Horror Movies

[Bear 1817]

Gremlins 2: The New Batch - I like this fil a lot, but saying it's anywhere close to the original would be a lie. It's sillier, more lighthearted and satirical. I guess you could say it's a lot more campy. It's very fun, but it lacks the horror of the original IMO. Half the film is just special effects, sillyness and movie references, but I can appreciate that, and I do. Very fun film.

 

And it's got Christopher Lee! God!

 

[Bear 1817]

Prince of Darkness - Very underrated and very cool John Carpenter flick with Donald Pleasence and Victor Wong among others. The atmosphere, very Lovecraftian I'd say, is superb and while flawed, it's such a charming and cool film. Eerie, claustrophobic, mystic and occult. No idea why this film is viewd on as mediocre or poor. Ain't even close to that IMO. Great film, and the special effects are beautiful. Gorgeous!

 

Superb soundtrack too!

 

[Jigsaw9 6783]

^ Great one! First saw it in my early teens on TV, and I have it on DVD for many years now, so many memories & such a cool atmosphere (and Alice Cooper's cameo is hilarious btw XD).

[Bear 1817]

Lake Mungo - Lake Mungo is a horror-drama that almost plays out like an episode of a TV-series about ghosts and the supernatural, with calm, downplayed and monotonous performances by the actors which gives it a sense of realness and naturalism. The film is shot documentary-style, but not in the way of Blair Witch Project or Noroi. It feels more like a cheap special made for TV. While that does sound bad, it might be the best thing about this film. About 85% of the film is about grief and dealing with loss, secrets and lies, and the rest is a asking questions about ghosts and so on. So it's not a film that's "ice cold" the whole way through, but it offers a few very, very chilling moments and I'm sure it'll freak you out a couple of times.

 

 

The Resurrected - A very cool flick based on  H. P. Lovecraft's The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, by Dan O'Bannon (The Return of the Living Dead). The entire look of the film is very TV-like, as if it was made for TV and I get quite a soapy feeling from this, much in the same vein as Twin Peaks. It's one of the more serious Lovecraft-adaptions, with great, dark, disturbing atmosphere and superb special effects. It's a very Lovecraftian film, and O'Bannon nails the atmosphere IMO.

 

The film is way more faithul than Roger Corman's excellent The Haunted Palace, even though it doesn't quite reach the same hights. But this was superb anyway!

 

[Bear 1817]

From Beyond - Say whatever you want about this film as an H.P. Lovecraft-adaption, but as a horror film this is so god damn good, and it stars everybody's favourite H.P. Lovecraft actors Jeffry Combs and Barbara Crampton, both whom are excellent as usual. The entire film reeks of the 80's, and for fans of horror that's nothing but fantastic. Fuck, this is just one of Stuart Gordon's many masterpieces. What a director he was!

 

The special effects, guy. They're easily among the best special effects ever caught on film. So incredibly cool, creative and fucked up. A real treat to the eye.

 

[Bear 1817]

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale - Damn, I was really looking forward to this but this just surpassed all my expectations. Hands down, hats off and whatnot. Fantastic, finnish christmas horror-fantasy with some John Carpenter-esqpe horror, Tim Burton-esque fantasy and Joe Dante-esque black humour thrown in to make it even more enjoyable for us adults. It's suspenseful and atmosheric, original and daring, and very, very enjoyable!

 

An instant classic IMO.

 

I was also really shocked by seeing Norwegian actor Per Christian Ellefsen (Elling) in this. Thought he did really well i his role.

 

[Bear 1817]

Suburban Gothic - Horror comedy by Richard Bates Jr., who made Excision a few years back. It stars Matthew Grey Gubler (Criminal Minds) and Kat Dennings, both whom are great here, as well as Ray Wise and Barbara Niven. The film is very over the top and silly, but it offers so much fun both in its absurd and at times very politically uncorrect humour, but also some nice scares and great atmosphere. Overall it's just very goofy, but it totally clicked with me. I really liked the dialogue. Silly, yes, but very sharp and witty. Totally recommended!

 

And watch out for great cameos by Jeffrey Combs and John Waters. Hilarious!

 

 

The Green Inferno - As a director Eli Roth never did it for me, but I have always been interesting in his flicks as I've always felt he had something to offer as a director. And when I found out he was gonna make a cannibal film in the vein of the 70's and 80's cannibal films I become very interested. I've waited for this a long time and it's been quite frustrating with all its problems, but I finally got to watch it and it didn't disappoint at all. It delivered exactly what I expected: cannibal fun in the vein of italian cannibal films from the 70's and 80's. It's stupid, it's violent, it's fun. I don't need anything other than that.

 

My only big complaint about this film is that it feels very modern and looks very digital. I wish it was a bit grittier and dirtier. Everything else really worked with me. It's good to see Eli Roth finally get to show some of his potential. About time!

 

I don't get the hate for this at all. I mean, it's a big, fat tribute to the italian cannibal films from the 70's and 80's, and everything about it, except for the modern and digital look of it, is exactly what you'd want from a film like this. He really nails the atmosphere and feeling from that era.

 

[Bear 1817]

Castle Freak - Very cool and super underrated Stuart Gordon with Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton, loosely based on H.P. Lovecraft's The Outsider. Great astmosphere, cool cast, surprisingly well-written and directed, and the special effects are superb. I'd never have guessed this was a direct-to-video release back in 1995 if I didn't know so before watching it.

 

Great film!

 

 

Necronomicon: Book of Dead - Another underrated horror film based on H.P. Lovecraft's work, this time an anthology directed by Brian Yuzna (who helped produce films such as Re-Animator and From Beyond, and directed both Re-Animator sequels), Christophe Gans (Brotherhood of the Wolf) and Shusuke Kaneko (director of several Gamera films, as well as Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack).

 

The main narative is about H.P. Lovecraft himself, and is fun, much because Jeffrey Combs is excellent as H.P. Lovecraft.

 

The Drowned - A good start, but pretty weak compared to the rest. It's got a nice Lovecraftian vibe to it, but feels a bit cheap. This one is directed by Christophe Gans and based on The Rats in the Walls. 7/10

The Cold - This one is just really cool (pun intended!), and the atmosphere is really nice. But the highlight here are the special effects. They're crazy fucking good! This one is directed by Brian Yuza and based on Cool Air. 8/10

Whispers - Another fine entry, and almost as good as The Cold. Great special effects, fine cast and so on. This one is directed by Shusuke Kaneko and is based on  The Whisperer in Darkness. 8/10

 

OK, so this isn't exactly super faithful to the source material, but it's great, atmospheric horror with lovely special effects, a memorable cast and shit. What's not to like?

 

[Bear 1817]

The Whisperer in Darkness - Lovely H.P. Lovecraft adaption by Sean Branney in his directorial debut. Sean Branney helped out with the screenplay for The Call of Cthulhu, and is obviously a massive Lovecraft fan. Something which shines through here, becaue he treats the story with respect and manage to create this incredible Lovecratian feeling. It's eerie and mystical, and it's hard not to get drawn into the story.  This film is Lovecraft driven through a 1930's horror noir filter or something.

 

It's not nearly as good as The Call of Cthulhu, though, which it for many reasons is natural to compare it to. And the reason why, aside from The Call of Cthulhu being a cooler story in general, is that it just feels less authentic. The Call of Cthulhu feels way more like a proper 1920's film, than this feels like a 1930's film. But that isn't to say this doesn't feel like a 1930's film, because for most part it does. And the special effects are very disappointing, though. I never got why they went for cheap, poor CGI instead of stop-motion animation, puppets or men in rubbersuits here. Would've both looked and felt so much better.

 

Also, The Call of Cthulhu had much better pacing, running at 50 minutes shorter than this.

 

But I really do like this film anyway. I think it's excellent!

 

[Bear 1817]

In the Mouth of Madness - John Carpenter's big, fat homage to H.P. Lovecraft, and a very overlooked film. It's weird, and it's easy to understand why it's become such a love/hate type of film, but I really like it. It's got a nice, weird Lovecraftian atmosphere and I love how you as a viewer can't tell the difference between reality and fiction within this film. It's a nice theme in general, and they really make it work. It's not for everyone as the plot is fairly weird and repetive, but it'll work for a lot of us.

 

Awesome film IMO!

 

 

Dagon - While titled Dagon, this Stuart Gordon flick isn't really based on H.P. Lovecraft's Dagon, it's based on H.P. Lovecraft's The Shadow Over Innsmouth. It's far from Stuart Gordon's best Lovecraft-adaption/based film, but it's fun nonetheless. At the bottom Dagon isn't much but a cheesy b-film, but there's something very, very cool that just lies on top of it that makes me enjoy it quite a lot. Yeah, it's a cool film.

 

Other than being a bit too long, what fucks this film up for me is the shitty CGI. There's not a lot of it, but there's a little and it looks so bad. It's so bad you'll struggle to keep your eyes on the screen whenever it pops up.

 

 

The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu - Super silly advendure-comedy with elements of horror, very inspired by H.P. Lovecraft's writings. It's directed by Henry Saine who made the very enjoyable Bounty Killer, but this one doesn't work as well. It's just too silly and geeky for its own good, and while less than 80 minutes long, it feels way too long. It's low-budget and surely does look low-budget as well. It should have been way shorter with more money spent on special effects and costumes.

 

It was at times fairly enjoyable, but as a whole it was nothing but mediocre. Shame, because there's a lot of good ideas here.

 

[Jigsaw9 6783]

I see you're on a Lovecraftian watching spree, @Bear! Among these, Dagon, Castle Freak, and In the Mouth of Madness have to be my favorites.

[Bear 1817]

Yes, I am. Just suddenly had to have a bit of Lovecraft in my daily life. Thought I'd pick up my Lovecraft collection and start reading again as well, as well as checking out a few films I haven't seen yet. Gonna see if I can find a lot of the short films on this list too. Looks like some of them shoul be fun.

 

As far as Lovecraft adaption goes, I think I'd have to say that The Call of Cthulhu, The Haunted Palace and From Beyond are my favourites. But a lot of them are just beyond awesome, and both The Haunted Palace and From Beyond could've ben swapped with Re-Animator and a couple of other great adaptions. But The Call of Cthulhu is, and will forever remain my #1 adaption, I am sure of that as it is among my all time favourite horror films. Everything in it just clicks with me

 

I really want to see Die Farbe too.

[Bear 1817]

The Final Girls - I've been waiting eagerly for this film since what feels like forever now, only because of a very appealing poster. I knew it would be a slasher based on the title and poster alone, but I never thought it would be something like this. Theconcept of this film isn't exactly original, but the execution does feel very fresh and creative to be honest. It's a horror comedy that nails both the horror and humour, and it's surprisingly emotional too. It's sharp, it's witty, and it' a very true and honest homage to slashers. A must-see if you ask me!

 

I have two problems with the film, but neither are very big nor annoyed me much. The first is that there's a few scenes with CGI here. Should've been dropped of course. And the other is that this is a PG-13 film, which means there's a serious lack of blood and nudity. It was originally meant to be R-rated, but director Todd Strauss-Schulson didn't get his wish. A shame of course, but not a big problem at all. But as it is a film that pays homage to films such as Friday the 13th, The Burning, Sleepaway Camp and such it would've been so much better if it was R-rated and had more blood. Simple as that.

 

Adam DeVine and Thomas Middleditch are behind the majority of the fun scenes, and they are both hilarious. Especially Adam DeVine just does it for me. Childish, but so, so funny, guys. But there's several scenes where there's others who are behind the fun. And the film had me in tears of laughter after just a minute or so into the film. And that was just the beginning of it.

 

And the soundtrack is great. It's 80's slasher soundtrack with a modern twist. Thought the score was downright fantastic!

 

As far as post 80's slasher films goes, this is up there with Scream, All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, You're Next and The Town That Dreaded Sundown as the very best. Fan-fuckin-tastic!

 

 

 

 

 

Next up: Deathgasm!

[Bear 1817]

Deathgasm - A nice tribute to metal and a fun splatter, even though they take the whole "brothers of metal" bullshit a bit too far for my taste. But it was good, silly fun with lots of blood and gore. It offered plenty laughs, and for me who're both a fan of metal, blood and gore, there's nothing not to enjoy here really. I had plenty fun!

 

The special effects were a bit up and down, though. At times fantastic, but a few times awful, and the ending disappointed a bit. Could've gotten a much better look on the demon.

 

The most disappoting thing about this film, aside from certain awful special effects moments, is the soundtrack. It's not that it's bad, you even get great stuff like Midnight, Nunslaughter, old Emperor, hell, even stuff like Beastwars, Bulletbelt, Elm Street, Lair of the Minotaur, Razorwyre, Skull Fist and The Wretched End are decent enough. But I just feel like they could've done so much better. But that's just nitpicking.

 

[Bear 1817]

Within the Woods - Low-budget and amateurish short film by Sam Raimi with Bruce Campbell and Ellen Sandweiss, good friends of director Sam Raimi. Guess what? This film is was sorta remade as The Evil Dead a few years later, and helped finance that film. The rip that I saw was pretty poor, but the film was very cool. It's fun, eerie and dark, and the make-up looked really cool.

 

 

Dead & Buried - While not a H.P. Lovecaft adaption, this film is still very Lovecraftian in many ways. It's one of the films that eventually would end up on the Video Nasty list, and it sure is a nasty, little gem, this. It's trash cinema alright, but it's great trash cinema. Nasty exploitation with a fairly nice plot, good cast and all. The best part? The special effects. They look absolutely gorgeous!

 

Yeah, it's a great film overall.

 

 

Die, Monster, Die! - Mid 60's horror based on H.P. Lovecraft's The Colour Out of Space. This stars Boris Karloff, Suzan Farmer and Nick Adams, and it offers some real chills. ure made the hair on the back of my neck stand u quite a few times. It's a chiller alright. I will admit though, that with the exception of a few scenes, I get more Edgar Allan Poe feeling from the film, than Lovecraft. It's a gothic horror film that looks stunnig, and it's got a great sense of mystery and suspense to it.

 

My one complaint here is the ending, when it turns to a fairly standard 60's monster film. Should've dropped that, if you ask me. But it's nitpicking, because it's not something I didn't like a lot. I truly did. It just felt a bit out of place.

 

But the scenes with Helga makes up for it. So chilling, man!

 

And they should've gone with the working title, The House at the End of the World, instead. Much cooler title.

 

[Bear 1817]

The Final Girls was so good that I am gonna rewatch it with my girlfriend today. Can't wait!

[freesia 714]

Thanks, Bear, for the Lovecraft recommendations. Downloading my share of good old Lovecraft horror movies now.

[Bear 1817]

I hope for your sake that you're not a H.P. Lovecraft fanatic, because a lot of the die hard fans tends to be disappointed by these films as very few of them are faithful to the source material. But if you don't go into them expecting a faithful adaption, a lot of them should please you.

 

 

Insidious: Chapter 3 - I really liked the two first films in the series, and I really looked forward to this. But due to James Wan leaving the series, and writer Leigh Whannell taking his job as a director in his directorial debut, I was quite sceptic. But I was entertained, but it doesn't really have the impact of the two first. Not even close.

 

First off, it's more of the same, just not quite as good.

Second off, there is a few really out-of-character scenes with Elise that's godawful. No idea why they went in that direction. So weird.

Third off, while there was cheap jump scares in the two others, this relies soley on jump scares, which is a shame considering the best parts of the film i when they calm it down and build an eerie, chilly atmosphere. Which James Wan did a lot in the two first films. But a few of the jump scares are fairly well-done, so I recommend watching this with a good surround system and turning up your volume quite a bit. My girlfriend complained about chest pains afterwards, mainly because of the sound. Heh.

 

It's not very well-acted either. But if you liked the two first ones, I see no reason not to watch this. 6/10, while the two first were 8/10.

 

 

Crimson Peak - After the embarrassment that was Pacific Rim it's good see Guillermo del Toro back on the right track. A beautifully shot, visually stunning and atmospheric gothic horror film with a lot of nods to the 60's gothic horror, especially classic Hammer Horror tales. It's soapy and romantic, but also eerie and chilly at the same time. While not a masterpiece, I thought it was really enjoyable.

 

The CGI ghosts, though. The fuck? They look cheap and ugly, and really out of place. And because of this, the majority of moments that are made to make you shiver, will make you look at it in disgust instead, which is a shame.

 

But overall a really nice film.

 

[Bear 1817]

What We Do in the Shadows - Very nice, funny and original horror-comedy mocumentary following four flat mates which just happens to be vampires. Now, there's not a proper plot or anything here, but it's just real fun for what it is. I was giggling or laughing throughout the whole film. Really cool and funny.

 

Just to sum up how funny this is: Vladislav, one of the vampires, calls himself Vlad the poker. Jesus, that's just too funny!

 

 

The Evil Dead - Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell should be a familiar name to everyone into horror, so should this film. Great film in every way possible. Cool cast, superb special effects and so on. Brilliant!

 

[Bear 1817]

The Visist - After several disaters, M. Night Shyamalan decided to try something new. Or old. Depends on how you want to see it. With a budget of only 5m, The Visit is Shyamalan going back to basics. It's a stipped down found footage film with great creepy atmosphere, which he breaks up every now and then with some very funny humor. It's a bit out of place at times, but it works fairly well. Really enjoyed this film. I thought out lead Olivia DeJonge did very well, as well as Deanna Dunagan and Peter McRobbie doing pretty well.

 

Woo the hell would've thought this guy would ever make a good film again? I sure didn't. Now I am not gonna claim he's 100% back, after all his four films before this was After Earth, The Last Airbender, The Happening and Lady in the Water. But it shows he's still got a good film deep inside him, and hopefully we'll see more of this side from now on.

 

[Bear 1817]

Circle - Good low-budget sci-fi thriller/horror. The concept isn't very original or anything. You've seen similar stuff in films sucha s Cube, Would You Rather, and hell, even some of the Saw films. The film got a strong The Twilight Zone-vibe to it, and I really like that. It's a bit to long IMO and the dialogue were a bit corny at times, and I wish we would get more answered to some of the moral questions in the film, but I really liked the atmosphere and nihilistic point of view the film took. It's pretty bleak overall. Recommended for sure.

 

[Bear 1817]

Evil Dead II - Fun, original and exciting horror-comedy with a tremendous Bruce Campbell, insane special effects and lot sof awesome shots. Both the first films are filled with incredible shots that you wouldn't see in other films at the time.

 

The big question: which one's best, the first or secod film? Impossible! Both are more or less perfect.

 

 

 

Will watch Army of Darkness after work, then start on the TV-series. I can't wait!

[Bear 1817]

Army of Darkness - This slapstick horror-comedy is underrated as fuck.

 

1. Goovy!

2. Gimme some sugar, baby!

3. Hail to the king, baby.

 

Enough said!

 

 

 

 

Ash vs Evil Dead - Holy fuck, this was awesome. A horror-comedy TV-series that is not an anthology series and that delivers? How'd have thought?  It's true and respectful to the trilogy, but without just rehashing. It's new and it's fresh, but still so nice and familiar. It's funny, it's hilarious, it's bloody, it's gory and it's goofy as fuck. It's god damn groovy! And Bruce Campbell? King!

 

The one big disappointment here is the use of CGI, because the CGI is awful. Te practical special effects are lovely, but every single episode has a moment or three with godawful CGI, which does take some of the edge off.

 

But if you're a fan of the film series there's no reason not to check this out, cuz this is gonna please the fuck out of you!

 

Killer soundtrack too. Death (the punk band), Deep Purple, The Stooges, AC/DC, PJ Harvey, Alice Cooper and more.

 

Really happy there's a new season coming this year. Should be fun!

 

[plastic_rainbow 2162]

Haven't been catching up with any horror movies but I watched the remake of Poltergeist and Sinister 2 with my siblings over the holidays. For Poltergeist I didn't enjoy it too much. I didn't like the original either, which had better ratings. Guess it's not the kind of horror I like.

 

As for Sinister 2, I kinda liked it. I didn't see the first one yet but some of my siblings wanted to watch it together. It's much darker than Poltergeist and it has a nice soundtrack too. I think I might want to watch the first one now and it may clear up some of the characters that showed up in the second one too.

[Bear 1817]

Spring - Calm, slow-burning and completely unique horror film unlike anything I've ever seen. It's romantic, really atmospheric and intelligent. Low-budget, but nicely directed by the duo behind the excellent Resolution, and the two leads Lou Taylor Pucci and Nadia Hilker are amazing in their roles. Fantastic performances!

 

It's just something very different, and as far as horror goes it' fairly close to Thirst, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Låt den rätte komma in and Warm Bodies in that it is a romantic horror film, but all of these are very much different from each other.

 

People who wants to be scared should check out something else, but people want something extremely good and unique, with warm, poetic and beatiful feeling to it should just check out this film right away.