***Official 7th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge*** (1 Viewer)

[Angel Pagan]

Here's my final tally:

2006 Scary Movie List
1) Hills Have Eyes (2006) [DVD] :star: :star: :star:
2) The Descent [Theatrical] :star: :star: :star: 1/2
3) House Of Wax (2005) [DVD] :star: :star: :star:
4) Hostel [DVD] :star: :star: :star:
5) Sleepy Hollow [HD-DVD] :star: :star: :star:
6) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning [Theatrical] :star: 1/2
7) The Grudge [DVD] :star: :star: :star:
8) The Grudge 2 [Theatrical] :star: :star: 1/2
9) Boogeyman (2005) [DVD] :star: :star:
10) Tim Burton's Corpse Bride [HD-DVD] :star: :star: 1/2
11) The Exorcism Of Emily Rose [DVD] :star: :star: :star: :star:
12) George Romero's Land Of The Dead [DVD] :star: :star:
13) Saw [DVD] :star: :star: :star: :star:
14) Saw II [DVD] :star: :star: :star:
15) Saw III [Theatrical] :star: :star: 1/2
16) High Tension [DVD] :star: :star: :star:
17) Wrong Turn [DVD] :star: :star: :star:
18) Cabin Fever [DVD] :star: :star: 1/2
19) Slither [HD-DVD] :star: :star: 1/2
20) The Eye [DVD] :star: :star: 1/2
21) Final Destination [DVD] :star: :star: :star:

Was able to watch more than last year but not reach the 35 I viewed 2 years ago. 13 of the 22 at least were new viewings.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/...1&postcount=12

 

[Matt Stone]

I haven't forgotten about the finally tally guys, just got stuck at work most of the weekend. I should have time to count everything up late this evening and post a recap.

 

[TravisR]

Sounds good.

It's weird, I haven't been watching horror movie after horror movie this weekend so it feels like I'm slacking off.

 

[Mario Gauci]

10/14/06: THE BODY SNATCHER (Robert Wise, 1945) ****

The Val Lewton cycle of horror films were noted for their departure from traditional horror elements – so it’s perhaps ironic that the best of them is the one most steeped in Hollywood horror conventions and, by extension, perhaps the least Lewtonesque of his movies! Still, it seems that it was his decision to take the cycle away from a contemporary setting – given that he contributed a great deal to the script (even receiving credit for the first time, albeit under a pseudonym).

It’s an almost flawless piece of work, as literate and atmospheric as ever – indeed more so given the period (1830s Edinburgh recreated on standing sets from earlier RKO ‘A’ pictures such as THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME [1939]) and the source (Robert Louis Stevenson’s short story, although it apparently only retained the character names and the climactic scene!). Besides, Lewton still managed to incorporate his trademark ‘walk’ (perhaps the best one of all) and ‘bus’ sequences. The former is a seminal scene in horror cinema: as we hear a girl sing from inside Boris Karloff’s house, we watch him observe her through the window; the camera picks her up as she walks away – after which we hear the sound of horses’ hooves approaching; the girl sings her way through a dark alley, followed by Karloff’s cab; after a few seconds, the singing stops in mid-aria and we realize that that voice is gone forever (when her body turns up at Henry Daniell’s house, it’s here that Russell Wade – much like John Cairney in THE FLESH AND THE FIENDS [1959] – becomes aware of Karloff’s evil side of business, having met the girl only moments prior to her demise outside Karloff’s own lodgings!).

We’ve seen many films about grave-robbing (two of the best-known being CORRIDORS OF BLOOD [1958], again with Boris Karloff and which I’ve never watched, though it should be released by Criterion next January, and the afore-mentioned THE FLESH AND THE FIENDS, which I got to check out only a few days following this viewing of THE BODY SNATCHER) – and, specifically, the Burke & Hare case – since, but it was something of a novelty at the time (judging also by contemporary reviews, who objected to the repellent subject matter – the film was even banned in Chicago and Ohio!). Karloff (who missed out on the Lewton Tourneurs but eventually got a chance to work with the director on THE COMEDY OF TERRORS [1964]) is somewhere near his best as “Cabman” Gray, the nefarious title character; ditto Daniell in his signature role as the dogged, ruthless and finally crazed medico; Bela Lugosi’s bit – which, in spite of his second-billing and effective playing, he could not elevate above a minor supporting one – is somewhat thankless (though his big scene with Karloff, in which he attempts to blackmail him but ends up drunk and eventually strangled by the demonic cabman, emerges as one of the definite highlights of the film, thus ending their screen collaboration on a high note…and, in any case, his Joseph characterization here inspired a similarly-named one I included in a script I wrote with my twin brother called “New Age Or: The Children Of Liberty”!); Wade is competent as the young assistant, Edith Atwater quite good as Daniell’s long-suffering ‘wife’.

In the film, the distrust of doctors by the common people is immediately made evident to Wade by an old woman he meets at the cemetery in the opening sequence. Karloff goads a crippled young girl into stroking his horse’s shining white mane and tells her that it would be able to recognize her whenever his cab passes by – thus sadistically forcing the girl up from the wheelchair in order to watch for it over the balcony; clearly, she’s terrified of Gray but doesn’t seem comfortable in the hands of Daniell’s Toddy MacFarlane either; the doctor is unwilling to operate on the girl but is eventually persuaded, as much by Wade’s pleas as by Karloff’s threats (ironically, it’s when the girl makes that extra effort to catch a glimpse of Karloff’s cab that Daniell’s intervention is proven to have been a success!). Daniell goes to a pub occasionally to seek peace and tranquility after having lectured students all day but, even here, he’s unable to get rid of Karloff – who turns up to remind him that he holds the doctor in his grasp for having saved him from the gallows (by omitting to mention his name during the Burke & Hare trial); Karloff tells Daniell that he has been envious all his life of other people’s wealth and power – and the apparent right that gives them to abuse of their ‘inferiors’ – so, through the doctor’s indebtedness towards him (MacFarlane debasing himself by pleading to be spared Gray’s torments), he’s finally able to feel a man inside! After he’s forced to kill the cabman, the doctor seems to have regained his old self but it’s already too late (as Atwater tells Wade) – and it’s not long before MacFarlane succumbs to grave-robbing himself (which proves his undoing)! The film’s climax, then, is extremely impressive – with Karloff’s rapping of the phrase “never get rid of me” particularly chilling.

Unfortunately, the DVD transfer is rather dark but even the Audio Commentary is a bit of a let-down: Steve Haberman’s contribution only takes up the last half-hour of the film, so that it feels somewhat rushed – though still highly informative (and, happily, also deals a bit with ISLE OF THE DEAD [1945], which actually started shooting prior to THE BODY SNATCHER but production had to be shutdown after just one week due to Karloff’s back problems!); Robert Wise’s comments are certainly welcome, even if he spends too much time relaying his background at RKO and his work on other pictures – mind you, it’s all fascinating but then proper discussion of the film at hand is left somewhat lacking (but he does take care to praise Karloff for the gentleman he was, especially in the way he helped the ailing Lugosi through his performance…while also passing some unwise [sic] derogatory remarks regarding fellow Lewtonite Jacques Tourneur’s subsequent career)! Thanks to this track, I learnt that Bela Lugosi’s morphine addiction started around the time of this film’s production rather than a decade earlier, as I originally believed – and also that the first Karloff/Lewton collaboration was to have been a Technicolor version of J. Sheridan LeFanu classic vampire tale “Carmilla”!


10/23/06: THE MAN WHO LAUGHS (Paul Leni, 1928) ****

This had been one of my “holy grail” films – one which I seemed destined to read about but never actually have the opportunity to watch; Kino changed all that in 2003, and they’re to be congratulated for having rescued it from virtual oblivion!

I recently watched the low-brow 1966 “Euro-Cult” remake and which appears even poorer now, following this re-acquaintance with the sublime original!; it’s definitely one of the greatest Silent films, an opinion which is only enforced by a second viewing: in fact, I had jotted down some of these comments when I first watched the film in 2003 but hadn’t expanded them in the form of a proper review and it’s interesting to note how my feeling about certain things has changed since then. Besides, little did I know at the time that THE MAN WHO LAUGHS would be referenced – indeed serve as quite a major plot-point, albeit a far-fetched one – in THE BLACK DAHLIA (2006), which I also just watched!!

Anyway, despite the Expressionistic atmosphere, the lead character is not presented as someone to fear (apart from feel sympathy for) like The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, so that the film’s horror potential is somewhat diluted – but, then, this element was intended to be its raison d’etre; in fact, akin to the definitive 1925 version of “The Phantom of the Opera”, the film is more aptly described as an elaborately mounted period melodrama with macabre overtones. However, once one gets over this, it can be appreciated for what it is: along with F.W. Murnau’s SUNRISE – A SONG OF TWO HUMANS (1927) – incidentally also made by an expatriate director who had been instrumental to the German Expressionist movement – perhaps the Silent American cinema’s most artistic (not to be confused with arty) achievement! The gothic atmosphere is impeccably deployed (one of its most memorable and haunting images being the child Gwynplaine’s walk through the snow under a nightmarish view of the gallows, with corpses dangling in the wind) by means of cinematography that’s quite mobile and technically inventive – at the end of the Silent era, experimentation with the possibilities of the camera were rampant. Its influence on Universal’s horror classics of the 1920s is thus immediately apparent, and this with respect to the sets as well – what with the studio exteriors conveniently able to double for practically any city which, besides the Transylvania/Vasaria of the horror films themselves, was later to be seen standing in for the German town of ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT [1930] and the Vienna of LETTER FROM AN UNKNWOWN WOMAN [1948])!

Conrad Veidt is magnificent in his two roles: the proud (but all-too-human in yearning for his beloved son) Lord Clancharlie and the pitiable yet optimistic clown (and star attraction of the modest but popular gypsy caravan) Gwynplaine; his all-too-brief ascension to wealth and position (as a Member of the British Parliament) is doomed to failure in view of his appearance (he is ridiculed by his ‘peers’), though it’s pretty obvious he feels out of place in such surroundings and, realizing that the attentions of the Olga Baclanova caharcter are not true, he is all-too-happy to go back to a life of poverty but relative contentedness – and heroine Mary Philbin ‘s genuine, undemanding love. That said, the tragic fate that befalls Gwynplaine (induced rather than natural as in Philbin’s blindness) seems to be accepted far too easily; the Comprachicos who perpetrated this infamy on the innocent child are virtually not heard from again after the film’s opening moments (in fact, its background of sadistic mercenaries and circus freaks is fascinating but, alas, not analyzed in adequate detail in my opinion) – though George Siegmann (playing the surgeon actually responsible for the deed) does try to make amends by contriving to restore Gwynplaine to his rightful place in society!

Mary Philbin (who even gets top billing!) may, at first, seem too low-key for a leading lady; however, she manages to be very effective during sequences which require particular emotion. Though not technically a villainess, Olga Baclanova is not seen to receive a satisfactory come-uppance (at least by the standards of Hollywood cinema – note, for instance, her fate at the hands of the FREAKS [1932] in her most famous role); still, I guess that her humiliation at being rejected by Gwynplaine (thus being ousted from sharing in his fortune) is more than an adequate justice – and, if anything, comes off as more realistic. Baclanova’s scenes are pretty steamy for their time (and would doubtless have pleased the Surrealists) – though having a Duchess ingratiate herself so freely with ‘ruffians’ and ‘freaks’ doesn’t quite ring true; dramatically, of course, it’s an interesting and unusual tangent for such films though, again, this point is all but abandoned later on in the story! The film had quite a strong cast for the time including notable supporting turns by: Cesare Gravina as the traveling showman who takes in Veidt’s Gwynplaine and Philbin’s Dea; Brandon Hurst as the conniving villain Barkilphedro – amusingly, in the 2-page illustrated review of the film in “The Movie” (which is where I first came to know of it and my expectations were thus raised sky-high!), he’s described as a do-gooder (evidently, the author was recounting the plot from memory) – who gets his just desserts, in a rather vicious scene for the time, at the hands of Gravina’s faithful dog (unfortunately named Homo); Stuart Holmes as Baclanova’s prissy aristocratic intended; and Sam DeGrasse (who appears briefly, but memorably, at the beginning) as the tyrannical and vaguely unhinged King James II, fitted with a dressing-gown strikingly similar to that worn by Max Schreck’s vampire in NOSFERATU (1922)!

The frenzied but rousing climax ends the film on a highly satisfactory note, despite its essential departure from the Victor Hugo novel. The familiar music score (perhaps re-used for subsequent Universal horrors?), features a maudlin romantic song heard on the soundtrack (which also includes the various effects created by the general hubbub of the impressively-staged crowd scenes) that is, however, delightfully typical of the period. The print/transfer quality is very adequate for such a rare item – though there’s an amusing gaffe in the form of an untranslated Italian title card. The extras are pretty interesting and longer than one would have thought (particularly the “Making Of’ documentary, the essay on star Conrad Veidt and the excerpt from the novel); the photo gallery, then, includes stills from a couple of deleted scenes – and there’s even mention of an earlier (and now, presumably, lost) cinematic adaptation of Hugo’s novel.

Unfortunately, my viewing of the film was marred unexpectedly by having the playback freeze for a couple of instances during the first half-hour, until the picture began to pixellate and break up and I had to unload the disc (jokingly, I had told my brother the day before that we ought to consider ourselves lucky that Image’s DVD of THE CAT AND THE CANARY [1927], released back in 1997, still played faultlessly – given our similarly problematic second encounter with their double-feature edition of LISA AND THE DEVIL [1972]/THE HOUSE OF EXORCISM [1975])!! It just happens that I’ve only just purchased a new DVD player (compatible with DivX, which I’ve been downloading – and borrowing from a friend – quite a bit of lately!) for a little over $80: I tried the Kino disc on that one and it played without a glitch; bottom-line: I was all ready to write an angry e-mail to Kino, complaining that the disc had rotted on me after a mere 3 years (so much for the format’s guarantee to last a lifetime!), when the problem seems to lie with my 6 year-old and evidently rather anal Pioneer model! Needless to say, somewhere along the line I’ll spot check the other 18 discs(!) which I’ve had problems with over the years on this new player too, and see if the trouble is likewise resolved…


10/30/06: FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VIII – JASON TAKES MANHATTAN (Rob Hedden, 1989) *1/2

Other than the fact that the film is largely set aboard ship (complete with doom-spouting caretaker) – with Manhattan itself serving mainly as a backdrop for the finale – this is strictly formula stuff: perturbed heroine, her bitchy rival for the attentions of the misfit hero, her bossy guardian; plus a plethora of stereotypical teenagers (black sidekick, rocker, film-geek armed with a camera, etc.). The shipboard antics don’t generate much interest or excitement – but when the scene shifts to New York, it becomes tolerable enough (with even a number of amusing bits such as Jason – wearing his trademark hockey mask – coming face to face with a large billboard with an ad for an ice hockey match, his being accosted by junkies and street gangs, and the scene where the heroine dashes into a bar screaming that a maniac is stalking her – followed by the unalarmed female barteneder’s quip, “Welcome to New York!”). The climax in the sewers – with Jason drowning during a flooding of chemical waste – is effectively handled as well.


10/31/06: HALLOWEEN: RESURRECTION (Rick Rosenthal, 2002) *1/2

The Michael Myers saga was always more respectable than that of Jason Voorhees – not that the immediate sequels to the classic original were any better than its myriad clones or the typical slasher! Anyway, I only managed to catch up with 3 of the sequels a couple of years back – but did get the opportunity to watch the above-average 1998 outing, HALLOWEEN: H20, during its original run; I’m not able to get a hold of nos. 5 and 6, so I had to make do with “Halloween 8” – directed by the man who brought us the atrocious first sequel!

After a pre-credits sequence depicting the final confrontation between Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her homicidal sibling, the film takes up a premise that showed promise (sort of bringing the saga up-to-date with a “Blair Witch Project” perspective) – a Reality TV show set inside the ill-fated Myers house. While the heroine is adequate (though still made to share an icky relationship over the Internet with a whiz-kid teenager), the rest of the participants are the usual mixture of the bland and the obnoxious (particularly her publicity-seeking best friend); the cast also includes the two black producers of the show – with foul-mouthed (and top-billed) Busta Rhymes eventually engaging in an idiotic karate fight with “The Shape”!! Besides, the unattractive color (simulating the look of Digital Video) doesn’t help…though John Carpenter’s simple, effortlessly eerie “Halloween” theme still manages to generate the required response whenever it comes on! The DVD includes a few worthless deleted scenes and even 3 alternate endings (a sure sign, if any was needed, of the film’s general dissatisfaction).

 

[Mario Gauci]

As an addendum to my Halloween marathon reviews:


Ranking The Val Lewton Horror cycle:

1. THE BODY SNATCHER (1945) ****
2. CAT PEOPLE (1942) ***1/2
3. I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE (1943) ***1/2
4. THE SEVENTH VICTIM (1943) ***1/2
5. THE CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE (1944) ***1/2
6. ISLE OF THE DEAD (1945) ***1/2
7. THE LEOPARD MAN (1943) ***
8. BEDLAM (1946) ***
9. THE GHOST SHIP (1943) ***


Ranking The Boris Karloff “Mad Doctor” cycle:

1. THE MAN WITH NINE LIVES (1940) **1/2
2. THE MAN THEY COULD NOT HANG (1939) **1/2
3. THE DEVIL COMMANDS (1941) **1/2
4. BEFORE I HANG (1940) **1/2


Ranking The Lon Chaney Jr. “Inner Sanctum” cycle:

1. STRANGE CONFESSION (1945) **1/2
2. WEIRD WOMAN (1944) **1/2
3. THE FROZEN GHOST (1945) **1/2
4. CALLING DR. DEATH (1943) **1/2
5. DEAD MAN’S EYES (1944) **
6. PILLOW OF DEATH (1945) **

 

[Ruz-El]

anyone else withdrawing from not having horror movies to watch? I just got Cannibal Feroux and "Masters Of Horror - Pick Me up" in the mail and my first thought was of the challenge.

 

[Jason Roer]

Russell,

I'm still watching them! Watched Freddy vs. Jason, The Faculty, and An American Werewolf in London this past week! But I tend to watch a heck of a lot of horror films throughout the year. I did take a break and went to see Borat. Loved it!

Cheers,

Jason

 

[Ruz-El]

I saw Borat too. My problem is, I get these movies and I want to tuck them away to save for next year.

 

[Malcolm R]

I just watched Bad Moon. Cool werewolf.

Also did Van Helsing last week.

 

[Jason Roer]

Russell,

There will always be enough horror films to check out for the challenge. I say enjoy what you have now - if you want to of course.

Haven't seen Bad Moon yet. But I love werewolf movies. I'll have to check it out. Also, does anyone have any good witch movies? I'm particularly interested in that sub-genre right now. I guess any Gypsy/Devilry/Witchcraft story will do.

Cheers,

Jason

 

[JohnRice]

Santa Sangre.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

HORROR HOTEL (aka CITY OF THE DEAD)

 

[Matt Stone]

Another terrific year for the Horror Challenge! We had 22 people crack the 31 movie mark, which is up from the all-time record of 16...and 29 people over the 13 movie mark, which is an increase from the record of 27. I was stuck at work for virtually the entire month, so I missed the 31 mark and didn't get to participate in the discussion as much as I would have liked. That being said, it looks like you all had a great time. Congratulations!

...on to the totals:

ULTIMATE SPLATTER-HEADS
Michael Elliott - 93
Russell G - 86
TravisR - 72
Peter M Fitzgerald - 71
SteveGon - 70
Martin T - 65
Mario Gauci - 62
MichaelGH - 57
JohnRice - 57
Bob Turnbull - 56
Rick Spruill - 55
Jason Roer - 54
Joe Karlosi - 49
John Stell - 43
Chucky P - 40
Malcolm R - 37
Christopher B - 36
Jacob McGraw - 33
Sandro - 32
Tim Tucker - 31
Garrett Lundy - 31
Brian Kissinger - 31

Scary Movie Challenge Completed
Rob Brown - 27
Angel Pagan - 21
EricSchulz - 21
Matt Stone - 19
Sebastien S - 17
Greg Black - 16
BrettGallman - 15
SteveS - 14

Other Participants
Patrick Nevin - 9

If I missed you or got your total wrong, please email or PM me. Congratulations on a great year!

 

[SteveGon]

Damn, I watched 70 friggin' movies and came in fifth?


Just watched The Curse of the Crying Woman last night.

 

[Ruz-El]

I came in second, rising one spot from my 3rd place last year.

This challenge was pretty hardcore! 3rd place last year for me was 63 movies. That said. I don't think I want to binge on 86 horror movies ever again...

...until next year anyways.

Hat's off to Michael Elliott! someone send that man a bottle of Visine to ease those achy eyes!!

 

[Malcolm R]

I think I got mine for $5.99 at Circuit City awhile ago.

The plot's pretty thin, and the obligatory transformation scene is a little hokey (10 year old CGI mixed with some practical FX), but I've always found the creature itself to be one of the scariest looking werewolves, IMO.

TRIVIA: The werewolf creature is acted by Ken Kerziger, who also played Jason in Freddy vs. Jason.

The film is based on the novel "Thor" by Wayne Smith.

 

[JohnRice]

I can't believe I watched 57 movies and only tied for 8th place. I can't believe that many people have less of a life than I do.

 

[TravisR]

Bow down to my lack of a life! When I started, I figured if I was lucky I could hit 31 but things snowballed and I hit 72.

I gotta say that I had fun watching all these movies again since I hadn't seen a good amount of them in years.

 

[Ruz-El]

That's the nice thing about the challenge, we can all take solice in knowing that Michael Elliiott has less of a life then we do!

 

[Joe Karlosi]

I like to get as many films watched every year as I can, but I mean, there are other things to do, too. With a wife and work and a lot of other things going on, it's a miracle I managed 49 films as it is!