Horror

[RegularKarate]

RK, got any last minute additions?

October's (not so) bad movie night =


Monster Squad

We decided we would actually show a good movie on the big screen since it's the last weekend before Halloween.

I would put this in the Best thread, but I hadn't seen it since it first came out on VHS.

There's not much to add about it other than I hadn't realized how much Monster House is emulating this movie.  If I ever have kids, this and Monster House will be their first "scary" movies.


Alone in the Dark

We decided that since we watched a good movie first, we would have to watch something absolutely miserably horrible second.

This was my first Uwe Boll movie and what a delight.
This thing is so unbelievably bad.  I know that everyone already understands how bad this guy's movies are, but this one is SO RIPE for drunken commentary.
The best thing about it is Christian Slater facing off with Stephen Dorff.  They're the same level of bad except that Dorff never got the popularity Slater once had.  Seeing them stare eachother down was more impressive than seeing Tara Reid pretend to be smart.

[MacGuffin]

Seeing them stare eachother down was more impressive than seeing Tara Reid pretend to be smart.

The best part is her mispronouncing Newfoundland as "New-Found-Land."

[w/o horse]

We didn't watch a lot of horror films this year for a couple reasons but I did get to see:



Has a strong beginning and end, and all the scenes with Carlo I enjoy (especially the one in the plaza), but the pianist/reporter love story was useless.  But not too boring.  The ending's triple play was enough to make this a great viewing.  Argento makes everything so exciting!  I want to walk down all of his halls always.



Sure did like this.  Browning's Hollywood films have become absolutely my favorite early Hollywood films.  You know what was surprisingly better than this?

This:



I had higher expectations for Zanzibar what with the African setting, but Browning just fucking rules the carnival.  The carnival by the way being an extinct American landscape that can only be superficially recreated.  Seeing this movie is really like traveling back to another time, and it gripped me today probably more than it did the audience  then because of how uncommon these people are today.  The escapist appeal in a film like this is emphasized by seeing what I cannot see in my daily life.  And it's a really over the top kind of story.  Good stuff.

[w/o horse]

My Halloween selection.  And what a good one.  I also read Bava's biography and the guy was apparently a fucking genius of the hardworking kind.  This one was really atmospheric and had incredible photography.  Danger: Diabolik is definitely not all there is to this guy.

[Gamblour.]

I watched The Shining last night, and needless to say, I'm not going to go reread that entire thread. So many things felt unfamiliar, which surprises me considering I've seen it plenty of times (or think I have). But what needs to be said? It was widescreen this time, which had me pondering the effect this has on the horror, the art of the film. I emailed David Bordwell who pointed me to his first chapter in Film ART, which discusses this. I have to read that.

And oops, I don't know why I reviewed Forbidden Zone in this thread. We watched Night of the Living Dead, 2001 Maniacs, and Forbidden Zone in a 24-hour period, so I guess the lines of horror blurred.

All in all, I watched 9 movies/tv/dvd. It was a good time. I remember RK saying that we need a foreign film February, and now I couldn't agree more. I like this marathon efforts.

[MacGuffin]

Gonna try my best to do one a day for the entire month (are you with me, mod?):

Day 1




Call it The Road Warrior with zombies. Just no where near the level of that classic. Has a few good action/gore scenes. In fact, the best parts were the ones with the zombies in them, whether zombie dogs, zombie birds (an obvious nod to The Birds) or the plain ole undead. The best thing this series has going for it is Milla, and she does look great kickin' ass, wielding blades and guns. But like Angelina Jolie in the Tomb Raider flicks, the scripts are what hold these movies back from being much better than a few good action scenes in a mountain of drek.

[john]

I'll give it a shot, too, considering I just finished watching...



In it's intention, I was actually pretty excited fo this to be my inaugural Halloween month selection. In execution, not so much. I liked John Carpenter's idea that, roughly each October, there would be a new Halloween film - in title only. Each one with a different story and director, with Carpenter serving as producer.

I even liked the story: Evil toymaker, small town, evil masks.

It's pretty overwrought right from he beginning, lumbering from one stock scene to the next. Eventually, it picks up pace. Obviously, the idea is never to be taken too seriously, but it does become a bit fun to be invested in. However, any goodwill it achieves, quickly dissolves again and lumbers to a stageringly, almost applause-worthy, hamfisted ending.

Maybe, had the film been better, audiences would've embraced "Halloween" as a trademark, an annual stamp of approval. Though, I imagine, no matter the quality, the title isn't the trademark - Michael Myers is/was. As proven by the proceeding sequels and remake.

I guess it still manages to be te second-best entry in the Halloween series... but that isn'treally saying much.

Tomorrow: I'm gonna crack open that second Bava box set that's been collecting dust all year. As good a time as ever, I suppose.

[MacGuffin]

Day 2




Continuing my hot babes kickin' ass trend, this French horror/action flick is about Mallory and her 'colorful' group of ant-evil killers searching for The Pope who has been kidnapped by demons. What starts off as a great episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer quickly turns into a bad episode of Charmed. The low budget shows the film's limitations (which is why it all feels like bad TV), but also was a bit refreshing from cliched domestic horror movies. But that is short lived as the movie loses its 'charm.'

[MacGuffin]

Day 3





Remember when Stir Of Echoes was accused of being too much like Sixth Sense? Well, this one is a blend of both of those films - She sees dead people! And must translate what her donor wants her to see. Haven't seen the original, but I'm assuming this is not a case like The Ring adaptation where the remake exceeds the original. You know what kind of movie you're in for when the opening scene has her saving a guy from being hit and he thanks her because he didn't see that, to which she replies, "I didn't either." Get it? Because she's blind! It's like the Ray Charles joke about seeing his wife - Neither has he! Alba is passable in this role; one not so unbelievable like she was in Awake; although seeing her in her dark sunglasses makes her look like the Revlon spokemodel that she is. Anyway, the film is low on the horror or fright factor, and any cringe-worthy moments were only induced by my personal phobia of objects in the eyes (which is why I can't wear contacts or involuntarily blink before drops hit my pupils). The movie has a nice twist in the middle, but that's about all I can praise. If had been a drama just about an eye transplant patient adjusting to this new sense it would have been a more interesting story.

[MacGuffin]

Day 4





My first recommend so far. Richard Matheson had a hand in screenplay, but felt indifferent to the final script so he used a pseudonym in the credits. Which is ironic because this first adaptation of I Am Legend is the best; sticking to the novel the most, even calling them vampires. Though, no version has completely done justice to that classic book. But where Will Smith's version may have done a better job in conveying the complete loneliness of the character and his suicidal thoughts, this Vincent Price version exceeds in the telling of the virus spread and the total loss his character had to deal with in his family. His wife's return is a pinnacle moment in the film. You can totally see the influence this film had on Romero's Night Of The Living Dead. And no wonder, it's a great classic horror flick.

[MacGuffin]

Day 5





Nothing scary just Total 50's Camp! Don't read too much into it otherwise you'll drive yourself crazy at how bad the special effects are. Wish the film lived up to the classic poster, but it's a film that is classic nonetheless, tackling topics such as adultery, feminism and aliens.

[john]

Carnival of Souls

This is a seminal film for me. I can watch it anytime, really, but I love revisiting it every October... usually with someone who hasn't seen it. Such a great horror film, if just for it's sheer efficiency and mood - of which it loses neither throughout the entire film.

On top of that, it's beautiful, every frame. There are a handful of films, in any genre, that create an environment that I feel like a get to escape into every time I watch them. This is one of them.

For me, October can now start. Officially.

[RegularKarate]

Bad movie night continues:



DEMONI - 1985

Argento produced and co-wrote this and it feels like it's trying to feel like an Argento directed film.  The result retains the poorly acted, poorly overdubbed, cheese quality of Argento's films, but lacks the Argento touch that makes you put up with the former.

Great fun though... lots of gore and terrible acting.

At one point, in the movie within a movie, a man finds a cursed mask and his friend finds the instruction manual for the curse that goes along with the mask:

"Don't wear that,you'll become a demon."
"How do you know?"
"It says if you wear it you'll become a demon."

The movie is damn-near amazing for the first third, mostly because of a terrible racially stereo-typical pimp character and his two hoes.  Once he dies, the movie kind of gets dull until the last fifteen minutes, which include a motorcycle sword attack in a movie theater and a bizarre act of deus ex machina.

[w/o horse]

Day 3




Haven't seen the original, but I'm assuming this is not a case like The Ring adaptation where the remake exceeds the original.

Maybe.  The original was a piece of shit.  Perhaps someone has seen both and will tell us.

[MacGuffin]

Day 6





Another recommend. Simply fascinating. Browning shows you how 'normal' freaks really are. From the start, it is said that they feel the same emotions as regular people do. And, boy, do they. The film plays like a soap opera with each freak getting their moment and story. But at the core of the film is a tale of love, betrayal and revenge between a normal and a freak. The film isn't exactly scary in presenting the freaks (although for that time it would have seemed so). What got to me was the level of violence. The ending plays like a mob or gangster hit. I can see why the controversy over it. It is a film that will stick with you.