October Horror Movie Marathon

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Loreley's Grasp (1974)

Amando De Ossorio's brilliantly atmospheric film from 1974 takes this legend and ups the ante in horror terms. The Loreley in question, played by the stunning Helga Line, needs human hearts for a perverse ritual. Fearing for its students a nearby school for young women (ie -beautiful girls only too happy to wear transparent negligees and bear their breasts at the drop of a hat) hires a hunter, charmingly played by Tony Kendall to track down the Loreley and put an end to the murders.

The film features graphic moments of flesh ripping horror amidst its otherwise beautiful Gothic trappings, De Ossorio bringing a fairytale like romantic feel to the production, lovingly created by his wonderful cinematography. Tony Kendall makes a fine heroic romantic lead and Helga Line is superb in what i think is her best performance as the seductive and deadly Loreley.

[Nordicdusk]

Film No.11

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Claire Ward wife of chemical engineer Charles Dexter Ward shows up at the office of private investigator John March hoping to get to the bottom of her husband's strange work and behaviour. Charles works long into the night in his lab from which there are some very strong stomach churning smells. After endless arguing Charles decide to leave and head to an old cabin in the country owned by his family. Charles's peace and quiet is short lived when the locals start reporting the strange smells from the cabin and constant late night deliveries arriving every night to local law enforcement. When police raid the house they find boxes of human remains which Charles convinces them the stuff was delivered to him by mistake. Can John March discover the truth and does he even want to ?

This was a struggle to get through it's just all a bit too boring and none of the characters are likeable i would've expected at least the wife to have some emotions about the whole situation with her husband but like everyone else she was just going through the motions plus the fact its acted like a softcore porn thriller does not help matters. On more than one occasion i laughed loudly with some of the camera work zooming in on peoples faces in an attempt to create some sort of drama but failing miserably.Then when something finally happens most of the scene is in pure darkness with flashlights failing and matches blowing out in the draft only catching glimpses of the gore effects and creatures which was one of the worst stop motion animations i have ever seen. Clocking in at an hour and forty Five this is way too long the final scene is more of what i expected to happen throughout the film but it was too little too late to save this one.

Boring badly acted and waaaay too long.

3/10

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Warlock (1989)



Despite being what I'd label a 'horror fan' (based on what society deems that to be), not only had I never seen Warlock, but my brain seems to take an almost nonchalant, detached attitude to the films of Steve Miner, many of which a great deal of other 'horror fans' consider to be some of the crème de la crème that the genre has to offer.

Not being the biggest fan of the Friday the 13th franchise as a whole, whilst I consider the original to be serviceable if a little bland, the second instalment enters the realms of ‘abysmal’ for me, and the third, whilst slightly better than the second, is extremely weak and hampered by the visual 3D gimmick of throwing stuff at the screen every now and again for your minor titillation (but only aids to distract and annoy). House is also one that people seem to rave about, but despite some interesting effects work I found it to be a bit of a bore-fest sadly, as it certainly had promise. Halloween H20 is another which I know is rated very highly – possibly because the instalment that came before it was so terrible that people were expecting something even worse… but for me it was a dry and tired attempt to inject more life into an already deceased franchise by exhibiting not-so-subtle nods to its 1978 pre-cursor, which just came across as tacky… at least to me. Lake Placid just wastes a good cast, and whilst it tries to push the fun factor it just feels rather forced and underwhelming.

I feel in danger of having to return my ‘horror fan’ membership card, so without further ado, this brings me to Warlock.

This is clearly some good cheesy fun and whilst it may not have aged well in some areas – notably some of the effects work – its main strength is definitely in its cast. Julian Sands puts in a powerhouse performance as our evil 17th Century Warlock, with Richard E. Grant also putting in a solid performance as the witch-hunter on his tail – both of whom rise above and beyond some of the material they’re presented with here, but who are clearly relishing in the campy fun of it all too.

Also, and I understand that this very well may brand me as a ‘Miner-hater’ by some, but I think both Brian Yuzna’s and Roger Corman’s involvement on the production side may be a strong indicator as to why I was much more partial to this one over some of the aforementioned Miner films. That, and I have a thing for anything involving witches and/or warlocks.

This one is far from perfect but is now my favourite Steve Miner film by far.

58/100

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by bizarre_eye@Cult Labs

Warlock (1989)


58/100

Are you serious? Warlock is fantastic.

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Are you serious? Warlock is fantastic.

For a Steve Miner film that IS a fantastic score!!

[MacBlayne]

I adore Warlock. And I think Miner's Friday13 films were much better than the first film. Cunningham, a nice enough bloke judging by interviews, is a lousy director. Miner actually does good work with the camera (i.e. there is stuff going on in the background of a shot that will become the focus of the next shot), and is better at building suspense.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Halloween: Resurrection (2002)

Three years after the events at Hillcrest Academy, Laurie Strode is now incarcerated in a psychiatric facility after it turned out she beheaded a paramedic and not wayward brother turned mass murderer Michael Myers. Now Laurie waits...waits for Michael to return for one final showdown.

Halloween II (1981) director Rick Rosenthal returns to the franchise for this rather tasty 16 minute short film which finally brings the protracted journey of Laurie Strode to an end and gives actress Jamie Lee Curtis a fitting finale as she comes to an end at the hands of brother Michael. As it's only a short film the story moves along at a pace. Myers murders two guards in bloody style and also frames a Gacy loving inmate for Strode's death.

As a short film Halloween Resurrection works well and brings the franchise to a fitting end. I'm just unsure why the producers stuck an hour of random outtakes from another movie on at the end.

[MacBlayne]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Halloween: Resurrection (2002)

As a short film Halloween Resurrection works well and brings the franchise to a fitting end. I'm just unsure why the producers stuck an hour of random outtakes from another movie on at the end.

[MacBlayne]

Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation

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Sadly, this is not a bizarre episode of Star Trek where the Sawyer family are accidentally beamed aboard the Enterprise, and Picard and Riker try to fight them off. I saw this on Sky when I was in my early teens and I absolutely despised it. I saw it last night and I didn’t hate it as much this time.

For starters, the film actually caught a lucky break by casting an unknown Matthew McConaughey and Renee Zellweger. I’m not the biggest fan of Zellweger, but she does prove herself to be quite the talented actor here. McConaughey is pure gold though. He dominates every scene he’s in, and is a far more menacing figure than Leatherface. The rest of the cast are okay-ish. Most wouldn’t challenge a Golden Globe nominee but they’re inoffensive enough.

Sadly, that’s about as decent as it gets. TCM4 suffers from a lot of issues. First of all, it is extremely cheap looking. The sets look naff, smoke is used to obscure everything in the background, and the make-up has a very rubbery look to it. I know the film was shot on a very low-budget, but so was the original. Director Kim Henkle (co-writer of the first film) definitely does not have the same talent as Tobe Hooper.

Most irritating of all, TCM4 is a comedy. And I don’t mean a comedy like TCM2, where Hooper pushed everything to absurd levels, or like Scream where it had fun with the genre tropes. I mean, TCM4 operates like a 90s sitcom. While some jokes are mildly funny, many are as shite as Friends' attempts at humour, and others are more cringe-inducing in post Donald Trump / Devin Faraci days.

The story had me slightly intrigued for a while. It’s the same set-up – morons break down near the Sawyer clan – but what was interesting was the group dynamic. Everybody seemed to hate each other. This could have provided some ruthless humour in which the group sells each other down the river in order to survive, but it’s sadly abandoned in favour of just going through the motions. That is, until the last 15 minutes or so, when the film throws in a few WTF moments that are as nonsensical as they are irritating.

So, yeah, I really don’t like this one. It’s better than Texas Chainsaw 3D but only because I didn’t struggle to stay awake whilst watching. But, seriously, you should skip this one. Just stick with the first two films.

PS – Speaking of sitcoms, is it just me or did Tonie Perensky look remarkably like Peri Gilpin? It kept distracting me so much that I half expected Niles and Frasier to come in and try to heal the Sawyer family.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Are you serious? Warlock is fantastic.

I've never seen it.