Badmovies.org's 2012 Annual October Horror Movie Watching Thread

[JoeTheDestroyer]

Movie 34: The Howling (1981)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WtdBKUnVkc
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[SynapticBoomstick]

Movie #4

Hellgate, October 17


This log from 1990 bobs among the many juicy apples that I could have picked instead if I'd known anything about it. That rotting face and tale of a murdered woman's soul that sucks the life out of men passing through town is only there to lure you in. I wouldn't even call her death a murder, more like a ridiculous accident: She's being molested by a group of bikers called The Strangers when her dad throws a hatchet into the biker's head and the dead biker plows himself and the daughter through a brick wall. Did you know that brick walls have a one-brick thickness and can support themselves without mortar?

After that happened, Dad hated all strangers (see what they did?). One of his employees finds a weird crystal on the property that apparently kills living things and brings dead things back to life. In both cases the zapped thing explodes after about twenty seconds. This was the only part of the movie I could actually get any enjoyment out due to the goofy effects work, which is maybe five minutes out of ninety-one. So daddy brings his girl back from the dead to lure people into town so that he can kill them. Why doesn't she explode? Why does daddy want to lure strangers into town if he doesn't want them there? It's the 90s bro, who cares!

Rating: Pennies
You ring the doorbell in anticipation, the door opens, and out comes a bunch of pennies. All of the characters are obnoxious and all the cars have vanity plates, a seemingly big big plot point turns out to be utterly pointless, and nothing gets accomplished. It's a criminal offense if the writers on this job got paid because they try to hang the film on one thing: naked women. "Let's have this dead girl be all hot and athletic and wanting so people don't notice that the movie makes no sense." Don't get me wrong, my blood's as red as the next, but if you're going to use nudity just for the sake of it, just to get people to watch a piece of garbage like Hellgate, you're committing an act akin to fraud in horror.

Plus she's dead. What's going on there exactly? You want to talk about it?

[Jack]

The Skull (1965) - Peter Cushing stars as a collector of demonic curios, and he's offered the chance to buy the skull of the Marquis de Sade.  Fellow curio collector Christopher Lee warns him the the skull is evil, but by that time it's already influencing Cushing's mind, so he has little choice in the matter.   That ol' skull is determined to complete it's evil mission, whatever that may be.  I really enjoyed this, it has excellent atmosphere, Cushing is great, and there's nothing like seeing an evil skull floating around the room.  Even if you can quite easily see the wires it's suspended by.  4.5/5.

Spirit Camp (2009) - some cheerleaders go to spirit camp but of course there's a nasty killer lurking about in the woods.  Great horror/comedy with really witty characters that are a ton of fun.  Sexy too.    Follows the classic old slasher formula to a T, with all the stereotypes present and accounted for, and has a really good time with them all.  5/5.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8tiOuKjp9c
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[Chainsawmidget]

Next up on the chopping block is TERROR AT TENKILLER. 

Terror at Tenkiller is sort of an 80s slasher movie that forgets to do the slashing... or much else really.  It has all the terror, suspense, action, and pace of a Lifetime Original Movie starring the Golden Girls. 

Also there aren't ten killers in the movie.  Nor are ten people killed.  The name Tenkiller comes from an old Indian legend that was made up by the father of one of the main characters.  It's shoehorned into the ending as well, but otherwise has nothing to do with anything. 

So, what does the movie have going for it?  The single worst "Oh no!  The Killer isn't really dead!" jump scare I have ever seen in a movie. 

I'm going to ruin the ending for you now, so if you don't want it ruined, stop reading. 

So, the only surviving member of the cast and the killer have just knocked each other out of the boat they were in ... somehow. I already forgot how it happened... and she's swimming to shore while he slowly drowns.  The movie shows her reach the shore and sitting there while we get a voice over saying that the police investigated, but they never discovered who that guy really was, where he came from, or what his motives where.  THEN after the voice over, while she's still at the shore, we see him jump back out of the water in the stupidest pose imaginable. 

So, did he somehow come back to life AFTER the police investigated, or before, or what?  It's not like he was some supernatural evil or super human killer either.  He was just a normal guy. 

[theedinburghbteam]

For the B-Teams Halloween triple bill this year, I'm putting on these numbers:

"Dark Night of the Scarecrow" (1981)

"Night of the Demons" (1988)

and

"Trick or Treat" (1986)

I nice 80s theme for Halloween, I am looking forward to it greatly.

[AndyC]

Triangle (2009) - A group of people out for a day of sailing are capsized by a freak storm and picked up by a mysterious and seemingly deserted cruise ship. Turns out it's not completely deserted, and people start dying.

I've noticed that the horror/thriller movies I've enjoyed most in recent years are the ones that assume the audience can figure out what's going on, and deal with it, whether by keeping us guessing or by letting us think we've got it figured out, then throwing us a curve. Triangle is a fun movie. At the most superficial level are horror movie plot devices we've all seen - freaky weather, a ghost ship, stranded travelers seeking shelter, a killer stalking them - but that is just the beginning. Watching it for the first time, it becomes a continuous game of fitting things together, figuring out what's going on, thinking you know what will happen and then having another layer of weirdness added on top. Any little thing that happens, no matter how trivial, can prove significant later on, and seemingly simple events can turn out to be more complicated than they seem. The kind of movie that keeps you thinking well after it's over. Loved it.

[JoeTheDestroyer]

Movie 35: Creepshow (1982)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cA2Ga4g5e4A
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I like how the one guy in The Crate is like, "Hey, I see a pair of ominous eyes staring at me from inside the box.  Why, I should put my hand in there and find out what it is!"

Movie 36: Saw VI (2009)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKJviTdrqzk
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Movie 37: The Host (2006)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw6xfpZ7xpw
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Movie 38: Phantasm (1979)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4FbozQKViw
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[claws]

10/18/12 Filmcount: 23



Messiah of Evil (1973)

Always watch this once a year. Great movie, creepy and atmospheric. 4.5/5

[Jack]

Horror of Dracula (1958) - a guy travels to Dracula's castle under the pretense of becoming his librarian, but it turns out he's a vampire hunter.  He manages to kill Drac's girlfriend, but the Count (Christopher Lee) turns the tables on him and takes a little nibble out of our would-be vampire hunter.  Drac's not too happy about losing his girlfriend, so he travels to the guy's hometown and bites his fiancee.  Peter Cushing shows up as Dr. Van Helsing, and tries to help the family defend against their newfound vampire problem, with mixed results.  This is one of the most well-known and popular Hammer Horror films, but it's never done much for me.  Other than Cushing, the rest of the characters just aren't very developed and I didn't really care what happened to them.  The story really isn't too interesting and it just doesn't manage to create any suspense.  The ending is pretty good though.  Not a bad movie by any means, just not one of the better Hammer films.  3.5/5.

[AndyC]

The Prowler (1981) - Like The Burning, this is another classic slasher that wasn't at my local video store in the 80s, and never seems to come up in conversation, so I've only just discovered it.

In the early 1940s, Rosemary sends a "Dear John" letter to her boyfriend overseas. In June 1945, the troops have come home from Europe, and Rosemary is at the local college graduation dance where she slips outside to make out with her new boyfriend. A masked G.I. in full battle dress sneaks up and sticks a pitchfork through both of them. Jump forward 35 years, and everyone is getting ready for the first graduation dance allowed since the murders. This includes a mysterious figure lacing up his combat boots and packing his weapons.

I liked this movie. It was well made from a technical standpoint, as slashers go. It looks good. The 1940s scenes are convincing enough. Tom Savini is in top form with the blood and gore, and a slasher in a G.I. uniform is just plain cool. I did think the movie kind of lost its way in the middle. It felt disjointed and ended rather quickly. Questions that were raised were barely answered, if that, and some characters and plot points seemed to be wasted. I got the feeling it was edited in a hurry (at least for the second half) and a fair bit was left on the cutting room floor.

A pretty good slasher movie that had the potential to be great.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stnK1-uPVX0
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[66Crush]

I recently watched:

Brides of Dracula
The Tall Man
Poltergeist 2

I also watched Tom Baker's "Voodoo" segment of "Vault of Horror" on You Tube. I didn't feel like watching the whole thing and the Baker story is the best. Well, this is coming from a slightly biased Doctor Who fan. Also a great performance from the late Denholm Elliot.
 
Part One

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_HDeFP_Y9g
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Part Two

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCF-TXgLETw&feature=relmfu
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Part Three

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWhDWBnWKAk&feature=relmfu
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[Jack]

The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) - Dr. Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) creates a monster (Christopher Lee) and it, well, doesn't really do much.  Another hugely popular Hammer Horror movie that leaves me rather flat.  Takes quite a while to get going, the monster just isn't scary, and the characters are fairly one-dimensional.  Still good but not one of my favorites.  3.5/5.

The Plague of the Zombies (1966) - a professor of medicine travels to a small village to look into some problems one of his former students is having.  Turns out residents of the place are dying at an alarming rate, and don't seem to stay in their caskets after burial.  This is a big favorite of mine, with excellent characters, a somewhat intriguing plot, and lots of good atmosphere.  4.5/5.

[AndyC]

The Brotherhood of Satan (1971) - This was one of a handful of horror and sci-fi movies produced by L.Q. Jones and Alvy Moore in the late 60s and early 70s. The pair are also among the principal cast of the movie. Jones is a familiar craggy-looking character actor, often seen in westerns and the like. Moore most notably starred in the sitcom Green Acres. Well, he didn't really star, but he was a central character. Well, not really central, but..... What was I saying?

Anyway, the movie starts with a little boy's toy Sherman tank becoming real and crushing a car with a family inside. A couple with a little girl happen upon the wreck while driving to Grandma's place, and make a detour into the nearby town of Hillsboro to report it. This attracts much attention, as nobody has been able to get into town for some time. Lately, adults in the town are turning up dead, and children are going missing. The steel pancake by the side of the road contained a family that tried to leave town. And although three people have just gotten in, forces are now at work to keep them from leaving. Pondering this mystery are the sheriff (Jones), his pulp-reading deputy (Moore), the local priest and the town doctor (Strother Martin). And all the while, the old folks in town seem pretty happy about something.

Pretty good movie. Creepy, suspenseful, disturbing in places, kind of clever. Has that 60s/70s satanic horror feel to it, including the impression that a happy ending is by no means guaranteed. And quite a bit of scenery gets chewed, most notably by Martin.

Watched the complete movie on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqwTajK35L8&feature=watch-now-button&wide=1
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[bob]

Here's what horror movies I've watched.

October 1 The Invisible Man (1933) 5/5
October 3 The Mummy (1932) 4.75/5
October 4 Night of the Living Dead (1968) 10/5
October 5 Frankenstein (1931) 5/5
October 6 Nosferatu (1922) 5/5
October 7 Se7en (1995) 7/5
October 10 White Zombie (1932) 10/5
October 12 The Wolfman (1941) 5/5
October 14 Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) 4.5/5
October 14 Alien (1979) 5/5
October 14 Children of the Corn (1984) 0/5
October 15 Psycho (1960) 35/5
October 17 Rosemary’s Baby (1968) 50/5
October 17 Halloween (1978) 10/5
October 18 The Black Cat (1934) 4.75/5
October 18 Halloween II (1981) 4/5
October 19 The Omen (1976) 10/5

[Andrew]

Pumpkinhead:  I have a big soft spot for this movie.  Not only is it a monster film with a cool looking  monster (love how unnaturally long his limps are), but the story reminds me of something Shakespeare would have written.  There is a blurring of the good and evil between Henriksen and the group of young kids who accidentally cause his son's death.  There is also a gruesome cost associated with calling Pumpkinhead to take revenge on someone.

Project Viper:  A confusing mess of a film, though it is nice to see a CGI beast that is a writhing mass of tentacles.

And one more:

I also watched Tom Baker's "Voodoo" segment of "Vault of Horror" on You Tube. I didn't feel like watching the whole thing and the Baker story is the best. Well, this is coming from a slightly biased Doctor Who fan. Also a great performance from the late Denholm Elliot.

I just watched "Vault of Horror" last night!  Tom Baker's segment is probably my favorite as well.  I do enjoy the first segment as well, with the man who takes a later supper at a very unfortunate restaurant.