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

[Jim H]

Here's my complete list:
1. Pontypool.  Good stuff.  8/10.
2. Howling Reborn.  Reasonably well made, but not great.  6/10.
3. Riki-O.  Always fun.  8/10.
4. Session 9.  Good slow build.  Decent.  7/10.
5. Unnameable.  OK.  5/10.
6. Brain Damage.  Fun.  7/10.
7. We Have To Talk About Kevin.  Powerful drama, a horror drama really, brutal stuff.  9/10.
8. Ginger Snaps.  Like this one quite a bit.  8/10.
9. Brain Dead - Pretty good, generally funny when it means to be.  7/10.
10. Deadheads.  Ok romantic zomedy.  Not as touching as it tries to be.  6/10.
11. Missing!  Damn it.
12. Missing!  Damn.
13. Super 8.  Very good film on every level.  9/10.
14. Monster Squad.  Really enjoy it.  8/10.
15. Seventh Curse.  A lot of film, ALL OVER THE MAP though.  9/10.
16. Evil Ed.  Mixed bag, good cinematography.  6/10.
17. Saint Nicholas (AKA Saint).  Alright.  Terrible dubbing.  Doesn't build to much.  5/10.
18. Descent part 2.  Weak, obvious.  Terrible ending.  5/10.
19. Satan's Little Helper.  A few laughs, terrible mostly everything else.  3/10.
20.  Mummy's Hand.  Starts off OK, but slow for a 70 minute film.  Meh.  5/10.
21. Sinister.  Genuinely creepy.  Ending too predictable.  Good overall.  8/10.
22. Bay of Blood.  Atmospheric, mostly weird but entertaining.  7/10.
23. The Ring.  It's alright, not a big fan.  6/10.
24. Freddy VS Jason.  Tons of fun, always loved it.  9/10.
25. Quarantine 2.  Watchable, but miles from the Spanish original.  5/10.
26. Sleepaway Camp 3.  Something about part 2 and 3 I find vaguely repellent and unpleasant - and I generally LIKE slasher films, mind you.  Mostly I just want the killer in this one to die very badly.  Maybe its the bloodless, but somehow pointlessly cruel kills, or the mild but not over the top sense of humor, or just the atmosphere.  I just find parts 2 and 3..  Not enjoyable.  3/10.
27. House of the Devil.  Creepy, slow build up and I liked the 80s style feel of it.  Pretty good.  7/10.
28. The Nest.  Did not live up to my expectations, and I'd been interested for more than 10 years in the film.  Watchable though, slow build.  Fans of 50s monster movies might like it as it is a real throwback in style but with 80s gore.  6/10.
29. We're Going To Eat You.  Kung fu cannibal horror comedy flick.  Really, what is there NOT to like?  8/10.
30. Shaun of the Dead.  Enjoyable zomedy.  I don't get the heaps of love it gets though.  8/10.
31. I saw it November 1, but oh well.  Silent Hill.  Murky, and a bit confusing, but has some fantastic visuals.  Mixed bag overall, but is probably the only video game movie that is actually a movie, if you know what I mean.  6/10.

Good month overall, most of my movies were first time viewings.  I'll have to update this message with the two missing ones, think I can figure it out...

[AndyC]

Just a couple more from Halloween night. As usual, the rest of the family went out trick-or-treating, and then to a party, which left me and the dogs home alone for quite a while. Where we live, not many kids are likely to come to the door, so I just shut off all the lights to discourage the handful of bigger kids who might go to the trouble, which gives me terrific atmosphere for movies. Got in three that evening.

Suspiria - Very stylish, very atmospheric. Argento's use of lighting, music, settings, camera angles all make this a creepy movie, even in parts where nothing overtly scary is happening. I did find it a little hard to follow at times, and the pacing is kind of uneven. The scary parts are well done, but I found things tended to drag a bit in between. There's quite a lot of movie for what is really a very simple plot.

Chernobyl Diaries - What can I say? It had a great premise, a great setting, lots of interesting historical tidbits a lengthy setup and loads of potential, then did bugger-all with it. What plot there is relies heavily on people doing the wrong thing nearly all of the time, and none of the characters are particularly likable, so it was difficult to muster any kind of concern.

Sleepaway Camp 2: Unhappy Campers (1988) - I remember seeing this one at the video store back in the day, I was very much into this kind of movie by then, but I just never got around to seeing it until now. Maybe it's because I didn't expect much, but I was pleasantly surprised by this one. Angela is back, after considerable therapy, a sex change and a partial name change, and she's working as a camp counselor. She's a very chipper, very proper young woman, who is actually not unlike her crazy aunt from the first movie - cheerfulness and good manners barely concealing a dark and psychotic personality. It's a very tongue-in-cheek sequel, and typical of what the slasher genre had become toward the end of the 80s, thanks in large part to the success of Freddy Krueger. This movie is full of sex and drugs and heavy metal music, in a world where all the girls are hot and tend to flash their tits a lot. The killer is not silent, mysterious or hidden from the audience. It's Angela, we know why she's doing it, and we get to laugh at the witty, ironic and downright crazy things she says. She brutally dispatches unruly teenagers as though it were a firm-but-fair punishment from Mom. The kills mostly try to be creative, gross and even amusing, rather than going for actual horror. Teenagers at the time (like me) ate that stuff up. The interesting thing is that in spite of all this, Sleepaway Camp 2 does manage to get pretty dark and disturbing by the end. Pretty good for what it is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2bMmCIBTik
	Small | Large

[JaseSF]

Finished my Halloween viewing with 3 classics:

NOSFERATU: A SYMPHONY OF HORROR (1922): creepy, eerie surreal film basically adapts Dracula but with a few changes and added touches here and there. Makes terrific use of visuals, darkness and light and especially shadows not to mention some unsettling motion effects. Max Shreck is as scary as they come as Count Orlok. A must watch for the true Horror fan.

DRACULA (1931): the Universal classic starring the one and only Bela Lugosi who so owns the role of Count Dracula he became synonymous with the character for years and generations to come (really even to this day). A great spooky atmosphere permeates this one and some terrific show-stealing acting performances from Lugosi and Dwight Frye as Renfield really help to keep one watching.  Surprisingly simple and formulaic on some levels and arguably even a tad bit creaky, it nevertheless manages to create a lasting impression upon the viewer.

HALLOWEEN (1978): it wouldn't be Halloween without a viewing of this annual classic from John Carpenter. Even though I've seen this so very many times, I still notice little things I didn't notice before with every viewing such as Michael Myers lurking in the background of even more scenes than I realized before. His presence is this film definitely borders on omnipresent. The film is great of course slowly building and building the suspense until it finally breaks loose when Michael Myers decides to come home to Haddonfield for Halloween night. The music and the atmosphere of being constantly watched and stalked really adds a lot to this one.

[Pilgermann]

I failed miserably at watching horror films, or any films for that matter in October.  I have a feeling I'll be watching a lot of stuff this month.

October 15 Witchcraft Double Feature:  The Worst Witch (1986) - Terrible children's film that predates Harry Potter's school of witchcraft.  Pretty amusing, especially the absolutely hideous special effects.  Tim Curry plays the grand wizard or whoever and his arrival to the school on Halloween leads into an insane music video.  Worth watching.  7/10

Haxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages (1922) - Incredibly great "documentary" about the history of all things witchy.  The best parts are those featuring various devils and debauchery, but it's all pretty excellent stuff.  Never thought I'd see a film from the twenties with child sacrifice and women kissing the devil's bare arse.  9/10

October 18: It!  The Terror from Beyond Space (1958) - A nice 50's time-waster but it's pretty shabby.  Nothing too exciting but marvel at the heavily armed astronauts firing guns and a rocket launcher inside their spaceship!  5/10

And that's it...I failed to watch so many that I had my heart set on.  Blah, maybe I'll have more time this month.