Halloween Watch-A-Thon

Tools    





So Ive started making a list of 31 potential horror films that I can watch in October. Mainly ones that I havent seen, although there are a few I have seen that I want to rewatch as well, so leave room for them, Dont Look Now, Suspiria (original), potentially end the month with my local cinema showing the original Halloween on Halloween night which will be pretty cool if Im not working. My list of ones I havent seen so far (it is flexible, Ill add others if I come across them or get better ideas) are in alphabetical order:

The Amityville Horror
Anna and the Apocalypse
The Babysitter
The Belko Experiment
Bram Stoker's Dracula
The Cabin in the Woods
Cherry Falls
Deep Red
Dont Be Afraid of the Dark
February
The Innocents
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Lets Scare Jessica to Death
The Limehouse Golem
Night of the Living Dead
Nosferatu
The Omen
Opera
Peeping Tom
Re-Animator
Shock Corridor
Sometimes They Come Back
Stigmata
Summer of 84
Train to Busan
Warm Bodies
What Have You Done to Solange

Im unsure if one or two actually qualify as horror so any input there will be helpful. I think it's an alright mix so far, violence, psychological, supernatural, teen horror, slasher, modern vs classic, horror comedy. I would have included the Suspiria remake, as much as Im not super keen on seeing it, but it's not out in the UK until November.



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
October 1st

Phantoms

Small town horror




Affleck was the bomb in Phantoms yo!

So I started this movie at 12:30...fell asleep for a few minutes when they went to talk to Peter O'Toole then I woke up to the military in the town. I don't think I missed too much but I didn't want to go back and try to fill in the gaps.

Phantoms took me by surprised with a few subversions early in the film. For starters, I didn't expect the entire town to be dead as soon as the ladies arrived. I was expecting the director to build up tension; people missing one by one, things not feeling right, etc. So when poop hit the fan as soon as they got there I thought I was in for an underrated or unappreciated horror flick. They took me by surprise yet again when they killed off Schreiber. I was expecting him to be the rogue human who foils the heroes plans for selfish reasons....but no. They build him up to fill that role and then take him out almost immediately after. I was actually starting to like this movie. There was mystery, a small town setting, dead bodies, infected bodies...what was going on here?

Then I watched the rest of it.

Phantoms isn't that TERRIBLE of a movie, but it's a bad one. Production values hinder an otherwise interesting premise and the film falls into the forgettable 90's horror pile that no one would know if it weren't for Jay & Silent Bob. I felt like they didn't know what they wanted the Ancient Alien life form to be so they had it be everything. Giant killer moth, dog, people, your worst nightmares...everything. A little more focus on small things like this could have made a big difference in this film. Over explaining everything takes away from the horror and adds unintentional comedy.

There are a few shots that really elevate the film, one in particular is when O'Toole tells the evil to manifest itself for him. Then we see all the dead townsfolk standing in darkness right in front of him. Eerie shot that works wonders in a film that doesn't have many, if any at all. Those last 30 minutes or so are some pretty dreadful stuff too. Yuck.

They had me with the initial mystery, then lost me once things get explained. Phantoms could have been a stellar horror flick, but I'm not sure what happened to mess of the flow of things. With the lame gotcha ending that doesn't support the events that came before, Phantoms falls flat on it's face by the credits.

Affleck was still the bomb though yo.
__________________
"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."

Suspect's Reviews



The Cabin in the Woods (2012) https://letterboxd.com/smudgeefc1985...-in-the-woods/


Horror-tober 1/31

Wow...that was 100% absolutely not the film I expected to watch! The horror genre has been dying for a long time with CGI overtaking good creative ideas and stories. But then once in a while, you get a belting little gem like this one!

What I think made this so enjoyable was that it happily met all of those tropes head on, took great pleasure in making us think we were watching that film again, and then joyously went and did something else. The creepy isolated cabin, the drunk and debaucherous teenagers, the virgin/ brain/ stoner/ athlete/ slut friendship group, the local weirdo warning of bad things to come, zombies, and then comes this whole other angle of satire, humour and self awareness to give us one of the funniest and goriest good times in years. Loads of fun, and a great start to my horror marathon!




Hmm, do I want to post in this thread or start my own?
Is there a way to link to your own post elsewhere, other than quoting it? I have my own review thread, so have just posted mine in both.



Welcome to the human race...
If you want to copy the URL to a post, you just right-click the timestamp in the top right corner of the post and copy the link location. This is the link to the post you just made: https://www.movieforums.com/communit...73#post1955073



Welcome to the human race...
Let's do it.

#1 - A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
Renny Harlin, 1988


A serial killer who murders teenagers in their dreams continues to stalk the survivors of his previous killing sprees and their new group of friends.

While I don't think I've ever really liked a Nightmare movie, I do find them oddly fascinating in spite of that. I saw the first three last year and did like how the third one, Dream Warriors, switched up the established slasher-but-in-dreams formula by having its group of teens learn how to harness dream-manipulating powers in order to defend themselves against franchise villain Freddy Krueger. Immediate follow-up The Dream Master folds that concept into the story of Alice, a shy everygirl whose friendship with Dream Warriors protagonist Kristen (and resulting encounter with Freddy) invokes a new addition to the Nightmare series' supernatural dream logic. As such, Alice's dreams are used as a conduit through which Freddy can attack all her other friends, but this also has unintended side-effects on Alice herself...

The Dream Master at once makes a noble attempt to expand on the Nightmare mythology and yet plays like a backwards step more than anything else, especially by effectively rehashing the original film but with the relatively slight addition of Dream Warriors-style powers. It's not completely terrible in this regard - Alice makes for a likeable enough protagonist whose journey from timid daydreamer to confident final girl makes for a decent arc with which to ground the movie (even if her friends are a fairly standard collection of slasher-fodder stereotypes). Likewise, Harlin's fanciful direction understandably hints at why he veered into action not too long after making this - the garish dreamscape aesthetics and over-the-top Freddy one-liners may mean it's not exactly scary but it's still not completely devoid of entertainment value either. Ultimately, neither of these factors are enough to make it an altogether good movie, though it still hasn't deterred me from seeking out the remaining installments (and who knows, maybe I'll give the original another chance soon enough).




I love Dream Warriors, far and away my favourite horror sequel ever. Not that I like all that many! But it did what a sequel is supposed to, take a well established original and build on it and push it further rather than just rehashing what they've already done.



This might just do nobody any good.
Hmm. Mulholland Dr. or Blade first?

Decisions, decisions...



Mulholland Dr., huh? Wonder how far we can really stretch the notion of horror with our picks.

If you consider Hitchcock horror then yeah I would count it.




31 Days of Horror Day 1 Old School








Witchery (1988), is the story of a photographer, writer and family who investigate an old abadoned hotel on an Island. The family is interested in purchasing the home with the writer/photographer are interested in the story of the old lady who used to live there.


Witchery is a mixed bag, the setup location and makeup FX is top notch. This film has a Cronenberg flare for body horror the kills are fantastic...but everything else is just miserable. Hasselhoff gives one of the worst performances I've seen in a horror film. Linda Blair does her best and she even goes topless for this. The villain also doesn't really work as she spends her time in a different dimension. At the end of the day it just felt like a waste of potential.






Welcome to the human race...
If you consider Hitchcock horror then yeah I would count it.
It's interesting how flexible the definition can be beyond the usual signifiers like zombies and vampires. Last year one of the challenge categories was "highest-rated horror on IMDb" and it turned up Diabolique, which doesn't seem like it qualifies since it reads more like a suspense thriller, but I guess I'll have to watch it to find out.



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
October 2nd

Murder Party

social commentary horror




There are hints of the talent that Saulnier has here, that he would later bring to the table in spades with Blue Ruin and Green Room. Murder Party is a slow burn that cranks up the violent tension in the final act. Mixing comedy with horror to mediocre results. Murder Party could have been a lot funnier and should have been.

A guy finds an invitation to a Murder Party on Halloween. Thinking this will be a costume party, he goes. Things aren't what they appear as the other people there intend to actually kill him for the sake of their art. Things go awry when they argue how to do it.

Low budget thrills here, shot almost entirely in one location, it helps with the aesthetic and budget. I won't say much about the acting because it's not the best, but Macon Blair does a decent job and he is a Saulnier regular. A lot of single tracking shots with a Steadicam, I think they really wanted to show people what they can do with a camera. It adds a bit of tension to the scenes, but it comes off as noticeable.

The film has some horrific moments with a chainsaw, fire, knives, etc. It's get's kind of gruesome, but the lead up to that can be hit or miss with people. It's a lot of talking about art, nonsense and other jibber-jabber. It's also a comedy, but I only found myself laughing once or twice. Murder Party is a nice flick to watch to see a filmmaker make his stamp on something, to see the beginnings of some talent, but the product as a whole feels a little lacking.



It's interesting how flexible the definition can be beyond the usual signifiers like zombies and vampires. Last year one of the challenge categories was "highest-rated horror on IMDb" and it turned up Diabolique, which doesn't seem like it qualifies since it reads more like a suspense thriller, but I guess I'll have to watch it to find out.
Defining horror seems almost impossible. I'm still slowly working on my top-XX horror films list and there are movies that I just don't know if I should include them or not. For that specific reason I've Googled a lot about the matter and trying to come up with some sort of definition to use for my list but it's not easy.



October 2nd...New School



Hell Fest(2018)

A throwback slasher to the 80's heyday Hell Fest is the story of three college age girls and their boyfriends being stalked and killed in an amusement park/festival. The killer is evocative of Michael Myers with a bit more personality and the film takes several steps from the classic Halloween. What solidifies this as a good film is it's basically all third act chase scene, and when the third acts...third act shows up you are fully invested.



Old School
1. Witchery(1988)

New School
1. Hell Fest (2018)



Finally watched my first October horror.

The Changeling (1980) R

A pianist and composer loses his wife and daughter in an accident. After several months of mourning he moves to Seattle and takes a teaching job. He moves to an old huge mansion where he spends his spare time composing new material. Soon he finds out that there's an unknown presence in the house.


The Changeling is slow and quite traditional ghost story with more melancholic than scary atmosphere. Especially the first half of the film is built upon John's grief and there's profound sadness in the haunting as well. There's no tangible threat and the way John reacts to everything doesn't seem to be inspired by fear at all.

In some way The Changeling reminds me of Ringu even though they're stylistically very different. There's just so much similarities in the stories. The similarities get more profound in the latter part of the film when it focuses more on the mystery solving and trying to help the ghost to find peace.

The film looks very good. There's not any wild and weird cinematographic trickery but slow, calm shots of magnificent settings (I was surprised to read that there really wasn't the house but it was a facade built over a regular house and interiors were shot in a studio). Soundtrack is beautiful with lots of sad piano melodies that fit the themes perfectly. Acting is solid with George Scott and Melvyn Douglas giving the best performances. The hauntings are also well made.

Solid ghost story that doesn't offer anything exactly new but delivers entertaining yet sad movie experience.