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31 Days of Horror 7 |OT| The October Movie Marathon

Rewatched Cropsey, true crime can sometimes honestly be the most horrifying.

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https://letterboxd.com/tculturevulture/list/spooky-season-2017/
 
8. Graveyard Shift (1990)

Stephen King related stuff continues... This is a sold small budget monster flick, creature design is good and used sporadically as it should , characters aren't much to write home about and the story is whatever, made in 190 but definitely has that 80s Paramount Horror movie look (specifically it just kind visually reminded me of F13). It's alright. Not much else to say.
 

Ridley327

Member
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#04 - Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)

The Final Chapter. This is it. The last of the Friday the 13th movies. I did it. Blood, sweat and tears. It was a long journey, but I finally made i— Holy shit is that Corey Feldman?!

There's a slight change in approach and set-up to this movie compared to the others, but it isn't for long until it falls into the same patterns as it's predecessors. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but certain aspects of it are getting stale. So what has changed? There's more nudity, more sex, more killing, more gore (with some amazing makeup and effects) but also less effort to improve or develop the series. All in all, this isn't the worst, but it's not terribly exciting either.

Finally; Oh boy, that Crispin Glover dancing scene was quite something.

5/10

Well, there's good news and there's bad news about the next entry.

The good news is that it does mix things up quite a bit in terms of the premise.

The bad news is that... well, you'll see.
 
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#04 - Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)

The Final Chapter. This is it. The last of the Friday the 13th movies. I did it. Blood, sweat and tears. It was a long journey, but I finally made i— Holy shit is that Corey Feldman?!

There's a slight change in approach and set-up to this movie compared to the others, but it isn't for long until it falls into the same patterns as it's predecessors. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but certain aspects of it are getting stale. So what has changed? There's more nudity, more sex, more killing, more gore (with some amazing makeup and effects) but also less effort to improve or develop the series. All in all, this isn't the worst, but it's not terribly exciting either.

Finally; Oh boy, that Crispin Glover dancing scene was quite something.

5/10



If you don't like The Final Chapter, I might just suggest watching Part 6 and then quit the series. The Final Chapter is most people's favourite.
 
7. The Invisible Man (James Whale, 1933)

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James Whale clearly had the whole Universal horror thing down pat, because this is another excellent entry. It’s a little over an hour of Claude Rains being a maniacal lunatic pulling off crimes with all sorts of cool special effects, and it’s just as fun as it sounds. I wish they had angled a little harder into the tragic struggle of the character losing his mind and becoming a monster, but pure egomaniacally drive evil is okay too when it’s this much fun. I thought the invisible man sounded kind of lame, but this movie makes a great case for him being in the upper echelon of menacing movie monsters.

My favorite of all the Universal Monster Movies. It's always fun to remind people that the Invisible Man killed more people in one film than all of the Universal Monsters combined.
 
Lucio Fulci Double Feature!

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05) Touch of Death (Quando Alice ruppe lo specchio) (1988) (Oct 5)

I went into Lucio Fulci's Touch of Death as a warm up for my next movie (since that uses footage from this) so I really didn't have any expectations and IMDb's description sounded promising enough.

After a strong gross-out intro the movie dives head first into a black splatter comedy. It's really, really silly but actually pretty enjoyable. Unfortunately, it has 3 or 4 completely different ideas of what it wants to be and they never come together to form one cohesive flow, causing the movie to completely fall apart in its second half.

So what we have here is half of a fun movie and then a bunch of ambitious ideas that are never fully utilized for the other half. A couple of bonkers kills make it worth checking out for Fulci faithfuls, but I wouldn't recommend it otherwise.

Rating:
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out of 5 Bub salutes. (2.5 is considered average on this scale)


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06) A Cat in the Brain (Un gatto nel cervello) (1990) (Oct 6)

"Now you say the first manifestations of your illness have been the fear of hamburger and gardeners."

Say what you'd like about the overall quality of Lucio Fulci's output, you can't deny he wasn't afraid of trying different things. In A Cat in the Brain, Fulci plays a fictionalized version of himself who has become haunted by the images he films for the screen. When real killings begin to happen, he cannot decipher what is real and what is fiction.

Mixing new footage and existing footage from movies he's either directed or presented, Fulci weaves a dizzying tale that is just as confusing to the viewer as his character. Having only seen Touch of Death myself and not the other 5 movies used, it's hard to tell where the film's reality begins and where it ends making it easy to relate with his character.

While not perfect (the ending definitely could have been handled better), this is an interesting black comedy and I'd recommend it for experienced viewers of Italian horror. I would not recommend it for a jumping in point to new viewers though.

Rating:
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out of 5 Bub salutes. (2.5 is considered average on this scale)

Now I have to watch all those other movies he took footage from!
 

Wanderer5

Member
5. Devil's Backbone

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Man, this really packed a punch later on in the movie on a emotional level, with a lot of strong moments. The ghost aspect wasn't quite in the foreground as much I thought it would be, but its place in the movie whenever it did was generally pretty effective. Another hit from Guillermo del Toro, which reminds me that I still haven't seen a few of his films (like having not seen Pan's Labyrinth fully yet).
 
Took last night off to start our rewatch of Stranger Things. It's been a rough first week, having started with the stellar I Saw the Devil and having things steadily decline from there.

Hoping to make a comeback with Ringu (FTV) and Vacancy (of my personal favorites of all-time) tonight.
 

aravuus

Member
Yesterday was too hectic for horror movies so I had to skip day six, but I'm back so..

Day Seven: 10 Cloverfield Lane

Kinda unexpected if I'm being honest, but I loved it. I should've watched this when it came out. I was spoiled on some major things.

I'm a bit iffy on the final 15 minutes, though.
I love the alien reveal, but I hated the random action sequence after Michelle managed to escape the bunker. I wish it had either ended the moment she saw the alien ship coming towards her, or with her missing the aliens completely when she came out of the bunker, and she would've jumped into a car, started to drive wherever and hear the radio shit about Houston and then it would've led into the ending shot that I just loved - a wide shot of her driving towards Houston, with thunder on the background revealing a massive alien ship.

Also John Goodman is fucking great. I really wish I'd see him more in (good) movies.

Admittedly, a lot of my enjoyment might be due to the fact that I've been drinking some pretty strong beer while watching the movie. In fact, I'm probably gonna be pretty hungover tomorrow so I might not feel like watching horror movies, but I'll try my best. Still got about half a liter of Chimay Blue for tomorrow so maybe I'll manage.
 
I wish I had the time to commit to this but two kids under four makes it very difficult.

Here's what I'm trying to make it through by Halloween:

Beetlejuice
We Are Still Here
Hush
Lights Out
Train to Busan
The Gift
It comes at night

Watched Train to Busan last night. Wasn't too scary but a really well done zombie film. A lot of fun.

Some of my recent favorites are It Follows, The Innkeepeers and The House of the Devil - any one have suggestions if I really liked those? I really dig movies with a real autumn vibe and tone.
 

Toa TAK

Banned
Day 7

7. Under the Shadow

I feel like this is the movie I had hoped The Babadook to be. I was far more interested in the immediate setting of the characters here and I thought seeing less of the Djinn and the simpler attacks (psychological and otherwise) were effective. I like how it plays off their culture at large as well, the women in it and how it's constantly coming after them as well. It's clever in that regard, I think (in my ignorant American mind). BUT, like The Babadook, the kid in the middle of it all is incredibly annoying, but that's really the only ding against, and it's not enough to seriously knock it against the film if I had to rate in some pointless rating system. I watched the film in its native language with English subtitles.
 
7. The Invisible Man (James Whale, 1933)

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James Whale clearly had the whole Universal horror thing down pat, because this is another excellent entry. It’s a little over an hour of Claude Rains being a maniacal lunatic pulling off crimes with all sorts of cool special effects, and it’s just as fun as it sounds. I wish they had angled a little harder into the tragic struggle of the character losing his mind and becoming a monster, but pure egomaniacally drive evil is okay too when it’s this much fun. I thought the invisible man sounded kind of lame, but this movie makes a great case for him being in the upper echelon of menacing movie monsters.
My favorite of all the Universal Monster Movies. It's always fun to remind people that the Invisible Man killed more people in one film than all of the Universal Monsters combined.
Might have to check this out based on that poster alone
 

Divius

Member
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#05 - Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)

If anything, I guess it is admirable that they tried to do something new and different with this one, but let’s be honest here … it does not work, unfortunately. The characters are lame and uninteresting, the setting is basically non-existent and there’s just no joy in the movie whatsoever. Both the direction and editing are poor as well. At least Jason is still kicking ass and helping us get rid of these annoying characters.

I heard the next one is better, so I remain hopeful.

4/10
 

zeemumu

Member
7. The Thing(1982)

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One of my favorite creature films with some of the best practical effects I've ever seen. Every instance of the thing looks different and finds a new and exciting way to make you say "That's not supposed to be there!" There's an overarching sense of dread and anxiety as your trapped in this tiny confined space with something that wants to eat you and take you over. The Thing is something that can't really be recreated using CGI because it loses the visceral feeling of body horror that the original had when you can tell that the stuff isn't actually there. I wish they'd come out with that The Thing board game already.

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#05 - Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)

If anything, I guess it is admirable that they tried to do something new and different with this one, but let's be honest here ... it does not work, unfortunately. The characters are lame and uninteresting, the setting is basically non-existent and there's just no joy in the movie whatsoever. Both the direction and editing are poor as well. At least Jason is still kicking ass and helping us get rid of these annoying characters.

I heard the next one is better, so I remain hopeful.

4/10

I watched Part 6 a few nights back. It was one of the better entries in the series.
 
bUsmtzb.png

#05 - Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)

If anything, I guess it is admirable that they tried to do something new and different with this one, but let’s be honest here … it does not work, unfortunately. The characters are lame and uninteresting, the setting is basically non-existent and there’s just no joy in the movie whatsoever. Both the direction and editing are poor as well. At least Jason is still kicking ass and helping us get rid of these annoying characters.

I heard the next one is better, so I remain hopeful.

4/10

Part 6 is the most creative and fun of the series so hopefully that one works for you. It all goes downhill afterwards though.
 

halfbeast

Banned
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Halloween - can't have a horror marathon without the classic. if you like some trivia on the side, watch it with the RLM commentary track.

also, prepping for Halloween 2, I've only seen that one once and that was 10 years ago.

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Cult of Chucky - this one's a bit weird. I had a hard time following the plot because I couldn't remember a single thing from the last movie (curse of chucky, I believe?). at times the doll looks cheaply made, some proportions were off. then in other scenes it looked rather impressive!

I'm guessing, if you watched all the others before, chances are you're going to watch this one as well. I enjoyed it, but wouldn't watch it again.
 
1. (New) Jason Goes to Hell (Vudu) Overall - boo
2. (New) Trick 'r Treat (Blu) - Overall - Yay!
3. (Rewatch) From Dusk Till Dawn (hulu) Overall - Yay!
4. (Rewatch) The Faculty (hulu) - Overall - Yay!
5. (New) My Bloody Valentine (3d Blu) - Overall - yay.
6. (Rewatch) Sleepaway Camp 3 (vudu movies on us) - when I'm working I can sometimes have movies on. The Sleepaway Camp sequels are a favorite of mine for this. I enjoy 2 the most but it was bugging out yesterday so I put on 3 which takes place partially on Saturday the 14th. Overall - Yay
7. (New) Tag (Netflix) I actually thought from the trailer that this wouldn't count in the list but it was a much different movie than I was sold on. It had its moments but overall I was looking for something in the Battle Royale vein and wound up down a rabbit hole I didn't care about. Overall -Boo with random yays
8. (New) Pumpkinhead (Amazon prime) Overall 5/10
9. (Rewatch) Final Destination 5 (3-D Blu) man I love this series. I love to use the beginning death sequence to show the 3-D part of my tv off. The kills and the variation on the death rules are fun and there's always that ending. Overall- Yay!
10. (Rewatch) Piranha 3-D (3-D Blu) this has everything, Jerry O'Connell as a perfect Girl's Gone Wild Host, Adam Scott on a jet ski with a shotgun, and Elizabeth Shue in a vertigo shot. I love ridiculous films with where Piranhas choke on breast implants. Overall- Yay!
11. (Rewatch) Sleepaway Camp 2 (Vudu on us) - I love the sequels to Sleepaway Camp because Angela is so fun. They're not scary ever but they are just silly Camp killing. Overall - Yay!
12. (Rewatch) Zombieland (blu) one of the fastest 90 whatever minutes a movie can offer. Great cast, over the top kills, and a truly great surprise cameo made this a favorite of mine and it's never gotten less fun. Overall - Yay!
13. (Rewatch) The 'Burbs (Arrow Blu) this is the first test of my new region free player and it's also another all time favorite. I think Joe Dante just understands what I want to see in a movie. Top notch cast, over the top neighborhood antics, and late night digging. If you've never seen it, see it if you haven't in a long time see it again. Overall - Yay!
 
OP

A big update since I've been watching a decent amount but slacking with posts on here. Hopefully this will be my biggest post and I won't make a habit of it.

---

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More of the same from Diary of the Dead quality wise. I honestly cannot believe that both of these were Romero films. :(

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Didn't intend to watch this one originally but had a change of plans the other night. The horror elements here left quite a bit to be desired but I enjoyed the cast and didn't have trouble sitting through this. I suppose I'll check for Part II when it releases.

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Surprisingly good after I was less than enthused with Curse of Chucky. I have polarizing Chucky/Child's Play opinions but this is probably forming a trinity for the series with Bride and Seed of Chucky for me. I wasn't a huge fan of how the dolls looked in this but it was a mostly minor complaint.

Not sure where things are going to go from here as this gets pretty wild but I'll be here for the next entry either way.

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I'm 0/4 with these Masters of Horror films so far. I'm going to keep trying though because I'm ugly and don't love myself.
 

zeemumu

Member
There's something that bugs me a little about Cult of Chucky

Spoilers for Chucky 5-7

As of Seed of Chucky, Tiffany has possessed the body of Jennifer Tilly, and is Jennifer Tilly in-universe. How the hell is she able to fool anyone with a fake name? Would Tommy Wiseau be able to fool you into thinking he just looked like Tommy Wiseau with a fake ID and nothing else?
 

Ithil

Member
My Universal trawl is almost over, soon it'll be Hammer time.

13) The Wolf Man (1941)

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I believe a man lost in the mazes of his own mind may imagine that he's anything.

Fog, it's everywhere, get used to it!

I had a great time with this entry, a truly moody, somber outing. In spite of not being based on any particular work like Dracula or Frankenstein, this was every bit as classic as those films. Wolf Man has a short runtime of just over an hour, but it takes a slow paced approach and packs quite a lot of development into that time. The actual werewolf doesn't appear until over halfway through the film, for instance.

I particularly liked the completely different approach to both the protagonist and monster compared to prior Universal entries. Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff were both charismatic and stylish, their distinctive faces and voices always stood out. They were natural fits for larger than life villains and monsters. By stark contrast, Lon Chaney Jr has a very ordinary, everyman face and voice. He's not melodramatic or hammy at any point. As a result his character of Larry truly feels like just a normal guy who is tragically cursed while trying to help someone being attacked by a werewolf. There is no villain in the film at all, and it's a refreshing approach. You can't call the werewolf that attacks Larry (played by Lugosi no less) a villain, as he was also just a regular man afflicted just the same.
The werewolf effects themselves are what they are, dated now, but not so dated that they don't work. What truly holds up however is the atmosphere; the foggy woods and streets are superbly shot and dripping with mood.

On a critcal note, this is one of those elements that perhaps was acceptable "at the time", but early in the film Larry is a tad overly forward with his love interest, to say the least. It's uncomfortable and sure as shit wouldn't fly now.

I haven't seen the 2010 remake, perhaps I'll watch it later in the month, but I doubt it will be superior. This is a classic for a reason, and it's essential viewing.

14) The Phantom of the Opera (1943)

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The artist has a special temperament, and he must live his life exclusively with those who understand it.

We have colour!

One of many adaptations of the Phantom of the Opera story, this is Universal's second version after the famous Lon Chaney silent version from 1925, and this takes full advantage of sound and colour. The film definitely has its strengths, mostly related to the terrific production design. Presented in classic Technicolour, the whole film looks lavish and beautiful, with luxurious costumes and sets befitting a film set in the Paris Opera. Apparently the primary opera house set was built around the same set made for the 1925 film, and it looks fantastic. There's two reasons I chose a picture of the stage for the film, and one of them is how great it looks (just check out that chandelier).

The other reason is quite frankly, most of the film takes place there. Here is where we hit the main flaw of this Universal Horror film, which is that it isn't a horror film. Rather than the scary Phantom of the Chaney film that was accurate to the original story, this is more of a musical romantic drama. In fact it's closer to the Andrew Lloyd Webber Broadway adaptation that wouldn't be written for decades. I would not be surprised to find this film was a big influence on the Webber adaption, down to the more sympathetic Phantom with half of his face disfigured, rather than the deformed Phantom of the original story.

There's no mystery presented about the Phantom, instead the first third of the film follows him as the unlucky protagonist, up until he is disfigured and becomes the Phantom. Claude Rains is reliably great as a guy who seems to exist to be shat on by everything in life, and he's portrayed very sympathetically, even after he goes wacko and starts murdering folks. The rest of the cast is adequate, but primarily they're there to sing.

As I said, this is more of a musical, as they show a number of lengthy opera songs throughout the film. They're very well sung and presented, but they do drag on a bit, as the pace slows to a crawl.

So can I recommend it? As a horror film for October? Not at all. But if you enjoy gorgeous costumes and sets with many opera numbers? Sure, check it out.
There have been several superior adaptations, however.
 
Day 7...

Evil Dead 2
A timeless classic that had simultaneously looked dated the same year it had released. Striking the perfect balance between dark comedy and gore horror, Evil Dead 2 was the film that cemented Bruce Campbell’s Ash as one of cinemas most beloved bad asses.

Tied for my favorite entry in the series (it’s competitor, Evil Dead 2013, being tomorrow’s pick), the film opens with a charming retrospective covering the first film’s events in a broad stroke. Not for the sake of catching the audience up to current events but because Raimi and co. couldn’t secure the rights to their very own film to draw clips from. This sort of humble, low budget, underdog charm radiates throughout with the endearing stop motion effects and buckets of fake blood poured by the gallon. It’s a massive cut above what Raimi had managed to achieve with the first film’s shoestring budget yet Evil Dead 2 continues to revel in pathetically cheap special effects, though that’s far from a negative - it’s all apart of the charm.

There’s not much that can be said about the film that hasn’t been repeated ad-nauseam other than the fact that Evil Dead 2 remains an undeniable classic in the horror genre. Dated, certainly - beloved regardless.

Evil Dead 2 always has been, forever will be, 10/10.
 

zeemumu

Member
8. Cult of Chucky
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Damn, no punches pulled on that movie. Chucky's new mechanic seems kinda broken at times but I guess it works since it was established ahead of time that he does weird shit. Poor
Andy
can't catch a break. I expected him to have a better plan than that, like
copying his own soul into the short hair doll to infiltrate the place and take Chucky down
. The setting really does enhance the story by keeping the viewer guessing (it's not very kind to the mentally ill though, like most horror films). Overall I'd say that this is the most I've ever liked a Chucky movie since I first saw Bride of Chucky. It was definitely worth checking out.
 

Roronoa Zoro

Gold Member
Day 7 and new movie #7

Back to the Friday the 13th sequels
These movies have really improved since 5. They just lean into the absurdity now and quickly get to Jason murdering. The psychic angle was not as entertaining as the last movie and its lightning bolt resurrection. The Forrest heart punch was my favorite kill.

I have been noticing the composer is the same on each one and with 8 movies so quickly he must have been making bank on this franchise
 

Steamlord

Member
There's an upcoming screening of Nosferatu with live organ accompaniment. I don't know if I'll be able to go but goddammit I'm going to try.
 
Any good Japanese horror recommendations?

Just finished watching Ju-on (The Grudge) for day 8 and am itching for more movies similar to it! :D
 
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#10 - Body Puzzle (FTV)

One of the movies on my list was removed from Shudder, so I replaced it with this average Giallo from Lamberto Bava. A serial killer is going around cutting out the organs from the people that his late lover donated to after he died. Some of the kills are decent, but some of them are just odd (how does a castration taking place in a pool end up bloodless?). I have to admit that I didn't see the twist coming. The ending wasn't very satisfying, yet it was also reminiscent of how the story started. Very average giallo.

5.5 too average and bland to make any clever rating puns out of 10
 

Endy MacK

Member
3. Splinter (new): I was browsing Shudder and just picked this one based on the description. Wow, I liked it a lot!

Without giving too much away, a group of people find themselves holed up in a gas station, trapped by a parasitic being outside. The characters are realistic, and very well acted. The movie has great pacing, and no bloat at all. Really a lot of fun to watch, and I highly recommend it. **4/5**



4. Gerald's Game (new): I didn't read up a lot on this one. I only knew that it was based on a Stephen King book, and it has been mentioned a lot in this thread. I enjoyed it, mostly for it being
a survival story with a huge focus on the human psyche. I feel torn about the end, though. I was not expecting the "reaper" to be real, and was a bit disappointed by that.
**3/5**



5. Cult of Chucky (new): Disclaimer: I didn't ever see Seed of Chucky or Curse of Chucky, so my opinion may be skewed. I really didn't enjoy this movie at all, other than a few chuckles at some of the Chucky lines. I felt a bit bored throughout, and didn't connect with the characters at all. **2/5**
 
Day 7: Don’t Torture a Duckling (first Fulci movie I’ve ever seen. That graveyard scene was harrowing) and Chopping Mall (a distinct lack of chopping in this one)

Day 8: IT (not much of a horror movie IMO, but it was fun in a Goonies sort of way), Cult of Chuckey (really drags in the middle, and I wish horror movies would move past treating mental illnesses this way), and Hatchet III (dumb gorefest...as expected)
 

GhaleonEB

Member
2) | Chopping Mall | via Amazon Prime streaming

That was awesome.

A three-level mall is set up with three heavily armed and armored robots to keep robbers out, the control tower is hit by lightening, and the quartet of horny teen couples trapped inside (via automatic steel security doors) are getting hunted all night.

An 80's horror flick if ever there was one, it embraces pretty much every applicable trope with enthusiasm. There's absolutely no fat as we get killer robots on the loose after <10 minutes of setup. There's boobs, there's the dumb jock, there are horny teens that bone and the shy nerdy couple does not (no points for guessing who makes it), there's Dick Miller as a janitor for exactly one scene, and a relentlessly chirpy synth soundtrack that is as its most upbeat when robots are chasing people.

There's a moment in this film where it just goes balls-out crazy, and it starts with an exploding head. The not so subtle Terminator references at the end were a nice touch.

I liked that the couples actually started out being smart and working together - starting with arming themselves to the teeth - before degenerating into the requisite idiocy that gets them killed one by one. My favorite moment involves the most level headed character going bananas when his girlfriend is killed. He mounts a kamikaze charge in...a mall scooter that goes about 5 MPH. He dives it about 10 feet. This results in a giant explosion and his death. It's fucking incredible.

Great fun.
 
Main Post! Lets do this!

1 | Alien: Covenant | New!
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Man not a good start to the month at all. You could spot the ending reveal coming at the end from miles away and I felt like it was all over the place. Not even sure if I can classify this as Sci Fi Horror.

2 | The Void | New!
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Much better! Got really cool Hellraiser vibes from the main villain at the end. Hopefully we get a sequel to explain the Abyss a bit better.

3 | The Visit | New!
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Such a bland and boring movie. The boy was annoying and the rapping was awful. The twist was neat though didn't see that coming but the movie real fell apart after it.

4 | Sinister | New!
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Very solid horror film although light on the actual scares. The super 8 snuff films were all very creepy and well done. Did not know which way the ending was going to go till it went down so I enjoyed that. I felt that it was better when we would just get small glimpses of the monster then when we actually saw him.

5| Train to Busan | New!
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Such a great zombie flick with a neat setting. The zombies reminded me a bit of 28 days later ones but a bit dumb down and a slightly bit slower. Great ending which tugged at the heart a bit. Can't wait to catch the animated prequel.

6 | Drag Me to Hell | New!
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Wasn't really sure what to expect when going into it. Thought it was a straight up horror film so was a bit thrown off when some cheesy stuff started going down like the blood erupting from her nose at the bank.Enjoyed it overall although at times it seemed more Scary Movie-esque then actual horror.
Great ending though with her fucking up the envelope part.

7 | I Saw the Devil | New? Maybe?
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Not quite sure if I watched this before or not but it felt vaguely familiar. Anyways awesome movie all around. More thriller then horror although some of the killings are brutal. The cat and mouse aspect of it is great.
Way too many mistakes on Kim's part especially with getting that other agent involved that let Kyung find out about the capsule.

8 | The House of the Devil | New!
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Well damn! Great movie. Pays amazing homage to the 80s and managed to keep the whole movie tense without doing much but exploring the life of the main character in a single day. Does take a while for the payoff and we don't actually get to experience the setting of the events until about halfway through the movie but it managed to hold my interest well enough into then.
Only disappointment was how quick the climax came and went. It took a while to get there and when it did it was over almost instantly. The ending does leave a cliffhanger for a sequel but I feel like any direction they take it in will be lame compared to this one.
This movie definitely has me eye balling other Ti West directed horror movies though. That along with Jocelin Donahue as she was great in this.

9 | The Innkeepers | New!
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I did not enjoy this one much at all. I found it very boring honestly. It started off slow like The House of the Devil also but the payoff wasn't quite there. The main characters were boring and there wasn't much to the story.
Also the ghosts seemed very underutilized for them to try and flesh out their story so much. Also weak cop out at the end with her having a asthma/heart attack. Just seems like Ti didn't know where to go next and just ended it.

10 | Willow Creek | New!
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So another movie with a lot of building up towards the ending and then it just falls flat completely. The world building wasn't very interesting, the found footage concept was even worse then usual and the characters left a lot to be desired.
So I'm guessing the Sasquatch was real and it was killing the men and using the women as mothers to make more? Kind of lame we never actually got to see what it looks like at all and the ending didn't really explain much of anything. Like did that guy that try to stop them know what was going on?

11 | The Devil's Rock | New!
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Nazi Occultism Horror movie sure why not. Surprisingly the movie was actually semi decent. The two main character interactions are solid and the plot isn't too bad. The monster itself leaves a bit to be desired but expected from a b-horror movie.
The main American commando is an idiot for kissing and toying around with the demon so much. Smart thinking I guess since grabbing the sacred verse to protect himself since he felt the need to have a makeout session with the demon in order to make sure it really wasn't his dead wife lol.


12| Halloween (1978) | Rewatch
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Always a pleasure rewatching this movie. Love how low key Michael just appears in the scenes. Jamie Lee Curtis is a blast to watch. The music alone is enough to rewatch this masterpiece.


13 | Halloween II (1981) | Rewatch
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Haven't watched this since the first time I watched it around 15 years ago and it flows so good of the ending of the first one.

14 | Halloween III: Season of the Witch | New!
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So this was alot better then I expected it to be. I had already heard all the negative critics around it and was told to skip it but decided how bad can it be. So I went in with the expectation of it not being a Michael Myers movie but just a general Halloween movie in general and honestly I really liked it alot. The main characters do a well enough job throughout the movie although they moved a bit too fast for my liking. The concept was cool and I would have loved if this was spun off into its own series on Halloween anthology films instead of them just going back to Michael Myers with 4. My main complain was the dumb ambitious ending and
how they kind of just dumped Ellie off. Did Cochran turn her into one of those android things or did he killer he and make a copy of her? Also if she was an android type thing then why did not stop Dr. Challis when he was sabotaging the factory? Just too many unexplained stuff when the movie ended


15 | The Thing (1982) | Rewatch!
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Decided to watch this due to the Halloween vs The Thing debate and this still holds up just as good as Halloween does. The special effects still look solid and Kurt Russel is a badass in this. I think I'm going to have to go with The Thing though. Just feels like such a tight and more balanced film all around. Not that its a knock against it but Halloween spawned off so many Slasher type movies that it kind of diluted the genre while The Thing just stands out on its own. Such a tough choice though and you can't gone wrong with either of them. Debating on watching Prince of Darkness and In The Mouth of Madness just due to the fact I have not seen them yet and have a nice hype effect going from rewatching The Thing.

16 | Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers | New!
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Average enough film with the twist putting it into slightly better standing. The actress that played Rachel carried most of the movie for me. Loomis great as always also. The house setting was decent until all the important people decided to leave for unimportant reasons. Also whats up with that horrible Mask. Also I take it his immortality also somehow healed his eyes.

17 | Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers | New!
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Nothing really great about this movie at all. You would think that at this point the town of Haddonfield would be a bit more prepared for Michael to come back like he always does. Found it a bit boring with Tina being the only decent character outside of Loomis. Also Michael's powers seem just completely dumb at this point. His teleportation or speed walking ability is ridiculous. Seems like everyone in the cast was just going through the motions in this one.

18 | Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers [Producer's Cut] | New!
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6 Years since that boys been back! So the mask looks semi decent in this one! Not sure how big of a difference there is between theatrical and producers cut but this Halloween was solid. Tommy Doyle was great in this and it was neat seeing a bit of how his life played out after his encounter with Michael. Enjoyed this one a bit more just due to the fact that they tried moving the series in a different direction besides the whole Michael comes back and slaughters people in Haddonfield again. We get a bit more explanation on why Michael is immortal and what drives him. Probably the best Halloween after the first Two.
 

sadromeo

Member
October 7, 2017:

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7 of 31 - Seoul Station

An animated prequel to Train to Busan.

A very well done animated movie that depicts what happens leading up to the events of Train to Busan. The movie centers around a young Korean girl estranged from her father and living with a boyfriend, who in trying to pay their rent, relies on pimping her out to make enough to live on. Little do they know that in there part of the city, the zombie apocalypse will soon begin...

In its own right, it is a fun, gory and horror filled Korean animated zombie movie. Now, if watching coming from Train, it is even better, knowing what everything leads up to and knowing kind of what to expect. There story takes interesting turns and what really is in the forefront are the characters and their relationships, much like Train. Certainly, if you enjoyed Train, you will most definitely enjoy this. I did very much. Not as good as Train but very good overall. -8/10
 

Hamoody

Member
7) Sinister 2012

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The story follows a true crime writer who has been struggling. He moves his family into a murder victim's home, to discover and write about the mystery of what happened.

The movie was pretty average, but what makes up for it, is Ethan Hawke's good acting, and the snuff movie tapes he discovers and plays using a Super 8 (
all of the tapes are generally creepy and disturbing, such as the "mowing the lawn" tape.

I recommend this film. Although it is pretty average, it is pretty entertaining and intense.
 
October 07
Film #9
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2


Fortunately, the second film in my Tobe Hooper in memoriam double bill is a huge step up from the mountainous pile of shit that was Eaten Alive. I quite enjoyed TCM2, but that's not surprising, because I'm a massive Rob Zombie fan.

I don't know what I was expecting from the film, but the comedy blueprint for Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses was not on the list. There are so many similarities between the two movies (and to a slightly lesser extent, Corpse's sequel, The Devil's Rejects, and the original TCM as well) that the influence is impossible to miss. In both movies we have
female characters being made to wear the flayed faces of male ones
, we have underground funhouse lairs, we have art and architecture made out of the bones and bodies of the dead, we have fucked up psycho families, we have the cop as a stetson wearing cowboy, and of course we have the magnificent Bill Moseley. The uncharitable might see this as more evidence that Zombie is a hack, and there's plenty of people who love to hate on him following his excellent
(yeah, that's right, I said it)
Halloween remake, but I prefer to think of it as an homage. Or possibly, Zombie was just trying to loosely remake TCM2 as a full-on horror movie.


Because for all it's lovely gore, this is a goofball comedy, with an emasculated Leatherface's capering chainsaw dance repeatedly played for laughs, his original menace entirely absent. Moseley's manic Chop-Top character is to me simultaneously repugnant and funny - as demonstrated by the moment you find out what he's actually doing with the lighter and the clothes-hanger - but I can see how some people would find him wildly irritating. And leading lady Caroline Williams ends up doing that much screaming it soon becomes a joke in itself. This splatstick vibe is so completely at odds with the gritty savagery of the original, it sometimes feels like Hooper is mocking his masterpiece, or perhaps even the fans who loved it. For instance,
the moment Dennis Hopper discovers Franklin's skeletal corpse, still wheelchair bound, really does feel like a pisstake.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed the film a lot.

Verdict: Fun but unexpected, for me at least. And who can really hate a movie that has a Stewart Copeland song playing over the end credits?

Films I've watched so far
 

sp3ctr3

Member
#1 Serial Mom
#2 [REC]2
#3. Bloodsucking Bastards
#4. Train to Busan
#5 It Follows
#6 Hush

#7 Lights Out
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I heard that people thought this movie was disappointing and bland. Going in I only saw the trailer in theaters (the lights on/off scene) and it creeped me out. Besides that I went in blind.

I REALLY liked it. I thought it was scary as shit. I've seen a lot of horror and nothing really phases me anymore but ghosts and darkness, and this is kind of both. Everytime the monster showed up I got goosebumps.

I don't know what it is but this tall slender, dark being/entity with glowing eyes. They way it moved and only stayed in the shadows was really scary to me.

Some great effects in the film with the light and darkness. A scene where a gun was fired or the red neon sign outside the building going on and off worked really well.
 

lordxar

Member
Saw 3 I've not seen all the Saw movies, hence why their on my October list, but I have watched through part 4 at the theater and its my understanding that this is the end of the series chronologically with the rest weaving in and around 1 thru 3. Actually with that thinking I liked this one a bit better than the first two although this one was a lot more sadistic than the first couple but with good reason. I also feel like this ended very well. The choreographed death sequences were well done and this does really feel like the pinnacle of the series so far.

I give this one three severed heads rolling down a hill.

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Saw 4 Did I watch this? I can't remember. Pretty sure I did. Looking at the synopsis on Wikipedia this sounds like I watched it but it just isn't memorable in any way shape or form. Normally I struggle to remember the previous film but I can recall parts of 3 far easier than I can from 4. Coincidentally this is also the entry I stopped at years ago. Quite honestly this feels like filler in the worst way. I'm sure there might be something that ties it back at some point but it really feels pointless.

I give this two middle fingers for being such a shitty entry.

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Edit: Part four is all I've ever seen as mentioned so it feels like a good time to lay down some thoughts. First off this series suffers from some weird frenetic editing at times. That weird strobe light, b movie edit that gets tossed in periodically just annoys the hell out of me and I believe part 3 might do the least of it which is most likely why it's my favorite entry so far. Second, these movies are not really that good. I used to love them but its interesting to see just how bad they really are looking back. The last thing is just how serious these are which I can see why this gets labeled torture porn so much.
 

gabbo

Member
#8 Lake Placid
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Well, that was a hell of a 90s Ass 90s monster movie. I was expecting more attempts at scares, but this was almost all about the humour. Only a few moments of tenson. I dunno, it ends up being enjoyable, but only once everyone stops overacting just enough to make me care about any of them. Brendan Gleeson always fun. Fun, but definitely not scary. Probably wouldn't watch again unless fiance is really jonesing for it.
 
9. The Dark Half 1993

Mediocre movie with one absolutely fantastic death scene that makes it worth watching. Hutton is great in a dual role and elevates this above where it normally might be, Micheal Rooker is charming as always. Some of the funniest looking bird effects and you could actually tell where the screen was split at times when Hutton had to be seen talking to himself
 

J-Roderton

Member
7. House of The Witch - Syfy original. Not bad. A group of teens get trapped in a house by a witch. Reminiscent of Grave Encounters, too.
 

gamz

Member
I didn't like Cult of Chucky as much as Curse, but I loved the nod to Rear Window and Depalma with the split screen and the Window death was beautiful. All in all it was a weirdly fun entry.


And the couple of post above me on Lights Out. I also enjoyed it a ton and feel it's underated.
 

Ridley327

Member
October 7


There are difficult pregnancies, and then there is Yanka's difficult pregnancy. While killer fetuses has become something of a surprisingly robust genre in recent years (for example, Prevenge is a recent installment and quite enjoyable for those that haven't seen it), I would have to imagine that Baby Blood was one of the first, if not the first itself. Here, we have what's at its heart a fun and gory B-movie that takes its premise and runs with it as far as it can travel. After bumming a ride on a leopard, our chatty creature finds a new home inside of Yanka, who promises to protect her as long as she's willing and able to give the creature its one source of nourishment: blood, and lots of it. Having to carry the creature to term, Yanka has to eke out a life on the run, taking up various odd jobs to support herself, all the while carrying out her sinister task.

While not high art, the film does have a firm feminist tone to it. As we meet Yanka, she's treated more as property by her employer than as a proper lover and certainly not as an equal, and it's hard not to read into the following interactions with the men of the film as being similarly charged on that front. It lends the film a darkly comedic edge to it that it may not have had otherwise, with each man wanting to sleep with Yanka and suffering greatly when her feelings and condition aren't also taken into consideration. The rapport between Yanka and her unborn entity also features a lot of funny moments, particularly as their relationship charts a course from "justifiably horrified that she's having to converse with a blood-thirsty creature living inside of her uterus" to "openly combative with one another, despite each one understanding how they need the other" to "begrudging respect for one another in the home stretch." It was an inspired decision to actually go all nine months for the story, and while there is a big skip after the halfway point to get the movie where it needs to go, the relationship still works well and gives the film an episodic feel that feels welcome.

The feminist tone is somewhat undermined in the early goings with how frequently actress Emmanuelle Escourrou runs around nude for the camera (it is a B-movie at heart, after all), but not enough to completely muddle the message. It's just that because it's a B-movie first and anything else second, it's not the kind of film one goes into looking for new and peering insight, aside from a finale that I do feel has an interesting read to it that feels like a proper culmination of what the film has been setting out to do on that front, if not exactly cathartic. I mentioned Prevenge earlier, and I feel like that's more the kind of film that I prefer on this topic, because while it does boast the gore that enthusiasts crave, its juggling of the pitch-black humor and insight into the pregnant woman's world felt much sharper and boasts a striking level of melancholy that you wouldn't expect from a film that has an unborn baby urging the heroine to slash a few throats. The effort is certainly appreciated here, and while I think it could have stood to be pushed harder, it does nevertheless give the film a nice edge to it that makes it a better film than it would have been as a more straightforward gore-fest. If it's not a smart film, then it is definitely a clever one that satisfies one more than front.


Black comedies rarely come as inescapable as Man Bites Dog. A mockumentary in concept, the film gets started right the hell away with its subject, the charming and smart Ben (played by co-director/co-writer Benoît Poelvoorde) begins his latest string of murders, excited that he gets to show the world what he does through his documentary crew (all played by the other co-directors/co-writers of the film, also using their names for their characters). While the violence is frequent, the film goes to great lengths to show the man behind them, as he goes about his interactions with his loving family parents, the common interests he shares with his girlfriend, and eventually, the bonding experiences he proposes to the filmmakers. It's a lot of absurdity for the subject matter, particularly considering that we're dealing with a serial killer, but it plants the seeds early on for what's to come.

This is undoubtedly a funny film by design, but one gets the sense throughout that you shouldn't be laughing quite as much given what's on display. That's when it's already too late to notice that the trap the filmmakers have set has been snared, as they subtly indoctrinate the viewer into going along with everything that follows with a smart mix of giving Ben such a strong personality (almost in spite of his raging xenophobia and racism) and rendering his murders in quick flashes than focusing too much on them at length early on, in short yet punchy montages that rendering nearly countless pistol deaths as if he was manning a machine gun and mowing down faceless adversaries. For the filmmakers in the film itself, objectivity quickly flies out the window as they're also roped into Ben's orbit of crime, first as accessories to murder and then as willing participants. Here, the murders get more protracted, but the film makes a convincing argument of once you're in for a penny, then a pound must surely follow. Even the murder of a child becomes more of a conversation about why Ben doesn't do it more often (not enough financial gain given the risks) while it's happening right on camera, with the grim punchline being that it was a mistake for Ben to target a suburban home in the first place, as the gang winds up without anything to show for it.

As one might be able to discern, this is definitely not a film for the weak of heart. While not as graphic as a lot of films can be, the frequency of the violence is enough to unsettle people, long before we get into the more elaborate crimes, including a brutal rape/murder scene that won't ever allow itself to be forgotten. One can certainly raise objections to pitching it as a comedy, infinitely black as it is, since the concept itself is so horrifying that the argument can go even further than that and make one wonder how in the world someone would even want to make a film like this at all. But like any great work of transgression, Man Bites Dog pushes things as far as it does to highlight the point of how easy it is for us to be complacent when real life horrors are presented to us and we're not directly engaging with them. And even when they're in our face, how easy it is cross the line to commit such acts ourselves when such behavior becomes normalized and even encouraged. In that sense, it was a very canny move on the part of the filmmakers to cast themselves in these roles, as it shows that they're not projecting any kind of moral superiority towards the stance that they're taking here. That may well be the film's boldest move, as it ensures that no one can escape the film's pull and come out clean through the other end: if they're going to be part of the problem, so will you.

This is the sort of film that made me feel a lot of things that I don't normally feel: guilt, outrage, disgust. But it also made me think about why I felt those things, why this film was able to draw those feelings out as well as it did, and how it was able to do that without feeling like empty provocation. It's easy for a filmmaker to kill a child on screen, but Man Bites Dog puts such an unusual spin on it with how it chooses to do so that how it's done here is far more chilling than anything more graphic could ever produce. This is the kind of brilliant filmmaking that you seldom see produced, as it is so easy for filmmakers to go down the road of being more interested in how violence looks rather than how violence feels, and here, with such a sharp insight on the difficult relationship that anyone and everyone on the planet has with violence, it takes on a resonance that few films could ever hope to match. This is the rare feel-bad film that actually feels really good as it demands a conversation and for you to respond to it. It's a tough nut to crack, and I'll even admit that I'm likely only scratching the surface, but I can already tell that this is going to provide lots of worthwhile thoughts within myself for a long time to come. If that isn't a masterpiece, I don't know what is.

Films for Oct 8: It's time for an Italian trilogy! Sort of! First up is a meta-commentary from the most unlikely source, Lucio Fulci, as he points the camera at himself for a change in Cat in the Brain. Next up, for what was originally intended to be a comeback vehicle for Fulci before his death, we travel to early 1900s Paris and Rome for a little slice of Gothic horror as inspired by the likes of Hammer in The Wax Mask. Finally, we travel a bit further back in time further still for Arcane Sorcerer, concerning an excommunicated priest whose new career path strays very far indeed from the path of God.
 
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07) The Funhouse (1981) (Oct 7)


I'm having a lot of trouble thinking of what to say about Tobe Hooper's The Funhouse. It's just a really average movie that's neither bad nor memorable.

Hooper does make excellent use out of the carnival setting though. The real star of this one are the creepy sets and some beautiful lighting. It's a great looking film. What drags it down is it just takes too long to get to any of the horror elements, and when it does there's very little gore. The subplot with the little brother also goes nowhere and feels like it was just added in reshoots to try to get a few more scares in.

I'm going to give this one a very mild recommendation for the setting.

Rating:
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out of 5 Bub salutes. (2.5 is considered average on this scale)


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Bonus 01) The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) (Oct 7) (rewatch)

Okay, I'll admit it. I was never really a huge fan of the original TCM. I had seen (and enjoyed) the 2003 remake first and when I finally got around to watching the original, I was just left with a "that's it?" reaction.

I haven't rewatched it until now, and I must say, I was completely wrong. It's a fantastic movie and I see what the draw is now. It's also much more slickly shot than I recall. There's some really inedible camera work on display in this one. My only real beef is Franklin. Goddamn is he annoying and front-loading the movie so much oh him is probably what gave me my initial lukewarm impression of the film to begin with.

I won't be giving scores to rewatches. If they weren't good, I wouldn't have watched them again. Highly recommended.
 
Watched some lighter fare with the girlfriend last night (this still counts, right?):

8. Corpse Bride (Tim Burton & Mike Johnson, 2005):


A bit too Hot Topic cutsie for my tastes (although that's admittedly more Hot Topic's fault than the movie's), but I'll never say no to gorgeously animated stop motion gothic. It's got a darker undercurrent than most kids animated movies too, which I always respect.
 

DeathoftheEndless

Crashing this plane... with no survivors!
9. The Wailing - A decent Korean supernatural thriller. Its interesting to see what an Eastern version of Poltergeist or the Conjuring would look like. The ending where the main character has to choose who to believe is great. On the downside, this film is too damn long.

10. City of the Living Dead - A meandering zombie movie with bursts of extreme violence. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone but the gore-seekers.
 
October 08
Film #10
Diary of the Dead
Film #11
Survival of the Dead

I have put off watching these two films for a long time because I was a bit disappointed by Land of the Dead. I think I should have put off watching them indefinitely.


Both films are badly written, badly acted, and boring. The characters are so unappealing and ridiculous that I couldn't care less about any of them. The CGI is terrible. The scripts are full of heavy-handed moralising, and dull philosophical musings about the modern world and how terrible we all are. There's a lesbian called Tomboy who masturbates in front of her National Guard co-workers because of course she does. There's a group of black people who don't run away from zombietown the way all the white folks do because now things are different, now the black people have power, or something. There's a small island inhabited by only two families that in one shot stretches off way into the distance with clear signs of large scale habitation. There's internet access for all that is somehow entirely unaffected several weeks after the complete breakdown of civilisation. There's a massively half-arsed surprise identical twin plot device.


Diary is marginally better than Survival, if only for the fact that it briefly has Tatiana Maslany in it. It also doesn't have the top-o'-the-mornin' begorrah-ness of Survival's excruciating cod Irish dialogue. I'll admit there's some fun gore, including a defibrillator induced eye-popping, and a murder/suicide by scythe, but in the end both movies are just crap, which makes me feel a bit sad really.

Verdict: Should have raised a glass to Mr Romero by rewatching Night and Dawn instead.

Films I've watched so far
 

Croc

Banned
I watched Hush last night with a friend and it's easily the best movie I've watched this month so far. It's the first movie I've watched in a long time where I truly felt scared and on edge for pretty much the whole thing. I haven't been updating here every day but here's what I've watched so far:

The Void
Circle
The Babadook
They Look Like People
The Invitation
Holidays (this was the worst one for sure)
Hush

They Look Like People was probably my next favorite on here. I really had no idea up until the final scene what the truth was. It was pretty great at making you go back and forth throughout the whole thing. Also, I didn't enjoy The Babadook as much as I was expecting to, but I still thought it was decent.
 
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