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

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Anybody watching del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities? I really enjoyed them.

My ranking

#8. The Murmuring
#7. Graveyard Rats
#6. The Viewing
#5. Dreams in the Witch House
#4. The Outside
#3. Lot 36
#2. The Autopsy
#1. Pickman's Model
I watched it a while ago with a friend, though I realize now we never got around to the last 2 episodes (The Murmering and the Viewing, going to have to fix that). Of what I did see I'd currently rank them as follows.

6. The Dreams in the Witch House
5. Pickman' Model
4. Lot 36
3. The Outside
2. Graveyard Rats
1. The Autopsy



"Tell Me. Do You Bleed? You Will."
I watched it a while ago with a friend, though I realize now we never got around to the last 2 episodes (The Murmering and the Viewing, going to have to fix that). Of what I did see I'd currently rank them as follows.

6. The Dreams in the Witch House
5. Pickman' Model
4. Lot 36
3. The Outside
2. Graveyard Rats
1. The Autopsy
Oh, what a nice surprise that must be. I hope you like the last two episodes more than I did.

Nice to see somebody else's rankings. Wasn't Autopsy a trip? I might go back and sneak that one into the top spot. It's so good! It's still lingering in my head.



Victim of The Night
I was aware of this from reading this thread earlier. I'm pretty sure Captain Terror brought it up back in October.
I'm forgetful these days, we may have talked about it, but I always get excited about a good Lovecraft adaptation.



I'm forgetful these days, we may have talked about it, but I always get excited about a good Lovecraft adaptation.
The Pickman's Model is very good.

The Dreams in a Witch House is very not good.



This weekend I had a John McCauley double feature, said no one ever.



RATTLERS (1976)
A bunch of rattlesnakes get a hold of some old cannisters of nerve gas that have been discarded in the desert by the military. This makes the snakes....meaner, I guess? I mean they're not giant snakes, nor do they have any kind of unusual powers. There's just a lot of them and they're extra ornery.
So this is very low budget. The acting and dialogue is amateurish and the film is not shot with any flair to speak of. I am a sucker for 70s zoological thrillers™, however, so I enjoyed this in spite of myself. This is a film in which snakes puncture the tires of an army jeep with their fangs. Also, this film about killer rattlesnakes makes the bold decision to include ZERO snakes in the climax of the film. Not a good film, but fun to watch and jeer at.




DEADLY INTRUDER (1985)
Mr. McCauley returns almost 10 years later with his second and final film, a slasher that has only been logged on Letterboxd 200 times. This one is also not good, but watchable. There's a murderer stalking the town; it's probably that drifter that walks around with an axe, right? RED HERRING ALERT!! There's a couple of grody murders, so credit where it's due for creativity. There's also a farting dog. An adult Danny Bonaduce is the only cast member I recognized. Recommended only to those of us who feel the need to watch every slasher ever made.
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I mainline Windex and horse tranquilizer
Snakes aka Fangs (1974) > Rattlers (1976)

in case anyone was wondering



Kingdom of the Spiders (1977) > Snakes aka Fangs (1974) > Rattlers (1976)
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Snakey Bender? Sold. Art Names? I can only assume his middle name is "For."
Looks like it's only on Shudder. All the more reason to sign up.



Snakey Bender? Sold. Art Names? I can only assume his middle name is "For."
Looks like it's only on Shudder. All the more reason to sign up.
My review from last year:


SNAKES aka FANGS aka HOLY WEDNESDAY (1974)

Does this film deserve the 4 star rating I've awarded it? Probably not, but I was thoroughly entertained so here we are.
The plot concerns a small-town snake handler known as (checks notes) "Snakey". Snakey is a simple guy that looks forward to his Wednesday night hangs with his bestie Burt, at which they get drunk and blast JP Sousa marches on the hi-fi. Snakey goes into a tailspin, however, when Burt marries a stripper and decides he'd rather get free lap dances on Wednesday nights and calls an end to the weekly Sousa fest.
One thing leads to another and next thing you know lots of people are dying of snakebites.

There's lots more unexpected shenanigans but I won't spoil the rest. Those of you who subscribe to Shudder and have standards as low as mine are encouraged to check it out.

*The role of Burt is played by the cheezy sheriff from Capture of Bigfoot. Bonus!*



I mainline Windex and horse tranquilizer
Agreed of course, but Snakes gets an extra point for having a character named "Snakey Bender".



Coincidentally that's the name of my band.



Did we ever get your thoughts on The Viewing? I was hoping for more discussion of that one back in October. I loved it.
I dug the Viewing a lot and I think it exemplifies the greatest strength of the series: showcasing the directors and their distinct voices. It's so clearly a work by Panos Cosmatos that wouldn't be made by anyone else, from the aesthetic, the sound, the dark humor and the violence. Clearly the team behind Mandy made it.

That said, while I was amused by the anticlimax, it felt like it was setting up a sequel or follow up episode that will likely never come. For that reason, I had to put it below the Autopsy as my favorites of the show.



I dug the Viewing a lot and I think it exemplifies the greatest strength of the series: showcasing the directors and their distinct voices. It's so clearly a work by Panos Cosmatos that wouldn't be made by anyone else, from the aesthetic, the sound, the dark humor and the violence. Clearly the team behind Mandy made it.

That said, while I was amused by the anticlimax, it felt like it was setting up a sequel or follow up episode that will likely never come. For that reason, I had to put it below the Autopsy as my favorites of the show.
Maybe I'm crazy, but I'm calling it my favorite Panos work so far. I've liked both Mandy and Rainbow, but neither were unqualified successes with me. This episode took the things I loved about both films and combined them. If his next feature is anything like this, I'll be pleased.

I went into this series hoping for some October goodness like Pickman or Graveyard Rats, so it was a surprise to find that my favorite episode was the least Halloween-ish of them all.



Maybe I'm crazy, but I'm calling it my favorite Panos work so far. I've liked both Mandy and Rainbow, but neither were unqualified successes with me. This episode took the things I loved about both films and combined them. If his next feature is anything like this, I'll be pleased.

I went into this series hoping for some October goodness like Pickman or Graveyard Rats, so it was a surprise to find that my favorite episode was the least Halloween-ish of them all.
If The Viewing had as strong of a climax/conclusion as Mandy, it could've possibly usurped it. That said, it doesn't and Nic Cage rage crying in underwear is the best thing anyone named Cosmatos has put to celluloid.

So it lands midway. Above Black Rainbow but well below Mandy in my book.



This is probably the very reason I rated Mandy lower than Rainbow, so that explains our diverging opinions.
I see you've declared war on cinema.



DEADLY INTRUDER (1985)
Mr. McCauley returns almost 10 years later with his second and final film, a slasher that has only been logged on Letterboxd 200 times. This one is also not good, but watchable. There's a murderer stalking the town; it's probably that drifter that walks around with an axe, right? RED HERRING ALERT!! There's a couple of grody murders, so credit where it's due for creativity. There's also a farting dog. An adult Danny Bonaduce is the only cast member I recognized. Recommended only to those of us who feel the need to watch every slasher ever made.
Is this the one where at the end the
WARNING: spoilers below
police shoot the drifter guy (who did, if I remember, break into that woman's home? No? And then it turns out it's some other dude? I feel like I watched most of this film on YouTube after it sucked me in whilst I was researching a "Guess the GIF" game



Expounding on the above:

Beyond the Black Rainbow is more my speed than Mandy, but it could've used more levity for my taste. Mandy overcorrected in that regard, and on top of that I'm not part of the Cage fandom. I don't dislike him in everything, but when his nonsense takes over a film I don't usually consider that a good thing. Some people do, that's fine.

So The Viewing to me was the best of both worlds. It had the mellow BtBR vibe, but wasn't so po-faced as to be tedious. In fact I thought it was hilarious, but without Cage taking me out of the piece like he did with Mandy.

I don't want to get preoccupied with arbitrarily ranking these things, though. The important takeway here is that everyone should watch The Viewing.