Horror Movies

[Nasty_Magician]

HBO has all the classic monster movies on there now, just watched The Curse of Frankenstein (1957). Not as good as Horror of Dracula but still a good mood setter in the background. There's a few more on there I'll be plowing through in the coming days. If anyone has recommendations for pre 70s horror throw them my way.

 

[Nasty_Magician]

Dracula A.D 72 which is apparently a sequel to Horror of Dracula was really bad. The funked out 1972 score took me out of the movie completely, it was hilarious. The acting was totally over the top, I think a lot of drugs went into the making of this one.

Also almost forgot, I tried getting through the Rob Zombie Munsters movie, made it 35 minutes in and had to rap out. The movie itself wasn't very good but the casting was absolutely attrocious.

 

[returnofjakedog]

HBO has all the classic monster movies on there now, just watched The Curse of Frankenstein (1957). Not as good as Horror of Dracula but still a good mood setter in the background. There's a few more on there I'll be plowing through in the coming days. If anyone has recommendations for pre 70s horror throw them my way.

Here are a few that I have reviewed here in recent years:

The Witchfinder General (68)- one of Vincent Price's best and his sidekick is evil as heck also. The protagonists aren't great but quite good overall.

Night of the Living Dead (68)- I'm persuming everyone has seen seen it, but if you haven't........solidly acted and hugely influential. A dark story with a bitter ending.

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane (62)- Joan Crawford and Betty Davis are great as a couple of actor-sisters who hate each other. Good and well executed story with a nasty twist

White Zombie (32)- Bela Legosi plays a creepy, evil witchdoctor who turns his enemies into zombies and keeps them enslaved A solid film for over 90 years old, but it does show it's age. Legosi is the highlight.

I Bury the Living (58)- A compact little story about a cemetery caretaker who may or may not be able to kill people via the cemetery map. Has the feel of a good, extended Twilight Zone movie.

Spider Baby (64)- A weird-assed film where Lon Chaney Jr plays caretaker to 3 young and murderous family members. Crazed performances and an out of control feel carry it. Highly recommended.

House of Wax (53)- Another Vincent Price vehicle! A fun romp with some good performances. The pandering to the 3D gimmick, and a bit of story issues hurt it just a little but still a fun watch.

The Terror (63)- Roger Corman directs, and Boris Karloff and Jack Nicholson star in this nonsensical haunting-revenge flick. Made in a couple of days in a castle, using leftover sets from The Raven, using a script literally written on the fly and meant to copy Poe's work, it is a bit of a mess, but an interesting one.

Nosferatu (1922)- Perhaps the original classic horror movie! A "reimagining" (or rip off) of Dracula. A silent film but the shots are great, and Max Schreck is brilliant as the Count.

Carnival of Souls (62)- I know you've already seen (and not really liked) this one, but it's infuence is undeniable. A girl gets into a car wreck that kills her friends but she walks away. Her life spirals into a creepy nightmare from there. Quite low budget, it relies on chilling ambience more than anything else.

Shock Treatment (64)- A Psycho influenced movie that is kinda a precursor to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Roddy McDowell and Lauren Bacall star. It isn't great, but it is interesting.

Black Sabbath (63)- Italian giallo master Mario Bava gives us a creepy 3 story anthology film. The best one is about stealing a ring from a corpse. The typical Italian issues of bad dubbing, questionable acting, etc. are in play. Again, not great but can be fun.
Also I hear some rock band got their name from it!

The Most Dangerous Game (32)- Another 90+ year old one! Filmed at night on the same sets and at the same time as King Kong(!), this one is a nasty little story of hunting people for sport. Everything is good except the completely unnecessary drunken comic relief brother. It has been remade (at least conceptually) about 100 times now!

The Masque of the Red Death (64)- Yet another Vincent Price vehicle. This one involves a bunch of shitty, evil royalty and rich folks who board themselves up in a castle and have degenerate parties while a plague ravages everything around them.

Corruption (68)- Peter Cushing plays a surgeon with a young model wife. After he unintentionally damages her visage, Cushing then must periodically find victims to repair her scars. It gets weird and uneven with some odd performances, but I kinda like it.

Beyond that there are the Universal Classics such as the original Dracula (32) with Bela Lugosi, the original Frankenstein (32) along with it's 2 sequels Bride of Frankenstein (35), and Son of Frankenstein (39) (*Note that all 3 have Boris Karloff as The Monster), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (25) and The Invisible Man (23) both silent films starring Lon Chaney, The Wolfman (41) with Lon Chaney Jr, The Mummy (32) with Karloff. There are more but these are the highlights imo.

I almost added some early 70s stuff, but I followed your "pre-70s" instructions instead!

 

[DarthVedder]

So Saturday night movie with the wife.

We watched "Old People" on Netflix. It's a German movie and we watched the English dub.

Meh, not the worst movie ever, but nothing special.

Spoiler

It's kind of a zombie movie, but with old people instead of dead people. For some unclear reason, a curse because they were abandoned, old people from an asylum suddenly become evil, fast and strong and start attacking a village. Several zombie movie tropes are used on this one.

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

Here are a few that I have reviewed here in recent years:

The Witchfinder General (68)- one of Vincent Price's best and his sidekick is evil as heck also. The protagonists aren't great but quite good overall.

Night of the Living Dead (68)- I'm persuming everyone has seen seen it, but if you haven't........solidly acted and hugely influential. A dark story with a bitter ending.

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane (62)- Joan Crawford and Betty Davis are great as a couple of actor-sisters who hate each other. Good and well executed story with a nasty twist

White Zombie (32)- Bela Legosi plays a creepy, evil witchdoctor who turns his enemies into zombies and keeps them enslaved A solid film for over 90 years old, but it does show it's age. Legosi is the highlight.

I Bury the Living (58)- A compact little story about a cemetery caretaker who may or may not be able to kill people via the cemetery map. Has the feel of a good, extended Twilight Zone movie.

Spider Baby (64)- A weird-assed film where Lon Chaney Jr plays caretaker to 3 young and murderous family members. Crazed performances and an out of control feel carry it. Highly recommended.

House of Wax (53)- Another Vincent Price vehicle! A fun romp with some good performances. The pandering to the 3D gimmick, and a bit of story issues hurt it just a little but still a fun watch.

The Terror (63)- Roger Corman directs, and Boris Karloff and Jack Nicholson star in this nonsensical haunting-revenge flick. Made in a couple of days in a castle, using leftover sets from The Raven, using a script literally written on the fly and meant to copy Poe's work, it is a bit of a mess, but an interesting one.

Nosferatu (1922)- Perhaps the original classic horror movie! A "reimagining" (or rip off) of Dracula. A silent film but the shots are great, and Max Schreck is brilliant as the Count.

Carnival of Souls (62)- I know you've already seen (and not really liked) this one, but it's infuence is undeniable. A girl gets into a car wreck that kills her friends but she walks away. Her life spirals into a creepy nightmare from there. Quite low budget, it relies on chilling ambience more than anything else.

Shock Treatment (64)- A Psycho influenced movie that is kinda a precursor to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Roddy McDowell and Lauren Bacall star. It isn't great, but it is interesting.

Black Sabbath (63)- Italian giallo master Mario Bava gives us a creepy 3 story anthology film. The best one is about stealing a ring from a corpse. The typical Italian issues of bad dubbing, questionable acting, etc. are in play. Again, not great but can be fun.
Also I hear some rock band got their name from it!

The Most Dangerous Game (32)- Another 90+ year old one! Filmed at night on the same sets and at the same time as King Kong(!), this one is a nasty little story of hunting people for sport. Everything is good except the completely unnecessary drunken comic relief brother. It has been remade (at least conceptually) about 100 times now!

The Masque of the Red Death (64)- Yet another Vincent Price vehicle. This one involves a bunch of shitty, evil royalty and rich folks who board themselves up in a castle and have degenerate parties while a plague ravages everything around them.

Corruption (68)- Peter Cushing plays a surgeon with a young model wife. After he unintentionally damages her visage, Cushing then must periodically find victims to repair her scars. It gets weird and uneven with some odd performances, but I kinda like it.

Beyond that there are the Universal Classics such as the original Dracula (32) with Bela Lugosi, the original Frankenstein (32) along with it's 2 sequels Bride of Frankenstein (35), and Son of Frankenstein (39) (*Note that all 3 have Boris Karloff as The Monster), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (25) and The Invisible Man (23) both silent films starring Lon Chaney, The Wolfman (41) with Lon Chaney Jr, The Mummy (32) with Karloff. There are more but these are the highlights imo.

I almost added some early 70s stuff, but I followed your "pre-70s" instructions instead!

DAYUM! You're going old school! Good list by the way. I haven't seen many of those movies. Of your list I've seen House of Wax and Nosferatu... might as well be an amateur

 

[returnofjakedog]

DAYUM! You're going old school! Good list by the way. I haven't seen many of those movies. Of your list I've seen House of Wax and Nosferatu... might as well be an amateur

Well, he wanted pre-70s recommendations......

I can't believe you haven't seen Night of the Living Dead though!

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

Well, he wanted pre-70s recommendations......

I can't believe you haven't seen Night of the Living Dead though!

There's no reason to call that one out. Everyone in this thread has seen Night of the Living Dead. If not, we should ban them immediately.

 

[returnofjakedog]

There's no reason to call that one out. Everyone in this thread has seen Night of the Living Dead. If not, we should ban them immediately.

Hey, you said it! I was in a little shock and just following up.......

I didn't add the Hitchcock movies though so I dropped the ball there.
Psycho, Rear Window, North by Northwest, The Birds, Rope, Vertigo, Frenzy, Dial M for Murder, etc.
All great stuff, but debatable whether it is all horror.

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

Hey, you said it! I was in a little shock and just following up.......

I didn't add the Hitchcock movies though so I dropped the ball there.
Psycho, Rear Window, North by Northwest, The Birds, Rope, Vertigo, Frenzy, Dial M for Murder, etc.
All great stuff, but debatable whether it is all horror.

Yes I know.... can't fault you for the questioning, mah dude. And The Birds is definitely horror. That crow scene with the playground is worthy of some chills.

 

[Nasty_Magician]

Jeepers Creepers 2 is a great bad horror movie. Great premise, basically Jaws but with a creature instead of a shark and open field instead of open ocean.

Also watched 31 by Rob Zombie, have I mentioned I don't like director Rob Zombie? Torture **** just isn't my thing. Texas Chainsaw and original Saw are just about the only acceptable versions of that subgenre.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Jeepers Creepers 2 is a great bad horror movie. Great premise, basically Jaws but with a creature instead of a shark and open field instead of open ocean.

If you ever get the opportunity... Skip Jeepers Creepers 3 (2017) and go straight to Jeepers Creepers: Reborn (2022). You won't really miss anything important. JC3 was a laughable mess. Reborn is a pretty serious downgrade in terms of makeup/fx/cg... But the story is easier to digest in the grand scheme of things. The Creeper looks like a fan-made costume, and nothing close to the original from 1-3 (minus the swole chest in 3 lol).

 

[Nasty_Magician]

If you ever get the opportunity... Skip Jeepers Creepers 3 (2017) and go straight to Jeepers Creepers: Reborn (2022). You won't really miss anything important. JC3 was a laughable mess. Reborn is a pretty serious downgrade in terms of makeup/fx/cg... But the story is easier to digest in the grand scheme of things. The Creeper looks like a fan-made costume, and nothing close to the original from 1-3 (minus the swole chest in 3 lol).

Ha, saw the first 30 mins or so of JC3 before calling it a night, forgettable is an understatement.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Ha, saw the first 30 mins or so of JC3 before calling it a night, forgettable is an understatement.

Thankfully my brain has blocked most of that entire movie out... Don't really recall the actual plot, but I do remember it being a convoluted mess that was a struggle to finish. And of course the laughable aspects of the Roided-Out Creeper & its car suddenly beings its own monster/entity.

 

[returnofjakedog]

.......a dump of mediocre stuff

Better Off Zed (2018)-

When a zombie apocalypse hits, a 30 something dude is living the dream with no bills or mortgages or work, or other constraints of modern society's pressures. But his wife isn't enjoying it as he is.

An interesting twist on the z-pocalypse genre but, to it's detriment, executed in too much of a light-hearted comedic manner. The zombies are slow moving and weak so they are not too much of a threat if you are smart about it. Yet the main dude still does little to nothing to improve the situation. Instead he hides rescue information from his wife, makes half-assed defensive plans, and won't even go next door to kill his zombie-neighbor to try to get some food.

Not bad, but the typical lean into the comedy when having a better balance with the horror would have been an improvement. Plus the guy is just kind of an ass for putting his wife at risk so he can just chill.

5 outta 10 area. Tries to make an emotional impact at the end but kinda fails.

Dead Before Dawn (2012)-

A group of high school kids get caught up in a curse that causes people to kill themselves, and then return as attack zombies.

Another average zomcom. Much like the Better Off Zed movie above, it leans into the comedy but would have been better with more of a balance.
The actors range from ok to poor. (Christopher Lloyd was onset for a day or so, as he hams up for a few scenes). The fxs are of similar quality with some good down to halloween store level stuff. The story isn't great but it flows ok.

Not necessarily a better movie than the first movie, but I might have enjoyed it just a bit more.

5ish outta 10.

How to be a Serial Killer (2008)-

A serial killer mentors a younger guy but things spiral outta control.
Conceptually it is interesting (but not entirely original) and the execution itself isn't bad, yet much like the first 2 reviews here, the lean into the comedy hurts the film.
Perhaps the worst aspect is the script and the direction (not from the technical aspects which are good, but the overall finished product). They try to portray the main serial killer guy as a very intelligent and successful business man with normal relationships in his life but his decision making is stupid and his methods are sloppy, and I can't believe he wouldn't have been caught many, many years before. Plus there is little chemistry between the leads that would indicate they would be hanging out at all, which makes for a weird flow.
The light tone and comedic ambience and soundtrack don't help.

5 to 5.5 range outta 10. If you want to watch "serial killer mentor" movies you'd do much better with the likes of The Hitcher, Mr. Brooks, or Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer than this one.

I have a good one (and also a weirdly "So bad, it's good" one) in the holster but I thought I'd get these average to below average ones out of the way here first though.....

 

[R.J. MacReady]

If you ever get the opportunity... Skip Jeepers Creepers 3 (2017) and go straight to Jeepers Creepers: Reborn (2022). You won't really miss anything important. JC3 was a laughable mess. Reborn is a pretty serious downgrade in terms of makeup/fx/cg... But the story is easier to digest in the grand scheme of things. The Creeper looks like a fan-made costume, and nothing close to the original from 1-3 (minus the swole chest in 3 lol).

Good lord JC 3 was bad.

It was so bad that II was not going to watch Reborn ...but I will give it a peak now.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Good lord JC 3 was bad.

It was so bad that II was not going to watch Reborn ...but I will give it a peak now.

Reborn isn't the same quality as 1 + 2... Definitely a MUCH lower budget. Cast is terrible. But at least it sticks to the b-horror tropes & "stays in its own lane" in that regard. Lots of cheesy moments but its far more entertaining than JC3 was

 

[R.J. MacReady]

Reborn isn't the same quality as 1 + 2... Definitely a MUCH lower budget. Cast is terrible. But at least it sticks to the b-horror tropes & "stays in its own lane" in that regard. Lots of cheesy moments but its far more entertaining than JC3 was

After watching "Grave Encounters" 2011 ...I don't blow off movies as quick as i used to when i see low production value.

You can still get a decent movie.

.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

After watching "Grave Encounters" 2011 ...I don't blow off movies as quick as i used to when i see low production value.

You can still get a decent movie.

.

Yep. I tend to boost my ratings for those movies based on that. Great product on a low budget is rare, and I wish those directors would get a better shake in Hollywood.

 

[returnofjakedog]

Yep. I tend to boost my ratings for those movies based on that. Great product on a low budget is rare, and I wish those directors would get a better shake in Hollywood.

I do the same, also I tend to give a bump for when it was created. It is interesting to see how technology advancements have changed some quality aspects of movies.

 

[Nasty_Magician]

They could make 50 of these and I'm along for the ride, even after they've driven straight off a cliff: