Youth N Asia
Boners, and farts.
I watched those two shows as a kid. Remember the openings vividly. Not a single moment from an episode though.
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General Horror Films & TV Discussion Thread
- Thread starter HarleyQuinn
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I watched those two shows as a kid. Remember the openings vividly. Not a single moment from an episode though.
Big Papa Paegan
L. A. Z.
My favorite low-rent syndicated sci-fi/horror shows were Poltergeist: Legacy and PSI Factor.
Cackling Co Pilot Kamala
Integral Poster
Didn’t The Undertaker guest star on The Poltergeist TV show?
Gary
If You're Into It, I'm Out of It
This one's the follow up to "X" and "Pearl". Looks like they're doing a Giallo homage with this one.
Brooklyn Zoo
BZ
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Saw "The First Omen." It's very good. I was impressed by Arkasha Stevenson's direction. It's shot beautifully and the sound design is top notch. It needs to be seen in theaters. The plot, lore and all that is predictable but it doesn't matter. Stevenson made it feel fresh and immersive, pacing it like a 70s movie but with a modern touch. Maybe my favorite film of the year so far.
I hope they don't wimp out on how dire and bleak the original movie is. Trailer looks very intense, so I'm excited. Casting is fantastic. McAvoy, McNairy, and Mackenzie Davis are all terrific. McAvoy especially seems to be really nailing it. He also is starting to look identical to Gerard Butler. Hope this is as good as the original.
Edit: Oh shit, it's directed by the guy that made Eden Lake. This should be appropriately disturbing then.
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Just saw Sting (with 1 other person and a theater employee in the back at my screening, lol). 5.5 to 6/10 sounds right. It's exactly what you suspect from the trailer and the kind of movie that probably would've been a PG Made For TV movie in the 90s despite its R Rating - mostly for cursing. Some decent effects and one particular gory scene.
I liked it but I'm also a bit of a sucker for these kinds of movies. It wasn't looking to re-invent the wheel, just do what it offers and get in/get out of your life.
I liked it but I'm also a bit of a sucker for these kinds of movies. It wasn't looking to re-invent the wheel, just do what it offers and get in/get out of your life.
Epic for the Summer
Epic Reine
Does it top Arachnophobia in terms of spider flicks?
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Not even close but Arachnophobia is the Jurassic Park of spider movies. This is a pretty simplistic, isolated low-budget horror movie. Almost a marriage of something like Krampus in terms of "location" (it's literally a single apartment building) and Crawl in its creature feature-ness.
Brooklyn Zoo
BZ
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Fuck if it’s the Eden Lake guy, yeah that’s like 2x the bleakness
Gary
If You're Into It, I'm Out of It
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I feel like @Brocklock posted this because it seems like his type of movie but I saw this trailer ahead of Sting and immediately thought of him.
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Very solid 7.5/10. My screening had about 10-13 people, which surprised me since it was a subtitled screening (my first one so it was basically like watching it at home, which I greatly enjoyed).
I thought Ready or Not had more humor and better comedic actors/writing but this had more over the top gore and blood splatter (enough that I mentally noted @Laz may dig it just for that reason).
The acting was good and like RON, it does a good job at building it up a fair bit before going into the crux of the movie. The trailer(s) basically spoiling the "twist" didn't really impact it for me as I found enjoyment in waiting for the eventual reveal/carnage to follow after. There's some tweaks/twists within the plot and character motivation with some of it working for me and some of it not quite landing as hard.
My only real knock on the movie is that the 3rd act goes on for a long time and while a lot of stuff happens, it's almost a case where the writers had this particular payoff in mind but couldn't quite edit/cut the movie down enough to smoothly go through it all so it does feel a little draggy at times as you're waiting for some kind of wrap up/finish.
Seeing Laazar show up at the very end... I'm very on the fence about it. I feel like it was a better concept in mind then execution and I don't know if it was really necessary despite the parallel it was trying to draw on I guess. *shrug*
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Gary
If You're Into It, I'm Out of It
I have to hand it to Neon-this has been the most intriguing promotional campaign of the year IMO. Even if the movie disappoints, every teaser for this works
Big Papa Paegan
L. A. Z.
I didn't know Mankind was in a horror flick
Cackling Co Pilot Kamala
Integral Poster
A24 dumps Bryan Fuller's Friday The 13th TV show
"A24 has elected to go a different way with the material," Fuller wrote on social media this week, after apparently being dropped from the Peacock show
www.avclub.com
Gary
If You're Into It, I'm Out of It
I can’t help but think this one isn’t going to live up to all the hype, yet I’m still looking forward to it. I’m just happy we’re getting a slasher that isn’t another horror/comedy
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Got my ticket to see I Saw the TV Glow for tomorrow at 11 AM. It seems to be getting mostly good reviews from critics though audiences seem more split.
RedJed
Rasslin' Rambler
Saw it over the weekend, and while the third act had horror elements, I would be hard pressed to consider this a full out horror film (but then again what DO you consider it?)....but I do have to say in the underbelly of it, it had some very strong finding yourself kind of themes going on. There was alot of symbolism going on narratively instead of a linear and straight forward storytelling context, that got me a bit stirred up slightly in how it was done. The ending left me feeling incomplete and wanting more though too, that was my main qualm with an otherwise very solid film.
I also saw The Strangers Chapter 1 and...well.....it got honor in the bad movies thread. There was some ok nods to the original, but otherwise why was there a need for this and if you are going to do it, at least reinvent the wheel or something. None of the sort happened here. Just about every aspect of this was far worse than either of the previous Strangers entries. Does it shock anyone with Renny Harlin in the helm? And to think they are going to attempt to release the other two chapters wide within the next 6 to 8 months, wow......talk about shameless cash grabbin going on here. I would have much rather just seen a prequel or some shit.
Speaking of prequels, wanna roll back to The First Omen. After a binge of the other Omen films (goddamn was the third and fourth ones TURRRRIBLE) I was so overwhelmingly impressed with this one. I thought it held up as good as the original has, and in fact this may be a pretty brazen thing to say, but this to me was the best horror prequel ever attempted by anyone, ever. Even leaving the possibility of yet another prequel to bridge into the original too. My guess it that it probably wont happen, but I'd be all for it if it was anything like this one.
Also on the subject of spider movies, Sting was a fun romp of a film, felt almost like Gremlins tones at times. If you are looking for a solid compliment to this film, look no further than the Shudder film Infested...this may be the absolute best spider film out there. So well done.
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I was close to done with The Exorcist series after Believer, but bah gawd I'M BACK ON BOARD with this news
https://variety.com/2024/film/news/mike-flanagan-the-exorcist-movie-1236018937/
Scrapping the story from Believer completely, and letting one of the best current directors in horror do his thing is a brilliant idea. Flanagan's religious style in Midnight Mass is perfect for the tone of The Exorcist, and I'm so excited to see what he can do with the concept.
https://variety.com/2024/film/news/mike-flanagan-the-exorcist-movie-1236018937/
Scrapping the story from Believer completely, and letting one of the best current directors in horror do his thing is a brilliant idea. Flanagan's religious style in Midnight Mass is perfect for the tone of The Exorcist, and I'm so excited to see what he can do with the concept.
Caught In A Violent Nature this evening.
Interesting movie. Hilarious in a couple death scenes. Some might find it gory if you find things gory.
The tediousness of it all is the fascinating aspect. It can entertain you or drive you bored to tears depending how you interpret these moments.
There’s nothing in the way of entertainment in this movie. No character is compelling in any sense and that’s the allure of the movie.
Interesting movie. Hilarious in a couple death scenes. Some might find it gory if you find things gory.
The tediousness of it all is the fascinating aspect. It can entertain you or drive you bored to tears depending how you interpret these moments.
There’s nothing in the way of entertainment in this movie. No character is compelling in any sense and that’s the allure of the movie.
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Re-watched The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It and slightly bumped it from a 3/10 to a 4/10 but it was still a tough watch. The plot revolving around the curse(s) and totem was just so stupid and there was zero setup in relating to the actual "cursed" boy then teen and this felt the most like, "We need to specifically center this around the Warrens and let's just throw these other characters in." The point of the Warrens inclusion was to prove that the teen was possessed by a demon when he killed the guy and the movie never really tried to show that side, it just did the normal Warren horror schlock.
The entire Jessica death subplot connection could've been completely axed (along with the random jump scare where Lorraine Warren nearly gets pulled over a cliff edge) and the exposition dump of the cops just randomly finding a body after, "combing the basin twice," was the dumbest. I tbh never really figured out the actual connection there because then at the end the object of the curse suddenly centers around the kid (purity), teen (lover), and faith (Ed Warren) so why did the Jessica thing matter at all? There was also zero explanation for why this woman was cursing multiple people except for basically shits & giggles and because she got into the Occult because of her ex-Priest father. Did something set the woman off? Who knows, who cares. Just care about the Warrens saving the day... except the teen still went to jail and married his sweetheart anyway, so love prevails? Faith prevailed?
One thing this franchise usually has going for it are either memorable 'demon' characters or jump scares that are effective. This just felt very lazy on all counts and reminded me of the awful CGI used in La Llorona and while the body contortion stuff is still physically impressive, it too just felt tiresome and old hat because every single Exorcism/Possession movie uses it to convey the demon in a human body rather than being more inventive or unique.
The entire Jessica death subplot connection could've been completely axed (along with the random jump scare where Lorraine Warren nearly gets pulled over a cliff edge) and the exposition dump of the cops just randomly finding a body after, "combing the basin twice," was the dumbest. I tbh never really figured out the actual connection there because then at the end the object of the curse suddenly centers around the kid (purity), teen (lover), and faith (Ed Warren) so why did the Jessica thing matter at all? There was also zero explanation for why this woman was cursing multiple people except for basically shits & giggles and because she got into the Occult because of her ex-Priest father. Did something set the woman off? Who knows, who cares. Just care about the Warrens saving the day... except the teen still went to jail and married his sweetheart anyway, so love prevails? Faith prevailed?
One thing this franchise usually has going for it are either memorable 'demon' characters or jump scares that are effective. This just felt very lazy on all counts and reminded me of the awful CGI used in La Llorona and while the body contortion stuff is still physically impressive, it too just felt tiresome and old hat because every single Exorcism/Possession movie uses it to convey the demon in a human body rather than being more inventive or unique.
I was a tad letdown by The First Omen. The scariest part of the movie was finding out it was 2 hours. The movie's pacing really dragged at times. There were a lot of things I liked. The visual style was fantastic and the director has a good future in horror. Lead actress Nell Tiger Free was striking and pretty great. There's some disgusting visuals and this is easily the most disturbing and gory Omen film.
But, it was just too long. I felt like it had 7 endings before it finally ended. I think I liked Immaculate better because it was a short 87 minutes. And, was very similar to this. I hated how they teased us with Charles Dance. I'd honestly rather have more Dance than Bill Nighy.
6.5/10
Still, I think it's the second best Omen film. Although, I need to revisit Damien: Omen II which I remember being okay. Sam Neill one was dull and The made for tv one I never watched because it seems worthless. Oh and the remake just stinks.
But, it was just too long. I felt like it had 7 endings before it finally ended. I think I liked Immaculate better because it was a short 87 minutes. And, was very similar to this. I hated how they teased us with Charles Dance. I'd honestly rather have more Dance than Bill Nighy.
6.5/10
Still, I think it's the second best Omen film. Although, I need to revisit Damien: Omen II which I remember being okay. Sam Neill one was dull and The made for tv one I never watched because it seems worthless. Oh and the remake just stinks.
RedJed
Rasslin' Rambler
Yeah so Violent Nature....very polarized in how I feel about it.
On one hand it's a visual spectacle at times and raw and visceral as you can get with a unique perspective attached. I mean I moreless sat through it thinking this is the best homage to a Jason movie since...ever? The mythos pulled me in a bit for sure.
But on the other hand, goddamn the pace of this infuriated me. I want a richer story with more details, not another slow step through another part of the woods to slow down the momentum of one of the more creative kills prior. And the last half of the last act made for one of the most underwhelming finishes in recent horror memory. This was where I was reminded this was supposed to have an art house feel on some level, and also there wasn't a crescendo of sorts, instead it felt just uncreative. Anyway this had potential and it's own uniqueness in parts but instead felt the need to add too much filler of the setup and not enough of the execution on some level. Although as I said, some of those kills.....lawdy!
On one hand it's a visual spectacle at times and raw and visceral as you can get with a unique perspective attached. I mean I moreless sat through it thinking this is the best homage to a Jason movie since...ever? The mythos pulled me in a bit for sure.
But on the other hand, goddamn the pace of this infuriated me. I want a richer story with more details, not another slow step through another part of the woods to slow down the momentum of one of the more creative kills prior. And the last half of the last act made for one of the most underwhelming finishes in recent horror memory. This was where I was reminded this was supposed to have an art house feel on some level, and also there wasn't a crescendo of sorts, instead it felt just uncreative. Anyway this had potential and it's own uniqueness in parts but instead felt the need to add too much filler of the setup and not enough of the execution on some level. Although as I said, some of those kills.....lawdy!
Gary
If You're Into It, I'm Out of It
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/m...son-parker-finn-possession-remake-1235919192/
Possession is one of my favorite films and I think it's a near perfect horror film. I love Pattinson, but I just can't see this working. The way the movie was made can't be done now. The director was going through a divorce and massive depression when writing the script, and he put both main actors through hell. Which, made their performances incredible and hard to watch from the intensity, but it's a different world now. Isabelle Adjani supposedly attempted suicide because of how much the performance took out of her emotionally. It's really one of the best performances ever, so whoever gets cast in that role has her work cut out for her.
Also, I liked Smile, but this director is way in over his head. If it was Luca Guadagnino (He did a great job with Suspiria which was another remake I thought wasn't going to work) or Ari Aster or Mike Flanagan or someone on that level directing it, maybe it could be great. But, Smile while fun, was a pretty run of the mill horror film for the most part. I didn't see anything in it that makes me think this guy can handle such a heavy film.
This is the first remake news in a while to kind of anger me, but at least it will get more eyes on the original 1981 movie.
Possession is one of my favorite films and I think it's a near perfect horror film. I love Pattinson, but I just can't see this working. The way the movie was made can't be done now. The director was going through a divorce and massive depression when writing the script, and he put both main actors through hell. Which, made their performances incredible and hard to watch from the intensity, but it's a different world now. Isabelle Adjani supposedly attempted suicide because of how much the performance took out of her emotionally. It's really one of the best performances ever, so whoever gets cast in that role has her work cut out for her.
Also, I liked Smile, but this director is way in over his head. If it was Luca Guadagnino (He did a great job with Suspiria which was another remake I thought wasn't going to work) or Ari Aster or Mike Flanagan or someone on that level directing it, maybe it could be great. But, Smile while fun, was a pretty run of the mill horror film for the most part. I didn't see anything in it that makes me think this guy can handle such a heavy film.
This is the first remake news in a while to kind of anger me, but at least it will get more eyes on the original 1981 movie.
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I watched a (not so classic) Class of 1999 from 1990. It's in the midst of a lot of those 90s era "school" movies that 50s/60s kids who grew up seemed to love doing whether it was Principals/Teachers solving Gang Violence, Teachers Stopping Drugs, or movies like this where invaders from the outside take over a school and the teachers/kids have to prevent it.
It stars Bradley Gregg as Cody, Traci Lind as Christie (the Principal's daughter), Stacy Keach as Dr. Bob Forrest, Malcom McDowell (as the Principal. He filmed for 2 days and it showed, lol) with the 3 teachers being played by Patrick Kilpatrick, Pam Grier(!), and John P. Ryan(!).
Rough plot is the high school is set in Seattle, where gang warfare is high, and schools around the country have been tagged as "free-fire zones" where the police don't enter. Stacy Keach employs three robotic AI as teachers to study them for discipline, treatment, etc. Needless to say the teachers go rogue (aka AI learns OMG) and start legitimately killing students while the two gangs have to unite to save themselves and the school from the 3 teachers.
It's fine. I enjoyed it especially the last act where there's some really good robotic creature effects (and deaths) courtesy of All Effects Company with special effects/visual effects led by Eric Allard (who also worked on Short Circuit 1 & 2, Demolition Man, Mission Impossible, and Spy Kids).
5/10
It stars Bradley Gregg as Cody, Traci Lind as Christie (the Principal's daughter), Stacy Keach as Dr. Bob Forrest, Malcom McDowell (as the Principal. He filmed for 2 days and it showed, lol) with the 3 teachers being played by Patrick Kilpatrick, Pam Grier(!), and John P. Ryan(!).
Rough plot is the high school is set in Seattle, where gang warfare is high, and schools around the country have been tagged as "free-fire zones" where the police don't enter. Stacy Keach employs three robotic AI as teachers to study them for discipline, treatment, etc. Needless to say the teachers go rogue (aka AI learns OMG) and start legitimately killing students while the two gangs have to unite to save themselves and the school from the 3 teachers.
It's fine. I enjoyed it especially the last act where there's some really good robotic creature effects (and deaths) courtesy of All Effects Company with special effects/visual effects led by Eric Allard (who also worked on Short Circuit 1 & 2, Demolition Man, Mission Impossible, and Spy Kids).
5/10
Gary
If You're Into It, I'm Out of It
Why Crystal Lake Shut Down: Inside the Collapse of Bryan Fuller's Friday the 13th Series
TheWrap spoke to more than a half-dozen insiders intimately involved in the planned Friday the 13th series Crystal Lake, A24's first foray into IP.
www.thewrap.com
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Watched The Hallow from 2015 starring Joseph Mawle (Game of Thrones, Ripper Street) and Bojana Novakovic (Instinct, Devil, Satisfaction).
4.5/10
Plot: A couple & baby moves out to Ireland where the husband has a job related to taking down trees in the forest, which sets off the demons in the forest to kidnap the baby as revenge. There's a slight antagonist played by Michael McElhatton but his role is very "tell, not show" probably more so due to a low budget and the obvious aspect of the reasoning behind his character kind of gets tossed in at the end.
Some really solid creature designs and tension but the film suffers from the fatal flaw of simply not establishing the characters well enough early on and relying too much on the "horror" element to carry the film instead. This is where something like The Strangers or Cube sets themselves apart despite largely being in singular locations as well.
It tries to play around with classic Irish folktales/lore (most notably the changeling but also encroaching of nature) yet doesn't develop the characters with enough backstory in the beginning to really make us care as the movie goes on, which is a shame as I like the two leads as actors, before it just suddenly starts getting into the supernatural elements and aspects.
4.5/10
Plot: A couple & baby moves out to Ireland where the husband has a job related to taking down trees in the forest, which sets off the demons in the forest to kidnap the baby as revenge. There's a slight antagonist played by Michael McElhatton but his role is very "tell, not show" probably more so due to a low budget and the obvious aspect of the reasoning behind his character kind of gets tossed in at the end.
Some really solid creature designs and tension but the film suffers from the fatal flaw of simply not establishing the characters well enough early on and relying too much on the "horror" element to carry the film instead. This is where something like The Strangers or Cube sets themselves apart despite largely being in singular locations as well.
It tries to play around with classic Irish folktales/lore (most notably the changeling but also encroaching of nature) yet doesn't develop the characters with enough backstory in the beginning to really make us care as the movie goes on, which is a shame as I like the two leads as actors, before it just suddenly starts getting into the supernatural elements and aspects.