Horror Movies

[Tokage 5930]

So, I finally got around to watching Deathgasm.

 

Take the basic premise of The Evil Dead, blend it with a strong dose of metal and you'll end up with this fun little horror comedy right here. The basic plot of the movie can be summed up as follows; teenage metalhead accidentally unleashes a demon invasion upon his small, sleepy New Zealand town by playing an ancient doom metal song. Hilarity ensues. What follows is a wild ride with lots and lots of blood and gore. Thankfully, the film mostly features practical effects, with only the occasional use of CGI here and there. Awesome. Also, I laughed way harder than I should have at the mental image of the movie's token Dungeons & Dragons nerd deciding to face the ongoing demon apocalypse with Hulk gloves

 

Of course the movie has its downsides as well, the female lead (while being quite hot) comes off a bit stiff at times acting-wise and the whole subplot of the evil cult sort of felt dumb to me, but other than that.. Yeah, fun popcorn flick. Go see it/download it if you can.

[Bear 1817]

Darknet - I finished this anthology series on 6 episodes yesterday and must say I was really impressed, especially considering it's a TV-series. Horror TV-series are rarely any good anymore, but this was. It's in the vein as V/H/S, but unlike V/H/S it jumps around in time and the stories in each episode cross and such. I really liked it. It's at times creepy, at times really bloody, at times macabrily funny and at times puzzling. It's not original or anything like that in general, but in 2015 it comes off as something very fresh for the TV-screen. Totally recommended, people, and if you liked V/H/S you wo't be disappointed.

 

Slaughter Hotel - I've talked some about sleazy giallos in the past, and this is another one, a giallo-inspired slasher film directed by influential poliziotteschi director Fernando Di Leo (Milieu Trilogy). The film stars none other than Klaus Kinski himself and a lot of sexy babes. It's sleazy and very slasher-like. The plot here is basically just an excuse to show off some murderes, blood and lots of nudity. Which I in general have no problems with, but in this film it's a problem. I've said before that nudity and horor goes hand in hand in my eyes, especially this kind of horror, but in this just went way too far with it. Tits, ass and full frontals are very much appreciated, but in this they also include close-ups of a few pussies which is about as interesting and pretty as a close-up of someone's brown asshole. Keep it away, bitches! It also lacks a proper mystery as you'll figure out who the killer is after one and a half kill, which is disappointing.

 

But the murderer is cool, some of the kills are creative and nice, Klaus is fantastic and creepy as fuck and the soundtrack is nice. The climax and ending is totally stunning as well. I mean, shieeeeeeeeeeeet, that was superb! Sure gets an extra point for that.

 

[Bear 1817]

A Lizard in a Woman's Skin - Classic Lucio Fulci giallo which, along with many of his other giallos, shows he could do more than to just shock with his gory imagery and gruesome pictures. A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (God, what a fantastic title!!!) has a good story, a fantastic mystery, a nice cast, brilliant soundtrack by Ennio Morricone and an overall cool vibe. It's a very dream-like,psychedelic and trippy, and very atypical for a giallo. Susenseful, stylish, bizarre. It's a great film. Top notch Fulci!

 

Also, THAT scene is amazing. Those special effects are among the best ever caught on film. They look so real and gruesome, man. God damn, much better than I remembered.

 

 

Murder to the Tune of Seven Black Notes - This film is perhaps better known as The Psychic, but I despite that title so much. Fuck it, I say!  Anyway, nice, late 70's Lucio Fulci giallo with a really nice vibe to it. I had never seen this before so I was quite excited you can say. It's another one to show how the man himself was way more than just the Godfather of Gore. OK, so he was never the best storyteller, but he got the job done well and he had a great talent for creating suspense. I love how the film is shot and edited, and that, along with the great sountrack by Fabio Frizzi, Vince Tempera and some guy I don't know, is the best part of the film. The soundtrack is excellent and builds so much tension all by itself. Part of the soundtrack was also use din Tarantino's Kill Bill. It's that good.

 

Superb ending too. Really took me by surprise.

 

Top notch, underrated giallo.

 

 

[Bear 1817]

It's been a while since we did a list now, so how about us making a top 3/5/10/whatever list of our favourite soundtracks? There's been a lot of good soundtrack in all genres, but it's horror soundtracks I keep listening to over and over again. Maybe because I consider a soundtrack in a horror film as much more important than in other genres? Yeah, that's why. It's so important.

 

So, make your list, guys. As many or few as you want.

[Bear 1817]

Here's a list of 15 must-haves in my eyes. This is the kind of soundtracks I play over and over and over again, and which works just as well on its own as with its film. This isn't in a specific order or anything, though. Completely random. And note that this is about entire soundtracks, and not just a theme or anything.

 

 

1. Goblin - Tenebre

2. Goblin - Deep Red

3. Goblin - Suspiria

4. Goblin - Patrick

5. Goblin - Zombi (Dawn of the Dead)

6. Fabio Frizzi - Zombie 2

7. Fabio Frizzi - City of the Living Dead

8. Fabio Frizzi - The Beyond

8. Jay Chattaway - Maniac

9. Popol Vuh - Nosferatu (Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht)

10. John Carpenter and Alan Howarth - Halloween III - Season of the Witch

11. John Carpenter - The Fog

12. Rob ‎– Maniac

13. Jonathan Snipes - Starry Eyes

14.  Christopher Young ‎– Hellraiser

15. Richard Einhorn - Blood Rage

16. Jon McCallum - Surf Nazis Must Die

17. Ennio Morricone - A Lizard in a Woman's Skin

18. John Harrison - Day of the Dead

19. Giuliano Sorgini - Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue

20. John Cameron - Psychomania

21. Ralph Jones - Slumber Party Massacre

22. Libra - Shock

 

I'll keep it at that... for noe. Should give anyone into horror movie sounds a lot to enjoy for quite a while. And yeah, I know I pushed it quite a bit with Surf Nazis Must Die, but I just had to include it because it's so god damn cool. Such a fine soundtrack, man. Bizarre and fucked up.  John Carpenter and Alan Howarth on speed, cocain, heroin and whatnot. Awesome as fuck!

[Bear 1817]

Also, let me take some time to recommend this gem to you all as we/I am on the subject of horror soundtracks:

 

 

"Finally released, the original sountrack to the unmade 80s italian slasher movie described as 'a film so scary... a story so horrifying... it was never made!' Available on October 21th, 2014."

 

 

Not a horror soundtrack, but it sounds like it could've been one. Really good album. A masteriece to be quite honest.

[Bear 1817]

Am I the only one into horror scores? Shocking, boys. Really shocking.

[Jigsaw9 6783]

I mean, I enjoy some music from horror flicks when they're playing, but never actually sought them out on purpose to listen to separately. xD Well okay, only some of Goblin's stuff. So I guess my disappointingly vague list is like:

 

1. John Carpenter

2. Goblin

3. random '80s retrowave

4. that Popol Vuh soundtrack from the 'newer' Nosferatu movie

[Bear 1817]

That's a bit surprising. I'd think you where very much into a lot of horror soundtracks, especially the more synthy stuff like Fabio Frizzi, Jay Chattaway, John Carpenter, Rob, Ralph Jones, Jonathan Snipes and so on. Quite surprising indeed.

 

A couple of more soundtracks I truly enjoy on its own:

 

Slasher Dave - Chubbies

I've never seen the film, but this score is most excellent, like every solo release by Sasher Dave of Acid Witch fame. Clearly inspired by the late 70's and 80's synth soundtracks. Check out Tricks 'N Treats. It's so good!

 

Nicklas Barker - El Ultimo Fin De Semana

Again, I've not seen the film, but this score by Nicklas Barker of Anekdoten and Morte Macabre fame is fantastic. A truly great, haunting and atmospheric album.

[Bear 1817]

The House with Laughing Windows - Another superb giallo, this time by Pupi Avati. It's surprisingly little stylish for a mid-70's giallo, but what it lacks in style it takes back with it's gripping, almost macabre atmosphere and thrilling mystery. It's a very atypical giallo lacking in style, stylized violence/gore and nudity, but its atmosphere totally makes up for it. A bit of a slow-burner, which may cause some trouble for fans of giallos, but it's really rewarding towards the end as the atmosphere grow more and more sinister and macabre, turning almost gothic at times. Unusual, but among the very best of the genre IMO.

 

Lino Capolicchio is superb throughout this film. Brilliant performance.

 

 

Don't Torture a Duckling - Another Lucio Fulci masterpiece, and this isn't only one of his best films being more or less as good as Zombie Flesh Eaters and A Woman in a Lizard's Skin, but one of the best giallos ever as well. A superb mystery with fantastic atmosphere, and for a Lucio Fulci film the story is very good as well. And the rural setting is really nice too. Yeah, not much more to say about this. A must-see for sure!

 

There's not much gore or violence int his film, but there is this one scene that is fantastic. It looks so good. It'll give you a moment of terror for sure.

 

It's got Barbara Bouchet as well. What an actress!

 

 

Deliria - This film is also known as Stage Fright. This is Michele Soavi's directorial debut, and easily the best I've seen from him. The film is more or less a 50/50 old school giallo and modern slasher, and it really mixes and showcases the similarity of the genres. This is all style and no substnce, but it's so well-made and fun. Stylish and colorful, atmospheric and macabre, and violent and bloody. Visually there's a lot of Dario Argento-esque moments here, and this is a film that should please fans of both giallo and slashers. An outstanding film!

 

[Bear 1817]

Burial Ground: The Nights of Terror - Very fun zombie film made to cash in on the success of Zombie Flesh Eaters. This is a plotless zombie film with nothing good going on at all, with the exception of some of the make-up and special effects. But it's 80 minutes of pure gindhouse fun. Cheap, sleazy and silly. Some of the zombies looks amazing, some of them looks like crap, some of the special effects are great, other crap and so on. This is a film only for die-hard zombie fans or general fans of cheap grindhouse horror. I really liked the score to. Helped creating some atmosphere.

 

The scene where the little boy who looks like a proper adult starts to kiss and touch his mom took me completely off-guard. I never expected anything like that in this film, and when his mom later on offers her breast to the boy-turned-zombie I almost laughed my ass off. It's just fantastic! Unexpected, fantastic, hilarious, shocking. The scene was just everything. Amazing!

 

The boy were really creepy to begin with as well. Jesus. I'd rather meet a horde of zombies than him in a dark alley. He's that scary.

 

 

Inferno - One of the most underrated horror films of all time, by one of the finest filmmakers in the history of horror films, Dario Argento. This is 110 minutes of style over substance, but the style is so good here. This film is more a series of amazing set-pieces, beautifully shot images and amazing atmosphere, than a film with a proper storyline. I feel like this film is so misunderstood. It's not about plot, it's about emotion and atmosphere. It's a trippy nightmare, fear on huge amount of acid. The way it looks, the way it sounds, the way everything play out. It's incredible. If you are looking for plot and substance you'll be very disappointed, but if you are looking for atmosphere, haunting and nightmarish imagery of fear, then you'll be pleased, because this film truly has that. A misunderstood masterpiece!

 

An incredible film! Top notch soundtrack bu Keith Emerson of Emerson, Lake & Palmer fame as well.

 

[Jigsaw9 6783]

^ I agree, Burial Ground is loads of trashy fun, but still has a nice atmosphere (and those...other features you wrote about xD), and Inferno is a classic! Haunting and nightmareish, yesss

[Bear 1817]

Anyone seen Zibahkhana? The debut film from Pakistani(?) director Omar Khan. Zombie-slasher/splatter or something like that. It looks like so much fun. Looks like a proper Grindhouse film. It seems to have been really well-recieved as well.

 

 

 

It's up on MyDuckIsDead for those interested. Will download it during this week for sure.

[Bear 1817]

The Company of Wolves - A really nice, dreamlike and surreal take on the fairytale Little Red Riding Hood. This film feels like Tim Burton directing a grown up adaption of Little Red Riding Hood for Hammer Horror, and it's really cool. And it really works. The atmosphere, dreamlike as I said, is really nice, the cinematography and costumes are amazing and the werewolf transformation is neat-as-fuck. Well, all special effects here are neat.

 

Anyway, way better than I had expected. Totally recommended!

 

 

Phantasm - Totally fucking superb horror film from the late 70's. Much, much, much better than I remembered. Aside from a few funny moments, this film is creepy as fuck at times, much due to an Angus Scrimm who is terrifying as The Tall Man, and a superb score. The atmosphere is here, at times surreal and like an awful nightmare, the special effects, the story. Yeah, top notch film!

 

 

The Thing from Another World - You know, I often feel like I am the only one, but I honestly think this is as good as John Carpenter's The Thing. It's very hard to compare them of course as they are two really different films with The Thing being much more faithful to the original source, but as they are based on the same source material it's also natural to compare them. The main difference between the two films is that The Thing from Another World is more of a sci-fi/horror film, while The Thing is more or less pure horror. The Thing from Another World is also a film that you can see with your 10-11 year old cousin or brother without feeling guilty, The Thing is not. Heh.

 

Anyway, The Thing from Another World is a nice, atmospheric and suspenseful sci-fi horror film with a fantastic monster. I love how they for the most part shot the monster from a distance with smart lighting making him more threatening, as you don't really get a good view of him at all. You just don't get to know what exactly it is. A smart move. Great film, up there with The Thing for sure if you ask me.

 

[Tokage 5930]

Stage Fright is definitely great! Love that owl mask the killer wears. (on that note, wasn't there some sort of recent ''artsy'' horror with an owl-headed creature in it as well? i forgot the name of that flick.)

 

Company of Wolves is interesting as well, I saw it some years ago, I don't remember much of it, other than that I liked it. I still need to check out the Phantasm series..

[Bear 1817]

Speaking of Deliria/Stage Fright, I'd like to use this oppurtunity to recommend 2014's Stage Fright which I thought was really good. It's been poorly recieved for some reason, but I don't get that at all. Great, fresh horror-musical with lots of new ideas, and some old ones. Very cool film!

 

And Phantasm should please you. Trust me! Will watch the sequels some other time this week. Looking forward to it, especially the second one.

[Bear 1817]

An American Werewolf in London - I was always a big fan of John Landis, and during the 70's and 80's he made a lot of great films. Schlock, The Kentucky Fried Movie, Animal House, The Blues Brothers, An American Werewolf in London and Trading Places, as well as Twilight Zone: The Movie and Amazon Women on the Moon. He's directed and co-directed some really good films, but this one. An American Werewolf in London, are easily his best film.

 

John Landis' mix of dark, disturbing horror and gore, tragedy and humour is nothing short of temendous. It's perfect, because the way he combines this elements are so cool and well-done. At times it's terrifying, at times it's sad and at times it's hilarious, something all three at once. And it's not just antother horror-comedy, it's a clever one as well. I mean, it's really clever. Well-directed, shot and acted. Superb special effects as well! It's a must-see for fans of horror, werewolfs, comedies and gore.

 

Proper creds for the soundtrack as well. Not only for the fact that the song rules, but the whole moon-theme is so cool and fitting.

 

 

 

By the way, it's funny how 1981 saw the release of no less than three werewolf films in form of An American Werewolf in London, The Howling and Wolfen (if you want to consider that a werewolf film), wih two of them (An American Werewolf in London and The Howling) being among the very best the sub-genre has to offer. Wolfen is great too! 1981, the year of the wolf!

[Bear 1817]

Bone Tomahawk - My expectations to this film was mad high, and I was not disappointed. Bone Tomahawk is, as a western, is up there with films such as The Good, the Bad, the Weird, The Proposition and Django Unchained as the best of the last 25 years, and as a horror film it's up there with films like Red Nights, The Editor, Ringu, Frankenstein's Army, Frankenweenie, Brotherhood of the Wolf and more, a the second best of the last 25 years. Well, the film is up there with the masterpiece that is Tremors, another western-horror that's beyond awesome.

 

Bone Tomahawk is the debut film of newcomer S. Craig Zahler, and what a debut it is. Bone Tomahawk is a really, really slow-burning western-horror that takes its time to build tension and atmosphere, and uses plenty time on its characters. The first 70-80 minutes or so are a pure western-drama which will be way too slow for many, but I thought it was excellent and it kept me mroe than interested for those minutes. However, suddenly it explodes into a brutal and bleak cannibal horror film that'll take you back to the golden days of cannibal films. It's that bloody good, guys.

 

The film stars Kurt Russell, Patrick Wilson, Richard Jenkins and Matthew Fox, all whom are most excellent here, and the chemestry between these  guys are fantastic. Yeah, the film is slow-burning, but it's always rewarding and the atmosphere that it builds are incredible. The blood and gore? To, top shelf, mates. It doesn't get better.

 

David Arquette is brilliant in his short time on screen, and watch out for the cameo of the always so excellent Sid Haig. It's impossible to miss!

 

 

Fuck this shit, guys. You know, what I am really trying to say is that this is a motherfucking masterpiece, and the film of the year (so far) for me. Do you like westerns? Watch it. Do you like horror films? Watch it. Do you like cannibal films? Watch it. Do you like exploitation films? Watch it. Do you like good films? Watch it. Just motherfucking watch it!

 

[Bear 1817]

Phantasm II - This took me by surprise. I'm not sure why, but I expected something pretty bad from this. But this was actually really fun. Sure, it's not exactly on the level of the first one, but it' still great. It got the whole "bigger is better" thing, and it's more violence, more over the top and got more over the top use of weapons. A bit like Evil Dead II, which is fun because I often get the feeling that there's a lot of homages to Evil Dead in this film. Double shotguns, chainsaw duel, explosions. Yeah, it's got it all.

 

However, it lacks the nightmareish atmosphere of the original and the overall punch of the original. But it's still very, very good, and the special effects are top shelf. So good, man!

 

 

Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead - Bigger and more complex, but again it lacks the punch of the previous one. A huge step down from Phantasm II, but it's still entertaining. Lots of great special effects. I was afraid they'd go with a lot of CG as this is from the mid 90's, but they didn't, which is good. Not very good, but still worth a watch.

 

I like how these films makes less and less sense with each entry. Heh!

 

[Bear 1817]

Phantasm IV: Oblivion - Aside frmo a couple of cool scenes, this is nothing but a big, fat mess. It goes further towards the sci-fi world that they started with part III, and there's barely any horror left here at all.

 

On the positive side we have Reggie Bannister and Angus Scrimm playing the same roles as in the three previous ones, and A. Michael Baldwin returns for the role as Mike, which he played in the first film, but which was played by another actor in part II and III. That, as well as the gore and non-CG special effects are the positives here.

 

But aside from that there's not much of interest here. There's no sense of being in a bad nightmare anymore, and it's just boring, man.

 

Also, there is a new Phantasm coming next year. It should be finished and all now, but I'm not sure how high my expectations is. It'll be the first not to b directed by Don Coscarelli, but maybe that's a good thing considering the quality of this one? He's still the writer, though. It's been 17 years since this, and I am looking forward to it, though. Shuld be fun.

 

 

Creature from the Black Lagoon - A well-deserved rewatch of a monsterously good film. The suspense is incredible in this, and as far as Universal Monsters goes this is easily among the most suspenseful ones. The soundtrack every single time The Creatue/Gill Man appears is so good, and the way they slowly let us know what he is just makes him even scarier.

 

Everything about it is so good. The atmosphere, the susense, the monster design. So, so good!

 

[Bear 1817]

I'm hearing lots of good things about this film:

 

 

Krampus, made by Michael Doughert's (Trick 'r Treat). A christmas horror-comedy based on Krampus from Alpine folklore. It's got people like Adam Scott, Toni Collette, David Koechner and Allison Tolman in the cast. It looks like we're in for a real treat here, guys.

[Bear 1817]

While I am not celebrating christmas myself, I'm doing my best to help my girl get a certain christmas feeling so we've started watching some christmas horror films. I feel nice helping her to the right, murderous and black christmas feeling.

 

Silent Night - A very, very loose "remake" of the 1984 classic Silent Night, Deadly Night. While I don't think it is as good as the original, this certainly is entertaining. It's all very old-fashioned, and it works really well. It's quite obviously better handwork than the original, but I prefer the original for its feeling and atmosphere. Nice cast with Malcolm McDowell and Jaime King too.

 

Recommended for dark december nights for sure. 7/10

 

But to be honest, I wouldn't call this a remake. It's more a homage and tribute IMO.

 

 

And All Through the House - The second episode in the first season of Tales From the Crypt, and this is still my favourite episode of the show. It's fun, it's atmospheric and it's awesome! A really cool episode, and it does say a lot that it is the best of the show. 10/10

 

[Bear 1817]

The Killer Snakes - Weird mid-70's horror by Chih-Hung Kuei (Bewitched, The Boxer's Omen) that, while fun, is very disappointing. I had expected a lot more from Chih-Hung Kuei. The film is about a rather messed-up man with some serious problems, and his best friends - the snakes. I like the atmosphere and the setting, but I felt the film was a bit too slow at times. But the cold, grim atmosphere of the film makes up for it. Sleazy, mid-70's Hong Kong exploitation for us weirdos.

 

It'll be a hard watch for most, but for those very much into sleaze cinema and grim tales this might just be for you.

 

[Bear 1817]

Santa's Slay - Silly film with a cool concept and shit, but the execution by David Steinman is so lackluster. It doesn't help with neat ideas when youcan't get them out on the screen to fulfil your imagination of that certain idea. Some cool violence, some fun humor, but it's never enough to satisfy me. Lacks some serious amounts of cheese IMO.

 

Disappointing.

 

[Bear 1817]

Gremlins - I've said it a lot of times, but I'll say it again: Joe Dante was, from 1976's Hollywood Boulevard and up until 1998's Small Soldiers, among the coolest directors un the world. I haven't seen all the films between these two films, but films like Piranha, The Howling, Gremlins, Explorers, Innerspace, The 'Burbs, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Matinee and Small Soldiers are just top notch films. Small Soldiers also stands as one of the most underrated films in history of films.

 

Anyway, it's a very hard pick but Gremlins might be Joe Dante's best film. It's fun, it's charming, it's cute, it's hilarious, it's frightening. It's got everything, and the special effects are among my favourites ever. Not only does both the Mogwai's and Gremlins look good, the way they move and act are brilliant as well. The atmosphere, the story, characters, actors and everything just clicks. There's absolutely nothing not to love about this film. Perfection!

 

Yeah, it's among the best horror films, comedies and christmas films ever. For the latter it' only challenged by Die Hard IMO. Which says a lot.

 

And as for Joe Dante's filmography, this, Piranha and The Howling are more or less equal. So good, man!