October Horror Movie Marathon

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Mr Halloween (2007)

With a picture that was interlaced to death, this amateurish production had no redeeming features whatsoever so i fast forwarded it after forty minutes of it's whacking 110 minute run time.

There's no terrifying clown in it either.

Shockingly bad.

[BAKA]

[05] Nightmare City
Nightmare City is typically Lenzi, with a succession of set pieces, a breathless pace and a hypnotic synth score throbbing under the surface. Revisiting Nightmare City it’s hard not to notice the similarities with modern zombie cinema. The label zombie never being uttered, instead using the likes of ‘infected’ or ‘contaminated’, the zombies don’t lumber, but run (slightly at odds with the alternate title City Of The Walking Dead), use weapons and strategise (they actually cut a telephone cord at one point to prevent a victim calling for help). They have a striking look; burn victim coated in chocolate cake, which is oddly effective. There are so many things to love, a thrown television set explodes like a grenade at one point, a priest using a giant candle like a sword, the section where the lights go out at the hospital and the protagonist’s wife first encounters the contaminated is effortlessly creepy, the haunting shots of the contaminated from the helicopter, the theme-park set climax is just bad-ass, the protagonist atop a roller coaster holding off the infected with a machine gun. It lacks the discordant tone that pervades the likes of Fulci’s genre work, and it has a questionable ending, but what Nightmare City lacks it more than makes up for with the sheer velocity it unfolds at.



[06] Under The Shadow
Set in Iran during the 1980s, Under The Shadow combines real world horror with supernatural psychological horror, in a similar way that Del Toro would with his earlier features. A country at war, the landscape ravaged by bombings, people fleeing from their homes. It creates a haunted and increasingly desolate backdrop to the proceedings. At one point we see a bomb hit in the distance through a window, but one character doesn’t react, doesn’t even blink. The unsettling atmosphere unnerves the viewer, constructing the perfect environment to amplify the supernatural horror. It’s hard not to compare the film with The Babadook, so many parallels exist with the mother and child relationship, but unlike The Babadook, Under The Shadow manages to physically affect the viewer, melding effective jump scares with psychological horror to terrorize. This is the experience I expected going into The Babadook, from all the hype surrounding it. If you found yourself disappointed in The Babadook, seek this out, this is the movie that deserved that hype.

[MacBlayne]

Originally Posted by BAKA

Under The Shadow

If you found yourself disappointed in The Babadook, seek this out, this is the movie that deserved that hype.

Never heard of this film. I'll try to check it out. Thanks.

[BAKA]

Originally Posted by MacBlayne

Never heard of this film. I'll try to check it out. Thanks.

Definitely worth checking if it's still playing in your local independent or arthouse cinema. It's really effectively made, and undoubtedly works best theatrically. It came out last Friday though, so is probably already gone from many places. It caught me by surprise.

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Mr Halloween (2007)

With a picture that was interlaced to death, this amateurish production had no redeeming features whatsoever so i fast forwarded it after forty minutes of it's whacking 110 minute run time.

There's no terrifying clown in it either.

Shockingly bad.

Why do I now want to see this? What is wrong with me.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by BAKA

Why do I now want to see this? What is wrong with me.

I could tell it was going to be awful when the main cast are all supposed to be school kids but must be at least thirty and obviously just mates with a camera on them.

[MacBlayne]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

obviously just mates with a camera on them.

I always have a slight fondness for those types of films. They're bloody awful but there's something endearing about a group of friends giving it a shot.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by MacBlayne

I always have a slight fondness for those types of films. They're bloody awful but there's something endearing about a group of friends giving it a shot.

Well quite. But do you really want that shot to last 110 minutes?

[MacBlayne]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Well quite. But do you really want that shot to last 110 minutes?

Ha! What I mean is, watching a Zach Snyder film that blows $400million on boring toss brings my piss to a boil. Whereas, these guys, while failing miserably, made a heartfelt attempt.

That said, I would have not lasted more than 10 minutes.

[MuckyFunster]

#3 (I've got a bit of catching up to do)

"House at the end of the street"

Meh...



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Saturday's pleasure in ABUKtober...