The WC Horror Thread Part 3: In 3-D!

[Rorschach]

May 23, 2009 1:18:29 GMT -5 @tagteamspecialist said:

Right I just saw Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus and it lives up to all the expectations

Seriously I refuse to believe these people made this movie Seriously its just so Cheesy

This movie deserves at least ONE showing with Joe Bob Briggs as the host. It's like they made it to lure him out of the shadows.

[GuyOfOwnage]

I've recently made some additions and upgrades to my horror DVD collection:

- My Bloody Valentine 3D arrived the other day, but I haven't gotten around to watching it yet. Seeing as I always have issues with the red/blue 3D glasses staying on over top of my actual glasses, I'll be watching it in 2D instead. I'll probably be missing out on half the fun, but there's not much that I can do.

- I'm finally upgrading my old Halloween 4 and 5 DVDs to the newer, superior Divimax releases.

- At long last, I'm adding the Evil Dead trilogy to my collection. I've purchased the 3-disc Ultimate Edition of the first film, the Book of the Dead edition of the second film, and the Region 3 Hong Kong Director's Cut of the third film (the Region 1 releases of the director's cut are tape-sourced and look terrible). I look forward to their arrival.

- I had to re-order Prom Night after the company I had initially ordered it from went out of business. While I was at it, I ordered Terror Train as well.

- Finally, I ordered Psycho III and Pet Sematary. The original Psycho is my favorite horror film of all time, and I quite liked the sequel, so I'm looking forward to seeing the third installment. As for Pet Sematary, it's one of the few adaptions of Stephen King's horror works that I genuinely enjoyed.

That's it for the time being, or at least until my little internet employment stint lands me some more cash.

[Lick Ness Monster]

May 23, 2009 18:42:16 GMT -5 GuyOfOwnage said:

I've recently made some additions and upgrades to my horror DVD collection:

- My Bloody Valentine 3D arrived the other day, but I haven't gotten around to watching it yet. Seeing as I always have issues with the red/blue 3D glasses staying on over top of my actual glasses, I'll be watching it in 2D instead. I'll probably be missing out on half the fun, but there's not much that I can do.

- I'm finally upgrading my old Halloween 4 and 5 DVDs to the newer, superior Divimax releases.

- At long last, I'm adding the Evil Dead trilogy to my collection. I've purchased the 3-disc Ultimate Edition of the first film, the Book of the Dead edition of the second film, and the Region 3 Hong Kong Director's Cut of the third film (the Region 1 releases of the director's cut are tape-sourced and look terrible). I look forward to their arrival.

- I had to re-order Prom Night after the company I had initially ordered it from went out of business. While I was at it, I ordered Terror Train as well.

- Finally, I ordered Psycho III and Pet Sematary. The original Psycho is my favorite horror film of all time, and I quite liked the sequel, so I'm looking forward to seeing the third installment. As for Pet Sematary, it's one of the few adaptions of Stephen King's horror works that I genuinely enjoyed.

That's it for the time being, or at least until my little internet employment stint lands me some more cash.

Nice additions there, Guy. Just because I feel like it, my short, short reviews of those films:

My Bloody Valentine 3D - TONS of fun in the movie theater. Haven't seen it at home yet, but seen the way it was meant to be seen, an awesome time. *** 1/2

Halloween 4 - A pretty decent film in its own right; in fact, this would have made an AWESOME end to the series, or the beginning of a new one with Jamie as the killer. ***

Halloween 5 - Hackneyed, uneven, and ultimately very deserving of the WC horror hall of shame tag that it now possesses. That, and the comic relief cops are just as annoying as the ones in Last House on the Left. *

The Evil Dead trilogy - Said it before, but I just don't get the massive cult appeal of these films. I certainly don't hate them, but for some reason, the extremely campy brand of humor just isn't my thing. ** for the first, ** 1/2 for the second, and ** for the third.

Prom Night and Terror Train - I'll just lump these together. Slasher classics with the queen of scream herself, Jamie Lee Curtis, and as that, they're great fun. *** for both.

Psycho III - The second installment of Psycho was indeed very good, although this film regressed a bit in terms of quality. Still much better than it had any right to be, mainly due to Perkins' great acting AND directing and Jeff Fahey as "The Duke." ** 1/2

Pet Sematary - One of the rare King novels to get a screenplay by the man himself, and it shows. In my book, this ranks right up there with the best King adaptations of all time (and on my list, the top three King adaptations aren't horror films, so this movie is REALLY up there on the King-novel-based horror movies list). While it's a fairly faithful adaptation of the source novel, it's the creepy atmosphere created by director Mary Lambert that really shines. *** 1/2

[GuyOfOwnage]

May 23, 2009 20:12:11 GMT -5 Lick Ness Monster said:

Halloween 4 - A pretty decent film in its own right; in fact, this would have made an AWESOME end to the series, or the beginning of a new one with Jamie as the killer. ***

Halloween 5 - Hackneyed, uneven, and ultimately very deserving of the WC horror hall of shame tag that it now possesses. That, and the comic relief cops are just as annoying as the ones in Last House on the Left. *

The Evil Dead trilogy - Said it before, but I just don't get the massive cult appeal of these films. I certainly don't hate them, but for some reason, the extremely campy brand of humor just isn't my thing. ** for the first, ** 1/2 for the second, and ** for the third.

Prom Night and Terror Train - I'll just lump these together. Slasher classics with the queen of scream herself, Jamie Lee Curtis, and as that, they're great fun. *** for both.

Pet Sematary - One of the rare King novels to get a screenplay by the man himself, and it shows. In my book, this ranks right up there with the best King adaptations of all time (and on my list, the top three King adaptations aren't horror films, so this movie is REALLY up there on the King-novel-based horror movies list). While it's a fairly faithful adaptation of the source novel, it's the creepy atmosphere created by director Mary Lambert that really shines. *** 1/2

And some responses to your little mini-reviews...

Halloween 4 - Wholeheartedly agreed. It ended up being far better than it had any right to be. Too bad 5 basically killed the potential for a new beginning to the series.

Halloween 5 - Eh, with all its faults, I can understand the hate for it, as it was a sharp drop in quality from 4. The followup, however, was so mind-numbingly awful that it makes this one watchable by comparison. I'll take Revenge over Curse any day.

The Evil Dead Trilogy - I've always felt that the campy nature of these films was an acquired taste, more than anything. Either you get it or you don't.

Prom Night/Terror Train - Again, wholeheartedly agreed. As I already own Halloween and The Fog, these two films complete my unofficial JLC "Scream Queen" collection ;D

Pet Sematary - Definitely agreed on the quality of this one. It steers away from the typical 80s horror formula in that it's a tragic tale with no real happy ending. Great atmosphere and top notch performances all around. I really want to write a review for this one, just because I have so much to say about it. (And as for non-horror King adaptions, I'd have to go with The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile as my two favorites.)

[Lick Ness Monster]

May 23, 2009 21:25:23 GMT -5 GuyOfOwnage said:

(And as for non-horror King adaptions, I'd have to go with The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile as my two favorites.)

Those, along with Stand by Me, are my top three King films of all time. For horror, I'd probably say that De Palma's Carrie takes the top spot, with The Dead Zone and Pet Sematary just a step behind.

[Maidpool w/ Cleaning Action]

Speaking of collecting horror movies I'm about to pick up Hellraiser and Cloverfield on Blu-Ray. Rorschach told me the Hellraiser one is nice.

[GuyOfOwnage]

May 23, 2009 22:31:41 GMT -5 Maidpool w/ Cleaning Action said:

Speaking of collecting horror movies I'm about to pick up Hellraiser and Cloverfield on Blu-Ray. Rorschach told me the Hellraiser one is nice.

I hope you're not getting that new Hellraiser box set. That one's a giant waste of money. I've never understood the logic of putting a Blu-ray AND DVD of the same movie in the same box set. If you have a Blu-ray player, what do you need the DVD for anyway?

[LARIATOOO!]

Has anyone here seen Dead Snow?
If not check it out, Norwegian Nazi Zombie horror, which definitely borrows from Evil Dead, absolute joy to watch. Made by someone who clearly understands how to a horror comedy, without making it a parody or just pure ridiculous.
Genius tagline: Ein! Zwei! DIE!
Also best moral in a film ever: Nazi Gold belong to Nazi Zombies take and you will f***ed up.

[Lick Ness Monster]

Almost forgot about this review, which I said I'd do in the last horror thread, and since it's still somewhat relevant since there was some Grudge discussion a couple pages back...

Ju-On: The Grudge 2

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The Ju-On/Grudge films have a pretty sizable cult following here in the States, a testament to the overall quality of the entire series given how outright CONFUSING it can be to keep the whole series straight. In the Japanese or Ju-On series, there's the two initial V-cinema films and the two theatrical films, followed by the three (to date) American Grudge movies. Just to make things clear, this is a review of Ju-On: The Grudge 2, or the FOURTH film in the Japanese franchise. With this, I'll also have covered every film in the Ju-On series.

Alright...now that I have the obligatory "thoroughly confuse the reader" portion of any Ju-On/Grudge write-up out of the way, on to this movie. In the original Ju-On: The Grudge, we were introduced to a core of characters who were, essentially, unrelated in everything but their eventual fate. While all of the movies are at some level similar, each one seems to have a baseline theme in relation to its victims, and in the original film, that theme seemed to be fate. All of the characters who enter Kayako's demonic house, hereby cursing themselves to death, seemed to be doing so by chance. The main character, Rika, had the unfortunate task of going to the Saeki house to run a work errand. A young couple moves in to the house. And the investigating officer's own teenage daughter enters the house on a dare.

In this film, all of the characters know exactly what they're doing, and in this respect, writer-director Takashi Shimizu infuses Ju-On: The Grudge 2 with more of a "morality tale" aspect. While the film isn't about teenage characters in the vein of the countless American body count/slasher films, it seems that the moral of this story is the normal message pounded home in the form of partying teens in slashers - you play with matches, you get burned.

Just like the previous film, Ju-On: The Grudge 2 DOES focus on a single character for its bookend chapters (as this film follows the familiar formula that the three previous films in the series had followed, which divides its main story into six character-centered vignettes). The movie's introductory segment gives us Kyoko (Noriko Sakai, who does a pretty decent acting job), an actress known as the queen of Japanese horror films, and her fiance Masashi. Kyoko is pregnant, and the couple are looking forward to their future, but as they drive down the road, they suddenly see a young boy standing in front of them in the road, forcing them into a near-fatal crash. Kyoko believes that her baby is lost, but mysteriously, she later learns that she is still pregnant and carrying...

We pretty much know where the story's ultimate shock will come from after the introductory segment, and indeed, when the birth scene that the movie revolves around finally arrives, it comes as little surprise (though it is still very cool). What happens in between, however, is pure Ju-On, as Shimizu once again tops himself with the creative murders, genuine creep-you-out moments, and one of the single coolest villains around.

I've said it before, but the Grudge series - both the American films and the original Japanese Ju-On franchise - deserves every fan that it has if for no other reason than the creation of the character Kayako Saeki. As masterfully played once again by Takako Fuji, she is a truly one-of-a-kind villain. She manages to be very scary, tragic, and even a little sympathetic without pandering to the audience in a manner akin to Rob Zombie's Halloween. Much like Kane Hodder's portrayal of Jason, Fuji takes on the character of Kayako with great aplomb. For a character with no real spoken lines (I might be mistaken, but the only ones that I remember are from the very first Curse film), Kayako is unmistakable. Shimizu gave his lead villain trademarks that make the movie memorable long after its final frame, and where so many other movies are half-forgotten by the time you leave the theater, you will remember the crawling, bloody, stalking, and terrifying villain that spells doom for every character that she sees.

Unlike the previous film in the series, in which virtually the entire movie was a home run, some of the chapters in Ju-On: The Grudge 2 are better than others. The chapters themselves give us the reason for Kyoko's status as the latest target of Kayako and Toshio - it seems that a brave producer felt that creating a television special set inside the cursed house, with the queen of Japanese horror, would draw big ratings. Of course, this spells big trouble for not only Kyoko, but the entire crew involved with the production, all of whom meet their doom at the hands of the two antagonists throughout the film.

The chapter devoted to Keisuke, the director of the TV special, drags a bit. It is very different from the feel of a typical Ju-On chapter, which normally followed the standard formula of "introduce character, establish their entry into the house, long period of stalking and tension building, appearance by Kayako, fade to black." This particular vignette seems to establish something a little out of character for the series, involving a sort of "rebirth" for Kayako in the form of Kyoko's baby. This, along with the final chapter of the film and its ultimate revelation, feels a little weak in comparison to the very high standards set by the rest of the series.

It matters little. Realizing what his golden goose was (much the same way that New Line realized the same with Freddy Krueger), Shimizu has Kayako onscreen much more than the other films in the Japanese series, and gives us several truly scary (and sometimes downright bizarre) moments. In particular, the Tomoka chapter, with the image of Kayako's hair slowly dropping from the ceiling and hanging the titular character, really sticks in your mind long after the film is over. And the Chiharu chapter is utterly gut-wrenching - for the entire duration of the vignette, one character is given glimmers of hope, then brought back to reality, then switched back to another alternate reality, and in all cases essentially given a royal mindsnork before the answers to all of her questions come. In the form of her death. This chapter ranks as one of the best vignettes in the entire series, as it truly makes you feel sorry for the victim character, along with its genuine power to get under your skin.

I wouldn't say that Ju-On: The Grudge 2 is an ideal ending for the Japanese series. After the extremely disquieting ending of the previous film, in which it is implied that the curse of the Saeki house has led to the end of humanity itself, this movie's ending felt a little weak and gimmicky. It seems that Shimizu himself feels that way, as he is producing (but not directing) two more Ju-On movies that will be released in Japan this June. If you're a fan of the Ju-On series, however, you won't be disappointed. It's got more Kayako, more sympathetic victims, more great slow-burn build-ups, and even rewards long-time fans of the series with its character connections to the franchise's other films.

*** 1/2 if you're a fan of the Ju-On series, *** if you're not.

[Rorschach]

EXCELLENT review, TR!

One of the things I cannot agree with enough is your assesment of Fuji's portrayal of Kayako. Her turn as the character ought to go down as being every bit as iconic as Englund's Kreuger or Hodder's Jason. It's odd that Gunnar Hansen only played Leatherface ONCE and yet he's held in higher esteem amongst horror fans than Fuji is, despite her going through just as grueling a process as Hansen did every time she donned the Kayako make-up.

Which brings me to the big sticking point I have with the genre....why is it so easy to create convincing MALE slashers and yet so damn hard for people to come up with compelling female ones? You did it in your "Sick" script, TR...but you know I just have this feeling that most American directors and studios just cannot fathom a convincing female villain who is NOT using her sex as her main weapon.

Ironically enough, history has no shortage of female monsters in it's ranks (Belle Gunnes, Karla Homolka, Elizabeth Bathory) and thus it would seem that a GOOD film based on those people would be relatively easy to achieve. Sadly, this has not been the case.

[erisi236]

Ha, I loved the ending of Ju-On: Grudge 2, 'Lil Kayako should have her own movie.

Kayako does sort of talk in the AmerJap version (calling it the American version always seems a bit of a misnomer to me, I mean really, look at the credits), the video scene in particular you can hear her calling out in a weird distorted video way "Where are you Peter" in Japanese if I remember right, and of course the narration to her diary "I'm in love with a man who doesn't know I exist".

Somewhat on that topic the DVD commentary with her is a scream.

[Rorschach]

May 24, 2009 18:27:12 GMT -5 erisi236 said:

Ha, I loved the ending of Ju-On: Grudge 2, 'Lil Kayako should have her own movie.

Kayako does sort of talk in the AmerJap version (calling it the American version always seems a bit of a misnomer to me, I mean really, look at the credits), the video scene in particular you can hear her calling out in a weird distorted video way "Where are you Peter" in Japanese if I remember right, and of course the narration to her diary "I'm in love with a man who doesn't know I exist".

Somewhat on that topic the DVD commentary with her is a scream.

What's this about a Kayako commentary? ;D

[erisi236]

May 24, 2009 18:59:11 GMT -5 Rorschach said:

What's this about a Kayako commentary? ;D

Ha, the Unrated Directors cut DVD has commentary from the director one of the producers and Fuji-san.

It's in Japanese obviously, but there's also subtitles.

Also on that note I always bring this up whenever possible, but the Grudge Unrated is one of the finest examples of a movie going from regular DVD to unrated directors cut DVD. It's almost a different movie as they move around scenes which makes the flow of the film different as well as add a tad more blood of course, the jawless girl is so much more graphic and scary for instance.

[BoilerRoomBrawler]

Finally saw Cloverfield and I enjoyed it for what it was.

My friends get all antsy because it suddenly ends but I'm thinking, "it's recovered footage, so you know they died, or else they should have had interviews or the like with the survivors."

At least that's what I was thinking immediately afterward.

Then again, I liked The Blair Witch Project, so maybe I'm weird.

[Lick Ness Monster]

May 24, 2009 18:27:12 GMT -5 erisi236 said:

Ha, I loved the ending of Ju-On: Grudge 2, 'Lil Kayako should have her own movie.

I get what you're saying, Erisi, as it's definitely cool seeing the new incantation of Kayako. I guess, to me, the whole development in the film of being reborn just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. One would think that Kayako possessed MUCH more power in her ghost form than in human, albeit evil, child form. I don't know, maybe it's just glandular.

Much like all the other films in the series, however (and I'm about to give the American films another go, as I just picked up the director's cut verisons), there's a lot of stuff that I absolutely love about it that more than offsets that minor complaint.

May 24, 2009 17:48:21 GMT -5 Rorschach said:

EXCELLENT review, TR!

One of the things I cannot agree with enough is your assesment of Fuji's portrayal of Kayako. Her turn as the character ought to go down as being every bit as iconic as Englund's Kreuger or Hodder's Jason. It's odd that Gunnar Hansen only played Leatherface ONCE and yet he's held in higher esteem amongst horror fans than Fuji is, despite her going through just as grueling a process as Hansen did every time she donned the Kayako make-up.

Which brings me to the big sticking point I have with the genre....why is it so easy to create convincing MALE slashers and yet so damn hard for people to come up with compelling female ones? You did it in your "Sick" script, TR...but you know I just have this feeling that most American directors and studios just cannot fathom a convincing female villain who is NOT using her sex as her main weapon.

Ironically enough, history has no shortage of female monsters in it's ranks (Belle Gunnes, Karla Homolka, Elizabeth Bathory) and thus it would seem that a GOOD film based on those people would be relatively easy to achieve. Sadly, this has not been the case.

100% agreed on the sheer awesomeness of Fuji's performance - every bit as deserving of truly iconic status as Hodder, Hansen and Englund, and it is indeed a crime that her name isn't mentioned along with those luminaries. And as I said in the review, Ju-On is a shining example of how you can give your main villain some sympathetic qualities, but still leave the audience absolutely mortified of the character.

As for the real-life killers you mentioned, to this day I'm amazed that there hasn't been a big-budget, high-profile film made of Elizabeth Bathory's life. One would think that would be a natural and damn near impossible to screw up. Imagine, say, Christina Ricci playing the "Blood Countess" herself...that would be DYNAMITE.

One last thing - for anyone who questions that female serial killers are as depraved as their male counterparts, take a look at the 1974 French film Immoral Tales, featuring a segment on Bathory. Watching this movie, viewers not in the know would think that this story was pornographic, obscene, and just incredibly uncalled for...but it was all true. Long story short, this chick was snorkin' SICK!

[erisi236]

Since we're on the topic, I find it funny to me anyway, The only horror icon whom I ever wanted to get an autograph from was Takako Fuji.



The Grudge series is also the only movies in which the posters scroll across my wall like some sort of shrine, not that I'm obsessed or anything.

[Rorschach]

May 24, 2009 19:55:38 GMT -5 erisi236 said:

Since we're on the topic, I find it funny to me anyway, The only horror icon whom I ever wanted to get an autograph from was Takako Fuji.



The Grudge series is also the only movies in which the posters scroll across my wall like some sort of shrine, not that I'm obsessed or anything.

Did you by chance get your picture taken with her along with that autograph, Erisi? I hear she's just the tiniest little girl in real life, not that I thought she would be otherwise from her movie roles, but...yeah. I've kind of got a crush on her, too. ;D

[Lick Ness Monster]

May 24, 2009 19:22:20 GMT -5 BoilerRoomBrawler said:

Finally saw Cloverfield and I enjoyed it for what it was.

My friends get all antsy because it suddenly ends but I'm thinking, "it's recovered footage, so you know they died, or else they should have had interviews or the like with the survivors."

At least that's what I was thinking immediately afterward.

Then again, I liked The Blair Witch Project, so maybe I'm weird.

I still like The Blair Witch Project quite a bit too, BRB. Another film that falls into the "too successful and thus becomes cool to trash" category.

[Deleted]

May 24, 2009 13:06:23 GMT -5 LARIATOOO! said:

Has anyone here seen Dead Snow?
If not check it out, Norwegian Nazi Zombie horror, which definitely borrows from Evil Dead, absolute joy to watch. Made by someone who clearly understands how to a horror comedy, without making it a parody or just pure ridiculous.
Genius tagline: Ein! Zwei! DIE!
Also best moral in a film ever: Nazi Gold belong to Nazi Zombies take and you will snorked up.

I was gonna see that but thought it didn't come out till next month?

Also can any of you tell me if My Bloody Valentine is any good out of 3D?

[Deleted]

I think I may have just found the most tasteless and Horrible horror movie of all time

I'll say more when I'm done but I'm only half way through and it is horrible