31 Days of Horror (2024) - The October Movie Marathon

[nilbog]

6. Triangle (2009)

A group of friends are sailing at sea when their yacht is hit by a massive storm and capsizes. They are saved by another ship, and it appears abandoned. But they are not alone, someone else is on the ship...hunting them.

First time watch. I really enjoyed this one. The way the story is setup and the initial mystery is very well done, and how it takes viewers on a ride from there is great. Yes there is a killer, but there is also a time loop aspect to the movie that is equally as terrifying. You would think getting off the ship would be a good ending, but nope. And within that, the plot completely changes from survival for self, to survival for loved ones. Paying close attention to each and every moment really pays off by the end. I love that. It's hard to talk about this movie without spoiling it, so I will stop there.

The CGI effects aren't great in this one, you can tell the birds are fake and other effects are just blurry. The acting is very good, with Melissa George as main lead Jess, and Liam Hemsworth who confused me at first because I thought he was Thor but looked a little different. Yeah that would be his brother, Chris. 🤣

I give it 4 nilbogs out of 5.

 

[DrScruffleton]

#5 Paranormal Activity Next of Kin 1/5

I am a HUGE Paranormal Activity fan. I have a signed poster from the 1st movies cast on my wall right now. I love the convoluted as Hell story line that they set up through the movies, the references in the movies, and just the batshit craziness of it all. I put off watching this one for a long time and finally got around to it. wtf was that?? It had nothing that I enjoy about the series, and seemed to try to be a reboot. Reading around, there are the slightest connections but it's mostly people trying their hardest to connect dots that are barely there. And worst of all it was just very boring and dumb. It really feels like they had a different movie that they knew was bad and then just slapped paranormal activity on it for some name recognition

 

[Penguin]

I guess I should finally jump into this thread proper

this year going with dominant theme of movies centered around either social media or reality TV/filming your life as a sort of narrative structure.

1. Halloween Resurrection (R) - I do not like this movie at all, but it was kind of the catalyst for the idea. I think a slasher house show has potential, but this didn't nail it.

2. Shook (N) - Your friends may not be your friends, the twist on top of twists starts to get old and the movie doesn't have enough steam to get to the end.

3. Host (r) - One of the best pandemic era movies. Worth a watch and under an hour.

4. funhouse (N) - The premise and setup are interesting enough. Feel need to explore more how people just consume it.

5. Bad Girl Boogey (N) - I don't remember this one at all.

6. Cruel World (N) - The premise is a bit too silly, and it doesn't really work well as the host cheats constantly.

7. Elevator Game (n)

 

[Hatt Manniman]

Movie #3 - In a Violent Nature

Nice spin on the slasher genre, with some pretty great kills. The lack of score and the long shots did help create a strong sense of foreboding, even if it did drag in certain parts.

I give this one 8 "magical lockets" out of 10

 

[OrangeKnight]

I haven't kept up with the topic, but have watched movies, so here they come:

7. X (2022) 7,5/10 Very nicely shot and loved the atmosphere of the movie. Great performance by Mia Goth.
8. Pearl (2022) 7/10 The prequel, Goths performance is even better in this one, but I liked the story slightly less
9. Maxxxine (2024) 6/10 Ok movie, but not as good as its predecessors
10. Longlegs (2024) 7/10 Good movie, scary music. It did feel as if they tried to put a bit too much genres in one film

 

[tellNoel]

Again I can see that this probably not an objectively good movie, but this type of 90s/00s trash is a guilty pleasure of mine.

Click to shrink...

I'm right there with you on this one. Something very comfy about this movie, even though I recognize it's not very good lol
Same kinda feels towards Darkness Falls and that movie is so garbo

 

[dglavimans]

6 - Insidious the Last Key (first watch) - 7/10

Better then chapter 3. Still not the same without Patrick Wilson. Hope he returns for Red Door. I do think this one was a bit more gruesome then the last few which made it better

Full list

 

[excelsiorlef]

Oct 6.

7. Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things (1972)

Has one of the best We're All Doomed breakdowns in the genre and Alan is so delightfully an asshole I adore him

 

[MadDogTannen]

The Stepfather!

Legitimately one of my favorite horror movies. Yes, that's Locke from Lost with a glorious head of hair.

He plays this unhinged fella who's trying to create the perfect family. And when they don't meet his standards, he kills them and movies onto the next family.

9/10

 

[hiredhand]

6. Flux Gourmet (dir. Peter Strickland, 2022) - streaming (Cineast)

Peter Strickland's black comedy depicts the cutthroat world of sonic catering. Flux Gourmet is a hard film to categorize but I wouldn't say it's a horror film even though it's listed as one in most sources. It's more a black comedy. The closest comparison might be The Lobster both having similar sense of humor and depicting a closed community inhabited by eccentric characters pursuing even more eccentric goals. I interpreted the film as a satire of the art world but after watching the film I read that Strickland has been in a band called Sonic Catering Band since 1996 which like the characters in the film makes music with kitchen equipment. So I'm not so sure anymore how to interpret the film (not uncommon with Strickland's films). I did enjoy it. It was funny and the cast was certainly very good. The sound design is of course also a highlight considering the subject matter. I do prefer Strickland's two previous films though (Duke of Burgundy and In Fabric).

7/10

7. Monster on the Campus (dir. Jack Arnold, 1958) - blu-ray

A lesser scifi creature feature from the director of Creature from the Black Lagoon and Incredible Shrinking Man. Even for a 50's scifi horror, the film is just too silly. It takes ages for the supposedly smart paleontologist main character to understand what is happening.The police are even more clueless. Lot of the plot developments are based on random events and coincidences. Effect and make-up work isn't on par with Arnold's more famous work either: the big monster reveal at the end is basically a Halloween mask. It still remains reasonably entertaining and worth a watch if you like this sort of thing. Just don't expect another Incredible Shrinking Man or really even Tarantula.

5/10

8. Forbidden World (dir. Allan Holzman, 1982) - streaming (Prime Video)

A Roger Corman produced Alien knock-off. After the success of Star Wars and Alien, Roger Corman like many others really wanted get a piece of that sweet scifi money and produced first a relatively expensive Star Wars clone Battle Beyond the Stars and then two cheaper Alien knock-offs, Galaxy of Terrors and Forbidden World. In the normal Corman tradition, Forbidden World reuses elements from of the earlier films (sets from GoT and unused footage from BBtS). The first act of the film is a mess with disconnected scenes, enough gratuitous nudity for a softcore porno and absolutely no concern for pacing. The film does get better and more focused later on but doesn't actually get that good at any point. There are few okay action sequences. The main problem is that the monster (a mix of xenomorph and the plant from Little Shop of Horrors) is too stationary to feel like a proper threat. Most deaths result in characters walking right up to the monster so it can attack them. The title of the film doesn't really make any sense as the film is almost completely set inside a research station and there isn't anything that could be considered a "forbidden world". The synth score by Susan Justin is probably the best part of the film. A slight disappointment after the surprisingly decent Battle Beyond the Stars.

4/10

 

[Mariachi507]

Late start, but plenty of time to catch up.

31 Days of Horror 2024

1. Saw X

I seen the Saw and it was probably the best Saw I'd ever seen. The so called "critically acclaimed" tenth installment of a series that's never before came close to saying that. I've seen comments from people online about how today's critics would be more kind to the first installment, but I can't agree with that sentiment. It's a busted ass movie. Not horrible or anything, but it's a bit of a mess. There's nothing wrong with liking bad movies, I like plenty myself, but you've got to call a spade a spade. Despite the achievements made by both James Wan and Leigh Whannell later on in their careers, the end result of Saw gives us an unfulfilled promise. Both for the filmmakers as well as the premise of the movie itself.

My experience with the series mostly ended after Saw IV, outside of YouTube summaries and commentary. My favorite Saw, before this one, was the third installment. It didn't follow through in being the legitimately solid Saw overall, but outside of the Jeff dreck there was gold to mine with Jigsaw and Amanda. Unfortunately, their fates were sealed on that film, and the most promising component of the series to that point was left under utilized.

Thankfully, somehow the writers of Jigsaw and Spiral recognized this, and said "fuck it, let's just do prequels to make this happen". Longtime fans of the series might get their feathers ruffled for this film from not using the trademark Plot A/Plot B structure that the series is known for, but the writers sacrificed that well established structure to mine as much gold as possible from Jigsaw and Amanda. They are the heart of the series, as fucked up as they are. The movie takes a bit to get going, and the trademark series "twist" doesn't hit as well as I hoped, but it's a solid time.

Some of the traps made me squirm a bit. So congrats to the filmmakers. They made a Saw that is legit.

7/10

 

[CrocodileGrin]

#8. Frankenstein Conquers the World aka Frankenstein vs Baragon (1965) - 1.5/5

I like kaiju movies and this one seemed too silly to pass up, after all, it features a horror icon. The downside about this was it almost put me to sleep several times and eventually did within the final few minutes of the movie. Honestly, I thought Frankenstein's monster was the worst part. I was actually rooting for Baragon to kick his butt.

#9. Father's Day (2011) - 3/5

Sons, lock up and hide your dads, because an evil is on the loose. From the minds that later create The Editor and Psycho Goreman, comes this revenge movie about trying to stop a maniac that's going around town molesting and killing dads. This was not only the goriest movie I've seen this marathon, but maybe the goriest of all the past few years I've been participating on this forum for 31 Days of Horror. My friend I watched this with loved the comedic bits, but hated all the gore. Meanwhile, I was fine up until the incest humor. I don't think this is a movie for everyone. As a Troma Entertainment production, it checks all the boxes they're known for: over-the-top dark humor, gory non-sense and that signature exploitation vibe. It doesn't come close to having the fun, silly highs of Psycho Goreman and is kind of a bit too all over the place with its sense of humor. It goes too dark at times for me to fully enjoy, especially with some of the more extreme content. I'm also reminded I still have to watch Terrifier 2 this season, so this might end up being nothing to complain about lol.

#10. Phenomena (1985) - 3.5/5

So, I've never seen this, nor Jim Henson's Labyrinth. As they both star a young Jennifer Connelly, I think I somehow thought scenes from Labyrinth were this movie and would have Muppet-looking characters pop up. Nope. Anyway, yeah, crazy movie! The final act is a real roller coaster and that one scene of her falling into the pit made me cover my mouth as I kept saying "omg omg omg" over and over. It really goes non-stop and doesn't let go, which is a surprise because the rest of the movie is a very slow build up until that point.

#11. Onyx the Fortuitous and The Talisman of Souls (2023) - 3/5

I'm really surprised I enjoyed this. How do you base an entire movie on 5 to 7 year old internet memes of this one character? I never found Andrew Bowser's schtick as a fast-talking manchild constantly saying "I dunno" amusing back then, but here we are. My opinion of wanting to watch this started to change when I learned T.C. Carson, the original voice of Kratos, was in the cast. I realized I hadn't seen him in anything in a non-voice acting role since Living Single. When I saw Re-Animator alumni Barbara Crampton and Jeffrey Combs were also starring, it became a no-brainer to give this a shot. It's silly and dumb, but what really surprised me were the impressive practical creature effects. They did a great job with that. And I take back what I said: Andrew Bowser can be funny and he's created something special here. I'm torn between giving this a 3 or something higher. To that I say....

 

[atdawnwestrike]

08. Joy Ride (2001) (Rewatch) 4/5
Way better than it has any business being. Great cast, set pieces and some surprisingly tense moments.

 

[Pitcairn55]

Film no 3 – In A Violent Nature

I really liked this, at least up until the last fifteen minutes or so, which were confusing, pointless and dumb. Before that, I was totally onboard. I loved the intense focus on the killer, the kills themselves were great and I was just really into the whole vibe. I can see why some might find their patience tested by the large number of shots spent strolling idly though the woods behind the killer, but I enjoyed that element a lot. After all, in a conventional slasher, what would that time be spent doing otherwise? Getting to know the victims most probably, and almost without fail, those victims are annoying. If anything, this film made me feel more sympathy for the characters who died, because we hadn't yet been shown what an irritating bunch of dickheads they were.

And then, the finale, a very damp squib indeed, and completely at odds with the rest of the movie. I have rarely been so confused by the end of a film, not because I didn't know what was going on, but because I didn't know why it was.

I will definitely watch this again, but I'm going to pretend it ends when the final girl emerges out of the forest and onto the road. The remainder is just filler. If they wanted the film to last 90 minutes they should have tried to rustle up the budget for a couple of extra kills earlier on I reckon. Hopefully that's what happens in the planned sequel.

Film no 4 – V/H/S Beyond

An unscheduled viewing not on my list, I watched this after a strong recommendation from my eldest son, who wanted us to be able to chat about it afterwards. And a bloody good recommendation it was too.

I liked all the segments, I don't think there was a really duff one in there. Having said that, I'll agree with the seeming majority who thought Furbabies was the weakest link, with Justin Long's involvement throwing the Tusk comparisons into sharp relief. Even it had its moments though, with the Doggy Daycare lady playing it pitch perfect.

Elsewhere, I thought Stowaway was gorgeous to look at, but a bit silly because no one in their right mind would have gone through that fucking door, and the COD Zombies FPS energy of Stork was fantastic. Live and Let Dive was my favourite though, dodgy alien CGI notwithstanding. Just a full on adrenaline rush from start to finish. Awesome.

Film no 5 – Hell Hole

My first real duffer of the month. This is a bad, bad film. A fracking operation in Serbia unleashes a parasitical organism from the earth and a boring noisy stupid mess ensues. The splattery slapstick of the gore is unengaging, the 'snappy' dialogue isn't nearly as smart as it wishes it was, none of the characters are appealing, the heavy guitar soundtrack gets old very quickly and the whole thing is just so bloody ugly to look at. How this load of old bollocks is sitting at 86% on Rotten Tomatoes I do not know.

Not at all recommended.

Films I've watched so far

 

[Rhaknar]

8 - THE Final Destination (2026) - 1.5/5

The decline continues for the series, as this somehow manages to have even worse characters and writing, worse effects (as it combines the same shitty CGI from the third movie with the stupid 3D bullshit movies from this era were pushing) and some truly cartoony kills that look bad both visually and conceptually. 1 point for a couple of good kills and .5 for the awesome X-Ray opening credits showing past movies deaths (and the Shinedown song in the Nascar scene, it's a banger).

Full List

 

[Hatt Manniman]

Movie # 4 - Terrifier

Great introduction to an iconic slasher villain. Kills have been talked about to death (pun intended), so I will just say it's definitely worth a watch.

I give it 9 "gallons of blood per second" out of 10

 

[Starburns]

1 - 10/1 30 Days of Night
2 - 10/1 Alien
3 - 10/2 Jaws
4 - 10/3 Color Out of Space, 1st watch
5 - 10/3 X, 1st watch
6 - 10/4 Pearl, 1st watch - very glad I watched X first. Can definitely see why some folks would love one and not the other. It's quite a departure from your standard horror films, but all in all I liked it. But then if you read my write ups on this, I bet you'll see that a lot. There's a lot of Abed in Community in me - I like liking things. I could see going back and watching these again at some point, though I'll be watching Maxxxine first, likely this weekend.

Click to shrink...

7 - 10/5 Scream - another one I haven't watched in 15-20+ years, I remembered a lot, but there was a lot I didn't remember. I still think the way they made the killer move, almost inhuman, kind of triggers an instinctive creepy vibe, like the uncanny valley, but totally different. Anyway, I totally get why this movie was so huge, and I remember being in high school going opening night, not really sure what it was going to be, but walking out floored.

8 - 10/5 Scream 2 - first one I got my wife to watch with me, we agreed neither of us had seen in 15-20+ years (she's not big on horror and we've been together nearly 15 years). Holy shit this cast might be the deepest cast of any late 90s movie. Almost didn't recognize Portia Di Rossi, my wife's jaw hit the floor when she put it together (Hot ham water!), and my god, Timothy Olyphant is a baby. Not quite as tension filled as the first, but looking forward to watching the rest of the series with my wife over the rest of the month. I remembered enough of this one to know what was coming, I may remember 3, I don't think I've seen any of 4 on.

 

[coma]

10. Speak No Evil (2024, James Watkins) ★★½
There should be another remake where this lame ass family doesn't stand there getting stoned to death, but still gets killed for being pathetic. Feels rushed despite being longer and repeats some of the same annoying shit from the original. Its new ending is also dumb, just in a different way. This one has James McAvoy though, so it wins.

 

[MrMattamus]

Distracting myself from the impending storm and binged a bunch of my list today:

9. V/H/S/ Beyond - 3.5 out of 5
I really dug this installment of the V/H/S franchise. The sci-fi horror theme was well explored, with Live and Let Dive, Stork, and Dream Girl being standouts. Fur Babies was ok, but had a fun ending, and I didn't jive with Stowaway because I just couldn't see what was happening. I got the idea, but it didn't feel cohesive the entire way through. The wraparound, Abduction/Adduction, was not great. I liked the idea of a straight forward doc style, but it was just that. A straight forward doc until the creepy ending. Still a good entry. Shudder, keep doing these. I'll eat em up always.

10-11. Hatchet 1 & 2 - 3 out of 5 for the pair
This was programmed for my lovely wife who had never seen them and is a fan of New Orleans & slashers. Always been of fan of the Hatchet series as an ode to old school slashers before Terrifier hit the scene. The acting is atrocious and there are some bad stereotypes here, but the kills are still fun and Victor Crowley is a fun, dumb monster.

12. Spookt - 2.5 out of 5
I subscribe to the Horror Pack, a monthly blu-ray subscription box that sends four horror films a month. One of those is always a "Horror Pack" exclusive that you can only get in the box and it's usually an indie horror film that wouldn't have the cash for physical distribution. This movie is one of them and it was better than I expected, but a mess story wise with a ton of ideas that didn't give any enough time to breath. Essentially two paranormal investigators, one a skeptic and the other a believer, head to a house in Greenville, PA that is reportedly haunted by the ghost of Eric Roberts, er, Dr. Byler. They set up shop to both disprove and prove the haunting, but throw in an Amish doll, a missing girl, and a local legend of a ghostly lantern lady that will chase you down and you have one messy movie. But, it's charming, well acted, and I always love to support indie horror.

13. Smile - 3.5 out of 5
Better than I expected it to be and dealt with headier themes than I expected, which is a urban legend, meme movie like Slenderman. Suitably creepy and not as reliant on jump scares, again, as I expected. I was pleasantly surprised and that final monster is nightmare fuel.

14. The Driller Killer - 3 out of 5
Abel Ferrara's sleazecore meets art house feature. Big fan of Abel and his films, but never sat down to watch this one. The movie starts with a title card stating "This movie is meant to be played loud" and boy is it. It's a cacophony of noise, art, people, and 70s New York. I enjoyed this one even though at times it slows down, meanders, and feels down right aimless. Still, Abel's craft is on full display, even showcasing themes that would reappear in Bad Lieutenant and King of New York.

 

[Z-Beat]

6. House on Haunted Hill (original)

One of the two Vincent Price films I put on my list. Overall the premise is pretty straightforward and is one that's used as bedrock for a ton of other media. The characters are fairly entertaining, especially Price with his mixed behavior of polite and murderous. Effects are very hit/miss. There are some that are exceedingly creepy and some that just look straight up silly now, but the movie was great overall

4/5

 

[flatearthpandas]

Not sure if I can manage the full 31 this year, but let's see how it goes.

1. Exorcist: Believer 2/5
Not much to say here. Found it pretty boring from the get go and it never improved. Imagine an exorcism scene not giving a movie a bump at all. Even bad exorcism movies are usually exciting in those scenes. It seemed to be trying to imitate the original with a lot of what the demon was up to, but much less effectively than the original.

2. Blade 4/5
Not sure if this really counts as horror but it has the trappings and I need all the help I can get! Anyway, love this movie. Yeah, it can be unintentionally goofy at times, but there's a lot of legitimately excellent things to it and almost all the characters are well realized. Can't remember his name right now (even though I can distinctly recall his "You can slice him, you can dice him, but the XXX man just keeps on coming!" line), but the recurring henchmen and crew are great. They don't have a lot of time spent on them but their intentional goofiness is always appreciated.

3. Willy's Wonderland 4/5
Had almost no expectations going in but it very quickly made me laugh and I thoroughly enjoyed it from there. Its winking campiness landed great for me. Even if I hadn't been forced to sit through the garbage fire of Five Nights at Freddy's, I would still have really enjoyed this. For anyone on the fence, skip that and just have a laugh with this one.

4. As Above So Below 3/5
I think a second watch might give this one a bump. This movie has been on my radar for quite a while but there's always been something about it that put me off of watching it. Saw it was leaving Netflix soon, though, so I took the plunge. And... I'm glad I did. It wasn't scary per se--I think the MC was always too driven for a sense of fear to actually manifest, but it was claustrophobic, at times uncomfortable and, more importantly, it kept getting more intense and interesting as it went and lends itself well to reflection.

5. Friday the 13th (1980) 2/5
I want to start out saying I like the music. Not just the classic sort of breathing track, but there's a kind of Jaws-ish sound to it as well that I dig. That said, there's so much down time and boring nothing talk for a movie that starts the killing so early and doesn't really stop. There was basically zero tension. I think because the kills themselves happen quickly for the most part, so you don't really learn to feel any escalation, so when it's slow, it's just slow. I felt a little weird with perspective occasionally being from the killer and occasionally not. That said, the scene when Mrs. Voorhees shows up is pretty good imo. There's a split second where one might go "what's with this acting?" followed immediately by like "ohhh, this is on purpose! uh-oh!" Kind of nothing burger after that, though.

 

[Nacho]

# 6 The Evil Dead (1981)

Maybe it's not 'accurate' or 'true' that this is a perfect movie, but fuck you it's a perfect movie. I've seen it so many times, it's just one of those movies that's seared into my mind as what it is Im sure I can't objectively critique it.

To be fair, I did also have it on in the background cuz I had some horror minis to paint today which is why I chose something liek this.

5/5

 

[THErest]

12—Beetlejuice

(rewatch)
I really had thoughts like I would do the first 31 without rewatch. But, sometimes, Beetlejuice happens.

Huge fan of Michael Keaton, and, duh, Catherine O'Hara. Haven't seen it? What's wrong with you?

Spoiler: previous entry

11—Terrifier

(first watch)
Yeah, uh…they sure committed to the bit. Commendable, really.

Actually, I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. It was well-made. It looked pretty decent, giving very clean shots of a lot of grimy gruesome shit. They had a vision and they brought it.

For the first half of this movie, I largely felt this was like a natural and excessive progression of so many old, cheap, trashy, exploitative slashers—not the ones that go for prestige nowadays, the other ones. Or maybe that was torture porn? In which case…

If you're worried about gore going into this, you should be. They took it to Mortal Kombat fatality levels. Almost cartoonish, at times. Maybe that's reassuring. But don't get too comfortable.

Ain't no rules in this slasher either. Art the Clown attended Jason's camp of getting away with anything and everything.

For what it is, I felt maybe it was a touch too long, even though it's 85 minutes. Then again, "excess" is the name of the game here. Overall though, they put on a dope show.

Click to shrink...

 

[dphrygian]

8. Nope (2022) (rewatch)
(concluding my Jordan Peele rewatch block)

I think my impression of this film 2 years ago was that it was kind of overstuffed? Watching it again, I was wrong. It is RICH and GENEROUS. It is Spielberg and Shyamalan, it is cosmic horror and anime. It's real good.

5/5 Fry's Electronics (RIP)

 

[tryagainlater]

#5. Beetlejuice - I've never been a Tim Burton fan and this movie is certainly not convincing me otherwise. I can appreciate a movie that is just going for scene after scene of gags but a lot of them just didn't work for me. The dance numbers were a bit of fun though. This might be sacrilege but I just don't like the titular character of Beetlejuice. Michael Keaton may be a great actor but I didn't enjoy him here and the weird fake voice he put on for it. There's obviously enough craft on display to say it's a good film but it didn't hold my interest in any way.

 

[Ryudo]

7. Oddity

I went into this one totally blind. Didn't read any description, didn't watch a trailer, and didn't read any reviews. I just know there's a lot of positive word-of-mouth about Oddity from this year so I threw it on my list and gave it a watch tonight.

I really liked this movie. It's one part ghost story, one part murder mystery. There are some very effective scares in this one that I didn't see coming. I loved the character of Dani too and would have loved a series based off of her and the psychic adventures she gets into with the objects in her antique store. Oddity is one of the more fresh and original films I've seen this year. My only complaint is that the movie takes a bit of time to really kick into gear. That first half is a little slow but once the ball starts rolling, it stays pretty thrilling. I loved that closing shot too, which was pretty slick.

Rating: 4 out of 5

 

[DrScruffleton]

#6 Puppet Master 3.5/5

I didnt know a single thing about this movie other than seeing some of the puppet designs before. This was so bizarre, I kinda adored it due to just how weird it was. It felt like an adult version of a Goosebumps episode. That amount of cheese. The themes of the movie were kind of jarring, due to it going from so cheesy to serious topics or gore. Some pretty interesting effects on the puppets. And they mustve been so stoked for their main theme, they play it every chance they got when something happens lol. Considering diving into the sequels now, but I know they made like 15 of them.

 

[Mariachi507]

31 Days of Horror 2024

2. Oddity

This one hit for me more than it did miss, but I can't entirely forgive it's flaws. A very strong opening gives way to inconsistencies the more the film goes on. The central mystery needed to be a bit less obvious and many threads less contrived (some of those threads don't hold up at all to scrutiny as more reveals occur throughout). Still though, there's talent here. There were times where the horror aspects played a bit too silly for me (I laughed at a couple), but on the other end of the spectrum... they can also actually be scary. There's a couple of sequences here that stick out, so much so that I reckon they will probably be some of the most effective scares of the month. I felt proud for the director.

Despite having issues with parts of this picture, it's absolutely worth a watch. It's very well paced too, I was caught off guard when it ended. Shout-out to Old Chief Wood'nhead.

6.5/10

 

[Ridley327]

Film 6/40

Strangler vs. Strangler

Released June 18, 1984

Horror-comedies seldom come funnier than the one we get here! Opening with a great premise as a faceless narrator goes over the ambitions of the city of Belgrade to be as recognizable as New York or London to find that its future lies not in its infrastructure or exports, but in the very nature of the city's crime itself to give it notoriety, the sly humor on display leads to a lot of chuckling throughout as the narrator remains a constant presence with her dry readings of some of the most ridiculous content as Belgrade is about to produce its first serial killer, with a specialty in, what else, strangling. We quickly meet Pera Mitić in the act, as we shortly rewind the clock a bit to the start of his extracurricular activities as the film knowingly piles on the cliches for the whys of his turn to the dark side with a wink and a grin as it takes those tropes to their logical extremes for a lot of cheeky humor. Helping out a lot is Pera's actor, Taško Načić, whose appearance calls to mind a merging of Peters in the form of Lorre and Boyle, making great use of his hulking frame and his highly emotive face to relish the opportunity in bringing this psycho to life in a highly entertaining performance that imagines Norman Bates as a mix of downtrodden reality and just enough cartoon logic to sell the surreal qualities of his acting as you swing from not being able to believe that anyone could ever take him seriously to not wanting to spend any less time away from him as he often has you in stitches.

Of course, we can't have a film pitting strangler versus strangler without the other side of the match-up, and this is where the film's surprising ambition kicks in to take you by surprise. Not content with introducing the eventual opponent in the form of local rock star Spirodon (played by actual rock star Srđan Šaper in a fun, nutty performance), who is deeply affected by the murders to write a hit song inspired by them, the film shows off yet another pair of major players as it links Pera's crimes to how they go about their lives. The police investigation is chief among them, with Nikola Simić as our besieged detective that fits the role of Inspectors Clouseau and Dreyfus in equal measures, leading to some of the funniest scenes in the entire film, including an absolutely unforgettable moment involving his pet cat that has to be seen to be believed. The more level-headed performance of the film belongs to DJ/rock journalist Sofija, and while actress Sonja Savić isn't trying for the same level of heightened comedy as her co-stars, being more the straight man to the increasing madness around her suits her quite well as her dry wit offers a great contrast in a world veering closer and closer to outright Looney Tunes.

Everyone is very much locked in to the absurdity of it all, with writer/director Slobodan Šijan doing a great job of balancing out the extremes the film is willing to go to in order to get a laugh. Outrageous as it gets, it's really the handling of so many different types of humor that really sets the film apart as it wisely paces the bigger laughs as it simmers throughout with a gentle chuckle. It's very much gallows humor from start to finish, but it knows just when to push the morbidity and when to pull back for a level of consistency that is truly impressive to behold. And the film isn't lacking in the technical merits, either, as Belgrade is rendered rather lovingly that feels like a genuine love letter to its beauty and having enough chops to sell the atmosphere of the dark and lonely alleys of the night that, if the film did take itself more seriously than it does, could have made for some genuinely suspenseful scenes of terror.

Scaring you is very much not on the film's mind much, which makes the horror part of the equation perhaps weaker than some folks would prefer. Outside of some very knowing riffs on older horror films, with Psycho being an especially quoted film here (right down the rad Bernard Herrmann-inspired score that winds up having a hell of a payoff by the end) and a couple of scenes of ear-related gore, the film is certainly not interested in scaring you much, as even all the strangling takes on a heightened sense of comedy with the comic reactions of the corpses taking nearly all of the severity out of an otherwise violently intimate act. Yet I can't say I minded not being creeped out even once as I was just having too damn much fun with the film otherwise as it really knows what it's doing and near flawless executes on what it sets out to do for a supremely satisfying spin on genre tropes. As the film finally embraces its cartoon logic with a final showdown for the ages as we get to the title bout, nothing can be predicted as it ramps up the absurdity to a fever pitch to put things in their improper place once and for all, finding its winners and losers in the least likely places to make the punchlines land as hard as they do. It's rather fitting that the film winds up offering bookends with the orchestra playing the film's amped-up suspense score, as the daffy overture is missing just Bugs Bunny to make the link more obvious there, but you hardly need such a blatant signpost when the rest of the film is comical enough to make that connection understood throughout. A very early prime candidate for the best thing I'll see this year for the marathon, and one where I'm going to be laughing like a silly fool to myself recalling any one of its many great jokes as other folks look at me strange.

 

[jph139]

Movie #10 | Lake Michigan Monster, 2018
Movie #11 | V/H/S/Beyond, 2024
Movie #12 | [REC], 2007
[Month So Far on Letterboxd]

Watched a few movies with a friend - no real theme here, though the first one kinda fit with my black-and-white pattern for the week, and I guess the latter two are solid enough previews for next week's premise of "the Living Dead."

A microbudget indie horror comedy that feels like a Spongebob live action sequence blown far out of proportion. It is funny, but I don't think it's ever THAT funny, and honestly even 80 minutes was a stretch to fill this one out. Really excellent design for the monster, though, and I will not deny that there are some laughs.

About as good as last year's installment - not a compliment. Unfortunately the series has settled into annual mediocrity, but I keep on watching so who am I to complain?

I think the first sequence (Stork) was the best; just some solid action sequences and great alien designs, even if it was just kind of a generic zombie story up to that point. The rest were executed well enough, but were just kind of uninspired premises for found footage horror... except the dog one which was at least interesting, if kind of dumb.

This is actually a first-time watch for me, surprisingly enough, as I love found footage and this is kind of the gold standard. Unfortunately I think the "zombies infesting a building" narrative is SO well-worn at this point that I'm mostly shrugging at even good attempts... but I can't deny that this IS a good one. Pacing is tight, with a nice slow escalation of the chaos, and the cast is well- realized while remaining small enough that everyone gets a little shine. Holds up fine almost two decades on.

 

[Wanderer5]

6. The First Omen (2024)

Most Terrifying Movie of the Year feels overplayed as hell nowadays lol, but this film definitely has it's moments of creepiness, along with some pretty disturbing imagery (some more messed up pregnancy that I have seen this year haha). I really like how the First Omen looks, and probably nails the 70's aesthetic pretty well. It also helps that they picked some really nice locations in Rome for filming, including some ariel shots that are both beautiful and yet eerie within the film.

The story is overall pretty interesting with a strong cast, especially from the leading actress, although trying to slip in a tease for a sequel just felt really silly at the end. Still in the end, this is a pretty solid film.

 

[dphrygian]

9. The Visit (2015)

Starting my "Shyamalan films I haven't yet seen" block. This has been in my film backlog for A While.

It was... okay. Scarier and grosser than I expected from a PG-13 film. Kinda problematic. Good twist. Kathryn Hahn is always great.

3/5 blueberry cobblers

 

[Owzers]

I'm betraying era in that:

Angel Heart - paramount plus - I thought it was okay. I liked Rourke in the lead despite not knowing that was him. I don't think the investigation worked for me, kinda knew where it was going yet not exactly the how. Gets a respectable 6.5/10

 

[FRANKEINSTEIN]

Op

31 Days of Horror (2024) - The October Movie Marathon

Can't wait. I really need to start pulling together a list of potential films. For those that have kept in the loop, any must-sees added to Shudder since last Halloween?

www.resetera.com

12. Two Evil Eyes ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Romero and Argento! Hell of a combination. But with that pedigree I was expecting more. The 2 segments based on Poe stories are definitely good and have plenty of atmosphere and some good performances. Just that the pacing isn't great. And if you only have to fill an hour, I expected better.

13. Renfield ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Just a fun action packed and gory horror comedy. Sublime performance from Cage as Dracula. Hoult and Awkwafina are also really good and banter well together.

 

[Rhaknar]

6. The First Omen (2024)


Most Terrifying Movie of the Year feels overplayed as hell nowadays lol, but this film definitely has it's moments of creepiness, along with some pretty disturbing imagery (some more messed up pregnancy that I have seen this year haha). I really like how the First Omen looks, and probably nails the 70's aesthetic pretty well. It also helps that they picked some really nice locations in Rome for filming, including some ariel shots that are both beautiful and yet eerie within the film.

The story is overall pretty interesting with a strong cast, especially from the leading actress, although trying to slip in a tease for a sequel just felt really silly at the end. Still in the end, this is a pretty solid film.

Click to shrink...

friend of mine said this was shockingly decent, and also very similar to Immaculate, which I did enjoy.

 

[tryagainlater]

#6. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 - I really don't know much about Texas Chainsaw Massacre as a franchise. I saw the first one many years ago and it was the most uncomfortable I've ever felt while watching a movie. I assumed the rest of the movies were going to be mostly crap. I found myself actually kinda enjoying this sequel, at least in the first half. I liked the Stretch character and although Dennis Hopper didn't have a whole lot to work with, it was fun to see him weilding chainsaws like a maniac. It was when they get to thier base and they try to recreate the dinner scene again that the film lost me a bit. The long weirdly paced scenes also began to wear on me at this point. Still, it was better than I thought it would be.

 

[ElephantShell]

Previous:

1. Ring (1998) [First Watch] 3.5/5
2. Oddity (2024) [First Watch] 3.5/5
3. The House of the Devil (2009) [Rewatch] 4/5
4. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) [Rewatch] 5/5
5. It's What's Inside (2024) [First Watch] 2.5/5

Current:

6. Sick (2022) [First Watch]

Watched on: Digital rental

3.5/5

Very enjoyable little COVID slasher. A nice lean 83 min runtime made this an easy sell and I'm glad I gave it a shot. Pretty tense and really great action sequences. It's cool to have a slasher film where the killer vs. victim interactions are almost all very well done action set pieces.

Vague spoiler talk I'll tag just in case: the COVID-related reveal close to the end is so fucking stupid BUT I immediately got the vibe that it wasn't meant to be taken seriously so I didn't let it bother me. Feels like it's dumb on purpose which is fine in a movie like this..

Definite flashbacks to 2020-2022 precautions watching this as the COVID stuff is really played up in the film. It's interesting to think about movies like this being discovered by new horror fans 10-20 years from now, young people who don't have vivid memories of living like that. The best movies feel kind of timeless and this is very intentionally NOT timeless. But, it worked for me since I was there. Anyway, give this a shot if you're a slasher fan.

 

[flatearthpandas]

1. Exorcist: Believer 2/5
2. Blade 4/5
3. Willy's Wonderland 4/5
4. As Above So Below 3/5
5. Friday the 13th (1980) 2/5

6. Doctor Sleep 3/5
This was a rewatch. It's fine. Same feeling about the book, really. It's just fine. I think the themes are good but they just don't really resonate for me in this story. Film-wise, they did a good job folding the Kubrick film into this one. The girl who plays Abra does a great job in the scene with the truck.

7. Misery 5/5
I've seen bits of this before but I think this was my first time watching the whole thing. And damn! Everyone does great! Annie feels like such a real character and Kathy Bates is absolutely amazing. She's terrifying almost every time she's on screen. King's characters tend to have certain patterns to them, like childish phrases that get repeated and take on a creepy tone to them, naked hypocrisy in the derangement of characters like Annie, but it's undoubtedly effective and works well here. There's something terrifyingly familiar about her selfishness as well. I think anyone who's been involved with a really selfish person can recognize the kind of terror of having to offer even the slightest criticism, no matter how delicately put, and the punishment that is sure to follow. The movie was almost painful in that regard. Speaking of painful, the hobbling scene is excruciating--way harder to watch than a lot of slasher scenes in other films.

I wonder if this would still play with audiences these days, when parasocial relationships seem to be at an all-time high and "fans" seem almost allergic to criticism. And that ending. Absolutely damning.

8. Event Horizon 2/5
It's such a cult favorite that I give it another shot every once in a while, but... yeah, this movie still sucks. Just a bunch of nonsense with no real rhyme or reason except "wouldn't it be creepy if they did this?" Latin, dissection, possession, blah blah. Just a bingo card of shit thrown at the wall. I guess people must dig it on pure vibes, and I could almost get that, except I can demonic vibes from much better movies.

 

[CloudWolf]

Decided to finish the "Watch all movies in a horror franchise with 4 or more entries"-section of my Hooptober list over the weekend, so:

6. [REC], 2007 - 4.5/5
I loved this. It's found footage horror done right. Fantastic pace, great performances and the movie finds great reasons as to why a guy is running around with a camera that's constantly on. I loved the setting as well, urban apartment complexes are such good locations for horror. And Pablo, man, what a champ.

7. [REC]², 2009 - 3/5
A significant step down from the original, but still pretty good all things considered. I'm not a huge fan of how this changes the context of the virus, with the full-on supernatural religious horror pivot, but it does make for a banger of an ending. The biggest mark I have against this is that the found footage format is really forced here. In the original it was very believable that the camera would be always on, where here it's much less logical or needed.

On a final note: It's interesting how much of this movie feels like a videogame. There's even a puzzle they need to solve that feels like it comes straight out of a Resident Evil or Outlast game.

8. [REC]³ Genesis, 2012 - 3.5/5
People don't like this one? I thought it was a blast!

The vibe is certainly very different here, with this taking a far more comedic turn than the previous two films and ditching the found footage style after the opening sequence (with a pretty funny reference to the "we need to film everything" line they constantly used in the first two films), and I guess that's why people don't like this. And I'll concede the point that it's certainly an odd move for [REC] to go all Evil Dead 2 on us.

But come on, this movie has one of the main characters donning a full Medieval armour to fight zombies, a bride with a chainsaw, "Royalties" and a shotgun-wielding off-brand SpongeBob impersonator. I can't dislike this zaniness.

Where [REC] is Outlast and [REC]² is Resident Evil 2, this is Dead Rising.

9. [REC]⁴ Apocalypse - 2/5
This fourth film in the [REC] franchise is in a couple of ways a return for the franchise. Angela Vidal is back and so is the more serious tone that was prominent in the first and second films. The found footage style is still gone, but that's honestly for the better.

Unfortunately the actual movie is quite bad. There's some fun to be had here and there, but overall the whole thing is rather dull and by the numbers. Interestingly, this all but completely dumps the idea that the zombies were more demonic and religious in origin, instead opting for a way more medical approach to the virus. Kinda weird considering [REC]² and [REC]³ made such a big deal of this and you'd think that core element of the zombie-lore of this franchise would stick.

Speaking of strange choices in this movie, I'm absolutely baffled at how this movie handles the consequences of the excellent ending of the second movie. I think I understand why they did what they did, but I do not agree with it at all.

Anyway, to continue with the videogame comparisons, this is that Resident Evil game that takes place on a ship that everybody tries to forget.

#6. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 - I really don't know much about Texas Chainsaw Massacre as a franchise. I saw the first one many years ago and it was the most uncomfortable I've ever felt while watching a movie. I assumed the rest of the movies were going to be mostly crap. I found myself actually kinda enjoying this sequel, at least in the first half. I liked the Stretch character and although Dennis Hopper didn't have a whole lot to work with, it was fun to see him weilding chainsaws like a maniac. It was when they get to thier base and they try to recreate the dinner scene again that the film lost me a bit. The long weirdly paced scenes also began to wear on me at this point. Still, it was better than I thought it would be.

Click to shrink...

A colleague of mine really hates The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. It's the movie we disagree on most, since I adore it. It's basically Tobe Hooper going "A straight up sequel is never going to work, so I'm gonna make it a weird over-the-top comedic slasher film," and it's brilliant IMO.

 

[tellNoel]

Movie #8
Kwaidan (1964)

My Letterboxd Review: 4.5/5 Stars

"Kwaidan is an eerie anthology film conveyed like a gentle dream. It's gorgeous in every sense of the word. The stories are beautifully patient, carrying you on a breeze of genuine Japanese instrumentals; it feels like a silent film at times. Everything is cleverly weaved together, the stories are entirely connected without the need of an overarching plot. There are movies about ghosts and then there is Kwaidan. THE ghost."

 

[snausages]

The painted backgrounds in Kwaidan are so cool and expressionistic

Kinda hate the last story tho with the tea cup.

 

[nilbog]

7. Shrooms (2007)

A group of friends are stalked by a sadistic monk after taking psilocybin mushrooms in the Irish woods.

First time watch. I liked this one. It's shot in the dank darkness of Rossmore Forest Park, among other locations in Ireland. The vibe in these woods is fucking creepy, and when they add in the mushroom trips and a scary witch-like entity after the group, it gets even creepier.

One of the taglines for this movie is "Blair Witch on Acid", and I kind of agree. I love The Blair Witch Project, but I remember initially being a bit disappointed that we never got to see the witch stalking her victims through the dark forest. Although it's not really a witch, you are getting that experience in this film. There is something evil stalking the group, and they are bugged out on shrooms, making it even worse.

The plot does get silly. Main lead Tara accidentally eats a death bell mushroom early on. She should be dead, but instead she can now see the future. But that gift doesn't seem to ever help her. And then there is a twist ending, which while interesting I wish they didn't do. It's not terrible, just takes away a bit of the creepiness of those damned woods.

I give this one 3 nilbogs out of 5.

 

[tellNoel]

The painted backgrounds in Kwaidan are so cool and expressionistic

Kinda hate the last story tho with the tea cup.

Click to shrink...

I would say it's the weakest of the four for sure, but it's also the most fitting to end with.

 

[tellNoel]

Movie #9
Vampyr (1932)

My Letterboxd Review: 3.5/5 Stars

"The camerawork in this film is so inspiring. The way they manipulate the lighting to capture such memorable images left me in awe. The out-of-body experience sequence, although ambitious, is a bit contextually dizzying the way it unfolds, yet there are many impressive shots that had me puzzled as to how they were even accomplished in 1932."

 

[atdawnwestrike]

09. I Saw The TV Glow (2023) (New) 1/5
Beautiful cinematography but that's really the only highlight for me. It was just incredibly boring.

 

[John Rabbit]

I've gotten behind on my write ups so here's a briefer double-barrel:

Movie 05 - The Rental (2020, Netflix)

There genuinely isn't a lot to talk about with this one. Four 30-sometimes rent a upscale beachside house and things are shady from the word go. Feels like it's trying to be a kind of 'high-brow slasher with social commentary' film a 'la Jordan Peele but it genuinely just isn't that smart.

There isn't a single plot point, twist, character action or consequence that you haven't seen before or didn't see coming a mile away. The very end actually introduces a fairly interesting/new idea about the nature of the 'rental/Airbnb' culture. Unfortunately it doesn't recontextualize the film in any meaningful way and feels like it could've been introduced much earlier.

Its well shot and mostly well-acted (Jeremy Allen White, for all his praise in The Bear, is actually quite bad in this); overall a very technically good movie.

--

3 ultimately pointless red herrings out of 5



Movie 06 - Devil's Due

Choose your own review:

• "We have Paranormal Activity at home."
• What if you could save time and just speedrun the first 3 Paranormal Activity movies in 90 minutes?
• Very by-the-numbers found footage that nobody seems to have actually "found" with just a hint of exoticization
• Movie was fine but honestly I'm fairly let down because of how strong Radio Silence's 10/31/98 short was in V/H/S and this film exists because they were approached by Fox because of it. It's clearly a massive expansion on the ritual scene from 10/31/98 with some differences that seem completely pointless.

--

3 prominent Apple product placements out of 5

 

[tellNoel]

09. I Saw The TV Glow (2023) (New) 1/5
Beautiful cinematography but that's really the only highlight for me. It was just incredibly boring.

Click to shrink...

Doesnt help its a pretty bleak film too. Practical effects were pretty great and the message itself is important but overly convoluted upon execution

 

[AstralSphere]

"We need something better."

Stopmotion (New)

---

The daughter of a renowned stopmotion artist struggles to live up to the expectations of living up to her family legacy, and starts to lose her grip on reality while in pursuit of creating the perfect animated movie, going to increasingly distrubing lengths in order to make the movie her own.

A fairly well-directed and well-acted movie that at times is a little too slow for it's own good. There are some great stopmotion effects but they are rarely actually scary, and the film kind of plods along for a lot of its runtime not really feeling like it's progressing the story it's trying to tell. The main lead carries a lot of the duller scenes with a great performance.

There are some good scenes here, but I found myself pretty bored for much of it. The ending was good though.

2.5/5

 

[MadDogTannen]

Yesterday's double feature was Evil Dead 1 and 2.

Definitely in the minority, but Evil Dead 1 is so much better imo. It's way more gorey and atmospheric. It's creepier and it's played super straight. Still unsettling today.

Evil Dead 2 is a good movie and it's definitely more 'fun', but it's not more enjoyable imo. It's more tame and easy OTT with all the blood. It's also less violent because the camera seems to cut away a lot of the time and the only violence you do see is against the demons.

 

[Igniz12]

Host (2020)
This was fun. At a brisk 60 mins it does not overstay its welcome and gets into it pretty fast. I think in the past there might have been an interesting conversation about how they pulled this off but in the age of digital post production its just not as interesting, but still commend the execution.

Anyone know what the end sequence was about? I could not understand the point of it but I was also only half watching since it came after the (pretty clever and cool) credits.
4/5


Speak No Evil (2024)
I was not expecting to watch this tonight but not gonna complain lol. A lot of talk of the ending and missing the point but on its own I think it was decent. Standard family in peril concept with a cathartic ending for the audience, feels like they used to do these kinds of movies a while back but they fell out of favour or Im just not looking. Final shot was quite sad and tragic.
3/5