Horror RECOMMENDATION or WARNING thread. - Page 76

Speaking of giallo, has anyone seen Giallo, Argento's recent flick? 

Yep.  It's............pretty awful.  Ironically, it isn't a giallo.  It's more of a police procedural, ala The Card Player.

Quote:

Originally Posted by yt 

Thanks.  I just read Erland's wikipedia.  Interesting life.  Sad that he died so young.  You know, The Running Man I thought was silly when I first saw it (because it was so different from the story) but I like it now.  And he was good in The Wanderers. 

The Running Man has always been one of my favorite Arnold films since I was a kid. He really had a career ahead of him playing interesting villains. His "love" for that girl who looks like Jackie Earle Hayley in The Wanderers was one of the more interesting parts in the film.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fuzzy dunlop 

Anybody here seen Primal?  Pulled it up off the instant queue on a whim and was pleasantly surprised.  It starts as your basic 'pretty young people out in the wilderness' story, but it sorta veers into Evil Dead territory.  And the final 15 minutes are pure Lovecraft.  Totally bonkers. 

I haven't seen it, but this description alone makes me want to see it immediately. I love it when horror movies start off pretty generic, and then they bring in angles that no one was expecting. Such as the ones you mentioned.

I felt PRIMAL never really rose above "generic." It's not like zombies/possessed people are original at this point, and the movie doesn't offer a particularly fresh or exciting take on it.

Now available on Instant is the Linda Blair starer HELL NIGHT. It's a fun mash up of Slasher and old fashioned Haunted House movie. Blair is kind of grating in the lead role, but for the most part the movie really works. I recommend giving it a shot if you're looking for a unique something from amongst the glut of genre films of the period.

Quote:

Originally Posted by S.D. Bob Plissken 

Yep.  It's............pretty awful.  Ironically, it isn't a giallo.  It's more of a police procedural, ala The Card Player.

Welp.  It's on one of my channels so I think I'll have to give it a go.  It was shot in Turin where I've been a couple of times so if nothing else there's that.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rene (Mr.Eko) 

The Running Man has always been one of my favorite Arnold films since I was a kid. He really had a career ahead of him playing interesting villains. His "love" for that girl who looks like Jackie Earle Hayley in The Wanderers was one of the more interesting parts in the film.

 

That's Linda Manz.  I agree, it's a beautifully done relationship. 

My son has funny taste in movies and has made me take a second look at a lot of flicks.  His favorites are The Running Man, Conan (the original), Starship Troopers (which I've always loved) and Class of 1999.  Also Eastwood's Man With No Name movies, which I could watch over and over again. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat Elvis 

Now available on Instant is the Linda Blair starer HELL NIGHT. It's a fun mash up of Slasher and old fashioned Haunted House movie. Blair is kind of grating in the lead role, but for the most part the movie really works. I recommend giving it a shot if you're looking for a unique something from amongst the glut of genre films of the period.

I dig it, but it's overlong. At 100 minutes, I think it overstays it's welcome by about 20 minutes. It's still an atmospheric film, and I like the twist towards the end.

Quote:

Originally Posted by yt 

 

Welp.  It's on one of my channels so I think I'll have to give it a go.  It was shot in Turin where I've been a couple of times so if nothing else there's that.
 

That's Linda Manz.  I agree, it's a beautifully done relationship. 

 

My son has funny taste in movies and has made me take a second look at a lot of flicks.  His favorites are The Running Man, Conan (the original), Starship Troopers (which I've always loved) and Class of 1999.  Also Eastwood's Man With No Name movies, which I could watch over and over again. 

 

I've had that same effect on my Dad. We've seen movies that he'll tell me he saw the preview for in the theater way back in the day, and now that he's seen it, he likes it. Cool being able to see movies with my Dad that he actually saw the original previews for in the theater.

I thin the twelve year old version of me would hate today's version of me, but I have to ask this: does anyone wish they could spend the rest of their lives never seeing a zombie movie again?

Oddly enough, I actually like zombie movie more now than I did when I was younger. That said, I understand what you mean.

Anyone got opinions on Eduardo Sánchez's ALTERED? That's been the minor-discovery of the year for me. I had completely ignored it when it came out years ago because I'm a fairly staunch non-fan of BLAIR WITCH, but it was exceptionally well done. A very, very small movie (almost like a play at times), but inventive, fun, well-acted and did a great job of working around its short-comings without ever feeling cheap. Was very surprised by it.

I'm a HUGE supporter of Altered. I bought the dvd as a used blind buy from the video store I frequented in 2007 and was pleasantly surprised by it. I've mentioned it here on the boards quite a bit. I know Darkmite8 is also a big fan of it. I love the different conventions Sanchez brought to using aliens in a film. Especially since it basically looks like the feral green beast from X-Files: Fight The Future. The mind control, the disease it carries. That's all stuff you never associate with that particular alien design.

Pretty cool seeing Joe Unger in a small cameo at the end as the asshole Dad.

I think the 14 year old me would call me a fucking idiot if I told him that now I find the original Dawn Of The Dead to be too leisurely paced, and that Day Of The Dead is the best of Romero's original trilogy.

Not sure if it's horror or anything, but I just saw a super tiny thriller-type film called "Silver Tongues." Lee Tergesen plays one half of a couple who apparently go around pulling elaborate role-playing cons on people. They aren't stealing from anyone, they're just getting a rush being different people, playing elaborate games on innocents. It's pretty psychologically sick, and the chief suggestion is that he is holding the wife captive and forcing her to join him on these cons, though that might ALSO be more roeplaying on her part. Needless to say, there may or may not be a corpse involved.

It won some sort of award at Slamdance and is currently playing in Brooklyn only. But a really memorable, unpredictable film.

At least Lee Tergesen is still making films. He's another underutilized character actor. I think the last thing I saw him in was Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joshua Miller 

Anyone got opinions on Eduardo Sánchez's ALTERED? That's been the minor-discovery of the year for me. I had completely ignored it when it came out years ago because I'm a fairly staunch non-fan of BLAIR WITCH, but it was exceptionally well done. A very, very small movie (almost like a play at times), but inventive, fun, well-acted and did a great job of working around its short-comings without ever feeling cheap. Was very surprised by it.

I'm not sure if I've ever seen that one, but I think I'll give it a go after SNL.

I was watching THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD (I still prefer it to Carpenter's boo boo boo) this morning, and it hit me - we don't talk about the 50's era of Horror much in here. Do you guys have any films from that period among your alltime favorites? Any cult classics you can remember geeking out over? For me it's the original INVADERS FROM MARS. It doesn't get talked about as much as it once did, but it has one of the creepiest moods of any films I've ever seen. A great commie paranoia flick. I also really love THEM!. The one I'm curious to revisit, to see if it holds up, is EARTH VS THE FLYING SAUCERS. Loved it as a kid. It's at the top of my queue.

Those movies were all great.  The '50s were a golden age of horror and scifi.  I loved I Was A Teenage Werewolf and It Came From Outer Space.  I haven't seen the original Invaders From Mars but I did rewatch the '80s version recently.  I dug it still. 

Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Invisible Man, Dracula, The Wolfman, The Mummy, all very awesome. Tarantula. Love the original THING. The Giant Claw is hilarious. The Thing from 40.000 Fathoms is exceptional as well, but I think that was earlier than the 50ies.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joshua Miller 

Anyone got opinions on Eduardo Sánchez's ALTERED? That's been the minor-discovery of the year for me. I had completely ignored it when it came out years ago because I'm a fairly staunch non-fan of BLAIR WITCH, but it was exceptionally well done. A very, very small movie (almost like a play at times), but inventive, fun, well-acted and did a great job of working around its short-comings without ever feeling cheap. Was very surprised by it.

Altered is great and I really enjoyed Sanchez's Seventh Moon as well.

I'm not a Blair Witch fan either, but Sanchez seems to be churning out good work lately.

I've been talking up ALTERED for years. It's a really cool little find that almost rivals End of the Line in terms of surprising DTV quality.

Yeah, i watched ALTERED last night and loved it. Really intense. Great gore/creature F/X.

I'm unfamiliar with END OF THE LINE. Will have to check that out.

I really need to bump End of the Line back to the top of my Netflix queue.

Quote:

Originally Posted by yt 

Speaking of giallo, has anyone seen Giallo, Argento's recent flick? 

Oh boy. As others have said, that is a movie you should really not watch. I hope you didn't take the plunge and tried to watch it. As I said when I watched it back in September:

OK, well, I didn't watch it.  I watched Midnight Meat Train and the enduringly campy Bram Stoker's Dracula instead.  But if I happen to catch it on some time I'll still give it a try.  What happened to Argento?  He made such amazing films way back when.  I know times have changed and all.  It's just strange. 

At least his upcoming Dracula film looks like it COULD be interesting.  Besides, with Rutger Hauer and Thomas Kretschmann in the leads and a strong Hammer it can't be a total loss.  That and he shot it in 3D with the same DP he used on Suspiria and Tenebre.  I'm not expecting a masterpiece, but I'm certainly looking forward to it more than most of his more recent efforts.

I just want to say that Midnight Meat Train is awesome.

I would have to say that my favorite Sci-Fi/Horror flick of the fifties is 1954's Them!.

Creature From The Black Lagoon, all the way.  That said, the Hammer trifecta of Curse of Frankenstein, Horror of Dracula, and The Mummy is absolutely fantastic.

In my heart the 50s belong to the giant radioactive monsters. GOJIRA, THEM, and THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS all the way.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat Elvis 

 

I was watching THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD (I still prefer it to Carpenter's boo boo boo) this morning, and it hit me - we don't talk about the 50's era of Horror much in here. Do you guys have any films from that period among your alltime favorites? Any cult classics you can remember geeking out over? For me it's the original INVADERS FROM MARS. It doesn't get talked about as much as it once did, but it has one of the creepiest moods of any films I've ever seen. A great commie paranoia flick. I also really love THEM!. The one I'm curious to revisit, to see if it holds up, is EARTH VS THE FLYING SAUCERS. Loved it as a kid. It's at the top of my queue.

 

I like a lot of the cheesy sci-fi stuff but for me, the 50s is really all about the Hawks Thing and Arnold's The Incredible Shrinking Man (for some reason the only "giant monster" flick of the period that I can actually take seriously, and the purity of the existential horror elevates it to one of my all time fave movies ever... God, that ending)

Also Fat Elvis do you watch the TV show Sons of Anarchy because Ron Perlman gave you a shoutout last episode (ok maybe not, but I'm gonna read your posts in the voice of Mark Boone Jr from now on)

Richard Matheson is one of the great unsung unsung heroes of the 20th century. 

Somehow I've never seen TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2. I'm rectifying that tonite. (Doing a double shot with the original)

TCM2 is an absolute riot.  Please offer up your thoughts after you conclude your double-feature!

There are six Texas Chainsaw movies. I'd argue everyone needs to see at least 4 of them. 1, 2, 4, Remake.

Anyone of you seen the recently released Human Centipede 2?

TCM will need to be Franchised Me eventually. That franchise is all over the place.

Has anyone seen the MIMIC director's cut? Am very curious about it, but not sure I'm curious enough to blind buy it. As much as I love Netflix, their one big blind spot is not getting enough updated or newer versions of films they already have.

I only saw the theatrical cut but evidently there was meddling, so the director's cut might be worth watching.  I mean, it has a great premise.  The movie wasn't perfect but it had its moments. 

Just blind bought it. Oddly enough, Amazon has the movie on its Black Friday super deal list. $4.99 for the Blu! I took it as a sign. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Myers 

Anyone of you seen the recently released Human Centipede 2?

Yeah. It's something. I saw it days after the Thing prequel, and I found it to be a compelling commentary on the making/existence of that film.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phil 

When, now? It's still showing as $8.99 for me.

Yeah. Mere minutes ago. Possibly they've already sold out however many they were offering up. It was called a "lightning deal," so presumably there was a short window involved.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fuzzy dunlop 

I just want to say that Midnight Meat Train is awesome.

It certainly is. I remember when it ended up being dumped in the dollar theaters, and I went to go see it. Loved it, and the score was pretty awesome as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DARKMITE8 

Yeah, I even did a CC review of it a few years back. With Ti West's THE ROOST (was that 6 years ago???). Under-appreciated DTV horror gems from that year. ALTERED is a great abduction-revenge and "powder-keg/siege" flick. FX are surprisingly strong. See also: ALIEN RAIDERS.

 

I like END OF THE LINE from what I remember, but like CREEP, wanted more from the 3rd Act.

 

And the 50s era scifi/horror genre? Too many great ones to mention. What a decade for monster flicks... and nuke/commie paranoia! INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS and the intro of the TWILIGHT ZONE are some of my faves. THE FLY! FORBIDDEN PLANET! BLACK LAGOON and GODZILLA in the same year. '54 was a good time to be a green cold-blooded monster.

 

This Universal set is a must own, especially for the Jack Arnold entries:

http://www.amazon.com/Classic-Sci-Fi-Ultimate-Collection-Vols/dp/B0013XZ6SY/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1321934257&sr=1-2

 

 

 

I just rented The Roost from Netflix earlier this year. Ti West really knows how to emulate early 80's horror that features Tom Noonan in it somewhere. I found it to be too slow in parts, but it holds itself together, particularly at the end.

I really need to get the Sc-Fi set.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat Elvis 

Somehow I've never seen TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2. I'm rectifying that tonite. (Doing a double shot with the original)

"Thinking about S-E-E-X? SEX? And ya hadda find out about it?"  "Who are you?" "I'm the Lord of the harvest." "What's that? Some new health food bunch?" "It's a dog eat dog world, and from where I'm standing THERE JUST AIN'T ENOUGH DAMN DOG!"

Yeah, this movie rules. Next to Dennis Hopper, Jim Siedow practically steals the movie as the cook. He showcases more of that brilliant humor that he did in the first. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joshua Miller 

TCM will need to be Franchised Me eventually. That franchise is all over the place.

 

Has anyone seen the MIMIC director's cut? Am very curious about it, but not sure I'm curious enough to blind buy it. As much as I love Netflix, their one big blind spot is not getting enough updated or newer versions of films they already have.

I wasn't all that impressed with the director's cut. It was decent enough, but it's been about a decade or so since I last saw it, and that was on vhs. Wasn't that impressed then either. I've got it sitting on the shelf there, waiting for me to hear the Del Toro commentary since I've been hearing that's much better than the movie.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Myers 

There are six Texas Chainsaw movies. I'd argue everyone needs to see at least 4 of them. 1, 2, 4, Remake.

1&2 are classics.  I really like the remake and its prequel isn't too bad either.  3 is a somewhat entertaining retread of the first two and also has some Viggo action.  Nothing special though.  4 is an absolute shitfest that is worth seeing for McConaughey's performance alone.  All are worth watching really, though I'd really only call three of them great movies.

And yeah, you could Franchise Me the shit out of that series, Josh.  I'm sure the articles that ensue will be a riot, but at this point you might as well save it for next fall when the new one hits.

I don' know, I think I'd only call one of them a great movie.

Saw House of the Devil, for Thanksgiving. I ended up on the positive side of this one, and what really surprised me was that the slow boring part was my favorite part of the movie. I mean, it is the first hour and fifteen minutes, but I thought it was all incredibly well modulated. It only lost me a bit when it turns into a regular movie at the end.

I find TCM2 and the remake far too entertaining to not view them as great.  Classics?  That's arguable, at least in terms of the second one (which I love as much as the original).  I wouldn't call the remake a classic though.

Honestly, the TCM franchise is pretty good when you think about it.  It only has one truly reprehensible entry, at least in my eyes, whereas other horror franchises that are more popular have more than one putrid entry.

4 has a scene in which Leatherface saws off a chimney. The Lincoln Lawyer has a remote controlled leg and Bridget Jones is digusted by a shady government agent that not only controls the Sawyer family, he reveals himself to be an alien. 3 has Viggo and Ken Foree and that awesome teaser trailer, but as far as I remember the movie only exists in overly dark image quality and heavily censored versions. 2 has insane Hopper with akimbo chainsaws going against a Leatherface with a super chainsaw, a fairground, a human flesh BBQ and Chop-Top.

Now The Beginning... has just more of R. Lee Ermey, but I'd argue it doesn't have any standout moment. How can you put Diora Baird in a R rated flick, then let her stay dressed? It feels like more of the remake, just with way less effort. I think it's okay. There are obviously worse sequels out there.

Agreed.  I like The Beginning, but it was definitely just more of the same..................only not as interesting.  Plus there is a big character discrepancy in it and how the wheelchair perv loses his legs it quite ridiculous.

The Beginning is the TCM3 of the reboot leg of this franchise.  They unfortunately bypassed their own possible TCM2, where we would have been given a one-armed Leatherface.

Back when the remake came, they announced a sequel to the novelization, called Skin Freak. By the same guy who wrote the novelization. Now when Biel fought Leatherface in the meat plant, I really looked forward to a sequel - and they chop his arm off. Really? Of all possibilities they had to take his arm? The arm he needs to wield a chainsaw? That's not the best idea for a franchise. But I'd argue they still could have worked with that, somehow. This Skin Freak, I expected it to be the continuation, but sadly it never got published. So we can't even imagine what could have been.

SD, do you know about the original ending they had in mind?

The movie would have had an added scene in which she says that she's pregnant. That's the reason she doesn't take drugs. Now in an added scene at the end, a very pregnant Biel would be in a hospital when suddenly Leatherface comes in, with a new arm, and rams his rusty chainsaw right in her belly. Probably too dark for PD.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Myers 

4 has a scene in which Leatherface saws off a chimney. The Lincoln Lawyer has a remote controlled leg and Bridget Jones is digusted by a shady government agent that not only controls the Sawyer family, he reveals himself to be an alien. 3 has Viggo and Ken Foree and that awesome teaser trailer, but as far as I remember the movie only exists in overly dark image quality and heavily censored versions. 2 has insane Hopper with akimbo chainsaws going against a Leatherface with a super chainsaw, a fairground, a human flesh BBQ and Chop-Top.

Now The Beginning... has just more of R. Lee Ermey, but I'd argue it doesn't have any standout moment. How can you put Diora Baird in a R rated flick, then let her stay dressed? It feels like more of the remake, just with way less effort. I think it's okay. There are obviously worse sequels out there.

Still gotta see three and four. You described the second film so beautifully!

I refuse to see the prequel, given that I hated the remake so goddamned much. Too shiny, sexy, over-processed. Horror is scarier when there's an element of the unknown, when the pacing, tone and attitude are a little ersatz. "TCM '04" plays like the other Platinum Dunes movies - like a beer commercial.

Mmm. More of an academic dissertation on the first film instead of an actual scary movie. It's genuinely sick and gross and somewhat upsetting, but Tom Six keeps making you aware of his hands on the puppet strings.

I do think the overall negative opinions of the film have obscured that it genuinely might be one of the ten or so sickest movies ever made. Credit where credit's due.

I just finished Xavier Gens' "The Divide." This was my first Gens experience, as I haven't seen "Frontier(s)" or "Hitman," though I understand the latter was fairly... compromised. Not sure if I should bother at this point. "Divide" is essentially a familiar story - bunch of people in a small post-apocalyptic community slowly turn on themselves. In this case, it's an underground bunker (of COURSE they never tell you what caused the apocalypse).

But Gens really knows how to physically destroy people with his camera - everyone gets emaciated and sick and diseased and beat-up fairly convincingly. While they do turn on each other, they also sorta splinter off into their own separate nutball group of people, and Gens captures this maniac loss of accountability and sense pretty accurately. One of the females gets abused, starved, and turned into a skinny rape doll, and for a second I kinda forgot it was actually Rosanna Arquette.

I didn't think it really went anywhere new, but Gens managed to feature some nice, sickening imagery, even if some of it is blunted by a tacky, repetitive score that sounds like it belongs in a SERIOUS DRAMA. And with the exception of Lauren German and Michael Biehn, the rest of the cast is pretty cheap and not very compelling, which is more bothersome after the eighth or ninth manic yelling match. There's ZERO reason this thing should have been close to two hours long.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arjen Rudd 

I don' know, I think I'd only call one of them a great movie.

 

Saw House of the Devil, for Thanksgiving. I ended up on the positive side of this one, and what really surprised me was that the slow boring part was my favorite part of the movie. I mean, it is the first hour and fifteen minutes, but I thought it was all incredibly well modulated. It only lost me a bit when it turns into a regular movie at the end.

There is an overwhelming sense of dread and voyeurism in those early scenes. I couldn't tell if I was the voyeur or if there was someone else. I watched it by myself in the middle of the day and it was somehow really effective.

Every scene after Greta Gerwig finishes up her work on the film is filled with portentous dread. Not only has shit gotten really real, the only way she's getting out of there is gone, and she has no idea. It's really well modulated.