Welcome to my message board.
New member registration has been disabled due to heavy spammer activity. If you'd like to join the board, please email me at MaxDevore at hotmail dot com.
New member registration has been disabled due to heavy spammer activity. If you'd like to join the board, please email me at MaxDevore at hotmail dot com.
Comments
A grave-robbing soldier is pursued by a female mummy set on using his body as a vessel for the evil entity that made her immortal.
Sure, it’s easy to bag on this 2017 financial and critical flop—it’s big, dumb and loud, attempts to force yet another movie universe franchise down our throats, and it stars Tom Cruise, firmly planting its flag in a deep stack of establishment Hollywood dollars. This movie was never going to slip under the radar or be a sleeper hit, this was made to have its images splashed across school lunchboxes and Happy Meal cartons. So it must suck, right? Well…
Putting aside preconceived notions, what we are left with is a harmless fun big-budget B movie. Is it original? Absolutely not. Are the characters paperboard cliches? Yup. Is it mostly just a succession of action-packed set pieces, barely pausing to take a breath? You know it. Would it have been better as an R-rated movie? Probably. But was it an enjoyable watch? Most definitely yes. I for one laughed more than I rolled my eyes, and many scenes stand out—the zero-G airplane scene, a Mummy sucking people dry of their life essence, giant practical sets, an army of swimming underwater mummies, Russell Crowe as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Tom Cruise giggling as the Mummy inadvertently tickles him with her bony fingers (yes, that really happened)!
For whatever reason, the general public turned against this movie, probably the same people who embrace stuff like Independence Day, Pirates of the Caribbean or the equally cheesy but fun 1999 The Mummy movie. I actually think it’s a shame there aren’t going to be any more movies set in the Dark Universe due to the financial failure of this first one. But as we all know in the horror genre, nothing truly ever dies.
3 out of 5 stars.
Bob's October 2022 Horror Movie List
*FTV denotes first-time viewings
1. The Black Phone 3.5/5 (FTV)
2. The Mummy (2017) 3/5 (FTV)
I get my images by doing a Google search and clicking Images. Then I right-click over the image I want and click "Copy Image Address", that way I can just paste the URL in. No need to actually download any photos that way.
“A war veteran (Joe DeSue) whose limbs were medically restored becomes a killer when his physician's (John Hart) aid switches his medication”
1. SERVANT *
2. Blackenstein*
The Waiting Room
Rewatched Orca Kilker Whale.
A fisherman kills an orca and her unborn calf, the orca's mate begins it's quest for vengance.
I remember loving this as a kid, and I had sort of enjoyed it the lastvtime I watched, but this time it did absolutely nothing for me. It has a terrific cast, Richard Harris, Charlotte Rampling, Will Sampson, but it's a clunker.
1. Shadows
2. Orca Killer Whale
“When journalist Kim Wall disappears after boarding inventor Peter Madsen's submarine, his changing story about her fate masks a terrifying truth.”
true story that was real life horror. And the killer’s last words on documentary were chilling. Talking about psychopaths living among us. Manipulating people. Wow. What’s happening right this minute in the good ol U.S. of A. So many stupid people.
1. Beast (2022) 3,5
2. Nix (2022) 2,5
3. Safe House 1618 (2022) 3,5 Clear Halloween vibes of this one. Just a little twist. The girls are three sisters who commit a murder and hides in a safe house until they can leave safely. The father of the victim sends a hitman after them and that hitman is Not easy to kill. Very clear reminiscent of Michael Myers. Jacinda Day and Brittney Carpenter (is she Johns daughter??) are two of the sisters. Along the way we get some flashback segments so we understand the backstory. A b movie but enjoyable enough.
https://moviesandmania.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Safe-House-1618-movie-film-revenge-crime-thriller-2022-poster-detail.jpg
Based on the true story of a 14th century girl who has herself permanently walled into a small cell so she can spend all day adoring a statue of the Virgin Mary, but things don’t go as planned.
Filmed in glorious black and white in 1993, The Anchoress feels like a lost Ingmar Bergman film more than a horror movie. I’d never heard of The Anchoress but it was included in the definitive folk horror film box set released by Severin, All The Haunts Be Ours. This is a quiet, meditative film, and things aren’t always spelled out for the audience in a clear way, but that lends to its strangeness. It just presents these things and we’re left to sort it out.
I’d heard of cloistered nuns who never leave the monastery but this took things to a whole new level bordering on mania, or self-aggrandizement. And although there are strange visions, bestiality, and a good old fashioned angry mob witch hunt and execution, perhaps the real horror of this film is how women were treated back then. Seeing what’s happening in a crazy world around her, no wonder this young woman found it more appealing to seal herself off from it all and devote herself to the one thing that brought her peace.
This one is hard to recommend as a “horror film” without some provisos about pacing and a decidedly non-genre approach. But the stark images, zero-music soundtrack featuring only natural sounds and voices, and haunted expressions of the excellent actors have a way of resonating after the credits roll.
3 out of 5 stars.
Bob's October 2022 Horror Movie List
*FTV denotes first-time viewings
1. The Black Phone 3.5/5 (FTV)
2. The Mummy (2017) 3/5 (FTV)
3. The Anchoress 3/5 (FTV)
1) The Hunger
I get anxious very easily. The more anxious i get, the more I know the creatives did their job. I was not anxious during this at all. The bullying didn’t have me pausing to calm my heart.
Long awaited sequel to one of my favorite Halloween movies. I liked it. Not quite as charming or funny as the original but not far behind, in my opinion. I laughed out loud several times. The only thing I was not completely crazy about was the ending, I did not think it reflected the witches characters and was cheesy as all get out. But I did read another casual review (another viewer) that said it bookends the original film's ending nicely, which never occurred to me, but it does. I enjoyed the movie. Probably not one I will watch as many times as the first one, but it will get repeat viewings.
A schoolteacher in a run-down Oregon mining town suspects one of her students is having family issues, not realizing his father is slowly turning into an actual monster.
This film was dismissed by many high-minded critics as yet another white man’s exploitation of the indigenous peoples’ Wendigo myth, and that’s a fair (and perhaps too easy) criticism to make. But as a horror movie, and more accurately as a monster movie, Antlers is a dark, often downright bleak horror tale that is reminiscent of the best elements of The Thing, The Fly, Hellraiser, and even Alien. We also get an outstandingly understated performance from child actor Jeremy T. Thomas, whose character endures all manner of horrors, much the same as the child of a drug addict who finds they are now responsible for their parent.
And indeed, themes of addiction are never far from the surface, with teacher Keri Russell looking longingly at the bottles of liquor every time she goes to the store, and the local cops’ resignation to an ongoing meth problem that has been swallowing their broken community. The themes of addiction and abuse don’t immediately serve as an obvious connection with the Wendigo myth, but the former sheriff (played by Graham Green) reminds us that this Algonquin demon is itself insatiable.
In addition to this, much like the first Hellraiser, we have The Thing In The Attic That Must Be Fed, and an incredibly effective creature that is a seamless mix of practical effects and minimal CGI. Oh, and did I mention Guillermo del Toro produced?
There are a few genre cliches. Creepy drawings by the child? Stereotypical bullies who get what's coming? Check. And the tone shifts toward the more familiar in the last act. The film is far too bleak to ever make this a crowd favorite, but Antlers falls into the category of horror done right.
4 out of 5 stars.
Bob's October 2022 Horror Movie List
*FTV denotes first-time viewings
1. The Black Phone 3.5/5 (FTV)
2. The Mummy (2017) 3/5 (FTV)
3. The Anchoress 3/5 (FTV)
4. Antlers 4/5 (FTV)
Rob Zombie tries his hand at a reboot of the classic TV series. The set pieces, costuming and makeup were stellar, he pulled out all the stops for that. The cast...Grandpa was great, Herman was pretty good, Lily was the obligatory Sherri Moon Zombie and I'm sorry, she is no Lily Munster.
Kind of an origin story, it tells how Lily and Herman met and fell in love. The story was not great, just ok. I did laugh a few times. I think it is worth checking out for the set pieces alone but don't expect a whole lot from the story. Which maybe, if you think about it, what Zombie was trying for, the TV show was kind of goofy too. Fun and goofy. This was goofy and sometimes fun.
Based off of the Grady Hendrix book of the same name, which I have not read so can't compare to the book. Group of friends go for a weekend to the lake and one comes back possessed. It it set in the 80s so lots of nostalgia weaved in. Never very scary but it did have a few good moments. It was just ok for me.
I enjoyed this, from beginning to end. I should probably reread the story as well, but it seemed to me the movie was better at establishing the relationship between Craig and Mr. Harrigan. Donald Sutherland was excellent and I enjoyed Jaeden Martell's (who also played young Bill in the recent IT movies) performance as well. The movie moved right along and was never boring to me. I liked it.
This one is about a "found" retro survival type video game that still has an unclaimed prize attached for whoever can beat it. Except for once the player starts the game, they quickly realize it isn't just a game, because their choices are coming true in the people around the player in real life.
It kept my interest all the way through. Not very scary but interesting enough. The last 20 or so minutes are the best of the movie. It was a good enough movie.
“A dangerous blizzard hits an isolated town and brings along a mysterious stranger intent on terrorizing people for his own desires.”
I love this just as much now as the first time and second and third and fifteenth time I watched it.
5. Storm of the Century* —(🤭, i’m kidding. This is not a first time viewing.)
A skeptical professor destroys his superstitious wife’s magical paraphernalia, and bad things start to happen.
Written by horror dream team Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont who have produced countless books, stories and Twilight Zone scripts, and based on a novel by Fritz Leiber, this 1962 film has a strong pedigree. Despite opening with campy dire voiceover warnings in a blackout screen about “what we are about to witness”, the movie is a surprisingly restrained mix of domestic drama, campus politics, and dark magic.
Solid performances from Peter Wyndgarde and Janet Blair keep things moving, but the story here is very slight. And despite the original British title “Night of the Eagle”, I still couldn’t figure out the significance or need for the lingering shots of an eagle statue, which doesn’t really pay off until the flim’s climax anyway. I suspect Matheson & Beamont were a bit too faithful to the original source instead of making things more cinematic. Still, as an atmospheric, Hammer-esque 1962 black and white horror thriller, this one hits most of the right notes.
3 out of 5 stars.
Bob's October 2022 Horror Movie List
*FTV denotes first-time viewings
1. The Black Phone 3.5/5 (FTV)
2. The Mummy (2017) 3/5 (FTV)
3. The Anchoress 3/5 (FTV)
4. Antlers 4/5 (FTV)
5. Burn, Witch, Burn 3/5 (FTV)