If you freeze-frame on the cop's phone, you can see the date is 9/10/01, so whatever Jigsaw was doing that might make the news absolutely will not, give the events of the next day. Gotta think all that planning and setup just to be overshadowed by some boxcutters chaps Kramer's rear end a bit. Yeah I caught that, at first I thought maybe the movie came out a few years earlier than I remembered and it was a coincidence, but nope. Not sure what to make of that.
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Sep 30, 2023 15:02
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1. A Bucket of Blood (1959) (first viewing) (watched on Tubi)  This rare leading role for Dick Miller find him portraying Walter Paisley, a hapless busboy at a beatnik club. Walter's on the outside looking in when it comes to the art scene. That is, until, he lucks into a winning formula. Through a bumbling series of accidents, Walter ends up accidentally killing the landlady's cat and covering it in plaster. But the hipsters at the club dig it, man, not realizing Walter used an actual corpse in the sculpture. Before long, Walter's down the path of looking for bigger and better, ahem, "subjects" for his burgeoning art career. This is one of Miller's many, MANY collaborations with Roger Corman, who directed Miller's first FOURTEEN films. This is a Corman picture, so you won't be surprised to hear they knocked it out in five days, but you also won't be surprised to hear it's a blast. It's a brisk 66 minutes, but Miller does a great job getting across Paisley's insecure character, as well as his descent into murder. And you'll have fun noticing that the more b-movie-minded directors Miller worked with later would sometimes name his bit characters Walter Paisley again for a bit of fun. The late '50s vibe is really fun, too. I enjoyed the skewering of the art scene of the time. The movie opens up with a guy on stage improvising poetry while accompanied by a wailing sax player. Later, when Walter's career takes off, he's sitting on a throne on the same stage while wearing a paper crown and holding a plunger as a scepter. The score is also an interesting mix of more traditional horror score and jazz, which is a combo you don't hear to often. One I've been meaning to get around to for awhile, and a fun way to get things rolling this year. CHALLENGE(S): Why, it's "That Guy" Dick Miller, of course! I suppose I would be remiss if I didn't kick this year off with the challenge I suggested. Tip of the hat to Basebf555 for indulging me (not to mention curating the thread). This films brings the '50s into the equation for History Lesson. And it's New to Me. --- 2. Chompy & the Girls (2021) (first viewing) (watched via Amazon rental for $.99)  An aimless, suicidal teenager reaches out to her biological father for the first time, more out of a lack of options more than anything else. He had no idea she existed, and he's about to bolt only a couple of minutes into their awkward meeting when circumstances force them together. You see, they witness a man walk up to a young girl, unhinge his jaws, and swallow her whole. Then the man, whom they dub "Chompy," spots them and pursues. Now they're on the run, trying to figure out what the hell is going on. There's a rambling plot about Chompy and the girls he's chasing that involves doppelgangers, a psychic baby foot, an interdimensional portal, etc. This is layered on top of hints at heavier themes like drug addiction, depression, and divorce. But it's also a movie with a recurring gag about the dad's snakeskin boots. It's pretty messy, and as goofy as the premise is, I found it more just plain old odd than truly funny or amusing. CHALLENGE(S): This horror/comedy/sci-fi blend is certainly Horror Adjacent. It also covers the 2020s for History Lesson. And it's New to Me. 
Crescent Wrench fucked around with this message at 14:49 on Oct 9, 2023 |
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Sep 30, 2023 15:04
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2. Hagazussa - 2017 I think it was supposed to be a German version of The Witch, but it should just be called Spooky Atmosphere: The Movie. There was a nominal plot that didn't really matter. It's the kind of movie that should be projected against a wall in an alcove of a modern art museum. You'd wander in an watch for a few minutes and then move on to something else. It was beautifully shot though, every scene is like a painting.
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Sep 30, 2023 15:23
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1. Barbarian (2022) - Birth of Horror, New-to-You (1/6), History Lesson (1/5) Went in expecting a home invasion/slasher film based on the title and cover art, and while I wouldn’t necessarily categorize it that way after watching it I also wouldn’t say it isn’t either of those. Lots of good tension, especially in the first half, although much of that comes from the main character, Tess, being forced into an undesirable situation with a strange man as opposed to anything horror related. The 180 degree tonal shift at the halfway point had me wondering if Hulu had somehow started playing a different movie but it eventually got back to a full-fledged horror movie soon enough. Overall it was decent, some good prosthetics/creature design for the Mother and some genuinely tense moments but it never reached the level of scary that I like in my horror movies. Definitely worth the watch and I’m always happy to discover movies that take place in/around Detroit. .5/5
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Sep 30, 2023 15:27
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2)Terrifier 2 2022 (prime) Challenges: THE SAMHAIN CHALLENGE NEW-TO-YOU HISTORY LESSON (20)20sNow off the bat, I have not liked All Hallow's Eve or Terrifier.I found them too mean spirited, and misogynist. Terrifier 2 amps everything to 11, increases the Art being a weird little guy quotient and is a lot more fun for it. Now it still might be a bit misogynist in the way a lot of slashers are, and art is crueler to his femal victims, but this one has art being a bit more equal opportunity. It also helps that it gilds the lily a bit in terms of kills. rubbing salt in the wound, the mashed potatoes In a lot of ways this feels way more cartoonish. Art and his bags of tricks are still as gross as ever, but this movie's world is so far removed from ours that it's more palatable. Something that helps with that in a big way is the nonsensical lore which works however best it should work in the moment, and implies a lot without really caring one way or another. It works in keeping the atmosphere cartoonish, as long as you don't think about it too hard. Soundtrack slaps too. I'm pleasantly surprised I enjoyed this one, and would definitely recommend even if you bounced off the other Art movies .5/51)My Little eye 2)Terrifier 2 also took bingo card 26 
Ambitious Spider fucked around with this message at 19:40 on Sep 30, 2023 |
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Sep 30, 2023 16:21
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4. One Cut of the Dead Challenge: Rob Zombie Anniversary Challenge, History Lesson (2010s), Around the World (Asia), New To You A movie about making a movie about breaking the fourth wall in a zombie movie. There are levels to this. It's a very fun movie, some properly great comedy (the recurring joke of the sound guy constantly trying to leave to go to the bathroom, only to get called back in got me every time, especially the eventual climax to it of him getting his makeup applied making GBS threads in the grass), breakneck pace throughout, and the Rashomon quality of how it all falls apart in the second half only to get saved by improvising the whole ending just off-camera is so good. 4 out of 5! Watched so far: Saw X, Wishmaster, F13 Part 6, One Cut of the Dead
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Sep 30, 2023 16:41
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 #6.) The Roommate (2008; Tubi; dir. Hisaaki Nagaoka) A pair of women living together are unusually close, but a number of external intrusions twist their domestic life into murder. Much more slow-paced and psychological in nature than any of the other films by this director that I've seen, this is effectively a study in codependency. There are some side threads which are presumably intended to inform us about the state of mind of the main characters, including a possessive ghost which is the 'real' cause of things going sour, but which end up being less interesting than the mundane interactions between them. The two lead actresses do a fine job with communicating the nuances of their relationship, as people who have become very close, and enjoy each other's company, but have some buried regrets about other paths their lives might have taken. Actress Sawaco provides some impressive emoting through her eyes as her role becomes more manipulative, while both put effective work into shifting body language within their characters' home. The finale takes a big swerve (I can't call it a twist, since it feels like such a non sequitur), and frankly disappointed me with its failure to capitalize on the interpersonal work the actresses had put in up to that point, and for being the sort of nonsense 'twist' that people joke about thrillers having. If not for that twist, I'd be recommending this as a film deserving more recognition, but even so, it's easily the best thing I've seen from this director. Yes, even better than Killer Car. “As is, forever.” Rating: 6/10 NEW-TO-YOU 6/6 CLEARED
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Sep 30, 2023 16:41
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2. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers 1995 Directed by Joe Chappelle THE SAMHAIN CHALLENGE On a weirdness scale of one to ten, he rates about a thirteen. Halloween 6 tries really hard to define and expand the lore around Michael Myers and the cult that has some kind of poorly defined interest in him. Something about druids and runes and Samhain and blood sacrifices. None of it really even matters because this movie never actually goes anywhere meaningful. It's like they were really counting on being able to tie up all sorts of loose ends in Halloween 7, which didn't so much happen. 👻👻/5
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Sep 30, 2023 16:44
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I normally shoot for 31 spooky films in October anyway but this is the first year I was actually aware of the SA challenge, so hell yeah I'm in for 31. AND IT ALREADY STARTED? That's good news for me, since it means I didn't actually waste my options from the past two days! 1.) Saw X (2023, Theaters) I am not what you call a fan of the Saw franchise, mostly because I had never seen a single one until a year or two ago when my partner wanted to rewatch some. To date, I've only seen Saw 1-3 and now Saw X. And baby I like it that way, because Saw X was a really goddamn great time. Easily my favorite of the films, because while I respect the original for being what it was at the time, I don't really have any nostalgia for it and 2 and 3 both landed with kind of a shrug for me. But it has now been just long enough since I watched them that going back to John Kramer felt like a warm hug, wrapped in barbed wire. 4/5 Reverse Bear Traps. 2.) The Vigil (2019, Shudder) Yakov Ronen is feeling adrift and struggling to pay the rent after leaving the Orthodox Jewish community, despite having a support group and interest from a pretty friend. Something is gnawing away at him beyond that. An old friend stops him one night to ask if he'd be a Shomer for the evening to make a quick buck; all he needs to do is keep watch over a body until dawn when the morticians come for it. Unfortunately it seems that the man who passed away had figurative demons that may have manifested into a literal demon, and dawn feels increasingly far away for Yakov. Neither my partner nor I are Jewish, nor do we know much about Jewish customs or myths, so we picked this one precisely because it's beyond our knowledge base. So absolutely could not tell you how much of this movie is made up whole cloth or based on specific other things, but it was quiet, spooky, and had lots of gnarly bone snapping sounds if that triggers your shivers. One of those intimate little horror movies that is mostly about one person facing up to fears both imagined and real, best watched with the lights off. It's also a little slow and meandering here and there and the subtitling on Shudder-through-Prime was actively abysmal by covering up all the hardcoded subs with [CHARACTER SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE] so thanks for that, Prime, way to look out for those of us with terrible sound systems. 3/5 Hours Until Dawn. Total: 2 Watched: Saw X, The Vigil Challenges: 0/13 History Lesson: 2/5 (2020s, 2010s) New to You: 2/6 (Saw X, The Vigil) Around the World: 0/4 Horror is for Everyone: 0/3
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Sep 30, 2023 16:45
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 4. Bird with the Crystal Plumage quote:I've already confirmed through many other films that I don't vibe with Giallos, although the only Argento I'd seen until now was the horrendous Dracula 3D he did. So let's take it back to the beginning. / 5, sadly1. [•Rec] 2. Attack the Block 3. The Wolf House 4. Bird with the Crystal Plumage  Challenges: Goat's G.O.A.T.s (House) Meta Challenges: new-to-you, History Lesson (70s) Meta Progress: NTY: 4/6, HL: 3/5 ATW: 2/4, HIFE: 0/3 Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 17:01 on Sep 30, 2023 |
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Sep 30, 2023 16:52
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Time to get things started. #1. As Above, So Below (Amazon Prime) A dedicated archaeologist with absolutely no claustrophobia enlists a group of people - and a videographer, for some reason - to go seeking an ancient alchemist treasure deep in the catacombs underneath Paris. However, once they get inside, spooky stuff starts happening, and they find it near impossible to get back out again. So my baby sister texted our family Facebook chat a few days ago, talking about this film and saying that it was, and I quote, "a roller coaster of stress lol". Despite not having seen it before, but being a good big brother, I took the opportunity to call her a giant wuss baby about it. To which she challenged me to watch it and not be a wuss. So, naturally, I felt obliged, and I gotta say... yeah, outside a claustrophobic moment or two in the early spelunking bits, she was being a giant wuss baby about it. Lol. Watching this film, I came up quickly on the stumbling block I always have with found footage films. Namely, asking the questions, "why is this a found footage film? What does this gain by going this direction instead of being a traditional narrative?" And, to be honest, I'm not sure this gained anything by staying centered inside of the camera like that. Even leaving aside the traditional question of WHY you would bother going back and editing a releasable film from the footage of such a horrific event - especially when the documentarian character introduced to justify the central gimmick winds up getting killed off at the beginning of the third act, so there would theoretically be no one around who would care enough to do so -, I don't think the in-camera centering gains you anything. Between having to make up a secondary gimmick around putting (somehow perfectly clear super high resolution) spy cams in certain characters' headlamps, so they can have more than one camera angle, it still feels easy to lose track of people in group scenes and not get a lot of great focus on individual moments. Or, when they do happen to play out as two characters sharing a dramatic, emotional moment, it still plays out in stock side shots more often than not - which just goes back to the central question of who in their right minds, in this situation, would keep the camera on and centered on the people having a conversation off to the side instead of trying to find a way out of the spooky underground "Indiana Jones" cavern they've managed to stumble into. I dunno - I often find that found footage films beg these kinds of dumb questions and rarely have a good explanation for themselves. Or I end up getting a little bored of them midway through and start interrogating the film for things like this, and they were never meant to go through that. As for the rest of it, I clocked that it was basically "Dante's Inferno" about halfway through, but I didn't remember the source material well enough to be able to anticipate the next thing that was gonna be around the corner, despite the film's adherence to the structure of said material. (I haven't read it in the two decades since I left high school, so sue me.) There were a couple of arresting moments that came out of that (especially the one guy getting sucked into the burning car and buried up to his ankles in the ground, even if the CGI was particularly dodgy on that effect), but on the whole I don't know that its adherence to the original story gained them all that much here. /5 #2. The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster (Shudder) A genius young black girl believes that death is actually a disease, and can therefore be cured. To put her hypothesis to the test, she ends up bringing her dead brother back to life. Once he awakens, though, things quickly spiral out of control. For another update to an old story, this film makes for an interesting update to the "Frankenstein" mythos by centering the story in an urban experience, and particularly the experience of a smart young black woman coming from poverty. One who is intellectually leaps and bounds beyond her peers and even teachers, but is still going to be stymied, misunderstood and abused by the systems (and people) around her. It's a complicated and thorny setup, one that I feel the film starts to shy away from around the midway point - or, after she brings her monster brother back to life, thereby refocusing the interests of the film around the abuse and mistrust of black men, and how they can protect or harm their wider community. I mean, since it's coming from a black male filmmaker I get it, but it is something of a minor shame that the "Angry Black Girl" of the title starts to feel like she gets shortchanged by her own film. The other major sticking point for me is the ending - specifically, the idea that after everything that she has experienced, main character Vicaria gets to reattempt her experiments and have it all work out, under the idea that "the bodies are still fresh". This despite these characters having presumably been dead for several hours, and the fact that monster brother Chris' main methods of attack are brutally crushing bones and craniums, and going for strangulations with hands that cause electric burns on touch. The idea that they're going to bounce back up, perfectly fine and with all of their sensibilities intact, kind of stretches past the point of credibility, even at the final moments of the film. I dunno, I just don't buy that the film has earned the sentimentalist ending, or that the main character has earned any kind of redemptive moment here; I get that the Peter Cushing "Frankenstein" films had him go after his central experiments multiple times in multiple ways, but it's not like any of those ever ended well, either. As for the rest of it, the film is very good - well shot, well acted, decently well written and realized. I quite enjoyed the bulk of my time with the film, even as its focus started to waver, and even if the ending feels like something of a cop out and let down. Still worth a solid recommendation, even with those issues being present. /5Call this 2 films for the New-To-You challenge, 2 for the History Lesson challenge (2010s and 2020s), and 1 towards the Horror is For Everyone challenge (specifically the POC category). I'm also going to take Halloween Bingo Card #15 for this year; filled out with all of these below.  Watched so far: As Above So Below, The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster Dumb question, but any of these challenges that aren't explicitly stated otherwise are available for rewatches, right? Like, if I watched The Exorcist for the "Exorcist at 50" challenge, even though I'd seen it before, that would be allowed, right? Or would I have to watch a different possession/exorcism movie to count that one? Class3KillStorm fucked around with this message at 17:20 on Sep 30, 2023 |
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Sep 30, 2023 17:18
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Yea rewatches are allowed unless the challenge specifically says they aren't. You can watch The Exorcist if you want to even if you've seen it already.
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Sep 30, 2023 17:28
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Baron von Eevl posted:Wishmaster isn't good but that intro is loving incredible. The first sequence for Wishmaster writes a bunch of checks that the rest of the movie can't cash.
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Sep 30, 2023 17:42
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 #7.) Ghost Storyteller (2014; digital; dir. Hajime Ohata) A famous teller of scary stories reveals some of the experiences he had with the recent film adaptation of one of his stories, and why it ended up unreleased. Opening with the claim that all that footage was shot with a hand-held camera, the film immediately begins doing fades to different angles, without losing any time or continuity. That sets the sort of standards for questioning what you're told that should be carried through the rest of the movie, as we move from the storyteller's introduction to footage from the film, along with behind-the-scenes material for that filming. A pop group (Moso Calibration, playing themselves) is featured in the presented film, reenacting a story about a haunted school, which leads to the main part of the film feeling like a combination of Shirome and Rinne. Frequent cuts to interviews made later are interjected as commentary on events as they occur, which doesn't so much build tension as undermine it, due to how often it happens. The usual video distortion tricks are present, and done generally well to fit with the overall aesthetic, with some fun bits where one person's camera is looking through the viewfinder of another and seeing something different. But the film's strongest distinguishing feature is in the ideas it raises about the interactions between storyteller and story, their powers and duties as mediators of myth, and what might happen when false details are intentionally introduced into a story. It doesn't go particularly deep in exploring any of the ideas, but their usage is still stimulating. Looking forward to revisiting this one eventually, and hopefully getting a better grasp on some of the fuzzier points. “Horror stories aren't tangible. But they have their own will.” Rating: 7/10
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Sep 30, 2023 18:25
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Committing for 13 movies this year,. I'll try to watch more but October is gonna be a weird month for me. 1) Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) FREDDY VS. JASON 20TH ANNIVERSERY CHALLENGEI know there's no such person as Dracula. You know there's no such person as Dracula. But does Dracula know it? A first time watch for me, this was a lot of fun and the humor stands up well. Comedies rarely age well, and it's a genuine relief when there's nothing absurdly misogynistic or racist going on. Kind of wild how, while Bela Lugosi would go on to act in many other horror films, this was the only other time he played Dracula after the original. Also a good reminder that as much as we all like to complain about the lack of originality in Hollywood and how everything needs to be a franchise or a crossover event, that poo poo goes all the way back to serials. It's obviously a jumbled mess (in a good way!). Notably, Lon Chaney Jr seems to be in a different, very serious genre movie from the rest of the cast who are all in full-on slapstick mode--and he actually gives a pretty genuine performance, just, you know, it's odd that it's here. Doesn't help that full moons come suspiciously often in Universal Monster land. But the movie is actually fun and pretty coherent when it could have easily been a haunted house attraction where the famous comedians walk from one monster setpiece to the next. No, the whole cast interacts with each other and they have motivations and conflicts and get their own jokes, and it's surprisingly dedicated to keeping the rules and lore of each monster intact while still throwing them in to the playpit. Glad I crossed this off the list.
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Sep 30, 2023 18:44
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1. How To Make A Monster (1958)  A Hollywood make-up artist is fired by greedy new studio heads, and decides to get his revenge by transforming the actors for Frankenstein and the Wolf Man into the real versions, and hypnotizing them into kill. An unconventional monster mash-up movie, HTMMM is one part studio drama and one part monster murders. It's dumb but fun, and while I don't think it's incredible by any stretch, the premise is goofy enough and the runtime is short enough that it's over before it overstays its welcome. Oh, and there's some dialogue that's a little funny by modern sensibilities:  Rating: 5.4/10 Prosthetic Noses 
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Sep 30, 2023 18:44
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5. The Exorcism of God Challenge: The Exorcist 50th Anniversary Challenge, Around the World (South America), New To You Doing a direct shot-for-shot reference to The Exorcist in your opening 5 minutes is a brave choice when the rest of your movie is so rote and uninspired. Sexual assault is a real strong spice to be tossing into your stew like this, and takes a lot of care to not feel gross, that this movie doesn't have. At least the sfx are cool, and a possessed statue of Jesus is a hell of an image, but it really does just feel like The Conjuring Presents A Tribute To The Exorcist. Plus it gave me a real fun game of "wait, where have I seen that actor before?" with the senior priest Joseph Marcell, aka Geoffrey the butler from Fresh Prince of Bel Air. 2 out of 5! Watched so far: Saw X, Wishmaster, F13 Part 6, One Cut of the Dead, The Exorcism of God
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Sep 30, 2023 18:53
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PKMN Trainer Red posted:1. How To Make A Monster (1958) New challenge idea for next year: movies that Rob Zombie has used the title from or sampled in a song.
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Sep 30, 2023 19:03
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4) At midnight I'll take your soul (Brazil, 1964) Filmmaker José Mojica Marins introduces us to what will become his alter ego, Coffin Joe, a role he would assume for 45 years. The film itself mixes elements of gothic horror, such as spiders, burials, candles, skulls etc with sort of heavy handed but still charming musings about organized religion, life, death and blood. Coffin Joe himself is an undertaker, dressed all in black with a top hat and a cape. He goes around town acting weird to passers by and occasionally beats up people and even killing them. Marins gives a pretty magnetic performance, but the rest of the cast is quite forgettable. All in all, a decent at times sleazy shocker, more interesting for it's cultural significance. AROUND THE WORLD 4/4 Complete
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Sep 30, 2023 19:12
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1. History of the Occult A news broadcast in 70's Argentina is having their final show and they are trying to uncover a murder plot involving the occult. The story mainly follows a group of producers for the show as they watch the live final broadcast and try to piece together the interviews and evidence they've gathered to find out what's going on. To be honest, this film didn't really click with me. The producers weren't as interesting as the guests on the broadcast and those guests didn't have nearly enough screen time. The film seems like it will be mostly live-footage from the final broadcast, but that conceit falls away and the story focuses on the producers instead. I would have preferred if the film just went all-in on the final broadcast and showed the deterioration of the setting entirely with the host and guests. Still, there was an interesting plot but it felt kind of clumsy and went mostly over my head. I'm a bit disappointed, but maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I could have understood what was going on better. .5/5
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Sep 30, 2023 19:20
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 8) The Last Voyage of the Demeter - 2023 - Prime Well, as far as vampire films go, this one was okay. However, as far as a Dracula adaptation goes, when I first saw this at the show, I was on my phone as I left the auditorium, digging up my copy of the book on Kindle to start grumbling on how much they got wrong. There is so much wrong here, there's ample wrongness for everyone involved to bask in. Based off The Captain's Log chapter in Stoker's Dracula, the movie forgets the important fact that a ship captain's logbook was the equivalent of the modern black box on planes. Everything would be documented, it was ingrained behavior. It would be noted if a crewman left and a doctor signing on, same for a woman fell out of one of the cargo boxes they've got, livestock on the ship all turned up dead, or a crewman burst into flames when the sun came out. Now, I understand by modern standards the source material's not that actiony and we all know the crew's going to die with the dead captain lashed to the wheel with a rosary, still steering. It's pretty much a lot of feeling dread, seeing someone not crew on the ship and crew going missing. I think in skilled hands it would be possible to pull that off rather than go the route of fighting Dracula and trying to sink the ship. They didn't even get the captain's death right. Looking at this as a generic ship with a random vampire, it's okay. But for stating it's adapted from the 1897 novel, it's a massive pile of got it wrong. The poster however, is gorgeous.  8) The Shining - 1980 - Paramount+ For as much as I've talked about this one in the main thread, apparently I never reviewed it for the October Challenge. It's the film that introduced me to the concept that a film can be a great film in one angle, and awful in another. First time I read the book, I was in my early teens with a raging case of the flu and unable to sleep. I tore through it mirror cover to mirror cover. When I heard there was going to be a movie, my mind was spinning over how would they do the hedge animals or who'd they cast. I was looking forward to this one, even did a pre-game reread of the book in preparation, and then I saw it at the show. Whelp. In short, I was disappointed, and so were my cousins I'd seen this with. The actors were okay, just not who we were envisioning and the portrayals were wrong, no hedge animals, no wasps, no George Hatfield. When we heard Stephen King hated the adaptation, we were all 'no poo poo'. This was all enough for me to want to check out the other films of Kubrick to see if he was a bad director or was this a one off regarding The Shining. Sat through 2001, Spartacus, Dr. Strangelove and Clockwork Orange. That was when I realized The Shining is a perfectly fine Kubrick film, but as a King adaptation, it sucks. Over the years I've rewatched it, read up on the behind the scenes goings on, and pretty much King wrote a decent script, but Kubrick felt he could do a better job which does make me really want to see what King had in mind. Kubrick changed Jack from a flawed alcoholic wrestling with his personal demons who still loves his family to an rear end in a top hat who probably didn't need the Overlook's influence to go off the edge. Wendy went from a capable and resourceful woman trying to keep her family together into a twitchy screamy wreck (though a lot of that's definitely from Kubrick being atrocious to Shelly Duvall). Danny went from being smart for his age with the hyperobservance that comes from living with an addict while also having powers to normal kid with powers. Kubrick also dropped a lot of the supernatural elements out, leaning more for the cabin fever angle. I completely understand that King's work is a difficult thing to adapt for a visual medium just because so much is inner monologue and it's not like you can just voice over that and call it good. While I understand they went with the hedge maze over the hedge animals because of effects limitations of the time, the maze just doesn't have the same dread/horror as the hedge animals. Same goes for the attack firehose. The ending, eschewing the boiler explosion with Jack freezing yet appearing in the vintage photo just felt more like a 'oookay?'. Despite my shredding of the film, it's an okay enough horror film, a fine Kubrick film, but as a King adaptation, it's awful. The TV miniseries adaptation, while better as an adaptation, also has it's flaws. Hopefully someday there will be an even more faithful adaptation.
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Sep 30, 2023 19:39
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1: The Pope's Exorcist (2023) First watch. This movie is very dumb, but not in an entirely unpleasant way. After a young father dies, his American family (widow, teenage daughter, pre-teen son) moves to Spain where he owned a decrepit former abbey. Soon the son becomes possessed by a demon voiced by The VVitch's Ralph Ineson. Soon an exorcist working directly under the Pope, Father Gabriele Amorth, shows up to battle the demon. So the thing about this movie is Gabriele Amorth was a real guy who was really an exorcist and this movie is based very loosely on his life. The Pope in this movie, which takes place very specifically during the summer of 1987, is played by Franco Nero and is very distinctly not Pope John Paul II. It's a made up Pope, but a real guy who worked under the real Pope. This is an extremely weird decision to make! Eventually the exorcise the demon and the Pope recruits Amorth and the local priest that helped him into what is effectively the Catholic version of the MIB and asks them to hunt down the other 199 secret demon sites around the world. There's some decent goop, and Crowe goes extremely hard with a very silly Italian accent. Mama-mia! The kids aren't great, but the little possessed kid is going super hard with the facial expressions. This movie is about 15 minutes too long but it does feature the Pope vomiting blood on a mean American cardinal who was probably involved in covering up sexual abuse so that's a bonus point. I want to see The Pope's Exorcist vs the Evil Dead. /5Challenges: THE EXORCIST 50TH ANNIVERSERY CHALLENGE✔️ meta challenges: NEW-TO-YOU 1/6 HISTORY LESSON 1/5
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Sep 30, 2023 19:53
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 #8.) The Undertaker (1988; Tubi; dir. Franco Steffanino) An undertaker gets proactive in boosting business, keeping the corpses in his funeral home's basement for his own purposes. With Joe Spinell as the undertaker, Uncle Roscoe, this film hits its creepy quota quite easily. The casting puts together a line-up of people who all look like they could be real small-town inhabitants, but with (for the most part) solid acting chops as well, resulting in a set of believable and likable characters. The nasty proceedings are off-set by a synth score which wouldn't have sounded out of place in a teen comedy of the time, and some dull sleuthing by both the police department and citizens. Basically, whenever Spinell isn't on screen, things go down a few notches. Thanks to the budget and on-location shooting, this also doubles as a snapshot of what cars people were driving in an average American town in 1988, if that's something that interests you. The subject matter (necrophilia as a cultural practice is being taught in this small town's high school) and gore effects are adequately gruesome, but the film has trouble building or keeping momentum, and while Spinell delivers in each of his scenes, anyone expecting something close to the level of Maniac will likely end up disappointed. “I can understand, but unfortunately, it's one of life's realities.” Rating: 6/10 HISTORY LESSON 5/5 (1980s) CLEAREDBACK OF THE VIDEO STORE CHALLENGE CLEARED (cover art pulled me in on Tubi, then finding out that glowering figure was Spinell clenched it)
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Sep 30, 2023 20:02
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Hell yes, I am down! In for 15 to start with!
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Sep 30, 2023 20:09
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3. Halloween H20: 20 Years Later 1998 Directed by Steve Miner NEW-TO-YOU It's Halloween. I guess everyone's entitled to one good scare. H20 makes two very important correct choices. First, it completely ignores everything that happened in 4, 5, and 6. Michael Myers is back after a twenty year absence in which nothing noteworthy happened. There's no explanation and there doesn't need to be one. Second, it brings Laurie Strode back and Jamie Lee Curtis carries the entire movie. 👻👻👻/5
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Sep 30, 2023 20:17
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Basebf555 posted:
 2. The Pope's Exorcist (2023) dir. Julius Avery Netflix Russell Crowe chews the poo poo out of the scenery as Father Gabriele Amorth, the highest ranked exorcist in the Vatican, personally appointed by the pope. He is sent to Spain to assist a young American boy who is showing signs of possession, but this is no ordinary case - set in an abbey that dates back to the start of the Spanish Inquisition, Amorth encounters great evils and long buried secrets. Crowe’s hammy performance is the highlight for sure - I think this would be mostly forgettable without him. The possession of the young boy is the least interesting aspect of this - he lies in bed and makes dumb faces, says crude poo poo in a loud voice, and sometimes throws people around the room with his mind. Pretty generic exorcism movie stuff and it didn’t do much for me, so it’s too bad that it takes up like half the movie. It gets more interesting as it delves into some weird Christian history and theology, and it goes from a standard demonic possession story to more of a campy fantasy/horror vibe by the end, and it’s much better for the shift in tone. Alexandra Essoe (Starry Eyes, various Mike Flanagan projects) plays Julia, the possessed boy’s mother, and while she’s very good at looking scared she isn’t given much else to do. The rest of the cast is fine, but Crowe upstages everyone so much that I could hardly even tell you any of the other characters’ names. Overall this was more fun than I thought it was going to be. At its core it’s still a pretty generic demonic possession film, but Russell Crowe’s fun performance combined with a plot that goes off the rails in the third act make this more memorable than most. I was wavering between giving this 3 and 3.5 stars, but Crowe zipping around on that little scooter pushes it up over the edge. 3.5 Vespas out of 5 Total: 2 Watched: Saw | The Pope's Exorcist Challenges: 1/13 New to me: 1/6 History Lesson: 2/5 (I'll do something with my bingo card at some point this weekend)
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Sep 30, 2023 21:10
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1. House of Usher (1960) Watched On: Criterion Channel Challenge: PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK…..IN SPACE!!! A real cozy horror movie to start off my horror challenge. House of Usher makes a hell of a lot happen with four actors, two and a half characters, and the classic Hollywood manor set it was shot in. Price obviously steals the show in this, but kudos should also be given to Myrna Fahey especially towards the end of the film. It’s vibrant and goth, the low-budget special effects work beautifully and it doesn’t overstay its welcome. 2. Dr. Giggles (1992) Watched On: Tubi Challenge: BACK OF THE VIDEO STORE CHALLENGE (Specifically the back of multiple Dark Horse Star Wars comics) This movie is buck loving wild, starts in fifth gear and never stops. You’ve got the Carrot Top of serial killers, played with verve by Larry Drake, pulling out giant band-aids and blood pressure cuffs to murder a variety of 90s-rear end stereotypes on his way to track down the least memorable sister from Charmed. It’s a movie that requires a total suspension of disbelief, but rewards it with a 9 year old hiding inside his dead mother and a full-on eight room hospital concealed in the walls of a spooky mansion. Absolute camp lunacy. CHALLENGES: 2/13 NEW-TO-YOU: 2/6 HISTORY LESSON: 2/5 AROUND THE WORLD: 0/4 HORROR IS FOR EVERYONE: 0/3 Lumbermouth fucked around with this message at 21:20 on Sep 30, 2023 |
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Sep 30, 2023 21:17
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 #9.) Murder Weapon (1989; digital; dir. David DeCoteau [as Ellen Cabot]) Following their release from asylum commitment for murder, two friends throw a party for their old boyfriends, but then a black-gloved killer starts taking out the guys. Directed by David DeCoteau (under the Ellen Cabot pseudonym) and produced by/starring Linnea Quigley, this takes a while to get going, but does eventually hit some fun scenes. Quigley's usual co-stars, Michelle Bauer and Brinke Stevens, are relegated to cameos via footage from Nightmare Sisters, with Karen Russell stepping in as the partner in crime. There's some egregious padding for time, as in the pre-opening-credits sequence, which uses multiple cuts back and forth between Quigley's character (Dawn) coming home, pouring a glass of milk, and taking a single sip before walking off, and Russell's character (Amy) sunbathing and repeatedly applying lotion. Scenes with Amy and Dawn talking to their psychiatrists kill more time, and while there's some entertaining lines in those scenes, they don't tell us anything that their behavior in other scenes doesn't. Even once the old boyfriends (including Eric “Garbage Day!” Freeman) arrive at the house, it takes a while to move past showcasing late '80s fashions, cocaine storage methods, and canoodling to get to the murderous pay-off. When the deaths do start going, it's with an almost shocking level of craft and fake blood to the special effects, though, so that (and the goofy sex scenes) marks a real turning point for the film's energy, almost two-thirds of the way into it. The clash between the light tones of the party and the abrupt gore of the kills is downright disorienting, because the movie doesn't try to blend or fade between the two, it just flips between them on a dime. I guess you could view this as DeCoteau's swing at a giallo, given the mysterious black-gloved killer, the psychosexual elements, and the weird kills, just spliced into an '80s party T&A flick. Interesting for its oddity, more than anything else. “He could pick us off like lint on a black jacket!” Rating: 5/10 BIRTH OF HORROR (birth year) CLEARED Bingo!
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Sep 30, 2023 21:49
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Running a bit late cause my Saturday is pretty busy, but I at least want to post the last update from yesterday... Better than 2, not as good as 1. Full disclosure, part of this project is that I've never really liked Friday the 13th. I'm not really into slashers in general ; I prefer some overtly supernatural monsters in my spoopy times. Well that opinion is wrong because I loving love Friday the 13th Part III now. Maybe it's something in the air ; maybe it's just feeling the spoopy seasonal cheer ; maybe it's that I tried to simulate the 3D experience by duct-taping a vape to my face for the first 45 minutes of the film : it's a mystery for the ages why I've changed my opinion so thoroughly, but my newfound love is as strong and pure as anything out of a romance novel. More seriously, a big part of the change of view is the writing. In parts 1 and 2, outside of kills most of the film-making is shooting for qualities like "serviceable". Part III actually has legit characterization. It's dumb and cheesy, but the characters have business with each other and chemistry outside of sexual harassment. Rick pressuring Chris for sex is gross and bad, but outside of that they actually work really well together : the scene in the barn at the beginning had some actual wit and character to the interaction, I felt like they had a relationship. And Chuck and Chili! I'm more than slightly biased because they're like a caricature of my parents*, but I was super happy whenever they were on screen. Did you notice that when Chuck was using the outhouse he was checking if Shelly had somehow pranked it? Because I did and that's a great detail. The film is chock-a-block full of cute details like that! Harold, King of Schlubbs, and Edna his over-the-top shrew of a wife and their pet rabbit! Shelly somehow having a harpoon gun in that tiny suitcase! Great use of the background as set-up for later on, especially with Jason lurking around the barn. I wasn't emotionally invested in the characters, but I actually enjoyed having them on the screen instead of just as kills-to-be. And that is a big step up from how I normally feel about anyone in a slasher. If you made me pick between Friday the 13th 3 and a solid modern slasher like X, I would probably pick Part III just about every time. I'm having difficulty remembering the last time I was this happy with a slasher, let alone a Friday the 13th film. Where are we? Still Western Jersey. We're explicitly walking distance and only a couple days after Part II. Jason was stomping around here 2 years ago, which is how he first encountered Chris. (PS they never explain what happened there but lol, I'm fine with it.) Still New Jersey plates on everything. Who's dying and how? Harold (Cleaver), Edna (Knitting Needle), Fox and Loco (Hayfork), Rick (Crushing), Shelly (Unspecified knife), Debbie (some kind of clip-point knife), Vera (Harpoon gun), Andy (machete), Chuck (Electrocution) and Chili (Firepoker). 11 total Running Total : 20 Knife (total) : 8 Machete : 4 Knife (other) : 4 Crushing : 1 Electrocution : 1 Garrote : 1 Ice Pick : 1 Hammer : 1 Harpoon : 2 Harpoon (Gun) : 1 Hayfork : 2 Hot Poker : 1 Knitting Needle : 1 Are there any actual kids or campers? Debbie was pregnant, does that count? Otherwise, lol no. This wasn't even a camp. I think it's an old vacation house but for all I know it was their primary residence ; I don't exactly have access to the Higgins family tax filings here. Special mention : the news very clearly calls Jason an axe-wielding killer, but he has not killed anyone with an axe as of yet. His mom did, but 1) that was 5 years ago and 2) Jason is not his mom. Halloween cat updates stopped because she doesn't photograph well at night for obvious reasons. Here's her hanging out with her brother in the kitchen right now.  *my dad doesn't wear glasses and my mom has a German accent, but otherwise it checks out.
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Sep 30, 2023 22:00
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1. Open House  Look if you are a Adrienne Barbeau fan then yeah sure give this a watch. Otherwise its a rather boring slasher from the 80s. I've never seen it before so its totally new to me. It features a psychologist radio jock investigating the murders of real estate agents. The kills are rather boring and uninspired. Not a whole lot of gore. There's one cool shot in the whole movie and that's about it. Otherwise I'd skip it. / 5
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Sep 30, 2023 22:07
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3. Return of the Living Dead (1985) Watched On: Amazon Prime Challenge: CHILDHOOD TRAUMA The greatest horror movie ever made, it's not October until I watch it at least once. What else could I say that hasn't been said by countless people in this thread alone? CHALLENGES: 3/13 NEW-TO-YOU: 2/6 HISTORY LESSON: 3/5 AROUND THE WORLD: 0/4 HORROR IS FOR EVERYONE: 0/3
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Sep 30, 2023 22:09
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6. The Stuff Challenges: Back of the Video Store, New To You Knew I had to pick this one for the "pick a movie based on its poster/cover" challenge, because god drat.  And what's even better is it lives up to that cover! Wastes no time in cutting to the chase, not even 10 seconds into the movie and a guy is just chowing the gently caress down on some random goo he just happens to find. If Wishmaster was grown-up Power Rangers, this is grown-up Goosebumps, with the whole "nobody listens to a kid who knows the truth" angle. Moe Rutherford is an immediate first-ballot Sleazy Scumbag Hall of Famer. Some real goopy effects too, exactly what you'd hope for in a movie like this. Surprised it took me this long to see this, cuz god, this movie so so fun, with a real cynical punk anti-consumerism angle. Justice for Chocolate Chip Charlie and his iron fists. 5 out of 5! Watched so far: Saw X, Wishmaster, F13 Part 6, One Cut of the Dead, The Exorcism of God, The Stuff CHALLENGES: 5/13 NEW-TO-YOU: 5/6 HISTORY LESSON: 4/5 AROUND THE WORLD: 2/4 HORROR IS FOR EVERYONE: 0/3 Gyro Zeppeli fucked around with this message at 22:16 on Sep 30, 2023 |
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Sep 30, 2023 22:13
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