/horror/ general megathread - Let's talk about movies and shit.

[Tor Lugosi]

Oddity

I watched this a week or so ago and basically fully agree. It's a technically well crafted movie -- it's atmospheric, the cinematography is good, the cast is decent, and the script is good... up until the final act. That last act is so tepid and limp that it really brings down the whole movie.

 

[Samhain]

I did finally watch 8MM (1999). It was on my "to watch" list for decades and I tried committing to it a million years ago but Cage's performance was taking me out of it. Whenever Cage decides to play it totally straight the movie tends to suffer (excluding something like Drive Angry). I thought it was just "okay" not great but not bad. Ballsy to an extent for the year it came out but one could easily remake this and with a few changes make it one of the most depraved movies ever made. Essentially making it into A Serbian Film. I didn't like the plot twists but it was a solid mainstream Hollywood horror/thriller about snuff films and it's worth a watch.

I'm tempted to watch the direct to video sequel for shits 'n giggles.

I've always really liked this movie. It's got its problems, but I always enjoy Nic Cage, and it's oozing with that late '90s / early '00s post-Seven vibe. I agree that they could've gone harder with a more exploitation angle, but the movie as it is was probably already pushing the R rating at the time, much like Seven.

Skip the "sequel." It has nothing to do with 8mm.

 

[frozen_runner]

I've always really liked this movie. It's got its problems, but I always enjoy Nic Cage, and it's oozing with that late '90s / early '00s post-Seven vibe. I agree that they could've gone harder with a more exploitation angle, but the movie as it is was probably already pushing the R rating at the time, much like Seven.

It's a frustrating film. I like the script. I think Cage is great in it. Most of the cast is really good, and it looks pretty good in items of production design and aesthetic.

So the problem has to be the direction/ director, right? I'm less harsh on Joel Schumacher as an artist since I've looked past his dreadful Batman films (and Falling Down is one of my favorite films ever), but I just don't think he was the right guy for the job. I wonder why Fincher passed on the script. Maybe he didn't want to be pigeonholed as "that guy who made Se7en?"

 

[XYZpdq Jr.]

Time for something quaint! I just watched Goke, Body Snatcher from Hell, and was pleased to find something that reminds me of a 70's Doctor Who episode - one of the ship-in-a-bottle ones starring Tom Baker, like The Horror of Fang Rock or The Robots of Death, where no one gets along, petty interpersonal struggles abound, and pretty much everyone dies. Perhaps this is an absurd comparison, like someone who watched a ton of old James Bond movies later associating everything 60's with Bond due to that being their initial and primary experience of the 60's things shown in it, but I don't think that can be entirely the case, because the era of Who this reminds me of occurred at least 7 years after this film was produced, and within a different decade. Regardless, something about this thing's overall production - sound, miniatures, and presentation - made me think of a certain era of Doctor Who in particular. Oh, as I continue to spill my opinions in numerous edits, I think I know why I'm drawing Who comparisons: a good chunk of Goke is set in what appears to be a very dusty old quarry.

Did it give me anything to think about? No. Were there any stand-out characters or performances? No. Was it exciting? No. Were there any tits? Nah, but the alien-inflicted head wounds looked kinda like pussies. But despite all that, the part of me that grew up watching the 4th Doctor on PBS had a great deal of fun imagining that this was one of the bad timelines where the Doc' didn't show up (presumably because the people initially attacked by aliens weren't British) and things went badly for everyone as a result.

If you aren't charmed by hamfisted monologues, obvious miniatures, eerie 60's sounds, and occasionally questionable special effects, or for short you were repulsed when I appreciatively compared it to an old Who episode, stay away.

I recall it being a nice enough little flick when I caught it on VHS back in the day

 

[TV's Adam West]

I hope Art the clown finally yells out the n-word in Terrifier 3

I hope it plays out like the doctor from Halloween 2018 where he begs Art to say something, only for art to look directly at the camera, point at the audience and say nigger, followed by repeatedly honking a clown horn.

 

[Vampirella]

I always have a special place in my heart for the old Universal Monster movies. Maybe because they played during Halloween when I was young or my dad loved them so much, but I always love watching them at this time of year.


Here's the check list if you want.

 

[Iron Father]

I kicked off October with Tennessee Gothic.

What a weird fucking movie lol especially in tone. For much of the movie it feels kinda like a trashy 90's Troma redneck sex comedy, and then the third act does a pretty fantastic tone shift into an erotic demonic horror.

Jackie Kelly as Sylvia steals every scene she's in, even when not nude! Her performance is clearly punching above the rest of the cast. Fantastic cinematography uplifts everything, and it has an amazing poster too.

 

[Samhain]

It's a frustrating film. I like the script. I think Cage is great in it. Most of the cast is really good, and it looks pretty good in items of production design and aesthetic.

So the problem has to be the direction/ director, right? I'm less harsh on Joel Schumacher as an artist since I've looked past his dreadful Batman films (and Falling Down is one of my favorite films ever), but I just don't think he was the right guy for the job. I wonder why Fincher passed on the script. Maybe he didn't want to be pigeonholed as "that guy who made Se7en?"

I've only seen several of Schumacher's movies, but I've liked most of them. The Lost Boys, Flatliners, Falling Down, Phone Booth. I saw The Number 23 over a decade ago but don't remember almost any of it, other than it was weird seeing Jim Carrey in a non-comedic role. I should probably watch it again. I of course saw his Batman movies, and those seem very different in tone compared to anything else he's directed.

Was Fincher ever asked to do 8mm? I know the guy who wrote it also wrote Seven, but I thought that was the only connection.

 

[DrNow]

I didn't like The Substance. The whole thing just felt shallow. Every character lacked depth, and the whole men creepy and bad theme was hammered so hard and constantly by the end it just lost any meaning. There's a whole catagory of films where the director seems to be more interested in airing their grievances than telling a story. Longlegs was superior.

 

[frozen_runner]

Was Fincher ever asked to do 8mm? I know the guy who wrote it also wrote Seven, but I thought that was the only connection.

It was offered to him and he turned it down, yeah.

I didn't know 8MM had the same screenwriter as Seven. No wonder Fincher didn't want to direct it. It was released 4 years after Seven which means it would have started production much earlier than that.

 

[Calandrino]

View attachment 6483951

I always have a special place in my heart for the old Universal Monster movies. Maybe because they played during Halloween when I was young or my dad loved them so much, but I always love watching them at this time of year.

View attachment 6483959
Here's the check list if you want.

Thanks for the list, it should come in handy. Invisible Man was my Oct 2 pick. One of the best of that bunch imo and I haven't seen it in too long.

I watched Invisible Ray just because of this scene in Ed Wood:

Oct 3 was Dead & Buried. Features some cool Sam Winston effects, plus Robert Englund in a random bit part. I thought I had forgotten the plot since the last time I saw it but it turns out it sort of doesn't have one. Which isn't that unusual for a horror movie, but belies the police procedural trappings. I happen to own the novelization; haven't read but perhaps it clarifies things. Cool weird movie anyhow.

 

[pururun]

I always have a special place in my heart for the old Universal Monster movies. Maybe because they played during Halloween when I was young or my dad loved them so much, but I always love watching them at this time of year.

That checklist is great. I was just thinking about how it's difficult to get a definitive list for the Universal Monsters. Universal doesn't include the silents and most people ignore the later 50s ones that don't involve The Gillman.

I've rewatched Dracula and watched Son of Dracula so far this year. Dracula is even better than I remembered, but Son of Dracula is pretty poor even with the cool Southern Gothic setting. Lon Chaney Jr. just feels uncomfortable as Dracula and the story is low on atmosphere and scares.

 

[Vampirella]

Thanks for the list, it should come in handy. Invisible Man was my Oct 2 pick. One of the best of that bunch imo and I haven't seen it in too long.

Tied for my favorite with the Wolf man. I love Claude Rains as the Invisible man and the special effects are fantastic for the time. Then you have The Invisible Man Returns with Vincent Price. I just love it. And lets not forget the Invisible Agent that the Invisible man fighting Nazis. I'm pretty sure Peter Lorre's character in that movie was inspiration for Ronald Lacey's character in Raiders of the lost Arc. I mean look at them.

 

[Calandrino]

And lets not forget the Invisible Agent that the Invisible man fighting Nazis. I'm pretty sure Peter Lorre's character in that movie was inspiration for Ronald Lacey's character in Raiders of the lost Arc. I mean look at them.

I enjoyed how an American wartime propaganda movie is more racist than the actual nazi characters in it. Different times!

 

[Iron Father]

I watched Humanoids from the Deep. Been meaning to check this one off my list for ages!

Subverting the classic monster movie (and ripping off Alien & Jaws a bit) by turning it into a socio-political environmentalist film is already an interesting idea, but then because of Corman's involvement, it also includes a lot of gore and rape!

The practical effects, atmosphere and working class setting carry this film, because the acting, editing and script are mediocre even by B-movie standards.

It's interesting to me that this and Friday the 13th came out the same year because at times it feels like one influenced the other, with all the foggy watery slasher vibes.

Like this moment even reminds me of the kid Jason in the water scene.

Predictable but shitloads of fun. The world needs more slimy seaside horror.

 

[Doctor of Autism]

I saw VHS Beyond, and it was pretty fine, like it probably would be the weakest film if Viral didn't exist (since Viral was utter dogshit).

Stork and Dream Girl were the best segments for this but they were the first two and the others went downhill with the third one being alright, but the fourth felt too goofy, and the fifth was extremely boring which is the worst thing I can say about anything, it had decent body horror but that is undercut with the poor quality camera which while it is the point, undercuts it.

The wraparound segment is fine, the only problem with it is when they brought YouTubers into it for a cameo.

To update my rankings with the other films in the series

94 > 2 >= 85 > 99 > 1 > Beyond >>>>>> Viral

 

[Your Starter for 10]

Also watched V/H/S Beyond and agree with most of what @Doctor of Autism says above.

I have to say the first segment (Stork), I was ready to tear apart, because the setup is excruciatingly dumb, especially in a low budget anthology. But about half-way through it really just won me over, and I'm really not sure how. I mean it's not good by any stretch, but it was just fun. It decided it was going to take this dumb setup, and this dumb story, and just fucking roll with it, and it did it really successfully. My only complaint really is some of the plug-in digital squibs, which really stand out because there's a whole lot of good practical gore in it.

The Indian one (Dream Girl) was OK, took a slightly different direction than I expected (well, the results are exactly the same, but the method is different (although to be fair, I didn't realize this one was all sci-fi horror, which should've been a hint)). Did think it was hilarious that they managed to shove in a musical dance number. Probably my least favorite one, outside of the wraparound, which was shit.

Live and let Dive was pretty good - really impressive for how much they did and how good it looked on what I assume is a shoestring budget. There were a couple parts where you just have to accept what you see (like why are they just letting him run away? What happened to the one in the truck?). The skydiver with the severed leg is a great little background detail, and I hope everyone catches it.

Fur Babies was goofy, but I guess they're obligated to have a goofier segment in each one now. Still ended up with some good (and funny) scenes, even if the effects are amateur (possibly purposefully so). I don't remember what it was exactly, but one scene later in the segment caught me off guard and I had a big ol' laugh out loud chuckle. It's a good one where you can just hate everyone in it and they all get what they deserve.

Stowaway was (like literally everything Mike Flanagan is involved with) just a couple passes away from actually being good. All the components were there, and it's watchable (and honestly the most horrifying segment (very low hurdle)), and pretty well don. Just kind of petered out instead of having a good resolution. I mean it's body horror, so I guess it can just tail (no pun intended) off into meaninglessness and try and leave you horrified, but it's just missing some things to actually make me give a shit about it or remember it.

The wrap-around is annoying, and probably my least favorite of the entire series. It literally got in the way of the flow, and didn't have anything interesting or mysterious enough to keep you interested. And the payoff was gay and doesn't make sense found-footage wise.

I don't care or remember enough about the full series to rank them, but this was definitely one of the entries with the most consistently good segments. No real standouts like 85 (which would easily be the best entry if it wasn't weighed down by 2 extremely shitty segments, among 3 all time greats), but every segment is pretty fun except Stowaway, which makes up for it by being at least a little interesting. Anyway, a solid watch during spooky month, and pretty much everything a sci-fi horror anthology should be. Except for no titties. I mean have these people never seen a low budget sci-fi horror? Titties are a defining feature, and it verges on the criminal to not have any in this.

 

[scallion]

The Substance just looks like another movie about women complaining about not being young and hot anymore and how it's men's fault

 

[Flaming Carrot]

The Substance just looks like another movie about women complaining about not being young and hot anymore and how it's men's fault

The Dennis Quaid character is indeed portrayed as a misogynist, but what's interesting is that the movie really hammers home that the main character's problems are caused by her own vanity. The Hollywood suits don't come out looking great, but neither do the women.

 

[Iron Father]

Checked out Horror in the High Desert 3 and actually for most of the movie I was feeling like it was the best one so far.

Yes a lot of it is a retread of the first movie, but with a lot more creepy urbexing footage and eye-witness interviews fleshing out the lore (the train worker and the motorcycle rider interviews were awesome).

I also found the lead Mexican guy more relatable due to him being outgoing, and not some autistic loner nerd like Gary was. It really enhanced the dread because his mood shifts felt more contrasted with his usual upbeatness.

But that final footage was just pathetic lmfao. A shrub??? It's like something David Lynch would do as a joke in a short film. The whole house exploration scene leading up to that jumpscare was so well done too. Brutal flop ending.