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Post by Salzmank on Dec 4, 2021 3:43:35 GMT
Haunted, 1995, dir. Lewis Gilbert.  theravenking has recommended this woefully forgotten English ghost story a few times, and Iâm happy I finally saw it. Itâs so very good, with fine performances and gorgeous shot compositions. I canât find many examples of the shots online, but the cinematographyâparticularly the colorâis luscious throughout. (Why are so many movies nowadays literally gray? Movie after movie looks like someone sucked all the color out of them in favor of usually-ugly-as-sin grayscale.) This is probably the best example Iâve seen, not including the related Ghostwatch, of a sub-subgenre I see often in English horror movies: the haunted house story with a professional debunker as protagonist, usually with the twist that the debunker is really the ghost. Other examples, with surprisingly minute variations, are The Awakening (2011), Ghost Stories (2017), and Malevolent (2018). Here the plot, while it has many similarities with those (one scene from this was practically copied verbatim in The Awakening), kept me more on my toes; I wasnât 100% sure if the writers were doing that twist or something else. While I did figure out what was up, it didnât come off as anticlimax. A young Kate Beckinsaleâwhat can I say? She is so beautiful and charming here that you canât help falling in love with her, as Aidan Quinnâs protagonist does almost immediately. Also, I have to say, those late â20s fashions suit her perfectly. This picture depends on spookiness rather than scares, which may not be to every horror fanâs taste but certainly is to mine. Many shots here struck me as tributes to another cinematic ghost story, The Uninvited (1944): A wispy ghost Quinn sees running across the lawn, for example, closely resembles The Uninvitedâs climactic Mary Meredith. If you like The Uninvited, youâll like this. I could nitpick this (what about the fortune teller?), but I just enjoyed it enormously. It spoke to my inner romanticism, has some surprising uses of special effects, and shows off some memorable, spooky images and a stately, and well-conveyed, haunted house. Definitely recommended.
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Post by mgmarshall on Dec 4, 2021 16:40:21 GMT
 Jacob's Ladder(Taking a brief break from my Charles Bronson kick) Intensely unsettling, grotesque, hallucinatory- this is one that really gets under my skin every time I see it. It never lets up for even a moment, leaving you feeling just as trapped and terrified as Tim Robbins. No matter where Jacob goes or whom he turns to for help, his nightmare hallucinations (or are they?!) are right around the corner, bleeding through his reality and infecting every waking moment of his life. Is he dead? Is he in Hell? Is the government trying to kill him? Are the hallucinations the product of the mystery drug he was dosed with in 'Nam or are they a genuine demonic presence? I'm not telling- the less one knows about this movie going in, the better. Anchored by a phenomenal leading performance from Tim Robbins, maybe his best performance (yes, even better than Shawshank), and with strong supporting turns from Elizabeth Pena, Danny Aiello, Ving Rhames, Eriq La Salle, Pruitt Taylor Vince, and Jason Alexander. It feels real and immediate despite its surreal, hellish imagery. Far and away the best work of Adrian Lyne's career, and go figure he never made anything else remotely like it...
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Post by mgmarshall on Dec 5, 2021 0:24:05 GMT
 Halloween KillsHey, they managed to stick Laurie Strode in a hospital room for a whole movie, again! Yeah, I went to the theater to see this, and I wasn't super impressed. Halloween '18 was by no means a masterpiece, but it knew the story it wanted to tell and had a sense of narrative drive to accomplish that. This one is just kinda all over the place. The whole "survivors of Michael Myers" thing is a pretty interesting idea that the movie almost completely wastes, with the exception of Anthony Michael Hall's remarkably intense performance as Tommy Doyle. (It is nice to see Charles Cyphers, Nancy Stephens and Kyle Richards all reprising their roles from the '78 original though, even if the movie does almost nothing with them) I also like the flashbacks to '78 quite a lot. Very well done, especially the Dr. Loomis stand in. I honestly thought it was CGI, but apparently it's an actor in prosthetic makeup, which is amazing because it is just dead on. Still having trouble finding a voice actor who can do a good Donald Pleasance impression, though. Overall, it has some creative ideas, and it's very far from the worst this franchise has to offer (Looking at you, Resurrection!); but the execution is really lacking on this one. Still, who knows? This is supposed to be a (completely unnecessary) trilogy. Maybe it'll work better as a middle chapter if they're going somewhere with this...
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Post by Dramatic Look Gopher on Dec 6, 2021 5:42:32 GMT
 Duel (1971) A routine road trip becomes a fight for survival when a mild-mannered salesman is terrorized by a truck driver. Steven Spielberg's feature length debut is a well-crafted thriller that is unbearably intense at times, and is a perfect example of when something that is not shown can instill a better sense of fear than something that is shown. We never get to see the truck driver and his motive is unclear; this makes the situation even more terrifying. In fact all this ambiguity makes it seem that the truck itself has a will of its own and is totally in control of everything, rather than the driver, especially when one thinks how filthy and monstrous-looking the truck is. Dennis Weaver is perfectly cast as the salesman, and gives a believable performance that displays how a meek everyman must gradually become brave and is forced to use his wits when there's no other help available. One thing I could have done without is the character's occasional inner monologue, which is annoying. Duel became very influential in that it spawned many other "highway thrillers" that were yet to come, and could even be considered a sub-genre in itself. Movies such as The Hitcher, Breakdown, and Joy Ride definitely bear this mark.
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Post by Lebowskidoo đđ·đ on Dec 7, 2021 14:42:38 GMT
The Blade trilogy: Blade (1998), Blade II (2002) and Blade: Trinity (2004). The first two are still amazing, the third one is still just alright.    |
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Post by Salzmank on Dec 8, 2021 4:19:21 GMT
Maybe not a horror, thriller, or suspense film per se, but certainly thriller-adjacentâ The Quick and the Dead, dir. Sam Raimi, 1995.  I knew before looking that this movieâs Wikipedia page would describe it as âa revisionist Western,â and so it doesâbut this isnât a ârevisionist western,â whatever that means, at all. Iâm tempted to say it isnât even a western, but western, like Christmas, is less a genre and more a setting. The best way to describe this flick is as an O. Henry story with cowboy hats. And itâs loads of fun. Raimiâs direction is, as usual, funny, kinetic, exciting, bizarre, campy, counterintuitive, and surprising. He is one of our few great still-living directorial talents, and he should do more projects like this instead of CGI monstrosities like that inexplicable Wizard of Oz thing. The script has some good lines but also some that have the insert-joke-here quality of an uncredited Joss Whedon. The performances are uniformly good, with Sharon Stone an effective distaff version of Clint Eastwood and Gene Hackman hilariously chewing the scenery as the villain. My major criticism is that the story seems rather small-scale, especially compared with the great westernsâbut, then, whatâs so bad about a small-scale story? Whatever. Itâs still a blast to watch. Recommended. |
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Post by theravenking on Dec 8, 2021 22:51:04 GMT
Maybe not a horror, thriller, or suspense film per se, but certainly thriller-adjacentâ The Quick and the Dead, dir. Sam Raimi, 1995. I knew before looking that this movieâs Wikipedia page would describe it as âa revisionist Western,â and so it doesâbut this isnât a ârevisionist western,â whatever that means, at all. Iâm tempted to say it isnât even a western, but western, like Christmas, is less a genre and more a setting. The best way to describe this flick is as an O. Henry story with cowboy hats. And itâs loads of fun. Raimiâs direction is, as usual, funny, kinetic, exciting, bizarre, campy, counterintuitive, and surprising. He is one of our few great still-living directorial talents, and he should do more projects like this instead of CGI monstrosities like that inexplicable Wizard of Oz thing. The script has some good lines but also some that have the insert-joke-here quality of an uncredited Joss Whedon. The performances are uniformly good, with Sharon Stone an effective distaff version of Clint Eastwood and Gene Hackman hilariously chewing the scenery as the villain. My major criticism is that the story seems rather small-scale, especially compared with the great westernsâbut, then, whatâs so bad about a small-scale story? Whatever. Itâs still a blast to watch. Recommended. I remember this used to be on cable TV all the time in the late 90s, early 2000s. I often caught it when flipping through the channels. I don't think I ever watched the entire thing from beginning to end, only bits and pieces of it. Maybe it's time that I did.
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Post by politicidal on Dec 9, 2021 1:43:30 GMT
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Post by gspdude on Dec 9, 2021 14:00:36 GMT
 Basement Jack(2009) Insane serial killer, plenty of kills, cute protagonist, one nude scene, short on logic(even by slasher standards). 3.5/10 |
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Post by Anonymous Andy on Dec 9, 2021 18:37:05 GMT
 Duel (1971) A routine road trip becomes a fight for survival when a mild-mannered salesman is terrorized by a truck driver. Steven Spielberg's feature length debut is a well-crafted thriller that is unbearably intense at times, and is a perfect example of when something that is not shown can instill a better sense of fear than something that is shown. We never get to see the truck driver and his motive is unclear; this makes the situation even more terrifying. In fact all this ambiguity makes it seem that the truck itself has a will of its own and is totally in control of everything, rather than the driver, especially when one thinks how filthy and monstrous-looking the truck is. Dennis Weaver is perfectly cast as the salesman, and gives a believable performance that displays how a meek everyman must gradually become brave and is forced to use his wits when there's no other help available. One thing I could have done without is the character's occasional inner monologue, which is annoying. Duel became very influential in that it spawned many other "highway thrillers" that were yet to come, and could even be considered a sub-genre in itself. Movies such as The Hitcher, Breakdown, and Joy Ride definitely bear this mark. How have I never seen this poster before? Love it! |
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Post by Anonymous Andy on Dec 9, 2021 18:37:55 GMT
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Post by Anonymous Andy on Dec 9, 2021 18:41:29 GMT
 (The Fifth Cord) Like all good gialli, this one improved greatly on a second viewing. Nero is scummy and unlikable as our lead, but you also feel for him and how pathetic he is. Very well directed with exquisite cinematography by the guy who also shot Apocalypse Now. Lots of eye candy on hand (it's mostly buildings and architecture, you perverts) as well as a sleepy Morricone score. The plot is secondary. 8/10 |
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Post by Dramatic Look Gopher on Dec 10, 2021 2:10:56 GMT
Duel (1971) A routine road trip becomes a fight for survival when a mild-mannered salesman is terrorized by a truck driver. Steven Spielberg's feature length debut is a well-crafted thriller that is unbearably intense at times, and is a perfect example of when something that is not shown can instill a better sense of fear than something that is shown. We never get to see the truck driver and his motive is unclear; this makes the situation even more terrifying. In fact all this ambiguity makes it seem that the truck itself has a will of its own and is totally in control of everything, rather than the driver, especially when one thinks how filthy and monstrous-looking the truck is. Dennis Weaver is perfectly cast as the salesman, and gives a believable performance that displays how a meek everyman must gradually become brave and is forced to use his wits when there's no other help available. One thing I could have done without is the character's occasional inner monologue, which is annoying. Duel became very influential in that it spawned many other "highway thrillers" that were yet to come, and could even be considered a sub-genre in itself. Movies such as The Hitcher, Breakdown, and Joy Ride definitely bear this mark. How have I never seen this poster before? Love it! Yeah I think it's pretty cool. Found it on Google Images.
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Post by lostinlimbo on Dec 10, 2021 3:02:52 GMT
 Rogue (2007) Hadnât seen this one since I saw it when it was released at cinemas. Decent nature run amok horror in-spite of the basic, and down-trodden set-up. Since it was going by the book, I just wish it didnât play it as safe for certain shock moments. Especially coming from the director of âWolf Creekâ. Characters are predictably one-note, although Radha Mitchell is likeable enough. While the CGI croc isnât the best, it does work better when we see less of it. By the end, it throws caution to the wind by going for an over-the-top spectacle. Entertaining, but the impact is more ridiculous than intense.
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Post by gspdude on Dec 10, 2021 13:18:13 GMT
 With a Kiss I Die(2018) Shakespear's Juliette inspiration is a Vampire living in modern day Greece and falls in love with an American girl. Interesting, if farfetched, idea. More romance than horror, but enough vampire stuff to hold my interest. And Juliette is cute. 5.5/10. |
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Post by Dramatic Look Gopher on Dec 11, 2021 4:39:06 GMT
 Devil Times Five (1974) After five mentally-unbalanced children survive a van accident (they were either to be taken to a mental hospital or taken from there), they invade a posh lodge and start killing the adults one by one. So-so horror movie. It's often dull, illogical, and short on elaboration. The kids didn't exactly come across as intimidating or menacing. Also it would have been nice to get some background on them, but, again, this is due to lack of elaboration. On the positive side, the adult characters are interesting and there are good performances from familiar veterans Gene Evans and Sorrell Booke. Some of the murder sequences are quite grisly, with the standout scene being death by piranha in a bath tub. I guess I'm not really a big fan of horror movies involving homicidal children. Many of the ones I've seen I just didn't like much, with the exception of The Other. And one of these days I need to check out Village Of The Damned.
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Post by gspdude on Dec 11, 2021 13:04:55 GMT
 Not of This Earth(1957) Low budget, B&W, SciFi Roger Corman movie. An alien, who can kill with his eyes, has come to earth to get human blood, which his species needs to survive. He also plans to destroy the earth, which seems counter productive, unless I missed a part of his devious plan. He also has a weird flying creature to help with his killing. The cast plays it straight enough to make it almost credible. Retro and Beverly Garland fans should enjoy. 5.5/10. |
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Post by Salzmank on Dec 12, 2021 5:23:56 GMT
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale, 2010, dir. Jalmari Helander.  I liked this. But I wish I liked it more. The premise is fiercely original. The first half is unnerving, with its Arctic expanses and careful, clever buildup: It mostly eschews expected jump scares in favor of disturbing atmosphere. The twist took me by surprise. Child actor Onni Tommilaâs performance as the hero is excellent throughout. But the ending hurts this movie so much. After loads of effectively creepy buildup, writer-director Helander ends on a joke, as if to say the whole movie was just a shaggy dog story. I donât fault Helander for a happy ending (I like happy endings and think modern scary movies donât have enough of them), but I do fault him for that happy endingâs tonal whiplash. As scary and fun as this movie is, I ultimately found it a bit disappointing, even hollow. Dare I say I prefer its Americanized cousin Krampus (2015), which is less subtle and less original but better executed and far more tonally cohesive?
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Post by gspdude on Dec 12, 2021 13:40:05 GMT
 Not of This Earth (1988) Roger Corman remakes his own movie 31 years later. This one's in color and there is some gratuitous nudity thrown in, other than that, the plot and dialogue are almost identical. Traci Lords has Beverly Garland's role. Beverly was the better actress, Traci had the better swim suit. I'll give the 1st one a slight edge for originality. 5/10. |
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Post by theravenking on Dec 12, 2021 16:55:40 GMT
The Legend Of Hell House (1973; John Hough) - This must be one of the least christmassy movies set during the festive season. A group of 4 experts are hired to investigate the haunting of a creepy old English manor, the Belasco House, during the days leading up to Christmas. Okay technically only 3 of them are experts, there's also Gayle Hunicutt as the attractive wife of Clive Revill's psychic investigator, Dr. Lionel Barrett. But I don't think many people would complain about her presence. It's a well-acted movie with Roddy McDowall particularly excellent as an emotionally scarred man who has visited and survived the evil house before. This lacks the sheer horror and ingenuity of Kubrick's Shining and the subtle elegance of The Changeling, relying mostly on well-known horror tropes even though there's some fine cinematography on display. However for at least two thirds of its running time it's quite effective, before it culminates in a rather disappointing finale with the ending feeling like a huge cop-out. Now I haven't read the novel by Richard Matheson this was based on, but the book might've had a more satisfying conclusion. As for the Christmas setting: According to old German folklore people were advised not to leave their homes in the last 2 weeks of the year, since this was the time when evil spirits would roam the earth. 6/10
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