pinja
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Post by pinja on Sept 10, 2021 13:35:19 GMT -5
I was disappointed with Joe Dante's effort. Felt too cheap production wise. "Deer Woman" I found hilarious and "Sick Girl" gave me one of my rare crushes with Angela Bettis. My memories of the show are pretty mixed, but after rereading on the episodes, it was overall quite decent, indeed.
What about "Fear Itself"? Is it worth it?
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Sept 10, 2021 15:55:16 GMT -5
Fear Itself is decent. But I haven't seen the episodes since right after the boxed set came out.
Wasn't The Screwfly Solution in season 2 of MoH? That was one I really enjoyed. But a big part of that is I had just read the short story it was based on not long before seeing the episode.
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Post by DSR on Sept 10, 2021 16:02:06 GMT -5
I loved Deer Woman. Sick Girl had cute girls in it, but I didn't care for the story.
Screwfly Solution was season 2, but I've never seen that episode.
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Post by KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! on Sept 10, 2021 16:15:42 GMT -5
I loved Deer Woman. Sick Girl had cute girls in it, but I didn't care for the story. Screwfly Solution was season 2, but I've never seen that episode. I’m looking forward to those two season 1 episodes. I’m not sure when I’ll get to season 2. After season 1 I plan on revisiting the 1980’s Twilight Zone. Also, the 5 episode series Chiller is on Amazon Prime now. Even after all that there’s Fear Itself which can be bought easily enough. Much more convenient than getting season 2 piecemeal.
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Post by KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! on Sept 12, 2021 17:41:24 GMT -5
I watched four more episodes of Masters of Horror since last posting. Here are a few thoughts on each of them.
Dance of the Dead: Aside from being directed by Tobe Hooper, Billy Corgan supplied music for this and it features Freddy Krueger himself Robert Englund. All that combines for a worthwhile episode that feels like a fever dream. It screams 2005 a little too much for me, but you can tell that the guy who made Eaten Alive made this, and that’s a good thing.
Incident On and Off A Mountain Road: I like the concept of the story. It’s about a woman who marries a survivalist who ends up getting too deep into survivalism and ends up being an abusive asshole. Despite that the experience helps her in dealing with a genuine murderous monster. Then there’s another twist! It’s an easy watch, but I would have preferred it in a different format. Either trimmed down to under 30 minutes or expanded to feature length. Here it seems like an underdeveloped feature.
Haeckel’s Tale: I think I might even like this one less than Chocolate. It reminds me of reading The Canterbury Tales in high school. One of those tales has a fairly mundane story and the only twist at the end is a fairly mundane fart joke. Here, the twist is sexier, and more disturbing, than a fart joke. Still, it didn’t make the hour it took to get to this twist any more fun.
Jenifer: This one is great, but it’s a Dario Argento effort so I wouldn’t expect any less. It comes really close to Cigarette Burns making it among my favorites so far. It’s about a cop who appears to save a deformed woman from a would-be murderer. Only the twist is that the deformed woman has more to her than just the unusual physical appearance. The episode asks you to suspend disbelief arguably a little too much, but on the plus side that gives it an other worldly quality. My biggest nitpick with this one would be the ending was a little too obvious. Still, this one really holds your attention.
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Post by Jumpin' Jesse Walsh on Sept 13, 2021 0:50:15 GMT -5
My review of Curse of the Swamp Creature (1968)
Plot: While searching for oil in the swamps of rural Texas, a team of surveyors encounter a mad doctor attempting to create a half-man/half-alligator monster.
My first attempt at watching Curse of the Swamp Creature was several years ago. I didn’t even finish it. I thought it was the biggest pile of crap I’d ever seen. It was on a budget set I’d bought on a whim at Best Buy. The picture quality was about what you’d expect—grainy as if the footage were made of cornmeal. In addition to feeling like I was watching it with drunk goggles, there were long stretches of the movie where literally nothing happens, causing me to reach for the remote and shut it off in mild disgust. The DVD on that set hasn’t been touched since.
And yet, all these years later, I’ve given it another shot. I’m unkind to myself like that. Truthfully, my opinion of Curse of the Swamp Creature hasn’t changed all that much after this latest rewatch—it’s still pretty frickin’ bad! But I am a little more forgiving this time out. I’ve seen so many other movies of its era and quality in the years since that it doesn’t even offend me, and at least I was able to watch it this time with much better picture quality (shout out to Paramount + on that one). I’ve also bothered to learn a bit more backstory about it. Curse wasn’t even released in theaters; rather, it was made for TV. Texan entrepreneur Larry Buchanan managed to finagle a deal with American International Pictures in the mid ‘60s to churn out low-budget remakes of horror./sci-fi flicks that were already low-budget. Curse is actually a remake of Voodoo Woman, a film I’ve never seen but can only assume is equally Z-grade.
“Curse of the Swamp Creature” is a misleading title, by the way. There’s not really a “curse” here, though we do get our share of voodoo. The voodoo subplot doesn’t go anywhere, really. It’s all the more nonsensical when you realize Buchanan shot the movie in Texas, an area also with no ties to voodoo as far as I know. Oh, and our “swamp creature” doesn’t show up until the final minutes of the movie, complete with makeup that makes it look like some Kermit the Frog cosplay gone horribly awry. With a voodoo subplot that goes nowhere and a monster that literally does nothing, it’s easy to write the whole thing off as a huge waste of time.
Curse is your typical “mad doctor creates monster” story, but it’s clear Buchanan didn’t have any fresh ideas to pad out the runtime. As a result, we get a lot of scenes of characters running and walking to and fro, sometimes even using the same footage twice. There’s quite a bit of stock footage, too. Our mad doctor’s man-eating alligator pit, for example, is just a swimming pool with some stock gator footage thrown in. If this movie delivers one thing, it’s footage of swamps. We spend an awful amount of time with the movie’s nefarious gang of oil-hungry crooks trekking through mucky waters and overgrown vegetation. I hate to go back to the Kermit well here but if he popped up here with a banjo singing "Rainbow Connection," I don’t think I would bat an eyelash.
This all may sound as if I don’t plan on rewatching Curse of the Swamp Creature ever again, and that may be true, but I can assure you its crappiness is benign. If you can digest similar garbage from this era, you’ll tolerate this one just fine. You’ll be able to find a copy pretty easily, too. Its public domain status has ensured it continues to endure to this day. I don’t know; maybe that’s the real curse.
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mystermystery
Dennis Stamp
Still in the White Hummer
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Post by mystermystery on Sept 13, 2021 11:39:58 GMT -5
Oddly enough that was show creator’s Mick Garris’ directorial contribution to the first season. So far I’m only three episodes deep. John Carpenter’s Cigarette Burns is widely considered one of the best, if not the best in the series. It’s definitely the best so far. The other episode I watched was H. P. Lovecraft's Dreams in the Witch-House directed by Stuart Gordon. Gordon is a decent filmmaker but that episode was just kind of there. I remember Cigarette Burns getting me so good that I actually left the room for the last five minutes and listened to what happened before coming back and watching it. Teenage me was not ready.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 14, 2021 14:50:30 GMT -5
I've been in the mood to start watching horror flicks again after seeing re:Views of Re-Animator, From Beyond and Return of the Living Dead - I've seen those movies like 10,000 times before and love 'em ... ... ' started with I Spit Your Grave 2 (2013), it was far superior movie to other films in the franchise. I plan on watching American Psycho (2000) and American Psycho 2: All American Girl (2002) tonight!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 14, 2021 14:52:34 GMT -5
This is what I'll be watching tomorrow: An American Werewolf In London (1981) ... I don't remember anything about it. Isn't it like a classic?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 14, 2021 14:54:17 GMT -5
I'll give my thoughts about the movies later. ' would love to hear yours, if you've seen any of 'em.
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Post by DSR on Sept 14, 2021 15:36:44 GMT -5
Thoughts:
I only ever saw the original I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (and the unofficial sequel SAVAGE VENGEANCE). Thought the first one was very well done, though not a pleasant experience for obvious reasons.
AMERICAN PSYCHO is a great dark comedy, it made me a fan of Christian Bale (though I've enjoyed other stuff he's been in).
AMERICAN PSYCHO 2 is dumb. Completely unnecessary.
AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON has great gore and transformation effects, and the lead characters are likable. Jenny Agutter was gorgeous in it.
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,400
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Sept 14, 2021 16:07:52 GMT -5
I've been in the mood to start watching horror flicks again after seeing re:Views of Re-Animator, From Beyond and Return of the Living Dead - I've seen those movies like 10,000 times before and love 'em ... ... ' started with I Spit Your Grave 2 (2013), it was far superior movie to other films in the franchise. I plan on watching American Psycho (2000) and American Psycho 2: All American Girl (2002) tonight! Remember with AP2 it started as a film not related to AP and then had a small bit added at the beginning to connect it. I need to see the sequel to the ISOYG remake. The original was the only film my parents said I couldn't see. Which just meant I watched it at a friends house. American Werewolf in London is great. Amazing FX work. Good acting and was the first thing I saw Rik Mayall in. Avoid the sequel.
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Post by Non Banjoble Tokens on Sept 15, 2021 3:47:50 GMT -5
They need to stop making the girl on the Spit on Your Grave movies look so damn hot. I feel all dirty looking at the posters.
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Paul
Vegeta
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Post by Paul on Sept 15, 2021 4:47:54 GMT -5
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Post by DSR on Sept 22, 2021 1:29:40 GMT -5
Hey folks, we're only a few days away from October! Anybody got any plans for horror binging?
I usually try to go for a theme, like all Stephen King adaptations, or Italian horror, or something. This year my theme is simply movies that I've had sitting in my collection for such a long time that I barely remember them. Though I've also picked up some films that I haven't seen before but heard good things about, like TRAIN TO BUSAN, PSYCHOMANIA, and COLOR OUT OF SPACE. I'll try to do my usual mini-reviews for things I watch during the spookiest month of the year.
In other news, I recently picked up Mallory O'Meara's book The Lady From The Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick. Patrick was the designer of Universal's long-beloved Gill-Man creature. I'm looking forward to digging into this book, but I'm gonna hold off until after October so I can give it the attention it deserves.
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Post by Non Banjoble Tokens on Sept 22, 2021 1:36:56 GMT -5
I started my movie viewing a little early this year and watched the great Demon Knight last sunday. I've seen it several times before, but it had been a while and I was just in the mood for it. Billy Zane is fantastic in this movie and I enjoyed the heck out of the film as much as I ever did.
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,400
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Sept 22, 2021 2:04:16 GMT -5
Got 28 of my 31 films for next month picked out.I will be doing my normal watch a film each day and review it. Been doing this since 2000.
Since Halloween Kills is streaming on Peacock the night it hits theaters planning on having a gathering my place to watch that.
Got a fairly thin horror novel,where the plot is based around one of my favorite women in indie wrestling. So planning on reading that.
Also thinking about to celebrate Halloween doing a double feature that evening of NOTLD68 and the original House on Haunted Hill. Back in 83 or 84 I saw both films for the first time on Halloween night.
The rest of the month all depends on what days off my lady has. Looks like ,as of right now,she will be off the first weekend in October. Then the other weeks have her now normal Mon/Tuesdays off.
Might dive into some of the horror comic TPBs I bought over the last 2 years and haven't read yet.
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Post by Jumpin' Jesse Walsh on Sept 22, 2021 18:24:08 GMT -5
Since I'm watching horror movies year-round anyway, I usually pick a theme for October. Last year was '70s horror, for example.
I'm thinking this year will be slasher movies which, as you can imagine, will cover a lot ground.
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,400
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Sept 22, 2021 20:24:59 GMT -5
Since I'm watching horror movies year-round anyway, I usually pick a theme for October. Last year was '70s horror, for example. I'm thinking this year will be slasher movies which, as you can imagine, will cover a lot ground. Good friend of mine does the theme thing each October. Last 2 years by the time October was almost over he was tired of whatever theme he was watching. Like last year was Hammer films. This year I think his theme is Horror comedies. Use to be I would just pick out a film each morning when I woke up and that was that days film. But the last 5 years I changed it to picking out most of the films earlier in the year. That way I can make sure I have access to a decent copy. Over the last 2 nights I've been working my way thru the Criterion Blu Ray release of NOTLD68. It looks so clear and crisp. And sounds better than I have ever heard it sound. The two commentary tracks are decent. The extras so far are ok. Nothing amazing. Was hoping Billy Gram's "One More for the Fire" documentary would be on this release. That is the best NOTLD68 documentary I have ever seen.
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Post by DSR on Sept 22, 2021 20:39:11 GMT -5
Since I'm watching horror movies year-round anyway, I usually pick a theme for October. Last year was '70s horror, for example. I'm thinking this year will be slasher movies which, as you can imagine, will cover a lot ground. Good friend of mine does the theme thing each October. Last 2 years by the time October was almost over he was tired of whatever theme he was watching. Like last year was Hammer films. This year I think his theme is Horror comedies. Use to be I would just pick out a film each morning when I woke up and that was that days film. But the last 5 years I changed it to picking out most of the films earlier in the year. That way I can make sure I have access to a decent copy. Over the last 2 nights I've been working my way thru the Criterion Blu Ray release of NOTLD68. It looks so clear and crisp. And sounds better than I have ever heard it sound. The two commentary tracks are decent. The extras so far are ok. Nothing amazing. Was hoping Billy Gram's "One More for the Fire" documentary would be on this release. That is the best NOTLD68 documentary I have ever seen. I have a lot of movies to begin with, so when I come up with a theme I usually pick out the stuff I already have that fits the theme and then buy a handful of new titles that work, too. If I run through all of those movies (I usually go way over 31 movies for the month) I'll decide, if I'm still into this theme, I'll pick up a couple more movies. Otherwise I'll jump to something else. Or like if something in the theme reminds me of something else outside of that theme, I'll find that other movie and watch it. I'm also willing to take breaks from a given theme if I need a palette cleanser. I'm very lenient on myself with themes. *shrug* Sounds intriguing. Who's the wrestler?
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