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Post by Salzmank on Dec 12, 2021 17:10:49 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 always annoys me because it’s the kind of thing I like, and it has good actors (I’m a big Roddy McDowall fan) and a fine haunted house (I always get a chuckle out of that “Mount Everest of haunted houses” line), yet I don’t think it’s good at all. In fact I find it just kind of dull. And the ending, as you say, is a copout—and pretty hilarious, what with that ghostbusting machine and the ghost doing all this because he was short. Now that I think of it, this movie’s cast in Robert Wise’s The Haunting would probably be my ideal haunted house investigation movie. Or maybe just The Haunting with Julie Harris switched out for anyone at all. All that said, Gayle Hunnicutt’s beauty almost makes Hell House worth watching. 
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Post by mgmarshall on Dec 12, 2021 21:06:44 GMT
Grand PianoThis was just great. Wildly suspenseful, inventively shot, with vibrant lighting and set design, and exceptionally well-acted in what's practically a two-man show for much of its runtime. It's easily a better Dario Argento movie than anything Argento himself has made since at least the 90's. Elijah Wood remarkably sells the panic and terror his character is going through, and John Cusack is chilling and menacing in what's mostly only a vocal performance. Oh, and hey, Alex Winter is pretty good in it, too. It's nice to see him again. If I have one complaint, the very end of the movie is kind of an odd, open-ended anticlimax; but everything that preceded it was so well-crafted and tightly plotted that I didn't care in the slightest. I'm amazed I've never heard of this one in seven years, and it's well worth a watch if you haven't either.
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Post by politicidal on Dec 13, 2021 0:49:59 GMT
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Post by Salzmank on Dec 13, 2021 3:02:39 GMT
A Good Day to Die Hard, 2013, dir. John Moore  This is so relentlessly boring it makes Live Free or Die Hard look good. On a positive note, I can now say I’ve seen all the Die Hards!
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Post by mgmarshall on Dec 13, 2021 3:07:00 GMT
A Good Day to Die Hard, 2013, dir. John Moore This is so relentlessly boring it makes Live Free or Die Hard look good. On a positive note, I can now say I’ve seen all the Die Hards! Until that next sequel nobody asked for comes out... |
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Post by Dramatic Look Gopher on Dec 13, 2021 3:32:12 GMT
Grand PianoThis was just great. Wildly suspenseful, inventively shot, with vibrant lighting and set design, and exceptionally well-acted in what's practically a two-man show for much of its runtime. It's easily a better Dario Argento movie than anything Argento himself has made since at least the 90's. Elijah Wood remarkably sells the panic and terror his character is going through, and John Cusack is chilling and menacing in what's mostly only a vocal performance. Oh, and hey, Alex Winter is pretty good in it, too. It's nice to see him again. If I have one complaint, the very end of the movie is kind of an odd, open-ended anticlimax; but everything that preceded it was so well-crafted and tightly plotted that I didn't care in the slightest. I'm amazed I've never heard of this one in seven years, and it's well worth a watch if you haven't either. Never seen this, never even heard of it, but I read up on the story and it does look intriguing. I'll keep an eye out for it. Thanks for the review.
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Post by politicidal on Dec 13, 2021 5:03:31 GMT
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Post by theravenking on Dec 13, 2021 11:36:07 GMT
Grand PianoThis was just great. Wildly suspenseful, inventively shot, with vibrant lighting and set design, and exceptionally well-acted in what's practically a two-man show for much of its runtime. It's easily a better Dario Argento movie than anything Argento himself has made since at least the 90's. Elijah Wood remarkably sells the panic and terror his character is going through, and John Cusack is chilling and menacing in what's mostly only a vocal performance. Oh, and hey, Alex Winter is pretty good in it, too. It's nice to see him again. If I have one complaint, the very end of the movie is kind of an odd, open-ended anticlimax; but everything that preceded it was so well-crafted and tightly plotted that I didn't care in the slightest. I'm amazed I've never heard of this one in seven years, and it's well worth a watch if you haven't either. I may have to revisit this one, because on my first watch I thought it was lacking something. It felt a bit like an epiosde of Alfred Hitchcock Presents dragged out to feature length.
I only heard of it, because I used to be a bit of a fan of John Cusack. Interestingly it was written by Damian Chazelle who would go on to direct Whiplash and La La Land.
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Post by mgmarshall on Dec 14, 2021 0:11:30 GMT
Come to DaddyA weird little movie, the kind where I can't even say a hundred percent whether I thought it was good or bad. It certainly held my attention, and in spots made me laugh my ass off and in others made me genuinely uncomfortable. So, in that regard, I suppose I would call it a success. I really can't give a whole lot away about the plot, but I will say that it perfectly captures what it's like to feel unsafe around someone you don't know very well. It relies primarily on performance, and I've gotta say it again- Elijah Wood can just sell fear. He's so fragile, like a frightened little rabbit. It's those big saucer eyes he's got, I think (and the movie itself takes note of this, which was a pretty funny scene). Stephen McHattie, meanwhile, is just flat out phenomenal. Drunken, profane, hilariously over-the-top, and downright realistically terrifying, and doing it all simultaneously somehow; he's bringing his A game here. Even his corpse acting is excellent and unsettling. Like I said, this one kinda left me stumped as to a critical opinion, but it was a fun experience, and it ultimately ends somewhere that I did find genuinely emotional and worthwhile.
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Post by Dramatic Look Gopher on Dec 14, 2021 4:08:20 GMT
  Hollow Man (2000)
Brilliant yet egocentric scientist Sebastian Caine and his team successfully invent a serum for invisibility, but need to work on one that regenerates visibility. Caine volunteers to become the guinea pig, but the experiment goes horribly wrong. This is the first time I've watched Hollow Man since I saw it at the theater when it first came out, and there were some things I had forgotten about. Like the fact that Caine became a truly evil son of a bitch; not that there's anything wrong with that, after all it is part of the story. But what I didn't really appreciate is how a first-rate science fiction/horror story eventually drifts into a slasher movie mentality. Also, things went over-the-top with the showdown at the end. Everything went way overboard with too much CGI explosions and too many of those "Why didn't you finish the villain off!" and "Oh just die already will ya!" kind of moments. But inspite of the faults, I still thought Hollow Man was fairly good. I enjoyed the premise which had great characters, and Kevin Bacon does a fine job as Caine. And those invisible special effects were really out of sight (pardon the pun). Plus director Paul Verhoeven sure kept everything at a lively pace. It's just too bad the last half hour or so became hackneyed.
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Dec 14, 2021 20:45:37 GMT
 4/10OK Christmas bases slasher film. |
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Dec 14, 2021 20:48:33 GMT
 4/10
Found footage film about a guy visiting his online girlfriend and supernatural stuff happens. Good for the first two thirds. The last third gets boring. |
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Dec 14, 2021 20:50:04 GMT
 1/10Horrible and dull erotic horror shot on video movie. |
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Post by gspdude on Dec 15, 2021 17:10:45 GMT
 Embrace of the Vampire(1995) Vampires, lesbians, nudity, Alyssa Milano looking cute as can be, what's not to like? 7/10. |
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Post by gspdude on Dec 16, 2021 3:26:38 GMT
 Embrace of the Vampire(2013) Has the necessary vampires, lesbians, and nudity but was not as enjoyable as the original. Too much hallucinating, and the main character Charlotte wasn't as likable. 5/10. |
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Post by Anonymous Andy on Dec 17, 2021 15:27:20 GMT
 This ol' VHS mainstay never gets old. 7/10 |
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Post by Salzmank on Dec 18, 2021 3:32:31 GMT
Werewolves Within, 2021, dir. Josh Ruben  I wanted to see this in theaters, but it only ran for about a week around here and I missed it. Missing it ended up being the right call. This is really, really bad. I’m kind of shocked by the positive reviews. The performances are all goofy-terrible, the characters are stereotypes, and the jokes are nonexistent. The mystery plot is stupid and the murderer obvious (this is one of those mysteries where the killer’s revealed by process of elimination!), though the writer threw in a coupla clues, which are appreciated. Some of the shots are visually decent, but they’re no better than the shots in a Goosebumps episode I watched last week. When a movie isn’t better than a Goosebumps episode, even an abnormally good Goosebumps episode… Oof.
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Post by gspdude on Dec 18, 2021 13:44:00 GMT
 Reign of Fire(2002) Good Story, good acting, good effects. 8/10. |
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Dec 18, 2021 23:53:00 GMT
 1/10
Apparently, this was made as an experimental type horror film. Its trash with no redeeming value at all. |
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Dec 18, 2021 23:54:10 GMT
 3/10
Scary premise but not used very well since not much happens.
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