pinja
Unicron
Posts: 3,012
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Post by pinja on Oct 5, 2022 12:29:36 GMT -5
One of his masks was inspired by the NIGHTBREED character, yes. My latest viewing was DRACULA: PRINCE OF DARKNESS (1965), the third entry in Hammer's Dracula series. Two adult men and their respective wives are on holiday near Carlsbad. At a tavern, an eccentric preacher warns the quartet to steer clear of a castle that doesn't show up on any map, but he insists is on their path! As they continue their travels, their carriage driver realizes they're going towards that castle and refuses to take them any further! He kicks them out of the carriage and drops all their luggage on the ground and says he'll be back after dawn the next morning. Our hapless heroes are shortly thereafter visited by another carriage, this one with no driver. They all hop in hoping to take that carriage to Carlsbad, but the horses don't respond to their whipping. Instead they take them right up to that ominous castle! They find the door is open so they walk on in, where they see a dinner table already set for 4 people. The group snoop around and find their luggage already set up for them in two bedrooms of the castle. A somewhat sinister butler arrives and explains that his now deceased master, Count Dracula, had arranged for the castle to always be prepared for visitors. Three-fourths of our protagonists see all of this as a fortunate occurrence, but the elder of the two wives (Barbara Shelley, VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED) can't shake the feeling that this castle is imbued with evil energy! She's apparently always been a stick-in-the-mud to her family, so they brush off her constant feeling of dread. Though later that night, after she's awakened from a nightmare, her husband goes to inspect strange sounds outside their bedroom...and ultimately that man gets sacrificed by the butler to revive Count Dracula (Christopher Lee, HORROR EXPRESS)! PRINCE OF DARKNESS's plot is well-worn territory by now. Don't go into this picture expecting a reinvention of the vampire subgenre. But everyone from director Terence Fisher (THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN) to cinematographer Michael Reed (ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE) to the cast to music composer James Bernard (THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT) does their best with this material. It's just a well-put-together straightforward Hammer Horror film. They knew what worked and didn't feel the need to stray from their path. I enjoy Dracula Prince of Darkness quite a bit. It's a worthy follow up that mange's to stick with what worked on the last one and expand upon it. The priest (while no Peter Cushing) makes for a good foil to Dracula. It is interesting that Dracula has no real dialogue in the film which is said to be because Lee absolutely refuse to say (what he claims t least) were the terrible lines they wrote for him. Overall this was probably the third or fourth best of the series. Day 4 Smile: I liked it and thought it was fairly good albeit not as good as some of the other stuff that has came out this year. Sosie Bacon carries the film well and likewise Kyle Gallner (who I always feels stands out in any movie I have seen him in) is a very likeable character. To the movie's credit there are two actual effective jump scares that do work. There are some good creepy parts. That being said the movie at times can't quite escape the clichés surround these types of movies and near the end the film feels like it starts to lag and I found myself just waiting to get to the end which does feel like a case of "I saw that coming a mile away". Still movie is a decent good little watch. I would give it a B I always wondered why Kyle Gallner didn't break out. Maybe he is content doing what he is doing? If I would have a $10m budget to do a horror movie, he'd be number one on my list of actors to carry it.
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Post by tntchamp on Oct 5, 2022 13:39:31 GMT -5
I enjoy Dracula Prince of Darkness quite a bit. It's a worthy follow up that mange's to stick with what worked on the last one and expand upon it. The priest (while no Peter Cushing) makes for a good foil to Dracula. It is interesting that Dracula has no real dialogue in the film which is said to be because Lee absolutely refuse to say (what he claims t least) were the terrible lines they wrote for him. Overall this was probably the third or fourth best of the series. Day 4 Smile: I liked it and thought it was fairly good albeit not as good as some of the other stuff that has came out this year. Sosie Bacon carries the film well and likewise Kyle Gallner (who I always feels stands out in any movie I have seen him in) is a very likeable character. To the movie's credit there are two actual effective jump scares that do work. There are some good creepy parts. That being said the movie at times can't quite escape the clichés surround these types of movies and near the end the film feels like it starts to lag and I found myself just waiting to get to the end which does feel like a case of "I saw that coming a mile away". Still movie is a decent good little watch. I would give it a B I always wondered why Kyle Gallner didn't break out. Maybe he is content doing what he is doing? If I would have a $10m budget to do a horror movie, he'd be number one on my list of actors to carry it. I wonder the same thing because he is a very talented actor and it feels like he should have gone further then where he is at-he comes off as a very reliable actor. Perhaps he just never found that big project to propel him. He certainly would be a go to actor choice for me if I was in charge of hiring someone for a horror project.
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Post by DSR on Oct 6, 2022 1:06:03 GMT -5
I don't think any of the attempted franchises of the 70s got a Part 3 (I know THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES, BLACULA, and COUNT YORGA, VAMPIRE each got one sequel), so I had to move on to the 80s for my next flick...
FRIDAY THE 13TH - PART III (1982) launches directly from the events of FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 2, so forgive me for spoiling the ending to that one here. PART III begins with a recap of Ginny's "Jason, Mother is talking to you" gambit. Ginny and Paul walk away from the shrine cabin , and then we see Jason start moving again after they've left. This film ignores the false scare with the dog Muffin and Jason smashing through the window to grab Ginny.
We then move on to a mom-and-pop grocery store somewhere along Crystal Lake (though not on the campgrounds). The "Mom" of the store watches a news report about the events from PART 2, indicating that Ginny was the only survivor (her boyfriend Paul is not mentioned) and that Jason's first known massacre started about 24 hours ago. Jason shows up here to kill the couple that owns the grocery store and get a fresh set of clothes for himself, before the the actual plot of PART III gets set into motion.
The next morning after mom and pop get dropped, a group of teens? 20-somethings?...Let's just say a group of young people gather in a van to spend a weekend together at a cabin owned by the family of Chris Higgins (Dana Kimmell, SWEET SIXTEEN). Chris is reluctant to get intimate with her boyfriend, Rick (Paul Kratka, THE BONE GARDEN), because of a traumatic experience a couple years prior to this trip. When the couple get away from their friends, Chris reveals to Rick that she had an altercation with a hideously deformed man (who else but Jason himself, here played by Richard Brooker, DEATHSTALKER)! She remembers his face, but blacked out while he dragged her through the woods, so she doesn't quite remember what happened.
Chris and Rick's friends include Vera (Catherine Parks, WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S) who comes from a low-income household; Shelly (Larry Zerner, KNIGHTS OF BADASSDOM) who pisses people off with his practical jokes; Debbie and Andy, a young couple with a baby on the way (the pregnancy does nothing to curb their sex drive); and Chili and Chuck, a couple who are defined by their love of weed!
When some of these people, as well as a biker gang Shelly pisses off at a convenience store, start getting picked off in grisly ways, Chris soon realizes she's going to have to come face-to-face with Jason one more time!
FRIDAY THE 13TH PART III doesn't stray too far from the formula that worked well in the first 2 films, though it does add 3D to the proceedings. It seems every other minute there's something gratuitously being thrown or pointed at the camera to wow anybody wearing 3D glasses (I've never actually seen this film in 3D, though). This film also offers a funky/spooky intro tune AND the debut of the hockey mask that would prove a pop cultural touchstone for 80s slasher enthusiasts. I can't honestly say if these films are good or bad anymore, I'm too close to them. The FRIDAY THE 13TH series is like comfort food to me. I had fun watching this for the millionth time.
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Post by ace on Oct 6, 2022 10:10:16 GMT -5
Deadstream on Shudder is a big thumbs up. I’m going to write my review for the site in my signature now…but yeah…if you like fun horror you’ll like Deadstream. I’ve seen it called a found footage Evil Dead and that’s pretty accurate. Edit: review is up. scarevalue.com/deadstream-review/between Deadstream and Sissy, Shudder has put up two new movies I’d recommend making time for in the last week or so. If you have Shudder they’re worth checking out. Both are fun watches.
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Post by tntchamp on Oct 6, 2022 11:02:27 GMT -5
Day 5
The Blair Witch Project: I still remember how big this movie was at the time and how it basically took the world by storm when it was released. People thought it was real and likewise people either were fans or hated it-there seem to be no in-between. While it's not the first found footage movie, it certainly kickstarted it and shaped it into what it is now. I have seen this several times and maintain it is a fairly good movie. The movie can be slow at times and perhaps some what redundant. However it also manages to perfectly play on the less is more approach-understanding that the impending feeling of doom while staying mysterious is more effective then if they showed anything. It also plays into the basic fears which work in its favor such as the feeling of being lost. There are better found footage movies but this is still a good watch.
Speak No Evil: I heard a lot of praise for this and gave it a watch. Its not bad but I found most of the movie to be some what on the slow side. While the movie keeps you guessing what is wrong with the couple and what this is leading to, at times I found myself losing interest. It eventually comes to a head and gets better once the reveal is set and without spoilers, I found the ending effectively heartbreaking. Still this is a movie I watch once, say "That was decent and good enough I supposed" and then never watch again.
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Post by Jumpin' Jesse Walsh on Oct 6, 2022 17:03:06 GMT -5
Up next in my focus on black & white horror . . .
The Tingler (1959)
Plot: A pathologist discovers a spine-tingling parasite that grows by feeding on the fear of its host.
The Tingler is a classic example of William Castle’s wacky world of gimmicks. In fact, the gimmicks here are just as notable as the film itself. To promote the film, theatergoers were subject to “Percepto!”, a vibrating device attached to select chairs in the theater. At the point in the film where the Tingler is released into the onscreen theater, the real movie theater would go dark and the “Percepto!” would work its magic. The poor unfortunate souls in those select chairs would receive a surprise jolt and, I’m assuming, a lifetime supply of trauma.
But Castle didn’t stop there, oh no. He went so far as to hire plants in the audience to scream and faint in the theater. He even hired fake nurses to tend to the fakers! Another gimmick involved the “bloody bathtub” sequence” where the black & white film included a short color scene of a bathtub filled with bright red blood. I’m not exactly sure what this adds to the movie, but I guess this is also the same era where any sort of onscreen gore was enough to make the real audience members faint as well.
The concept of the film is brilliant—how do you not panic when there’s a giant slug on your back? I just recently had surgery at the base of my spine, so it admittedly hit close to home. As with many of Castle’s horror films, moments of high camp abound. Castle decided that merely terrifying his audience in the theater wasn’t enough; he also gives them a warning in the opening scene, followed by numerous screaming heads. Of course, none of this isn’t nearly as effective without Vincent Price as the lead. Price is absolutely in his prime here. Maybe I’m letting his voiceover in Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” cloud my judgment, but he’s a big part in making Castle movies seems like a full-on scare show.
If you enjoy Castle’s other films from this period, you’ll enjoy The Tingler. The camp value will keep you moderately entertained, at the least. Just make sure to check the back of your seat first.
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Post by ace on Oct 6, 2022 21:03:17 GMT -5
Terrifier 2 may be the most fascinating movie I’ve ever seen specifically because it’s a sequel to Terrifier. It’s like an experiment to see if the character works in a completely different movie from concept to look to feel.
Review on the site in my signature as always. Read it and see what musical comparison slapped me in the face like a dead fish halfway through its NEAR TWO AND A HALF HOUR RUNNING TIME.
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Post by Jumpin' Jesse Walsh on Oct 6, 2022 22:13:04 GMT -5
No thoughts, just "Get Down Goblin" by Jan Terri.
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Post by DSR on Oct 7, 2022 0:59:49 GMT -5
HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH (1982) was an attempt at turning the HALLOWEEN film series into an anthology. John Carpenter and Debra Hill produced the film, with Carpenter turning in an exquisite score, and Jamie Lee Curtis provided an un-credited cameo as a telephone operator. But audiences had already come to associate the series with Michael Myers after the two previous films, so after this film bombed the fourth entry went back to him. Anyway...
One week prior to Halloween, middle-aged alcoholic deadbeat dad Dr. Dan Challis (Tom Atkins, THE FOG) is called into the hospital to treat one Harry Grimbridge. Grimbridge had just survived an altercation with a strangely stoic man in a suit, and when Challis arrives, the man is clutching a popular Halloween mask and muttering "they're going to kill us all"! Shortly after administering treatment, Challis heads to a breakroom to take a nap, and that suited man shows up at the hospital and kills Grimbridge with his black-gloved-hands before getting into his car and setting himself on fire.
Challis is shaken up by the mystery surrounding the murder suicide, but Challis is shaken up in a different way by the appearance of Grimbridge's beautiful daughter Ellie (Stacey Nelkin, UP THE ACADEMY) to identify her father's body. Ellie later reveals to Challis that her father ran a toy store that sold the type of mask her father was holding when he was admitted to the hospital. Their independent investigation leads them to Silver Shamrock, the toy and mask manufacturing company whose commercial is all over television and the radio.
Hoping to find answers, Challis and Ellie head to the Silver Shamrock factory, located in Santa Mira, CA. Santa Mira is a "company town" practically everyone who lives their has an almost cult-like devotion to the company and its charismatic leader, Conal Cochran (Dan O'Herlihy, THE LAST STARFIGHTER). While taking a tour of the factory with some friends they've made in town, our protagonists start to notice more men in suits with an eerie stoic demeanor. Not only that, but it seems they have Ellie's father's car in their possession!
Challis and Ellie rush back to their motel room to pack up their stuff and head outta town, but Challis takes a detour to a payphone to try to get ahold of some authorities. That doesn't work, and when he gets back to the motel room, Ellie is gone! What's worse, a bunch more of those suited guys show up outside his door!
I won't go further on the plot from here, other than to say the final act is an amalgamation of apocalyptic sci-fi, folk horror, and anti-corporate sentiment...and it's great! Not every aspect of the plot makes complete logical sense in the real world, but this film dabbles in the fantastical, so, uh...just go with it. Tom Atkins is always a magnetic presence even when he's playing kind of an asshole (maybe even because he's playing kind of an asshole), O'Herlihy is equal parts congenial and menacing as Cochran, Nelkin shows she has decent acting chops beyong being eye candy. John Carpenter and Alan Howarth provide an incredibly ominous score, and spending most of my days at work listening to synthwave music has made me realize just how influential of a musician Carpenter is in addition to his directing talents.
Over the years, SEASON OF THE WITCH has gained a cult following. Not to toot my own horn, but I've always preferred other horror icons over Michael Myers and I've always enjoyed HALLOWEEN III because it strays from "The Shape". It does an excellent job of building dread, and it's willing to go "weird" instead of gory (not that I dislike gore, but I also LOVE weird). HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH remains a perennial favorite with me!
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Post by Non Banjoble Tokens on Oct 7, 2022 1:03:51 GMT -5
Finally watched the movie Lamb off my DVR the other night.
Is it horror? Not really, I went into the movie thinking it would be horror, but it was just a weird drama with a sheep head baby.
I'm going to count it anyway, because how many movies do you watch in October about sheep head babies anyway? Also there was a conclusion that could vaguely be considered "horror" in the strictest definition.
Also also, there are horror movies about wolf head people, there are horror movies even about bull head people and bird head people, so sheep head people should feel right at home.
That all said, I didn't hate it.
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Post by tntchamp on Oct 7, 2022 7:33:36 GMT -5
Finally watched the movie Lamb off my DVR the other night. Is it horror? Not really, I went into the movie thinking it would be horror, but it was just a weird drama with a sheep head baby. I'm going to count it anyway, because how many movies do you watch in October about sheep head babies anyway? Also there was a conclusion that could vaguely be considered "horror" in the strictest definition. Also also, there are horror movies about wolf head people, there are horror movies even about bull head people and bird head people, so sheep head people should feel right at home. That all said, I didn't hate it. Lamb to me felt like a movie full of wasted potential. Like there are some very unquie places you could go with the idea but what we get is mostly a slog of a film where nothing interesting or exciting occurs. Even when comes time for the pay off, the pay off feels more like a case of "well that was disappointing" Day 6: VideoDrome: Best body horror movie made and David Cronenberg's second best movie (The Fly is still number 1) he made. The movie is a very sharp observation of new media (at least at the time) and the smut associated with it. It seems to be critical of it in some ways but also equally critical of moral guardians who gate keep it or in general who don't understand new media. James Woods is a great lead and always reliable in terms of acting performance. Debbie Harry is likewise good herself despite being at the time only know for being a singer. The effects are amazing and the movie equally has some very memorable scenes. Top notch horror film Halloween 3 Season of the Witch: Famous for even now in some ways as "the one without Michael Myers" but on its own merits its pretty good. While I don't think this is some misunderstood masterpiece, on its own merits it is still pretty good and better then some of the later Halloween sequels. The film has a nice atmospheric Halloween feel to it, Tom Atkins is a fun lead who strangely likeable despite coming off as a alcoholic deadbeat dad. I in general think the idea of a evil cooperate CEO who wants to cause the death of children nationwide because it would be a good prank is a darkly fascinating idea. The plot menders at times and maybe it doesn't completely make sense when you actual view it but the movie on is still worth a watch. Also that final scene man
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,477
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Oct 7, 2022 11:01:06 GMT -5
Day 7 TITLE-My Bloody Birthday SOURCE-ITN DVD
ITN puts out piles of UK and Spanish horror. DTV with low budgets. This is the best I have seen from them. Pretty sure it is on TUBI also.
Girl has something happen at her birthday when she is young,with clowns of course,and now hates clowns and birthday parties.
Weird dreams and a cast that some appear to be speaking their line phonetically,entire film is in English and doesn't appear to be dubbed at all,make this feel like David Lynch got way to hammered on edibles and made a tribute to 80s Italian slasher ripoffs.
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Post by tntchamp on Oct 7, 2022 11:21:42 GMT -5
Day 7 TITLE-My Bloody Birthday SOURCE-ITN DVD ITN puts out piles of UK and Spanish horror. DTV with low budgets. This is the best I have seen from them. Pretty sure it is on TUBI also. Girl has something happen at her birthday when she is young,with clowns of course,and now hates clowns and birthday parties. Weird dreams and a cast that some appear to be speaking their line phonetically,entire film is in English and doesn't appear to be dubbed at all,make this feel like David Lynch got way to hammered on edibles and made a tribute to 80s Italian slasher ripoffs. Well now I am interested in this movie lol
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Post by prettynami on Oct 8, 2022 0:10:28 GMT -5
I have finally returned from the grave and this is what I have watched since I last crawled out of it:
7. BRAINSCAN (1994) - Edward Furlong's mom dies in a nasty accident and he grows up with an absentee dad to be some horror buff teen with a really nifty room he sits around playing video games and reading Fangoria magazine all day/night. He hears from a friend about a new INTERACTIVE CD-ROM called BRAINSCAN! It promises to be a new reality of horror or some crap! Anyways, it arrives in the mail and he soon finds that the game, where you control a serial killer, is a bit too real!!!! Oh, and a weirdo named TRICKSTER torments him on the side.
This is a pretty fun romp. It isn't really gorey or anything, but it does have some dismemberment. Most of the hard horror occurs in the first half, while the second half feels more like a thriller. If you love early CG lawmowermanesque stuff, this is the movie for you. Furlong's character is relatively clever, which oddly enough is also partly a negative part because he solves most of the mystery of the movie fairly early on. There are a few interesting twists leading towards the conclusion.... But that ending and the ensuing mid-credit scene are absolute dogshit. Still, I found it pretty enjoyable and give it a 3 out of 5.
8. KOLOBOS (1998) - Some randos, including a lady who just got out of a mental institute, are recruited for some reality show experiment. After eating a metric tonne of pizzas and being forced to watch the complete collection of one of the randos horror films (that she stared as the killer in) people start being murdered by the house that has booby traps everywhere and is SOMEHOW ABLE TO COVER ITSELF IN STEEL AND CONCRETE INSTANTLY.
The movie starts out really interesting - all in 1st person of the mental institute lady. However, they abandon this one they get into the house (which is a flashback) which is kinda lame. Then you get one great gore scene followed by what seemed like 20 years of insipid writer/director smelling their own farts "What is real" film school garbage. The movie falls off HARD. I think my brain may have trickled out my ears. I may just be being particularly harsh because I though the idea of a 1st person POV horror movie from the eyes of one of the victims would be interesting. There is some good stuff, the doctor scenes will trigger ones ASMR lololol. And the house concept is so dumb its hilarious (Even though the rest of the movie up to that is treated so seriously you have to suspend A LOT of disbelief to think there were hidden metal slabs waiting to seal in this house and that no one noticed this). And all the deaths after the first one are nonsensical BS. I give it a 2 out of 5 for a few interesting points and possibilities and what not.
9. TARGET EARTH (1954) - Ultra low budget sci-fi "horror" about an invasion of automatons from venus and a handful of survivors trying to escape a city.
This movie has a cast of like 6 people. They spend most of the movie movie from hotel room to hotel room talking about their lives, looking for working radios, and making small discovers about what is going on around them in THE CITY. The movie puts so much effort into not naming the location and making it Everytown, USA that is becomes quite noticeable and funny. The city is evacuated and all our survivors are people who were for one reason or another asleep during the evacuation so missed it (BUDGET SAVED! WOO!). We don't see the invaders for quite a while, we see a few dead people but the robits initially appear as, oddly enough well executed, animated shadows. Eventually we see them for what they are, barely mobile manshaped dudes with laser shooting TVs for heads (Literally TVs, what with CRTs forming the basis of their power or something lolol). The robots all have an instinctual need to squeeze rounds off in pistols. Anyways, they occasionally blast a person or smash through a wall to break up a conversation and necessitate a scene change to another hotel. The effects don't seem to be expensive so I wonder why they didn't utilize the robots more. Nonetheless, the movies one saving grace (besides the fairly entertaining silly robots) is the characters! SOMEHOW. Thats right, when most low budget 50s sci-fi movies use character scenes just to pad out the movie this one somehow actually is able to develop the small cast into formed characters not the flat characters we normally see in this kind of stuff. They particularly do a good job with our main character, the lady we follow through the bulk of the movie. If you saw Mars Attacks the ending might be familiar... For rising up beyond its means I give this one a 2.5 out of 5.
10. SLEDGEHAMMER (1983) - A group of "teens" (?) including TED PRIOR (!) take a "vacation" (I'm still not clear why they were here) in an old murder house were a guy with a sledgehammer killed a lady (who locked her son in a room while she boinked....) and her lover! After what seems like hours of lingering shots of houses, strange screen wipes and freezes, people breaking up and then having 5 minute love ballad slow-motion scenes of them walking away, and scene after scene of shirtless men with no belts food fighting Ted Prior decides to tell a spoopy story about the house... And then people start dying one by one starting with the one poor sap who wasn't paired with a chick but was mysteriously invited onto their couples retreat!
The movie starts with a bang, literally, because they explode the title. There is a great sledge kill right away establishing the murder house (with a fake head obviously on like a broomstick for a neck!). We then devolve into the most bizarre set of teens I may have ever seen in a movie. Every line of dialogue, every scene of them eating topless (and there are so many), and every seen of them looking through piles of scrap metal with their cracks out in their full glory makes one think: Was this made by aliens? The movie is 75 percent SLOW MOTION. Seriosuly, they slow motion everything and anything in this. A person swinging a sledge? Slow motion! A couple walking to the house? Slow motion! A person walking down the hall? SLOW MOTION! The soundtracks is a series of beeps and scratches, truely experimental stuff. The gore and special effects are mysteriously both appalling bad and good at the same time - like the people making them gave up half way through the process. The biggest problem with the movie is the killer: Like a ghost or some shit that transforms from little kid to giant (and I MEAN GIANT) dude... Who, because he is a friggen ghost, is basically unstoppable. Still, I had a blast riffing this with friends because of the slow mo (You want to know what is really strange? Despite all the slow mo padding and how the bulk of the movie was shirtless dudes partying the pacing of this wasn't too bad and it flew by!) and the soundtrack so I give this a 3 out of 5.
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Scoops
ALF
Potato Clown
Posts: 1,125
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Post by Scoops on Oct 8, 2022 1:27:22 GMT -5
Saw Smile {Spoiler}{SPOILER: CLICK TO SHOW} It sucked.
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Post by DSR on Oct 8, 2022 2:05:10 GMT -5
I reviewed KOLOBOS and SLEDGEHAMMER 2 years ago as part of my 50 States Horror Project (still unfinished, but I WILL get back to it). I basically thought they weren't scary but they had their charms anyway. What can I say, I enjoy surreal nightmare logic-type stuff.
Tonight I took another break from Part 3s to hit a standalone Hammer flick from the 70s (because I hadn't touched that decade yet)...
DR. JEKYLL & SISTER HYDE (1971) was directed by Roy Ward Baker (THE VAMPIRE LOVERS) from a script by co-producer Brian Clemens (CAPTAIN KRONOS - VAMPIRE HUNTER). Dr. Jekyll (Ralph Bates, TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA) is working on one of a series of anti-viruses which will eventually cure all known diseases when he comes to the conclusion that this work is ultimately pointless if everyone dies anyway. So he abandons that project in an effort to create something like an elixir of eternal youth. Believing female hormones might prove vital to this elixir, he obtains some from a local coroner's office. He experiments on an insect that is known to live only a couple of hours. The serum Jekyll's created extends the bug's life to 3 days, but also changes its gender.
Believing he's on the right track, Jekyll enlists the aid of murderers Burke and Hare (Ivor Dean, THE OBLONG BOX, and Tony Calvin, THE COUNTERFEIT CONSTABLE) to acquire more young woman so he can retrieve whatever part of them he needs for his experiments. The next time, Jekyll tests his concoction on himself, transforming into an alluring woman (Martine Beswick, THUNDERBALL)! He spends this brief first transformation admiring his new form in the mirror before reverting back.
From there, Jekyll will continue his experiments, and when Burke and Hare are found out as murderers and, respectively, hanged and blinded by angry townsfolk, Jekyll will rationalize turning to murder himself as a necessary evil. The lives of a few beautiful young woman are nothing compared to eternal life for the rest of humanity! The woman he turns into as a result will be dubbed "Mrs. Hyde" telling his neighbors that she is his widowed sister come to live with him. Said neighbors, an actual brother-sister duo, wind up falling in love with the two different people inhabiting Jekyll's body. Sounds like a premise for a comedy if it weren't for all those Jack The Ripper-esque murders Jekyll/Hyde keeps committing. What's more, both Jekyll and Hyde conclude that "this body ain't big enough for the two of us" and they will clash to determine which of them will take control once and for all...
SISTER HYDE has the period costume, heaving bosoms, and ample blood-letting one would expect from a Victorian Era-set Hammer film. It's also got queer/trans themes: both Jekyll AND Hyde are murderers, so calling her his "evil side" doesn't really add up. Jekyll seems obsessively devoted to his work and doesn't show any signs of sexual interest until that initial transformation. And after that awakening moment, he transforms himself more frequently over time.
I like Hammer's in-house style, I dig the themes. Ralph Bates is solid as Jekyll, though Martine Beswick is sexy and charismatic and steals the show. Burke and Hare were enjoyable characters. I had a good time with this flick.
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Post by Jumpin' Jesse Walsh on Oct 8, 2022 11:23:59 GMT -5
This bout in my focus on black & white horror is set for one fall . . .
Wrestling Women vs. the Aztec Mummy (1964)
Plot: A pair of wrestlers square off against a gang and a mummy in their search for Aztec treasure.
Wrestling Women vs. the Aztec Mummy immediately appeals to me as a person who digs both Mexican wrestling superhero films and exploitation film titles that make the whole thing sound like it was written by a third grader (think Jesse James Meets Frankenstein, for example). I mean, come on, just look at that title. It’s what the “Take my money!” meme is all about. Whether the movie delivers the goods is immaterial; all that matters is getting people to flock to the drive-in to see it and make money.
And does this movie deliver the goods? Maybe. Sorta. Not really. We don’t see the wrestling women square off with the Aztec Mummy until the last 25 minutes or so. Most of the film before that chronicles the wrestling women’s battle with racist caricature gang The Black Dragon for a codex that will lead to Aztec treasure. It’s action thriller fare with ‘60s Batman fight sequences, ultimately resulting in the wildest build to a tag team match this side of Lucha Underground. The winners nab possession of the codex, though sadly it’s not on a pole.
I love how the wrestling is presented in this movie. Everything is completely kept in kayfabe. Just a complete 180 on the gritty expose of Dis Business of The Wrestler. And we don’t just get a few snippets of wrestling here and there; we practically get full-on matches. If this movie delivers the good in any criteria, it’s certainly the wrestling women. Unlike Santo or The Blue Demon though, Gloria Venus and Golden Rubi are unfortunately not real. If they were, I just know they would’ve dished out some serious beatdowns to June Byers or somebody back in the day. I wish we saw them square off in the ring with the Aztec Mummy in the end, but I guess some cool Aztec temples isn’t a bad tradeoff.
The key to enjoying something like The Wrestling Women vs. the Aztec Mummy is to take it all in stride. It doesn’t quite live up to the promise of its title, but no exploitation film of this type usually does. If you’re able to surrender yourself to the experience, it’s worth it for a laugh or two. It’s kinda like Monday Night Raw in that way.
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mystermystery
Dennis Stamp
Still in the White Hummer
Posts: 4,390
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Post by mystermystery on Oct 8, 2022 11:50:00 GMT -5
Latest batch of October viewing:
4. AQUANOIDS I was fifteen and chilling at the library after school, watching trailers for new movies via Quicktime videos on the Apple site when I started dipping into search engines for new videos and found a site for a film company called Cinemacabre. The website had two trailers it was promoting at the time. Aquanoids and Maniacal. They both looked low budget, absurd, and seemed to exist to promise blood and breasts. Apparently, it stuck in my head as nearly 20 years later, I pull up Tubi and there's Aquanoids offered for anyone's viewing pleasure...so I clicked on it.
Woof. The mixture of Jaws and Humanoids From the Deep plus gratuitous scooter riding was fun, I suppose. The corrupt Mayor is played by the mobster who gets hand buzzered to death in Tim Burton's Batman. What a catch. I could never actually recommend it to other living human beings, though. Anyway...that was a blast from the memory blast.
5. DEADSTREAM A well done horror comedy playing with a great concept (desperate YouTuber livestreaming a haunted house) allowing for proper goofs and jumps. There are a few moments where it felt like it was running long, but overall it's a good watch, especially for the season.
6. BEAST I think Beast counts. Any movie with a Lion going on its own personal John Wick arc is a horror film for the humans caught in the crossfire. Idris Elba takes some strange roles, but he's so good in them.
7. WEREWOLF BY NIGHT I don't really keep up with Marvel and my knowledge of comics are incredibly rudimentary. However, I did see the direct-to-TV Man-Thing movie that the SyFy Channel made...which probably didn't help.
It mainly was fun, albeit with a few silly fight scenes amid the story framing before the third act delivered the promise of the title. I didn't get 100% what was going on (I expected that) but did enjoy the overall story. Absolutely no regrets in watching it.
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pinja
Unicron
Posts: 3,012
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Post by pinja on Oct 8, 2022 13:49:56 GMT -5
4. The Howling by Joe Dante (1981)
There's no denying: "The Howling" is one of the best werewolf movies I've seen. But I don't know whether I like it or not. Of all the classic monsters, werewolves do the least for me in terms of horror while I like the themes lycanthropy can tackle and "The Howling" tackles a lot of them. Mainly the dichotomy of civilization and nature.
News reporter Karen White (Dee Wallace) is stalked by murderer Eddie Quist (a for me completely unrecognizable Robert Picardo). The police sets a trap for him, Eddie gets shot, Karen is left traumatized. She and her husband Bill (Christopher Stone) move to the therapeutic community of Dr. George Waggner (Patrick Macnee). But it's more of an Island of Doctor Moreau deal with everyone but Karen and Bill being werewolves.
It has Joe Dante's signature blend of horror with contrasting scenes for humorous effect and feels like a late child of "the" counterculture in which it presents werewolves as symbols of free sexuality (full female nudity is still a rare thing to see in any mainstream horror movie). I just come to the conclusion that werewolf movies are generally bad at creating and holding suspense. There are many great animal horror movies, yet I can't think of a single werewolf movie that genuinely frightened me in scenes of pursuit and fighting. But then, thank the gods of the '80s, there are the practical effects.
My memories of the transformation scene in "An American Werewolf in London" (also 1981) are murky. It's widely considered to be among if not the best transformation scene of all time. Yet after seeing Eddie Quist's transformation I have a hard time believing that anything is better then this one. Maybe on par, but not better. A matter of taste, really. I couldn't decide which transformation scene is my favorite: "The Howling", "An American Werewolf in London" or the reverse transformation in "Fright Night" (a remarkably horrifying "death" in an otherwise comical movie). Eddie Quist's transformation alone warrants a watch.
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Post by tntchamp on Oct 9, 2022 9:06:32 GMT -5
Day 7: Hellraiser 2022 easily the best hellraiser movie in a very long time. I was thoroughly entertained and I think this movie handsome interesting ideas such as tying the box with the themes of addiction. This movie balances having the cenobites get more screen time but without over exposer. I will say though I wasn't really that impressed with Jamie Clayton as pinhead. She does okay enough but nothing that left a impression. I do like how this movie brought back the original score and likewise took it's time to tell the story. Finally the kills and effects are top notch.
Day 8 Terrifier 2. Man I had a blast watching this movie. Like I was never bored at all with the film. This movie improves on the first one and fix's some of the flaws of the previous movie. Art the clown further cements himself as a new horror icon and mixes dark humor with being a menacing threat. He now his a new final girl to compete with and I found Sienna to be a likeable leading girl. In general the movie does a good job developing the characters and making you care. Finally this movie does not go soft on the violence and it seems like they looked at the hacksaw death scene from the previous movie and said "you think it can't get worse then that, we'll show you otherwise". I'm still wincing thinking about a certain death scene (and you'll know it when it happens). The gore is top notch. The mid credit scene is wild and certainly makes me wonder what happens next. Btw look out for a certain cameo in that mid credit scene.
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