October 2017 Scary Movie Watching Thread | Say hi to mommy...in hell!

[Mr. Gundam]

whoops, thought this was general movie thread

[Tasty]

Love Phantasm. Not making much sense is part of the ride. Phantasm II is really good, too. Maybe on par with the original.

Something else that held it back for me is that it's clear they could only build two sets, and they were proud as fuck of the mausoleum one.

I'm also not really a fan of "it was all a dream... or was it?!" scenarios.

GREAT main theme music though.

[TVC15]

Love Phantasm. Not making much sense is part of the ride. Phantasm II is really good, too. Maybe on par with the original.

Something else that held it back for me is that it's clear they could only build two sets, and they were proud as fuck of the mausoleum one.

I'm also not really a fan of "it was all a dream... or was it?!" scenarios.

GREAT main theme music though.

That funeral home building is just a few miles from me. I want to go there sometime.

[Tasty]

24. Sleepy Hollow

Fairly preditctable Burton tripe, but at least in this instance the material feels like a great match. I enjoyed seeing Depp as a giant pussy for most of the film, but despite being in love with almost every single fucking shot (seriously, this cannot be understated, the movie is a fucking New England Halloween dream come true), the ridiculously over-convoluted plot and lack of agency on the part of the Horseman makes this almost a miss for me. But yeah, it's somewhat salvaged by the cinematography and original source material.

2 / 5


25. Gerald's Game

A classic that stumbles in the last 20 minutes or so. I was completely absorbed until...

spoiler (click to show/hide)

she left the house and began writing her letter. If the movie had ended with her being recovered from the car crash, this would probably be 5/5 for me.

[close]

Despite all this I was enthralled for almost the entire time, and as I said earlier I just love "bottle movies." Good shit. The less you know going in, the better.

4 / 5


26. It Comes at Night

Nice little movie with direction that elevates it a cut above. The plot is basically a single chapter of The Walking Dead comic stretched out to film length, but everything is so competent and deliberate that it works far better as a self-contained film than an idea in a comic. For the record, this movie has no zombies or shit, but the idea of paranoia and "can we really trust what this guy says?" in a post-apocalyptic scenario is a trend well-tread. Knocking off a point mostly because the ending is a bit too nihilistic for my tastes. Normally I wouldn't mind, but in a movie like this that deliberately leaves out the context of its world and scenario, some moment of catharsis is needed for a climax to feel rewarding.

4 / 5

[Tasty]

27. Halloween III: Season of the Witch

Really great atmosphere at the expense of a snoozer of a plot. Only really interesting shit happens in the last 10% of the movie, the rest is a mystery setup but if you know anything about the plot of the movie it's like watching a guy stumble around in the darkness of his basement trying to reset the fusebox. I'm gonna disagree with Stro here - the ending is not a downer ending, because there is no ending. He yells into the phone over and over, cut to black. It actually would have been a better ending for him to see the signal on TV and the camera zooms in on his horrified face or something.

Ah well. And yeah the music is dope.

3 / 5

[ToxicAdam]

I've always had a soft spot for Halloween 3. I love the vibe it created, I just wished it were a better movie overall.

The Village falls in that category also.

[Joe Molotov]

Happy Happy Halloween Halloween Halloween Happy Happy Halloween Silver Shamrock!

[Tasty]

Evil Dead 2013 is fucking great.

[Mupepe]

Agreed.  I didn't understand the hate it got from some.

[Tasty]

Agreed.  I didn't understand the hate it got from some.

I can sorta understand. It's VERY far removed from Evil Dead 2/Army of Darkness wackery and it was the first entry since that movie.

These days though we've got (at least) three seasons of Ash vs. Evil Dead so the people wanting Ash and wacky horror hijinks can get their fill.

[Tasty]

ED 2013 is for sure better than Ash vs Evil Dead, tho.

Haven't seen more than the first couple eps so I couldn't say. Hit my fanspot as a Evil Dead fan though.

[Joe Molotov]

#26
Species (1995)



This movie was made about 10 years too late. If it was made in the 80's, it would have cost a few hundred grand, starred the director's nephew, and been released by Roger Corman or Troma under the title Space Nymphos from Planet X. And it would have been amazing. Instead, it's the 90's, we gotta class the shit up. Give us Ben Kingsley, give Michael Madsen, give us Forrest Whitaker (reading all his lines like he's shooting an ASMR video), give us cutting-edge (lol) mid 90's CGI. Let's be real, people were only watching this movie for one reason. Hot alien sex. People didn't need to see some blonde supermodel grinding on Alfred Molina's dick; it could have been anyone's dick and it still wouldn't have gotten rented out at Blockbuster.

The Sil design was good (I mean, it's HR Giger) and the practical effects and puppet work was good, but whenever Sil went into CGI mode...oh lawd have mercy. Thankfully the worst of it was contained to one scene at the end, but it's still more unintentionally horrifying than anything else in the movie was on purpose. Needless to say, I would not describe this movie as a "Sci-Fi jolt-a-thon!"

Natasha Henstridge was hot, tho.

[studyguy]

#26
Species (1995)

(Image removed from quote.)

This movie was made about 10 years too late. If it was made in the 80's, it would have cost a few hundred grand, starred the director's nephew, and been released by Roger Corman or Troma under the title Space Nymphos from Planet X. And it would have been amazing. Instead, it's the 90's, we gotta class the shit up. Give us Ben Kingsley, give Michael Madsen, give us Forrest Whitaker (reading all his lines like he's shooting an ASMR video), give us cutting-edge (lol) mid 90's CGI. Let's be real, people were only watching this movie for one reason. Hot alien sex. People didn't need to see some hot blonde model grinding on Alfred Molina's dick; it could have been anyone's dick and it still wouldn't have gotten rented out at Blockbuster.

The Sil design was good (I mean, it's HR Giger) and the practical effects and puppet work was good, but whenever Sil went into CGI mode...oh lawd have mercy. Thankfully the worst of it was contained to one scene at the end, but it's still more unintentionally horrifying than anything else in the movie was on purpose. Needless to say, I would not describe this movie as a "Sci-Fi jolt-a-thon!"

Natasha Henstridge was hot, tho.

Pretty sure this film inspired a number of young degenerates to awaken to their weirdo guro/vore fetish, or at the very minimum love for monster girls before they were a thing later in life.

[Quaker]

1. Gerald's Game (Netflix)

Surprisingly good one-location film adapted from a Stephen King story. Yeah, it kind of shits the bed with the epilogue but the climax was so well executed that I really care that much.

2. Mimic (HBO)

The last one of Del Toro's movies that I hadn't seen. The narrative isn't much and it's not that "scary" but it's a strong, silly monster movie that plays a bit like a silly version of Alien with roaches towards the end with Del Toro's signature aesthetic and production design. Plus I really liked Josh Brolin and F Murray Abraham in this.

3. 28 Days Later

Great cast, doesn't go on too long, and Danny Boyle's manic style really goes well with the more thrilling scenes. Only big bummer for me is that this was the first time seeing it blown up at the theater and he really did a disservice to the film by shooting 99% of it(the last scene with the valley and the fighter jet was shot on 35mm and it shows) on shitty consumer level digital cameras. I just imagine how much better it'd look if he was using whatever Michael Mann used on Collateral like two years later.

4. The Babadook (Netflix)

The allegory is a little heavy handed but I appreciate what they were trying to do.

5. Ravenous (Netflix)

Probably my favorite find this month. Great offbeat, horror Western. It was kind of bittersweet realizing that I'm getting old now that I can start seeing movies from the late 90s get that patina that 70s and 80s films have now that they're no long contemporary.

6. What Lies Beneath (Amazon Prime)

It's Robert Zemeckis doing his Hitchcock homage. It's a slow burn and there's not really too much going on but I'll take just watching Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer for two hours now that they're not really around anymore.

7. Hellraiser (Netflix)

Hmm, there's obviously a lot of talent and skill behind the gore effects but I was just kind of frustrated after a while. Made me appreciate something like The Thing or Cronenberg in general that are able to have great body horror effects in service of a strong narrative or characters.

8. The Hills Have Eyes (Original) (Showtime)

Similarly, it's cool that Wes Craven is able to do so much with so little but I didn't find it added up to anything particularly substantial.

9. The Cell (HBO)

Love The Fall and I hadn't seen this one yet. The narrative doesn't really make too much sense but it's worth it just for the visuals. Between this and Out of Sight, I think Jennifer Lopez gets a bad rap versus someone like Jessica Alba, who I still can't think of having a single worthwhile performance.

10. It Follows (Netflix)

I didn't like it as much on this rewatch now that the novelty of someone doing neo-Carpenter is gone but there's still something there.

[Tasty]

Hellraiser sucks!

[Joe Molotov]

Nope!

[Quaker]

11. The Ninth Gate (HBO)

Going into it knowing it was a movie about the occult directed by the guy who made Chinatown, The Pianist and The Ghost Writer I expected something more like Rosemary's Baby but it's basically a silly genre movie playing it straight like those old Christopher Lee vampire movies, but with a slightly classier, modern presentation...which wasn't bad, actually.

12. The Blackcoat’s Daughter (Amazon Prime)

Emma Roberts and the daughter from Mad Men are pretty good, but I didn't find a lot here aside from the atmosphere.

13. Donnie Darko (Netflix)

Yeah, it's kind of embarrassingly emo but it's a bit of a guilty pleasure for me, largely because of the 80s setting?

14. Raw (Netflix)

Really liked this one. It's another cannibal movie but it has some really great, cringe-worthy body horror and I liked the allegories and undertones too.

15. An American Werewolf in London (Amazon)

I think that was the first time I had seen it all the way through from beginning to end after seeing extended parts of it on TV like 30 times. Liked the characters, the setup, the effects and it's nice and brisk too.

16. The Sixth Sense (Netflix)

First time rewatching it since it came out, I think. I've said it before after watching Unbreakable but it's crazy how...mature and understated his earlier movies are.

17. The Ring (HBO)

I didn't think much of it at the time, but on rewatch it's surprisingly effective and Verbinski's style is pretty impressive. Feels very slick for a movie that's 15 years old by now. Plus Naomi Watts.

18. The Conjuring 2 (HBO)

I liked the first one a bit but I was still skeptical going into a broad sequel like this. I actually ended up enjoying this quite a bit even though I still get a little incredulous by the "based on a true story" angle, but I don't think jump scares are that bad of a thing.

19. Hannibal (Showtime)

Yeah, this movie was actually a lot smaller than I remember it being. It's pretty much carried by Hopkins' performance, the material is pretty trashy and it sucks that we get Julianne Moore doing a bit of a Jodie Foster impression but I kind of like it and Red Dragon, despite the silliness.

20. The Purge: Election Year (HBO)

Yeah, I gave it a chance because I've heard good things about it but it really felt like a huge waste to me. I didn't find it particularly compelling and instead felt like someone trying to adapt a Payday or Left 4 Dead mashup with a $2 budget.

[Tasty]

Jason Goes to Hell is the worst movie in the series, bar-none. What the fuck was Sean Cunningham thinking with this piece of garbage.

I mean, I get it, 8 sucked and all, but Jesus you didn't have to jettison the entire fucking series tropes because of it.

[Joe Molotov]

We need a Friday 8.5 explaining how this bounty hunter learned the nursery rhyme and obtained the magical dagger that could kill Jason.

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

Stro I am effing loving your work in this thread.

You're doing fine work here, I give sincere and voluminous thanks to you.

[Bebpo]

Evil Dead 2013 is fucking great.

Yup. This and Don't Breathe were great.

[TVC15]

Stro I am effing loving your work in this thread.

You're doing fine work here, I give sincere and voluminous thanks to you.

(Image removed from quote.)

Last year I did all the ANOES and Halloween series, year before assorted stuff. All can be found at the site if you haven't checked it out. In the planning stages for next year's Halloween Havoc. Can't decide if I want to do the entire Alien/Predator universe, or the whole TCM series plus assorted randoms.

Do all the Hellraisers. It is your destiny.

[TVC15]

[Tasty]

Stro I am effing loving your work in this thread.

You're doing fine work here, I give sincere and voluminous thanks to you.

But... I... he...

whtever.

[Cerveza mas fina]

Ill prob watch that Babysitter Netflix movie tonight on my flight

[Valkyrie]

Yeah, it's kind of embarrassingly emo but it's a bit of a guilty pleasure for me, largely because of the 80s setting?

Don't feel guilty, Donnie Darko is an amazing movie and needs to be treasured for what it is. I've yet to meet anyone who didn't like it, and I always recommend it for those who hasn't seen it.

[Para-Medic]

While it's still free on Amazon Prime I'd recommend "The Blackcoats Daughter" for a movie which is straight up dread and weird beginning to end.

Also "The Witch: A New England Folktale" which is so heavy handed in it's own setting that people often complain they have a hard time following the dialog. For me though, it just made it even more interesting.

Hulu has the new Blair Witch movie but I've heard nothing but awful things about it. That's upsetting as I actually do really like the first movie.

[Joe Molotov]

Stro I am effing loving your work in this thread.

You're doing fine work here, I give sincere and voluminous thanks to you.

But... I... he...

whtever.

Maybe you’d get more props if you weren’t a Hellgator.

[Tasty]

[Purrp Skirrp]

Anybody got a link to last years thread?

[Joe Molotov]

Anybody got a link to last years thread?

http://www.thebore.com/forum/index.php?topic=44494.0

#27
Train to Busan (2016)



aka Korean War Z. It's been a while since I've watched a zombie movie, so I wanted to get one in before the end of the month and I'd heard this one was supposed to be pretty good. And it was. It didn't exactly break new ground in the zombie genre, but it was exciting and it had a good pace even though it was 2 hrs long. It also skipped over the "no one's ever heard of a zombie before" and the "person gets bit and tries to cover it up" and the "yeah my wife got bite, but she's not going to turn into a zombie, I won't leave her behind!" tropes, so that's nice.

[Freyj]

Shudder is doing 30 days for free with “HALLOWEENUS” code. Some good stuff on there.

We watched WNUF and Ghostwatch the other night. Really good stuff in both for completely different reasons.

[Tasty]

Jason X was good schlock and an enjoyable return to form after JGTH.

[Joe Molotov]

[TVC15]

https://legitshook.squarespace.com/movies/jason-x-2001


Jason X (2001). The dirt fucking worst piece of trash in a pretty shitty franchise. Utterly contemptible and I hope to never speak of it again.

(Image removed from quote.)

Even if you don’t like X, I don’t see how it’s possible to like JGTH more than it. There’s a divide by zero error going on in your brain somewhere.

[TVC15]

Stro, I love you, but bitch you’re crazy. David Cronenberg’s presence alone makes X the better film.

[TVC15]

I didn’t like Map to the Stars! We agree on that!

[TVC15]

I really only care about modern Danson. He was great on Cheers, but he was never hot. Never saw Becker, but it was a CBS sitcom so, uh, no reason to go there.

I think I first started falling in love with him on Curb.

[TVC15]

Young people are generally awful. Daddies forever.

[bdoughty]

Friday the 13th turned to crap after 6. First two were top notch, 3D was okay, 4 went back to form and 5 & 6 were tolerable.
Halloween turned to crap after 4. Season of the Witch is great but I do not include it with he rest of the movies. Once they went they went with the Thorn stuff (6) I just watched them for the laughs, including those Zombie remakes.

[Bebpo]

Cult of Chucky - kinda surprised by the good reviews. It’s well made by it’s just a bunch of gore kills. Like it never feels the characters have even a fighting chance since

spoiler (click to show/hide)

there’s an army of chuckys

Ok, the scenes between the chuckys are pretty funny

[close]

Like horror films only have some tension if at least people have a chance. Eh, pass. Should’ve watched Raw or The Babysitter instead for my horror fix today.

[Bebpo]

Watching Raw in 2017 

Didn’t it just come out last year?

[TVC15]

https://legitshook.squarespace.com/movies/2016/12/15/friday-the-13th-2009

Friday The 13th (2009)

Obviously the best of the series from a quality and production view, but the sheen of reboot money also takes away from the charm of the series. Things that looked gross or cheap in the past was because...they had no movie and had to find shit. The gritty, grimy aesthetic of all the Platinum Dudes reboots worked, but sometimes worked against their source material. I liked that they tried to come up with plausible ways as to how he stays alive and can seemingly teleport, but ultimately, it's not very important. That's kind of the beauty of this specific franchise: It's basically infinitely rebootable. There's no overarching story or characters, all you need is a big guy, the mask, and blood.

(Image removed from quote.)

(Image removed from quote.)

[Bebpo]

Raw (not the wrestling thing) was awesome. Been a while since I saw something crazy in a good way. Loved it.

[etiolate]

Currently watching this and its cinematic excellence

[Joe Molotov]

#28
A Dark Song (2016)


Well fuck my cunt, this is a really good movie, innit? I know I'm the one that suggested it in the first place, but I was gonna wait and make it my Halloween movie (but instead I think I'll watch something more iconic today). It's definitely the best movie that could be fairly described as "two people in a house and nothing happens" since The Innkeepers. The atmosphere was great, the music was oppressive, the the actors were incredible. Yeah, *end spoilers*

spoiler (click to show/hide)

the demons were just a bunch of ashy dudes and the angel CGI probably cost about $10

[close]

but I still loved it, it was very cool.

#29
Gremlins (1984)

After the tension of the previous movie, I just wanted to Netflix and Chill with some lighter fair, and it's been about a million years since I've watched Gremlins. It's a fun movie, but I gotta say, watching it again just cements my position that The 'Burbs is Joe Dante's best movie (and yes, I remember who Joe Dante is now ).

[TVC15]

https://legitshook.squarespace.com/movies/2016/12/15/friday-the-13th-2009

Friday The 13th (2009)

Obviously the best of the series from a quality and production view, but the sheen of reboot money also takes away from the charm of the series. Things that looked gross or cheap in the past was because...they had no movie and had to find shit. The gritty, grimy aesthetic of all the Platinum Dudes reboots worked, but sometimes worked against their source material. I liked that they tried to come up with plausible ways as to how he stays alive and can seemingly teleport, but ultimately, it's not very important. That's kind of the beauty of this specific franchise: It's basically infinitely rebootable. There's no overarching story or characters, all you need is a big guy, the mask, and blood.

(Image removed from quote.)

(Image removed from quote.)

I wish Ted Danson was in a horror movie and got killed in the first reel 

There’s always Creepshow.

Btw, How Did This Get Made? did Jason X last week. From the several minutes I heard, they didn’t like it.

[ToxicAdam]

I listened to that podcast. Apparently the director admitted to never have watching a 'Friday the 13th' movie before and the writer had zero experience and wanted to write an Aliens script instead.

[TVC15]

I listened to that podcast. Apparently the director admitted to never have watching a 'Friday the 13th' movie before and the writer had zero experience and wanted to write an Aliens script instead.

Coincidentally, Leprechaun in Space feels very similar in tone, like a Syfy tongue-in-cheek Aliens.

[Momo]

[Van Cruncheon]

Last night I ended up watching Rosemary's Baby with two friends that had never seen it before.

As the movie went on, I realized I forgot to tell them that the movie was a slow, tense boil, and they were mostly silent as they were watching it. They were definitely weirded out by the notorious dream sequence. As the movie was wrapping up, I was worried they didn't like it, and I was getting a bit bummed because it's one of my favorite movies period.

It turns out they were both absolutely floored by it and were quiet because they were so wrapped up in it. I felt really happy then. We talked about it for about an hour before I had to get home to watch Vampyros Lesbos at a decent hour.

janet and i watch this every halloween. sorry, social studies warriors: this movie is a veritable new york pizzeria basement full of offsets.

[Van Cruncheon]

 just watched "a dark song". overall good stuff -- good acting, pacing, claustrophobia, dialogue. shame about the last 20 minutes.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

dat feel when yer guardian angel was made with an amiga 3000 and video toaster, and your demons look like tent city junkies 

[close]

[Tasty]

Halloweentown 1 and 2 were my shit back in the day. Kischy and probably unwatchable these days but fond memories of it.

[Van Cruncheon]

seriously, the more i think about a dark song and all its crowley-esque trappings, they shoulda made the guardian angel some fucked up shit inspired by the enochian apocrypha or the goetia. the demons shoulda stayed weird shadowy shit, like lucid dreams gone awry.

[TVC15]

shame about the last 20 minutes.

This could be the final line of like 95% of horror movie reviews.

[Bebpo]

Still thinking about Raw today. Man, that was so good. Probably my favorite horror flick in the last year or two.

shame about the last 20 minutes.

This could be the final line of like 95% of horror movie reviews.

And the other 5% being Ti West films where the last 20 mins are the best part!

[Tasty]

Ti West is as overrated as Adam Wingard.

[Van Cruncheon]

you may know movies, tasty, but bebs knows ghosts so stay in yer lane

[Van Cruncheon]

did he do bone tomahawk? that was good.

[Bebpo]

Ti West is as overrated as Adam Wingard.

Ti West would have to be rated in the first place. Outside hardcore horror circles he's unknown. Wingard's You're Next and The Guest both put him on the popular map.

Also West hasn't made anything particularly bad, but he hasn't made anything as good as House of the Devil since either. Then again almost no one has made a horror film as good as House of the Devil in 10 years, so that's a high bar. I liked Innkeepers.