ok lets all shit our pants to something old: pre-2006 horror film thread

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I guess I could feel sorry for him but my excuse is that I saw that clip "Oh God!Oh Jesus Christ!" repeatedly (people link to it regularly on forums and blogs for comic effect) on tv horror film documentaries that had obnoxious spoilers. It is very funny in isolation.
I think those shows spoiled a lot of films and I hope future viewers can experience a lot of these films more freshly than I did. Luckily when I watched Spoorloos/Vanishing, I didn't realise I had previously seen the ending on a clip show until the film finished. That would have ruined it.
Those clip show bastards showed the endings to Suspiria, Nosferatu, Exorcist and Don't Look Now.

It is sad that books aren't more widely discussed but the big benefit is you can read most of the classics without knowing what happens in them.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 21 April 2014 22:07 (nine years ago) link

Tears of Kali (2004, Andreas Marschall)
German flick about a fictional cult whose meditation methods unleash demons, sounds pretty great. Not great by any means, but intriguing and promising. Unusual ideas, ambitious storytelling and an omnibus structure that keeps things moving. Undercut by distinctly lacklustre cinema. A trial run for something better?

Naked Blood (1996, Hisayasu Sato)
Repeat viewing. An alienated young man invents a serum that causes people to experience pain as pleasure, tragedy ensuses. This film seems known only to hardcore gore & transgression buffs, but I think it's an amazing work of art. A justly notorious (though relatively brief) midfilm auto-cannibalism setpiece drastically limits its potential audience, but I strongly recommend Naked Blood to anyone who thinks they might be able to stomach the gore. Surreal, quietly anguished and strangely haunting. A longtime personal favorite that holds up remarkably well.

Stacy: Attack of the Schoolgirl Zombies (2001, Naoyuki Tomomatsu)
Repeat viewing. A mysterious disease causes young women between the ages of 15 and 17 to die and then return to life as mindless, bloodthirsty zombies. This cheerfully schlocky, superficially comical splatter movie uses its basic situation to tell a number of related (and in most cases overlapping) stories, with varying tone & emphasis. Beneath the goofy surface, however, lies a cryptic and rather disturbing commentary on Japanese schoolgirl fetishism. Sui generis and strangely heartfelt.

katsu kittens (contenderizer), Tuesday, 22 April 2014 06:05 (nine years ago) link

I've seen a fair amount of talk about Naked Blood On this forum. I'm intrigued, I don't think I've even heard the name before.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 22 April 2014 12:32 (nine years ago) link

damn you aren't kidding that tears of kali SOUNDS great! I have to see that despite yr mixed rev.

hundreds-swarm-dinkytown (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 22 April 2014 15:12 (nine years ago) link

tears of kali is definitely worth a watch, and yeah, the concept had me sold from the get-go. the director's follow-up, masks, is much more assured & satisfying, if a good deal less original.

re naked blood: i genuinely love the move, but it's very hard to recommend. the worst moments (of which there are few) are REALLY nasty, like "some things you can't unsee" level unpleasantness. my sense is that the yuk factor unbalances and overshadows the rest of the film, to the point where even i have to admit that a threshold has been crossed. with that substantial caveat in mind, an amazing piece of work.

katsu kittens (contenderizer), Tuesday, 22 April 2014 18:54 (nine years ago) link

I never go out of my way to seek or avoid violent sickie films; but I've heard a lot of complaints recently about such things and I rarely hear a coherent argument for what is "too far" or what constitutes a unethical way of depicting a reprehensible act.
There are some things I don't like seeing but I can't think of anything that I thought shouldn't have been shown.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 22 April 2014 19:32 (nine years ago) link

i don't mean that naked blood becomes reprehensible as a result of its gore (well it does, but that doesn't bother me in itself). i mean that the nastier moments alter the film's overall tone substantially, perhaps to its artistic detriment. certainly limits the potential audience, which seems a shame.

... I rarely hear a coherent argument for what is "too far" or what constitutes a unethical way of depicting a reprehensible act.

feel you, but i'm not sure that kind of thing should or even can be broken down all logical-like. we all have our limits, and gut-level emotional responses (DO NOT WANT!) are just as valid as more seemingly-coherent intellectual analyses.

katsu kittens (contenderizer), Tuesday, 22 April 2014 19:45 (nine years ago) link

I just went to amazon and bought it there. 20pounds, a little bit too expensive but I'm very intrigued. I'll have to watch this when everyone else is asleep.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 22 April 2014 19:47 (nine years ago) link

A few more things I saw in recent times...

SCHOCK/SHOCK
In the music section of this forum I've praised the soundtrack a lot (Libra includes a few Goblin members). When I watched the trailer for this film I decided to not bother with the film because the soundtrack by itself seemed so much more exciting.
But a few years later I got the chance to see it and it was way better than expected. This might even be one of Bava's very best films. A lot of his classic films stand on the strength of their visuals but this is better than most of them as a whole work. This is Bava adjusting to a new era of Italian horror film and he doesn't look remotely out of touch here.
The story is about a dead father who haunts his wife by possessing the body of his son.
Some really strange moments in this film, but really the soundtrack is still my favourite thing about it.

NOROI
Some people rate this as one of the greatest Japanese horror films ever but it barely made much impression on me. It's made in the form of a documentary, with tv show clips and investigative journalism.

MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE
Aside from the appealingly smokey dark visuals and settings, this is yet another incredibly dull Bela Lugosi film with all the willingness and poor comic relief you'd expect.

MASK OF FU MANCHU
Sluggish boredom and the expected racism. The lightning massacre at the end was kind of good but I could never recommend the film.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 22 April 2014 21:59 (nine years ago) link

NAKED BLOOD
It is weirdly sedate for a gore film, reminds me in some places of Death Powder. I can see how you might think the goriest parts spoil the sleepily surreal parts. The violence is important to the story, so the gore doesn't feel entirely misplaced; perhaps after being warned it didn't seem too bad to me. The naïve quality of the film was interesting.
Looking at the director's filmography there is so many films that got renamed (the director had a different intended title for them all) to sound like taboo pushing rape fantasies, I wonder if they are all porn films or anything like Naked Blood?
There was an advert on the dvd for a film called Sexy Soccer, which looks like the laziest sexploitation film I've ever seen.

DEATH POWDER
This film makes little attempt at being coherent but it has some good stuff in there. Steamy cyberpunk locations, hallucinatory scenes, a humorous music video, groups of scarred people. The version I saw was only partially subtitled.

CURSE OF KAZUO UMEZU
This is really stiffly animated but it works well enough, the background art has some nice dreamy darkness about it. The first story is pleasingly monstrous, surprisingly scary with a pretty cool twist.
Umezu got a lot of his comics made into live action tv/film but I've never bothered with them apart from this.

LABYRINTH OF DREAMS
This is from Sogo Ishii's quiet phase after his early punk films. An elegant soft black and white ghost story that is only borderline horror, really nice stuff. Ishii's frequent actor Tadanobu Asano stars.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 27 April 2014 15:41 (nine years ago) link

From the animation thread, but I properly linked this video because this thread isn't in threat of being overloaded with videos...

Nina Shorina's "Room Of Laughter" here. One of the best films I saw last year. A prime example of what animation can do for horror. If you have ten minutes to spare...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgZZY9K-WIc

Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 27 April 2014 16:00 (nine years ago) link

Looking at the director's filmography there is so many films that got renamed (the director had a different intended title for them all) to sound like taboo pushing rape fantasies, I wonder if they are all porn films or anything like Naked Blood?

― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, April 27, 2014 8:41 AM (Yesterday)

nearly all of hisayasu sato's other films are softcore sex pictures (though he did direct a memorable segment in 2005's rampo noir horror omnibus). i've downloaded a few of his pinku based on the recommendation of others, but have yet to watch any: survey map of a paradise lost, an aria on gazes and love - 0 = infinity. tbh, i don't know whether the somewhat artful titles here are original or replacements intended to help sell the films to more sensitive western audiences, and i don't really trust imdb on this. he's said to be a well respected director within his micro-genre, an experimental punk artist working at the furthest fringes of commercial cinema. i wouldn't know, and i'm not sure i want to further explore a filmography full of titles like lolita vibrator torture and horse woman dog. he did make a gay pink film called muscle, which sounds intriguing, but i haven't found a torrent.

personally, i see naked blood as an interesting and convincingly anguised peice of outsider art. the fact that the director apparently spent the bulk of his career making sleazy, violent, low budget pornography only adds to the nihilist resonance.

katsu kittens (contenderizer), Monday, 28 April 2014 08:13 (nine years ago) link

and wow, death powder sounds great! thanks for the tip, will watch.

katsu kittens (contenderizer), Monday, 28 April 2014 08:18 (nine years ago) link

Anyone been seeing these recent BFI disc releases? Stuff like M R James/Ghost Story For Christmas collection, Robin Redbreast, Gaslight, Sleepwalker, Dead Of Night, Supernatural and Schalcken The Painter?

Most of this appears to be old British tv shows, I'm sceptical but I've seen some extremely positive reviews for them. I've seen one or two of the M R James episodes and they were fine. I read Le Fanu's Schalcken The Painter recently and I am curious how they'd pull it off for screen.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 1 May 2014 23:14 (nine years ago) link

A word of warning: the complete Karloff's Thriller is packaged and blurbed like a pure horror show but really only something like 10 episodes of the 67 are horror; it was really a noir/crime/mystery show. Quite a few people said it was better than Twilight Zone and Outer Limits but I never saw much of them.
It was decent but I never sustained enough interest to watch the whole thing. A lot of the acting is a bit sloppy. The highlights for me were a haunted house story with Rip Torn; a Bloch story about a mirror or glasses that let you see monstrous "true" forms of people; best was a Derleth story with Karloff as a weird pale lethargic scientist covered in cobwebs. But none of this was really enough to justify getting the boxed set.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 1 May 2014 23:37 (nine years ago) link

I super dug the three episodes I watched before it was taken off Netflix. Also: tons of fuckin money ass goldsmith scores on those.

Khamma chameleon (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 1 May 2014 23:39 (nine years ago) link

The theme tune was great.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 1 May 2014 23:54 (nine years ago) link

100 bloody acres now streaming on us at least netflix

ohhhh lorde 2pac big please mansplain to this sucker (jjjusten), Friday, 2 May 2014 02:11 (nine years ago) link

The Watson/Webber version of Fall Of House Of Usher. I'd say it was among the best silent horror films. Only 12 minutes...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPYjrOST-VQ

Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 2 May 2014 23:09 (nine years ago) link

Any opinions on the 1974 version of Dracula? I guess it's about to be reissued, and Varese Sarabande just issued the soundtrack by Bob Cobert-- I listened to it on spotify today and it's great stuff in the hammer romantic-menace vein (but better recorded than most of the hammer music).

Khamma chameleon (Jon Lewis), Friday, 2 May 2014 23:33 (nine years ago) link

Who was playing that Dracula, it doesn't sound familiar.

Anyone saw Mimic directors cut? Del Toro said he was pleased because he didn't have to disown the film anymore. But I'm still kind of reluctant because unlike Barker's Nighbreed, I never got the sense that it could have been something special if left alone (admittedly based on the opinions of people who saw it before it was butchered). I guess The Keep is another film that people are still hoping for a directors cut.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 3 May 2014 23:29 (nine years ago) link

Just watched my new copy of IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS (not a good copy, I think it's Korean, it has way too small a screen size), I hadn't seen it in maybe more than 10 years and it holds up less well than I had imagined.
The light metal music in the intro/outro doesn't set the tone very well. I remembered the film being cheesy with the appearance of the evil writer and the clichéd scary children but I didn't remember the goofy humour at all, with all those wisecracks.
I used to be freaked out by Sam Neill laughing in the cinema but I guess there was nothing wrong with that part, I'm just older. I kept thinking Neill didn't care that much about his performance or maybe he thought this was going to be closer to a horror comedy than it really was. It's unbelievable and funny how he makes a map from the book covers.

What is still quite effective is the disordered reality scenes almost like Jacob's Ladder, a lot of the driving scenes with the tunnels, dark roads and the cyclist; I liked the creatures (especially the main tunnel scene that is very similar to Lovecraft's "At The Mountains Of Madness") and the church interior too.

2 taglines: "Lived any good books lately?" and "Reality isn't what it used to be".

I have really strong memories of being very young and even terrified of this films existence, trying to avoid looking at pictures of it. As a young teen finding it pretty scary too.

It isn't great but I don't know why it rarely gets mentioned for quite a long time.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 4 May 2014 14:38 (nine years ago) link

One of my favourite sites heavily recommended an obscurity called Atrapados that sounded really great...
http://www.fright.com/edge/Atrapados.htm

Now he linked to vimeo where the director has uploaded the film...
http://vimeo.com/92413499
I hope I can watch it soon if my internet speed gets fixed.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 4 May 2014 14:50 (nine years ago) link

I'd watch a Keep director's cut out of curiosity, but the film is perfect as is

lauded at conferences of deluded psychopaths (Sparkle Motion), Sunday, 4 May 2014 22:46 (nine years ago) link

I think the reason it has never had a DVD release is possibly the difficulty of finally putting together the directors cut. Not sure what is stopping Nightbreed.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 4 May 2014 22:51 (nine years ago) link

THEY LIVE

I got an unexpected amount of pleasure seeing a musclebound hero who is also a convincing, likable everyman (for lack of a better word). Not a fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger, I don't mind Stallone but I could do with more big muscle guys who seem approachable in films. Don't think I've seen a film with The Rock in it but he seems nice.

I'm very familiar with the majority of Carpenter's films but for some reason I had never heard of They Live until a few years ago.

Great funny long fight scene. The thing I liked least is the very forced sounding wise cracks and cheesy lines.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 11 May 2014 00:26 (nine years ago) link

Been looking around for Jean Rollin DVDs and some are prominently labelled for being uncut but I don't think any of his films have been censored for decades have they? He seems way too tame to be censored into the DVD age.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 12 May 2014 00:22 (nine years ago) link

Are the Dr Phibes films worthwhile?

Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 15 May 2014 18:18 (nine years ago) link

I had passed on The Hunger and Paul Schrader's version of Cat People many times because I never bought the hype, they didn't sound interesting to me. I lump them together as very 80s sexy horror films that were very modern and cool for their time, I guess Near Dark might even fit in there. But I finally watched both this weekend and I'm glad I did.

Cat People feels like a radical new interpretation possibly more based on the source short story than the original film (?), I have to agree with the camp that prefers this to the Lewton film (I think there were better Lewton films), there were so many aspects I don't recall in the older film. Kinski was really sweet in this.

The Hunger was a real surprise. I don't have much experience with Tony Scott but I was never remotely attracted to most of his output that I know of (I have heard he has done lesser known great stuff); so I was amazed that this is one of the most visually impressive and stylish films I've ever seen; really beautiful at times. A lot of old makeup jobs look terrible but the makeup for aging Bowie was very impressive. This is the type of surprise that makes me think that sometimes I should listen to hype when I'm reluctant.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 18 May 2014 01:58 (nine years ago) link

first doctor phibes is fun, not great, but a nice period piece, great production design. second is a wash.

dig both the hunger and shrader's cat people remake, moreso the former. other than that and true romance, though, i've never had much use for tony scott.

katsu kittens (contenderizer), Sunday, 18 May 2014 04:16 (nine years ago) link

This might be kind of silly but Angel Witch's Dr Phibes tune made me think "wow, maybe if that film inspired such great music maybe the film is great too".

Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 18 May 2014 12:30 (nine years ago) link

Corman's version of The Raven. I had no idea it was a full on comedy about rival magicians, it's probably one of the better Price/Corman/Poe films but I could imagine it horrifying some serious Poe fans and I guess using a classic poem like that as nothing but a framing device for a goofy comedy is pretty lousy. One of the funnier parts has Lorre calling Karloff a "dirty old man" for turning his magic wand floppy.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 18 May 2014 15:33 (nine years ago) link

Wake In Fright. Liked it a lot but I'm surprised that this has uncontroversially been treated as a horror film by everybody. Peoples ideas of genre must be a lot more inclusive these days.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 18 May 2014 22:16 (nine years ago) link

One thing I found odd about the film is that it's difficult to really gauge what was getting to him the most. He wasn't totally uptight about hunting or drunken antics; you're not really supposed to totally sympathise with his knee-jerk feelings about the other characters sex lives either.
I guess the kangaroo fighting and the idea of becoming a stranded alcoholic around those same people was the worst.

The director seems to be yet another guy who unfortunately spent most of his days doing less than ideal material.
Gary Bond has such an impressive face and voice, I'd like to see him in more.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 19 May 2014 16:57 (nine years ago) link

popular definition of horror seems to have changed massively in the last decade & a half. now includes basically anything that could reasonably be described as "horrifying" (or even just "disturbing"). there's an admirable clarity and simplicity to this, but i'm not comfortable with it.

katsu kittens (contenderizer), Monday, 19 May 2014 21:53 (nine years ago) link

I'm conflicted too about horror being basically only required to be unpleasant/disturbing. But if it pleases some fans and creators then I'm for it.

I did recently see someone complaining that Jean Rollin films shouldn't be called horror. I may have never discovered The Shout if it wasn't lumped in the genre, so I'm grateful for that (fantasy films have such a poor tradition that stuff like Hourglass Sanatorium and Dean Spanley is more likely to be discussed in horror magazines).
I also think that if Bride Of Frankenstein qualifies then so does Nightmare Before Christmas.

I think it's a bigger issue in prose than anywhere else. I've seen so many reviewers disgusted that they read someone like Robert Aickman rather than something more traditional. I support diversity but I have to admit that I'm disappointed when I read a horror anthology with too much mundane realism for my taste(stuff like losing a child or terminal cancer), but I shouldn't be able to(nor anyone else) get to decide what never goes in a horror anthology.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 20 May 2014 14:15 (nine years ago) link

INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (50s version)
It's fine but it didn't do anything special for me. Not really required viewing.

SECONDS
Good. Has some really fine moments (especially when the images are distorted), I might need to see it again because I didn't pick up on everything. I actually think it's one of the bleakest harshest pre-70s horror films I've ever seen.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 25 May 2014 20:29 (nine years ago) link

Both incredible films imo

Οὖτις, Sunday, 25 May 2014 21:07 (nine years ago) link

Seen someone talking about the House series and I just realised I have saw the first three at different times. I remember some seriously heated expectations when I was young as if they were the ultimate haunted house films but they really aren't.

It's mostly a horror comedy series. I think more than one film has the houses with gateways into different locations, like jungles.

The first one has some okay monstery stuff but it's mostly memorable for one of the most hideous creatures I've ever seen in a film (a miserable looking corpse of a large lady with sharp teeth), I remember seeing its face on a Fangoria cover and being incredibly disturbed, thinking the film must be totally harrowing. I don't remember if any of it was funny though, probably not.

I thought the second was quite entertaining in a goofy way, with buddy comedy, these weird jungle adventures, a charming old cowboy corpse and some impressive monster creations at the end. But I still wouldn't go as far to recommend it.

The third one was just renamed to fit into this series, so the reason it feels nothing like the others is that it wasn't supposed to be part of the series.
I don't think it's supposed to be funny, although there is a really out of place scene in which the villain makes cat noises before he forces himself on the wife of the main character. That scene is really upsetting because (1)the cat noises and the cartoonish behaviour of the villain make it seem like it was supposed to be the only funny thing in the film (2) as silly as the villain is played, he comes across a genuinely horrible, hostile and malicious rapist, the wife seems totally helpless and the hero kind of hopeless too. At the time it felt uncomfortably cruel but I saw it quite some time ago.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 26 May 2014 01:12 (nine years ago) link

always hated the house movies, though they seem beloved of many. seconds is spectacular tho.

riot grillz (contenderizer), Monday, 26 May 2014 05:24 (nine years ago) link

house 4 sucks but it does have this classic scene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDZoPxi7r64

slam dunk, Monday, 26 May 2014 23:26 (nine years ago) link

Abominable Dr Phibes. This is actually just like Theatre Of Blood in that it's a horror/comedy Vincent Price vehicle in which he kills off people in inventive ways with the help of a pretty young female assistant, people who he believes wronged him in the past. Very specific similarities.

It's way more stylish than Theatre Of Blood, his character is more cool too. Quite enjoyable in places but I wouldn't recommend it strongly.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 1 June 2014 14:47 (nine years ago) link

The House That Screamed (1969). Spanish production. Girls are disappearing from an isolated boarding school. I highly recommend this, it's reminiscent of Bava - especially Blood and Black Lace - but with a heavy layer of sexual repression and some of the perversion that goes with that. Boasting a spectacular female cast led by Lilli Palmer, plus the young actor who would appear the next year with Jane Asher in Deep End.

Josefa, Sunday, 1 June 2014 17:22 (nine years ago) link

Don't get people who are rooting against Sgt Howie in TWM. He may be a bit of a prude but how can you not feel for him? Even on a basic level of empathy for a guy who's clearly trying to do good while all around plot against him.

I never root against Howie! He's certainly not someone I'd want to hang out with in real life, but he's a damn good cop, has a philosophy and sticks to it, and does nearly everything right... though it ultimately does him no good. Love Howie!

COFFIN JOE COLLECTION is a bargain even if most of the 9 films are very poor

I'm shocked by how many people still haven't seen these. There are kind of mind-blowing. There is nothing else like them. That dude had some obsessions and he never let them go, and the movies, if memory recalls, just get trippier and trippier. If only that 9-disc set weren't Region 2!

The Thnig, Friday, 6 June 2014 19:35 (nine years ago) link

house 4 sucks but it does have this classic scene:

this is amazing btw

Οὖτις, Friday, 6 June 2014 20:25 (nine years ago) link

I wouldn't say they were progressively trippier, some of the later ones are very stale, even with the (completely real) eyeball operation scene. They are all interesting for some reason or other. The anthology film had real potential to be a good film but didn't make it.

Some have compared him to Jodorowsky and in terms of his obsessions, there is something to that. The idea of a horror icon who is obsessed with finding the ultimate woman to make the ultimate son to carry on his bloodline is very fresh and fascinating.

Coffin Joe lamented that there are fewer horror icons now (or less good ones) and I agree that is unfortunate. After the various Chaney, Schreck, Barrymore, Veidt, Lugosi, Karloff, Christopher Lee, Cushing and Price characters, what are we left with? I like Englund a bit, Bruce Campbell can be good if not spread too thickly but I can't see much else. Maybe there should be conscious effort to make new exciting characters who are somewhat cartoony.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 6 June 2014 20:27 (nine years ago) link

MESSIAH OF EVIL

I was wondering for quite a while which DVD version I should get and how much I was willing to pay. Code Red version is supposed to be the only one worth getting, it has the originally intended widescreen and the director pulled out the theme song he didn't approve of.

The few Code Red copies left were very expensive so I went for the public domain version on YouTube.

I actually like the theme song, it's as evocative as anything in the film. Since I didn't see it widescreen, I guess I can't completely judge the visuals but it didn't look quite as stylish as I had heard it did. It has nice touches here and there but I couldn't recommend it on that basis.

I generally don't flinch when I see lousy fashions of 60s-70s-80s films but I think a lot of horror films are damaged by fashions that were contemporary for the time. It's an annoyance in loads of 70s films when you see people who look ready to go to the disco, or wealthy people at parties surrounded by bland leisure music, it's a bit garish yucky and it makes a lot of sexploitation films quite unpleasant. The men's haircuts are often quite bad too.

It's quite goofy and badly acted generally but there are some decent foreboding moments and night wandering scenes. It's okay, I'm glad I didn't pay some silly price for it.

I'm thinking I should start limiting the amount I pay for films more, only pay above 13 pounds for less risky seeming films. Even though I buy a fair amount of films, I generally don't find it rewarding enough. It's very rare that I find something I love. With all these film streaming services around, maybe I should wait until more becomes available. The UK Netflix selection is still lousy.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 8 June 2014 18:30 (nine years ago) link

Also, the film is said to have stopped shooting before they could finish properly. It seems like a full film to me.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 8 June 2014 18:37 (nine years ago) link

You shouldn't judge Messiah of Evil based on PD prints. It's a strange and special film which loses a lot when watched in P&S and in anything other than OAR. The CR DVD was pricey but properly restored. The good news is that a Blu-ray is coming soon. Probably late July. Along with a BD upgrade of another CR classic, Scavolini's Nightmare(s) (In a Damaged Brain), uncut.

silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Sunday, 8 June 2014 21:23 (nine years ago) link

Do you think the bluray will get a uk release?

Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 9 June 2014 00:19 (nine years ago) link

(ha, first ddg hit for "Stephen king macbare" is me in another ilx thread)

koogs, Thursday, 12 January 2023 08:01 (one year ago) link

two months pass...

Holy shit, Der Fan (1982). Just saw a screening. A lot of unpack on that one, but man pretty affecting, even just as a incredibly slow burn (coming-of-age) thriller to the climax, let alone all the pop music idolatry metaphor for Nazism. Don't want to spoil it for those who haven't seen it, even by indirectly comparing to a certain iconic modern horror it's probably influenced, but yeah... catch it if you get a chance.

Nhex, Saturday, 18 March 2023 21:36 (one year ago) link

All Region bluray of Laurin coming
https://secondrundvd.com/comingsoon.html

Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 18 March 2023 22:22 (one year ago) link

four months pass...

Nice that two of my favourite Italian films are getting blurays: Horrible Dr Hichcock and Night Of The Devils. Not sure I need to buy these films again but the former might benefit an upgrade. Undecided.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 21 July 2023 01:48 (eight months ago) link

one month passes...

Laurin is pretty good. Grim little Christmas film I didn't understand was a bonus feature.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 11 September 2023 18:10 (seven months ago) link

If you haven't heard of it, here's a trailer of the recent remaster
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3qRUc0PHGo

Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 11 September 2023 19:22 (seven months ago) link

Just watched The Exorcist, which I'd never seen before (it's on Max). It's technically accomplished, but only moderately frightening. More interesting for its depressing early 70s vibe. NYC in 1972: scarier than demonic possession!

read-only (unperson), Sunday, 17 September 2023 03:30 (seven months ago) link

three weeks pass...

Watched Event Horizon for the first time - first two-thirds I was confused how it got bad reviews on release, it looked great and was creepy as hell.

The back third horror action could have been all right but it's the rare time I wish a movie had been longer - more build up to Sam Neill going insane or something. As it was it dropped from a couple of rungs below Alien to a couple of rungs below Hellraiser.

papal hotwife (milo z), Tuesday, 10 October 2023 03:55 (six months ago) link

I still haven't seen it I full but it terrorized me from the bits I saw in high school

real warm grandpa (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 10 October 2023 04:16 (six months ago) link

As Sam Neill horror movies go, it's Possession > Event Horizon > In the Mouth of Madness > The Omen III.

read-only (unperson), Tuesday, 10 October 2023 04:24 (six months ago) link

Night of the Demon is likely my favorite horror film ever. Jacques Tourneur is one of the great Hollywood directors and Demon is certainly one of his masterpieces in my book.

A great concept - most horror films deal with fear of the unknown, and this one develops that idea to its furthest extent. You have characters with a comfortable understanding of the world that is based on some rock solid logic - it would be very hard to take that away and convince them that the foundation for everything they believe is fallacious. To do so would be traumatizing. And what happens when they do accept that they can no longer rationalize the world around them? Suddenly anything can happen, and that leaves them very vulnerable. It's terrifying - reality becomes very alien and very hostile. Yes, Dana Andrews generally keeps his cool, but that isn't the case with Professor Harrington or with the audience.

And regardless of whether Tourneur wanted to film those demon shots, he was right to be unhappy because they break from the ambiguity inherent in the challenges to the characters' perceptions. Aside from the emerging smoke, they should have been cut out. If the rest of the film hadn't been so strong, they would have spun the entire movie on a far less powerful trajectory.

birdistheword, Tuesday, 10 October 2023 07:26 (six months ago) link

I watched DEATH SPA (1988) over the weekend. Totally recommend it if you love ludicrous 80s horror. There's some hilarious and campy 80s design/acting/fashion throughout but it actually goes hard with the gore too. I was thinking of the Patton Oswalt bit about the movie Death Bed (The Bed That Eats People)....this is the GYM THAT KILLS PEOPLE. Great ending too as well.

Saxophone Of Futility (Michael B), Tuesday, 10 October 2023 09:40 (six months ago) link

Death Spa is great but it absolutely must be paired with a side of Killer Workout (aka Aerobicide).

Prop Dramedy (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 10 October 2023 12:30 (six months ago) link

I'll have to return to Event Horizon one of these days. I saw it at the time and basically hated it

insert nothing here (Eric H.), Tuesday, 10 October 2023 12:32 (six months ago) link

BFI: "Only 5 of the mere 17 great British horror movies ever made were from before Y2K"

https://letterboxd.com/bfi/list/great-british-horror-films/

Dwigt Rortugal (Eric H.), Wednesday, 18 October 2023 13:59 (six months ago) link

Pretty embarrassing. You'd think that list was made by an American (who'd only just started getting into horror movies like three years ago).

Prop Dramedy (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 18 October 2023 14:10 (six months ago) link

it's a list of their facilities coordinator's favorite British horror films, so?

bulb after bulb, Wednesday, 18 October 2023 14:24 (six months ago) link

Greatest American Horror Films of All Time:

Night of the Living Dead
The Shining
Halloween
uhh...Nightmares on Elm Street? I think is what it's called?
It Part 1
It Part 2
Megan
Totally Killer
Saw X
The Exorcist: Believer

Prop Dramedy (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 18 October 2023 14:38 (six months ago) link

Host wasn't THAT good, geez

real warm grandpa (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 18 October 2023 14:41 (six months ago) link

Yeah, this just seems like a little list of favourites from a BFI staff member, rather than anything more institutional.

A more comprehensive list went up on the BFI website this time last year:

https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/great-horror-film-from-every-year-from-1922-now

Ward Fowler, Wednesday, 18 October 2023 14:46 (six months ago) link

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It’s everywhere.

THEY FOLLOW.
The long-awaited sequel to the modern horror classic IT FOLLOWS from David Robert Mitchell.
Coming soon. pic.twitter.com/V1IiS7PpzU

— NEON (@neonrated) October 30, 2023

Number None, Monday, 30 October 2023 21:20 (five months ago) link

Really enjoyed It Follows

real warm grandpa (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 31 October 2023 04:43 (five months ago) link

Just watched CUJO for the first time. It's streaming on Max. Wow, that movie hits hard. It's basically a late 70s/early 80s kitchen sink drama for the first 45 minutes — there's an unhappily married couple (she's cheating on him) with an only slightly annoying kid. Then the mom's car breaks down and she drives it to the mechanic's house/shop only to discover that a) he's out of town, as is her husband and b) the mechanic's St. Bernard is rabid. From there it's 45 minutes of siege movie, tense as hell but with zero cheating. It really earns every bit of tension, and the ending is barely happy. Highly recommended — it's instantly moved to the top of my list of Stephen King movies, right up there with The Dead Zone and Salem's Lot and The Shining.

read-only (unperson), Wednesday, 1 November 2023 03:07 (five months ago) link

If the movie had only stayed faithful to the book’s original ending, it would be the last great movie of the Uber-downer ‘70s

Dwigt Rortugal (Eric H.), Wednesday, 1 November 2023 03:12 (five months ago) link

Yeah, but even the ending you do get is dark as fuck. The main couple's marriage was disintegrating before all this, and now they've got a probably permanently traumatized kid, Mom's gotta get rabies shots, pan out just a little bit and life is basically over for them.

read-only (unperson), Wednesday, 1 November 2023 03:26 (five months ago) link

Naw, everything worked out ok.

https://www.joblo.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/deecujo1-1.jpg

peace, man, Monday, 6 November 2023 15:57 (five months ago) link

I really love the behind-the-scenes detail about the filming of Cujo and the lengths that the director had to go to make the incredibly friendly dog actors appear even a little bit ferocious.

Material Wetness (Old Lunch), Monday, 6 November 2023 16:02 (five months ago) link

that is an incredible photo

Nhex, Tuesday, 7 November 2023 15:16 (five months ago) link

five months pass...

Black Roses.

heeelarious. my favorite bit is how the band actually learns an extremely lame pop/rock ballad to fool all the parents in town before launching into their real setlist. like what if the olds had stuck around for a bit, did they have more sub-Foreigner songs at their disposal?

CEO Greedwagon (Neanderthal), Friday, 12 April 2024 19:55 (one week ago) link

lol yes i loved that so much

ivy., Friday, 12 April 2024 19:59 (one week ago) link

grow, my flowers of evil!

Nhex, Sunday, 14 April 2024 03:30 (five days ago) link


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