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

Victim of The Night

10-25-23

Originally Posted by Captain Terror

Fright Night Part 2

It was a bit of a surprise for me to learn that there was a Fright Night sequel. Like, maybe I already knew this but if so it's not something that was really on my radar. IMDB tells me that the release was somehow disrupted by the Menendez murders and the film only played in a couple of cities before heading to home video. And apparently even Mr Wooley hasn't seen it.

So anyway, this one suffers from a lack of Sarandon but I think it does a decent job of capturing the spirit of the first film. Sequels in the 80s had a tendency to take everything from the original and make a joke of it, so I was pleased to find that was not the case here. Charlie and Peter are the only returning characters and this might be sacrilege but I think I preferred Charlie's new college girlfriend to the first film's Amy. Just a more interesting character. The spooky bits are shot just as nicely as Part 1 and the effects are up to the same level. And there's a werewolf this time.

This is a film that features a roller-skating vampire with Duran Duran hair and not only manages to make that not seem ridiculous, but in fact films it with such flair that it was one of the highlights for me. No one is more surprised than I at that last sentence.

Most would agree that it's the lesser film but it doesn't tarnish the original in any way and I'm confident recommending it to fans, with the understanding that it's gonna be a step down.

I watched it on Youtube in this very nice-looking upload:

ps-- Also, bonus points for featuring Johnny Slash from Square Pegs

I'm so excited. Gonna try to get to this tonight if I can. I tried to track this down for years after I heard it actually wasn't bad (it's my own fault I avoided it in its time in the theater and on VHS because I assumed it wasn't good and would tarnish my beloved Fright Night) but I was never able to find it. I am extremely pleased and just excited as can be for this. My expectations are not set too high, don't worry, but I just assumed I was never ever gonna see this movie.

CharlesAoup

Registered User

10-25-23

First thing I thought when I saw Trick'r'Treat was instant classic. It's such a perfect Halloween movie.

Hopewell Haunting is a neat, small scale, unpretentious movie without any surprises, but good scare based on sound and a nice, slow, creepy vibe to it.

Jacob's Ladder 2019 is absolute garbage. As a remake, it is Wicker Man tier in terms of missing the point of the original. It's so conventional, it can't build an atmosphere worth jack and every scare is a jump scare. Doesn't even have the kind of performance Cage gave to make at least worth watching ironically.

Captain Terror

Fouke-a-delic

10-25-23

Originally Posted by Wooley

After browsing Letterboxd last night, I feel like my reaction was pretty close to the consensus. The lead vampire is a step down, because of course she is, but all told it's a fun time. I'll say more after you've seen it.
You might be less impressed than I, given your deeper history with the original, but I'd be surprised if you hate it, let's put it that way.

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Sedai

A system of cells interlinked

10-25-23

Originally Posted by Wooley

I believe this was my 11th viewing. To learn, watching a video about the film this morning, that there were still several things I missed just absolutely blew my mind. I mean, this is a movie with so many things to catch and I watch for them carefully and there were still more. Crazy.

Agreed. This is an annual watch for my wife and I every year, and we usually try to have it land on or right near Oct 31st. As you said, a Halloween classic at this point...

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Torgo

Mu-Tant

10-25-23

Thoughts on the 2011 Fright Night remake? I prefer it to the original ever so slightly, mostly because it's more relevant to my generation and because Colin Farrell and David Tennant are so good in it. I don't like that it's a bit less funny and more self-aware - which could explain why it's less funny - than the 1985 movie.

Wooley

Victim of The Night

10-25-23

Originally Posted by Captain Terror

I am completely prepared to enjoy a lesser movie for what it is and not be disappointed at what it isn't.

Wooley

Victim of The Night

10-25-23

Originally Posted by Torgo

I thought it was competent and even good at times but Tennant's character (not his performance) was way below OG Peter Vincent, the climax is much less... well just much less, and I thought there was way too much CGI.

crumbsroom

Registered User

10-25-23

I barely remember the Fright Night sequel. My vague memory is that I didn't like it.

The remake is alright. Unless you compare it to most other shit remakes, in which case it might seem amazing.

Takoma11

Registered User

10-25-23

Originally Posted by Torgo

The Menu -

While it may be redundant to praise Ralph Fiennes at this point, it's still worth mentioning that half the fun is simply watching him work. Does Slovik have the tics and mannerisms of a stereotypical Michelin-starred chef? Yes, but Fiennes makes him out to be more interesting and human than that and in surprising ways.

I think that Slovik represents a very scary kind of real-world monster: someone who has taken some basic principles and followed them to some conclusions that let him allow himself permission to harm not only himself, but also others. With some killer characters, you get the sense that their "mission statement" is just a way that a sadist has found to have an excuse to inflict pain they were going to inflict anyway. But this is a man who thinks he has reached a logical point of reason and in his head it all makes sense.

Originally Posted by Torgo

I wasn't able to fit in a shoutout for Hong Chau in my review. It's hard to think of another performance where someone was so creepy while emoting so little.

She was excellent. Really excellent.

Originally Posted by Captain Terror

And then you've got Sexy Boy Sarandon nailing his role and a nice sense of spooky atmosphere when things start to go down.

His character is the rare vampire character who seems actually appealing as a person and you can understand people being drawn to him. Farrell pulled of the same thing in the remake. I know that speaking myth-wise there's hypnotism and what-not, but so often vampires are portrayed as so stilted. I think that the club scene in this movie is one that actually translates as a seduction, especially for a younger woman character.

Originally Posted by Torgo

I liked it quite a lot in terms of ways that it stayed with the original plot and ways it departed (the pool scene, the woman in the bedroom). I totally agree with Wooley that the magician character was a very bad choice, which is a shame because I think Tennant could have pulled off something like the original character.

Daakmore

Registered User

10-26-23

Finally saw Talk to Me tonight. I liked the slow burn and it certainly heads ever onward to creepiness and tragedy but something about the lead up to the ending just didn't work for me and that dropped some of my engagement with the film's characters.

View Spoilers

WARNING: spoilers below

I think the trigger for this feeling was Mia's dad Max somehow ending up in the perfect position to be stabbed by her. It is basically treated as no way to avoid it but how would these spirits have control over that, they've only been able to interact physically with those who let them in up to this point, so it just felt to contrived and scripted rather than organic to what was going on.

That being said the actual ending is still kind of interesting and I did like the film just didn't love it.

ApexPredator

Registered User

10-26-23

Two for the Finally, I've Seen It pile.

Get Out was pretty darned good. Jordan Peele was able to combine a horror film with some good commentary on race relations in the 21st century. He's able to ratchet up the tension from the opening scene where you're greeted with Run Rabbit Run and contrast it with a couple who are going to meet her parents. He still finds room for humor as well. It might have taken a slight step back towards the end, but still an effort that's quite worthy.

Sorry, Z-Man. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 feels a bit underdone. I can see what Tobe Hooper was thinking in trying to create a dark-humored comedy. But Bill Moseley's character quickly becomes annoying (imagine Fred saying the same lines over and again while laughing like a hyena). More often the humor flops than clicks. I liked Caroline Williams as the heroine and didn't mind Dennis Hopper's Texas Ranger who wants revenge for what happened in Part 1. The climactic fight is almost like a grisly ballet and that final shot was a nice touch. But I have to give it a thumbs down.

ApexPredator

Registered User

10-26-23

Originally Posted by Torgo

I thought it was less good than the original, but a solid remake nonetheless. The 3D elements don't really work and Tennant can come across as a bit much in his role. But they did try to update it to the modern age and I do think that part did work. Farrell was good as the somewhat more blue-collary vampire and Anton Yelchin is fine as the boy who suspects his neighbor may not be telling him everything.

Deschain

Msg

Registered User

10-26-23

Scream. Seen it a billion times. Got the 4K now. If you know who the killer is the movie somehow gets even funnier because the murderers are so unsubtle about it and everyone keeps accusing them of being Ghostface. Also is there a more absurd name than Cotton Weary?

Crawl. My second time with this one. I still like it a lot. It�s a very good looking movie too. The gator and all the hurricane and flood stuff work great. I�m sure I�ve lamented this many times but I miss mid-budget monster movies like this one.

Night of the Hunted. A woman at a gas station gets shot at by a sniper. It�s about what you expect for the most part except it dives into politics in the most obvious and boring way that makes the whole thing kind of laughable.

PHOENIX74

I forgot the opening line.

10-26-23

Originally Posted by Wooley

Yes, I actually ended up kind of liking this movie and having some genuine affection for what it was instead of so much disappointment over what it wasn't.
But I'd still have preferred this same script (with some tweaks) made by Craven with a little more gritty, mean, "You are all my children now" Freddy, rather than this version who is not far from wearing Wayfarers on the beach.

Ooooooh, that always just takes me back. 1987 - my older brother and I went to see this in Melbourne, along with Predator. I'd been in love with A Nightmare on Elm Street ever since seeing it, and had a genuine affection for it's sequel. I have to say, up on the big screen all of the imaginative dream sequences were enjoyable, and kind of distracted and blinded me to how crudely comedic the series was becoming. I couldn't stop talking about it. My brother was no fan of the series, and was more concerned with making me realise how much of a bigger thing Predator was. Not a bad couple of movies to see on an outing though.

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Wooley

Victim of The Night

10-26-23

Wooley

Victim of The Night

10-26-23

Controversial photographer Valentina has a run in with the titular Baba Yaga, an ancient witch obsessed with Valentina and their pre-ordained love-affair. Or something like that. That's kinda what I took away from it.
I'm gonna be honest here, this is my kind of Erotic Horror. First of all, it's a good-looking movie, I thought it was a pleasure to watch from an aesthetic pov. It has lots of eye-catching imagery. It's from a time, I think it was shot in 1972, that had a lot of interesting aesthetics as well as sexual politics. And it has a witch, which I've said for years is probably my favorite "monster". And I found the movie very sexy. There's a quite a bit of nudity but, like Vampyres, while this movie is lumped under the "exploitation" category, it didn't feel exploitative to me, it felt sexy.

While I'm not into S&M, even the S&M doll that comes to life had a very sexy as well as dangerous quality to it and I felt like most of the eroticism in the film was sexy to the characters and that made it feel more pleasantly erotic but also very tense. I think the movie does a nice job of playing on that balance.
Yeah, this is just the sort of thing that really speaks to a younger me, a European supernatural giallo with great imagery and vibe and a heavy dose of both eroticism and surrealism. Fun stuff.

Takoma11

Registered User

10-26-23

Movies I thought would be kind of middling, but were much better than I expected:
Death Spa
Gothic

Movie I'd never heard of but I think might be genuinely great:
Wolf's Hole

Movie I've seen bits and pieces of a thousand times and thought I'd love as a whole film but didn't

Warlock

Wooley

Victim of The Night

10-27-23

Agreed on both Death Spa and Gothic.
Jeez, sorry, Ida warned you about Warlock. Not that I knew you were gonna watch it but I, for some reason, thought you had seen it before and kinda championed it and I thought you were crazy for it but politely didn't say anything. I guess that wasn't you.

crumbsroom

Registered User

10-27-23

Originally Posted by Takoma11

Movies I thought would be kind of middling, but were much better than I expected:
Death Spa

I. Love. Death. Spa.

Deschain