Recently watched movies!

[Dr Kain]

[jellydonut25]

[MekaGojira3k]

So...I finally watched Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) last night.
The first 3 times I've tried to watch it, the cable/electricity cut out, 4th and 5th time it was prior engagements interrupting any possibility of viewing, and the 6th time was that I didn't know it was coming on and had missed too much to bother with it.
I liked it. I feel like it's a weird movie that could be sort of exploitative schlocky nonsense but it teeters on that edge. Thanks to Crawford and Davis and Haller's cinematography. I mean Aldrich has to get credit, but I feel like....he could very easily tip over into pure camp nonsense. The weirdest thing is how I totally had a crush on Davis when I was in High School. I loved the TCM marathons they did...but damn...seeing her old and decrepit and crazy deflated my bizarre affection for her. Still enjoyed the movie.

[lhb412]

The Pit and the Pendulum

An increasingly crazy, twisty plot (complete with cool ending) and a moments of pure Price-hamming make this film. It's actually quite similar to two other installments of the series, Usher and Ligeia, but this one is much better than both of those.

[Dr Kain]

Poltergeist - You know, I just don't get this movie at all. It doesn't really have any suspense whatsoever. It isn't scary. You don't even really get to see what the big bad ghost looks like, so I have no way to find it cool or interesting. The movie has a lot of great visuals though, and the last 10 minutes of the movie is pretty awesome, but again, I don't get it. It isn't bad by any means, but I cannot figure out why people say it is one of the scariest movies they have ever seen. Maybe it is like THe Exorcist and that you really had to be there when it first came out to really understand what made the movie scary to people. Was it because tvs were just really getting to be a big thing in peoples' homes? Nevertheless, I'm giving the movie a 5/10 because I find it to be just average at best.

[Silver Kamen]

[Dr Kain]

[jellydonut25]

[Dr Kain]

The remake sucked ass.

Evil Dead II - THis movie rocks!! It is hilarious, it has horror, atmosphere, comedy, etc. It continues to have the great cinematography of the first one and has a higher budget. I will say the beginning is a little slow when watching it right after the first one, but it works. Of course, the ending is great because it leads into the best of them all. Overall, I give this movie an 8/10.

[MekaGojira3k]

[jellydonut25]

[Dr Kain]

Army of Darkness - THis movie rocks!! Sure, it isn't a horror movie, as now it is a comedy action movie with some horror elements, but it is so good because it is so funny. There are some continuity errors, and the shotgun seems to have infinite ammo when it is convenient, but the jokes are freaking hilarious that you can't help but overlook them. I do hope that one day Universal gives us the Director's Cut on BD because I do miss the extra scenes with the mini Ashes and having the original ending attached, but the one we have is still great. It is one of the few movies that both are equally as good. Overall, I give this movie an 8/10 and it is the best of the trilogy.

[lhb412]

The Abominable Dr. Phibes

AHHHH!!! I love this one. This is my favorite Vincent Price film, juts so smart and bizarre and totally stylish. Great cast in this, too: loaded with character actors.

[Dr Kain]

The Curse of Frankenstein - I've come to realize that Hammer movies probably aren't my thing. No, I did not hate this movie. In fact, I rather enjoyed it. It was also interesting to see another adaptation of the original story for the first time ever because it was so different from the Universal one. However, there is just something about the Hammer movies that leaves me wanting something more out of them and I'm not sure what it is. It does not help that this movie did not even want me to care about Victor, so him about ready to be executed had no effect on me at all as I couldn't give two craps about the character. I also thought Lee's make up as the monster was kind of dumb. I thought Frank was a good character and it was nice to see something different from than just another Igor-type character, but for a man that despised what Victor was doing, he sure did not really seem like it regardless of how much he whined. I don't know, I have mixed feelings towards this movie, but it did keep my entertained, so I'm going to give it a 6/10.

[lhb412]

Frankenstein (1931)

I enter the final stretch in my holiday viewing. The James Whale Frankenstein films are not only my favorite Universal horror films, but my favorite horror films of all time. I love them so much. Something funny happened this time: I was terrified of horror films as a kid, and I remember at a young age seeing this film on TV for a single scene and running out of the room in terror - but I couldn't remember what scene it was. This time it hit me: it's that wonderful long shot of Dr. Frankenstein and Van Sloan's character going into the Monster's room, realizing Fritz is dead, and backing away as the monster peruses them, slamming the door on him before he can get them.

[Dr Kain]

Trick r Treat - What a fantastic movie this is!! It is by far one of the best modern horror movies out there. THe concept of Sam is pretty damn awesome as he is not only terrifying, but cute. The way the stories are told is just so well done that it reminds me of Boogiepop Phantom in how you will see the characters of the movie cross each other's path without even having any idea of who they are or that they even exist. I think my only confusion is how Mr Kreeg's house was suddenly covered in jack'o'lanterns in the span of a few minutes. Nevertheless, there is so much greatness here as it is a movie that covers everything, comedy, action, horror, science fiction, and drama. It has suspense, it does not get gory just for the sake of getting gory, and the twists are truly fantastic for a first time viewing. Even still I find myself realizing new pieces of information or little in jokes with the characters that I never thought of before (such as the eating some bad mexican comment). I have no idea if we will ever get a movie like this again in a long time, but this one is truly greatness all around. I give it a 9/10.

[XvGojira]

[Dr Kain]

Sorry, I should clarify. I still consider the concept of werewolves to be sci-fi more than horror. The execution is horror, but the narrative is science fiction, if that makes any sense to you.

[XvGojira]

[klen7]

^ that made sense. you convinced me.

[jellydonut25]

The concept of werewolves, to me, ties into the concept of "the beast within" which I consider to be horror, and not science fiction.

[Dr Kain]

That's cool. I also consider Sam himself to be sci-fi as he is not something that can actually exist.

The Invisible Agent - This movie sucks. It is boring, the plot is just down right dumb, and the love relationship feels forced. In fact, this movie feels more like they were making a comedy than a horror movie. That is all the text I am going to waste on it. 1/10.

The House of Dracula - Was this really meant to be a horror movie? Like Agent, it feels more like a comedy movie because it is so over the top in its ridiculousness that it comes out more funny than terrifying. So now vampires and werewolves are due to blood viruses and psychological trauma? Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. The only positive is now the original Emo can stop mopping about and actually do something with his life. Of course, how the hell did Larry and Dracula survive their fates from the last movie? Was the silver bullet stuck in Larry at the end only temporary? Does his body spit out bullets like Wolverine? Does Dracula rejuvenate when the sun goes down? I need answers because even monsters need at least some sort of explanation of how they survived. Even a half assed one is better than nothing at all. And for a movie with Dracula's name in it, you would expect it to have him in it for more than just half of the movie. Not to mention he seems pretty lifeless in this movie (pun not intended). In fact, how is that even his house? Meh, whatever. I have now completed the journey through the really bad sequels to the classic horror movies and I just don't see how anyone can truly enjoy these outside of nostalgia. The originals are down right fantastic movies. Unfortunately, outside of two or three of the sequels, which are pretty good, they all range from average to down right terrible. I give House of Dracula a 4/10 stars.

[XvGojira]

[Dr Kain]

[jellydonut25]

I equate sci-fi to things that have SCIENCE about them...

this might even include some werewolves, and yeah, some vampires too....like there are a lot of Sci-Fi elements in Blade II, what with the genetic research and gene-splicing.