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  #1701  
Old 1st November 2017, 02:17 PM
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October 31st. Halloween.

The Ghost Train (1941)

Written by Arnold Ridley, best known as Private Godfrey in Dad's Army, The Ghost Train comes across as less a ghost story and more a comedy vehicle in which the likable Arthur Askey does his routine, seemingly irritating everyone at the lonely old railway station as they await morning, but definitely entertaining me with his antics.

There's idle chatter of a ghost train throughout but it's not until the final 10 minutes when the film takes a turn into ghostly horror territory that any sort of tension ensues.

This is the second time i've watched this in ten months. Do i need help?

Halloween (1978) / Halloween II (1981)

The ultimate double bill for the 31st of October.

See you all next October folks.
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  #1702  
Old 1st November 2017, 04:55 PM
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Now my dissertation is all finished and I'm not going to look at it again, I can now catch up with the other horror (in its loosest possible term) I have I watched in October:

THE SURGEON (Exquisite Tenderness) – another from the £1 Music Magpie selection and one which also pleasantly surprised. The serial killer in a hospital premise works quite well and even when you know who is killing people, and why, it doesn't suffer for the massive tonal shift, possibly improving if anything.

BRIDE OF REANIMATOR – this follow-up to one of my favourite horror-comedies is nowhere near as good as the first film, but it is still good fun and one I enjoy.

WATCH ME WHEN I KILL – the new 4K scam of this giallo, a film I have previously only seen on the Shameless Films' DVD makes it look like a completely new film. It properly helps that it's been a long time since I have seen, so had completely forgotten who was behind the murders, and why they were committing their crimes. I should really get round to watching it with the Italian language track soon.

STREET TRASH – completely all over the place and all the better for it, this wonderfully entertaining 'melt movie' has just about everything from gangsters to melting hobos and a game of 'catch' with a severed penis.

[REC]4 APOCALYPSE – the first two films in the series are amongst my favourite in both the 'infected' and 'found footage' genres and whilst this doesn't live up to the promise of those, or even underrated the third instalment, I still found it very entertaining and quite moving.

DEAD GIRL – a really grim film which seems to revel in its own nastiness, becoming more disturbing as it goes on and giving the Nekromantik movies a run for their money when it comes to the gruesome sight of necrophilia.

BEWITCHED (commentary) – Bey Logan really is the king of commentary for Asian cinema, and this track on the 88 Films' Blu-ray release is fun and informative.

PHANTASM – completely weird and probably best for it. There are times when I'm still not exactly sure what's taking place, but any film with flying orbs which drill into your skull, a trans-dimensional gateway and an ice cream and taking on the forces of evil is going to keep me engaged for its running time.

THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT – surprisingly still effective and uncomfortable viewing after all these years, particularly when I think back to when I was watching it on a 28" CRT and how it has lost little in the nearly 20 years since then, now being viewed on a 55" OLED screen!

THE SHALLOWS – I was a little hesitant about how this would look and sound in 4K and if the UHD would showcase any shortcomings in the visual or practical effects. I needn't have worried because it is a gripping story and the shark looks (and sounds) superb, with the 360° sound making the underwater scenes even more effective.

PSYCHO – rightly considered the 'granddaddy of slasher films' and one of the greatest horror movies ever made, this is amazing because it hasn't aged badly and because the excellent performances, all-time great score and astonishing direction are still a joy to behold.

THE EXORCIST – still my all time favourite movie and one which I'll never tire of watching. It's weird that even after hundreds of viewings, I still pick up things every so often, with the latest being when Father Merrin walks past a line of men praying and I realised that, because of his shadow, they are facing south, something which makes perfect sense for Muslims in northern Iraq.

HALLOWEEN – really a no-brainer decision of what other film to watch on October 31st, with the masterpieces by William Friedkin and John Carpenter proving a superb double bill. I'll probably not watch this until the same time next year! I intend to watch the sequel tonight.
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  #1703  
Old 1st November 2017, 05:01 PM
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Great post, Nos.

Glad you enjoyed The Surgeon and Dead Girl. Have you watched all my quid recommendations now?
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  #1704  
Old 1st November 2017, 05:07 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs View Post
Great post, Nos.

Glad you enjoyed The Surgeon and Dead Girl. Have you watched all my quid recommendations now?
I think so. I forgot to add URBAN EXPLORERS to that list, a film I also watched in the last week and, though I've seen it before, really enjoyed.
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  #1705  
Old 1st November 2017, 08:20 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bizarre_eye@Cult Labs View Post
It picked up over the next hour and over 10 groups of kids called in all. I was worried that I may run out of sweets!



That's what you get for living in a hermit's shack in the middle of nowhere
We got none, which was fine by me, its just a little disappointing

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  #1706  
Old 1st November 2017, 11:34 PM
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This years October Halloween fest has been -

House of 1000 Corpses (2003)
The Plague of the Zombies (1965)
The Mummy's Tomb (1942)
Witchfinder General (1968)
Gothic (1986)
Evil Breed: The Legend of Samhain (2003)
Night of the Demons III (Demon House) (1997)
Corruption (1968)
Quatermass and the Pit (1967)
Dracula (1973)
Halloween Resurrection (2002)
Count Dracula (1977)
Spider Baby (1964)
All Hallows' Eve (2013)
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969)
Halloween (2007)
Happy Hell Night (1992)
Night of the Demon (1957)
Isle of the Dead (1945)
Bedlam (1946)
Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI (1986)
Dracula (1979)
Lights Out (2016)
The Fog (1979)
Trick or Treat (1986)
So Long at the Fair (1950)
Demons of the Mind (1972)
The Hollow (2004)
The Skull (1965)
The Creeping Flesh (1973)
Theatre of Blood (1972)
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)
Suspiria (1977)
The Old Dark House (1932)
Prince of Darkness (1987)
The Rezort (2015)
It Follows (2014)
Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966)
Pay the Ghost (2015)
The VVitch: A New-England Folktale (2015)
Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970)
Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)
Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
City of the Living Dead (1980)
Satan's Little Helper (2004)
Tales of Halloween (2015)
Blair Witch (2016)
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)
I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
Blackburn (2015)
Flesh Eater (1988)
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
The Wolf Man (1941)
Trick 'r Treat (2007)
The Lords of Salem (2012)
The Ghost Train (1941)
Halloween (1978)
Halloween II (1981)

I also watched Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings, Night of the Demons (1988) and Tiffany Shepis fave Dead Scared (The Hazing) but failed to review them here.

62 films in all.
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  #1707  
Old 2nd November 2017, 07:39 AM
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Despite not thinking I'd hit the one-film-a-day average in October, I actually managed to watch 32 films in all.

Full list here.
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  #1708  
Old 2nd November 2017, 02:53 PM
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oct1730.jpg
[30] The Pumpkin Karver
After a Halloween prank goes horribly wrong, resulting in manslaughter, social misfit Jonathan is haunted by the consequences of his good-intentioned actions. The Pumpkin Karver feels a product of the slasher revival in the late-nineties heralded by Wes Craven’s Scream, but missing the mark completely, launching a decade later it feels as if it’s been gestating for that length of time, the script dulled considerably, oblivious to the advancement of its contemporaries. The social stereotyping lacking the self-aware irony, bordering on offensive, the one black cast member talking about the ‘hood’, a girl being far too weak to right a fallen wheelbarrow and needing a man’s help. It features many of the hallmarks one would expect in a horror film set on Halloween, the sheer amount of pumpkins is frequently a glorious sight, and of course there’s a hellfire and brimstone spouting crazy old man. The Pumpkin Karver feels displaced, lacking an identity, aping so many different inspirations it’s never able to knit them all cohesively, nor decide which hanging plot strand to go with for the ending.


oct1731.jpg
[31] Satan's Little Helper
Satan’s Little Helper is full of charm; from the adorable Satan obsessed Dougie to the lo-fi mask and outfit that Satan wears. Jeff Lieberman’s oeuvre is so varied and distinct, despite a concentration of genre cinema, so consistent in quality, from the hallucinogenic nightmares of Blue Sunshine to the backwoods brutality of Just Before Dawn. Satan’s Little Helper adds a wry wit and playfulness. A case of mistaken identity, Satan’s Little Helper obliviously aids a murderer wearing a Satan mask, on a killing spree straight out of his favourite videogame. It’s a creative and quirky concept, which occasionally lapses into something a little mean spirited, the killing of the cat, using its blood to paint a sign, or the sniffing of panties, giving the film a disconcertingly black edge, a removal of the safety from the trappings of a cute child protagonist. It’s one of those films that feels canon for the season, something to wedge between Hocus Pocus and Trick ‘r Treat, or before Carpenter’s classic Halloween.


oct1732.jpg
[32] The Slayer
The hauntingly barren coastal setting and dilapidated husk of a villa give J.S. Cardone’s The Slayer a desolate feeling. With a cast of just five characters, it adds to an air of isolation, the protagonist’s dreams an ominous foreboding of ill intent. The small cast of characters limits the amount of murderous set pieces, which the sub-genre typically thrives off, but The Slayer manages to make the few death scenes varied, remarkable in their effectiveness. The ambiguous dream sequences a melding of realities. A brooding, menacing pace builds to a spectacular creature reveal that lingers long after the film’s running time elapses. The Slayer is one of those supernatural slashers that will leave those looking for cheap thrills and kills unsatisfied, but will captivate those looking for something a little less hollow.


oct1733.jpg
[33] Popcorn
Popcorn is a love letter, not just to b-movies but also to the cinema-going experience as a whole. A group of film students organise a night of b-movie mayhem in a run-down theatre on the eve of its demolition. There’s an unearthing of a lost film, with a controversial history, the murderous final act was played out live in the theatre as retribution of an unappreciative audience, and of course there’s a connection between the tragedy and protagonist. The plot is as hokey as the material it’s sending up. All of the films within the film are gloriously funny, tongue firmly planted in cheek. The film is self-aware; feeling almost a blueprint at times for the sensibilities of Scream, the film class discussion in particular feels a direct foreshadowing of a scene from Scream 2. It becomes a little too bogged down in its nonsense plot and languishes a little at times, but the setting and costumes provide the perfect ambiance for a satisfying midnight movie-like experience.


oct1734.jpg
[34] Hack-O-Lantern
There’s something captivating about Hack-O-Lantern, it’s completely unconventional, at times feeling neutered and safe, and at others overly risqué. The dialogue is frequently pure filth, but wrapped up in a bizarre ‘50s homely ranch setting. Even the incestuous rapey occultist grandpa, who visits every Halloween bearing a choice of Pumpkin and a pentagram engraved necklace for one of his grandchildren, is played as a mix between Ernest Borgnine and Jim Varney. For a late-eighties slasher the kills are inept, infrequent and late to the party. There’s an amazing rock interlude lucid dream sequence though, if you can’t set your horror film in a mall or a hospital, always throw a rock band in. It’s so oft-kilter; one character takes their best friend to a graveyard to show them specifically where she had sex with said best friend’s brother. There’s a random out of nowhere stand-up segment, curiously outside of the actual party. Often for the wrong reasons, Hack-O-Lantern is an enthralling and unforgettable experience.


oct1735.jpg
[35] The Barn
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a micro-budget crowd-funded film that is so visually competent, its aesthetic defies the nature of its limited means production. The Barn gloriously embodies the spirit of the season, not just in styling, but at the very core of its being, made by and for people who love the season. The protagonist’s serious attitude to Halloween endears, he is essentially many of the people who seek this type of fare out. The monster designs are superb, Hallowed Jack is possibly the most effective looking pumpkin-headed killer ever committed to screen. Cameos from Linnea Quigley, most definitely playing against type as the local moral crusader, and Ari Lehman delight. The throwback soundtrack is stellar. Occasionally it crosses from cool to cringe, the suiting up of the part-time gardening duo, dubbed ‘The Bushwhackers’, to dispense the antagonists, feels a little Tucker & Dale gone wrong, and the back story for the creatures feels a little shoehorned in. The few faults don’t detract from the experience of pure joy on offer in The Barn.


All over for another year, literally started planning for next year. Think I'll have a whole week dedicated to Hammer next year, especially as four Hammer titles I planned to watch were delayed. There are a LOT of Hammer releases at the moment, and upcoming. Seems the perfect time.
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  #1709  
Old 2nd November 2017, 03:03 PM
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Good work, Baka. It's always a pleasure to read your posts in the annual October Horror Movie Marathon.

I quite like The Pumpkin Karver, although i didn't watch it this year. To me it's just a slasher, no better or worse than the DTV stuff that came out in the 80's that we all rave about.
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  #1710  
Old 20th September 2018, 05:51 PM
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Ten days to go until October.

Are you all getting your October horror marathons organized?


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