Horror Movies

[Sharkonabicycle]

My niece recommended Antlers, so now I'm confused.

I guess I'll have to watch it myself to decide!

I was really excited for that movie but it kind of fell flat.

It's a bit of a drama mixed in with some horror elements and about a Wendigo. I REALLY wish a Wendigo movie would come out like the video game Until Dawn. I've watched basically every Wendigo movie I can find and nothing comes CLOSE to that game's story. No surprise it was good as Larry Fessenden writes, produces, directs, and even acts (he was the flamethrower guy in Until Dawn) almost exclusively horror films (mostly Indy/smaller projects).

Anyway, the pacing in the movie is pretty slow... couple guys are salvaging a mine and something attacks them. One guy's kid is the focus of the movie and there's a drama story between him, fine ass Keri Russell, and the poor mans Matt Damon from Breaking Bad.

Long story short, the Dad got bit and infected by some creature (we assume?) and wants human flesh. This all happens pretty early and it's obvious what's happening so I really don't feel like I'm spoiling anything here. Anyway, the wendigo/goat/antler thing then attacks a few people and retreats back to the mines. Keri figures out what's going on and goes to discover and kill it to save the poor boy from his demon goat Dad. Meh and meh. The final monster reveal is pretty cool but largely impractical and pretty underwhelming with the ending and 'fight' scene. It's kind of a 'yawn' watch but I like the dreary/cold town and cinematography. Keri and the actors here really seem to just be mailing it in lol.

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

You leave Aliens with an established kinda family dynamic: Ripley as mother, Hicks as father, Newt as child, and you can even throw in Bishop as an uncle/grandfather type. This is cannon.

The writers then decide they want to kill off this dynamic. They want Ripley to (again) hit rock bottom. Fine. It works as a path to take.

You then immediately kill off Newt and Hicks with no context and very little emotional impact.

It makes zero sense! They had plenty of options that would have still fit their narrative but they took the easy and lazy way out instead of showing an ounce of intelligence and foresight.

If you are going to kill them off, then do it right!

Yah I think the issue was by the time they filmed it Newt was 6 years older... hard to re-cast her, and how do you explain her growth? My thought was the Cryotubes failed (Sigourney/Biehn still aged 6 years in real life) and the halted aging process stopped. Hell the pod would've had to have been breached anyway for a facehugger to get in there.

It would've been interesting to see a teenage girl and adult female in a prison full of male convicts try to deal with it. Newt would be inexperienced around men like that (especially at an age where you've sexually matured) and Ellen would again have to be the mother and fighter to protect her while relying on the good guys (like Dillon and Clemons) to get through it. And then Ellen would still have to make the ultimate sacrifice which would be incredibly impactful because Newt may be all that's left.

As for Hicks, maybe he survives and dies after reaching the prison, or gets killed by an alien, or dies on the ship... or maybe killed by the other convicts trying to defend Ellen/Newt, I dunno... they were absolutely beloved characters though and to write them out that way was pretty wtf, lol.

That movie went through so many re-writes, multiple scripts, Weaver wanted MASSIVE control over the script and direction it went, etc. It was just a giant cluster F of a production. The studio was definitely not happy as it was costing WAY more than budgeted, etc. Just sloppily made and I think Hollyweird got way too involved since they knew it could be a decent cash grab thanks to Alien/Aliens. When you know the final product was supposed to be a monk Monastery with a Death Star style structure built out of wood where you could walk out in space because it was shielded by some atmosphere/protective barrier... lol, who knows where the hell it could've gone...


I still enjoy Alien 3, it had potential just lacked massive direction/storytelling.
Alien Resurrection was worse, but in a schlock way, and I LOVE some schlock. That movie was so over the top that I couldn't stop myself from laughing several times through it.

 

[returnofjakedog]

A trio of variable quality:

The Black Cat (1981)-

People are dying in horrific fashion, and an old man and his cat are at the center of it all.
Another Lucio Fulci flick, but not quite up to his Gates of Hell level of quality. Still, it has some good violence and gore, as well as an interesting, if not entirely original, storyline.
This one is based on mythos surrounding black cats and doesn't necessarily deviate in significant fashion from an oft-told old tale.
I'll go 5.5 to 6 outta 10 range for fans of Fulci and '70s style British horror (I know this was '80s but it feels '70s).
I would go a bit higher but I just can't buy into the "cat horror" subgenre much as I don't find them spooky. Sleepwalkers is fun because it is so batshit crazy but it is a horrible film. I think that the Tales from the Darkside movie The Cat from Hell segment, where a cat eats its way out of Buster Poindexter's mouth might be my fav.

Midnight Offerings (1981)-
(I couldn't find a trailer but here is a clip)

A high school bitch has witchy powers due to her lineage, and uses them for selfish and evil purposes. But a new girl also has some powers and likes the same boy! Oh no!!
Not bad, not great. Some good acting. Lower production values and a lack of gore (made for tv).

I'll give it a 4.5 to 5ish outta 10 area. Kinda a precursor to 1996's much sleeker The Craft.

Theatre of Blood (1973)-

A group of theater critics get off'ed one by one in gruesome fashion according to the writings of William Shakespeare. Vincent Price plays the crazed actor who, with his group of underground dwelling disciples, manage to continuously outwit the authorities.

I feel bad about this one as Vincent Price listed it as one of his fav roles because he was allowed to do speeches from Shakespeare, and Diana Riggs called it her best film. It holds a 96% on RT, and a 7.3 on IMDB. Despite this, I didn't like it too much.
I think my biggest problem is that at heart this is a goofy horror-comedy but I didn't figure that out until partly through the flick. The comedy aspects come more from the critic/victims who harrumph around being as completely 1950s British as possible even when confronted by their impending doom. Now I love Monty Python stuff but the "I say old chap, you seem to be killing me" type doesn't seem to work here imo.
To me this film seems to suffer from tonal schizophrenia as it is a comedy-horror that isn't very effective in either genre.
I guiltily give it a 4.5 to 5 outta 10 range from me, while I wonder what the actual critics saw in it that I didn't.

 

[returnofjakedog]

I was really excited for that movie but it kind of fell flat.

It's a bit of a drama mixed in with some horror elements and about a Wendigo. I REALLY wish a Wendigo movie would come out like the video game Until Dawn. I've watched basically every Wendigo movie I can find and nothing comes CLOSE to that game's story. No surprise it was good as Larry Fessenden writes, produces, directs, and even acts (he was the flamethrower guy in Until Dawn) almost exclusively horror films (mostly Indy/smaller projects).

Anyway, the pacing in the movie is pretty slow... couple guys are salvaging a mine and something attacks them. One guy's kid is the focus of the movie and there's a drama story between him, fine ass Keri Russell, and the poor mans Matt Damon from Breaking Bad.

Long story short, the Dad got bit and infected by some creature (we assume?) and wants human flesh. This all happens pretty early and it's obvious what's happening so I really don't feel like I'm spoiling anything here. Anyway, the wendigo/goat/antler thing then attacks a few people and retreats back to the mines. Keri figures out what's going on and goes to discover and kill it to save the poor boy from his demon goat Dad. Meh and meh. The final monster reveal is pretty cool but largely impractical and pretty underwhelming with the ending and 'fight' scene. It's kind of a 'yawn' watch but I like the dreary/cold town and cinematography. Keri and the actors here really seem to just be mailing it in lol.

Pet Semetary and Ravenous are technically wendigo movies, though the actual creatures don't really appear in either film. (Note: Ravenous is f'n awesome and one of my fav horror movies!)

Try Dark was the Night (2014) or Wendigo (2002) if you haven't seen them. I also hear The Retreat (2020) is pretty good but I haven't seen it.

There is also a S1 episode of The X-Files called Shapes and a S7 episode called Hungry that are wendigo related. There are a few more X-Files that imply that direction but I think those 2 are probably the most related.

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

Pet Semetary and Ravenous are technically wendigo movies, though the actual creatures don't really appear in either film. (Note: Ravenous is f'n awesome and one of my fav horror movies!)

Try Dark was the Night (2014) or Wendigo (2002) if you haven't seen them. I also hear The Retreat (2020) is pretty good but I haven't seen it.

There is also a S1 episode of The X-Files called Shapes and a S7 episode called Hungry that are wendigo related. There are a few more X-Files that imply that direction but I think those 2 are probably the most related.

Ravenous actually was really good. Been a while since I've seen it but I really liked the setting of the film. Carlyle was great in that movie.
Dark was the Night wasn't too terrible and Wendigo of course I've seen (also directed by Fessender).
Pet Semetary was so so (I liked the first one, couldn't really get into the second).
X Files Shapes, and Hungry were pretty decent. I remember watching Shapes as a kid and the porch scene was scary. Alpha really wasn't Wendigo but that episode was creepy with the dog eyes.

The Retreat I have not heard of, maybe I'll give that a go. Looks like it's pretty recent. Ratings aren't great but that rarely stops me lol.

I guess I wish they'd do a Wendigo movie where it's just straight forward, and that was Until Dawn to a tee. No psychological elements, no goofball plot or confusing twists, etc. No 'drag' moments of speaking with some Native American in a store for 20 minutes talking about rituals, and blah blah blah. Until Dawn was just

Spoiler

"Look, miners got trapped and resorted to cannibalism. There's an ancient spirit out here that turns them into the wendigo, that's what took your friend. They are scary creatures that do scary things and kill humans. Let's now pick up the pacing, reveal this freaky ass thing, and get the hell out of this ISOLATED environment while we can. Again like SO many great horror movies, the feeling of isolation, mystery, horror, and creature design was just PERFECT. Funny a video game shat all over what any movie has done regarding that creature/lore

 

[returnofjakedog]

Faust: Love of the Damned (2000)-

Lol! You want schlock?!? Well, it doesn't get much schlockier than this one!

Brian Yunza, who produced Re-Animator and From Beyond and directed the likes of Society and many more, brings us this anti-hero graphic novel based revenge movie about a guy who literally sells his soul to become a crazed demon-superhero.

A lot to unpack here. The acting ranges from average to bad. The lead seems totally miscast (it is probably more direction than his acting? Who knows for sure) but to great comic effect as an intense bug-eyed crazy dude (he stops short of going full on Jim Carrey). There is also a ton of sexual assault, and wholesale slaughter of police officers. Despite (or perhaps because of) all of this it was a fun watch.

The highlights are great special fxs loaded with slime, blood, and gratuitous body horror.

Some more "highlights" that had me laughing:
*The psychiatrist lady sleeping with the lead and telling him that she wanted to make love to him from the first moment she saw him. Now, sit aside that the doc shouldn't be screwing her patients, but the first time she met him he was a drooling loon in a straight jacket who writes on the wall in blood and attacks her! Apparently this is a big turn on!
*The devil antagonist guy turning his always horny concubine into a huge pile of tits and ass is pretty hilarious.
*The ending. The whole ending is "great" (it even has a big demon orgy), but particularly the big shock line.
Oh dear......I don't want to say what it is. It has to be seen to be believed, but don't be drinking anything or you might spit it out of your nose!

Tons of graphic gore and violence. Over the top characters with cheesy dialogue and questionable acting. The great Jeffrey Combs plays a supporting role, but they should have made him the lead imo (I know why they didn't, but still!). Great late '90s metal soundtrack (Machinehead, Sepultura, Type O Negative, Soulfly, Phil Anselmo, etc. etc.)

To be clear: This is not a good movie. It is a complete mess, and appears to be trying to make a superhero movie out of a graphic body horror. I'd probably rate it about a 4.5 to 5 as a movie, BUT as it stands with the crazed so-bad-it's-good feel I can give it a 7 outta 10 for pure ridiculous entertainment value.

 

[returnofjakedog]

Belial wants you to caption this one folks!

 

[Chef99]

Lol, we've got a run on "Demon Goat" posts!

I blame Ernest Borgnine!

 

[returnofjakedog]

Lol, we've got a run on "Demon Goat" posts!

I blame Ernest Borgnine!

I think he should have worn this for ALL of his roles!

 

[returnofjakedog]

Ravenous actually was really good. Been a while since I've seen it but I really liked the setting of the film. Carlyle was great in that movie.
Dark was the Night wasn't too terrible and Wendigo of course I've seen (also directed by Fessender).
Pet Semetary was so so (I liked the first one, couldn't really get into the second).
X Files Shapes, and Hungry were pretty decent. I remember watching Shapes as a kid and the porch scene was scary. Alpha really wasn't Wendigo but that episode was creepy with the dog eyes.

The Retreat I have not heard of, maybe I'll give that a go. Looks like it's pretty recent. Ratings aren't great but that rarely stops me lol.

I guess I wish they'd do a Wendigo movie where it's just straight forward, and that was Until Dawn to a tee. No psychological elements, no goofball plot or confusing twists, etc. No 'drag' moments of speaking with some Native American in a store for 20 minutes talking about rituals, and blah blah blah. Until Dawn was just

Spoiler

"Look, miners got trapped and resorted to cannibalism. There's an ancient spirit out here that turns them into the wendigo, that's what took your friend. They are scary creatures that do scary things and kill humans. Let's now pick up the pacing, reveal this freaky ass thing, and get the hell out of this ISOLATED environment while we can. Again like SO many great horror movies, the feeling of isolation, mystery, horror, and creature design was just PERFECT. Funny a video game shat all over what any movie has done regarding that creature/lore

I don't know anything about the Until Dawn video game but it sounds decent.

The wendigo mythos has a bit of mystery surrounding it. I'm guessing that is because it was prevalent across all of the Native American cultures back in the day which also meant there were differences depending on the many tribes and vast regions it encompassed. That allows for a lot of variation.
What is interesting to me is the claim that the original wendigo mythos didn't really have animal characteristics, but was moreso a spirit-infected demonistic cannibal gaunt human. They say the animal aspects were added by Europeans as it matched up better with their lycanthropy legends.

 

[returnofjakedog]

More Italian schlock with the Demons trilogy!

Demons (1985)-

A guy with a very Phantom of the Opera style mask and look gives people free tickets to a movie in an reopening old theatre. But one attendee gets "infected" by a demon and starts attacking everyone, thus spreading to possessions. Lots of fighting and gore as the locked in survivors try to escape.

A lot of good stuff here, but also some bad. The demons are very Evil Dead-like but don't do the psychological attack aspects, only the physical.

The acting is hit and miss at best, and the dubbing doesn't help. But the story execution is fun and well done.

The movie they are watching in the theatre is a somewhat fun slasher flick. They show you a lot of it but it eventually disappears as the demon attacks ramp up. I kinda wish I could see the whole thing!
Regardless, a cool integration of the fake slasher movie into the actual movie is pretty fun. It reminds me of Craven's introduction of the Stab movies into the Scream universe.

Lots of good demon attacks and related gore.

Excellent soundtrack of '80s hard rock and metal! They use Accept's Fast as a Shark for a big dirtbike vs demonsin the theatre battle.

A weird and kinda stupid sub characters that eventually work their way into the plot involves a group of idiots driving crazily through the city and snorting coke out of a Coca Cola can. They are ridiculous and take up way too much time onscreen, and the cops chasing them are even worse. Just plop them into the main story instead of all of the crap.

This one is produced by Argento, and directed by Mario Bava's son Lamberto.

I'll go 7 to 7.5 outta 10 range. Again, be aware of the dubbing, dialogue, and acting constraints going in, as well as the thin plot (typical of Italian horror) that relies more on look and feel than story.

Demons 2 (1986)-

Made by Argento and Lamberto Bava 1 year after their original, this one is very similar in style, feel, and plot to Demons. But this time it involves a birthday party in a high rise instead of the movie theatre. However they do connect the 2 stories by having a group of teens go into the locked down area from the first movie and accidently revive the demons, which then infect the partiers through a tv report about it?? (It makes no sense, but whatever!).

Anyways, it essentially the same movie as the first with changes in characters and location (for example, a group of bodybuilders go Alamo in the parking garage, instead of the movie goers in the theatre).
It also has the same weaknesses (questionable acting, dubbing, dialogue, and a thin plot) and strengths (fun story, lots of gore and violence) so I won't go into further detail.

6 to 6.5 outta 10 from me. Not quite as good as the first but still decent. The 2 films do integrate well with each other.

After that there are a few movies that went by the Demons 3 moniker, including the Italian made Black Demons (1991) and Lamberto Bava's own The Ogre (1988) but none of them are cannon to the series (they also did similar with other movies, up to parts 6 or so). I have watched those ones, but I did watch.....

The Church (1988)-
This one is based on a script both Dario Argento and Lamberto Bava were working on, they eventually handed it off to Michele Soavi to direct.
I was very excited for this one because Soavi's weird-ass Dellamorte Dellamore/Cemetery Man is a very underrated favorite of mine. But I was disappointed by the lack of the crazy comedic stylings of Cemetery Man.

Anyways, this one opens with a bunch of knights who slaughter a supposedly demon infected village and build a church over their burial site to contain them.
Fast forward some centuries and the old church has a new librarian who hooks up with an art restoration lady who is working there, much to the chagrin of the grumpy old bishop. They start looking into the history and the greedy librarian starts digging for treasure in the catacombs, but instead ends up freeing the demons. The bishop locks down the church and all of the people inside have to fight to escape the oncoming evil.

I had trouble with this one as it takes itself way more seriously than the slimey schlock of parts 1 and 2. It is still well done but I found myself being a bit bored. I think this might be due to the expectations as it might not have dragged for me if I went into it as a stand alone movie.

But there are positives. The acting is generally better that parts 1 and 2, it has a much more intricate plot (almost to the point of being convoluted), and the gore and fxs are pretty good, particularly the final giant demon in the catacombs.

I'm going 5 to 5.5 outta 10 range. It might be higher on a rewatch though.

Sadly, Michele Soavi quit directing for some years as he was taking care of his sick child. When he did return in the early 2000's it was mostly Italian tv, and different genre movies. It doesn't appear that he has returned much to horror.

 

[Blackshirts BLVD]

This would be EXACTLY how I get roped into a horror movie

 

[Chef99]

This would be EXACTLY how I get roped into a horror movie

View attachment 288546

Well, yeah...

 

[Sparhawk]

Anyone watching All of Us Are Dead on Netflix? It's a South Korean zombie series. Not sure what to think of it right now.

Not yet but it sounds up my alley! What are your views on it?

I'm 8 episodes in.
It's ok.

Decent original story around why it happened.

Fairly violent with decent gore, but not too ground breaking.

Best part for me is they probably have some very flexible actors that make the turning into a zombie a bit chaotic and fun.
Other than that, there are multiple storylines that appear to be coming together and a zombie variant that I'm not too sure about.

6/10 for me so far.

 

[Blackshirts BLVD]

Not yet but it sounds up my alley! What are your views on it?

I did watch this dubbed, so with that said, I will not be talking about the actors as dubbed voice actors are rarely good. There were a few instances where I thought the facial, body acting was subpar, but it was mostly pretty decent.

It has some interesting things. It attempts to add to zombie lore by treating it like an actual virus that evolves/mutates, changing how it affects the host. However, I think they lose it or fail to really go too far into it. The characters are pretty binary in that they are specifically meant to like or hate, very little is done to add depth in my opinion. Right when you think depth or change is coming to a character, something else happens. I felt that the show was setting up for one type of ending, only for that not to happen and the ending in general to be drawn out and lack luster. The pacing is definitely off too. Often it will feel very fast and then a long lull, followed by the episode ending in the middle of some sort of reveal or in the middle of the action. It's weird. It wasn't terrible, but I felt it could have been done a lot better.

btw, South Korean culture is pretty cool.

5 or 6 out of 10.

 

[Nasty_Magician]

Sorry if posted previously, God I hope this doesn't suck:

 

[Sparhawk]

Sorry if posted previously, God I hope this doesn't suck:

Honestly, if you had told me that was the new Swamp Thing remake on the CW17, I would have bought into it.....

I must say this..... brilliant marketing flashing those blurbs on the screen for a mere second.
Strong start with hanging on rogerebert.com, but we get a mere second when it comes to But Why Tho and Comingsoon.net.

 

[returnofjakedog]

Sadako vs Kayako (2016)-
Aka: The Ring vs The Grudge

A couple of teen Japanese girls watch the cursed video, and then start scrambling to try to keep from being killed by the evil spirit Sadako (The Ring). At the same time a family moves in next door to the haunted house from The Grudge and their teen daughter starts investigating the disappearance of 4 young boys she saw near there. Eventually the girl's paths cross and in desperation they draw Sadako into the haunted house where she does battle with both Kayako and Toshio (the small boy ghost).

A slick fxs driven story that has some good and "fun" moments but ultimately falls short for various reasons. The teenage girls dealing with Sadako seem to exist to get other people killed and scream in terror while hugging each other. The other protagonists come off as thinly portrayed but this could be at least partly due to the subtitles/language barrier. The final showdown is ok but takes a long time to manifest (I feel bringing the demons/ghosts together sooner and having an extended battle might have been a better path).

I know some people are not big fans of The Ring for various reasons, but I'm curious if these same folks have seen the original Japanese films Ringu, or Ju-on (the original The Grudge) or not. I also have problems being completely unbiased about The Ring as they filmed quite a lot of it in and around my tiny hometown. But I did rewatch 2002's The Ring recently, and while it didn't completely hold up it was well done (certainly better than the horrible Ring 2, or ridiculous and forgettable The Rings).

Anyways, this one was a bit of an interesting swing and a foul tip. If you like the franchises and can handle the subtitles then it is worth a watch but otherwise......
5 to 5.5 outta 10 range for me.

The story progressed ok, and there are generally good fxs, but I had some trouble caring about the characters who seem to be secondary to the inevitable big face off.

I do note that, like these movies or not, Ringu and Ju-on were groundbreaking at their time and deserve credit for opening the American market to Asian horror. Without these movies we probably wouldn't be seeing the likes of Train to Busen or Parasite. So kudos for opening the door!

 

[returnofjakedog]

Sorry if posted previously, God I hope this doesn't suck:

It looks like it could be good. It appears well made from the trailer.

......as always, fingers crossed!

 

[Podunkparte]

Sorry if posted previously, God I hope this doesn't suck:

Trailer looks decent. I'm usually a fan of horror in that colonial setting.

Of course I'm looking forward to any upcoming A24 genre flick, especially with Alex Garland, so here's one.