October Horror Movie Massacre!!!

[crackers]

I liked Student Bodies

Yeah me too. I thought it was a blast.

[fulci420]

Movie # 29
Farmhouse (2008)

We follow a couple driving cross country obviously in some kind of trouble. When the husband falls asleep at the wheel their car crashes causing them to seek refuge in a local farmhouse. The occupants of the farmhouse are a couple who certainly seem nice enough inviting the stranded couple in for dinner and a place to stay. Before you know those nice owners of the farmhouse turn out to be kind of meanies as they tie up our couple and the torturing begins.

From the surface this just sounds like more torture porn garbage but it actually was surprisingly good. The film is interspersed with flashbacks to just why the main couple need to run away, and these add intrigue and drama to the proceedings. By keeping me engaged with the characters back story I felt that this never got boring like some of these torture movies get. Good acting and solid writing makes this a lost gem that deserved better than to be sent to dvd purgatory (now residing in youtubeland.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgww9ocReK8&list=PLC2C9BFC77856C976 

[Jack]

Hansel & Gretel (2007) - Korean movie.  You know that "It's a Good Life" episode of The Twilight Zone where the little kid has supernatural powers, he's turned his house into a children's wonderland, and the adults live in terror of doing something that would displease him?  This is like the movie version of that.  Towards the end it takes a dark turn and they do their best to manipulate some tears out of the audience.  At least I hadn't seen the ending before, unlike the first hour of this.  It was artfully photographed, that's about it.  3/5.

The Shaft (2001) - the Millennium building in New York has a problem:  it's elevator's gone homicidal.  For some reason the head repairman can't find anything wrong with it, so it's right back in service;  rinse and repeat.  The apprentice elevator repairman however teams up with a tabloid reporter (Naomi Watts) to solve the mystery.  It's a ridiculous premise and just gets more ridiculous as it goes on.  Fun stuff LOL.  Naomi is awesome as always and Ron Perlman and Michael Ironside are in this too.  The owner of the building is played by the guy who narrates all those A&E Biography shows    A good time was had by all.  4/5.

[fulci420]

Big fan of The Shaft! Wait that doesn't sound too good does it...Such a hilarious b horror I was laughing all the way through. Director Dick Maas is no novice when it comes to killer elevator movies or shafts he also brought the world 1983's "The Lift". Here is just one of my favorite scenes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDpVnR1Fo3U

[claws]

10.23.13 (35)

Vestron Video Classics on DVD Triple Feature



Cannibal Apocalypse (1980) (DVD)

Watchability: 4/5
Energy drain: 2/5

Vietnam vet encounters war buddies infected with virus causing violent behavior and the urge to eat human flesh. Italian Action-Horror with typical awkward U.S. setting and innovative camera work. Some neat gore and obvious stock footage add to the (cheesy) fun.

The House on the Edge of the Park (1980) (DVD)

Notorious sadistic rape/crime/thriller that appears cheesy at first glance but really isn't. The violence isn't all that explicit by today's standards, and the cast give unusual good performances. "Hot Diggity" remains a classic, though. 4/5

Hell of the Living Dead (1980) (DVD)

Watchability: 4.5/5
Energy drain: 1/5

Special unit squad battle zombies in exotic location. Classic Z-Movie that will tickle your funny bone throughout.

[FatFreddysCat]

Last night I watched "Halloween Night" (2006), which was the Asylum's attempt to piggy back on Rob Zombie's "Halloween" remake.

Needless to say, they failed. This flick has a huge body count and some decent gore (plus some utterly gratuitous girl-on-girl action) but the script, direction, and acting are craptastic.

Still liked it better than Zombie's "Halloween II" or most of the later sequels in the "real" Halloween series, but that's not exactly high praise is it? 

[Jim H]

I saw the RiffTrax live of Night of the Living Dead.  I thought it was kind of meh.  I also kept getting pulled in by the movie, then taken out by the riffing.  I have to say, I'm not really a fan of riffing on an actually solid film...  Just doesn't seem to work.  The riffs were so-so on the whole as well.  Oh well.  It was worth seeing once.

[claws]

Another Vestron Video Classics on DVD Triple Feature



Sweet Sixteen (1983) (DVD)

Melissa is the new girl at school, but all her dates end up dead ... Slasher with small town setting, lots of sympathetic characters and engaging mystery plot. The climatic everybody-is-sitting-on-the-ground ending was kind of corny and seemed rushed. Love the very ending which left the door open for a possible sequel. 3.5/5

Strange Invaders (1983) (DVD)

Divorced teacher and tabloid writer team up to solve mysteries in a small town inhabited by aliens. 1950s sci-fi homage not poking fun at the genre. The director had a keen eye for mood, atmosphere, setting. This film actually feels and looks like it was made in the 1950s. 4/5

Sole Survivor (1983) (DVD)

Survivor of a plane crash is haunted by the spirits of the dead... Long time fave and October-regular. This creepy little gem is filled with eerie chills and thrills. 5/5

[Jack]

Anthropophagus (1980) - some people go to an island that's supposedly a popular tourist destination, but are surprised to find it deserted.  They walk around a lot.  They also sit around and do some standing around.  Oh and lest I forget (which is pretty easy), there's also a killer on the loose.  One of those Italian things - extremely stilted and unnatural dialogue, acting to match, and the directing...I spent a good deal of this movie pondering if the director didn't realize how stupid this stuff was or if he just didn't care.  Example:  a couple are walking through a basement and a girl jumps out of a vat of wine and starts stabbing the person nearest her.  The other person - who's right next to the one getting stabbed - just stands there seemingly unconcerned.  No reaction at all.  Later on a girl falls in a well (the killer's at the bottom).  She's hanging from a rope but there's a ladder running inside the well she needs to climb up to escape.  It's a foot away from her.  I dunno, most arms can reach a foot, but I guess hers can't.  She swings towards the ladder, and they show her feet clumsily trying to get a grip.  She tries again and finally uses her hands this time.  She's uninjured, and one would thing she'd just climb out, but no;  she keeps stopping to see if the killer is following her.  Over and over again  

I started watching the English dub, which was horrible.  The Italian wasn't much better.  Seriously, you could watch this whole movie in Italian without subtitles and not only would you not miss a thing, you'd probably think it was better than it is because you wouldn't realize how awful the dialogue was.  2.5/5.

Ouija Board (2004) - Korean movie.  A girl's getting picked on at school so she puts a curse on her tormentors.  Little does she realize that the spirit she's summoned has a long history in the village and is out for more than just revenge against a few schoolgirls.  This was okay.  I didn't feel like I knew the characters on anything but the most superficial level, so that left only the plot and I found it too simple to really keep me interested for 90 minutes.  A revelation is made, you spend 30 minutes listening to people go blah blah blah until the next revelation is made, repeat a couple more times.  This director REALLY loves the spooky girl from The Grudge and there must be 50 shots of girls leaning forward with their hair falling in their face and one spooky eye looking at you from between the hair.  Spookily.  Dude, it's getting really old.  The big reveal at the end was somewhat good and it had some nice cinematography.  3/5.



Boo!

[Jack]

Noroi: The Curse (2005) - a paranormal investigator is going around Tokyo with his cameraman (this is a found footage movie, so a professional cameraman is much appreciated), doing the usual interviews of people who have had strange experiences.  It's not long before you notice these experiences are all somehow linked;  there's even footage from TV variety shows which will prove to be pertinent later.  The whole plot is basically like a puzzle and the pieces fall into place throughout the movie.  I thought this was great.  Halfway through my wife and I had to put it on pause and go do something else for a while because it was creeping us out.  That's about the highest compliment I can give a horror movie    It's a paranormal investigation so the whole thing is NOT normal;  this unpredictability creates a great undercurrent of discomfort and vulnerability because you've just got no idea what will happen next.  You're completley out of your frame of reference.  Although Phone is probably still my favorite movie I've seen this month, Noroi is definitely the scariest.  5/5.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilHmpETJgZ0

Murder Mansion (1972) - I've tried watching this twice before and fell asleep both times.  Finally made it to the end last night    It's not a bad movie, just slow moving.  A group of travelers end up staying at a spooky house due to heavy fog which makes driving impossible.  The woman who lives there tells them stories about old legends involving vampires and stuff.  So it gets late and they all go to bed - though nobody gets much sleep.  A young couple start investigating the place, a drunk wanders around and hits on the women, and there's also a mysterious woman and her chauffeur wandering about.  The usual scary stuff happens.  This had nice atmosphere and the characters weren't bad.  Kind of managed to build a bit of tension as it went along.  3/5.

[Rev. Powell]

I saw the RiffTrax live of Night of the Living Dead.  I thought it was kind of meh.  I also kept getting pulled in by the movie, then taken out by the riffing.  I have to say, I'm not really a fan of riffing on an actually solid film...  Just doesn't seem to work.  The riffs were so-so on the whole as well.  Oh well.  It was worth seeing once.

Me too. I mostly agree with your take, but it worked OK for me---but only because I've seen the movie so many times it was a fun and refreshing to see it presented as ridiculous instead of scary. I think the woman next to me was seeing NotLD for the first time, because she kept jumping in her seat at the scary parts and seemed shocked when Ben died. I fear that this would be a terrible way to see this movie for the first time.

[claws]

10.25.13 (41)

Vestron Video Classics on DVD & Blu-ray Triple Feature, Vol. 3



Splatter University (1984) (DVD)

Watchability: 2.5/5
Energy drain: 4/5

New teacher at University run by strict Catholic priests gets entangled in murder - somebody is slashing students and teachers. Filmed in 1981, picked up by Troma who then added 10 minutes newly shot footage in 1982, and finally released in 1984. The outcome? Messy because added silly Troma footage (punk/rock 'n' roll soundtrack, typical Troma humor minus typical Troma nudity, characters appearing/disappearing) is sticking out like sore thumb.

Mutant (1984) (DVD)

Two brothers from the city get mixed up with unfriendly backwoods-ish people while on vacation. The brothers discover toxic waste shenanigans turning small town folk into blue-skinned zombified mutants craving human blood. Solid C-Film with B-Film qualities. 3.5/5

The Company of Wolves (1984) (Blu-ray)

Engaging coming-of-age Folklore/Fantasy/Horror/Drama with dazzling practical f/x and dream-like, at times nightmare-ish setting. Lots of creepy moments bursting with rich atmosphere. 5/5

[Jack]

Kairo (2001) - the afterlife has apparently run out of room for additional souls so the recently departed are stuck here on earth as ghosts.  The story follows a couple groups of people who's friends have met these ghosts, after which they become listless and simply fade away a day or two later.  I enjoyed this overall as it's got likable characters, a good mysterious plot, and nice atmosphere to boot.  On the downside though, the plot has no resolution whatsoever.  Is there some "point" to it?  That life is lonely I guess.  Though that's buried so deep that most people would probably miss it.  Meh, I've seen plenty of movies with great suspenseful buildups and no payoffs, at least this one is so enigmatic that it leaves you more confused than disappointed    4/5.

[claws]

10.26.13 (44)

Witching Hour Triple Feature




Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988) (DVD)

Down on her luck Z-Film Horror-Hostess Elvira must travel to small prude town to collect inheritance. Its revealed that Elvira is actually a natural born witch with special powers, but when towns folk get a whiff of the news they are on to the Mistress of the Dark! Charming cult comedy with Elvira at her peak. 4/5


Terror (1978) (DVD)

Filmmaker is haunted by the spirit of a once executed witch. Entertaining Slasher/Supernatural Slasher/Supernatural Occult Terror Flick from B-Schlock Meister Norman J. Warren. This is one of his more easy accessible brainless fun movies. Lots happening, a bit cheesy with genuine thrills. 4/5

Superstition (1982) (DVD)

Family moving into new (old) house are haunted by the spirit of a once executed witch. Grim tale and quite nasty at times though there's a nice steady flow of entertaining cheese. This movie feels like one of those awkward Italian productions but its actually American. 4/5

[Jack]

Reeker (2005) - some kids traveling through the desert run out of gas and end up stranded at an abandoned diner.  It's not long before a phantom type guy with an electric drill for an arm and all sorts of nasty attachments starts knocking them off.  The characters are a likable bunch (Arielle Kebbel is adorable as Cookie) and it's all a bit tongue in cheek.  There's a big twist at the end;  I've seen this movie before so any surprise was gone.  I dunno, if you're going to tell us that our whole perception of what was going on was wrong, you really need to make us feel that something was a bit off throughout the movie, so the big twist causes us to say "Aha!  That explains it."  This was a pretty standard slasher and it's kind of hard to convince me that it was anything more than that, so the twist was "Oh okay.  I guess that works...sort of."  Oh well, it was decent.  3/5.