5th Annual N&G 31 Days* of Halloween (2023)

[avecigrec]

#3



I don't know about nerve-shattering terror, but it was pretty enjoyable. It's been far too long since I've watched any vintage film which made this even more of a treat. As far as the concept goes, we've certainly seen some other good takes on the regenerative powers of reptilian genes and whether or not they could be transferred to humans. It seems quaint now, but I definitely wonder what the experience of seeing this back in '59 might have been.

 

[threesunrises]

I don't care how bad it is, I plan to watch it for sure!

NGL same.

Same!

i fully expected it would be terrible, but once I saw it was streaming, could not wait to watch it. My husband felt the same and was bugging me incessantly to start it yesterday.

It was so bad, that it was great. Hoping they can somehow make a sequel

 

[LeeVing]

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)

Can't believe I'd never seen this before now. People infamously remember the first film as being more graphic and gory than it actually is due to how intense and uncomfortable the tone is. In reality, there's very little actual bloodshed on screen; a major contrast to this sequel, which is a gleefully violent dark comedy that revels in crossing the boundaries of good taste. In other words, it's a fantastic 80s slasher flick, but definitely can feel somewhat inappropriate as a sequel to the original 1974 masterpiece. It comes off as Tobe Hooper satirizing his own work, and the scary factor is way toned down in favor of shock value. That said, it's probably something everyone should see once just for the experience, because it's nothing if not entertaining.
Rating:

This is one of those love it or hate it movies - I LOVE the original TCM, and most people that do really hate this movie because the tone is so different. I love both and I love that Hooper took this in a different direction. When the movie poster apes the Breakfast Club poster, I think you should know what kind of movie it's going to be.

I Think I last watched it back in 2019 for the 1st Annual N&G 31 Days of Halloween, (where I also gave it a 4 Skull rating), so I think I need to watch it again - I did get the 4K release from Vinegar Syndrome since then that I still need to watch.

 

[LeeVing]

I really can't say I'm a fan of the series since I've only seen the first 3.

I had all the intentions of watching the series in full, but just can't do it. The convoluted storyline after part 1 is really just too much, and I didn't even get to the movies that REALLY messed with the storyline.

#7.
Saw (2004)

It isn't a bad movie, but it also has some issues that are probably more budget related than anything - and I'm giving it a slightly higher rating than it should just because it kicked off the "torture porn" era of horror.



#8.
Saw II (2005)



#9.
Saw III (2006)




I may go back to the series and finish it off later this month, but I need to move on.

 

[LeeVing]

Red band trailer for Thanksgiving...

 

[Hemotep]

Red band trailer for Thanksgiving...

I always knew those little corn holders were deadly!

 

[Hemotep]

I'd been really looking forward to watching this one and it met my expectations. It's a bit spookier then the original. Haddish and Wilson were the weak points, but that could be personal preference too. I thought the rest of the cast did great.

 

[EvanBenner]

Finally fulfilled the Tobe Hooper requirement of my HoopTober challenge with Night Terrors. It's a strange one, and not all that great, but I was more disappointed by Hooper's Djinn than this.

Seems like Hooper was brought on as a replacement director after a lot of the story and framing was rewritten from a period piece set in Egypt that centered on the Marquis de Sade (Robert Englund) to something more contemporary bridging time between de Sade and his descendent (also Englund). The focus, shifted to a teen girl who falls in league with de Sade's descendent and has some unusual sexual awakenings.

Englund was clearly having a lot of fun despite the unexpected changes to what he'd initially signed on for.

 

[EvanBenner]

My Spooky Season theme of the day was vampires, so I jumped at the chance to see a Hammer horror that doesn't stream frequently: Scars of Dracula. (Currently on Pluto TV.)

But as far as Hammer Dracula movies go, I found this one to be rather unexciting.

 

[Hemotep]

If you didn't like the first one then you definitely won't like this one. Against the norm, I actually preferred the first one to most of the other films in the conjuring universe. Of course if I was to critically appraise them they would get bad reviews. But I'm able to turn off that part of my brain with these for some reason and just go along for the ride. From that standpoint it's kind of like a Micheal Bay movie.

 

[EvanBenner]

My Spooky Season theme of the day is splatter, so I queued up Scream Bloody Murder for its promise of a sloppy, senseless spree.

It's not a good movie by any means, but it absolutely fits the bill of something that's bad and all the more fun for it. One poster claims it was the first movie to be called "gore-nography" which, if true, is a wild overstatement. I feel like Herschel Gordon Lewis was far racier and goopier than this.

As a child, Matthew inexplicably mowed down his father with a tractor and crushed his own arm in the process. Returning home after years spent in a psych ward (despite no one knowing he was behind the wheel of the tractor), now fitted with a prosthetic arm, he finds his mother remarried and rekindling her intimacy. Turns out intimacy toward women is one of Matthew's triggers and he views is a defilement that must me stopped, so he takes matters into his own hook.

That's just the beginning, and it gets wacky from there.

 

[Selaws]

Completely missed this thread but I've been unintentionally participating. Here's my film list to date.

1. The Conjuring 2 - 1/2

An ok film but the demon sounding like Barbara Windsor really put me off. Otherwise it would have been a better rating!!!



2. No One Will Save You

This had lots of elements of a good film but the aliens were really over the top to the point where they just looked weird rather than scary. A few tense moments but the ending knocked it down (no spoilers).



3. Nocebo

An intriguingly different plot that revolves around Filipino black magic. A great twist as well.



4. Freaky

This was a part horror/slasher part action film that I watched with my wife. A clear nod to Freaky Friday and I actually enjoyed how at times it was meant to appear like a teen comedy as it made the slasher elements more punchy. Definitely a film I wasnt expecting much from so I was pleasantly surprised.



5. The Fourth Kind

I saw this film years ago and remembered it being scarier than this time around. Claims to be based on actual case files, but who knows.



6. Brightburn

Wow. I really wasn't expecting much from this at all but it was such a fun watch. Clearly nicked the basic story from Superman (farmer parents trying for a child, spaceship carrying a baby boy crashes into the farm, boy has superpowers, etc) BUT the different here is that the powers are not used for good. Apparently, a second film is in the works.

 

[CrazyDiamond84]

1st horror film of the season. I've decided to go through 1970s movies this year, and have a list ready to try to tackle.

1. A Bay Of Blood (1971)

This is one I've never seen before tonight. Ill give it it's props for really setting the stage for all the campy slasher films to come. Some very crafty kills in this one, and I have to assume this set the bar for gore at the time.

 

[avecigrec]

Didn't get a movie in last night, and don't know that I will tonight, but got two more seasonally appropriate graphic novels read between now and then:

H.P. Lovecraft: He Who Wrote in the Darkness by Alex Nikolavitch & Gervasio-Aon-Lee and The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers & I.N.J. Culbard

Both were

Not the best version of either these out there, but likely the best for the graphic novel medium. A little tricky to follow at times, but all in all very enjoyable.

 

[EvanBenner]

1st horror film of the season. I've decided to go through 1970s movies this year, and have a list ready to try to tackle.

1. A Bay Of Blood (1971)

This is one I've never seen before tonight. Ill give it it's props for really setting the stage for all the campy slasher films to come. Some very crafty kills in this one, and I have to assume this set the bar for gore at the time.



View attachment 184013

Honestly, the 70's was such a good decade for horror. Love me some Bava.

 

[EvanBenner]

Spent my morning fulfilling a Spooky Season theme of a 2-plus hour movie that ultimately wasn't worth mentioning here, so I followed it up with some movies from my Tubi queue with premises that sounded uncomplicated and fun.

First on the docket was a movie called Fanatic, though it seems like the more commonly used title is The Last Horror Film. Turns out it was actually an unofficial spiritual sequel to the lady scalping Maniac (1980). Both movies star Joe Spinell, but instead of reprising the role of Frank Zito, here he plays Vinny Durand, an aging taxi driver with delusions of directorial grandeur. He follows a popular movie star to the Cannes Film Festival in an attempt to secure her for his magnum opus.

Fixated on this goal, he does not relent in his pitch—and soon those in close connection to the starlet begin meeting untimely demises.

This one is a lot of fun, especially when Vinny's delusions are on full display.



(It wasn't a Troma movie to begin with, but they seem to have been behind the restoration of lost/cut graphic scenes for a DVD release in the 90s.)



Switched gears afterward to something a little more classical and gothic sounding with Cave of the Living Dead (aka Night of the Vampires).

After the deaths of several young women and disappearances of their bodies go unsolved, a small Balkan town beseeches the help of Interpol to investigate the cause. An American investigator arrives who must navigate small town secrets and fears of a nearby grotto to get tot he bottom of things. It's got a lot of the tried and true hallmarks of vampy classics, making this a good background watch.

 

[LeeVing]

Spent my morning fulfilling a Spooky Season theme of a 2-plus hour movie that ultimately wasn't worth mentioning here, so I followed it up with some movies from my Tubi queue with premises that sounded uncomplicated and fun.

First on the docket was a movie called Fanatic, though it seems like the more commonly used title is The Last Horror Film. Turns out it was actually an unofficial spiritual sequel to the lady scalping Maniac (1980). Both movies star Joe Spinell, but instead of reprising the role of Frank Zito, here he plays Vinny Durand, an aging taxi driver with delusions of directorial grandeur. He follows a popular movie star to the Cannes Film Festival in an attempt to secure her for his magnum opus.

Fixated on this goal, he does not relent in his pitch—and soon those in close connection to the starlet begin meeting untimely demises.

This one is a lot of fun, especially when Vinny's delusions are on full display.



(It wasn't a Troma movie to begin with, but they seem to have been behind the restoration of lost/cut graphic scenes for a DVD release in the 90s.)

View attachment 184071

I have the new Severin 4K release sitting on my desk waiting for me to watch it

 

[EvanBenner]

Keeping a steady flow of movies going while we work on our Halloween costumes today. Started things off early with Maleficent, which was a pleasant reframing of villain as complicated anti-hero.

We then continued to capitalize on the last day of our Starz promo with the newer horror comedy The Blackening. Although it is set on Juneteenth, it easily fits the slasher profile suited to spooky season. Lots of referential fun in that one with a smart edge.





Kept things silly with my selection for today's Spooky Season theme of a woman-directed movie with Elizabeth Banks' Cocaine Bear. It was entertaining but I'd probably have been annoyed if I hadn't been also working on other things at the same time. Not a sit-down and give your whole attention kind of movie.




Opted next for a movie I'd heard good things about for a while now with Last Shift. Really enjoyed it for its simple premise, decent visuals, and psychological bend.

 

[threesunrises]

Just finished The Boogeyman (husband loves Stephen King). It was disappointing.

 

[EvanBenner]

Wow! Phantom of the Paradise certainly lives up to the cult classic hype. A pure glam rock spectacle.

Having recently seen Body Double with its bizarre dance scene, it's fascinating to see De Palma's own precedent blown out to full feature-length proportions a decade prior.

This musical is rife with smart homages and references—most obviously Phantom of the Opera, but also a double layer of Faust, and nods to Psycho, Frankenstein, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and The Picture of Dorian Gray.

And even while Phantom is so referential on its own, I can think of several other works that are so clearly indebted to its stylish excess. Shock Treatment and Repo! The Genetic Opera are no-brainers here.