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Post by YellowJacketY2J on Oct 12, 2010 15:25:20 GMT -5
They are now remaking They Live, but they are not sure if they'll use the "sunglasses" idea. Sigh. The only way I'd be fine with this if the only way the audience could see the alternate universe (as I refer to it) is if they put on pre-handed out sunglasses, a la the original 13 Ghosts. Even then, I don't see this remake doing that good, as the original was, in my opinion, good only because of Piper (same goes for Hell Comes to Frogtown).
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Post by DSR on Oct 13, 2010 6:14:30 GMT -5
THE CORPSE GRINDERS (1971) - Before I get into my review, I wanna say that the there was an odd path to me finding out about this movie. I've said this before, but the first horror film I'd ever picked out for myself to watch was Lucio Fulci's THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY (my brother usually picked what we watched). I recalled only a few brief moments from that picture, but I eventually found it on VHS thanks to Anchor Bay, and relived that childhood sense of confusion and fright at the movie. As a result, I became a fan of Anchor Bay as a label unto itself, and picked up a few films in their catalog, including the Michael Gough mad scientist picture HORROR HOSPITAL. On that tape was a trailer for the double feature of HORROR HOSPITAL and THE CORPSE GRINDERS. I eventually found a DVD copy of THE CORPSE GRINDERS, and now I'm gonna review that for you.
*whew*
After a brief pre-credits sequence where a woman is attacked viciously by a stray cat, our story begins with a gravedigger named Caleb, working late into the night. He and his wife Cleo have a short argument about a bizarre business arrangement of Caleb's, and Cleo insists that no good can come of it.
Next, we're introduced to Mr. Landau and Mr. Maltby, the operators of the Lotus Cat Food Company. They make a big deal to their workers about the privacy of the business that goes on in their offices.
Finally, we're introduced to Dr. Glass and his girlfriend Angie Robertson, a nurse. In between operations, Dr. Glass engages in some brief canoodling with his lady before being attacked by her cat, which had just finished eating, you can probably guess this, Lotus brand Cat Food.
Yes, the men in charge of Lotus have a deal with Caleb the gravedigger that he provides corpses, which are then ground into cat food and sold on the market. And once the cats get a taste for human flesh, they're far from willing to go back to tuna. When a visit to the Food Adulturation Association proves fruitless, Dr. Glass and Nurse Robertson begin their own investigation of Lotus.
Meanwhile, demand exceeds supply for Landau and Maltby, and their greed leads them to murder to keep their product coming. An added positive is that, when business deals go sour or someone gets too close to the truth, the businessmen have a quick and easy way to make them disappear. Hopefully Glass and Robertson can uncover Lotus's secrets before becoming the next batch of Fancy Feast...
Directed, produced, and edited by Ted V. Mikels, from a script by Arch Hall Sr. (primarily known for films like EEGAH! and WILD GUITAR) and Joseph Cranston (who also wrote the story for THE CRAWLING HAND), THE CORPSE GRINDERS feels like a cash-in on the success Herschell Gordon Lewis enjoyed during the 60s. The acting is on par with what you'd find in an Ed Wood film, though the writing is a few notches above that (how could it not be?). And there is some gore on display, though not to the extent that Lewis deployed it in his movies. We see bodies fed into a grinder, and then in a seperate shot we get "ground beef" coming out the other side, but that's as far as it goes.
But the grainy footage, dingy set design, and use of obvious non-actors (including a woman with only one leg as a cannery worker) adds up to the film feeling sleazier than it would otherwise. Even the parts of the film that are designed to titillate (a couple of attractive women strip down to their underwear) feel seedy, almost like the audience is peeping on the girls through their curtains. That, plus some very atmospheric lighting during the climax bumps the film up a couple notches in my book.
3.7 stars out of 5. Far from a terrifying masterpiece, but you'll probably feel like taking a shower afterwards. And it clocks in at 73 minutes, so it'll be over before you get bored.
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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 Oct 13, 2010 9:56:46 GMT -5
THE CORPSE GRINDERS (1971) - Before I get into my review, I wanna say that the there was an odd path to me finding out about this movie. I've said this before, but the first horror film I'd ever picked out for myself to watch was Lucio Fulci's THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY (my brother usually picked what we watched). I recalled only a few brief moments from that picture, but I eventually found it on VHS thanks to Anchor Bay, and relived that childhood sense of confusion and fright at the movie. As a result, I became a fan of Anchor Bay as a label unto itself, and picked up a few films in their catalog, including the Michael Gough mad scientist picture HORROR HOSPITAL. On that tape was a trailer for the double feature of HORROR HOSPITAL and THE CORPSE GRINDERS. I eventually found a DVD copy of THE CORPSE GRINDERS, and now I'm gonna review that for you. *whew* After a brief pre-credits sequence where a woman is attacked viciously by a stray cat, our story begins with a gravedigger named Caleb, working late into the night. He and his wife Cleo have a short argument about a bizarre business arrangement of Caleb's, and Cleo insists that no good can come of it. Next, we're introduced to Mr. Landau and Mr. Maltby, the operators of the Lotus Cat Food Company. They make a big deal to their workers about the privacy of the business that goes on in their offices. Finally, we're introduced to Dr. Glass and his girlfriend Angie Robertson, a nurse. In between operations, Dr. Glass engages in some brief canoodling with his lady before being attacked by her cat, which had just finished eating, you can probably guess this, Lotus brand Cat Food. Yes, the men in charge of Lotus have a deal with Caleb the gravedigger that he provides corpses, which are then ground into cat food and sold on the market. And once the cats get a taste for human flesh, they're far from willing to go back to tuna. When a visit to the Food Adulturation Association proves fruitless, Dr. Glass and Nurse Robertson begin their own investigation of Lotus. Meanwhile, demand exceeds supply for Landau and Maltby, and their greed leads them to murder to keep their product coming. An added positive is that, when business deals go sour or someone gets too close to the truth, the businessmen have a quick and easy way to make them disappear. Hopefully Glass and Robertson can uncover Lotus's secrets before becoming the next batch of Fancy Feast... Directed, produced, and edited by Ted V. Mikels, from a script by Arch Hall Sr. (primarily known for films like EEGAH! and WILD GUITAR) and Joseph Cranston (who also wrote the story for THE CRAWLING HAND), THE CORPSE GRINDERS feels like a cash-in on the success Herschell Gordon Lewis enjoyed during the 60s. The acting is on par with what you'd find in an Ed Wood film, though the writing is a few notches above that (how could it not be?). And there is some gore on display, though not to the extent that Lewis deployed it in his movies. We see bodies fed into a grinder, and then in a seperate shot we get "ground beef" coming out the other side, but that's as far as it goes. But the grainy footage, dingy set design, and use of obvious non-actors (including a woman with only one leg as a cannery worker) adds up to the film feeling sleazier than it would otherwise. Even the parts of the film that are designed to titillate (a couple of attractive women strip down to their underwear) feel seedy, almost like the audience is peeping on the girls through their curtains. That, plus some very atmospheric lighting during the climax bumps the film up a couple notches in my book. 3.7 stars out of 5. Far from a terrifying masterpiece, but you'll probably feel like taking a shower afterwards. And it clocks in at 73 minutes, so it'll be over before you get bored. Ah, Ted V. Mikels... And we need more characters with names like Dr. Glass. ;D
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Post by mysterydriver on Oct 13, 2010 10:04:14 GMT -5
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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 Oct 13, 2010 10:07:23 GMT -5
Natalie Portman = proof that acting ability can regress. It's something when you go back and look at her early work in Leon and Beautiful Girls, and then see the pasty-faced, blank piece of cardboard she eventually became.
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Post by YellowJacketY2J on Oct 13, 2010 10:18:09 GMT -5
Natalie Portman = proof that acting ability can regress. It's something when you go back and look at her early work in Leon and Beautiful Girls, and then see the pasty-faced, blank piece of cardboard she eventually became. I've been hearing good things about Black Swan, so maybe she rediscovered her acting ability. Even then, a PG-13 Alien isn't quite up my alley.
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darthalexander
Hank Scorpio
I have a feeling I may end up getting banned soon.
Posts: 7,030
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Post by darthalexander on Oct 13, 2010 11:17:33 GMT -5
Fox is really getting on my nerves. This is showing how stupid they are. Here they have the director of the first film, which is considered to be a sci-fi masterpiece, wanting to do not only one but two prequels. What do they do? Start alienating (pun not intended) him but trying to force a PG13 rating on him and by doing "artistic changes". I hope he walks and I hope it flops when it does comes out. Morons. First they cut the Die Hard film (they'll cut the next two probably) and now this.
Didn't they learn from Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection?
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Post by YellowJacketY2J on Oct 13, 2010 11:53:15 GMT -5
Fox is really getting on my nerves. This is showing how stupid they are. Here they have the director of the first film, which is considered to be a sci-fi masterpiece, wanting to do not only one but two prequels. What do they do? Start alienating (pun not intended) him but trying to force a PG13 rating on him and by doing "artistic changes". I hope he walks and I hope it flops when it does comes out. Morons. First they cut the Die Hard film (they'll cut the next two probably) and now this. Didn't they learn from Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection? At least with Live Free or Die Hard, the only thing seemingly missing was the language, which, to me, wasn't a big issue. You still have Willis as John McClane and some of the best action sequences around. With the Alien prequels, I feel that an R-rating is necessary to capture the gritty feel of it all. Even if it were to be able to be pulled of with a PG-13 rating, the fact the director is being chastised is aggravating and will most likely hinder the film's feel.
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darthalexander
Hank Scorpio
I have a feeling I may end up getting banned soon.
Posts: 7,030
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Post by darthalexander on Oct 13, 2010 12:28:58 GMT -5
He'll probably walk and I don't blame him. Now we'll have to wonder "what could have been".
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Post by DSR on Oct 13, 2010 12:42:10 GMT -5
And we need more characters with names like Dr. Glass. ;D The character's full name is Dr. Howard Glass. I didn't realize I forgot to include his first name. And also, sadly, his bones don't break easily, and he's not played by Samuel L. Jackson.
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Post by YellowJacketY2J on Oct 13, 2010 12:48:51 GMT -5
For those who haven't checked it out yet, here is the first in what should be an ongoing series created by me called "Movienalia". The description is in the link. I will state that most of the films I will be doing will be of the horror genre. www.studycove.co.uk/news/movienalia-star-crystal
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Post by Rorschach on Oct 13, 2010 15:45:23 GMT -5
Another FRIGHTFEST film review....and this time, it's a foreign film! The Haunting (aka NO-DO) (2009) Starring: Anna Torrent, Francisco Boira and Hector Colome’ Written and Directed by: Elio Quiroga In writer/director Elio Quiroga’s quietly scary and intense film The Haunting , we are introduced to Francesca and Pedro, who along with their newborn infant son are moving into a new house in the country. It seems that after the crib death of their first child ten years prior, the young couple’s marriage has deteriorated and both of them decided that a change of scenery after the new baby would do them some good. SIDEBAR: (Gee, could the people who re-title foreign films BE any more generic with this one? It’s known as NO-DO in its native Spain, and why it couldn’t be known as that here in the States is beyond me; after all, there are only a BILLION other generic ghost movies called “The Haunting” out there…why try to make an excellent one like this stand out? /Sarcasm) Anyway, The Haunting uses a novel take on this subgenre of horror, giving us two stories simultaneously: that of Francesca and Pedro, and that of the house they’ve moved into, shown in flashback through “No-Do” or Noticialos Documentalas (“news documentaries”) footage. These “No-Do” films actually existed and were used by the Catholic church during the Franco regime as a means of propaganda to disseminate news of miraculous occurrences. The particular “No-Do” we see at the beginning of the movie revolves around a Catholic orphanage where the Virgin Mary was said to have appeared and performed miraculous healings of the ill and injured. I thought the use of “No-Do” footage was a very clever way to introduce exposition or to set up certain scenes without having an omniscient narrator doing it. It’s one of the things that makes The Haunting so unique and different from other “haunted house” or “ghost” genre movies. This house has a horrible secret that it is hiding from its new tenants, and these “No-Do” reels serve to fill us in, bit by bit, piece by nasty piece, on what that secret is. By the time the film reaches its climax, you’ll be dreading seeing the next reel of “No Do” footage, and that is where Quiroga’s gimmick succeeds grandly. Of course, the other half of the story is the strained marriage of Francesca (Torrent, who is heartbreakingly good as the tormented Francesca) and Pedro (Boira, who plays a sensitive husband in a role where other actors might have gone for a more hard-edged tone; his love for his wife clearly shines through, and he takes what could have been a one dimensional character and gives it unexpected depth). Despite moving into a new house, and having a new baby, Francesca is paranoid and depressed and moody as ever, and refuses to let the infant out of her sight, lest the same “crib death” tragedy strike twice. Pedro tries to get her therapy (which she refuses) and tries to assuage her anxiety by installing a baby monitor in their bedroom and in the baby’s crib respectively so that Francesca won’t sleep in a chair next to the baby’s crib all the time. He’s really trying to help her, and you can see that it hurts him that nothing he’s doing is helping. However, he draws the line when Francesca tells him she’s being visited by spirits during the night, and they’re warning her that something evil wants the baby; this is too much for Pedro to bear, and so he consults a local priest as to what on Earth he can do with his wife. Upon learning where the young couple is living, the priest blanches and tells Pedro that he cannot help him, but he can offer one piece of advice: do NOT go anywhere near the attic or the cellar of that house. Coincidentally, this is where Francesca claims the spirits who visit her are coming from…. The Haunting is a well acted, well paced and frankly quite creepy tale that I’m glad that Fangoria gave me the chance to get to see here in the states. I enjoyed it immensely, and if you’re a fan of “haunted house” movies, and you can tolerate subtitles or you speak Spanish….by all means check this one out. It is well worth your time and money. ***** out of five.
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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 Oct 14, 2010 11:27:07 GMT -5
Another FRIGHTFEST film review....and this time, it's a foreign film! The Haunting (aka NO-DO) (2009) Starring: Anna Torrent, Francisco Boira and Hector Colome’ Written and Directed by: Elio Quiroga In writer/director Elio Quiroga’s quietly scary and intense film The Haunting , we are introduced to Francesca and Pedro, who along with their newborn infant son are moving into a new house in the country. It seems that after the crib death of their first child ten years prior, the young couple’s marriage has deteriorated and both of them decided that a change of scenery after the new baby would do them some good. SIDEBAR: (Gee, could the people who re-title foreign films BE any more generic with this one? It’s known as NO-DO in its native Spain, and why it couldn’t be known as that here in the States is beyond me; after all, there are only a BILLION other generic ghost movies called “The Haunting” out there…why try to make an excellent one like this stand out? /Sarcasm) Anyway, The Haunting uses a novel take on this subgenre of horror, giving us two stories simultaneously: that of Francesca and Pedro, and that of the house they’ve moved into, shown in flashback through “No-Do” or Noticialos Documentalas (“news documentaries”) footage. These “No-Do” films actually existed and were used by the Catholic church during the Franco regime as a means of propaganda to disseminate news of miraculous occurrences. The particular “No-Do” we see at the beginning of the movie revolves around a Catholic orphanage where the Virgin Mary was said to have appeared and performed miraculous healings of the ill and injured. I thought the use of “No-Do” footage was a very clever way to introduce exposition or to set up certain scenes without having an omniscient narrator doing it. It’s one of the things that makes The Haunting so unique and different from other “haunted house” or “ghost” genre movies. This house has a horrible secret that it is hiding from its new tenants, and these “No-Do” reels serve to fill us in, bit by bit, piece by nasty piece, on what that secret is. By the time the film reaches its climax, you’ll be dreading seeing the next reel of “No Do” footage, and that is where Quiroga’s gimmick succeeds grandly. Of course, the other half of the story is the strained marriage of Francesca (Torrent, who is heartbreakingly good as the tormented Francesca) and Pedro (Boira, who plays a sensitive husband in a role where other actors might have gone for a more hard-edged tone; his love for his wife clearly shines through, and he takes what could have been a one dimensional character and gives it unexpected depth). Despite moving into a new house, and having a new baby, Francesca is paranoid and depressed and moody as ever, and refuses to let the infant out of her sight, lest the same “crib death” tragedy strike twice. Pedro tries to get her therapy (which she refuses) and tries to assuage her anxiety by installing a baby monitor in their bedroom and in the baby’s crib respectively so that Francesca won’t sleep in a chair next to the baby’s crib all the time. He’s really trying to help her, and you can see that it hurts him that nothing he’s doing is helping. However, he draws the line when Francesca tells him she’s being visited by spirits during the night, and they’re warning her that something evil wants the baby; this is too much for Pedro to bear, and so he consults a local priest as to what on Earth he can do with his wife. Upon learning where the young couple is living, the priest blanches and tells Pedro that he cannot help him, but he can offer one piece of advice: do NOT go anywhere near the attic or the cellar of that house. Coincidentally, this is where Francesca claims the spirits who visit her are coming from…. The Haunting is a well acted, well paced and frankly quite creepy tale that I’m glad that Fangoria gave me the chance to get to see here in the states. I enjoyed it immensely, and if you’re a fan of “haunted house” movies, and you can tolerate subtitles or you speak Spanish….by all means check this one out. It is well worth your time and money. ***** out of five. This review intrigued me, so I checked it out on Amazon to see some other comments. Based on some of the things I've gleamed from there, it sounds a bit like one of those dreaded message movies that I usually rail against, but I trust your judgment, so I ordered it anyway. I'll let you know how that turns out.
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Post by Michael Coello on Oct 14, 2010 12:42:09 GMT -5
Really, if you're gonna remake stuff, why not remake public domain horror or the early 40's/50's/60's stuff? I get the newer stuff is based on name value, but you have a lot of interesting themes and stories, stuff that fell tot he wayside in the rise of slashers flicks that they are remaking now.
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Post by mysterydriver on Oct 14, 2010 13:05:04 GMT -5
Really, if you're gonna remake stuff, why not remake public domain horror or the early 40's/50's/60's stuff? I get the newer stuff is based on name value, but you have a lot of interesting themes and stories, stuff that fell tot he wayside in the rise of slashers flicks that they are remaking now. Trust me. The moment I shoot the ground and a bubblin' crude pops out, I'm starting up "B-Make Studios" focusing on Public Domain films.
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Post by DSR on Oct 14, 2010 16:51:11 GMT -5
Really, if you're gonna remake stuff, why not remake public domain horror or the early 40's/50's/60's stuff? I get the newer stuff is based on name value, but you have a lot of interesting themes and stories, stuff that fell tot he wayside in the rise of slashers flicks that they are remaking now. Trust me. The moment I shoot the ground and a bubblin' crude pops out, I'm starting up "B-Make Studios" focusing on Public Domain films. Awesome. You gotta let me in on that, I've got some ideas for an INVASION OF THE BEE GIRLS remake, but I need help fleshing out the story and some money to put it together. Also, we were discussing Wes Craven a little earlier in the thread, and earlier today I came to realize that I have more of his movies than any other director (any other horror director at least - I have a 20 pack of Hitchcock films, but only THE LODGER can count as a horror movie). Craven films I own (9): Last House on the Left The Hills Have Eyes Swamp Thing (it's action/horror, so it counts) A Nightmare on Elm Street Chiller Deadly Friend Shocker The People Under the Stairs Wes Craven's New Nightmare For comparison's sake Lucio Fulci (8): Zombi 2 City of the Living Dead The Beyond House by the Cemetery Manhattan Baby Zombi 3 (co-directed by Bruno Mattei) Touch of Death Demonia Dario Argento (7): Cat O' Nine Tails Deep Red Suspiria Phenomena Opera Masters of Horror: Jenifer Masters of Horror: Pelts (you may not want to count these last 2) Roger Corman (7): A Bucket of Blood The Wasp Woman House of Usher The Little Shop of Horrors The Raven The Terror X Jack Arnold (5): Creature from the Black Lagoon Revenge of the Creature Tarantula! The Incredible Shrinking Man Monster on the Campus John Carpenter (3): Halloween The Fog The Thing So yeah, just something I found interesting about my film collection.
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Post by YellowJacketY2J on Oct 15, 2010 7:31:49 GMT -5
Two important things I must mention:
1) I will NOT be reviewing Buried this weekend. As it turns out, the theater that was supposed to get a copy yet hasn't gotten one. They're still hoping for one soon. I'm guessing this is the distributor's decision, as no theater in the state of Pennsylvania (or at least any close to me) are screening it. This also means no horror reviews this weekend, as the films I will be reviewing/have already reviewed are not horror themed. I will make up for this next week with the second edition of Movienalia, which will once again be of a horror flick. This time one much more notable than Star Crystal.
2) I guess this is no longer the WC Horror Thread anymore.
Fine, so the last note wasn't that important. I just wanted to get it off my chest.
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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 Oct 15, 2010 9:59:28 GMT -5
Also, we were discussing Wes Craven a little earlier in the thread, and earlier today I came to realize that I have more of his movies than any other director (any other horror director at least - I have a 20 pack of Hitchcock films, but only THE LODGER can count as a horror movie). Craven films I own (9): Last House on the Left The Hills Have Eyes Swamp Thing (it's action/horror, so it counts) A Nightmare on Elm Street Chiller Deadly Friend Shocker The People Under the Stairs Wes Craven's New Nightmare For comparison's sake Lucio Fulci (8): Zombi 2 City of the Living Dead The Beyond House by the Cemetery Manhattan Baby Zombi 3 (co-directed by Bruno Mattei) Touch of Death Demonia Dario Argento (7): Cat O' Nine Tails Deep Red Suspiria Phenomena Opera Masters of Horror: Jenifer Masters of Horror: Pelts (you may not want to count these last 2) Roger Corman (7): A Bucket of Blood The Wasp Woman House of Usher The Little Shop of Horrors The Raven The Terror X Jack Arnold (5): Creature from the Black Lagoon Revenge of the Creature Tarantula! The Incredible Shrinking Man Monster on the Campus John Carpenter (3): Halloween The Fog The Thing So yeah, just something I found interesting about my film collection. I always think it's interesting to see the "director" or "actor" filmographies that certain people possess. Great lists. Without even counting, Argento is definitely my guy when it comes to the sheer number of horror films that are in my possession. I own Bird With the Crystal Plumage, Deep Red, Suspiria, Inferno, Tenebre, Phenomena, Opera, Trauma, The Card Player, Do You Like Hitchcock? and Mother of Tears, so that's eleven right there. I also own the big Hitchcock box set with a lot of his all-time classics, but many of those are much more "thriller" than out-and-out "horror." 2) I guess this is no longer the WC Horror Thread anymore. It's still real to me, dammit! At any rate, the slightly-renamed next thread will feature the RETURN of the Horror Hall of Fame, and all three inductions are already written. Finally...the IHR Halloween-a-Thon (because all of the inductions this month are movies that, IMO, make great Halloween season viewing) continues: ihrregistry.blogspot.com/2010/10/ihr-induction-ginger-snaps-2000-john.html
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2010 12:33:14 GMT -5
So are we officially renaming it to "The Horror Thread"?
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Post by DSR on Oct 15, 2010 12:53:52 GMT -5
So are we officially renaming it to "The Horror Thread"? We'll keep the "WC" just in case Wes Craven decides to buy the forums.
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