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cthulusnewzulubbq posted:The Beast Must Die! is an Amicus crown jewel to Screaming's rare bird. Yeah! I watched The Beast Must Die around this time last year. There is a lot to like about that movie. I'm probably going to watch whatever else there is of the Amicus catalog on Shudder this month. I've already watched Asylum, which as far as I know is the only one of their portmanteaus on there, but there's also I, Monster and maybe one or two more. Oh, I ended up really liking And Now the Screaming Starts. I thought it was way better than its reviews, with some interesting stuff about class conflicts going on. I'm just a sucker for a Gothic story starring Peter Cushing, I guess.
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Oct 3, 2015 22:34
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Had a quasi productive day of chores while rewatching whatever old horrors I found on streaming. Won't do big writeups for them since they were half watched/rewatches but I'll mention them anyway. Beetlejuice (1988) remains a fun little campy film with an iconic character. I know there's a sequel finally in the works and it spawned cartoons and toys and rides and stuff but I've always been surprised we went 25 years or so without a sequel. It had good reviews and good money, I guess it just speaks to the business of Burton/Keaton/Ryder and that they were loyal enough to each other not to let there be just a half assed cash in sequel. But its a fun watch still today. House on Haunted Hill (1999) on the other hand remains a not good remake. It looks nice and has some appeal for the effects/set but beyond that its just a movie I'll turn on in the background so I don't get too distracted from my chores. But Leprechaun (1993) is another fun schlocky horror from my youth. It holds a good place in my heart because it was one of the first R horrors I remember sneaking behind my parents' back. That all came kind of full circle today because I went over to my mom's to pick up some DVDs and get some groceries for her. She knows how much I enjoy this time of year and my horrors and asked what I had. "Leprechaun" stood out to her since she loves Irish stuff and has a ton of leprechauns around the house so she ended up wanting to watch it. So a funny 20 year change from sneaking the movie behind my parents' backs to watching it with my mom at her request. Halloween and bad cult classics... bringing family together.
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Oct 3, 2015 23:16
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Day 3 - Okay, this was a completely baffling film. I figured I was in for something odd with The Cremator, but I wasn't prepared for just how odd it was going to get. I'm going to be describing bits of it and you're going to go, "Well, I don't see what's so odd about that," but when it's assembled with the direction and the acting and the editing the effect of the film is bewildering. In 1930's Czechoslovakia, there lived a man who worked in a crematorium. He was a family man, of a sort. He also was into conspicuous consumption despite the fact that he had to rely on his wife's wealthy family. He loved his work at the crematorium to the point of obsession. Now this man also was not a native Czech, he moved to Prague from Austria after World War I and his friends felt that he really should join the that up and coming National Socialist movement that was sweeping across Europe. A complication for this man, however, is that his wife was Jewish. Rudolf Hrušínský is absolutely amazing in the title role for this film. He's slimy, weird, and creepy. He has this mannerism of a person who is vaguely aware of what humanity is and tries to imitate it but can't quite manage it. Everything in his life is at least a bit askew. It's a fantastic performance that really carries the film; about three-quarters of the lines are his as he goes into long, rambling, off-putting monologues. He also gives one of the creepiest Nazi salutes ever. The editing is very active in The Cremator. There's a lot of creative cuts and scene transitions that bring out the contradictions in in the main character's life. It's also used for comedic effect a lot. Visually, there's some amazing touches as well. The high point for me was when the main character (and this is essentially the end of the film) lays out how to efficiently cremate large numbers of people while standing in front of the hell panel from Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights. This movie was listed as a horror film on Hulu Plus and checking other sources I found it billed as a horror-comedy. It's definitely comedic in a kind of dark, absurdist way, but I can't say it was particularly horrific. At least not until the final act of the film. It was bleak and this was about as dark as comedy can get, though. Still, The Cremator was a very interesting movie.
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Oct 4, 2015 01:03
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1: Thou Wast Mild and Lovely 2/31: Queen of Earth This is my second consecutive sort-of-almost-horror stretch, a restrained Bergmanian psychodrama about... friendship! A pretty constant undercurrent of dread and impending doom stemming from a breakup and a loved one's suicide, shot on beautiful 16mm. Elisabeth Moss is wonderful.
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Oct 4, 2015 01:39
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October Tally - New (Total) - (1). Scream (1996) / 1 (2). Shocker (1989) / - (3). Grave Encounters (2011) / 2 (4). The Babadook (2014) / - (5). Beetlejuice (1989) / - (6). House on Haunted Hill (1999) / - (7). The Leprechaun (1993) / 3 (8). As Above, So Below (2014)  Ok, this one really unnerved me. I'm sitting here really nervous and uncomfortable. A big part of this is probably that I'm claustrophobic and this movie had my heart pumping from the second they went into the catacombs. I wonder if it would be as effective to someone who wasn't claustrophobic, but I am so it was. Even though the movie is light on scares (to the point where the few jump scares in place feel almost out of place) its a really well done tension piece. It moves well and I was surprised how quickly the movie was passing as they just went deeper and deeper and that's where the tension rises. The haunting elements of the story were really secondary to the practical terror of the situation they were in, only heightened by the evil they were growing further aware of as they went deeper. I'm surprised the ratings and reviews are so bad for it. 26% at Rotten Tomatos? I can understand it not being as tense to some and it seems like people didn't like the way it went towards the end. Personally I was ok with. As I said, the fact that the first hour of the film was largely free of scares made the upped scares and "cliches" of the last half hour feel a little off, but then again they were in Hell at that stage so it really makes sense to me. Its not a perfect or great film but it works at what it was aiming for, I think. Its engaging, it moves well, there's an interesting story, and it was so claustrophobic I'm still having a little trouble breathing. Even more than I may have been scared by the Babadook last night as I turned off the lights tonight while I have no concrete fear to cling to I just don't feel right at all. Given that I say that the goal of the horror movie is to make you feeling uneasy afterwards, this was a another success. So for the second night in a row I'm going to give out a 4/5. Also, I'm kind of crushing hard on Perdita Weeks.
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Oct 4, 2015 03:59
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Rivarz posted:Hotel Transylvania It's a very cute and fairly charming movie. It's definitely something I would sit down to watch if it was just on, or someone else wanted to watch it. It was good enough that I'll probably see the sequel, at least. Choco1980 posted:Dark Water is actually the one case where I think the US remake is BETTER than the Japanese original during that cycle of the US remaking J-Horror for a fast buck during the 00's. The Ring is better than Ringu 
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Oct 4, 2015 04:25
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1. The Sentinel (1977) 2. Curse of King Tut's Tomb (1980) 3. The Pit (1981) 4. Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010) 5. Witchtrap (1989) 6. I Am Legend (2007) Robert Neville (Will Smith) Is an important military biologist, who becomes the main person in charge when what was thought to be a cure for cancer ends up becoming a virus turning the population into vampire ish things. (Him being immune to the infection helps). Unfortunately the infection spreads and the entire island of Manhattan, and likely much much further become No Man's Land, with Neville the only human left unaffected. He spends his days with his dog scrounging supplies and hunting down these creatures, sometimes in hopes of finding a cure, sometimes just to get rid of them. He spends his nights huddled in his barricaded home, trying to block out the sounds of the night, and the times he had with his family before everything went to ruin. One day things go very bad for his hunt. Then, shockingly, a woman and a child that appear normal come to him out of nowhere. Between them, and the much more intense pursuit the monsters are taking, things are definitely changing for Neville... Sigh. I wanted to like this, I really did. And I'm not going to lie, my mind was marred by very serious real life stuff happening while I tried to watch it during a stream. That said, I'm a BIG fan of Last Man on Earth, the first filmed version of this story, starring Vincent Price. The second, The Omega Man is okay too, but not nearly as much. The problems are myriad I have with this film. First off, Will Smith does an atrocious job portraying the lonely insanity of his existence. Having conversations with mannequins and having a steadfast survivalist routine just don't cut it. None of the hope or despair you see in Price's portrayal of Neville is seen here. He's just another action hero. Second, the monsters themselves, which are designed to basically be humans with very pale, veiny skin, and too big mouths, are the sorts of things that could be easy to do with makeup effects. Instead, they go with very poorly made CGI even for 2007. It looks about like the level of made for tv around 2002, honestly, so for a big summer blockbuster, it's just incredibly underwhelming. And finally there's the meandering plot. Like, the first half seems to go fairly close to the novel and past iterations, then suddenly things take a left turn that feels very strongly like interference from either Smith or the Producers, actively not understanding what makes the story great, and then focusing on things like restoring Smith's familial routine. I happened to see the alternate ending, which was apparently a big improvement on the theatrical version, and at least tried to move slightly closer to the themes of the book, but it still missed the mark by a WIDE margin. Just go watch Last Man On Earth instead.  /5
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Oct 4, 2015 07:05
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 #3. The 2006 remake of The Omen was a little better than I expected, but a fair part of that was probably due to my fondness for Liev Schreiber. The editing was a lot flashier, the visuals were glossier, and Marco Beltrami did a decent score (though the stuff that wasn't imitation Goldsmith was pretty unmemorable). It felt like the tension-building was hurt by the focus on having a quick flow with the pacing, even with the inserted dream sequences, which came off as irrelevant asides. Nice use of color when they went for it. The screenwriter couldn't get a credit because his script was so close to the '76 one, and while it was neat seeing the new actors step into the roles and deliver the same lines, it just... eh. New Damian didn't have much presence, the devil-dogs felt less vicious, and the make-up for the burned priest was so over-the-top it was silly. I'd only recommend this over the original for people who have some reason to want to see Mia Farrow get kicked in the face and hit by a car. 6/10
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Oct 4, 2015 07:24
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1. The Horror of Party Beach (1964) 3.5/5 2. Ghoulies 2 (1988) 2/5 3. The Clown Murders (1976) 3/5 4. Sundown (1989) 2.5/5 5. The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) 4.5/5 6. At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul (1963) 5/5 7. Sledgehammer (1983) 3/5 8. Blue Sunshine (1977) 4/5 9. A Nightmare on Elm Street 5 (1989) 3/5 10. Rock N' Roll Nightmare (1987) 3.5/5 11. Intercessor: Another Rock N' Roll Nightmare (2005) 2/5 12. The Crater Lake Monster (1977) 2/5 13. Critters 3 (1991) 3/5 14. The Monster Squad (1987) 5/5 "It's twenty minutes to midnight! If we pull this off, I'm gonna poo poo!" What hasn't been said? Not going to lie, The Wolfman sold me on this one. And this movie would make an awesome double feature with Fright Night. That's some high praise.
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Oct 4, 2015 07:41
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Blue Sunshine is a movie that should get way more love around here.
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Oct 4, 2015 07:42
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Wilhelm Scream posted:Blue Sunshine is a movie that should get way more love around here. I was not prepared for how strong that movie comes out of the gate.  cthulusnewzulubbq fucked around with this message at 08:07 on Oct 4, 2015 |
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Oct 4, 2015 07:51
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STAC Goat posted:I'm surprised the ratings and reviews are so bad for it. 26% at Rotten Tomatos? I can understand it not being as tense to some and it seems like people didn't like the way it went towards the end. My personal feeling is that people didn't know what to think of a competent crew of people making relatively smart decisions in a found footage exploration film. sticklefifer fucked around with this message at 09:00 on Oct 4, 2015 |
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Oct 4, 2015 08:56
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Where'd you see Blue Sunshine, by the way? I've never been able to track that one down.
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Oct 4, 2015 14:55
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cthulusnewzulubbq posted:1. The Horror of Party Beach (1964) 3.5/5 Wait, how is Rock and Roll Nightmare only 1 1/2 higher than Rock and Roll Nightmare 2? Rock and Roll Nightmare is at least a movie. Intercessor is...something else. Evidence for some kind of diagnosis, maybe.
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Oct 4, 2015 15:00
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Choco1980 posted:1. The Sentinel (1977) I subjected Choco to this movie, and I gotta say, I didn't expect it to go down THAT poorly, even though I knew the movie was flawed going in. I guess if you don't buy Will Smith's performance as a guy trying to keep himself from losing the humanity we get from society, there basically is no movie.
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Oct 4, 2015 15:37
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HUNDU THE BEAST GOD posted:Where'd you see Blue Sunshine, by the way? I've never been able to track that one down. I got my DVD off Amazon, they've still got it available but only 6 left in stock. Only $5.95, too.
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Oct 4, 2015 15:42
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Jack Gladney posted:Wait, how is Rock and Roll Nightmare only 1 1/2 higher than Rock and Roll Nightmare 2? Rock and Roll Nightmare is at least a movie. Intercessor is...something else. Evidence for some kind of diagnosis, maybe. Five star systems are hard when you enjoy entertaining train wrecks of movies. edit: "movies" cthulusnewzulubbq fucked around with this message at 16:39 on Oct 4, 2015 |
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Oct 4, 2015 15:46
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HUNDU THE BEAST GOD posted:Where'd you see Blue Sunshine, by the way? I've never been able to track that one down. i've never seen it either, but i recently saw it was in my library network, so i just requested it. i think i first recall reading about it in this book, which was pretty instrumental in me getting into horror. i also see that it's apparently streaming on Hoopla if you have access to that (i don't). edit: you can also rent it streaming or get a $6 dvd of it on Amazon.
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Oct 4, 2015 16:14
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My challenge this year was supposed to be watching every Tales from the Crypt episode and I'm currently about to start season 3 with that. But, I've already seen 5 horror movies, so I'm going to see how far I can get with that challenge. So far I've watched. 1. 1408- This is a really well-made movie and John Cusack is great in it, but it didn't really do it for me. 2. Final Destination- Man, this movie is dumb. I really liked it when I saw it at 17, but it didn't really hold up well. 3. Gremlins- I love this movie. I got to watch it at a con with a whole bunch of other people who also love it, which was a great experience. 4. I am Legend- Found this movie really boring, but I think Will Smith was surprisingly great in it. 5. Slither- I'm pretty neutral on this one. There some funny moments, but I wasn't really feeling it, which may have been due to cold medicine and alcohol. I can't wait for my annual rewatch of Trick R Treat.
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Oct 4, 2015 17:03
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Namirsolo posted:My challenge this year was supposed to be watching every Tales from the Crypt episode and I'm currently about to start season 3 with that. i did this a year or so ago. for the most part it was a blast, but i strongly caution you against watching the final season.
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Oct 4, 2015 17:10
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1. Housebound - 4/ 2. The Monster Squad This was my first real viewing of the movie. I had attempted before with a friend who grew up watching it, but the viewing was marred with talking throughout. This movie has been on my radar since it was the CineD Movie of the Month. The Monster Squad is such a product of it's time. I love kids movies in this era, because they act like kids (mostly). They swear, they fight, they have bizarre obsessions, they try to act like adults without knowing what being an adult is like. I could see this being a double feature with The Goonies, Fright Night, or Explorers. It's empowering to kids, which is a message I loved growing up. The special effects are great. Wolfman and the Mummy deserve a strong mention. It doesn't shy away from gore, which is important when creatures are getting blown up and blasted with shotguns. I didn't recognize Tom Noonan as Frankenstein's monster, which is important (to me). It does have it's flaws. I would like to see the characters breathe more, especially things to make the monsters more menacing. There's some odd pacing issues, like the awkward high-five that signals the credit roll. That said, it's strong points push this along past its flaws. Also, I had no idea it was directed by Night of the Creeps director Fred Dekker. /5I loved this movie, despite it's flaws. It's a great Halloween movie. I love that nothing like it will be made for quite a while. It's 80's as gently caress in the best way. If I were a child when I had seen this, it could even be an all-time favorite for me. But I'm not, so one day, if I have kids, hopefully I will be able to pass along this magic and see how they feel. 3. Ginger Snaps I love werewolves. It's a fun monster concept that gets pushed into lackluster movies and terrible books. I somehow have never watched this little gem from Canada. And that's a shame. Ginger Snaps is fantastic. I love the weird sisters Ginger and Bridget; too weird to fit in, too smart for their own good, fighting their awkwardness by embracing the macabre. They are 3 years late to their period. They wear ugly frumpy clothes. They smoke cigarettes during PE and talk poo poo about the popular kids playing lacrosse. All they have is each other, and their affection is unhealthy. Werewolves have been used to show puberty a million times. It's a symbol that works, and that's why the genre is saturated with teenagers. I really don't mind the idea, because every so often you get Ginger Snaps. And the confusing body horror that ensues after Ginger is attacked is horrific, but relatable in a weird way. The movie also goes for the Jaws approach of hiding the monster until it's necessary. It eschews CGI for physical effects (which for a low-budget Canadian movie in 2000 was probably a good idea), which can make or break a werewolf movie. There's some impressive stuff going on, but the monster itself is lackluster. The good news is, by the time it showed up, I was completely invested. Emily Perkins gets full on praise for the quiet, logical and loyal Bridget. She just nails the character in a million ways. I didn't even notice she was Bev from Stephen King's It. She may not have had the biggest career, but she stars in both sequels, which I have to get. I'll be throwing this in my favorite horror movies list for now on. /54. Prom Night Another low-budget Canadian movie! No, but seriously. Everything about this screams "low-budget" and "Canada". This was released in 1980. The prom is disco themed. A character wears a tuxedo jacket with blue jeans. He is the only character that actually wears a tuxedo. Everyone else has lapels as long as my forearm. Everyone smokes cigarettes everywhere. Fighting is mostly a few punches and then some wrestling. There's an action scene of an old van spinning in circles in a field as the killer is fought. No one here is a pretty/handsome Hollywood actor, except Scream Queen Jamie Lee Curtis. Leslie Neilson is the principal (and doesn't get any time to shine). I like how the story progresses. It doesn't actually become a slasher until the last act. The first act sets up a mystery, introduces the players, and sets up a few different plots that will play out. Then we introduce a weird voice calling each of the characters, threatening them. The actual killer is human: it's just a guy (of average build) wearing all black and a mask. He gets punched, kicked, and thrown around. There's a fantastic part where the killer offs a girl, and her date punches the masked man straight in the face, sending him backwards. I love Freddy and Jason's invincibility, but seeing people fight back is always great. I appreciate this movie for solidifying Slashers as a sub-genre, and giving indie filmmakers more of a presence outside of Hollywood, but this movie hasn't aged well. I'm glad I finally got around to watching it (especially with all the Scream talk that's been going on in the horror threads in CD; Jamie Kennedy's character constantly refers to this movie as the foundation of Slasher tropes), but it's a boring movie. I should note that, despite my attempts otherwise, I viewed the low-quality VHS rip edition that suffers from poor transfer and lighting. I'll eventually get the remastered edition a watch to see if I like it better. /5
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Oct 4, 2015 17:13
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Uncle Boogeyman posted:i did this a year or so ago. for the most part it was a blast, but i strongly caution you against watching the final season. The only good thing about the final season is enjoying what are essentially cameos from people who became famous a decade later. At least Twilight Zone on video/hour long had some genuinely great episodes. Tales from the Crypt in England was a whole lot of nothing.
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Oct 4, 2015 17:25
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Today was As Above, So Below - man I wanted to like this a little more than I did. I think the first 2/3rds or so are pretty stellar, but the last act didn't work for me. It felt oddly rushed, and I don't think it quite committed to its own premise. I still liked it though. Anything that's quasi religious/culty has my attention. And it has pretty good performances throughout. Was this discussed any more in depth elsewhere? Or do I need to dig through the horror thread?
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Oct 4, 2015 17:38
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1: Thou Wast Mild and Lovely 2: Queen of Earth 3/31: The Pact This has been in my Netflix queue for decades and I finally got to it last night after starting The Den and not feeling it. This was a little all over the place in terms of switching so willy nilly between subgenres and kind of forgetting about certain subplots for a while, but there are some unnerving sequences and it's ultimately a pretty fun little movie I think.
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Oct 4, 2015 17:41
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Short write up this time: #17.House on the Edge of the Park (1980). This was actually uncomfortable to watch. It's a run of the mill crazy people hold not crazy people hostage and torment them movie. However this movie is full of rape. The main baddie loves to rape women, and doesn't hold back. #18.The Innkeeper (2011). Ty West sure loves to do slow burn, and it works surprisingly well in a modern context. A couple of people work at an inn which is about to close permanently. They decide to do some paranormal investigating. #19.Ghosthouse (1988). A decent haunted house flick where a little girl and her doll kill people that enter. A few glaring plot holes, but a neat watch. The kills are entertaining and the effects are good. If you're not a fan of haunted house flicks I would avoid this though. #20..Rawhead Rex (1986). Based on a short story by Clive Barker, this low budget monster flick chronicles a released demon's journey across Ireland. Its ok. Not poo poo, but not essential viewing either. P.S. I Love You is a remake of this. #21.Witchboard (1986). A woman is haunted by a spirit because she uses an Ouija board alone, which she isn't supposed to do. Yeah, this didn't hold up as well as I was hoping. I didn't hate it though. #22:Slither (2006). An alien crashes to earth and wants to eat everyone, well, sort of. This is a comedy/horror offering from James Gunn. It's funny in a back woods 'Merica sort of way. It's absurd, gross, and offensive. I like it! #23.Evilspeak (1981). It's Carrie with Clint Howard and much more Satan. #24.The Slumber Party Massacre (1982). A phone repair man kills a bunch of girls with a power drill. No masked killers here, you know right away who the killer is. No rationales either, he's just plain nuts. It's cool to have power drill as his instrument of death. It makes hiding in closets pointless.
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Oct 4, 2015 17:46
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I'm back with 3 first-time viewings. 5. The Son of Frankenstein (1939): This is Boris Karloff's last film as the Frankenstein monster. Dr. Frankenstein's son, Wolf, returns home from studying abroad and has his family in tow. The local townsfolk are wary of the arrival of another member of the Frankenstein clan arriving. The stormy weather matches the townsfolk's attitude, and this helps create a tense atmosphere. We soon find that Ygor (Bela Lugosi)is alive, and he ha the Monster in his possession. The young Frankenstein then sets about recreating his father's work. What he doesn't realize is that Ygor has ulterior motives. This was the last of the major Universal Frankenstein movies before the franchise dipped into B-movie territory. It's a fairly unappreciated film, as while it's not quite as good as the original Frankenstein or Bride, it's certainly better than what was to come. There is an excellent sense of paranoia present, with the town's inspector obsessively visiting the house trying to get to the bottom of things. There's a lot to like here as well, as the laboratory is quite spooky, and it's full of classic things like hidden passages and trap doors. The film doesn''t rely as heavily on the presence of the monster, and the result of this is that the monster ends up being a continual source of awe and attention in every scene he's in. The only thing I really didn't care for was the child actor. He was too sweet and high-pitched. 6. The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942): Lon Chaney Jr. is up to bat as Frankenstein. There's a noticeable difference in the make-up. In this one. the townsfolk blames their current economic woes on the curse of Frankenstein. They decide that the castle must be destroyed, and prosperity will follow. It's an interesting look at xenophobia, and unfortunately, the movie doesn't stay focused on this. Ygor is still holed up in the castle, and as the castle crumbles, he finds the body of the monster. They head off to the countryside, and seek out Ludwig, yet another son of Dr. Frankenstein. Ludwig is a brain surgeon who is attempting to do successful brain transplants. Once again, Ygor has ulterior motives. This one wasn't as good as it's predecessor. It focused more on the Monster throughout, thus taking away any shock factor. I imagine they did this for 2 reasons. First, it was a lower budget movie so they couldn't put as much work into the settings to help create any atmosphere. So they focused on the monster more throughout. Second, look at the release dates. Son of Frankenstein came out quite early in WW2. By the time Ghost of Frankenstein was out, the war had been going on for years, and people were more focused on real-life horror. By focusing on the monster you can hope to attract a younger crowd who won't care as much about things like atmosphere or characterization. Ultimately, this one I'd only recommend to Universal completionists. 7. The Leprechaun (1993): A trapped Leprechaun (Warwick Davis) is freed, and he's after his pot of gold. This leads to him attacking and killing anyone who stands in his way. This is a pretty big franchise, and I felt a little left out not having seen any of these. I really didn't end up caring too much for this. It's very tonally inconsistent. A quick check of IMDB confirmed my suspicions - this was originally a kid's movie that the studio later decided to turn into an adult horror film, so they added extra gore. This means that there's a lot of scenes that are full of exposition that takes the concept too seriously, then other scenes with over the top violence that just seems out of place. I have a feeling I'd likely enjoy the sequels much more.
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Oct 4, 2015 21:42
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Can you believe I only just now watched Nightmare on Elm Street? I can see how a movie like this can leave as big as an impact on popular culture as it did, but I fear that the movie lost some of its oomph because of how many parodies of it I have been exposed to. A real shame, that.
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Oct 4, 2015 21:43
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Son of Frankenstein is also hard to take seriously today due to Young Frankenstein taking SO MUCH from it. Like, more than any other Frankenstein film. Funny enough, it's probably one of the least watched of the series so the references go over the heads of most people watching Young. Hell, some of the things people thought were funny gags in Young are taken DIRECTLY from Son. Like all the gags with the Inspector's wooden arm.
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Oct 4, 2015 21:58
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3. Bad Taste (1987) This film really proved to me why Peter Jackson might be a shining example of a great producer today. He had a shoestring budget with this one (and filmed it over the course of 4 years on the weekends) and he made something that is truly remarkable in terms of practical effects and kinetic filmmaking (via his famous usage of pans and extreme close-ups). The film itself is about a group of paramilitary government agents (or something) that are investigating a village that has been invaded by aliens who are harvesting them for food. I didn't believe the paramilitary part for one second (it really is a bunch of dudes that suited up cheap for this film) but the sheer amount of enthusiasm and effort put by them into believing it made this film a fun romp. It's got some fantastic gore, great lines and god drat does it get nuts at the end in a way I would not have expected this film to achieve. This is also the first of the trilogy of films Jackson made in New Zealand before Heavenly Creatures turned heads stateside and the one I put off watching for too long. /5
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Oct 4, 2015 22:07
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Week 1: Travel 1. Unaware | 2. Vinyan | 3. Borderland | 4. Calvaire 5. The Forest - Oct. 1 Cannibal / Ghost People basically get attacked by a cannibal and interact with the ghosts of his family, whom he murdered. It was made in 1982 but feels more like a mid-70's, poorly acted, laughably bad thing that would be on MST3K. 2/10 6. Dead and Buried - Oct. 2 Slasher Mob / Smalltown Sheriff I don't want to spoil anything about this one, but it's an imaginative slasher where a small town cop's trying to figure out a bunch of grisly mob murders. The special effects aren't that great, but this one has a nice Twilight Zone twist and also Robert Englund. Quite good. 7/10 7. The Visit - Oct. 3 Found Footage / CAUTION: Wes Anderson Precocious Kids / Old People This film blew me away and I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. It whiplashes between funny / quirky to creepy / horrific while constantly revealing new things about the characters. The acting was good all around and this is the most watchable, least shaky-cam found footage film I've seen. I could have done with less rapping. 8/10
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Oct 4, 2015 22:42
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Homebodies (1974) When a fatal accident shuts down a demolition site, elderly people in the neighboring building get an idea on how to delay the destruction of their own building. An interesting premise (that would have been a great opportunity to say something about elder care) and dark humor, but despite a promising beginning, things didn't come together. Not a terrible movie, but not good. Watching an old lady joyously encasing a guy in cement was slightly disturbing. I'm kind of surprised some ambitious filmmaker hasn't 're-imaged' this movie, it has potential in the right hands. /5
Dr.Caligari fucked around with this message at 00:02 on Oct 5, 2015 |
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Oct 4, 2015 23:43
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On Lurdiak's suggestion for the stream tonight, I made my decision on what to watch today: 7. Nosferatu: The Vampyre (1979) The film starts barely different from any other Dracula adaptation we've all seen: Johnathon Harker is a real estate agent (this time in Germany rather than England) gets assigned to sell a Transylvanian count, Dracula, some property. So he sets off from his wife Lucy (It's weird how many adaptations switch around the names of the two women that matter in the story. Never figured out why.) and goes and visits the count. On the way, local gypsies and villagers warn him of local superstitions, such as vampires. It doesn't take long at the castle for the very strange and monstrous count to buy a place near Johnathon's own home. He also quickly becomes drawn to a picture of Lucy Johnathon has on a locket. Johnathon is then locked up, and has his blood sucked, and as the count leaves, the man breaks out to try to get back to stop him. Here's where things slowly pull away from the traditional story. The Count's rule over rats is made apparent, and they're blamed for the many deaths aboard his ship. Once he hits town, the rats run wild, causing plague panic, as people die off by the dozens. When Johnathon gets there, he's delirious and doesn't even recognize his wife. Through his journals though, she's able to piece together what Dracula is, and learns that if he's distracted by a woman of pure heart so that he doesn't notice the morning come, he will be killed. So she knows what she must do... Well, this is an interesting take on the material, for sure. It's slow, but this is Werner Herzog, he takes his time showing you things, and with great care. Every shot is beautiful, every set is filled character. I remember in film school more than once my professor showing a clip from early on where the sun sets amongst quickly moving clouds, easily impressed by the shot. I say he was missing the forest for the trees, as that's one of the simpler, least interesting uses of the camera and scenery throughout the film. Herzog has a knack for making his locations as much a part of the cast as the actors. And the actors himself he allows to breath and think for themselves. Being familiar with the various source materials allows one to keep up with the story better, but he spends much of the character motivation silent, allowing the thoughts to move in their heads on their own. There's many, many reasons Herzog is considered one of the best directors of all time, and this film most definitely doesn't dissuade the logic. /5
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Oct 5, 2015 00:29
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13. Spaced Invaders (1990) Around the time Jurassic Park came out in theaters, this movie was playing nonstop on The Disney Channel. I must have seen it 20 times. Today's viewing was my first in over a decade. Since my wife isn't a big fan of horror, I have a few Halloween-season movies on the list. She HATED it. I enjoyed it, but it's not good.
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Oct 5, 2015 01:20
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#25.Stuff Stephanie in the Incinerator (1989). This was quite the different movie. The movie just fucks with you the entire time. The characters are performing weird plays that have plays within them.. The acting was pretty terrible, but a neat premise that with a bit more flushing out, it could have been great. #26.Specters (1987). I was excited when I saw Donald Pleasance was in this! Too bad it's not very good. I don't need a plot explained, but this didn't really give much of anything. All this poo poo was happening, and it didn't have any rhyme or reason. A few entertaining kills were shown, but other than that it was a pretty bland movie. #27.The Strangeness (1985). A bunch of people go into an unexplored mine to find gold. Too bad there is a monster in there with them too. You barely see the monster in this one, when you do its claymation. The kills are tame and there isn't too much blood. It was also really dark, sometimes it was too hard to see what was going on. #28.Demons (1985). A bunch of random people get tickets to see a movie at a theater. They go, demons appear and start infecting the patrons with demon contagion, and that's about it. I love this movie. It's weird, has some good gore, and never really settles down. It's got a strange vibe; hell breaks loose and you only get a few ideas why.
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Oct 5, 2015 01:20
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Choco1980 posted:On Lurdiak's suggestion for the stream tonight, I made my decision on what to watch today: Glad you enjoyed it. Now try and spot the references to this version in Shadow of the Vampire.
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Oct 5, 2015 01:31
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Day 4 - Tokaido Yatsuya Kaidan is one of many film adaptations of Yatsuya Kaidan, an extremely well-known ghost story in Japan. In fact, I'm actually planning on watching another version of Yatsuya Kaidan later this month, though that one is almost three times as long as this film so I'm giving it a few weeks and planning on watching it over a weekend. This particular version was made by Nobuo Nakagawa, who would go on to direct Jigoku which is a visual descent into hell. Iemon is a complete shithead of a samurai. He's a ronin who's so much of a wastrel that his fiance's father breaks off the engagement. So Iemon kills him and blames it on a bandit with one of the servants helping him cover things up. He marries Iwe and pretends to search the countryside for the bandit that killed her father. But eventually he settles down in Edo, gambles his day away, and is a complete shithead to the point that he puts Iwe up as collateral for some gambling debts. Seriously, I cannot emphasize how much of a shithead this guy is. He luckily stumbles into saving the daughter of a powerful samurai, though. With the servant acting as his Iago, he decides to poison Iwe, frame someone else for adultery, and then marry his way into wealth and power. And the plan goes pretty well until Iwe's ghost starts working on her revenge. I have to admit that there was some aspects of the story lost on me. After Iemon kills his wife she drives him to kill the entire household of the family he married into. Apparently the only consequence of this is that Iemon has an exorcism performed. This, BTW, fits firmly into my theory that all Japanese ghosts are assholes; torment your shithead husband, sure, but what's that serving woman ever done to you, Iwe? I found Nakagawa's direction in this film to be a bit weird. In wide shots, there's some awkward blocking where actors are obstructed part of the time and it breaks apart the interaction between the characters. But on tighter shots, he uses this same technique to much greater effect as the camera moves around the sets. As I noticed in his Jigoku (which I liked better than this film), Nakagawa is fantastic with lighting. He directed a lot of horror films in the 1950's and most of them are very obscure (okay, all of them other than Jigoku); I'm hoping I can dig up another one or two this month. There's a lot of striking visuals in this film, especially once the haunting starts. The first actually shot of the ghost is terrific (and sadly spoiled by posters for the film). And the scene where Iwe is dying is disturbingly intense. The poison (of European origin, of course) disfigures the person before killing them and we get a long sequence of the beautiful woman decaying while still alive. Overall, I thought Tokaido Yatsuya Kaidan was a flawed, but interesting movie. But it was also very short so those flaws didn't feel as bad as they might have in a longer movie. I'm looking forward to watching a different version of this story since it's such a strong framework that I'm interesting in seeing another take on it. Tomorrow I'm watching Rock 'n Roll Nightmare, though after hearing people talk about it for decades I feel like I've already seen it. I decided to grab it because I saw another film with a description that made me go, "Hey! That's the plot of Rock 'n Roll Nightmare!" so I thought I'd finally watch the... uh... classic(?) and then compare it to the other one.
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Oct 5, 2015 03:18
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5) Leprechaun Actually haven't seen it before. It wasn't bad, but it kinda dragged in some parts but it was a fairly solid 'funny horror' movie that I think aged well. It's absurd, of course, but you're watching a malicious leprechaun hunt down his pot o' gold from durn teens, did you really expect it to be anything but absurd? /56) Leprechaun: Origins Bad. It's the only word for it, bad in every way. Sadly it wasn't even the most degrading thing Hornswaggle has been involved in thanks to the WWE. Bad/5
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Oct 5, 2015 03:24
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Day 4 - Altar Today’s randomly determined horror pick is a movie on Netflix that is currently sitting at slightly more than 1 and a half stars. That combined with the fact that I had never heard of it before did not fill me with much confidence. I had just managed to get two good films in a row, though, so I figured the luck could last forever. With all those incredibly low expectations, it turns out the film wasn’t all that bad. Nor, however, was it all that good. Full Review Rate it 2.5 out 5
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Oct 5, 2015 04:10
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4. Cannibal Holocaust (1980) This was on my horror film backlog for a while due to its notoriety as being a milestone in the exploitation genre (which I have a guilty pleasure for because they are just raw films with a unique power). The film is also known for being arguably the first "found footage" film. The set-up is simple: a documentary crew goes into the Amazonian rain forest to shoot an indigneous tribe and their footage is found and compiled. What I found interesting is that the first film is pure Italian cinema in that the group that finds their footage is shot in typical Italian style: their voices are dubbed and you feel oddly disconnected as a result. The documentary crew footage, on the other hand, had a boom mic and everything is recorded on-set which oddly worked really well in pulling yourself back into the film. That's really the only positive thing I can say about the film is the unique way of disjointing the two perspectives. The rest of the film is your typical exploitation gorefest and the usage of actual animal mutiliations/deaths is so loving offputting because the point of the genre is to depict the horrors of the world WITHOUT contributing to it. Ugh. .5/5
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Oct 5, 2015 04:40
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October 2nd: Evil Spirits (1990) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099523/ Karen Black runs a boardinghouse, taking her tenants' cheques and killing them off when they get too annoying for her invalid husband. Of course, this is raising suspicions, but will anyone be able to do anything about it before getting slashed/axed/stabbed/poisoned? It's definitely not a very serious movie, with most of the characters being kooky weirdos, and Black constantly hamming it up while conversing with her husband's ridiculous voiceover. One scene at the end has a character discovering Karen Black's husband's corpse, complete with a Psycho-esque musical sting, only to have no real reaction at all because it was so obvious. Worth a watch if you like fun b-movies with a decent amount of blood. October 3rd: Prettykill (1987) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093775/ Hookers are being murdered, and our hero detective is looking for the killer while dealing with his increasingly insane girlfriend who has a split personality. Big, shocking spoiler ahead: She's the killer! While it is ridiculous enough for some laughs (the girlfriend acting like her abusive redneck father is incredible), I feel pretty confident when I say that nothing else I see this month could possibly be as bad as Prettykill. October 4th: Incubus (2006) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462359/ ...yeah, nevermind. This is worse.
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Oct 5, 2015 04:45
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