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*** Official 12th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge 2011 *** (1 Viewer)

Ruz-El

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Originally Posted by Film

Is everyone satisfied this year or is there something you feel you missed or want to focus next year?(older films, newer films)

I'm always a little disappointment at the end of these challenges ha ha. I always try to concentrate on first time viewings, and end up watching a bunch of crap instead of films I love. That said, I've always wanted to watch the Video Nasties and getting half down this challenge is a satisfying thing.


This challenge leaves me confused!


Next year I'll be concentrating on the rest of the nasties, so it'll be the same :P
 

Radioman970

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Pretty fun this year. Toned it down out of necessity and it was easier, but not better that way. I miss 5+ flicks back to back days. That's an amazing thing to experience a few days in a row, like Fri-Sunday or something. In the future I hope to take off work during October to have more down time while enjoying one of my favorite genres.
 

John Stell

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If not already done so, please post your total points as follows:


1 point each for movies (theatrical and TV), theatrical shorts, specials, documentaries, 1 time TV specials, etc.


For recurring TV series give yourself half a point for each "hour" episode show and 1/3 for each half-hour show. The exception is anthology series, which you get 1 point for each episode.


I'll post the final totals on Friday. I can tell you that BobOLink won this year and, as his reward, will, if he wants to, run this thing next year.
 

Mario Gauci

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10/29/11: THE GLASS CEILING (Eloy De La Iglesia, 1971) *** Another excellent offering from De La Iglesia, this is even more of a slow-burning thriller than THE CANNIBAL MAN (1972) but the scenario it conveys of place, characters and situations holds one’s attention, even if there is a definite slackening during the last act (picking things up again with a stunning climax that not only marries the REAR WINDOW {1954}-inspired proceedings up to that point to a STRANGERS ON A TRAIN {1951}-type twist but also takes care to produce one additional ace for the finale!) and which now seems to be something of a directorial trait. The GLASS CEILING, in fact, is confidently Hitchcockian but also presenting concerns that obviously interested the film-maker, such as what sort of mischief may be going on within the walls of a house (which, in this case, is amplified by making the central setting a condominium). However, the script merely uses fanciful conjecture as a means to an end, which is another character study of a lonely figure (here leading lady Carmen Sevilla, and for which performance she won the Cinema Writers Circle award) whose grip on reality is quickly fading (depicted via a notable dream sequence) and how the people she comes into contact with react to this (there is even a disturbing subtext, which one hopes is not quite true, of landowning studs and horny errand-boys preying on such abandoned wives!). Still, unlike THE CANNIBAL MAN, the protagonist is now a victim who soon finds that she cannot really trust anyone, not even family, preferring to keep company with her amiable white cat (which, unfortunately, comes to a sticky end). Once again, the cast includes lovely Emma Cohen: at first, I thought she would have an even lesser role than in CANNIBAL, since her name is much further down the cast list this time around, but also because she plays the unflattering part of a farmer’s daughter delivering milk to the various tenants – however, enamored of the landlord, she also frequently pays him visits at the condominium’s back-yard, where he conducts his extracurricular activity of sculpting. Though he certainly does not discourage her attentions (even accepting to be fed – and playfully sprayed in – milk by her directly from a cow’s teat!), the man really favors Sevilla (to the point of taking the latter horse-riding in order to alleviate her ennui), so that Cohen is cross when a sculpture he has made of her luscious body (voyeuristically caught by camera while the girl is sleeping in the nude, one more of the landlord’s hobbies, which he also directs at Sevilla and another pivotal female character, thus linking the film to the remarkable “Cannibal” flick I watched at the very start of this “Halloween Challenge”, WELCOME TO ARROW BEACH {1974}) actually sports SevIlla’s head! However, Cohen’s character still vanishes from the proceedings well before the end – which serves to put at center-stage an attractive neighbor of Sevilla’s, whom the latter suspects all through the picture of having committed foul play upon her invalid husband (whose body the heroine frantically suspects of being stashed either in the back-yard or the couple’s own fridge!), even contriving to periodically check with the bus depot whether he was seen leaving town as his spouse claims. 10/30/11: MURDER IN A BLUE WORLD (Eloy De La Iglesia, 1973) *** The third De La Iglesia film I am watching in a row – and the best (though the "Cult Films" website bafflingly rates this a measly *1/2) – that, while it touches on the same theme of a serial-killer on the loose, is the most ambitious (numbering no fewer than 5 scriptwriters!) because it is set in a dystopian future and employs international actors. Since I have made it a point to discard Sci-Fi titles for this year’s “Halloween Challenge”, I was a little wary of adding this but, thankfully, it proved a continuation of De La Iglesia’s preoccupations. The film wears its obvious inspiration from Stanley Kubrick’s A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971) proudly on its sleeve because, not only is there a Droog-like band of violent criminals marauding at night (wielding whips at leisure), but they also assault an upper-class household that is very much decorated in the ultra-modern fashion seen in CLOCKWORK and, as if this was not enough, a screening of that very Kubrickian adaptation of the Anthony Burgess novel is about to start on TV when their doorbell rings! Likewise, a subplot revolves around an experimental program which is supposed to render hardened criminals into acceptable society members (but, predictably, the last scene demonstrates that the scheme has failed horribly), while peppering the soundtrack with classical music pieces (albeit being otherwise scored as if it were a Spaghetti Western!). Interestingly, whether deliberately or not, Kubrick returned the favor by utilizing music by the composer of this one (Georges Garvarentz) for his own swan-song EYES WIDE SHUT (1999)! Indeed, while the original Spanish title translates to the poetic A DROP OF BLOOD TO DIE LOVING and that the film was released on R2 DVD as MURDER IN A BLUE WORLD (for the record, the widescreen copy I acquired, albeit VHS quality, was fairly good and did not noticeably detract from my enjoyment of the striking visual look of the décor and costumes), the film was apparently known in the U.S. under the rather condescending moniker of CLOCKWORK TERROR. Moreover, Sue Lyon – as it happens, the young star of Kubrick’s LOLITA (1962) – has the leading role here and, at one point, is even seen leafing through Vladimir Nabokov’s eponymous novel while lounging in a gay bar! The rest of the cast is made up of Christopher Mitchum (who would later appear in another foul-play-in-a-hospital movie, FACELESS {1987}) and Jean Sorel (who had already played a doctor in his most famous film, Luis Bunuel’s BELLE DE JOUR {1967}: incidentally, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE itself was Bunuel’s own favorite movie!). For being the younger son of Hollywood legend Robert Mitchum, Chris worked with some far-out directors: in fact, apart from De La Iglesia, he also made films for Alejandro Jodorowsky and Jess Franco! Lyon, while ostensibly renowned psychiatrist Sorel’s girl, moonlights as a serial-killer of males between the ages of 17 and 25 (though her reasons for running amok are attributed to the traumatic death of the girl’s parents in childhood, it is never quite clear why she targets that particular age group, one of whom she ensnares by outbidding him at an auction for the very first edition of the “Flash Gordon” comic-strip!) and, therefore, according to news reports, the murderer must be a homosexual! Conversely, Mitchum is one of the four members of the afore-mentioned “Droog”-like anarchists who falls foul of his team-mates and, to earn some cash on the side, takes to blackmailing Lyon (whom he had unwittingly spied while disposing of a body: she often affects disguises herself – as a mature woman or a man! – to lure her victims, who include a macho publicity guy modeling underwear on TV, linking the film, as do the entire lady-killing scenario and the overriding influence of TV, to the recently-viewed THE WITCH WHO CAME FROM THE SEA {1976}). Eventually, Mitchum’s former friends beat him up and he is hospitalized and, ironically enough, put in Lyon’s care…but, in eliminating him there, she also gives herself away – to Sorel’s obvious horror. Given my rewarding experience so far with the filmography of Eloy De La Iglesia (on a side-note, that of Alex, who is not a relation, is no less intriguing but somewhat less consistent), I opted to acquire yet one more effort i.e. his adaptation of Henry James’ classic – and much-filmed – ghost story THE TURN OF THE SCREW (1985), but which I was unable to include in the “Halloween Challenge” that has just come to an end. 10/31/11: TRAP (Jacques Baratier, 1970) ** As often happens, I contrived to close a marathon on a whimper rather than a bang and it was certainly the case with this “Halloween Challenge”: not only is the film a total rarity (I only recently became aware of it) and very marginally related to the genre I was celebrating (in fact, I only included it because the site from where I acquired it labeled the movie as such) but it also proved to be quite a chore to sit through (despite lasting for a mere 55 minutes)! I have often said that Surrealism works better when treated as entertainment: Luis Bunuel was its undisputed master in cinema (which is why he is my absolute favorite auteur) but, apart from the occasional attempt to shock an audience (notably his first two films), he learned to transmit his subversive messages (while always denying he had any!) in a subtle, indeed sophisticated, manner in order to reach a wider audience! Not so other noted directors whose work, however, leaves me cold to a considerable extent, namely Federico Fellini, Marco Ferreri, David Lynch, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Fernando Arrabal. Tellingly, the latter turns up here as an actor – but he is actually the best thing about the film, as an intellectual seller of traps (hence the title), and it is amusing to watch him demonstrate the practicality of a variety of traps from his ever more unwieldy stock to a prospective buyer! The latter subsequently invites a couple of women to his house (“Nouvelle Vague” stalwarts Bernadette Lafont, a Claude Chabrol regular, and Bulle Ogier, who actually co-starred in Bunuel’s greatest film i.e. THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE {1972}) – who, for no very good reason (since nothing comes of it thereafter) are made out to be nuns in the throes of devil worship! When they arrive, even though properly invited, they do not enter through the main door but opt to go in as burglars! Once inside, they try to cut through the safe with a blowtorch while giving vent to their anarchy by smashing everything that comes in their way. They cause a veritable mess – Lafont stomach-churningly plays around with assorted eggs, whereas the more child-like Ogier grimaces and moans incessantly! They paint their faces, disrobe down to their underwear, engage in a S&M routine, but only ever get to meet their host at the very end (even if he had actually been spying on the girls throughout their rampage!)…when the whole place blows up! The point of it all is obscure and, frankly not worth unraveling; if anything, the film may owe a bit to Vera Chytilova’s DAISIES (1966; which I own but have yet to watch), while looking forward to Jacques Rivette’s 3-hour plus CELINE AND JULIE GO BOATING (1974; which I am familiar with and reasonably enjoyed). For the record, TRAP (an oft-used title, by the way, numbering among these a few interesting and versatile works) is the only film I have watched from this director and am only vaguely familiar with a trio of others from his not-so-vast filmography (comprising 6 shorts, 5 documentaries and 13 features made in the space of 55 years!). I generally admire the two actresses on hand, but this film certainly gives experimental cinema (with respect to both form and expression) a bad name – in retrospect, it is worth noting that, while the film was made in 1968, it was only first shown after having sat on the shelf for some 2 years….
 

Radioman970

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67 films 01 single time special 01 hour TV (.5) 02 half hour TV shows (.3 each) 05 anthology (1 each) 02 TV specials (1 each) 67 1 .5 .6 5 2 ==== 76.1
 

Ockeghem

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John, Thanks for running the Challenge this year. Revised totals: Films = 58 Television episodes (1.0 hours) = 16 Television episodes (0.5 hours) = 39/3 = 13 Total items watched: 115. This total is up seven (from 108) because my list includes three days on which I watched two episodes of Dark Shadows instead of one and on another day I watched five episodes of House of Anubis instead of one. Grand total: 58 + 16 + 13 = 87
 

John Stell

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OK - here are the prelim totals. Please advise as to corrections regarding totals or if I forgot you (sorry if I did - I didn't mean to). Final List to be done early Friday evening. Thanks to all who participated and shared their thoughts.


BobO'Link - 159

John Stell - 129

TravisR - 113

Michael Elliott - 87

Ockeghem - 87

Marco Gauci - 79

Radioman970 - 76.1

PatW - 75

Russell G - 56

Brook K - 36.5

Jim K - 35

Bob McLaughlin - 33

ChuckP - 31

ChuckyP - 31

Malcolm R - 30.5

Sandro - 30

Greg Black - 25

Bryan^H - 19

Louis Letizia - 14

Film - 12.3

Dennis Castro - 11

Frank Ha - 9.3

Jason Roer - 7.3

Angel Pagan - 6
 

John Stell

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Originally Posted by Film

Is everyone satisfied this year or is there something you feel you missed or want to focus next year?(older films, newer films)
Having viewed very few horror films, next year I'll need to make sure to get in a few more recent horror films. And by recent I mean around 1975 or later.


I did exactly what I wanted to do, and that is watch, in release date order, those horror films I own listed in The Encyclopedia of Horror edited by Phil Hardy from 1896 - 1939. Next year I'll focus on the 1940s. I also got to squeeze in 10 new viewings including some theatrical releases, and revisit some 1970s made-for-TV horror films. Watched some Kolchak episodes with my kids. So I'm very happy with this year's result. I wanted to see Paranormal Activity 3 on Halloween but was too sick, so I saw it yesterday. I wish there were more theatrical horrors released this year.
 

TravisR

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John Stell said:
I wish there were more theatrical horrors released this year.
Yeah, The Thing and Paranormal Activity were the only horror movies released in October. I don't think there were any small or independent movies. If Dimension had waited six months and released Scream 4 theatrically at the beginning of October, they'd have made alot more money simply because of a lack of competition and more public interest in seeing scary movies.
 

Chucky P

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Here is my final list * Will mark first time viewings October 1 1. The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) 2. Shaun of the Dead (2004) October 2 3. The Fog (1980) October 4 4. Mark Of The Vampire (1935) October 6 5. Dr. Cyclops (1940)* October 7 6. Cult Of The Cobra (1955)* 7. Creature with the Atom Brain (1955)* October 8 8. The Giant Claw (1957)* 9. Evil Dead 2 (1987) October 10 10. An American Werewolf In London (1981) October 11 11. The Skull (1965)* October 12 12. The Plague of the Zombies (1966)* 13. The Wages of Fear (1953)* October 13 14. Damien: Omen II (1978) October 14 15. The Invisible Ray (1936)* October 15 16. Black Friday (1940) 17. The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966)* October 16 18. Monster on the Campus (1958)* October 18 19. Halloween (1978) October 19 20. Halloween II (1981) 21. Night of the Creeps (1986) October 22 22. You'll Find Out (1940) 23. Zombies on Broadway (1945) October 23 24. The Walking Dead (1936)* October 26 25. Frankenstein - 1970 (1958)* October 27 26. Poltergeist (1982) October 29 27. The Legend of Hell House (1973) October 30 28. The Haunting (1963) October 31 29. The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932) 30. Doctor X (1932) 31. The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)*
 

Michael Elliott

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TravisR said:
The third and fourth ones are currently on the Troma section of On Demand.
Thanks for the heads up. Hopefully they'll still be there next year and hopefully the rest of them. I had a chance to buy the entire series on VHS about six months ago on Ebay and they ended up going for around $23. I was a minute late to the auction and it had already ended or else I would have been watching them this year. Re: 2011 Horror Films It seems like the best ones were in a very limited release. Are we still getting HALLOWEEN 3 next year? Hopefully PA4 goes in a different direction. I'd still love to see something like Carpenter had intended with HALLOWEEN and that's each sequel tell a different story. Looking at the poor box office for horror films this year, I'm curious if we're about to hit another dead and dry spell, which happens to the genre all the time.
 

TravisR

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Michael Elliott said:
Are we still getting HALLOWEEN 3 next year?
I don't pay much attention to movies in development since things tend to change pretty quickly but as far as I know, it's still scheduled for next Halloween. There's a script but no director announced yet so who knows if they'll use the existing script or with less than a year to go, if it'll even happen. And if history has taught us anything, it's that rushing a movie out to make a release date is a key to success.
 

Bob McLaughlin

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Well guys it was lots of fun again but it's over and it's time to recap. Best use of gore: Midnight Meat Train Best use of sound: YellowBrickRoad Scariest: Hidden Most artistic: Antichrist Pleasant surprise: Burning Bright Best overall: Stakeland Bob's A-Z 2011 Horror Movie Marathon, Final List FTV means first-time viewing 1. Antichrist (FTV) 2. Burning Bright (FTV) 3. The Crimson Cult (FTV) 4. Dead of Night (FTV) 5. Evil Dead 2 6. Frontier(s) (FTV) 7. The Ghoul (FTV) 8. Hidden (2009) (FTV) 9. I Can See You 10. The Janitor (FTV) 11. Kill Theory (FTV) 12. The Last Exorcism (FTV) 13. Midnight Meat Train (FTV) 14. Night of the Living Dead 15. The Old Dark House 16. Popcorn (FTV) 17. Queen of Blood (FTV) 18. Rabid (FTV) 19. Stake Land (FTV) 20. Tales that Witness Madness (FTV) 21. The Unborn (FTV) 22. The Valley of Gwangi (FTV) 23. The Wolfman (2010) (FTV) 24. X: The Unknown (FTV) 25. YellowBrickRoad (FTV) 26. Zoo (FTV) 27. 4 Flies on Grey Velvet (FTV) 28. 5ive Girls (FTV) 29. The Thing (2011) (FTV) 30. The Descent 31. Sleepaway Camp 32. 2001 Maniacs (FTV) 33. 7eventy 5ive (aka Dead Tone) (FTV)
 

Jim_K

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Originally Posted by BobO'Link

Originally Posted by Jim_K [url=/t/314914/official-12th-annual-htf-october-scary-movie-challenge-2011/390#post_3865280]

...Been mostly watching flics with my kids - Ghostbusters, MIB, the new Blu-ray set of the Jurassic Park trilogy. If I can watch it with my kids I won’t count it as a horror film...
Why not? Even though it may not be "scary" to you it could be to your kids. If you use that qualification you wouldn't count Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolfman, The Mummy, or just about any of the Uni Horror titles, most of which are OK for kids 6-7 and up. I started watching those at just about that age and absolutely loved them! I'll be watching Ernest Scared Stupid Halloween night with the grand kids (age 5 & 8). It has a "horror" genre classification at IMDB so I'll count it.



Bob……you’ve got a point. I’ll have to mull it over.


Michael, ignore my jibes and watch whatever floats your boat. I mean they made what was it 7 or 8 of those Leprechaun films so somebody must have been watching them right?


I’ve been remiss with updating, sorry. Unfortunately Batman Arkham City arrived on my doorstep before this challenge was over and that ate up quite a bit of my designated movie watching time.


Finishing up on the challenge…………. Watched more Hammer goodness with Dracula Prince of Darkness & Dracula Has Risen From the Grave. A very disappointing Halloween II revisit, last seen 30 years ago…………. poor Jamie Lee relegated to crawling around on all fours……….dreadful. Scream was better than I remembered, a fun revisit. My where Oh where the F*** is the DVD already holy grail for years [CUE HEAVENLY CHOIR] Island of Lost Souls on Criterion Blu-ray [/HEAVENLY CHOIR]– now I can chuck my gray market version.


I had to abort a Halloween viewing of Sleepy Hollow as my Blu-ray developed the rot somehow. Fucker!


Final tally 30…………….1 short of my goal, unless I count Ghostbusters, MIB and the JP trilogy……then it’s 35


Regrets? Didn’t watch nearly as many titles (new & revisits) as I’d like, but sometimes life gets in the way and I don’t have a time machine. Even so it doesn’t need to be October for me to watch Horror films, I watch em all year round so no biggie.


Thanks for running it John.
 

Brook K

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Thanks for running it John. Finally made it through all the posts though I didn't get to write about them all. Travis, there was one indie theatrical release by IFC, the hilarious, helluva good time that was The Human Centipede 2: Full Sequence. It sucks they censored it, but there was still more than enough wetworks to go around. As for the challenge, I'm very happy that I finally surpassed 31 again after 3 straight years of falling short. This was about the rate I used to watch movies in my heyday - watching a movie almost every night, getting in a double up here and there, nice to relive the good ol' days. I had a good start due to hurting my back and missing work a day so I was able to get in 5 movies in 2 days and then just maintained a movie a day pace from there. Having the new season of The Walking Dead to watch was a small boost as well. Regrets? That I watched too many new movies, 31, and not nearly enough favorites. This is the first year in a long time I didn't watch Suspiria, my favorite. I started it late Halloween night and got 40m in or so, and fell asleep....Arrgh! I meant to watch all the horror movies I've bought or rebought on Blu-ray that are still wrapped in plastic on my shelf and I didn't get to any of them. Maybe next year. I also thought this would be the year I finally watched American Werewolf in London (yes, I've never seen it) but I didn't get to it either. I was able to watch all the discs I put in my Netflix queue except for Kuroneko, but I had 3-4 streaming movies left, AWIL, The Burrowers, Carriers and Cronos. If only I could kick the habit of watching crappy Hollywood remakes and years-after-they-were-relevant sequels, I'd have more time for the good stuff. :D Best New Movies: [COLOR=FF00AA]Human Centipede 2, Red State[/COLOR] (even though this isn't a horror movie at all), [COLOR=FF00AA]Antichrist, The Skull, Antibodies[/COLOR] Worst New Movie: A Nightmare on Elm Street (remake)
 

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