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Post by theravenking on Oct 25, 2023 11:54:50 GMT
Time Lapse (2014; Bradley King) I'm not sure why imdb has this as horror, since it's very much a time-travel thriller. There's one hideously scarred corpse, but that's about as many scares as you will get. This is obviously a low-budget indie. The plot was constructed the way, that it would fit the contained set and limited resources. It's all awfully contrived, but the first half is entertaining. It would've most likely worked better as a short film though, because in trying to expand the idea to feature length the plot is turned into a borderline mess with the protagonists starting to act out of character (the movie would like you to believe that greed and hunger for power have distorted their minds, but that would be all too convenient). Come the ending I had already lost interest in how the whole thing was going to turn out. 5/10
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Post by theravenking on Oct 25, 2023 12:46:05 GMT
World War Z (2013; Marc Forster) It was weird watching this in the post-pandemic era and with the current situation in Israel. Seeing hordes of zombies scaling the walls of Jerusalem brings up rather unsettling associations with the recent terror attacks. Other than being creepily topical this is a rather average big-budget effects extravaganza providing lots of loud noise and far too little character development. Brad Pitt makes for a boring lead, most of the fine supporting cast (save perhaps David Morse in one memorable scene) has little to do and it's almost embarassing to see Mireille Enos being reduced to the role of the dutiful wife eagerly awaiting her hero's return at the end. 5.5/10
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Post by Meseia on Oct 26, 2023 2:01:23 GMT
Phantoms (1998), It starts great and then is a slow slide into nonsensical mediocrity once "the hero" Ben Affleck arrives to fight a petroleum devil Thing.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 26, 2023 15:54:30 GMT
House of the Seven Gables (1940)
I liked it, but I'll admit it was less "Spooktober" than I thought. It's good though. Nathaniel Hawthorn stories always are, and Vincent Price always is.
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Post by the knife on Oct 27, 2023 6:00:53 GMT
ok i've watched:
Saw X (2023)... 6/10
Inisidious: The Red Door (2023)... 7/10
V/H/S/85 (2023)... 6/10
The Unseen (2023)... 3/10
You're Killing Me (2023)... 6/10
From Black (2023)... 6/10
Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023)... 2/10
Run Rabbit Run (2023)... 5/10
Studio 666 (2022)... 6/10
The Exorcist: Believer (2023)... 6/10
The Conference (2023)... 5/10
Slotherhouse (2023)... 6/10
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Post by theravenking on Oct 27, 2023 17:13:09 GMT
And Now The Screaming Starts (1973; Roy Ward Baker) This is one of the few feature-length horror stories by Amicus, who were best known for anthology or "portmanteau" films. Trying out something new didn't work out that well, since the film was poorly received. It must certainly be one of the duller flicks featuring a young bride who is violated by a ghost. For a 70s movie this feels awfully antiquated with lots of melodramatic shrieking and a comical severed hand "crawling" around the premises. The big names Peter Cushing and Herbert Lom only appear late in the game and can't do much to salvage the rickety plot. 5/10
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Post by theravenking on Oct 28, 2023 16:34:26 GMT
The Lodgers (2017; Brian O'Malley) I'm not sure what it is with Irish horror movies, but more often than not they just tend to leave me cold. Shrooms, In Fear, The Hole in the Ground or The Canal are just a few I found mediocre at best. Sadly The Lodgers turned out to be another anemic and lifeless affair. The concept of children living alone in an old manor recalls Marrowbone, a film I didn't like much either, but found at least a bit more engaging. The Others might've been another obvious influence, but it's lightyears removed from the class of that film. With its dreary colour scheme and funeral pacing this was better suited as a sleeping pill than a terror flick. Using the country's most haunted house as location didn't pay out either. The producers would've been better off shooting a documentary feature at the same venue instead. 3.5/10
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Post by Meseia on Oct 28, 2023 22:37:01 GMT
Halloween Ends (2022) Same problem as other modern horror movies I've watched, it's a female empowerment movie with mild horror elements. Horror movies are boring when the "victims" have the upper hand in the whole movie.
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Post by the knife on Oct 30, 2023 11:23:59 GMT
Blacula (William Crain, 1972) 8/10 After (re-)watching late Richard Roundtree's Shaft movies this weekend, I'm on a little(?) Blaxploitation kick right now, so I had no other choice but to put this iconic horror movie of the genre on my last minute October schedule. I have to say of the few Blaxploitation films I've seen so far this is one of the most mainstream. It's actually a pretty standard Dracula tale with a little bit of funk. Speaking of funk: Shout-out to The Hues Corporation for providing a great soundtrack. Seriously, I wanted to be at that club with that strange dude when they performed "There He Is Again". As for the actual story, it's a little weird that Blacula wakes up 200 years later in Los Angeles and seems to have no freak out about modern buildings, cars, electricity, etc. He's just built for any era apparently. William Marshall is the backbone of the film, giving Blacula authority and class like a classically trained actor. If Marshall wanted to bite my neck I would oblige because to do otherwise would be rude. There's a few other character motivations that are super questionable, but otherwise this was a blast. The animated main title design by Sandy Devore is sublime as well! Long live Blacula!
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Post by theravenking on Oct 31, 2023 11:54:05 GMT
Razorback (1984; Russell Mulcahy) I'm not sure, what I was expecting, but certainly not something this trippy. There were moments when I thought I was watching a Nicolas Roeg movie. In-between the whole thing even threatened to turn into a gigantic bore (sorry, cheap pun!), with far too much time spent on the annoying rednecks populating the Outback instead of giving us more of the boar. The environmentalist message was a bit muddled too. The incredible cinematography by Dean Semler is a marvel though. 6/10
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Post by the knife on Oct 31, 2023 18:42:18 GMT
Shivers (David Cronenberg, 1975) 7/10 Cronenberg's cinematic debut is an outrageous, weird and depraved horror movie and I enjoyed it a lot. A product of its time, it's a zombie apocalypse in the narrow hallways of a luxury hotel β but with hordes of sex-hungry weirdos pawing at your face instead of your favourite grinning corpses hell-bent on devouring you. Impressive how Cronenberg depicted his vision with limited resources and how much other films took from Shivers, a gross and disturbing predecessor for Rabid (1977), which is also the predecessor for Dawn of the Dead (1978) with the theoretical foundation he developed until Crash (1996). Good stuff. Itβs bleak and uncomfortable with some really grotesque imagery - the pool sequence slaps hard.
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Post by the knife on Oct 31, 2023 18:44:49 GMT
Rabid (David Cronenberg, 1977) 8/10 Early Cronenberg is a hoot and I'm so glad I finally caught up with his first films! Took me long enough. Cronenberg's second feature film is a total showcasing of horror talent on a budget. He experiments with his usual troops, flesh and blood, not so subtle sexual connotations, mutation, affliction, etc. and it plays out really really well. It's engaging, grimy, horny, and overall, a lot of fun. Marilyn Chambers, the patient zero that zombifies people through her armpitgina that retracts a phallic tentacle, is brilliantly casted here and displays her skinflick expertise and surprisingly great acting chops. We're never going to look at outbreak movies the same way, are we?
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Post by Meseia on Nov 2, 2023 3:45:27 GMT
I think next year I'll pick one or two actors or actresses that made a lot of horror movies and try to watch as many as I can. Maybe Vincent Price and another.
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