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

[megladon8]

A Nightmare on Elm Street's classic status is well-deserved. Despite a few huge logical missteps, it remains disturbing and original to this day.

I really wish Freddy hadn't become a wise-cracking jokester, with kills aimed more at drawing laughs from the audience than scaring them. I love Dream Warriors as much as the next guy, but I wish that had been a novelty rather than a near-permanent direction for the series.

Maybe this is why New Nightmare is so freaking great. It makes Freddy scary again.

[Dead & Messed Up]

I just happened across an mp3 of Dave Matthews' theme for Joshua, titled The Fly. It's a haunting little tune, makes me want to revisit the movie, which I found rather disturbing both as a surface horror picture, infused as it is with such disconcertingly discordant formal techniques, and for its dramatic implications, teeming with multifaceted subtexts that paint an incredibly sad portrait of a failed nuclear family. "You know, you don't have to love me." In all, a nearly brilliant subversion of the previous year's schlocky Omen remake.

I thought the film stylistically confident, and its characters frequently compelling, but the depths of Joshua's depravity didn't feel properly weighted against his motivations. I didn't want Omen-level implications by any stretch, but the ending of the film disappointed.

I got the feeling the entire movie would've been over had Joshua simply requested to spend more time with his uncle.

Good song.

[Spun Lepton]

Maybe this is why New Nightmare is so freaking great. It makes Freddy scary again.

While I do recognize that it's an improvement over the previous three or four Nightmare movies, I don't understand all the adulation for it. Having Freddy scary again doesn't make up for that fucking annoying kid, nor for the ridiculous scene where Nancy follows the trail of sleeping pills to Nightmare Land.

[Bosco B Thug]

I just happened across an mp3 of Dave Matthews' theme for Joshua, titled The Fly. It's a haunting little tune, makes me want to revisit the movie, which I found rather disturbing both as a surface horror picture, infused as it is with such disconcertingly discordant formal techniques, and for its dramatic implications, teeming with multifaceted subtexts that paint an incredibly sad portrait of a failed nuclear family. "You know, you don't have to love me." In all, a nearly brilliant subversion of the previous year's schlocky Omen remake. Agreed, although Joshua's problems also stood out further in my 2nd viewing. D&MU is right about this:


the depths of Joshua's depravity didn't feel properly weighted against his motivations

and the ending doesn't quite work as much the second time (but nevertheless, frickin' love that song). Lots of little stuff, but the film's certainly near-brilliant.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Oh, I watched C.H.U.D. for the first time yesterday, and it contains one of the most inexplicable moments I've seen in some time: when the wife pulls on her shower drain with a hanger...and blood sprays out...and when we cut back to her a minute later, she's just fine. No questions. No concern.

I didn't much care for the film. It was insufficiently stupid to function as cheese, much of that due to the unnecessary quality of John Heard's acting. And while it attempted to comment on New York living conditions, the creative team lacks the comparative wit of Cohen or the confidence of Sayles. So it's unfortunately saddled somewhere in between, simultaneously proficient and inept.

[megladon8]

While I do recognize that it's an improvement over the previous three or four Nightmare movies, I don't understand all the adulation for it. Having Freddy scary again doesn't make up for that fucking annoying kid, nor for the ridiculous scene where Nancy follows the trail of sleeping pills to Nightmare Land.


Yeah the kid's pretty terrible, but I can look past that.

Here's something similar to your not understanding the love New Nightmare gets...

I really, really don't understand why A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge is so utterly loathed by so many. Especially back when I posted on RT, it wasn't uncommon for horror afficionados to list it as one of the WORST horror movies of all time, and THE worst sequel ever.

Seriously?

Not only would I rate part's 5 and 6 much lower than this one, but I'd even go so far as to say that this one's actually pretty good.

It continued the original's ability to up the ante in disturbing imagery, and aside from the scene where the kid's cleaning his room and dancing to terrible 80s pop music there's really nothing laughably bad about the movie - and afterall, the whole point of that scene is to laugh at him, anyways.

Also, the make-up work on Freddy was better here than it was at any other point in the series. He looked terrifying, especially with how they seem to have widened Roberty Englund's eyes to make him look quite demonic.

I just don't get why this one is hated so much.

[EvilShoe]

I just don't get why this one is hated so much.
Homophobia?

[Grouchy]

Huh, sorry, but no. The second Freddy is one of the most hilariously inept movies I've ever seen. Not only the dancing scene, but every other dialogue being terrible and the weird decision to make the main character a closet homosexual who keeps finding himself in compromising situations... that stuff doesn't really help the Horror.

[megladon8]

At what point is it shown that he's a closet homosexual?

He's in love with a gorgeous red-head.

[Grouchy]

At what point is it shown that he's a closet homosexual?

He's in love with a gorgeous red-head.
It's never stated, but it's obviously the whole point of the film and the real reason he keeps rejecting her. Come on, now. Think about the shower scene.

[megladon8]

It's never stated, but it's obviously the whole point of the film and the real reason he keeps rejecting her. Come on, now. Think about the shower scene.


I really don't see it at all. I think that's grasping at straws. Personally I don't think the film was "deep" enough to have an underlying message about homosexuality.

And I don't see what's so inept about the film. It's not like the dialogue in the original was wonderous, and I don't see it being any worse here.

None of your points have given me any more insight into the hatred towards this movie :P

[megladon8]

The Dream Warriors tonight!

[The Mike]

The Dream Warriors tonight!Still my favorite of the series (but I've only seen three of 'em).

[megladon8]

Still my favorite of the series (but I've only seen three of 'em).


...wait.

Weren't you a member of the Axis?

Like, how the heck can this be?

In all fairness, I hadn't seen any of the Friday the 13th movies until last year.

But seriously, get on that, dude! New Nightmare is the bees knees...the cats pajamas...the shiznit in the hiznit!!

[Spun Lepton]

I really don't see it at all. I think that's grasping at straws. Personally I don't think the film was "deep" enough to have an underlying message about homosexuality.

Jack Sholder readily admits the movie is filled with closet-homosexual imagery.

[D_Davis]

I really don't see it at all. I think that's grasping at straws. Personally I don't think the film was "deep" enough to have an underlying message about homosexuality.



That's actually a very common way of looking at the film:

http://www.joblo.com/arrow/reviews.php?id=445
http://www.fatally-yours.com/horror-reviews/a-nightmare-on-elm-street-2-freddys-revenge/
http://www.freddyinspace.com/2008/08/why-is-nightmare-on-elm-street-2-so-gay.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Nightmare_on_Elm_Street_2


Film commentators often remark on the film's perceived homoerotic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homoerotic) theme. Some people have argued that a subtext exists about Jesse's alleged repressed homosexuality (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality) (never clarified in the movie), and they point out the encounter that he has with his gym teacher in a bisexual (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisexual) S&M leather bar, and his flight to a male friend's house after an aborted attempt of making out at his girlfriend's pool party.[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Nightmare_on_Elm_Street_2#ci te_note-1)[3] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Nightmare_on_Elm_Street_2#ci te_note-2) During the latter scene, Jesse, shirt unbuttoned, states that he's scared that "something is trying to get inside my body"; his shirtless friend replies, "Yeah, and she's female and waiting for you in the cabana, and you want to sleep with me." Director Jack Sholder claims that he never intended for there to be a gay (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay) subtext (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subtext) to the film, but has subsequently admitted that he does see it in the film, according to the "Nightmare Encyclopedia" included on the DVD box set. Mark Patton, the actor who portrays Jesse, is in fact gay.

It also played at the Seattle Gay and Lesbian film fest:

http://seattlelgff.bside.com/2008/films/anightmareonelmstreet2freddysr evenge_seattlelgff2008


Could this be the gayest horror movie ever made…by accident? The filmmakers have denied ever having a gay agenda when creating this first sequel in the long-running Freddy Krueger franchise. But when you watch this campy horror classic from a homo perspective, it’s hard to miss all the subtext—intended or otherwise.

[Dead & Messed Up]

...wait.

Weren't you a member of the Axis?

Like, how the heck can this be?

I've only seen three of the Nightmare series, three of the Jason films, and four of the Halloween films. Of those, I could've happily skipped seven of them.

[megladon8]

Still all of the things in the quoted paragraph you posted, D, have simple non-homosexual explanations. At least as far as Jesse is concerned.

Freddy inhabits Jesse's body and is gaining energy by helping Jesse to kill those who have wronged him (as we see in the film). He goes to the S&M club in search of the teacher, because earlier in the film we are told by another character that said teacher frequents this club. So it's not like Jesse went there of his own accord and just happened to run into him.

Also,it's really grasping at straws there with the "goes to a male friend's house with shirt unbuttoned". This is such a vague allusion to homosexuality, it strikes me as something one wouldn't see unless they were actively looking for it.

Might as well say John McClane is gay, because at the end of Die Hard he's wearing a white muscle shirt and talking with Alan Rickman, both of them holding guns (phallic symbolism!) and McClane's feet are injured, alluding to the idea that he's "walking on hot coals" by exposing his homosexual intentions via the muscle shirt and gun.

I just can't buy it. Sounds to me like stuff that was thought up because the lead actor is gay, and it got peoples' minds working the wrong way while watching the movie.

[D_Davis]

Sometimes, when the consensus says one thing, it's because it is.

It has long been commented on that the film contains some homoerotic undertones.

That's all.

I thought so too the first time I watched it, and I just found out that dude was gay today.

[megladon8]

Sometimes, when the consensus says one thing, it's because it is.


So I'm not allowed to see it another way?

Weren't you one of the people who scolded me for insisting on one interpretation of American Psycho some time back?

[The Mike]

...wait.

Weren't you a member of the Axis?

Like, how the heck can this be?

In all fairness, I hadn't seen any of the Friday the 13th movies until last year.

But seriously, get on that, dude! New Nightmare is the bees knees...the cats pajamas...the shiznit in the hiznit!!

I've seen 1, 3, and New Nightmare. Fan of each, but I've avoided the rest of the series so far. But, the fact one is directed by Renny Harlin means I must see them sooner or later.

[The Mike]

Shit, Jack Sholder directed one too? I will fix my wrongness ASAP.

[D_Davis]

So I'm not allowed to not see it another way?

Weren't you one of the people who scolded me for insisting on one interpretation of American Psycho some time back?

Not me.

Of course you can see it another way, but to argue that its not there when so many other people clearly see it, or to say that you don't see it at all strikes me as being a little obtuse.

[megladon8]

I've seen 1, 3, and New Nightmare. Fan of each, but I've avoided the rest of the series so far. But, the fact one is directed by Renny Harlin means I must see them sooner or later.


Well you've basically seen the best of the series, then, but I still recommend seeing them all...just because :)

Have you seen Freddy vs. Jason? Great movie, that one is.

[The Mike]

Have you seen Freddy vs. Jason? Great movie, that one is.Oh yeah, I forgot to count that one. For some reason, I count it more in the F13 branch than the ANOES branch.

[megladon8]

Not me.

Of course you can see it another way, but to argue that its not there when so many other people clearly see it, or to say that you don't see it at all strikes me as being a little obtuse.


I can see it when it's pointed out, but it's not something that, while watching the movie, I would go "hey! Jesse's gay!"

It's a bit of a stretch is all I'm saying.

[D_Davis]

I can see it when it's pointed out, but it's not something that, while watching the movie, I would go "hey! Jesse's gay!"

I don't think that is what you're supposed to say. What the commentators are saying is that the film has homosexual undertones.


It's a bit of a stretch is all I'm saying.

I think it would be a stretch if there were only a few people commenting on it. However, even when I first saw it I was aware of its homoerotic nature, and I know that this has often been cited as the most prevalent way of examining the film. That is to say, I don't think the homosexual reading of this film is some rogue analysis that only a scant few see.

[Bosco B Thug]

I have a strange disinterest in the 'Elm Street' sequels. I'm trying to remedy it.

Bram Stoker's Dracula - Drag Me To Hell would have been an achievement much the same way Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula is, if Raimi had made it, you know, better. As Raimi wished to throwback to certain old-school schlock, BSD also takes a classical-type story burdened with lots of codings and de-codes them using overt artificial style, Coppola throwbacking majorly to silent film aesthetic and storytelling beats.

The two films even have similar slam-bang openings and shock, tactile title cards (which never fail BTW).

BSD is an uneven film that gets increasingly tiresome once Helsing and the men start actively seeking out Dracula, leading to a very weak climactic act, but there's too many great moments here to completely dismiss, especially in the first half of the film. The number of gleefully bizarre moments only Coppola's capable is unbeatable, such as everything about Keanu's first visit to the castle, Keanu's blissed out deliberations on how to escape Dracula's wives, and the shot of Giant Bat-Dracula (awesome make-up there) moping out of sight when Mira catches him in the garden with Lucy (complete with an iris out).

I usually can appreciate even the most awkward acting jobs (see The Happening) but Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves are really pushing their luck.

There's definitely stuff here to look deeply at. I loved the characterization of Lucy, how she seems to be chipper and optimistic even as all her vitality is slowly being sucked from her. Perhaps it was Coppola's way to undermine our expectations that the vapid sex kitten is always easily susceptible to the draining of inner character. The morphing shadow work is spectacular, and Mira's love of the "evil" Dracula is interesting in light of the film's look at Victorian age mores, even though the ending leaves me with a bad taste of sappiness, over-simplicity, and how flat that previous fight scene was.

[Qrazy]

That's actually a very common way of looking at the film:

http://www.joblo.com/arrow/reviews.php?id=445
http://www.fatally-yours.com/horror-reviews/a-nightmare-on-elm-street-2-freddys-revenge/
http://www.freddyinspace.com/2008/08/why-is-nightmare-on-elm-street-2-so-gay.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Nightmare_on_Elm_Street_2



It also played at the Seattle Gay and Lesbian film fest:

http://seattlelgff.bside.com/2008/films/anightmareonelmstreet2freddysr evenge_seattlelgff2008

Speaking of gay things did you ever see the anime Hikaru No Go? It's about a Go player who has a long dead expert Go player (Sai) spirit in his head. At a certain point in the story the spirit leaves... the boy then exclaims... Sai I want you back inside of me! The spirit and the boy look like this...

http://febriminato.files.wordpress.co m/2009/02/largeanimepaperscans_hikaru-no-go_nekoiechizen079__thisres__1 29505.jpg

... NAMBLA subtext methinks?

[D_Davis]

I always thought Hikaru No Go was gay.

[BuffaloWilder]

I have a strange disinterest in the 'Elm Street' sequels. I'm trying to remedy it.

Bram Stoker's Dracula - Drag Me To Hell would have been an achievement much the same way Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula is, if Raimi had made it, you know, better. As Raimi wished to throwback to certain old-school schlock, BSD also takes a classical-type story burdened with lots of codings and de-codes them using overt artificial style, Coppola throwbacking majorly to silent film aesthetic and storytelling beats.

The two films even have similar slam-bang openings and shock, tactile title cards (which never fail BTW).

BSD is an uneven film that gets increasingly tiresome once Helsing and the men start actively seeking out Dracula, leading to a very weak climactic act, but there's too many great moments here to completely dismiss, especially in the first half of the film. The number of gleefully bizarre moments only Coppola's capable is unbeatable, such as everything about Keanu's first visit to the castle, Keanu's blissed out deliberations on how to escape Dracula's wives, and the shot of Giant Bat-Dracula (awesome make-up there) moping out of sight when Mira catches him in the garden with Lucy (complete with an iris out).

I usually can appreciate even the most awkward acting jobs (see The Happening) but Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves are really pushing their luck.

There's definitely stuff here to look deeply at. I loved the characterization of Lucy, how she seems to be chipper and optimistic even as all her vitality is slowly being sucked from her. Perhaps it was Coppola's way to undermine our expectations that the vapid sex kitten is always easily susceptible to the draining of inner character. The morphing shadow work is spectacular, and Mira's love of the "evil" Dracula is interesting in light of the film's look at Victorian age mores, even though the ending leaves me with a bad taste of sappiness, over-simplicity, and how flat that previous fight scene was.


The ending aside, Coppola's Dracula really is one of the better adaptations of the source material, and is one of my favorite films of the early nineties - if only because of its visual expressiveness, but Tom Waits and Anthony Hopkins in their respective roles doesn't hurt, either. And, this is saying nothing of Gary Oldman, particularly during the first third of the film.

Winona - well, there's nothing I can say about here that hasn't already been said. But, Jonathan was always a very wooden, uptight character. Personally, I think Coppola knew what he was getting, and cast him accordingly - but I may be grasping at straws, here.

[Bosco B Thug]

Winona - well, there's nothing I can say about here that hasn't already been said. But, Jonathan was always a very wooden, uptight character. Personally, I think Coppola knew what he was getting, and cast him accordingly - but I may be grasping at straws, here. I don't know, I might have some evidence for you there. He's totally wooden until Coppola wants him to show some extreme emotion, and then he pulls it off. I loved his reaction when he sees Dracula bring in a baby for his wives to feed on.

[BuffaloWilder]

I don't know, I might have some evidence for you there. He's totally wooden until Coppola wants him to show some extreme emotion, and then he pulls it off. I loved his reaction when he sees Dracula bring in a baby for his wives to feed on.

That is a great moment, I agree.

[lovejuice]

Speaking of gay things did you ever see the anime Hikaru No Go?
hikaru no go > death note,
which is pretty gay too.

but i think manga with the most obvious gay subtext is wild half, about a boy and his were-dog.

[The Mike]

Just started in on ANOES 2. That guy's gay.

Also, I'm craving some Fu Man Chews. Best fake cereal ever.

[The Mike]

Can we all agree that Scanners is possibly the worst "acclaimed", "original" horror film ever made? Good god, this movie is killing my soul.

[Spun Lepton]

Can we all agree that Scanners is possibly the worst "acclaimed", "original" horror film ever made? Good god, this movie is killing my soul.

Michael Ironside makes that movie. The lead guy is a fucking plank of wood, though, and he drags the rest of the movie down with him.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Can we all agree that Scanners is possibly the worst "acclaimed", "original" horror film ever made? Good god, this movie is killing my soul.

It's pretty awful.

[megladon8]

Dream Warriors is great.

What I don't like about it, though, is that it marks the beginning of Freddy being a wise-ass jokester, and all the deaths being ironic, wink-filled extravaganzas.

It would have been better, in my opinion, if this was a one-film departure in tone, and in part 4 it returned to being scary and disturbing. From here on out (until New Nightmare) they're almost dark fantasy films.


EDIT: And Craig Wasson looks like Bill Maher.

[The Mike]

EDIT: And Craig Wasson looks like Bill Maher.
Yeah, I've gotten them mixed up ever since the first time I snuck a peek at my dad's copy of Body Double. Frickin' dopplegangers.

[Rowland]

Bram Stoker's Dracula is the shit. As sheer cinema-drunk gonzo extravaganzas go, it's upper tier.

[MacGuffin]

Bram Stoker's Dracula is the shit. As sheer cinema-drunk gonzo extravaganzas go, it's upper tier.

I gotta see this flick. I'm lacking in F. Coppola movies aside from the "essential" movies.

[Rowland]

I gotta see this flick. I'm lacking in F. Coppola movies aside from the "essential" movies.I love it when he goes crazy with the baroque cinematic flourishes. Even when the material barely skirts above mediocrity, his flamboyant vision, coupled with daunting technical craft, give the pictures a palpable vitality (see also: Rumble Fish).

[MacGuffin]

(see also: Rumble Fish).

This is good? It looks a little trite, but it's on Netflix Instant Streaming, so I'll probably give it a go if I'm convinced.

[Rowland]

This is good? It looks a little trite, but it's on Netflix Instant Streaming, so I'll probably give it a go if I'm convinced.I'm not sure about the critical community at large, but I know the film has a sizable following in these parts.

[Cult]

Bram Stoker's Dracula is the shit. As sheer cinema-drunk gonzo extravaganzas go, it's upper tier.
I was very unimpressed, but it has been quite a few years.

I watched Jacob's Ladder the other night. I thought it was pretty effectively creepy, and had some excellent scenes. The hospital one comes to mind, natch. The ending cheapened things little, but I think it earns it a bit more than some of its more modern contemporaries.

[lovejuice]

I love it when he goes crazy with the baroque cinematic flourishes. Even when the material barely skirts above mediocrity, his flamboyant vision, coupled with daunting technical craft, give the pictures a palpable vitality (see also: Rumble Fish).

and reeves's non-acting fit well with all the craziness around him.

[BuffaloWilder]

"Doctuh, you have to undahstand. I was...IMPOTENT with FEUH."

I love that line. It is my favorite line of the entire film.

See also: Speed.

[soitgoes...]

This is good? It looks a little trite, but it's on Netflix Instant Streaming, so I'll probably give it a go if I'm convinced.
The last great Coppola film.*


*Has only seen 2 Coppola films since Rumble Fish's release, one of which was Jack.**



**Not really pertaining to the whole horror discussion thing. Sorry.

[megladon8]

The Dream Master is still pretty good. Some wonderfully cheesy 80s montages.

[Rowland]

Holy crap, Mario Bava's Baron Blood is worse than I imagined, knowing its reputation as lower-rung Bava in advance. I nearly fell asleep last night trying to watch it, and now that I'm trying to finish what I started, the same thing is happening. What an artless, tedious chore, not even succeeding as base schlock. *checks DVD player* Ugh, half an hour to go...

On a brighter note, I also watched his 5 Dolls For an August Moon last night, its reputation as a for-hire gig that Bava himself despised belying an irresistably campy black comedy.

[MacGuffin]

Holy crap, Mario Bava's Baron Blood is worse than I imagined, knowing its reputation as lower-rung Bava in advance. I nearly fell asleep last night trying to watch it, and now that I'm trying to finish what I started, the same thing is happening. What an artless, tedious chore, not even succeeding as base schlock. *checks DVD player* Ugh, half an hour to go...

On a brighter note, I also watched his 5 Dolls For an August Moon last night, its reputation as a for-hire gig that Bava himself despised belying an irresistably campy black comedy.

Bad to hear. I was looking forward to both of these, and there are still a few left in the box sets I have yet to watch.

[Rowland]

Bad to hear. I was looking forward to both of these, and there are still a few left in the box sets I have yet to watch.Oh, I recommend 5 Dolls For an August Moon, I didn't mean that comment as a slight at all. It's actually quite a hoot, with Bava using the Ten Little Indians template as an excuse to fuck with genre conventions and indulge in glorious excesses of tawdriness justified by the picture's thematic discourse. Mind you, it's no masterpiece, but, at the very least, fans of Bava should get a kick out of it.

[MacGuffin]

Oh, I recommend 5 Dolls For an August Moon, I didn't mean that comment as a slight at all. It's actually quite a hoot, with Bava using the Ten Little Indians template as an excuse to fuck with genre conventions and indulge in glorious excesses of tawdriness justified by the picture's thematic discourse. Mind you, it's no masterpiece, but, at the very least, fans of Bava should get a kick out of it.

I figure I'll see them all eventually since I bought them, of course. But yeah, 5 Dolls For an August Moon soon, I think, because I'm an Edwige Fenech fan, I guess.

[Rowland]

I figure I'll see them all eventually since I bought them, of course. But yeah, 5 Dolls For an August Moon soon, I think, because I'm an Edwige Fenech fan, I guess.She's sexy in this one. Wait until you see how Bava introduces her... :lol:

[Rowland]

Finished Baron Blood. The last half hour picks up a bit, and as a whole, the naturalistic gothic trappings are atmospheric enough, as are the minimal Bava flourishes, but for the most part this remains a plodding, poorly acted, obvious bit of fluff. Highlights include a brutal double murder, the spiritual channeling of a long-dead victim of the Baron's, and best of all, a throwaway visual gag involving a mismatched Coke machine that recalled for me a similarly irreverent moment from Tsui Hark's Double Team. Now if only Bava had explored that strain of satirical commentary this picture continually alludes to but never actualizes. Most embarrassing sequence? A five-minute chase sequence in which a woman is chased by the Baron in what appears to be a cheap set comprised of a few walls, bathed in fog and a few multi-colored lights to distract poorly from the fact that we're watching her essentially run in circles from different angles.

[megladon8]

The Dream Child is just about incomprehensible, especially towards the end.

It's pretty bad, but even it looks masterful when compared to Freddy's Dead.

[megladon8]

Freddy's Dead is, yeah, a steaming pile.

[Dukefrukem]

Freddy's Dead is, yeah, a steaming pile.

Yeh.. isn't his final words in that movie;

"Kids"

I always laughed at that.

[jenniferofthejungle]

The Dream Child is just about incomprehensible, especially towards the end.

It's pretty bad, but even it looks masterful when compared to Freddy's Dead.

I think they're both horrible. I could easily live with just owning the first one. I liked 3 and 4, but I don't really feel I need to own them.



Not truly horror according to most people, but I just saw Memories of Murder again and I cannot get it out of my head. That has got to be one of the most "perfect" movies I have ever seen. My only complaint is that I can't speak the language.

[Bosco B Thug]

The Ruins surprised me. It has a non-flashy quality that begins with the very unpretentious opening title card reading over a very basic, but very striking, helicopter gliding shot above jungle trees, to the way director Carter Smith very astutely chooses to go from his surprisingly stately eye for visuals to shaky handheld verite in order to follow the movements of an increasingly crazed character, left to her own devices in what is surely intentionally the film's most blisteringly bright and sun-scourged scene.

But what most impressed me about this film was how naturalistic it all came off as. The interaction between the characters, and even their growing despair and hysteria, was much more genuinely, emotively realized than in the typical modern genre schlock. It's probably partly the crackerjack premise, and screenwriter Scott Smith expertly distilling the characters he created in his (yes, more existential and evocative and less commercial-filmy) novel, but I can't help but fancy that its also Carter and the four main actors spending long breaks between shooting discussing the characters as if they were actually filming a Ingmar Bergman film. I know it's not any more than obligatory in low-watt genre exercises - the "Oh, we're just normal, fun-loving young'ns with pet foibles" uninspiring banter - but I'm gonna place some tentative bets on director Carter Smith humane inclinations.

Finally, the film happily sold me on the spectacle of killer plants. The centerpiece "attacking vines" scene was very well done. One of the least credible scares for me is the "Dead body is suddenly animated but not because it's alive, but because of the surroundings manipulating it," but this film pulls it off while Drag Me To Hell didn't.

[Rowland]

The Ruins surprised me. It has a non-flashy quality that begins with the very unpretentious opening title card reading over a very basic, but very striking, helicopter gliding shot above jungle trees, to the way director Carter Smith very astutely chooses to go from his surprisingly stately eye for visuals to shaky handheld verite in order to follow the movements of an increasingly crazed character, left to her own devices in what is surely intentionally the film's most blisteringly bright and sun-scourged scene.

But what most impressed me about this film was how naturalistic it all came off as. The interaction between the characters, and even their growing despair and hysteria, was much more genuinely, emotively realized than in the typical modern genre schlock. It's probably partly the crackerjack premise, and screenwriter Scott Smith expertly distilling the characters he created in his (yes, more existential and evocative and less commercial-filmy) novel, but I can't help but fancy that its also Carter and the four main actors spending long breaks between shooting discussing the characters as if they were actually filming a Ingmar Bergman film. I know it's not any more than obligatory in low-watt genre exercises - the "Oh, we're just normal, fun-loving young'ns with pet foibles" uninspiring banter - but I'm gonna place some tentative bets on director Carter Smith humane inclinations.

Finally, the film happily sold me on the spectacle of killer plants. The centerpiece "attacking vines" scene was very well done. One of the least credible scares for me is the "Dead body is suddenly animated but not because it's alive, but because of the surroundings manipulating it," but this film pulls it off while Drag Me To Hell didn't.I gave the movie a 48, wrote this at the time:

"The Ruins is reasonably effective at what it sets out to do, especially by the standards of what often passes for horror in the mainstream as of late, but it doesn't leave much of an impression, nor is there anything noticeably substantial to it beyond the surface engagement. *shrug*"

I admired how straightforward an exercise this was, and the director's craft was competently efficient, but in the end I didn't find it all that convincing or memorable. The group consisting almost entirely of nondescriptly arrogant Americans didn't help much either. Nevertheless, I feel I may have underrated it a bit, so perhaps someday I'll give it another shot.

[Dead & Messed Up]

I gave the movie a 48, wrote this at the time:

"The Ruins is reasonably effective at what it sets out to do, especially by the standards of what often passes for horror in the mainstream as of late, but it doesn't leave much of an impression, nor is there anything noticeably substantial to it beyond the surface engagement. *shrug*"

I admired how straightforward an exercise this was, and the director's craft was competently efficient, but in the end I didn't find it all that convincing or memorable. The group consisting almost entirely of nondescriptly arrogant Americans didn't help much either. Nevertheless, I feel I may have underrated it a bit, so perhaps someday I'll give it another shot.

Smith managed to find a few more grace notes, visually, than I expected to see, which made its descent into simplistic grue (devoid of the existential qualities of the novel) a little more disappointing. Still, I was moderately impressed with the film, which managed to make plants genuinely threatening, arguably a cinematic first.

[jenniferofthejungle]

Nice review, Bosco.

Jim, I think I sought The Ruins out after reading your review of it. I agreed with almost everything you said then, but I have been wanting to see it again to see if it holds up. I know I had one strong objection to it, but I cannot remember what it was.

I was a bit too restless to watch anything new so I just threw [REC] on again and it held up. I love it. I was telling my sister that the ending would never have worked in the American remake (which was not nearly as good) so I was glad that they'd changed it, but now I wonder how it would have gone over.

[jenniferofthejungle]

Can we all agree that Scanners is possibly the worst "acclaimed", "original" horror film ever made? Good god, this movie is killing my soul.

If not for the classic head explosion shot and Scanner-effects it would be completely forgettable.

Spun, I agree about the lead actor. He is awful and dull as hell. Cronenberg did the same thing with the lead actor in Rabid. The guy was simply too wooden and boring to hold the movie up.

[Spun Lepton]

Freddy's Dead is, yeah, a steaming pile.

Yeah. And I wasted money on it in the theater because I *had* to see the lame-o 3D. It amounted to a few floating worms being in 3D. WHOOP-DEE-FRICKEN-DOO!!

Was that the one with the comic book death? That had to be one of the stupidest ones in the entire series.

[megladon8]

Yeah. And I wasted money on it in the theater because I *had* to see the lame-o 3D. It amounted to a few floating worms being in 3D. WHOOP-DEE-FRICKEN-DOO!!

Was that the one with the comic book death? That had to be one of the stupidest ones in the entire series.


No, that was the one before it, The Dream Child.

[Rowland]

Was that the one with the comic book death? That had to be one of the stupidest ones in the entire series.I think it was an NES game. Freddy kills him using the Powerglove. It's actually pretty funny.

[megladon8]

I think it was an NES game. Freddy kills him using the Powerglove. It's actually pretty funny.


There's both.

The comic book death in part 5, and the NES game in part 6.

[Spun Lepton]

I think it was an NES game. Freddy kills him using the Powerglove. It's actually pretty funny.

Ahhh, okay, yes, I remember now. Yeah, the video game death was another that I didn't particularly care for.

[megladon8]

I'll say it again - I don't think it should have become a staple of the series that Freddy be a wise-cracking jackass, and embody the comic relief of the films.

The little two-part story of Dream Warriors and The Dream Master was fun and a great twist on the ideas presented in the first movie, but it should have remained that - a simple departure.

That this became what Freddy was known for really ticks me off. I still think the first movie and (to a slightly lesser extent) New Nightmare are frickin' scary, great horror movies.

Comedy and horror go great together, but if they wanted more comic relief, they should have left it with the human characters, and not had Freddy become a jokester.

[Grouchy]

I liked Ruins too for the same reasons Bosco stated. The friendship among the cannon fodder felt real and it helped me care somewhat more about them.

[Bosco B Thug]

I gave the movie a 48, wrote this at the time:

"The Ruins is reasonably effective at what it sets out to do, especially by the standards of what often passes for horror in the mainstream as of late, but it doesn't leave much of an impression, nor is there anything noticeably substantial to it beyond the surface engagement. *shrug*"

I admired how straightforward an exercise this was, and the director's craft was competently efficient, but in the end I didn't find it all that convincing or memorable. The group consisting almost entirely of nondescriptly arrogant Americans didn't help much either. Nevertheless, I feel I may have underrated it a bit, so perhaps someday I'll give it another shot. Hey, I'm probably overrating it a bit. I'll admit Carter Smith's talent is probably only even with the contributions made by the story and the actors.

I didn't find any of the characters too unlikable, or arrogant. I really liked the character work (then again, I read and liked the book, so I had an idea of what Scott Smith was going for). Spoilers I like how the two normal, well-adjusted ones go unceremoniously, and the two more neurotic and pretentious ones (the realist-survivalist guy and the "I didn't bargain for this" girl, aka "complainy," as I think the Onion A.V. Club review nicely labeled her) get off with the most they personally could ask for in such circumstances.


Smith managed to find a few more grace notes, visually, than I expected to see, which made its descent into simplistic grue (devoid of the existential qualities of the novel) a little more disappointing. Still, I was moderately impressed with the film, which managed to make plants genuinely threatening, arguably a cinematic first. I read your review, and I totally agree the film starts wrapping itself in too rushed a manner at some particular point, as if it can't think of any more reason to spend more time with the surviving characters.


Nice review, Bosco.

I was a bit too restless to watch anything new so I just threw [REC] on again and it held up. I love it. I was telling my sister that the ending would never have worked in the American remake (which was not nearly as good) so I was glad that they'd changed it, but now I wonder how it would have gone over. Thanks!

So has [REC] gotten a US release yet??

[jenniferofthejungle]

Thanks!

So has [REC] gotten a US release yet??


July 14th will be the US release date, according to amazon. I was lucky enough to receive a gift copy from my guy courtesy of amazon.ca.

I hope you watch the original before you see the remake.

[Dead & Messed Up]

July 14th will be the US release date, according to amazon. I was lucky enough to receive a gift copy from my guy courtesy of amazon.ca.

I hope you watch the original before you see the remake.

I totally forgot that this is coming out!

:pritch:

[Spun Lepton]

I'm going to blind-buy My Bloody Valentine 3D on Blu-Ray. Oh, it will be glorious on my new TV!

[Rowland]

Prince of Darkness (John Carpenter, 1987) - 5.5Yeah, this one has never struck me as being all that good. There are certainly moments of inspiration, but lots of unfulfilled potential to go along with them.

[Bosco B Thug]

Yeah, this one has never struck me as being all that good. There are certainly moments of inspiration, but lots of unfulfilled potential to go along with them. Pretty much. It was uninspiring past some excellent visuals (the much-praised "future video" footage and that SPOILER final frame of the heroine behind the mirror :eek: I believe it's a frozen image, and if so, the effect is amazing) and also the very impressive (and very Carpenter) punctuative scene structure and sequencing that gives the film that strong "creeping apocalypse" feel. I liked those extended opening credits, even if Nick Schager didn't.

[Spun Lepton]

Prince of Darkness is one of Carpenter's weaker efforts, but compared to a lot of the horror that was coming out at the time, and even now, it's still pretty good. Seems to me there was a lot of great ideas behind it, a lot of ambitious ideas, but those ideas were never fully explored before the movie fell back on being a body-count flick.

But, man those moments that work, work like gangbusters. The dude with the beetles is still one of my favorite Carpenter moments, ever. There is a lovely sense of dread that slowly builds over the course of the story. Plus, the climax and the ending are both top-notch Carpenter.

"I have a message for you and you're not going to like it. Pray for death."

[megladon8]

BAH! Bah I say!

Prince of Darkness is only slightly lower than The Thing and Halloween on my Carpenter-meter.

[megladon8]

Jeez, I'm kind of saddened by how disappointing my rewatch of Wes Craven's New Nightmare has been.

As I've stated, I used to hold it in very high esteem. I still think that conceptually it's freaking brilliant, but Craven's dialogue is atrocious, and the acting all-round isn't much better.

I also find Craven's writing himself as some sort of prophet/saviour character to be a little odd.

Anyways, I still give it a passing grade because there's enough there that I still enjoy the film quite a bit - great make-up and effects work, a superior concept and similar to Scream it features an interesting analysis of horror films. But there are too many flaws for me to consider it superb horror anymore.

[Spun Lepton]

As I've stated, I used to hold it in very high esteem. I still think that conceptually it's freaking brilliant, but Craven's dialogue is atrocious, and the acting all-round isn't much better.

I also find Craven's writing himself as some sort of prophet/saviour character to be a little odd.

Also, Craven desperately needed to drink a glass of water before his scene. You could hear how dry his mouth was and it drove me up a wall.

[megladon8]

Also, Craven desperately needed to drink a glass of water before his scene. You could hear how dry his mouth was and it drove me up a wall.


:lol:

I have to say I didn't notice that.

I didn't want to say it seemed "arrogant" of him to write himself as that character and try to say that his own nightmares have this incredible insight into the supernatural world, because "arrogant" isn't the word I'm looking for.

It just seemed, I don't know...it was weird.

[dreamdead]

Yeah, the idea of New Nightmare is ripe for analysis. Unfortunately, Craven's dialogue is too pedestrian to truly register the quality of the central fairy tale aspect of the concept. I admit to liking the obviousness of the Hansel and Gretal aspects of it...

Little is worse than being switched out from writing a 750 word write-up on Halloween for a film compilation to being assigned Friday the 13th. To go from genuine artistry to schlock that quickly hurts. Friday's never really a truly bad film, as it lifts the subjective voyeuristic elements of Halloween's camera "eye," and works the twist of the Voorhees killer well enough, but the victims are all rather bland and cardboard. The only other interesting aspect is the idea of having the "final girl" not be a virgin or tomboy, as Carpenter has Laurie be...

[Rowland]

I love the extended opening credits for Prince of Darkness as well. I remember the overflowing anthill being an evocatively foreboding image during that sequence.

Wes Craven's New Nightmare is pretty lame. The core concept is clever, but it's elaborated upon and executed rather unexceptionally. Its self-reflexive qualities are better explored within Scream, which is itself the only worthwhile entry in the Scream trilogy.

[Dead & Messed Up]

This hate for New Nightmare is wrong. Just plain wrong.

Unless we're talking about the overabundance of Miko Hughes. That criticism I get.

[The Mike]

BAH! Bah I say!

Prince of Darkness is only slightly lower than The Thing and Halloween on my Carpenter-meter.

Fuckin' A right! (Though I'd put it about fifth behind those, Assault on Precinct 13, and Escape from New York.)

I think the final shot might be my favorite final shot in any horror flick, ever.

Also, I think that there's a correlation between how open the ending of a Carpenter film is and how awesome a Carpenter film is.

[The Mike]

Oh, and I'm watching Herzog's version of Nosferatu right now. It's poetic and awesome, but I'll still take Murnau's 80 minutes any day.

(And I'll take Fisher's Horror of Dracula over both any day, too.)

[jenniferofthejungle]

This hate for New Nightmare is wrong. Just plain wrong.

Unless we're talking about the overabundance of Miko Hughes. That criticism I get.

I hate that kid so much.

I'll try to get to New Nightmare again, but except for my first viewing I never found it to be exceptional at all. I can't say why because it really has been years since I've seen it.

[jenniferofthejungle]

Oh, and I'm watching Herzog's version of Nosferatu right now. It's poetic and awesome, but I'll still take Murnau's 80 minutes any day.

(And I'll take Fisher's Horror of Dracula over both any day, too.)


I place Herzog's over Murnau's, which is just my personal preference and not a slight against the original in any way.

I don't think I've seen Horror of Dracula yet. My parents and I would watch those old Lee/Cushing horror movies when I was a kid, but I don't really remember them so I don't count those viewings at all.

[jenniferofthejungle]

I'm going to blind-buy My Bloody Valentine 3D on Blu-Ray. Oh, it will be glorious on my new TV!


Who are you and how did you gain access to Spun's account?



Prince of Darkness is one of Carpenter's weaker efforts, but compared to a lot of the horror that was coming out at the time, and even now, it's still pretty good. Seems to me there was a lot of great ideas behind it, a lot of ambitious ideas, but those ideas were never fully explored before the movie fell back on being a body-count flick.

But, man those moments that work, work like gangbusters. The dude with the beetles is still one of my favorite Carpenter moments, ever. There is a lovely sense of dread that slowly builds over the course of the story. Plus, the climax and the ending are both top-notch Carpenter.

"I have a message for you and you're not going to like it. Pray for death."


I had a love/hate relationship with this one, but for the past few years I have been on the "dig it" side of things.

I love some of the undertones in the film. Carpenter does manage to make it feel very moody and creepy at times, and I always relish that feeling, but I have always hated the Asian girl's translation scene. That was such a stupid explanation for it all. I suppose they had to explain the technological aspect of the liquid thingy (damned if I remember what it was called) and needed an excuse for all of these physics students (yay, no teenagers!) to gather together and try to solve this particular riddle, but an extraterrestrial? Really?

I can complain about any film endlessly (what a stupid, boring, wooden lump of a mustache they used as the lead!!!) but I'll leave it at that.

I enjoy it. I like it. One of my favorites for sentimental reasons.

[Dukefrukem]

Who are you and how did you gain access to Spun's account?


Sorry. That was me.

[Dukefrukem]

Also, I just joined Columbia house to get 8 DVDs for $20 and I just blind bought;

Pineapple Express (Unrated) 1 selection $0.49
Shutter Unrated 1 selection $0.49
The Strangers (Unrated) 1 selection $0.49
Quarantine 1 selection $0.49
The Eye 1 selection $0.49
Vacancy 1 selection $9.95
Black Christmas (Unrated) 1 selection $9.95

It also included The Ruins Unrated Edition for $0.49 but i've seen it.

[MacGuffin]

Also, I just joined Columbia house to get 8 DVDs for $20 and I just blind bought;

Pineapple Express (Unrated) 1 selection $0.49
Shutter Unrated 1 selection $0.49
The Strangers (Unrated) 1 selection $0.49
Quarantine 1 selection $0.49
The Eye 1 selection $0.49
Vacancy 1 selection $9.95
Black Christmas (Unrated) 1 selection $9.95

It also included The Ruins Unrated Edition for $0.49 but i've seen it.

Did they actually send them to you?

(And yes, everyone I changed my rating system again. I don't care.)

[Dukefrukem]

Did they actually send them to you?

(And yes, everyone I changed my rating system again. I don't care.)

Yeh. Why wouldn't they?

[MacGuffin]

Yeh. Why wouldn't they?

I don't know. I was always under the impression those were a scam.

[Dukefrukem]

I don't know. I was always under the impression those were a scam.

I've joined and canceled them at least three or four times. It's so worth it now. I get 8 DVDs for $20 and I have to buy two more within two years at $19.99 each.

And if i sign anyone up I get a free DVD.

Anyone want to join? It's not a bad deal nowadays since their DVDs aren't $30 anymore. They also have Blu-ray and Criteron DVDs.

[jenniferofthejungle]

Also, I just joined Columbia house to get 8 DVDs for $20 and I just blind bought;

Pineapple Express (Unrated) 1 selection $0.49
Shutter Unrated 1 selection $0.49
The Strangers (Unrated) 1 selection $0.49
Quarantine 1 selection $0.49
The Eye 1 selection $0.49
Vacancy 1 selection $9.95
Black Christmas (Unrated) 1 selection $9.95

It also included The Ruins Unrated Edition for $0.49 but i've seen it.

I sometimes miss Columbia House. I'd take you up on that offer, but my postal carrier or local post office "lost" two huge orders I placed a while back and I am on their shitlist. :lol:

Is that the new Black Xmas? OY. One of the worst movies I've ever seen in my life, and I have see a lot of bad movies.

[Dukefrukem]

Is that the new Black Xmas? OY. One of the worst movies I've ever seen in my life, and I have see a lot of bad movies.

Yes it is. I already own the original. Figured I'd try it out. I give too much credit to remakes. My blind buying gets out of control.

[Spun Lepton]

I watched the 3D Blu-Ray for My Bloody Valentine. The 3D works, but it's certainly not perfect. The color palate is all screwed up in the 3D version. Thankfully, the disc comes with a 2D version.

As for the flick itself, not great, but watchable. Though, I swear if I see another coed trip and fall while she's being pursued by the killer, I'm going to throw a remote control at the TV. Not my new TV, though. Somebody else's. :D

I was really glad to see Tom Atkins getting work.

I thought they could've handled the ending much better.

Okay, so, climactic confrontation, the tank explodes -- BOOM.

FIRST cut to later as the Axel and Sarah are carted from the cave by the paramedics. Balh blah blah, we're so happy it's all over, they drive off. THEN cut to the rescuer finding Tom, who wakes up and pick-axes the rescuer in the face. Credits.

Watching him pick-axe the guy in the face and then walk out in disguise just seemed like overkill. (*rimshot*)

EDITED:
Also, what's with all the cannon fodder in this movie? Many of the kills are just random people with no scenes outside their own death scenes. "Who are you in the movie?" "I'm the chick who gets a shovel through her face." "Do you have any lines?" "You mean, aside from aauuugghhh?"

6/10

[Dukefrukem]

Staring Megan Fox! Her first big role in a film. Although she's probably more eye candy than anything... we'll see how she does.

Premise (wiki):
The film follows Jennifer (Megan Fox), a mean-girl cheerleader possessed by a demon who begins feeding off the boys in a Minnesota farming town. It is then up to her "plain Jane" best friend Needy (Amanda Seyfried) to kill Jennifer, escape from a correctional facility and go after lead singer Nikolai (Adam Brody) and his Satan-worshiping rock band responsible for the transformation.

http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/6142/jennifersbodyteaserpost.jpg

[Ezee E]

True Blood, only the tongue is going the other way.

It's also written by Diablo Cody.

[Spun Lepton]

I am wary of Jennifer's Body. If it ends up being a horror movie with Juno-like dialogue, I'm going to kick a baby stroller. (An empty one, you MONSTERS! Gawd!) Plus it has Megan Fox Megan Fox Megan Fox Megan Fox Have You Knowed About Megan Fox Megan Fox Megan Fox Top 10 Celebs with Boobies Megan Fox Megan Fox Megan Fox etc.

[megladon8]

Freddy vs. Jason is great fun.

Ronny Yu should be given all "vs" movies.

[Bosco B Thug]

Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II -8 I want to see this.


The Orphanage (2007, J.A. Bayona) * For sho, I'll never understand the acclaim.

And hey, Ghosts of Mars wasn't too bad. I thought the material ranged from not bad to fantastic. Yep, I mean it - the characters, the screenplay, plot developments, dialogue, etc. I found it actually very dense and intelligent in its comic-book sociology. I was really struck by how comprehensively Carpenter both adopted old Hollywood Western story elements with implicit commentary but simultaneously never disfavored the survivalist pragmatism of its characters, nor made them any less than likable. Carpenter then takes this pragmatism and presents it as something more than "brave vs. cowardly" or "good vs. bad" as it's presented in the classical Western. Now it's also concerned with the push of societal shifts, modern urban upbringing, and the nitty-gritty of what gets a pure survivalist through the day (which includes here, most interestingly, the good and bad of recreational drug use). It was great seeing faces like Jason Statham and Clea Duvall playing characters not glamorized or de-glamorized, instead ones that would usually be played by anonymous background actors. I was really struck by the Ice Cube-Henstridge interplay, too.

But, despite that, in the end, this is definitely not an improvement on Assault on Precinct 13, which also offers an open look at criminality and which this film is practically a remake. Carpenter's directing has always been characterized by its flat beats and mechanical-ness, but before it was in service of really careful sequencing and some lovely shots. Here, his cinematic vocabulary seems to have disappeared and he's speaking like a thorough layman. He has his moments, though - I really liked the use of dissolves.

[Pop Trash]

I want to see this.


It's quite marvelous. My review:

Radical! There have been growing whispers of Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II’s status as some kind of 80s camp-trash-horror magnum opus but it exceeds beyond one’s wildest imagination. This film, er, movie, made –quite obviously- in 1987 (more on that later) was long unavailable on DVD until those good guys at MGM re-released it in 2008.

Plotwise, the movie concerns Mary Lou (Lisa Schrage): a dirty dirty tramp circa 1957 who taunts the local priest and cheats on her nice guy boyfriend Billy (later to become the high school’s principal and played by great character actor Michael Ironside) on prom night. The poor beau just wants to drop a lit stink bomb on Mary Lou’s prom queen ceremony but, oh nos!, he accidentally catches her on fire, and she burns until her face resembles those burgers you will be grilling up this 4th of July weekend. Cut to thirty years later and we are now in the thrashin’ world of 1987. Good Christian girl Vicki (Wendy Lyon) gets possessed by the evil spirit of Mary Lou and lots of ghoulish mayhem and dead bodies pile up around the school until the final culmination during…wait for it…PROM NIGHT!

Honestly, the plot isn’t important here because, to quote the good shepherd Roger Ebert, “it’s not what a film is about, it’s how it’s about it,” to which, regarding this “film” you can only say “and how!” You get the feeling, at the time it was made, we are suppose to acknowledge the kitschy 50s clothes, but, watching it now in 2009, the 80s fashion seems even more ridiculously dated. Most of the cast walks around in day-glo pastels, big and bigger teased up hair, and ten pounds of make-up. There is some nice fever-dream surrealism when Vicki begins to get possessed by Mary Lou, which includes some psycho-sexual Freudian scenes involving Vicki making out with her own father and a vaguely risqué rocking horse that comes alive. Oh yeah, there is a chalkboard that turns into a nightmarish pool and a death by gym locker. Also mega-enjoyable is the character Josh (Brock Simpson), a nerdy, new-wave, Ducky from Pretty in Pink-esque guy who resembles a young John Krasinski from the American “The Office” TV series. Too bad the dude gets his brain fried by his beloved Apple II computer! Include all this with the surprising and surprisingly frank nude scene by the supposed good girl (usually in movies of this ilk it’s the actresses who play the “bad” girls who get their kit off) and you have the makings of all sorts of awesome.

The movie seems to resemble some kind of B-movie level mishmash of Brian DePalma, the A Nightmare on Elm Street series, and David Lynch. There are even some self-conscious Exorcist references thrown in for good measure. Here’s hoping the original maestro of camp-trash, John Waters, has seen this thing. He would love it.

[Dukefrukem]

Just blind bought the pack today. watching The Broken now.

The Broken is definitely one of the best 8 Films to Die For in all three collections. It has it's own style, while staying consistent, it has moderately good acting from it's leads, it's spooky while also staying awkwardly eerie and it doesn't over saturate the film with blood and gore. And most importantly, I'd watch it again!

Anyone else catch it?

It's about a woman who follows another woman who looks exactly like her. The events afterwards and clouded by a car accident that she gets into immediately afterwards. The rest of the movie is piecing together what really happened.

http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/7051/thebroken.jpg

[MacGuffin]

Lisa and the Devil (Bava, 1973) 71

I know I'm falling behind because I still haven't watched either of the previous Bava movies you mentioned, but how is this? I've heard it's one of his better outings provided you see the right cut (which is Lisa and the Devil, not House of Exorcism).

[Dukefrukem]

from Jennifer's Body

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/5420/jbody063009.jpg

[jenniferofthejungle]

I watched the 3D Blu-Ray for My Bloody Valentine. The 3D works, but it's certainly not perfect. The color palate is all screwed up in the 3D version. Thankfully, the disc comes with a 2D version.

As for the flick itself, not great, but watchable. Though, I swear if I see another coed trip and fall while she's being pursued by the killer, I'm going to throw a remote control at the TV. Not my new TV, though. Somebody else's. :D

I was really glad to see Tom Atkins getting work.

I thought they could've handled the ending much better.



EDITED:
Also, what's with all the cannon fodder in this movie? Many of the kills are just random people with no scenes outside their own death scenes. "Who are you in the movie?" "I'm the chick who gets a shovel through her face." "Do you have any lines?" "You mean, aside from aauuugghhh?"

6/10

I hate it when they do that. I don't generally feel much for the characters anyway, but it's always annoyed me to see random new people thrown in to up the body count.

Did you ever see or like the original, Spun? I don't remember if you were one of the people who hated it. The extended version was a present this spring and I really liked it.

[Pop Trash]

Halloween 4 is quite bad. I realize that many people think that any slasher sequels/remakes are crap, but some are much better than others (see the awesomeness of Hello Mary Lou for example) The movie goes through all the same motions of the original just without Jami Lee Curtis, the rad PJ Soles, and the craftsmanship of John Carpenter. Here, Donald Pleasence stumbles around like he's five minutes away from a heart attack. Also, I felt like I was watching a TV cut of the movie. Everytime there is a kill or nudity, there is a cut away to something else. Who made this? Mormons?

I seem to remember liking this one when I was a kid, but I think that had to do with identification with the little girl character. Now as an adult, it really did nothing for me. I'll give it a point or two for having a memorable ending at least.

I was avoiding the Rob Zombie one for a long time but I might bite the bullet and watch it. I know the general consensus is that it sucks but anyone here like it? It has to at least be sufficiently sleazy and not as deadly dull as #4 right?

[Grouchy]

I was avoiding the Rob Zombie one for a long time but I might bite the bullet and watch it. I know the general consensus is that it sucks but anyone here like it? It has to at least be sufficiently sleazy and not as deadly dull as #4 right?
Huh, man, the consensus is anything but that, I think. I'm not the biggest fan of the remake, but it has an awesome first half and you'll find plenty of Horror fans dead on defending it.

[Pop Trash]

Huh, man, the consensus is anything but that, I think. I'm not the biggest fan of the remake, but it has an awesome first half and you'll find plenty of Horror fans dead on defending it.

I might give it a shot. I'm not a big Rob Zombie fan (I don't like his unending desire to populate his movies with the cast of Hee-Haw and his wife) but as long as it's on par with say, this year's Friday the 13th remake, I'll be entertained.

[Rowland]

I might give it a shot. I'm not a big Rob Zombie fan (I don't like his unending desire to populate his movies with the cast of Hee-Haw and his wife) but as long as it's on par with say, this year's Friday the 13th remake, I'll be entertained.I have significant problems with the remake, but it's certainly more distinctive than the glossy likes of most horror remakes. Zombie imbues it all with a very personal touch, for better or worse. At the very least, he has a gift for crafting visceral violence, and his sporadic flirtation with impressionism lends the picture a degree of poignancy.

[Ezee E]

I don't like either movie, but the Halloween remake at least attempts to do something besides have a huge body count.

[Dead & Messed Up]

I was avoiding the Rob Zombie one for a long time but I might bite the bullet and watch it. I know the general consensus is that it sucks but anyone here like it? It has to at least be sufficiently sleazy and not as deadly dull as #4 right?

It's Rob Zombie, so you don't have to worry about a shortage of sleaze. I haven't seen the fourth Halloween picture, but I do think that Zombie's film, while not successful, is one of those auteurist failures that's imbued with a distinct, personal style and attitude. So it may be worth your time in a more academic sort of way.

[Pop Trash]

It's Rob Zombie, so you don't have to worry about a shortage of sleaze. I haven't seen the fourth Halloween picture, but I do think that Zombie's film, while not successful, is one of those auteurist failures that's imbued with a distinct, personal style and attitude. So it may be worth your time in a more academic sort of way.

Yeah, this is how I think I will feel about it. I know everyone complained about him changing Myers' backstory to make him some abused white trash kid instead of just "pure evil."

[jenniferofthejungle]

I'm really shocked by the Hello Marylou: Prom Night 2 love. I have had it on DVD for years (via a Canadian company) and any time I revisit that movie I am shocked at how bad it is. It steals from a lot of earlier (and better) films and is so poorly acted and written it seems like one of those typical "so bad it's good" movies some people like just because it is so damned terrible. I have my share of guilty favorites, but I tend to like bad movies in spite of their faults and not because of their faults.

Edited to add: To each his own.

[The Mike]

Halloween ('78, duh) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Halloween 4 >>> Halloween II > Halloween H20 > Halloween (remake) > Halloween 6 (The Curse of Michael Myers) > Halloween Resurrection >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Halloween 5

I left out Halloween III, of course (but it's as good a movie as Zombie's remake).

[Bosco B Thug]

I might give it a shot. I'm not a big Rob Zombie fan (I don't like his unending desire to populate his movies with the cast of Hee-Haw and his wife) but as long as it's on par with say, this year's Friday the 13th remake, I'll be entertained. I must know what you found worthwhile about Friday the 13th.


Also, I felt like I was watching a TV cut of the movie. Everytime there is a kill or nudity, there is a cut away to something else. Who made this? Mormons? Seriously. Cutting away before the money shot is the worst habit ever in slasher flicks, yet a ridiculous number of them do this.

[Spun Lepton]

Seriously. Cutting away before the money shot is the worst habit ever in slasher flicks, yet a ridiculous number of them do this.

This became a regular thing when the MPAA started getting tight-assed about on-screen gore in the mid-80s. That lasted through most of the 90s, too.

[Dukefrukem]

Halloween ('78, duh) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Halloween 4 >>> Halloween II > Halloween H20 > Halloween (remake) > Halloween 6 (The Curse of Michael Myers) > Halloween Resurrection >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Halloween 5

I left out Halloween III, of course (but it's as good a movie as Zombie's remake).

Whoa... really? H20 is the third best Halloween?

[D_Davis]

I wish the franchise would have followed JC's original concept of having it revolve around a Halloween evening each year, and not Meyers. It could have been a great long-running anthology series. Halloween III: Season of the Witch is awesome.

[The Mike]

Whoa... really? H20 is the third best Halloween?

It's not exactly a full cupboard.

[Pop Trash]

I must know what you found worthwhile about Friday the 13th.

Don't get me wrong, I didn't think it was a good movie per se, but I guess I had very low expectations and it basically matched those expectations, unlike Halloween 4 for example.

I did like the Psycho/Death Proof style fake-out at the beginning when characters are introduced and we think these will be the characters we will be watching the whole time but Jason takes them out swiftly and we are then switched over to a whole new bunch of douchey teenagers.

They didn't skimp too much on the gore and nudity (including a rather hilarious and long sex scene while other folks are getting slaughtered outside)

On a technical level it's surprisingly well shot which I don't think is necesarrily a good thing since for movies of this ilk, I tend to prefer a certain rough, grainy, grindhousey quality (like the original TCM for example).

So, yeah, I can't defend it too much, but I do think it's better than many of the F13 sequels (especially the horrible Jason Takes Manhattan and the unwatchable Jason X) and better than the TCM remake, mostly because I don't think any of the F13 movies are so untouchably great, unlike the original TCM which is still a legitimate classic in my book.



Seriously. Cutting away before the money shot is the worst habit ever in slasher flicks, yet a ridiculous number of them do this.
Yup.

[Bosco B Thug]

This became a regular thing when the MPAA started getting tight-assed about on-screen gore in the mid-80s. That lasted through most of the 90s, too. Yeah, I was just about to say it's a noticeable trend with later 80s horror films... like Part 6 through, ugh, 8 of the Friday the 13th series.


So, yeah, I can't defend it too much, but I do think it's better than many of the F13 sequels Naw. But okay, different strokes.

[Grouchy]

The Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll is the rare pleasure of seeing Paul Naschy doing a straight giallo film. In Spain, of course. In true Naschy fashion, his character (a drifter who finds employment at a house inhabited by three scary sisters) is the absolute center of the movie, although by the end we find the rather predictable revelation that he has been a red herring all along. Also in true Naschy fashion, this combines good filmmaking with the downright strange and bizarro, although he didn't personally direct this one. By far the best part about this is the very ending, which has a downright macabre image on close-up. Not easily forgotten although nothing in the rest of the film matches its intensity. Some great Spanish actors (Luis Ciges from P. Tinto and Bardem's mother Pilar) portray the local villagers constantly discussing the murder at the bar. They're a huge contrast to the sometimes stilted acting from the leads. Murders are cool, although the movie is a lot more of a whodunit than a gorefest.

This is apparently based on a real-life case.

[Grouchy]

Another Paul Naschy movie - Exorcism. Pretty much the Spanish rip-off of The Exorcist, although Naschy is too cool to bother with Vatican permits to perform the curation. Man likes to grab a demon by the horns and wrestle it downstairs. Although, technically, this movie is better made than most Naschy flicks, it's also a lot less interesting and out there. In fact, there is quite an undercurrent of moraline and family unity in the script that bothered me. Of course, we must also understand that during Franco's regime, a message like that was probably the most secure way to get a violent movie like this one made. Excellent make-up effects during the last third, somewhat hindered by bad lighting.

[D_Davis]

Jason X is far from unwatchable.

As a matter of fact, Jason X is one of the most watchable entries in the franchise. It's hilarious, and totally entertaining.

My favorite "F13" movie is still Jason Vs. Freddy; Ronny Yu's direction and artistic aesthetic elevate that film to a great level. Yu successfully transferred his Hong Kong filmmaking energy into this film, in the same way he did on Bride of Chucky. FVJ's final 20 minutes are absolutely glorious; the brawl between the two main characters is, without a doubt, one of my favorite moments in any move.

My top 3:

1. FVJ
2. Jason Goes to Hell3.
3. Jason X

[Pop Trash]

Jason X is far from unwatchable.

As a matter of fact, Jason X is one of the most watchable entries in the franchise. It's hilarious, and totally entertaining.


I really tired to watch this in some ironically comedic way, but I found it just painful and had to turn it off halfway through. Jason Goes to Hell is pretty terrible as well but I do like F vs. J, so we are on the same page with that one. I don't really know if that counts as a F13 movie though. Here's my rankings:

1. Friday the 13th Pt. 4 (with Corey Feldman and Crispin Glover! Awesome!)
2. Friday the 13th (original 1980)
3. Tie here for Friday the 13th 2&3
4. Friday the 13th (2009 remake)
5. Jason Takes Manhattan
6. Jason Goes to Hell
7. Jason X

I've seen parts 5,6, and 7 too but it's been too long for me to remember their quality. If I was counting Freddy vs. Jason, it would be pretty high, probably below Pt.4 for me.

[Pop Trash]

Well, Halloween 2 is definately a cut above (harhar) Halloween 4. I was surprised by the nice formal quality this has. It's not directed by Carpenter (Rick Rosenthal helmed this one), but if I didn't see the credits, I'd just assume he did. Since he produced it, I wouldn't really be surprised if he co-directed it ala Spielberg with Poltergeist. There are lots of nice gliding stedi-cam long takes. I noticed one where the camera follows an ambulance crew up to the house to take Laurie in the gurney and then back down to the ambulance with Laurie in tow. Another long take was when we follow a couple of teenage girls from their car for a bit then the camera splits off and we follow another teenage guy who runs smack into Michael Myers then the camera splits off that guy and follows Myers from behind. Pretty cool, reminded me of a mini-Halloween version of Linklater's Slacker. Also, the music is tip-top as usual and the hospital setting offers lots of atmosphere. Not as good as the original, but definately the best Halloween sequel I've seen thus far.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Jason movies I've seen:

1. Freddy vs. Jason
2. Jason X
3. Friday the 13th
4. Friday the 13th: Jason Takes Manhattan

The first one is the only one worth much of anything, and none of them have compelled me to seek out any more. I saw 1 due to Freddy, 2 out of morbid curiosity, 3 out of cultural obligation, and 4 out of boredom.

I've since learned my lesson, and I won't watch any more of 'em.

[Spun Lepton]

Jason movies I've seen:

1. Freddy vs. Jason
2. Jason X
3. Friday the 13th
4. Friday the 13th: Jason Takes Manhattan

The first one is the only one worth much of anything, and none of them have compelled me to seek out any more. I saw 1 due to Freddy, 2 out of morbid curiosity, 3 out of cultural obligation, and 4 out of boredom.

I've since learned my lesson, and I won't watch any more of 'em.

Part 4 was my favorite growing up, mostly because it was the most brutal of the entire series. Crispin Glover's death was particularly nasty. "Where's that new-fangled corkscrew?!"

But, this isn't necessarily an endorsement.

[Spun Lepton]

Another Paul Naschy movie - Exorcism. Pretty much the Spanish rip-off of The Exorcist, although Naschy is too cool to bother with Vatican permits to perform the curation.

I tried watching one of Naschy's werewolf movies and it put me to sleep.

[Spun Lepton]

Jason X is far from unwatchable.

Ehhhh ... dunno. I thought it was entertaining and bad, up until the character yelled, "It's okay, he just wanted his machete back!!" I stopped enjoying it. Easily the worst line in the entire series, including all the stinkers in Part 8.

[Grouchy]

I tried watching one of Naschy's werewolf movies and it put me to sleep.
This I cannot abide. Naschy's movies might have poor camera and light work, even worse performances, the most twist and turns any plot might endure, and random occurances, BUT they're far from boring. The Hunchback of the Morgue even has a cameo from a Cthulhu monster, for fucking crying out loud.

Anyway, I've only seen one of the werewolf movies, The Walpurgis Night. Most unintentional laughs I've ever had from a movie. Great indoors night with friends, too.

[Grouchy]

the best Halloween sequel I've seen thus far.
I'd put some money on the line for it being the best there will ever be.

[Dukefrukem]

Staring Megan Fox! Her first big role in a film. Although she's probably more eye candy than anything... we'll see how she does.

Premise (wiki):

http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/6142/jennifersbodyteaserpost.jpg

Finally a trailer (http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/topnews.php?id=10988). And a red band one at that.

She is smokin'....

[Dukefrukem]

I really tired to watch this in some ironically comedic way, but I found it just painful and had to turn it off halfway through. Jason Goes to Hell is pretty terrible as well but I do like F vs. J, so we are on the same page with that one. I don't really know if that counts as a F13 movie though. Here's my rankings:


I'm agreeing with you here. I can't have fun with Jason X at all. In my eyes it's trying to be serious, and fails on the same level as Cabin Fever.

[Dukefrukem]

muwhahahahahah I want to see this.


http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/2492/sorority070109.jpg

[Dead & Messed Up]

muwhahahahahah I want to see this.


http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/2492/sorority070109.jpg


Don't encourage them.

[Dukefrukem]

Don't encourage them.

C'mon look at this one sheet!

[Dead & Messed Up]

C'mon look at this one sheet!

Yeah, it's a dog-pile of bad actresses. Don't encourage them.

[Dukefrukem]

Yeah, it's a dog-pile of bad actresses. Don't encourage them.

:lol:

can't help it.

[Grouchy]

muwhahahahahah I want to see this.


http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/2492/sorority070109.jpg

That's hilarious. It's like they just threw them all from a window and that's how they fell.

[Dukefrukem]

I love the character's names too.

Cassidy
Jessica
Ellie
Claire
Chugs

[Pop Trash]

C'mon look at this one sheet!
And that tagline! Sisters for life.....

AND DEATH!!! MUAHAHAHAHA!!!

[The Mike]

I was solidly intrigued by the Sorority Row trailer. Made me guffaw much.

Plus, Carrie Fisher. :lol:

[Dukefrukem]

Instead of making another thread... check out these disturbing images (http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/film/4175/gallery) from a movie called...Human Centipede

[Spun Lepton]

Instead of making another thread... check out these disturbing images (http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/film/4175/gallery) from a movie called...Human Centipede

Damn it! Blocked by the work filter. Have to look at them later.

[Dukefrukem]

Fucking awesome. (http://twitchfilm.net/site/view/trailer-for-cg-animated-horror-blood-trail/)

and not safe for work. But i watched it at work anyway. winnah!

[Dead & Messed Up]

I rewatched The Wolf Man two nights back, and it's still awesome, easily one of the best of Universal's output. Writer Curt Siodmak seems a little self-impressed with his werewolf poem ("Even a man who is pure of heart..."), which gets repeated three times, and a few moments seem to be oddly out of focus. Whether or not this is a problem with the DVD transfer, I cannot say.

But Lon Chaney Jr. is so damn likeable with that puppy-dog face, and Claude Rains is fantastic as his kind-but-skeptical father. Their paralleled attacks, framed by tree branches, is a detail I missed on my initial view, and those sets, clearly interiors, still look lovely with the low-laying fog.

Question: why did Bela (Bela Lugosi) turn completely, while Talbot only made it halfway? Seems Bela should also be a "hybrid."

But that's a small matter.

[MacGuffin]

I rewatched The Wolf Man two nights back, and it's still awesome, easily one of the best of Universal's output. Writer Curt Siodmak seems a little self-impressed with his werewolf poem ("Even a man who is pure of heart..."), which gets repeated three times, and a few moments seem to be oddly out of focus. Whether or not this is a problem with the DVD transfer, I cannot say.

But Lon Chaney Jr. is so damn likeable with that puppy-dog face, and Claude Rains is fantastic as his kind-but-skeptical father. Their paralleled attacks, framed by tree branches, is a detail I missed on my initial view, and those sets, clearly interiors, still look lovely with the low-laying fog.

Question: why did Bela (Bela Lugosi) turn completely, while Talbot only made it halfway? Seems Bela should also be a "hybrid."

But that's a small matter.

I should see this. I should also see some Lewton/Tourneur movies.

[Dead & Messed Up]

I should see this. I should also see some Lewton/Tourneur movies.

Indeed. Damn near all of Lewton's RKO features are worth your time, and, at an average of seventy minutes long, they go down like shots. Lovely, eerie, atmospheric shots.

[MacGuffin]

Indeed. Damn near all of Lewton's RKO features are worth your time, and, at an average of seventy minutes long, they go down like shots. Lovely, eerie, atmospheric shots.

Sounds right up my alley. So which first? I Walked With a Zombie?

[Dead & Messed Up]

Sounds right up my alley. So which first? I Walked With a Zombie?

Sure, that's a great one. Almost any of 'em would be a good start, except for maybe Ghost Ship, which I found sub-par for the team.

[jenniferofthejungle]

Instead of making another thread... check out these disturbing images (http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/film/4175/gallery) from a movie called...Human Centipede

Bah.

[Dukefrukem]

Bah.

No likeie?

[jenniferofthejungle]

No likeie?


Nooooo. I generally don't like people with heads up their asses. :lol:

[jenniferofthejungle]

But Lon Chaney Jr. is so damn likeable with that puppy-dog face, and Claude Rains is fantastic as his kind-but-skeptical father. Their paralleled attacks, framed by tree branches, is a detail I missed on my initial view, and those sets, clearly interiors, still look lovely with the low-laying fog.



Ah, The Mike's favorite werewolf movie of all time.

Rains is my favorite part of this movie, which I should watch again because it's been more than a year since I've seen it. This one was part of a set I received as a birthday present from Braden about 2 years ago.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51GNHPFQNJL._SS500_.jpg


I was finally able to get through the Bride of Frankenstein, which I hadn't liked at all before. The humor seemed out of place at the time and i just grew impatient with it, but the second viewing was a pleasure and I liked it quite a bit, though I really prefer the original.

Have you seen The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Jim? I was shocked at how creepy it was. I usually solely admire these classic horrors for their look and story, without actually being scared by them, but I found Creature to be kind of creepy at times.

[Dead & Messed Up]

I was finally able to get through the Bride of Frankenstein, which I hadn't liked at all before. The humor seemed out of place at the time and i just grew impatient with it, but the second viewing was a pleasure and I liked it quite a bit, though I really prefer the original.

I prefer the original too. It's my favorite Universal.


Have you seen The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Jim? I was shocked at how creepy it was. I usually solely admire these classic horrors for their look and story, without actually being scared by them, but I found Creature to be kind of creepy at times.

My sole experience is buying a ticket for a 3D screening of an old film print (awesome) but then they melted the second reel by accident and canceled the remainder of the screening (not awesome).

I just added it to my queue.

[Spun Lepton]

My sole experience is buying a ticket for a 3D screening of an old film print (awesome) but then they melted the second reel by accident and canceled the remainder of the screening (not awesome).

Way bogus, dude.

/channelling Bill and Ted

[Pop Trash]

Mixed feelings about Rob Zombie's Halloween. I appreciate him at least trying to do something different here, even if it doesn't quite work. He has a "sympathy for the devil" approach to Myers, dragging out his back story as an abused kid with a trashy family and basically being bullied and verbally abused by everyone around him, thus turning him into your classic serial killer (with the usual segues from animal killings to humans) I suppose this is a more humanistic approach to Myers, but it cuts the tension and mystery around him. What we don't understand, nor could ever understand, will always be much more scary to the human mind.

Otherwise, at least he doesn't skimp at all on the gore and nudity. I complained about the chaste quality of Halloween 4 and, boy howdy!, this does an about face in the other direction. So can't complain there, even if the violence gets so grisly and disturbing that it can't really be campy "fun" the way some 80s horror often works for me.

Zombie definately has some visual talent as a filmmaker. Some shots, like the swirling treetops during the bully's murder and Dr. Loomis standing in front of a blown-up b&w photo of a young Myers, are quite memorable. You can tell he thinks about what he's doing, even if one doesn't particularly like what he's doing. I much prefer this to a generic cookie cutter Hollywood style. Also: some choice casting. Malcom McDowell, Udu Keir, Brad Dourif, Danny Trejo, Clint Howard, the self-reflexive choice of having the little girl from 4&5 now playing the grown up teenage sexpot. Good stuff.

[Grouchy]

Fucking awesome. (http://twitchfilm.net/site/view/trailer-for-cg-animated-horror-blood-trail/)

and not safe for work. But i watched it at work anyway. winnah!
Wow, impressive. When does it come out? No earlier than 2010 if it's the one I think it is on IMDb.

[Dukefrukem]

Wow, impressive. When does it come out? No earlier than 2010 if it's the one I think it is on IMDb.

No idea. Today was the first I heard of it.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Fucking awesome. (http://twitchfilm.net/site/view/trailer-for-cg-animated-horror-blood-trail/)

and not safe for work. But i watched it at work anyway. winnah!

Huh. I'd like to see more than this, which feels kind of like a demo reel.

Good-lookin' demo reel, no doubt.

[Dead & Messed Up]

I finished a three-night-long viewing of The Evil Dead.

I saw it for the first time a decade ago, and I'm still amazed by it, mostly because of the relentless energy and confidence of Raimi and crew, who tear into this thing and whip through it like a fucking tornado. The first hour is above-average, stylish grue, but the final half hour takes it into classic territory. It could be the most dynamic horror sequence ever filmed, chock-full of nastiness, suspense, and a fantastic sense of style. Those camera moves and angles are just perfect.

Perfect, I tells ya!

I was trying to decide what slasher I should watch, since I'm currently rewriting one of my own, and I realized that I only have four of 'em. Scream, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween, and Wes Craven's New Nightmare.

I figure I should buy the original Nightmare and Black Christmas. Maybe possibly Leslie Vernon. Then I'd be satisfied.

[Spun Lepton]

Huh. I'd like to see more than this, which feels kind of like a demo reel.

Good-lookin' demo reel, no doubt.

Says on the site that it's just a three minute "trailer" for a movie that hasn't been made. Holy crap that thing was graphic. I was a little shocked.

[Dukefrukem]

I finished a three-night-long viewing of The Evil Dead.

I saw it for the first time a decade ago, and I'm still amazed by it, mostly because of the relentless energy and confidence of Raimi and crew, who tear into this thing and whip through it like a fucking tornado. The first hour is above-average, stylish grue, but the final half hour takes it into classic territory. It could be the most dynamic horror sequence ever filmed, chock-full of nastiness, suspense, and a fantastic sense of style. Those camera moves and angles are just perfect.

Perfect, I tells ya!

I was trying to decide what slasher I should watch, since I'm currently rewriting one of my own, and I realized that I only have four of 'em. Scream, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween, and Wes Craven's New Nightmare.

I figure I should buy the original Nightmare and Black Christmas. Maybe possibly Leslie Vernon. Then I'd be satisfied.

Evil Dead was the first movie I ever watched that scared me while watching it in the daylight. I was also 12, but the experience was great. The monster in the cellar sealed it.

[Dukefrukem]

Cabin Fever 2' Gets MPAA Rating (http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/16686)

[Spun Lepton]

Cabin Fever 2' Gets MPAA Rating (http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/16686)

I can't believe a site called Bloody Disgusting is blocked by my work filter. :P Can you copy the article over?

[The Mike]

Confused....if it's going straight to DVD, why the hell does it need rated?

[Grouchy]

Huh, Martyrs was a remarkable movie. It's seriously mean-spirited and gruesome like few films manage to be, but intelligent and it more or less justifies its excesses by finding a really unexpected and exciting motive behind them. In comparing this to stuff like Hostel or the Saw saga I think you could build an excellent case for this proving to be a lot better directed, since it probably features less explicit violence but portrayed in a lot more effective ways. Both actresses were pretty good and I thought the kitchen scene was one of the best shootings in recent cinema. I look forward to this director's next works.

[Dukefrukem]

Huh, Martyrs was a remarkable movie. It's seriously mean-spirited and gruesome like few films manage to be, but intelligent and it more or less justifies its excesses by finding a really unexpected and exciting motive behind them. In comparing this to stuff like Hostel or the Saw saga I think you could build an excellent case for this proving to be a lot better directed, since it probably features less explicit violence but portrayed in a lot more effective ways. Both actresses were pretty good and I thought the kitchen scene was one of the best shootings in recent cinema. I look forward to this director's next works.

Yes! That's three supporters. Now we can all gang up on D&MU. The acting is absolutely fantastic.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Now we can all gang up on D&MU.

You should torture me relentlessly until I finally witness the value of Martyrs.

[Dukefrukem]

You should torture me relentlessly until I finally witness the value of Martyrs.

I see what you did there.

[Dead & Messed Up]

I see what you did there.

:pritch:

[Spun Lepton]

Watched Midnight Meat Train. Terrible. The unfinished FX I can forgive, but did they stop editing it part-way through?

Photographer guy's character is all over the fucking map, insane-crazy obsessed one scene and acting like it never happened the next.

Was that newspaper article about the missing girl supposed to be published the very same morning she was to have disappeared?

Did we need the corny, "I need to catch a train," zinger plucked straight from 1986? CLUNK.

The one gratuitous kill scene was just waaaaay too long. (The one with Ted Raimi.) They needed to move on.

Photographer guy loading up on knives and knives and knives and more knives and still more knives and here's some more knives, like Rambo. CLUNK.

Oh, and the ending. Like we didn't see it coming from the moment he got the thing on his chest.

And for fuck's sake ...

How does a clan of barbaric, lizard-ish cannibals who live in fucking caves evade detection from humanity for the entire time humanity has been on the planet? I don't buy it. There's just no way things like that would be able to stay hidden from humankind, let alone pull of such a covert operation that would require a conspiracy between so many people top-side ... ugh.

3/10

[Grouchy]

I have no problems with your question in spoilers because I think that's just the kind of implausibility that needs to be accepted for any movie to work. But you nailed the rest of it alright. The protagonist was so poorly written it wasn't even funny.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Welp, I guess I'm in a minority. I liked Kitamura's color palette and camera use, and Vinnie Jones made a formidable villain. Although meg correctly pointed out to me that the scene where...

he just...can't...take pictures...of his girlfriend

...was fucking dumb.

[D_Davis]

And for fuck's sake ...

How does a clan of barbaric, lizard-ish cannibals who live in fucking caves evade detection from humanity for the entire time humanity has been on the planet? I don't buy it. There's just no way things like that would be able to stay hidden from humankind, let alone pull of such a covert operation that would require a conspiracy between so many people top-side ... ugh.



You don't read much weird fiction (Lovecraft et al.), do you?

I didn't care for MM much (the short story is great, though), but your spoiled part is a main convention of weird fiction.

How many billions of years has Cthulhu been hiding out on Earth?

[Dead & Messed Up]

CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON

The air of fifties science fiction hangs over the Creature From the Black Lagoon, as explanations for its origins point out the vast wonders of space and the potential of alien life forms. This is probably inevitable, since most genre cinema of the time was pushing out films about irradiated monsters and destructive aliens. Jack Arnold, this film's director, was responsible for two of sci-fi's better offerings from that time: It Came From Outer Space and the tremendous Incredible Shrinking Man.

But even with that influence, Creature functions as both jungle adventure and (go figure) classic Universal Horror. The former side of things serves as a clear template for creature features like Jaws and Anaconda. But the latter dominates more. Take the lovely, eerie scene where the Creature swims with Kay (Julia Adams). However, some of it manifests in frustrating ways. Many developments hinge purely on Kay turning around at the right moment, putting her hand to her mouth and screaming.

It's probably through sheer force of will that Arnold resisted the urge to tack a order-restoring monologue at the end, rendering this film a lean affair, concerned with the development of atmosphere and a growing battle of machismo. And, of course, the terrific Creature, who gains real menace and some unexpected grace in the hands of Ricou Browning. Like Frankenstein's Monster and King Kong, he's the last one of his kind, and his desire for a bride speaks not about reproduction, but a deep loneliness. There's real sadness in his fishy eyes.

B

[Dead & Messed Up]

I'm bored and no one's making new posts in the forum right now. So I'm going to rank the Universal Monster flicks I've seen:

01. Frankenstein
02. The Wolf Man
03. The Invisible Man
04. Creature from the Black Lagoon
05. Bride of Frankenstein
06. The Hunchback of Notre Dame
07. The Mummy
08. Dracula

And including the ones that aren't monster-centric:

01. Frankenstein
02. The Wolf Man
03. The Old, Dark House
04. The Cat and the Canary
05. The Invisible Man
06. The Man Who Laughs
07. Creature from the Black Lagoon
08. Bride of Frankenstein
09. The Hunchback of Notre Dame
10. The Mummy
11. Dracula

[Spun Lepton]

You don't read much weird fiction (Lovecraft et al.), do you?

I didn't care for MM much (the short story is great, though), but your spoiled part is a main convention of weird fiction.

How many billions of years has Cthulhu been hiding out on Earth?

Cthulhu is a being that lives between our dimension and another. People who discover him and live to tell about it -- it happens -- eventually go crazy. Seems like a pretty good way to keep yourself hidden from humanity. The lost city is located in the middle of the ocean, too, not under a major metropolis.

The underground cave-lizards in Midnight Meat Train only get the benefit of being around since before the dawn of humanity, and very little beyond that. Yet, nobody's ever heard of them. In the entire history of mankind. The filmmakers take NO TIME giving us a reasonable explanation for how these things can live under a major metropolis without the general public finding out. What about all these missing people? (Did you see how many bodies were there?!?) How many people would these cave-lizards actually be able to control? Enough for a conspiracy with the entire city? The world? One police woman does not a conspiracy make. And aside from carving magical symbols into the occasional person's chest -- what abilities do they have? Oooh, they've been around a long time. No, sorry, don't buy it. Need a better explanation that that. All that time the filmmakers wasted on "can't ... take ... my wife's ... picture" could have been used giving the audience clues to these things, about their mythology, but it's all ignored in favor of 5-minute kill scenes.

Perhaps it's explained in the Barker's short story. I would certainly hope so.

Oh, another complaint is the filmmakers didn't seem to understand that TIME NEEDS TO PASS FOR SOME THINGS TO HAPPEN. Wifey gets on the train, it veers off course, and within MINUTES she wanders into a car where all these people are already dead and prepared?! WHAAAT?! And why was that one dude STILL ALIVE? Oh, it was so we could have him die a ridiculously gratuitous death that serves absolutely no purpose to the story. CHEAP.

[D_Davis]

Perhaps it's explained in the Barker's short story. I would certainly hope so.


It's not really explained in the story, which is one of the reasons why it's good, and another convention of weird fiction. Explanations lessen the mystery of the weird. If authors like Cisco and Ligotti explained the weird things in their literature, their stories wouldn't have the same impact.

There are so many other problems with the MM film, I just can't see this convention as being one of them, as it is actually something I admire about the genre.

The main problem with the film is the pacing, and the almost complete lack of tension. It's a very static movie, a total flatliner.

[Spun Lepton]

It's not really explained in the story, which is one of the reasons why it's good, and another convention of weird fiction. Explanations lessen the mystery of the weird. If authors like Cisco and Ligotti explained the weird things in their literature, their stories wouldn't have the same impact.

Dude, I have read Weird Tales. I worked at a news stand for 6 years.

A story is not good by virtue of being "weird." A story can be good if it can create a believable mythology. If your mythology is that cave-lizards are eating people in an abandoned subway station undre a major metropolis, and its takes place in our reality, then damn it, you'd better figure out a way to make it at least seem plausable. MMT does NOT do that.

Demonstrate there is a conspiracy! That would not have been all that hard! Have the best friend who helps photographer guy be in on it, I don't know, do something to show that there's a lot more going on. As I said, one policewoman does not a conspiracy make.

Purposely avoiding explanations to be "weird" is lazy, it's not a virtue. You have to give the reader SOME sense of reality otherwise there is no suspension of disbelief, especially in a movie.

But, yes, there were many things wrong with MMT. The mythology is just one problem.

[Dead & Messed Up]

It's not really explained in the story, which is one of the reasons why it's good, and another convention of weird fiction. Explanations lessen the mystery of the weird. If authors like Cisco and Ligotti explained the weird things in their literature, their stories wouldn't have the same impact.

There are so many other problems with the MM film, I just can't see this convention as being one of them, as it is actually something I admire about the genre.

The main problem with the film is the pacing, and the almost complete lack of tension. It's a very static movie, a total flatliner.

Really? I found the sequence where Mahogany's chasing Leon through the meat-packing plant to be a wonderfully effective cat-and-mouse sequence, and despite the obvious endings to many side characters, I thought Kitamura generated a real sense of claustrophobia and impending doom.

As for the creatures, I had no problem with them, save I would've liked a little more time with them. Show Leon's disgust and shame turn into acceptance.

[The Mike]

I'll play.

01. The Wolf Man
02. Frankenstein
03. Creature from the Black Lagoon
04. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
05. Abbott and Costello Meet The Mummy
06. The Invisible Man
07. The Old, Dark House
08. Bride of Frankenstein
09. Dracula
10. Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man
10. The Mummy

I've seen a few more of the sequels and a couple of Karloff/Lugosi flicks from them, but they're not as strong in my memory as these, and thus I'm not gonna rank 'em.

[Spun Lepton]

Purposely avoiding explanations to be "weird" is lazy, it's not a virtue. You have to give the reader SOME sense of reality otherwise there is no suspension of disbelief, especially in a movie.

Now you've got me saying shit that I don't necessarily believe.

Mystery is the key. Choosing what you do or do not tell the reader/audience is the key. It requires a certain balance of information. That's what creates atmosphere and suspense. Giving virtually no explanation is lazy.

And here's a summary of the short story.

A down-and-out man, Leon Kaufman, falls asleep on a New York subway train, only to wake up at a secret station beyond the end of the line. Kaufman encounters a man named Mahogany, who has killed and butchered several people and hung their bodies up on the train. Mahogany remarks that he will be forced to kill Kaufman to guard his secrets. Kaufman fights Mahogany and kills him in self-defense, but then the train doors open and strange malformed creatures board the train. The creatures eat the dead passengers, then force Kaufman to serve them as their new butcher, cutting out his tongue to ensure his silence. They tell Kaufman that Mahogany was getting old and could not do the job any longer, and that Kaufman now has a new career. It is also revealed that the creatures have also been the secret rulers of New York City for centuries. The police have always covered up for the creatures. Kaufman finds he now has lifetime employment.

So, in the story, these creatures TALK? Already that adds more believability to their mythology. THEY say they've been in charge of NYC all this time? Given the scope and context of the story -- which appears to take place ENTIRELY on the train -- THAT would be believable.

Why are they fucking mute lizard-monsters in the movie, then? Why did they change them from intelligent beings to savage monsters?

Had they dumped the entire "relationship problems" angle, left the wife character out of the story (since she wasn't in the short story), and had Leon uncovering a conspiracy revolving around the monsters -- THAT would've made a great movie.

Not this mess.

[BuffaloWilder]

Cthulhu is a being that lives between our dimension and another. People who discover him and live to tell about it -- it happens -- eventually go crazy. Seems like a pretty good way to keep yourself hidden from humanity. The lost city is located in the middle of the ocean, too, not under a major metropolis.

Zalgo beats up Cthulhu and takes his lunch money.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Had they dumped the entire "relationship problems" angle, left the wife character out of the story (since she wasn't in the short story)

Screenplays must include an "attractor" female presence to maximize potential viewers.

[Spun Lepton]

Screenplays must include an "attractor" female presence to maximize potential viewers.

Then have her uncovering a conspiracy while he puts himself in harm's way. They were on the right track when she went to the butcher's apartment, but there was not enough follow-through.

There were twelve producers on this thing. I wonder if each one of them felt the need to put their own personal stamp on it. "I don't want the monsters to talk. CHANGE IT!"

Too many cooks spoil the broth.

[Spun Lepton]

Anyway ...

I have the Friday the 13th remake on my PS3, ready to go. I'll keep my expecations really low. Hopefully I get to it this weekend. :D

[jenniferofthejungle]

Damn. I'm sad that I missed out on all of the MMT chatter.

I'm with Spun on everything.

Anyhow, today I saw Creepshow and I have to list the tales in the following order:

1. Father's Day
2. The Crate
3. They're Creeping Up On You
4. Something To Tide You Over
5. The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill

E.G Marshall is freaking awesome in this.

[Dead & Messed Up]

1. The Crate
2. Something to Tide You Over
3. They're Creeping Up on You
4. The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill
5. Father's Day

I will concede that "Father's Day" had the amazing sight of Ed Harris with hair disco-dancing.

[Dead & Messed Up]

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
An otherwise serviceable silent horror picture, Phantom becomes indispensible viewing due to Lon Chaney who infuses his tragic character with real soul and pain. His tragedy has left him cold-hearted and almost childish in his demands, as he wishes that Marguerite joins him for a lifetime of will probably be interminable organ playing and occasional leers. The spaces below the opera are lovely, and two sequences of suspense hold up amazingly well: the chandelier sequence and when the Phantom holds her dying husband as blackmail. The final scenes with the infuriated French crowds, however, grow wearisome, and I thought back to Principal Skinner's astute observation that "there's no justice like angry mob justice!"
B+

EYES WITHOUT A FACE
Shockingly graphic, but not without its moments of elegance. Les Yeux Sans Visage (God, I love how French sounds) is a nasty little picture about a medical professor trying to restore his daughter's ruined face. He does this by having an accomplice go out and kill other girls. The film certainly looks beautiful, although that beauty sometimes goes on too long for its own good, especially whenever anyone's slowly ascending that spiral staircase. Apparently, director Georges Franju hired the team who wrote Diaboliques and Vertigo, and this film similarly offers both pulpy subject matter and inviting artistry.
B

[Rowland]

Regarding Creepshow, the quality of the stories tend to gravitate toward the middle of the road, their mostly persistent hokiness and notable absence of formal brio offset by a larkish spirit, colorful visuals, and gamely heightened performances, with the exception of the Lovecraft-inspired "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill" starring Stephen King, whose utterly obnoxious performance renders that stretch of the picture virtually interminable. Otherwise, in order of ascending quality, "Father's Day" is inconsequential but dorkily amusing, "The Crate" is longish but engaging because of its lead performances, "Something to Tide You Over" is finely wrought cheese that doesn't overstay its welcome, and by far the most memorable of the bunch is "They're Creeping Up On You", which proves genuinely arresting and memorable for its bold concept and unsettling imagery. I'd probably rate the picture as a whole now somewhere in the mid-upper 50's.

As horror omnibuses go, I'm partial to Mario Bava's extraordinary Black Sabbath.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Regarding Creepshow, the quality of the stories tend to gravitate toward the middle of the road, their mostly persistent hokiness and notable absence of formal brio offset by a larkish spirit, colorful visuals, and gamely heightened performances, with the exception of the Lovecraft-inspired "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill" starring Stephen King, whose utterly obnoxious performance renders that stretch of the picture virtually interminable. Otherwise, in order of ascending quality, "Father's Day" is inconsequential but dorkily amusing, "The Crate" is longish but engaging because of its lead performances, "Something to Tide You Over" is finely wrought cheese that doesn't overstay its welcome, and by far the most memorable of the bunch is "They're Creeping Up On You", which proves genuinely arresting and memorable for its bold concept and unsettling imagery. I'd probably rate the picture as a whole now somewhere in the mid-upper 50's.

"Something to Tide You Over" is probably the most faithful to the EC origins, with its tale of the dead returning to exact revenge on the man who murdered them. Cheese is the right word, as Nielsen takes real pleasure in his character's unrepentant villainy.


As horror omnibuses go, I'm partial to Mario Bava's extraordinary Black Sabbath.

That's a great one, but I'm partial to the trendsetting Dead of Night, with its variety of stories and genuinely creepy ending, one of my favorites in all of horror.

[The Mike]

I really want to see Black Sabbath, but I doubt it'd unseat Dead of Night in my book, also.

I also prefer the Amicus Tales from the Crypt film to Creepshow, but I like it a bunch, too.

The Crate is easily my number 1.

[Dead & Messed Up]

I'd also give due credit to Three Extremes and Kwaidan, the latter being one of the loveliest horror films I've ever seen.

[Rowland]

Kwaidan is a lovely film, and it certainly has its moments, but I found, contrary to popular consensus, "Hoichi the Earless" inferior to the first two segments, primarily for being so drawn out to reach such an obviously predestined climax, and the closing story merely had me scratching my head, ending the picture on a slightly sour note.

Three... Extremes is pretty good, with Miike's and Chan's entries being obviously superior to Park's mediocre "Box", though I prefer "Dumplings" in its full-length form, while the gimmicky ending to the otherwise-hauntingly evocative "Box" is most unfortunate.

It sounds like I need to check this Dead of Night picture out, thanks for the suggestions guys!

[Pop Trash]

I'll play since I love me some Creepshow!

1. They're Creeping Up on You
2. The Crate
3. Something to Tide You Over
4. Father's Day
5. The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill (but Stephen King makes me :lol: in this fo' sho'!)

I would say the The Crate is the most well written, but They're Creeping Up on You has given me the most heebie-jeebies over the years and the one I found most memorable. I like all of them though, really.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Kwaidan is a lovely film, and it certainly has its moments, but I found, contrary to popular consensus, "Hoichi the Earless" inferior to the first two segments, primarily for being so drawn out to reach such an obviously predestined climax, and the closing story merely had me scratching my head, ending the picture on a slightly sour note.

Actually, I'd agree with you - "Hoichi" is too long, even with all that beauty. My favorite was "The Woman in the Snow."

...and I almost forgot.

REPULSION
While watching, I was continually reminded of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper," where an ill woman stuck in a room became obsessed with the interior. It was a great idea, but that was a short story, and this is an awfully long journey towards a somewhat inevitable conclusion. Some of the imagery is truly odd and disturbing, with walls cracking and men hiding in the shadows. But there's never much to Deneuve's character of Carol, who's pretty much gone from the beginning. Hers isn't a descent into madness so much as a quick sidestep. What remains is a collection of admittedly effective imagery, in search of a more sympathetic and cohesive thread.
B-

[Spun Lepton]

I got the Blu-ray edition of Friday the 13th Part 3 in 3D today and popped it in to take a cursory glance.

Leave it to Paramount.

The 3D SUCKS. I'm a little pissed that the reviews on Amazon played down the "ghosting problem." Everything in the background is in double-vision, essentially. Stuff in the foreground KINDA looks 3D, but after seeing the treatment My Bloody Valentine 3D got, it just doesn't compare.

I'll give the whole movie a shot later, but I'm pretty peeved. Add in the measly 2 pairs of glasses you get with the disc, and you have yourself a big ol' waste of money.

[Spun Lepton]

Second cursory glance showed that the daytime scenes are a just a big ol' mess. The background is just muddled chaos. The night scenes are less headache-inducing. However, anything that's supposed to stick out of the screen does not, it ends up just turning into two separate 2D images.

You'd think Paramount would treat these flicks with a little more care, after all, they generated a huge amount of money for them. But, no, Paramount appears to have little to no respect for their consumers. I've been burned by their shitty DVD treatment before, but never again. This is the last Paramount disc I will ever buy.

[D_Davis]

Paramount DVDs suck, now it looks like their Blu-rays do as well.

Lame.

[Spun Lepton]

Okay, so I browsed the entire movie last night. The 3D works only to a very limited degree, and much more limited than My Bloody Valentine.

There's some depth to most of the scenes, but anything too far away or too close to the camera will ghost and lose the 3D effect. The eyeball-pop is guiltiest in this regard. The speargun is the only thing that actually works, but even it isn't perfect.

The muddled daytime backgrounds aren't as bad as I'd originally thought, but that's not really saying a whole lot. They're still a headache-inducing mess at times.

Still, the disc isn't worth buying for the 3D. If you're looking for a nicely cleaned-up 2D version, though, it does have that.

[jenniferofthejungle]

I really want to see Black Sabbath, but I doubt it'd unseat Dead of Night in my book, also.

I also prefer the Amicus Tales from the Crypt film to Creepshow, but I like it a bunch, too.

The Crate is easily my number 1.


I'm surprised you haven't seen Black Sabbath, Mike. I think you will like it. I love it, but it isn't one I revisit often. I love One Drop of Water, and The Telephone is good, too. I would say that The Wudulak is the one I like the least. It isn't bad, but I just have very little love for it.

It's funny to watch an older film and realize how much of an influence it has had on other things you've seen or read. You've watched so many movies you will undoubtedly guess the ending of every one of them, but it will still be a great one for you.

I think you are the only one I know who has seen and loved the 1972 Tales From the Crypt I saw it twice as a kid and I hope it's one that holds up.

[Spun Lepton]

I'm surprised you haven't seen Black Sabbath, Mike. I think you will like it. I love it, but it isn't one I revisit often. I love One Drop of Water, and The Telephone is good, too. I would say that The Wudulak is the one I like the least. It isn't bad, but I just have very little love for it.

It's funny to watch an older film and realize how much of an influence it has had on other things you've seen or read. You've watched so many movies you will undoubtedly guess the ending of every one of them, but it will still be a great one for you.

I think you are the only one I know who has seen and loved the 1972 Tales From the Crypt I saw it twice as a kid and I hope it's one that holds up.

Yes. Mike, if you see it, make sure you get the European cut. The American cut changed the order of the stories and changed the host segments to remove the humor. Frankly, it stinks.

[The Mike]

I ordered it yesterday. :cool:

[/Ozymandias]

[Spun Lepton]

I ordered it yesterday. :cool:

[/Ozymandias]

Hopefully, it was the European cut!!

[Scar]

In regards to Zombie's Halloween, I really enjoy the hell out of that one. I love the brutality, and I actually enjoy the back story

Creature From The Black Lagoon is a great flick as well. I feel sorry for the fella. Almost as much as I feel for Big Daddy Kong. Almost.

[BuffaloWilder]

So, I left The Shining on when I was going to bed, last night.

I had nightmares.

[The Mike]

Hopefully, it was the European cut!!Pretty certain it was. I think.

[Russ]

Available on September 29 (finally):


http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/7889/stepfather87dvdnewsh.jpg

[The Mike]

Available on September 29 (finally):


http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/7889/stepfather87dvdnewsh.jpg

YES!

Again, remakes rule!

[Pop Trash]

Available on September 29 (finally):


Gnarly!

[Scar]

Blockbuster has shipped [REC] to me. However, I'll be in St Louis next week, so it might be awhile....

[Dead & Messed Up]

Blockbuster has shipped [REC] to me. However, I'll be in St Louis next week, so it might be awhile....

Yeah, I'm getting that tomorrow. I think a lot of us are going to be viewing it this weekend.

[Ezee E]

Yeah, I'm getting that tomorrow. I think a lot of us are going to be viewing it this weekend.
Watched it today.

:eek:

I haven't had the terrified feeling since The Descent.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Watched it today.

:eek:

I haven't had the terrified feeling since The Descent.

Oh, I'm looking forward to this...

:)

[Ezee E]

Oh, I'm looking forward to this...

:)
Look forward to discussing it. Meg is the only one I know of that has seen it.

I swore there was a thread, but I can't find it.

Anyone see the already made remake Quarantine? Is it along the same lines?

[megladon8]

Look forward to discussing it. Meg is the only one I know of that has seen it.

I swore there was a thread, but I can't find it.

Anyone see the already made remake Quarantine? Is it along the same lines?


Quarantine changed the ending sequence for the worse, and totally wasted Doug Jones.

It also changed the revelation of what was behind the outbreak.

And it painted the firefighters as misogynistic assholes, giving totally unnecessary bits of "back story" to them and a few others.

Overall, it's a very weak remake.

[Raiders]

Anyone see the already made remake Quarantine?

Thought it was pretty terrible (http://www.match-cut.org/showpost.php?p=154173&postcount=26509).

Shamefully, I saw it before the original.

[Scar]

Quarantine was a fucking abomination. Wish I'd never seen it before the original.

[Ezee E]

Thought it was pretty terrible (http://www.match-cut.org/showpost.php?p=154173&postcount=26509).

Shamefully, I saw it before the original.
For shame. What did you think of the original? Or did you see it?

The cameraman here is acceptable as he's trying to cover it for news, proof, and such. There are times when it conveniently goes off, but the terror through the hallways, stairwells, the final scene are all so effective that I can overlook it.

The fall was also terrifying and completely unexpected.

A shame that the remake had to ruin it.

[Spun Lepton]

I also have [REC] on the way from Netflix. It's about damn time it made it to DVD.

[Grouchy]

I've seen [REC] too. It's awesome stuff. Ending sequence is tense as all fuck.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Hellbound: Hellraiser II sucked pretty hard for the first half, then mildly sucked for the second half.

[The Mike]

Hellbound: Hellraiser II sucked pretty hard for the first half, then mildly sucked for the second half.I've been meaning to rewatch this one. I remember giving it a pass based on the goodlookingness of it all, but don't remember anything in it being actually that good.

I'm currently watching They Live. Not completely horror, but completely awesome. This gets better every time.

[Dead & Messed Up]

I've been meaning to rewatch this one. I remember giving it a pass based on the goodlookingness of it all, but don't remember anything in it being actually that good.

Awful dialogue all-around, but once they get to Hell, things get a little more fun. It was nice to see the (slight) back-story for the Cenobites, and I liked the goofy doctor-villain being drug around by an enormous penis. Also, props for making the Lord of Darkness that most terrifying of all objects: the trapezohedron.

My favorite line: "My name is Kyle MacRae. You can call me Kyle."

Oh, can we?

:lol:


I'm currently watching They Live. Not completely horror, but completely awesome. This gets better every time.

Guy really should've just put on the glasses.

[Raiders]

Though it was edited and commercially-interrupted, a re-watch of Return of the Living Dead late, late last night on AMC did my body good. Fantastic film.

[The Mike]

Guy really should've just put on the glasses.So true.

I still refuse to believe that the scene is only 6 minutes long. I'm more likely to believe that the secret to manipulating the time/space continuum exists somewhere inside that scene, stopping time and making it appear only 6 Earth minutes have lapsed.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Should I spell it [REC], or [Rec]...or how about Rec? That goofy punctuation is just about the only real flaw in this breathlessly paced joyride, a literal spookhouse full of shock-scares and nasty story turns. Sure, there's little-to-nothing beyond the energy of the film, but that's hardly a problem, as the lovely apartment setting turns almost as vicious as the "infected" villains hunting down Pablo and Angela. A late-act twist pays tribute to the supernatural origins of the "zombie" mythos, which adds a nice touch right before a terrifying finale. One wonders how long horror filmmakers can exploit the first person, but, if they keep making films as good as Cloverfield and Rec, I'll keep coming back.

[Rowland]

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2... so yeah, that was irritating. For an ostensible black comedy, I think I laughed twice (Dennis Hopper going chainsaw-shopping was the funniest bit), while most of the movie's attempts at humor had me wincing, thanks in large part to some appallingly shrill pseudo-comedic performances, the worst courtesy of Bill Moseley. Also, most of the self-aware pomo comedy struck me as insipid when it wasn't merely ransacking the original to be refracted through the '80s zeitgeist for surreal satire, a potentially inspired idea that is carried out to few satisfying ends. Indeed, all the forced camp, insufferable overracting, cheesy synth noodlings on the soundtrack, watered-down rehashes from the original, lack of rooting interests, sloppy writing, and even drowsy pacing, make this 101 minute film feel about two hours long. All that said, cool carnivalesque sets and lighting (albeit reminiscent of Hooper's vastly superior Funhouse), gruesome Savini gore effects, a few marginally entertaining set pieces, one singularly effective jumpscare, a scene featuring a reanimated corpse that approaches pathos, and the picture's sheer devotion to its demented tone do a bit to mitigate the tedium, but not nearly enough. Some kudos for trying something so different from its forebear, instead of attempting to produce a carbon copy of the original or adapting it into the generic slasher mold, but this simply didn't work as comedy or horror.

[MadMan]

Though it was edited and commercially-interrupted, a re-watch of Return of the Living Dead late, late last night on AMC did my body good. Fantastic film.1985 really is an awesome year for horror films, what with ROTLD, Day of the Dead, and Re-Animator all being truly classic. I have a feeling that when I finally buy "Animator," it will end up being one of my favorite horror movies. The reply value on that twisted brilliant comedy/gorefest is probably quite high.

[Dead & Messed Up]

1985 really is an awesome year for horror films, what with ROTLD, Day of the Dead, and Re-Animator all being truly classic. I have a feeling that when I finally buy "Animator," it will end up being one of my favorite horror movies. The reply value on that twisted brilliant comedy/gorefest is probably quite high.

I recently rewatched, and I still love it. It's such an odd duck, because the comedy isn't what splatstick would eventually become - it's slyer, subtler, and less overdone. The film actually believes its premise, and wrings more drama and interest out of the situation then I thought possible. Also, the flick is stylish, with its emphasis on longer camera takes, the use of color, and that delicious credits sequence.

Out of the three flicks you mentioned, this would easily be at the top.

[The Mike]

Re-Animator's the one of those three close to being a classic.

[Dukefrukem]

Watched Quarantine, Shutter and Vacancy tonight...

[Bosco B Thug]

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2... so yeah, that was irritating. For an ostensible black comedy, I think I laughed twice (Dennis Hopper going chainsaw-shopping was the funniest bit), while most of the movie's attempts at humor had me wincing, thanks in large part to some appallingly shrill pseudo-comedic performances, the worst courtesy of Bill Moseley. Also, most of the self-aware pomo comedy struck me as insipid when it wasn't merely ransacking the original to be refracted through the '80s zeitgeist for surreal satire, a potentially inspired idea that is carried out to few satisfying ends. Indeed, all the forced camp, insufferable overracting, cheesy synth noodlings on the soundtrack, watered-down rehashes from the original, lack of rooting interests, sloppy writing, and even drowsy pacing, make this 101 minute film feel about two hours long. All that said, cool carnivalesque sets and lighting (albeit reminiscent of Hooper's vastly superior Funhouse), gruesome Savini gore effects, a few marginally entertaining set pieces, one singularly effective jumpscare, a scene featuring a reanimated corpse that approaches pathos, and the picture's sheer devotion to its demented tone do a bit to mitigate the tedium, but not nearly enough. Some kudos for trying something so different from its forebear, instead of attempting to produce a carbon copy of the original or adapting it into the generic slasher mold, but this simply didn't work as comedy or horror. Hmm, I can "Perhaps" and even agree with a lot of what you say.

I hate Chop Top. He's one-liners without an established character (but I loooove love love Caroline Williams).

My main criticism against TCM 2 is pretty much your point here: "... '80s zeitgeist for surreal satire, a potentially inspired idea that is carried out to few satisfying ends."

I do like the offering of pathos in the "reanimated corpse" scene, but it kind of comes out of nowhere, and is somewhat meaningless. Although LG is an awesome character, though.

But totally disagree about it being plodding and uninspiring. I find the film so visually, cinematographically vibrant, I forgive it its many faults and am always engaged by the film just due to Hooper's grace behind the camera. That drowsy pacing I'd say is common throughout Hooper's oeuvre... and I do love Hooper's oeuvre.

So in conclusion: harsh, man... harsh.


1985 really is an awesome year for horror films, what with ROTLD, Day of the Dead, and Re-Animator all being truly classic. I have a feeling that when I finally buy "Animator," it will end up being one of my favorite horror movies. The reply value on that twisted brilliant comedy/gorefest is probably quite high. Yes, 1985 was an overload of movie fun.

Re-Animator's kind of overrated, though. The Return of the Living Dead is the best of that bunch (although 'Day' deserves a rewatch by me).


Escape from L.A. - Hahaha, now that was a cool movie. Not particularly art house cinematic excellence, yes, but a damn cool, smart, and exciting film that sets out with very ambitious, far-reaching social sights. Outrageously inspired, reaching its heights with Pam Grier as a SPOiLER transsexual gangster, and the rockin' resolution.

[MadMan]

I recently rewatched, and I still love it. It's such an odd duck, because the comedy isn't what splatstick would eventually become - it's slyer, subtler, and less overdone. The film actually believes its premise, and wrings more drama and interest out of the situation then I thought possible. Also, the flick is stylish, with its emphasis on longer camera takes, the use of color, and that delicious credits sequence.Yes, it is incredibly sharp and smart for being a horror movie. And a gorefest comedy at that. The scares and freaky moments are also very well executed indeed.


Out of the three flicks you mentioned, this would easily be at the top.I agree. If it wasn't for The Thing, Re-Animator would be my #1 horror movie of the 80s. I have yet to see anything that bests those two movies, although Evil Dead II comes close.

Oh and Bosco B Thug Day of the Dead is a very good movie, and underrated in my book. But then again I'm something of a Romero fanboy, so I went in expecting (and partly knowing) I'd see good things, especially considering it was part of his zombie series. The last time I made up my Top 20 horror list it was featured in the bottom half, but after last October it probably will get pushed out by other, better horror movies. Still I can't see much of the list changing, and hopefully after this October I will have seen enough to make a proper Top 40 or even a Top 50.

[Dukefrukem]

Isn't this usual for the saw series? Don't they start work after the next one hits theaters?


Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan are already hard at work on Saw VII

[Dead & Messed Up]

I agree. If it wasn't for The Thing, Re-Animator would be my #1 horror movie of the 80s. I have yet to see anything that bests those two movies, although Evil Dead II comes close.

Those are pretty much my three favorites of the decade too, although I'd place The Fly, Aliens, and An American Werewolf in London in their company.


Isn't this usual for the saw series? Don't they start work after the next one hits theaters?

Maybe they have to start early to make sure this one sucks especially hard.

[MadMan]

Those are pretty much my three favorites of the decade too, although I'd place The Fly, Aliens, and An American Werewolf in London in their company.I don't consider Aliens to be a horror movie. An American Werewolf in London is pretty damn good. Haven't seen The Fly, yet.

[Dead & Messed Up]

I don't consider Aliens to be a horror movie. An American Werewolf in London is pretty damn good. Haven't seen The Fly, yet.

You should watch Aliens again. It's action film topping on a delicious foundation of horror.

And you haven't seen The Fly?! Egads, man! One of Cronenberg's very best films, I'd wager.

[megladon8]

I couldn't be happier about people enjoying [REC].

It really was a terrifying experience seeing it the first time. The final 10 minutes trumped the night-cam footage in Silence of the Lambs.

The skinny girl may be one of the creepiest creatures I've ever seen.

[The Mike]

Horror of the '80s, you say?

1. Gremlins
2. The Evil Dead
3. The Thing
4. Fright Night
5. The Shining
6. The Monster Squad
7. An American Werewolf in London
8. Dead & Buried
9. Re-Animator
10. Evil Dead II

[megladon8]

The Evil Dead is the '80s?

I thought it was like '79.

[MadMan]

You should watch Aliens again. It's action film topping on a delicious foundation of horror.There were some horror elements, sure, but I still stand by my opinion that its a sci-fi action/war movie instead. But hey I'm the guy who doesn't think that Silence of the Lambs is a horror movie :P


And you haven't seen The Fly?! Egads, man! One of Cronenberg's very best films, I'd wager.I plan on trying to start with earlier Cronenberg first and then work my way on down. I've only seen A History of Violence from him, and that was a good introduction even though its one of his non-body horror movies.

[Dead & Messed Up]

The skinny girl may be one of the creepiest creatures I've ever seen.

I was really pissed off when I saw that, cause that type of zombie (ancient, rail-thin, and fast) is extremely reminiscent of a sequence I wrote in a screenplay back in '05.

But once I got over myself, yeah, it was creepy as fuck.