A scary thing happened on the way to the Movie Forums - Horrorcrammers

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4/5

Halloween Ends isn't horrible.


It's really dumb as well. And I don't think it really comes close to nailing what it is trying to do. But at least in this instance I can appreciate the effort to do something else.


It's amazing how much not shitting all down your leg improves appreciation for a films ambition. It's human elements almost feel human and not like just pure mouth pieces for a films themes.


I would probably put this one just beneath the original sequel. Which is not a good place since all the other ones I've seen below it are dreadful. But at least it dares to tread water and not be a completely redundant sequel as nearly all of them are.

Agree. This flick did try to take a stab at injecting some style to a series that lost all of its own long ago. The choice to focus on the unstable kid as the main character was shit, and they completely trashed Myers, but I was still entertained, even if it was mostly just marveling at how badly they were trashing the Myers mythology. I liked the synth stuff, too.

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While I don't think it necessarily worked, I'm fine with the shitting on the Myers myth because at this point that is what I want to be left with. It's a franchise which mostly deserves to tank itself. And because of that I'm also fine with the movie pulling it's focus elsewhere. It's what made it vaguely interesting.


But again, it's not like I think it worked that well. But the fact that I believe it didnt completely flub such a giant risk as this made it at least a passable curiosity

Nice.

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I actually think this movie maybe deserves half a star more simply due to the hysterics it has sent some Halloween purists into.


A social experiment to troll horror fans is never a waste of time

Graveyard Rats (Cabinet of Curiosities Episode 2), 2022

Masson (David Hewlett) is the caretaker of a cemetery, but little do his clients know that Masson quite happily relives the dead bodies of their jewelry, accessories, and gold teeth. With occasional assistance from a man who works at the morgue (Julian Richings), Masson scopes out potential windfalls. Urgently needing to pay back a gambling debt, Masson is thrilled when a wealthy man dies and is set to be buried with priceless accouterments. There's just one little problem: the cemetery has a rat problem. A big one. And when Masson gets to the heart of the matter he finds that it's not your average infestation . . .

Now this is more like it!

While Hewlett's Masson is just as skeevy as the character played by Tim Blake Nelson in the last episode, he's introduced with a lot less blunt dialogue. He's a character you see for a minute and you totally get it. Once from a wealthy family, Masson is a man on the way down the hill, frantically hoping to steal enough to keep from getting taken out by his collectors.

Most of the film is a great extended sequence of Masson pursuing a stolen body through suspiciously large rat tunnels that wind around underneath the cemetery. The sequence is obviously claustrophobic, and the suspense comes half from wondering what Masson will find in the tunnels and half wondering how much deeper he will go in his desperation.

From there, the episode continues to escalate. The gore is really top-notch. There's a gross scene in the morgue where Masson examines the bodies of the homeless that have been brought in. The rats are used very effectively. While they are obviously CGI, they look pretty good. A later creature element seems to have been done practically or else it's really strong special effects. Either way, I was never distracted by the look of any of the creatures.

But best of all, the episode builds to a very satisfying and appropriate finale. A very strong showing. From the director of the original Cube (nice), some episodes of Hannibal (nice!), and In the Tall Grass (boo!). Definitely recommended.

Also, I'm watching Lady in a Cage and I am reminded that once in grad school I was stuck in an elevator during a power outage. I've told this story before, but I think that my brain has exaggerated how long I was in there. The more I look back on it, the more I think it was probably like 1 minute at the most, lol. But it felt like forever and I was immediate like


"Trapped! Trapped!"

How do you know you ever got out though? Maybe you're still stuck in there and have been hallucinating ever since.

Well, I sure populated my fantasy world with a lot of casual homophobia and car expenses!

Is this why sometimes all anyone says to me in a day is "PRESS FOR ALARM"? It's all starting to make sense . . .

For a second I thought you were said Fairy in a Cage and was…surprised, to say the least.

lol

Glad to be of service.

(I actually wouldn’t consider myself a Halloween purist, but nonetheless found myself annoyed by the movie.)

Yeah, no thanks.

Lady in a Cage, 1964

Cornelia (Olivia de Havilland) is a wealthy woman who, due to a broken hip, uses an electronic elevator. One day a freak accident knocks out the power in her home, trapping her in the elevator 8 or 10 feet above the ground. Unfortunately for her, a desperate man named George (Jeff Corey) finds his way into her home, bringing along a friend named Sade (Ann Sothern) to help raid the home. And unfortunately for them, a vicious trio of youthful hoodlums (James Caan, Rafael Campos, and Jennifer Billingsley) also realizes what's up and decides to loot the house for themselves.

Is this kind of trash? Yes. But is it glorious trash? YES!

It was genuinely hard to decide which quote to use to convey how this movie goes. At one point, Cornelia refers to the invading youths as neanderthals, realizing she may need to use violence to keep herself safe. As the camera zooms in on de Havilland's face, her internal monologue rasps, "Stone Age, here I come!"

I will give the film credit that it has an overarching point about modern society and it makes it reasonably well. The opening shot is of a dog that has just been hit and killed by a car. The car's driver looks down at the dog, then just walks back to his car and drives away. The hustle and bustle of modern life--car horns honking, kids playing, sirens sounding, aircraft zooming by overhead--repeatedly drowns out Cornelia's cries for help. At several points characters do actually hear an alarm that is sounding in Cornelia's house, but they disregard it as just more noise.

This is definitely a bleak and cynical view of modern society. It's like the film version of that cartoon image of the series of fish where each fish is about to be eaten by a larger one. Every time a new person arrives at Cornelia's home, they don't even give a thought to helping her and instead start sizing up the silverware.

And Cornelia herself is a real piece of work. Like, obviously it's awful to think about being in her position. But she also refers to the youths as the "offal of the welfare state" and muses bitterly that her tax dollars were feeding them. It never once seems to occur to her that when these people were kids they could have used some help--you know, more than her generous tax dollars--and no one was there for them. We also learn that she has smothered her own son (William Swan) to the point that he is considering self-harm.

I can't honestly say that this is a "good" movie. The acting is way over the top, and the heightened tone starts to get old once you pass about the hour mark. But for the most part this was a good time.

Time for you to rewatch all the DGG films and let that “isn’t horrible” wave wash over you.

This is cruel and unusual punishment.

Classic MKS.

Well, cruel and usual.

Classic MKS.

Also, I watched Lady in a Cage instead of working on my phonics grad class. When I finish this class I get a $2000 raise.

WHAT AM I EVEN DOING?!?!?!?!

He who unleashes the terror, reaps the terror!

It's all true. I'm a monster... a monster.

I think for the rest of the day I'm only communicating in Lady in a Cage quotes.