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twernt
Mar 11, 2003

Whoa whoa wait, time out.


11. 1970. Equinox
Available on HBO Max, Criterion

This one is a little weird. It was originally released in 1967 as The Equinox... A Journey Into the Supernatural. Then, additional footage was added and it was re-released in 1970 as Equinox. I was mostly interested in watching this because I remember seeing it on my local TV station’s Saturday afternoon matinee show when I was a kid, but I could really only remember bits and pieces of the end.



Equinox starts with a bang, literally. There’s an explosion. Susan may be dead. Our intrepid hero runs through the woods and… it’s a flashback! David, our hero, is in an asylum and he tells the story of how he ended up there.

Four friends venture into the woods and/or mountains to visit their geology professor pal. Along they way, they meet a park ranger named Asmodeus, which is a very normal name for a very normal park ranger. They also spot some large, two-toed footprints in the sand and discover a spooky cave full of spooky cackling.



Equinox is fun and punches way above its weight. It apparently had a budget of about $8000 and I’d say they definitely got their money’s worth. The effects are, of course, 100% practical and include some nice miniatures and stop-motion pieces. The acting is not great — only one of the leads was ever in anything else — but it gets the job done. Overall, I think Equinox is what you would get if Ray Harryhausen and Sam Raimi made a creature feature together in high school.



I'd say it's a very respectable :ghost::ghost::ghost:


Time Travel Challenge: 11/31

Watched: 1. Jigoku (1960), 2. The Curse of the Doll People (1961), 3. The Burning Court (1962), 4. X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (1963), 5. The Long Hair of Death (1964), 6. Planet of the Vampires (1965), 7. Daimajin (1966), 8. Viy (1967), 9. A Quiet Place in the Country (1968), 10. The Cremator (1969), 11. Equinox (1970)

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gey muckle mowser
Aug 5, 2003

Do you know anything about...
witches?



Buglord


6. The Fall of the House of Usher (1928)
dir. Jean Epstein
YouTube

Based on the Poe story of the same name, this silent film is heavy on mood and atmosphere and light on action. I thought it was actually a little too slow sometimes, in particular there are some shots of the interior of the house (with billowing curtains and such) that look nice but that I thought went on for too long. The score on the version I watched (by Jay Woelfel) was great and appropriately haunting.

The only version of this I could find to watch was on YouTube, and the quality wasn't great. There are a lot of shots that I could tell would be gorgeous if they weren't quite so dark or blurry, but even so this looks pretty nice. I don't know if there is a better version available somewhere, but if there is I'd like to revisit this and see if my opinion would change.

Overall it's moody and creepy but it didn't quite knock my socks off.

3 owls out of 5



7. The Queen of Black Magic (2019)
dir. Kimo Stamboel
Shudder

When he learns that the headmaster of the remote orphanage where he was raised is on his deathbed, Hanif and his family travel there to pay their respects. On the drive in he hits something with his car - just a deer, but something about the incident doesn't sit well with him. When they arrive, he is reunited with three other former orphans (and their wives) who are there for the same reason, but before long they discover that buried secrets are resurfacing and sinister forces are at work.

This is very loosely based on the 1981 Indonesian film of the same name, but all they really share is a woman practicing black magic and an affinity for gross effects involving bugs. I can't really say if I liked this more or less than the original - it's unquestionably a better made film, but it lacks the goofy charm of '80s Asian horror cinema.

The story here is pretty decent - it takes a bit to get going, but once it does it really takes off and gets pretty wild. It's occasionally a bit too heavy on the exposition but it's paced well enough that the momentum is never ruined. Not everything makes perfect sense, but it's fun enough that I didn't care. There are lots of fun and creepy moments and some scares that I thought were really effective. I love anything to do with the occult/black magic, so this was right up my alley. Some of the effects are a bit heavy on the CGI and are worse for it, but for the most part everything looks great.

If you're interested in international horror or just like gross gore, I recommend giving this a shot. Personally I am totally on board with the recent wave of Indonesian horror films that have made their way to the US. I still haven't seen Joko Anwar's remake of Satan's Slaves, but I will fix that soon.

4 missing orphans out of 5

Edgar Wright's Top 100 Horror: 96/100
Slant Top 100 Horror: 97/100
TSZDT 2020: 669/1000

Total: 7
Watched: White Zombie | M | Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter | The Demoniacs | The Addiction | The Fall of the House of Usher (1928) | The Queen of Black Magic (2019)

gey muckle mowser fucked around with this message at 20:45 on May 5, 2021

Hollismason
Jun 30, 2007

Witchfinder General

4. Return of the Living Dead (1985)



"Send More Paramedics"

Quentiessential 1980s horror comedy. If you've not seen this then what are you doing ? Go watch it right now. Stay for the goopiest zombies and Linnea Quigley graveyard dance. I love this movie everything about it is perfect. The Zombies, The humour, the music. It has probably one of the best kicking rad sound tracks of any zombie movie ever made. Anyway its a perfect horror comedy.

FreudianSlippers
Apr 12, 2010

Shooting and Fucking
are the same thing!

1. Body Melt (1993), Australia



Body Melt is a pretty apt name even though the film has somewhat fewer actually melting bodies than the name suggests but more than it's fair share of contorted, torn, imploding, and writhing with seemingly sentient mucus bodies. Body Melt is part of a small subgenre of body horror sometimes called Melt Movies or even "Meltsploitation" where the complete disintegration of the body is the main focal point. The most notable examples outside of this are of course Street Trash, The Incredible Melting Man, Slime City, and The Stuff. Some have also categorized Society as a Melt Movie but I think it's more melt adjacent than fully melt.

It doesn't really go as far with it's satire of the health/fitness industry as one would hope but it's good fun and has a weird detour early on where two of the characters visit a service station run by yokels reminiscent of the mutants from The Hills Have Eyes but it all fits together pretty well in the end and has a lot more creepy hallucination/dream sequences than I was expecting from film that is otherwise mostly a showcase for schlocky gore effects all of whom look really gross in the best possible way. Not a good movie to pair with food.

Also anyone who has ever seen an episode of quintessential Australian soap opera Neighbors will recognize actor Ian Smith who played the fuddy-duddy mild mannered shopkeeper Harold on that show from 1987 to 2009 (with a five year break that one time Harold killed himself by walking into the sea) here Smith plays a very different character as the sinister Dr. Carrera. You can tell they knew people wouldn't expect Smith in this role because for the first few seconds Dr. Carrera is on screen we only see him from behind him turning around was probably a shocking reveal to Australian audiences in 1993.

The soundtrack is great fun and consists largely of extremely early 90s electronic music which sometimes fits the scene perfectly and other times clashes with it in just the right way.

It's a fun film even if , or maybe because, it's extremely mean spirited, vile, and generally sleazy.



FreudianSlippers fucked around with this message at 21:47 on May 5, 2021

twernt
Mar 11, 2003

Whoa whoa wait, time out.


12. 1971. Lake of Dracula
Available on Arrow, Tubi

Toho does Hammer.



Akiko is a teacher who encountered a vampire when she was young and has been plagued by spooky dream visions ever since. When a mysterious coffin is delivered to her lakeside town, she is the only one who seems to notice all of the strange, vampiric things that happen.



Her sister tells her that she’s seeing things. Her boyfriend is skeptical and a bit condescending. The local fishing guy won’t even acknowledge that anything has happened. Eventually, though, Takashi the doctor boyfriend is forced to confront the truth. There is a vampire on the loose and something must be done.



Lake of Dracula features sporadic spooky action and occasional spooky atmosphere. I really wanted to like it more than I did but it all felt kind of flat. The main vampire is not terribly charismatic and the ending feels very forced. To be fair, when his motivation is finally revealed, it’s a doozy.

Hammer fans may find a lot to love here and I would consider revisiting Michio Yamamoto’s Dracula trilogy once I’ve seen more of the movies that inspired it.

I'd give it a :ghost::ghost::ghost: because it was well done even if I didn't necessarily enjoy it.


Time Travel Challenge: 12/31

Watched: 1. Jigoku (1960), 2. The Curse of the Doll People (1961), 3. The Burning Court (1962), 4. X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (1963), 5. The Long Hair of Death (1964), 6. Planet of the Vampires (1965), 7. Daimajin (1966), 8. Viy (1967), 9. A Quiet Place in the Country (1968), 10. The Cremator (1969), 11. Equinox (1970), 12. Lake of Dracula (1971)

The Berzerker
Feb 24, 2006

treat me like a dog



9. The Orphanage (J.A. Bayona, 2007)

This GdT produced film was a good opportunity to practice my Spanish. Laura, along with her husband and adopted son Simon, move into the orphanage where Laura was raised with the goal of turning it into a facility for disabled kids. Simon has some imaginary friends who might be ghosts, and eventually he goes missing. I don't really want to say more than that, though I will say this was absolutely gut-wrenching. Light on scares, heavy on atmosphere, broke my heart. Belén Rueda was amazing.

:ghost: 4/5


10. The Funhouse (Tobe Hooper, 1981)
I'm a sucker for horror movies set at a carnival, circus, etc. and it's a good thing I am because the first half of this was so boring I wanted to turn it off. Then a Frankingstein gets a handjob and we're off to the races! It's pretty standard slasher stuff, and the kills are mediocre, but Gunther looks fantastic and I like that the hapless teens at least attempt to defend themselves. Nothing to write home about but it's a Tobe Hooper movie I hadn't seen, so I am glad I got around to it anyway.

:ghost: 2.5/5

Challenge Count: 10/31

Hollismason
Jun 30, 2007

Witchfinder General

5. Return of the Living Dead Part 2 (1988)



It is just not as good as the first one. It still has some worth as a zombie movie , but for overall gore , special effects etc.. this sequel just doesn't live up to the first one at all. It also has a really annoying kid actor in it who I hate every time I see him on screen. It's a lot more goofier than the first one where as the first one had actual moments of terror this one really doesn't have that. Everything is played up for laughs pretty mcuh through out. Still worth checking out for some goopy zombies.

M_Sinistrari
Sep 5, 2008

Do you like scary movies?




6) Get Duked - Prime - 2020

This has to be the most Scottish rendition of The Most Dangerous Game in existence. It's fairly heavy on the humor compared to the horror, I did snortlaugh hard enough it hurt. But the heavy humor doesn't distract from the pure horror aspects.

Storyline's a group of boys are signed up by their teacher to do the Duke of Edinburgh award where they go off into the Highlands, navigate to a campsite with a paper map and demonstrate teamwork and outdoorsy skills. Of course it turns out their trip's not going to go as planned.

The shots of the Highlands are gorgeous, and do convey how isolated the boys are. The cast does a great job, though it was a little disconcerting for me to see Miss Higgins from Call of the Midwife as one of the hunters.

I would definitely include this in a marathon with Hot Fuzz. I enjoyed it a lot and highly recommend.



7) Arsenic & Old Lace - DVD - 1944

I know a few reading this are thinking "Wait...that's over in the comedy section.", but I'd say a black comedy with serial killers set on Halloween works just as well as horror.

Storyline is Mortimer Brewster's a writer who's denounced marriage as outdated and old fashioned ends up falling in love and gets secretly married. They both go to tell their respective families the news before going off on their honeymoon. Mortimer's family are his two sweet elderly aunts and his brother Teddy who's under the delusion he's really Teddy Roosevelt. While he's gathering a few things, he finds a dead body in the window seat and things get rolling from there.

It turns out that Mortimer's sweet aunts are serial killers. Luring in lonely old bachelors, they end their loneliness with some elderberry wine spiked with arsenic, strychnine and a pinch of cyanide. Their victims are buried in the basement by Teddy who's told they're yellow fever victims from digging the Panama Canal.

This film's one of my all time favorites. One of my Mom's favorites too. It was originally a Broadway play with Boris Karloff playing Johnathan. I wish I'd had the chance to see the play just to compare to the movie. The cast is excellent and the tight pacing keeps things flowing. It's got that fast pace organic wit that you just don't see in movies anymore.

I highly recommend this one even though it's kinda killed my interest in trying elderberry wine.

Franchescanado
Feb 23, 2013

If it wasn't for disappointment
I wouldn't have any appointment

Grimey Drawer
Arsenic & Old Lace absolutely counts. I watched it recently, and loved it.

WeaponX
Jul 28, 2008



4. Frankenhooker (1990)

I love Frank Henenlotter. I believe we both have very similar sensibilities. I understand this is basically calling myself a giant pervert.

But seriously, we both love grimey old-NYC, silly comedy in our horror/exploitation films, low-budget guerrilla style film-making, and I will forever appreciate Henenlotter’s efforts to preserve genre and sex film history with his work as a part of Something Weird Video Frankenhooker is his silliest film for sure but man I like it a lot. Patty Mullen’s delivery of her lines post-transformation will never cease to amuse me. It’s stupid and it revels in it’s stupidity.

On this rewatch I was surprised at how much this script makes me giggle, feel a little stupid for laughing at the joke, and then laugh some more. It’s really funny and very crude. But of course, you want to watch this film if you want to see some of the most gratuitous nudity and use of fireworks as pyrotechnic special effects you’ve ever seen. If you haven’t seen the “super-crack explosion” scene you haven’t lived. Great puppets too.

I don’t know how I would rank this film, Basket Case, and Brain Damage but they make up the trash trilogy of a schlock auteur who, in my opinion, thoroughly explores the relationships between horror and sex, perversion and innocence, outsiders and mainstream society- in each of those three great films. He is never uninteresting and he deserves all the respect he gets around these parts.

Wanna date?

NSFW



Watchlist ranked Best to Worst
1. Bride of Re-Animator* 2. Frankehooker* 3. Victor Crowley 4. Jason Goes to Hell

*=rewatch

Count Thrashula
Jun 1, 2003

Peak Performance.

Buglord
11) Them (Ils) (2006)


Overall incredibly slow and lackluster. Lots of shaky camera and flickering lights doesn't make for a "scary" movie.
:ghost: :ghost:

12) Nina Forever (2015)


I had a blast with this movie, I really did. I'm sure there's an undertone to this that I need to think on for a while, something about not letting go of past relationships, but... even just watching this movie at a surface level, it's so good. It's the BLACKEST of black comedies. It's a slow burn, for sure, but so much fun.
:ghost: :ghost: :ghost: :ghost:

Total: 12
1. Crawl (2019) / 2. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) / 3. Vampyr (1932) / 4. I Walked With A Zombie (1943) / 5. Kwaidan (1964) / 6. Vampyres (1975) / 7. The Howling (1981) / 8. Torso (1973) / 9. Frankenhooker (1990) / 10. Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore (2010) / 11. Them (Ils) (2006) / 12. Nina Forever (2015)

bitterandtwisted
Sep 4, 2006




6: Cannibal Holocaust (1980)


This is one of the most infamous "video nasties" so I figured it was time to check it out
I looked at the runtime of the copy on Prime UK and it was a few minutes shorter than the "official" length so I figured it was the cut with the animal violence removed. It was not. I don't wanna see that poo poo. Why is Amazon even allowed to show a cut that to this day is not BBFC certified? Aside from the real animal cruelty, it's also probably the most sexually violent movie I've ever seen. Just full of extremely graphic, bloody, sexual attacks against women.

The structure was interesting. I'd heard it described as the first "found footage" film, but that's only part of it. The first half is the professor and his crew looking for the missing filmmakers and I was surprised that they all make it back and then the Prof pieces together what happened from the safety of New York. The "who are the real savages?" aspect was weak. There's very little build up or motivation for the filmmakers becoming sadistic monsters so they don't come across as a product of western society, but an aberration.
There was some catharsis to be had from these awful people getting what they deserved and the film was well made for what it is, but I did not have a good time watching this. It made me want to pick a new hobby.

Competed: 6
Four Flies on Grey Velevet; Gods and Monsters; Alice, Sweet Alice, Witchfinder General; Street Trash; Cannibal Holocaust

bitterandtwisted fucked around with this message at 12:19 on May 6, 2021

Spatulater bro!
Aug 19, 2003

Punch! Punch! Punch!

#6

The Raven
Lew Landers (credited as Louis Friedlander), 1935



Here's another Poe adaptation where the word "adaptation" needs to be in quotation marks. I think the opening credits said something like, "as suggested from the poem by Edgar Allan Poe". The characters talk about Poe and his poem extensively, so I guess it's kind of a meta adaptation?

Bela Lugosi plays a mad doctor (is there any other kind in these '30s horror films?) who becomes obsessed with a girl whose life he saves, and subsequently on exacting revenge for not being able to have her. His revenge involves a convoluted plan to use the aid of a fugitive played by Boris Karloff, who he blackmails by loving up his face and then promising to fix it if he cooperates. The plan comes to a head down in the doctor's secret dungeon, which is accessed, naturally, by a rotating bookcase and is filled with torture devices inspired by a myriad of Poe's stories.

This reminds me a lot of The Black Cat from the previous year, not least of all because both Poe adaptations star Karloff and Lugosi and result in Lugosi's character torturing people in his dungeon... I liked The Black Cat a little more than this. The plot here is pretty sloppy, with the climax making very little sense (why exactly DID the doctor need Karloff's help? And why carry this plan out with so many other people in the house? What sort of stupid loving plan was this?). Though there's no denying the fun of watching Karloff and Lugosi share tons of screen time hamming it up together, and the torture device conceit is amusing. At only an hour long there's not a whole lot of substance here, but any film with Lugosi pointing a gun at a disfigured Karloff and laughing maniacally while another man is about to be sliced in half ala The Pit and the Pendulum gets at least three stars from me.

3/5



Films watched: 1. Witchfinder General (1968), 2. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923), 3. The Devil Rides Out (1968), 4. The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), 5. Who Can Kill a Child? (1976), 6. The Raven (1935)

MacheteZombie
Feb 4, 2007
5. The Girl in Room 2A (1974) dir. by William Rose
What a cool little giallo with some things I did not expect tossed in. The lead is great, I loved her backstory and the use of dreams tying it and the mystery closer. Frank is an interesting character and I liked that he's torn by what's happening, his death was pretty brutal.

It's a decent story about violence enforced morality and control albeit a bit simple. The religious connotations were a nice touch.

Some sleaze, blood, a cult, and an exciting finale make this a great time for giallo fans.

3.5/5
--
6. The French Sex Murders (1972) dir. Ferdinando Merighi
This has entertaining moments, like the Bogart Detective for no reason, but it is mostly boring. Has no real style and what style it does try fails. The kill scenes doing the freeze frame but changes color thing just felt unnecessary and an afterthought.

But it's not all bad, there's a very goofy kill, Bogart, and the killer reveal is memorable.

2/5
--
7. My Dear Killer (1972) dir. Tonino Valerii
Enjoyed this a lot. The opening scene is pretty brutal and sets up a pretty fun mystery. I really liked the lead, George Hilton, and his Detective work is well done. I got a good laugh from him making the hanging body sway to illustrate why it was a murder.

Theres some good twists and turns, the Morricone score is cool as hell, and there's solid set pieces.

3.5/5

Movie Count - 7/15

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe

The Curse of The Mummy's Tomb

This is one that I've technically seen before, but also I could tell right away that I hadn't seen a proper transfer that really does a Hammer mummy film justice. Not that these Mill Creek blu rays are mind blowing or anything, but it certainly looks better than it ever has before and the Egyptian setting is such a great fit for what Hammer was doing in the late 50's/60's.


There's really no connection between this film and the original 1959 version with Cushing and Lee, other than George Pastell as the standard Bey/Mummy's Helper character. There's always a Bey and there's always tanna leaves. Oh wait a second, here we have a Mummy film with no tanna leaves! Just a curse, and really, isn't a curse enough? The characters are a mixed bag, some are bland and boring and a few of them are actually very likable but I did really enjoy the Mummy himself in this one. He's less obviously pissed off than Lee's was, but still very physically imposing and he has a few really cool kills that go beyond just throttling somebody or tossing them across the room.

While watching this yesterday I found myself thinking more generally about the appeal of Hammer, and why I love it so much, and why maybe it doesn't click with everyone. Detractors sometimes say that Hammer films are too similar to each other, heavily feature old men talking endlessly in stuffy rooms, and often have lackluster stories with uneven acting. And I can't directly dispute any of that, and The Curse of The Mummy's Tomb certainly fits those criticisms as well. But for me they work perfectly as like the warm bath of the horror genre. Easy to slide into, extremely comforting, and just one of those small but good things that can make any given day a little better. So I don't often find myself making a Hammer film like, the Main Event of the evening, where I'm turning off all the lights and eating popcorn and turning off my phone. But they're my absolute favorite thing to fill in the cracks of the night, like to start a double feature off or to watch while cooking dinner, etc. I enjoy not feeling pressure to absorb every single line of dialogue or plot detail, and I could watch a Hammer film on mute if I needed to and I'd still have a great time with it because the aesthetic is consistent and the studio just seemed to always deliver on that aspect.

Anyway that was a tangent but I've watched a bunch of Hammer in the past month or so(not all of it horror) and really just appreciating how many films there are and how I've sort of neatly slotted them into my movie watching life in a pretty important "role". There's only a handful of subgenres/categories of horror that I'd say I value more than Hammer, and I doubt I'll ever see another October that doesn't have a healthy dose of Hammer in it.

1. The Leopard Man 2. The Curse of Frankenstein 3. The Old Dark House 4. Curse of the Mummy's Tomb

Class3KillStorm
Feb 17, 2011




#6. In Search of Darkness: A Journey into Iconic '80s Horror (iTunes)

A documentary about 1980s horror movies, starring notable actors, directors and media critics.

I'd been watching this in bits and pieces while working out at home, and I don't think that's a terrible way to approach a film this long, especially one so regimented in its construction. After about the first 30 minutes, you should know how the overall approach is going to go: 10-20 minutes of year-by-year movie breakdowns, followed by a 10-20 minute "interlude" going into a specific topic, all cut together with clips from films and interview snippets from notable talking heads. The talking heads are fairly varied - you have notable directors of the era (John Carpenter, Stuart Gordon, Joe Dante, Larry Cohen, etc.), notable actors (Barbara Crampton, Jeffrey Combs, Caroline Williams, Kane Hodder, etc.), a few notable craftsman (Rick Baker, Greg Nicotero, etc.), some media critics (Joe Bob Briggs, the Angry Video Game Nerd, the dude from "Dead Meat", etc.) and some randos (did we need to hear from the dude from Slipknot here? What about the dude who runs the Fright Rags horror themed clothing store?). However, there's not a lot of them that go into any appreciable depth, and it seems like few of them had much or anything to say about a lot of the movies on hand; there's a couple of the movie breakdowns that only get one minute of one person talking about them at all. I can't tell if something with that little apparent interest or enthusiasm is a good thing to have on hand or not; I don't know if that minute talking about It's Alive III is wasted time or not, even if it's in a documentary ostensibly pitched at horror movie fans.

That's probably the bigger deal with this whole production: it's going for breadth, rather then depth, so it feels like a bit of a wasted opportunity to spend so much time doing 2 minute summaries about so many of the films of the 1980s, whether they were all that notable or not. They go by (I believe) release order year by year, so it feels like you're tapping your feet waiting for some of the bigger guns to appear in the back half while wasting time on junk like Full Moon High and Howling II. The interludes going into detail about different topics - things like the special effects work, the scores, franchising, the roles for women, sex and nudity, etc. - were more interesting, because it seemed to give some of the commentators a chance to either get technical and specific or to do analysis on what all of those films were talking about as an aggregate.

Still, it's not a bad way to spend that time, and it works well as background noise or something you can pay half attention to. It's breezy enough - since it's moving through so many topics and films it can't afford to linger on any of them very long - and there's plenty of snippets of famous or forgotten films to pique your interest. It's just not something that deserves your full attention for 4 full hours; it can't possibly live up to such lofty requirements.

:ghost::ghost::ghost:/5

Watched so far: The Curse of the Cat People, Freaky, Vampires vs the Bronx, Rawhead Rex, Tarantula, In Search of Darkness

E.G.G.S.
Apr 15, 2006

7. The Cremator (1969)
Going to honk the way ahead of it's time horn here. Fantastic editing and transitions throughout, I had to keep checking when this was made. Mr K is a terrifying presence , he just does not stop and when he starts talking into the camera at me I'm trying to get out of the room to escape. This is a suffocating movie.

:ghost::ghost::ghost::ghost::ghost:/5

Fran Challenge 4. Movie of the Month

E.G.G.S. fucked around with this message at 14:45 on May 12, 2021

Gripweed
Nov 8, 2018

ASK ME ABOUT MY
UNITED STATES MARINES
FUNKO POPS COLLECTION





Breach

OK I understand why this movie was not released on bluray. It is very much from the "glue some styrofoam to the wall and spraypaint it grey" school of spaceship interior design. At best, there are some parts filmed in closeup to try to distract you from the background which is just a wall with a tube stapled on to it. Beyond that, the set dressing is also questionable. More paper towels than you expect to see on a futuristic spaceship. Like, there's a lot of paper towels in this movie.

Bruce Willis was a little surprising here. When you watch a recent Bruce Willis movie you expect a piece of wood that looks like it wants to die. But in Breach, Willis actually moves around and expresses emotion through his face and tone of voice. There are multiple line reads that seem like choices he made. He actually acts. Not in every scene, but still. I don't want to overstate things, this isn't John McClane reborn. I do not believe that Breach marks the start of the Willisance. But he clearly gave more of a poo poo about Breach than he did about The Expendables or Surrogates.

A weird thing is that the monster isn't an alien. It was smuggled on board by somebody. And it's not like some kinda wild animal or something, it has intent. It messes with the ship to achieve not it's own goals, but the goals of the person who smuggled it on board. Which raises questions about the setting, where terrorists can get their hands on programmable zombie viruses. That's the only example of any kind of neat technology in the movie, all the other sci-fi stuff is just spaceship and cryopod.

The ending could have been neat. They arrive on the planet only to find out that the monster is there too. Humanity is doomed, there is no escape. And then the woman's water breaks. Handled well that could have been a really great extremely dark joke. But Breach tries to treat it as like, an exciting action moment? It makes no sense tonally, and even ends on an action line, like its setting up a sequel or something. Baffling. And unsatisying as an ending.

Over all I can't really recommend Breach. It's not as bad as I expected but it's still pretty bad. If you want a sci-fi horror action movie to have on in the background while you scroll Twitter, Breach is fine for that. But don't pay money for it.

bitterandtwisted
Sep 4, 2006




Breach pissed me off. I love a low budget sci-fi horror, but it was so lazy and uninteresting. It looked like the sets of Red Dwarf with the lights turned way down and obnoxious colour grading.

Gripweed
Nov 8, 2018

ASK ME ABOUT MY
UNITED STATES MARINES
FUNKO POPS COLLECTION



bitterandtwisted posted:

Breach pissed me off. I love a low budget sci-fi horror, but it was so lazy and uninteresting. It looked like the sets of Red Dwarf with the lights turned way down and obnoxious colour grading.

yeah lazy really is the best word for it. On the DVD box they have these guns that look like they're just made of pipes, and I thought they were gonna have to make some weapons out of whatever they had on hand to fight the monsters. Which could be fun. But then it turns out that they just have some flamethrowers ready to go on the spaceship.

gey muckle mowser
Aug 5, 2003

Do you know anything about...
witches?



Buglord


8. Warlock (1989)
dir. Steve Miner
blu-ray

Fleeing execution at the hands of the church, a warlock travels from 17th century Boston to present day (well, late '80s) Los Angeles. He is pursued by a witch-hunter who aims to stop the warlock before he can collect the pages of an ancient grimoire and unmake all of creation. Sort of like a backwards version of The Terminator with magic instead of robots.

This is solidly okay. It's directed by Steve Miner (Friday the 13th part 2, Halloween H20) but often leans more towards dark fantasy than it does horror. It does have plenty of fun occult stuff though and the occasional gory effect, especially towards the end of the film. Most of the special effects have aged poorly - some in a charming way (the "fire" spells) but others, like anytime the warlock is flying, look terrible. The handful of practical effects do look good, there just aren't many of them.

Not a whole lot else to say about this one... it's decent fun but ultimately kind of forgettable I think.

3 spellbooks out of 5



9. Prince of Darkness (1987)
dir. John Carpenter
UHD
(re-watch)

In the basement of an abandoned church, a secret order of priests have been guarding an ancient artifact for centuries. A research team made up of grad students is brought in to study the object - a locked cylinder full of glowing green goo - but it soon becomes active and some spooky poo poo goes down.

I've always thought of this as a B-tier Carpenter film, and I felt the same after this viewing. It has a lot going for it - great atmosphere, some genuinely creepy scenes, and of course a great score by Carpenter himself. And it has Alice Cooper stabbing a guy with a bicycle! What more could anyone ask for? B-tier Carpenter is still A-tier for many other directors, but to me this falls short of being great.

I think the main reason this film doesn't really work for me is that there are way too many characters and most aren't given enough screen time for me to even know who they are, much less care about them. The few that do get some character development are mostly unlikable, too. If the cast had been cut in half I think this could've been a much better film. If you're a fan of Carpenter I think it's definitely worth a watch, but it's not one of his best.

3.5 dream broadcasts from the distant future of 1999 out of 5

Edgar Wright's Top 100 Horror: 96/100
Slant Top 100 Horror: 97/100
TSZDT 2020: 669/1000

Total: 9
Watched: White Zombie | M | Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter | The Demoniacs | The Addiction | The Fall of the House of Usher (1928) | The Queen of Black Magic (2019) | Warlock | Prince of Darkness

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
I said this before in the horror thread but making Dennis Dunn the lead character would've improved Prince of Darkness by leaps and bounds.

FreudianSlippers
Apr 12, 2010

Shooting and Fucking
are the same thing!

2. What Have You Done to Solange? (1972) Italy



The protagonist, Italian teacher Enrico Rosseni, is pretty off putting. He comes of as a creep (he's having an affair with a student) but isn't quite gross or assholish enough for it to be fun. Mostly he's just a bit dull.

The central mystery doesn't really get rolling until more than an hour into the film where the titular Solange is first mentioned and it soon becomes very clear just what is going on but it's still pretty well put together and if you enjoy giallo in general you'll probably enjoy this.

The sexualized nature of giallo violence is taken a step further than usual as the victims are all killed by a knife wound to the genitals. Basically the most explicitly phallic symbolism I've ever seen in a giallo or slasher and that's saying something.

This is one of several giallo films that while mostly Italian takes place in another country. Of the top of my head Death Walks on High Heels, Lizard in a Woman's Skin , and The Living Dead in the Manchester Morgue are three other Italian productions that take place fully or partly in England. Also notable is the masterful but underseen Short Night of Glass Dolls which takes place entirely in Prague. This is nothing unique to giallo or even Italian films. Anyone who has ever seen a European film will notice that even today every one of them starts with the logos of at least two production companies and five or more film funds from different countries. This is because there isn't quite as much money in the European film industry (or rather industries as each country and/or region has its own) as in the American one and if you want to make a movie on anything more than a shoestring budget you need to collaborate with someone across borders to ensure the maximum amount of grants and financing and to ensure the broadest possible release area.

One interesting sidenote is that while I'm pretty sure that like all Italian films of that era Solange was filmed entirely MOS (without sound recorded on set) and dubbed afterwards but from what I gather unlike most films where every actor would speak their own language on set regardless of what it was because it would be dubbed over anyway in this film everyone spoke English on set which has the effect that the lip movement matches the dialogue a lot more than it usually does in these sorts of film.



twernt
Mar 11, 2003

Whoa whoa wait, time out.


13. 1972. The Red Queen Kills Seven Times
Available on Arrow, Shudder

The Red Queen Kills Seven Times is the story of a family curse. Every hundred years, the Red Queen appears and commits seven murders before she disappears. The film’s title is a subtle nod to this curse.



After the patriarch of the family dies, his grandchildren are set to inherit his estate. Of course, there is a twist. The will mentions Eveline, who died in an accident, though not everyone is aware that she is dead. The will is also not final until the end of the year.

Before too long, a mysterious woman in a red cloak begins to commit a series of murders. Is this the curse? Is the Red Queen Eveline, the sister who is supposed to be dead?



The Red Queen Kills Seven Times is as stylish as they come. It’s so stylish that the main characters all work for a fashionable clothing company. Don’t worry, there is still plenty of blood with a mysterious murderer on the loose. The performances are all also suitably melodramatic and there are plenty of twists and turns to keep you interested.



Keep your eyes open for the Jägermeister bus about 39 minutes.

This is a very respectable :ghost::ghost::ghost:1/2


Time Travel Challenge: 13/31

Watched: 1. Jigoku (1960), 2. The Curse of the Doll People (1961), 3. The Burning Court (1962), 4. X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (1963), 5. The Long Hair of Death (1964), 6. Planet of the Vampires (1965), 7. Daimajin (1966), 8. Viy (1967), 9. A Quiet Place in the Country (1968), 10. The Cremator (1969), 11. Equinox (1970), 12. Lake of Dracula (1971), 13. The Red Queen Kills Seven Times (1972)

WeaponX
Jul 28, 2008



Basebf555 posted:

I said this before in the horror thread but making Dennis Dunn the lead character would've improved Prince of Darkness by leaps and bounds.

How dare you besmirch Jameson Parker whose defining character traits were “has mustache” and “creepily stalks and pressures women into sex”

I mean he would go on to star in *checks notes* zero theatrically released films after John Carpenter presented him to the world!

Count Thrashula
Jun 1, 2003

Peak Performance.

Buglord
13) Aliens (1986)


All in all? It was fun. It was good. I can see why it's a classic, though I think I prefer the original to this sequel. This movie is turned up to 11 in almost every single way, and that makes for an exciting popcorn time, but there were a few times where there was just SO MUCH going on that I zoned out a bit.
:ghost: :ghost: :ghost: .5

14) The Cremator (1969)


What a strange and timeless-feeling movie. At it's heart, it's a similar sort of "descent into madness" horror as Henry or Deranged, but with the arty-ness turned up to 11. Fantastic and gorgeous all the way through. And the way that Kopfrkingl would look directly at the camera at certain parts was 4th-wall-breaking in a way that will haunt my dreams.
:ghost: :ghost: :ghost: :ghost: .5

Total: 14
1. Crawl (2019) / 2. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) / 3. Vampyr (1932) / 4. I Walked With A Zombie (1943) / 5. Kwaidan (1964) / 6. Vampyres (1975) / 7. The Howling (1981) / 8. Torso (1973) / 9. Frankenhooker (1990) / 10. Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore (2010) / 11. Them (Ils) (2006) / 12. Nina Forever (2015) / 13. Aliens (1986) / 14. The Cremator (1969)

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe

WeaponX posted:

How dare you besmirch Jameson Parker whose defining character traits were “has mustache” and “creepily stalks and pressures women into sex”

I mean he would go on to star in *checks notes* zero theatrically released films after John Carpenter presented him to the world!

Excellent jawline though. Very square.

Chris James 2
Aug 9, 2012


5. 13: Game of Death aka 13 Beloved

Vudu

A 2006 Thai horror film (with occasional spurts of comedy) about an average guy who has a rotten string of luck and then comes along to a way of changing it...with a catch

Phuchit has his sale stolen from under him by a funnier hotter more beloved coworker, loses his job due to it, while in the midst of being in incredible debt and having it only get worse by not being able to say no to his mom's request for money. His car gets repo'd and his girlfriend dumped him. His luck couldn't be worse

And then he gets a call from a mysterious voice informing him they want him to participate in a series of 13 games, for which he'll be increasingly compensated as long as he 1) doesn't give up, and 2) asks no questions of who's doing this or why. The games begin with him being asked to kill and then eat a fly, and get far more morally questionable the closer he gets to #13

Being 2021, this doesn't sound like that unique of a premise, internationally or not. Which is why it's a credit to former pop singer Krissada Sukosol Clapp, who does a solid job balancing the average-Joeness of Phuchit at first to becoming more unhinged as he realizes he's in too deep to realistically get out, to becoming comically desperate at times (like when he's asked to KO someone with a chair and is completely incompetent at doing so, at one point begging the guy to just stay down already)

The effects and look are noticeably dated, at 105 minutes before end credits 13: Game of Death (aka 13 Beloved) certainly feels stretched out longer than it should be, there's one death scene I Hate Hated and when you know I'm an animal lover you'll understand why, and there's really only one other character worth remembering due to their acting performance (for my money that'd be Tong, played at times effectively/emotionally by Achita Sikamana). But there's enough here to like to justify at least one watch, between the aforementioned lead performance by Clapp, the nice occasional balance between tense and funny, the surprising twist ending, and the plot feeling uneasily prescient for 2005/06 (a combination of "what would you do for enough money" and "a bunch of people will willingly watch you do it for entertainment purposes" is Particularly on the nose at a time when reality TV and social media have never been more widespread, and capitalism, while deservedly called out as evil and predatory by a lot more people than in the past, has its hooks in us so deep the prospect of getting out of debt is enough to convince many of us to still take chances we otherwise wouldn't)

I didn't expect to have this many words to say about a film where a guy eats poo poo for fifty grand, but hey, that's cinema for you

***

5/13 (The New York Ripper, Gwen, Sleepless Beauty, The Head Hunter, 13: Game of Death)

M_Sinistrari
Sep 5, 2008

Do you like scary movies?




8) Spontaneous - Prime - 2020

This popped as a recommendation to me and I'm really not sure what to make of it.

Synopsis is the seniors at a high school start spontaneously exploding for no reason. That sounds like there's going to be some clear horror here but it was more like a barely there bit of scenery. Someone explodes, there's lots of blood spray and screaming and that's essentially it. It felt more like a piece of the backdrop. Even the parts in quarantine came across more like 'bored at summer camp'.

This felt more like a teen romance/coming of age film than the expectation the poster and trailer left me of a horror comedy. It makes me wonder what audience this film's aiming for. The romance aspect fits for a YA crowd, but all the references they make to E.T. and 90s music's more something you'd expect aiming for my generation.

Overall, I don't regret watching this movie, but I'm annoyed at how it's going to throw off my algorithm. Last time this happened because I bought ONE trashy novel from the 80s, I spent three days having to clear out all the romance novel recommendations Amazon kept throwing at me.


And on an unrelated note: I'M BACK TO WORK! :dance: :snoop: :dance: :snoop:

Spatulater bro!
Aug 19, 2003

Punch! Punch! Punch!

#7

A Bucket of Blood
Roger Corman, 1959



I had a blast with this. It hit a perfect satirical tone with the pretentious beatniks and it made me laugh on more than a few occasions. I went in blind, so the main plot conceit came as a pleasant surprise. Dick Miller is an absolute treasure, and it's great seeing him young and in such a fantastic role. And it's the rare ~60 minute film that doesn't feel rushed. It told its story in just the right amount of time with just the right pacing. It's short, sweet and fun as hell.

4/5



Films watched: 1. Witchfinder General (1968), 2. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923), 3. The Devil Rides Out (1968), 4. The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), 5. Who Can Kill a Child? (1976), 6. The Raven (1935), 7. A Bucket of Blood (1959)

Opopanax
Aug 8, 2007

I HEX YE!!!


2: The Gift (2015)

What a weird cast for this movie. They all did a fine job, but the plot takes way too long to get where it’s going, just kind of hangs out there for a while, and then has a really hosed up (not in a good way) ending. Could have been something if it were paced differently but it just falls flat

Opopanax fucked around with this message at 19:44 on May 7, 2021

Debbie Does Dagon
Jul 8, 2005



So I watched these a few days ago and then had a horrid mental health episode, and I can't really remember much of my experience at all, but I have notes and gifs, and that's a start, right?

3. Vampyres (1974) - Tubi (US)/Shudder(GB/US)



This is my second film directed by José Ramón Larraz, and I'm definitely detecting a theme of coldly detached sensuality in his films. He doesn't have the eye or the charisma of a Jean Rollin, but the gaze and the emotional depth here is much more my speed. Connecting my previous experience with him whilst watching Symptoms, there's a connecting material of old aristocratic manors, inhabited by Sapphic, vampiric, ghostly entities, luring in unsuspecting victims, and then exploring the conflicting emotions which inevitably arise.

Given the above, I think this is a less successful film than Symptoms. For one, there isn't a clear focus on any one character. I couldn't, for instance, tell you who any of these people were, beyond the mere events portrayed on screen. I didn't sympathise with anyone in particular. I didn't understand their motivations once events pivoted, it just all seemed a lot more shallow and inconsequential, but I did highly enjoy it as a mood piece. It has a sultry, decadent, alluring charm to it that goes beyond the usual male masturbatory fantasies that we usually get in this period. Larraz is clearly focused on the internal emotional lives of his characters, even as he is showing boobs, butts, and yes, even boy-butts :allears: I will say though that the kissing in this era is a little perplexing.



Did I say what the film is about? Sapphic vampires pose as hitchhikers to lure men to a stately home to have sex with and then eat. It's really not complex. It is a lot of fun though, definitely worth checking out if you're a fan of the era or the subject matter.

4/5


4. Remington and the Curse of the Zombadings (2011) - Tubi (US)

Let me just quote verbatim the description of this movie.

"Remington lives in a small provincial town. He’s a typical macho. During the day he works his rear end off and at night he gets drunk to blow off steam. As a child Remington mercilessly harassed his homosexual neighbour until the man put a curse on him. One day Remington would turn gay. And it seems like the curse is slowly but surely working its magic. Remington is being forced out of a closet he never thought he’d be in. First his body language turns pink, then the way he talks and finally his sexual preference. Poor Remington finds himself entangled in a confusing threesome with his best friend and girlfriend. In the meantime his mother, a police officer, tries to find the perpetrator of a series of murders in the city’s gay and transsexual community. And the victims do not intend to remain under ground. They’re coming out of their coffins, Gloria Gaynor style!"



I made a joke in the Discord that I was sure the film would be a sensitive and thoughtful exploration of its subject matter, and surprisingly it actually is. This is perhaps the best queer representation I've seen in a film for a very long time. Now one thing there are a lot of in this film are tropes, there's perhaps a focus on the more stereotypical elements of gay culture, but if you can see beyond that, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

First, while the plot is ridiculous and could easily fall into the trap of just being another awful gay-panic, heteronormative snooze-fest, this is definitely a film that centres the queer experience first, and whilst the twists in the tale may be predictable enough, they're actually handled in such a way as to be impressive. For instance, and this perhaps the slightest of spoilers, but there's a "curse", so the focus of course must be in breaking this "curse" and returning to being straight, correct? Absolutely, but the writers actually bother to lay out the issues in such a way that, even as a queer person, I was rooting for this character to undo their curse. And I don't want to reveal the deft sleight-of-hand at work here because it's breathtaking and honestly extremely moving how they made the pieces work together so effortlessly. I feel like I'm complimenting a point that I'm also dancing around, but it needs to be seen to be believed!



Secondly, whilst the key players are ostensibly cishet, a large swathe of the extended cast are LGBTQ+. In fact, and this is another slight spoiler, the last shot of the film is of a smiling trans woman as she comes to feel accepted and loved by the community around her, and it's gorgeous thing to behold. And while there is a plot involving a serial killer who targets the LGBTQ+ community, there's a wonderful shot of the killer explaining why he has a distaste for gay people specifically, and filmmakers allow this character an unbroken shot to monologue their hate into whilst also completely drowning them out with loud background noise. It's such a wonderful moment because it punctuates the fact that we've heard this poo poo, and we're not listening anymore.



I feel a little bit carried away with this... can I even call what I do reviewing? The film itself is what you might expect from a fluffy horror comedy without too many teeth. While there are ghosts, zombies, and serial killers, there are no scares really. It's all a backdrop for some light comedy, a much-needed exploration of queer issues from a uniquely Phillipino perspective, and did I mention that the curse-spirit is a swelteringly hot muscle daddy in a leather thong?

5/5

Does it deserve 5/5? I don't care :colbert: it's perfect.

Official: 4/13
X-Files: 11/x

Davros1
Jul 19, 2007

You've got to admit, you are kind of implausible



Retro Futurist posted:

2: The Gift

What a weird cast for this movie. They all did a fine job, but the plot takes way too long to get where it’s going, just kind of hangs out there for a while, and then has a really hosed up (not in a good way) ending. Could have been something if it were paced differently but it just falls flat

Is this the Sam Raimi film or the Joel Edgerton film?

STAC Goat
Mar 12, 2008

Watching you sleep.

Butt first, let's
check the feeds.


10 (13). Varan the Unbelievable (1962)
Directed by Jerry A. Baerwitz and kinda Ishirō Honda, written by Sid Harris and sorta Shinichi Sekizawa and Ken Kuronuma,
Watched on TubiTV.


Wow, that was racist.

Not in the way you usually think with like blackface or stereotypes but in that really condescending and "white man knows best" way. Our protagonist is an arrogant, self important rear end in a top hat who talks down to everyone including his Japanese wife who he speaks to like a child calling her "little one" and "good girl." And he's in charge of everything. And he's always right. And everything proves his wisdom and brilliance. And even when he's wrong its someone else's fault. And for some reason he's in charge of the Japanese military.

Seriously, there's this whole sequence of events where he plots with the military to get more soldiers so they can force the villagers out of their homes at gunpoint so they can experiment on their water supply. But then his wife begs him not to so he heroically orders them to stay and for the soldiers to just keep them from using the water but go get them food and supplies to compensate. But then the monster shows up (he's got like 4 names and I've lost track) and destroys the village and kills everyone and rear end in a top hat's wife weeps and screams "ITS ALL MY FAULT!" That was so frustrating and offensive and maddening. And of course her husband comforts his "little girl" because she didn't know any better. She was just a poor, foolish, uncultured lady. ARGH.

Like if I could ignore all that I guess this film feels tighter and a little better constructed than the original Japanese film. That has no characters of note and really lazy plot construction. This does in fact have characters and plot. It all moves in a simple enough way. But oh my god I hated the character the entire world revolves around and his holier than though paternalistic white man savior bullshit.

Man, gently caress this movie.




11 (14). 1922 (2017)
Written and directed by Zak Hilditch, based on Stephen King's 2010 novella.
Watched on Netflix.


King Spring 4/13

I liked that, I didn't love it. King adopts a real Poe-like feel here and the choice to go narration with the adaption helps hold onto that King writing style that some other adaptions struggle with. But like many King pieces it goes on too long. But lets do the good stuff first. It has some very good, bleak setting and mood, some very gruesome gore, and a very effective and methodical tale of guilt and consequences that is familiar enough to classic Poe classics that its impossible to not recognize the inspiration, but is original enough in its Americana setting and characters to feel like its own thing. And its carried by a strong performance from its star.

I couldn't tell if Thomas Jane's accent was great or terrible, but it was so thick I needed to turn on close captioned. And really he puts on a pretty remarkable performance of acting and physicality for the role. I didn't see Thomas Jane at all, I saw this hard man. A man his loved ones calls "stern" and who smiles to company. But who you can tell everyone knows not to upset. Something sinister underneath. And anger. And a lot of that is in his physical appearance and costuming and makeup as well. Hair thinned and grayed. Skin beet red and dirty like it has permanent stains from a lifetime of outdoor work. Kind of emaciated skin pulled tight over the wiry muscles of a man who you can tell is strong and could hurt someone way more dangerously than some muscled up gym guy. The sort of guy someone who has been in a fight knows he doesn't want to be in a fight with. Before he does anything or plots anything Jane plays a man that scares me.

But again, the problem is the movie goes probably 20-30 minutes too long. Jane's Wilf goes from terrifying to terrified as his greed and anger turns to guilt and he's tortured by misfortune, misery, bad omens, and threats that walk that unspecified line of psychological or supernatural. And that's all good but it gets stretched out a lot. Its not that there's necessarily anything that feels added to bloat it, but somethings definitely should have been cut or tightened up to speed along the process.

I liked it, I really did. But it has that King flaw that keeps me from loving it or really recommending it to non King fans. Its highs really threatened to tip it over the scales, but then it would drag and slip back down in a back and forth for 100 minutes. 80 would have been better.

It did however have the most amazing birds and bees talk ever from Mom of the Year.

”I seen you with Shannon Cotterie. Pretty face and a nice little figure. If you're not getting a touch of that you're a fool. Just be careful. Fourteen's not too young to marry out here in the middle. Here's to Shannon Cotterie and her future bubbies, and if my son don't know the color of her nipples, he's a slowpoke. Just make sure when you're laying down with her in the corn or behind the barn that you're a no poke. Explore all you like and, you know, rub it with your Johnny Mac until he feels good and spits up. But you stay out of the home place... lest you get locked in like your mummer and daddy.”

Call your mom’s this Mother’s Day.




12 (15). What Keeps You Alive (2018)
Written and directed by Colin Minihan.
Watched on Netflix.


Return of the Fallen 4/13
The Vicious Brothers aka Digital Interference; Eliminated in Seeding Round


I liked it. I say that all weird like that because it is a bit of a shaky film that I've seen others express kind of bucked them. I do mostly get that. Its kind of convoluted and the plot is filled with twists and turns that definitely fall this side of logical. Personally, I'm not someone who is bothered by movie characters acting irrationally and i think viewers who tend to complain about that seem to forget that we humans are idiots and constantly make irrational, emotional, and dumb decisions. Still, this film have a fair bit of characters making choices in service of keeping the game going and the bronco did bust a bit. But ultimately I held on and really bought into the tension and somewhat wild story.

I think a lot of that is to Hannah Anderson and Brittany Allen who have to carry the film and the weight of the screwy plot. Allen starred in another Minihan film It Stains the Sands Red and while I liked that and thought she did a good job I also thought it was a movie that really demanded a lot of her role to carry the whole film and she didn't get all the way there. Here she's sharing the load and I think both ladies do a good job with it. Its a pair of characters that aren't spelled out for us. We're not given all the answers or details of their past or characteristics. There's enough to foreshadow further events in this film but no big exposition dumps of their background or character bios. But they both do a good job selling their characters and the hosed up situation they find themselves in.

Colin Minihan/The Vicious Brothers are interesting. I'm a fan of everything I've seen of them, but none of it really feels like the same kind of thing. Even Grave Encounters is just a whole other thing from Grave Encounters that instead of repeating what worked really, really goes hard for something else. And I think that's probably the defining trait for all their films I've seen. They all go big and try very interesting ideas. I don't think they're all home runs but they're all very interesting and I think enjoyable. And while this is a flawed film it definitely falls comfortably into the "interesting and enjoyable" category for me.




🌻🎈Spook-A-Doodle Half-Way-To-Halloween ’21: Return of the Fallen & King Spring🎈🌻
King Spring: 4/13
Return of the Fallen: 4/13
Fran Challenges: ??/??

Watched - New (Total)
1. Riding the Bullet (2004); 2. Cat’s Eye (1985); - (3). Vampires vs. the Bronx (2020); - (4). The Thing (1982); 3 (5). Sleep Tight (2011); - (6). Dark Shadows (2012); 4 (7). The Wicker Man (1973); 5 (8). Varan (1958); 6 (9). The Roost (2005); 7 (10). The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007); 8 (11). The Leech Woman (1960); 9 (12). Sometimes They Come Back (1991); 10 (13). Varan the Unbelievable (1962); 11 (14). 1922 (2017); 12 (15). What Keeps You Alive (2018);

STAC Goat fucked around with this message at 09:05 on May 7, 2021

bitterandtwisted
Sep 4, 2006




7: C.H.U.D (1984)


You don't see toxic waste in movies anymore. It was everywhere in the 80s, especially in the sewers, where in this movie it's turning homeless people into cannibalistic humanoid underground dwellers.
Unlike Street Trash, it's sympathetic to the homeless, and one of the main characters runs a soup kitchen. The main characters are all likeable and this is a fun movie, if not a deep one. Cameo appearance by a young John Goodman.
I don't have a lot else to say about it, but if you want an 80s mutant monster movie you could do worse than C.H.U.D

Competed: 7
Four Flies on Grey Velevet; Gods and Monsters; Alice, Sweet Alice, Witchfinder General; Street Trash; Cannibal Holocaust; C.H.U.D

Iron Crowned
May 6, 2003

by Hand Knit
6) Dig Two Graves (2015, Shudder)

quote:

After her brother's tragic death, a young girl is approached by three men who claim they can bring her brother back to life.

I found this one scrolling through Shudder, the description sounded interesting, it had 5 skulls, and look at that name, but I found it disappointing. I was hoping there would be ghosts, or a trip to the underworld, or any plethora of things about bringing someone back from the dead. Instead what I got was a slow burn melodramatic reverse-revenge movie.

The three men appear in a spooky enough fashion, but they're just regular rear end men, there is some sort of snake cult element, but it's nothing more than window dressing.

The kids do at least look age appropriate, and it's shot rather well, it's not often that you have a movie that feels like a cold late November afternoon.

Unfortunately the biggest sins were the scenes from 1947, where Ted Lavine, and the other sheriff actually look older than they do in the movie's present day of 1977. It actually took me forever to figure out that the other guy was the same person in the past. It's really not that hard to cast younger actors for a few flashback scenes, give them the same haircut and have someone say their name, that's it! I get it, you got Ted Lavine, but it's ok, you can use someone else as Ted Lavine 30 years in the past.

All in all, I found it just frustrating, because I kept waiting for something to happen.

2.5/5

twernt
Mar 11, 2003

Whoa whoa wait, time out.


14. 1973. The Crazies
Available on Amazon Prime, Arrow, Criterion, Mubi, Tubi

In a story ripped from the headlines, the government terrorizes good, small-town Americans in order to protect them from a “virus” that they created in the first place. Violence erupts all over town as brave citizens resist, using any weapon at their disposal, be it dynamite, rifle, or broom.



I really appreciate Romero’s hectic, loose, lo-fi aesthetic here. It really works for a movie like The Crazies, where a disaster is quickly spiraling out of control. The movie itself is just okay. Romero was working with a small budget and the story is pretty ambitious.



I'll have to check out the remake at some point.

To me, this is a :ghost::ghost::ghost: but maybe a low one.


Time Travel Challenge: 14/31

Watched: Jigoku (1960), The Curse of the Doll People (1961), The Burning Court (1962), X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (1963), The Long Hair of Death (1964), Planet of the Vampires (1965), Daimajin (1966), (1967), A Quiet Place in the Country (1968), The Cremator (1969), Equinox (1970), Lake of Dracula (1971), The Red Queen Kills Seven Times (1972), The Crazies (1973)

Chris James 2
Aug 9, 2012


6. Deerskin

HBO Max

"You don't look like you work in real film."

Georges gets a 100% deerskin jacket he likes. The sheer insanity he descends into after this moment, encompassing the rest of the seventy minutes pre-end credits, is hard to explain, yet also easy to comprehend if you're familiar with director Quentin Dupieux's more well-known film and another classic, Rubber

Like Rubber, Deerskin has moments of meta commentary, like when Georges is pretending to be a filmmaker but doesn't really know what he's doing, isn't helped by reading up on how to do it better, and is informed by amateur editor Denise (played by Adele Haenel; during the second half she only adds to the surreality by seeming like she's on the verge of getting what's actually happening...and reacts by loving it and wanting to be around Georges more) that it's more or less okay, none of us really know what we're doing either, why should they? It's all bullshit, we're all alone in what we're trying, but maybe we can be alone together in trying it

Like with Rubber (the film about a killer tire, but not really, but really, but maybe), Deerskin is something I recommend you just watch. Don't read anything about it that gets beyond the stars, the director, and the first actual plot development (he buys a jacket). I try not to be the "spoilers Always hurt" type, mostly because hearing about things beyond just the basic synopsis have actually helped me watch stuff I otherwise wouldn't have been interested in at all. Reading about the last half hour of mother! on opening day got me out to the theater for that when even the trailers hadn't convinced me. Hearing about the twist in Audition didn't just make me watch that, it made me start watching Takashi Miike films; he's now one of my fav directors and I've seen almost 20! of his films (to be fair I think Everyone's been spoiled about Audition so maybe that's not the best example here, but still). They've also helped warn me in advance to brace myself for disappointment on stuff I was getting hyped about, Rise of Skywalker and the leaks for the final season of Game of Thrones immediately come to mind. But I'm starting to get the feeling Dupieux's work just needs that element of surprise for the best possible experience. Like Rubber, that worked best for me with Deerskin

Go in without knowing what to expect. And don't wear a jacket when you do

*****

6/13 (The New York Ripper, Gwen, Sleepless Beauty, The Head Hunter, 13: Game of Death, Deerskin)

Chris James 2 fucked around with this message at 14:55 on May 7, 2021

twernt
Mar 11, 2003

Whoa whoa wait, time out.


15. 1974. Deathdream aka Dead of Night
Directed by Bob Clark
Available on Criterion, Night Flight, Tubi, Vudu

The same day that a family learns their son Andy has died in Vietnam, they get a surprise. Their son returns and appears to be very much alive! Something is different about him, though. He’s strange. He’s distant. The dog won’t stop barking at him.



Andy’s behavior causes conflict between his parents. His father accuses his mother of making him soft, while his mother accuses his father of pushing him away. It plays on well-worn tropes about mothers whose judgement is clouded by love and fathers who feel threatened by their adult sons. The fact that Andy kills the family dog doesn’t help things at all.

Deathdream is an important piece of horror film history. Not only is it the movie that Bob Clark directed just before Black Christmas, it’s also Tom Savini’s debut movie as a special effects tech.



Overall, it’s an above average Monkey’s Paw horror flick with decent performances all around. Richard Backus, who plays Andy, is especially creepy. The actual scares are a little sporadic, but Deathdream establishes a mood very well. The makeup effects on Andy are nicely done. Deathdream is also effective at using the supernatural to amplify an otherwise mundane conflict between parents.

Deathdream aka Dead of Night is a solid :ghost::ghost::ghost:1/2


Time Travel Challenge: 15/31

Watched: Jigoku (1960), The Curse of the Doll People (1961), The Burning Court (1962), X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (1963), The Long Hair of Death (1964), Planet of the Vampires (1965), Daimajin (1966), (1967), A Quiet Place in the Country (1968), The Cremator (1969), Equinox (1970), Lake of Dracula (1971), The Red Queen Kills Seven Times (1972), The Crazies (1973), Deathdream aka Dead of Night (1974)

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Opopanax
Aug 8, 2007

I HEX YE!!!


Davros1 posted:

Is this the Sam Raimi film or the Joel Edgerton film?

The Edgerton one, suppose I should have put a year

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