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In for at least 31, and setting this post as my viewing tracker. Films Watched (* indicates a rewatch) #1.) Sick Nurses (2007; DVD; dir. Piraphan Laoyont & Thodsapol Siriwiwat) #2.) Terror Tales (2016; DVD; dir. Jimmy Lee Combs) #3.) Demon Wind (1990; Shudder; dir. Charles Philip Moore) #4.) Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959; DVD; dir. Bernard L. Kowalski) #5.) Followed (2018; DVD; dir. Antoine Le) #6.) The Roommate (2008; Tubi; dir. Hisaaki Nagaoka) #7.) Ghost Storyteller (2014; digital; dir. Hajime Ohata) #8.) The Undertaker (1988; Tubi; dir. Franco Steffanino) #9.) Murder Weapon (1989; digital; dir. David DeCoteau [as Ellen Cabot]) #10.) Siren (2004; digital; dir. Satoshi Torao) #11.) The Females (1970; digital; dir. Zbyněk Brynych) #12.) The Deadly Mantis (1957; digital; dir. Nathan H. Juran) #13.) Exposé (1976; Tubi; dir. James Kenelm Clarke) #14.) The Black Water Vampire (2014; DVD; dir. Evan Tramel) #15.) Wake Up to Fight Biting Ghosts (1991; DVD; dir. Prapon Petchinn) #16.) Earth vs. The Flying Saucers (1956; Tubi; dir. Fred F. Sears) #17.) The Necro Files (1997; Tubi; dir. Matt Jaissle) #18.) Shaolin vs. Evil Dead (2004; DVD; dir. Douglas Kung Cheung-Tak) #19.) Santo and Blue Demon vs. Dracula and the Wolf Man (1973; Tubi; dir. Miguel M. Delgado) #20.) Agi, The Fury of Evil (1984; Youtube; dir. Hikari Hayakawa) #21.) Nighty Night (1986; Youtube; dir. Hirohisa Kokusho) #22.) It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955; digital; dir. Robert Gordon) #23.) The Spell (2019; digital; dir. Amit Dubey) #24.) Arachnophobia (1990; Tubi; dir. Frank Marshall) * #25.) Evil Little Things (2020; DVD; dir. Matt Green) #26.) At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul (1964; Youtube; dir. José Mojica Marins) #27.) Blood Curse (2006; DVD; dir. Tiago Guedes & Frederico Serra) #28.) Grotesque (2009; Tubi; dir. Koji Shiraishi) #29.) She Devil (1957; digital; dir. Kurt Neumann) #30.) 24 Hours of Terror (1964; digital; dir. Gastone Grandi) #31.) The Great Satan (2018; Tubi; dir. Dimitri Simakis, Lehr Beidelschies, and Nic Maier) #32.) The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976; Prime Video; dir. Charles B. Pierce) #33.) The Day Time Ended (1980; Tubi; dir. John “Bud” Cardos) #34.) Sickle (2015; digital; dir. Geno McGahee & Forris Day Jr.) #35.) The Figurine: Araromire (2009; Netflix; dir. Kunle Afolayan) #36.) Ghost Writer (1989; Tubi; dir. Kenneth J. Hall) #37.) Baby Oopsie (2021; Tubi; dir. William Butler) #38.) Shaolin vs. Evil Dead 2: Ultimate Power (2006; DVD; dir. Douglas Kung Cheung-Tak & Ken Yip Wing-Kin) #39.) Hellinger (1997; Tubi; dir. Massimiliano Cerchi) #40.) The Crawling Eye (1958; Pluto TV; dir. Quentin Lawrence) #41.) Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat (1989; Freevee; dir. Anthony Hickox) #42.) The Fear Chamber (2009; DVD; dir. Kevin Carraway) #43.) The Ghost Train (1939; digital; dir. Karel Lamač) #44.) Wacko (1982; Blu-ray; dir. Greydon Clark) * #45.) Leprechaun in the Hood (2000; Blu-ray; dir. Rob Spera) * #46.) The Brotherhood III: Young Demons (2002; Plex; dir. David DeCoteau) #47.) Freaks (1932; Scream Stream; dir. Tod Browning) #48.) The Brotherhood IV: The Complex (2005; Plex; dir. David DeCoteau) #49.) The Brotherhood V: Alumni (2009; Plex; dir. David DeCoteau) #50.) The Brotherhood VI: Initiation (2009; Plex; dir. David DeCoteau) #51.) The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974; digital; dir. Roy Ward Baker & Chang Cheh) #52.) The Toymaker (2017; Tubi; dir. Andrew Jones) #53.) Skinner (1993; Tubi; dir. Ivan Nagy) #54.) Mirror Mirror III: The Voyeur (1995; Tubi; dir. Rachel Gordon & Virginia Perfili) #55.) Killer Party (1986; Scream Stream; dir. William Fruet) #56.) V/H/S/85 (2023; Shudder; dir. Scott Derrickson, David Bruckner, Mike P. Nelson, Gigi Saul Guerrero, and Natasha Kermani) #57.) Hard to Die (1990; digital; dir. Jim Wynorski) #58.) Candyman: Day of the Dead (1999; Prime Video; dir. Turi Meyer) #59.) Double Face (1969; digital; dir. Riccardo Freda) #60.) The Guyver (1991; digital; dir. Screaming Mad George & Steve Wang) * #61.) Guyver: Out of Control (1986; digital; dir. Hiroshi Watanabe) * #62.) A Clockwork Orange (1971; Scream Stream; dir. Stanley Kubrick) * #63.) Guyver: Dark Hero (1994; digital; dir. Steve Wang) * #64.) Mirror Mirror 4: Reflections (2000; Tubi; dir. Paulette Victor-Lifton) #65.) Urban Legends: Bloody Mary (2005; Tubi; dir. Mary Lambert) #66.) Puppet Master: Doktor Death (2022; Tubi; dir. Dave Parker) #67.) The Most Dangerous Game (1932; Prime Video; dir. Ernest B. Schoedsack & Irving Pichel) #68.) Trancers (1984; Tubi; dir. Charles Band) * #69.) CarousHell: The 2nd (2021; digital; dir. Steve Rudzinski) Challenges Cleared  NEW-TO-YOU 6/6 (Sick Nurses, Terror Tales, Demon Wind, Attack of the Giant Leeches, Followed, The Roommate)HISTORY LESSON 5/5 (Sick Nurses, Terror Tales, Demon Wind, Attack of the Giant Leeches, The Undertaker)BIRTH OF HORROR (Murder Weapon)HORROR ADJACENT (Earth vs. The Flying Saucers)BITE-SIZED HORROR (Terror Tales)AROUND THE WORLD 4/4 (Sick Nurses, The Females, At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul, The Figurine: Araromire)CHILDHOOD TRAUMA (Arachnophobia)HORROR IS FOR EVERYONE 3/3 (Sick Nurses, The Females, The Figurine: Araromire)THE SAMHAIN CHALLENGE (Followed)BACK OF THE VIDEO STORE CHALLENGE (The Undertaker)PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK…..IN SPACE!!! (Agi, The Fury of Evil)CineD HORROR THREAD POLL CHALLENGE (The Town That Dreaded Sundown)WHEN ANIMALS OF UNUSUAL SIZE ATTACK! (Attack of the Giant Leeches)ROB ZOMBIE 20TH ANNIVERSARY CHALLENGE (The Necro Files)THE EXORCIST 50TH ANNIVERSARY CHALLENGE (Demon Wind)FREDDY VS. JASON 20TH ANNIVERSERY CHALLENGE (Santo and Blue Demon vs. Dracula and the Wolf Man)”THAT GUY” CHALLENGE FEATURING DICK MILLER AND KEITH DAVID (Ghost Writer) (bingo card #13) Darthemed fucked around with this message at 17:31 on Nov 1, 2023 |
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Sep 30, 2023 00:55
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 #1.) Sick Nurses (2007; DVD; dir. Piraphan Laoyont & Thodsapol Siriwiwat) A doctor and his group of nurses sell corpses. When one of the nurses threatens to expose their practices, the others kill her; a haunting and flashbacks ensue. Emphasizing stylish impressionism and implications over concrete and linear explication, the movie jumps around from one short, punchy scene to the next, often without resolving the events of one before moving to the next. The camera-work is a good match for this approach, with quick cuts, unusual angles, and creatively focused framing, there's a lot of kinetic energy conveyed through the shots, and it manages to fit with the somewhat choppy nature of the story-telling to keep things hopping along. The jumpiness lessens towards the end, as the plot threads pull together and important points are revealed, but the initial momentum generated by the early approach does considerable work in carrying viewers along for the ride. As for the characters, bizarre behavior is the norm, from eating a doughnut with a mouthful of toothpaste, to cutting out and wearing jewelry from magazine pages, to using four shampoos at once. These bizarre behaviors click into place with the elliptical story-telling, usually providing a memorable note to a scene before the viewer is thrown into the next one. The ghost is a surprisingly prevalent presence on-screen, looking something like a photo negative version of her living self, but done with practical effects and makeup. The ghost's confrontations with her killers are almost as strange as their individual behaviors, and there's a nice touch of her manifestations being indicated by the darkening of her victim's limbs or other body parts to match the ghost's appearance. Though it's a near-persistent revenge tale, the movie seems less interested in moralizing than in showcasing the gruesome vengeance. Thankfully, those scenes are executed with substantial style and skill (and weirdness), so the numerous tortures and killings don't become a slog. The finale doesn't disappoint, either, though it does trade away the frenzied energy from the start for a more somber tone; credit to the director for making this shift work as well as it does. While there are some parts that could have been trimmed out for a tighter scope to the story, the film as a whole comes off well, with memorable moments and content which lives up to its title. “If the dead want to be jealous, that's up to them.” Rating: 8/10 NEW-TO-YOU 1/6HISTORY LESSON 1/5 (2000s)AROUND THE WORLD 1/4 (Asia)HORROR IS FOR EVERYONE 1/3 (LGBTQ+) #2.) Terror Tales (2016; DVD; dir. Jimmy Lee Combs) A man on a road trip with his family is forced to listen to three terrible horror stories, or else his family will be killed. In the first segment, we get a muddled story of a horror author mother put on trial for the death of her son. After a verdict of innocent, she's shot dead, and taken on a Christmas Carol-like tour of the events of her life as they related to her son. The special effects are atrocious (one gunshot looks like it could have been rendered with the MS Paint spray tool), the acting is literally laughable, and the story is reminiscent of a sophomore's second draft in creative writing. Even the set dressing is terrible. The second one is a lovely attempt at a period piece, set in an '80s video rental store beset by a serial killer with a sledgehammer. Resolutely tedious, there's never even a glimmer of tension or excitement. The attempts to imitate the era's aesthetics make The Wedding Singer look like a documentary in comparison, and while the main actors bring much more life to their roles than anyone in the first segment, the lines they're given are pretty rotten. The shooting is passable, but dull, with lots of flat back and forth shots during long dialogues. So much of it is redundant, when it could have been improved by trimming it down to a fifteen-minute quickie. In the last segment, there's a mingling of modern day and 18th century events, linked by demonic activity. Felissa Rose makes a brief appearance in this one, but instead of it being a relief to see someone with more than one acting credit, it ended up just being depressing to see her pulling a buck from being in this. They shelled out the money to rent or borrow a nun's habit, which might be the most visible piece of effort in the whole film, as the few demon costumes that appear look like Spirit Halloween throw-aways. While the focus is intended to be on a preacher's struggle to save his daughter, it drifts off into a worldwide demonic pandemic which it doesn't have a tenth of the budget to depict (but it does find room to jam in a scene with a geisha to depict modern Japan?). Not that it would have been better earlier in the sequence, but it makes for a real endurance test knowing that this is the last story to get through. And there's some sloppy ADR as icing on the burnt cake. In short, this is a terrible horror anthology, without any linking themes or potent subtext to elevate the stories above their limited budget or inexperienced acting. The two-hour run-time just rubs salt in the wound. Most of all, it made me feel bad for Christopher Showerman, villain of the wrap-around story, to go from George of the Jungle 2 to this level of crap. There's worse horror anthologies out there, but you've got to really go digging to find them. “I mean, sure, you killed me, but I had the Devil in me, right, honey?” Rating: 3/10 NEW-TO-YOU 2/6HISTORY LESSON 2/5 (2010s)BITE-SIZED HORROR CLEARED #3.) Demon Wind (1990; Shudder; dir. Charles Philip Moore) A young man with friends in tow returns to his family's rural home, awakening malevolent spirits. A fun little Evil Dead-ish demon siege movie, though for my tastes, too much time is spent on trying to make the mystical lore seem important, and too many characters are crammed into the main one's entourage. I was deseeding grapes while watching most of this (which is why this review is so short), but the movie kept my attention and kept me in a good mood. Respectable special effects for how low the budget looked, generally decent acting, and few lines of dialogue that were bad enough to make me roll my eyes. Genuinely surprised that this director doesn't have more horror films to his name, this gave me some strong Kevin Tenney vibes. “Come on, chicken poo poo, I'll shove that karate stuff up your rear end!” Rating: 6/10 NEW-TO-YOU 3/6HISTORY LESSON 3/5 (1990s)THE EXORCIST 50TH ANNIVERSARY CHALLENGE CLEARED
Darthemed fucked around with this message at 01:22 on Sep 30, 2023 |
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Sep 30, 2023 01:13
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 #4.) Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959; DVD; dir. Bernard L. Kowalski) A backwoods community finds itself with a giant leech problem. Some Southern potboiler drama with the unfaithful wife of one of the main characters steals focus from the creature feature side of the story, but with this feature clocking in at just over an hour, it's over and done with soon enough. My copy was fairly murky, which didn't play well with the monochrome, but the scenes of the swamps and deep woods still gave a sense of sweltering humidity. The bad print quality probably benefited the giant leeches, to be honest, as even in this condition, the props looked a little ridiculous. They looked more like detached octopus tentacles than leeches. The acting was fine, and the casting was solid, with some real craggy old men in the town's populace. It's an AIP production, and falls in line with their usual level of budgetary investment, but also with the amount of entertainment they manage to squeeze out of that budget. I have to admit, seeing them stomping through actual woods with obviously real blazing torches made me a little nervous, more so than any of the monster attacks. And those monster attacks make up about five percent of the movie, at most, so I'll take my chills where I can get them. It's not a bad movie, just one without any real scares to be had. Big ups to the set workers for the 'leech lair', though, the film could have used way more of that. “I said 'go soak your fat head.'” Rating: 5/10 NEW-TO-YOU 4/6HISTORY LESSON 4/5 (1950s)WHEN ANIMALS OF UNUSUAL SIZE ATTACK! CLEARED
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Sep 30, 2023 02:21
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 #5.) Followed (2018; DVD; dir. Antoine Le) A dipshit vlogger (DropTheMike) who specializes in true crime and creepy locations heads to the Hotel Lennox, a building with a history of murders and suicides, to do a Halloween episode in order to earn a sponsorship. Things get out of hand. The lead actor does a fantastic job of playing an unlikable prick, channeling any number of infamous Youtube fame chasers you'd care to name, while also showing emotional change over the course of the film. The attempt to present all the footage as though it's being viewed as a series of videos on a Mac is more than a slight mess. It loses track of what type of window is being used, fumbles computer functionality, uses an awkward faux Youtube, and so on. On the other hand, the range of devices presented as being the video capture sources are varied and make sense within the story. Not quite enough to bring balance to the overall tech presentation, but it's something, and it makes the mix of found footage and mockumentary approaches blend just that much smoother. Setting those fault picks aside, I was pleasantly surprised by this. Zoomed out, it follows the basic 'found footage dopes go to a haunted place' story arc, but between the personalities of the characters (some of whom get more development than others, admittedly) and odd occurrences, it rises above the standard for that style. It's not Blair Witch Project level, but it does dodge or put a twist on most of the found footage clichés that annoy me the most. They do make use of head jitter and twisty limbs, but not as the main source of jolts, while some slower-building creeps are allowed to cook in their own time. I could see this growing on me with another watch or two, but as of now, I'd rate it just a little lower than Grave Encounters. “Can you turn that off?” Rating: 7/10 NEW-TO-YOU 5/6THE SAMHAIN CHALLENGE CLEARED
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Sep 30, 2023 05:24
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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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 #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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 #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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 #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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 #10.) Siren (2004; digital; dir. Satoshi Torao) On their way back from a bank robbery, some criminals accidentally expose their loot to a woman, so they kidnap and bring her back to their hideout. As they wait out the heat, the criminals turn against each other, their friction exacerbated by the woman's presence. There's some amusement in each of the robbers having a horror villain for a code name. That includes Lector, Jason, Freddy, Chucky, and... Jaws. AV star Sora Aoi plays the kidnapped woman, eventually revealed to be a ghost who feeds on men's greed, occasionally going nude as she seduces members of the group, more often just staring at the robbers from a distance with a calculating expression. The group's existing inner tensions boiling over is reminiscent of Reservoir Dogs or City on Fire, but with most of the interesting bumps in the road removed. It's easy to see how things are going to turn out (even discounting the flash-forward at the start of the movie), and while the movie is shot well enough, the events of the movie just don't have enough complexity or intensity to make for a compelling watch. Too bad, since the idea of introducing a supernatural wild card into a heist film has plenty of potential. “There's something more important between us.” Rating: 5/10
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Sep 30, 2023 23:31
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 #11.) The Females (1970; digital; dir. Zbyněk Brynych) A high-end resort turns out to be a haven for cannibal feminists. Very stylish (unsurprising, since it's from a Czech film-maker), with wild performances, costuming, and sets. Is that enough to make up for the patchy narrative, with its causal leaps and tendency to avoid having anyone address each other by name for tens of minutes at a time? Eh, it's a close thing. If the film stock were crisper, the colors more saturated, and the tone more sinister instead of the sardonic whimsy it carries, this could easily be in Suspiria territory. There's some wonderfully kinetic camera-work, beautiful landscapes, amusing juxtaposition of a brutish gardener with the sophisticated women, and something about a desperate heroine fighting off fears of paranoia while running through streets of women all dressed in mod clothing strikes a truly unique chord. Touches like a police commissar preoccupied with building a house of cards in his office, the gardener being named Adam while the protagonist is Eve, and men who would rather continue enjoying their vacation than risk drawing the attention of their wives by calling to find out if their friend is dead or not add to the overall air of delirium, while near-psychedelic music-driven scenes exhilarate in it. It's easiest to read the film as a playful amplification of the fearful reactionism to feminism, as the whole affair is just too light-hearted to seem like it carries any of that fear in genuine form itself. But beneath the delighted bra-burning and overt praying mantis metaphors, it does make contact with some grounded considerations, particularly the worries that commitment to a cause can lead to detachment and harm for the ones that cause was originally intended to aid. “None of us were important to him.” Rating: 7/10 AROUND THE WORLD (Europe) 2/4HORROR IS FOR EVERYONE (women) 2/3
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Oct 1, 2023 01:14
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 #12.) The Deadly Mantis (1957; digital; dir. Nathan H. Juran) A gigantic praying mantis is released from an iceberg, and the world loses its poo poo over this occurrence. After the opening credits, the film starts with a glowing depiction of how America began actively destroying the northern polar ice cap in the name of the Cold War. Talky and dry, in that typical American '50s sci-fi/horror way, even though it's pulling multiple pages from the kaiju handbook. Instead of panicked Japanese people rushing through Tokyo streets, we get undercranked footage of First Nations fisherman deploying their boats to escape the mantis. Such a scene lasts maybe a minute, then it's back to the scientists safe in their military laboratories theorizing about how to handle the threat. Plus an actress, Alix Talton, anticipating Joan Crawford's latter-day eyebrow style. And the praying mantis is capable of roaring, somehow? Setting a precedent for the screaming snake in Anaconda, I guess. Decent effects (respect to the flamethrower), formulaic story, forgettable characters, the only notable female character treated like a joke or kissing object by everyone else, and the difficulty of empathizing with a monster whose only motivation is to go somewhere warm. "I only know what I read in the papers!" Rating: 5/10
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Oct 1, 2023 03:39
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 #13.) Exposé (1976; Tubi; dir. James Kenelm Clarke) An author having panic attacks hires a new assistant, one who seems oddly familiar. Starring a shockingly young (and appallingly dubbed) Udo Kier, this has something of an Italian feel thanks to its hallucinatory sequences, despite being a UK production. And even with the dubbing, Kier's intensity and affected pomposity come through strongly, all the more a relief because his performance really carries the picture. The countryside setting is put to nice use, with some wonderful open, sprawling shots of fields stretching to the horizon. The plot is more knotted than twisting, with the delusion sequences giving hints as to what's so unsettled the author, while the assistant's true identity slots into the clues given, but still feels somewhat unearned. And then the ending made me question what the hell was going on with my sense of time in the movie. Odd that it was one of the main video nasties, as the violence is rather tame compared to their standard. Parts of this might linger in my memory, but not the whole thing. “Where are you going?” Rating: 6/10
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Oct 1, 2023 05:10
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 #14.) The Black Water Vampire (2014; DVD; dir. Evan Tramel) Blair Witch Project, but with a vampire, and a man on death row for the vampire crimes. From the director of Bible Town, A Frozen Christmas 2, Planes with Brains 3, and Fish Tales 4, this mockumentary features a film-making team heading into the woods after interviewing some locals about an infamous legend in the area. There's a Rustin Parr analog, except he's present in current time, and not yet executed. Someone makes the maps unavailable, the project's lead argues against going home before they're finished with the documentary, the crew member characters use the same first names as their actors, something harasses their tents at night, and they get lost. But there's snow, and four crew members instead of three, and a vampire instead of a witch, and an ending that I completely did not expect, so it has those things going for it, I guess. I couldn't take this seriously, because of all the homework-copying it did, but maybe on a rewatch, knowing what I was in for, I might like it more. “I ain't no wacko!” Rating: 4/10
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Oct 2, 2023 00:40
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 #15.) Wake Up to Fight Biting Ghosts (1991; DVD; dir. Prapon Petchinn) While a family searches for their grandfather's grave, ruffians rob the grave and spill blood on the corpse, awakening him as a vampire. There are also gangsters in the same woods, conducting their own ceremony and raising their former boss from the dead. And then everyone's paths cross. With a free hand for borrowing music (including chunks of the score from Predator and an instrumental version of “The Final Countdown”), martial arts, fights that turn into pro wrestling matches, fun low-budget special effects, horror movie tradition awareness, a mystic ritual showdown, and magic rice, this movie is overflowing with energy and enthusiasm. The stock sound effects for punching and kicking get old long before the movie reaches its end, and there may not be much in the way of plot, but it's so fun and earnest that those things don't really hinder it. There were multiple times that the movie made me go “Oh poo poo!” out loud, in that way that Thai and Indonesian films have a talent for provoking. Sure, maybe a bit too much time is spent on the fist-fights, but every time I started to feel like the movie was spinning its wheels, it would pull out something entertaining and different to surprise me. Good times. “We have to tag team in order to stop these two zombies.” Rating: 7/10
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Oct 2, 2023 04:13
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Basebf555 posted:That's what I was joking about with Tom Cruise Mummy, yea it technically does count as a monster mash because the other monsters appear in it but I'd strongly recommend spending your time watching something better.
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Oct 2, 2023 23:56
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 #16.) Earth vs. The Flying Saucers (1956; Tubi; dir. Fred F. Sears) Flying saucers menace Earth! Scientists and military men are our only hope! Lots of pow pow and bang bang and zap zap, but with good pacing. Inter-species fighting has broken out by the twenty-minute mark, but there's still active threads of characters working towards potential peaceful resolutions, even when that brings them into conflict with everyone around them. But then the aliens make their intentions clear, and it's all Earthlings for one. The story follows logical turns and developments, the characters feel more grounded than I've usually encountered in '50s sci-fi, and there's some genuinely creepy moments tucked into the film. The saucer animation and compositing looks good, and the actors respond believably to the relative position of the saucers, while the examination of the alien technology adds a fun bit of nerd indulgence. To a large degree, it feels as though the writers of Independence Day took this, dialed down the intelligence and raised the schmaltz, jingoism, and spectacle values, though plenty of buildings do get blown to bits in this. Then again, it could just be that this is (when boiled down) a natural way for an Earth/flying saucers conflict story to pan out. It also feels like this had a big influence on Tim Burton, with the way the saucers wobble and the particular stop-motion style of their rayguns emerging from the ship being echoed in so much of the animation handling he's used in his movies. The ending is a little too pat, but hey, that's the American '50s for you. “The saucer sound! It's on the tape!” Rating: 7/10 HORROR ADJACENT CLEARED
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Oct 3, 2023 00:18
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 #17.) The Necro Files (1997; Tubi; dir. Matt Jaissle) A wannabe-cannibal sex criminal is brought back by Satanists to roam Seattle as a zombie, opposed by a cop duo, the Satanists (annoyed that things got out of hand) and a demon baby doll with flight capabilities. Cheaply shot and poorly acted, but with lots of effort put into the gore effects, this is seeping with that 'resigned to always be amateur film-makers' energy that you get from certain movies and directors. No matter how respectable the makeup may be, the refusal to give up juvenile jokes, the need to insert an average of one “gently caress!” or “poo poo!” per line of dialogue, and the bad audio recording place an upper limit on their achievements. Even on the rare occasion when a joke successfully lands, it falls on nerves so numbed by the relentless preceding failures that it's hard to even react. The actors are trying, bless them, and the camera operators try for some interesting shots, and the pathos demonstrated in the zombie's interaction with a blow-up doll is admirable (and a little reminiscent of Nekromantik), but overall, this is really a slog. Oh, and the title comes from something that happens after the film's events, as we're informed of via post-script. Forrest J. Ackerman and William Lustig get shout-outs in the credits, and it's dedicated to Joe D'Amato, so there's a little bit of pedigree to the horror grime run-off of this movie. Respect to everyone involved for putting a full-length film together, at least. “There's no loving way he's getting away this time. No loving way. We're gonna get him, goddamn it.” Rating: 4/10 ROB ZOMBIE 20TH ANNIVERSARY CHALLENGE CLEARED
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Oct 3, 2023 02:16
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 #18.) Shaolin vs. Evil Dead (2004; DVD; dir. Douglas Kung Cheung-Tak) Jiangshi plague the countryside, along with other supernatural threats. Gordon Liu Chia-Hui stars as a wandering monk specializing in handling the undead, with a couple of assistants accompanying him. Despite the potential of that set-up, things are pretty dull, on average. Virtually every action scene takes place in blue-washed night settings, the humor tends to be very broad slapstick type stuff (obviously so even before the dubbing), and there's no major villain established for the group to go after, so it's just some aimless wandering and a resentful former member of the monk school showing up occasionally, with a side line of one of the assistants pursuing romance. I got more amusement out of the dodgy CGI than I did from any of the intended jokes, and even though one climax is a fight between kid vampires and kid monks, there's just no spark to anything. It doesn't feel like anyone involved was actually enthusiastic about making this, and watching the film ends up being a weirdly enervating experience. Especially since most of the second half is setting up threads for the sequel. I've never been so disappointed by a Gordon Liu film. “We'd like to rid our village of evil forever.” Rating: 5/10
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Oct 3, 2023 05:28
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 #19.) Santo and Blue Demon vs. Dracula and the Wolf Man (1973; Tubi; dir. Miguel M. Delgado) Dracula is brought back to unlife, and with the help of the Wolfman (known here as Rufus), seeks world domination. But first, they seek revenge on the last descendants of the wizard who slayed them. Meanwhile, El Santo teams up with the Blue Demon in order to put these monsters down. Proceeds along the lines of the usual 'Santo vs. monster' approach, with some Scooby-Doo flavor to the investigation and showdowns, but more punches and throws involved. The wolfman's costume is in the classic Lon Chaney, Jr., style, and I couldn't help but imagine how miserable it must have been to wear in the Mexican heat. Dracula is pretty much a guy dressed for a night at the opera, but the effects on his thralls are simple and effective. The interactions between Santo and Blue Demon are enjoyable; at one point, they're sitting at a chess-board with no moves made, staring intensely at it and presumably figuring out their strategies. There's some nice atmosphere, with misty caves and Dracula's mansion, and the whole thing makes for a light and fun affair, even if the finale feels rather abrupt. “Hitting in a way that only God could understand.” Rating: 6/10 FREDDY VS. JASON 20TH ANNIVERSERY CHALLENGE CLEARED
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Oct 3, 2023 18:43
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 #20.) Agi, The Fury of Evil (1984; Youtube; dir. Hikari Hayakawa) A samurai finds himself bedeviled by the oni Agi after crossing a forbidden bridge. The atmosphere is thrown off somewhat by the exclusive use of Western orchestral music to score the film, but there are enough beautiful landscape shots, uses of different color palettes to paint the emotions of scenes, and slow panning over set details to more than make up for that. Agi itself is creepy and goopy, shot in close-ups that keep us from getting a full sense of its scale, while elements of more prosaic drama brings the supernatural conflict into greater relief (and vice versa). With themes of obedience and fidelity, even to personal detriment, and beyond the bonds of mortality, there's more to digest in this than appears at first watch. Another one I'm anticipating revisiting, hopefully with a co-viewer so we can kick speculative interpretations back and forth. “In all truth, the whole thing is a bother, but one must obey one's orders.” Rating: 7/10 PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK…..IN SPACE!!! CLEARED
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Oct 3, 2023 20:16
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 #21.) Nighty Night (1986; Youtube; dir. Hirohisa Kokusho) A Japanese horror anthology with no particular linking thread, except maybe vulnerability and young protagonists. After a telling of "Little Red Riding Hood" to set the mood, we get a birthday party turned quarrelsome, a a boy with a tempting visitor waiting outside his bedroom window, a girl playing a strange game of survival, and a high-schooler with fragile emotions entering a relationship. The first segment goes from a racket to a slow stalking, and something about the switch felt really disjointed to me. I like the essential structuring, but the execution left me cold. The second went by so quick, I wasn't sure if it was just a lead-in to the actual next segment or not, but the survival game made up for that with a great monster design and energy. “Cinderella,” with the fraught high school romance, drew me in more as time passed and I got a better sense of the title's relevance. It felt like the biggest special effects showcase in the set, but also the most fully-realized story. A rough-edged anthology, and it takes a while to hit its groove, but there's evident and respectable effort put into each of the stories. It's also just a treat to my personal tastes to get a Japanese horror anthology from the mid-'80s, so I'm not even going to pretend there's a lack of bias here. “Don't worry, I'll die with you, since you're too weak to do it alone.” Rating: 6/10
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Oct 4, 2023 16:46
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 #22.) It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955; digital; dir. Robert Gordon) A new submarine encounters and annoys a giant octopus, raising troubles for sea-goers. Given the brief run-time, it's disappointing how much of this is spent at a distance from the octopus payload. Sure, it has to be held in reserve for the climax, considering the special effects work involved, but the material selected to pad time until then is thoroughly dull. They try to include some romance as a side-line, but the absurd chauvinism and terrible dialogue (“Snow's cold,” could have been the original Anakin sand rant) torpedoes the efforts. Might have worked better as a short prose piece, though giving up the Harryhausen effects would be a shame. “The mind of man had thought of everything, except that which was beyond his comprehension.” Rating: 5/10
Darthemed fucked around with this message at 18:44 on Oct 4, 2023 |
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Oct 4, 2023 18:33
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 #23.) The Spell (2019; digital; dir. Amit Dubey) A young married couple moves into the husband's empty family home, but strange occurrences spoil the idyllic setting. Kind of a stock haunting film, aside from the emphasis on water as the manifestation medium, but at the same time, there's no major fumbles in the telling. The cause for the haunting can be guessed fairly early on (and the poster doesn't exactly hold its cards close), but the sense of atmosphere is decent, as is the acting, and the film gets a lot of use out of its one setting. Things start to drag well before the resolution, but it's still cool to see room for this sort of film in the Cambodia movie industry. “What are you doing in the pool at this hour?” Rating: 6/10
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Oct 4, 2023 20:12
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Splint Chesthair posted:Clu Gulager, Michael Gough, Franco Nero, Michael Ironside, Sid Haig
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Oct 4, 2023 23:51
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 #24.) Arachnophobia (1990; Tubi; dir. Frank Marshall) An atypical spider is brought back from Venezuela to America, it crossbreeds with a house spider, and their offspring begin a wave of spider murder in a small town. Haven't watched this movies in ages, but I love it, even though it gave me years of spider fear as a kid. Like, darting out of the room if I saw one, needing someone else to come and remove it, and so on. Anyway, those really are some beautiful landscape shots of what's presented as Venezuelan forests through the opening credits. Up there to rival the helicopter ride from Jurassic Park, which fits, since this is an Amblin production. Julian Sands (RIP) is a delight as the entomologist able to explicate the cause of the situation, Jeff Daniels fits perfectly as the new doctor (with arachnophobia) in the small town trying to fit in while the spider murders give him a bad rep, John Goodman gives a great run as a folksy exterminator, and the supporting cast is loaded with recognizable actors, all hitting the right vibe to reinforce the film. The POV used for the spiders at times works great, giving echoes of the evil force from Evil Dead 2, and works with the general sense of wry (sometimes broad) comedy going on. The boss spider is ridiculously capable in its planning, and its offspring are consistently lucky with planting themselves somewhere to snare a hapless victim. The score by Trevor Jones also slides right in to the mix of horror and humor, mixing sweet melodies with sinister overtones as the spiders assert themselves in domestic scenes. The escalation is well-paced and ramps up the intensity without throwing off the tonal balance, and the film is an impressive example of how to make a family-friendly horror flick. “Yeah, that's right. I'm bad.” Rating: 8/10 CHILDHOOD TRAUMA CLEARED
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Oct 5, 2023 19:38
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 #25.) Evil Little Things (2020; DVD; dir. Matt Green) A clunky two-story anthology built around a leprechaun for the first, and a doll for the second, plus a flimsy wrap-around. Hannah Fierman (the siren from V/H/S and its spin-off, Siren, plus The Unwanted with William Katt) is the lead in the first story, and geez, it's sad to see her star sinking so quickly. She's a fine actress, I guess her agent is dropping the ball. The story involves a leprechaun-associated death years ago, and now a leprechaun doll showing up at the home of a woman who witnessed it. The story never really coheres, even as it throws more lore about what's going on at the viewer, and when the conflict finally starts, it's a little embarrassing to see Fierman wrestling around with a motionless doll. They do put in the budget for a moving leprechaun monster, for about three minutes, and then the story wraps on a stupid note. The second story concerns a lonely doll collector in an abusive relationship with one of her dolls. Most of the time is spent at a general-purpose fan convention, and the big power move with the doll is her head turning to the side. Plus telekinetic attacks, which amount to someone suddenly having injury makeup or fake blood on them. This would have a more functional ending than the first, except some of its main elements come completely out of left field. Two stinkers, with a couple of actors deserving better material trapped in the morass. “Oh, that movie nearly killed the clown doll business.” Rating: 3/10
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Oct 6, 2023 19:45
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 #26.) At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul (1964; Youtube; dir. José Mojica Marins) A mortician in a small town flaunts his disregard for societal mores. Drenched with the vibes of a horror sound effects record in its presentation, this could be dismissed as the character study of an edgelord if made today, but as Brazil's first homegrown horror film, formed in the mid-'60s, it takes on an air of daring, as well as historical importance. Central character Coffin Joe relishes in his improprieties, both monstrous and petty, and brings an aura of combined elegance and the pathetic in his garb of top hat, cloak, and black leather gloves. With the film's release a few years before the founding of the Church of Satan, it feels like Coffin Joe is a semi-modern goth grandaddy, though the South American origin and pre-dating of home video surely enforced obscurity in the USA in its own time. His self-imposed decadence and misery evokes impressions of Poe's wretches, though taken to a much more explicitly graphic degree (and way more likely to start a bar fight), and I wish I could peek back through time to see how this was received by packed theaters in its debut. “Life is good, it's not worth trading for death.” Rating: 8/10 AROUND THE WORLD (South America) 3/4
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Oct 7, 2023 19:36
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Kazzah posted:#10: The Terminator (1984) (rewatch) Action Shakespeare posted:6. The Evil Dead (Sam Raimi, 1981)
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Oct 8, 2023 05:42
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 #27.) Blood Curse (2006; DVD; dir. Tiago Guedes & Frederico Serra) A family moves into an ancestral home in a village with a complicated religious situation going on. This film does a good job of bringing the viewer along with the family into a sense of growing unease and deduction of what's going on in the village, as well as within the family. Casual dinner conversations illuminate the depth of superstition pervading the local beliefs, meshed with entrenched Catholicism and the rural/urban class division for a wide spectrum of anxieties to take root. One of the more striking aspects of the film is the score, done by “Jorge C.,” which bears more than a slight resemblance to the lighter works by Akira Yamaoka. Interesting use of incidental or fragmentary sounds in the loops lends things a teetering, unresolved air, blended with simpler and cleaner melodies. The filming is also handled nicely, with a willingness to let objects of focus shift slowly about in the frame, adding to the uneasy atmosphere. The landscapes are absolutely beautiful, from the open hills to the claustrophobic woods, and the lighting is always flattering to them. The acting and writing is appreciably nuanced, and the most sinister scenes tend to be elided, acting as slices of the event, slipped into the prosaic day-to-day occurrences. It allows the inherent drama of the characters' lives to be built before realizing the horror that's been at their side the whole time, and the story is all the stronger for it. “Seems like the Devil has broad shoulders here.” Rating: 9/10
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Oct 8, 2023 20:44
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 #28.) Grotesque (2009; Tubi; dir. Koji Shiraishi) A sadistic doctor tortures captive victims. It's Koji Shiraishi doing a torture porn. Going into this, I was really hoping he wouldn't let me down by playing it straight. Surely there would be some clever narrative twist to rescue it, something like pulling back in the last minutes to reveal this as having all taken place on a film set, or staged as commentary on the growing popularity of the sub-genre at the time. Those are just spitball ideas, Shiraishi could certainly come up with something better. Did I get that twist of salvation? No. While Shiraishi's films usually tend to be on the lower end of cinematic budgeting, this one feels like an experiment in pushing that, as it has just three cast members for its feature-length run-time. The set and practical effects look like the most expensive things on-screen, and at times, it feels like an homage to the Guinea Pig series (Flower of Flesh and Blood in particular). Protracted suffering, unnervingly realistic gore effects, short duration, victims who are entirely at the mercy of their torturer. Shigeo Ôsako, who's effectively a regular in Shiraishi's films, takes center stage as the doctor. While he tends to play a bastard in those movies, this outing sees him going into full depravity. Indulging in maiming, dismemberment, inflicting eye trauma, sexual assault, emotional predation, and more, he's truly without any redeeming qualities. And it all builds up to a joke of an ending that's not even a good punchline. I can't believe Shiraishi let me down like this; at least Cho Akunin did something interesting with its villain. “To surrender is not a disgrace.” Rating: 6/10
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Oct 9, 2023 07:12
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 #29.) She Devil (1957; digital; dir. Kurt Neumann) A woman with advanced tuberculosis is treated with an experimental serum derived from fruit-flies, and subsequently terrifies the men around her by becoming independent. Thinly disguised allegory for women disrupting the status quo of the '50s, but with a healing factor and instant hair-color change grafted onto the idea. A resilient woman, unafraid of risking personal injury in the pursuance of her desires. Her opponents, followers and defenders of an ancient institution (one doctor's lingering gaze on the Hippocratic Oath is anything but subtle). The more she does to empower herself, the more desperate they become to return her to the powerless and bed-bound person she formerly was. Because she doesn't share their values, they label her as inhuman, and decide that her right to choice is less important than how they feel she should behave, forcibly reducing her to a non-threatening form. Consider me ready for an A24 remake. “That's the most beautiful test tube I've ever seen.” Rating: 7/10
Darthemed fucked around with this message at 01:37 on Oct 10, 2023 |
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Oct 9, 2023 23:07
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 #30.) 24 Hours of Terror (1964; digital; dir. Gastone Grandi) With mobsters and an infiltrator hiding out at a secluded house, a mysterious figure begins killing them off, one by one. Much more of a slow-cooking thriller than a horror, with suspicions rising between the survivors as time goes on, and an ever-incoming 'merchandise' MacGuffin keeping the group from fleeing the house. But with murderous figures keeping their faces off-screen, exaggerated musical stings, the strong sense of isolation for the characters, and night-time exteriors of crickets and shadows, the film does have a fair claim to a partial horror labeling. The tone never fully settles into that mode, even when a cackling murderer is taunting the survivors, but the movie is well-made, with some of the most intense bongo-drumming I've ever heard used in the musical score. The finale's reveal is dissatisfying, but logical enough, and there's a fight that really highlights why Foley is commonplace for the sound of punches. Despite the nice cinematography, and enjoyable moment-to-moment atmosphere, this one ended up leaving me with a disappointed feeling. I hope audiences in 1964 had a better time than I did. “In Paris, you're known as a tough guy.” Rating: 6/10
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Oct 10, 2023 01:35
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 #31.) The Great Satan (2018; Tubi; dir. Dimitri Simakis, Lehr Beidelschies, and Nic Maier) Spliced together from thousands of sources, this delirious streak of video effluvia tells the story of the Devil of Christianity as seen through the lens of (mostly) American pop culture. Commenting on the effects, acting, music, cinematography, and such is pointless; it's all about the editing. Picturing the editor software timeline for cutting all this together is almost vertigo-inducing. Part of the fun, of course, is playing 'identify the sample,' and if you've seen a fair amount of trash films, you'll have some familiar footage cropping up. Multiple DeCoteau films appear, along a slew of Full Moon productions, and material from stuff as mainstream as Tom Cruise, Schwarzenegger, and Bill Cosby films (and Mac Tonight). The heavy metal contingent is well-represented, with Ozzy, Danzig, Gene Simmons, GWAR, W.A.S.P., and more in attendance, and just as many evangelists materialize to spread their words of doom. The film does slide off on tangents at times, like supercuts of head explosions, impalings, boobs, and pentagrams, but the video bulimia effect isn't particularly diminished as a result. This may be targeted to a very niche audience, but thankfully, I'm in that niche. “Wow, it's great to be a vampire!” Rating: 8/10
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Oct 10, 2023 03:28
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 #32.) The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976; Prime Video; dir. Charles B. Pierce) A hooded killer stalks the secluded areas of Texarkana. The movie is presented in something of a reenactment style, as the film was inspired by the real-life Texarkana Moonlight Murders, though the narration is hands-off for large stretches. Some awkward insertions of comedy don't quite jibe with the factual atmosphere the narrative approach lends things, but considering how grim the film would be without them, and the era in which it was released, their presence is understandable, if not exactly welcome. The replication of the 1940s period is impressively done, and for a fan of old cars, there's a lot of eye candy on display. The look of the killer is memorable (no wonder it was ripped off by the Friday the 13th series), and his attacks are brutal enough to cut through any lingering levity from other scenes. Even when a trombone is involved. Considering that the plotting was (somewhat) constrained to the actual events, the pacing and escalation are handled well, though the ending is rather anticlimactic. It's interesting to consider how this sort of 'this really happened' hook, the same used by The Texas Chain Saw Massacre two years earlier, would die off for so long in favor of found footage and mockumentaries in the American horror genre, if you consider the true crime sector a separate thing, letting thrillers have it instead. With my only previous Charles B. Pierce films being the Boggy Creek series, I have to admit, I was taken by surprise with the quality and professionalism of this one. “That's not what excites him. He's abnormal.” Rating: 7/10 CineD HORROR THREAD POLL CHALLENGE (Bracketology Tournament list) CLEARED
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Oct 10, 2023 06:04
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 #33.) The Day Time Ended (1980; Tubi; dir. John “Bud” Cardos) A triple supernova causes a dimensional rift, but the only people affected whom the movie cares about are a family in the desert. Think of other '80s time flux movies (My Science Project, House II: The Second Story, etc.), add a splash of E.T. family dynamics, and you're in the general zone for this movie's antics. The family is amazingly slow to believe anything weird is going on, even when they're in the same room with it, so of course it's up to the child to lead them. But it takes about half the movie to get past the disbelief stage and into anything moving them towards action. Then some stop-motion monsters wander around the ranch, and the whole house gets time-warped, and none of it feels like it has much bearing on the causality of what's happening. It really feels like a product of the lead paint era. It's both bizarre and dull at the same time, and while the special effects are generally well-done, they're like frosting on a scribbled drawing of a cake. One of those movies that probably awakened a lot of '70s kids to the idea that movies could be bad, even while generating a soft spot for the way it takes weirdness in stride. The situation is consummately horrific if you stop to consider it, but outside of a few moments, things are handled with the lightness of a fantasy adventure. Understandable why this has ended up largely forgotten. “Let's get back inside the house.” Rating: 4/10
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Oct 10, 2023 16:50
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 #34.) Sickle (2015; digital; dir. Geno McGahee & Forris Day Jr.) After fifteen years in psychiatric care after apparently killing his babysitter at age twelve, Michael Hart is released. But then more people are killed, and he has to uncover the nature of the creature he saw as a child. The acting and production values point to this being made by an aspiring film-maker trapped in Middle America, having to use locals for every position in cast and crew. Everything has a flat digital video look, cuts to people shifting around on their feet are used to punch up dialogue scenes, conversations are shot uncomfortably close (to the point of actors' chins and foreheads being cropped out in the same shot), and the dialogue itself sounds unnatural. Example: “Your skill level is of little concern to me. I will supervise and walk you through it. I am unable to do the physical work anymore.” If the stilted diction were limited to one character, it might seem purposeful, but it's not. On top of all that, the monster is a guy in an obviously rubber mask, bad blonde wig, and top hat. And they seem to have confused sickles with scythes. In addition to Michael's story, there's a ghost investigation group plot-line, which the film jumps to with little consideration of how to make the two stories fit together, or even seem relevant to each other, until Michael is literally taken to join them. Despite all the things going against the movie, and the odd choices made in making it, it's evident that there's effort put into the film. There's some interesting ideas being bounced around when they get into the nature of the killer demon, and I'd kind of love to see this remade by someone with better actors and budget. Most of what's present in this version would end up jettisoned in such a remake, no doubt, but I can't bring myself to feel like that would be much of a loss. “You know I'm a straight shooter, Mike.” Rating: 3/10
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Oct 10, 2023 18:54
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 #35.) The Figurine: Araromire (2009; Netflix; dir. Kunle Afolayan) Two friends, both interested in the same woman, come across an idol to a forgotten goddess. The idol brings good fortune, but only for seven years, at which point the blessing becomes a fatal curse. The film does a great job of building up the central characters as people first and foremost. Sola is a slacker with a good heart (and a love of big butts), while Femi is an asthmatic nice guy with a begrudging work ethic. Mona, their love interest, gets less development, coming off as a good person without much more nuance. Given the time jumps used in the story, the emphasis on getting to know them before thrusting them into the transformational events is effective and welcome. Even better, those efforts extend to minor characters as well, giving those with just a few lines of dialogue a feeling of being a full person passing through the story we're seeing. On the other hand, when things do turn to the curse, there's not much sense of dread instilled. Partially because the negative events have been forecast so far in advance, and partly because they're so abrupt when they do happen. It's more morality play (even though the characters had no idea what the idol's significance was when they found it) than traditional horror piece, and while the story is engaging, it's hard to shake the sense of compromise in not exploring certain emotions. “Would Spider-Man be scared?” Rating: 7/10 AROUND THE WORLD (Africa) CLEAREDHORROR IS FOR EVERYONE (Black director) CLEARED
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Oct 10, 2023 22:11
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M_Sinistrari posted:This was also released under a different title to the Amityville franchise.
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Oct 10, 2023 22:15
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 #36.) Ghost Writer (1989; Tubi; dir. Kenneth J. Hall) An entertainment journalist takes temporary residence in the Malibu beach house of her aunt, who was murdered in the '60s. Her aunt's ghost manifests, and the two of them team up to solve the murder. Sisters Judy and Audrey Landers co-star, with their mother (Ruth Landers) producing... and David DeCoteau also producing! This is a veritable soup of 'hey, that guy!' actors, with Dick Miller, George Buck Flower, Eric Freeman, John Matuszak, Jeff Conaway, and the Barbarian Brothers studding out the cast. Good thing the mini-game of spotting them is an option, because the actual story is no great shakes. The two actresses seem to be having fun, but the skeletal mystery and insubstantial hijinx would struggle to fill a sitcom episode, let alone the ninety minutes with which they're tasked. But it does have a car ramping into a crash, and a finale in a wax museum of Hollywood icons, and sometimes that's enough to put a positive glow on a mediocre experience. “Like I was saying, critics don't know anything.” Rating: 5/10 ”THAT GUY” CHALLENGE FEATURING DICK MILLER AND KEITH DAVID (Dick Miller) CLEAREDAnd that gives me a blackout on the Spooky Challenges bingo card!
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Oct 11, 2023 00:13
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| # ¿ May 22, 2024 13:40 |
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Philthy posted:
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Oct 11, 2023 01:55
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