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Post by politicidal on Oct 26, 2021 21:53:14 GMT
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Post by theravenking on Oct 27, 2021 12:05:20 GMT
October Horror Challenge - Day 23: 37. The Bloodstained Shadow (1978; Antonio Bido) - Antonio Bido is certainly one of the lesser names in Italian genre cinema. He has only two gialli among his credits of which this is the second. The previous Watch Me When I Kill was unique because of its Holocaust thematic. Shadow is perhaps more coventional. What the films have in common is a classic thriller approach which is less interested in blood and gore than suspense and telling a solid whodunit. The killing of a young woman throws its shadows over a tight-knit community in the Venetian suburbs. As a child the protagonist Stefano (Lino Capolicchio), now a professor of mathematics, was witness to the murder, but cannot remember the face of the killer. He returns to his hometown to visit his brother Paolo (Craig Hill) a catholic priest, who in turn one night sees how a woman is strangled to death outside his house by a hooded killer and starts receiving threatening messages from the murderer. Soon the body-count rises further and Stefano and his girlfirend Sandra (Stefania Cassini) believe that the killer wants to avenge the sins of the past. This is a very atmopsheric movie shot on the island of Murano, the aura of antiquity and decay lending it an atmosphere not unlike Nicolas Roeg's classic Don't Look Now. The final twist is not quite as surprising as the one offered up by the famous Daphne Du Maurier adaptation, in fact I guessed the killer relatively early and the first half might be a bit slow-moving by horror-thriller standards, but this is still a good solid giallo with fine performances, especially Craig Hill shines as a tormented priest. Stelvio Cypriani provides an unusual idiosynchratic score which was recorded by the legendary band Goblin. So, while perhaps not a landmark giallo and rather mild in the scare department, this is still a classy traditional thriller. 7/10
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Post by theravenking on Oct 27, 2021 13:23:59 GMT
October Horror Challenge - Day 24: 38. Sweeney Todd (2007; Tim Burton) - I'll always be grateful to this movie for introducing me to this wonderful musical and also more generally the music of Stephen Sondheim. I just love the songs and lyrics and even bought the piano notes so I could play the music at home. Personally I found the movie to be well-cast, Depp is great fun to watch as Sweeney and Helena Bonham Carter was the perfect choice for Mrs. Lovett. For something this dark and nihilistic I also find this to be strangely uplifting. 8/10
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Post by Nalkarj on Oct 27, 2021 15:38:06 GMT
Below, 2002, dir. David Twohy. Odd flick. Hard to explain, but it doesn’t feel like a horror movie—it comes off as a regular war movie/thriller into which someone decided to add ghosts. Does that make any sense? The ghostly events aren’t bad—there’s one scare with a mirror that’s so nicely, smoothly done—but they seem somehow extraneous, as if they could be cut wholesale and the story wouldn’t be affected. It’s also confusing, which is too bad because the first half is finely written by Darren Aronofsky, Lucas Sussman, and director Twohy. I kept comparing it with a submarine movie I recently saw, Ice Station Zebra, in which the screenwriters feel the need to explain every detail of how submarines work. Here we don’t get much spoken exposition, but we feel that these people know how submarines work and we learn along the way. That material is very good, but when the ghosts start up the confusion starts up. It’s not a bad movie. Bruce Greenwood is always good, and he’s good here; every performance is strong, in fact, and convincingly ’40s. (I kept expecting, though, a twist that the crew were ghosts and the movie was actually set in modern day.) But the movie should have been a war thriller. __________________________________________________ By the way, theravenking—you’re not only a mystery fan but also a Sondheim fan? What are we, the same person?
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Post by gspdude on Oct 28, 2021 12:46:04 GMT
Daughters of Darkness(1971). Countess Elizabeth Báthory (I think we all know her story) meets a young married couple and decides to make them her playthings. Watched this on an old VHS I got from Sinister Cinema many years ago. A better media might improve my rating. 6.5/10.
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Post by politicidal on Oct 28, 2021 14:24:43 GMT
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Post by gspdude on Oct 28, 2021 19:38:36 GMT
Cave of the Living Dead(1964) aka Night of the Vampires. Stumbled across this B&W Euro horror on YT while looking for something else. An Inspector goes to an isolated village to investigate a number of deaths that the locals are attributing to Vampires. Certainly not one of the better vampire movies I've seen, but the visual quality was surprisingly good and I was pleased to see a 60s horror that I had not seen or even heard of. 5/10
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Post by theravenking on Oct 28, 2021 20:10:11 GMT
39. The Shining (1980; Stanley Kubrick) - Now, here's my thing: I'm neither a Kubrick nor a King fan. I haven't read the book, don't think I ever will, I'm perfectly happy with just appreciating the movie for what it is. This still has one of the most effective openings I've ever seen putting you in the mood of witnessing something truly horrifying. The camerawork and the music of Dies Irae makes one feel that you are watching a descent into hell. And then there is the look on Jack's face, already seeming a bit unhinged, losing his touch with reality. And the infamous steadycam sequence still gives me the shivers. It's not all doom and gloom though. There are some who claim Kubrick wanted to make a black comedy and there are hints of that. I always found the naked old hag chasing Jack in room 237 to be quite comical and there is something about Nicholson's manic performance that is downright hilarious in its own way. But for those saying it's not scary: Could there be anything scarier than the fear of losing your mind? The fear of hurting those who are closest to you? It's actually pondering these themes that makes The Shining a terrifying experience. 8/10
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Post by theravenking on Oct 28, 2021 20:37:21 GMT
October Horror Challenge - Day 25 40. Doctor Sleep (2019; Mike Flanagan) - I had seen two of Mike Flanagan's earlier films, Before I Wake and Ouija 2 and thought they were solid but nothing special. Than I tried watching The Haunting Of Hill House and gave up quite early. It was moving at such a glacial pace that I lost interest very quickly. This might explain why I waited so long to watch Doctor Sleep and why I opted for the shorter theatrical version instead of the Director's Cut. For long stretches this feels more like sidequel than a sequel. Even though Danny Torrance is the protagonist, I felt he wasn't optimally used. Had this focused on Danny overcoming his childhood trauma it might've actually worked, instead it feels like two or even three movies in one. We get the young girl who too has the gift of Shining whose scenes seem to belong to an X-Men-like superhero story. It's not quite clear why she would need Danny at all, being so strong and competent on her own. And then there are the antagonists, a bunch of evil hillbillies who steal people's souls. Which sounds about as silly as it is. I mean, I like Rebecca Ferguson, she's a sweet lady and a fine actress but about as scary as the Cat in the Hat. McGregor is very good delivering a mature, un-showy performance up until the end that is when he is forced to step into his daddies' shoes. Here he fails to radiate any sort of menace, not surprising considering that very few actors could compete with a mad Jack Nicholson. From the replacements Carl Lumbly makes for an excellent surrogate for Scatman Crothers, Henry Thomas on the other hand just feels off playing Jack Torrance. This is a competently directed movie, but when it comes to the scares Doctor Sleeps fails to deliver. The last act with the return to the Overlook feels like pure fan service, a lame copy of the original, which fails to add anything new. The Shining sequence in Ready Player One was more fun to watch. Generally speaking the new ideas here are not strong enough to stand on their own, while the recycling of the old ones comes over as lame. Actually the parts I liked the most were the calm dramatic moments like Danny's conversations with the dying patients at the hospital. With better villains, less slavish devotion to the original and a stronger focus on the protagonist's personal struggle this might've been good. As it is, it's a bit of a mess. 5.5/10
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Post by gspdude on Oct 29, 2021 12:01:46 GMT
Kiss of the Damned(2012). An erotic vampire movie in which a vampire who is trying to survive on a diet of animal and synthetic blood must deal with her wild and amoral sister who is still preying on humans. Riley Keough has a small role as a young victim. 7/10.
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Oct 29, 2021 22:03:15 GMT
Oculus (2013).
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Oct 30, 2021 7:15:46 GMT
House of 1000 Corpses (2003) - 10/10 One of my favorite horror films.
31 (2016) - 8/10 A Rob Zombie Halloween film much better than his other two Halloween films.
House on Haunted Hill (1959) - 7/10 Fun 50s horror.
Don't Breathe 2 (2021) - 6/10 I actually liked this more than the first one.
Hell Is Where the Home Is (2018) - 6/10 Solid home invasion thriller.
Bowery at Midnight (1942) - 5/10 Just an OK Bela Lugosi thriller.
Cruel Peter (2019) - 1/10 I hated this movie. I hate to see animal torture in movies even if it is fake. Plus its very boring.
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on Oct 30, 2021 11:07:54 GMT
The Dare (2019)
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Post by gspdude on Oct 30, 2021 11:43:28 GMT
Crypt of the Vampire (1964)aka Terror in the Crypt, aka Castle of the Living dead. Started watching Terror in the Crypt as what I thought was a FTV, turned out I had seen it before as one of it's other names. No matter! Christopher Lee in a moody, atmospheric B&W horror from the 60s is always worth a watch. 6/10.
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Post by theravenking on Oct 30, 2021 15:14:48 GMT
October Horror Challenge - Day 26 41. Lake Mungo (2008; Joel Anderson) - Last time I watched this movie was for last year's challenge. I have to say I only chose it this time, because it's so damn short with only 81 minutes - it was already late, I was tired, I wanted to cram in a quick movie for the day. This is a film that asks you to really pay attention. It packs a lot of plot into its short running time, particularly the second half bursting with twists. And yet somehow it never feels rushed or suffering from its own over-complexity. In a small Australian town a teenage girl, Alice Palmer has disappeared. They soon find her dead body, but her ghost seems to be returning to haunt her family. This is like the condensed Australian version of Twin Peaks. Or as the tagline for the series Banshee ran: Small town, big secrets. Many people have something to hide, they keep lying to each other. The fact that the movie mostly consists of interviews with talking heads might turn some off. There's also some grainy news footage, but thankfully almost no shaky-cam. The scares are very subtle, sometimes vague ghostly shapes appear on photographs or one can make out something weird in the background on low quality video footage. It's a slow-burn that relies heavily on atmosphere. Director Joel Anderson (shocking that he still haven't made a follow-up movie to this excellent debut) manages to create both, a sense of grounded reality as well as a place where more mysterious supernatural forces could intrude any time. A subtle little gem of a movie, one recommended for people who usually don't watch found-footage films. 7.5/10
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Post by theravenking on Oct 30, 2021 16:00:36 GMT
October Horror Challenge - Day 27 42. Don't Look Now (1973; Nicolas Roeg) Beware of the dwarf! 8/10
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Post by gspdude on Oct 31, 2021 1:09:57 GMT
Exists(2014) A group of not very likable young adults staying at a cabin in the woods get on the wrong side of Bigfoot. Shaky hand held camera doesn't help. 3/10.
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Oct 31, 2021 2:58:06 GMT
The Final Destination (2009).
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Post by Nalkarj on Oct 31, 2021 4:00:33 GMT
Believe it or not, despite my calling myself a fan of director Sam Raimi I’d never seen The Evil Dead (1981) before because I figured it’d be a gorefest. And it is. But I kinda liked it anyway. Raimi’s script is full of clichés, probably on purpose, but his direction is stunning—clever, surprising, funny. The oodles of gore are at least creative and intriguing; the makeups are beautifully imaginative. Bruce Campbell is Bruce Campbell, here in the role that made him famous. The giggling, demonically possessed girlfriend is genuinely creepy. And the first half has some good atmosphere-building, as I should have expected from a stylist like Raimi. I’m not sure I’d see the movie again, but I’m happy I saw it once.
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Post by theravenking on Oct 31, 2021 14:09:17 GMT
October Horror Challenge - Day 28 43. Pitch Black (2000; David Twohy) - The first 20-30 minutes of Pitch Black are so bad, that it's a wonder the movie ever recovers from its inane opening. After what feels like the longest and dullest spaceship crash-landing in movie history the film does improve slightly and this is not necessarily the merit of blind serial killer Richard B. Riddick (Vin Diesel in what must still be his best role), even though Riddick is a fun character to watch. But it's the mysterious planet itself and most of all the fascinating carnivorous creatures inhabiting it which were designed by Nick Tatopoulos that make Pitch Black one of the few Alien rip-offs that can stand on its own. 6.5/10
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