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Oh drat I didn't realize Harvest Lake is from the guy who made Found (and produced Headless). Definitely gonna check it out now.
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May 21, 2021 03:18
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 Challenge 4: movie of the month9: Viy Well folks, this was a weird one. It’s a neat look at a cool era, and I appreciate all the old school camera tricks, but it was a bit too genuinely hokey for me to get into. I can see why people were into it but it’s not for me, just reminded of Hilarious House of Frightenstein too much
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May 21, 2021 03:36
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#23 West of Zanzibar Tod Browning, 1928  Lon Chaney plays a stage magician named Phroso who becomes a paraplegic after a violent confrontation with a man who, as he's has just learned, is about to run away to Africa with Phroso's wife. Some months later Phroso discovers that his wife is dead and that she had had a child. 18 years pass and Phroso is now the head of a local tribe in Africa, not far from where the other man also resides. Phroso's revenge plan starts to come to fruition. The plot unfolds in an interesting way with a few amusing plot twists and some colorful characters. Lon Chaney is as great as ever, and as always his physicality steals the show. The contrast in his appearance between the early scenes and the later scenes is striking. As he drags his limp body across the floor, never once did I doubt he was an actual paraplegic. And his grizzled snarl could melt steel. An absolute legend. The film is a swift 65 minutes, but it probably should have been 80. The first act felt super rushed. But that's not a dealbreaker. I enjoyed this a lot. 4/5 23 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), 21. El Vampiro (1957), 22. Cure (1997), 23. West of Zanzibar (1928) 10/13 Fran Challenges completed: 2. Sometimes They Come Back, 3. Camp BLOOD, 4. Movie of the Month, 5. Cinco, 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 21, 2021 03:38
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Retro Futurist posted:
To me it's hokey in the same way Evil Dead II is hokey. i.e. awesomely so.
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May 21, 2021 03:49
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I was tempted to just watch Viy again for the challenge because it's awesome but technically I'm supposed to at least try to watch something new which means I'm going with Punishment Park.
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May 21, 2021 04:08
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Spatulater bro! posted:To me it's hokey in the same way Evil Dead II is hokey. i.e. awesomely so. And normally that’s my jam, but this just didn’t land for me. I dig the big blowout at the end but it just takes too long to get there
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May 21, 2021 05:29
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 39 (43). The Body Snatcher (1945) Directed by Robert Wise, Screenplay by Philip MacDonald and Val Lewton, Based on 1884 short story by Robert Louis Stevenson Watched on he Internet Archive, available on Shudder and AMC+. Return of the Fallen 8/13 Team… I don’t know… Cat People?; Eliminated in 1st Round by Lesley Manning’s Ghostwatch ”People are always so concerned about dogs.” I. Loved. This. Film. And why the gently caress shouldn’t I? This is a Robert Wise film produced by Val Lewton of a Robert Louis Stevenson story based on the real life infamous murders of Burke, Hare, and Knox, starring Boris Karloff. That’s an insane pedigree. Bela Lugosi even shows up for one last drink with his old friend. Oh, but Karloff’s Gray is the worst kind of friend you could ever have. Devilishly charming but deeply sinister. This is the first film Karloff did after leaving Universal and finding the state of the Frankenstein franchise “ridiculous” and credits Lewton for “restored his soul” and “rescued him from the living dead.” And you can see how inspired and invigorated Karloff is in his performance. Its the absolute best role I’ve ever seen him and the evil glee and spite he brings to Gray makes him feel almost supernatural. As human and simply grounded as everything in this film is there’s something about Karloff’s performance that almost makes you believe that Gray might in fact be the Devil and he may actually torment Toddy until his dying days. Henry Daniell is pretty excellent too as Dr. MacFarlane, the brilliant surgeon and teacher who you’re never quite clear whether he’s a basically decent man with a gold scientists’ bedside manner or just another mad scientist with more social skills and self delusion. As great as Karloff is its his tormenting of “Toddy” that really carries the film. This noble, brilliant, man of standing and respect. A man who has the respect of all his peers and students and performs miracles and helps the lame walk. But he is repeatedly brought down to nothing by this lowly man Gray. And Gray knows the power he has over MacFarlane. The secrets of their shared past with the infamous Dr. Knox and his pair of serial killing “resurrection men” Burke and Hare. The secrets of the legacy of those infamous black stains and how the two of them have quietly continued them for years. And the power they each feel they can wield over the other based on their opposite positions. ”Tell! Shout it from it rooftops! But remember this! They hanged Burke, they mobbed Hare, but Dr. Knox is living as a gentleman in London!” “Aye. Something in what you say, Toddy.” People fairly point out that the 3rd lead of the likable young doctor is the odd man out here but I don’t think he’s superfluous. He’s the moral conscience of this story. The ideal that MacFarlane uses to justify what he does. The pure good doctor that Gray delights in corrupting. He is kind of a walking plot tool but he’s an important one. He also gives us reason to really spend time with MacFarlane’s wife and explore her shared love and respect for her husband and horror and disdain for his damned path. She’s angry at her husband when he chooses to take on the young doctor as an apprentice because she knows it means introducing him to Gray and corrupting a good man into this ghoulish fraternity. And the film is such a wonderful moody piece. There’s this one absolutely amazing shot where a blind homeless woman sings down the street followed closely behind by Gray’s white horse drawn carriage and as both disappear over the horizon into the shadows we suddenly hear her singing abruptly stop. Its draw out, tense, gorgeous, and chilling and all at once establishes who Gray is. He doesn’t hate the woman. She’s not an enemy. No one asked him to kill her. He just sees money in and she was convenient. Its nothing more at all to him. I feel like I could keep talking and maybe I should, but suffice it to say I LOVED this film and will definitely be revisiting it again soon.  40 (44). Run (2020) Written and directed by Aneesh Chaganty, co-written by Sev Ohanian. Watched on Hulu Fran Challenges 7/13 Franchescanado posted:7. Mother's Day Times I yelled "Oh poo poo!" at the tv loud enough to worry I woke someone up: 6 I was workshopping a bunch of jokes comparing the film to Rear Window or Misery or Psycho or some other film but nothing really worked. I suppose evoking so many films could be taken as a knock at the film’s originality but there’s gotta be something said for evoking so many classic films known for their tension and individual performances. Especially since none of them really feel right so even though this film reminds me of a bunch of great films and performances it still feels very original in its own story and characters. Everyone takes from places but creating something new out of that is a lot harder than it looks. Aneesh Chaganty does a tremendous job there building his own deeply tense and shocking journey and Sarah Paulson and Kiera Allen put in great and memorable performances. I’m a bit familiar with Paulson and assume she’s really cemented that “dangerous Karen” role in all those seasons of American Horror Story since I ditched it but I’m entirely unfamiliar with the other too but highly impressed. Especially in Allen. She puts on a really great performance that focuses on her nearly 100% of the film and demands a lot of physical and silent acting to sell the tension and complex emotions at play. Very interested to she want she does next. I do feel like I could maybe nitpick a few plot things if really wanted to but I don’t really want to. To me that kind of nitpicking usually comes down to how you feel about the film. If it satisfied you then you’re happy with what you got and can overlook a few things and if you’re unhappy then you start poking holes and looking for places to get worked up. I’m VERY satisfied with what I got so I’m good. Besides most of the stuff could be hand waved away by very easy answers like the actions of a dangerously deranged psycho or the deep fundamental flaws of a broken health care system. Because some doctor probably should followed up on this over the last 18 years. The whole film is a great and tense buildup but that second half is just an exciting, heart in your throat lineup of shock after shock. And that ending floored me. I was all set to talk about how compelling I found the characterization of it in the end. That despite every reason in the world for Chloe to hate and fear her “mother” she’s still the woman who was her everything for the first 18 years of her life and clearly needs her. And Chloe’s clear conflict in being able to fully abandon or hate her is a testament to her character as a foil to her psychotic mom. But then the movie just pulled the rug out from under me again and again and I didn’t know what to think. But it all really worked for me and I had a real good time. 🌻🎈Spook-A-Doodle Half-Way-To-Halloween ’21: Return of the Fallen & King Spring🎈🌻 King Spring: 9/13🎈Return of the Fallen: 8/13👻Fran Challenges: 7/13🐺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); 37 (41). BloodRayne (2005); 38 (42). Big Driver (2014); 39 (43). The Body Snatcher (1945); 40 (44). Run (2020); STAC Goat fucked around with this message at 07:42 on May 21, 2021 |
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May 21, 2021 07:40
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20: Deep Red (1975) FC8. Dead & Buried  Rest in piece, Daria Nicolodi (19 June 1950 – 26 November 2020) A musician witnesses the murder of a psychic medium and takes it upon himself to investigate. Classic Giallo stuff with a black gloved killer. It's a gorgeous looking film with a kickass Goblin score. Nicely atmospheric with the spooky children's melody. The dubbing is better than normal. Some gnarly kills, especially the last one. Varied cast of characters that all held my interest. The twists and turns and red herrings were done with relative restraint - the killer's reveal felt like it was set up ahead of time, which is not always the case in Giallo's I've seen. Enjoyed this one a great deal, one of Argento's finest. Competed: 20 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; Resident Evil: the Final Chapter FC6; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) FC4; Deep Red FC8
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May 21, 2021 12:18
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20. Grave Secrets (1989) The haunts are all really cutesy floating eggs , books, transparent phantoms and killer axes - if this didn’t suddenly drop a rape angle on you it could’ve been Disney’s Haunted Mansion. Some really funny nonsense within - our professor character suddenly starts writing in a never before seen journal while we can hear his thoughts, the only time this happens and him and his brain suggest maybe it has something to do with the lady who owns the house and without skipping a beat the camera cuts to the lady and we get a “I wonder what he’s thinking about”.  /5
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May 21, 2021 13:29
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I’m catching up here, having watched a bunch of movies but not written anything up about them, so I'll post them in bunches until I'm caught up. My challenge was 13+ movies new to me. 1. The Roost (2005) - (my LBD review) This was an odd one. An early outing from a director who I really like, this felt amateurish (not surprisingly) but kept swinging into these really interesting choices that maybe didn't always elevate the movie but were surprising. And some of them felt like they were actually backing off a concept that would have been cool if retread. The wraparound segment, which at first seemed really dumb, actually helped land the movie in the territory they were shooting for, kinda campy creature feature that didn't always make sense and included elements that didn't quite belong - a latter-day Ed Wood feel to the whole thing, at least to me, and the wrap-around segment helped solidify that feeling. 2. Under The Shadow (2016) - A woman lives in Tehran during the Iran/Iraq war, dealing with a stalled education due to liberal activism in her youth, a husband who would rather go away to the war than lose his career, active bombing of the city by Iraq that literally hits too close to home, and a more sinister and supernatural problem. The movie lays bare all the frustrations she carries due to all of this, hitting on themes around the civilian cost of war conducted by far off powers, motherhood and repression. It seems like it is often compared to Babadook, but I think this deals with a broader set of themes whereas Babadook was more focused on motherhood, but it has been some time since I’ve seen Babadook so I’m not sure.. 3. Luz: The Flower Of Evil (2019) - I thought this was kind of a muddled mess. Initially I gave this 3 stars simply because it looked gorgeous, but after some thought I still haven’t quite figured out what it meant to do. A widower lives with his daughters in the wilderness and leads a community with his own religious beliefs, that get weirder as time goes on. Striking visuals - heavily color-corrected, they felt thematic - forcing the landscape to look beautiful but with an unnatural artifice, like the religion the man’s built itself. 4. The Damned (1963) - The Damned follows an American tourist, a biker gang leader and the gang leader’s over-protected sister as they stumble into an ethically questionable secret project to guarantee the survival of the human race. Part biker crime film, part B-grade sci-fi movie, this was an easy-to-watch enjoyable romp, exactly the kind of thing I want on a Saturday afternoon. The premise is a little silly but keeps you entertained as it moves from setup to execution. It wraps everything up with a surprisingly bleak ending, given the feel of the movie overall. 5. Ava’s Possessions (2015) - A woman needs to deal with the after-effects of demonic possession while also trying to solve a rising mystery. It starts out with possession being a (heavy-handed) metaphor for addiction and over time transforms into a weird neonoir, abandoning the addiction metaphor in favor of a mystery-drenched whodunnit and a revelation of shocking family secrets. I liked this movie, even if it did kinda become a different movie halfway through. The premise of society accepting the reality of demonic possession but then treating it with the same sympathy/disdain addiction is treated with was an interesting take, and the neonoir back half was a fun genre romp. If only it had managed to marry both of those better! Total: 5 The Roost, Under The Shadow, Luz: The Flowers Of Evil, The Damned, Ava’s Possession
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May 21, 2021 13:47
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18. Moonstalker Tubi, Vudu Free “I thought we agreed there was gonna be no soap operas” Silly 80s slasher at a winter camp in Nevada. Pop unleashes his deranged, straitjacketed and chained-up son Bernie on a group of people vacationing, then dies before he's able to calm Bernie back down/restrain him again, allowing the body count to continue to increase It's a winter camp, there's ridiculous accents, and Bernie looks like a unique killer when he's in the sack mask and straitjacket, so it's not like this is a Completely average slasher. But then halfway in Bernie changes his look, and you still haven't actually seen an onscreen death (just the tension building up to it), and you get a Final Girl, so it's not like there weren't Attempts Made at making this just an average slasher If it weren't for the last fifteen minutes I'd say this is skippable even for free, but after seeing that (including one memorable scene in particular with a campfire song) I do think this is worth one watch. I've certainly seen worse things that cost more money to make and to see *** 18/13 (The New York Ripper, Gwen, Sleepless Beauty, The Head Hunter, 13: Game of Death, Deerskin, Curve, The Incredible Melting Man, Starry Eyes, Eyes Without a Face, In the Earth, Macabre 1958, Macabre 1980, Oxygen 2021, The Djinn 2021, Wer, Spiral: From the Book of Saw, Moonstalker)
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May 21, 2021 14:57
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 Attack of the 50 Foot Cheerleader My second surprise Ted Raimi movie of the challenge! And he's actually in more than on scene, Attack of the 50 Foot Cheerleader has more Ted Raimi than Candyman did. Setting Ted Raimi aside, it's not very good. It's not all bad. There is a section in the middle where she's like ten feet tall and everyone is cool with it because she's hot, and that's fun. And I thought the main actress did a good job of selling her character as bullyable in the beginning. Most of the humor doesn't land, but it's rarely so bad as to be anti-comedy. The main problem is that it doesn't do much with the central premise. She never rampages through town. There are no miniature sets, it's all green screen. They could have sold me on this entire movie if the final fight had had any effort put into it. I didn't want much. Two giant cheerleaders fighting in a city, one of them gets pushed into a building, they throw cars at each other, maybe there is some contrived reason for there to be giant pillows there that they hit each other with. Any of that would have been great. Instead the final fight is a lackluster catfight in a green screen stadium. The fact that they're giant didn't even matter! What a waste. Attack of the 50 Foot Cheerleader is never offensively bad, but it's a criminal underuse of a great premise. It's more entertaining than Breach, but I can't recommend it. I hope some more ambitious filmmakers do a sequel. 
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May 21, 2021 17:37
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 26. Dream Demon (1988) dir. Harley Cokeliss blu-ray Shortly after moving into a new house, Diana begins having incredibly vivid nightmares about her upcoming wedding and her fiancé Oliver, who is a well-known war hero. Two tabloid journalists begin harassing her, and at the same time she also meets Jenny, an American from LA who grew up in Diana’s new house. Jenny has blocked out all memories of her childhood, but it seems that her traumatic past is linked with Diana’s nightmares. This was surprisingly excellent! I say “surprisingly” because I never hear anyone talking about this film, but it’s very solid and fun and should be better known. It definitely owes a lot to A Nightmare on Elm Street, but it’s not as much of a ripoff as you might expect from the title and synopsis. Diana’s nightmares are cool and creepy and there are really fun practical effects throughout the film. The plot gets messy, especially as the details of Jenny’s backstory get filled in, but since so much of the film takes place in nightmares I can forgive the loose logic. If you like ‘80s horror at all I highly recommend this. It’s a great looking movie with a lot of excellent (and gross) special effects and I thought it was really fun despite the messy plot. 4 severed heads out of 5  Fran Challenge #4. Movie of the Month 27. Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde (1931) dir. Rouben Mamoulian Amazon A very horny pre-code adaptation of a story that pretty much everyone is familiar with, if only through cultural osmosis. Dr. Jekyll believes that man has both a good and evil side, so he invents a potion to prove his theory. Mostly though it's because he's super horny because he can't marry his fiancée for another 8 months, so he turns into Mr. Hyde so he can act out his baser impulses. Of course Hyde is TOO evil, and soon Jekyll is unable to control when he changes into the other man. This has some really great camerawork, especially for a film from 1931 - impressive shots involving the main character's POV and mirrors, and some really neat transformation sequences that I'm not quite sure how they pulled off - either with expertly disguised edits or extremely fast makeup changes. Other than Hyde's makeup looking pretty goofy, this is a great looking film. The cast is great too. I'd say this is on par with Universal horror films like Dracula and Frankenstein, which both came out in the same year. Actually, it feels more modern than either of those two, mostly due to the camerawork. I don't think it's quite as much of a classic as those other films, but it still deserves to be mentioned alongside them. 4 gross teeth out of 5 Edgar Wright's Top 100 Horror: 98/100 Slant Top 100 Horror: 98/100 TSZDT 2020: 675/1000 Total: 27 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) | Spiral: From the Book of Saw | The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire | Madman (FC#3) | Dream Demon | Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde (FC#4) Fran Challenges:
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May 21, 2021 18:07
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21. Army of the Dead (2021) Snyder back in good opening credit sequence form. I fully embrace replacing problematic sex pest actors with a dry wise cracking Tig Notaro from now on. .5/5
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May 21, 2021 18:45
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E.G.G.S. posted:21. Army of the Dead (2021) The new Chris plummer
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May 21, 2021 19:22
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19. Army of the Dead 2021 Netflix Stick to zombie films, Zack. 3 films I don't hate and 2/2 are the zombies Post-apocalyptic Vegas is going to be nuked in an attempt to stop the further spread of zombies. A casino owner wants Dave Batista to assemble a squad, possibly of the suicide variety, to go and break into his vault and get the $200mil so it's not destroyed. Infighting and zombie fighting both follow, along with (among other things) family issues, betrayals, pregnancies and zombie tigers Batista is a great actor. Tig Notaro's CG scenes made me laugh. Opening credits scene was phenomenal. Enjoyed the homages, including (as my fav critic Walter Chaw pointed out in a less-favorable review) the whole film basically being Aliens. Probably shouldn't have been 2.5 hours but I paused and left midway through to get a haircut, so I didn't really get to feel it as a singular experience which may have contributed to my loving it so much. I still love Dawn of the Dead 2004 more Might be rating this too high but gently caress it, I had fun and it's literally the third film of his I'd actually a) give higher than a 1 and b) willingly rewatch. That's gotta count for something ***** 19/13 (The New York Ripper, Gwen, Sleepless Beauty, The Head Hunter, 13: Game of Death, Deerskin, Curve, The Incredible Melting Man, Starry Eyes, Eyes Without a Face, In the Earth, Macabre 1958, Macabre 1980, Oxygen 2021, The Djinn 2021, Wer, Spiral: From the Book of Saw, Moonstalker, Army of the Dead 2021)
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May 21, 2021 22:27
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13. The Carrier (1988) Fran Challenge #4: Movie of the Month  How did I watch this? – Plex A local outcast is attacked by a local mythical creature, which causes him to be infected by a strange disease. Everything that he touches becomes a conduit, and any living thing that touches those conduits is stuck, like a fly trap that melts the fly. The town descends into apocalyptic conditions as they search for answers and for the source of the malady. The acting is pretty rough, with monologues that feel like attempts at Shakespearean level drama, but unsurprisingly fall short. That said, the imagery is kind of incredible, and as the movie went along it really won me over. It nails small town paranoia and hypocrisy really well. The costuming is wild and slapdash, and pretty much exactly what you would expect from a town told “cover yourself in plastic for protection”. There’s a scene in the middle where a jealous boyfriend strongarms his girl into the woods, and she chooses to touch an infected tree and kill them both, rather than submit to his rape. Later we see the two sides of town erupt in violence over unshared resources. By which I mean they yell at each other “CATS OR DEATH!” In conclusion The Carrier is a land of contrasts. 3.5/5 14. Godzilla (1954) Fran Challenge #6: Playing with Power  How did I watch this? – Plex, but on Criterion and HBO Max An undersea monster has awoken, and its wave of destruction slowly approaches the shores of Japan. What caused this? Can it be stopped? I have never seen the original movie, although I kind of thought I had thanks to cultural osmosis. It’s good! It holds up to my imaginary memory of it pretty well! It’s a very human-focused story, with (as all good monster movies should do) very little actual Godzilla for the first hour or so. The scream is iconic for a drat reason. The monster suit still holds up, and is a fairly intimidating. I didn’t write the actual line down but I’m a big fan of the scene where the one-eyed scientist says ’I have to find a humane use for my invention, Oxygen Destroyer’ Delightful. I have chosen to find the most accurate videogame based upon Godzilla, so I present to you the Gameboy release.  In it you push and punch rocks, punch monsters, and climb vines. Sounds like the movie in game form, all right.  5/5 Thanks for the John Waters recommendations! I'll add them to my post-May list.
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May 21, 2021 22:39
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FreudianSlippers posted:The City of the Dead (1960) I should add that this is a British film despite being set in America and though I have, uncharacteristically, done zero research I feel like a good chunk of the actors are Brits putting on varyingly convincing American accents. But at least they're in New England where half the accents sound at least partly Britishesque.
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May 21, 2021 23:11
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23. Army of the Dead 2021 I really enjoyed this. Its not often that you get something fairly innovative in a zombie film and all done by Zack Snyder. Bautista is great in it , in fact the entire cast is great. The action is awesome, its also a super goopy film. So if you like goop you'll like this movie. Its all played fairly straight with some humor in it but not a lot. Anyway its a great entry in the zombie genre and I think it'll become a favorite of peoples in no time. Itss just really well made , high budget, zombie kill fest. It has Snyder's trademarks all through out it incredible set of opening credits , music montages, and splattery action.
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May 22, 2021 00:39
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 34. 1993. Body Bags Directed by John Carpenter, Tobe Hooper Watched on Shudder The Gas Station  Working the night shift alone at a gas station, a young lady is plagued by a variety of customers, one of whom may be a serial killer. There’s a nice little twist with a killer who is persistent and surprisingly inept. Otherwise, it’s simple and straightforward but just okay I suppose. 1/2Hair  A pitchman for uncomfortable sofas gets an experimental hair restoration treatment, administered by SARK-ES-1117821. Of course, he gets more than he bargained for. This segment is way over on the comedy end of the comedy-horror continuum. It’s fun, well acted, and a weird surprise. Eye  In Eye, the final segment, Mark Hamill plays a minor league baseball player who loses his eye because he really wants to listen to one of his tapes. I’m not sure who it is but it’s not super important. Luckily for Mark Hamill, a very excited doctor wants to give him an eye transplant. Unluckily for Mark Hamill, the eye is cursed. It’s my favorite of the three, even though it’s really hard to forget it’s Mark Hamill. Time Travel Challenge: 34/31 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), 32. The People Under the Stairs (1991), 33. The Wicked City (1992), 34. Body Bags (1993) Bracketology: 11/? 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, 10. The Wild Boys, 11. Creature from the Black Lagoon Fran Challenges: 13/13 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, 11. The Lure, 12. Black Sabbath, 13. My Bloody Valentine 3D
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May 22, 2021 01:33
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9. Hide and Go Shriek - Tubi(US) How little can I get away with saying about this film? Can I just say "It stinks" and move along? Another reviewer described it as a worse version of Chopping Mall and, not only is that accurate, but I also hate Chopping Mall. The set-up here is practically identical, a group of horny teens decide to stay overnight at a No fun robots here though, instead we have, and spoilers, an ex-con who is haunted by a homicidal gay lover from his prison days. It's not thematically relevant that he's gay, other than the tenuous and largely unexplored relationship with the ex-con, his being gay doesn't factor into the plot or the murders either. It just seems to be there for a bit of cheap gay-panic five minutes before the film ends. Before that point, the identity of the killer is an unimportant mystery.  The main issue with the film is that it's so dull. Even at under 90 minutes it drags unbearably, and I think it's a combination of things. Firstly, there are no engaging characters, despite the cast trying hard (and not in the Simon Mayo way). They simply can't escape the lacklustre script that asks nothing of them and gives nothing to them. Even the wonderful Bunky Jones has nothing to do other than alternate between screaming and whining.  Secondly, there's a line in the film about not wanting to turn the lights on so as not to attract the cops and, putting aside the question of why not turn the lights on once people start being murdered, the effect is that the entire film looks incredibly dull and samey. There is little to distinguish locations, or make shots interesting, it's all just a boring predictable darkness. There is one fun kill however, and I present it to you here so you need not suffer through the film as I did  1.5/5 Official: 9/13 X-Files: 23/x Fran Challenges: 1/13 Debbie Does Dagon fucked around with this message at 03:13 on May 22, 2021 |
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May 22, 2021 03:09
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Opening with "how little can I say?" and ending with three paragraphs. Makes me feel like I've had a bad influence on you. Gonna make me cry.
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May 22, 2021 03:11
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Good influences are so overrated 
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May 22, 2021 03:15
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I always worry I write too much, seeing other lengthy posts makes me happy tbh
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May 22, 2021 03:29
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I consider my rants a public service that way.
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May 22, 2021 03:50
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Fran Challenge 5.) Cinco Curandero (Watched on Amazon via rental)  Some random searching led me to this, and my interest was piqued by Letterboxed reviews comparing it to "somewhere between mexploitation and Barker", calling it "the movie we all wanted Constantine to be", and then there's this:  Which, well, at that point you almost have to watch it, don't you? This was fun, but definitely uneven, opening strong in the effective pre-credits but with the seams starting to show once you hit the one-hour mark and the storytelling implodes. Even the quality of the camera work starts to suffer, moving away from some fairly quirky (if somewhat indulgent) shots to a pretty feeble visual palette. You can see where there's a desire for the atmosphere and texture of one of Barker's urban occultoscapes, but it doesn't quite arrive, and the decision to portray Carlos's visions using rapid, shaky flashes of gooey effects is pretty harmful - the longer, sustained visions are far better, and even if the effects aren't very good at least they're not shy or squeamish about letting us see them. Curandero is going to stick in my memory. It's not great, but it swings for the fences (demons! shootouts! literal buckets of blood and gore!) and that counts for a lot. They yank out spinal cords, chop up bodies... You want some dessert? Watched: 1.) Various Shorts [FC1: Short Cuts] 2.) Pet Sematary (2019) [FC2: Sometimes they Come Back], 3.) Madman [FC3: Camp BLOOD], 4.) Vampyr [FC4: Movie of the Month], 5.) Curandero [FC5: Cinco]
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May 22, 2021 07:24
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 41 (45). Paganini Horror (1989) Written and directed by Luigi Cozzi, co-written by Daria Nicolodi, Story by Raimondo Del Bazo Watched on Tubi. Fran Challenges 8/13 Franchescanado posted:8. Dead & Buried Come, experience the horror of the 80s pop music creative process and extended discussions of public domain law and wood instrument documentaries and ancient wood moss that threaten them. I considered my options for this challenge, realized Daria was the only deserving focus, and then quickly realized that a film co-written by her about Paganini’s ghost was a must watch for better or worse. But it turns out this is less of a film penned by Daria and more of a massive production nightmare that drove the original writer completely out of the business in disgust and then desperately turned to Daria to try and salvage something out of the film. And well… we don’t work miracles. I wouldn’t call this a confusing film or even evoke that style/excuse of “dream logic” that seems to apply to so much Italian horror. I follow the story. Its just not a very deep or focused one. I joked about the discussions about public domain law and wood instrument mold documentaries but that’s just because there was a bizarrely focused information dump to both of those scenes that is otherwise really lacking in the film. Not that the film should be all exposition dump conversations but there’s just not a lot of clear narrative direction or purpose going on. Paganini sold his soul or something. They used the same thingie so now something evil is picking them off. That’s it. And the characters are all pretty nonexistent so its not like you can really invest in them. I was mostly pulling for the lady in the really stellar hot pink wrestling outfit. 80s music video fashion is a trip. The real crime of this film is that in the final scene it actually presents a really interesting scenario that had absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the film! I’m not even gonna spoil it because its not even really part of this film. But all of sudden after spending the entire film as a nondescript victim Daria Nicolodi shows up in this sexy red cocktail dress and Donald Pleasance shows up and reveals he’s the devil and this is his little hell house where he forces Daria to torment evil souls as her eternal punishment. And yeah, that’s a pretty great premise for a horror film but none of that stuff mattered at all to the rest of the film. You never hinted at it. None of the victims were revealed to be any kind of special sinners. Ghost Paganini did the killing and he kind of was just schlubbing about. That just wasn’t the film I watched. But production notes say that they salvaged this script for a planned tv series so yeah, now you got me sad that we never got a cool rear end horror anthology series about Devil Donald Pleasance and his evil thrall Daria Nicolodi torturing people in weird rear end ways. Thanks a lot. I mean, it wasn’t really terrible for what it is. Someone’s head pops like a pimple. Its kind of the exact level of dumb, trashy, 80s Italian horror I was expecting although probably not as gory as connoisseurs of those films would prefer. And its only 82 minutes so as pointless as it often is it never gets a chance to wear out its welcome or anything. But it could have been more fun and that ending just made me kind of bummed they didn’t figure that out in time.  42 (46). Army of the Dead (2021) Written and directed by Zack Snyder, co-written by Shay Hatten and Joby Harold Watched on Netflix That was fine. Totally fine. Less a zombie film or horror film, I think. I mean it is a zombie film but I think it really didn’t do much with that that wasn’t just a well worn trope, a dumb easter egg gag, or an interesting idea that isn’t explored at all. That’s fine but a bit underwhelming since a few of those ideas genuinely interested me. Ultimately its obviously much more of a soldiers of fortune, action adventure in a lot of ways. It gave me some John Carpenter sci-fi vibes reminding me at parts of films like Escape from New York or Ghosts of Mars. Although those films are dark and this film is bright. Almost excessively so. I didn’t really mind the soft focus thing Snyder seemed tone playing with but it kind of started to give me a headache over time. But that could just be me and recovering from a nasty fever. I saw a lot of conversation about that visual choice and obviously Snyder tries visual things like that. But I didn’t really mind it. It definitely gave it a distinct look from those other Carpenter like films it reminded me of and helped it feel evocative of them without feeling derivative. The cast is all solid and really they have to carry much of the film. There’s been a lot of talk about Dave Batista and I get it but feel like pushing back on it. Its not that I don’t agree that Batista does a good job. He does. I just don’t think he did anything special. I feel like we’re still in that place where we’re grading Batista on the curve of this being a side project for him. But I feel like the best compliment I can give him is that I think he’s fully and wholly a competent and professional actor who holds his own with the rest of the cast without any qualifiers like “good for a wrestler”. Batista was solid to good. Everyone was solid to good. I have no complaints anywhere in the cast and everyone had good chemistry and lots of fun and easy interplay. And Snyder got incredibly lucky in having to replace Chris D’Elia with Tig Notaro. She’s not only one of the more fun parts of the cast but she’s one of the more likable ones. I can see D’Elia playing this role easily, but its a very different character with his style. A much more smug, douchey one. And that would have made the final character beat play much differently, especially given what a scumbag he is in real life. But things work out sometimes and Notaro was great. My big complaint is really the length of the film. And I know that’s a common complain for Snyder and I know his fans don’t care and think its pedantic. I won’t try and explain why it might matter for a million reasons that don’t apply here. The film didn’t feel overly long to me in one sitting and I never felt like it dragged or plodded. But the problem was less the length so much as the distance between events. There’s so much space and stuff between key character and story beats that it undermines them. And that doesn’t mean the other stuff is bad, but it doesn’t matter as much and hurts the big picture. Its why directors often talk about scenes that hurt them to cut and say that there wasn’t wrong with it but that it simply didn’t fit. There’s characters I like who die in scenes that I like that happen so early in the film and so disconnected to anything else in the film that I just ended up forgetting about them by the end. And that not only adds time to the film, but it dilutes the bigger stories and characters whose emotional arcs are given more focus in the film’s last act. I didn’t feel that stuff the way I should, because there’s just too much in here. None of its bad. But a fair amount of it is superfluous. I could cut like 3 or 4 characters’ stories and probably shave 20-30 minutes off this film and I think nothing major would be lost and the rest might get enhanced. THAT’s why I think length of film and editing matters. But I’m a former editor. And I won’t detail every edit I’d make in the alien cyborg time loop in which Zack Snyder somehow enlists my skills. But there’s one big thing that bugged me and that’s the entire subplot of Batista’s daughter trying to rescue her mother friend. Its not that I think it was bad. I really enjoyed Ellen Purnell’s performance and thing the film is better for her being in it, I think the father/daughter story is the emotional heart of the story and other things should be cut to focus on it, and I liked having a character who was there for unselfish reasons. A genuine good guy in a group of soldiers of fortune and villains. The problem is none of it REALLY matters. Her friend’s character is only established as much as she needs to be. She’s there to get Kate on the team. And once she’s on the team she has to go try and rescue her which forces Batista away from the heist. And then its kind of dropped. Its all there to move the plot along where it needs to be for father and daughter. There’s a criticism people make a lot when characters make poor decisions to advance the plot. That doesn’t bug me usually because make people make bad decisions all the time. But what bugs me is when you can see the writer’s fingerprints too overtly as they move pieces around the board. An edit can feel too forced, a message or subtext can feel too heavy handed. In this case it felt like the film worked backwards. They needed father and daughter together and then characters were created and side plots written overtly to facilitate that and not because those characters or plots mattered. That bugged me. It feels sloppy. And cards on the table, I think Snyder is a sloppy filmmaker. I think he’s got plenty of skills . I think he’s a great visual director and this film looks good (although I felt the CGI effects worked poorly with some of Snyder's focus and sensibility). I think he’s a great action guy and the action in this film is good. I think he builds very good casts and he put together a large ensemble that worked extremely well. All these things carry this film and make it work and you can trace them all back to Snyder and elements of his other films. But I think he’s sloppy narratively and puts too much stuff in. I get it. You never wanna cut cool stuff. Every idea you have is something to you. But its cluttered and messy and less effective than it can be. That’s gonna work for some because some people just dig it and well get more from the tiny little silly things you tossed in that create gifs and memes and get people speculating wildly on crazy alien cyborg time loop zombie society stuff. But I’m a narrative and character guy and I prefer tighter package and can see one here that I would have enjoyed more. But its Snyder’s film and he did it his way and I thought that was fine. Perfectly fine. Just nothing special. 🌻🎈Spook-A-Doodle Half-Way-To-Halloween ’21: Return of the Fallen & King Spring🎈🌻 King Spring: 9/13🎈Return of the Fallen: 8/13👻Fran Challenges: 8/13🐺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); 37 (41). BloodRayne (2005); 38 (42). Big Driver (2014); 39 (43). The Body Snatcher (1945); 40 (44). Run (2020); 41 (45). Paganini Horror (1989); 42 (46). Army of the Dead (2021) STAC Goat fucked around with this message at 08:01 on May 22, 2021 |
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May 22, 2021 07:34
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 35. 1994. Tammy and the T-Rex Directed by Stewart Raffill Michael loves Tammy and Tammy could love Michael but Tammy’s ex boyfriend Billy can’t let go, and he has a gang! Not just any gang but a gang with Sean Whalen in it! Anyway, one thing leads to another and Michael’s brain ends up in a mechanical dinosaur.  The tone is really bizarre. There’s a surprising amount of violence, but it’s all played for a laugh. A man is literally flattened like a pancake. It’s Loony Tunes stuff. There’s a kid wearing a drug rug at a funeral. We even get a joke about Tammy having sex with the dinosaur.  Overall the performances are not great. The special effects are incredibly uneven. The story feels as though it was made up as they went along. If I didn’t know better, I would say that Tammy and the T-Rex was written in a week by a guy who had temporary access to an animatronic dinosaur. It zooms along though. This is probably the worst movie I’ve ever loved. Time Travel Challenge: 35/31 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), 32. The People Under the Stairs (1991), 33. The Wicked City (1992), 34. Body Bags (1993), 35. Tammy and the T-Rex (1994) Bracketology: 11/? 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, 10. The Wild Boys, 11. Creature from the Black Lagoon Fran Challenges: 13/13 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, 11. The Lure, 12. Black Sabbath, 13. My Bloody Valentine 3D
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May 22, 2021 13:19
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22. One Dark Night (1982) Another one of those things that disappointed me greatly about high school: not once was there a clique of sassy girls who all wore custom made jackets with their stupid group name on the back. Yeah, hi, i expected my secondary education years to be like Grease. Adam West was a prisoner of his own voice, every time he does anything I’m laughing. This really should be rated lower but the last 20 minutes are so relentless with the spookies it gets kinda good, it's like that scene in Poltergeist when the neighbourhood goes "gently caress this" and just starts launching corpses but it just doesn't stop! Other than that this is so boring that I forgot Adam West was in it until his character showed up again. You could fast forward to the final reel and be totally fine. .5/523. Hack-O-Lantern (1988) An elderly teenager satanic panic thrill ride. This is kinda great but because of all the wrong reasons: there's a sudden dream sequence music video where our lead dreams he isnt even the lead performer which rules, a bad standup act, a lady dancing with snakes, and it gets super lewd for no reason. Too much happens in this movie. Sleazy wonderful nonsense. .5/5
E.G.G.S. fucked around with this message at 14:13 on May 22, 2021 |
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May 22, 2021 14:11
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twernt posted:
Such a bonkers movie and I love it STAC Goat posted:
I like how the song was supposedly written by Paganini but it sounds like a cheesy ‘80s Billy Joel tune instead of classical music
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May 22, 2021 14:26
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 32. One Dark Night (Tom McLoughlin, 1982) The opening of this is cool - Raymar, a man with magic telekinetic powers, dies and the resulting energy blast kills a bunch of people. We meet Meg Tilly who wants to join The Pink Ladies But Meaner, and for initiation she has to spend the night in a mausoleum - the one where Raymar has been buried, but isn't finished doing magic power stuff yet! Then, you could skip ahead about 70 minutes, as nothing happens besides a grave shaking a little, Meg Tilly looking bored or asleep, and Adam West standing around. The last twenty minutes things get really fun and chaotic and goopy and gross but it too waaay too long to get there. 2/5 33. Hack-o-Lantern (Jag Mundhra, 1988) On Halloween night, Tommy's Grandpa shows up with a truck full of pumpkins and murders Tommy's dad. We flash forward and Tommy is now turning 18 (looks 30), while someone in a rubber Satan mask is running around murdering people with gardening tools. This whole movie is carried on the back of Hy Pyke as the insane satanic Grandpa who, in some scenes, sounds like a New Orleans Harvey Fierstein (and in other scenes, totally doesn't). This also has some wild padding - early on Tommy has a dream that turns into a full music video, there are strippers stripping at parties, a guy even leaves a party and does a tight five minutes of stand-up for a group of partygoers standing around outside of a barn. None of it has anything to do with the satanic ritual story. 3/5Challenge Count: 33/31 Fran Challenges: TSZDT Challenge: 100/100 Indiewire Challenge: 48/50 (Remaining: Hangover Square, I Saw the Devil)
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May 22, 2021 14:45
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#24 29 Needles Scott Philip Goergens, 2019  Boy oh boy, this was something. It's a low(no?)-budget sexual body horror film by first time director Scott Philip Goergens. It's amateurish in most technical ways, but the story and characters show a lot of competency. I won't mince words, this movie is pretty hosed and uncomfortable. Sex is a vital part of its DNA, so if near constant male nudity bothers you, this isn't for you. And if lots of unsimulated sex acts bother you, this isn't for you. And if extreme bodily harm mixed into the sex bothers you, it's not for you. For the two of you remaining this is a must-watch. It's extreme, boundary-pushing cinema. 2.5/5 #25 The Reckoning Neil Marshall, 2020  What the hell happened here? The first 20 minutes showed a ton of promise. The black plague is running rampant in the 17th century and a woman is accused of witchcraft by a scheming squire and is arrested along with her newborn daughter. But once she's arrested and her ordeal starts, it becomes a cliched, dull, ugly slog. The writing is beyond trite, and the movie feels interminable. The whole thing feels like a bad Sy-fy original Game of Thrones rip off. The fact that Neil Marshall - who has made some great stuff - made this makes it even harder to swallow. 1.5/5 25 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), 21. El Vampiro (1957), 22. Cure (1997), 23. West of Zanzibar (1928), 24. 29 Needles (2019), 25. The Reckoning (2020) 10/13 Fran Challenges completed: 2. Sometimes They Come Back, 3. Camp BLOOD, 4. Movie of the Month, 5. Cinco, 7. Mother's Day, 8. Dead & Buried, 9. Scream, Queen!, 10. Behind the Mask, 11. Myths & Legends, 12. Cavalcade of Creepiness Spatulater bro! fucked around with this message at 15:35 on May 22, 2021 |
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May 22, 2021 15:21
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Franchescanado posted:5. Cinco  #20. Tigers Are Not Afraid (Shudder) A young girl ends up with three wishes that come true, but come with horrifying results, in this magical realism story about children living on the streets after losing their families to cartel violence. On the one hand, there's a certain lyricism to the way that a film like this is structured and operates, since it's basically a fairy tale in a way: young Estrella loses her home, finds a new one with new friends, and gains 3 wishes to improve her life and the lives of others. On the other hand, that structure also ends up diluting the potential for horror, which ends up being something intrusive rather than pervasive. Especially since the most prevalent ghostly figure in the film is Estrella's mother - you know that she that isn't going to present any kind of existential threat to her own daughter, and that her death is the most obvious candidate for a late film reveal, which automatically undercuts any tension or interest around it coming out. Even the cartel violence that ends up dominating the proceedings subsides a bit when the film allows for extended sequences where the kids get to let their guard down; when they get to hang out in an abandoned school, complete with ersatz koi ponds and improvised indoor soccer fields, the potential horrors of the world seem to fall away. Consequently, that lets the air out of the tires, since it feels like the film is losing focus, and thus my attention started to wander too. As much as the contrast was necessary for the darker elements to work, such as the youngest child being killed by gang members or the immediate turnaround of the final wish, these kinds of "magical realism" fables have never been my thing. Few directors working within these structures have been able to hold my attention with this style; it's basically Guillermo del Toro sometimes and that's probably about it. I recognize that this is a me issue, not a universal one, and can even recognize that Tigers Are Not Afraid is a pretty good entry in that canon overall. I also recognize that it's not a film for me, or one that I'm likely to return to at any point in the future. But that's okay; I'm still glad I sought it out once. /5Watched 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), Wendigo (FC #11), Stage Fright (2014) (FC #3), Tigers Are Not Afraid (FC #5)
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May 22, 2021 16:21
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 Joe Dante's hole "it's nothing... we got this hole, it's no big deal" The Hole is a pretty good kid's horror movie. The interactions between the brothers are well done and realistic, it's got plenty of spooky moments that aren't too scary, and good lighting and camera work make the movie not feel as low budget as it clearly was. The ending is great(spoiler alert: they go in the hole). After the mundane suburban setting it's a good change of pace to descend into a spooky fairytale world If you want a fun horror movie to show to little kids on a slow day, I recommend The Hole. 
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May 22, 2021 16:45
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Fran Challenge 6.) Playing With Power Resident Evil: Afterlife (Watched on Netflix)  The RE game franchise has been a great companion to our household during lockdown - we ended up playing through about five of the games. The movies have always been pretty bad (the first being the most tolerable), but I'd dead-ended after the dire third. It seemed like it was time to circle back and see how deep the subterranean lab complex goes. Practically every stupid element of the film franchise is in the games, but here they are extremely unnecessary (leading to an opening scene which resets our protagonist back to baseline, which IIRC they basically did in the previous movie as well.) There are more Alices than zombies in the first thirty minutes of the movie, which did not begin our time together on a good note. The torchlit cell block isn't a bad little setting, one which "fits" the RE mold, and things pick up once there are more cast members and things have reverted to humans-besieged-by-zombies. Once Wesker's back in the picture things become decidedly, wonderfully, profoundly dumb, although primarily by lifting straight from RE5.  Watched: 1.) Various Shorts [FC1: Short Cuts] 2.) Pet Sematary (2019) [FC2: Sometimes they Come Back], 3.) Madman [FC3: Camp BLOOD], 4.) Vampyr [FC4: Movie of the Month], 5.) Curandero [FC5: Cinco], 6.) Resident Evil: Afterlife [FC6: Playing With Power]
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May 22, 2021 19:25
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 Fran Challenge #8. Dead & Buried - RIP Christopher Plummer28. Wolf (1994) dir. Mike Nichols Criterion Channel Jack Nicholson stars as the very un-Jack Nicholson-like Will Randall, a mild-mannered editor at a publishing house who is being forced out of his job due to a merger. After being bitten by a wolf, he develops not only enhanced senses of hearing and smell, but also gains a ruthless edge in business that he uses to salvage his career. Of course all this comes with a price. In most ways this is a fairly standard werewolf movie, except that it focuses more on drama and characters than it does on the horror aspects. There aren’t a lot of actions scenes or special effects (despite the involvement of Rick Baker), and the werewolves mostly just have glowing eyes and bushy sideburns and they jump around a lot. This has some things going for it - mainly an excellent cast and a good score by Ennio Morricone. Christopher Plummer (RIP) plays Randall’s boss, and he was always the best at playing evil rich old white guys. James Spader is great as Randall’s office rival, and Michelle Pfeiffer plays his love interest. But good performances alone aren’t enough to carry the film, and I didn’t find the story all that compelling. Like I said, at its core this is a pretty standard werewolf movie that fancies itself as highbrow but instead comes across as kind of toothless. The cast makes this worthwhile I think, but as far as werewolf films go it isn’t anything special. 3 pissed-on suede shoes out of 5  29. The Last Broadcast (1998) dir. Stefan Avalos, Lance Weiler Amazon *(this was going to be my pick for challenge #11 because the synopsis made it sound like a film about the Jersey Devil. It isn't really at all so I'll be watching something else.) A pre-Blair Witch found footage film about the murder of a television crew who were out in the woods investigating the Jersey Devil. It’s presented as a true crime style fake documentary, with the footage from the event edited together with interviews from people involved with the crime. It’s an extremely low budget indie film and it mostly feels like it, although most of the acting is surprisingly ok. Not good, just not as terrible as the cast of many similar films. I thought this was going to be about the Jersey Devil, but it’s really about how the presentation of information can affect how people interpret and respond to it. The way that the media and the authorities can control the narrative surrounding an event by what they choose to show (or not show) is very relevant and an idea that’s worth exploring, and I think this movie does a fairly admirable job with it. The first 2/3rds of the film sometimes feel amateurish and repetitive, but it’s mostly effective. That ending though… oof. It has a stupid twist and it totally drops the found footage angle for it. It doesn’t make sense and tanked a lot of the goodwill I had towards the rest of the film. I can ignore the film’s weaknesses when it has something interesting to say, but it drops all that for lame shock value. It was a real let down. There are certainly worse found footage films out there, and I do think this has some value to it, but unless you’re really into the genre I can’t give this a very strong recommendation. 2.5 IRC chatrooms out of 5 Edgar Wright's Top 100 Horror: 98/100 Slant Top 100 Horror: 98/100 TSZDT 2020: 676/1000 Total: 29 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) | Spiral: From the Book of Saw | The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire | Madman (FC#3) | Dream Demon | Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde (FC#4) | Wolf (FC#8) | The Last Broadcast Fran Challenges:
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May 22, 2021 19:41
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10. Verotika They told me not to bother with this one. They told me it’s not worth it past the first story. They told me it’s just plain bad. But damnit I had to see it for myself. Verotika has been “touted” as an unintentionally hilarious vanity project in the vein of The Room or a Neil Breen production but unfortunately it doesn’t rise to that level. I have a high tolerance for those films special brand of cringe-inducing comedy and madness. I love those movies and I’ve seen them dozens of times- they made me rethink what it means to call a movie “bad”.  And yes there are some very bad, and humorous, line readings and plenty of baffling decisions. But it’s just mostly very boring. The anthology format is a mistake. Not that I want to see feature length Danzig but anthology films need variety. A shared idea is fine but all three shorts look the same, feel the same, and all tread the same territory. Doesn’t help that all three are also all very cyclical and repetitive- find victim, kill victim, find next victim. Everything is very flat and slow.  I’ll say this much, there is some interesting stuff here. Danzig clearly has a passion for this stuff and is working hard to do something with this sex meets violence meets comic book stylings. Some visuals are compelling throughout, I mean you don’t see eyeball nipples everyday. But ultimately it’s a big flop, it’s not bizarre enough to be shocking, it’s not quite delusional enough to be funny (there are a few things like the “French” police that are very silly) and well it’s just not particularly entertaining. Watchlist ranked Best to Worst 1. Bride of Re-Animator* 2. Ginger Snaps 3. Frankenhooker* 4. Bride of Chucky* 5. House on Haunted Hill ‘99 ( ) 6. Rawhead Rex 7. Victor Crowley 8. Scare Package ( )9. Jason Goes to Hell 10. Verotika *=rewatch = Fran Challenge- #2, #12WeaponX fucked around with this message at 01:34 on May 23, 2021 |
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May 22, 2021 19:49
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What movie can you watch that completes the most Fran Challenges? For me I think Friday the 13th part 2, completes Mothers Day, Video Game Adaptation, Summer Camp.
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May 22, 2021 20:17
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14. Winterbeast (1991) dir. by Christopher Thies This low budget horror is quite the weird trip. The death scenes come at random intervals, the acting is a mess, poor sound quality, and the effects are all over the place. It is, however, a funny movie and managed to have a bit of commentary on colonialism and capitalism. An all white cast is surrounded by Native American imagery, which they largely ignore even after learning the demons haunting their town were previously contained by the Native Americans that once inhabitated the area. Even in the end the protagonists only stop one of the demons and immediately go back to joking like everything's fine. Then there's the best character, the Wild Goose Lodge owner. The actor is wonderful and his unhinged smiles while wearing that tacky suit are gunna stay with me a while. He fights against the lead, demanding things stay open even as the disappearances peak. That said, it does feel mostly like a vehicle to showcase an array of special effects skills the creators had been learning. Some work better than others, but it is still a lot of fun to see a variety stop motion creations, wound effects, and monster men. Give it a watch, horror friends. 4/5 __ 15. Grave Secrets (1989) dir. by Donald P. Borchers Rather straight forward but well executed haunting movie. David Warner has a fun bit part and the rest of the cast is pretty solid but nothing too special by any means. It plays out the plot pretty well, the reveal is interesting and how they solve the mystery is different than your typical "expel the ghosts!" type magic stuff. The VinSyn transfer looks and sounds really good and another good entry into the VSA label. 3/5 __ 16. Army of the Dead (2021) dir. by Zack Snyder Enjoyed this a lot, ZS, as usual opens strong with a great credits sequence. The cast is well rounded, plenty of gore, and he plays around with the story in some fun ways. I thought it looked good for the most part but I'm not entirely sure the depth of focus stuff worked 100%. I also enjoyed the various little unspoken details he throws in to build a more unique zombie setting. The story itself is pretty straightforward, but there's some not so subtle jabs at how crappy America is, like how the quarantine camp is place dissidents can be sent to on a whim. The president's reasoning for wanting to nuke Vegas on the 4th of July was funny as hell. Dieter and Vanderohe share some of my favorite moments, but I felt most the cast gets a moment or two to shine. Martin was such a bastard and Dillahunt played the part well. I think this review dives into some of the film's deeper aspects that I'm overlooking and wanted to share it, good stuff. https://boxd.it/1RKUeb 4/5 Movie Count - 16/15
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May 22, 2021 20:52
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24. Frankenstein and Monster from Hell Fran Challenge Dead and Buried  I picked this film because it features David Prowse as the monster. He was in a lot of different monster roles before he ever became famous for playing Darth Vader. This movie is also interesting because it came out in 1974 and its really one of the last gothic horror from Terrence Fisher , his last movie in fact. It features the last time Peter Cushing was Frankenstein as well. Personally I really enjoy this film its Peter Cushing playing Frankenstein as only he can. The special effects are actually pretty good for the movie ecept for Prowses monster who to me is not really that impressive as a supposed monster from hell. Overall its a perfectly fine Hammer Horror , it could have had a better ending that's about it. Worth watching I think overall.
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May 22, 2021 21:59
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