Horror

[polkablues]

This looks like a ton of fun. Even Andie MacDowell can't kill my vibe.

[Sleepless]

Wow, you guys were so wrong on this one. The Perfection was shit, and not even a steaming turd, just a tepid disappointment. Besides the magnetic (and yes, attractive) leads, it had nothing going for it. If it wasn't for them and the fact I was waiting for a supposedly amazing bus sequence, I'd have switched off pretty early on. By the point the bus sequence came, it earned another 30 minutes but I could tell it was going rapidly downhill, and after that it was closer to the end so I had to finish just so I could fairly comment. This film is a great representation of Netflix originals: no subtlety, no subtext, and absolutely no point to them whatsoever. Yes, it was twisty, but the twists just seemed designed to distract from the fact there was nothing else really going on here. I really hated this and I hated you guys a little bit for recommending it.

[polkablues]

The movie’s a pretty explicit homage to 70s giallo films, so if you were going into it with subtlety as an expectation I would expect you to come away disappointed.

[Jeremy Blackman]

Alright, I do feel like I failed in not offering a stronger caveat. I can absolutely understand hating this movie. And I was a bit disappointed with the movie as a whole. I will defend the bus sequence, though.

[polkablues]

No caveats from me. I accept this movie unreservedly into my heart for the beautiful pristine garbage that it is.

[Sleepless]

I typed out a response but realized I was mostly restating things I've already said. I mostly blame Netflix. And now I'm hating myself for allowing this movie to take up way too much of my thoughts over the past 24 hours. Don't get me wrong, I can slum with some trashy films once in a while, but it seemed to me that no-one on this film other than the two leads made any effort at all.

[wilberfan]

I'm on Team Sleepless with this one.  Bailed on this turd right after the bus sequence, but was rolling my eyes pretty hard before that. 

[polkablues]

https://news.avclub.com/youre-next-director-adam-wingard-is-turning-event-horiz-1836979584

This headline is like pornography to me.

[jenkins]

re new bev, last weekend was The Monster Squad which is okay, this weekend i saw Mad Monster Party? which was okay

but today's cartoon opener made everything worthwhile. here's the entire thing, i'd either never heard of this show or had forgotten about it

[jenkins]

re my abode, i last watched The Old Dark House and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

The Old Dark House is so interesting to me. Curtis Harrington is credited with rediscovering this movie. being a fan of Night Tide, i can see the influence. i like the idea of the characters being normal people and just an extraordinary event is taking place in their lives. there's no character manipulation for the sake of narrative or anything like that. just these people landed in an old dark house, and frankly i think it's hilarious how the residents respond upon their arrival. they're like, "ummm you sure."

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is like that as well. events are unfolding before the characters. you see, a psychological through line is something that has been important to me throughout my life, but i always side hustle horror and sci-fi as well. and in there it's a narrative through line. that's different. in fact, i don't like horror movies with psychological through lines, looking at you gaslighting movies. there can be psychological manifestations, but not motivations. the supernatural happens for selfsame reasons. i like that about horror movies. just like how in psychological movies i don't like narratives. i'm "a thing for everything, and everything in its place" about this. it's a personal conviction. anyway this movie is 1h7min and it took me about four hours to watch it because i would fall asleep and need to rewind. it's well-known what this movie is about, and in fact i can't describe it better now than i could have before, just from reading the plot and seeing photos, but i did commit myself to its intricacies tonight. even its best intricacies are its most well known

his rise at 1:36 is the scariest shot in the movie imo. after this is when he's carrying her body on the zigzag street and everybody knows that shot

side note: does this scan with anybody here



i don't have much to say about it and i need to go watch righteous gemstones with my roommate, but this note about that comic series is funny for example

Rick himself is an ordinary human being, majoring in Film Studies as a college student. He lived in a Brooklyn apartment with his dog Rambo, where he worked as a building superintendent, doing maintenance work in exchange for living rent-free. He also earns a living as a part-time job teaching English to immigrants. Rick had an on-again off-again romance with a girl named Alyssa Conover

[jenkins]

i saw The People Under the Stairs at new bev. i'd never seen it before. this was my favorite part

[wilberfan]

Fun Fact:  Until 1978, everyone who directed an animated short was named "Chuck".

[jenkins]

saw Eyes Without a Face at the New Bev. this time the movie was better than the cartoon. the Mr. Magoo carton had previously played at the cartoon club screening btw, and i am exactly the kind of guy who would know that, i.e. i attended the cartoon club screening

Eyes Without a Face is a marvel and fits directly within my current tastes. its sincere and poetic form holds it at least two heads above your standard horror film

[jenkins]

i watched The Curse of the Cat People, which isn't a horror movie at all. it's cool that it has a reputation based on its topic: a lonely person who must imagine her friend

there is an old dark house in Curse of the Cat People, with morbid family dynamics, and i have also recently watched The Old Dark House and Whale's The Invisible Man

i'm hesitant to say it (while going right in to say it) on account of it being such a familiar statement, so cliche, but i really like those old b&w horror movies best of all. which isn't totally accurate, as i reach into plenty of color, but it is true that this halloween my best horror watching moments have been with old b&w movies

[jenkins]

i concluded my halloween-inspired horror-movie watching with Dreyer's Vampyr

now, here is a statement:

The film was long considered a low point in Dreyer's career, but modern critical reception to the film has become much more favorable with critics praising the film's disorienting visual effects and atmosphere.

here is why it was a low point:

Director Carl Theodor Dreyer began planning Vampyr in late 1929, a year after the release of his previous film The Passion of Joan of Arc.

like, compared to his fucking The Passion of Joan of Arc. so rather understandable

i'm a big fan of this tidbit:

Through Valentine Hugo, Dreyer met Nicolas de Gunzburg, an aristocrat who agreed to finance Dreyer's next film in return for playing the lead role in it.

Nicolas de Gunzburg was a homosexual who was "named to Vanity Fair's International Best Dressed Hall of Fame in 1971," "One Vogue writer described him as:"

A slender, attractive man with a really dry wit, a gift for mimicry, and a sharply developed taste for the simple but cultivated amenities of living.

frankly he's great in the movie

how odd the movie feels and how strangely the camera moves is cool. basically the character feels strange in a strange place. but not much happens for forever, until the ghost of the character encounters himself in a coffin, which is the most famous part of the movie and why this low point in Dreyer's career isn't considered so low overall anymore