Recently watched movies!

[Benjamin Haines]

Before We Vanish (2017) - This Japanese alien invasion dramedy is directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. It's about formless aliens who possess the bodies of human hosts but are unable to comprehend human concepts, from basic emotions like joy and fear to complex conceptions like ownership and love, so they walk around stealing those mental concepts from humans and permanently altering their sense of being. Hiroki Hasegawa (Rando Yaguchi in Shin Godzilla) plays Sakurai, a reporter who unwittingly finds himself acting as a guide for two of the aliens inhabiting the bodies of a young man and woman as they try to locate the third member of their party to summon the invasion. This is a really fun and intriguing movie. It presents a lot of clever situations to demonstrate how basic conceptions that we take for granted define the fabric of our everyday interactions. Check it out on Hulu.

[Dr Kain]

Friday the 13th - It may not be my favorite in the franchise, but it most certainly is the best. 8/10.

[jellydonut25]

[Dr Kain]

Part 2 is vastly inferior to 1, 4, 6, and 3 in my book. I mean, it's not bad, but it's my least favorite out of those five films. The worst of the entire franchise is hands down Jason Goes to Hell though. Such a travesty and down right boring to boot. However, the reason the first one is the best is because it was well shot and fully formulated the genre that Halloween and Black Xmas started.

[jellydonut25]

I prefer all those movies to 3. Big time. I find 3 really dull.

[lhb412]

The Night Stalker is, like, the perfect 75 minute long TV movie. It feels like a short, paperback mystery/horror novella from a series of them about Kolchak. Of course, Kolchak did spawn a subsequent series, but even if it didn't and this was the only installment it still would have that feel.

It's been a while since I've watched this one. Surprised to see that two of the major supporting roles are the male lead from Lewton's Cat People as well as the guy who played Mike Hammer in Kiss Me Deadly (he's one of those guys who really looked different as he aged). Darren McGavin also played the Mike Hammer character on TV, so it's rather appropriate that his and that other guy's characters are friends.

[Dr Kain]

Friday the 13th Part 2 - This one is actually quite good and I always seem to think some of the things that occur in this film are part of the third one. Of course, its biggest issue is that they barely develop its characters. Hell, half of them are nameless since they don't serve any purpose whatsoever and don't even die. It's a solid sequel even if it isn't necessarily better than its predecessor. Oh, and did we really need a 10 minute recap of the first film when this one is barely 85 minutes long? 8/10.

[XvGojira]

Watched a bunch of stuff at a friend's place.

The Conjuring 1 & 2 - I prefer the first out of the two, I thought it was spookier and that it seemed to take less time to get the con artists... I mean paranormal investigators into the main plot. The addition of the skinny, umbrella ghost guy that moves at 15 fps was a biiit too "hollywood" to me. He was very much a "hey we have a bigger budget now" effect. The second is still good though.

The Blair Witch - It had a lot of potential with the newer cameras, the drone, and whatnot, but they are wasted. It just ends up as an HD version of the first film, aside from getting to see the witch, which I wasn't impressed with the design of her (it?). Just another spindly long limbed humanoid. Yawn. Although, with the bright light at the cabin at the end, if she did turn out to be an alien or something, I'd at least give the movie credit for having the balls to just off the rails into crazy town. There were times where I questioned, whose camera we were seeing from as either I didn't see the second camera or instead of having a clear view we should be seeing nothing but a character's hair in front of the lense (and the fact that the actors stare at the camera like it was the person's face when it's supposed to be on their ear which would have the look left or right of the camera)

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones - Way better than I was expecting. The first movie only had 10 minutes of anything remotely entertaining, part 2 had 20 minutes and 3 was an all around creepy time (in a good way), 4 was disappointing since it seemed to have been getting better with each installment and it was just so-so and mostly forgettable. Marked Ones was a great new angle, following a hispanic kid instead of an upper-middle to upper class white family. It's very much a "bad decisions: The Movie" and a lot of "why are you still filming?" but I tend to give those issues a pass, because there wouldn't be anything interesting happening without them. I thought the ending was cool,

Tales from the Hood 2 - Wow. That was... that was crazy. Okay, so the wrap around story is that some old white guy is making a robocop and it can learn from being told stories so he hires Keith David to tell stories to it. And those stories are ridiculous. The first has a little golly gee/golliwog doll comes to life and kills two people. And not in a Puppet Master/Child's Play way but what can only be described as a racist mascot costume. There's one about vampires using dating apps. Another about two gangsters trying to get a fake psychic to speak to a guy they killed so they can learn where he hid some money. But the last one, woooo! After all these silly and ridiculous stories, the last is played SUUUUUPER serious. Basically it cuts between retelling the Emmett Till story and a black guy and his white wife hosting a republican candidate, who looks like Colonel Sanders, and if the black guy doesn't respect their (a bunch of other people who died before and during the Civil Rights movement show up) sacrifice then they can chose differently and put him in a world where the Klan are the police.

[klen7]

^ i wasn't aware they made a Tales from the Hood 2

[jellydonut25]

[Dr Kain]

I personally think The Conjuring 2 is better than the first. People loved the first one but to me, it went from being an enjoyble thriller to just another generic exorcism movie. The second one played around with your mind in trying to figure out if the kid was actually telling the truth or not. Of course, for movie purposes, they had to go with it all being real, but it was still all well done.

I also watched Halloween again tonight to get ready for the new one tomorrow.

Speaking of Halloween:

[lhb412]

Halloween (2018)

Believe the hype... mostly.

I mean, it's no match for the genius of original, but by my reckoning it's either the best sequel or tied for best sequel (I rather like Halloween III, which gets a sweet callback here). If you love these films it'll be hard to be disappointed by this handsomely produced love letter of a film.

[canofhumdingers]

Creature from the Black Lagoon - I have nothing negative to say about this film. It is magnificent. Love it every time.

[lhb412]

^ Never not sad to see the Gill Man riddled with bullets and slumping off towards the water to die.

[canofhumdingers]

The Gillman is an amazing creation! I only watch this movie once every 2 or 3 years and I’m always blown away by how convincing it is. Easily one of the best creature effects ever. I’m always amazed by the underwater shots of him too. The man in the suit, Ricou Browning, must’ve been able to hold his breath for at least 5 minutes judging by some of the lengthier shots. And he was an incredible swimmer who added such cool and creepy character to the creatures movements. I got to meet him at Monsterpalooza years ago (same Con where I met Julie Adams). Seemed like a cool dude.

[Dr Kain]

Friday the 13th Part 3 - Not a bad follow up, though there's only one likable character to be found here as the movie relies too much on its garbage 3D gimmicks rather than story telling. It does give Jason his iconic mask though and there are a couple of cool death scenes. I give it a 7/10.

[Dr Kain]

All I'm going to say about Halloween until my review renders is 9/10!

Oh, and my Alamo Drafthouse did this for the movie:



I also bought this Halloween book from them (and picked up the Frankenstein book at Target when I saw it):



EDIT, here is my review:

[Dr Kain]

Friday the 13th Part 4 - A fantastic follow up that ends up being the best of the franchise thanks to the interesting kills, the good pacing, and it has some of the most interesting characters of the franchise, especially the Jarvis family, the brother to Sandra from 2, and of course, Crispin Glover's dance. A 9/10.

[UltraDada72]

Glad to hear from many that the new Halloween is good. I'm watching it later tonight. Can't wait!

[Dr Kain]

[lhb412]

[klen7]

Bad Times at the El Royale - It's a less miserable version of The Hateful Eight, with the same structural issues. Overall glad I saw it because there are a lot of great moments, it just needs to be tightened up in a few spots to really capitalize on all the good.

The Night Comes For Us - it's kinda advertised as an Iko Uwais vehicle (which is why I tuned in) but it's an ensemble with Uwais in a supporting role. More violent and gory than most Hollywood slashers but a lot of wonderfully choreographed fights. Julie Estelle (Hammer Girl in Raid 2) shines in a spectacular fight. Same director as Headshot, but where Headshot had a simplistic plot, this is a bit overly complicated with a frustrating ending. Still the reason to see this is the fight choreography

[Dr Kain]

Invasion of the Body Snatchers 1950s version - This was intriguing though I do prefer the 78 film over it. It was interesting to see some similarities with that film in how everything is executed, though you could tell they couldn't do what they wanted with it at all times due to the stupid censorship laws of the 50s. Still, it was enjoyable even if there were only a couple of suspenseful moments and I like how you could connect this film and the 78 one as being set in the same universe due to that scene of him running into Donald Sutherland's car. I'm going to give this version a 7/10.

[jellydonut25]

Halloween 2018 - I really liked it a lot. Curious how it will hold up on rewatches because a big part of the reason I was grinning throughout much of it was that I was sitting in a theater, watching a new Halloween movie, scored by John Carpenter, in OCTOBER.
I think a big part of the mixed reactions are due to people expecting something either due to their own expectations of the franchise based on the movies they enjoy already, or the trailers being a tad misleading. My friends and I talk about this often with franchises, but this movie positioned itself as 'the true successor to the original' and everything that means...but really, there's never going to be another Halloween movie like that. It was lightning in a bottle, and since then the slasher genre has taken off down such a different path that you really CAN'T do a Halloween movie like that ever again. It's just like Godzilla. So many people expected Godzilla 2014 to be the next Gojira...that's NEVER happening again. EVER. Godzilla 2014 has its own faults and failings and strengths and weaknesses, but I have no time for people who claim the trailers were misleading therefore the movie sucks. I also have no time for the people who think Halloween 18 is bad because of pre-determined reasons, whether they be trailers or their own prejudices.

That said, Halloween 18 isn't a perfect movie by ANY means and I have no problems with someone disliking it because of what it IS...because it IS a movie where the main relationship is a little muddled. The filmmakers clearly wanted to do away with all the sibling stuff, and the Strodes being an overbearing presence on the series...and yet they don't. They also want to play up the relationship between Michael and Laurie and the Strodes in general, and it's this weird thing of trying to have it both ways. (very mild spoilers for the Laurie-Michael relationship. More explaining what I mean than spoiling anything) It's a bit of a formulaic slasher, but BUT...that formula works. It works for a reason and when it's done well, as it is here, things like what I would have wanted to deepen the relationship and the story and such kind of fall a little by the wayside.

THAT said, there are some obvious flaws beyond the muddled relationship issue... And there were other little things that didn't bug me, but were there.

THAT said, Halloween 18 has the best character in a Halloween movie since Big Joe Grizzly and I don't care, my head-cannon says Big Joe is out there in this movie's universe and he and JULIAN (the little black kid who is FRIGGING AWESOME) are going to have a road trip buddy comedy movie that I WOULD WATCH SO HARD. Jamie Lee Curtis is really good, and the movie is basically an upgrade of H20 (though with a slightly less cathartic ending, but that's understandable considering this is meant to kick off the franchise again whereas H20 was meant to end it).

Like I mentioned previously, curious how it'll hold up on rewatches. I have a feeling my rating may drop, but for now I'm at a 4/5.

[lhb412]

^

Liquid Sky

Whoa, Nelly! This is an interesting one. It's about... err, an alien that kills everyone an aspiring fashion model named Margaret has sex with. Sounds like either a porn or a grimy exploitation piece, right? Well, that's not really this movie at all. This is a low budget, arty, experimental film set in the early '80s New Wave/Punk scene just as much about drug use as the horror elements. It seems really authentic. Like, I haven't read about the film's creation but a lot of these people just seem like actual people from the scene placed in front of the camera. Perhaps the most famous thing about the movie is that Anne Carlisle plays both Maragret and her rival, a male model named Jimmy.

This is a bit like watching Obayashi's House. Not that the movies are too similar apart from purposely rudimentary special effects, but it's that both feel like no other films you've ever seen or will see, and if you need any more encouragement to see the movie: it was the highest grossing independent film in the US in 1983. That's gotta amount for something, right?