October/Halloween Movie Watching List

[Jim H]

Lessee...  In the past couple days I've watched:

The Manster - Generally entertaining late 50s B-film, about a guy who gets experimented on.  Changes his personality, and eventually he grows a monkey head and kills people in Japan.  This one gets massively referenced in Army of Darkness, of all things.  Well-acted for the most part, but even at 72 minutes it felt a bit long towards the end.  6/10.

Friday the 13th: A New Beginning.  Not nearly as awful as I remember it, but still a lesser entry in the series.  It's mind boggling to me how much this film had to get cut - the gore/violence left would probably be PG-13 level today (minus one or two bits).  Huge body count too, well over 20.  But the lack of a real Jason, a couple ludicrous side characters (the rednecks), some so-so acting...  I dunno, it's OK, and the pacing is alright.  6/10, but barely.

Superstition (1982) - I don't know why this one isn't talked about more.  Early 80s supernatural slasher that starts out really good, with a quickly rising body count and some good gore...  Then kinda goes no where, and has a bunch of lame kills and VERY poorly developed characters.  It was still worth a watch for the first half hour or so, and some cool looking cinematography.  Well-made, just needed better writing and some better kills in the last half.  Could have been a classic, which is a shame..  6/10 (lots of those lately, huh?)

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter.  Possibly my favorite of the paramount films, this one delivers everything you could want.  Tons of nudity, some great kills (the hacksaw twist might be my favorite in the entire series), good pacing, Crispin Glover's dance, a memorable climax, etc.  8/10.

Friday the 13th part 3: The 3D entry.  Yeah.  I enjoy this one, probably my second favorite of the Paramount films.  I think this is the best looking of the pre-zombie Jasons, minus the mask.  Some good kills - the leg split is just OUCHY.  Slows down a bit in the middle, but the final battle is real good, and the final girl in this one is my favorite (she's the only one who tries to coup de grace Jason, just for that she gets points in my book).  7/10

Night of the Demons - Probably the single most iconic 80s horror film I hadn't yet seen.  It was pretty enjoyable.  The kid brother of the main girl in the opening was hilarious, best character in the movie.  Some good gore.  The lipstick trick was pretty cool.  Oh yeah, and a black guy makes it through the WHOLE MOVIE.     7/10

[claws]

10.22. Filmcount: 48



The Hunger (1983)

Beautiful Vampiress residing in New York seduces female doctor. Intriguing and stylish. Mainstream arthouse horror? Either way, great movie.
October/Halloween score: 5/5 for including cannibalistic monkeys, throat slitting, lesbian eroticism, underground night club, mummified undead attack.

Christine (1983)

Evil car takes over nerdy student turning him into an arrogant ass. Laid back thrills based on Stephen King directed by John Carpenter. Still a fun ride that holds up.
October/Halloween score: 4/5 for including 1978 setting, lunch stabbing, Christine on fire, monster truck showdown.

[Jim H]

Today I saw The Body Snatched and I walked with a a Zombie.  Snatcher was enjoyable with a great Karloff performance.  7/10.  Zombie was just ok...  Some creepy imagery but didn't add up to much for me.  5/10.

[claws]

Superstition (1982) - I don't know why this one isn't talked about more.  Early 80s supernatural slasher that starts out really good, with a quickly rising body count and some good gore...  Then kinda goes no where, and has a bunch of lame kills and VERY poorly developed characters.  It was still worth a watch for the first half hour or so, and some cool looking cinematography.  Well-made, just needed better writing and some better kills in the last half.  Could have been a classic, which is a shame..  6/10 (lots of those lately, huh?)

Very entertaining film mixing partly genuine chills with cheesy thrills. The AB DVD is a keeper!
On a sidenote, have one shot tequila for every "Arty". Superstition is the perfect drinking game movie 

[claws]

10.23. Filmcount: 50



Day of the Dead (1985)

Army and Doctors constantly clash in an underground lair while hiding out from zombies. Romero's third undead epic is a cold and lifeless affair with outstanding gore.
October/Halloween score: 3.5/5 for including Bub, gut spill, machete amputation, head drill, nightmares, alligator, calendar displaying October.

The Return of the Living Dead (1985)

Toxic army waste brings back the dead and they are hungry for brains. This looks great on Blu-ray!
October/Halloween score: 5/5 for including Tarman, Don Calfa as Ernie, great soundtrack, nude graveyard dancing.

[Jim H]

Last night I saw Return of the Vampire.  Quite disappointing for the first film to have a werewolf (who can talk) and a vampire, played by Bela Lugosi - who considering how little we see of him, probably shot his role in like 4 days.  It was watchable, but it was boring.  Very boring and dull.  And that's impressive for a film that runs just 70 minutes.  A few nice bits of humor, and it has the classic foggy and cool-looking graveyard and sets.  Not enough.  4/10.

Today I finished off my Friday the 13th box set...

Part VI: I've always enjoyed this one.  The kills are relatively tame in gore, but still have some visceral impact at times (and the back breaker - OUCH!).  The notable touches of humor are really appreciated.  The guy who plays Jason in this one is also good.  Tommy is an OK lead character, and the pacing is good.  The best of the "zombie Jason" Paramount films.  7/10.

Part VII: This was actually considerably better than I remembered.  Jason looks great in this one - visible bones, obviously partly rotted, and when you see his face it's the best of the "zombie" Jason faces we see clearly in ANY of the films.  The film has obviously been HEAVILY cut, and I've seen the uncut versions of most of it online - it's a shame, as it would have really helped out with the kills, which are still OK but that's about it.  Kane Hodder makes a very good Jason too.  Not a great film, but entertaining enough.  Just barely a 7/10.

Part VIII: Wow, what a stinker.  Just as bad as I remembered, easily the worst in the entire series (sorry, part V is watchable and less dull).  The worst kills in the series, and almost no visible gore at all.  No likable characters AT ALL.  New York is only in the last half hour, and several long sequences are on sets.  And for some reason, Jason can teleport now.  It's just bad.  The only redeeming qualities: Kane Hodder is still a good Jason, the boxing punch kill, and the occasional light touches of humor towards the end.  Still, it's really quite bad.  2/10.

[claws]

10.24. Filmcount: 51

Tales from the Crypt Theme Night
"Scary Houses"



Season 2, Episode 6:
Television Terror (1990)
October/Halloween score: 5/5
Season 4, Episode 7:
The New Arrival (1992)
October/Halloween score: 4.5/5
Season 5, Episode 7:
House of Horror (1993)
October/Halloween score: 4/5
Season 1, Episode 5:
Lover Come Hack to Me (1989)
October/Halloween score: 4.5/5

[Flick James]

Watched this weekend:

Invasion of the Bodysnatchers (1978) - The remake with Donald Sutherland, and an interesting appearance by Leonard Nimoy. I saw this when it was out in the theatres. Was I underage? Let's just say I snuck in. It freaked me out back then, and there are still things about it that creep me out to this day, not the least of which are the NON-CGI SPECIAL EFFECTS! 4/5

Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959) - Just couldn't resist this classic about "future events in the future." 4.5/5

Daughters of Dracula (1974) - First time with this one, about a couple of bisexual vampires in England who lure victims to there rather fancy estate in the countryside, and who, strangely, didn't appear to have fangs, because I don't recall once where they actually bit their victims, instead opting to cut or stab them and drink the blood from the wound. The budget was miniscule, so my guess was they had plenty of fake blood, a cast willing to get naked often, and a lack of fang effects. Very cheesy and British. 3.2/5

Still in the queue to be watched by the end of the month:

Bride of the Monster (1955)
The Crazies (1973)
Nosferatu (1922)
White Zombie (1932)
The Hunger (1983)
Countess Dracula (1971)
Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972)
The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962)

[Jack]

Friday the 13th part 2 (1981) - One of my favorite slashers of all time, but I've seen it sooooooo many times at this point.  Still found it to be good though.  Likable characters, some good atmosphere, pretty nice kills.  They seem to cram a lot of movie into 90 minutes.  I don't think there's a boring minute in this.  It used to be a 5/5, but after a dozen viewings, it's more like a 4/5 for me now.

[claws]

10.25. Filmcount: 53



Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)

Invasion of the kooky kind: evil clown aliens set up camp in a small town and cocoon people with cotton candy. Fun Sci-Fi Horror with crazy special effects and cool theme song.
October/Halloween score: 5/5 for including popcorn gun, balloon dog, decapitation, corpse dummy, human cotton candy drink.

Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (1988)

Elvira discovers that she is actually a witch in this fun comedy. I never get tired of watching this one as it just constantly delivers the goods.
October/Halloween score: 5/5 for including Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, pot luck orgy, pot luck surprise, hot dog cleavage drop.

[Jim H]

Jason Goes To Hell: Yeah, the new mythology is poorly explained and really doesn't fit well with the rest of the series AT ALL.  I also just don't like it conceptually.  But taken on its own merit, I find it a reasonably entertaining B-horror film.  7/10.

Howling III: Wow.  Incredibly incoherent, with some AWFUL acting.  Only the scientist guy and the old director were good.  Horribly placed humor.  Flacid, out-of-place "horror" scenes.  PG-13 werewolf flick with a high body count?  Yeah ok.

Just all over the place.  Deliberately places itself in the Howling universe with a couple references, then ignores its mythology.  I liked a few concepts in here, and it was nice to see a movie with werewolf leads who weren't all bad for once...  But, yeah, it's really bad.  2/10.

[claws]

10.26. Filmcount: 55



House (1986)

Novelist spends time in his dead aunts house to write about Vietnam but ghosts, goblins and a portal to another dimension is of much distraction. Entertaining spookshow. Innocent 80s? random neighbor leaving her son in the care of a total stranger to babysit seems very odd these days. He bathes the kid, too 
October/Halloween score: 4/5 for including haunted house theme, vietnam flashback, flying tools, body parts gone wild.

Witchboard (1986)

Young woman communicates with friendly ghost which turns out the be the evil spirit of a serial killer. Fun Ouija Horror with a back then saucy Tawny Kitaen.
October/Halloween score: 3.5/5 for including Demonic possession theme, flying ouija board, oddball psychic, spirit POV, supernatural storm, seance.

[Jim H]

Today I saw The Legend of Hell House.  It was fairly decent.  Some good suspense and a few good scares, good acting.  Didn't really stand out a whole lot, but worth a watch.  7/10

I also saw the Zanti Misfits episode of the Outer Limits.  The Zanti themselves were effectively creepy, but I thought the episode was so-so and the "moral tale" at the end ludicrous.

[Jack]

The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) - After spending some time entombed in a sulfur pit, The Monster is back, and Ygor takes him to Dr. Frankenstein (the son of the original Doctor).  This guy is a brain surgeon, so the plan is to replace the monster's defective brain with a good one.  As you may have guessed, there are complications.  I really liked this, it drew me in right from the beginning and the plot was pretty fast paced, which kept me interested through to the end.  The characters were well developed and sympathetic, and the special effects budget must have been quite large.  I'll give it a 4.5/5.

[claws]

10.27. Filmcount: 57



Cat People (1982)

Young woman can only have sex with brother because both are dangerous cat people. Love the New Orleans setting. It adds so much to the atmosphere. And David Bowie's theme song is a timeless classic.
October/Halloween score: 4.5/5 for including Lynn Lowry, cat-ly behavior, wicked transformation, arm-rip, nude Nastassia exploring wildlife.

The Sender (1982)

Suicidal young man in mental clinic sends disturbing telepathic images. Underrated psychological thrills wrapped in engaging and original story.
October/Halloween score: 4.5/5 for including rats, fire, surreal dream-like imagery, fun patients, TV demolition, slow motion window crash, car chase without driver.