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PretentiousHipster
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Re: Racketboy Month of Horror 12: 80 Weeks Later

by PretentiousHipster Mon Oct 18, 2021 6:41 pm

The Dark Half seems to have gotten some resurgence these days, and I was curious when reading its concept. It's a Stephen King adaptation that is probably his most personal work, directed by George A. Romero. In this one, an author has a publicity stunt where he "kills" his pen name and buries him. The pen name/alter ego then digs himself out of the grave out of nowhere and starts killing people the same way they do in the books.

It's an interesting concept, but I think it's something that should be more psychological and ambiguous as the plot goes on. In this case, it pretty much goes for a more low fantasy direction. It didn't really work imo. You have to suspend your disbelief in so many scenes that it got tiresome, and it just shows that they cared more about the idea itself rather than its execution. It's still decent, I just expected something more considering its resurgence.
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Ack
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Re: Racketboy Month of Horror 12: 80 Weeks Later

by Ack Tue Oct 19, 2021 1:30 pm

Oh folks, I have a low budget cult treat:

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The Undertaker

Joe Spinell's last starring film went for years floating around as a bootleg before finally getting a couple of releases in the last decade, one of which was a re-edit with extra material. In fact, it's only gotten one very limited release in it's official form, and it's not a good movie...but Spinell is great in it, so if you enjoyed him in Maniac, you should probably try and track this down. Thank goodness it's streaming on Amazon Prime.

Spinell plays Uncle Roscoe, a homicidal, necrophiliac undertaker in the titular role. He's creepy yet falls into the role in a way where you can believe how this guy could get by unnoticed in what appears to be a relatively small town. The film suffers in pretty much every other regard, but Spinell is great.
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prfsnl_gmr
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Re: Racketboy Month of Horror 12: 80 Weeks Later

by prfsnl_gmr Tue Oct 19, 2021 3:12 pm

Last night’s movie was Piranha (1978), which is, basically, a Jaws knock-off, combined with a 1970s disaster movie, wrapped in a hixploitarion film. In short, it’s very of its era. The women all have Farrah Fawcett cuts and don’t wear bras; the men all have sketchy facial hair and wear jean shorts with tank tops (which doesn’t seem like a fair trade at all). The plot involves mutated piranha (a word which the characters pronounce, alternately, pee-ron-ya or pir-ahn-hah) escaping into a local lake and stream system. The male lead, who lost his great factory job due to environmental regulations ultimately kills all the piranha by polluting the lake with chemical discharge. (Not sure what point the movie is making here. Pollution is good, I guess?). The whole thing is very silly, and director Joe Dante brought to Piranha some of the same manic energy he later brought to the far-superior Gremlins. Unlike Gremlins, though, the special effects in Piranha are really bad, and the whole movie, despite its campiness, ends up being pretty boring (despite frequent nudity, jumping cars, flaming boats, etc.). I mean, it’s better than it should be, I guess, but I’d have a hard time recommending it to anyone. (Piranha is available for streaming of Amazon Prime Video.)

prfsnl_gmr’s Spook-tacular Horror Month Movie List
Murder to the Tune of Seven Black Notes (a/k/a The Psychic) (1977) - :D
Brain Damage (1988) - :)
Creep (2014) - :)
Creep 2 (2017) - :D
Midsommar (2019) - :)
Piranha (1978) - :|


prfsnl_gmr’s Horror Movie Month Pre-Gaming…of Death!
The Fly (1958) - :|
Cam (2018) - :D
Werewolves Within (2021) - :D
When a Stranger Calls (1979) - :|
Uzumaki (2000) - :)
Malignant (2021) - :)
Triangle (2009) - :)
Lair of the White Worm (1988) - :(
Nightbooks (2021) - :)
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PretentiousHipster
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Re: Racketboy Month of Horror 12: 80 Weeks Later

by PretentiousHipster Wed Oct 20, 2021 12:10 pm

I need to collect my thoughts on it, but if any of you missed the New French Extremity movement, then you'll love Titane. It was too disturbing for me though.
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Michi
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Re: Racketboy Month of Horror 12: 80 Weeks Later

by Michi Fri Oct 22, 2021 12:06 am

Killer Crocodile

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Oh my God, this is one of the cheesiest, most ridiculous monster movies I think I've ever seen. Bad acting, bad dub, dumb characters, equally dumb dialogue, cheesy practical effects, and a soundtrack that was about 2 notes away from the producers getting a personal call from an irrate Steven Spielberg.

All that means that it ends up being gloriously entertaining and I think I'm in love. It's on Tubi. There is a sequel. I'm watching that next.
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Nemoide
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Re: Racketboy Month of Horror 12: 80 Weeks Later

by Nemoide Fri Oct 22, 2021 1:00 pm

Oh man, Killer Crocodile sounds like my kind of movie.

I watched Taxidermia recently, I remember this one making waves amongst the "extreme horror" crowd. It's not quite as upsetting as A Serbian Film, but it's definitely a disgusting film that isn't for the squeamish. The film follows three generations of men in in Hungary: one man is a soldier buried in rules who gets sexual gratification through unusual means, next is a man who works as a competitive eater, representing Hungary against other communist countries and coaching other eaters, finally we follow a taxidermist in the present day.
I'm pretty sure this film is saying something about Hungarian history and experiences. Unfortunately I'm not familiar enough with Hungary to really get much out of it beyond saying "well, this is disgusting."
I wouldn't recommend it but I'm glad I was able to get it through interlibrary loan, so I didn't have to pay for it and my curiosity has been satisfied.

I also rewatched a couple 80s classics: Return of the Living Dead and Child's Play.
I've seen Return of the Living Dead many times, but it's always a fun time. This time I watched it with three friends who had never seen it before and it was fun seeing their reactions (they all liked it).
Child's Play is one I think I only watched once when I was in high school when I watched everything up through Bride of Chucky. I remember liking it but not loving it, but to my surprise, it really held up as being a really solid movie! Even though the premise is ludicrous, it takes the threat of Chucky seriously and plays as a straight horror film with some silly elements. And of course the Chucky puppet was a great prop. I kind of want to go through the rest of the series, especially since I've heard good things about the new TV show.

I'm still reading horror comics too with the most interesting one I've just gotten through is The Supernaturals, a 1998 Marvel mini-series. It's essentially a reimagining of the Marvel universe by the creators of Chaos! Comics: in an alternate timeline where all the Marvel superheros vanished, this group of heroes are reimaginings of Brother Voodoo, Ghost Rider, Satana, Werewolf-By-Night, The Gargoyle, Ghost Rider, and The Black Cat with the primary villain being Jack O'Lantern who does things like resurrect The Living Mummy and even a dinosaur skeleton from a museum. The synopsis sounds like it should be a lot of Halloween fun but unfortunately it's juggling so many characters that it feels incoherent and unsatisfying. It's an interesting oddity and something that's kind of been forgotten, like a lot of other late '90s comics, but it isn't exactly a hidden gem.
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prfsnl_gmr
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Re: Racketboy Month of Horror 12: 80 Weeks Later

by prfsnl_gmr Mon Oct 25, 2021 9:35 pm

Last night’s movie was The Turn of the Screw (2009), which is a BBC adaptation of Henry James’ novel. It stars two people who would later appear in Downton Abbey, and it deviates significantly from the book. Most significantly, the book is great, while this movie is an absolute embarrassment. Seriously, it’s horrible, and you shouldn’t watch it. The best part is a scene in which a kid, holding a cigar and a tumbler of Scotch whiskey, raises a glass to someone having sex. (It’s bonkers.) The rest of the movie is boring and bad. (Available for streaming on Amazon, but, seriously, you should skip it.)

prfsnl_gmr’s Spook-tacular Horror Month Movie List
Murder to the Tune of Seven Black Notes (a/k/a The Psychic) (1977) - :D
Death Laid an Egg (1968) - :|
Brain Damage (1988) - :)
Creep (2014) - :)
Creep 2 (2017) - :D
Midsommar (2019) - :)
The Turn of the Screw (2009) - :(


prfsnl_gmr’s Horror Movie Month Pre-Gaming…of Death!
The Fly (1958) - :|
Cam (2018) - :D
Werewolves Within (2021) - :D
When a Stranger Calls (1979) - :|
Uzumaki (2000) - :)
Malignant (2021) - :)
Triangle (2009) - :)
Lair of the White Worm (1988) - :(
Nightbooks (2021) - :)
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Nemoide
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Re: Racketboy Month of Horror 12: 80 Weeks Later

by Nemoide Mon Oct 25, 2021 10:41 pm

I just watched two movies over the past two days that were very good!

Halloween Kills - okay, so I'm definitely in the minority on this opinion, but this might be my favorite Michael Myers-focused Halloween sequel. I've never really cared about Myers as a character and all the lore heaped upon him over the years. I'd keep watching Halloween movies in theaters because I've been watching them in theaters since I was in high school (Halloween Resurrection). I'm not really into the series outside of the first and third ones, but as a dedicated horror fan, I feel like I'd regret not watching one. I thought the 2018 Halloween was okay, but largely boring and nothing too special. But DANG, Halloween Kills ramps everything up to an absurd degree, goes WAY over the top, and is really doing something kind of wild with Michael Myers that I appreciate a lot! I saw one person say it was basically the Gremlins II to Halloween 2018's Gremlins, and I feel like that's a good analogy. It goes hard and commits to doing what it's doing, unafraid to do things that are more than a little ridiculous! I get that it isn't the Halloween movie for everyone, but this is definitely the one for me! I also think this might be the most gory film in the series, though I never saw the director's cut of Rob Zombie's Halloween 2.
Anyway, I'm definitely excited for Halloween Ends now!

Mr. Vampire - this is a Hong Kong film with a strong reputation for jumpstarting a minor pop culture craze for jiangshi (aka hopping vampires). I've known there are many characters in that type in anime like Chaozu in Dragon Ball and Hsein-ko in Darkstalkers. But I never got around to watching Mr. Vampire because it wasn't readily available through my normal means of watching movies (ie getting DVDs through the library or going to theaters). But I was doing a YesAsia order and decided to throw it in my cart since China is now claiming the authority to censor HK films and I know the Chinese government frowns upon the undead in films. And I'm so glad I did, this movie rules! It's got martial arts, comedy, AND supernatural threats in the form of jiangshi and a sexy ghost lady! The film references some Chinese funerary practices I'm not familiar with, but that doesn't matter, what matters is you get wacky hijinks involving a Taoist priest and his students battling against the living dead. It's solid entertainment with the frenetic choreography one comes to expect from HK action films, comedy that does a better job of going beyond cultural bounds than a lot of other HK comedies, and cool monsters that are clearly just makeup effects but are still pretty dang neat! It's wacky, it's fun, it lives up to its reputation for being a worthwhile film! Now I want to check out the sequels.
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PretentiousHipster
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Re: Racketboy Month of Horror 12: 80 Weeks Later

by PretentiousHipster Tue Oct 26, 2021 7:10 am

Psycho 3 almost reaches so bad it's good territory. Anthony Perkins obviously does a good performance, but I find that he wasn't the best at director, aside from calling some cool scene transfers. Apparently he said that he's not the most proud of this because he lacked the technical knowledge. Many scenes are a rehash of the first part, but made a lot more "trashy" with a surprising amount of nudity and gore. Definitely not good, but entertaining.
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Michi
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Re: Racketboy Month of Horror 12: 80 Weeks Later

by Michi Tue Oct 26, 2021 10:36 pm

Killer Crocodile 2

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Did you like the first movie? Well, this is more of the same. There's a greedy land developer trying to convince people that the swamps are safe, someone is sent in to investigate, shock of all shocks the swamp isn't safe, the giant croc chomps on people as they jump out of their boats, etc. etc....

It's basically more of the same, with a slightly more coherent plot, but it's also still bogged down by the same hang-ups as the first film, mainly the horrible dubbing, acting and stupid decisions. So, much of the same as before. It is further impeded by some pacing issues, but the croc comes in frequently enough to nom nom on people that it doesn't get too monotonous. Basically, if you liked the first one, you'll like the second, even if it's not quite as great.
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