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Post by Non Banjoble Tokens on Dec 23, 2008 7:26:30 GMT -5
Is "The Howling" any good? I was reading the premise today and I thought it sounded really interesting.
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Lick Ness Monster
Dennis Stamp
From the eerie, eerie depths of Lake Okabena
Posts: 4,874
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Post by Lick Ness Monster on Dec 23, 2008 10:14:39 GMT -5
Is "The Howling" any good? I was reading the premise today and I thought it sounded really interesting. I myself wasn't a big fan of it. Couldn't quite put my finger on why. Although the ending is unintentionally hilarious - it's seriously so abrupt that it poses the question of whether or not the director simply ran out of film. I'd give The Howling **. Mmmmm.....Bava. I have GOT to get a box set of his. Not that I haven't had a chance to, it's just something that, for some stupid reason, I haven't acted on yet. Really, I truly DO wish that the younger guys and gals would give the giallo genre a look see. There are plenty of awesome films and directors in the genre, and although a great many of the films lack the action punch today's horror fan may expect, they are, quite frankly, amazing films. I think the last horror film I watched was A TALE OF TWO SISTERS. Man, oh man....I had heard great things about this, and I remember catching about the first half of it at a friend's house, and not being very impressed....but actually sitting down, and watching the DVD, free of distractions, in my darkened living room....this film just AMAZED me. On the surface, you might be tempted, as I erroneously did on my first semi viewing, to dismiss it as just another bit of J-horror. That would be a grievious mistake, as there is just so much MORE to it. The story of two sisters, their undying love for each other, and the fractured family they come from, A TALE OF TWO SISTERS is so heartwrenching, and so deeply layered, that it will keep you guessing up to the final frame, and when all is revealed, it will break your heart. Folks, this is a horror film with something to say, and a story to tell, and though it DOES have grue and guts to it....they are almost there as an afterthought, and honestly, the story and it's labrynthine twists and turns takes center stage. After so many slick Hollywood horror films that just pile on the gore atop a paper thin plot and piss poor acting, A TALE OF TWO SISTERS was a welcome relief. **** out of four. Take notes, people - model post. A Tale of Two Sisters is AWESOME, isn't it, Rorschach? Absolutely love the movie, and it's a flick that really hit home with me as I recently had a sibling death in my life.
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Post by Rorschach on Dec 23, 2008 19:50:48 GMT -5
Yeah, A TALE OF TWO SISTERS is pretty damn awesome. I remember sitting there, awestruck at the ending, which I have to say, caught me totally off guard. And then I remember hoping and praying that it would never suffer the stain of an unnecessary US remake, because I don't think there's a director out there, bar Guillermo Del Toro, who could handle this material, without forcibly raping it of all of it's layers of emotion and feeling.
And to Chocolate Milk: THE HOWLING is a great werewolf flick, but honestly, don't go in expecting a five star classic. It has obvious faults, such as the one TR mentioned, and it suffers the limitations of it's time....but that doesn't stop it from being any less fun.
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Lick Ness Monster
Dennis Stamp
From the eerie, eerie depths of Lake Okabena
Posts: 4,874
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Post by Lick Ness Monster on Dec 23, 2008 22:18:18 GMT -5
Yeah, A TALE OF TWO SISTERS is pretty damn awesome. I remember sitting there, awestruck at the ending, which I have to say, caught me totally off guard. And then I remember hoping and praying that it would never suffer the stain of an unnecessary US remake, because I don't think there's a director out there, bar Guillermo Del Toro, who could handle this material, without forcibly raping it of all of it's layers of emotion and feeling. Well, your prayers were ignored, because I believe it's being remade as The Uninvited. While nothing is positive until we actually see it, I can't imagine it maintaining all of its subtleties and genuine emotion either.
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Post by Rorschach on Dec 23, 2008 22:57:10 GMT -5
Yeah, A TALE OF TWO SISTERS is pretty damn awesome. I remember sitting there, awestruck at the ending, which I have to say, caught me totally off guard. And then I remember hoping and praying that it would never suffer the stain of an unnecessary US remake, because I don't think there's a director out there, bar Guillermo Del Toro, who could handle this material, without forcibly raping it of all of it's layers of emotion and feeling. Well, your prayers were ignored, because I believe it's being remade as The Uninvited. While nothing is positive until we actually see it, I can't imagine it maintaining all of its subtleties and genuine emotion either. That...that's NOT the Tom Cruise one, is it? Even if it's not...goddamn it. This is one film that truly, truly needed no slick repackaging. It was absolutely perfect the way it was. On a different note....gonna pop in DANCE OF THE DEAD (not the Masters of Horror one) and check it out tonight. Will be sure to share my thoughts on it afterwords.
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Lick Ness Monster
Dennis Stamp
From the eerie, eerie depths of Lake Okabena
Posts: 4,874
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Post by Lick Ness Monster on Dec 23, 2008 23:07:42 GMT -5
That...that's NOT the Tom Cruise one, is it? Even if it's not...goddamn it. This is one film that truly, truly needed no slick repackaging. It was absolutely perfect the way it was. On a different note....gonna pop in DANCE OF THE DEAD (not the Masters of Horror one) and check it out tonight. Will be sure to share my thoughts on it afterwords. www.imdb.com/title/tt0815245/No Tom Cruise, but yup, now the sisters are two insanely hot model types (Elizabeth Banks and Arielle Kebbel) that look like they fell out of a Gap commercial. To say that's not the spirit of what the movie was all about is an understatement. Just finished Bava's Baron Blood. I actually prefer his Gothic period piece horror films to his "modern" ones, and this was no exception. Really good, creepy atmosphere, and better acting than the giallo films that I've seen by Bava. ***.
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Post by Rorschach on Dec 24, 2008 1:21:23 GMT -5
That...that's NOT the Tom Cruise one, is it? Even if it's not...goddamn it. This is one film that truly, truly needed no slick repackaging. It was absolutely perfect the way it was. On a different note....gonna pop in DANCE OF THE DEAD (not the Masters of Horror one) and check it out tonight. Will be sure to share my thoughts on it afterwords. www.imdb.com/title/tt0815245/No Tom Cruise, but yup, now the sisters are two insanely hot model types (Elizabeth Banks and Arielle Kebbel) that look like they fell out of a Gap commercial. To say that's not the spirit of what the movie was all about is an understatement. Just finished Bava's Baron Blood. I actually prefer his Gothic period piece horror films to his "modern" ones, and this was no exception. Really good, creepy atmosphere, and better acting than the giallo films that I've seen by Bava. ***. Oh GOD....let me take one, just ONE wild guess as to WHY they cast these two.....could it be to lure in the teenage hormone cases? I mean, honestly now. If they're gonna do that, just put Kim Kardashian and Vida Guerra in the lead two roles, make them wear G-strings throughout, and just film them adlibbing. Make about as much damn sense. This thing is f***ED already, so you might just as well cash in on the softcore sex aspect. On a happier note.....just finished DANCE OF THE DEAD, and if you only check out ONE Ghost House film this year, I'd say pick this one. The story is simple: Teens are going to the prom....town has zombie infestation on the night of the prom. Teens fight back against zombies using whatever weapons come to hand. And you know, for all that simplicity, this is a very fun film. For the most part, the kids used are actually high school age (there are TWO exceptions that stand out, but I can overlook them, as the rest of the cast is so spot on) and they are never once annoying or cliche, or horribly dull. In fact, most major movie studios should be taking notes based on this little gem: THIS is how you create characters that the audience gives two craps about. Each death in this movie packs emotion with it, and you actually come to care about and get invested in these kids. If I had to compare it to a like film, I would say this is SHAUN OF THE DEAD meets RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD. It's great fun, and an enjoyable, if not perfect, little film. *** out of four.
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Lick Ness Monster
Dennis Stamp
From the eerie, eerie depths of Lake Okabena
Posts: 4,874
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Post by Lick Ness Monster on Dec 24, 2008 10:21:23 GMT -5
Alright, I'm now going to have to dig out Tale of Two Sisters for another watch.
Actually, my J-horror urges are really kicking in. Think that'll be my next marathon.
ADDED: Just completed the movie, and it's only strengthend my opinion of it. Gets your attention from the first scene and never lets go. You also said something, Rorschach, that I actually believe is the single BIGGEST problem with movies as a whole these days - I see a ton of movies, be they big action blockbusters, horror films, or even critically acclaimed Oscar contenders, but rarely, if ever, do I actually, you know, GIVE A CRAP about the characters.
By the end of A Tale of Two Sisters, I care so much about Su-Mi like a blood relative. Can't say that anyone would, but as someone who's been in a similar situation with a sibling death the story absolutely wrenches my heart. Also as you said, it's hard to imagine Hollywood getting this one right.
**** for sure.
Rorschach - on a completely unrelated topic, did Tehboobz ever send you those screenplays of mine?
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Post by Rorschach on Dec 24, 2008 14:15:04 GMT -5
Actually, he sent me the first one, but somehow, the formatting from YahooMail to Hotmail got messed ALL the hell up, and every apostrophe was replaced with an "&" symbol, while periods got a "?" thrown in with them. Needless to say, it made it pretty hard to read. If you still have them, I'd like to get them directly from you. I'll PM you my email addy..... On the horror front, since Christmas IS coming up, I suggest everyone pour themselves a mug of hot cocoa (spike it with whatever you like...hehehehe!) and pop SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT into the ol' DVD player. It's become a cult classic, and while it's really NOT a great movie by any means, it IS a lot of fun to watch, and hey, for a good "Psycho Santa" fix, it's hard to beat! Happy Holidays to all!
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Lick Ness Monster
Dennis Stamp
From the eerie, eerie depths of Lake Okabena
Posts: 4,874
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Post by Lick Ness Monster on Dec 25, 2008 11:26:32 GMT -5
One of these days I really need to bite the bullet and buy Silent Night Deadly Night, along with its hilarious sequel. Seriously, Silent Night Deadly Night 2 might be one of the funniest movies EVER, however unintentional it may be.
One movie that I dig out most Christmases is the 1972 film Tales From the Crypt, as the opening story of the film, "And All Through the House," is also one of the great Psycho-Santa stories in all of horror.
At any rate, Merry Christmas from TR!!
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Tehboobz wants Ewa Sonnett
Don Corleone
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She's busty...she's Polish...and she will be mine!
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Post by Tehboobz wants Ewa Sonnett on Dec 26, 2008 23:48:52 GMT -5
One of these days I really need to bite the bullet and buy Silent Night Deadly Night, along with its hilarious sequel. Seriously, Silent Night Deadly Night 2 might be one of the funniest movies EVER, however unintentional it may be. One movie that I dig out most Christmases is the 1972 film Tales From the Crypt, as the opening story of the film, "And All Through the House," is also one of the great Psycho-Santa stories in all of horror. At any rate, Merry Christmas from TR!! OH GOD YES. Larry Drake (I think that was him, right?) was EXCELLENT as the Psycho Santa. His grin at the end, and the shot of the axe....it was picture perfect. Oh...and I got this movie called "W^Z" for Christmas....I'll be watching it tomorrow, and posting my review. Sounds pretty good though. It's rumored to be "Saw meets Se7en", so who knows? Also, I asked for a Dario Argento collection for Christmas....and I got the "Exploitation Cinema" collection. Guess Argento was sold out? Any rate, this is a TWENTY film collection, so that will take me a while to work through. I'll be posting reviews on all the different films in that set, too.
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Lick Ness Monster
Dennis Stamp
From the eerie, eerie depths of Lake Okabena
Posts: 4,874
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Post by Lick Ness Monster on Dec 27, 2008 0:19:44 GMT -5
Oh...and I got this movie called "W^Z" for Christmas....I'll be watching it tomorrow, and posting my review. Sounds pretty good though. It's rumored to be "Saw meets Se7en", so who knows? Also, I asked for a Dario Argento collection for Christmas....and I got the "Exploitation Cinema" collection. Guess Argento was sold out? Any rate, this is a TWENTY film collection, so that will take me a while to work through. I'll be posting reviews on all the different films in that set, too. I really, really love Argento. To my knowledge, the only boxset that he has released is the five-movie set that has Tenebre, Phenomena, Trauma, The Card Player and Do You Like Hitchcock?. So you get two great films, one OK one, and two quite bad ones, although Do You Like Hitchcock? has the added benefit of having some very nice ladies to look at... ;D; It's weird, because when I was first absorbing the Argento catalogue, I was initially underwhelmed after completing them, but his movies just get BETTER with repeat viewings. I didn't care for, say, Opera or Deep Red at all the first time I saw them, but now I can watch them over and over not unlike my beloved F13 films. I definitely prefer Dario to Mario Bava. Speaking of Bava, I've just seen another movie that I'm all in favor of a remake for - the final Bava movie that I'll be hashing over in here, the classic Blood and Black Lace. I really enjoyed the film for what it was, and as one of the first true giallos it's definitely very good. As with most movies of its kind, the murderer/murderers aren't too hard to figure out, but the killer in costumed form definitely looks like a badass. No joke, the killer in this movie looks almost exactly like Rorschach! (R-man, what were you doing in the '60s... ;D) Bava's Blood and Black Lace - ***, good giallo film but definitely needs work in the performance area. If done right and with a good director (I'd love to see what, say, David Fincher could do with this story) and cast, this could be an absolutely dynamite film. Coming up on the topic docket - all four Alien films, the Omen series and a whole lotta Hitchcock.
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Tehboobz wants Ewa Sonnett
Don Corleone
Keeps his subtlety and knockers separated.
She's busty...she's Polish...and she will be mine!
Posts: 1,533
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Post by Tehboobz wants Ewa Sonnett on Dec 27, 2008 0:28:46 GMT -5
The Omen series...will that include the Liev Schrieber remake as well?
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Lick Ness Monster
Dennis Stamp
From the eerie, eerie depths of Lake Okabena
Posts: 4,874
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Post by Lick Ness Monster on Dec 27, 2008 0:33:55 GMT -5
The Omen series...will that include the Liev Schrieber remake as well? Everyone (and by everyone I mean every SINGLE person) has advised me against seeing it, but if you say it's not horrible, I might pick it up for cheap on Amazon and see it. I actually did an Omen franchise review a few months back, but I think I was a little rough on ol' Damien, especially after seeing the movies again on AMC recently.
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Tehboobz wants Ewa Sonnett
Don Corleone
Keeps his subtlety and knockers separated.
She's busty...she's Polish...and she will be mine!
Posts: 1,533
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Post by Tehboobz wants Ewa Sonnett on Dec 27, 2008 0:37:43 GMT -5
Ehhhh.....I wouldn't say it's a movie you should NEVER see. I reserve THAT for films like the "___Movie" series.
Omen 06, though...it had it's moments, and though it's NOT a good film, and I wouldn't pay full DVD price for it, for cheap enough it's not a bad watch. I thought the biggest crime it committed was overshadowing a far scarier, and more suspenseful "demon" movie, The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Well, that and being KIND of dull.
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Lick Ness Monster
Dennis Stamp
From the eerie, eerie depths of Lake Okabena
Posts: 4,874
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Post by Lick Ness Monster on Dec 27, 2008 0:52:23 GMT -5
I too was a big fan of The Exorcism of Emily Rose. One of my favorite horror movies this decade, actually.
My #1 horror movie of the decade thus far, however, is Ju-On. Absolutely relentless, flawlessly weaves in and out of its interlocking stories, and contains some excellent acting. The ending really hits you hard, as well.
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OriasPool
Samurai Cop
May the power protect you
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Post by OriasPool on Dec 27, 2008 8:31:40 GMT -5
Yeah, I Spit On Your Grave is rough. The thing about it, is that along with Last House on the Left, it looks like what I imagine a snuff film would be like. I love horror and all, but that brutal realistic stuff is beyond my realm of what I want to watch or can really take. Even Saw and Hostel movies, as crazy as the death scenes/traps are it isn't anywhere near the realism of I Spit on your grave/last house on the left. __________________ A couple of cool older horror movies I saw recently that I recommend to real horror fans are Dementia 13 and Carnival of Souls. Dementia 13 is actually one of Francis Ford Coppola's first movies.
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Lick Ness Monster
Dennis Stamp
From the eerie, eerie depths of Lake Okabena
Posts: 4,874
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Post by Lick Ness Monster on Dec 27, 2008 11:47:58 GMT -5
A couple of cool older horror movies I saw recently that I recommend to real horror fans are Dementia 13 and Carnival of Souls. Dementia 13 is actually one of Francis Ford Coppola's first movies. I actually watched Carnival of Souls one long ago Halloween. I was in maybe fifth grade at the time, and I absolutely loved it. Another horror classic for the kiddies to consider. My most recent amazon.com purchase, which I'm very jazzed about: www.amazon.com/Alfred-Hitchcock-Masterpiece-Collection-Saboteur/dp/B000A1INJE/ref=pd_rhf_p_t_3Just got done watching Savini's remake of Night of the Living Dead, and I think I can now make it official. For whatever reason, I'm just not a fan of zombie movies. There's a lot of people that just adore them, but I'm not one of them. There's tons of people who disagree with me on this point, as well, but I absolutely hate "soapbox movies." To me, it's distracting; it takes away from what the purpose of movies, and the purpose of STORIES in general, are supposed to be - entertainment. For some reason, makers of zombie movies feel the need to soapbox more than just about any other genre, and it just seems that with all the zombie movies I've seen all the film-makers make some high-minded but ultimately epic fail attempt to equate humans with zombies, or something. I don't care for Romero's Dead movies. I also don't care AT ALL for the Evil Dead movies (sorry, I just don't see what's so funny about them), or the 28 Days/Months/Years Later series. I think if some film-maker came along and did a zombie movie that was just all about being entertaining and horrifying, rather than have some real downer social statement or comedic elements involved, I'd really, really enjoy it. But the zombie movies I've seen? Don't care for 'em. Of course, there's probably plenty of movies that fit my description up above, but I haven't seen them. Well, I have seen a FEW movies that kinda/sorta fit that description, but they're all excretory matterbag DTDVD films that are excretory matterbag DTDVD films for a reason. Just my $.02. My favorite zombie movie of all time is, believe it or not, Return of the Living Dead Part II. Yup, not even the first one that everyone loves. It's just such a fun, goofy movie, and puts a smile on my face every time. Also, very unlike Raimi's movies, the humor in the movie doesn't go too overboard and actually makes me laugh. So what's everyone else's thoughts on zombie cinema? General thoughts, favorites, least favorites, etc.?
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Post by Mehe is F'n hardcore. on Dec 28, 2008 14:39:05 GMT -5
Zombie movies are honestly my favorite genre. I don't really like slapsticky zombies, though. I do find the argument of fast vs. slow zombies to be a little silly. I mean, come on, if the undead is chasing you, whether it be shambling or running, aren't you gonna run?
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Lick Ness Monster
Dennis Stamp
From the eerie, eerie depths of Lake Okabena
Posts: 4,874
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Post by Lick Ness Monster on Dec 28, 2008 14:47:08 GMT -5
Zombie movies are honestly my favorite genre. I don't really like slapsticky zombies, though. I do find the argument of fast vs. slow zombies to be a little silly. I mean, come on, if the undead is chasing you, whether it be shambling or running, aren't you gonna run? Good to know somebody's paying attention. ;D I too find that argument silly; the fast zombies in the Dawn of the Dead remake are just as scary as they were in Romero's movie. After all, aren't they after the same thing? They're just a product of the times; everything else has gotten faster, why not the undead in our fictionalized apocalypse movies? Here's another opinion that I hope will provoke some discussion - I like the remake of Dawn of the Dead WAY more than Romero's original. In general, I just like the characters a whole lot better in the newer film, and as I've said repeatedly before, that's the absolute BEST thing that a film can do. It also doesn't get all up its own ass trying to see the zombies/humans in shades of gray like every other freakin' zombie flick I can remember, but I digress.
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