Recently watched movies!

[Dr Kain]

Halloween - This movie is just so damn amazing. It is easily one of the best horror movies of all time. There are some inconsistencies that occur within, but those are nothing too major to take away from the movie's enjoyment at all. Although, I do want to know how Michael went from age 6 to age 23 in 15 years (according to the credits), but whatever. I give this movie an nice big 9/10 stars. It is full of suspense. Has a great soundtrack. I love that Michael just doesn't go on a murdering rampage, and instead, stalks Laurie throughout the movie until he is ready to make his move. Not to mention it is hilarious just watching him drive around in a car, especially the scene when he just passes Loomis by. I could go on forever as to how much I love this movie, so I will just stop here (at least for now).

[Dr Kain]

Halloween II - A really great sequel that does a decent job of following up on the original even though it is far from perfect. There are some inconsistencies (such as Loomis firing 7 shots in the beginning and Michael not falling through the balcony but over it), and some of the people who die do not make sense (why does he kill the girl at the beginning?), but for a sequel to a horror movie, it is better than all of the initial follow ups out there. There are some pretty cool deaths and I do like how it essentially concludes the story between Michael and Loomis. Overall, I give it a nice 7/10 stars.

[lhb412]

[hanshotfirst1138]

The Conjuring- The Warren Files would've been a much better title. A very stylish ghost movie from director James Wan. Wan's a rock star, but he dials that back a bit here, going for a more classical approach, though his freewheeling camera and penchant for loud noises that go "BANG!" mean it's not exactly Val Lewton. Shot digitally, John R. Leonetti's cinematography is stunning and makes good use of shadows and light. Wan idolizes Argento, but Argeno's pop expressionism at least had bad dubbing to fall back on, some of the dialogue here is really horrible, and the storyline is a bit ham-fisted, regardless of your religious beliefs. "Witches believe sacrificing their child is the ultimate gift to Satan!" Ooga-booga! Stylish as hell though, with Wan's clean gliding camera and compositions. Vera Farminga is luminous as always, but everyone else is just a prop for Wan to throw around. I jumped a lot, it did it's job well, but lets see how memorable time decides it is.

[lhb412]

Pit and the Pendulum

Vincent Price goes crazy in an old castle filled with torture devices. What's the worst that could happen?

I think this is one of the stronger Corman/Price/Poe pictures, but they're all pretty fun.

[Dr Kain]

[Dr Kain]

[jellydonut25]

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

Transformers: Age of Extincition. It was alright I rented the 3D version last night and thought the 3D was nice but the movie dragged on in parts. Dinobots where cool too but they where under used.

[Dr Kain]

Halloween 4 - After the greatness that was HIII it is a shame that those in charge decided to go right back into predictability by bringing the series back to Michael. There is nothing wrong with the movie overall, as it is quite enjoyable and does bring some new ideas to the table. Unfortunately, it seems like very little time was spent in planning out the movie as Michael just looks down right awful here. Not only that, but the mask turns pink with blonde hair for a scene later on, also showing the laziness of the filmmakers. Then you have the moments when Michael has suddenly become Solid Snake, being able to take out dudes that are an inch away from each other one at a time without another noticing it. The characters are well done though, and the acting is great, especially from Jaime's actress. Despite this movie's short comings and predictability, it is enjoyable and deserves a 6/10 stars.

[jellydonut25]

The ending of Halloween 4 is awesome. The rest of the movie is a little "meh" but it DOES have some decently likable characters.

Then it's followed up by two consecutive suckfests.

[Dr Kain]

[hanshotfirst1138]

Wasn't Quatermass scribe Nigel Kneale involved with Halloween III at one point?

[Dr Kain]

Halloween 5 - H4 left off with an interesting idea that could have become an excellent movie. Instead, we get a half assed cop out and a flood of new characters that are there just to die. Not to mention there are two comic relief cops with stupid ass music to signify they are comic relief. This movie just flat out sucks ass. Tina is one of the most annoying protagonists up to this point in time as she is not even the least bit likable, nor does she even have any character development. The whole thing about Jaime being able to see Michael through telepathy was so damn stupid. And then there is the man in black that serves as nothing more than to drag the movie's running time on for another several minutes. Oh yeah, and once again Loomis' scar has changed from the ways it looked in 4 (yes, I said ways because his scar kept altering in the fourth movie). Finally, let us not forget that Michael's house is now a freaking Victorian castle. Halloween 5 is just pure laziness piled on top of a rushed schedule and the writers and director clearly had no idea how to continue the story the previous movie left off at. The only things I can really praise this movie is Danielle Harris' acting continues to be spectacular for a little kid and Rachel was killed off so quick she did not have to deal with the travesty this movie was. Overall, I'm giving it a 4/10 stars, but even then, I might be being generous.

[jellydonut25]

[Dr Kain]

Halloween 6 - Producer's Cut - After a year about hearing how much better this cut is, I went in kind of worried. It did not help matters that at about an hour into the movie, I still saw very little difference in the two outside of the time when Jaime dies. Nevertheless, once the credits started to role I sat there with a grin as what do you know, the Producer's Cut IS really the superior cut. Gone is the stupid laboratory scene in beneath the hospital and that ridiculous pipe battle between Michael and Tommy. The movie actually makes far more sense in the Producer's Cut and its ending is far more satisfying without leaving you with a "WTF?" bad taste in your mouth. The movie is still far from perfect, as in the long run, it is still a bad movie, but it is now at least watchable because it is only slightly boring instead of fully boring. Nevertheless, this cut is vastly superior to Halloween 5, which I did not think was going to be possible. I am so glad I got the set now as I no longer see any reason to ever watch the theatrical cut again (of course, I might still watch it tomorrow just so I can freshly compare the two). Overall, I give this version of a crappy movie a 5/10.

[lhb412]

Son of Dracula

Lon Jr. was probably not the best choice to take up the Dracula mantle, but as far as cheap-o Universal sequels from the '40s go this one is several notches above those Mummy films (also starring Cheney). It's got all the various bits you'd like in a black-and-white vampire film: nice atmosphere, graveyards, a few effective 'vampires doing impossible things' effects, Van Helsing-esque vampire expert, and tons of footage of bat puppets.

[EricDent]

Rented via Redbox:

Pompeii: it was OK, decent action, story, good acting, and the main girl was cute.
Though if you already know what's gonna happen, it kinda makes it rather pointless.
Keifer Sutherland was rather hammy in this one, and Carrie Ann Moss still looks good.

Leprachun Origins: WWE Studios prequel to the other movies (or attempt at a reboot).
Really dumb, not even remotely scary, and the changes to the Leprachun himself were really lame.

Both were not really worth buying.

[Dr Kain]

Halloween 6 - Theatrical version - I kind of regret watching this version after doing the Producer's Cut as this is just so inferior. The lighting looks bad in some of the new scenes (especially when Jaime is in the barn), they completely dropped the Cult of Thorn plot halfway through the movie, Dr Wynn does not die on screen, the music sometimes sounds like it belongs in an extreme sports video, but worst of all, they cut out nearly every piece of character development for Loomis. Loomis is one of the main staples of this franchise and to cut him out so we can have more of a focus on the poorly acted Tommy and Kara is just ridiculous. Plus, things do not make sense. Why does Loomis no longer have a scar? Why is he in the hospital when Tommy is there? Why was the old lady holding a knife to the baby? Why did Michael just leave his mask on the floor? What was with the screaming sounds of Loomis at the end? None of if makes sense. I give this version of the movie a 3/10 stars.

[jellydonut25]

I think the lighting in the theatrical cut is a thousand times better. Maybe that's because I've only seen the VHS bootleg of the Producer's Cut up until now, but I think 6 is a visually interesting film, and is moreso in the theatrical cut than the Producer's Cut which I feel has everything just kind of presented in a straightforward way rather than shot or lit or framed interestingly at all. It's WAY better than part 5, honestly, just because it actually looks like a professionally made film. It's definitely got problems, but I think some of them are a little bit forgivable, since all the reshoots happened after Pleasance passed away.

[Dr Kain]

Definitely can not agree there. The theatrical cut is just utter nonsense. It has no redeeming qualities at all. It is just countless violence on top of countless violence and Michael just randomly kills off Wynn and gang for no reason. At least the cult aspect, while dumb, made sense. And the ending was not utter bull****. And the lighting in the theatrical when Jaime is in the barn does not fit with the scenes that were reshot. The theatrical scenes are bright while the PC ones are darker and bluer.

Anyway,

Halloween H20 - After going into the realm of total ridiculousness, the series finally gets back on track by completely removing the last three movies from continuity. This is not only the smartest thing ever, but it also helps bring a new sense of smell to the franchise. Getting to see Laurie on screen again and learning what her life was like over the last twenty years is far more interesting than her dying off screen in a car accident. The movie itself is nicely done with some great moments of suspense, it keeps the death count down to a minimum, and harkens back to the night Michael originally attacked Laurie. The music is moody, but the movie's biggest faults are the lack of character development for anyone outside of Laurie and Michael's constant altering masks. Nevertheless, it is far better than the last several sequels and has a truly kick ass, conclusive ending. How do you come back from that? I give this movie a 6.5/10 stars. It isn't as good as II or III, but it is better than the entire Cult of Thorn trilogy. It is just a shame that Pleasance passed on otherwise he would have been truly phenomenal in this one.

[jellydonut25]

I think they would have killed Pleasance in the first scene had he still been alive.

I agree on the ending. It's a nice thematic ending to the series too, after the whole point of part 1 seemed to be that Michael truly IS the boogeyman and is inhuman and is unstoppable, to kinda turn around and say, "Well, no, he really is at least somewhat human and if you chop off his head and kill him, he will be dead for realz"

and then there's Resurrection. UGH.

[lhb412]

The Wolf Man

One of my favorites. Love Cheney, Rains, and the wonderful Maria Ouspenskaya (love the name!) as Maleva the gypsy. Those foggy woods were a simple and cheap set to make, but they are so incredibly effective. The ultimate nightmare forest!

... you know, the only movie prop I've ever actually wanted to own is that cane with the silver wolf head.

The Masque of the Red Death

This is really an audacious movie, you know? Filled with all sorts of insanity: devil worship, dwarf jester, people burned alive, murderous hawks, dungeons, duels to the death, masquerades, anthropomorphic personifications of plagues walking around... it's nuts. To think that Roger Corman has made movies that are an hour and a half of hardly anything happening!

[Dr Kain]

Yeah, it's funny how he was able to take a one scene story and turn it into an entirely long movie that only follows the story in the last 15 minutes of the movie.

Halloween Resurrection - Oh god, why, why, WHY?! What were they thinking when they made this piece of crap? Okay, to be fair, there are some great moments to the movie. Despite how much bull**** it was to retcon the ending to H20, the opening bit of the movie is pretty good. Also, there are a few good lines of dialog to be found and some of the deaths are cool. In concept, it had an interesting idea by taking advantage of the hype of reality TV at the time it was made. Unfortunately, the movie is just bad ideas mixed with lazy writing all around. Michael's knife can chop a person's head off but not slice someone's leg off? Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. The acting is bad, with some of the worst being from the blonde headed girl from Occulus (which explains a lot of why she was bad there) and most of all, Busta Rhymes. There are some moments I do think he had that were funny, but then I remember this is supposed to be a Halloween movie and not a parody one. In fact, they should have just went with making this a parody movie that featured Michael Myers in it, it would have been way better. Anyway, I've wasted enough text on this dump so I am going to give it a 2/10 stars. I am curious to watch it again with the commentary track though so I can learn what these people were thinking.

[lhb412]