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Post by stefancrosscoe on Oct 4, 2020 10:55:25 GMT
08. The Dead Zone (1983) by David Cronenberg A school teacher by the name of Johnny Smith (Christopher Walken) is about to get his whole life turned upside down, when he is involved in a nasty car accident. When he finally wakes up, all alone in a hospital bed, he soon learns that having spent 5 years in a deep coma, have really done some serious damage to his former life. However, he has also been given a brand new "gift", one which is about to reveal far more than he ever wanted to know. Well, I had plans on re-watching a few favorites along with first time views this month, and I really had a great time seeing again this very well made and acted horror-thriller by David Cronenberg, which surely has to be (at least, so I think) among the very best movies of the 80s and 90s, that is based upon one of many Stephen King stories. I never will understand why this early 80s gem, never seems to be brought up more often, as it really is a very solid, well performed and moving story, and comes with lots of great acting roles by a large group of very talented people. But I guess having been released in the same year as Cronenberg's classic body-horror release that is Videodrome, that one might have overshadowed his other film from 1983, which is a bit of shame, as I think The Dead Zone really stands out of David's films of that period. Then of course, it stars the great Christopher Walken, a man who I think should have had a much better and longer stay as a potential leading man back in the day, but I guess sadly, that never happened, still he delivered some truly great roles and films during the 80s and early 90s, and where The Dead Zone have always been one of my favorites. 8,5/10
October Horror Challenge - 2020 - Day 04:
09. Death Valley (1982) by Dick Richards A young boy gets "dragged" along on a journey from the big city and towards the american desert and Death Valley, in order to get to know his mom's new boyfriend. And what better way is there, to catch up and become friends, than having to fight for their lives, against a brutal serial killer, who will soon turn up and make their entire trip into a nightmare. One of those movies I really wanted to see, for some time, and I guess it might have something to do with the striking poster and title, but somehow it just never got picked up. However, last night I decided to give it a go, and yeah, you have the little kid (probably most known for his solid part in the classic A Christmas Story, that was released the year after), so I guess this was his very first movie role, and he did not deliver a "bad" job, but films with kids, specially in the main role, have sadly for my part, rarely ended up as very enjoyable. However, the film do start up rather well, and there is some suspense and I guess much of it has to do with Stephen McHattie and his role, but one also catch up with Wilford Brimley and Paul Le Mat, two other guys who did a lot cool stuff back in the 80s and 90s. All in all, a pretty forgettable, but decent horror-thriller, which sadly never quite seem to fulfill the potential it had going, but nice to finally see it, and I end up rating it a: 5/10 10. Psycho II (1983) by Richard Franklin Having spent years locked away inside a mental hospital, the now fully rehabilited Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) is let loose, as the court system thinks of him as no longer a potential threat, and is ready to face real life once more. Sadly for Norman, his dark past will not let him slip away that easy, and things does not become any easier, as he decides to move back into his old childhood home. A very well made continuation of Alfred Hitchcock's legendary movie, and where the australian Hitchcock fan and director Richard Franklin had delivered some solid thrillers a few years earlier, especially where his "Rear Window on the road" with the fantastic Road Games (1981) stood out as one of the finest horror-thrillers of the early 80s, I think he managed to follow that one up, with yet another great movie in Psycho II. Of course, this was during the huge slasher-era, and I guess having to compete with those films, filled with gore, nudity and fast paced action meant some things had to change in order to "capture" the modern age and its movie going audiences. I am not sure where or if I remember correctly, but I think either Perkins or Franklin, originally wanted to make Psycho II in black and white, and with much lesser campy and dark comedy, but instead a serious and dramatic tale, but then I guess things were done rather differently, but I think it was not something that "hurt" the movie or characters, in any way. It also helps that this was the very first of the Psycho franchise, that I saw, all alone in the dark during summertime, and to even make it "cosier", at my grandmothers old house, with lots of weird noises coming from every where, and it just made the movie experience even more intense and creepy. Back then I had not seen too many horror films, so this one actually was one of those along with Friday the 13th Part II that made me a big fan of the genre. Anyway, the film has a very fast paced style and story going, and sure, some scenes and characters might seem a bit "thrown into the mix" here and there, but I think it suited the film, and having seen it several times, it just gets more enjoyable for every visit towards Bates Motel, and it will surely not be the last time either. 8/10
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Oct 5, 2020 13:52:28 GMT
11. Hell's Ground (2007) by Omar Ali Khan Pakistanian horror movie, which seems to follow in the classic horror-clichees from more famous american slashers and roadtrip films, where a small bunch of partygoing teenagers are on their way towards a big rock concert, however they soon find themselves lost in the wilderness, and with a gang of crazy and violent maniacs right on their tail. I guess it was not as bad as I "expected" it to be, and it kind of has a certain small charm, and the people behind it have obivously lots of love for the horror and cult-movie cinema. Sadly, it ends up going way too fast into just trying to put in lots of violence and gore, but little else backs it up, and is one of those I will probably forget about having seen, in a few days. 4/10 12. Carnival of Souls (1962) by Herk Harvey As the seemingly only living survivor from a tragic car accident, Mary soon will learn that her being the only one left alive from the sunken car wreck, comes with a very heavy and dark prize, as she ends up getting stalked by mysterious strangers, and gets a nasty feeling that something, or someone wants to stand in her way of returning back to normal life. A very positive surprise, as I had never seen or heard about it, until last year, but had not seen it until of now that is. Great atmosphere and some very impressive shots and acting, specially from the leading actress. One of those that might go up a huge point on the rating scala if I decide to watch it later again. 6,5/10 October Horror Challenge - 2020 - Day 05: 13. Psycho III (1986) by Anthony Perkins The third chapter about Norman Bates and his constant daily struggles against his "beloved" mother, and where all kind of new problems seems to show up, where as a sleazy motel co-worker (Jeff Fahey), a bit too nosy journalist and also a frightening memory from his past, one that will once more come back to haunt and test the already very troubled motell owner. After the great sequel, I guess it kind of was expected that its surprising success would lead to at least once more Psycho movie, but this time it feels very rushed, and where the second one did shy away of overdoing the violence, nudity and vulgar stuff, the third one seems to step right into the slasher-mood, and sadly it ends up feeling more cheap than effective, or so I believe. Anyway, I have seen it, years ago, but I am not able of changing my feelings or vote towards it, as it just a letdown from the first two films, and I was reminded of that last night. 5/10
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Post by gspdude on Oct 5, 2020 14:40:20 GMT
 House of the Witchdoctor(2013) Home Invasion movie with the usual amount of roll-your-eyes moments. But all 3 main actresses get topless at least once and there's an interesting twist to make it watchable. 4/10.  Audition(1999) Japanese with English subs. Widowed businessman sits in on a friend's movie audition looking to find a bride. Out of 30 beauties, he picks the psycho. There were moments when I was a bit confused trying to figure if some scenes were real, dreams, or flashbacks. Got a bit too brutal for me towards the end (getting old, I guess). Well done for the most part, but not for everyone. 5/10 |
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🎄😷🎄 on Oct 5, 2020 16:14:49 GMT
Drive Thru (2007)  There's a killer on the loose in Blanca Carne, California (which is Spanish for "White Meat") and it's Horny the Clown, the mascot of Hella Burger, the local burger emporium. 
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Oct 6, 2020 11:27:11 GMT
October Horror Challenge - 2020 - Day 06: 14. Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990) by Mick Garris The last and final chapter about Norman Bates, and one which brings it all back the start, where Norman, after the incidents of the third film, seems to have been released back to society, and also seems to manage of coping with his new life, and where he now lives with his wife, whom is pregnant. Still, Norman decides to call in to a radio-program that have a ongoing theme about young men who murders their mothers, and who is not better qualified to bring further insight to that kind of crime than Norman himself. Always enjoyed this movie, and even though it is a tv-production, it is surely one I liked more than the mediocre third one, and I think they did manage to end the Bates saga in a good way, and where there also features some good performances from Olivia Hussey, Henry Thomas and also to that of CCH Pounder, as well of Anthony Perkins. 6/10
15. Drácula (1931) by Enrique Tovar Ávalos and George Melford I watched the original Universal Horror Classic about three years ago, but somehow I must have forgotten that the same DVD box-set I own, also contained the spanish version, which I think was in fact made during the same time as the american one, probably also with a lot of the same sets and movie locations, probably to save money and time. Anyway, I quite enjoyed the latin-american version of Count Dracula and the complete maniac that is Renfield, sadly however, these performances pretty much completely over shadows the other actors, in every way. Another thing I must admit I had some "trouble" with, was that I was almost in total "coma" when I saw it, very late at night, and the cover art said the film would only last for about 68-70 minutes, not much away of the original, but somehow it ended up with almost and half hour more, and that was just too much for me, and it kind of dragged on, too long and, well, I liked some of the actors, and the atmosphere as well, but I do not think it was as good as the one I saw 3 years ago, and end up with a kind: 6/10
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Oct 6, 2020 14:12:48 GMT
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Post by teleadm on Oct 6, 2020 18:08:51 GMT
 The Night has Eyes aka Moonlight Madness 1942, British low-budget "old dark house" movie directed by Leslie Arliss and starring a young a dashing James Mason. Two young women and teachers travels to the Yorkshire moors, were one of the teachers old friend disappeared a year before. On a stormy and rainy night the seek shelter at an isolated cottage. Not only do they get shelter, but the whole cottage turns out to house many unsolved secrets. Mason plays a shell-shocked pianist who might or might not know anything about what happened to the friend that disappeared, but he wishes that they leave as quick as possible since it's not safe for them to stay too long, and there is a secret room without a door too. It was a rather bad copy I watched, that made it look like it's always dark in the moors, even in daylight, or it's always very cloudy in Yorkshire. Worth a peek and I liked the conclusion
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Post by forca84 on Oct 6, 2020 22:48:08 GMT
"Venom" (2005) a Voodoo teen slasher. Shades of 90's horror. It did really bad when released. Barely made a blip. Still I enjoy watching it once every couple years. A sort of who's who back in the day of young stars starting out. Agnes Bruckner, Bijou Phillips, Megan Good, Pawel Szajda, DJ Cotrona, Jonathan Jackson, Laura Ramsey, Davetta Sherwood, (Laura retired from acting in 2014.)
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Oct 7, 2020 10:10:28 GMT
 16. Dracula in Pakistan aka The Living Corpse (1967) by Kwhaja Sarfraz Another pakistanian horrorfilm, and this time it is by no surprise one which tries to follow the classic tale of Dracula, but maybe one which seems to be a bit more inspired in both look and style, by what Hammer Studios did durning the late 50s and 60s, especially with Christopher Lee as the leading role. While the actor who portrays Count Dracula in this one, really seems to have that certain Lee look over him, sadly the film just last way too long. And since it is an pakistanian product, I guess they just had to fill in with lots of musical and dancing numbers, which, well, not all are "bad", but then again I have never really been much of a fan of singing and dancing in most movies. Anyway, a few of the more upbeat and jazz-night club numbers was quite good, but the rest was for me a waste of time. Well, I did not "hate" it, and it did feature som decent gothic atmosphere and some decent scenes, but all in all, surely not something I will bother with again, and just one of those: Seen it, and then just move on to the next. 5/10October Horror Challenge - 2020 - Day 07: 17. Wild Beasts (1984) by Franco Prosperi Another "animal-attack" disaster-horror movie, which follows the typical recipe of similar 70s and 80s titles, where the humans will get their way as they do no longer respect mother nature and its "innocent" creatures, and this time a large zoo in a german city is where the chaos starts up, and ends up unleashing a bunch of dangerous animals out from their cages and right into the city. Seen it before, but wanted to give it another go, as I really enjoyed the much better and well made/acted Day of the Animals (1977), but since this was an probably much less budget italian b-movie, it sadly also suffers from ending up a bit "boring" or tame, in comparison to the above mentioned creature feature title. Sure, there are classic italian b-movie trash, bad acting, over-the-top acting and laughable scenes and so on, but I think the animal attacks were pretty well made, and the sleazy atmosphere sure did make it look a bit better than what it probably was. Anyway, those italians sure do not like their rats or cats, or blind people with their dogs, as these scenes seems to re-appear in a lot of italian horror films of the 70s and 80s. All in all, the film never manages to live up to its very cool filmposter, but it had a few solid scenes here and there, but not even close to end up as one of the better horror films with dangerous animals, or of what I have seen. 4,5/10
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Oct 7, 2020 11:07:49 GMT
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Oct 7, 2020 11:08:28 GMT
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Post by teleadm on Oct 7, 2020 17:53:08 GMT
 Madhouse 1974, directed by Jim Clark. It's a crime-mystery movie with horror elements and inside jokes. Vincent Price plays a horror actor famous for a his Dr. Death character in a whole series of movies. At a party the murders begins, someone is using Dr Death's methods of killing people...,Is it himself gone nuts? His old friend and screenwriter (Peter Cushing)?, His rival from another movie company (Robert Quarry)?, or is it someone totally else? There are certainly some crazy candidates. Fairly entertaining and amusing, and the murders are certainly gruesome and bloody, though not overly bloody. 
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Post by Dramatic Look Gopher on Oct 7, 2020 19:45:40 GMT
Madhouse 1974, directed by Jim Clark. It's a crime-mystery movie with horror elements and inside jokes. Vincent Price plays a horror actor famous for a his Dr. Death character in a whole series of movies. At a party the murders begins, someone is using Dr Death's methods of killing people...,Is it himself gone nuts? His old friend and screenwriter (Peter Cushing)?, His rival from another movie company (Robert Quarry)?, or is it someone totally else? There are certainly some crazy candidates. Fairly entertaining and amusing, and the murders are certainly gruesome and bloody, though not overly bloody. Looks interesting, I just might check it out for the October Challenge.
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Oct 8, 2020 9:42:24 GMT
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Oct 8, 2020 9:44:02 GMT
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Oct 8, 2020 15:19:43 GMT
18. Premutos: Lord of the Living Dead (1997) by Olaf Ittenbach
My motivation to keep on going has surely been tested, alright. First by the god awful torture-turd that was Sweatshop, then this pile of garbage arrives, and it feels like an amateurish c-movie which would barely have enough "plot and characters" to hold on for more than about 10-15 minutes, if not for the constant use of extreme gore and bloody violence, and some horrible attempts of "comedy", and what did I get in return? Almost 2 stinkin hours of crap, and, well, how anyone can mention to bring this absolute trash up along with masterpieces as Re-Animator, The Evil Dead trilogy, Peter Jackson and his splatter movies, and even The Toxic Avenger. Well, I guess these germans did deliver the "goods" when it comes to gore and more of that, but storywise it is terrible in every way, so bad it is just bad, and I not once I came close to find anything funny.
I am very "kind" right now, as this would usually be another stinker within the bottom of pile of worst movies I have ever laid my poor eyes on, but the special effects and make-up, plus that it was still not as bad and annoyingly so, as Sweatshop, so I end up with a:
2/10
October Horror Challenge - 2020 - Day 08:
19. The Card Player (2004) by Dario Argento
A pretty damn lousy night to watch horror movies, I ended up falling asleep, and when I woke up, this forgettable and dull Argento horror-thriller still had almost 45 minutes of time, left for me to get through.
Much more of this, and I would maybe think of having either a break from watching more horror related stuff, or I really need to see some good or quality films, I sure know will be something completely different in quality and entertainment.
4/10
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Post by Dramatic Look Gopher on Oct 8, 2020 16:26:51 GMT
18. Premutos: Lord of the Living Dead (1997) by Olaf Ittenbach My motivation to keep on going has surely been tested, alright. First by the god awful torture-turd that was Sweatshop, then this pile of garbage arrives, and it feels like an amateurish c-movie which would barely have enough "plot and characters" to hold on for more than about 10-15 minutes, if not for the constant use of extreme gore and bloody violence, and some horrible attempts of "comedy", and what did I get in return? Almost 2 stinkin hours of crap, and, well, how anyone can mention to bring this absolute trash up along with masterpieces as Re-Animator, The Evil Dead trilogy, Peter Jackson and his splatter movies, and even The Toxic Avenger. Well, I guess these germans did deliver the "goods" when it comes to gore and more of that, but storywise it is terrible in every way, so bad it is just bad, and I not once I came close to find anything funny. I am very "kind" right now, as this would usually be another stinker within the bottom of pile of worst movies I have ever laid my poor eyes on, but the special effects and make-up, plus that it was still not as bad and annoyingly so, as Sweatshop, so I end up with a: 2/10October Horror Challenge - 2020 - Day 08:
19. The Card Player (2004) by Dario Argento A pretty damn lousy night to watch horror movies, I ended up falling asleep, and when I woke up, this forgettable and dull Argento horror-thriller still had almost 45 minutes of time, left for me to get through. Much more of this, and I would maybe think of having either a break from watching more horror related stuff, or I really need to see some good or quality films, I sure know will be something completely different in quality and entertainment. 4/10 I agree that The Card Player is dull and forgettable. But then again, many of Argento's movies have been pretty bad since the 1990s.
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🎄😷🎄 on Oct 8, 2020 16:33:12 GMT
13 Ghosts (1960) 
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Post by Prime etc. on Oct 9, 2020 7:21:20 GMT
And Now The Screaming Starts 1973
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Oct 9, 2020 12:36:56 GMT
20. The Loch Ness Horror (1982) by Larry Buchanan Well, after a few too many duds recently, I need something to cheer me up, not expecting some "classic" movie, but maybe something that I might laugh at and enjoy and little more than the last two or three titles I have been through. Anyway, The Loch Ness Horror truly deliver when it comes to contain some absolute b-movie trashy cheese, where the famous Loch Ness monster Nessie, is up to no good and you get to meet a whole bunch of weirdos and crazy people along the way. The film includes som truly "fantastic" acting, special effect and lots of clichees all over the place, and also a mysterious nazi-plane at the bottom of the lake, and which somehow has been there since the 1940s, but those nazi-guys looks incredibly healthy after having been down there for so long, and it just one of too many silly things that happens in this rather enjoyable non-budget b-movie. Here the stereotypical scottish stuff is delivered in such a ridiculous way, that it only makes the film look even more comical, as there is a lot of kilts, bagpipes, horrible accents, angry Scots, crazy Scots, drunken Scots and so much more. My two favorite scenes, one so idiotic and hilarious, that I for a moment almost fell out of the coach because I ended up laughing so much: Two horny teeangers abandons (of course against the rules) the camp they belong to, and decide to sneak out toward the ruins of an old scottish castle, one they had earlier on been warned contain a crazy and dangerous old guy, who collects lots of weapon and also seems to love playing his bagpipe (all day long). And what do the love-couple do? Of course, they head into the old castle ruins for some quick "action", only in return to be attacked by the old crazy Scot and his beloved battle-axe, then when they manage to escape down to the water, suddenly Nessie arrives and delivers the death stroke, and it is done in such a hilarious way, that, damn, that poor boat was of no match for Nessie. The other one contains an old fool who looks to be almost pushing himself into the mouth of the beast, not once but several time (or something close to that). I guess he had to, as the creature was so bad and poorly "moveable" that he had to do much of the job himself.  Sadly, the film is no where near as funny or memorable all the way through, most of the stuff that goes on beside, is just pretty much dull and not very interesting. Still, I thought it was far more giving in entertainment value (that is) than some of the absolute turds I have encountered the last week, and hopefully I will not end up watching too many more of that kind of horror titles. 4/10
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