*** Official 16th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge 2015 *** (1 Viewer)

[Tony J Case]

Oh and Tony, there are no slow bits in A New Hope worth sleeping through

Okay, would "It's now nine in the morning, I've been up since one and this is the part I will enviably fall asleep during and hope I wake up for the trench battle" be more accurate?

 

[Michael Elliott]

I think the last series marathon I did was several years ago with DEATH WISH. That's only five movies though. With F13, you'd certainly have to try the Paramount series. Maybe I'll try doing them in one day next year. With the New Line, versus and remake it would be impossible.

 

[Oliver Ravencrest]

Okay, would "It's now nine in the morning, I've been up since one and this is the part I will enviably fall asleep during and hope I wake up for the trench battle" be more accurate?

Decide you must, when to sleep is best. If you do then, try to wake you could; but you would slumber through all which they have fought, and suffered. A Marathon-goer must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind. This one a long time have you watched. All these hours have you looked at the screen… to the Prequels, to the Original Trilogy. Never your mind on the the right time to sleep. Hmm? When to wake. Hmph. Adventure. Heh. Excitement. Heh. A tired mind craves not these things. A Movie-goers strength flows from the Force Awakens. But beware of the Prequels.The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Jar Jar; the dark side of the Marathon are they. Easily they flow, sleep through them you must. If once you sleep part way through A New Hope, sleep will it dominate your Marathon, consume you it will,

 

[whacky blacky]

If no one claims them I'll take Sleepaway Camp 2+3 and Toolbox Murders 2, Bastard and Murder in the Dark and kudos to John, HTF and everyone else for an awesome challenge.

 

[Oliver Ravencrest]

My DVDs and Blu-rays arrived today and I would like to say thank you to the HTF, Adam Gregorich and everyone else involved with the Challenge. It was fun. Now I just have to decide if I want to wait until next year's Challenge before watching them. All but 2 are new to me movies and another one I can't remember if I ever saw it. Thanks again

 

[Adam Gregorich]

I just got the titles Bryan donated (Thanks!), so your discs will go out today Michael. I think we are waiting on TravisR to provide his choices (unless I missed it!) so Whacky can pick

 

[whacky blacky]

Where's Travis? I'll still pick Sleepaway Camp 2+3, Toolbox Murders 2, Bastard and Murder In The Dark if Travis doesn't pick them.

 

[TravisR]

^ Oops, I should have posted here but I contacted Adam via private message. As far as I'm concerned, those movies are yours.

 

[whacky blacky]

Hey you rock Travis. Hope to see you next year. Thanks again.

 

[whacky blacky]

Just received the super awesome care package. Christmas came early . My Blu-ray player is going to be humming today. A big thank you to Adam, John, Trevor and all the other horror fanatics. Merry Christmas all.

 

[Malcolm R]

To bridge the seasons, I just picked up A Christmas Horror Story at Best Buy. It sounds like a multi-story anthology film like Trick-r-Treat. Can't wait to spin it later this week.

 

[Malcolm R]

A CHRISTMAS HORROR STORY Grade: A


This film was great! Festive and frightening at the same time.


It's Christmas Eve again in Bailey Downs, a town that seems to attract tragedy during the holidays. Last year, two teens were murdered at the local high school, a case that remains unsolved. This year, as the local DJ (William Shatner) hosts the Christmas Eve broadcast, four intertwined stories unfold as some unfortunate citizens of Bailey Downs are once again stalked by holiday horror.


I guess this is considered an anthology film of a sort, but rather than presenting entire short stories one after the other, we rotate continuously through all four ongoing plotlines. This is quite effective, as it creates a whole series of mini-cliffhangers throughout the film. All of the stories are well done and engaging. There were no moments during the film when the action shifted and I felt disappointed to be back to "that" story. Mostly practical effects were very well done and there were some great surround sound effects. Production values were very impressive considering this was apparently a low budget, direct-to-video release (with just a few horror festival play dates). Apparently, they spent the budget on the film rather than actors, as the only recognizable name (to me) was William Shatner.


If "Bailey Downs" sounds familiar, it's also the setting for Ginger Snaps, the creators of which were also involved in this film.


I'll definitely be revisiting this one for next year's challenge, maybe as a double-bill with The Nightmare Before Christmas.

 

[Malcolm R]

KRAMPUS Grade: B

Michael Dougherty, writer/director of Trick-r-Treat, brings the horror to Christmas in Krampus.

After a disastrous holiday shopping experience at the local Mucho-Mart, Max wishes for a traditional family Christmas like they used to have before all the kids grew up into cynical teens and the adults became bickering, vindictive a**holes.

When his personal holiday wishes are revealed to the entire family by one of his nasty cousins, he gives up and just wishes the miserable holiday were over so his family would go away. This lures the Christmas demon, Krampus, and his minions who arrive to punish the family for their lack of Christmas spirit.

A great entry in the holiday horror genre. The film has kind of a slow start, but once it gets going it's pretty crazy. Minor deductions for the slow start, somewhat limited screentime for Krampus himself, and the rather odd choice to have the grandmother character speak most of her lines in subtitled German even though she speaks and understands English. I have no issues with subtitles, but it becomes a distraction as there seems to be no reason she'd be speaking German when everyone else is speaking English.

There's not much blood or gore, but there are some intense scenes (kind of in the same neighborhood as Gremlins). If you want more gore, check out A Christmas Horror Story.

 

[Tony J Case]

So, just a month to go!

I gotta admit, I'm kind of pumped for this year. There's a lot of horror flicks sitting on my shelf just waiting for Halloween - most I've never seen. Not counting the stuff I have incoming, like Chopping Mall, Blood Diner, some stuff from Arrow - and the annual Scream! October sale.

It's gonna be glorious.

 

[Ruz-El]

ha! I checked this section of the forum earlier to see if their were any postings for the challenge this year! I have a pile of films too. I might also get some time off work in October to really go to town on what I think is my 10th anniversary of the challenge. I got a bunch of Arrow to watch too, and hoping that my Herschel Gordon Lewis Shock and Gore set arrives in time to dip into! Not to mention my beloved Vinegar Syndrome is doing an all horror release month as well in October.

TOO MANY MOVIES TO WATCH AND IT'S NOT STARTED!

 

[Malcolm R]

TOO MANY MOVIES TO WATCH AND IT'S NOT STARTED!

Yeah, this.

I also have a stockpile waiting of recent acquisitions or upcoming releases: Clown, The Conjuring 2, Lights Out, Bad Moon, just a few I can remember.

 

[TravisR]

I might pick up some of the old Universal Horror movies (the deeper stuff than the classic monsters) since I know I haven't seen all of those.

 

[Tony J Case]

ha! I checked this section of the forum earlier to see if their were any postings for the challenge this year!

Someone go poke Oliver with a stick and tell him to get off his butt and make the thread already!

I might pick up some of the old Universal Horror movies (the deeper stuff than the classic monsters) since I know I haven't seen all of those.

I hate the way that Uni has doubled up on the Frank and Wolfie sets like they did, but I'm still looking forward to them like you wouldnt believe. That and the Hammer Horror double features I have on the same order - it's gonna be sweet!

 

[TravisR]

I hate the way that Uni has doubled up on the Frank and Wolfie sets like they did, but I'm still looking forward to them like you wouldnt believe.

I guess the doubling up is good if you only plan to buy one because you get all of the character's appearances but how many people are only buying one of the sets? That being said, I'm still buying them.

 

[Tony J Case]

No kidding. I mean I guess if you were paying attention to the DVD releases, one would know that after the Big Eight boxed set, that the individual monster sets were coming, but it's still annoying that there's so much overlap between the three (thus far) sets.

Ah well, Best Buy having the Wolfman set for 15 bucks makes the pill go down (slightly) easier. Since I have them on DVD, I might sit on the Frank until a 50% off sale comes along.