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CortezFantastic posted:Hey OP if you want, you can add the https://www.dashradio.com Halloween station. It is pretty good. The first one wasn't a waste of time but also wasn't great. Anarchy is much better, more an action/horror.
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Oct 6, 2016 04:05
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1) The Witch 2) Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers 3) The Return of the Living Dead II 4) We Are Still Here I'd been watching Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare in chunks at night, and finally wrapped that up last night. Oh man, I forgot just how bad this one was. It basically went all-in on Freddy no longer being an actual threatening villain, and made him into more of an impish antihero. Really play up how cool Freddy is for the MTV crowd, never minding the fact that the plot hinges on him tracking down his never-mentioned daughter to piggyback on her to a new town of fresh meat; never mind that the reason to do this at all is because he has literally murdered every child in his hometown of Springwood, thus negating an entire generation in that area. Naw man, Freddy's cool. He's even doing 3-D and poo poo, because that's not a perfect summation of this movie: two pointless, dead cultural artifacts getting joined at the hip to suck in unison. Robert Englund, at least, looks like he's having a blast with this (supposedly) final go-'round as the character. Too bad it leads to way more mugging than usual, meaning Freddy ends up undercutting any scenes that could have been effective by dancing around like a proto-Jim Carrey. I'm glad Englund had his fun; I sure as poo poo didn't. 1 out of 5. ---- I hadn't been having the best of luck with these recent choices, so I said to heck with it and went with something that I know is good. And that's why I watched John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) again. I think this is my favorite Carpenter film, and in close contention for favorite horror movie of the 80s, if not favorite horror movie period. I love this film. 5 out of 5.
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Oct 6, 2016 04:42
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#12 & 13: Ju-On: White Ghost/Black Ghost (2008) What we have here are two separate films packed together as one. Originally they were released in theaters separately to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the franchise, but on home video are one package. In White Ghost, we have a new far reaching grudge curse, much like the original. In this case the Very Bad Thing that happened is a very Amityville style horror, where a college age man killed his extended household family after being haunted by spirits. This has naturally led to haunting of anyone who comes close to the event, with the main "ghost" attacker being the family grandma, for some reason carrying a basketball. In Black Ghost, the titular haunter seems to have sprung forth from the phenomena of a tween girl having a cystoma in her uterus area that is her twin sister, never born. The ghost is black from head to toe, which makes for some eerie moments in heavily shadowed areas. These shot on video films were just...okay. They were short so there wasn't much meat to them, though there was some surprising gore to them. The franchise's creator didn't actually write or direct these side stories, but he did heavily act as producer on them, and it shows. They feel like a throwback to the original tv movies, with their character-driven narratives that bounce around time and space, and their mean spirit (especially the latter) where nobody is safe. They're not bad if you're looking for a Ju-On itch to scratch. I only have three more films left so far that have been made, let's hope they don't let me down... I give Ju-On White Ghost/Black Ghost  out of Five
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Oct 6, 2016 05:14
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Creep was mentioned on the previous page so I watched it just now. Casting was brilliant and Mark Duplass made it happen. The plot was a bit of a stretch but believable because lots of people are naive.
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Oct 6, 2016 05:42
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 The ListThe Big Four 16. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) 17. Halloween (1978)  The, number one, most iconic horror poster of perhaps all time. A lot of times, I filp flop on which is my favorite horror movie, Texas Chainsaw Massacre or this. And it's pretty hard to choose, both being very different and very influential. Where TCM has the grimy realism, this has such a masterful control of the tension. And I do have to applaud Carpenter's almost complete control on the feature to help capture that tension. In what was a series of the proto-Slashers, we now come across the Ur-Slasher. The one that influenced and codified every single one. From the unknowing jovialness of the soon to be victims in the beginning, the first kill that acts as preludes the spree, the dehumanized and nigh-unstoppable killer sharing the spotlight, the final sprint where the machismo killer starts making mistakes, and the final girl fighting back. And this shift from one era of horror is perhaps typified by Carpenter's phenomenal soundtrack. Though, this is made all the more apparent after just watching The Town that Dreaded Sundown, which had a much more traditional old-fashioned score. The difference between the music in those two films is like the difference between listening to a Phil Spector track and Michael Jackson. That said, after watching them both back to back, I think I TCM edges it out for the moment. It's naturalism, the characters, and the grime have just won me over. Though maybe next year, who knows, the tides may turn again. Next up: Friday the 13th
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Oct 6, 2016 06:24
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What a great idea for an October marathon; all of John Carpenters horror movies in order. I used to own them all, wonder if I still do.
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Oct 6, 2016 08:04
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5. Christine This was decent and enjoyable. It didn't do anything I hadn't seen before, but I did like how animalistic they made the car. Especially in the finale with the front smashed, the jagged hood just looks like a mouth filled with sharp teeth. The bulldozer tearing into the trunk really reminded me of a predator sinking its teeth into a prey, the following struggle of someone desperately trying to escape and the prowling under the bridge earlier made me think of a shark.
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Oct 6, 2016 08:07
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1.1: Cloverfield 1.2: 10 Cloverfield Lane 2.1: The Thing 2.2: They Live 3.1: Prince of Darkness 3.2: In the Mouth of Madness 4.1: From Beyond 4.2: The Lords of Salem 5.1: With how prominent it is in popular culture and all that, I was pleasantly surprised to find out I didn't actually know a thing about the plot of Hellraiser. It is a Good Movie. Despite the subject matter it seemed almost...pleasant to watch. Everyone's motives made sense, things flowed in a logical manner, and even the beings doing gross things were always considerate enough to tell the people nearby to not watch. The Cenobites' designs were each uniquely rad, they had an air of being both otherworldly and sensible, and the gravitas of Pinhead did not fade after he opened his mouth as it easily could have. I think all this cosmic horror is getting to me in a good way. 9/10 5.2: However...I can't really decide what kind of sequel Hellraiser II: Hellbound is, whether it's more of an Aliens or a Matrix: Reloaded, but it feels a lot like the latter with how it blindly apes and expands on every little element from the original. It's certainly not as tightly focused, and a lot of it seemed like a series of transitions between gory setpieces, but they were quite nice setpieces. It was also nice to have a sequel with a protagonist and antagonist from the first film that you might not have guessed from seeing the start of the first, and manages to pull it off, and it definitely knocks the Bechdel test out of the park. In the end though, I think I probably would have been better off leaving this alone, and I certainly won't be following up on the uninspired sequel hook (heh). 7/10
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Oct 6, 2016 08:43
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wormil posted:What a great idea for an October marathon; all of John Carpenters horror movies in order. I used to own them all, wonder if I still do. Let's be fair, once you get past In the Mouth of Madness it would be really hard to continue.
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Oct 6, 2016 12:23
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Random Stranger posted:Let's be fair, once you get past In the Mouth of Madness it would be really hard to continue. Vampires is perfectly entertaining, and I think Ghosts of Mars has enough fun stuff in it to keep me from offing myself while I watch it. It really wouldn't be that difficult except for the very last one. I think he's only made the one offensively bad film, the others I consider at least passable.
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Oct 6, 2016 14:44
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Ghosts of Mars is one of my guilty pleasures. It's terrible but has Natasha Henstridge and Jason Statham.
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Oct 6, 2016 18:08
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CortezFantastic posted:Hey OP if you want, you can add the https://www.dashradio.com Halloween station. It is pretty good. Done, son.
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Oct 6, 2016 18:38
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#14. Cat in the Brain aka Nightmare Concert (1990) Writer-Director Lucio Fulci stars as Writer-Director Lucio Fulci. Fulci, as I'm sure you all know, was one of the biggest names in Italian horror, particularly in the 80s. All that blood and guts meanwhile is starting to get to him, and he starts having hallucinations and revulsions often, usually involving flashbacks to his films, or ones he produced. He goes to see a local psychiatrist for advice, and the doctor hypnotizes him. Little does he know that the doctor himself is a maniac, and uses Fulci's breakdown to help swerve guilt away from his own killing sprees. This wasn't too bad. It's probably one of the more coherent of Fulci's films, and it has a fun meta-narrative. However, that usually means here an excuse to show clips from other films (especially Ghosts of Sodom and Touch of Death, his two previous films, which he is working on during the plot). The film also doesn't shy at all away from the red stuff, so if you have a sensitive stomach, you might want to turn elsewhere. Unfortunately, despite the really good idea of the story, not much is really done with it besides moving from setpiece to setpiece. Still, it beat Wes Craven's New Nightmare to the meta-horror punch by 4 years, so there's that. I give Cat in the Brain  out of Five
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Oct 6, 2016 19:26
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Choco1980 posted:This wasn't too bad. It's probably one of the more coherent of Fulci's films, and it has a fun meta-narrative. However, that usually means here an excuse to show clips from other films (especially Ghosts of Sodom and Touch of Death, his two previous films, which he is working on during the plot). The film also doesn't shy at all away from the red stuff, so if you have a sensitive stomach, you might want to turn elsewhere. Unfortunately, despite the really good idea of the story, not much is really done with it besides moving from setpiece to setpiece. Still, it beat Wes Craven's New Nightmare to the meta-horror punch by 4 years, so there's that. And Awakening of the Beast, indulgent as it is, precedes Cat in the Brain by 20 years!
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Oct 6, 2016 19:55
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PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE MARKED ONES. It's actually the only one I haven't seen before (I've even seen the unofficial TOKYO NIGHTS) and I thought that outside of the original one this is probably the best even though there are characters that make some seriously questionable decisions. Just once I'd like a scene where someone shows all of their footage to the police, just to see what happens. One of the benefits this one does have though is that in the early going the characters are genuinely likeable. They're legitimately funny and well played. What hampers it is being a PARANORMAL ACTIVITY movie. I would've kind of preferred it had it been made something as a standalone because when it has to tie in to the 'mythology' it suffers. The last act really sort of falls apart for me.
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Oct 6, 2016 20:32
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The List The Big Four 16. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) 17. Halloween (1978) 18. Friday the 13th (1980)  Also up there in iconic posters. Also, stealthily spoiler-ific So, not a great film. A fun film, and certainly worth watching. Especially in the context of a film whose sequels have preceded it's own reputation. And like every other kinda mediocre horror film, it kinda only gets good in the last 20-30 minutes, when the final girl chase happens. It's desperately trying to be Halloween, down to the date-as-a-title, except aping the Psycho soundtrack instead of the synths introduced in Halloween. Though that 'Chh chh chh, muh muh muh' track is just excellent (which we all know is supposed to be 'Kill kill kill, ma ma ma', but that's bullshit. It they intended it to be the latter, they should have made it sound that way). Plus Betsy Palmer just elevates the film, taking such a restrained glee in portraying the psychotic Pamela Voorhees, something that somehow remained a spoiler for like two decades. Some of the kills are just gruesome, which I think was an overall benefit to the film, especially in comparison to the much more restrained Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween. It doesn't have the believable young co-eds that I felt the latter two had, with a cast either unable to sell their character or material that was unable to be sold. Not that there isn't entertainment to be had in those scenes, but after a point you're just waiting for them to get to the fireworks factory. Though I am glad to see where the trope of the befuddling proprietor, spouting obfuscated warnings of doom, came from. So yeah, eh film that can be enjoyable under the right circumstances. Next up: Friday the 13th Part 2 (apparently)
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Oct 6, 2016 21:33
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#15 Killjoy (2000) Michael is a shy nerd type who has a crush on Jada. Unfortunately at the moment, Jada is seeing Lorenzo, who's a thug. So he and his boys end up grabbing Michael to scare him and accidentally shoot him in the process. Whoops. Little do they know that Michael was also working on black magic in his spare time, and brings to life a magical evil clown by the name of Killjoy to kill all his bullies and get him alone with Jada. Now the brought to life Killjoy starts getting his revenge by bringing people into his world (which looks like a factory with some spray paint) through his magical ice cream truck. Now it's up to Jada, her new boyfriend Jamal, and her best friend Monique to put a stop to Killjoy's reign of terror. Charles Band had a weird period to his career in the late 90s and early 00s. Most of the movies he produced in that period avoided the Full Moon banner due to money issues, and the ones that did were just clip show repackaging. The other stuff he seemed to have some mild success with were "Urban" (read: Black Inner-City set) horror films with very little budget. Killjoy was one of them, and probably the most successful. There's at least 3 sequels so far, with part 5 set to debut this month I believe. That said, this movie's pretty low bar. The acting half the time is completely stilted (especially from the character of Monique) and the writing is absolutely silly, with characters suddenly having knowledge they shouldn't, and with most of the fantastical effects happening on obvious green screens. I'll probably start watching the other films soon, but I only hope things go uphill from here. I give Killjoy  out of 5
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Oct 6, 2016 21:48
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I fell a little behind, but that's okay. It was expected. Besides, today was an excellent movie day. Frailty - I really liked this movie. They really walked the line between whether the visions were real or not the entire movie. It's fun when you're able to keep two possible explanations in your head through an entire movie and have both seem plausible. I wish they hadn't answered the question so directly and still left it a little ambiguous, but I don't really fault the movie for that. Again, not overly scary but pretty disturbing which I like. The Devil's Backbone - I have had this movie for probably 3+ years now and have never fully watched it. I'd get maybe 20 minutes in, get distracted by something, and end up turning it off. I actually sat through it this time and while once again I was tempted to turn it off after about half an hour I kept going and drat was it worth it. After a really slow start it becomes super interesting and just a really tight story. The last 15-20 minutes are fairly predictable, but it doesn't even matter because it is well told and absolutely brutal. The effects date it a bit, and it would normally lower my spooky rating just a little, but that last major scene where they hold nothing back was difficult to watch.
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Oct 6, 2016 22:39
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I don't know how I didn't remember this thread earlier.. So far, all first time watches: Chopping Mall - :spooky/5Interview With The Vampire - Unbelievably, a first time watch. Have to say I was kind of disappointed The Howling - Liked it! Those transformations were awesome. The Last Man On Earth - This movie would have been so much worse without Vincent Price tearin' it up/ Lifeforce - OMG that was insane and just terrific, made even better with the Scream Stream commentary. The Hole - Ugh. Thora Birch and a one sentence summary made it sound like it had potential. Horrible early 00's non-sense The Shiver Of The Vampires - My first Jean Rollin. About what I expected, lots of boobs and psychedelia. Some really good music. Taste The Blood Of Dracula - Picking up where I left off with the Hammer Draculas from the last two Octobers. By the time the movie actually got going, there was only 15 mins left. Not much Dracula and not very good. Thanks again to Lurdiak and everyone at the Scream Stream for the entertainment and company.
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Oct 6, 2016 23:31
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Asiina posted:I fell a little behind, but that's okay. It was expected. Besides, today was an excellent movie day. Can you fuckin believe the original cut of the film showed the audience the visions the dad had? I'm really glad the final cut changed that. One of my favorite things in the entire film is the hard cut between the angel Gabriel coming down in all his glory with his flaming sword and Bill Paxton just laying under the car in a totally flat angle, to emphasize how he's the only one seeing anything at all.
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Oct 6, 2016 23:51
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Lurdiak posted:Can you fuckin believe the original cut of the film showed the audience the visions the dad had? I'm really glad the final cut changed that. One of my favorite things in the entire film is the hard cut between the angel Gabriel coming down in all his glory with his flaming sword and Bill Paxton just laying under the car in a totally flat angle, to emphasize how he's the only one seeing anything at all. That would have been terrible. A big part of the appeal was going back and forth in your mind on what was actually happening. I know that until the reveal I didn't really know one way or the other.
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Oct 7, 2016 00:28
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Asiina posted:That would have been terrible. A big part of the appeal was going back and forth in your mind on what was actually happening. I know that until the reveal I didn't really know one way or the other. They only changed it once they screened it the other way and all agreed they were overwhelmingly on the dad's side. The commentary tracks for the film are really fun, I recommend listening to them sometime.
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Oct 7, 2016 00:31
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#16. Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006) A college grad student trio of journalism majors are invited to follow around Leslie Vernon, a new up and coming masked slasher, planning his big night. Leslie shows them the tricks of the trade, and walks them through his methods and training. The film crew themselves aren't so sure how much they're comfortable with this meanwhile, but they stick to it. I've heard about this film for the past decade, but I never got around to watching it. Now I wish I had. It's one of the smartest slashers I think I've ever seen, with full on breaking down of fourth walls in the sort of clever deconstruction that the media pretended in the mid 90s that Scream was doing. Not only that, but it plays the "fill the movie with references to other great horror" while barely being in your face about it at all. Sure, there's explicit mention of several other franchises early on, but then it gets to more subtle details like set decoration and background music, then it even plays with names referencing other films, and finally it does its own level of stunt casting, with Robert Englund playing a very Dr Loomis style character, but then Leslie's own mentor, Eugene, is played by Scott Wilson, whose big break in hollywood was in the adaptation of "In Cold Blood" in 1967. This is a movie with a lot of respect for what came before it, yet not afraid to have fun with the material. Greatly underestimated by me. I give Behind The Mask  out of 5
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Oct 7, 2016 00:36
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12incident at loch ness I don't know if it really even counts as a horror film. Maybe just barely. More of a Super dry comedy about a Werner herzog doc that goes awry. I loved it, though the concept might have worked better if did more full on horror. Either way herzog rules
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Oct 7, 2016 00:40
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I'm aiming for things I haven't seen, haven't seen in more than a decade, and/or my wife hasn't seen. So far we've done Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, Tales from the Darkside, the first three episodes of this season of American Horror Story, The VVitch, and The Den. Tonight is Picnic at Hanging Rock, which I've been flirting with and never watching for years.
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Oct 7, 2016 01:20
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#5.) Djinn (2013)  This was really underwhelming. Not to say that it was bad, exactly, but aside from being set in the UAE and having djinn as the villains, this felt very uninspired, with the film never moving past simply laying out the events. Admittedly, it might have suffered because I just wasn't clicking with it, but the early jump-scares felt like they had more substance and effort put into their delivery than the psychological/emotional drama that made up the main part of the story. And while I'd need to give it a more focused rewatch to be sure, it felt as though the big twist reveal was a forced fit with everything that led to it. I was especially surprised when the closing credits rolled and Tobe Hooper's name popped up as director, and I have to hope that he was operating in more of an advisory role than as someone putting actual effort into it, because the prospect of this being his modern capability is too depressing to seriously consider. That said, there were some positive aspects. It was neat having a non-Wishmaster movie with villainous djinn, and some of the location shots were quite nice (particularly the introductory shot of the main apartment tower). The jump-scares weren't over-used (though they were just jolting instead of scary), the flashbacks were decently spaced out as they kept spooling out more of the same revelation scene, and the actors brought some good chemistry to their interactions. There was also an interesting use of English and Arabic by the characters to show cultural conflict, but it's kind of telling how much more engaging that aspect was than the story being told. These weren't enough to balance out the perfunctory feel hanging over so much of the movie's remainder, unfortunately, but it did manage to come off as more mediocre than genuinely bad. Go for, I dunno, Hellraiser: Inferno if you want a better 'what's really going on?!' horror movie. / 5
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Oct 7, 2016 02:31
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Day 6 - I had a severe time crunch this evening so rather than following my plan of filling in gaps, I loaded up a streaming service, went to the horror category and decided to watch the first thing I hit that I hadn't seen and was under 80 minutes long. And that's why I watched Spirit in the Woods. As a movie, all I can say is that it admirably fulfilled its role of being under 80 minutes. The film is a naked Blair Witch knock off. Students shooting footage for a project on they were shooting vanished in the Spiritual Woods of Ohio and their camera was found. Apparently they were using VHS camcorders in 2013 based on the crappy filter they applied to some of the footage. The script is comically bad, the acting is worse, and the direction is just plain incompetent. I'm pretty sure they recorded the audio directly on the camera. My college has started a film club that wants to produce short student films and this feels like the result of something similar. A real "Hey, let's make this movie! I've got a script and we can do it over the weekend!" situation. I started writing down all the things that were wrong with just the script and I gave up in five minutes because it's just everything. Every cliche is hit, characters flatly exposite for no good reason, and the dialog often just doesn't make sense. . Weirdly enough, despite selecting the film based on it's length, it dragged like mad. The first sixty minutes of the movie are essentially, boring kids walk around the woods and get lost. There's maybe two things that could be considered "spooky". That's not an exaggeration, either. When something finally happened I checked the timestamp and it was 1 hour 27 seconds.
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Oct 7, 2016 02:31
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Wreath of Barbs posted:9. Belladonna of Sadness (1973) If you're able to articulate your feelings better than  , I'd be curious to hear it (though I totally understand if not).mary had a little clam posted:Is Belladonna of Sadness horror/thriller/spook-em-ups? I'd heard it was like fantasy or something. It kind of defies genre, but it probably fits the most neatly in horror, provided "weird art films" don't count as their own; it's about witchcraft and Satan, so the subject matter certainly fits. WeedlordGoku69 fucked around with this message at 02:55 on Oct 7, 2016 |
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Oct 7, 2016 02:47
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K. Waste posted:Day 5 Day 6 I'm logging Cannibal Corpse Eats Moscow Alive on the basis that even though it's a relatively unassuming concert film, it still works remarkably as anthropology and ethnography, the best part being the band sounds like poo poo, and are simultaneously presented in the most quaint way along with singing about "Meathook Sodomy" and such. I recommend this version of it, however, not the 15 Year Killing Spree version, as it includes "Hammer Smashed Face" and the perfect moment of Alex Webster messing up on bass: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_a7c3wiA0U
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Oct 7, 2016 03:15
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Choco1980 posted:#16. Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006) The premise kinda sounds like Man Bites Dog, if you are ever looking for something in the same vein. Thanks for reviewing this though, it sounds neat and I'm gonna check it out.
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Oct 7, 2016 03:18
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My girlfriend and I are trying to do this, this year. We almost did it last year and got to like a 27 or so. The rules are everything we watch neither of us must have seen. She's probably sitting out a few that she's seen or stuff when our schedules don't mesh. Currently, I have a list of around 30 films to watch and then use Wheel Decide to choose. Anyway the list of stuff watched so far: 1. Trauma (1993) - A rather silly slasher / thriller. Where the killed goes around cutting heads off due to a rather improbable occurrence. Has a stupid b-story with a next store neighbor kid going all rear window on the killer. /52. Halloween: Resurrection (2002) - Lame. Kids on an internet reality show get killed at Michael Myers house. Busta Rhymes yells at Myers at one point and Myers just walks away. /53. Zombi 2 / Zombie (1979) - Zombie boat shows up in NYC, leads a reporter to the Caribbean to discover voodoo zombies. Some nice gore effects and a zombie fights a shark.  /54. Rock'n'Roll Nightmare (1987) - Laughable boring snoozefest, that feels like a cheap softcore porno, until the crazy batshit ending. I thought the ending redeemed the rest of the movie. /55. Dawn of the Dead (1978) - I was really disappointed by this one. Having seen the remake, and it being amped up for so long I expected a little more action. The zombies feel great in this movie they're no real threat if you're paying attention or not surrounded. Just kind of meanders in the middle though. /56. Contamination / Alien Contamination (1980) - Italian Alien ripoff. The reporter from Zombi 2 is in it. Alien eggs are found on a boat in NYC; these eggs when ruptured expel a liquid which causes people to explode. So a cop, a Colonel, and an astronaut head to South America to find the secret behind the eggs. Interesting gore effects, cool puppetry at then end. Soundtrack by Goblin which is always a plus. (During last year's watch I thought Goblin's soundtracks for Suspira and Phenomena made those movie soo much better. Don't tell me this isn't awesome.) /5
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Oct 7, 2016 04:33
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LORD OF BOOTY posted:If you're able to articulate your feelings better than Sure, I'll give it a shot. The film, to me, felt like storybook fairy-tale or parable wrapped in a 70s psychedelic motif. The water color animation was absolutely gorgeous at times and bizarre/hard to decipher in other. I don't know a tremendous amount about the history of the film, but the whole thing is a fascinating mish-mash of culture - some of the animation appears distinctly Japanese, while other bits reminded me of something you'd see in a Monty Python bit or Yellow Submarine. I'm not familiar with popular Japanese music of the early 70s, but likewise, the soundtrack isn't something I would expect to find in a film outside of North America or Britain. The story itself, of the devil repeatedly trying to seduce a peasant woman, and the various atrocities that happen to her and how it changes her, was somehow both grotesque and unoriginal. But what made the movie original, and not just a standard fairy tale was the tragic, and insane, nature of what happens during the movie. Overall, I did enjoy the movie, and I won't be forgetting it anytime soon, but the animation, soundtrack and bizarre imagery are what I felt makes it incredible, not the story itself. Edit: In retrospect, I've been so inundated with movies the past week that I haven't really had time to dwell on Belladonna of Sadness. It's the type of movie I think begs for a re-watch. First to digest the strangeness and the visuals, and again to really appreciate what's going on. I also wouldn't mind looking more into the history of the film. The movie struck me as the old "deep as a puddle, wide as an ocean" adage in the sense that the movie doesn't feel like it has a lot to say, but it's going to say it in a wholly unique manner. Several Goblins fucked around with this message at 05:38 on Oct 7, 2016 |
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Oct 7, 2016 05:05
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#17. Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) Adam is an underground indie musician. His wife, Eve, lives in Tangiers, hobnobbing with Christopher Marlowe. Did I mention they were all many centuries old vampires? Because they are. After noticing her beloved's present state of ennui, she decides to drop everything and come stay with him a while, as he needs her. The two spend their nights exploring the ruins of the now dying city, and enjoying each other's company. Until Eve's sister Eva shows up unannounced. She's an out of control party girl of a vampire, the type with no respect for property or friendships. And naturally she ruins everything for our happy couple. This film barely counts as a horror film. It's more a romantic drama. That said, it very much still is about immortal blood drinkers, though they rarely kill for their meals, preferring to buy it black market from blood banks and doctors. I really appreciate the way this film portrays the immortal lifestyle. These aren't the stereotyped images of people who refuse to enjoy life beyond their lived-in original times, quite the opposite. Adam collects music and technology that is outdated but still beautiful, yet is able to jerryrig things with his accumulated knowledge, such as connecting his old land line phone so that he can facetime through his 70s vintage television. He spends his time learning new instruments and has a shrine to all the artists and scientists he's admired over the centuries. Eve even moreso shows that she absolutely adores learning new things and appreciating art--one striking moment has her speed read through five or six books, all in different languages, and completely enjoy every word. She is a woman that is delighted in every bit of life she sees in the world, from human to animal, to even fungi. These are people who know exactly what value their immortality brings, which is a joie de vivre you rarely see in this sort of film. That their love seems obvious and genuine even after so many hundreds of years doesn't hurt either. On the other side of the coin, the slowly rotting setting of modern Detroit (which I have seen first hand enough times to know is real here) is the perfect 21st gothic ruined sprawl, in answer to the old falling apart castles of Dracula's age. It's an absolute genius maneuver by director Jim Jarmusch. I absolutely love this film and everything about it. This is the kind of film I hunt down to own. I give Only Lovers Left Alive  out of Five.
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Oct 7, 2016 06:07
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Grizzled Patriarch posted:The premise kinda sounds like Man Bites Dog, if you are ever looking for something in the same vein. Thanks for reviewing this though, it sounds neat and I'm gonna check it out. It is a little bit, but it doesn't stick with the documentarian/found footage style, it goes back in forth between the cameras being didactic in the narrative and handheld, or cinematic. Originally when it came out I thought it'd be kinda mediocre, but I was quite impressed with how clever the film was without being puckish about it. It's pretty much a must-see if you like slashers.
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Oct 7, 2016 06:10
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1.1: Cloverfield 1.2: 10 Cloverfield Lane 2.1: The Thing 2.2: They Live 3.1: Prince of Darkness 3.2: In the Mouth of Madness 4.1: From Beyond 4.2: The Lords of Salem 5.1: Hellraiser 5.2: Hellraiser II: Hellbound 6.1: I have to give Beyond the Black Rainbow (available on Shudder) a lot of respect for how it combines minimalistic and chaotic imagery to create a really engrossing atmosphere, and maintains it long enough that by the time it reaches normalcy, even that seems surreal (and it knows it). Not only does it include a strangely relatable depiction of madness caused by exploration beyond the standard human experience, it has probably the best representation of ego death that will ever be put to film. I'll have more to write about this, maybe at the end of the month, but for now I'll just recommend you watch this with your New-Agey friend, and rip a fat line of ketamine right before you hit play. 9.5/10 6.2: I'm gonna wait until tomorrow to post about Under the Skin because VROOM VROOM fucked around with this message at 07:20 on Oct 7, 2016 |
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Oct 7, 2016 07:17
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I tried Dead Snow Red vs Dead and made it ten or fifteen minutes. Gory but boring.
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Oct 7, 2016 07:31
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I've been super busy and been watching baseball so I'm already way behind. A couple of nights ago I started watching An American Haunting but bailed after 15 minutes. My general rule is if I don't care 15 minutes in I'm out, and by that point I feel like this movie had introduced like every cliche just randomly and stupid and was for some reason happening in different timelines and was just poo poo. Anyway, yeah. I got back on the train tonight. 4 (5). Red State (2011) "Even Nazis think this guy is nucking futs." This is one of the single weirdest horror movies I've ever seen. Not "weird" in that good way like an Italian horror or a Lovecraft story or just a "they took a lot of drugs" way. Just a "what the gently caress was the plan here" kind of weird. I didn't know it was written and directed by Kevin Smith until the end credits ran, and if I did maybe I would have been more prepared. But I don't know. Its not like it was some kind of Smith comedy. I wouldn't even call it a dark comedy. I guess there could have been a couple of moments if you're really morbid but mostly it was just... I don't know. Its an interesting enough premise on its face. Take those homophobic fire and brimstone preachers and churches who call for the death of homosexuals and then take the next crazy step to have them actually start killing people. Seemed like it could make for a really interesting slasher. Then like 20 minutes in there's this 20 minute sermon scene that just never really clicks and kind of drags the movie to a halt (and it wasn't moving that fast anyway). But then you kind of have the makings for a "last girl/guy" slasher developing and then... well, the best way I can describe it is that halfway through the film they introduce a new cast, John Goodman has a 10 minute one sided phone conversation in his PJs, and it becomes some kind of cop film. And... there's no one likable in this thing. I mean, the teens are just rear end in a top hat teens. They don't deserve to die or anything, but they're not given enough time or depth to be rootable. And then the movie tries something really weird to try and rehabilitate a "final girl" into the movie and its just... well, I didn't even know how I felt about it and then the movie upended it again. Its like Smith was just getting his jollies pulling the carpet out every 20 minutes like he lost a bet with M. Night Shyamalan. It was loving weird. Its like Smith set out to make a horror film and then got lost getting mad about political stuff. I don't know. It was weird. October Tally - New (Total) - (1). 30 Days of Night (2007) / 1 (2). It Follows (2015) / 2 (3). Frankenstein (1931) / 3 (4). The Visit (2015) / 4 (5). Red State (2011)
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Oct 7, 2016 08:04
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Forgot to update yesterday. October 5th - Ravenous (1999)  Loved this. Not even remotely a subtle movie, but it's really stylish and fun and it's amazing that a movie like this got a big studio budget put behind it. This is a crazy stew of different genres, and the result is a Western horror-comedy that is only a few shades of black lighter than American Pyscho. The performances are wonderful, especially Robert Carlyle, who has to occupy a pretty high spot on the "greasiest characters ever put to film" list. I don't want to say too much else about this in case there are other people who haven't seen it yet, but it's just a really giddily gruesome meatgrinder of a movie that manages to mix legitimate horror with legitimate humor, something not a lot of films can pull off. I give it .5 / 5October 6th - The Neon Demon (2016) Watched on Amazon Streaming  drat this movie has a lot of cool posters. This was another great one. Refn feels pretty locked into his style at this point, so if you didn't dig his other movies, this isn't going to change your mind. It's a gorgeous movie, and from the very first shot there's this excellent, oppressive tension that never really lets up, even as the film is reaching its conclusion. The mortuary scene is probably one of the most uncomfortable scenes of the year, and that final scene is just amazing. It feels very much like a vampire flick - the bits towards the middle with three women in the empty mansion (and a stuffed wolf, to boot) immediately felt like a Brides of Dracula thing to me. This is kinda like Only God Forgives in that there probably isn't as much going on under the hood as you might expect, and I'm not sure there's anything particularly insightful about it, but it takes something trite and dresses it up in such a way that I don't really care. I give it: .5 / 5Watched So Far: Dark Star (1974), The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears (2013), Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989), Faces of Death (1978), Ravenous (1999), The Neon Demon (2016) Grizzled Patriarch fucked around with this message at 09:03 on Oct 7, 2016 |
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Oct 7, 2016 08:07
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1. Body Melt /5 2. Video Violence .5/53. New York Ripper /54. The Witch Slow-burn period piece about a family that gets exiled from a colonial enclave and has to make their own way. Little House on the Prairie meets The Crucible, in a way. A lot of the conflict actually arises from the paranoia that grows in the family from the misfortunes that befall them (only some of which are supernaturally based). The way it's filmed really helps set the tone of the movie and helps build the tension that's slowly growing throughout. Really enjoyable, assuming you can deal with the slowish pacel /5
alansmithee fucked around with this message at 01:36 on Oct 10, 2016 |
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Oct 7, 2016 08:14
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| # ? May 13, 2024 13:11 |
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6. Baskin This one really got under my skin. Usually horror movies don't affect me much, but the nightmarish vibe here definitely made me feel uncomfortable at times. I am not sure I would call it a great movie, but it does create a unique atmosphere that worked for me. 7. Creepshow 2 This one was decent, nothing more. I enjoyed the playful vibe the short stories have, but nothing is very memorable or inspired. First one was better, but I'm not disappointed that I watched it. Choco1980 posted:#17. Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) I absolutely adore this movie. Think you are wrong about Adam, though. He is tired of being stuck and seeing humanity never learn and it disgusts him. Those beautiful but outdated things you mention he collects were discarded or replaced and forgotten by humanity. They don't even see what they have, throwing it away without taking a moment to appreciate it. He feels stuck in a crude world and wants out. He is slowly dying, much like Detroit is. In the same way Tangiers' vibrancy resembles Eve's lust for life, Detroit reflects Adam. Remember why she visits him in the first place? Building up courage for your own suicide isn't really a sign that you are enjoying immortality. The contrast between him and Eve is the heart of the film, they definitely do not see their existence the same way.
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Oct 7, 2016 08:16
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