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I rewatched House on Haunted Hill last night and it's definitely very tough to beat. I didn't necessarily have a rewatch of Black Christmas planned but this one is so close that I feel like I need to before I make the final decision.
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Jul 10, 2020 20:26
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It's also worth noting the remake of House on Haunted Hill enjoys a game Geoffrey Rush going all out, while BOTH remakes of Black Christmas suck out loud and are just the loving worst.
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Jul 10, 2020 23:09
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I think I hate the remake but holy gently caress do I love Geoffrey Rush doing Vincent Price. I might watch that tonight after the original if its streaming anywhere.
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Jul 10, 2020 23:27
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Just to add my own two hits on the dead horse, I'd say that Lost Highway is primarily a horror film pretending to be/in the guise of a neo-noir. Ignoring the symbolism, a man changes identity through a body-horror sequence, a supernatural force that can bend reality is the catalyst for the action, and the plot circles around the repressed memory of murders. It's atmosphere is pure terror and anxiety.
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Jul 10, 2020 23:38
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My favourite take on Lost Highway is that it's an unofficial entry into the Rebel Highway films https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebel_Highway
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Jul 10, 2020 23:46
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If anyone is interested in watching Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust in the next half hour, a friend and I are going to do a simulwatch. 9PM EST It's free in HD on YouTube and you can talk with me in the CineD discord in the Streaming Channel. Franchescanado fucked around with this message at 01:35 on Jul 11, 2020 |
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Jul 11, 2020 01:32
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drat it, I'm smack dab in the middle of House on Haunted Hill!
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Jul 11, 2020 01:42
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Oh hell yeah!
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Jul 11, 2020 01:57
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We are now also doing a simulwatch of Miike's Over Your Dead Body in the Discord streaming. Starting it at 11PM EST Streaming free on TubiTV, also on Shudder
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Jul 11, 2020 03:44
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Rewatching Over Your Dead Body really complicates things. The last two minute twist really threw me for a loop last time, but this time the whole descent into insanity was wonderful. I think I'm going to stick with sad vampires, but honestly it's very tight.
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Jul 11, 2020 05:42
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I am ultimately glad I abandoned my Haunted Hill/Black Christmas plan and joined you fine folks for a matchup I honestly wasn't looking forward to. But I had a really fun night with ya'll. And the movies were decent.
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Jul 11, 2020 05:55
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Unfortunately due to timing I wasn’t able to join in on the stream but I did end up watching Vampire Hunter D by myself, and boy was that an anime. Very pretty though, going to have to check out the Miike though before my final decision. The animation is gorgeous, especially those sequences with the otherworldly candle staircase (I’ll admit to smonking some wheat before hand so bear with me if I don’t recall all the details) but the thing I could see holding it back is my allergy for the general plotting of anime, something about the rhythm and the story beats always push me away.
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Jul 11, 2020 14:59
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Here's an accurate depiction of pretty anime boys entering the competition https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poelsIyzbRQ
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Jul 11, 2020 16:21
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Debbie Does Dagon posted:Rewatching Over Your Dead Body really complicates things. The last two minute twist really threw me for a loop last time, but this time the whole descent into insanity was wonderful. I think I'm going to stick with sad vampires, but honestly it's very tight. Told you so Now, Miike wiffs. Zebraman 2 completely fucks up what it was going for. Other films of his can be flatlines. But generally speaking Miike delievers a good rear end time, you just have to be ready for a man to become a winged unicorn that fires lasers out of his face
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Jul 11, 2020 17:39
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Takashi Miike’s Over Your Dead Body vs. Yoshiaki Kawajiri’s Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust This was the matchup this week I was least looking forward to, so I’m really glad I abandoned my plans and joined folks in Discord to watch them. It made the whole experience more fun and less like homework and turned into a good night. Vampire Hunter D was up first and was up against the fact that I have a slight aversion to anime. Not a HUGE one. The truth is I’ve just barely seen any anime beyond some imports I watched as a kid. I’ve heard the horror stories, seen bits and pieces, and its just never appealed to me at all. And I think some of that stuff I associate with anime as a bad thing was here. The big thing being all the metric ton of crazy poo poo piled onto it and just the completely incoherent landscape and rules and setup of the film. Like nothing made sense and I spent the first third of the film constantly rewinding to figure out what I was seeing and eventually I just gave up because it was clear there was no real answer. People just had weird rear end powers because someone thought it was cool or a garden was next to a desert because someone wanted to draw it or there’s lasers because people like lasers. I guess. I dunno. I get that its an appeal for some but not for me. I was confused. But that being said at its core the story was simple and classic, the art was good, and I like the soundtrack. By the final act of the film either I had gotten used to it all or everything was pulling into focus. Probably a bit of both. But for all that crazy noise in the first half of the film the character and story beats that happened all kind of came together and paid off in the end so it finished strong. I’ll probably never watch this again and D came off like a very boring character to me and the least interesting thing in the film But It wasn’t nearly the bad experience I was expecting. I was also a little iffy about Miike. I’ve only seen a few of his things and I remember them as being completely gorgeous and completely beyond my personal comfort zone of brutality and gore and… poo. And this one’s got both those elements in spades (although thankfully not the poo). Its a gorgeous looking film and I found the play completely compelling. I’ve since learned that its a classic kabuki story that has been retold countless times in 200 years and adapted to film over 30 times, so its obvious it was intended to be a story the audience was very familiar with already. That’s interesting because it means the film was half a direct adaption of that play and half… the odd reality blurring madness that paralleled that play’s story and themes. Me not knowing any of this when I was watching was pretty lost and didn’t pick up on stuff I’ve since realized. I’m not sure that explains every “What the gently caress?” question I have but it does give a lot more context and a loose track the film was working on. I think I want to see an adaption of the play in question and understand that story more and then revisit this film. Preferably without the english dubbing on the Tubi version. So ultimately I didn’t love either film but I didn’t hate them either. But I think its clear Miike’s did more for me. It was in a lot of ways just as confusing and disorientating but it eased me into that and had me hooked when it went off the rails while D just jumped out of the gate with parasite hands and lasers. Again, I recognize the appeal but its not for me. And while I liked some of the art and soundtrack on D I really did love the look and feel of Miike’s piece. So yeah. One vote for Over Your Dead Body.
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Jul 11, 2020 17:58
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Burkion posted:Told you so I wonder if rewatching Three Extremes will make the conjoined twin finale feel earned.
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Jul 11, 2020 18:35
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Thought occurred to me, if any of y'all haven't seen the original Twin Peaks might not be a bad idea to get going on the series now before we get back to Lynch since Fire Walk with Me is dependent on having seen the series (and contains major spoilers if you haven't).
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Jul 11, 2020 18:59
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I watched Season 1 at the start of this. It was like... ok but nothing special. I stalled out early in S2. I got a few weeks to finish it before Rd 2. I had kind of forgotten about it but I'll try before I start some other show I guess. I just wasn't feeling it. I think I can see why Twin Peaks was a big deal when it aired since I imagine there weren't a lot of quirky, serial storytelling shows like that with weird elements and mysteries. But like there's been a TON of them since then and I'm not sure Twin Peaks holds up outside of a really fun performance from MacLachlan and some impossibly pretty people.
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Jul 11, 2020 19:28
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Debbie Does Dagon posted:I wonder if rewatching Three Extremes will make the conjoined twin finale feel earned. Thats in Imprint from masters of horror
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Jul 11, 2020 19:37
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I've not seen Imprint, but it does also happen in Three Extremes
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Jul 11, 2020 19:50
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STAC Goat posted:I watched Season 1 at the start of this. It was like... ok but nothing special. I stalled out early in S2. I got a few weeks to finish it before Rd 2. I had kind of forgotten about it but I'll try before I start some other show I guess. I just wasn't feeling it. I'd say at least get to who the killer is midway through the season. After that you can probably skip to the finale, or maybe the Miss Twin Peaks episode.
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Jul 11, 2020 23:11
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I'm gonna try. I'm trying to give everything a fair shot (except Last House on the Left) so I gotta see S2 before I watch the movie. I got a few weeks so we'll see. Bob Clark’s Black Christmas vs. William Castle’s House on Haunted Hill A little shamefully I only saw House on Haunted Hill in the last couple of years. I’m not really sure how that happened, its just one of those movies I think fell through the cracks or just another example of how shameful my scope as a horror fan was for a long time. Anyway the first time I saw it I think I was a little let down. High expectations and all. This time I knew what I was watching and I was able to just relax and see all the charm and whimsy in the film. It feels like Halloween in the same way that your or I might try and decorate our homes if we found a really good sale on cheap skeletons. Vincent Price is just so sleazy but in such a dignified way. He basically breaks the 4th wall a couple of times just to vamp to the camera and he’s the fully formed idea of Vincent Price that I somehow knew about as a kid without ever seeing any of his films. House on Haunted Hill isn’t the best film, it isn’t the scariest film, it isn’t the most fun film. But its such a charming perfectly Halloween classic that feels like the loose prototype for a half a century or so of haunted house films and silly horrors. I don’t like Black Christmas. I gave it a rewatch to be fair but it is what it is. Its mean, its ugly, its cruel, its misogynistic. Not that I think Clark is misogynistic, just that its an entire movie about cruelty and disrespect to young women. I find it a deeply unpleasant viewing experience. Tying it with Christmas probably makes it feel worse to me. I’m not telling you Black Christmas is a bad film. I’m not saying its a bad slasher or giallo or whatever. But its not a film I like. Its a good example of what I don’t like about slashers or giallo. If I try really hard to say something I like its that the fact this film was made by the same guy who made A Christmas Story is a pretty interesting juxtaposition of Bob Clark’s view of the different sides of Christmas. A Christmas Story is cynical at times but also deeply sentimental and good natured. But Christmas sucks for you if you’re alone, struggling through a life crisis, have a horrible boyfriend, have a developing drinking problem, or are just angry. And I guess Clark felt a desire to show the dark side of Christmas in as ugly a way as he could imagine as he felt like showing the sentimental side of Christmas in as pleasant a way as he could imagine. And its pretty remarkable that he crafted two Christmas classics so diametrically different. So like… this one’s obvious, isn’t it? House on Haunted Hill.
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Jul 12, 2020 01:24
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I feel I have to say in respect of Black Christmas, it one hundred percent views the leading lady with sympathy, including her decision to have an abortion. The fact that the police are worse than useless and all of the men are toxic, angry assholes is very purposeful, I think. And 'Billy' works great because he is faceless. He is the worst nature of us all. Boy do all of the remakes suck eggs though. Also unless you're up for a very ugly film that could give inspiration to stuff like Halloween and the like, yeah it's not going to be a ride you want to be on.
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Jul 12, 2020 01:37
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Yeah, I think "misogynistic" is a complicated label I put on it because... its not a case where I think the filmmaker was misogynistic. I think there's a ton of sympathy for the sorority girls and their individual troubles. Like besides the lead whose whole thing sucks and is firmly on "your piece of poo poo boyfriend who gets violent and emotionally abusive when he can't make you marry him and have his children" there's also Margot Kidder's character who is simultaneously a huge rear end in a top hat and cruel person, but kind of clearly a lonely and angry person lashing out. I think the subtext of the script is very sympathetic to women and I think the the young cast of women do a wonderful job conveying a lot of poo poo. But like, its also a story that is about a killer who just for no clear purpose is just cruel and violent to women the whole way through and no one really does poo poo about it. So yeah, I think I get what Bob Clark is saying. And I think he's saying a lot not only about what women go through but the whole Christmas thing. But its just a really miserable viewing experience for me. I think it would help if there was a compelling story in there but it kind of has that thing I don't like with giallo films where the story is "women dying" and there's just a red herring to a mystery of the killer that never really pays off.
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Jul 12, 2020 01:56
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Shrecknet posted:It's also worth noting the remake of House on Haunted Hill enjoys a game Geoffrey Rush going all out, while BOTH remakes of Black Christmas suck out loud and are just the loving worst. With those early Dark Castle films, they did try some unique tangents while still delivering a decent story for the most part. Even Ghost Ship, while the bulk of the film was pretty rote, it was doubtful anything was going to top That Scene in the beginning. The Black Christmas films just dropped the ball with treating the concept as just 'killings happening around Christmas' and giving lackluster or 'same poo poo take two' plots.
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Jul 12, 2020 09:27
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I Walked with a Zombie vs From Beyond Whilst watching I Walked with a Zombie, I really felt for a moment like Stuart Gordon was in trouble. There's the drama of the zombie lady, with her flowy white dress blowing in the wind, as she's dragged through a labyrinth of sugar cane, and occult symbols. I thought yes, absolutely, this is the film that should win. Then it just became sort of muddled with the subplot of the doctor abusing her position by posing as a voodoo priest. For a film from 1943 it does a better job of handling race issues than I was expecting, but still it's such an unrelentingly white perspective, and the lack of a prominent black voice is really felt in those last few scenes. I wanted someone like Angela Bassett to turn up in that second act, and start chewing scenery, and laying out the issues. Instead it just sort of whimpers out. From Beyond on the other hand is, well, From Beyond. It's one of the greatest horror films ever made. The film starts at 11, and then still somehow manages to outdo itself at every turn. Do I really need to explain why it's a good thing that Dr Pretorius stands stark naked, as his body twists and contorts at the molecular level, as everyone becomes super horny and terrified around him? This is everything I want from horror. My only complaint is that there's not enough Ken Foree, and the lines he does get are a little one dimensional. We can't have everything I guess. Debbie Does Dagon fucked around with this message at 14:38 on Jul 12, 2020 |
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Jul 12, 2020 14:26
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I love scenes in movies where a character cooks(it always makes me hungry) and From Beyond even has that. Ken Foree can make me dinner any time.
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Jul 12, 2020 16:26
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Were those dumplings? My partner was convinced that they were either potatoes or cauliflower heads.
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Jul 12, 2020 16:38
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I can't figure out what he's cooking. Its like some kind of mini pot roast with mashed potatoes on top of the vegetables and gravy? Is there meat in there? Is that a knish or something? Now I want a knish.
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Jul 12, 2020 16:39
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Yea I believe it's dumplings, cooked over some sort of beef stew or pot roast type thing. Dude really knows how to cook.
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Jul 12, 2020 16:41
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Over Your Dead Body vs Vampire Hunter D I've seen a couple of Miike movies and I thought I'd come to fully embrace the bullshit, like a giant Jackass hand slapping me in the face when I least expect it. But Over Your Dead Body is just heartbraking. It's so much more emotionally complex and mature than what Miike usually does, it's a legitimate piece of artistry, up until, well, the Miike happens. It happens around 2/3rds into the movie when you're fully enraptured, and then it's just air coming out of a balloon making a long protracted fart noise. To be fair by then end I felt like I had regained my composure and was laughing again at the hilarious joke being played on the audience, but it was a sardonic laugh. gently caress you Miike. Vampire Hunter D, it's an anime. The creepy genre bullshit is thankfully at a minimum, it's pretty to look at and there's one horror scene with the blood monster coming out of its tomb, that was neat. But it's still clearly made for teenage boys, just taking random cool stuff and throwing it in without rhyme or reason. I guess this is okay for a video game but not what I want in movies. Let's face it, the anime was not going to beat any movie other than the absolute bottom tier, and certainly not what it actually came up against. I'm reeeaaaallly curious how Miike is going to be doing further on, it's just russian roulette for him and the audience.
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Jul 12, 2020 17:32
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Debbie Does Dagon posted:Were those dumplings? My partner was convinced that they were either potatoes or cauliflower heads. I think they’re dumplings made from biscuit dough.
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Jul 12, 2020 17:36
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I'm 15 minutes into Delirium, and I already have so many questions 
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Jul 12, 2020 19:24
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Delirium: Photo of Gioia vs The Invisible Man Having finished Delirium, I was planning on rewatching The Invisible Man, but I'm not sure that's going to be necessary. The Invisible Man is my least favourite of the early Universal horrors. It seems like more of an impressive tech demo rather than anything more robust. It's fine for what it is of course, but it just doesn't fill me with excitement. Delirium on the other hand, is softcore porn that's shot like a '80s soap opera. Let me just post my Letterboxd review quote:I wasn't expecting relentless softcore porn right out of the gate, but I guess here we are, and this is what we're doing. The film itself reminds me, quality wise, of an '80s soap opera, or cop procedural. It's not so low quality that it's worthy of a complaint, but it feels very televisual. Potentially we could leave the review there, but this is a murder mystery, and the director made some choices when it comes to how to film the murders. Perhaps if I was in a better mood, or I knew what I was getting myself into, I would have had more fun. As it stands however this matchup easily goes to James Whale, and I'm very much looking forward to the rest of you wrestling with this monstrosity.
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Jul 12, 2020 21:40
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I haven't had an opportunity to watch it yet, but Delirium sounds a lot like Yann Gonzalez's Knife+Heart which came out last year and pays homage to giallos. It's about a troupe of gay porn actors and their female director/leader who are being hunted down one by one by a serial killer, including a death by a dildo-knife.
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Jul 12, 2020 21:48
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I love, love Knife+Heart. Delirium is to Knife+Heart, what The Shining (1997) is to The Shining (1980).
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Jul 12, 2020 21:58
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I really wasn't hot at all on Knife+Heart but it's much, much better than Delirium, which sucks rear end. Someone did Bava a dirty here by nominating that movie.
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Jul 13, 2020 02:30
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I'm 20 minutes into Delirium and I think I'm gonna just go fill out my ballot now because I can't imagine this thing getting any more watcheable.
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Jul 13, 2020 02:32
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It's almost worth sticking with all the way to the end, just to see the depths the film is willing to sink to. Do you recall in one of the Scary Movie films, Pamela Anderson has all of her clothes comically torn off during a chase? That happens in this movie, but unironically. It even ends with a cheesy '80s freeze frame.
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Jul 13, 2020 03:01
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55 minutes through and this might well be the biggest piece of poo poo you guys have ever put me through.
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Jul 13, 2020 03:06
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