The Haunting. 1963.

A professor of parapsychology wants to investigate the only haunted house in New England called Hill House, with three other people they decide to spend some time their and uncover whether it's haunted or not.

This has always intrigued me with the story and novel, the acting is brilliant, the Gothic style mansion interior and exteriors have been carefully set up and done well, the gloomy atmosphere has always been the best extra character for the film. Robert Wise knew how to make a house look and feel haunted. Rochard Johnson, Claire Bloom, Julie Harris and Russ Tamblyn seem to bring their characters to the right level where nothing gets boring.

Last year I tried to get Angie into Dario which was accomplished, She is a big fan of the remake, so decided to stick this on and i'm glad I was sat down cos she has actually enjoyed this, finally converted her to the original classic movie.

Attachment 237347

Halloween H20. 20 years on after the night of the infamous Halloween massacre in Haddonfield, Laurie Strode finds that not even faking her death, changing her name and moving halfway across the country will stop Michael Myers from tracking her down. Still thoroughly entertaining. :ghostclap:

I'm currently watching this, it's my nostalgic Halloween film being the first one I saw at the cinema.

The Midnight Hour. 1985.

In a small town, a group of teens thinking things are all a hoax accidentally awaken the town's witch and the dead.

This is a made for T.V. Movie aimed I think for pre-teens or young adults but it's one I found entertaining with some comedy moments mixed with a bit of drama and mild horror. We see zombies that really don't bite people and a vampire who can suck a house party dry and a few well known actors in it, A blind watch a few years back that's become a favourite.

Attachment 237348

Now away to watch Halloween

Same here. Such a thrill seeing a classic horror icon on the big screen.

Halloween. 1978.

A killer escapes a mental hospital and heads back to his home town of Haddonfield and continues his killing spree.

F@cking true cult classic basically from the start of the film to the present day it just jumps right in, no waiting no bull crap, and Doctor Loomis describing one person is amazing dialogue, just one great suspense horror film.


Attachment 237358

Halloween II. 1981.

Micheal Myers continues his hunt for Laurie this time in a hospital while Loomis tries to convince everyone he is still alive after a teenager wearing the same mask was killed.

More horror, more tense moments, and the start of Loomis loosing his sanity and grip on reality and bragging that Myers is not human after shooting him. Rick Rosenthal was given the directors chair and was able to push the pace a bit faster than the previous film and give us one good death kill with a hot tub, nice make-up effects for that and a sharper toner background score.

Attachment 237376

Halloween III: Season Of The Witch. 1982.

A doctor tries to uncover a plot by Silver Shamrock Halloween mask creator Conral Cochran.

How can a film when I was young be despised, yet as a adult this is fooking great, Dan O'Herlihy and Tom Atkins screen time together is just brilliant, great visual effects and make-up and a brilliant background score.

Attachment 237383

Halloween. 2018.

Laurie Strode confronts Michael Myers in another showdown on Halloween night and believes she is ready while her family think she is paranoid.

So we got Jamie Lee Curtis returning to a sequel to Halloween II, which seems to lack any tense or suspense moments. John Carpenter's original music for the background score nicely added in at some of the right places, the acting isn't really that bad, Will Patton takes over the sheriffs duties and another crazed doctor, sorry bud but you ain't Dr. Loomis and never will be. I know some people have mixed feelings about this but I enjoyed it.

Attachment 237385

FRANKIE'S HALLOWEEN HANGOVER AKA 'THE END'! #13

29/10/21

SLEEPAWAY CAMP 2: UNHAPPY CAMPERS – From a time when slasher movies were starting to give a sly nod and a wink… but who needs irony when you already have death by the worlds shittest toilet (and its horde of face-suckling leeches)? Angela returns, and her embrace of some kind of neo-fascist nicey-nicey ideology doesn’t prevent her from racking up a statuesque body count. Great fun.

THE GRAPES OF DEATH – Strangely, it’s not the only vineyard-adjacent zombie flick (see also… ‘The Vineyard’). The French countryside erupts into Brueghelian clamour, all done with typical windswept, dreamy style by Rollin; if that’s not good enough, the ‘heroes’ are basically two trade unionists who would rather moan on about politics than shoot-em-up. It’s not ‘Resident Evil’, that’s for sure.

THE HEADLESS EYES – Fuzzed out guitars vibe incessantly to cutlery-thrusting mania in this trash epic from the slime-pit of seventies NYC. Looks like it was filmed on celluloid toilet paper (I happen to think that’s a positive). If its verité-style longueurs don’t leave you feeling seasick, you may rejoice in its panorama of no-fi grindhouse squalor. The lead psycho-man is very expressive when he does his proto ‘Maniac’ turn. Oh yeah, it’s about a guy who gouges people’s eyes out with a spoon.

30/10/21

NIGHTMARES IN A DAMAGED BRAIN – Humour me, but through the veil of scuzz there’s a certain kind of ambition here, that slightly oblique, laconic feel you got with a lot of seventies arthouse, unexpected edits, fun with symbology, that sort of thing. Guess no-one took any of that shit seriously the moment they set eyes on slasher guy frothing at the mouth in that peepshow booth. Perhaps the most enigmatic of the nasties, which seems like a strange thing to say about a movie that blows its wad on spurt-laden S&M decapitation scenes.

DEATH BED – Always a pleasure to revisit, ‘Death Bed’ is full of a whimsical weirdness that sends my thoughts in the direction of something like ‘Edward Gorey goes Grindhouse’. Has all the expected awkwardness and heavy-handed lyricism of a student film, but still it manages to spellbind with its tale of a bed that eats anyone who sleeps in it, even going as far as to provide a sort of mythological back-story for all its strange goings-on. Charming and morbid, a unique film.

GIRLS SCHOOL SCREAMERS – Troma-handled eighties tedium that redeems itself through some nice atmosphere and crudely inserted moments of gore (the latter look silly but liven things up). If you like big houses full of heirlooms, this could be your thing if you’re not already dosed up on ‘The Antiques Roadshow’.

IN THE EARTH – Some good stuff from Wheatley here, but not on the same level as ‘Kill List’ or ‘A Field In England’. Scientist and park ranger head off into a UK forest to uncover the mystery of someone’s disappearance. It all gets a bit hazy. I liked it, but my patience started to wear a bit thin when the missing researcher turned up as a sort-of outdoors Sylvanian DJ.

31/10/21

DEATH SCREAMS – As much as I love it that Arrow still puts out these obscurities, it’s always a shame to hear the sound of scraping coming up from the bottom of the barrel. I’m well versed in the art of appreciating boring films that no-one else can be arsed with, but even I had to squint to make out the good in this one. There’s a long bit in an amusement park, then some slasher action at the end. Only the sense of a slight bad-film disconnect / ‘offness’ kept me interested.

LITTLE NECRO RED – From Necrostorm, the studio behind ‘Adam Chaplin’ and ‘Taeter City’. Anyone familiar with their stuff will know that it basically involves an avalanche of technically well-done prosthetic gore. If you want specifics here, I’ll be honest and admit that my Halloween bottle of cheap Lidl Bacardi was well into its early morning phase, so my recall is less than perfect, but it all has something to do with a missing girl, her diary, and a witch in a cave with lots of boils. Oh yeah, and people getting their heads, limbs and innards ripped away in various permutations. Don’t forget all that.

I think I've done about fifty films in total this October, not bad considering my monthly average is less than ten these days. It's been fun, but I definitely need to lie down for bit. Thank god for clocks back...