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....I see what you did there.....
I'll have to check that one out. I've only read The Ritual by Nevill. Hope your week is starting off well sir. Take care.
Wealthy count performs taxidermy on his fiancé after a jealous maid murders her, then he keeps seeking new victims.
This 1966 film obviously owes a lot to Hitchcock’s Psycho: there’s a domineering mother, a charming but emotionally disturbed son, and there’s taxidermy on both animals and a human. In addition, the sister of the initial victim comes looking for her, although in this film she is an identical twin sister and thus played by the same actress, and triggers a deepening psychosis for the killer.
This Italian film is more overtly an exploitation piece, as it adds the element of the killer luring prostitutes back to his lair, where they soon discover the preserved remains of his fiancé. There are additional soap-opera/thriller elements due to the inclusion of the jealous maid character, who while disgusted by the killer’s actions, wants to blackmail him so she can him (and his wealth) all to herself. Besides, she’s also a murderess, so they have a lot in common.
Apparently this film was controversial at the time of its release due to partial nudity and violence, as well as implied necrophilia, but to our modern eyes this is mostly tame stuff. The film doesn’t offer anything really new, but at only 87 minutes it moves along quickly and entertainingly enough, and it’s shot in beautiful black and white widescreen. This is included in the recent Arrow Video Gothic Fantastico: Four Italian Tales of Terror box set, and is a worthy inclusion.
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)
6. Lamb 3/5 (FTV)
7. Alligator 3.5/5 (FTV)
8. Barbarian 4/5 (FTV)
9. Orphan 3.5/5 (FTV)
10. Terrifier 2 4/5 (FTV)
11. I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) 2.5/5 (FTV)
12. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 3.5/5 (FTV)
13. The Uncanny 3/5 (FTV)
14. Baghead 3.5/5 (FTV)
15. House On Haunted Hill (1959) 4.5/5
16. Wilczyca (aka She-Wolf) 3.5/5 (FTV)
17. Black Rainbow 3/5 (FTV)
18. Two Witches 3.5/5 (FTV)
19. The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies 2.5/5 (FTV)
20. La Llarona 3/5 (FTV)
21. All Hallows’ Eve 3/5 (FTV)
22. The Sadness 4/5 (FTV)
23. The Third Eye (il Terzo Occhio) 3/5 (FTV)
Maybe it will become my #3 if I can find it somewhere.
“After spending 200 years trapped in a coffin, a vampire escapes and returns to his family mansion in Collinsport, Maine.”
continuing my ongoing challenge of “rewatching” this old, horribly acted, great fun series. I am going to label them a new watch because I remember pretty much none of these plots.
5. Storm of the Century
6. Demonoid*
9. The Funhouse
11. Incident On and Off a Mountain Road*
17. The Uncanny*
20. The Watcher*
“Scorn is an atmospheric first-person horror adventure game set in a nightmarish universe of odd forms and somber tapestry.”
okay, not a movie, but it was about 5 hours of a gamer traveling through a landscape of horror images.
5. Storm of the Century
6. Demonoid*
9. The Funhouse
11. Incident On and Off a Mountain Road*
17. The Uncanny*
20. The Watcher*
5. Storm of the Century
6. Demonoid*
9. The Funhouse
11. Incident On and Off a Mountain Road*
17. The Uncanny*
20. The Watcher*
Ex-soldier turns to contract killing to make a living, and starts spinning out of control as his mysterious employers keep raising the stakes.
One of the problems with horror movies that keeps them from being really scary is that we are aware that we’re watching a horror movie and expect certain things to happen. You go to a monster movie expecting to see a monster, a haunted house movie expecting to see ghosts, etc. Real life always has the potential to be much scarier than a horror movie because you just never know when the rug is going to get pulled out from under you. That guy you see standing at the other side of an otherwise empty parking garage could be just looking for his car…or he could be waiting for his next victim.
Kill List perfectly exploits this fact by dodging easy “horror movie” labels right out of the gate. It doesn’t play like a horror movie, more like a British crime thriller, something Guy Ritchie would direct but with darker and less obvious humor. Strong characters are established, relatable conflicts regarding employment (or lack thereof), family and money are presented in a very naturalistic, non-genre manner. Yet, we always get the sense that there’s something just a bit off: a dinner guest secretly scrawls a glyph on the back of a bathroom mirror, Dad casually fries up the remains of a dead rabbit the cat left on the lawn. There’s strange troubles a-brewin’ before we even get to the titular list of kills, then things really get crazy.
It’s safe to say that how you respond to the final act will probably determine how much you like this movie—audiences seem divided on this, but I for one thought it was brilliantly nasty. This movie is difficult to review without spoilers (I can't even post many photos), and I think you’ll enjoy it best the less you know about it, so I’ll stop here and just say I strongly recommend you watch Kill List.
4.5 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)
6. Lamb 3/5 (FTV)
7. Alligator 3.5/5 (FTV)
8. Barbarian 4/5 (FTV)
9. Orphan 3.5/5 (FTV)
10. Terrifier 2 4/5 (FTV)
11. I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) 2.5/5 (FTV)
12. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 3.5/5 (FTV)
13. The Uncanny 3/5 (FTV)
14. Baghead 3.5/5 (FTV)
15. House On Haunted Hill (1959) 4.5/5
16. Wilczyca (aka She-Wolf) 3.5/5 (FTV)
17. Black Rainbow 3/5 (FTV)
18. Two Witches 3.5/5 (FTV)
19. The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies 2.5/5 (FTV)
20. La Llarona 3/5 (FTV)
21. All Hallows’ Eve 3/5 (FTV)
22. The Sadness 4/5 (FTV)
23. The Third Eye (il Terzo Occhio) 3/5 (FTV)
24. Kill List 4.5/5 (FTV)
“Therapist, Alan Strauss, is held prisoner by a patient, Sam Fortner, who reveals himself to be a serial killer. Sam has an unusual therapeutic demand for Alan: curb his homicidal urges. In order to survive, Alan must unwind Sam's disturbed mind and stop him from killing again but Sam refuses to address critical topics, like his mother Candace. Alone in captivity, Alan excavates his own past through memories of his old therapist, Charlie, and grapples with waves of his own repressed troubles -- the recent death of his wife, Beth, and the painful estrangement from his religious son, Ezra. Over the course of his imprisonment, Alan uncovers not only how deep Sam's compulsion runs, but also how much work he has to do to repair the rift in his own family.“
I recommend this. Steve Carell and Domnhall Gleeson give intense performances.
5. Storm of the Century
6. Demonoid*
9. The Funhouse
11. Incident On and Off a Mountain Road*
17. The Uncanny*
20. The Watcher*
this is del Toro’s series of 8 short stories. They are releasing them 2 a day.
5. Storm of the Century
6. Demonoid*
9. The Funhouse
11. Incident On and Off a Mountain Road*
17. The Uncanny*
20. The Watcher*
The Autopsy
The Outside
5. Storm of the Century
6. Demonoid*
9. The Funhouse
11. Incident On and Off a Mountain Road*
17. The Uncanny*
20. The Watcher*
30. Cabinet of Curiosities* — episode 3 & 4
A mysterious thing in the clouds menaces a California performing horse farm.
Playing off of the more frightening and mysterious aspects of “doom from above”, Nope draws easy comparisons to Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Signs, but ultimately turns into something more like Jaws. The movie makes great use of sound, and works best the less we see. It has some of the most remarkable night lighting that I’ve ever seen, very close to how a full moon feels in a desert at nighttime when there’s no light pollution. The film establishes interesting and fun characters and maintains a pretty good forward momentum despite the 2 hour and 10 minute run time.
Strangely, there’s an entire side plot (I hesitate to call it a subplot) that while interesting by itself, feels completely out of place for the rest of the movie. It’s as if writer Jordan Peele had two good ideas and wanted to do them both in one movie, but this second story is really only tangentially related to the primary one. Ultimately, this side plot just really doesn’t matter and doesn’t have an bearing on the proceedings. It’s jarring, and makes the film less coherent (some would say a mess, but I won’t go that far). Honestly, I’d rather have seen two separate movies.
The final third of the movie loses a bit of steam, I feel like this could have used some tightening up in the editing room as well as on the page. But I enjoyed Nope and found it interesting.
3.5 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)
6. Lamb 3/5 (FTV)
7. Alligator 3.5/5 (FTV)
8. Barbarian 4/5 (FTV)
9. Orphan 3.5/5 (FTV)
10. Terrifier 2 4/5 (FTV)
11. I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) 2.5/5 (FTV)
12. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 3.5/5 (FTV)
13. The Uncanny 3/5 (FTV)
14. Baghead 3.5/5 (FTV)
15. House On Haunted Hill (1959) 4.5/5
16. Wilczyca (aka She-Wolf) 3.5/5 (FTV)
17. Black Rainbow 3/5 (FTV)
18. Two Witches 3.5/5 (FTV)
19. The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies 2.5/5 (FTV)
20. La Llarona 3/5 (FTV)
21. All Hallows’ Eve 3/5 (FTV)
22. The Sadness 4/5 (FTV)
23. The Third Eye (il Terzo Occhio) 3/5 (FTV)
24. Kill List 4.5/5 (FTV)
25. Nope 3.5 (FTV)
A socially inept man lives with his abrasive father who is trying to steal his girlfriend, not realizing that by night he is a serial killer who costumes himself in a layer of grease.
Somehow I hadn’t heard about this unusual 2016 horror comedy, which seems designed to offend and repulse as much as make you laugh. The humor is along the lines of Napoleon Dynamite or something Todd Solondz would direct, with an emphasis on awkward characters and cringeworthy moments. The film is also designed to disgust us in a humorous way, as if John Waters, the king of making transgressive movies about filthy depraved humans, decided to make a horror movie. It has the feel of an underground comic book, part Daniel Clowes (Ghost World) and part Peter Bagge (Hate), with some of the ugliness of Basil Wolverton thrown in.
While the film is repulsive (prepare your eyes for way too much geriatric male simulated nudity), it’s still a fairly entertaining watch that made me laugh—not every joke lands, and some bits are annoying, but there’s an admirable cohesiveness to how far they dare to take things in this movie. There’s that whole outrageous “did you just see what I saw?” quality that would make this a great film for group viewings, depending how weird your guests are. Also, for a film populated with ugliness, the look of the film is actually really good, high quality, like something Wes Anderson would make if life kicked him the face for the past decade.
Still, the big problem that some viewers might not be able to get past is that this movie is trying way too hard to be weird for weirdness’ sake. The characters all talk in a similar stilted Emo Phillips on downers cadence. While some movies have an artistic vision and end up becoming cult classics almost by accident, this movie is simply pushing that cult movie feeling without ever giving us a chance to decide for ourselves. Sure, it’s intended to make you laugh uncomfortably, and it mostly succeeds at that, so maybe that’s good enough.
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)
6. Lamb 3/5 (FTV)
7. Alligator 3.5/5 (FTV)
8. Barbarian 4/5 (FTV)
9. Orphan 3.5/5 (FTV)
10. Terrifier 2 4/5 (FTV)
11. I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) 2.5/5 (FTV)
12. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 3.5/5 (FTV)
13. The Uncanny 3/5 (FTV)
14. Baghead 3.5/5 (FTV)
15. House On Haunted Hill (1959) 4.5/5
16. Wilczyca (aka She-Wolf) 3.5/5 (FTV)
17. Black Rainbow 3/5 (FTV)
18. Two Witches 3.5/5 (FTV)
19. The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies 2.5/5 (FTV)
20. La Llarona 3/5 (FTV)
21. All Hallows’ Eve 3/5 (FTV)
22. The Sadness 4/5 (FTV)
23. The Third Eye (il Terzo Occhio) 3/5 (FTV)
24. Kill List 4.5/5 (FTV)
25. Nope 3.5 (FTV)
26. The Greasy Strangler 3/5 (FTV)
“A young woman discovers the rental home she booked is already occupied by a stranger. Against her better judgment, she decides to spend the night but soon discovers there's a lot more to fear than just an unexpected house guest.”
okay. For this movie to be made, this woman had to do all this dumb shit stuff. If this was real life, and she did what she did at the get go — she was dumber than a box of rocks. Real slag rocks. The crapiest rock of all king mother rocks.
5. Storm of the Century
6. Demonoid*
9. The Funhouse
11. Incident On and Off a Mountain Road*
17. The Uncanny*
20. The Watcher*
30. Cabinet of Curiosities* — episode 3 & 4
31. Barbarian*
Pickman’s Model
Dreams in the Witch House
5. Storm of the Century
6. Demonoid*
9. The Funhouse
11. Incident On and Off a Mountain Road*
17. The Uncanny*
20. The Watcher*
30. Cabinet of Curiosities* — episodes 3 & 4
31. Barbarian*
5. Storm of the Century
6. Demonoid*
9. The Funhouse
11. Incident On and Off a Mountain Road*
17. The Uncanny*
20. The Watcher*
30. Cabinet of Curiosities* — episode 3 & 4
31. Barbarian*
Turn the clock back in this 2013 parody purporting to be a 1987 Halloween live local news broadcast investigating a haunted house.
For those of us who grew up in the VHS era, you’ll immediately be on board with the format and feel of this horror comedy—it’s as if you discovered an old unlabeled tape in a box at a flea market. The hairstyles, clothes and mannerisms are pretty much on point, and the commercials especially feel authentic to the 1980’s, with cheesy period synthesizers and jagged graphics.
There’s about 15 minutes of news stories and commercials, including a nod to Satanic panic, then we get into the meat of the story, which is a live paranormal investigation of a local murder house. It’s as if a local news crew had their own version of Geraldo Rivera looking for Al Capone’s locked vault. There is a paranormal investigator couple, obviously based on the Warrens, and a jittery priest who is an expert on exorcisms. Some of the best comedic moments come from the awkward reactions of the local citizens mugging in the background of the shots, and the prank callers who call in on the phone during a live broadcast of a séance, much to the chagrin of the psychics.
As someone who enjoys horror mockumentaries such as “What We Do in the Shadows” and “Wellington Paranormal”, I have to admit that WNUF Halloween Special is more charming than it is actually funny. Most of the commercials will make you smile knowingly, but aren’t really jokes so much as recreations. The news bits were pretty funny, but once the live investigation begins, the movie’s laughs become less frequent, and things feel spread pretty thin. I suspect this would have worked better if it had all been wrapped up in under an hour.
Regardless of its weaknesses as a “film”, horror fans who lived through the 80’s should at least enjoy having this on in the background during a Halloween party, it would be a great joke to play on unknowing guests.
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)
6. Lamb 3/5 (FTV)
7. Alligator 3.5/5 (FTV)
8. Barbarian 4/5 (FTV)
9. Orphan 3.5/5 (FTV)
10. Terrifier 2 4/5 (FTV)
11. I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) 2.5/5 (FTV)
12. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 3.5/5 (FTV)
13. The Uncanny 3/5 (FTV)
14. Baghead 3.5/5 (FTV)
15. House On Haunted Hill (1959) 4.5/5
16. Wilczyca (aka She-Wolf) 3.5/5 (FTV)
17. Black Rainbow 3/5 (FTV)
18. Two Witches 3.5/5 (FTV)
19. The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies 2.5/5 (FTV)
20. La Llarona 3/5 (FTV)
21. All Hallows’ Eve 3/5 (FTV)
22. The Sadness 4/5 (FTV)
23. The Third Eye (il Terzo Occhio) 3/5 (FTV)
24. Kill List 4.5/5 (FTV)
25. Nope 3.5 (FTV)
26. The Greasy Strangler 3/5 (FTV)
27. WNUF Halloween Special 3/5 (FTV)
The Viewing
The Murmuring
Back-to-back weakest of the bunch.
5. Storm of the Century
6. Demonoid*
9. The Funhouse
11. Incident On and Off a Mountain Road*
17. The Uncanny*
20. The Watcher*
30. Cabinet of Curiosities* — episode 3 & 4
31. Barbarian*
33. Servant - season 3
34. Cabinet of Curiosities — 7 & 8