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Post by screamingtreefrogs on Oct 16, 2021 17:56:36 GMT
Free Horror TV via SYFY - I'm assuming based on the movie 'Day of the Dead' which I couldn't get through New Zombie TV Show - Day of the Dead (2021) - A normal day for the town of Mawinhaken takes a horrifying turn when the dead begin to rise. Let's Do It! Plan on getting 'Chucky' - the other new Horror TV Show based on Child's Play going after this
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Post by masterofallgoons on Oct 17, 2021 12:56:21 GMT
Watched The Monster with Lon Chaney from 1925 yesterday. I'd never seen it before and I've always enjoyed pretty much any Lon Chaney performance I've ever seen.
It was a fun one. Not one of his best, largely because it took too long for him to show up. It's set in sort of a small town somewhere in NY state and begins with a wealthy guy getting into a car accident and being taken by some mysterious figure. Then you're introduced to a few characters, lead by Johnny who is a timid and whimsy wannabe detective that everyone sort of laughs at. He's played by Johnny Arthur who is absolutely terrific in this movie. I've seen him in a few things her and there but I don't ever recall seeing him carry a movie like this. Silent movie acting can be really hammy and tacky, but he's funny without being annoying and conveys his fear and his humor and his physicality in an entertaining way without totally overdoing it. He's great.
Without going into all the details of the pretty rudimentary plot, the wannabe detective, his love interest, and his rival get caught in a storm and end up in the abandoned sanitarium down the road. It takes too long to get to this point, but once they're there Lon Chaney shows up as the sinister doctor who keeps it running and doesn't seem to want to let them leave and it's all spooky goodness from there on out. His assistants are all different versions of creepy weirdos and he's as wonderfully expressive as ever. There are discoveries of secret passageways and a revelations of what's really going on. There are fantastic sets, great stunts, dark and stormy night atmosphere, and some great makeup.
It was too long, it moved slowly, and the very ending that picks up later could have just been cut. But there's enough here that it was totally fun to watch. If silent films aren't your thing and you won't pay attention, this isn't the one for you. But if you like the people involved and this era of horror/thriller it's a good time.
Not that I'd encourage such things, but this is a story that could be a very effective remake. Very misleading title though.
One side note is that it's one of the few Lon Chaney performances where he didn't craft some elaborate makeup prosthetics, and you can really see his natural face for the most part. He might have a wig, and he has fake eyebrows, but his face is bare. He was 42 at the time of this film, and he looks like he's about 70. He was a heavy smoker, and I know he died of lung cancer, but God damn.
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Post by screamingtreefrogs on Oct 17, 2021 15:27:27 GMT
Slumber Party Massacre got a remake? It's got awesome reviews too - 8.2 on IMDB On at 12:00pm(est) on Syfy Slumber Party Massacre (2021) - A slumber party turns into a bloodbath, as a serial killer wielding a power drill disrupts the fun.' Let's Give it a Whirl!
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Post by screamingtreefrogs on Oct 17, 2021 18:23:15 GMT
Just saw 'The Batman' trailer starring Harry Potter while I was watching Chiefs/Washington
There's another one of these coming out?
How many times can you tell the same story? (to each their own)
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Post by Winston Wolfe on Oct 17, 2021 18:54:36 GMT
I want to semi-withdraw my cheerfulness for No Time To Die. I won't spoil it, but the ending is bugging me the more I think about it.
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Post by klawrencio79 on Oct 17, 2021 22:31:43 GMT
The best show on TV returns tonight for Season 3. Hell yeah!
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Post by masterofallgoons on Oct 17, 2021 23:50:51 GMT
The best show on TV returns tonight for Season 3. Hell yeah! Is that Succession? So many people I know love it, and I tried but I never got past the shooting style.
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Post by Rey Kahuka on Oct 18, 2021 0:04:42 GMT
I want to semi-withdraw my cheerfulness for No Time To Die. I won't spoil it, but the ending is bugging me the more I think about it. It was alright. Major spoilers ahead. I didn't need family man Bond, and doing it only to immediately kill him off was like a double kick in the nuts. At the same time, this is the only iteration of Bond that had an actual story arc, and all stories need to end sooner or later. If nothing else the end was almost anticlimactic. He had already won, it was horror movie-esque to have Bond circle back for no reason other than to get killed off.
I did like how they handled the other 007. For years people have been groaning about a black 007 or a female 007; they found a way to do both in this flick and still not diminish Bond himself in the process. Well played. I'm assuming it's the last we'll ever see of that character though, as the 'James Bond Will Return' stinger tells us we're headed for yet another reboot. I didn't love the movie, I didn't hate it. There was some stuff that didn't make sense, but no worse than your average actioner. Would've liked to see more of the Ana de Armas character. Probably a 6/10 for me.
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Post by hi224 on Oct 18, 2021 0:33:02 GMT
The best show on TV returns tonight for Season 3. Hell yeah! I wonder if an ante will get upped with a major character possibly exiting?.
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Post by Rey Kahuka on Oct 18, 2021 13:21:15 GMT
masterofallgoons klawrencio79 Just posted this on the Film General board, but I thought I'd run it past my sports board crew as well. (Apologies to any horror fans I didn't tag, goons and klaw are the first two guys that came to mind. Obviously I'm interested in everyone's input on the topic.) Spoilers for Halloween Kills (2021) ahead: This movie reaffirmed my dislike of horror movies. The old school slasher flicks were fun because they were ridiculous. The story, the bad acting, it was all goofy mindless fun. Even if they took themselves semi-seriously, there wasn't a ton of depth to any of the characters; they were all just archetypes at best, stock characters at worst. The fact that they attempt to give depth to the central characters in these newer films only to have the people behave just as stupidly, makes the entire endeavor pointless.
What I actually enjoyed about the previous installment was that the people took the fight to the killer. Instead of running like idiots and getting picked off one by one, they stood up to him and won. It was a refreshing take on the genre. This movie advertises itself as more of the same, but is really just a lazy commentary on mob mentality, seemingly turning Michael into almost an anti-hero by the end. And of course one of the main characters from the previous film is inexplicably killed by Michael at the end, after he teleports two blocks into the room to get her. Why she went back up into the room is anyone's guess. So the movie is not only a shit show of its own, it also ruins the previous film while it's at it.
I just don't understand what you're supposed to take away from this film. Who do you relate to, the mindless killing machine or the clueless imbeciles? Is it supposed to be dark comedy, like many of the old slasher flicks? If so, why put in scenes like the mother seeing her dead child in the hospital? What kind of emotion is that supposed to evoke, because it doesn't feel like it belongs in a movie like this.
And it isn't simply about the bad guy winning. I love plenty of movies where the bad guy wins. Chinatown, The Shining (the Overlook was the villain, folks), Fallen (1998), The Dark Knight (if you don't think the Joker won, you weren't paying attention), to name just a few. The stories are well written, the characters have depth and the stakes are clearly defined. Halloween Kills is just watching people who were clever in the previous film act like absolute morons and march to their deaths.
I don't get it. I don't understand the appeal. I have a theory that horror flicks are viewed as a type of social commentary by much (not all, obviously) of the audience; kids, minorities, working class seem to make up much of the demographic. So my theory is that horror movies reaffirm a message of hopelessness, and a system that's out to get you and will crush you no matter what. Even if I'm right, how is that escapism? You'd think they'd rather watch a movie where people stand up to the monster? If my theory is correct, it's sad that the audience is supposed to relate to victimhood and simply accept it; but it explains that scene of the mother finding her dead child in the hospital. Sorry to bring it up again, but that scene just doesn't belong in the same movie as the scenes with that couple who bought Michael's house. They were too funny and the hospital scene was too grimly realistic. It wasn't even gory or a jump scare, just bleak. A dead kid on a gurney as his mother screams and cries.
Going by my theory, the final battle with Michael and the crowd (just before he teleports to kill Karen) has disturbing implications. Either the very idea of rising up against your oppressor is being presented as pointless; or, going by the hospital mob scene (and the death of the other inmate that we're supposed to see as a tragedy), it was wrong of them to rise up in the first place. They took things too far and a date with Michael is their comeuppance. Again, I just don't understand the appeal, I don't understand what they were going for here, and honestly, I don't think they quite knew, either. End spoilers. As a palate cleanser I watched Freaky (2020) on Saturday night and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was stupid, it was fun. At no point did it take itself seriously, which made the ridiculousness much easier to stomach. Embrace the insanity and go whole hog with it. Don't try to inject drama into this kind of story unless you plan on writing a better script. To me, Freaky understands what it wants to be and hits it out of the park. A movie like Halloween Kills is less scary than it is depressing and downright frustrating to watch. Thoughts on this, guys?
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Post by klawrencio79 on Oct 18, 2021 14:49:47 GMT
masterofallgoons klawrencio79 Just posted this on the Film General board, but I thought I'd run it past my sports board crew as well. (Apologies to any horror fans I didn't tag, goons and klaw are the first two guys that came to mind. Obviously I'm interested in everyone's input on the topic.)
I didn't see it yet so I'll forego reading your post, I'm going to try to see it this week, work permitting. My understanding is that this entry is something of a "bridge" film, in that there is definitely going to be a 3rd one. So it's the Two Towers of the Halloweenverse.
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Post by Rey Kahuka on Oct 18, 2021 14:53:12 GMT
masterofallgoons klawrencio79 Just posted this on the Film General board, but I thought I'd run it past my sports board crew as well. (Apologies to any horror fans I didn't tag, goons and klaw are the first two guys that came to mind. Obviously I'm interested in everyone's input on the topic.)
I didn't see it yet so I'll forego reading your post, I'm going to try to see it this week, work permitting. My understanding is that this entry is something of a "bridge" film, in that there is definitely going to be a 3rd one. So it's the Two Towers of the Halloweenverse. Yeah sorry, definitely don't read it if you haven't seen it yet. Looking forward to your perspective.
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Post by Rey Kahuka on Oct 18, 2021 14:54:23 GMT
Just saw 'The Batman' trailer starring Harry Potter while I was watching Chiefs/Washington There's another one of these coming out? How many times can you tell the same story? (to each their own)It's like Fincher does Batman. Not sure why every iteration of the character seems to get darker. I think the next Batman movie will be Batman: The Purge.
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Post by Rufus-T on Oct 18, 2021 15:30:05 GMT
I won't be in attendance, but the main feature at my local indie cinema tonight: Dune (1984) (2001: A Space Odyssey was an earlier showing) Dune (1984) was one of my worst cinema going experience. My brother & I were very excited to see the movie. It was so boring that it felt like a 4 hr. movie. Hope the new one will fare much much better. Can't do much worse.
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Post by Rufus-T on Oct 18, 2021 15:33:06 GMT
Couple of shows on Netflix I am catching up on.
The Man in the High Castle Squid Game
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Post by Jep Gambardella on Oct 18, 2021 23:33:44 GMT
Couple of shows on Netflix I am catching up on. The Man in the High Castle Squid Game I still haven't finished The Man in the High Castle. I liked season 1 well enough, season 2 a little less, and then put the remaining on the backburner.
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Post by Rufus-T on Oct 19, 2021 1:33:19 GMT
Couple of shows on Netflix I am catching up on. The Man in the High Castle Squid Game I still haven't finished The Man in the High Castle. I liked season 1 well enough, season 2 a little less, and then put the remaining on the backburner. I love the book, so I am very curious about how they translate it into a TV series. I like season 1 so far.
Btw, I should correct myself that this is on Amazon Prime, not Netflix.
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Post by klawrencio79 on Oct 19, 2021 1:43:25 GMT
I still haven't finished The Man in the High Castle. I liked season 1 well enough, season 2 a little less, and then put the remaining on the backburner. I love the book, so I am very curious about how they translate it into a TV series. I like season 1 so far.
Btw, I should correct myself that this is on Amazon Prime, not Netflix. One of my favorite books, I wasn’t a fan of the series at all, giving up after the first season, plus the first episode of season 2. I’ll reserve anything further until you finish it.
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Post by Rey Kahuka on Oct 19, 2021 12:22:55 GMT
I love the book, so I am very curious about how they translate it into a TV series. I like season 1 so far.
Btw, I should correct myself that this is on Amazon Prime, not Netflix. One of my favorite books, I wasn’t a fan of the series at all, giving up after the first season, plus the first episode of season 2. I’ll reserve anything further until you finish it. My thoughts exactly. Probably the most thought provoking thing about the show is the intro. Specifically, consider that's the world Native Americans actually live in. A foreign invader took over, huddled you into sections of the country and defaced/repurposed your sacred sites. The Statue of Liberty with the Nazi regalia is the perfect substitute for the faces of our Presidents carved into the Black Hills.
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Post by masterofallgoons on Oct 19, 2021 16:55:12 GMT
masterofallgoons klawrencio79 Just posted this on the Film General board, but I thought I'd run it past my sports board crew as well. (Apologies to any horror fans I didn't tag, goons and klaw are the first two guys that came to mind. Obviously I'm interested in everyone's input on the topic.) Spoilers for Halloween Kills (2021) ahead: This movie reaffirmed my dislike of horror movies. The old school slasher flicks were fun because they were ridiculous. The story, the bad acting, it was all goofy mindless fun. Even if they took themselves semi-seriously, there wasn't a ton of depth to any of the characters; they were all just archetypes at best, stock characters at worst. The fact that they attempt to give depth to the central characters in these newer films only to have the people behave just as stupidly, makes the entire endeavor pointless.
What I actually enjoyed about the previous installment was that the people took the fight to the killer. Instead of running like idiots and getting picked off one by one, they stood up to him and won. It was a refreshing take on the genre. This movie advertises itself as more of the same, but is really just a lazy commentary on mob mentality, seemingly turning Michael into almost an anti-hero by the end. And of course one of the main characters from the previous film is inexplicably killed by Michael at the end, after he teleports two blocks into the room to get her. Why she went back up into the room is anyone's guess. So the movie is not only a shit show of its own, it also ruins the previous film while it's at it.
I just don't understand what you're supposed to take away from this film. Who do you relate to, the mindless killing machine or the clueless imbeciles? Is it supposed to be dark comedy, like many of the old slasher flicks? If so, why put in scenes like the mother seeing her dead child in the hospital? What kind of emotion is that supposed to evoke, because it doesn't feel like it belongs in a movie like this.
And it isn't simply about the bad guy winning. I love plenty of movies where the bad guy wins. Chinatown, The Shining (the Overlook was the villain, folks), Fallen (1998), The Dark Knight (if you don't think the Joker won, you weren't paying attention), to name just a few. The stories are well written, the characters have depth and the stakes are clearly defined. Halloween Kills is just watching people who were clever in the previous film act like absolute morons and march to their deaths.
I don't get it. I don't understand the appeal. I have a theory that horror flicks are viewed as a type of social commentary by much (not all, obviously) of the audience; kids, minorities, working class seem to make up much of the demographic. So my theory is that horror movies reaffirm a message of hopelessness, and a system that's out to get you and will crush you no matter what. Even if I'm right, how is that escapism? You'd think they'd rather watch a movie where people stand up to the monster? If my theory is correct, it's sad that the audience is supposed to relate to victimhood and simply accept it; but it explains that scene of the mother finding her dead child in the hospital. Sorry to bring it up again, but that scene just doesn't belong in the same movie as the scenes with that couple who bought Michael's house. They were too funny and the hospital scene was too grimly realistic. It wasn't even gory or a jump scare, just bleak. A dead kid on a gurney as his mother screams and cries.
Going by my theory, the final battle with Michael and the crowd (just before he teleports to kill Karen) has disturbing implications. Either the very idea of rising up against your oppressor is being presented as pointless; or, going by the hospital mob scene (and the death of the other inmate that we're supposed to see as a tragedy), it was wrong of them to rise up in the first place. They took things too far and a date with Michael is their comeuppance. Again, I just don't understand the appeal, I don't understand what they were going for here, and honestly, I don't think they quite knew, either. End spoilers. As a palate cleanser I watched Freaky (2020) on Saturday night and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was stupid, it was fun. At no point did it take itself seriously, which made the ridiculousness much easier to stomach. Embrace the insanity and go whole hog with it. Don't try to inject drama into this kind of story unless you plan on writing a better script. To me, Freaky understands what it wants to be and hits it out of the park. A movie like Halloween Kills is less scary than it is depressing and downright frustrating to watch. Thoughts on this, guys? This is a pretty broad question. If the questions is 'why would anyone like horror movies?' there's a lot to say about the various types, how ever since movies were made, novels were written, theater was performed, or even stories were told, horror stories were always part of the equation.... but i'll spare all that rambling nonsense.since you've cited horror movies that you acknowledge are good it doesn't seem that the entirety of the genre holds zero appeal for you. It seems mostly that this particular movie is an issue for you. For the record, there's are a lot of people that agree that this movie went too far in one direction or the other. I'd agree that it has an uneven tone. On one hand it's wildly violent and has a couple of set pieces that really work and are very entertaining.. on the other the scene of the mother that you reference, and the scene of the mob doing something truly awful seem out of place in that context (I'm trying to avoid specifics so as not to be too spoilers). I had some issues with it too, but I also found that it was technically well made and the sequences that held a great deal of entertainment value were enough to distract from the other elements that felt wrong. Style and artistic flourishes can go a long way to making something that could be horrific and off-putting really fun and engaging (like Sleepy Hollow or, I'm guessing, Brotherhood of the Wolf...). There are a lot of inherent social implications in horror at large, but I don't think it inherently means that you go to a movie to have your worst thoughts confirmed so you can leave the theater as cynical and depressed as you went in. At least not always... or even usually. Certainly, for some people the more unpleasant and upsetting a horror movie is the better it is at doing its job. That's never bene my main goal, and I don't think it really holds true for most audiences. Many of the best horror stories that resonate the most have a character that stands up to the monster, whatever form that may take, and is better for it. And even in an upsetting story where awful things happen, that doesn't necessarily mean that the whole thing takes an overall hateful view of humanity. I'm not sure if you have any interest, but Mike Flannagan's Midnight Mass series for Netflix is a really challenging and in some ways grim story, but he's a real humanist and always seems to use horror as a way to sort of celebrate the humanity are extremely flawed, and real, people. This series is that idea in probably the purest and most pointed form he's done yet. But tone and balance are obviously the isseue you're taking with Halloween Kills, and while overall I had kind of a good time watching this movie go way over the top but still be somewhat grounded, I totally see how off putting that could be for some. I thought the last movie did it a little bit better, and the sort of confused messaging here does hinder it a bit (it was made almost 2 years ago and was delayed from last October, and the whole idea of what the mob mentality and rioting means plays very differently now... although it may never have been fully though out). But I also think it's worth noting what Klaw said; that this is part 2 of a new 'trilogy' and this is act 2. The last movie did feel more complete, but if you think of the 2nd act of a slasher or horror movie, all the terrible stuff has to happen in the middle before the 3rd act can show how the good can triumph in the face of the threat. It's fair to say that this movie suffers for it, certainly, but I think it's also fair to look at it as simply part of the story before the part that you may be more comfortable with... or maybe the next one is just as distasteful... We'll see. The last movie was very much Laurie's movie, and a real showcase for Jamie Lee Curtis... This movie was Michael Meyers' movie (or this more Jason Voorhees version of Michael Meyers), and that can be pretty uncomfortable at times. They've already said that the last one will be more about character and tying things up... but who knows? I also just recently watched a movie called The Voices with Ryan Reynolds. It had some of the same issues in a totally different way. On the surface it's a comedy about a pyschopath who imagines his pets talk to him and ends up killing people. He doesn't think of himself as a bad guy and really wants to be nice, but when he starts taking his meds you see how his life really is, just as he sees it for the first time, and it's truly unsettling. When he's off his meds it's a darkly comedic, sunny tone where his dog, cat, and some severed heads have pleasant conversations with him. And that's pretty funny and entertaining. When you see the reality of what's happening it's genuinely unnerving in a way that this movie is not prepared to handle deftly enough to make both things work. As I said, similar problem in a different way. I too, enjoyed Freaky, but that's a straight up comedy. It uses the framework of a comedy and applies it to the framework of a slasher movie, but as much as I don't really care for this parsing out of genre and these endless discussions of what is and is not a horror movie... I think it's pretty safe to say that Freaky is a comedy before it's anything else. But you're right that that's a case where the tone was balanced very well, and it never included anything that was actually too dark to detract from the idea that it was just a goofy comedy.
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