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

[Skitch]

Only a few stand above. A Tale of Two Sisters, Pulse/Kairo, Marebito...

[megladon8]

We're going to watch A Tale of two Sisters this weekend. The first viewing of that was one of the most frightening movie experiences of my life. I hope it holds up.

[D_Davis]

I think they have a very Japanese style, for the most part.

The Kurosawa films are mostly great, and there is the weird stuff like Evil Dead Trap, Organ, Stacy, Meatball Machine, Tokyo Gore Police. I'm sure there are at least a couple dozen J-horror films that I could still watch and like.

[Dukefrukem]

We're going to watch A Tale of two Sisters this weekend. The first viewing of that was one of the most frightening movie experiences of my life. I hope it holds up.

Agreed. I think RT Axis recommended that to me. May have been Jenn.

[Skitch]

Agreed. I think RT Axis recommended that to me. May have been Jenn.

Or me. I'm a massive pusher of that flick.

[Dukefrukem]

Uh oh. The title of this thread has "tits" it.

[Russ]

I Am a Ghost (H.P. Mendoza, 2012) ***/****

Boy, this was a real pleasant surprise. Anna Ishida puts on practically a one-person show as the titular ghost in this ultra-low budget (only 10K!) indie suspense/horror film. She lives out a string of memories, unaware of her existence as a spirit, until she is contacted by a medium who has been hired to reach out to her and ultimately guide her in passing over to "the next place".

This is such a unique film, and an unexpectedly scary one due to a revelatory twist uncovered by the psychic. It is, at the beginning, slow and repetitive, but it's also engaging and intelligent. It's the Jeanne Dielman of ghost stories.



You should add this one to your watch list. Check out this spoiler-free trailer:

[MadMan]

I'm close to finishing my review backlogs. So close. I also watched and liked Hellraiser II last night.

[megladon8]

So we watched a few new horrors over the last days:

The Long Hair of Death - this is "lost" / under seen Italian gothic horror from the 60s. It's no Black Sunday, but it's certainly a good film. It doesn't full deliver on the promise of its initial set up, and it features one of the most stupidly convoluted murder plots I've ever seen. But it does feature some great Bava-estus imagery, and an unsettling ending. Also some surprisingly frank depictions of sex and rape.

The Hallow - this Irish horror from last year is wonderfully paced and beautifully photographed, but is just missing some intangible "something" to keep it from greatness. Perhaps it's the muddled and vague logic of the monsters (which look fantastic and are quite creepy). Perhaps it's the frustratingly cliched "dumb horror movie choices" that characters occasionally make. I don't know. It's good and well worth a watch for monster movie fans. Don't except the second coming and you should enjoy it.

The Final Girls - this one had some schmaltzy emotional stuff in it that was a tad distracting, but otherwise was a really good, fun, and very funny deconstruction of 80s slashers. Malin Ackerman is a little hard to believe as a mom pushing 50, and again, the schmaltzy heart strong tugging moments get a little much towards the end, but damn is the movie funny. Also love it's absolute refusal to have pointless nudity.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Hush, on Netflix, from Mike Flanagan, director of Absentia and Oculus.

...eh. I'm not a fan of home invasion flicks in general, so I'm not the best audience, but ehhhh. Competent, for sure, but the film could've toyed with the core idea of her being deaf/mute a lot more (it always comes back to your standard cat/mouse shenanigans), and it didn't feel like there was a story here. The villain's just a person-hunting shithead, and the heroine's experiences don't seem to press against who she is prior to the terror. Apart from the most basic "development" from fearful mouse to warrior woman. One very clever scene offers us insight into her exploring her options. Another one relies on the simple tension of walking along a roof.

I mean, Stephen King tweeted that this was in the same league as Wait Until Dark, and no way, it's unformed Wait Until Dark, before someone double-checked the recipe, added the missing ingredients, and popped it in the oven.

[megladon8]

Jen wants to check that one out, and I'm sure we will. We really liked both Absentia and Oculus.

[Dukefrukem]

Oculus is great. Need to check out both of those.

[Skitch]

Stephen King loves Mick Garris directed versions of Stephen King books, so I dont put much weight on his film opinions.

[megladon8]

So Paul Naschy has somewhat of a legendary status among horror hounds. He has dozens of films from the 70s and 80s that have huge cult followings, and I have always been curious to see what all the fuss was about.

Yesterday we watched Curse of the Devil, which is widely considered one of his best.

And...man, that was awful.

It wasn't the poor dubbing or pink paint blood (I'm a big Italian horror fan so that wouldn't bug me anyways). What bothered me the most was how incoherent it was. Characters jumped around between scenes and settings with no rhyme or reason. I have no idea what kind of timeline the story took place across, settings and time of day would change between shots but it was apparently the same scene/conversation.

It was truly awful stuff that left me confused, not only about what the hell happened in the movie, but also why so many hold this in such high regard.

[Dukefrukem]

Finally.

[Irish]

Pretty much everything you could want from Ash.

[Morris Schæffer]

Lights Out is getting some really strong reviews. It seemed run of the mill going by the trailer.

[Dukefrukem]

WTF is this shit????

[dreamdead]

So, Candyman. Not as much Tony Todd as I was expecting. Better acting than I expected--really cool commentary on Chicagoland issues of race and class, especially once I realize that this wasn't Barker's original location. Awesome Philip Glass score. Way more casual smoking and misogyny, leering, and sexual assault threats than initially anticipated. It felt appropriate in its handling, even if it didn't always do more than record the existence of these issues. Cool use of the wrong man archetype to get at issues. This was, in short, really pretty good, even if some editing and budget issues keep it all from being exemplary.

Are either of the sequels any good or was this a once-off in terms of quality?

[megladon8]

I've actually not seen any of the sequels, but I haven't heard much kindness directed towards them.

Candyman is one I wish I could have seen in the theatre. Apparently the sound of his voice was just nutso insane.

[transmogrifier]

The last three horror movies I have seen (in the last four days, so it sticks out) have ALL featured the protagonist getting the upper-hand on the bad guy by knocking them out. But then they just leave them there to dilly-dally around doing some convenient plotty shit with their back turned so that the said bad guy can wake up and "surprise" everyone by gaining back the advantage.

I thought this cliche would have died at the hands of Scream, but it's still here, as corny and telegraphed as ever. It needs to die.

[Dead & Messed Up]

The last three horror movies I have seen (in the last four days, so it sticks out) have ALL featured the protagonist getting the upper-hand on the bad guy by knocking them out. But then they just leave them there to dilly-dally around doing some convenient plotty shit with their back turned so that the said bad guy can wake up and "surprise" everyone by gaining back the advantage.

I thought this cliche would have died at the hands of Scream, but it's still here, as corny and telegraphed as ever. It needs to die.

Seriously. I remember that when I saw that in Wolf Creek, I got up and ejected the disc and went on with my life.

[MadMan]

Horrorfest 2016: A New Beginning

[Skitch]

I'm on track for the month. Will release the list on when its over.

[MadMan]

Nice. I fell behind yet I'll still view some this week.