October Horror Movie Marathon

[Justin101]

Hell Night (1981)

Two hot boys and two hot girls (one of whom is Linda Blair) are locked inside a house with a dark past for a Frat initiation. They are to spend the night and the next day will be welcomed into the Fraternity or Sorority, only the leaders want to play a few tricks on them first. Little do they know the remnants of that dark past are still lurking in the cellar and grounds of this creepy mansion.

It has everything it needs to be a great horror film, the only thing it lacks is some decent pacing. Honestly there is a segment of around 30 minutes in the middle of this film when it is genuinely boring. The ending kind of rocks though, I'm here for that last 10 minutes. Plus one of the hot boys spends most of the film running around in his tiny white shorts and nothing else! (just looked up the director, almost all of his film history is gay porn so that explains that )



The bluray looks bloody ropey!!

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Justin101

Hell Night (1981)

Plus one of the hot boys spends most of the film running around in his tiny white shorts and nothing else! (just looked up the director, almost all of his film history is gay porn so that explains that )

The bluray looks bloody ropey!!

You should check out the Arrow Blu of Creepshow 2. The Raft segment has a guy with i guess you'd say great abs in tiny yellow Speedo type trunks. I don't look for this sort of thing but you can't bloody miss what's inside them.

The Blu looks better than the dvd. I remember checking when i watched it last October.

[Justin101]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

You should check out the Arrow Blu of Creepshow 2. The Raft segment has a guy with i guess you'd say great abs in tiny yellow Speedo type trunks. I don't look for this sort of thing but you can't bloody miss what's inside them.

The Blu looks better than the dvd. I remember checking when i watched it last October.

I've got the 88 Films blu but not watched it for ages, it's a lot more uneven that the first film isn't it, The Raft I think is everyone's favourite segment, I quite like the Old Chief Wood'nhead bit as well though.

[Nordicdusk]

Originally Posted by Justin101

I've got the 88 Films blu but not watched it for ages, it's a lot more uneven that the first film isn't it, The Raft I think is everyone's favourite segment, I quite like the Old Chief Wood'nhead bit as well though.

Chief Wooden head is my favourite segment just a great little story and of course the fantaisc big George Kennedy always makes everything better.

[MrBarlow]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

You should check out the Arrow Blu of Creepshow 2. The Raft segment has a guy with i guess you'd say great abs in tiny yellow Speedo type trunks. I don't look for this sort of thing but you can't bloody miss what's inside them.

The swamp...thing, certainly knew where to grab the guy and pull him

[MrBarlow]

From A Whisper To A Scream. 1987

A reporter goes to visit a relative of a woman that was recently executed in prison and he tells her four stories from his library.

Any tale Vincent Price can say would be worth listening to and Susan Tyrell as the reporter looking into the past of the latest criminal executed. Price himself does have top billing but never seems to have enough screen time though which seems a bit of a waste, when he is on screen he never disappoints.

The stories themselves are decent, a man looking after his ill sister wants to find love but can't due to his sister being very demanding. A crook manages to find the secret of eternal youth but has a price. A circus worker pays the price for finding love outside of the circus. A Civil War soldier finds a town dominated by children.

The last one I kept thinking this is a bit like Children Of The Corn and didn't really enjoy it that much, every story like every anthology movie does come with a dark macabre twist that you may or not see coming. For a 80s film don't expect it to be a big budget.

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[MacBlayne]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

So the question that needs answering is...

If we were all big kids* which Silver Shamrock mask would you buy?

The pumpkin, the skull or the witch?

*Yes, i know. We'd all have at least one of them by now. Some would have all three, being the collectors we are.

Anyway, choosing one, definitely the pumpkin for me.

The pumpkin. I love the vibrancy of the orange, and the texture looks perfect.

[MacBlayne]

A BAY OF BLOOD

A wealthy old woman is found hanged, and her husband is missing. A real estate agent swoops in to buy up the lakeside property, but there is trouble. Somebody is murdering the neighbours, and everybody is a suspect.

Mario Bava’s bloody entertaining affair is a precursor to the slasher genre. Unlike the (at the time popular) giallo which were brutally violent mystery films, A Bay of Blood dispenses with plot in favour of people being slaughtered in a gruesome manner by an unknown killer. But it’s not an empty-headed murderthon, for it sports as much humour and wry commentary as it does sharp objects to the skull.

For starters, there’s the matter of capitalism. The murder is kicked off by greed, and it starts a domino effect that results in almost everybody dying. Capitalism consumes us all.

Then there’s the bit where the fisherman and amateur entomologist discuss killing other creatures. While the fisherman says he kills other creatures to survive (an interesting parallel to the real killer’s motives), the entomologist acknowledges that his motives are not so noble, but he can’t help but be fascinated by his collection. It’s almost as if Bava is cheekily waggling a knowing index at his critics and audience,

Speaking of which, despite it’s extremely low-budget, the special effects are effective, and still possess the power to repulse and shock. There’s a clear reason why this film has such a hold over the Friday the 13th series. When somebody gets a sickle to the face, you can feel it. Christopher Lee attended the premiere, and was reportedly ill upon seeing it.

There is artistry in this film. Bava was one of the best filmmakers to use colour, and A Bay of Blood is no exception. Lots of orange sunsets against the blue lake. One of the more striking shots is a yellow car driving under a tree with yellow flowers. Does it mean anything? Nope. Does it need to? Nope. But I remember it vividly, and that’s what counts.

SPOILER:

However, the film’s best bit is at the end. The killers have been revealed to be Luigi Pistilli and Claudine Auger. Their whole excuse is to get the land to secure a future for their children (as I said, a parallel to the fisherman’s theory). But they ignore their children in their pursuit for the land, and are accidentally killed when the children play with a shotgun. And that is Bava’s final joke on capitalism. It opens with a landowner getting murdered by her greedy husband, who is promptly murdered the greedy couple. And their singled-minded pursuit see them dead by the end. We are all disposable.

[MrBarlow]

Originally Posted by MacBlayne

A BAY OF BLOOD

A wealthy old woman is found hanged, and her husband is missing. A real estate agent swoops in to buy up the lakeside property, but there is trouble. Somebody is murdering the neighbours, and everybody is a suspect.

Mario Bava’s bloody entertaining affair is a precursor to the slasher genre. Unlike the (at the time popular) giallo which were brutally violent mystery films, A Bay of Blood dispenses with plot in favour of people being slaughtered in a gruesome manner by an unknown killer. But it’s not an empty-headed murderthon, for it sports as much humour and wry commentary as it does sharp objects to the skull.

For starters, there’s the matter of capitalism. The murder is kicked off by greed, and it starts a domino effect that results in almost everybody dying. Capitalism consumes us all.

Then there’s the bit where the fisherman and amateur entomologist discuss killing other creatures. While the fisherman says he kills other creatures to survive (an interesting parallel to the real killer’s motives), the entomologist acknowledges that his motives are not so noble, but he can’t help but be fascinated by his collection. It’s almost as if Bava is cheekily waggling a knowing index at his critics and audience,

Speaking of which, despite it’s extremely low-budget, the special effects are effective, and still possess the power to repulse and shock. There’s a clear reason why this film has such a hold over the Friday the 13th series. When somebody gets a sickle to the face, you can feel it. Christopher Lee attended the premiere, and was reportedly ill upon seeing it.

There is artistry in this film. Bava was one of the best filmmakers to use colour, and A Bay of Blood is no exception. Lots of orange sunsets against the blue lake. One of the more striking shots is a yellow car driving under a tree with yellow flowers. Does it mean anything? Nope. Does it need to? Nope. But I remember it vividly, and that’s what counts.

SPOILER:

However, the film’s best bit is at the end. The killers have been revealed to be Luigi Pistilli and Claudine Auger. Their whole excuse is to get the land to secure a future for their children (as I said, a parallel to the fisherman’s theory). But they ignore their children in their pursuit for the land, and are accidentally killed when the children play with a shotgun. And that is Bava’s final joke on capitalism. It opens with a landowner getting murdered by her greedy husband, who is promptly murdered the greedy couple. And their singled-minded pursuit see them dead by the end. We are all disposable.

A great Bava classic

Give the man a small budget and watch him turn a script into a brilliant movie.

[MacBlayne]

FEAR STREET: 1994

The town of Shadyvale has experienced another mass murder. The killer, an unassuming teenage boy, is gunned down by police. However, many whisper of another killer. A witch executed in 1666 may be trying to claim revenge.

This was f*cking dreadful. An abomination. Sure, it has some decent production values. Yes, the soundtrack has some nostalgic bits. But this is a shallow, fake, and disgustingly cynical exercise that speaks volumes about the level of contempt the filmmakers have for their audience.

Fear Street: 1994 is NOT a throwback. It has no affection for the genre, or the era. Beyond the occasional flourish of art direction, there’s little to indicate that this is set in the 1990s.

Fear Street: 1994 is NOT a deconstruction of the genre. Not only could it only wish to be as witty as Wes Craven’s 90s output (and I’m including Vampire in Brooklyn just so you know how bad this is), it also wishes it could be as creepy as Scream. This film lacks any form of suspense. The killer(s) just show up, chase, and disappear. Wash, rinse, and repeat.

What Fear Street: 1994 is, is product. It’s designed by an algorithm. It throws in little bits here and there for the previews, just to push the nostalgia button for those didn’t live through the 90s, but only know of it through AVGN reviews. Nothing in this film feels like it was created by a conscious being. Everything seems to move at 1.5 speed. Nobody speaks like regular people, or even in 90s-style “radicalism!” No - they speak like the annoying scolds you find on Twitter. Just because the algorithm knows that stuff like will be copied and reposted on social media with captions “YASS KWEEN!!!” or “THIS [clapping emoji] RIGHT [clapping emoji] HERE [crying emoji]”

It’s insulting to viewers, as it substitutes storytelling with clout-chasing. And it’s insulting to homosexuals as it reduces them to social media prompts.

And it’s just boring.