*** Official 14th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge 2013 *** (1 Viewer)

[Film]

10/03
The Creeping Terror (1964) F

A film about some alien slug-like creatures who land on earth and one of them very sssllloowwllyy attacks the humans, who apparently can't walk or crawl away due to their sheer terror.

It's interesting to read about the development of the film and how the director and protagonist of the film, Vic Savage, swindled a lot of the film's investors.

This was on a creature feature dvd put out by Mill Creek. Since I got through this one, I'll hopefully be able to get through the others.
First time viewings are in bold
10/01
Halloween II (1981) C
10/02
The Cabin in the Woods (2012) B
10/03
The Creeping Terror (1964) F
TV
Tales from the Crypt 1. "And All Through the House"
Tales from the Crypt 2. "Dig That Cat...He's Real Gone"
Tales from the Crypt 3. "Collection Completed"

 

[Malcolm R]

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2010)​

​

Grade: B​

An architect (Guy Pearce) and his new interior designer girlfriend (Katie Holmes) are attemping to restore the neglected estate of a well-known wildlife artist, Emerson Blackwood, who died mysteriously after the sudden disappearance of his young son. As the project progresses, the architect's daughter, Sally, comes to stay with the couple. Soon after arriving, she discovers a hidden basement and begins to hear whispery voices coming from the darkness. The voices claim they only want to be her friend, but when have creepy whispering voices ever been truthful? Soon, the danger she has awakened becomes all too apparent to Sally, but will any adults believe her and help her before it's too late?

With screenplay and production by Guillermo del Toro and based on a television movie from the 1970's, the remake of Don't Be Afraid of the Dark provides decent scares and creepy atmosphere. The whispering voices swirling around the room through the surround system are quite spooky. The effects are a little unconvincing in some spots, but are sufficient for the film. I haven't yet seen the original film, but the remake was a fun ride.

TV
Supernatural: The Born-Again Identity (S7, EP17)

As Sam continues his descent into psychotic madness due to Lucifer's never-ending presence, Dean desperately searches for answers and reaches out to every contact in his hunter's circle. He finally finds a lead about a spiritual healer named Emmanuel who seems to truly have the healing touch. However, when he finally meets Emmanuel, Dean discovers the man isn't really who he claims to be.

A fun episode that brings a couple of fan favorites back into the mix as we head into the final episodes of the seventh season. Grade: B+

---

The Report Card
= First Time Viewing

[*]Insidious A
[*] Grave Encounters B-
[*] Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2010) B
[/list]

TV Viewing

[*]Supernatural: The Born-Again Identity (S7:E17) B+
[/list]

 

[Film]

Horrors of Spider Island (1960) F

A German film dubbed into English. It's about a talent agent and some dancers who crash land near an island. The talent agent is attacked by a weird looking spider and then starts developing a spider-like appearance on his face and eventually kills 3 people on the island. The dancers mostly go around scantily-clad and appear to be care-free most of the time despite their predicament. This was apparently a more adult film when it was originally released in the U.S. as "It's Hot in Paradise."

First time viewings are in bold
10/01
Halloween II (1981) C
10/02
The Cabin in the Woods (2012) B
10/03
The Creeping Terror (1964) F
Horrors of Spider Island (1960) F
TV
Tales from the Crypt 1. "And All Through the House"
Tales from the Crypt 2. "Dig That Cat...He's Real Gone"
Tales from the Crypt 3. "Collection Completed"

 

[PatW]

Trick 'r Treat (2007) 3.5/5

This horror anthology has four interconnecting stories that takes place on Halloween. My favourite is the old man who lives next door to the blood thirsty principal, and who receives an unexpected visitor from his past. I was certainly surprised to hear that this had never been released to theatres.

X-files: I Want to Believe (2008) 3/5

I was surprised that this movie which was done six years after the series ended didn't try to tie up some of the loose ends from the final episode. The fact that alien human hybrids or supersoldiers were replacing all the key personnel in positions of power and wanted Mulder dead was completely overlooked in this movie. It's like the final episode of the series didn't even exist.

This movie felt like an episode of the series than an actual movie but mildly interesting none the less. It tells a modern day Frankenstein story where Mulder is asked to collaborate with the FBI on the case of a missing FBI agent. There are some plot holes here and some laughable scenes but this is the X-files and I wanted to believe.


TV Episodes

Supernatural Season 7 Meet the New Boss 4.5/5
Supernatural Season 7 Hello Cruel World 4/5

These first two episodes of the season were stellar compared to what came afterwards in what was for me the worse season of Supernatural. It didn't help
that they squandered what would have been an amazing villain in LeviCastiel by killing him off and making the Leviathans into corporate assholes.
I've decided to rewatch Season 7 for this challenge. There are a handful more of decent episodes in this season but the rest is mediocre to bad.

 

[John Stell]

4. Psycho IV: The Beginning

Norman Bates calls in to a radio talk show and reveals his origin and a plan to kill again. It's not perfect but I'm a fan of this movie. Henry Thomas (as young Norman) and Olivia Hussey (as mother) are both really good in their roles. Joseph Stefano sticks to what he had established in the first movie (two missing women in Fairvale, the highway being moved, mother and her boyfriend being poisoned) rather than shoe horning in a lot of new backstory.

Not sure if you are a completest or not, but the 1987 tele-film Bates Motel has just been released on MOD DVD-R via Amazon's Universal Vault Series. The premise is Norman Bates has died and willed his home and motel to a fellow ayslum inmate played by Bud Cort. Not long after Cort takes over murders begin. This whodunit is pretty obvious and no, it's not a good film. BUT I ordered it anyway and may work in a Psycho block during the challenge like you did.

 

[TravisR]

Not sure if you are a completest or not, but the 1987 tele-film Bates Motel has just been released on MOD DVD-R via Amazon's Universal Vault Series. The premise is Norman Bates has died and willed his home and motel to a fellow ayslum inmate played by Bud Cort. Not long after Cort takes over murders begin. This whodunit is pretty obvious and no, it's not a good film. BUT I ordered it anyway and may work in a Psycho block during the challenge like you did.

I taped it years ago and still have never watched it. Now that you remind me, I may finally take a look.

 

[Ruz-El]

You're making me want to re-visit those Psycho sequels. I was going to buy the Scream Factory Blurays, but I'm being cheap and hoping to find them for less than $20 cdn.

I got in two more last night.

10-03 003 The Man From Planet X (1951) 2.5/5
A mysterious craft appears on the Scottish moors, and of course some prick has to screw it all up! Not a bad Sci-fi thriller, but not one I would revisit anytime soon. That said, the actual Man From Planet X was pretty cool looking despite being a bit of a puss. Mum watched this one and declared it not that scary despite thinking the Man From Planet X was a bit of a creep. She was still going on about the horrors of "The Blob" from two night before. “What would YOU do if that stuff got on you?” “Why weren’t they more careful with that dog? Or does it not eat dogs?” Then dad asked if I had movies like “The Birds” or “Psycho” that weren’t as scary as "The Blob”. I know right?
Mum Scare Factor 1/5
10-03 004 Vampire Hookers (1978) 2.5/5
Full disclosure. A bunch of years ago I wrote up a pretty clever treatment for a vampire pimp movie that was scrapped because I found out that a Vampire Hookers movie existed. So I’ve been wanting to see this one for a long time. I was bound to be disappointed, and I was, because this movie isn’t near as clever or great as MY movie would have been! A drunk John Carradine runs some hooker out of a graveyard and ruins some sailors fun. It’s all played for laughs, which is a shame. I gave it half a point because of the never ending fart gags from the always fun Vic Diaz.

I would like to point out that Vampire Hookers was part of a double feature DVD put out by Vinegar Syndrome that also included the film "Death Force". I watched that one last month, and it was pretty great if you're looking for a Blaxploitation/Samurai vengaince film. I mean, why wouldn't you want to watch that? VS has become my favourite company, putting out everything from weirdo exploitation to porn. They're the Criterion of Trash, and I plan to watch a bunch of their horror releases this month.

Check out their site for trailers and what not.

http://vinegarsyndrome.com/launch/

 

[John Stell]

009) 10/03/2013 Valkoinen Peura: The White Reindeer (1952)

In the cold, snowy lands of Finland a newlywed young woman visits a shaman to get a love potion (her husband is away a lot hunting). But because she was born a witch the spell backfires and she transforms at night into a white reindeer, which lures eager hunters to their deaths. Unique variation on The Wolf Man has great atmosphere and follows a very traditional path (only cold iron can kill the beast) right up to its finale. The film has been released on DVD in France with English subtitles and is highly recommended to horror fans looking for something a little different.

010) 10/03/2013 The Black Castle (1952)

Despite a good cast and those lovely 1940s Universal horror music cues, this is a rather blah Gothic castle horror featuring Richard Greene as a man out for revenge for the murder of his friends. He uses an alias to get invited to the home of the murderer, hoping to gather proof of the crimes. But our hero falls in love with the villain's wife, complicating matters. This story has elements of Romeo and Juliet and The Most Dangerous Game but cannot muster much interest, even with supporting players Boris Karloff, as a sympathetic doctor, and Lon Chaney, as a thuggish mute. It seems those running Universal-International's horror division just couldn't get right what the studio had done so well just a few years earlier.

011) 10/03/2013 House of Wax (1953)

1/2

One of the most successful 3-D films of the 1950s; the first great horror film of the decade; and the flick that launched Vincent Price on a new career path in terms of the genre with which he would become most identified. In this remake of 1933's Mystery of the Wax Museum, Price plays the gifted sculptor whose hands are burned in a deliberately-set fire. He starts his own wax museum with a unique way of getting his wax figures to look the way he wants them to. The film seems to improve with age, with Price in excellent form as the sympathetic but mad villain. And the script is very good too, making the unusual choice, for example, to actually have the police ultimately solve the crimes instead of some amateur. Great use of 3D and color too. Paul Cavanagh, in a small role as Price's benefactor, was also in The Strange Door and Bride of the Gorilla.

012) 10/03/2013 Scared Stiff (1953)

1/2

This remake of The Ghost Breakers casts Dean Martin in the Bob Hope role and Jerry Lewis as his bumbling friend. Martin, on the lam from gangsters, decides to help a damsel in distress (Lizabeth Scott, previously seen in Stolen Face) when threats are made against her regarding her newly-inherited - and maybe haunted - Cuban estate. Not as funny as the original, but fans of silly comedies will find laughs here. Lewis has some really funny moments, such as talking to himself in a mirror during a should-I-or-shouldn't-I-help-my-friend scene. But with the song interludes and some unnecessary subplots (one involving Carmen Miranda) the film is overlong at 108 minutes.

 

[Bob McLaughlin]

3. The Pact (2012) (first-time viewing)
When two sisters return to their childhood home for their abusive mother's funeral, strange and creepy things start happening in the house. Before long, two people have disappeared and it's up to the lone rebelliious sister to unwind the mysteries of her family's dark past. Nice little ghost story, lots of good quiet creepy moments of dread. Not a whole lot new or groundbreaking going on here, but it does what it does within its modest means very well. Look for "Starship Troopers" Casper Van Dien in a welcome but sadly small role as a gravel-voiced cop. It's never really obvious what is meant by the titular "pact", which is odd because it's a fairly nondescript title for a decent movie. A nice little surprise worth checking out if you like "quiet horror" like "The Others", etc.

Bob's October 2013 Horror Movie List
FTV denotes first time viewing
1. Some Guy Who Kills People (FTV)
2. Uzumaki (FTV)
3. The Pact (2011) (FTV)

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

For night three I watched a favorite, The Changeling (1980). A relatively tradtional haunting story with a dash of detective work woven through. I love George C. Scott in both this and Exorcist III (which is highly underrated, by the way). The Changeling gave me goosebumps in all the same places through the movie. Still effective after all these years.

 

[Richard V]

Frankenstein's Army (First time viewing). ** 1/2 to *** Fairly low budget WW 2 themed horror film. Seen in Bluray. Squad of Russian Soldiers come up against the mad Dr. Frankenstein and his army of Nazi terror troops. Somehow reminded me of Andy Wharhol's Frankenstein, don't know why. Pretty imaginative, but poor acting. Special effects, not bad considering what was obviously a low budget. Only for those who like war movie/horror movie mashups.

 

[Chucky P]

I watched Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1956) today which is second to none when it comes to 50's sci-fi paranoia films.
First time viewings in RED!
Films
10-1-13
1. Cat People (1982) (4/5)
10-3-13
2. Ministry Of Fear (1944) (4/5)
3. Watership Down (1978) (4.5/5)
10-4-13
4. Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1956) (5/5)
Television Shows
10-3-13
1. The Walking Dead: Made To Suffer

 

[Radioman970]

Friday, October 4th
Movies:
5. Deathdream (or Dead of Night). (1971) Bob Clark messes with the sacred story of the soldier boy coming home. The horror is cheap but on the mark. Eery with a satisfying slow build and disturbing punches all the way to a grim conclusion. The DVD has lots of extras including a commentary track with the late Bob Clark. I could have sworn it was oop shortly after I rented it years ago. Happy to have my very own Deathdream!

6. Red Riding Hood. (2011) (N) At first I was hopeful for something worthy of Dragonslayer. But halfway in was wishing it was a "Little..." shorter. An okay try though... Sure would be a better world with more (and good quality) Grimm.

TV:
6. Dark Shadows. E66. "Vicki gets a letter from some girl named Vicki...and Collinwood gets another visit from Burke"


N=New to me/all Dark Shadows are N
Tuesday, October 1st
Movies:
1. Creepshow 2.
TV:
1. Dark Shadows. Episode 60.
2. Dark Shadows. Episode 61.
Wednesday, October 2nd
Movies:
2. Seventh Sign. (1988).
3. The Willies. (1990) (N)
TV: Dark Shadows. E62.
Thursday, October 3rd
Movies:
4. Enter Nowhere. (2011) (N)
TV:
3. Dark Shadows. E63.
4. Dark Shadows. E64.
5. Dark Shadows. E65.

 

[TravisR]

6. Night Of The Living Dead (1968)

A group of people are trapped in a farm house as the dead come back to life and attack the living. An all time classic.


7. Dawn Of The Dead (1978)

A group of people live in a mall as the dead have overrun (at least) Pittsburgh. Another all time classic.


8. Day Of The Dead (1985)

A group of scientists begin to test the dead and the soldiers living with them don't like it. I know this movie has developed a following over the years but I'm still not a huge fan. The characters are so unpleasant (given the circumstances, that's understandable) that you hate them and want them to die. On the plus side, Tom Savini pulls out all the stops for the finale.

 

[Suzanne.S]

Day 4

Blacula (1972) starring William Marshall, directed by William Crain
In spite of the cheesy title and the way it was marketed, it's a pretty straightforward vampire story. Much better than I had anticipated.

Scream, Blacula, Scream (1973) starring William Marshall and Pam Grier, directed by Bob Kelljan
An interesting follow up to the original involving voodoo. William Marshall has a wonderful voice and is well suited to the role.

 

[Malcolm R]

Grave Encounters 2​

​

Grade: C+​

A film student and his crew, obsessed with the original Grave Encounters and convinced that the events portrayed in the film were real and actually happened, journey to Collingwood Psychiatric Hospital to investigate for themselves. The malevolent entities soon make their presence known and the group finds themselves in great danger.

Not so much a sequel as a "re-do", the film recycles many of the same set pieces and ghoul FX from the first film but still generates a few effective scares once the group reaches the asylum. The extended set-up at the beginning of the film is kind of dull, meandering and sophomoric, and seems to mostly serve just to pad the running time (and lowers the overall grade).

​

The Collection​

​

Grade: B-​

Elena is attending a rave party with her friend and happens upon a locked trunk in one of the rooms. Elena opens the trunk and Arkin, the handyman ex-con from the original film, tumbles out on the floor. He has been tortured by The Collector, a notoriously violent serial killer who has turned the rave into his own personal killing field. As Arkin escapes the carnage, he sees the Collector abduct Elena and there's nothing he can do to stop it. As he's in the hospital recuperating, he is offered a chance to expunge his criminal record by leading the rescue team to find Elena. Arkin leads the team to an old, abandoned hotel but is not willing to enter the building since he knows the whole piace is wired with the Collector's elaborate traps. However, when forced at gunpoint, he has no choice but to lead the team into the building and try and rescue Elena while avoiding the Collector and his twisted traps.

The second entry in this torture-porn franchise continues with more of the same sadistic traps and torture by the Collector, who even wears an S&M type of mask to drive the point home. This series is similar in style to the Saw films; the first film, The Collector, was rumored to have originally been written and developed as a Saw prequel. The film held my interest, but did not contain the interesting set up of the first film and was just a straight-forward murder and mayhem film. Once again, we don't learn much about the identity or motivations of the Collector and the film ends with a cliff-hanger of sorts as a set-up to a possible new sequel.

---

The Report Card
= First Time Viewing

[*]Insidious A
[*] Grave Encounters B-
[*] Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2010) B
[*] Grave Encounters 2 C+
[*] The Collection B-
[/list]

TV Viewing

[*]Supernatural: The Born-Again Identity (S7:E17) B+
[/list]

 

[Michael Elliott]

Dario Argento's Dracula (2012) * 1/2

Dracula (Thomas Kretschmann), Mina (Marta Agastini), Lucy (Asia Argento) and Van Helsing (Rutger Hauer) are all here in Dario Argento's updating of the Bram Stoker tale. Fans of Argento who keep waiting for him to make another DEEP RED or SUSPIRIA are just fooling themselves. At this stage in the director's career I think it's best that we just hope and pray he doesn't deliver anything as bad as DO YOU LIKE HITCHCOCK or GIALLO. Whenever you're making a version of something like Dracula that has been told a hundred different times then you really need to add something new or fresh, which sadly the director doesn't do. There's really nothing unique to his vision here and there's certainly nothing in the picture that you will see and think that belongs to the style of Argento. Dracula is certainly a pretty bad movie but I don't think it's quite as awful as some have made it out to be but it's kinda sad when the majority of the "entertainment" comes from you just being amused at how far the legend as fallen. There are all sorts of bad things here including the awful CGI, which is some of the worst that you're ever going to see. The scenes of Dracula transforming from other creatures (wolf, owl) are pretty bad. The performances are also pretty awful with Kretschmann turning in one of the most bland Dracula's in history. Mrs. Asia Argento really isn't any better but she does offer up a nudity scene, which will please fans or either creep them out considering her dad is the director. Hauer actually comes off the best here but it's too bad he doesn't show up until the final third of the picture. The pacing of the film is pretty slow and especially during the second half. It also doesn't help that Argento really doesn't bring any style or energy to anything we're seeing on the screen. I can't comment on the 3D since I watched the flat version but there really didn't seem to be too much coming towards the screen. There are a few good things to be found here including the cinematography as well as the music score by Argento regular Claudio Simonetti. Dracula is sadly another bad film from the once great director and it's really too bad he didn't try to either make it more campy or at least bring something new to the story. The one "new" thing he does bring, the praying mantis, has to be the low point of his career.

Scooby Doo! Mask of the Blue Falcon (2012) ***

Entertaining feature has the gang traveling to a comic convention so that Scooby and Shaggy can meet the original actor who played the Blue Falcon. Soon Mr. Hyde shows up and starts destroying everything in sight and clues make one think that it's the original actor who is upset over Hollywood's new movie, which was made without him. SCOOBY-DOO! MASK OF THE BLUE FALCON is without question one of the more entertaining Scooby movies of recent years for a number of reasons. The biggest is that there are a lot of winks to earlier cartoons and not just Blue Falcon but there are also brief cameos from other famous characters. Most of them are in the form of fans dressing as the characters but these here are still a lot of fun and especially an appearance by Fred Flintstone. We even get a brief shot of Captain Caveman. Another reason this film works so well is that the story itself is actually pretty good. I thought the idea of an actor being upset that he's getting pushed aside by an update film was quite interesting and made for a fun adventure. Even the mystery itself was handled pretty well. The villain Mr. Hyde was another plus as he was great fun to root against. The vocal performances were all extremely good this time around with Matthew Lillard (Shaggy) and Frank Welker (Scooby, Fred) really standing out. The animation was also very good throughout. Fans of the old TV show or the new one will certainly enjoy this film as it has a good story, great characters and goes by at a very fast pace.

Devil Bat's Daughter (1946) 1/2

Nina MacCarron (Rosemary LaPlanche) believes that she is evil just like her father who murdered several people after creating a bat to attack them. She begins seeing a psychiatrist (Nolan Leary) to try and make sense of whether she's going crazy or perhaps there is something evil around. This here is a sequel to THE DEVIL BAT, a fun Bela Lugosi picture but this thing here is just downright awful on just about every level. We'll get to the awful things in a bit but the most disappointing thing is how stupid it treats the viewers and fans of the original film. In that film Lugosi was a murderer but this sequel pretty much throws everything out and completely contradicts what the original film was about. Why on Earth they did this is anyone's guess but it really wouldn't shock me if the screenwriters of this thing never actually saw the picture. Being a PRC film you should expect a low-budget but I'd really be shocked if this thing took more than a couple days to shoot. The entire thing looks as if it was shot on just a couple sets and everything from the performances to the editing to the direction are downright horrid. The weird thing is that director Frank Wisbar and actress LaPlanche would fair much better together the same year with STRANGLER OF THE SWAMP, which proved they could deliver something of quality. I think this film perfectly shows how very little effort anyone was putting into it because the studio simply wanted a film to get into theaters and hopefully milk some horror fans. DEVIL BAT'S DAUGHTER was released the same year as SHE WOLF OF London, another horrid film dealing with a female monster.

 

[Mario Gauci]

01/10/13: AND SOON THE DARKNESS (Robert Fuest, 1970) ***

Two British girls vacationing in rural France find themselves at the mercy of a sex maniac.

Somewhat arty and slow-burning suspenser: agreeably streamlined, it is reasonably well sustained by an eerie setting and glossy visuals.


01/10/13: THE MAZE (William Cameron Menzies, 1953) **1/2

The next-in-line to a Scottish heirloom, which is shrouded in mystery, suddenly breaks off his engagement to an American girl; inevitably, but against the baronet’s better judgment, she turns up at the forbidding estate to investigate.

More folly than fable, its overpowering atmosphere (filmed in 3-D) somehow renders the undeniably ludicrous plot compulsive.


01/10/13: RETURN TO GLENNASCAUL: A STORY THAT IS TOLD IN DUBLIN (Hilton Edwards, 1951) **1/2

Travelling through Dublin by car, Orson Welles (taking a break from the filming of OTHELLO [1952]) gives a lift to a stranded man, who recounts a similar but strange occurrence of his own.

Not particularly gripping as a ghost story; however, the detail is quite nice…and Mr. Welles’ genial presence entirely welcome.


02/10/13: THE FINAL PROGRAMME (Robert Fuest, 1973) **

An ambiguous adventurer becomes involved with an experiment designed to overcome the impending extinction of the human species.

One from the “What were they thinking?!” school of film-making: much like the contemporaneous ZARDOZ (1974), this is yet another good-looking but uncontrolled attempt at a ‘trippy’ post-apocalyptic scenario that ends up being embarrassingly campy – and, here, wasting a fine cast into the bargain.


02/10/13: THE NEANDERTHAL MAN (E.A. Dupont, 1953) **

A haughty Professor becomes intent on proving that mankind’s gradual evolution did not necessarily affect his quotient of intelligence.

Despite the distinguished directorial credit, this is a thoroughly routine horror programmer of the ‘mad scientist’ variety, with more than its fair share of unintended hilarity amid the general tackiness.


02/10/13: A GHOST STORY: STIGMA [TV] {Short} (Lawrence Gordon Clark, 1977) **1/2

The removal of a large stone outside her country-house seems to have a mysterious and life-threatening influence on a woman.

Not an ineffective, yet rather muddled, depiction of ancient evil reawakened; one of only two entries from the annual BBC-TV series to adopt a modern setting.


03/10/13: THE DEVIL'S RAIN (Robert Fuest, 1975) **1/2

A Satanist hounds a wayward cult member’s family over the centuries for possession of a book in which the townspeople had signed off their eternity in blood to the Dark Side; in the meantime, their despairing souls reside in a glass receptacle dubbed “The Devil’s Rain”…

Disappointing, yet mildly diverting and starrily-cast, diabolical chiller: altogether rather quaint, despite a fashionable downbeat ending (following a spectacularly gooey, but absurdly elongated, climax) and the surprising endorsement of Anton Le Vey.


03/10/13: THE SON OF DR. JEKYLL (Seymour Friedman, 1951) **

Rather than following in father’s footsteps, this (obviously lookalike) progeny takes it upon himself to clear the old family name – but is misunderstood at every turn.

Ponderous offshoot of a well-worn formula (pardon the pun), acted for more than its worth; nowhere near as wacky as DAUGHTER OF DR. JEKYLL (1957), but just as watchable under the circumstances.


03/10/13: A CHILD'S VOICE [TV] (Kieran Hickey, 1978) **1/2

A popular radio personality, renowned for his writing and reciting of blood-curdling horror stories late at night, receives a plea – via repeated eerie phone calls – from a child to discontinue his latest narrative.

Intriguing but uninspired supernatural tale.

 

[Mario Gauci]

Why, is that the Mario Gauci who disappeared several years ago? Last I heard he was partying with Brad Pitt. Good to see you back.

It has taken a "Halloween Challenge" to lure me back, Mike...and it's good to see that Joe Karlosi's still around, too!

 

[Ruz-El]

Dario Argento. I'm far from his biggest fan, but I had high hopes for his Dracula. Shame to hear it's a bit crap. I think the best thing he's done the past 10 or more years where his Masters of Horror episodes.

I got in two last night:

10-04 005 Savage Water (1979) 1.5/5
Another fine release from Vinegar Syndrom, this Drive-In double feature disc got pulled due to the rights on this one being questionable. I managed to snag a copy. Sadly, the film is TERRIBLE! A bunch of rafters hit the Colorado river, start misbehaving and then start getting mysteriously killed. The suspense is non-existent. The acting is below amateur. The “gore” is laughably bad and the whole thing is a bit of a chore. I’m curious to watch it with the commentary track, it might make it more entertaining. VS did a pretty good job of releasing this lost “classic”, but despite their efforts, it’s a pretty rough looking film. Supposedly the rights holder got in touch with them (hence it was pulled) and plans on doing more for this film. Who knows why, it’s not worth much more effort than what VS has already done! Just watch Deliverance instead.

10-04 006 The Amityville Horror (1979) 3/5
The Scream Factory Bluray set of the first three Amityville films arrived, so Dad thought it a good idea to watch the first one last night. I had a bit of trepidation since Mum was still on about The Blob and informed me that “You never know what those things flying in the sky are:”, so The Man From Planet X could happen. Anyway, Old Amityville hasn’t aged all that well. It comes off a bit clumsy and hokey these days, but it’s still a pretty good haunted house film, and Rod Steiger is fantastic as always. I always think of Margot Kidder as a brassy bitch from the Superman films, so I was surprised to see her so pleasing and attractive here. James Brolin is Brolin, never saw the appeal of the guy. Shouts presentation is pretty good, the film looks better than ever, though has a surprising amount of print damage that wasn’t cleaned up. I’ll never understand the major studios treatment of their films. This one seemed to suitably freak out Mum, so I told her the more true aspects of the real case it’s based on, which the short story is “It’s all bullshit.” This resulted in mum informing me that there are haunted houses and regaling me with stories of family members seeing ghosts. Her final thoughts were, “It’s not fair that people sell houses to other people when they know they’re haunted like that.” I guess?
Mum Scare Factor 3/5

I find myself still struggling with a cold and my back is out, so I plan to get in a bunch of movies today and tomorrow. I want to watch the second feature from the Savage Water disc, as well as the other two Amityville films.