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

You really do.
It's unfortunate that it's a little hard to get ahold of these days. I wanted the Blu-ray and ended up having to order the Spanish one from Amazon's uk site.

The Shallows was also awful, and in very much the same way, and it's funny that I would probably re-watch Crawl again just to see if I can get something out of it, I would never watch The Shallows again because I feel confident there is nothing to get.

Well, and I don't disagree with you on those, but in our general sometimes-we-agree-sometimes-we-vigorously-disagree relationship, we can give each other an easy, knowing smile over Fright Night.

Sadly, my very specific thoughts were washed away in the Corri.
I'll see if I can find any of my notes. Because it was a film that was egregious enough to me that I actually started taking notes to keep up as there were too many things to complain about for me to simply remember. I'll see what I can find and edit this post.

Ok, this is an edited version of my original notes I found in some folder so it doesn't include everything, but here's what I could find:

Man, does this movie suffer from tonal balance and internal logic failures. Almost absurdly so. The movie seems to take itself very seriously the entire time while the action on-screen changes significantly and devolves into total B-movie silliness... while the film continues to act very serious, tonally. Like, "Nothing's changed this is all completely realistic and serious... but also, wink, wink!"
Logistically the movie makes almost no sense.
Gators very effectively chase humans on land for the first period of the movie, yet suddenly have to stop at the edge of the water later when that is the only way the main character will survive? If they just suddenly can't go on land anymore?
How about them showing the gator burst through a f*cking wall earlier in the movie, but it is effectively held off and then captured by a sliding-glass shower-door?! And then, just a minute or two later a comparably sized gator bursts through the f*cking window?! Can they break through walls or not? If so, can they somehow magically not break through flimsy glass? And if not, then how does the second gator do it without hesitation? What is happening here? Did anyone even read this script?
And then some of the moments where she, a human, literally outswims the gators are obviously just ludicrous especially since the movie seems to lean hard into the idea that that is never a possibility for survival earlier in the film in order to build tension.
For large portions of the movie the gators are somewhere under the water unseen yet these characters move around almost freely... except when the plot suddenly dictates that they not? Only when the plot demands it is it unsafe to do exactly what you were doing 15 minutes ago?
A boat that is destroyed Jaws-style earlier in the movie now works just fine when, again, that's the only way the character will survive?
The main character walks across broken glass and they even kinda close up on it and do sound effects, yet she is totally unaffected by this and doesn’t spill a drop of blood or have any issues with those injuries the entire rest of the movie? Like, did that actually even happen, and if so, why is it just completely dropped as if it never happened, I mean she never even limps much less, I dunno, can't freaking walk, and if not why is it shown with such great care?
The movie makes the point that the alligators can see great in the light, and obviously super underwater, but even better in the dark, yet they can’t see the freaking flashlight swimming around in the dark underwater? Just because if that plot consistency was kept - consistent - the main character would be dead? I mean, I was like, "NO! Don't do it! The movie has established the rule that if you go underwater with that flashlight, they will instantly detect you and eat you! Oh wait. No, apparently that is no longer the case, the gators have all gone blind, you are totally fine, please proceed."
And you have the option of just going up to the second floor or attic of the house you’re already in and waiting out the gators/storm, but instead you decide to cross like a couple hundred feet of gator-infested water? Just because?
It does not help either that the CGI is still frequently off. The gators were often unconvincing in moments that were critical to create tension and then there were little touches like the spiders that were at the SyFy level of bad. Maybe that's the best they could do on their budget but man it takes you out of some big(ish) moments.
I mean, this is literally like Sharknado level shit, except again, the movie seems to take itself so seriously. Maybe this movie works as a silly farce but not with this tone. I could get it if Sharknado was what they were going for, but they sure seem to act like this is a more serious and thoughtful Horror movie for at least the first half of the film.
My final thought: this movie is just f*cking ridiculous, I really don’t see how this has been received as anything other than like a Mystery Science Theater episode. That's the only thing that could save this movie for me is a good Rifftrax.

See previous post and substitute alligators for shark.

I was totally underwhelmed by Crawl. I read a few reviews and reactions that said it would be fun and a good time and it was only about 70% of either of those. It wasn't bad by any means, taken as a goofy creature feature, but to me it's a C film, not a B+.

And what I really like about Martin is that the loneliness isn't just about Martin being lonely (and us understanding that as a reason for the harm he does). Martin is surrounded by other characters who are lonely and unhappy, like his cousin or the woman he later has an affair with.

In fact, I love the scene where after

I agree, Crawl belongs to that particular subgenre of father-daughter fluff which I generally find rather nauseating. But I think the action in Crawl is fine and I liked it that

Very much agreed on your last point. I do find that bit and Martin’s way of dealing with it pretty sexy though in a sad way. I completely 100 per cent relate to him (there goes my typical antihero allegiance). Damn, you’ve made me want to rewatch it now.

The Hall of Infamy

Organ (1996) -

For the first half, I was actually enjoying this quite a bit. I appreciated the gore (the hallucinatory sequence of one of Saeki's victims emerging from a cocoon-like object is easily the highlight to the film's gore) and found some of the disturbing bits to the film quite promising. For instance, Saeki having a secret room in his school office where dead and mutilated bodies were stored (Numata's brother, for instance) was a disturbing concept. I also found Numata's investigation of the gang compelling since it came with emotional stakes. For the first half of the film, I was on board with the film and eager to see how everything could culminate. Unfortunately though, somewhere around the halfway point, the film gets increasingly harder to follow. With so many characters and motivations being added, it became more and more difficult to keep track of who was who and what the motivations of everyone was. Eventually, many scenes in the second half made me ask "Where did this come from?" repeatedly. This culminated in a messy and ponderous final act which took all kinds of confusing fates to the various characters and crammed them into each other in a very unpleasant way. The final fight in Saeki's school office was horrendously messy, in particular. Also, while I enjoyed the gore at first, it didn't ramp up as the film went on and eventually got to a point where I kept asking "Didn't they already repeat a similar effect several times?" as I watched it. So yeah, just a big letdown overall. I wouldn't quite call it a bad film though as the first half contained enough potential to prevent it from being a complete waste of time and, in spite of what I said about the second half, there were a few promising moments thrown into the mix (that was few and far between though) that gave me brief breaks from the second half's mostly ponderous tone.

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While we're talking about killer animal movies, I watched a solid shark movie recently called Bait. It's an Australian movie about a tsunami that traps people in a grocery store with great white sharks. The premise is fun and I think they utilized it well by setting up some fun scenarios, like when a guy has to traverse the aisles while wearing a shark suit made of shopping baskets. The tone is just right; it's not always serious, but also not a complete joke like Sharknado. Some of the special effects don't hold up particularly well, but I think its partly to blame on it being developed for 3D. Overall, I'd recommend it as a good creature feature.

One of my friends said the first four Alien films gets better as they go on, with Scott's film being the weakest and Resurrection being the best. Is this the single worst horror movie take there is?

I actually don't mind Resurrection. The underwater sequence is pretty neat, and I like Ron Perlman. It also gave us the basketball scene, and I think cinema would be poorer without it.


Also, Alien 3 might be my second favourite Fincher after Zodiac, but I don't actually like Fincher outside of a few things (those two and Mindhunter).


But yes, your friend is on the wrong side of history here.

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I haven't seen Alien 3 and 4, btw. I might get to them eventually.

I think their reputations have improved in recent years, but they're far from the stinkers they were initially received as. I think the franchise is better off for changing directors, as we get four distinct visions applied to the same concept.

Yes.

And I'm a fan of them all.

Seeing this post at 2am is a horror movie.

They're worth a watch for sure. Just don't expect masterpieces like the first two, only OK SciFi horrors.

Alien 3 could have been great if Fincher had had complete freedom from the start. Resurrection feels like a proper Jeunet film, and I like that. It also has some great scenes (like the basketball one already mentioned by rocky) and extremely cute Winona Ryder.

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Well welcome. How did you like The Orphanage?

The problem with Resurrection is also what makes it so interesting: the clash of voice and tone between script and director.

One can clearly tell it's a Joss Whedon script. It's basically Firefly meets Alien and you can easily imagine how he envisioned that script should be adapted.

Then they hired Jeunet, an extremely ideosyncratic artist and unlike many blockbuster filmmakers today, he either would not or could not lose that auteuristic stamp and play corporate ball.

So you're left with two extremely different and strong flavors at the same time. Some may want to spit it out but if you acquire the taste, it's a fascinating, stylish, fun and absolutely bizarre blockbuster that only feels increasingly more alien in today's homogeneous cinematic landscape.

Happy Death Day 2 U, 2019

In this sequel to Happy Death Day, college student Ryan (Phi Vu) finds himself trapped in a time loop. He quickly connects with Tree (Jessica Rothe), who is outraged to find herself involved stuck in a loop again and to learn that a science experiment by Ryan is the source of it all. Jolted into an alternate dimension--one where she's no longer together with love interest Carter (Israel Broussard)--Tree must unravel a new dynamic of murder and mayhem.

I enjoyed the first Happy Death Day, and this sequel manages to reproduce the charms and easy humor of the original, albeit with more emphasis on the comedy and a bit less of the horror.

For the most part, the film does a good job of continuing Tree's story, something that seems like a major hurdle if you've seen the original film. The idea of introducing the alternate dimension allows the film to play off of familiar characters--like Tree's fellow sorority sisters Danielle (Rachel Matthews) and Lori (Ruby Modine) or the married professor (Charles Aitken) Tree was having an affair with--and leave us guessing whether things will be the same or different in this new reality.

The film does, like I said, lean strongly into the comedy aspect. In fact, I almost wouldn't call this a horror movie. I know we've talked about the futility of genre nitpicking, but even with what happened in the first film I was expecting a bit more on the horror front. The killer really, really takes a backseat here to the mechanics of this alternate reality and Tree's own personal drama in trying to decide whether to stay or leave. Most of the gore/horror content comes from the sequences of Tree killing herself to reset the day.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed this film a lot. It was easy, breezy. Rothe is a very engaging lead, and the supporting cast is also very funny. Matthews gets to show off more of her dramatic chops as the insensitive Danielle. Sarah Yarkin and Suraj Sharma are also winning in their smaller turns as two of Ryan's fellow science students.

My only complaints were some plot points that I found confusing. Not plot holes, per se, but just elements that I didn't totally understand. For example, if you've seen the film,

If you enjoyed the first one, this is an easy recommendation.