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

Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) ‐

I was putting off watching this one for too long. Given all the great things I heard about it, I kept telling myself I would make room for it over the past couple Octobers, but I never watched it for some reason. Having finally seen it though, I can now confidently call it a new favorite. Like I expected, it's a memorable blend between horror and comedy, yet none of the characters blend into each other since they're all treated with different levels of levity. For instance, Aunt Abby and Aunt Martha make for a charming pair whose gleeful and lighthearted reactions to what they do act as a perfect comedic counterbalance to the horror elements to the film. Their explanation of how they've murdered a dozen people in an early scene, for instance, runs a fine line between ruining this portrayal of them, yet the punchline‐like way they go about revealing their true colors keeps humor firmly at the forefront of that sequence. Meanwhile, Teddy's lack of awareness over his role in the murders adds a subtle undercurrent of darkness to his lighthearted behavior which allows his character to blend both genres to a small degree. Jonathan, however, acts as the perfect counterbalance to the lighter elements of the film. Initially, I was unaware that a character like him would be thrown into the mix, but he came close to stealing the show. His creepy physical appearance/behavior, mixed with some great camerawork on his face, work in harmony to make him one of the most memorable horror film characters (or horror‐adjacent, depending on how you prefer to categorize this film) I can think of. Peter Lorre as Dr. Einstein didn't stick out quite as much by comparison, but his intimidation and sense of powerless over Jonathan caused him to leave a decent impact as well. This leaves Cary Grant who gives one of the best comedic performances I can think of. His over‐the‐top reaction to what goes on around him, shown in his eyes, facial expressions, and occasional shrieks, were priceless and got me in stiches more than a few times. Give the hype I heard about this film, I was worried it wouldn't be able to live up to my expectations, but it ended up surpassing them entirely.

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Starts freaky and ends with some very uncomfortably horrifying psychological horror. This Austrian film was remade just last year (with Naomi Watts as Mom), but I'd place my bets on this being the better version. Has Mommy returned, or is she to be deemed an imposter and dealt with accordingly? This was enjoyed quite a bit - at first I wasn't sure where we were, but the end really grounds us, and makes this a horror film that would benefit a lot from a second watch.

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I remember this song but have no recollection of this video. Nice plot twist at the end.

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Captain's Log
My Collection

Two movies that came out today:


Five Nights at Freddy’s. Though I’m not a fan of the games this had the potential to be a decent little flick if they tightened up the story and kept it to the titular five nights. But it’s bloated with unnecessary backstory and dream nonsense. With a PG-13 rating they dance around very adult themes too. The best I can say is Matthew Lillard is in it and there’s a Scream reference or two.


When Evil Lurks. In a world where possession spreads like disease, a family struggles to stay ahead of the infection. This was truly a horror movie. Horrific from beginning to end, scary ideas mixed with gruesome scenes. It’s ****ing awesome.

Love anything with Peter Cushing and especially when he's paired with his pal, Christopher Lee. Horror Express was lots of fun and I particularly liked when the chief inspector told Cushing that either he or Lee could be the monster, and Cushing sniffs, "Monster? We're British you know!" He did the same thing in At the Earth's Core (1976) where he told a bad guy trying to put a whammy on him, "You cannot mesmerize me! I'm British!" I love it when Cushing defends his Britishness! Anyway, good review of Horror Express.

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"Miss Jean Louise, Mr. Arthur Radley."

I found The Boy to be 2/3s or 3/4s of a good horror film. It did a good job setting things up and allowed things to be built up over time.

Too bad the filmmakers couldn't come up with a good answer to the questions who and why. If they did, we'd be talking about it among the better horrors of the 2010s like The Babadook and It Follows.

If you enjoyed it, great. For some reason that I can't put my finger on, it fell a bit short of that for me. Maybe an R rated version might have worked better? Or space those scares out better?

I'll agree this is a plausible next step. Whether we want to heed the warnings of Ian Malcolm or not, it could be something that happens in about 20-25 years.

Parts of this were funny. The ads, definitely. The doll got funnier as it went, even as it started to get menacing as well. I admit that it looked memorable.

I did forget about the tech demo part. It was a good scene.

At the end, I did give it a B-. It came fairly close to getting a B, but something was missing.

It is a bit of a half-measure. Perhaps that's why it didn't quite hit for you. It's not really menacing horror and it does not go full on satire. And the subject matter has been done to death. I don't think it is destined to be remembered as great, but I do think it will have staying power. That is, I think that people will be generally pleased in rewatching it. There is enough going on to give it more staying power than you might expect. That's my guess.

Also, I think we're heading for this sort of thing much much sooner than in 25 years. We're frogs slowly simmering in a pot of tech development. That we already having Turing capable machines is mind boggling.

I saw this one in the theater and did not think it was that good. Some of the visuals were okay, but at a certain point I felt like there were some really limited returns. I also thought that the violence was unnecessarily graphic. I really couldn't get a foothold in the story.

I gotta say I was surprised at the reveal, but for me it was a lot like how every bad guy seemed like a good guy and every good guy like a bad guy in Angels and Demons. It's like... cool twist, but the rest of the movie could have been better too.


Hard agree on Goodnight Mommy too. All that unpleasantness for such a weak payoff.

Watched The Blair Witch Project just in case I might like it. Hated it again. The setup is better than I remembered, but I cannot get over how grating all the yelling is and how much it buries any other quality that might be there as far as I'm concerned.

I liked that it kept me waffling back and forth as to whether there was a "real" explanation, or if it was supernatural. I also liked the ambiguity about how the main character's relationship with Brahms would ultimately play out.

My sister walked out of like, 50 minutes of it when we saw it at the theater. When she came back, it turned out that there was a reception happening, she'd run into some neighbors, and she'd been having champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries while I was watching someone get tortured with superglue. No, I'm not bitter about that at all.

Also, MAJOR SPOILERS

I don't mind unpleasantness or violence, but I agree with the weak payoff. Also, it is one of the most blatantly telegraphed "twists" in cinema history. I can't fathom what some people see in this.

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Magic. I was expecting a killer doll movie but I got a character study on a deeply unhinged man. Still this was pretty good, there’s some genuinely funny moments and a couple sad ones too. Hopkins is great, and I love how big the dummy is.


Shortcut. Kids get on the bus, bus goes into the tunnel, monster’s in the tunnel. Very little character development and bad acting made this a chore. The monster looks ok in certain lighting, but overall it’s a skip.

I enjoy that one but it is a bit slow at times.

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Down The Rabbit Hole
Down A Dark Alley

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I don't think the whole brother thing in Goodnight Mommy was a twist - it's pretty much upfront from the start of the film, and the filmmakers don't try and hide it. In fact, they're basically telling us in every scene, and calling attention to the fact, that one of the brothers is non-existent. We discern from photographs that he once was real - so he's obviously died. Probably in an accident - and knowing this kid, probably something he's responsible for. I think that's given knowledge - Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala were giving us that.

I think the important line that might be mistaken as the twist has the most important reading in that it proves to the kid (in a way he doesn't catch on to soon enough), and to us



That was the best bit! Oh my goodness, if I'd been having champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries after walking out on a film and then I heard there's been superglue torture I'd be bitter for having missed it for a drink and nibbles. But yeah, we all have our taste - in your case the drink and nibbles was the much better option. (PS, I was horrified, in case that sounds like I was delighted to see that. I just love getting sucker-punched by unpleasant things in horror movies.)

(The dying cat stuff though, was unappreciated by me - though I think I was deliberately pushed into having a hostile attitude by the filmmakers.)

I really think it was a rock solid horror film. Not for everyone (obviously), and now saddled with a (why? WHY?) English-language remake, but it pushed me around and made me question the twisted family dynamic that was allowed to fester in complete isolation - and the trauma that was obviously untreated and allowed to become poisonous and infected as far as the mother and son were concerned. Isolation is a cancer sometimes. I liked what they did with that. I'm certainly amongst the camp of people that will stick up for it, and give it a definite tick of approval.

Interestingly, having just revisited it last year, it appears to remain the only Horror movie that really scares me. To say the least, my review from last year is basically the opposite of yours with me practically gushing about it for several paragraphs, but I am aware that it does not sit well with everybody and it has its detractors.

I think The Blair Witch Project is like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in the sense that the excessive yelling/screaming in part contributes to their horror. Their approaches won't work for everyone, but I consider them both to be great.

I felt that its themes---and in particular the relationship between the mother and son---were woefully underdeveloped. It's the kind of film that from the get-go just lacks spark and you know that everything is going to be muddled tones and dour. It's a movie that held zero surprises for me, and the cat is probably the best symbol of that.

I finally got around to finishing The Pope's Exorcist (2023). Might need to say a few hail marys after this one.

The visual effects were fine, I appreciated that the villain here is a formidable foe (placing everyone in danger multiple times), and I liked Crowe's performance here (he does his best playing everyman sort of characters where he can be relatable and human). I did feel like the humor for the most part clicked with me and the synchronized prayers were a nice touch.

Not a huge fan of Crowe's Italian accent (when Craig botches his Southern one in Glass Onion, I think it's on purpose...plus his character is supposed to be a bit over the top). It's not so fitting when you portray the film that's much more serious (outside of Amorth's one-liners). The movie is a bit poky at times in its pacing. And some big revelations they use to explain everything is dropped the second the film reaches the end...it'd rather hype up the sequel!

I liked it a bit more than not, but save it unless you're a big Crowe fan or have a hankering for exorcisms.