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

15. Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)
[Or, Lets pretend that Number 2 doesn't exist.]
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Some think this is the best Nightmare on Elm Street movie. I see a lot of flaws in it, but if this was the peak then I might want to not watch 4 and 5. Who am I kiddin? I'll do it anyway. Freddy is back to being a silent antagonist for the start of the movie. He laughs at the pain of others, but he is there with a plan in mind, to kill the remaining kids of Elm street. We get more backstory in this movie, but it seems like it was tossed in half way through to provide the ultimate resolution. The kills are still good in this movie, and that's what I came to see. The dream warriors are a good lot, if not one dimensional, and I was a little sad to see them die off. They did a better job at making me feel for these kids than the last two bunches.

Elm Street three gets 3 prime time specials out of 5.

16. The Evil Dead (1981)
[Or, Who loves visiting that house in the woods?]
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I was kind of sleepy when I was watching this. At one point, I paused the movie and took a short nap. I don't know if it would have made more sense if I was fully awake. The reason people turned into undead demons didn't seem the be specifically spelled out. It just seemed that if you were anyone but Ash, then you were going to turn and need to be chopped up. I've heard great things about the second movie and the remake, so I am still looking forward to those. I won't be rewatching this. Ever.

I'd give it 1 drool soaked pillow out of 5.

17. The Vatican Tapes (2015)
[Or, How I learned to stop taking the crow's advice.]
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I know a bit about revelations so I saw the signs they were tossing out in this movie. I liked the special effects and the hint of mystery involved. They do call her the anti-christ in the first few minutes of the movie, but they then follow up with a lot of church doctrine as well. I usually end up pausing moves every now and then to get up and move around, but this one held my attention. The ending left a lot to be desired. The final text of the movie explains that if it reflected any actual events then it was purely coincidental. This seemed like a missed opportunity to say that if any of the events of the movie reflected real life then it's a sign of the end times.

This movie gets a well deserved 4 verses out of 5 chapters.
 
October 14

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What Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural lacks in budget and overall polish, it makes up for with embracing its dark fairy tale trappings and southern Gothic locations, as well as having a visually compelling lead performance from the late Rainbeaux Smith. She doesn't have a whole lot to say, but she radiates a level of innocence that feels genuine, even as it gets harder and harder for her character to stay truly pure of heart as she finds herself caught in the midst of both a deadly seduction on the part of the title character (Lesley Gilb, who at least as the right look for a vampire matron), searching for her thoroughly evil father to grant him forgiveness, and the surprisingly elaborate war being waged by creatures of the night, and that's not even mentioning her doting caretaker, who also happens to be the reverend at the church she sings at (believe me, it's not hard to see why this was condemned by the Catholic Film Board!). It offers up a surprising amount of tension as it gets harder and harder to tell if Lila is being tempted and temptress, putting her into situations that get pretty hairy, even at a PG rating. The lack of polish comes into play mainly from the limited amount of camera setups; while it does offer up the occasional strong composition to match the rather nice use of color throughout, it repeats shots quite often. As the film draws towards its conclusion, you can really feel the budget caving in on itself, especially the finale as it lacks some critical information on how certain moments were to have played out, feeling jumbled and confused in a way that I don't think can be hand-waved by suggesting that it's merely sticking to its fairy tale structure. Nevertheless, it does offer up some strong atmosphere and intriguing thematic concepts that make it a compelling watch, and while it doesn't pull off the small budget the entire way through, it must be applauded for getting as far as it did and not giving up on offering a glimpse into something a bit grander than you would expect for a coming of age story of this kind.

Film for October 15: Let's Scare Jessica to Death. No, that's the title, not something we're doing instead of watching movies.
 
Man, trying to stick to only movies I haven't seen before, is torture. So much crap out there.

Spring: Romantic horror drama. It was an interesting concept and keep me interested long enough. Gets kinda confusing when they start to explain things. Worth the watch if you want something different.

The Orphanage: Finally got around to watching this. I felt it was over-hyped. Good atmosphere and the first half is interesting. I started to lose interest after that. Still, not that bad of a horror movie.

The House at the End of Time: Like Spring, the concept/premise is what drew me to watch it. Evil house kills the family. Then you start to learn the truth. I would say this is less of a horror, and more of a thriller though.

Nightbreed: Director's Cut: To be honest, I found this to be boring. The creatures/monsters design were at least interesting.

Teeth: Girl with a killer vagina. I have seen over the years gaf loving this. I didn't really like it. Concept didn't really go anywhere and it just dragged along. Acting was bad too.

Dead End: Random choice. I didn't know anything about the film and went into it blind. The acting is bad, no real explanation of to the story or what is happening. The kills were lackluster. Skip it.
 
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13) Berberian Sound Studio (2012)

Here we go again…

I'm not sure why this gets grouped in with the giallo revival movies as it's not a giallo at all, and considering the way the fictional Italian studio is represented in the film, I don't even think the filmmakers are all that fond of the Italian horror genre as a whole.

The plot revolves around Gilderoy (Toby Jones), an English sound engineer who has taken a job at an Italian film studio to reluctantly work on a graphic horror film. The setup is fantastic and the way they never show the fictional film, only the dubbing sessions and Foley work is genius. The descriptions of the scenes given by the crew are hilarious. It sounds like some crazy, exploitation version of Suspiria meets Michele Soavi's The Church.

The visuals and the use of sound are the real stars of the show, though Toby Jones is also excellent in it. The plot however, takes a backseat to setting the mood, which is very effective and relatable to anyone who has been a position where they felt like an outcast.

As the film moves on, it feels like it's not only crushing the soul of Gilderoy, but the viewers as well. It's a depressing and grueling exercise and just as I was about at my limit with film, it too decided it had enough and
ends with a puzzling, surreal finale. It feels more like they simply couldn't come up with an ending since there wasn't enough story to hang it off it, so they threw in a handful of incomprehensible sequences in hopes that the audience would do it for them.

I'm fine with a movie leaving things up to the viewer's interpretation, but there should be some kind of conclusion to the story, or even a story to be concluded in the first place. The whole thing may be technically beautiful, but it's ultimately directionless and unflattering to the films it's supposed to be paying tribute to.

Rating:
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out of 5 Michaels from Burial Ground: The Nights of Terror.

I did enjoy seeing Suzy Kendall's name show up in the credits as “Special Guest Screamer” though.
 
I'll never understand the poor critical reception Let's Scare Jessica to Death got. It's not perfect by any means, but it's a cool atmospheric little movie. The title doesn't fit at all though.
 
Steamlord said:
I'll never understand the poor critical reception Let's Scare Jessica to Death got. It's not perfect by any means, but it's a cool atmospheric little movie. The title doesn't fit at all though.
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I like atmosphere! I like movies with ill-fitting names, too! Double win!

Thirsty, I really do feel like you'll enjoy the hell out of Amer. It's definitely not a conventional giallo, but going by what your feeling have been with some of the other modern takes, you will definitely appreciate the straightforward admiration it has for the genre.
 
Ridley327 said:
Thirsty, I really do feel like you'll enjoy the hell out of Amer. It's definitely not a conventional giallo, but going by what your feeling have been with some of the other modern takes, you will definitely appreciate the straightforward admiration it has for the genre.
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God, I hope so. I ordered the Blu-ray as soon as I heard about it last year and it's still in the plastic.

Gialli may not have had the most consistent or well planned out plots, but at least they tried. That's what's really rubbing me the wrong way with these modern attempts. At least The Editor got the silly sleaze right.
 
October 12:

Housebound (2014) - Didn't work for me much as either a horror film or comedy.

October 13:

The Babadook (2014) - I felt bad for the mother, that shit eating kid was an annoying brat,
she should have let the babdook have him
. I didn't like this one that much, good acting from the mother and I felt sympathy for her, but the story didn't do much for me.

October 14:

As Above, So Below (2014) - Maybe it's because I saw horror films I didn't like much the past three days but I enjoyed this one. Nice claustrophobic tense atmosphere, and believable performances from the actors. The narrative was just alright, the story development could have used a little more understatement, as could the scares, more reliance on the atmosphere versus over the top moments.
 
#14 - Deathdream (1974)
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That was a very clever take on a vampire film. A soldier dies in Vietnam, but he returns to his family while they are grieving. Andy's behavior is strange - he isolates himself and only goes out at night. Dead bodies start showing up, naturally. This one's an enjoyable slow burner. What elevates the movie is the drama, seeing how Andy's return affects his family and friends. The message about Vietnam veterans coming home is clear enough, but it's just really well done through the vampiric horror angle. Deathdream is a rather sad film by the end.

viewing list
 
Haven't updated in a while so here we go!!

4.) The Lazarus Effect
Uninspired and predictable. For fuck's sake the pictures on the DVD case spoiled literally the entire movie. I can't stand Mark Duplass, nor can I shake the feeling that I've seen this done better. Watch Splice and any exorcism movie for a better experience.

1/5

5.) Unfriended
I came expecting very little and was pleasantly surprised. A typical teen horror film with lame deaths was elevated by the presentation. Never seen it before and it felt very fresh for the entire movie to be on a computer screen. A computer screen that felt lived-in and used, mind you. Fun movie. Ending was sort of blah though.

3/5

6.) A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge
Shout out to Mark Patton, the original Scream King. The movie is okay but most of it is highly forgettable. Homosexual under/overtones were fun. Chest bursting Freddy was a great effect, too.

3/5

7.) The Human Centipede
By this point everybody knows what these movies are about, so once you accept and get past that you know pretty much what you're getting into. The acting from the lead girls was spotty at times, but everybody else was great. If you can't stand shock/torture horror, this definitely isn't for you but if you can stomach it I found this was actually a pretty competent horror film in its own right.

4/5

8.) Creep
Only watched this because it's required, but I'm glad I did. Went in completely blind! And hey! Mark Duplass again. He was excellent in this role because he strikes me as creepy anyway. WAY too many cheap jump scares. They really brought the movie down. The mounting suspense and tension based on Duplass' weird actions and behaviors would have been more than enough to provide the creeps. I LOVED the quiet ending and wished it wouldn't have been brought down by YET ANOTHER pointless jump scare. Seriously. Enough.

3.5/5

9.) House of 1,000 Corpses
I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't this. The sadistic daughter was fun but all the other characters were sort of one-note. I didn't like anybody really. Struggled to finish it.

2/5

10.) Goodnight Mommy (Ich seh Ich seh)
Very artsy and messes with your mind. Who to believe, the mother or the sons? The trailer made this seem like it was gonna be more on the thriller side, but it wasn't at all. Mounting evidence on both sides and sparse dialogue that provides clues you have to search for makes for a very cerebral experience. This is gonna require repeat viewings and even that will leave me with nothing but theories. I really enjoyed this. The twist is cool, but predictable if you know what you're looking for (I didn't.) Gonna have a new fear of lips after this.

5/5
 
inm8num2 said:
#14 - Deathdream (1974)
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That was a very clever take on a vampire film. A soldier dies in Vietnam, but he returns to his family while they are grieving. Andy's behavior is strange - he isolates himself and only goes out at night. Dead bodies start showing up, naturally. This one's an enjoyable slow burner. What elevates the movie is the drama, seeing how Andy's return affects his family and friends. The message about Vietnam veterans coming home is clear enough, but it's just really well done through the vampiric horror angle. Deathdream is a rather sad film by the end.

viewing list
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I like this one quite a bit, been awhile since I've seen it but it's had a lasting effect That and Martin are the more unique vampire films I've seen. Bob Clark has a fascinating filmography, wide range of different films.
 
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
Day 6 - The Omen (1976)
Day 7 - Creep (2014)
Day 8 - The Taking of Deborah Logan
Day 9 - The Return of the Living Dead
Day 10 - ATM
Day 10 Double Feature - From Dusk Till Dawn
Day 11 - The People Under the Stairs
Day 11 Double Feature - The Strangers
Day 12 - Stake Land
Day 13 - Fright Night (2011)
Day 14 - The Ward

The Ward
This is probably the weakest Carpenter movie I've seen to date. I'm a sucker for horrors based on asylums because they generally creep me out, so I enjoyed this film. It was plagued by bad acting and meh writing.The pacing felt off up until the last act where it got pretty decent and things were coming together. I'm surprised I didn't see the twist coming considering all the obvious signs. I don't think I'd recommend this film to others. If you want to watch a movie based around an asylum, watch Grave Encounters or Session 9 instead.

Rating: Skip
 
#25 - Return to Sleepaway Camp

And so the strange journey comes to an end. Let's be real, there's no way to make a sequel to Sleepaway Camp that can live up to the original. The original had no right to be as inexplicably entertaining as it was, and it's impossible to recapture that. Still, Return to Sleepaway Camp comes a lot closer than I expected. Robert Hiltzik's finally back at the helm for this one and we get to see some familiar faces, so this one is a much more credible sequel than the others. It's not a good movie, but I was surprised at how it managed to recapture a good deal of the strange awkwardness of the first one; it's still lacking most of the charm, though. I can't tell how much of the cheese was self-awareness and how much was actually in earnest, and I think that's to the movie's credit since the original is kind of the same way.
Angela's motives aren't really made clear in this one though. We don't know why she's there or why she decides to protect Alan, who is a victim of bullying but who is also a little shit. Angela seems to be operating on SC2 and 3 rules, only toned down a bit, which I found a bit disappointing since that shift never made sense based on her character in the first movie. But hey, fucking kudos for actually managing to incorporate a cop with a fake mustache into the plot!

So, final Sleepaway Camp ranking: 1 > Return >>> 2 > 3. 4 doesn't exist, and I almost mean that literally.


#26 - The Final Girls

So of course I had to follow up the end of the Sleepaway Camp series with another summer camp slasher. Man, I didn't expect this movie to make me feel things. Ewww. But seriously, it was a lot of fun. Its awareness of slasher tropes wasn't just for its own sake, it actually told a nice little story with it. Really charming, and pretty funny to boot. I liked that it didn't spend too much time trying to set up or justify its premise, it just dove right in and had fun with it.
Totally predicted the ending, right down to the "you have to let me go" line, but that's OK. Also predicted the final twist because I've seen Halloween II. The final battle was a blast, it wasn't afraid to take advantage of the premise to make it completely over the top.
Also I feel like I have to mention that Taissa Farmiga is really really really pretty?
 
#12 The Loved Ones (2009)
Finally a recent(-ish) horror flick that I actually enjoyed, this Australian torture feature really felt alive and just keeps throwing stuff at you... didn't care much for the sub plots but the main storyline was sufficiently depraved :D You felt the enthusiasm that must have surrounded this project. Recommended.

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#13 Hotel Transylvania (2012)
Yeah this was not a horror movie but when is a better time to join a cast of Universal monsters in Dracula's castle? I actually had fun with this, better than I expected, just a light and funny Halloween diversion.

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#06 - Night of the Demon (1957)
Most of all masterfully directed by Tourneur. Genuinely scary, suspenseful and thrilling. A lot is achieved through the power of suggestion combined with magnificent lighting which makes this an incredibly atmospheric classic. 7/10
 
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#07 - The Final Girls (2015)
An impromptu add to my list this year since I got to watch it somewhere. This was fun, meta, an ode to the genre and luckily doesn't take itself too seriously. It is clear to see the cast had fun making this movie. The result is nothing mind blowing but it does make for a fun watch. Bro-tip: do not watch the trailer, it spoils the whole thing. As most trailers do nowadays though. 6.5/10
 
Dandy Crocodile said:
4.) The Lazarus Effect
Uninspired and predictable. For fuck's sake the pictures on the DVD case spoiled literally the entire movie. I can't stand Mark Duplass, nor can I shake the feeling that I've seen this done better. Watch Splice and any exorcism movie for a better experience.
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Yay I'm not losing my mind! Ok I watched a similar movie on Netflix like two or three weeks ago but not that. So I go into Netflix to see what it was and Lazarus Effect is right on the damn startup screen...its like their fucking with me. Then again I just woke up.

The Lazarus Project is what I saw. Its a slow burner like Primer but an enjoyable nerdy tale like Primer. Guess I will watch this new one now too.
 
The Curse of Frankenstein
My first (classic) Hammer horror film...and I was pretty disappointed tbh. I first heard about the series, and Hammer as a whole, during Cinemassacre last year and I was really intrigued about the idea of a British reimagining of the classic Universal monster movies. I started with this since it's the first major Hammer horror movie, but...it was kind of just dull?

I appreciate that they deviated from the Universal movies a lot, especially since I've already watched the three Karloff films already this month and was feeling a little Frankensteined out. And the focus on the Baron over the monster is an interesting approach, but it just felt like not much was really happening for most of the film. And even when things did actually start moving, it still didn't grip me at all for some reason.

On the good side, Peter Cushing is great in this film -- I might still like Colin Clive more, but Cushing is energetic and crazed in a different way (and it's funny to see him so relatively younger, after identifying him as Tarkin for 20+ years). His partner, Paul, also adds a great foil to Frankenstein's character missing in the Universal movie, and the Technicolor looks great too. I also really liked the 'twist' to the ending. There isn't much to Christoper Lee's monster -- whose makeup looks more like the Mummy than Frankenstein's creature -- but it's cool to see his and Cushing together for the first time I suppose.

So, not without its good points, but overall I felt kind of let down and bored by this movie. I have two more Hammers on deck next so hopefully this was a one-off than a trend.
 
#9 - Friday the 13th (2009)
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So I'm very far behind, and I'm not sure if I'll be able to catch up at this point, but I'm still gonna watch as many as I can and keep checking this thread regularly. I did hit up Halloween Horror Nights in Osaka on Monday, which was awesome. They've got a long way to go before they catch up to Orlando, but it's a start.

As for the movie, there were a lot of things I liked and a few that I didn't. I liked the first 20 minute segment that built up to the title sequence. I thought
those characters were the main characters for the movie, and was surprised at how quickly they were dying off. I thought it would be lame if they left only Whitney and her boyfriend alive for the last hour+ of the movie, but luckily we got two whole rounds of teens to kill off!

I also thought they did some interesting stuff with Jason himself. They gave him a bit more personality this time around. He has a Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 kind of lair this time, and he seems to be more intelligent. Or at least he is shown on screen doing things other than chasing and killing teens. Not much, but small touches like showing him sharpening weapons or focusing on the lair he's made with all of the traps and shortcuts and riggings he's made. And it actually shows him running. He reminded me of old Jason, with a dash of Leatherface. I kinda liked it.

Some of the things I didn't like were the actual kills. Most of them lacked any kind of creativity. I just finished watching it and nothing really stick out as being particularly memorable. The characters were just your typical annoying teens + Dean Winchester. They have stupid dialog and do stupid things and make lots of weed jokes and have lots of sex. Typical slasher stuff I guess.

I know this movie got pretty bad reviews, but I actually liked it quite a bit overall. I would definitely recommend it to fans of the series.
 
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#08 - Creep (2014)
Sooooooo.... This was my pick for the 'obligatory movies' this year around. It already received some mixed responses in this thread, so I was interested to see how it would pan out for me. I did not like it very much. There are some interesting things going on with the antagonist character, it is mostly creepy and sometimes legit scary, but ultimately it just felt somewhat boring and flat. The POV handheld camera thing rarely does it for me, and the jumpscares felt cheap most of the time. Has potential and does some interesting things, but not my cup of tea. Apologies to those who watched it on my recommendation and did not enjoy it (like myself). 4/10
 
Movie #01: Chakushin ari a.k.a. One Missed Call (2003) - 3/5 Stars
Movie #02: Cropsey (2009) - 3.5/5 Stars
Movie #03: Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) - 4.5/5 Stars
Movie #04: Starry Eyes (2014) - 3.5/5 Stars
Movie #05: Ôdishon a.k.a. Audition (1999) - 4/5 Stars
Movie #06: Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (2010) - 2.5/5 Stars
Movie #07: Haunter (2013) - 4/5 Stars
Movie #08: The Den (2013) - 3/5 Stars
Movie #09: Sinister (2012) - 4.5/5 Stars
Movie #10: The Conjuring (2013) - 5/5 Stars
Movie #11: House at the End of the Street (2012) - 1.5/5 Stars
Movie #12: The Loved Ones (2009) - 4/5 Stars
Movie #13: The Last Exorcism (2010) - 3/5 Stars
Movie #14: The Fly (1958) - 4/5 Stars

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Movie #15: Re-Animator (1985) - 5/5 Stars
I'm not gonna do a recap for this one, everyone has seen it or knows the premise. It's absolutely great, well deserving of its cult status. It's more humor than horror though, with some really great over-the-top gore. All in all an absolute must-see and my favorite movie of the month so far.

5 cutting-edge laser skull-drills out of 5.
 
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After several days of therapy, I'm back with a couple of Wes Craven films from the 90s. Again I am surprised at how the Freddy series continues to be entertaining after all the sequels. New Nightmare felt like a 10th anniversary homage to the original film. The original cast play themselves including Craven whose unfinished script for a new Freddy film is the gateway for Freddy entering the real world. Fun film.

Scream is still a blast after all these years.
 
Hosting my annual Horror Movie-A-Thon this weekend for my friends...about 4 of the 10 people are legitimately interested in the films. We carve pumpkins. drink fall drinks. eat fall food. etc. I enforce a strict 95% no phone or talking during the movies policy.

anyways this year I think we'll do:

a classic slasher - Prob Friday The 13th 4, Halloween 2, or Sleepaway Camp
a horror/comedy - The Final Girls ( hence the classic slasher viewing)
a spirit/ghost based - Sinister

thoughts on this line up?? i'd love suggestions too. no one in the group has seen any of the films. Not neccessarily looking for the best movie in the series, just ones to "scare" non-horor loving people that are good and keep their attention. I'm skipping Friday 1+2 because they don't have you classic hockey mask Jason that normal folks associate with the franchise...friends picked sinister, so i cant not show it...but ive read good things...happy with impressions of TFG so far.

should be a good night.
 
Long post time, I've got to catch up.

10. Misery

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"God I love you."

The decision to throw this on my list is purely an audible call after Cinemassacre included it in their lineup. After watching their video I realized that while I'd probably seen majority of the film and know its beats pretty well, I in fact had never watched it in its entirety. What I was treated to was a tense and extremely claustrophobic horror film featuring a very memorable villain. The villain of course was played by Kathy Bates in a role that actually won her the academy award, which is no small feat for a horror film. Speaking of which, this is one of those films that is often debated whether it is really horror or not. To make such a claim is entirely subjective, but there is no doubt in my mind that this is absolutely horror. I understand that a few scenes pertaining to more gore were cut from the novel when adapting the film to screen. The horror nut inside me would love to see these scenes adapted but they are above all not necessary to tell this story. You have to wonder if these scenes were cut so the film would be taken more seriously by voters for awards season. The only real issue I have with the film is that I believe the ended is a bit abrupt. I understand that many Stephen King novels have issues with the ending so this isn't a surprise I guess (I've only read one King novel in my life). I don't really have anything to add as I'm sure most of you have probably seen this film as it is very popular. I will mention that Misery did contain a scene which is probably the most terrifying moment I've experienced so far this October. The scene
is the reveal of her past crimes and murders. Just knowing that you are stuck with this women and with the knowledge of what she has done and what she will probably do to you. Shudder....

8.5/10

11. Don't Torture a Duckling

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My apologies to Lord_Balkan, it might seem that I'm being particularly hard on his favorite Fulci despite the fact that I still liked it.

First off, I'm in love. Her name is Barbara Bouchet and I will build a time machine and marry her. Secondly, Lucio Fulci has quite an eye for visuals. DTaD along with Zombie are some of the more eye popping gorgeous films I've seen this month. I also admired the soundtrack as I wrote in my notes "music choices are aces". The combination of the visuals and music were very effective in one certain death scene, I will cover more on this is just a moment. Thirdly, I believe this film has some serious balls. Most films shy away from the murder
of children
, and that is what most of the death scenes portray.

Now to get to what I believe is the main issue in this movie. I didn't care about any of the characters. I found that there was no real lead protagonist to latch onto until about the last third of the picture. This isn't necessarily a flaw in itself, but in a horror film when a slew of people are getting murdered I feel that it's more effective if I care about them. I also want to add that just because this aspect of the film didn't work for me, it is perfectly ok if it works for you. Opinions/subjective and all that jazz. I'm about to get into spoiler territory,
the beginning of DTaD follows three young boys who are mischievous but above all....boys. Before I can start learning more about them they are killed off. Their death scenes are disturbing but now I'm looking for more characters to latch onto. I feel that the characters I'm looking for may be Martelli or Patrizia but they remain underutilized until much later in the story. Around this point it is revealed that La Magiara has confessed to the crimes but what the investigators larn is that she only cursed the boys and didn't actually physically murder. While she is a shitty person for doing so she is not actually guilty of murder. This takes us to one of the centerpieces of the DTaD with the murder of Magiara. I had a problem with scene as I felt dwelling on the murder for so long did not serve the plot whatsoever. Taken by itself it is a very emotional scene displaying the horrors of violence and the switch from the rock music in the background to the Italian ballad only intensifies the scene. This choice in addition to the cemetery setting gives us a very artistic look at murder, but I just couldn't understand why a big part of the films runtime was dedicated to it.

It is after this moment that the focus is given to our two main leads who turn out to be Martelli and Patrizia. Patrizia up to this point has been used as a suspect for commiting the murders which is very common for a giallo. Still yet, I found myself wishing that focus was given to these two characters together much earlier, but now I'm starting to stray into one of my least favorite of film criticisms. That is when a critic is unable to judge a film by it's own merits and instead are judging it for not being what they wanted the film to be. This leads me to believe that I may be missing the point of DTaD, but as it stands I still have an issue with the lack of a main character. After Martelli and Patrizia get together it's smooth sailing all the way to the finale. The killer is finally revealed and even though I predicted this reveal I do not consider that a flaw. I found the reveal chilling for the killer's motive.

The last thing I'm going to focus on for this review is the death scene of the killer. I’m normally quite lenient when it comes to the visual effects of older films. I can view them and judge them as of their time and how they hold up against other films released from their era. For example, the exploding head in Dawn of the Dead. I can tell easily that a very fake head is being used, however with some quick clever editing the effect works. That being said, I know what Fulci was going for with the dummy at the end, and the gore on the dummy looks great, but the dummy itself is absolutely awful. It's great in a cheesy hilarious sort of way, but I don't think that was Fulci's intention. To close out, this a film I look forward to revisiting in the future. I'm very conflicted with it and have even had trouble writing some of my opinions on it in this very review. I will probably warm up to it as time goes by, but as it stands now I feel that Don't Torture a Duckling is a good giallo that carries some heavy flaws.

7.5/10

12. Alice Sweet Alice (Communion)

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"Maybe you’re afraid god will send Saint Michael to take another of your loved ones."

This is another flick that has been on my list for years and even tried watching it before. I rented it from Netflix last year but I was sent a broken disc. Now that I finally got around to it I found it ironic that I was watching another film with a heavy catholic theme right after watching Don't Torture a Duckling. The verdict is that Alice Sweet Alice is a very under appreciated film which deals with the themes of growing up, grief, family instability, guilt, god, and murder. From the opening credits we are treated to an atmosphere that is very haunting highlighted from a music score that is dark as well as beautiful. Check it out here. While this establishes a creepy mood the movie is actually full of very dark comedy. It's quite funny at times while visually the film shows 1960 New Jersey in a way that reminds me of a giallo.

As for Alice herself, we are given misdirection to really make us believe that she is the killer. I've got to say that I fell for it and the film was very smart to only show the killer while she is crouching or from certain angles, it doesn't let us see how much taller the killer actually is than Alice herself. Alice is actually quite the little shit but is the type of character that you will easily feel sorry for. She's trying to overcome many issues all this while beginning to grow through puberty. I also noticed that by the end of the story Alice still doesn't get to take communion despite her trying multiple times throughout the film. Maybe the film is trying to say that Alice's possible future sins will be washed away from taking communion, but that isn't meant to be. All is not right in Alice's head by the end of the picture as shown in a final shot that is remarkably similar to the final shot of The Omen (I looked it up, they were released months apart). As mentioned previously the catholic theme is very apparent and like Don't Torture a Duckling it partly motivates the killer. Mrs. Tredoni is the kind of killer who believes that she is actually purifying the world around her by removing the filth within it. She is a victim of tragedy as her daughter was taken from her. She believes god punished her perhaps for having a child out of wedlock which is why she pursues Alice and her mother who's is guilty of the same sin. It's crazy how religious fanatics make such great villains. Alice Sweet Alice is a very chilling proto-slasher with a great use of camera movement, color, and sound. I hope it gets the HD treatment sometime in the future, and hopefully some more exposure. It's a great film.

Warning: there may or may not have been a scene that featured animal abuse. I didn't know about it beforehand and I can't really find an answer online.

8.5/10
 
19. A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988): Definitely a major downgrade from the third movie, but still has some good moments. The bug lady was the highlight of the film, and Freddy's "death" was pretty fun. Overall this is starting to get a bit stale and the line between dreams and reality are getting so muddled that the whole premise which makes Freddy great is being undermined. It seems like the best you can hope for from these movies at this point is some fun kills and little else.
 
14. The Fall of the House of Usher. Another solid Corman/Price team up taking on a Poe classic. It was interesting to note how structurally similar PIt and the Pendulum was to this to the point where Pit felt like it was a tweaked reimagining of this almost. But there were differences. For starters the protagonist was ever so slightly more charismatic than the lump of wood in Pit. It also exchanges a castle for a mansion, and has more of slower, menacing build up to it than the madcap insanity of Pit. I can't say which of the two I liked better. This was the stronger story overall, but Pit and the Pendulum is more fun thanks to the crazier aspects of it. Both are great though.
 
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#09 - The Cell (2000)
Director Singh has a immaculate eye for beautiful and unique imagery, and he uses the medium of film to paint a gorgeous picture. I also feel like the concept of the story is quite interesting and has a lot of potential, but unfortunately it never really takes off and falls flat quickly. 5.5/10
 
on a bit of a down mood today and ive already watched my go to happy film once this month so its onto the king of the zombie movie with #15 Dawn Of The Dead
 
I was curious about Goosebumps since they have two-parters, I know what the rules say...
- TV series (The Walking Dead, American Horror Story, Halloween themed episodes of sitcoms, etc) do not count - please do not include them in your tally. You may discuss them as "extra credit" if you view them along with your full movies.
- TV series consisting of stand alone short films (such as Masters of Horror) are allowed as long as they meet the 45 minutes or longer time requirement.
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The two parts together classify as 45 minutes and are independent of each episodes.
Was thinking about watching some before the movie Friday. If they don't count, then I will do it as a bonus, ha ha.
 
11) Below

I'm a sucker for a movie with Bruce Greenwood in it. Add in it's a haunting taking place on a sub and I'm totally intrigued. It starts out interesting, but something about it just kind of drags out by the end. It's also pretty predictable. It seemed like it could have been done better with the concept they had.

12) Oculus

I enjoyed this one. I've seen other people complain about it, but it was entertaining to sit through and trying to figure out what was real and what wasn't. I was pretty satisfied with how it ended too.
 
Marty Chinn said:
12) Oculus

I enjoyed this one. I've seen other people complain about it, but it was entertaining to sit through and trying to figure out what was real and what wasn't. I was pretty satisfied with how it ended too.
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I enjoyed this one a lot. I was surprised to see a lot of complaints, but you can't please everyone.
 
16 – Creep (2004)

“Please don’t hurt me I’ll do anything you want.”

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Not the mandatory movie of the same name, this Creep is the tense, bloody story of a woman who finds herself trapped after hours in the London underground. Her anxious frustration at being locked in soon turns to fear when she discovers she is very definitely not alone.

I really enjoyed this. I’ve seen the film unfairly dismissed as simply another genre pot-boiler, but the characters are too well developed for that to be the case, and the acting throughout is far too good. In particular, Sean Harris’ performance is exceptional – making a
subterranean mutant psychopath surgically recreating scenes from his horrible childhood
both believable and sympathetic must be a tough job, but Harris manages it with apparent ease. The film’s deft handling of its backstory is another mark in its favour, as is its refusal to fall back on jump scare clichés.

Verdict: Short, sharp and shocking. Very definitely worth a watch.
 
I'm a little late to the party, but I've gotten into my regular stretch of marathoning Nightmare on Elm Street. I've never asked for similar movies, as I'm looking for some blu ray horror pick ups relatively similar to this. I like each of the Nightmare films, so recommendations may be plenty.

I love most horror films I've seen, but am really bad at picking out ones I'm not familiar with.

I'm also a big fan of the other obvious ones (Halloween, Friday the 13th, etc..).
 
Tenebre is kind if a weird movie. I've never seen a giallo before so this was a new experience. Not sure I'm totally on board with this style of movie but it was different. I will say three and a half hearts for a score.

Double feature tonight...Final Girls is fucking awesome...four sets of virgin boobs at slasher camp.
 
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.
 
October 15

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Judging by the title of the film, there's a sense that the studio never really knew what to make of Let's Scare Jessica to Death. With its highly atmospheric visuals, experimental soundtrack, and a tricky story that mixes genres, it doesn't really lend itself very well to easy classification, lacking in the simple pleasures of more typical horror fare at the time and relying more on mood. Even the cast really doesn't fit the typical mold of a horror lineup, with them looking like average Joes, to the point where they look like actual people. With the title and a look at the advertising, I don't think Paramount had much faith in it, hence the more lurid title and trying to sell it as a film that it wasn't. After watching it, there's definitely a sense that it was always going to be destined for later appreciation than what it would have been able to muster initially, as the surprising mix of genres, including psychological terror, mystery, a bit of haunted house and another that I would leave to the viewer to discover for themselves, ensures it as a strange pill to swallow alone, but I found myself having an easy time digesting it, as it finds a strong, consistent tone to maintain throughout that strings everything together in a satisfactory way. A lot of it is helped by the inspired visuals, which captures that lovely look of nature in the transition between summer and fall, with lush and lovely lighting and the rolling fog that threatens to consume all. Even when it's aiming for dread, it's a gorgeous film to look at. That cast also helps make the film believable, as each actor feels comfortable with each other to acting rather naturally, with Zohra Lampert as the title character being a standout with having to juggle Jessica's recent troubles as she finds her small triumphs being thwarted by the way her new home seems to be working against the progress she's made, making it hard for her to distinguish between reality and her own fracturing mind. You're always rooting for her, even when it starts looking bad, given the film a good emotional attachment that you seldom see. It's not all super successful, as the experimental score can swing wildly from appropriate to wildly overbearing, and there is a sense that perhaps the filmmakers did want to make some concessions for more traditional filmgoers by making damn sure that a twist is set up endlessly in advance, as well as being a touch too overzealous with the hushed voice overs, even as the visuals drive the growing disorientation just fine without them, but it's a big winner for me overall as being a rather intelligent and effective display of creeping terror that is very comfortable with just sneaking up on you than trying to scare your pants right off. It's not a surprise that it's not the most popular film even now, but it feels comfortable as the kind of film that waits for someone to stumble upon it, not knowing what to expect. It may not be focused on immediately impressing, but even now as I type this out, I find myself going back to it in my mind, and it seems to linger for all the right reasons.

Film for October 16: Maybe The Wicker Man? Maybe something else? I dunno, I guess we'll see!
 
More!

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#18. Knock Knock (2015)

Viewed On: VOD

Holy shit, this was something else. As I've seen others mentioning, this is the best Nick Cage film in years (by Keanu obviously). His performance is so out of left field in this one. This film draw a great line between being hilarious but still has it creepy, enthralling moments. It plays out more like a home-invasion sexploitation/revenge thriller more than the straight up gore horror that Roth is known for. There are so many quotable parts to this movie, one rant in particular my Mr. Reeves... I would recommend to those who have enjoyed Eli Roth films in the past, but to many of his detractors...well this film is still pretty absurd so you may want to stay away. But it's so good, and not even in an ironic "haha bad movies are funny" way

I give this film 5 bags of popcorn (out of 5)

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#19. The Tortured (2010)

Viewed On: Netflix

This film's a weird one. It can be pretty easy to write this one off as "torture porn." I kind of hate that term when used to describe actually solid, worthwhile films like Martyrs or Hostel. This film probably still isn't worth that label, but it does focus the whole film around the torture of a certain person and takes up pretty much the entire middle chunk of the film. This film is incredibly singular and is just REVENGEREVNEGEREVENGE. It starts off seeming like a film version of the fantasies of those people that believe in vigilantism and "taking matters into your hands". It pretty much has that same singular tone up until the end, which is kind of "oh..." I feel weird saying I actually enjoyed this film overall, but it worked in some way...

I give this film 3 bags of popcorn (out of 5)

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#20. Skinwalker Ranch (2013)

Viewed On: VOD

A solid little found footage horror film that went completely unnoticed a couple of years ago. If you dislike found footage..well this one's not going to change your mind on the genre. I think I liked its setting the best of all. For some reason, I really like extra-terrestrial shit in rural midwest, I don't know! This one pretty much re-uses the Paranormal Activity formula. Strange things happening to a family, special paranormal team comes to house, set up extensive security and paranormal activity recording equipment, creepy shit starts happening, bumps in the night, crazier shit starts happening, uncover larger plot as to why these things are happening, clunky ending. It works pretty well in this setting and surprisingly this film tries to combine aspects from other horror films...monster movies..possession..etc. Solid

I give this film 3 bags of popcorn (out of 5)

My watched list so far
 
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.
 
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14) Deadly Friend (1986) (Oct 14)

For my second Wes Wednesday, I decided to go with Deadly Friend and see what that infamous basketball GIF was about.

Deadly Friend is post A Nightmare on Elm Street Craven and it shows. He's definitely honed his skills and we have a much more attractive looking movie than my previous Craven viewing, Swamp Thing.

Originally Craven and his screenwriter had planned on the film being a PG-rated Sci-fi thriller, however after poor test screenings of his original version, the studio forced Craven to go back and add a series of gore sequences in order to make it a horror movie. Can you imagine a studio making a director go in and add gore these days? Times sure have changed.

The studio's interference results in a silly, disjointed feeling movie. I greatly enjoy movies that feel very of their time though and this one has the stink of the 80s all over it. There's no way a movie this absurd would be made today unless it was a blatant attempt at making something bad, like an Asylum feature.

So while it may not be a good movie, it's a fun ride just for the ridiculousness of it all.

Rating:
vSgJVjd.png

out of 5 Michaels from Burial Ground: The Nights of Terror.
 
Ridley327 said:
October 15



Judging by the title of the film, there's a sense that the studio never really knew what to make of Let's Scare Jessica to Death. With its highly atmospheric visuals, experimental soundtrack, and a tricky story that mixes genres, it doesn't really lend itself very well to easy classification, lacking in the simple pleasures of more typical horror fare at the time and relying more on mood. Even the cast really doesn't fit the typical mold of a horror lineup, with them looking like average Joes, to the point where they look like actual people. With the title and a look at the advertising, I don't think Paramount had much faith in it, hence the more lurid title and trying to sell it as a film that it wasn't. After watching it, there's definitely a sense that it was always going to be destined for later appreciation than what it would have been able to muster initially, as the surprising mix of genres, including psychological terror, mystery, a bit of haunted house and another that I would leave to the viewer to discover for themselves, ensures it as a strange pill to swallow alone, but I found myself having an easy time digesting it, as it finds a strong, consistent tone to maintain throughout that strings everything together in a satisfactory way. A lot of it is helped by the inspired visuals, which captures that lovely look of nature in the transition between summer and fall, with lush and lovely lighting and the rolling fog that threatens to consume all. Even when it's aiming for dread, it's a gorgeous film to look at. That cast also helps make the film believable, as each actor feels comfortable with each other to acting rather naturally, with Zohra Lampert as the title character being a standout with having to juggle Jessica's recent troubles as she finds her small triumphs being thwarted by the way her new home seems to be working against the progress she's made, making it hard for her to distinguish between reality and her own fracturing mind. You're always rooting for her, even when it starts looking bad, given the film a good emotional attachment that you seldom see. It's not all super successful, as the experimental score can swing wildly from appropriate to wildly overbearing, and there is a sense that perhaps the filmmakers did want to make some concessions for more traditional filmgoers by making damn sure that a twist is set up endlessly in advance, as well as being a touch too overzealous with the hushed voice overs, even as the visuals drive the growing disorientation just fine without them, but it's a big winner for me overall as being a rather intelligent and effective display of creeping terror that is very comfortable with just sneaking up on you than trying to scare your pants right off. It's not a surprise that it's not the most popular film even now, but it feels comfortable as the kind of film that waits for someone to stumble upon it, not knowing what to expect. It may not be focused on immediately impressing, but even now as I type this out, I find myself going back to it in my mind, and it seems to linger for all the right reasons.

Film for October 16: Maybe The Wicker Man? Maybe something else? I dunno, I guess we'll see!
Click to expand...

Yeah, great movie. There's a little niche of 60s/70s eerie dreamlike & atmospheric horror (more haunting than horror, really) that I really dig; movies like Images, The Changeling, The Innocents, Picnic at Hanging Rock, and Don't Look Now. And even though it might skew toward a different crowd, I feel like Repulsion fits along with these movies as well.
 
Splatterpunk said:
Yeah, great movie. There's a little niche of 60s/70s eerie dreamlike & atmospheric horror (more haunting than horror, really) that I really dig; movies like Images, The Changeling, The Innocents, Picnic at Hanging Rock, and Don't Look Now. And even though it might skew toward a different crowd, I feel like Repulsion fits along with these movies as well.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I love that sort of thing. Unfortunately I feel like I'm running out of good ones that I haven't watched. If anyone has any suggestions, that would be cool.
 
mariachi507 said:
11. Don't Torture a Duckling

First off, I'm in love. Her name is Barbara Bouchet and I will build a time machine and marry her.
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She's claimed another one, boys!

Now you have to start on the Edwige Fenech gialli and wonder why anyone ever allowed the 70s to end.

Edit: Man, I gotta rewatch Misery too. Loved that as a kid. I even did a book report on the novel back in 8th grade.
 
I should really watch some more giallo since it's been a while and I love the genre, but I don't consider them horror movies so I'll wait for next month.

#14 The Lazarus Effect (2015)
I very much liked the ideas behind, and the beginning of the movie which made me think of a more serious version of Re-Animator, and I like Mark Duplass, and they were playing Catan in one of the earlier scenes... but it took a turn for the worst in the second half and it just devolved into nonsense. A bit of a missed opportunity.

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Kind of pushing it with horror (much more of a thriller) but I'm a flop and falling behind so I'll take it. Fantastic cinematography and atmosphere but I wish there weren't so many unresolved plotlines. I'll have to check the play out sometime.

OP
 
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