Horror Movies

[Blackshirts BLVD]

Tough, but if I had to choose one, it would be TCM. I am just not as attached to them as much as I am the others even though I think most of the Friday The 13ths and Nightmare on Elm Streets are actually bad movies.

 

[Blackshirts BLVD]

These are kind of neat.

 

[Blackshirts BLVD]

 

[Blackshirts BLVD]

 

[Blackshirts BLVD]

 

[returnofjakedog]

Tough, but if I had to choose one, it would be TCM. I am just not as attached to them as much as I am the others even though I think most of the Friday The 13ths and Nightmare on Elm Streets are actually bad movies.

I would go as far to say that Friday the 13th would have to be the one to go. My reasoning is that there isn't a true "classic" in the series. The Final Chapter, Jason Lives, and Part 3 are probably the best of the lot and I wouldn't say any of them approach the pinnacle of horror films.
I see the point about The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but it is still an iconic film imo. The rest of the TCM series is pretty bad though so it is a tough call.

 

[Darth Dawkins]

Here is one you might not have seen. Black Christmas (1974). I swear, every horror movie cliché in the book came from this one.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

 

[Jiddy]

I LOVE horror movies....Absolutely LOVE them. I grew up watching them with my dad from the 2nd grade (used to piss my mom off so much).

I watch them now with my kids. (pisses my wife off)

I might try to throw in some reviews here and there...but I will say I've noticed my tolerance for the given "the victims/attacked are going to do something stupid" has dwindled over the years...lol.

My older and I watched "All Hallow's Eve" a couple weeks ago. Enjoyed it very much. Great flick. Art the Clown is a scary mofo. So I looked it up and see he has a movie called "Terrifier." So of course we gotta watch us some Art...who did his Art do and did not disappoint. But, at some point in Terrifier I broke in the "Oh come on...NOBODY would do that" annoyance. LOL

Also watched Creep recently...and the ending of that movie is the mother of all "Oh come ons." I don't care if fantasy football show guy explains it away after...

I mean...Don't get me wrong...I want me some quality kills...and to get there, peeps gotta be dumb to some degree. But, please directors/writers, at least make an attempt or resign yourself to the Sci Fi network.

Bonus moment: Watched Creepshow 2 and another mother of all "oh come on moments" with the whole "I BEAT YOOUUU" swimming scene....but that was truly enjoyable...and the boys and I all cheered when it happened...so it can go both ways I guess.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Sputnik (2020)


This movie was immersive but in all honestly it doesn't quite reach its full potential. But that has a lot more to do with my own taste/preference. It definitely accomplishes everything it tries to achieve. It wasn't as action-packed as the trailer alludes to, which @R.J. MacReady already stated it's a bit short on excitement. Rather this film is an effective, slow burning creature feature. I am amazed that this film was made for around $2.5m considering how skillfully crafted the entire movie is from start to finish. The artistic filming with dark tones (even features some IR imaging & plenty of red-lit corridors), the cast, the cgi/fx (both practical & CG), etc. The score, even though it was a little overzealous, was still well done. This movie has no business being made for that cheap. You could have told me it was made for 100x that amount & I would have believed it.

This movie deploys a lot of different plot elements which takes away some of the focus on the creature. Elements ranging from institutional control (which is a given in Mother Russia, amirite?), to claustrophobic character study, to a borderline love story... Not love in the romantic sense, rather the development of a bond and genuine care. But it does a decent job of tying everything together to make a somewhat cohesive film and doesn't feel too disjointed or distracting. It straddles a fence between human drama & the craziness of the sci-fi world pretty well. Rather than relying on the creature to carry the suspense, the writers deployed the institutional authority as a villain aiming at procedural machination. These political ambitions feel a little estranged from the plot as we never fully understand or comprehend what they are aiming to do with this creature, but rather serves as a means for escape & survival. The suspense is mainly effects-driven but it was effective. The eerie crash-landing intro leads into a decent segue of plot building before it delivers its first real dose of genuine fright when the creature makes its first appearance. From there it methodically bounces around different plot elements while continuing to build some decent suspense. The finale was ok, but maybe with a bigger budget it could have been epic.

Naturally movies such as these are going to be compared to Ridley Scott's masterpiece franchise. But that is the gold standard precedence. This movie takes plenty of DNA from various sci-fi quests before it with varying degrees of success. Its much more comparable to Life (2017). This creature was somewhat derivative, nor does it hold a candle to say a Xenomorph... But man was it still terrifying. The creature was more akin to the Harvester from Independence Day (1996). Giving it a bodied look was much more terrifying than the amoeba cephalopod-like thing from Life . Fun fact for you: "Sputnik" is Russian for "companion". Quite the perfect title for this parasite. It was a wild & bizarre concept that was awesomely grotesque, but gotta admit that it bothered me how implausible it seemed. How the hell does a 2-3 meter long extraterrestrial somehow live within your chest, controlling your mind & body (regenerative), and periodically exiting without causing more than a mild tickle in its hosts' throat? But that's being really nit-picky here. It's passable, and if I'm being even more honest with myself it wouldn't have been nearly as terrifying had they made the creature smaller. Take the bad with the good sotospeak! They did briefly show some x-ray images but it was quick!

This movie was definitely worth the watch. It had decent suspense and overall felt like a satisfying venture, but it still left me wondering what it "could have been" had it merely had a bigger budget, or even a more twisted mind at the helm of the writers lol. The gore elements were too few & far between! Yes it is subtitled and that makes things difficult, but it was worth it!

Immersive sci-fi thriller with great cinematography... 7.5/10

 

[Nasty_Magician]

2 HBO shows worth checking out are The Head about an Antarctic Expedition gone wrong. Definitely a rip-off of The Thing to a degree but they show them watching The Thing in the first episode so definitely winking at the camera. Essentially a whodunit mystery.

3 episodes in on Lovecraft Country and it's all over the place but I love it. I'm not familiar with HP Lovecraft's work but I believe it's to Lovecraft what Castle Rock was to Stephen King. Some stretches are sci-fi and others are horror. Hoping it keeps the pedal to the floor.

 

[Nasty_Magician]

These are kind of neat.

Where are these from?

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Wife & I also watched Shadow In the Cloud (2020)... Not even going to dive into reviewing that mess. Logic was non-existent, and the "creature-feature" aspect was so displaced that it really served no purpose. This movie was more politically driven than anything... The "woke" feminist movement...

To recap... A woman with little prior training boards a plane as part of her own secret mission, impersonates & fools a full crew of men, shoots down an enemy plane that the men couldn't even touch, beats up a misogynist, scales the belly of a plane in midair with nothing more than her meat-hooks (hands), and ultimately bashes & kills a large flying bat creature with her bare fists before settling down on the beach to breastfeed her infant... Cool as a cucumber... All of this based on her mettle as a independent woman & mother? Yea this female empowerment went a little overboard here lol.

Basically came off as some bizarre feministic grindhouse film... Pass

 

[Blackshirts BLVD]

Where are these from?

Just saw them scrolling through facebook. Page called Horror films I think.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

2 HBO shows worth checking out are The Head about an Antarctic Expedition gone wrong. Definitely a rip-off of The Thing to a degree but they show them watching The Thing in the first episode so definitely winking at the camera. Essentially a whodunit mystery.

3 episodes in on Lovecraft Country and it's all over the place but I love it. I'm not familiar with HP Lovecraft's work but I believe it's to Lovecraft what Castle Rock was to Stephen King. Some stretches are sci-fi and others are horror. Hoping it keeps the pedal to the floor.

Both shows are high on my watch list. I need to dive in!

 

[Blackshirts BLVD]

Well @FaCe-LeE-uS - I finally did it. I watched Train to Busan.

Keeping in mind that I am not as big into Zombie flicks as some of you.... It was pretty good. A few heavy uses of cliche, a handful of character problems, but I appreciated the family focus. The wife even mentioned that I called the ending because I said that it would end in a tunnel with us either "hearing zombies" or "seeing people" - pretty close. All in all, the acting was solid, the zombies were.... meh, I didn't think the zombies were anything new, inventive, or all that creative. The character development was solid and very appreciated as that is often overlooked in most movies. It had some really good moments, but also a handful of 'wtf' or 'come on' moments. I give it a 6.5 out of 10.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Well @FaCe-LeE-uS - I finally did it. I watched Train to Busan.

Keeping in mind that I am not as big into Zombie flicks as some of you.... It was pretty good. A few heavy uses of cliche, a handful of character problems, but I appreciated the family focus. The wife even mentioned that I called the ending because I said that it would end in a tunnel with us either "hearing zombies" or "seeing people" - pretty close. All in all, the acting was solid, the zombies were.... meh, I didn't think the zombies were anything new, inventive, or all that creative. The character development was solid and very appreciated as that is often overlooked in most movies. It had some really good moments, but also a handful of 'wtf' or 'come on' moments. I give it a 6.5 out of 10.

Fair 'nuff... Where the Korean Z-flicks excel is in their attention to detail. No they aren't exactly "creative" in terms of anything new that we haven't already seen before, nor is the plot anything spectacular, but their use of practical fx is far superior to 90% of the Z-flicks made here. They are crushing that sub-genre right now.

If you enjoyed that one, then you should give #Alive (2020) a chance.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

 

[Blackshirts BLVD]