October Challenge

The Children - Day 4

An chilling tale about children who...for no reason to do evil things. Kids are always a gold mine in horror films, they can be super creepy if done correctly. In a film titled The Children you would hope that they will nail this aspect, and for the most part they do.

Can the parents accept that their kids are evil? Are they able to kill their child to save their own lives? This low budget British horror film tries to answer the question and despite a weak third act, the film delivers the chills needed.

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"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."

Suspect's Reviews

Rest Stop - Day 5

A young couple stop at a rest stop, only to be terrified by a deranged man looking to have some fun with torture. Sounds like a decent enough movie, until you watch what the filmmakers tried to do and scratch your head and the leaps in logic and absurdity of it all.More of a supernatural horror film than a slasher one, so you've been warned, this is a classic case of show you what you want to see, and pull the rug out from under you.

Is it all in the lead character's head? Are their ghosts? Do we care? Questions you'll ask yourself in this lame thriller of a horror flick in which everything could have been solved by leaving the rest stop............................yup, she stays there the whole time.

Yeah, Rest Stop sucked.

Ugh, I've fallen way behind. Gotta go watch some horror!

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I was part of a show filming at Canada's Wonderland for a tv show called Insane Coaster Wars. So I gone busy the weekend. I have to catch up, hahaha.

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4th challenge review: House By The Cemetery...

What to say? Out of Fulci's "Gates of Hell" trilogy, this was easily the weakest for me. It felt way too padded with plodding scenes of lame dialogue, and the murder scenes just fell flat. Aside from Dr. Freudstein himself, all of the FX/gore/horror elements seemed uninspired, not going for that extra bit of over-the-top lunacy I grew accustomed to in Fulci's other films. Without the truly bizarre deaths or weird atmosphere of either City Of The Living Dead or The Beyond, we're left with extremely dull characters and a poor story. I've read people rave this is their favorite Fulci film, but I can't begin to see why. The gore was disappointing, there were far too many interminable stretches of pointless and half-assed talking scenes, the only vaguely intriguing character subplot involving the babysitter went nowhere, and the villain/monster was interesting but under-used. Weaksauce. 3/10

Challenge review 5, a nice little surprise: The Spider Labyrinth, a 1988 italian horror directed by Gianfranco Giagni. Professor Whitmore is sent to Budapest to investigate the sudden silence of a colleague involved in the project Whitmore is overseeing that's researching an ancient cult of spider worshippers. Once there, Whitmore quickly finds out the cult is very much still alive and active. This lovecraftian giallo was thoroughly above-average and I especially enjoyed its neat old school FX. It's a real hidden gem for italian horror fans, with fine acting, direction, music, and effects. I found the story to be intriguing and Whitmore's a perfect protagonist who finds himself in deep trouble as he discovers the true extent of a terrible evil. The only complaint I can think of is one scene of Whitmore driving around searching for an antique dealer that dragged on too long but that was easily overlooked, as I otherwise quite liked the last half-hour. 7/10

October 7


Thirteen Ghosts


I've always liked this for some reason. My lady did as well. Is it that bad?


October 8


Opera


I've always loved this simple for the direction and the eye needle idea, but my lady hated it because of the acting. BOOO sad day

I liked 13 Ghosts too. The house reminded me of Cube with less math but a little more style to make up for it. I should re-watch it.

13 Ghosts wasn't bad. Kinda goofy, maybe, but lots of fun. I loved how unique the ghosts were, and the house was just plain cool. Tony Shalhoub and Matthew Lillard were especially fun to watch.

John Carpenter's Vampires - Day 6

I went with another John Carpenter film, one that I really do enjoy and others seem to hate. John Carpenter's Vampires, a gory film with bloodsuckers and vampire hunters, led by Jack Crow (badass name) played by James Woods, in one of my favourite roles by him.

The film opens with the team raiding a nest of vamps, then we continue on to the Master getting his revenge, two great sequences in the opening segment. The film is basically a western disguised as a horror film and this is what Carpenter intended.

The Master is looking for a cross that gives him the ability to walk in the daylight. Now it's up to Jack Crow and the fat Baldwin brother to stop him, with the help of a prostitute who was bitten by The Master (she shares a telepathic link).

Not Carpenter's best work, but one that I enjoy each time I watch it.

I definitely liked Vampires. Even the second one.

Me too. Vampires is one of my fave Carpenter movies. James Woods is so badass in that.

Another vote for Vampires here.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

What the hell are you talking about, man? Oh, never mind.

Review 6, a chunk of low-budget sci-fi horror goodness (or crap, depending on your POV): Proteus, a cheap rip-off of Carpenter's The Thing, on an oil rig, oooooh. I actually enjoyed it. It's a decent B-movie with fairly good acting, passable direction with a few nice touches, and truly disgusting creature FX. Really, the creature is the highlight here, and it's nasty. The movie relies more on the gooey grossness of the monster itself instead of just gore (which there is actually very little of) as well as its creepy isolated setting to get under the skin... and it works fairly well. There are some effective scares and modestly suspenseful moments. The story is badly told at times. The low budget shows through (they surely must have put most of it into the FX) particularly during a terribly executed transition early on that's sure to put off some viewers right away. However... "You're a f*ckin' fish with a drug habit!" 5/10

Day 7: Wicked City (1987) –
Quite a contrast in writing quality. On one hand, a lot of the dialogue and erotica comes across as annoyingly simple and immature; on the other, it can be pretty amusing (intentional or not) and there is a sense of creativity in its fantasy world and comical mixture of sex and violence.
Day 8: Even Dwarfs Started Small (1970) –
Another one that turned out to not really be horror, though it could be disturbing for some. This was one of Herzog’s earliest films, and while it’s still somehow both unusual and realistic (in borderline mockumentary style) compared to most, it isn’t as distinguishably unique as his better works.
Day 9: Begotten (1990) –
I appreciate the mad experimentation that went into this, even though the content would probably be insufferable to most, and it’s almost impossible to actually enjoy. Still, it drags and drags. For a little over an hour without any compromise to the harsh, often intangible imagery, it’s just overkill.
Day 10: Lunacy (2005) –
This would’ve stood well enough without the animations, which are a little tacked on and distracting from the rest of the film. It seems that it wanted to be more thought-provoking than it was, but it’s difficult to take the philosophy seriously with all of the bizarre antics at the forefront. Still a great movie though.
I must say, I’d always thought of Svankmajer as more of an artist that just happened to use filmmaking as an exhibition, but this (even with its abundance of absurdity) displays the most conventional filmmaking style that I’ve seen from him yet.

October 9

Nosferatu


Finally showed her one important reason why True Blood sucks. Plus she also enjoys Murnau, so yeah. This made me want to watch Eddie Izzard and Willem Dafoe again in Shadow of the Vampire but it's more comical so it'll have to wait.

October 10

Suspiria


She hated Opera for the acting but the same level acting had no effect. Oh well. Suspiria must be that good; I took a lot more notice of the cinematography this time around, Argento is an underdog. Deep Red, Phenomena, and Tenebre are coming.

I realise I can't keep up with the schedule... Anyway,

Prince of Darkness (1987)


John Carpenter's most under-rated movie ever. It discards all the cheese and silliness that plague most of his movies, delivering chills, shocks and a fair share of gore.

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Challenge reviews 7 & 8: I'm kinda cheating here, so let me make it clear that I DID NOT FINISH EITHER FILM. Both were TL;CF (Too Lame;Couldn't Finish). First, The Graves, written and directed by Brian Pulido, creator of the awesome Evil Ernie comics and the not-so-awesome spin-off Lady Death. I watched roughly half of The Graves before falling asleep and never mustered the care to finish. It's plain wretched. Two obnoxious sisters are chased by an apologetic psycho through a ghost town, then his more enthusiastic brother.

As for Steve Niles' Remains, it too is a farking travesty but slightly better in a technical sense. It's boring, though, and beyond stupid. A zombie outbreak results from a nuke explosion that was designed to bring world peace. Yeah... Niles was also writer of the hit 30 Days of Night comics, and the movie adaptation of that was a masterpiece in comparison to Remains. I watched roughly a half-hour of Remains, then skipped through to see the idiotic ending. Sigh.