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Post by gspdude on Oct 9, 2022 12:48:45 GMT
The Witches of Eastwick(1987) A bit silly at times, but well acted by a good cast. 6/10. It! The Terror from Beyond Space(1958). Have seen this low budget, rubber monster movie many times and always enjoy it. 8/10.
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Post by gspdude on Oct 10, 2022 1:10:55 GMT
Vampire(2011) Young man with a taste for blood meets suicidal women on line to satisfy his needs. A bit slow moving, the "Vampire" has no charisma, and the ending was confusing, but overall it was interesting, different, and worth a watch. 6/10.
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soggy
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Post by soggy on Oct 10, 2022 3:31:10 GMT
Viy (Konstantin Ershov and Georgiy Kropachyov, 1967) This is such an odd little film. A young philosopher raised in the church goes to perform a ceremony where he will pray three nights for the soul of a recently departed woman, but the woman is a witch. He must make a circle each night to protect himself, and of course each night things get worse. It's an odd film because it's so tonally… off. It seems a comedy most of the time, and a very silly one, but then we get some absolutly stunning visuals of horror. It's kind of fascinating honestly. According to IMDb this is the first horror film made in the Soviet Union, so there's certainly some historic importance as well. 8/10
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Post by theravenking on Oct 10, 2022 11:20:22 GMT
A Bay Of Blood (1971, Mario Bava) So, this is the movie that started it all: the gratuitous killings, gory dismemberments, bloody murders with a group of characters getting butchered by a bloodthristy maniac in a closed location. Although it must be said, that the film is different from the usual slasher film, since neither is there a supernatural menace of the Jason or Michael Myers variety, nor is it a whodunit like Scream. In fact it's more of a dark comedy about human's destructive effect on nature. The violence on display is well-staged with convincing make-up effects, a guy gets a hatchet buried in his face almost ripping his skull in two, a couple making love is killed with a spear going through both their bodies (!), for an ultra low buget flick it looks all pretty good. Sadly all characters are so boring and unlikeable, that there's no one to root for and even the macabre ending felt rather ineffective to me. Reportedly Dario Argento loved the movie so much, that he stole a print from a movie theatre where it was playing, which he has kept to this day. 5/10
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Oct 10, 2022 14:48:47 GMT
Well, the challenge itself is done and over with, but of course, I will not stop watching horror related movies anytime soon. However, I really need a change of pace and quality, as the last couple of days, have really taken its toll on my motivation and mood. Just wished that I have planned a bit better, as something as awful and boring as Mind Killer (1987), did not deserve to be the one that got me to the 31 film goal, but at least now I can kind of "ease" it down a bit, and try to pick out a few more carefully titles, instead of just wasting time on far too many horrible First Time Views.
Anyway, I am a bit behind, and have not had either much time or interest on spending to much time writing down most of the recent seen films, over the last two days. Did not help either, that the last couple of films, have been anything but "great" entertainment value.
26. From Hell (2001) by The Hughes Brothers
Decided to give it another go, as I usually have liked the horror related films Depp did during the late 90s and into the mid 00s. But somehow From Hell never quite lives up to the potential it has going. I like the atmosphere and setting, but the two main leads in Johnny Depp and Heather Graham, looks just far too clean and pretty, compared to the rest of the cast, and I never tought they had much chemistry between them either. However, the trio of Robbie Coltrane, Ian Holm and Jason Flemyng, they came out much better in it all.
Also would have enjoyed more focus about the mystery and detective work, rather than the vulgar and gory stuff, but all in all no change in how I rated it.
6/10
October Horror Challenge - 2022 - Day 09:
27. Graduation Day (1981) by Herb Freed
Bottom of the barrell b-slasher, which only is "saved" from an even lesser rating, due to the always reliable Christopher George and Linnea Quigley, who surely shows off her goodies a few times, but the rest of the "plot" is pretty much a very slow moving, annyoing bunch of assholes, getting killed in rather lame ways.
3/10
28. Don’t Panic (1988) by Rubén Galindo Jr.
Supernatural slasher, set in New Mexico City, where the main lead runs around at night, in hilarious looking clothing, while having visions of people being killed, and while surely not a great one, it did come with a certain b-movie charm, and it never got boring.
5/10
29. Biohazard (1985) by Fred Olen Ray
Typical low budget sci-fi/monster film by Olen Ray. Some ridiculous cheap looking rubber-monster, is having a go at people in dark basements, while the usual stiff and boring "actors" try to make it a bit more interesting, but at least we got some funny scenes, here and there, the runtime is only clocking in about 70 minutes, with I guess, 10 minutes of "left overs" set in the end credits. Also a big titted blond female, then yeah, as often, these films by the director, starts and ends up rather enjoyable, but somewhere in, it always go into a slow moving and sleepy "plot", and I had to "fight" to keep myself awake a few times, and I kind of wish he would have handed the director part, over to someone like Jim Wynorski, as maybe things have might gone down a bit smoother.
4/10
30. The Prophecy (1995) by Gregory Widen
Another re-watch, and should probably have written a bit more, but yeah, seen it before, comes with a very good casting gallery, Walken does his usual eccentric villainous part, but it is really Viggo Mortensen and Elias Koteas I thought "stole" the show here, while I wished Eric Stoltz would have a bit more time as well. All in all, I always want to like it way more, but cannot seem to get any higher up than a:
6/10
October Horror Challenge - 2022 - Day 10:
31. Mind Killer (1987) by Michael Krueger
A pile of utter crap, that I could not sit still while it was on, had to move around the apartment, as it was just torture, every second felt like a minute, and while maybe not "worst movie of all time" contender, it is surely the worst I have seen up til now.
2/10
32. Dark Universe (1993) by Steve Latshaw and Grant Austin Waldman
Well, I gotta say, by this time, I had at least one more film in the planning, but all that fell to pieces, when I got hit with yet another impulsive failure, and this time I might have fallen to sleep, 3-4 times, but somehow this piece of "art" brought me back, and not sure how much I "lost", but at least Joe Estevez always puts a smile on my face, and that alone, makes it not as horrible as the one I saw earlier.
3/10
Well, I can only blame myself, and my god awful picks out of what Youtube has offering, of full length horror films.
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soggy
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Post by soggy on Oct 11, 2022 2:21:13 GMT
Horror Express (Eugenio Martín, 1972) Wonderful old Christopher Lee/Peter Cushing film that I hadn't seen. It's pretty much The Thing on a train. Not quite as suspencful as the other film, but a good little horror movie that I had somehow missed out on.7/10
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Post by theravenking on Oct 11, 2022 10:53:32 GMT
Visitors (2003; Richard Franklin) Visitors is the story of Georgia Perry (Radha Mitchell), a young Australian woman, who is determined to sail solo around the world. Only her ginger cat is keeping her company on the journey. After weeks on open water Georgia begins suffering from hallucinations seeing visions of her dead relatives and the boat getting besieged by large spiders. The movie utilises a quite annoying flashback structure by cutting back and forth between Georgia's past and her current journey making the ride a rather confusing one. Setting and story recall the likes of Dead Calm or the Robert Redford starring All Is Lost, but Visitors suffers from a poor screenplay written by genre veteran Everett De Roche ( Long Weekend) which keeps introducing so many imaginary perils that the movie becomes almost incomprehensible as it goes on. Radha Mitchell is excellent as the lead and has some fine support from her feline co-star, but even the combined efforts of an attractive blonde and a cute cat can't overcome the screenplay's failings. This was director Richard Franklin's ( Psycho II) last movie and one wishes he would've chosen a better project as his swansong. 4/10
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Oct 11, 2022 13:16:57 GMT
33. Grizzly (1976) by William Girdler "Bears don't eat people!" Just as the busy tourist season is about to end, all of a sudden, a giant maneating killer bear decides to re-open the "business", causing mayhem and leaving bloody bodies all over the place. This of course, does not only got the medias attention but a small army of trigger happy hunter are soon ready to kill everything that moves, while making things even harder for the park rangers to get control of the situation.Not long after the giant success with Jaws (1975), I guess a very hungry for that kind of similar creature feature/nature strikes back entertainment, lay the foundation for a whole bunch of cheaper made rip-offs, and where Grizzly I guess got brought up as: "Jaws with paws" or "Jaws on land", and sure, Grizzly is a whole lot of Jaws in terms of characters and plot, along with a ridiculous large bear, something close to 18 feet tall (or maybe more?). Then we have a trio of likeable people, who tries to figure this mankilling "machine" out, all while the typical greedy "politician" clichee, is more worried about the national park and its reputation, which might be damaged goods, due to all the negative media involving people getting killed. Anyway, I have seen it a few times, always liked it, specially due to the performances by Christopher George in the lead, also all the lovely nature scenes, and that the film actually had quite some big balls, as it does not take any prisoners, even small kids is being torn apart (literally), and loved the adventurous score, and sure, later on, the film might head into a bit too cheesy situations, but hell, I thought it worked well for this kind of entertainment. Greed, animals and nature attack and yeah, Girdler would team up with Christopher George in another similar themed release, with Day of the Animals, where George plays a rather close character to the one he does in Grizzly, all while a much less "funny" Leslie Nielsen, comes off as a giant asshole, but a rather tough one, as he goes hand-to-hand in combat with a big bear. Also the film sure makes great use of its explosive final, and as the bullets seems to do no harm, what the hell should the hero do next? Oh yeah, he brings forward a bit more lethal artillery, and it all makes for such a ridiculous sight, and I almost expected the bear to suddenly burst back, and say something like Manny Fraker from Death Wish 3: "BULLETPROOF ASSHOLE!"All in all, not a great film by any means, but still very enjoyable, and surely among the better Jaws rip-offs of that era. 6/10October Horror Challenge - 2022 - Day 11: 34. Frankenstein Unbound (1990) by Roger Corman Had this on my to-watch-list for quite a while, and thought it opened up rather interesting, with a science from the future, who suddenly ends up getting caught into a timeslip, and then is transported back to the 18th century, where none other than Baron Von Frankenstein and his notorius creature, is causing all kind of trouble. Was quite surprised to see all the talents involved in this Corman production, as you got John Hurt, Raul Julia, Bridget Fonda, Jason Patric and Michael Hutchence, and while it might not have completely won me over, as things kind of "fell down" a bit within the later part, however I did enjoy it far more, than the probably more famous Hollywood remake, 4 years later on. 5,5/10 35. The Godsend (1980) by Gabrielle Beaumont A family is suddenly visited by a mysterious and very pregnant women (the daughter of Donald Pleasence), and when she has her baby, the mother suddenly disappears, all while the family decides to bring in and take care of the newborn girl. However, soon, several tragic and too close deaths of the older kids, are happening, and the father starts to believe this might lead back to his own daughter. One of several The Omen/Devil's Child type of supernatural horror films, and it was released along with What's The Matter With Helen, The Vagrant and The Outing aka The Lamp, in a 4 movie all night marathon from Scream Factory, back in 2013. Not seen it for a very long time, but no change in my rating, as these kind of movies rarely do much for me, and well, not bad, just kind of boring: 4/10
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soggy
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Post by soggy on Oct 11, 2022 16:32:05 GMT
Frightmare (Norman Thaddeus Vane, 1983) A glorious slice of 80s cheese. After the death of a classic film horror actor, a college Horror Film Society decides to steal his body for a party. Resurrection ensues. This movie is so much fun and downright hilarious at times. Silly fun. 6/10
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Post by teleadm on Oct 11, 2022 17:28:51 GMT
The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch aka Hebi musume to hakuhatsuma 1968 directed by Noriaki Yuasa (who directed a lot of Gamera movies). Japanese Horror Fantasy based on a Comic or Manga (I'm not sure what could be correct) Don't read the synopsis on our old site, I thought it was very misleading. After a long stay in a children's home, Sayuri returns to her parents where she finds that she has an older sister Tamami, who immediately treats her with disdain. Sharing a bed with Tamami, Sayuri finds reptile scales on the sheets, and comes to believe that her sister is a snake. Is she evil or under a spell, that's where the silver-haired witch comes in. It's fairly interesting to watch, and thankfully short and subtitled, and keeps the interest up. Special effects are old-style, and uses some spinning kaleidoscopic effects too. Worth a look if you can spare the time.
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Post by gspdude on Oct 11, 2022 18:34:03 GMT
Survival of the Dead(2009). Zombie apocalypse movie directed by George Romero. Loose sequel to Diary of the Dead(2007) which I saw earlier in the Challenge. Zombies on the prowl amid battling factions of human survivors. Ample gore and some interesting kills. 5½/10.
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soggy
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Post by soggy on Oct 11, 2022 19:05:34 GMT
Trauma (Dario Argento, 1993) It's not great Argento, but it's not as bad as a lot of his later career movies. The weapon the killer uses is creative, but honestly other than the classic gloved killer aspect, I would never have thought it an Argento film if I didn't know. It's not as stylish as his usual work. Better than its reputation, but not the classic a lot of his films are. 6/10
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Oct 12, 2022 2:06:27 GMT
- 7/10 - 8/10 - 8/10
- 7/10 - 7/10 - 10/10 - 3/10
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Oct 12, 2022 2:16:55 GMT
4/10
I had hopes for this one. The first half is actually pretty good. It had a nice set up and middle, but the end gets so dumb and disappointing that it ruins the whole film. 3/10Eh. At least the first film had a nice set up. This one has less. At least its short. Only 74 min. Oddly enough one character is played by the bailiff on Judge Judy.
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Post by theravenking on Oct 12, 2022 9:33:47 GMT
Die! Die! My Darling! (1965; Silvio Narizzano)
Originally titled Fanatic in the UK, this was Talulah Bankhead's final feature film. An American woman, Patricia Carroll (Stefanie Powers), arrives in London to marry her lover Alan Glentower (Maurice Kaufmann). Before tying the knot, however, Patricia pays a visit to Mrs. Trefoile (Talulah Bankhead), the mother of her deceased fiancé Stephen, who died in an automobile accident several years earlier. Trefoile resides in a secluded house on the edge of an English village. She is fanatically religious, and it soon becomes apparent that she blames Patricia for her son's death. Indeed, when Patricia reveals to her that she never actually intended to marry Stephen, Trefoile enlists the aid of her servants in holding Patricia captive so she can exorcise the young woman's soul. I didn't know what to expect from this film which was part of a Hammer box-set I had bought, the title suggesting, that it might be similar to Paranoiac or Scream Of Fear where a wealthy heiress is harassed by her relatives attempting to drive her to madness. Instead it's the tale of a religious fanatic versus a free-spirited young woman. The problem is it's all a bit simplistic and monotonous also asking you to suspend your disbelief to breaking point and further. I found neither location nor plot particularly interesting making the movie a bit of a chore to sit through. Bankhead is convincing as the mean old hag, but her character is such an obvious villain without any redeeming features, that I'm not sure what appeal the role held for her. It's easy to root for the gorgeous Stefanie Powers, who while giving a decent performance was most likely cast as eye candy. There are some prominent actors in the supporting cast with the servants played by Peter Vaughn and a young Donald Sutherland. I generally prefer my thrillers to come with some surprises, hence I found this story too basic and far-fetched. 4/10
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Post by Nalkarj on Oct 12, 2022 16:09:38 GMT
Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, 1989, dir. Dominique Othenin-Girard. Very little to say on this. This one and 6 were the only Halloweens (other than the Rob Zombie duo, which I probably won’t be watching) that I hadn’t seen. I like 4—it’s my favorite Halloween after the original, though it’s goofy rather than anywhere near scary—but this one stinks. It didn’t actively irritate me like the 2018 Halloween did, but it’s just dull. Nothing much happens, in fact: Mikey takes eons to do anything, Dr. Loomis rants and raves at a little girl as if to prove that he’s just as nuts as Mikey, and all the other “characters” only exist to be killed. And that’s that. It’s all very boring.
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soggy
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Post by soggy on Oct 12, 2022 16:14:46 GMT
X-Ray (Boaz Davidson, 1981) A killer dressed in surgical garb chases a woman through a hospital. It's overly silly as apparently she waits all day (and then later they say it's only been two hours but we clearly see afternoon and then night) for her test results without asking anyone where the doctor is until night falls. Once she speaks to a doctor, they keep her there without updating her, don't give her an option to call anyone or get her boyfriend out of the car. Also, if the 9th floor is supposed to currently be off limits, why do so many random patients roam it? Some nice kills in it though. 4/10
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soggy
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Post by soggy on Oct 12, 2022 17:41:51 GMT
Willy's Wonderland (Kevin Lewis, 2021) From the moment I saw Nick Cage beat an ostrich animatronic to death and rip out its spine, I knew I was in love with this. Cage is fantastic as a drifter who never speaks, and continues cleaning the building no matter how many animatronics come to life to kill him. Just beat them to death, have an energy drink and clean some more. Campy comedic horror greatness and I loved every minute of it. 8/10
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Post by teleadm on Oct 12, 2022 17:43:56 GMT
The Unseen 1980 directed by Danny Steinmann "A trio of female reporters find themselves staying overnight in a house occupied by a hostile being lurking in the basement" Not really a slasher, more of a strangler. Is the hostile being really the monster in this movie? I'm not giving anything in case there are some of you who haven't seen seen this movie yet, but I thought it was a bit of an anticlimax. I was not fond of this this movie myself, just OK. I liked that the victims wasn't screaming dumb teen girls, but mature young career women. The little bit of Denmark in California, Solvang, appears by name in a few scenes, I wonder if they like being associated with this kind of movie.
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Post by gspdude on Oct 13, 2022 0:32:09 GMT
Blood for Dracula (1974) aka Andy Warhol's Blood for Dracula. IMDB ID's this only as Horror, but it's actually part horror, part comedy(I think), and part soft core porn. I have no problem with any of those genres, but in this case the mixture never clicked for me. I also didn't care for Udo Kier's Dracula portrayal. 4/10.
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