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[Ithil]

22) The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958)

A masterly dissection, Doctor Stein. You must forgive this intrusion.
Must I?

I thought this was a decent sequel to Curse, mostly thanks to them not rehashing the first film's story or structure. Frankenstein, having learned the wrong lesson from his first attempt, operates under the imaginative alias of Dr. Stein and continues his attempts to create a human. This time however he tries a new method of putting a living brain in a new constructed body. This leads to a few interesting new wrinkles in the formula and a different take on the Frankenstein monster.
It did feel like a proper followup to the first film, rather than a cash in repeat, and the film again restrains itself from devolving into camp.

It's not on the level of Bride of Frankenstein following up Frankenstein 1931 (where the sequel was the better film), but still a solid sequel and better than I expected.

 

[FiggyCal]

If you guys are looking for t.v. shows to watch, I strongly recommend Ash vs. evil Dead. I plan to catch up on the latest season, but the first two were really good.

 

[Riptwo]

#13 - The Woman (FTV)

Oh my lord. Lucky viewing number 13 called for some Lucky McGee, and boy does this film ever deliver. I've enjoyed his films ever since May. A man captures a woman living in the wild, locks her up in his basement, and convinces his family to rehabilitate her into society. This is of course an excuse to display his desire to control women. The real horror on display here was the father's behavior, how his actions ultimately influence his teenage son, and how powerless he makes the women in his family feel. It was a hard watch even with a somewhat satisfying and powerful ending.

Since this has drawn comparisons to Deadgirl and The Girl Next Door, and I've seen both films, this is the better film to me because it doesn't focus on the torture and rape like those films have, and is the more psychologically engaging film. I slightly hesitate to call this my favorite first time viewing of the challenge so far because this is not a fun horror film like Chopping Mall was. This is brutal, nasty behavior on display, and in today's climate of certain men who still treat women as objects or playthings, it can bring many emotions to light. But I can't deny that it was a great film that I probably won't want to see ever again. Highly recommended if you can handle the themes and content.

8 feral women who will fuck you up if you bother them out of 10.

I got to see this with Lucky McKee in attendance, and in the Q&A it it came up that Rian Johnson recorded a song featured on the soundtrack of this movie. There's some random trivia!

#10 The Unborn

Does being a twin make a movie scarier? Im not a twin, so I don't know, but the plot of this film probably should have played up the Nazi experiments angle more, as I didn't find it particularly scary or interesting. Mostly, memorable for Odette Yustman in her underwear. Girlfriend enjoy more than I did.

I still can't believe that there's a real movie where the villain is an evil child named Jumby. There's a chance for my "JimJam the Vampire" script yet!

 

[excelsiorlef]

15. Child's Play (1988)

A classic for a reason. Douriff shines in what is actually a limited role in the first one. Thos one is hurt in the enjoyment factor by keeping Douriff contained and Chucky in the shadows as a necessary part of oeigin2and reveal.

Looking forward to the sequels.

 

[sadromeo]

October 11, 2017:

11 of 31 - Lake Bodom

A twisted Finnish movie about four young teens trying to reenact a grisly murder at Lake Bodom to test a theory… but each teen has their own agenda for being there…

Not the type of teen slasher pic I was expecting but it had an interesting premise and a few scares here and there. There were some story twists and a decent amount of gore and blood.

Would I recommend it? Maybe, if there was really nothing else to watch. -3/10

 

[ph1l0z0ph3r]

8 | The House of the Devil | New!

Well damn! Great movie. Pays amazing homage to the 80s and managed to keep the whole movie tense without doing much but exploring the life of the main character in a single day. Does take a while for the payoff and we don't actually get to experience the setting of the events until about halfway through the movie but it managed to hold my interest well enough into then.

Spoiler

Only disappointment was how quick the climax came and went. It took a while to get there and when it did it was over almost instantly. The ending does leave a cliffhanger for a sequel but I feel like any direction they take it in will be lame compared to this one.

This movie definitely has me eye balling other Ti West directed horror movies though. That along with Jocelin Donahue as she was great in this.

 

[excelsiorlef]

This movie definitely has me eye balling other Ti West directed horror movies though

Check out The Innkeepers... it's incredible.

The Sacrament is also pretty great.

Ti West is a horror genius

 

[mariachi507]

Check out The Innkeepers... it's incredible.

The Sacrament is also pretty great.

Ti West is a horror genius

I haven't seen much output from him in the past few years. There for a minute I thought he would be the next big thing. House of the Devil has the honor of being one of the few movies to actually scare me aside from when I was a child.

Apparently (just looked it up) he released a western last year and has been directing episodes of various TV shows including MTV's Scream. I hope he gives us a new horror project soon.

Christopher Smith was another director who shined a bright light on the horror genre in a time where it desperately needed it.

 

[excelsiorlef]

I haven't seen much output from him in the past few years. There for a minute I thought he would be the next big thing. House of the Devil has the honor of being one of the few movies to actually scare me aside from when I was a child.

Apparently (just looked it up) he released a western last year and has been directing episodes of various TV shows including MTV's Scream. I hope he gives us a new horror project soon.

Christopher Smith was another director who shined a bright light on the horror genre in a time where it desperately needed it.

Yeah it's disappointing that after three home runs he seemed to have just moved on to less horror stuff. He deserves ti be the nect big thing in horror. It's kinda sad that the genre is kind of stagnant overall (has been for decades imo... since the 80s ended)

 

[pitcairn55]

Christopher Smith was another director who shined a bright light on the horror genre in a time where it desperately needed it.

Yeah, Creep (2004), Severance, and Triangle are all great movies, and Black Death wasn't bad either. Wish he'd do another horror movie. Last film of his i saw was Get Santa, which I did enjoy, though I think his talents are wasted on family friendly Christmas movies.

 

[mariachi507]

Yeah it's disappointing that after three home runs he seemed to have just moved on to less horror stuff. He deserves ti be the nect big thing in horror. It's kinda sad that the genre is kind of stagnant overall (has been for decades imo... since the 80s ended)

I feel that the genre has really shown some signs of life again in the past few years. It's not up to the quality of the 80's or even the 70's at that, but it's leaps and bounds better than the 90's and the aughts. I just hope it keeps up. Ti West should be a bigger part of the horror renaissance.

Yeah, Creep (2004), Severance, and Triangle are all great movies, and Black Death wasn't bad either. Wish he'd do another horror movie. Last film of his i saw was Get Santa, which I did enjoy, though I think his talents are wasted on family friendly Christmas movies.

I never saw Black Death or Creep, but Triangle and Severance were great. Very different from each other as well. He's got range in his horror directing.

 

[excelsiorlef]

I feel that the genre has really shown some signs of life again in the past few years. It's not up to the quality of the 80's or even the 70's at that, but it's leaps and bounds better than the 90's and the aughts. I just hope it keeps up. Ti West should be a bigger part of the horror renaissance.

Agreed on all counts.

It's better now than the souless empty biteless 90s/Early 2000s... give or take a Scream trilogy

 

[Penguin]

Movie 1 - Dracula (1931) [NEW]
Movie 2 - Dracula 2000 [NEW]
Movie 3 - Dracula (1979) [NEW]
Movie 4- The Creature from The Black Lagoon [NEW]
Movie 5 - Dracula's Daughter [New]
Movie 6 - Son of Dracula [New]
Movie 7 - El Bar [New]
Movie 8 - Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula [New]
Movie 9 - John Carpenter's Vampires [New]
Movie 10 - Blacula [New]
Movie 11 - Dollman vs Demonic Toys [New]
Movie 12 - Frankenstein 1931 [New]
Movie 13 - Bride of Frankenstein [New]
Movie 14 - Corpse Bride [New]
Movie 15 - Little Evil [New]
Movie 16 - Alienate [New]

Movie 17 - Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

I started watching this and was like what is all this random stuff they are adding... then someone pointed out that this is more faithful to the books and got to say prefer the original movie's take.

Like I feel that the message is vastly different and a lot more depressing in this version with Frankenstein pretty much abandoning the monster as soon as he sets eyes on it, and not after interacting with it a bit and realizing his monster.

Also the whole dynamic with him traveling the world then seeking revenge... it's like few parts of the movie gets to breathe until Frankenstein and the monster cross paths again. I would say I do like maybe the last 30 mins or so. Some pretty deranged stuff.

 

[excelsiorlef]

16. Child's Play 2 (1990)

Easily the best of the ones with Child's Play in the title. Dourif is given a bit more here (though still not enough) and the violence is more on screen, Kyle is an awesome addition to the women of horror and this one has a bat shit gory 3rd act, good shit.

17. Child's Play 3 (1991)

A step back in the franchise, we finally get away from 6-8 year old Andy and get a cast of teenagers (look slasher movies just work better with teens) and what happens they introduce a new kid who is dumb as rocks. A decent chase 3rd act and another awesome addition to the women of horror in Da Silva saves this from being a total disaster. Dourif is back to Child's Play 1 level of dialogue and that's just such a waste.

18. Bride of Chucky (1998)

Now this is what I was waiting for. Chucky finally becomes the protagonist of the show and Dourif shines like a diamond. Look this concept is fucking ridiculous to being with so as cool as it was to play it straight, it's far more entertaining when it's a bit self aware. Tilly is a great addition, though only thing that was a bit lame was the third act but what came before more than made it worth my while. Probably not as good as Child's Play 2, but this one had me grinning from the intro and that's what I had been waiting for.


Interested to see how Seed, Curse and Cult turn out...

 

[mechashiva]

I remember skipping my seventh period in high school to watch Bride of Chucku on DVD. It was the second DVD I ever watched and me and two other friends loved the hell out of it. We rewatched the semi splattering that dude like 10 times.

 

[canoli2006]

Film 3: Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)

This film doesn’t actually get going until the last 25 minutes and it’s pretty entertaining.

5/10

Film 4: Child’s Play 2 (1990)

I’ve seen the original a bunch of times as well as Seed and Curse but strangely never watched 2. These films are just a lot of fun.

6/10

 

[Violence Jack]

8 | The House of the Devil | New!

I really wanted to like this one, but it just took too long to get to the point, and then it was over in a flash.

 

[More_Badass]

17) In The Mouth of Madness (1994)

Forget The Void. Forgot Event Horizon. Forget The Mist. This might just be the best Lovecraftian movie I’ve ever seen. It’s like one of the classic stories brought to the screen, complete with all those classic elements modernized. This was so good.

 

[Divius]

#11 - A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Freddy Krueger is the perfect mix of awesome and scary. Truly one of the most iconic horror villains of all time. The way he is introduced and used throughout the movie is incredible, always menacing and always dangerous. The movie itself is very original and smartly written; I loved the creative deaths and the thin line between being awake and the dreams the kids experience. There’s great moments of suspense, visually it is very appealing and to top it all of it has the perfect amount of cheese.7.5/10

 

[aravuus]

Day 12, but movie number... 8, I think: Train to Busan

Finally! Damn thing took its sweet time arriving here lol.

But it was absolutely worth it, I fucking LOVED it! There are plenty of zombie movies I have yet to see, but I think I can pretty confidently call this my second favorite, right behind 28 Days Later. Really the only complaint I could think of was the quality of the CG animations, they could've been ever so slightly better. Still, they did their job very well.

The zombies (or infected) were AMAZING in this one! The way they acted was just nuts, I can only imagine how much fun all the actors and extras had doing the zombie scenes.

Damn near teared up close to the end too, when

Spoiler

the dad died.

Not something I expected from a zombie movie lol.

Couldn't recommend it more.

Netflix horror movie selection is still kinda shit so eh, doubt I'll watch much in the coming days. I ordered a 28 Days Later + 28 Weeks Later bluray from Amazon, I'll watch those two when it arrives. Probably not next week, but maybe the week after. I'm off to play The Evil Within 2, it'll have to do lol.

 

[lordxar]

17) In The Mouth of Madness (1994)


Forget The Void. Forgot Event Horizon. Forget The Mist. This might just be the best Lovecraftian movie I’ve ever seen. It’s like one of the classic stories brought to the screen, complete with all those classic elements modernized. This was so good.

This is a truly great film I've loved for years. Which I saw Possession not long ago and think that is such a good companion to ItMoM. Which I really need to buy this one on bluray because its been a long time since I've watched it.

Fun fact. There is a church where I live that reminds me of the one in this film. I mean it's not a replica or anything but the architecture is a bit stark on the outside and it's off the road on a big grassy lot.

 

[SeanC]

17) In The Mouth of Madness (1994)


Forget The Void. Forgot Event Horizon. Forget The Mist. This might just be the best Lovecraftian movie I've ever seen. It's like one of the classic stories brought to the screen, complete with all those classic elements modernized. This was so good.

Slowly creeping into my Top 5 horror movies over the past few years, TBH. It's just one of those I repeatedly watch and the more I think back on it the more I grow fond of it in the same way I think fondly of The Thing or Evil Dead 2.

 

[Linkhero1]

17) In The Mouth of Madness (1994)


Forget The Void. Forgot Event Horizon. Forget The Mist. This might just be the best Lovecraftian movie I’ve ever seen. It’s like one of the classic stories brought to the screen, complete with all those classic elements modernized. This was so good.

This was one of my favorite films from the last few 31 Days of Horror. Sam Neil is so good.

 

[Divius]

#12 - A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985)

A wholly different approach to the story, but it barely plays to the strengths and creativity of the first one. It is nowhere near as good as the original, but it has improved (and more extravagant) special effects, the typical 80s charm and of course Freddy Krueger going for it. Also, thematically speaking, there are some very subtle homosexual undertones sprinkled throughout the movie. Anyone notice them? Finally; I was wondering how these characters would process the events that occurred at the pool party and I got my question answered when someone casually says “let’s not talk about it.” Right. 5.5/10

 

[Mortimer Brewster]

#12 - A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985)

A wholly different approach to the story, but it barely plays to the strengths and creativity of the first one. It is nowhere near as good as the original, but it has improved (and more extravagant) special effects, the typical 80s charm and of course Freddy Krueger going for it. Also, thematically speaking, there are some very subtle homosexual undertones sprinkled throughout the movie. Anyone notice them? Finally; I was wondering how these characters would process the events that occurred at the pool party and I got my question answered when someone casually says “let’s not talk about it.” Right. 5.5/10

Freddy's Revenge is the one film in the series that takes multiple watches for it to grow on you. It throws out all the rules of the first film, it has uneven pacing and has some head scratching segments(the parakeet!!!). However after watching it annually over the last 30 years it has really grown on me. Kevin Yagher's Krueger makeup is far superior to David Miller's work in the first film. Mark Shostrom's work on both Freddy tearing his way out of Jesse and his death at the Power Plant hold up really well. The acting is surprisingly good, not only from the older veterans like Clu Gulager, Marshall Bell and Hope Lange but the younger ones like Kim Meyers and Mark Patton. Robert as always was great and was given more lines in this film. Though he hadn't developed his penchant for one liners yet. Plus, i absolutely love the opening Nightmare on the school bus, with one of my 80's crushes JoAnn Wilette.


Also Freddy's Revenge was anything but subtle with the homoerotic subtext. We were all joking about it even back in the 80's

 

[Demon Lizardman]

Is 31 that bad? I like the Devils Rejects, so is it anything like that?

 

[Divius]

Freddy's Revenge is the one film in the series that takes multiple watches for it to grow on you. It throws out all the rules of the first film, it has uneven pacing and has some head scratching segments(the parakeet!!!). However after watching it annually over the last 30 years it has really grown on me. Kevin Yagher's Krueger makeup is far superior to David Miller's work in the first film. Mark Shostrom's work on both Freddy tearing his way out of Jesse and his death at the Power Plant hold up really well. The acting is surprisingly good, not only from the older veterans like Clu Gulager, Marshall Bell and Hope Lange but the younger ones like Kim Meyers and Mark Patton. Robert as always was great and was given more lines in this film. Though he hadn't developed his penchant for one liners yet. Plus, i absolutely love the opening Nightmare on the school bus, with one of my 80's crushes JoAnn Wilette.


Also Freddy's Revenge was anything but subtle with the homoerotic subtext. We were all joking about it even back in the 80's

Oh I can totally see that it would hold up, I was actually surprised by how much I liked it when the reviews had me prepared for the worst. Freddy himself and the special effects were terrific as well.

Spoiler

And obviously I was kidding about the 'subtlety' of the homoerotic subtext.

 

[Ridley327]

Is 31 that bad? I like the Devils Rejects, so is it anything like that?

It's an unbelievably worse version. It even has the gall to crib the ending of that film with its own kind of final showdown set to a 70s classic.

 

[John Rabbit]

I enjoy Zombie's films (for the most part) but 31 just didn't interest me from a plot perspective. But I just might have to watch it based on the amount of hate it's getting.

 

[Demon Lizardman]

It's an unbelievably worse version. It even has the gall to crib the ending of that film with its own kind of final showdown set to a 70s classic.

Aw man, does it at least have interesting visuals? He usually nails that part.

 

[BattleMonkey]

Is 31 that bad? I like the Devils Rejects, so is it anything like that?

Its not good, but it really is not as bad as people make it out to be. It's far better than 90% of the direct to video crap that gets added to Netlfix and Amazon each week. Really feel people over react to anything Zombie does while injesting constant streams of Shlock without flinching.

 

[Ridley327]

Aw man, does it at least have interesting visuals? He usually nails that part.

It's probably one of his most visually incoherent films that he's done, due to really sloppy editing and the tiny budget that he got from going for crowd-sourcing. It's a flat-out awful film in every aspect of filmmaking, and I would only recommend it on the grounds of making you wonder just what the hell happened to the guy that looked to be making a big break from his usual mode after the disappointing yet worthwhile The Lords of Salem.

 

[MattyH]

stepping into 80s weirdness tonight with #12 the boogey man never watched it before so il be interested to see why it was banned in the uk in the 80s

 

[lordxar]

31 was a disappointment but the making of bits on Shudder were pretty cool which I enjoyed those a lot more than I cared for 31 itself.

If I had to describe 31 it would be a remake of the Running Man on a shoestring budget. Except it's not a game show rather an arena ran by some old fucks in wigs cuz...wigs say high society? Basically the movie was pretty much foul mouthed hillbillies running around murdering each other which I'm pretty foul mouthed myself but this actually got on my nerves. There is also a Hitler midget...yes, that is a thing in 31. Oh and you see Zombies old lady yet again. Yay...

 

[gabbo]

#13 Evil Dead 2

Probably among my all time favourites, and not just in the genre either. Gone is attempt at pure horror, with slapstick humour infused adding to the proceedings particularly well.
The first 3/5's is a tour de force from Bruce Campbell, fighting with himself and a dancing with a lamp, and pretty much anything Raimi can launch at him or him into. Truly the highlight. Had to explain the whole 'it's recapping part1/a remake due to rights issues' and not 'Ash moved on to another ill-fated girlfriend named Linda', as my gf's first comment was 'Whoa he moves on fast'.

Groovy.

I still can't believe that there's a real movie where the villain is an evil child named Jumby. There's a chance for my "JimJam the Vampire" script yet!

I'm there, day one for JimJam, can't be worse than The Unborn.

 

[RumbleHumble]

DAY NINE (YES I'M BEHIND): BAD TASTE

Peter Jackson's first feature film, Bad Taste is a fun sampling of what's to come, not just from Peter Jackson, but from other filmmakers in general. Shot on a budget smaller than a year's tuition at my law school, Bad Taste does everything it can to overcome its budget while embracing its shortcomings. The story, a special team is sent to investigate what happened to the citizens of a small town overtaken by aliens harvesting humans for fast food, is what it is, namely an excuse for lots of action shots in the woods, a home invasion, and lots of gore. What it lacks in acting and budget, it makes up for in weird imagery and AMAZING gore. Bad Taste exemplifies the sort of gore I've always loved, brightly colored slime vomit with just the right amount of substance, and Bad Taste is filled to bursting with it. Heads and parts of heads explode into goo on a semi-regular basis, blood flies regularly regularly in the faces of its actors.

All in all, it's another fun movie, particularly on this budget. It's a cool curio of Peter Jackson's, and works as a weird harbinger for what's to come with Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and World's End. It's not perfect or anything, but it's far from the worst way to spend your time.

 

[mariachi507]

It's an unbelievably worse version. It even has the gall to crib the ending of that film with its own kind of final showdown set to a 70s classic.

Wow. What a joke.

 

[Violence Jack]

#14 - Metamorphosis (FTV)

This was one of those cheap, god-awful horror movies that I grew up on in the late 80s. A college professor conducts an experiment on himself that is supposed to continuously revive organs meaning that he could never die. However, this turns him slowly into a raging, homicidal maniac. Up to this point, the movie has been decent with some terrible acting. However, the movie quickly spirals down into a really shit version of The Fly (even though that movie wouldn't be out until the next year) with the professor changing into an old man who bites peoples throats for food, then into a half-man/half-lizard, and then we get full on man-sized dinosaur. I wish I could find a picture of this thing because I haven't laughed so hard at a horror movie creature effect in my life.

It's half of a decent film, but completely goes off the rails in the 2nd half with atrocious acting. Cool poster as well. If only the movie were quite as good as it.

3 college professors transforming into bad rubber suit dino-man out of 10.

 

[Ivan A Nguyen]

7. We are still here

This movie came out of nowhere for me. I really thought it'd be a slow burn for the entire film, but it isn't affraid to throw convention out the window for a chance at making a really good horror movie. If I had a short list of movies I'd reccomend off netflix, this would be near the top.

5 dead sons out of 5.

8. Indigenous

Millennials, am I right? This movie is skippable.

1 rich kid on vacation complaining about debt out of 5.


9. Tales of Halloween

Anthology movie that is more miss than hit. It's all connected, but that also means there are no rules to break. It over stays it's welcome.

2 eyes out of 5.

 

[1044]

4. The Blob (1988)

Very fun monster movie. I've never seen this movie before, but always heard good things. I can't believe I didn't watch it earlier. Loved everything about the movie. The plot was great with interesting characters and developments. The setting was great. The effects were great. They don't make movies like this anymore.

What makes the film really stand out is the effects. All the scenes really hold up, no CGI here. Only scenes that kind of look weird are when we see the full sized blob whipping around, but even then it still looked good. The kill scenes are totally memorable. I was totally surprised when

Spoiler

who we're lead to believe is the main character is killed off right near the beginning

. The kills were all so great, especially the

Spoiler

diner sink

scene. I liked the story as well. I was actually invested in what was happening and was pretty surprised with the revelations.

Overall it was a very enjoyable movie. Not super scary, but memorable. Me and my fiance had a lot of fun watching and would keep bringing it up days later. Highly recommended.

 

[mariachi507]

12. The Blackcoat's Daughter

This wasn't on my radar at all so I appreciate the recommendations everybody. There are many types of approaches to the horror genre,and I've really come to like the approach in using horror as a tool in telling a story instead of using it as the main attraction with story only being necessary in linking scenes or set pieces. Other films that do this well are Possession and The Brood which are essentially stories about separation or divorce. The Blackcoat's Daughter (what's up with that title though?) is a story about feeling abandoned and needing to fill the void that is left as a result. In terms of telling that story the film is a complete success and is the aspect that I keep going back to in my mind. The constant dread or scenes of terror are the cherry on top. There were some choices by the filmmakers that I thought hurt the film a bit in terms of some narrative choices and other aspects I won't spoil, but the film mostly makes up for it by pure atmosphere and feel.

Verdict: 7.5 or 8/10, I keep going back and forth on it. Like it matters.

Edit: Whoa, Norman Bates' son directed this?

 

[mechashiva]

1. (New) Jason Goes to Hell (Vudu)
2. (New) Trick 'r Treat (Blu)
3. (Rewatch) From Dusk Till Dawn (hulu)
4. (Rewatch) The Faculty (hulu)
5. (New) My Bloody Valentine (3d Blu)
6. (Rewatch) Sleepaway Camp 3 (vudu movies on us)
7. (New) Tag (Netflix)
8. (New) Pumpkinhead (Amazon prime)
9. (Rewatch) Final Destination 5 (3-D Blu)
10. (Rewatch) Piranha 3-D (3-D Blu)
11. (Rewatch) Sleepaway Camp 2 (Vudu on us)
12. (Rewatch) Zombieland (blu)
13. (Rewatch) The 'Burbs (Arrow Blu)
14. (Rewatch) Scream (Vudu)
15. (Rewatch) Mars Attacks (hulu)
16. (Rewatch) Devil’s Advocate (Hulu). This one is still really entertaining. The speech about how “they never see me coming” is a lot of fun.

 

[Fancy Clown]

Edit: Whoa, this is Norman Bates that directed it?

Uh well his son, anyway haha

 

[Ithil]

23) The Curse of the Werewolf (1961)

Whatever weakens the human soul...vice, greed, hatred, solitude, these bring the spirit of the wolf to the fore.

Hammer tries its hand at a werewolf film, and takes a wildly different approach than Universal, to overall success.

This is a tragedy film, as you'd expect any werewolf film to be, frankly, but this goes well beyond say the Wolf Man's level of tragic circumstances. Rather than a disease spread by bites, in this film werewolves are presented as a supernatural curse that appears to arise from births amongst strife and misery. Thus the film takes place over decades and shows the entire life of a werewolf, not just his childhood and birth but even his conception.

To accommodate this odd format, the first third or so of the film takes place through a series of shifting viewpoint characters, recounting the events leading to the protagonist's birth. This means the film is rather slow paced and does not feature very much in the way of werewolf action. In fact the lead actor, a young Oliver Reed who does fine work as the adult protagonist, doesn't show up until over halfway into the film, and there's no werewolf transformation until two thirds of the way into it.

So action packed this is not, but it makes for an interesting melodrama, even if it's short on horror. The film is ostensibly set in Spain, where naturally everyone speaks English with various British accents. The Spanish styled clothes and sets with a more arid looking landscape do make the film stand out compared to the usual Hammer fare.

Werewolf stories have a tendency to follow the same rough formula, even several of the best werewolf films like The Wolf Man and American Werewolf in London, but the unusual format helps make this film a little more unique, even as it piles on the requisite lycanthrope tragedy in spades.

 

[mariachi507]

Uh well his son, anyway haha

I do that alot haha, my brain will say one thing but I type another. A good poster would read and revise his/her forum post before hitting submit, but I tend to go in the other direction.

Oh well, Norman Bates directed the shit out of that movie though!

 

[gamz]

Is 31 that bad? I like the Devils Rejects, so is it anything like that?

I'm a big fan of TDR and 31 was awful. It's his worst film and totally uninspired.

It's probably one of his most visually incoherent films that he's done, due to really sloppy editing and the tiny budget that he got from going for crowd-sourcing. It's a flat-out awful film in every aspect of filmmaking, and I would only recommend it on the grounds of making you wonder just what the hell happened to the guy that looked to be making a big break from his usual mode after the disappointing yet worthwhile The Lords of Salem.

And this.

 

[Get'sMad]

was planning on doing a Friday the 13th marathon tomorrow but I gotta travel so I'm gonna watch the first 3 tonight to make up for it.

just a heads up that a bunch of these are streaming Starz which you can do a 7 free day trial of on Amazon and just cancel it before its done.

 

[J-Roderton]

12. Cooties

More comedy than horror, but lots of zombie kills so I definitely count it. I dig pretty much anything Elijah Wood is in, which basically why I chose it. Really like it overall.

- Lots of laughs
- Ends pretty abruptly
-The mutilation/zombie kill shots could have used a little more room to breathe

 

[Violence Jack]

#12 - A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985)

A wholly different approach to the story, but it barely plays to the strengths and creativity of the first one. It is nowhere near as good as the original, but it has improved (and more extravagant) special effects, the typical 80s charm and of course Freddy Krueger going for it. Also, thematically speaking, there are some very subtle homosexual undertones sprinkled throughout the movie. Anyone notice them? Finally; I was wondering how these characters would process the events that occurred at the pool party and I got my question answered when someone casually says “let’s not talk about it.” Right. 5.5/10

I got to watch this with the director in attendance, and he still says that he had no idea about the homoerotic subtext that was about as subtle as a sledgehammer while making the film. But I love the film even with its problems and how it ignores some rules of Freddy.

 

[Zombine]

#10–The Poughkeepsie Tapes

Holy. Shit. I honestly don’t know how I feel right now. This film had achieved a mythical status for me and my friends. First seeing the trailer when we were in high school, to it vanishing (and finding a cult following on the internet), to my first time viewing this on Blu Ray...I don’t know what to say.

It’s genuinely disturbing. It’s Blair Witch with a stronger concept and something that could actually happen. Won’t go into it much more than that. Totally blew me away and it’s stuck with me long after watching it.

9/10