Horror Movies

[Bear 1817]

I watched Lurker in the lobby: the Best of the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival. Volume I yesterday which is an anthology/compilation that features 10 short Lovecraftian films. I think all these were gathered and screened at a Lovecraft film festival i 97-98 or something. Two films around 20 minutes each, a handful of films around 8-10 minutes and a few really short ones. Like with all anthology films with a certain number of films the quality is a bit up and down, but at its best this shit is exceptional.

 

Not gonna say much, but I'll throw a few words out:

 

The Music of Erich Zann (1980) - I've reviewed this before and it's not any less good now. And exceptional film which really nails the Lovecraftian-vibe, even though it's not the most faithful adaption here. 9/10

 

The Outsider (1994) - Didn't like this at all. The look of it were awful, and the way it was set up was boring. 4/10

 

My Necronomicon (1997) - The shortest film on the anthology, and it's actually very good. Looks a bit cheap, but it's cool. 6/10

 

McLaren (1997) - Like My Necronomicon this isn't an adaption, but a Lovecraftian film. Didn't like it at all. Looked awful, felt awful. 4/10

 

The Outsider (1993) - Damn! This was awesome. Dream-like expressionistic film which feels a 100% Lovecraftian, and it feels very 1910-20's. It's only 6-7 minutes long, but it takes its time, builds up and keeps an eerie atmosphere for its entire runtime. 8/10

 

From Beyond (1997) - Very enjoyable and faithful adaption. 7/10

 

The Hound (1997) - Alongside The Outsider (1993) this is the most Lovecraftian film of the entire thing. Shot in black and white with an audio-book styled narrator on top it just feels very Lovecraftian. Great atmosphere, cool setting and so on. 8/10

 

Cthulhu Wore Tennis Shoes (1996) - This was, as far as I know, a school project and it's by far the worst film on this. It's a parody, and it's dreadful. It's only 5 minutes long, but it took forever for it to end. Garbage and the worst on the anthology.

 

And it all ended, by reasons unknown, with two music videos from the Lovecraft-inspired rock band The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets. Which was meeeh.

 

You'll find this up on youtube. Totally recommended for fans of Lovecraft(ian films).

 

 

 

The Copy-Writer - A random short film that popped up as a recommendation on youtube. Decent, Lovecraftian film, but it lacks a few things. But it was decent entertainment.

 

The Fisherman - Another film that popped up as a recommendation. Jaws meet Alien? Not really original or anything, but it takes its time to tell a story about a lonely fisherman in Hong Kong who isn't doing too well. What makes this so damn good is the fact that it spends more time on characterization than the entire Transformers franchise together, using a lot of its time to let us get to know the fisherman, who he is and his backstory. The film also looks really awesome! Totally recommended!

[koutetsuhime 15]

Hellraiser: Judgment - I went against my better judgement (hah) and gave this movie a shot after seeing a friend of mine liked it. I guess I'm pickier than he is.

 

I felt like the movie missed the whole atmosphere that the original and second Hellraiser had. Obviously the sequels declined in quality with each one, but some were still fun to watch. This one? Not really. Unimaginative attempts at new Cenobites. Disturbing atmosphere or scenery? Nah, let's just focus real close on this guy's vomit and try to gross the viewer out. Another tired detectives chasing serial killer plot with a ~twist~. The cenobites and the Lemarchand box/Lament Configuration - both are typically huge focuses of the movies, but are just barely there in this movie. Hell, even Pinhead is barely in the movie! The writer/director's self-insert character actually has more screen time and more dialogue. The movie never really does anything interesting with either the detective's plot or the characters in the otherworld/Hell. While the whole movie felt rushed, the conclusion felt like it was pinned and tacked on in mere minutes. It was different than other Hellraiser endings, I'll give it that, but the cringe-worthy dialogue and the whole ending in itself was just utterly disappointing. 

Oh, and Heather Langenkamp makes a cameo. If you blink, you'll miss it.    3/10

[Tokage 5930]

Recently watched the Japanese horror film Evil Dead Trap. While it's not really anything special story-wise (tv reporter in search of a big break goes to investigate an abandoned factory after receiving a tape w/ a possible snuff film on it, people start dying), I have to say I absolutely fucking LOVED the film's visuals. Abandoned factories, stacks of malfunctioning televisions, lots of blue light.. Somehow I got really massive giallo vibes from this one in terms of overall style and soundtrack, and after checking out some reviews, it seems I wasn't the only one who felt that way. The movie's also pretty gory at times, including stuff like eye mutilation etc. Definitely an underrated flick worth checking out if you have the time. Apparently has a sequel that's also supposed to sport some stylish visual sequences, so I think I'm gonna have to look into that one too.

 

Edited February 28, 2018 by Tokage

[Bear 1817]

Evil Dead Trap a classic as far as Japanese horror films goes, and a cult film with the rest of us exploitation and horror maniacs. I know that Toshiharu Ikeda has stated that he does not like horror and that he's not seen any Dario Argento or Sam Raimi films, but I don't buy that at all. There's just too many elements of giallo and classic Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci, as well as elements Sam Raimi got known for, for it to be merely a coincidence. It's so obvious that he's seen some of these films, even if he wasn't a fan.

 

A Japanese giallo film. Simple as that.

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Veronica - Once I heard one of the directors of [REC] was at the helm of this movie, I had to check it out. It was a decent haunting/possession kind of horror flick, nothing extraordinary but overall it did the job. I don't think I'll rewatch it, it's not that memorable, but it was okay to see once. It had its share of spooky and tense moments. Shoutout to the cool soundtrack (a mix of creepy synths and nostalgic poppy post-punk vibes).

Edited March 1, 2018 by Jigsaw9

[Bear 1817]

I decided I'll re-watch the classic horror/mystery/urban fantasy TV-series Kolchak: The Night Stalker, a series that only laster one season but had a massive influence on later supernatural series like X-Files. So yesterday I re-watched the two films, before I start on the TV-series today.

 

The Night Stalker - Made for TV film from the mid-70's about a news reporter that uncovers supernatural shit going on, but isn't exactly believed. The story is there, and the mix of horror and mystery, with a subtle touch of comedy works really well. Never hilarious, but fun enough to make you giggle a few times. It's beautifully shot with a superior British 50's and 60's horror/mystery vibe to it. Really good film!

 

The Night Strangler - This made for TV film is the sequel and follows much of the same recipe as The Night Stalker, and it goes along just as the previous one. But it's 15 minutes longer, has a better and more interesting story and is in that sense a superior film. I do wish they had given our villain a bit more screen time and purpose, but it's not a big flaw. The reason I wish there was more time given to him is because he's really interesting and a great villain. Superb film!

 

Really looking forward to start on the TV-series again today. One of the best there is.

[Bear 1817]

Les affamés / Ravenous - A nice, slow-burning reinvention of the zombie genre. A breath of fresh air. What it does so really well is that it takes the good elements of many classic zombie films and mash 'em up together, along with a huge slice of social commentary. In many ways it feels like a mix of The Night of the Living Dead and The Road. Dark and grim. Totally recommended!

[Bear 1817]

Bed of the Dead - A beautiful poster made me download this film, but I wasn't expecting all that to be honest. It's not too bad actually, but I feel like there's a lot of wasted potential here. The story is interesting enough, albeit very, very silly, and it looks really nice throughout. It tries to be smart, but really isn't. And that's where it fails. It spends too much time building a plot that's not very interesting. They should've made it into a special effects movie where the focus were creative, bloody and gory death scenes.

 

Cool enough for a watch, but I'll not re-watch it.

[plastic_rainbow 2162]

haven't written in here for a while. here's some stuff i watched since my last post, whenever that was....

 

Let the Right One In - For some reason, just by reading the title I always thought this was some cheap-scare horror film but I was totally wrong. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It's mainly a coming-of-age film with a few thriller moments and the only thing that makes it a horror film is the vampire theme. To some it may not be considered horror, but the elements are there, just very subtle. The film is slow-paced with an amazing atmosphere set during the winter; very cold, lonely, and barren. It was the perfect kind of film I needed and now it's one of my favorites!

 

Deep Red - This is the 3rd film I've seen of Dario Argento and I loved the previous two I watched (Suspiria, Phenomena), but I couldn't sit through this one at all. I literally had to turn it off after an hour cuz I fell asleep. And I tried to finish it the next day but I still couldn't get into it. I love Argento's cinematography and all but the pacing in this one was just too slow for me? It was not very engaging...

 

Inferno - Deep Red didn't stop me from watching more of Argento's films however. I liked Inferno better, but it still doesn't top Suspiria or Phenomena. The visuals were absolutely amazing; dark and surreal like Suspiria, but the story kinda lost me at times. I mean it had an interesting storyline but some parts didn't connect well to me and I wanted to know more about the book and what was behind the whole thing?

 

The House of the Devil - I saw the movie poster for this film and was surprised to see how recent it was. The artwork in the poster looked like something from an 80s horror but the film was actually made in 2009! Even the whole vibe of the film feels like an 80s horror with old horror movie fonts, similar camera angles, and a grainy or dull lighting. You can't tell this is from 2009 at all. This is a film that brings back the 80s horror done right. It's even got themes of religious cult and demons, I really enjoyed it.

 

Séance - This a low budget film that aired on TV and you can tell how cheap it looks when you see the ghosts. There's a badly cropped floating ghost, and in one scene one of them appears as a ragged doll (that scene was pretty hilarious and is an actual depiction of me). The cinematography was done well though and I've grown to like Kiyoshi Kurosawa's films. The storyline was pretty interesting, but sometimes the actions of the characters were just like really??

 

Loft - Another one of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's films. The atmosphere in this film was amazing. It mostly takes place in a female novelist's new dwelling, which is quite far out of the city being surrounded by forests and lies next to a mysterious run-down building. Her new home is rather run-down itself but after some redecorating it feels like a homely summer cottage, much needed for a novel writer. Some remnants of the previous dweller remains in the house and she starts to discover their past including the run-down building next door. Even though the ghost mostly appears in a dark corner it still evokes a scary feeling. Just seeing those shadows in the corners of your eyes. Also, there's a really cool ancient mummy corpse. Great film for the atmosphere, but the story was rather weak imo.

A creepy cool screencap I saw before watching the film.

 

Retribution/Sakebi - A Kiyoshi Kursawa film, again. I didn't like this one as much as the other two but the cinematography here is still well-crafted. The ghost evokes a similar vein to the one from Loft. Her face is not bloodied or covered in bruise marks, in fact she's actually quite gorgeous. But the way she appears on screen and the way she barely moves, not even blinking an eye, is pretty creepy. Very eerie and desolate, like most of Kiyoshi's films.

Edited March 21, 2018 by plastic_rainbow

[Bear 1817]

Did you watch the original Let the Right One In or the remake? The Swedish original is on a whole other level than the remake. They've done their best to bring it justice, but they're not even close.

 

 

Also, seeing someone being negative to Deep Red truly shocks me. One of the best giallos ever, and also not surprising one of the best and most important slasher films ever made.

 

A bit shocked about your thoughts on Inferno. Such a visual film, and few films can match its visual style.

 

But I am happy to see your review of The House of the Devil, one of my all time favourite horror films. 10/10!

[plastic_rainbow 2162]

@Bearyeah I watched the swedish original. i usually avoid remakes when it comes to horror films.

 

i've read positive reviews on Deep Red, but idk it just didn't jive well with me, sorry. :/

 

oh no, i loved Inferno for the visuals that's for sure, but i felt like more of the story could have been explained? perhaps i need a second viewing...

[Bear 1817]

Ah, my bad. As for Inferno, you might want to pick up Argento's The Mother of Tears too. It's the third film in the Three Mothers trilogy. Not nearly as good as Suspiria and Inferno, but not nearly as bad as people make ut out to be either. Pretty decent tbh.

[Tokage 5930]

Recently watched Don't Torture A Duckling by Fulci. Overall, I can say that I quite enjoyed it. It felt somewhat darker than most gialli I've seen, and I like how it kind of explores a sort of 'xenophobia' theme. I can see why Fulci himself liked it as much as he did.. The rural setting was very nice, and the general plot was pretty engaging. The dub job, as with most giallo films, was  fucking awful, but it's tolerable enough not to make me want to claw my ears out. Also, as with most giallo films I've seen, there were a couple of total "wtf?" scenes in this one.. THAT one near the beginning of the movie ranks high up there in the "shit directors would NEVER get away with in modern times" power rankings, and the dramatic zooms on Donald Duck's head near the end kinda ended up being more unintentionally funny than anything.. 

[Bear 1817]

Necer had any problem with dubving in italian films. Grew watching tons of spaghetti westerns and horror films, so I've never really had any problem with dubbing in italian films. It's just so natural to me.

 

But I can totally understand why people don't like it.

[Tokage 5930]

why do so many giallo movies that look like they could be interesting have to be so fucking hard to find?

[Bear 1817]

Which ones are you thinking about?

[Tokage 5930]

There's quite a number of them.. Makes me wish I was still able to use CG. I found out about rarelust, but i feel like the file host that's primarily used there  seems to be kinda... mediocre

[Bear 1817]

I agree. Takes a god damned eternity to download from places like rarelust and myduckisdead, which is a real shame because the contents of both are absolutely magnificent for fans of a lot of hard-to-find and unknown horror, western, action, martial arts and general exploitation films. But I wish both would use other file hosts, or just torrented the shit out of all the films.

[Bear 1817]

Kill List - Re-watched this modern folk-horror masterpiece a week or so ago. The film starts out like a very traditional thriller but slowly twists and turns until it's full on folk-horror with clean influences from The Wicker Man among others. The grey, modern day suburban setting, the characters, the atmosphere. Ben Wheatley, whom I personally consider a god of modern day horror and cinema in general, knows exactly what is scary and he knows exactly how to work with those elements. Everything is a bit messy, a bit twisted and a bit unclear, but that just adds to the greatness of the film.

 

Masterpiece!

[Bear 1817]

Insidious: The Last Key -Insidious 3 was very disappointing and mediocre at best, topped with the most ridiculous kung fun scene ever placed in a horror film. So I wasn't looking forward to a sequel, until I found out Adam Robitel was directing it. He did really well with, and totally caught me off guard, with The Taking of Deborah Logan which I thought was really good. Like with Insidious 3 the script is lackluster, but it's closer to the two first Insidious in atmosphere and feeling, and Adam Robitel showcases a much better understanding of the horror genre as a whole. There's jump scares, but it's based more around atmosphere, which is what I prefer.

 

The climax is a huge letdown and I did not like the monster much at all. Looked stupid.

 

Not a great film, but it was alright and a big step up from Insidious 3. Both Lin Shaye and Angus Sampson does really well, and the latter is really funny throughout the film. Great character!

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Doom - I dunno why, but I finally decided to watch this. All in all it was pretty entertaining midde-of-the-road B-movie action/horror, tho I got kinda bored towards the end (and that last fight was lame as hell for the most part). I hope they'll make a more over-the-top Doom adaptation someday.

[YuyoDrift 1540]

Saw A Quiet Place last night. My thoughts on the film have me torn.

The film itself, and what was shown to us, was well executed. Actors are great (especially Blunt), and the scenes that were to keep you well planted in your seats delivered on their impact. 

It's what you don't see in the film, and begin to think about after its over, that starts to give the film an over all "meh" rating.

There are reviews out there that mention that this information was left out as it was irrelevant,  a wise decision in fact. My question is: to who?

The film felt as if the additional information would have reinforced and extended the plot in a healthy way, addressing some of the questions asked by the audience as the film went along. Instead, we have to look online for answers.

Sure enough, I haven't found shit in my attempt.

 

 

[Bear 1817]

Pyewacket - A slow-burning horror film about an angst-ridden teenage metal/emo girl and an emotional unstable mother. It does draw upon some interesting themes and I like the whole idea about the ritual and shit, but it's not very well-developed at all. The ritual is so half-done, the characters are flat and annoying and the dialogue is pure trash. Very disappointing.

 

 

Best thing about the film was Nicole Muñoz. What a beauty! Daaaaaamn!

[Bear 1817]

Body Bags - Overlooked and underrated horror anthology from 1993 directed by John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper. This was actually intended as a TV-series similar to Tales From the Crypt, but shortly after the filming began Showtime decided not to pursue it and it was made into a three segment horror anthology

 

The "film" that introduces the films consists of John Carpenter as a creepy looking coroner introducing the films with some black jokes and stuff. Very fun!

 

The Gas Station is the first proper film on the anthology and it's directed by John Carpenter, and it is, alongside Cigarette Burns and In the Mouth of Madness, the best film he's made since 1990. This reeks of classic Tales From the Crypt and it is so much fun. Great atmosphere and all around really good. Features camoes by the likes of Wes Craven, Sam Raimi and David Naughton.

 

Hair is the second film and is also directed by John Carpenter, but it's not nearly as good. It's fun and good, but a bit too silly. Stacy Keach however is excellent in the lead.

 

Eye is the last film and it's a huge step up again. Not quite as good as The Gas Station, but much better than Hair. Mark Hamill leads the film brilliantly with help from Twiggy, both excellent in their roles. Gotta appreciate the camoes by Roger Corman, John Agar, Charles Napier and Eddie Velez too.

 

All in all a really good film. It's fun, but it's got more than enough horror to creep some bitches out as well. Good stuff!

[KoreanGringo 11]

 

Tigers Are Not Afraid (Vuelven, 2017) - Mexican director Issa Lopez decided to try himself in the role of Guillermo del Toro and took off a gloomy tale in the scenery of modern criminal Mexico, missed through the prism of the child's imagination. By the way, the imagination, as such, is not enough in the film. Then the tigers from the children's stories will point the way, then the ghosts of the innocently murdered will begin to oppress. First of all, the subject takes an unpleasant realism - for local children, the corpses around have already become something ordinary that terrifies. However, the same routine does not give us a feeling of the fear in which the young generation lives. The story itself is primitive enough and focuses on innocuous protagonists, trying to call for sympathy, when those who do not understand themselves stand a step away from death. The visual series is gray, but in some moments it pleases with local chips, animated graffiti and a stream of blood that appears everywhere where there is a smell of death and fear. Acting at a good level, but the abundance of music is slightly depressing. There is no sense load as such, a standard set: sadness, melancholy, sadness, decay and a belief in a happy future that looms behind one of the doors of an abandoned building somewhere in Mexico City. 6/10

 

 

Caught (2018) - Unbearable original or unusually intolerable horror with a claim to the broke of the template. The template was broken, but it broke into the drain hole of the village toilet. In a nutshell, the chamberlike semblance of a thriller with ever-increasing tension and an attempt to convey a realistic reality of the situation when 2 aliens  are coming to your house. Trying to build on repeating the same phrases and really inadequate actions of family members ... 1/10

 

P.S. sorry for my english)