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Film Shocking October 2022: Autumn Rises From the Tomb! Fall Into a Crypt of Terror!

Loving the write-ups and variety of picks so far!

Phosphorescent Skeleton said:
October 8th

Zombie Flesh Eaters, 1979, Lucio Fulci, Italy

I have a long complicated relationship with the legendary Italian horror master Lucio Fulci. Zombie Flesh Eaters, aka Zombie 2, aka Zombie, aka a million other titles, was the first of his films I watched, and initially I hated it. The plot is nonsensical, the dubbing wooden, the gore disgusting. And with every Fulci movie I saw, I had the same reaction. What do people see in this guy? But the cult of Fulci is so strong that I couldn't help but try again after a year or two and suddenly it clicked. The movies hadn't changed, but I had. The ways I saw and appreciated cinema had expanded significantly and I could finally see why Fulci was one of the truly great horror directors. The plots and acting are both strange and elliptical like a dream, and as for the gore, well thats just fun. Zombie Flesh Eaters is rightly considered one of the great zombie movies. The living dead here are rotting, worm infested, and brutally violent, offering such surreal amd grisly sights as zombie vs shark and the old splintered door through the eye gag. Thats a real actor vs a real shark by the way. Like a lot of Italian horror movies this will work if you let it, if you let go a little. Just listen to that excellent Fabio Frizzi score and dream of tropical flesh eating. 4.5/5
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Cool to hear it clicked with you eventually - I will always be nostalgic for it as a repeat rental when I was a teenager. The shark scene has a really awesome score if I remember correctly, and the infamous door splinter to the eye scene has always stayed with me.

I'm assuming yes, but have you seen The Beyond? Incredible soundtrack, and the ending is a doozy.
 
Ramune said:
Loving the write-ups and variety of picks so far!



Cool to hear it clicked with you eventually - I will always be nostalgic for it as a repeat rental when I was a teenager. The shark scene has a really awesome score if I remember correctly, and the infamous door splinter to the eye scene has always stayed with me.

I'm assuming yes, but have you seen The Beyond? Incredible soundtrack, and the ending is a doozy.
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The Beyond is one of my absolute faves. Gotta rewatch it this month. I think City of the Living Dead is my favorite Fulci though
 
October 9th

Nightmare on Elm Street III: The Dream Warriors, 1987, Dir. Chuck Russell, USA

Freddys bones freddy bones John Saxon gets owned by the freddys bones. Had some drinkos and riffed through this with my sweetheart and one of my best friends. Good kills, cool effects, mostly bad acting. My favorite one of these. 4.5/5
 
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors (1987, Dir. Chuck Russell, USA)

By far the best of the Elm Street movies! Hits a perfect balance between camp and horror. Freddy is goofy, but still menacing! The acting is mostly very bad, with the two exceptions being John Saxon and Robert Englund. The entire subplot involving Freddy's bones is insane but incredibly entertaining, involving some truly great stop motion and a victory pose that feels right out of a Mortal Kombat game. Some fantastic kills, with "prime time" being not only the highlight of the movie, but of the series!

Watched with some drinks with a good friend and my sweetheart, had a great time!
 
October 9.2th

Halloween III: Season of the Witch, 1982, Tommy Lee Wallace, USA

Once an underrated gem, I'm glad people now realize this movie kicks ass. I can't believe its not Italian! I can't believe its not a weird 80s horror paperback. Just good fun, looks stunning in 4k. Too drunk to have much else to write. 4/5
 
Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982, Dir. Tommy Lee Wallace, USA)

Though I haven't seen the newer ones, I still think of this as the best of the Halloween sequels. You simply can't beat John Carpenter's original; look at how much of a pale imitation Halloween II was! So what can you do? Just do something totally different! And despite the bad reputation it's gotten over the years, it works! I love how sleazy the protagonist is and how insane the truth behind the mystery is. Very memorable ending too!
 
Phosphorescent Skeleton said:
The Beyond is one of my absolute faves. Gotta rewatch it this month. I think City of the Living Dead is my favorite Fulci though
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Literally next on my list, I'm excited!

Also what a double whammy of third entries with Dream Warriors and Season of the Witch. Dream Warriors has some of the most memorable kills in the series (prime time and the puppet master one), and it always bugged me that in the next movie they killed off the previous cast first, and quite badly too in the case of Kincaid. But then that is when things started to go downhill anyway - I'm reviewing what happened in 4 and it's a lot of silly gross-out stuff like the roach motel and the, uh, pizza.

I'm glad Season of the Witch gets its dues now to some extent, I've always really liked it for how full-tilt crazy it gets and how gruesome that scene is.
 
October 10th

The Mummy, 1959, Dir. Terence Fisher, UK

One of the better early Hammer Horror rilms, and one of the better mummy horror in general. Peter Cushing is a little bland here compared to in Frankenstein and Dracula, but Christopher Lee puts in one of this best nonverbal performances as the hulking, shambling, proto Terminator mummy, a grim angel of death for colonialism. Typically lush colors and stately pacing, the biggest flaw is the brown face, but it manages to be much less racist than the 90s Mummy. 4/5
 
The Mummy (1959, Dir. Terence Fisher, UK)

Probably the best mummy movie I've seen. It is a bit disappointing that Christopher Lee hardly gets to talk, but he does a fine job here nonetheless. What's even more disappointing is that during the ancient Egypt scenes, they have Christopher Lee in brownface. They cast PoC for literally all the other Egyptian roles in the films, so why not here too? Despite that misstep, it's impressive to see a film from this era directly critique the UK's pillaging of other countries, even calling out the British Museum by name. Really makes Peter Cushing's character seem like an asshole! It makes me wonder if these mummy films were made out of a sense of guilt, a fear of the consequences of colonialism coming back to haunt them? A mixed bag in some ways, but there's plenty of entertaining scenes involving Christopher Lee's unstoppable mummy demolishing his enemies.
 
I'm doing 31 films in 31 days myself, here's my first batch of films:

1. Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers - US 1988 (dir by Dwight H. Little)
Holds up way better than I was expecting. Donald Pleasence is in top form still and a strong performance from a young Daniele Harris. In many ways a remake of the first film but I really enjoy it's late 80s setting and style. Lots of atmosphere and creepiness from Michael here. Has a shocking twist ending that is still cool and I really wish they had followed up on....

2. Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers - US 1989 (dir by Dominique Othenin-Girard)
The cracks really start to show with this series here huh? Donald Pleasence is still here giving it his (now ever more unhinged) best with his facial scar now having moved. Jamie is now mentally linked with Michael now because? (the real reason is because magic was supposed to have been used to resurrect Michael, but they cut that out, the original scenes of the younger hermit bringing Michael back with magic was recently found and included with Scream Factory's 4k blu-ray, it's cool that it's been found). We have these 2 bumbling cops that sometimes have carnival music playing when they talk because? The thorn symbol on Michael's wrist and around the Myers house, the man in black? They had no plans here. Also the Myers house isn't the same one from the original, seeing Loomis wandering around it as the Myers house is laughable. The house is at least spooky so it has that going for it. Not the worst Halloween plan but they really rushed this one.

3. Silver Bullet - US 1985 (dir by Dan Attias)
A fun and gory 80s werewolf film based on a Stephen King story with King even writing the screenplay. Strong performances from a young Cory Haim and Gary Busey as his hard drinking uncle. I really love this films creature effects and the transformation scenes. The scene with the priest watching his congregation transform into werewolves was really cool. I also laughed really hard when i saw that the titular Silver Bullet is Cory Haim's wheelchair.

4. Beyond Re-Animator - US and Spain 2003 (dir by Brian Yuzna)
13 years after the 2nd movie we get a sequel with a limited theatrical release and debuting on the Sci-fi channel in the US. Sounds like a recipe for disaster right? Wrong, this movie is some gory, trashy fun. A worthwhile entry in the series, Jeffery Combs steps back into the role of Herbert West as if he never left. I was expecting a huge decline with reduced gore and blood, but this movie may have more even? Herbert West seemed to have discovered a more stable way of bringing people back, but it just results in more chaos and mayhem, and i'm here for it. I really loved it and it even has an open ending, maybe Jeffery Combs will done his white shirt and pickup the glowing green syringe one more time?
 
Ooooo I’m so in for this! I too indulge in the “horror flick a day in October” tradition, it's one of my favorites, horror probably is my favorite genre.

1. Demons (1985)
I will never get enough of this film, and the recent 4K release is one of my most prized possessions.

2. Stage Fright (1987)
An incredible slasher that's quickly becoming one of my most favorite rewatches lately, it's so absolutely sleazy and it knows it.

3. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
One of my first favorite films, and an experience I'll never get over. Genuinely always extremely disarming and disturbing.

4. Alligator 2: The Mutation (1991)
You think you watch trash? This played like, a zillion times in the zenith of cable television and I was there for a good dozen then, and I'm all for it now.

5. Tenebrae (1982)
Watching the recent 4K release of this took me to "the next level" so to speak, really amazing- easily my favorite of Argento's giallo films. This was the first time I learned its color pallette was influenced at least in some part to Dario Argento watching Possession, and that made me love it even more.

6. Evil Dead (2013)
I don't care at all for the writing or characters, but its practical makeup and special effects in the unrated cut are still the best daemon effects I've ever seen- truly haunting.

7. Inferno (1980)
My opinion of this film has skyrocketed now that it no longer needs to be "Suspiria 2" and I can enjoy it for what it is.

8. Prince of Darkness (1987)
My opinion of this film has skyrocketed now that it no longer is "one of the last Carpenter films I haven't seen" and I can enjoy it for what it is- Carpenter's ode to Fulci, and I'm fucking here for it!!!

9. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Watching the 4K scan of this was literally a dream come true, I couldn't have asked for anything more, I'm ecstatic it's out now.

10. Near Dark (1987)
Knowing Eric Red was involved really put me in the appropriate mind space to get the most out of this film and I really dug it after an initial lukewarm viewing some years ago.

11. Day of the Dead (1985)
One of my absolute favorites, I love Romero's warped optimism by way of extreme pessimism and it features some of Savini's best with truly haunting imagery.

12. The Hidden (1987)
Never saw this one before- wow! Some of the best cop dialogue I've heard in quite some time, I loved everything about it.

13. The Blob (1988)
A movie that actually seems to age like fine wine, its tone and cast and GOO is just so endearing, even if some of them are total slimeballs.


I'm actually looking forward to watching a lot of horror I haven't seen before.


Phosphorescent Skeleton said:
October 8th - Zombie Flesh Eaters, 1979, Lucio Fulci, Italy
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I think I was more love at first sight and sound between the dub and the naked woman shark fight and repulsive gore, but I'm a simple creature when it comes to undead on film.

Phosphorescent Skeleton said:
I think City of the Living Dead is my favorite Fulci though
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Zombie for me but City of the Living Dead is just as great for wildly different reasons.
 
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Phosphorescent Skeleton said:
October 2.3nd

The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies, 1964, Ray Dennis Steckler, USA

A real brain buster carnival back yard movie fantasia. There's really not much else I can say. Lots of jarring cuts to bizzare carnival contraptions and people with interesting faces. A must see for the seeker of the psychotro6pic celluloid drug mind.
2/5
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A classic MST3K episode for this
 
Phosphorescent Skeleton said:
October 5th

Suspiria, 1977, Dir. Dario Argento, Italy

This is one I revisit every October. I can't think of much to say about this that's not a cliché. The colors are beautiful, the soundtrack is one if the best ever written, the scares and spooks are poppin', and the gore is grisly . Watching it on 4k was overwhelming. Dario Argento frequently made movies that were beautiful but boring before this, but here all the elements come together beautifully. Not a bad scene in the whole thing. 5/5
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Have you watched the remake and what did you think of it? I've only seen the original.
 
I haven't seen the Suspiria remake yet, but I have seen that one really infamous dance scene and it's pretty horrifying! Definitely has a totally different vibe to Argento's vision though, which I can understand, but it didn't make me super eager to see it. Maybe some time this month.

afternoon delight said:
1. Demons (1985)
I will never get enough of this film, and the recent 4K release is one of my most prized possessions.
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This film is so wild! The sequel is even sillier but genuinely disturbed me and got under my skin as a kid, the transformations are gnarly and the fact people keep screening and airing these movies that let demons Sadako their way into the real world is hilarious.

afternoon delight said:
8. Prince of Darkness (1987)
My opinion of this film has skyrocketed now that it no longer is "one of the last Carpenter films I haven't seen" and I can enjoy it for what it is- Carpenter's ode to Fulci, and I'm fucking here for it!!!
Click to expand...

This one is also totally amazing. The transmission from the future is so spooky, the jump scare is iconic, Alice Cooper shows up looking so pale it's like he's covered in sudacrem...probably one of my favourite Carpenter movies.

If we're all sharing - I'm not quite doing a movie a day but here's some thoughts on the horror/horror-adjacent stuff I've watched recently, including some late September stuff as I got in the mood early and got a sub to a pretty good cult horror streaming service lol.

964 Pinocchio (1991, Shozin Fukui)
A sex slave with no memory is thrown out into the world by a customer because of erectile dysfunction - weird shit ensues. The director worked on Tetsuo and it shows since this is a more colourful, more gooey take on that vein of underground cyberpunk chaos. I loved it, but I think it might test some people's patience for extended sequences of people running through Tokyo screaming or vomiting rice pudding on the subway.

Mikadroid: Robokill Beneath Disco Club Layla (1991, Tomoo Haraguchi & Satoo Haraguchi)
A robo-slasher where a forgotten mechanical supersoldier is reawakened beneath the titular disco club which FYI we spend almost no time in! Spends way too long in a car park and isn't particularly effective horror, but it has a few really nice shots and some tokusatsu weirdness. I'm projecting, but there was definitely some fruitiness from the other supersoldiers who returned to take their rampaging colleague down, so that got it some points from me.

Cursed (2004, Yoshihiro Hoshino)
Follows that wave of turn of the millennium j-horror by basically being Ju-On at 7/11. Not very good, with some very poorly aged effects and a lot of derivative set-ups, but I do like the sad, spooky mundanity of a cursed convenience store and when it chooses to highlight the creepiness of the neighbourhood at night I think it's more effective.

The Chill Factor (1993, Christopher Webster)
Do you love slow-moving Wisconsin horror with disappointing kills and so-bad-it's-good dialogue? Then boy do I have a 'made four years before it somehow escaped onto VHS' movie for you! This is not good, but the final kill is pretty great and the script sure is something so if you love crap maybe you could watch this at 1.5 speed or something? It's been a couple weeks since I watched it but I mostly remember the women just randomly being like "I never noticed what an annoying bitch you are" to each other, or seeing a couple kiss and responding "haha stop ur gonna make me horny", plus everyone in the movie treats the one black character outrageously (the opening narration practically has the main character say "oh and one of my friends was dating a black girl damn we really do live in crazy modern times").

Night Owl (1993, Jeffrey Arsenault)
Super pretentious but I liked it. 16mm black and white movie with a depressed horny vampire going to house gigs (which we get to witness lol), hooking up, and killing. Really grim but has a good sense of the specific place and time it showcases, and John Leguizamo shows up chewing the fuck out of the scenery and being hot. Love him for that!

Pieces (1982, Juan Piquer Simón)
Had never heard of this until recently but it's a cult favourite and I can see why. Just totally mad, tonally all over the place, 85 minutes of a maniac chainsawing college girls before pulling off a super weird final shock. Plays out like a slasher murder mystery but sometimes looks and feels vaguely giallo, is truly dedicated to exploitative nudity, and the dialogue, delivery and dubbing is like nothing else. Not sure I understand why there was a random attack by a Bruce Lee impersonator, but there was!

Hocus Pocus 2 (2022, Anne Fletcher)
I guess the real hocus pocus was the nostalgia we successfully mined for mid content along the way. Fine enough weekend morning viewing I guess.

House (1986, Steve Miner)
The zaniest, most insensitive Vietnam flashbacks I've seen! Kind of love this though, it's so of that era of '80s 'lite horror' for the kids but it does at least one really shocking thing midway through. William Katt DILF energy too, and kudos for being a haunted house film mostly focused on a single character.

The Mutilator (1984, Buddy Cooper)
College kid goes to his dad's beach house with his pals, doesn't know his dad is hiding in the shed and wants to kill them all (he has a grudge which I sort of understand but also I think he's entirely to blame for what the son did!). Eventually gets to some good juicy kills but takes its sweet time and has a really annoying smarmy doofus character. I liked that it went more full-on later, though the hook kill was A Bit Much! Pretty standard mid-80s video store slasher though.

Night Train To Terror (1985, Gregg Tallas & Tom McGowan & John Carr & Philip Marshak & Jay Schlossberg-Cohen)
Anthology horror where God and the devil are on a (night) train (to terror), fighting over the souls of the people in each story. Also there's a band on the train who spend the whole framing narrative singing the same song. Every segment is made from footage from a different unfinished film, which means...it often doesn't make sense! New characters just show up with no introduction or context! You will question your sanity! I loved my time with this because of how ridiculous and accidentally trippy it was, and because the framing narrative makes it incredibly camp.

Werewolves Within (2021, Josh Ruben)
Comedy-horror without the comedy or the horror, based on a VR video game apparently? But I reject that because Werewolf existed as a party game long before Ubisoft got their hands on it. Everyone is very obnoxious in this, sorry!

Hellraiser (1987, Clive Barker)
Soapy and lurid, and one of my favourites. Dares to ask: what if there was a horny corpse in your attic and he's on the run from BDSM demons? The practical effects are amazing, the monster designs mostly great, and Clare Higgins is so iconic as Julia.
 
Ramune said:
I haven't seen the Suspiria remake yet, but I have seen that one really infamous dance scene and it's pretty horrifying! Definitely has a totally different vibe to Argento's vision though, which I can understand, but it didn't make me super eager to see it. Maybe some time this month.



This film is so wild! The sequel is even sillier but genuinely disturbed me and got under my skin as a kid, the transformations are gnarly and the fact people keep screening and airing these movies that let demons Sadako their way into the real world is hilarious.



This one is also totally amazing. The transmission from the future is so spooky, the jump scare is iconic, Alice Cooper shows up looking so pale it's like he's covered in sudacrem...probably one of my favourite Carpenter movies.

If we're all sharing - I'm not quite doing a movie a day but here's some thoughts on the horror/horror-adjacent stuff I've watched recently, including some late September stuff as I got in the mood early and got a sub to a pretty good cult horror streaming service lol.

964 Pinocchio (1991, Shozin Fukui)
A sex slave with no memory is thrown out into the world by a customer because of erectile dysfunction - weird shit ensues. The director worked on Tetsuo and it shows since this is a more colourful, more gooey take on that vein of underground cyberpunk chaos. I loved it, but I think it might test some people's patience for extended sequences of people running through Tokyo screaming or vomiting rice pudding on the subway.

Mikadroid: Robokill Beneath Disco Club Layla (1991, Tomoo Haraguchi & Satoo Haraguchi)
A robo-slasher where a forgotten mechanical supersoldier is reawakened beneath the titular disco club which FYI we spend almost no time in! Spends way too long in a car park and isn't particularly effective horror, but it has a few really nice shots and some tokusatsu weirdness. I'm projecting, but there was definitely some fruitiness from the other supersoldiers who returned to take their rampaging colleague down, so that got it some points from me.

Cursed (2004, Yoshihiro Hoshino)
Follows that wave of turn of the millennium j-horror by basically being Ju-On at 7/11. Not very good, with some very poorly aged effects and a lot of derivative set-ups, but I do like the sad, spooky mundanity of a cursed convenience store and when it chooses to highlight the creepiness of the neighbourhood at night I think it's more effective.

The Chill Factor (1993, Christopher Webster)
Do you love slow-moving Wisconsin horror with disappointing kills and so-bad-it's-good dialogue? Then boy do I have a 'made four years before it somehow escaped onto VHS' movie for you! This is not good, but the final kill is pretty great and the script sure is something so if you love crap maybe you could watch this at 1.5 speed or something? It's been a couple weeks since I watched it but I mostly remember the women just randomly being like "I never noticed what an annoying bitch you are" to each other, or seeing a couple kiss and responding "haha stop ur gonna make me horny", plus everyone in the movie treats the one black character outrageously (the opening narration practically has the main character say "oh and one of my friends was dating a black girl damn we really do live in crazy modern times").

Night Owl (1993, Jeffrey Arsenault)
Super pretentious but I liked it. 16mm black and white movie with a depressed horny vampire going to house gigs (which we get to witness lol), hooking up, and killing. Really grim but has a good sense of the specific place and time it showcases, and John Leguizamo shows up chewing the fuck out of the scenery and being hot. Love him for that!

Pieces (1982, Juan Piquer Simón)
Had never heard of this until recently but it's a cult favourite and I can see why. Just totally mad, tonally all over the place, 85 minutes of a maniac chainsawing college girls before pulling off a super weird final shock. Plays out like a slasher murder mystery but sometimes looks and feels vaguely giallo, is truly dedicated to exploitative nudity, and the dialogue, delivery and dubbing is like nothing else. Not sure I understand why there was a random attack by a Bruce Lee impersonator, but there was!

Hocus Pocus 2 (2022, Anne Fletcher)
I guess the real hocus pocus was the nostalgia we successfully mined for mid content along the way. Fine enough weekend morning viewing I guess.

House (1986, Steve Miner)
The zaniest, most insensitive Vietnam flashbacks I've seen! Kind of love this though, it's so of that era of '80s 'lite horror' for the kids but it does at least one really shocking thing midway through. William Katt DILF energy too, and kudos for being a haunted house film mostly focused on a single character.

The Mutilator (1984, Buddy Cooper)
College kid goes to his dad's beach house with his pals, doesn't know his dad is hiding in the shed and wants to kill them all (he has a grudge which I sort of understand but also I think he's entirely to blame for what the son did!). Eventually gets to some good juicy kills but takes its sweet time and has a really annoying smarmy doofus character. I liked that it went more full-on later, though the hook kill was A Bit Much! Pretty standard mid-80s video store slasher though.

Night Train To Terror (1985, Gregg Tallas & Tom McGowan & John Carr & Philip Marshak & Jay Schlossberg-Cohen)
Anthology horror where God and the devil are on a (night) train (to terror), fighting over the souls of the people in each story. Also there's a band on the train who spend the whole framing narrative singing the same song. Every segment is made from footage from a different unfinished film, which means...it often doesn't make sense! New characters just show up with no introduction or context! You will question your sanity! I loved my time with this because of how ridiculous and accidentally trippy it was, and because the framing narrative makes it incredibly camp.

Werewolves Within (2021, Josh Ruben)
Comedy-horror without the comedy or the horror, based on a VR video game apparently? But I reject that because Werewolf existed as a party game long before Ubisoft got their hands on it. Everyone is very obnoxious in this, sorry!

Hellraiser (1987, Clive Barker)
Soapy and lurid, and one of my favourites. Dares to ask: what if there was a horny corpse in your attic and he's on the run from BDSM demons? The practical effects are amazing, the monster designs mostly great, and Clare Higgins is so iconic as Julia.
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Demons, Pieces, Night Train to Terror, thats the good stuff. Also, the Bruce Lee impersonator in Pieces is Bruce Le, a prolific star of Bruceploitation and also the star of the incredible Hong Kong kaiju film Super Inframan. I believe he just knew the producer.
 
Phosphorescent Skeleton said:
Demons, Pieces, Night Train to Terror, thats the good stuff. Also, the Bruce Lee impersonator in Pieces is Bruce Le, a prolific star of Bruceploitation and also the star of the incredible Hong Kong kaiju film Super Inframan. I believe he just knew the producer.
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Yeah, I was reading up on him and damn I did not know that was a whole cottage industry. His filmography is wild too, the softcore comfort women flick stands out like a sore thumb.
 
Ramune said:
Yeah, I was reading up on him and damn I did not know that was a whole cottage industry. His filmography is wild too, the softcore comfort women flick stands out like a sore thumb.
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Bruceploitation is a vast genre. I would recommend Game of Death II as the best, and Fist of Fear Touch of Death as the funniest.
 
October 11th

The Devil Bat, 1940, Dir. Jean Yarbrough, USA

Ah, the Producer's Releasing Corporation, PRC, and name that conjures a certain creaky, depression era poetry. On of the giants of Poverty Row, a producer of endless trash, and at least one solid gold masterpiece, 1945's Detour. The Devil Bat is one of their better movies though, good fun all around. The always enjoyable Bela Lugosi plays a character with the unlikely name of Paul Carruthers with the even more unlikely profession of aftershave inventor turned mutant bat creating agent of revenge. The bat will kill anyone wearing his experimental aftershave you see? The bat is big and rubbery and screams like a motherfucker. People in the 40s I guess didn't widely known that bats weren't birds I guess, as they point that out constantly. The newspaper chief is played by the guy who voiced elmer fudd. Don't ask, just watch it! 3/5
 
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afternoon delight said:
1. Demons (1985)
I will never get enough of this film, and the recent 4K release is one of my most prized possessions.

2. Stage Fright (1987)
An incredible slasher that's quickly becoming one of my most favorite rewatches lately, it's so absolutely sleazy and it knows it.

5. Tenebrae (1982)
Watching the recent 4K release of this took me to "the next level" so to speak, really amazing- easily my favorite of Argento's giallo films. This was the first time I learned its color pallette was influenced at least in some part to Dario Argento watching Possession, and that made me love it even more.

7. Inferno (1980)
My opinion of this film has skyrocketed now that it no longer needs to be "Suspiria 2" and I can enjoy it for what it is.

8. Prince of Darkness (1987)
My opinion of this film has skyrocketed now that it no longer is "one of the last Carpenter films I haven't seen" and I can enjoy it for what it is- Carpenter's ode to Fulci, and I'm fucking here for it!!!

9. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Watching the 4K scan of this was literally a dream come true, I couldn't have asked for anything more, I'm ecstatic it's out now.


13. The Blob (1988)
A movie that actually seems to age like fine wine, its tone and cast and GOO is just so endearing, even if some of them are total slimeballs.
Click to expand...
These are all real bangers. My 2 favorite non-Suspiria Argento's (confession, not a fan of his early gialli). Also Demons is one of my go to slightly off the beaten path horror recommendations. Just insanely fun, pure cinema. Have had the 4k for awhile now, gotta watch it this month.
 
The Devil Bat (1940, Dir. Jean Yarbrough, USA)

A public domain classic, starring Bela Lugosi in one of his most memorable roles; an obviously evil scientist who nobody suspects until the movie is almost over. After losing out on a fortune, he takes the high road to revenge by manipulating his victims into putting on an experimental aftershave that happens to attract (and enrage) giant devil bats. A lot of great details in this one; the constant reuse of footage where the devil bat flies out of Bela's house, Bela's obviously sinister nature ("Goodbye!" "Put a little on the tender part of your neck."), and most of all, the devil bat's cry, which characters describe as a "squeak" but is much more of a "scream". Fits a lot of fun into a short run time.
 
neil said:
Have you watched the remake and what did you think of it? I've only seen the original.
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Ramune said:
I haven't seen the Suspiria remake yet
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Phosphorescent Skeleton said:
No, haven't seen it. Have heard its good, but hard to believe
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All of you owe it to yourselves to watch the new Suspiria, and I say this as someone who thinks the first film is literally perfect- the new one is absolutely SUBLIME and incredible, real terror and wild and raw and wrapped up in the most MOOD kinda film I've seen since it came out. Yes it is trying to be different, so try not to judge it based on the old one's perfection and you'll see how cool it is.

I think they're actually equal in my book for completely different reasons- perfect witch pictures of their respective times with the absolute technical skill and craft that puts others to shame. It's really fucking awesome the direction they took the new one in and I don't think we'll see another movie like it in quite some time, just like the first.

Ramune said:
This film is so wild! The sequel is even sillier but genuinely disturbed me and got under my skin as a kid, the transformations are gnarly and the fact people keep screening and airing these movies that let demons Sadako their way into the real world is hilarious.
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Yeah, the tone and gore of these movies just keeps me coming back for more, completely unhinged X-rated demon violence taken to absurd levels in very fun and quickly paced stories with wonderfully 2D "characters".
 
October 12th

Lake of Dracula, 1971, Dir. Michio Yamamoto, Japan

When I first heard about Toho's infamous Blood Thirsty trilogy of Hammer inspired vampire films, they seemed unobtainably rare. Sure the review said the films were boring, but look at the posters! And that name! Lake of Dracula! The mind reels with possibilities. These days they're very easy to get you're hands on and alas a second viewing still reveals this to be quite dull. The beginning is moody and intriguing, and the final showdown with the vampire is exciting, ripping off the endings of the 1st and 4th Hammer Dracula films to great effect. But the middle is a hopelessly dull mystery drama that will have you yelling "Its vampires you idiot!" and wondering whether a lake counts as running water. Also, Dracula neither owns or has any connection to the lake. 3/5
 
Lake of Dracula (1971, Dir. Michio Yamamoto, Japan)

The title is misleading, but there's still some fun to be had here! The movie is a joy any time the head vampire is on screen. Unfortunately a lot of the movie is just kind of boring. For me this has similar problems to another movie I watched this month, Matango, where there simply isn't enough of the monsters. It's disappointing, because based off the title alone, I thought this one was going to be great! Wish there was more to say about this one, but there really isn't.
 
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Old film kick past couple of days

-The Wolfman
-Carnival of Souls

Overall, I ticked off a few things that had been on the list
-Annabelle Creation
-Insidious
-The Frighteners

Still to come

-New ghostbusters
-Oculus
-The Lighthouse
-Midsommer
-Evil Dead 2 and 3 rewatch (annual halloween tradition)
-Halloween Ends
-Suspira (New one)
-Shudder trash lol
 
Previous #13
1. Demons (1985)
2. Stage Fright (1987)
3. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
4. Alligator 2: The Mutation (1991)
5. Tenebrae (1982)
6. Evil Dead (2013)
7. Inferno (1980)
8. Prince of Darkness (1987)
9. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
10. Near Dark (1987)
11. Day of the Dead (1985)
12. The Hidden (1987)
13. The Blob (1988)

#14. Strange Behavior (1981)
Entirely meh slasher, hadn't seen it before.
 
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October 13th

The Witch, 2015, Dir. Robert Eggers, USA

Robert "The Eggman" Eggers usually gets lumped in with the Elevated Horror movement, but his movies don't annoy me like those usually do. Those fucking twins drove me crazy though. I don't want to live on a god farm or be naked and grubbin' in the woods! The past fucking sucked! Anyways, you've probably heard of this one before. I had never seen it, but I thought it was pretty good. One of the better witchsploitation films I've seen. 4/5
 
The Witch (2015, Dir. Robert Eggers, USA)

First relatively recent movie I've watched this month! Really dreary atmosphere to this one, but I love the way everyone talks! Makes lines like "Did ye make some unholy bond with that goat?" even better. It's interesting to see the kind of things people believed about witches! Like how they flew on their broomsticks, for example. Reminded me of Haxan, a sort of old essay film that deals with similar subject matter. Though I much prefer The Lighthouse, this was a strong debut from Eggers!

Also, I love that funny looking rabbit!
 
Love THE VVITCH and Lighthouse, could live in dioramas of dialog from either, just totally out there. The VVITCH felt absolutely ultra bold at the time of release, couldn't get enough of it really. Still is a wildly small and entertaining creepy crawly tale.

15. Scream (2022)
A coworker told me this was good and worth watching, but I recognize now that they're a big fan of the franchise - I thought it was entirely forgettable. I also think Scream 4 did the same plot better- which is kind of funny. I'll just keep re-watching the first two.

Previous #14
1. Demons (1985)
2. Stage Fright (1987)
3. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
4. Alligator 2: The Mutation (1991)
5. Tenebrae (1982)
6. Evil Dead (2013)
7. Inferno (1980)
8. Prince of Darkness (1987)
9. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
10. Near Dark (1987)
11. Day of the Dead (1985)
12. The Hidden (1987)
13. The Blob (1988)
14. Strange Behavior (1981)
 
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October 14th

One Cut of the Dead, 2017, Dir. Shinichiro Ueda, Japan

Thought I was more clever than this movie. I was wrong! Can't say much without giving the game away, but its very fun! 4.5/5
 
One Cut of the Dead (2017, Dir. Shinichiro Ueda, Japan)

This one wasn't what I expected. Loved it, though! A ton of fun. It's pretty much impossible to write about without giving away what makes this one so neat. Don't stop the camera!
 
Love The Vivitch and The Lighthouse. Eggers really excels at those sort of...anti-transcendental, "damn wouldn't it suck to be on your own against the elements in some dreary old-timey nightmare" horrors.

One Cut of the Dead and Lake of Dracula are both on my list for this month, really sad to hear that Dracula doesn't actually own the titular lake though. What the hell!
 
I watched One Cut of the Dead a couple months ago, it was SO good. Super fun experience, didn't really expect what directions it would go but it all flowed super well. One of the more creative movies I've seen in quite a while.
 
#16. The Grapes of Death (1978)
DJrmQ8yV4AA9JjX.jpg

This was another revisit but I hadn't seen it in almost ten years I think- and the Redemption print being used right now for the HD release is certainly way better than the DVD I remember ages ago. Like a really terrible nightmare that just unfolds, super dreamy, super dreary, super sleazy. Loved it!

#17. Dream Demon (1988)
This was okay- would be "just swell" to watch with the first two Hellraiser movies for sure.

Previous #15
1. Demons (1985)
2. Stage Fright (1987)
3. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
4. Alligator 2: The Mutation (1991)
5. Tenebrae (1982)
6. Evil Dead (2013)
7. Inferno (1980)
8. Prince of Darkness (1987)
9. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
10. Near Dark (1987)
11. Day of the Dead (1985)
12. The Hidden (1987)
13. The Blob (1988)
14. Strange Behavior (1981)
15. Scream (2022)
 
afternoon delight said:
#16. The Grapes of Death (1978)
DJrmQ8yV4AA9JjX.jpg

This was another revisit but I hadn't seen it in almost ten years I think- and the Redemption print being used right now for the HD release is certainly way better than the DVD I remember ages ago. Like a really terrible nightmare that just unfolds, super dreamy, super dreary, super sleazy. Loved it!

#17. Dream Demon (1988)
This was okay- would be "just swell" to watch with the first two Hellraiser movies for sure.

Previous #15
1. Demons (1985)
2. Stage Fright (1987)
3. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
4. Alligator 2: The Mutation (1991)
5. Tenebrae (1982)
6. Evil Dead (2013)
7. Inferno (1980)
8. Prince of Darkness (1987)
9. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
10. Near Dark (1987)
11. Day of the Dead (1985)
12. The Hidden (1987)
13. The Blob (1988)
14. Strange Behavior (1981)
15. Scream (2022)
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Hell yeah, Jean Rollin kicks ass, I gotta watch Grapes of Death Still
 
October 15th

Demons, 1985, Dir. Lamberto Bava, Italy

Everything you could want from an Italian movie called demons from 1985 directed by Mario Bava's son. Filled with goo and blood and pus and gobbly gobliny demoni. The 4K was a revelation. 5/5
 
Demons (1985, Dir. Lamberto Bava, Italy)

This movie has four credited writers, and yet it has no plot. Demons!
 
Joining in with my first horror movie of the month!

Hellraiser: Inferno (2000)
You know a horror movie is gonna be fantastic when it's a direct-to-video franchise entry. Honestly, it was more watchable than I was expecting (which is to say, at all) even if that's really the most it has going for it. The acting is terrible, and the plot and writing are kind of nonsense, but some of the horror imagery works pretty decently. Definitely not a movie I'd recommend, but if you're having a popcorn night with DTV horror sequels you could do significantly worse.
 
You’re making me want to revisit Demons!

paranoodle said:
Joining in with my first horror movie of the month!

Hellraiser: Inferno (2000)
You know a horror movie is gonna be fantastic when it's a direct-to-video franchise entry. Honestly, it was more watchable than I was expecting (which is to say, at all) even if that's really the most it has going for it. The acting is terrible, and the plot and writing are kind of nonsense, but some of the horror imagery works pretty decently. Definitely not a movie I'd recommend, but if you're having a popcorn night with DTV horror sequels you could do significantly worse.
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Inferno is where I drop out - I’ve only seen up to Bloodline. I’ve seen it get a bit of a reassessment over the years, totally despised early on but people are softer on it now because apparently the series gets far worse as the studio churned out regular entries with the sole intent of holding onto the rights.

Interesting to note the director then went on to do Doctor Strange, The Black Phone, and the (imo quite overrated!) Sinister movies. There is life after a straight to video Hellraiser sequel!
 
October 15.2th

Island of Lost Souls, 1932, Dir. Erle C. Kento, USA

What is the law? A movie filled with subtext, text, and uber text. A heady brew of intent, implication, and the unconscious anxiety of a different time. Drenched in fog and shadows (all you really need for a good movie), beast men slathered in fake hair and make up are depression era nightmares made flesh in the House of Pain. Bela Lugosi in his best role is a mini tragedy and triumph. There's a panther woman. Charles Laughton is all but saying "I'm delightfully homosexual". 5/5
 
Island of Lost Souls (1932, Dir. Erle C. Kento, USA)

A nightmare of a film that wouldn't be possible to make only a few years later. Charles Laughton's delightfully gay Dr. Moreau is a joy to watch in this pre-code horror! While he has many scenes where the true menace of his character shines through, there's also moments like when he starts lying on a table on his side during a tense conversation that left me with a huge grin. Though the true standout performance goes to a smaller role in the film, Bela Lugosi as the Speaker of the Law. Bela fully commits to the role as the leader of the tortured beast-men. The sheer anguish in his face during the climax, where Moreau finally reaps what he has sown, is a testament to that. That scene in particular is one of many disturbing highlights, where you can really see why this movie scared so many people when it released. 90 years later, and it still remains a powerful and disturbing work of horror.
 
October 16th

Draculthon Part 1

Drácula (1931), Dir. Enrique Tovar Ávalos, George Melford, USA

Many of the technical aspects in the simultaneously made Spanish language Universal film are an improvement on the English version. The camera more dynamic, the editing more lively. But the absence of Lugosi is a huge problem, and making it 30 minutes longer was a disaster. An interesting curio, but not the classic its often made out to be. 3/5
 
Got a lot of great Dracula films lined up for this! We've just completed the first movie of our...

Draculthon

Part 1:

Drácula [1931 Spanish Language Version] (Dir. Enrique Tovar Ávalos, George Melford, USA)

The English language version of Dracula is one of my biggest disappointments. Bela was of course great in it, but it's so static that it often feels more like a play than a film. I had always heard that Universal's Spanish version, shot at the same time as the English one, was much better. In many ways, it is! The film is often more interesting to watch because of the better cinematography. Unfortunately it has plenty of downsides that left me just as disappointed as Universal's first version. Carlos Villarías is great as Dracula, but he's no Bela. A much bigger problem is that the film is a lot longer than the English one. It really, really drags at times. For as stage-bound as the English one is, it at least goes by much faster.
 
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October 16

DRACULTHON PART II

Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970) Dir. Peter Sasdy, UK

Thats da good stuff. Dracula is a badass until he basically has a panic attack and fall to his death like a huge nerd. 4/5
 
Draculthon Part 2:

Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970, Dir. Peter Sasdy, UK)

Along with having the best name, this one's definitely on the higher ends of the Hammer Draculas! It's basically a revenge film, starring Dracula. Some rich idiots get conned by a Dracula worshipper into helping revive the Count, but they freak out and kill his servant in the process. The freshly resurrected Dracula swears revenge, which is pretty weird because generally Dracula doesn't seem to care about anyone except himself. I guess they were close. In any case, you get plenty of Christopher Lee's Dracula killing rich weirdos, which is really all I want in a movie like this. This one also features the funniest way Dracula has ever been defeated in any of the Hammer films I've watched so far.

Why would you make your hideout a church if you're a vampire!?
 
October 16th

Dracula's Fiancée (2002), Dir. Jean Rollin, France

Draculthon Part the Third

Jean Rollin realized the poetic, surrealistic, and sensual possibilities of cinema, horror, and pulpy genres on a profound level. Also he loved Booba. A true artist. This film is not on the same level as some of his classics, but is filled with images both beautiful and shocking. Unlike anything else.

Me when the Rollin beach show up:
 
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Draculthon Part 3

Dracula's Fiancée (2002, Dir. Jean Rollin, France)

Not my favorite Rollin, but I did like it more than the other one we watched this month (The Iron Rose) since this one was more gay. I am surprised that he was still able to make something this good so late into his career! A lot of beautiful imagery, including that beach he loves so much. Also some real laugh out loud moments, including a professor with questionable taste in art. In the end, while flawed, it's a really interesting film essentially about two men trying (and failing) to control a woman's desire. Classic Rollin!

Dracula doesn't really seem evil in this one. He seems like a genuinely nice guy! Good for him.
 
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