Horror Hall of Fame II

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So...make a nomination and join
Thanks...but I'll have to pass, most horror films are way too violent/graphic for me.

If I had joined I would have nominated Day of Wrath (1943) It's a Danish film that was nominated by Thursday Next in the 40s HoF Part 2. Very impressive film. Has anyone seen that?



Thanks...but I'll have to pass, most horror films are way too violent/graphic for me.

If I had joined I would have nominated Day of Wrath (1943) It's a Danish film that was nominated by Thursday Next in the 40s HoF Part 2. Very impressive film. Has anyone seen that?
I think the people in this HoF who haven't seen it wouldn't like it. It's not horror on IMDb anyway.



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When I messaged Paha saying I was tossing between three films, the other two were Ginger Snaps and Deep Red I'm a huge fan of both. Katharine Isabelle is a painfully underrated/underseen actress although that's somewhat through choice from what I understand about her. I like the connection between adolescence and body horror, it's not too heavy handed and is done really well. One of the very few horror films that pulls off humour decently too!

Deep Red is probably my favourite giallo film and the plot is engaging and well thought out without being too implausible. The music is astounding as always, Daria Nicolodi is completely charming. The death sequences are operatic without being too over the top (on the whole) and explores some really interesting themes like feminism and sexuality that were pretty ahead of its time for the mid 70s. Stunning.
I'll rewatch both though since it's felt like a long time since I reviewed them on here!

I haven't seen any of the other noms but I've heard about most of them, so yeah, feeling very excited on the whole



I think the people in this HoF who haven't seen it wouldn't like it. It's not horror on IMDb anyway.
You're right it's not tagged horror, I hadn't noticed that. Would you personally consider it a horror film?



I was considering joining this HoF, but I honestly couldn't come up with a film to nominate. I wanted to go with something that was almost certainly going to make my ballot for the Horror Countdown, but wasn't on any of the current Lists. I didn't ultimately decide on anything.

All of the nominations that I've seen (The Amityville Horror, eXistenZ, Ginger Snaps, Pulse, and The Descent) I like well enough, though the last two are the only ones currently on my rewatch list for the Countdown. Some of Cronenberg's other films are in that pile, but not eXistenZ.



If nominations were revealed up front, instead of keeping them hush-hush for some reason, I'd be more likely to join these HOFs. I mainly worry about the availability of the films, since I try to avoid having to seek out films online, but I doubt I would've had a problem finding any of these nominations (except maybe Macabre). And it's a strong group of nominations too!

I was already planning to watch Pulse (2001) since I recently watched and loved the director's Cure. Was also planning to watch Deep Red for the countdown since I hear a lot of people cite it as one of Argento's best, alongside Suspiria, which I love.

The Descent is one of the best horror films of the 2000's. I don't think any film has ever made me feel so claustrophobic. The Autopsy of Jane Doe is pretty solid. I remember the build-up being very creepy, but the film faltered a bit down the stretch as it became perhaps a bit too ridiculous. Not sure how it would hold up on a re-watch since much of my initial enjoyment came from the intrigue of wondering what's up with this corpse. Now that the mystery has been solved, I'm skeptical that I'd be as into it.

eXistenZ was on my science-fiction ballot. I guess Cronenberg's trademark body horror is enough to warrant the horror tag on IMDb, but I think calling it a horror film is a stretch. Very good movie, though. Great ending. I've always enjoyed The Amityville Horror (possibly my favorite haunted-house movie), but it's been a long time since I last watched it. The whole lycanthropy-as-puberty metaphor in Ginger Snaps is a bit too blunt, but it's still one of the better werewolf movies I've seen. I think I prefer the sequel, though. For all the praise that Katharine Isabelle receives, I personally found Emily Perkins the more impressive of the two.

Haven't seen Macabre, but seeing that deranged bitch on the cover wield a chainsaw is enough to whet my appetite, and I love the French New Extremity films that cricket compared it to. Haven't seen Hour of the Wolf, either, but Bergman rarely fails to impress.
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If nominations were revealed up front, instead of keeping them hush-hush for some reason, I'd be more likely to join these HOFs. I mainly worry about the availability of the films, since I try to avoid having to seek out films online, but I doubt I would've had a problem finding any of these nominations (except maybe Macabre). And it's a strong group of nominations too!
I kinda agree. I don't personally get much excitement from the "grand" reveals and I can totally see your point. I try to pick films that are quite easily available for that exact reason (in the end I was choosing between Pulse and In a Glass Cage but couldn't find the latter anywhere online). If I run another HoF in the future I'll probably go with open nominations.



There's been a couple of specialty Hall of Fames in which I didn't rate the movies in the thread, and I'm not going to do it in this one either. I saw my nomination recently so I'm not going to watch it again.

Macabre

As I mentioned before, this movie reminds me of French new wave horror, except it's out of Indonesia. The story is really just an afterthought but suitable enough. The quality of the movie is very good and there's an excellent lead villain. The first half hour is the set up for the craziness of the last hour. It ends up being a pretty violent movie; some may call it extreme. I've never seen anyone else on the forum mention it before and that's one of the reasons I nominated it. If it's the kind of horror movie that you like, then you will like it. It's a hidden gem.



The whole lycanthropy-as-puberty metaphor in Ginger Snaps is a bit too blunt, but it's still one of the better werewolf movies I've seen. I think I prefer the sequel, though.
I'm not sure if I've seen the sequel or not. I do remember that a few friends of mine who loved the first Ginger Snaps did not like the second one though. Now I'm kind of curious.



My initial nomination was The Autopsy of Jane Doe....I guess Canadians really like that movie.
Hell yeah! I love that movie
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Macabre, Hour of the Wolf and Autopsy of Jane Doe are on my watchlist. Good noms.



I'll spam the ones I won't be rewatching (again).

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.




I'll start a new review thread next year and will switch to full popcorn rating only so this is essentially 5/5 for this (will use the new as I'm not 100% sure I'll watch all of the this year).

Pulse (2001) R

A suicide, weird internet page and people missing or grown distant lead young Tokyo residents toward a mystery that has major consequences.


Pulse is pretty unique J-horror that is in some ways closer to the likes of Cronenberg and Carpenter than contemporary Japanese films. It's a strange hybrid of Prince of Darkness, Shivers (or Rabid) and typical J-horror ghost movie like Ringu. The result is a great movie that manages to blend all of its elements into highly emotional apocalyptic vision.

While Pulse is mostly considered a horror film it isn't very scary. It is very sad and depressing film though. Its main theme is loneliness and its depiction of it is devoid of hope; in life everyone is ultimately alone and death is no salvation but an eternity of cold and hopeless solitude. I often like sad films and Pulse surely delivers.

Technically the film is good: it's not visually flashy but its static or slowly moving camera fits the film's slow pace well, CGI is clearly dated but it still kinda works and soundtrack is really nice. Acting is OK too. Plot doesn't always make that much sense but like in Fulci's films it's more about the atmosphere anyway.

One of the best J-horrors (maybe even the best). It's not as scary as some others but it has almost unsurpassable feeling of loss and hopelessness.




For the same reason as above this is essentially 5/5 for this.

Ginger Snaps (2000) r

A much needed rewatch for my potential top horror list. Another attempt to link puberty and its changes on (female) body with more profound transformation into a monster.



Ginger and Brigitte are high school juniors (Brigitte is one year younger but she's skipped a class at some point). They're also (so-called) freaks and misanthropists of sort who mostly just hang together and have an obsession for morbid (they take pictures of their faked deaths and have a pact of dying together).

While out one night Ginger gets bitten by a werewolf that's been killing local dogs like no tomorrow. So in addition to having her first period (at 16) she also starts to grow some extra body hair, pointed teeth and a tail to boot. While Ginger succumbs deeper into bestiality Brigitte tries to find her a cure with some assistance by a young local drug dealer. Story ends with quite a bit of blood and sadness.

The basic story is nothing special but it works mostly because of very well written characters and kinda clever ways to transfer the old werewolf tropes into modern time. Katharine Isabelle and Emily Perkins are perfect in their portrayal of the sisters. It reminds me a little of Let the Right One In as both of them are primarily concerned of the characters while all the horror elements are secondary and only there to support the character based story.

Cinematography is fine but nothing really special. The monster effects haven't aged too well and I personally don't like how the werewolf looks (though I suppose Ginger's transformation is not finished). I'm also not exactly sure if I like the comedic elements (especially sisters' parents are really goofy).

A good character driven horror film and a good candidate for the best puberty mystification horror ever made.




And finally a first real rewatch for the HoF.

The Descent (2005) R

One year after losing her husband and daughter in an accident Sarah goes to caving expedition with her friends. It's supposed to be an easy thing in a beginner friendly and safe cave but the woman responsible for the arrangements has little more ambitous goals in mind. It's not "Boredom" caves but previously uncharted one... and they're not alone.


Neil Marshall started his career with a bang. His debut, Dog Soldiers, is a good modern werewolf movie and the follow-up to that, The Descent, is one of the best claustrophobic horrors. It would be so easy to go wrong with the concept of six women lost in a pitch black cave but Marshall manages to weave legit story and enough characterization into the mix making The Descent a proper movie instead of boring display of dark and darker scenes.

I like the acting by pretty much everyone. The shift from awkward and fake reunion to battle for survival works. The crawlers look creepy and proper underground dwellers (as usual their abilities change from scene to scene and in general they have amazingly bad hearing for creatures that use sound to know their environment). Violence is rather bloody and it has certain 80s feel to it. The film also looks great and keeps the shots just above too dark.

The Descent is not a perfect horror film but it's damn good. It's a shame that Neil Marshall hasn't made more horror after it (though that's about to change in next year).




If nominations were revealed up front, instead of keeping them hush-hush for some reason, I'd be more likely to join these HOFs...
I agree with that. In fact I've been the only host to list the movie noms as they come in. I did that in the Film Noir Part 1 and 2 Hofs. I think it encouraged more people to join and got people to nominate better stuff too. There's no real reason why the noms are kept private for a big reveal, other than just that's the way it was done in the past.