|
I can understand both sides of it, my review of Terrified was kinda in the middle. I definitely appreciated how well paced it was, how many good scares there were and that sort of thing, but at the same time it moved so quickly that I felt like I got disoriented at certain points and was having trouble following the plot. Maybe that was intentional though, like the audience is supposed to be thrown into this whirlwind of crazy supernatural happenings and you're just as confused as the characters are.
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2020 18:56
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 03:01 |
|
|
I definitely think that was the case. Like its a little throwaway and you miss it but they made it clear the experts also didn't really know what the gently caress was going on or what to do about it. Even as "experts" they seemed more like theoretical hobbyists excited to be able to prove some hypothesis. The "explanation" of the movie to me was very much a "some poo poo ripped open and now some poo poo is getting through!" like From Beyond or In The Mouth of Madness and I was pretty ok with that. Maybe I wouldn't have been if the characters had been weaker and if the one main one hadn't been such a good audience standin. His panicked, terrified confusion was ours.
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2020 19:07
|
|
|
33) The Blob (1988) Rented on Amazon Prime  This movie is mean. I was pretty surprised when it establishes very early on that absolutely no one is safe. A meteorite filled with malevolent berry cobbler falls to Earth and wreaks havoc on a small football-loving town. Before the cavalry can be called in, multiple townsfolk are grossly dissolved before the alien being can slip into the sewers and travel unseen beneath the streets. Did I say alien being? Because that’s not quite the truth, as the cavalry of hazmat-suited government scientists soon reveal to a select few of those being forced to quarantine. Can the townspeople thwart the goo? Hopefully an outcast in a leather jacket with a motorcycle and a cheerleader can save the day! I am so glad I didn’t see this at a young age because it would have hosed. Me. Up. The effects are top notch and gooey and melty and one guy’s lower half looks a little too much like cheese pizza for me to eat one of those again anytime soon. In a way it’s probably good that the movie doesn’t give you much of a chance to get attached to many characters because seeing them meet their end in such gruesome ways could have made this a real downer. As it is, the corroding bodies depicted are the best part. There are themes of distrust of the government and Main Street mentality and rugged individualism at the end of Reagan’s reign. Those who argue for a libertarian reading of Ghostbusters probably have a case for that here as well. I don’t feel like making that argument because ultimately, to me, this is just a dumb violent movie with a completely expendable cast and it hates you. Outside of the goop and a young Shawnee Smith pre-Saw, there’s probably not much of a reason to check this out. 34) Apollo 18 (2011) Watched on Netflix  The real horror here is the Harvey Weinstein credit at the end, overlaid with a haunting piano rendition of “We Three Kings of Orient Are.” Three astronauts in the early 1970’s are tasked with an unofficial mission to the lunar surface, but NASA may not have been entirely forthcoming with the mission details. The two astronauts tasked with actually traversing the moonscape find evidence of a previous Russian operation and eventually come into contact with the alien presence that led to the failure of said operation. This being an unofficial NASA joint, the only reason we have a record of any of this is through footage shot by the spacemen themselves which has since come to light from...someone. The first-person shots are quite annoying because of a strobe/flash gimmick that keeps you in the dark most of the time and continually sets up the next jump scare. There are moments of genuine creepiness and building tension without jump scares, and I glimpsed what I wanted this movie to be. What it is though, is overly reliant on the grunge verse/chorus formula of quiet quiet quiet LOUD. Found footage in space is such a neat concept that in itself can instill dread through loneliness and the darkness of one’s surroundings. Instead of focusing on these things, Apollo 18 opts to present itself as a quasi-possession story sprinkled with jump scares. Overall I didn’t hate it, but man this is wasted potential. The first half had me totally on board, but the back half is a total letdown.
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2020 19:09
|
|
|
Last night was a Larry Drake double-header!Franchescanado posted:Fran Challenge #9: TerrorVision  #38. Dark Night of the Scarecrow (Amazon Prime) Bubba, a mentally challenged man, is wrongfully accused of a crime and murdered by a group of vigilantes while dressed as a scarecrow. After they escape justice, the scarecrow begins appearing near their farms, presaging their untimely demise. Is Bubba back from the dead and seeking vengeance? ...or that was the plan at least, even if Dark Night of the Scarecrow didn't really deliver on the Larry Drake front. He appears in the first segment as the mentally disabled man Bubba, targeted as a possible pedophile for his friendship with young Marylee and murdered by a quartet of rear end in a top hat Southern good old boys. The poster makes you think this'll be one of those "walkin' around" scarecrow villains, whereas in the film proper it acts more like an omen that appears near the next victim. But also the ghost or whatever can be heard clearly walking around near people, but otherwise it just seems to content itself with remote telekinesis machine operation? It's neat that a few of the rear end in a top hat vigilantes get ironically killed by their own farm equipment - one even includes an incredible jump cut, from a guy falling into some kind of thresher (off-screen, of course) immediately juxtaposed with some kind of berry syrup getting plopped onto a plate. That one made me bust out laughing. The rest of it, though, is just kind of tedious. More small town mystery than a true horror story, we spend a lot of time watching the leader of the group - a small, petty man in a postal workers' uniform, hinted as a drunk and slyly referenced as a possible pedophile himself - start to come apart at the seams. Charles Durning is fine in the role, but I was expecting more scarecrow action, and possibly more Larry Drake action than what we got. This one is fine, but not what I was hoping for from the poster; maybe it's not fair to hold that against it, but what are you gonna do?  /5 #39. Dr. Giggles (Digital copy) An escaped mental patient nicknamed "Dr. Giggles" returns to his hometown and begins killing off the townsfolk in revenge for the death of his father, the old town doctor. Along the way, he becomes fixated on a young girl with a heart condition, as he attempts to clear his father's name with an untested, experimental heart transplant therapy. Well, if DNotS was a letdown on the Larry Drake front, Dr. Giggles sure as poo poo wasn't. This whole thing was a Larry Drake Overload - he's the star of the show, and he's gonna relish in it. The film itself is a fun, heightened reality slasher in the vein of A Nightmare on Elm Street 4, with the weird energy, overabundance of kill scenes, and ridiculous, over-the-top death scenes. There's a surprising lack of actual gore, with most of it being either implied or abstracted, but what's shown definitely works in making you squirm. Plus there's that scene - you know the one, where the villain, as a young boy, gets smuggled out of the house in his mother's corpse, so he has to cut her open from the inside in order to escape, in a weird birthing scene - that is going to stay with you, no matter what you think of the rest of it. The leads - and most of the cannon fodder too - is pretty meh, but the film doesn't care about that. It just wants to delight in the carnival ride atmosphere of it all, the sheer dizzying thrill of coming up with some bizarre imagery and executing on it. I think it goes to show you how good the film is that I, an avowed hater of puns and cheap humor, am delighted by Larry Drake getting to strut around and make weird doctor jokes before he kills some hapless teens. Highly recommended. /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, Blood Quantum, The Hideous Sun Demon, The Raven (1935), Final Destination 2, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Invisible Man (2020), Countdown, Nosferatu (1922), Boar, Diabolique (1955), Bit, Friday the 13th Part IV, Needful Things, The Wasp Woman (1959), Arachnophobia, Maniac Cop 3, The Lure, Killer Klowns from Outer Space, Bride of Chucky, Angst, Prom Night II, Demon Knight, 3 From Hell, Dark Night of the Scarecrow, Dr. Giggles Anisocoria Feldman posted:Outside of the goop and a young Shawnee Smith pre-Saw, there’s probably not much of a reason to check this out. How is that not reason enough? Class3KillStorm fucked around with this message at 19:13 on Oct 28, 2020 |
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2020 19:10
|
|
|
Goop is really all I need. You'd be surprised by how many filmmakers don't want to have to work with goop, but it really makes a big difference!
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2020 19:21
|
|
|
Class3KillStorm posted:How is that not reason enough? Basebf555 posted:Goop is really all I need. You'd be surprised by how many filmmakers don't want to have to work with goop, but it really makes a big difference! Okay okay you win. 10/10 for goop!
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2020 19:27
|
|
|
I'm not even a goop and mean kinda guy. But the Blob sets out to do what you'd naturally do with the premise, does it well, and I have fun despite the meanness. And Shawnee Smith. "The Blob? So its just gonna be gross and ooze all over everyone and melt their faces and be horrifying?" "Yes." "Ok."
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2020 19:31
|
|
|
17/31 Dream Demon (1988) An interesting, atmospheric film. The visual comparison with Hellraiser that has been made in this thread is true. To me the film lacked focus or a strong enough story to carry everything else. The themes, the cinematography and the performances are all there, but something is missing. 18/31 The Invisible Man (2020) A woman escapes from an abusive relationship with a controlling man. He returns to torment her as an invisible man. That's it, but it's very good. The film works very well with negative space - you are expecting the invisible man to appear, so lingering on empty rooms makes you anxious. 19/31 Psycho (1960) Believe it or not, this was my first watch. I have only seen the Gus Van Sant remake many years ago, which kinda discouraged me from watching the original, even thought I've seen the majority of Hitchcock films. Well, the original is much better than the remake, obviously. What stood out to me was how charismatic Anthony Perkins was, especially in comparison to Vince Vaughn playing the part. I am wondering whether the psychologist's speech about Norman's condition at the end was a part of the original script. It seems like something added so the audiences wouldn't be confused and consider Norman a depraved transvestite. The speech goes into so many details that it feels off. 20/31 Tremors (1990) A decent horror comedy, but nothing than would make an impression on me if it wasn't a cult favorite. I appreciated most of the town surviving. 21/31 Love and Monsters (2020) Radioactivity turns regular animals into huge monsters that wipe out the majority of human population. The survivors live in groups in shelters. The protagonist is a nerdy young man who journeys out to get to the girl he fell in love with before the apocalypse. This is more or less a family friendly film, where most of the tension comes from wondering how is the film going to handle the reunion between the protagonist and his love interest, because the smell of rejection is in the air. The idea of the world infested by huge mutated insect and other animals is interesting but the movie unfortunately doesn't do much here. 22/31 Toad Road (2012) Probably familiar to most people in this thread. A girl discovers drugs and becomes obsessed with the legend about the "Toad Road", a path through the forest where time begins to warp and which possibly leads to hell. A cool small budget film. I liked the group of friends that the main characters belong to, which was apparently a real group of friends that the director found on myspace. Still got some backlog to post here, mostly slashers.
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2020 19:32
|
|
|
 34. Midsommar (new) - A group of friends goes to Sweden for a once-in-a-lifetime event. It drops the grief bombshell right at the beginning, unlike Hereditary, which kinda felt split in two. The characters felt pretty real, especially how Mark was kinda unlikable, but not so bad he'd get dropped a friend group. One thing I noticed was how Christian was actually kinda manipulative in a subtle realistic way - starting with little things like the Sweden trip and the mushroom trip, then getting worse with the thesis. The set and shots were gorgeous throughout the movie, nice big clean and colorful sets, and it was really distinctive how bright and colorful this movie was. The psychedelic effects were also great - with the things you don't focus on slowly modulating and breathing - much more realistic than what we usually see with drugs. There's a lot going on here themewise. Dani was absorbed into the group but given the shape her life was in, she really didn't feel like a victim. Also even though the 'new blood' victims were doomed from the start, they all made grave sins (aside from Connie and Simon, they did interrupt the ceremony but it didn't feel like the same level of wrongdoing - the group obviously thought it was, and perhaps was a bit racist). From the horror perspective, the movie was engrossing the whole way, and very effectively used the slower, brooding pacing. There was always a sense of something deeper and darker behind the merry festivities, and the psychedelics gave the a subtle sense that something was just a bit off. One of the most striking things was the emotional echoing. It just felt so foreign, but was also a sort of release for Dani - she had hidden her emotions throughout the whole movie and for the first time she was able to share them.. One lingering question I have is is it really every 90 years? Do they do a yearly mini-Midsommar for the people that pass 72 during any of the other 89 years? Also Pelle's parents died in a fire, suggesting a festival death, but assuming he's telling the truth that almost certainly wouldn't have been 90 years ago. . I didn't love Ari Aster's other movie, Hereditary (largely because of the ending, which kinda felt forced), but this really good stuff, up there with the Lighthouse as one of the best movies I've seen this year. 4.75/5 New: 1. The Lighthouse 2. 1408 3. It Follows 4. Egg 5. Suspiria(1977) 5b. Several shorts (FC2) 6. Southbound 7. Fright Night 8. Color Out of Space 9. A Tale of Two Sisters 10. A Girl Walks Home Alone at night 11. Hocus Pocus 12. The Host 13. The Selling 14. Halloween (FC6) 15. Drag Me to Hell 16. Green Room 17. The Gay Bed and Breakfast of Terror (FC4) 18. Clickbait (FC3) 19. Vipers (FC9) 20. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (FC5) 21. Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (FC10) 22. Meatball Machine (FC11) 23. From Beyond (FC12) 24. Crawl (FC8) 25. Horror Noire (FC1) 26. Re-Animator (FC7) 27. Midsommar Rewatches: 1. The Abominable Dr. Phibes 2. Ichi the Killer 3. The Babadook 4. Under the Skin 5. Occult 6. The Purge: Anarchy 7. Shadow of the Vampire Challenges: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2020 19:42
|
|
|
 65. Dearest Sister (2016/Laos) Dearest Sister is a coming-of-age supernatural melodrama about disability, mental illness, self-harm, ghosts, premonitions, class anxiety, colonialism, gentrification, and it feels disappointingly televisual. The plot follows Nok, a young village girl who is called to the capital to care for her wealthy cousin, whose eyesight is failing. Whilst there she becomes overwhelmed by the glitz of the city, and attempts to find her place in an enchanting world which rejects her. To start with the good, I loved Nok. I love her anxiety of being in a new place, her issues with fitting in, not understanding her role, not understanding the somewhat obvious traps and pitfalls which surround her, and her joyous naivety in navigating this newfound world. I also loved how unnerving and creepy the first fifteen or so minutes were, and I just wish they could have maintained that tone throughout. Onto the bad, a lot of the intrigue is laboured. I feel like they could have dispensed with a lot of the plot, or have it be something looming within the background, rather than constantly being dredged up through dialogue. The effect is that so much of the main conflict feels undercooked, and there’s a scramble within the last half hour to catch up with where the film needs to be. As a result the finale seems more like a nice idea, rather than a successful one. 2.5/5  66. Pulgasari (1985/North Korea) https://youtu.be/eCKSR0JArUQ “Director Shin had been kidnapped in 1978 by North Korean intelligence on the orders of Kim Jong-il, son of the then-ruling Kim Il-sung, and was coerced into making several films as a director, with Pulgasari being his final before he and his wife, actress Choi Eun-hee, escaped to the United States.” As someone who isn’t really a fan of kaiju films, my favourite kaiju film for instance is probably the director’s cut of Little Shop of Horrors, I was quite surprised by how much I enjoyed Pulgasari. I’m sure much has been said and written in regards to the politics of North Korea, but as a piece of political propaganda, expounding the principles of solidarity, strike action, guerilla warfare, and the evils of a tiered society (I know, I know) Pulgasari is remarkably successful. The plot begins with an emissary of the king demanding that a village melt their cooking pots and farming equipment to create weapons. Plowshares to swords, quite literally. The village is accommodating at first, but also attempts to hold back some equipment to sustain themselves. This results in a series of arrests, which escalate tensions such that the newfound prisoners begin a hunger strike in solidarity with an elderly blacksmith, who is being withheld food as torture. Eventually this blacksmith succumbs to hunger, but not before scraping together a few scraps of rice from his cage floor, and breathing into it a spark of life, which then grows into the quite obvious Godzilla rip-off, Pulgasari. Pulgasari, as a kaiju, is fascinating as it is literally the manifested spark of revolution which seeks to topple the ruling powers. Pulgasari understands the workers, and aids them in their full-pitched battles, which are very impressively staged. The kaiju is most certainly a servant of the people, and when, spoilers, the people succeed, Pulgasari is suddenly without purpose, and the daunting task of feeding such a beast becomes obvious to the people. Here the metaphor switches, and the kaiju becomes a symbol for unquenchable warfare. A fact which is mourned, and dealt with solemnly, and in a far more mature manner than I was expecting. It’s perhaps not a huge surprise that there is effective storytelling at play, or that it’s so revolutionary. This was not just a film made for North Koreans, but to be distributed around the world, spreading the message of revolution. And at that, I think it’s remarkably successful even today, and deserves to be seen. The film itself doesn’t stray too far from the path of historical action epics of the time. What’s most impressive is the production value, and the scale of each set piece. It’s remarkable what you can achieve when you have an entire nation’s resources behind a film project. As I’ve mentioned, there are full pitched battles depicted, with real people, all in period-appropriate gear. What would be the centrepiece of a Hollywood production is the commonplace of every other scene here, it’s incredible. This type of movie still isn’t really my thing, but I wouldn’t hesitate to show it to someone who was a fan of kaiju films, and I would be astonished if they didn’t like it at least a little. 4 /5  66+1. The Ordeal (2004/Belgium) The Ordeal is a worrying, upsetting, and yet faintly and darkly comedic film. A bizarre caricature of I don’t even know what. Like a Belgian Deliverance, but with a lot more anxiety about rural life, about sexuality, about the role of women in the absence of women, the perils of attraction, and the grim necessity of connection. Perhaps even none of these things? It's so nihilistic that it's hard to parse. Our film begins with Marc, a travelling cabaret singer entertaining a crowd. After the show it is clear that one of the elderly audience members is smitten with Marc, and chases a last fleeting chance of intimacy with him, but is rebuffed. Again and again, similar occurrences happen to Marc, and each in turn with greater ferocity, crazed determination, and mournful longing. It’s a disturbing and troubling journey we take with Marc, and it would be easy to reduce it to “torture porn” or whatever we’re calling it now. The reality is far more quietly humorous, like an episode of Jam, if that’s familiar to you, and if not you should absolutely watch Jam. There is a scene in which Marc is encouraged to sing for a new acquaintance, and the moment is at once innocent enough from Marc’s perspective, but from ours, the audience, we witness Marc being lasciviously fetishized by those around him. It is a scene which is repeated later to far more nauseating effect, and quickly collapses into an orgy of sheer chaos, beyond something like Noe’s Climax, into a much darker realm of unbridled, orgiastic terror. Most disturbingly is that the film offers nothing in the way of escape, or happiness, or relief, or revenge. It is distinctly nihilistic, and presents a world where basic human interaction is tinged with constant menace. It’s a tremendously difficult film to recommend, not least because I don’t know if I like it, but I found it ...good? Great? For what it is trying to be, it has achieved perfection, but what it is trying to be is not enjoyable, but is respectable. Visually the film hovers between stark realism and a surrealist beauty, and the performances could not be more pitch-perfect. As for graphic content, there really isn’t any, it’s more a case of tone, and atmosphere, and threat. Give it a go, maybe you’ll enjoy it?      4.5 /5  “Under the cover of law and order hair-raising things are happening here.” 66+2. The Hourglass Sanatorium (1973/Poland) The Hourglass Sanatorium is a fascinating, surrealist peek into the collective unconsciousness of the Polish Jewish community in the decades preceding the holocaust. It isn’t actually as grim as that sounds, and is, for the most part, a joyful celebration of life, love, culture, family, and history. The film begins with a train journey reminiscent of the carriages heading to the concentration camps, full of quietly mournful people in traditional Jewish garb, some strewn on the floor carelessly, dishevelled and naked. A ticket collector appears, solemn and deathly pale, with whitened eyes, and a lantern affixed to their chest, wandering the train like the classic depiction of Death. Here we meet our lead, Josef, who sleeps peacefully within the carriage. We journey with him to the titular Hourglass Sanatorium to visit his dead father, who, in travelling to the sanatorium, has had their status upgraded to “alive”. This is explained in terms of relatively, time simply works differently in this country. Josef then, when not feasting on cobweb-covered cakes, proves this by interfering with his past-self’s arrival at the sanatorium, sending them off through accidental happenstance into a labyrinthine world of memory, which is where the majority of the film occurs. I’ve heard the film described as Gilliam-esque, and I can see that, but the closest connection for me would be Lewis Carroll, as we move beyond the hourglass. There is even a scene of Josef, not quite clambering through a rabbit hole, but disappearing under a bed to reach a new and fantastical world. I also read a review which called the film anti-Bunuelian, which surprised me, as I thought it was heavily reminiscent of Bunuel, but I’m really not educated enough to speak on that. The themes here are dense, as dense as any life. Friendship, love, sex, morality, ethics, eggs, marginalia, Talmudic interpretation, war, peace, assassination, the list is endless. One unfortunate theme that I did pick up on, and haven’t seen explored in reviews elsewhere, is some unfortunate race anxiety reminiscent of Lovecraft. Just floating in the background is a slight anxiety about the protagonist's "creole" grandparent, which is later followed by this unfortunate line: “It must be a wonderful feeling to penetrate the depths of villainy and erase oneself from one’s own memory. Wouldn’t you like to be defiled or repulsive for a moment? But totally renewed. Do it. You’ll become one of them. One of those black Negroes.” With the scene previous to this showing black soldiers viciously murdering each other. It’s not a great look. I would certainly hope for more from a film from ‘73, especially a film which speaks so eloquently on various other struggles. The real meat of the film, and the real reason to watch it, is how creative and beautiful it is, it really is fantastically stunning. The film is full of delicate panning shots, exquisitely framed at each moment, the very definition of every frame a painting, and as overused as that phrase is, it belongs here. The soundscape is also fantastic, with occasional train noises seeping into the dream, and one fantastic segment in which an unseen storm audibly rolls in, rumbling with thunder, and crackling with lightning.            4/5 Total: 66+2 Queer Interest: 33 Scream Stream: 12 new, 8 rewatches Fran Challenges: 13 | Horror Noire | Short Cuts | Feardotcom | Scream, Queen! | Silent Scream | Tomb of the Blind Spots | Dearly Departed | When Animals Attack | TerrorVision | Öskur heyrðust um allan heim | Ouroboros | Run This poo poo Into the Ground | It's the Time of the Season for Spook-a-Doodles | Countries Visited: 31 | USA | Hungary | Portugal | Vietnam | Georgia | Switzerland | Nigeria | United Kingdom | Lithuania | Germany | Finland | France | Spain | Japan | Monaco | Ireland | West Germany | Czechoslovakia | India | Canada | Estonia | Hong Kong | Australia | Tunisia | New Zealand | Brazil | Greece | Laos | North Korea | Belgium | Poland |
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2020 20:02
|
|
|
 Fran Challenge #8: When Animals Attack! #31 Piranha Joe Dante, 1978  A by-the-numbers, Jaws-inspired, water-based animal attack movie. We get some gore, some boobs, lots of splashing and screaming, and tons of frenzied Piranha chomping. Nothing awful, nothing great. Just a good lazy afternoon time waster. Oh, and it was nice to see Barbara Steele this side of Italian horror. 2.5/5 Fran Challenges (11/13): Films watched: 1. Halloween II (2009), 2. The Tomb of Ligeia (1964), 3. Eyeball (1975), 4. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995), 5. House of 1000 Corpses (2003), 6. Climax (2018), 7. Lifeforce (1985), 8. The Devil’s Rejects (2005), 9. Short Films, 10. Ginger Snaps (2000), 11. The Legend of Hell House (1973), 12. House on Haunted Hill (1959), 13. Us (2019), 14. The Lighthouse (2019), 15. Torso (1973), 16. Child’s Play 2 (1990), 17. The Masque of the Red Death (1964), 18. The Skin I Live In (2011), 19. Dante’s Inferno (1911), 20. 3 From Hell (2019), 21. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), 22. Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998), 23. Deadbeat at Dawn (1988), 24. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), 25. Found. (2012), 26. Pulse (2001), 27. Xtro (1982), 28. The Cremator (1969), 29. The Wizard of Gore (1970), 30. Salem's Lot (1979), 31. Piranha (1978)
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2020 20:05
|
|
|
Basebf555 posted:Goop is really all I need. You'd be surprised by how many filmmakers don't want to have to work with goop, but it really makes a big difference! After going through the Universal Monsters this month, I just need a building to be torched or blown up at the end of the movie. Otherwise there's no catharsis.
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2020 20:07
|
|
|
Spook-a-Doodle Double Feature #42: Why? Why are there four Cabin Fever movies? Why is one of them a straight remake of the exact same script as the original done 14 years after the middling original? Why did I wait so late into the month to fill some of my Hooptober challenges like Disease based and Body Horror? Why am I such a pedantic nerd intent on making things harder for myself than they need to be that I didn’t count dozens of other films that could have fit them but were rewatches or Fran Challenges or filling another Hooptober? Why did decide not to count the Wailing even though it is a disease based film because I decided that was only part of the formula? Why did I decide that Cabin Fever was the safe place to go to fill either of these challenges? Why am I watching these instead of just watching better films? Why? Why? Why? 71 (83). Cabin Fever: Patient Zero (2014) Directed by Kaare Andrews, Written by Jake Wade Wall. Watched on Prime, available on Hulu, Hoopla, and Tubi. Hooptober Se7en: 3/4 body horror films Cabin Fever: Patient Zero has the distinct feeling a movie that doesn’t know its the second sequel to mediocre horror film that shouldn’t have had a first sequel. Kaare Andrews thought he could make the most of this opportunity and show what he could do. A bunch of young actors hope that this horror film is their big break as hundreds have before them. Sean Astin tries his heart out to insert gravitas into something he has to know doesn’t matter. There’s even a sex scene between a terrible couple who are spreading the infection and one of whom has already cheated on the other that is inexplicably given romantic music as if its trying to turn this random act of poor judgment horniness into something more than it is. This is a bad movie that doesn’t know its bad which makes it worse. Like its fine on the surface. It looks ok, its got lots of blood and gore, its got gratuitous sex stuff, its got a few really dumb and gross humor moments. But like… its bad. The characters are all assholes and they have all kinds of drama that is completely meaningless because they’re all going to die of a flesh eating disease. There’s a generic fight for survival storyline that means nothing because… everyone is going to die of a flesh eating disease. Maybe maybe a prequel to a film about the spread of a 100% fatal flesh eating disease has limited room to build tension and compelling characters and story? The film basically has nothing to offer except really gruesome body horror. And it definitely tries to deliver that complete with rivers of rotting corpses and a flesh crawling, horribly disfigured, vomiting catfight. Its some nasty poo poo and it doesn’t hold back, even if it sometimes film sit so darkly that its difficult to make out. Also it as a Chekhov’s Dildo. So there’s that. I don’t know why there’s 4 Cabin Fever movies. Patient Zero probably isn’t the worst sequel to a middling horror franchise. Its probably not the worst Cabin Fever sequel. Its not without its… charm? If you came for gross you’ll get gross. But there’s not much else to it and it doesn’t work its way much past “watchable.” It does however teach an important lesson about the importance of those little sealed cap things on water bottles. Don’t drink unless you hear that snap, kids. 72 (84). Cabin Fever (2016) Directed by Travis Zariwny, Written by Randy Pearlstein, Based on Cabin Fever by Eli Roth. Watched on Netflix. Hooptober Se7en: 3/3 disease based films I spent an hour and a half waiting on line to vote today and it was less boring than watching this movie. Cabin Fever ’16 is like watching a high school production of a story you remember watching years ago but never loved or anything. They're getting all their lines right and you recognize the plot but it is a mystery why they picked this story, its an absolute chore to watch, and you can tell everyone involved is taking this way more seriously than they should be. I hate Eli Roth but the original Cabin Fever is a completely fine horror movie. A little funny, a little mean, a little gory, some ok actors, just totally fine. Why a bunch of people thought it made sense to remake it without any new clever twist or anything, with a worse cast, taking itself more seriously and being less funny, making the characters even worse developed and less likable, and then send money to make it is beyond me. To be honest I’ve spent years debating with myself over this movie because on one hand I knew it sucked and had no reason at all to want to see it but the sheer weirdness of its existence made it something I couldn’t stop being curious about. Maybe that’s the answer? Maybe every step of the way someone was there saying “Well this doesn’t make sense unless there’s something different or unique I’m missing so…” That feels like the most logical explanation for this movie. Did the first film really have a straight up murder of a hobo in it? I feel like that played a lot more “accidental” in the first one than in this but maybe that’s just bad memory? God help me I will not watch the original now. But it feels like its a bizarre testament to tone and directing. How you can take the same exact script and if you play it at a different key it feels completely different. Its like everyone involved in this one looked at the exact same script and saw the dark humor of it and decided to interpret all of it completely straight and dramatic. Oh God, was this all an elaborate scheme to make me respect Eli Roth as a director more? About the only thing notably different in this version was a mid credit scene with a character we don’t know teasing a sequel. Huh? I can’t think of a single reason to watch this unless you’re filling a silly scavenger hunt.
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2020 21:17
|
|
|
Basebf555 posted:Goop is really all I need. You'd be surprised by how many filmmakers don't want to have to work with goop, but it really makes a big difference! Honestly, I don't blame filmmakers for not wanting to work with goop. No matter how magical they describe the experience as, the only thing you're getting from that vagina egg is a nasty yeast infection.
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2020 21:30
|
|
|
 169) Zombie Night - 2013 - Peacock When I was looking for a poster image on this one and reading what's been said about it, I couldn't help but think of that Two Horror Fans meme. The snooty one with high expectations and the other who's "gently caress it, let's watch Sleepaway Camp 3 again." When it got discussed in the main thread, we're each pretty much a sliding scale between the two. Maybe I'm spoiled by our diversity of opinions, but I'm seriously wondering if the horror communities outside our own really are hard divided between those two types. This one's a Sy-Fy/The Asylum project. Most commentary I saw pretty much had their minds made up just from that alone that it was a complete shitshow and they were outraged they spent time out of their lives watching any of this movie. This film's not bad at all. Yes, the script does have some flaws, but the cast is full of name actors, the zombie effects are good, some of the other effects look like basic package After Effects. Story begins en medias res with people hurrying for shelter due to nightly zombie rise which ends at dawn. That might sound odd to some, but considering I sat through a movie where some dude turns people into zombies at the sight of his asscrack, I'm just going to roll with whatever's on screen. We bounce around three separate perspectives of zombie night. The family with a panic room, a cop, and the neighbors of the first family trying to get the rest of their family together and to the neighbor's panic room. It's the usual mixed bag of good/bad choices and okay/annoying characters. I'd say Nana was the most annoying since while I understand she's blind, they've been through this enough that she should not to not yell if you're trying not to draw attention of the zombies. This isn't the greatest or the worst zombie film, it's just average and fine to have on for background noise or just a casual watch.
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2020 23:06
|
|
|
Franchescanado posted:If there is anyone else that hasn't seen the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre participating in this thread, please take the time to watch it. No one will mock you for having missed it, and it's basically The Essential Horror Film. Franchescanado posted:Fran Challenge #6: Tomb of the Blind Spots  25.) The Texas Chain Saw Massacre Tobe Hooper | 1974 | Shudder Last night would have been the night when my local theater would have done their monthly classic movie night so what better opportunity to watch one of the many classic horror films that I haven’t seen yet? One thing off the bat that surprised me was, given its reputation, it’s not as bloody as I thought it would be. I’m not complaining though! This is a brilliant, chilling, and scary movie. It’s just super brutal almost from the word go, and it creates this terrifying and unnerving atmosphere. The performances are great too, Marilyn Burns is terrific and Gunner Hansen is amazing as Leatherface. Weirdly enough, I always used to associate chainsaws with Jason Voorhees though that’s probably because of parodies I watched as a kid. Overall a really amazing film that was probably the scariest movie I’ve seen this year. Dope as hell and I’m glad I finally got to see it. Thanks thread  5/5Total: 25/20 New: 19 Rewatches: 6 Fran Challenges (not in order): 1. Horror Noire (Horror Noire) 6. Tomb of the Blind Spots (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre) 7. Dearly Departed (From Beyond) My Letterboxd list (in progress) Greekonomics fucked around with this message at 00:26 on Oct 29, 2020 |
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2020 00:00
|
|
|
Fran Challenge #7: Dearly Departed 16. From Beyond (1986) - Watched on Shudder  Picked this for Dearly Departed because Stuart Gordon was one of the directors who first opened my eyes to how much fun horror could be with Re-Animator. His films have a wonderful energy and an iconic style, and I can't help but respect anyone who is putting out genuinely transgressive art in both the film and theater world. An absolute shame that the world won't be getting any more of his work. As for the movie itself - it is of course campy and full of wonderful practical effects - everything is just so wonderfully slimy and purple. It's a treat to see Combs playing against type here, and Barbara Crampton has a much deeper role here too. Some wonderful lines (the "gingerbread man" bit really caught me off guard) and a plot that just zips breathlessly along for the entire runtime. The pineal gland practical effects are viscerally gross, and there's just so much wonderful physical acting going on. It's not ever a scary movie but I legitimately can't imagine someone watching this and not having fun. 4/5 --- Fran Challenge #8: When Animals Attack!17. Alligator (1980) - Watched on Youtube  A surprisingly solid film that works mostly because it's very self-aware about all of the tropes it's leaning on - the basic setup is such a well-trodden urban legend that I don't think you could approach it any other way and have it work. Robert Forster is predictably great (really feels like kind of a prototype for his character in Jackie Brown, there's a bunch of suitably hateable side characters that get chomped, and a couple times (the pool scene especially) where the movie subverted my expectations. The practical effects are not great, but they mask it as best they can - the most effective shots are definitely the ones that just use a real gator on a miniature set, which are actually pretty effective. Some of it is just plain fun - where else are you going to see a montage of an alligator tail-smacking an entire wedding party, capped off by sending someone sailing into the cake? The only thing that actually bugged me a little is that like every single character in the movie makes a joke about Forster's thinning hair, which I believe he was actually kind of sensitive about in real life - it seemed kinda weird and mean and didn't serve any purpose, especially since it wasn't even that noticeable. 3/5 --- Fran Challenge #9: TerrorVision18. When a Stranger Calls Back (1993) - Watched on Amazon Prime  The original When a Stranger Calls doesn't hold up very well in my opinion, but it's definitely influential - the entire intro to Scream is basically an extended homage. The sequel was made for TV, but it happens to be one of those rare cases where the sequel is superior. The intro is great and legitimately tense, and while the pacing is a little inconsistent after that, it puts together a compelling enough mystery to keep you invested. The killer is great and genuinely one of the more eccentric horror antagonists of the 90s era, which is saying something. There's not a whole lot to say about this, honestly - it's competent, but never rises to greatness. Solid performances, workmanlike cinematography, a fairly by-the-numbers story with a few interesting bits of garnish, but you could certainly do worse. 3/5 --- Fran Challenge #10: Run This poo poo Into The Ground19. The Exorcist III (1990) - Watched on Shudder  Exorcist II was so lovely that I just never bothered with the sequel, but I probably would have given it a chance earlier if I knew it was just going to act like that movie never existed. George C. Scott is excellent as always and gets some great dialogue to play with, and Dourif absolutely steals every scene he's in (I'm genuinely baffled by the fact that he never became a household name, he's so intense and really just dives headfirst into every role he's given). There are a few good scares (the infamous hospital scene) and some gnarly practical effects work toward the end, but it's quite a bit more restrained than the first film in that regard, and the camera makes a conscious decision to hide most of the violence from the viewer. My biggest issue is that the entire exorcism sequence feels kind of tacked on, like they needed to remind the audience that it was an Exorcist (tm) movie, and it kinda undermines Karras' entire arc from the original. Still an excellent follow-up that knows how to keep ratcheting up the tension. 4/5 --- Fran Challenge #11: Öskur heyrðust um allan heim20. Warda (2014) - Watched on Netflix  An Egyptian found-footage possession movie that left me a little disappointed. It feels like a setting ripe for a unique take on the genre that incorporates some of the region's extremely rich folklore and a different set of "rules" than most possession films operate under, but it mostly ends up playing out like a Paranormal Activity clone. The characters' reactions to steadily escalating weirdness don't really make sense, and nobody ever seems to have any sense of urgency or real concern for what is going on. The pacing is kinda rough and it all just leads up to a completely bog-standard ending. This could have been very cool but it just feels like a huge wasted opportunity. 2/5 Total Watched: 20 - Ganja & Hess | L'Inferno | Mandy | A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night | Phantasm: Remastered | Tigers Are Not Afraid | Videodrome | The Ninth Configuration | The Changeling | Knife + Heart | Train to Busan | The Lure | A Page of Madness | Psycho | Lake Mungo | From Beyond | Alligator | When A Stranger Calls Back | The Exorcist III | Warda Fran Challenges Complete: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 Decades Covered: 1910s, 1920s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s Countries Visited: United States, Italy, Iran, Mexico, Canada, France, South Korea, Poland, Japan, Australia, Egypt Grizzled Patriarch fucked around with this message at 00:10 on Oct 29, 2020 |
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2020 00:07
|
|
|
Splatterhouse was a popular video game at the time that combined the hockey mask and the chainsaw, so I assume that's why a lot of people grew up with that association. Also, just speaking for myself, my family used to go on these Halloween hay rides where guys would dress up and jump out at you to scare you and there was always a guy there wearing a hockey mask and carrying a chainsaw.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2020 00:08
|
|
|
11) Bad Ben: The Way In Feels like Bad Ben combined with that horror game with the dolls, Emily Want to Play. Has some good gags and makes an acceptable sequel, but I'm starting to get tired of the series. 5/10 12) Heartbeat 100 (心跳一百) - 1987 Starring a young Maggie Cheung. The opening scene starts the movie with some nudity and a double murder, is this a Hong Kong slasher? Well, then it settles into typical goofy Hong Kong comedy for the next 40 minutes with some Rear Window-ish plot advancement, but eventually remembers how the movie started and gets back to the killing with some actual gore. The uneven tone is typical of Cantonese stuff so I don't mind, it's fun enough. 6/10 13) Eko Eko Azarak: Wizard of Darkness - 1995 The first entry in a series based on a horror manga from the 70's about a schoolgirl witch fighting other satanist witches... at school. Kinda reminds me of a supernatural version of Sukeban Deka, but with a bunch of dead teenagers. Japan puts out a lot of low budget movies starring young idols and models who can't really act, often pretty ridiculous, and of that ilk this one isn't bad. Plus there's some decent camera work considering what it is. 5/10
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2020 00:15
|
|
|
27) Suspiria (1977) Prime Video - Rewatch This one really isn't subtle about what it's going for, is it? There's such a specific tone that starts the instant the title music begins, and doesn't ever stop until the film ends. It's great - the amazing use of colours, the weird disorientated feeling of the dubbed voices, the amazing set design - and Goblin's music of course! It all works together to create this amazing feeling of unease that's both creepy and in-your-face at the same time. It works really well... But aside from the excellent visuals and the great music and the amazing atmosphere in general that is in every inch of this film... there's not much else? The plot itself is extremely, extremely basic and doesn't really seem to offer anything interesting. It's literally just Girl starts new school > strange things happen > oh it's witches > head witch dies > film ends. I wish there was more substance actually under all that style, and that all the effort that was put into the visuals and design and sound also went into the plot but... it's just a bit thin otherwise. It's style over substance, but that style is very, very good. 3.5/5 28) Suspriria (2018) Prime Video - First Watch I think this is probably exactly how you should remake a film? The remake never really tries to touch on the style of the original, which is a good move as it would only ever end up being a pale imitation. Instead it really fleshes out, expands and changes the story - for the better! The remake is 50 minutes longer than the original, and it feels like a much more complete film because of it. I really liked how they started with the same general ideas as the original but went in their own unique way with it, and made all the different elements tie together a bit better. I'd say one of the best things they did here was to directly tie in the dancing of the students with the elements of witchcraft - two elements that seemed basically disconnected in the original but are now woven together here in some really interesting ways. Although it doesn't go quite as crazy as the original in terms of it's stylisation, it's not totally lacking in that area either. While most of it tends to stick to a more desaturated colour palette, in direct opposition to the original and more in keeping with how we think of the colour palette of the 1970's - it does have it's moments of pure style in it's own way. I'm happy glad they did it this way, as this film is able to stand on it's own with the original, rather than trying to directly mimic or compare itself to it. Overall it does feel like a more complete film. 4/5
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2020 00:16
|
|
|
# 26 THE GIANT CLAW (1957) Charming. I watched this with someone who is unaccustomed to Atomic Age B-movies and they were entertained. The monster, comically referred to as "the bird", has a good chunk of screentime. It snacks on pilots ejected from their fighter jets, makes a nest and lays eggs, and destroys a car full of arrogant teens. Oh, and instead of being a reawakened prehistoric beast, the bird is from outer space and has a force field. What!!? So we get a bunch of scientific mumbo-jumbo dialogue. It also has the ability to travel at great speeds, so it can be spotted all around the world simultaneously. Haha. Everyone likes to laugh at the bird puppet but I've seen way worse. It seems to have various movements in its face and jaw, and its feathers/wings look real. The Giant Claw delivers the goods! GRADE: C- *** # 27 CHRISTINE (1983)  One day I lurked in that horror director tournament here in CD and saw a debate about Christine squaring off against Alien. I regard the latter as among the top 5 best horror films, so Christine being a formidable competitor got me to add this to my first viewing list. Christine is very good. I think the relationship between Arnold and Dennis was strong (also nice to see Dennis, a high school football player, be compassionate instead of the usual one dimensional jock dickhead in movies). The deterioration of the friendship due to Arnold's possession by Christine was also well-developed. Those special effects with the car were cool and still hold up. Also John Carpenter's music scores are always welcome. The climatic fight between the car and a bulldozer I thought was a little slow-paced and clunky. GRADE: B *** Challenge: Run This poo poo Into the Ground! # 28 ALIEN 3 (1992, U.S. theatrical)  Boring with flat characters; no clarity in the storytelling. Charles Dance has a chance to be compelling, but "goes away" (shall we say) leaving Signourney Weaver alone with non-descript prisoners with deep held religious, misogynist beliefs. While the movie generally looks good, many of the CGI alien shots are atrocious. I do not see David Fincher's remarkable aesthetic here. Worst of all, while the setting is different, Alien 3 is essentially an inferior remake of the original - a single alien stalks people and must be stopped. After the success of the first two entries, I believe Alien 3 captures of the spirit of this challenge well. The rewrites and studio interference squeezed the juice out this one, setting off a chain of more lackluster sequels. GRADE: C Mokelumne Trekka fucked around with this message at 21:56 on Oct 29, 2020 |
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2020 00:22
|
|
|
Basebf555 posted:Splatterhouse was a popular video game at the time that combined the hockey mask and the chainsaw, so I assume that's why a lot of people grew up with that association. Also, just speaking for myself, my family used to go on these Halloween hay rides where guys would dress up and jump out at you to scare you and there was always a guy there wearing a hockey mask and carrying a chainsaw. Yeah, Splatterhouse was definitely one example. There's also the "Cape Feare" episode of Simpsons and that Tiny Toons summer vacation special that had the creepy hitchhiker. I guess a Jason/Leatherface combo works better as a shorthand for "slasher villain" than a combo of either with Freddy Krueger.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2020 00:29
|
|
|
34. Whispering Corridors (1998) A former student returns to her school to be a teacher... with spooky results. Part high-school melodrama, part social commentary tragedy, part ghost story, this film is kinda all over the place until it finally comes together in the end. The social commentary part is what I found most interesting. It shows Korean high-school as a horribly competitive place where the teachers are unapologetic monsters. I assume it's at least metaphorically accurate, so it's nice to have a peek inside a different world. The ghost part is mildly spooky. Pretty average for an Asian ghost story. The pace of the movie is extremely slow. Even in the spooky bits it feels like it drags. 2.5/5
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2020 00:55
|
|
|
48. Black Christmas (2019) Fran Challenge #13: It's The Time of the Season for Spook-a-Doodles It's Christmas Break, and someone is killing sorority girls. Do you think the misogynistic professor or the only frat house in the film could be involved? It just feels so poorly thought out. The politics is in your face, and, unfortunately, not done well, which is all the more unfortunate when you agree with the politics. It's frustrating to watch ideas you agree with handled or argued ineptly. I think it does a disservice to frat bro rape culture to depict it as actually in the service of a cult. I don't think the movie handles the portrayal of any of its characters that well. They are all paper thin, which is fine for a slasher but not really fine for a slasher with a ~message~. 1/5 (rewatch) Poltergeist 2 (1986)  The family from the original film moves, but alas, the supernatural world doesn't just give up after one attempt. It's surprising how unlikeable the family is, this time around. The first movie does a good job of establishing the nuclear family, and their connections and love for each other. This one kind of abandons most of that, perhaps trauma from their missing daughter (whose actress died tragically between films). Craig T Nelson is a drunk abusive rear end in a top hat now, who refused to accept the supernatural despite witnessing and surviving the dangers of the first movie. The ghost is cool, a great creepy character actor. The effects are impressively gooey and gross. Otherwise, a pretty big step down from a classic. 2/5 (rewatch) Wishmaster (1997)  A djinn is trapped in a jewel, only to be released in modern times. To bring about some sort of djinn-world on earth he must get the woman who awakened him to make three wishes. The effects are great, and fun, but it honestly wouldn't be hard to write a script where the characters make actual wishes. Instead the djinn is constantly manipulating one off statements into full-blown desires. Me saying 'I don't want to hear Trump again' is not the same as me wishing it to happen, so no I will keep my ears thank you. A good group watch. 3/5
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2020 00:55
|
|
|
Mokelumne Trekka posted:While the movie generally looks good, many of the CGI alien shots are atrocious. I do not see David Fincher's remarkable aesthetic here. Worst of all, while the setting is different, Alien 3 is essentially an inferior remake of the original - a single alien stalks people and must be stopped. Just to point out one thing, it’s not CGI, it’s a rod puppet.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2020 01:25
|
|
|
Maxwell Lord posted:Just to point out one thing, it’s not CGI, it’s a rod puppet. Whoops
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2020 01:31
|
|
|
 170) Twins of Evil - 1971 - Shudder With Hammer vampires, if it wasn't Dracula, it was the Karnsteins. They were interesting in that it was a family of vampires who often dabbled in black magic. Apparently they were based off Le Fanu's Carmilla, but they really don't quite come across as a based off like the usual based off of characters. Here we have a pair of twins who are recently orphaned and sent to live with their stern Puritan uncle, who of course is also a witch hunter. The twins hate living with him and one sneaks out to go chill with the major bad boy, Count Karnstein. We know how this one's going to go with guessing if one's a vampire or both are vampires. Overall, this wasn't bad. I liked it well enough.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2020 01:48
|
|
|
32. Frankenstein (1931) First time watch It’s a classic. I liked it more than Dracula. Great set design and lighting. Didn’t really care for the marriage subplot. Scariest moment: That poor girl he throws in the lake without even realising he’s killing her. --- 33. Scream  Rewatch Oh hey there’s a clip from Frankenstein in this! I love this movie so much! I had it on VHS as a kid and I’ve probably seen it 40 times. This is the first time I’ve rewatched it in like a decade, and now I’ve finally seen most of the movies they’re referencing, which makes it an even better viewing experience. I also love the whodunnit aspect of the movie. Even though I know who the killer is now, I still love how they play up that it could be anyone. They give every character the opportunity (and occasionally motive) to be the killer, to throw the audience off. They also put creepy music stings whenever various characters show up, like Dewey - and they give suspect lines to just about everyone. This film revels in whodunnit tropes as much as it does in slasher tropes. I’m going to watch the sequels in the coming months (I’ve seen them all before), as well as the TV series which I haven’t seen but I heard is pretty good. Note: it’s interesting that the costume the killer uses is called “Father Death” yet the killer’s visage became known as Ghostface. Note 2: the scene in the video store really makes me wish we still had video stores. I miss browsing all the covers and finding cool movies. Scariest moment: Drew Barrymore’s plight truly is scary, from the increasingly frightening phone calls to the brutal way she bites it. What a fantastic opening sequence.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2020 02:01
|
|
|
Hedrigall posted:Note: it’s interesting that the costume the killer uses is called “Father Death” yet the killer’s visage became known as Ghostface. fun fact, the mask was a real Halloween mask sold by a company called Fun World and the design was originally called “The Peanut-Eyed Ghost”. Imagine if that name stuck for the movies. Scream is in my top 10 all time favorite movies, of any genre. Now I want to watch it again.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2020 02:07
|
|
|
39. Hagazussa Fair warning: I'm doing a lot less to avoid spoilers here than normal in my writing, both because I don't feel like they matter to this movie and because I can't write about it that cleanly.  We get four title cards to organize the movie - shadow, horn, blood, and fire. I'm very much a drone/doom and snowy forests kind of guy so I was mostly in love from the opening shot here, and if it had just been an hour and a half of music and people walking among the trees I'd probably have my favorite of the year. It's definitely the most beauty/minute of anything I've watched for the challenge. It is also very slow in a way that will be a deal-breaker for many people - this movie is providing scene and theme and giving you space to think on them. If you aren't in a place where you want to engage like that you will probably die of boredom, but it's something I very much appreciate when it's so exactly in tune with me. But then the movie tried really hard to lose me anyway, because buried in its heart is a rape/revenge vignette. It's over relatively quickly; even the revenge is brief, far more efficient and effective than usual in such stories, but everything else the movie is spills out from that core.   It's so beautiful that it hurts in a very personal way - I've never been able to walk through a forest that looks like this one. When I've been to a place that even approximated this kind of beauty there were well-marked trails and it was made clear to me from a young age that to leave those trails would be irresponsible, would destroy the thing that was so beautiful. So I stayed on the trails and watched garbage accumulate alongside them. When our protagonist eats a mushroom and goes for a walk to drown her child I'm intensely jealous - and I feel like I'm right there with her when she's having this beautiful experience that's suddenly interrupted by the baby crying, which they somehow filmed in a way that exaggerated the already overwhelming ugliness of that humanity, so it feels like the most natural thing in the world when she puts it in the water. That's not how the movie seems to feel about it after the fact, though. Fire comes next, fire promises some sort of catharsis, and that's not going to be offered here.  It's The VVitch, but nobody gets to live deliciously because life is not like that. I can't really recommend it or not recommend it; it's so well done for what it is. And I think there is value, sometimes, in meditating on petty human cruelty and frailty. The darkness we gathered together to escape, the churches and towns and cities we built to fend it off and what happened to the ones who weren't welcome by the fire - whether it was necessary or inevitable as part of our progress and our nature. Where it all got us, and how difficult it is to imagine, now, being more afraid of the dark and the cold than of the heat. The complete self-annihilation of our victory. And that's right there in the movie's final shot, even though I don't believe it's what they were going for. But a meditation has to end for life to continue, and sometimes I want to forget for a little while. It's going to take a day or two to shake this one off. And it's probably not going to have this impact on anyone else; there's so much open time in it that it's going to depend on what you're bringing in. So I have no idea whether you should watch it or not.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2020 02:09
|
|
|
DDD is there a difference between Singapore Sling and Singapore Sling Remastered other than video quality like are they two different cuts and if so which one is the one i should watch
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2020 02:17
|
|
|
34. One Cut of the Dead First time watch Holy poo poo! I didn’t know what to expect, but I did not expect this. I looooooved this. I had no idea I was going to sit down to a 40 minute gory one-take zombie movie followed by a 50 minute feel-good comedy, love-letter to creative filmmaking, and a celebration of improvising in the face of disaster When I realised what the movie was leading to in the final half hour, I couldn’t stop grinning. And they pulled it off perfectly. Goddamn genius. If you love zombie movies, horror movies, movies in general, and especially the movie-making process, watch this immediately. Scariest moment: Lots of great bloody axe injuries but I can’t pinpoint any moment I was actually scared, I was too busy being absolutely heart-warmed by the most feel-good movie I’ve seen in years --- 35. Oculus  First time watch Not bad, but jeez, the polar opposite of One Cut of the Dead mood-wise. Mike Flanagan is nothing if not creative. I’m going to enjoy watching his filmography over the next year, all the way through to finish with Doctor Sleep next October. I like that the evil force in the mirror is never explained, it’s just an evil loving mirror. How did it get so evil? Maybe it was made that way 🙀 I dig parts in some supernatural horror movies when the history of something haunted/cursed is gone over in great detail. Like, they do it in 1408 with Samuel L Jackson explaining the hotel room’s history. And they do it in this with Karen Gillan’s monologue at the start of the night. That was a really cool set up. I just don’t particularly love the direction it went in after that. This is a real downer of a film. There’s genuine terror in watching your loved ones lose their sanity, and while that’s effectively scary, it’s not a fun kind of horror like ghosts or monsters... it’s depressing. As is the ending. I watch horror movies to have fun, mainly, I don’t think I would return eagerly to this one  Scariest moment: That’s not a juicy apple you’re biting into... 
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2020 02:23
|
|
|
 42) The Child (1977) Trailer Seen on: Arrow Player; also can be found on YouTube Alicianne accepts a job to be a nanny for 11-year-old Rosalie, who lives on an isolated farm near a cemetary. It seems that Rosalie hasn't gotten over the death of her mother, and she blames everyone around her for her death. Rosalie spends a lot of time in the cemetary saying she's visiting her mom, but she has a secret - she can talk to the undead, and they do ghoulish "favors" for her to help her get rid of anyone that annoys her. Man, you know you're in for something special when the opening scene shows a kid handing a kitten over to a zombified hand behind a tombstone for a snack:  This is an actual screenshot from the film showing Rosalie's depiction of the kitten feast. Tag yourself, I'm the one smiling in the middle. My God, how many films with dead cats am I watching this month?! The Child is one of those films that I can only recommend to someone who has a high tolerance for film jank, or if you're curious about one-off efforts (this is the director's only film, and most of the actors have been in a handful of other things, and in some instances this is the only thing they did). So let's talk about the strengths. It has a great creepy premise - telepathic/telekinetic kid controls zombies who kill for her. The atmosphere is spooky throughout; there are plenty of dark woods and fog-filled cemetaries, the wind howls all the time, the zombies are wisely kept offscreen for most of the film. There are some great setpieces here involving people being stalked by the zombies. There's even a bit of decent low-budget face-ripping gore, and they must have been Fulci fans because all the victims except one lose an eyeball. There's a weird piano/Moog synth soundtrack that is also strangely effective. But on the flipside, the writing isn't great and the acting ranges from middling to bad; all of the film's dialogue is ADR; the soundtrack veers from creepy and melodic to constant discordant nails-on-the-chalkboard electronic noise, especially at the end; there is constant day-for-night that just always looks like mid-afternoon. It's actually like watching an ersatz Italian horror film. I enjoyed watching this, I just wish the elements that worked had been done more consistently.  43 Evil Ed (1995) Trailer Seen on: Arrow Player; also on Tubi A mild-mannered film editor is assigned by his film company to edit a series of vile horror movies (called Loose Limbs) for a sleazy distributor to be released in Europe. How bad are these films? As Ed says at one point, "In this film, there's a scene where a woman gets raped by a beaver and then shot in the head with a bazooka." Ed is slowly driven mad working on the video nasties, hallucinates and goes on a wild murder spree. Evil Ed is a Swedish horror comedy satirizing violent horror films, censorship and the movie business. The context for the film is somewhat important; according to its Wikipedia page, Evil Ed "is a satire towards the harsh censoring that the Swedish Statens biografbyrå (Cinemabureau of the state) ran from 1911 to 1996. The bureau was dismissed in 2011, being the oldest film censoring organization in the world." It certainly wears its influences on its sleeve - the sleazy film distributor is named Sam Campbell and the film directly references or pays homage to the Evil Dead films, Gremlins, Reanimator, Taxi Driver and many others - and feels very of its time, almost like an earlier Peter Jackson film. The gore and creature effects are great and the films-within-the-film are funny (apparently Bill Moseley dubbed the killer in these). My problem with the film is that we learn very little about Ed before he goes off the deep end, so it's hard to feel sympathetic for him, and it's right around the halfway point where he starts terrorizing his wife and daughter that I felt like it was slipping a little too much out of satire and getting a little too mean for how it started. It's a great concept for a satire but I don't think the filmmakers quite pulled it off, but that might just be me.  44) The Manster (aka The Split; 1959) Trailer Seen on: Amazon Prime. An American foreign affairs reporter who's feeling his oats in Japan is experimented on by the scientist he was sent to cover, turning him into a two-headed, murderous mutant. I was looking through movies on Amazon to watch and I saw this one pop out - I remembered that Sam Raimi had said the "Bad Ash grows out of Good Ash" scene in Army of Darkness was a direct homage to this film, so I decided to check it out. This is a U.S./Japanese co-production, so we have a bunch of American actors in Japan with plenty of scenes in geisha houses and communal baths (with women!). The whole thing is really overwrought and a little skeevy, none of the characters are likeable, and the two-head makeup is laughable - but indeed, the scene where our protagonist finds an eyeball growing out of his shoulder is probably the highlight of the film and I could see why it stuck with Raimi. They even rip apart into two people at the end and fight on top of a volcano! In the end though, it's fairly boring with not much else to recommend for it.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2020 02:26
|
|
|
35. Shutter (2004) A couple gets in a car accident on the way home from a wedding... with spooky results. This is like the opposite of the last movie I watched. It gets right to the point and is full of good spooks. It might actually be over saturated with spooks in the first half. It goes right from one to the next, which got a little tiring. It slows down as it goes though and build characters and its plot in a good way. I actually had a small amount of sympathy for the main character by the end. If you've seen the 2008 American remake, this one has the same twists. I remember thinking that movie sucked when I saw it on DVD. It didn't earn its reveal and was just bland. This one is way better. 4/5
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2020 02:51
|
|
|
October 28 - Satanic Rites of Dracula Another end of the line for me, wrapping up the Hammer Dracula series. Will it end on a high note? (Hint: it's Hammer horror in 1973.)  The Drac is back and this time he's been reincarnated by his coven of Satanists. The coven includes a bunch of wealthy and powerful people who get together to drink blood, sacrifice chickens, and beat up police informants. One of those members is the head of the police so his underlings are ineffectual when they discover he's a secret cultist, so they turn to Van Helsing to help get Dracula again. Also, there's a supervirus that kills almost instantly and spreads via touch for some reason. I was hoping that with Cushing and Lee back together that the series might go out with a bang, but it's a sloppy mess of a film that can't really keep anything together. Dracula is the cult leader. He's also set himself up as an international businessman with a Bela Lugosi accent in the two years since he previously died. He's also making a virus to kill all of humanity because he hates people. There's stuff about satan running all of history and a conjunction and a dungeon full of chained up, half-naked vampire women and cult assassins and the police investigation that never goes anywhere because everyone just stumbles into things. It's like they threw every idea they had leftover in the pot. Maybe it's me, but I felt like Cushing and Lee were done with this and it shows. Cushing in particular gives an awkward performance. There's a scene that should be their big confrontation and Lee is putting on his eastern European accent and it Cushing is doing some terrible physical acting and I'm wondering why the director went with this. This also features some impressively anticlimactic vampire deaths. Van Helsing rattles off about a dozen vampire weaknesses including one that nobody has heard of before so you know that's the one that's going to get Dracula. Of course it happens in a way that makes the Count come across as clumsy. The only reason to check this one out is if you're doing a full watchthrough of the Dracula series. And even then I wouldn't say anything if someone decided to skip over it.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2020 03:10
|
|
|
 35. Trick 'r Treat (2007) Fran Challenge #13: It's the Time of the Season for Spook-a-Doodles This is a delightful Halloween movie. The rare horror anthology where none of the segments suck, though the school bus and Sam segments were definitely the strongest. Really good costumes and production design in this. V spooky, lots of fun.  36. Castle Freak (1995) Movie definitely delivers on its name. There is a freak and he lives in a castle. I feel similarly about this as I do Dagon, I think. It's a pretty grim movie and it benefits from having the Combs/Crampton power combo. The castle freak is pretty freaky and scary. I like to say castle freak. Castle freak.  37. The Burrowers (2008) Fran Challenge #12: Ouroboros I asked for Horror Westerns a way back in the thread and got this suggestion: weekly font posted:I really liked the Burrowers but there’s something specifically in it that gives me the willies so ymmv And with that, I just need to do the shorts challenge and I'll be all done
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2020 03:10
|
|
|
New #8: Elizabeth Harvest (2018) Abbey Lee is Ciarán Hinds's young bride, who he whisks away to a beautiful house,.. that has a door that she must promise never to open. She promptly goes through the door at the first opportunity, where she discovers that she's a clone. He proceeds to murder her, then, after a while, decants another one who awakens to 'remember' she's his young bride, being whisked away, etc. The middle portion of the film, where all the reveal are popping off, is pretty fun, but the beginning until then is very familiar and the last third of the movie spends a lot of time trying to justify the various twists, in ways that are never interesting or particularly convincing. Cannot recommend.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2020 03:28
|
|
|
Alfred P. Pseudonym posted:
Glad you liked it. The way the monsters do their thing is basically one of my greatest fears. Got a real Deadlands vibe from it except no one in the story is a hero, just a bunch of NPCs and dead meats. Tubiween 2020 Part 5: I have most of these movies done but oh god dont make me write about them 19) Bloodrayne Some woman doing her best Leeloo Dallass Multipass is a vampire who is being hunted by Michelle Rodriguez and Michael Madsen. Everyone is wearing wigs that make them look like Tommy Wiseau. Meat Loaf is in here and is definitely having a blast surrounded by tiddy ladies in the worst possible Game of Thrones scene you can imagine.There's a hilariously bad sex scene. More of a movie than anything else I've seen of Uwe Boll's despite being 20% flashbacks to things we've already seen multiple times, but he still can't write or direct worth a poo poo here. But good on him for beating up Lowtax that one time. 1.5/5 would be a two if there was more Loaf 20) Antrum: The Spoopiest Horror Movie Ever Spooped There's a scene in the American remake of The Ring, after Noah, the AV/film/editor guy watches the tape he kind of laughs it off, says there's some neat tricks but it's "very student." Antrum screams of some people trying to make a throwback exploitation/cult movie and not quite nailing that 70s pacing and just making something, well boring. Tacking on five minutes before and two minutes after of a fake documentary doesn't help. It creates some interesting mythology but then just drops it for a bad movie. Clips from the film probably should have been interwoven with a more fleshed out mockumentary. Plus, when a movie is cursed by Satan and is supposed to kill you it better do something interesting or, ya know, be a little scary? But I suppose Antrum wins because in the end we all die.2/5 weekly font fucked around with this message at 03:34 on Oct 29, 2020 |
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2020 03:32
|
|
|
12. Texas Chainsaw 3D The original TCM and it’s sequel are two of my favorite movies of all time. So since I’m a glutton for punishment I decided to check in on one of the newer versions. This one is a direct sequel to the original, unlike the prequel, the reboot and it’s sequel which is technically a prequel. Only one I’ve seen is the 2003 Jessica Biel reboot which I remember being pretty passable and had some great fantasy casting with R. Lee Ermey showing up. This one centers on Alexandra Daddario as the long lost cousin of Leatherface returning to Texas with her lovely friends.  This one is...well...bad. And aggressively dumb. The script is laughable (“tell you what? That your mother has a defective uterus”), the timeline makes zero sense- nobody ages correctly, the kills are average and everyone is an absolute idiot while also being the most over the top sexiest, horniest, skimpiest-dressed people I’ve ever seen. Seriously when the hitchhiker for this TCM shows up he is hilariously beefy- barely wearing a shirt drenched in the pouring rain. It feels like it may turn into a porno multiple times throughout. Now a few things I kinda liked. First off it takes major balls to use footage from the original so I can immediately compare it to this ugly film. But I would rather a direct sequel than another loving prequel. And then it uses Bill Mosley and Gunnar Hansen in a flashback as different characters before swiftly killing them off (sidenote Hansen has been offered multiple cameos but it wasn’t until 3D that someone finally offered enough money, get that payday Gunnar). The lore of the Sawyers is built upon and I enjoyed that, especially when Richard Riehle shows up for some exposition. The carnival scene was dumb but fun. A few bits of gore work well but there are some laughable CGI bits and of course, multiple obvious “3D” shots that aren’t very fun without 3D. And finally Leatherface turning into a good guy towards the end and killing some lovely hicks was pretty satisfying It’s not good and it’s so loving stupid but it got kinda fun towards the end. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you are a particularly masochistic TCM super-fan. 1.5/5
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2020 03:49
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 03:01 |
|
|
 A Dark Song (2016) I want to thank whoever recommended this earlier in the thread. It was a really solid, unique movie. Shades of Hellraiser and working class British magic, this grounds occultism in character study and trauma and ambiguity. It's the slowest burn as it peels back layers of the characters, making you feel you're trapped in the big empty house with them, unsure if the ritual is working, caught up in your own desires and imaginings. It's a mood piece with great set design and lead performances, never overexplaining anything. While I was not a fan of the end, I was a big fan of the imagination behind it. 4/5 1. Eyes Without a Face 2. Come and See 3. Cat People 4. Repulsion 5. Sisters 6. Inland Empire 7. Butterfly Kisses 8. Cube 9. The Velocipastor 10. One Cut of the Dead 11. The Ruins 12. Seance 13. The People Under the Stairs 14. From Beyond 15. Starfish 16. Seconds 17. Candyman 18. Tales from the Hood 19. Crash 20. Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit 21. Blood and Black Lace 22. The Innocents 23. Diabolique 24. Under the Shadow 25. Videdrome 26. Bride of Re-Animator 27. Revenge
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2020 03:49
|
|
