OCTOBER CHALLENGE 2023: TO A NEW WORLD OF GOONS AND MONSTERS!

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Cinema Discusso > OCTOBER CHALLENGE 2023: TO A NEW WORLD OF GOONS AND MONSTERS!

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Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

in for 31, and as a personal side challenge, 31 movies from 31 different years.

Also, grabbing horror bingo card #24

Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 01:35 on Oct 1, 2023

# ¿ Sep 29, 2023 18:27

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 22, 2024 11:53

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

Let's kick things off with a new-to-me FF classic: [�REC]!

quote:

Ten years in to the found-footage revolution started by Blair Witch, and [�REC] would seem to have crystallized the formula. Possessed of no new ideas and a lot more incoherent screaming than you'd expect from neighbors who'd lived together for years stuck in their apartment building, [�REC] grinds through its progressions from 'guy is bit and seemingly dies' to 'transgressive choice of who turns next' to its money shot that was wasted in the trailer.

At least it's short, and there's a few good scenes of character work before it all goes sideways, but if you're a huge fan of FF this remains the peak of what the genre can do, and if you're not, well too bad but you can't do much better than this.

/ 5,

1. Rec
Challenges: GOAT (Videotapes)
Meta Challenges: new-to-you, history lesson (00s) around the world (EU)

Meta Progress: NTY: 1/6, HL: 1/5 ATW: 1/4, HIFE: 0/3

Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 04:09 on Oct 1, 2023

# ¿ Sep 29, 2023 20:48

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 03:23 on Oct 9, 2023

# ¿ Sep 29, 2023 21:01

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 03:23 on Oct 9, 2023

# ¿ Sep 29, 2023 21:04

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 03:24 on Oct 9, 2023

# ¿ Sep 30, 2023 00:03

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

2. Attack the Block

quote:

A very of-its-time feature from 2011 focusing all the way in on a single block of public housing and the wayward grime-rap listening, cockney-slang spewing group of hooligans protecting it from the titular attack.

Boyega impresses the most, obviously, but everyone has a part to play, and the monster design and effects are suitably impressive. There are several ratcheting clocks and the redemption arc Moses receives is a good one, he definitely does not start the movie as a street tough with a heart of gold like Aladdin.

Everyone has their part to play and there's lots of fun setpieces, although the monsters never quite feel dangerous or relentless enough to really set the stakes. An enjoyable time at the movies, though nothing earth-breaking.

� / 5,

_{1. Rec 2. Attack the Block

Challenges: Horror-Adjacent (Sci-Fi)

Meta Challenges: new-to-you, history lesson (10s)

Meta Progress: NTY: 2/6, HL: 2/5 ATW: 1/4, HIFE: 0/3}

# ¿ Sep 30, 2023 00:24

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 03:24 on Oct 9, 2023

# ¿ Sep 30, 2023 00:26

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

3. The Wolf House

quote:

ASMR MAD GOD 71m Good for sleep study relaxation

/ 5,

_{1. Rec 2. Attack the Block 3. The Wolf House

]

Challenges: Picnic in Space (Period Piece - 1964)

Meta Challenges: new-to-you, Around the World (South America, 2)

Meta Progress: NTY: 3/6, HL: 2/5 ATW: 2/4, HIFE: 0/3}

Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 01:34 on Sep 30, 2023

# ¿ Sep 30, 2023 01:31

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 03:25 on Oct 9, 2023

# ¿ Sep 30, 2023 02:17

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

gey muckle mowser posted:

1. Saw

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.

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.

# ¿ Sep 30, 2023 14:35

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

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.

Things were just so, so much different 50 years ago in Europe, I guess.

Cops not only inviting random foreigners to join their investigation but walking him through their CSI lab to explain the neato computer toys they're using! What a concept!

The problem with a whodunit this pedestrian is that if it isn't rock-solid plotting and firm opportunities to give the audience a chance to play along and find the killer, then what are we doing? Just keeping the main character bouncing from scene to scene, never getting closer to finding anything out? Even the big break (the titular bird's location) isn't solved by him, but his buddy at the Bird Museum.

Absent any coherent plot and with dialog that's sub-replacement level, we're left with just a few stylistic thrills, and Argento at least can do this- Needles' ramshackle house was a highlight. But the spooks were too few and far between random digressions and cat food, so I guess I continue to not vibe with these things.

/ 5, sadly

_{1. [�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

# ¿ Sep 30, 2023 16:52

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

5. Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein

quote:

This is a twinned pair with Duck Soup in my mind, a movie so completely of its time that its characters needed no introduction - so they didn't introduce anyone. We are meant to sympathize with the main characters because they are played by two unparalleled stand-up comics, but they aren't doing a stand-up routine, they're acting.

And it's an irritating act.

Lugosi is slumming at best, and Cheney isn't much better. There's a lot more time spent on two grown men screaming at each other and swatting with hats than there is meeting of Frankenstein, the Wolfman or Dracula. There were definitely a few bits that I smiled at a little, maybe a small puff of air out of my nose, but I don't think I laughed once - which is the death knell of a supposed comedy.

/ 5, and that's generous

_{1. [�Rec] 2. Attack the Block 3. The Wolf House 4. Bird with the Crystal Plumage 5. Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein

Challenges: Freddy v Jason

Meta Challenges: new-to-you, History Lesson (40s)

Meta Progress: NTY: 5/6, HL: 4/5 ATW: 2/4, HIFE: 0/3}

# ¿ Oct 1, 2023 01:25

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

6. Perfect Blue

quote:

Having to sit through a "in english, please?" scene about launching a web browser feels so hilariously archaic, I have to point it out.

That bit of dated culture aside, Perfect Blue is a start reminder of why I don't like animated films much, especially not Anime. I've said many times two of my favorite genres, action and musical, are predicated on the idea that the sensation and spectacle of a human body in motion is a priori an interesting subject for the camera. Anime and most animated pictures flatten this to a few colors and fewer frames of animation. "She's such a great actress!" Mima coos, while the subject of her adoration stands perfectly still with no breathing, blinking or change of face except for two intercut frames of the mouth for speech. I hate it.

Which is frustrating, because on paper I love this movie. I would have loved to have seen human being perform it, and while the themes are pretty broad and obvious - the music/movie business is scummy, especially to women, and extra-especially to young nymphets (whether they agreed to be nymphets or not) - it's just so tough to connect with a thing that is not human, a series of sketches.

� / 5, I wish I connected with it.

_{1. [�Rec] 2. Attack the Block 3. The Wolf House 4. Bird with the Crystal Plumage 5. Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein 6. Perfect Blue

Challenges: HIFE (Female)

Meta Challenges: new-to-you, History Lesson (90s), ATW (Asia)

Meta Progress: NTY: 6/6, HL: 4/5 ATW: 3/4, HIFE: 1/3}

# ¿ Oct 1, 2023 04:06

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 03:25 on Oct 9, 2023

# ¿ Oct 1, 2023 04:43

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

7. Juju Stories

quote:

Three uneven and seemingly unfinished stories, but with a definite new perspective and a cultual mileux that adds enough spice to get each one over the hump.

Love Potion - the most melancholic and relatable of the three, this is just a gutpunch monkey's-paw tale that gets its horror from the story we all know is coming. In this case, the lack of a twist is the twist and I just felt awful coming out of this in the best way.

YAM - the most electric and dynamic of the shorts, a lot more fun than the other two but definitely the one needing a resolution and I wanted a little more time playing with the concept.

Suffer the Witch - an interesting take on a witch. This one feels like it's the most indelibly Nigerian and there's definitely some stuff I simply am not equipped to understand as a Western White Male. I think I get it, but this one too feels like there was a ton more padding and then just goes "wereouttatimewe'llseeyouonThunder! and then roll credits.

_{1. [�Rec] 2. Attack the Block 3. The Wolf House 4. Bird with the Crystal Plumage 5. Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein 6. Perfect Blue 7. Juju Stories

Challenges: Bite-Sized Horror

Meta Challenges: History Lesson (2020s), ATW (Africa), HIFE (POC)

Meta Progress: NTY: 6/6, HL: 5/5 ATW: 4/4, HIFE: 2/3}

Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 18:04 on Oct 1, 2023

# ¿ Oct 1, 2023 18:00

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

gey muckle mowser posted:

3. Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000)
dir. Yoshiaki Kawajiri

A post-apocalyptic gothic sci-fi western vampire story wasn�t something I knew I needed, but here we are. Big thumbs up for the setting, the visuals, and the gothic vibes, although I was less impressed with the characters and story. Still a very cool animated horror film though and I wouldn�t hesitate to recommend it to anyone.

4 sand mantas out of 5

having already given the nearly-universally-beloved Perfect Blue a low rating partly because I don't like amime because I like seeing people not cartoons, I'll defend this as my one exception. I saw the 1985 original way too much on N1 the year we had a satellite dish, and it is something wild, but when the sequel hit, it solidified my belief that I was correct in my fanon.

D is actually ________Dracula______, and he is personally erasing the mistakes he's made as he eliminates all vampires. This is backed up by Count Lee's final words in the 1985 film, plus Carmella's question at the end of this one. I've never engaged with any material outside the two movies, and it's never concretely stated in the movies, but I feel my reading is correct or at least something the writers considered and left themselves open to canonizing later.

Also D's hand is the hypnotist from Office Space, so enjoy that bit of trivia.

# ¿ Oct 1, 2023 18:38

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 03:26 on Oct 9, 2023

# ¿ Oct 2, 2023 00:23

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

7. The Invisible Man

quote:

If Kemp hadn't called the police like a loving rat, he'd be alive today. Those are just facts.

Reckoning with the effects work here, it's unparalleled. Whale makes you believe a man can turn invisible. Claude Rains is at his most unhinged ("Even the Moon is scared of me!") and feels more like a modern slasher than the morose, gothic tragedy other Universal Monsters evoke. Highest possible recommendation, this movie whips rear end and pulls the same trick as Nosferatu where everyone points and makes jokes at how cheesy things are for 20 minutes then poo poo gets real, real fast.

Can't believe I slept on this for this long.

_{1. [�Rec] 2. Attack the Block 3. The Wolf House 4. Bird with the Crystal Plumage 5. Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein 6. Perfect Blue 7. Juju Stories 8. The Invisible Man

Challenges: HIFE (LGBT)

Meta Progress: NTY: 6/6, HL: 5/5 ATW: 4/4, HIFE: 3/3}

Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 05:27 on Oct 2, 2023

# ¿ Oct 2, 2023 02:54

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

9. Tetsuo: The Iron Man

quote:

On behalf of all goths, I would like to thank Shinya Tsukumoto for creating this film, to give goth-industrial nightclubs a formless, plotless series of distressing images of urban decay and psycho-sexual violence to project on the wall behind America's vital national reserve of big tiddy goth gfs dancing in gogo boots.

sub]1. [�Rec] 2. Attack the Block 3. The Wolf House 4. Bird with the Crystal Plumage 5. Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein 6. Perfect Blue 7. Juju Stories 8. The Invisible Man 9. Tetsuo: The Iron Man

:spooky:

/ 5

Challenges: Box Art

Meta Progress: NTY: 6/6, HL: 5/5 ATW: 4/4, HIFE: 2/3[/sub]

Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 05:18 on Oct 2, 2023

# ¿ Oct 2, 2023 04:18

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

friendly reminder, if anyone is looking for a truly awful movie with what is likely the best box art ever conceived, for purposed of Spooktober challenges, look at this poo poo

Only registered members can see post attachments!

# ¿ Oct 2, 2023 05:16

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 03:27 on Oct 9, 2023

# ¿ Oct 2, 2023 05:28

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

10. Ringu

quote:

While not as twisty-turny (or as outright mean) as Verbinski's remake, the slow meditative angle this version takes is just as satisfying. The ticking clock is extremely effective and Sadako's monster design is exquisite.

The out-of-left-field psychic powers of Ryuji were a little weird, but there's already videotape ghosts so whatever. The ending is bleak as hell, too, so I can't get too mad at it.

_{1. [�Rec] 2. Attack the Block 3. The Wolf House 4. Bird with the Crystal Plumage 5. Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein 6. Perfect Blue 7. Juju Stories 8. The Invisible Man 9. Tetsuo: The Iron Man 10. Ringu

� / 5

Challenges: None (but it is new to me)}

Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 06:11 on Oct 3, 2023

# ¿ Oct 3, 2023 05:55

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

FreshCutFries posted:

2/31: Anaconda

Believe in yourself as much as Jon Voight believes in the acting choices he's making in this film.

# ¿ Oct 3, 2023 16:35

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 03:23 on Oct 9, 2023

# ¿ Oct 3, 2023 17:53

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

10. Pearl

quote:

You ever hear about some actor from your parents, and they rave and rave about how great they are, but you're only exposed to the later stage of their careers and so you don't get all the fuss, then you track down one of their early roles and you go "Oh drat, I get it now" ?

Pearl is that for me, for Ti West, in reverse. I've long complained his stuff is more an exercise in matching the look and feel of older films rather than actually delivering a quality modern spooky experience to the audience. Pearl is absolutely the repudiation of that take, a harrowing (and I mean that literally, you will be turned up and inside out, and you will not be the same, and there will be new things growing in you) experience and a lights-out all-time instant classic.

Make no mistake, this is not just West's doing. Mia Goth absolutely steals the entire show, with a single-take monologue that ranks up with anything in Network, not to mention the 50 minutes on either side of it making up this movie.

To say as little about the plot as possible, this is a movie about desperation, about longing, about needing a single, solitary thread lowered into the pit you're forced to live in, and instead of a lifeline, a bucket of pig slop is tossed on top of you. Pearl is the single greatest indictment of our modern world, and it's a pre-Depression era period piece.

Pearl did nothing wrong. Pearl does nothing wrong.

Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 01:42 on Oct 4, 2023

# ¿ Oct 4, 2023 01:23

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 03:27 on Oct 9, 2023

# ¿ Oct 4, 2023 04:33

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

12. The Exorcist III: Die Pazuzu Die

quote:

The Devil as an antagonist and demonic possession movies in general do almost nothing for me. I think the only time I've really enjoyed a Biblically-inspired villain was in Bedazzled, because I really believed that you would listen to whatever 2000s Liz Hurley in thigh-high red leather stiletto boots had to offer.

That said, Exorcist III is at the very least never boring. It can't quite commit to being a full-on procedural, so there's a lot of nonsense faffing about with half-assed fingerprinting tech, and it can't quite go (or refuses to go) full 'deliberation and arguing with the devil' until the last 10 minutes, which wrap up far too quickly.

It also has the same problem The Fifth Element does, kind of, in that Father Morning and George C Scott's character never actually meet and are only in the room together for a few minutes, despite them being the natural cop-and-priest team-up this movie needed.

Brad Dourif is the best part of this and the gall it takes to actually upstage literal legend GCS is just part of what makes it the best performance he's given (non-Chucky division).

# ¿ Oct 5, 2023 03:33

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

13. A Bucket of Blood

quote:

Well this was delightful. An absolute joyous celebration of the art world, a scathing takedown of beatnik culture, a goofy proto-slasher and a hilarious leading turn by the ever-great Dick Miller.

Walter is basically an incel, and "Dead Cat," "Murdered Man," "Seated Nude" and "Bust" are his manifesto. This felt like the greatest Tales from the Crypt episode ever, and you can't help but appreciate how much everyone is digging into their roles and making a meal out of them. The two union soldier(??) hippies were sublime, everything in this felt note-perfect.

Suffers a little from too much chasing around in act III and a just-so Code ending (how do you miss the chance to have Walter cover himself in clay to evade capture only to suffocate himself??!) but upon the "The End" card I immediately started working how to update this to modern audiences and realized you wouldn't have to do much; "influencer culture" is already doing most of the heavy lifting. Wild that Smash Cut came along 50 years later only to do this way worse (and with more, somehow, saxophone)

# ¿ Oct 5, 2023 04:58

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 03:28 on Oct 9, 2023

# ¿ Oct 5, 2023 22:59

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

14. Labirynth

quote:

I cannot remember a time I wasn't ga-ga over horror movies, and almost always from a technical point of view. I was Twain dissecting the frog - "why is this scary?" "how does this work?" "how'd they do that?" But before I was 10 or so, when this obsession took root, I was just a little kid, and my sister came home from Bob Rich Video in Miami (RIP) with this on VHS. We put it on, and I was in love. The puppets! Such amazing visions of an alternate world. The Helping Hands were and remain an insanely creative highlight.

But then the Fire Gang and Bog of Eternal Stench. I was so enraptured, so ready to adopt Ludo and marry Sara, and when they were at their lowest, scared out of their mind with Sara hanging above the bog, I lost it. I ran out of the room, crying, upset that they were gonna end up in the bog, that Jareth would keep Toby, that everything was gonna fail.

My sister had to stop the movie and console me, and later that afternoon, we came back to it and finished it. I dunno why I fell apart on this PG-rated movie with literally no blood or guts in it while I was simultaneously watching 80s R-rated action movies on my mother's lap in the theater, but drat if that's not a core memory of mine.

On a rewatch, having not seen it since I saw it at SIFF with the lady who was The Worm's puppeteer hosting, it still is jaw-dropping in terms of production design, but it definitely is lacking in the story department. Why does Sara care so much about Toby? Why does she hate him so much in the first place?

And while the practical effects are basically better than anything being done, even today, there is some of the worst compositing and CG I've ever seen. Seriously, how do you have the Fire Gang's detachable puppets and ruin them with that shoddy greenscreen job.

Anyway, a glorious kid's movie and the only movie until The Strangers to make me turn it off mid-movie in fear. Still, there's so many gaping holes in the plot, when it's already a simplified children's tale, that make it inexcusable. I think my 3� star review then is still correct now.

� / 5

[sub]1. [�Rec] 2. Attack the Block 3. The Wolf House 4. Bird with the Crystal Plumage 5. Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein 6. Perfect Blue 7. Juju Stories 8. The Invisible Man 9. Tetsuo: The Iron Man 10. Ringu 11. Pearl 12. Exorcist III 13. A Bucket of Blood 14. Labirynth

Challenges: Childhood Trauma

Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 05:09 on Oct 6, 2023

# ¿ Oct 6, 2023 02:32

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

Rewatch: Curve

8 minutes of pure, wordless terror. Really, really good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dD3Fawk4y0

Not counting it for any challenges or anything, just wanted to give it some love

Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 03:28 on Oct 9, 2023

# ¿ Oct 6, 2023 05:08

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

15. Slotherhouse

quote:

whoo boy!
Ever since The Room (and honestly, ever since MST3K), people have been trying to make the 'so bad it's good' cult film. But what they don't get about RHPS and The Room is that the people making them weren't setting out to intentionally make that kind of movie, they legitimately were working from the heart and had a personal vision behind the movie. It was a bad vision, and it ended up as camp, but it was a goddamn ethos. So many movies (lookin' at you, Sharknados!) try too hard to become that, but it can't be done on purpose.

Slotherhouse slots right in with Zombeavers as a horror-comedy that goes for comedy first, but is still eminently enjoyable as a killer monster movie. It shares a lot of DNA with Child's Play where the question of "how does a 10 lb sloth kill a 150 lb human?" is always answered in an amusing and inventive way (the sleeping bag kill was a highlight imo). This is clearly made by someone with a lot of love for the doofy B-movie schlock of the Sorority Girls in the Slimeball Bowl-o-Rama variety, but honestly comes a lot closer to Evil Dead than a lot of people want to admit. If you think that's high praise, I assure you it's not. Slotherhouse is legitimately the funniest horror-comedy since Happy Death Day and a really really fun time.

½ / 5

_{1. [•Rec] 2. Attack the Block 3. The Wolf House 4. Bird with the Crystal Plumage 5. Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein 6. Perfect Blue 7. Juju Stories 8. The Invisible Man 9. Tetsuo: The Iron Man 10. Ringu 11. Pearl 12. Exorcist III 13. A Bucket of Blood 14. Labirynth 15. Slotherhouse}

Challenges: Big Mean Animals

Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 06:22 on Oct 6, 2023

# ¿ Oct 6, 2023 05:17

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

15. Stoker

quote:

Park Chan-Wook has one pitch, but it's a cutter.

It's a twisty-turny family drama that escalates into horror with distressing erotic undercurrents. So much of this movie is just delicious, what we see, what we think we see, and what we think Chan-Wook <i>wants</i> us to see.

The thing about being a visionary director with a legendary grasp of pacing and movement (cf 'the <b>Oldboy</b> hammer scene') is that if you're the sort of person who calls it 'kino,' you're bound to get more out of his films. Every camera movement, every pan, tilt, dolly and wipe is calculated, and your job is to figure out why.

Oh, and the actual story and performances are outstanding. Just, y'know, as a bonus.

/ 5

_{1. [•Rec] 2. Attack the Block 3. The Wolf House 4. Bird with the Crystal Plumage 5. Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein 6. Perfect Blue 7. Juju Stories 8. The Invisible Man 9. Tetsuo: The Iron Man 10. Ringu 11. Pearl 12. Exorcist III 13. A Bucket of Blood 14. Labirynth 15. Slotherhouse 16. Stoker}

Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 03:07 on Oct 7, 2023

# ¿ Oct 7, 2023 03:01

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

16. Lords of Salem

quote:

I kind of missed the whole Rob Zombie hype train. Didn't see any of the Firefly movies until well after their release, and this and his version of Halloween passed me by until today. While I still thing The Devil's Rejects is his only great movie, this is still an interesting addition. Here Zombie is forced to spread his wings a bit, not being able to lean back on his southern-fried redneck affectations, and the results are... mixed.

Sheri Moon impresses the most, doing what's asked of her and getting to a fairly authentic performance, but the script falls apart, badly, in the end, and Zombie is forced to fall back on what is, essentially, an extended music video and some news anchor voice-overs to wrap up what had been, to that point, a pretty great movie.

# ¿ Oct 7, 2023 05:22

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 03:28 on Oct 9, 2023

# ¿ Oct 7, 2023 16:35

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

17. MAY

quote:

Whoever said this was a perfect pairing with Excision nailed it. Movies about broken loners who don't get the one lifeline they need are definitely something I fucks with, and I'm pretty afraid of what that says of me. It's why I don't think Killing Joke is an overrated Batman story - it works.

May works, too. While some of the characterizations are a bit broad and the plot a little too thin to get to our big rock ending, May definitely hits it out of the park, mostly on Angela Bettis's perfect performance. She's never quite 'full Wednesday Addams' weirdo, she has moments where she just seems shy, almost a proto-incel of all things the way she fetishizes future encounters and views people as a collection of their parts, but she is undeniably off-kilter. I don't know that the doll and the walleye add up to anything other than to give us another affectation that is a misdirect. Sometimes, people are just broken and travel down a path that there is no saving them from. Sometimes we are a part of their story. Sometimes we have to watch in mute horror.

May is all those things, and I wish her well.

Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 20:41 on Oct 7, 2023

# ¿ Oct 7, 2023 20:05

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-vC_-kJFRg&t=61s

The greatest meta-joke in history is about Twilight Zone (gag at 1:01 if it doesn't autoqueue)

Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 03:29 on Oct 9, 2023

# ¿ Oct 7, 2023 21:52

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

18. Wild Things

quote:

Oh man was this deliciously trashy. Just the sleaziest, wettest movie of all time. Everyone's dirty and everyone's a suspect. Secrets are flying and the story is always giving us only one side until it's time for the other.

I grew up in South Florida, due to where my parents worked I had access to some of these places (private schools and boat clubs) and yeah, everyone in them is just as greedy, venal and low as this movie paints them.

I'm not sure if this qualifies even as a thriller so much as just the blackest comedy or satire ever, it's a movie that hates its ostensible protagonists almost as much as it wants us to hate our villains, and in the end, only the working-class people get away with anything resembling a happy ending.

Happy to have finally seen this, it really is South Florida to a 'T'

� / 5

_{1. [•Rec] 2. Attack the Block 3. The Wolf House 4. Bird with the Crystal Plumage 5. Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein 6. Perfect Blue 7. Juju Stories 8. The Invisible Man 9. Tetsuo: The Iron Man 10. Ringu 11. Pearl 12. Exorcist III 13. A Bucket of Blood 14. Labirynth 15. Slotherhouse 16. Stoker 17. Lords of Salem 17. MAY 18. Wild Things}

Challenge: Birth of Horror

That's a bingo! I completed all the challenges in the OP. However! My personal challenge (31 new-to-me horrors from 31 unique years in 31 days) is still ongoing. I have my roadmap all set, and I'll update when I hit milestones.

Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 02:38 on Oct 8, 2023

# ¿ Oct 8, 2023 02:15

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 03:30 on Oct 9, 2023

# ¿ Oct 8, 2023 02:37

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# ¿ May 22, 2024 11:53

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

18. The Lost Boys

quote:

There's something to be said for 𝖆 𝖊 𝖘 𝖙 𝖍 𝖊 𝖙 𝖎 𝖈 in a movie carrying you far. The Lost Boys, which I had only seen clips of until now, defined a generation of goth kids. It did, there is no getting around it. It oozes cool and never stops to ask where a light source is coming from, the answer is shut up, nerd, it looks cool!

But as a movie, The Lost Boys, if you'll excuse the pun, lost this boy. Two protagonists is one too many, Sam and Mike are both underdrawn and then adding in goofball comic relief like Grandpa (whose deus ex Volkswagon-Thing-ia makes no logical sense) and the Frog Brothers undercuts the horror, but the hard-R scalping and honestly over-the-top bathtub scene undercuts the comedy.

This movie could have played as a PG if some of the deaths (and the random-rear end Skinemax love scene in the middle) were toned down, and I think it would have been better at that point. It's too busy being a silly romp to really mine the gothic tragedy of vampires.

Keifer loving brings it, though. The menace and swagger of an immortal Ave Rat punk.

# ¿ Oct 8, 2023 05:11

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Cinema Discusso > OCTOBER CHALLENGE 2023: TO A NEW WORLD OF GOONS AND MONSTERS!

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