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Comments
Extra Ordinary - I laughed so hard and often that I thought I was going to wake the house tonight. This is brilliant, every single person is excellent in their role.
Deejers, you know how What We Do in the Shadows gives you a window into New Zealand? Well this one gives the same into Ireland. It is simply hilarious.
1. The Cured
2. Extra Ordinary
Okay cat, I watched this. I have Cinemax and didn't even know I had Cinemax. It's labeled TMax on my TV, I didn't realize that was the same people. Anyway, this was pretty creepy and while you likened it to The Boy which I have never seen, I will take it back to an even earlier made-for-TV movie in 1974 called, Bad Ronald, which is a much better movie about someone living in the walls, undetected by the family that moves in.
This is the Bad Ronald trailer.
and this is the trailer for Within:
Now, to answer your questions:
We also know he is real because at the end of the movie, the writers gave us a little news headline saying that since the economic downfall in 2008, more people were discovering people living undetected in their homes. Which pretty much says that is what was happening here.
Yes, it was the boyfriend that was shot. No one knew he was in the house, and David used him as a decoy so they would let their guard down and forget about him. Stop looking for the boogyman and he could keep living his life in his safe place.
I think they kept his comings and goings very ghostlike on purpose, to keep everyone off balance. But he was real.
My question: What happened to the cat? Did I blink and miss that?
1. Ghost Stories*
2. American Murder*
3. Christmas Evil*
4. Vault of Horror
5. The Green Slime*
6. The Blue Elephant 2*
7. Theatre of Blood
8. Ghost Ship
9. Deathdream*
10. Fiend Without a Face*
11. Maniac* 1934
12. Books of Blood*
13. Escape Room*
14. The Severed Arm*
15. The Binding*
16. The Cured*
17. Friday the 13th
18. Tarantula*
19. Jennifer's Body*
20. Fantasy Island*
21. Mrs. Amworth
22. A Fantastic Fear of Everything
23. Within*
No answer about the cat. That was a common complaint on the reviews I read after I watched it.
14. 3 From Hell (FTV)
Third installment in Rob Zombie's "House of 1000 Corpses" franchise sees the Firefly family on the lam in Mexico, where an old score will be settled.
Full disclosure: I'm a big fan of Rob Zombie's films and this franchise. There's something about the way he melds homemade B filmmaking and occasional flashes of cinematic artistry that makes his content exciting and somehow more relatable. You never get the sense of a big studio executive pushing the buttons, it's as if a fellow fan of the genre made a movie just for you.
That out of the way, I had a great time with 3 From Hell. Sid Haig's Captain Spalding is given an all-to-brief farewell (the actor was already terminally ill during the shoot), Bill Moseley's Otis Driftwood is scarier than ever, if a little bit crowfooted around the eyes, and Sheri Moon Zombie's character Baby, who could be annoying at times in earlier films, is given a bit more depth as the effects of solitary confinement have taken a toll on her already loony psyche.
The movie opens with a "Helter Skelter" style documentary to fill us in on the backstory, and we get a rare chance to see these characters speaking directly to us and perhaps giving us some insight as to what makes them tick. Then it moves on to the jailbreak sequences which while a bit farfetched, propel the story forward with energy. The final act takes place in a Mexico that is reminiscent of Robert Rodriquez and Quentin Tarantino's in "From Dusk Till Dawn", but a dirtier one--you can practically smell the scenery and characters.
Inevitably, one must compare the third installment of a franchise against those that came before it, and it's there where 3 From Hell falls a bit short. Neither of the sequels compare with the original's bold vision, which was less concerned with homage and stylistic imitation, and there's a certain meandering quality to the latter half of 3 From Hell which keeps it from being truly great. But frankly, with second sequels, "pretty good" is something of a minor miracle.
3 out of 5 stars.
Bob's October 2020 Horror Movie List
*FTV denotes first-time viewings
1. Viy (1967) 4/5 (FTV)
2. Night Visitor 3/5 (FTV)
3. Tigers Are Not Afraid 5/5 (FTV)
4. I Trapped the Devil 4/5 (FTV)
5. Vivarium 3/5 (FTV)
6. The Kiss of the Vampire 3/5 (FTV)
7. The Invisible Man (2020) 4/5 (FTV)
8. Horrors of Malformed Men 3/5 (FTV)
9. Come to Daddy 3/5 (FTV)
10. Dead Alive 4/5
11. Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things 3/5 (FTV)
12. Swallow 4/5 (FTV)
13. One Cut of the Dead 4/5 (FTV)
14. 3 From Hell 3/5 (FTV)
This was another cat recommend and I really had fun with this anthology. I liked all the connection and rewinds, although I would get a bit lost occasionally -- totally my fault, not the filmmakers. I like to multitask and some movies you just can't get away with that.
1. Ghost Stories*
2. American Murder*
3. Christmas Evil*
4. Vault of Horror
5. The Green Slime*
6. The Blue Elephant 2*
7. Theatre of Blood
8. Ghost Ship
9. Deathdream*
10. Fiend Without a Face*
11. Maniac* 1934
12. Books of Blood*
13. Escape Room*
14. The Severed Arm*
15. The Binding*
16. The Cured*
17. Friday the 13th
18. Tarantula*
19. Jennifer's Body*
20. Fantasy Island*
21. Mrs. Amworth
22. A Fantastic Fear of Everything
23. Within*
24. Trick r' Treat
So far,
01. Dracula's Daughter
02. Son Of Dracula
03. House Of Frankenstein
04. Rogue
05. Crawl
06. Count Dracula
07. Mrs Amworth
08. The Wolf Of Snow Hollow
09. The Vampire
2. Halloween
3. Amityville Horror
4. Halloween Resurrection
5. The Shining
6. Carrie
7. Ghost Ship
8. House of Wax
9. The Mummy
10. Friday the 13th-Final Chapter
11. Friday the 13th-A New Beginning
12. Friday the 13th PartVI Jason Lives
13. The Mummy Returns
14. Cult of Chucky
15. Addams Family
16. Hotel Transylvania- Summer Vacation
17. Thirteen Ghosts
18. Little Shop of Horrors
19. The Conjuring
20. A Nightmare on Elm Street 5= The Dream Child
21. Hocus Pocus
This Adam Sandler movie is on Netflix. I wanted it to be good! I so love the Hotel Transylvania movies, so I had high hopes. But, it was pretty dumb. Adam Sandler plays Hubie, who lives in Salem, MA and loves Halloween so much he appoints himself the town's guardian to make sure everyone has a good Halloween. Of course this makes him the focus of ridicule. Until people start disappearing and Hubie comes to the rescue. (Kind of.)
Adam Sandler way overdid the voice he used in The Waterboy, so much so, sometimes it was really hard to understand him. The usual suspects are also in the movie...Kevin James, Rob Schneider, Steve Buscemi. Other familiar faces, Julie Bowen, Maya Rudolph, Tim Meadows and Ray Liotta. I wanted Rob Schneider to say, You can do it! at least once, but he never did.
They did go all out for costumes and scenery. Everything was decorated to the nines, I did enjoy that. And there were a few bloopers during the credits. I did chuckle out loud a few times during the movie, but overall, was disappointed in it. Hotel Transylvania (and 2 and 3) are much better movies.
15. Scared Stiff (1987) (FTV)
80's pop singer with a history of mental problems and her son move into her therapist/boyfriend's southern mansion with a nasty secret in the attic.
This movie flew way under the radar for most, probably because it's not a typical 80's slasher based on an existing franchise. Like any good ghost story, there's a dark history and a re-awakening of old forces in the modern world--think more along the lines of Candyman than Freddy Krueger. The movie is dated in both style and special effects, but for me it added to the 80's charm, so this is sort of a hidden gem. Despite the occasional cheesiness, the film delivers a few good jolts in hallucinatory sequences that reminded me a little of the dream sequences in An American Werewolf In London.
There's a pretty decent score by jazz pianist Billy Barber, which is important considering that the music is pretty central to the plot. And despite the lack of big names, the actors do a decent job of taking things seriously even in the face of some ridiculousness. For instance, who really thought anyone would be afraid of pigeons? Things get really crazy in the final 20 minutes with some great special effects mixed with some bad ones--it's like they threw in everything but the kitchen sink to see what would stick, and things sort of go off the rails. You'll probably laugh more than scream, but you'll always be entertained.
Post-script: The generic title "Scared Stiff" really says nothing about the story, and it turns out the original title was "The Masterson Curse", which is more accurate, but probably less marketable.
3 out of 5 stars.
Bob's October 2020 Horror Movie List
*FTV denotes first-time viewings
1. Viy (1967) 4/5 (FTV)
2. Night Visitor 3/5 (FTV)
3. Tigers Are Not Afraid 5/5 (FTV)
4. I Trapped the Devil 4/5 (FTV)
5. Vivarium 3/5 (FTV)
6. The Kiss of the Vampire 3/5 (FTV)
7. The Invisible Man (2020) 4/5 (FTV)
8. Horrors of Malformed Men 3/5 (FTV)
9. Come to Daddy 3/5 (FTV)
10. Dead Alive 4/5
11. Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things 3/5 (FTV)
12. Swallow 4/5 (FTV)
13. One Cut of the Dead 4/5 (FTV)
14. 3 From Hell 3/5 (FTV)
15. Scared Stiff (1987) 3/5 (FTV)
NN recommended The Blob! from here neck of the woods where she grew up. I had already seen The Blob, so I went for this one instead.
Larry Hagman, yes "I Dream of Jeannie" Larry Hagman, directed this piece of crap. Of course, it was purposely made that way. But wow, it was so bad. Acting bad. Story bad. And there was so many familiar faces in this. Twenty to twenty-five faces that people of a certain age will recognize. Youngers might recognized a few but not like the Old Ones will.
It made me groan mostly, but sometimes it was so bad, it made me laugh. Like when a girl walks in and asks a guy, "Are you okay?" And the camera turns to the guy and he's covered in red jello slime. How observant are you, dumbass?
1. Ghost Stories*
2. American Murder*
3. Christmas Evil*
4. Vault of Horror
5. The Green Slime*
6. The Blue Elephant 2*
7. Theatre of Blood
8. Ghost Ship
9. Deathdream*
10. Fiend Without a Face*
11. Maniac* 1934
12. Books of Blood*
13. Escape Room*
14. The Severed Arm*
15. The Binding*
16. The Cured*
17. Friday the 13th
18. Tarantula*
19. Jennifer's Body*
20. Fantasy Island*
21. Mrs. Amworth*
22. A Fantastic Fear of Everything*
23. Within*
24. Trick r' Treat*
25. BEWARE! The Blob*
I love The Innocents. It's one of my all-time favorite gothic horror movies and I will watch it for the marathon. So, seeing this was a new look at familiar material, I was worried. I'm getting old and crotchety and don't like my things touched. But, I thought the creators of this adaptation of Henry James' novel did a very good job. I liked this a lot.
While it does have its own vision that is different from the book and different from The Innocents, it was satisfying.
And, while it is a ghost story, it is a love story. I'm not big into romance shows, but my heart does have a secret little spot for true love, I am a romantic at heart. I want to believe in true romance and soul mates and all that pish posh. Maybe my next life....
1. Ghost Stories*
2. American Murder*
3. Christmas Evil*
4. Vault of Horror
5. The Green Slime*
6. The Blue Elephant 2*
7. Theatre of Blood
8. Ghost Ship
9. Deathdream*
10. Fiend Without a Face*
11. Maniac* 1934
12. Books of Blood*
13. Escape Room*
14. The Severed Arm*
15. The Binding*
16. The Cured*
17. Friday the 13th
18. Tarantula*
19. Jennifer's Body*
20. Fantasy Island*
21. Mrs. Amworth*
22. A Fantastic Fear of Everything*
23. Within*
24. Trick r' Treat*
25. BEWARE! The Blob*
26. The Haunting of Bly Manor*
This is another adaptation of Henry James' novel, The Turn of the Screw starring Marlon Brandon.
Marlon gives me the creeps. He just does. He always has. Do I think he was a good actor? I do. And he definitely makes Peter Quint a disgusting, depraved sweaty little perv. I believed his performance 100%.
Would I watch this again? Not a chance. But, I am glad I saw it because this one also gives a totally different view from the book, The Innocents and The Haunting of Bly Manor. Very different presentations of the same material. I liked the book. The Innocents scared me. The Haunting of Bly Manor made me hope for a happy ending. This one made me feel like an icky voyeur to Peter Quint's sick and twisted violence.
1. Ghost Stories*
2. American Murder*
3. Christmas Evil*
4. Vault of Horror
5. The Green Slime*
6. The Blue Elephant 2*
7. Theatre of Blood
8. Ghost Ship
9. Deathdream*
10. Fiend Without a Face*
11. Maniac* 1934
12. Books of Blood*
13. Escape Room*
14. The Severed Arm*
15. The Binding*
16. The Cured*
17. Friday the 13th
18. Tarantula*
19. Jennifer's Body*
20. Fantasy Island*
21. Mrs. Amworth*
22. A Fantastic Fear of Everything*
23. Within*
24. Trick r' Treat*
25. BEWARE! The Blob*
26. The Haunting of Bly Manor*
27. The Nightcomers*
16. Zoltan: Hound of Dracula (FTV)
Dracula's dog is brought back to life and now seeks a new master in America, where with the aid of Dracula's old footman, he menaces the family of a direct descendant.
This is one of those shlocky-looking 70's horror movies I saw on the shelves at the VHS rental places but never got around to renting, so when Kino Lorber made a new 4k master, I took a chance. The concept is a good one, if not wholly original, as Dracula's dog looks suspiciously like the Doberman pinscher hell-hounds of the 1976 film, The Omen. However, the movie isn't as good as it could have been.
What's surprising is that it takes itself pretty seriously, with Jose Ferrer turning in the best performance in an otherwise pretty rote film. And yes, there are evil vampire dogs with glowing eyes that feast upon the blood of the living and turn them into vampires. What else more could you want? Well, some tension would be nice, but there's pretty much a complete lack of suspense. The family doesn't even seem particularly fazed when one of their puppies disappears.
A siege scene in a cabin could have been an opportunity for a Jaws-like moment, with the two men trading war stories, but we are kept at arms length and not given any real character depth. The dogs all give great performances, but it was hard to think of them as villains because after all, they are man's best friend. I kept feeling sorry for the dogs or thinking they were cute when they were supposed to be menacing. This was a bit of a swing and a miss, and for once I'd like to see a remake by a more able director with a better script. Still, the film has some appeal for those of us who like turgid old 70's horror flicks.
Trivia: Stan Winston did the special effects, which are pretty much limited to some glowing eyes and blood gushing.
3 out of 5 stars.
Bob's October 2020 Horror Movie List
*FTV denotes first-time viewings
1. Viy (1967) 4/5 (FTV)
2. Night Visitor 3/5 (FTV)
3. Tigers Are Not Afraid 5/5 (FTV)
4. I Trapped the Devil 4/5 (FTV)
5. Vivarium 3/5 (FTV)
6. The Kiss of the Vampire 3/5 (FTV)
7. The Invisible Man (2020) 4/5 (FTV)
8. Horrors of Malformed Men 3/5 (FTV)
9. Come to Daddy 3/5 (FTV)
10. Dead Alive 4/5
11. Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things 3/5 (FTV)
12. Swallow 4/5 (FTV)
13. One Cut of the Dead 4/5 (FTV)
14. 3 From Hell 3/5 (FTV)
15. Scared Stiff (1987) 3/5 (FTV)
16. Zoltan: Hound of Dracula 3/5 (FTV)
Animated feature pits a woman and her adult siblings against their maniacal billionaire father in a game of revenge and death, as a mysterious godlike being has the ability to hit the rewind button depending how things turn out.
Ugh, this film was a mess. First of all, it's not actually horror, despite winning horror awards (and how this won any awards is a mystery to me). Just because something is bloody and violent doesn't make it horror. It's just an action thriller which combines "is it just a game?" elements of Fincher's The Game with torture puzzles from Saw. Maybe that's why they are calling this horror. But mostly it's just pointless and dull.
On paper, this should have worked. How can a movie packed with this much action (and violence) still manage to be dull? Because we never once feel like anything is at stake. The flat 2D-style animation, which has looked great in other works ("Archer", for one) just never works for this movie: it's like someone is playing with paper dolls, so how am I supposed to feel any sense of danger or connection to the characters? They are never anything other than artificial. Stylized, nonrealistic animation can work for a lot of things, but not this visceral action. It's all as light as air, moving pictures on a wall.
The other problem is a big one: it's no spoiler to tell you that there are gods in this film who control the outcome of the story, and if they don't like the way things turn out, they can do a reset and put the character right back where she started. This completely deflates any tension, because we know that no matter what the characters do, the gods can just undo it at their whim. No decisions have any real consequences, so why should we care if the characters are making good decisions or bad ones? So once again, we're never emotionally involved, and the whole exercise is pointless.
I give it some credit for trying something new, but it just disappointed on so many counts. It sounds like it could be good, but don't be fooled, and don't waste your time. If you want hyperviolent animation horror that makes you laugh and entertains you despite being shallow, watch the Haunted World of El Superbeasto instead.
2 out of 5 stars.
Bob's October 2020 Horror Movie List
*FTV denotes first-time viewings
1. Viy (1967) 4/5 (FTV)
2. Night Visitor 3/5 (FTV)
3. Tigers Are Not Afraid 5/5 (FTV)
4. I Trapped the Devil 4/5 (FTV)
5. Vivarium 3/5 (FTV)
6. The Kiss of the Vampire 3/5 (FTV)
7. The Invisible Man (2020) 4/5 (FTV)
8. Horrors of Malformed Men 3/5 (FTV)
9. Come to Daddy 3/5 (FTV)
10. Dead Alive 4/5
11. Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things 3/5 (FTV)
12. Swallow 4/5 (FTV)
13. One Cut of the Dead 4/5 (FTV)
14. 3 From Hell 3/5 (FTV)
15. Scared Stiff (1987) 3/5 (FTV)
16. Zoltan: Hound of Dracula 3/5 (FTV)
17. To Your Last Death 2/5 (FTV)
I'm sure you guys are familiar with this one. I love the old throwback black and white scare. Patrick Magee is my favorite actor in this because he plays the creepy doctor so well. He did it enough.
1. Ghost Stories*
2. American Murder*
3. Christmas Evil*
4. Vault of Horror
5. The Green Slime*
6. The Blue Elephant 2*
7. Theatre of Blood
8. Ghost Ship
9. Deathdream*
10. Fiend Without a Face*
11. Maniac* 1934
12. Books of Blood*
13. Escape Room*
14. The Severed Arm*
15. The Binding*
16. The Cured*
17. Friday the 13th
18. Tarantula*
19. Jennifer's Body*
20. Fantasy Island*
21. Mrs. Amworth*
22. A Fantastic Fear of Everything*
23. Within*
24. Trick r' Treat*
25. BEWARE! The Blob*
26. The Haunting of Bly Manor*
27. The Nightcomers*
28. Dementia 13
This was interesting. Stephen Hawkings physics meets suburban dinner party.
A comet is blazing across the sky and it opens parallel universes. It's a bit confusing and twisty, but if you pay attention, you get the gist of it. I didn't find the acting particularly great, but the idea of the story was engaging enough.
What I enjoyed was the conclusion. The driving force for one character. All the potential science and the ramifications for humankind, and it boiled down to a very primal need. I laughed.
1. Ghost Stories*
2. American Murder*
3. Christmas Evil*
4. Vault of Horror
5. The Green Slime*
6. The Blue Elephant 2*
7. Theatre of Blood
8. Ghost Ship
9. Deathdream*
10. Fiend Without a Face*
11. Maniac* 1934
12. Books of Blood*
13. Escape Room*
14. The Severed Arm*
15. The Binding*
16. The Cured*
17. Friday the 13th
18. Tarantula*
19. Jennifer's Body*
20. Fantasy Island*
21. Mrs. Amworth*
22. A Fantastic Fear of Everything*
23. Within*
24. Trick r' Treat*
25. BEWARE! The Blob*
26. The Haunting of Bly Manor*
27. The Nightcomers*
28. Dementia 13
29. Coherence*
I watched this one because I just keep reading things where people talk about it. And they seem to really love it. Jordan Peele is a fan and I love Jordan Peele, so that was what finally made me watch this 2 1/2 hour thing.
I absolutely loved the culture and setting. The community. There was a lot to take in, but, this damn thing could've accomplished so much more had they tightened it a bit. Less would've been more.
It's a bizarre world that they took way too long to set up. They could've easily cut 45 minutes of slog and not lost one bit of the atmosphere of the place. Just condense the information. Not cheapen it or diminish its importance, just be more concise.
It wasn't particulary a new idea either. I've seen similar stories, but I liked it well enough.
1. Ghost Stories*
2. American Murder*
3. Christmas Evil*
4. Vault of Horror
5. The Green Slime*
6. The Blue Elephant 2*
7. Theatre of Blood
8. Ghost Ship
9. Deathdream*
10. Fiend Without a Face*
11. Maniac* 1934
12. Books of Blood*
13. Escape Room*
14. The Severed Arm*
15. The Binding*
16. The Cured*
17. Friday the 13th
18. Tarantula*
19. Jennifer's Body*
20. Fantasy Island*
21. Mrs. Amworth*
22. A Fantastic Fear of Everything*
23. Within*
24. Trick r' Treat*
25. BEWARE! The Blob*
26. The Haunting of Bly Manor*
27. The Nightcomers*
28. Dementia 13
29. Coherence*
30. Midsommar*