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This is my favorite thread. I'm in for 31 again and excited to read about what everyone watches.
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Sep 30, 2023 06:48
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| # ¿ May 22, 2024 16:12 |
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Here we go again, ratings out of five. I've been playing the Texas Chain Saw Massacre video game so it's really put me in the mood to watch the series again. Other than that, though, no real theme for me this year but I'm going to try to find alternative/foreign posters for each movie because... I guess that's exciting. Credit to this website for the excellent VHS scan. 1. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974, Tobe Hooper) This was a bit of renaissance with this movie for me, with the movie approaching the age of fifty it's only natural to think a movie has aged a bit. And there are some awkward moments, but it's completely overshadowed by how excellently crafted it is. There are so many interesting and unorthodox camera angles, the movie is so chaotic at times paired with an equally chaotic, harrowing and foreboding soundtrack. The reveal of Leatherface in this movie to me is one of the best moments from all of cinema and from that moment it unleashes a breakneck segment that is still uneasy for some to watch. It's all put together so well and with such great care and consideration. The dinner scene is an slighty-abstract nightmare, with constant, sometimes-abrupt cuts again being complimented so well by the soundtrack. The awesome zoomed-in shots of Sally's eyeball has the green of her eyes pop, the same way the bright red of Leatherface's lair does, in contrast to the washed out and grainy look of the movie (I know this sounds very Film 101 but I love it). Without any doubt, I think that the reputation and legacy of this movie is very much earned. 5.0 One thing I really liked and noticed this time was how well the movie is paced. The buildup to the reveal of Leatherface is great, that unleashes a hellish portion of the film, and then you have the final girl already even with ~25 minutes left. It definitely makes Sally's survival portion of the movie so much more anxiety-inducing and uncertain given what she has seen. Also what happened to the first truck who tried to help Sally? Unsung hero of the franchise.  2. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003, Marcus Nispel) Now, I've always "defended" the 2003 version as at the very least enjoyable. I stand by it being at least entertaining to an extent, but watching it back-to-back with the original movie it's tough to get really excited about it. All the chances that the original movie took creatively is stripped and the result is a very standard horror movie that feels like every other movie of this time. The characters are your stereotypical horror lineup and they don't feel real. The soundtrack here is your standard orchestral background noise and there just aren't any truly memorable moments unlike the first. I'd say the intro with the crime scene footage is pretty cool and R. Lee Ermey is an absolutely perfect, aggravating villain, but the substitution of buildup and careful presentation for jump-scares kind of sums it all up for me. 2.5 I haven't seen any of the sequels to the reboot-series since they were in theaters but am curious to see how much a stylistic-shift there was. Without looking up the critical and financial reception to this movie, it seems so flat and unremarkable I'll be disappointed if the sequels are just more of the same. Despite the quality of the original series sequels being pretty scattered, it seemed like there were different ideas and approaches each time and that was at least interesting. We'll see, though, up next I'm going to watch the second movie of both series. Bingo Challenges: [Goat's G.O.A.T.s (House)] The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) [History Lesson] 2/5 (1970, 2000) 
Orchestrated Mess fucked around with this message at 02:17 on Oct 2, 2023 |
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Oct 2, 2023 01:56
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TCM marathon continues. Ratings out of five. Credit again to this blog for the VHS scans.  3. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986, Tobe Hooper) It's a tough task to make a sequel to such a notorious movie twelve years later and I think that factored into the decision to have the second movie be of a completely different style. This is a lot more zanier than the bleak original. And while the original proved that buckets of blood aren't completely necessary to make a successful movie, there are some good bloody moments in this one. Jim Siedow returns as Cook as is fantastic, but he's probably outshined by Bill Moseley as the favorite with Chop-Top -- who is equally eccentric and funny as he is unsettling and creepy. While Hooper went for more of a comedic tone with this movie, it's kind of stuck in between committing to being laugh-out-loud funny and scary. It's got a great setting and great characters, but I definitely wanted to like it more. 3.0  4. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006, Jonathan Liebesman) With the follow-up to the 2003 reboot, a movie I'd say that is remarkably average, they went one of the more obvious sequel routes and did an origin story. For quite a while this is essentially R. Lee Ermey's movie and that's not a terrible thing since he is once again fantastic. But everything else is pretty forgettable, this even looks like a generic horror movie: the "old" filter is slapped on in post-production giving everything a yellow/green look, it's overly dark at points, and some of the lighting is just awkward. In a particular chase scene towards the end of the movie I had to rewind to see if I had really just seemingly witnessed it go from night to day and back to night. And while they are some cool effects, there is also some bad, even for 2006, CGI. Ermey saves this one from being a disaster. 2.0  5. Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990, Jeff Burr) Similar to the second movie of the original franchise, the third movie was once again a transition in style. Here we have a pretty traditional slasher movie, complete with an opening credits sequence that looks like it was made for the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. Leatherface here is in between the portrayals in the first and second movie: slightly goofy at times but also retaining the evil presence. I feel this movie is usually referenced as the one Viggo Mortensen is in, but that's disrespectful to the legend Ken Foree who is of course fantastic. This movie is also known for the Excalibur-like trailer, but the cleverness and creativity of the trailer isn't noticeably present in the movie. This one is a pretty average slasher, it's definitely at least enjoyable, though. It's once again interesting to see the franchise shift to another style, but I'd say this shift was a little on the cautious and safe side. 2.5  6. Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013, John Luessenhop) Even while marathoning the franchise and being very much in the mood for it, this one was a disappointment. It feels like a Hallmark Channel original movie in terms of the acting, characters, and setting. There's a highlight reel of the original (audacious, I think) and then this one picks up immediately after the first. I have enough horror-bias where I can forgive poor decision making and bad dialogue, but it's really tough here. I'm trying to resist just using spoiler tags and listing every moment that baffled me. but seriously, let me hang on this FERRIS WHEEL to escape Leatherface?! I hadn't seen this one since it came out and was hoping it was a scenario where I didn't really give it a chance, but it'll probably be another ten years before I forget enough about it and try it again. 1.5 Bingo Challenge: [History Lesson] 5/5 (1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010)
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Oct 5, 2023 04:17
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Conclusion of my TCM marathon. What a bizarre franchise. I can't think of another major horror franchise that is as scattered and directionless at times, but it's still enjoyable and at least it's not very repetitive. Ratings out of five. Again crediting this blog for the VHS scans.  7. The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1995, Kim Henkel) I very, very much want to love this movie. At the extremities of public opinion this movie is either a complete disaster that killed the original franchise or a parody and scathing criticism of the state of horror at the time. I can see both sides, but probably lean towards it being a bit of a disaster. While I read a pretty compelling argument for the movie being intentionally bad, I don't think that's actually true after hearing brief comments about it in a documentary (below at #10, Texas Chain Saw Massacre: The Shocking Truth). There are some bits of dialogue and character decisions that seem like they must be a parody, almost even in so-bad-it's-good territory, but I think this was just a movie that was pulling in too many directions. Renée Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey appear here before their major movie stardom, and McConaughey is not someone I usually like but he's pretty fantastic here. Robert Jacks plays Leatherface and it's probably the worst iteration of the villain in any of the movies. And the twist at the end. Oh my the twist. 2.0 The twist: the loving ILLUMINATI are controlling the Sawyer/Slaughter family to experiment with the effects of terror and it lifting people into a journey of nirvana. Or something. It's lunacy and about as well executed as the twist in Stuff Stephanie in the Incinerator.  8. Leatherface (2017, Julien Maury/Alexandre Bustillo) Another origin story. I'd say this one is better than I remember, but like the next movie in the series, feels like they had a regular horror movie ready to shoot and at the last minute someone asked them to slap a Texas Chainsaw skin on it. This is one of those movies where I struggle to really say much about, it's definitely a movie alright. It's maybe slightly better made than the previous origin story in the franchise (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, 2006) but not by a large margin. If you had ten seconds to come up with a Leatherface origin story, it would likely be pretty close to this movie's plot. Ends well, but this is another movie in the franchise where the studios probably had a lot of sequels already planned and the result was so mediocre it killed those ideas. 2.0  9. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022, David Blue Garcia) Well, I was pretty let down by this one last year but wasn't going to skip it from the marathon. I'd say most of my feelings still stand. This really does feel like they weren't even making a Texas Chainsaw movie but at the last minute tweaked a few things, even more so than the 2017 movie. I think this movie definitely tried to borrow from other successful horror reboots, in particular the recent Halloween trilogy. They try to turn Sally Burns from the original movie into a Laurie Strode but it just doesn't feel very real. I think there are some interesting angles that they tried to incorporate with the characters, but most are just rather unlikable and hard to really sympathize with. At the very least, they made Leatherface an intimidating villain again. His first big moment in the movie was pretty tense. Until the end of the movie where all of a sudden he can dodge, move super quickly, and leap out of a pool with more ease than Jason at the end of the first Friday the 13th movie. But the closing credits stood out to me as they just don't match the movie that you just watched, making it feel like this movie was in production/editing hell for a long time and they never really figured out what they were going for. 2.0  10. Texas Chain Saw Massacre: The Shocking Truth (2000, David Gregory) And to conclude the franchise I checked out this documentary on an immediate whim, not knowing the level of production that it was or even when it came out. The crew was able to include a lot of the cast and the production team and this was definitely interesting as a fan of the original film. I had briefly heard that the movie was a pretty grueling shoot, but didn't know much of the details. And from stories of the 32-day shoot with 16-hour-minimum shifts in the heat of Texas in August filled in those details. The documentary is definitely low-budget, and certainly looks like it's from the year 2000, but it's a really interesting story. They even dip into each of the three sequels briefly to wrap it all up. I'd say it's safe to say that anyone who is enticed by the subject material won't be a disappointed. 3.5 Bingo Challenges: [New-to-You] 1/6 [Horror Adjacent] Texas Chain Saw Massacre: The Shocking Truth 
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Oct 7, 2023 05:21
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As always: thanks for everyone who organizes and participates in this thread. I'll be reading throughout the year for recommendations. I received two pretty lousy bits of news in my personal life and fell behind on this thread. Kept up pace for 31 even with about a week where I didn't watch anything. Hopefully next year I'll be able to participate in the thread more. Ratings out of five. 11. Fall (Scott Mann, 2022) If you're paralyzed from fear at the sight of extreme heights, this'll be a tense watch. The setup is fine, the actors and characters are serviceable, and while the budget does show in a few moments overall this is a pretty intense thriller. If the concept is appealing, or terrifying, then it's worth the watch. 3.0 12. The Toxic Avenger (Michael Herz/Lloyd Kaufman, 1984) It's been a while since I've seen this one, and I'm pretty excited for the remake but there does not appear to be a release in time for October. Troma is definitely known for pushing the limit, and this one has plenty of gruesome moments with the budget clearly being poured into the effects. The practical effects are great, even if the overall tone of the movie is cheesy and self-aware. The movie is essentially a highlight reel of Toxie fighting baddies, which can get a little repetitive, but overall this is one of Troma's best movies. 3.5 13. Braindead (Peter Jackson, 1992) I'm perhaps stretching the limits of this challenge, but most of the VHS covers that I was enamored with as a kid in video rental stores I have already seen. Usually resulting in disappointment. Return to Horror High was the video I couldn't wait to be old enough to rent. So, I started just browsing VHS covers online and this one sparked many memories of always seeing this one on the shelves but never actually seeing it. I've heard a lot about it and it was definitely an enjoyable one to finally watch. Absolutely frantic pace with tons of blood and goopy effects, it reminded me of The Evil Dead for some reason and that's a compliment. 3.5 14. V/H/S/85 (Anthonlogy, 2023) Always excited for a new entry in this series and was happy to watch this days after the release. I thought this was better than last year's entry, with a more realistic or feasible tone to most of the segments. The first two were great and perfect for the pseudo-VHS tape look, which also gave the special effects a bit of a boost. While the series may never reach the heights of the first, I still find them enjoyable. 3.0 15. Poltergeist (Tobe Hooper, 1982) At some point in my youth I was lucky enough to discover the local library didn't care if I was renting R-rated video tapes. This was one of the tapes I eagerly rented and with my horror experience being so minimal, it was pretty terrifying to watch. At this point in my life Ghostbusters spooked me out, so this one definitely set off some nightmares. The movie definitely holds up, obviously I appreciate it way more than I did as a kid. I had very little memory of how the movie develops so it felt like I was re-watching a fever dream I had. 4.0 16. Saw X (Kevin Greutert, 2023) Always liked the tradition of seeing the new Saw movie in October for all those years when the franchise was active, so I was pretty eager to see this one. My memory is completely lost of where the series really went and I definitely remember the quality being spotty at best in the latter half of the series. About thirty minutes in, I thought this movie was essentially directly following the formula of the first movie, but eventually the movie does take its own path. One thing in particular which I enjoyed, was the expanded look at each character in the movie. From my memory of the other films, it was usually a very brief snippet, essentially a headline, to introduce the characters. 3.0 That being said: I thought one of the intriguing parts of the Saw movies was the fact that the traps were completely brutal, but somewhat feasible to complete. There are a few traps here which just feel impossible, so the movie started feeling a bit like the torture porn tag that was given to this series and similar movies. It didn't bother me too much, and maybe my memory is incorrect, but it did stand out to me. 17. As Above, So Below (John Erick Dowdle, 2014) Watching the new V/H/S movie awoke the found footage fiend instead of me so the next stretch of movies I watched were mostly of the genre. Liked this one a lot more than I initially did, I don't know how feasible any of the lore presented is, but it creates a pretty cool adventure-type setting for what becomes a very tense exploration movie. I think the movie never really "peaks", but the build up is great. 3.5 18. Wolf Creek (Greg McLean, 2005) Pretty sure I bought this DVD at Blockbuster before Netflix was even a thing, and even tried to watch it one night but it was too late. Definitely feels like a horror movie of the time, but it's effective enough and has a great villain. Stressful to watch, thought the pacing in the second half was a little weird, and the text slapped on in post-production about how this is all totally real feels like some studio demands. 3.0 19. The Tunnel (Carlo Ledesma, 2011) Revisiting another found footage movie I haven't seen since it came out, this one is really enjoyable. The pseudo-documentary style is okay, I don't know if the acting is really up to the task, and then some of the shots presented as found footage are clearly professional cinematic shots. I'd also say after the movie shows it's hand, there's a bit of a repetitive spell, but overall it's worth the watch if you're into the genre. 3.0 20. The Houses October Built (Bobby Roe, 2014) Really like this one the first time I saw it, but a little less on this viewing. I think a first viewing gives you a great first hour, the buildup, but knowing the end result (even with the ultimate teaser to start the movie kind of makes the first hour drag. Last thirty minutes is great, though. 3.0 21. Hell House LLC (Stephen Cognetti, 2015) And here is one I didn't like the first time I saw it, perhaps fatigue from watching such similar movies at the time, but I liked this a lot more this time after hearing positive things about it from someone. Nothing extraordinary, but some really cool shots and great atmosphere at times. 22. Apollo 18 (Gonzalo López-Gallego, 2011) This one has a really great idea and setting, with space being perfect for feelings of isolation, but I think overall this is an example of the concept being better than the execution. Acting is a little shaky at times, which I'm pretty bad at noticing so I usually think it must be pretty bad. Cool moments, but think the big reveal was a bit silly. Killer rocks, dude. 2.0 23. Five Nights at Freddy's (Emma Tammi, 2023) I know nothing of the lore/backstory for this universe, I think I've briefly seen gameplay from the first game but have never properly gotten into it. The Nic Cage knockoff was decently enjoyable, and I was hoping this would be even better, but it was pretty disappointing. I think the story was decently done, the characters were better than I expected, but at a certain point it just felt kind of like it was rushing to an obvious conclusion. 2.5 24. Intruder (Scott Spiegel, 1989) No idea how, but I never realized that: this was a Full Moon production and Greg Nicotero also worked on it. Perhaps I was too enamored with Sam Raimi's definitive movie role in this super entertaining slasher. Effects are great, it's simple but effective, well worth watching this underrated slasher. 4.0 25. Deadstream (Vanessa and Joseph Winter, 2022) Watched this last October and speaks to the quality that I was already ready to watch it again. Genuinely scary found-footage movie. The kind of horror movie I'd recommend to people who aren't super into horror. 4.0 26. Friday the 13th (Sean S. Cunningham, 1980) Somehow, despite being born nearly a decade after this movie initially released, I've now been able to see it in theaters twice. And with (very conservatively) ten viewings of this movie and a real fascination and love for the franchise, I struggle to realistically judge the franchise. I think, though, this holds up as a pretty good thriller and it may not have created the slasher subgenre but definitely helped in adding to the flood of them into theaters. 3.5 27. Freddy vs. Jason (Ronny Yu, 2003) And twenty-three years later here we are, another movie I watched last October but I was all fired up from seeing the original in theaters I wanted to watch another from the series. This is usually my go-to when I can't decide on one of the main sequels, and it's always fun to watch. Good blend of the styles in both franchises represented, the battle (when it finally happens) is great and very 2000's. 3.0 28. The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973) I have many excuses as to why I have not seen this movie already, but none are particularly good, so here we are finally watching this for the first time. I tried to go in with a blank slate of expectations (which is tough with one of the most famous movies ever made) and was actually surprised. Much of what makes the movie good has not aged, it's shot and acted extremely well and the pacing is phenomenal. Holds up now and will hold up for much longer. 4.5 29. Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960) Probably borders the horror genre today, but the shock and cultural impact it caused upon released probably put it within the horror genre. It's Alfred Hitchcock, so of course it is shot meticulously and extremely well written and performed. It feels like such a short movie because it's constantly engaging. A classic that I'm envious of any one who has someone missed this and would get to watch it for the first time. 5.0 30. Cobweb (Samuel Bodin, 2023) Put this one on my list exclusive from Fangoria emails, I had no idea of the plot or anything and was really surprised. May not be the most original horror movie ever made, but has enough of it's own twist on it to keep it fresh. I think the pacing is pretty fantastic and the final third is fantastic, really surprised by this one. 4.0 31. The Babadook (Jennifer Kent, 2014) Was struggling to figure out my finale movie last night and Cobweb vaguely reminded me of this one, which I haven't seen since it's theatrical run. Even better than I remember it. It's an effective, slow-burning haunted house movie and also a descent into madness. The characters and acting are great and it really had me invested. The imagery of the villain is phenomenal, opting for silence and sheer presence over loud jump-scares. Can't believe I kind of slept on re-watching this one. 4.5 Edit, bingo: New: Fall, Braindead, V/H/S/85, Saw X, Wolf Creek, Five Nights at Freddy's Bite-Sized Horror: V/H/S/85 Back of the Video Store: Braindead Childhood Trauma: Poltergeist Birth of Horror: Intruder Freddy vs. Jason Anniversary: Freddy vs. Jason The Exorcist 50th Anniversary: The Exorcist Picnic in Space: Apollo 18 Samhain: Cobweb 
Orchestrated Mess fucked around with this message at 04:08 on Nov 2, 2023 |
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Nov 1, 2023 18:52
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| # ¿ May 22, 2024 16:12 |
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I'll opt out of movie codes as I think someone may appreciate them more, but if I can stack a Jason tag on top of the current one I'd very much like that.gey muckle mowser posted:This was already mentioned I think, but just a reminder that we also do a scaled down "halfway to Halloween" version of this challenge in May every year. Look for that in CineD, it usually goes up in the last few days of April. It's always a good time and I set the threshold for prizes to just 13 movies instead of 31 so it won't eat up all your free time for the month. This will be the year I don't forget about this.
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Nov 2, 2023 21:39
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