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 You know what troubles me? The question of whether I would have watched these films if someone hadn’t challenged me to. I told myself since Hooptober had 2 black films as a challenge when Fran added the same I’d make sure to watch 3. But why just 3? There are 8 films that were on my long list or immediately jumped out to me that qualified for this and yet I was weirdly picking and choosing from them like I had a limit. What’s up with that? So I’m gonna do some self reflection and try and get all 8 in this month and maybe more if something stands out to me. I’m not limiting my dumb white film intake after all. I’m starting with the film I think everyone kind of thinks of and so many are also watching, but I’m also gonna watch the one I've been meaning to for years now but always kind of skip for some reason or another. But I'm making a deliberate choice to choose differently. 7. Blacula (1972) Directed by William Crain, Screenplay by Joan Torres, Raymond Koenig, and Richard Glouner. Watched on Prime. Hooptober Se7en: 2 films with a black director or predominantly black cast or lead. As so many have said Blacula is such a better film than its campy name would imply. Not the best Dracula adaption in the world but certainly well on the positive end of the scale of many, many films that have told the same basic story over the last 100 years or so. William Marshall as Mamuwalde has a ton of charisma and charm to a character who is pretty multi dimensional in whether we’re supposed to like him, hate him, fear him, sympathize with him, or what. To be honest I don’t think the film does enough with that. We don’t really know that much about Mamuwalde besides that he doesn’t like slavery and he loves his wife. He got a pretty raw deal but we’re not given much insight into his personal grapples with this whole undead murdering curse thing nor do we really know what kind of guy he was before he got cursed. I mean, being against your own people being enslaved is a good start but its not exactly indicative of much else. But Marshall does a great job giving what we do see of the character life and making Mamuwalde charming enough that even without backstory or much beyond the paper thin pathos I still kind of like him. At least enough to be conflicted about all this. I think the middle drags a bit and is too dry. The film makes the mistake a lot of horror does of introducing fun side characters only for them to quickly become victims. I would have liked to see more of Mamuwalde’s vampire army and let them be a bit more than ghouls. Not that I dislike the whole vampire drone idea but I also like some good scene chewing vampire underlings. I also think Tina/Luna is a pretty undefined character and that hurts. If all I really know about her is that she appears to be the reincarnated wife of a vampire then its hard to get too deeply invested in that tragic romance. It wasn’t badly done, but Tina needed to be a bit more formed and Gordon needed to be less of the main protagonist of the film. Less time with the dry middle story of victims, give Tina more development time taken from or shared with her sister and brother-in-law. I think we have a stronger story. I think the final act really works though. A lot of Dracula adaptions kind of fail there because so much of Dracula’s thing is seduction and deception and manipulation so when it comes down to fight that doesn’t always work. But Blacula does a good job with it giving us the vampire army snake nest and then the police cordoning off and finally the maze finale. The whole thing got strung out in a very engaging and satisfying way with a strong finish. I’m not sure there’s a lot to make of the deeper subjects of slavery or racism or the blaxploitation thing. For exploitation this doesn’t feel all that exploitative. There’s a few cliches and some unfortunately homophobia (although less than in your average film from 2000) but everyone kind of gets to just be who they are without being forced into stereotyped roles. And they do at least get to talk about systematic racism, police corruption, and slavery even if its all kind of in passing. I guess that’s fair. None of those problems are gonna be solved in this story. They’re just poo poo these black characters have to deal with when this whole vampire thing makes life even more complicated. I wouldn’t call it a great film. Not that far off from one and just needed a few tweaks to get there. But its a really good movie and definitely one that deserves to be seen and appreciated for more than the campy blaxploitation knockoff it sounds like but really isn’t at all. 8. Bones (2001) Directed by Ernest Dickerson, Written by Adam Simon and Tim Metcalfe. Watched on TubiTV. Fran’s Challenge #1: Horror Noire I’m like 50% sure I’ve never seen this before but I couldn’t shake the idea I did. That number kept going down the whole movie. On one hand I didn’t really remember anything about it, but on the other everything that happened felt very familiar as if I’d seen it before. Some of that’s probably just how much of its time the film is and how that time was really one I remember fondly. The style, the music, the cast. They all feel so familiar. Juice and Demon Knight honestly might be two of my favorite films and I’ve seen both of them so many times I wouldn’t even pretend to try and guess at a number. So the whole thing had such a familiar feel. Then of course there’s the fact that the film itself is very familiar for horror. When your characters are lamp shading the plot as some Vincent Price scheming by name in the opening 15 minutes you know you’re in for some old ground. And this film feels like its just got a little bit of everything in it. Nightmare on Elm Street. Candyman. Hellraiser. If Ernest Dickerson watched it in the 90s it feels like it made its way into this film somewhere. I think there’s even some Fulci in there. Its like trying to pick out a million tastes of seasoning in your dish of pretty solid if unexceptional comfort ford. I wouldn’t call it a bad film but its very generic. I mean, a generic horror film starring a predominantly black cast from a black director is kind of unique but none of the ideas in here really are. Its really a big mess of ideas and inspirations that are paced really weird. Like the film builds for like an hour and then blows up big and then immediately slows down again. Still there’s worse ways to spend 90 minutes than watching a a solidly done chili pot of of horror classics and tropes while Snoop Dogg swaggers around and Bianca Lawson, Katherine Isabelle, and Pam Grier remind me of my old crushes. The effects are kind of all over the place but they lean to the cheap and creative side which ages better than the bad 2000s CGI. But much like the themes there’s a little bit of everything thrown in there. Remember a time when we listened to music on discs and tapes and records and there was like this whole thing where you could make money and be cool because you had the uncanny ability to stand at a table during a party and change them without much interruption? Get off my lawn, you drat kids! Letterboxd List October Tally - New (Total) 1. Eaten Alive (1976); 2. The Hills Have Eyes (1977); 3. The New York Ripper (1982); 4. Five Dolls for an August Moon (1970); 5. Life After Beth (2014); 6. Child’s Play (2019); 7. Blacula (1972); Fran’s Challenge #1: Horror Noire: 8. Bones (2001); STAC Goat fucked around with this message at 08:23 on Oct 3, 2020 |
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Oct 3, 2020 08:18
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4. Sputnik I'm told this has a lot in common with Arrival, but I still haven't gotten around to that so it felt pretty fresh to me. The situation as presented to our heroine early on is a really cool hook: this cosmonaut who is a hero of the nation and beloved by all came back with an alien parasite in him so we can't just let him back into society, but he's also a hero of the nation so it's going to be a problem if he dies or vanishes. What the gently caress do we do? There are a couple turns from there that feel maybe unavoidable but mostly make the story less interesting, so that's a little bit of a bummer. What stays interesting is that all of the central characters have a fairly well developed ethos; I can't remember the last movie I watched where this many of the characters had clear and conflicting ideas about what is important and what is the right thing to do. It still feels like a couple of important perspectives are missing, though. We do kind of end up with a villain because history and also every other movie where his approach has been floated demonstrate that it's a terrible terrible plan, but in contrast to most movies nobody ends up being right either. His last few lines are an attack on the protagonist's morality right before half his head is taken off, which in normal cinematic language is a refutation, but the events of the movie very explicitly support him on this one. Then there's one last revelation that I'm not really sure what to do with, thematically, beyond nodding and agreeing that it is extremely Russian for everybody to be wrong and also an orphan. The ending in isolation feels saccharine enough, and the protagonist's moral center is a common enough viewpoint, that I honestly can't tell whether we're supposed to sympathize with her or not. She never feels the need to argue for it, and lots of people would agree with her, but it's never sat well with me and feels like an increasingly absurd position with every year that passes. In a typical hollywood production there wouldn't be any doubt that she's in the right, but here she fails at pretty much everything so it feels a little less clear cut. As a final note, the alien is just absurdly cute.
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Oct 3, 2020 09:14
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 56) Ava's Possessions - 2015 - Prime This one was good but had they not crammed in multiple films worth of content, it could've been great. The film takes place in a reality where it's commonly known that demons are real, and possessions happening are such a known thing that there's a version of AA to help people recover after an exorcism. The story starts with Ava's exorcism after 28 days of being possessed. She has no memory of what happened during this time, but soon learns the serious damage that happened during her possession. She's lost her job, friends, boyfriend and is potentially facing jail time. Ava ends up taking a plea deal where part of it is attending possession rehab. The program entails learning about and coming to terms with actions taken while possessed and learning how to resist potential repossessions. Failing the program will result in being committed to a facility capable of handling the formerly possessed who can't or won't resist repossession. Just from that alone would've made a compelling movie. But then there's an intricate murder investigation with a twist opening up the door for further story. This was good also but crammed in as it is, everything doesn't get fleshed out as much as it can. All this stretched out into two movies minimum would've really made it shine. If you're looking for something that goes beyond the traditional 'gets possessed then exorcised-The End', give this one a try. It's worth it.  57) The Shed - 2019 - Shudder Overall, I liked this though with a few tweaks this could've gone from good to pretty drat good. Stan, an orphan living with his abusive grandfather ends up with a vampire in the back shed. This is on top of the daily bullying he and his only friend Dommer receive as well as the Sheriff's taunting him about in a month he won't be going to juvvie next time he gets into trouble. A goodly portion of the film focusses more on the shitshow Stan's living in and how he tries to cope with it until his friend Dommer learns about the vampire. To Stan, the vampire as it's already killed his grandfather and the dog is something to be destroyed, while to Dommer it's the weapon they can use to get back at the bullies who make their lives a daily hell. The last portion of the film is full on vampire fighting goodness. I absolutely loved the vampire look following the old 'Salem's Lot style. The gripes I have are mostly to editing such as they could've cut the stake making portion of the prep montage to half and freed up more time for something else like further characterization. I consider this worth a watch.
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Oct 3, 2020 09:21
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#3: The Gates of Hell / City of the Living Dead And this one was just randomly on a streaming channel. I've seen this a few times before and rather enjoy it. Lucio Fulci directed this tale, which is similar to his later work The Beyond. A priest hanging himself leads to all sorts of weird gory hauntings and visions around the town of Dunwich, building to the titular Gates of Hell opening on All Saints Day. The film has a cool desolate vibe, like everything's kinda falling apart, which helps hold together a very thin story with a lot of things happening just because they look neat. Granted this is Lucio Fulci's idea of neat, and the film includes scenes of a woman vomiting up her intestines, a man having an unfortunate encounter with a power drill, and a conversation interrupted by a window flying open and everyone being covered in a swarm of maggots. There are also zombies, but they're zombies that teleport around and kill people by grabbing the back of their heads and pulling their brains out. When you abandon narrative structure as gleefully as this movie does it can lead to some slow moments, and it's honestly hard to keep track of some of the characters (not that it matters). But I like how inventive this movie is and how it conveys a feeling of encroaching doom, while also being cheesy as hell.
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Oct 3, 2020 09:39
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8) Scream Blacula Scream (1973) Fran Challenge #1: horror noire  William H. Marshall returns as the suave undead Prince Mamuwalde After being resurrected, the first thing he does is go to an exhibition of African antiquities and correct the professor on all the things he got wrong. Pam Grier is a voodoo practitioner and Mamuwalde's plan is to have her remove his curse. "Pam Grier vs Blacula" sounds like the most amazing blacksploitation premise, but unfortunately she has quite a passive role in this and it's an ex-cop called Carter who's the main protagonist. Marshall oozes charisma and totally pulls off the cape and evening wear look. This film and its predecessor both work because Marshal takes the character seriously. After watching this, I saw an old interview with him where he talks about how the character was originally going to be called "Andrew Brown" after the Amos n Andy character and he demanded they change the name, include themes of slavery and so on. He had a real passion for the role and it shows in the film. Its a very worthy sequel to the original. If the films were called Mamuwalde rather than Blacula, would they have more mainstream respect or would they have been forgotten? Watchlist: Tenebrae; Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; Body Melt; In Search of Darkness; The Monster Club; Twilight; The Beyond; Scream Blacula Scream FC#1 (total: 8) bitterandtwisted fucked around with this message at 11:33 on Oct 3, 2020 |
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Oct 3, 2020 11:03
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 7) The Terror Within (1989) Trailer Seen on: free on Tubi. Also on Amazon Prime and can be found free on YouTube The world as we know it has ended because of a plague that has killed 99 percent of the world's population and mutated anyone not naturally immune into "gargoyles." A group of researchers stuck in a bunker and looking for a cure discover human survivors and bring a young woman with a deadly secret inside their base. Meanwhile, the mutants outside are getting more persistent on breaking in... It's kind of funny that Roger Corman was still producing Alien knockoffs even a decade after its release, and like a lot of his earlier attempts, The Terror Within follows the story beats very closely, including having a chestburster and the crew heading into the airshafts to hunt the creature with flamethowers and other improvised weapons (watch the trailer I linked above, which is also closely aping the original Alien trailer). There's a bunch of B-movie stalwarts here (Terri Treas, George Kennedy and Andrew Stevens) doing their thing but the real draw is the monster suit, which actually looks pretty good for a Corman production. The problem, of course, is that it looks pretty good, so they show it constantly in bright lights and it would have been way more effective in the shadows. Also the monsters can reproduce with human women, but compared to earlier Corman efforts like Galaxy of Terror, the assault here is implied and extremely conservative by Corman standards, which was kind of a relief. The Terror Within is not without some merit, but you've seen this all before.  8) Ganja & Hess (1973) Trailer Seen on: Shudder, also on Amazon Prime and can be found on YouTube  Fran Challenge #1: Horror NoireThis movie checks several of the boxes for the qualifications here (black director, predominantly black cast, and so on) Archaeologist Dr. Hess Green (Night of the Living Dead's Duane Jones) is stabbed by his suicidal assistant (director Bill Gunn) with an ancient knife that makes him immortal and crave blood (we're not using the "V" word in this film, folks). When the assistant's estranged and impetuous wife, Ganja, comes looking for him, she falls for Hess and the two quickly become lovers. Once Hess turns her immortal, however, he begins to have second thoughts about his life and strange addiction. Well, this wasn't anything like what I was expecting it to be - after watching the Horror Noire documentary in last year's October challenge, I kept this movie in the back of my mind to eventually watch. According to Wikipedia, director Gunn was a playwright and stage director, and that makes sense because this film almost feels like a play, or more honestly like performance art. There's very little interpersonal dialogue here, and most of what we hear is delivered in narration or long monologues with a lot of visual storytelling. It might have just been me, but most of the time when Hess speaks, it seemed like they didn't even show his face. Scenes are drawn out and languid, and the movie really takes its time telling its story, leaving it with a dreamlike (if not nightmarish) and surreal feeling. The discordant soundtrack also keeps you on edge, and I liked the juxtaposition of the African chanting the movie uses in the background to signify the characters' primal blood thirst with the jubilant gospel music heard when Hess turns Ganja into a being like him, as well as his breakdown at the end in church. There's some blood and scenes of murder, but overall the movie is not especially interested in being scary so much as it is in being a tragedy.
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Oct 3, 2020 11:07
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Insidious (2010) Ghost movie that ends up more in a fantasy adventure vein after the midway point. Much like The Conjuring, which I'd seen last year, I'd consider this good viewing for those not really into being spooked too thoroughly. And personally, having not seen a horror film since last October, I must admit I realized this with a mix of both disappointment and relief. That said, the first half delivered some nice chills that don't rely too much on sudden shocks, or even on darkness, but rather the wrongness of seeing something that couldn't possibly be, but is right there plain as day. The biggest strike against it is that one scene devolves into Sam Raimi-esque action, coming off a lot more goofy than frightening. 2.5/5
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Oct 3, 2020 12:03
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2) Uncle Sam This was apparently William Lustig's effort to show what Maniac Cop could have been if it sucked. What's weird is that it put forth interesting social concepts, but doesn't explore any of them. Sam, a domestic abusing bully, is killed by friendly fire in Iraq. His body is discovered and returned home, where he then murders everyone he's thinks is insufficiently nationalist over Independence Day weekend. In an Uncle Sam costume. Making Sam an rear end in a top hat stripped any sympathy you might have for a guy wronged by his country and bent on revenge. Isaac Hayes helping the children protagonists lends the movie a South Park vibe, and the killer's costuming is just stupid. Lustig reused the Maniac Cop 2 speech about keeping warm under dead bodies in Korea. It just felt low effort all around. Rating:  out of  Tubi only challenge: Yes
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Oct 3, 2020 14:34
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19. The Invisible Man (1933)  Power, I said! Power to walk into the gold vaults of the nations, into the secrets of kings, into the Holy of Holies; power to make multitudes run squealing in terror at the touch of my little invisible finger. Even the moon's frightened of me, frightened to death! Directed by James Whale and starring Claude Rains. Wow , what to say about this film. You have just excellent special effects for a film done in 1933 , the special effect hold up even today considering computer generated imagery etc.. Like they're just reall well done and they kind of pioneered some effects for this especially the matte painting to remove objects. I don't know if this is the first time it was done but it's still fantastic. What can you say you have just this phenomenal performance from Claude Rains , where he's gone completely mad with power of being invisible and he is truly terrifying. This film starts off running and then just continually picks up speed until it barrels over you. There's no wasted time in this you start off with the experiment having succeeded and just goes on from there as The Invisible Man falls into total madness. Also, this film has a serious body count for 1933 film , some of it quite brutal in those terms. Easily one of the greatest horror films ever made and a required viewing for anyone who loves horror. 19/31 Hollismason fucked around with this message at 16:20 on Oct 3, 2020 |
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Oct 3, 2020 16:16
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May (2002) Watched on: Amazon Video I was really impressed with this movie. Angela Bettis puts on an absolutely amazing performance as the titular character. She really steals the show and shows off some serious acting chops. The subtleties and quirks of her character could easily be lost but she manages to portray May as endearing yet off, friendly yet alarming, sympathetic yet creepy. There wasn't a second of her being on screen where she didn't kill it. What I also really loved about this one is how original it is. To me the most damning criticism of any film is that it's boring, yet May felt incredibly refreshing not only as a character study but also as a horror movie. The way it builds up, the climax, the constant tension/awkwardness of May's character all come together to make an amazing horror movie . This is a perfect example of what I'd call a "quirky" horror movie, and I use that term in a positive way. Much like May, it's off the beaten path. I wish Lucky McKee had done more stuff like this. Jeremy Sisto and Anna Faris also kill it in the supporting cast. Overall a real treat of a movie. Rating: 9/10 Movies watched so far: 3
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Oct 3, 2020 16:32
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 Bride of Re-Animator (1990) "I created what no man's mind, nor woman's womb, could ever hope to achieve." Yuzna didn't make it far enough to draw this in the Bracketology tournament, but I've never seen any Re-Animator sequels so I figured I might as well. Combs as Dr. Herbert West is still so much fun to watch, although I think this is weaker than the original. It does have some fun moments and cool effects (especially in the last 20 minutes when things get messy) but it drags in the middle and I felt like Cain was less interesting this time around. Still solid. 3/5SA October Horror Challenge Count: 13/40
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Oct 3, 2020 16:41
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Franchescanado posted:Fran Challenge #1: Horror Noire  "Hi, I'm Sylvain White. You may know me as the director of I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer and Trois 3: The Escort. I also directed..."  #35) Slender Man (2018) Some teen girls watch a creepypasta video online, consequently get haunted, and start to crack under the visions/dreams they're having, as well as the aftermath of one of the friends' disappearance. There are some research scenes, which at first consist of scrolling through texting logs and watching Youtube-type yelling videos, but later move on to digging through assorted mythology and folktales. A lot of the scares are done with stuff on the periphery, not fully glimpsed, so that was a nice stylistic thing, though it's largely abandoned in the film's second half. Honestly, this wasn't too bad; I'd guess a lot of the low ratings are from people wanting to dump on it for being an adaptation of an internet thing, and for there being a lot of scenes of teens being on their phones, and then people jumping on the bandwagon. It's better than Annabelle or The Bye-Bye Man, for instance. My biggest complaint would be how dark a lot of the scenes are, to the point where it's difficult to tell what's happening. That helps out the ambiguity approach to the spookiness, of course, but doesn't do much for knowing what's taking place. That leads to reliance on the jolts of music to cue you in, usually, as the characters tend to be limited to panting, gasping, and other non-verbal noises during the encounter scenes. I'm not familiar with the original Slender Man stories at all, so I can't say what they mangled in the translation to a Hollywood film, but aside from a few cornball effects in the numerous hallucination scenes, and some silliness in trying to approach the internet through the medium of film, it comes off well enough in a relative contextual vacuum. Rating: 5/10Watched on some streaming site.
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Oct 3, 2020 16:45
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STAC Goat posted:5. Life After Beth (2014) I loved this film when I saw it, and if I remember correctly, the director wanted to make a zombie film as if he had never seen a zombie film before. Spatulater bro! posted:#4 I watched this last night! 1. Halloween VI: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995) Oddly, I watched this a few years ago without watching V. Why? I don't know. Having now seen V this still makes no sense. Listen, I am not one to start coming in here with "plot holes" because I find that incredibly boring to read, but this is a sloppily edited/written film. There's one scene where Michael is at is house, then travels to kill a shock jock 5 minutes away (for some reason), and then comes back to his house. At this point, is Michael still even human? You can also tell this was filmed in the mid-90s. Grunge is everywhere. Between the plaid everyone is wearing, to the weird guitary sound effects whenever something happens. There is also a scene where Michael is chasing the mother, and there's all these cuts while she runs away from him, and it really takes away the suspense of the scene. I guess to keep audiences engaged, all these major horror franchises start really complicating the mythos of the series after the first few films. Now, Michael is being raised by a cult that are trying to derive power from a rune? I haven't seen H20 since the late-90s, but I am really glad it just decided to pretend all of this nonsense didn't happen. The first one is fairly simple in its horror, and I think that's part of the reason it is so effective. I really love Loomis' continued presence in these films, because Pleasence acts like no one else in these films. I also feel like I am complaining too much about this film, but honestly, there is not much to enjoy. Even though I wasn't a fan of V, there are elements I liked. While I haven't seen Resurrection, this is my least favourite film that I have seen of the Halloween/Friday/Nightmare franchises.
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Oct 3, 2020 16:46
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Fran Challenge #1: Horror Noire #12: 1940 Son of Ingagi  My first horror movie of the challenge set entirely in America! Son of Ingagi was the first horror movie to have an all black cast. And even today, that stands out. Off the top of my head I can't recall another movie I've seen where literally every face that appears on screen is black. The plot is novel too. A scientist dies a mysterious violent death, and there's an investigation into her murder and a dispute over her estate. But what few know is, her estate includes a killer monkey man! The performances are all good. The characters aren't complex but the acting gives them some life. The scientist lady stands out, she's really good. An old lady who missed her chance at love and now in her twilight years just wants someone to care about her and also is inventing a potion to give people super strength or something, for the good of humanity. Son of Ingagi does have its weaknesses. The makeup on the monkey man looks like poo poo. The action scenes are pretty lackluster. The sets look more like sitcom sets than movie sets. At just over an hour long it moves along at a pretty good clip, but it doesn't really build up much energy. Son of Ingagi isn't amazing, but it's entertaining. It's on the Youtube, check it out. 12 Movies Watched: Dracula, Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, King Kong, Son of Kong, The Bride of Frankenstein, Werewolf of London, Dracula's Daughter, Son of Frankenstein, The Mummy's Hand, Son of Ingagi 11FC1 Horror Noire
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Oct 3, 2020 17:03
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 2. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994) The scenes with Robert De Niro as the monster are pretty good but most of this movie is kinda dull and overall it’s a bit of a mess. Branagh is an odd director to me. Absolutely stacked cast though. 2.5/5  3. Ginger Snaps (2000) I wish I could figure out what lycanthropy represents in this movie where a girl gets bitten by a werewolf the same day she gets her period. But for real this movie is pretty good! And very Canadian. 4/5
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Oct 3, 2020 17:04
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Darthemed posted:I'm not familiar with the original Slender Man stories at all There are no original Slender Man stories. The character started as just spooky images of a tall guy in a suit with tentacle arms photoshopped into the background of pictures, posted on Somethingawful.com. All the "lore" was added much later by various people who thought the spooky photoshops should have a backstory.
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Oct 3, 2020 17:08
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7/31 (2nd October) Pictionary guesser league of winners: 4 - DebbieDoesDagon 2 - Maxwell Lord 1 - gey muckle mowser (In honour of my 7th watch of the month I have made some crude tracings of the killers in the movies for this post!)  Prom Night - Guessed by Maxwell Lord Jamie Lee Curtis dancing like an absolute loving legend with no support from the director who thinks all you have to do with a camera to capture Saturday Night Fever is move around the dancers in a circle. Background actors who go from 1000% energy bustin' moves to obviously at the end of a sore, tiring day swaying from side to side. A little pudgy kid picking up a date to prom by offering her a lift in his sex van, having a book full of joints and actually being a sweet little doofus who kinda owns. Leslie Nielson and his wife disappearing from the movie for no discernible reason. Boston accents dropping to sound Canadian as gently caress regularly. THESE are a few of my favourite things. I can't believe I've never seen this early revenge slasher before.  Friday the 13th 2009 - Guessed by Maxwell Lord In a way the producers really missed a trick insisting to redo Jason Voorhees here but with a little effort it is possible to trick your brain into thinking this movie is about OLD MAN JASON who has learned some survivalist trap tricks, the old dog. The kids have forgotten Camp Crystal Lake exists because the Wikipedia page hasn't been updated and Reddit Unsolved hasn't taken off yet in 2009. I remember watching this on it's release at the cinema and it not going down very well, it was okay. It was like the horror option at the box office vending machine for dates that week - basically the problem with most Platinum Dunes or remake films. Not a complete gently caress-up but they could have done a lot more with it as a sequel. The Hausu Usher fucked around with this message at 18:37 on Oct 3, 2020 |
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Oct 3, 2020 17:27
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Prom Night, the Friday the 13th remake?
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Oct 3, 2020 17:33
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Maxwell Lord posted:Prom Night, the Friday the 13th remake? This sounds like my kind of movie.
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Oct 3, 2020 18:24
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 58) DeadTectives - 2018 - Shudder I admit when it comes to ghost hunter films, I do have a soft spot when it's the hunters are hucksters and they come across real deal ghosts. So this one was right up my alley. The ghost hunters here have been getting by with their special effects guy's work, but now their ratings are dropping. So they are going to 'investigate' the most haunted house in Mexico, but they quickly learn, it's the real deal here. This one was really good. The pacing from 'this isn't real' to 'Holy poo poo this is real!' was handled well and the ending set up to be both a positive end or open up to a possible sequel.  59) La Llorona - 2019 - Shudder I thought this was the other La Llorona film that was out, but I was definitely not disappointed with this one at all. It is a bit of a slow burn and there are parts that are rough to get through. Story begins Guatemala where the huge trial of a retired general over his actions during a genocidal massacre on the Mayans decades ago is occurring. The given testimonies are devastating and he's found guilty only for the verdict to get overturned on a technicality and he goes home. The public's rightfully pissed off and surround his house holding protests. Between the crowds outside and the general's growing erratic behavior in the house, the majority of the servants quit. Not long after a young woman, Alma applies for a servant's job at the house and soon the supernatural events ramp up. There are layers on layers in this one. There's the general's family coming to grips with what he told them happened vs the trial testimony, the general's steadily deteriorating mental state, visions of what actually happened at the massacre, Alma's enigmatic comments, and the ending reveal. This one really packed a punch. I liked the take of La Llorona as a bringer of justice. Count this on my recommended to watch list.
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Oct 3, 2020 18:46
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6. Blacula (1972) Fran Challenge #1: Horror Noire The racist Dracula turns an African prince Mamuwalde into Blacula, kills his fiancé, and entraps him for ~200 years. He awakes in Los Angeles, 1972, and gets up to traditional vampire shenanigans. I can’t add much to what has already been said – it’s better than the title might imply, and you should watch it. What I would like to mention is that the costuming is fantastic. Vonetta McGee dresses to kill. Check out this purple hooded shawl and skirt combo:  And this jacket and pants!  God drat! It’s not a focus of the story, but an underlying thread is that all cops are bad, and don’t care about marginalized people. All of the cops in the movie are white (I think). The files on the two initial gay killings are lost, and the response is barely a shrug. And in their haste to shoot innocent lives are lost. It is what it is. 4/5
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Oct 3, 2020 18:47
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 #36) Blood Beat (1983) The premise of this film (woman in woodsy Wisconsin is possessed by a samurai spirit) was bizarre enough to have me intrigued, and I went in expecting something like Ninja III: The Domination. Maybe fewer martial arts and V8 makeout scenes, but generally similar. What I got was a much moodier piece, preoccupied with mortality and family. After coming across a strange, wounded man on a hunting trip she didn't want to come on, while visiting her boyfriend's family, a woman named Sarah finds a set of samurai armor stored away in the house. She's overcome by psychic impressions, and as tensions build between the family members (it's set at Christmas, and a Monopoly set is out), something with a katana begins killing neighbors. Almost all the cast are one-credit actors, going by IMDb, and it's also the director's only credit. That's a shame, because everyone here puts in a good show, and the tone of uneasiness and dread is built up quite effectively. The effects aren't great, but they're on the same page as the rest of the film's presentation, and the actors are game enough to get the telekinetic stuff a pass. Pretty enjoyable, if you're in the mood for an off-beat and obscure '80s slasher. Rating: 7/10Watched on Tubi.
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Oct 3, 2020 18:48
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(3/31) Basket Case (1982) 3/10 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basket_Case_(film) Sooooooo sleazy. Great view of a dirty, dirty eighties New York. Very grainy. Felt a little bit like Evil Dead, but not nearly the humor or quality. Nice gore, but holy stop motion! The soundeffects were better than the music. I understand the cult following, but would not quickly recommend except for stuff like horror nights. Tomorrow: Bubba Ho-Tep (2002) Watched (31): 1. The Blob (1988) 5/10 2. The Mummy (1959) 5/10 3. Basket Case (1982) 3/10 Watched (extra): 1. Child's Play (2019) 6/10 landobee fucked around with this message at 19:00 on Oct 3, 2020 |
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Oct 3, 2020 18:52
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 7. Ma (2019) Amazon A group of teenagers looking for someone to buy them booze meet Sue Ann, a slightly odd but friendly woman who decides to help them out. She offers to let them hang out and drink in her basement, so they have a safe place to go and won't be out driving around, but soon it becomes clear that she has ulterior motives for inviting them over... This is... okay. Octavia Spencer is great and by far the best thing about the film. I also liked that the teenage characters actually act like real teenagers - all giggly and goofy and constantly making terrible decisions based on peer pressure. I can't say that there is much else to write home about - the story is fine but occasionally relies on some leaps in logic, Sue Ann's backstory is kind of clichéd and doesn't justify how insane she is, and the ending isn't very satisfying. So yeah, it's not terrible or anything but it's a bit bland and not especially worth seeking out. It has some comedic moments but I think it would've been improved had it leaned into the comedy a bit more. Maybe worth it for Octavia Spencer, but otherwise pretty skippable. 2.5 pizza rolls out of 5  8. Shivers (1975) Blu-ray A bioengineered parasitic worm, designed as "a combination of aphrodisiac and venereal disease that will, hopefully, turn the world into one mindless orgy", gets loose in a luxury apartment building and spreads throughout the tenants. Unaware of this (at first anyway), Dr. Roger St. Luc is baffled by the strange lumps he is finding in his patients' abdomens, but soon finds himself in grave danger as the infected turn into violent sex-crazed maniacs. This early David Cronenberg film feels a bit rough around the edges compared to his later work, but the basic themes that run throughout much of his filmography are present here: graphic body horror, unnatural extensions of the flesh (in this case via engineered parasites), and a blurring of the lines between violence and sexuality. Sexual assault is a big part of the film, so fair warning there, but it's presented as horrific and not titillating like it is in trashier films. It just wouldn't be a classic Cronenberg film if it didn't make you feel deeply uncomfortable! As far as his early films go, I'd rank this above Rabid but below The Brood. If you're a Cronenberg fan you'll most likely enjoy this, but it feels like he's still finding his voice. Lots of great (and gross) special effects though, and it might be worth watching just for those. Side note, the working title of this was "Orgy of the Blood Parasites" and it's a drat shame it got changed. 3.5 blood parasites out of 5 Total: 8 Watched: Peeping Tom | Cry of the Banshee | The Loved Ones | The Tenant | Get Duked! | Sugar Hill | Ma | Shivers Fran Challenges: 1 SIDE QUESTS: Edgar Wright's Top 100 Horror: 88/100 Slant Top 100 Horror: 88/100 TSZDT Top 100: 97/100
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Oct 3, 2020 18:57
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20. Bride of Frankenstein 1935 Directed by James Whales. This is probably for me at least better than the original Frankenstein for a variety of reasons. It clocks in at 74 minutes and time is not wasted at all. Compared to the original Frankestein this sees the monster become more proactive with speaking , drinking wine, smoking. There's more of a sad pathos here with regard to the monster. Frankenstein is played as less evil or not evil at all just tired of his work before being forced back into the ressurection game by a fellow mad scientist. James Whale expertly directs this and while a lot of things have been written about the queer theory of Bride, special attention should really be made to the Christ imagery present in the film. Multiple times through out the film the Monster is presented in Christ Like poses and with that imagery surrounding him. Overall a really great film and one of Whale's best films although I like Invisible Man just a little bit more. 20/31 Hollismason fucked around with this message at 20:34 on Oct 3, 2020 |
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Oct 3, 2020 19:36
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7)Black Lake-salem horror fest 2020 Another artist goes to an isolated house and get haunted. This one is really good though. The artist is gifted a scarf by her aunt that she picked up from Pakistan. Only it belonged to a young woman who raped and killed, and now her Churail is beginning to haunt her. I will say it's slow and hypnotic, and is almost more of just a spooky music video. The cinematography and music are top notch, but I can see it not being for everyone. /57/31Haunt,Bridge curse, #alive, the strings, amber's descent,papi ramirez vs giant scorpions, black lake
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Oct 3, 2020 20:14
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21. The Wolfman 1941 The Wolfman could be considered one of the later Universal Monster movies only because it came out in 1941 way later than The Mummy , Frankenstein, and Dracula. However its a great movie which while it did not get any direct sequels The Wolfman does show up in other Universal Pictures films. The main reason I found this enjoyable is because Lon Chaney Jr does such a grreat job as potray Talbot as a really tragic figure and this really plays up the mythos of being cursed. Its got a relatively short run time at only 69 minutes so just a little over an hour. I didn't particularly care for it as much as the other Universal pictures but its still a great watch. 21/31
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Oct 3, 2020 21:02
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Alright, here are my first three. Not really going to stick to an overall theme or give myself requirements, but I do want to watch some movies I'm embarrassed to have never seen. As well as some remakes that I've previously refused to watch like a grumpy old man. I've seen the F13 and NoES series so many times, but couldn't bring myself to watch either reboot even though I've sat through two Halloween reboots and all of the new additions to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise. So I recognize my hypocrisy there and am going to try to give them a fair shot. - - - - - -  1. You Should Have Left (David Koepp, 2020) [Blu-ray, 1st viewing] While I'm appreciative of an attempt to make an original, slow-burning, haunted house movie with psychological elements to it, the story is just too thin and the mystery it is centered around is too easily solved. It's pretty rare that I feel that way, because I'm usually quite terrible at seeing an obvious ending or twist that most people would. I think there is a decent amount of tension-building scenes here, as well as some solid shots and effects, but the tension is almost always released with a cheap or predictable jump-scare making everything feel unfulfilling. It's a shame, too, that the acting was fairly good but wasted on a missed opportunity. 2/5  2. Night of the Living Dead (Tom Savini, 1990) [DVD, 1st viewing] Mentally separating this movie from the original, this wasn't as bad as I had feared. In the beginning it looks like it's going to simply be a visual update and stick rather stringently to the script of the original. The makeup and special effects are solid (I suppose it'd be weird if they weren't with Savini involved--even as director), and I could definitely see an argument for the pacing and action scenes being a little better as well. But I think the conflict between the group of survivors feels a little artificial, with some of the characters feeling exaggerated and their actions not feeling particularly natural. That was somewhat the case in the original, but I wish this version did some polishing of that. 3/5 More specific thoughts with spoilers: I did actually like the changes to the end of the movie, although I think the original had a more impactful conclusion. But in a movie that felt like it was going to follow the original for the first half, it was a pleasant surprise. I'd actually say Barbara was an improvement overall, even though her transition from a silent woman in shock to ruthless warrior was a little rough.  3. Dawn of the Dead (Unrated Directors Cut - Zack Snyder, 2004) [Blu-ray, 2nd Viewing] Doing my absolute best to not let running zombies be such a personal affront and ruin the entire experience, I decided to try to give this one another go but my initial reaction from when it was released still stood: the movie peaks with the opening scene and credits. It's entertaining enough at times, and there's plenty of cool, gory moments, but it lacks the tension and social commentary of the original. The cast of characters are one-dimensional and don't really grow, despite awkward attempts at times to suddenly give them emotional moments, and the intended humor made took me out of the movie and made me roll my eyes. The over-stylized editing makes the movie feel like a music video or a montage within the movie too frequently, and overall I can't argue that it's not entertaining for stretches, it just feels like a generic action movie that features zombies. I know a lot of people disagree with me on this one, but I've given it two full viewings now many years apart. 2.5/5 More specific thoughts with spoilers: Actually, the opening scene and credits weren't the highlight, it was totally seeing Ken Foree and Tom Savini. - - - - - - Number of movies: 3 Number of first-time viewings: 2
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Oct 3, 2020 21:37
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1. Scary Movie 2. Scary Movie 2 3. From Beyond 4. Phantasm  Saw this courtesy of the Scream Stream (thanks Lurd!) Boy, howdy, this was a ride. A weird, psychedelic, low budget ride with almost too much ambition for it's meager means. Didn't realize it was one of those "Kids running rampant, discover adventures" types of stories, like The Goonies, except focused on a singular kid instead of a group of them. Well a kid and his two dads, who are his older brother and his cool/creeper looking friend. They discover poo poo is going down, Angus Scrimm is imposing, weird stuff terrorizes them, and there's this vague sense that there's a logic to it that's just outside of grasp. Sometimes it looks cheap as hell, sometimes it manages one of those One Perfect Shot style compositions not entirely on accident. It's unnerving and a little silly, and it's status as part of the Horror Canon is well deserved. One thing I note is with how low budget and scrappy this movie is, the crystal clear restoration (which is absolutely masterclass) almost feels wrong. It feels like it you should be watching it on 16mm with a touch of grime and dirty to show how worn it has become. It's not something I'll knock it for, but it does feel just a touch odd to myself, personally. 5. Idle Hands  Once again, thanks Lurd! This is a very stupid movie. One that almost shouldn't work as well as it does, and arguably doesn't work as well as it could've. But taken on it's face, this is just a really fun ride. Just an uncompromised vision that works as a slacker-stoner comedy, and as a straight horror. It's basically all the dumbass Ash jokes from the Evil Dead, with just as much stakes, slightly more levity, and maybe a bit less blood (but more than enough to make it gross). Plus it has show stealing turns from both Seth Green and Foggy from Netflix Daredevil. And for a 90's movie, it actually feels restrained with how un-hurtful it's comedy is, outside of one or two bits. For the most part, it's a lot of physical comedy (especially from Devin Sawa) and some lighthearted weed jokes that still hold up. My only criticism is that, aside from Vivica A. Fox's character, all the characters are basically dumbass slacker dudes and cardboard-flat female roles. And that Devin Sawa works well for the role, and absolutely nails the physical side of the Murderous Possessed Hand, but the role feels like it could have come alive from someone with Bruce Campbell-levels of charisma. But as is, it works fine, and this movie is a drat good time.
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Oct 3, 2020 22:00
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5. Get Out Watched On: Library Blu Ray Fran Challenge #1: Horror Noire Not much more that I can say about this movie, it definitely lives up to the hype. It feels like a feature length anxiety attack with one of the most satisfying payoffs I've seen in a while. Peele is really good at amping up the ambient racism of modern life into a source of dramatic tension. It's a movie that feels like both modern and classic horror, specifically with the use of hypnosis to subdue and control Chris and the other transplantees. It's a standard 50s and 60s horror trope used to unsettling effect here. The cast is fantastic, but particular mention has to go to Betty Gabriel and Lakeith Stanfield for portraying the emotional horror of their former selves emerging from out of the Sunken Place really effectively. It was a heavy watch but I'm glad I finally got around to it.
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Oct 3, 2020 22:20
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6. The Purge: Anarchy Watched On: Peacock The Purge movies are not subtle, but that's their real strength. They take America's subtext of extrajudicial murder and white supremacy and make it straight up text, the backbone of a right-wing quasitheocracy that continues to hit closer to home. The end reveal that the American people aren't murdering each other enough so the government has to step in and make sure that the illusion of The Purge as a needed institution is preserved is just the icing on that cake. Really just watched this so that I could see some Trump-rear end motherfuckers that wanted to hunt people for sport get murdered by Frank Grillo. Film delivered, but gently caress is it kind of a hard watch in 2020.
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Oct 3, 2020 22:43
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 7. Tetsuo II: Body Hammer (1992) Director: Shinya Tsukamoto Tetsuo: The Iron Man is a film that I love with all my heart and one that's had a huge influence on what I make, so this one has been on the backburner for a while. I hadn't heard great things about it, but pleasantly surprised to be wrong. Body Hammer is for sure worse than the original, if only because the decision to add a storyline to a film that primarily worked as a grimy, queer body horror abstraction absolutely takes away the mystery and strangeness that made the first so iconic. It's still a great time because it keeps all the madcap visual design and gnarly nightmare effects and scales them up to suit the bigger budget. I really need to dig into that Tsukamoto box set that just came out one of these days.
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Oct 3, 2020 22:52
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22. Horror Express (1972)  Starring Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Telly Savalas , this is a great movie featuring both Lee and Cushing not on opposing sides but instead teaming up against a force that is killing people on a train. I can't really say more or it'll kind of spoil what the thing is that is killing people. All around great performances , most notably though is the hilarity of Telly Savalas trying to play a Russian with his accent that is so just not there but its still wonderful. This is a really tight film , with a lot of action , and suspense through out. Its even got a fantastic climactic ending that is really great. This is probably a unseen gem of horror really . Cushing and Lee are both fantastic, you have excellent plot, excellent direction, and pretty drat good special effects. Highly Recommended. 22/31
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Oct 3, 2020 22:54
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#13: 1941 The Wolf Man I liked this a lot. It feels way more modern than the previous Universal movies I've seen. Larry Talbot is from an aristocratic family sure, but in terms of demeanor and capabilities, he's just some schmuck. A lovable American oaf in way over his head. And the town dynamics are like a transitional state, halfway between mob of villagers and town full of gossips. The famously good makeup looks good. Although that really highlights the lovely werewolf mark. A simple five pointed star drawn on with an eyebrow pencil. Come on, guys. It was also nice to be surprised by one of these movies. I've gotten so much information about these movies through cultural osmosis, and they all tend towards a happy Hollywood ending. But I was genuinely not expecting The Wolf Man to end how it did. The Wolf Man, good movie. Would recommend. 13 Movies Watched: Dracula, Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, King Kong, Son of Kong, The Bride of Frankenstein, Werewolf of London, Dracula's Daughter, Son of Frankenstein, The Mummy's Hand, Son of Ingagi 1, The Wolf Man1FC1 Horror Noire
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Oct 3, 2020 23:06
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 10. Penda's Fen (1974) "To the reader who shouts 'blasphemy', I say blasphemy worse that this life-enhancing revolutionary Jesus should be now dangled like a halo above a sick culture, centered upon authority and death." Penda’s Fen is an absolute revelation for me. It’s not often that I feel so animated and engaged whilst watching a film, especially a made-for-TV-film, but Penda’s Fen just ticks all of my boxes. It’s thoughtful in the extreme, centered upon character growth, and exploding with a variety of themes that would take thousands of words to probe at any satisfactory degree. It’s also beautifully shot, queer as gently caress, and bursting with a contradictory surreal-realism. It’s just perfection. Penda’s Fen begins with Stephen, an Elgar obsessed high school student and the definition of a young conservative square. He memorises the Latin mottos of his school as if they were commandments. He joins the cadets and wears military fatigues. He praises censorship of the media, in the good fight to save white English Christian families from their atheist and communist usurpers. Those who disagree with him are dismissed as “unnaturals”, vile homosexuals, who are quite rightly denied the warm light of God’s good graces. He is a poison-tongued pedant who will stop in the street to correct the spelling and grammar of those around him. Stephen is our guide throughout Penda’s Fen, and by the end of the film, I was in love with him, because this atrocious disaster of a human being goes through the most incredible journey of self-discovery.  Where to begin with Stephen’s coming of age story? We find Stephen in a place where he has very certain ideas about right and wrong, good and evil, light and dark. These ideas, for him, are tied inextricably with the traditional values his school, and by extension society at large, wish to instill in him. He wishes to become a bastion of this searing light of conservative values, but he is also aware that there is no place for him in this world. Stephen is gay, and that terrifies him, because he has accepted that people like him are wrong and unnatural. Rather than reacting violently or aggressively at this self-discovery, he goes on an intellectual, philosophical, theological, musical, dreamlike, and deeply revolutionary journey, which deposits him…? It’s difficult to say exactly. Somewhere between a young person who bravely enters an unfriendly world as a genderqueer sexual minority and revolutionary, or as the second coming of Christ, or a force of good for whom Christ was one of many, or one the first in a long line of a new religion. All of the above? None of the above? How is this horror? Penda’s Fen overlaps with several horror genres, but you could reduce it to a fantasy drama and it might still work. There is gore, there are monsters, it's most probably a Gothic horror, and definitely a folk horror, and a psychological horror. It would make an exceptionally strong companion piece for The Wicker Man, The Devils, or The Changes, but it's far far more introspective than those. I tried to find a streaming copy and it doesn’t appear to exist legally online anywhere. There is a version on YouTube, but it’s missing around 15 minutes. If you can find it, watch it! It's impossible for me to do the film justice with words alone, it really needs to be seen. 5/5  11. Anarchy Parlor (2015) Anarchy Parlor follows a group of friends exploring the Lithuanian nightlife when they happen upon Una, a goth tattoo assistant. A couple of these friends decide that they would like to visit the parlor and get some work done. Insert some pretty tame “torture porn” here, frequent female nudity, a lackluster plot, and then a silly twist ending, and that’s about it, that’s Anarchy Parlor. The acting, line delivery, direction, and dialogue are around the level of higher-quality porn. It actually reminds me of the porn-with-a-plot films you'd find in the '80s to mid-'90s, married to a middling splatter film. If you have any nostalgia for those films this might be a good watch, otherwise it's probably not going to do much for you. It's not really erotic, thrilling, or horrific enough to satisfy anyone in those departments, but for some dumb late-night "guilty pleasure" sleaze, it works nicely. There are a couple of interesting things to point out though. First is that the character known as “the artist” is played by Robert LaSardo, who is one of those "oh it’s that guy" character actors. He is actually very good throughout the film, but it’s still a bit of a lethargic performance. I imagine he could do a lot more under a better director. Lithuania is also incredibly beautiful as a location, but unfortunately it does seem like they used actual footage from a tourism video for the establishing overhead shots. Lastly, my partner is a Medievalist and they were very excited about the depictions of velum, which maybe if you’re a history nerd you’ll also enjoy? 2/5 Total: 11 Queer Interest: 6 Fran Challenges: 1 Horror Noire Countries Visited: 9 USA, Hungary, Portugal, Vietnam, Georgia, Switzerland, Nigeria, United Kingdom, Lithuania Debbie Does Dagon fucked around with this message at 23:26 on Oct 3, 2020 |
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Oct 3, 2020 23:15
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7) Blood Tokoloshe (AKA Ghetto Goblin) (2013) Fran Challenge #1: Horror Noire I was planning to watch Get Out for this - the disc has been gathering dust on my shelf for some time. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it. So I decided to root through Amazon Prime for a possible deep cut, and found this South African folk horror about a chancer in the townships who makes a deal with an evil spirit to gain money and women. This ends as well as you might expect. I could never say this was a great film. It's fairly predictable, the $4000 budget is painfully obvious, the cast are all non-actors - many of them are, like the director, backroom crew from South African TV - and the material struggles a little to fill even the 71-minute run time. But it's interesting to see a movie about a folkloric creature that almost nobody without a subscription to Fortean Times has even heard of, and it's doubly rare for it to be anything other than "ignorant white people break the taboos". It didn't waste my time. E: almost forgot. If you watch it, make sure you turn the subtitles on as while most of the movie is in English, several characters only speak in local languages. Jedit fucked around with this message at 23:29 on Oct 3, 2020 |
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Oct 3, 2020 23:21
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Bug (1975) The final film written and produced by William Castle, Bug is a, how to put this, dumb, dumb movie. An earthquake releases mutant cockroaches upon a small town. Mutant cockroaches that can start fires. But it's okay, the bugs can't move says our college professor protagonist (except when they do). The blow up several cars, burn someone's ear off, kill a cat in an unsettling scene. But, coming from the earth's core, these bugs suffer from the bends, so they start to die off. End of movie, right? Nope. Our protagonist has a solution. Bug loving. He decides he needs to breed these fire roaches (despite them killing his wife, and despite him saying earlier they can't reproduce), so he mates one with a normal roach, creating super smart roaches, that feed on raw meat, and keep escaping from the cage he doesn't lock. They start to briefly communicate in one scene, kill the wife of his best friend (his best friend stops by and says he hasn't seen his wife in weeks, then calmly picks up the phone, and says "Maybe she's home now."), and then breed into giant roaches that can fly and make fire. They attack the protagonist, set him on fire, and he falls down the pit from which they came, and he explodes. The roaches follow him back into the pit, and the pit closes? Look, I said it was dumb. The only plus is the final minutes of the film is somewhat Evil Dead-esqe. But that's it. Also the interior of the protagonist's house was a redress of the interior from The Brady Bunch. One out of Five Diving Helmets. Watched on Hulu Davros1 fucked around with this message at 23:27 on Oct 3, 2020 |
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Oct 3, 2020 23:24
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9. Forbidden World (1982) This is what people think of when they think trashy 80s horror knockoffs. Low budget, nonsense plot, sexism, bad acting, and a goofy monster. I like the creatures earlier stages more than than late stage. The middle of the movie is quite dull, but the movies got a fun charm to it. 2.5/5
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Oct 3, 2020 23:50
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Jumping in with the following challenges: 1. Watch at least 31 movies 2. Complete all Fran Challenges 3. All films must be first-time watches 4. Watch a film from at least 20 different countries 5. Watch a film from at least 10 different decades
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Oct 3, 2020 23:53
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]8)Displaced-2020 salem horror fest hoo boy. this one isn't great. It's about gentrification, and you can tell it wants to be Get Out, but..isn't. Shame because a couple more passes on the script, and a director who was, I don't want to say more competent, or experienced and not trying to juggle acting, directing writing, editing and special effects all at once(one man show Leslie Rivera he aint) It could have been a cracking dark comedy. Only one actress really leans in to the absurdity and deliver some excellent takes. IT's not bad enough to be the Room or Troll 2, and the director doesn't seem to want it to be funny. He's a serious guy who sites 3 colors:Red as a primary influence. I mean I wish the guy well, and want him to improve, but this one didn't do much for me. /58/32 haunt,bridge curse,#alive, the strings, amber's descent, papi ramirez vs giant scorpions, displaced Ambitious Spider fucked around with this message at 00:04 on Oct 4, 2020 |
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Oct 4, 2020 00:02
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