The last horror, thriller or suspense film you watched

What was that one where Lugosi goes into a trance and strangles people with a coat or a dressing gown or something like that? Invisible Ghost? I remember that one being kinda boring but watchable.

EEGAH

Make some popcorn, park your inner critic at the door and don't worry about the 2 hrs and 32 minutes (plus commercials) you'll never get back. Makes the acting in Plan Nine look Oscar worthy plus there are three musical interludes to try to distract you from the rest of the movie.

(1934)

2/10
I watched this whole thing and really did not get what this was even about. Something about a haunted skating rink.

I had recently watched this too. Hoping that it was better than my initial memory. Sadly, it wasn’t the case. A couple moments work, but yeah, largely unfunny. Somewhat drags in spots, and a few gags get repetitive real quick. I don’t mind Neilson here, but I think I might’ve preferred him playing it straight-face instead being in on the gags too. 

I found this one a little on the dry side favouring an investigative mystery set-up, but did have striking visuals and a couple unique ideas. Especially involving the vampires’ connection to the town’s light source when they kill. 

Saw In the Mouth of Madness (1995, dir. John Carpenter) on Saturday.



Carpenter always baffles me: How could the same director helm a movie as good as The Thing and as bad as Prince of Darkness? Good and bad are probably too vague for what I mean: The Thing looks like it was made by a master of his craft, with each shot intelligent and surprising, each character delineated and each actor bringing his A game, and each scare terrifying. Prince of Darkness, only five years later, looks like it was made by someone who just learned how a camera works. No kidding, some of the movies my classmates and I made in high-school film class looked more professional.

Nor is it a budget thing: Halloween had a tenth of Prince of Darkness’s budget and is ten times better.

Unfortunately, In the Mouth of Madness is closer to Prince of Darkness than to The Thing. It’s just kind of an unpleasant, unscary mess. The idea is strong, the beginning is intriguing, but Carpenter doesn’t seem to have any interest in going anywhere with this story. We just get random scenes that don’t even fit the movie’s theme:

The lack of scares is, again, pretty astounding coming from the guy who directed Halloween and The Thing. The most laughable part: A sweet old woman keeps her husband chained to her leg. It’s played for a shock, complete with jump-scare music chord, but it’s about as scary as it sounds.

So much goes wrong with this movie, from the muddled-ness of the plot elements (Stephen King spoof, publishing industry satire, what-is-reality, small town scares, Lovecraftian monsters, the apocalypse, American obsession with fame… Just pick something and do it well!) to Julie Carmen’s poor acting to Carpenter’s complete waste of David Warner, John Glover, and Charlton Heston to Neill’s hilarious this-is-a-con attitude even after he sees the supernatural. I really wanted to like this, but almost nothing works, and the mystery of John Carpenter carries on.

1/10
Seems like half of the people who saw this film sees it as a disturbing masterpiece and the other half sees is as a horrible waste of time. Im one who sees this as a waste. The film runs for 4 and a half hours! I admit I did forward parts of the film. Its mostly scenes of extreme torture. Its about the history of Unit 731 and the Chinese prisoners of war that were experimented on. Its just pure exploitation at its worst.

The first of many Amicus anthologies. Well paced with a game cast (young Donald Sutherland!) and a lovely widescreen technicolor presentation. A bit tame compared to later Amicus productions and some of the effects work is downright laughable, but a good time nevertheless.

7/10