Horror Movies

[Bear 1817]

The Faculty  - Decentish (5-6/10) sci-fi-horror directed by Robert Rodriguez with Elijah Wood, Josh Hartnett, Jordana Brewster, Famke Janssen, Robert Patrick, Salma Hayek, Usher and more in the roles as ifferent characters. It's a pretty standard film and is basically a mix of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Thing and Breakfast Club, but some of the characters lacks depth, it's at times awfully acted (especially Clea DuVall and Shawn Hatosy are doing a oor job here) and the special effects are a mixed bag. When it's all about the practical special effects it looks amazing, but as soon as it is switched over to CGI it goes bad at once. But it's OK. Not something I'll rewatch again (did watch it something like 10 years ago though, and liked it muh better back then).

[Bear 1817]

Tourist Trap - A great, underrated and forgotten horror gem from 1979. Creepy as fuck and atmospheric film with great acting, a cool plot and an amazing soundtrack. The soundtrack is made by Pino Donaggio, known for his soundtracks for films such as Piranha, The Howling, Carrie, Dressed to Kill and Body Double, and it is phenomenal. Odd, interesting and great. Very underrated film, and it's really odd at times. The humour is so out of place, yet it works perfectly in the mix. Good shit.

 

[Lestat 2167]

^ I am going to watch that one, despite my irrational fear of animated dolls and mannequins. I need to overcome it somehow.

[Bear 1817]

To be quite honest I do not think this is the film to watch to overcome ones fair of mannequins, but considering how great the film is it's totally worth a try.

[Lestat 2167]

I also watched Tourist Trap, and luckily it wasn't as frightening as I ought it to be. I think because of the lacking special effects due to the time period in which it was produced and the obvious puppeteering the mannequins didn't have much of an effect on me and I found this to be more or less amusing rather than scary in any sort of way. I love films with small casts, though; it gives you more of an opportunity to get the know the characters in a short amount of time and it isn't that confusing when suddenly someone new jumps in. This was a fun watch, a lot of odd mindplay, will probably allow myself to be recommended by Bear's posts more often. 

[Bear 1817]

The Town that Dreaded Sundown (2014) - This remake/metal-sequel/loveletter to the original film does well in capturing some of the feeling from the original '76 cult-classic slasher of the same name, and modernize and rework it without fucking it up. It's not an original film by any means, but I thought it was damn good. Way above my expectations. Great atmosphere, terrorizing and dark. Damn nice cinematography too, and the way it's shot is lovely.

 

Just to make it clear: the original film exists within this film, and they refer to it quiet a lot. You could compare it to Scream and the Stab-films. Same shit. Just that this film they refer to here, is an actual film. You get it. I thought it was a very nice and clever move.

 

[Jigsaw9 6783]

[REC] 4: Apocalypse - Weird to think that I watched the first movie 7 years ago, wow. Practically followed the whole thing from the beginning, and now we're at the end. Was it good? Well~ it wasn't bad I guess. The previous movie set my expectations high with its trailer but then somehow I was left disappointed, even tho it had its moments. This (supposedly) last one was just like... "okay, here we go, *runtime passes* okay it's over." xD There wasn't anything particularly scary or funny or cool about it, except maybe some of the infected-makeup and the set design (I'm a sucker for claustrophobic industrial spaces). Just mediocre but kinda enjoyable. The ending was kinda lame tho imo.

 

Oh well, the first 2 films will always be in my imaginary top list, and I guess it's better to close the story after 4 movies instead of letting it all go to hell completely on subsequent mindless sequels. I might re-watch all 4 movies in a kind of mini-marathon in the future, I just like their overall vibe (and I feel like the 3rd and 4th ones might seem nicer that way too, as parts of one continuous story).

 

[Bear 1817]

My Bloody Valentine - Well, it was valentine's day yesterday so I made a cake, some food and choose for me and my girl to watch this film as the theme suited the day very well. Obviously, I watched the original and I am obviously a fan. Released in 1981, the world had already seen several holiday slashers, but this changed it all by choosing a day that's supossed to be o-so sweet and all that crap. It's moody, got great death-scenes, a bloody amazing killer, solid acting and a fairly standard plot. Well, the film itself is fairly standard and if you are familiar with slashers there's not a single surprise here, but it's very atmospheric and some of the cinematography is great. Especially the mineshaft-scene were the killers is smashing the lights along the way. Totally stunning stuff, in a fantastic film.

 

[x_dak_x 5]

looking forward to crimson peak. same director as pans labyrinth. doug jones in it...gothic architecture..stunning!

[Bear 1817]

Just started on the Hammer House of Horror anthology series and watched the first episode, so I'll update here whenever I watch a new episode:

 

Episode 1, Witching Time - This short (50 minutes) is directed by Don Leaver whom I am not familiar with, but from the looks of it he was mostly involved in TV-series. It's fairly generic and standard, and it is lacking in all departments, but it was a nice little treat anyway. From what I heard it's the weakest in the series, and if that is true then I am very positive. Enjoyable, but not amazing. 6/10

[ghost 2687]

Ahhhh yeaah! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
 
I just got done watching Ju-on: The Grudge 2 and it does nooooot hold up very well. I'll be honest, I'm kind of a fanboy and the whole time I was trying to convince myself that it's reaaally scary, but I had to face the facts. It's not. Anymore at least.
 
There's a lot of cool ideas and some of the execution is done very well, but the story line is hard to follow because of the way it jumps around to different characters and different time periods. Also, there's not enough scares and too many boring scenes. I don't care about these people because they're going to die anyway. But the movie(s) spend so much time building them up. On the plus side, the acting is pretty good.

 

The way the curse acts is really unclear too. It can do whatever it wants with no rhyme or reason. It bends time and dimensions, alters a person's state of mind, takes control of objects, creates minions that don't do anything, vandalizes photos and homes, ruins coffee dates, and even straight up kills people. If it can just kill people, what's the point of all that other stuff???? 

 

Well, for people who never were interested enough to look beyond the American Grudges, there are a total of 10 Japanese Grudge movies (including the "series finale" coming out this year June in Japan). There's:

 

"4444444"

"In the Corner"

"Ju-on: The Curse"

"Ju-on: The Curse 2"

"Ju-on: The Grudge"

"Ju-on: The Grudge 2"

"Ju-on: White Ghost"

"Ju-on: Black Ghost"

"Ju-on: The beginning of the end"

"Ju-on: The Final"

 

*I'd post some pictures but I'm too scared to look up any.

 

The American Grudge is actually the 2nd horror film I've every watched, and it began my craze interest in scary movies. So, yeah it doesn't stand the test of time too well, but man does it bring back the feels.

[Bear 1817]

Ahhhh yeaah! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

 

Are you familiar with the series yourself, or Hammer Horror in general?

[ghost 2687]

Well, I've seen the main classics like Dracula and Frankenstein. I don't know if you know the Angry Video Game Nerd but he talks about it a lot on his YouTube show and so I found out about it through that.

[Bear 1817]

Yeah, I'm quite familiar with The Angry Video Game Nerd, and I really like him. I especially enjoy his Cinemassacre series where he reviews a shitload of horror films throughout october. Lots of fun. And yeah, Hammer Horror is a must for any fan of horror films IMO, and the amount of amazing films they released from around 1955 to 1975ish is fantastic. Good originals and plenty of great sequels too. A shitload of what I'd call essential horror cinema there.

 

Seen more Hammer House of Horror:

 

Episode 2, The Thirteenth Reunion - The second episode is directed by Peter Sasdy, a man behind great films like Taste the Blood of Dracula, Countess Dracula and Hands of the Ripper. So I was really looking forward to this. This plays along like a mystery-thriller for most part and it is lacking atmosphere and chills. But the tone suddenly changes, and while it is pretty predictable, it gets very atmospheric and fun toward the end of the episode. And the end is just fantastic! Did it deliver as good as I expected? Well, no, not really. I did have quite high expectations after all. Was I entertaining however? Yes, very much so, and a step up from episode 1, Witching Time. 7/10

 

Episode 3, Rude Awakening - Another one from Peter Sasdy, and again I find myself a bit disappointed, yet very much entertained. A it weaker than The Thirteenth Reunion as it lacks the punch from the film, and the intro kinda ruins the setup for the film telling you all you need to know to get the episode straight away, which is a shame. But other than that it was petty fun. Loved seeing Denholm Elliott and Eleanor Summerfield on screen, though. Great actors. 7/10

[Bear 1817]

Episode 4, Growing Pains - Directed by Francis Megahy whom I do not know, so I didn't expect much from this. Yet I found myself very disappointed after this episode. I thought it showed some promise early on, especially in the car, which was spinechilling as fuck, but from there on it all went to hell. The acting is stiff as the actors weren't explained what to doo, it's poorly edited and just not very good. There's not eally anything good here. It was very boring. Simple as that. 4/10

[Bear 1817]

Episode 5, The House That Bled to Death - Another episode directed by someone I'm not familiar with, Tom Clegg, but this time I'm really impressed because this is by far the best episode till now. It's actually god damn good. The atmosphere is great, the acting is OK, Tom Clegg does a great job and it's just superior to the first four episodes on every level aside from actors.  I did not see that ending coming. Highly recommended! 9/10

[Bear 1817]

Episode 6, Charlie Boy - Cool episode on par with The Thirteenth Reunion and Rude Awakening directed by Robert Young (Vampire Circus). It is a bit lackluster on the atmopsheric side of things, but it's a very cool episode, though a bit generic. It feels very macabre, but not quite as macabre as The Thirteenth Reunion, and more on the horror-side of things. I liked it a lot. 7/10

[Bear 1817]

Episode 7, The Silent Scream - When I saw that Alan Gibson (Dracula A.D. 1972, The Satanic Rites of Dracula) had the direction for this I got very excited, and when I saw that Peter Cushing had a leading role I got even more excited, and while good, I must admit I was a bit disappointed. Again the episode lacked atmosphere. But it was a fun episode, so I am not dissatisfied or anything. Very enjoyable, but not as good as it should have been with those names attached to it.

[ghost 2687]

Quick question, where did you find this anthology? Are you watching physical copies, a stream, etc ?

[Bear 1817]

I downloaded it from kickass or thepiratebay. It's hard to find for it though. While I don't need subs myself, I do prefer having subs and I could only find english subs for 4-5 out of the 13 episodes. Also, I'll admit that I am very disappointed by the series. It's enjoyable, but not close to as enjoyable as I had expected. It lacks the usual Hammer Horror standard, especially as far of the visuals and casts goes. Hammer Horror are known for it's amazing sets and great casts with plenty of Horror icons, but this series lacks both. The budget was small, but still, they should've managed to get more out of it. If I were to recommend you you anything Hammer Horror, I'd recommend you some films instead. On a while different level than this series. Not even compareable.

 

 

 

 

I started on another horror anthology series as well, and I am finding this much more enjoyable till now. Just finished season 1 and I've enjoyed the shit out of it. Brilliant!

 

 

Most of the episodes are based on EC Comics from the 50's and are taken from The Crypt of Terror, Haunt of Fear, Vault of Horror, Crime SuspenStories, Shock SuspenStories and Two-Fisted Tales. Since HBO was a premium cable TV channel the show had full freedom from censorship, which means they could have graphic violence, gore, nudity and profanity without any problems whatsoever. The episodes' runtime range from 22-30 minutes, and they all begin and end with the Crypt Keeper introducing the episodes and saying goodbye, with lots of silly but fun puns.

 

I'll come back with an episode by episode "review" later today.

[Lestat 2167]

Annabelle (2014) — I absolutely detested this. Not because it was necessarily a bad movie, but because of my intense fear for dolls (I also do not know what came over me as I started this). For my part demons could simply start possessing oven gloves or lunchboxes and I wouldn't give a wink, but this is just something that keeps me on edge all night after I've watched it and I might have a slight case of pediophobia. If there is anyone there who bears significant fears, this is the movie for you if you want to miss out on a night of sleep. As a prequel to The Conjuring (in which the doll 'Annabelle' also makes an appearance), this appears to be a good way to get into the story of what actually managed to start haunting the Harrisville house (presumed to be a fallen entity with quite a big name in the business). Now, I am not quite the non-believer and these events are one of the most gruesome paranormal sequences of activities ever recorded. I wouldn't quite want to keep any dolls after watching this.

[Bear 1817]

As well as watching horror anthology series, I've also been watching a couple of horror anthology films. Good shit.

 

Dr. Terror's House of Horrors - The first out of 7 horror anthologies by Amicus Productions released between 65-74. This flick was directed by Freddie Francis (Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, The Evil of Frankenstein) and written by Milton Subotsky (The City of the Dead, The Skull), as well as having a cast featuring Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Donald Sutherland. This means that I quite obviously had massive expectations for it, and it delivers the goods to some degree. Well, it was a very cool flick, but as usual the quality of the shorts are a bit up and down.

 

A short comment on each of the stories:

 

The main narrative that connects everything together is very cool, and in this you get Peter Cushing as Dr. Shreck, Christopher Lee and Donald Sutherland. It's cool, but nothing too special and very predictable, other than Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee being together on screen which is always amazing.

 

Werewolf - The title says it all, and I was very entertained by this. Atmospheric and nice. My favourite of the lot. 9/10

Creeping Vine - The title says it all again, and I thought it was very enjoyable. A step down, but great fun nonetheless. 8/10

Voodoo - Title says much, if not all. I thought this was a huge step down. I was entertained, but it wasn't amazing. Weakest of the lot. 6/10

Disembodied Hand -  Another title that says it all. This one was very good. Christopher Lee is amazing as always, and the story is nice. Lovely special effects for the hand too. It looked so god damn good! 8/10

Vampire - Title says it all again. Heh... Thought this was pretty good. It's very silly but I felt it was kinda unpedictable. At least I was surprised. Donald Sutherland is great! 7/10

 

And it ends with the main narrative, which as said previously is cool. All in all very good!

 

 

Torture Garden - The second of Amicus Productions many anthology films. Again directed by  Freddie Francis, but written by Robert Bloch (Psycho), as well as having a cast geaturing Peter Cushing, Burgess Meredith, Jack Palance and Michael Ripper among others. So my expectations were very high. But I was disappointed This is a mixed bag. Amazing at its best, but bad at its worst.

 

The main narrative is a bit disappointing, despite Burgess Meredith being amazing. Fairly straight forward and predictable.

 

Enoch - Silly, but nice and atmospheric short. I enjoyed it quite a lot though. 8/10

Terror Over Hollywood - By far the weakest of the lot, and Beverly Adams, as hot as she is, sucks. She can't act for shit, but even if she could it wouldn't have helped this short too much. The story isn't very engaging either. Nah, not good at all. 3/10

Mr. Steinway -  This is really fucking stupid, but it's fun enough and managed to entertain me. 6/10

The Man Who Collected Poe - By far my favourite of the lot. Very nice and atmospheric, and Peter Cushing is godly. The whole story really hirts the right spot at me. Truly great! 10/10

 

And the main narrative ends it. Predictable, but decent to get shit going and keeps 'em together pretty nicely.

 

[Bear 1817]

Tales From The Crypt, season 1:

 

Episode 1, The Man Who Was Death - A lovely little vigilante-story with a fantastic William Sadler in the lead, a great plot and soe titties, and let us not lie, titties are always a plus. Høh. Anyway, a fantastic start to the series by Walter Hill (The Warriors, Streets of Fire). 9/10

 

Episode 2, And All Through the House - An instant classic and an episode I'll be watching every single christmas from now on. Horror-comedy at its very best by Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future trilogy). Nothing short of perfect! 10/10

 

Episode 3, Dig That Cat... He's Real Gone - A great, innovative episode by Richard Donner (Leathal Weapon, The Omen) with a genius Joe Pantoliano in the lead. 8/10

 

Episode 4, Only Sin Deep - A nice episde, but the first which disappointed me a bit. A step down from previous ones. It's good, but just not as good as the others up till this point. Really enjoyed Lea Thompson in it though. Great work! 7/10

 

Episode 5, Lover Come Hack to Me - A great episode by Tom Holland (Fright Night, Child's Play) with a really freaky Amanda Plummer in the lead. Very good stuff! 8/10

 

Episode 6, Collection Completed - Stupid and silly, but so very, very fun and enjoyable episode by Mary Lambert (Pet Sematary) with a fantastic M. Emmet Walsh in the lead. He just drives everything here almost all by himself. Magnificent performance! 8/10

 

 

Brilliant season 1. So fucking good! Highly recommended for fans of horror/black comedy/thrillers.

[Bear 1817]

Tales From The Crypt, season 2:

 

Episode 1, Dead Right - Another one by Howard Deutch who also did Only Sin Deep from season 1, and this time it's better. Silly, fun and slightly over the top. Very fun, and both Demi Moore and Jeffrey Tambor does well, especially Tambor is fantastic. 8/10

 

Episode 2, The Switch - This episode features a short cameo by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the intro sequence and is actually directed by him, and it shouldn't come as a surprise that this in one way deals with muscles. Heh. This also marks the first episode to actually be based on the Tales From the Crypt comic. It's silly, but enjoyable. One of the weakst till now, though. But still more than solid. 7/10

 

Episode 3, Cutting Cards - Another one by Walter Hill who did The Man Who Was Death from season 1, and once again he is spot on. It's very silly allright, but it's really entertaining. So over the top and stupid. 8/10

 

Episode 4, 'Til Death - Very atmospheric piece with voodoo and all kinds of shit. Over the top? Yes, but I really enjoyed it. Get's really out of hand towards the end, in a very good way that is. 8/10

 

Episode 5, Three's a Crowd - A surpriser. I thought it started off pretty poor, but it didn't take long before things got better and shit really got good. Great episode! 8/10

 

Episode 6, The Thing from the Grave - This is directed by Fred Dekker (Night of the Creeps, The Monster Squad) and stars a way too sexy Teri Hatcher and Miguel Ferrer. This one's among my favourite in the series so far and I thought this was genius. Fairly predictable, but lots 'n' lots of fun. Great episode!

[Bear 1817]

I have seen some more Tales From the Cryp season 2t:

 

Episode 7, The Sacrifice - This one's directed by Richard Greenberg (Little Monsters) and is by far the weakest of the series till now. A huge disappointment. It's predictable and lacks everything really. It's not godawful, just not good either. 5/10

 

Episode 8, For Cryin' Out Loud - This episode with Lee Arenberg and Katey Sagal was really good. It's silly and fun, and the over the top performance by Lee Arenberg is amazing. 8/10

 

Episode 9, Four-Sided Triangle - Another one by Tom Holland who did the great Lover Come Hack to Me from seasn 1. Chelcie Ross stands out in this episode as the perverted farmer George. Love a couple of the scenes as well, as they are fantasticly surreal. 8/10

 

Episode 10, The Ventriloquist's Dummy - This is another episode by Richard Donner who did the great Dig That Cat... He's Real Gone  from season 1 with great performances from Don Rickles and Bobcat Goldthwait, who's probably best known as screaming Zed from Police Academy 2-4. It's a great twist on the ventriloquist-story we've all seen so many times before. I actually got a bit of Basket Case feeling from the episode. Amazing stuff! 9/10

 

Episode 11, Judy, You're Not Yourself Today - Fantastic, over the top and silly episode with a superb Brian Kerwin who more or less drives this episode on his own. His theatrical acting just makes this a pleasure to the eye. Great episode! 8/10