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STAC Goat posted:Yeah, I think any logical questions about Oculus' plot are directly covered up by the basic premise of it. The whole story is about the mirror loving with them, driving them mad, and loving with what they and we see. So like if something doesn't make sense maybe it doesn't. I could see some people considering that a cop out but I don't think its fundamentally much different from most "dream logic" horrors. Yeah absolutely. Honestly I think it's even more fun to look at it that way because it raises some (I think) neat questions about actions you wouldn't otherwise give much thought to. I feel like both my watch experiences mirrored (!) yours pretty well. I was super pleasantly surprised by it on my first watch and remember loving it, and while I was a bit less engaged this second time I think I was also able to appreciate the concept more since I knew exactly what the deal was from the get-go.
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Oct 8, 2020 04:43
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STAC Goat posted:This seems like a decent copy.
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Oct 8, 2020 04:45
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12: God Told Me To My second Cohen movie and he’s certainly got a particular stylen I love the just greasy enough glimpses of the city. This wasn’t as oddball entertaining as Q but ur certainly had its charms. Have to admire it for going in some pretty crazy directions too. Also had one of the oddest, unexpected cameos that really cracked me up.
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Oct 8, 2020 05:03
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10. The Hills Have Eyes (1977) I hadn't seen this one in a while but I quite liked it then. The story's an old standard, a vacationing family with an RV end up going off the beaten path and their car breaks down in a desert valley inhabited by a family of weird cannibal folk. Does it hold up? Mostly- it suffers a bit from its close temporal proximity to Texas Chain Saw Massacre, which it is absolutely not as good as. But Wes Craven does a few cool things. The location work is excellent and there's a wonderful sense of really being in forbidden territory, like there are still places on the map marked "Here be dragons." If you've ever driven across any significant part of America you've probably seen some area that triggers that kinda primeval "let's maybe keep going" feel. I also think Craven does a solid job getting the psychological toll Papa Jupiter and his clan's assault takes on the family- not just the obvious moments of terror and grief over losing loved ones, but parts where they're clearly just in shock and running on fumes. There are some schlocky moments, pacing's a little off, and I do have to warn everyone there's a dead dog and the shot, while brief, is graphic. The "revenge" portion isn't as good as the rest but it's a really strong, atmospheric take on this particular subgenre of horror.
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Oct 8, 2020 05:09
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 #57) Island of Death (1976) Uh, OK. This film kind of careens through its events. Written, produced, and directed by Nico Mastorakis, it's set on a Greek island, with a pair of British vacationers there to indulge their violent desires, while cloaking it in the guise of righteous punishment. One of the Video Nasties! But it didn't do much for me, maybe because it just bounces from one act of cruelty to the next without much story to it all. There are some nice landscape shots (though since it's Greece isles in the '70s, it'd be shocking if those weren't there), there was an Osibisa album in the background of a shot, the music used has a nice diversity to it, and some of the violence is inventive, but there's not much pretense at a story beyond 'They want to kill, so they keep moving along.' There's a little bit of dynamic reversal when the couple gets separated, but it doesn't lead to much. I apparently watched an edited version, six minutes shorter than the original cut, but I can't imagine that the material in those missing scenes is enough to push this into something genuinely interesting. “This is some kind of a joke. I mean, men drink tequila, and girls milk. How come you do vice versa?”  Rating: 5/10Watched on digital copy.  #58) Sharkansas Women's Prison Massacre (2015) Asylum-level crap, put together without a trace of anyone involved caring at all about it. Fracking opens up a subterranean lake to larger waterways, and a big shark takes the opportunity to starting killing off characters with less depth than a Crystal Lake counselor. Sloppy digital blood bursts, disinterest in continuity (they reuse the same license plate for multiple cars, I guess because they couldn't get another Arkansas plate), laughable attempts at drama (lasting two minutes), and a jammed-in hot-tub scene (which the escape convicts somehow find swimsuits in their sizes for) are all in the mix, doing nothing to elevate the experience. Dominique Swain and Traci Lords are in it, picking up part of a month's rent, and there's two songs on the soundtrack from Vincent D'Onofrio(?!). When they run out of ideas for water action, they start ripping off Tremors, raising the question (if you can muster the interest) of why the sharks didn't use that ability to escape their original cave. But really, it's a movie not worth thinking about that deeply, or worth watching in the first place. Disappointing latter-day Wynorski output. “It's not me bleeding, bitches. It's this tree. It's covered in blood!” Rating: 3/10Watched on Tubi. Darthemed fucked around with this message at 05:57 on Oct 8, 2020 |
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Oct 8, 2020 05:55
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12. The Queen of Black Magic (2019) - I think this is the loosest remake I've ever seen. It's also great. Joko Anwar writes kids interacting in a way that may or may not be true to life, but is hilarious and engaging. To the point where I'm so into this girl telling spooky stories to the youngest one that I have momentarily forgotten the giant pile of corpses discovered a minute ago. Once again we've got a great setup for creating mystery and tension - three families are meeting up at an orphanage because the old man who raised all three of the husbands is dying. We've also got a much more commanding queen this time around, although unfortunately she's offscreen most of the time and we're tragically far from the glory days of kung fu horror so it's not all improvement. The director for this one is Kimo Stamboel, who I only know previously from his co-direction of the very cool multi-national production Killers - he's on my radar in a bigger way now and has a few more for me to track down. I hadn't planned to spend this long on Indonesia but I'm glad it's working out.
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Oct 8, 2020 06:03
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hoo-boy this thread is flying this year! I finally caught up, and I cannot wait to start tackling challenge #2 - in an homage to Scream Stream shenanigans, I also have been showing oddball poo poo between movies for my quarantine movie night streams - and I'll definitely be peppering these in. Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed (2004) A fun sequel to one of my favorite spooks. The younger sister of a werewolf is on the run from another werewolf while dealing with her own impending change. Take the puberty metaphor from the first, add an addiction metaphor, and a great third act twist and voila, an hour and a half of pure entertainment. Also, Ghost is just a fantastic character. 4 / 5  The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) The movie tells the story of, well, an incredible shrinking man. I expected some top-notch 50s B-grade scifi and a neat pat ending where SCIENCE reverses the issue, but what I watched was a grandiose, engaging story - especially once it gets into survival in the basement. The ending was unexpected - a bit of Rime Of The Ancient Mariner. The entire sequence in the basement was tense as hell, while everything upstairs was interesting to watch the deconstruction of the man on pace with his size, going through essentially the stages of grief. Way cooler than I thought it would be. 4 / 5 1. Edge Of The Axe (1988), 2. Spiral (2019), 3. The Babysitter (2017), 4. The Babysitter: Killer Queen (2020), 5. Vampires Vs. The Bronx (2020), 6. Relic (2020), 7. November (2017), 8. Ginger Snaps 2 (2004), 9. The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) Fran Challenges: #1 Horror Noire - Vampires vs. The Bronx
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Oct 8, 2020 06:04
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smitster posted:hoo-boy this thread is flying this year!
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Oct 8, 2020 06:07
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 99) The Devil Master - 1977 - TubiTV Also released under the title The Demon Lover, this one's an odd one. Storyline is a group of devil worshipers actually manage to summon up something. That has potential, but what ends up here does suffer from budget and varying qualities of skill. It's definitely a beer and friends sort of viewing.  100) The Girl Most Likely To... - 1973 - Prime This is one of my longtime favorite black comedies. Another TV Movie of the week. Miriam's smart but homely to the degree she's treated like crap because of her looks. After a car wreck where she gets reconstructive surgery, she's unrecognizably beautiful and decides to get murderous revenge on everyone who gave her crap. While parts of it are dated, a fair amount of this still holds up.
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Oct 8, 2020 06:08
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Holy gently caress, M_Sin is gonna watch 500 movies this month. I love it.
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Oct 8, 2020 06:09
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M_Sinistrari posted:
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Oct 8, 2020 06:19
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Alright, finally posting first round of movies:quote:#1: Horror Noire quote:#2: Halloween at Aunt Ethel’s quote:#3: Riddle Room quote:#4: Phantasm quote:#5: Idle Hands quote:#6: Maniac quote:#7: Ernest Scared Stupid quote:#8: The Amityville Horror quote:#9: Ghoulies II quote:#10: Body Bags Peacoffee fucked around with this message at 07:32 on Oct 8, 2020 |
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Oct 8, 2020 07:18
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Fran Challenge #2: Short Cuts This was a killer challenge! I usually never make time to sit down and watch shorts, so it was really fun choosing some stuff to watch and going through them. I started looking at some recent lists of recommendations but saw that I was hitting a lot of the same picks as others here, so instead I had Letterboxd sort its short horror films by highest rated and I went through and clicked on a bunch that had neat posters or titles. Sorted through a few options from there, and this is where I ended up! The Hand (1965) - 17:50  A cute little potter works away on his pots until the day he's visited by a massive hand that tries its best to mold his art to its own likeness. The potter tries everything he can to keep the hand away, but in a series of increasingly nightmarish scenarios, the hand keeps forcing its way back into his life and finds ways to get what it wants. Really fun! I love this style of puppet animation, and as a bonus we also get a shot of some sultry hand dancing. Apparently this was banned in Czechoslovakia after the artist, Jirí Trnka, died. Not too hard to see how appropriate that is! Recommended! Sungazer (2020) - 9:02  I'll be honest, I picked this almost entirely because of the poster. This is a harsh loving short. It starts off with a warning about harsh volume and rapid, flashing lights. That's not a joke. If you're even the tiniest bit sensitive to this stuff then absolutely do not watch this. The story's super simple. It's just about a guy who stares at the sun to try and view a cosmic being who seems to live there. The first 3/4ths of the short aren't too intense, but there's some cool imagery and I was into the vibe. My big complaint is that it felt to me like the short was filmed digitally and then run through filters to give it its distressed look, and it was a little off-putting because the distressing felt fake. That said, I don't know too much about the technical aspects of filmmaking and I could be wrong. If I'm right though, I wish they'd been able to actually use film. I think it would've made it feel way more authentic. The last bit of the short is where the warnings come in. Honestly... I pretty much felt like I was staring into the sun myself and experiencing this cosmic horror firsthand. It's maybe a little gimmicky and I could see a lot of people viscerally hating it, but I kind of loved it. Amid all the crazy sounds and flashing lights you occasionally get glimpses of these super faint sunspot images of the being and some related imagery. It's really creepy and effective. Again though, I really cannot stress enough that anyone with sensitivity to or even just a dislike of flashing lights or images should give this one a pass. I rented it for $2.50 on Vimeo and I personally felt like that was money well spent. Conditionally recommended! Bobby Yeah (2011) - 23:19  Trying to explain what this is about feels like it would pretty much just result in me describing everything that happens beat for beat. What it's about doesn't really matter. What it is is a 23 minute showcase of extremely gross animation and creative creature design. Because there's not really much of a story to latch onto you'll really have to enjoy its aesthetic in order to like it, but if you do enjoy that then it's mostly a really fun time. THAT SAID, there are two creatures (though the second might just be a different form of the first) that are very noticeably racist caricatures. I couldn't begin to tell you what the intention behind this was because to me it felt like it kind of came out of nowhere. I'd really love to give the director the benefit of the doubt here as I enjoyed everything else, but it stood out to me and was uncomfortable in a much different way than everything else. Maybe there's some context to this that I didn't get? From my perspective it just felt like the imagery was being used to try and be extra creepy, which feels lovely. If anyone smarter than me watched this and has thoughts, I'd love to hear them. Maybe recommended??? Down to the Cellar (1983) - 14:44  What's a selection of surreal short horror without something from Jan Švankmajer? Down to the Cellar is about a a little girl who heads down to the her building's cellar to grab some potatoes from the storage room. Down in the darkness she's confronted by a series of cute, creepy little vignettes that essentially feel like little kid nightmares. Nothing's really evil, it's just creepy and off-putting. It's very charming! I always love Švankmajer's animation and film making. The location is gorgeous in that derelict sort of way, and all the little scenes are wonderful. Recommended! Challenges (2/2): Movies Watched: 1. #Alive (2020), 2. Misery (1990), 3. Stay Alive (2006), 4. Blacula (1972), 5. The Wailing (2016), 6. 30 Days of Night (2007), 7. Dead Alive (1992), 8. Diabolique (1955), 9. Viy (1967), 10. Oculus (2013)
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Oct 8, 2020 07:34
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#5) Egg This sure is...something. Tsukiko sees an egg when she closes her eyes, which eventually hatches into a monster that's causing her extreme pain. Nobody seems to know what to do about it, until some research from her friends turns up a past that may give some clues as to what's going on. Pretty much everything in this movie is bizarre and strange. Even relatively ordinary things like visiting the doctor have some strange twist going on. The tone also shifts back and forth throughout, going from slapstick comedy to bleak and depressing and back. Thematically I also think there's some similarities to be found with Eraserhead. Also, someone with more knowledge on the subject could probably see some statement about Japan's relationship with foreigners (the main character is Korean, and throughout the movie they break into Korean at times) but I don't have nearly enough cultural knowledge to be confident saying anything about that. It's a very fun ride for anyone who has a taste for strange movies. Also as an aside, the director also did 2LDK which has gotten some praise around these parts. 4 / 5 Total: 5 1. In a Stranger's House / 2. The Loved Ones / 3. Scare Me / 4. Scare Me / 5. Egg
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Oct 8, 2020 09:08
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Sharknado (2013) I've never seen an Asylum film before. I didn't have high hopes, but this is the best known one and I've heard people say the liked it in a non-ironic way so I gave it a shot. The camerawork, the editing and the acting are all basically competent, the effects look like poo poo on purpose. A so-bad-it's-good movie needs some sincerity behind it but this is cynical rubbish. Watchlist: Tenebrae; Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; Body Melt; In Search of Darkness; The Monster Club; Twilight; The Beyond; Scream Blacula Scream FC#1; Raw; The Invisible Man (2020); Hotel Transylvania; a bunch of shorts FC#2; Sharknado (total: 12?)
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Oct 8, 2020 10:42
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 101) Sinister - 2012 - Prime A true crime writer who hasn't had a success in ten years moves into a house where a family was murdered in hopes of writing about the case and finding out what happened to the murdered family's missing daughter. I'm not sure what it says when the main plotline's kinda meh and dependent on jump scares, but the mini movies of the past murders are far more creepy and unsettling. I'd recommend just finding the mini movies online and watch those while skipping the movie.  102) The Haunted World of El Superbeasto - 2009 - TubiTV I freely admit that I'm the only person on the planet who likes this film. Pretty much looking over Rob Zombie's filmography, it's clear he's sampling a little of everything the horror genre's got as he builds on his start from music videos. This is his testing the animation waters. The humor is definitely not for everyone, and that's okay. For me, the animation reminded me of the wild styles of 90s animation, and the Schoolhouse Rock parody had me laughing so hard it hurt since I grew up with those. The amount of horror movie references in this is insane. Only reason I don't recommend making a drinking game out of it is that you'd probably come close to alcohol poisoning from it. It's clear the cast was having fun on this one and while I know this film's not for everyone, I do recommend giving it a sit through with the director's commentary. I found it interesting.
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Oct 8, 2020 10:48
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 (p.s. this tagline and the poster art have nothing to do with the actual film) 14) Mortuary (1983) Trailer - p.s.s., the trailer features Michael Berryman and also has nothing to do with the actual film, we're two for two here folks Seen on: free on Tubi; also available on Shudder After her father is murdered and her mother pressures her to move on, a high school girl and those around her become targets of a mysterious killer. She and her boyfriend try to tell the authorities and their parents that something is wrong, but no one believes them. Perhaps it has something to do with the odd goings-on at the local mortuary? [creepy organ music plays] So after doing Mausoleum last week, I thought I'd push on with the "movies named after places where you find dead people" theme. Here's another 80s horror film riding the slasher tide that is retrospectively notable because one of the leads is a young Bill Paxton in an early role (he was just one, two and three years here from The Terminator, Weird Science and Aliens, respectively). It's pretty well-shot, has a decent mystery setup with plenty of plausible red herrings and has way more sex and nudity (living and dead - the nudity, not the sex part, geez) than I was expecting for something that seemed a little more mainstream. There's an occultist group, a sleepwalking heroine, a scary early 80s roller rink scene with disco that immediately dates the film, and one of those endings we've seen way too many times before where the killer props up all the dead bodies for a party and talks like everyone is still alive (and man, the actors in that scene have a *very hard time* staying still and not breathing, it's pretty laughable). It kind of feels like an Italian horror film in a lot of ways. Don't read on if you don't want the incredible key plot point to Mortuary revealed! The killer is Bill Paxton, who's great doing his best Anthony Perkins as an overly chipper yet repressed dweeb who got locked in the morgue with dead bodies as a punishment as a kid and went crazy because of it - his mom committed suicide and the main girl's psychiatrist dad tried to have him committed, which is why all the killing starts. He wears this weird facial mask and black cloak and kills people with a large embalming needle. He was pretty much my favorite part of the film.
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Oct 8, 2020 11:20
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5) Population 436 The blurb summary: A census-taker is sent to investigate why a certain small town has had the same population -- 436 residents -- for the last 100 years. This was a weird one. It's filmed like an episode of Amazing Stories or the Outer Limits reboot; Everything feels mysterious but not especially scary. Early on we see a police chase that ends in a death, contrasted with a childbirth sequence. So yes, the town's population stays fixed at 436. It's the kind of neat scifi gimmick best suited to a short form, and I feel like the movie suffers by trying to pad it out into feature length. Fred Durst turns in a surprisingly good performance as an (untrustworthy?) ally to the protagonist. The production values were confusing. There's some violence and nudity, but it's almost television friendly. I had to check the production date (2006), because several scenes and themes had an overwhelming Midsommar vibe. Finding out it predates that film by a decade was a bit of a shock. Ultimately it suffers from the same bloat as Midsommar, attempting too much and never really bringing all the parts together in a satisfactory way. Verdict: 4.5 / 10 There's a lot that could have been cut from this. I had to view over four or five sessions and frequently checking the clock. Completed Fran Challenges: 1 Tubiween: 5/31 First viewings: 5/31 moths fucked around with this message at 11:33 on Oct 8, 2020 |
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Oct 8, 2020 11:31
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I've been writing my watches on letterboxd like a chump instead of the thread, but I've been reading along and y'all are some movie watching beasts. And man I've seen some hot rear end takes dunking on some of my faves and my little heart can't take it.
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Oct 8, 2020 12:36
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10. Books of Blood (2020) Hulu Surprisingly my roommate brought this one up when I bounced off of the Tubi VHS rip of Waxwork, due to the fact that my TV is 65" and 4k, and I just can't. I'll tackle Waxwork when I can find a better transfer. This one is an anthology, who's wrap around is that everything wraps around. That gimmick didn't exactly work for me, and the bouncing around in time definitely confused my roommate. If anything the biggest flaw is the inclusion of the second story. Not that there's anything wrong with the third story, it was probably best one IMHO, it was just out of place. If anything, excising it in favor of a different story would have made it a better movie. I do suspect it did start life as a pilot for an anthology, as the first story is both the longest and most fleshed out. For the most part it was disconnected from the other stories, and other than a pair of blink and you miss it scenes, and an epilogue at the end of the movie, it really is standalone. Oh, and there is only one titular "Book of Blood," not multiple as the title implies. 3/5
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Oct 8, 2020 13:06
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 Terror Tract (2000) "These are quality homes!" This is a terrible anthology in which real estate agent John Ritter shows houses to a couple, but the houses all have horrible stories tied to them and Ritter can't help but tell them. None of the stories are good, though the second is somewhat notable because it has Bryan Cranston, a murderous monkey, and WCW wrestler Buff Bagwell. Skip this, but if you are curious it is on YouTube. 1/5 Tales from the Hood 3 (2020) "Welcome to hell, motherfucker!" Absolutely awful anthology. I like the first Tales quite a bit, and while I didn't like the second one (reviewed earlier in the thread) it was at least insane enough to keep my attention. This is just really lazy and by the numbers horror with almost every twist seen coming a mile away. Not even Tony Todd can make this watchable. 0.5/5SA October Horror Challenge Count: 23/40 First Time Watches: 22/31 Fran Challenges Complete: 2/2
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Oct 8, 2020 13:12
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 23. Dawn of the Dead - Dir: George A. Romero - 1978 I needed to cool down and not watch Man Bites Dog (my originally intended double feature to follow up Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer) so a movie close to my heart was just what the doctor ordered. It’s just a good classic flick. I easily put the Romero trilogy right up there with the Universal monsters and other heralded foundations of horror without a second thought. Since I’ve seen it so much it’s straight comfort food and familiar faces I enjoy seeing. Especially you big boy. Great movie.
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Oct 8, 2020 14:10
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dorium posted:
probably a good move, Man Bites Dog has a bit more humor to it than Henry but it's still disturbing in a similar way
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Oct 8, 2020 14:16
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I think Man Bites Dog is a lot of fun, especially compared to Henry, and I'd go as far as to class it as a dark comedy. It definitely comes with every content warning under the sun though. Constant unrelenting murder, rape, racism, murder of children, home invasion, death by impalement through the genitals et cetera et cetera
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Oct 8, 2020 15:04
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 103) Trick or Treats - 1982 - Prime I think if this one had another pass through the script stage and a bit of tweaking, it could've been a decent film. The premise of a babysitter worn down from her sitee's pranks so she's unaware of the real danger present does have potential, but how it's handled here just comes across pretty bland and feels like it's wandering at times. This one can be skipped.  104) Student Bodies - 1981 - DVD "This motion picture is based on an actual incident. Last year 26 horror films were released... None of them lost money." I think this was the first spoof comedy poking fun at the genre. While this gets compared a lot to the Scary Movie franchise or Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th, the comparison's not quite right. Those movies poked fun at other movies while Student Bodies pokes fun at the formula behind those movies. There is a difference since a joke poked at a movie can fall flat to someone unfamiliar with the movie, but the formula's known enough it's a broader funny. I am still at a bit of a loss trying to see how this film can get compared to Scream. For the most part the humor still works save for a gag or two and isn't mean spirited like it can be in some comedies. It tends to skew closer to the absurdism of the Airplane! or Kentucky Fried Movie style of humor. The cast does well, but Malvert steals the show. I can't recommend this one enough, it's a classic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzHKwhrN1Lg
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Oct 8, 2020 15:14
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 #14. Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde (Hoopla) Dr. Jekyll becomes obsessed with cracking the secrets of immortality, and believes that female hormones provide the answer. He will stoop to any means to procure a fresh supply, including leaning on grave robbers... and even murder. He tests his serum on himself, which causes him to change into a beautiful woman. "Sister Hyde," as he dubs her, begins a battle for dominance, and continues the Doctor's killing spree as well. This is a film that is overloaded with ideas and allusions - in addition to the titular gender bending twist on "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," it also includes a depiction of the infamous grave robbers Burke and Hare and extended allusions to Jack the Ripper, plus dual romances of a pair of siblings from Jekyll and Hyde. I was worried that the film would end up buckling under the weight of so many ideas and subplots. Fortunately, it manages to pretty deftly keep that many plates spinning for the majority of the runtime. The film is canny about what it chooses to give room to breathe and when, so that we do get some time to develop Burke and Hare, the romantic interests, Jekyll's friend and even a few of the victims. The downside to that is that it all detracts from the titular characters and their battle of wills, short changing some of the ideas about transformation and how their personalities begin to merge or come out at inopportune moments. They still manage to wring out a variety of scenarios with the changes and the dual interactions between the warring personalities, but I was still left wishing for more opportunities for Martine Beswick to show up. I normally find Hammer Films to be somewhat staid, finding that they often feel rote and trading on the setups from the original Universal approaches to stories, just with fancier color cinematography and more expansive gore effects. (A better stable of actors does help keep things lively, at least.) This one is bursting at the seams with ideas and elements, so maybe they saved them all for this one? Regardless, it's a pretty great movie in its own right, and it's making me think that I need to step further away from the usual Draculas and Frankensteins and Mummys on the Hammer side to find fresher material. That would be a change that would make Jekyll proud in its own right.  /5Watched so far: The Ghost of Frankenstein, The Happiness of the Katakuris, Rabid (1977), A Nightmare on Elm Street 4, Blacula, Night of the Demons (1988), The Phantom of the Opera (1943), The Mummy (1959), Over Your Dead Body, Halloween 4, Frankenstein (1931), The Ice Cream Man, multiple shorts and specials, Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde Class3KillStorm fucked around with this message at 16:10 on Oct 9, 2020 |
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Oct 8, 2020 15:37
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Posting a little late but I will be participating again. I bowed out of the April challenge after I ended up working more due to Covid but things are better now. I will be watching at least 31 movies, and this time my personal challenge is that they must be all new to me (unless one of the Fran challenges specifies otherwise). I'm also attempting the Hooptober challenge for the first time.
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Oct 8, 2020 15:47
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6. Phantasm Another movie that I haven't watched in ages. Starts off slow (like so many movies I've picked for this year evidently), but overall a pretty alright film. Just like the '77 Suspiria, it's an incredibly dreamlike movie from the beginning, and it just jumps from scene to scene with little to no transition most of the time. The Tall Man is an interesting antagonist, and the floating orbs are a unique weapon at the very least. The effects are pretty great for a fairly low budget film, and the actors aren't amazing but work perfectly well for what amounts to an independent film. I don't know why they decided the slaves needed to be shrunk due to the heat and gravity of the planet, but at least they explained that unlike most plot points in the movie. 6/10
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Oct 8, 2020 16:28
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 #59) Hotel Fear (1977) During war-time, a young woman, Rosa, runs a hotel with her mother. Her father is gone to the war, presumed dead, though the daughter won't let herself accept this. Of course, since this is a '70s Italian horror/thriller, most of the male guests (and a few of the women) see this as an opportunity to be absolute creeps, a situation which only worsens following the mother's death on a stormy night. But then, a mysterious figure appears on the scene, visiting bloody retribution on those who menace Rosa. The film keeps to a slow but persistent boil, letting the strength of the moods and tension carry things forward. There's some very good use of sparse lighting in dark sets, external scenes are beautiful (contrasting with the sense of Rosa being trapped while in the hotel, as when she cries to herself while watching the sun through her curtains). The imagery used to show Rosa's changing maturity, though often blunt, is nonetheless effective (e.g., her dolls prominently framed as she changes into her mother's clothes, or schoolchildren being led the opposite way as Rosa cycles home). The sexual assault, while graphic, is handled with obvious reprehension for the act, and firmly establishes the perpetrators as abusers beforehand, making it less shocking than it might have been. The way the film handles the theme of innocence slipping away is interesting, and examined from multiple angles, through the war, a family business, and, more abstractly, through sexuality. The mother's death happens the night after a bombing raid, and Rosa's refusal to believe her father may have died in the war is perhaps her only lifeline through the situation. The need to have money for food, the price of which has skyrocketed on the black market, prevents her from simply kicking out the creep guests, as does her immaturity in their (and perhaps her own) eyes. I'm not familiar enough with the Italian perspective of WWII to dig into the film's commentary on those events, but it's certainly providing something beyond simple spectacle. Rating: 8/10Watched on digital copy.
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Oct 8, 2020 16:50
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 14. The Skin I Live In (2011) Amazon After his wife was horribly burned in a car accident, plastic surgeon Dr. Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas) becomes obsessed with creating a tough and burn-resistant synthetic skin. He uses humans as test subjects, in particular a woman he is holding captive that he has an unhealthy relationship with. I was under the impression that this was basically a remake of Eyes Without a Face, and while it is clearly inspired by that film and shares a lot of elements, the plot here is very different and it's most definitely it's own thing. I'd rather not go into further plot details because it takes some hard left turns and was not at all what I was expecting. This is fantastic and also super hosed up. Banderas is stellar and really good at being simultaneously sympathetic and dangerously insane. Elena Anaya is excellent too as his, uh, "patient". It's beautifully shot and generally well made in a way that is seemingly at odds with the disturbing subject matter. It also doesn't really feel exploitative to me even though it easily could have. I don't really have a lot to say about this one, mostly because it really needs to be experienced and it would be best to go in as blind as possible. Highly recommended. Side note, I'd love to hear thoughts on this from a trans perspective 5 skin grafts out of 5 edit: strong content warning on this one: rape and transmisogyny. Please read Debbie Does Dagon’s post below on this before deciding to watch this movie (plot spoilers but you should read it anyway). Debbie Does Dagon posted:The Skin I Live In (2011) Total: 14 Watched: Peeping Tom | Cry of the Banshee | The Loved Ones | The Tenant | Get Duked! | Sugar Hill (FC #1) | Ma | Shivers | Onibaba | The Black Cat | Beyond Re-Animator | Short films (FC #2) | The Hunger | The Skin I Live In SIDE QUESTS: Edgar Wright's Top 100 Horror: 90/100 Slant Top 100 Horror: 89/100 TSZDT Top 100: 99/100 gey muckle mowser fucked around with this message at 13:13 on Oct 9, 2020 |
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Oct 8, 2020 17:08
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gey muckle mowser posted:14. The Skin I Live In (2011) There's my double bill for tonight then, Eyes Without a Face and The Skin I Live In, both of which I've been sleeping on.
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Oct 8, 2020 17:17
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Thats a good double bill.
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Oct 8, 2020 17:21
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Debbie Does Dagon posted:There's my double bill for tonight then, Eyes Without a Face and The Skin I Live In, both of which I've been sleeping on. That's a crazy good double bill. edit: Watch this short as the in-between: He Took His Skin Off For Me
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Oct 8, 2020 18:16
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Debbie Does Dagon posted:There's my double bill for tonight then, Eyes Without a Face and The Skin I Live In, both of which I've been sleeping on. I might blatantly steal this from you.
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Oct 8, 2020 18:22
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I haven't seen Eyes Without a Face in quite a few years so the two films may have more in common than I am remembering, it would be interesting to watch them back to back.
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Oct 8, 2020 18:30
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There's also Mansion of the Doomed, which flips the premise by having the person's face be fine, but they need some replacement eyes. Not a great film, though.  #60) Progeny (1998) Brian Yuzna pulls together Wilford Brimley, Arnold Vosloo, and Brad Dourif (plus a few other people) for this alien impregnation horror, produced by Stuart Gordon, who also has a story credit. Vosloo is an ER doctor dealing with the trauma of a missing period of time while he and his wife were together, which neither of them can remember. Dreamlike flashbacks plague him, and his therapist's attempts at hypnosis aren't exactly helping his peace of mind, while complications with his wife's pregnancy provide additional tension. The movie... doesn't look great. The effects are woozy in a DTV way, something about the lighting or film stock makes it look like a soap opera at times, and the large amount of time spent in hospital rooms doesn't really shake that impression. Then there's stuff like Vosloo angling an overhead lamp for better lighting, when the lamp isn't even turned on. There's sort of an attempt at making it seem like Vosloo and his wife could be imagining things, or mentally disturbed, but the film gives way too much evidence of the aliens being real, almost from the start. On the plus side, you get to see Vosloo's butt a lot, and hear him talk about his sperm count, if you're into that. But the story is formulaic, characters are cookie-cutter fill-ins, and the alien plans are really small-time once they're revealed. Considering the talent involved, this is a real disappointment. Rating: 5/10Watched on digital copy. Darthemed fucked around with this message at 00:27 on Oct 9, 2020 |
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Oct 8, 2020 18:36
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#29: Abbott And Costello Meet The Mummy It's not as good Meet Frankenstein, but it's still good. The obvious issue is that it doesn't have the Lugosi/Karloff/Chaney power trio. And the solid jokes are a bit fewer and farther between. But it still has plenty of good gags. If you're a fan of Abbott and Costello type comedy, or if you just want a funny movie with a mummy in it, Abbott and Costello Meet The Mummy is a good choice. But it's not required viewing. 29 Movies Watched: Dracula, Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, King Kong, Son of Kong, The Bride of Frankenstein, Werewolf of London, Dracula's Daughter, Son of Frankenstein, The Mummy's Hand, Son of Ingagi 1, The Wolf Man, The Corpse Vanishes, The Ghost of Frankenstein, The Mummy's Tomb, Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man, Son of Dracula, The Mummy's Ghost, The House of Frankenstein, The Mummy's Curse, The House of Dracula, She-Wolf of London, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Godzilla, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Godzilla Raids Again, Five Short Films About Bigfoot2, Abbot and Costello Meet The Mummy
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Oct 8, 2020 18:37
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Franchescanado posted:That's a crazy good double bill. You got it  And while we're compiling a multimedia skin playlist, and in the spirit of the Manga discussion in the Bracketology thread, everyone should also read Junji Ito's Flesh-Colored Horror
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Oct 8, 2020 19:01
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Debbie Does Dagon posted:You got it Oh I'll read this for sure. Don't forget that Billy Idol wrote a song inspired by Eyes Without A Face.
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Oct 8, 2020 19:03
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8) Tubiween 6/31 - Birdemic 2: The Ressurection Birdemic 2 begins with a feckless looking dweeb walking down an LA street under a sign for a theater showing Showgirls. This movie loving wishes it was half the movie Showgirls is. Look, I know what I was getting into. I love trash cinema and Birdemic is, charitably, a C-tier so bad its good flick. Moments like the clothes hanger fight scene, hanging out with my family, and SOLAR PANELS are laugh out loud funny but as a whole, Birdemic is incredibly boring. It lacks the charm of a Troll 2 or The Room, and a great bad movie shouldn't need a Rifftrax to drag you to the end. Plus, self aware sequels to unintentionally bad films have never, EVER worked. I never had any plans to watch this. The most impressive thing about Birdemic 2 is its consistency. The new bad actors are exactly as bad as the original film's returning actors and blend in perfectly. James Nguyen still can't write dialogue, direct a scene, light a scene, edit, get sound to match, or understand basic human interaction. It's tough to tell who is in on the joke this time. Most of the actors, new or returning, look embarassed to be there except for Rod who just looks happy that he remembers how to breathe most days. The CGI is somehow WORSE than Birdemic's Microsoft Word Clip Art birds and it used far more frequently. Things you will see sliding into frame: cameraman fingers, cameraman hair, boom mics, the entire crew in a mirror during a "sex" scene. It's to be expected that Birdemic 2 crams in as many references and callbacks to the original as it can but in hitting all the exact beats at the exact same times, somehow manages to be even more of a boring, miserable slog. Now you can throw "unfunny" onto the pile of ways a Birdemic movie has failed. 1/5 9) Tubiween 7/31 - Clinton Road As the movie tells us at the beginning, Clinton Road is an actual road deep in the woods of New Jersey that is considered haunted as h*ck. (https://weirdnj.com/stories/clinton-road/) Time dilation, ghostly hitchhikers, monsters, Jersey Devils, highway to hell, the KKK in cars chasing you. Basically any urban legend coalesces onto this road. Side note: I live in Jersey and went to undergrad not too far from there. Definitely spent a night or two high as balls in a backseat of a two door creeping down it with friends. It's dark and there's no lights, the cell service is spotty, and it's kind of narrow but the only way you're going to get a real scare there is by wandering around outside and spooking yourself into believing every twig is a monster and every other car is trying to murder you. We meet lead guy who is sad that his wife has been missing for a year. His sister in law invites him out with a few friends and they go to a club run by, get this, Ice-T and Vincent Pastore. The entire film's budget went to getting these two into an empty restaurant for a few hours that they put three lights and two extras in. Ice-T, bless him, absolutely does not look like he wants to be there any time he's not talking .When he is he goes full Ice-T mode even when he has to tell a spooky story about driving down the titular road. Also Eric Roberts shows up for a brief cameo as a club patron. Who the gently caress had this many favors owed to him? The loose plot kicks off when the group decides to go to the last place boring lead's wife was seen (take a guess where) with a medium to try to talk to her. Sure, why not? There's been dumber reasons to get a bunch of dead meat into the woods. All hope is abandoned when it's clear that the filmmakers don't know the basic language of horror. There's a jump scare completely telegraphed by showing the audience what is going to be doing the scaring before the character sees it and not even putting the effort for a music stinger when it finally occurs. Everyone decides to split up to get lost in the woods, and "night" falls in either one of the absolute worst uses of day-for-night cinematography I've ever seen or in actual night with no lighting so you can't see poo poo. They run the Clinton Road greatest hits in a potpourri of extremely uninteresting, off-camera and scare-free death scenes. Multiple people fight a body of water in scenes reminiscent of the Ed Wood octopus. Anything that attempts to be spooky is haunted hayride level quality and effort mixed with 2003 Static-X music video shaking camera. All of a sudden sleepy Ice-T feels hours away. 1/5 But I hate myself so why not touch the stove again? 10) Tubiween 8/31 - The Lake on Clinton Road Ya know, both of these movies claim to be based on true events which is pretty great. Apparently a bunch of goons writing into a zine about how one time they swear they definitely saw the ghost of a drowned boy while driving is enough to earn that tag. This one immediately starts with a bunch of unlikeable douchebags drunk driving down to the Jersey shore (which is about 90 minutes from Clinton Road but hey whatever based on a true story). I'm usually not on board with the rooting for the killer thing where you want to see them murder everyone. To me it's a sign of a lazy horror movie when you can't give your characters enough personality to make me feel tense when they're in danger. That said, for the love of Satan please kill these assholes as quickly and violently as possible (they don't and they don't). More day for night, more nothing dialogue, more loud out of place music, more spoopy children, absolutely no scares. At the very least there is something more visually interesting about Lake. It's nothing mindblowing but there some effort made to have, ya know, shots and lighting. Even though it also doesn't make a lick of sense, Lake is better because it manages to be slightly less boring and has a scene where a child puts an adult in a sleeperhold.1.5/5
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Oct 8, 2020 19:07
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