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  #61  
Old 22nd October 2014, 03:01 PM
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The last part of that post sounds like heaven great stuff Jinx.
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  #62  
Old 22nd October 2014, 05:45 PM
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I do this at another forum, this'll be the third year now. I genuinely look forward to it all year round, picking out what to save for it. This is the schedule for this year:


The People Under The Stairs | Bloody Homecoming | Don’t Go To The Reunion | The Night Of The Hunter | House On Straw Hill | Savage Water | Death By Invitation | The Initiation Of Sarah | Are You In The House Alone? | Night Train To Terror | Nosferatu | Curse Of Chucky | What’s The Matter With Helen? | The Vagrant | The Godsend | The Outing | The Fury | Spirits Of The Dead | Dolls | Varsity Blood | Rites Of Spring | Night Of The Comet | Night Of The Creeps | Dead Of Night | Body Bags | Das Cabinet Des Dr. Caligari | Prince Of Darkness | Nightmare | Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker | Creepshow | Halloween | Halloween II | Halloween H20 | Trick Or Treat

Although I've never quite stuck to my schedules yet. There's always something that drops through the door I want to watch asap, and I always put something fun on like Hocus Pocus early on, on a Halloween night. Thinking about The Monster Squad this year.
Try something out of the norm for a change like Dominion: Prequel To The Exorcist, The Haunting, The Skull or Nightmare Castle - Carnival Of Souls even
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  #63  
Old 23rd October 2014, 11:56 AM
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Try something out of the norm for a change like Dominion: Prequel To The Exorcist, The Haunting, The Skull or Nightmare Castle - Carnival Of Souls even
Out of the norm ? I consider those I've listed quite eclectic to be honest. Perhaps a slight overlean towards the slasher genre, and perhaps one too many a Halloween film, but those are my predilections, and it is Halloween after all. But there's a mix of silents, black and white, mainstream, niche, TV movies, big budget to low budget, and even one micro-budget film funded via crowdfunding. It's not often I see the jump from Craven to Malle or Fellini to Carpenter.

I do plan to depart slightly from my schedule though. I feel like I could devour something Bava related very soon.
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  #64  
Old 23rd October 2014, 08:48 PM
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Ok, so I'm back on track but I have to play some catch-up so tonight I'm going to try and sneak two films in.

18. The Antichrist (L'Anticristo)

Part two of possession-sploitation

The film begins at some sort of religious festival where we can decipher that it is where people ask for healing. This is where we meet Ippolita, a wheelchair bound young woman who is there to ask a "special healing" statue of the Virgin Mary for the power to walk again on her own. As she approaches she collapses onto the floor. A local crazy begins spewing insanities which leads to him throwing himself from a cliff near the church. This launches a whirlwind of doubt, repression and jealously from Ippolita and eventually possession.

Although it is often and rightfully dismissed as "just another ripoff of The Exorcist" this film has much to offer. The entire film is actually quite competently directed by Alberto De Martino save for a few trivial scenes. Joe D'Amato's camerawork is engaging and energetic. Morricone and Bruno Nicolai's effective score hits all of the right notes. (Pun intended)

Now, don't get it wrong. This film is sleazy and is very aware of it. If you like your possession films with a side of incestuous lust, spirit fornication, and perhaps a goat rimjob then this is your film. The sequences of possession are obviously the highlights of the film with some of the filler in between falling a little flat. With a great cast of genre legends consisting of Mel Ferrer, Arthur Kennedy, and Alida Valli the film attains a certain quality that would not be realizable with lesser actors. Let us not forget the bewitching performance by Carla Gravina. Certainly not an easy role to take for an actress, she really commits herself to role and goes as far as necessary. Overall, this is most likely the best of The Exorcist clones in a sea of them. Well worth a look.

Has anyone seen De Martino's The Killer Is On The Phone?
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  #65  
Old 24th October 2014, 05:46 PM
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My viewing so far has been.

1st - Hallowed Ground
2nd - Happy Hell Night
3rd - Corridors of Blood
4th - Madison County
5th - Prophecy
6th - Samhain / Isle of the Dead
7th - Devils of Darkness
8th - Witchcraft
9th - Halloween Resurrection / Frankenstein meets the Wolfman
10th - The Seventh Sign
11th - The Haunting of Bates Motel / The Fog
12th - Black Swan
13th - Idle Hands / The Old Dark House (with Newman / Jones chat track)
14th - Halloween H20 / She-Wolf of London
15th - Halloween Night / The Devil Rides Out
16th - Intruder / I Walked with a Zombie (with Newman / Jones chat track)
17th - Warlock
18th - Humans vs Zombies
19th - Storage
20th - Halloween: The Return of Michael Myers / Theatre of Blood
21st - Halloween: The Revenge of Michael Myers / Halloween 6 The Curse of Michael Myers / The Signalman
22nd - The Pumpkin Karver / The Mummy (59)
23rd - Night of the Demons: Demon House / The Curse of Frankenstein / The Ash Tree
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  #66  
Old 25th October 2014, 12:47 AM
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I didn't have time to watch two films last night unfortunately.

19. Trick 'r Treat

I will never understand the way this film was treated by the studio. Not that this would be the first time they've made a bone headed decision but this one really screams Hollywood politics. It is a fun, energetic affair that might just be the film to best capture the essence of the Halloween spirit. From the lighting to the dialogue, nearly everything about this film is perfect. It's nice to see that it has become an instant cult classic with a sequel on the way.
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  #67  
Old 25th October 2014, 10:19 AM
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I didn't have time to watch two films last night unfortunately.

19. Trick 'r Treat

I will never understand the way this film was treated by the studio. Not that this would be the first time they've made a bone headed decision but this one really screams Hollywood politics. It is a fun, energetic affair that might just be the film to best capture the essence of the Halloween spirit. From the lighting to the dialogue, nearly everything about this film is perfect. It's nice to see that it has become an instant cult classic with a sequel on the way.
I'm surprised it took them so long to make a sequel to be honest.

I loved the film from the first time I watched it and it holds up just as well on repeat viewings too. Definitely a Halloween favourite.
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  #68  
Old 25th October 2014, 01:26 PM
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[17] Spirits Of The Dead
There’s often a lot of love for Fellini’s segment in this anthology, but very little for the segments from Louis Malle and Roger Vadim. I love all three. It’s fascinating how all of them resonate with each other, the haunting of central characters, the disparate states of the environment the characters inhabit. From the hedonistic and overwhelming (orgies, awards ceremonies) to desolate and solitary, each story seems to run the gamut.



[18] Dolls
There’s more to Dolls than is often given credit. Structurally laid out like a story for a child, it seems for much of the opening of the movie to actually be aimed at children. But there’s a bite, delivered with a flurry of practical and stop motion effects that is far more effective than anything CGI could deliver. Like many a Stuart Gordon film, it’s lean and doesn’t outstay its welcome. It’s hard not to enjoy this film.



[19] Rites Of Spring
Rites Of Spring adopts a similar concept to Ben Wheatley’s Kill List, splicing a crime film with a rural horror film. But sadly unlike Kill List you’re not blindsided by the rural horror elements. Written and directed by Padraig Reynolds, Reynolds seems more adept at directing, able to build tension and effectively execute the odd jump scare, but the writing, particularly the dialogue is very poor. It may not have an original bone in its body, but it’s an enjoyable little film that perhaps could have been something special with a bit more work on the script.



[20] Varsity Blood
I was really looking forward to Varsity Blood after watching Bloody Homecoming. Bloody Homecoming in terms of script was a love letter to 80s slasher cinema, but executed in a mediocre way. This time Jake Helgren (writer of Bloody Homecoming) takes on both writing and directing duties, and I had hoped would deliver where the previous director had failed. While it is much more competently directed, the script feels rushed. There’s a steady build up of clichés culminating in a horrific Scooby-Doo style reveal, which is painful to watch. The killer’s costume is effective at times though.



[21] Night Of The Creeps
Night Of The Creeps is a joy, awash with references and homage to B-movies and those responsible. It’s stuffed with tropes typically associated to such films, there’s an escaped mental patient, aliens, sororities, a school formal, a detective haunted by the past, an experimental cryogenic laboratory, slugs which require a human host to incubate, etc, etc. It’s a witty, self-aware little gem of a film that I find myself coming back to again and again.
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  #69  
Old 25th October 2014, 08:39 PM
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Nicely written BAKA. Fellini's segment in Spirits Of The Dead is one of the last few remaining films to truly rattle me. It seems to penetrate my subconsciousness and haunt me for days every time I watch it. I think the undeniably rapid pace is complimented well by Vadim and Malle's less schizophrenic entries.

20. The First Power

More of an action-horror hybrid with superb stunt scenes, this film manages to balance out the two genres quite well to craft a thrilling watch. The music cues in Stewart Copeland's soundtrack often make it feel more horror and less action while the stunt sequences do the exact opposite. The building jump, in particular, was executed with fine attention to detail and made the antagonist feel all the more powerful. Lou Diamond Phillips does an okay enough job to carry the film from scene to scene while Jeff Kober portrays "The Pentagram Killer" a fully fleshed out villain that we can be somewhat scared of. Even through some of the tired clichés the film manages to express it's own take on the horror/action/cop thriller genre and that's what makes it worthy of a watch.
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  #70  
Old 26th October 2014, 04:21 PM
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21. Twice Dead

Fairly standard horror film that can be somewhat charming at times. Released by Roger Corman's Concorde Pictures, the film begins as a sort of haunted house story, then plays as a paranormal slasher before a groan worthy reveal at the end of the second act. Luckily, the third act redeems the film with nice gory moments of tension that launch us back into the supernatural slasher genre. Starring the always lovely Jill Whitlow the film isn't going to rewrite the history books and I don't think it was meant to but it has it's amusing moments and that's what makes it worth a watch.
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