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“Edward "Teddy" Bare (Dirk Bogarde) is a ruthless schemer who thinks he's hit the big time when he kills his older wife (Mona Washbourne), believing he will inherit a fortune. When things don't go according to plan, Teddy sets his sights on a new victim: wealthy widow Freda Jeffries (Margaret Lockwood). Unfortunately for the unscrupulous criminal, Freda is much more guarded and sassy than his last wife, making separating her from her money considerably more challenging.“
This was pretty good. I’m enjoying the old stuff much more than the new.
1. El Conde*
3. No One Will Save You*
5. Bone Tomahawk*
8. Reptile*
9. Maximum Overdrive*
10. Duel*
11. Westworld
12. Hell Night*
15. Psychoville*
“Strange things begin to occurs as a tiny California coastal town prepares to commemorate its centenary. Inanimate objects spring eerily to life; Rev. Malone (Hal Holbrook) stumbles upon a dark secret about the town's founding; radio announcer Stevie (Adrienne Barbeau) witnesses a mystical fire; and hitchhiker Elizabeth (Jamie Lee Curtis) discovers the mutilated corpse of a fisherman. Then a mysterious iridescent fog descends upon the village, and more people start to die.“
Sentimental about this fog.
1. El Conde*
3. No One Will Save You*
5. Bone Tomahawk*
8. Reptile*
9. Maximum Overdrive*
10. Duel*
11. Westworld
12. Hell Night*
15. Psychoville*
“Filmmakers Martin Scorsese, David Fincher, Wes Anderson and others discuss the legacy of Alfred Hitchcock and the book "Hitchcock" by François Truffaut.”
Great documentary on both men's work. More so Hitchcock.
1. El Conde*
3. No One Will Save You*
5. Bone Tomahawk*
8. Reptile*
9. Maximum Overdrive*
10. Duel*
11. Westworld
12. Hell Night*
15. Psychoville*
One at a time, a group of friends start getting voicemails from their future selves that predict their impending deaths.
Somehow I’d made it halfway through the month without watching any Japanese horror (or J-horror, as the kids call it) so who better than Takashi Miike (Audition, Dead or Alive) to break the streak? One Missed Call was released in 2003 when cell phones were used for phone calls, texting, and not much else, and came on the heels of other successful J-horror such as The Ring. The movie feels like two movies, the first more of a standard thriller with horror elements, where we are wondering who’s gonna get it next, and how. The second half becomes more of a mystery ghost story, and the scares get more chilling and visceral.
That’s probably the main weakness of the movie, the two parts and story lines don’t really cohere, and by the end it’s not entirely clear why cell phones had to figure into this film at all. The middle section of the film is very still and quiet, and while I’m all for atmosphere and slow burns, the more rote police procedural elements left me itching for things to move along a bit faster. Still, the final 40 minutes are very effective in both the scares and story department, and without giving away too much, I won’t soon be forgetting the eyes of one ghost in particular. There were two sequels (not directed by Miike) and I’m interested to see where they take this story next.
By the way, don’t confuse this with the American 2007 version, which I haven’t seen but is apparently universally reviled (0% on Rotten Tomatoes)!
3 out of 5 stars.
Bob's October 2023 Horror Movie List
*FTV denotes first-time viewings
1. Ghostwatch 4/5 (FTV)
2. Wendel & Wild 4/5 (FTV)
3. Dolls 3/5 (FTV)
4. Society 3/5 (FTV)
5. Tombs of the Blind Dead 3/5 (FTV)
6. The Brainiac 3/5 (FTV)
7. The Visitor 3/5 (FTV)
8. Talk To Me 4/5 (FTV)
9. Young Frankenstein 5/5
10. The Exorcist II: The Heretic 3/5 (FTV)
11. Creepshow 3 1/5 (FTV)
12. Skinamarink 4/5 (FTV)
13. The Tunnel (2011) 2/5 (FTV)
14. Friday the 13th part VI: Jason Lives 4/5
15. Dracula (1979) 3/5 (FTV)
16. Nekromantik 3/5 (FTV)
17. One Missed Call (2009) 3/5 (FTV)
“Father-daughter archaeologists Miles (Denis O'Hare) and Nora Holden (Ashley Hinshaw) discover a unique pyramid that has been buried beneath the Egyptian desert for 5,000 years. Accompanied by a newswoman (Christa-Marie Nicola) and her team, the archaeologists enter the tomb and promptly become trapped. Hopelessly lost within the pyramid's labyrinthine structure, the group faces deadly perils that threaten their escape, including collapsing floors and bloodthirsty predators.“
I watch a lot of Egyptian tomb documentaries and here was the thing that hung me up. Everybody had enough air and nobody was sweating.
every doc, every one, they can be in an open shaft and look up and see the sky but they are limited to the time they spend there because air isn’t getting in well. And their faces are always dripping sweat.
1. El Conde*
3. No One Will Save You*
5. Bone Tomahawk*
8. Reptile*
9. Maximum Overdrive*
10. Duel*
11. Westworld
12. Hell Night*
15. Psychoville*
23. The Pyramid*
Pre-teen gymnast harried by her social media perfectionist mother finds an egg in the woods, and soon hatches (and bonds with) a monster.
This seemed like a non-A24 movie trying hard to be an A24 movie (alas, they had to settle for IFC). While there are some impressive practical effects (the monster looks like a creepy combination of Gollum and the Muppets’ Gonzo) everything is just too telegraphed and heavy-handed to make this movie really succeed. They might as well have hung a sign around the mother’s neck that said “BAD MOM” and put a label on the egg that said “SYMBOL OF GIRL’S INNER PSYCHE”.
The actors don’t seem up to the task, making cartoonish expressions when less would have done more. There’s an inconsistency to the young main character’s acting style and she is visibly older in certain scenes even though the events of the film are supposed to have occurred over a few weeks. I don’t think this director had much faith in the audience, so all emotions are spelled out for us in a more or less Kabuki style. Things get a bit unintentionally silly towards the end.
While the film looks great and moves along entertainingly enough, it’s insubstantial, simplistic, and entirely predictable. If they had put as much effort into the characters and story as they did the aesthetics and thematic elements, they might have had something special. But instead of giving us a whole feast, they played it safe and gave us a candy bar. But, if that’s all you’re in the mood for, you could do worse.
3 out of 5 stars.
Bob's October 2023 Horror Movie List
*FTV denotes first-time viewings
1. Ghostwatch 4/5 (FTV)
2. Wendel & Wild 4/5 (FTV)
3. Dolls 3/5 (FTV)
4. Society 3/5 (FTV)
5. Tombs of the Blind Dead 3/5 (FTV)
6. The Brainiac 3/5 (FTV)
7. The Visitor 3/5 (FTV)
8. Talk To Me 4/5 (FTV)
9. Young Frankenstein 5/5
10. The Exorcist II: The Heretic 3/5 (FTV)
11. Creepshow 3 1/5 (FTV)
12. Skinamarink 4/5 (FTV)
13. The Tunnel (2011) 2/5 (FTV)
14. Friday the 13th part VI: Jason Lives 4/5
15. Dracula (1979) 3/5 (FTV)
16. Nekromantik 3/5 (FTV)
17. One Missed Call (2009) 3/5 (FTV)
18. Hatching 3/5 (FTV)
Single-parent family accidentally resurrects the Deadites under their apartment in this fifth film of the Evil Dead franchise.
I’m a big fan of the original three Evil Dead movies, I haven’t had a chance to watch the television series but have heard good things about it, and I can’t really remember much about the 2013 reboot movie, but I didn’t hate it. I’d heard some good things about this movie but no one seemed to think it was a masterpiece either.
And after watching it, that’s kinda where I stand. I think actually in some ways this is better than expected for horror movies made these days. The gore is audacious, and they really do seem to be going for the jugular horror-wise, if not always hitting their mark. There is a sort of emptiness to the whole proceeding, and I miss the humor that was present in Evil Dead 2 and 3. This one seems to be going for the vibe of the first “serious” one.
There’s a wraparound story that doesn’t really belong, which leads me to believe they didn’t have confidence that the audience would put up with the more claustrophobic main story which is entirely set in an apartment building. The way the characters are introduced (or not introduced) can get a little overwhelming because there isn’t enough to differentiate the multiple female characters—I was often thinking “who is this person?” The sheer emptiness of this multi-level apartment strains credulity, especially when one of the residents towards the end doesn’t seem to have realized what was going on all night in the building.
Watch this one with some horror buddies and enjoy the gore, but don’t expect anything life-changing.
3 out of 5 stars.
Bob's October 2023 Horror Movie List
*FTV denotes first-time viewings
1. Ghostwatch 4/5 (FTV)
2. Wendel & Wild 4/5 (FTV)
3. Dolls 3/5 (FTV)
4. Society 3/5 (FTV)
5. Tombs of the Blind Dead 3/5 (FTV)
6. The Brainiac 3/5 (FTV)
7. The Visitor 3/5 (FTV)
8. Talk To Me 4/5 (FTV)
9. Young Frankenstein 5/5
10. The Exorcist II: The Heretic 3/5 (FTV)
11. Creepshow 3 1/5 (FTV)
12. Skinamarink 4/5 (FTV)
13. The Tunnel (2011) 2/5 (FTV)
14. Friday the 13th part VI: Jason Lives 4/5
15. Dracula (1979) 3/5 (FTV)
16. Nekromantik 3/5 (FTV)
17. One Missed Call (2009) 3/5 (FTV)
18. Hatching 3/5 (FTV)
19. Evil Dead Rise 3/5 (FTV)
"A homicide detective brings his partner out of
retirement to help catch a serial killer whose crimes are based on the children's game Hangman."
A decent cast (Al Pacino, Karl Urban, Brittany Snow) but the plot was pretty weak and not very believable.
1) The Rig* (2023 - Prime)
10) Hangman* (2017 - Prime)
Monster from outer space gets beamed through television into the home of unsuspecting suburbanites.
How does one go about reviewing a movie like TerrorVision? It’s over-the-top campy and not intended to be taken seriously, so critics who simply write it off as “stupid” or “bad” are missing the point. Of course the characters are obnoxious and seem to be human cartoons, reality is decidedly not what they are going for in Terrorvision. So what were they going for?
For one, style. If you remember the 80’s and pine for the pastel colors of the Miami Vice era, look no further. Think Pee-Wee’s Playhouse combined with the fun of early Tim Burton. Another thing TerrorVision does right is practical effects. The main monster has a great (and drippy) physical presence that just isn’t seen anymore these days, and the attacks are spectacles in themselves. No one is safe.
Also, despite the characters being total caricatures, there’s a comforting familiarity with these old 80’s tropes: the Madonna/Cyndi Lauper fashion of the teen sister, her surfer-dude metal punk boyfriend named “O.D.”, the clueless inventor dad and the “hot” mom in her workout tights who fancy themselves “swingers”, the paranoid grampa living in his bunker, and the machine-gun toting kid raised on Rambo reruns. These people make Al and Peg Bundy’s family look like the Waltons.
Is it funny? To me it was hilarious, but the campiness might be wearisome to others. But the movie is only 75 minutes long if you subtract the opening and closing credits time, so maybe the real question you should be asking is: would you watch TerrorVision two and a half times, or Oppenheimer once?
3 out of 5 stars.
Bob's October 2023 Horror Movie List
*FTV denotes first-time viewings
1. Ghostwatch 4/5 (FTV)
2. Wendel & Wild 4/5 (FTV)
3. Dolls 3/5 (FTV)
4. Society 3/5 (FTV)
5. Tombs of the Blind Dead 3/5 (FTV)
6. The Brainiac 3/5 (FTV)
7. The Visitor 3/5 (FTV)
8. Talk To Me 4/5 (FTV)
9. Young Frankenstein 5/5
10. The Exorcist II: The Heretic 3/5 (FTV)
11. Creepshow 3 1/5 (FTV)
12. Skinamarink 4/5 (FTV)
13. The Tunnel (2011) 2/5 (FTV)
14. Friday the 13th part VI: Jason Lives 4/5
15. Dracula (1979) 3/5 (FTV)
16. Nekromantik 3/5 (FTV)
17. One Missed Call (2009) 3/5 (FTV)
18. Hatching 3/5 (FTV)
19. Evil Dead Rise 3/5 (FTV)
20. TerrorVision 3/5 (FTV)
"One year after Mike Lawford's (Nicolas Cage) young son (Jack Fulton) disappeared during a Halloween carnival, he is haunted by ghostly images and terrifying messages he can't explain. Together with his estranged wife, (Sarah Wayne Callies) he will stop at nothing to unravel the mystery and find their son-and, in doing so, he unearths the legend of the crying woman who refuses to remain buried in the past."
I thought it was okay, not too scary.. for me, so probably pretty bland for everyone else. 😃
1) The Rig* (2023 - Prime)
11) Pay the Ghost* (2015 - Prime)
"Amanda (Sandra Oh) and her daughter (Fivel Stewart) live a quiet life on an American farm, but when the remains of her estranged mother arrive from Korea, Amanda becomes haunted by the fear of turning into her own mother."
I love Sandra Oh, I'm never disappointed with anything she does. I enjoyed this one.
1) The Rig* (2023 - Prime)
12) Umma* (2022 - Prime)
2.-Haunted Mansion (Disney +)
3.-The Conference (Netflix)
4.-Annihaltion (Paramount+)
5.-The Monster Squad (Paramount +)
....fun & dumb...kinda like me on a good day....1987 pastiche....winner for me because of the one kid wearing his "Stephen King Rules" shirt and for the line "The Wolfman has nards!!!.....
Kurbens Horror movie list!
1. Beneath Us All (2023) 2,5/5 FTV
2. The Flood (2023) 3,5/5 FTV
3. Island Escape (2023) 2/5 FTV
4. Vampires vs The Bronx (2020) 4/5 FTV
5. V For Vengeance (2022) 4/5 FTV
6. Love and monsters (2020) 2,5/5 FTV
7. Night Teeth (2021) 3,5/5 FTV
8. The Nun (2022) 3,5/5 FTV
9. Night Flier (1997) 3,5/5 FTV
10. Pet semetary: Bloodlines 1,5/5 FTV
11. Scream of the Wolf (2023) 2/5 FTV
12 The Boogeyman /2023) 4/5 FTV
13. Konferensen (2023) 2/5 FTV
14. Ghost Ship aka Triangle 3,5/5 2009 FTV
15, The Fall Of The House Of Usher ep. 1-4 4,5/5 T
16. The Fall Of The House Of Usher ep 5-8 2023 Netflix
17. Rosasanta aka Werewolf Hunt 3,5/5 2004 FTV
18. Låt Den Rätte Komma In aka Let The Right One In 5/5 2008
19. The Fearless Vampire Killers 4/5 1967
20. The Midnight Meat Train 4/5 2008 FTV
21. Halloween 5/5 1978 This is a rewatch, obviously. In my humble opinion the best slasher horror movie made. A young Jamie Lee Curtis stars together with Donald Pleasance. Very effectively directed and scored by the master John Carpenter who also gave us The Thing and Assault on Precinct 13 among others. The series as a whole went downhill from here but it started on a very high summit so it managed to get in a few good ones more.
“Testing his theory that in every man dwells a good and an evil force, the reserved Dr. Jekyll (Fredric March) develops a formula that separates the two, turning him into a violent ruffian named Mr. Hyde. Thinking he has found the answer to one of life's grandest mysteries, Dr. Jekyll soon realizes he is becoming addicted to his darker self as he unleashes his violent side on earthy dance hall girl Ivy (Miriam Hopkins) and fights Hyde to regain control of his body.“
Okay, this is great. I just loved it. Wild performance from Mr. Hyde who seriously resembles Eddy Munster in those awkward young man years, he was over-the-top in the most entertaining way.
1. El Conde*
3. No One Will Save You*
5. Bone Tomahawk*
8. Reptile*
9. Maximum Overdrive*
10. Duel*
11. Westworld
12. Hell Night*
15. Psychoville*
23. The Pyramid*
2005 film of the H.P. Lovecraft tale done in silent black and white 1920’s style.
Many filmmakers have tried to put the tales of H.P. Lovecraft to film, with varying degrees of success. Even in the best interpretations, the main criticism tends to be that they just didn’t quite capture the feel of the written work. The Call of Cthulhu probably comes the closest to any of the films to looking like something that H.P. Lovecraft himself would have approved of.
Clocking in at a mere 47 minutes and lacking a large budget, it was a wise decision to set this in the time (and technological limitations) that the story was written. A little goes a long way (arguably the same could be said about Lovecraft’s flowery writing style). The actors and makeup style have the look of a genuine 1920’s film, even fake scratches, overexposures, and dust artifacts were added for a more period-filmic look.
The monster itself is also a highlight, done in period-accurate herky-jerky stop motion animation. In a shorter work they are able to get away with things that wouldn’t have worked in a full-length movie. There’s a Cabinet of Dr. Caligari look to the angular sets, lots of maps and news clippings, and perhaps a few too many Dutch angles and title cards, but I was enthralled.
A must-see for fans of Lovecraft, a worthwhile curiosity to casual horror fans.
4 out of 5 stars.
Bob's October 2023 Horror Movie List
*FTV denotes first-time viewings
1. Ghostwatch 4/5 (FTV)
2. Wendel & Wild 4/5 (FTV)
3. Dolls 3/5 (FTV)
4. Society 3/5 (FTV)
5. Tombs of the Blind Dead 3/5 (FTV)
6. The Brainiac 3/5 (FTV)
7. The Visitor 3/5 (FTV)
8. Talk To Me 4/5 (FTV)
9. Young Frankenstein 5/5
10. The Exorcist II: The Heretic 3/5 (FTV)
11. Creepshow 3 1/5 (FTV)
12. Skinamarink 4/5 (FTV)
13. The Tunnel (2011) 2/5 (FTV)
14. Friday the 13th part VI: Jason Lives 4/5
15. Dracula (1979) 3/5 (FTV)
16. Nekromantik 3/5 (FTV)
17. One Missed Call (2009) 3/5 (FTV)
18. Hatching 3/5 (FTV)
19. Evil Dead Rise 3/5 (FTV)
20. TerrorVision 3/5 (FTV)
21. The Call of Cthulhu 4/5 (FTV)
1. El Conde*
3. No One Will Save You*
5. Bone Tomahawk*
8. Reptile*
9. Maximum Overdrive*
10. Duel*
11. Westworld
12. Hell Night*
15. Psychoville*
23. The Pyramid*
25. Unfriended*
“Anthology film Immortal explores the consequences of immortality, be it known or unknown, and how it effects it's characters humanity. “
I liked this. A group of 4 stories I thought were interesting with twists. Reviews I read weren’t that kind.
1. El Conde*
3. No One Will Save You*
5. Bone Tomahawk*
8. Reptile*
9. Maximum Overdrive*
10. Duel*
11. Westworld
12. Hell Night*
15. Psychoville*
23. The Pyramid*
25. Unfriended*
see flakes entry above. All I’ll add is, this is a
1. El Conde*
3. No One Will Save You*
5. Bone Tomahawk*
8. Reptile*
9. Maximum Overdrive*
10. Duel*
11. Westworld
12. Hell Night*
15. Psychoville*
23. The Pyramid*
25. Unfriended*
“On a stormy night in Wales, five people, Philip and Margaret Waverton, their friend Penderel, Sir William Porterhouse and his lady friend, chorus girl Gladys Perkins, whose stage name is DuCane, seek refuge in a gloomy house off the road.”
i’m really not sure I should count this because I was switched off in my own thoughts most of the time. I was so bored. Great cast.
1. El Conde*
3. No One Will Save You*
5. Bone Tomahawk*
8. Reptile*
9. Maximum Overdrive*
10. Duel*
11. Westworld
12. Hell Night*
15. Psychoville*
23. The Pyramid*
25. Unfriended*
1.-Death Note (Netflix)
2.-Haunted Mansion (Disney +)
3.-The Conference (Netflix)
4.-Annihaltion (Paramount+)
5.-This is Halloween (Discovery +)
....some interesting tidbits on the "holiday" and commentary from many of my favorite paranormal folken....it even taught me how to pronounce "Samhain", which I had been completely and utterly butchering in my head whenever I came across it....