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Joining late. I tried to do the challenge in May, but real life got in the way. I'm setting my goal for 13. I'll shoot for 31, but I dunno if that's doable. Just signed up for Shudder, so I should have no shortage of good movies. I'll have better reviews after this initial dump. Here's what I've seen so far: 1. 9/30 - Hell House LLC I have a soft spot for found footage, but this didn't grab me. I think The Houses October Built covered similar ground in a much creepier way. I just can't get exited about a clown costume that moves occasionally. 2. 10/1 - Channel Zero: Candle Cove - Enjoyed this, and I like the concept overall. Scary internet stories have always been a guilty pleasure. It's nothing amazing, but it's nice and low-key while still being weird as hell. Probably could have been three or four episodes instead of six though. 3. 10/2 - Grave Encounters - Pretty standard fare, but the parts about the facility's architecture changing and the sun never coming up creeped me out. Even though it's the oldest trick in the book, any scene with a monster with crazy eyes and a big hosed up mouth coming straight at the camera always scares the poo poo out of me. 4. 10/4 - Channel Zero: No-End House - Started off really strong. I was completely sucked in by the otherworldliness of the house. It felt like we were going to spend six episodes in the Black Lodge. Unfortunately, the plot kind of peters out towards the end and there was a lot of buildup for Jules' story that never really delivered.
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Oct 4, 2018 22:08
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 FRAN CHALLENGE #1: Love Something You Hate 5. 10/4 - Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil - This movie immediately popped in my head when I saw the challenge, because every streaming service I'm subscribed to has recommended it to me for years, and it covers two subgenres I've never liked: horror comedy and redneck horror. And... eh, it's fine. Labine, Tudyk, and Bowman are all super charming and have great chemistry together, but I just didn't think it was very funny. "It's true, Chad. You're half hillbilly!" did crack me up, but that's about it. It's nice, light, and fun, but I don't understand the universal praise it's gotten. Lester Shy fucked around with this message at 16:54 on Oct 5, 2018 |
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Oct 5, 2018 02:41
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FRAN CHALLENGE #2: Queer Horror 6. October 5 - Rope  Probably the loosest definition of horror I'll use for this challenge, but it's on Shudder as well as a few of the Queer Horror letterboxd lists. I love limited-setting movies, and Hitchcock's four are some of the best. Dial M for Murder is my favorite, but Rope is a close second. This one is even more dedicated to the ideal; aside from the opening titles, all of the action takes place in a single set. The set itself is amazing.  The real-time sunset over the skyline and the flashing neon lights that come streaming in during a pivotal moment are really impressive for the time, especially since this was Hitchcock's first color feature. While it's not very "horrific" to modern eyes, there is a lot of uneasy dread layered over the protagonists' ostensibly light dinner party. The leads are great, but Cedric Hardwicke's denunciation of Brandon's twisted ideology was the standout performance for me. People smarter than me have written extensively about the film's queer subtext, but I will say it's disappointing that one of the first on-screen depictions of a gay couple casts them as psychopathic murderers.
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Oct 5, 2018 17:49
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7. October 5 - The Nightmare  The synopsis sounded promising, but this movie is mostly boring, and the weird stuff isn't engaging enough to justify the runtime. It felt like somebody put E.T., Raw, Colossal, and Donnie Darko in a blender; a potentially interesting combination, but it comes out as a tasteless brown sludge. The creature is cool, there's lots of red and blue, wayyyy too many strobe lights, some interesting, voyeuristic handheld camera work, but it's mostly a big plodding bore.
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Oct 6, 2018 00:48
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FRAN CHALLENGE #3: Hometown Horror Well, this'll be easy...  8. October 5 - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre I've always loved horror, and I've lived in Texas my whole life, but I hadn't seen this movie until tonight. My local Blockbuster never carried it when I was a kid, and over the years it's become one of those movies that you feel like you've already seen through osmosis and imitators. I doubt I have anything new to say about this movie, but I did enjoy it. It's certainly gruesome, but a lot tamer than I was expecting. Oddly enough, I think my favorite part is the first half hour, before the massacring starts. Reminded me a bit of Easy Rider. The radio newsfeed at the beginning just listing off nonstop horrible stories was a nice touch, and I loved the old man lying on the ground speaking in vague omens.
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Oct 6, 2018 04:11
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FRAN CHALLENGE #4: Worst of the Best or Best of The Worst  9. October 6 - Survival of the Dead I don't think George Romero has ever been considered a great director, but he's certainly highly-regarded in the horror world, so I decided to watch his worst movie. I'd only seen the original trilogy and none of his movies from the 21st century, so it's probably unfair to jump in on the last one, but holy poo poo this movie sucks. It's baffling. Why does the internet still work? Electricity? Why are there still late night TV shows? And money? Why is there an island full of Irish people off the coast of Delaware? Why is there all this subterfuge about Janet having a twin sister when it has zero effect on the plot? All of this sounds like it would at least be entertainingly bad, but it's not. It's just tedious. Endless dialog about a Hatfield/McCoy blood feud, delivered by some of the least charismatic protagonists I've ever seen. It looks like a cheap TV show and the CGI is terrible. The lighting during the nighttime shots is especially gross; it just looks like they're on a movie set. Even the climactic action sequence is bad; shot after shot of somebody firing a gun at a zombie, edited together in 20 minutes with no thought for pacing or flow.
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Oct 6, 2018 17:07
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 10. October 6 - Lake Mungo Between the poster and the title, I thought this was gonna be a lame slasher, but it's the exact opposite. It's an Australian "documentary" about a young girl's death and the subsequent paranormal experiences of her family. I'm a huge Twin Peaks fan, so a movie about a girl named Palmer with a secret life who has visions of her own death before it happens was bound to be up my alley. However, it doesn't feel like Twin Peaks at all, and it also doesn't feel like other horror mockumentaries. It's slow and contemplative, not goofy or shameless. It never sacrifices verisimilitude in order to shock or scare you. If ghosts were real, this would be a completely believable documentary. It's super low budget, and it has exactly one trick: slow, Ken Burns-style zooms into grainy photos to reveal a ghost. It might be repetitive, but I found this more unsettling than most jump scares. Edit: Oh yeah, can anybody recommend a movie from '87, preferably available on Prime, Shudder or Tubi? Lester Shy fucked around with this message at 00:25 on Oct 7, 2018 |
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Oct 7, 2018 00:20
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 11. October 6 - Jigsaw Other people have Halloween or Friday the 13th as their favorite horror franchise, but I was born too late for either of those, so I'm stuck with Saw. From high school to college, this is the movie I was waiting for every October. I've rewatched the whole series a couple times, and they all start to blur together after a while. None of them are great movies, (even the first one is a lot rougher than you probably remember) but they're absolutely a guilty pleasure. Sins that I would excoriate other movies for (convoluted plots, villains explaining their convoluted plots, flashbacks within flashbacks to things that happened five minutes ago) I enjoy here, and Jigsaw is no different. This movie is very stupid, and my brain will start forgetting it as soon as I hit post on this review, but there are much worse ways to spend 90 minutes.
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Oct 7, 2018 03:34
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FRAN CHALLENGE #6: Video Nasties  12. October 7 - Tenebrae I'd never seen a video nasty, an Argento film or even a giallo, so this one is a lot of firsts for me. It's great: stylish, creepy and dreamlike. The long scene of the young woman being chased by a dog until she unwittingly stumbles into the killer's house is simple, but it's so tense and uncomfortable. Tenebrae certainly has a lot of sex, nudity and violence, especially for the time period, but it's tamer than I was expecting. I figured you'd need Guinea Pig-levels of gore to get banned. Fountains of blood were probably a lot more shocking in a world where Kill Bill didn't exist. Or maybe this, like Possession, is an outlier. The ADR is really bad, but the soundtrack is amazing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5TOPI1375w I'm planning on watching Argento's Opera for the Birth of Horror challenge, and I'm a lot more excited for it now.
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Oct 7, 2018 16:55
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FRAN CHALLENGE #5: Birth of Horror  13. October 7 - Opera My second Argento film in as many days. I liked this a bit more than Tenebrae; the plot wasn't quite so unbelievable. With Tenebrae, I had no idea who the killer(s) were until they were revealed. With Opera, it's obvious from the moment he first appears onscreen. Knowing basically nothing about giallo or Argento, it's interesting to see the genre trademarks showing up again. I'll have to add Suspiria to the watchlist to get a taste of a paranormal giallo story. I'm a huge baby who can barely stand to put in eye drops, so the eye torture made my skin crawl. The bullet through the peephole was shocking and impressive for a movie made in '87. Edit: Just realized this was my 13th movie, which means I've met my goal for the month. I'm gonna see how high I can run up the numbers. Lester Shy fucked around with this message at 03:55 on Oct 8, 2018 |
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Oct 8, 2018 03:35
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 14. October 8 - Halloween Everybody loves Halloween. It made Jamie Lee Curtis a star and spawned more sequels and imitators than I can count. It's probably the highest rated movie collectively among all my letterboxd friends. It's been on my watchlist forever, and I've never seen any of the sequels. I wanted to like this movie, but I just didn't. The first half hour was promising. The opening sequence, the atmosphere, and the music were all captivating, but nothing after that grabbed me. Michael Myers isn't scary, but more importantly, I don't think he's an interesting character. Horror movies have to walk a fine line between explaining too little and too much; nobody likes a scene where a professorial old man explains that X is happening because Y demon is reincarnated every 20 years on the first full moon in October or whatever. But this movie goes too far in the opposite direction. He's an indestructible mental patient who stands around with a knife, which is pretty boring to begin with, so you'd expect some interesting backstory to compensate, but he's just a blank slate. Curtis' performance was fine, but there was nothing particularly noteworthy about it. I'm at a loss. I just don't think there's a lot to chew on here. 
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Oct 8, 2018 20:41
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 15. October 9 - Channel Zero: Butcher's Block Holy poo poo, I love this show. It's a SyFy original anthology series, each season is loosely based on a different internet "creepypasta," and it's so much better than that concept has any right to be. It's uniquely weird and dreamlike, with great music and atmosphere and striking, unsettling visuals. Each season is only six episodes long, so it never overstays its welcome. For the first time in my life I actually gave up and bought a digital copy of this season because it wasn't streaming anywhere, and I just couldn't wait. Bucher's Block is both goofier and more horrifying than the previous two, and it's my favorite so far. I am always entranced by stories about regular people stumbling into dreamlands where nothing makes sense, and this season has that in spades. It's also heavily influenced by Twin Peaks: The Return, which is impressive, considering the six month timespan between the finale of that show and the premiere of this one. Not to sound like an advertisement, but the fourth season premiers for six nights in a row in late October, and I think everybody in this thread should at least give it a shot.
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Oct 9, 2018 17:43
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 16. October 9 - A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night I think my attention span is getting worse as I age; I would have liked this a few years ago. I usually don't mind slower movies where not a lot happens, but there's just too much nothingness here. The setting is really interesting, but the movie never capitalizes on it. Having said that, it looks great, and the two leads are excellent. Maybe I'll check it out again down the road.
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Oct 9, 2018 23:45
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 17. October 9 - Tetsuo: The Iron Man Well this movie is just loving insane. It's a 70 minute nightmare of farcical body-horror, like Eraserhead, Videodrome and Begotten had a baby, with a soundtrack that's feels like getting beaten with a hammer. It's metal as gently caress (literally). One of four movies on IMDb listed under the "Giant Metal Phallus" tag
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Oct 10, 2018 03:48
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FRAN CHALLENGE #7: The World Is A Scary Place Hell yeah, I literally just finished... 18. October 10 - The Eye  I missed out on the late 90s/early 00s Asian horror craze, but I've been meaning to watch this ever since one of the biggest horror fans I know told me it was the scariest movie he'd ever seen. I don't know if it's scary, but it's extremely suspenseful. One scene in particular just keeps amping up the tension until you're about to break. The ending feels like it belongs in a totally different movie. Worth a watch, but I think I built it up too much in my head beforehand. Also, the version of the movie on Shudder is in a weird aspect ratio. There are black bars on all four sides, and the subtitles are hard to read. Find a better copy if you want to check this out.
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Oct 10, 2018 22:52
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 19. October 10 - Dark, Deadly & Dreadful I love horror anthologies. A lot of horror movies ruin the fun by explaining too much, and shorts are a great way to explore weird, creepy ideas that might not withstand the scrutiny of a full-length film. This one's a mixed bag. There's no frame story or theme connecting each short; they're just cut and pasted one after another. It starts off really bad, with grossouts, jumpscares and cheap production values, and it feels like you're in for an even worse version of ABCs of Death. I almost turned it off after half an hour, but I'm glad I didn't. The last two "serious" shorts (Room 731 and The Cleansing Hour) are great, and they both look and feel like real movies. A feature-length version of The Cleansing Hour is currently in post-production, so I hope it doesn't fall victim to the problems I mentioned earlier.
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Oct 11, 2018 03:13
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 20. October 11 - As Above So Below Figured this would be a throwaway FF movie, but I ended up loving it. It's equal parts Dante's Inferno, The DaVinci Code, and The Descent. It hit all my buttons: claustrophobia, irrational architecture, people stumbling through portals to weird dimensions. It's not perfect by any means; some of the scares and plot points near the end are hamfisted, and it felt like a normal script that had been retrofitted into a found footage movie, but it's so much better than I expected.
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Oct 12, 2018 01:30
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 21. October 11 - Chernobyl Diaries I've always been fascinated by the story of Chernobyl, and it's a great setting for a horror film, but unfortunately this movie does nothing with it. The only character with any personality gets killed 30 minutes in, and the monsters are essentially zombies in all but name. Not fun, not funny, not tense, not scary, not much of anything.
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Oct 12, 2018 05:30
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FRAN CHALLENGE #8: Once In A Lifetime  22. October 12 - Hour of the Wolf I've only seen a tiny slice of Bergman's filmography, but I knew this wouldn't be a by-the-numbers horror movie. It's a slow, meditative take on paranoia and shared psychosis. I had a terrible bout of insomnia (not as bad as Johan's, thankfully) a few years ago, and nothing has captured the anguish of sitting up in total darkness, waiting for the sunrise better than this movie. It's often compared to David Lynch's work, but it mostly reminded me of The Shining, as both films feature similar ideas and plot points. Like most Bergman films, it's a treat to look at. Max von Sydow and Liv Ullman are great, as always. Also: I stole this from FancyMike. Total: 22 1. Hell House LLC 2. Channel Zero: Candle Cove 3. Grave Encounters 4. Channel Zero: No-End House 5. Tucker & Dale vs. Evil* 6. Rope* 7. Der Nachtmahr 8. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre* 9. Survival of the Dead* 10. Lake Mungo 11. Jigsaw 12. Tenebrae* 13. Opera* 14. Halloween 15. Channel Zero: Butcher's Block 16. A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night 17. Tetsuo: The Iron Man 18. The Eye* 19. Dark, Deadly & Dreadful 20. As Above So Below 21. Chernobyl Diaries 22. Hour of the Wolf* *Fran Challenge (8/8 Completed)
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Oct 12, 2018 21:06
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 23. October 12 - Apostle I love slow-burn horror movies that subtly hint at all the evil that exists just below the surface. I also love bugfuck crazy horror movies that Go There and show you everything. Somehow, this movie accomplishes both. The first hour feels like a big budget A24 movie, but the second half is just as nuts as Evans' Safe Haven. My only complaints are that the guy who plays the main character is pretty bland, and it could stand to lose 10-15 minutes of runtime. Definitely one of my favorite movies I've watched for this challenge. Total: 23 1. Hell House LLC 2. Channel Zero: Candle Cove 3. Grave Encounters 4. Channel Zero: No-End House 5. Tucker & Dale vs. Evil* 6. Rope* 7. Der Nachtmahr 8. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre* 9. Survival of the Dead* 10. Lake Mungo 11. Jigsaw 12. Tenebrae* 13. Opera* 14. Halloween 15. Channel Zero: Butcher's Block 16. A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night 17. Tetsuo: The Iron Man 18. The Eye* 19. Dark, Deadly & Dreadful 20. As Above So Below 21. Chernobyl Diaries 22. Hour of the Wolf* 23. Apostle *Fran Challenge (8/8 Completed)
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Oct 13, 2018 04:51
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 24. October 13 - The Wicker Man I always feel like a dullard when I don't like a classic movie, and I just finished heaping praise on Apostle, which draws heavy influence from this, but I just didn't like it. The constant musical numbers are like nails on a chalkboard, and the entire cast, save for the pearl-clutching, virginal police officer, are slimy weirdos. Nothing about this was relatable or engaging. Maybe it would have been better if I'd seen it 40 years ago, but I don't grade movies on a curve. Total: 24 1. Hell House LLC 2. Channel Zero: Candle Cove 3. Grave Encounters 4. Channel Zero: No-End House 5. Tucker & Dale vs. Evil* 6. Rope* 7. Der Nachtmahr 8. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre* 9. Survival of the Dead* 10. Lake Mungo 11. Jigsaw 12. Tenebrae* 13. Opera* 14. Halloween 15. Channel Zero: Butcher's Block 16. A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night 17. Tetsuo: The Iron Man 18. The Eye* 19. Dark, Deadly & Dreadful 20. As Above So Below 21. Chernobyl Diaries 22. Hour of the Wolf* 23. Apostle 24. The Wicker Man *Fran Challenge (8/8 Completed)
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Oct 14, 2018 01:18
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FRAN CHALLENGE #9: Stranger Danger 25. October 16 - Sleep Tight I showed my [REC]-loving buddy my Shudder queue and this is what he picked. It's more of a psychological thriller than a straight horror movie, but it's really well done. There's a scene in the first twenty minutes when you suddenly realize exactly what kind of story you're watching, and it literally made my skin crawl. I usually include the movie poster with my reviews here, but every single poster I can find for this movie is a massive spoiler for one of its most effective scenes. I recommend watching it without watching the trailer or reading anything about it. Total: 25 1. Hell House LLC 2. Channel Zero: Candle Cove 3. Grave Encounters 4. Channel Zero: No-End House 5. Tucker & Dale vs. Evil* 6. Rope* 7. Der Nachtmahr 8. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre* 9. Survival of the Dead* 10. Lake Mungo 11. Jigsaw 12. Tenebrae* 13. Opera* 14. Halloween 15. Channel Zero: Butcher's Block 16. A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night 17. Tetsuo: The Iron Man 18. The Eye* 19. Dark, Deadly & Dreadful 20. As Above So Below 21. Chernobyl Diaries 22. Hour of the Wolf* 23. Apostle 24. The Wicker Man 25. Sleep Tight* *Fran Challenge (9/9 Completed) [/quote]
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Oct 17, 2018 02:21
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Aside from Halloween, I think I've seen all the big horror releases from this year. How about Haunting of Hill House? I know miniseries count for the general challenge but what about Fran Challeneges? Either way, I'm sure I can slip in some 2018 straight-to-VOD junk in before Nov 1.
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Oct 19, 2018 18:10
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FRAN CHALLENGE #9: Fear and Now 26. October 20 - The Haunting of Hill House I loved this show. The scares were great, the story was gripping, and it was told in an interesting way. I was especially impressed with the casting. Not only do all the characters actually look like a family, the children perfectly match their adult counterparts, and they're never annoying or distracting. It's not perfect; it can get a bit schmaltzy, and it's too focused on trying to tie everything up in a nice package, but as far as horror TV goes, it's some of the best. I understand why some people didn't like the relatively happy ending, but I'm more forgiving about "unearned" happy endings in ten hour TV shows than 90 minute movies. Total: 26 1. Hell House LLC 2. Channel Zero: Candle Cove 3. Grave Encounters 4. Channel Zero: No-End House 5. Tucker & Dale vs. Evil* 6. Rope* 7. Der Nachtmahr 8. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre* 9. Survival of the Dead* 10. Lake Mungo 11. Jigsaw 12. Tenebrae* 13. Opera* 14. Halloween 15. Channel Zero: Butcher's Block 16. A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night 17. Tetsuo: The Iron Man 18. The Eye* 19. Dark, Deadly & Dreadful 20. As Above So Below 21. Chernobyl Diaries 22. Hour of the Wolf* 23. Apostle 24. The Wicker Man 25. Sleep Tight* 26. The Haunting of Hill House* *Fran Challenge (10/10 Completed)
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Oct 20, 2018 14:56
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I kind of petered out a couple weeks ago. I just got burned out on horror movies,. But I watched exactly double my original goal of 13, and it was all new to me, so I'm pretty happy. I could have run the numbers up if I hadn't included 5 seasons of TV shows (I watched the 4th season of Channel Zero, but I didn't feel like writing it up) but I enjoyed the experience. Thanks to Fran for running things and everybody else for participating! I'll never forgive you for making me watch Survival of the Dead. Final Total: 26 1. Hell House LLC 2. Channel Zero: Candle Cove 3. Grave Encounters 4. Channel Zero: No-End House 5. Tucker & Dale vs. Evil* 6. Rope* 7. Der Nachtmahr 8. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre* 9. Survival of the Dead* 10. Lake Mungo 11. Jigsaw 12. Tenebrae* 13. Opera* 14. Halloween 15. Channel Zero: Butcher's Block 16. A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night 17. Tetsuo: The Iron Man 18. The Eye* 19. Dark, Deadly & Dreadful 20. As Above So Below 21. Chernobyl Diaries 22. Hour of the Wolf* 23. Apostle 24. The Wicker Man 25. Sleep Tight* 26. The Haunting of Hill House* *Fran Challenge (10/13 Completed)
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Nov 1, 2018 06:20
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Franchescanado posted:
Whoops, looks like I'm a dumbass and didn't realize you had to have at least 31 movies. I set my goal for 13 and watched 26, but I could have squeezed in five more.
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Nov 2, 2018 20:35
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