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

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I just had two stinkers in a row with Revolt of the Zombies (Victor Halperin's vastly inferior follow-up to White Zombie) and Paganini Horror (which is nowhere near as cool as its title) but did watch the 1934 version of The Black Cat last night, which turned out to be the best thing I've seen so far this month, so I guess it kind of evened out.


For your reference, the poster for Paganini Horror:





I just had two stinkers in a row with Revolt of the Zombies (Victor Halperin's vastly inferior follow-up to White Zombie) and Paganini Horror (which is nowhere near as cool as its title) but did watch the 1934 version of The Black Cat last night, which turned out to be the best thing I've seen so far this month, so I guess it kind of evened out.


For your reference, the poster for Paganini Horror:


Oh yeah, Paganini Horror is quite bad. I watched it last year for the Halloween challenge and wrote this:

#28 Paganini Horror (1989)

Crappy Argento clone that thinks few colored lights is enough to make the film visually impressive. Script is laughably bad and acting holds up to same standards. So much worse than the director's earlier scifi horror Contamination. Only values this one has are couple of semi-decent rock songs and few unintentional laughs.

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I just watched The Hunt. Tonedeaf attempt at political satire aside this actually made me laugh a few times. It’s incredibly stupid and I don’t think it even knows what it’s trying to say but it was entertaining.



It's exciting to see such an influx of fresh blood, especially with so many of you being horror fans. A shame none of you were here when we redid our MoFo Horror Countdown last year.

I never posted on the RT forums, but I used to lurk on occasion and I recognize some of the usernames. Hopefully you all enjoy your new home. The community here is strong and there's a wide range of ages, tastes and personalities. We also have a lot of group activities, like Hall of Fames, where participants nominate a film for other members to watch and review. (Check out the Ongoing Tournaments & Brackets sub-forum in the Games and Tabs section for relevant examples.) A lot of new members never seem to venture from the General Movie Discussion, but there's a lot more to the forum than that section. We'll soon be updating our All-Time Top 100, and I encourage all of you to participate. We average two countdowns a year (usually a genre specific countdown followed by a decade countdown), and they're a big event around here . . . second only to our wet and messy orgies.
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Let the night air cool you off
It's kinda hard to believe that MoFo existed 3 months before I turned 9. Oh yeah, welcome to all the people from the other places. We don't actually have orgies.



We average two countdowns a year (usually a genre specific countdown followed by a decade countdown), and they're a big event around here . . . second only to our wet and messy orgies.
Wait, why hasn't anyone told me about the orgies?

Seriously though, I'll try to check this thread regularly as I'm definitely a horror lover. Maybe new people will bring new films to my attention too.



Wait, why hasn't anyone told me about the orgies?
Never thought you'd be interested since we're all over 18.



Do you wanna party? Its party time!
I should probably post here a lot more. Maybe I will.
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Latest Movie Viewing: Wings (1927)
Latest Album Listened To: Honky Château, Elton John (1972)
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What serious Vincent Price horror movies do you recommend? I say serious because I've seen The Abominable Dr. Phibes, The Raven and Comedy of Terrors, each of which I liked, but I'm ready to see him in scary mode rather than funny mode. I have seen House on Haunted Hill.
I was on my phone when I replied yesterday, so you got the short answer. Here are some of my Vincent Price favorites--

Comedy:
Tales of Terror
Comedy of Terrors
The Raven
Phibes 1 + 2
Theater of Blood

Technically not comedy, but not so serious either:
House on Haunted Hill
The Tingler (SO much fun)
House of Wax
House of Usher
Pit & Pendulum (these last 2 are mostly serious but there's still a bit of a wink involved)

Serious:
Invisible Man Returns
The Fly
Last Man On Earth
Masque of the Red Death
Tomb of Ligeia
Witchfinder General
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I was on my phone when I replied yesterday, so you got the short answer. Here are some of my Vincent Price favorites--

Comedy:
Tales of Terror
Comedy of Terrors
The Raven
Phibes 1 + 2
Theater of Blood

Technically not comedy, but not so serious either:
House on Haunted Hill
The Tingler (SO much fun)
House of Wax
House of Usher
Pit & Pendulum (these last 2 are mostly serious but there's still a bit of a wink involved)

Serious:
Invisible Man Returns
The Fly
Last Man On Earth
Masque of the Red Death
Tomb of Ligeia
Witchfinder General
Thanks! I was hoping you saw that post.
I see that The Tingler is on TCM this week. Will DVR.



Victim of The Night
Viy (1967) -


While this film didn't impress me as much as I hoped it would, I still appreciated a decent bit about it and I may revisit it in the future. While its story was fine, I found myself mostly taken in by its mood. Through a combination of dream-like lighting effects, colors, and camera angles, Yershov and Kropachyov crafted a handful of sensually pleasing sequences. The highlight of this was a magnificent monster sequence near the end which is so impressive, it makes you wonder whether you're still watching the same film. Certain bits of it could be argued as cheesy, but the high level of craft in that sequence made it stick out as one of the best things I've seen in a horror film in a while. With that being said, however, I couldn't help but feel unsatisfied after the credits rolled. A few reviews I've read argued that this film doesn't get going until the second half, but I couldn't help but feel as if everything was build-up towards the night three sequence, which was one of the only scenes I loved when I rewatched it. This film reminded me of my experience with Battleship Potemkin. I liked a decent bit of it well enough (though I found some parts to be a slog), but primarily loved just the Odessa Steps sequence. Like Battleship Potemkin, I somewhat enjoyed my time with a lot of this film, but the one sequence I loved had me wishing that more of the film could've been that great. When rewatching the film, I found myself less invested in what came before the night three sequence and somewhat impatient as I waited for it.
Hmmm... I sorta see what you mean but I felt that once the "philosopher" gets to the church the first night, the movie takes off and doesn't look back, at like Evil Dead levels. I mean, the first scene with the old witch seemed right out of ED2 or even Army Of Darkness. And as short as it is, taking some time to get off the ground didn't really cost that much.



I just had two stinkers in a row with Revolt of the Zombies (Victor Halperin's vastly inferior follow-up to White Zombie) and Paganini Horror (which is nowhere near as cool as its title) but did watch the 1934 version of The Black Cat last night, which turned out to be the best thing I've seen so far this month, so I guess it kind of evened out.


For your reference, the poster for Paganini Horror:


A curse upon 1980s poster artists for enticing me to watch so much garbage!

Some of my favorite quotes from The Black Cat:
"After all, it is much better to be frightened than crushed" - Lugosi
"The phones are dead....even the phones are dead..." - Karloff



Victim of The Night
...but did watch the 1934 version of The Black Cat last night, which turned out to be the best thing I've seen so far this month, so I guess it kind of evened out.
I really think The Black Cat (1934) is an overlooked gem.



Hmmm... I sorta see what you mean but I felt that once the "philosopher" gets to the church the first night, the movie takes off and doesn't look back, at like Evil Dead levels. I mean, the first scene with the old witch seemed right out of ED2 or even Army Of Darkness. And as short as it is, taking some time to get off the ground didn't really cost that much.
I think the first night probably comes the closest to getting the film off the ground. I think that night two and the intermittent scenes between his nights in the church, however, slowed the film down before it was able to build up enough tension in those sequences for them to hit hard enough. If it wasn't for how much I loved night three, I might've been okay or less bothered by this, but, upon rewatching the film, most of everything else felt like buildup to that sequence concerning the level of craft on display in it in comparison to the other horror sequences throughout the film. I often found myself impatient to get to that sequence when I rewatched it. That's why I feel the film doesn't get going until that sequence.
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I see that The Tingler is on TCM this week. Will DVR.


Cool. Don't forget--
"You may obtain immediate relief by screaming. Don't be embarrassed about opening your mouth and letting rip with all you've got."



I think the first night probably comes the closest to getting the film off the ground. I think that night two and the intermittent scenes between his nights in the church, however, slowed the film down before it was able to build up enough tension in those sequences for them to hit hard enough. If it wasn't for how much I loved night three, I might've been okay or less bothered by this, but, upon rewatching the film, most of everything else felt like buildup to that sequence concerning the level of craft on display in it in comparison to the other horror sequences throughout the film. I often found myself impatient to get to that sequence when I rewatched it. That's why I feel the film doesn't get going until that sequence.
The end of Viy is obviously the triumph of the film. It only barely even seems connected to everything that came before, which is so incredibly sober by comparison. So it's fair to think of it as a bit of an underwhelming build up if all you are waiting for is a parade of monsters. But it also sets the foundation for the manic climax to leap off from. While I'm a big fan of Evil Dead 2, which really is like the final twenty minutes of Viy stretched to full length feature, in retrospect I find it an exhausting film to watch. It barely even has any kind of reality to tether it to the ground. It is a living and breathing cartoon. Viy, at the very least, presents its fable as occuring in a recognizable world by slowly leading us to its last act insanity. So while all the preamble may not be nearly as much fun, it does feel like it serves a worthwhile function. And it all looks great, regardless.