Spooky Time Discussion and Recommendations!

[Johnny Unusual]

Slither

This is a movie I've been meaning to watch for forever but have been hesitant because while I like body horror and black comedy, the wrong cocktail of such can sit bad with me. But after The Suicide Squad, I thought "I finally need to pull the trigger on that." After all, I generally have faith in James Gunn to make it work. And it is a good, fun movie but it really did sit uncomfortably with me to a certain extent. That's more me than the movie, for the most part, but I think the various natures of the monster threat, such as having the impreg victims still having their minds, sort of, but controllably eating flesh got to me. That's a particularly awful fate. Next to that, the melty body goo isn't so bad. And killing some kids also is unsettling (though I'm glad the baby is probably still alive). But after watching some rather graphic and tense movies, including Tenebre, this is the only one that made it hard for me to get to sleep. Though the idea of our body's want overcoming our wills and the desecration of the flesh is something that gets under my skin.

I don't think it's a mean-spirited film. I can even like a mean-spirited film, like Return of the Living Dead, which does it with just the right approach. But it's heart isn't as big as Gunn's latter works. It's interesting to see because as audacious (and similar in many ways) as The Suicide Squad is, it is has, in my mind, a big heart, even though the main characters are largely scummy villains or are monstrous (or Ratcatcher II). Slither has SOME heart and outside of Grant Grant, I don't think anyone is the "they deserve to die" tropey-character. Even the foul-mouthed kind of asshole mayor isn't making me go "YAY! HE HAD THAT COMING!" Heck, his fate is one of the most upsetting. And the best part of Grant Grant is as he becomes more of a monster, his human monstrosity (his possessiveness, manipulation, entitlement and hypocrisy) that was shallowly buried under the surface becomes more clear as whatever good stuff was left fades away. But by comparison, it feels a little nastier without the heart to back it up.

I still like it but despite being a big Gunn fan, I think I would prefer just to watch Night of the Creeps again because as cheesy as it is, I kind of care about Tom Atkins' character more than Nathan Fillion's, a fact which shocks me. Slither was fun but I don't think I'll revisit it like I will his superhero films. I think this just shows how far he's come and I'd love to see him do this kind of movie again after honing his skills after 15 years.

 

[Torzelbaum]

#16
Dracula: Dead & Loving It
Classic vampire movie scenes mixed with Mel Brooks' comic stylings make for a good time and a horror parody that is one of my favorites. Leslie Nielsen not only chews the scenery as Dracula but also sucks the blood out of it.

Only watched the first, but I loved it

If you have seen the spoiler then you have seen the best part of the movie but there are still lots of other good parts in the 2nd movie. There is one part which maybe didn't age very well but I don't remember exactly how it went in the movie so it might have been better than other movies of the same era.

I don't remember ever seeing any of the other movies in the franchise beyond the 2nd so I can't vouch for them one way or another.

 

[chud_666]

Slither

This is a movie I've been meaning to watch for forever but have been hesitant because while I like body horror and black comedy, the wrong cocktail of such can sit bad with me. But after The Suicide Squad, I thought "I finally need to pull the trigger on that." After all, I generally have faith in James Gunn to make it work. And it is a good, fun movie but it really did sit uncomfortably with me to a certain extent. That's more me than the movie, for the most part, but I think the various natures of the monster threat, such as having the impreg victims still having their minds, sort of, but controllably eating flesh got to me. That's a particularly awful fate. Next to that, the melty body goo isn't so bad. And killing some kids also is unsettling (though I'm glad the baby is probably still alive). But after watching some rather graphic and tense movies, including Tenebre, this is the only one that made it hard for me to get to sleep. Though the idea of our body's want overcoming our wills and the desecration of the flesh is something that gets under my skin.

I don't think it's a mean-spirited film. I can even like a mean-spirited film, like Return of the Living Dead, which does it with just the right approach. But it's heart isn't as big as Gunn's latter works. It's interesting to see because as audacious (and similar in many ways) as The Suicide Squad is, it is has, in my mind, a big heart, even though the main characters are largely scummy villains or are monstrous (or Ratcatcher II). Slither has SOME heart and outside of Grant Grant, I don't think anyone is the "they deserve to die" tropey-character. Even the foul-mouthed kind of asshole mayor isn't making me go "YAY! HE HAD THAT COMING!" Heck, his fate is one of the most upsetting. And the best part of Grant Grant is as he becomes more of a monster, his human monstrosity (his possessiveness, manipulation, entitlement and hypocrisy) that was shallowly buried under the surface becomes more clear as whatever good stuff was left fades away. But by comparison, it feels a little nastier without the heart to back it up.

I still like it but despite being a big Gunn fan, I think I would prefer just to watch Night of the Creeps again because as cheesy as it is, I kind of care about Tom Atkins' character more than Nathan Fillion's, a fact which shocks me. Slither was fun but I don't think I'll revisit it like I will his superhero films. I think this just shows how far he's come and I'd love to see him do this kind of movie again after honing his skills after 15 years.

Slither is def low rent night of the creeps, but still pretty dece.

How into Body horror / melt are you? I have some suggestions!

 

[Purple]

#18
Critters 2
The Critters movies are a fun mix of sci-fi, horror and comedy with much of the humor coming from the sub-titled dialogue of the man-eating alien Krites (the titular Critters). I enjoy how the second film / first sequel ramps the threat (and everything else) up from the smaller stakes of the first film. It also contains one of the greatest scenes ever committed to film - the giant Critter ball.

There's a DVD set now which has both movies on one disc, and then a bonus coaster tucked in behind it, which I think is the only time they've ever been on DVD. Honestly I'd rank both above Gremlins 1 for good fun puppet-y horror-comedy times. Right up there with Tremors, even!

Also did you know the guy who played Ug really wrote and performed those generic 80s rock covers AND went on to play Whispers in Sense8?

I watched House, not the Japanese one. Most of the second half of the film is just the guy from The Greatest American Hero beating up people in rubber suits. It’s almost a Godzilla movie.

Regarding the ending, was Big Ben’s ghost behind everything in the house, or was he merely a very powerful manifestation of GAH’s guilt.

Pretty sure it's the latter and the House is just doing the Silent Hill every occupant gets their own torture deal.

 

[chud_666]

Watched the Poughkeepsie Tapes. Very unsettling, despite being pretty badly put together. But the concept is so powerful I want a bath and to watch star trek now.

 

[Octopus Prime]

The SPOOKYFILM I chose for last night (Neon Demon) wound up being neither spooky, nor something I enjoyed watching. An arthouse movie patron might say it’s “haunting” but that’s about it.

So instead I watched another episode of Creepshow (trick or treaters turned out to be revenge-ghosts, and a guy winds up accidentally taking a guy in a suitcase home instead of his luggage) which was very good, and I took another whack at watching American Horror Story, but the show is just not conducive to me half paying attention to it while
Playing video games.

Or at least season 1 isn’t; as one of the characters is a ghost played by different actresses based on whose looking at her at the time, which is a really cool concept that works great for the story, but is personally confusing to me because I’m grinding in Dragon Quest

 

[Johnny Unusual]

How into Body horror / melt are you? I have some suggestions!

I mean, generally I'm into the ideas more than "cool gross" (though sometimes cool gross). So the films of Cronenberg, which are very much about our fear or the body turning against us, The Thing, Eraserhead, the Skin I Live In (I haven't seen it in forever so I suspect it might be kind of transphobic going back)...

I like Evil Dead 2 and suspect I'll like Re-Animator (with Weyoun/Brunt as a mad scientist) but in terms of movies I seek out for body horror, I definitely want something that merges the headier aspects with the physical.

 

[Torzelbaum]

Beware of "The Blob"!

... Wait. That's not right. I meant blurb not Blob.

#15
Final Destination 3
Ah, the Final Destination movies - where Death is Rube Goldberg and also kind of an asshole who enjoys messing with people (like a cat that plays with its prey). The series has an interesting underlying concept that tends to be undercut by absurd execution. Despite that and how schlocky they are I still find the movies to be enjoyable as dumb fun.

The third movie is the one that I feel does the best job applying the formula created and perfected by the first two films without tacking any distracting cruft on to it. The characters are non-annoying enough that I don't want them dead immediately but they are not so endearing that I feel too bad when they eventually die. The characters also have an interesting mix of reactions (both realistic and unrealistic) to the events that occur and encompass them. The death scenes are solid and up to par with the standards of the series and horror in general.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

Dracula the 1931 classic. Well, the Spanish language version.

Don't worry, there's still a bee coming out of a coffin. Heck, it's more or less the same movie but with different actors. Everyone does fine but I don't think anyone quite matches Bela in the English language version. Though both films have great, scenery-chewing Renfields.

 

[Octopus Prime]

Tonight’s spookyfilm was The Cabin in the Woods, which I have seen before, but it was long enough ago tha5 I only remembered the gist of the plot, and I watched it with my father, who had never heard of it before, and lacks my horror movie literacy.

This is perhaps the best way to enjoy a very good movie; I was able to appreciate all the commentary on the references and tropes in play, he was completely engrossed by the combination of a rote zombie movie with some baffling government conspiracy stuff interspersed.

And we both loved the Nightmare Army, because how could you not.

 

[chud_666]

Raw - this is an extremely unsettling movie about a vegetarian veterinary student becoming a cannibal. Will finish tonight, but yikes! very heavy feeling.

 

[Torzelbaum]

#14
Freddy vs Jason
I had wanted to include movies from both the Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th series on my list but I had a hard time narrowing those down to a single favorite movie for each. Thankfully Freddy vs. Jason exists to solve that problem. It mixes the two monsters and franchises into an interesting story even if it is a bit of an uneven mix - it has far more classic Jason kills than Freddy ones. But Freddy still does get to have some of his usual demented "fun".

 

[Torzelbaum]

(Lucky) #13
Sinister
Most of the horrifying events in this movie are witnessed secondhand and it trades more on suspense and tension for the current event that is unfolding before your eyes. It was probably not the first movie to examine the idea but it has an interesting take on the interaction of ancient folklore and advancing technology.

Speaking of advanced technology, apparently science says that this is the scariest movie ever:

Scientific Study Determines Sinister Is the Scariest Movie Ever - IGN

A scientific study has determined the scariest movie of all-time to be 2012's Sinister.

www.ign.com

Note: My opinion of this is based on the basic cable version of the movie which I think might cut out some graphic violence but I'm not sure.

Since we're halfway through my list I wanted to take a brief moment to talk / ask about another scary movie. Has anyone else ever seen the 1991 horror movie Popcorn? I can't remember if I had ever seen it but I at least must have seen the trailer which seems to spoil a lot but which also has a great tagline which has stuck with me all of these years.

 

[Neo Skimbleshanks]

Dracula the 1931 classic. Well, the Spanish language version.

Don't worry, there's still a bee coming out of a coffin. Heck, it's more or less the same movie but with different actors. Everyone does fine but I don't think anyone quite matches Bela in the English language version. Though both films have great, scenery-chewing Renfields.

I also watched this recently and was really impressed by Renfield. I didn't like the Dracula performance much (nor the Van Helsing character) but expect to like Lugosi's. I'll re-watch the English version soon, but he's been great in some of the other old Universal films I watched this month. (v. attractive in The Black Cat)

I thought I hadn't seen Bride of Frankenstein before but actually I have, or at least parts of it. Definitely remember the opening framing scene and the homonculus stuff from childhood. Maybe I thought I hadn't seen it bc I had no memories of the Bride but actually she only shows up for the last four minutes and then in no other movies. Rude! Obviously she has an iconic look but the hissing works really well, too. The people demand more. Also I watched Frankenstein a day or two before and it's a very good, kinda serious movie. This is just goofy as hell.

Didn't care for Halloween Kills. It had a worse critical reception than the 2018 film, but I didn't like that one at all and at times I almost thought this one was better. (if still not for me) By the end I found it pretty wretched, though. Just weirdly joyless and mean-spirited. I have no idea why they so conspicuously removed all the lore after the first one and have now spun Michael Myers into a verifiably immortal, mass murderous demon. And it's pretty rich for this film/franchise to take a stance against people's violent fear of institutionalized prisoners. Look at your reflection in a window... who is the real monster, really.... (It's still Michael Myers!)

Yes, I'm still gonna watch the next one.

I would like a spiritual sequel to Halloween: Resurrection. (pro-catfishing, non-actor playing a despicable hero and kicking Michael's ass)

 

[Neo Skimbleshanks]

Creature from the Black Lagoon is close to being really good but there is a baffling decision to punctuate every appearance of the Creature with a highly aggressive sting. Wonder if they do that in the sequels. Totally over the top. Still: pretty good. Great looking underwater footage, science talk a great mix of smart/stupid, some jump scares almost worked on me.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

I wish I liked Psycho Goreman more. It's doing a LOT right. The premise of a small child in control of a vengeful evil space god villain is great and the make up and fights are a wonderful gory version of Power Rangers. The backstory stuff in particular is great. But if anything, I think the comedy itself needed some punching up. Like, it's going hard for the midnight movie but a lot of it feels very affected, particularly in the small girl, who they try to make like Louise from Bob's Burgers but not as cleverly written. Some of the broader comedic stuff work well. But mostly its comedic voice feels like an echo of much better genre spoofs (and Rick and Morty, I assume, a show I'll probably never watched based solely on the unfortunately toxic fanbase).

Despite my complaints, the stuff they did well in this movie they did very well and heck, I think it could have worked as a series with some retooling. If anything, I feel like the film as it is was a solid first draft in need of a second go-over to make the comedic voice of the world a little tighter on the human side of things.

 

[Torzelbaum]

#12
Resident Evil
Out of all of the Resident Evil movies I feel like the first one does the best job of balancing and blending the action and the horror into a stylish and entertaining package.

Edit:
(Also it helps that it was released before the world was inundated with zombie stuff.)

 

[Torzelbaum]

#11
Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
This little shop is stocked with lots of quality items - music, mirth, mayhem and a mean green mother (from outer space).

 

[Octopus Prime]

Theatrical or Original ending?

 

[Johnny Unusual]

The Amusement Park

A PSA directed by George Romero in 1974 and it's really interesting. Recently unearthed, it's a 54 minute film to explain the plight of the elderly, much in the way an educational short on MST3k would. It was a work for hire by the Lutherans and they were not happy with the final results. And a lot of it is very unsubtle in a dumb way. But there's also a lot here that is appropriately bleak and horrific in a great way, particularly a scene were the nameless main character meets exactly one person who is kind to him and how he breaks down emotionally when it's time for her to go. There's a lot that's effective in basically what would usually be a lecture and instead is a kind of Twilight Zone episode.

 

[Torzelbaum]

Theatrical or Original ending?

Theatrical/re-shot (the happy one)

 

[Octopus Prime]

Well that’s fine too

 

[Purple]

I really love how currently if you just kinda find a copy on DVD/streaming/sketchier sources/is airing on TV still a thing movies do? and you're not looking carefully there's like a 50/50 shot of how that big climactic battle is gonna turn out. More movies need that sort of repeated watch tension!

 

[Octopus Prime]

Dracula AD 1972 is pretty much just a regular oil’ Hammer Dracula movie, but they needed to fumigate the regular Hammer sets or something, so it just takes place in modern day London.

Well… 1972 London, but it was modern at the time.

As expected, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee absolutely nail it as Van Helsing and Dracula, but I’d be remiss not to mention that the films Renfield was named Johnny Alucard.

Which we can all agree is just an excellent name

 

[Torzelbaum]

Yes. A+ name.

#10
Poltergeist (1982)
A classic. This movie is full of frightening scenes but for me none of the others even compare to the steak / bathroom mirror scene.

 

[Octopus Prime]

Personally; I was most spooked by the chairs rearranging themselves whenever the mom turned around.

I was kind of relieved when the monsters showed up because that was less freaky.

 

[Torzelbaum]

"Oh, what a relief! The monsters have finally arrived!"

There are scares aplenty in that movie.

(Also it contains some of the few geists that I begrudgingly respect and can sort of understand where they're coming from.)

 

[Johnny Unusual]

The Blackcoat's Daughter

An excellent slow-burn horror film and I kind of like where I didn't know exactly where it was going until the end, both in plot but also thematically. And that mystery drew me in and the solution itself is truly a surprise, even if I saw some of the elements coming. But the biggest reveal hammers home the strange truth and reveals the spooky movie to be sad in an unexpected way. It's definitely worth checking out for a low-key unusual horror film.

 

[Octopus Prime]

For some reason, no matter how the movies been going up until that point; the instant any monsters show up in a horror movie all fear and tension immediately dry up for me.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

I mean, I'm a guy who is most effected by "not a lot happening", the anticipation of shit going down with little catharsis of it happening immediately. It's why I like House of the Devil, a movie that's mostly the dread of... puttering around someone's house with the knowledge that some bad shit went down that the main character is not aware of. Similarly Black Christmas and the first 20 minutes of When a Stranger Calls.