Thoughts/ opinions on the VHS movies?
Thoughts/ opinions on the VHS movies?
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
It’s been years, but I seem to like #2 better than the first, but largely forgettable.
“What we are dealing with here is a perfect engine, er... an eating machine. It's really a miracle of evolution. All this machine does is swim and eat and make little sharks and that's all.”
VHS 7/10
VHS 2 7/10
VHS Viral 3/10
My YouTube Channel: Grim Street Grindhouse
My Top 100 Horror Movies OF ALL TIME.
The first two VHS movies are cool. I didn't even make it through the third one.
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And it's happened once again
I'll turn to a friend
Someone that understands
And sees through the master plan
But everybody's gone
And I've been here for too long
To face this on my own
Well, I guess this is growing up
My LB thoughts on VHS
I only watched this because Ti West was one of the storytellers and his story is clearly the most thought out and superbly executed. Overall I am pretty sick of found footage films, which this movie is a collection of 6.5 of them. But each director tells their story from a different medium.
Amateur Night by David Bruckner (who also directed The Signal which is also on my Netflix queue) did a great job developing a creepy monster type. I just didn't think the context worked very well.
Tuesday the 17th by Glenn McQuaid- this was clearly the worst short in the collection. Horribly acted and horribly executed on all counts.
The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger by Joe Swanberg was a fantastic idea... but poorly executed. I couldn't tell what was happening at the very end and only finally understood when I was reading the comments on a movie forum.
10/31/98 by Radio Silence is probably the creepiest, but the ending is too cliche for me to enjoy it.
Overall this collection was disappointing. I was expecting more grit.
VHS 2
An improvement over the first movie. The book ends were not creepy but that last story was pretty cool even if I couldn't figure out why a train horn was sounding every time the light turned on and why I couldn't figure out if []. I still don't really know (if I hadn't read the title of the short).
Kind lof love the first two. Viral is a significant step down but still watchable.
The first VHS is almost like a little collection of horror films about toxic masculinity. Deplorable douchebags having the tables turned on them for their awful behavior.
It can be a little TOO icky in the rape/sexual assault department and I could definitely see it being too much for some viewers, but luckily the perpetrators all get what's coming to them.
VHS 2 is strong from start to finish. I think it is an improvement on the first.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
I freaking adore found-footage movies. Can't get enough of them. When done right, they can be really intense.
My YouTube Channel: Grim Street Grindhouse
My Top 100 Horror Movies OF ALL TIME.
Agreed.Quoting Spun Lepton (view post)
Have you seen Banshee Chapter? It mixes found footage and traditional really well.
It's also a really, REALLY good retelling of Lovecraft's From Beyond.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
Grave Encounters scared the absolute shit outta me.
I never saw the second one. Did you?
Their movie Extraterrestrial was pretty bad, though.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
I think I did, but don't remember much of it. Repeat with worse actors.
Can’t say I’m familiar with that one.
“What we are dealing with here is a perfect engine, er... an eating machine. It's really a miracle of evolution. All this machine does is swim and eat and make little sharks and that's all.”
Check it out it's pretty decent.
One of those "ghost hunter" type shows that ends up in a place that's actually haunted.
Written and directed by THE VICIOUS BROTHERS!!! They have never been seen in the same room as Skrillex, so I have suspicions.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
So yeah, third viewing of the VHS trilogy reaffirms what we've all said here - first two are pretty good (some of the shorts are GREAT), and the third is by far the weakest.
I'll just add that I don't think Viral is as bad as others here seem to think. Its greatest weakness is that it completely abandons the found footage thing for some reason, and is just a horror anthology filmed entirely on shaky cam.
"Parallel Monsters" is the real standout here. Between a great concept and some truly epic WTF-ery, it is clever and gripping enough that I kind of want a feature length version. Great Twilight Zone ending, too.
"Bonestorm" is really odd coming from the team of Moorhead and Benson. I have yet to see their latest film Synchronic, but The Endless, Spring, and Resolution all shared a common feeling of reserve and control that is not apparent here. Just a really weird project and I don't know what they were going for here.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
I'll just interject with a "meh."
My picks for best found footage movies are: [REC], [REC]2, Paranormal Activity, and As Above So Below. I feel pretty confident that AASB will gain a pretty major cult following as time goes on.
My YouTube Channel: Grim Street Grindhouse
My Top 100 Horror Movies OF ALL TIME.
I loved AASB.
Jen and I have watched it twice and found it just awful both times.
Let's see, should we catch up on Criterions, or rewatch a movie for a 3rd time that we never liked?
Hmmmm...
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
Grave Encounters is terrible. My blurb from Letterboxd:
Around 97% of this is annoying, shrill, and illogical. The other 3% (coincidentally, the final 3% of the film) is amazingly creepy - it's doesn't help though that you've been waiting for the idiotic lead character to die since you first met him.
Last 10 Movies Seen
(90+ = canonical, 80-89 = brilliant, 70-79 = strongly recommended, 60-69 = good, 50-59 = mixed, 40-49 = below average with some good points, 30-39 = poor, 20-29 = bad, 10-19 = terrible, 0-9 = soul-crushingly inept in every way)
Run (2020) 64
The Whistlers (2019) 55
Pawn (2020) 62
Matilda (1996) 37
The Town that Dreaded Sundown (1976) 61
Moby Dick (2011) 50
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A Moment of Romance (1990) 61
As Tears Go By (1988) 65
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Is that the movie with the warped faces?
Yes.
Written and directed by the VICIOUS BROTHERS.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
Willy's Wonderland (2021)
Core idea is actually pretty cool, but it lacks a lot in execution. At least make it so the robots are increasingly difficult for Cage. Having him kick every single one of their asses without breaking a sweat isn't interesting or exciting at all. I get that the teens being utter, utter imbeciles is supposed to be funny, but since it only ever leads to them dying, it's not. Maybe if some of the idiot kids had survived due to their idiocy, that could have been funny. Not exciting, not suspenseful, not funny. 4/10
My YouTube Channel: Grim Street Grindhouse
My Top 100 Horror Movies OF ALL TIME.
Swear this franchise is like the new Saw.
I haven't really watched most of them tho. Are they well made? Are they non-jump scary?
"How is education supposed to make me feel smarter? Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain. Remember when I took that home wine-making course and forgot how to drive?"
--Homer
Jump scares is pretty much all this franchise is, I will say though, the first two Conjuring are well produced.
I wouldn't necessarily trust one that wasn't made by James Wan.
The Nun is terrible.
The Doll ones are passable.
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