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Post by Basil on Oct 19, 2016 0:31:08 GMT
Jesus, Davey ... where do you find all these trashy horror movies? I saw Don't Breathe last night. All I can say is ... meh. I guess the basic idea was kind of cool, but the movie itself did very little for me and it certainly didn't scare me. People in the theatre were screaming like crazy at every little jumpscare, and I was just like ... seriously? I'm really not of fan of the excessive use of jumpscares in horror movies nowadays. The acting was pretty great, though. I really liked the main girl character.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 19, 2016 12:40:56 GMT
It's funny that you watched this one and that you commented on the suspense. I just watched it too and gave a short review in the movie thread. It was very very tense and suspenseful, but there were moments when I felt the tension fell away, and I was confused about how to feel because of the pacing. I liked it very much and was hooked the entire time, so it wasn't a complete falling away. I'm having a hard time describing what I mean. Would you call it a horror movie? The pacing felt very different than the usual horror or thriller. I think that's why I was "confused." The dog at the end was so touching and genius. Were you expecting it to get the manager guy on the road like I was? The pacing was different than the typical horror movie, but this made the movie more suspenseful for me. The fact that Anton Yelchin, who is the lead character, gets his arm so viciously mauled early on in the movie really made things unpredictable for me, like anything could happen and nobody was safe. So I was on edge from that point on. Also the film lulls you into a false sense of security a few times. The moment where the boyfriend of the murdered girl gets shot in the face out of nowhere was a HUGE scare just because you thought the characters were safe in that part of the bar. I loved how calm Patrick Stewart was during the movie, he seemed very realistic and calculating, like a regular guy who just wants to keep his business out of trouble, and it made the few moments where he lost his temper scary. I like how he didn't have to be menacing, but you could see how the other nazis revered and even feared him. I think it's hard to qualify because it bucks the frequent cliches of horror movies. It really does its own thing, and the execution is great, because it's such a minimalist story. I also loved the dog moment. I wasn't sure what would happen, but both the surviving characters tried to shoot it, but they were out of ammo. You can hear their guns clicking when it walks by. I didn't notice that Anton Yelchin got top billing, and I was convinced that Alia Shawkat would be the one to survive. That's probably part of what threw me off. Yeah, Patrick Stewart was terrifying. In another film he would have eventually shown us what he's capable of in some kind of insane torture scene or something. I did notice that they tried to shoot the dog. That was just so well done. I didn't like the Nazi girl's last line, though. That fell flat to me.
The People Under the Stairs looks like my kind of movie.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 20, 2016 13:27:11 GMT
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Post by DaveyJoe on Oct 20, 2016 18:53:12 GMT
Frankenstein (1931) The perfect film to watch on the Dark and Stormy theme night, this was always one of my favorite Universal monster movies. When you think about it, this must have been a pretty grisly movie for the 1930s, and could you consider the monster to be a zombie? I guess he's not technically a re-animated corpse, but a cobbled together monstrosity from various body parts, so maybe not. I did a double take when Frankenstein referred to his assistant as Fritz, I guess Igor doesn't show up until the sequel. Speaking of Fritz, this guy is basically the first bully in film history. As soon as they give the monster life, Fritz starts whipping the guy for no reason. What a douche! It's no wonder the monster freaks out and starts killing people. So is the monster a complex character, or just a mindless villain? He seems to be more reactionary than blood thirsty. He doesn't really hurt anybody until Fritz starts fucking with him, shoving a torch in his face. I guess Fritz was just eager to have somebody to look down upon, but man, Dr. Frankenstein needs to keep his assistants under control. Handle your shit, Herr Doctor. There's also the famous scene with the little girl, where the monster shows some tenderness.. before killing her. So I think there's some complexity in Karloff's performance, even if I can't help but think of Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood calling him a talentless cocksucker. The Devil's Wedding Night (1971) This is a sleazy Italian horror movie, I know that statement is kind of redundant, starring Mark Damon as twin brothers who investigate a Carpathian castle in search of the Ring of Nibulungen. This ring is said to hold great power, but there are legends of vampires in the region. This movie seems to be part Countess Bathory, part Count Dracula, with a zombie servant thrown in for good measure. The film is pretty atmospheric, with lots of great scenes of the brothers wandering through the Gothic castle complete with spiderwebs and thunderclaps. When the brothers meet Countess Dracula, they see the Ring of Nibelheim on her finger. She uses its power to lure sexy village girls to the castle, so she can bathe in their blood in an ancient skin moisturizing technique. There is plenty of seduction, nudity, and blood flow as the film progresses, but can the brothers stay in control of their souls as they try to defeat the evil Countess and claim the Ring of Nimbletoes? The dubbing is awkward, but if you dig Italian genre flicks from this era, it's pretty entertaining.
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Post by Basil on Oct 20, 2016 20:58:54 GMT
Frankenstein (1931) The perfect film to watch on the Dark and Stormy theme night, this was always one of my favorite Universal monster movies. When you think about it, this must have been a pretty grisly movie for the 1930s, and could you consider the monster to be a zombie? I guess he's not technically a re-animated corpse, but a cobbled together monstrosity from various body parts, so maybe not. I did a double take when Frankenstein referred to his assistant as Fritz, I guess Igor doesn't show up until the sequel. Speaking of Fritz, this guy is basically the first bully in film history. As soon as they give the monster life, Fritz starts whipping the guy for no reason. What a douche! It's no wonder the monster freaks out and starts killing people. So is the monster a complex character, or just a mindless villain? He seems to be more reactionary than blood thirsty. He doesn't really hurt anybody until Fritz starts fucking with him, shoving a torch in his face. I guess Fritz was just eager to have somebody to look down upon, but man, Dr. Frankenstein needs to keep his assistants under control. Handle your shit, Herr Doctor. There's also the famous scene with the little girl, where the monster shows some tenderness.. before killing her. So I think there's some complexity in Karloff's performance, even if I can't help but think of Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood calling him a talentless cocksucker. I've never actually seen this (yeah, I know ) but in the original story by Mary Shelley, the creature was definitely not a monster, he was actually quite sophisticated and kind-hearted. My favourite Universal monster movie is Phantom of the Opera, for obvious reasons. Lon Chaney's performance is captiving. It's a real shame that this is the only movie to date that gets the character of Erik right (for the most part). Every other version portrays him as either the villain, or a victim of circumstances, and Erik is neither. This is also the only film adaptation that gets the deformity kind of right, it's not quite the living corpse Leroux describes in his novel, but it's pretty close. At least his face wasn't burned off by acid like in most other movie adaptation. This movie even has a version of the Persian character, which is neat. The only thing I truly hate about it is the ending. In the original story, Erik lets Christine go after she has shown him kindness - and then he dies, alone in the darkness. Here, Erik doesn't let her go, he kidnaps her and is captured and killed by an angry mob while laughing maniacally. It's so dumb ... and so sad, because the original ending was actually quite faithful to the novel, but the test audience hated it. They felt like the Phantom should be punished for his crimes, so the studio redid the whole thing. The original ending is lost forever, and what we're left with ruins what could have been the perfect film adaptation of Phantom of the Opera.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 20, 2016 22:46:09 GMT
Frankenstein (1931) The perfect film to watch on the Dark and Stormy theme night, this was always one of my favorite Universal monster movies. When you think about it, this must have been a pretty grisly movie for the 1930s, and could you consider the monster to be a zombie? I guess he's not technically a re-animated corpse, but a cobbled together monstrosity from various body parts, so maybe not. I did a double take when Frankenstein referred to his assistant as Fritz, I guess Igor doesn't show up until the sequel. Speaking of Fritz, this guy is basically the first bully in film history. As soon as they give the monster life, Fritz starts whipping the guy for no reason. What a douche! It's no wonder the monster freaks out and starts killing people. So is the monster a complex character, or just a mindless villain? He seems to be more reactionary than blood thirsty. He doesn't really hurt anybody until Fritz starts fucking with him, shoving a torch in his face. I guess Fritz was just eager to have somebody to look down upon, but man, Dr. Frankenstein needs to keep his assistants under control. Handle your shit, Herr Doctor. There's also the famous scene with the little girl, where the monster shows some tenderness.. before killing her. So I think there's some complexity in Karloff's performance, even if I can't help but think of Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood calling him a talentless cocksucker. I really like this movie. I liked the book too, but they are completely different. The only similarity is that a man makes a living being from dead bodies, and the whole endeavor ends up going poorly. In the movie, I end up feeling really sorry for the monster. And you're right, Fritz is an asshole. It's so funny that they have that as the name of a ring. It's the same name as Wagner's opera, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Ring_des_Nibelungen. It was inspired by the Norse sagas, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibelungenlied. I studied all that crap in graduate school. Also funny that they're combining that with myths about Dracula and the actual history of Elizabeth Bathory. It's a mashup of European literary history.
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Post by DaveyJoe on Oct 21, 2016 1:48:31 GMT
Dark Water (2002) Hideo Nakata's follow up to the Ringu films is another moody horror film with an effective narrative and strong emotional core. Yoshimi is going through an ugly divorce and trying to win custody of her five-year-old daughter. She's told that at that age mothers typically have an advantage, but psychological issues in her past could complicate matters. She moves into a dilapidated apartment with her daughter where she begins to have visions of water stains and a little girl in a yellow rain coat. Yoshimi struggles to keep her life together as she juggles the stress of finding work, the divorce, news that her daughter is acting strangely at school, and increasing sightings of flooding water and dripping apparitions. Featuring dark hallways and near constant rain, this is one gloomy movie. Typical of other J-horror films of the era, this is a slow burn that focuses more on creepy atmosphere than loud noises and jump scares. The driving force of the movie is the touching relationship between Yoshimi and her daughter. They really have great chemistry, and at times I forgot I was watching a horror movie because I was so sucked into their interactions and the story at large. Yoshimi's husband is slimy, and even with Yoshimi's personal flaws, you can tell he doesn't deserve custody. As the spooky visions increase, the final act of the film grows unbearably tense and ends with an amazingly powerful punch to the gut I did not see coming. This is easily the best first-time-viewing I've had this month, and after the movie I sat watching the credits in silence, feeling completely emotionally drained. This movie is going to stick with me for some time. Jaws (1975) Jaws is one of the most effective suspense movies that succeeds because of its most famous failure. I wonder if the movie would have had the same staying power if the shark effects worked as intended, because they couldn't get the damn thing to work, they had to keep it hidden and let the audience use their imagination. This was a hidden blessing, as it what makes the film so scary, especially when you consider how shitty the shark looks today in high definition. Of course the film has an unforgettable soundtrack, awesome photography, and well developed characters that keep the audience invested, but it's the mystery around the shark that terrorizes viewers and elevates the film beyond a creature-feature. Some things that occurred to me while watching this for the umpteenth time: during the hippy beach party at the beginning, the young woman invites a strange dude to go skinny dipping with each her, and they don't even know each other's names, is this what the 70s was like? Little Alex Kitchner, 2nd shark victim, was 12 years old, but his parents look like they're in their 60s. Mrs. Kitchner slaps Chief Brody in the face without getting shot or at least tazed, perhaps the most dated aspect of the film. The anti-semitic shark hunter Quint is oddly likable, even though he's introduced by scratching his finger nails down a chalkboard. The homo-erotic scene where the guys compare scars could never work today with a millennial cast. Instead they'd compare who has the most student loan debt.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2016 13:25:18 GMT
God, I love Jaws. It's just a perfect movie. The scar-comparing scene is one of my favorite scenes in any movie. Everybody was high and doing it in the 70s if movies can be believed. I mostly missed it.
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Post by DaveyJoe on Oct 21, 2016 20:25:20 GMT
Jesus, Davey ... where do you find all these trashy horror movies? I saw Don't Breathe last night. All I can say is ... meh. I guess the basic idea was kind of cool, but the movie itself did very little for me and it certainly didn't scare me. People in the theatre were screaming like crazy at every little jumpscare, and I was just like ... seriously? I'm really not of fan of the excessive use of jumpscares in horror movies nowadays. The acting was pretty great, though. I really liked the main girl character. The horror genre has a rabid fanbase and it's one of the only genres that sells consistently well on home video. So all of these distributors are unearthing forgotten cult films that were dismissed upon their release. And genre fans and 80s kids are buying them up. A lot of them are entertaining to a guy like myself, but I wouldn't call them objectively good. Surprised you didn't like Don't Breathe. I've mostly heard good things about it, even if the premise sounds a bit gimmicky.
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Post by DaveyJoe on Oct 21, 2016 20:32:49 GMT
The pacing was different than the typical horror movie, but this made the movie more suspenseful for me. The fact that Anton Yelchin, who is the lead character, gets his arm so viciously mauled early on in the movie really made things unpredictable for me, like anything could happen and nobody was safe. So I was on edge from that point on. Also the film lulls you into a false sense of security a few times. The moment where the boyfriend of the murdered girl gets shot in the face out of nowhere was a HUGE scare just because you thought the characters were safe in that part of the bar. I loved how calm Patrick Stewart was during the movie, he seemed very realistic and calculating, like a regular guy who just wants to keep his business out of trouble, and it made the few moments where he lost his temper scary. I like how he didn't have to be menacing, but you could see how the other nazis revered and even feared him. I think it's hard to qualify because it bucks the frequent cliches of horror movies. It really does its own thing, and the execution is great, because it's such a minimalist story. I also loved the dog moment. I wasn't sure what would happen, but both the surviving characters tried to shoot it, but they were out of ammo. You can hear their guns clicking when it walks by. I didn't notice that Anton Yelchin got top billing, and I was convinced that Alia Shawkat would be the one to survive. That's probably part of what threw me off. Yeah, Patrick Stewart was terrifying. In another film he would have eventually shown us what he's capable of in some kind of insane torture scene or something. I did notice that they tried to shoot the dog. That was just so well done. I didn't like the Nazi girl's last line, though. That fell flat to me.
The People Under the Stairs looks like my kind of movie. I liked the last line. It's in line with her character who is really distant from the other characters. They band openly insults her several times throughout the movie, and she shows no interest in making friends with them, but just surviving and killing the Nazis who murdered her friend. Yelchin was more affected by the events that happened, but it's no like she wants to exchange email addresses with him and keep in touch. If anything the callback to the desert island band that was a running gag would have been more of a cliche ending, so I like how she dismissed it outright.
One thing I picked up on this time is that the band calls her a nazi at one point and stupid for falling in with a crowd like that. She says she's not a believer, but where she grew up she was abused and it wasn't by white people. It added some interesting depth to her character I thought. And it probably explains why she seems a bit bored during the situation. While the band is timid and letting the Nazis control the situation, there are several times where she is aggressive and attacks them or suggests they start shooting, etc. This is not the first time she's been through some shit. She'd rather go out fighting than be a victim again.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2016 22:14:20 GMT
I didn't notice that Anton Yelchin got top billing, and I was convinced that Alia Shawkat would be the one to survive. That's probably part of what threw me off. Yeah, Patrick Stewart was terrifying. In another film he would have eventually shown us what he's capable of in some kind of insane torture scene or something. I did notice that they tried to shoot the dog. That was just so well done. I didn't like the Nazi girl's last line, though. That fell flat to me.
The People Under the Stairs looks like my kind of movie. I liked the last line. It's in line with her character who is really distant from the other characters. They band openly insults her several times throughout the movie, and she shows no interest in making friends with them, but just surviving and killing the Nazis who murdered her friend. Yelchin was more affected by the events that happened, but it's no like she wants to exchange email addresses with him and keep in touch. If anything the callback to the desert island band that was a running gag would have been more of a cliche ending, so I like how she dismissed it outright.
One thing I picked up on this time is that the band calls her a nazi at one point and stupid for falling in with a crowd like that. She says she's not a believer, but where she grew up she was abused and it wasn't by white people. It added some interesting depth to her character I thought. And it probably explains why she seems a bit bored during the situation. While the band is timid and letting the Nazis control the situation, there are several times where she is aggressive and attacks them or suggests they start shooting, etc. This is not the first time she's been through some shit. She'd rather go out fighting than be a victim again. I thought she was one of the more interesting characters. I did notice that the band treated her with contempt at first and called her Nazi, and that her behavior and responses were a lot different than theirs. I also got the impression that this was not her first time witnessing violence. It was cool that she knew to look for the red shoelaces. I didn't think the last line was out of character; it just changed the tone in a way I found jarring. I think I would have preferred if it had ended with them saying nothing and just let us take in that last scene. Anyway, it was an excellent movie. I'll definitely see it again.
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Post by TheMadQueen on Oct 22, 2016 13:47:03 GMT
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Post by Basil on Oct 22, 2016 14:47:35 GMT
Surprised you didn't like Don't Breathe. I've mostly heard good things about it, even if the premise sounds a bit gimmicky. I thought it was very well done and the acting was great, but it's just not the type of horror that I enjoy. It might make you jump a few times, but it won't scare you.
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Post by DaveyJoe on Oct 22, 2016 20:50:01 GMT
Dude, I think the VVitch is one of the finest horror films of modern times. I strongly believe that it will have staying power, and in thirty years we will look back on it as a classic with reverence like The Exorcist and Halloween. It was my favorite film of 2015, and perhaps even the decade so far.
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Post by Basil on Oct 22, 2016 21:21:32 GMT
Dude, I think the VVitch is one of the finest horror films of modern times. I strongly believe that it will have staying power, and in thirty years we will look back on it as a classic with reverence like The Exorcist and Halloween. It was my favorite film of 2015, and perhaps even the decade so far. It's that good? I haven't even seen it yet. I remember opinions on this board were mixed when the movie came out.
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Post by TheMadQueen on Oct 22, 2016 21:30:33 GMT
Dude, I think the VVitch is one of the finest horror films of modern times. I strongly believe that it will have staying power, and in thirty years we will look back on it as a classic with reverence like The Exorcist and Halloween. It was my favorite film of 2015, and perhaps even the decade so far. It's that good? I haven't even seen it yet. I remember opinions on this board were mixed when the movie came out. no it's really good. It's not like jump scares but like slow creepy suspense.
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Post by DaveyJoe on Oct 22, 2016 21:36:08 GMT
Dude, I think the VVitch is one of the finest horror films of modern times. I strongly believe that it will have staying power, and in thirty years we will look back on it as a classic with reverence like The Exorcist and Halloween. It was my favorite film of 2015, and perhaps even the decade so far. It's that good? I haven't even seen it yet. I remember opinions on this board were mixed when the movie came out. Mine is the only opinion that matters. Seriously though it's an excellent film, the thing is that expectations can ruin a movie for people, it's a slow burn drama. The thing that impressed me the most is how this film really transports you to different time and place. The production, dialogue, and performances feel so authentic, at times I had to turn on subtitles to understand the dialogue because it was old old English. But that's a good thing, it's a challenging and thought provoking film. Don't expect constant scares and black magic. It's more focused on a family trying to survive in the wilderness. And it shows how fragile the family unit can be when times are tough, it's full of paranoia and struggle, and to me that is scarier than a monster flying around on a broomstick.
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Post by Basil on Oct 22, 2016 21:54:58 GMT
Davey, have you seen Martyrs? That's one of the most disturbing movies I've ever seen, it made me feel sick in a way that no other movie ever has. ETA: And I mean the French original from 2008, by the way ... not the American remake.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2016 22:50:59 GMT
Dude, I think the VVitch is one of the finest horror films of modern times. I strongly believe that it will have staying power, and in thirty years we will look back on it as a classic with reverence like The Exorcist and Halloween. It was my favorite film of 2015, and perhaps even the decade so far. It's that good? I haven't even seen it yet. I remember opinions on this board were mixed when the movie came out. Nic really hated it. Davey, Sati, and I loved it. What does _that_ tell you?
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Post by Admin on Oct 23, 2016 13:17:35 GMT
It's that good? I haven't even seen it yet. I remember opinions on this board were mixed when the movie came out. Nic really hated it. Davey, Sati, and I loved it. What does _that_ tell you? I don't know who that person you mentioned hated it is but the film is still in my top 10 of the year...granted I only saw around 20 movies this year but still
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