by jellydonut25 » Fri Oct 13, 2017 1:17 am
Night of the Living Dead
Dawn of the Dead
Day of the Dead
The Crazies
Land of the Dead
Season of the Witch
Monkey Shines
Martin
Two Evil Eyes
Bruiser
Diary of the Dead - Hopelessly boring for the first half hour, it ends up finding its footing a LITTLE bit and gets some legs under itself for the final hour, even if those legs are zombified and shambling, at leas the movie finds a couple things to say and more importantly DO, and ends up being an admirable failure. 2.5/5
Survival of the Dead - Who directed this? Doesn't even feel like a Romero film. Perhaps slightly more entertaining than Diary, but where Night, Dawn, Day, Land and to a lesser extent Diary were punctuated by reasonable gaps in time and Romero commenting on the changes in our society and current sociological conditions, Survival is him just making a zombie movie just to make one. There's nothing here. No lingering questions, no commentary, just a middle of the road zombie movie. 2.5/5.
Monster Squad - I will admit having grown up on this movie probably adds some to my enjoyment, but I watched it with a newbie and their enjoyment was infectious. The film has charm up the wazoo and such great effects, it's just an absolutely perfect Halloween season film, though admittedly not a perfect film overall. Still, super quotable, ultra fun, and great to look at, Monster Squad is a total October movie in all the best ways. 4.5/5
The Final Girls - The jokes don't ALWAYS land, but that's a risk taken when the humor is often "Funny because it's not funny," and we could do with just a touch more gore, but this movie is really fun, and clever and at times surprisingly heartfelt. 4/5.
The H-Man - There's some fun stuff happening here that's a little understated but clues you in that everyone on the set was having fun and enjoying themselves and that kinda worms its way into you and pumps up the fun factor. The story doesn't totally come together and I RARELY say this about a 50/60s-era Toho film but the effects just aren't quite up to snuff, but there are moments that absolutely pop and the climax is solid. 3.5/5
The Human Vapor - It's a shame this hasn't seen an official stateside release because it's by far the best of the Toho mutant films. The story is interesting and layered, the characters are all well-realized, the acting is spot-on, and the Human Vapor is brought to life in a fun and reasonably believable way. There are a lot of stakes in this movie on all sides, and it's such a nuanced film, with a villain whose motives are WAY more noble than the typical sci-fi/horror villain (especially from Toho). Just a wonderful film all around. 4.5/5
The Secret of the Telegian - Probably the weakest of Toho's Mutant films in that there doesn't feel like a lot of personal stakes here. There aren't really any likable characters. The main villain is a revenge-driven murderer, but he's out to murder would-be murderers and smugglers and drug dealers so...who do we root for? The police? They're not given enough time to develop and we're not really given a GOOD reason to root for them to stop anything from ending tragically. Also, the ending is a problem. More than maybe any other Toho scifi film (FCTW included) this movie just SLAMS to a halt and BAM! that's the end. BUT it's a fast-paced movie and has some really cool effects work, and is a lot of fun to watch. It's enjoyable, but there's just not as much to chew on as there is in Human Vapor (or even H-Man) 3/5
Yokai Monsters: 100 Monsters - The weakest of the Yokai movies I've seen thus far (having seen all except Along with Ghosts). It's still actually pretty good, but the yokai themselves are MUCH more in the background than I was expecting given my experience with Spook Warfare and the Miike film. What we have in this one is something that plays out a little more like a Daimajin film, but we spend just a touch too much time with the villains (who are loathsome and in a way fun, and we definitely want to see them get their comeuppance) and not enough time is given to really working on a cast of protagonists. Maybe leaning MORE into Daimajin territory, and giving us a protagonist who was actively seeking out the Yokai to help the villagers in need, and put him or her through some trials in order to get the help of the yokai would bring that up a bit. I enjoyed it overall, but look forward to an eventual re-watch, knowing it's lighter on the actual yokai than the other two films I've seen. 3.5/5.