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 I'm going to wear it everyday . That is really so awesome
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Nov 2, 2018 20:57
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Lurdiak posted:I am so into this Halloween Santa mod. It helped that in the beginning, I was on leave from work recouping from the sepsis and kidney stones. After that with my work schedule it was watch one when I got home to unwind and watch at least a couple while getting ready for the day. Weekends were 'how much can I watch before my eyes start to bleed'. Best I managed was 'until bloodshot'.
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Nov 2, 2018 20:58
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I think i got second place this year and you beat me by nearly my entire total from last year lol. I feel like this must have been what it was like the first year a crazy African runner joined the Boston marathon or something.
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Nov 2, 2018 21:04
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I'm ahead of you by one whole movie, Choco! My count for this year is like my last four years of this tradition put together, haha. And like most everyone else, my watchlist is bigger than it was when I started.
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Nov 2, 2018 21:24
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Choco1980 posted:I think i got second place this year and you beat me by nearly my entire total from last year lol. I feel like this must have been what it was like the first year a crazy African runner joined the Boston marathon or something. I've already been asked if next time I'm going to try to break my record. Only way I can see that happening is if I save enough vacation time and take the month off.
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Nov 2, 2018 21:28
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Darthemed posted:I'm ahead of you by one whole movie, Choco! My count for this year is like my last four years of this tradition put together, haha. And like most everyone else, my watchlist is bigger than it was when I started. Well I'll be damned, you beat me in a photo finish. Well done.
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Nov 2, 2018 21:37
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Basebf555 posted:Hollismason does this every year. Dang it Hollis! I managed to hit 50 with the stream that everyone was posting about and also my own movies. I have witnesses for most of the movies I watched cause I rabbit. I just forgot to log all them cause i am lazy. Hollismason fucked around with this message at 00:30 on Nov 3, 2018 |
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Nov 3, 2018 00:28
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M_Sinistrari posted:I've already been asked if next time I'm going to try to break my record. Only way I can see that happening is if I save enough vacation time and take the month off. Don't even try. However much you like horror movies, watching five a day for six weeks isn't good for you - especially not if you give up all your year's rest time to do it. Take this from someone who once spent an average of eight hours a day playing World of Warcraft for two years.
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Nov 3, 2018 00:33
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Don't listen to them its perfectly normal.
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Nov 3, 2018 01:47
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Jedit posted:Don't even try. However much you like horror movies, watching five a day for six weeks isn't good for you - especially not if you give up all your year's rest time to do it. Take this from someone who once spent an average of eight hours a day playing World of Warcraft for two years. In my case I already had booked a week off in September just for general rest and when the challenge popped up I figured "why not?". But, yeah, even then I only did 2 a day at the most because my brain needed a rest. I don't think it's wise for anyone to use up a chunk of vacation time for anything other than rest from work.
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Nov 3, 2018 02:07
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So, I ended up barely failing the challenge just short of the finish line. I'm less disappointed in not getting that last film in than I am that I couldn't finish all of the Fran Challenges. I started drafting up this post the weekend before the deadline, but work and life got hectic up until Nov 1 and I just ran out of time. I tried in the spare moments to write up and catch up when I could, but just couldn't get caught up until tonight. I know Fran closed 'Entries', but I still want to post the reviews of all the films I got in before I woke on Nov 1.  The List1. Welcome to Willits (Fran Challenge 1: Love Something You Hate) 2. Multiple Maniacs (Fran Challenge 2: Queer Horror) 3. The Phantom of the Opera 1925 Featuring commentary by Andrew Lloyd Webber (as portrayed by Paul F. Tompkins) 4. Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (Fran Challenge 3: Hometown Horror) 5. Dawn of the Dead (2004) (Fran Challenge 4: Best of the Worst) 6. Creep 2 7. I am the Pretty Thing That Lives In The House 8. Silent Hill 9. The Undertaker and his Pals 10. Re-Animator 11. Hell House LLC 12. The Purge (2013) 13. Interview With The Vampire (1994) (Fran Challenge 5: Birth of Horror) 14. He Never Died 15. Leatherface 16. Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon 17. Demons (Demoni) 18. Saw (2004) 19. Possession (1981) (Fran Challenge 6: Video Nasty) 20. Saw 2 21. Saw 3 22. The Host (Fran Challenge 7: The World is A Scary Place)  This film was a wild ride. The audience is dragged along on it's journey with wild abandon, drenched in it's constantly changing attitude. It's darkly humorous, furiously angry, and legitimately emotional. It's a somewhat a member of the Kaiju genre, taking a lot from its forefathers in terms of thematic messaging, conflict, and content. However where Godzilla and it's ilk go for the macro, with impossibly large creatures and massive scope, this film is focused on the micro. It's monster is believably small for a 'Giant Monster' (being marginally larger than an elephant or hippo), it's setting is relatively small and focused mostly around one location, and the story is focused exclusively on one family. Our heroes being a clan that is comprised almost completely of gently caress Ups, some of whom wish they were no longer part of, the others unable to function without the former. And when the youngest daughter is take captive by the monster, it's up to these gently caress ups to save her. Not only does this movie take a lot from Kaiju films, but it has plenty to give back to the genre too. The biggest compliment I could give is that Shin Godzilla likely swiped most of its best ideas from this film. The major antagonist of this film (aside from the monster) is a Korean government who refuses to believe this girl could even be alive, working alongside the forces of an interventionist US military. And instead of helping anyone, their actions consist coming up with excuses to refuse to do the right thing, covering up their mistakes, and kidnapping this family to keep their secrets from leaking. There's such disdain for both authority and the US, it actually got an endorsement from North Korea (which gives me mixed feelings about liking this film). That aside, The Host is still an excellent film and rightfully considered one of South Korea's best Genre exports. 23. Saw 4  I remember that it was about the time of this film that we all were resigned to the eternal fact that we were stuck with a yearly Saw sequel, no matter what. This is slight improvement on it's predecessors, if only for the fact that it manages to deftly combine both it's traps and police melodrama bullshit. It's story and plot are still remarkably ridiculous, and it's traps still over the top. Where I was furious with Saw 3's pointless nihilism, at least this film feels like it's building to somewhat of a thematic point. It's still not great, just somewhat more watchable. 24. Night of the Living Dead (1968) (Fran Challenge 11: Dead and Buried)  I actually caught this by accidentally. I was going to the theatre to watch the new Halloween, but I found out that this film was playing at the same time. So instead, I went for a double feature. It was my first time actually watching it, and as a result I kinda wish the pre-show wasn't attached to it. It featured a bunch of interviews with notable filmmakers, Robert Rodriguez, Del Toro, Frank Darabont, etc., all relating their favorite moments, and almost exclusively all of them happen very late in the movie. But even under slightly unideal circumstances, I still enjoyed the experience. I was actually surprised with how surprisingly influential this film was. Before this viewing, I figured that the tacti-cool survivalist fantasy aspect of the Zombie Apocalypse was an invention of the internet age. Internet discussions about people flag waving that their plan of Fortifying a Costco/Walmart is totally original and cool, and eventually devolving into whether or not a bicycle is an practical getaway tool against a horde of zombies. So, I was actually surprised with how intrinsic it is to the genre, with this movie dedicating a notable portion of the runtime to two men dickwaving about whose survival plan would be the most effective. The other thing that got me was how it managed to make this film feel so huge, despite how small it is by necessity. It makes the scope of the film's scope feel huge through small things like the Radio/TV broadcasts relating facts clinically, the roving gangs of zombie hunters, and anecdotal monologues. It feels like so many things are happening all at once, despite being confined to a single location. Add to that pyro and intelligent use of extras, and this film feels so much more expensive than it actually is. So yeah, I have to agree with this film's assessment as one of the genre's greatest works. It manages to still feel visceral and relatively hardcore by doing things like eating actual flesh/organs on screen and (just in case anyone reading this thread is in the same position as me) showing a little girl brutally murdering her own mother. The only thing that is keeping it from being perfect is Barbra. A complete non-entity, the personification of frustration, acting comatose in a script full of proactive and reactive characters. Her inability to be useful goes well beyond belief, almost fantastical in how unhelpful she is. But other than that still phenomenal. And I cannot recommend enough the Janus Films restoration; it makes this film look almost contemporary. 25. Halloween (2018) (Fran Challenge 10: Fear and Now)  The original Halloween deserves a better legacy than it has gotten. I hope it goes without saying for most people in this thread that it is one of the greatest (and personally, my favorite) horror film of all time. I feel like the only filmmaker behind the camera that had that same reverence was Rob Zombie, and even his attempt was cut off at the knees by executives who didn't share it. As this film was announced, there were two level of reactions. 1, 'Wait, these guys are making a Halloween film?', and 2, 'Holy poo poo, these guys get it.' Since February of last year, I've been holding my breath prepared for the end result to be dire. Thankfully, I can relax easy knowing what they made was good enough: a film that could pass the incredibly low bar of 'Best Halloween Sequel'. This film isn't perfect, but it's pretty drat scary. The only real issue is a moment of wonky-ness as the plot takes a shocking left turn in order for the third act to happen. But outside of that, this film is pure Halloween. Michael Myers isn't a hulking brute, a single minded kill machine, or an implausible force of death. He is a man, optimized for killing, and set free in a world that makes his massacre feel believable (even if the set up that he is give is somewhat ludicrous). He's malleable to a situation, capable of being ruthlessly direct in his attacks, or being kinda playful and out of the way in order to set up the most optimal attack. He has the instincts of an animal, with the intelligence of man. He is distinctly, and unmistakably, Michael Myers. And of course, sharing the spotlight is Jamie Lee Curtis, making her grand return to the franchise for the second time. Laurie has turned into a Sarah Connor type figure, a woman hosed up by a traumatic experience, and who resolves to never become that victim again. Though where other movies would make this change into a positive, badass direction, this movie is cognizant of the cost of living outside of society. Keep in mind that Sarah Conner was introduced in T2 within an Institution for a reason. Though Sarah's situation was 'solved' by vindication, Laurie will never get that resolution. In the intervening time, Laurie Strode lost everything including her sense of security. Her attempts to reclaim it was costly and alienating, and even her fantasy to get that closure had a huge human cost. Even the underlying text of the movie states her beliefs should never have been validated in a just world. But in the end she was right, but she is never a righteous character. It's an amazingly strong story for a character that was never this developed in the original film, and Curtis absolutely does her justice. And amazingly, the other lead actresses, both Judy Greer and fresh face Andi Matichak, are able to keep up with Curtis even with less remarkable characters. And the three of them working together in the final climax is an amazing concerto of badass moments in the face of such dire circumstances. It's an imperfect film, but it feels so right especially for where we are right now. It's filmmaking is incredibly considerate and well shot, making it stand out even among this genre's high points. It feels intentionally feminist in most of its story choices, which the world really needs more of considering the state we're in. And above all else this is a legit scary movie, just like the original, which is perhaps the highest praise I could give it. Also, one weird thing, there's an actress who looks just like Ellie Kemper, which weirded me out, until I found out it wasn't her, which weirded me out more. 26. Near Dark (Fran Challenge 8: Once In A Lifetime)  So, Kathryn Bigelow. In the 80's and 90's she was pumping out genre pic after genre pic, generally ranging from good to phenomenally great. Then the 2000's rolled around, and her efforts were focused on more 'legitimate' affairs, of stories of real people and of their true events. Then she started winning academy awards. That sealed that, and she hasn't looked back since. Near Dark was her first Studio film. A combination of western and vampire flick. It was her first and only foray into the horror genre, though she would flirt with it's close cousin, the Thriller, a couple of times. But nothing as fantastically horrific as this. Anyways, this film is much more of a Western than it is a Horror film. The vampire elements more seem to be an excuse to allow a gang of criminals to roam free in then contemporary America, as well allow the script to briefly detour into navel-gazy self pity on the nature of eternity. Though they do manage some pretty good effect shots and bloody violence as a result of the character's paradoxical immortal/fragile nature. It's a pretty fun film, with a bunch of fun performances (Bill Paxton's unhinged psychopath especially). The story is fine but unexceptional, more a vehicle for fun action and bloody massacres. It's not necessarily a classic, but it is deserves the label of cult classic easily. 27. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)  Every Halloween, I traditionally rewatch two movies, my two favorite horror movies of all time. This is one of them. I can never resolve which one of them is my favorite, but upon this rewatch I think TCM might be my favorite of the two. I didn't get any particular new insight this year, but I always like catching up with an old friend like this one. It's such a weird happy accident of a film. 28. Halloween (1978)  This is actually a fan poster. The dude who made it has a hobby of making retro ads for contemporary films, most recently a bunch of newspaper ads for TV broadcasts. I Highly recommend checking them out. So, this is the other film I rewatch every Halloween. Once again, no new real insights, though it's fun to compare this to the new film right after watching it. One parallel I just noticed is that in this film Laurie gets attacked non-fatally with a knife, and falls down a bannister onto the stairwell. In the new film, Michael gets attacked with a knife, and falls down the stairs into the basement. I think TCM barely edges it out as my favorite as that one is so gonzo where this one is straight laced. Still, I hold this film very dearly as a close second. 29. WNUF Halloween Special  I barely got to participate in Scream Stream this year. I've come to regret not catching Winterbeast, cause that one sounds like it was an experience. But it's hard to dedicate myself to watching several hours of livestreams when they're all at the same time I'm working (stupid late shifts). Anyways, I was able to catch a break from work long enough to catch this little oddity from Lurdiak. An old local Halloween Special from their childhood, featuring a local news crew exploring a haunted house and performing a live seance. It seems like the TV Station behind this was trying to perform their own version of Ghostwatch, several years before BBC even came up with it, but ended screwing it up completely before going off the rails in a really bizarre way. Allegedly it can be found online, and it's highly recommended that you catch one with the commercials intact. However, be careful which version you download, the one Lurd ended up showing on Scream Stream had some pretty disturbing footage attached on the end. Surprised that many goons came from one location though. Facade coming down, and yeah this is a pretty good mockumentary. Half the fun comes from the Stream pretending that we're watching a real recording of a broadcast for the first time. The other half comes from the ridiculous, low budget commercials for local stores that are referenced both in and out of the program, and even within other commercials. It gives the film an incredibly local, small town feel. However the retro aesthetic feels 95% of the way there, with just a smidge of artifice that really gives it away if you're looking for it. The titular program is pretty fun, though it strains credulity that it would keep going once things go south. Still, a highly welcome Halloween tradition that I wish everyone could participate in. 30. The Exorcist (1973) Extended Edition circa 2000  This Halloween, I wanted to cap it off with a high point. I haven't seen what is commonly considered The Greatest Horror Film Of All Time, and so I wanted to change that this year. I know that plenty of reviews this year have made a point to claim, 'I didn't find it scary, probably because I don't believe in Catholicism'. And I will contend, I didn't find it scary either. But I don't think it's because of a lack of faith, or inability to buy into demonic possession. I was engaged with its story, and could buy into it's premise. I just can't really pinpoint why I didn't find it scary. Maybe it's a similar phenomenon as Hamlet or Romeo and Juliet, where it's ubiquity in pop culture robs it of it's shocking nature. Maybe it's just that I'm completely detached from the fears and context that surrounded it's release (like what could happen to Get Out, in an ideal world). I don't think I could pinpoint exactly what it is, it's just something about certain films from that general era of filmmaking makes it feel like I'm witnessing something rather than experiencing it. I felt the same way with 2001, or The Godfather. I can engage with them, and understand what makes them excellent films. But they don't hit me emotionally the same way other films do, like Night of the Hunter or M or The Apartment. That said, I completely understand how this film became so infamous. There's very few films that are so well crafted like this one. It feels well done in ways that I couldn't comprehend on my own. It's a similar feeling that I had coming out of Moonlight a years ago. I was also surprised how long the film soaks us into this world before the actual exorcism. I checked the time when it felt like the second act was starting to ramp up, and the film was over an hour in without the principal characters even meeting yet. It allows so much set up to happen and time to pass, that once the possession is complete that the loss and lack of control feel almost physically present. You get to know this young girl so well that it feels like she disappears once the possession is complete, despite the actress being physically present. And the ordeal lasts for such a lengthy period of the movie, that you truly feel the loss of this girl up until the very end of the movie. These are just a few things that make this movie so phenomenal, I completely understand the film's reputation as one of the best of the decade, and one of the best of the medium. By the time the film was done, midnight had passed and entered into the early hours of morning. I had one last tradition I wanted to get out of the way before calling it a night, so I pulled up:  This is still a really charming and low-key beautiful work, carrying aloft a fairly base and pleasant bit of populist entertainment. I remember watching this at way too young an age (Probably about the same age as Sally), and being confused and unsatisfied by things like The Red Baron's journey across the french countryside, Charlie Brown continually getting rocks, and the fact that The Great Pumpkin doesn't show up. It's something that my mom loved, and made sure her kids always watched each year. So yeah, Halloween doesn't feel exactly complete until I catch this. So yeah, in conclusion I'm going to set my bar lower next year so that I don't feel so pressed to get too much done when I don't have the time. In reflection on this year: Best Movie: Creep 2. Such an oddly lovable, loving movie for such disturbing subject matter. Worst Movie: Saw 2. I don't know why but this film felt exceptionally incompetent and uninteresting. Most Bizzare: The Undertaker and His Pals. Not good, but really bizarre. Hell Yeah Award for Hell Yeah: Re-Animator. Hell Yeah.
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Nov 3, 2018 03:30
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I completed all the challenges  I don’t need a shirt though, I just want the credit/glory e: you’re a peach, Fran 
Opopanax fucked around with this message at 05:47 on Nov 3, 2018 |
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Nov 3, 2018 05:32
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Retro Futurist posted:I completed all the challenges Corrected.
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Nov 3, 2018 05:41
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Whoops, October flew by and even though I wasn't logging them here I fell short with 17 looking over my Letterboxd. Hey, that's definitely further than I got last year vOv
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Nov 3, 2018 06:42
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Love these avatars
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Nov 3, 2018 07:11
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Here's my list for anyone who cares: 1 - Dagon 2 - Demonic Toys 3 - Murder Party 4 - The Video Dead 5 - I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House 6 - The Nail Gun Massacre 7 - Splinter 8 - Creeptales 9 - Castle Freak 10 - Project Metalbeast 11 - Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings 12 - Winterbeast 13 - The VVitch 14 - Curse of Chunky 15 - Puppet Master 16 - Fermat's Room 17 - High School Ghost Hustlers aka High School Ghostbusters 18 - Ghostwatch 19 - Children of the Corn 20 - Night of the Demons 2 21 - Tales from the Hood 2 22 - Scarab 23 - Street Trash 24 - Gerald's Game 25 - Minutes Past Midnight 26 - Deadly Friend 27 - Slumber Party Massacre 2 28 - The Phantom Empire (1988) 29 - Dawn of the Dead (2004) 30 - Basket Case 31 - Suspiria 32 - Shivers 33 - Cigarette Burns 34 - The Evil Dead 35 - Creepshow 36 - Creepshow 2 37- Hack-O-Lantern 38 - The WNUF Halloween special The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell Castlevania Season 2 MacheteZombie posted:Love these avatars Why are only some of them centered.
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Nov 3, 2018 12:46
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I didn't quite make it to 31 this year, but I definitely watched more horror movies this month than I have in the past 6. All of these are first viewings, except for They Live. 1 Belladonna of Sadness 3/5 2 Return of the Living Dead 5/5 3 Halloween 4/5 4 Henry 4/5 5 Pet 4/5 6 Society 5/5 7 Demon Wind 2/5 8 Beyond the Gates 3/5 9 Hell House LLC 4.5/5 10 Carrie 5/5 11 A Girl Walks Alone at Night 4/5 12 Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) 5/5 13 Howling 2 2.5/5 14 The Gate 4/5 15 As Above, So Below 4/5 16 Basketcase 3/5 17 Village of the Damned (1995) 3.5/5 18 The Ritual 4/5 19 They Live 5/5 20 Night of the Demons 3.5/5 21 Child's Play 2 3.5/5 22 Child's Play 3 3/5 23 Blood Freak 1.5/5 24 Cast a Deadly Spell 4.5/5 25 Trolls 2 2.5/5 26 Castevania 4.5/5 27 House on Haunted Hill (1959) 4/5 28 Creepshow 2 3.5/5 29 Behind of the Mask 4/5 Enjoyed almost all of them, even the roughest one to watch (Henry) was well made and had its own merits.
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Nov 3, 2018 15:05
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Franchescanado posted:
That is so cool, thanks! I'll send a PM early next week.
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Nov 3, 2018 15:29
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Lurdiak posted:Why are only some of them centered. I'm guessing because mine used to be centered that Fran kept the alignment you had on the previous avatar.
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Nov 3, 2018 16:48
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Ahaha oh god those avatars.
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Nov 3, 2018 17:00
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Lurdiak posted:Why are only some of them centered. Power of Pecota posted:I'm guessing because mine used to be centered that Fran kept the alignment you had on the previous avatar. I dunno. They should all be the same, so maybe Power of Pecota is onto something with their guess.
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Nov 3, 2018 17:09
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Well, gently caress. I got so caught up being busy with work. Oh well, there's always next year.
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Nov 4, 2018 06:22
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Franchescanado posted:
Whoa! That's super great! Was not expecting that. I'm glad I stuck with it and marathoned movies for the Fran challenges I had left near the end. I'll PM you within the next couple days about sizing/shipping.
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Nov 5, 2018 03:32
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 13:45 |
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 Fran Challenge Shirt Update The t-shirt company contacted me and I can expect to have the shirts by January, and I'll start shipping them as I get them. I'll DM each of you as I ship them.
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Nov 5, 2018 13:15
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