• Welcome to Talking Time's third iteration! If you would like to register for an account, or have already registered but have not yet been confirmed, please read the following:

    1. The CAPTCHA key's answer is "Percy"
    2. Once you've completed the registration process please email us from the email you used for registration at percyreghelper@gmail.com and include the username you used for registration

    Once you have completed these steps, Moderation Staff will be able to get your account approved.

Spooky Time Discussion and Recommendations!

Torzelbaum

Torzelbaum

????? LV 13 HP 292/ 292
(he, him, his)
#9
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Coppola's adaptation is full of talented actors and just exudes dark style. It is a great retelling of the classic Gothic horror story that is the basis for so much of modern vampire horror movies.
 
Johnny Unusual

Johnny Unusual

(He/Him)
Uninvited

How Did This Get Made was doing an episode on this one. It's about a cat who barfs up another poison cat to kill people on a boat as they head for the Cayman's.

And they constantly use the same cat noises over and over.


It's a bizarre, ridiculous movie and constantly repeats itself in case you weren't paying attention. Seriously, everything happens over and over. Even the last scare happens exactly twice, in the exact same way and it is bizarre.
 
Octopus Prime

Octopus Prime

Mysterious Contraption
(He/Him)
While it may have codified a lot of the Horror genre, the original Halloween did not do anything for me in this, the year 2021.

Didn't help that the audio mixing was so bad that it was impossible to hear any of the dialogue without subtitles.

Also; my god, Dr. Loomis is just the worst psychiatrist I've ever seen.
 
Johnny Unusual

Johnny Unusual

(He/Him)
He is ridiculously bad. Note, he was working WITH A CHILD. I do like Halloween but it's not nearly my favourite Carpenter. But I think it's pretty great, particularly the last act. Michael appearing in the dark as if your eyes are adjusting is such a great little lighting effect, I'm shocked more people didn't try it.
 
Torzelbaum

Torzelbaum

????? LV 13 HP 292/ 292
(he, him, his)
#8
Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
This film sure revs things up from the original. While the sequel loses some of the gritty realism of the original movie it gains some moments of black humor, a lot more gore and a bunch of crazy moments culminating in the epic chainsaw on chainsaw battle at the end.
 
Voncaster

Voncaster

I watched the Lamp (aka the Outing) on cable.

Its a lessor known 80s horror movie. A lamp containing a murderous Jinn makes its way to a natural history museum. Some teens sneak into the museum at night for some drinking and sex. They encounter the Jinn and horror stuff happens. Its not a good movie, but I enjoyed it.

The teens sneaking into the natural history museum makes me smile. Principle Skinner: If I were a truant boy out for a good time, I'd be right here at the Springfield Natural History Museum.

Side note: How many 80s movies green glowing eyes to indicate evil? I don't know but its a lot.
 
Torzelbaum

Torzelbaum

????? LV 13 HP 292/ 292
(he, him, his)
Voncaster said:
The teens sneaking into the natural history museum makes me smile.
Click to expand...
At one point it might have been shocking for someone to sneak into a mall, bowling alley or abandoned property but it's been done so much that it's passe. If you tried to do it you'd probably have to wait in line with a bunch of other sheep. But it takes a real rebel to sneak into a museum.
 
Last edited:
Octopus Prime

Octopus Prime

Mysterious Contraption
(He/Him)
Watched the 1970s Invasion of the Bodysnatchers, which, true to its reputation, was pretty good! It was also less hot and steamy than I’d always been told it was (1970s Donald Sutherland looked a lot like Ron from Bobs Burgers may have been a contributing factor, also every other instance of nudity was performed by a slimy squealing space plant).

Movie wasn’t helped at all by its soundtrack; which wasn’t bad but it did not Sell the sense of paranoia and dread the movie was working on.

If the pods were working their invasion through stealth and deception, them screaming like a pig every time they see someone who wasn’t replicated probably didn’t help. Also the fact that they had to transport seed pods the size of a human child by hand to every person they were duplicating couldn’t have been subtle. People just weren’t observant in the 1970s, I guess
 
Last edited:
Torzelbaum

Torzelbaum

????? LV 13 HP 292/ 292
(he, him, his)
#7
Maximum Overdrive
My list would not have been complete without a Stephen King adaptation on it considering how prolific they are and how many of them I have enjoyed. I chose Maximum Overdrive out of all of those because it embraces its ludicrous (but still scary) premise with just the right amount of cocaine gusto. It manages to make a big rig with a giant Green Goblin mask on the front into a frightening villain/monster. And it also has an appropriately kick-ass soundtrack by AC/DC.

Octopus Prime said:
People just weren’t observant in the 1970s, I guess
Click to expand...
Well, it was right after the 60s...
 
Johnny Unusual

Johnny Unusual

(He/Him)
Octopus Prime said:
less hot and steamy than I’d always been told it was
Click to expand...
If I must be presumptive/assumptive, I feel like you must be confusing this with Donald Sutherland's other chiller, the slowburn masterpiece Don't Look Now (I love when films have unassuming titles with darker meanings that click by the movie's end). It has a famous sex scene that is sort of that and did cause a stir. But I think even then you might be disappointed, as it is more of a surprisingly realistic (if stylish) take on love making, largely done through editing as it intercuts the actual sex and them getting dressed after the sex for a dinner. But that obscures the greatness of this great little low key heart-breaking thriller.


Meanwhile, I watched the Raven from 1935 and... it's probably the worst of the old school Universal horror films that I've seen. And its not just that it barely follows the poem in any way. No movie called the Raven does and that's because it's a poem and one that would be tricky to make work on the big screen. Frankly, I'm fine with The Black Cat, which was a delight that, at best, does lip service to a black cat being in the movie. But that's fun. This is the next Legosi/Karloff team up and it's pretty dumb by comparison. In this one, Legosi plays a mad doctor and Poe nerd who made a torture chambre in his basement and falls in love with a lady so he decides to kill her disapproving dad. Karloff plays a criminal Legosi "turns ugly", promising to make him handsome if he helps him kill. It is very silly and dumb and the non-leads are not the best.

But at least it was only an hour.
 
Octopus Prime

Octopus Prime

Mysterious Contraption
(He/Him)
It may actually have been one of the other remakes I was told about; there’s been a whole bunch and middle school playgrounds weren’t up on film history

Or else were way more turned on by Brooke Adams kissing Donald Sutherlands mustache than I suspected
 
Johnny Unusual

Johnny Unusual

(He/Him)
I've heard good things. I'd like to see it sometime.

I'm near the end of In Search of Darkness II. Both films are talking heads docs that's mostly "hey these movies are good" and "remember these". The second one feels like it was made because they had some gross oversights (particularly Italian horror), then plug in a bunch of movies that really don't need to be covered for padding. And to put things in perspective, 976-EVIL was in the last one. I'd like to see them just do this but with another decade. Any other. Yeah, the 70s were good for horror but all decades are interesting to explore. Yes, the 50s would make for a shorter enterprise but I'm sure old school guys like Joe Dante would love to talk up a storm on it.
 
chud_666

chud_666

Yep. I like these, but they have zero info. It's all just cool scenes. Possibly good recommendations for movies you've never seen.
 
Johnny Unusual

Johnny Unusual

(He/Him)
I find there is a BIT of insight, particularly when you have guys like Joe Dante talking. But too many it's guys who are like "cool" and I'm sure band drummer or Jericho would be cool guys to shoot the shit with to talk about movies, I prefer critics and creators discussing these things.

Also, I guess next one they have no choice but to discuss Terrorvision and House II. And maybe those weird Lucio Fulci TV movies. I don't like his movies overall but House of Clocks is kind of a neat idea rather than a movie.
 
Torzelbaum

Torzelbaum

????? LV 13 HP 292/ 292
(he, him, his)
#6
Ghostbusters (1984)
In the immortal lyrics of Ray Parker, Jr. - I ain't afraid o' no ghost.

...

OK, that's a lie - there are some ghosts and demons in this which are pretty darn scary. I'm glad the Busters are here to take care of things and lighten the mood.
 
Johnny Unusual

Johnny Unusual

(He/Him)
Dracula: Sovereign of the Damned, is as loopy as it's reputation. It's a weird piece of something and I'm curious who the demographic is here.
 
Johnny Unusual

Johnny Unusual

(He/Him)
WNUF Halloween Special

I wish I liked it more than I did because it is doing a lot right in capturing the VHS age and the 80s. The commercials do a great job painting the true weirdness of the decade and the prevailing fear of drugs and faith in fire arms but... there's just too many of them. And keep in mind, I like to watch playlists of Halloween commercials. It's a very watchable, short movie and I like the middle part when it is the most overtly humourous but the actual reveal of what's going on didn't do all that much for me.

I am going to throw out a recommendation for the 27 minute documentary Primal Screen. I think it is suppose to be a series but so far there's only one. But the premise is exploring pop culture and in particular TV instilling an actual phobia at a young age. This episode talks to three people who watched the TV trailer for the psychological thriller Magic and become deathly afraid of dolls/dummies. It really is a creepy little trailer, effective in it's simplicity.


Anyway, it's by Rodney Ascher, who did Room 237 and the Nightmare and continues his great streak of horror/fear based docs, trying to piece out why these phobias take hold so tightly.
 
Octopus Prime

Octopus Prime

Mysterious Contraption
(He/Him)
Dracula Sovereign of the Damned is an annual tradition for me.

Movie runs out of plot so it grabs another couple of new ones in the last twenty minutes
 
Torzelbaum

Torzelbaum

????? LV 13 HP 292/ 292
(he, him, his)
#5
Halloween 3: Season of the Witch
Everyone else can keep their Michael Myers - I would rather have Conal Cochran, his basic masks, his incredibly advanced androids and his batshit insane "practical joke" evil plan. Have a Happy Halloween, Silver Shamrock!♫ (And now that's stuck in my head...)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top