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 57. Evil Dead II - Dir: Sam Raimi - 1987 Now this might be one of the most perfect films ever. There isnt anything I'd cut or add. Doesnt need anymore exposition or gags. it's perfect in every way. The movie starts and just immediately gets going like a rocket ship only to slow down for a few moments before taking right off again and its all absolutely joyous and wonderful in the way very limited budget film making is. Bruce Campbell is as usual, perfect in this role. It's a drat shame he never really took off outside of a b-movie/indie darling because he's the epitome of the classic hollywood leading man, but could do over the top physical comedy like a true stooge, great dramatic moments and can deliver some ultra cheesy lines in a way that you barely notice the cheese oozing off the screen. He's right up there with Michael Biehn as just one of those dudes that should've popped a lot harder, but just never did. drat shame. Otherwise, fantastic movie, a real true look at what rolling up your sleeves and setting out with an idea and getting a team of people on the same track towards the same goal.  58. The Hills Have Eyes - Dir: Wes Craven - 1977 I liked it well enough. I dunno if Craven is really my personal favorite horror director. He's effective at what he does and can build tension well, but something about the finished product always leaves me wanting more. I did enjoy the cast and the reactions to the extreme situation they were all wrapped up in and the ending isnt as hopeless as the remakes ending was. Good movie with a solid cast and great villains. I can imagine how much harder this must've hit back in the day whereas its a bit soft now, but I guess that's why they really went hardcore in the remake, because that was a lot.
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Oct 19, 2020 20:20
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If anyone else still hasn't picked something for the Tomb of the Blind Spots challenge, there is still the January Horror Essentials thread from earlier this year
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Oct 19, 2020 20:58
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I wonder if Night of the Lepus would've worked if they'd used like jackrabbits or some of the leaner, weirder-looking varieties, not, y'know, fluffy pet store bunnies. (The book it's based on is Australian, so it makes a tiny bit more sense in that context, but I'm not even sure they could pull off a film version.)
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Oct 19, 2020 21:04
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20) Eraserhead (1977) Blu-ray - Rewatch The Criterion Collection Blu-ray for this only just came out in the UK today, so that's what I watched! I'd only watched this film once before, probably about 8 or 9 years ago. I remember coming away from it not sure what to make of it, although appreciating how good a lot of the imagery was. Watching it now, though, it was all a lot clearer to me. While I haven't had kids myself, over the past couple of years I've had friends who have had their first children, and have seen and talked to them about that experience. Watching Eraserhead now, it's gone from something that I thought was totally abstract to a very specific and almost literal depiction of how it feels to be a parent - the stress, the madness, the anxieties - all put directly on the screen by Lynch. As such I liked it a lot more, although aside from the imagery at the very end I almost wonder if it's right to classify this as 'horror' (although Letterboxd does, hence why it's here) as it's mostly a drama about parenthood presented in a very stylised and unique way. Whatever genre it is, it's still bloody brilliant, though. 4/5
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Oct 19, 2020 21:07
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 30. Seconds (1966) Amazon A middle-aged man hires a company to fake his death and give him a new life. He is given plastic surgery to look like a different (and younger) man, and is set up with a career as an artist. Now a "reborn", he is placed in a community with others who went through the same process, but begins to have regrets about his decision and finds himself trapped in a nightmarish situation. This is really excellent! I'm not sure I'd call it a straight up horror film, more of a sci-fi psychological thriller, but the nightmarish bureaucracy of the company is creepy and the ending is chilling. Rock Hudson is really good in the lead role (the younger and more handsome post-surgery version, of course) and really sells the confusion and desperation his character is feeling. A very cool movie that should be better known. 4.5 rebirths out of 5 Total: 30 Watched: Peeping Tom | Cry of the Banshee | The Loved Ones | The Tenant | Get Duked! | Sugar Hill (FC #1) | Ma | Shivers | Onibaba | The Black Cat | Beyond Re-Animator | Short films (FC #2) | The Hunger | The Skin I Live In | Santa Sangre | Blood Beat | The Witch in the Window | Possession | Inferno of Torture | The Legend of Hell House | Scare Me | The Wolf of Snow Hollow | Daughters of Darkness | A Chinese Ghost Story II | FearDotCom (FC #3) | What Keeps You Alive (FC #4) | A Page of Madness (FC #5) | Boar (FC #8) | Four Flies on Grey Velvet (FC #7) | Seconds SIDE QUESTS: Edgar Wright's Top 100 Horror: 95/100 Slant Top 100 Horror: 92/100 TSZDT Top 100: 100/100 
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Oct 19, 2020 21:11
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17. Alice, Sweet Alice (1976) I can't imagine having to act with piss stains for every scene. It is a step up from also having to play a pedophile. Also, looking up the actress who played Alice after, and finding out she was actually 19 is a real trip. 18. The Lost Boys (1987) This is so...blah. It does feature a great cast of young talent, and everything is shot well, but it never really comes together. Unfortunately, I read all about Corey Haim's life on Wikipedia afterwards, and it's just an incredibly sad story. Was Corey Feldman changing his voice for this film? 19. Hubie Halloween (2020) It is what it is. I can't imagine the type of person watching this and being surprised they don't like it. Like, Sandler has been making the same type of comedy for, like, 25 years. If you didn't like the previous 25 years, what makes you think you'll like this one?
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Oct 19, 2020 21:53
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Franchescanado posted:If anyone else still hasn't picked something for the Tomb of the Blind Spots challenge, there is still the January Horror Essentials thread from earlier this year That's from 2019, is it the right thread?
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Oct 19, 2020 22:04
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Twin Cinema posted:18. The Lost Boys (1987) Mods?!
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Oct 19, 2020 22:06
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Jedit posted:That's from 2019, is it the right thread? That's the right thread. Time dilation is real and I didn't double check to see if I was right.
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Oct 19, 2020 22:06
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Maxwell Lord posted:I wonder if Night of the Lepus would've worked if they'd used like jackrabbits or some of the leaner, weirder-looking varieties, not, y'know, fluffy pet store bunnies. The biggest problem is really the entire approach to the movie. I mean making bunnies threatening and selling guys in fuzzy suits was always going to be a herculean challenge but we've all seen ways horrors work to do that kind of thing. Lots of shadows, lots of weird angles, a focus on tension over action. If you tell me you want me to make a killer bunny movie I'm imagining a lot of glowing eyes in the dark and people falling into holes and being helpless or something. Or like people cut off by waves of them or something. I dunno. But they had a non-horror director, a guy used to filming westerns, and you can see he filmed the movie like a western. Lots of sunlight and the whole thing has the vibe of a Gunsmoke episode over a horror movie. According to what I read or what Svengoolie said or something he just rejected any suggestions of how to make it more menacing and you see the result. Or they could have made in tongue in cheek. That's the weirdest part of the film. They play the concept of killer bunnies so drat straight. We at least needed some goofy guy in there lightening the mood or something. Or maybe a likable protagonist? All we got are this old couple who started this mess. I dunno. Its a bad movie.
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Oct 19, 2020 22:13
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Franchescanado posted:Fran Challenge #8: When Animals Attack!  #105) Piranha II: Flying Killers (1982) James Cameron's first feature film (at least in name)! And surprise, surprise, it's got a lot of underwater filming! People at a resort club are terrorized by an outbreak of piranha, now with the ability to fly! What more details do you need? It comes off as a light twist on a Jaws sequel, with authority figures blockading the investigation into what's putting people in danger and the upscale setting, and Lance Henriksen is a kick as a stick-up-his-rear end law enforcement agent. Learning that Cameron split shortly into the filming schedule, to be replaced by producer Ovidio Assonitis, explains a lot of the movie's tone. There's some of that Italian 'pop horror' fragmentation at play, with characters sort of drifting in and out on a whim. Consequences aren't particularly commensurate with the prompting events, there are some terrible-looking pick-up shots, a beautiful score, and an abrupt ending with some explosions. Fun in the moment, but quick to evaporate from memory. “Have you ever been with two girls?” Rating: 6/10Watched on some streaming site.  #106) Boltneck (2000) Young Ryan Reynolds plays a teenage Frankenstein's Creature in this Clueless-ification of the classic story. The Doctor is just a science class dweeb, whose dad is Judge Reinhold, a brain pathologist. A couple of jock jerks cause the death of Reynolds' character (Carl), and the science dweeb sees the chance of a lifetime. Reynolds is cute and charming, but all the romance sub-plots are DOA. At least the soundtrack is nice, with some funky electronics for the score. Dance party over the end credits, with a sweet techno house remix of “Mad Monster Party” backing it. Cute moments, but nothing too substantial. “Whether you kill me or not, I'll be back.” Rating: 5/10Watched on Tubi.
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Oct 19, 2020 22:37
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(14/31) Creepshow (1982) 2.5/10 Half a point extra for seeing Ed Harris dance. Not funny but stupid silly, and a lot of people being mean. I get that this is a loveletter, but the acting was bad. Plots weren't good either. Maybe it was fun to watch then, but very, very stale now imo. (15/31) Night Of The Creeps (1986) 5.5/10 Again an hommage, but this one works better for me. Still not great acting (especially Jill Whitlow), but more fun. Bit of everything here: aliens, zombies, slashers, mystery, frathouse, slugs, escaped mental patient. This would have been a better movie if there was more than just everything slapped together. Some originality? But again, nice kills and some funny lines make for a good watch with a couple of friends. Got half a point extra for the flamethrower. (16/31) Psycho (1960) 9/10 Fantastisc title screen; even better music by Bernard Hermann. The music is so iconic for a good reason! It's hard not think of Gimme Some More tho  I love that the intro shows the day, month and time but not the year. Right away it sets the mood for timelessness. Great symbolism, awesome shots. Very good acting and superb mastery of lighting. What a classic. (17/31) This Is the End (2013) 2/10 Actors playing themselves. Hmmm. Extremely dumb and crude. Better score than expected. (18/31) The Wicker Man (1973) 5.5/10 So I have seen Midsommar (which I liked), which gets compared to this but never saw this one before. Good score! Christopher Lee! That voiceover for Britt Ekland though is very rough. This must have been quite a shock for people when it came out. Could have been better directed I feel, and a better lead. Very nice to watch this, hard to rate after seeing Midsommar first. Next up: Deep Red (1975) and Kuroneko (1968) Watched (31): 1.The Blob (1988) 5/10 || 2.The Mummy (1959) 5/10 || 3.Basket Case (1982) 3/10 || 4.Bubba Ho-Tep (2002) 6/10 || 5.The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) 3/10 || 6.An American Werewolf In London (1981) 5/10 || 7.Onibaba (1964) 7.5 || 8.Re-Animator (1985) 6.5/10 || 9.Horror Of Dracula (1958) 7/10 || 10.The Return of the Living Dead (1985) 7/10 || 11.The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) 2/10 || 12.Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1978) 5.5/10 || 13.Slither (2006) 6/10 || 14.Creepshow (1982) 2.5/10 || 15.Night Of The Creeps (1986) 5.5/10 || 16.Psycho (1960) 9/10 || 17.This Is the End (2013) 2/10 || 18.The Wicker Man (1973) 5.5/10 Watched (extra): 1. Child's Play (2019) 6/10
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Oct 19, 2020 22:56
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Tremors (1990) Wasn't feeling well, so I turned to one of my favorite comfort films, Tremors. What more can be said about Tremors that hasn't already been said? It's a near perfect film*, with a wonderful cast who just click perfectly together. The monsters were inventive, and a believable threat in the film, and the effects are wonderful, occasionally cheesy, but all and all, this is just one fun movie. It's also a rare film where once I finish watching it, I'll just let it play again. It's that good. It's like your favorite comfort food, in movie form. Five out of Five Graboids. *Where the gently caress were Melvin's parents during all of this?!? 1. Deep Rising 2. The Night Stalker 3. The Car 4. Land of the Dead 5. Bug 6. The Addams Family (2020) 7. The Gorgon 8. The Initiation 9. Sweet Sixteen 10. The Addams Family (1990) 11. Addams Family Values 12. Hubie Halloween 13. Trucks 14. Eaten Alive 15. Bigfoot (1970) 16. Night of the Lepus 17. Tremors
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Oct 19, 2020 23:12
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I think Melvin is canonically 18-21 years old. I just assume rent's cheap in Perfection, so he's got his own trailer.
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Oct 19, 2020 23:15
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Every time I watch Tremors I find myself perplexed about what Melvin's deal is.
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Oct 19, 2020 23:16
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So I looked it up; the actor playing Melvin was 16-17 (depending when it was filmed) at the time, but he comes off younger, about 14-15. Plus there's that bit where he wants Val & Earl to buy him beer, and Earl snaps back "Beer is for grown-ups", so he had to be younger than 21.
Davros1 fucked around with this message at 23:42 on Oct 19, 2020 |
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Oct 19, 2020 23:20
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Huh. Maybe he's emancipated? Or an orphan? Or his parents are out of tow? They literally never refer to him having parents.
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Oct 19, 2020 23:22
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Franchescanado posted:Huh. Maybe he's emancipated? Or an orphan? Or his parents are out of tow? They literally never refer to him having parents. That's what so weird. When Val and Earl are cleaning out his septic tank, Val says "Why don't you help us, most of this poo poo's yours anyway." So that implied that there had to be someone else using the toilet. Not that it's important, but they could've thrown in a line "Oh, his parents are spending the weekend in Bixby, because they can't stand him either."
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Oct 19, 2020 23:26
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I think for awhile I thought Mindy was his sister but that's just because that was the only family unit within his proximity. Its right up there with watching the Burbs and wondering why Corey Feldman has a house in a suburban cul de sac. There definitely exists logical explanations, but I find it odd the movies don't even make some passing throw away comment about it.
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Oct 19, 2020 23:30
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Feldman in the 'Burb's isn't that weird. I knew people at 21 and 22 getting houses in new pop-up suburbs. It wasn't a good idea, but I know people who did it. Melvin gives off "I live with my uncle and he's checked out" vibes. Maybe he's related to Nester?
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Oct 19, 2020 23:32
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I assumed Melvin was related to the guy who gets eaten through the tire, as Melvin seemed the most affected by the death.
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Oct 19, 2020 23:40
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That’s Nester, and without looking it up that’s my best guess too.
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Oct 19, 2020 23:43
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Debbie Does Dagon posted:I assumed Melvin was related to the guy who gets eaten through the tire, as Melvin seemed the most affected by the death. I’m pretty sure that’s his dad Or maybe not https://tremors.fandom.com/wiki/Nestor_Cunningham Notably, Melvin was upset at his death, but not at anyone else’s (possibly because he actually witnessed it). I’m gunna assume Nestor was getting Melvin drunk whenever he wanted so Melvin felt sad when he died dorium fucked around with this message at 23:50 on Oct 19, 2020 |
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Oct 19, 2020 23:44
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Solved?OF COURSE THERE'S A TREMORS WIKI posted:Although Melvin appeared to live alone in the first film, this is implausible for a 17-year-old. The creators of the films stated that his parents were uncaring towards him and often abandoned him to go gambling in Las Vegas (a fact referenced in the original draft of the script) Davros1 posted:Not that it's important, but they could've thrown in a line "Oh, his parents are spending the weekend in Bixby, because they can't stand him either." Guess me and the screenwriters were on the same wavelength
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Oct 19, 2020 23:50
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nother big ol review dump comin 22. Poltergeist (1982) Fran Challenge #6: Tomb of the Blind Spots That's right, I had never seen Poltergeist. It’s about as spooky as you could reasonably hope for a family friendly movie to be. Some good bits in the beginning, like Craig T. Nelson reading a Reagan biography while his wife smokes weed before bed and the mom telling Carol Ann that staring at static is bad for her eyes and flipping the channel to a war movie. Pretty fun. 3.5/5  23. Dagon (2001) Fran Challenge #7: Dearly Departed This is not as fun as Re-Animator or From Beyond but it’s pretty decent. I appreciate how wet every scene is, which is important when your movie is about a horny fish cult. Some of the gore is pretty brutal. 3/5  24. Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988) This was a lot of fun. I liked the part where the titular klowns made a balloon animal dog and used it to track their prey through the woods. The dean from Animal House puts in a good performance as Sheriff Joe Arpaio. 3/5  25. Troll 2 (1990) (rewatch) I don't know how to rate this movie. It's horrible but I love it. Every bit of dialogue, every acting choice is so completely bizarre, it's amazing. The highlight of the movie for me is the first meeting between the sister and her boyfriend. Some of the most insane dialogue you'll ever see. ???/5  26. The Vampire Lovers (1970) Fran Challenge # 4: Scream, Queen! This is a movie that is strongly committed to showing hooters. It’s a pretty standard vampire story with the notable exception that the vampire is a lesbian, which was probably pretty novel in 1970. It has a promising opening but it drags in the second and third acts. Still worth a watch. 3/5  27. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter I love to watch silent porno films and laugh my rear end off as my friends slowly file out of the room two by two to hook up, leaving me alone to laugh at porno until my grisly death. 3/5  28. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) This rules. I love the paranoid atmosphere. It’s like Alan J. Pakula made a horror movie. Did not know Leonard Nimoy and Jeff Goldblum were in this so that was a nice surprise. 4/5
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Oct 19, 2020 23:56
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Gripweed posted:#54: 1975 Terror of Mechagodzilla So not going on to the various reboot series? The next two films are actually enjoyable if you wanted to go on...
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Oct 20, 2020 00:12
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Random Stranger posted:So not going on to the various reboot series? The next two films are actually enjoyable if you wanted to go on... I've seen 84 and Biollante, 84 was OK and I really liked Biollante. But I got into this stuff right as the blurays started going out of print so I'm basically waiting for a Heisei bluray set at this point. I have also seen Shin Godzilla, one of the best movies ever made and what convinced me to go back and watch the others.
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Oct 20, 2020 00:34
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[#55: 1975 The Rocky Horror Picture Show Well, I said I wanted something different after all those Universals and Godzilla and boy oh boy... actually this wasn't that different from some of the later Showa Godzilla stuff. In the scene where Frank-n-Furter revealed his creation, would it really have been that surprising if it it was Jet Jaguar under those bandages? I came in to RHPS primed to be annoyed by it. I had heard it described as safe kink for theater kids, and I can't really disagree with that. But I gotta be honest, by the final big musical number, I was into it. It helps that the scene in the pool was actually really nice looking. The rest of the movie is kind of intentionally aesthetically annoying, but that pool sequence actually looks nice and it helps sell the whole thing. Tim Curry and Susan Sarandon do the bulk of the work here. Tim Curry lets loose all of his screen presence and charisma in a role that demands every last drop of it, without him it just wouldn't work. Similarly Susan Sarandon loving goes hog wild, gives every line 120%, and really sells her role. To the extent that The Rocky Horror Picture Show has a narrative arc, it's entirely because of Susan Sarandon's performance. Those two make this movie work. The style of makeup and the many shots where it's pretty shoddy, some of the sets, the crew of mismatched bad backup dancers, and the overall story of a couple falling into this weird guy's pleasure dome gave me a bit of a Rob Zombie vibe that I definitely wasn't expecting. I'd bet that Rocky Horror Picture Show was a big influence on Rob Zombie as a filmmaker. The Rocky Horror Picture Show is messy but pretty good. Give it a try, let out your inner cringe theater teen, and you'll have a good time. Also, Rob Zombie needs to do a remake of it. 55 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 Man, The Corpse Vanishes, The Ghost of Frankenstein, The Mummy's Tomb, Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man, Son of Dracula, The Mummy's Ghost, The House of Frankenstein, The Mummy's Curse, The House of Dracula, She-Wolf of London, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Godzilla, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Godzilla Raids Again, Five Short Films About Bigfoot2, Abbot and Costello Meet The Mummy, Horror of Dracula, Psycho, King Kong vs Godzilla, Blood Feast, Mothra vs Godzilla, The Creeping Terror, Ghidorah The Three-Headed Monster, Orgy of the Dead, Invasion of Astro-Monster, Ghidorah Horror of the Deep, Berserk!, Son of Godzilla, Destroy All Monsters, Dracula Has Risen From The Grave, All Monsters Attack, Taste The Blood of Dracula, Godzilla vs Hedorah, Nosferatu5, Feardotcom3, Godzilla vs Gigan, Dracula AD 1972, Godzilla vs Megalon, Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla, The UFO Incident, Terror of Mechagodzilla, The Rocky Horror Picture Show
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Oct 20, 2020 00:44
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Gripweed posted:
Sid Haig as Frank N Furter Sheri Moon Zombie as Magenta Bill Mosely as Riff Raff
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Oct 20, 2020 00:54
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22. Color Out of Space (2019)  Purple comes to town... with spooky results. Ok, fine. A meteor lands on a family's farm... with spooky results. A slow steady decent into absolute madness. This is a really good adaptation of the Lovecraft story. It was smart to start a bit slow and spend time with the family. In the end, only the father's character development really pays off but the tragedy has so much more impact this way. It also lets the movie spend time showing how nice the house and surrounding area are before everything goes to purple. It's really a beautiful location, and the movie shows it off well. There was some talk in the main horror thread about how we don't get fun, goopy horror movies these days. This is a fun, goopy horror movie. It might take itself seriously, but come on, some of this stuff is straight out of From Beyond. That ending though... smacks of studio interference. Also, I was thinking that calling this alien thing a colour was kind of silly, but thinking about it more it's actually a good name. Colour has such a specific meaning, calling an unknowable alien force that just shows how limited our ability to understand it is. 4.5/5
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Oct 20, 2020 01:05
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Debbie Does Dagon posted:I assumed Melvin was related to the guy who gets eaten through the tire, as Melvin seemed the most affected by the death. This is what I always assumed.
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Oct 20, 2020 01:06
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 "Shire. Baggins." 47. Love and Monsters (2020/USA) Love and Monsters follows a post-apocalyptic scenario in which all cold-blood animals have mutated into kaiju. Reptiles, amphibians, molluscs, arachnids, insects, the whole shebang. Humanity clings on to the very edge of survival by finding shelter in holes, cracks, crevices, and of course underground military facilities. Our story follows one such survivor, Joel, in his attempt to confront the aboveground world and track down his childhood sweetheart. The film is a very cute, inoffensive, big-budget-blockbuster type fare, using the well-trodden beats of the heroes journey, with precisely calculated moments of emotional catharsis. If you've seen one of these films you've seen them all really, but it's of course the details which make these things special, and the details here are nicely done. The monsters are well-realised, and have some emotional depth to them reminiscent of Nausicaa, but nowhere near that impactful of course. There is some threat, but it's very tapered and blunted, probably to be accessible to a family audience. There is some fleeting goopy-ness, for those craving it, and a very good puppy actor, for those craving puppies. The film is also packed with little nods to other movies and franchises, like Fallout and Godzilla of course, but also Stand By Me, Lilo & Stitch, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Zombieland etcetera. It's not a film that's going to light anyone's world on fire, but it's perfectly fine, fun, and enjoyable, and it made me cry over a crab, which is a nice feat.  3.5/5 Total: 47 Queer Interest: 25 Scream Stream: 8 new, 6 rewatches Fran Challenges: 8 | Horror Noire | Short Cuts | Feardotcom | Scream, Queen! | Silent Scream | Tomb of the Blind Spots | Dearly Departed | When Animals Attack | Countries Visited: 19 | USA | Hungary | Portugal | Vietnam | Georgia | Switzerland | Nigeria | United Kingdom | Lithuania | Germany | Finland | France | Spain | Japan | Monaco | Ireland | West Germany | Czechoslovakia | India | Canada |
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Oct 20, 2020 01:29
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You're all mad. 28) Demons (1986) Fran Challenge 6: Tomb of the Blind Spots Although I wouldn't personally have said it was a legendary movie that all righteous men should have watched, goons do keep banging on about Demons so I'm counting it as a blind spot. First off, even though it's set in Germany and the cast is seemingly from everywhere it's definitely Italian. It's got that "dubbed from English to English" feel which I don't really enjoy. Apart from that, though, it's not altogether bad. The core conceit of the first half hour where the nameless film-within-a-film explains the plot of the actual movie in real time is entertaining enough. Then that gets abandoned as the monsters and gore show up and the rest of the movie becomes a protracted siege. And that's where it goes downhill, becoming tiresome and repetitive. Every five minutes someone gets nobbled, over and over. They even have an extra group of characters come into the theatre at one point to make sure they don't run out of people to kill. The film is only 88 minutes long, but it feels like about 20 minutes of that could have been cut without a problem. Still, there's a couple of fun set pieces and it manages to end well enough. I don't think I'd bother checking out any of the sequels, but this was certainly a cut above the usual goon recommendations.
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Oct 20, 2020 01:34
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I don't think I was as close to meeting my challenge at this point last year, so yayquote:#30. Jennifer’s Body
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Oct 20, 2020 02:03
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I've never seen Tremors. I guess I should? Shaun of the Dead (2004) "I'm quite all right, Barbara, I ran it under a cold tap." I’ve watched this probably a dozen times, I just love it so much. It’s a solid zombie movie with a perfect comedy layered on top of it. The number of rewarding payoffs to clever set-ups is just loving masterful. 5/5 The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017) ”Later, of course, I found out that everyone eats spaghetti the exact same way.” It felt so weird to watch a movie that is made this awkward and stilted on purpose, but I really enjoyed it. A movie that mostly occurs in the daylight, with no jump scares, and no real traditional horror elements but builds tons of tension and fear. Modern Iphigenia at Aulis, glad I watched it. 4/5 Fran Challenge #7: Dearly Departed  Tenebr(a)e (1982) ”I just have this hunch that something is missing.” I’ve been meaning to watch this for ages, and this challenge gave me the opportunity since John Saxon is in it. I chose John Saxon because I watched/rewatched all of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies this summer and I always liked the ones Nancy (and him) the best. Also because Enter the Dragon. Anyway — this was a great, straightforward giallo - certainly the least bizarre Argento I’ve seen but I mean that in a good way. I will say that the death of Peter Neal is pretty hilarious, though. 5/5 Event Horizon (1997) ”Hell is merely a word. The reality is much worse.” I saw this when I was 13, my mom rented new horror movies from time to time. Back then, it was one of the scariest movies I had ever seen, but I hadn’t seen a lot of modern horror movies. Rewatching it now over 20 years later, it’s not very scary. It has some tense moments, builds some claustrophobic pressure, but it mostly feels like a bunch of better movies got put into a blender. I wish they went full Hellraiser. This is also the only thing I've ever watched where characters said "five by five" besides Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so uh, cool. 3.5/5SA October Horror Challenge Count: 41/40 First Time Watches: 34/31 Fran Challenges Complete: 8/8 I beat all my challenges earlier than expected! I'm going to try and hit 50 movies by Halloween instead.
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Oct 20, 2020 02:05
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25) The Mortuary Collection (2019) Watched on Shudder  I’m not quite as keen on this as some. I’ll concede that it is competently put together. Obviously Clancy Brown is awesome if somewhat underused. It all just felt so predictable, and didn’t provide anything that Tales from the Crypt or Creepshow or other anthologies haven't provided. It’s four morality tales, and after the first (extremely short) one, you know exactly where the rest are going to go. In better productions, this predictability can be overcome by good performances or unique filming techniques or subversive plots. Here, except for the last 20 minutes or so, everything just felt so reheated and bland to me. The tone was a bit interesting in that for a lot of it, most notably the Monty Dark and Sam interstitials, there’s a lightness that almost feels like a Saturday morning teen horror special. This is interrupted by fun stuff like exploding dicks and head smashification by way of a TV. I enjoyed these tonal shifts as well as the ending, which packed about three twists into 5 minutes. Ultimately I’d say it’s worth a watch if you’re in the mood for something light that you can give half your attention to. I probably expected too much based on positive reviews, plus I’m still reeling from my first watch of Psycho so drat near anything was going to be a step down. One thing I did appreciate a lot was in the second segment with the frat bro. When the pregnant guy finally makes his way to the home of his soon-to-be baby-mama, her parents have seen this happen so many times that they are almost numb to it. I appreciated this reversal of how society tends to treat young pregnant women, not just with a lack of sympathy but with a sense of "well you did this to yourself now loving deal with it." The exploding dick was just the icing on the cake.
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Oct 20, 2020 02:08
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The Berzerker posted:I've never seen Tremors. I guess I should? EVERYONE should see Tremors
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Oct 20, 2020 02:12
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Tremors is a perfect movie.
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Oct 20, 2020 02:19
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Tremors is a perfect Saturday afternoon movie. Fun, funny and good hearted with plenty of goop.
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Oct 20, 2020 02:51
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The Berzerker posted:I've never seen Tremors. I guess I should? Tremors is what 50's creature features aspired to be.
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Oct 20, 2020 03:08
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