I'm not happy with how much of a thread lurker I've become... I've been
obscenely busy with life, work, classes, etc. and just haven't had much time to post lately. I've also watched a pretty pitiful amount compared to previous years, but now that it's actually October, that's starting to pick up a bit. For right now, I'll just recap what I watched in September. Fair warning, this will probably spread out across a few posts...
MOVIE #1
Son of Dracula (1943)
Starting the season off by picking something from the Universal Monsters canon I hadn't seen before. Definitely not the best thing the studio ever put out, but it's enjoyable enough. Lon Chaney Jr. brings a very different energy to the role of Dracula than Lugosi did, in a way that sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. He gets the job done though, and I love some of the glorious 1940s special effects like the bats.
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MOVIE #2
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.
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MOVIE #3
Werewolves on Wheels (1971)
Maybe one of the best movie titles of all time? Unfortunately the film it belongs to doesn't quite live up to the promise, but it's also not bad. Okay, it probably is quite bad, but if you like trashy early 70s grindhouse biker pictures (which I apparently do), it's a must-see. Plus the werewolf action, for what little there is, is surprisingly decent.
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MOVIE #4
Mama (2013)
A movie produced by Guillermo del Toro that he should have just directed himself. It isn't terrible, but this premise could have been done a lot better, and the ending is awful. It completely conflicts with the last 90 minutes you were just shown and leaves me scratching my head as to what I'm supposed to take away from it, what it says about the rest of the story, etc. Maybe I'm thinking about it too much. Either way, the scene where Jessica Chastain hears Mama singing through the vent is some successfully creepy shit; it scared the hell out of me when I saw this in the theater. Rewatching it again, I have no idea why, but it still kind of gives me the chills, so props to the filmmakers for that if nothing else.
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