2021 Halloween Challenge
 

So I went back and forth and what this year's Halloween Challenge should be. In the past the challenges mostly focused around directors, actors and genres and if you want to do that I can redo this. But this year I wanted to challenge myself and others to have a more open challenge. So this is what I have in mind....

Part 1 (What's in a Name)
1. A horror film with 1 word
2. A horror film with 2 words
3. A horror film with 3 words
4. A horror film with 4 words
5. A horror film that is a complete sentence

Part 2 (All about the franchises)
6. An original franchise
7. A sequel to a franchise (can be a different franchise)
8. A reboot, remake, or prequel to a horror film
9. A late sequel (past part four)
10. An obvious cheap ripoff of a major horror franchise

Part 3 (Trip to Europe)
11. A film from UK
12. A film from France
13. A film from Germany
14. A film from Italy
15. A film with someone traveling to a European country

Part 4 (where to find it)
16. A film on Netflix
17. A film on Amazon
18. A film on Hulu
19 A film on Shudder
20. A film on a different streaming site(Youtube, HBO MAX, Tubi, etc)

Part 5 (It's not the size of the horror)
21. A horror short film under 30 minutes
22. A classic B film that is just over an hour
23. A VHS era film that is around 90 minutes
24. A major Hollywood horror release under 2 hours
25. A horror epic that is over 2 and half hours

Part 6

26. A horror film released in October of any year
27. A horror film that was economically the biggest one of the year
28. A horror film released in 2021
29. A horror film released in October 2021
30. A horror film that is on the Movieforum list.
31. A horror film on the Time Out top 100 horror film list
https://www.flickchart.com/Charts.as...47&perpage=100

I like it. Although I do prefer something mirroring last years director/actor/genre categories, I have no issue with this one.
I already wrote down what films I plan to watch this October, so I can make them easily fit into this.
Glad you’re doing this again. 🙂

So, I haven't really paid attention to these film challenges before. Just trying to get a sense of rules, practice, and overall point. Starting with the last one - is this just more of a scavenger hunt type of competition? So the thread wouldn't really be interested in movies that don't meet the criteria? Or would it be more of a, what's every horror movie you watched in October, try to use this criteria to get more variety in (and call out that variety here)?


And the few things I'm wondering rule-wise, I gathered from glancing at last year's thread, it's up to the participant to decide of they want to use rewatches to satisfy the criteria. Can a single movie/watch be used to satisfy multiple goals at once, or one movie per goal? And I'm assuming part of the challenge isn't to watch one horror movie every day. I know some people try to do that for October, but some of us have evenings that aren't going to allow for that. I had other questions about the individual, proposed goals, but I think those were more clarifications on what some of them meant.


To put it in context, I'm in the, "I'm going to watch what I'm going to watch, but if this is some game that people want me to afterwards go, 'I completed x-from watching x movie,' I can do that." Also, maybe looking at the goals on evenings of analysis paralysis on selecting my viewings.

This has been my approach to the 2021 Film Challenge.

It is mostly just for fun, and I think that it you just watch what you want, horror-wise, you'll probably fulfill many of the slots.

And, like you said, it can be a fun resource for when you're stuck.

And it what? Starts Oct 1st? And do we post thoughts in here or the Rate The Last Movie You Saw, which, if I'm rating movies on some type of scale, at best is usually, "like / not like".

Yes, starts October 1st and you should post and discuss here but you can also post in the Rate thread if you wish

I think most people start on October 1st. You can post thoughts here, in the "Rate the Last" thread, or some people do both.

I think of the challenge as more of a fun way to see movies you might not normally check out, and as a way to generate some chatter leading up to Halloween.

Starting this up tomorrow. Black Sunday, Earth vs the Spider, Kill Baby Kill, Alice Sweet Alice, In The Earth are all on tap for this weekend.

For my first watch of October, I watched Elvira, Mistress of the Dark on Shudder, which would meet the criteria of Part 4, number 19, A film on Shudder. It was a first time watch and i really enjoyed it. Cassandra Peterson is great in it and the screenplay is fantastic. I would rate it .

I watched Nightbreed today. That would meet the criteria of number 1. A horror film with 1 word. I know there is someone on the forum that mentions it a lot and is a big fan, but I don't recall who it is. Sorry to say this didn't do much for me and was very underwhelming.

I think it has its moments, but I was also a bit tepid on it. I'm trying to remember if there's supposed to be a significant difference between the theatrical and director's cuts. I think I watched the director's cut?

October 1st - 3-15 The Old Dark House (1932)
A film with someone traveling to a European country

https://onceuponascreen.files.wordpr...1932.jpg?w=798

An English trio ends up in the most terrifying of all countries...Wales. The film is based on a book which centers around class structure of post WWI UK. It's great satire very similar to Dr Strangelove where it's played very seriously until you take a second and think about the characters and what the author is trying to say about the Welsh.

The cast is fantastic, you have a number of Oscar nominee's and winners in the cast many of whom you might recognize as they ended working in Hollywood for years. James Whale (the director) has a great eye for set pieces and humor you've got a lot of physical comedy mixed with quality suspense. I recommend that if anyone decides to watch this to plan on taking notes or needing to rewatch it to get everything because you will miss quite a bit...which I think is actually intentional

I adore this movie. Good choice. :up:

I never read these books as a kid so I had no hype for this movie whatsoever. In fact, I was probably going in wanting to hate it because they shot in my hometown and rented gear from my work, so I was constantly pulling electrical equipment for this production. I remember THAT being a pain in the ass.

I put off watching this movie because the tone of it felt off to me. This is supposedly a kids book, but the horror on display seemed too scary for kids. So how was this movie going to pull this off? The "scary stories" segments are indeed scary and feel like they could have been taken out of some R-rated grotesque horror show. The rest of the movie feels like a Goosebumps kids adventure. There lies the dilemma. How to merge these two into a cohesive film.

I have NO IDEA what age range this movie is for, but I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected I would. The horror elements really worked for me. and André Øvredal (Troll Hunter, Autopsy of Jane Doe) really knows how to shoot suspenseful horror sequences. Seeing body parts fall down a chimney, then reattach itself only to spider crawl away was something I didn't expect to see in a PG-13 flick.

I can forgive the elements that don't really work (draft-dodging storyline, or the mother leaving backstory) because those horror elements work so well. This is a horror movie I watched in October, it's SPOOKY-MONTH. I highly expect I will watch worse things than a PG-13 horror flick for the YA crowd.

https://external-content.duckduckgo....jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Lucky, 2020

May (Brea Grant) is the author of a self-help book and series of blogs who capitalizes on the "women's space" of self-empowerment. One night she is shocked to find a masked man (Hunter Smith) breaking into her home. She's even more shocked when her husband, Ted (Dhruv Singh) announces casually that this is the man "who comes to kill us every night". From that moment, May is plunged into a bizarre series of events whereby she repeatedly kills the intruder and yet he returns over and over.

I had to think on this one a bit, because I think that a lot of my reaction to it came from expectations. I could see a lot of viewers, and especially horror fans, being annoyed by this one. It took a little bit of reframing for me to get what the film is trying to say.

The part that is frustrating with this film is that it's a movie that is saying something within the genre structure of a horror film, and specifically both a home-invasion horror and a Groundhog Day style narrative. Whenever May kills or injures the man, he seems to mysteriously disappear. So from that literal viewpoint, as you watch a sequence where she shops for home defense products, you wonder why she doesn't buy a camera. Or when she kills the man later in the film, you wonder why she doesn't take off his mask, as the identity of the man is obviously a major point of curiosity for both May and the audience.

So what is the film actually after? Well, for the first half (and especially after a certain piece of information is revealed), I thought I knew. And I will concede that the way that the film built my assumptions only to undercut them was pretty neat. The film is exploring the relationship that women have toward the violence that is directed at them, but also how the rest of the world sees that violence. As the film goes on, the indifferent detective asking if she knows the man takes on a different light. It made me think of an article I read recently about a police officer who was convicted of the rape and murder of a woman (he abducted her, raped her, strangled her with his belt, burned her body, and dumped the remains in a lake)--the focus of the article was about how many discussions of the case sought to emphasize that the victim was "blameless"---as if there was a chance she might have brought some or all of her fate on herself. It also nicely evokes situations like the Golden State Killer, where women often told people around them that they thought something wasn't right, or that strange things were happening and were either ignored or placated.

Ultimately, I think that this film is moderately successful. I think that someone going into it expecting another Happy Death Day would be really disappointed. There are some really clever things happening here--including things that explicitly use the tropes of horror films (including allegorical horror films) to create certain expectations and then upend them. But you do basically have to make it to the end of the movie to put it all together. And from that horror point of view, there is a certain lack of tension to the home invasion scenes because it often doesn't seem as if the masked man actually intends to harm May. Sure, he menaces her. Once or twice he puts hands on her (only to be quickly shrugged off or stabbed). But these sequences begin to feel low-stakes very quickly. And in this surreal reality, it also doesn't seem to matter if other characters are harmed, as even the film itself seems to shrug off these moments.

I feel really torn on this film. One part of me really respects what the film is saying and how it uses horror tropes to make the audience question their own assumptions about the victims of violence. But I also consistently felt annoyed---again, I think intentionally--by the actions of the main character. I think I'm appreciating it more as I'm reflecting on it, but the actual viewing experience was a bit underwhelming.

Hmm. I think I'll say for now. I'll be interested to see how I feel on a rewatch.

https://external-content.duckduckgo....peg&f=1&nofb=1

Psycho Goreman, 2020

An evil and chaotic demon-alien called Psycho Goreman (Matthew Ninaber/Steven Vlahos) is reawakened when siblings Mimi (Nita-Josee Hanna) and Luke (Owen Myre) unearth a gem that controls the creature. Unfortunately for Psycho Goreman, the gem gives Mimi the power to control him. And unfortunately for everyone, Mimi is a quirky sociopath with no compunctions about using her new "friend" for petty revenge against everyone from strangers to her parents.

Oh, horror-comedies.

Like many films that aim to blend gore and laughs, this one bears some of the hallmarks of a film that should have probably been about 20 minutes shorter. A lot of the jokes go back to the same well: the kids say something, and Psycho Goreman responds with a disproportionately violent assumption. It's very in the vein of, "Checkers is a game where you try to beat the other person." "Ah, and then you pull their spine from their quivering body?".

Fortunately for the film, Steven Vlahos does a pretty great job with the line readings.
https://i.imgur.com/982lX3t.mp4

Hanna is also pretty solid as the outspoken and totally ruthless child. She perfectly captures the indifference and pettiness of the kind of kid who is completely egocentric.

But for me, the film felt like something that would have been better as an extended short. Mimi is a bully and a petty tyrant, and it was hard spending 90 minutes with her. Honestly, I've encountered a few Mimis in my time, and they are yucky people. Hanna's performance is charming, but the writing of the character herself is a tough pill to swallow. I ultimately mostly felt bad for Luke, who is the most frequent target of Mimi's harassment. A part where Mimi gets Psycho Goreman to choke Luke, then writes it off as a joke just hit me the wrong way. I know you're not meant to take her character seriously, but even as a parody, kids who think it's fun to hurt or kill others never play that well for me. The repetition of the dynamics of the jokes also began to wear on me about halfway through the film.

I will give the film props for, um, its props. There are a lot of fun, practical effects here, ranging from the intentionally goofy (poor Alastair!) to the disgustingly realistic (poor Pandora!). The blood and guts flow and fly freely, and it gives the film some of the over-the-top oomph it needs to stay interesting for its full runtime.

I guess I would loosely recommend this one.

I thought this was a lot more fun than it had any business being because Peterson is just so utterly committed to the whole thing she actually manages to carry it for as long as it goes on and the rest of the cast seemed game to go with her. Enjoyable show.

Yeah, this movie's a lot of fun, I watch it almost every year now.

https://external-content.duckduckgo....jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Bay of Blood, 1971

A wealthy, elderly woman named Federica (Isa Miranda) is killed in her home, staged to look like a victim of suicide. The mystery as to the killer's identity is short-lived, but as he admires his handiwork another killer shows up to take him out. Soon, these two murders escalate into a flurry of bloodletting and betrayals as locals, family members, and (naturally) some sexy teens get caught up in the mayhem.

For the first half of the film, I was only medium feeling this one. The initial murders are staged with style and substance, but then there's a lot of passive-aggressive conversations between different characters. There's also an overly-long sequence of some teens hanging out at the house. Both their conversation and the lingering, leering scene of one of the women swimming naked dragged for me. Not just because it's such an inelegant example of the Inescapable Horniness of a lot of horror films, but because the characters aren't developed and so it's kind of boring to spend so much time with a group of people who are obvious canon fodder.

But then the second half of the film kicks in and my appreciation went up several notches. Federica's step-daughter and her husband show up to investigate their disappearances, and we begin to understand--through a series of layered flashbacks--the role that each character played in the initial murder and what came after. This is just good and satisfying mystery stuff---the relationships between the characters are complex and overlap, and we come to understand that someone who is innocent of one thing may be very guilty of another. This all leads to a very darkly funny final scene that brings the film to an appropriate (albeit very unexpected!) conclusion.

Bava displays his flare for strong visuals. I particularly liked a shot of an octopus tentacle slowly reaching out from underneath a tarp.

But speaking of the octopus, my only other complaint is that this film includes several incidents of unsimulated animal mistreatment, including an impaled insect and the handling of the aforementioned octopus. That always knocks a chunk off of any rating I give a film, especially as it's a dealbreaker for ever wanting to rewatch it.

A solid horror with an engaging second half that more than makes up for a slightly underwhelming first half.

Yes the second half is by far better.

My controversial opinion is that this is my least favourite Bava from the ones I've seen. Stylish as he's ever been, but just one unlikable character after another being offed. Give me one of his Gothic horrors or Hatchet for the Honeymoon any day.



My even more controversial opinion is that I much prefer Friday the 13th to this movie.

I can see that. However, I kind of loved that

About to start up Black Sunday. Also, went to my local movie store and rented Horror of Dracula and Near Dark.
Going to be a busy weekend…..

Which Friday the 13ths? Because unlike other horror franchises, the first one in the series isn't the best one.


How do you feel about Blood & Black Lace?

https://external-content.duckduckgo....jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Dave Made a Maze, 2017

Annie (Meera Rohit Kumbhani) returns home one day to discover a large cardboard maze in the apartment she shares with her boyfriend, Dave (Nick Thune). But the maze is apparently a bit bigger on the inside. Actually, it's a lot bigger, and Dave is lost inside. Fed up, Annie ventures inside the maze with friends Gordon (Adam Busch) and Harry (James Urbaniak) who want to document the whole ordeal. But the maze seems to have taken on a life of its own, including a deadly minotaur (Josh Hennigen) who roams its cardboard hallways.

Yes, it's another horror-comedy.

Overall, I quite enjoyed this film. To begin with, its 80 minute runtime is the perfect length for the story it is trying to tell and the jokes it is trying to land.

But the main joy of this film is the maze itself. I enjoyed the creativity on display in terms of the different rooms and dynamics. One of the running jokes in the film is that everyone inside the maze is now living in some craft-come-to-life universe, so any gore is represented with crepe paper, streamers, puff balls, and (as Annie asks at one point) "Is this my good yarn?!". I thought that the visual look of the film was really fun and for the most part the film's timing feels correct in not letting any one setpiece overstay its welcome.

In the second half of the film, the focus shifts to the relationship between Annie and Dave. Dave has been flailing for years and, now in his mid-30s, finds himself in a bit of a crisis. The maze represents his desire to create something, but it's his desire to not show any vulnerability that makes the maze so deadly. Thune and Kumbhani have enough chemistry and gravitas to sell those later scenes, which is important because this is a movie where someone gets beheaded and the bloody stump sprays out streamers and yarn pieces.

If I had to be picky, I wasn't entirely sure what we were supposed to make of some of the elements of the maze. A lot of the rooms in the maze feel like they mean something, man, but given the theme of Dave's struggles, I wasn't always sure what they were supposed to be. And, hey, things don't always have to mean something. In one very funny sequence, a very, um, vaginal cardboard portal thing starts to lure all of the men in, and one at a time they must be held back. This could be a commentary about a lack of a healthy sex life between Dave and Annie, or it could just be a funny joke about a bunch of dudes drawn toward a big cardboard vagina like helpless horny moths.

I'm a little surprised that there's no acknowledgement or writing credit for Joe Hill, because some aspects of this story were VERY close to a short story he wrote about a child building a maze that's bigger on the inside to deal with a bully.

Anyway, this is definitely on the lighter and goofier side (despite the beheadings and other "gruesome" deaths).

I'm glad to hear this because I stalled in the first half the last time I tried to watch it but I always felt I needed to go back and give it another shot.

It gets better past the halfway point (literally when the step-daughter and her husband roll into town). Even without the animal cruelty stuff, I don't think I'd be interested in sitting through the first half again.

The first is my favourite, haha. I'd even take a few others over over Bay of Blood, but the comparison starts to lose meaning at a certain point.


I like Blood and Black Lace quite a bit, but I think that one is A) much nicer to look at and B) not quite as misanthropic.

https://external-content.duckduckgo....jpg&f=1&nofb=1

The Red Queen Kills Seven Times, 1972

Sisters Kitty and Eveline are being raised by their grandfather, from whom they learn about a legendary figure called the Red Queen, who emerges every few years to kill seven times. 14 years later, Kitty (Barbara Bouchet) is all grown up and works as a photographer for a fashion house. Eveline has vanished under mysterious circumstances. And soon a strange figure in a red cape begins killing off those connected to Kitty and the fashion house. But who is the Red Queen?

After two comedy-horrors and the slightly underwhelming Bay of Blood, this one was a lot of fun. It's almost textbook gaillo with lots of "What are you doing here?!" moments as a mysterious killer takes a dagger to multiple victims.

The thing that I enjoyed most about this film was simply the use of color. Early on my attention was really caught by the way that they'd put makeup on the actress playing Kitty (a blue smokey eye to highlight her own blue eyes), and my appreciation for the color design stayed strong through the film. There's obviously the killer's bright red cape, but the costumes came in all kinds of bright colors.

The mystery of the killer's identity is also fun and twisty. Is this a personal vendetta? Something to do with the power struggles at the fashion house? Some mix of both? The film chooses to reveal a key piece of information early on, and this informs the way that the character behave as the story progresses. So many complaints that one might normally have about the way that characters act when there's a killer on the loose are neatly sidestepped by giving several key characters a secret to keep between them.

The settings are also pretty fun, alternating between the more modern homes of the characters and the more ancient mansion of Kitty's youth.

I wouldn't call this a great film. The plot was interesting bu the characters remain a bit aloof through the film. The ending is satisfyingly twisty and enjoyably UM WHAT?!

Now you're being crazy.

I’m with Rock. Original Friday the 13th is the best of the series and it really isn’t that close.

#17. A film on Amazon:

Slashlorette Party (2020). Directed by Paul Ragsdale and Angelica De Alba, this horror film is about a co-ed bachelorette party where the guests start getting killed off. I enjoyed this a lot. It has a 80s throwback feel to it. There are entertaining kills, some laughs, and even a little nice nudity to spice things up. I thought the performances were fun too. My only complaint is the ending felt anti-climatic and could have been much better. Still, I had a pretty good time up until that point. If you like fun slashers, this is worth checking out. Currently streaming on Amazon Prime.

Re: 2021 Halloween Challenge
 

I don't do lengthy write-ups.

The Criterion Channel has a Universal Horror movies collection going on. Since I bought a blu-ray collection of most of the core Universal Horror Monster Movies, I decided to go with the two in the CC collection not in that blu-ray set. Both Bela Legosi and Boris Karloff features.

The Black Cat (1934 film) - Edgar G. Ulmer
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...Style_D%29.jpg

Bela Legosi plays Dr. Seeks-Revenge accompanying our young protagonists - or maybe more audience surrogates - on his quest to get revenge on the evil, hair-engineer played by Boris Karloff.

https://marruda3.files.wordpress.com...-black-cat.png

Look at what heinous experiments he subjects his worker's hair to!

https://c8.alamy.com/comp/PMB5F9/bor...tha-PMB5F9.jpg



I think the protagonists were traveling on their honeymoon through Hungary. They were getting on a train to Budapest at the end.

I think compared to some other horror movies of the era, I think the appeal of this one will be Karloff and Legosi chewing scenery. The Legosi revenge plot had narrative thrust, but tbh, I felt like not much else did in the film. Karloff was basically, "war criminal Evil" in this movie. And I'll be honest, I prefer something more fantastical in the Universal horror movies, either supernatural or science fiction. And a cat that survives death wasn't much of it (this also hurts the next film as well)

Second up:
The Raven (1935 film) - Lew Landers



I saw bits of this as a teenager and mostly remember Karloff had an eye painted on his eyelid (or patch over his eye). I must have not seen the first half then because I remember not knowing how this movie actually related to the Poe poem. They at least recite it in the first half. And there's some motivation on plot being obsession over the past leads to cruelty now.

This movie, like The Black Cat, starts with a serious injury to our heroine in a car accident, which I think is a recurring theme in all of Edgar Allen Poe's works, right?

I think the easiest way to summarize this movie...

As stated for The Black Cat, I prefer the supernatural themed movies more. Mad doctors with torture rooms are less my thing, though the throughline of the plot was at least more established here than The Black Cat.
Still glad to catch up with them, but if all other things were equal (i.e. I didn't have the rest of the universal monster movies in a collection somewhere, some still waiting to be watched), I probably would have gone with one of the other ones.

Side note, going to aim to keep the write-ups shorter than this.

Re: 2021 Halloween Challenge
 

My Bloody Valentine (1981) - George Mihalka

https://i0.wp.com/bloody-disgusting....pg?w=750&ssl=1

A perfectly adequate, date-themed, minor slasher film from the early 80s. I really don't know what to add to it beyond that, because that really does summarize all of the films strengths and weaknesses right there.

Thoughts while watching this movie:
1. Valentine's Day and mining aren't two things I really associate in my mind. Though this was about 5 or 6 years after Harlan County, USA was winning the oscar for best doc. I feel like there were other narrative films that were centered around coal mining at this time. Was this peak coal-mining movie era?
2. I wonder how much they played up the whole first Friday the 13th, to be followed by February the 14th in the marketing tag lines.
3. Boy, they were really setting this up for a sequel and a franchise.
4. Did this movie technically pass the Bechdel test on the cart ride down?

I guess spot saved for keeping track of my progress on the challenge.

I'll use pipes for deliminators (in case some of the titles have commas or other punctuation). I'll eventually bold and underline the movie I choose for the challenge. Movies that I've seen before (and are in memory) so I won't count them towards the challenge, I'll put in red. Movies I've seen before, but it's been so long, I don't really remember them, I'll put in... TBD, but I will count those. Movies I've only partially seen before, I won't bother labelling.

Part 1 (What's in a Name)
1. A horror film with 1 word

2. A horror film with 2 words
The Intruder

3. A horror film with 3 words

4. A horror film with 4 words
Eye of the Devil

5. A horror film that is a complete sentence
God Told Me To

Part 2 (All about the franchises)
6. An original franchise
A Chinese Ghost Story

7. A sequel to a franchise (can be a different franchise)

8. A reboot, remake, or prequel to a horror film

9. A late sequel (past part four)
Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell

10. An obvious cheap ripoff of a major horror franchise

Part 3 (Trip to Europe)
11. A film from UK
Censor


12. A film from France
Requiem for the Vampire


13. A film from Germany
Angst (Austria, so a bit of a cheat)

14. A film from Italy
Burial Ground


15. A film with someone traveling to a European country
The Black Cat

Part 4 (where to find it)
16. A film on Netflix

17. A film on Amazon

18. A film on Hulu
My Bloody Valentine

19 A film on Shudder
Pyscho Goreman

20. A film on a different streaming site(Youtube, HBO MAX, Tubi, etc)
The Raven (Criterion Channel)


Part 5 (It's not the size of the horror)
21. A horror short film under 30 minutes

22. A classic B film that is just over an hour


23. A VHS era film that is around 90 minutes
Blue Monkey


24. A major Hollywood horror release under 2 hours
Jennifer's Body

25. A horror epic that is over 2 and half hours

Part 6


26. A horror film released in October of any year
Possessor


27. A horror film that was economically the biggest one of the year

28. A horror film released in 2021
In the Earth

29. A horror film released in October 2021
Titane (official US release date is 10/1/2021 according to IMDB, but it was clearly showing in theaters here the week before that)

30. A horror film that is on the Movieforum list.
Onibaba

31. A horror film on the Time Out top 100 horror film list
Black Sabbath (83)


All movies:
The Black Cat
The Raven
My Bloody Valentine
Titane
Black Sabbath
Pyscho Goreman
Angst
Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell
Eye of the Devil
In the Earth
A Chinese Ghost Story
Jennifer's Body
The Amityville Horror (no conditions)
Onibaba
God Told Me To
Censor

"Have you ever heard of Kurgaal? It is a prison below Omsk, near Lake Baikal. Many men have gone there. Few have returned. I have returned. After fifteen years... I have returned."


God tier Lugosi performance in this one.

Oh, and in contrast to the two Universal picks I did choose (lest my jestful summaries feel dismissive), I feel The Old Dark House (not on the CC Universal Collection, but I think is still on Shudder), is really solid and I concur with other people endorsing it. My only quibble is the reveal doesn't live up to the build up, but I don't know how much that's just my preference for certain genres or not.

I recognize there are better made movies in the franchise, but with slashers I don't think polish necessarily makes them "scarier". I periodically allude to this whenever I bring up first wave slashers, but the first one has an almost documentary quality thanks to its low budget and small scale that gets under my skin much more than the slicker entries in the series.

If you want that, go with TCM where the low budget verisimilitude is quite unsettling and unnerving. When I revisited the first F13th I just couldn't help but notice the similarities to giallos where they're trying to position the camera so you don't see the killer. Give me part 2 any day of the week.

Yeah, but TCM is forcefully directed. Give me unease through negative space, dammit. Different strokes, etc.


I've slowly warmed up to Part 2, mostly as it has enough of those first wave qualities while the series is transitioning to a slicker form.


I'm also the weirdo who likes Part 3, but that's a story for another day.

So, it's been a couple of years since I've seen part I, saw part 3, but just revisited 4, 5, 2. I don't remember 1 hitting that sense of verite. I remember it feeling like a giallo/slasher-but-not-quite-slasher mix (as a number of American slashers in that era seem to me). Though after watching part V, 1-4 all feel like masterpieces with serious character development. (I found 5 borderline unwatchable).

I only revisit 2-6 for the nudity. 😳
It’s the only thing that makes them watchable. And I guess watching the creative ways he killed his victims.
And yeah, of course there are Giallo references, considering they were directly influenced by them.

I watched Part V only once and easily found it the worst (full disclosure: I haven't seen Jason Goes to Hell, Jason X or Freddy vs Jason). Just unceasingly obnoxious. I used to give it a bit of credit for its gestures towards the hero's trauma and the vaguely surrealist feel, but then I watched The Boogeyman, made a few years earlier, which has those qualities and also isn't completely godawful and unpleasant.

And I wholeheartedly disagree, Part 2 is the best of the series and it really isn't that close.

I'm a pretty big fan of this one, though it may have benefitted somewhat from very low expectations.

I like this one quite a lot and feel like it's a good movie to watch if you wanna see what Canadians can do with like no budget whatsoever.

Yeah, ya right!

Okay, friends.

Despite the promise of short-shorts and dogs having flashbacks, as we have established I am not very interested in watchingThe Hills Have Eyes.

Suggestions for an original franchise? I assume this means we are to watch the original film from a franchise. The only major one I can think of that I haven't seen is The Omen, and it's not streaming anywhere I can watch it.

I thought that some of the imagery was amazing, and there's a brutality and edginess to it that I wasn't expecting.

I don't know how available it is, but I picked up The Amytiville Horror when it was cheap on itunes. That's a movie that's easy to forget is a franchise.


If you want martial arts, horror-comedy, A Chinese Ghost Story 1, 2, and I think 3, are all on Amazon Prime.

ETA: I have seen none of these, but if I have time, I do want to get them in this October.

Interesting. Glad you liked it, and nice review.

I definitely read these growing up and they made a big impression. I'll reproduce what I posted in the thread about the announcement, mostly to again share the excellent, unsettling art work:

My Bava viewings continue with Kill, Baby, Kill!

I mean, yeah. It's Friday the 13th.
I think the main point of disagreement is if the first one transcends the rest of the series making it something more interesting. This happens with the other major franchises (Halloween, TCM, ANoES - though I'd argue the last one manages to have more interesting sequels due to having fun with surrealism). And for F13th to have such longevity there's something that says, "well, maybe the first one was notably better." But for me (and it sounds like Wooley), but not you or Rock, that wasn't the case.

Well there's references (there's years between viewings but I believe the spear through two people having sex was also in Bay of Blood and then it shows up in part 2). But Part 1 felt a lot like a giallo to me because they're going out of their way to cover up who the killer is. So you get a lot of "person talking to the camera," and then being stabbed. Which I so heavily associate with giallos (which isn't universal since Blood & Black Lace does have a costumed killer).

Depending on whether or not it has to be something you've not seen before or there's a quality control, I put forward the following:

Hatchet, Scream, NOES, Halloween, Birdemic, Night Of The Living Dead, original Fright Night, Hellraiser, Psycho, Poltergeist, Final Destination, The Exorcist, Blood Feast, Interview With The Vampire, An American Werewolf In London, Hammer Dracula or Frankenstein, Tremors, Phantasm, Child's Play, Maniac Cop, The Lost Boys.

Speaking for myself, I’m not interested if it transcended the others or not. It’s the quality of the film. Even for a slasher. And it’s qualifies far outweigh the stupid scripts of the sequels, which essentially just boils down to the same thing over and over. Except more nudity and more graphic deaths.
Edit: except it introduced Jason properly. But then he becomes so confusing in later films.

Haven't seen the above, thanks.

Admittedly with a few years distance here, so it's not clear in my memory, but I don't remember the first one not being any less dumb and repetitive than the second one.


I'm not sure where this point of difference goes from here though, since you see a level of quality in F13th part 1 that I just do not.

Keeping in mind this is coming from someone who has a very different opinion of the first few F13th movies.


I've not seen X, but it has it's fans (I'll let you know next year. When I should be on my Xth year of doing Horrorthons with friends). Freddy vs Jason is good for the ridiculous kills.


I've seen part 9. It has been so long that I don't remember anything about the quality of it like I didn't for part 5. The few lists I saw ranking the different films frequently put it down there with part 5, which makes me think it'll be painful to return to as well.

By virtue of being first in the series, it can’t be repetitive compared to the sequels which just aimed to ape the originals death scenes.

We are, indeed, at an impasse here, though. So no need to continue since I don’t see how the sequels improved with quality over the original.

October 2nd 6-31 Freaks (1932)
31. A horror film on the Time Out top 100 horror film list

https://i.etsystatic.com/19389619/r/...59124_m7kg.jpg
Freaks(1932) is the rare case of a bad movie that works, because the thing has a number of things wrong with it. Freaks tells the story of a homewrecker who destroys a relationship between a pair of little people in the circus. The movie goes for just a little bit over an hour so it's basically look at the Freaks get to know the characters and here's the horror. The film has a genuine nightmare quality to it and you don't really have any empathy for anyone which to me is nice.

Ofcourse you have to watch it several times because Browning used real freaks with thick accents so subtitles are important or just re-watch it and pay close attention. It has some pretty solid set design and a decent pair of performances from the little people in the film. I keep getting Venus and Cleopatra confused (until they speak)

• October 1st - 3-15 The Old Dark House (1932)
• October 2nd - 6-31 Freaks (1932)

I hear great things about this one.

It improves on multiple viewings

Freaks is a great film and one of my favorites, hands down. It's funny, genuinely empathetic to the "freaks" of the title, and it's chock full of memorable imagery and moments.

https://external-content.duckduckgo....jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Aftermath, 2021

Kevin (Shawn Ashmore) works as part of a crew that cleans up crime scenes. By chance, he works a murder-suicide and ends up purchasing the home where the crime was committed for himself and his wife, Natalie (Ashley Greene). The couple is on rocky ground and trying to mend their relationship. But not soon after they move into the new house, strange events begin to occur. Who, or what, is responsible?

This isn't necessarily a bad horror film. But it is a horror film that feels cobbled together from other, better movies. A splash of , and you've got a film with effective but familiar thrills.

Ashmore and Greene are fine as the central couple. The pre-existing issues with trust and betrayal mean that the film starts from a level of tension and stress in the air. When bad things start happening, the inclination of the couple is to turn on each other instead of figuring out what's going on.

Sharif Atkins as a detective working on the couple's case is given little to do aside from incredulously repeat the couple's stories back to them and then explain why they aren't probable. Diana Hopper also makes a good impression as a classmate of Kevin's, but she is also given precious little to do besides make Natalie jealous and offer Kevin a few words of wisdom.

As I said, there are some decently scary and disturbing moments. What does harm the film, however, is that the final explanation for what happened just makes very little sense. There are stakes in the final act, but it's all against a backdrop of a confusing backstory.

Titane (2021, Ducournau) - I'm still wrestling with my thoughts on this, and I don't want to risk saying things because I don't want to spoil. But I'm just jotting it down just for the record.

I’ve been waiting to see this since Cannes.

It opened in limited release around me (but did a terrible job of advertising that fact) and I wanted to see it before I heard reviews clarifying what the **** the plot actually is (it's rare experience for me to go in before I hear any reviews of a movie, etc).


After seeing it... I'm still not sure what my thoughts are on it, and can't yet think of a reference point to point to say, "if you liked x, then you'll like this."

(All the obvious reference points have enough space between them and this, that I can't even say if those are reliable).


And as I think about it, I realize I haven't really even begun to engage with the emotional themes it seemed concerned with. This is one those movies I'm probably going to have to mull over for a few weeks before I settle on how I feel about it (which, honestly, isn't an uncommon experience for me).

Possible controversial opinion but:

Kill, Baby…..Kill! > Black Sunday.

I agree, but I think that sort of settles it as a controversial opinion :D

Re: 2021 Halloween Challenge
 

I am getting started late this season, with just one film to log so far...Will updated as I go along!

Part 1 (What's in a Name)
1. Malignant
2. The Orphan
3. A horror film with 3 words
4.Beyond the Black Rainbow
5. Something Wicked This Way Comes

Part 2 (All about the franchises)
6. Sinister
7. Final Destination 5
8. Evil Dead (2013)
9. Paranormal Activity 4
10. An obvious cheap ripoff of a major horror franchise

Part 3 (Trip to Europe)
11. The Innocents
12. A film from France
13. A film from Germany
14. The Beyond
15. As Above, So Below

Part 4 (where to find it)
16. A film on Netflix
17. Phantasm
18. A film on Hulu
19 Ginger Snaps
20. A film on a different streaming site(Youtube, HBO MAX, Tubi, etc)

Part 5 (It's not the size of the horror)
21. A horror short film under 30 minutes
22. A classic B film that is just over an hour
23. The Lair of the White Worm
24. Angel Heart
25. Salem's Lot

Part 6

26. A horror film released in October of any year
27. Paranormal Activity 3
28. A horror film released in 2021
29. A horror film released in October 2021
30. The Descent
31. A horror film on the Time Out top 100 horror film list

So, for "A Horror Film With 1 Word", I'm taking the obvious road here and reporting on Malignant.


We all just thought this was a ton of fun.
James Wan unbuckles his belt and he delivers in much the same way that an Italian filmmaker who doesn't care whether or not there are a few fridge-moments in Middle America delivers on some nutty premise by just giving you a feast.
I'm sure some people won't like this film and I am interested to hear what their reasons are.

I could go either way, honestly.

Oh, I don't know. They are both pretty strong and have great, dynamic visuals. It probably just comes down to whether you're more moved by black and white gothic or nightmare colors.

KBK had a better overall atmosphere, to me. BS was decent, don’t get me wrong, but KBK was just much more enjoyable.
Except that ending felt rushed. But that’s a minor quibble.

I give Black Sunday the edge because it has the better lead performance with Barbara Steele, but I think Kill Baby Kill is more adventurous visually. Maybe Bava's best looking film? (Not that Black Sunday is a slouch in that department.)

Exactly---two very strong films and I wouldn't look sideways at someone for preferring either.

The best Bava is Blood and Black Lace. No substitutes.

My first Bava. I approve 👍

That's the worst misspelling of Lisa & The Devil I've ever seen.

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dOrPCrarV...%2529%2B20.jpg

Lair of the White Worm, 1988

When archaeologist Angus (Peter Capaldi) unearths a large, irregular skull, he accidentally resurrects the followers of an ancient large white worm. A local woman named Lady Sylvia (Amanda Donohoe), a follower of the ancient god, puts into motion a plan to resurrect him. Her plans involve the family of Eve (Catherine Oxenberg) and Mary (Sammi Davis), as well as Eve's boyfriend James (Hugh Grant).

This is one of those horror films that, through reputation and some very Ken Russell imagery, has been hanging out on the periphery of my interest for ages. I think that it was certainly worth watching, but it wasn't any kind of revelation.

The film displays much of the dark, cruel humor that was present in Russell's The Devils, but this film doesn't have the same thematic power or narrative momentum as that other film. There is plenty of creativity to be had in the staging of certain sequences, and especially in the visuals. (Can we just ask: what does Ken Russell have against nuns?!). The film makes the most out of the conceit that its central villainess is a snake. The iconic image of her emerging from a large basket is very fun. Her seduction of an unfortunate boy scout is also pointed and darkly funny.

Grant, Capaldi, Oxenberg and Davis are engaging protagonists, though their stories feel a bit scattered. There is a backstory about their father having gone missing. But the relationships between the characters only feel moderately sketched out. Too often they feel designed to be reactive to the provocations of the villains.

Overall I'd say that this film feels more like some fun ideas and images cobbled together than a truly coherent story. But it's also very enjoyeble and easy to watch.

Continuing the Bava talk, I finally caught up with Black Sabbath (1963).
(viewed on Shudder)


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EmHBMpFX...pg&name=medium



My main chicken scratch notes/thoughts:
Visually rich Bava anthology. Scratches my preference for gothic and supernatural Bava. Saw the Italian version. I wish I'd at least have seen the intro/outro with Karloff in his original English.

One disclaimer on the Bava talk - I still haven't seen Kill, Baby Kill.

Well, I actually think Part 2 is the better actual film. Not more fun, not more kills or more nudity or anything like that, to me, it is the best of the series because it is the only truly good Horror movie in the franchise. It is also the only one that gives me something resembling feeling scared. That movie has an identity, to me, that is unique from the rest of the franchise. To me the first one was just too busy racing through one kill after another and, of course, the killer felt like a bit of a letdown to me. And it really is much more of a giallo feel. The second one scared the absolute crap out of me the first time I saw it but whenever I revisit it, it's the only one that feels like it has both suspense and terror.
And, of course, Ginny is a great Final Girl.
The rest of the series (after 1 and 2), for me, is somewhere between just poor and so silly you almost have to grin.

I feel like you should revisit Part 2 with an eye toward forgetting all the ones that come after it. Part 2 is not responsible for how bad the rest of the movies are, it's grittier than most people remember, and original Jason, where he is more like a vengeful wild animal than some demon or punchline, is pretty terrifying. And again, great Final Girl.

I loved it the first time, honestly.

Well, now you have a purpose in life.

I actually binged the series, again, a few months ago, sans Goes to Hell and Jason in Space, so I’ve seen it enough time. It isn’t as terrible as the later series, but still doesn’t surpass the original for myself. I do give it props for introducing Jason, however. I might prefer 3 over 2, though it’s close.

I enjoy Lair of the White Worm, but to me, it's mostly just a fun dark comedy with a banger song (which makes for a fun trailer that now overpowers my memory of the movie). If you come to it expecting something like The Devils, I can't help but imagine you'd be disappointed. Bram Stoker doesn't quite have the cerebral connotations that Aldous Huxley has (even though both are really only known for one book amongst the common folk, like me).

Re: 2021 Halloween Challenge
 

Hockey mask Jason looks cooler, but I would be more likely to **** my pants in the presence of potato sack Jason.

It's on the streaming service that Kino just launched:https://www.kinocult.com/feature/kill-babykill

This took me a rewatch to gel to, but the first time I watched it was on an absolute dog**** copy. Just blurry and out of focus as hell. Hard to enjoy a movie best known for its visuals when the transfer looks like vaseline has been smeared over the screen.

It's not so much the fact that it's not cerebral. More that the characters never quite get the depth that they need for me to really "click" with the film. And I do think that it's possible to get there even in a horror-comedy.

If you prefer 3 over 2 then I think you binged too hard and got the series mixed up.
3 is a pale and pitiful sequel to 2. Everything after 2 is pretty terrible converting to ridiculous schlock somewhere along the way, and one's whole expectation has to be reset in my opinion.
On a side-note, I binged 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, and FvJ a year or two ago. Man, that was a some schlock. FvJ was easily the worst of the series for me.

Without a doubt.

3 is not a "good" movie, but I liked the slightly campier elements. The shameless 3D effects, especially when viewed in 2D, I found pretty endearing. At least by the extremely narrow aims of these movies, I don't think it's worthwhile to compare it too closely to 2, as it's trying to do a slightly different thing without going full bore into camp like the series would later do.


Now if you guys want an indefensible opinion, I actually don't mind 8. Yes, the scenes in the yacht are interminable, but once they get to New York, it's a hoot. I get that people who don't like the campier side of the series don't like it, but it's not too far off in quality from Part 7, which seems to be much better liked.

Nah, no mix up. Just a sight (egregious) drop in quality.

An observation - of the roughly 3-4 threads for horror movie viewing, the one that's getting the Friday the 13th debate is the one for tracking the viewing challenge. Friday the 13th, a franchise of movies which I don't think anyone has actually listed as one of their movies for the viewing challenge.

I think you'll enjoy FvJ. The kills are ridiculous. Like, you need to view it as if you're watching Army of Darkness in terms of seriousness. Not Evil Dead, or even Evil Dead 2, but Army of Darkness (which is why I can see it being anathema to Wooley if he was viewing it in the context of other slasher films). Outside of X, somehow 7 is the one I saw last, and it was mostly on in the background (maybe, technically I haven't actually seen it). It seemed... dull. Maybe a proper viewing is needed. Eight is buried deep in the sewers of my memory from my teenage years, and I'm not going down to retrieve it. Nine didn't seem as bad in my memory as 8, but online rankings makes me think I've forgotten just how bad it was. I think we aligned on 5, where so much screen time was devoted to characters that were just completely grating.

And for 3... I've seen it in 3D on a big screen. I will admit, there was one kill where, with the 3D, it really was the highlight of the movie. It really popped.

Never, ever play Resident Evil 4, then:


https://youtu.be/EIHFH6jsyaY

I dunno, I thought it was kinda dopey, silly, schlocky fun, given that you have to have bought into how "bad" these movies are by the time you get to number 8.