Horror Movies

[Taddy Mason]

@FaCe-LeE-uS

Finally "watched" Gretel and Hansel lol. Not much to say bc I only got about 30 minutes in. I didn't finish it mainly bc of my wife, she doesn't like slow movies and she doesn't like that main actress...haha. I will probably watch it by myself but from what I saw...it was slow (like expected) and I feel like from what I watched it is one of those movies that has little scares here and there but it won't fully give you what you want, just kinda teasing you. But since I didn't watch the full movie I can't give an accurate assessment. I will rewatch at some point possibly but if someone watched the full movie I would really want to hear their opinion.

The general mood and scenery is the same throughout.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

The general mood and scenery is the same throughout.

Are the payoffs worth it? As in, were there enough 'memorable moments' and/or was the climax good?

 

[Taddy Mason]

Are the payoffs worth it? As in, were there enough 'memorable moments' and/or was the climax good?

i mean, it's hansel and gretel, it's going to be what it's going to be. i was just in the right mood for it and enjoyed the ambiance.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

i mean, it's hansel and gretel, it's going to be what it's going to be. i was just in the right mood for it and enjoyed the ambiance.

Well... I enjoyed the sh!t outta Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013)... But that was just an adaptation and not the origin story like this appears to be.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

 

[Blackshirts BLVD]

Just watched The Platform on Netflix. Subtitles don't match the dubbing so that kind of sucks, but an interesting movie if you try to make it political. Not going to rate it, but there was one scene in particular that was kinda funny, sad, disgusting... a whole range of emotions.

Spoiler

Obviously.

Hearing people chew food or more specifically chewing food with your mouth open is probably my biggest pet peeve.... so, fuck this movie for that shit.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Hearing people chew food or more specifically chewing food with your mouth open is probably my biggest pet peeve.... so, fuck this movie for that shit.

AHHHH damn now I'll never be able to watch it!

That's one of my bigger pet peeves as well. Right below people that don't clean the corners of their mouths, and people that drag their feet or clod their shoes when they walk.

They all deserve a special place in hell.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Scare Campaign (2016)


This was an interesting idea and it worked pretty well for a low budget film, but I think I liked the original twist narrative better than the ending twist. "What would happen if the prank was on someone who was deranged enough to turn into a murderer". It wasn't a bad twist to drop the idea and go for a more Purge-like finish, but it felt a little too familiar to go that route and something was off about the flow afterwards.

The movie starts out ok setting up the premise of the plot. But it severely lacks character development and it doesn't try to get you to care for these people. Quite the opposite really. Pretty early in the movie everyone besides Emma are made out to be a bunch of repugnant assholes so you couldn't care less who goes first & how, which takes some of the suspense & scare out of the equation. And we only briefly get to see Emma take flight for survival before the final twist. Most of the time she is playing detective leading us away from the suspense. Once the Purge sequence starts it gets interesting, but rarely scary. I loved the mask designs, but sadly it didn't up the ante very much. The gore was pretty good though.

Acting was fair to middlin' to outright bad. Meegan Warner was decent, but wasn't particularly good in the protagonist role. Ian Meadows, playing the reality show director Marcus, was terrible. Especially when things turn south for his master plan, there was nothing believable about him and those scenes towards the end just didn't draw me in like they were supposed to. Josh Quong Tart was spectacular, playing Rohan the deranged mental patient that turns into the slasher.

Overall it was decent. Like I said before, I would have preferred if they stuck with the original twist narrative, which was honestly one of the better reality show meets real life horror scenarios that I've seen in the sub-genre. The reality show was slapstick, but the psycho patient had all the makings of a decent slasher film before they dropped the idea in the 3rd & final act to go a different route. Still a creative piece worthy of seeing, and I can applaud them for attempting a film that breaks free from the norm within these subgenres. Australian brothers, Cam & Colin Cairnes were the writers. Might have to check out some of their other material.

Aussie slasher flick with 1 too many twists, but a creative low-budget film altogether... 6/10

 

[Blackshirts BLVD]

AHHHH damn now I'll never be able to watch it!

That's one of my bigger pet peeves as well. Right below people that don't clean the corners of their mouths, and people that drag their feet or clod their shoes when they walk.

They all deserve a special place in hell.

People staring or stand over you while you eat - doesn't actually bother me, but I find it VERY disrespectful.

Selfie person - no need to explain

People on speaking phone in public casually - like anyone wants to hear your fucking conversation you inconsiderate prick.



But nothing touches chewing. Chewing has made me freak out on my kids before lol.

 

[Blackshirts BLVD]

Sorry all, slightly unrelated, but I need to rant real quick.

@FaCe-LeE-uS - kinda long, but it will make sense at the end lol.

One more... today I received a thing in the mail from Cox Communications (cable and internet provider). Cox happens to be the only legitimate source for reliable internet access around here. We also have Century Link around here, but they pale in comparison, believe me, I tried them and I'm not joking - Century Link felt like dial up when I switched to them. But I ultimately switched back because I was a college student that has kids and worked full time... I needed to get shit done when online. And because of this, Cox has ridiculous prices for their cable and internet.

Now with all that is going on with this virus stuff, I honestly didn't even care that I never received anything from Cox about helping their customers during this time of need with kids needing the internet to school from home or parents needing to work from home..... that was until I did receive something.

The thing I got is titled "Additional Resources for Families" - it gives all around options, things for food, utilities, mental health, etc... Cool. whatever.

Then I notice this --"Two months of FREE internet through the Cox Connect2Complete program"-- go to this link to apply. So I go to the link thinking hell, thats incredible (given that I didn't expect anything). The screen literally says...




"To qualify: You must not be an existing Cox internet customer..."

Bro - I am about to have a melt down. Forbes has them listed as of 2016, the #5 wealthiest family in America being worth 41 billion... and the one thing you do during this pandemic is make a promotion to get NEW clients. Such a disingenuous offer and that kind of disrespect is a HUGE pet peeve of mine. I would rather you just kept your fucking mouth shut.






Edit: It appears that I was mistaken on two accounts, neither of which change my opinion or sentiment of what was stated above. But...

1) I heard (haven't noticed from my bill or anything yet) that Cox is waiving data overage fees.

2) this mail wasn't actually from Cox, it was from the county.

Again, neither of these clarifications changes my opinion on this being an impudent "deal".

 

[Taddy Mason]

Sorry all, slightly unrelated, but I need to rant real quick.

@FaCe-LeE-uS - kinda long, but it will make sense at the end lol.

One more... today I received a thing in the mail from Cox Communications (cable and internet provider). Cox happens to be the only legitimate source for reliable internet access around here. We also have Century Link around here, but they pale in comparison, believe me, I tried them and I'm not joking - Century Link felt like dial up when I switched to them. But I ultimately switched back because I was a college student that has kids and worked full time... I needed to get shit done when online. And because of this, Cox has ridiculous prices for their cable and internet.

Now with all that is going on with this virus stuff, I honestly didn't even care that I never received anything from Cox about helping their customers during this time of need with kids needing the internet to school from home or parents needing to work from home..... that was until I did receive something.

The thing I got is titled "Additional Resources for Families" - it gives all around options, things for food, utilities, mental health, etc... Cool. whatever.

Then I notice this --"Two months of FREE internet through the Cox Connect2Complete program"-- go to this link to apply. So I go to the link thinking hell, thats incredible (given that I didn't expect anything). The screen literally says...


View attachment 239705

"To qualify: You must not be an existing Cox internet customer..."

Bro - I am about to have a melt down. Forbes has them listed as of 2016, the #5 wealthiest family in America being worth 41 billion... and the one thing you do during this pandemic is make a promotion to get NEW clients. Such a disingenuous offer and that kind of disrespect is a HUGE pet peeve of mine. I would rather you just kept your fucking mouth shut.






Edit: It appears that I was mistaken on two accounts, neither of which change my opinion or sentiment of what was stated above. But...

1) I heard (haven't noticed from my bill or anything yet) that Cox is waiving data overage fees.

2) this mail wasn't actually from Cox, it was from the county.

Again, neither of these clarifications changes my opinion on this being an impudent "deal".

i feel ya. in the end, it was slightly less reprehensible. county was letting the poors know they can get the free cox if they didn't have it, at which point, cox would start billing them after they forgot to shut off the free promotion they couldn't afford.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Sorry all, slightly unrelated, but I need to rant real quick.

@FaCe-LeE-uS - kinda long, but it will make sense at the end lol.

One more... today I received a thing in the mail from Cox Communications (cable and internet provider). Cox happens to be the only legitimate source for reliable internet access around here. We also have Century Link around here, but they pale in comparison, believe me, I tried them and I'm not joking - Century Link felt like dial up when I switched to them. But I ultimately switched back because I was a college student that has kids and worked full time... I needed to get shit done when online. And because of this, Cox has ridiculous prices for their cable and internet.

Now with all that is going on with this virus stuff, I honestly didn't even care that I never received anything from Cox about helping their customers during this time of need with kids needing the internet to school from home or parents needing to work from home..... that was until I did receive something.

The thing I got is titled "Additional Resources for Families" - it gives all around options, things for food, utilities, mental health, etc... Cool. whatever.

Then I notice this --"Two months of FREE internet through the Cox Connect2Complete program"-- go to this link to apply. So I go to the link thinking hell, thats incredible (given that I didn't expect anything). The screen literally says...


View attachment 239705

"To qualify: You must not be an existing Cox internet customer..."

Bro - I am about to have a melt down. Forbes has them listed as of 2016, the #5 wealthiest family in America being worth 41 billion... and the one thing you do during this pandemic is make a promotion to get NEW clients. Such a disingenuous offer and that kind of disrespect is a HUGE pet peeve of mine. I would rather you just kept your fucking mouth shut.






Edit: It appears that I was mistaken on two accounts, neither of which change my opinion or sentiment of what was stated above. But...

1) I heard (haven't noticed from my bill or anything yet) that Cox is waiving data overage fees.

2) this mail wasn't actually from Cox, it was from the county.

Again, neither of these clarifications changes my opinion on this being an impudent "deal".

Damn dude that is some weak bullshit!! But I feel ya. I have cableone and they aren’t offering shit to their existing customers. Luckily I’m somewhat appeased because of a recent upgrade I got, which was still bittersweet.

Back in January my cableone modem finally started crapping out after 8 years since we got it. I should have been smart enough to know that it was a fuckin dinosaur in tech years so shoulda called to replace it years ago. But it kept workin just fine & never had issues so stuck with it. I made an Appt to have the FST come out and take a look. As soon as the guy showed up he said: “not gonna bother troubleshooting as A) its a phone modem you’re running WiFi from, and B)it’s almost a 10yr old piece of technology so we’ve already lapsed a few of their “standard” modems since and will just skip right to the “latest & greatest they offer currently”. I was amazed that we never had any issues and streaming across our devices worked great.

After the shiny new modem was installed he asked me if I wanted to double our internet speeds (dwnld doubled, upload almost tripled) for FREE. I thought he was joking until he showed me their internet packages. No shit, same fuckin monthly price I was already payin plus they added another 100MB to the data cap limit. I told him to stop talking & sign me right the fuck up!!! What obviously bothered me was why they hadn’t automatically upgraded me or at least contacted me to tell me about it. Seems like it should have been the auto option since we’ve been doin business with these assholes for 15yrs. Guess they were still scorned with me when I cut the tv cable package back in 2015 or so. Got tired of paying $140 per month for our “standard” bundle and majority of the tv channels sucked ass.

Damn... you got me all worked up! That’s the cable companies for ya brother! Fuckin criminals I tell ya!!! I’m honestly amazed with how many other companies (cell service, mortgages, insurance, etc) that have been providing relief options. Pretty amazing but there’s definitely still dirt bag companies out there. I hope the media eats them alive!

Stay strong brother!! Hope we all get outta this on the other side without being put through too many wringers!

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Watched 2 similar "fest" movies this weekend:

Hell Fest (2018) & Blood Fest (2018)... Both deal with a group of friends that go to a horror-themed festival/amusement park. Hell Fest took itself a lot more seriously in a more traditional slasher styled movie, while Blood Fest was more of a campy horror comedy. Hell Fest had a bigger budget, but honestly you wouldn't be able to tell after watching both. Supposedly HF spent a great deal on their makeup & effects team (same team responsible for the look of TWD out of Atlanta). Blood Fest spent more on its set designs.

Seeing this sort copycat thing happen more often, where it seems like 2 or 3 movies released within a few weeks or months of each other with VERY SIMILAR concepts or plot lines. Some times producers will delay the release of such films so as not to appear like a copycat. These 2 "fest" films are clearly not ripping off one another, because the only similarity is the theme-park/festival idea. The plots and concepts are different. Maybe these films were being developed simultaneously & independently in homage to some horror festival that was happening in real life. No clue.

 

[Taddy Mason]

Watched 2 similar "fest" movies this weekend:

Hell Fest (2018) & Blood Fest (2018)... Both deal with a group of friends that go to a horror-themed festival/amusement park. Hell Fest took itself a lot more seriously in a more traditional slasher styled movie, while Blood Fest was more of a campy horror comedy. Hell Fest had a bigger budget, but honestly you wouldn't be able to tell after watching both. Supposedly HF spent a great deal on their makeup & effects team (same team responsible for the look of TWD out of Atlanta). Blood Fest spent more on its set designs.

Seeing this sort copycat thing happen more often, where it seems like 2 or 3 movies released within a few weeks or months of each other with VERY SIMILAR concepts or plot lines. Some times producers will delay the release of such films so as not to appear like a copycat. These 2 "fest" films are clearly not ripping off one another, because the only similarity is the theme-park/festival idea. The plots and concepts are different. Maybe these films were being developed simultaneously & independently in homage to some horror festival that was happening in real life. No clue.

never caught blood fest, but see it's available on SportsHoopla. will give it a shot in the coming week.

closest thing i caught to a horror movie in the last week was The Boat. kept seeing the box art and finally decided to give it a go. guy lost at sea with a boat that's no bueno. i was a bit out of it and only half paid attention. didn't look bad and the actor was fine enough, just kept thinking why would someone have bothered when robert redford essentially made the same thing 5 years prior in All is Lost.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

never caught blood fest, but see it's available on SportsHoopla. will give it a shot in the coming week.

closest thing i caught to a horror movie in the last week was The Boat. kept seeing the box art and finally decided to give it a go. guy lost at sea with a boat that's no bueno. i was a bit out of it and only half paid attention. didn't look bad and the actor was fine enough, just kept thinking why would someone have bothered when robert redford essentially made the same thing 5 years prior in All is Lost.

Is that the movie where the person gets trapped down inside the cabin of the boat while the cruise control is on? Sounds boring as hell, but the trailer made it look somewhat interesting.

 

[Taddy Mason]

Is that the movie where the person gets trapped down inside the cabin of the boat while the cruise control is on? Sounds boring as hell, but the trailer made it look somewhat interesting.

that would be the same. again, i had started drinking at the start of the draft and watched that later in the evening, so i wasn't looking for something i'd have to devote much attention to. the redford movie was the same. it's best left to an audience that is high on something.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Lol

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Wow... It's been a minute since I've watched these. Time to brush the dust off I guess.

‘Hellraiser’ is Getting an HBO Series With David Gordon Green Directing and Michael Dougherty Writing!

Same director as the new Halloween (2018), Halloween Kills (2020) movies... David Gordon Green

The Executive Producers list: David Gordon Green, Michael Dougherty, Mark Verheiden, Dan Farah, Vertigo Entertainment’s Roy Lee, Lawrence Kuppin, David Salzman, Eric Gardner, Andrew Farah, Adam Salzman, Danny McBride, Jody Hill and Brandon James.


I'm leery of it, but HBO always make a damn good product.

 

[Chef99]

Revenge (2017)


If your in the mood for a grindhouse revenge film that takes itself a little more seriously than the rest, then this ones right up your alley. Well... At times it certainly doesn't take itself seriously, as it does feature plenty of absurdity, but it does take a much more simpler survival & revenge approach vs. balls to the wall chaos like other grindhouse films.

The beginning of this film built up our protagonist to be a stereotypical Cal-girl: an idiotic, gullible, gold-digging bimbo. As soon as the 2 frenchmen show up you just knew things weren't going to go well for her. And she made matters so much worse for herself by continuing to act the part of the bimbo. I found it incredibly hard to feel sympathy for her when things went bad, and ultimately to connect to her vengeance & triumph. But not all is lost. This movie didn't try to key on those emotions and rather focused on the thrill ride of said vengeance. And revenge is always good, which works just fine! There were plenty of unrealistic moments in this film: how she survived the injury, how she didn't badly burn herself when she freed herself from the tree, how she seemed to be bleeding unrealistic amounts of blood without ever being weakened (in the freezing cold of night no less), and how she ultimately bests these hunters with zero knowledge of how to handle guns. Shmantics right? That's when you just chalk it up to grindhouse. Plus her choice of vengeance wardrobe really seals the deal. Once you make the decision not to take this movie seriously, you will enjoy it. It's a bloody fun ride. Speaking of the blood, this film had quite the ample supply of it. The gorehounds will be more than satisfied. The suspense in this film was good. It does a good job switching seamlessly between action to intense, drawn-out suspenseful moments. Mixed in with gut-wrenching gore! The glass shard in the foot scene had me feeling squeamish, so kudos for that!

I think my biggest gripe with the plot was the fact that this girl kept being incredibly lucky, and not smart. Best case for this point was the climax where she faces off with the main guy that brought her to the desert house. She has the guy on the ropes and bound to bleed out but continues to play the cat & mouse game of running in circles through the house before slipping & giving him the upper hand. Thankfully for her, the luck never ran out. I would have preferred if the kills/deaths were more methodical. Because you just keep begging for her to be smarter, and she rarely does. And in some moments, like the climax, she finally does have a moment of being very smart (noticing the blood spilling out) but quickly turns back into an idiot soon-after. The acting was good though! Much better than you would suspect. There is very little dialogue but the execution of their performances doesn't suffer from it.

Overall this was an entertaining film with plenty of weaknesses. Best served without taking it too seriously. But I do feel that it would have benefited from better writing. This was female director, Coralie Fargeat's first full-length feature. Not trying to be sexist by pointing out her gender, but merely wanting to spread knowledge that female directors don't get much cred in this industry, and specifically these horror/thriller genres. To make a movie this memorable as her debut film is remarkable. "The toughest part about climbing the ladder is getting through the crowd at the bottom". This movie was well worth the watch!

Grindhouse level realism, but loaded with vengeful fun... 7/10

Saw this, enjoyed the Kevin Costner/Anthony Quinn version so much more.