Horror RECOMMENDATION or WARNING thread. - Page 82

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arjen Rudd 

It's strange, considering books by Preston/Child, or Steve Alten, or even Clive Cussler seem like they were written specifically to be films, they're so cinematic. Yet we've gotten only Relic and Sahara. I can see how the market moved away from adapting expensive material without the name recognition of, say, Green Lantern, but I certainly would have watched more 90s style gruesome science adventures.

Don't forget RAISE THE TITANIC (re: Cussler). Just kidding. Forget it and forget it hard!

Ugh, Dirk Pitt is the worst name for a lead character ever. It sounds like a Star Wars EU smuggler also-ran.

Always reminds me of a pornstar. Though possibly just because of Dirk Diggler in BOOGIE NIGHTS.

Netflix has brought me EATEN ALIVE tonight. Anyone seen it?

Yeah, it's basically a backwoods PSYCHO. It has its charms, depending on your tastes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Disciple_72 

Watched The Relic again for the first time in a long time. Such an enjoyable film. B grade horror, but with A money, and decent actors and FX (Winston!)

 

Monster movie experts, what are the best mid sized monster movies. By that I mean, not King Kong or Godzilla or the thing from Cloverfield (too big) and not Cujo, Piranha, Black Water, The Reef etc (too small and/or too realistic for a "monster movie"). Also disqualified are monsters that are a bit too humanoid (e.g. the Alien, the Predator, whatever the fuck those Mimic things are called). I mean monsters that are kind of in the middle. I don't really know how else to describe them. I know there are a lot of cheap shitty ones that end up on Sci-Fi channel but what are some of the better, higher quality ones? Was trying to make a list and so far I got:

 

The Relic

The Host

Tremors

Jaws 1-3 (I have to include 1 and 2 even though size wise they were basically improbable but still possible)

Deep Blue Sea

Alligator

Dark Age

Rogue

Lake Placid

Razorback

Chawz

 

What am I missing? And if you can't give me some of the more interesting or good quality ones, what are some of the cheap but fun ones then? Anyone seen the South Korean monster movie Sector 7 yet?

I'll do my best to add to your list.

Pitch Black

The Burrowers

Outlander

Deepstar Six

Brotherhood of the Wolf

Graveyard Shift

Prophecy

The Cave

Isolation

Speaking of good creature features, the aforementioned Isolation is one I caught recently and quite enjoyed.  Great indescribable beastie.  

Stuart Gordon's Dagon is another I just saw and can't recommend enough.  It felt like a long lost eighties film, minus some bad CGI. 

Hisss is an astonishing piece of frass that should be avoided. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Disciple_72 

Watched The Relic again for the first time in a long time. Such an enjoyable film. B grade horror, but with A money, and decent actors and FX (Winston!)

 

Monster movie experts, what are the best mid sized monster movies. By that I mean, not King Kong or Godzilla or the thing from Cloverfield (too big) and not Cujo, Piranha, Black Water, The Reef etc (too small and/or too realistic for a "monster movie"). Also disqualified are monsters that are a bit too humanoid (e.g. the Alien, the Predator, whatever the fuck those Mimic things are called). I mean monsters that are kind of in the middle. I don't really know how else to describe them. I know there are a lot of cheap shitty ones that end up on Sci-Fi channel but what are some of the better, higher quality ones? Was trying to make a list and so far I got:

 

The Relic

The Host

Tremors

Jaws 1-3 (I have to include 1 and 2 even though size wise they were basically improbable but still possible)

Deep Blue Sea

Alligator

Dark Age

Rogue

Lake Placid

Razorback

Chawz

 

What am I missing? And if you can't give me some of the more interesting or good quality ones, what are some of the cheap but fun ones then? Anyone seen the South Korean monster movie Sector 7 yet?

I'll do my best to add to your list.

Pitch Black

The Burrowers

Outlander

Deepstar Six

Brotherhood of the Wolf

Graveyard Shift

Prophecy

The Cave

Isolation

Speaking of good creature features, the aforementioned Isolation is one I caught recently and quite enjoyed.  Great indescribable beastie.  

Stuart Gordon's Dagon is another I just saw and can't recommend enough.  It felt like a long lost eighties film, minus some bad CGI. 

Hisss is an astonishing piece of frass that should be avoided. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gabe T 

So today I saw...

 

 

Watched this based on your recommendation. About as amazing as I expected it to be - I think it's the most polished Troma film so far and possibly my favourite too.

The gore is disgusting as all hell but, as you can imagine if you've ever seen a Troma film, more funny than disturbing. The cast is uniformly fun, especially Ahab, who's a hero for the ages, there's plenty of nudity and the script, despite being inconsistent, is also surprisingly good. For every gag that falls flat there're 2 great ones that would feel right at home in a Will Ferrel/Adam McKay joint. It also features one of my favourite last shots in any film ever.

If you guys are looking for a Horror gem on Instant, I'll recommend the creepy THE EVICTORS again.

Netflix Summary:

"Shortly after moving into a cute farmhouse in a quaint Louisiana town, Ben (Michael Parks) and his wife, Ruth (Jessica Harper), experience strange and disturbing events and soon come to the frightening realization that someone or something wants them dead. Filmed in a pseudo-documentary style, this horror film co-stars Vic Morrow as a creepy real estate agent who neglects to inform the young couple about the property's violent history."

As I was watching the extras on The Beyond, there was a clip of Lucio Fulci's CONQUEST. Is it really as awesome as it looks? It looks like someone made a DragonAge movie with a Flash Gordon mentality.

Conquest is simultaneously terrible and incredible. I don't want to spoil anything, but if you can stick it out to the end, there are some amazing surprises in store for you.

"Conquest" is fucking awesome, man. Blood, boobs, magic bow and arrow, awesome heroes and villains, corny weapons, rocking Simonetti score. Everything I could want in a movie.

I'll climb aboard the CONQUEST love train, if you can call it that. You'd expect a Fulci take on sword and sorcery to be distinctively weird and strike a perfectly entertaining balance between awesome and terrible, and he does not disappoint. 

CONQUEST, for those who are curious.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arjen Rudd 

I can see how the market moved away from adapting expensive material without the name recognition of, say, Green Lantern, but I certainly would have watched more 90s style gruesome science adventures.

See, I'd argue that they DO have name recognition.  Preston & Child, Reilly, and Rollins are among the top bestselling fiction writers around right now and have been for quite awhile.  They haven't hit culture godlike status like King, Patterson, Grisham, or Brown.........but they are certainly in the bracket immediately below them.

I'd like to point out that Hollywood isn't completely oblivious to them though.  Film rights have been purchased for multiple works of the above authors, but as of yet not much has come of it.  Platinum Dunes snatched up the rights to Preston & Child's Gideon series recently and I believe Reilly's on-going numbered franchise is in line to become a TV show (a book per season, I guess).  Various studios are also sitting on the rights of other Preston & Child books.  It seems James Rollins is the only one left in the dust at the moment.

Considering the works of P&C and Rollins are full of monsters, creatures, aliens, cults, science fiction, horror, magic, Indy-style adventure, etc................I really am shocked that no one has moved forward with them.  I'm sure it will happen eventually though.

All of this serves to remind me that I'm really behind on my reading.  I have a very large stack of books awaiting me in the next room.
 

About to watch the Innkeepers on a plane. We'll see how this goes.

All right, Innkeepers. Pretty damn good. Very clearly a Ti West film. Personally, I hated The Roost and almost loved House of the Devil, so I'm a bit split on him. Innkeepers suggests he's more or less got his shit figured out though, and he's making these slow burn real world horrors pay off. There's not much out there right now with this level of verisimilitude, and that he's willing to let an hour go by with almost no incident is actually pretty brave. 

Ultimately, I think Innkeepers isn't quite the success that House of the Devil is because that tension ddoesn't really develop until later in the proceedings, but the cast is good, the movie looks terrific, and I loved that the movie hints at enough mythology that you can feel its presence, but never gets anywhere near explaining what the hell is happening. The last half hour is very strong, and ending leaves the right kind of questions. I also really liked the lead actress, Sarah Paxton, and I expect she's going places. I liked her enough to maybe even give Shark Night a chance - anyone else bite that bullet yet?

I pulled this off iTunes, but there's no way it's not on Netflix Instant in a month or two, and I'd suggest waiting. But be sure to check it out when you can.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arjen Rudd 
I also really liked the lead actress, Sarah Paxton, and I expect she's going places. I liked her enough to maybe even give Shark Night a chance - anyone else bite that bullet yet?

I did.  I'm with you on Paxton, but she's nothing more than 'generic survivor girl' in Shark Night.  Also, the movie is an inexcusably boring piece of PG-13 shit.  

What's the worst Slasher you guys have ever seen? I think mine has to be the sleazy and unpleasant NIGHTMARES. It's just unrelentingly shitty, and not in a fun way. I was excited, hoping for a lost gem, but it was just a meandering mess. A dreary bore.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joshua Miller 
Finally saw THE CHILDREN. I'd rank it on par with TRIANGLE. Very, very well done movie. It didn't quite speak to me inside, but it definitely has some great moments. Now that CHUD's done a list about killing old people and pets, if we ever do a Best Children Deaths list, I'm already nominating the kid who gets his neck jammed onto the broken part of a door.

Yeah, it wasn't that long ago I saw The Children and I happened to enjoy it quite a bit. I agree it was very well done.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gabe T 

So today I saw...

I'm sure some around here will consider this blasphemy but Troma isn't really for me in general. Too much juvenile and puerile stuff for me. However, given some of the stuff you guys have said, it almost puts me over the edge in wanting to give it a viewing. Then, I notice that hot brunette in the poster, and that's also an inventive to check it out.

Although, I saw a red band trailer for the movie, and WOW at just some of the things I saw in there. Although, I really enjoyed Hobo With A Shotgun and it seems to be in the same vein.

By the way, if you look on the movie's IMDb page, you'll see some tremendous hand-drawn posters.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by fuzzy dunlop 

Relic was one of my absolute favorite books when I was a kid.  I think I picked it up in middle school and was hooked on Preston & Child from there out.  I still dig their stuff, even though its essentially Crichton-lite.  

 

So of course the movie was immensely disappointing to me when I first saw it, for the usual reasons - cool subplots ignored, awesome characters dropped, etc.  But I'm willing to give it another go since its been years, and my love of cheesy monster movies has only grown in that time span.  

There's a movie I saw on the big screen and then never watched it again (more on that trend later), although I saw it with someone older as I was too young to go to it on my own. From what I remember it was a poor version of the book. Maybe if I watch it today I would like it more.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arjen Rudd 

It's strange, considering books by Preston/Child, or Steve Alten, or even Clive Cussler seem like they were written specifically to be films, they're so cinematic. Yet we've gotten only Relic and Sahara.

Way back in the 90's I read the paperback version of Meg and on it, the promise of "Soon to be a major motion picture!" and we saw what happened there. I barely remember the book but I'm sure I enjoyed it. And I do know there were Meg sequels but I haven't read any of them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arjen Rudd 
I also really liked the lead actress, Sarah Paxton, and I expect she's going places. I liked her enough to maybe even give Shark Night a chance - anyone else bite that bullet yet?

Oh, I haven't heard too much good about that. While the thing that allows the plot to happen is so ridiculous it's almost genius, it otherwise is a big disappointment from what I understand. Although, an African-American somehow acquires a SPEAR, and I mean something that looks to be out of Africa. YIKES at that, which I heard about on a podcast.

Last week Rene of this site mentioned on his Facebook page that he watched the Psycho remake. It got me to thinking and sad to say, that movie was likely the first R-rated film I saw on the big screen on my own! Back then I rarely went to the cineplex, but I still screwed up there. It wasn't until just a few days ago that I saw it for a second time, and I have to agree with the general consensus there. It was more of a giant waste of time rather than something that's unwatchable. Someone trying to imitate a famous movie from a famous director while trying to add some "modern" things is just asking for trouble, and when the main lead  casting was wrong too, then it's destined for failure. At least I doubt I'll ever watch it again.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat Elvis 

What's the worst Slasher you guys have ever seen? I think mine has to be the sleazy and unpleasant NIGHTMARES. It's just unrelentingly shitty, and not in a fun way. I was excited, hoping for a lost gem, but it was just a meandering mess. A dreary bore.

Probably "Back From The Dead." My friend bought it off Amazon, as the seller said it made Dead Alive look like Sesame Street.

He was right, in that it was extremely gory. But this Australian film was loaded with all sorts of unconvincing gore effects. It literally was like they were throwing buckets of fake blood from offscreen onto the characters.

The plot involved some old-timey prospector from the Donner Party who was resurrected in modern day to eat people. There was a musical number called "I Like Poo." It was dreadful.

Any fans of THE DORM THAT DRIPPED BLOOD?

Mine is probably Don't Go Into the Woods, a mountain man cheapie with a really effective VHS cover that gave me nightmares as a kid. Netflix Instant revealed it to be MST3K level, near unintelligible bullshit. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat Elvis 

Any fans of THE DORM THAT DRIPPED BLOOD?

I watched this on Youtube tonite. I think I'll have to order the Blu, because, silly twist ending aside, it was a pretty fun Slasher. The red herring creepy guy's weirdness cracked me up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arjen Rudd 

Mine is probably Don't Go Into the Woods, a mountain man cheapie with a really effective VHS cover that gave me nightmares as a kid. Netflix Instant revealed it to be MST3K level, near unintelligible bullshit. 

Oh, that's unfortunate. It sounds even worse than the recently discussed on here movie of the same name that was directed by Vincent D'Onofrio!

Now, the old video I saw of just the end credits was taken down; instead I found this which is not the type of video I'd normally post around here as it has the last minute of the film too, but just listen to how bizarre the one minute song that plays during the end credits is. It's a jaunty tune sung by a dude with a strange voice telling you not to go in the woods as you'd probably get killed! That's the only part of the film I've actually seen, and from Arjen's report, I don't need to watch the movie no matter how I do it.

Turns out the cover art isn't scary so much as it's fucking ridiculous. Ah, through the eyes of a child.

And yes, its actual title is Don't Go In the Woods...Alone!

That youtube clip explains everything you need to know about it. Just imagine how at home Crow and Tom Servo would look in the bottom right corner, talking over the synth score.

So i recently saw:

Tetsuo- The Iron Man

And was blown away. I have never been so visually mind fucked in my entire life. It's plot is sporadic and hard to understand but it was a visual feast and actually quite disturbing. It's a 80's japanese horror flick so it will probably be what you expect and then a dash of mechanical insanity just to put you over. Soundtrack is also amazing, really good.

I'm a big fan of these movies, does anyone have any other recommendations:

Alien Franchise

The Thing

Predator Franchise

Event Horizon

Blade Runner

StarShip Troopers

etc

I was recently looking up similar movies and thought I'd ask if any of these are worth viewing. Note that I'm a child of the early 90s, so when films are very dated AT TIMES it can be to much for me.

The Cube

Prince Of Darkness

The Cell (Looking forward to this I heard its crazyshit)

Sunshine (2007)

Dead Alive (after reading a few posts above me)

EraserHead (heard a lot about this, heard its great)

Scanners (Also heard a lot about this, heard this is also pretty good)

Every one of those movies, apart from The Cell, is worth seeing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Evi 

Every one of those movies, apart from The Cell, is worth seeing.

Any specific reason? Is it just kinda silly/pointless or just overdone?

The Cell isn't nearly as crazyshit as it wants to be, or should be. But for a medicore movie, it does have some interesting visuals.

Eraserhead is crazyshit. Watch that one. Then continue with El Topo, Enter the Void, Hausu and Inland Empire.

You simply have to see Dead Alive.

Prince of Darkness is campy, but fun.
Cube is fine. Do not watch the sequels.
Sunrise does have an amazingly shitty last act, but the stuff before that is really good.

Scanners is highly overrated. It's nowhere as good as its iconic image.

Guys, watch Dream Home (not to be confused with the Daniel Craig movie). Great little asian slasher.

Instead of SCANNERS, watch Cronenberg's THE FLY and VIDEODROME. Unless you've already seen them. If you're familiar with more of his work, by all means give SCANNERS a shot. But it's not one of my favorites of his.

Also, a vaguely similar movie to SCANNERS, from around the same time (by a few years, at least), that I actually prefer: THE FURY

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Myers 

 

Guys, watch Dream Home (not to be confused with the Daniel Craig movie). Great little asian slasher.

Sebastian OB and I showed this last year as part of our Friday Night Frights series. Some truly fantastic bits of twisted dark comedy in the film. The entire sequence featuring the young partiers and their drunk dates is glorious.

Of that list, Dead Alive should be your first priority.

Legally I am prevented from going into details but I'll just say.....The Cabin in the Woods....go see it in a large crowd opening night....trust me....

Nice write up on THE DESCENT:

http://badassdigest.com/2012/02/21/collins-crypt-movies-i-love-the-descent/

Oh man, Tetsuo... I saw it once on VHS almost 10 years ago, and all I remember about it was that it was definitely one of the strangest movies I've ever seen.

As for Dead Alive, if you love comedy/horror and can stand extreme gore, then you should love it.

A few days ago I was listening to a podcast and one of the people on there had a strong recommendation for a Soviet horror film (!), the very first one they ever did, called Viy in its native country but known outside of it as Spirit of Evil. It is about a seminary student who has to spend three nights alone in a church with a deceased witch who actually isn't so deceased in the nighttime.

He compared it to something directed by Raimi and at least in tone I say it's not the worst comparison. There's quite a bit of humor and funny situations along with the creepy stuff, and some of it really is well-done. I mean, creepy in a genuine way. Spooky shit happens and the shit hits the fan. There's also some crazy camera work that you'd more expect to see something made quite a bit after 1967. I am glad I heard the recommendation as it's a real interesting film that's rather unique as a horror movie due to its setting (old Ukraine) and plot.

Yeah, that was definitely a painful preview.

I have a new movie to add to the list of my favorite Slashers- THE SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE. A Halloween rip-off that's delightfully tongue in cheek, while still remaining bloody as Hell. I think it holds up well against its 80's (sub)genre contemporaries. Written and directed by women, the abbundant symbalism is clever enough to make you appreciate it even while it makes you crack up . An underappreciated gem.

Are the FEAST sequels worth a damn? I should note that I enjoyed FEAST but certainly didn't love it.

They are no where need as much fun as the first one, but I did chuckle at both, the second one is the better of the two sequels IIRC.

Yeah, 3 is kinda poop. 2 is alright.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Myers 

Scanners is highly overrated. It's nowhere as good as its iconic image.

 

 

Wrong. It's a bit hamstrung with lame performances, and some contradictory elements in the script, but like all of Cronenberg's films, it has great, original ideas. It's not overrated, it's just been referenced so ridiculously as an out of context meme that it's kind of easy to forget how cool and somewhat ground-breaking it was.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joshua Miller 

Are the FEAST sequels worth a damn? I should note that I enjoyed FEAST but certainly didn't love it.

You should have fun with them.  That said, they have an entirely different tone and feel to them.  The first is still the best of the bunch though.

This reminds me that I'm kinda itching to see how Piranha 3DD turns out, since the Feast team is behind it.

Yeah, I fell in love with Mimic all over again when I watched it as well.  I hadn't seen it in so long that I really had no idea what was new either.

Has anyone seen the Israeli Horror movie RABIES? Harry's write up in his DVD column promises something nuts.