1980's Creature Flicks

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

[heroforhirerob]

[godziwolf]

[metal_bryan]

[MekaGojira3k]

[MouthForWar]

I just watched the new Piranha blu ray and its an awesome package. The movie has never looked better and the special features are fantastic. I love Joe Dante. Can't wait for his return!

[MouthForWar]

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

[MouthForWar]

[Green Dragon]

More love for Prince of Darkness.

I just drove by that church a couple nights ago, visiting a friend in downtown LA. It's not as remote and creepy as the movie would have you think, and there are a LOT of remote and creepy places in LA! Perfect John Carpenter settings.
The Church is in Little Tokyo, and is now an Arts Center, all gussied up and not a hint of the menacing neglect as seen in the movie (brilliant set decorating, but back then, I expect that it WAS more run down and neglected than it is now).

In fact, the forecourt had some big shindig going on with tons of people and live music, not the greatest time for Carpenteresque photo-ops.

They Live features more of LA at it's most...well, L.A.-ish.

Big Trouble in Little China is another 80's favorite, and at this point, I'll just have to say that anything else Carpenter did from then (well, anything he does) is fine by me!

Near Dark is a great movie, King Ghidorah....cast, director, location/setting, Tangerine Dream score....

As for Monster Squad / Night of the Creeps, Fred Dekker was a customer of mine in the 90's, and I was completely oblivious of who he was at the time. He has 2 paintings of mine, one of them a commission! VERY nice guy.

And The Blob remake, one of the few times a remake improved on the original, which wasn't really that much of an effort, but even so, it's a neat little movie.

INFERNO was the Argento movie that sticks out to me most from the 80's, as problematic as it is. Interesting continuation of the mythology hinted at in Suspiria, typical eye-candy Argento, shrill Keith Emerson score (yes, yes, we all know)....

I'd have to say The Fly was one of the greatest horror movies to come out of the 80's, if not beyond that, another superior remake and Cronenberg doing what he did best. LOVED Videodrome as well.

More 80's glory: Altered States and Lair of the White Worm, both by Ken Russell, a master of excess and bad taste. His movies are lurid, in-your-face, and never boring.

Also: The Hitcher. I remember the movie getting a lot of flack when it came out over its bleak, nihilistic view, but it's absolutely restrained compared to some of the slaughterhouse porn we get today, INCLUDING its remake, which I only saw a few seconds of, thanks to someone who said I just HAD to see something on youtube. The original scene involving Jennifer Jason Leigh was horrific and numbing, and didn't show anything. What I saw was pretty horrific and numbing, but in a way I don't really find necessary.

Great Mark Isham score on The Hitcher, along with the location scenes shot out between Needles and Barstow, some of the creepiest desert landscape you'll ever be likely to drive through. Actually, I've driven through even creepier landscapes, but it's definitely up there for mood and atmosphere.

[RobD]

The Boogens(already mentioned)
Don't be afraid of the dark(probably already mentioned)

[Green Dragon]

I haven't seen it it many years, but I remember The Hidden from 1987.... cool little sci-fi action thriller, about a murderous alien thing hopping its way through human hosts, with Kyle MacLachlan post-Blue Velvet and pre-Twin Peaks. AND, Claudia Christian as well.

[godziwolf]

[king_ghidorah]

[Green Dragon]

[MouthForWar]

[king_ghidorah]

[MouthForWar]

[king_ghidorah]

[Xenorama]

[jellydonut25]

[MekaGojira3k]

I remember being at a friend's house who rented Monster in the Closet. That film held no appeal for me. I mean, that was back when I was a little kid, but man did I feel like we wasted a video rental.

[jellydonut25]

[jellydonut25]

I was perusing this thread once again, because I'm thinking next year for Halloween, I'm gonna dive headfirst into these films and only come up for air well after i've lost my mind in a sea of bad acting and latex rubber...

but I didn't see if anybody mentioned The Stuff, which is a really fun Blob ripoff.

oh and also, Possession is a film MFW pointed out as being "well worth it" and I just wanted to say that it's available on Youtube.




just FYI, and all.

[king_ghidorah]

Cool man thanks I'll check it out!

And The Stuff is a very fun flick