|
 Train to Busan Like many people, I've been burned out on zombies for a good while now. Hundreds of hours playing video games(mostly Left4Dead) and countless films have left me somewhat jaded when it comes to zombie stories. It's very hard to make me feel like I've seen something fresh and new in the zombie subgenre. With all that said, I'd love to tell you that Train to Busan made me excited to see zombies again but in the end it didn't. Is it well made? Absolutely? Does it have solid characters? Yes it does, and that's definitely it's saving grace, as it so often is in zombie media. If you care about the characters, you'll be engaged. Zombies are a predictable, mostly one-note monster and so the one-dimensional cardboard cut-out characters of an 80's slasher just wouldn't work. And that's where Train Busan succeeds, because it did keep me engaged and I wanted to watch to the end to see who would make it. Still, there's not much that's new here. Yea, the setting is a bit of a twist, but in the end we're still running from zombies, barricading them out, discussing the plan, running from more zombies, finding a new spot to barricade, rinse and repeat. I hate to be so reductive about a subgenre of horror but I guess that shows that I just don't respond to it anymore. It's sad but it is what it is. For me, zombies are played out. I'd love for a movie to come along and change all that for me, to put a completely fresh spin on the subgenre and open my mind to new possibilities, but Train to Busan wasn't it. married but discreet posted:The Black Belly of the Tarantula Unfortunately, at least in my opinion, you've entered the land of diminishing returns when it comes to giallo. Once you get into that third tier you really are sitting through a lot of mediocrity in order to find the good stuff. I love giallo but I think of it as a pretty top heavy sub-genre. Watched: 1. Evil Bong 2. Let's Scare Jessica to Death 3. Mom and Dad 4. Train to Busan Basebf555 fucked around with this message at 15:04 on May 6, 2019 |
#
?
May 6, 2019 14:59
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 24, 2024 18:33 |
|
|
Someone on some other website made an aggregate list from a bunch of "Top ___ Horror Movies" lists from many different sources, and ranked the movies by their mentions and their total average ranking. Someone else conveniently made a Letterboxd list for them. So here's Top 1000 Horror Movies (Aggregated) Looks like I've seen 463 out of 1007.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2019 16:33
|
|
|
Franchescanado posted:Someone on some other website made an aggregate list from a bunch of "Top ___ Horror Movies" lists from many different sources, and ranked the movies by their mentions and their total average ranking. Someone else conveniently made a Letterboxd list for them. At 570/1007 right now, and most of the films I have lined up for this challenge are on there too. Trying to watch everything on there is madness, there is a lot of garbage especially in the bottom half, but I'm only missing 3 out of the top 100 so I might try to watch those this month.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2019 17:01
|
|
|
STAC Goat posted:If it wasn’t for Train to Busan making me literally cry 
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2019 19:00
|
|
|
Train to Busan REALLY worked for me but I certainly would never say it changed the zombie genre or anything. It was just a very good zombie film. I like zombie stuff and aren't as burned out as others so it clicked. But yeah, if you're just over it after The Walking Dead and Left 4 Dead and whatever else then it's just the same stuff in a different, prettier package. But it still made me cry. And basically closed the circle of me watching World War Z at the start of this and wishing someone made a better movie with their cool zombie ideas.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2019 19:44
|
|
|
 2. The Other (1972) Shudder This is a classic good twin/bad twin story about a boy named Niles Perry, who becomes increasingly concerned by his twin brother Holland’s erratic behavior. They’re part of a large farm family that’s prospered despite the depression era setting, but the Perrys are already troubled when we meet them. As the boys’ secrets continue to fracture their family’s picture-perfect life, Niles begins to share his fears with the grandmother that taught him to use his psychic gifts. I liked this one a lot. It’s bright and colorful enough to make the subject matter feel even more chilling, and the actors who played the twins did a great job. The fairly slow pace allows for a lot of little, layered moments that may clue viewers in to later parts of the story. But the ending pulls no punches, and it manages to be tense even once you know exactly what’s coming. I’d highly recommend it to fans of The Bad Seed, slow-burn 70s horror, or stories about a character’s decaying family life. Watched: 1. Cast A Deadly Spell (1991) 2. The Other (1972)
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2019 20:43
|
|
|
I'm in for 13! I've made a good start, too, just have to find the time to write them up.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2019 21:25
|
|
|
Basebf555 posted:Train to Busan This was my reaction. Not a bad movie; far from it. But much more standard than anything else, especially given the praise of it I'd been hearing. Franchescanado posted:...James Wong set up the franchise well, but David R. Ellis understood it better and make it more fun, energetic, and surprising.... I would agree with this too if I hadn't seen 4. 2 is great and my favorite of the series but Ellis' return in 4 produced a lamentable movie with almost no upside. deety posted:2. The Other (1972) warning: absolutely massive spoilers that mostly amount to me complaining and being a negative Nancy: I can't stand this movie almost entirely because of the ending. In my mind it's a mindlessly 70's conclusion. It's set up and executed fine, considering the build and you know what, as I was writing this out at the library, a cute librarian just reminded me how good life is so whatever, I'm not going to focus on this, have a nice day. ~~  12) A Dark Song (2016) A woman employs a spiritualist in an attempt to contact her dead son. The process for making such contact, however, is a long, grueling, and intense with no guarantee of success. Uncomfortable, but effective. Rather spare. It's basically a woman's spiritual journey with an abusive partner/religion and while that works for me there's an awful lot of moments in this movie I'm not in any hurry to re-experience. I like the ending; it's what I needed, considering the personal events in my life that this movie reminded me of. I'd write more but I'd rather move on. Broadly recommended but with the caveat that a number of scenes will likely inspire some frowny frowns.  13) Personal Shopper (2016) A woman works as a celebrity's personal assistant while moonlighting as a medium in an attempt to contact her deceased brother. It's like a giallo on Valium. I'm in love. Let me ingest this movie and feel it spread throughout my body. The mood, the acting, the characters, the tension, the mystery, the confusion--everything. I like everything. The languid pace let me lazy river my way through the proceedings in the most enjoyable way. My sympathy with the lead in multiple respects gave me someone I was more than willing to watch doing basic tasks. As much as I love and have loved frenetic versions of this basic story the way everything is pared down in this iteration in favor of focusing on the lead works for me 100%. I want to write reams of analysis and understanding but instead all I can think about is how I want to cuddle up with this movie while a cold rain beats down on the roof. Like A Dark Song this film reminds me of a number of things in my life and what I've lived through. This time, however, I'll gladly sleep with the thoughts it inspires. Absolutely recommended. If this doesn't wind up being my favorite movie of this thread then I'm in for some real treats this month. ~bonus round~  14) V/H/S (2012) A group of thieves is hired to break into an old man's house to steal a cassette tape. While trying to figure out which tape in the pile of tapes is the one they need different thieves take turns viewing the tapes so as to provide the audience with a found footage anthology. With a focus on telling effective short stories that happen to be shot unconventionally it's an anthology first and found footage second, and I appreciate that. A gimmick stretched over the course of a movie has a chance to flesh out concepts and the reasoning behind techniques. A gimmick dialed down to the length of a segment can easily just feel like a gimmick. Yes, I watched V/H/S/2 after this. I think everything in this movie at least functions. The framing device isn't amazing but it's fine and I'm always down for proper intermissions in an anthology to let you unwind a little. The stories, collectively, range from "that was okay" to "hey that was neat." Amateur Night is a little sloppy but the lead actress is worth the experience. Also the dude with the glasses reminds me of an old roommate both in appearance and personality, so that was funny. Second Honeymoon is a little too spare in my eyes but it's not bad. The couple's scenes worked for my way more than the spooky scenes. Tuesday the 17th is a pretty neat concept that has no time to actually grow like the capsule sponge dinosaur it desperately wants to be. The Sick Thing That Happened To Emily When She Was Younger is kind of ludicrous but I appreciate the story it's trying to tell while also embracing the worst filming apparatus used in the movie. 10/31/98 is a neat little ghost story and a good way to end. For an anthology I feel like having no out-and-out duds is a solid accomplishment. Some of the segments could have benefited from more breathing room (Tuesday the 17th and Second Honeymoon in particular) but I don't feel like complaining too loudly about it. Amateur Night is my favorite if only for the lead actress' quality Intense Eyes. I'm a big fan of a proper pair of Intense Eyes. Recommended. Worth rewatching, probably.  15) V/H/S/2 (2013) A private investigator and his assistant break into a house while on the trail of a vanished college student. A pile of VHS tapes in one room provides the audience with another found footage anthology as the two infiltrators try to find clues of the missing boy's whereabouts. Whereas in the original I had something nice to say about all the segments here I'm struggling to come up with more than a negative or even tepid reaction to any of these. Three of the four segments are straight-up undeveloped gimmicks without enough substance to make the sequences sing. I don't even dislike the gimmicks inherently, I just dislike how little there is to enjoy about their implementation here. The framing device is fine. Like the one in the first movie it functions well enough as mini intermissions. Phase 1 Clinical Trials is a condensed version of a story I've never seen an interesting version of that tries to get by entirely on the weight of scares that don't work when they're set up in a longer story let alone when they simply start happening without being established. A Ride in the Park isn't bad, and its concept is pretty neat, but I don't think the meandering adds up to much. Safe Haven is the closest the movie gets to being good and suffers the inverse of the previous segment; it's much too predictable and the ride it provides doesn't make up for it. The ending is the best part of the movie, though, and I mean that as a legitimate compliment. Slumber Party Alien Abduction starts well and almost gets there but the intentional confusion prevents seeing anything actually interesting. Can't recommend. It's not even awful, it's just so meh there's not much to say in its favor. Most good anthologies still have that one segment you point to as being weak and/or not really working. This is an entire movie of those. It's far from the worst anthology I've seen, and there are plenty of segments in the genre much weaker than all of this, but there's no standout segment or two to prop it up. Instead it's a lot of decent ideas given bland treatments.  16) The Doll (2017) A pair of friends procure a Russian mail order bride over the internet. When she arrives, however, something seems rather strange about her... Wait a couple minutes for the first lines of dialogue between characters. Once they start speaking, you'll know exactly what you're in for. You know that model, Valeria Lukyanova, who got nicknamed The Human Barbie? This movie is entirely built around the premise of using her unnatural look to pass her off as an occult flesh golem. This stunt casting is the only positive the movie has. It's almost enough to make it memorable. This is full of bad acting, but you can tell the actors are being given almost nothing to work with. The dialogue could have been written by a bored child slapping a Speak & Spell. There are two locations, to drive home how much money wasn't spent on production. Very little movie actually happens during the movie. The kills that do happen are brief and conspicuously minimalist. And you know what? It's kind of sort of okay. Sort of. Like I can't deny that the casting of Lukyanova aside there is, without exaggeration, nothing of note and an awful lot of bad in this movie. But as the climax started ramping up I realized that I hadn't looked at my watch once or zoned out or paused for an errand or any of that. It's not like I was enthralled. There's no standout scene or amazing sequence to rope you in. There's not even some gonzo finale for the movie to hang its hat on. The only thing this movie has going for it is the flesh golem lady looks kinda weird. And, somehow, that alone got me through it intact. Won't recommend. This movie really does peak with one part of its casting. Otherwise there's nothing here.  17) Thriller (2018) A group of junior high kids play a prank on a shy classmate in an attempt to scare him. The plan backfires and one of the group winds up dead and the classmate is sent to juvie. Four years later and the once-shy child is released, just in time for a string of attacks and murders in the neighborhood. I'd just like to clarify that I do not support the murder of pretty much anyone and especially not teenage children trying to figure out who they are. Having said that the victims in this movie are, by and large, people that, when I see them die in a fictional movie-land, I have a hard time feeling bad for. It's a revenge-against-the-bullies premise held together by, no joke, the characters of the bullies. Not their acting, mind you; there's a lot of substandard performances here particularly from the female lead. But there was effort put into showing how the kids changed in the four years between the accident and who they are as high school seniors. Little touches in slashers go an awfully long way and there's more than enough of those sprinkled into this movie to make it worth a watch. Digging its heels into the setting of Compton High School most of the main characters have enough layered onto the skeletons of their cliches that they're collectively elevated beyond typical victim fodder. There are still a few characters with nothing to do but I'll give the movie a pass considering how many kids they clown car into the plot. Which is funny, considering there are only like two dozen kids at prom. Bonus points for older Chauncey having a great pair of Intense Eyes. Seriously, I can't get enough Intense Eyes. Somewhat recommended. The performance weaknesses are real, there are a few odd gaps in production value that seem stark in comparison to the rest of the movie, and there are couple of zigs lefts unzagged that I couldn't help but want to see. Not a bad choice for a quiet Saturday afternoon, though.  18) The Bay (2012) A former journalist pieces together leaked footage of a bizarre outbreak that claimed many lives in a coastal Maryland town in an attempt to break the government-impelled silence. No one: Barry Levinson: but what if there was a bored, maudlin narrator telling you things I should have shown you? I get it. I get what this wanted to be. A person piecing together the found footage movie from disparate sources while filling in the narrative gaps. The idea is there and it's fine. Narrator: You see these people? That one was an interior designer. Her husband baked cupcakes for children's tea parties. They'll both be dead by midnight. Doesn't that make you feel sad? I'm sad. There's nothing wrong with attempting to elevate the victims above simply being bodies on the street. But the path chosen here is to forego the connective tissue found footage movies often use (and/or cheat in) in favor of having an omniscient observer simply tell you things. This is because using this narrator also allows the story to build to a much more complete framing device than what the genre often utilizes. The problem is that it's a terrible trade in my eyes. The framing device and its conclusion invite questions I don't normally bother to ask about any horror movie, let alone found footage. Namely, how on earth does the government successfully cover up that many people dying in 2009 with that many different people and agencies and organizations involved? This isn't even a fridge logic thing; the movie straight up tells you, "yeah, it was a cover up and it worked and we gotta fight it!!!" Narrator: That child? Dead. That other child? Dead. What a tragedy. There's also the matter of the marine researchers found dead earlier in the timeline that didn't get enough attention in-universe. A number of scenes are dedicated to their findings before their arc ends exactly how you're told it would when it started without anything substantive learned when it seemed like the entire point of splicing in their footage was for greater elucidation and revelation. But then the end shows it's to demonstrate how much the government knew before the disaster. There had to have been a cleaner way to handle the subplot, though, because as it is it feels like needless doubling back. Nearly every issue I have with this movie could be solved by excising the narrator and reconsidering the ending. The movie, as it is, is a very poor example of trying to expand the basic concept of the found footage film. Maybe this came off better when it was released but looking back it's simply an exercise in tedium. Absolutely not recommended. If this doesn't wind up being my least favorite movie of this thread then I'm in for some real trash this month. Watch Savageland instead. Yes, I enjoyed this less than the movie the Human Barbie was in.  19) They Look Like People (2015) A man reconnects with an old friend while struggling with whether or not to tell this friend a dire truth he has learned: there are monstrous infiltrators in society and only a chosen few can identify them. When I trawl the depths of Tubi TV recommendations this is the kind of movie I'm hoping to find. The main characters, for good and ill, remind me of myself and an old friend of mine. When lives get lived and people and circumstances around you change sometimes the thing you want most is something familiar and friendly. Sometimes that's exactly what you don't need. The bulk of this movie is character interactions as you learn who the friends are and who they used to be. To say too much about their personalities would spoil the experience of watching them unfold. It's a stripped down movie. There are something like five primary speaking roles. Only three regular characters. Two of them are leads. It's a lot of talking and getting to know the characters on screen as you try to suss out who knows what. If that sounds like a movie you're willing to roll the dice on I wholeheartedly recommend this.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2019 21:28
|
|
|
Adlai Stevenson posted:I would agree with this too if I hadn't seen 4. 2 is great and my favorite of the series but Ellis' return in 4 produced a lamentable movie with almost no upside. I think there should have been a hard rule put in place after 3 that a director only gets one shot at a Final Destination film. I think the series as a whole would be improved if we got completely different directorial voices with every single sequel.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2019 21:34
|
|
|
3 - The Blair Witch Project BWP will always hold a weird, genuine place in my heart. 1999 was the last year I wasn't a Terminally Online person, and having an old-rear end Mac + 14.4k internet + AOL charged by the hour + one phone line at home meant I couldn't just waste time looking at all the odd crevices of the internet. So the Blair Witch phenomenon was something I experienced without the benefit of online chatrooms or usenet threads. I was super into the Sci-Fi Channel showing the Curse of the Blair Witch short film -- it only kind of holds up when the weird locals and faux Satanist get their 5 minutes-- and as a Newspaper Reading Weirdo I happened across a special advanced screening of it, making it pretty much the first non-blockbuster film I went and sought out. I somehow knew the gimmick, but was still on board to see what this odd cheap film could do. And as far as terror or outright horror, there's not much. That's not to say it doesn't hold up, because the lead up to the group getting into the woods and just getting outright hosed is fun. The movie does an amusing few minutes where the college kids bumble around cemeteries and interview the locals to get the Real Scoop on this spooky local legend that could very well be a Reddit creepypasta in this day and age. The locals (some earnest, some working off of suggestions) do a lot of heavy lifting by giving us a series of names and places that colors in the Blair Witch Legend, making it seem like something that's been kept alive. In the hands of someone else, you could easily see a Blair Witch Cult being revealed in the third act a-la Wicker Man. In a time before everything was Reality Unscripted TV, there was still novelty in the idea that people could get Really loving Angry at each other. And the group degenerates into snide anger and bellyaching and frustration in a way that's relatable to anyone that's been on a trip with friends or who has tried to build Ikea furniture with someone else. Most of the weird paranormal stuff is the kind of thing that would make you piss yourself in the dark woods, but that's hard to translate to film (oooo spooky tens noises could be ghost raccoons!). The weird stickfigure effigies that the group come across is one of the best parts of the film. I think they're just a cool design that communicates a lot of potentially creepy and disquieting things. Then the camera up the girl's face shot happens and the content is good but the framing is just so embarrassing that it undermines the performance. If you're still on board with the film by then, the ending lands pretty well. The remaining groupmates just abandon all reason, blundering into an abandoned house like it's a great idea. The entire chase sequence in the house is nice, and it's kind of sad that the atmospheric scares come in there instead of out in the woods. The house and the design of the environment within are great callbacks to the stories dismissed at the start of the film (Rustin Parr's killhouse, the deaths of little kids, etc) which gives the audience a chance to connect the dots. Then, of course, you have the really fun final scene with the crewmember facing the wall and the thunk that drops the camera to the floor. It's a trip looking back at the success of this film, knowing that it was praised for being a little indie darling held together by $20, string and gum, when nowadays people have a whole editing setup on their phones and laptops.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2019 21:49
|
|
|
Adlai Stevenson posted:warning: absolutely massive spoilers that mostly amount to me complaining and being a negative Nancy: I can't stand this movie almost entirely because of the ending. In my mind it's a mindlessly 70's conclusion. It's set up and executed fine, considering the build and you know what, as I was writing this out at the library, a cute librarian just reminded me how good life is so whatever, I'm not going to focus on this, have a nice day.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2019 21:51
|
|
|
1 (of 1): Swamp Thing (1981) Dear loving God, this was terrible. I don't even want to think about how bad it was. Everyone's performance was a career worst. The script is stupid. The direction is appalling. There's a whole scene that was rewritten after shooting to add dialogue, leading to one character speaking multiple sentences with his mouth shut. For sale: one slightly used 88 Films Swamp Thing region B/2 BD/DVD combo.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2019 23:38
|
|
|
Basebf555 posted:
I'm prepared for that, I'm saving the (re)watches of top tier giallos for later so I can at least end on a high note.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2019 23:49
|
|
|
 After the dreadful horror/thriller Prophecy series, I wanted a real horror movie. One with some reason for me to believe it will be good. So I went with Pet Sematary[sic]! It's not bad. I know this is a "Why didn't the Hobbits just ride the eagles to Gondor?" level dumb criticism, but jesus christ fences exist. Now we know that the family in the movie are bad, irresponsible pet owners because they didn't get their cat fixed And also don't know that you can just buy pet shampoo? That was weird. So it's fine that they don't bother. But that road has been a problem for decades, killing dogs the entire time, and nobody thought to put in a fence? whatever. I will say that it was really cool how the movie used the trucks roaring past as a constant symbol of death, that was great. But I did have two big problems. First, the flashback to the guy who got brought back. This is really important, because it's where they establish that bringing people back is a bad idea, even though the cat came back completely fine. And it was goofy. A silly zombie drunkenly pushing over a table is not the unnatural terror that you really need to got with "sometimes dead is better". And the judge from My Cousin Vinny is a great actor, so just let him tell the story! Locked down camera, very slow zoom on his face, all one shot, he tells the story of the guy who came back wrong and had to be put down. It would have been so much creepier and more effective than a guy in crappy zombie makeup. Secondly, and worse, is Massive Headwound Harry. At first he was super creepy and gross. But then he keeps showing up. He becomes a comic relief character in the last ten minutes! It's terrible! "Sometimes dead is better", "The ground went sour", fantastic, creepy, absolutely great. "He was nearby when my soul disincorporated", terrible, gently caress off. We're getting rules for a completely different kind of death magic unrelated to the burial ground. Ghosts and the ancient Indian burial ground have nothing to do with each other! It muddles the situation and is a distraction from what should be the horror. Sometimes dead is better, because you become a wise-cracking ghost! But even so, it's till a good creepy movie. The whole idea and the dad's descent into grief madness are enough to carry the movie past those big issues It's got me interested in the remake, because the story could be told a lot better
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2019 01:49
|
|
|
This scene is burned into my brain thanks to the Sci-Fi version of it that aired years ago. In the film, Todd has a reason to say, "hey, lets poo poo before the plan because hot chicks", but the cut version just has Todd walking up to Alex and saying "Alex. Lets go take a dump." Cut to, them making GBS threads. Funniest thing I've ever seen.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2019 01:56
|
|
|
I forgot to mention, lol at Lieutenant Tasha Yar playing a character defined by her hatred of death.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2019 01:57
|
|
|
Franchescanado posted:I think there should have been a hard rule put in place after 3 that a director only gets one shot at a Final Destination film. I think the series as a whole would be improved if we got completely different directorial voices with every single sequel. You should roll the dice on number 5, honest. It's not quite as good as 2 but it's got more than a leg up on the others. It is, as you say, a different voice in a few influential and ultimately good ways. deety posted:I liked the ending, but based on what you seemed to be getting at, some of the things I enjoyed about it were probably the aspects of it you hated. Okay real talk here's an attempt at a non-biased take on the part of the movie I don't like: Premise: movies need to earn their endings, whether they're happy, sad, confused, ambiguous, whatever. In something like Stepford Wives I feel like the Ugly 70s Ending is earned by virtue of the themes as delivered and necessity for the story to exist as it ought. A happy ending in that story when it has such a purposeful and focused construction would be a tremendous cheat. The Other's ending, on the other hand, feels like it exists simply because Ugly 70s Endings were possible at the time, and hey, why not? I don't care that the kid gets away with it. I care that the film seems to be thumbing its eye at the audience for expecting anything different, and that that expectation is the only reason the ending exists as it does. Does that make sense? I mean it makes sense in my head but I'm the one who thought it so naturally it would to me
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2019 02:14
|
|
|
2. Friday the 13th (2009) After Hatchet, I saw this when I was moving across Netflix in my search for Green/Lynch flicks, and I said gently caress it. Why not. I forgot how amazing this film is. Oh yes, I said AMAZING. It holds a special place for me, since it was the first R-Rated film I saw by myself with my own ID. The crowd was loving awesome. Buncha us teenagers cheering and wooping at my boy Jay, kicking rear end and taking names. But for real though, this is one of the best, if not the best modern slasher film out there. It treats the material 100% seriously. Never laughs at it. Never jokes with it. But it still manages to be really loving funny. This is mostly due to the cast. This might have the most likable group of kids in any of these movies since Scream. Which really makes some of the deaths hurt. Chewie and Lawrence are the best example. Two funny, but fairly regular college kids that you've probably met somewhere down the road. Trent, the unlikable piece of poo poo, so bad he's evil in two franchises, is perfectly done here. Realistically lovely. I also love the entire first group and scene. It's a mini movie, and every character gets a chance to shine and be likable before Jason mows them down. Speaking of, Derek Mears kills it in the role. Anytime he starts running, it's startling. You're not used too giant rear end Jason lunging at you with everything he has. It's terrifying. Gorgeously shot by Daniel Pearl, and I think well directed by Marcus Nispal. Great kills. Perfect tits. Good poo poo. 3. Frozen The second Green film I found. This movie loving rules. It's not perfect, but it left me with enough anxiety during and after that I can't say it didn't do it's job. I think this sort of lets me see Green a little bit more and understand him as a filmmaker, where's Hatchet didn't really feel like there was a voice behind it. The film dealt with isolation and terror perfect considering you probably don't have a lot of shot options when you're hanging 50 feet above the ground, and riding on other ski lifts to film it. But it works. I also love how any time I thought "well, why don't they just do.." the film does it, and the cast suffers for it. Fuckin wolves man. Goddamn. Also thanks Adam Green for also sharing my fear of digestion and the Sarlacc pit.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2019 02:15
|
|
|
Adlai Stevenson posted:You should roll the dice on number 5, honest. 5’s my favorite!
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2019 03:42
|
|
|
Friday the 13: Part 2 This is just ... unpleasant in many ways. Jason isn't fully established, and as a result it feels like a remake of the original. It's not an awful movie, though; that category will wait until Jason Takes Manhattan.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2019 05:10
|
|
|
 27) Lurking Fear - 1994 - TubiTV A decent enough film. An ex-con goes looking for the half a map his father left him that leads to his portion of their last heist. When he goes to claim it, he finds himself in a survival situation. The monster design could've been better, but there were some interesting bits like the monster's perspective while tunnelling.  28) Haunted Casino - 2007 - DVD First time watch. Not sure if there's been any other horror set in a casino beyond that Wishmaster film, that Leprechaun, The Stand or Remains. Basic premise on this one is a guy inherits a casino from his uncle that turns out to be haunted by murdered mobsters who are after the uncle's silver. Kinda slow to start, but okay enough. This has also been released under the titles Casino of the Damned and Dead Man's Hand.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2019 05:35
|
|
|
Adlai Stevenson posted:Okay real talk here's an attempt at a non-biased take on the part of the movie I don't like: The only person who spent enough time with Niles to make a difference was his grandmother, and she decided to spare his feelings rather than help him deal with reality. (The movie seems to treat "the game" as if it's a real psychic ability, but I liked that it was minimal enough that you could see it as him just playing make-believe.) Her actions at the end really drove the whole thing home to me because she walks right past the farmhand getting arrested. She's the only one who can prevent the poor guy from being railroaded, but instead she carries on with the family tradition of not talking about unpleasant subjects and does something that, under the circumstances, feels just as self-indulgent as playing along with Niles's game. It's bleak as poo poo, but it worked with the themes as I saw them. I totally get where you're coming from, because it is a mean movie. It's mean in a way I found really interesting though. I'd be curious to read the book it's based on and see if the end result is any different.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2019 06:07
|
|
|
Gripweed posted:I forgot to mention, lol at Lieutenant Tasha Yar playing a character defined by her hatred of death. The thing that makes me laugh most about Pet Sematary 89 is that no currently available version of the movie credits Dale Midkiff on the box despite him being the main character.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2019 10:36
|
|
|
So, “Egyptian theme”, here we go! The Mummy (1932) - Fairly slow, and seemed overly complicated. Felt like it was a pretty direct take on Dracula, but with mummification in lieu of vampirism. Not enough mummy action, as Imhotep, the titular mummy, disguises himself as a wealthy baron, and is not in fact walking around as a dessicated corpse covered in shrouds and spices. This was the first I saw, and it was four mummy movies ago, so they’re already starting to blend together in my head, but this one involves a different mummy than the later ones.  The Mummy’s Hand (1940) - Now we start the franchise proper, with a different ancient mummy by the name of Kharis being controlled by a sect of priests of Karnak. This didn’t, of course, stop them from using plenty of footage from the first movie to explain Kharis’s origins, slyly ignoring that the original mummy was Imhotep. It’s a bit of a fresher take, but still not entirely exciting and continues to be one of their lesser franchises. One notable thing is that the male lead, Stephen Banning, doesn’t really accomplish anything in this movie. His big discovery scene of the tunnel leading to the princess’s tomb is just reaffirming what Marta already figured out. Kharis is prevented from imbibing the rest of the tana leaf juice by his best friend “Babe” and not his own feeble struggling. About the only thing he *did* do was set the mummy on fire to end it, and as we’ll find out in the sequel, he didn’t even do that. Having someone control the mummy was an interesting take on the curse that I liked. The actual villain, then, being the high priest Amodeb, not the mummy itself, following in the footsteps of The Son Of Frankenstein the year before with Ygor controlling the monster. This had more laughs - a lot was played for comedic effect, and like many of these older movies, traumatic deaths seem to be recovered from quite quickly. There was one really cool shot of a howling jackal that was stuck in the middle of the movie.  The Mummy’s Tomb (1942) - Bizarrely set 30 years after The Mummy’s Hand, we see the new high priest of the sect bring the mummy over to Small Town, America, to finish off the Banning crew for violating the tomb in The Mummy’s Hand. Less comedy, this one definitely seemed to be more of a Frankenstein mashup, taking on a more horrific/gothic tone in setting and the way it’s shot. The mummy itself at one point becomes *slightly* sympathetic, attempting to wilfully disobey the priest’s orders to kidnap the girl, when it should instead be continuing to get revenge on Stephen Banning’s son, who is the main lead of this story. It all comes to a fiery close as a mob with torches light up the house the mummy had taken the girl in because they’re all pyromaniacs, but I suppose it does kill the mummy….. Or does it?!?!? I thought the more serious tone helped here over The Mummy’s Hand, but the lone shot of a jackal howling at the moon is less cool. The Mummy In America take maybe also helped bring it home to audiences in 1942, but I really would have liked more expansive sets in Egyptian tombs, personally.  The Mummy’s Ghost (1944) - This had a surprisingly mean ending for a Universal flick. I really liked how the town just accepted the cursed living dead wandering through, to the point where the local history professor even taught a lecture on the Mummy’s night out in the town. Of course, the mummy survived the last movie, and they don’t even try to explain how - it’s just an elder priest back in Egypt (I thought there was only one at a time and the last one died?!) saying, “They all thought he died…. But he didn’t!” This one was pretty dumbly entertaining. The resurrected girlfriend plot of the first movie was, ahem, resurrected for this one with a splash of the Bride of Frankenstein in her hair just to keep that comparison going - for reasons known only the Gods of Egypt it slowly turned white over the course of the movie. This may be my favorite so far. 1 - The Mummy (1932), 2 - The Mummy’s Hand (1940), 3 - The Mummy’s Tomb (1942), 4 - The Mummy’s Ghost (1944)
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2019 16:47
|
|
|
Forgot to mention, the last three, and in particular The Mummy's Tomb, recycle footage from the previous movie like they're a high priest of Egypt bringing Kharis back to life. I think 15 minutes of The Mummy's Tomb, a full quarter of the movie, is the now-older main character from the second movie recounting the events of it as we the viewer see basically a 15-minute edit of The Mummy's Hand. I assume the next few movies in the cycle continue that tradition of longer and longer flashbacks, until eventually they just rerelease a Mummy movie under a different name with a thin sliver of a wraparound story?
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2019 17:51
|
|
|
deety posted:It makes total sense, but I guess I just didn't get the feeling that the rest of the movie didn't support it. I looked at it mostly as a rural gothic story about benign neglect and surface-level happiness. It was a state that the whole family was stuck in, so the ending centered around the biggest possible tragedy for them. The Perrys had this idyllic Norman Rockwell life during the Great Depression, but they were so busy going to the movies and being distantly polite to the servants that they didn't notice that Niles had spent months carrying around a severed finger. And while the family didn't look closely enough to do anything about it, as a viewer, I felt like the movie set up the ending by having all their troubles revolve around situations that threaten to complicate Niles's relationships, especially in ways that might challenge his delusion. The scene where the baby comes home was exactly the kind of thing that might act as a trigger. It focuses on Niles watching his grandmother, the only person who pays him much attention and talks to him about Holland, scooping up her new great-grandchild. (And this goes by quickly, but at one point there's a child's drawing of the Lindbergh kidnapper up on Niles's wall. Later it's replaced with a drawing of the magician he saw, someone he's openly trying to imitate.) Okay, I can see this. It's certainly more in line with some of the author's other works I'm familiar with. I don't know if I like it but I think you're right about it being there. The book has a few key differences in the ending details, if you care to read on: The game: the game is pretty dang real in the book and informs what happened to Niles after the climax. The ending: the baby isn't found immediately. It's found a week later, during a family dinner, after everyone has already had a drink from the cask.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2019 17:58
|
|
|
Adlai Stevenson posted:The book has a few key differences in the ending details, if you care to read on:
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2019 18:19
|
|
|
 6. The House that Dripped Blood (1971) (Shudder) The title of this movie is a lie - at no point does the house drip blood! It should be called "The House Where Bad Stuff Happens". This is a decent anthology from Amicus Productions, a contemporary of Hammer who were mostly known for the series of horror anthologies they produced in the late '60s and early '70s, including Tales From the Crypt and Vault of Horror. The framing story is about a police detective investigating the disappearance of an actor, and the four segments are presented as case files related to the house that said actor was staying in. The first segment, starring Denholm Elliott, is about a writer who believes he is being stalked by a character he created. The second stars Peter Cushing and is about a creepy wax museum, the third has Christopher Lee as a man with a creepy daughter, and the final one features Jon Pertwee as famous actor who acquires a cloak that turns him into a vampire. The framing story is not good and the very end is dumb as hell, but the segments themselves are mostly entertaining enough. Denholm Elliott is excellent in his segment, and Jon Pertwee hams it up to the Nth degree in his. His story is the goofiest by far, but it was also probably the most fun. Unfortunately, Lee isn't given much to do other than be a Very Serious Father, and Cushing's segment is so dull that even he can't save it. If you like Amicus and/or Hammer films, I think is probably worth a watch, but there are better anthologies like this out there. Total: 6 Watched: Hagazussa | Deep Rising | Thoroughbreds | Wolf Guy | The Old Dark House | The House that Dripped Blood
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2019 18:31
|
|
|
3. Gozu dir. Takashi Miike (2003) I've been meaning to watch this for ages, but the only thing I knew about it was the poster, so I had always thought it was about someone getting trapped in a maze with a Minotaur type dude. Turns out it's even stranger and more unpredictable than that. I liked most of the characters throughout the creepy town, aside from the poo poo with the cross dressing waiters, unless I'm missing some deeper meaning just seemed like lazy homophobia compared to how actually strange the rest of the town is. Gotta love the early 2000s, I guess. I truly love the audacity of having such a happy ending, it builds tension throughout all of it but at the end it's genuinely heartwarming in its own way. Similar to DOA2: Birds, finding that kind of tenderness in the middle of his very violent narratives is one of the things I like best about Miike. 3.5 surprisingly infrequent cow men out of 5 Watched: 1. Noroi 4/5, 2. Mandy 3.5/5, 2.The Stuff 4/5, 3. Gozu 3.5/5 Scones are Good fucked around with this message at 20:19 on May 7, 2019 |
|
#
?
May 7, 2019 20:10
|
|
gey muckle mowser posted:
Amicus titles are complete lies, this is one of the least egregious ones. At least there's a house!
|
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2019 23:22
|
|
|
5. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter I enjoyed it, but it's been a couple of days and all that stands out in my memory is a couple of cool shots, that crunch sound the dudes skull makes in the shower and the finale being hella bizarre. Did not buy a pre-teen boy killing Jason, but the effect was cool so  6. Seed of Chucky  Glen/da is a queer icon, I giggled every time they spoke in japanese, everything else was boring. The puppetry was not great either. 7. Freddy vs Jason  The dumbest poo poo I've ever seen. 5 stars 8. Cult of Chucky  Watched out of order on accident  Really good? Every character and scene works, none of the artful stuff detracts from the Chucky stuff or vice versa. Fiona Dourifs impression of her dad ruled. 9. Friday the 13th: A New Beginning  Sucked poo poo, awful effects. The only good scene took place on a toilet.
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2019 03:05
|
|
|
 29) Skull Heads - 2009 - AmazonPrime First time watch and I think I might've found one to try and give Castle Freak a run for the wtf-ery. Considering it opens with a daughter being put on the rack as punishment for having a forbidden cellphone, you know it's only going to get more bizzare from here. Family consists of Dad who has no problem with torture as punishment for breaking rules, Mom's shrewish, Uncle who's pretty much developmentally disabled libido on legs and the daughter who's a bit off. As things go on, the title's skull heads who are protectors of the castle they live in are about the mildest thing there. The family's reveal as to why they're like this pretty much leaves you saying "Because, of course." Only way I'll sit through this again is with goons just for the commentary.  30) Ravenwolf Towers - 2016 - AmazonPrime First time watch. Originally this was a miniseries. Maybe my opinion would've been different if I watched it when it first aired, but it just came off as a close but not quite knockoff of American Horror Story: Hotel. Wasn't really good but wasn't really bad either.
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2019 04:01
|
|
|
Short Night of Glass Dolls The corpse of a man is found in 1972 Prague. As he is rolled into the morgue, his mind is still working, and he tries remember what happened to him, and more importantly, regain control over his body before an autopsy is performed. As a foreign journalist, he was trying to smuggle his girlfriend into the West, but she disappeared without a trace beforehand. Did the secret police get her? Or something even more sinister? I have to say, that might be the best "giallo" I've ever seen, but really, what makes a giallo? Aldo Lado's movie has has basically none of the elements that both plague and distinguish a giallo. It's an Italian mystery movie but other than that it has little to do with the sensibilities of Argento or Bava. It's unabashedly political in a similar way as the new Suspiria, and Czechoslovakia post Russian invasion is such a good setting for it. Throughout the movie the film lingers on random passerbys watching the protagonist, the police is unhelpful at best and threatening at worst, and the ending is such a fantastic culmination of all the built up paranoia, wow. I really don't want to spoil it, it put that movie from very good into straight up classic territory for me. Faith in Italian movies restored!
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2019 04:03
|
|
|
4. Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key I try to watch at least one giallo every marathon, this one got positive reviews in the October thread so I added it to the list. Watching it confirmed what I already knew; giallo just isn't for me. I like the ideas, I like movies about giallo (The Editor and Berberian Sound Studio), but the movies themselves just never do it for me. Suspiria was the first Italian film I watched (thanks thread!) and I don't want to open the can of worms if it counts as giallo, but I absolutely adored it and this was what I expected out of giallo. Going through Deep Red, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, etc. I just kept being disappointed. They have mood, they have style, but they still come across as half-assed murder mysteries with awkward pacing that suddenly rush through non-sensical conclusions as if they wrote themselves into a corner and have no idea how to fix it. For me, Your Vice was no different. There is a solid idea, that is then discarded while very little of interest happens until the plot gets resolved in the last 5 minutes. I think I'll stop watching giallo.
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2019 08:20
|
|
|
I'll never stop watching giallo but I totally get that.
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2019 10:27
|
|
|
Gialli are definitely not for everyone, I totally get not being into them. If you don't like Your Vice then they are probably not for you, I think it's a top-tier giallo. 7. Phenomena (1985) (Shudder) Despite being a big Argento fan (see avatar), I'm only just getting around to watching this one now. It's not up there with his best films, but it's good and he was definitely still on his game at this point. It's a weird rear end movie. It's closer to Suspiria than it is a giallo, but it does have some elements of that genre. Jennifer Connelly stars as a girl who has a telepathic bond with insects, and when she moves to a Swiss boarding school she immediately gets caught up in a murder mystery. She befriends a local entomologist (Donald Pleasence) who has a chimpanzee that takes care of him, and they use her insect powers to track down the killer. It also stars Argento regular Dario Nicolodi. Most of Argento's strengths (and weaknesses) are on display here - striking visuals, bitchin' music (Goblin as you might expect, but also Motorhead and Iron Maiden), and some great blood and gore effects. The plot doesn't really make a lot of sense, but the weirdness makes up for that I think. I didn't understand the killer's motivation at all though. Donald Pleasence rules, I love his Scottish accent that sort of comes and goes depending on the scene. If you're a fan of Argento or Italian horror films, you should definitely check this out. Total: 7 Watched: Hagazussa | Deep Rising | Thoroughbreds | Wolf Guy | The Old Dark House | The House that Dripped Blood | Phenomena
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2019 13:47
|
|
|
I dunno, I enjoy giallo generally but Your Vice.. didn't do much for me. I'm really not a Sergio Martino guy, didn't like Torso either. But yea, it sounds like you've given giallo a fair shot. If neither Your Vice OR Deep Red hit with you then it's gonna be tough. If you loved Suspiria, what about Inferno?
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2019 14:03
|
|
|
gey muckle mowser posted:Gialli are definitely not for everyone I actually did like Phenomena. It leaned enough into the craziness that the out-of-nowhere ending (you know the one!) felt appropriate and part of the whole. I guess someone telepathically communicating with insects was far-fetched enough for me not to expect a genuine murder mystery and the last half hour just went completely off the rails in the best way possible. Basebf555 posted:If you loved Suspiria, what about Inferno? I thought it was disappointing. Inferno obviously didn't live up to Suspiria, but still the flooded ballroom was great, the bit with the hot dog vendor stuck with me and the ending had a rad Death. It had its moments, but the rest wasn't interesting and even the scenes above were just random ideas thrown together because a witch was involved. Suspiria felt more coherent, even though that isn't a word I would normally use to describe it. Went back to read my post about it in October and it is almost word-for-word what I was thinking after Your Vice quote:Giallo never really clicked for me. I love the ideas, the atmosphere, the craziness, but it never really adds up to something that appeals to me. Yeah, I'm gonna go back to creature features and other stuff that works for me. Still have Tenebre on a pile somewhere, maybe October.... For sure plenty of things I watch on purpose are worse than the giallo I dislike and one or two per year won't hurt.
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2019 14:39
|
|
|
Phenomena is loving amazing and, for my money, one of Argento's top three. I like off-the-rails Argento a lot better than workmanlike Argento. It's like the more coke he was doing, the better the movie came out.
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2019 15:06
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 24, 2024 18:33 |
|
|
A bit late but I will update with my takes from the first week of Giallo-mania here in a bit
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2019 15:17
|
|
