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

[Hazel Motes]

I think From Beyond is Stuart Gordon's masterpiece.

I love Re-Animator but I now accept that it is merely an opening act for From Beyond, which does everything just that little better.

I enjoyed Fortress, and Edmond is really good, though that film's quality owes far more to David Mamet and Macy than it does to Gordon's direction.

 

[PS1gamenwatch]

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

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.

I don't get this, this is supposed to be about aliens? Why is there an android segment and a crossbreeding experiments segment? Are those two related to the aliens? And my other complaint was the wraparound and the in between segments, they build up about this old Canadian house and missing occupant with an anticlimax.

 

[Calandrino]

Final tally for October:​

1. Evil Dead 2 (1987)
2. The Invisible Man (1933)
3. Dead & Buried (1981)
4. Elvira's Haunted Hills (2001)
5. The Deadly Spawn (1983)
6. The Beyond (1981)
7. Horror of Dracula (1958)
8. Prince of Darkness (1987)
9. Haunted Mansion (2003)
10. Inferno (1980)
11. House by the Cemetery (1981)
12. House of the Devil (2009)
13. Funhouse (1981)
14. Terrifier 2 (2022)
    All Hallows' Eve (2013)
15. Xtro (1982)
16. Nightmare in a Damaged Brain (1981)
    Terrifier 3 (2024)
    Halloween 3 (1982)
17. Frankenstein's Army (2013)
18. Puppetmaster 2 (1990)
19. Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
20. Nosferatu (1922)
    Night of the Demon (1980)
21. Tenebrae (1982)
22. The Frighteners (1996)
23. Addams Family Halloween Special (1977)
24. Longlegs (2024)
25. Curtains (1983)
26. Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
27. Hack-O-Lantern (1988)
28. I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
29. The Howling (1981)
30. Salem's Lot (1979)
31. Silent Madness (1984)
    Halloween (1978)

Some say that certain movies have been copied so much that the original loses its impact. For me Halloween 78's like the opposite of that. Really easy for me to put the sequels out-of-mind when watching it, too.

 

[Doctor of Autism]

I don't get this, this is supposed to be about aliens? Why is there an android segment and a crossbreeding experiments segment? Are those two related to the aliens? And my other complaint was the wraparound and the in between segments, they build up about this old Canadian house and missing occupant with an anticlimax.

Beyond's whole thing is just science fiction in general.

 

[PS1gamenwatch]

Beyond's whole thing is just science fiction in general.

The intro and narration suggests aliens as the theme. It made it seem interconnected especially the segments that keep talking about the house with suspected alien abduction. Thank goodness in Heaven they didn't put time travel.

 

[Doctor of Autism]

​

Final tally for October:​

1. Evil Dead 2 (1987)
2. The Invisible Man (1933)
3. Dead & Buried (1981)
4. Elvira's Haunted Hills (2001)
5. The Deadly Spawn (1983)
6. The Beyond (1981)
7. Horror of Dracula (195
8. Prince of Darkness (1987)
9. Haunted Mansion (2003)
10. Inferno (1980)
11. House by the Cemetery (1981)
12. House of the Devil (2009)
13. Funhouse (1981)
14. Terrifier 2 (2022)
    All Hallows' Eve (2013)
15. Xtro (1982)
16. Nightmare in a Damaged Brain (1981)
    Terrifier 3 (2024)
    Halloween 3 (1982)
17. Frankenstein's Army (2013)
18. Puppetmaster 2 (1990)
19. Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
20. Nosferatu (1922)
    Night of the Demon (1980)
21. Tenebrae (1982)
22. The Frighteners (1996)
23. Addams Family Halloween Special (1977)
24. Longlegs (2024)
25. Curtains (1983)
26. Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
27. Hack-O-Lantern (198
28. I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
29. The Howling (1981)
30. Salem's Lot (1979)
31. Silent Madness (1984)
    Halloween (197

Some say that certain movies have been copied so much that the original loses its impact. For me Halloween 78's like the opposite of that. Really easy for me to put the sequels out-of-mind when watching it, too.

Nice, I wasn't able to do a full 31 day run, but I got 19 movies in, last two were just stuff I was in the mood for rewatching

1. V/H/S Beyond (2024)
2. Terrifier (2016)
3. Terrifier 2 (2022)
4. Terrifier 3 (2024)
5. Smile (2022)
6. All Hallows Eve (2013)
7. The Void (2016)
8. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)
9. In the Mouth of Madness (1994)
10. Bram Stroker's Dracula (1992)
11. Predator (1987)
12. Predator 2 (1990)
13. Prey (2022)
14. Aliens (1986)
15. The Evil Dead (1981)
16. Evil Dead II (1987)
17. Army of Darkness (1992)
18. Halloween ( 1978 )
19. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

 

[TURBONIGGERKIKE]

You need to see the unrated version of Secret Life of Pets. There's a scene that is clearly inspired by Fulci's Black Cat. It's brutal.

You think fulci really killed that cat?

 

[Commander X]

Among movies recently watched The Strangler from 1964. A shameless quicky attempt at cashing in on the Boston Strangler case, if ever a movie could be said to be carried by anyone, Victor Buono carries this film as the lonely, doll-obsessed lab technician who was raised by a domineering mother (naturally) that starts murdering student nurses. I found few things more disturbing to see in film recently than Buono's jowls shivering as he stranglers another victim (while she's sunk off camera), his eyes closed in ecstasy.

The Beast with Five Fingers, very, very loosely based on a short story by author W. F. Harvey, a much anthologized author of short stories of horror and the macabre.

Famous pianist Francis Ingram (Victor Francen) lives in a large Gothic home in turn-of-the-century Italy. A stroke has left him only able to use his right hand to play, and confined him to a wheelchair. Among his household are Conrad (Robert Alda), a frustrated composer who earns his keep by writing one-handed music for Francis. There’s the Francis' secretary and librarian, Hilary (Peter Lorre), an obsessive student of astrology and spiritualism who keeps track of the books in the castle's vast library. Julie Holden (Andrea King), Francis' nurse, who seems to be a sucker for being a doormat to Francis, who sees her as his muse that he will never let go.

Then the miserable old bastard falls down the stairs and dies. The nurse is left everything, and there's a lot of shots of a ghostly severed hand, and the movie seems to get lost along the way to "was it supernatural or was it a mundane murder plot by the increasingly deranged Lorre?" A lot of Old Dark House and who-dunnit style aspects being thrown around, shame as Lorre really brings his A-game here in an otherwise mundane film.

 

[Wot Zit Too Yah0996]

Nice, I wasn't able to do a full 31 day run, but I got 19 movies in, last two were just stuff I was in the mood for rewatching

1. V/H/S Beyond (2024)
2. Terrifier (2016)
3. Terrifier 2 (2022)
4. Terrifier 3 (2024)
5. Smile (2022)
6. All Hallows Eve (2013)
7. The Void (2016)
8. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)
9. In the Mouth of Madness (1994)
10. Bram Stroker's Dracula (1992)
11. Predator (1987)
12. Predator 2 (1990)
13. Prey (2022)
14. Aliens (1986)
15. The Evil Dead (1981)
16. Evil Dead II (1987)
17. Army of Darkness (1992)
18. Halloween (197
19. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

HAIL RAATMA! I like all of the V/H/S(s), even Beyond, same as you, which spergs love to hate.

...And I hope there's a Smile 3 waiting in the wings. The newest victim of the curse should be an evil piece of shit.

 

[Commander X]

Also found, or in the case reacquainted with on Tubi, Messiah of Evil. A movie that crawls with creeping fever-dream dread, the sort of nightmarish slow-burn that I actually like. A woman in search of her father ends up in a little West Coast burg that has all the charm of one of those ghost towns where the last couple of buildings are about to fall over. A seemingly normal little place, but a second look should have you running, if you're smart. It has a real ominous cosmic/folk horror kind of mood.

 

[BrunoMattei]

Also found, or in the case reacquainted with on Tubi, Messiah of Evil. A movie that crawls with creeping fever-dream dread, the sort of nightmarish slow-burn that I actually like. A woman in search of her father ends up in a little West Coast burg that has all the charm of one of those ghost towns where the last couple of buildings are about to fall over. A seemingly normal little place, but a second look should have you running, if you're smart. It has a real ominous cosmic/folk horror kind of mood.
View attachment 6593089

Fun fact: George Lucas is a super fan and that was the catalyst for him to offer the husband/wife directing team the project... Howard the Duck.

 

[Internet War Criminal]

So I’m watching Jojo Siwa Has a Mental Breakdown: A Biopic (released in some countries as Smile 2) and uh…. that’s… one way to make a sequel I guess.

I’m gonna give it to them, they definitely didn’t go the expected route or sequel by number bullshit. Hopefully it pays off. Some of the visuals are great but yeah, there’s something weird about it.

 

[scallion]

The only positive thing I can say about Smile 1 was the demon had a cool design

 

[Wot Zit Too Yah0996]

The only positive thing I can say about Smile 1 was the demon had a cool design

I like how the body type of the creature looked, but I can't imagine myself going catatonic and brain-dead out of sheer fear upon seeing its true form. To me, the paranoia it creates with its disguises, would be the most pants-shittingly scary aspect of the situation. It haunts you for 4 days, then lies in wait for you to seek help, or try to get rid of it, then, in its own way, it eats you, then makes you off yourself, which then tethers it to the poor sod who witnesses it.

 

[Doctor of Autism]

I saw The Substance and it made me uncomfortable enough, but the ending really elevates it a lot for me.

 

[BrunoMattei]

I saw The Black Phone. 4/10 movie. Good performance by Ethan Hawke but ultimately it was a nothing story that felt stretched out by psychic and supernatural bullshit that was entirely unnecessary and Stephen King's son is just as big of a hack as his dad.

 

[Commander X]

I saw The Black Phone. 4/10 movie. Good performance by Ethan Hawke but ultimately it was a nothing story that felt stretched out by psychic and supernatural bullshit that was entirely unnecessary and Stephen King's son is just a big of a hack as his dad.

I learned that the hard way after reading the first few chapters of Heart-Shaped Box, a total borefest.

 

[Internet War Criminal]

I honestly don’t know what to give The Jojo Siwa Mental Breakdown Experience 2. There are definitely some positives to it:

* As I said, some of the visuals are really good.
* There are far less jump scares than I would have expected
* It was more psychological horror than the last one
* The main actress fucking kills it playing that role.

The problem is that role is being an unlikeable cunt. She kind of looks and acts like the lead singer of Paramore, but her in-movie songs and costumes are like Jojo Siwa so there’s kind of a dissonance into what kind of artist vibe she‘s supposed to be giving. I guess they kind of wanted to make her some kind of Ariana Grande figure. But yeah, the common point between all three is that they are fucking insufferable and use therapy speak babble and shit. The actress is so good at playing her that I genuinely forgot for most of the movie she was just playing a role and kind of disliked the movie and rooted against her because of just how cunty she was. Which, to her credit, she played perfectly. Not just the cunt part, but definitely the slow descent into madness part.

The problems are that

* the movie is over two hours long,
* it really feels meandering at some point towards the beginning, like you’re expecting the movie to switch to a new lead soon
* speaking of which, the opening kind of ruins the movie because of just how fucking good Kyle Gardner is, the way the action is shot, how he decides to go after, and at the end of the day that was a much more fascinating concept than what we got

Although the movie is long, it doesn’t feel boring. The problem is, it feels like a lot could have been cut to make it tighter, maybe around 1:45-1:50 and it would have been better as a result. There wasn’t too much fat, but enough to be noticeable.

I do appreciate that they went in a very different direction with the sequel, because it was not at all what I was expecting and I wish more movies would take chances.

The ending is almost perfect, and I hope that as a result they don’t make a Smile 3

Depending on what day you ask me I’d probably rate it between a 6.5 to 8ish, so high 7/10 maybe?

It’s definitely worth a watch if you liked the first one

Fuck it, giving it an 8 I’m willing to take back

 

[Vampirella]

Fun fact: George Lucas is a super fan and that was the catalyst for him to offer the husband/wife directing team the project... Howard the Duck.

That explains a lot.

 

[frozen_runner]

I stayed up too late and watched The Void (2016). It really impressed me, so much so that the lukewarm audience response to it has me confused.

Obviously, the true star of the film is the practical special effects work. And it looks really good. This is an immensely cheap film (it was at least partly crowdfunded through Indiegogo) that does not look cheap at all aside from a largely unknown cast of good actors. It's well directed, the dialogue is solid, and the plot is not all that predictable. And it's gory as fuck. What else do you want from a horror film?

The only real narrative problem I have with the movie is that the main character's relationship to his ex(?)-wife. It needed another scene or two to properly set up the situation between them. But you kind of get enough through context.

Go watch this if you appreciate Lovecraftian horror and practical gore. You might not hear anyone say the names of the Elder Gods in the script (maybe you do, I've only seen the movie once), but it does that kind of horror well, and it's not a waste of 84 minutes.

I saw The Black Phone. 4/10 movie. Good performance by Ethan Hawke but ultimately it was a nothing story that felt stretched out by psychic and supernatural bullshit that was entirely unnecessary and Stephen King's son is just as big of a hack as his dad.

The short story is fantastic. But nothing they added for the movie improved upon it at all.

The idea they're making a sequel film is embarrassing. Apparently it has something to do with the stupid masks?