Month of Horror 8: The Hellworld Gospel Resurrection Legacy

[Xeogred]

The new Blade Runner is pretty damn cynical and haunting.

[Jagosaurus]

Didn't Wesley Snipes sue the studio over the final cut of Blade III? IIRC, he was upset that Ryan Reynolds & Jessica Beil get so much screen time. Assuming he burned that bridge with that stunt. I dig all 3 of the Blade movies. Rewatched them last year & I agree they hold up well. Seems like everyone forgot about these when it was such hot news Deadpool & Logan got a R rating.

The werewolf transformation (well... Wolf to human) scene in 80s Fright Night is awesome.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Fright Night

Falters at places but still a solid 80's horror comedy with good production values. Chris Sarandon's cocky vampire character and his manservant Jonathan Stark are fun to watch and the other leads do a good job too. The film goes on bit too long but not long enough to get boring. The wolf scene was pretty brutal.

Be sure to watch the remake sometime. It is very, very solid.

Also, Exhuminator, if you liked The Old Dark house, I suspect that you would also enjoy a lot of the old Hammer horror films and a lot of early Mario Bava films. They are all about the atmosphere.

[Michi]

C.H.U.D.


C.H.U.D. is the story about how four individuals, a photographer, a model, a police captain and a reverend/soup kitchen worker, all get sucked into a massive missing-persons case that turns out to be a huge government conspiracy involving death, toxic waste, cover-ups and a group of very hungry, sewer-dwelling mutants.


All hail our Chunky Soup God! Praise him!

Like any good monster movie, C.H.U.D. is a piece of social commentary hiding behind a story filled with creative creatures, humorous charms and supple gore effects. The basic gist of the message: society at large would rather ignore problems, in this case homelessness, until the problem comes up to bite them in the ass. In the case of C.H.U.D., the last part of that message is quite literal. The plight of the homeless who live underground has been going on for so long, and been ignored for so long, that the amount of people living underground has dwindled to the point that the C.H.U.D. start looking for victims above ground.


Sweet, I love free delivery.

Naturally, it’s only the disappearance of someone ‘important’, in this case, the police captain’s wife, that the issue starts to get looked at. But of course by then the problem has gotten so out of hand that the government would rather do everything in its power to cover it up, rather than reveal it to the public.

The commentary helps give C.H.U.D. more of a lasting appeal, beyond just “Look! Mutants! Rawr!”


Move along, people. Nothing to see here. Please ignore the man besides the bloody drapes.

C.H.U.D. divides much of it’s time up by shifting between four separate characters. Each one plays some sort of role in saving the city. The film switches between the four character’s perspectives, but often lingers a bit too long on certain characters while neglecting others.

For instance, the photographer, Cooper, plays a central role in the beginning of the film, his photographs being the catalyst to spur events into motion. But at some point he gets lured down into the sewers and the film switches perspective from him for so long that I almost forgot that he was down there. I had forgotten about him just as easily as the film seemed to, and that lack of focus is one of the film’s most notable flaws.


To be fair, he probably deserves being forgotten since he lost
Kevin McCallister twice.

The film makes up for it though, with its dingy atmosphere, reveling in the dirt and grime above and below ground. Just about everything about the movie seems to focus on the grungy-ness of NYC, even in the police station and photography studio. The only location given a brighter atmosphere is Central Park, and even that’s covered in dirt. But it all pales in comparison to conditions below in the sewers, where the only thing contrasting the squalor are the few poor, forgotten souls left just trying to survive literally being eaten alive.


Some of them are clearly better at it than others.

All the griminess and social commentary is balanced out thanks to the film not taking itself too seriously. There’s some nice (intentional!) humor in here, along with a bit of comical violence and some good, if not sometimes a little cheesy, special effects. Some of the characters reactions are a little over-the-top, but I’m willing to forgive that, since the movie was gracious enough to give me a ‘damsel in distress’ who was more than ready to use a sword to get the job done.




You’ll notice they’re both making the same face.


And she knew how to use it, too. I may swoon.

C.H.U.D. ends up being a fun monster movie with an added dose of social commentary that’s still relevant today. The film looks great, sounds great and is well acted, including half of the adult cast of Home Alone and an early appearance from John Goodman. The film moves along at a decent pace and doesn’t overstay it’s welcome. The only glaring flaw is that it doesn’t balance out the character’s perspectives enough and it ends up treating the government as both sinister and incompetent (I hate that). But other than that, I still found it very entertaining.

[Exhuminator]

The Haunted Castle (1896 version)



Some interested purchasers are examining a castle presumably for sale. Unbeknownst to them, a vampiric sorcerer already lives there. The vampire soon makes itself know to the intruders, and a battle of magic and wits begins. The vampire will stop at nothing to scare these unwanted buyers away. For being over one hundred twenty years old, this silent film is still a lot of fun. The special effects are good for their time, with astute editing creating all sorts of effects. One aspect that's great about silent-era films, is since the actors can't talk, they often overact their parts. This leads to a sense of campiness that is quite charming. The Haunted Castle won't spook your pants off, but if you enjoy old castles and vampires it's worth a watch.

[Nemoide]

C.H.U.D. is one I've been wanting to revisit myself; I haven't seen it since I was in high school. And in the book It, there's something called "Ritual of Chüd" which I assume was the name-inspiration.

Today was pretty spooky for me! I managed to actually BEAT the original Castlevania, which has long plagued me (it turns out Death is a total breeze when you know the holy water trick). I'm not going to bother with the harder difficulty anytime soon though.

I also went to the Alamo Drafthouse and saw a 3D showing of Creature from the Black Lagoon. I've somehow never actually seen this movie before, but I have seen Revenge of the Creature. It's a totally solid example of the 1950s monster movie and the 3D was great. But it didn't grab me the way Frankenstein (and Bride), The Mummy, or The Wolf Man did. It's enjoyable but from what I remember of Revenge of the Creature, that was a better movie. I guess I'll have to get it from the library, along with The Creature Walks Among Us, though IDK if I'll have time this month - my movie schedule is booked pretty solid.

After that I watched Addams Family Reunion. This is the "bad" live-action Addams Family movie that, even as a kid I felt like this was too childish and bad, but over the years I've seen so many different interpretations of the characters that I felt it was worth a rewatch. Plus even though it's not on DVD, tapes are still cheap on ebay; something my collection to go next to "Halloween with the New Addams Family." Honestly... it wasn't as bad as I remember. There actually were a few funny parts, Tim Curry is a good Gomez and Darryl Hannah is an excellent Morticia. Unfortunately they're really not enough to make this movie something I'd recommend to anyone except for serious Addams Family fans. Everything looks pretty cheap, most of the setups were either lifted from the first two movies or else was some goofy nonsense that you're not supposed to think about. I'm pretty sure this served as a pilot for "The New Addams Family" TV show from the late 90s, which was even worse. I'm still kind of glad I rewatched it, I was definitely in the mood.

Oh, and I also finally listened to the self titled album by Dead Man's Bones. MAN, this is some QUALITY SPOOKY-MUSIC! I'd recommend this one!

[prfsnl_gmr]

Nice work on Castlevania! Death is always tough for me, and I still can't beat him consistently after all these years...

Tonight, my wife and I watched The Evil Dead (2013). It is so ridiculously gory and fun. The main character takes the idiotic horror movie protagonist trope a little too far...Otherwise, however, it is very solid.

[noiseredux]

Evil Dead 13 still makes me cringe at scenes after multiple viewings. Haha. But I do like it.

[Xeogred]

[prfsnl_gmr]

Evil Dead 13 still makes me cringe at scenes after multiple viewings. Haha. But I do like it.

Oh...yes. Some of the.more intense scenes in that movie redefine the term cringeworthy. I AMA pretty seasoned horror vet, and I had to avert my eyes on a few occasions.