A scary thing happened on the way to the Movie Forums - Horrorcrammers
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I like to watch this one for fun every few years.
I grew up on both The Addams Family TV show and the Chas Addams cartoons that he published in The New Yorker and elsewhere.
I did not like this movie when it came out despite being a fan of Raul Julia and of Angelica Huston. I felt it was too different from the show and not what I wanted. Of course that was complete nonsense. Having re-watched some of the show and revisited the cartoons, I think it's a pretty damned on-the-nose representation. Julia is fantastic. Huston may be even better. And actually Christopher Lloyd is quite good as Uncle Fester, even though I did not initially like the whole storyline of it not really being him and all that.
Anyway, despite being made in the 1990s and kinda looking like it, it is a well-shot, good-looking movie. Director Sonnenfeld, a former cinematographer who had shot such films as Miller's Crossing, Big, Three O'Clock High, Raising Arizona, Blood Simple, and The Clash's "Rock The Casbah" video, has a good eye and a good sense of where the camera should be and how it should move.
The movie pulls off its farcical lore well to give its farcical story a lovely bed to lay in. Most importantly, the movie is simply fun if you just let it take you for its ride.
Also makes a good double-feature with either Little Shop Of Horrors or Beetlejuice.
Got into a discussion with some friends about favorite horror films from the last 5 years and when Midsommar didn't make my list a friend was surprised. I said it hadn't made my list because I'd never gotten around to seeing it, missed it in theaters and then kept spacing on it. Well tonight I got that corrected and damn am I glad I did. Beautiful, serene, surreal and when it get's there utterly horrifying. It's like the perfect spiritual successor to the original Wicker Man. Watched the director cut which was almost 3 hours long and I was a bit concerned if it might make the film feel like it was dragging but that was unfounded as despite a nice slow build it still moves so well because of how invested I was the what was going on. Their are a ton of great subtle visual effects and minor details added in that really help sell things as well. I had to amend my top 5 after seeing it, and for those interested here is what I now have as my top 5 horror/genre films of the last 5 years (2018 to 2023), I'm just calling it a tie for the top spot as I can't choose between them.
1. Gaia
1. Tigers are not Afraid
1. Midsommar
4. Last Night in Soho
5. The Wolf of Snow Hollow
1. Gaia
1. Tigers are not Afraid
1. Midsommar
4. Last Night in Soho
5. The Wolf of Snow Hollow
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A Dark Song. A woman hires a guy to help her perform a ritual that will let her talk to her dead son. You know what? This was kinda cool. I loved all the setup and performing the ritual, and the supernatural stuff is kept to a minimum, focusing more on the characters and what they’re willing to do to complete it. And there’s a couple effects shots they absolutely nail. Not a perfect movie but I was pleasantly surprised.
Transylvania 6-5000. I had fun with this. It made me laugh a bunch, I loved Begly and Goldblum as the straight men and the movie worked best when they were on screen. It gets way too goofy at times and doesn’t make a lick of sense but it’s all harmless. Is good. Is funny.
Transylvania 6-5000. I had fun with this. It made me laugh a bunch, I loved Begly and Goldblum as the straight men and the movie worked best when they were on screen. It gets way too goofy at times and doesn’t make a lick of sense but it’s all harmless. Is good. Is funny.
I like to watch this one for fun every few years.
I grew up on both The Addams Family TV show and the Chas Addams cartoons that he published in The New Yorker and elsewhere.
I did not like this movie when it came out despite being a fan of Raul Julia and of Angelica Huston. I felt it was too different from the show and not what I wanted. Of course that was complete nonsense. Having re-watched some of the show and revisited the cartoons, I think it's a pretty damned on-the-nose representation. Julia is fantastic. Huston may be even better. And actually Christopher Lloyd is quite good as Uncle Fester, even though I did not initially like the whole storyline of it not really being him and all that.
Anyway, despite being made in the 1990s and kinda looking like it, it is a well-shot, good-looking movie. Director Sonnenfeld, a former cinematographer who had shot such films as Miller's Crossing, Big, Three O'Clock High, Raising Arizona, Blood Simple, and The Clash's "Rock The Casbah" video, has a good eye and a good sense of where the camera should be and how it should move.
The movie pulls off its farcical lore well to give its farcical story a lovely bed to lay in. Most importantly, the movie is simply fun if you just let it take you for its ride.
Also makes a good double-feature with either Little Shop Of Horrors or Beetlejuice.
“Your writing is puerile and under-dramatized. It lacks any sense of structure, character or the Aristotelian unities.”
“I’ll be the victim!”
“All your life.”
“I was 10, and do you know what they got me? Malibu Barbie.”
“Malibu Barbie.”
“The nightmare.”
“The nerve.”
I assume I needn't give a plot-summary.
I took advantage of the opportunity to see this on the big-screen for the first time in my life. I expect this is around the 10th or so time I've seen it and guess what? It's still one of the best Horror movies ever made.
I mentioned that I took a Gen Zer with me, my friend Caroline who is 22, and I had a feeling that this was actually gonna be up her alley. She loved it, felt it was something we had to discuss at length afterward despite the late hour, and she was thrilled that she got to see it on the big screen.
Really, this was such a pleasure. I'll leave you with some choice words from The New York Times that I think says it perfectly.
“The peculiar strengths of “Chain Saw” have rarely been replicated because they are often misunderstood. Despite its unsubtle title, this is a formally exquisite art film, packed full of gorgeously nightmarish images, as poetic as they are deranged.”
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V/H/S/94
2021, Simon Barrett, Chloe Okuno, Timo Tjahjanto, Ryan Prows, Jennifer Reeder, Steven Kostanski
OK, so the bolts, or the connecting material, the in-between...whatever you want to call the sections of this film with the SWAT team in between the shorts themselves, are easily the worst of the franchise by a long shot. Terribly acted, unconvincing, and really just a waste of time. That said, the shorts themselves are excellent, with a couple of them easily rivaling previous favorites Amateur Night, 10/31/98, A Ride in the Park, and Slumber Party Alien Abduction.
One of them, The Subject, was completely bonkers, and had both my wife and I pointing and saying "Holy shit!!" during most of its run time. They were all good, but this one is easily one of the best of the entire franchise. It alone makes the film worth seeing.
__________________
“It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.” ― Thomas Sowell
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Absentia -
Mike Flanagan's feature debut proves he doesn't need Netflix money to tell a good horror yarn. A spin on Three Billy Goats Gruff - which appears in the movie - it occurs entirely within a Glendale neighborhood infamous for missing person cases. It's the home of Tricia, whose husband Daniel disappeared many years ago and whose recovering addict sister Callie is shacking up with her temporarily. While jogging, Callie goes inside a spooky-looking tunnel, a move that pulls her and her sister into the neighborhood's mysteries.
Watching Mike Flanagan's annual Netflix horror series is one of my favorite new traditions. The importance he places on fleshing out his characters and their relationships may be the main reason why I keep coming back, a tendency that is also on display here. Too much horror only gives us enough reason to care about someone to shock us when they are injured or killed. Flanagan, on the other hand, knows that the cake can be as tasty as the icing, if you will. I truly cared about the sisters' struggles to rebuild their lives, which has the added benefit of their misfortunes also being scary for how each one sets them backwards. The way the movie explores how they cope with their situations - Buddhism and Christianity respectively - also provides good room for debate about how we cope with the unfortunate and the unexplained. Flanagan also has the good taste to extend his signature empathy to the overworked cops investigating all these missing person cases, and even though the movie's very low budget is on display in its scariest moments, the hot glue and duct tape does not get in the way.
Again, the movie's low, crowdfunded budget is always apparent, and even though it mostly rises above this limitation, the times it doesn't holds it back from greatness. Besides the work of Katie Parker and that of a special guest, the average performance is unconvincing. The quality of the makeup also made me laugh unintentionally, I'm ashamed to admit. The movie remains the promising debut you would expect from the filmmaker and a reminder of how unsettling missing person stories can be. Oh, and also bugs.
Mike Flanagan's feature debut proves he doesn't need Netflix money to tell a good horror yarn. A spin on Three Billy Goats Gruff - which appears in the movie - it occurs entirely within a Glendale neighborhood infamous for missing person cases. It's the home of Tricia, whose husband Daniel disappeared many years ago and whose recovering addict sister Callie is shacking up with her temporarily. While jogging, Callie goes inside a spooky-looking tunnel, a move that pulls her and her sister into the neighborhood's mysteries.
Watching Mike Flanagan's annual Netflix horror series is one of my favorite new traditions. The importance he places on fleshing out his characters and their relationships may be the main reason why I keep coming back, a tendency that is also on display here. Too much horror only gives us enough reason to care about someone to shock us when they are injured or killed. Flanagan, on the other hand, knows that the cake can be as tasty as the icing, if you will. I truly cared about the sisters' struggles to rebuild their lives, which has the added benefit of their misfortunes also being scary for how each one sets them backwards. The way the movie explores how they cope with their situations - Buddhism and Christianity respectively - also provides good room for debate about how we cope with the unfortunate and the unexplained. Flanagan also has the good taste to extend his signature empathy to the overworked cops investigating all these missing person cases, and even though the movie's very low budget is on display in its scariest moments, the hot glue and duct tape does not get in the way.
Again, the movie's low, crowdfunded budget is always apparent, and even though it mostly rises above this limitation, the times it doesn't holds it back from greatness. Besides the work of Katie Parker and that of a special guest, the average performance is unconvincing. The quality of the makeup also made me laugh unintentionally, I'm ashamed to admit. The movie remains the promising debut you would expect from the filmmaker and a reminder of how unsettling missing person stories can be. Oh, and also bugs.
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I liked this one okay but I ADORE Addams Family Values. It’s nearly perfect and endlessly quotable.
“Your writing is puerile and under-dramatized. It lacks any sense of structure, character or the Aristotelian unities.”
“I’ll be the victim!”
“All your life.”
“I was 10, and do you know what they got me? Malibu Barbie.”
“Malibu Barbie.”
“The nightmare.”
“The nerve.”
“Your writing is puerile and under-dramatized. It lacks any sense of structure, character or the Aristotelian unities.”
“I’ll be the victim!”
“All your life.”
“I was 10, and do you know what they got me? Malibu Barbie.”
“Malibu Barbie.”
“The nightmare.”
“The nerve.”
That Thanksgiving pageant is one of the funniest things ever committed to the screen though.
Just saw The Wolf Man (1941). I enjoyed it, but there's some things I'd like to discuss if someone here is interested.
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Just saw The Wolf Man (1941). I enjoyed it, but there's some things I'd like to discuss if someone here is interested.
Jo-blo Horror, on YouTube, finally got me to watch this film by singing it's praises to the heavens and making me feel like I had actually missed something. He particularly raved about "the best Scarecrow story ever set to film". It was not.
What this actually is is a well put-together, big-budget After School Halloween Special. It's teen-Horror that seems really stuck between trying to have the feel of a grown-up Horror movie and then being let down by its need to appeal to tweens and not anger any parents. It is a completely bloodless film that can feel a little gruesome at times even without the blood but also has a WB Channel feel for much of its run-time and certainly has a soft ending that undermines the intensity that was brought on by the deaths of multiple children.
I'm actually not sure if I liked this or not, if I would ever watch it again or not. I think it's successful on a lot of levels even if the story is as obvious as any ghost story one might make up by the camp-fire if put on the spot and lacking a story already in mind. That said, I have always said that the single coolest Horror monster/villain is The Ghost Of A Witch. Which this has.
Ultimately, as I've said, this is a Pretty Little Liars/Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina type of thing with (maybe) some actual deaths in it. Not sorry I saw it, not a waste of time, but not really sure how I feel about it.
