Horror Movies

[Tokage 5930]

Shocking! Just shocking, mate. Watch The House of the Devil right fucking now! A slow-burning, occult horror-throwback to the late 70's/early 80's. The entire film, from the way it's directed, shot, acted and played out is 100% late 70's/early 80's. The tension, the atmosphere It's as authentic as it gets to be honest, and a god damn masterpiece. I think that if you like films like Rosemary's Baby and The Omen, and you've got patience, you'll like this. A 10/10 for me, and one of the 10 best horror films ever. A bit too slow for many, though, but it's all about atmosphere and if you can get into the atmosphere you'll love it.

 

The Innkeepers is a must too. Looks and feels more modern than The House of the Devil, but if you enjoy classics like The Changeling (1980) and The Haunting (1963), there's no reason not to check it out. Great film!

Last time I tried to torrent House of the Devil i spent like several days waiting for it to make some progress, but it never did... so i sort of gave up. Guess i'll have to retry at some point if/when torrents will start working for me again at the library..

 

So today I decided to rewatch Suspiria... Well, what can I say about that one? Classic. Love the atmosphere, the stylish as hell visuals, the use of color... Great stuff.

[Licio123 181]

I really disliked House of the Devil. Found it utterly boring... nothing just happened. Weird, cause I liked The Sacrament.

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Same, I was kinda bored with House of the Devil. I 'get' the vibe, but I dunno, it didn't do anything for me, other than irritate me.

 

Just watched Identity (2003 movie). Not recommending it. Lackluster story that turns into being absolutely ridiculous towards about 2/3 in. A waste of time.

[Bear 1817]

You guys are fucking crazy. The House of the Devil is the shit!

 

And I think Identity is great. The entire film feels like an Agatha Christie story on drugs or something. A modern dark & stormy night-film that does it for me.

[Licio123 181]

I agree with Bear about Identity though, it's a twisty and upredictable thriller. It's been a while but I remember loving it.

[Bear 1817]

Black Water - Half-decent, but very, very diappointing killer crocodile horror. It come off as very realistic, but it' just too long for its own good and the lack of atmosphere, suspense and/or blood/gore doesn't work too well for me. Could easily have been cut 20-30 minutes without anyone noticing a damn difference, and the dialogue isn't good enough to carry the film as much as it's supossed to, and the acting is for most part sub-par. Stay away. There's better animal horror and killer crocodile films out there, even though most of them aren't nearly as realistic as this.

 

But on the positive side there's a limited amount of CGI in the film. The crocodile are for mot part the real deal, with some practical special effects now and then. That's awesome!

 

[Bear 1817]

Tales of Halloween - Fun anthology horror consisting of 10 short films clocking in at 90 mintues, made by 11 directors. All 10 stories take place in a suburban American town, and several characters are seen in more than one of the film, which I thought was a really cool touch. The films differs in both quality, feeling and atmosphere, but aside from one poor segment I thought all were really cool.

 

Among the directors here you'll find a few "familiar faces" that should be known to many horror fans:

Darren Lynn Bousman (Saw II-IV, Repo! The Genetic Opera)

Andrew Kasch (Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy)

Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers, The Descent)

Lucky McKee (May, All Cheerleaders Die)

Mike Mendez (Big Ass Spider!)

 

So there's a few familiar names here, and some familiar faces in the cast as well with some small, cool camoes by Joe Dante, John Landis and Adrienne Barbeau. The latter is a radio host here, just as she was in The Fog and it's an obvious homage. And speaking of homage, the film pays homage to plenty films here, especially John Carpenter films.

 

I'm not gonna go through the films like I usually do, but every single film, with the exception of one, ranges from 7 to 9. High quality stuff with lovely stories, great atmosphere and nice special effects.

 

Hard to pick any favourites here, though. Sweet Tooth, Trick, This Mean War and Friday the 31st are my favourites. Thought all of these were great. Really liked the silliness of This Mean War, which is see as a old school (60's and earlier), atmospheric horror VS modern violent and bloody horror (70's and newer). Was very cool!

 

My least favourite is Darren Lynn Bousman's The Night Billy Raised Hell. While all films differ in tone and overall feeling, this comes off as a pathetic joke. Out of place, boring and annoying.

 

Anyway, totally recommended!

 

 

Bloodsucking Bastards - Horror-comedy that's silly, over the top and fucking stupid. It starts slow and shit just takes too long before it gets going, but when it gets going it truly does get going. A few parts I wish was a bit different, but there's lots of blood and shit, and tons of jokes. Some awfully funny too. It's not a masterpiece, but I surely was entertained.

 

I thought both Fran Kranz and especially Joey Kern were great. The latter was hilarious throughout the film.

 

Flawed, but enjoyable!

 

[Bear 1817]

Dude Bro Party Massacre III - A dumb, stupid and silly slasher that pokes fun at the worst of the 80's slashers ever made. It's intentionally made to look like a mid 80's VHS slasher (with gritty quality and everything) made on no budget whatsoever. Thoughts went to films like The Nail Gun Massacre and Splatter University, in other words total fucking garbage. But it's fun garbage!

 

Dude Bro Party Massacre III is a lot sillier than the two mentioned films and a bit different, but it has that same feeling of a total lack of talent. But it's flawed. It's just way too long clocking in at 90 minutes. 70-75 would've been just enough, and would've made it a lot better. But if you like trash horror at its very worst, then there's no reason why you shouldn't buy a six-pack, make a pizza, invite a friend or two over and watch this. You're sure to be entertained! I promise you that.

 

And as stupid and awful as the title is, I chuckle at it every single time I read it. Jesus.

 

[Bear 1817]

Stung - What the fuck is the moaning about? This film have been poorly recieved, but as usual I don't give a fuck and neither should you. Funny horror-comedy that mixes cool-looking killer-bees with hilarious comedy, decent CGI with beautiful practical special effect and two leads that were born to act together. What a chemestry! I thought this was a lot of fun, so just ignore the negative respons to this. It was fun, and even funnier if you're familiar with 50's-70's monster/big bug flicks. Nice cheese!

 

While I would prefer a film with 100% practical special effects, they made the mix work very well here. They never went full retard with the CGI, and they just knew when to use it and when not to use it. Very nicely done!

 

I did hate the fucking sex-scene, though. So out of place. But other than that I was very much entertained.

 

And I'd watch this again for Jessica Cook alone to be honest. God, she's got them looks.

 

 

Gravy - Silly horror action-comedy that surprised me. Not a masteriece, but often hilarious and the over the top cheese just got straight to my heart. Dumb, but bloody, gory and very cool. There's not really more to say. Ignore the critics and watch it.

 

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Julia's Eyes (Los ojos de Julia) - Very nice thriller/horror about a woman with a degenerative eye disease wanting to uncover the truth behind the mysterious death of her sister (who also suffered from the same illness). Some cool visual and story-telling elements. Thank god for the absence of jump scares as well, the movie was completely eerie without them in itself. Props to the director for the proper pace too - even though it might seem long at first (almost 2 hours), it pays off. Exciting stuff.

 

[Bear 1817]

You are right, brah. Julia's Eyes is a very good neo-giallo, and very close to being a masterpiece.

 

Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse - Again: what the fuck is the negative reviews about? I thought this film was very good. It's not a masterpiece and it doesn't offer anything new to the genre, but it was lots of fun. I've seen it all before, but it was a lot of fun. Standard, but the story is OK, the cast offers lots of fun, the (practical!!!) pecial effects are brilliant (shame they went full retard with the CGI towards the end), and it offers a lot of laughs. Had to wie some tears of joy a few times to be honest. It was that funny. The opening scene tells you everything you need to know. Jesus, that was fun!

 

Add a Sarah Dumont I could rest my eyes on all night long and it's more than just enjoyable. Good film!

 

The poster is bad-fuckin-ass too! The reason why I watched it. So cool!

 

[Tokage 5930]

Oh hey, that reminds me, I've got Stung on my HD as well, guess I'll give it a spin over the weekend

[Licio123 181]

Watched Hangman. It was kinda disturbing, but not in a horror way. Way too many monotonous parts that made it drag for too long. And the ending is quite abrupt.

[Bear 1817]

We Are Still Here - I was drawn toward this film by a strong force known as... POSTER, and with a fantastic poster it's hard not to look forward to a film. We Are Still Here is the debut feature film of Ted Geoghegan, and everything about the film just oozes of talent. He clearly love the genre, and from the begining till the end that's very clear.

 

Ti West's The House of the Devil and James Wan's The Conjuring seems to have had a small inspiration on Ted Geoghegan, but the main inspiration here is obviously Lucio Fulci, and especially The House by the Cemetery. The story, characters, practical special effects and atmosphere, it all reminds me of classic Lucio Fulci. But this isn't a rip off or anything, it feels more like a very smart and clever, stylish and mesmerizing homage to Lucio Fulci and The House by the Cemetery. There's also elements of The Fog, The Evil Dead, The Changeling, Dead & Buried, The Beyond and more.

 

The film, despite bare clocking in at 80 minutes, are a atmospheric, slow-burning horror film that takes it time to build suspense and atmoshere, and it truly pays off. It was so good, man!

 

Well-acted too. Barbara Crampton (Re-Animator, From Beyond), Andrew Sensenig, Lisa Marie and especially Larry Fessenden are fantastic here.

 

I'm not gonna say much more. Hands down one of the 5-10 best horror films of the 2000's! Masterpiece!

 

[Bear 1817]

Cooties - Another horror film from 2015 that's been poorly reviewed, and once again I just don't understand why. At the surface it doesn come off as a fairly standard horror comedy, but the setting and shocking content does make it into something more than just another horror-comedy. It's a zom-com, but what differs here is that we have a film told from the perspective of some teachers, who run around and beat the living shit out of zombie kids. It feels so wrong, yet so right. It's got a good cast with a everyoung Elijah Wood in the lead, followed by Alison Pill and Rainn Wilson and they all do well. But my favourite? Peter fuckin' Kwong! He is hilarious here. But who is Peter Kwong you ask? Well, he is the guy who played Rain, one of the three motherfuckers in Big Trouble in Little China. It's a small role, but it's nothing but genius! Couldn't stop laughing at him.

 

Anyway, had this been released 10 years before it would've been praised and it would now have had a huge cult following. This I know.

 

AND THE FROG FUCKED THE CATERPILLAR!!!

 

 

The Spiral Staircase - It's a bit of a stretch to call this a horror film, but I'd say it's something like 33% drama, 33% thriller and 33% horror of the psychological type, so I'll take it here. The Spiral Staircase is thick on atmosphere, both a classic noir-feeling and gothic atmosphere, the kind of gothic atmosphere that has been lost for ages now. It's beautifully shot and powerfully acted, especially by out mute lead girl played by Dorothy McGuire. It's a slow-burner and it takes it time to build on the susense mystery and the atmosphere, but no matter how slow it gets you never feel that out lead woman is safe. It kepts me on the edge of my sofa from begining to end.

 

I thought this was one hell of a good film! Mystery-thriller with influences from old dark house thrillers/horrors, film noir, gothic horror and sychological drama. This i the original from 1945 by the way.

 

I am also pretty sure this have had an enormous influence on both giallo and slasher. Both Tenebre and Black Christmas have paid homage to this film I'd say, with one certain scene being recreated, quite obviously in Black Christmas for instance. And the way the killer is dressed and shot clearly had a huge influence on giallo. You could almost go as far as to call this a proto-giallo in many ways.

 

[Bear 1817]

Nightof the Comet - Another film that probably doesn't belong here, but in many ways it also does belong here. A fine mix of action, comedy, horror and sci-fi, with a massive camp factor surrounding everything. The story and stuff looks kinda familiar to begin with, but at the very bottom of it all it truly isn't like other similar films. It's quite unique to be honest. I'll even go as far as to call it smart. A real clever film, and a very entertaining one. And our lea girl, Catherine Mary Stewart, is incredible. Her attitude is superb, and her character is fantastic.

 

A real masterpiece this. A must-see!

 

 

Når dyrene drømmer (When Animals Dream) - A unique take on the werewolf genre from denmark. It's a slow-burning horror-drama, with much focus on the drama, and it takes almost the entire film before we see any of the horror. It feels very surrealistic and dream-like, and in many ways it's similar to Låt den rätte komma in (Let the Right One In), but it's much more than just a copy. It does have a slightly different angle and a totally different atmosphere. A bit more arty perhaps? Anyway, I thought it was good. Our lead girl Sonia Suhl is very good, and norwegian actor Jakob Oftebro is really impressive in a supporting role too. It's rare to see norwegians act this well. He's making a name for himself and I think he might be the "next big thing" as far as norwegian actors go. I can see him gaining international fame as logn as his language skills is good enough.

 

Not a masterpiece, but cool enough and unique enough to keep you interested despite its pacing. I liked it, and I can see this being much more enjoyable on a second view.

 

[Tokage 5930]

This weekend I watched...

 

Stung: Well, I'll honestly admit right at the start that the whole ''oh no, giant versions of regular earth creatures!'' subgenre of horror has never really been my thing, but this movie was a pretty okay way to kill the time. They could've gone WAY overboard with the CGI-creature stuff, but they actually managed to strike a pretty fine balance between practical effects and computer effects. That one wasp pulling off a Wilhelm scream as it burned to death killed me though, that was so fucking dumb. Honestly, if I actually saw this at the film festival it was playing at over here I'd probably have been disappointed overall, but yeah.. Not the worst. Just not something I'll remember a month from now, probably.

 

Friday the 13th II: Actually the [spoilers]first[/spoilers] part of the franchise I've watched. Don't ask me why, I don't know either. Totally a by-the-numbers slasher flick, but hell, it's a classic, and it's fun. I'm not even sure if the ''standard slasher formula'' had totally developed yet at this point, honestly.. The movie delivers some pretty damn nice eye candy too. I actually think it's sort of sad they ditched the whole ''burlap sack'' look for Jason in future installments, as it was pretty cool in its own way...

[Bear 1817]

You should watch more Friday the 13th films. The first one is superior to the rest, but  part 2, 4, 6 and 7 are also great. I do recommend watching all films though. And after you watch at least the first 9 films you have to watch the documentary Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th, which is one of the best documentaries ever. Almost 7 hours of Friday the 13th info. 10/10!

 

The Old Dark House - Dark, creepy, atmospheric and fun old dark house film that's as clever as it's good. Sueprb dialogue, great characters and superbly direced by Jame Whale (Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein). The Old Dark House can almost be seen as one of the first old dark house-parodies. It's like a witty, self-aware reinterpretation of the genre, but without lsing its creepyness. Way ahead of its time IMO! Full of hauting imagiry, uperb cast with Boris Karloff, Ernest Thesiger, Melvyn Douglas, Charles Laughton, Gloria Stuart and more too.

 

Boris Karloff and Ernest Thesiger steal the show here. Both are beyond phenomenal!

 

Classic!

 

[Bear 1817]

Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter - A proper underrated Hammer Horror masterpiece that blends fairly standard vampire horror with swashbuckling, and it works almost too well. To quite honest I consider this one of the 10 best Hammer Horror films I've seen. It feels so familiar, yet at the same time so unfamiliar because of the unsual mix of vampire horror and swashbuckling. The atmosphere is great, but I'd actually go as far as to say that it has more in common with classic folk horror films like Witchfinder Geneal, The Blood on Satan's Claw, The City of the Dead and The Devil Rides Out, than with traditional vampire horror and it feels almost Brothers Grimm-esque in many ways. Another thing that truly makes a difference is how it twist the vampire folklore a bit, they basically rewrote it for the film adding fairly unusual elements toit that makes the vampires seem more dangerous, more unique. I loved it!

 

It was the first and only feature film directed by Brian Clemens, and it shows. He wasn't very talented, but his flaws just adds to the charm. It's not greatly acted either, but again it just adds to the charm. Caroline Munro is fantastic, though. As good as she's beautiful, and she's very beautiful!

 

Fantastic film!

 

[Tokage 5930]

Child's Play 3: Well, that completes the original Chucky trilogy for me.. I have to admit that I wasn't really feeling this one. Are the other parts after this one worth checking out at all? The creepiest part of the whole movie was the opening sequence, heh.. That kid actor playing Tylor annoyed the SHIT out of me, i was actually hoping he'd end up disappearing at some point during the movie or dying, but alas. At least Chucky himself was still entertaining to watch..

[Bear 1817]

The Gruesome Twosome - A very typical Herschell Gordon Lewis splatter film, but of the Herschell Gordon Lewis-splatters I've seen this is easily the least entertaining one. It gives you pretty muh all you want and expect from a HGL film: a poor script, awful directing, piss poor cinematography, no actual actors/people that can act for shit and some great gore. Realistic? No, not by todays standards, but it still looks fantastic and the gore alone are more than enough to please me. The film kicks off with the silliest, worst and most ridiculous scenes I've ever seen, a scene that was added after the film wa finished because they needed it to be 70 minutes long. But after that it turns into a regular HGL film, but even at just 70 minutes it's too unevenly paced and it drags on a bit too long. But it's an entertaining film, and if you're into splatters it's  a must for sure.

 

Typical Herschell Gordon Lewis junk. Fun!

 

 

The Wizard of Gore - More Herschell Gordon Lewis, and this is probably my favourite HGL film. Or, this The Gore Gore Girls and Two Thousand Maniacs are probably even. Fantastic films! It's trash allright, but it's great trash. As usual it's filled with non-actors who probably tries their best, but don't impress anybody, with the exception of Ray Sager who plays Montag the Magnificent. He's not a good actor, but he's got plenty screen presence and owns his role. The entire film is like a fucked up, yet magnificent, drug trip of some kind. A shitload of fantastic gore, great scenes and overall fun.

 

Maximum cult! Brilliant in its own way.

 

 

The Gore Gore Girls - As I said in my previous "review", this is one of my favourite HGL films. This leans a bit towards intentional comedy like modern-day splatters, and once again he took the blood and gore to a whole new level of AWESOME! None of the actors can play, but that doesn't matter as I don't expect them to either. I don't watch a HGL film to see good cinematography, great characters, brilliant dialogue and good actors. I watch 'em to see trash! Blood and gore, as over the top as it gets. By far the sleaziest of his splatter films too. Lovely film!

 

This was his final film in 30 year as well, until he returned in 2002 with Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat.

 

 

Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore - A documentary about the man himself, as well as his assosiates whom he made his films with. I wish it was longer, but at 1 hour and 40 minutes it does provide you with plenty info and facts about him, his career and his films. Best part is the KFC story and John Waters. He always steal the show when he decides to show up in documentaries. He's got a shitload of knowledge on exploitation films, and he's got so much charisma. It's always a pleasure watching him in docus.

 

Anyway, superb documentary!

 

[Tokage 5930]

In the Mouth of Madness: How in the FUCK did it take me this long to finally watch this? I love everything about this movie, holy fuck, i'm a total sucker for that ''fucking with reality'' / Lovecraftian stuff. Seriously wouldn't have minded if this one was like.. an hour or two longer, and I don't say that often. Also, Sutter Cane somehow constantly reminded me of some sort of evil Neil Gaiman looks-wise lmao (i know he's basically supposed to be Bootleg Stephen King tho)

[Bear 1817]

American Movie: The Making of Northwestern - Not a horror movie per se, but a documentary about an indipendent moviemaker that is directing his own movie, a short film titled Coven. This film covers a bit range of emotion in the film. It's sad, it's hilarious, it's heartbreaking and it's heartwarming, but for most part it's bloody hilarious. What a bunch of people, and our two main men, Mark and Mike, are what I'd call a radar pair. They're brilliant by themself, but even better together.

 

Fuck, even the way Mark Borchardt, our director, pronounces the word "coven" is beyond funny. I spat out in laughte every single time he said "coven", and that was't even close to being the funniest part. It's simply one of the best documentaries I've seen. A must-see!

 

 

!!!

[Bear 1817]

Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film - An interesting, but sadly flawed, documentary about the rise and fall of the slasher genre. Lots of interviews with diretors, people involved in the "movement" and fans, and among the people interviewed are John Carpenter, Wes Craven and Tom Savini, the latter is the best part as usual. It provides lots of great info, albeit not much new info on the genre, and it's very fun and interestig. But as I said, it's flawed simply for starting with John Carpenter and his Halloween.

 

1. It simply forgets some very important films to the genre. It starts with Halloween as if Halloween was the very first slashers film. Psycho and Peeping Tom gets a mention for being a huge inspiration on the genre, as well as a minute long mention of "spaghetti slashers" aka giallos, but it doesn't spend any time on the giallos. That, to me at least, is shocking considering how big of an influence giallos had on slashers, and John Carpenter is one that have been very open about his admieration of the genre, and how much of an influence they had on him and the creation of Halloween. Halloween was baically John Carpenter going all Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci on us, and even the soundtrack of these giallos were an inspiration of John Carpenter and the Halloween soundtrack. He's personally thanked Claudio Simonetti and Goblin for almost making his soundtracks for him. Now, how do you then go on to make a documentary about the genre without mentioning this genre?

 

2. Black Christmas is completely left out. Doesn't get a single mention. This is a pure slasher. It might even be the first proper slasher. While Halloween probably was the first film to create the rules for the genre, Black Christmas was the film that, as far as I know, laid the groundwork for the genre.

 

3. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is more or less completely left out. Not a traditional slasher, but it sure had much influence of the creation of the genre. It should be in it.

 

I also understand that they can't put every single slasher or proto-slasher into the film, but again it just lacked the mention of so many films. Thirteen Women, The Spiral Staircase, Agatha Christie and the AC-adaption And Then There Were None, House of Wax and so on. They just completely ignore the lot of these. Slashers? No, sure not. But proto-slashers is a fair term to describe these films. They were slashers before there were slashers. Long before the groundwork was laid and before there was any rules. Some of these should at least be mentioned in every single documentary of the genre.

 

 

But other than that, I had a great time watching this. It was lots of fun, and Tom Savini is the man as usual. And the way they talk bout humans need of blood. It's in our nature to love watching people die the most gruesome deaths, and it always has been. For real. Rob Zombie was great too. The way he talked about writing autograph just sums him up really. He comes off as a proper human, the way humans were supossed to be. Hopefully he lives up to this in real life too. Heh.

[Bear 1817]

The Thing: Terror Takes Shape - A very good documentary on John Carpenter's The Thing. I thought this documentary was exceptionally thorough and it covers everything from why John Carpenter wanted to make this, to the casting and the cast, to the special effects guy to the guy who painted some pictures used in the film to this and that. They even give the dog some time. Very impressive documentary with lots of fun facts, interesting facts and all that.

 

Best part was about the special effects, which should be no surprise considering I consider The Thing to have some of th ebest special effects ever. But what makes this part so great is Rob Bottin's enthusiasm. The way he talk bout John Carpenter, the way he talk about how he came up with the special effects, the way he talks about how they executed them on film. There's so much enthusiasm there. It's pure happiness from a guy who quite obviously loved what he was doing. And he provies some fantastic anecdotes too.

 

And I wish it would be released with the original stop-motion sequence that they filmed. God, that looked gorgeous Such a shame it's stored away some place.

 

There's two things I wished was here/spent more time on:

 

1. I wish there was more time spent on the cast, and especially Kurt Russell. But that's nitpicking.

2. Thee is no Ennio Morricone. Such a shame, especially considering this is one of the few times John Carpenter have had someone else to the (majority) of the soundtrack.

 

If you're a fan of The Thing there's no reason not to watch this. Fantastic documentary!

 

The Man They Could Not Hang - Low-budget horror by Nick Grinde with Boris Karloff in the lead. It's a mix of traditional horror and an old dark house-mystery, and I think it's a real effective film. Great atmosphere, and Boris Karloff is beyond excellent as usual. His charisma, the way he talks, the way he moves, the way he looks. Such a fine actor! Very nice film!

 

It's very interesting how this film was way ahead of its time foretelling of artificial hearts and organ transplants. Very cool!