October Horror Movie Marathon

[MrBarlow]

Dark Waters. 1993.

A young girl travels to a island and finds a monastery that was funded by her late father and uncovers some truths about her dark past and a evil that she may not escape from.

Filmed between the Ukraine and Italy, this was a blind watch and had no idea what I was in for, this is like a throw back to the old 70s Eurotrash films we love and hate, but this was very suspenseful. It has a real feel of claustrophobia and at some times it may have a sense of Lovecraftian mood around that director Mariano Baino was influenced by watching other director's work and created a new story. It can have it's slow paces but this was enjoyable.

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[nosferatu42]

Originally Posted by Demoncrat

I'll just say this then ...

When I rewatched that Halloween, when he was on screen fine, the rest was padding as far as I'm concerned. Ahem. I shall watch it again in that spirit to boot.



Now I'm off to watch RLM further tarnish their rep with this Carpenter ranking thing. It's been hilarious tbh.

I just perused that ranking of the big J.C.
Rich is way off the mark, Halloween at 12, The Fog at 15, like seriously man???

[MacBlayne]

Originally Posted by nosferatu42

I just perused that ranking of the big J.C.
Rich is way off the mark, Halloween at 12, The Fog at 15, like seriously man???

I love how Rich Evans knew we were gonna do double-takes. Even Jay starts breaking his balls as the list continues.

[MacBlayne]

Originally Posted by nosferatu42

Attachment 236938

So watched the original Candyman for the first time in years and have to admit it is a classic in terms of 90's horror, better than i previously gave it credit for.

Although i still feel it suffers slightly from the Freddy dream demon angle, as the bit when he was hovering above her bed in the asylum was slightly dodge.

In fact i much preferred the build up to the actual resolution, the parts where she was investigating and being blamed for the murders were gripping, but the eternal love payoff was a bit weak in relation to the harshness of the rest of the film.

Todd was very good though, suitably impressed, though still wouldn't class it as masterpiece material, but definitely stands out from the crowd.

8/10

See, I don't think there is an eternal love payoff.

SPOILER:

Candyman wants to go out with Helen, because that's his legend. But since Helen isn't actually the woman from the story, she is able to break free and save the child, and dying while doing so. "Candyman" dies in the fire, but the rage and guilt that created him manifests itself in a new form - Helen, the woman who was wrongfully accused and untrusted by the community and the system.

[MacBlayne]

Candyman 2: Farewell to the Flesh

1992's Candyman was a surprise hit for mini-studio, Propaganda Pictures. The film was well received by critics, was a minor commercial success in cinemas, and did very strong business on video. So a sequel seemed like a good proposition.

Only thing, how do you do a sequel to Candyman. The film ended in a manner that would make a traditional follow-up difficult. It wouldn't be impossible, as original writer-director Bernard Rose submitted a screenplay that focused on Jack the Ripper's legend. The studio said no. Another suggestion was to bring Virginia Madsen back, and expand from the first film. The studio turned this down too.

The problem was, if one were to follow naturally from Candyman, there would be no Candyman. Tony Todd's killer was instantly iconic. Tall, handsome, eloquent, and Black. There was nothing like him out there.

So Candyman 2 pretty much ignores everything from the first film, and has the titular killer return as an avenging boogeyman linked to a cursed amulet. Nosfertu42 recently criticised Candyman for resorting to an "Eternal Love" angle (I strongly disagree with that reading), but I imagine he would be apoplectic with Candyman 2, as writer-director Bill Condon really rams home this take.

All the subtext and daring social criticism from Clive Barker and Rose's work is replaced with underbaked gothic romance and the odd mention that, yeah, slavery wasn't nice. Not only that, but the horror aspect has been dialled down.

There is very little gore, or moments of striking terror, as Condon has pretentions of making a classy, psychological thriller. What this means is, expect many moody moments of that classy mid-90s cinematography, and exposition dumps to explain what happened elsewhere when Kelly Rowan was very slowly looking through a desk while being lit through Venetian blinds.

Candyman 2 isn't an awful film. As much as I kicked Bill Condon, his direction is serviceable. The actors are good without really standing out (oddly enough, it's returnees Todd and Micheal Culkin who do the best). It's just that they were following one of the most ambitious and daring horror films of recent years, and they chose to be lazy and cowardly. It's a film less interested in frightening you that it is frightened about what it could have been. Not so much Farewell to the Flesh, but Farewell to the Mind too.

[Justin101]

Hell Fest (2018)



The very idea of going to one of these horror themed party festivals fills me with dread. That dread is compounded by the awful people at this particular Hell Fest, I'd much rather stay at home and just watch a film about it!

While enjoyable, it's a bit uneven, mainly because when the focus is on the core 6 college kids it's not as enjoyable because most of them are really annoying. It's important for horror film makers, if you want us to feel something when your cast of murder victims get killed off, you need to make them at least a bit likeable. Although the one 'nice boy' does get dispatched in a wince inducing moment that made me flinch and gasp out loud.

On the plus side, the visuals are stunning, all multi-coloured neon and fog. Also the killers mask is quite chilling, I really enjoyed that, according to the director it's based on some 19th century death masks he saw. Worth a watch for sure, there is a £3 dvd on amazon and it can be bought digitally on iTunes/Apple TV for £2 in HD.

Elvira's Haunted Hills (2001)



A silly but very entertaining pastiche of the Corman 'Poe Cycle' in particular taking cues from ...Usher, ...Ligeia and The Pit and Pendulum. Featuring all the tropes you'd expect like a dead wife, a demented husband losing grip on reality, a stable hand that speaks in a badly dubbed voice, cobwebs, castles, secret torture chambers, grave digging and very ample breasts!

Full of witty one-liners and winks at the audience, but not all of them land. So very camp and over the top, I can imagine that this might not be everyone's cup of tea, I liked it though on my re-watch!

[Frankie Teardrop]

HALLOWEEN HORROR BINGE ROUNDUP #5

12/10/21

NURSE SHERRI – Anyone with mixed feelings about Al Adamson isn’t going to come away from ‘Nurse Sherri’ a disciple, but even if you’re not a diehard there’s a sprinkling of good stuff here. The early highlight is a bit of psychedelic seventies animation during the possession sequence, which looks positively Lovecraftian with its luminescent, amorphous ‘thing in the dark’. It’s a shame there wasn’t more of that, because the rest of ‘Nurse Sherri’ plods between occasional outbursts of silliness.

13/10/21

THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY – I admire a film that sees fit to fill its last forty odd minutes with basically lots of up and down the (cellar) stairs, it makes a change from my old nemesis, corridor-wandering. Of course, there’s more to this bravura Fulci epic than that, especially if you’re into gratuitous shots of wounds oozing an eternity of maggots; in case this doesn’t entice, there’s also the ketchupy ravagement of a plastic bat. But THBTH is about shadows and dread-laden atmosphere, and captures both magnificently.

14/10/21

DARK WATERS – ‘Dark Waters’ gives dodgy convents, shunned islands and, above all, loads of candles. It’s practically an orgy of flickering flame, so much so that it’s perfectly happy to make do with burning crosses when the wax runs out. A film that exists to overdose us on gothic atmosphere – happily, it succeeds very well in this, presenting a concentration of early eighties Italian nunsploitation vibes without the usual plodding, for narrative is very spare and secondary to imagery. There’s even a bit of monster at the end – don’t know about ‘Lovecraftian’, but very nice that they tried. Highly recommended.

PSYCHO SISTERS – The SOV precursor to um ‘Psycho Sisters’, the latter being a ‘proper’ celluloid film-type affair (where is THAT on blu-ray, btw? It’s excellent). This ‘original text’ follows the same penis-ripping revenge theme as t’other, only it’s less explicit and bigger on washed out scenes of non-event. That’s not necessarily a diss – ‘Psycho Sisters’ works best as a John Waters-esque bad taste comedy, where the bathos of scenes of the twisted sisters rooting endlessly through the bloodstained underwear of their victims is as essential to the whole as all the fumbled strangulations. “For freaks only,” as they used to say.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Justin101

Hell Fest (2018)



The very idea of going to one of these horror themed party festivals fills me with dread. That dread is compounded by the awful people at this particular Hell Fest, I'd much rather stay at home and just watch a film about it!

While enjoyable, it's a bit uneven, mainly because when the focus is on the core 6 college kids it's not as enjoyable because most of them are really annoying. It's important for horror film makers, if you want us to feel something when your cast of murder victims get killed off, you need to make them at least a bit likeable. Although the one 'nice boy' does get dispatched in a wince inducing moment that made me flinch and gasp out loud.

On the plus side, the visuals are stunning, all multi-coloured neon and fog. Also the killers mask is quite chilling, I really enjoyed that, according to the director it's based on some 19th century death masks he saw. Worth a watch for sure, there is a £3 dvd on amazon and it can be bought digitally on iTunes/Apple TV for £2 in HD.

That short haired cocky girl.

I was helping push the guillotine blade down when it got stuck.

[Justin101]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

That short haired cocky girl.

I was helping push the guillotine blade down when it got stuck.

Hated her!! the other boys were annoying as hell as well though

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

HALLOWEEN HORROR BINGE ROUNDUP #5



14/10/21

DARK WATERS – ‘Dark Waters’ gives dodgy convents, shunned islands and, above all, loads of candles. It’s practically an orgy of flickering flame, so much so that it’s perfectly happy to make do with burning crosses when the wax runs out. A film that exists to overdose us on gothic atmosphere – happily, it succeeds very well in this, presenting a concentration of early eighties Italian nunsploitation vibes without the usual plodding, for narrative is very spare and secondary to imagery. There’s even a bit of monster at the end – don’t know about ‘Lovecraftian’, but very nice that they tried. Highly recommended.

Think i'll go get my amulet from this film, surround it with candles and see if i can invoke some nunsploitation when i give it a rewatch.

One i used to own on vhs as well as that rather sexy NoShame box set.

@Frankie - You should really try and see Don't Let Them In. I bet it's so down your street your bins are outside.

Same goes for the wonderfully original Hellions.