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7. Stranger In Our House (1978) So can we all agree that Linda Blair is a pretty bad actress? I'm watching a lot of Wes Craven's work right now, as I've only seen his most famous stuff (Elm Street, the Scream films, People Under the Stairs, etc.). Having now seen Last House on the Left (again), The Hills Have Eyes (again), Hills Have Eyes 2, and Stranger in Our House I'm not sure how Craven kept getting work before Elm Street. This was a horribly pointless movie. I suppose it was fine for a late 70s made-for-tv Halloween night offering, but even in that context I don't think I'd have sat through the entire thing when I could have just gone down to the movies to see John Carpenter's Halloween. 8. Deadly Blessing (1981) This is the heartwarming story of a Hittite man who leaves his community to fulfill his lifelong dream of recklessly driving a Mustang while blasting Rod Stewart music. At least, that's how I'll choose to remember this early stinker from Wes Craven. It did have an early version of the scene from Nightmare on Elm Street where Nancy fell asleep in the bathtub, though (and I think it was done better here). What the hell was up with that ending? 9. Invitation to Hell (1984) This felt a LOT like a super long episode of Tales from the Darkside. I probably would have liked this a lot more if it was only 30 minutes long, actually. 10. Scream 3 (2000) At this point, the Scream movies became too self-aware to be clever. Still, better than I remember it being. I know I was overthinking it, but the Jay & Silent Bob cameo just confused me. Do the Scream movies take place in the View Askewniverse? 11. Scream 4 (2011) Better than Scream 3, not as good as Scream 1 or 2. The scariest thing in this movie is Courtney Cox's weird, post-surgery face. *shudder* Topper Harley fucked around with this message at 04:20 on Oct 3, 2015 |
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Oct 2, 2015 17:52
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First time doing this... going to try to go for 31 films. One a day. I am doing this on the fly too so I will be okay counting rewatches as part of the count but I am also going to make an effort to get mostly first time watches. 1. Nightmare on Elm Street (Rewatch) Going to do the entirety of the Nightmare on Elm Street series with the first one being the only one I have seen previously. It is really hard judging these first entries in a classic franchise for me. A lot of it feels really slow since I have already taken in the mythology and lore through osmosis from pop culture. A lot of the mystery that was there on initial watching is probably lost. However, it's still evident that this movie has an amazing concept that is incredibly well executed. For me this is a slasher film with more creative and memorable set pieces. The film keeps throwing cool and creepy visuals at you to the very last scene. Johnny Deep bloody bed fountain, the wall scene, and bloody tina in the body bag among others. And then there is Freddy who I understand becomes goofy in later installments but here I would call him just creepy and gross. From his green goo innards to the almost comically awkward but still threatening way he runs. It's easy to see why this is a franchise spawning classic. 4.5/5 Tonight I am either going to watch Freddy's Revenge or mix it up with something else. I watched a bunch of Friday the 13th movies back to back and the burnout was pretty hard since they are pretty formulaic. Might watch something random in between each installment of Nightmare.
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Oct 2, 2015 17:59
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For anyone watching Sleepaway Camp, give its sequel a chance. It's very low-budget, and shows, but I had a fun time watching it. It knows it's going straight to VHS, and just tries to have goofy fun instead of scares. It's interesting because it eliminates the guess work of who the killer is early, and tries to build suspense by putting other characters with the killer. Also, the main character is Bruce Springsteen's sister, Pamela Springsteen, who is charming and trying really hard, but quickly bowed out of direct-to-vhs sequels to pursue a successful career in photography.
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Oct 2, 2015 18:01
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Franchescanado posted:Not only is that okay, but that's what I'm doing. I tried plotting out movies, but I have more fun having to search for that day's movie Yeah. I have a list of titles I've made but that doesn't mean I'm sticking to them. Just things to remember when others bring it up that I want to see. Also, the first Sleepaway Camp is totally on the list. I've oddly seen 2 and 3 but not 1 yet. Re: Grave Encounters--I think with the sequel, it's supposed to be a parody of the first film and found footage in general, and if you look at it that way it gets better. Especially for how ridiculous some of the stuff gets by the third act Ghosts holding the cameras?? There's NO way that was meant to be taken seriously. Hell, the first half hour or so is a pointed stick aimed directly at the first film.
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Oct 2, 2015 18:03
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The first Grave Encounters won me over with all of the editing jokes about ghost shows. "We'll do an establishing shot, and then cut to us entering." "Throw in a time lapse." [Cut to time lapse of the moon in an establishing shot.]
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Oct 2, 2015 18:07
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Franchescanado posted:For anyone watching Sleepaway Camp, give its sequel a chance. It's very low-budget, and shows, but I had a fun time watching it. Agree 100%. HOWEVER I will say this -- do not go into into the sequels expecting the same experience as the original film. The sequel are extremely self-reflective of the horror film genre, and are the opposite of the tone of the first film. As much as I like the first film, I enjoy the sequels more, with Unhappy Campers being my favorite. And Pamela Springsteen is so adorable  (Unfortunately Unhappy Campers and Teenage Wasteland will probably not make my Challenge list, I can't find my DVDs  )
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Oct 2, 2015 18:08
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Bulkiest Toaster posted:
The Nightmare series really allows for hopping around and skipping certain sequels, even if you have movie OCD like I do. Most people would say that you can skip 2 and go straight to Dream Warriors, which feels like more of a direct sequel. Then from there you can jump straight to New Nightmare and you've experienced pretty much everything Freddy has to offer. So basically you can get away with only watching the Heather Langenkamp entries.
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Oct 2, 2015 18:19
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BetterToRuleInHell posted:Agree 100%. HOWEVER I will say this -- do not go into into the sequels expecting the same experience as the original film. The sequel are extremely self-reflective of the horror film genre, and are the opposite of the tone of the first film. I agree with this. The sequels are a completely different tone. I recommend them to fans of slashers for sure. They're also great party movies.
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Oct 2, 2015 18:27
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BetterToRuleInHell posted:Agree 100%. HOWEVER I will say this -- do not go into into the sequels expecting the same experience as the original film. The sequel are extremely self-reflective of the horror film genre, and are the opposite of the tone of the first film. However, I think it's the third one that has my all time favorite movie line in it: "Oh man, when Angela sees us, she's gonna make a DOOKIE in her pants!!" (emphasis theirs)
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Oct 2, 2015 18:29
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Sleepaway Camp 2 and 3 are so loving good
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Oct 2, 2015 18:31
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One of the things I'd buy if I had more disposable income is every single Shout Factory blu ray. They have so many movies like the Sleepaway Camp sequels, The Burning, Phantasm 2, Pumpkinhead, etc. that I'd love to own but I just can't justify spending that much for what really, in the end, is schlock that I may or may not watch once a year. Still, it would be fun to have them all on my shelf.
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Oct 2, 2015 18:32
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Basebf555 posted:One of the things I'd buy if I had more disposable income is every single Shout Factory blu ray. They have so many movies like the Sleepaway Camp sequels, The Burning, Phantasm 2, Pumpkinhead, etc. that I'd love to own but I just can't justify spending that much for what really, in the end, is schlock that I may or may not watch once a year. Still, it would be fun to have them all on my shelf. i bought my first Scream Factory blu ray the other day (Lord of Illusions). Pumpkinhead is next on my list, but yeah they're a little pricey.
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Oct 2, 2015 18:39
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Basebf555 posted:The Nightmare series really allows for hopping around and skipping certain sequels, even if you have movie OCD like I do. Most people would say that you can skip 2 and go straight to Dream Warriors, which feels like more of a direct sequel. Then from there you can jump straight to New Nightmare and you've experienced pretty much everything Freddy has to offer. So basically you can get away with only watching the Heather Langenkamp entries. I'd go a step further and say you could skip 3 if you really wanted to. Its Wes Craven and Nancy so it fits into a narrative if you want to make it 1, 3, and New Nightmare and all about Wes and Nancy/Heather. But for my own purposes I might just watch the original and New Nightmare this October since I think they're good companions that stay focused on Freddy at his scariest. But I also think all the series is worth watching at least once in order. Even the worst of the sequels are good campy fun that Englund/Freddy keep alive and interesting and the series doesn't really drag IMO the way other long horror franchises too. 4, 5, and 6 aren't overly good and can be a drag if you're marathoning them but they have their moments as camp and Craven shows back up at 7 to change up/kill off the franchise really well. And having seen what the franchise/Freddy became really helps you appreciate the story of New Nightmare and what Craven is doing with it. Although you can probably figure that out on just the pop presence of Freddy alone. Breaking it up is the right approach, I think. Just don't OD on Freddy all at once because you'll definitely see diminishing returns. But watch those sequels through the month and then gear up for the really strong finish for New Nightmare. And then check out Never Sleep Again and really gain a nice appreciation for the series.
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Oct 2, 2015 18:44
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Uncle Boogeyman posted:i bought my first Scream Factory blu ray the other day (Lord of Illusions). Pumpkinhead is next on my list, but yeah they're a little pricey. Of course there were a few that were must buys for me, so I do have 5 or 6 of them. The From Beyond blu ray is stunning. The colors!
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Oct 2, 2015 18:51
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Choco1980 posted:Movie #3: The Pit (1981) My girlfriend introduced me to this last October, I hadn't even heard of it prior to then. It is great goofy fun, and if you can handle the horrible 240p quality, it's on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UmP4lr-Efw . If you want more 'monsters that come from a hole in the ground', check out The Gate
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Oct 2, 2015 18:59
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I'm down for this. Pretty sure I won't be able to manage 31, so going to set the base goal at a very achievable 13 new movies, and will see how far I can get after that. So far I've watched Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon and Trick 'r Treat, both of which were pretty enjoyable. I definitely plan to see The Descent, The Babadook, Let the Right One In, and Cabin in the Woods, and then will go from there.
Lhet fucked around with this message at 19:30 on Oct 2, 2015 |
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Oct 2, 2015 19:26
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Basebf555 posted:Of course there were a few that were must buys for me, so I do have 5 or 6 of them. The From Beyond blu ray is stunning. The colors! It really is an experience. One of my favorites.
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Oct 2, 2015 19:26
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1. Housebound A fun horror with a fair amount dark humor thrown in. It's through-and-through a Kiwi movie, with a distinct sense of humor. There's some Sam Raimi, some Craven, and some Peter Jackson influence with the style. It keeps moving forward, and never gets stuck with an aspect of the plot (haunted house, now mystery, now some family stories, etc.). Rima Te Wiata deserves a special mention as the mom, who is so convincing, I imagine they found her and put her in the movie based on personality.  /5I had been saving it on my queue for the season, and I'm glad I did.
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Oct 2, 2015 19:45
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1. The Horror of Party Beach (1964) 3.5/5 2. Ghoulies 2 (1988) 2/5 3. The Clown Murders (1976) 3/5 4. Sundown (1989) 2.5/5 5. The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) 4.5/5 6. At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul (1963) 5/5 7. Sledgehammer (1983) 3/5 8. Blue Sunshine (1977) 4/5 9. A Nightmare on Elm Street 5 (1989) 3/5 10. Rock N' Roll Nightmare (1987) 3.5/5 11. Intercessor: Another Rock N' Roll Nightmare (2005) 2/5 12. The Crater Lake Monster (1977) 2/5 This is kind of a bizarre film. It feels as if Sid and Marty Kroft took a break from Land of the Lost to film a drive-in 1950s creature feature and added a bunch of Saturday matinee slapstick. Then, as an afterthought, they added a rather gruesome prop head to a single scene. Disclaimer: Crater Lake is not featured in this film. 13. Critters 3 (1991) 3/5 Leo! Arbitrary horror sequels tend to get really lazy, but by the third installment, Critters continues to be a somewhat inspired teen-friendly offering. Even though the little bastards eat beans, fart, and drink dish soap, they manage to be far less inane than their Ghoulie counterparts because the filmmaking supports the tone so well. Most memorable scene: a trio of Crites watch Julia Child prepare a raw chicken.
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Oct 2, 2015 20:21
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Franchescanado posted:1. Housebound My wife picked this to watch last night. I liked it but I could never tell whether it was being serious or not so I could never really get into it. It is worth a watch though.
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Oct 2, 2015 20:28
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I'm kind of picking films as I go along, but I'm trying to mostly choose ones that I haven't seen before. So yesterday I started the month with long-overdue first viewings of The Ring and The Ring Two. I quite enjoyed The Ring, and I think it's a legitimately great movie that I want to watch again. It's well directed, builds tension effectively, is a good mystery and doesn't overplay its hand with the horror elements. A solid 4/5 imo. I wanted to like The Ring Two, but it really fell flat for me. The first 20 minutes are okay, but then it goes downhill. It sort of feels like it was just making stuff up as it went along, doesn't have any well defined "rules" to follow, and doesn't really have anything original or interesting to say. There were a number of unintentionally funny moments that I enjoyed (like the dramatic zoom-in on a dead fish) but overall, pretty disappointing. 2/5
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Oct 2, 2015 21:18
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Luna posted:My wife picked this to watch last night. I liked it but I could never tell whether it was being serious or not so I could never really get into it. It is worth a watch though. I feel like that was answered within 20 minutes with the urine sound effect gag.
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Oct 2, 2015 21:27
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Topper Harley posted:8. Deadly Blessing (1981) I love that ending.
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Oct 2, 2015 21:29
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cthulusnewzulubbq posted:I love that ending. Haha I completely did not see it coming. On one hand, it's not like the characters weren't warned about it SEVERAL times. On the other hand, the main plot is all wrapped up and this really just seems to come from out of nowhere. It does, however, serve as an interesting reason to reflect on the Hittites' actions throughout the movie. They seem to be the bad guys, then you find out that not only are they not bad but their rantings about the incubus were actually accurate..
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Oct 2, 2015 21:50
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While I liked most the horrors that I have watched, I have not actually a whole lot of experience with horror; I have in fact not watched a whole lot of staples of the genre. I intend to fix that over the course of this month. And maybe my lack of taste on the subject really shows, because I just watched Suspiria, which is apparently a gem of the genre and it left me rather unimpressed. One of my gripes is the main character, who spends most of the film passively being explained what is going on by other students and is generally a bland, uninspiring heroine who is hard to care bout. I realize that the maxim "show, don't tell" isn't quite as ironclad when it comes to horror, where the implied and the mysterious are paramount, but I really felt unsatisfied by the quantity of dead air in the film. But far worse is the way the film seems to flop around without a plot, without stakes; we see plenty of weird things happen in the film, but while some of them seem to have a logic behind them (the pianist challenges a member of the coven, and has his own dog assault him) others seem to have no purpose but to add some shock factor to the film (the maggots raining into the dormitory, and possibly the dog assaulting the kid, although I guess that could have been just the dog being aggressive; but if that was the case, why does the pianist insist that the dog is a peaceful animal? And why does the film seem to imply that something supernatural is at work?). There was a lot of dead air throughout the movie, and when something does happen, during the tense scenes, it's often accompanied by this sound like a metal rod hitting a empty metal crate, which I guess is supposed to be underlining how upsetting the situation is but that I found distracting and irritating. This is a shame because the tense scenes were rather nice and well-constructed. I also like the atmosphere of the setting, very opulent and with an undercurrent of teenage drama that wasn't really developped but helped keep the film grounded. The special effects were also perfectly serviceable (with the exception of the bat), considering that this movie was made in the '70s. The gore had an impact without being a splatterfest, and the corpse that the witch inhabits was very creepy... a shame for the way her outline suddenly appears for no reason, cheapening the resolution. I am almost sure that I am missing something about this movie, because everyone seems to agree that it's a masterpiece, but if I had to give it a vote with based on my impression as of right now, it would be 5/10.
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Oct 2, 2015 22:08
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#10.Hellbent (2006). The second gayest horror movie I've seen next to Nightmare on Elm Street 2. No joke. Less than three minutes in a dude starts getting a blow job from his manfriend and his head (on top of his body) gets cut off. Gay horror is pretty rare, and this is a mediocre entry in the horror genre. On the good, the lighting and shadows are amazing. The whole movie looks pretty drat good, almost Argento-esque. The characters are ok. Some are better than others, but not a whole hell of a lot of growth. The blood and gore is pretty good when shown too. The bad is that the movie seems to focus more on the gay event and people at it than the characters at points. So many little exchanges are made with random people, with everyone laughing at everything. I didn't get it. It felt juvenile at points. The plot is very loose too. All the characters are just going from point to point to either drink or look try and bang dudes, which would be ok if it was more interesting. All in all its worth a watch, especially if you want to see a different take on the slasher genre. A lack of females helps to change the rules. #11.Arcade (1994). What a terrible movie. Apparently the producers watched The Mind's Eye and thought it would have made good special effects for a horror movie. A bunch of retarded teens play a virtual reality game which is sentient and takes their souls. The acting is crap, the plot is confusing, the dialogue is tacky, the special effects were so lovely they had a version where they remastered then, and Seth Green looks like a loving goblin. Seth Green's character states that virtual reality is the wave of the future. If it ends up being anything like this movie, I'll be very afraid. #12.Children of the Corn (1984). I guess when Linda Hamilton isn't being chased by the terminator she is being chased by kids who have a penchant for corn. I'll throw it out there - I'm not a fan of Stephen King. And a majority of his movies are crap. This one falls in the middle for me. It feels like watching a game of tag. They run to one area, kids come, they run, kids come, etc. I don't hate it, but I don't love it either. I've always wondered though: how does He Who Walls Behind The Rows feel about cream corn?
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Oct 2, 2015 23:17
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Isn't that more Hide and Seek
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Oct 3, 2015 00:08
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#2: Haxan
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Oct 3, 2015 00:17
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Uncle Boogeyman posted:i'm watching Shocker right now, which is way better than i remember. If you like Shocker, here's a fun fact: Mitch Pileggi once did a guest spot on an MTV Headbanger's Ball Halloween special, in character as Horace Pinker, with Alice Cooper, Dave Mustaine, and Dangerous Toys. It's the goddamn craziest thing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bivoKehPAKM
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Oct 3, 2015 01:57
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#1 Creep It's definitely a fun little picture. I love Duplass in the role, but it does distract from the character a little bit. There's really no build up, things are weird from the get go. There isn't that nice slow burn of things being kinda off. I think the most interesting part of the film is the cameraman himself. He often reacts to the events of the film in a similar way that the audience would, but the ending really undermines what understanding you might have had on him. #2 Trick 'R Treat (Rewatch) This movie really doesn't get old, and was a good hook for my girlfriend who's not been so hot on my favorite horror films like House of the Devil. One thing I really focused on this go around was jack o'lanterns. A motif of the film is that Jack O'Lanterns protect you from dark forces which is pretty heavily supported by the film. I started forming a theory that part of the reason that so much hosed up stuff happens this night is because the kid who destroyed all the Jack O'Lanterns. The protective force has been weakened. But it's not totally consistent. Sam actually used Jack O'Lanterns and makes them spontaneously appear. But that makes sense for Jack O'Lanterns to have different rules for him. It's a little weird that the kids are able to attack Kreeg despite his porch being surrounded by Jack O'Lanterns.
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Oct 3, 2015 02:22
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   #2. Brain Twisters (1991) was not good. It had a workable basic idea (a college professor's experiments consist of having people watch videos of pixel patterns to turn them into killers) but it didn't do anything interesting. Characters never really grew or had any notable depth, there were painfully dumb instances of ignoring how people would really react to events so that the movie could keep plugging along, and the violent stuff was shot in a way that sapped the tension right out of it. The one positive thing I can say about it is that there's some flyer or cover art material for vaporwave acts to sample from a few of the still frames, and it ends with an amusingly super-angry kid playing a videogame (that is, the movie-makers apparently thought videogames were literally just a video on loop) and yelling at his mom about dinner to serve as the ominous ending. Close to achieving mediocrity, but it fell a little short. 4/10.
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Oct 3, 2015 02:36
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Movie #4: Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010) It's 1982. A new age health and science center has held prisoner Elana, a girl with psychic abilities. Her handler, Barry, has done some...unpleasant things in the past, causing him to lose his mind. Then Elana escapes the facility with him on the hunt. This uh...this is a movie alright. I gave such a barebones plot breakdown because 95% of the film is trippy visuals, jumping between LSD fueled craziness and 70s Canadian style sterile strangeness. It's a dense, difficult film, but it's certainly disturbing enough to count as horror by my standings. Truth to tell, I'm on a bunch of painkillers today. I don't know if that improved or hindered the film. It's hard to wrap around but BEAUTIFUL. /5
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Oct 3, 2015 02:41
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October Tally - New (Total) - (1). Scream (1996) / 1 (2). Shocker (1989) / - (3). Grave Encounters (2011) 2 (4). The Babadook (2014)  I had this one built up huge in my head going in. Six months or so ago I stuck it in my Amazon shopping cart and intended to buy it for October marathon watching. Then I saw it pop up on Netflix a couple of months ago and spent all that time wanting to watch but wanting to save it for October always worried it might get pulled before then. It was going to be my first movie this month until I found out Craven died and wanted to build my marathon around him, so it got pushed back to night #2. That's a lot of buildup to live up to. Still, it did a pretty drat good job. The ending left me a little cold but 90% of the film does a great job building tension and leaving me itching to see what's coming, sometimes scared to see what's in the dark, and my eyes popping at things i did see. I think part of what makes it so effective is I'm not even sure of the Babadook is real or not or if he's just the deluded quasi-husband imagined by a widow suffering a serious psychotic break. The unspoken metaphor that the Babadook is representative of Amelia's grief, resentment towards her son, guilt for that, and general loneliness does a great job getting under your skin and making you wonder. The movie has an intense claustrophobic feel trapped up in that dark house that Amelia's bitchy (but somewhat understandably so) sister doesn't even want to go near. The guy who starts the movie flirting with Amelia but is so spooked by the uncomfortable nature of this family that he's never heard from again is a kind of powerful small thing. He's not a victim of the Babadook or the hero who saves the family or Amelia's happy ending of getting over her grief and moving forward. He just runs for the loving hills after finding out that the cute lady he wanted to save is in waaaaaaaaaaaaaay more trouble than he thought and its too much for him. Like I said, I was left feeling a little letdown with the ending. Metaphorically it works for me. Amelia fights back against her grief and resentment and really embraces her son finally, but isn't able to fully let go of it but just manage it. That works as allegory and the "is this all just the delusion of a crazy lady?" idea. But as a monster movie it really left me a little flat. Still, I'm probably going to have nightmares of that "BAAABA! BA DOOOOK DOOOOK DOOOOK!" voice tonight. And the movie did a great job creating a scary monster on what appears to have been a shoe string budget by just using the dark. Also, I'm not kind of extra scared of having a kid. And loss. And toothaches. And driving. And custard. Ok, I was always kind of scared of custard. I'm going to give it 4/5, with the caveat that I think this movie has a good chance of going up in my scoring after some reflection/a rewatch.
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Oct 3, 2015 03:11
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2. Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (2010) For a while I thought this was just a movie about two wacky rednecks fighting off the undead or something in the woods and got recommended it a bunch of times anyways. This is a really great movie in that it doesn't try to be sly or  about being a self-aware horror movie. Instead, it tries to just be really funny in taking horror movie tropes and be darkly humourous with them by having moments like "We Got Ur Freind" cut into a log by the two rednecks who were merely trying to leave a note. The film works by having the two rednecks just be friendly and well-intentioned characters with flaws who get mistakened for psycho killers by the irresponsible and immature college kids who judge them. It gets strangely twisted in that the rednecks act like 80s horror movie victims in that they cannot comprehend the violence that happens around them while the college kids get more and more determined to get the rednecks. It's a total reversal of roles in slasher movies and a loving delight for any fan to watch without the pretension..5/5
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Oct 3, 2015 03:53
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Another day of sickness, another 2 movies down. And they're both first time viewings to boot! 3. Preservation (2014): This movie starts with 3 city people (husband, wife, brother) who go out to the woods to camp and hunt. The wife has reservations about hunting and killing, and doesn't think she could ever bring herself to take another creature's life. CAN YOU SEE WHERE THIS IS GOING? Anyways, after a night of heavy drinking, they wake up with all their possessions and guns missing, and x's on their foreheads. This causes a lot of paranoia and jealousy, so of course the brother wanders off on his own. This allows a group of masked people to start stalking and killing them. There's a lot of nonsensical actions by the characters (like hiding from a gunman in a portapotty), and it eventually develops into a revenge film, and once again, the methods of revenge are pretty far fetched. Anyways, this movie is really a commentary on one of my least favorite subjects, and that is, cell phones are destroying communication and making us less social. Despite, you know, how we actually probably keep in touch with far more people on a daily basis now than we did 20 years ago. Sure, it's annoying if you're in a small group and someone's glued to their phone, but that's a really small grievance. I also found the acting in this movie to be quite bad, even by horror movie standards. It seems like everyone was just reading their lines off of cue cards. Overall, it wasn't unwatchable or anything, but it's definitely something I wouldn't recommend spending any time on. 4. Bloody Birthday (1981): This is an experimental film. In this case, the experiment is "how much cocaine can you do and still write a movie?" I recorded this one off of TCM a few months ago based on it's premise of 3 children all being born during a solar eclipse who become psychopaths. I didn't prioritize this as one to watch as I had never heard anything about it. Why have I never heard about this one?!?! It ends up being a pretty insane movie. As I mentioned above, 3 children were all born during a solar eclipse. There's some explanation about how Saturn wasn't visible and that's the planet that provides us with feelings, so these kids have no feelings. They are all approaching their 10th birthdays, and they are complete sociopaths. They spend their time systematically murdering anyone who crosses their paths, in even the slightest manner. It's one thing to see these kids targeting their teachers, but it's quite a bit more horrifying when they pull guns on their classmate. Seeing young kids with guns in schools is pretty hosed up...this really doesn't seem like the type of movie you could ever get away with making now. The movie doesn't waste time building any mysteries about who is doing the killings. We know it's these kids pretty early on. The plot focuses on their babysitter trying to convince the town that these 3 sweet, innocent kids are sociopaths. This is much more difficult than expected! Overall, I had a blast watching this one. It's not a great movie, but I do think it deserves a bit of kudos for being better than the typical early-80s slasher. CopywrightMMXI fucked around with this message at 10:42 on Oct 3, 2015 |
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Oct 3, 2015 03:53
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Day 2 - American Mary American Mary has been on my radar for some time but I never really got around to seeing it. I assumed when I first read about it that it was going to be another “torture porn” type film in the vein of a Hostel or Saw. Watching the movie, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the film was far less interested in the idea of making you watch people get cut up but, rather, the ramifications of the cutting. Full review with some spoilers Overall I really liked this movie and the only complaint I have is that it wasn't particularly horror-y. 4.5 out of 5
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Oct 3, 2015 04:35
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2) The Monster Squad It's loving Monster Squad https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX6KrC-PHcQ It's basically the best Halloween movie. /5 forever
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Oct 3, 2015 04:46
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I guess I'm going to try to do this, even though I don't always have time to watch a movie every night. I'm also going to try to watch as many movies as I haven't seen before as possible, so hopefully between Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Shudder, and YouTube, I can find 31 horror films available to stream or on disc that I haven't seen. I suspect I'll still end up doing a marathon rewatch of Hammer Draculas by month's end, though. 1. The Old Dark House (1963) I watched this one first because it was what I had on disc from Netflix, and even then, I mostly only had it because it was on the same disc as Mr Sardonicus, which I was more interested in seeing. This is the William Castle remake of the James Whale film from 1932, but has little in common with the original film other than the title and the presence of a house. For a horror comedy, it's not particularly scary or funny, though there are a couple of surprisingly darkly comic scenes. This one is a co-production of William Castle and Hammer Studios, so it's kind of weird seeing a mishmash of their visual production styles. Still, probably the best part is the animated opening titles by Chas Addams. For today, I started watching --And Now The Screaming Starts!, the Amicus movie from the '70s, which is not only a rare bird in that it's a feature-length film and not an anthology, but also that it's a period Gothic piece. Unfortunately, my wireless connection was being lovely, so I had to turn it off a little over halfway through, which, tragically, is when Peter Cushing finally shows up. The story so far is pretty by-the-numbers, but it's visually stylish even if the severed hand effects are of...varying quality. Probably going to try to finish it after hitting post on this reply. CopywrightMMXI posted:3. Resolution (2014): I realize this is probably a typo due to similar names and your illness, but just in case: the movie you described here is Preservation, not Resolution. If you haven't seen the real movie Resolution, you should. It's great.
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Oct 3, 2015 06:06
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Benito Cereno posted:For today, I started watching --And Now The Screaming Starts! The Beast Must Die! is an Amicus crown jewel to Screaming's rare bird. edit: Meaning- jump on that train if you haven't ridden it. It's great. cthulusnewzulubbq fucked around with this message at 08:00 on Oct 3, 2015 |
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Oct 3, 2015 07:06
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First movie I did was Dead Of Night, an old Ealing studios movie and as far as I know their only foray into horror. It's an anthology tale, as various people in a country house talk about their strange experiences, so naturally some hit better than others (Only one is a total misfire). It does feature probably my favourite 'Ventriloquist and his dummy' story though, with a great performance from Michael Redgrave. Second was Gravy, written and directed by the star of Psych. It's an odd beast and feels like a Halloween episode of that show, just with way more gore (Courtesy of Nicetero and Berger - so it's all practical) and a lot more swearing. It's more funny than it is scary, and features Michael Weston and Jimmi Simpson hamming it up wonderfully. It's the type of movie I think of putting on for someone who's a little squeamish about horror movies. It's bloody, and violent, but it's tongue in cheek enough that it's not mean spirited. Also, it has an inspired 80s soundtrack. The only poor choice is Walking On Sunshine. There's no excuse for that in this day and age.
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Oct 3, 2015 09:02
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