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

  1. #301
    pushing too many pencils Rowland's Avatar
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    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.
    Letterboxd rating scale:
    The Long Riders (Hill) ***
    Furious 7 (Wan) **½
    Hard Times (Hill) ****½
    Another 48 Hrs. (Hill) ***
    /48 Hrs./ (Hill) ***½
    The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec (Besson) ***
    /Unknown/ (Collet-Serra) ***½
    Animal (Simmons) **

  2. #302
    A Long Way to Tipperary MacGuffin's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Rowland (view post)
    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.

  3. #303
    pushing too many pencils Rowland's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Clipper Ship Captain (view post)
    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.
    Letterboxd rating scale:
    The Long Riders (Hill) ***
    Furious 7 (Wan) **½
    Hard Times (Hill) ****½
    Another 48 Hrs. (Hill) ***
    /48 Hrs./ (Hill) ***½
    The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec (Besson) ***
    /Unknown/ (Collet-Serra) ***½
    Animal (Simmons) **

  4. #304
    A Long Way to Tipperary MacGuffin's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Rowland (view post)
    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.

  5. #305
    pushing too many pencils Rowland's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Clipper Ship Captain (view post)
    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:
    Letterboxd rating scale:
    The Long Riders (Hill) ***
    Furious 7 (Wan) **½
    Hard Times (Hill) ****½
    Another 48 Hrs. (Hill) ***
    /48 Hrs./ (Hill) ***½
    The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec (Besson) ***
    /Unknown/ (Collet-Serra) ***½
    Animal (Simmons) **

  6. #306
    pushing too many pencils Rowland's Avatar
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    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.
    Letterboxd rating scale:
    The Long Riders (Hill) ***
    Furious 7 (Wan) **½
    Hard Times (Hill) ****½
    Another 48 Hrs. (Hill) ***
    /48 Hrs./ (Hill) ***½
    The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec (Besson) ***
    /Unknown/ (Collet-Serra) ***½
    Animal (Simmons) **

  7. #307
    The Pan megladon8's Avatar
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    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.
    "All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"

    "Rick...it's a flamethrower."

  8. #308
    The Pan megladon8's Avatar
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    Freddy's Dead is, yeah, a steaming pile.
    "All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"

    "Rick...it's a flamethrower."

  9. #309
    Replacing Luck Since 1984 Dukefrukem's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting megladon8 (view post)
    Freddy's Dead is, yeah, a steaming pile.
    Yeh.. isn't his final words in that movie;

    "Kids"

    I always laughed at that.
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  10. #310
    Quote Quoting megladon8 (view post)
    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.

  11. #311
    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.
    The Act of Killing (Oppenheimer 13) - A
    Stranger by the Lake (Giraudie 12) - B
    American Hustle (Russell 13) - C+
    The Wolf of Wall Street (Scorsese 13) - C+
    Passion (De Palma 12) - B

  12. #312
    pushing too many pencils Rowland's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Bosco B Thug (view post)
    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.
    Letterboxd rating scale:
    The Long Riders (Hill) ***
    Furious 7 (Wan) **½
    Hard Times (Hill) ****½
    Another 48 Hrs. (Hill) ***
    /48 Hrs./ (Hill) ***½
    The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec (Besson) ***
    /Unknown/ (Collet-Serra) ***½
    Animal (Simmons) **

  13. #313
    Moderator Dead & Messed Up's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Rowland (view post)
    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.

  14. #314
    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.

  15. #315
    Quote Quoting The Mike (view post)
    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.

  16. #316
    U ZU MA KI Spun Lepton's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting megladon8 (view post)
    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.
    My YouTube Channel: Grim Street Grindhouse
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  17. #317
    The Pan megladon8's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Spun Lepton (view post)
    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.
    "All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"

    "Rick...it's a flamethrower."

  18. #318
    pushing too many pencils Rowland's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Spun Lepton (view post)
    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.
    Letterboxd rating scale:
    The Long Riders (Hill) ***
    Furious 7 (Wan) **½
    Hard Times (Hill) ****½
    Another 48 Hrs. (Hill) ***
    /48 Hrs./ (Hill) ***½
    The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec (Besson) ***
    /Unknown/ (Collet-Serra) ***½
    Animal (Simmons) **

  19. #319
    The Pan megladon8's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Rowland (view post)
    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.
    "All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"

    "Rick...it's a flamethrower."

  20. #320
    U ZU MA KI Spun Lepton's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Rowland (view post)
    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.
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  21. #321
    The Pan megladon8's Avatar
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    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.
    "All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"

    "Rick...it's a flamethrower."

  22. #322
    A Platypus Grouchy's Avatar
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    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.

  23. #323
    Quote Quoting Rowland (view post)
    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.

    Quote Quoting Dead & Messed Up (view post)
    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.

    Quote Quoting jenniferofthejungle (view post)
    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??
    The Act of Killing (Oppenheimer 13) - A
    Stranger by the Lake (Giraudie 12) - B
    American Hustle (Russell 13) - C+
    The Wolf of Wall Street (Scorsese 13) - C+
    Passion (De Palma 12) - B

  24. #324
    Quote Quoting Bosco B Thug (view post)

    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.

  25. #325
    Moderator Dead & Messed Up's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting jenniferofthejungle (view post)
    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!

    ritch:

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