Movie Diary 2018 by pahaK

Humanity and Paper Balloon (1937) N+R

Watched this couple of months ago for the first time but didn't review it because I chose to nominate it for the second 1930s HoF. So this is a review based both on the first and second viewing.



The film takes place in 18th century Japan and focuses on people living in sort of a slum district full of small rental apartments. The main protagonists are Unno, a samurai without a master, and Shinza, a barber who also runs illegal gambling events. Unno desperately tries to gain the attention of his father's former master but past services hold little value. Shinza mostly wants to humiliate the local ringleader who doesn't like competition for his gambling sites.

The way how sad and tragic story is told in seemingly light and happy fashion is interesting. In some ways it undermines the tragedy but it also makes suffering and unhappiness seem more casual, more normal and expected. I'd suppose Humanity and Paper Balloons is surprisingly funny for such a pessimistic movie.

At the heart of the film is a conflict of two different sets of values. On one end is Unno and his blind faith towards honor and personal pride. On the other end are Mouri, former master of Unno's father, and the landlord who rents the slum houses who both value money and personal gain over anything. Somewhere in between is the barber Shinza who gets into trouble for his greed but retaliates to mend his hurt self-esteem. Being a pessimistic film it's not very hard to guess which people are doing better in the end.

There are many hilarious scenes (like the fishmonger in the street and the sake dripping wake) that made me laugh out loud. Very few scenes are made overtly dramatic and the overall feeling is kinda like watching an alcoholic doing something stupid - you may chuckle but deep down you know it's actually really sad. I don't think it succeeds perfectly in this but I like the idea.

The kidnapping part of the film is the weakest. It just feels pointless and too certain to fail from the beginning. I think it also made Shinza too focused on his pride, especially in the very end where he suddenly faces death with calm and honor. In few places the film drags a little and some scenes go on for too long (like Shinza trying to pawn his barber kit).

Good tragicomedy that hides its sadness behind jolly surface. I don't think it's the masterpiece some claim it to be but it's definitely a good one.

Predator (1987) RR

Wanted to watch something relaxing and fun for a change. 80s Arnold usually fits that bill.


Arnold and his merry group of macho soldiers go to jungle in search of some missing people. With unending ammo they first dispose the evil guerrillas but being true gentlemen they just capture the only female of the camp. On their way back a badass alien starts to hunt them just for the lulz and eventually gets into dick measuring contest with Arnold.

Predator is one of those 80s films where you just can't be sure if it's serious or trying to parody all the cliches of its time. All the close-ups of muscled arms, completely overdone machismo, stupid one liners, everyone shooting on full auto, etc. could easily be either. I don't think the distinction is that important though because most importantly the film is very entertaining.


First 80 minutes or so are really good but I've always thought the film takes a little dive after it turns to a duel between Predator and Arnold. Especially the end after Arnold's mud washes away is clearly weaker than the rest of the film. I guess it's partly because Arnold's character is almost completely blank compared to some of the others and the fisticuffs with the monster just looks dumb.

Predator looks pretty nice but the camouflaged version hasn't aged too well. It's also weird how all kills by Predator are quite bloody and detailed but when the heroes kill guerrillas there's practically no blood at all, even when shooting them with gatling. The jungle settings look good and while the film isn't really that suspenseful the directing is solid and the growing fear in the men is nicely portrayed.

Not the best 80s action (-scifi-horror) but very solid film none the less. I've seen this at least five times and it's still great entertainment.

I loved that Taken line "This is not the time for dick-measuring Stuart" .




I think it still looks the business myself .

Rosemary's Baby (1968) r

I was eventually going to rewatch this but I suppose seeing Hereditary pumped it up a little on my queue. Another classic I didn't appreciate as a child.


Very beautiful Mia Farrow is Rosemary, a young wife of a struggling actor. They move to a new apartment and get acquainted with some weird neighbors. Like many young couples they're planning to have children and eventually Rosemary gets pregnant. All the neighbors are extremely interested in the coming baby and soon Rosemary starts to believe that there's something rotten going on besides the witchcraft infested history of the building she lives in.

Rosemary's Baby wasn't exactly what I expected (I think it's been almost 30 years since I saw it the first time so my memories were extremely vague). Contrary to its reputation I wouldn't even call it a horror film. In my opinion it's not scary at all and I doubt it even tries to be. It's a combination of drama and comedy with supernatural elements in its story. I don't hold that against it but there's a small chance that my expectations affected my experience.

Most of the characters feel like they're having few screws loose in their heads. Rosemary and her friends are seemingly normal but everyone else is off one way or another. The coven is like an assembly of mental hospital escapees. There's absurd feeling of otherness that's built with humor and erratic behavior but there's no suspense or fear. The ending is great in its weirdness and definitely leaves viewer with a positive aftertaste.

The film does drag quite a bit and feels too long. There are some well made scenes (like the impregnation of Rosemary and the ending) but there's too much filler in between. Acting is good (especially Mia Farrow). Rosemary's pain during early pregnancy and the sudden disappearance of the pain felt completely pointless theme that could easily have been removed.

Somewhat disappointing film especially considering its status as a horror classic.

I love the phrasing in your Predator review. I gotta watch that again sometime.

Horror Express (1972) r

This Spanish and UK collaboration is pretty much a mix of "Murder on the Orient Express" and The Thing (it's apparently loosely based on the 1951 film version).


Christopher Lee finds a frozen fossil from China. He believes it to be the missing link between ape and man. He attempts to take it to Europe aboard a trans-Siberian express. Suddenly people in the train start dying and the fossil disappears from its box. Peter Cushing and some other gentlemen and ladies assist Lee to solve the mystery.

I do like the setting and general plot of this film but there are lots of details that kinda annoy me. The science in Horror Express is really wacky (even for a 70s scifi) up to point it starts to bother me (the brain & memory explanation, watching the eye fluid with microscope, etc.). I could forgive that sort of things much easier if the film had been supernatural horror but with scifi I tend to be little prone to nitpick.

Otherwise the story works pretty well. It never manages the same level of suspense as The Thing but similarities are easy to see. Acting and characters are alright (the first meeting of Lee and Cushing reminded me of the paleontologists from Crichton's Dragon Teeth book). The isolation theme works decently in the train. Monster seems reasonably intelligent for most of the time.

OK scifi horror that could have worked better with supernatural antagonist. Especially the events near the end would have been more fitting that way.

The Amityville Horror (1979) r

One more classic horror rewatched. I didn't remember much of this except that I didn't like it as a kid.



A blended family moves to a house that's been vacant since the oldest son of the previous occupants killed rest of his family about a year ago. Things don't go so well for the new owners either and especially the husband isn't feeling like himself but at least the young daughter finds herself an imaginary friend.

The Amityville Horror isn't anywhere near the quality of films like The Exorcist or The Omen. The showing of the house in the beginning immediately suggests that the direction is clumsy (the whole idea of mixing the past murders with the showing is stupid because we already had the intro about them). Fortunately it's pretty much the worst scene in the film but still the implication is more or less proven correct and the film constantly hovers somewhere between mediocre and bad.

For some reason the demonic presence in the house is behaving like a mischievous kid. For example why did it trap the nanny to closet or steal the money from wife's brother? Also why does it only wreak havoc in the house when it clearly can affect people around the city? I'd like some logic even in horror films especially when the suspense part is already lacking and there isn't much of a story either.

The house itself is pretty decent setting but it's not used very well. Acting is pretty so-so - it's fine in general but almost everyone showcases terrible overacting at least once (the priest probably being the worst example of this). I think it's worth a mention that Margot Kidder as the wife is pretty damn hot and thanks to her I won't give this a bad rating.

Have you seen The Asphyx (1972)?

I don't think so. At least the name and all the posters I found with Google don't ring any bells.

Oh, it just came to mind as it's another Seventies supernatural tale. I remember it being pretty good. I like The Shout (1978) as well.

"Get out!"

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The Alchemist (1983) r

A B-horror by Charles Band starring Robert Ginty of The Exterminator fame. I didn't remember much from the film except that someone got cut in half.



In late 19th century a sorcerer falls in love with another man's wife. He puts his magic to use and puts a spell on the woman making her to love him as well. Husband isn't too happy and comes to claim his wife back. In the midst of the action he ends up stabbing his wife and if that wasn't bad enough the sorcerer curses him to eternally roam the night as a beast. Jump to 1950s and a woman looking exactly like the late wife is drawn to the place the husband lives.

Story is kinda OK but very cliched. There's also shortage of actual content and the film drags quite a bit even though it's only 78 minutes short. Technically it's clumsy and has very basic cinematography. Only the dream sequences and the scene beyond the portal look nice. Settings would have been good but they didn't know how to use them. Acting isn't too bad for a film like this and I often like Ginty anyway (he was very different from the rest of 80s action stars).

The Alchemist is definitely not good but it has some charm and decent amount of unrealized potential. Last few minutes are actually rather good but the buildup could have used a ton of polish. I can recommend this only to people who like to watch B-horrors and prefer them without comedic elements.

The Child (1977) R

An American small budget horror that does one of the best Euro Trash imitations I know.


A woman is hired to take care of a young girl in rural California. The girl's mother has died recently and she lives with his father and brother. Mom was mentally ill and Rosalie is also considered at least very weird child. Nearby people are afraid to go out at night but Rosalie likes to visit her mom's grave during the hours of darkness. Who are the friends she's meeting at the graveyard?

In my opinion The Child is very ambitious for US B-horror and is in many ways reminiscent of films by Fulci and Bava. Especially the first half is filled with brilliant camerawork, insane amount of fog and eerie soundtrack that combine into very creepy atmosphere. Final section of the film is little disappointing after the great start but it's still alright.

There are few glaring issues with the film though. First is terrible acting which is enhanced by equally terrible dubbing. Female lead is decent and her panic in the end is actually good but no one else seems to have much talent. Another thing wrong is the editing with quite a few examples of continuity errors (like the time of day changes between cuts). Also the end is little abrupt and clumsy.

As a whole The Child is exactly the kind of B-movie I enjoy. It's serious and ambitious attempt to make something that's either at the very limits of your skills or even beyond. It has technical flaws but more importantly it has soul and character. I love and respect artists who aren't afraid to fail and boldly step out from their comfort zones.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) N

Latest entry to this franchise brings nothing new to the table and could easily be used as a definition for formulaic.


Volcano is about to erupt on island where Jurassic World was. While politicians and media debate if it's time for dinos to go extinct again the private money is already taking action on the island. Heroes from the previous film (I think, I can't actually remember anything from it) are lured to help in capturing Blue, our favorite raptor. What follows can be summarized by two words: boring and predictable.

Just like every other film in the franchise this recycles the same exact plot and themes (big Hollywood studios teaching us that science, capitalism and greed are evil). Goldblum's speech in the beginning sets the embarrassing tone that never relents. With every new character introduced it's very easy to predict what their roles will be. There's no shades of gray but pure black and white dullness (and lots of "hidden" references to the real world).

At least the dinosaurs look great but there's nothing new about them either. It mostly uses them for the same scenes as previous films did (like the brontosaurus early on the island and the indoraptor stalking the heroes in Lockwood's private museum). Technically the effects are good but like everything else in the film they too lack any sort of desire or ambition.

Terribly bad film that gets one popcorn only because I like dinosaurs.

Night of the Creeps (1986) r

A horror comedy that's more interested in paying homage to iconic horror directors than being funny or smart.



Strange slugs fall to Earth from a spaceship. They like to nest inside brains and lay some eggs. For some weird reason they also animate their dead hosts until eventually their growing offspring bursts the head open. Combine these scifi zombies with below average college/ fraternity comedy and you get Night of the Creeps.

This is not a good movie by any standard. The script is just stupid and dialogue tries to make every scene funny but its success rate is pretty low. If naming the characters after well known horror directors is the pinnacle of Dekker's creativity there's very little chance for witty bantering. I was actually surprised to see that the director/writer Fred Dekker was already in his late twenties at the time because the film really felt like some teenager's tribute to his idols.

When compared to better horror comedies like Bad Taste or many Troma films Night of the Creeps feels lackluster. In addition to its dull writing its ideas lack proper insanity and uniqueness. It's almost like it has nothing of its own to offer and it's content to be a half-assed replication of former works whose only defense for its shortcomings is "we're not serious, dude".

That looks a little rougher than I actually feel but it's hard to get nuances right. It's just that I dislike it when artists don't even try. It's not particularly terrible for what it is but still bad. The black-and-white intro in the 50s is the best part of the film.

I also felt somewhat disappointed when I watched this. That atmosphere was great and it builds the horror well, but I didn't really feel much terror. I felt that the husband's involvement with the occult should have been more of a mystery, making the audience think she is safe with him when she is not. Build that up a bit more, but we are shown from the start that he is part of it and that fizzles out so much needed tension.

When she starts to suspect things is when I think the film really grabbed my attention.

I watched this for the Horror HoF.

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Suspect's Reviews

I think I still want to see Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom for the same reason...dinosaurs haha

Everyone I talked to said how Jurassic World 'wasn't bad'. That seemed like a low-bar to pass.

It was generic and it made me have next to no interest in the sequel, which looks terrible.

The Burning (1981) r

Summer camp caretaker is hated by the youngsters and they decide to make a prank on him. It goes little awry and the poor man burns almost to death. Five years later he's released from the hospital and he's wanting revenge. His victims are new summer campers supervised by one of the original pranksters.


The Burning is your typical slasher with horny teenagers and almost super powered murderer. It's definitely not my favorite genre but I've seen far worse specimen. Like slashers in general The Burning isn't suspenseful or scary in the least and there's no real story (I guess it wouldn't be completely wrong to say that the film is just an excuse for nudity and splatter).

I think the film takes too long to get anywhere interesting (i.e. murders). The false scares and teenage drama it offers aren't enough to carry majority of the movie. When things finally escalate to bloodshed Tom Savini's effects are really good. Especially the canoe scene is great. Writer and director aren't bothered by the non-essential stuff like realism, distances and time.

Mediocre slasher with good gore translates into barely OK film. Fans of the genre will most likely find this far more entertaining.

I was introduced to this film by a good friend of mine from Argentina, since its a Spanish film.

I found the dvd reasonably so I bought it as well..

Great choice of film!