Horror Movies

[Bear 1817]

The Believers - An unevenly paced, poorly written and messy horror-noir film that I really wanted to like but which just didn't work as I had hoped. It's poorly acted too. I'm usually a big fan of Martin Sheen, but he looks so uninterested in this whole film, like he's not even trying. At times very cool and atmospheric, but its atmosphere is cut up because of the poor pace and writing. Shame, beause I like the concet of the film a lot. Mediocre at best.

 

 

And Then There Were None - Horror? To some degree at least. And Then There Were None is a dark and grim mystery-tale with plenty suspense, terror and claustrophobic atmosphere. It's based on  Agatha Christie's critical acclaimed novel, and as far as I know the film is fairly true to its original source, but with a few changes. Fantastic atmosphere, a fantastic cast. Well fuck it, everything's fantastic!

 

[Bear 1817]

 

Shit, really looking forward to this film.

[Tokage 5930]

Watched The Editor just now and... hell, i was entertained. The (i'm guessing) intentionally bad acting, the female eyecandy, the gore, stylish visuals, the dumb jokes. Nice giallo tribute/parody. Dat soundtrack too, love those dark synths.

 

Guess I need to watch Father's Day by the same directors as well, hopefully it's equally entertaining.

[Bear 1817]

Father's Day isn't anywhere close to the excellent The Editor if you ask me. It's decent, but nothing more. The Astron-6 team, the guys behind Father's Day (6/10), Manborg (8/10) and The Editor (9/10) just gets better with every film they make. Really looking forward to The Void which should come this year. I hope they manage to build further on their excellent development.

[Bear 1817]

A History of Horror with Mark Gatiss - A BBC mini-series about the history of horror, hosted by Mark Gatiss. Well, it's not actually about the history of horror though, and as Mark Gatiss says at the begining of the series, this will be a series where he goes through his favourite horror films. So it's not as much about the history of horror as it is about his favourites.

 

The first episode, entitled Frankenstein Goes To Hollywood, starts with 1925's The Phantom of the Opera and goes through a few classics from the 30's and 40's as well, the golden ageof Hollywood horror.

The second episode, Home Counties Horror, takes a look at the Hammer Horror of the 50's and 60's, as well as a look at Roger Corman's Poe flicks and a bit about the folk horror flicks.

The third and last episode, The American Scream, focus the 60's and 70's horror films, from low-budget films like Night Of The Living Dead, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween, as well as films like Rosemary's Baby, The Exorcist and The Omen.

 

As you can see there's alot missing here. But it was a fun and interesting watch anyway. Mark Gatiss later released the 90 minute film Horror Europa in which he takes a bigger look at european horror. Looks pretty neat!

[Bear 1817]

Bad Milo! - A nice horror-comedy that offers a few magnificent laughs and a few minor laughs, but never qute manage to live up to its silly plot and great special effects. But the monster puppets, real blood and shit really does do this film a lot of good and makes it a lot better than it would've been without it. The monster puppets were fantastic. Enjoyable, but it surely should've been way more over the top. But worth a look!

 

By the way, the monster completely looks like the offspring of E.T and a Ghoulie. Hilarious!

 

 

The Lodger - Bone-chilling, atmospheric remake of Alfred Hitchcock's The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog with an awkward, yet brilliantly disturbing performance by Laird Cregar, and a sweet and charming performance by Merle Oberon. A real nice horror film with plenty atmosphere and great performances all over.

 

Best part of the film is the shots of the foggy streets. What a thick atmosphere they create!

 

Fantastic film!

 

[Tokage 5930]

Ooh, I gotta give Manborg a spin as well. What's bad about Father's Day, exactly?

 

Today I watched Phenomena. Pretty good stuff, as usual with Argento. The effects used for the deformed child were kiiiiiind of lame though, guess they just aged badly. Also, hell yeah, that themesong is SWEET. One other downside was that the version I downloaded had some issues.. The audio track would sometimes randomly switch from the original audio track to a spanish dub for like a minute or so before jumping back again. Weird.

[Bear 1817]

This is what I wrote about it a year and half ago:

 

 

Father's Day - This film is both produced and distrubuted by Troma Entertainment, and if you're familiar with Troma you know'll know what this is about. Absolutely madness. Lots of gore, nudity and madness! While I was entertained by this film, I am slightly disappointed. The first 2/3rds of the film are amazing, but then it just looses itself and drags on way too long. 80 minutes would've been enough, and it felt as if they had ran out of ideas and just continued filming for the hell of it. Had way too much fun to stop. It's a shame really.

 

A 6/10 for me. Not awful, but it both could and should've been a lot better. It was like they went all random towards the end as they had went out of ideas and just choose going on for the hell of it.

 

 

Phenomena is fantastic and really underrated. Fantastic soundtrack too. Goblin, Iron Maiden, Motörhead, Andi Sex Gang and more.

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Today I watched Phenomena. Pretty good stuff, as usual with Argento. The effects used for the deformed child were kiiiiiind of lame though, guess they just aged badly. Also, hell yeah, that themesong is SWEET. One other downside was that the version I downloaded had some issues.. The audio track would sometimes randomly switch from the original audio track to a spanish dub for like a minute or so before jumping back again. Weird.

Best ending ever! lmao

[Bear 1817]

Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night - God-fucking-awful! No atmosphere, no suspense, no emotion, no nothing. What a fucking crapfest!

[Tokage 5930]

Rewatched The Thing (1982 ver.) today, it's been like half a decade at least since i last watched it, but it's still as fucking awesome as ever. Really nailed the whole ''oppressive frozen wasteland'' atmosphere. Great creature effects too, of course...

 

I'm still wondering at what point in the movie Blair got infected exactly, was he already a Thing when he went around smashing up the radio room?

[Bear 1817]

The Fifth Cord - Giallo by Luigi Bazzoni, the man behind films such as Man, Pride & Vengeance, The Possessed and Footprints on the Moon. The Fifth Chord, starring Franco Nero and Silvia Monti, is a cold and bleak giallo more on the mystery-side than horror, but with great atmosphere, a great mystery, some superb performances and some truly suspense-filled moments. It's very 70's modern with its architecture which adds a lot to the film, lots of concrete and glass all over the place, and it just looks very stylish. Lots of geometric shapes/angels, and an overall feeling of ambiance. There's some really original and memorable shots here, the cinematography is striking and it's really nice visually. And now that I've come to the cinematography:

 

The star of this film, despite having Franco Nero, is cinematographer Vittorio Storaro. As far as his name goes he's probably no-one to you, but he's worked with Dario Argento on The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, with Francis Ford Coppola on Apocalypse Now, with Bernardo Bertolucci on The Last Emperor and Richard Donner on Ladyhawk, so it's while his name may not be too familiar, his work truly is. He's got an eye for details and he just knows how to shoot and film. Incredible man!

 

And this is topped off with a fantastic soundtrack by none other than Ennio Morricone!

 

Far from the best in the genre, but more than worthy of your time. Great film!

 

[Bear 1817]

Rewatched The Thing (1982 ver.) today, it's been like half a decade at least since i last watched it, but it's still as fucking awesome as ever. Really nailed the whole ''oppressive frozen wasteland'' atmosphere. Great creature effects too, of course...

 

I'm still wondering at what point in the movie Blair got infected exactly, was he already a Thing when he went around smashing up the radio room?

 

I recommend watching THIS film. It's very interesting and lots of fun.

[Bear 1817]

Legend of the Werewolf - Slow, atmospheric horror film by Freddie Francis (The Evil of Frankenstein, Dracula Has Risen from the Grave) with a brilliant Peter Cushing in the lead. It's not by any means brilliant, and at times it comes off as very amateurish, but Peter Cushing just drives this film forward with a magnificent performance, and the werewolf is really cool. At times a bit slow, sloppily acted and poorly directed, but I can easily oversee such small flaws when the rest is good. If you like Peter Cushing or werewolfs I see no reason why you should not see this.

 

[Bear 1817]

Bubba Ho-Tep - Rewatched this modern Don Coscarelli-classic, an underrated and overlooked gem of a film starring none other than a brilliant Bruce Campbell as Sebastian "Evis" Haff and a fantastic Ossie Davis as Jack "JFK". THere's so much to grab onto in this film. The whole setup and setting comes off as very unique and original, and it's as hilarious and funny as it is touching and somewhat clever. It's wacky and it's absurd, yet it touches you. The whole setting with an old Elvis and a black JFK in a nursing home is as absurd as it sounds, but it works so well.

 

Real nice camoes by Larry Pennell and Reggie Bannister as well.

 

Highlight of the film is the first 10-15 minutes or so. Bruce Campbell is God!

 

A modern classic. Cult as fuck!

 

[Bear 1817]

Drag Me To Hell - After many years of doing a lot of different things, with Drag Me to Hell Sam Raimi kinda revisited the ground of where he started. Drag Me To Hell is an atmospheric, tense and thrilling, yet very funny and with a lovely campy tone on top of it all, supernatural horror film that is obviously inspired by the masterpiece that is Night of the Demon. Many of the same elements are used. I actually think the film is great, but it feels too much like a product of its time. Made in the 80's this would've been an ultimate horror film, but it's dragged down by some AWFUL CGI and a few unnecessary jump scares that was the shit back when this was released. The most obvious scenes would probably be the ambolt scene, as well as the goat and cat scenes. The overall tone of the film is very old school, and more often than not the special effects are as well, but the CGI breaks up the entire tone, of the film, despite being very cartoonish and campy to begin with, and is awfully bad. It's such a shame.

 

I've given this film 8/10, but it could so very easily have been a 9 or even 10 if it was more old school.

 

[Bear 1817]

Child's Play - That feeling when you rewatch a film for the first time in 10-12 years and the film is not just as good as you remembered it, but even better. The whole concept of a killer doll is a bit stupid, truly, but Chucky is a bit of a fucking creep and he just looks evil, which makes it work. Child's Play is a supernatural horror leaning towards the slashers of old, and it's cheesy as fuck. But it's filled with suspense and atmosphere, and it feels rather classy, despite its budget and plot. Everything just works so damn well. It's just a very well-made and cool film overall.

 

 

Frontière(s) - One of many great films of the New French Extremity (Horror) wave, and been waiting to see this for long I had build up quite a massive exectation to this film. I'd say that this is one of the better films in the subgenre french extremities. Frontière(s) is politically driven, dark, bleak, raw and brutal horror film, and while not original in itself, but some of its visual style and directing feels original. And it's a very daring film, with it not being shy of using images and themes that's dangerously close to Holocaust, but it works because there's such a strong meaning behind it all.

 

Stripped down, yet artsy backwoods horror/torture porn that surely is inspired by The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and I even see hints of The Fly and other body horror in some of the its gore and characters. Great film!

 

[Tokage 5930]

It Follows: Ah, yeah, i always knew the ''D'' in STD stood for ''Demons''... So the moral of the story can be either ''Don't forget about safe sex, kids!'' or ''Be the biggest slut possible to avoid getting killed by the magical sex demon''. I liked it, slick visual style, nice cast, nice soundtrack. Actually glad we don't find out very much about the supernatural evil element in the movie at all, keeps things mysterious. The sort of strange anachronistic technology all over the place helped give it a dreamlike atmosphere too.

 

I was majorly surprised at the low number of on-screen deaths in the movie as well, by the way

 

Can't wait for the sequel where they'll let te monster drive a cool car

[plastic_rainbow 2162]

Well, this film is more of a thriller and metaphorically about vampires, but just wondering if anybody has seen "Les Saignantes". Had to watch it for a class and it's some pretty weird shit. It was quite interesting though, despite being low in budget. Will have a class discussion tomorrow with the director in presence, so might hear some enlightening stuff.

[Bear 1817]

Trick 'r Treat - A modern horror classic and a film that should be a part of my horroroctober for sure, just like Halloween. Not only is it a good film, but it's got the spirit as well. Trick 'r Treat is a horror film that lean towards the slasher genrebut that plays around with several different subgenres of horror, and it throws in some great black humour as well. It's bautifully shot, incredibly detailed and lots of fun from start to end.

 

One of the highlight of the film is how the stories are pierced together. They're pierced together in such a fantastic way!

 

It's a shame that the film never got the big release that was intented for it, because this would've been more than just a cult classic today if it had. It would've been one of the big horror films of the 2000's for sure.

 

Brian Cox steals the show!

 

[Bear 1817]

The Cottage - This film starts off a bit too slow and more or less like a nice and funny, albeit very standard and unoriginal crime-comedy before taking a 90 degree turn into the land of gory horror and macabre comedy, and that's when it becomes truly entertaining.

 

Andy Serkis and Reece Shearsmith stars as two bothers, very different with different interests in life. Both does really well, especially Andy Serkis is fantastic here. They can act, they've got chemestry and they have good comic timing, especially Reece Shearsmith. The film is a bit back and forth in tone and feeling, and some might feel like it's a bit all over the lace, but I really liked this film. Had me in tears at times while it at a few other times gave me the chills. Nicely done!

 

I thought the two chinese guys, Logan Wong and Jonathan Chan-Pensley, were hilarious. Stereotyped as fuck, but hilarious nonetheless.

 

There's a few cool homages and tributes too. Doug Bradley has a cameo and films like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, My Bloody Valentine, Day of the Dead, The Hills Have EYes and Predator are refrenced throughout this film. Very cool indeed.

 

If you're into horror comedies you should do yourself a favour and check this out, because this was truly hellarious!

 

[Bear 1817]

Just Before Dawn - Underrated and almost forgotten cult film about five campers that are stalked and killed in the mountains, which provides some fantastic sets. Just Before Dawn is an early slasher film from 1981, and while it isn't a great film per se, it's got great atmosphere throughout the film and lots of tension and suspense. I've seen a lot of people call this a Friday the 13th and The Burning rip off, but it ain't anything like that. The film is obviously inspired by the masterpiece that is Deliverance, and even though the director denies seeing any of the films there's something very The Hills Have Eyes- and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre-esque over it, which I think is cool. Our killer is a bit of an oddball and many will probably  straight-out laugh at 'em, but he's weird for a reason and it works really well. Adds some needed weirdness to the film.

 

The score deserves a special mention as it is one of the highlights of the film. Apparently many of the ominous sounds in the music score were actually electronically altered audio clips of himself vocalizing droning noises. It makes something special.

 

[Bear 1817]

The Hills Have Eyes - This Wes Craven cult exploitation-horror flick is as good as ever, and is up there with the very best of exploitation-horror. It's up there with films such as Cannibal Ferox, Cannibal Holocaust, I Spit on Your Grave, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Maniac and so on. Heavy on both atmoshere and brutality, The Hills Have Eyes is just a raw, mean and gritty film that'll tear all weaklings apart. It's amateurish and it's raw, but there's something so very honest about it. Classic!

 

Fuck anyone who prefers the remakes to this work of art.

 

[Jigsaw9 6783]

The Witch - I had high expectations, and wasn't let down. This movie totally sucks you in, and manages to create a creepy unnerving vibe right from the start and maintains it until the very end without the use of jump scares (okay, there were maybe like 2-3 such moments, but it's all good). Beautiful, haunting and grotesque imagery, an excellent score that will make your skin crawl, and fantastic grim atmosphere. My only complaint was that there were no subtitles at all (I watched it as part of a film festival here), so the old-timey English was really really hard to comprehend at times, haha. Anyway, strongly recommended!!

[Bear 1817]

The Witch looks magnificent from the few pictures I've seen, and as you I have massive expectations.

Robert Eggers, director of The Witch, is currently remaking Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens.  Not very keen on this. There's just absolutely no need for it. If he's as talented as I think he might be, he should focus on original scripts and films, or remakes of lacluster films with great potential such as Brothers Grimm or Sinister. Filmmakers need to realize that there's no need to remake classic films. 99/100 atempts are god damned awful, and if they're not god damned awful, they still end up being a waste of time. Ugh.