31 Days of Horror (2018) - The October Movie Marathon

#9 - Cult of Chucky (2017) (first time viewing) - I'll be honest, Child's Play is not a series that I really followed after part 3. I liked part 1, but the others were pretty forgettable to me. That being said, Cult of Chucky was better than I was lead to believe.

The story follows a woman named Nica (Fiona Doriff) who was accused of killing her family and taken to an asylum as she blamed the death on Chucky. As Nica starts to question her own sanity, Chucky decides to recruit some help terrorizing Nica and the other inmates. It's up to Chucky's nemesis: Andy Barclay, to stop Chucky and his wife Tiffany before it's too late.

This film was pretty basic in plot, but still made for a fun watch with a quickly-paced story. The performances were passable, with Brad Douriff stealing the show once again as the legendary voice of Chucky. The death scenes are gleefully evil with some good practical effects. I had a bit of a problem with the ending, as it seemed to be a little rushed while leaving things very much open for sequel. But for how it ended, I couldn't think of a better "pass the torch" moment. That's as far as I'll go without spoiling anything. So far, of my first time viewings, I've had the most fun watching this one.

6 horribly run asylums (like what facility would have people accused of murdering so close in proximity to each other?) out of 10

Previous:
1. Rosemary's Baby
2. The Babadook
3. Fright Night
4. Scream
5. Scream 2

6. A Quiet Place

Second time seeing this, saw it the first time in the theatre when it came out. I really like this movie. Second viewing at home wasn't as intense as seeing it in the theatre but I was still on the edge of my seat. Had never seen anything quite like this with the whole silence thing and I always appreciate a movie that does something different. Also, love that ending.

Still one behind from missing last night. Hoping to double up tomorrow night.

Remember: Just the idea of a sequel is already proof alone that the original is not sacrosanct. With that said...


The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation

"There is no place to turn around. There is never any place to turn around, this sucks. These assholes don't know how to make roads."

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The film is aggressively off-putting. It is like every line of dialogue and every decision made was the exact wrong one. There is a totality of wrongness on display that brings to question the very nature of wrongness itself, that maybe, just maybe, there is nothing wrong at all, that all of the terrible was somehow the right thing to do...

First and foremost it would be unwise to start anywhere other than the meta winking and reworking on display, as it is basically never ending. I won't go into a long list here but it starts from the little nods like using that particular 'camera sound effect' from the original for the kids getting their prom pictures taken to making the family no longer cannibals and having them enjoy pizza(one was even veggie).

Besides that you have a film seemingly designed to be as abrasive as possible while also defusing all of its tension, over and over again. Heather and Bobby, two of the main teen characters, are parodic in their 'vacuous teen slasher victims' characterization. Barry in particular is so unphased by everything going, one scene has him being forced into the family's home at gunpoint and upon entering(and locking his assailant outside) goes on the hunt for a bathroom so he can take a piss all the while talking to his girlfriend he heard screaming for help as if she were in earshot about how cool he is at having locked the guy out of the house. Even Jenny, our final girl, has a moment of peak level non-chalant-ness when something spooks her in the woods and she responds with the most casual "Ok, who's there" possible.

Eventually we start to meet all of the villains and they are comically anti-horrific, despite the obvious trappings.
W.E. does nothing but quote other people and be an annoying ass to Leatherface. He is the character who has a gun on Barry and Barry ends up locking him out of his own house. This explicit ineffectiveness is present in all the villains.
Vilmer, for all his psycho-aggression, does nothing of import and turns into a self-harming, crying wreck at his own horror inadequacies after getting a talking to from his boss.
During her escape, Jenny and Vilmer get into what I can only call a remote control duel, as both of them have a remote that works his pointlessly mechanically-assisted leg. They just go back and forth and I think it is a wonderful meta moment of one person trying to turn the movie off and the other trying to keep it going.

And just contrast Leatherface's intro in the original(hammer to head, door slam) with his attack on Heather here. He has to drag her all over the place and ends up putting her in a freezer which she immediate opens because he doesn't lock it. The dramatic music even dies as she is locked in the dark but it kicks back in to comical effect when she opens the door again.

And as if to put a bow on this cavalcade of pathetic villainy, Jenny literally yells at Leatherface: "You sit the fuck down and shut up!" And he does!

All of this is mainly due to the turn the story takes in the final act, horror as transformative experience for a quick summation, and this leads to the film having a very carnival like feel to it. It is performative, both because it is a film but also within the narrative itself. There is bit where Jenny gets picked up by Vilmer but dives out of the car when his evilness is unmasked, he chases her into the woods before letting her go. Suddenly, Leatherface is magically there(despite being at the house) chasing her with his chainsaw. He chases her through the woods and back to the house, through the house, and onto the roof before Jenny falls into their greenhouse(?) trying to escape. She slowly rises and walks out of the greenhouse(?) and suddenly Leatherface comes bursting out of the greenhouse(?) right behind her. Spatially it doesn't make any sense, the whole thing is very artificial, haunted hay ride style shenanigans. More than anything else it made me think of Illbleed for the Dreamcast.

After some back and forth we finally get to Mr. Rothman, which is just sublime. What can be said about this that hasn't already been said? It is stupid and perfect in equal measure. And that is kind of the film as well; it is a disaster but there is something interesting in there as well. It certainly isn't an effective horror film, and the acting is all over the place, and the pacing sucks, and on and on. But I would still take this movie and its crazy over any number of tepid, by the book horror sequels out there.

Random Thoughts:

• Who knew that the Texas Chainsaw Massacre would morph into a deep dive into the conspiratorial mind of modern crazy America? This is basically some Hands of Death, what the Pizzagate people actually think is going on, type stuff.
• Mr. Rothman's banality at the end in the limo is kind of great.
• So I take it Darla actually does have a bomb in her head, or at least believes she does.

out of 10

October 7, 2018



Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead

Synopsis: As a bus full of prisoners are being relocated to another jail using an unmarked road through the woods near the ol' Paper Mill, their bus gets hijacked by hillbilly Three Finger. It becomes a race of time between if the prisoners can escape the law or can they escape Three Finger...

Review: As it is appreciated that at least between the three Wrong Turn movies, they at least have different plots and reasons for traversing into those accursed hillbilly hunting woods, it amazes me regardless of who or how people end up in there, the hillbillies seem to always 'outsmart' those regular people. They are supposed to be inbred and not the brightest, yet, they somehow always manage to outsmart 90% of their victims in each movie. I give it to them they are far more accustomed to living in the woods than regular people, which in turn, would give them the advantage but there are a few head scratching moments sprinkled throughout. This even applied to Wrong Turn 1 and 2. Either way, the kills are nice and gory and it gets to the point where you have to see how far the hillbillies are going to go in killing their victims. Despite the special effects during some of the kills being a bit wonky, as in really easy to tell there are special effects, this is more woodsy horror fun in the life and times of cannibal inbred hillbillies hunting their next meal.

- 5/10

OP

I'm gonna have to revisit this one some day. I just finished this film not even 10 minutes ago and I feel like it passed right through me. As with a lot of Clive Barker's work, the body horror was definitely something but other than that I almost wanna say this was a bit bland? I had high hopes for this too since I was here for a noir type film from Barker. Maybe next time.

This was somehow my first Phantom of the Opera film. Not sure how I went so long without seeing one of the various entries but better late than never.

This was pretty par for the course with the other Hammer films I've seen. Great sets and the phantom himself was nice when he was around. I just wish there was a bit more. Even still this was a great film for being in bed under the covers at night which is when I watched this.

Was in the mood for a more supernatural leaning horror film at the time of viewing so I decided to rewatch this. It managed to grow on me even more after the first go which was a pleasant surprise to begin with.

From the start this film is incredible visually. Nearly ever single shot was a treat for my eyes and I can't get over it. A lot of fucked up shit was happening in this film but between how well the aesthetics and atmosphere came together, I really want to live in it. Even the ending which I previously thought was a miss landed a bit better this time around. I'm sure if I ever get around to the Director's Cut it can only improve further.

I'm so glad this film exists. One would have never expected such quality when the rest of the sequels in this series are like they are but this delivers and then some. I hate paying more than like $10 on blu-rays because I'm a cheap fool but ordering the Shout Factory copy of this is in my near future.

Ordered a 12 pack DVD thing that included the Puppet Masterfilms up to Axis of Evil in addition to 3 films in a series called Killjoy. There were 5 films crammed onto the first disc which had me expecting the worst with image quality but it didn't seem too bad somehow. Going to try to get through as many of these I can in a short period without getting burnt out. This is where my life is/what I'm up to apparently.

I'm kinda in a weird mood and will probably take this back at a later point but this might be my favorite behind the original? I think whereas 2 felt like a retread of 1 (while not completely bad) and 3 just went too heavy on like series lore, this hits a nice spot. Also the series is getting progressively more wild so there's that going for it.

All that was missing was the leech woman. When will the legend return???

Scratch what I just said about Puppet Master 4. Looks like this one is my favorite of the sequels so far.

It was interesting to follow up with the same characters since this series has been jumping around pretty heavily before. The things I liked about the previous entry are still here, if not mildly improved and there's nothing I flat out hated/disliked that was new. Leech lady was still missing and if she doesn't come back soon there's going to be problems.

Onto Curse, while I'm still mildly enjoying these.

I was a bit busy during the credits stuffing my face with Chubby Hubby flavored Ben and Jerry's so I missed who directed this. It only took a few mins for me to know it was David DeCoteau. This definitely felt more like a DeCoteau film did than his other attempt at a Puppet Master film in part 3.

The ever increasing insanity of the franchise continues. There's a guy who is killed by tunneler drilling him in the crotch which was really something else. Also the leech lady finally returned even though she just showed up for a bit and that was it???

I bought this DVD pack of the Puppet Master films thinking it would be torture and that I would need a gun to my head to force myself through them but I'm actually enjoying myself so far. Weird times.

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6) I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives In The House (2016)

★★★1/2

After thoroughly enjoying Oz Perkins' first feature "The Blackcoat's Daughter", it was finally time to give his second film a chance. What had initially held me back was my increasing aversion to Netflix originals and their deteriorating quality over the years.

Once again, Perkins uncompromisingly commits to his ideas without any concern for modern sensibilities. With an assured hand, he takes inspiration from the best that gothic horror has to offer and puts his own twist on trite genre conventions.

The lyrical prose of the voiceover – maybe slightly overdone – and the setting of the remote house in New England give the movie a feel of having fallen out of time, of not belonging to any place in particular. Long, lingering shots create a subtle uneasiness throughout, a crawling sense of dread accentuated by the slow zooms into the deep darkness of the isolated country manor. The apparations here are not of the jump-in-your-face Blumhouse variety, but instead forlorn, melancholy creatures wandering around the confined space.

Granted, the story at the core is not overly original and seems simple enough, but there is much to unpack here if you feel inclined to do so. Yet even without the narrative, it works quite well as a mood piece wrapped in a dreamlike haze.



1) Terrifier (2018) ★1/2
2) Child's Play 2 (1990) ★★1/2
3) Motel Hell (1980) ★★★
4) Wolfen (1981) ★★1/2
5) The Devil's Candy (2015) ★

1. Before I Wake
2. 47 Meters Down
3. Little Evil
4. Sharknado

Yikes! Going in I knew this was going to be bad, and I'd it was one of those so bad it's good movies, but I was not prepared for this. CG was dogshit and the different scenes were wildly inconsistent.
A shot over the ocean = calm. Next shot over the land in a storm. Then people running away = no storm and sunlight lol
I thought it would be more fun than this. It didn't seem very self aware and felt pretty serious. Sequels get more selfaware and doesn't take themselves as serious?

2/5

4. The Thing (1982) [October 7]

I have absolutely nothing more to add to the decades of praise for this film. This is sublime, timeless horror that represents what the genre can be at its highest levels. Carpenter truly is the master of horror and, next to Halloween, The Thing is a pillar of cinema. The movie is brilliantly shot, well-paced, well-acted, and damn well scored. There are no jump scares to be had here, only the creeping sense of fear and paranoia of not knowing when the Thing is going to make its next move. Rather than being portrayed as an evil force of nature, the Thing was very much its own character fighting for its survival against the research crew. I could sense that it felt scared itself, and lashed out in multiple attempts to preserve its own life. It gave a humanistic element to such a horrific abomination, and it's actually surprising how apparent that was despite how little actual screen-time the Thing had.

What more can be said about the visuals/special effects? They're timeless and often look better than the CG nonsense we're subjected to nowadays. The Thing creature was disgusting to look at in all of its interactions, and it's just...SO UNNERVING the way it morphs and contorts itself when it's shape-shifting. It's absolutely fucking nasty and I love it.

The cast of this film killed it, and you could feel the breakdown of trust every step of the way. It could've easily fallen into the whole "the humans are the most dangerous force" angle, but nope, it's was the Thing that wreaked havoc, and the crew's breakdown was just another unfortunate side effect.

The Thing is a pillar of the genre, and is an absolute blast from the moment you press play, to when that last, haunting shot is shown. If you haven't seen it, I cannot stress how much I think you need to rectify that. Highly Recommended.

Pros:

• Special/practical effects
• Setting
• The last shot is just so breathtaking
• Characterization of the Thing
• The crew's acting

Cons:

• I would've like to have seen a little more of the Thing, but maybe it was for the best that it was in very select scenes.

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1. As Above, So Below (2013) Recommended
2. The Strangers (2008) Conditionally Recommended
3. Better Watch Out (2016) Recommended
4. The Thing (1872) Highly Recommended

I'm falling behind, but hopefully I can make it!

Watched Anaconda!

https://letterboxd.com/THEEF/

3 more films later today

Re-Animator

I haven't seen this movie in years but managed to catch it on the big screen last week. Man, if Herbert West isn't one of the best horror movie characters ever made, I don't know who is. They basically set up the structures of a regular horror movie but then West shows up and turns everything on its ear. The true definition of an "anti-hero".

Cannot recommend enough.

6. Carrie (1976): A movie where you know what's going to happen, you're just waiting for it. It's even on the poster. Carrie isn't a bad person, she's just surrounded by bad people, including a sociopathic bully and her abusive fundamentalist Christian mother. So when she finally snaps, it's all the more satisfying. Even the slow-motion build-up is just watching the volcano erupt. Interesting is the use of vertical split-screen to show us multiple things going on. The ending is rather fitting, and I can't think of anywhere else to go. I do criticize it for using high-pitched violins for when she uses her powers. It just reminds me of Psycho. Overall, this movie is OK-to-good. It just pisses you off until the climax which is more relieving. I can honestly appreciate the gym teacher.

Full list

Watched Burnt Offerings and Return of the Living Dead so far. Been really falling behind on horror for this month.

moving on to a film that was a total blind buy for me about 2 years ago but i love it #8 Evil Ed

watched so far (*=not new, or "new" i.e. haven't watched it in effectively forever)

The Howling
Christine
Return of the Living Dead 3
Fright Night 2011
Carnival of Souls
Sleepy Hollow*
Scream* (though it's probably been quite a few years..)

recently watched

Black Sabbath - 1963 Mario Bava. Some chilling scenery. Two great short stories. The last one (with Boris Karloff). I became slightly disinterested in, but that could have been my problem and not the movie's.. may go through the last story again. Interestingly, Shudder had it in dubbed Italian, subbed.. Including a DIFFERENT intro by Karloff, also dubbed in Italian.. BUT Tubi TV had it in English.. and everything was in sync.. so.. weird.

Creepshow 2 - Ummm. You know? I didn't hate this. The first story with the Indians was pretty cheesy, but not terrible. The second story was actually REALLY good. Genuinely enjoyed it a lot (3.5/5). The last story was.. ok. A little long but it was fine.

Halloween 4 - So I sort of want to get through 4-6 and 8 (I don't think I've ever actually seen the eighth one). 4 was.. not terrible. I'd say 6/10. Maybe 5/10. It had a ton of cheese, and the magic of Michael wasn't his inability to die so much as being able to instantly teleport and be quiet as air. Still, it's not the worst horror movie I've ever seen.

Halloween 5 - ok, I don't know if this is the worst horror movie I've ever seen.. but it is fucking terrible.. like 1.5/5. The soundtrack is terrible. It's basically a corny "let's see how many arrangements and instruments we can play the same Halloween theme with" mixed with slide whistles and benny hill (I shit you not). the acting is almost uniformly terrible.. even Donald pleasance.. the only actor who wasn't terrible was Danielle Harris who did a tremendous job of a kid who was mentally broken from reality. But man... stay away from this movie.

Man, if you think 5 is the worst horror movie you've ever seen, I'm have a horrible feeling that 6 might make you quit watching film entirely.

Stopped after 3, wish they had continued the anthology idea though. Looking forward to the 2018 one whatever it's subtitled as.

#8 Dog Soldiers (2002)

I hope I give you the shits you fucking wimp!

What a romp. From The Descent director Neil Marshall comes this very low budget action horror. A group of gruff British soldiers, played by a pile of recognisable TV character actors, go up North to the highlands for a training exercise, only to be beset upon by Scottish werewolves looking to make shortbread of them all. From there we have a mix of werewolf and military tropes, amidst a rambunctious bloodbath. The macho soldiers certainly go down swinging, using anything and everything as a weapon, including but not limited to straight up fistfighting with a werewolf.
The film is tinged with a lot of black comedy. It's not an out and out comedy but there is a playful tone. I especially like the running bit of the squad leader, played by Sean Pertwee, needing to be "reboweled" after one of the beasts non-fatally spills his guts early on. Pertwee got a lot of laughs from me doing this shtick.

The meager budget means the werewolves are only ever sparingly shown on-screen during their scenes, but I quite like their design, towering bipedals with huge shaggy manes. They really made the most out of their money.

Great silly fun. Recommended, especially if you're a fan of werewolf films.

Had my brothers wedding this weekend, so falling behind a bit, but girlfriend and I finally got back at it late last night with movie #4

1) Sleepaway Camp (1983)
2) The Prowler (1981)
3) The Thing (1982)

4)The Babysitter (2017) - this ended up being way more fun than we both expected it to be. Some of the secondary characters stole the show, and our only big disappointment is that some of them are killed off way too quickly. I also wish it pushed boundaries a little further - it never quite gets as insane as you want it to. Still, it was a fun little romp. Nothing too clever or original, but a fun ride that's worth checking out. Looked pretty nice in 4k, too.

Ridley327 said:

Man, if you think 5 is the worst horror movie you've ever seen, I'm have a horrible feeling that 6 might make you quit watching film entirely.

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I know some shit about 6 (googling wtf was up with the stupid man in black BS...). whatever. I can strike it as done once I watch it..

DarkChronic said:

4)The Babysitter (2017) - this ended up being way more fun than we both expected it to be. Some of the secondary characters stole the show, and our only big disappointment is that some of them are killed off way too quickly. I also wish it pushed boundaries a little further - it never quite gets as insane as you want it to. Still, it was a fun little romp. Nothing too clever or original, but a fun ride that's worth checking out. Looked pretty nice in 4k, too.

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this may have been my #2 best surprise last year, after seeing Halloween 3 for the first time ever. Up there for me with You're Next, Final Girls, and Tucker and Dale vs Evil for best out of nowhere surprises.

31 Days of Horror: #5 Friday the 13th

A stark contrast to Halloween, which is even more simple of a story and yet is so much more refined and engaging. It's clear this was made by a bunch of amateurs because so many scenes in this just don't offer anything of value. That being said there are a few key elements that bring up this otherwise lacking affair to the point where I can see why it was a success:
-The summer camp atmosphere
-Savini effects
-The score (even if it is largely a Psycho rip off)
-And Betsy Palmer's performance as Mrs. Vorhees

It actually becomes pretty fun in the third act when the killer is revealed and we have some actual suspense, thrills, and spookiness rather than just waiting for the Savini effects shots like most of the movie. This is the only Friday the 13th I've seen...and while there's still room for the series to get worse after this, there's a lot more room for it to get better and I hope it does.

31 Days of Horror: #6 Return of the Living Dead

This is some (punk)rock-solid, and propulsive genre filmmaking and probably the only zombie movie that can really hang with Romero's stuff. It's sold as a comedy (and it is), but really the horror elements are what make this a unique beats as it slowly unravels some rather horrifying and unique aspects of zombification that make this a unique entry into the world of zombie cinema. It's blend of black satire and grim consequence makes this the Dr. Stangelove of zombie cinema, and it's a shame I've waited so long to revisit this as I clearly never gave it its due the first time around.

Ithil said:

#8 Dog Soldiers (2002)

I hope I give you the shits you fucking wimp!

What a romp. From The Descent director Neil Marshall comes this very low budget action horror. A group of gruff British soldiers, played by a pile of recognisable TV character actors, go up North to the highlands for a training exercise, only to be beset upon by Scottish werewolves looking to make shortbread of them all. From there we have a mix of werewolf and military tropes, amidst a rambunctious bloodbath. The macho soldiers certainly go down swinging, using anything and everything as a weapon, including but not limited to straight up fistfighting with a werewolf.
The film is tinged with a lot of black comedy. It's not an out and out comedy but there is a playful tone. I especially like the running bit of the squad leader, played by Sean Pertwee, needing to be "reboweled" after one of the beasts non-fatally spills his guts early on. Pertwee got a lot of laughs from me doing this shtick.

The meager budget means the werewolves are only ever sparingly shown on-screen during their scenes, but I quite like their design, towering bipedals with huge shaggy manes. They really made the most out of their money.

Spoiler: Werewolf design

Great silly fun. Recommended, especially if you're a fan of werewolf films.

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One of my favorite action-horror movies. I'd love to see Neil Marshall tackle Predator; I'd argue that Dog Soldiers is more of a spiritual successor to Predator than any of the actual Predator sequels

Is there no legal way to watch the original Dawn of the Dead? I watched Night of the Living Dead when I realized that I have never seen the original DotD.

GK86 said:

Is there no legal way to watch the original Dawn of the Dead? I watched Night of the Living Dead when I realized that I have never seen the original DotD.

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IIRC, the rights holders are asking crazy prices to license it out. It's pretty much the opposite situation as Night, which anyone can throw out their own release due to it being a public domain film.

DarkChronic said:

Had my brothers wedding this weekend, so falling behind a bit, but girlfriend and I finally got back at it late last night

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Congrats on the

DarkChronic said:

with movie #4.

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Nvm

1. Wrong Turn (N)
2. Valentine (N)
3. Urban Legend (N)
4. Ghost Team One (N)
5. Constantine (R)
6. Monster House (R)
7. Warm Bodies (R)
8. Scream 2 (R)
9. Most Likely to Die (N)
10. Tragedy Girls (N)
11. The Windmill (N)
12. All the Boys Love Mandy Lane (N)
13. The House on Sorority Row (N)
14. The Invisible Maniac (N)
15. Clown (N)
16. Halloween (R)

17. Ruin Me (N) - i think one of the few horror movies I watched this year that was saved by the ending. It's a kind of meta-slasher (as most modern ones are) with a group signing up for a slasher re-enactment that turns out to be... real? :O

18. Hide and Go Shriek (n) - This was just bad and dumb. Though the notion of setting a horror film in a mostly dark setting has potential... I think having potential is the best way to have described what this movie could have been.

Oct 8 - Film 10 - Ruin Me



I enjoyed this quite a lot, even though it reinforced my belief that going on any haunted house / escape room / scary re-enactment type deal is foolishly courting cardiac arrest. And going on one while you're actually in a horror movie is just plain reckless.

With an excellent performance from Marcienne Dwyer as Slasher Sleepout's most reluctant and put-upon participant, and with a plot that's basically one continuous twist from about halfway through, it's a fun film. It should have embraced its essential campiness and gone with the name Slasher Sleepout instead of Ruin Me of course, but that's a minor quibble.

Films I've watched so far

Movie #8: Bride of Chucky (1998)

I haven't watched this movie since I was a teenager and it was way worse than I remembered. This whole movie is a god damn mess. The doll sex scene is awful, the soundtrack is trash, the writing is cringe-y as fuck. Yet I still watched all of this somehow. "FUCK MARTHA STEWART!" is the best line in the movie hands down tho.

5/10

GK86 said:

Is there no legal way to watch the original Dawn of the Dead? I watched Night of the Living Dead when I realized that I have never seen the original DotD.

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Nope. Rights are held up by a greedy asshole that had turned down multiple offers from various companies.

Criterion recently did a release of Night of the Living Dead and Scream Factory put out Day of the Dead. Dawn could get the same love and has been out of print for awhile now on bluray and DVD.

1. Before I Wake
2. 47 Meters Down
3. Little Evil
4. Sharknado
5. The Shallows

As an "ass-man" I appreciate the cinematography in this movie :P

Not as tense as 47 Meters Down but the shark looked WAY better. I did have some problems though that took me out of the movie and had me wondering.

I'm no shark expert and it's been a while since I've binge watched Shark Week but

And I agree with everyone. Ending kind of ruined it.

3/5

I want to watch something good next. Atleast to get to that 4/5 level.

21) The Ruins (2008) [Rewatch]
★★★★

When I last saw The Ruins, I had discovered and read the book mere months before, and came away very disappointed by this terrible movie that was nowhere near as good as the book. Now a decade removed from both, to the point that I only had vague recollections of a few moments, I was curious if I would feel differently.

And I did. The Ruins is a wince-inducing hybrid of body horror, psychological horror, creature feature, and survival movie. The characters are broadly-sketched, not much more than clashing personality traits, and events feel kind of rushed for how quickly decisions get made, but overall the movie works well. The threat here is scary and oppressive, and the story has its fair share of striking visuals, gross gore, and thoroughly unpleasant moments. The pace of their situation going from bad to worse and of new story beats being introduced is really effective, always giving these moments time to sink in while readying another right around the corner.

I'm glad I revisited this. It's a neat, contained, efficient horror flick that never tries to be anything more than that.

22) Drag Me to Hell (2009)
★★★½

There's a palpable sense of encroaching doom throughout this movie, even in its silliest moments. Drag Me To Hell is the kind of movie that either clicks with you or it doesn't, and while I never found it scary or unsettling or eerie, it was undeniably entertaining. Raimi sure knows how to escalate a situation and find that very tricky balance between spooky imagery and Loony Tunes-esque gross slapstick that doesn't quite diminish either.

23) Dream Home (2010)
★★★★

Oh wow, Dream Home wastes no time showing what kind of tone and violence to expect from this darkly-satirical blood-drenched slasher. I haven't seen a modern slasher with kills this brutal and visceral since Inside.

While the structure of the film does kind of hamper the pacing, I appreciate the approach. It takes what would usually be the "character development" between kills, the usually boring filler for characters we don't care about that most slashers never get right anyway, and instead uses that time to develop the killer instead, providing backstory and context for the rampage we see throughout the movie.

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1) The Blob (1988)
★★★★
2) Dead Calm (1989)
★★★
3) Hardware (1990)
★
4) The People Under The Stairs (1991)
★★★½
5) Braindead (1992)
★★★★★
6) Cronos (1993)
★★★
7) In The Mouth of Madness (1994)
★★★★½
8) Village of the Damned (1995)
★★
9) Scream (1996)
★★½
10) Mimic (1997)
★★½
11) Apt Pupil (1998)
★★½
12) The Blair Witch Project (1999)
★★★★½
13) American Psycho (2000)
★★★½
14) The Others (2001)
★★★½
15) Ju-on: The Grudge (2002)
★½
16) House of 1000 Corpses (2003)
½
17) The Toolbox Murders (2004)
★
18) Wolf Creek (2005)
★★
19) Them (2006)
★★★
20) 30 Days of Night (2007)
★★★★½

Fox Mulder said:

Nope. Rights are held up by a greedy asshole that had turned down multiple offers from various companies.

Criterion recently did a release of Night of the Living Dead and Scream Factory put out Day of the Dead. Dawn could get the same love and has been out of print for awhile now on bluray and DVD.

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I have the blu ray, and of course, it's the only disc I have that skips in places. I'd love to replace it it, but the asking prices are ridiculous.

Infinitebento said:

Movie #8: Bride of Chucky (1998)

I haven't watched this movie since I was a teenager and it was way worse than I remembered. This whole movie is a god damn mess. The doll sex scene is awful, the soundtrack is trash, the writing is cringe-y as fuck. Yet I still watched all of this somehow. "FUCK MARTHA STEWART!" is the best line in the movie hands down tho.

5/10

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I haven't watched this movie since it came out for rental on VHS but even then the only thing I sort of remember thinking was good was the special effects when that dude gets hit by the semi. I imagine that was product of it's time and doesn't even hold up well.

Edit: It was also super weird to me that John Ritter was even in the movie and that he played a complete asshole.

I will never understand the people who dislike the climax of The Shallows.

Jaume Collet-Serra knows that a film should actually climax and not just end and The Shallows and its asshole shark antagonist go out the way they should, in a sequence that is bigger than the film that preceded it.

The Shallows is a high watermark in the animal attack genre.

gforguava said:

The Shallows is a high watermark in the animal attack genre.

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Well done!

Oh no. Oh no kinggroin what did you do.

Angst has completely ruined my month.

GUYS DONT WATCH ANGST. WHATEVER YOU DO, PLEASE PLEASE WATCH ANGST.

Kinggroin said:

Oh no. Oh no kinggroin what did you do.

Angst has completely ruined my month.

GUYS DONT WATCH ANGST. WHATEVER YOU DO, PLEASE PLEASE WATCH ANGST.

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Which Angst are you talking about?

ArtVandelay said:

Well done!

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The only thing worse than a pun is an unintentional pun :(

And if anyone is looking for a cool animal attack movie that they might not have seen check out Burning Bright. Girl and her autistic brother are trapped inside a boarded up house with a tiger. It is great.

PanzerKraken said:

Which Angst are you talking about?

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Gerald Kargl's

Angst is amazing. Watched it last year and rewatched it not long ago.

Kinggroin said:

Oh no. Oh no kinggroin what did you do.

Angst has completely ruined my month.

GUYS DONT WATCH ANGST. WHATEVER YOU DO, PLEASE PLEASE WATCH ANGST.

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That's the correct impression to have of that film. Christ, that one fucked me up something good

1. The Mummy (1932) (rewatch)
2. Extraordinary Tales (2013)
3. Justice League Dark (2017)
4. The Wicker Man (1973) (rewatch)
5. The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
6. Godzilla: King of the Monsters! (1956)
7. It (2017)
8. mother! (2017)
The first eighty to ninety minutes of this movie are some excellent psychological horror that brings to mind Rosemary's Baby. The last half hour or so takes a direction that I think is to the film's detriment, but it's executed about as well as I can imagine it possibly being.

Ridley327 said:

IIRC, the rights holders are asking crazy prices to license it out. It's pretty much the opposite situation as Night, which anyone can throw out their own release due to it being a public domain film.

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Fox Mulder said:

Nope. Rights are held up by a greedy asshole that had turned down multiple offers from various companies.

Criterion recently did a release of Night of the Living Dead and Scream Factory put out Day of the Dead. Dawn could get the same love and has been out of print for awhile now on bluray and DVD.

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Ahh thanks. I was wondering why the DVD/BRs were going for crazy prices on Ebay/Amazon.

Falling a little behind and hope to catch up.

3- Gozu Surreal and strange. Filled with odd characters. Nonsensical and fascinating, I thought it was great. 4 1/2 out of 5 stars.

4- Ichi the Killer The sadism and torture was bizarre with the tone of the film. Excessive and some inventive gore. Never boring. The 6th Miike film I've seen, I really like his work so far. 4 out of 5 stars.

5- Dark Water A bit slow and the ending was a little disappointing but still overall effective. 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

I survived Mummy Monday -




Three movies that were almost identical. At least they only clocked in at around 70 minutes each.

https://letterboxd.com/tculturevulture/films/reviews/by/added/

12. The Howling - Not a bad movie, but a bit dull and lifeless compared to a certain other werewolf movie from the same year.

1. Wrong Turn (N)
2. Valentine (N)
3. Urban Legend (N)
4. Ghost Team One (N)
5. Constantine (R)
6. Monster House (R)
7. Warm Bodies (R)
8. Scream 2 (R)
9. Most Likely to Die (N)
10. Tragedy Girls (N)
11. The Windmill (N)
12. All the Boys Love Mandy Lane (N)
13. The House on Sorority Row (N)
14. The Invisible Maniac (N)
15. Clown (N)
16. Halloween (R)
17. Ruin Me (N)
18. Hide and Go Shriek (n)

19. Hatchet (N) - The type of bloody slasher I was looking for, but the movie is so bloody and gorey at times, felt it may have been a parody of the slasher genre. It was an interesting premise, the ending was more abrupt than I am accustom to even for a slasher flix.

20. Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (NR) - This is kind of a rewatch and kind of a new movie. I've seen bits and pieces of it before, but never sat down to watch it from bell to bell.

There's like a half decent Halloween film in here, but as it goes on the movie gets sillier and sillier. Until the final scene with Loomis just made me laugh and not sure the reaction they were going for.

Penguin said:

1. Wrong Turn (N)
2. Valentine (N)
3. Urban Legend (N)
4. Ghost Team One (N)
5. Constantine (R)
6. Monster House (R)
7. Warm Bodies (R)
8. Scream 2 (R)
9. Most Likely to Die (N)
10. Tragedy Girls (N)
11. The Windmill (N)
12. All the Boys Love Mandy Lane (N)
13. The House on Sorority Row (N)
14. The Invisible Maniac (N)
15. Clown (N)
16. Halloween (R)
17. Ruin Me (N)
18. Hide and Go Shriek (n)

19. Hatchet (N) - The type of bloody slasher I was looking for, but the movie is so bloody and gorey at times, felt it may have been a parody of the slasher genre. It was an interesting premise, the ending was more abrupt than I am accustom to even for a slasher flix.

20. Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (NR) - This is kind of a rewatch and kind of a new movie. I've seen bits and pieces of it before, but never sat down to watch it from bell to bell.

There's like a half decent Halloween film in here, but as it goes on the movie gets sillier and sillier. Until the final scene with Loomis just made me laugh and not sure the reaction they were going for.

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Have you seen the movies Dream Home (2010) or Inside (2007)? If you're looking for really bloody and gory slashers, those are two to definitely check out ASAP

More_Badass said:

Have you seen the movies Dream Home (2010) or Inside (2007)? If you're looking for really bloody and gory slashers, those are two to definitely check out ASAP

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I'll add em to my list and see if available anywhere.

Just as a thing
I'm using Netflix, Hulu, Tubi, Shudder, HBO Go, Starz, Showtime, Youtube and Vudu as my source for movies.