2022 October Horror Movie Marathon!

FlakeNoir

Hedda Gabler said:

fushingfeef said:

26. The Greasy Strangler (FTV)

A socially inept man lives with his abrasive father who is trying to steal his girlfriend, not realizing that by night he is a serial killer who costumes himself in a layer of grease.

Somehow I hadn’t heard about this unusual 2016 horror comedy, which seems designed to offend and repulse as much as make you laugh. The humor is along the lines of Napoleon Dynamite or something Todd Solondz would direct, with an emphasis on awkward characters and cringeworthy moments. The film is also designed to disgust us in a humorous way, as if John Waters, the king of making transgressive movies about filthy depraved humans, decided to make a horror movie. It has the feel of an underground comic book, part Daniel Clowes (Ghost World) and part Peter Bagge (Hate), with some of the ugliness of Basil Wolverton thrown in.

While the film is repulsive (prepare your eyes for way too much geriatric male simulated nudity), it’s still a fairly entertaining watch that made me laugh—not every joke lands, and some bits are annoying, but there’s an admirable cohesiveness to how far they dare to take things in this movie. There’s that whole outrageous “did you just see what I saw?” quality that would make this a great film for group viewings, depending how weird your guests are. Also, for a film populated with ugliness, the look of the film is actually really good, high quality, like something Wes Anderson would make if life kicked him the face for the past decade.

Still, the big problem that some viewers might not be able to get past is that this movie is trying way too hard to be weird for weirdness’ sake. The characters all talk in a similar stilted Emo Phillips on downers cadence. While some movies have an artistic vision and end up becoming cult classics almost by accident, this movie is simply pushing that cult movie feeling without ever giving us a chance to decide for ourselves. Sure, it’s intended to make you laugh uncomfortably, and it mostly succeeds at that, so maybe that’s good enough.

3 out of 5 stars.

Bob's October 2022 Horror Movie List
*FTV denotes first-time viewings
1. The Black Phone 3.5/5 (FTV)
2. The Mummy (2017) 3/5 (FTV)
3. The Anchoress 3/5 (FTV)
4. Antlers 4/5 (FTV)
5. Burn, Witch, Burn 3/5 (FTV)
6. Lamb 3/5 (FTV)
7. Alligator 3.5/5 (FTV)
8. Barbarian 4/5 (FTV)
9. Orphan 3.5/5 (FTV)
10. Terrifier 2 4/5 (FTV)
11. I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) 2.5/5 (FTV)
12. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 3.5/5 (FTV)
13. The Uncanny 3/5 (FTV)
14. Baghead 3.5/5 (FTV)
15. House On Haunted Hill (1959) 4.5/5
16. Wilczyca (aka She-Wolf) 3.5/5 (FTV)
17. Black Rainbow 3/5 (FTV)
18. Two Witches 3.5/5 (FTV)
19. The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies 2.5/5 (FTV)
20. La Llarona 3/5 (FTV)
21. All Hallows’ Eve 3/5 (FTV)
22. The Sadness 4/5 (FTV)
23. The Third Eye (il Terzo Occhio) 3/5 (FTV)
24. Kill List 4.5/5 (FTV)
25. Nope 3.5 (FTV)
26. The Greasy Strangler 3/5 (FTV)

Are they even trying? The Greasy Strangler? Jeezo peezo. 

Right?! It's as though a bunch of friends got on the piss together one night and...."Hey! I know... what if we made a movie and called it...."

GNTLGNT

....The Crisco Kid"....(apologies to Duncan Renaldo).....

fushingfeef

28. Incubus (1966) (FTV)

A succubus has plans to seduce and destroy a virtuous man for a change, but falls in love with him and incurs the wrath of the Incubus.

This oddity of film, once lost for three decades, has some notoriety because all of the dialogue is in Esperanto, one of the very few films to ever try this, and probably the only horror film. Also of interest is that it stars a pre-Captain Kirk William Shatner. A more sobering bit of trivia is that two of the actors involved with this film, Milos Milos (The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming) and television actress Ann Atmar committed unrelated suicides within a year of completing this film.

Unfortunately, these interesting tidbits of information about Incubus are really all that’s interesting about the movie, which itself is lifeless, awkward, and turgid. It so badly wants to be deep and arty, and carry the thematic weight and look of an Ingmar Bergman film, but instead comes off as boring, pretentious, and stiff. Not helping is the dark, low-contrast look of many “day-for-night” shots, alternately combined with actual night shots, and a soundtrack that features a constant background drone of wind. The film couldn’t find a distributor in America so the only public screenings were in France, where an audience of Esperanto enthusiasts loudly jeered the actors’ incorrect pronunciations (they had been fed each line phonetically).

A few scenes are effective from a horror movie standpoint, such as the initial reveal of the winged demon-like Incubus, the underwater close-up of a man’s face as he is drowned in shallow waters, and the final scene where the Incubus transforms into a demonic goat actually packs some punch. But to get to the good stuff, we have to wade through endless scenes of actors walking across fields and through woods, and awful stilted dialog that reads even worse than it sounds in subtitle form.

For curiosity seekers and Shatner completists only.

2 out of 5 stars.

Bob's October 2022 Horror Movie List
*FTV denotes first-time viewings
1. The Black Phone 3.5/5 (FTV)
2. The Mummy (2017) 3/5 (FTV)
3. The Anchoress 3/5 (FTV)
4. Antlers 4/5 (FTV)
5. Burn, Witch, Burn 3/5 (FTV)
6. Lamb 3/5 (FTV)
7. Alligator 3.5/5 (FTV)
8. Barbarian 4/5 (FTV)
9. Orphan 3.5/5 (FTV)
10. Terrifier 2 4/5 (FTV)
11. I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) 2.5/5 (FTV)
12. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 3.5/5 (FTV)
13. The Uncanny 3/5 (FTV)
14. Baghead 3.5/5 (FTV)
15. House On Haunted Hill (1959) 4.5/5
16. Wilczyca (aka She-Wolf) 3.5/5 (FTV)
17. Black Rainbow 3/5 (FTV)
18. Two Witches 3.5/5 (FTV)
19. The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies 2.5/5 (FTV)
20. La Llarona 3/5 (FTV)
21. All Hallows’ Eve 3/5 (FTV)
22. The Sadness 4/5 (FTV)
23. The Third Eye (il Terzo Occhio) 3/5 (FTV)
24. Kill List 4.5/5 (FTV)
25. Nope 3.5 (FTV)
26. The Greasy Strangler 3/5 (FTV)
27. WNUF Halloween Special 3/5 (FTV)
28. Incubus (1966) 2/5 (FTV)

Kurben

I had been planning to see many more movies but have been a bit listless lately so many days i just ended up doing nothing. Perhaps i'm tired...?

FlakeNoir

Kurben said:

I had been planning to see many more movies but have been a bit listless lately so many days i just ended up doing nothing. Perhaps i'm tired...?

Exactly the situation with me at present @Kurben. 
Your upcoming vacation should brighten things for you. 🙂

GNTLGNT

1-Mr. Harrigan's Phone
2-The Bye-Bye Man
3-Werewolf By Night
4-Old People

Werewolf By Night is a 55 minute mini movie from Marvel, that takes one of my favorite comics as a little GNT, and turns it into a vintage B&W short with modern technique,,,,equal parts campy, fun and exciting....even had the "Projectionist cues" in the upper right of the screen....best part was "Ted".....big galoot was one I never thought would be brought into the MCU.....


Old People from Netflix, brings a German horror film, shot entirely in Poland....the irony wasn't lost on me.....strange, but still watchable movie that showed me how I'll be acting if I make it another 10 years....'ware forgetting the old folks!!.....big thumbs up for most creative use of a bedknob.....

fushingfeef

29. Army of Darkness

This third film in the Evil Dead series sends our arrogant hero Ash to the medieval era to battle an army of Deadites.

I first saw this film way back in 1993 when it was released in theaters, and although I was familiar with the Evil Dead movies titles, I hadn’t actually watched any of them, so this was my introduction to the series. This is essentially Bruce Campbell’s show, where he really came into his own, playing multiple roles and hamming it up to the max. All the typical Sam Raimi touches are here, with great use of sound, breathtaking sudden camera movements, but surprisingly blood and gore is kept pretty minimal. Let’s face it, skeletons do a lot of things, but they don’t bleed.

It's great to see large scale use of stop motion animation, and while not all of the optical effects work perfectly, there’s no CGI, which gives the movie a nice handmade charm. Although there are monsters, zombies, witches and skeletons, as well as magical incantations and spells, the movie really feels more like a fantasy adventure than a horror film, with lots of laughs and quotable lines along the way. There isn’t much for women to enjoy here (Ash is pretty much a heel to all females) so some of the humor and attitudes haven’t aged well, but we’re not really expected to look up to Ash, just laugh at his cartoonish overconfidence.

It may not quite stack up to the high standard set by the first two Evil Dead movies, but Army of Darkness delivers the goods and puts a smile on your face.

4 out of 5 stars.

Bob's October 2022 Horror Movie List
*FTV denotes first-time viewings
1. The Black Phone 3.5/5 (FTV)
2. The Mummy (2017) 3/5 (FTV)
3. The Anchoress 3/5 (FTV)
4. Antlers 4/5 (FTV)
5. Burn, Witch, Burn 3/5 (FTV)
6. Lamb 3/5 (FTV)
7. Alligator 3.5/5 (FTV)
8. Barbarian 4/5 (FTV)
9. Orphan 3.5/5 (FTV)
10. Terrifier 2 4/5 (FTV)
11. I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) 2.5/5 (FTV)
12. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 3.5/5 (FTV)
13. The Uncanny 3/5 (FTV)
14. Baghead 3.5/5 (FTV)
15. House On Haunted Hill (1959) 4.5/5
16. Wilczyca (aka She-Wolf) 3.5/5 (FTV)
17. Black Rainbow 3/5 (FTV)
18. Two Witches 3.5/5 (FTV)
19. The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies 2.5/5 (FTV)
20. La Llarona 3/5 (FTV)
21. All Hallows’ Eve 3/5 (FTV)
22. The Sadness 4/5 (FTV)
23. The Third Eye (il Terzo Occhio) 3/5 (FTV)
24. Kill List 4.5/5 (FTV)
25. Nope 3.5 (FTV)
26. The Greasy Strangler 3/5 (FTV)
27. WNUF Halloween Special 3/5 (FTV)
28. Incubus (1966) 2/5 (FTV)
29. Army of Darkness 4/5

FlakeNoir

"Life" (2017) - Netflix

"The discovery of a single-celled organism in a sample from Mars causes excitement... until the life-form starts displaying signs of intelligence."

Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson, Ryan Reynolds
Director: Daniel Espinosa

I really enjoyed this. Good suspense, excellent effects and talented cast. Nice little twist at the end.

Flakers' list:

1) The Hunger
2) Mr. Harrigan's Phone
3) Life

That's it for me, just wasn't my year for horror. But I have really enjoyed reading along, thanks guys.
I appreciate you coming back for this each year, Bob.  

Happy Halloween, everyone.

Hedda Gabler

35. Nosferatu The Vampyre*— Criterion

“Jonathan Harker is sent away to Count Dracula's castle to sell him a house in Virna, where he lives. But Count Dracula is a vampire, an undead ghoul living off men's blood. Inspired by a photograph of Lucy Harker, Jonathan's wife, Dracula moves to Virna, bringing with him death and plague... An unusually contemplative version of Dracula, in which the vampire bears the cross of not being able to get old and die.“

this is a version of Dracula I have never seen.  Directed by Werner Herzog and starring Klaus Kinski, the emphasis was on the visual. 

After taking Herzog’s Masterclass, I went into this with unusual expectations. And I got exactly that. This movie delivered more for me with the information from Herzog. 

Focused more on the atmosphere in this one, beautiful settings. He definitely used real world beauty and antiquity to tell his story. the plot changed from what we normally see in vampire films.  Van Helsing was a wimp, Lucy is married to Johnathan Harker and is Bad ass vampire hunter and Johnathan becomes King vamp. Yes, i just spoiled the shit out of that. 

Herzog can set a scene, I give him that. 

1. SERVANT *

2. Blackenstein*

3. Into the Deep: The Submarine Murder Case*

4. Mr. Harrigan’s Phone*
5. Storm of the Century
6. Demonoid*

7.  The Blair Witch Project

8. The Undead*
9. The Funhouse

10. Halloween Kills*
11. Incident On and Off a Mountain Road*

12. Midnight Club*

13. Conversations with a Killer: the Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes.*

14. Old People*

15. Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: a History of Folk Horror*

16. Piranha*
17. The Uncanny*

18. Vault of Horror

19. Tales From the Crypt 
20. The Watcher*

21. Black Butterflies*

22. American Horror Stories*, season 2

23. The Evil*

24. Ghost Ship

25. Dark Shadows*— 10 episodes of season 12

26. SCORN*

27. SERVANT* season 2

28. The Patient *

29. Cabinet of Curiosities* — episode 1 & 2
30. Cabinet of Curiosities* — episode 3 & 4
31. Barbarian*

32. Cabinet of Curiosities— 5 & 6
33. Servant - season 3
34. Cabinet of Curiosities — 7 & 8
35. Nosferatu The Vampyre*

Hedda Gabler

Thank you Bob for hosting again this year.  Good times. Good times. 

Happy Halloween! 🎃 

fushingfeef

30. Kadaicha (aka Stones of Death) (FTV)

1988 film where Australian teens are pitted against spirits of the Aboriginal burial ground that their suburban neighborhood is built upon.

Another folk horror film from the All The Haunts Be Ours box set by Severin Films, Kadaicha feels more like an attempt at an 80’s mainstream horror film than the other more arty films on this set. It’s mostly populated by 20 something actors pretending to be high school teenagers who like their cars fast and their music loud. They live in an upscale housing development built over old burial grounds, which is obviously reminiscent of Poltergeist, but there’s a decidedly Australian feel due to the presence of Aboriginal lore.

The spirits that are not able to rest visit teens in their dreams, handing them a crystalline stone that essentially marks them for death. When the teens awake, the stone has moved physically into their realm and is sitting on their pillows like a gift from the Tooth Fairy. It puts you in the mind of A Nightmare on Elm Street, so it’s easy to see how this movie got produced—who wouldn’t want a combination of Poltergeist and Nightmare? Unfortunately, that’s where the comparisons end.

While the movie isn’t awful, it’s not really remarkable either. Nothing about it really sticks out beyond the Australian angle. Because the spirits manifest themselves through things found in nature, we don’t always know what’s coming next: it could be a wild wolf, a venomous spider, or even a giant eel (surprisingly, no crocs or kangaroos). This potentially could have made it something different in an era populated by boogeyman slashers. However, most of the story is done in a very rote “good enough” manner. The dream sequences are literally identical for each of the teens, so we have to sit through the same imagery we’ve already seen before. It seems lazy and was a missed opportunity to flesh out each character by customizing their dreams, something Elm Street excelled at.

There was apparently only one copy of the film available, and it is 1988 broadcast television quality, but aside from a few really muddy scenes, I thought it mostly worked in favor of this retro horror movie. If you already have this set, give it a try, but otherwise this one is unremarkable.

2.5 out of 5 stars.

Bob's October 2022 Horror Movie List
*FTV denotes first-time viewings
1. The Black Phone 3.5/5 (FTV)
2. The Mummy (2017) 3/5 (FTV)
3. The Anchoress 3/5 (FTV)
4. Antlers 4/5 (FTV)
5. Burn, Witch, Burn 3/5 (FTV)
6. Lamb 3/5 (FTV)
7. Alligator 3.5/5 (FTV)
8. Barbarian 4/5 (FTV)
9. Orphan 3.5/5 (FTV)
10. Terrifier 2 4/5 (FTV)
11. I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) 2.5/5 (FTV)
12. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 3.5/5 (FTV)
13. The Uncanny 3/5 (FTV)
14. Baghead 3.5/5 (FTV)
15. House On Haunted Hill (1959) 4.5/5
16. Wilczyca (aka She-Wolf) 3.5/5 (FTV)
17. Black Rainbow 3/5 (FTV)
18. Two Witches 3.5/5 (FTV)
19. The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies 2.5/5 (FTV)
20. La Llarona 3/5 (FTV)
21. All Hallows’ Eve 3/5 (FTV)
22. The Sadness 4/5 (FTV)
23. The Third Eye (il Terzo Occhio) 3/5 (FTV)
24. Kill List 4.5/5 (FTV)
25. Nope 3.5 (FTV)
26. The Greasy Strangler 3/5 (FTV)
27. WNUF Halloween Special 3/5 (FTV)
28. Incubus (1966) 2/5 (FTV)
29. Army of Darkness 4/5 (FTV)
30. Kadaicha (aka Stones of Death) 2.5/5 (FTV)

GNTLGNT

....appreciate it as always good sir....

fushingfeef

Watched my last movie late last night so here's the review.  Thanks to everyone for participating, joking around and talking horror movies!  You guys are the best.


31. The Wolf of Snow Hollow (FTV)

A small town alcoholic sheriff has a nervous breakdown as a werewolf kills a new victim with each full moon.

An uneasy mix of comedy and horror disguises the fact that this is really a story of the extreme pressures a father faces who is caught between two generations that don’t understand him, and his inability to convince the rest of the town that they’ve lost their minds, not him. The film is expertly directed by Jim Cummings who also has the demanding starring role of Officer Marshall, who is not like any leading man I’ve ever seen.

His character is as far from the cool conventional Hollywood hero as it gets—he’s a hothead, frequently screaming at others, wearing his emotions and stress openly, plainly frustrated at the failures of himself and those around him. He can and does snap at any moment, but he does it in such a way that we’re more sympathetic to him than just thinking he’s a constant jerk. There’s a constant tension in every scene he’s in that keeps things interesting—you forget about the werewolf and think about the impact it's having on everyone.

The tone of the movie is a balancing act that doesn’t always work, certain lines are said in a straightforward manner but seem to be jokes, often of the darkest sort, so things are a bit off-kilter. It’s not that quirky indie comedy feel, but it’s not mainstream comedy humor either, so whether it appeals to you will be highly subjective. I wasn’t sure if I was fully aboard with the tone until midway through when I had grown more accustomed to it. The movie is always interesting and moves briskly, and despite occasional tonal awkwardness, at no point was I anything but engaged and entertained. Keep an open mind and give it a try.

4 out of 5 stars.

Bob's October 2022 Horror Movie List
*FTV denotes first-time viewings
1. The Black Phone 3.5/5 (FTV)
2. The Mummy (2017) 3/5 (FTV)
3. The Anchoress 3/5 (FTV)
4. Antlers 4/5 (FTV)
5. Burn, Witch, Burn 3/5 (FTV)
6. Lamb 3/5 (FTV)
7. Alligator 3.5/5 (FTV)
8. Barbarian 4/5 (FTV)
9. Orphan 3.5/5 (FTV)
10. Terrifier 2 4/5 (FTV)
11. I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) 2.5/5 (FTV)
12. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 3.5/5 (FTV)
13. The Uncanny 3/5 (FTV)
14. Baghead 3.5/5 (FTV)
15. House On Haunted Hill (1959) 4.5/5
16. Wilczyca (aka She-Wolf) 3.5/5 (FTV)
17. Black Rainbow 3/5 (FTV)
18. Two Witches 3.5/5 (FTV)
19. The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies 2.5/5 (FTV)
20. La Llarona 3/5 (FTV)
21. All Hallows’ Eve 3/5 (FTV)
22. The Sadness 4/5 (FTV)
23. The Third Eye (il Terzo Occhio) 3/5 (FTV)
24. Kill List 4.5/5 (FTV)
25. Nope 3.5 (FTV)
26. The Greasy Strangler 3/5 (FTV)
27. WNUF Halloween Special 3/5 (FTV)
28. Incubus (1966) 2/5 (FTV)
29. Army of Darkness 4/5 (FTV)
30. Kadaicha (aka Stones of Death) 2.5/5 (FTV)
31. The Wolf of Snow Hollow 4/5 (FTV)

GNTLGNT

...I liked Bob's take on the Sherriff....not all werewolves change with the moon....sometimes they just live inside us and snap and bite when provoked....