Sangre, cuchillos, y tetas --- Horror Film Discussion

[Grouchy]

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_cNzqA2wbY5E/TGzvs1T2gTI/AAAAAAAAFYU/f1HYh6AaLrQ/s1600/dead_and_buried1.jpg

Dead and Buried
Gary Sherman, 1981

I'm beginning to grow a sentimental respect for this beard guy, Dan O' Bannon. Besides being the writing mastermind behind Alien he seems to often come up with interesting concept. This specimen, for example, is a cross between serial killers and witchcraft rituals. It's very uneven. Some amazing Stan Winston effects share screen with make-up work that's pretty embarassing to look at. But the story is good, and the killing scenes are vintage exploitation porn. On the very first scene, we see a tourist taking some arty beach snapshots when this blonde vixen comes along and lures him into a painful death when a group of villagers gang up on him. That's good. That's our introduction to Potter's Bluff, a small Americana town where something is not working quite right. Plenty of sound characters, and there's a minor role played by a young Robert Englund. The movie develops a crisp paranoia environment, and I applaud it.

P.S.: Gary Sherman seems like an interesting cat too. I will check out this Death Line / Raw Meat business very soon.

[Bosco B Thug]

I've always thought of Twitch of the Death Nerve as my favorite Bava. It's the one I remember getting the biggest kick out of when I went on a Bava spree. But this was back when Netflix actually carried the film under the Twitch of the Death Nerve title. That was a stupid long time ago. But at one point, with the intention to re-visit it, I added back into my queue and ever since it's always been there... but most of the time in the Unavailable section. Frustrating that I can't re-visit it. It was available, too, not too long ago, under Bay of Blood, as meg said. Missed my chance. Me and Twitch of the Death Nerve, like keeping track of an ex-girlfriend on Facebook. Add to that the two titles and the "Is it the right version?" worries!

[Grouchy]

Mario Bava: I've seen Black Sunday and The Girl Who Knew Too Much. Loved them both. Planet of the Vampires is pretty bad, though.

[Bosco B Thug]

Mario Bava: I've seen Black Sunday and The Girl Who Knew Too Much. Loved them both. Planet of the Vampires is pretty bad, though. I remember thinking Planet of the Vampires wasn't bad. Been planning to re-watch this one for the Halloween season, so we'll see how being older and wiser effects it.

[MadMan]

I've seen Planet of the Vampires twice. It gets a solid 70 something from me (the exact rating isn't really important). I rather like it, especially the rather bleak ending, and the fact that it was a heavy inspiration on Alien.

[Rowland]

I suppose I'll chime in.

Bava ranked/rated:

Black Sabbath ****
Kill Baby Kill ***½
Bay of Blood ***½
Blood and Black Lace ***½
Danger: Diabolik ***
Lisa and the Devil *** (underseen)
5 Dolls For an August Moon *** (underrated)
Hatchet for the Honeymoon *** (underseen)
The Girl Who Knew Too Much ***
Black Sunday *** (needs a revisit)
The Whip and the Body **½
Baron Blood *½

Argento ranked/rated:

Tenebre ****
Deep Red ***½
Suspiria ***½
Opera ***½
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage ***½
Inferno ***½
The Cat o'Nine Tails ***½
Four Flies on Grey Velvet ***
Phenomena ***
The Black Cat ***
The Stendhal Syndrome ***
Jenifer ***
Mother of Tears **½
Trauma **½
Sleepless **½
The Card Player **½
Pelts **
Do You Like Hitchcock **
The Phantom of the Opera *

[Raiders]

Bava:

KILL, BABY... KILL! ****
BLOOD AND BLACK LACE ***½
WHIP AND THE BODY, THE ***½ ('salright, I'll go it alone)
BLACK SUNDAY ***½
BLACK SABBATH ***
DANGER: DIABOLIK ***
TWITCH OF THE DEATH NERVE ***
PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES **½
HATCHET FOR THE HONEYMOON **

Argento:

OPERA ****
DEEP RED ****
TENEBRE ***½
CAT O' NINE TAILS, THE ***½
SUSPIRIA ***
BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE, THE ***
MASTERS OF HORROR: JENIFER ***
STENDHAL SYNDROME, THE **½
PHENOMENA **
INFERNO **
MASTERS OF HORROR: PELTS *½

[Boner M]

No way does Hatchet belong at the bottom of a Bava list.

[Raiders]

No way does Hatchet belong at the bottom of a Bava list.

Don't worry. I'm sure he has worse movies that I'll watch eventually.

[number8]

Speaking of Hatchet, am I the only one who thought the Adam Green movie sucked?

[D_Davis]

Dan O' Bannon was awesome. One of my favorite writers.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Speaking of Hatchet, am I the only one who thought the Adam Green movie sucked?

Nope. It did suck. I was especially insulted by the way it was marketed as something original.

[megladon8]

I liked Hatchet. I thought it was fun. Had some great kills.

Original? No. Particularly special? No. But I had fun with it. It didn't bore me.

I'd take it over Dead Snow or Cold Prey any day of the week - two other recent horror films which gained some popularity and even critical success.

[Dead & Messed Up]

I liked Hatchet. I thought it was fun. Had some great kills.

Original? No. Particularly special? No. But I had fun with it. It didn't bore me.

I'd take it over Dead Snow or Cold Prey any day of the week - two other recent horror films which gained some popularity and even critical success.

I would watch Hatchet over Dead Snow, but I'd also rather watch neither.

[Kurosawa Fan]

Watched Quatermass and the Pit (1967) tonight on TCM. I really dug it. Very cool atmosphere, solid story, had some genuinely creepy moments with no cheap scares. For whatever reason, I had always kind of ignored Hammer films. Perhaps that was a mistake on my part.

[megladon8]

Watched Quatermass and the Pit (1967) tonight on TCM. I really dug it. Very cool atmosphere, solid story, had some genuinely creepy moments with no cheap scares. For whatever reason, I had always kind of ignored Hammer films. Perhaps that was a mistake on my part.


Yep, that's certainly a mistake :) Personally, I think Hammer's takes on some of the classic monsters are superior to the Universal ones of the '30s and '40s.

Though I've never been able to track down copies of the Quatermass films. I am dying to see them, but they're out of print on DVD and ridiculously expensive.

Would you like me to put together a little primer of the "best of and worst of Hammer"?

[number8]

I was incredibly bored by Hatchet. That was the problem.

[Mr. Pink]

I didn't think Hatchet was necessarily any better or worse than Severance or Behind the Mask.

None of those were particularly memorable/great (to me), but none of them bored me, either. I thought they were all enjoyable but ultimately forgettable movies.

[Kurosawa Fan]

Would you like me to put together a little primer of the "best of and worst of Hammer"?

That would be great. Can't guarantee I'll get to them any time soon, considering my schedule with school and whatnot, but I'll keep the list with me for future use.

[megladon8]

A primer on the films of Hammer Film Productions.

Keep in mind that I have not seen all the studio has to offer - which is nigh impossible, not only due to the fact that so much of it is not readily available, but there's also just so damn much of it.

I'm going to start with their recreations of the Universal classic monsters, then move onto the "one-offs" and more obscure stuff.


Frankenstein

While not the first Hammer horror production, The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) is the first one I've seen since The Quatermass Xperiment is nearly unavailable (and I missed it on TCM :sad:).

This film tells the "origin" story of Dr. Frankenstein and his monster. It traces the doctor from childhood to adulthood (the latter played by Hammer veteran Peter Cushing), as he is mentored by scientist Paul Krempe. Eventually he exceeds his mentor in scientific knowledge and skill, succeeding in their goal of recreating life from dead tissue.

Christopher Lee plays the monster, and the make-up is significantly more gruesome than that of the Universal/Karloff films (due greatly to it being Hammer's first colour feature, and so all of the gore and discolorations in his make-up really make him seem like a creature made of parts from many different people).

This was followed by several sequels...

The Revenge of Frankenstein ('58)
The Evil of Frankenstein ('64)
Frankenstein Created Woman ('67)
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed ('69)
The Horror of Frankenstein ('70)
Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell ('73)

All of them feature Peter Cushing as the doctor except for The Horror of Frankenstein, which is kind of a comedy remake of the original and is pretty terrible.

In fact, all of them range from "good to okay" until that film, and the last two entries really suck.

The Evil of Frankenstein is the most "different" of all the true sequels to Curse... as it works as both a sequel and a near semi-remake of the original. It also has the monster looking significantly more like the original Universal creation, which is weird because it is specifically supposed to be the monster from the first film.


Dracula

The Dracula series is Hammer's largest film series, with Christopher Lee playing the titular vampire in nearly all of the entries.

The first entry may very well be Hammer's greatest film, Horror of Dracula. Once again, it is a re-telling of the original Dracula story, with Jonathan Harker traveling to Dracula's castle to kill the creature.

Lee's performance as Dracula is impeccable, and perhaps the greatest on-screen version of the legendary figure. Direction by Terence Fisher (who also did The Curse of Frankenstein and several of Hammer's greatest releases) is great, with some stunning imagery and eerie gothic sets and costumes.

It was followed by eight sequels...

The Brides of Dracula ('60)
Dracula: Prince of Darkness ('66)
Dracula Has Risen From the Grave ('68)
Taste the Blood of Dracula ('69)
Scars of Dracula ('70)
Dracula AD 1972 ('72)
The Satanic Rites of Dracula ('73)
The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires ('74)

Most of them are good, with some being more schlocky and closer to "exploitation" type films than serious gothic horror.

The Brides of Dracula is great though does not feature Dracula. Peter Cushing returns as Van Helsing, though.

The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires is not so great. It has Peter Cushing as Van Helsing, bu some other (very goofy looking) guy plays Dracula. It was a cross-production between Hammer and Shaw Brothers. Hammer's popularity was starting to dwindle, while kung-fu films were becoming the big thing in theatres, so this was an attempt to bring life back to the horror studio.

It just doesn't know what it wants to focus on, and not having a charismatic actor in the role of Dracula really hurts it, regardless of the fact that Dracula appears very briefly.

Dracula AD 1972 has quite a following and some people even insist it's the greatest of the series. To me, it's overly hoaky, and more of a time capsule of London in the early '70s than anything.

For my money, the best Dracula sequel is Dracula: Prince of Darkness (again directed by Fisher). It is a direct continuation of the original film, and features Lee being very imposing without (or perhaps because he is without) any dialogue.


The Mummy

This is unfortunately the series I have the least exposure to, having only seen the original film titled simply The Mummy.

Released in 1959, it once again features Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee as hero and villain respectively and is directed by Terence Fisher.

While not as brilliant as The Curse of Frankenstein or Horror of Dracula, it features many of the staples of Hammer - beautiful set designs, awesome costumes and a great reimagining of the monster - and is still very good.

It's arguably the most colourful of any of the Hammer classic monster films.

It was followed by three sequels, of which none were actual sequels to the film but rather stand-alone mummy films...

The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb ('64)
The Mummy's Shroud ('66)
Blood From the Mummy's Tomb ('71)

Again, sorry, I haven't seen any of these so I can't say whether they're any good.


The Wolfman

There was only one Wolfman movie by Hammer, and it was the 1961-released film The Curse of the Werewolf starring Oliver Reed in the title role.

It's...okay. Well, it's good, but it's nowhere near being a favorite of the studio's output for me. It has too much against it for me to really love it. First of all, I've just never been particularly taken with Wolfman stuff to begin with. It's just not a very interesting monster to me.

Second, I'm not a big Oliver Reed fan.

However, it does feature the same excellent gothic atmosphere as other Hammer films, due to the set design, costumes and great direction by none other than Terence Fisher.


Another big Hammer series was their Cave Girls films, but sadly I've seen absolutely NONE of these.

I will return later this evening to write about all the Hammer one-offs I've seen...

[Killed_by_Smalls]

I caught the Halloween bug very early this year. Since the beginning of September I've watched pretty much nothing but horror movies.

The Bat Whispers (West, 1930) - 6
The Old Dark House (Whale, 1932) - 8
Freaks (Browning, 1932) - 8
Frankenstein (Whale, 1931) - 8
Bride of Frankenstein (Whale, 1935) - 7
Of these, the only one I had seen before was Frankenstein. The most pleasant surprise was definitely The Old Dark House. Some great characters are stuck together on a stormy night and the host family can't contain their dark secrets.

Cat People (Tourneur, 1942) - 8
The Leopard Man (Tourneur, 1943) - 7
I Walked with a Zombie (Tourneur, 1943) - 6
The Ghost Ship (Robson, 1943) - 6
The Curse of the Cat People (Wise, 1944) - 7
The Body Snatcher (Wise, 1945) - 7
Night of the Demon (Tourneur, 1957) - 8
The '40s were a pretty big blind spot for me. I figured Val Lewton and Jaques Tourneur would be the best place to delve. I was not disappointed as I enjoyed all of these films to varying degrees. Cat People was definitely my favorite of the bunch.

Horror of Dracula (Fisher, 1958) - 8
The Mummy (Fisher, 1959) - 6
It was my second viewing of the former, and it remains esteemed. I liked the latter as well, but it pales in comparison to Hammer's interpretations Dracula and Frankenstein.

Halloween (Carpenter, 1978) - 9
Halloween II (Rosenthal, 1981) - 7
Halloween (Unrated Director's Cut) (Zombie, 2007) - 8
Halloween II (Unrated Director's Cut) (Zombie, 2009) - 7
The only one of these I had not seen was Rosenthal's entry. I was actually pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. However, I wouldn't be surprised if I found out Carpenter's minimal directorial contributions are the ones that stick out most in my mind. I liked both of Zombie's films more after a repeat viewing. Seeing the DC probably accounts for that. I did still feel that the performances from the two female leads in H2 veered into histrionics a few too many times. But I do love Brad Dourif.

My Bloody Valentine (Mihalka, 1981) - 7
My Bloody Valentine (Lussier, 2009) - 5
Not much to say here. I prefer the original by a fairly wide margin. I did see the unrated version, which helps considerably from what I've heard.

The Bride with White Hair (Yu, 1993) - 8
Freddy vs. Jason (Yu, 2003) - 4
I enjoyed The Bride with White Hair a lot, so I was pretty disappointed when FvJ left me so cold. I just found there was way too much time spent with the non-eponymous characters. I found the majority of the non-action scenes insufferable.

Wolf Creek (Mclean, 2005) - 8
Rogue (McLean, 2007) - 7
I love Wolf Creek. I don't know why it took me so long to see Rogue. It's right up my alley. Minimal narrative, just put a bunch of characters in a dangerous situation and crank up the tension. I wasn't enamored with the ending, but overall it was quite satisfying. I knew John Jarratt was in it, but I didn't recognize him at all after his turn in Wolf Creek. I'm glad he got to do something entirely different here.

Ringu (Nakata, 1998) - 6
Uzumaki (Higuchinsky, 2000) - 7
Marebito (Shimizu, 2004) - 5
Kairo (Kurosawa, 2001) - 9
Retribution (Kurosawa, 2006) - 6
The obvious standout here is Kairo. It was my second viewing, and it really hooked me this time. Supremely unnerving.

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (McNaughton, 1986) - 7
Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (Glosserman, 2006) - 6
So it's not a good idea to let a serial killer mentor you. Good to know. Henry will probably stick with me longer. Nathan Baesel was compelling as Leslie Vernon though.

A Bucket of Blood (Corman, 1959) - 7
I've watched a lot of Corman's directorial outings this year, mostly his Poe adaptations, and I've come away with a lot of respect for him. I'd rank A Bucket of Blood in the second tier behind The Pit and the Pendulum, which is my favorite to this point.

The Innocents (Clayton, 1961) - 9
This one blew me away. So many great sequences. I love the scene towards the end with Deborah Kerr walking through the dark hallways as she hears all the strange voices. Some impressive acting from a child as well.

Pontypool (McDonald, 2008) - 7
I was really impressed with how much tension they were able to manufacture while keeping the characters and the camera so isolated from the action. I really want to see this again.

Repulsion (Polanski, 1965) - 9
Poltergeist (Hooper, 1982) - 9
Phenomena (Argento, 1985) - 8
Evil Dead 2 (Raimi, 1987) - 9
American Psycho (Harron, 2000) - 9
Ginger Snaps (Fawcett, 2000) - 8
Sunshine (Boyle, 2007) - 9
I've seen all of these multiple times now. Poltergeist and Sunshine are the only ones that I changed my rating on after the latest viewing. Both went up by a point.

The rest just rated for now:
Hour of the Wolf (Bergman, 1968) - 8
Hollow Man (Verhoeven, 2000) - 8
Martyrs (Laugier, 2008) - 8
The Changeling (Medak, 1980) - 7
Joy Ride (Dahl, 2001) - 7
Demon Seed (Cammell, 1977) - 7
Shadow of the Vampire (Merhige, 2000) - 7
The Witches (Roeg, 1990) - 6
Haute Tension (Aja, 2003) - 6
The Gate (Takács, 1987) - 6
Return of the Living Dead III (Yuzna, 1993) - 6
The Frighteners (Jackson, 1996) - 6
Cat People (Schrader, 1982) - 6
Fright Night (Holland, 1985) - 6
Killer Klowns from Outer Space (Chiodo, 1988) - 5
I Sell the Dead (McQuaid, 2008) - 5
Zombies of Mass Destruction (Hamedani, 2009) - 4
Squirm (Lieberman, 1976) - 3

[megladon8]

That's quite the list, Killed_by_Smalls.

Our tastes seem quite similar. I am also one of the few who preferred Frankenstein to The Bride of Frankenstein.

And your Kairo rating is right on. Though it sucks you didn't enjoy Marebito more. While certainly abstract and at times a bit trying, I think it's one of the most effective translations of the mood of H.P. Lovecraft's stories.

[Winston*]

The Invisible Man is also a cool movie for Whale, Killed by Smalls.

[Killed_by_Smalls]

I was really looking forward to Marebito. For me the best scenes were in the beginning during his exploration of the underground, which is what I was anticipating the movie to be about. I'll probably watch it again someday with a more appropriate mindset. It certainly wasn't lacking merit.

[Killed_by_Smalls]

The Invisible Man is also a cool movie for Whale, Killed by Smalls.

Cool. I'll definitely check it out. I actually need to watch quite a few of the Universal horrors. The three I listed above are actually the only ones I've seen.

[MadMan]

I haven't seen Quartermass and the Pit (aka 5 Million Years to Earth) in ages. But I remember loving it a lot. meg my local library actually has it and the sequel to it on DVD, which is awesome. I'm going to check it out sometime, and I'm bummed that I missed watching it on TCM.

The Bird With the Crystal Plumage was quite good, mixing in horror, suspense, and mystery with relative ease. I think I like this more than Suspira, even though Suspira is slightly the better movie, and more creepy. There are several impressive shots throughout this movie, and I think its remarkable that this was Argento's first feature-its well shot, and the pacing is spot on. Although I'll admit that having seen some giallos I guessed the twist before it actually happened. Oh well.

Freddy v. Jason was highly entertaining, and actually better than anything I've seen in either series (all of the Jason movies, the first three Nightmare on Elm Street movies). Yes you read that right. It was highly entertaining, great fun, had some cool kills, and payed proper homage to two famous horror movie slashers. The final fight was all kinds of epic, and I loved how the movie ended. Ronny Yu is a director that I'm now interested in checking out, and I like how this movie actually had some creepy, stylish moments. Such as the main survivor girl falling asleep and encountering Freddy-I'll never forget that little girl with her eyes stabbed out, or the kids on the "Missing" posters turning to look at her as she walked down the hallway. Nice.

PS: Welcome to the board, Killed by Smalls. Anyone who likes horror and sports a Big Trouble in Little China avatar is alright with me.

[Kurosawa Fan]

Cool. I'll definitely check it out. I actually need to watch quite a few of the Universal horrors. The three I listed above are actually the only ones I've seen.

Creature From the Black Lagoon is my favorite Universal horror. Definitely check it out, at some point.

[Raiders]

It appears you skipped the best Lewton film, The Seventh Victim. Also, Bucket of Blood is easily my favorite Corman film next to The Intruder, but glad you liked it nonetheless.

[MadMan]

Creature From the Black Lagoon is my favorite Universal horror. Definitely check it out, at some point.Same here. Its not the best of the bunch, but its really enjoyable and the creature FX and underwater scenes are top notch. I never saw the sequel, though.

Universal Monster Movies Ranked/Rated:

Frankenstein-95
The Wolfman-85
The Mummy-80
The Creature From the Black Lagoon-75
Dracula-70/65/does it really matter? Eh

I have The Bride of Frankenstein left, I think.

[Killed_by_Smalls]

PS: Welcome to the board, Killed by Smalls. Anyone who likes horror and sports a Big Trouble in Little China avatar is alright with me.

Thanks. I've posted a few times in the past, but I hope to contribute more regularly going forward.


Creature From the Black Lagoon is my favorite Universal horror. Definitely check it out, at some point.


It appears you skipped the best Lewton film, The Seventh Victim. Also, Bucket of Blood is easily my favorite Corman film next to The Intruder, but glad you liked it nonetheless.

Thanks for the recommendations. I've queued The Seventh Victim along with Isle of the Dead and Bedlam to finish off the Val Lewton collection. After that I'm going to explore more of the Universal movies starting with The Invisible Man and Creature from the Black Lagoon.

[Bosco B Thug]

Tales from the Hood - Inventive, invested, highly stylized, bit puerile. Still, it's surprisingly well-versed in the tradition of the omnibus horror film, and it's shockingly consistent in quality, managing to be freakier than most modern horror films.

Night Tide - A slight and insubstantial retread of Cat People, but above average filmmaking from avant garde film holdover Curtis Harrington makes this moody and affecting. Weak finish.

Planet of the Vampires - Still good stuff, IMO. Vivid and beautiful, with elegant cinematography; moody and somber; atmospheric and, believe it or not, rather scary at times, all things considered. Doesn't amount to much, and while the film sustains a steady flow of above-average suspense sequences throughout most of the running time, the climactic act fizzles a bit.

[megladon8]

Bosco, your write-ups and ratings don't really reflect each other with those three...

[Bosco B Thug]

Bosco, your write-ups and ratings don't really reflect each other with those three... Aw, sure they do. I may have mostly nice things to say about them, but that doesn't mean I said they were top-notch or the pinnacle of meaning and sophistication. Planet of the Vampires, the best of the three, is the most sophisticated, but "Doesn't amount to much" is a pretty big criticism! (If also vague... as was intended.)

Yeah, perhaps PotV deserves a 6.

[megladon8]

Aw, sure they do. I may have said mostly nice things to say about them, but I never said they were top-notch or the pinnacle of meaning and sophistication. Planet of the Vampires, the best of the three, is the most immaculate, but "Doesn't amount to much" is a pretty big criticism!


I dunno, there isn't anything in "Inventive, invested, highly stylized, bit puerile. Still, it's surprisingly well-versed in the tradition of the omnibus horror film, and it's shockingly consistent in quality, managing to be freakier than most modern horror films." that, to me, reflects a rating of 4.5

[Bosco B Thug]

I dunno, there isn't anything in "Inventive, invested, highly stylized, bit puerile. Still, it's surprisingly well-versed in the tradition of the omnibus horror film, and it's shockingly consistent in quality, managing to be freakier than most modern horror films." that, to me, reflects a rating of 4.5 Well, yeah, so I could've written more. I mean, it's a rating, you just have to take people's word for it, and it's often more helpful than what people write. When you see Tales from the Hood, you'll be better off just expecting the 4.5 and not the freaky and inventive masterpiece of contemporary horror. :)

There's "puerile," for one, another pretty big critique. The film could've been a 5, because it does do a lot of striking formal and thematic things, but I docked it. Probably a sensibility thing. It's not an art-house film.


Has anyone seen this film? The last story devolves into a polemical rap music video. Half strikingly free-form avant garde, half strikingly "Do I have to sit through this?"

[megladon8]

The only good thing to come of watching I Spit on Your Grave is knowing that it's no longer on my "to see list".

What a terrible "movie" this is. Just complete garbage with the most ridiculous, out-right offensive morals I've ever seen.

I was hoping that I could at least say it was competently made, but no, the director had no idea where or how to point the camera, it's full of nonsensical zooms and edits, and is an ugly film in every way.

Total crap.

[MacGuffin]

When I watched it, I was astonished just how incompetent it was.

[Kurosawa Fan]

Totally agree, meg. Still ranks as one of the worst films I've ever seen.

[megladon8]

When I watched it, I was astonished just how incompetent it was.


I really found these "morals" parading as some kind of "modern feminism" was very offensive.

And I'm rarely, if ever, offended by a movie.

Yes, what those men did to her was horrible, atrocious, disgusting and unforgivable. But she committed 4 acts of cold-blooded murder.

"No court in America would convict her"? I'm pretty sure every court would convict her.

Making it some "battle of the sexes" thing on top of that made it even worse.

[Grouchy]

Speaking of Hatchet, am I the only one who thought the Adam Green movie sucked?
No, I hated it too.

[eternity]

I really found these "morals" parading as some kind of "modern feminism" was very offensive.

And I'm rarely, if ever, offended by a movie.

Yes, what those men did to her was horrible, atrocious, disgusting and unforgivable. But she committed 4 acts of cold-blooded murder.

"No court in America would convict her"? I'm pretty sure every court would convict her.

Making it some "battle of the sexes" thing on top of that made it even worse.
The fact that you are offended and have this long list of grievances is exactly why it's memorable and people still talk about it.

[megladon8]

The fact that you are offended and have this long list of grievances is exactly why it's memorable and people still talk about it.


I don't see what point you're trying to make.

It's still a terrible movie.

[Killed_by_Smalls]

Ju-on: The Grudge (Shimizu, 2002)
This wasn't the least bit effective. The parts that were meant to induce fear were either insipid or comical. The non-linear structure also felt very arbitrary. There were a few segments that had potential to be more than non-starters, but their brevity didn't allow for any real development.

[MacGuffin]

The fact that you are offended and have this long list of grievances is exactly why it's memorable and people still talk about it.

Yeah, I'm not generally "offended" by provocation like this, especially in cinema everything is fake and action-violence is abundant, but meg's right that it's obviously in very poor taste (to the point where it becomes tedious).

[Grouchy]

I don't see what point you're trying to make.

It's still a terrible movie.
He's explaining why the movie is remembered. Nothing to do with quality.

[Mr. Pink]

Yeah, if I hadn't already seen it I'd be interested with those kinds of comments.

The bathtub scene is still awesome, though.

[number8]

Did anyone see the remake?

[number8]

I find feminist readings of I Spit on Your Grave rather stupid, mostly because that's not the intention of the filmmakers, nor is it reflected at all in the film itself. I don't, however, find it any more offensive than other revenge fantasy exploitation films. I don't really see the difference between it and something like Death Wish, other than the fact that it substitutes guns and machoism with deadly sexuality, which, given the film's release at the tail end of the women's lib movement's peak, probably contributed a lot to its feminism claims.

[Dead & Messed Up]

I've finally seen the original Godzilla.

It's okay, I guess.

[MacGuffin]

I don't really see the difference between it and something like Death Wish, other than the fact that it substitutes guns and machoism with deadly sexuality, which, given the film's release at the tail end of the women's lib movement's peak, probably contributed a lot to its feminism claims.

Seriously dude? The tones of both movies are entirely different—night and day, even.

[MadMan]

For one thing, Death Wish is actually a good movie :P

[megladon8]

You know what?

C.H.U.D. is pretty great.

That is all.

[number8]

Seriously dude? The tones of both movies are entirely different—night and day, even.

We were discussing its morality.

[megladon8]

I haven't seen Death Wish admittedly, but does he just out-right, cold-bloodedly kill the baddies? They're unarmed and defenseless?

That was my problem with I Spit On Your Grave. If she had killed the guys while they were attacking her, that's much different than coming back weeks later to seduce and mutilate them one by one.

It's the difference between murder and self defense.

[Winston*]

Aren't you a fan of The Boondock Saints, megladon8?

[Bosco B Thug]

It's the difference between murder and self defense. Not trying to change your opinion, because for one, it's not wrong (I hardly encourage the film's existence myself), but just to make the point, that distinction is what makes I Spit on Your Grave I Spit on Your Grave. It's very particularly a woman's picture and a picture about rape. She wants to victimize them as perversely as they victimized her. It's a film about the enactment of acts of execution.

And yeah, as number8 I think is saying, this is what revenge tales generally are like, even men's revenge pictures and Kill Bill.

[number8]

Exactly. Look at Lady Snowblood. Or The Punisher. Revenge flicks don't operate on the basis that the hero is defending himself. It's always the hero going after targets.

I never said it's not an ugly story or shoddy filmmaking. I'm simply trying to understand what makes it more morally repugnant than countless macho vigilante movies. Is it the fact that her main asset is her sexuality rather than a cop/marine background?

[Dukefrukem]

Meet Cinderhella, from the upcoming movie... Detention.. directed by the guy who did Torque

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s36/Dukefrukem/Misc/detentioniumage102510.jpg

[megladon8]

Exactly. Look at Lady Snowblood. Or The Punisher. Revenge flicks don't operate on the basis that the hero is defending himself. It's always the hero going after targets.

I never said it's not an ugly story or shoddy filmmaking. I'm simply trying to understand what makes it more morally repugnant than countless macho vigilante movies. Is it the fact that her main asset is her sexuality rather than a cop/marine background?


Well using the Punisher example, it's made pretty clear that he himself is not exactly an angel. His actions are questionable at best. He's more of a "lesser evil".

The woman in I Spit on Your Grave is treated much more, well, heroically.

AND - yes, there is the added idea of the hero defending him/herself in films like The Punisher and Lady Snowblood. The "targets" are armed and fighting back.

This is what made the "Han shooting first" thing so (I guess) "controversial", because he killed Greedo without there actually being a display of violence towards him first. What he did in the original, unedited movie was cold-blooded murder.

But in that case it was actually used as a build of character, not as some kind of twisted "heroic".

I guess it boils down to the differences between heroes and antiheroes. The latter are presented as knowingly flawed and with hints of villainy. I Spit on Your Grave plays the acts of the woman straight as if what she is doing is worthy of "YA! THAT'LL SHOW 'EM!" hooting and hollering.

[Scar]

Dude's got a gun pointed at his chest.

That's not cold blooded murder, that's defending yourself.

[megladon8]

Dude's got a gun pointed at his chest.

That's not cold blooded murder, that's defending yourself.


Are you talking about Han?

Maybe I'm remembering it wrong, but wasn't he unaware of Greedo's gun, because Greedo was holding it under the table?

Like I said, sorry, I may be remembering it wrong.

[Scar]

Other way around. Greedo has the gun leveled on Han, Han slowly takes his gun out of his holster, and points it at Greedo under the table.

http://www.learnedleague.com/images/art/198uu7.jpg

[megladon8]

Ah, well, my mistake :)

Thanks for pointing that out, Scar. Man, I haven't seen that movie in years.

[Killed_by_Smalls]

Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (Barton, 1948)
This was my first exposure to the comedy duo beyond their "Who's on first" routine. Their collaboration here with Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, and the Wolf Man is mildly amusing. The finale was definitely the highlight. I'm curious if Lon Chaney Jr.'s performance here is indicative of the rest of his run as the Wolf Man? I found him to be the biggest weak spot.

5

Trauma (Argento, 1993)
I believe this was Argento's first American production. Seeing an Argento film without dubbed dialogue is weird. I think this was also the first Argento I've seen that used a fairly traditional orchestral score. Also weird. I guess the producers thought a Goblin score wouldn't jibe with American audiences. A lot of the indoor scenes featured some very hazy cinematography which I found distracting. There were also some rather ridiculous moments involving severed heads. Overall, this is inferior Argento.

4

The Stendhal Syndrome (Argento, 1996)
The dubbed dialogue is back, and Morricone provides a score that is far more befitting Argento. The production itself moving back to Europe probably helped as well. Argento also experimented with some CGI here, to mixed results. The first instance, following pills down the main characters throat, was entirely pointless and looked awful. We also get some slow motion bullet shots, which work better, but still don't add much. The story itself is actually pretty good. A policewoman (played by Asia Argento) becomes the target of serial rapist/murderer. She also suffers from the titular disorder, which allows for some interesting stylistic flourishes, but I didn't feel it really tied into the plot all that convincingly.

6

[megladon8]

Damn, sorry you weren't more impressed with Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.

It's one of my faves of the horror/comedy genre. I think it's wonderful.

I have yet to see both Trauma and The Stendahl Syndrome. But I have both of them here with me in NYC so Jen and I will try to get to them at some point.


In other news, I bought a copy of Altitude off of Amazon and it should be here either late this week or early next week.

What is that, you ask?

Some annoying teenagers flying a small plane over the Rockies are attacked by giant tentacles hidden by a storm cloud.

Yesssss.

[MadMan]

Well I'm surprised that I ended up liking The Lost Boys as much as I did. Its good 80s fun, and while Near Dark, made the same year, is the better vampire movie its still really entertaining. The Frog Brothers are truly hilarious, and the Coreys have great onscreen chemistry together. You also have Kiefer Sutherland being properly menacing without hardly saying anything, and Jason Patric doing his best Marlon Brando 1950s style impersonation. Plus Jami Gertz is absolutely gorgeous-prior to this, I had only seen her in Twister, and that movie featured her in a thankless, unattractive role. But here she displays a soft vulnerability that is interesting.
Schumacher is a director who (so far) has been a mixed bag for me-I liked Phone Booth, but Bad Company and Batman and Robin are both terrible movies. Regardless, there are other films he's made that I would like to check out anyways. Oh and the guy in charge of cinematography is the same guy who did work on movies like Taxi Driver, so its no wonder the movie is expertly shot-the opening scene is really fantastic. And hey Alex Winter is a vampire is funny, and the soundtrack is pure 80s cheesetastic-I rather liked that "Little Sister" song for some reason, as it really works here.

[Mr. Pink]

Well I'm surprised that I ended up liking The Lost Boys as much as I did. Its good 80s fun, and while Near Dark, made the same year, is the better vampire movie its still really entertaining. The Frog Brothers are truly hilarious, and the Coreys have great onscreen chemistry together. You also have Kiefer Sutherland being properly menacing without hardly saying anything, and Jason Patric doing his best Marlon Brando 1950s style impersonation. Plus Jami Gertz is absolutely gorgeous-prior to this, I had only seen her in Twister, and that movie featured her in a thankless, unattractive role. But here she displays a soft vulnerability that is interesting.
Schumacher is a director who (so far) has been a mixed bag for me-I liked Phone Booth, but Bad Company and Batman and Robin are both terrible movies. Regardless, there are other films he's made that I would like to check out anyways. Oh and the guy in charge of cinematography is the same guy who did work on movies like Taxi Driver, so its no wonder the movie is expertly shot-the opening scene is really fantastic. And hey Alex Winter is a vampire is funny, and the soundtrack is pure 80s cheesetastic-I rather liked that "Little Sister" song for some reason, as it really works here.

I hope you don't feel guilty at all for liking this. It's clearly an awesome movie.

[MadMan]

Part of me thinks it is a guilty pleasure. But in the end I don't regret enjoying it. Most of the movie plays out as a fairy tale of sorts. Boy meets girl, girl is controlled by evil monsters (vampires). Guy becomes half monster, ends up having to team up with his brother and two rouge monster killers (the Frog Brothers) to combat and defeat the evil and save the girl.

Oh and the final scene is hilarious. The grandpa is rather awesome. "One thing about living in Santa Carla I never could stomach, all the damn vampires.
That and the fact that the movie midway through tricks you into thinking that Max can't be the head vampire. When you, the Frog Brothers, and Sam almost seem certain. But then he turns near the end and you realize he really was a vampire all along. His transformation was rather freaky, btw.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Posted extended thoughts for Gojira in my blog. Might as well just repost it here:


Gojira offers up a radioactive threat that decimates cities, tears families apart, and leads scientists and citizens to consider the worst of worst-case-scenarios. At the end, when an old man contemplates the supposed destruction of the fire-breathing leviathan, he worries that more disasters may be on the way, and the resignation in his voice feels far too real. To watch this film is to see artists struggle to encapsulate a tragedy through a monstrous proxy. Gojira plays like national therapy.

Omens dominate the film’s opening scenes, as people find evidence of the emerging threat. Offshore wrecks indicate something formidable, and enormous footprints don’t exactly reassure. Eventually, the dinosaur (an irradiated mutant descendant of, go figure, Godzillasaurus) rolls through Tokyo like a walking warhead, knocking buildings to the ground, leaving an atomic signature in his prehistoric wake. People line the halls of hospitals, some suffering from radiation sickness. A mother promises her children that they’ll see their father again. And then there’s Doctor Serizawa.

Ably played by Akihiko Hirata, Serizawa holds the means to destroying Godzilla (a submersible de-oxygenator), but he deeply fears the weapon falling into the wrong hands. Offered the opportunity to save his country, Serizawa does the noble thing: he destroys all his research. His perspective and actions read like a response to Japan's nuclear destruction, as he absolutely refuses the idea of disclosing his research, fearing the idea of the state weaponizing such a destructive weapon. Indeed, his fury at the government proves so strong that he ventures underwater to personally vaporize Godzilla and cuts off his air. No one will know. No one should know.

The discordance between scenes with these earnest ideas and scenes with the man-in-suit dinosaur prove abrasive. The filmmakers no doubt lacked the budget for more impressive special effects; they were inspired by Harryhausen’s The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, but they fail to duplicate that film’s impressive stop-motion effects. Although, in a way, we should be grateful Gojira is complete at all. The film was purportedly cobbled together by Toho after they jettisoned a completely different project and had a brief window (paging Doctor Corman).

That explains Godzilla’s floppy back-plates, and the cheesy miniatures, and I admit that one of the pleasures of the film is how, as a result, we’re not shown the monster straightaway, but allowed to consider its size and danger via secondhand evidence. That decision allows interest to build, and, while the absence makes Godzilla’s rubber bumbling disappointing, no one (not even I) can argue his now-iconic status. The irony is that later films would ditch this film's fascinating undercurrents and, in doing so, transform Godzilla into one of the most recognizable monsters in movie history.

[Yxklyx]

House (1977, Nobuhiko Obayashi) was loads of trippy fun - it came out on DVD recently.

[Bosco B Thug]

New Nightmare done! To my shock, the meta premise isn't sharp or clever, it's just totally cornball. The scenes with Robert Englund or Wes Craven playing themselves are total howlers. And the soggy maternal drama totally overrides it. I got major The Ring Two vibes from this. That's how stupid the writers of The Ring Two were, they decided to rip off this movie.

But it's probably the most watchable one since the original. Yeah, probably the next best thing in the series. Lots of fun if you check your brain at the door, and the set-pieces and horror scenes are consistently cool throughout. The freeway scene was awesome. Heather Langenkamp has become a woman and shocked me with her first good acting job. Craven is his usual solid craftsman, and he's got a certain Spielbergian flair for sensation and sentimentality.

[Dukefrukem]

New Nightmare done! To my shock, the meta premise isn't sharp or clever, it's just totally cornball. The scenes with Robert Englund or Wes Craven playing themselves are total howlers. And the soggy maternal drama totally overrides it. I got major The Ring Two vibes from this. That's how stupid the writers of The Ring Two were, they decided to rip off this movie.

But it's probably the most watchable one since the original. Yeah, probably the next best thing in the series. Lots of fun if you check your brain at the door, and the set-pieces and horror scenes are consistently cool throughout. The freeway scene was awesome. Heather Langenkamp has become a woman and shocked me with her first good acting job. Craven is his usual solid craftsman, and he's got a certain Spielbergian flair for sensation and sentimentality.

:|

[Bosco B Thug]

:| What? What?? :confused:

It's a much better film than The Ring Two. I found it awesome horror entertainment. But for a self-reflexive film, there's like zero satire or self-commentary. And it's really corny. Why is she reading it to him at the end???

[Dead & Messed Up]

Why is she reading it to him at the end???

Cause that's how you capture horror, bro. You stick it in a story where it becomes manageable.

[Bosco B Thug]

Cause that's how you capture horror, bro. You stick it in a story where it becomes manageable. I can't believe that that is what the meta subtext ends up amounting to. :lol:

[Killed_by_Smalls]

House (1977, Nobuhiko Obayashi) was loads of trippy fun - it came out on DVD recently.

I just got done watching this. It's fantastic in every sense of the word. I love how it gets gradually darker and more bizarre, but it never loses its sense of whimsy. It's always fun when a film leaves me feeling invigorated, and this one has done that. I really want to see more of Obayashi's work now, but Netflix only carries one other DVD.

[MadMan]

The Stepfather(1987) was fairly creepy and rather solid. I liked how it slowly builds up, until Terry O' Quinn goes completely batshit crazy and turns on his family. The "Who am I again?" scene leads to a last act full of tension that is well paced, even though its almost ruined by a nude scene that appears to have been thrown in just because the lead actress was really hot. Did I appreciate it? Sure. But considering how the rest of the movie had gone, it felt really pointless. I've grown to expect such a moment in say, a Jason or Freddy film, but those movies are the type that have nudity scenes. I guess even in an original slasher movie where the killer is obsessed with creating the perfect American family you must show boobs, I guess.
Oh and the final scene has so much obvious context and sub context, its rather awesome in its thematic overload. I hear there are sequels to this movie, but I have little desire to view them-especially since the third one doesn't even have Terry O' Quinn.

Nice Godzilla review, DaMU. It, the original King Kong, Cloverfield, and The Host are prime examples of truly good monster movies. I also love the Beast from 20,000 Fathoms as well.

[Rowland]

Not a big New Nightmare fan here, my last viewing was barely positive. Many people consider it a proto-Scream, only I'd argue that film is far superior. And that irritating child actor, hoooly shit.

[Raiders]

The Stepfather(1987)

Such an underrated film. Love it.

[Yxklyx]

The Stepfather(1987) was fairly creepy and rather solid. I liked how it slowly builds up, until Terry O' Quinn goes completely batshit crazy and turns on his family. The "Who am I again?" scene leads to a last act full of tension that is well paced, even though its almost ruined by a nude scene that appears to have been thrown in just because the lead actress was really hot. Did I appreciate it? Sure. But considering how the rest of the movie had gone, it felt really pointless. I've grown to expect such a moment in say, a Jason or Freddy film, but those movies are the type that have nudity scenes. I guess even in an original slasher movie where the killer is obsessed with creating the perfect American family you must show boobs, I guess.
...

Somebody's got a nudity fixation:) I think you forget that random nudity was much more prevalent back in the 70s and 80s. I wasn't distracted by it at all - reminded me that this wasn't made in the 90s. This was pretty good - you know, it reminded me a lot of an X-Files episode (shot in the same part of the country - looked similar) and I also wondered if Lynch had seen this while thinking about Twin Peaks.

[Bosco B Thug]

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/TV8za5nWxwo/0.jpg

If I never see Wes's haunted eyes in a cameo appearance ever again, it'll be too soon.

[megladon8]

I don't really see the likening of Wes Craven to Steven Spielberg, myself.

[MadMan]

Somebody's got a nudity fixation:) I think you forget that random nudity was much more prevalent back in the 70s and 80s. I wasn't distracted by it at all - reminded me that this wasn't made in the 90s. This was pretty good - you know, it reminded me a lot of an X-Files episode (shot in the same part of the country - looked similar) and I also wondered if Lynch had seen this while thinking about Twin Peaks.Hah, well I like t and a as much as the next straight guy.
I didn't forget that nudity was more shown in the 70s and 80s. I wasn't distracted by it in the movie, its just that the scene felt rather pointless and almost took away from the tension of the last act, where O' Quinn finally gives into the rage.
I love X-Files, but I haven't seen Twin Peaks yet.


Such an underrated film. Love it.I think a second viewing would reveal some things I feel I overlooked. 80s horror doesn't get enough credit. What I've viewed over the past couple of months confirms that.

I like Wes Craven, but comparing him to Spielberg is nuts.

So last night I was awake, as I've been most of the past coupe of weeks due to watching too many horror movies. I finally got around to viewing my copy of In The Mouth of Madness. Needless to say, I found it to be really creepy and near great-in fact, I was surprised at how much I bought into the story. Plus it has Sam Neil as the main character, which is a huge plus. I wrote a review of it today, but the last part of it dived into massive spoilers for some reason, and it got really messy and unfocused. I'll have to try and cut it down, or watch the movie again and write something new.

[Bosco B Thug]

I don't really see the likening of Wes Craven to Steven Spielberg, myself. I didn't mean much by it at all, it just seemed the easiest of comparisons to get at the polish and appealing sentimentality that Craven seems to possess here. There's a nice, well-done little moment where Langenkamp and her son submerge beneath his bed covers that I thought had a visual sweetness that told me Craven was going for whimsicality and succeeding.

[Dead & Messed Up]

I dunno, one could argue that Spielberg and Craven both traipsed in the shadows-of-suburbia motif during the eighties. Poltergeist and the scarier moments of E. T. share some commonality with the Nightmare pictures and The People Under the Stairs. I don't know that there's substantial points of similarity for an essay or book or anything, but I can see and understand the comparison.

[Spun Lepton]

What's going on on this side?

/Cletus

[Spun Lepton]

And now I will lazily cut/paste a few Netflix Instant horror flick reviews I recently submitted to the site.

The Burrowers --
The monsters look like the unholy offspring of humans and grasshoppers, and the CG is terrible. The puppet versions of the monsters don't fare much better, they draw attention to how ridiculous the monster design is. Otherwise, the production values are nice. The acting is decent, editing is solid. Clancy Brown is underused. The story is an interesting premise that takes way too long to get going, making these 96 minutes seem like three hours. 3/10

Return of the Living Dead 2 --
The original Return of the Living Dead is an 80s classic, and it deserves a much better sequel than this pile of sitcom. All the character-based humor of the original is replaced with broad slapstick and overacting. It tries to be scary once at the beginning, but then it seems to give up. It attempts to be a comedy for the rest of the movie, but its not funny. Every single character is a moron, constantly doing stupid stuff to draw the zombies attentions. Why its rated R is beyond me, it could easily be PG-13 by todays standards. Its weak. Just watch the original again. Heck, even the 3rd one is better than this one, and its not very good either. 1/10
(Match-Cut notes: I couldn't even finish it. I'd forgotten how atrocious it was.)

Isolation --
Very nice production values. Nicely edited and shot. Good dialogue, good acting. The plot is stretched thin by too many antagonists, though. There are mutant monsters, an infectious disease, and mad scientists. All these are fine ideas, but too many cooks spoil the stew. The movie loses focus on its characters, we dont really get to know any of them very well and we dont get much of an idea of how isolated they are. As a result, there's little tension or suspense. Horror fanatics should notice multiple references to The Thing. 4/10

This ain't necessarily horror, but what the hell...

Trancers --
Tim Thomerson is a Blade Runn -- err -- ahem! Ahem ahem! Excuse me, I'll start again. Tim Thomerson is a Trooper named Jack Deth, and he lives in The Future. Or a low-budget version of what the future would have looked like if 1986 had vomited on it. Anyway, Jack Deth is sent back in time to occupy the body of Tim Thomerson from the 1980s, and seek out the evil Whistler, who went back in time to change history. It's campy, it's full of plot holes and poor writing. (Whistler actually leaves Deth the device he uses to travel back in time. Bad villain! Stupid, bad, bad villain!) But, it's fun and entertaining if you dont want to think too hard. 5/10

[Raiders]

Isolation --
Very nice production values. Nicely edited and shot. Good dialogue, good acting. The plot is stretched thin by too many antagonists, though. There are mutant monsters, an infectious disease, and mad scientists. All these are fine ideas, but too many cooks spoil the stew. The movie loses focus on its characters, we dont really get to know any of them very well and we dont get much of an idea of how isolated they are. As a result, there's little tension or suspense. Horror fanatics should notice multiple references to The Thing. 4/10

I dunno. The film stresses the isolation pretty well. There is a lone gate entrance that's pretty far from the actual farm and gives no indication of anything else close by. I agree the characters aren't well-rounded at all, but I think the film gives them very realistic, subtle and grounded traits which makes the transition into queasy horror that much more effective.

And for sure this film is very indebted to Carpenter's film. The use of real, tangible effects work is notably terrific.

[D_Davis]

I thought Isolation was more Alien than Thing.

I didn't really care for it either.

[Spun Lepton]

I dunno. The film stresses the isolation pretty well. There is a lone gate entrance that's pretty far from the actual farm and gives no indication of anything else close by. I agree the characters aren't well-rounded at all, but I think the film gives them very realistic, subtle and grounded traits which makes the transition into queasy horror that much more effective.

And for sure this film is very indebted to Carpenter's film. The use of real, tangible effects work is notably terrific.

That's fair. Yeah, I really wanted to like it because the values were so nice and the acting was, for the most part, pretty solid. Had they lost the infectious disease angle I think it would've worked so much better.

[megladon8]

It's great to see you back, Spun, but damn, there's too much fail there.

Both The Burrowers and Isolation are great. The latter in particular. And yeah, like D, I saw much more of Alien in there than The Thing.

[Spun Lepton]

Both The Burrowers and Isolation are great. The latter in particular. And yeah, like D, I saw much more of Alien in there than The Thing.

Dude, The Burrowers themselves are LOL-worthy. There were so many great ideas that just didn't pan out. Also, Clancy Brown should've been the lead.

[megladon8]

Dude, The Burrowers themselves are LOL-worthy. There were so many great ideas that just didn't pan out. Also, Clancy Brown should've been the lead.


I thought the monsters were pretty creepy, myself.

And I really liked the movie surrounding them. Reminded me a bit of Dead Birds in how it took cues from westerns not only in its look, but in its characters, pacing, plotline, etc.

[Scar]

What's going on on this side?

/Cletus

Alright, who forgot to lock the door?

[D_Davis]

Return of the Living Dead 2 --


I've never been able to watch this all in one sitting.

[Spun Lepton]

Alright, who forgot to lock the door?

I can call my maw while I'm up here.

HEY MAW!! GIT OFF D'DAMN ROOF!

[Rowland]

The Burrowers was a mixed bag, but I liked it more than I didn't. J.T. Petty's amazing debut, Soft For Digging, and his surprisingly good DTV sequel Mimic 3 are both far superior however.

[Rowland]

Equinox (Woods et. al. 70) - 3.5Hmm that's too bad. I didn't think of the film when compiling my Horrorfest lineup, but I've always meant to give it a shot, knowing that Chaw gave it a rave.

[Spun Lepton]

I've never been able to watch this all in one sitting.

Visit Netflix and see all of the inexplicable 4- to 5-star ratings.

[Spun Lepton]

vy2nAOdBUlw

This one looks like 10 kinds of awesome.

[Dukefrukem]

nVRDEse5NoY&

[Bosco B Thug]

Hmm that's too bad. I didn't think of the film when compiling my Horrorfest lineup, but I've always meant to give it a shot, knowing that Chaw gave it a rave. I probably should have put The Equinox: A Journey Into the Supernatural in my sig, for it was the original, backyard-movie incarnation I watched first and completely. Afterwards, I skimmed through the professionally polished-up, partially re-shot, majorly re-edited, and fully re-dubbed version, which, let's face it, seemed a lot more competent and comprehensible. I may recommend watching the newer version, in spite of what Walter Chaw says, if anything for the fact it sports the better-looking, crisp and not-faded print.

Anyway, the film isn't "good" in any traditional sense of the word, like at all. And the acting is baaaad, so the full re-dubbing is actually the wisest of decisions. But it's not like I wasn't charmed by it in the way those who tout the film expect you to be. It's an inventive, gonzo, horror-love fueled otherworldly-terror flick that beats Evil Dead by twelve years.

[megladon8]

Altitude was a really neat concept dragged down by some very poor dialogue and serious pacing problems.

Visually it was actually quite good. The storm is very ominous, and the subtle glimpses of tentacles we get only a handful of times in the first 2/3 of the film made it quite creepy.

There's some genuine tension to be had here.

But the hard-to-believe cast (these are supposed to be teenagers?) and some atrocious expository dialogue towards the end keep it from achieving greatness.

I'm glad I saw it and I'll definitely watch it again. Like I said, there were a few moments that were pretty creepy, and that's not something I bat an eye at.

[megladon8]

So Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things was a colossal bore until the final 20 minutes or so when stuff finally starts happening and it's really not half bad.

I love so-called "slow burn" movies. A deliberate pace can create a heck of a lot of tension and atmosphere in a horror, particularly when the budget doesn't permit a whole lot of action anyways.

But this was just...boring for the most part.

I did really like those last 20 minutes. It was surprisingly creepy when the dead started to rise, and that image of "Orville" (the corpse) sitting up on the mattress waiting for Alan was very unsettling.

But the movie felt like 20-30 minutes could have easily been trimmed from its mid-section to create a more taut, tense experience.

Overall I wasn't hugely impressed, but I didn't hate it (which I know many do). It was just kind of...blah.

[MadMan]

Hey Spun. Long time no see, beyotch :P

Equinox is on my Netflix queue. I'm curious, yet not expecting much.

Baghead (2008) was rather disappointing yet the premise and some creepy moments were enough to lift it above the level of failure. They should have just made it a straight horror movie without any comedy elements. And the characters were really paper thin, even for a film made on the cheap like this one.

Tonight I revisited Grindhouse, which was still rather awesome and highly entertaining (I prefer Death Proof over Planet Terror, but you can't go wrong with either) and The Omen (1976) which still amazes me with its special brand of "WTf just happened? Did that really go down? Whoa" movie magic-I think I'm ready to give it the happy "100" score after realizing my 98 was just stupid nit-picking. Yey fun with numbers.

I ended things by viewing The Exorcist, but my friend only had the 2000 version which is basically a director's cut, or whatever the hell they've decided to call it. Regardless, the movie was powerful, disturbing, creepy, and easily lived up to expectations. The most pleasant surprise was seeing Lee J. Cobb as the cop-I didn't know he was in that movie. It deserves a longer review, and I will track down the theatrical 1973 cut to compare the two, but I liked the extended scenes. Hey I'm the guy who loves Apocalypse Now Redux, so go figure.

Halloween should feature The Mist, Rec, Altered, Let's Scare Jessica To Death, Lifeforce and The Walking Dead. If I don't get to all of them there's always the week after Halloween ends.

[Bosco B Thug]

Hmmm I did not like Rabid Dogs. :confused: I feel I watched a different movie from everyone else. What I saw was repetitive and tedious. It's certainly redeemable, Bava's always arching for depth because he's a serious filmmaker, and the material treats its story with seriousness, but it was two hours of driving and emotional torturing. Not fun, way too much wheel spinning.

Thankfully The Girl Who Knew Too Much was the opposite: very entertaining, very endearing, lots of things up its sleeve. Liked it a lot.

[Dukefrukem]

Kevin Smith's

http://www.aintitcool.com/images2009/RedStateTeaser.jpg

[number8]

This will sell by itself, without any help from those useless bloggers and critics!

[Russ]

That's a pretty great teaser poster.

[Dead & Messed Up]

This will sell by itself, without any help from those useless bloggers and critics!

They should pay like everyone else! And stop insulting movies with no ambition!

[MadMan]

That's a pretty great teaser poster.Agreed.

Altered was actually a fairly solid, entertaining and somewhat creepy horror/sci-fi movie. At first the cast annoyed me, but as the movie went on I actually gave a damn about what happened to the redneck characters. Except for Wyett, the main character's, girlfriend-she was annoying, and actually felt a bit pointless.
How this movie tackles the after effects of alien abduction and how a kidnapping situation (in this case, grabbing an alien to get revenge) can so easily go wrong is played out well, despite some cliches. This was directed by one of the creators of The Blair Witch Project, and clearly this guy has some talent-I'm interested in maybe seeing some of his other movies, the sequel to Blair Witch excluded for now.

[Kurosawa Fan]

My wife and I watched Child's Play on a whim last night. It was a lot better than I remembered.

[Rowland]

My wife and I watched Child's Play on a whim last night. It was a lot better than I remembered.

Tom Holland's Child's Play holds up pretty well, more so than his other, more cultish 80's classic Fright Night at any rate. The child actor has a scene where he literally weeps in terror that is startlingly effective.:cool:

[megladon8]

Frozen was really good, but damn it was painful.

I never want to see it again.

[D_Davis]

Visit Netflix and see all of the inexplicable 4- to 5-star ratings.

That's weird.

Part 3 > Part 2

[Killed_by_Smalls]

That's weird.

Part 3 > Part 2

Absolutely. It's not even close. Part 2 is unbearable, while 3 is a lot of fun.

[Kurosawa Fan]

:cool:

Awesome. Totally agree about that scene with the child actor. Made me wonder about the conditions on the set. Hopefully that little kid wasn't scarred by the experience, because that looked less like acting and more like genuine terror.

[Rowland]

Frozen was really good, but damn it was painful.

I never want to see it again.A perfectly legitimate response for sure, what with all the body horror. Glad you liked it though!

[megladon8]

A perfectly legitimate response for sure, what with all the body horror. Glad you liked it though!


Oh, I thought it was fantastic. Great writing, characters, actors, and surprisingly interesting camerawork for such a tightly constricted space during 90% of the film.

It's just not a pleasant viewing experience.

Which is really a testament to how effective it is. I was wincing a lot.

Do you agree with me that they made a very wise decision in cutting most of the gore shots from the scene in which Dan is eaten by wolves?

When you watch the deleted scenes, it was originally very, very graphic.

I found it much more effective (and devastating) having the camera focus on the other two up in the chair.

[Rowland]

Do you agree with me that they made a very wise decision in cutting most of the gore shots from the scene in which Dan is eaten by wolves?

When you watch the deleted scenes, it was originally very, very graphic.

I found it much more effective (and devastating) having the camera focus on the other two up in the chair.I didn't watch the bonus features, but based on what you say here, I'd probably agree. It would have seemed too much like it was trivializing his death by leering at the gore effects, when the pathos of the scene is derived from his friend following Dan's last wish to prevent his girlfriend from looking down, a very personal act that we mostly share with them.

[Spun Lepton]

http://i.imgur.com/CVjkz.gif

[MadMan]

I love The Shining. Its bizarre, completely out there brand of horror is remarkable. Blood pouring out of the elevator, the creepy ghost twins, the long dead bartender, the eerie garden maze, Jack going completely batshit insane (see my sig for the movie's best line), "Redrum!"...the list goes on and on. My rather low 87 score for it is out of date-I'll try and find time to revisit it, but I'm sure I'll proclaim it as some kind of wacked out masterpiece of horror. In fact, much of the strange goings on reminded me of a couple giellos.

Still wondering what the hell it has to do with the Native Americans, though. I recall some review stating that the entire movie was about them getting revenge or something, as the hotel was built on an Indian burial ground. I don't remember.

[Killed_by_Smalls]

So Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things was a colossal bore until the final 20 minutes or so when stuff finally starts happening and it's really not half bad.

The only thing I remember about that movie is horrible striped pants. To be fair I saw it years ago, but if that's the only impression it left then it must have been pretty average.

[Ezee E]

Still wondering what the hell it has to do with the Native Americans, though. I recall some review stating that the entire movie was about them getting revenge or something, as the hotel was built on an Indian burial ground. I don't remember.

Nothing official, just a well-written article about it. There is a line in the movie when they are being shown around the hotel that it was built on an Indian burial ground.

The art direction inside the hotel seems to be inspired by Native American art, and then you look at Wendy/Danny who are wearing nothing but red/white/blue for majority of the movie.

Good stuff. I won't say that it is Kubrick's motive behind the movie, more like an easter egg, just because there's too much to support the idea.

[MadMan]

Nothing official, just a well-written article about it. There is a line in the movie when they are being shown around the hotel that it was built on an Indian burial ground.

The art direction inside the hotel seems to be inspired by Native American art, and then you look at Wendy/Danny who are wearing nothing but red/white/blue for majority of the movie.

Good stuff. I won't say that it is Kubrick's motive behind the movie, more like an easter egg, just because there's too much to support the idea.Huh, I seemed to have missed most of that back when I last saw it years ago. Which is why I'm due for a rewatch. Building on burial grounds is never a good idea....*points to Poltergeist*

[Dead & Messed Up]

Nothing official, just a well-written article about it. There is a line in the movie when they are being shown around the hotel that it was built on an Indian burial ground.

The art direction inside the hotel seems to be inspired by Native American art, and then you look at Wendy/Danny who are wearing nothing but red/white/blue for majority of the movie.

Good stuff. I won't say that it is Kubrick's motive behind the movie, more like an easter egg, just because there's too much to support the idea.

Yeah, there's some little hint of this every few scenes, and I guess it's fun in a Where's Waldo sort of way.

[D_Davis]

Ager's analysis of The Shining is great.

http://www.collativelearning.com/the%20shining%20-%20chap%2012.html

[Killed_by_Smalls]

I finished the Val Lewton collection. None of the nine films receive a bad rating from me.

Cat People - 8
The Seventh Victim - 8
Bedlam - 7
Curse of the Cat People - 7
The Body Snatcher - 7
Leopard Man - 7
I Walked with a Zombie - 6
Isle of the Dead - 6
Ghost Ship - 6

I can't help but feel that I'm underrating I Walked with a Zombie. It has left a much stronger impression than my rating would suggest.

[Philosophe_rouge]

I just finished the collection this fall as well!

The Curse of the Cat People 9.5
Cat People 9
The Seventh Victim 8
The Body Snatcher 8
I Walked with a Zombie 8
Isle of the Dead 8
Bedlam 7
Leopard Man 7
Ghost Ship 6

[Rowland]

The Raven (Friedlander 35) - 5
Murders in the Rue Morgue (Florey 32) - 7.5
The Black Cat (Ulmer 34) - 7.5Awesome. The Raven (which was directed by Lew Landers) is amusing, with moments of poignancy due to Karloff, but it's a bit too self-consciously silly to really work, and it isn't that interesting stylistically. Murders in the Rue Morgue on the other hand is way underrated, there's some really stunning stuff going on in that one. The Black Cat is great too, but unlike most, I agree that they're about equal in quality. Ulmer's film is probably the more interesting of the two, but Florey's is just so carnal and flamboyant, and probably more experimental in its formal technique. The scene when the neighbors listen in on the girl being abducted from the stairwell is one of the most audaciously cut scenes I've seen in a film from that era.

[MadMan]

So last night I came across Tales From The Hood on Encore, and I started watching. 20 minutes later, I was hooked-sure it be an African-American twist on Tales from the Crypt, but I didn't really mind. Most of the stories were goddamn creepy, ranging from a local activist seeking revenge on some racist cops to Corbin Bensen as a former KKK member battling dolls. Plus there was David Alan Grier as an abusive husband who gets what's really coming to him in a scene that's unbelievable yet freaky. It was fairly well made, and the final twist had me grinning yet left me quite uneasy. A solid effort, and it reminded me of this book containing African-American ghost stories and other old tales that I read when I was a kid.

[Bosco B Thug]

Awesome. The Raven (which was directed by Lew Landers) is amusing, with moments of poignancy due to Karloff, but it's a bit too self-consciously silly to really work, and it isn't that interesting stylistically. Murders in the Rue Morgue on the other hand is way underrated, there's some really stunning stuff going on in that one. The Black Cat is great too, but unlike most, I agree that they're about equal in quality. Ulmer's film is probably the more interesting of the two, but Florey's is just so carnal and flamboyant, and probably more experimental in its formal technique. The scene when the neighbors listen in on the girl being abducted from the stairwell is one of the most audaciously cut scenes I've seen in a film from that era. Yup. Particularly the bolded part. The Black Cat maintains allegorical richness throughout while Murders in the Rue Morgue isn't quite as consistent with its acerbic wit keeping a pulpy story afloat, but then 'Murders' had the stronger hand when it came to really bold technique.

On the con side, they're both a bit creaky. Creaky story conventions and really static central innocents. Creaky pacing.

The Raven is, how do you say, ridiculous. But not bad. Bela Lugosi is a pretty solid actor, I was pretty surprised when he gave the more notable performance between him and Karloff in The Black Cat.


So last night I came across Tales From The Hood on Encore, and I started watching. 20 minutes later, I was hooked-sure it be an African-American twist on Tales from the Crypt, but I didn't really mind. Most of the stories were goddamn creepy, ranging from a local activist seeking revenge on some racist cops to Corbin Bensen as a former KKK member battling dolls. Plus there was David Alan Grier as an abusive husband who gets what's really coming to him in a scene that's unbelievable yet freaky. It was fairly well made, and the final twist had me grinning yet left me quite uneasy. A solid effort, and it reminded me of this book containing African-American ghost stories and other old tales that I read when I was a kid. Hey! Excellent! :P It's surprisingly not bad at all, with some pretty freaky imagery.

[Dukefrukem]

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s36/Dukefrukem/Misc/livid.jpg

[Dukefrukem]

So disappointed with Prince of Darkness :(

[Raiders]

So disappointed with Prince of Darkness :(

I'm sorry for your wrongness.

[Dukefrukem]

I'm sorry for your wrongness.

It might be one of Carpenter's worst... I'm sorry but I was bored to tears.

[megladon8]

No way. Prince of Darkness is one of Carpenter's best. Probably second or third.

It would make my list of top 30 horrors easily.

[MadMan]

Even though its not as good as the first entry (The Thing) or the last entry (In The Mouth of Madness) in Carpenter's so-called "Apocalypse Trilogy," Prince of Darkness is a damn good horror movie. Really creepy, really well made, and full of some truly great scenes.

Oh and Lifeforce was shit-tastic. A really good, entertaining, outlandish movie that could have been called "Space Vampires" since it was based off some book titled: "Space Vampires." Col. Kane was a super badass, and I loved how the movie after a slow start gets rather insane. Plus hey Patrick Stewart before he hit it big with Star Trek, and whoever played the female vampire was incredibly hot. Yet, if you hook up with her she'll suck the life outta yah-what a drag. This is only the third (I count Poltergeist as a Hooper movie while acknowledging that Speilberg had a huge hand in things), and I'm curious to watch more of his 70s and 80s movies. Its no Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but hey most things are not.

[Grouchy]

Even though its not as good as the first entry (The Thing) or the last entry (In The Mouth of Madness) in Carpenter's so-called "Apocalypse Trilogy," Prince of Darkness is a damn good horror movie. Really creepy, really well made, and full of some truly great scenes.
This.

Lifeforce is very bad, though. Fun here and there, but ultimately an overlong mess. Being a big fan of the first two Texas Chainsaw Massacre films, I'm also curious to see some other good Hopper-directed stuff. I'll watch Salem's Lot and Funhouse eventually and get back to you.

[Grouchy]

La Mansión de los Muertos Vivientes [Mansion of the Living Dead]
Jesús Franco, 1985

This was a Tuesdays of Horror choice - half the audience walked out. I knew what was in it for me, because I've already seen a Franco film before called Vampyros Lesbos. Franco is basically a talentless guy who made the right kind of film at the right moment. Plenty of erotica, but he can't tell a story to save his ass from burning. Every scene here lasts longer than it needs to, and most of it doesn't even make any sense. Despite its title, there isn't anything even remotely resembling a zombie. Just some hooded skeletons, random shots of landscape and a lot of lesbianism.

[Dead & Messed Up]

I found Prince of Darkness conceptually intriguing but haphazardly executed in a similar way to Cohen's God Told Me To; both try to examine where religious faith and science might converge but settle for the cliches of each. Between the two, I think I might even prefer Cohen's flick, because it's more unapologetically wacky. Carpenter's visions of hellish torment can be awfully dull. Bugs! Zombies! Vats of green evil juice!

Okay, that last one's pretty unique.

[MadMan]

This.

Lifeforce is very bad, though. Fun here and there, but ultimately an overlong mess. Being a big fan of the first two Texas Chainsaw Massacre films, I'm also curious to see some other good Hopper-directed stuff. I'll watch Salem's Lot and Funhouse eventually and get back to you.Well Hooper could have cut Lifeforce down a bit, but I liked how its length enables it to dive into the vampire mythology, and its flashbacks are effective. That said, so far I don't understand exactly what the hell happened in the finale act of the movie. Instead of exploding like the male vampire did when staked, the female one and the American who apparently was a vampire all along just beam up into the space ship and it flies away? What? That was crazy, and didn't make a good deal of sense.

I agre that Salem's Lot and Funhouse are the next logical films to explore from Tobe Hooper. Especially since a couple months back I finally finished the book Salem's Lot, and I'm curious to see how the adaption turned out.

[MadMan]

I found Prince of Darkness conceptually intriguing but haphazardly executed in a similar way to Cohen's God Told Me To; both try to examine where religious faith and science might converge but settle for the cliches of each. Between the two, I think I might even prefer Cohen's flick, because it's more unapologetically wacky. Carpenter's visions of hellish torment can be awfully dull. Bugs! Zombies! Vats of green evil juice!

Okay, that last one's pretty unique.Come on man, the zombies were creepy, and it had Alice Cooper (I think that was him) as the personalfication of the Devil (or some form of him anyways, I think....) How is that not awesome? But I will check out God Told Me To at some point.

Hey DaMU, I caught the tail end of 28 Days Later tonight on AMC. Still reflecting on how its one of the best horror movies of the 2000s. I need to find out what music is playing as Cillian Murphy is running through the house, followed by him killing the military guy as he's become some kind of super badass primitive human ninja.
I'm still amazed how super creepy that entire film is, even though the last act in many ways borrows/steals/cribs from Romero's Day of the Dead. Not that I really mind, actually.

[Grouchy]

Well Hooper could have cut Lifeforce down a bit, but I liked how its length enables it to dive into the vampire mythology, and its flashbacks are effective. That said, so far I don't understand exactly what the hell happened in the finale act of the movie. Instead of exploding like the male vampire did when staked, the female one and the American who apparently was a vampire all along just beam up into the space ship and it flies away? What? That was crazy, and didn't make a good deal of sense.
True. It's a non-ending. Why should the invasion even stop if the woman vampire is still alive?

[Rowland]

Prince of Darkness gets better every time I see it. I'd rank it as mid-upper tier for Carpenter.

[MadMan]

True. It's a non-ending. Why should the invasion even stop if the woman vampire is still alive?I have no goddamn idea. Which is why the movie stops short of being truly great, even though I think its quite good. One could argue that Hooper didn't know how to end the movie, which is odd considering the supposed ending should have been fairly obvious after seeing most of the final act.

[Raiders]

Prince of Darkness gets better every time I see it. I'd rank it as mid-upper tier for Carpenter.

I'd place it behind Assault on Precinct 13 and The Thing and that's it (even with Halloween). Fabulous film for sure.

[Killed_by_Smalls]

Yeah, Prince of Darkness is excellent, though I didn't love it the first time I watched it. It has grown on me immensely. I really need to get around to re-watching Assault on Precinct 13 and In the Mouth of Madness. It's been years since I've seen them.

I watched The Invisible Man and Creature from the Black Lagoon this past week. I had fun with both of them. I think I prefer the former, although I wish it had more of a full character arc instead of introducing Rains mid-mania.

[MacGuffin]

La Mansión de los Muertos Vivientes [Mansion of the Living Dead]
Jesús Franco, 1985

This was a Tuesdays of Horror choice - half the audience walked out. I knew what was in it for me, because I've already seen a Franco film before called Vampyros Lesbos. Franco is basically a talentless guy who made the right kind of film at the right moment. Plenty of erotica, but he can't tell a story to save his ass from burning. Every scene here lasts longer than it needs to, and most of it doesn't even make any sense. Despite its title, there isn't anything even remotely resembling a zombie. Just some hooded skeletons, random shots of landscape and a lot of lesbianism.

I haven't seen the movie, but loyal devotees will probably cite the film's subtle surrealism as its selling point. I find Franco to work sometimes (Venus in Furs, Bloody Moon), but when he gets a bad script (i.e., when he decides to make a movie about something), then things go awry.

[Grouchy]

I haven't seen the movie, but loyal devotees will probably cite the film's subtle surrealism as its selling point. I find Franco to work sometimes (Venus in Furs, Bloody Moon), but when he gets a bad script (i.e., when he decides to make a movie about something), then things go awry.
I know, I've argued with Franco fans IRL over the quality of Vampyros Lesbos. What they call subtle surrealism, I call footage that feels like it was put together by a screaming monkey.

I'm willing to be proven wrong, though, and eventually, I'll watch another Franco film.

[Dukefrukem]

Come on man, the zombies were creepy, and it had Alice Cooper (I think that was him) as the personalfication of the Devil (or some form of him anyways, I think....) How is that not awesome? But I will check out God Told Me To at some point.



It was Alice Cooper wasn't it??!! I knew it. Compared to other 80s horror, the zombies were by far the least creepy and least threatening I think I've ever seen. They vomit water.... scary!!!!

[Russ]

A Serbian Film: coming soon to a multiplex near you (http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/40725/afm-2010-serbian-film-gets-us-distro-and-more) (whether you want it to or not).

I don't know how they're going to manage to edit it down to achieve that R-rating. Heck, even the BBFC demanded over 4 minutes of cuts for distribution in Britain. If Ebert won't even rate The Human Centipede, I can't imagine what he'll think of this.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Hey DaMU, I caught the tail end of 28 Days Later tonight on AMC. Still reflecting on how its one of the best horror movies of the 2000s. I need to find out what music is playing as Cillian Murphy is running through the house...

That would be "In the House, In a Heartbeat" by John Murphy. It's used again at the beginning of 28 Weeks Later and during the warehouse raid in Kick-Ass.

[MadMan]

That would be "In the House, In a Heartbeat" by John Murphy. It's used again at the beginning of 28 Weeks Later and during the warehouse raid in Kick-Ass.Oh, thanks. And I did recognize it when I was watching Kick-Ass. I loved its use in that movie, too.


It was Alice Cooper wasn't it??!! I knew it. Compared to other 80s horror, the zombies were by far the least creepy and least threatening I think I've ever seen. They vomit water.... scary!!!!They randomly appear out of nowhere, and looked rather creepy to me. Carpenter wasn't trying to copy Romero or anyone else when it came to zombies.

[Irish]

Haven't seen it in awhile, but I thought Cooper & his cronies were supposed to be cult members or possessed-by-demons, not full on zombies?

[megladon8]

Haven't seen it in awhile, but I thought Cooper & his cronies were supposed to be cult members or possessed-by-demons, not full on zombies?


Yeah, they're possessed. They're not zombies.

Don't know why people are talking about zombies since there are none in the movie.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Haven't seen it in awhile, but I thought Cooper & his cronies were supposed to be cult members or possessed-by-demons, not full on zombies?

A fair distinction, but the end-result is mostly the same. Board up the exits! Keep the moaning, slow-moving horde at bay!

[Grouchy]

I haven't seen the movie, but loyal devotees will probably cite the film's subtle surrealism as its selling point. I find Franco to work sometimes (Venus in Furs, Bloody Moon), but when he gets a bad script (i.e., when he decides to make a movie about something), then things go awry.
You know, the words "subtle surrealism" stuck in my mind and, last night, we were laughing about the movie with a friend when he remembered something that fits the description. A 10-minute scene (or so it seemed to me) where a girl is eating a fairly hairy pussy and then suddenly she stops, searches her tongue and goes: "Oh dear! a hair!"

[Dukefrukem]

Okay, They Live... fuckin awesome. God where has this movie been my entire life.

[D_Davis]

A Serbian Film: coming soon to a multiplex near you (http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/40725/afm-2010-serbian-film-gets-us-distro-and-more) (whether you want it to or not).

I don't know how they're going to manage to edit it down to achieve that R-rating. Heck, even the BBFC demanded over 4 minutes of cuts for distribution in Britain. If Ebert won't even rate The Human Centipede, I can't imagine what he'll think of this.

Thinking of rent this soon.

[D_Davis]

One of the comments on the pirate bay for the Serbian Film Torrent:

"Kind of difficult to masturbate to."

[D_Davis]

A Serbian Film

Pretty disgusting...but it definitely has something to say. It's a lot like a Miike movie, but with the sick stuff amped up a bit. It's very well made, and the lead actor is fantastic. It's not just shocking for gross-out value - the director is conveying something, and I understand what he's saying. It's probably the most bleak and cynical thing I've seen in terms of its message, and I don't think I'll be watching any porn for a little while. :)

[Russ]

Glad you finally got to see it, Daniel. Agree with all you said. I do really like the amount of food for thought the film provides. You know, the only real ethical issue I have with the film is not the one all the naysayers point out (that unspeakable scene in the middle of the film, with the (not particularly convincing) special effects); rather, the decision to use a real actor to play Milosh's son. I have very mixed thoughts about this. I applaud the director's decision to remove his name from the credits. Obviously, the young actor has no idea what type of movie he was really in, but one day, probably soon, he will learn. I just hope he'll be able to deal with it. The movie is all the more effective for his presence, but I wonder how well his parents sleep at night.

[D_Davis]

I thought of that, too. Kid's a good actor as well. But really parents, WTF? The scenes between Milosh and his son were really well done and kind of touching....well.....almost all of them.

The film really does say a lot about how we're all victims of a number of systems - a layer of systems. It touches upon our unhealthy views of sex, of being brainwashed by media, and of how we can become desensitized to it all.

And as bleak and cynical as its view is, I don't think it hates humanity or thinks that we're all scum. I didn't get the same feeling I did after watching The Proposition, which is far more misanthropic. Milosh is a good guy - he has a heart. He loves his wife and son. He's not an asshole. If he was, the film would not have worked.

[D_Davis]

There were two sequences I couldn't watch - but there are audio cues so you can just turn away and then turn back. You know what's going to happen, so I don't think you really need to see it. I guess the difference with this film is that it shows on screen what another film would leave off. I think these parts could be cut, and would probably constitute about a couple of minutes worth of edits. So long as they hint at what is about to happen, I still think it'll could be effective.

[MadMan]

Okay, They Live... fuckin awesome. God where has this movie been my entire life.About damn time you finally saw it. I've viewed it only twice, and I'm considering finally tracking down the DVD copy of it and buying it. Keith David v. Roddy Piper=cinematic fight gold.

[Rowland]

Okay, They Live... fuckin awesome. God where has this movie been my entire life.I've never been as keen on this one as most Carpenter fans. It reminds of Argento's Phenomena, in that both are probably the loopiest films in their respective canons and thus immanently memorable, but while watching them I get the distinct sense of waning discipline that marks their uneasy transitions as filmmakers into the 90s.

[Irish]

I've never been as keen on this one as most Carpenter fans. It reminds of Argento's Phenomena, in that both are probably the loopiest films in their respective canons and thus immanently memorable, but while watching them I get the distinct sense of waning discipline that marks their uneasy transitions as filmmakers into the 90s.

Oh man I could not agree more. It's fun as hell but there are moments where you have to wonder what Carpenter was thinking.

[Dukefrukem]

About damn time you finally saw it. I've viewed it only twice, and I'm considering finally tracking down the DVD copy of it and buying it. Keith David v. Roddy Piper=cinematic fight gold.


I've never been as keen on this one as most Carpenter fans. It reminds of Argento's Phenomena, in that both are probably the loopiest films in their respective canons and thus immanently memorable, but while watching them I get the distinct sense of waning discipline that marks their uneasy transitions as filmmakers into the 90s.

I've had a strange reaction to Carpenter. I'm up and down it seems on each other movie. I honestly don't know what you guys see in Prince of Darkness. This might be one of those movies that doesn't age very well... maybe if I had watched it years ago it would appeal to me a lot more? (much like Return of the Living Dead 1 & 2 do to me). But They Live... Carpenter is spot on here. I can sadly see this being remade in the near future.

[D_Davis]

Goddamn A Serbian Film. There are two images I CANNOT get out of my mind - the two worst images of all time.

[Russ]

Goddamn A Serbian Film. There are two images I CANNOT get out of my mind - the two worst images of all time.
So, what is the second one?

EDIT: ok, I think I know..

I do think the film successfully shows how the imagination can be a far more effective tool at creating horror than anything that a filmmaker can show on screen -- the two scenes to which you refer are the two most suggestive scenes; there are others that are much more incredibly explicit.

I also agree about how effectively the film creates an emotional investment: the main actor was fantastic, but his performance was almost equaled by Sergej Trifunovic as the insane director-- the leads are two of the most popular actors in Serbia today -- and, dicey career decisions aside, they do help legitimize the film's status and intent as a serious film.

Good comment on the film's themes, especially those on the concept of a "victim ecomony", which can be interpeted many ways: everything from a Communist critique of Western capitalism, to a general desensitized consumer mindset, born of a decade's worth of passive internet thrill-seeking possibilites. Is it any wonder that the (hopefully short-lived) popularity of torture porn movies coincided with the explosion of internet browsing?

[D_Davis]

The two scenes burned in my mind:

The baby, and what Milosh did to his son (and I mostly just listened to these, but I did see some).

The most outrageous thing in the film:

the skull f'ing

I'd say the best comparison one could make to this is Requiem for a Dream, and Ichi the Killer. A Serbian Film is so far beyond "torture porn." If anything, it's making a pretty scathing statement against those kinds of films, and the nudity, sex, and violence in ASF is not used for any kind of titillation or cheap thrills.

[D_Davis]

I think it's a film worth seeing and talking about. It's incredibly well made, and has some serious things to say.

[Russ]

A Serbian Film is so far beyond "torture porn." If anything, it's making a pretty scathing statement against those kinds of films.
Yeah, I pretty much agree with this.

As far as the most outrageous scene, I'd say it's the one at the very end. And it's the most suggestive scene of them all. <cue Wiklah Sky>

[Russ]

The two scenes burned in my mind:

The baby, and what Milosh did to his son (and I mostly just listened to these, but I did see some).
On the second one

You kinda should watch that one again (if you mostly just listened last time) because it is so incredibly well filmed.

Plus, if you actually watch it, you'll pick up on one of the THE MOST DIFFICULT PARTS of the entire scene:

..this is an audio cue -- there is a point where Milosh goes into "porno actor" mode and (I'm going to have difficutly typing this...)
you actually hear a brief sound of flesh tearing and you're just like "Oh my God.."

[D_Davis]

It was interesting how the last act of the movie is played out. We discover what happened while Milosh does as he is watching the recordings and remembering. It's as if we're removed from the really nasty stuff in a weird way.

[Spun Lepton]

I honestly don't know what you guys see in Prince of Darkness.

I see a good, entertaining film with flashes of greatness.

"I have some news and you're not going to like it."

[Bosco B Thug]

Re: They Live

I don't know about it having any artistic, formal rigor, but I recall it being handsomely made and its social commentary having really ambitious scope. Naysayers, would you disagree?

[Dukefrukem]

Goddamn A Serbian Film. There are two images I CANNOT get out of my mind - the two worst images of all time.

Did you see this at theaters?

[D_Davis]

Did you see this at theaters?

No. On my PC.

[Dukefrukem]

No. On my PC.

Would you mind sending me the link to where I may see it? <3

[D_Davis]

Would you mind sending me the link to where I may see it? <3

I just used the most well-known torrent search. You know the one.

[Irish]

I can't find it now, but somebody posted a cool zombie infographic in one of these threads.

Not sure who it was, but wanted to say: Pro & well done.

[Dead & Messed Up]

I can't find it now, but somebody posted a cool zombie infographic in one of these threads.

Not sure who it was, but wanted to say: Pro & well done.

I put up a zombie cladistic, then took it down (wanted to clean it up a little more). I'll put it back up.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v179/deadandmessedup/ZombieCladistic.jpg

If anybody has suggestions/additions/criticisms, pass 'em along.

[Derek]

One of the comments on the pirate bay for the Serbian Film Torrent:

"Kind of difficult to masturbate to."

Well, this just moved down in my Netflix queue...

[Irish]

I put up a zombie cladistic, then took it down (wanted to clean it up a little more). I'll put it back up.
Really nice.

Particularly like the dotted line and the "zombies by proxy."

[D_Davis]

Well, this just moved down in my Netflix queue...

It'll kind of sour your taste for porn and sex for awhile...

[MadMan]

I put up a zombie cladistic, then took it down (wanted to clean it up a little more). I'll put it back up.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v179/deadandmessedup/ZombieCladistic.jpg

If anybody has suggestions/additions/criticisms, pass 'em along.That graphic is full of cool.


Re: They Live

I don't know about it having any artistic, formal rigor, but I recall it being handsomely made and its social commentary having really ambitious scope. Naysayers, would you disagree?This post is full of correctness. I salute Carpenter for joining Romero in lambasting the 80s.

Speaking of zombies (well they aren't exactly zombies, but they are infected with a variation of the rabies virus), Cronenberg's Rabid was gory, violent, and full of his usual brand of disturbing body horror. I actually wonder if the film's final shot was his homage to NOTLD (1968)'s last scene as well, but maybe I'm imaging things. Anyways this movie was creepy, and surprisingly expertly put together despite its low budget and the fact that its obviously dated (but that doesn't really matter anyways).
Oh and the subway scene is excellent-the look on that woman's face is the stuff of nightmares. I've now seen the following from a man who's movies have affected my nerves and deeply disturbed me on multiple levels (with the exception of what is the best out of the ones I've viewed-and even that one had some nasty moments):

*Rabid(1977)-92
*The Brood(1979)-88
*Scanners(1981)-80
*Videodrome(1983)-95
*The Dead Zone(1983)-90
*A History of Violence(2005)-99

The only one of those that isn't very good/damn good/or great is Scanners, which I found to be rather disappointing, although solid.

[Grouchy]

*Rabid(1977)-92
*The Brood(1979)-88
*Scanners(1981)-80
*Videodrome(1983)-95
*The Dead Zone(1983)-90
*A History of Violence(2005)-99
The good news is that some of the best is yet to come for you.

[MadMan]

I have Dead Ringers on my Netflix queue. Plus I'm hoping to get my hands on not only Shivers but also his early underground movies that he made as a film student. And of course there's also Naked Lunch, but I'm wondering if I should read the book first (I know that Cronenberg had to cut out stuff, but still...) before I watch the adaption.

[Dukefrukem]

*Rabid(1977)-92
*The Brood(1979)-88
*Scanners(1981)-80
*Videodrome(1983)-95
*The Dead Zone(1983)-90
*A History of Violence(2005)-99


I have Scanners in my Netflix queue after Rowland's write up. Been on my list to see for so long. I remember the trailers on TV.

[Russ]

Hey Davis, here's a review of ASF that sounds like it could have been written by you:

A Serbian Film review. If you are reading this please understand that it is a warning. You are not going to enjoy this film. If you do enjoy this film then you did not understand it. Never in my life have I seen such unspeakable things recreated in a movie. It’s rare that I have a visceral reaction to something so strong that I am physically ill or queasy. I’ve seen a lot of movies and I have never seen anything quite as disturbing as this. If you are a gore fan you may be thinking to yourself “Awesome, I’m gonna love this movie.” And if somehow you are not rocked to your core by this film then you my friend are a sociopath. So now that you’ve been warned let me tell you about this film.

“A Serbian Film,” is remarkable. It is the story of a retired porn star who is desperate for money for his family. He takes a job that promises him millions but he soon finds out it will cost him more than he bargained for as he is forced to perform terrible acts. To further warn you I will give away one of the tamer scenes in the film. Please keep in mind that what I am about to describe is the tip of the iceberg, that is, it gets soooooo much worse than this!! In one scene a woman has all her teeth pulled out and is forced to perform fellatio on a man with her blood spewing gums until she chokes to death. How can it be any more disturbing than that you wonder?

I mean, that’s one of the most graphically disgusting things I’ve ever heard, but I assure you it is nothing compared to the rest of the film. I hate gratuitous violence in movies, but this film is different. Usually it is just gore for gore’s sake, which I hate. And part of this film is a commentary on that. It is so incredibly extreme because its goal is to make even the most desensitized person feel sick. It is also about fetishism, of violence and of sex. Where does it end? How extreme can humanity get? This film takes you there to show you how disgusting the world really is.

The other reason I really liked this film is because I understood what it was trying to say. If all you come away with from this film is the torture/porn, then you missed the point of the movie. The only other time I felt this way about a movie was when I saw Pier Paolo Pasolini’s “Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom.” This film is the Serbian equivalent of Salo. Salo was made as a response to the horrors of fascism in Italy, but also to show the corruption of youth by older generations. There is no way to see this film and not understand that it is a direct reaction to the war in Kosovo and the genocide that occurred there. There is a great scene in the film when one of the characters talks about victims, and victimization. This is at the heart of current Serbian national identity. A film this brutal was made because of some deeper trauma that a whole nation experienced and is trying to come to terms with. I really think this film is amazing, but I would be very reluctant to sit through it again. I can’t honestly recommend it to most people; you may never recover from it. But I will say that I think the filmmakers are brilliant, they are geniuses and it is a masterpiece. I must also commend the actors in the film as all of the performances were stellar. I can almost guarantee that because of the content it will never be released in theaters in America. But I wish the filmmakers just enough success that they will create another film.

[Dukefrukem]

Anyone see Laid to Rest?

[Killed_by_Smalls]

*Rabid(1977)-92
*The Brood(1979)-88
*Scanners(1981)-80
*Videodrome(1983)-95
*The Dead Zone(1983)-90
*A History of Violence(2005)-99

The only one of those that isn't very good/damn good/or great is Scanners, which I found to be rather disappointing, although solid.

Cronenberg is one of my favorites. Make sure you also check out eXistenZ and, of course, The Fly. I need to re-watch eXistenZ myself, but I loved it the first time I saw it. Scanners, aside from some cool effects work, is tough to sit through. I've only seen it all the way through once.

[D_Davis]

Hey Davis, here's a review of ASF that sounds like it could have been written by you:

A Serbian Film review. If you are reading this please understand that it is a warning. You are not going to enjoy this film. If you do enjoy this film then you did not understand it. Never in my life have I seen such unspeakable things recreated in a movie. It’s rare that I have a visceral reaction to something so strong that I am physically ill or queasy. I’ve seen a lot of movies and I have never seen anything quite as disturbing as this. If you are a gore fan you may be thinking to yourself “Awesome, I’m gonna love this movie.” And if somehow you are not rocked to your core by this film then you my friend are a sociopath. So now that you’ve been warned let me tell you about this film.

“A Serbian Film,” is remarkable. It is the story of a retired porn star who is desperate for money for his family. He takes a job that promises him millions but he soon finds out it will cost him more than he bargained for as he is forced to perform terrible acts. To further warn you I will give away one of the tamer scenes in the film. Please keep in mind that what I am about to describe is the tip of the iceberg, that is, it gets soooooo much worse than this!! In one scene a woman has all her teeth pulled out and is forced to perform fellatio on a man with her blood spewing gums until she chokes to death. How can it be any more disturbing than that you wonder?

I mean, that’s one of the most graphically disgusting things I’ve ever heard, but I assure you it is nothing compared to the rest of the film. I hate gratuitous violence in movies, but this film is different. Usually it is just gore for gore’s sake, which I hate. And part of this film is a commentary on that. It is so incredibly extreme because its goal is to make even the most desensitized person feel sick. It is also about fetishism, of violence and of sex. Where does it end? How extreme can humanity get? This film takes you there to show you how disgusting the world really is.

The other reason I really liked this film is because I understood what it was trying to say. If all you come away with from this film is the torture/porn, then you missed the point of the movie. The only other time I felt this way about a movie was when I saw Pier Paolo Pasolini’s “Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom.” This film is the Serbian equivalent of Salo. Salo was made as a response to the horrors of fascism in Italy, but also to show the corruption of youth by older generations. There is no way to see this film and not understand that it is a direct reaction to the war in Kosovo and the genocide that occurred there. There is a great scene in the film when one of the characters talks about victims, and victimization. This is at the heart of current Serbian national identity. A film this brutal was made because of some deeper trauma that a whole nation experienced and is trying to come to terms with. I really think this film is amazing, but I would be very reluctant to sit through it again. I can’t honestly recommend it to most people; you may never recover from it. But I will say that I think the filmmakers are brilliant, they are geniuses and it is a masterpiece. I must also commend the actors in the film as all of the performances were stellar. I can almost guarantee that because of the content it will never be released in theaters in America. But I wish the filmmakers just enough success that they will create another film.

That's pretty much how I feel. I can honestly say that the film had a profound impact on me. When I first heard about this film, I thought of Salo, and of how that film is often considered an important work of art by some people, and of how it is considered disgusting and beyond pornographic by others. ASF is very much the same - however, I also think it is a better made film than Salo, and it is far more relevant to us today. ASF is to Salo what Battle Royale (book) is to Lord of the Flies. ASF and BR

[D_Davis]

I would be absolutely frightened of anyone who said they enjoyed ASF and thought it was merely an entertaining thriller/horror film.

[Mr. Pink]

Watched Unhinged (1982) recently. Atmospheric slasher/video nasty with an obvious Psycho influence and bad acting that still managed to be quite effective.

[Russ]

I like the cover design..

http://img831.imageshack.us/img831/6888/serbian.jpg

[Dukefrukem]

Anyone see Laid to Rest?

This isn't a very good movie, but the death scenes are realistic to the point where I had to rewind it and watch it again. I did that a few times, I don't normally get curious about horror effects but it looks to be a combination of CGI and practical. Cool stuff.


T6rtXAqfSa0

[MacGuffin]

Is it necessary to watch Cat People before The Seventh Victim?

[Bosco B Thug]

Is it necessary to watch Cat People before The Seventh Victim? Nope. I imagine you (or whoever you got the idea from) are thinking about the character they weirdly share... It really doesn't mean anything, I'd say. You haven't seen either yet? You've only seen I Walked With a Zombie?

[MadMan]

Well Cat People IS better than The Seventh Victim....but other than being part of the Val Lewton collection, and being gothic horror, they have nothing in common.

[MacGuffin]

Nope. I imagine you (or whoever you got the idea from) are thinking about the character they weirdly share... It really doesn't mean anything, I'd say. You haven't seen either yet? You've only seen I Walked With a Zombie?

Yes. I was originally looking to check out Rivette's Duelle (une quarantine), but when I saw that film was influnced by Robson's movie, I decided it was time to see what this Seventh Victim hoopla was all about. The plot, gothic imagery, creepy shadows and Rosenbaum's endorsement as the best horror movie ever made has me greatly intrigued.

Oh, and I read that The Seventh Victim was an unofficial prequel. I know that doesn't mean much, but I was wondering if there were shared themes or if watching Cat People first would directly affect my appreciation or enjoyment of The Seventh Victim.

[Bosco B Thug]

Yes. I was originally looking to check out Rivette's Duelle (une quarantine), but when I saw that film was influnced by Robson's movie, I decided it was time to see what this Seventh Victim hoopla was all about. Hmm, cool. I'm totally unfamiliar with Rivette, this might amp me up to look into him.


Oh, and I read that The Seventh Victim was a unofficial prequel. I know that doesn't mean much, but I was wondering if there were shared themes or if watching Cat People first would directly affect my appreciation or enjoyment of The Seventh Victim. Ah. Yeah, just a character that appears in both films, to little purpose (that I can conceive, anyway). And yeah, don't see any thematic or presentational reasons to link or order them, either, besides perhaps a wish to watch the Lewton films chronologically.

[Derek]

Well Cat People IS better than The Seventh Victim....

Nah, The Seventh Victim is much better. Then again, I like Curse of the Cat People more than Cat People so what do I know? :)

[Rowland]

Then again, I like Curse of the Cat People more than Cat People so what do I know? :)That's a pretty common take on the two movies in my experience. I agree as well.

[MadMan]

Nah, The Seventh Victim is much better. Then again, I like Curse of the Cat People more than Cat People so what do I know? :)Well I'm willing to give The Seventh Victim another chance. Curse of the Cat People is one I have yet to see.

[Derek]

That's a pretty common take on the two movies in my experience. I agree as well.

Not from the people I've come across, but good to know others are right as well. :) I always seem to hear people mentioning Cat People as one of the best of the Lewton films, while I'd put it towards the bottom. Still good, mind you.

[Derek]

Well I'm willing to give The Seventh Victim another chance.

It's quite a subtle film with an unsettling undercurrent of evil, but I think the mundanity of the surface - the fact that these seemingly completely normal people are so entrenched in such darkness - makes it all the more terrifying.


Curse of the Cat People is one I have yet to see.

And this one's not subtle at all, but a wondrous, fantastical journey into the mind of a troubled child. The little girl gives a knock-out performance and Simone Simon is smoking. Really can't go wrong.

[Grouchy]

And of course there's also Naked Lunch, but I'm wondering if I should read the book first (I know that Cronenberg had to cut out stuff, but still...) before I watch the adaption.
It's not so much that he cut out stuff, really. It's that the book is written in such a way that it's impossible to adapt into a film. Most of it doesn't follow any coherent narrative. What Cronenberg this was combine a biopic approach to William Burroughs with the most notable events and characters in the book such as Dr. Benway and the suckers.

[Grouchy]

http://www.atrocitiescinema.com/DVD/images/screenshots/Maniac_shot_2a.jpg

Maniac
William Lustig, 1980

Straight-forward Italian American psycho killer film that, for 1980, must have been quite a shocker. Joe Spinnell is awesome as the title character, showing a display of crazy faces that would make any other actor either embarassed or very proud. This is a strange and uneven movie, not as well-crafted as Lustig's later Maniac Cop, but much more of an underground exploitation flick. You'll either love or hate its B-movie feel, and, guess what, I loved it. Even if the screenplay sort of sucks and soon becomes a series of very staged murders, this deserves its reputation for its astounding gore effects (Tom Savini) and creepy ending.

El Caminante
Paul Naschy, 1979

Naschy is an amazing personality. When you think you have him all figured out he turns out a movie such as this. It's hard to qualify this as Horror even though it deals directly with the Devil. But, until the final scene, this is a picaresque Medieval story about a walker who seems to exist only to fuck with people. Innocent and guilty alike, they're all shafted by this sadistic prankster who escapes unharmed time and again. Most of the fun of the movie consists of seeing Naschy get away with it and elaborate on his nihilistic worldview and philosophy. This movie deals directly with themes such as war, the human condition, famine and social classes. It's no lightweight spooky Spanish film. It's also very quotable. "¿Pero quién eres?" And Naschy: "El diablo, puta".

[Dead & Messed Up]

Nah, The Seventh Victim is much better. Then again, I like Curse of the Cat People more than Cat People so what do I know? :)

I think both are fantastic, but they're doing very different things.

[Kurosawa Fan]

Ha! I've seen Maniac. I bought it when I was a teenager simply for the shotgun to the face effect. I was in awe of that scene when a friend showed it to me.

[Rowland]

Maniac is the bomb. Watched it a few months ago, instantly became one of my favorite video nasties.

[MadMan]

Black Sheep wasn't scary, but it sure had some disturbing moments and was quite gory. No surprise that it was much like Peter Jackson's hilarious Bad Taste, and there was a good deal of humor involved, which offset the nastiness involved. I really liked this one, as it was great fun and also the whole were-sheep plot development was very David Cronenberg in terms of body mutation and body horror. Nice. Not a great movie by any stretch, but possibly a new modern horror favorite of mine.

[soitgoes...]

Black Sheep wasn't scary, but it sure had some disturbing moments and was quite gory. No surprise that it was much like Peter Jackson's hilarious Bad Taste, and there was a good deal of humor involved, which offset the nastiness involved. I really liked this one, as it was great fun and also the whole were-sheep plot development was very David Cronenberg in terms of body mutation and body horror. Nice. Not a great movie by any stretch, but possibly a new modern horror favorite of mine.
I hated this movie.

[soitgoes...]

I hated this movie.
This makes me miss Sycophant. Our hatred for this film grew together, and then we found a new film to hate, Orphan.

Sycophant - :pritch::cry:

[D_Davis]

This makes me miss Sycophant. Our hatred for this film grew together, and then we found a new film to hate, Orphan.

Sycophant - :pritch::cry:

I hated Black Sheep, too. And I hated Orphanage, so we're close!

[MadMan]

Why do people hate Black Sheep? I enjoyed it, cheesiness and crazy shit all involved.

[Rowland]

Seriously disliked Black Sheep as well. Orphan is better, but I didn't care for it in the end either.

[Boner M]

Black Sheep sux, Orphan rulz.

[D_Davis]

Why do people hate Black Sheep? I enjoyed it, cheesiness and crazy shit all involved.

It's head is in the right place, but it has no heart. It's like Evil Aliens - it's got all the gore and nastiness of something like Braindead, Bad Taste, and Evil Dead, but I found both of those films to be entirely mean spirited and lacking. They're like clones with no souls. They look alright from a distances, but up close you realize that they're empty shells.

[MadMan]

I thought the movie had some really funny, fun moments. I don't get the whole "Mean spirited" argument at all. I find it to be a rather weak reason for not liking a movie.

[Rowland]

I don't necessarily mind mean-spirited. Being irritating, tedious, and witless however are far more serious crimes.

[D_Davis]

Actually, from re-reading my review, it sounds as if I liked it a lot more than I remember liking it. For some reason, I remember it being more like Evil Aliens and Undead, two films I actively dislike. I haven't seen Black Sheep since it played in the theater, but based upon this review, I guess I liked it! Weird how I remember really disliking it. I wonder why that is?


Seeing Black Sheep in a packed, sold out crowd of raving gorehound, genre-fans was a perfect viewing experience. Watching it under the right set of circumstances helped to make a pretty cool little genre-pic a ton of fun. Everyone was cheering when something cool happened, cringing during the rampant gore, and laughing whenever one of the crazy-mad sheep stared psychopathically at the camera. The last time I had this much fun in a theatre was the opening night of SLiTHER, a similarly themed and executed cinematic throwback to the video '80s.

Black Sheep's premise is a stroke of stupid, lucky, brilliance, and I wonder why it took so long to be done. God knows there are a ton of sheep in New Zealand. Supposedly, the sheep outnumber the people ten to one. The film examines, in gory detail, what might happen if a genetically altered sub-species of homicidal sheep were introduced into the indigenous population. Sheep-hell on Earth in other words. Mix in a lead character who, as fate would have it, suffers from extreme sheep-phobia, his evil sheep-loving brother, a granola-munching enviro-hippy, an evil lab scientist, a hero ranch-hand, and a ton of bodily cannon-fodder, and there you have it: an hour and a half of gut munching, woolly fun!

Being made in New Zealand, and with effects by WETA, Black Sheep will surely join the ranks of Peter Jackson's Bad Taste and Braindead (Dead Alive), and rightly so. While I did not enjoy as much as these two timeless gore-flicks, it does hit most of the right notes. Where other recent genre-offerings like Undead and Evil Aliens fail miserably, Black Sheep totally excels. First of all, even though it is quite gory, and it does have more than a few disturbing sequences, it never feels mean spirited, or spiteful - two traits that Undead and Evil Aliens swim in. Black Sheep strikes the prefect balance of violence and fun. It is a film that demands to be laughed with, not at, and a film that remains entertaining throughout.

While most of the film is pretty solid, Black Sheep suffers from pedestrian direction and cinematography; it lacks the aesthetic drive to make it a stand out picture. For the most part, the framing and shot selection are rather mundane, and the camera is almost never used to bolster the atmosphere, or create a tangible sense of energy. The one instance it is used to heighten the tension, it's so shaky and poorly edited that it made me a little sick. The characters also feel rather dull, and they never register any real feelings of terror or astonishment. I mean, there are blood-thirsty weresheep for the love of Pete, come on, wake up and freak the heck out! If it wasn't for the absurd premise, and the crazed sheep themselves, say if they had been replaced by regular old zombies, I doubt the film would offer enough to be very memorable at all.

However, Black Sheep more than makes up for these shortcomings when it comes to the sheep themselves, and the incredible situations the characters find themselves in. This is an example where the idea behind the film is better than the technical execution of the film itself. Anytime a sheep is involved in anything, the film is good. Whether it's the little deformed fetus-sheep that hobbles along after its victims, or a sheep busting through a door like Jack Nicholson in The Shining, or the pit of discarded sheep babies the heroes have to crawl through, or a whole heard of crazy, bloodthirsty sheep ripping through a small audience of farmers and scientists, the sheep make the movie. The sheep make the movie. Without the sheep, there wouldn't be much to talk about, at all.

I don't mean to disparage the film too much, because it really is a good time, especially if seen with the right group of people. It is fun, funny, gory, and silly, and the premise is just too gonzo and wacked-out to pass up. If only everything else about the film was able to match the creativity of its premise, it really could have been something amazing. But as it stands, it is still pretty good, and where else will you see a bunch of weresheep eating the intestines of their fallen comrades?

Just proving that you can't always trust memories.

[Winston*]

Liked Black Sheep fine. Evil Aliens is probably one of the worst films I've ever seen.

[MadMan]

*High fives Davis* Awesome review, too. And we also have Winston in our camp. Take that, haters :P

[D_Davis]

Liked Black Sheep fine. Evil Aliens is probably one of the worst films I've ever seen.

Oh god, yes. Evil Aliens is terrible.

[D_Davis]

*High fives Davis* Awesome review, too. And we
also have Winston in our camp. Take that, haters :P

Now I kind of want to see it again to see why my memories of it don't coincide with my review.

[MadMan]

Now I kind of want to see it again to see why my memories of it don't coincide with my review.Maybe outside of a theater you will notice more flaws. I donno.

Up next for me is Dance of the Dead (2008), which is a zombie flick with high school kids. I think it will at least be entertaining, but I'm not expecting great things.

[Grouchy]

Up next for me is Dance of the Dead (2008), which is a zombie flick with high school kids. I think it will at least be entertaining, but I'm not expecting great things.
I saw that one. It's okay. Some good laughs.

[D_Davis]

I saw that one. It's okay. Some good laughs.

Yeah, I thought so too.

[soitgoes...]

Actually, from re-reading my review, it sounds as if I liked it a lot more than I remember liking it. For some reason, I remember it being more like Evil Aliens and Undead, two films I actively dislike. I haven't seen Black Sheep since it played in the theater, but based upon this review, I guess I liked it! Weird how I remember really disliking it. I wonder why that is?



Just proving that you can't always trust memories.:evil:

[D_Davis]

:evil:

Ha! I tricked you for rep.

:P

[MadMan]

:lol:

Looking at my Netflix queue, most of what I have lined up for this month is horror movie related. November strangely seems to be a good time for watching scary movies-maybe its the really freakin' cold weather.

[megladon8]

Evil Aliens is probably one of the worst films I've ever seen.


QFT.

Absolute garbage. Just terrible.

[MacGuffin]

:lol:

Looking at my Netflix queue, most of what I have lined up for this month is horror movie related. November strangely seems to be a good time for watching scary movies-maybe its the really freakin' cold weather.

Maybe because it's the month after Halloween and you've been thinking about things horror-related? :confused:

[MadMan]

Possibly. Although due to creating a new thread I'll be trying to watch more foreign movies.

[MadMan]

Well I must admit I was a bit surprised at how much I enjoyed Dance of the Dead, although hey it was quite funny and featured zombies so that's two things going in its favor. The high school kids although fitting typical sterotypical cliches were actually really good characters, and the high school gym coach was hilarious in his over the top macho behavior. Plus there was a ton of gore, even for a zombie movie-heads get split, blasted open by gunfire, and of course there's even a homage to the classic body getting ripped in half moment from Day of the Dead (1985).
Last night I actually created in my head a list of my favorite zombie movies, and it goes something like this (in no particular order as I'm too lazy to do so):

*NOTLD (1968)
*Dawn of the Dead (1978)
*Shaun of the Dead (2004)
*28 Days Later (2002)
*Re-Animator(1985)
*Dance of the Dead (2008
*Return of the Living Dead (1985)
*Dead/Alive aka Braindead (1992)
*Zombieland (2009)
*Planet Terror (2007)

HM: Rabid (1977), Day of the Dead (1985)

[megladon8]

I couldn't finish Dance of the Dead. I thought it was atrocious...:sad:

[D_Davis]

Well I must admit I was a bit surprised at how much I enjoyed Dance of the Dead, although hey it was quite funny and featured zombies so that's two things going in its favor. The high school kids although fitting typical sterotypical cliches were actually really good characters, and the high school gym coach was hilarious in his over the top macho behavior. Plus there was a ton of gore, even for a zombie movie-heads get split, blasted open by gunfire, and of course there's even a homage to the classic body getting ripped in half moment from Day of the Dead (1985).




Yeah, I thought it was fun too. I've definitely seen worse, and I actually found it pretty funny.

[MadMan]

Honestly I think I also really liked it because I can identify with the main character of the movie. Even though I got really good grades throughout most of high school (save for sophmore year-yikes), I was a slacker who didn't really give a shit. Still am, in fact, which has made college a bit rocky.

[Dukefrukem]

Reminds me of that scene in ID4

JPqVYiGL9Vk

[Spun Lepton]

What were everybody's problems with Evil Aliens? I remember seeing stills that made it look ok ...

[Dillard]

I'm sure this is in here somewhere or on the site somewhere, but could anyone point me to some horror blogs that write intelligently and passionately about a wide variety of horror films (from all eras and countries)?

[Dukefrukem]

I'm sure this is in here somewhere or on the site somewhere, but could anyone point me to some horror blogs that write intelligently and passionately about a wide variety of horror films (from all eras and countries)?

yesssssssssss (http://rue-morgue.com/blog/archives/2010/11/15/cryptic-collectibles-collecting-dino-de-laurentiis%E2%80%99-king-kong/)

http://rue-morgue.com/magazine.php

[MacGuffin]

http://esotika.blogspot.com/

[D_Davis]

What were everybody's problems with Evil Aliens? I remember seeing stills that made it look ok ...

Here is my (long) review if you care to read it.

Evil Aliens is a terrible film - how's that for an opinionated opener? Being the gore-hound that I am, and a sucker for any film that invokes the names of Peter Jackson’s Brain Dead and Bad Taste, and the Evil Dead films on its DVD cover, I rented Evil Aliens with the highest of hopes. Perhaps this would be the film to really deliver the goods; maybe this really would be the Brain Dead for a new generation. However, I was privy to no such luck, but I did witness a film that was probably written by one of those Brain Dead zombie-aliens from Bad Taste, and it may have starred some of them as well.

It is more than just buckets of goo and gore that make Peter Jackson’s and Sam Raimi's early efforts so memorable, a fact that many of these wannabe-films often over look. Jackson and Raimi infused their blood-soaked epics with decent scripts and narratives that featured sympathetic characters that were thrust into imaginative scenarios. A film is only as good as its script, and Jackson and Raimi made sure to have a great foundation to build their gore-filled projects upon. Their films are simply fun, and possess charm and imagination, and even though they are gruesome, they are not mean spirited.

Evil Aliens is not fun - at all - and features some of the worst written, most uninteresting and annoying characters this side of the Ausie-splatter film Undead. Evil Aliens is entirely mean spirited, and lacks the necessary charm needed to execute the kind of B-grade tone the filmmakers were going for. I did not care for a single one of these moronic blokes and blokettes, nor did I even care if they died - I just wanted them to shut up and go plague a different film with their poor attitudes. As if the characters weren't lame enough, the dialog is even worse. The script is mired in tons of "edgy" cussing, and contains some of the lamest jokes you will ever hear. I won't even mention the embarrassingly bad sexual encounters in the film that are far from sexy, far from humorous, and don't even offer up the tantalizing aspects of gratuitous nudity - they just flat out suck (okay, so I did mention them, who cares).

The worst part of all is that the opening title sequence declares in great bold letters, that this is indeed JAKE WEST'S EVIL ALIENS. Who? Jake West? Uhm, okay. Oh, Jake West, that guy who directed Razor Blade Smile, now I get it. Wait...what? Razor Blade Smile? You direct one crappy straight to video movie and suddenly you get to slap your name on a film as if it's a selling point? Had I known (or remembered) whom Evil Aliens was directed by, I probably wouldn't have rented it - but least I forget, (and what is even more heinous) Evil Aliens actually features a segment where some filmmakers are filming scenes for Razor Blade Smile 2. Wow! Jake West, I never knew you were so into post-modern meta-narratives!

Ultimately, what kills this film (as if it's not dead enough) is the total lack of imagination. Sure, it has tons of gore, and some cool, if cheep, effects, but all of the cool parts are just lifted (or is it homage?) from other better films, or more precisely, from Peter Jackson’s and Sam Raimi's films. What Jake West forgot is that films like Brain Dead and Bad Taste, or Raimi's Evil Dead series and Gordon's Re-Animator, are loved because of their imaginative set-ups and their charm, two aspects sorely missing from Evil Aliens. The film is downright lazy and tries to hide behind homage for its lack of creativity, and winds up being a poorly executed film full of mean spirited characters, lame jokes, and poor taste. Yes, there is a fine line between Bad Taste and poor taste, and West's film wallows in poorness.

Now, I don’t mean to come of as some kind of contrarian, because really I am not. I enjoy praising genre films, and being their champion far more than I do panning and blasting them. However, I just can’t let this one slide because of its lofty ambitions and utterly lazy execution. If you hide behind homage to blur the fact that your film lacks imagination and charm, then you better have the necessary cinematic language to create a film that is as fun and exciting as those you are riffing off of. I guess, ultimately, I am pissed off at myself for once again falling for the “The next Brain Dead/Bad Taste!” blurb on the DVD. And the reason I constantly fall for this trap is that I am not a cynic, but I am full of hope, and I honestly wish that EVERY genre film could be as good as the great ones, or at least offer something I find enjoyable and worthwhile.

[Spun Lepton]

Once upon a time I had a glorious horror DVD collection, and I was always happy to lend out my favorites. Eventually all my favorites disappeared and I was left with a pretty sad set of horror movies.

Last night I decided I was finished being a "DVD collector." I whittled my 140 DVDs down to 40, with less focus on horror. I filled my DVD shelves with my meager book collection. I think it looks better that way. :D

[Irish]

I see Netflix is streaming The Descent: Part 2. Yay or nay?