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 Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 I love how many of these old beat up VHS covers are easily accessible on the internet, one October a few years ago I used them the whole month for my Challenge posts. Anyway this was not a movie I was particularly excited about, more just a box to check because it's (I believe)the only TCM film I hadn't seen yet. Not sure how it escaped me all these years but I've never heard all that much about it, positive or negative, and I guess I assumed it was just forgettable and not really necessary. And I was correct in that assumption. It's not bad, but it's not particularly good either. No movie that prominently features Ken Foree can be all bad, and it's also fun to see Viggo Mortensen in such an early role. But there's just nothing here that hasn't been done better by Hooper in the first two films, and this one is sort of caught in the middle which is almost never a good place to be. It's obviously not nearly as intense and disturbing as the original, but also not nearly as bonkers and entertaining as Hoopers TCM 2. The director, Jeff Burr, actually has a pretty respectable horror resume as far as these things go(this is a genre where Mick Garris is considered an icon so that's the bar we're working with here). He worked with Vincent Price, directed two Puppetmaster sequels, and also Pumpkinhead 2. I think his work here is pretty solid, it's a decent looking film and it has style and visual flair to it, but the material itself isn't very original or memorable. Another issue is Leatherface himself. He just doesn't do it for me in this one. Both actors who played Leatherface in the first two films were better, and there's just something about his movements here that for whatever reason stand out to me and clearly signal that this is not the "real" Leatherface. He's just a pro wrestler doing his best to act like Leatherface. As a sequel you could do a lot worse, the movie has it's moments and like I said it's not outright bad, but I'm also not really that upset about not having gotten around to it until now. And I probably won't revisit it unless I decide to do like a complete TCM marathon at some point in the future. 1. The Leopard Man 2. The Curse of Frankenstein 3. The Old Dark House 4. The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb 5. Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 Basebf555 fucked around with this message at 18:28 on May 7, 2021 |
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May 7, 2021 18:26
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 16. 1975. Race with the Devil Directed by Jack Starrett Available for rent on pretty much every service In Race with the Devil, two couples are on a vacation in their new RV. It doesn’t take long before they witness a ritual human sacrifice and they’re on the run, with the cultists hot on their tails. The cultists seem a little goofy at first — some of them appear to be wearing robes made of bedsheets. You know they’re legit though, because they use phrases like “so mote it be.”  As is the custom in small-town America, nobody trusts outsiders and it seems like everybody is part of whatever shady business is happening. There’s a coverup and it’s hard to tell who's in on it. Race with the Devil definitely plays on city folks’ paranoia about rural America. Those people aren’t just backwards, they’re actually evil.  Despite recognizable faces like Warren Oates and Loretta Swit, Race with the Devil was just a bit disappointing. The premise was solid and I liked the way they played up the paranoia angle. I think it would have been much more effective if the characters weren’t so flat. It's a low  for me.Time Travel Challenge: 16/31 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), Race with the Devil (1975)
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May 7, 2021 18:48
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twernt posted:
I saw this one on TV at some point in the 90's, and think about it on occasion, mostly because I couldn't figure out if I had actually seen it or made it up, and I could never remember what it was called.
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May 7, 2021 19:03
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7. Curve Tubi "Besides, you seem nice." "You don't know me well enough." "I'll take my chances" The exchange between strangers you expect right before a horror film starts. In this one, Curve, Julianne Hough learns not to be kind to hitchhikers who help her when her vehicle malfunctions. She makes it up to him by offering him a ride, and Teddy Sears (in a surprisingly-creepy performance that made him the real star in my opinion, and kept my interest even when this was feeling otherwise pretty basic) responds by being charming just enough until she drives past the point of knowing where either of them really are on a map, then turns up the Creep dial significantly and on a whim, offending and then threatening her until she feels the only choice is to drive offroad. Predictably, Hough's the only one actually hosed over by this decision, and must find her way out of the wreckage without losing her leg in the process, as Sears comes by every now and then to taunt her The 75% of this film where it's just them going back and forth at each other has its moments, even if you've seen them before and done better. Already mentioned praise for Sears, but Hough is a compelling Final Girl and never once gives off the feeling of being miscast or too weak to not only stand up to, but also defeat, Sears. And it gets easily ignored once the following forty-five minutes are spent in or around a stranded destroyed car, but some of the location shots and camerawork around the first ten minutes looked shockingly beautiful, capturing my attention immediately. The only other Iain Softley film I'd seen (and it was a long long time ago so I'll need to rewatch eventually) was The Skeleton Key, and I remember being similarly impressed with the cinematography there  There's flaws during those times, but only in the last third does Curve feel like it really misses out on the potential it had, including but not limited to introducing more characters who are noticeably less intelligent and creative survivors than these two (that rain scene with the cop really does stand out for the wrong reasons), beyond-belief creative decisions, and having an abrupt ending that certainly could have been more Overall, if you're in the US you can watch Curve for free on Tubi (without ads if you have the right browser+blocker) in under eighty minutes before end credits. I don't know if I'd recommend seeing every second, but I feel there's potential in that first half, especially with how compelling of a scumbag Teddy Sears plays *** 7/13 (The New York Ripper, Gwen, Sleepless Beauty, The Head Hunter, 13: Game of Death, Deerskin, Curve)
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May 7, 2021 20:01
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Movie #4: The Haunting (1963) "The dead are not quiet in Hill House." Hoo boy, what a great spooky ghost house movie! I'd read (and really liked) the book, the Haunting of Hill House, and I'm impressed by how faithful the movie was to the book. Even to the point of having Nell verbalize her inner monologue for the movie, which is something you don't see that often. Basically this was everything I'd want from a spooky ghost house movie. The haunting scenes were extremely well done and honestly freaked me the hell out, possibly because "demons will wander around the house banging on the walls trying to find the way in" was one of the stories my Jehovah's Witness elders scared me with as a child. But hey, it was damned effective! Plenty of really cool, unexpected and therefore very striking effects as well. I loved the way the shadows made the reliefs on Nell's bedroom wall look like an angry face during the "whose hand am I holding?" scene, and the weird strechy, bulgy door during the parlor haunting was great. Also a huge shout out to the cinematography. The movie looks gorgeous in high contrast black and white, and there were tons of inventive shots that make the house feel alien and distorted. The Blu-ray transfer also looks nice and crisp aside from the establishing shots of the house, which look like they were filmed on a World War II era handheld camera. What the hell's up with that? As a final fun aside it was neat to watch the movie, having also seen (and loved) the Netflix show "The Haunting of Hill House", and picking out all the things they chose to bring across to the show, like the ghost wandering the corridors with ominous banging noises, Nell dancing around to a tune nobody else can hear and so on. Still holds up very well because unlike for instance the lovely-rear end modern remake, The Haunting doesn't show you much. Instead it oozes with atmosphere and lets your imagination go to town, which is much more terrifying than crappy CGI effects. / 5My movies so far: 1. Evil Dead II, 2. The Legend of Hell House, 3. Hausu, 4. The Haunting
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May 7, 2021 20:39
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Shaman Tank Spec posted:Also a huge shout out to the cinematography. The movie looks gorgeous in high contrast black and white, and there were tons of inventive shots that make the house feel alien and distorted. The Blu-ray transfer also looks nice and crisp aside from the establishing shots of the house, which look like they were filmed on a World War II era handheld camera. What the hell's up with that? Sometimes with older films, for shots using optical effects(credits sequences are a common one) they can't match it to the rest of the movie for a 1080p blu ray release because the effects were finished in a lower resolution. Really enjoying your reviews, keep them coming!
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May 7, 2021 20:46
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Basebf555 posted:Sometimes with older films, for shots using optical effects(credits sequences are a common one) they can't match it to the rest of the movie for a 1080p blu ray release because the effects were finished in a lower resolution. I believe this is also the reason it's common to see a brief drop in quality immediately before and after a fade transition.
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May 7, 2021 20:54
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 11. Mark of the Vampire (Tod Browning, 1935) I watched this for the Bracketology Tournament thread. This was a weird one, like they wanted to make a parody of Universal vampire movies. The actual vampire stuff in this is good, Lugosi obviously does a fine job and there's enough spooky atmosphere here that I never tuned out, but the non-vampire stuff is really flat. I shouldn't be thinking about fast forwarding in a movie that is only 60 minutes. It's also really silly? Like, tonally, it was a bit all over the place, and it ends on such a goofy punchline. My favorite moment involved a cute cat. 2.5/5 12. Tigers Are Not Afraid (Issa López, 2017) I watched this for the Bracketology Tournament thread as well. The premise is pretty depressing and bleak, we have a group of orphans, trying to stay alive in a city overcome with human trafficking, cartel violence, etc. who wind up stealing a phone from someone who really wants it back. There are some fantasy elements throughout, and they take a bit more spotlight in the back half. This made things a bit surreal, since the core of this is a very serious scary reality, but there are also moving drawings, bad CGI, and a stuffed tiger that comes to life. The blend of fantasy elements and kids in horrific situations reminded me some of del Toro films, and while this isn't as good as say, The Devil's Backbone, it's still a solid watch especially due to the quality performances from the young actors. 3.5/5Challenge Count: 12/31
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May 7, 2021 21:20
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 11. Return of the Living Dead 3 [1993] - Dir: Brian Yuzna It's the third Return of the living Dead film. It's hard to expect too much because by this flick I feel like zombies fell out of favor and there is a very specific early 90's LA aesthetic happening in this movie. Everyone is still going to the Viper Room, Married With Children is really just hitting its stride and the world hasnt been exposed to 90210 yet that would solidify this half hearted rocker look. It's an interesting movie that sloppily handles interesting ideas, maybe even stumbles into a few of them by accident completely. I still found it entertaining and interesting but not necessarily good. I'm grading on a slight curve with this one because the series as a whole had just been sliding down the hill. This is absolutely not the bottom of the pile (that's 4 and 5) but this is really where it started. Good effects and I liked the final form of Julie, stabbings and all. 2 and a half skulls out of 5    12. The House by the Cemetery [1981] - Dir: Lucio Fulci I wish I had watched The New York Ripper after this because I definitely enjoyed this one a lot less than that one. The things I liked were the camera work and the lighting/shadows. Maybe the best of both of those things in Fulci's work. The closeups on the eyes and storytelling going on there was just great and I had a lot of fun with how the camera played around in this house when it was given the opportunity to. Same with the lighting. It really helped sell the atmosphere of this house a lot more than I expected and it generally felt unnerving at times (the behind the door shots of the lock slowly being pried open with the insanely dangerous knife stuck through the loop of the key trick freaked me out and looked amazing on UHD). I also liked the evil of this story. that was pretty cool. It's unfortunate that it was wrapped in this terrible family that I absolutely gave as much of a poo poo about as the families from Insidious 3/4. The little boy was the worst. The mom, despite her child yelling in agony lazily got herself across the house to the boys rescue in what felt like 10 hours. The father, well what can you say about a nothing character... 3 skulls out of 5  13. The People Under the Stairs [1991] - Dir: Wes Craven This one is still a stone cold classic. Maybe my most favorite Craven movie period. Also I really forget sometimes how badly Fool gets hosed up in this movie. We just dont put kids in danger anymore, not any real danger. 4 and a half Skulls out of 5
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May 7, 2021 21:54
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2. Tammy and the T-Rex How did I watch this? – 4K Blu Ray How long have I gone without watching this? – This was another Black Friday purchase. Why do I own this? – Because eeeeeveryone talks this up as an incredible find. I think maybe the story behind how this movie got made is better than the movie, but honestly, the movie is a lot of fun too. I just really enjoy the “Hey I’ve got this T-rex for a couple of weeks you wanna make a movie?” aspect quite a bit. Tammy and Michael are in high school and in love, and Michael is in danger because Tammy’s ex is not a supporter of their relationship. Meanwhile a mad scientist has a robotic T-Rex that he thinks would work a lot better with real brains instead of computer ones. Soon enough their paths will cross, and the newly dinosaur’d brain will be out for vengeance. It’s pretty fun, and markedly goofy. I’m a big fan of basically everything that they do with the puppet arms: they pick up a friend and dust off their shoulders, they perform charades to try and explain what’s going on to a very dense Tammy. It's great. I suspect my rating will go up with repeat viewings. 3.5/5 Was it a good purchase? – Yeah, it feels like the kind of movie that’ll really grow on me, and a fun one to watch with a crowd. 3. M.F.A.  How did I watch this? – Plex, but it’s on Amazon Prime and Tubi Art student Noelle gets raped, then develops a taste for revenge. I despise sexual violence, so, really, rape revenge isn’t my favorite subgenre, though it can be handled well. M.F.A. does ok, but it has a too heavy a focus on the rape for me. Actually in sitting down to put thoughts into words, my opinion gets more negative. It’s pretty rote. The revenge is cathartic, but that path is destructive, as you might expect. 2/5
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May 7, 2021 22:12
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Spatulater bro! posted:Yeah Stereo is a slog. Crimes of the Future is just as bad. 2) Crimes of the Future (1970) I beg to differ with Spatulater's opinion. Crimes of the Future is immeasurably worse than Stereo. OK, Cronenberg had a bit of a budget this time and could actually use colour (and does so quite well and vividly, to give him his due). But where Stereo was at least an interesting curio given knowledge of what the director would go on to do, this movie bears the hallmark of a man who has disappeared so far up his own arse that God Almighty couldn't find him with the Hubble telescope. The dispassionate tone is replaced with an insufferable level of self-fellating smugness and a general air of wanting to be a feature length Barrett-era Pink Floyd video without the quality soundtrack or the charm. It's a miracle the man ever had a career after this drivel.
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May 7, 2021 22:17
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3. Psycho 2 FC7 I know the forums have always appreciated the Psycho series so I was prepard for them to be good, but these sequels were still a treat. I really enjoyed rooting for Norman and hoping he was just being gaslit the whole time (which, kinda yeah kinda no) even though I knew in the end he would end up spending quality time with Mother. Anthony Perkins just absolutely devours the entire set every time he's on the screen and Hugh Gillan is great as the worlds most understanding and sympathetic town sheriff. Psycho 2 also helped me learn that Meg Tilly is(was) a thing! Psycho 2 and 3 are both on the Peacock app and if you want to check them out. 4. Psycho 3 Not as good as 2 and not nearly as ambiguous but still a fun time. Once again Anthony Perkins is electric and the sheriff continues you be the most level headed police officer of all time. The highlight of Psycho 3 is in the final moments when for the first time we see Norman face first in full Mother attire and speaking in her voice and it so creepy and great. That scene is probably better than anything in 2 even if the rest of the film is not as strong. My wife and I both really enjoyed both of the sequels. 5. Ghoulies The gently caress is this poo poo? Ghoulies seems like someone was making a movie about Satan Worship and then Gremlins happened and they felt the need to change the name and shoe-horn in some small creatures. This is unfortunate because the Ghoulie puppets are gooey and awesome, its just that they are barely in the movie and make almost no difference to the film itself. The film itself is ok.... I guess? It feels extremely rushed which just makes the Ghoulies being an afterthought even more strange. As far as special effects in the early 80s go you could do worse and the film does have some cool gooey parts as I mentioned. The titular Ghoulies are by far the best part but unfortunately too small a piece of the pie to really save it. TheBizzness fucked around with this message at 14:00 on May 11, 2021 |
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May 7, 2021 22:20
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 17. 1976. The Town That Dreaded Sundown Directed by Charles B. Pierce Available on Amazon Prime, DirecTV, Epix, Hoopla It’s 1946 in Texarkana and the good folk of neither Texas nor Arkansas are being menaced by a maniac in a white hood. When the so-called Phantom strikes a second time, help arrives in the form of Texas Ranger Captain J.D. Morales, the most famous investigator in the state. He’s a tough-as-nails caricature who chomps cigars and tells everyone that it’s his way or the highway.  The Town That Dreaded Sundown is the mostly true story of the 1946 Texarkana Moonlight Murders. In pretty much every way, it feels like a somewhat elevated true-crime TV show. The production values are high, but most of the performances are lackluster. There are also weird moments of humor scattered randomly through the movie. The director, Charles B. Pierce, even appears as a made-up character who exists purely to provide comic relief.  Honestly, I was not sold on this at all until about 50 minutes in. There’s a scene with a trombone that single-handedly redeems the whole movie. Anyway, if you like weird comedic tonal shifts with your true-crime thrillers, you may want to put The Town That Dreaded Sundown on your list. A very respectable 1/2Time Travel Challenge: 17/31 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), Race with the Devil (1975), The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976)
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May 7, 2021 23:52
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TheBizzness posted:5. Ghoulies Ghoulies 2 is way better and more like what you would’ve expected the first one to be. It’s goofy as hell of course but I really like it
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May 8, 2021 00:41
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Awesome I will try to squeeze it in this month, thanks!!!
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May 8, 2021 00:43
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I loved the original Town That Dreaded Sundown and would also recommend the 2014 one
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May 8, 2021 00:47
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Death Ship (1980) More like "Crap Ship", amirite? This film was one of the last of a dying breed: when a filmmaker could go to a studio, tell 'em they're making a movie starring a doughy white guy, and get money for it. Nowadays, the doughy white guy is a supporting role. Important maybe, but never the lead. In this film, the D.W.G. is George Kennedy, and he plays a cruise ship captain with a stick up his rear end who hates his crew and his passengers. Well, good news for him, because his ship crashes into a derelict ship (or does the derelict ship crash into them? Duh-Duh-Duuuuuh), killing almost all the crew and most of the passengers. That'll learn 'em. His first mate, and the man who was to succeed him as captain, is Richard Crenna, who was 54 at the time of this film. His wife was played by Sally Ann Howes, who was 50. They're among the survivors along with their two children, the older of which couldn't be more than 10 years old, the youngest, like, 6 years old? Way to keep the passion alive, I guess. Also among the survivors is another crewman Nick, who's in a relationship with Lori. Then there's Jackie, the cruise ship's entertainer, played by Saul Rubinek, and Mrs. Morgan, who I guess is supposed to be elderly, but is the same age as Sally Ann Howes. And finally, George Kennedy survives as well. They're drifting along in a makeshift raft when they come upon the derelict ship (which rammed their ship, then went away for awhile). They get aboard, find the ship empty, Kennedy is possessed by the ship (which is leftover from WWII, and is a Nazi, too). The ship kills some people, or has Kennedy kill them, until only Crenna, Howes, and their children are left. It's all very dumb. This film has all the excitement of waiting in cruise line buffet line, but with none of the payoff. People act as dumb as the script needs them to*, and what exactly does the ship want is a jumbled mess. It was used by the Nazis as a floating interrogation craft, but instead of being the ghosts of the victims (and we see their remains), it's the ghosts of the Nazis? The ship attacks people, but are the attacks real, or hallucinations? Kennedy, possessed, claims that "The Ship needs blood!" and yet, it kills several people by throwing them overboard? So is it a metaphorical blood? But then why all the shots of the engine room pistons pumping? (And there are a lot of shots of pistons pumping) Like I said, dumb. One out of five cruise ship passengers dressed as Hagar the Horrible. Watched on Amazon Prime. *At one point, Lori takes a shower, and the shower head begins spraying blood, and the door won't open, which sends her into a full blown panic. Except ... it's not like the shower is filling up with blood. It's still going down the drain. Stop bouncing off the wall and maybe try bouncing against the door? And Nick, instead of beating the door frame with a piece of wood, why not try to break the glass of the shower door? And at another point, once Kennedy is possessed by the ship, he takes to wearing a Nazi Captain's uniform. Yet later, Crenna stumbles into a office and is stunned by the presence of Nazi paraphernalia. Like, no poo poo dude. It's a Nazi ship. You'd think the uniform would've been a huge giveaway. 1.) Yeti: The Giant of the 20th Century 2.) Death Ship
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May 8, 2021 02:33
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 18. 1977. The Incredible Melting Man Directed by William Sachs Available on Amazon Prime Steve West is the only astronaut to survive a disastrous expedition to Saturn. While in space, he is exposed to RADIATION. You know this, because it’s written in red marker on his medical chart, and it’s underlined. Not only is this Steve horribly disfigured, he’s also very mad.  For reasons that aren’t completely clear, Steve needs to consume human flesh to survive. So, he goes on a rampage, killing and eating people left and right. His doctor friend from the lab and a very gruff general set out to find Steve before it’s too late.  The Incredible Melting Man is very fun and better than I expected. The acting isn’t great and the plot is kind of flimsy, but it doesn’t really matter when you’ve got a melting cannibal astronaut on the loose. There’s even a little bit of comic relief, courtesy of a horny old lady who wants to steal some lemons.  Otherwise, it’s a nice vehicle for showcasing Rick Baker’s effects work. If you like your movie villains bloody and goopy and you don’t care about the story, it’s definitely worth seeing. I might love this a little bit. It's a high 1/2Time Travel Challenge: 18/31 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), Viy (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), Race with the Devil (1975), The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976), The Incredible Melting Man (1977)
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May 8, 2021 02:33
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twernt posted:
I love The Incredible Melting Man so much, I can't count the number of times I watched the MST3K episode. And of course, the best part... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hmvv1D_SuGY
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May 8, 2021 04:24
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8. Hell Night (1981) Yes it was. /59. Shakma (1990) The pitch meeting for this was just "Wanna see how loving mad we can make a monkey" It plays out like a standard slasher but ... it's a baboon! The thing smashing against doors is horrifying /5
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May 8, 2021 05:11
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8: Raw Force (1982) Hitler is kidnapping prostitutes to sell to evil monks who use the power of cannibalism to resurrect the corpses of dead martial arts masters. Starring Cameron Mitchell. The fight scenes were surprisingly good, especially the ones with the character "Chin". The main cast are all distinct with well defined personalities. There's kung fu. There are zombies. There are decapitations. There's cannibalism. There's an absurd amount of nudity. The monks do a Dr Evil group laugh. Hitler gets eaten by piranhas. It's played straight enough for all this to work, it never gets annoyingly "wacky". It's sleazy, but it's a wholesome sort of sleazy where it never crosses the line and stops being fun. This was everything I'd hoped for. Wonderful trash. Competed: 8 Four Flies on Grey Velevet; Gods and Monsters; Alice, Sweet Alice, Witchfinder General; Street Trash; Cannibal Holocaust; C.H.U.D; Raw Force
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May 8, 2021 10:33
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8. The Incredible Melting Man Prime Video, Epix Bad acting? Poor editing? Nonsensical plot? Sorry, can't hear you over the fact this is called The Incredible Melting Man and has a man melting incredibly William Sachs' finest work (even if it wasn't for every reason he intended), Alex Rebar may be credited first, but this is Rick Baker's film through and through. 44 years later and the climax still endures in memorable horror moments history for good reason **** 8/13 (The New York Ripper, Gwen, Sleepless Beauty, The Head Hunter, 13: Game of Death, Deerskin, Curve, The Incredible Melting Man)
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May 8, 2021 13:45
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#8 The Curse of the Werewolf Terence Fisher, 1961  Boy does this movie spend a ton of time on setup. By the time Oliver Reed appears, the film's halfway over and something like 25 years have gone by. Fortunately it's all very enjoyable setup. It's filled with colorful characters and intriguing scenarios so I was glued in even when I wasn't seeing any werewolf action. Said werewolf action does take its sweet time getting here, but once it does it's quite satisfying. The makeup effects aren't exactly An American Werewolf in London quality, but they're far better than the 1930's Universal iterations. And Oliver Reed totally sells it. The most impressive quality about this is how epic it feels despite being only 93 minutes long. By the time poo poo hits the fan we feel like we've experienced an amazing journey. I found myself caring about the fate of the main character more than I usually do in movies like this. Color me impressed. This is one of the best Hammer Horror films I've seen. Probably top three at least. 4.5/5 #9 Hunter Hunter Shawn Linden, 2020  An unrecognizable Devon Sawa protects his off-the-grid family from a wolf. Nice premise and I'll say this about the movie: it did a great job keeping me wondering what the gently caress was going on. Unfortunately once the question is answered, I looked back on the film and wondered if it was all worth it. It's slow, methodical and ambiguous, which is all fine as long as the payoff supports it. But even with a shockingly violent finale, I was left feeling "so that's all it was?". I think this would have worked way better as a 30-minute short film. 2.5/5 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), 8. The Curse of the Werewolf (1961), 9. Hunter Hunter (2020)
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May 8, 2021 14:09
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When might we expect to see the Fran Challenges?
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May 8, 2021 14:50
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Spatulater bro! posted:
For me the answer was a resounding "Hell Yeah" 
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May 8, 2021 15:03
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 19. 1978. The Grapes of Death Directed by Jean Rollin Available on Hoopla, Kanopy Industrial agriculture is turning people into zombies in the French countryside. The Grapes of Death is a very interesting movie. Not good necessarily, but interesting. There are zombies, but they’re introspective zombies. Some of them are violent, but the majority just stand around looking slightly irritated.  It does have the feel of an actual nightmare though. The main character doesn’t know where she is or what is happening. She is perpetually disoriented and everywhere she goes, strange people try to kill her.  I assume there’s some kind of French class struggle metaphor going on here (beyond exploitation of the working class and immigrants) that I don’t understand because The Grapes of Death just feels awkward overall. Otherwise, this is the first Jean Rollin movie I’ve seen so maybe he’s not for me. For me, this is only a 1/2Time Travel Challenge: 19/31 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), Viy (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), Race with the Devil (1975), The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976), The Incredible Melting Man (1977), The Grapes of Death (1978)
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May 8, 2021 15:15
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 13. Hell Night (Tom DeSimone, 1981) Four college kids including Linda Blair have to spend the night in an abandoned mansion. This movie is way too long at 101 minutes since about 75 of those minutes are just shots of people walking slowly while looking a little scared and mostly bored. The crew spent the whole budget on candles so they couldn't afford to make the killer look cool, most of the deaths are just "a big hand grabs you to death". A complete miss. 1/5 14. Shakma (Hugh Parks, 1990) A college lab worker, while attempting to give a baboon a lethal injection, accidentally injects it with what I assume is a combination of Viagra and the rage drug from 28 Days Later, since it's furious and bonered up the rest of the movie. Meanwhile a group of students are playing some scavenger hunt game in the same building - chaos ensues. It plays out like a slasher, but the killer is a baboon so most people die due to having their face ripped off, off screen. There are some really terrifying scenes, and a few wildly violent kills when they actually happen on camera, but I looked into it and the filmmakers basically just got a real baboon super pissed to the point that it was hurting itself slamming into stuff, dislocated its shoulder, which is horrible. My rating reflects my distaste for the poor treatment of an animal, if it wasn't for that this would probably be a higher rating. 1/5Challenge Count: 14/31
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May 8, 2021 15:15
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5. House on Haunted Hill ‘99 Retroactive Fran Challenge #2: Sometimes They Come Back Oh the late 90s-early 00s big budget horror remake craze. Besides this film you’ve got Thir13en Ghosts, House of Wax, The Haunting, Ghost Ship and prolly others I’m missing. They are all pretty maligned although I’ll certainly defend some of them (especially Thir13en Ghosts and House of Wax)  I hadn’t seen this remake and man is it the prime example of the cliches and tropes that unite all the horror movies from this era... -Edgy metal soundtrack (in this case provided by Marilyn Mason) - check -“This ain’t your grandpas horror movie” with tons of “fucks” - check -Speed up shaky head ghosts a la Jacobs Ladder - check -Cavalcade of actors you could only find in this era of films (Chris Kattan, Ali Larter, Peter Gallagher, Famke Janssen) - check -Horrible CGI - check That being said....I didn’t hate this film. It’s cheesy, bad at times, and certainly my in-grained nostalgia for this era may blind me a bit but there is some good stuff in this one. Including some very cool and legitimately creepy visuals thanks to Greg Nicotero who did the effects work. A lot of the jittery retro-insane asylum stuff is old hat now but you can’t fault the film for that. There are some excellent looking ghouls and ghosts and some great gore, I only wish we got more. The Aphex Twin-esque scene with the zoetrope device is great!  Geoffrey Rush chewing up the scenery as an amusement park mogul (lol) doing his best Vincent Price impersonation. The playful, “what’s real and what’s not” tone is fun and Rush and Jansen have a good time with it. That concept and the relationship between those characters is really the only recognizable part from the original outside the basic plot.  It falls on its face at the end where instead of doing something clever with the “staged or not” idea or even just giving us a showdown with one of the excellent practical ghouls, we got a horribly ugly CGI monstrosity with Janssen face poorly grafted onto it. It almost works as a Rorsarch/Lovecraft looking thing but it’s a let down  So for a film that doesn’t take itself too serious or over stay it’s welcome at 90 minutes, I was entertained. It’s very dated and you shouldn’t expect any sort of clever reimagining of the original here but it’s a solid representation of the good and the bad of an era that I’m always willing to revisit. Watchlist ranked Best to Worst 1. Bride of Re-animator* 2. Frankenhooker* 3. House on Haunted Hill ‘99 4. Victor Crowley 5. Jason Goes to Hell *=Rewatch WeaponX fucked around with this message at 23:17 on May 17, 2021 |
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May 8, 2021 16:25
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 20. 1979. Tourist Trap Directed by David Schmoeller Available on Shudder, Tubi Tourist Trap (my final movie of the 70s) is a pretty standard story. Some young adults are taking a trip, they have car trouble, and a creepy stranger warns them about trouble.  Of course they find themselves at a remote roadside “museum” where they make all kinds of bad decisions and they get killed off one by one. If that’s all there was to it, Tourist Trap would be completely forgettable. Luckily, this is a movie full of creepy supernatural mannequins.  I’m not sure if it was just the version I saw, but many of the scenes seemed to be way too dark. It was helpful for establishing atmosphere, but it made it difficult to tell what was happening in scenes that involved any kind of action. Tourist Trap is surprisingly violent for a PG movie, though much of the violence is implied. Overall it feels like an hybrid of Psycho and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre that’s at least 20 minutes too long.  It’s also worth nothing that one this movie’s stars, Kevin Joseph Aloysius "Chuck" Connors, is one of only 13 (the spookiest number) athletes to have played in both the NBA and the MLB. This is only a 1/2 to me.Time Travel Challenge: 20/31 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), Viy (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), Race with the Devil (1975), The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976), The Incredible Melting Man (1977), The Grapes of Death (1978), Tourist Trap (1979)
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May 8, 2021 17:50
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4. Castle Freak (2020) How did I watch this? – Plex, but it’s on Amazon Prime So, there’s this castle, right? So inside the castle, get this – there’s this freak. You following me so far? The original is, I think, the worst of the Stuart Gordon trilogy. That’s not saying much, all three of those films are pretty great. The remake follows the same basic plot of the original, with some tweaks. Instead of a family inheriting a castle, it is the blind Rebecca, traveling with her lovely boyfriend. Instead of a freak, we have a freakess. Instead of pretty light Lovecraftian touches we dive deep into the mythos. It’s not great. There is a character called the Professor who basically just reads the plot outline out to the viewers. I’m still not entirely sure why he hangs out with this group of lowlife partiers, but he can read Latin which comes in handy when we need to hear what the Necronomicon has to say. Much like the original the action picks up towards the end, but not enough for me to recommend it. You do get full frontal freak, if that’s your thing. 2/5
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May 8, 2021 19:02
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9. Starry Eyes Tubi, Vudu Free, Prime Video "I am not a million other girls." Pursuing your dreams shouldn't have to come at the expense of your pride, your dignity, and your friends, and in a not-hosed-up world it wouldn't Looking at this world aside, we can certainly agree the world of Starry Eyes (directed by Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer, who also made the okay 2019 Pet Sematary remake) Is hosed up. In an incredible performance, Alex Essoe as Sarah tortures herself emotionally and physically hoping for that big break in Hollywood...that still requires something more. And then something more after that. By the time it's too late to really stop and there's only one last option for what to really sacrifice for the opportunity, her friends finally notice there might be a problem. They don't pay attention at first of course because they're pursuing their own, similar dreams in their own way which requires far less bad jobs they hate, far more drug-doing, worse self-imposed living situations, and occasionally just as much sexual favors A pre-#metoo film that acknowledges the sexual harassment culture in Hollywood #metoo was designed to call out, the message isn't the only thing that holds up. The soundtrack is brilliant. Essoe's at-times terrifying depictions of a woman self-destructing already even before outside individuals push her over the edge is star-making, to the point the performance is The reason I heard about this film for years. The effects of her body deteriorating as the pressure physically and emotionally becomes too much to bear reminded me of Contracted, but in a better film than that. And when poo poo finally hits the fan for good and doesn't let up, some of the chaos is brutal, particularly a weight scene that startles from the second the scene begins until its merciful end Starry Eyes was on my must-watch list for years. Doing a halfway-to-Halloween horror challenge for this month with friends, at the same time the film's freely available on Tubi, was all the motivation I needed to finally give this a watch. Not only do I not regret it, it might be among my favorite indie horror efforts of the 2010s. Worth the wait ***** 9/13 (The New York Ripper, Gwen, Sleepless Beauty, The Head Hunter, 13: Game of Death, Deerskin, Curve, The Incredible Melting Man, Starry Eyes)
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May 8, 2021 19:56
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6. C.H.U.D. 2 , Bud the Chud This film is the definition of tonal whiplash for a sequel. The first CHUD film was rather straight forward monsters in the sewers film. This one veers so far left of that its weird how the name even matches the film. The stand out of this film is BUD , the so name chud. Gerrit Grahama is the aforementioned Bud and he doe such a fantastic job that you're really rooting for Bud in this name . Also Robert Vaughn is in this as well. Also Robert Englund in a blink and you will miss it cameo ( hint pay attention to who is trick r treating in the film). Anyway this i a pretty slap stick fun B movie . IF you like silly humor you'll like this film.
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May 8, 2021 20:25
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Movie #5: The Innkeepers (2011) What a weird movie. Not in the wonderful way of Hausu, but in the "I don't know what to make of this, and I'm not sure the filmmakers knew either" way. The Innkeepers is the story of Luke and Claire, two slackerish hotel workers who are spending their last weekend at the Yankee Peddler Inn, a failing hotel that is going to close down the next Monday. Claire and Luke are determined to once and for all get some concrete evidence of the hauntings that have been reported at the Inn over the years before it's too late. That's a cool premise for a horror movie, and that's not the only cool thing about The Innkeepers. It's got a fairly quirky tone that isn't so much horror movie as ... I don't really know, what. Until the climax there's very little horror or spooky stuff in the movie and we spend more time with Claire and Luke slacking off and Luke obviously being in love with Claire but also too much of a goon to say anything. Over the weekend various strange guests check in to the hotel, including a very low energy old man who insists on having a very certain room, and an aging actress who was once the star of a beloved 80s sitcom but is now a "healer" and acts as Claire's spooky sherpa as she tries to uncover the strange things happening at the hotel and things seem to be building up to something. That's all well and good, but The Innkeepers feels kind of muddled and lost. Ti West could have cut a bunch of sublots out of the movie, because they end up going nowhere, and instead focused more of the film's 101 minute runtime on making a few plot threads more meaningful. Now it just feels like the movie's kind of spinning its wheels in a 90 minute donut before finally and suddenly streaking off at 100mph for the climax. I didn't hate it, because Sara Paxton and Pat Healy put in good performances and the movie DOES have a quirky, yet at the same time often tense atmosphere. Also big props to the sound department, because The Innkeepers was one of the best surround sound horror movies I've watched. There's an especially cool scene where Claire is trying to record ESP sounds on a portable recorder, and as she walks around the hotel and pans the microphone around, the sound also pans around the speakers in an extremely effective and spooky way. Man, it just feels like with a few tweaks The Innkeepers could have been really good. Now it's entertaining enough, but nothing bugs me more than wasted potential. (As a silly aside, I had my PC on but idling as I watched the movie, and during the climactic scene as Claire was sneaking into the spooky old man's room, my PC decided to start playing a Twitch stream, so for a moment there I thought Claire could faintly hear some ghostly guy going "hey guys, what's up! Great to see so many of you here tonight..." and thought the movie was about to get REALLY weird with some ghostly poker game or party.) / 5My movies: 1. Evil Dead II, 2. The Legend of Hell House, 3. Hausu, 4. The Haunting (1963), 5. The Innkeepers (2011) Shaman Tank Spec fucked around with this message at 20:40 on May 8, 2021 |
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May 8, 2021 20:28
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Shaman Tank Spec posted:Movie #5: The Innkeepers (2011) Have you seen House of the Devil? Same director. It has that same "nothing much happens for a long time and then BAM" thing going on, but it works a lot better. Though for the record I also really like The Innkeepers, but House of the Devil is a lot stronger.
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May 8, 2021 20:33
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Shaman Tank Spec posted:Movie #5: The Innkeepers (2011) Totally agree here, some parts of that film still stick with me and are wonderfully done and then some bits just fall flat. Ti West is a great craftsman of a filmmaker but Innkeepers is really too meandering and unfocused for me
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May 8, 2021 20:37
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Spatulater bro! posted:Have you seen House of the Devil? Same director. It has that same "nothing much happens for a long time and then BAM" thing going on, but it works a lot better. Though for the record I also really like The Innkeepers, but House of the Devil is a lot stronger. I haven't, but I'll definitely check it out at some point. There was a lot to like in The Innkeepers for me as well, so similar but stronger sounds like a very intriguing thing.
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May 8, 2021 20:41
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7. From Beyond (1986) Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton, yes thank you. Probably one of Stuart Gordon's best pictures and its also a Charles Band produced film, along with Brian Yuzna. The goopiest of horrors this is just one fantastic thrill ride to the net . It really really good. The plot is a Lovecraftian horror with splatter punk sensibilities. Overall I love this film. Its so loving out there. Anyway great time would goop again.
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May 8, 2021 22:11
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 3. Village of the Damned C I'm generally down on these old ~75 minute films. They feel like padded hour-long anthology stories rather than lean features. It's a gorgeous film. That 50s black & white film stock was magical and I've never been disappointed by a blu-ray from that era. The camera negative "glowing" eyes pop of the screen for such a simple trick. The script is bogged down with 50s sci-fi dialogue and stuff that probably worked better in the book. The spooky kids are great. I love their nefarious introduction as toddlers who can...solve a puzzle box. They go on to be little terrors and the action scenes are great fun. One psychic stand off is just miserable with frozen shots of eyes. The final standoff has moving eyes and a nice overlay flashback that looks so much better. The ending is incredible and redeems a lot of the flaws. 4. Rogue (2020) C Thought this was a special ops action movie but after a 45 minutes of animal attacks I called it horror. Megan Fox is a no-nonsense operator rescuing the Governor's kidnapped daughter from some poo poo nobody cares about until lions start chomping fools. Bad CGI blood and explosions abound. The group watch had a blast and starting calling shots before things would happen. "They don't have the budget for a cliff dive stunt. Get ready for dummies or worse." *abysmal composite shot of actors wiggling in front of a cliffside* Crocodiles briefly get in on the action. Very hyped for the May 28th release of the director's follow-up where a mother protects her family from hyenas.  5. Ginger Snaps B I love the characters but this one kind of loses steam as it gets more werewolf-y. The ending is great but all the stuff I really love about it happens in the setup. The puberty lychanthropy saga is a great twist on the genre. The lead sisters are perfect and make the whole thing work. I like how the adults don't get in the way like ANOES but have their one canned speech that could not possibly help in the situation. The directing is very Raimi influenced and IDK if it's just Canadian teen vibes but it reminds me of Are You Afraid of the Dark a lot. May watch list
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May 8, 2021 22:29
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I'm a couple movies behind on writing these up, I actually watched this on on Thursday... 10. A Record of Sweet Murder (2014) dir. Kōji Shiraishi blu-ray Soyeon, an investigative journalist, is unexpectedly contacted by a childhood friend named Sangjeon who is wanted for the murders of 18 people. He wants to grant Soyeon an exclusive interview, on the condition that she does not report him to the police and that she brings only herself and a Japanese cameraman. They meet in an abandoned apartment building, where Sangjeon explains that God has told him that if he kills 27 people, a friend who died in an accident 17 years ago will be brought back to life along with all of the people he has killed. He also confesses that he has actually killed 25 people so far, and wants his last two murders to be documented so the world can witness the miracle and know that he isn’t crazy. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this, but the story goes in some unexpected directions that I loved. Directed by Kōji Shiraishi (Noroi: The Curse), this is a found footage style film where everything is seen through the camera being used to record the interview. It’s mostly presented in one long unbroken shot - I’m sure there are edits, but they are well hidden. It takes place almost entirely within a single location too, giving it a sort of intimate feel as it puts you in the shoes of these people trapped in a room with an unstable killer. It’s tense and really effective. Films like this can often feel sadistic and/or unpleasant, but this mostly avoids that feeling by making Sangjeon sympathetic despite being dangerous. I thought this was excellent and I’m glad I picked it up on a whim. Scary, clever, and original. I definitely need to check out more of Shiraishi’s films! 4.5  out of 5Edgar Wright's Top 100 Horror: 96/100 Slant Top 100 Horror: 97/100 TSZDT 2020: 669/1000 Total: 10 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 | A Record of Sweet Murder
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May 8, 2021 23:38
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married but discreet posted:1. Child’s Play 2 This was pages ago but I wanted to come back to it and let you know that this is not a popular opinion, most consider CP2 the best and an all timer horror sequel but I absolutely agree with you. I thought it was a pretty generic slasher that did not live up to the original and if anything would have been better if Chunky was gaslighting Andy to the adults instead of instantly attacking them. The ball-pump kill is an all timer though.
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May 9, 2021 01:33
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