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

The Dracula BBC miniseries from a few years back has three episodes, and one of them is entirely devoted to what happens on the Demeter. It's a fun variation on the story, basically positing the whole thing as a supernatural whodunit.

Bug is one of those movies that, when it came out, every horror person I knew saw and liked, but then it's sort of fallen off the radar since then.

Everyone go watch Bug as a double-feature with another film that suffered the same fate: End of the Line.

Working on my list for Hooptober after the list of requirements was revealed yesterday...lots of vampires and the devil, oh my!

I guess it's a good excuse to watch The Pope's Exorcist?

Well, I wouldn't quite go that far, but it was good, and at least as good as The Wages Of Fear, if you ask me.

The Last Voyage of the Demeter

Your boi Dracula is at it again, Universal's ~100-year cinematic monstervere continues with a movie that feels like an old-school creature-of-the-week feature. I had fun with this movie, no huge surprises but it's competently made, doesn't try to do too much, and delivers a few effective horror sequences. Not a must-see, but it feels like a legit modern-day Universal monster movie.

80's horror for movie night last night.

The Howling was up first and it was solid, Opened interesting but slowed way down for a while when the the main couple get out to the retreat before werewolfy shenanigans start up. It's not that slow is bad but I had a bit of a hard time maintaining my interest during that stretch for some reason. Picks up eventually and is all in all a solid genre film.

Neon Maniacs was up next with some low budget cheese, the main characters are well played but everything else is just weird and unexplained and not in an engaging way. Like the maniacs all seem to have a theme but no idea why, and they are hurt by water for some reason. Just feels like it wastes some actually decent performances. Also their is a battel of the bands at the end of the film that is downright painful to sit through the music, which I guess makes sense at a high school battle of the bands in reality but in a film it is rough. Also also film definitely has a big case of please believe these obviously 30 year olds are teenagers.

Finally wrapped with the best film of the night Trick or Treat (1986) which while it technically takes place near Halloween is a still a weird title for a film way more in on the heavy metal horror theme than the season. It's lead is nice and sympathetic and even realizes when he has gotten in over his head. The baddy exudes the charisma of a big rock star and the band they got to do the music provides some really solid tunes. There is some unbelievability in what the bullies in the film are able to get away with and not get expelled but you know film. It can be funny when it wants to and has a couple fun cameos complete with Ozzy Osbourne playing a preacher railing against pornographic rock music. Just a very enjoyable movie, cheesy enough to be fun but solid enough on the actual characters and drama to make it feel like it has some stakes.

Sounds like you had a mixed bag of 80's horror films for your movie night. "The Howling" started strong but had a slow middle, while "Neon Maniacs" had some unexplained elements and cringeworthy moments. "Trick or Treat" seemed to be the standout with a heavy metal horror theme and engaging characters, despite some unrealistic aspects. Overall, a fun night of cheesy but entertaining horror!

__________________
halloween koozies

Saw that. Given my minimal expectations, which were exceeded, I thought it was pretty good. Having plowed through Bram Stoker's pot-boiler of a novel a couple times, I've always hoped for a faithful rendition of the story of Ole' Drac. This one added one of the chapters that are generally missing from Dracula movies. If you try, you might be able to paste together a fairly faithful Dracula story from individual pieces of previous movies where they got one or two chapters right. Toss in some actual history of Vlad the Impaler if you want extra credit.

I'm not familiar with Neon Maniacs.
The Howling is one of those classics where I can't really think of anything wrong with it, but I also don't find myself loving it, so I don't return to it enough to really remember the details of it.


Trick or Treat, I've seen twice. First time was a blast. Second was a blast up until Gene Simmons shows up at prom, because the second viewing was definitely in a theater, and only months after Parkland, so the entire vibe just kind of died in that scene for the audience.

Neon Maniacs is the kind of film that can trick me into thinking I'm liking it more than I am, simply because it is an underbaked bit of random weirdness, the kind of thing that should bust through conventional film and narrative structures in the way I like most but....it mostly is kinda dull beneath its surface strangeness...sort of like Nightbreed

I'm also a big fan of Trick or Treat. I had it on DVD, but I gave it away just because I could. Why did I do that!?

Anyways, there were a lot of rock and roll and heavy metal themed horror movies from that era. Are any of the other ones any good or so bad, they're good?

Black Roses
Hard Rock Nightmare
Hard Rock Zombies
Rock and Roll Nightmare
Rocktober Blood

I'm sure I'm missing a few.

Rock 'n Roll Nightmare has an ending. It definitely has an ending. I was not surprised to hear there's a Rifftrax episode for it.


I keep wanting to see Black Roses (no idea how good it is).


I've heard the title Hard Rock Zombies, I think I've seen the trailer. I suspect it to be bad and not enjoyably bad. Maybe, at best, groan-worthy bad. I speak from very limited knowledge.


I can't recall if I've ever seen trailers for any of the others.

Alright, my tentative list for late September-Halloween:

Post-Apocalyptic or Natural Disaster Films:
The Day (2012, Canada)
The Worthy (2016, UAE)

Robert Englund Movie:
Dead and Buried (1981, US)

Underground Movie:
The Colony (2013, Canada)

Horrors dealing with Satan or the Devil:
The Pope's Exorcist (2023, US)
Satan's School for Girls (1973, US)
Errementari: The Blacksmith and the Devil (2018, Spain)

Amicus Movie (bonus, also a Peter Cushing movie):
Dr. Terror's House of Terrors (1965, UK)

Peter Cushing Movie:
Tales from the Crypt (1972, UK)

Worst Dracula Movie (bonus, based on Bram Stoker works):
Dracula 3D (2012, Italy)

LGBTQ Movie:
What Keeps You Alive (2018, Canada)

Craven/Hitchcock/DePalma/Ken Russell/Morehead & Benson:
Cursed (2005, US)
Vampire in Brooklyn (1995, US)
The Fury (1978, US)
The Endless (2017, US)
The Lair of the White Worm (1988, UK)

Clive Barker Film:
Hellbound: Hellraiser 2 (1988, UK)

Horror Film Released When You Were 10 (aka Find a horror from 1983):
Sweet Sixteen (1983, US)

Mario Bava Film:
Blood and Black Lace (1964, Italy)

Film with X in Title:
Climax (2018, France)

Tobe Hooper Film:
Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986, US)

Freebies:
The Black Sleep (1956, US)
Get Out (2017, US)
Megan (2023, US)
The Menu (2022, US)
Halloween 3: Season of the Witch (RV) (1982, US)
Pastacolypse (2023, US)
Star Light (2020, US)
The Golem (2018, Israel)
Bug (2006, US) (Yes, Takoma, you talked me into this one)
Five Nights at Freddy's (2023, US)

I might have a little give with a few of these. What are your thoughts?

Pretty good, but doesn't quite know what to do with itself in the last act.

Thumbs up. I highly, HIGHLY recommend that you watch Resolution first, for reasons I don't want to get into because of spoilers.

My most-watched movie of all time, LOL. Love this movie so much. "You have your whole lives behind you." "The doctor . . . is in."

Yay! I think it's pretty great!

I'll keep my eyes open for a replacement for What Keeps You Alive.

Resolution, it turns out, is easily available in most places. So that swap is done.

I lowkey wish the Blood and Honey movie was an option because I already have an opener in mind once I confirm it sucks.

I actually thought it was alright. Here is my spoiler-free review.

LGBTQ+ horror I've seen and liked in the last few years:
Titane
Proxy (proceed with caution on this one---very disturbing)
The Strings

And I perpetually must recommend Hellbent (2004).

Resolution, it turns out, is easily available in most places. So that swap is done.

Excellent. I think it's a really interesting, original film.

Not much else to add other than I've seen these and I enjoyed them.
I didn't find The Fury to be particularly scary and believe it's more of a thriller than a horror movie, but your mileage may vary. I still enjoyed it regardless.

Heh, I actually just saw a review of this recently, by an old friend of our's: https://letterboxd.com/deadandmessed...m/dead-buried/

I remember DaMU making an account here after Corrie went down, but I don't think he's ever posted here since. Real shame.

If he was here, his input would also have helped me sort the wheat from the chaff.

Damu and I are mutuals on Twitter and Bluesky, he mostly posts about movies over there. MKS too.