Horror Movies

[Your_mum]

As the nerdy douchebag I am I just gotta nitpick a bit here. Hell House movies (two first at least) are not mocumentaries, but found footage. A mocumentary are a fake documentary, made as a documentary. Found footage movies are movies presented as raw footage.

I love both genres, and I think found footage is a lot more interesting than what people makes it out to be. There is a lot of shitty found footage movies and it gets a negative rep because of it, but that is to be expected in a genre where you can potentially make insanely good movies on a budget close to nothing on your phone. At its best it’s almost unmatched as far as making the viewer uneased and scared imo.

[Your_mum]

Black Friday - Hell yeah, this is my type of movie. It’s nothing that hasn’t been done several times before, but it nails the 80’s b-movie vibe and I just love that. I wish Michael Jai White and Bruce Campbell had bigger roles, but they both manage to steal the show anyway. We’re talking both verbal and visual humor that works, beautiful practical effects, over the top acting and lovely make up. And the satire feels very cheap and easy, but it is spot on for sure. Like I said, my type of movie for sure. Loved it!

[Nagisa]

That’s great! I’m so happy for your band and hopefully it happens.

Horror movies have a special place in my heart since they are how I got into visual kei in the first place. I was really into J-horror as a teenager and one day I decided to look for songs that were used in Japanese horror movies. I think there were a lot of genres represented but visual kei was the one that stood out the most to me and eventually I decided to look into more songs by some of the groups I found.

I watched Last Night in Soho three weeks ago. I thought the horror aspects were pretty good, although it was pretty stylized. The audio was amazing and the design of the costumes and effort they put into depicting London in the 60s was great. The ending didn’t really work for me but it was a solid movie until the third act. 7/10

Two weeks ago I saw Antlers. It was quite enjoyable (or as enjoyable as a bleak movie can get). It had some pretty heavy stuff and even though I had heard that it was a wendigo movie going in, it wasn’t what I was expecting. The shots of the Pacific Northwest scenery were beautiful and even though the beginning had a statement about the impact of people on the environment the rest didn’t touch on that aspect, which was unfortunate because I think it could have made the movie stronger. The Native American lore aspect was great but made up only a couple minutes, which was a shame. Great atmosphere and acting by the lead child actor. 8/10

Last month I watched Lamb. It was really something. The opening was unforgettable; amazing and creepy at the same time but you don’t quite understand it until the end, which was great. Like Antlers, it had gorgeous scenery shots of Icelandic mountains around the farm where most of the movie takes place. There wasn’t much dialogue. The premise of the movie was crazy but they follow through with it and at the end it’s kind of explained in a way that I never saw coming. It definitely made me think. 7/10

[Your_mum]

I saw Lamb when it first was released, and I rated it 6/10. More or less because it was way too rooted in drama for my personal taste. But I can see this become a cult movie with time as it had great atmosphere, looked gorgeous, was well-acted and pretty fucking weird at times. I just wish they’d stuck closer to horror as a genre.

Watched Malignant today and it is James Wan back to what we want him to do. I enjoyed the shit out of Furious 7, but really fucking hated Aquaman, but horror is where he really shines. And this is exactly that, a movie where he can shine as a director. It’s weird, and the second half of the movie is truly amazing. First half drags a bit, but never gets boring. It’s well-written, acted and directed, and it has some weirdness that it is hard not to appreciate. Last 20-25 minures or so are OUTSTANDING and worth the playtime alone. Sooooo good! Not his best, but superb nonetheless. 8/10

[Jigsaw]

Agreed, Malignant was a pleasant surprise for me too. It might end up as one of my favorite horror movies of the year actually! Loved everything about it.

[Your_mum]

My list for this year’s Christmas horror-a-thon is ready, and it looks like this:

Black Christmas
Anna and the Apocalypse
Krampus
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale
Gremlins
And All Through the House (Tales From the Crypt)
Home for the Holidays
Last Stop on the Night Train
The 12 Slays of Christmas
Day of the Beast
Better Watch Out
Elves
A Christmas Horror Story
Sint
Silent Night, Deadly Night
Santa Jaws
Christmas with the Dead
Night Terrors
Silent Night
Inside
Who Slew Auntie Roo?
Mercy Christmas
Await Further Instructions
Deadly Games

I’ve seen a lot of these before, but there is a few I haven’t seen before. Gonna be a fun month for sure. Starting on the 1st of december and lasting up and until the 24th. Looking forward to it!

[Your_mum]

It is on, bitches!

1:
And All Through the House (Tales From the Crypt)

I’ve seen this several times, and it does not get boring. This is not only one of the best episodes in the entire Tales From the Crypt series, it’s also the best adaptation of this story. Miles and miles ahead of the others. Intense, atmospheric and fun. Top notch!

2:
Anna and the Apocalypse
I usually tell people this is a horror-comedy musical, as if Shaun of the Dead and High School Musical had a kid. And it kinda is, but it’s a lot darker than Shaun of the Dead, so you should add Dawn of the Dead into that mix as well. It comes off as lighthearted, charming and fun, but it just adds one dark layer after another, and its themes just gets darker and darker. The overall tone of the film, its practical effects and song numbers really hit the mark with me, and it works superbly as both a horror comedy and as a musical. A modern classic!

Ella Hunt is ridiculously good in this. Top, top performance!

[gilnyangi]

I during summer breaks in college I went on binges of indie horror movies on Netflix.

VHS - is this too clichéd now? Still the best found-footage horror film ever, in my book. The anthology format is brilliant since it’s simultaneously unsettling and thrilling. The sequel, VHS2, was also great, but the 3rd is totally skippable.

Coherence - awesome sci-fi ish thriller that really fucks up your brain, much of the filming was done with no script, so the acting is really believable and totally anxiety-inducing

Resolution - another unsettling thriller that TOTALLLY messes up your head and storytelling in general

Mr. Jones (2013)- spooky film quite similar in concept overall to the Blair Witch Project, but I think the plot and setting is much more interesting and less irritatingly vague (a reclusive artist making spoopy art out in the deserts of the Western US? Better than OOOOO WITCH)

[Your_mum]

3:
Night Train Murders
This is basically a remake of The Last House on the Left, but with a different setting. Or Ingmar Bergman’s Jungfrukällan if you will, but it’ll no doubt give you more of a Last House feeling. It’s not as grim as Last House, but more stylish with a visual style that is really sweet to look at, better acted and just more well-made overall. I love Last House, but I do consider this the better movie of the two.

Will the movie give you Christmas feeling? Absolutely not, and we don’t mind that.

[Your_mum]

I would also recommend V/H/S/94 which was good. It was really awesome!

Coherence was top notch.

And Resolution is really nice. Have you seen The Endless? It’s kinda of a sequel, meaning that it is set in the same universe and contains some of the same characters. It’s also really good.

I’ve not seen Mr. Jones, but I will do. As far as your criticism of The Blair Witch Project goes I really don’t get it at all. It’s such an atmospheric and genuinely well made and superbly thought out movie.

[gilnyangi]

Ooooh I didn’t know there was yet ANOTHER VHS, I’ll check it out! I saw something about Endless when I reading the wikipedia article about Resolution, suppose I’ll have to check it out too if I can!

Personally I quite liked The Blair Witch Project, but I know many people didn’t because it was intentionally chaotic and disjointed, requiring the viewer to connect the pieces themselves. Mr. Jones assembles the pieces a wee bit more for the viewer instead of forcing you to rewind constantly to figure out just WHAT exactly the characters freaked out at and the setting veers away from your standard “creepy forest witch” trope that has been done to death after Blair.

[Your_mum]

Yeah, I was surprised seeing it too. But it was really good. On par with the second I’d say.

One of The Blair Witch Project’s biggest strength’ as far as I am concerned, is the chaotic and disjointed way it’s filmed and put together. It’s what made it look so god damn real when you were 13-14 years and saw it for the first time. It reeks of desperation, chaos and confusion, and it makes it so much more intense. They make the most out of their limited budget and the minimalist way of both shooting it and tell the story is superb. And of course, not knowing exactly what was going on and what the fuck happened is one of the things that makes it so good.

[Your_mum]

4:
Santa Jaws
Yep, you read that right. The title is Santa Jaws. It looks, feels and plays along like an Asylum flick. I’m not sure if it actually is, but it sure does feel like it. It’s silly, poorly made and awfully acted, but it’s decent fun anyway. Who wouldn’t love a shark with a fucking santa hat on? I sure did. To some degree at least. Biggest weakness was not going even more bananas with it. I mean, Santa Jaws? Going fucking nuts with it, man! If you like Sharknado and similar shit this might be the Christmas movie for you.

[Your_mum]

5:
The 12 Slays of Christmas
I’m a huge fan of anthologies, and I am usually super forgiving when it comes to them. The good entries are usually really good, and the bad often ends up as a decent watch no matter how bad they are. But The 12 Slays of Christmas is 1 hour and 42 minutes, and 12 short movies where nothing is even decent. There’s just nothing of value here whatsoever. 50k isn’t much of a budget, but you’d still expect slightly better tbh. The wraparound story is total shite, and every single short feels cheap and half-done like there’s no effort at all.

This was absolute shite, and I recommend the lot of you to stay far away from this one.

Edit:

A couple of my intended movies to watch was hard (aka impossible) to find, so I had to change it up slightly. I watched the Creepshow series last year and thought it was very good, but had no idea they had released more. So when I found of they had not one, but two new seasons out, I just had to check it out. And upon doing that I found a holiday special and decided to include that.

Day 6:
A Creepshow Holiday Special: Shapeshifters Anonymous
A nice, pulpy comedy that ends on a splatter note about shapeshifters who have a meeting that gets interupted by a santa…and a few more santas. It’s silly, over the top and very comic bookish, but in a very good way. A great holiday special! Not really very christmasy tho. But who gives a shit?

Edit 2:

Creepshow, season 2
I rated the first season of Creepshow 7/10. It was very good, albeit a bit up and down as far as the quality goes, and I gotta say that season 2 is a step up. It feels more consistent and it feels like they had a bigger budget all around, both looking better and being executed a bit better. It continues the trend of 2 stories in each episode, with the exception of the last which is one big episode. Very, very good horror comedy series. Can’t wait to get home after work and begin on season 3 today.

Edit 4:

7:
Silent Night
Yeah, uh. I don’t know. First off, someone random list lied to me because this is not a horror movie. It’s more of a drama movie with elements of both black comedy and a tiny amount of apocalyptic horror, but that is one tiny bit tbh. The cast does well with what they’re given, but they are not given much and for a drama based around characters there just isn’t enough character to them. They feel flat and cheap, and they have nothing to them. It’s kinda like The Mist, but without the desperation, chaos and atmosphere. Or like 10 Cloverfield Lane, but without suspense and tension. Huge disappointment, and mediocre at best. The ending is actually pretty sweet tho as it is really dark and bleak, but the first 80 minutes just doesn’t do it for me. And it’s a shame, because I really like bleak and depressing movies like this.

8:
Home for the Holidays
Home for the Holidays is a 70’s TV-movie, and guess what? I fucking love TV-horror movies from the 70’s. There’s so many hidden gems that no one knows about among them, and this is one of those. It’s not well known, probably because it was a low-budget TV-movie, but it’s so good. It’s a really early slasher from 1972. Yeah, it’s a slasher through and through, albeit a very soapy one. Imagine late 60’s soap opera gone slasher (strong, strong giallo vibes at times). It looks that way and it is acted that way, but it works so well. Really fun, really well-made and really cool. Highly recommended!

9:
Mercy Christmas
I have heard so much about this and seen people with a similar taste to me say it is among the best horror comedies of the last decade, but dear god this was dreadful. It’s not funny, the horror elements ain’t very well done, it looks very digital and very cheap, and it is super poorly acted. Not in a charming way, just in an awful way. I don’t think I laughed a single time, nor did I find myself enjoy a second of it. Simply awful. Next pls!

10:
Gremlins
After the awful Mercy Christmas I had to find something to bring my mood back up again, and what movie is better for that job than Gremlins? There’s not many tbh. This, alongside Piranha and The Howling are prime Joe Dante, and there’s not really many movies that can match prime Joe Dante. I don’t think there is anything about this entire movie that I don’t love. The story, the characters, the acting and, more than anything else, the special effects hits the spot perfectly. I’ve loved this since I was a kid, and it is still easy to see why. Such a nice, cute, gorgeous and gross movie. Film perfection and a must see for Christmas.

Man, the puppetry and animatronics in this is so good. Why would anyone exchange that shit for CGI is just beyond me. The puppetry and animatronics in this and The Thing look so damn fucking good even to this day. Why would anyone not want this in their movie?

The Thing 2011 is such a good example. The practical effects made for the movie looked INSANE and was so fucking good, but for some weird reason they were digitally replaced in post-production. And the biggest flaw of the movie you ask? The digital effects that looked dated as fuck already on its release date. Good thing about this is that special effects wizards Tom Woodruff Jr. and and Alec Gillis went on to make Harbinger Down as a response to this bullshit, and the movie turned out to become truly fantastic.

11:
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale
A third or fourth re-watch of this incredible action-packed horror and dark comedy film from Finland. Jalmari Helander has made two movies, this one and Big Game, and both are truly exceptional with this one being nothing short of a modern classic. It is visually very nice, the story is incredible, superbly acted by both the kids and the older guys and just really well put together. It’s comedic, but not in a silly way, so it never loses its atmosphere or serious tone which makes it really stand out. The only weakness in the movie is a part where there’s CGI, and it looks very weird. But the movie is made on a limited budget and there was really no other way than CGI to make the scene, so it’s easy to forgive.

12:
Better Watch Out
A re-watch of this gem of a movie, driven forward by a great plot, great characters and a superb cast. When you watch movie with kids and teens (16-20 years old) they’re quite often the weak part of the movie, but here they are not. They’re all acting as if their lives depends on it, and it’s really good. I often hear people say you should watch this without knowing anything about it, but I watched it for the second time and it was still fantastic. Great psychological christmas horror.

13:
Krampus
This is easily among the best Christmas horror movies ever. I don’t think there’s anything about this I don’t like. It’s horror and dark, twisted fantasy based on German folklore and like German folklore in general it’s really damn awesome. Superbly acted, looks gorgeus, is atmospheric as hell and has a sillier side that makes it even more over the top. Insanely good film!

14:
Shredder
One of those early 00’s slashers no-one’s actually seen, mainly because the genre had been worn out at this time, and partly because it only got a limited theatrical run and got a poster that looks like shit. In recent years I’ve actually realised that the 2000-2009 age of slashers wasn’t so bad after all. There’s some really, really good ones and some proper gems among them. Hard to believe, but it is true. Anyways, back to Shredder, a super standard slasher about a bunch of horny snowboarders who goes up to a closed skiing resort and “shreds”. It’s full of bad acting, lousy editing, characters that feels all too familiar, a cliche story that is beyond generic and some sweet special effects. Doesn’t sound like something worth watching does it? Nah. But it actually is. As generic and cliche as it is, Shredder is actually loads of fun. I really enjoyed it! Not super christmasy, but it is actually set around christmas as we see at one point. Worst thing about the movie was some of the cutting made during the snowboard scenes. They made no sense and made potentially cool snowboard scenes look like shit. But that’s it. Rest is fun!

Finished Creepshow season 3 too. Started out with the worst episode of the series, but got better. Ends with one of the best episodes of the entire series in form of Drug Traffic/A Dead Girl Named Sue which is very much a tribute to both Mystics in Bali and Night of the Living Dead. Both really fucking good. Best alongside the Evil Dead and Universal Monsters tribute Model Kid/Public Television of the Dead. Hoping we get a season 4 for sure. This entire series is so much fun.

[ghost]

Watched Color Out of Space. It was an…interesting movie. I’m not very nuanced in cosmic horror, but I do like the genre and felt the film did a good job of translating that type of horror. Nicolas Cage of course gives his signature hokey and strange performance and is entertaining every time he’s on screen. The acting felt a little bizarre at times and I couldn’t quite tell if it was part of the characters or if there was a story reason for it.

Nonetheless, I was invested and the movie was quite tense. There was a lot more body horror than I expected and it both repulsed and captivated me. I will say, the last act was pretty crazy and, while not all the effects in the movie hit home, that last stretch of the movie had me hypnotized.

[Your_mum]

The Color Out of Space is such a huge and fantastic film. Easily one of the H.P.Lovecraft movies that’s done the best job on bringing his vision to the screen. That is easily one of the strongest comebacks in filmmaking ever. His last feature film was The Island of Dr. Moreau in which he was replaced (if ya’ll interested in filmmaking and shit, do watch the masterful documentary about catasthropic production of The Island of Dr. Moreau called “Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau”), but before that it was Hardware and Dust Devil. Both incredible, especially Hardware.

I highly recommend Die Farbe too. A German black & white movie based on The Color Out of Space. A very different movie to The Color Out of Space, but as incredible for sure. Really well-made and atmospheric, and way more grounded and calm compared to The Color Out of Space.

15:
All Through the House
Tried to capture the slasher feeling of the 80’s, but it doesn’t quite nail it. It’s super serious and takes itself very serious, and there is something lacking visually. The overall look is very modern and digital, and it does not fit the subject matter. If this was made with a bit of camp or a bit of comedy, it would have elevated the movie for sure, because it’s too silly and over the top to be taking itself so damn serious. It is not a bad movie, and an alright watch for sure, but not something I’d recommend or would ever re-watch again. I guess. I have said that about many movies and re-watched them years later anyway. Heh.

[Your_mum]

16:
A Christmas Horror Story
I saw this either the last christmas or the one before that, and it’s really good. Anthology with four stories that’s kinda woven together, and it jumps between them as well as a , with a framework story featuring a radio host breaking it up at times. I’m not too keen on how it jumps between them, but it doesn’t quite kill the stories. It just would’ve been together if it was told more straight forward, story after story.

The stories about the teenagers breaking into a school and the family getting a christmas tree is kinda whatever. The first one lacks atmosphere and is poorly acted, and the second feels super cheap and amateurish. But the other two are absolute bangers. Like really fucking good. The fourth, with George Buza as Santa Claus is the highlight of the movie. It’s so god damn good! The story is tighter as hell, George Buza kills it as Santa Claus and the gore is really cool.

A movie well worth watching based on the two good films, because they’re both insanely good and well-crafted.

[ghost]

I’ll have to check out Die Farbe then! A movie based on a movie that’s based on a book hah

[Your_mum]

Oh, no. Both movies are just adaptations of H.P. Lovecraft’s short story “The Colour Out of Space”. Neither film are based on another film. Probably just a bad choice of words by me. The movie “Die, Monster, Die!” is also loosely based on the same story, although not nearly as faithful. But you’ll recognize the story for sure. Starring the always-so-good Boris Karloff.

[ghost]

Oh, gotcha! Wow, it’s a popular story to adapt huh?

Last night I tried watching 2 movies.

First one is called May The Devil Take You Too and it’s a Thai supernatural movie. It’s a sequel and I never watched the first installment so the story was confusing initially. A bit of disorientation aside, I just couldn’t get into this one. It started off promising with a creepy set up, but then it goes way off the rails. The actors all just open their eyes wide, shake their heads from side to side and scream to show that they’re scared. It’s really overdone at times.

The plot seemed really contrived and the cinematography was just wacky at times. I got a sense that the director looked to Evil Dead for inspiration, but the tone of the film was too serious. Lots of bad effects were used bringing me to laugh instead.

There were some genuinely creepy moments though and some of the “demon” designs were unsettling. It’s apparently done well enough to warrant a threequel.

Second movie I watched was a dark comedy, Mayhem. I found the whole concept just dumb and the dialogue not really funny. Hell, I thought a movie like Mandy was funnier and it’s not even meant to be a comedy. I know it was meant to be baseless and stupid, but it didn’t resonate with me. There were a few great moments, but nothing super iconic in my book. Stephen Yuen puts on a good performance though. The girl he teams up with was pretty good too but I also found her mildly annoying.