Nr1Humanoid
Hank Scorpio
Is the #3 humanoid at best.
Posts: 5,478
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Post by Nr1Humanoid on Jul 18, 2020 18:34:22 GMT -5
Dead & Buried. 1981.
Welcome to Potter's Bluff indeed!
I am so glad I went into this picture completely blind as its twists and turns totally fooled me. This is some creepy shit, heavy on atmosphere and dread filled with familiar faces playing offbeat locals and itinerants, including Willie the Visitor himself.
To be honest, the needle in the eye did not live up to my expectations, as I have seen worse, but I can certainly see it giving many people nightmares. It is somewhat ruined though as the killer goes in and out within the sheriff's peripheral vision. The effects are excellent, adding to the films uneasy, though sadly Stan Winston was not available for the best death in the film, taking away some of its effectiveness due to being done by lesser talents.
The pace was a little slow for me, but that is a minor quibble I have. The best part about it all is the constant fog accompanying the night scenes, making it all super suspenseful without drowning the proceedings in darkness.
James Farentino is a good choice for a lead but I can not see why they allowed him to over act so much in the finale, stealing away from the otherwise great denouement.
If you like bodacious tata's the picture has you covered.
A few things stops it from getting top marks but I will give it a 4 early stage Freddy makeups out of 5.
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Post by DSR on Jul 24, 2020 1:44:39 GMT -5
Back to my horror movie for each state project (wish I could come up with a name for this thing), tonight's viewing comes from Iowa. MOMMY 1994) was written, produced, and directed by Max Allan Collins (perhaps most famous for writing ROAD TO PERDITION, but I'll always remember him as the creator of Wild Dog, DC Comics's vigilante in a hockey mask). The titular Mommy is played by Patty McCormack (THE BAD SEED) as a consummate perfectionist with a stern demeanor. When her straight-A student pre-teen daughter Jessica Ann (first time actress Rachel Lemieux) gets passed over for an award, Mommy shows up to the school to have a word with her teacher (Majel Barrett, STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE). When that conversation doesn't go Mommy's way, she resorts to more violent measures, pushing the teacher off of a ladder while she's hanging decorations and breaking her neck! Mommy convinces Jessica Ann that her teacher's death was an accident that Mommy discovered, but the police officer (Jason Miller, THE EXORCIST) investigating the situation doesn't buy that scenario. He'll show up frequently to question Jessica Ann and her mother about the incident. It's this detective's line of questioning that will cause Jessica Ann to become suspicious of her mother. She's helped along in connecting the dots by the fact that other people close to the situation begin dying under mysterious circumstances. Mommy's homicidal tendencies become impossible to deny once she kills Mark (Michael Cornelison, SUPERSTITION), the man posing as Mommy's boyfriend but is actually a private investigator, directly in front of Jessica Ann! Mark's deceit actually pushes Jessica Ann closer to her mom, as the young girl had grown attached to the man she hoped would become her stepdad. Mommy is thus able to convince Jessica Ann that the two of them need each other now more than ever. Jessica Ann is plagued by suspicion, though. Would Mommy ever actually go crazy enough to see her own daughter as a liability? And would she kill her daughter as a result? Director Max Allan Collins refers to this film as an inversion, not a sequel, to the earlier-mentioned THE BAD SEED. Collins also mentions he had no intention of a theatrical release for this low-budgeter, aiming it specifically for Blockbuster Video (you can find the interview I'm referring to here: rue-morgue.com/director-max-allan-collins-revisits-mommy-for-25th-anniversary-release/ ). The film wears its b-grade status on its sleeve, occasionally dipping into dark comedy (the kill at the start of the movie is pretty damn funny), but it also plays a little too seriously for awhile after that. The bulk of the film is more drama/thriller, though there is some moody, atmospheric lighting to some of the scenes to give off more of a horror vibe. The film really gets going in the final half-hour, when Mommy goes a bit Jack Torrance-y on her little girl. The movie has some fun moments, and it's cool to see some actual name actors in such a low-budget flick (also on hand in supporting roles are scream queen Brinke Stevens and crime novelist Mickey Spillane). But I think it's a little too straight-laced and serious. I think it needed to get a little weirder to be truly enjoyable. {Spoiler}{SPOILER: CLICK TO SHOW}Supposedly the sequel pushes the horror a bit further, so maybe I'll have more fun with MOMMY 2: MOMMY'S DAY!
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Nr1Humanoid
Hank Scorpio
Is the #3 humanoid at best.
Posts: 5,478
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Post by Nr1Humanoid on Jul 26, 2020 16:32:36 GMT -5
Home Sweet Home (does not a good director make). 1981.
I have no idea if the little girl in this one wore a diaper but it could not have been any shittier than this movie. It might as well have been made during a writer strike for all the story it provides.
Just an excuse to kill off people with endlessly drawn out scenes in between to pad out the run time. Which is often enough if the kills are worth it but these would suck on Murder She Wrote, let alone in a slasher.
And when the mime is the most likable character, you know a movie is messed up.
1 driven over miss Daisy out of 5.
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Post by DSR on Jul 28, 2020 2:12:51 GMT -5
Some quick (I hope) reviews...
MOMMY'S DAY (1996) brings us back to Muscatine, Iowa, as Max Allan Collins again writes and directs. Patty McCormack is back as the murderous Mommy, who narrowly avoids the death penalty for her actions in the first film and agrees to undergo an experimental treatment to suppress those bloodthirsty urges. Jessica Ann (Rachel Lemieux again) is now living with her Aunt Beth (Brinke Stevens, again) and Aunt Beth's new husband Paul (Paul Petersen, IN THE YEAR 2889), a true crime novelist who fell in love with Beth while doing research for his book titled "The Mommy Murders".
While a restraining order legally prevents Mommy and Jessica Ann from reuniting, the elder woman's obsession with reuniting with her daughter means she won't let a little thing like the law get in the way of their relationship. Folks take notice, and when Jessica Ann's ice skating instructor winds up murdered the night after confronting the woman about breaking the restraining order, the finger of blame gets pointed Mommy's way. But is she actually the killer, or is someone trying to frame her?!
The mystery angle really works in this film's favor. The slasher-influenced kills this time are more appealing. The jokes are more obvious, as opposed to the first film that seemed more funny by accident most of the time. This really is an improvement over the first one. Though it's far from perfect. Aside from cribbing a few Hitchcock moments, Collins doesn't do much imaginative camerawork. A lot of small parts are played by non-actors, and their line delivery is unconvincing as a result. But I still had fun with this movie. I wouldn't rush out and buy this one, but if it's streaming somewhere I'd watch it. You can even skip the first one and not really miss anything.
PET SEMATARY (1989) represents Maine in my 50 States Horror dealy. The film tells the tale of a family moving into a new home Their kindly old neighbor (Fred Gwynne, MY COUSIN VINNY) shows them around a nearby pet cemetery. When the family cat dies, that neighbor secretly shows the family patriarch, Louis (Dale Midkiff, OUTBREAK ON A PLANE: FLIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD) a place past the cemetery; it is a Mi'kmaq burial ground, and anything buried there will come back to life! When Louis's toddler son Gage (Miko Hughes, WES CRAVEN'S NEW NIGHTMARE) dies tragically, the grief-stricken father gets the idea that burying his son on that old Native American burial ground will give him back what he lost. Well...kinda.
It seems a bit unfair to include this fairly big budget Hollywood movie when every other state gets represented by an independent, almost-no-budget affair. But Maine gave me very little to work with. You literally can't search "Maine" and "horror" together without Stephen King making his presence felt. King wrote the screenplay here (based on his own novel) and when selling the film rights he made some stipulations. He insisted the film be shot in Maine, he got final say on who would direct (that job went to Mary Lambert, URBAN LEGENDS: BLOODY MARY), he consulted on the picture as it was being filmed (including overseeing any script changes Lambert wanted to make), he got to cameo as a minister, and one of his favorite bands, The Ramones, recorded a (now iconic) song for the ending credits! King really had his hands all over this film.
As for the resultant film, it still holds up pretty well after all these years. There's a great American gothic atmosphere, with sets looking well-worn and creepy. Fred Gwynne gives an outstanding performance as the old neighbor Jud. Some very nice gore (including an achilles tendon slice that always makes me wince). There are some flaws, though. A funeral scene gets a bit over-the-top and took me out of the narrative, and our hero makes mistakes that frequently have me shouting "No! Stop!" at the screen. That's the point, but still. Also a subplot features a man playing a woman in some prosthetic makeup that doesn't work as well as it did 30 years ago.
This is still a really good movie, though, and one of the best King adaptations out there. I definitely recommend it.
Those reviews went longer than I planned. I did want to mention one other thing (sorry): I was out shopping today and saw Big Lots has started putting out Halloween decor for sale! This, like every year, put me in mind of my usual October-long horror-thon, and potential themes. I've already been doing this 50 states thing and it's too soon to re-watch the movies I've already seen. I might add a few movies from this little project to my October stuff. I think I'll do something simple. I've mentioned at least one year watching a bunch of horror flicks with the word "House" in the title, and not actually doing it, maybe I'll start out with that and see where it takes me.
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Paul
Vegeta
Posts: 9,243
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Post by Paul on Jul 31, 2020 22:09:42 GMT -5
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Nr1Humanoid
Hank Scorpio
Is the #3 humanoid at best.
Posts: 5,478
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Post by Nr1Humanoid on Aug 1, 2020 18:19:15 GMT -5
Summer of '84. 2018.
One of the better parts of this picture was it being set in 1984 without over saturating the screen with iconic 80's imagery. You do not need aerobics on every street corner to be believable. Our four leads are a lot of fun to have driving the plot as they have great chemistry and comes off believable as friends. Thankfully the film was not burdened by some lame bully making their lives difficult. There is a slow burn, being rather tepid as a horror picture, which makes the last third that much more hard hitting when things takes a nasty turn. There are only one on screen death and it hit harder than anything in recent memory for me. The killer is a memorable one, switching effortlessly between creepy and benign which also lets the end kick you so hard in the feels. I am always looking for good soundtracks to listen to when I read and this one will get its fair share of listens. The only real complaint is it all ends on a somewhat ambiguous note when it would have been more pleasing with some followup on the characters lives.
4 dumb as dirt parents out of 5.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Aug 1, 2020 22:49:53 GMT -5
Home Sweet Home (does not a good director make). 1981. I have no idea if the little girl in this one wore a diaper but it could not have been any shittier than this movie. It might as well have been made during a writer strike for all the story it provides. Just an excuse to kill off people with endlessly drawn out scenes in between to pad out the run time. Which is often enough if the kills are worth it but these would suck on Murder She Wrote, let alone in a slasher. And when the mime is the most likable character, you know a movie is messed up. 1 driven over miss Daisy out of 5. Oh my god, the one with Body by Jake as the killer. What a wonderful piece of trash.
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mystermystery
Dennis Stamp
Still in the White Hummer
Posts: 4,369
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Post by mystermystery on Aug 1, 2020 23:49:33 GMT -5
Watched two incredibly different horror films this weekend:
Shudder has added HOST, an all Zoom based horror film (I suppose it's a Techno Found Footage movie?).
In it, a group of friends have a Zoom meeting as a hang out with the intentions of doing a Zoom Seance, led by the psychic of our main character. No one is taking it seriously, really bumming out the main gal who begs them to play nice with her psychic and try and enjoy it. The one male friend almost immediately bails to get some offscreen loving and the rest of the group slowly start working on a seeming 'drinking game' during the process.
One things leads to another and a friend takes an action that puts everyone on a Paranormal Activity path that plays with common Zoom tropes (backgrounds, face filters, etc) and provides a good bit of tension before ramping things up for the finale. It's only 50 some minutes long, so it doesn't overstay its welcome and is a rather enjoyable bite of time. I'd recommend it if you have the service.
The other film was a 1970s "Made for TV" film titled THE HORROR AT 37,000 FEET about a large commercial double decker plane (it's got a daggone elevator) that runs into the issue of some of the cargo possessing some rather cantankerous spirits (demons?) that are hungry for a sacrifice.
It's a heck of a cast for this thing. Chuck Conners (THE RIFLEMAN, TOURIST TRAP) is the Captain baffled at how they have a 600MPH tailwind but aren't going forward, Russell Johnson (The Professor on GILLIGAN'S ISLAND) as the flight navigator who takes the lead to inspecting the cargo hold when things seem off, William Shatner (Some Sci-Fi junk and a silly cop show) as a Priest who has lost his faith, Buddy Epsen (BEVERLY HILLBILLIES, BARNABY JONES) as a rich man who knows about flying planes from his...uh...owning a bunch of planes, and Paul Winfield (SOUNDER, STAR TREK 2: THE WRATH OF KHAN) as a particularly calm doctor who has to deal with a lot of fainting and cold burns.
So, it turns out that this architect and his rich wife are straight up moving part of her property back with them but this former abbey was used for druid dark magic rituals and, by golly, this is the time of year that it would happen meaning between a lot of noises on the soundtrack to represent chanting, there is some creepy demonic stuff happening, like a bubbling crude that is in no way Texas Tea (Sorry, Buddy).
It's cheesy for the most part but I didn't lose interest and dear goodness, there is a death at the end of this movie that is just the purest example of low budget TV movie in the 70s. (It was 47 years ago, so I can't be too rough...but my goodness, y'all).
Perhaps the cast helps you through, but it isn't the biggest waste of time. It's also 70 minutes long, so hooray short movies on the weekend.
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Post by DSR on Aug 2, 2020 0:33:33 GMT -5
I always dig lists like this because they throw in the unquestioned classics (Universal, Val Lewton, etc.) and then sneak in some tangentially horror-related stuff that's obscure. THE PROWLER (1951) and BIGGER THAN LIFE (1956) both sound like interesting flicks to check out. And now back to the 50 states horror project. My most recent viewing represents Wyoming... PRISON (1987) was filmed almost entirely at the Old State Prison in Rawlins, Wyoming by Renny Harlin (A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 4: THE DREAM MASTER) for producers Charles Band (PUPPET MASTER) and Irwin Yablans (HALLOWEEN). In 1964, a man is put to death by electric chair at the titular prison. Almost 30 years later, that prison is being reopened, but the executed man comes back as a supernatural force and starts killing people! Lane Smith (MY COUSIN VINNY) plays Eaton Sharpe, a guard back when the execution took place, and the warden in the present day. He sees his goal as the punishment of prisoners. He butts heads frequently with Katherine Walker (Chelsea Field, MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE) a member of the prison's board of directors who sees the prisoners for their humanity and wants to ensure their ethical treatment. One prisoner she seems particularly interested in is the handsome, mysterious Burke (Viggo Mortensen, A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE). Warden Sharpe is also interested in Burke, but his reasons won't be revealed until late into the film. The supernatural horror elements largely take a backseat to the drama of inmates vs. guards. Two reasons I enjoy this are 1.) we get to know these characters on some level so it means more when one of them does die under supernatural circumstances, and 2.) not to break any board rules, but the film resonates in our current political climate, where law enforcement is under heavy scrutiny. When the horror does take place, however, we're treated to some well put together and somewhat surreal special effects. A mangled body falling through the ceiling of the cafeteria is a particular highlight in that regard. All in all, this flick is just very well put together. Great performances, cool effects, good score work by Richard Band (FROM BEYOND) and Christopher Stone. The film is weird, creepy, tense, funny, dramatic, and even a little action-y. Definitely check this one out!
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Post by Jumpin' Jesse Walsh on Aug 2, 2020 11:54:26 GMT -5
My review of The Video Dead (1987)
Plot: A pair of siblings move into a house with a TV that serves a portal for the living dead.
The Video Dead is the best kind of surprise⏤the movie you watch just to watch something, fully expecting to be disengaged as much as possible, only for it to be about ten times more enjoyable than you imagined. I’m not going to herald it as a lost masterpiece or anything, but within the realm of late ‘80s direct-to-video features, this is definitely one of the good ones.
I’ve never been too big on the horror-comedy sub-genre. Perhaps this is an unpopular opinion, but comedy in horror always works best when it’s unintentional. Camp isn’t something you can do intentionally so many horror-comedies for me walk a fine line between being legitimately clever and downright annoying. The Video Dead somehow lands in neither territory. There’s nothing earth-shatteringly witty here, but it does manage to get a few chuckles out of me, which I’d have to quantify as a success.
Much of the humor, surprisingly, comes from the zombies. They’re a refreshing spin on living dead lore, if only on the basis that we actually see them show personality. They may not live, but they certainly laugh and love. It’s a welcome change from the usual slow, vapid flesh husks we see craving brains. That’s not to sell the living characters short, however, as they’re a pretty funny bunch in their own right. One of them, Joshua Daniels, seems like a precursor to Woody Harrelson’s Tallahassee in Zombieland.
The movie pays reference, obviously, to the Romero Dead franchise. Then again, doesn’t every zombie movie do that? It’s much more interesting to see it referencing Poltergeist (the entire plot of using TV as a portal) and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which it even name drops at one point. Speaking of the latter, this knows how to make good use of power tools. Perhaps the film’s most memorable scene is when one of our protagonists cuts a zombie open with a chainsaw. What happens next is all the usual bloods and guts, but the real nasty shock comes in the form of rats living in the dead man’s stomach. It’s so disgusting, but I almost want to applaud it. The gore effects are absolutely impressive.
I’m not going to implore you to drop what you’re doing and watch The Video Dead. I will say you won’t regret it when you actually do. It won’t make you jump out of your seat, but you will enjoy watching zombies jump out of a TV.
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Post by DSR on Aug 9, 2020 1:12:40 GMT -5
I'm back with another 50 States Horror Project addition. This time we're covering my home state of Pennsylvania!
MASKED MUTILATOR (2018) tells the tale of a former pro wrestler, the titular Mutilator, who killed an opponent in the ring. Several years after this incident, he's hanged up his tights and become the house parent at a group home for troubled teens. He's tough but fair. Shortly after a college student (Brick Bronsky, CLASS OF NUKE 'EM HIGH 2: SUBHUMANOID MELTDOWN) comes to the group home for an internship, troubled teens start disappearing! It seems a masked man is using wrestling holds to put these kids to sleep permanently, then chopping them up and disposing of the remains! Whether the former Masked Mutilator has taken up killing as a regular hobby OR somebody else is trying to make it look like him, there's only one way to put a stop to the murders...A HARDCORE BRAWL!
I'd say at least 90% of MASKED MUTILATOR was filmed in 1994, with the aforementioned Brick Bronsky directing (under his birth name Jeffrey Beltzner). New footage was shot in 2018, with one of the young actors from the earlier footage returning as the same character aged appropriately, to wrap up the story.
There's a lot of time spent setting up our characters and their interpersonal relationships. I feel like after the initial death in the wrestling ring, there's not another death in the movie until at least the halfway point. The film is only 76 minutes long, so it's not a long wait, though. The troubled youths aren't the most likable bunch ever, but they're alright. The kills, when they do come, are usually just head/neck based submission holds with blood spurting out of the victim's mouth. Not the most impressive effects work, but it's another super-low-budget affair, and extreme hardcore or Japanese strong-style hadn't hit the American mainstream yet.
The best part of the movie, though, is the last 20 minutes, when the villain gives us their backstory and truly goes nuts, and our hero faces off with him in a wrestling match in the living room of the group home. Many castmembers (including Brick Bronsky) were experienced professional wrestlers when they made this film, so it makes sense that they get to truly shine during the final showdown.
Not my favorite wrestling movie or my favorite slasher, but I still had some fun with this one.
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Post by Jumpin' Jesse Walsh on Aug 9, 2020 11:14:30 GMT -5
Okay, for my next review, I've narrowed it down to two sequels of the late '90s/early '00s slasher era:
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)
OR
Urban Legends: Final Cut (2000)
Which one do I watch? You decide! *awaits Why Not Both? meme as the response*
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Post by DSR on Aug 9, 2020 11:41:49 GMT -5
Okay, for my next review, I've narrowed it down to two sequels of the late '90s/early '00s slasher era: I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998) ORUrban Legends: Final Cut (2000) Which one do I watch? You decide! *awaits Why Not Both? meme as the response* I do think you should get to both, but do I STILL KNOW first.
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mystermystery
Dennis Stamp
Still in the White Hummer
Posts: 4,369
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Post by mystermystery on Aug 11, 2020 22:07:58 GMT -5
So, I caught up on a couple films including the original Kolchak film THE NIGHT STALKER about an investigative reporter finding his way into a story of a serial killer with immense strength who is killing women and draining their blood, but you better believe that no one wants to print what that could possibly be...man, I need to find the time and watch that series. It's a really well done made-for-TV film that could've easily hit theaters. Tonight, I watched DOOM: ANNIHILATION and, seeing as my nostalgia of the game is near zero beyond watching other people enjoying it and a movie with The Rock and Karl Urban, I did not find it horrible like most reviewers. It's a low-budget sci-fi action movie and, sure, those two terms aren't the best together, but I didn't really notice and care about cheap looking sets and the CGI was perfectly fine for what they were accomplishing. I rather enjoyed it outside of groaning at a few really obvious call outs that even someone like me could get (Oh no, Dr. Carmack is dead!). Then again, I will never get tired of movies doing extremely obvious "These two characters aren't going to make it, but we're going to spend a minute trying to make you care before we slaughter them" dialogue breaks. This film even squeezes in a character calling home to say he's going to retire after the mission. HE WAS GOING TO RETIRE AFTER THE MISSION. HE WAS LITERALLY 0 DAYS UNTIL RETIREMENT. I love it. One last note: On Saturday, there is a live tweet-along of DEEP BLUE SEA 3 under the hashtag of #DrinkBlueSea where they're giving away horror themed prizes and running some fun shark-based contests. I have no connection with the podcast behind it (I haven't even listened to a full episode) but it seemed fun, so I wanted to share it. For more details: certifiedforgotten.com/2020/08/11/certified-forgotten-deep-blue-sea-3-tweet-along-and-giveaway-details/
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,381
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Aug 12, 2020 2:35:23 GMT -5
Ok if you have Amazon Prime I have found a neat treasure....
Creepy Koffee Movie Time
THis was a horror host program that aired on KOFY in the Bay area in Cali for 5 or so years. Sure they show the normal PD or grey market horror/sci fi films that most modern horror hosts air. But they also got an in house band,The Deadlies. And the hosts are Balzak the gargoyle and No Name. Watched their airings of Night of the Living Dead,where it appears they ripped the Criterion Blu Ray,and Sisters of Death. The bits with the hosts are fun.
Appears they are slowly adding to Amazon Prime every episode they can. And it is always nice to find another modern horror host program.
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Post by prettynami on Aug 15, 2020 0:22:56 GMT -5
STAR CRYSTAL (1986) - In the near future some astronaut type people find a crystal on mars that somehow spawns an alien baby thing - soon those astronauts are trapped in deep space with an ever increasing in aggressiviness blob alien thing that sucks people blood out with tentacles!
The first half of the movie is basically sort of alien (sorta)... With some random sci-fi exploration elements thrown in to pad out the run time. The crew finds the crystal, put it in the room with the star of the movie (a rotating light prop from Star Trek II!), it makes an alien, then they hang around and crack jokes for a good portion of the movie until the space station they are parked at blows up and the few of them that escape on their ship have to then deal with the alien. There aren't many crew members and most of them are dead by the half way mark. Then suddenly the movie changes into some weird Star Trek: The Next Generation episode! In that suddenly the survivors have to negotiate with the alien (who looks like a slugma from pokemon) who it turns out is scared and just wants to survive and was "acting just like a human would".
The movie is basically a few spikes of good stuff (the kills look pretty cool, all gloopy, bloody, and filled with some cool corpse stuff - but sorta repative) surrounded by bad comedy characters and meandering character interactions that go nowhere. The pacing is very start/stop and just dies right in the middle with all the characters seeming to have nothing to do at that point but just wait out the end. The revelations at the end are hurt by the fact that the monster/alien sounds like a garbled yoda. The change in tone is such whiplash your head may spin like Reagan in exorcist... That ultimately leads to a weird end credits theme! And credits that reveal the movie was filmed on location... IN SPACE!!!
I watched it on youtube but apparently it on amazon. I'd give it a 2 out of 5.
I watched another alien rip off, a short anime movie, called LILY C.A.T. (1987) - A corporate sleeper vessel encounters asteroids that deposit an alien spore creature that like THE THING can take over bodies and merge them into a super being. Meanwhile a psychotic robit Cat fights the struggling crew members either trying to kill them or the monster (it wasn't really clear lol).
Plot was pretty boiler plate - the character designs weren't bad and the animation okay for the time. Some of the creature shots and gore are pretty rad. It's filed to the brim with genre tropes (like random water dripping everywhere on a space ship, for one - this time it is relevant to the plot though). There is some good B-plot stuff involving some intrigue around the characters and their backstories, mostly revolving around a way criminals stowaway on these long voyage ships (50+ years) in order to get away with the crimes and come out of cyro-stasis like no time passed for them but their crimes are forgotten back home.
Saw this one on youtbe as well, but it on amazon. I like the look and feel of it, the biggest issue was how too on the nose some of the rip-off of alien/aliens it was at times, and the motives of the evil android were a little unclear to me. I give it a 3 out of 5.
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mystermystery
Dennis Stamp
Still in the White Hummer
Posts: 4,369
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Post by mystermystery on Aug 15, 2020 12:37:37 GMT -5
Joe Bob's Summer Sleepover was last night on Shudder.
The first movie was SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE 2 where a survivor of the first film tries to get over her trauma of being involved in a serial's killer assault on a slumber party by having a slumber party with new friends. Sure, okay. The only problem is she keeps having crazy, messed up dreams about a killer with a drill on the end of his rockin' guitar which may have to do with her insecurities with being apart of a band and also her interest in another student (who appears played by a man firmly in his 30s).
The Rock N' Roll Driller Killer who seems like the sentient version of every bit of cocaine ever snorted by every rockstar ever is a full force of chaos that might even cause Nicolas Cage to suggest some subtlety. I loved it. I loved every bit of it.
Oh, and the daggone music is cheesy goodness. The Driller Killer taking the time to belt his tune while stalking after the girls, all while dancing up a storm. Yes. Just, yes.
It's not what you'd call...a good movie...but I'd still watch it again.
The second movie was VICTOR CROWELY which I've seen like three times now but it had the fun of a lot of the cast appearing for interviews with Joe Bob and Darcy (and the reassurance that this was filmed in February).
So, yeah. A good time.
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,381
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Aug 15, 2020 16:12:30 GMT -5
I will catch both later this week. I forgot it was airing until it had started. Was out on the pier and my wifi signal wasn't strong enough to watch the Shudder live stream.
Wish one of the streaming services would get SPM3. That one is just so different from the other 2.
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mystermystery
Dennis Stamp
Still in the White Hummer
Posts: 4,369
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Post by mystermystery on Aug 15, 2020 22:22:23 GMT -5
DEEP BLUE SEA 3 might be the reason the series gets another three or so films. Seriously. It's like the WRONG TURN 2 of the series. Such a great change of pace, well made, with legitimate fun surprises.
A small floating island is studying the Great Whites that hang in the area. Most people have abandoned it because of the climate changing reduction of land. However, there's a problem. A pack of bull sharks have invaded and are attacking the Great Whites. A collection of shark hunters, including an ex to the main female scientist, are here claiming to track the bull sharks...but you all know the score. These sharks are smarter than the average human and ready to turn this floating island into a ghost town.
Fantastic stuff, everyone.
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Post by DSR on Aug 16, 2020 1:16:43 GMT -5
Hey folks, I'm back with another 50 States Horror Project...report? Tonight's film is from the state of Arkansas.
THE DAY IT CAME TO EARTH (1977) was directed by Harry Thomason (producer of shows like Designing Women). The film centers on four 1950s college students, two boys and two girls (one of the girls is played by Rita Wilson, of JINGLE ALL THE WAY). When the four kids go on a double date swimming at a lake near campus, they discover a strange cluster of rocks. Those rocks, it turns out, are part of a much larger piece: a meteorite that landed on Earth!
The meteorite has a power unknown to the students; it reanimated the corpse of a mob hit victim who was dumped into that lake in which the kids were swimming! The shambling zombie emerges from the lake at night, attempting to retrieve the meteorite. This may spell doom for our main characters, as one of the boys took a piece of the meteorite and fashioned it into a necklace charm for his girlfriend!
Three years ago, in this very thread, I made a very long screed about how there was a strong undercurrent of 50s nostalgia in 80s horror (citing films like CREEPSHOW, NIGHT OF THE CREEPS, and SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE II as examples, among others). Well this film beat all of those films to the punch! Our zombie here looks a lot like the Nathan Grantham zombie in CREEPSHOW, the alien presence that revives a corpse is a plot point in NIGHT OF THE CREEPS. Even the undead killer emerging from a lake with chains around his neck calls to my mind Jason Voorhees's appearance in the later FRIDAY THE 13TH franchise entries!
I do feel like some of those 80s films did a better job of incorporating 50s nostalgia and blending horror and comedic elements (as I've mentioned many many times, CREEPSHOW is my favorite horror film). The 80s films also liberally applied gore and sexuality to the proceedings, while THE DAY keeps things more chaste; the college students never go further than making out, and other than the zombie himself, there's no gore to speak of. There is one really solid jumpscare towards the end, though. Most of the tongue-in-cheek element of this film is in corny acting and "golly gee"-style dialogue.
Even though it's flawed, I still had a lot of fun with this flick. I wouldn't give it my highest recommendation, but I think it deserves a little better than the total obscurity it finds itself in currently. Give it a try!
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