Horror Movies

[Bear 1817]

Seen some more Tales From the Crypt:

 

Episode 4, Abra Cadaver - A really neat episode by Stephen Hopkins (A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child, Predator 2). It's clever, it's hilarious and it's fun. Beau Bridges is fantastic here. Really, really impressive. 9/10

 

Episode 5, Top Billing - Todd Holland (The Wizard) directs this dark, black comedy with a fantastic Jon Lovitz in the lead, and an even better John Astin who gives us an Oscar-worthy performance. He's very theatrical and over the top, but he's amazing. There's something very Vincent Price-esque over his performance, and I dig it. But this is simply one of the best episodes of the series till now. It's up there with And All Through the House from the first season. Sheer god damn brilliance from begining to end. 10/10

[Bear 1817]

Episode 6, Dead Wait - A very nice episode from genius filmmaker Tobe Hooper with Whoopi Goldberg, John Rhys-Davies, Vanity and some others. Predictabl, but very nice and atmospheric. A nice one! 8/10

And god damn was Vanity hot around this time. Jesus christ!

 

Seeding of a Ghost - More Hong Kong horror in the vein of Gu and Mo. The film can easily be described as Hong Kong madness, and it's the kind of film you'll only find in Hong Kong. Black magic mayhem, superb special effects and an overall cool and unique vibe. I like how these films, despite being super cheesy, over the top and silly, still maintain a massive amount of darkness in them. That's quite rare for these type of films. Highly recommended to horror maniacs!

 

 

 

 

 

Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau - Title says it all, doesn't it? A nice, well-crafted documentary about one of the most promising failures ever made. Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau had everything it takes to create an utter masterpiece, such as a good script, a very promising director, a fantatic cast and a great backing. But for some reason it ended up a massive failure and a TOTAL mayhem. It would be cool to have interviews with Val Kilmer and Ron Perlman, but them not being a part of this, and especially the former, was as expected.

 

I almost laughed myself to death when Marco Hofschneider & co. told the story about how Marlon Brando pretended to know german, then spanish, and how Brando and Nelson de la Rosa became best buddies on set. Hilarious!

 

Highly recomended for both fans and haters of The Island of Dr. Moreau, and even people who's never even heard about the film.

[Bear 1817]

Black Magic - This is basically Hong Kong's answer to White Zombie. A Shaw Brothers horror film that stars a favourite of mine, Ti Lung, was groundbreaking at the time of its release and is considered the begining of the Hong Kong exploitation horror. It's a tale of sex, greed and, quite obviously, black magic. These three things alone should be more than enough to please me, and when you add Ti Lung and a BEAUTIFUL poster it should just get better. But god, this film is so disappointing. There's no real horror in the film asside from a good villain, but he is not good enough to save this film all by himself. It just lacks in all departments. No atmosphere, no gore, nothing over the top or anything. It's just inbetween everything that makes films good.

 

Well, it's hard to say this, but this just doesn't live up to it reputation. It's easy to see it's importance and influence on the late 70's/80's Hong Kong horror scene, but that's all it gets from me. As mediocre as it gets IMO. Looking forward to seeing the sequels though, which is supossed to be gorier and more over the top.

 

 

The poster:

 

 

What a beauty. I'd frame that and have it up on my wall if I liked the film more. Stunning!

[Bear 1817]

Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror

 

A nice TV-made documentary about Hammer Films and their legacy. A short "interlude" goes through the first years of the company before they move onto the Hammer Horror years. Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing narrates the whole film, as well as appear in some interviews, and and other people like Hazel Court, Joe Dante, Ray Harryhausen, Freddie Francis, Val Guest, Roy Ward Baker,  Martine Beswick, Veronica Carlson and more appears in the film. This is a treat for fans of Hammer Horror and horror films in general.

 

It's a fantastic, wonderful documentary, however, there's one huge problem though: it's only 100 minutes long. As a massive Hammer Horror fan, both the good and the bad moves, I think every single film mentioned deserves 100 minutes each. This is a documentary that should've been 10-15 hours long, and I am not kidding. That's nothing less of what Hammer Films deserves. Anyway, top ntoch documentary!

 

 

 

I'll try to find the documentary Hammer: The Studio That Dripped Blood! next. It's only an hour long, but an hour is one hour better than nothing.

[Bear 1817]

Episode 7, The Reluctant Vampire - An unusual vampire story that's something else. It's campy, I'd say, but in a good way. Hilarious as well, ans the casting of Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes) as Rupert Van Helsing is nothing short of brilliant. What a fantastic casting. He's just so god damn good, like. What a charisma! 9/10

 

[Bear 1817]

Episode 8, Easel Kill Ya - A great, dark and morbid episode starring Tim Roth. It's a fairly standard and predictable story, but it's really well-done and Tim Roth' performance is captivating. A very good episode. 8/10

 

Episode 9, Undertaking Palor - Another very fun episode with a great John Glover and Jonathan Ke Quan (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, The Goonies). It's dark and fun. Very, very good. 9/10

 

 

This series is just to notch. So much fun, and I'm super excited for every new episode I am watching. Brilliant!

[Bear 1817]

Episode 10, Mournin' Mess - First off, what a cool title! Second off, what a super episode! It's got atmosphere, it's got creepyness, it's got humour. I really thought this episode was one of the many highlights so far in the series. 9/10

 

Episode 11, Split Second - Another really good episode, this time directed by Russell Mulcahy, best known for his two Highlander films. The episode stars a good and super sexy Michelle Johnson, as well as a fantastic Brion James. Brion James' performance is really over the top, and overacting is a decent enough word to use about his performance, but it just makes everything hella lot funnier. The ending is predictable, but absolutely brilliant! 9/10

 

Episode 12, Deadline - A nice episode, but it lacks a bit of everything. It's not very funny, it's not gory, it's not atmosheric. Just a bit inbetween all these things. It's not bad, but it could've been a lot more better. Marg Helgenberger is stunning here, and the sets looks really nice. A bit gritty and depressing. But it's one of the worst episodes so far, still enjoyable though. 6/10

 

Episode 13, Spoiled - This one was really nice, but I was a bit let down from the ending. The overall feeling of this episode is very different for the series. It's soapy, from the way it's shot to the way it's acted and written. It's really good up until the ending which is a bit lackluster. It simply doesn't look very good. They should've gone for something gorier and/or crazier. But everything else was top notch. Faye Grant and Anita Morris, though. Mmmmm. 8/10

[Bear 1817]

Hammer: The Studio That Dripped Blood!

 

Another nice documentary about Hammer, focusing on the Hammer Horror films. It's only an hour long and features much of what was featured in Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror, but it doesn't focus as much on individual films as Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror. Some great interviews with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, as well as others of course. Totally recommended for Hammer Horror fans.

[Bear 1817]

Episode 14, Yellow - Robert Zemeckis (Back From the Future I-III, Forest Gump), who previously directed my favourite Tales From the Crypt episode And All Through the House, returns with another instant classic in this series. This episode is different than most of the episodes as it is not a single touch of horror to be found here. This isn't supernatural, thrilling or anything like that. It's got more blood and gore than most other episodes, but it's a war-drama with a hint of comedy. It's alsothe longest episode till now, closing in on 40 minutes, 10 more minutes than the second longest episode of the show. But don't worry, this doesn't feel any longer, and it's almost as good as the best ones. A really good ending to the season.

 

Also, both father Kirk and son Eric Douglas does really well here. Superb!

[Bear 1817]

 

 

Hands down the best actor ever (well, along with Boris Karloff). A fantastic singer, an even better actor and on top of that an even better person. Simply my all-time favourite film persona along with Boris Karloff. Absolutely unique in every way imaginable. A man who cannot get enough praise. Is there any other actor who've had as many memorable roles as this man? Nah, not even the great Boris Karloff did. All hail!

 

[Bear 1817]

Crazy Lips - Crazy indeed. This was something quite unique and special, and something unlike everything I've ever seen before. It's a blend of horror, comedy and action, and it's just so bisarre and absurd. I still have no idea what I watched. A huge WHAT THE FUCK!

 

A family is "cursed" by bad blood with both the father and brother in the family being awful humans, or so the general public thinks, so one of the two daughters goes to a psychic chick to get some help. The psychic agrees to help it, and it begins. The ceremony begins, and her boob squeezin' obsessed side-kick starts raping "everybody". One of the rape-scenes is so far out there. It's like taken straight from some absurd hentai or something. And it just gets weirder and weirder with every turn and twist.

 

Is it really a horror film? Well, not really. But it still is. And is it a good film? No-way, but I was entertained anyway.

 

[Bear 1817]

i finally started on Tales From the Crypt, season 4:

 

Episode 1, None But the Lonely Heart - A very nice episode directed by none other than Tom Hanks who's also got a small role in the episode. Fun and exciting episode with a brilliant ending. Those special effects, man. Stunning! 9/10

[Tokage 5930]

I think Crazy Lips has some sort of semi-sequel, ''Chi wo sû uchû'', focusing more on the special agent played by Hiroshi Abe and his sidekick, and as far as i can remember it was just as fucked up and bizarre as Crazy Lips. Even less horror than Crazy Lips, tho.

[Bear 1817]

Jaws - A very welcombed rewatch of one of the best blockbusters ever. This is what a summer blockbuster should be like. It's at its best when it's hot outside, and it's a film that works best with some beera snd BBQ'd food. It's darker, meaner and more brutal in many ways than blockbusters nowadays and for me that's perfect. Great atmosphere, a fantastic mechanical shark, stunning score and great acting and directing.

 

Especially the shark stands out. It feels so threatnening and menacing, even when you can see the mechanical movement. How cool is that? Name me one CGI monster of modern age that's as good as this shark. You can't, cuz it doesn't exist. Massive film!

 

[Bear 1817]

Santo vs. the Zombies - For thse unaware, El Santo was a Mexican lucha libre wrestler and a folk hero, often regarded as one of the greatest legends in Mexican sports ever. He started his wrestling career sometimes in the mid 30's, and in '52 he got his own comics which ran for 35(!!!) years, and in '58 he started his acting career playing a syperhero-like sidekick in two films where he was not a wrestler. But in '62 he got his "own" films where he was THE man, and where he is playing himself, a wrestling saint battling evil scientists and zombies, something he would do in well over 50 films. He's also got animated series based on him and all kinds of stuff.

 

Santo vs. the Zombies is a very fine mix of adventure, mystery and horror. As you understand from the title we're talking about zombies, but these aren't the flesh-eating bastards we know as zombies, these are the early ones, dead humans controlled by someone. Everything's a bit odd in this film, especially for me who's not a huge fan of wrestling to behin with, but I really liked this film. It's at times atmosheric, it's cool as fuck and just really entertaining. Can't wait to see more Santo-films!

 

[freesia 714]

Poltergeist

2/5

This movie was more like a comedy to me. Not scary at all but funny at times. I know this was based on the old Poltergeist but in this new one, the ghost world just looked like an Insidious rip off.

[Bear 1817]

Sharknado 2: The Second One - As stupid as it sounds, I am one of those who really liked Sharknado. I didn't like it because it was good, but because it's so stupid, brainless and silly, yet so genuin in many ways, unlike the majority of films associated with The Asylum. Many have criticized The Asylum for missing the whole point about "so bad it's good" films as they never even tries to make something decent like they did with Troll 2 or The Room, but just makes something that's suossed to be crap. I like some of their films, more presicely their monster/animal attack films, though.

 

This film i more of the same as the first, but it just tried too hard to be a cult film like it's predecessor ended up being, and it lacks the genuin feeling of the first film, which makes it less fun than Sharknado. It had its moments, but overall I was really disappointed with this film.

 

I did love the Evil Dead homage though. It was cool. And it had some cool cameos too.

 

And I do look forward to part 3, Oh, Hell No! as it is called.

 

[Licio123 181]

Poltergeist wasn't terrible, but nothing special either. I haven't watched the old one but this version comes as a rip-off of Insidious. Either way, 7/10

[Bear 1817]

They have done something very wrong then, because the original is very far from Insidious, and absolutely fantastic as well.

[Bear 1817]

 

 

Shiiiiiiit, memories... I ate half my dinners in the living room becaue Goosebumps was sent on TV during dinner time at my home. Never really got through a book, though, cos I was never much of a reader. Anyway, that doesn't look very good, and it seems they've totally abandoned the concept of Goosebumps being a horror-suspense show, which is kinda sad. That looks like a straight up comedy to me, which is so wrong on so many levels.

[Bear 1817]

Tales From the Crypt:

 

Episode 4, This'll Kill Ya - A predictable but fun episode with no surprises and some poor acting. It's entertaining, but not very good.

 

Episode 5, On a Deadman's Chest - Fantastic episode by none other than William Friedkin. There's some poor acting involved, but everything else makes up for it and the ending is so crazy and goofy, but yet so very, very good. Loved this episode!

 

Episode 6, Seance - Another great episode. Predictable, but the fun of it makes up for it. Lovely stuff!

[Mind of the sun 71]

Saw "Event Horizon" for the first time a few days ago. Really enjoyable sci-fi horror (8/10). Apperantly it is one of the movies that inspired the developers of Dead Space.

[Bear 1817]

Event Horizon is a cool and slightly underrated film. A 7/10 for me. Love those space-, or even sea-terror films, even the ones that aren't all that good. Just add some nice suspense and atmosphere and combine it with a claustrophobic feeling and you have me hooked. Alien, Event Horizon, Sunshine, Sphere, The Abyss or hell, even non-space nor sea-themed The Thing, but it's similar as far as the claustrophobia and suspense goes. Just love these kind of films.

 

Both Event Horizon and Sphere are very underrated in my eyes. Not great films, but very enjoyable films for what they are.

[Bear 1817]

Preservation - Meh, this wasn't all that. It was basically Eden Lake with another setting, poor acting, awful, artificial dialogue, dumb, unlikeable characters and a lack of atmosphere. And I don't feel the badguys at all. Just nah, they didn't do anything for me. If you ask me this is nothing but a poor man's Eden Lake, just lacking all the quality of Eden Lake.

 

[diamondAss 114]

i didn´t really know where to ask except here, so....... maybe someone could suggest me a movie or two that´s actually creepy. i´d like something about ghosts, demons, possession, exorcism - that kinda stuff. thanks!!