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Post by KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! on Apr 28, 2024 15:16:41 GMT -5
I actually got to watch some SOV horror this weekend. I looked at my movie tracker and was surprised I haven’t watched an SOV narrative film at all (outside of documentaries) since like January. I got around to watching… And FINALLY this… Tales from the Quadead Zone (TFTQZ) is one of those movies that’s been on my watchlist for like 20+ years. Well kind of. I remember I first got interested in it when reading about the scarcity of the VHS when I was still in high school. There’s two rare VHS versions, one that looks like the one pictured above and a clamshell version that is even rarer. I’ve read that one sold for $700, then they were selling for $2,000, and recently I just saw one that sold for over $7,000. Crazy stuff! As far as the actual movies Black Devil Doll From Hell (BDDFH) definitely has the worse video quality, but is a much better movie. I just found it hilarious how gratuitously sexual it was. It’s like a softcore porn starring an African-American Chucky. I tend to go into films as cold as possible so I was pretty much just expecting an extended SOV version of that one Trilogy of Terror segment. What I got really came out of left field! TFTQZ was a little disappointing after BDDFH, since the latter raised my expectations. With the name having “Quad” in the title and the poster advertising “3 Tales of Evil Beyond Belief” I was hoping for three segments and a wraparound story (4 segments total). Instead it was only two segments with a wraparound story. Annoyingly the first segment in TFTQZ is barely even a story. It was like one of those short Night Gallery segments that used to be between the main segments. It’s just about a poor rural white family that doesn’t have enough to eat so one of them goes crazy. I think the whole thing is about 5 minutes. The second segment is better and is about a man who steals the corpse of his brother to get some twisted revenge. The wraparound story is pretty good and features the actress from BDDFH in the Cryptkeeper role. I’d definitely recommend both. If you don’t let the first film raise your expectations too much, it’s a really fun double feature.
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Post by Jumpin' Jesse Walsh on Apr 28, 2024 18:17:31 GMT -5
Finally watching the producer's cut of Halloween 6 and I'm absolutely blown away by how much of a different movie it is compared to the theatrical cut?!?
The Thorn cult is still goofy AF, but it feels like you get a much better handle on it in this version.
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Post by KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! on May 4, 2024 7:09:57 GMT -5
I’m doing a series of Troma rewatches/watches (I’m not sure what will break the streak) and just finished The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie.
I never really got the hate for II and III as it’s not like there’s a giant drop in quality between the original and these. The original is a better self-contained story, given the Troma team was overly ambitious to the point where they shot enough footage to make 2 movies instead of one when they did the sequel. As such there is some obvious structural issues and some of the reused footage in III gets annoying (but not egregiously so like with some sequels). But some of the practical special effects are fun and that theme song is great.
As it relates to horror movies though, the opening of III with Toxie beating up thugs in a video store is highly underrated. One of my favorite openings for any Troma movie (maybe even my favorite). I just love that a real video store was used and there are posters and VHS tapes for all sorts of real life obscure movies. Of course Troma is highlighted (Redneck Zombies, Blood Hook, Sizzle Beach U.S.A. and others are all prominently featured), but there’s some other good stuff too including a WrestleMania IV poster. Next to it I’m pretty sure is a poster for one of the Starrcades too, but I’m not sure which one as it doesn’t look like any of the ones on Wikipedia. It was tough to make out, but it looked like Nikita Koloff inside of a steel cage and then just had the Starrcade logo.
Anyway, after I finish rewatching 4 and the 4 making of documentary I’ll probably rewatch/watch one of these (if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions):
Class of Nuke ‘Em High Combat Shock Cannibal! The Musical A Nymphoid Barbarian in Dinosaur Hell Jefftowne Bazaar Bizarre: The Story of Kansas City Murderer Bob Berdella Tales From the Crapper When Nature Calls
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Post by DSR on May 11, 2024 1:10:08 GMT -5
WHAT LIES BENEATH (2000) comes to us from director Robert Zemeckis (DEATH BECOMES HER) and screenwriter Clark Gregg (yes, the guy who plays Coulson in MARVEL'S THE AVENGERS).
The story concerns a middle-aged couple, Norman (Harrison Ford, AIR FORCE ONE) and Claire (Michelle Pfeiffer, BATMAN RETURNS). Shortly after seeing their daughter off to college, Claire takes to spying on her new next-door neighbors. The married neighbors have a volatile relationship, and after an apparent fight, the missus seemingly disappears.
Claire starts to experience strange paranormal phenomena around her and Norman's big gorgeous house. Light stuff at first, a door seemingly opening by itself, a picture falling off of a desk. But one day she sees what she thinks is a woman's corpse in the lake near the house!
Norman, forever wrapped up in his work as a scientist, tries to be understanding, but thinks Claire is suffering from Empty Nest Syndrome. (Claire also had a mental breakdown a year prior to the start of the film). Scary ghost lady persists in spooking Claire, though, until she confronts her neighbor Warren (James Remar, TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE: THE MOVIE) and winds up learning Warren's wife is alive and well...she just left town after an argument with Warren and then came back.
If the apparition haunting Claire isn't the neighbor lady, who is she? And is Norman really oblivious to the supernatural going on in his house, or does he know more than he's letting on?!
WHAT LIES BENEATH plays out like a lot of other "gaslighting a mentally unstable person" movies, but with slick production values and some a-listers in the cast. It's a great looking film, with some neat visuals, and it's well-acted. But the story itself is pretty well-worn territory. There's a number of nods to Alfred Hitchcock throughout the film: the name Norman seems an obvious shout-out to PSYCHO (and there's a bathtub scene that also recalls that film). There's the REAR WINDOW-esque section where Claire spies on neighbor Warren because she believes he killed his wife. There's also a number of scenes that are filmed (or at least designed to look like) one long continuous shot, a la ROPE. But even Hitchcock homages feel like an easy go-to when you're making a horror film but want to appear more "high brow".
It's fine. In another thread on this forum, Chaz Kangas noted it was made so Zemeckis could keep the crew for CAST AWAY together while Tom Hanks lost weight and grew a beard for that movie. But it doesn't really have much lasting impact beyond being a footnote to a more culturally significant movie. Maybe it deserves better, since again it's so well-made. But it does feel like a case of "been there, done that".
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Post by KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! on May 12, 2024 16:26:10 GMT -5
I haven’t watched the Class of Nuke ‘Em High trilogy since the original DVD box set came out. I watched the first one today and was blown away by how great the special effects were for a Troma film.
From a production standpoint, Troma may have peaked from 1984-1989. Really it was just due to the original Toxic Avenger being a sleeper hit in 1984 and the 1989 sequels bombing at the box office. Some of the productions between these two points look like they were handled with more care than usual by Troma and the original Class of Nuke ‘Em High certainly benefitted from it.
I’ll be watching the second and third installments next and am expecting a dip in quality since the second didn’t come out until 1991. I’ve watched them before but since it’s been almost 20 years they all kind of blend together.
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Post by DSR on May 12, 2024 16:53:03 GMT -5
I haven’t watched the Class of Nuke ‘Em High trilogy since the original DVD box set came out. I watched the first one today and was blown away by how great the special effects were for a Troma film. From a production standpoint, Troma may have peaked from 1984-1989. Really it was just due to the original Toxic Avenger being a sleeper hit in 1984 and the 1989 sequels bombing at the box office. Some of the productions between these two points look like they were handled with more care than usual by Troma and the original Class of Nuke ‘Em High certainly benefitted from it. I’ll be watching the second and third installments next and am expecting a dip in quality since the second didn’t come out until 1991. I’ve watched them before but since it’s been almost 20 years they all kind of blend together. CLASS OF NUKE EM HIGH 1 and 2 would play on USA Up All Night all the time when I was a kid. I remember loving Part 2 and thinking 1 was kinda alright back then. More recently I watched the 4 films out at the time, the original was my favorite. 2 and 3 kinda blend together, the Cretins in Part 1 have more individual personality, and the original has way more of that New York/New Jersey vibe, while 2 and 3 were made in Arizona but feel more like LA movies. RETURN TO NUKE EM HIGH felt like it wanted to course correct and be more like the first one. I still haven't seen RETURN TO RETURN TO NUKE EM HIGH.
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Post by Non Banjoble Tokens on May 13, 2024 2:00:30 GMT -5
They made a found footage movie that's about the Loveland Frogman. This needs to be viewed by me as a soon as humanly possible.
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Post by DSR on May 13, 2024 2:50:05 GMT -5
They made a found footage movie that's about the Loveland Frogman. This needs to be viewed by me as a soon as humanly possible. Despite you not providing a title ( ), I managed to find a trailer... Made by Anthony Cousins, who worked on the SCARE PACKAGE films...which I have not seen.
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Post by Jumpin' Jesse Walsh on May 13, 2024 17:15:49 GMT -5
Frankenstein’s Castle of Freaks (1974)
Plot: Count Frankenstein conducts experiments on a Neanderthal man while his former assistant schemes to undermine him and unleash terror onto the village.
Hammer horror, but make it slutty! Frankenstein’s Castle of Freaks is unabashed drive-in slop; it’s not even trying to hide it. It’s rife with cheap sets, costuming that barely qualifies as period-appropriate, and makeup effects brought to us by Spirit Halloween. Oh, and topless women! This is a shameless piece of Elvira’s Movie Macabre trash, but is it good trash?
Well, not really. For all its pretenses of shock and smut, the film is weighed down by excessive talkiness for much of its runtime. Yes, there’s a few topless scenes, including one where two women go skinny dipping and are spied on by a lecherous little person who drives the plot of the film. But it’s pretty tame stuff, all things considered. And nothing really all that shocking happens. Take away all the cheesecake and general lechery, and you have standard Gothic fare, albeit with a lower budget compared to other Italian horror films of its era.
If the film gets by on anything, it’s its generally weird vibe. Why the hell are there Neanderthals in 18th century Europe or whatever? The film offers zero explanation for this and the characters act as if it’s completely normal. But at least it’s worth it to see two Geico cavemen square off in the film’s closing minutes. That’s the thing about this movie; it’s trying to give us a little bit of everything. What it’s actually offering isn’t that great but, hey, it’s trying. I think that’s why it’s been able to survive on the budget set circuit. No self-respecting $5 Drive-In Classics set should pass it up!
Frankenstein’s Castle of Freaks clearly wants to be an extravaganza of cinematic trash, but it can only deliver maybe 10% of what it promises. Ironically, its biggest weakness is that it doesn’t allow its freak flag to fly high enough.
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mystermystery
Dennis Stamp
Still in the White Hummer
Posts: 4,424
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Post by mystermystery on May 14, 2024 19:15:28 GMT -5
The director of Sorority Row (and writer of SAW X) Josh Stolberg is calling his shot. The most important part of Sorority Row is coming back...that's right. The Tricked Out Tire Iron WILL RETURN.
One of my better Twitter experiences was when he was nice enough to dig out the rough drawings they used to design it when I asked him about the inspiration for it. Glad to see he's working on something after announcing the next Saw movie won't involve him.
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Post by DSR on May 15, 2024 1:51:09 GMT -5
I've had a film sitting in my to-be-watched pile for a couple months, but with the recent passing of Roger Corman, I decided to give it a watch.
TARGETS (1967) is the directorial debut of Peter Bogdanovich (THE LAST PICTURE SHOW), who also co-wrote the film (with his then-wife Polly Platt, who was also a production designer) and plays a role.
The film stars aging horror star Boris Karloff as aging horror star Byron Orlok. Orlok is at a meeting with the studio heads who backed his most recent picture, and while they are excited to get rolling on the next film, Orlok announces his retirement from acting. Byron feels that the type of horror he brings to the table is outdated and that the newspaper provides more horror than a weary old man playing Victorian monsters.
Meanwhile, 20-something-year-old Bobby Thompson (Tim O'Kelly, THE GRASSHOPPER) leads a seemingly idyllic life in the suburbs with his lovely wife and caring parents. But Bobby is a Vietnam veteran and is deeply disturbed. His family doesn't notice he's bought a stockpile of guns and ammunition, and when he starts to talk about his troubles with his wife, she brushes him off because she has to get ready for work.
Back to Byron Orlok, who proceeds to argue with his producers, his assistant (Nancy Hsueh, WAR HUNT), and the director of his last picture (played by Bogdanovich himself), who all try to convince him to unretire, or at the very least make his already agreed to public appearance at a drive-in movie theater showing his latest film.
While that's going on, Bobby Thompson wakes up one morning and kills his wife and his mother, and leaves behind a note that there will be more dead before he is caught. He climbs atop an oil storage tank and picks off random people driving by on the freeway! And then, in order to hide from the police, Bobby ducks into a drive-in movie theater...the very same one where Byron Orlok is scheduled to make an appearance!
Roger Corman liked working with Bogdanovich on THE WILD ANGELS, and offered him the chance to make another film. Bogdanovich would have two days to work with Boris Karloff, footage from the earlier Corman film THE TERROR (also starring Karloff), and then he would have to finish the rest of the film with other actors. From there, Bogdanovich, Polly Platt, and an uncredited Samuel Fuller (SHOCK CORRIDOR) came up with the plot to TARGETS. Bobby Thompson was inspired by real-life mass murderer Charles Whitman, the Texas Tower Sniper.
The Thompson segments of the film are downright chilling. The film rarely features "artistic" cuts or angles, portraying the events in a largely realistic, cinema verite style. The film features only diagetic sound, meaning unless there's a car radio turned on, there's no music whatsoever. It gets quite unsettling in an almost true-to-life way.
The Orlok segments are treated the same way, but the subject matter is much more comedic, and Karloff gives a heartfelt performance as the old horror star.
Not to spoil too much, but I loved the film's climax. The clash of old vs. young, Victorian vs. modern, fantasy vs. reality plays really well, I got chills!
TARGETS was made in 1967, but released in 1968 (after the deaths of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy). Bogdanovich himself said the film wasn't designed to be a "message movie", but Paramount bought it and released it as such. It bombed, but Roger Corman made his money back, Bogdanovich got his foot in Hollywood's door, and TARGETS would go on to critical acclaim and be heralded as a great film despite it's lackluster box office. And I am going to continue to herald it, as I thought it was magnificent!
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,568
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on May 15, 2024 13:51:05 GMT -5
Targets is great. Was one I had read about then finally saw one weekend on SCIFI channel. Back when SCIFI showedd old horror and sci films on the weekends.
You watch that newish Blu ray?
Horror wise I did read one of the UK published Creepers kids horror books. The Piano. Haunted piano plays music written by it's former owner. kids are scared. Storm hits. Power goes out and the Piano gives a warning.
Fun fast read. 5 pages per chapter so perfect for readin on the "throne".
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Post by DSR on May 15, 2024 18:43:27 GMT -5
Targets is great. Was one I had read about then finally saw one weekend on SCIFI channel. Back when SCIFI showedd old horror and sci films on the weekends. You watch that newish Blu ray? Horror wise I did read one of the UK published Creepers kids horror books. The Piano. Haunted piano plays music written by it's former owner. kids are scared. Storm hits. Power goes out and the Piano gives a warning. Fun fast read. 5 pages per chapter so perfect for readin on the "throne". Yeah, I got the Criterion bluray of TARGETS. I want to say my first viewing of the film was a long long time ago on TCM Underground, but I don't really know for sure. I bought that Creeper Piano book at Dollar Tree last year sometime. It's a fine little read for kids. The piano's warning is supposed to be played on piano keys, so I kinda wonder what that melody sounds like.
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,568
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on May 15, 2024 18:50:00 GMT -5
I figured I would read all 10 then give them to her. She was the right age when Goosebumps hit.
Yea I saw the TV show cause it was on FOX and various times during those years I either couldnt get cable or didnt bother. But the books I never read them back then. I had discovered those various annual horror anthologies like Shivers and the Donald Grant edited ones.
It was a fun fast read. And just perfect for what I wanted it for.
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pinja
Unicron
Posts: 3,023
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Post by pinja on May 17, 2024 6:50:35 GMT -5
After reading Langoliers it's evident you need tv Mr. Toomy to get the good Langoliers. The book is a bunch of baaad similes and little Craig Toomy shenanigans. Even the cagiest Nic Cage would be proud of tv Mr. Toomy. I find it a little unnerving that the inferior novel got the Bram Stoker Award as part of Four Past Midnight, while the adaptation got ridicule. Are the other short novels in the collection that good?
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mystermystery
Dennis Stamp
Still in the White Hummer
Posts: 4,424
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Post by mystermystery on May 18, 2024 21:12:51 GMT -5
So, the newest Strangers movie was the first film in a trilogy that was filmed concurrently (and directed by daggone Renny Harlin?), so all three films were made for one film's budget (He's basically said he made a 4 1/2 hour movie that will be split into three 90 minute films) of around 13-15 million dollars.
The first film has already cleared 8 million on it's debut weekend (might crack 10), so there is a solid chance that it drags itself out to 15, meaning the other two will only cost the marketing to advertise them...
All that said, what are the odds they give the second a go but just sell the third film to a streaming service so they can be "the exclusive location of the thrilling finale of the Strangers trilogy" and make a solid profit?
And what other random horror franchise will try this?...And how happy are they that they didn't have the Exorcist: Believer guy do this?
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Post by ace on May 18, 2024 22:07:41 GMT -5
I could have saved them 1/3rd of the money they spent and told them just to run the 2008 version since this was the same movie anyway
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Post by DSR on May 22, 2024 2:53:45 GMT -5
HOLLOW MAN (2000) comes from director Paul Verhoeven (ROBOCOP).
The film stars Kevin Bacon (WILD THINGS) as Sebastian Caine, a brilliant but conceited scientist. He and his crew were hired by the US government to work on a serum that could turn a living creature invisible. They manage to do that AND come up with a serum to reverse the process, but keep their results under wraps so the gov't. won't take the project away from them.
Caine wants to do a human trial, and more to the point, wants to be the first human trial, and convinces his team that he's gotten approval for it. So they make their boss invisible, but the reversal formula doesn't work. They try to keep Caine constrained to the lab, but between the invisibility serum's side effects and the cabin fever, the man starts to behave erratically. Before turning invisible, Sebastian Caine was an egotistical smartass who ignored people's personal boundaries and even casually makes a rape joke. So when the man becomes invisible, he initially uses this power for its most perverted potential. But when his ex-girlfriend and crewmember (Elizabeth Shue, PIRANHA 3D) winds up dating another colleague (Josh Brolin, JONAH HEX), Caine turns violent! The scientist squad is gonna have to find a way to stop a man they can't even see!
HOLLOW MAN is largely inspired by HG Wells' "The Invisible Man" and also the general idea that people would use the power of invisibility to engage in voyeurism up close and undetected. The film features big name actors for the time in Bacon and Shue (Brolin would become a bigger star in the years after this) and state of the art (for the time) CGI effects painstakingly integrated with the actors. The result isn't quite as bloody or nudity-filled as Verhoeven's previous film STARSHIP TROOPERS, but it still ultimately feels like a high-budgeted exploitation film!
Verhoeven was not thrilled with this movie, and to date it's his last Hollywood production. Though some sections are a bit ludicrous and early 2000s "clever" dialogue feels different from what would be considered as such today (the aforementioned rape joke feels like something a wannabe Kevin Smith would've written), I think this was ultimately a well-made film for its time. For those concerned, there IS violence against animals, though I don't know if it being obviously CG animals takes some of the edge away. This does whet my appetite for a viewing of Leigh Whannell's 2020 INVISIBLE MAN film, though.
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,568
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on May 25, 2024 18:45:53 GMT -5
Saw MOVIES! a few Fridays ago aired the 90s Remake of Piranha. The one that removes all the comedy and makes it a super serious horror film.
William Katt as the lead,Alexadria Paul as the other lead. And a young Mila Kunis as one of the kids terrorized by piranhas.
Yea MOVIES! is over the air so the gore might get blurred. But they dont really cut much and this isn't that easy to find.
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,568
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on May 25, 2024 18:54:24 GMT -5
Also watched Scre4m today off the DVD.
Was the film always having this piss yellow hue? Does the Blu ray also go from scene with proper amounts of film grain to scenes with so much DNR people look like wax dummies?
The crap visual presentation didn't help when this entry had the dumbest motive for one of the killers so far.
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