*** Official 9th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge - Page 5

Re: *** Official 9th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge

My mom read the book and therefore refused to ever watch the movie.

Re: *** Official 9th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge

003) 10/01/08 It! (1967)

Roddy McDowall stars as nutty assistant curator at a museum where the latest attraction is a genuine golem. He figures out how to control it and gets even nuttier. McDowall is the whole show in this rather flat, cliched thriller that rips off a main plot point from Psycho just for the hell of it. If you're a McDowall fan you're bound to enjoy his hammy turn here. All others are advised to visit another museum.


004) 10/01/08 The Snake Woman (1960) 1/2

Pretty bad quickie that feels longer than its 67 minutes. A woman treated with snake venom to cure her insanity gives birth to a daughter who later turns into a snake and kills men. Lots of scenes of people talking about the same things over and over again coupled with shots of slithering snakes. Elsie Wagstaff's over-the-top performance as the hag who constantly insists "the child must die" almost makes the film worth seeing. A chore and a bore.

005) 10/01/08 The Shuttered Room (1966)

Carol Lynley returns to her parents' abandoned home and discovers a terrifying secret in this predictable adaptation of a novel by August Derleth and H.P. Lovecraft. Nothing really happens until the climax and the local villagers are cliched redneck types.

006) 10/01/08 Pumpkinhead (1988) 1/2

When his son is accidentally killed by some visiting teenagers, a father takes his revenge via an ancient demon called Pumpkinhead. But then he has second thoughts. Enjoyable, fast-paced monster film boasts great visuals, effects, and atmosphere, but isn't too strong on character. Directing debut for the late Stan Winston.

007) 10/02/08 Just Before Dawn (1980) 1/2

Five young people go hiking in the type of mountains where inbreeding results in murderous psychopaths. The locations are beautiful. And the good characterizations make this a fairly suspenseful journey in The Hills Have Eyes territory. The final sequence is almost unbearably suspenseful.

Re: *** Official 9th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge

Bob McLaughlin's 31 movies (hopefully) post:

First-time viewings will be noted when applicable.

10/01
1. An American Werewolf in London - Still a fun movie with lots of jumps and jolts. (That dream-within-a-dream scene gets me every time). Amazing pre-CGI special effects (which won an Oscar). Very 80's in its attitude towards sex and violence. Nurse Price is still hot!

10/02
2. Who Can Kill A Child? (first-time viewing) - Take Hitchcock's "The Birds" and substitute children, and you have this movie. Creepy and atmospheric but it sure takes its time getting there (the opening credits sequence alone clocked in at over 7 minutes!). The lead actresses' histrionics grated on me at times. I loved the ending.

10/03
3. Rosemary's Baby - I haven't seen this since becoming a parent, so I was viewing it with a new set of eyes. Polanski was so talented as a young director, and it is evident throughout this movie. The site of the Dakota has a new resonance as the site of John Lennon's future assassination is shown in several scenes. And there's still something unnerving about a bunch of old people cheerfully chanting "Hail, Satan!"

10/4
4. Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas - What can I say, I needed to watch something during the day with my daughter, so this fit the bill nicely. Obviously not straight horror but definitely full of horror icons, as well as the perfect warm-up for Halloween! I see something new in this movie every time I watch it, it is packed with details!

10/5
5. Ernest Scared Stupid - The Great Redneck Hope returns to save a small town from an evil troll that his ancestors buried 200 years ago. Another movie I had to watch with my daughter, although she was scared by the big troll hiding in the little girl's bed scene (who would have thought!) A return to more adult fare tomorrow...

10/6
6. Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (first-time viewing) - A worthy entry in the 1970's foreign zombie film genre. A little slow to warm up but that gives the characters a chance to develop (Ray Lovelock was great in this!) A bit dated with the "cops versus hippies" subtext but that's part of the fun. And there are some good scares throughout.

10/07
7. The Cottage (first-time viewing) - The most bungling kidnappers on earth run into a monstrous killer in remote rural area. This is a better-than-average horror comedy but suffers from a lack of likeable characters. Reminded me of "From Dusk Till Dawn" in that it is really two movies--it starts out as a comedic crime caper and midway through morphs into straight horror.

10/08
8. Creepshow - This is a special movie for me, the movie that started my love for home theater (it was the first movie I watched on VHS that wasn't chosen by a grown-up!) I finally got the UK Special Edition after giving up waiting for a domestic special edition. I should have bought this last fall when it was released! The colors pop right off the screen, making for a more enveloping 'comic-book' experience. A classic!

10/09
9. Fido (first-time viewing) - This movie was a breath of fresh air to the zombie genre. Pleasantville meets NOTLD. Not really a horror movie but anything with zombies counts, I think. I really enjoyed this one!

10/10
10. Night Creatures - The last time I saw this 1962 movie was on television in the early 70's when I was very young, and it absolutely terrified me. Moving scarecrows, a skeleton army on skeleton horses, pirates with their tongues cut out--this was too much for me as a little kid. Well, I finally came back to this movie (having forgotten it for decades) and you know what--it wasn't scary at all! Barely qualified as horror--more of an adventure/mystery. But still a decent movie--Peter Cushing does not disappoint.

10/11
11. The Others - This is only the second time I've seen this movie, and of course if you know the ending, it's like a whole 'nother movie the second time around. Still creepy and atmospheric--the footsteps sounded like they were coming from right over my head! Nicole Kidman is as talented as she is beautiful.

10/12
12. Haxan (Witchcraft Through the Ages) - This will likely be the oldest movie on my list (it's from 1922!) and maybe the strangest. Part documenatary about witchcraft, part dramatic re-enactments, but always watchable. Surely this movie was shocking to 1922 audiences not used to seeing Satan worshippers cavorting around in the nude! The continuously tongue-waggling Satan guy is weird too.

10/13
13. The Evil of Frankenstein (first-time viewing) - Hammer Pictures cranks out another old reliable, but this one somehow has a feel of higher quality than many others. There weren't really any scares in this movie but I enjoyed it nonetheless for its atmosphere and characters. Once again Peter Cushing does an admirable job.

10/14
14. Inside (first-time viewing) - Yikes, and yuck! That about sums this one up. This movie was pretty tense, and I would imagine it's unwatchable for pregnant women. However, it wasn't quite as good as I thought it could be. There really isn't much ground covered here, it's just a series of horrific scenes, almost like a chase scene in slow-mo. There wasn't much to sink my teeth into (that's probably a bad figure of speech to use). There weren't enough compelling things about the characters, who are kept at arms-length. They are just puppets in the horror show.

10/15
15. The Woods (first-time viewing) - Pretty basic stuff here, starts out pretty good and loses a lot of steam about halfway through. If I want to watch a horror movie about witches at a private all-girls school, I'll watch Suspiria, thank you very much. Bruce Campbell isn't given much to do with his character either--that man needs to be unleashed to be his best.

16. It - I actually watched this over a period of days during my lunch breaks on my portable DVD player, but I finished it today. It held up better than I remembered, having last viewed it as it aired in 1990 on television. Maybe without all the distractions of commercial breaks and waiting for the next episode it could maintain a better tension. Funny to see a young Seth Green as Richie Tozier. Tim Curry is great as Pennywise, the clown from Hell. The scene where Beverly Marsh goes to her old childhood home creeped me out back then, and still was effective. Still a bit clunky and TV-ish but worthwhile.

10/16
17. The Exorcist: The Version You've Never Seen (first-time viewing) - Yes, I've seen the original Exorcist many times over (it was in fact the first DVD purchase I made back in the late 1990's) but this is the Version You've Never Seen, so I felt it qualified as a first-time viewing. And wow, what a version this is! This is much more than one of those movies where they just add a few scenes, this is a re-imagining of the movie. It felt like I was in some weird alternate universe version of The Exorcist. Motivations are clarified, characterizations are fleshed out, and of course there's the quick but infamous "spider walk" scene!

10/17
18. Freaks - Another old, strange movie. They will never make anything like this one again, not due to a lack of "freaks" so much as a prevalence of political correctness & sensitivity. Tod Browning was truly an original. Still, the scene with the freaks crawling through the mud on a stormy night to wreak their vengeance is one of the greatest all-time chills in cinema history.

10/18
19. Shaun of the Dead - I enjoyed this even more the second time around, and having seen Hot Fuzz in the interim. A fun, gory blast! I look forward to all the Simon Pegg movies that are sure to come in the future.

10/19
20. Storm Warning (first-time viewing) - Great stuff! This is really three movies rolled into one: it starts out as a creepy atmospheric (and beautifully shot) thriller, then morphs into a more standard "weird family in the sticks" movie (with a bit of torture thrown in), then it really goes for the jugular in the third act, becoming an action-gore-horror finale (think of a female MacGyver with violent vengeful intentions!) The character of Poppy is one of the best (and by that I mean worst) bad guys to hit the screen in years.

10/20
21. Night of the Comet (first-time viewing) - I'd heard about this campy 80's movie for a while, wasn't sure if it was really horror but that's how Netflix categorized it. I guess anything with post-apocalyptic zombies qualifies as horror, but really this was more like a sci-fi comedy written by high schoolers. This falls firmly in the "so bad, it's good" category, and I think that's exactly what they were intending. Entertaining!

10/21
22. The Last House on the Left - Hot on the heels of the Manson Family murder spree, this Wes Craven early 70's movie still packs a punch today. Very dated in some respects, but hard not to keep watching. A cautionary tale about hippies gone wild, but the parents have a few tricks up their sleeves too. The chainsaw finale scene was done a full two years before the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

10/22
23. Dance of the Dead (first-time viewing) - I really enjoyed this one. Lots of great characters and it's nice to see a cast of unknowns doing so well. Very funny, particularly the scenes with the sci-fi club, the band, the Coach, the troublemaker...oh heck, it was just fun all around.

10/23
24. The Happening (first-time viewing) - Lame. Avoid.

10/24
25. Dracula A.D. 1972 (first-time viewing) - Hammer Studios "updates" their vampire series by taking it into 1972. Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing may not be at top form, but the datedness of the early 70's UK hippies is half the fun.

10/25
26. Versus - Director's Cut (first-time viewing) - Japanese zombies with guns. I repeat, Japanese zombies with guns! A lot of fun despite a very washed-out picture and low-budget look. Very bloody and thousands of rounds of amunition are spent. Worth a look!

10/26
27. Paperhouse - Excellent, creepy, scary movie from the director of "Candyman" back when he was a nobody. A little girl draws pictures and discovers they are affecting the outcomes of her dreams--and possibly the real world. You can't get this in the USA, but I ordered through Amazon UK and played it on my region-free player.

10/27
28. May (first-time viewing) - This movie was a slow way to an inevitable conclusion--never a good formula for a movie. I think part of the problem was the lead actress--all the other actors were better than her. Maybe that was the intention of the director to make her stick out more, but I just couldn't get emotionally invested in this character. I give it a few points for oddness but not much more than that.

10/28
29. Spider Baby - If you want to know where Rob Zombie got a lot of inspiration for "House of 1,000 Corpses", watch this movie about a weird, wacky family of killer misfits. One of Lon Chaney's last performances. This movie was way ahead of its time and not like anything else in the early 1960's.

10/29
30. The Black Cat (1934) - Here you have the classic "Young couple gets stranded at a strange castle in Eastern Europe" plot, but on top of that you have the first pairing of Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff! There's a lot more to this movie than just that, though--some comedy, implied necrophilia, and Bahaus architecture!

10/30
31. The Gorgon (first-time viewing) - A pretty decent Hammer film in the new collection just released. This is supposed to be a "modernized" retelling of the Medusa myth set in the early 1900's, but essentially this plays out just like the Werewolf--when it's a full moon, the Gorgon appears. Christopher Lee stands out in this one, he is clearly relishing his strong character. Hokey effects, of course.

10/31
32. Halloween (Rob Zombie version (first-time viewing) - This was better than I thought it would be. I particularly liked the first half. Once it started following the more familiar plot of the original movie, it lost a little steam. I also was having technical problems with the Netflix disc which was very scratched. For a while it didn't look like I was going to be able to complete a viewing of this movie, and it was getting close to midnight! Fortunately my computer's DVD drive was able to read it, so the last 30 minutes of the movie I watched at a desk!

Final tally...32 movies, 17 first-time viewings! I strayed a lot from my original list but that was because new movies kept arriving through Netflix, and I usually will watch something new rather than something I've already seen.

Re: *** Official 9th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge

Forgot the caption for this one. I added it...


"Face lift": psycho style!

Re: *** Official 9th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge

My first four:

Dead Of Night - A mid-40s Ealing Studios Horror compilation. Not bad, but it loses steam towards the end with two longer stories that don't quite work - a silly tale of two golfers battling over the love of a woman that was more funny than scary and an overly long ventriloquist tale that didn't spook very much and ended kinda where you thought it would. Still, the linking story and some of the earlier shorter stories were pretty entertaining with decent, if not wholly original, ideas. Then again, this was 1945, so maybe they were original!

Dr. Phibes Rises Again - Not as fun as the first film, but still a production designers dream...Some creative kills by Phibes and funny bits from the British cops. Strangely enough, this one suffers from too much Vincent price - not his appearances, but the talking through his special device. Slowed things down too much...

Hair Extensions - I'm still not sure what the hell to think of this one...Part self-referential tweak on the black hair ghost aspects of many J-Horror films, part sad commentary on the need of women to focus on their looks, part warning of organ harvesters kidnapping young women, part tale of child abuse...A few creepy moments to be sure, but also some over the top crazy effects (reminded me of Uzumaki at times) and also funny. It was directed by the same guy that did Suicide Club - another film that I didn't quite know what to make of (first half great and went off the rails after).

The House That Dripped Blood - James said it all in his review a number of posts back. Much Amiicus fun.


What's next, what's next...? Hmmm, The Brood? Yokai Monsters? Some Bava? More Amicus? Ah, my cup runneth over...


2008 Scary Movie Challenge:

1. 10/01/08 - Dead Of Night (1945 - Alberto Calvacanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dreaden, Robert Hamer)
2. 10/01/08 - Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972 - Robert Fuest)
3. 10/02/08 - Hair Extensions (2007 - Sion Sono)
4. 10/02/08 - The House That Dripped Blood (1971 - Peter Duffell)

Re: *** Official 9th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge

John,

This is actually one of my favorites. I thought Oliver Reed was excellent in this film. And I think Carol Lynley was cast well for it. I might have been able to live with Susan Oliver in that role, too--maybe even Tuesday Weld.

There was something creepy about not knowing what was in that room for much of the film. I can recall the camera angles that jutted upward toward the room outdoors. I think Reed gave the film a certain level of terror; he almost shows some compassion when the 'locals' begin to aggravate Linley en masse at one point.

Re: *** Official 9th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge

No but there is a scene in the movie when Fr. Karras is talking with Regan/devil, the drawer of her night table opens. Also in an earlier scene the chest of drawers moves and nearly crushes Regan's mom. An earlier scene that stayed with me was the knocking in the attic. It reminded me so much of the knocking on the walls in the Haunting a movie that freaked me out when I was a child.


10/2 02 The Birds (1963)

Another favourite of mine directed by Hitchcock and set in the small town of Bodega Bay. The birds in this small community seem to be massing and striking at intervals. The attacks seem to be centered on a young woman Melanie Daniels who has recently arrived in town. It seems when they draw blood or kill the attacks stop for awhile before starting up again. Hitchcock is a master of this type of film and it's too bad he didn't do more horror movies. The scene that strikes me the most is: an aerial view of the town with one bird coming into the frame of the camera and then more and then they attack. Awesome scene.

Re: *** Official 9th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge

Hey All! Hope everyone is having a blast.

5. Shaun of the Dead: Just gets better each time I watch it. Here is a flick that has REAL characters, people we actually care about, and we have an absolutely incredible time with them throughout the duration of the movie. This film is so layered that every time I watch it, I find another in joke or reference. Lines take on new meaning later on as the events of the film unfold, images in the background let you know what's coming, every sign, poster, or billboard is there for a reason. You just have to watch this gem tightly! One of the great films to come out in recent years.

6. Friday the 13th: Like Radioman said - this is just a film that gets you going for the October horror flick-o-thon! Everyone loves an arrowhead through the neck! Obviously the gore is no longer over-the-top as it was when we first saw it, but when put into context of the original release date, it really was effective for the time. Obviously borrows heavily from Italian Giallo (sans the abundant nudity). In fact, speaking of Giallo, a great little pic you may want to watch is, Strip Nude for your Killer. I just watched it a week ago, so I wont be able to give it a spin for the challenge - but it has guts, gore, and TONS of nudity. Most import, it has style, baby! Great, great fun!

7. Ghostbusters: Simply put - the greatest horror/comedy of all time. I never leave October without it! Hell, it has permanent residence on my iPhone! This is the most quotable movie of all time and I still laugh with every viewing. What can I say, it tickles me! Funny how when I first saw it I was 9 and it scared the shit out of me. I still remember my stepmother yelling at my dad after we left the theater cause she could already tell I was going to have nightmares - and boy did I ever. What a pussy I was! She was so pissed dad brought us to see it. Anyway - for anyone out there who hasn't seen it - for whatever reason - make sure you do right this very minute!

Cheers,

Jason

Re: *** Official 9th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge

Updated List...

Movies:

Oct. 1st:
1. Shadow Zone: The Undead Express
2. Embrace of the Vampire
3. Fright Night
4. The Breed
5. Crazy Eights
6. The Invasion

Oct. 2nd:
7. The Others
8. Lake Dead
9. The Willies
10. Silver Bullet

TV Episodes:

Oct. 1st:
1. Masters of Horror: The V Word
2. Tales from the Crypt: The Reluctant Vampire
3. Friday the 13th: The Series: Season 1: The Inheritance

Re: *** Official 9th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge

Watching a different kind of horror right now with the debates. Yikes. Scarier than anything we'll all watch this month!

8. An American Werewolf in London: I disagree with others here and absolutely love this movie. I remember it scaring the pants of me as a kid. Then I revisited it a couple years back for the first time since the 80's and saw the tongue in cheek humor riddled throughout. As anyone can see from my movie list thus far, I'm a huge fan of mixing horror with comedy and am drawn to those films that don't take themselves so seriously. This is the case here. Just oodles of fun to be had and the transformation scene is still spectacular! I got in the mood for Landis fun and will be watching the Thriller video after the debates.

Cheers,

Jason

Re: *** Official 9th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge

Re: AMERICAN WEREWOLF (with spoiler)

I have to agree with Landis that I think it's rather silly for anyone to say this is a comedy or failed attempt at horror. As Landis said, how many comedies end with the two friends both dead? I was lucky enough to see this twice in a theater several years ago and that first attack had people jumping and screaming in both crowds. The movie was a lot of fun in those midnight movie screenings.


We Want Our Mummy (1939) Del Lord

The Three Stooges play detectives who are given the case of going to Egypt and locating the mummy known as King Rootin-Tootin. A museum will pay $5000 for him but what the boys don't know is that there is a curse with it. This is a pretty good short for the Stooges, although it certainly doesn't rank among their best work. The highlight is certainly the scene where Curly smashes the mummy and has to wrap himself up and take its place. Another funny sequence involves the boys taking a taxi from the Bronx to Egypt. The scene where Moe takes out a telescope to see the desert but ends up seeing something else is also hilarious.

Ape Man, The (1943) William Beaudine

No, this isn't Citizen Kane but it is a fairly entertaining Monogram flick that works in large part thanks to Bela Lugosi's performance. In the film Lugosi plays a scientist doing strange experiments and soon finds himself turning into an ape. Along with the help of another doctor he must try and find spinal fluid that can turn him back. Without the benefit of Lugosi in the main role then this film would be pretty awful but with the great actor in the lead we at least get a fine performance and a fun one at that. If you think too hard about it you might get depressed but it is rather fun seeing Lugosi in the bad "ape wig", which covers most of his face and some of his body. The make up effects are rather lame and cheap but that just adds to the charm and fun nature of the film and Lugosi's performance. I'm sure the star knew he was working with junk but that didn't stop him from giving it his all and you can't help but respect him for that. As for the rest of the film, the performances are rather bland, direction slight and the story is unoriginal to the max.

Ape, The (1940) William Nigh

Boris Karloff plays a kind, caring but ultimately mad doctor who is trying to cure a woman paralyzed due to polio. He only hope for curing her is by getting spinal fluid and the doctor turns to murder after an ape escapes a circus hoping that he can blame the wild creature. This is a pretty light and standard horror film that doesn't have too much going for it outside of Karloff's performance. The story is pretty weak and simple and it doesn't help matters that the writers want to make Karloff appear nice and good throughout the movie. I guess they just couldn't have Karloff play a mad character so they had to throw in all the kindness as well. The supporting cast are decent but no one really steps out as giving a good performance. The ape looks silly throughout the film but I'm not sure I've ever seen a horror film with an ape that looked real. The film plays itself very straight and I'd even say that it takes itself too seriously, which causes the movie to be dry at times.

Night to Dismember, A (1983) Doris Wishman

A woman hacks up her family and then five years later is released from the asylum only to have more bodies start piling up. Is it the same woman or is someone trying to frame her? Director Wishman is best known for her sexploitation flicks of the 60s and 70s but this here is probably the best movie I've seen from her. I don't want to come off like I'm saying this is a good movie because it's not. In fact, the movie could be called the Plan 9 From Outer Space of slashers because it's so cut up, features nothing but narration and at times doesn't make a bit of sense. Apparently the film was completed in 1979 but the lab ended up destroying a lot of the film so Wishman had to spend the next four years shooting replacement scenes as she could. The film is certainly so bad it's good but it's good because of how unique and fresh it is. Wishman's directing style is so off the wall and rather interesting that you can't help but somewhat admire what she's trying to do on such a low budget. There are numerous bloody killings ranging from decapitations to throat slashings to even a fake zombie showing up. Murders happen left and right throughout the 69-minute running time and this certainly has one of the highest body counts out there. Most of the violence is cheap looking but there's plenty of red stuff for gore hounds. There's actually one effective scene and that's when the crazy girl first returns home and hears voices coming from the closet. I won't spoil what happens but I felt the scene worked very well. The majority of people watching this thing are really going to hate it but I've seen so many terrible horror films from this decade that I realized I was watching another one but a unique one at that.



1. Frankenstein (1910)
2. Teenage Zombies (1959)
3. Spooks Run Wild (1941)
4. She-Wolf of London (1946)
5. We Want Our Mummy (1939)
6. Ape Man, The (1943)
7. Ape, The (1940)
8. Night to Dismember, A (1983)

Re: *** Official 9th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge

Pet Sematary (1989)

Absolutely dreadful and tasteless - I know a lot of you love it, but I hate it.

10/01 (1) Deranged
10/02 (2) Pet Sematary

Re: *** Official 9th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge

Oct. 2:

1. The Fly (1958)

One of the very best from the 1950s. Starring Al [] Hedison as Andre Delambre, and the great Vincent Price as Francois Delambre. Most probably know the premise of the film, in which Andre has created a matter integrator - disintegrator which doesn't work well at first. He works out the bugs [] for the most part (even though he tells his wife that he does not resolve how the "Made in Japan" was reversed, only that it was--I hadn't caught that before); however, once he fixes the problem (using a fully printed newspaper which teleports correctly), he tries to teleport Dandelo (the cat), with disastrous results.

Eventually he corrects the problems, and puts himself through the machine, only to have a fly sneak in there before teleporting. The atoms scramble, and the rest is ... creepy as he now has the head and left 'arm' of a fly, and the fly has his body parts. He has his wife, housekeeper, his son Philippe, and others try to track down the fly with a human head and left arm so that he can re-teleport himself in the hopes of scrambling and reassembling the atoms back into their original patterns.

I have to recommend The Fly Collection very highly; it contains the three films and a fourth disc jam packed with special features and other wonderful tidbits.

2. The Dead Part Of the House (episode from One Step Beyond) (1959)

A wonderful offering from this spooky series. It starred a couple of people I recall having watched (and admired) in other shows (Philip Abbott of The F.B.I. and Joanne Linville of Star Trek -- episode: The Enterprise Incident).

A man's wife dies tragically, and he is left with his daughter (she's about ten or eleven). Both of them have moved to this house in which the little girl's aunt lives. The episode shows the man's deep resentment of his daughter (for whatever reasons); the child befriends the housekeeper/servant, and eventually she makes 'friends' with the ghosts of three girls who used to live in the house and who 'live' upstairs in the 'dead part of the house' (the nursery).

The adults think that the three friends she speaks to are actually three dolls that have been left behind in the aunt's house. No one believes her when she tells them that the dolls (ghosts) talk to her. However, later in the episode, she knows where a secret music box is on a very high shelf (she could not have known it was there, as it was way in the back and too high for her to reach). She also learns to dance the Charleston somehow, even though no one living taught her the dance. (This is relevant to the extent that the three girls lived in the home during the roaring '20s.) The episode takes a few twists and turns, but eventually the father realizes that he loves his little girl, and that he must somehow accept/reconcile his wife's death, but not at the expense of abandoning his daughter.

Updated list:

Films:

1. House On Haunted Hill (1959)
2. The Fly (1958)

Television episodes:

1. Dark Shadows (Original series) (episodes nos. 19 and 20) (1966)
2. One Step Beyond (The Dead Part Of the House) (1959)

Re: *** Official 9th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge

10/2 03 Doom (2005)

I borrowed this one from my son's dvd collection and it's not as bad as I thought it would be. A squad of marines are sent to a research station on Mars to find out what has been happening there. Upon arriving there, they discover that the research has gone wrong and they find themselves fighting the scientists who have turned into zombie-like mutants. Lots of gore and mayhem and I did enjoy it for what it was.

10/3 04 Dr. Giggles (1992)

The son of a doctor escapes from a Psych Hospital and takes up his father's murdering ways. Larry Drake was wonderfully funny as Dr. Giggles but the movie as a whole failed to satisfy. Certainly not as bad as some of the films I'll be seeing this month.

Re: *** Official 9th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge

We've talked about this one more times than I care to count, but since so many are discussing AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON I'm going to add for posterity here that I despise this movie. I saw it twice in 1981 in the theater myself when it was released - once with a friend, and another with a date. I thought whatever strong moments it might have had (and today I don't recall any of those except for the then-amazing werewolf transformation sequences which is not as impressive to me when seen today) the ridiculous comedy ruined everything. Especially the whole bit with the guy's steadily decomposing buddy continually coming back to chat and make funnies with him.

Unlike Jason Roser, I usually don't care for movies that are supposed to be horror films but make a mockery out of them. Films like BRAIN DEAD (aka DEAD ALIVE) , RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, EVIL DEAD 2... I just can't stand them. But there are SOME movies with comedy relief elements (a different thing entirely) which I think work fine - something like FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 6: JASON LIVES is the best of that series and it has a tongue-in-cheek approach at times but remains serious at its core. And something like BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, to me, is a fairytale kind of affair, with so many elements to enjoy that I don't feel as if I'm watching anything as offputting as the films I've mentioned above.

Mike, I know you always enjoy bringing up the director's viewpoint when you happen to see it the same way he does (such as echoing William Friedkin when he claims that his EXORCIST is "not a horror film"!) but AAWIL is a comedy and an embarrassment to the genre, in my opinion.

And both THE EXORCIST and PSYCHO do qualify as horror films as far as I'm concerned. Sorry, Friedkin and Hitch.

Re: *** Official 9th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge

10/02

Indestructible Man (1956)
A favorite of mine from my youth, this always played on TV. Lon Chaney is a crook who gets double-crossed by his partners and is sentenced to the electric chair. He's brought back to life and sets out to kill his former "pals" and the scheming lawyer who wronged him. Always enjoy the "Dragnet"-style narration and feel of this one.

The Earth Dies Screaming (1964)
I didn't know that this was directed by Terence (Hammer Films) Fisher when I popped it in. It's got a pretty good visual look, but nothing really happens to speak of and too little is explained. It's another "end of the world" affair where everyone on Earth has died and their fallen bodies are strewn all over the streets. This time there are robots stalking around who zap human victims with rays and can turn them into eyeless walking dead. It sounds more fun than it is.

THE MUNSTERS: "A Walk on the Mild Side"
THE MUNSTERS: "Rock-A-Bye Munster"

FRIDAY THE 13TH - THE SERIES: "Cupid's Quiver"


2008 SCARY MOVIE CHALLENGE
01) Chamber of Horrors (1966) **1/2
02) Indestructible Man (1956) **1/2
03) The Earth Dies Screaming (1964) **


TV EPISODES Watched
THE MUNSTERS - "Munster Masquerade"
THE MUNSTERS - "My Fair Munster"
THE MUNSTERS - "A Walk on the Mild Side"
THE MUNSTERS - "Rock- A- Bye Munster"

FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE SERIES - "The Inheritance"
FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE SERIES - "The Poison Pen"
FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE SERIES - "Cupid's Quiver"

Re: *** Official 9th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge

Out of

10/02 Dracula's Daughter
10/02 Cujo 1/2
10/03 Die Screaming, Marianne 1/2
10/04 Virgin of Nuremberg
10/05 Murders at the Zoo
10/06 Crimson Rivers 2: Angels of the Apocalypse
10/07 Someone's Watching Me
10/08 The Flesh and Blood Show
10/10 Frozen Ghost
10/11 The Mummy (1933)

10/12 Burnt Offerings
10/13 Campfire Stories
10/13 The Snorkel
10/15 From Beyond
10/16 Little Shop of Horrors 1/2
10/16 Death of a Ghost Hunter
10/17 From Beyond the Grave 1/2
10/17 Deadly Friend
10/19 Dr Giggles 1/2
10/20 Nosferatu (1922) 1/2

10/21 30 Days of Night 1/2
10/23 The Strangers 1/2
10/24 Poltergeist 1/2
10/24 Exorcist 2: The Heretic
10/24 Visiting Hours 1/2
10/25 The Hand 1/2
10/26 Black Cat (2007)
10/27 Before I Hang
10/27 Child's Play
10/28 I, Madman

10/30 Stuck
10/31 Halloween (1978)
10/31 Texas Chain Saw Massacre

Re: *** Official 9th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge

Out of

Dracula's Daughter
This belated sequel picks up minutes after the original ends. Gloria Holden is wonderful as the melancholy title character who is in thrall to her father beyond death and struggles to control her vampirism. The lesbian overtones have been much discussed and they are very obvious and they make this Universal effort a rather unique experience.

Cujo 1/2
The set-up is rather prosaic but once the movie kicks in this is an absolute winner. The first attack is brilliantly done as is the shock appearance of Cujo on the opposite side of the car to what we expect because we think it's a Cujo POV shot. The last 20-30 minutes is as harrowing as anything from the "torture porn" genre because it never goes over the top and really shows the helplessness of the victims. The dog make-up is remarkable.

Re: *** Official 9th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge

Joe, since you haven't seen it since 1981 you might want to give it another try. Once again I'll state my own opinion that I wouldn't call the film "comedy" as the two "good guys" both die. That doesn't happen in comedy. The comedy bits are certainly there but a lot of them set up "jump" scenes or scare scenes.

I think Landis is a piece of shit but he certainly has his own style, feel and look when it comes to his films. WEREWOLF is certainly a Landis movie, which means comedy is going to come along for a ride but there's no denying there are more horror elements.

You mentioned several horror/comedy but there isn't a single one of them where the two leads end up dead. Again, I'd take another look at it. However, I'm sure your feelings toward it would match somes feelings towards A&C MEET FRANKENSTEIN (or any of their monster movies).

Re: *** Official 9th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge

Okay, I would love to do this, as this is my favorite time of year and I live for scary movies. I'm not sure if I can make it into the ranks of SPLATTERHEADS, but I will try.

Here is what I have watched so far since OCT 1st 2008:


1. *** Disturbia (2007). Second time I have seen this film and while not REALLY scary to me, it creeps me out. David Morse is a great actor . The end builds much tension and makes my skin crawl.

2. *** Resident Evil: Apocalypse. This is by far the best movie in this series. I thought seeing the virus jump to birds was a good touch (reminded me of the book by Brian Keene called Dead Sea, where the virus made the jump to animals, land and water).

3. ** 28 Weeks Later. The best part of this movie is the first scene at the cottage, after that, it falls flat. It is a shame it could not live up to the 28 Days Later. This was my 3rd time viewing this film.

4. **** Boy Eats Girl. This was a new film to me. I had not heard of it before until I saw a preview for it on FEAR. While it is truly campy, there are some scary jump out at you moments that really get you. The acting was pretty decent and the gore was fun. I honestly was not expecting much from this film, but I really enjoyed it and would definitely watch it again.

OKay, that is it so far. I probably won't get another round of scary movies in until my sister comes to visit next week. Her and I have scary movie night all planned out with 4 new movies that neither of us has seen and I look forward to adding them to my list.

Re: *** Official 9th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge

The embarrassing memories are vivid in my brain to the point where I don't have a desire to revisit the movie. Sometimes it's so that I can see a film once and not like it but it improves the second time around. That's why I saw AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON two times back in its day. But after two times, I'm usually convinced. A year or so ago I saw a portion of the movie on TV and it made me wince all over again. So for me, I'm pretty sure I have no need to see it again.

I also don't think it's some kind of a pre-requisite that key "good guy" lead characters must remain "alive" in a comedy - especially if it happens to be a black or "offbeat" comedy. This is something that's your opinion, but I don't happen to share it. There is nowhere we can prove or disprove that ingredient as a necessary requirement in any comedy.


I might deny that, but I haven't seen it in a long time. The bottom line to me is that the intrusive comedy obliterated whatever "main horror" was supposedly there. It's what sticks out like a sore thumb to me now, even 27 years after.

Re: *** Official 9th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge

008) 10/02/08 Chamber of Horrors (1966)

Kooky Jason Cravatte strangles his lover and then forces a minister to marry them. He escapes the hangman's knot by severing his hand! It's up to Anthony Draco and Harold Blount, who run the House of Wax and assist the police in their spare time, to find the demented Cravatte before he kills again. Set in 19th century Baltimore, this was initially a pilot for a TV series called House of Wax, but was deemed too horrifying for television. Features the gimmicks the Fear Flasher and Horror Horn to warn audiences of potentially frightening scenes. Great period flavor and Patrick O'Neal, as the villain, seems to be having fun. But it's overall tone is rather light-weight and it runs too long. Still, it may have made a fun TV series since Cesare Danova and Wilfrid Hyde-White make a good detective team.

009) 10/02/08 Dementia 13 (1963)

Before he made history with the Godfather films, Francis Ford Coppola (here billed without the Ford) directed this low-budget but effective thriller produced by Roger Corman. A family gathers at an Irish estate to hear the matriarch read her will as well as remember the tragic death of young Kathleen who drowned in a pond. Then the axe murders start. The plot is nothing spectacular, but the film is undeniably eerie and intense with several effective murder set pieces.

010) 10/02/08 Final Exam (1981)

It's the last few days of final exams for students at Lanier college. But then a psycho shows up and starts killing people. A rather blah killer prevents this mundane slasher picture from being anything special. But Joel S. Rice as Radish, the nerd and confidant, is a lot of fun. Radish rules!

Re: *** Official 9th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge

But there isn't any necessary requirement that the comedy can't obliterate the main horror.

I'm not sure but I'd be interested in your opinion if you ever watched it again. I understand why you dislike the movie but I'm really not sure the comedy invades the horror elements anymore than a Whale picture, a A&C film or even the L&H horror comedies. It seems like you're more upset that AWIL didn't just have a straight horror story.


Voodoo Man (1944) William Beaudine

Monogram cheapie has Bela Lugosi playing a mad doctor who wants to bring his dead wife back to life. In order to do so he must kidnap women and use voodoo to make their souls go into the body of his wife. As is to be expected, this is a very silly little film that doesn't have too much of a story going for it but it does have a great cast to keep things moving through its 62-minute running time. Lugosi is in fine form as the deranged doctor and he manages to deliver yet another good performance. He actually has a very touching scene where his wife returns to him for a few seconds before dying again and Lugosi really gives it his all in his heartbreak. George Zucco is also on hand as the man getting the girls. The scene stealer however is John Carradine as Lugosi's dimwitted slave. There are a couple sequences, which are just downright hilarious with one showing Carradine playing the drums with the strangest look on his face. Another moment is when Carradine goes to the dungeon to talk with the kidnapped women only to let one escape. In fear, he starts crying that the master is going to beat him and this too is downright hilarious to watch. All in all there's nothing overly special with this film but it does feature three horror greats and in the end it's fun camp.

Condemned to Live (1935) Frank R. Strayer

A Professor (Ralph Morgan) learns that his mother was attacked by a vampire bat while pregnant with him and soon he begins to fear that he is the vampire stalking his small town. This film comes from the same director as The Vampire Bat, which was made two years earlier. If you enjoyed that Lionel Atwill film then you'll probably enjoy this one as well. For me, I didn't enjoy the previous film and this one here didn't work either, although there were a few interesting twists on the vampire legend. I think the biggest problem for the film is that it's pretty much all talk from start to finish without very much happening. Whenever something exciting does happen it's usually off screen and we only hear about it through more dialogue scenes. Morgan delivers a fine performance but the rest of the cast are rather boring. The direction is also off to the point where the film, for me at least, drags quite a bit and the 65-minute running time seems very long. I enjoyed the relationship between the Professor and a hunchback but this is about the only thing that worked for me. It's far from a really bad movie but it is rather slow and dull. It's also worth noting that the movie was shot on the same sets as Bride of Frankenstein.



1. Frankenstein (1910)
2. Teenage Zombies (1959)
3. Spooks Run Wild (1941)
4. She-Wolf of London (1946)
5. We Want Our Mummy (1939)
6. Ape Man, The (1943)
7. Ape, The (1940)
8. Night to Dismember, A (1983)
9 Voodoo Man (1944)
10. Condemned to Live (1935)

Re: *** Official 9th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge

The new movies are on their way, so I started with these. I was going to go alphabetically through my horror collection this year, but there are just some movies I don't feel like watching at the moment.

1. The Abominable Dr. Phibes. out of 4
This is one of those movies that I sort of forget about, and once it is playing I wonder why I don't watch it more often. The blend of creative murders and the humor make this one so much fun. Still need to check out the sequel.

2. Abominable. out of 4
Straight to DVD movie about a killer Bigfoot. This movie is incredibly predictable and fun. With cameos by Jeffrey Combs, Lance Henrickson and Dee Wallace Stone, this is not a bad way to spend 90 minutes.

3. 28 Days Later
An actual reason to have fast zombies! Although Danny Boyle says this is not a zombie movie, it still has flesh eating humans that can turn other humans into flesh eaters by biting them!

4. A Nightmare on Elm Street
This is one of those movies for me that always is a good start to the challenge. This was when Freddy was actually scary!

I fell asleep trying to squeeze in 28 Weeks Later, so I will finish that ASAP. I am amazed at how many movies people can squeeze in per day. After I get home from work, unless I stay up all night, I can get 2 in at the most!

Re: *** Official 9th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge

For me there often is. This exercise is supposed to be all about our own individual perceptions and viewpoints, is it not?


Of course I am. Now I guess this is probably one of those key moments in film discussion where it's your turn to say: "But you're expecting the movie to be something else other than what the director wanted it to be!", but I think it's perfectly okay for a viewer to do precisely that. We don't have to buy any bag of goods the filmmaker tries to sell us. We've been over this many times before and it never gets anywhere because you just can't accept that I don't like the movie and that I don't care to see it again after two viewings. I tried it twice, and I'm finished and can easily live happily ever after that way.

Re: *** Official 9th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge

Christopher,

I love that film. I need to pick up both films on DVD.

I'm astonished at the number myself. After a point, I need a break from television (it has nothing to do with the genre); I just get too saturated, and need for my mind to clear up. So I go outside and play baseball, run, etc.

I have a thread-related short story to tell involving perhaps the number one Halloween fan in our home. When I got home yesterday, the wallpaper on our computer was a still from Night Of the Living Dead (1968 version). I thought that that had to be our eldest daughter having fun, which it was. Then I went upstairs to the bathroom in our bedroom, and when I got to our mirror, I saw (as a reflection) a piece of paper with a photocopied image of a hand on it (it turned out to be her hand), and the letters "Death!" in blood red paint, dripping from the paper. She didn't have the 'redrum' mirror-image lettering written correctly (that would have taken some work); still, the effort was priceless and very much in the spirit of the holiday. Our fourteen year old girl loves this time of year....

Re: *** Official 9th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge

I know too many people who got nightmares from "AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON" to not call it a horror film. I like Landis though, when he's good, he's great at mixing horror and humor without really cheating either. His MOH DEER WOMAN proved that.

Watched another Hammer classic!

10/02 003 THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN (1957) 2.5/5 - Peter Cushing finds a Yeti tooth and the search is on. Nice atmosphere and it's played pretty classy and straight. I would of liked more monster.

Cracked open the SAM KATZMAN collection that's been gathering dust since November last year. Kind of a poor man Val Lewton which isn't saying much...

10/02 004 ZOMBIES OF MORA TAU (1957) 3/5 - The Zombies are crap, little more then actors with no make up wandering about with their arms sticking out. Actually, that's exactly how the Zombies are depicted. There's a very goofy plot about lost diamonds that don't really help either. somehow though, it has a decent enough if familiar atmosphere to keep you interested.

10/02 005 THE WEREWOLF (1957) 2.5/5 - With a make up that in one shot looks pretty cool and the next like someone glued a rug to the actors face, this ones not exactly a classic. It does have some pretty good atmosphere, and odd bits with the Werewolf running about in the day of unexplained reasons, so worth one viewing.

My running tally is here!
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/...ml#post3439470

Re: *** Official 9th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge

I'm not wild about this movie in general myself, but it should be noted that this was how "zombies" were originally SUPPOSED to be portrayed. This was the case in early films like WHITE ZOMBIES, REVOLT OF THE ZOMBIES, REVENGE OF THE ZOMBIES, I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE, etc...

As much as I enjoy George Romero's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, they weren't "zombies" in the classic sense but of course this changed the word "zombie" forever. I wish they had been called something else since then... "flesh-eating ghouls," or SOMETHING...

Re: *** Official 9th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge

Yeah, I agree Joe, though in I WALK WITH A ZOMBIE, those zombies were much more creepier then these. There was a good scene where a chick gets a bottle bounced off her forehead and is un-phased... probably the best part of the movie really