Horror Movies

[Bear 1817]

Episode 12, Fitting Punishment - Great episode by Jack Sholder (Alone in the Dark, A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge) with a beautiful performance by Moses Gunn. Just the right mix of black comedy and horror. Fantastic ending! 8/10

 

Episode 13, Korman's Kalamity - Fantastic episode about a comic book writer who draws for Tales From the Crypt. Silly, but amazing and I adore the monster designs in the episode. Great, campy horror-comedy for coolios. 8/10

[Bear 1817]

Episode 14, Lower Berth - Great episode with an amazing carnivalesque atmosphere and some great acting, especially from Jeff Yagher who does brilliant. Even the Crypt Keeper i involved in this episode. How cool i that? I'll tell you, it's very cool! 8/10

 

Episode 15, Mute Witness to Murder - Decent enough episode that just feels too long. It's nothing but a very predictable and rutine thriller. It's not bad, just not all that good either. 5/10

[Bear 1817]

Episode 16, Television Terror - Easily one of the best episodes of the season. Amazing atmosphere, great humour and awesome special effects. This is how you make haunted house films. Brilliant! 9/10

[Bear 1817]

Episode 17, My Brother's Keeper - Dark, humourous and light-hearted episode with lots of fun to offer. A bit preditctable, but very much fun.

 

Episode 18, The Secret - A fairly predictable story, but one of the best of the series so far nonetheless. It's got a classic feeling to it, a bit Hammer Horroresque to be quite honest. And obviously a great ending to a great season.

 

Tales From the Crypt's been a blast so far. A bit up and down, but the majority's been ups and you never really know what to expect from the episodes. Brilliant!

[Bear 1817]

It Follows - Went to the movie theater's wih my girlfriend and watched this yesterday. There's been a lot of fuzz about this film, and many have made clear they think this is the best horror film of this millenium. I don't agree, but the fuzz is understandable because it was a great film. It's atmospheric, well-acted, directed and written. But the highlight of the film, for me at least, is the soundtrack. It's bloody brilliant, and even if it at times is trying to stress you up as a viewer, it totally works for the film IMO.

 

[Bear 1817]

 

The House That Dripped Blood - Four shorts and one main narrative that links them somewhat together. The cast is quite imressive with three of them being Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Ingrid Pitt.

 

Framework - Some actor has disappeared and a detective is trying to find out what happened. As he goes around he's told the different stories of what has happened in the house in the past. Decent enough. Good ending. 6/10

Method For Murder - The first proper segment in the story, and a good one as well. It's a fairly standard suspense story about a horror storywriter, but it manage to build plenty suspense despite being very predictable. 8/10

Waxworks - This one's with Peter Cushing, and is better than the last. It's another predictable story, but very, very, very much fun. Great atmosphere! Notice a waxwork of Christopher Lee's Dracula in the background. How cool is that? Very cool. 8/10

Sweets to the Sweet - The darkest and most sinister of the segments, with Christopher Lee in the lead. Great atmosphere and by far the best in the film. 9/10

The Cloak - The silliest of the stories, but very much entertaining. Ingrid Pitt is fantastic and it's much fun. 8/10

 

PS: the best moment of the entire film came in The Cloak. Such a great and funny quote because Christopher Lee is part of the film: "That's what's wrong with the present day horrorfilms. There's no realism. Not like the old ones, the great ones. Frankenstein. Phantom of the Opera. Dracula - the one with Bela Lugosi of course, not this new fellow."

Almost shat myself at that one. Brilliant! Christopher Lee must've laughed himself close to death at this.

 

All in all another great Amicus horror anthology.

[Bear 1817]

 

Tales From the Crypt - The original film from 72, with two stories adapted from Tales From the Crypt, two stories from The Haunt of Fear and one from The Vault of Horror. I'll doo my usual and say some words about every story included.

 

The main narrative is cool, though very predictable. And The Cypt Keeper is totally different from the one in the series. But that's cool. He's more sinister here.

 

… And All Through the House - This story I was already familiar with as it was also adapted for the TV-series. Two very different versions, though. This one is more focused on the suspense rather than the maniacal, black crazyness of the one in the TV-series. Joan Collins is great here. And this is probably my favourite on here. 9/10

Reflection of Death - This is probably my least favourite here, but it's still a great one. The ending is really good. 7/10

Poetic Justice - This one stars Peter Cushing and is my second favourite of the stories. Peter Cushing is amazing, and the ending is among the best I've seen lately. It's just really amazing. 9/10

Wish You Were Here - The silliest of the stories, but a good one. It's hilarious and so over the top. Can't help but love this one. 8/10

Blind Alleys - The meanest of them all, and another loveable one. It's pretty over the top, but who doesn't love that? I know I do. 8/10

 

Amicus really knew how to deal with horror anthologies. Brilliant stuff!

[Bear 1817]

 

Asylum - The main narrative here is, compared to most others, really good. A bit over the top, but it's far from predictable and it's lots of fun. Such a surprise to me.

 

Frozen Fear - This starts off with a blast, and while not my favourite of the stories, it's top notch. Silly and over the top, but executed in such a way that you can't help but love it. So much fun! 9/10

The Weird Tailor - This one stars Peter Cushing, so no matter how much it sucks it's worth seeing because Cushing is Cushing, and Cushing is great. But this doesn't suck. This is the best one of the lot. It's slow, but the atmosphere is brilliant and ending superb. 10/10

Lucy Comes to Stay - The most predictable and worst of the lot. It's not bad, but it lacks both atmosphere and suspense. Good, but not amazing. 7/10

Mannikins of Horror - This is the last one and is wrapped into the main narrative turning into one. And as I already said, the ending, which is this, is amazing. Superb! 8/10

 

Amicus deliver the goods as usual. All hail!

[Bear 1817]

I have also started on Tales From the Crypt, season 3.

 

Episode 1, Loved to Death - Season three started off with a blast with this nice, littlee romantic comedy film. Well, romantic for a while at least. It's fairly ordinary, but it's executed so well you just have to be entertained by it. 8/10

 

Episode 2, Carrion Death - A superb episode with a stunning performance by Kyle MacLachlan. This gem is directed by Steven E. de Souza who would later direct Street Fighter, and he does a great job. Over the top and fun, but exciting at the same time. Masterpiece! 9/10

[Heroin 53]

I watched Jason X. watched up until Jason splattered that blonde girl's face and there I was done. Probably the only reason I watched that movie lol

[Bear 1817]

The Babadook - One of the films I had the highest expectations for in 2014 (only based on a cool poster and cool title to be quite honest), and I am not disappointed. I thought this was really good. Great, chilling atmosphere which rely on no cheap jump scares, just pure horror, a very good plot, two fantastic lead actors and superb soundtrack. A proper good debut for Jennifer Kent. Great film!

 

[nullmoon 784]

The Babadook - One of the films I had the highest expectations for in 2014 (only based on a cool poster and cool title to be quite honest), and I am not disappointed. I thought this was really good. Great, chilling atmosphere which rely on no cheap jump scares, just pure horror, a very good plot, two fantastic lead actors and superb soundtrack. A proper good debut for Jennifer Kent. Great film!

I'm going to have to disagree on this one unfortunately. I found the film to be more of a thriller than a horror film. I found there to be little tension in the film and the eponymous Babadook was laughable at any opportunity outside of the book itself. If I recall correctly, he once emitted a stock t-rex roar?!

I also found the performance from the lead actress really quite hollow and her lines/actions pretty funny at times (telling her child to eat shit and booting down doors like a commando comes to mind).

Each to their own, and i'm not shooting down your opinion at all dude. A lot of people loved this film, but I just don't get why. The reading of the book was the most tense and terrifying thing I've seen in a while, but the rest of the film just felt amateurish and lacklustre. In my opinion, of course

[Bear 1817]

Spoiler for the film The Babadook:

 

Horror films and thrillers often go hand in hand as they are the two genres with most in common. They often overlap. And it's not wrong to call The Babadook a thriller, but for me it's a psychological horror film. But horror films doesn't have to be very suspenseful, scary or bloody or anything like that. Frankenweenie if a good example on that. It's not scary or anything like that, but it's a horror film.

 

As for the monster, it might be silly, but for me it was a simple symbol of gief, and the more you try to hide and deny your gief, the stronger and more monsterous it gets. However, if you let it out and learn how to live with it, it'll calm down and stop hauting you. I thought it was an effective symbolism for something that can destroy lifes.

 

So while it might be a physical monster, it isn't something dangerous per se. If you get my drift?

 

All in all I just thought the atmosphere were amazing. Brilliant atmosphere!

 

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night - I finally got to see this film, a film I've had massive expectations for ever since I first saw the poster. Then, some time after putting it on my watchlist due to the poster, I red it was tagged as "the first Iranian vampire western" and I got even more excited as that sounded really god damn cool. Just watched it and count me impressed. Very impressed.

 

People who wants great narratives won't be too impressied with A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, because this is all about atmoshere and emotion. It's dark, gritty, bleak and mystic, yet slightly romantic. The cinematography is top notch and it's visually stunning and shot in such a way that super moviegeeks will get a boner that lasts for 100 minutes. It's slow, it's in black and white, but that just adds to the overall mood of the film.

 

You could say it's style over substance, and that would't be wrong, but I don't mind that and I just loved this film. A western inspired vampire-noir. Beautful film!

 

The only film I can compare it too is Let the Right One In, but even those aren't very similar at all. But it's got the same type of originality in a subgenre that has become very generic over the years. It's something new, something fresh and unique.

 

[Bear 1817]

Ordered these the other day. Should be here in a week and a half or something:

 

 

 

I should look pretty god damn sexy in those.

[Bear 1817]

Illusion of Blood - Top notch mid 60's japanese ghost horror. Among several, at least 30 films, based on the story Yotsuya Kaidan, a story about betrayal, murder and revenge. Tatsuya Nakadai is fantastic as always, and the film is so well-directed and nicely shot. A pure pleasure to the eye. The atmosphere is amazing, it's bleak, is dark and depressing. If you're into japanes ghost films from the 60's, then this surely will please you. Got a very classic feeling to it. I thought it was an amazing film.

 

[Bear 1817]

Episode 3, The Trap - This one is directed by Michael J. Fox, who's also got a cameo, and stars Bruce McGill who is hilarious. It's a black comedy about a fairly standard subject, but it's quite light-hearted throughout the episode and McGIll delivers one funny line after another. Can't help but love this! 8/10

 

 

The Vault of Horror - Another Amicus anthology, and the first, and as far as I know, only of the Amicus anthology's not to feature Peter Cushing. Also, desite the title being The Vault of Horror, none of the stories are from The Vault of Horror. There's four from Tales From the Crypt and one from Shock SuspenStories.

 

The Main narrative are fairly standard, and you know where it's all going. Amicus have already used the same recipe for several of their anthology's, so it's not all that exciting.

 

Midnight Mass - Predictable as soon as things gets going, but very fun. 7/10

The Neat Job - This is the funniest of them, being so silly and over the top it's impossible not to laugh yourself half to death. 8/10

This Trick'll Kill You - Darker and more serious than the two first, and very enjoyable. 8/10

Bargain in Death - This is my favourite of the stories here. Dark, fun and very enjoyable. 8/10

Drawn and Quartered - The darkest of them. It's mean and delicious. My second favourite. 8/10

 

 

The whole production of this film is very stripped down compared to the other Amicus films I've seen, but it's still very enjoyable. Thought it was great!

[Bear 1817]

Matango - A japanese horror film from 1963, directed by Ishiro Honda. The film is a tokusatsu, which is a term used about films that heavily rely on special effects, usually horror, sci-fi or fantasy films. Matango is a dark and bleak horror film about a bunch of people that go out on the sea, encounters awful weather and drifts to an island.

 

Matango is a proper slow-burner, and for the first 70 minutes Honda is taking it slowly, going through the film in the pace of a snail. What makes it work so well is the bleak, nightmarish atmosphere and the fact that the film is very smart. The characters might do dumb shit, but they are not dumbed down, as in e.g most slasher films. The dumb stuff they do can in many ways be rationalized and understood, even if you don't agree with the choices they take.

 

Being a tokusatsu I had expected lots of special effects, but there wasn't all that much. But what was looked fantastic, and the scenes in the mushroom forest was so good. Surreal, psychedelic and nightmarish. Lovely stuff.

 

So, it's well-directed, well-acted and just brilliant. Absolutely stunning film.

 

[Tokage 5930]

Yep, Matango is a cool one. But I'm a sucker for kaiju/tokusatsu stuff anyway, sort of.

If I'm not mistaken, either Kinniku Shojo Tai or Ningen-Isu also wrote a song named after it.

[Bear 1817]

Fuck yeah! I'd say I'm quite experienced as far as kajiu goes, but I have a fairly small knowledge with tokusatsu films outside of the kajiu genre. Do you have any recommendations? I'd prefer horror or monster sci-fi, but everything goes as long as it's cool.

[Bear 1817]

Goke, Body Snatcher from Hell - More tokusatsu, sci-fi horror film. Very cool, creepy and atmospheric film with alien vampires. It's a bit bizarre and cheesy, but it's very entertaining and effective in what it does. Quite surreal at times, especially because of its colorful visuals

 

The title, as cool as it is, isn't very fitting, though. Goke the Vampire or Vampire Gokemidoro is way more fitting.

 

Fun fact: a similar scene to the opening shot of the plane flying in front of the orange backdrop was used by Quentin Tarantino  in Kill Bill as well. So he's a fan.

 

 

The Horror of Malformed Men - One of the big ero guro films, and a great horror film it is. It stars off as a mystery film but slowly leans towards horror as the film goes on. It's slow, but it's interesting, creepy and surreal. It gets really psychedelic and weird as it goes on, and some will be put off by its slowness and it's over the top plot. But I really like this film and thought Teruo Ishii did a splendid job here.

 

It's a very The Island of Doctor Moreau-esque film and I doubt Teruo Ishii hadn't heard of The Island of Doctor Moreau before making this. But who cares? It's excellent either way.

 

Tatsumi Hijikata steals the show, though. He's absolutely brilliant in this film! Mindblowing performance.

 

[Tokage 5930]

As far as Toku goes, DEFINITELY check out both Zeiram movies. The 3 Yokai Monsters flicks from the '60s are nice too from what I remember. 'Mechanical Violator Hakaider' and 'Mirai Ninja' are entertaining too.

[Bear 1817]

I will check them out. I'm especially interested in the Yokai Monsters. Looks neat!

 

 

There's a lot to look into on this list as well: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls003190690?ref_=tt_rls_1

 

Looks like there's plenty gold to be found there.

[Bear 1817]

The Living Skeleton - Japaneseblack/white horror film from the end of the 60's. The film looks stunning, and the cinematogaphy is excellent. Splendid use of light and shadow, and overall very well-directed, as well as well-acted. This film is all about atmosphere, and it does really well in creating eerie, creepy atmosphere that'll keep you on the edge of your seat.

 

If you ask me there's just something very un-japanese about this film. It's not exactly a gothic horror film, yet I get this traditional japanese 60's ghost horror meets Mario Bava-esque gothic horror set in modern times from the whole film. Which is really cool. Fantastic film!

 

[Bear 1817]

Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky - I must have seen this film close to 20 times now, still I am not even close to being able to describing the sheer brilliance of the masterpiece with words. It's simply trash cinema perfection. These gifs pretty much sums up the excellency of this film:

 

 

 

 

Gu aka Bewitched - I had no idea what to expect from this film, but I've been wanting to see its sequel Mo aka The Boxer's Omen for a long time as I've heard lots of good talk about it, but I've never heard any talk of this at all. So again, I had no idea what to expect from this. But to my surprise, this was actually a very good film. Yeah, it's a bit goofy and silly at times, but it's got atmosphere and feeling. An evil wizard conducting black magic, a monk hitting back at him with good magic and so forth. Good VS evil. The first "stand off" between the good monk and evil wizard is nothing short of brilliant and breat taking, but the second feels a bit rushed. It's good, but far from the quality of the first one.

 

Anyway, it's not genius film making, but it sure as hell does the job with entertaining. Sleazy, cheesy and good. Can't wait to see the sequel.

 

[Bear 1817]

Mo aka The Boxer's Omen - The sequel to Gu, and a very good one as well. Stoy-wise it's a bit below Gu, but everything else is better... and crazier. Because this is one hell of a crazy film, and it gets more and more wicked the closer to the end you get. Lots of special effects, and they look amazing. Especially the gore is from the top shelf. Stunning work, and at time abolutely disgusting. Some of the scene are straight down gruesome, however, as the first one it's a bit goofy, silly and extremely cheesy at times. But it's very enjoyable. Great film!