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25. Häxan: Burroughs and crazy rear end silent film with naked people haming it up. Great background noise while doing housework. 26. Shaun of the Dead: Still a lot of fun.
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Oct 15, 2016 19:20
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I haven't watched anything in 5 days. My mom went to the ER and I spent most of the week in the hospital. In what free time I had watching horror was definitely not what I wanted to experience given the situation. Thankfully she's home and things are better so I'm going to try and pick this back up. I can definitely still hit 31 fairly easily by doubling up a bunch but I've managed to miss 8 days out of 14 in October and I need to correct that if I'm ever going to really feel this thing. I'm just not in the Halloween mood and i have to find a way to change that. 7 (8). Phantasm (1979) "You play a good game, boy, but the game is finished! Now you die!" Even though this is clearly a popular choice I did not see the in theaters HD version. Just a regular old SD version here. This is one of those movies I know I saw when I was younger, primarily because it gave me nightmares. But I remembered almost nothing about it. Bits and pieces. The Tall Man. Reggie. Creepy dwarves. Silver death balls. But I had no idea what the movie was about coming in so I counted it as new. Of course I'm not real sure I know what its about coming out of either. I get why this is a classic. The SD version doesn't age super well but the HD trailer looks much nicer. But even in the aged SD version I get it. Its eerie. Not so much scary, but unnerving in a way. I know why it gave me nightmares as a kid. The dreamlike state of things and freaky images. Plus the overarching sense of loss. Lets just say I'm really glad I didn't watch this while my mom was in the hospital or else I probably would have reacted very differently. I don't know what the gently caress happened and the whole third act was weird as gently caress even without the double twist if "Huh?" but it was a fun ride. I have the HD version pencilled in for next year's watch. Man, I would have loved to be in the pitch room for this. "We need something new for horror." "I got something. A creepy mortician is actually a gender bending alien who smooshes corpses into undead dwarf slaves to send back to his planet. And he has killer balls." "..." "Oh. And its actually all a dream and a metaphor for a kid struggling to deal with the death of his family. But its not! Or it is! Argento!" "..." October Tally - New (Total) - (1). 30 Days of Night (2007) / 1 (2). It Follows (2015) / 2 (3). Frankenstein (1931) / 3 (4). The Visit (2015) / 4 (5). Red State (2011) / 5 (6). The Forest (2016) / 6 (7). Ava’s Possessions (2015) / 7 (8). Phantasm (1979)
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Oct 15, 2016 20:28
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I'm pretty sure I'm not going to make it to 30 movies but I still have about a dozen movies lined up and I am at least going to get through them all. 8 The Keep The Keep has a lot of gorgeous cinematography and the soundtrack by Tangerine Dream is just fantastic but it's very obvious that half the film was cut. It moves from scene to scene like it's really hurrying to get to the end and keeps forgetting bits in between. It all makes sense but it always feels like something is missing. That being said I like the general vibe of the film in that it feels a lot more like a dark fantasy film than horror. Maybe we'll get a fancy original cut release in HD. Other then the strange pacing and editing I feel that it leans a bit too hard on the "clean Wehrmacht"-myth in that the Evil Nazis even wear black to differentiate themselves from the Good Nazis. The SS did have a black uniform but it was a dress uniform not worn in the field at least in the east.
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Oct 15, 2016 21:15
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22Shin Godzilla Loved it. Godzzilla is back to being dark and monstrous, and it's paired with a sort of West Wingish approach to the human drama.  /5
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Oct 15, 2016 22:21
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I fell asleep before I could get to ANoES2  Day 1, the Cloverfields: Cloverfield: 8.5; 10 Cloverfield Lane: 9.5 Day 2, the Not As They Seem: The Thing: 10; They Live: 8.5 Day 3, the Rest of the Trilogy: Prince of Darkness: 7.5; In the Mouth of Madness: 8 Day 4, the Big Planners: From Beyond: 9; The Lords of Salem: 6 Day 5, the Obvious: Hellraiser: 9; Hellraiser II: Hellbound: 7 Day 6, the Not Quite Human: Beyond the Black Rainbow: 9.5; Under the Skin: 10 Day 7, the Hotels of Horror: The Shining (extended cut): 10; 140:8 Day 8, the Hauntings: Noroi: 8; Housebound: 9.5 Day 9, the Reruns: Triangle: 9; White: 4.5 Day 10, Humanoids in Space: Alien (Director's Cut): 9; Pandorum: 7.5 Day 11, Humanoids on Earth: The Descent: 9; Splice: 5.5 Day 12, From the Shallow: Shin Godzilla: 8.5; The Bay: 7.5 Day 13, Campfire Stories: Friday the 13th: 9; Sleepaway Camp: 8.5 14.1: I can see how A Nightmare on Elm Street became a classic/the start of a franchise. Someone recently in the horror thread pointed out how the most striking scenes in this are not the actual dream sequences, but the parts that show the weird stuff happening in the "real world". There's even the lab scene where it doesn't show what Nancy experienced at all. I thought that it was cool how early on there was a plausible explanation from most people's points of view, then that it was silly how far the adults went in not believing Nancy (see also: lab scene), but then the ending made sense of all of it while also justifying Glen's uselessness, assuming I read it correctly: Nancy was in an artificial or at least malleable reality, which conspired to ensure that she was completely on her own. Rating from the point of view of the next time I watch this without being annoyed by those things, this gets a 9.5/10. 14.2: I'm glad I watched A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge, but it was clunky compared to the original. The gay themes were hilarious until it ended up that the main message of the film seems to be "gayness takes away your control over yourself, will destroy everyone around you, and can only be held off temporarily, not stopped". With it taking the parallels between Freddy and homosexuality as far as it did, it could have ended with him being integrated in a healthy way or something like that...but it didn't. Maybe someone can provide an alternative interpretation, but right now this is another that just made me feel bad in a bad way. 6.5/10 VROOM VROOM fucked around with this message at 06:34 on Oct 16, 2016 |
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Oct 16, 2016 00:54
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K. Waste posted:Day 14 Day 15 Didn't really know I was gonna get another horror comedy, but it worked out in the end. Shin・Gojira killed it.
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Oct 16, 2016 02:20
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9. Cemetery Man A wonderfully insane film where you can never be sure what happens next. Basically Francis is a young man who is the caretaker of a cemetery his duties include putting down the undead which are a persistent problem in the cemetery. He is more than a bit obsessed with death and the people in the village all think he is a impotent creeper. He has only two friends the childlike and obese Gnaghi who works as his assistant and Franco who works in an office that is literally drowning in useless paperwork with entire mountains of files on each desk. However he falls in love with a recently widowed young woman of a much younger man. The tone of the film really reminds me of early Peter Jackson films like Dead Alive/Braindead and Bad Taste where there are all these horrible things happening but in a strangely comedic manner. Gnaghi might be the inspiration for Hodor. Both are big hulking men who can only say one word and that word seems to be their namesake. Gnaghi can only say "Gna". I mean it´s not likely but Gurm is enough of a film buff that he runs a movie theater so who knows. Basebf555 posted:8.Black Sabbath Fun fact: That segment is based on a short story called The Family of the Vourdalak by Tolstoy. Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, cousin to the more famous Leo. 58 years before Dracula was published. Although the vampires in the story seem unusual by modern standards it is actually far more faithful to the original Slavic vampire folklore than other vampire stories from the same era. The vampire as a charismatic aristocrat who seduces women and drinks their blood is very different from the folklore. The Folkloric vampire was always a commoner and was a bloated corpse with crimson skin that primarily fed on its surviving family, friends and neighbors usually starting an epidemic in the process. The literary vampire is basically a mix of these myths with a heavy serving of the more sinister Irish and Scottish faeries thrown in as well as a dash of the Byronic hero.
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Oct 16, 2016 03:00
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Another one thanks to scream stream 23Witchfinder General PRice kills it, and I love the english country side atmosphere
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Oct 16, 2016 03:06
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Day 15 - Halfway there! And for the second episode in a row the Flophouse tried to spoil something for me. This time I at least could turn it off when I knew they were talking about Viy (which I'm still a few days off from). I'm looking forward to getting spoiled on whatever movie I'm watching at the end of the month when they release their next episode in two weeks. Adaptations of H. P. Lovecraft's stories haven't exactly been the greatest. Often they have more ambition than quality and the best films to have come out of his work have completely abandoned his tone. But when I saw that there was a recent adaptation of The Colour Out of Space, probably his best story, I had to give it a try. A meteor falls on a farm and afterward life in the surrounding area goes bad. The crops grow abnormally and rot while growing, the people on the farm become disturbed And at night, you might see something. This is a German production and they moved the setting of the story to Germany, but they added a terrible framing story about an American who comes to a village near the farm looking for his father who visited the area after World War II. So this film shot around 2010 had a framing story set in the 1970s that flash backed to the main story set in the 1920s and 30s. It's pointlessly convoluted, clunkily done, and completely unnecessary. The film is shot in black and white for the obvious reason. But just because it's the obvious way to go doesn't mean that it couldn't be done well. Sadly, this movie has a problem that I feel like a lot of recent black and white films have: it wasn't shot very well. B&W photography isn't just turning the color switch off on your digital camera; everything has to be lit properly or you just get a flat, ugly film. There are some bits that do look good which makes me think that this may have been a product of the a hasty production schedule. Another problem visually is that when the colors show up (look, it's in the title, I'm not spoiling that), it looks like a flat overlay on image. The ending is terrible also. Apparently the colours just decided to hang out in a well for a decade until a GI dropped a rock into it. And that was their signal to abandon the planet. Also, I want to know how the "I was just fleeing the blighted alien landscape my farm was becoming," defense would go at the Nuremberg trials.
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Oct 16, 2016 03:07
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27. Fido: Tonal shifts and dissonant content/mood galore. Little Timmy gets a pet/servant/buddy zombie in an alternate past where WWII has been replaced by a zombie war and society consists of Leave it to Beaver type I also love it going full '50s and '60s sfi-fi where gently caress you, space dust done gone an rose the dead.
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Oct 16, 2016 03:45
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 The ListThe Big Four 16. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) 17. Halloween (1978) 18. Friday the 13th (1980) 19. Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) 20. Halloween 2 (1981) 21. Friday the 13th Part 3 (1982) 22. Halloween 3: Season of the Witch (1982) 23. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984) 24. Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) 25. Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985) 26. Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985) 27. Friday the 13th Part VI Jason Lives (1986) 28. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) 29. Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors (1987)  So, for the most part in franchises like this, the third entry is the one that defines the series. The first is whar it is, the second experiments with how to follow up, and the third is the one that solidifies the elements that work. This is especially true in Friday the 13th, where it makes Jason the Antagonist-Protagonist, the Hockey Mask, and the rotating cast of co-eds. Halloween, kinda strange as the third was such a departure that it's kinda skipped in the Myers story (the fourth is a better candidate). In this case, this film is the one that defines the series as a package of psychadelic nightmare sequences, telling the story of a group of young teens, oppressed by an authority who doesn't want to understand what they're going through. I mentioned about how Friday the 13th eventually discovered the franchise with each of the early film. This film is where they discovered Nightmare. Anyways, there's definitely some fun to be had in this film. It's certainly a lot more inventive than 2, and develops the story of the series a lot more as well. And occasionally looks really good, both in and out of the nightmare sequences. It almost takes a Disney-esq whimsy to the power of dreaming. I guess this is probably the start of the kiddy-fying of the franchise. Though I don't think it's a better film than 2, but it is a lot more satisfying. Though 1 still reigns supreme, though it has the benefit of being a standalone feature. Meanwhile, this one is weighed under the expectations of following up the previous two. And even saying that, I do have some reservations about how it does so. Like making Freddy's presence limited to the dream world, and his actions in real life being limited to 'possessing' his victims to impose his will. That's kinda the easiest explanation of what's going on, and the least interesting way to go about it. And it doesn't completely jive with what happened in the two films and their explanation of Freddy's power. When kids are mutilating themselves because of Freddy's powers, then how do you explain how Johnny Depp turned into a blood geyser? Anyways, it's gross when it needs to be, and tense where it matters. The pseudo-Superhero action I don't think always works well, especially considering how omnipresent and all powerful Freddy's presented as. And it's theme of authority undermining, and inadvertently killing, their youth just kinda disappears halfway thorough. I'd kinda say that it just ends up a little overloaded with ideas, and it works against the simplicity of the first two. It's almost like a heist movie that's told not nearly as effectively as it needed to be. I mean it's fine, but it's not as good as I wish it was. It's the point where Nightmare is starting to tip into Friday the 13th style complacency. It's not entirely there, but it's a start. Next up: Friday the 13th part 7: The New Blood
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Oct 16, 2016 09:24
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Day 1, the Cloverfields: Cloverfield: 8.5; 10 Cloverfield Lane: 9.5 Day 2, the Not As They Seem: The Thing: 10; They Live: 8.5 Day 3, the Rest of the Trilogy: Prince of Darkness: 7.5; In the Mouth of Madness: 8 Day 4, the Big Planners: From Beyond: 9; The Lords of Salem: 6 Day 5, the Obvious: Hellraiser: 9; Hellraiser II: Hellbound: 7 Day 6, the Not Quite Human: Beyond the Black Rainbow: 9.5; Under the Skin: 10 Day 7, the Hotels of Horror: The Shining (extended cut): 10; 140:8 Day 8, the Hauntings: Noroi: 8; Housebound: 9.5 Day 9, the Reruns: Triangle: 9; White: 4.5 Day 10, Humanoids in Space: Alien (Director's Cut): 9; Pandorum: 7.5 Day 11, Humanoids on Earth: The Descent: 9; Splice: 5.5 Day 12, From the Shallow: Shin Godzilla: 8.5; The Bay: 7.5 Day 13, Campfire Stories: Friday the 13th: 9; Sleepaway Camp: 8.5 Day 14, Sleep Tight: A Nightmare on Elm Street: 9.5; A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: 6.5 15.1: Apparently I've never seen the beginning of Predator. It does really well setting up these badasses before putting them up against something that works in the opposite way they do and gives them something to be scared of. Also does well giving each character their own personality, while setting Dutch up to be the one who balances brain and brawn and earns his ending. Only because the sound design seemed a little unspired besides at key moments does this get an 8/10. 15.2: Speaking of sound design, Scream does great things with its soundtrack (though after seeing Peaky Blinders it was interesting having Red Right Hand feature so prominently). It's also the perfect movie for me to watch right now and a great send-up of the slasher formula, where everyone is a suspect, anyone not currently in frame could be the killer, and everyone knows the rules but that may or may not mean they'll get followed. Having someone be snuck up on while telling a movie character to look behind them is clever, but what this one did with makes it a classic. 9/10 VROOM VROOM fucked around with this message at 06:43 on Oct 17, 2016 |
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Oct 16, 2016 09:24
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1. The Last Exorcism 2. Quarantime 3. Afflicted 4. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) 5. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) 6. The Ring (remake) 7. Scanners 8. The Brood 9. The Babadook 10. Splinter 11. Vampyr 12. Cloverfield 13. Jennifer's Body - this was a lot more entertaining than I expected it to be, although the ending was a little weak compared to the rest of the movie. If anything the movie kind of calls attention to the "useless adults" trope that's pervasive throughout a lot of "teen horror" movies, and not really in a good way. I mean like maybe it's because I am an adult, but I found myself stopping and saying "Where are these kids' parents?" through most of the movie, especially Jennifer's parents who aren't even hinted at existing until the end of the movie. At any rate this movie was a pretty good time, though the "psychic connection" angle was pretty half-baked and didn't really feel necessary. 14. Pet Sematary - I'd seen this one before, but it's been years and years. I remembered it as being the scariest Stephen King movie (based on the scariest Stephen King book), and it definitely still is. The movie is creepy as poo poo, and if there's any one real speedbump in the movie it's Jud's introduction of the indian burial ground at all. Like, he knows from first-hand experience that the place is evil and brings stuff back from the dead as hosed-up abominations, and talks Louis into burying the cat there anyway (and then is shocked when things spiral out of control). The movie was way gorier than I remembered it being, Victor's car crash makeup was consistently hardcore. Thirsty Girl posted:5. Frankenstein's Army [blu] (2013)
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Oct 16, 2016 09:33
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24the manitou What a weird and fun trippy movie. Thanks scream stream.
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Oct 16, 2016 20:39
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#31 Stage Fright (1987) A theater troupe is making the odd decision of performing a musical slasher. When one performer goes to a local mental hospital on the dimwitted assumption that any hospital will fix a sprained ankle, as long as they're a "hospital", she catches the eye of a murderous lunatic and former actor, who of course follows her back to the stage, steal's the star's giant owl mask, and starts offing the cast and crew. It's always a little bit weird seeing Italian killer flicks that came after the big slasher craze of the early 80s. Like, they feel like they're still trying to keep up the Giallo genre, while being more in line with their US cousins. This is no exception. The plot is paper thin, and the acting pretty blah, but the direction and cinematography are just breathtaking at times, as is apropos for director Michael Soavi. I give Stage Fright  out of Five#32 Holidays (2016) This is an anthology of films about various holidays of the year. Some are very interesting, like Easter or St Patrick's Day, while some are...less so, like Mother's Day. Like with the previous anthology I watched this month, a real score seems unfair. #33. The Collector (2009) A jewel thief has a loan shark deadline hanging over his family's head, so he goes to raid a house he has found to be home to a very successful jeweler. Unfortunately, the house is also the target that night to a maniac in a mask who creates sadistic booby traps and rube goldberg style machines that he places everywhere, going after the family that lives there. Now the thief is in a desperate game, trying to save who he can, while still avoiding the killer. I liked this one more than I expected. Despite it's post-Saw approach of clever traps and sadistic violence, it was actually really well written and extremely tense at times. They also do a very good job of giving the house's geography a real sense of place, something not all films can accomplish. Now I'm interested in tracking down the sequel. I give The Collector  out of Five#34. The Hole (2009) Dane and his kid brother Lucas are the new kids in town, so naturally everything is awkward for them. The girl next door, Julie, seems to like them however. Fooling around, the two boys find a trap door in their basement. Inside is a seemingly bottomless pit. What really resides inside is fear, pain, and suffering. This was an alright little flick. It's always fun to see Joe Dante doing flicks, and also there's very few films that feel like true "family" horror these days. However, this one is fully in that category without being a cartoon or being really gentle at all, yet it stays firmly in PG territory. Something I'd argue is needed. I give The Hole  out of Five.#35. The Invitation (2015) Will is a man who is divorced, and whose son tragically died several years ago. He and the woman he loves are invited to a fancy dinner party hosted by his ex-wife and her husband, along with a good many of their mutual friends, under the pretenses of a new beginning. Seeing his old house stirs up many extremely rough memories, making his grip on reality and stability start to slip. Meanwhile, his ex-wife and her husband attempt to introduce the party-goers to the new age (possibly cult) focused on enlightenment and letting go of grief, wherein they two had initially met. Something seems...off about the group and the two member friends that join the party however. Or is it just Will's slow breakdown talking? I liked this one a lot. Possibly because the partygoers felt very realistic and like people I would see at an adult gettogether as I've gotten older. There's real chemistry between people, and you get a real sense of history. That really informs much of the film, including the awkwardness when the new age stuff starts up, as well as everyone individually approaching Will to try to check how he's doing and stuff like that. It's really a film that leaves you wondering what the real story is, but the interactions are what kept me watching. I give The Invitation  out of Five
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Oct 17, 2016 00:05
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19. The Others (2001): this was a pretty dull film for the most part. It was an interesting choice to do a haunted house movie with WW2 as the backdrop. Typically that era is ignored. The movie is dimly lit, but it really doesn't help build a great atmosphere. The third act was pretty good, but by that point I had seen the twist coming from a mile away. 20. The Unholy (1988): Priest vs Demon. Bad acting. Bad score. Good special effects. Move along. 21. Halloween 2 (2009): Full disclosure - I watched this on AMC, and their constant edits of language and violence really effects my enjoyment and attention in the movies. This seemed to be a pretty interesting take on the original H2. I like when remakes try to differentiate themselves from the original. I need to watch this in its real format at some point, but I'm leaning thumbs up for this one. 22. The Descent (2005): this is about a group of girls who go cave-diving, only to find out they're not alone down there. I thought this was decent, but I preferred the first half of this movie. I found the concept of being trapped in a cave to be scary enough. Watched (22): The Walking Dead, Most Likely to Die, Trick or Treats, Black Sabbath, The Pack, Emelie, Halloween H20, The Taking of Debra Logan, Ghoulies 3, CHUD 2, Waxwork, Bone Tomahawk, The Town That Dreaded Sundown, The Zodiac Killer, Horror Express, 976-Evil 2, cabin Fever, The Others, The Unholy, Halloween 2, The Descent
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Oct 17, 2016 00:09
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25The Shiver of the Vampires Not my favorite Rollin, but this one sure is weird what with it's former vampire hunters turned weirdo hippy vampires. Incredibly well made like all Rollins. It's actually pretty funny, and I suspect intentionally so. And the soundtrack is pretty rockin too.  .5/5
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Oct 17, 2016 01:00
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1. The Last Exorcism 2. Quarantime 3. Afflicted 4. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) 5. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) 6. The Ring (remake) 7. Scanners 8. The Brood 9. The Babadook 10. Splinter 11. Vampyr 12. Cloverfield 13. Jennifer's Body 14. Pet Sematary 15. Day of the Dead (original) - maybe it's just because it's been at least a decade since I last watched it, but this was a lot better than I remember it being. The characters feel more well-rounded and better executed than in other Romero Living Dead movies, which leads to more organic, believable conflicts without falling back on characters being stereotypes or really one-dimensional. Dr. Logan's research requires the acquisition of zombie specimens (a dangerous task) without an obvious payoff, which puts him at odds with Rhodes, who is a hardass but not particularly unreasonable considering it's his men who are dying for Dr. Logan's research. Also it goes without saying that the makeup/gore effects are totally insane in all the best ways. Tom Savini is a genius. 16. Dawn of the Dead (remake) - I still really, really like this movie, and it's still arguably one of my favorite zombie movies. It manages to condense a ton of characters and subplots into its runtime without feeling overloaded or rushed. I'm not bothered at all by the "fast zombies", they manage to be scary in distinctly different ways than the "unending, inevitable shambling horde" of the Romero movies and I think it works to the movie's benefit and give it its own "identity" compared to the original movie. Choco1980 posted:
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Oct 17, 2016 01:18
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Xenomrph posted:16. Dawn of the Dead (remake) - I still really, really like this movie, and it's still arguably one of my favorite zombie movies. It manages to condense a ton of characters and subplots into its runtime without feeling overloaded or rushed. I'm not bothered at all by the "fast zombies", they manage to be scary in distinctly different ways than the "unending, inevitable shambling horde" of the Romero movies and I think it works to the movie's benefit and give it its own "identity" compared to the original movie. You cut out the tv preacher and give it a new title and it'd stand on its own as just a really good zombie movie with slightly similar premise to Dawn of the Dead.
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Oct 17, 2016 01:22
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28. Zombieland: Good, familiar background noise. 29. Frankenstein (1931): Still excellent.
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Oct 17, 2016 01:34
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Day 16 - Badly time constrained today and too many of my movies are foreign so I can't watch them and get work done at the same time. So instead, I put on Maggie, the recent Arnold Schwarzenegger zombie movie. There's a zombie plague going around, but turning undead isn't a quick process. The infection takes weeks or months and infected people who are nearing the point that they may attack people are rounded up and shipped off to quarantine where they're given experimental drugs to try to retard the transformation as long as possible before they die. The runaway teenage daughter of a farmer get infected in a city and he brings her home while they try to figure out what to do. This movie was real mixed bag for me. Schwarzenegger does his best, but he doesn't have the ability to pull off midwestern farmer working through losing his daughter. And some scenes are really clunky with terrible dialog (was I really supposed to be in suspense when she put her lips on his forehead and held it there for a few seconds?). On the other hand, there are some scenes that get it right and convey the emotion of the situation. Mainly it's the scenes with the daughter more isolated. Maybe it's me, but I completely agree with the idea of isolating people with a highly infectious disease who can suddenly turn violent and are a danger to both themselves and others.
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Oct 17, 2016 02:18
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K. Waste posted:Day 15 Day 16 Maybe this is sacrilege, but overall I found The Curse of Frankenstein overbearingly dull. Revenge of Frankenstein is a lot more interesting, to the extent that I actually admired it quite a deal, but it's still got this workman-like bent to it. I had the same feeling about most of the latter Universal films. Revenge comes closest so far in the Hammer series to approximating some of the queer, meta-textual energy of the Whale films, but overall Terence Fisher's direction here is still too detached and perfunctory. This is the second time this run-through that I've really wanted to revisit the Morrissey/Warhol flicks.
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Oct 17, 2016 04:32
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Forgot all about this thread again. I'll keep this quick and only do a partial update, since I've watched like 8 or more films since my last set of reviews. 14) The People Under the Stairs - I liked this one, though it does lose its nerve in some places and ultimately I think the cartoon tonality ends up hurting the film's messages. I think that Wes Craven, as one of our most literate horror directors, probably had a lot of serious ideas about how to illustrate the difference between the haves and the have nots; having a literal "underclass" of poor victims who can't speak up for themselves and have to live off the scraps of the cannibalistic rich people is a good metaphor, if a bit on the nose. But the main villains are so broad and so arch that they end up weakening everything else, from their Scrooge McDuck money vault to their weird incestual relationship and S&M bondage gear. I think the whole thing ends up being a wash in the end, especially when Craven keeps toeing the line of being outright inflammatory and then backing away. 2.5 out of 5. 15) Killer Klowns from Outer Space - I wasn't feeling well the night I watched this one, so it was the pick-me-up I needed that evening. I've loved this ridiculous movie since I was a child, and the whole thing always manages to put me in a good mood. (What that says about me, I leave to you.) I love the DIY Chiodo Brothers aesthetic, I love the music, I espeically love the set design and makeup, and most of the horror gags land their mark. I wish some of the acting were better; I could say that everyone is playing to the material, but John Vernon never stoops for a weird thing like this, and he definitely helps elevate the whole thing. 4 out of 5. 16) The Mummy (1959) - I know I'd seen the Hammer Mummy film before, but I couldn't remember giant swaths of it. Good thing the movie recognizes this fact too, since it repeats itself several times for your benefit. Then it also has the good sense to know that when it has run out of steam, so it just stops in one of the most perfunctory endings I've seen in a good long while. (Why do bullets suddenly have an effect on the mummy, when they never did before? It was because we hadn't hit the 85-minute mark before, that's why.) I had this on as background noise, and it still couldn't keep my attention for more than a few 10 minute chunks at a time. A pity, since I always love seeing Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing doing their thing. 2 out of 5, and only because of them. 17) Hush - I ended up liking this one more than I expected to. It has a great sense of space, and a good sense of pace, too. A small, economical little thriller, it never really aspires to be much more than it needs to be. 4 out of 5. 18) Friday the 13th, Part 2 - Watched on Friday the 14th, because you have to play the hand you're dealt. It's been a while since I'd watched this one all the way through; I had forgotten most of the black humor gags, but also the bad editing tricks deployed too frequently (slow-mo for no reason, zooms into a white flash for no reason, etc.). This one ends up sitting in the top half of Friday films for me, but re-watching it, I don't know if that should read as backhanded compliment or not. All of these films seem to end up running together in my head; I ended up only remembering one or two of the more famous gags (machete in the face of the wheelchair guy, spear through a couple having sex), and the awesome Pantera cover closing shot, and little else. I'm still not sure if that means this film had a good showing, or if the rest of the series just doesn't. 2 out of 5. Halfway done. I'll post more tomorrow, since I'll probably have another half dozen or so to go through then, as well.
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Oct 17, 2016 04:59
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30. Tucker & Dale vs. Evil: I'm doing better his year than last. This one is best seen without watching the killjoy trailer. My wife usually dislikes dumb humor, gore, and spoofs but was really into this one. I think the little touches made it for me. "Are you okay?"
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Oct 17, 2016 05:16
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The List The Big Four 16. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) 17. Halloween (1978) 18. Friday the 13th (1980) 19. Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) 20. Halloween 2 (1981) 21. Friday the 13th Part 3 (1982) 22. Halloween 3: Season of the Witch (1982) 23. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984) 24. Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) 25. Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985) 26. Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985) 27. Friday the 13th Part VI Jason Lives (1986) 28. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) 29. Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors (1987) 30. Friday the 13th part 7: The New Blood (1988)  So, I'll admit, I probably didn't pay enough attention while watching it. I mainly was focused on making dinner and cleaning the dishes while having it on, and not really paying attention. So, saying that, I can't really bring myself to care about this one. It's not really attention grabbing, and it doesn't really do much to up the ante. It looks worse than 6, it's victims are nothing that hasn't been seen before (but did a better job differentiating between them than most), and it's big gimmick of a psychic, telekinetic teen girl kinda ends up flaccid. Her general story seems ripped out of what's happening in the Nightmare series, though with a lot less style. The only time the film really seems to flourish any of it's scenes is in the 'reveal' of Jason's face, which felt kinda unneeded. As for the girl's powers, they pretty much powered by whatever's most convenient for the plot, which is kinda disappointing when you know how it's going to end. You want to see that development, of some promise of what her powers can do. And it's only in the last 10 minutes that they finally give that to you, only after 70+ of the classic Friday formula. At this point, the series is so homogenized that you know what you're getting, you know how it's going to end, and the film makers just didn't put any new flourishes to make that journey fun or exciting. It's at this point that I can start to feel that exhaust of the Slasher features that film-goers in the 80's must have been feeling. Plus, that titles either means nothing in relation to this film, or it can apply to pretty much every other film in the series. Next up: A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
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Oct 17, 2016 07:10
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 8 (9). Willow Creek (2013) "And I have no phone reception. The beginning of every horror movie." I love found footage films because when they work they really work and can do a lot with a little. Telling the story from a first hand perspective helps you connect with the couple of characters you have really deeply when it works and then the scares come not from scaring you but scaring them. I don't have to see Bigfoot to be scared, because I can feel how scared they are. This one really worked for me, which is impressive considering how little happens. Seriously, by the time anything starts happened I looked and it was like 51 minutes into the movie. But I didn't mind. I was enjoying the ride and into it and it didn't feel at all like an hour had passed. Then they do so much with so little. I mean, a 20 minute scene of them sitting in their tent listening to noises? But it worked and when stuff happened I drat near jumped out of my skin. The ending probably could have done for a little more and I wouldn't have minded seeing more. But I appreciate the way they went and the total weirdness of the half naked lady and the kind of ideas that could have been implying. I gotta say, as scary as sasquatches were in theory somehow the idea that they're all essentially hill people dudes who are kidnapping human women to make babies is way, way scarier. Hell, I briefly kind of wondered if the implication was that they actually were just hill people like that old guy suggested early on but there's enough there to kind of debunk that the theory I think. I'll just be scared of Bigfoots. Bigfeet? Part of what made this work for me is probably that I've never been camping and I probably never will. I grew up in New York City apartments surrounded by people. And it wasn't the best neighborhood so I knew the danger of people. But people don't scare me. Being totally alone in the middle of nowhere with no chance for help scares the living poo poo out of me. And this film captures that well. I started feeling the sense of dread as soon as those two started wandering off the trail and into the woods with seemingly no thought of how they were going to find their way back. You drat, drat fools. If you're going to wander into the woods at least learn how to read a compass, please. I am waaaaaay behind. I need some doubleheader nights. October Tally - New (Total) - (1). 30 Days of Night (2007) / 1 (2). It Follows (2015) / 2 (3). Frankenstein (1931) / 3 (4). The Visit (2015) / 4 (5). Red State (2011) / 5 (6). The Forest (2016) / 6 (7). Ava’s Possessions (2015) / 7 (8). Phantasm (1979) / 8 (9). Willow Creek (2013)
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Oct 17, 2016 08:02
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Aw yiss, my favorite day. Day 1, the Cloverfields: Cloverfield: 8.5; 10 Cloverfield Lane: 9.5 Day 2, the Not As They Seem: The Thing: 10; They Live: 8.5 Day 3, the Rest of the Trilogy: Prince of Darkness: 7.5; In the Mouth of Madness: 8 Day 4, the Big Planners: From Beyond: 9; The Lords of Salem: 6 Day 5, the Obvious: Hellraiser: 9; Hellraiser II: Hellbound: 7 Day 6, the Not Quite Human: Beyond the Black Rainbow: 9.5; Under the Skin: 10 Day 7, the Hotels of Horror: The Shining (extended cut): 10; 140:8 Day 8, the Hauntings: Noroi: 8; Housebound: 9.5 Day 9, the Reruns: Triangle: 9; White: 4.5 Day 10, Humanoids in Space: Alien (Director's Cut): 9; Pandorum: 7.5 Day 11, Humanoids on Earth: The Descent: 9; Splice: 5.5 Day 12, From the Shallow: Shin Godzilla: 8.5; The Bay: 7.5 Day 13, Campfire Stories: Friday the 13th: 9; Sleepaway Camp: 8.5 Day 14, Sleep Tight: A Nightmare on Elm Street: 9.5; A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: 6.5 Day 15, Slashers of a Sort: Predator: 8; Scream: 9 16.1: Despite having a fairly sparse plot, You're Next is just as good on subsequent viewings. The sound design is fantastic in how it keeps light on non-diegetic music and sound effects, mainly relying on the sound that is present and distorting it for tense scenes. That is, of course, not including the single sequence towards the end where it indulges and goes full Carpenter - and ugh, I'm ashamed that it just clicked for me how appropriate that is considering what the protagonist was doing and how they had just recently been hammering a bunch of nails into wood. The camera work is good in how it portrays everyone's perspective and their relations with others/their environment, and the plot makes good use of location/spatial relations/people moving around and coming and going as it plays with the standard siege format. I'm a sucker for Wingard and for me this one really "found the magic", as it were, so this gets a 9.5/10.16.2: The Guest is fantastic as always. A dramatic comedic horror, a character-driven audiovisual storytelling experience. 10/10
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Oct 17, 2016 09:10
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16. Alligator It had its moments, but all in all this wasn't very interesting.
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Oct 17, 2016 09:16
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The List The Big Four 16. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) 17. Halloween (1978) 18. Friday the 13th (1980) 19. Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) 20. Halloween 2 (1981) 21. Friday the 13th Part 3 (1982) 22. Halloween 3: Season of the Witch (1982) 23. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984) 24. Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) 25. Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985) 26. Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985) 27. Friday the 13th Part VI Jason Lives (1986) 28. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) 29. Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors (1987) 30. Friday the 13th part 7: The New Blood (1988) 31. Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)  Going into this, I knew one thing, it was directed by Renny Harlin. And from what I know about Renny Harlin, is that his directing is never what makes a film good. He's a guy who watched a bunch of Hollywood blockbuster type films, and decided that is what he was going to make. As far as I can tell, he is the director that accountants love. To put it bluntly, he is not the guy whose name is attached to quality products. That said, this wasn't a bad film. I don't think it's a quality film, but among slashers it is more than serviceable. And after finishing Friday the 13th Part 8, I can certainly tell you which one is better (hint: it's the one that actually tries). I was actually surprised with the way it does continue directly off of the third film, featuring the surviving characters and reuniting 2/3 of them. Then they resurrect Freddy in a way that is kinda questionable, and in the literal sense I have a number of questions left by it, who promptly kills them. That is of course a bummer after getting attached to those kids. Anyways, as most proper sequels tend to do, the ante is upped. While I wouldn't say the film is grosser, barring the disturbing and cartoonish roach kill, the dream sequences are definitely getting more outrageous, again the roach kill. And I can certainly say the story is cleaner this time around, a plus for ambitious film like this. Though I do have to say eulogy for the grounded feeling these films started with. While parents were a major factor at the start, this one maybe gets two scenes of misguided parental guidance, and from there on it's basically kids running around with no supervision. Hell, the disbelief of Freddy that powered the plots of the films is discarded for the most part. So, I guess I have to say that this is the point where Nightmare becomes an aesthetically inclined Friday the 13th ripoff. Which is a bit saddening. Though not to say that this film is wholly a ripoff. There's a certain character that colors the film, one that separates it from the rest of the series and the genre. Like how some of the nightmare sequences have a notable action bent, namely the first and the last ones. Though this is a reflection of the 'Badass Female Protagonist' shift the main character makes, kinda like a proto-Buffy. And in universe, this is explained by the protagonist of the last film 'gifting her powers' like a cliche fantasy story. Though, I will say this also causes the loss of the nihilistic hopelessness of the previous films, as we know from the start how our protagonist will beat Freddy. In any case, an Action-y bent is not a bad direction for a horror film to shift, like from Alien to Aliens. Though not everybody has the deft, cinematic hand of James Cameron (though a lot more people have a better grasp of storytelling than him). Though you can also see how the franchise is starting to be influenced by children becoming fans of the films, as at times it almost feels like a kid's film with out of place cussing. And it's really weird to watch a horror film and feel like someone saying 'Motherfucker' is out of place. In any case, while it isn't the positive direction for the franchise I wish it was, it's certainly not a bad feature. It's competent, and it certainly has more effort put into it unlike some movies at the time. Next up: Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers
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Oct 17, 2016 10:07
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Legendary: I keep wondering why I stuck it out through all of this boring and cheap (think SyFy Channel Original Movie) Chinese-funded creature feature, and its a single performance: Dolph Lundgren. Playing an antagonist, Lundgren shows up to threaten the lead scientists pursuing the monster, growling his lines; every single thing he says is a half-veiled threat or existentialist machoism about life. I.e., "Lying is a self-defense mechanism. A tool of SURVIVAL. But see, survival tools are only used in the face of a threat. DO YOU FEEL...THREATENED?" Oh, and one more thing: the head scientist is played by Scott Adkins, and he never throws a kick or punch. Someone cast Scott Adkins and had him rattle off exposition and fawn over nature, which is kind of incredible in-and-of-itself. The rest of the film is forgettable and the creature is bad even on a conceptual level: it's just a real life lizard done in CGI and the size of a few cars, no changes at all, so it mostly looks cute or doofy. If you watch it, you might want to just fast forward to Dolph's scenes. .5/5
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Oct 17, 2016 11:13
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STAC Goat posted:Seriously, by the time anything starts happened I looked and it was like 51 minutes into the movie. It's scary how often this is true about found footage movies. I'm sure it's because they're all shot on the cheap, they have only about twenty minutes of actual story (including the stage setting and building atmosphere), and they want to pad the film as much as possible.
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Oct 17, 2016 13:24
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31. Wolfen: I've always liked this movie. It's familiar and comfortable to run in the background and set an eerie mood while hanging out with people or just puttering around. The quality is pretty good and concept a nice slightly alternate view of werewolves plus something of a procedural. Now to see how far over my goal I can go. This year is working out better than last that my exercise schedule is boned for house projects leaving me able to run the T.V. a lot.
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Oct 17, 2016 16:21
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Random Stranger posted:It's scary how often this is true about found footage movies. I'm sure it's because they're all shot on the cheap, they have only about twenty minutes of actual story (including the stage setting and building atmosphere), and they want to pad the film as much as possible. Another reason why As Above, So Below is an incredibly underrated found footage movie.
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Oct 17, 2016 16:25
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#14.) Mr. Jones (2013) This was a mixed bag, but overall, I liked it. I'd have to describe it as a really enjoyable middle sandwiched between a slightly annoying beginning and a flawed finish. Establishing the back-story by having the male protagonist (Scott) do an exposition dump in the form of rhetorical questions ('What if you moved out to the woods to do a documentary? What if your girlfriend put her photography career on hold to come with you, and you went off your meds, and you realized how little of a plan you had for the documentary, but you had enough money that you didn't really have to worry about anything except the impact it would have on your relationship? And what if there was something even worse out in the woods?'). Honestly, it worked better than showing all of that lead-up would have, but it still made for a clunky start. From there, the couple finds a mysterious grotto of sculptures under someone's house, the female protagonist (Penny) realizes who's responsible, and sends Scott off to interview people on the subject. This was where things got really enjoyable for me, as it took a turn into 'scholar horror' and a little House of Leaves flavor, with the cut-together clips of the interviewees sharing their different perspectives (and fears) on things, with ideas of art as a way to mediate reality and dreams. In the same stretch of time, there were scenes of Penny becoming more obsessed with the icons in the woods, as the explanations of what they might represent were being shared with far-away Scott.  The finale was well-intentioned and had interesting ideas going on, but didn't feel as though it was executed elegantly enough (mainly due to a heavy reliance on scary video flickers and audio cut-outs). The general intent of it still came through, and the resolution made sense thematically, it just felt a little lacking. The biggest problem with the film (to me) was the total mess of trying to incorporate found footage style. It kept jumping between things that could conceivably have been filmed by the characters, and things that just could not. Even with the (mostly-pointless) gimmick of Scott rigging up his cameras so that they would film the camera-holder's face along with whatever was in front of the lens, it just turned into a mash of regularly-shot filming style and jiggle-cam hand-held style. Even with the excuse of dream-world influence, it didn't make sense, even before getting to the question of who edited the footage together (especially since at least one of the cameras appeared to retreat with Scott into the dream-world at the end, unless I'm misremembering). And there might have been some thematic justification (along the lines of Poltergeist) for how privileged and white the lead couple was, but it still felt like a distancing element in the way of fully empathizing with their situation and poor choices. Just having them worry about their finances even once (before the weird poo poo started happening) would have done a lot to ease that, but I can't say that part would even register with every watcher. So yeah, really fun middle part and decent resolution, but I can see how this movie would put off a lot of people, particularly those wanting a decisive, clear-cut conclusion.  / 5
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Oct 17, 2016 19:12
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Random Stranger posted:It's scary how often this is true about found footage movies. I'm sure it's because they're all shot on the cheap, they have only about twenty minutes of actual story (including the stage setting and building atmosphere), and they want to pad the film as much as possible. Its kind of the nature of found footage. Those movies are designed to suck you into the first person perspective and the characters and the tension is about what's appearing just off camera. The found footage genre basically says "in most movies you have some kind of omnipotent view where you can see what's happening elsewhere, with us you can only see what's in front of you." That means you spend a lot of time waiting to see what happens and if they do it right you spend that time building up sympathy for the people whose eyes you've been seeing through and getting scared with them when they get scared. I don't think you can cut that down to 20 minutes without sacrificing the empathy and tension you theoretically feel. And really, I think those are the most important aspects to horror instead of gore or monster effects or whatever. I wasn't criticizing it with Willow Creek because I thought it worked. I wasn't at all bothered that nothing was happening. Other movies drag.
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Oct 17, 2016 19:35
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#15.) Neverlake (2013) This was a nice, surprising treat. It opened with some quoted poetry of Percy Shelley's, and by the end of the film, managed to make that feel earned, instead of being just a florid indulgence and grab at associated style. It was very much a Gothic story, and brought in actual human cruelty as a key part of the story, instead of getting side-tracked into just supernatural flash. References to Peter Pan, Romeo and Juliet, and a few other works were incorporated fittingly, the spinning out of revealed information was built to with impressive restraint in the cluing, and I didn't really see any of the twists coming in advance.  The sets were quite nice, as was the use of color from scene to scene, and the creepiness was keyed in without getting overt too soon. One aspect that did feel a little off was that, despite being set in Italy, every character spoke English (which wouldn't have stood out if Italian hadn't been used by a couple of shop-keepers and the telephone operator, which makes me want to see a full-Italian version, maybe going a little more lurid with color and content). That, and some implausibility to the back-story (if seriously considered) were about the only faults I'd pick at with the movie. There was one scene which really did a solid job of evoking the horrible fuzziness of waking up in a hospital on an IV drip, and a number of others which got under my skin in a similar way. All in all, a very good (verging on great) modern Gothic story, something I imagine fans of del Toro and moody Spanish horror would enjoy.  / 5
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Oct 17, 2016 19:37
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Day 17 - I've wavered on watching Tetsuo: The Iron Man forever. I knew that it was exceptionally gruesome and featured a lot of metal going into and coming out people which hits my nerves even more than the standard slasher killing does, so that made me keep away even though it's also supposed to be pretty good. But this month my viewing is all about trying to hit things that I should have watched a while ago. The plot here isn't really straightforward. It's more of series of escalating metaphorical vignettes that roll back and forth. The basic structure of it is that for a Japanese businessman, scrap metal has become an infectious disease that's taking over his body. The first half of this film is really strong. The "what the hell is happening?" followed by "here's something else strange and disturbing happening" keeps it going. Then the villain(?) shows up and it gets boring. There really feels like there are two separate movies here since even the visuals in the second half (well, other than the [spoiler]metal future[/url]) just lack the flare of the first half. This is a really grimy movie. They really took advantage of shooting on b&w 16mm for the look. It helps cover up some of the dodgy prosthetics (though not all of them). Some of the exteriors were shot on residential streets in Tokyo and I'd really like to have seen people's reaction to them shooting the ending in that neighborhood. Finally, after watching Gozu, the sex scenes in Tetsuo feel like they're restrained and sensible. STAC Goat posted:Its kind of the nature of found footage. Those movies are designed to suck you into the first person perspective and the characters and the tension is about what's appearing just off camera. The found footage genre basically says "in most movies you have some kind of omnipotent view where you can see what's happening elsewhere, with us you can only see what's in front of you." That means you spend a lot of time waiting to see what happens and if they do it right you spend that time building up sympathy for the people whose eyes you've been seeing through and getting scared with them when they get scared. I know you weren't criticizing the film and I have seen a few found footage movies that use the build up effectively. I was replying because that comment does reflect something that an awful lot of found footage movies do poorly. Most found footage films would benefit hugely from losing about forty-five minutes of their first hour because presumably there's still an editor working on the footage before the viewer sees it even from the perspective of the film. You can get those same connections across to the viewer very quickly in less time and be more effective about it; see how a good short film can do it. Also, it doesn't help empathy if you wind up hating the people that they have on screen . Now to do that, the screenwriter, editor, and the director need to think carefully about how they're establishing the film and find ways to fill it out effectively. Obviously, just taking a razor blade to the celluloid isn't going to help. But there are plenty of times when I'm watching found footage and asking, "Why is this scene even here?" Random Stranger fucked around with this message at 20:37 on Oct 17, 2016 |
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Oct 17, 2016 20:12
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24.Horror of Dracula I'm glad some people in the Scream Stream got to see this for the first time. Its the Cushing and Lee show, and they both deliver in every single scene they're in. Cushing just sits there in a room dictating notes into a recorder, and its endlessly entertaining. Very few actors can pull that off, its what Hammer studios was built on. Even moreso than Lee, I think without Peter Cushing there would be no Hammer, at least not as we know it. One thing that took the stream a while to catch onto was that the characters in this movie are all jumbled, you can't predict what's going to happen based on knowledge of Stoker's novel. It makes for a pretty fun first viewing, where you're constantly surprised by certain turns the story takes that you couldn't expect based on prior Dracula experience. I'm thinking specifically about how Harker never makes it out of Dracula's castle the first time he goes there. The sets and costumes are fantastic, but I suppose only to those with a certain taste for the Hammer aesthetic. If I had to choose only one film that would demonstrate to someone what Hammer is all about, it would either be this or The Curse of Frankenstein, and it would be a tough choice. 25. The Evil Dead I'm reminded watching this on blu ray that its a shockingly good looking film considering the budget Raimi had to work with. Lots of very nice looking shots of the woods and the lighting is great throughout. I do feel that it gets a little repetitive towards the end, as Ash's dead friends keep coming back and attacking him over and over again. Right after this I watched the first few episodes of the new season of Ash vs. Evil Dead, which was fun because they threw in a reference to his sister from the original. Its easy to forget that was his sister, its probably only mentioned once in the entire film. When she dies he doesn't seem to react as if she was a close relative, but whatever. 26. Witchfinder General Another one from the Scream Stream, I appreciated that Lurdiak tracked down a really nice version of it, looked like blu ray quality. I think this was probably an Amicus production(not sure), but its definitely got that Hammeresque British countryside feel to it, which I love. I don't think I agree that this is Price's absolute best performance, but its a must-see because of how unique it is. It doesn't really feel like the typical Price character, from what I understand the director tried to get him to shed that persona as much as possible. I can't imagine there's another movie where Price gets such an unceremonious death scene. The guy is just like "hey, let me pick up this axe here and kill Vincent Price". And he does.. 27. The Blob(1988) I love this movie and I watch it every year. It has an almost Psycho-like moment where the guy that you'd assumed was the main character gets eaten like 30 minutes in, which is a really effective way to raise the stakes. This is a surprisingly mean-spirited movie, love interests are set up just to be brutally killed minutes later, and by the end I wasn't so sure that even the little kids were safe. The effects are some of the gooiest you can find this side of The Thing or From Beyond, they're really excellent. The scene I was referring to in the above spoiler really traumatized me as a kid, and I still find it legitimately disturbing to watch. Of course the movie is very funny as well, its definitely meant as a black comedy. I have to say that as much as I like the original, I do enjoy watching this remake more, for similar reasons that I prefer Cronenberg's the Fly. If you've dismissed this as a lovely late-80's remake that probably sucks because its stars Kevin Dillon, I'd recommend giving it a shot.
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Oct 17, 2016 20:15
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#16.) Odd Thomas (2013) I should have known what I was in for with this one, as it's based on a Dean Koontz novel. It was basically what you'd get if The Dead Zone were crossed with the TV series Dead Like Me while being geared toward the airport spy fiction audience. Aside from some neat editing (particularly with sliding in parts of the next scene, like a road or a store, one at a time) this felt really uninspired and formulaic.  The lead actor did a fair job with what he was given (as did an under-used Willem Defoe), but it was just obvious about a half-hour into the movie how it would end. Little bits of character-building (like explaining diner lingo, or parental history, or childhood flashbacks) felt jammed-in, the villains felt practically two-dimensional, and Odd's powers seemed to fluctuate as needed by the script. Not something I'd recommend to anyone, but (apart from everything to do with the writing) not something with any significant technical foul-ups. Just bland, boring, and predictable.  / 5 
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Oct 17, 2016 20:18
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| # ? Apr 20, 2024 02:48 |
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I'll give Koontz credit, in the book I think he totally pulls off the twist that really should be predictable, but it completely got me and if you're legitimately surprised its a big emotional punch to the gut.
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Oct 17, 2016 20:20
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