Re: *** Official 9th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge
5. Going To Pieces (2006 - unknown) - A fairly by the book documentary looking at the slasher films of the late 70s and 80s which led up to today's horror movies. It's not overly probing or insightful, but it's very entertaining and zips at a good clip through a whole raft of classic to not-so-classic movies. Interviews with many of the directors (Sean S. Cunningham, Paul Lynch, Amy Holden Jones and a bunch of others that would rarely get a chance to talk about their films) and other contributors and fans of the genre are usually pretty entertaining, though the almost constant background music starts to annoy after awhile. The funniest segment is the uproar that the marketing campaign for Silent Night Deadly Night caused. Parent groups protested the use of Santa Clause in the ads and distributors caved in...Huge fans of the genre likely won't learn anything new and casual fans are likely to run into a couple of huge spoilers for some of the lesser known films.6. The Skull (1965 - Freddie Francis) - Yeah! Just awesome set design and atmosphere created for this tale of a man obsessed with owning the skull of The Marquis De Sade. It's a bit of a high maintenance artifact though - unless you don't mind committing murderous acts every so often. I'm not sure if the skull-cam or the flying skull are my favourite bits, but I do know that I love the collections of occult and scary items throughout both Peter Cushing's residence as well as Christopher Lee's (who has a much smaller part here). Freddie Francis does a really fine job of direction using all sorts of spiffy angles. I'm assigning classic status to this one.
7. The Brood (1979 - David Cronenberg) - The first 70 minutes of this early Cronenberg film are surprisingly slow and not anywhere near as gross or blood-drenched as I had anticipated. It still has a few good jumps and some tense moments though, but what we've seen of the brood at this point is only slightly creepy and a bit goofy. However, you know it's going somewhere and it ends up being very effective once we see the entire brood and feel the suspense of a rescue attempt. Not to mention the "I sure wasn't prepared for that" moment of the reveal from the chracter of Nola. Like I said, I knew something was coming, but you just can't really prep yourself for this kind of thing...
8. Blood And Black Lace (1964 - Mario Bava) - Huge disappointment. I thought I had read that this was one of Bava's better and more intense Giallos, but apart from the great colour lighting and some terrific looking scenes, the story and suspense were actually quite lame. It's pretty pointless to complain about the after-the-fact dubbing and lousy acting in these films, but geez...It was particularly lousy here. And the worst attempt to portray an epileptic fit on film ever.
9. From Beyond The Grave (1973 - Kevin Connor) - Yet another Amicus compilation film and yet another winner. This time Peter Cushing plays an antiques shopkeeper whose merchandise may bring along with it a little something extra. Each of the stories is really good, but the third was probably the most entertaining since it was quite funny and still ended with some solid creepiness. And as always there's plenty to look at and watch for in the background - the shop in particular has lots of spiffy items at which to marvel.
10. Yokai Monsters: Along With Ghosts (1969 - Yoshiyuki Kuroda, Kumiyoshi Yasuda) - Some time ago while reading up a bit on Takashi Miike's 2005 film "The Great Yokai War", I had come across mentions of a set of late 60s Japanese films from a series called "Yokai Monsters". But I had completely forgotten them until Cinebeats made mention of them quite recently. It just so happens that all three were just released in a bargain priced set, so amazon was quite kind to deposit them at my door just the other day. The Yokai are spirits/monsters that are part animal/human and are found in Japanese folk tales - usually having some kind of supernatural power. This first film in the set (though apparently the third one released) focuses on the story of little 7 year-old Miyo who is in search of her father and running away from a gang who believe she has an incriminating document. Of course, the gang members don't heed the warnings to avoid violence and weapons while in certain parts of the woods (seriously, if an old white haired man pleads with you not to do something - DON'T DO IT!) and so they encounter an interesting variety of Yokai. Not as many as I had hoped, but enough to satisfy and make me eager to check out the other two films (both of which apparently have plenty more of the beasts). The special effects range from effectively cheap (meaning that sometimes a simple papier-mache mask and costume can do wonders) to slightly cheesy.
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)
5. 10/03/08 - Going To Pieces (2006 - unknown)
6. 10/03/08 - The Skull (1965 - Freddie Francis)
7. 10/04/08 - The Brood (1979 - David Cronenberg)
8. 10/05/08 - Blood And Black Lace (1964 - Mario Bava)
9. 10/05/08 - From Beyond The Grave (1973 - Kevin Connor)
10. 10/05/08 - Yokai Monsters: Along With Ghosts (1969 - Yoshiyuki Kuroda, Kumiyoshi Yasuda)
Yeah! Chucky the doll. 
Where's the jiggly 3D bloody titties?!!!! 
