|
1) The Monster Club (1980) 2/5 2) Of Unknown Origin (1983) 4/5 3) Night of the Demons (1988) 5/5 4) The Manitou (1977) 5/5 5) Mindwarp (1992) 2/5 6) Uninvited (1988)- The Uninvited is goddamn ridiculous and all the better for it. The plot revolves around a yacht populated by a pair of hot young babes, their snarky beaus, a comically evil Wall Street hotshot and murderous criminal, and a genetically altered house cat that spits out another, smaller house cat a la Alien. It's cheesy as all hell and the monster shots alternate between a very normal cat and a hideous muppet about 50% larger than the actual kitty. Solid, unwavering, enjoyable stupidity. The trailer says more than I ever could. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6pKPkf9dJKw  /5 Choco1980 posted:Dude, I adore The Manitou. It's so out there that I had to track down the novel, which is just as crazy. This is a movie that is totally due for a Hollywood remake with wild effects shots. That scene with the stairs kills me every time. cthulusnewzulubbq fucked around with this message at 00:55 on Oct 17, 2014 |
#
?
Oct 17, 2014 00:12
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 22, 2024 14:18 |
|
|
Totally forgot to keep up with the thread this year until now, but I have been keeping up with movies the best I can. I'm trying to only watch things I've never seen and Netflix roulette has caused some questionable choices here and there. So far I've watched: Sorority House Massacre Sorority House Massacre 2 Grave Halloween The Devil's Backbone Wer Wrong Turn Wrong Turn 2 Dead Snow 2 Never Sleep Again (Elm Street Documentary) The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976) The Uninvited (1944) Cronos Not quite horror: The Calling Horns If anyone wants my thoughts on any of these, feel free to ask. I plan to knock out quite a few more of the next couple of days.
|
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2014 02:15
|
|
|
For some reason, I have always been kind of hesitant to watch Horror of Dracula. I have no idea what was wrong with me, because this movie kicked rear end. Christopher Lee and his lanky legs make for a memorable Dracula that is just the right mixture of attractive yet sinister. I am adding more Hammer horror to this month for sure. Really a great movie and excellent for Halloween viewing. /5 I also watched another one I have been putting off for years, Pumpkinhead. Holy smokes, two great movies back-to-back. Pumpkinhead could have easily been an extraterrestrial story (not surprising given the director), but instead went with a more interesting and unique story. The monster is scary and I have to admit I jumped several times. What a cool movie.. Is part 2 any good? The reviews seem favorable enough, I might give it a try. /5
|
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2014 02:45
|
|
|
cthulusnewzulubbq posted:
Yes!! Uninvited is so great, just don't get it confused with the lovely American remake of Kim Ji-Woon's A Tale of Two Sisters called The Uninvited. Bonus: George Kennedy is in it. Today I went and saw the New Zealand horror/comedy Housebound, which has been a bit of an audience favorite at SXSW and other festivals. It was pretty good! There was some great use of sound, a few genuine scares, and a nice deadpan sense of humor that worked really well with the horror. I'd definitely recommend checking it out if you get a chance.
|
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2014 03:29
|
|
|
Week 1 1) Re-Animator (1985) 2) Isle of the Dead (1945) 3) Full Moon High (1981) 4) The Innkeepers (2011) Week 2 5) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) 6) Galaxy of Terror (1981) 7) Lair of the White Worm (1988) 8) Nosferatu (1922) / Shadow of the Vampire (2000) 9) The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976) 10) The Asphyx (1973) 11) Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) Week 3 12) Carrie (2013) 13) Shivers (1975) 14) House on Haunted Hill (1959) 15) The Legend of Hell House (1973) 16) Une nuit sur le Mont Chauve (1933) / Begotten (1990) Tonight was a surrealist double feature. Rooney McNibnug posted this in the Gen Chat, and I don't know if he cross-post it anywhere else, but I'm gonna do it again in any case because this fuckin' poo poo needs to be seen. It's beautiful and horrific all at the same time, a wonderful animated short by Alexandre Alexeïeff and Claire Parker based on Modest Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain," later adapted as the climax of Disney's Fantasia. Alexeïeff and Parker's vision is quite different from Disney's of demons gallivanting in wickedness. Instead, they emphasize metamorphosis, decay, and ambiguity. There's an overt sense that the beings being terrified and existentially tortured by this haunted night may be the very nightmares of the townsfolk... or the spirits themselves, who greet the dawn of day with just as much exaltation and release. With Begotten I round out my viewing of E. Elias Merhige's most well known films, coming off of the later, more mainstream Shadow of the Vampire. I think it's a particularly appropriate follow-up to Mont Chauve, given that's basically a gnostic grotesque version of the story of Genesis, with similar emphasis on ambiguity, decay, and metamorphosis. It's also available in its entirety online, which is good, since the only DVD is long out of print. As long as I'm on this kick, I think tomorrow I'll follow it up with a revisit to good ol' Jorg Buttgereit. I can't tell if I should rewatch Der Todesking, finally track down Nekromantik 2, or go right for Schramm. Then again, catching up with Shinya Tsukamoto's Tetsuo: The Iron Man might be an equally good idea.
|
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2014 04:06
|
|
|
Speed Crazy posted:Yes!! Uninvited is so great, just don't get it confused with the lovely American remake of Kim Ji-Woon's A Tale of Two Sisters called The Uninvited. Bonus: George Kennedy is in it. That reminds me of Black Sheep, which I need to re-watch by now. Anyways, going hard to catch up: 7) Q - The Winged Serpent (1982)- Taking place where King Kong left off, Q is a character-driven monster movie in the old school tradition of prop claws and stop motion. Michael Moriarty carries the film as a small potatoes crook who struggles to come to terms with what he's accidentally discovered: the nest of a giant flying beast who is terrorizing the New York City skyline by day and leaving headless bodies and severed limbs in the street. Supposedly, David Carradine was so nervous improvising his lines that he would throw up after a take. There are some hilarious results like when Carradine looks stunned after a close encounter and just utters "...Big!" or when he seems genuinely unnerved by the jump scares at the end. It's an engaging, authentic giant beastie movie in the same way that made Them! so different in its time. /5 8) Dust Devil: The Final Cut (1992)- This being my second introduction to writer/director Richard Stanley after the mesmerizing Hardware, I can say that I'm already really impressed with his work. He's a sort of South African Alex Proyas with visions of a sun-soaked portentous wasteland and it makes for some great movie making. This is the type of movie, thanks to cinematographer Steven Chivers, that looks stunning without seemingly trying very hard. The practical effects have a very "Wishmaster" vibe yet Stanley is a deliberate director and satisfies both the parts of me that crave ghoulish monsters and also a savvy, mature treatment. Bonus: the narrator of the story mentions going to see The Bird With the Crystal Plumage and The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires at a drive-in. That tickled me. /5 9) Slime City (1989)- A gross-out midnight movie splatterfest with copious amounts of neon slime. Slime City isn't as polished as Street Trash (which comes to mind) and is more noticeably a lower budget affair but it still delivers the goods and, in my opinion, has a more satisfying trajectory. The lead character is, himself, a slime (ha ha) and the payoff at the end is quite sticky and cathartic. Also, the scenes with the vamp temptress down the hall are super awkward and funny. This movie is quintessential New York sleaze. /5
cthulusnewzulubbq fucked around with this message at 08:49 on Oct 17, 2014 |
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2014 05:03
|
|
|
Dr.Caligari posted:
Not that good no. I've seen Part 2 more times than Part 1 as a kid, only because first movie was super hard to come by, so all I could find was the sequel.The idea and story is just odd as gently caress. Instead of Pumpkinhead being a demon you resurrect to fulfill your vengeful needs, he's now a mentally challenged deformed boy who died 50 years ago by, uh, getting bullied so hard that he fell onto a hanging hook and died. Years later, he decides to rise and commit his own revenge because a bunch of kids killed a character. Honestly, by doing that, you can just replace the monster and the movie wouldn't change. Outside of one element, there's barely a connection to the first. Which is a shame because the idea that you send this monster to do your dirty work, AND feel the pain of the victims is pretty hosed up/interesting way to do it. But you take that away, and he's just a generic monster. I also tried watching 3, and it just didn't do it for me. Pumpkinhead looked a little weird, but I was happy it was a dude in a suit, at least. Didn't bother with four. CelticPredator fucked around with this message at 08:48 on Oct 17, 2014 |
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2014 08:43
|
|
 The third weekend of the Scream Stream kicks off at 8:30 PM Eastern! Tonight's features are....  Dracula 1972 AD and...  Phantasm II Tonight's also your chance to try and win...  Don't miss it!
|
|
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2014 12:35
|
|
|
I've been running behind because of my social life. Time to get back to the horror! 1st: Nightmare Factory 2nd: The Town that Dreaded Sundown 3rd: Shivers 4th: ABC's of Death 5th: Re-Animator 6th: Creepshow 2 7th: Nosferatu (bonus movie: Virgin Witch) 8th: The Stuff 9th: A Nightmare on Elm Street 10th: Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy 11th: Eraserhead 12th: Demon Knight & Bordello of Blood October 13th: Sorority House Massacre This movie sounds really fun on paper, but it's one of the most forgettable slasher movies I've seen. I watch it every few years, and never remember a detail. Put it on with some friends, and it became background noise about half-way through. It has some shots that I liked, but it's definitely the worst movie I've watched all season. /5October 14th: ABC's of Death 2 My friend had found a way to watch it. The shorts are still hit and miss, but it's a bit more consistent. I've decided that the best way to enjoy this series is with a group of friends drinking and trying to guess the theme. The group favorite was D, and we still don't understand it. /5October 15th: House on Haunted Hill (original) A classic for a reason. It's fun, and Vincent Price steals every scene. Nothing more to add that hasn't already been said in general, or in this thread. /5I'm going to watch more classics now, and add in a few cool movies I've heard in this thread.
|
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2014 14:21
|
|
|
aw damnit, now I'm going to be pouty because I'm going to miss the stream. Oh well, at least the gf has requested Hammer (which me and a mutual friend introduced her to not too long ago) in helping with my challenge tonight. We're going to be watching The Mummy!
|
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2014 14:26
|
|
|
We really need to resurrect the thread for showing off DVD/Blu Ray collections, because yours looks awesome.
|
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2014 14:35
|
|
|
CopywrightMMXI posted:We really need to resurrect the thread for showing off DVD/Blu Ray collections, because yours looks awesome. Yeah, seriously. I have a lot of DVDs, but they're more run-of-the-mill instead of awesome, more obscure titles. These are making me rethink my whole life.
|
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2014 14:50
|
|
|
The Conjuring: I'd resisted watching this for quite a while because I hate the Warrens and what they stand for, but I knew I'd cave at some point. For someone going into the movie with that attitude it can be distracting how much focus there is on how heroic and amazing the Warrens are. It wasn't just that they're in the movie, but they are the two heroes of the story and are pretty much one dimensional characters in that way. That part got old and did grate on me. Still, I have to say I enjoyed it. It was slow at first, but I was fine with that and it paid off because poo poo really ramped up towards the end. There were a few solid jump scares, but not too many in my opinion. Some of the sound effects were amazing, like when one daughter is trapped in a room with the ghost/demon/entity banging on the door to get in. The sound they used for the loud door pounding felt like a someone was using a 2-ton door knocker or something, it was pretty cool. I'm also fine with the way it ended; I don't mind a happy ending, sometimes horror movies bend over backwards to go bleak with endings when its not necessary. All in all it was very solid and would maybe be even better if I didn't know anything about the Warrens. In a day or two I'm moving on to the true classics of the season, so I won't have to deal with any more "decent" or "solid" films, only the best of the best. Looking forward to it. Basebf555 fucked around with this message at 15:23 on Oct 17, 2014 |
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2014 15:21
|
|
|
Random Stranger posted:The Carrie remake would be an okay film if it existed all by itself... I kind of half-agree depending on what you mean by "okay". It was a thoroughly mediocre modern horror film if you take away the De Palma adaptation, but if you put it up against the original film it goes from mediocre straight into barely-watchable. At no point was I engrossed in the film, Grace-Moretz just didn't gel as the lead because she was too cute and too "acting", and Julianne Moore was Julianne Moore pretending to be a scary-crazy, overbearing mother. There was also the excessive CGI that didn't really add anything other than to one-up the practical effects of the original, like the floating mirror pieces, the floating books, the floating-spinning knives at the end. Also Carrie levitating all over the place with that crazy look, it just came across as comical. I can't pick it apart too much because I wasn't really paying too close attention to it. I guess I wouldn't call it "terrible" but in my opinion it was just this side of terrible.
|
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2014 15:37
|
|
|
Jumping in late, I guess. 1. The House is a goddamned mess. I can't figure out what the hell the writer or the director were going for, and George Wendt just doesn't have the starpower to save it. Neither the tone nor the plot makes any sense. /52. I'd seen it before and didn't much care for it, but my opinion of House of the Devil is somewhat improved on a second watching. The first time around I thought the suspense building didn't work well and that the climax felt unearned, but I might've been in a bad mood when I saw it. I'm still not as big a fan as most horror fans seem to be, but it's still pretty good, and Tom Noonan's a creepy gently caress when he wants to be. /53. I'm a total sucker for found footage horror, and Grave Encounters is one of the best. It perfectly nails the terrible TV shows that it's parodying, and the complete unreliability of time and space, where there's not only not a way out, there's not even a hope of a way out works really, really well. Pity the sequel's not more creative. /54. The Ninth Gate maybe doesn't strictly qualify as horror, but it's a movie about people fighting over books that summon the devil, so that's good enough for me. It's well-written, well-cast, and well-shot, but the thing that drives me nuts is watching people who have no reason not to know better reading a rare or unique book while eating and smoking a cigarette. /55. It was on Netflix, and I hadn't seen it in a long while, so I'd forgotten how terrible A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 is, to the point where it's not clear that the director understands the core Freddy Krueger concept. Nothing's good about it and it receives no .6. I just last night got around to watching You're Next and it loving rules. Loved the characters, loved the pace, loved that amazing retro-80's synth soundtrack that gets going once the Final Girl kicks in. Can't think of anything that could've been better about it. /5
|
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2014 15:58
|
|
|
Pope Guilty posted:
If you haven't yet you should watch the Never Sleep Again section about NoES2. The guy that wrote the script is surprisingly up-front about the fact that he had no intentions of doing anything related to what Craven had done and basically just took it as an opportunity to write a screenplay with as much gay subtext(if you can even call it subtext) as possible. Its also hilarious to hear Craven's comments about it because he talks about the ridiculous pool party scene and how incredulous he was when he saw it. He had created this dark, suspenseful slasher movie with an instantly memorable iconic villain, and in the first loving sequel here he is showing up at a pool party cracking jokes and randomly hacking up teenagers. It must have been a surreal experience for Craven to see that.
|
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2014 16:29
|
|
|
King Vidiot posted:I kind of half-agree depending on what you mean by "okay". It was a thoroughly mediocre modern horror film if you take away the De Palma adaptation, but if you put it up against the original film it goes from mediocre straight into barely-watchable. At no point was I engrossed in the film, Grace-Moretz just didn't gel as the lead because she was too cute and too "acting", and Julianne Moore was Julianne Moore pretending to be a scary-crazy, overbearing mother. There was also the excessive CGI that didn't really add anything other than to one-up the practical effects of the original, like the floating mirror pieces, the floating books, the floating-spinning knives at the end. Also Carrie levitating all over the place with that crazy look, it just came across as comical. I can't pick it apart too much because I wasn't really paying too close attention to it. The criticism that Grace-Moretz is too cute to play Carrie kinda confuses me because Sissy Spacek was a photo model and her casting received similar criticisms from the author himself. Both films do about an equal job of 'uglying up' their actresses, but I feel like Carrie's physical features are a distraction from the point of the film, which is that people aren't bullying her because of how she looks but because of what she believes. I actually think Pierce's film does more to engage this aspect of the story than De Palma's film. It's interesting that you say Julianne Moore is just pretending to be a scary-crazy, overbearing mother, since it's actually quite a bit more subdued than Piper Laurie's performance in the original. This is sewn into the film through the opening scene, where Margaret White is characterized as someone who is commanded by God to cut down her daughter (a gender inversion of the myth of Abraham and Isaac), but doesn't do it because her love is so much more powerful. De Palma's more interested in the iconography of sacrifice and sin and shame that dominates Margaret's mind and, thus, abuses her daughter. Margaret is barely even a character and physically embodies irrational religious hatred and fear. Pierce's film is ironically more ambiguous. When Moore says, "These are Godless times," and knowing the inevitability of what is about to happen (the trailers did nothing to disguise the 'twist'), one gets the distinct sense that Pierce's film is being told from Margaret's perspective, legitimizing these claims. I think Random Stranger is more right than you're giving him credit for, even though I also disagree with his basic premise, which is that the film was only 'okay.' The existence of De Palma's Carrie presents a superficially pre-inscribed narrative from which Pierce's film is judged in contrast, instead of as its own movie with its own unique narrative model and characterization and style. Pierce's Carrie actually works really well as a subversion of Judeo-Christian young adult novels of our own era, especially Harry Potter and Twilight. In these stories, 'underdogs' are rewarded for their basic goodness (chastity or self-sacrifice) and ultimately revered. In Carrie, Margaret defies what she believes to be God's commandment to cut down her daughter, and gives in to unconditional love. This is the capacity that contemporary secular social systems lack. To them, God is dead and this is banal. They lack absolute goals and moral values, and victimize Carrie as a representation of their own shame, much as Margaret abuses her daughter. Sue mistakes the solution to this as making Carrie 'Queen for a Day,' to turn her into Harry Potter, rather than to take up Jesus's cross and criticize the social system that victimizes Carrie. The problem, Pierce suggests, is not bullying, but the irrational persecution of the Other, who, in our secular culture, is the religious fundamentalist (who could be Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Sihk, etc.). Ironically, the bullying in the film takes on the form of victim-blaming; Carrie is blamed for her mother's abusive behavior, and is thus doubly abused by the society that can't accept her beliefs in non-violence and total compassion (something she gets on her own, as shown in her revocation of her mother's made-up Bible versus and her quoting directly from scripture). This is largely absent from De Palma's film, and it's most vividly embodied in the ending scene. In the original, Sue visits Carrie's gravestone, which reads "Carrie White Burns in Hell." The twist is that this is all taking place in Sue's imagination, that she is thinking this, and that Carrie's hand symbolizes her own shame 'reaching out' to punish her. De Palma's film is more engaged with the tragic inevitability of social violence and our internal prejudices. In Pierce's film, not only is Sue not confronted by an apparition of Carrie representing her shame, but this is no dream. Someone has literally vandalized Carrie's gravestone with these words. Even in death, Carrie has not escaped social scrutiny. There is no material salvation to her and her mother's self-sacrifice. They were right all along about the world's wickedness, and Sue escapes the ordeal.
|
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2014 16:40
|
|
|
Pope Guilty posted:4. The Ninth Gate [...] but the thing that drives me nuts is watching people who have no reason not to know better reading a rare or unique book while eating and smoking a cigarette. I disagree on the well-written and well-shot parts (there's one sequence where the attempts to "artistic" with the cinematography is so ham-handed that it's distracting to me), but the book props and how they were handled drove me insane. Maybe part of it is that I collect antique books (nothing valuable, just things I find interesting) so it bothered me more seeing blinding white, clean, perfect pages in a centuries old book that they handle with their bare hands and toss around like it's the latest airport fiction they picked up at their library. As for Carrie, it felt kind of teen soap opera-ish to me. That's not necessarily a bad thing given the theme of the movie, but it makes the whole thing feel a bit more shallow. But that theme is is a strong one and I think if there wasn't a much better version of the exact same movie to compare it to then people would probably appreciate it more.
|
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2014 17:23
|
|
|
CopywrightMMXI posted:We really need to resurrect the thread for showing off DVD/Blu Ray collections, because yours looks awesome. This thread is a godsend because I'm home sick for the weekend with a lot on the shelf I need to revisit or haven't made time to see.
|
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2014 17:57
|
|
|
I decided to go with The Birds last night as I hadn't seen it in years. I think it was a good choice. I like that the birds don't just attack any time they see a human being; they are sometimes totally passive. It makes them seem more unknowable and, in that, more menacing. The acting is all really strong, and I like the way the first half or so is basically a romantic comedy that then veers sharply. It isn't as visceral as Psycho, but I find its weirdness perhaps more satisfying for what I'm looking for in horror.
|
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2014 18:02
|
|
|
  I'm pretty fond of Kairo. The scope is so big, but it's not that much of a stretch from the initial premise. Having the main antagonist be despair is refreshing, especially compared to all the Japanese ghost films in which there's a single ghost with a vendetta. I also feel like it does more with the 'haunted video' premise than either Ringu or The Ring, even if it is a relatively small part of the film. Something about the way the ghosts in Kairo are presented reaches back and connects with what would scare me beyond reason as a kid, and the reactions of the characters to these encounters really helps sell that paralyzing fear. From what I've heard, it's amazing how badly the American remake managed to gently caress up the film's message.
|
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2014 19:01
|
|
|
My last 2 weeks looked like this. I was able to do some catching up with no small thanks to the horror stream. 9. Dawn of the Dead (2004)- This is probably my favorite remake of anything. I just think it's so fun. 10. Frankenweenie- I found this really boring. The animation is neat, but it didn't hold my interest very well. 11. Friday the 13th Part VII- It had been years since I had seen this one. Man, Jason is actually kind of scary in this. 12. Freddy vs Jason 13. Child's Play 2 14. Ginger Snaps 2 15. The Addams Family 16. Fright Night (1985) 17. Paranorman 18. Eyes Without a Face- First time viewing this. Definitely enjoyed it. 19. The Awakening- I actually really liked this movie, which surprised me. I'm a fan of the lead actress and liked the premise of the story and how she is not your stereotypical horror movie protagonist. I'd watch a spinoff movie of her debunking old timey spiritualism.
|
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2014 23:44
|
|
Choco1980 posted:aw damnit, now I'm going to be pouty because I'm going to miss the stream. Oh well, at least the gf has requested Hammer (which me and a mutual friend introduced her to not too long ago) in helping with my challenge tonight. We're going to be watching The Mummy! You can still enter the raffle. :^)
|
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2014 00:06
|
|
|
1) The Monster Club (1980) 2/5, 2) Of Unknown Origin (1983) 4/5, 3) Night of the Demons (1988) 5/5, 4) The Manitou (1977) 5/5, 5) Mindwarp (1992) 2/5, 6) Uninvited (1988) 3/5, 7) Q - The Winged Serpent (1982) 3/5, 8) Dust Devil: The Final Cut (1992) 5/5, 9) Slime City (1989) 4/5 Trip Report From Horrorland: 10) Feeding Frenzy (2010)- This is a man-eating little critter movie from Jay Bauman and Mike Stoklasa of RedLetterMedia. The jokes are sometimes uneven but the script doesn't use genre as a crutch and avoids making derivative jokes at the expense of its inspirations (ghoulies, critters, munchies, etc.). The snob in me wishes the production was shot on film, but I understand the prohibitive costs. It's just jarring seeing underground films in a digital format when you were raised on VHS schlock like I was- grain gave everything a veneer. This is a solid experience from some fine folks with enough charisma and aptitude to keep you entertained for the running time and the love of movies displayed here keeps the entire enterprise afloat. /5 11) Syngenor (1990)- So at this secret corparate bio weapons facility they are making monsterized super soldiers called "Syngenors" (SYNthesized GENetic ORganisms) and, of course, they escape. Yikes. It's basically a 60s film transplanted in 1990 (or a Full Moon pictures rip-off of Aliens) with Robert and Dennis Skotak (Aliens!) at the helm for creature effects. Syngenor suffers from looking bright and slick like Robocop without the sleaze or the threat and is a bit rigid much like the men in rubber suits who are supposed to be perfect killing machines for some reason. Fun Fact: Syngenors are damaged by water. Even Night of the Blood Beast wasn't that stupid. The filmmakers can't really use the creative team's tools effectively, and as a result it's all very hokey looking. Luckily there are some explosions, the creatures do something to folks that looks like glowing throat-rape, and David Gale (Re-Animator) is there to be the deranged villain and make the show memorable. I mean, who doesn't want to see character actor David Gale go apeshit and vaporize folks with a floor-mounted laser cannon? Syngenor gets off easy because I have a soft spot for stupid garbage. /5
cthulusnewzulubbq fucked around with this message at 01:04 on Oct 18, 2014 |
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2014 00:21
|
|
|
Do you own Quigley on DVD?
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2014 00:33
|
|
|
Yaws posted:Do you own Quigley on DVD? Yes. Yes, I do.
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2014 00:35
|
|
|
Day 17 - If you took the credits off Shivers and asked me who directed it, I'd immediately say David Cronenberg. It doesn't look as nice as his films will, he's working off Canadian Film Trust money here, but Shivers is essentially his career summed up right at the start of it. Sex, horrible things happening to the human body, and often both at once. There's luxury condos on a small island just outside of Montreal and due to the bad practices of the Canadian health system a doctor got money to make super parasites. These works sexually assault people and then once inside them cause their victims to sexually assault people. They quickly multiply out of control and the building descends into an orgy of rape. I was constantly asking myself as I watched this movie, "Is Cronenberg trying to titillate or horrify?" and there isn't an easy answer to that. With reflect and thought, I think he was trying to make that as uncomfortable as possible and thus horrify his audience, but at the same time I can easily see people coming to the conclusion that he was trying to entice the viewers with sex and then throwing in the violence as a horror film. One problem I had with this movie is that there's not much of a plot. I feel like it needed some kind of arc that we just don't get. There's some basic preliminary set up and then suddenly it's rape everywhere as the main character just runs around looking to get help. Not any particular help or any particular goal beyond that, just looking for help. It makes the last half of the film just him running from hallways filled with sexy zombies. I'm not sure what I'm watching tomorrow. Something light since I'm pretty busy. I'm annoyed at how whoever holds the rights to the Hammer films has been determined to not allow them anywhere near streaming services. I've seen exactly one movie from their big two series and it was Dracula 1972 so that wasn't doing them any favors. Also for those of you looking for a different kind of horror film, I noticed that Amazon Prime has Foodfight categorized as horror. It's hard to argue with that...
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2014 01:03
|
|
Lurdiak posted:
Live in 25!
|
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2014 01:05
|
|
|
Random Stranger posted:I'm not sure what I'm watching tomorrow. Something light since I'm pretty busy. It looks like The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires is on youtube and it's a Hammer Horror/Kung Fu fusion.
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2014 01:12
|
|
|
The Vampire Lovers is on Netflix, but that's not exactly tier one Hammer stuff. If you're into lesbian vampires, it's not too bad, though.
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2014 01:29
|
|
|
Benito Cereno posted:The Vampire Lovers is on Netflix, but that's not exactly tier one Hammer stuff. If you're into lesbian vampires, it's not too bad, though. Actually, that's a subgenre I wanted to include this month but I didn't have anything standing out for me. I think I'll watch it tomorrow.
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2014 02:00
|
|
|
Day 17 - Barricade The streak of movies with “house” in the title has ended but the spooky house theme continues on. This time it’s a spooky cabin. It stars Eric McCormack as a widower with his 2 young children going on vacation and I mention this only because I spent the entire movie going “Why do I know who you are?” before finally realizing it was from Will & Grace. The saddest part about this movie is that within the first couple minutes we see Terrance (McCormack) talking to his wife and she tells him that raising the kids isn’t that hard and I immediately knew she was going to die and the “haunting” was going to be about that. The movie then continues to be really obvious in all its plot points.
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2014 02:55
|
|
|
Week 1 1) Re-Animator (1985) 2) Isle of the Dead (1945) 3) Full Moon High (1981) 4) The Innkeepers (2011) Week 2 5) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) 6) Galaxy of Terror (1981) 7) Lair of the White Worm (1988) 8) Nosferatu (1922) / Shadow of the Vampire (2000) 9) The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976) 10) The Asphyx (1973) 11) Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) Week 3 12) Carrie (2013) 13) Shivers (1975) 14) House on Haunted Hill (1959) 15) The Legend of Hell House (1973) 16) Une nuit sur le Mont Chauve (1933) / Begotten (1990) 17) Monkeyshines (1988) Holy God drat, this movie was amazing. The ending was absolutely crazy.
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2014 04:45
|
|
|
12) Ghoulies 3: Ghoulies Go To College (1991)- It's prank week at the college so that means rival frat houses are competing to do the lamest capers imaginable in order to win the rights to wear a lovely hat. Apparently this is called "yanking". And then goblins come out of a haunted toilet. The ghoulies wander around the sets drinking beer, destroying things, and ogling half-naked women which I suppose are cool things to do and I would do that too if I was a toilet goblin. Memorable quotes include "I'm sporting half a chubby", "let's blow this poop stand", "you're full of dingleberries", "belch sound", and "fart sound with train whistle". All this being said, I should award Ghoulies Go To College a second pumpkin in recognition of some genuinely great moments and its fine pedigree of crappiness- like a stunted, inbred, anemic Westminster show dog./5 13) The Old Dark House (1932)- This seminal comic horror drama was a real treat and I'm glad I finally sat down to watch it. The production is lush without being ostentatious- the stormy night is appropriately threatening and the parlor is cavernous and gloomy. The cast is beyond all expectation; the gothic Femms are a quirky treat. These are the original Addams and their mannerisms are effortlessly delivered. Our patriarch, the gaunt and sour Horace Femm (Ernest Thesiger), makes his appearance, welcomes the stranded travelers, and removes flowers from the sofa: "my sister was making a point of arranging these" and he tosses them into the fire. Later at the table he offers each guest dinner: "have a potato... have a potato... have a potato". I will probably have to add this to my yearly Halloween line-up. /5
cthulusnewzulubbq fucked around with this message at 07:39 on Oct 18, 2014 |
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2014 05:28
|
|
|
  One of the better 'skeletons in the neighborhood closet' horror films I've seen, even with some jammed-in '90s alt rock and story elements that come and go without much sense. Kevin Bacon does a passable job as a grounded guy with a fluctuating accent, and Kathryn Erbe does well as his heavily put-upon wife. Not a bad kid actor, either, and while the special effects can be a little problematic, they at least manage to avoid the worst of late-'90s CGI. Kind of weird that they couldn't get the Rolling Stones version of "Paint It Black", considering how prominently it was featured in the ads. Overall, a fairly basic but enjoyable 'unfinished business' ghost flick.
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2014 07:30
|
|
|
7. The Conspiracy is another of those found footage flicks I like so much, though like Noroi it's an in-universe edited document rather than "we found a camera". I particularly liked that moment when it becomes clear that they were made from the very start. /5
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2014 08:05
|
|
|
Added Doc of the Dead to my watched list tonight. I'm tired of zombies and this documentary is mostly people gushing about them, but it was still a fairly fun watch with lots of notable folks popping up in it.
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2014 09:17
|
|
|
Horror Conspiracy Double Feature! 14) Society (1989)- Brian Yuzna (producer of Re-Animator and From Beyond) directs this largely forgotten gem which uses that instantly recognizable brand of sticky body horror to embellish a dark fable about upper crust life in sunny Southern California. Young, privileged, and disenchanted with his family, Bill Whitney (Billy Warlock) has expressed concerns with the family psychiatrist: he feels like he doesn't belong to his beautiful blonde dynasty and that something terrible is under the surface. This is a fun and satisfying horror story about a yacht club cabal that easily rivals contemporary fan favorite They Live. And it's far weirder. /5 15) Spontaneous Combustion (1990)- Tobe Hooper seems to be at his best when he's channeling insane exploitation (Eaten Alive) or operating under a strong guiding hand (Poltergeist). Spontaneous Combustion is a clumsy and mostly sterile thriller that doesn't find it's stride and honestly isn't very fun. Brad Dourif plays the orphaned child of two atomic age test subjects and he spends much of his time rediscovering his past and unwittingly setting folks ablaze with pyrokinesis. There are glimmers of what could have been- Dourif's potential to really emote and a glorious fleeting dummy shot of a burning body striking plexiglass head first and leaving a greasy smear. But it isn't enough and it floats by untethered to any strong direction. /5
cthulusnewzulubbq fucked around with this message at 11:05 on Oct 18, 2014 |
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2014 09:49
|
|
|
cthulusnewzulubbq posted:13) The Old Dark House (1932) I still haven't seen that one and it sounds like a lot of fun. I think I'll toss that on my list.
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2014 15:16
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 22, 2024 14:18 |
|
|
I'm glad to see someone else's love for The Old Dark House. I discovered it 2 October's ago and watch it every year now. Ernest Thesiger is the man.
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2014 15:38
|
|