Recently watched movies!

[lhb412]

^^ Strong words! I still want to see a few just to say that I have.

Caltiki, the Immortal Monster

What caused the Mayan exodus? This movie contends that it was because of Caltiki (the immortal monster), a prehistoric blob thing that melts away flesh in effects far more gruesome than I expected from a '50s movie.

This is an Italian movie mostly directed by Mario Bava, and it's main selling point (besides the satisfyingly goey effects) is that it's ostensibly a '50s sci-fi monster movie done entirely in the style of a gothic horror type movie.

[jellydonut25]

[MekaGojira3k]

[Dr Kain]

See, I look at the F13 movies as a good time when you just want to see people getting killed and not think abou it. It's one of the reasons the fifth movie sucks because the kills are so poorly edited that no one might as well died at all. Well it doesn't help that the movie is kind of boring. Speaking of boring...

The Return of the Fly - Good god was this a snoozefest. The only positive I can give it is that it was at least better than the Phibes sequel. For a movie that clearly has to be like 10-15 years after the original, Vincent Price sure didn't look like he had aged more than a day. Not to mention the many contradictions it made to its predecessor. Like the wife says she erased the chalk board in the lab, and she did, but Andre's kill me stuff is still on it in this movie. Not to mention Andre destroyed all of his notes, yet, his journals are all lying there on the table when Philippe walks into the lab. The cookie cutter treacherous friend was pretty damn predictable, but then they had him deal with some funeral palor dude without even giving the guy an introduction. He just walks in there and all like, "I'm going to sell you stuff to make money," and he's all like, "Cool." Meanwhile, I'm thinking, "Who are you and how does this guy even know you?" None of this made sense. The ending was also quite abrupt as if Price told them to just stop filming. Overall, another lackluster horror movie sequel that tries to be bigger than the original by missing everything the original was about. OH, and putting the movie in black and white was just stupid and made it feel even more cheap than it was. A generous 5/10.

[eabaker]

I totally understand describing the slasher genre in general as "hateful," though the term I usually use is "mean spirited." But I don't find that to be true of the genre as a whole, even if it is true of the majority of genre output.

With regards to the F13 series, the ones that always leap out at me as feeling especially mean-spirited are parts 4 and (above all the others) 5.

On the other hand, the first two entries don't strike me that way at all. I feel like those movies encourage for empathy with the victims far more than any kind of viewer identification with the killers.

I think a lot of people mistake horror spectatorship - particularly where the slasher genre is concerned - as something sadistic, when in general I find it to be, if anything, masochistic.

[O.Supreme]

Batman vs. Two Face

Just picked this one up on BRD, and like Return of the Caped Crusaders it did not disappoint. Ol' Bill Shatner was actually quite impressive as Two Face, his vocal performance from Harvey Dent (normal Shatner voice) to Two Face, deep gravely, and almost unrecognizable was well done. It was conceived in a way that I could easily have seen Shatner as the actual character in the 1966 Batman if he had not been busy on that other show he was on. .

The appearances of Hugo Strange and Dr. Quinzel were nice little nods as well. It's unfortunate that the loss of Adam West will no doubt mean this series of animated films will come to an end. But the little tribute at the end, got me right in the *feels* -Rest Well BRIGHT NIGHT .

[lhb412]

[Dr Kain]

[eabaker]

[lhb412]

The Reptile

As with The Gorgon, this film has Hammer doing the classic horror formula with a new monster, namely a were-cobra. I'm not sure if this is an official remake of Universal's Cult of the Cobra (thanks Svengoolie) but it has a similar setup.

The best part if this movie is Michael Ripper, who usually does bit parts in Hammer Horror films, having a main role and being heroic.

[eabaker]

[lhb412]

^The design is striking, but in certain instances in the movie it looks lopsided... maybe it just has good and bad angles, or maybe the makeup wasn't applied well that day.

[jellydonut25]

[lhb412]

The Invisible Man

James Whale hits it out of the park again. There's more goodness packed into this 70 odd minute movie than half a dozen 3 hour epics. It's so funny and really kind of mean (but in a tongue-in-cheek way) and it's so much fun to see the authorities and various citizens brainstorm practical counters to fight an invisible man. They really think of everything the audience would think of while watching the movie, which gives an oddly interactive sense of play between movie and audience.

[eabaker]

[lhb412]

^ You are frightened of his increasing madness, but at the same time you sympathise with his frustration with the various people around him.

[eabaker]

[Dr Kain]

The Thing - 10/10

[klen7]

The Foreigner - I like Jackie Chan. I liked this movie. It was hard to find a showing, it was available at plenty of theaters near me but it never had showings between 7-10, which I thought was weird for a movie without much box office competition. Heading into the climax I wasn't sure how it was all going to play out, which is always enjoyable.

Little Evil - the other lower budget Netflix horror comedy. It was worth a watch

[Dr Kain]

Halloween III - 9/10.

[jellydonut25]

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
Survival of the Dead
Monster Squad
The Final Girls
The H-Man
The Human Vapor
Secret of the Telegian
Yokai Monsters: 100 Monsters
Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare
Yokai Monsters: Along with Ghosts
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
Night of the Living Dead 1990
The Great Yokai War
Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Circle (2015)
Cult of Chucky
Gerald's Game
Frankenstein (1931)

Daffy Duck's Quackbusters - It's not great or anything, but it is great at this time of year when you just want a quick visit of a bunch of horror-themed Looney Tunes. I watched it a LOT as a kid and it was a fun revisit. 3.5/5

The Babysitter - It's not GREAT...in fact, it's occasionally problematic, as at times it definitely lacks an internal logical consistency, and at other times it feels like its stylistic decisions were made JUST so the movie could be bright and vibrant and stylish without having a real vision or reason for being that way.

BUT screw that. The Babysitter is fun. The Babysitter is the big bad, instead of the damsel in distress...why has it taken us this long to get here? The character interactions are fun, the main character genuinely likable, and it's just a fun ride. I enjoyed it in very much the same way that I enjoyed The Final Girls, as this sort of somewhat innocent, riff on the genre that is just too much fun to hate...just a little less than The Final Girls. 3.5/5

1922 - Let's get it out of the way: this movie is slow. It's a slow burn, that barely feels like a horror at times and definitely could be for the more faint at heart.

HOWEVER, it's REALLY good. It does everything very well, is well-acted and does a great job of adapting King's story, doing what the best adaptations do: knowing when and when not to stick with the literal story.

The story is about a simple farmer deciding to murder his wife because she wants to sell all his farm land out from under him (because it's hers from her father), and how that decision ends up corrupting and corroding his entire life. It shows how the easy way out is never the easy way out and just creates more problems. It's thrilling, chilling, atmospheric, and despite its slow pace, is very WELL-PACED, taking its time in all the right ways to build the mood and characters such that we care about what's happening.

The script is occasionally a bit thin (I could have used a little more time with Henry and Shannon, and especially Neil McDonough's Harlan), and I'm not sure it's quite VISUALLY striking enough (the director may or may not be a good one at the end of the day), but 1922 continues what has been a very good year for Stephen King adaptations (3 good ones with It, Gerald's Game, and now 1922) . 4/5

[lhb412]

[lhb412]

Universal's original Dracula. Love Lugosi, but also love the under-apprieciated Dwight Frye, who really carries so much of the horror of the movie. We're scared of Dracula largely because of what we've seen him do to warp this poor little guy.

[Dr Kain]

Invasion of the Body Snatchers - Last year when I first watched this I enjoyed it, but I felt the pacing was off. This time around, I had no issue with the pacing and it was even better than it was the first time. Donald Sutherland was fantastic and the pod scene in his yard is quite creepy. Of course, that ending is outstanding and really seals the movie. I give it a 9/10.

[canofhumdingers]

Burn, Witch, Burn! - watched this based one lhb’s suggestion in this thread only to realize we’ve watched it within the last year or two for Halloween. Still, it’s pretty good and I didn’t remember the details of how everything shakes out so it was fun to watch again. Some of the brief effects shots and miniature work towards the end are pretty cool. And overall it feels like a feature length twilight zone episode (not surprising since Richard Matheson had a writer’s credit...)

Dracula - the Lugosi classic. This is possibly my single favorite “Halloween” film. I love everything about it and can’t imagine a more perfect version. It’s wonderful and creepy and atmospheric and Lugosi’s perdormace absolutely defines how Dracula should be portrayed. Also, The guy who plays Renfield also turns in an excellent, terrifying performance.

The Legend of Tarzan - I don’t think this film deserved to be panned by critics as badly as it was. It’s not perfect, and the cgi is definitely pretty terrible at times. But overall I thought it was a pretty decent reboot of a classic pulp fiction character. I would’ve been interested in any planned sequels (that are now probably rather unlikely). Thankfully the film is fully self contained and it doesn’t rely on a sequel hook so if there aren’t any, it’s not a big deal. Unfortunately it seems like pulp adventure at the movies really struggles to find an audience these days. I’d love to see more Tarzan, John Carter/Barsoom, Zorro, etc. but it seems I’m in the minority based on these kinds of films’ box office performance the last decade or more. Which is ironic in a way, given the enormous success of the comic book films. I mean, these characters were the heroes and stories that paved the way for the modern comic book.