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Hollismason posted:20. Warlock Fran Challenge 11. Myths & Legends This was the first 15-rated movie I saw in the cinema, and I haven't seen it since. I must revisit it some day. Anyway: 6) The Raven (1963) Fran Challenge 2: Sometimes They Come Back Because this was the second movie adaptation of Poe's poem, and bears equally as much connection to it as both the original and the third such adaptation from 2012. There's literally nothing to adapt, so the lucky scriptwriter gets to run free with it. In the case of the 1963 movie that lucky writer was none other than Richard Matheson, who considered the concept so outlandish that he wrote a comedy about magical duels instead. It doesn't bother to draw breath, taking Price from a maudlin recitation of the poem directly into interacting with a talking raven with nary a pause. From there it just gets more oddball. Price puts in a lesser performance by his lights, and Lorre - who by then was ailing badly and would die less than a year later - essentially just retreads his part from Tales of Terror. On the other hand, they were backed up by Boris Karloff (who, oddly, had appeared in the 1935 movie) in one of his last great roles, Hammer legend Hazel Court, and an unbelievably young looking Jack Nicholson. Nicholson didn't get along with Lorre, to which all I can say is "gently caress you, Jack, you didn't play Hans Beckert", but Court and Karloff were obviously having a high time with the silly script despite the latter's infirmities obviously causing him some great trouble. Ultimately, The Raven is a film where you really have to ask why they bothered but somehow don't regret that they did. Oh, and this movie brings the number of Corman's Poe adaptations that used the burning house footage from Fall of the House of Usher to three.
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May 17, 2021 00:30
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 6. Razorback D There are some really gorgeous shots but I mostly hated this because the action is so infrequent. The opening scene and "Razorback ate my family" plot is pretty funny. The hallucination scenes are very cool, but most of the outback stuff made me wish I was watching Walkabout instead.  7. Happy Halloween, Scooby-Doo! B Just a wonderful movie that hits all the Scooby beats you want. The baddies are haunted jack-o-lanterns and they constantly get smashed and have their guts spewing everywhere. There's a good 30 minutes of action where this is functionally a violent zombie cartoon, but it's orange pulp and definitely not gore from heads being smashed. It would not kill them to throw in classic background music in some of the scenes and I wonder if there's a licensing dispute because the latest straight to video movies are otherwise loaded with fan service and callbacks.  8. Spiral: From The Book of Saw C A solid mid-tier Saw entry. I like the evil funhouse-style Saw movies with a full gang of people and traps but this is more like the earlier films. I don't mind the focus on mystery over Jigsaw scenes but it's very uneven and the middle gets pretty bad. The third act is well integrated and feels a lot more like a Saw movie should. Chris Rock can't really act but I like him more than most apparently.  9. Cemetery Man A Very weird movie but so much fun. Nothing makes sense but it's very well shot and the low budget effects and makeup are pretty great. I love the gore and extremely blasé protagonist. Sometimes it really is easier to shoot the zombies than do some paperwork. There is a bus that drives off a cliff and explodes off screen. I don't care if it's a toy bus with some lighter fluid, you MUST show that explosion.  May watch list UltimoDragonQuest fucked around with this message at 01:04 on May 17, 2021 |
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May 17, 2021 00:58
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6.The Night Strangler (1973) USA Cranky veteran reporter Kolchack, now residing in Seattle after being run out of Las Vegas, soon gets involved in the investigation of a eerie series of strangulation murders that appear to be carried out by a rotting living dead corpse. He soon discovers that an almost identical series of murders takes place every 21 years going back to the 19th century. A follow-up to the 1972 TV film The Night Stalker which has a very similar plot and structure. Kolchack discovers something supernatural with a series of killings, gets into arguments with his editor about publishing it, the police begin to hassle him for getting in their way. It being so similar to the previous film isn't detrimental because it's a formula that works really well. Which is probably the reason the films got a TV show based on them that created the "Monster of the Week" structure that later inspired shows like The X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Supernatural. Especially The X-Files who had a few episodes with Eugene Tooms, a killer that was no-doubt heavily inspired by the ghoul in this film in that he carries out similar killings every 30 years. Something about the combination of investigative procedural and supernatural horror really works for me. Darren McGavin's performance as Kolchak is a great mix of grizzled and witty. In a lot of ways he feels like a hard boiled detective straight out of a film noir. It's got a great soundtrack and cinematography and the effects aren't too shabby, especially considering that this was made for TV. This and the first film   
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May 17, 2021 01:13
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 32 (36). Baba Yaga: Terror of the Dark Forest (2020) Written and directed by Svyatoslav Podgaevsky, co-written by Natalya Dubovaya & Ivan Kapitonov Watched on Hoopla. Return of the Fallen 6/13 Team: In Russia Doodle Spook You; Eliminated in Play-in Round by Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s Mother Joan of the Angels “What’s wrong with him?” “Oh you know. Puberty.” “That’s been lasting awhile.” This is bad. I watched it with a really bad english dub since that was the only thing available to me and it didn’t help. It really was a bad dub. I suspect the children were dubbed by adults? But also the dialogue is real bad. No one sounds normal. Is that the dub/translation or the original script? I have no idea. But that’s not the film’s only problem. Stylistically the film is kind of fine but it feels like its deliberately trying to copy the James Wan style. I don’t fundamentally have a problem with that and it does kind of loosely get there, but it feels very forced and fake. There’s some decent looking creepy images and effects in the usually jump scare spots but no jumps. Its just not effective. Everyone feels too pretty, everything feels too polished, everything feels artificial. The bad dubbing and stifled dialogue is a big part of that but its just part of the whole. I’m also not really sure what the story was. Baba Yaga steals children. Also she's got bird magic stuff but its all invisible? And she really likes yarn? And maybe cables? I don't know. But she also wants to come back to live in the special kid? And she can’t steal him because he’s special? But she can’t steal his friends either for some reason? I guess maybe because they went to her witch shack? Maybe they developed Baba Yaga antibodies or something? It doesn’t feel that far off from making sense. Like I can definitely piece together answers that might make sense. But I’m forcing it and its more of this feeling the film is giving me. Like I gotta try too hard because they didn’t try enough? Or they tried too hard to be something they weren’t? Or… I don’t know. The whole thing feels off. Also Baba Yaga’s shack doesn’t have chicken legs. So what’s even the point?  33 (37). Cell (2016) Directed by Tod Williams, Screenplay by Stephen King & Adam Alleca, Based on the 2006 novel by Stephen King Watched on IMDBtv, available on Plex, Roku, and Vudu. King Spring 7/13 The Cell took 25 days to shoot and 10 years to produce and I think that says a lot. Cusack and Jackson are very clearly sleepwalking through this, almost like this was an obligation written into the fine print of 1408 or something and they just had to get it over with. I’ve never read the novel and its not like in 2004 “technology turns you into zombies” and “addicted to the phone/internet” was revolutionary, but it at least might have been a bit fresher. That was 4 years before The Walking Dead debuted and a year before the iPhone debuted. So ok, I can see why this started down the path of becoming a movie But 10 years later after being tossed around for years by Hollywood’s classiest people like Eli Roth and the Weinsteins this thing is pretty stale and past its exportation date and it feels like everyone involved knew that. I mean, just the idea that you have to be talking on your phone feels out of date. Were people still answering voice calls in 2016? The story’s also… Look, I don’t want to make it sound like i wanted this to be longer but there’s a lot of Stephen King adaptions of short stories that get stretched out too much for a film. This is kinda the opposite. It feels like they’re in such a rush to move to each chapter point that there’s room for characterization or story or depth or any king. They write it in, but they move through it as quickly as everything else. There’s this scene that happens like 2 days after the zombie apocalypse starts where they just mass murder hundreds if not thousands of them by setting them on fire. And like its crazy horrific and monstrous and the character acknowledge that… barely. They bring it up and express their concern, and then it just happens. We gotta get to the next scene. Its like you know how in the Walking Dead they meet a bunch of new characters and get some new problems at the start of the season and then it takes all season to resolve itself? Well in this film its all over by the next scene. Everything’s gotta keep moving and that means nothing really matters. Nothing has time or room to matter. But again… I’m not asking for more time. I’m just saying. Its bad. I’m not sure its the worst King adaption or most boring film or any of that other stuff people say in reviews. Its like very middle of the road for zombie post apocalypse films. Its sparse and rushes in so many ways and everyone’s just trying to get this done, but its at least made competently. Whether that’s a good thing or not I won’t say. People who enjoy really terrible trash won’t get that here. People sick of zombie stuff are definitely coming to the wrong stale and uninspired place. I really don’t have much good at all to say except that the talent here is strong enough that even at half speed they’re getting the job done. Its a bad film that I’m glad is over, but I’ve definitely had more difficult watches. 🌻🎈Spook-A-Doodle Half-Way-To-Halloween ’21: Return of the Fallen & King Spring🎈🌻 King Spring: 7/13🎈Return of the Fallen: 6/13👻Fran Challenges: 5/13🐺Svengoolie: 5/13 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); 13 (16). On the Silver Globe (1988); 14 (17). The Phantom of the Opera (1998); 15 (18). Nina Forever (2015); 16 (19). Area 51 (2015); 17 (20). Carrie (2002); 18 (21). The Stylist (2016)/Stucco (2019)/He Took His Skin Off for Me (2014)/Zygote (2017); 19 (22). Mark of the Vampire (1935); 20 (23). Tigers Are Not Afraid (2017); 21 (23). Death Walks on High Heels (1971); 22 (24). Maniac (1980); - (25). The Beast with Five Fingers (1946); - (26). Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954); 23 (27). Summer Camp (2015); 24 (28). Man Made Monster (1941); 25 (29). Earth vs. the Spider (1958); 26 (30). Vampyr (1932); 27 (31). The Black Scorpion (1957); 28 (32). The Wild Boys (2017); 29 (33). City of the Living Dead (1980); 30 (34). We Are What We Are (2010); 31 (35). Mercy (2014); 32 (36). Baba Yaga: Terror of the Dark Forest (2020); 33 (37). Cell (2016);
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May 17, 2021 01:39
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 Candyman That is one Clive Barker rear end movie There's some stuff going on here. When it opened up with a lecture about Urban Legends I was like, well this is gonna be terrible, but then it went in an unexpected direction with it. It goes into racial stuff, and it turns out that the urban legend is like an echo of a real crime that was actually committed, the legend is a form of social memory. I'm not sure if it all hangs together. Candyman is still a gory slasher with a spooky ghost demon guy. The themes of race and history are interwoven into that. I think you can appreciate the movie as a good horror movie that has interesting themes, but I wouldn't want to go too far into saying what the movie is "about", and from my untrained eye it's treatment of those themes stumbles into problematic areas too. So overall I'd say Candyman is a good watch, gory kills, good acting especially the guy who plays Candyman, interesting stuff to think about, maybe problematic. Also a very important movie if you want to play Six Degrees of Ted Raimi 
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May 17, 2021 04:09
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16. Mosquito (1994) Its called Mosquito and there are mosquitoes, this goes above and beyond any expectations. Gunnar Hansen picked up a chainsaw and said "I haven't handled one of these in about 20 years", its enjoyable.  /5
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May 17, 2021 04:20
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15:  FC1 Short Cuts The Hug 5m Showbiz Pizza Bear is a child eating monster. It's a neat idea and well made. It's very short, but it gets the job done. A longer version could be interesting, but I'm talking ~15 minutes not 88 and staring Nick Cage Ripped 12.5m Creepy late night gym. It's mildly funny. Box Fort 15m Two sisters build a big box fort in their home, but there's something creepy in there. The premise reminded me of Dave Made A Maze. It's quite good and there's a cute dog that lives  The Umbrella Factory and Jack the Ripper 5m Animated double bill. The first one is the monkey's paw tale. The art style's ok, it's going for a sort of Darkest Dungeon look but it's not that ambitious. The narrator is decent. The second is a one minute monologue from an immortal Jack the Ripper Alexia 9m I'm Friends with a Ghost On Facebook! After losing a loved one, a man has trouble letting go and removing her from his social media. This is a good one. Nice creepy atmosphere Downstairs 17.5m A night security guard is warned not to go into the basement. It's long enough to have fun with the secondary characters. Creepy things are glimpsed in the background and things ramp up until the conclusion. Classic spooky basement stuff. Suckablood 6.5m A fairytale poem about a monster that kills thumb suckers. This is my favourite of the bunch. It's stylish, well crafted, dark and fun. The narrator is great. It's cute and very spoopy. [total: 70.5 minutes] 16: Friday 13th (2009) FC3 3. Camp BLOOD  Two things surprised me. One, it's surprisingly dated. I guess 2009 is a long time ago now. Doesn't feel it  We're still in the obnoxious dude bro era of 2000s horror The other thing is how much of a standard Friday movie this is. It's got a bit more budget, but otherwise fits right in with the old formula and there was no need for this to be a remake rather than another entry. I don't have a huge affection for the Friday films but I'm curious what the consensus is among the fans. To me it was just safe, bland entertainment. Competed: 16 Four Flies on Grey Velevet; Gods and Monsters FC9; Alice, Sweet Alice, Witchfinder General; Street Trash; Cannibal Holocaust; C.H.U.D; Raw Force; In Search of Darkness 2; The Crazies (2010)FC2; Tigers are not Afraid FC5; Trilogy of Terror FC12; Smoke and Mirrors: The Story of Tom Savin FC10; Goodnight Mommy FC7; various FC1; Friday 13th (2009) FC3
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May 17, 2021 10:49
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05 Day of the Dead (1985) (I know it's an obvious choice for a screenshot, but I just had to) Pretty good. I think I still like Dawn better, for its setting and atmosphere, but there's something interesting about how these people handle being in such an unbelievably terrible situation, in how the soldiers become not just hopeless, but hostile towards the doc for his hopefulness (and other, better reasons, but those come along later after their opinions are already set). They're trying to maintain a system and an order that's beyond dead; being accessories to it is all they have going for them. This felt like the first movie in the series where Romero was able to make the zombies as gnarly as he imagined. Also, I never realised that Gorillaz song also sampled the movie's music, I figured it was just the dialogue.  /506 You're Next 2011  A pretty standard home invasion flick is derailed by one of the intended victims being uncommonly good at killing people. My first rewatch of the season. Honestly I love this movie. The petty spitefulness of the family, the practicality of the kills, the mean jokes, the sense of space and control/uncontrol, it all just comes together. I haven't really loved anything Adam Wingard has made since The Guest, but I keep watching every movie he makes, just in case. /507 Are We Not Cats 2016  A deeply weird romantic horror movie about these two kids who share a disgusting habit. It's like the Jaws of hair-eating. The movie is just so grimy and uncomfortable, it's great. Looking back, it's quite similar to that movie Good Time, except with no cops involved. I'm not really one for gore, but this movie did a good job of being gross without being gratuitous. /5Up next: Jeepers Creepers...
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May 17, 2021 13:09
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9. The Phantom of the Opera 1998 dir. Dario Argento I was ready to give this a fair shake, having not seen the original Lon Chaney classic, not really caring much for most musical adaptations of Phantom, and having never read the novel. The bracketology thread was polarized by this; some enjoying the dark comedy, some not connecting with it at all.  I appreciate the over-the-top gore, which is messier than most Argento films (Evil Dead-esque buckets of blood just being pumped out of wounds).I was intrigued by the restraint with the camera; this lacks the energy of Opera, and the floating perspective of Tenebrae, and the vibrant glowing colors piercing through darkness of Suspiria. Asia Argento is very pretty, but it's hard to ignore that she's in a see-through dress for most of the film. I don't want to accuse Dario of leering at his daughter, but the film provides me copious opportunities to leer at her, and her performance, like much of her off-screen persona (that I am aware of), is highly sexualized. What a choice! Ultimately, it wasn't a bad movie, or a very good one. It was a middling experience for me, and I kept feeling my attention wane. Bumping this up to a 3 because I would be okay with rewatching this, but I don't have much to say beyond my initial reactions. I did not feel the humor like others did, but I did like the ambitiousness with some of the effects and ideas. I feel like I would prefer a Phantom of the Opera film by Argento that was filmed in 1988, but Opera is basically a Phantom of the Opera mixed with giallo, so this also feels a bit redundant. 3 out of 5  Total: 9 Films Watched: Fright Night | The Brood | The Black Cat | Varan | The Roost | Friday the 14th Part 4: The Final Chapter | They Live | The Burning | Dario Argento's Phantom of the Opera rewatch | new to me
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May 17, 2021 13:38
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10. Sleepaway Camp 1983 dir. Robert Hiltzik Shout Factory blu-ray  I watch Sleepaway Camp at least twice a year. It's probably my most rewatched blu-ray. If it gets a 4k UHD release, I'm buying it. It has defied a standard rating system, transcended star scales, redefined what makes a movie "good" or "bad". This movie is full of goofs, gently caress-ups, strange dialogue, bizarre performances, glances at the camera, bad taste, misguided choices, and pacing issues. And yet the mood it provides is fantastic. The cast works well. The setting at the summer camp gives the film a sincerity that makes it a personal favorite. The gore effects are also fantastic. I found out my significant other had never seen Sleepaway Camp, so we watched it immediately. She had no idea about the twists, or the "baldies" line, or Aunt Martha, or anything. The perfect excuse to rewatch the film. It was fun, it was hilarious, and we had a great time. And now, according to Letterboxd, Sleepaway Camp is my most-watched movie once again. 4 out of 5  Total: 10 Films Watched: Fright Night | The Brood | The Black Cat | Varan | The Roost | Friday the 14th Part 4: The Final Chapter | They Live | The Burning | Dario Argento's Phantom of the Opera | Sleepaway Camp rewatch | new to me
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May 17, 2021 13:48
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Made good progress on these challenges over the weekend... Madman(Fran Challenge: Camp Blood) This is a straight-ahead classic summer camp slasher and I really enjoyed how it really ticked all those boxes of what you'd expect from the subgenre. I'm actually surprised I'd never really heard about it before, I'd have thought something that fits so neatly into the camp slasher catalogue would be often brought up in the same conversations of stuff like The Burning and of course Friday the 13th but Madman never seems to have reached that level of cult status. The film starts with that great nostalgic scenario of an old timer telling a scary story to those sitting around a camp fire in the woods, so I was all-in pretty much right away. I was reminded of Zeke the Plumber, for those of us that were the right age to be watching Nickelodeon in the early 90s. So this was a great mix of something newly discovered but also very strong nostalgia from all of the similar things I've seen over the years. The kills are pretty strong too, and the slasher is very imposing and I think potentially very scary if a kid was discovering this late at night on cable. I don't really have anything negative to say about it other than some of the usual 80s slasher issues like clearly inexperienced actors and a very thin story but all of that is to be expected. If you feel like you've seen all the "important" slashers then Madman would be a great place to go to start exploring that next tier.     The Legend of Boggy Creek(Fran Challenge: Myths & Legends) I expected this to be a lot more dated and hokey than it turned out to be. It actually was, with a few exceptions, extremely well done and very restrained in how it framed the monster. The narration may be the best part, I'm a sucker for that sort of old-school Texas Chainsaw Massacre style narration. The actors(from what I understand many of them were actual residents of the town) hit the right balance between amateurish and rehearsed, to where it actually does feel like a documentary being filmed about actual monster sightings. I heard Joe Bob talking about this recently and he was saying that it wasn't a widely known film on the coasts, but in some of these Mid-Western states where life was similar to what's presented in the film, it was hit. And I can understand why that would be. If someone lived up against the woods in an area like Fouke, and they drove into town and saw this movie and then went back to their property that night, it would have the potential to be one of those all-time memorable movie experiences. So I assume that's why the film has been remembered so fondly, people in the right situation at the right time probably felt like they'd seen one of the scariest movies ever made.    1. The Leopard Man 2. The Curse of Frankenstein 3. The Old Dark House(Fran Challenge: Sometimes They Come Back) 4. The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb 5. Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 6. Mother's Day(Fran Challenge: Mother's Day) 7. Madman(Fran Challenge: Camp Blood) 8. The Legend of Boggy Creek(Fran Challenge: Myths & Legends)
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May 17, 2021 15:11
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12. Fatal Exam (1990) dir. by Jack Snyder At times it achieves an excellent atmosphere, but the movie is so long and padded with extraneous moments that it kills most of the tension. Some of the characters get some decent lines and genuinely funny moments, but that doesn't make up for the sheer amount of conversational scenes and the editing to show everyone reacting to some dialogue or the stuff like showing the leads every step from the mansion to his car and back again. That said, there was still enough for me to enjoy. The story is actually pretty solid if a bit standard fare these days. We get some good gore moments and the dopey grim reaper outfits work even if silly. I do think there were too many moments of them hitting people with the blunt end of the scythes though, took some menace out of the attacks. I did enjoy the demon design and execution, well done for what I assume was a 5 dollar budget. This one's for the deeper slasher/horror fans though, won't offer much for people expecting competent film making haha. 2.5/5 -- 13. Beyond Dream’s Door (1989) dir. by Jay Woelfel Low budget flick that punches weigh above its weight class. While the writing can be a bit hokey at times, along with the acting, it's still incredibly charming and an effective horror movie. The movie uses the dream logics so well. Grounded moments often take off into nightmarish scenes that remind me of the original NoES but without the baggage of having a slasher killer. Some of the effects are really great and you can see almost every dollar spent on screen. It still shows its low budget at times, a few shots pushing the technical limits or showing the monster a bit too much stuff like that. It more than makes up for its shortcomings though. I also think the ending was great. 4/5 Movie Count - 13/15
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May 17, 2021 16:15
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Franchescanado posted:6. Playing With Power  #16. Saw (rewatch) (HBO Max) A pair of strangers wake up in an abandoned bathroom, chained to the walls, with only a handful of clues... and a pair of hacksaws... to get them out of the situation. They are part of the mysterious Jigsaw Killer's game, but who is he? And will the obsessed detective manage to find them in time? Now that Spiral is out and I am able to start going back to theaters again, I figured it would be a good idea to revisit the original Saw movie, which I haven't seen in probably a decade or more, and at least re-familiarize myself with that whole universe. Going back to the original movie, it's easy to forget how much more humble the series was than what it has become; the original is basically a thriller with a couple of gnarly gross-out flashbacks with actors who are too good for the material. (Seriously, how did they land Danny Glover and Kerri Russel for their no-budget first film?) That that managed to balloon out to an expansive series of films with giant set-piece scare scenes is ridiculous and/or inspiring. Either/or. It's difficult not to view the original through a franchise lens these days, and ironically that ends up undercutting a lot of the mystery the original presented. Not just the identity of Jigsaw and his part in the whole first game, but also the role that Ben Linus is playing - a nobody - and how the big ending twist gets telegraphed. Also, it makes you end up viewing things like Amanda's "confession" scene as insincere, which I think plays against what they were trying to do in this first movie. The whole world of Saw has gotten smaller and more insular over time, since the filmmakers can never seem to let fan favorite characters go, but the more people that come out of Jigsaw's traps as acolytes, the more it seems he only preys on damaged people susceptible to his bullshit rationales in the first place, which seems counterintuitive to how he's presented. On the whole, the film largely succeeds at what it's trying to do, but there are some things holding it back. The acting is largely just serviceable across the board, with Leigh Whannell kinda sticking out like a sore thumb. Danny Glover's detective side story feels oddly disconnected from everything, and at times seems more like padding than anything that the film is actively trying to build on. (That said, I did like that the film played up like he was heroically going to stop Zep in the sewer, only to get accidentally shot and just shuffled aside; they managed to wring some tension out of that chase scene, but that might have been because it was so tied to the big trailer moment of Cary Elwes finally, desperately sawing his foot off.) And, like I said, the more of the franchise you're aware of, the smaller this original release feels. Still, it ends up working well enough on its own merits that it gets a recommendation. /5Oh, speaking of the Danny Glover detective stuff, his character - Detective Tapp - ends up becoming the main character of the (in)famous PS3/360 era Saw: The Video Game. (Not starring Glover, though... he was both too old and too sensible for this poo poo.)  I remember a friend hyping me enough about the game that I ended up going out and buying it new when it was in its first month of release, which turned out to be a mistake. The idea of a moody horror puzzle game set in the Saw world was admittedly intriguing; what I got was frustrating controls, murky graphics, ridiculous insta-death quicktime events strewn all around and bizarre puzzle solutions. It wasn't engaging enough to commit to, so I never did end up finishing it. Fortunately, in the days of YouTube Let's Plays, I don't have to... and neither do you, if you want to save your sanity. Here, you can watch The Completionist slowly drive himself and his friend crazy over time trying to finish this stupid game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyUithcvB4Q Watched so far: The Curse of the Cat People, Freaky, Vampires vs the Bronx, Rawhead Rex, Tarantula, In Search of Darkness, Ginger Snaps (rewatch), In Search of Darkness Part II (FC #10), Mother's Day (2010) (FC #7), Scream, Queen! (FC #9), House of Wax (1953) (FC #2), Vampire in Venice (FC #8), Possessor, Mandy, various shorts (FC #1), Saw (rewatch) (FC #6)
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May 17, 2021 16:16
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Class3KillStorm posted:(Seriously, how did they land Danny Glover and Kerri Russel for their no-budget first film?) Glover has 206 credits on IMDb so I don’t think he turns much down. It’s an interesting career for sure, I checked it out and Saw is sandwiched between films like The Royal Tenenbaums and Dreamgirls as well as a bunch of DTV cheap animated films, made for tv stuff, and some low-budget dramas on film festival circuits. Seems like a guy who just likes a steady paycheck as well as helping out indie projects as much as possible. WeaponX fucked around with this message at 18:38 on May 17, 2021 |
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May 17, 2021 18:32
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 Smoke and Mirrors: The Story of Tom Savini(Fran Challenge: Behind the Mask) As someone else mentioned, this documentary isn't so much about behind the scenes stories from the movies Tom Savini worked on, it's really more of a biography of Savini himself. And that's fine, most of Savini's famous special effects have been examined and dissected in multiple other documentaries, but all I knew about the man himself was that he was a veteran and saw a lot of real-life violence during his time in Vietnam. Here there's a lot more information about his family life growing up, and the path he took to eventually working in the movie business. As a documentary it's not great in that the story being told isn't all that compelling on it's own, you definitely need to already have an interest in Savini to get much out of it. But Savini has lived an interesting life and it was nice to fill in some of those details after having been entertained by his work for so many hours over the years.  Nightbreed(Fran Challenge: Playing with Power I guess it's not all that surprising that Nightbreed would have a video game tie-in, in the early 90's basically any property with a variety of visually interesting characters was going to get a video game deal. The game appears to be some sort of action/adventure thing? I can't tell if it's a pure adventure game or if there are action elements. Anyway I'm guessing it was bad.    The film, on the other hand, continues to grow on me. This is I think my third time watching it, and I guess what tends to happen when I rewatch movies is that I kinda let go of my regrets for what I want the movie to be, and embrace it for the things that it does do well. And there's a lot to like about Nightbreed. It's really an epic story with a huge scope to it, which of course was a double edged sword because Barker only had a certain amount of resources to work with. But the ideas are undeniably strong, and my imagination couldn't help but run with ideas of what is around that corner or hidden in that shadow, etc. If anything the main character is holding the movie back. I wonder how different it could've been if the audience was trusted to just jump right the world of Midian without having this wide-eyed audience insert character but the human side of the story also brings us Cronenberg in his best acting role ever so it's hard to complain too much. Nightbreed really does bring a lot to the table so the fact that it doesn't quite live up to it's potential shouldn't ruin anyone's enjoyment of the things it does do well. Barker is a unique artist and Nightbreed is a unique film. 1. The Leopard Man 2. The Curse of Frankenstein 3. The Old Dark House(Fran Challenge: Sometimes They Come Back) 4. The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb 5. Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 6. Mother's Day(Fran Challenge: Mother's Day) 7. Madman(Fran Challenge: Camp Blood) 8. The Legend of Boggy Creek(Fran Challenge: Myths & Legends) 9. Smoke and Mirrors: The Story of Tom Savini(Fran Challenge: Behind the Mask) 10. Nightbreed(Fran Challenge: Playing with Power)
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May 17, 2021 19:18
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 Sightseers (2012) Directed by Ben Wheatley Sightseers is a lovely, low-key black comedy. Chris and Tina are a couple in a in a relatively new relationship getting ready to go on a camping holiday together. Tina’s mother is incredibly clingy and both Chris and Tina seem to be profoundly lonely.  It’s not long before disaster strikes on their trip and, at first, I wasn’t sure if it was an accident or not, which gave me something to chew on. I spent the rest of the movie eagerly awaiting the next awkward and darkly hilarious moment to happen. That’s really what this movie was, except for the bit around the dream sequence when it lost me, a series of great little moments.  Probably my favorite little thing was when a song repeated, but performed by a different artist, signifying that Tina was taking over for Chris.  Alice Lowe is wonderful as Tina. Steve Oram is good, but not quite as good. Otherwise, I wouldn’t say this is a great movie by any stretch but it was very entertaining and I loved it a little bit.  The House That Jack Built (2018) Directed by Lars Von Trier The House That Jack Built is a masterpiece of a slog. It’s very well done technically and almost everything works exactly as it should, but I just didn’t really like it. I think there’s definitely a difference between art that is executed well and art that is effective. Of course if the purpose of art is to provoke an emotional response, then even negative responses are valid.  Anyway. Jack seems to be a metaphor for terrible white men everywhere, Lars Von Trier himself included. Early on, he marvels at how he’s able to get away with pretty much anything. You could say he’s running through life on easy mode. Even so, it’s not long before he’s lecturing a victim about how all men are victims the moment they’re born because everyone assumes they’re guilty.  As Jack, Matt Dillon actually does a great job. He plays multiple versions of the same character throughout the movie, each with their own appearance and mannerisms, which is very impressive. The rest of the characters are largely forgettable, which ties directly into idea of Jack being the exemplar of toxic masculinity. He’s the sole protagonist of his own reality.  The wonder of the epilogue almost makes it worse. It’s like Von Trier is saying “Hey I may be awful but I’m still an artist!” Time Travel Challenge: 31/31 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), 14. The Crazies (1973), 15. Deathdream aka Dead of Night (1974), 16. Race with the Devil (1975), 17. The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976), 18. The Incredible Melting Man (1977), 19. The Grapes of Death (1978), 20. Tourist Trap (1979), 21. The Changeling (1980), 22. My Bloody Valentine (1981), 23. Human Lanterns (1982), 24. Christine (1983), 25. Night of the Comet (1984), 26. Demons (1985), 27. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986), 28. Wolf’s Hole (1987), 29. The Vanishing (1988), 30. Santa Sangre (1989), 31. Bride of Re-Animator (1990) Bracketology: 9/? 1. Vampires vs. the Bronx, 2. The Roost, 3. Varan, 4. On the Silver Globe, 5. The Phantom of the Opera, 6. Mark of the Vampire, 7. Tigers Are Not Afraid, 8. Sightseers, 9. The House That Jack Built Fran Challenges: 9/13 1. Un Chien Andalou / The Big Shave / Kitchen Sink / Foxes / Portal to Hell!!!, 2. Invasion of the Body Snatchers, 3. The Burning, 4. Dead Ringers, 5. Belzebuth, 6. Fright Night, 7. The Brood, 8. Village of the Damned, 9. Cat People twernt fucked around with this message at 21:49 on May 17, 2021 |
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May 17, 2021 20:27
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8. Scare Package Fran Challenge 12: Cavalcade of Creepiness  A meta anthology Shudder exclusive film, Scare Package features, technically, 9(!) shorts if you count the frame narrative. Each short is packed with horror-references and meta musings. I find these type of “horror for horror fans” films to be a double edged sword. On one hand the references are too specific and go over the head of anyone who isn’t a total horror hound. On the other hand, those who get them find the references cheap and pandering. It’s a delicate balance to make something that entertaining for both groups and Scare Package tries it’s hardest to do so. It’s not nearly as annoying as I would think a film like this would be.  But unsurprisingly this film falls into the same problem that many anthology films do, the bad shorts outnumber the good and with soooo many shorts it seems like an easily avoidable problem. Only 3 of the shorts are worth a drat, the first is “Cold Open” and fun little story about self-aware side characters stuck in an eternal scripted loop, like a police officer that wonders why no matter where she aims she can only shoot the murderer in the shoulder. The ending story is another- “self-aware character in a horror film tale”, this time with a Joe Bob inspired VHS store owner named Rad Chad and of course Joe Bob himself eventually shows up to call him an rear end in a top hat and quickly die. In the world of Scream, Cabin in the Woods, Tucker and Dale, it’s nothing new or original. But it gets bonus points in my book for casting professional wrestler Dustin Rhodes AKA Goldust as the lumbering killer.  The best short is a very quick and dumb one called “One Time in the Woods”. It’s a comedic non-sequitur story that is saved by the appearance of a man transforming into a melting pile of goo. Its an awesome looking practical effect and the actor has some great, funny, dead-pan lines- like when he nonchalantly asks the other characters to not separate his goo-pile for when he transforms back. I mean look at this guy! I’d watch a whole film with him.  While there are some funny moments and it has plenty great, low budget gore and practical effects, it’s mostly mediocre. The meta concept is overdone, the referential lines are cringe, and the humor is hit or miss. Clearly made with love and passion for the genre tho, I will certainly give it that. Watchlist ranked Best to Worst 1. Bride of Re-Animator* 2. Ginger Snaps 3. Frankenhooker* 4. House on Haunted Hill ‘99 5. Rawhead Rex 6. Victor Crowley 7. Scare Package 8. Jason Goes to Hell*=rewatch = Fran Challenge
WeaponX fucked around with this message at 00:41 on May 18, 2021 |
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May 17, 2021 21:18
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If anyone has a self-imposed challenge related to the They Shoot Zombies, Don't They? list of horror movies, be aware that the 2021 edition has dropped - here's a link to it on Letterboxd. 27. The Lodger (John Brahm, 1944) Jack the Ripper is on the loose, and everyone is on high alert! Unfortunately, everyone is also a total moron, because when Mr. Slade moves into a rented room in the neighborhood, he's pretty much wearing a sign that says "I'm 100% Jack the Ripper btw" and nobody seems to pick up on it for a very long time. Eventually, Inspector Warwick (the best character in the movie, played by George Sanders) figures it out, and stops him from murdering his latest target. There are some fun song and dance numbers (the target is a performer), and it's not bad, but it's pretty flat and I really didn't get into Laird Cregar's performance very much at all as the Ripper. 3/5 28. Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (Paul WS Anderson, 2016) Fran Challenge 6: Playing With Power I'm not really sure when I fell off the Resident Evil cinematic universe, or whatever you want to call it. I know I've seen the first two, and I've seen parts of the other ones on TV over the years, bored on a weekend afternoon. I remember seeing some of the video game characters show up along the way. I decided to just jump to the final one because it's on Netflix. Helpfully, this starts with a bit of a recap of the series, and I didn't really feel like I missed anything in however many movies I skipped, because in this one, they go back to the facility from the first movie (The Hive) and do a lot of "hey, remember this?" type of poo poo. It felt designed for people who skipped a bunch of the series but came back around for the end. Apparently, they also dumped a ton of characters who were still alive in the previous movies, with no explanation or reference to them, so I guess it's fine that I never knew who they were. We have to go back to Raccoon City, because uhhh there's another virus, or an airborne version of the existing virus, or one of the viruses got a new hat, I don't really know and frankly it doesn't matter. Alice is joined by a group of red shirts who get shot or squished or zombied or whatever along the way as Anderson makes a billion cuts a minute so you can never tell what the gently caress is going on or exactly how bad the CGI is. I think they used some of the creatures from the games (maybe I saw a Regenerator?) but it's all so dark and doofy that I am not really sure. Eventually they release some sort of cure into the air and also all the bad Umbrella people explode and die and a couple recognizable characters survive and despite this being called The Final Chapter, it does end with a character saying that the work isn't done. Let's hope they're wrong. 1.5/5Challenge Count: 28/31 Fran Challenges: TSZDT Challenge: 100/100 Indiewire Challenge: 47/50 (Remaining: Pulse, Hangover Square, I Saw the Devil
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May 17, 2021 22:43
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 34 (38). Sightseers (2012) Directed by Ben Wheatley, Written by Alice Lowe and Steve Oram. Well, I laughed a couple of times. I don't know, I don't really have much to say about this. I can enjoy dry comedy, I can enjoy dark comedy. I didn't hate it or get bothered or anything. But it just didn't really do a lot for me. I'm completely unfamiliar with all the players that made the film so didn't really know what to expect or have anything to compare it to. I dunno. I got some work done. Film never pulled me out of it. Never really turned me away either. I dunno. Don't date serial killers.  35 (39). Trucks (1997) Directed by Chris Thomson, Written by Brian Taggert, Based on the short story by Stephen King Watched on IMDBtv. King Spring 8/13 All I can say is wow. Its like Tremors meets The Mist… but with trucks! A 90’s Canadian television remake of the only film Stephen King directed Maximum Overdrive. So my expectations were pretty low but that was actually kinda awesome! I haven’t seen Maximum Overdrive. I’m saving it for last and I gave a lot of thought as to whether I should watch this before or after and I decided to start with the likely worse one and save the bigger one. But man, I may have done it backwards. You’d be forgiven to dismiss this at first glance. Its got all the basic setup and feel of a what you expect with a low budget 90s tv King adaption. And the premise sounds very silly. But the action kicks off really quickly at about 15 minutes in and things get real fun. The film manages to play everything completely straight and actually sell the threat of the trucks. But at the same time its got a very clear sense of humor and is having a real good time. I mean, we’re talking about Tonka Truck murders and Undead Slasher Trucks. Its kind of genius and it keeps catching you off guard because there’s this very real threat with these fairly decent characters and then boom. Something very funny on the side. And like… the trucks are clever. Like I said, I found the premise a little silly going in and thought it was gonna get real silly. And it is kinda silly. I mean the premise is what it is. But it sells it. I guess in hindsight the threat of a big rig barreling down on you isn’t that hard of a sell, and the setting is kind of perfect for like lots of open flat space so anyone trying to make a run for it is gonna have to deal with trucks that have the time to do one of those 7 point turns and pick up some steam. But the trucks are also actually pretty smart and set traps and improvise and stuff. Like they came up with some really creative murder plans real quick. And that ending. Wow. Just wow. BIG recommend. Its definitely a little cheesy and it is a cheap tv movie from the 90s. I might be a little sleep deprived. But this is fun. Big fun! And it somehow walks that line Tremors did of having serious horror and fun comedy, and also has a very similar structure and nastiness of King’s Mist. Big, big fan although I’d hardly call it a great film. A very fun one though.  36 (40). Dead Hooker in a Trunk (2009) Written and directed by Jen and Sylvia Soska. Return of the Fallen 7/13 Team “More 👏 Women 👏 Directors”; Eliminated in 1st Round by Claire Denis’ Trouble Every Day This film is not without some charms and moments but its 90 minute runtime feels much, much longer. I’m very light on amateur films like this. As someone who once was trying to make films like this with similar resources and knowledge I understand how difficult it is and what a monumental feat it is to make even a bad film of this nature. The amount of work and learning on the job from something like this is pure passion and probably impossible to understand if you haven’t tried something similar. Still I think the problem here is less the amateur aspects and more just the effort to turn this into a feature. Honestly, I didn’t mind the amateurish stuff. The Soskas do an ok job acting and most everyone delivers their lines. Its rough but its got a light team effort feel to it. And the low budget is actually pretty effectively worked with using camera angles and cuts that actually show a lot of amateur skill from the Twisted Twins. But there’s just not enough story here and when asked to spend so much time just kind of meandering about with the characters those amateur aspects start to take affect. Again, I actually thought the Soskas did ok. And really most of the cast. They’re solidly likable and get their characters across even though said characters are named with one word joke names like Geek, Junkie, and The oval office. But the middle of the film really does seem to run out of stuff to do and has like that part of the film where everyone splits up and reflects on what they all mean to each other and come back together. Big picture I think it showed a lot that the Soska’s had the story structure and pacing in mind, but the characters and actors just aren’t compelling enough to carry it. I ended up having to pause and take a break with it when I realized there was still 40 minutes left. Although in fairness I just got my second shot so maybe it wasn’t all the movie giving me a headache. But it really did have its big moments. And big shocks. Its funny, normally this exploitative stuff, especially towards women, really bugs me. But in this case its the directors themselves being objectified and stuff. So like… ok? Their call? And if they wanna use it to make themselves seem sexy and badass I guess that’s ok with me? Certainly doesn’t have the same vibe of a lot of the sleazier exploitation stuff I’ve seen that seems to have a more lecherous eye or misogynistic tone of voice. And all the sex and violence flops sometimes but also sometimes gets pretty effective shocking moments. I wouldn’t really recommend this to people unless you’re a connoisseur of amateur films, first efforts, and exploitative trash. Even there its not really a standout in any of those categories and it definitely pushed my limits for sticking with it (for film reasons, not content). But there’s always been a certain style, tone, and touch to the Soska Sisters that has intrigued me and I keep waiting for them to put it together into a great film. This isn’t it by any means but I can see that thing even back then at the start. 🌻🎈Spook-A-Doodle Half-Way-To-Halloween ’21: Return of the Fallen & King Spring🎈🌻 King Spring: 8/13🎈Return of the Fallen: 7/13👻Fran Challenges: 5/13🐺Svengoolie: 5/13 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); 13 (16). On the Silver Globe (1988); 14 (17). The Phantom of the Opera (1998); 15 (18). Nina Forever (2015); 16 (19). Area 51 (2015); 17 (20). Carrie (2002); 18 (21). The Stylist (2016)/Stucco (2019)/He Took His Skin Off for Me (2014)/Zygote (2017); 19 (22). Mark of the Vampire (1935); 20 (23). Tigers Are Not Afraid (2017); 21 (23). Death Walks on High Heels (1971); 22 (24). Maniac (1980); - (25). The Beast with Five Fingers (1946); - (26). Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954); 23 (27). Summer Camp (2015); 24 (28). Man Made Monster (1941); 25 (29). Earth vs. the Spider (1958); 26 (30). Vampyr (1932); 27 (31). The Black Scorpion (1957); 28 (32). The Wild Boys (2017); 29 (33). City of the Living Dead (1980); 30 (34). We Are What We Are (2010); 31 (35). Mercy (2014); 32 (36). Baba Yaga: Terror of the Dark Forest (2020); 33 (37). Cell (2016); 34 (38). Sightseers (2012); 35 (39). Trucks (1997); 36 (40). Dead Hooker in a Trunk (2009); STAC Goat fucked around with this message at 01:35 on May 18, 2021 |
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May 17, 2021 22:44
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Fran Challenge 10. Behind the Mask Birth of the Living Dead (2013) Directed by Rob Kuhns Birth of the Living Dead is a documentary about the making of George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. It’s full of interesting facts and anecdotes about the movie and includes plenty of interview footage with George Romero himself.  You can read the Wikipedia page for Night of the Living Dead to get most if not all of the same information, but it’s much more interesting to hear it from the man himself, or from people who saw the movie during its original run in theaters. One tidbit that was completely new to me is that Romero’s production company, The Latent Image, got their first paying job from Mr. Rogers. They produced a short film for him entitled Mr. Rogers Gets a Tonsillectomy. Romero referred to this as the one of the scariest movies he’s ever done.  It doesn’t necessarily break new ground, but it’s definitely worth a watch if you’re a Night of the Living Dead fan. Time Travel Challenge: 31/31 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), 14. The Crazies (1973), 15. Deathdream aka Dead of Night (1974), 16. Race with the Devil (1975), 17. The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976), 18. The Incredible Melting Man (1977), 19. The Grapes of Death (1978), 20. Tourist Trap (1979), 21. The Changeling (1980), 22. My Bloody Valentine (1981), 23. Human Lanterns (1982), 24. Christine (1983), 25. Night of the Comet (1984), 26. Demons (1985), 27. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986), 28. Wolf’s Hole (1987), 29. The Vanishing (1988), 30. Santa Sangre (1989), 31. Bride of Re-Animator (1990) Bracketology: 9/? 1. Vampires vs. the Bronx, 2. The Roost, 3. Varan, 4. On the Silver Globe, 5. The Phantom of the Opera, 6. Mark of the Vampire, 7. Tigers Are Not Afraid, 8. Sightseers, 9. The House That Jack Built Fran Challenges: 10/13 1. Un Chien Andalou / The Big Shave / Kitchen Sink / Foxes / Portal to Hell!!!, 2. Invasion of the Body Snatchers, 3. The Burning, 4. Dead Ringers, 5. Belzebuth, 6. Fright Night, 7. The Brood, 8. Village of the Damned, 9. Cat People, 10. Birth of the Living Dead
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May 18, 2021 00:22
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEVrogZOJzA Godzilla Mothra and King Ghidorah Giant Monsters All Out Attack! What a picture! Top tier monster action! There's a bit of dodgy 90s CGI, but the miniature work is fantastic, and the suits are some of the best I've ever seen. They actually use closeups of the suit texture as the background in the credits, that's how good the suits look even close up. If you like seeing rooms get hosed up, All Out Monsters' Giant Attack clearly had a room on gimbals and delighted in using it show rooms shaken to bits by the tread of giant monsters before being crushed underfoot. The human stuff is good too! The human characters are all reasonably well developed, have relationships that are interesting to watch without dominating the movie, and there are genuinely funny moments. Eiji Tsuburaya showed us the way decades ago, and this movie remembered; the human protagonist of a giant monster movie should be a plucky lady reporter! There's even a bit of a slasher vibe here too. The first people to get killed by monsters are groups of rowdy teens. And the movie takes delight in the occasional creative death by giant monster. If you are a fan of giant monster movies, Giant Monsters All Out Attack is a must-see. And if you're a normal person who just has a vague interest in watching a giant monster movie, Giant Monsters All Out Attack should be on the top of your list! You won't be disappointed! 
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May 18, 2021 01:39
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17. All-American Murder (1991) Fire. Walken ... with me. Kid, I’ve knocked off more undergrads than Kent State. Just a taste of the dialogue this tonal monstrosity dumps all over you, then it drops a really fun Christopher Walken dressed as a detective character. There is almost zero warning of the bloodbath it turn so into, but don’t worry the quips never end. It really can’t be stated enough how wrong this movies tone is - and how wonderful it is because of it. Thank you, Potsie. .5/5
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May 18, 2021 04:27
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#20 Homicidal William Castle, 1961  This is the first William Castle film I've seen which aims to be legitimately frightening. Sure House on Haunted Hill made me poo poo my pants when I first saw it, but I was only 8 years old at the time. Homicidal is a legit horror movie. It ditches (most of) the camp of the director's previous horror fare and goes for a more Hitchcockian approach. And it succeeds. Of course it's no Psycho, but it's surprisingly close! It's genuinely mysterious throughout, and pretty drat violent. There's an early murder that took me by complete surprise. The characters' motives and relations with one another aren't clear until the very end, and the movie does a wonderful job keeping my mind racing with possible theories. And adding even more fuel to the fire of mystery is the introduction of a particular character who just seems a bit... off. And no Castle film would be complete without a gimmick. In this case it's the "Fright Break". Just before the climax, the film pauses and displays a countdown clock of about 45 seconds. Anyone too scared to watch the ending of the movie had the opportunity to leave the theater and receive a refund. The only caveat was that they had to stand in the "coward's corner" until the movie finished and be mocked by the remaining theater goers. According to interviews, very few people took the film up on this offer. I mean who could leave without seeing the incredible payoff? And it IS pretty incredible. I won't spoil it, but suffice it so say it's something Hitchcock would be proud of. 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), 8. The Curse of the Werewolf (1961), 9. Hunter Hunter (2020), 10. Let’s Scare Jessica to Death (1971), 11. Prince of Darkness (1987), 12. What We Do in the Shadows (2014), 13. The Devil's Advocate, 14. Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966), 15. Madman (1981), 16. The House That Dripped Blood (1971), 17. The Evil Dead (1981), 18. Alligator (1980), 19. The Terror Within II (1991), 20. Homicidal (1961) 8/13 Fran Challenges completed: 2. Sometimes They Come Back, 3. Camp BLOOD, 7. Mother's Day, 8. Dead & Buried, 9. Scream, Queen!, 10. Behind the Mask, 11. Myths & Legends, 12. Cavalcade of Creepiness
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May 18, 2021 04:59
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Basebf555 posted:I guess it's not all that surprising that Nightbreed would have a video game tie-in, in the early 90's basically any property with a variety of visually interesting characters was going to get a video game deal. The game appears to be some sort of action/adventure thing? I can't tell if it's a pure adventure game or if there are action elements. Anyway I'm guessing it was bad. You're getting confused here because Nightbreed didn't just have one game adaptation - it had two, and you've found screenshots from both of them. One was a terrible platform game and the other was a reasonable adventure game.
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May 18, 2021 10:04
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08 Jeepers Creepers (2001) Siblings on a road trip attract the attention of a demon that eats people. A light, enjoyable actiony-horror. This is the second or third time I've seen it, and I was struck by some similarities to The Terminator: the super-durable antagonist; the scenes of cars fighting each other without visible drivers; the sequence where the baddie pursues the protagonists through (and I mean through) a packed police station. Thematically it's totally different. There's nothing like T1's repeating image of people betrayed by their own tools; the Creeper's just a mean fucker who enjoys scaring and killing people. Anyway, it had some really memorable images and some really creepy scenes, like the whole thing with the pipe. /509 Mientras duermes (Sleep Tight) (2011) No screenshot, soz. A doorman, Cesar, spends every night sleeping next to a tenant, Clara, who is totally unaware she is being stalked. A really nasty, unsettling film. I was sold on it by a description a couple weeks ago as a horror movie where the Final Girl doesn't realise she's in a horror movie. Cesar is a piece of poo poo, but there's enough to him to make him interesting, and a lot of the tension comes from trying to suss out exactly how bad whatever he's planning is. It's funny; the movie wrings a lot of tension around the possibility of him getting caught, and it works, even though you really should be rooting against him. Like if Walter White were a creep instead of just a bastard. Also the first movie I've watched through Shudder, as they only came to Australia a couple of months back. /510 The Dark and the Wicked 2020  Two siblings, brought to their parent's farm by their father's impending death, find themselves beset by shadows and whispers from some thing. Cold and bleak. Some parts of it were well-realised; I thought the performances were great, and I got a great sense of their childhoods in spite of not really being told much about them. The gradual revelation of how far the adversary can reach was good, and unsettling. Overall though, the whole thing was a bit overlong, and just not all that gripping. and a half/5Up next: Dave Made a Maze... wikipedia describes it as a "fantasy adventure comedy horror film", so it counts, okay?
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May 18, 2021 13:29
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 Fear(s) of the Dark(Fran Challenge: Cavalcade of Creepiness) It's not easy to find new anthologies to watch these days, we only seem to get maybe one per year around Halloween time. Anyway, this was a neat little find that I hadn't heard of before, but it's definitely worth checking out. Four main stories, mostly in similar but not identical animation style, with a particularly bizarre wraparound. Each story is directed by someone different. A few of these stories will definitely stay with me for a while, particularly the first one where a lonely college student meets a girl. I did feel like there was an attempt to pull everything together thematically, and I'm not sure I really understood the thematic connections being made but overall I enjoyed most of the stories and you don't get a fully animated anthology very often so this was unique. One of the great things about anthologies is how they keep things interesting and never allow you to get bored, so an anthology where the visuals are also part of that variety is even better.   1. The Leopard Man 2. The Curse of Frankenstein 3. The Old Dark House(Fran Challenge: Sometimes They Come Back) 4. The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb 5. Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 6. Mother's Day(Fran Challenge: Mother's Day) 7. Madman(Fran Challenge: Camp Blood) 8. The Legend of Boggy Creek(Fran Challenge: Myths & Legends) 9. Smoke and Mirrors: The Story of Tom Savini(Fran Challenge: Behind the Mask) 10. Nightbreed(Fran Challenge: Playing with Power) 11. Fear(s) of the Dark(Fran Challenge: Cavalcade of Creepiness)
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May 18, 2021 14:39
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 21. Frenzy (1972) dir. Alfred Hitchcock Amazon A serial killer and rapist known as the "Necktie Murderer" is plaguing London and leaving the police baffled. The scandalous crimes have captured the attention of the media and the public (I suspect the title is referring to this frenzy rather than the actual killings), and when Richard Blaney is caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, everyone is quick to blame him for the murders while the real killer works to frame him. Like the protagonist of many Hitchcock films, he must evade the police while attempting to prove his innocence. This was Hitchcock's second to last film, and it has a much more modern feel to it than I would normally associate with his work. Out of context I think you could easily mistake this for a Brian De Palma film. It's kind of crazy that over the course of his career Hitchcock went from directing silent films to this very modern (and borderline sleazy!) thriller. Nipples, in MY Hitchcock!? It's more likely than you think. There is some levity among the heavy material too, even though I don't think the British have any right to be making fun of the cuisine of any other country. This is extremely solid and I really enjoyed it! It has some genuinely creepy and even disturbing moments - the image of a naked corpse falling out of the back of a potato truck will stick with me. I don't think it's up there with Hitchcock's best thrillers, but it's still quite good and shows how talented a filmmaker he was, even this late in his career and life. Barry Foster as the killer is probably the highlight - he's just so sleazy and easy to hate - but everyone is excellent. Highly recommended for fans of Hitchcock/De Palma or other classic thrillers. 4.5 potatoes out of 5  Fran Challenge #12. Cavalcade of Creepiness 22. Spirits of the Dead (1968) dir. Roger Vadim, Louis Malle, Federico Fellini Criterion Channel This is a French portmanteau/anthology horror film with segments by three different directors (Roger Vadim, Louis Malle, and Federico Fellini) that are all loose adaptations of Poe stories. As is the case with nearly all anthologies, they vary in quality, but here I think all three have some value despite being uneven. In the first (by Vadim), Jane Fonda stars as a hedonistic Countess who burns down the stables of a relative who is rude to her, accidentally killing him. Some spooky and extremely Poe-like stuff happens. This is the most conventional of the three and could more or less fit in a Hammer or Amicus anthology from the same period. It meanders a lot in the second half, but it's decent enough. In the second (by Malle), a cruel and sadistic man confesses his sins to a priest, describing how throughout his life he has been repeatedly foiled by another man that shares his name and face. This is fairly traditional as well and very well shot, but the story wasn't particularly exciting to me. Finally, Fellini directs a bizarre and surreal segment about a washed up alcoholic movie star who travels to Italy to accept an award. This was the highlight of the film for me - I'm not sure if it's GOOD or not, but it's extremely weird and memorable. A significant portion of the segment is just the main character driving around in a Ferrari and seeing weird poo poo. What story is present was kind of hard to follow, but there is some striking imagery and it has a unique nightmarish feel to it that I really liked. Overall I liked this well enough, and it has a much more artistic feel to it than most anthologies do. However I think all three segments have their weaknesses, and I'd call this more interesting than it is good. Still absolutely worth checking out if you like classic horror anthologies. 3.5 black stallions out of 5 Edgar Wright's Top 100 Horror: 98/100 Slant Top 100 Horror: 98/100 TSZDT 2020: 674/1000 Total: 22 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) (FC#2) | Warlock | Prince of Darkness | A Record of Sweet Murder | The Neon Demon | The Day of the Beast (FC#13) | The Devil Rides Out | The Taking of Deborah Logan (FC#7) | Short films (FC#1) | Don't Panic (FC#5) | The Hitcher | Resident Evil: Retribution (FC#6) | Saint Maud | Stranger by the Lake (FC#9) | Frenzy | Spirits of the Dead (FC#12) Fran Challenges:
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May 18, 2021 15:40
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Franchescanado posted:12. Cavalcade of Creepiness  #17. Southbound (Shudder) A group of stories, possibly interconnected, about strangers running into horrible situations on an unmarked stretch of highway in the desert. Southbound, like pretty much all anthology films, lives and dies by its ability to do a lot with a short amount of screen time. Most of the stories end up being fine, with the group of directors leaning more on characters alluding to past events to suggest depth and history for these people; sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. There's also a cyclical nature to the whole thing that only starts to become apparent in the back half - prior to that, I was really downrating the decision to start in medias res in the first story, which makes things seem more confusing then they need to be. I'm still not sure if the decision was the right one, but at least I can understand it better. Might make the most sense to break this down by story real quick:
I dunno guys - I wish that individual story mechanics were better thought through and explained. There's way more effort put into the Pulp Fiction interconnected-ness for the ending reveal than into making sure that the individual pieces worked on their own merits. I wasn't able to sit through the first person shaky cam nonsense of the first V/H/S, and I've been wary of going back to it. I know that the same group came together for this, and I was interested to see if this would work better, freed of the constraints of the POV format conceit. In some ways, these Southbound shorts are individually well shot and had good production elements, but I feel like making them more discrete, separated stories would have allowed for better individual story cohesion and a stronger overall throughline for the final film. Here, so much effort is spent trying to make sure one story leads into the next and we can all loop things around again, but for what? No one story benefits from this, save the middle one, and even that could have been largely unchanged had the person getting hit been some rando we don't know, just like story-specific main character Lucas, instead of the protagonist of the previous story, who gets reduced to a flopping corpse-to-be. As it is, I'm less impressed by the bow they think they're tying, when the whole package is so rough and badly wrapped together. /5 for the entire thingWatched so far: The Curse of the Cat People, Freaky, Vampires vs the Bronx, Rawhead Rex, Tarantula, In Search of Darkness, Ginger Snaps (rewatch), In Search of Darkness Part II (FC #10), Mother's Day (2010) (FC #7), Scream, Queen! (FC #9), House of Wax (1953) (FC #2), Vampire in Venice (FC #8), Possessor, Mandy, various shorts (FC #1), Saw (rewatch) (FC #6), Southbound (FC #12)
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May 18, 2021 16:17
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20) The Lure (2015) Fran Challenge #11: Myths and Legends  This is a very intriguing and very artsy film that drew me in immediately. The acting, the music, the choreography, it was fantastic. 4/5 21) Belzebuth (2017) Fran Challenge #5: Cinco  This was good. Just good. Well, better than average, but only just. It was FUN, that I'm sure of. But it went on way too long, a lot of the acting was bad (which, to be fair, I think can be attributed to actors acting in a language other than their native one), and some of the story was downright hokey. Really cool to see Tobin Bell branching out from playing a sickly creepy guy to playing a slightly different sickly creepy guy. 3.5/5 Total: 21 1. Crawl (2019) / 2. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) (FC1) / 3. Vampyr (1932) / 4. I Walked With A Zombie (1943) / 5. Kwaidan (1964) (FC12) / 6. Vampyres (1975) (FC9) / 7. The Howling (1981) / 8. Torso (1973) / 9. Frankenhooker (1990) / 10. Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore (2010) (FC10) / 11. Them (Ils) (2006) / 12. Nina Forever (2015) / 13. Aliens (1986) / 14. The Cremator (1969) (FC4) / 15. Saw IV (2007) / 16. Dark Skies (2013) / 17. The McPherson Tape (1989) / 18. Saw (2004) (FC6) / 19. Mother's Day (1980) (FC7) / 20. The Lure (2015) (FC11) / 21. Belzebuth (2017) (FC5) Fran Challenges Remaining -- 2, 3, 8, 13
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May 18, 2021 16:55
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17: The Lure (2015) FC11. Myths & Legends  I chose it because someone brought it up in reference to this challenge. Two mermaids, Golden and Silver, join the surface world and perform at a nightclub. They eat people. Also this is a musical. I like that it kept in with the Hans Christian Anderson mythology of kill the prince or turn to sea foam. It's a very sexually charged film. Themes of immigration and exploitation. The mermaid monsters are simultaneously dangerous and vulnerable. It's an unusual world - 1980s Poland where mermaids are a novelty but no one seems surprised at their existence. There's another sea dude called Triton in a metal band. It's certainly something. Probably the best Polish horror musical about man eating mermaids I've seen. It's weird and compelling and I'll probably be thinking this one over in my mind for a while. Competed: 17 Four Flies on Grey Velevet; Gods and Monsters FC9; Alice, Sweet Alice, Witchfinder General; Street Trash; Cannibal Holocaust; C.H.U.D; Raw Force; In Search of Darkness 2; The Crazies (2010)FC2; Tigers are not Afraid FC5; Trilogy of Terror FC12; Smoke and Mirrors: The Story of Tom Savin FC10; Goodnight Mommy FC7; various FC1; Friday 13th (2009) FC3; The Lure FC11
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May 18, 2021 16:59
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Franchescanado posted:
 15) Moonstalker - TubiTV - 1989 In some parts this was a bit generic, but in others they were trying something a little different. It's part wilderness slasher and camp slasher. Here, we have two backstories that both work. We have Pop telling us of his son, Bernie who was committed to an asylum that Pop broke him out of and we have another where Pop's family lived on the mountain and got the boot when a recreational camp was getting built. Just from that, you can get an idea where this is going. I did like Bernie's look with the straitjacket and face covering. It was unique enough to separate it from the standard mask wearing slasher. When he changed over to the cowboy hat and shades, I lost a little interest. Overall, this wasn't bad. It's about par for a late 80s slasher with a few bits of attempting something different. Franchescanado posted:4. Movie of the Month  16) The Cremator - Criterion - 1969 I'll have to revisit this one down the road since I'm probably not in the best headstate for it. Technical/craftwise, it's incredibly good. The actors are also incredibly good but this just didn't click with me at this time.
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May 18, 2021 18:23
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Movie #12: Halloween Part II I shot him six times! I shot him in the heart. This guy, this man, he's... HE'S NOT HUMAN! Remember when I watched Halloween? How I said one of my favourite things about the movie was that Michael Myers didn't have some elaborate backstory and seemed like a force of nature. Just a crazy guy who breaks out of the loonie bin on the 15th anniversary of his first murder, then obsesses on a random girl on the street and starts stalking her? Well Halloween Part II undoes all that in one of the dumbest clusterfuck decisions I've seen in horror movies. Because you see, Michael Myers didn't just obsess on some random girl -- which would have been terrifying because ANYONE could be some random girl on the street. Oh no, Laurie Strode is actually Michael Myers' second sister and he's specifically back to kill her. Yes he somehow knew that she was his sister even though under the most charitable reading he would last have seen her when she was two years old. And not only that, but now Michael Myers also goes around writing SAMHAIN in blood on blackboards, which Dr. Loomis helpfully explains is a reference to the ancient druids and their human sacrifices, and how that helped them see into the future. So I guess now Michael Myers is a modern day druid, or at least way into them? Honestly, after the movie I had to go back and check who had actually written Halloween Part II because I was completely convinced there was no loving way the same guy who wrote the excellent, tight and stressful Halloween had decided to just pull down his pants and take a big poo poo all over it. But it turns out it all makes sense after all: "Carpenter described that his writing of the screenplay "mainly dealt with a lot of beer, sitting in front of a typewriter saying 'What the gently caress am I doing? I don't know.'" "he plot twist of Laurie being Michael's sister was initially never planned by Carpenter or Hill, but was conceived, according to Carpenter, "purely as a function of having decided to become involved in the sequel to the movie where I didn't think there was really much of a story left." He would later refer to this plotline as "silly" and "foolish,"" Well I'm glad we agree, John. Even beyond that the movie isn't great. It's largely a retelling of the same beats as the first movie with Dr. Loomis driving around Haddonfield looking for Michael, who spends the time slaughtering people in the city's only hospital -- a place nobody bothered deploying any guards to after sending the only survivor of Myers' previous rampage there for medical treatment. Laurie herself spends about 80% of the movie unconscious and being leered at by a horny EMT, and Michael Myers is largely unseen as well. The movie only starts to pick up in the final moments, as Myers starts to actively stalk Laurie around the hospital, at which point Carpenter's minimalist score ratchets up the tension, Laurie gets to do something and it starts to recapture that first movie magic. If we'd had more of that, Halloween Part II would have owned, but alas, the 15 or so minutes we get just barely begins to salvage the whole movie. Then Michael Myers gets blown the gently caress up and I'm sure he's 100% dead for good this time. / 5My earlier movies: 1. Evil Dead II, 2. The Legend of Hell House, 3. Hausu, 4. The Haunting, 5. The Innkeepers, 6. Sleepaway Camp, 7. It Follows, 8. Tremors, 9. From Beyond, 10. Friday the 13th Part II
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May 18, 2021 18:31
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I know you've said you haven't seen a lot of these movies but I guess I still didn't quite understand that you hadn't known about Laurie being Michael's sister. You're so pure, so unspoiled 
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May 18, 2021 18:41
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Basebf555 posted:I know you've said you haven't seen a lot of these movies but I guess I still didn't quite understand that you hadn't known about Laurie being Michael's sister. You're so pure, so unspoiled Can't wait for Psycho to blow his mind.
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May 18, 2021 18:43
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Spatulater bro! posted:Can't wait for Psycho to blow his mind. I know all about the twist in Psycho, DUH. The woman gets killed in the shower I know the guy's mommy is a skeleton Basebf555 posted:I know you've said you haven't seen a lot of these movies but I guess I still didn't quite understand that you hadn't known about Laurie being Michael's sister. You're so pure, so unspoiled I genuinely had no idea and it was a huge disappointment for me 
Shaman Tank Spec fucked around with this message at 18:59 on May 18, 2021 |
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May 18, 2021 18:52
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Shaman Tank Spec posted:I genuinely had no idea and it was a huge disappointment for me Halloween III is a completely unconnected story without Michael in it, and it's really good so definitely check that out. But beyond that the whole Samhain/Michael thing only gets worse in 4, 5, and 6 so don't bother with them.
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May 18, 2021 19:03
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Basebf555 posted:Halloween III is a completely unconnected story without Michael in it, and it's really good so definitely check that out. Yeah, the movie with the super awesome happy happy Halloween song. I know the gist of that one but definitely watching it! E: oh wait, the dumbest most clichéd guess about the Samhain thing: Michael is actually possessed / a reincarnation of the big dark lord Samhain the doctor mentioned
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May 18, 2021 19:05
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Shaman Tank Spec posted:Yeah, the movie with the super awesome happy happy Halloween song. I know the gist of that one but definitely watching it! I feel like with Halloween III, even if you know the basic outline of the plot it will have a few absurd twists and turns that you didn't expect. Shaman Tank Spec posted:E: oh wait, the dumbest most clichéd guess about the Samhain thing: Michael is actually possessed / a reincarnation of the big dark lord Samhain the doctor mentioned Yea in one of the later sequels, an actual Samhain druid cult is after Michael because I guess they need him to understand Pure Evil so they can reproduce it in other kids or something, it's pretty dumb. Basebf555 fucked around with this message at 19:09 on May 18, 2021 |
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May 18, 2021 19:06
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Basebf555 posted:I feel like with Halloween III, even if you know the basic outline of the plot it will have a few absurd twists and turns that you didn't expect. And to be honest the only thing I know is Evil Corporation (possibly powered by witches?) distributes haunted halloween masks to kids which turn them into monsters and that sounds awesome. quote:Yea in one of the later sequels, an actual Samhain druid cult is after Michael because I guess they need him to understand Pure Evil so they can reproduce it in other kids or something, it's pretty dumb. Oh my god.
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May 18, 2021 19:16
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Halloween 4 is good. It's not Halloween good, but it's better than Part 2. It continues the whole Michael Myers family thing, but it's really just the motivation behind Michael returning. Danielle Harris is charming as the main character, and Pleasance goes full crazy with Loomis.
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May 18, 2021 19:34
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