Horror Movies

[Blackshirts BLVD]

That was @Nasty_Magician. That was the only one that I haven’t watched yet (Bly Manor).

Well sorry for any spoilers lol.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Well sorry for any spoilers lol.

He more or less alluded to it not being as good so I wasn’t surprised to read your input. I opted not to watch it until I’m desperate for new material

 

[returnofjakedog]

Ok then.........so in my recent viewings of old, often low budget and public domain horror movies I have only stumbled across a few that I'd actually consider interesting and worthy of possibly rewatching. Last night I switched on a movie that I'd only vaguely heard mentioned somewhere before, and had some "Whooo.....wtf is this?" moments, and generally really enjoyed the ride!

The movie is Spider Baby (1964 but not released until '68)-


Spider Baby is about a "family" that is affected by a degenerative mental illness and their caretaker who are forced to open their house to some outside relatives due to a contested will. The "family" consists of 2 girls of late teen age, and their brother who looks like a pinhead and can't speak.

This one is a bit batshit crazy! The girls have the mental capacity of maybe 6 to 9 years old and don't seem to have a problem killing folks out of necessity or just for fun.
Lon Chaney Jr. (yes, the iconic Wolfman, as well as many turns as Frankenstein, the Mummy, etc) plays the sympathetic caretaker who tries to protect the "kids" and also protect the world from them. You can kinda guess how that goes.
After I finished watching, I read about the movie and was literally shocked that the mute, pinhead brother was played by a young Sid Haig! I didn't recognize him at all.
The good-
*Acting- the 2 girls playing the sisters are great, as is Sid as the brother, and Lon C. Some of the other roles vary in quality but the family is so engrossing that it doesn't really matter.
*Story and direction- the whole movie just feels a bit weird and crazy. The beginning and finale are quite good. It does slow a bit here and there but it never drags.

The bad-
*Goofiness can be a bit overboard with some characters and situations. This is a black comedy with horror but it might have been better suited to keep the humor more subtle in some instances.

How do you describe it? Maybe The Addam's Family if you replace the monsters with crazy folk, and actually have a lot of violence and death in it instead of straight laugh track comedy?
I've always attributed The Texas Chainsaw Massacre to being the main infuence on Rob Zombie's directing style. But after seeing this and knowing that White Zombie had a song "Spiderbaby" I can now clearly see that his style is a straight up blend of TCM and Spider Baby, as this family is very obviously where he gets the Firefly family for his trilogy from. Please note that, much like TCM, I enjoy this movie much more than RZ's films so don't be turned off by that association.

Lastly I will note that this was basically a lost film with only a very rare, incomplete, and poor quality version being available until the original negatives were discovered in the 90s.

This one is interesting for old school horror fans. There is basically nothing like it from it's time period.

Oh, I also love the theme song!

I'll go 7.5 outta 10. Check it out!

 

[returnofjakedog]

Another big dump of often crappy old school horror reviews. I think I am about done with these so I shouldn't clog up the board after this. But I might go back and rewatch the Universal Monster classics at some point.

Anyways.........

The Cat Creature (1973)-

An ancient mummy creature in the form of a cat is released from it's shackles and hypnotizes and kills people. The police and a university professor investigate the many cat-related deaths with many scratches and bites being discovered on the corpses.
An ok entry but nothing special. They hilariously throw many cats at people in a few scenes which is might also be a bit cruel.
The highlight for me is that it was written by the great Robert Bloch who penned Psycho (among others). This was his ode to Cat People (another classic I need to see).
5 outta 10 range for me. Just ok.

Deathdream (aka Dead of Night) (1974)-
A soldier is killed in Vietnam and his family is informed. Some time later he appears at their door. Of course everyone is thrilled but there is something different and wrong with Andy who starts killing and drinking people's blood to ward off ever increasing decay.
An interesting movie that is hampered by budget, and the decision to make the zombie-Andy as an unfeeling automaton when they could have had him slowly go over the top with him as a raving ghoul.
A takeoff of The Monkey's Paw legend.
Directed by Bob Clark, who famously directed not only the classic A Christmas Story, but also the original Black Christmas and Porky's (so he did some cool stuff across multiple genres).
6 outta 10 range for me. Slow but a bit of a creepy ambience.

Legacy of Blood (aka Will to Die, aka Blood Legacy) (1971)-

A wealthy head of the family dies forces his heirs to stay in his mansion with the instructions that his fortune be equally divided among anyone who survives the weekend. This includes the servants who he initially leaves nothing to.
This one is pretty bad. Some decent stuff but not enough to highlight or make it worthwhile.
The one servant freaked me out because he looks just like Mel Brooks on a ton of steroids.
3.5 outta 10 range to me.

The Ghoul (1933)-

Finally a Karloff feature in the deep dive!
Boris is a dying Egyptologist who posesses a jewel that will ressurect him. He provides very specific instructions to accomplish this, but these instructions are ignored as everyone tries to steal the jewel. So Boris and his enormous eyebrows rise from the grave to seek vengence.
Not at the level of his Frankenstein or Mummy movies but not the worst of his either. The plot seems a bit light and redundant but was probably quite a bit fresher at the time.

Ummm.....how about 5.5 to 6 outta 10. I'm probably a bit generous on that rating from the perspective of a modern viewer but I am taking into account that it is almost 90 years old into my rating.

Teenage Zombies (1959)-

A group of teens stumble across an island laboratory where an evil scientist and her minions (which include a hulking zombie-type and a gorilla) are perfecting a zombie gas to try to take over the world for communist overlords.
This one is a convoluted mess. Bad acting, plot, dialog, etc, etc.
3 outta 10 range overall for me but a 6 outta 10 as a "so bad, it's good" viewing.

Lady Frankenstein (1971)-

Low budget Italian schlock retells the tale of Frankenstein if the Dr. was killed and his power grabbing daughter continued his work by manipulating with money and sex. Of course this leads to nothing good.

For what it is I kinda liked it. The dubbing isn't great but not the worst I've seen. The exploitation aspects come off as intended, and the story flows ok.
I'll go 5 to 5.5 outta 10 range. It's flaws seem to dictate a lower rating but I enjoyed it more than expected despite it's limitations.

The Curse of the Living Corpse (1964)-

CURSE OF THE LIVING CORPSE - Official Trailer

In the true "Old Dark House" tradition comes THE CURSE OF THE LIVING CORPSE, an early gore pic known as one of the first "slasher" films ever made! New Engla...

m.youtube.com

Somewhat similar to The Ghoul, another rich guy dies, and leaves specific instructions that his heirs ignore so he seemingly rises from the dead to extract revenge by killing them innthe way they fear most.

Not too much to say about it. Pretty boring. The main point of interest being that it is the film debut of Roy Schneider.

4 outta 10 range from me.

 

[returnofjakedog]

........continued:

Vault of Horror (1973)-

We might have discussed this one some before, but anyways.......
An anthology based on material from EC Comics, and considered to be a sequel of sorts to the 1972 Tales From the Crypt.
5 strangers board an elevator where they are dumped into a luxury room in a basement with no apparent means of escape. They settle in for a drink and discuss the weird, vivid dreams they have been having.
The first dream is about a man who tracks his family-estranged sister to a small town so he can kill her and claim her inheritance. But the town itselfs holds some dark secrets.
The next is about a wealthy older asshole who marries a (somewhat) younger wife but is constantly pissed off and emotionally abuses her if she changes anything at all in his tidy house. The marriage doesn’t end well.
The 3rd is about a couple that goes to great lengths to still a rope trick from a bazaar vendor in India. Not bad, but probably my least fav of the bunch.
4th is about a man who is buried alive as part of an insurance scam only to be betrayed and left to suffocate. But some grave robbers unintentionally change the outcome.
Lastly, a poor painter living in Haiti finds out his works are being sold for big $$ back in England by the same persons who told him they were not worth anything. So he hires a witchdoctor and curses the offenders via making vodoo affected portraits of them.
I am a sucker for anthology films, and this one is pretty good. It has the feel of the Night Gallery/Tales From the Crypt/Creepshow stuff and is overall well executed. Of course some of the shorts are better than others.
Overall, a 7 to 7.5 outta 10 range from me. A pretty fun watch!

The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (1966)-

Another Karloff appearance but sadly not a good one, and he isn't in it too much.
This one is a slapstick comedy related to the inane beach party movies of the time.
Boris' ghost rises from his coffin to be informed by a bikini clad lady ghost that he needs to do a good deed to get into heaven. So the bikini ghost acts as his liason to help stop the crooked attorney from stealing the fortune from the teenage heirs and their party companions that have descended onto the estate.
None of this makes any sense. The bad guys are stupid and over the top, the kids are vapid and just want to dance around the pool, the bikini ghost acts as a plot device makes shit happen now and again. It is essentially one big Scooby Doo episode without any of the charm or interesting characters. Even the "invisible bikini" is bullshit as it is only filming the actress on a green screen in a green bikini so they can just add the background to the bikini (young boys in the '60s were probably very disappointed).
Campy and cheesy but not in a "so bad it's good" way. It just mildly pissed me off.
I'll go 3.5 outta 10 range. Only worth watching if you like 60's beach blanket music as the likes of Nancy Sinatra, Bobby Fuller, and others play some tunes.

Carnival of Souls (1962)-

I know we talked a little about this one already, and I saw it years ago at some point. But I enjoyed watching it again.

Three girls drive off of a bridge, and only one emerges from the water alive. She seems strangely disaffected, and leaves to become a church organist in Salt Lake City. There she begins having more and more strange visions of creepy ghouls and such.
This movie provided a strange, creepy ambiance that made what would have otherwise been a somewhat pedestrian horror film into a disturbing experience that the likes of Romero, David Lynch and others claim were a huge infuence on them (I can see it in their work). Some modern viewers might not be impressed but it was kinda groundbreaking in '62.
Also, it was filmed in guerrilla-style for about $30,000, so a pretty impressive legacy for the budget.

7 to 7.5 outta 10 range from me. A must see for classic genre enthusiasts!

 

[Nasty_Magician]

Watched the series Elves on Netflix, great concept and had a few redeemable moments but they really didn't hit the mark. Could have been great but the character development, pacing, decision making and likely budget prevented this from reaching it's potential. Worth a watch, only 6 episodes each about 25 minutes. Keep the bar very low going in.

 

[Blackshirts BLVD]

Midnight Mass was definitely the best of the three, but Hill House isn't bad. It drags in some spots as it tries to work through each character, it works as everything ties together and shares in a meaning, something that I felt severely lacked in Bly Manor.

6/10.

 

[DJ Fieri]

 

[Chef99]

The precursor to 'Alien'.

Both Howard Hawkes and Ridley Scott approve.

 

[returnofjakedog]

The precursor to 'Alien'.

Both Howard Hawkes and Ridley Scott approve. View attachment 284360

I'll have to check it out.

 

[Sparhawk]

The precursor to 'Alien'.

Both Howard Hawkes and Ridley Scott approve. View attachment 284360

I had to look it up, but It's really hard to believe that 'The Thing From Another World' was from1951.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

 

[returnofjakedog]

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

View attachment 284474

I feel like I need to smoke a bowl & drink a fifth of bourbon to digest this...

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Watched Death Valley (2021) over the weekend... Pretty cool movie although it lacked consistency. It was very much a cross between Doom (2005) and Lone Survivor (2013)... The action/war elements were a tad much which made it feel like it had an identity crisis; not knowing whether it wanted to be horror or action. But it did have some pretty damn cool visuals. The sit-rep thing was something straight out of Call of Duty lol, which I can appreciate. Needed more from the horror side of things though, but not a bad watch.

 

[Sparhawk]

I watched Bloodthirsty on IMDB TV through my cable provider for free.

Bloodthirsty (2020) ⭐ 4.8 | Drama, Horror, Music

1h 24m | Not Rated

www.imdb.com

Interesting take on werewolf mythology.
Not too much gore, but there were some suspenseful scenes.
6.5/10

 

[returnofjakedog]

I watched Bloodthirsty on IMDB TV through my cable provider for free.

Bloodthirsty (2020) ⭐ 4.8 | Drama, Horror, Music

1h 24m | Not Rated

www.imdb.com

Interesting take on werewolf mythology.
Not too much gore, but there were some suspenseful scenes.
6.5/10

I decent werewolf flick?? That is as rare as a 5 leaf clover! I'll have to check it out.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Anyone else in here watching Dexter: New Blood?

 

[Sparhawk]

Anyone else in here watching Dexter: New Blood?

Yup.

Looks like the writing is a bit sharper.