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I actually ended up voting for Saw. It was tough but in the end Saw is just a really fun memory for me because I saw it on opening weekend and the whole theater was pretty blown away by it.
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Apr 2, 2025 14:09
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FYI my power is out so I don’t know when I’ll get Bracketology updated. Good news is next week is Spring Break so if the power stays out past today we can extend the week without any problem. But we’ll see. Sorry for the delay and stay safe if you’re in the storms.
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Apr 2, 2025 19:03
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Bracketology will happen today. I’m sorry it didn’t happen yesterday. I got power back in the afternoon but it was a busy day to begin with and then I had so much I had to catch up on and do and I ended up just passing out. I feel guilty and I’m sorry but again the good news is next week is an off week so we can just do 7 days anyway and not mess anything up.
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Apr 3, 2025 17:17
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No need to apologize man, poo poo happens and you doing this for this many years is a gift for us participating.
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Apr 3, 2025 18:01
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Finally! I'm really sorry for the delay guys but as contrition this week's matchup will stay open an extra day... or two? I can't keep track guys. I'm sorry. I hope I didn't screw up.  Wes Craven’s chase to repeat comes to an end as Vampire in Brooklyn falls to A Florida Enchantment. And since Wes now only has 5 films left it also brings an end to his 6 year run as a solo competitor in Bracketology. The end of a legend. But for The Forgotten Heroes of Garbage it puts 2 of their teams into the Sweet Sixteen, one from both conferences so far and I specifically split the 4 teams into 4 conferences so this could be a run. But we’ll have to wait for that. Joining them will be Teamisidious as SAW had enough in the tank to take Jack Hill and Blood Bath out. Not a good week for solo directors but that’s how it goes. So lets FINALLY see what we have for the last matchup of the Demons and Dolls conference. 2. Ishiro Honda’s Matango vs. 7. (Weapon X’s Acolytes of Corman) Monte Hellman’s Beast from Haunted Cave  I gotta admit, for a long time now based on the poster and the title of Matango I was under the impression it was like a really racist film given its similarity to a very old school slur, so imagine my surprise to find out its like a deep people drama with mushroom monsters or something. I dunno. Anyway we’re running out of big name solo directors and while I’d have to fix up my stats spreadsheet to be sure I think Honda might be the veteran standing with the most movies in Bracketology. Maybe. So he’s gonna still be trying to drive to that big win but its the Acolytes of Corman looking to join their mentor in the Sweet Sixteen. But while Terminator last week was a pretty massive blow from a highly successful director’s debut we get a different kind of that here with Beast from Haunted Cave. I’ve never seen it (or any Hellman film) but my impression is this is gonna be one of those Corman films that was made on the left over budget of a bigger production as some elaborate insurance scam or something from Corman. And those tend to be… something. But Matango is also early in Honda’s career before the Godzilla and Kaiju thing really took off. So who knows? We might have an upset here or we might have a win for the monster master. Guess we’ll find out. Matango is available for streaming on The Internet Archive Beast from Haunted Cave is available for streaming on Amazon Prime, ARROW, Cineverse, Cultpix, DistroTV, Fandor , FlixFling, FlixHouse, fuboTV, Hoopla, MGM Plus, Midnight Pulp, Philo, Plex, Pluto TV, Screambox, Shout! Factory TV, and finally Tubi. 3. (mbd’s Mostly Japanese Ghost Cats) Bin Kato’s The Ghost Cat of Ouma Crossing vs. 6. Lucio Fulci’s Ænigma  More Ghost Cats. Have I mentioned how in retrospect clearly this conference should have been named Cats and Kaiju since we’ve had like no Demons or Dolls? Oh well. This is a film I was supposed to watch in October so I’m getting a second chance and Mostly Japanese Ghost Cats is looking to get a second win to make it into the Sweet Sixteen (and I think farther than any HalloweeNIT winner has gotten). He’s gotta take down a heavyweight in Fulci though but heavyweights have been falling and Fulci’s had a mixed run in Bracketology. And he’s got another Fulci film. To be honest I’m either super sleep deprived or this is a super weird film because none of the reviews I read made any sense to me. I even saw this film and I can’t remember a thing about it. But right now I can barely remember where I am. I’m really just talking to make this paragraph look big enough to seem like I didn’t mail it in. Long enough? The Ghost Cat of Ouma Crossing is available for streaming on The Internet Archive Ænigma is available for streaming on AMC+, Cineverse, Midnight Pulp, Night Flight Plus, Philo, Plex, Screambox, Shudder, The Roku Channel, Troma NOW, and Tubi. That’s our week. I’m sorry once again for the delay but at least we’re getting a full week and a shorter break before the next round. Guess I better get on that. God I’m tired. As always the goal is to just have fun and watch what you want. We try and make sure every film is reasonably available, some are a little harder to find than others and not everyone has the right streaming services so if you need help finding any of the films ask and help might be right around the corner. I don’t know. But we’ll try. You can vote in this round until 12 noon EST April 11th (or when I get to it) Next Week! Spring Break! Spreadsheet Letterboxd List
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Apr 4, 2025 03:48
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And apparently I did screw up because Jack Hill beat Teamisidious. I'm sorry guys. My brain is fried. I'm so exhausted.
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Apr 4, 2025 03:53
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I’ve seen Matango and Beast from Haunted Cave already. Easy vote for Matango, which is a legit good serious horror movie, whereas Beast is junk that doesn’t have much to do with the rest of Hellman’s filmography (except Silent Night, Deadly Night 3, I guess). I’m excited about seeing The Ghost Cat of Ouma Crossing as it’s one of the very few horror movies made pre-1961 that I haven’t seen, and I generally like Japanese horror movies of this vintage. Aenigma has a pretty bad average rating on Letterboxd, but the people I follow are more positive about it and sub-3.0 averages don’t necessarily mean anything. OTOH, this is later Fulci and I really didn’t like Cat in the Brain, so it’s an unknown to me. I could go either way on this matchup.
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Apr 4, 2025 13:07
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Aenigma is pretty good, but i think my cat movie can beat it. Both very different movies so i feel like it depends very much on who ends up voting in the first place.
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Apr 6, 2025 00:46
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Voting for Matango and The Ghost Cat of Ouma Crossing. Junk is sometimes great, but I thought Beast from Haunted Cave was a slog also. And Ghost Cat over Aenigma is really an era/country of production preference thing for me.
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Apr 7, 2025 14:15
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Its Monday! But Monday isn't really Monday this week since I screwed up this week. So instead of you having like 38 hours to watch movies and vote you actually have like... 84? I dunno. Its a long time. I guess I'll see you again on Wednesday. But its Monday. Hope its a better one for you than for me. You can vote in this round until 12 noon EST April 11th (or when I get to it) Next Week! Spring Break!
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Apr 8, 2025 03:15
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It’s Wednesday. Or was. Long day. Normally I’d be apologizing for a late update but since I was late at the last update instead im telling you there’s still about 36 hours to watch and vote in this week. Then a brief Spring Break before we start the next batch of matchups.
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Apr 10, 2025 05:56
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  We have TWO TIES! A super low voter turnout, perhaps fueled by the screwy schedule and my delays, means everyone advances this round! That makes the Sweet Sixteen the Sweet Twenty? And it means this will be a FOUR WAY CONTEST! 2. Ishirō Honda vs. 3. Mostly Japanese Ghost Cats vs. 6. Lucio Fulci vs. 7. Acolytes of Corman! Its absolute chaos and I'm dreading it already but that's a problem for me post Summer Vacay. And that's it. I have nothing else for you this week because its Spring Break. the delays mean it will be a short break. Really a long weekend. But hopefully it will be enough for me to get my poo poo together and get us back on proper schedule. So I plan to see you Wednesday with a new batch of directors, teams, movies, and matchups. A quick preview of what's in store?  And hey I guess I have a little more for you. Here's the final movie count of the incorrectly named Demons and Dolls Conference and its stats courtesy of letterboxd. https://boxd.it/EqYCM    Ok that's it. I'll see you next week. Stay safe and I promise to do my best to get my poo poo together. Next Week! 15 Seed Play In: Empire International Pictures All-Stars vs. Koreans Gone Global 16 Seed Play In: Yas Queen vs. Freddy's Nightmares Spreadsheet Letterboxd List
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Apr 11, 2025 19:09
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Yay! Everybody's a winner!
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Apr 12, 2025 13:16
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Except the guy who gets to prepare a four way contest in a few months. Pity that fool whoever he is.
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Apr 12, 2025 16:58
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Poor Parsifal. We appreciate the sacrifice.
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Apr 12, 2025 17:35
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Ok, folks, I’m starting this one early since we’re not waiting for a vote and I wanna take my birthday off! So lets see what we got! Monsters and Dollhouse 15 Seed Play In: (Weapon X’s Empire International Pictures All-Stars) George Pavlou’s Rawhead Rex vs. (Kangra’s Koreans Gone Global) Park Chan-wook’s Stoker  We kick off the Monsters and Dollhouse conference with the first of two play ins and a pair of cult classics? That’s how I think I’d categorize these two? And two films from some big names. And by that I mean Park and Clive Barker. Not George Pavlou and Wentworth Miller. Nice guys I’m sure. Maybe. Who knows? Anyway. For Park he’s picked up a couple of Bracketology wins in the past. I think. I still haven’t fixed the Director records sheet. But this is his American film that maybe doesn’t have the same following his other films have but certainly seemed to always have a lot of buzz that got me to watch despite my misgivings. Rawhead Rex is also a movie I’ve always heard a lot of buzz about although in its case my misgivings have won out so far. So I guess its not just a battle of cult classics and big names but also of films that sketch Goat out. And those are usually hits here. But which will win out? Rawhead Rex is available for streaming on AMC+, Shudder, Kino, and Philo. Stoker is out there and a shady link is available upon request. Monsters and Dollhouse 16 Seed Play In: (Goat’s Yas Queen) Lucky McKee’s May vs. (Weapon X’s Freddy's Nightmares) Rachel Talalay’s Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare  May is our third cult classic of the week I’d say? Maybe of a different vibe or audience as the others? But I think its probably the film that most people who have heard of Lucky McKee would associate with him. And a movie that probably should have made Angela Bettis a star if you ask me. And across from it is… not really a cult classic. I’m not really sure what Freddy’s Dead is. To some its the absolute low of Freddy’s journey into quippy cartoon but for others I think its just the natural evolution of a wild and fun journey. The truth is I go back and forth myself and I love the Elm Street franchise. But how you feel about Freddy’s Dead probably has something to do with how you feel about Freddy and the franchise. Or maybe its just dumb and corny and I like corny? I don’t know. I think I’m probably voting for May because I’m pretty sure its the objectively better film. But I’m also probably gonna rewatch Freddy’s Dead and I might just have too good a time not to vote for it. I dunno. Sequel Alert: Freddy’s Dead is of course a sequel to Nightmare on Elm Street. To be exact its the 6th of 7 Freddy films. Or 8. Or 9. The truth is the Elm Street films are both canonically connected and also a little messy. 2 is kind of its own thing, 7 is a meta other thing entirely, 1. 3. and 7 are kind of their own story. 3, 4, and 5 are kind of their own story. Its messy. Freddy’s Dead is actually arguably probably the least connected and you could probably just watch it without even seeing the first film. Should you? I’d say no. But its your time. May is available for streaming on Amazon Prime, Fandango, Fawsome, Fubo, Pluto, and Roku. Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare is out there and a shady link is available upon request. That’s our week. An interesting lineup I’d say and a pretty good set of movies for four play in teams. I hope everyone enjoys. And I’ll try not to use me being early this week as an excuse to be late next week. As always the goal is to just have fun and watch what you want. We try and make sure every film is reasonably available, some are a little harder to find than others and not everyone has the right streaming services so if you need help finding any of the films ask and help might be right around the corner. I don’t know. But we’ll try. You can vote in this round until 12 noon EST April 23rd (or when I get to it) Next Week! 4. The Magical Muppet Wizardry of Jim Henson and Friends vs. 13. Jack Sholder 5. Team Gems from the Video Store vs. 12. The Forgotten Heroes of Garbage: Europe Spreadsheet Letterboxd List STAC Goat fucked around with this message at 04:57 on Apr 16, 2025 |
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Apr 16, 2025 04:55
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Oh wow this is a fun week. I've been meaning to rewatch Rawhead Rex, and Freddy's Dead is pretty wild for a big franchise horror movie. Also, a nice looking new blu ray was just announced for May, for those who like the movie but had been disappointed that it never got a release.
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Apr 16, 2025 14:20
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Stoker is extremely underrated both in general and within Park Chan-wook's canon, imo. That said, Rawhead Rex is Rawhead Rex. Freddy's Dead is also kinda underrated imo in that it's... insane. Also it's one of the few (only?) major slasher franchise entries directed by a woman! That said, May is one of the best horror movies of the '00s. Good matchups.
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Apr 16, 2025 16:39
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