|
#43.Return to Horror High (1987). A film crew goes to a high school where several murders took place to shoot a movie based on what happened. However, bodies start turning up. An average 80's offering. Normally, I'm iffy on movies about making a movie, but I don't mind this. They poke fun at conventions of horror films (tastefully at that). #44.MurderLust (1985). A Sunday school teacher hates women and enjoys killing them. That's all of it. An insecure man just kills women. He's kind of a loser, yet handsome and charming. No blood though, and a lot of kills happen off screen. #45.Silent Madness (1984). A killer returns to a sorority to kill more women after being released from a mental hospital on a clerical error. This was pretty fun. There were a few different plots woven together, which all worked. There wasn't much blood though, which would have helped this. The acting was mediocre. And there was a decent twist. #46.Mortuary (1983). A girl sees her dad get killed by a robed figure. Later, the robed figure appears and people around her are performing seances. Not much to this one. A sub-par slasher with no real teeth. It has Bill Paxton though! #47.Manhattan Baby (1982). An archeologist's daughter gets a necklace on a trip to Egypt. When she returns home, people start to die. This is a Fulci flick I haven't seen before. And for Fulci it's pretty tame. It's not very surreal, there is almost no blood, and the kills aren't crazy. Fabio Frizzi did the music, which I'm sure was used on other Fulci movies.
|
#
?
Oct 8, 2015 17:34
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 22, 2024 18:11 |
|
|
Watrick, what's the highest total for one day that you've had so far? I think my limit for watching movies is 4 in a day, anything beyond that and my eyes are just glazing over and I'm not absorbing it. Even 4 is pushing it, I really like to limit it to 2 or 3.
|
|
#
?
Oct 8, 2015 17:43
|
|
|
Basebf555 posted:Watrick, what's the highest total for one day that you've had so far? I think my limit for watching movies is 4 in a day, anything beyond that and my eyes are just glazing over and I'm not absorbing it. Even 4 is pushing it, I really like to limit it to 2 or 3. 8 is the highest. I don't always sit though. I'll move and exercise while watching too.
|
|
#
?
Oct 8, 2015 17:46
|
|
|
As someone with ADHD sometimes I feel like I'm better able to focus on movies if I'm doing something monotonous while watching them like Laundry or whatever, otherwise my mind has a habit of just going wild.
|
|
#
?
Oct 8, 2015 19:02
|
|
|
Day 8 - The Mirror Another review in podcast form today. This may be the angriest I have gotten at a movie in a long drat while. This garbage is a film that is composed entirely of set-up but has no payoff. It was so bad I also think it made us racist against the British, somehow. Full Review Combined score is a 1 out of 10
|
|
#
?
Oct 8, 2015 19:45
|
|
|
October 5th: Baxter (1989) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094713/ The story of a murderous, perverted Bull Terrier and his desire to find the perfect home, narrated by the dog himself. This is an excellent contrast to the countless family-friendly dog movies out there. Watching Baxter's mind work as he hatches his disturbing plots and waiting to see how he'll carry them out is quite thrilling. I enjoyed this one a lot, and John Waters gave it his seal of approval too. October 6th: Blue Monkey (1987) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092677/ Despite the title, there are no monkeys in this movie. I remember seeing this on TV as a child and being very confused by that. When a bug bites a man after he touches a strange plant in a greenhouse, the deadly parasitic infection spreads throughout the hospital, eventually leading to a giant monster bug wreaking havoc on everyone. It's a nice, gory tribute to the big killer bug movies of the 50s (and maybe a bit of an Alien rip-off). October 7th: Fever Lake (1996) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116299/ A terrible movie about six "teenage" idiots going to a secluded cabin for the weekend. Three guesses what happens to them. Okay, there's one slight difference between this axe-wielding killer and your usual axe-wielding killer; this one's an evil spirit that may or may not be controlled by a Native American stereotype. Unless you're a huge fan of Corey Haim/Mario Lopez/Bo Hopkins and have to watch everything they've been in, ignore this one or watch the RiffTrax.
|
|
#
?
Oct 8, 2015 20:02
|
|
|
4. The Burning Tom Savini has done better gore work, there have been better camper kill movies, and Sleepaway Camp does the slice-of-life drama better. The only reason to watch this really is the scene where the killer leaps from a canoe and manages to kill 10 people on a boat who flail helplessly. Even the pleasure of watching a 20-some Jason Alexander die is denied me: he's in the film a lot and then disappears in the final act. The entire film suffers from a bloated cast that it doesn't know how to juggle and, worse, the 40 minutes spent in the main camp is useless: none of the killing happens there! All of the "action" occurs on an "island" (some generic woods next to a river) so they don't even get to use that time they spent building up expectations about locations, which Friday the 13th is at least pretty good at in 1-3 with its camp. One small funny bit: the script is co-written by Harvey Weinstein. The most entertaining part of the entire experience was actually the Making Of feature on the DVD, which was 20 minutes of Tom Savini telling stories. 5. Dementia 13 This one of those sub-genres of thriller where someone is trying to make someone else go crazy for money and there's murders involved; the main thing to get right with those, what sets them apart, is the cast and the atmosphere. Coppola does aces with the atmosphere, making good use of black and white to give the typical estate a ton of gloomy shadows and close corridors; unfortunately, in the copy I watched the black and white is dark in the nighttime scenes that it was extremely difficult to tell what happening, which is kind of interesting during some of the frantic kills by the murderer but not so much during the climax. Other than that, I really enjoyed it, as at 75 minutes it races along and doesn't waste any time. 6. Dark Water (2005) I couldn't find the Japanese version to see first, but this is very good. Really, it's less of a scary ghost story and more of a drama about the horrors of moving into a new place and breaking up a relationship. There's not too many spooky goings on and those that are end up being low-key, but it's better for that as all of the character development lends the ending an extra gut punch. 7. A Blade in the Dark Lamberto Bava is not his father. The only good film I have seen with his name attached in a directing capacity is also co-directed by his father (Shock). This one actually starts out very promisingly--ignoring the bad dub and lack of subtitles on my DVD, which isn't Bava's fault at all--and I would almost say that the early scenes directly inspired the premise of Berberian Sound Studio. This is a giallo, and while it offers two extremely well-done kills (a claustrophobic one where a woman trapped between a wall and some wire mesh tries to move out of the path of a boxcutter wielded by the killer, the stabs coming again and again and again while diegetic music played by the composer protagonist floats down from the floor above her) the ending collapses. The protagonist confronts the killer as he stabs the protagonist's girlfriend in a hall. The killer gets thrown down. After coming at the protagonist again, the killer gets stabbed in the stomach with their own knife. It lasts about 30 seconds. That's the climax and then we have an epilogue that Explains What It All Means to the audience. The killer, of course, is (if you don't mind the reveal being spoiled not a woman as the film tries to make you think, but a man who "hates his identity" so he dresses up as a woman and kills women; it doesn't come off well, and I say that as someone who is pretty well-versed in Italian films from the 80s, so I'm not exactly new to drag killers. Beyond the usual offensiveness of that, the twist is just really boring: the guy we've seen for a few minutes did it because he's confused about his gender identity! The thing about climaxes in giallo is that the good ones usually leave you with a moment of horrifying insight as it all clicks together or a rush through stomach-churning imagery that almost overwhelms, like Deep Red or most of what Argento did in the 70s-80s. The only good part of this is that the killer is portrayed by Michele Soavi--as in the director of Cemetery Man, Michele Soavi. In other words, that climax is pedestrian in its offensiveness. I do have to give a shout out to the tagline, though: poster posted:When the lights go out, the knife goes in! timeandtide fucked around with this message at 04:30 on Oct 9, 2015 |
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2015 04:28
|
|
|
Week 1: Travel 1. Unaware [1/10] | 2. Vinyan [8.5/10] | 3. Borderland [4/10] | 4. Calvaire [8/10] | 5. The Forest [2/10] | 6. Dead and Buried [7/10] | 7. The Visit [8/10] Week 2: Creature 8. Altered Aliens | Abduction | Hicks Some hicks capture an alien as revenge for killing their friend 15 years ago, bring it to their other friend (who was abducted during that incident), and deal with the repercussions. This film was rather entertaining and there are some fantastic, imaginative gory bits. I like how the story plays out for the most part and they manage to fit in a good amount of characterization, something they do well in Lovely Molly, but omit wholly in Exists. I really like what Eduardo Sanchez has been doing with cryptids and mythology in his films, so far. 6/10 9. Aliens vs Predator Aliens | Predators | Wacky Shifting Mayan Temple Some scientists answer a signal to lure humans into a Mayan temple so they can become impregnated by xenomorphs for Predators to hunt. Not much to say about this one. It's...not very good. Pretty much just someone smashing his action figures together. Aliens and Predators aren't scary on their own anymore and they knew this going in, but it isn't a good action film, either. 3/10 10. Aliens vs Predator: Requiem Aliens | Predators | Predalien Starting right where the last one left off, the Predalien causes a Predator ship to crashland near a small woodland town and the facehuggers onboard nearly turn the entire town. A lone Stealth Ops Predator is sent in to perform cover it up: blow the ship, kill the aliens, disintegrate the bodies with blue liquid, and silence witnesses. A bunch of characters are set up to be the ragtag group left at the end but you never give a poo poo about them. The special effects are actually notably worse in this one, but the woodland town is actually a more interesting setting than the Wacky Shifting Mayan temple from the first. I ended up enjoying this one a bit more, maybe because I watched the unrated one and there was actually some blood. I kind of love the ending, which is the same as Resident Evil 2. This could fit in with any of the Alien comics. 4/10 11. The Cat (Lao Mao) 1992 Aliens | Rad Cat | The Thing This......is a weird Chinese film where aliens disguised as a girl and a rad black cat try to recover a powerful weapon from a museum, but a crazy alien flesh blob attempts to intercept them. A cop tries to help the aliens defeat The Thing and return to their home planet....gently caress. This isn't a good film. The plot's a bit confusing and the special effects are kind of bad, but I enjoyed it immensely. The blob is trippy as hell, and everyone who's seen it talks about the rather great cat / dog fight halfway through. I wouldn't bat an eye if this turned out to be an adaptation of an '80's anime. 7/10
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2015 04:43
|
|
|
#47.Nightmare (1981). As a child, George sees a woman having rough sex with his dad and takes an axe to them both. Now, George has a break while going off his meds and stalks his ex-wife and kids. The gore and blood in this was plentiful. It actually surprised me how much there was. Also, kids aren't safe in this either, which is risqué. I liked George, he isn't a bad guy, he's just prone to detaching from reality and killing people. The family was obnoxious. I hated the mother, her boyfriend, and all the kids. The mom always yelled about everything and freaked out. It was a chore to sit through watching her act. #49.Island Claws (1980). Scientists are working on a growth hormone for crabs, and they end up making huge, angry crabs with bloodlust. Well, this isn't scary. It has its roots in old monster movies, where some sort of human hubris is the cause of the problem at hand. The script has lots of filler, it feels like some of the scenes are there just to be there. They don't add anything, but remind us that characters still exist (even when no one is dying). #50.Tomie Unlimited (2011). Based on Junji Ito's manga. Tomie is a story about a girl who gets men to fall in love with her to have them kill her, so she may be reborn again and again and again. I've avoided Tomie flicks as I've heard they're turds, this one wasn't that bad. It focuses on a family with Tomie in it and the friends of their daughter. There were mostly practical effects, which was nice. The CG was iffy when used. The story was what I expected after reading the manga. Some of the creature designs were bad rear end too. All in all, not a bad time. #51.Elves (1981). "When there is no more room in hell, the elves will walk the earth." A bunch of nazi's want to impregnate a girl with an elf to give birth to the anti-christ/4th reich/master race. Yep. This is as absurd as it sounds. Grizzly Adams (Dan Haggerty) is in it too, as a mall Santa who happens to be an ex-detective. There is a weird incest sub plot which pops up. Dynamite, angry doctors, breaking and entering, cat drowning, and cyanide pills are present too. This movie is seriously strange on many levels. I don't even really know how to write about what I just watched.
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2015 04:50
|
|
|
#15. Ghostwatch (1992) The BBC puts on a special live news investigation on Halloween night of a reportedly haunted home. This is no gothic mansion, but rather just a simple estate home with a single mother and her two daughters. They report a presence they've called "Pipes" that terrorizes them. The special cuts between in-studio presenters debating paranormal existence and the significance of what happens during live reports in the home. At first the special seems rather mundane and even anti-climactic, but then as time goes on, more and more seems to start happening and going wrong, as everyone involved becomes in danger of Pipes' wrath. Wow. I've heard of this special for years, but only now finally sat down and watched it. It's a feat of amazement. There is nothing during the special telling you this is not real, as many other similar US experimental fake-news dramas did at the time (I remember a particularly uninteresting War of the Worlds remake for example around this time). The special includes several very real BBC personalities at the time, adding an effect of realism to the proceedings that I'm sure had more impact for early 90's UK watchers. On top of that though the writing is absolutely top notch, with the very definition of a slow burn, until in the climax you find yourself gripped by what will happen next. Also, there's Pipes himself, who is only seen if you have a keen eye and a freeze frame ability. I had heard he shows up several time sin the background so I looked out for him, and while I caught most of his appearances, looking things up, there were a couple I didn't see. He's never actually focused on enough to get a clear picture, but he's there 8 times. Which is ballsy and amazing. He's nearly a subliminal presence he appears so briefly. My only complaint is the very end gets a little cheesy and hard to believe, but the rest of the special is on point and one of the best I've seen in some time.  /5#16. Dark Waters (1993) Elizabeth, a British woman, travels to an island in the Odessa Sea where a convent sits that her now dead father has funded for the past 20 years without explaining why. So she and a young and newish young nun Sarah begin investigating, and find that the church secretly worships a much older Goddess, and practices some very horrible forms of worship. This film is...odd. It's a total mess as far as narrative flow goes. I didn't really figure out what was going on until the climax of the film, as there is a mess of subplots that don't really get explained. On the other hand, there's tons of lush dream and creepy imagery throughout the film. It's not BAD, but it is very confused and a hard watch. I had seen people praise this film for years, so when I finally tracked it down today, it was kinda a let down, though still interesting. .5/5
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2015 05:59
|
|
|
So what is the the camping slasher?
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2015 06:28
|
|
|
#7 Galaxy of Terror I didn't care much for this one. It starts off quite strong with very nice sets and a good atmosphere, but it quickly becomes an incoherent mess. Nothing seems to be related, just a bunch of ideas thrown into the same movie and then some incredibly weak explanation at the end to make it seem justified. I also have Forbidden World on my list, but I'm not too excited about it after this. BioTech fucked around with this message at 13:50 on Oct 9, 2015 |
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2015 08:33
|
|
|
I swear Galaxy Of Terror and Humanoids From The Deep were just movies Roger Corman did because some backer was into monster sex  And for some reason James Cameron worked on worms.
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2015 13:08
|
|
|
#8 Forbidden World I was dreading this after Galaxy of Terror, but it was actually surprisingly okay. I mean, it is still just a shlocky, low-budget Alien rip-off with gore and unnecessary nudity thrown in, but it at least had a coherent story. Almost everything was very mediocre, but the sets definitely looked good. Just like Galaxy the space station was believable and even though the monster looked like crap it stayed with one idea and followed it through instead of just random stuff. Also, no disgusting monster rape, though it had me worried for a few seconds. BioTech fucked around with this message at 13:49 on Oct 9, 2015 |
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2015 13:45
|
|
|
1.Psycho 2.Black Christmas 3.Deep Red 4.Wicker Man 5.The Mummy 6.The Curse of Frankenstein 7.Drag Me to Hell 8.Candyman 9.Child’s Play 10. Lords of Salem Aside from something possibly on the Scream Stream, this will be the most recent movie I'll watch all October. From my experience this film is divisive, although plenty of people around here seem to like it. Its a slow-burn, and there isn't what I would necessarily call a traditional climax to the story; a lot of people seem to have a hard time understanding what is happening in the last 30 minutes or so. With all that said Lords of Salem is my favorite horror movie of since 2000. I'm a big Rob Zombie fan and I enjoy all of his films, even House of 1000 Corpses. I feel like everything he's done before was just practice for Lords of Salem though, this is his masterpiece. Its the best cinematography in any of his films to date, Sherri Moon's performance is great(even though I've heard some disagree), and there's a palpable feeling of dread and sadness over the whole thing that is extremely powerful. There is a phone call between Heidi and her radio host friend Herman towards the end that is just gut-wrenching. Ending spoilers:Its a guy who wants to help with every fiber of his being, but there's just nothing he can do, the situation is hopeless. This is a movie where the bad guy sets out to accomplish a goal, suffers exactly zero setbacks, and wins out in the end. . Even if you aren't a fan of this movie, you can't say there are many other modern horror films out there like this, its fairly unique.
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2015 15:04
|
|
|
 #7. Prime Evil (1988). This was a pretty half-assed by-the-books Satanic cult flick. Make a sacrifice to Lucifer, get thirteen years of good fortune, renew promptly upon the anniversary or face terrible consequences. Dull ritual scenes, a laughable devil puppet, and the majority of the violence being perpetrated by a schlubby handyman (whom the cult had faked out with promises that he'd get some sort of reward). A few high-lights, like one victim being interrupted while getting sexy with a lady, only to reveal his roundhouse kicking skills; the straight-faced delivery of the line "Cut the crap, fart-breath!"; and sleigh-bells being worked into the score (because it took place in winter, you see), but overall very lacking. 4/10.  #8. Oculus (2013). Still mulling this one over. Some striking visuals, impressive editing, and the pleasure of having someone in a horror movie who has a thorough plan laid out for dealing with poo poo. Pretty bland score, though, and while the ending made sense from the back-story that had been established, it didn't have enough oomph to give me satisfaction with how things were wrapped up. Respectable acting from the kids, especially the girl, and some of the 'tricks' were visceral enough to cause squirming, but I felt (about half to three-quarters of the way in) like it was a short film that had been stretched out to feature-length. Not sure if that's what was done with the short film mentioned as being a basis in the end credits, but seeing that made sense. I would have preferred a little less vagueness about the evil thing's motivations (and a little less glossiness to the film's presentation), but that's just my taste, and the whole thing held together pretty well. 6/10.
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2015 19:57
|
|
|
1: Thou Wast Mild and Lovely - 4/5 2: Queen of Earth - 5/5 3: The Pact - 3/5 4: Wes Craven's New Nightmare - 4/5 5: The Green Inferno - 2/5 6: Creep - 4/5 7/31: A Christmas Horror Story Basically a Christmas themed Trick 'r Treat, with loosely connected shorts. Not really a "shorts" format, more of a multiple plot threads happening at the same time dealy, visiting one after another and back to the first. There's a high school ghost murdery one which was ok, a dysfunctional family Krampus one which was pretty silly, a (very mild premise spoiler) very creepy changeling family drama thing which was the best by far, and a santa vs. zombie elves one which was very stupid. Shatner was pretty solid as the DJ, though I didn't really actually laugh at him at all. Kinda fun movie. 3/5 Ratings arbitrary and subject to change depending on mood. I missed yesterday! Will have to do a double feature or two to make up for this weekend as I have a couple of friends visiting and we don't have time for a daily movie. I went to Sleep No More last night though, which was loving incredible. marblize fucked around with this message at 20:05 on Oct 9, 2015 |
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2015 20:02
|
|
|
Day 9 - Ravenous Let me tell you a story about the movie Ravenous. I was in high school when this movie came out and the trailer for it was nothing special and I didn’t particularly have an interest in seeing a cannibal story set in the mid-1800s. That being said, just one line from that movie wormed its way into my brain and has stuck with me to this very day. I will still, at incredibly random times, yell out in my goofiest voice “HE WAS LICKING MEEEEEE!” Thank you very much for sitting through that. That has been my Ravenous cool story, bro. Full Review 4 out of 5
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2015 20:47
|
|
|
8. An American Werewolf on London (1981): this is a re-watch, but it's been a whole since I've seen this. I forgot how fun this movie is! For those who are unaware if what this is about, please re-read the title of the film. A young American man is bitten by a werewolf, and runs amok in the streets of London. Of course, his transformation is not instant. There's a lot of fun scenes to keep things rolling along while we wait for the inevitable transformation. The practical effects and make up jobs are excellent. Speaking of special effects, the transformation is absolutely amazing. It looks better than most cgi. The soundtrack is great as well, and they were sure to find any moon-themed songs that they could. This movie is essential viewing, and if you haven't seen it then you need to. 9. The Strangers (2008): This is another re- watch. This one doesn't hold up too well.  This movie is about a young couple who are being stalked by three masked home invaders. I recalled this one being really creepy during my initial viewing. Seeing a home invader standing silently in the background is frightening as hell. Unfortunately, on my scold viewing these scenes didn't have the tension they once did. The camerawork is really unsteady as well. I don't mean that there's shaky cam, it just seems like it's not on a tripod or anything. It comes off as amateur. Thus us probably worth checking out if you haven't seen it before, but I do mot recommend more than one viewing of this film. 10: Rattlers (1976): this one is about rattlesnakes that have become super aggressive due to military testing. The synopsis is the coolest thing about this movie. It's quite low budget, and we see very little interaction between the snakes and the humans. Most of the plot is advanced by exposition dumps. The human characters are all one-dimensional stereotypes as well. At times, this movie gets quite bizarre as well. Like, the two main characters just take a break from everything and go to Vegas for a bit before returning to help. It's really weird, but not weird enough that you should bother watching.
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2015 20:55
|
|
|
Wreath of Barbs posted:3. The Houses October Built I was really expecting it to be working up to it just being another haunted house. One of the things that seemed to come up a lot in the interview portions was the idea of, what does it take to scare the crowd that's jaded to haunted houses? So a guy says at some point, if being chased by a chainless chainsaw isn't scary, is the next step just putting a chain on? So the main characters get stalked and harassed and kidnapped, but then 'thanks for coming, tell your friends,' because the 'next level' haunted house is losing the feeling of safety. Instead of oh no they're murderers the end. I don't think it would have made it a good movie since a lot of the lead up to New Orleans was pretty dire but it'd be at least a little more interesting.
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2015 21:11
|
|
|
timeandtide posted:1. The Manitou yes YES
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2015 21:16
|
|
|
I finally picked this up again and watched The Others. Holy poo poo was it good. Are haunted house stories normally this good? I absolutely did not predict the twist until the end.
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2015 21:28
|
|
|
Day 9 - It follows. Such a simple premise but it works so well. It's perfectly creepy. And the film builds on the premise perfectly making it exceptional. Plot summary: there's it, and it follows. I hate the way rape is used as a cheap plot device in media these days. And yet it worked so well in It Follows mainly on the strength of really diving into the psyche of the victim. It also helps that there's a rape metaphor that goes through the whole movie along with the other sexual themes that the film wears on its sleeve. I know I'm going to watch at least one, probably multiple movies, this month that use rape very poorly so I appreciated the deft handling of it here. One thing I love about It Follows is the way it's shot. Not how you sometimes see something moving in the background, though that's very effective since the audience is always tensed for a threat, but there's a hell of a lot done with the cinematography to build the mood. The threatened characters are often placed center of frame, staring directly out at the viewer. The camera often pushes in and out rather than moving laterally. The wide frames with small sections of action lets the viewer constantly scan for threats. It all puts the viewer both in the place of the monster and the place of the victim. It Follows is a great movie; paranoid and unsettling in the way that the best horror movies are. Absolutely terrific. Next up for me is A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night and that should wrap up my "recent horror films I've heard are good" run for the month.
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2015 21:31
|
|
paradoxGentleman posted:I finally picked this up again and watched The Others. Holy poo poo was it good. Are haunted house stories normally this good? They're really, really not.
|
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2015 21:34
|
|
|
Lurdiak posted:They're really, really not. Yeah. If you want a good one though, go for the 60s version of The Haunting. It's an incredible haunted house movie. One of the best.
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2015 22:47
|
|
|
paradoxGentleman posted:I finally picked this up again and watched The Others. Holy poo poo was it good. Are haunted house stories normally this good? I absolutely did not predict the twist until the end. Nope, but now you get to watch The Innocents.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2015 00:09
|
|
|
The Changeling is also a very good haunted house movie.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2015 00:11
|
|
|
Legend of Hell House should be essential haunted house movies.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2015 00:12
|
|
|
Watrick posted:Legend of Hell House should be essential haunted house movies. You're short!
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2015 00:33
|
|
|
cthulusnewzulubbq posted:You're short! Hardly. I'm the roaring giant.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2015 00:57
|
|
|
Legend of Hell House fuckin owns.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2015 01:10
|
|
|
#17. The Haunted World of El Superbeasto (2009) When the nefarious Dr. Satan kidnaps stripper Velvet Von Black in order to marry her in an unholy ceremony and gain ultimate power, the titular famous and arrogantly stupid lucha libre hero El Superbeasto, who has a crush on her, recruits his sister international spy Suzy X (along with her horny robot Murray) who is being pursued by nazi zombies to help him rescue her. Lots of calamity ensues. ...I'll be honest. This is NOT a good movie. It's pretty terrible in fact. The humor boils down to four things: The hero and villain being lame and stupid, lots of bloody violence, in-jokes of "spot the famous horror monster" (including every character Rob Zombie has directed up to that point) and nearly every female character showing off her boobs. I'm very surprised that John K. of Ren and Stimpy fame isn't involved, because the whole fiasco screams his off-key not-really-funny style. I'd avoid this one if I were you. 0.5 out of 5
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2015 01:13
|
|
|
Watched the 2013 Carrie on netflix. It's not an easy one to rate, because before the prom it was really really good but the telepathy carrie scenes at prom were really really bad.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2015 02:18
|
|
|
Haven't done much movie watching this week, but I'm turning that around tonight. #3: The Giant Gila Monster (1959) The most horrifying part of this movie was the main character's singing. Otherwise, you typical schlocky 50's monster movie. Watched the MST3K version, which was fantastic, on the train home Monday, finishing it up after watching... #4: Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (1991) A very left field choice for the season, which I decided to watch for the first time due to somebody labeling it as a horror movie. Having only seen a clip of the very end before this, I was completely unprepared for the actual bulk of the movie. On the off chance that anyone else hasn't seen it, holy poo poo, is this film gory. The main bad guy even transforms into a monster at the end, so I'm perfectly justified in calling this a monster movie!  Give this one a shot if you haven't seen it, it is batshit crazy in the very best way.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2015 02:55
|
|
|
Skeesix posted:Watched the 2013 Carrie on netflix. It's not an easy one to rate, because before the prom it was really really good but the telepathy carrie scenes at prom were really really bad. 
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2015 03:00
|
|
|
October Tally - New (Total) - (1). Scream (1996) / 1 (2). Shocker (1989) / - (3). Grave Encounters (2011) / 2 (4). The Babadook (2014) / - (5). Beetlejuice (1989) / - (6). House on Haunted Hill (1999) / - (7). The Leprechaun (1993) / 3 (8). As Above, So Below (2014) / 4 (9). The Possession of Michael King (2014) / 5 (10). The Unborn (2009) Was very busy/occupied and went a few days without being able to watch anything, so I've been playing catchup. 6 (11). They (2002) - Something lurks in the darkness and is coming for you. Watched it because "Wes Craven Presents" but he's only an "executive producer" so probably not much involvement in it.  I actually watched this a couple of days ago so its not very fresh in my head. I didn't hate it but I didn't love it either. I think I saw a better movie in it that just didn't get made. The monsters weren't very scary and would have been better served to be more mysterious and kept in the dark. Alternatively I think the movie would have been better served to enter the third act quicker instead of spending so much time trying to be spooky with characters who weren't well fleshed out and you didn't really care about their inevitable deaths. I know I had some specific idea of how this movie could have been better right after I watched it but a couple of days later I've forgotten. That probably sums up the movie well. Not terrible, not good, just forgettable. Even after just a couple of days. 2/5. Could have been worse. Was watchable but not worth recommending. Probably won't bother watching again. 7 (12). Devil's Due (2014) - The most hellish pregnancy, or "found footage Rosemary's Baby."  Rosemary's Baby is one of my favorite horror films (even though I struggle to watch it now because of my knowledge of Polanski) and I enjoy found footage so the idea behind this appealed to me. In retrospect after this and Possession of Michael King I'm starting to think that possession isn't done well in found footage. Especially this story. Even though its the pregnant woman who's possessed we spent most of the movie with her husband who isn't even really aware something's wrong until the third act. So like most found footage films it has a pacing problem, although not TOO bad. It moved quicker than I thought it was. And another common found footage problem is a little questionable ideas of why we're seeing what we're seeing but the movie does a decent enough job covering that late in the film although it still begs the question of why an apocalyptic cult making a bunch of anti-christs is taking the time to edit movies with all the footage they confiscate? Again, it wasn't a terrible film just light on scares and offering nothing especially new or interesting. Another 2/5. 8 (13). Ouija (2014) - Teenagers find supernatural toy, teenagers are told what not to do with it, teenagers do it anyway, teenagers die.  If you could somehow write some kind of formula for a computer to spit out the most generic, soulless, paint by numbers horror film based on all the past horror films to be made I'm pretty sure you'd get this. Generic cursed/supernatural thing that seems innocent but isn't? Check. Teenagers who look pretty, have no personality, make poor decision after poor decision, and line up to die? Check. A surprising lack of adult involvement as kids keep dropping like flies and running around haunted houses? Check. Uninspired deaths with no creativity or interest for the fans of that kind of stuff? Check. Unsurprising swerve with no real worthwhile payoff or punch? Check. Conveniently wise ethnic housekeeper who understands this supernatural stuff? Check. Creepy ghost kid who moves all jittery and super fast? Check. Casper the friendly ghost? Check. Its really just the most generic and piddling horror I've seen in a long time. This is what you'd imagine a toy company would make on the cheap to boost sales of a cheap toy they've had around forever. And I say that as someone who has never once touched a ouija board and has always sworn not to, and yet the movie couldn't capitalize at all on that pre-existing superstition of mine. From a quick look on Wikipedia apparently this isn't even the original film as an entirely different film was shot, screened, and tossed with different characters, plots, and everything. That feels like it says it all to me. Sadly I also learned it was a massive box office hit, is getting a sequel, and was novelized. My second complete dud. 1/5 I might squeeze another one in tonight to fully catch up. Sadly I'm trying to clear space on my DVR so I'm being less selective and just watching what's on it, and that's this not very good stuff. But at least it means I'll be saving more of my critically suggested picks for later in the month.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2015 07:10
|
|
|
OK fine. Carrie (2013) This is generally a really well-crafted, well-directed film. I think most people know the beats of the Stephen King story: Girl is unpopular at school, girl has crazy religious mom, girl gets invited to prom and is suspicious but goes, girl gets pigs blood dumped on her, fire/telekinetics/death. To it, we get a dash of modern technology and the cyberbullying that comes along with it. It's pretty easy to make any addition of modern elements here corny. It works here for two reasons though: 1) There does seem to really be a message the director wants to communicate here: bullying online is still a thing even if you don't use a computer. In this case, the scene where they Throw tampons at Carrie when she gets her period for the first time and freaks out is recorded with a cell phone and posted online. From there the footage reappears several times and although Carrie never uses a computer, phone, etc. the effect it has on other people and how they treat her afterwards is palpable. There was also Julianne Moore as Momma with a real self-harm problem. You can really feel her self-loathing hanging over Carrie. 2) The characters are for the most part 3-dimensional. Chris, the mean girl, is acting out at least partly to get her father's attention. Sue Snell and her boyfriend, who arrange for Carrie to go to the prom, are basically good kids at heart with some adolescent ego issues. It isn't perfect, but you at least get what everyone's needs and desires are and how this propels them through the film. Up until prom it probably gets and a half out of 5. Once we get to prom though it just takes way too long. They show the blood getting dumped from like 5 angles and it's all somewhat crappy CGI. Her doing telekinesis is the camera pointed at her making a face and then some Final-desination style CGI crap. And that's fine but it just goes on forever and ever.In general I would totally watch another movie by this director. There was a real craft to it in the use of music, the shots, the charaterization, it just got a little derailed by pacing issues at the end. and a half out of 5.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2015 09:25
|
|
|
NuclearPotato posted:#4: Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (1991) This the rare film where on first viewing it's completely unpredictable and unless you've seen a ton of bad '80's and '90's anime and some kung-fu schlock, there's a good chance you've never seen 90% of the batshit stuff that happens in this film in any form. The thing that pushes it into classic territory is that despite itself it's actually very watchable and if you're into this sort of thing, downright enjoyable the whole way through. Jigoku fucked around with this message at 09:57 on Oct 10, 2015 |
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2015 09:51
|
|
|
16. The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988) I first saw this movie back in my early teens on TNT's Monstervision with Joe Bob Briggs. I didn't love it. I next saw this movie on VHS when I rented it to see what, if anything, was cut out of the TNT broadcast for content. I still didn't love it. 20+ years later, I just gave this movie a third try and I really, really liked it. A lot. I don't know why. The narration still bothered me. It felt sort of cheap and not very creatively made. The song over the ending credits was basically the Terminator theme song, and a lot of the character motivations simply don't hold up at all. Maybe it's because I've been watching the rest of Wes Craven's output and it's mostly been poo poo. Maybe it's because I watched this during a business trip and it was the only down time I had. Maybe I was just in the right mood. Either way, this was a really endearing little movie and I'm actually looking forward to seeing it again in a year or two. 17. Chiller (1985) Better than Night Visions, worse than Stranger In Our House, this is overall a pretty bland, inoffensive Wes Craven made-for-tv offering. The beginning was actually alright. An accident at a cryogenics factory leaves one body thawing and in need of attention. He is brought back to life after some pretty neat Stan Winston effects are displayed, then he goes back home to live with his mother and sort-of step sister and immediately begins working at his family company. That's the first 30 minutes or so. The next hour is all about how this guy goes around being a real poo poo heel at his office. He makes cuts to the staff, stops all charitable donations, and offers women promotions in exchange for sexual favors until the local priest determines that he has no soul. Wes Craven's probably making a statement on 80s business, but it's so dull that it's really tough to care. 18. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) I've never actually been a fan of the original Nightmare on Elm Street (none of them are particularly good, but I remember New Nightmare being my favorite). That being said, in my quest to see all of Wes Craven's horror movies, I figured Nightmare would be a highlight, and I wasn't let down. The film maintains a consistent tone and the acting, while not great, isn't as bad as a lot of Craven's previous work. The effects work is mostly great, with the exception of two particularly laughably awful shots at the end. Wes Craven played around with what is reality and what is dreams/hallucination/illusion with more success in The Serpent and the Rainbow. 19. New Nightmare (1994) This is easily my favorite Nightmare on Elm Street movie and almost certainly will be my favorite Wes Craven movie. It was also the first Nightmare movie I ever saw. My family was taking a vacation, and for some reason we had to wake up at some absolutely ridiculous time of night to leave the house. I got up, got showered, and was ready before anyone else in my family and this was on late night TV (which was shocking because this was only maybe 2 years after it was released in theaters). I saw maybe a weird section of the movie, about an hour in and 15 minutes before the ending, and then we had to go. Later that summer, I rented the first 2 movies and purchased the 5th at a pawn shop in Williamsport, PA (worst. purchase. ever.). In my opinion, it's the perfect finale to a series that (full disclosure) I'm not a big fan of. Topper Harley fucked around with this message at 04:24 on Oct 11, 2015 |
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2015 14:21
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 22, 2024 18:11 |
|
|
20. Starry Eyes - A young actress does everything she can to land an career-making role. Everything she can. Do you get it? Do you? It's a dark satire on Hollywood! It was ok. The main actress was good. It just took it too far, to a point where it got goofy. (2/5) 21. I Spit on Your Grave (2010) - A young woman rents a remote cabin in the woods to work in peace, but the locals take advantage of the situation. I don't like revenge fantasies. Also not a big fan of long rape scenes. Most of the second half of this movie completely leaves reality, as she becomes a spirit of vengeance. Lots of repeated dialogue, turning lines back on the villains. Ebert was right, there are no good guys here. (1/5) 22. I Spit on Your Grave 2 - A young woman gets taken advantage of, and then becomes the advantage taker. Like a lot of horror movies, this is basically the exact same plot as the first film, with a different location. (1/5) 23. I Spit on Your Grave 3 - The survivor from the first movie tries to cope with the aftermath of her actions. In group therapy, she struggles with the stories of other girls and decides vengeance is the best answer. A remarkably different take on the series. No rape this time, just descriptions of rape! I think they could have had some interesting things to say here about trauma and PTSD, but, like the other films, this is only interested in violent deaths. An extra star for no rape. (2/5) PROTIP: Don't watch the I Spit on Your Grave movies.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2015 14:47
|
|
