I was watching Black Sabbath and realized that the first segment didn't match what I read the first segment to be. Did a little digging on the internet and of course, I'm watching the American version which has altered parts of the movie, including cutting out some violence along with an apparent lesbian subplot. Also altered is the musical score and some of the films colors. As a result I didn't finish the movie, I'm going to try to track down the version that Bava intended to release. Watching foreign horror can be very frustrating at times.
My third time watching this. Its grown on me as a competent horror film that stays ridiculously close to the book while still making big changes. One of the greatest things about this film is that it telegraphs 100% what is going on and it shows the monster a lot without really showing it.
Any suggestions for some like me who likes psychological horror more than violence and gore? Specifically, I really enjoyed It Follows and The Babadook for recent horror films. I was also a bit weirded out to see The Black Swan on the IMDB top 500 horror movie list. I've never seen it, but it being there piqued my interest.
Also, as I mentioned in a thread I made, I cannot do things like athe Green Inferno or anything with stripping away humanity via body mutilation such as Human Centipede or Tusk. The very thought of those types of things completely freaks me out and makes my stomach turn.
Interestingly, despite not really liking gore, I also enjoyed High Tension back when that came out, but it kind of fits in my psychological spectrum.
Any suggestions for some like me who likes psychological horror more than violence and gore? Specifically, I really enjoyed It Follows and The Babadook for recent horror films. I was also a bit weirded out to see The Black Swan on the IMDB top 500 horror movie list. I've never seen it, but it being there piqued my interest.
Also, as I mentioned in a thread I made, I cannot do things like athe Green Inferno or anything with stripping away humanity via body mutilation such as Human Centipede or Tusk. The very thought of those types of things completely freaks me out and makes my stomach turn.
Interestingly, despite not really liking gore, I also enjoyed a High Tension back when that came out, but it kind of fits in my psychological spectrum.
While I didn't survive last year's marathon (I gave up on writing comments/thoughts after the sixth day/movie and only ended up watching about half of the movies I said I was gonna watch in my op for that thread) that isn't stopping me from attempting it again this year and I think I'm off to semi decent start.
1. The Monster Squad (watched on 10/1/15) - This movie is awesome and has slowly been becoming an annual favorite for me.
2. Alien Resurrection (watched on 10/2/15) - This movie is by most accounts the worst film in the Alien franchise and while I do agree it's a bad Aliens film overall I can't help kinda like some parts of it.
3. It Follows (watched on 10/3/15) - My initial thoughts/feelings about this movie are that it was kinda meh and to be honest a bit overhyped. There were a few moments that kinda creeped me out, but as a whole it was (for me at least) no where near "the scariest movie of 2015".
4. Fright Night 2: New Blood (watched on 10/4/15) - Unlike with It Follows I had extremely low expectations for this movie, which I had heard was more of a "re-imagining" of the original Fright Night (set in Romania, has Charlie, Amy, Evil Ed as students studying abroad, Peter Vincent as a asshole reality TV star, and Jerry Dandridge is now a female art professor called Gerri Dandridge) than a sequel to the 2011 Colin Ferrell remake and I honestly only decided to watch it out of morbid curiosity. In that regard this movie didn't disappoint.as it was basically a lazy (and imo pointless) remake that would rather spend most of the movie re-hashing elements from the original than come up with something new (though I will admit there were a few original things in the movie, but most of them had me going wtf like the mid movie animated sequence) that at times (while I was still watching it) made me actually appreciate the Colin Ferrell remake (which I didn't particularly care for) even more.
5. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (watched on 10/5/15) - It's been nearly a decade since I last saw this movie (about 6 years since I sat down to re - watch the 2005 adaption/"remake" starring Hellboy's Doug Jones, which jsyk is also on youtube) and if not for this being one of this year's mandatory movies I probably wouldn't have watched it anytime soon. The reason for this is not because it's a bad movie, quite the contrary it's actually a pretty good one given when it was made and with the technology that was available at the time, but rather because I personally feel that it's one of those movies that kinda starts to lose it's magic (especially the last third of the movie) upon repeat/multiple viewings.
6. Bram Stoker's Dracula (watched 10/6/15) - 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.
7.Tremors 5: Bloodline (watched 10/7/15 via Netflix) - I was a little apprehensive going into Tremors 5 as I didn't care for the last two Tremors movies (Back to Perfection and The Legend Begins) and this one also happens to co-star Jaime Kennedy who I found to be tolerable in Scream 1 & 2, but nothing else. So with that in mind I went into this movie with low expectations and well, after watching this movie I gotta say I really enjoyed it despite the (imo) bad CGI creatures (it's kinda along the same lines as the CGI shriekers in Tremors 2 & 3) and occasionally horrifically bad jokes. Also oddly enough one of the things I enjoyed about this movie are the (imo) few moments where Jaime Kennedy is not only tolerable, but actually kinda likable and kinda funny.
8. Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead (watched on 10/8/15) - I originally wasn't planning on watching this movie for the 31 days of Halloween marathon, but I found the first 30 mins of the movie I was originally planning to watch (The Babadook) to be too annoying/painful to sit through (there are a lot of moments early on involving a screeching kid) so I decided to rewatch this low budget Australian zombie movie which I for the most part enjoyed as it imo added a few interesting twist to zombies.
9. Fright Night (1985, watched 10/9/15 on Encore) - This was another movie I originally didn't intend to watch for this marathon, but it was on TV (Encore) and I hadn't picked out my movie for that day so f@$k I decided to watch it. Overall I'm glad I did as I felt (while watching it) like I was re discovering a forgotten gem and by the time the final act (which was/is my favorite part of the movie) rolled around had me itchin to finally pick it up on Blu Ray, hopefully it will get the Scream Factory treatment (or perhaps the An American Werewolf in London treatment and get the newly produced indie documentary about the movie that's due by the end of the year added as a bonus feature) soon as the blu ray (at least according to Amazon) is too damn expensive ($130) for my tastes.
10. Deep Rising (Watched on 10/10/15) - I know a few people who don't care for this movie, but I for some reason really like it despite the bad CGI monsters. Maybe it's its B-movie monster movie charm or maybe it's Jerry Goldsmith's (imo) awesome soundtrack, maybe it's the main cast (Famke Jensen of X-Men fame, Trent Williams, Kevin J. O'Conner aka Benny Brendan Fraiser's little friend from The Mummy, Anthony Heald aka Dr. Chilton from Silence of the Lambs, and Wes Studi aka Sagat from Street Fighter: The Movie to name a few), either way I really enjoyed this movie.
Bonus Movie # 1: House on Haunted Hill (1999, watched 10/10/15) - Last night while I was watching Deep Rising I got the idea to do a themed mini (3) movie marathon featuring horror movies that co-starred Famke Jensen (Goldeneye, X-Men) and while most people tend to crap on this movie, I actually like it enough that I'll pop it in every couple of years.
11. Clive Barker's Lords of Illusion (watched 10/11/15) - This was the last movie in my Famke Jensen mini horror movie marathon (I started watching it after midnight so I'm counting it for today) and like the other movies I watched as part of my Famke Jensen mini horror movie marathon I actually like this movie despite it generally being negatively viewed/received.
12. Halloween Resurrection (Watched on 10/12/15) - I don't know what possessed me to want to watch this movie again after 9 plus years, but I did and man it was pretty much just as bad as I remember it....the bit towards the end still kinda pisses me off (though now not as much as Rob Zombie's Halloween 2, I could rant and rave how horrible that movie was) no one is suppose to karate kick Mikey and live to tell the tale.
13. The Abominable Dr. Phibes (watched on 10/13/15) - Prior to today I personally had not seen this movie, but after a friend of mine found that out they kept insisting that I see this movie. So I decided to finally watch it even though I was more in a slasher movie kind of mood due to the Friday the 13th: The Game announcement. I gotta say even though the version of the movie I watched (it was via Youtube since it wasn't available on Netflix and I didn't care to purchase/track down or rent/borrow a copy of the movie) was missing a section of audio (about 3 minutes worth) near the end of the movie I really liked it more than I expected to mostly due to the almost comedic and (imo) Hitchcockian nature of the scenes involving the cops (Frenzy specifically comes to mind) trying to figure things out.
Bonus Movie # 2. Friday the 13th Part 6 (watched on 10/13/15) - Since I was (still) in a bit of a slasher movie mood from earlier in the day (see above) I decided to pop this bad boy (it's one of my favorite movies in the series) into the ole DVD player after watching The Abominable Dr. Phibes.
14. Jason X (watched on 10/14/15) - I was still on a bit of a Friday the 13th kick after watching Part 6 and didn't want watching the rest of them to take up the latter half of the month (I kinda want to save that for next month's Friday the 13th) so I put in this one as it's imo pretty much the worst movie in the series next to Jason Goes to Hell.
15. Witchboard (watched 10/15/15) - I had heard of this movie before, but had never seen it so when I saw it was coming on Encore I decided to finally watch it. All in all it was a lot better than I expected it to be as there were actually a couple times where I jumped a little at some unexpected jump scares and I liked the little twist in the final act.
16. Videodrome (watched on 10/16/15) - Prior to watching this movie I had only seen a few bit and pieces of it here and there, but I had never really sat down to watch it all the way through. After watching it I honestly don't know know what to make of it as there are literally a ton of moments in the movie where I was going WTF????
17. Creep (watched on 10/17/15) - Just finished watching this movie which was the second mandatory movie for this challenge and all in all it wasn't bad per say, but it wasn't good either, it was kind of in the middle for me. My biggest hang ups with this movie are the opening half, parts of the second half (mainly the
last minute jump scare and the segments about Aaron's nightmares
), and the usually problems that tend to pop up in found footage movies. I know that some people had hang ups about the guy who played Josef since he's a cast member of the TV show The League, but since I rarely watch that show I honestly didn't have that problem and I think he got better/creepier as the movie progressed.
18. Grindhouse (watched on 10/18/15) - I had first watched this loving homage to bad 70's grindhouse horror movies when it came out in theaters in 2007 and absolutely loved it (I loved it so much that I tracked down and bought the book version of the Death Proof screenplay), but was disappointed when the theatrical version didn't get a proper DVD release. So I was happily surprised to find that the theatrical version did get released on Blu Ray a few years after the two 2 disc DVD releases of Death Proof & Planet Terror and I'm glad it did as re watching it again really solidified my opinion that the theatrical version was the best version.
19. Zombeavers (watched 10/19/15) - Earlier today I was looking at one of those Facebook list that always seem to pop up every couple of hours. I was in particular looking at the 10 top underrated horror movies available on Netflix and saw that this movie was on there along with a few others that I had previously seen (Housebound, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, etc.) so I decided to check it out. All in all I gotta say this movie was dumb as fuck and pretty much the only way I'd of really really enjoyed it is if I had sat down to watch this along with a group of good friends drunk as a skunk, it's that fuckin dumb. So word of advice if you intend to watch this movie I highly recommend you turn off your brain and maybe get drunk while watching it.
20. Goosebumps (watched 10/20/15) - I grew up reading and loving the Goosebumps books so going to see this movie was a bit of a no brainer for me. Overall I really liked the movie even though it had more monsters from the books I hadn't read (I stopped reading them around 1997 - 98 when I moved on to reading the Fear Street series) than it did from the ones I had read (I stopped reading them some where between books #56 and #60) also I found Jack Black's (imo) annoying accent. Hopefully they will address both of those things in the sequel, which I'm now (after watching this one) actually kinda looking forward to.
21. Tales from the Crypt Presents: Demon Knight (watched 10/21/15) - It had been a long time (at least 10 years) since I had seen this movie and I remember liking it better than the other TftC Presents movie Bordello of Blood. So when I heard that it (along with Bordello of Blood) was getting a Blu Ray release via Scream Factory I decided to pick it up. After watching it I gotta say, that it for the most part (outside some poor looking stop motion animation in the intro sequence) really holds up well.
22. Ju-On: The Grudge (watched on 10/22/15) - I had tivo'd this movie the other day cause I was curious to see how it differed/compared to the American remake (which I vaguely remember watching about 8-9 years ago), but didn't end up watching it til today (Oct 22nd) after playing a few chapters of the latest Fatal Frame game, Maiden of Black Water, earlier. After watching this movie I did notice some of the stuff that made it into the American remake as well as a few things that I don't recall seeing in the remake (
like the girl Rika waking up to find Toshio on her chest and the creepy ghost girl standing over her head or the bit involving the school girls or the jumps/gaps of time that happen
and honestly based on the differences between the two movies I think I might prefer the remake over the original. Though the reason for that is not because I feel the American remake is superior, but rather that I feel the American remake (at least not that recall) doesn't jump around in time (without giving you any indication that it has done so until you see bits of dialogue that indicates it) like the original which led to a lot of confusion for me.
23. Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (watched 10/23/15) - Saw this a few years back and really enjoyed it, decided to watch it again since it was on Netflix and I was really in the mood for a horror comedy. All in all it still holds up pretty well and I'd definitely recommend it If you haven't checked it out already and like horror comedies, especially ones involving hillbillies/rednecks cause this movie might be right up your alley.
24. The Innkeepers (watched on 10/24/15) - I first saw this one a few years ago when I got on a Ti West movie kick after seeing House of the Devil and had liked it overall. So the other day (10/24) when I saw it on Chiller and I couldn't pass up on watching it again especially since it had been a few years since I had last seen it.
25. Trick r Treat (watched on 10/25/15) - I love this movie and since my first viewing it has become an annual tradition to watch this on Halloween. Unfortunately I won't be able to do that this year (I'm going to be attending public a double feature screening of 80's slasher movie The Mutilator & Halloween 3: Season of the Witch at the Myers House) so I decided to watch it the week of Halloween.
26. An American Werewolf in London (watched 10/26/15) - I hadn't seen this movie in a while (not since 2011, I think, which is when I first got it on Blu Ray) and wasn't really in the mood to watch anything on Netflix so I decided to watch it. All in all I still like the movie (especially Rick Baker's werewolf effects) and decided to finally check out the in depth documentary (a whole nother movie of it's own) that was included on the Blu Ray's special features called "Beware the Moon:Remembering An American Werewolf in London".
27. Evil Dead, 2013 (watched 10/27/15) - I was originally going to watch Evil Dead 2, but was so tired that I didn't want to get up and put it in the Blu Ray player. Since I own the 2013 "remake" both digitally & physically (I bought the Blu Ray Digital combo pack) I decided to just launch the VuDu app and watch it. Overall I still enjoyed the "remake" even though the post credits scene/cameo now kinda pisses me off as I think it could have been done way better and way earlier in the movie.
After 27 consecutive days of horror movies (29 movies total) I decided to take a break from horror movies on the 28th.
28. Evil Dead 2 (watched on 10/29/15) - Decided to watch this classic movie since I was too lazy to watch it on the day I intended to and what else can I say other than I love this watching this movie enough to watch it multiple time over the course of a year.
29. The Mutilator (watched 10/31/15) - Prior to attending this year's Myers House NC Halloween Bash I had never seen this 80's slasher film and at first I didn't really care for it, but it started to get better (mostly due to a bad/poor copy filled with audio issues that cause the female actors to sound like deep sounding men which made their dialogue even funnier) as it progressed.
30. Halloween III: Season of the Witch (watched 10/31/15) - This movie was the second half of the double bill at this year's Myers House NC Halloween Bash and was also another movie that I hadn't seen (though unlike The Mutilator I had seen parts here and there of Halloween 3) before. Overall I enjoyed it even though it was a (fairly) Micheal Myers free affair and can see why some really like this movie.
Final Talley: 32 movies (12 of which I'd never seen before)
Cross posting from the movies thread. I hope that's okay!
For the first day of this challenge, I saw Day of the Dead
I wasn't really sure what to expect out of this movie, with me really hating the first and the loving the second. I knew it would hit somewhere in the middle, but the exact point of middle of the road was uncertain to me. And at the conclusion of the film, I had to admit I kinda felt pretty let down considering it's the last Living Dead movie by Romero before it goes downhill.
My main problem with the film is that it's a missed opportunity. I thought the emotional core of the film was Bub, who was severely underutilized. I feared a zombie learning and using a gun would be stupid, but the scenes with him and Frankenstein are pretty emotional and it's obvious they care for another. But so much time is spent making sure that the evil military guy is evil that every scene he's in is such a drag. It reminds me of why I dislike the Alien franchise. I've seen the "big bad military guy does an evil dumb, watch him get comeuppance for it" billions of times. The movie had something different, but instead focused on what I've seen again and again. While it's nice seeing the conflict of this series from the side of people who should know better, it's wasted on a flimsy well worn plot that is exasperating.
I also have a problem with the setting. Like the perspective, I'm glad we get to see the conflict from this angle, but the bunker is so stale and boring. I guess that it's claustrophobic and intentionally dull to emphasize the monotony and desperation of the characters, but I just wish there was more to the bunker. Perhaps more extravagant sets, better lighting, or even a better context would sell me on the static seeing. Saw 1's setting was super static (and it suffered when it tried getting more dynamic) but every twist and turn of the story would open up the more.
Outside of my criticisms, I felt the movie was pretty unremarkable. I didn't care for the "We are the Walking Dead" storytime with Romero this time around since I felt like I'd seen it before. I feel inclined to be kinder to the film since it did provide some interesting beats in this universe and had the best emotional moments of the trilogy, but overall it's mostly a wash.
Just Updating my list from the previous post as this starts today ...
1. Insidious Chapter 3 - 2015 <----- Oct. 1st.
2. Burying the Ex - 2014
3. Evil Dead - 2013
4. Annabelle - 2014
5. We Are Still Here - 2015
6. The Ouija Experiment - 2011
7. Document of the Dead - 1985
8. Maggie - 2015
9. In Their Skin - 2012
10. Wyrmwood Road of the Dead - 2014
11. The Atticus Institute - 2015
12. Last Shift - 2014
13. Lovely Molly - 2011
14. Air - 2015
15. America's Most Haunted - 2013
16. The Blair Witch Project - 1999
17. Silent Hills - 2006
18. Silent Hill Revelation - 2012
19. The Descent - 2005
20. Extraterrestrial - 2014
21. The Canal - 2014
22. The Fourth Kind - 2009
23. The Wraith - 1986
24. Ouija - 2014
25. Lemon Tree Passage - 2013
26. Housebound - 2014
27. Exorcist - The Beginning - 2004
28. The Appearing - 2014
29. Alien Abduction - 2014
30. The Possession of Michael King - 2014
31. The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh - 2012
And the back up list
All Cheerleaders Die - 2013
The Uninvited - 1944
Twin Peaks, Fire Walk With me - 1992
Dreamcatcher - 2003
Dracula - 1992
From Hell - 2001
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)
Behind the Mask
A rewatch of a film I saw last year. Fantastic slasher film that takes you through the day to day of a would-be killer. This is filmed in the style of found footage films, but switches during the third act completely to a normal film. Highly recommended for slasher fans.
Rating: Must Watch
Unfriended
I heard mentions of the film being decent. It was...alright. It wasn't a bad film, but it wasn't really a good horror film. It felt more like a drama with some supernatural elements than anything else. I liked the way the film takes place entirely on a Mac, but there were times where I found myself getting tired of staring at a desktop. I still recommend checking it out, but don't expect something great.
Rating: Watch
The Hills Have Eyes (2006)
This is a first time viewing for me and all I can say is wow...I don't know why I haven't watched this up until now. I have never seen the originals so I did not know what to expect. I felt tension throughout the entire film and never have I want the "bad guys" to suffer and die more than I did in this film. Some of the scenes were hard to watch, but they were meant to toy with your emotion. Highly recommended for people who haven't seen it.
#01 - Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970)
A quite fun and very confusing 70s Czechoslovakian (that country doesn't even exist anymore!) surrealistic sexual fantasy adventure Gothic fairy tale. That's right. Young girl discovers her sexuality, lust, and basically life itself. Maybe more. Try not to understand too much of the exact story and let yourself be submerged by the surrealism. Featuring some beautiful imagery, questionable nudity and mediocre performances. I personally would not classify this as a horror movie, but it had some elements of it. 7/10
I'm not a big cover-to-cover reader these days, but here's a couple of books I like to flip though. I have no idea of these are still in print though, so your luck may vary.
All I Need To Know About FILMMAKING I Learned From THE TOXIC AVENGER: The Shocking True Story of Troma Studios by by Lloyd Kaufman and Guardians of the Galaxy's James Gunn.
This is the only one of these books I've read all the way through. Don't let the bizarre title fool you, it's really a history of Kaufman's past in the film industry and starting Troma, mostly covering his early days with plenty of hilarious stories which may or may not be true. This is hands down the funniest book I've ever read. I had to stop reading constantly so I could laugh out loud. Highly recommended if you're into Troma and Lloyd's sense of humor. It also includes a selected filmography with brief descriptions of Troma films that Lloyd doesn't think are complete crap, so it's a good reference if you're digging deeper into their library.
Book of the Dead: The Complete History of Zombie Cinema by Jamie Russell
I really got heavy into horror when I started collecting zombie movies years ago, so this book is a fantastic reference to flip though. It covers every major movement in the sub-genre starting with voodoo zombies, to post Romero. Big series like the Blind Dead and Fulci's trilogy have their own sections as well. It also has a massive filmography with bios and summaries, though my edition is from 2006 so it's a little out of date.
The Complete History of The Return of the Living Dead by Christian Sellers and Gary Smart
This book, man! Now, I've only read the sections on Night of the Living Dead, RotLD1 and RotLD2 (it also covers RotLD 3-5) but if you're a fan of the series, this is a must read. RotLD1's troubled production is fascinating and there's so many great stories about Dan O'Bannon. He really was a character. It also has tons of rare production art and full colour on-set photos. If you're interested in the series, also check out the documentary More Brains! for even more crazy Dan O'Bannon stories.
Rue Morgue Magazine's: 200 Alternative Horror Films You Need to See and Horror Movie Heroes - The first two books in Rue Morgue's Library series.
200 Alternative Horror Films is a great selection of films you may have overlooked including films like The Devil's Backbone, Dead & Buried, Cemetery Man, Father's Day, May, Night of the Creeps, etc. It also includes sub-lists like "10 Frightfests You and Your Family Need to See", "10 Foreign Zombie Films You Need to See" and more. A great reference book.
I've just flipped though the Horror Movie Heroes book so far, but it's got interviews with a lot of big names like Cronenberg, Stan Winston, Lloyd Kaufman and even some actors like Barbara Crampton and Adrienne Barbeau.
Dr. AC Presents Hidden Horror edited by Aaron Christensen
I haven't actually read any of this one yet and I have no idea who Dr. AC is, but I recently picked this one up. Looking at the index it covers gems like Blood for Dracula, Brain Damage, The Living Dead At Manchester Morgue and Pieces, so I think it'll be a good read.
The original has a worse, more grueling-to-sit-through initial attack on the female lead, but less showy revenge kills (with the exception of one that was NIGHTMARE inducing). Basically the original and remake flip the extremes. I don't think I've ever squirmed in my seat watching a movie as much as I did the original.
There's also 2 sequels to the remake, one of which I believe comes out this month.
Thank you! And thanks to linkman26 and flowersisbritish as well! Can't wait to check some of this stuff out. I'm stuck at work now and can't wait to get home to watch Don't Torture a Duckling.
Compiled using 1,231 lists taken from various critics/polls/magazines/books/websites/forums/horror fans, They Shoot Zombies, Don't They? is intended to be the ultimate canonical top 1000 horror list.
Yesterday watched the first official Halloween movie, Housebound, which was pretty entertaining but maybe a tad too long for what it was. It was different enought to recommend it though, with the shift in tone in the second half.
For my second movie, I actually watched a documentary instead of a fictional movie. Cropsey is a 2009 documentary that was pretty well regarded and focusses on a series of kidnapped children on Staten Island. The titular Cropsey refers to a New York (state) legend that is a boogeyman-like figure, who in this particular case, was supposed to live in the abandoned ruins Willowbrook State School, a former hospital that housed children with mental deficiencies under horrid circumstances until a young Geraldo Rivera exposed what was going on, the hospital closed in the late 80s. Cropsey, is supposedly a mentally deranged man that preys on young children. The documentary focusses on the cases of several dissapearances around the 80s of young children, one of whom was found murdered. Though no concrete evidence exists, a man, a former Willowbrook physcial therapist and homeless drifter by the late 80s, by the name of Andre Rand is arrested and later convicted of kidnapping the one girl that was found murdered (the rest remain missing, still), however the murder charge is found to be unproven. Later, Rand is convicted of kidnapping one of the other missing children, but the rest of the cases remain without a resolution, despite suspision being on Rand.
The documentary itself tries to explore partly if Rand is responsible for these cases, and partly if there was another party involved. Theories include Rand working with other people, Rand being framed by other people (including a Satanistic cult) or, indeed, Rand not being involved in the cases at all. Rand, is alive and incarcerated to this day, but won’t give interview to any of the press. The documentary spends most of its time interviewing people in the area surrounding Willowbrook, people tied to case, reporters from that time and finally with his (estranged) sister.
Though the documentary remains open ended on wether or not Rand was responsible, I think the evidence speaks very much against him. I had expected the documentary to focus more on the legend of Cropsey, but it turned more into a crime documentary at the end, before finally coming around to a Reverend of a storefront chruch that had housed Rand in the final days before his arrest in 1987. The documentary, through interviews, pretty much concludes that Rand is indeed the culprit, and concludes with examining why he did what he did.
All in all the documentary paints a very eerie picture and left me legit shook by the end of it, absolutely horrific stuff. Did Rand do it or was he a scapegoat for something more occult? I’m leaning towards the former, but since there was never more any concrete proof, there’s just no way to tell. 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Any suggestions for some like me who likes psychological horror more than violence and gore? Specifically, I really enjoyed It Follows and The Babadook for recent horror films. I was also a bit weirded out to see The Black Swan on the IMDB top 500 horror movie list. I've never seen it, but it being there piqued my interest.
Dracula
An enormously iconic and historically significant horror film that is frankly pretty dull. I enjoyed the first 20ish minutes -- fantastic sets, great sense of atmosphere, and Bela Lugosi makes his mark on history with his portrayal of Dracula. Once the film shifts to England, though, it loses focus. Too much emphasis placed on Johnathan/Mina's boring story, and Lugosi ends up getting lost in the shuffle. Even as Dracula's role is reduced, a lot of his presence is relegated to off-screen noises or cheap looking bats hanging from a wire than Lugosi himself. The saving grace to this whole section is Dwight Frye's Renfield, doing a great sort of Peter Lorre impression before Peter Lorre was really a thing.
An okay movie overall, but one that really falls off after its first act and hasn't aged especially well.
Nice to see the series leave behind the self-aware tone of Bride and Seed, and call back to the original film. I think the story benefited from a lower budget.
Pretty decent atmosphere created with the old dark house during a thunderstorm. The paraplegic lead (Fiona Dourif!) was good, outside of a final bit of overacting. The supporting players should have been a little more developed. For example, I wish they would have played up the Priest's greed. Or made the nanny more of a bitch. The mother more of a wasp. The father a bit more salty. Everyone is just kind of there, until they're not...
A disappointing ending brings this one down for me (and it makes no sense, if you stick around to watch the ESSENTIAL after credits scene).
Still, recommended, for nostalgia and completionists. And to get your Brad Dourif fix.
This no-budget rarely seen film is from seasoned sexploitation director Doris Wishman. This film is salvaged from being set on fire from a disgruntled film lab technician. The result is a very oddly edited disjoint mess. But it is definitely quite the mess to behold. The music is wonky, the kills are really great and cheesy bad in this. The sexploitation elements are combined with a very odd (but good odd) take on the slasher genre. I'm assuming, because of the fire, the film is virtually entirely overdubbed. There is a great narrator over the entire film, think of the old days of radio dramas (war of the worlds, etc)
What an amazing looking film! There is very little dialogue in the film and the main focus is on visual storytelling. The dreamlike atmosphere and giallo vibes really worked for me. 8/10
Ah! Early to mid 2000 horror movies! Where the atmosphere is oppressivly melancholic/dry/dull, the subplots lead nowhere, and the main plot doesn't do much better. Not a great film, kind of weighed down but what are cliche's now, but no so much for the time. To it's credit, it never shows you the monster, and they're all creepy enough to garner a reaction. But everything else is just so nothing. Truth be told, the only reason I wanted to see this was because of a pretty great fake Silent Hill 2 trailer someone made using clips of this movie. That, i'd recommend more, infact...
Actually on a rewatch of that, that fake trailer is also pretty bad...
I've been thinking... there have been threads for voting on GAF's favorite superhero movies, favorite action movies, and greatest films of all time. How about voting on horror movies? I might go ahead and start the thread next week. Would be really cool to see how GAF ranks the best of the genre.
Ah! Early to mid 2000 horror movies! Where the atmosphere is oppressivly melancholic/dry/dull, the subplots lead nowhere, and the main plot doesn't do much better. Not a great film, kind of weighed down but what are cliche's now, but no so much for the time. To it's credit, it never shows you the monster, and they're all creepy enough to garner a reaction. But everything else is just so nothing. Truth be told, the only reason I wanted to see this was because of a pretty great fake Silent Hill 2 trailer someone made using clips of this movie. That, i'd recommend more, infact...
Actually on a rewatch of that, that fake trailer is also pretty bad...
I've been thinking... there have been threads for voting on GAF's favorite superhero movies, favorite action movies, and greatest films of all time. How about voting on horror movies? I might go ahead and start the thread next week. Would be really cool to see how GAF ranks the best of the genre.
1. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974): Thought it would be a good idea to kick things off with a classic I had somehow managed to never see before. Of course I have picked up so much of the movie over the years that there were hardly any surprises, except I did not expect grandpa. Because the movie is so cheap and gritty it works a lot better than it probably would have with a higher budget, just the way Leatherface carried that lady and put her on a meat hook was rather brilliant in its straightforwardness. The chase scene did go on for so long that it became absurd, but at the same time it felt immediate and real with not too many cuts and no dramatic chase music, only screaming and the roar of the chainsaw (or, chain saw, according to the title). There were some other moments that were hilarious in ways that were probably not intended, for example the broom. Overall, the movie did not disappoint and I can imagine it would have been quite an experience back in 1974.
2. Fright Night (2011): I only saw the original some years ago and enjoyed it very much, so I was interested to check out the remake since I have heard good thins. I got to say I am somewhat disappointed. Farrell played the vampire role well and I thought Imogen Poots (hehe, Poots) was definitely an improvement as far as the female lead is concerned, but beyond that the movie rather falls apart. It is of course a good thing when a remake does its own thing, but in this case I feel that those were mainly the wrong things. I also did not care for Tennant in this. He was fine as the typical drunk-fraud who tries to vindicate himself, but the whole thing about this same vampire having killed his parents was totally unnecessary. It also did not do anything to add any emotional depth to his character because his reaction to finding out can barely even be called a reaction. Same goes when he saw that dead lady through the monitor. I think the best scene to highlight the lack of heart in this film is the club seduction/biting. It was just typical vampire attack here, the original made that a real moment. I also felt absolutely nothing when the main dude staked his "best" friend. Ultimately this movie totally failed to capitalize on the idea of a vampire living next door, a real wasted opportunity.
I would probably be less harsh on the movie if it had not been a remake, but such is the risk of remakes.
3. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984): I have seen this as a kid long time ago, and thought it's about time for a rewatch, particularly since Wes Craven has shuffled off this mortal coil. The premise is of course excellent. The ending is a bit disappointing with the Home Alone act and Freddy being a complete pushover, but there were some great moments on the way, especially the first kill with the lady moving up the wall and Freddy is of course always Freddy.
By the way, this movie must have one of the longest "20 minutes" in a film ever. Time in movies of course has a habit of doing funny things, especially when a bomb is ticking down, but here it was something special. The bed ate Johnny Depp at midnight, 10 minutes later the entire police department is at the scene and other stuff has gone down. Ten past midnight, Nancy calls her dad to come see her in 20 minutes, and after that she has a talk with her mom, booby traps the entire house, and is still somehow in bed at 20 past midnight. It takes me longer than this to make a sandwich.
4. Jeepers Creepers (2001): I liked the start pretty well and the brother-sister dynamic was pretty good, but the movie really loses steam towards the end. Around the time the Explainer shows up, it's pretty much just paint by the numbers horror. The best moment was when they drove by the monster dude dumping the bodies and it started staring at them. I did not care for the ending because it felt very hollow, really needed a better finish.
This is the first remake/reboot... retread
Saw this about 3 years ago, and my thoughts on it remain pretty much the same.
Most of the main cast is utterly unlikable so you expect to see them killed off gruesomely, but that doesn't really happen. The kills, for the most part, aren't shown or lack creativity.
The 2nd act begins to drag a ton.
The climax is cool for all the town melting and stuff. Different.
Meh... I really was not a fan of the original remake at all. So I should have known I prob wouldn't enjoy this but my curiosity got the best of me. One positive thing I can say is as disturbing as the rape scenes are they are much shorter and easier to swallow then in the remake. That being said everything just fell flat to me and by the time the girl gets her revenge I just feel drained from all she's been through. The main actress did an amazing job though.
- This was just fantastic. Astron 6 keep improving and this was a fantastic movie for fans of the giallo genre. So many subtle jokes mixed in with the over the top take on giallo films of old. Not as wild as their previous movies, one could have actually edited the movie to make it dead serious even lol. Lots of great style, just tons of fun, but it's only for fans of the genre, those who do not watch much giallo are going to not get much of the movie.
This is the first remake/reboot... retread
Saw this about 3 years ago, and my thoughts on it remain pretty much the same.
Most of the main cast is utterly unlikable so you expect to see them killed off gruesomely, but that doesn't really happen. The kills, for the most part, aren't shown or lack creativity.
The 2nd act begins to drag a ton.
The climax is cool for all the town melting and stuff. Different.
Vincent Price House of Wax is a goddamn masterpiece
I recall thinking Paris Hilton House of Wax was a really solid "remake" (it's not really the same story anyway) that only got shit on because it remade a bonafide classic. I could be remembering wrong, I haven't seen it since like second term Bush.
I also plan on seeing the Editor tonight too, can't wait
The movie has plenty of good looking special effects, but Fred Kruger just does nothing for me and I didn't care about the other characters either. I wish I had seen this when I was younger.
Hmm. Ok. I remember it being so intense during the 2nd half of the movie, particularly the "finale" section. I haven't seen it since it was new though and that was about 15 years ago!
Thinking of enjoying some horror this year. This thread is always a fantastic resource each year. I may not be doing the 31-day marathon thing, but I love coming in here and reading all the impressions. Thanks to everyone who takes the time to do it!
I'm sorry, I thought this was suppose to be scary? It starts of like an ordinary haunted house flick, with the usual mumblecore calmness and cinematopgrahy. And sure, it's starts creepy as well. But then they
show the monsters
quite early on, and
they look like Doctor Who-monsters
. Really movie? You're OK with this? This is suppose to be Not-Ridicoulus? It's like the entire movie wants the viewer to accept that this is creepy - with the creepy camera angles, the music and the overall feeling - but it just doesnt resonate. I was ready to turn it off several times during the running time. First when we first see the ridicoulus
Doctor Who-monsters
, and then when nothing scary ever happens. They coulndt even get the jump scares to be effective! The first 2 3rds of the movie could sort of be saved by cutting out all the scenes where
we see the Doctor Who-monsters
, but then the climax is unsaveble in it's hackend attempt to be... I dont know what feeling it was going for there. The blood wasnt gory enough to be a gore-fest, the tension wasnt there at all, and the pacing was just weird.
Can someone explain to me what is suppose to be scary and good with this movie? I truly have no idea.
I'm going to jump in this year. I've never done it before and I'm a huge horror fan. I'm going to start with House of wax which I've never seen( I know, the shame) and then onto Dr Caligari. I'll report back later!
I'm sorry, I thought this was suppose to be scary? It starts of like an ordinary haunted house flick, with the usual mumblecore calmness and cinematopgrahy. And sure, it's starts creepy as well. But then they
show the monsters
quite early on, and
they look like Doctor Who-monsters
. Really movie? You're OK with this? This is suppose to be Not-Ridicoulus? It's like the entire movie wants the viewer to accept that this is creepy - with the creepy camera angles, the music and the overall feeling - but it just doesnt resonate. I was ready to turn it off several times during the running time. First when we first see the ridicoulus
Doctor Who-monsters
, and then when nothing scary ever happens. They coulndt even get the jump scares to be effective! The first 2 3rds of the movie could sort of be saved by cutting out all the scenes where
we see the Doctor Who-monsters
, but then the climax is unsaveble in it's hackend attempt to be... I dont know what feeling it was going for there. The blood wasnt gory enough to be a gore-fest, the tension wasnt there at all, and the pacing was just weird.
Can someone explain to me what is suppose to be scary and good with this movie? I truly have no idea.
Didn't know anything going into it, but it was surprisingly funny, and did some interesting things with the premise. Very much in the vein of something like Tucker and Dale, only with a haunted house (and New Zealand) setting. Definitely loses tension by the end of the movie, but the characters are interesting enough that it kind of doesn't matter. Really enjoyed it, but I'm going to have to pull something legitimately scary for the second movie.
Dead of Night is pretty good. Most of the segments were good and a few seem like they were definite influences on Twilight Zone episodes. The only part I didn't care for was the golf contest. Its supposed to be funny, but its not and lasts way too long.
I also watched Hotel Transylvania. It is a perfectly mediocre cartoon. It has a good amount of energy, there are some jokes that work well, and the animation is wonderful. On the downside, the actual story is very basic, Andy Samberg's human character is really annoying, and there are some lazy toilet-humor jokes. Overall, I'd recommend skipping it.
At this point a good stiff drink is the only medicine
My first Fulci movie, and I'm a bit underwhelmed I must admit. On the one hand, the gore was great. On the other hand, the acting was excruciatingly terrible. Normally bad acting doesn't bother me, in fact sometimes it adds to a horror movie's charm, but that's not the case with this film. The awful performances got in the way of any connection I might have made with the characters, most of whom I just wanted to die quickly cos they were so annoyingly portrayed.
I did enjoy the score though, even the parts that sounded like a second rate Pink Floyd tribute band. And as I said, the gore was great, especially the
entrail vomitting
. Very tasty. The
windborne plague of maggots
was pretty fun too.
I've got two more Fulci films on the list for this month, and I'm definitely taking GAF's advice and not watching them all on consecutive nights.
Some scenes are very bright, almost made me nauseous
Excellent movie, though more a thriller/drama than horror. It is dramaturgically very well done, the editing is great too with shifts between indoors (a clean facility) and outdoors (it's shot in beautiful Valldalen, Norway). The protagonist (Ava, the AI, played by Alicia Vikander) is very well written and the relationship between her and Caleb (a programmer, played by Domhnall Gleeson, who has been brought to do a series of tests on Ava) is quite gripping. Vikander and Gleeson, together with Oscar Isaac (as Nathan, CEO of Bluebook, the world's most popular search engine), perform brilliantly.
Definitely worth a watch. It's suspenseful, gripping, it features wondrous CGI. One of the best human-AI relationship movies I've ever seen. It's not very scary, but quite creepy and that's why it made my list.
For my second movie, I actually watched a documentary instead of a fictional movie. Cropsey is a 2009 documentary that was pretty well regarded and focusses on a series of kidnapped children on Staten Island. The titular Cropsey refers to a New York (state) legend that is a boogeyman-like figure, who in this particular case, was supposed to live in the abandoned ruins Willowbrook State School, a former hospital that housed children with mental deficiencies under horrid circumstances until a young Geraldo Rivera exposed what was going on, the hospital closed in the late 80s. Cropsey, is supposedly a mentally deranged man that preys on young children. The documentary focusses on the cases of several dissapearances around the 80s of young children, one of whom was found murdered. Though no concrete evidence exists, a man, a former Willowbrook physcial therapist and homeless drifter by the late 80s, by the name of Andre Rand is arrested and later convicted of kidnapping the one girl that was found murdered (the rest remain missing, still), however the murder charge is found to be unproven. Later, Rand is convicted of kidnapping one of the other missing children, but the rest of the cases remain without a resolution, despite suspision being on Rand.
The documentary itself tries to explore partly if Rand is responsible for these cases, and partly if there was another party involved. Theories include Rand working with other people, Rand being framed by other people (including a Satanistic cult) or, indeed, Rand not being involved in the cases at all. Rand, is alive and incarcerated to this day, but wont give interview to any of the press. The documentary spends most of its time interviewing people in the area surrounding Willowbrook, people tied to case, reporters from that time and finally with his (estranged) sister.
Though the documentary remains open ended on wether or not Rand was responsible, I think the evidence speaks very much against him. I had expected the documentary to focus more on the legend of Cropsey, but it turned more into a crime documentary at the end, before finally coming around to a Reverend of a storefront chruch that had housed Rand in the final days before his arrest in 1987. The documentary, through interviews, pretty much concludes that Rand is indeed the culprit, and concludes with examining why he did what he did.
All in all the documentary paints a very eerie picture and left me legit shook by the end of it, absolutely horrific stuff. Did Rand do it or was he a scapegoat for something more occult? Im leaning towards the former, but since there was never more any concrete proof, theres just no way to tell. 3.5 out of 5 stars.
