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31 Days of Horror 5 |OT| The October Movie Marathon

Snake said:
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#7: The Visit (2015)

I don't usually watch horror films in the theater. Give me a solitary experience late at night in a dark room anytime. But I had a free pass to this and had heard a few good things so I gave it a shot. First things first, It's easily Shyamalan's best film in thirteen years. And it's probably the Shyamalan film with which I've had the least reservations by the end of its runtime. That's not to say it's flawless because it absolutely isn't. It also probably won't appeal to a lot of people, but for the first time in a long time with M-Dog, that'll be their problem and not his.

To be clear, The Visit is a horror-comedy, and it succeeds on both sides of its categorization. Shyamalan has seemed to struggle with finding the right tone in his films for some time, and this time he gets it right. I have no doubt that, among its principal actors, many people will be annoyed by the boy. But honestly I thought the young actors were pretty amazing. I was even more impressed when I found out after coming home that they are both actually
Australian! Never would have guessed.

The Visit isn't exactly subtle with its main themes, but Shyamalan and his actors utilize them effectively. If Lady In The Water was Shyamalan at his peak self-satisfaction, then The Visit feels almost like an apology for his missteps. Many of the tropes he has abused and rendered obnoxious over the last decade+ are explored but then deliberately undercut.

I've read several impressions today saying "M. Knight is back," but I'm not sure that's the case. It wouldn't surprise me if he disappoints in his next outing, but I'll give a little credit where it's due this time around.

7 movie theater hot dogs out of 10.
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I saw the movie yesterday and think it is very good. Wondered about the negative reviews.
 
31 Days of Horror
Pre-31 Days of Horror 1 - Behind the Mask
Pre-31 Days of Horror 2 - Unfriended
Day 1 - The Hills Have Eyes (2006)
Day 2 - The Thing (1982)
Day 3 - The Cabinet of Dr. Calagari
Day 3 Double Feature - Dead Silence
Day 4 - Black Death
Day 5 - Maniac Cop

Maniac Cop
I've had this one on my mega list for some time and decided to fit it in this year's list. I can't say that I was pleased with it as much as I wanted to be. Two of my favorite horror movie actors, Campbell and Atkins, in a film together should have been great, but this we mediocre at best. Their performances were pretty decent, but they alone couldn't save the awful story and terrible pacing. Pacing was just horrible in the first half of the movie but definitely picks up in the latter.

I just feel that this film could have been much more if the story wasn't shit and they had better kills. Anyways, I still recommend checking the film out even with all it's faults because it stars two amazing horror icons.

Rating: Watch
 
2. Stagefright

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"Don't just stand there, KILL HER!"

Film #2 was originally supposed to be Mario Bava's Black Sabbath, which I had been looking forward to for a while now as I love a good anthology flick. However, I quickly realized after I started viewing the film that the story was out of order from what I had previously read. Low and behold, there is an American version and an international version. The differences between them was already covered on this page, so needless to say, I decided to postpone my viewing until I could watch the version intended by the director. This left me in a predicament where I still needed a movie to watch. Fortunately, I had finally received my new copy of Stagefright that I had ordered a month before. Even though I had just watched it a couple of October's ago I figured why not.

Stagefright was one of the first few Italian horror's I had seen up to that point. Since then I've decided to fill this month full of them. I really enjoyed the film when I first saw it but I am happy to say that it gets better on repeat viewings. From the same director who brought us Cemetery Man (which is really hard to get ahold of), Michele Soavi knows how to present a visual flair with his violent imagery. He's one of those directors that can take a subject matter that is so disturbing and horrific, and is able to make something beautiful out of it. He also knows how to make films that are a lot of fun. I was first drawn to Stagefright when I saw a picture of the killer in the owl get-up. I figured that this film must be completely outrageous, and while that is true to some extent it is also filled with many moments of tension and scares. In between bouts of brutal violence there are plenty of hilarious moments to be found. This leads to a fantastic climax with imagery so striking I wouldn't dare spoil it for anyone. If you are unsure about Italian horror, I believe Stagefright should work for you.

Spoilers for ending:
I do feel that the very last scene where she re-enters the building with the security guard feels a bit tacked-on and unnecessary. It's not enough to take away from the film though.

9/10

3. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

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This is a film that has been on my watch list for years, and for some reason I never got around to it. I do remember that the ending was spoiled for me a couple of years ago when I watched the Maniac remake (might be wrong there), and that probably put me off on watching it at that point. Luckily, I forgot what the ending was except for the fact that there is a twist. We've seen this kind of twist many times since this film was made, but it's interesting to see one of the first of its kind to employ this type of storytelling technique. I'm not sure what else I can add when talking about the films expressionist visual style. It is simply gorgeous. The design of film even finds its way to the intertitles of text showing how much attention to detail the crew paid attention to. Most silent film actors usually overact in my experience, but I have to mention that Conrad Veigt provided a performance that wouldn't be out of place in film since 1920. He conveys much with his eyes, and his unveiling scene was so unnerving at the time when this film was released, that audience members passed out. I did find that film dragged a bit in the middle, this doesn't last for long though as the film quickly moves to the ending. The short runtime also helps in this regard. All in all I'm glad I am finally able to remove this one from my horror bucket list. Any fan of the genre should check it out, much of horror's heritage can be traced back to films like this and Nosferatu.

7/10
 
Already two movies behind but I'll catch up!!!


#2 Insidious: Chapter 3 (2015)
This was not a good nor interesting horror movie. Cliché'd, random, a couple of jump scares but not much of mood and atmosphere. You can now headbutt demons.

Insidious_&


#3 The Prophecy (1995)
This was also not a good movie, but an interesting one, about a ongoing war in heaven with some human dark souls at stake, to be honest the mechanics weren't all that clear to me, and the special effects and art direction are 90s dated (which is not a good kind of dated), but Eric Stoltz, Viggo Mortensen and Christopher Walken helped me through this.

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Akahige said:
[REC] is excellent, one of my all time favorites of the horror genre.

I heard good things about As Above, So Below but I haven't seen it myself.

*edit beaten on Rec, should have refreshed but still the people have spoken.
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I did not think much of As Above, So Below. A decent premise and a creepy first 2/3 or so, but the ending is really fucking weak. Also dips into obvious CGI monster territory a little, which totally took me out of the experience.
 
#5 - The Fog
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After talking here about Tom Atkins, the national treasure, I decided to give this one a go. Unfortunately, I couldn't really get into it. Tom was great, of course, but Jamie Lee Curtis was wasted in this role. All she did was hang on Tom's arm for the entire movie. For a movie about a mysterious/killer fog rolling through, I thought that the tension was pretty weak. The location shots were beautiful, and I think there's a lot of potential in the premise, but this one didn't do it for me.
 
October 5:
Hausu (1977) - This gif from the movie explains best what my head was thinking while viewing it:
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I didn't get the film but at least I wasn't bored by it, very strange watch.

I think I may be done with haunted house films for awhile.
Cipher Peon said:
I thought [REC] was mediocre but I LOVE [REC] 2. Thought it was an improvement in every way and I watch it every now and then. And considering I almost never rewatch movies, that's saying a lot.
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Really, it's not that different from the first, I guess it's a more action fueled take on the first.

They fuck with the origins of outbreak a little too much for my liking that doesn't it ascend to great horror sequel territory.
 
House of Wax (1953)
I do love me some Vincent Price. Watching the Cinemassacre review for this not too long ago, I kind of agree with James' conclusion that the movie really peaks in the first 20 minutes with Price's partner burning down the wax museum, the fist fight, and then
Price getting revenge by killing his partner and hanging him down an elevator shaft
. Everything after that doesn't feel as earned; I kinda they had just taken that first 20 minutes and blown it out into its own 90 minute story. That said, Price still kills it for the rest of the film, and has the equal parts charming and menacing balance down cold. Funny to see a very young Charles Bronson here as Price's mute assistant, Igor.

The shit-flying-at-you 3D here is pretty unnoticeable, except for these two bizarre scenes in the middle of some random guy playing paddle ball in front a crowd. It's just to show these balls leaping off the screen at the audience -- who the guy sometimes breaks the 4th wall to address -- and have literally nothing to do with the movie. The very last shot is also some weird, blatant 3D grab with what I think is supposed to be a joke that doesn't work at all. Other than these weird occurrences, you'd never know this movie used to be a big 3D stunt.
 
TheSlySoul said:
For people struggling to find films, Kotaku published a list of 31 movies if you want to just use that: http://kotaku.com/31-movies-for-horror-newcomers-1734791155
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I think that's a pretty great list for someone just starting out and wondering where to look. Although Halloween should absolutely be on that list. But Patrick Klepek knows his shit when it comes to horror.

#6 - The Devil's Rejects
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This is a re-watch, but I haven't seen it since it was out in theaters way back when. I didn't like it near as much as I hoped to when I first saw it. Partly because House of 1000 Corpses is one of my favorite horror movies, and partly because of the tonal shift. But after watching it again tonight, I found that I actually like it a lot. I think it is a more well-crafted movie than House, but it's not a better horror movie, and I still like House better overall. When I think of the Firefly family, I'd prefer to associate them with the terror they caused in House of 1000 Corpses. The motel scene in Devil's Rejects was extremely tense, but it wasn't terrifying. I'm also not sure how I feel about the music. I know why it's there, and I can't really think of anything more appropriate, but it seemed too much to be going for a "we are doing a Texas outlaw movie, only way more fucked up" vibe. Doubly so for Lynard Skynard at the end. Again, appropriate, but I much prefer those characters as terrifying minions of Dr. Satan.

That said, Bill Mosely and Sid Haig are awesome. I love their characters so much, despite my reservations on how they were used. Although, and I hope this doesn't ruin things for others, but Otis reminded me so much of Will Forte's character in Last Man on Earth. Watch it again and tell me you don't see it!
 
Movie #1: Chakushin ari a.k.a. One Missed Call (2003) - 3/5 Stars
Movie #2: Cropsey (2009) - 3.5/5 Stars
Movie #3: Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) - 4.5/5 Stars
Movie #4: Starry Eyes (2014) - 3.5/5 Stars
Movie #5: Ôdishon a.k.a. Audition (1999) - 4/5 Stars
Movie #6: Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (2010) - 2.5/5 Stars
Movie #7: Haunter (2013) - 4/5 Stars

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Movie #8: The Den (2013)

The Den is a found footage film about a young woman doing a study on a Chatroulette like application called The Den. Like Unfriended (which came afterwards), the entire movie takes place on a computer, showing this woman doing various video chats to tell the story. Personally, I enjoy found footage films, when done well, and this is done pretty well. Though it does require the viewer to get over the whole “why are you filming everything?” stuff.

But as I said, I enjoy these films and The Den is pretty effective. The movie starts simple enough, with the girl pitching her study to her professors and waiting for the OK. The computer simulation is fairly well done, but unlike friended only uses a couple of real-life application. She’s on a Mac (no surprise there) and uses gmail, but they didn’t get the licenses for Chatroulette or YouTube, which is a shame as the fakes take you out of the reality setting they’re going for. Anyways, as she roulette’s past the dicks (full frontal male nudity, how progressive), she stumbles upon a girl that gets murdered live on camera. What follows is her being hacked and targeted by a maniac, who also goes after her friends and sister.

All in all, if you enjoy found footage films, you’ll enjoy this. I liked it better than Unfriended, given how this doesn’t have a supernatural element to the killer and thus making it easier to “believe.” It definitely has a nice atmosphere and some good suspense moments. The main actress does a pretty great job, considering she’s mostly just talking into a webcam, which couldn’t have been easy.

So in the end, a solid 3 unsollicited dickvideos out of 5 for this one.
 
matt360 said:
I think that's a pretty great list for someone just starting out and wondering where to look. Although Halloween should absolutely be on that list. But Patrick Klepek knows his shit when it comes to horror.
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Yeah, you can replace The Blair Witch Project with Halloween to make it better. Paranormal Activity is enough to start the found footage trend.
 
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#04 - Jennifer's Body (2009)
I mean, it has some clever dialogue from time to time and the female leads are both attractive, but other than that this movie doesn't have a lot going for it. That said, it was enjoyable in a bad B-movie kind of way. Never scary and never funny, but luckily also never boring. Better than expected. 6/10
 
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#05 - Horror of Dracula (1958)
Incredibly atmospheric take on a classic tale of Dracula featuring lovely Gothic sets/locations, moody lighting, great costumes and passionate performances from the entire cast. Of course I cannot go without mentioning Christopher Lee's performance as Count Dracula himself; He dominates all scenes he's in with his ominous yet charming demeanor. 7.5/10
 
Akahige said:
October 5:
Hausu (1977) - This gif from the movie explains best what my head was thinking while viewing it:

I didn't get the film but at least I wasn't bored by it, very strange watch.
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Dat piano scene, tho.

I watched the following last weekend:

1. Creep
Loved this one, though I'm a sucker for found footage and/or faux documentary horror movies. 5/5 for me.

2. The House at the End of Time
This one started off kinda rough, with the atmosphere abruptly veering between creepy and Disney-esque. However, once the film starts doing its thing it gets pretty good, and I've only seen the trick it pulls done better by
Timecrimes
.
Score edit: 3.5/5
 
#12 - The Blob (1958)

Cheesy and entertaining, but it suffers a bit from some weird pacing and slow moments that make it drag at times. They probably could have shaved ten minutes off of the runtime and made a tighter movie. Plus the characters generally weren't convincing, both in terms of writing and acting. It has a decently tense finale for its time, though. Definitely a weaker movie than Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the popularity of which I assume it was riding, but enjoyable nonetheless.


#13 - The Thing from Another World

A very mixed bag.
The good: A mostly smart script, some decent tension throughout, a sick theremin soundtrack, hugely influential on almost every sci-fi film that came after it.
The bad: Useless women characters, which was sadly par for the course back then; Nikki serves only as a love interest and nothing more. Dr. Carrington is a complete idiot and is thoroughly unconvincing as such. The characters maintain a strange degree of levity throughout the film despite their dire circumstances. And of course, the Thing itself is pretty goofy and succumbs to the usual "human alien" problem.
Carpenter's version was an improvement in every way, but it's not a bad movie by any means.
 
5. Creature From The Black Lagoon (1954)
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I can't believe it's taken me so long to finally see this. I thought it was very entertaining, and the costume was exquisitely done for the time the film took place. The underwater scenes were impressive, and the cast was varied enough to keep them interesting. 7/10

6. Masque of Red Death (1954)
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I still can't think of a Vincent Price film I've yet to see that would be considered bad. Here's another one where he just owns every scene. This is also quite a good Roger Corman film, and the sets are beautiful. 7/10.
 
Aaaand my first update :)
I'm gonna glance over the rewatches this year as I've already written about them at length prior, so here goes:

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Oct.1 - Rocky Horror Picture Show

Classic that I only discovered a few years back actually. Watch it every Oct 1st and haven't stopped yet. Seeing Tim Curry made me sad though given his current physical condition. Movie has an insane pace up until Eddie dies[/spoiler], then it mellows out which, I know may be turn off some (I felt this way for a while myself).

9/10

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Oct.2 - Alien

What really stood out to me this time watching Alien is how fucking fantastic the first hour or so is. The dialog/performances come off as so natural and you immediately buy into this world and these people who've been busting their asses in it. Still an undisputed classic. Getting ready to play Alien Isolation to celebrate :)

10/10

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Oct.3 - REC 4

Oh boy, this was the first film I fell asleep to. Granted I had a drink but still, this was pretty damn disappointing considering it's prior entries. I was one of those weirdos who even loved REC3 but this... this just felt  completely pointless and is a poor send off for the series.

3/10

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Oct.4 - Scream

In honor of Wes Craven, though I only half watched it with my wife as we've seen it more times than we can count. Endearing as always though I found myself getting really annoyed by Matthew Lillard's performance for whatever reason (probably because it's just him being Matthew Lillard ultimately). Also, the dated ass technology was fun as hell to noticed this time around.

8.5/10

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Oct.5 - It Follows

This shit was guuuuuuuuuuuuud (^____^)

With spoiling anything, if you haven't, just go in blind and enjoy the ride. It's a bit slow at times, but it's a good slow burn that builds the tension... and when there is tension, NOOOOOPE!
Also, wonderful looking film with a solid as hell soundtrack. Highly recommended!

8.5/10
 
8. Amer (2009): I don't get it. This was too weird to be scary because most of the time I was wondering what the hell is going on. The only scary part was the old lady in black at the beginning, but old ladies are my horror movie kryptonite. They are always terrifying. My best guess is that this movie is some kind of insanity/sexual awakening thing, but I don't know, man. I just don't know.
 
It is a hyper stylized ode to the giallo, obviously ;) Just don't try to make any sense of the actual plot and enjoy the imagery. That is what I did.
 
Day 3: The Mist (2007)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhCKXJNGzN8

The Mist is based on a Stephen King short story about a group of shoppers who are trapped within a grocery shop, surrounded by a deadly mist. Directed by Frank Darabont who has done fantastic work on Shawshank Redemption, Green Mile and The Walking Dead, the film is, as expected, a very character-driven piece of work.

The story is a bit sub-standard in the sense that nothing really is explained about the mist but you get interested in the different characters' motivations and the 'what will they do' situations they get into. Most of the characters play a pretty straight-faced role, with only the main character being the only one really developed.

It's a monster movie with a B-movie atmosphere to it, which is quite fun at times, but not really scary but the ending is the most controversial part of the film. I can't decide whether I like it or not but it's one of those, 'what would you do' moments.

Overall, 7/10

Day 4: The Midnight Meat Train (2008)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHvnWuQQidg

A gory thriller starring Bradley Cooper and Vinnie Jones. Basically, Vinnie Jones kills people who decide to take the last train home and Bradley Cooper gets involved in these grisly murders.

Good special effects but half the movie is pretty boring when it doesn't involve the train scenes. There's a very loose plot but this movie is really about the gore and trying to see if the story justifies the action, and unfortunately, the ending just doesn't make any sense.. at al! Like seriously, what's going on?

Overall, 5/10, horrible horrible ending.

Day 5: They Live (1988)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJC4R1uXDaE

Surprisingly never watched this classic, and what a treat! It's an alien film but very deep social messages about conformity, social divide and consumerism. Essentially a film about Rowdy Piper (RIP) finding aliens when he puts on some special sunglasses. There are so many great moments in the film, it's hard not to like it. My fave bit involves the first scenes when he first puts on the glasses.

It's tongue in cheek humour is delightful and a great film from start to finish, a John Carpenter classic in it's own right.

Overall 9/10, really fun, not scary at all so I recommend watching this movie to everyone
 
flipping_heck said:
They Live (1988)

It's tongue in cheek humour is delightful and a great film from start to finish, a John Carpenter classic in it's own right.
Overall 9/10, really fun, not scary at all so I recommend watching this movie for everyone
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I take these glasses off, she looks like a regular person. Put 'em back on…formaldehyde-face!

OBEY

Super fun movie.
 
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#5. Sleepaway Camp (1983)

It was a meh slasher movie. The cop had cool mustache. The ending was ok. The film had a promising start but I guess that camp life just wasn't for me.

5/10

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#6. Curtains (1983)

Six actresses travel to a mansion to audition for a movie and terrible things happen. The film lacked tension, there wasn't any gore and the "whodunnit" aspect didn't work for me. The beginning of the film reminded me of Samuel Fuller's Shock Corrdor, which was intriguing, but the film didn't do anything particularly interesting with that storyline.
The soundtrack was straight out of Matlock, suspenseful oboe and all.

4/10
 
4. 30 Days of Night (2007)
[Or, Learning to speak vampire via subtitles]
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What's scarier than super powered vampires? There has to be something special about drinking the blood of your enemies. I might pick it up. This movie starts off building up some great suspense and even makes me want to know more about the characters. The dynamic between the leading lady and man is one that makes me happy I won't have to suffer through some forced romance at some point. The action is much like Terra Formars, an anime that came out last year. The power levels between humans and vampires are ridiculously unbalanced. The only part I didn't really understand was
why the vampires, who seemed to not be bothered by the cold, were always inside during a snow storm.
Otherwise it was a decent movie. I'm not a huge fan of vampires, but the unrefined blood addicted vampire is my favorite type.

I'd give it 3 snapped back heads out of 5.

5. Nightmare on Elmstreet 2: Freddie's Revenge (1985)
[Or, The most powerful special needs villain returns]
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Spoiler alert! The reason Fred Kruger wears a hat is revealed in this telling sequel. It's because he lacks any bones in his head. He peels back the skin on his head to reveal his unprotected brain. It's obvious that this guy isn't playing with a full deck of cards. Clearly he preyed on children when he was alive because they were the only ones he felt superior to. The scare tactics he uses on the children of Elm street this time around oscillate between childish pranks and murderous rage.
One minute he'll be stabbing a guy through the chest, and the next minute he'll be opening everyone's beer and flash cooking hot dogs.
Over all I liked this movie better than the last one. The idea that a guy is possessed and is killing people is much better than just dying in your dreams. As a side note, the 80s were setting insanely high expectations for what teens looked like. Sure, they were a bit ugly in the face but every guy had a six pack under their shirt. It's a bid odd to see a horror movie where it's more focused on showing off a guy rather than a girl.

This movie gets 4 exploding hot dogs out of 5.
 
7 – The Children

”Did you ever hear of contraception?”

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The Children is the dark and unsettling tale of a New Year’s Eve family reunion which goes horribly wrong when the four young kids in the group come down with an illness that causes them to turn violent towards the adults.

As the children change from sweet to bratty to something much more sinister, it is left to solitary teenager Casey (excellently portrayed by Hannah Tointon) to convince the disbelieving parents that their lovely little darlings really have gone over to the dark side.

Verdict: Occasionally gory, always gripping and definitely recommended.
 
6. Bram Stoker's Dracula (watched this afternoon) - I really enjoy watching this movie and make it a point to try and watch it every couple of years. This movie is imo the best adaptation of Bram Stoker's classic gothic horror novel and Anthony Hopkins is an absolute scene stealer as the eccentric Abraham Van Helsing.

So to recap I've (so far) watched:
1. The Monster Squad (10/1) - loved it
2. Alien Resurrection (10/2) - one of those guilty pleasure movies for me
3. It Follows (10/3) - more like "It Disappoints", way too overhyped
4. Fright Night 2: The New Blood (10/4) - craptastically pointless don't bother watching
5. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (10/5) - Good, but honestly seeing it once was more than enough for me
6.Bram Stoker's Dracula (10/6) - loved it

Up next: Tremors 5: Bloodlines (via Netflix) - didn't care for the last 2 Tremor's movies (3 & 4) so I'll be a bit happy if this one is semi decent. Plus there is a small chance that Jamie Kennedy will get done in by an @$$blaster blast:P
 
Hey horror fans, don't want to be too off-topic, but has anyone seen Green Inferno - if so, how is it? I want to make this one of my October horror movies.
 
TheChewyWaffles said:
Hey horror fans, don't want to be too off-topic, but has anyone seen Green Inferno - if so, how is it? I want to make this one of my October horror movies.
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Laughable. Gory as hell but comical. Still 50/50 on whether I actually liked it or just had a good time laughing at it.
 
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05) Tales from the Crypt (1972) (Oct 5)

My first of 3 planned anthology movies this month, I don't think Tales from the Crypt needs much of an introduction. It's a collection of 5 segments linked together by a group meeting with the Crypt Keeper after getting separated from a tour while visiting a catacomb. In typical Crypt fashion, all stories feature terrible people getting their comeuppance.

Since the segments range in quality, I'll give a brief thought on each and then my final opinion of the film.

...And All Through the House - There isn't really much to say about this one. It's incredibly basic and the end cuts off prematurely, leaving you feeling robbed of what you were waiting to see.

Reflection of Death - Another basic one, but out of the 5 I'd say this was my favourite simply because it was the most creatively handled.

Poetic Justice - Probably the most fleshed out of all the segments, it has a cute ending but Peter Cushing gives a performance that's actually too good and just makes the whole thing depressing and heartbreaking.

Wish You Were Here - A fun little take on The Monkey's Paw, but greatly suffers from lack of details. Other than a line about selling guns to a shop in China, there isn't anything that makes the characters seem evil. It's also not explained how (ending spoilers)
if the man is now immortal, why he is in hell at the end of the movie. He should techincally still be alive
. I suppose the selling of guns is supposed to lead you to believe the couple are war profiteers and you could probably link together a solution to the plot hole I spoiler tagged, but they're really leaving a lot for the viewer to fill in with their own imagination and assumptions.

Blind Alleys - This one is dangerously close to being too depressing to be fun as well, thankfully the nutty ending saves it. It's almost like a Saw predecessor. Though I'm not exactly sure the actions of the "heroes" of the story are justified enough. They come off pretty shitty themselves by the end of it.

Finally the Crypt Keeper ends it off in a very predictable ending.

Overall, it's decent but dated, and not in that charming dated way you usually get from these kinds of films. I suppose it may have been more surprising in 1972, but it comes off as very predictable today.

Rating:
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out of 5 Michaels from Burial Ground: The Nights of Terror.
 
2) Would You Rather

This is a fairly simple movie in which a crazy rich guy gathers a bunch of people to play a game of Would You Rather where the players have to pick one of two tasks. The last person standing winds a ton of money. It's pretty straight forward but what made it interesting enough to me was the cast. It has Jeffrey Combs from various Star Trek series fame, Enver Gjokaj who is amazing in Dollhouse and also stars in Agent Peggy Carter, Robin Lord Taylor which people will recognize him as Penguin from Gotham, and to top it off Sasha Grey. Not a bad watch to have in the background.
 
I'm gonna have to devote a day to catchup...

3. The Nightmare- great documentary on sleep paralysis. It starts off paranormal, than loops to science, than loops back to paranormal. There are also some movie-like little recreations of the dreams, and you can tell the director is having a LOT of fun with it. Definitely recommend.
 
10. Case 39 (2009)
The biggest case is how this was not shelved forever?
- Child's motives made no sense (I wanted to be loved so I will kill randomly).
- Mythos made no sense (She was not sleeping during both murder attempts).
- Renee looks stoned throughout the movie
- Her powers are random in strength (cannot escape glass but can summon hornets).
- The pacing is so off.
+ I liked the hornet death scene and the forshadowing of it.
- Him not dying by the stings is dumb.
- This movie is pretty boring overall
- Crying over ice cream.

Overall the first trash movie, 0/5
The IMDB rating us some bull...

Next up is The Ring in the collection!
 
Got about 2 minutes into Cabinet of Caligari before I gave up on it. But I did watch it long enough to notice that this guy could be saying "To get into this boy's hole you gotta pay the troll toll."

6AIKtPW.png
 
ImCr9Zj.png


Welp this one didn't hold up for me at all. There's a lack of interesting imagery compared to the first outside of the labyrinth hell and that doesn't show up until later. Add in things like the
cenobite "fight" (if you've seen it you'll know why i put it in quotes)
and
Julia just falling out of her new skin after being fine for the rest of her time in it
and this is kind of messy. I'm not sure if it was lighting or something else but the cenobites looked notably worse than in the original as well.

---

OP
 
So Curse of Chucky is on Netflix but I haven't seen Bride or Seed.... you guys consider them essential before watching Curse? For reference, I have seen 1 - 3

thanks!
 
AgentOtaku said:
So Curse of Chucky is on Netflix but I haven't seen Bride or Seed.... you guys consider them essential before watching Curse? For reference, I have seen 1 - 3

thanks!
Click to expand...
I am curious as well since I saw the collection at Best Buy. Picked up Paranormal Activity 5 movie set instead. Plus the Case 39/The Ring/The Uninvited $10 bundle. Looking at google, seems Case 39 is the worst.
 
AgentOtaku said:
So Curse of Chucky is on Netflix but I haven't seen Bride or Seed.... you guys consider them essential before watching Curse? For reference, I have seen 1 - 3

thanks!
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's kind of hard to comment on without giving anything away, but you'll want to watch at least Bride first.
 
#6 - The Mummy (1959)
yl5omJI.jpg


Instead of Imhotep this film features a mummy named Kharis (Christopher Lee), but the general setup is familiar to the story of the former. Peter Cushing is John Banning, who comes to realize that Kharis may be coming after him for desecrating the tomb a few years prior. Beautiful visuals, atmosphere, and music as usual with Hammer films. Definitely worthy of standing alongside the 1932 Universal film.

viewing list
 
I watched The Editor today, but I'm still pondering over what I want to say about it, so I'll most likely be posting my review tomorrow.
 
Damien: Omen 2 (1978) (on Netflix streaming - I only found this because I was searching for films starring Lance Henrikson!). The direct sequel to the excellent original, with Damien now 13 and a military cadet (I was convinced it was played by the same actor, however, the sequel was released only two years later, but, they most certainly nailed his casting). Although it recaptures some of the menace of the first movie, it lacks panache, in every department, such as the orchestration and the death scenes are only slightly redeemed by one particularly grissly send off. 3/5.
 
I stumbled upon an earlier post mentioning Shudder's 14-day free trial, so...

5. An American Werewolf in London "Boys, keep off the moors, stick to the road!"

This is only the second werewolf movie I've seen (the other being The Wolf Man with Lon Chaney Jr.), but I have seen plenty of cartoons and such. It's fairly obvious the werewolf is a puppet most of the time. They did a great job with Jack's makeup (and how he progressively decomposes), as well as the werewolf transformation. I also like how much of the movie is spent on building up to David becoming the werewolf, rather than the first transformation being shortly after being bitten. Also, did they have to specifically have a porno theater? The biggest problem i have is the ending:
David gets shot, that's what I expected. Alex starts to cry, and then it immediately cuts (not fades, but cuts) to the credits, playing the upbeat Blue Moon by The Marcels. It's so abrupt and such a change it feels like whiplash. Was there something missing from what I saw on Shudder?

The Shudder player has buffering issues sometimes, sometimes even taking a good while to get started again. The service also needs more popular horror movies. Up next: 7 movies beginning with "The".

Full list
 
October 6

khNeWPW.jpg
Click to expand...

Even after seeing just about every film that was inspired by this one, Deliverance has more than its fair share of unique tricks up its own sleeve, and it excels at being a rather tense and terrifying thriller that isn't afraid to not pick sides. As crazy as I thought it was that the actors seemed to do most (maybe all?) of their own stuntwork, it really does add a level of anxiety to everything that transpires that John Boorman mines quite expertly, keeping you on needles throughout, even during the more reserved physical bits. Boorman uses a lot of wide shots that help emphasize the size of the forest and the river, and also adding to the growing paranoia that the film eventually takes on where you're constantly on the lookout for some detail that could potentially spell doom for our protagonists. Best of all, the central moral conundrum that occurs is played out in such a way where the film refuses to take sides, allowing the weight of the decision that each of these men take being theirs to carry, letting the viewer decide for themselves if they made the right impossible choice or not. It's pretty much all great: the direction, the cinematography, the acting (man, it's hard to believe that there was a point where Burt Reynolds wasn't content with just coasting on his innate charm), the sound design with sparse but well timed hits of the score. I expected the film to be good, but I'm still surprised at how much it wound up impressing me on every level.

Film for October 7: With The Exorcist, not even films that had nothing to do with exorcism were safe from opportune producers looking for a quick buck. Even poor Mario Bava had one of his film radically re-edited for the US market as a result of such practices, but thankfully, his original film, Lisa and the Devil, can be seen by all as it was originally intended, and that's what I'm aiming to do.
 
6. Would you Rather (2012)
[Or, How to win friends and influence people]
3kRtrE2m.jpg

Rich guy gets a group of poor people together in a room for a death game. I love death games. I've been getting most of my fill in Japanese fiction, but it's nice to see an american take on it. Of course it has to be in the most brutal fashion possible. There is little to no psychological pressure in this movie despite it trying so desperately for it. Still, it has it's charm and I wish it had gone on longer with slightly less brutal challenges so that the tension could have built up. The ending is pure Deus Ex Machina. It kind of makes the previous parts of the game useless.

I liked the movie so overall but it rides the edge and gets 3 bloody raisers out of 5.
 
Rhomega Beta said:
I stumbled upon an earlier post mentioning Shudder's 14-day free trial, so...

5. An American Werewolf in London "Boys, keep off the moors, stick to the road!"

This is only the second werewolf movie I've seen (the other being The Wolf Man with Lon Chaney Jr.), but I have seen plenty of cartoons and such. It's fairly obvious the werewolf is a puppet most of the time. They did a great job with Jack's makeup (and how he progressively decomposes), as well as the werewolf transformation. I also like how much of the movie is spent on building up to David becoming the werewolf, rather than the first transformation being shortly after being bitten. Also, did they have to specifically have a porno theater? The biggest problem i have is the ending:
David gets shot, that's what I expected. Alex starts to cry, and then it immediately cuts (not fades, but cuts) to the credits, playing the upbeat Blue Moon by The Marcels. It's so abrupt and such a change it feels like whiplash. Was there something missing from what I saw on Shudder?

The Shudder player has buffering issues sometimes, sometimes even taking a good while to get started again. The service also needs more popular horror movies. Up next: 7 movies beginning with "The".

Full list
Click to expand...

That's entirely deliberate. It is a horror comedy, after all, and I personally think the ending is a perfect fusion of the two. I'd even say it's one of my favorite horror movie endings.
 
Monday night was Day 5: Tentacles
90cTmef.jpg
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A Jaws ripoff with a sequence in the middle with 20 minutes worth of sail boat racing... lolwhy?

Last night it was time for some real horror for day 6: The Act Of Killing: The Director'c Cut
HfY2UN2.jpg
Click to expand...
The village scene is haunting. The way they get into it.
 
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