Horror Movies

[BeaReylo]

The Stepford Wives (1975)-

Saw this when I was a kid. Didn't find it scary but was definitely unsettling and creepy. If someone's a horror fan they will appreciate Stepford Wives.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Watched the new Candyman and it was very meh. Saw a review that said more style than substance and that perfectly sums it up.

Wasn't very big on it either. The focus shifted to a more spiritual experience.

 

[returnofjakedog]

Saw this when I was a kid. Didn't find it scary but was definitely unsettling and creepy. If someone's a horror fan they will appreciate Stepford Wives.

I can't disagree with you on that. It is creepy and unsettling to an extent. I also think it is a great story, and essentially all aspects of the production are done well.

The issue for me is the pacing and the length. It is listed as 115 minutes, but the version I watched was 2 hours, 5 minutes (125 minutes). Unto itself that is not an issue but when you have 10 minute scenes with exposition that could have been done in 2 minutes, scenes that add to the progression but essentially repeat multiple times, etc., it makes it a little hard to sit through even if you are engaged.

A common theme I've found in reviewing horror movies here is run time issues:
Often times a story is stretched out too much to try to meet runtime. A recent example is M. Night Shyamalan's s Old. It was hurt by taking a concept that would have worked great as a 40 minute Twilight Zone type episode and extending it to 90 minutes plus. The opposite is true here in that I feel cutting 30 minutes of repeating behavior and dialogue would have helped make it a better experience.

Just my opinion, but I stand by my statement that while the original Stepford Wives is a decent movie with an excellent story, I feel that Jordan Peele's Us was a somewhat better version of what is essentially the same tale.

 

[returnofjakedog]

Wasn't very big on it either. The focus shifted to a more spiritual experience.

An @FaCe-LeE-uS sighting!

 

[returnofjakedog]

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

An @FaCe-LeE-uS sighting!

 

[BeaReylo]

Watching these videos make me want to watch The Shining again. Its one of those movies I hear about and seen parodied all my life and when I finally saw it it reallg did live up to the hype!

 

[DJ]

 

[DJ]

 

[DJ]

 

[DJ]

 

[returnofjakedog]

I've been holding onto this one for a bit:

Pin (1988)-

Late '80s Canuk psychological horror with an interesting storyline, and some good twists and performances.

A doctor (played by the always good Terry O'Quinn from Lost and The Stepfather) has a life sized medical dummy with translucent layers to show the interior systems. He has named it Pin, and uses it to teach his 2 young children about various subjects, using ventriloquism to make it "talk".
Then some weird things happen.
The focus then shifts to the children, now of high school age, particularly the older brother Leon, who thinks of Pin as his friend and has regular conversations with it. Dr. Dad takes notice and tries to get rid of Pin but, along with his wife, is killed in a batshit crazy car wreck scene (Cool stuff!). This leaves Leon and Pin unsupervised to manipulate and, if necessary, kill!
The sister is a bit of a slut, and Leon and Pin take umbrage at her "suitors". An aunt moves in to help the kids, only to get on Pin's bad side. Things escalate and the crazy peaks out in a interesting and "fun" conclusion.⁸

Some cool stuff:
*Johnathan Banks (Mike from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul!) voices Pin, and he actually has a lot of lines. Pin is basically a fully realized character.
*Director Sandor Stern was a private investigator who wrote screenplays on the side. In the late '60s he broke into the tv market, where he both wrote and directed shows and series episodes for many years. His most famous work was probably as the writer on the original The Amityville Horror.
*The young actor David Hewlitt plays Leon and does a fine job overall. He went on to appear in the likes of The Cube, Rise of Planet of the Apes, The Shape of Water, etc

Even though there is little in the way of blood and gore, I really liked this one. It is low budget and does have a '80s Canadian feel to it, but neither are big negatives imo.

Highly recommended at 7 to 8 range in my book. That is a higher score than IMDB (6.6), Letterboxed (6.8) or RT give it, so my score might be a bit higher than most but I really enjoyed it.

 

[Sparhawk]

Watching these videos make me want to watch The Shining again. Its one of those movies I hear about and seen parodied all my life and when I finally saw it it reallg did live up to the hype!

Room 237 was a good documentary on the symbolism and interpretation of Kubrick's directing in the Shining.
I have not watched the Youtube videos, so I don't know if they draw from that.

 

[DJ]

 

[UVA_Guy81]

View attachment 297944

 

[DJ]

 

[DJ]

 

[returnofjakedog]

Rockin xenos!

 

[BeaReylo]

Room 237 was a good documentary on the symbolism and interpretation of Kubrick's directing in the Shining.
I have not watched the Youtube videos, so I don't know if they draw fropim that.

Haven't watched Room 237, myself but since you brought it to my attention I'll give it a go, thanks!

 

[DJ]