Which of these free on-demand movies have you seen? Should I watch them?

[Rev. Powell]

I know some of you, like me, have these free on-demand movies through your cable system.  The following channels offer free selections: Sundance, Film Festival, Independent Film Channel, and (most importantly) FearNet.  The films above are the ones of marginal interest to me that are showing through the month of December; I'll probably only view three or four of them.  I thought I'd solicit some input from the board to see if any of these come with either a "recommended" or an "avoid" tag. 

[Jack]

Ju-on, the Japanese original of the Grudge - made it about ten minutes into that.  It was just boring.  The lead actress was terrible.  Vastly prefer the American remake.  I dunno, everybody seems to say the Japanese version was so much better. Not me 

[The Burgomaster]

I suggest LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT even if you watch it just for its historic value.  This is one of my favorite drive-in movies.  It's interesting to see what was considered "shocking" in the early 1970s.  This movie is pretty tame compared to the over-the-top torture porn flicks of today.  But it's still a sleaze classic, best watched after midnight.

[Fausto]

The Serpent and the Rainbow. An awesome movie. I usually dont like Bill Pullman, but he didnt bother me in this. Its the only zombie movie I know that is actually based on true (or at least semi-true) incidents.

[ToyMan]

my main gripe with fearnet is the pop-up ads at the bottom of the screen, and the half-way commercial breaks. still, for free, whaddya' gon' do?

[JPickettIII]

I liked the Serpent and the Rainbow.  I thought that it was kind of realistic.  The people under the stairs was goofy, but fun to watch.  The others I have not heard of, so I could not tell you about them.

I say just take the plunge and watch all of them.  What do you have to loose besides you sanity.

Later,

JOHN

[The Burgomaster]

my main gripe with fearnet is the pop-up ads at the bottom of the screen, and the half-way commercial breaks. still, for free, whaddya' gon' do?

I couldn't tolerate watching this for 5 seconds - - forget about it being free (I DO pay my cable bill) - - even if they paid me I wouldn't watch something with pop ups cluttering up the screen.  I would go berserk.

[Caronte]

I'm a cyborg, a bizarre movie with spectacular visual effects

[Hammock Rider]

I've seen People Under the Stairs and Serpent & the Rainbow. I agree with JPickett "People" was loopy and a bit uneven but still kind of fun. If you don't expect too much you'll like it. "Serpent" was pretty cool. We need more horror movies like this one. It really pulls you in.

[Patient7]

2001 Maniacs- kind of wierd, bloody, you get teased more with nudity than you actually see but it's watchable and intruiging.

Christmas Evil- I watched on Demand just a little while ago, it kind of drones on and on, if you have time I'd suggest you watch it for the ske of it but it's pretty boring unless someone's getting killed, which doesn't happen as often as I'd have liked.

[Allhallowsday]

I suggest LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT even if you watch it just for its historic value.  This is one of my favorite drive-in movies.  It's interesting to see what was considered "shocking" in the early 1970s.  This movie is pretty tame compared to the over-the-top torture porn flicks of today.  But it's still a sleaze classic, best watched after midnight.

Don't agree with you there, Burgomaster.  LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT is deeply disturbing to me, still shocking, and the so-called "torture porn" flicks of today are the "tame" ones (like THE DEVIL'S REJECTS) and owe much to LAST HOUSE.  It's not the gore, it's the cruelty of the thing.  I suppose one must be inured to suffering to consider this "pretty tame" and a "favorite drive-in" movie.  I despise that movie, but recognize its importance.  Ugh. 

PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS is dumb, but fun.  SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW is good, too. 

[Rev. Powell]

my main gripe with fearnet is the pop-up ads at the bottom of the screen, and the half-way commercial breaks. still, for free, whaddya' gon' do?

I couldn't tolerate watching this for 5 seconds - - forget about it being free (I DO pay my cable bill) - - even if they paid me I wouldn't watch something with pop ups cluttering up the screen.  I would go berserk.

It IS annoying, although the pop-ups aren't constant and you learn to tune them out.  Also annoying is the fact that all of these movies are presented pan-and-scan: even the Sundance Channel ones (aren't these supposed to be aimed at film fanatics who actually care about such things?)  That's one of the reasons that I'll get it on DVD if it's something I really am looking forward to seeings--I usually only watch the ones that I'm marginally interested in on On Demand.

[Rev. Powell]

The mini-debate between Burgomaster and AHD about LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT is, I guess, the reason I'm interested in it.  I don't like most "disturbing" movies, but if there's a lot of talk about them I'll sometimes get sucked in to seeing them so I can judge for myself.  Almost always, I end up being disappointed with the experience, but at least I can weigh in on the topic next time it comes around.

Thanks for the recommendations so far. 

[Paquita]

I've seen all the movies except Aaltra, Adaptation, Christmas Evil, and I'm a Cyborg.

I have kind of been wanting to watch Christmas Evil because 'tis the season and all, but part of the summary scared me off - a boy sees his mother making love to his father dressed as Santa - I really love Santa and don't want this vision burned into my brains.

If you want to ENJOY yourself don't watch Last House on the Left!  Me and my friend rented this years ago because everyone talks about it beng like a cult classic and Wes Craven's first movie, blahblahblah, and we wanted to be all hardcore and watch it.  Well after we watched it sparked a debate as to why this was in the horror section of the video store.  I said "It horrified me!", but there's no fun zombies or ghosts in it like you like in horror movies so she didn't think it should have been in the horror section.  I think they need to make a new genre for these movies and call it SADISTIC so you know what you're getting into.

I would suggest, for fun, 2001 Maniacs cuz it's got cute ol' Robert Englund, or People Under the Stairs.

If you're going to watch Last House, watch it first and then watch 2001 Maniacs to make yourself feel better.

[Allhallowsday]

Yes, Rev, check out LAST HOUSE and decide for yourself.  Consider it an education.  Anyone who can claim a film featuring humiliation, sexual assault, and murder as a "favorite" has developed a thick skin.