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I whiffed on 31 last year, so this year I'm just going to try and beat my current record of 14. I'm unemployed so it should be easy, and I started making my list this summer so I'm pumped.
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Sep 25, 2020 19:41
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| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 15:01 |
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 Gremlins 2: The New Batch Look. Either you're on board, or I don't want to be your friend. It's that simple! Dante's masterpiece is just a perfect celebration of all the things I love about horror movies. It prioritizes fun above all else, and that fun comes in the form of gags, mayhem, and lots and lots of creatures. Also lots and lots of gags and mayhem. The puppetry on display here is just next-level, to the degree that I was constantly reminded of the Henson folks with the scale of what was going on in a lot of these shots. I think it may have surpassed anything I've seen from the Muppet world, but don't quote me on that. The production design is a delight, with everything stylized to the most extreme degree possible. Plus Chris Lee and Dick Miller got nice paychecks while having a great time up there! What more could you want? If I had to nitpick I'd say that Billy is sidelined for much of the film in a negative way. Gizmo feels like he could've had a bit of a heroic arc thrown in rather than just be a prop. Clamp doesn't get enough to do, but he made a meal out of what he had. Forster doesn't get enough to do for what his function in the story is. But would I pump up a single one of those roles more fully at the sacrifice of any scene with Sexy Gremlin? Or Bat Wing-come-Gargoyle Gremlin? Or delightful-b-movie-excess Spider Gremlin? Or wonderfully excess shots of a million different gremlins partying? Or at the sacrifice of the horror host's wonderful arc? Of course not. I'm not a fuckin' idiot. So while this could have been a better movie in parts, that wouldn't have made it a better movie. There's SO much going on here that the film is bursting at the seams with ideas, and I'd rather have all of them than lose any of them to make it a more traditional flick. Did we need the "my boss is trying to seduce me and my girlfriend is jealous" story? Not really, but it provided just enough cheap pathos that we could root for the characters and they could get away with not giving them all that much to do. Did we need Dick Miller showing up in a super convoluted way? Just as much as we need a shot of mimes getting out of a paddy wagon that went nowhere, and you better believe I don't want to lose that. I'd seen Gremlins 2 in high school when I just couldn't wrap my head around camp and thought it was dumb. But over the next decade I got a better head and here we are on the other side and I think teenage me was dumb. 10/10: A New Favorite
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Sep 29, 2020 16:43
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Hollismason posted:7/31 Wow, HARSH score. Y'know, that's a pretty unusual rating system but I guess we all have our quirks 
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Sep 29, 2020 20:39
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Yeah, I did Adventures of Ichabod last year and nobody complained. Though sadly my takeaway was less than favorable. Also, god I love this thread. I've already added half a dozen things to my watchlist based on y'all's reviews. Gonna be a drat tough decision on what I cross off the list tonight. M_Sinistrari posted:Only reason I'm on the thirty day trial is my fiance wanted to watch Cobra Kai and he made a good argument about my catching up on Sabrina and Kingdom. To what degree does he participate in your deluge of Challenge movies?
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Sep 30, 2020 16:19
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 2. The Green Slime Look. You put someone in a monster suit and get them to fling their arms around and walk slowly down a hallway, you get one free star from me. Copious model effects is another free star. And an attempt at some character arcs throws in a half-star. But... Stuck uncomfortably between two wildly different eras of horror, this well-meaning 60s b-movie is the worst of both worlds. It's got the slow-paced "serious men of science" stuff that often bogs down 50s sci-fi b-movies, and it's got the ambitions of telling a serious story about loss and regret in the line of command. It's constant tonal whiplash between scenes that are trying for real drama and a guy in a goofy Hedorah-lookalike costume. It's like someone was given a script for a kids movie and decided to make a film for adults instead. It felt more like an episode of Space: 1999 stretched out to an hour and a half than a proper movie. It had some interesting production design here and there, I liked how impossibly craggy our rear end in a top hat hero's face was, and I loved a lot of the monster bits. But Planet of the Vampires does a lot of the same stuff much better. It also rubbed me the wrong way that it was established very early that using energy weapons on these things was a bad idea, then we have a third act where everyone's just doing it anyway. This is the sort of thing I should be in the bag for, but it just didn't hit the mark. Maybe I'll watch the MST3K of it at some point and find some more warmth for it, because it was very well-meaning. 6/10 - A Minor Disappointment
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Oct 1, 2020 16:30
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Mokelumne Trekka posted:That's what I gather too. It's odd because the director stayed on and did the other two Xtros, but I heard they are loosely connected to the original and a bit bland . I have not confirmed the video quality but Xtro 2 seems to be on Youtube; the third is on Prime. In case there are any brave volunteers... This is great. Want more film docs this honest. e: Also Xtro rules. It's a perfect intersection of stuffy British horror with goopey American shlock. feedmyleg fucked around with this message at 21:00 on Oct 2, 2020 |
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Oct 2, 2020 20:56
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Looks very fun, but not up on Vimeo yet 
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Oct 2, 2020 23:10
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FreudianSlippers posted:I really need to get around to watching the original serials, though I heard that getting your hands on them can be quite hard if not impossible in some cases, but they wouldn't count for the challenge so that will have to wait for another day. They're on Archive.org and are definitely worth watching, but they're much more stage play than film so set your expecations accordingly. Only two chapters of the first one exist, though.
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Oct 4, 2020 19:12
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 American Movie - rewatch Mark Borchardt is the spirit animal of struggling creatives and fuckups everywhere. I'd been introduced to the film a few years ago when I was a bit younger and a bit hungrier and in more of a position to make something out of my creative projects and surrounded by supportive friends in the same place. I saw Mark as an example of how you can be your own worst enemy and a shining example of how you can get in your own way at every turn if you make the wrong choices. This time around, it all hit me harder. I'm older, not all that wiser, and dealing with difficulty finding creative work and being creative on my own projects during the pandemic. Seeing Mark passionate about what he's doing but without the resources or the emotional bandwidth to achieve what he views as success is incredibly heartbreaking. Yeah, he may not always have the best instincts. Yeah, he's living a delusion when it comes to the film's financial success. Yeah, he's a burnout alcoholic who can barely function. But his determination and drive through it all is as inspiring as it is upsetting. It's a very bittersweet thing looking up what's happened to him since. He's continued to struggle to find success as a filmmaker, but being the subject of American Movie has led to him becoming a cult personality to some degree. I'm sure it's not the success he imagined for himself, but I do hope that he's in a good place with it. And to be honest, Coven looks like a rad little film I'd like to have been a part of. That DIY spirit is really admirable. I'd love to have seen what else he could have made if he'd been able to get out of his own way. 10/10  Earth vs. The Spider - rewatch I'd seen this on its own before, so I figured this time I'd catch the MST3K version for a little something extra. The film itself is one of the rare 1950s sci-fi b-movies which actually stars teenagers, but unlike The Blob or even Invasion of the Saucer Men, these are more sitcom/Archive kind of teens than anything resembling reality. Still, there's a huge amount of charm to the story, the setting, and the attitudes of the characters. It's definitely a "minor" film compared to a lot of its contemporaries, but the story is pleasantly simple and small in scale. There's nothing particularly interesting going on here thematically, but the pacing is solid, the leads are charming enough, and the giant spider gets some good moments. If you want a giant insect movie there's way better ones out there, but sometimes it's nice to just watch something all-around decent. On the MST3K side of things, I have a massive amount of nostalgia for the show. It was definitely my entry-point for b-movie sci-fi/horror when I was a young teenager and I remember just keeping the Sci-Fi Channel on all day during the summers from 10-13 and catching a ton of MST3K while I made my own little stop motion flicks in my bedroom (oh how I wish I still had those!). As an adult MST3K is tougher for me, because I've fully grown into my love of olde timey schlock and I really just want the characters to shut up and let me watch the movie. But having seen Earth vs. The Spider in recent memory it worked like gangbusters this time, where they weren't interrupting my enjoyment of the film but they were adding to it. I should really revisit a few more that I've watched separately in the past few years to get the same experience. 6/10  The Abominable Dr. Phibes - new to me This was a blast! However. I can't help but feel like I would have had more reverence for it like most here do if I hadn't seen Theatre of Blood first. They're incredibly similar films and even though Phibes is more lush and inventive, I feel like Blood holds together a bit better as a film. Sure it's a less operatic work, but it's a more functional one. Theatre feels like it lets you in on the character's emotional state a bit more and that helps be revel in his revenge plan. In Phibes, we hear about the reasons that Phibes wants revenge, and we get a few rad vocoder monologues, but I never felt like I really understood his reasons behind his scheme fully. I feel like my ideal film is right between the two, as Diana Rigg's character in Blood feels more interesting than Vulnavia who isn't really much of a character. Rigg has a fun thing going on where she's playing both sides, but Vulnavia has to settle for being little more than a prop. A very fashionable and intriguing prop, but a pretty inert character that we hear about more than we get to experience. The visuals were wonderful, Price was fantastic, and I'll definitely be catching the sequel, but I can't help but feel a bit disappointed by this one after it was built up for so long. Overall it was the more unique and well-constructed film compared with Theatre of Blood, but the inscrutability of Phibes and the lack of a human touch brings it down somewhat. 8/10
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Oct 8, 2020 19:39
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  Halloween III: Season of the Witch - rewatchWatched on the Scream Stream. Saw this for the Challenge last year and fell in love. It was a blast seeing it with a bunch of folks who weren't expecting the nutso moments and absolutely loving them. I can't imagine how much of a bummer it would be to watch this with someone who doesn't appreciate the particular brand of fun that is on display here. It may not be the best Halloween movie (key word: may) but it's certainly my favorite. It's just fun. Fun, fun, fun. Lots of inventive ideas, lots of great moments of gore, lots of Tom Atkins, lots of Halloween atmosphere, lots of weirdness. Sure, it probably isn't paced the best and yeah there may not be that much tension in the story but come on who cares when the film is this delightful? 10/10 Gremlins 2: 10/10, The Green Slime: 6/10, American Movie 10/10, Earth vs. The Spider 6/10, The Abominable Dr. Phibes: 8/10, Halloween III: 10/10
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Oct 10, 2020 14:17
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Everyone who hasn't seen Possession should really make it a goal this year.
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Oct 10, 2020 23:40
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 Child's Play (1988) - first time Oh wow. That was not what I thought it was going to be. It was way better. I guess it makes sense that a generic slasher probably isn't going to kick off a long-running franchise, but I was expecting a much more rote story based on the setup. But that notion went out the window as soon as Aunt Maggie did. The story goes off the rails in a very good way very quickly and never really settles into something expected. The pacing was wonderful, with the story having some serious momentum and not having a whole lot of boring slasher buildup like I was expecting. Chris Sarandon and Catherine Hicks both elevate their parts so incredibly well. Either could have been played by a lessor actor and had the role be functional but forgettable, but they really do some terrific work—Hicks especially. She brings a really impactful and emotional sense of vulnerability and strength to the role that sells her role and her motherly desperation. It's driving me crazy where I think I know her from, because I don't click with anything else on her IMDB. Maybe she reminds me really strongly of someone else, but who? (edit:  okay, it's 7th Heaven. I never watched it, but I think it played constantly on ABC Family during a time where I used to flip though channels enough to stick with me)But the effects were seamless in the best way, where I was constantly wondering how they pulled any given effects shot off but it not lingering long enough for me to be sure. Dourif does great work in live action, but his voice acting is really surprising and wonderfully dynamic. Chucky himself is just totally well-realized and such a terrific presence. Even the Voodoo stuff was handled well. Look, it's not going to win any cultural sensitivity awards but its depiction of Voodoo as a legitimate religion which was perverted by a twisted (white) mind felt better than the vast majority of depictions I've seen. It was touched on just enough that it didn't feel contrived and was fleeting enough that it didn't bog the story down and just added a cool additional element. Overall, every element of the film was better than it needed to be. Visually it wasn't super stylized but it was well shot and the editing was terrific. I didn't really notice the music, but in a good way that it just served the movie well. With the same script this easily could've been some cheap forgettable thing. Makes sense coming from Tom Holland who made Fright Night ooze so much charm, but as often happens when you see something that set off a long-running franchise (like Rocky and First Blood) now I get it. I was really expecting to give this a much lower rating going in, but: 9/10 Gremlins 2: 10/10, The Green Slime: 6/10, American Movie 10/10, Earth vs. The Spider 6/10, The Abominable Dr. Phibes: 8/10, Halloween III: 10/10, Child's Play 9/10 feedmyleg fucked around with this message at 13:39 on Oct 12, 2020 |
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Oct 12, 2020 04:04
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I wish I'd been able to watch more Scream Stream so far, y'all are making me jealous. I'm just so starved for human company this year that I have to jump at it any chance I get, and that's happened to line up with the Stream. But based on trying to hype the uninitiated up on Possession, I accidentally hyped myself up. So...  Possession - rewatch As others have pointed out, this is a tough one to review because it's just a singular masterpiece that I may never fully unpack. Neill and Adjani are just astounding. It' no wonder that they look back on their time making the film as arduous at best, because they are throwing their souls into the performances and creating something raw and very real. I'm not sure if being a child of divorce helps you connect with the film more, but it certainly evokes the emotionally wrenching nightmare that is watching a marriage fall apart into bitterness and despair. It perfectly captures the madness of being utterly and completely lovesick as your life is falling apart. Every new viewing just pulls back more layers for me. I never want to read someone else's thematic analysis of this film, because I want to peck and hunt and scratch in the dirt for meaning over a dozen or more viewings. I'm not sure if the film is entirely knowable, but there would be a disappointing magic if I found some grad student's essay that broke down in excruciating detail the bare answers to the thematic puzzle. But I doubt that's really possible because I'd probably start reading the essay and roll my eyes at their oversimplication. The thing that really gets me with Possession, performances, emotional content, and thematic richness aside, is that it balances all of those with also being incredibly engaging and fun. It's not some difficult to watch drama throughout, it's also a bizarro ___monster___ movie and has so many delightful, funny, and fascinating moments and characters. 11/10
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Oct 12, 2020 14:44
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Debbie Does Dagon posted:I've mentioned the director's commentary already, but it's worth listening to because Zulawski does exactly this, and it's the worst interpretation imaginable so it's eminently ignorable. The film according to Zulawski is about how women are awful and will drag you down to their level if you let them. He made the film after his divorce, and apparently the Sam Neil character is a self insert, with many of the conversations being based on real life conversations he had with his ex. Woof. Thank god for the death of the author.
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Oct 12, 2020 15:23
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Debbie Does Dagon posted:I don't really know where is appropriate to post this now that the Bracketology thread is closed, but I just want to say thank you to everyone for the incredibly sweet card. It really touched my heart, and brightened my day. Words can't express how much it means to me. You have me crying happy tears. You guys are the best, and I feel so lucky to be a part of such a wonderful and supportive community That's awesome and you deserve it! You've helped keep a lot of people sane during these dark times. Wish my schedule and mental state would've allowed me to participate more but so happy amazing stuff like this happens in our community.
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Oct 13, 2020 00:07
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Random Stranger posted:October 12 - Beware! the Blob I've been researching The Blob for a project and this whole movie is just a bummer of a production. The producer of the first movie, Jack Harris, never wanted to make a sequel to begin with, but then his son graduated film school and wanted to work with him on something and threw a Blob sequel out there as an idea. So Harris dusted off a spec script someone had written years before, let his kid rewrite it as a serious grounded film full of social commentary, and was searching for a director when his neighbor, Hagman, caught wind. He volunteered to direct saying that he could get all his famous pals to make cameos and Harris agreed because he wasn't really invested in the first place, then Hagman threw out the script and made an improvised movie on its basic skeleton for a lark. There was a Fangoria interview with the writer years later where he just sounded super bummed about it. No clue why Harris would've thrown his own kid under the bus like that, because he never got to write anything again. Who knows if it would've been good, but it certainly would've been better.
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Oct 13, 2020 04:34
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Can confirm, Jennifer’s Body rules. I was turned off by the marketing at the time but adored it when I finally saw it. I wish the 2000s had been a decade of that sort of thing rather than the films it was riffing on.
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Oct 13, 2020 15:00
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| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 15:01 |
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Kvlt! posted:can the Blob count towards challenge 4 as clearly the inventors of the technology (jello) had no idea it would turn into a sinister creature The silicone used in the blob actually was a futuristic technology at the time. The breast implant was in its nascent stages and the same formula was used in The Blob. Also the red dye in it was made by 3M directly for the film. So. I mean. Kinda!
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Oct 14, 2020 01:14
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