Recently watched movies!

[Benjamin Haines]

[Dr Kain]

Halloween H20 - To think, the original Scream was ripping off Halloween and paying homage to it. H20 pretty much rips off Scream but puts Michaal Myers into it. Curtis is really the only reason this movie works because it has little to no suspense, music that does not fit the mood or situation, a horrible set of ever changing masks for Michael, and a terrible voice impersonation of Loomis for the opening credits to be found in this whole mess. Why didn't they just take the audio from the original movie? Well, at least it's an improvement over the sixth movie even if it isn't all that great. At least it doesn't hae the Thorn crap. I give it a 6/10.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers - The only version I have seen of this story before was the one with Daniel Craig, which wasn't terrible, but it was pretty forgettable. Unfortunately, I thought I had bough the original version, or rather, I thought this version was the original version, but it wasn't. Anyway, the movie was pretty good with a lot of really interesting camerawork, use of sound, and Sutherland did a fantastic job. Jeff Goldblum was Jeff Goldblum, but I guess he hadn't established his schtick at that time yet, so whatever. The plot is really interesting and the execution of the pod people is a lot different than I had anticipated. There were some areas where the movie did slow down and it probably could have been 10-15 minutes shorter, but it is one I know is going to get better with each viewing like a ton of the horror movies from that time period do. For the first watch I'm giving it a 7/10.

[lhb412]

[Dr Kain]

The Neon Demon - This was by far the most visually stunning, shallow, unimpressive movie I have ever seen in my life. It was all style and no substance. To make matters worse, the last act of the movie just turned into some random crap and went for shock value rather than executing a proper story. In fact, there really was no story to be had for the main girl serves no purpose whatsoever. Nothing is learned. There is no development at all. Hell, if you were to take out all of the slow motion sequences, the freeze shots, and the zooming out camera, this would barely be a half hour long. This was a total waste of time. The acting was stiff and everyone took themselves way too seriously. Don't even waste your time with this mess unless you want to watch a virtual artbook that features great music for 2 hours. I'm giving it a 5/10 because it was halfway to being a movie.

Black Sabbath - Boris Karloff is one of my favorite actors of all time, but even he couldn't save this movie. It wasn't down right terrible or anything, just kind of mediocre. The first story, "Drop of Water" was really damn good. It was entertaining, it was full of suspense, and the production values were incredible. Easily the best of the three. "The Telephone" was the name of the second story and it was pretty weak. The editing in it was quite bad at times. There is one scene where the girl calls a friend and the screen goes black, returning with her friend sitting on her bed. WTF? Then another right at the end of the movie where the girl pulls out a knife and there is this huge jump cut. The ending doesn't make sense either because if the dude was a ghost, how did she stab him? Finally, the third story (which the movie calls Vampire while the title on the back of the BD case is different) went on for way too long. There were some enjoyable moments, but it ultimately fell flat and was kind of dumb. Another issue I had with the movie is the audio seemed to be out of synch with the video, which was kind of annoying at times. The worst was during "The Telephone" when the girl is talking to a neighbor with a dog as none of his dialog seemed in synch with his mouth movement. The video of the disc was very impressive though outside of a few moments where it got blurry. Overall though, I'm giving this one a 6/10. Not sure I'm going to keep it as when I want to watch an anthology movie I have Dr Terror, among a few others, to watch.

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

Rodan- I hadn't watched this in awhile I also decided to watch the American version which print wise is terrible so much damage but oh well. I really enjoyed the American print the dubbing is nice and despite being a "giant" monster movie there is a lot of horror to it.

V/H/S 2- Some stories are good but overall the first movie is better

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein- I really enjoy this movie. Nothing bad can be said about it I think.

Planet of Dinosaurs- Nice special effects, acting is a little bit rough especially after rewatching it now.

So to recap for the month I've watched:

-The Shallows
-All four Underworld movies
-All five Resident Evil movies
-The Black Scorpion
-The Wolf Man (1943)
-Waxwork 1 and Waxwork 2
-Cabin in the Woods
-Frankenstein versus the Wolf Man
-Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man
-House of Frankenstein
-House of Dracula
-Werewolf of London
-Piranha (1978)
-Little Dead Rotting Hood
-Creep
-Goosebumps The Werewolf of Fever Swamp
-Frankenweenie

I know how I'm going to cap the month off and it's going to be rather fitting considering my profession.

[lhb412]

The Revenge of Frankenstein is the first Hammer Frankenstein sequel and a great direct follow-up that shows the progression of Frankenstein's talents. He's gotten so good at assembling bodies, transplanting brains, and bringing stuff back to life that he very nearly doesn't create a monster. Good continuity with the original, too (a rarity for both Hammer and Universal monster flicks)... aside from the original monster being public knowledge, which contradicts the very end of the first film.

Also watched The Devil Rides Out, one of the all-time best Hammer films. A terrific black magic-based adventure with (seems to me, I'm not an expert) a whole lot of detail and research behind it. One of the most fun and entertaining Hammers!

[Dr Kain]

Halloween - 10/10

Trick r Treat - Love this movie. There is a reason it is on my top 10 horror movie list. The stories are all great, the plot twists rock even after having watched it sevearl times, and the music kicks ass. Also, Sam is adorable. A 9/10.

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

The final movie I watched for my Halloween movie marathon is Nightmare Before Christmas, it kinda fits so well considering I work in retail and we go straight to christmas from Halloween there is no in between. As for the movie itself i love it one of my all time favorite movies I still remember when it came out in theaters I was in 5th grade and wanted to see it so bad but missed it.

[Dr Kain]

So the final movies for the night were a bunch of indie short films called Motel London, Motel London 2, and Night Mutilator. How were they? Well let me put it this way, the first one was the longest 17 minutes I have ever sat through. All three of them were awful as there was no semblance of a story, no character development, no suspense, tension, anything. I won't knock it on acting since these were short films made by nobodies, but my god, Nostalgia Critic has better production values and actors than these guys for his skits. In good conscience, I can't even bother giving these guys a score.

[jellydonut25]

Halloween - Perfect and still scary.

The Neon Demon - aka, Pretty Lighting, the Movie. It's not BAD, but it's too thin. The movie only feels like it has a pulse when Keanu Reeves is there, and that's too infrequently. It's not QUITE clever enough to work really well as a satire, either. It falls JUST short, and as a result overall comes up WAY short as a movie and it's easy to see how visceral negative reactions can manifest. I feel like Refn wanted to be all uber-Refn-ish and stopped developing the story when he got "far enough" to just do his visual thing. Unfortunately, it lacks the character and emotional punch of Drive or even Only God Forgives.

[canofhumdingers]

10 Cloverfield Lane - I really liked this. John Goodman gives an incredible performance. Just amazing. I also thought it was fun being set where it was... I live in Houston, and went to college at Louisiana Tech of all places! And I'm very familiar with most of Louisiana. But yeah, the tension was great and the film actually kept me guessing as to what the truth was. I know some didn't like the end, but I found it completely satisfying.

Poltergeist (1982) - How have I not seen this until now? Loved it! Loved all the special effects and atmosphere. That bat skeleton water puppet was really cool (as were all the practical effects).

[jellydonut25]

The end of 10 Cloverfield Lane is pretty bad. The twist is fine, but the execution of it blows the atmosphere and tension of the movie to pieces and feels like a tacked on bit of nonsense to try to make something more "satisfying" for people who wanted something sci-fi.

[canofhumdingers]

See, I didn't feel that it blew the tension of the movie, but more that it was a natural release of that tension. You FINALLY get out of that claustrophobic nightmare of a bunker and out into the open. The fight and terror isn't over, but the main character is able to actually DO something about it.

It's like that feeling if you've been crammed in a tiny space like the middle seat on an airplane between two really big people for HOURS and you finally get off and you just want to run in circles and wave your arms around like a three year old*? The end is that.






*Surely I'm not the only person who feels that way sometimes?

[Dr Kain]

I thought the end was just fine and unexpected.

[O.Supreme]

[canofhumdingers]

[klen7]

[O.Supreme]

Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders Such a fun film, definitely does not disappoint. Though you can hear the age in Adam West & Julie Newmar, they still gave it their all. All the modern VA's did respectable impersonations of Caesar Romero,Burgess Meredith, and Frank Gorshin. Some nice little nods to the original series as well as Wests rather comedic attempt to become a more *serious* Batman thanks to Catwomans "Batnip" . (Even uses some dialogue from Burton's 89 film)The cameos of all the lesser villains at the end was nice as well. I know there is a modern comic adaptation of the 60s Batman TV series, but I've never read it. Still in some of the extras they said they'd like to do a follow up. I'd actually like to see them attempt to do some more modern Batman villains in 60's styling (Scarecrow, Mad Hatter, Poison Ivy, Two Face, heck even Bane...) . For anyone who is a fan of the 60's Batman series, or even Batman in general I highly recommend this fun cheesy film, very nostalgic.

[jellydonut25]

Swiss Army Man - unique, creative, propelled by good performances, and surprisingly emotionally heavy. Possibly my favorite movie of 2016 thus far.

Captain Fantastic - Very good if occasionally a bit preachy and idealistic. I had an issue with something that happened toward the end and didn't get a good resolution but overall I really enjoyed it and it's probably a top 10 for the year so far

Nerve - Dumb. Not good.

[Dr Kain]

I've heard Swiss Army Man is just one giant batch of fart jokes, which killed my interest in it. I'll still take it out of the library when it comes out, but I'm

[jellydonut25]

There's a LOT of fart jokes...but they're all kinda along one thread/line of thought (the gases of decomposition building up in the body and they're useful), and most of them are really early in the movie. It's a phenomenal movie though. It's funny, heartfelt, disturbing, and unique all in one place. It's great. 5/5.

[Dr Kain]

Keanu - This was down right hilarious. It was like watching a long Key and Peele skit, but done in a far more intelligent way than those SNL skits turned movies. Unfortunately, it did run a little bit on the long side as there were areas of nothing that happened, so shaving off 15 minutes would have improved the pacing immensely. Nevertheless, it was funny, it was entertaining, and it did not end the way I expected it to end. Bravo. I give it a 7/10.

[lhb412]

Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah

Watched this for 'Godzilla Day.' I suppose this is one of my favorites of the Heisei series (behind the two '80s entries, which are my favorites because RoG has an enjoyable mood despite it's flaws while Biollante is actually a good movie), but it's difficult because for everything I really like about this movie is counteracted by something lame. The villians, Emmy, and Shindo are pretty cool, but our lead is something of a useless douche aside from figuring out Godzilla's origin in the first ten minutes. The plot is original and has interesting twists, but entire sections trying to ape Hollywood style action/adventure scenes are awkward or inept, and the film is structured so that those are meant to be highlights. I know the James Bondian aping elements in Biollante weren't exactly show stoppers, but they were competent and in no way distractingly fell short of what they were trying to do.

The last half hour is pretty awesome though, starting off with the Godzilla (hero) vs. Ghidorah (villain) battle, then Godzilla's rampage and transition to the antagonist of the film, and finally the Godzilla (villain) vs. Mecha-King Ghidorah (hero) battle. Emmy is basically the main character here, and I wouldn't have minded her role being beefed up at the expense of other roles in the film.

Scars of Dracula

Basically a soft reboot where Hammer and Christopher Lee adapt some bits from Bram Stoker's novel that were left out of their first adaptation. I actually think Dracula looses some of the mystique here that he had in some of the real simplistic Hammer sequels, where Lee's Count appeared only briefly to do horrible things accompanied by the pounding fanfare of that cool Dracula theme music.

[sentaison]

The Devils Bride-A bit of a different Christopher Lee movie, in that he plays the main protagonist. He's an occult scholar who has to protect his friends from the machinations of a group of Satanists led by Charles Grey. You have the usual fine acting and great story you could expect from a Hammer film of the 1960's. Theres a decent amount of action, the only downside is of course the f/x, which is of the level you could expect from the era. The movie is worth watching, even if it's only to see Christopher Lee show his range of acting as something besides a villain or monster.

[lhb412]

^I adore that movie! Watched it last week, but mentioned it under my preferred title: The Devil Rides Out. I think Hammer could've made a whole series out of that Lee character, like a more Christian-tinged Doctor Strange who fights occult threats with white magic and prayers.