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*** Official 10th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge 2009 *** (1 Viewer)

Angel Pagan

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First time views are in [COLOR= rgb(255, 0, 0)]red[/COLOR].

1) John Carpenter's Prince Of Darkness (1987) 1/2
 

Ruz-El

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Thanks for the feed back guys, I changed the "Official Rules" (wow, don't I sound important!) as far as TV is concerned. So hopefully it goes smoothly.

Nice to see the new arrivals joining in too, this promises to be a fun one! I planned to stay up and sneak in a midnight showing tonight, but I'm already asleep on my feet from going to a Motorhead concert last night, there's no way I'll make it through a film! :(
 

Michael Elliott

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For the life of me I don't understand the appeal of THE DESCENT. My girlfriend and I went to see it the day it opened and everyone in there was bored out of their mind. It really felt like being at a diner somewhere because everyone was just having casual conversations. They weren't loud or rude but everyone was obviously not into the movie.
 

TravisR

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Originally Posted by Michael Elliott

For the life of me I don't understand the appeal of THE DESCENT.
I'm with you. I didn't see The Descent until it hit video so maybe I just heard too much hype but I didn't care for it at all. On the positive side, I did find the movie pretty nerve wracking when the girls were crawling around the cave (prior to the monsters coming into the plot) and I'm not even claustrophobic.
 

Ockeghem

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Reserved.

I will be watching both films and televison shows. It might be fun to have two categories (one for each). It's just a thought, either for this year or a subsequent year.

I will be watching my first film later this evening (or rather, at about a minute or two after midnight early this morning). I will be starting my viewing off with a 1954 favorite of mine, The Creature From the Black Lagoon. I haven't seen it since last October. ;)

I watched 35 films during October of last year. If I can top that, I'll be quite pleased. :)
 

Justin_S

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Got started in the early morning hours. I'll try and get more in before tonight, as I've got a midnight screening to go to.

Sole Survivor (1983) - decided to start off the challenge with a personal favorite, which is exactly what this film is. A woman is the sole survivor of a plane crash, but along with the luck, she can't shake the more sinister feeling that something is off. What's more, she's continuously being watched by various people, none of whom appear to be very vibrant or full of life. This moody little chiller was directed by Thom Eberhardt, a man better known for the lighter "Night of the Comet". While I enjoy that film, I feel that this one is more deserving of the spotlight. One could also say that the first "Final Destination" owes more than a nod to it. The lead character, Denise (Anita Skinner), can be somewhat annoying and there's a cheesy romantic subplot, but for the most part, the film works quite well. It sets a somber tone from the get-go, the scenes of Denise being watched are suitably creepy and everything comes to a head in a clever climax. I was happy when this was finally released on DVD, though the transfer isn't as good as I'd hoped.
The St. Francisville Experiment (2000, First time viewing) - a "Blair Witch" ripoff involving four people who go ghost hunting in a supposedly haunted Louisiana mansion. Unlike the gem it's ripping off, there is nothing frightening here unless you consider bad acting to be scary. This is truly a film where nothing happens. It's a bore. We also get some priceless dialogue like this choice exchange:
"There's a dead bird."
"How badly dead is it?"
This thing is also notable for having what is probably the stupidest cat jump scare I've ever seen.
 

MattFini

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You're off to a great start, Justin!

I wish I'd been able to get another title under my belt last night, but staying up until 1:30 was enough for me on a work night.

I've often wondered about St. Francisville, but I recall our tastes as being similar from the old Gorezone days, so I'll likely skip this one.
 

Ruz-El

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I had plans to start last night, and then I had a massive hard drive failure on my PC! The curse of the horror challenge has already struck!

Nice work Justin, I don't think I've ever seen "Sole Survivor". Day one's not even finished and I already feel like I'm missing out :P
 

Michael Elliott

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Getting home at 9PM gave me an advantage of starting at midnight. I'm off until Monday so this will probably be my only shot at racking up some series.

Started off with ol' FRANKENSTEIN as in the previous years and then moved onto CHILDREN OF THE CORN and its remake. The remake was better but not by much. After watching the two I'm really worried about going through all the sequels but we'll see how it goes.


Frankenstein (1910)
Donald P. Borchers
Remake of the 1984 cult film based on Stephen King's short story. This time out a fighting couple (David Anders, Kandyse McClure) are driving to California but while going through the corn they hit and kill a young kid. Soon they learn that this town is ran by a lot of the little evil ones who killed all the adults years earlier as part of their cult ritual. The debate on remakes will never die but I'm not of the fan of the original film so I thought a reworking of the material might have been a good idea. There are a few interesting changes here and the story goes towards a different direction after the first thirty-minutes but this isn't the good film one might have hoped for. Considering how short King's original story was, one has to wonder if you can really make a 90-minute story out of it and make it work. I liked the fact that they hired a black actress because the black female/white male isn't something we see in too many horror films. That was an original take and I enjoyed a few of the other changes including not having a supporting story wrapped around a couple of the kids who are against the cult. These changes are good but the final thirty-minutes of the film really fall apart because there's just not enough energy to make various scenes work. For starters, we get a rather extended chase sequence through the corn fields, which really seems like them trying to push the running time up. The scene goes on for what seems like forever and it really began to bore me. The entire film seems to be built in pieces and they never really come together in the end but again, I think this might have to do more with the brief story it's based on. The performances by the children were better here than in the original film but I'm sure much debate will follow on the leads. I didn't mind either one, although I do think McClure goes a bit over the top during several scenes. I really don't blame her for this because it seems the director simply didn't give her much to play off or just didn't keep her grounded. She's certainly easy on the eyes though. Rumor has it that another remake is in the works and if so, hopefully it'll do a tad bit more because the first two haven't worked.
 

Ockeghem

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Oct. 1:

01. Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954)

I hope to watch at least one more (maybe two if I'm feeling up to it) for October 1. :)

I was up much too late last night! But after Lagoon finished, I was surfing a few channels and found Burnt Offerings. I didn't get around to seeing this one last year, and it had been at least twenty years since I had last seen it. It was directed by Dan Curtis. Did anyone pick up on the little boy's name being David? ;)

I noticed a couple of other things about Lagoon that I hadn't picked up on before. The Gill Man doesn't seem to show much evidence of breathing under water. What I mean to say is that somehow, the director seems to have taken some time to figure out how to make the Gill Man seem more amphibean than human under water. I was watching for bubbles, and didn't see nearly as many as I would have thought I should see. I think watching the special features might shed some light on this.

The underwater photography really is wonderful. And, despite having seen the film many times, there are still some chilling moments in it that never fail to surprise me. Some of these are the few times when the Gill Man begins to climb the boat, and when the camera picks him up hovering under water in the seaweed, looking up at various people. I think that's very well done.

BTW, when I saw Russell's tally for the 9th Annual..., I noticed this:

Ockeghem 35 (10) 13 others

You have no idea how many hours it took me to calculate that there would be exactly 13 others.... ;)

Russell,

Do we still have the capability of rating what we watched with red stars? Or, better yet, Jim_K (from the Official 9th Annual ...) used skulls. I like that! I can't find the stars (or skulls) anywhere....

Update:

[SIZE= smaller]01. Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954) 4.5
02. Burnt Offerings (1976) 3.0
[/SIZE]
 

TravisR

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October 1

1. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

I started the challenge off with a classic. Everything that can be said about this movie has already been said a bunch of times before. And for anyone with a Blu-ray player, I highly recommend picking this disc up because the movie has never looked better.

I'm off to the movie theater to catch a new viewing...
 

Ruz-El

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Originally Posted by Ockeghem /forum/thread/293327/official-10th-annual-htf-october-scary-movie-challenge-2009/30#post_3612392
 

Bryan^H

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October 1st:

-SHE DEMON(1966). Barbra Steele looks pretty fetching in this one, and the premise is rather good. A vengeful witch returns 200 years after being killed by the townfolk to terrorize the small village.
Unfortunately, about half way through it starts to run out of steam and becomes more boring than creepy. GRADE: C

-LADY FRANKENSTEIN(1972). Baron Frankenstein is kind of a pushover in this film. It's his daughter that does the damage. Quite atmospheric. The monster of Frankenstein looks silly, but this movie held my interest. GRADE: B
 

Ockeghem

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Originally Posted by Russell G

Russell,

For some reason, I still cannot see these stars on the post box. Okay, the smilie emoticon triggers the box. Gotcha.

Thanks, BTW. :)
 

Ruz-El

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The stars don't show as a separate thing. If you click on the smiley face, it will open a menu that should display them, as well as the other smileys like the bananas.
 

Ockeghem

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Originally Posted by Russell G

The stars don't show as a separate thing. If you click on the smiley face, it will open a menu that should display them, as well as the other smileys like the bananas.

Russell,

Yep, I figured that out (see the post above yours). Thanks again.
 

Ockeghem

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Originally Posted by Bryan^H

I hope Radioman plays along. It's not a party without him.

Seconded. :)

Hope you play, Radioman!
 

TravisR

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2. Pandorum

Since it's a new movie, I won't spoil anything but it started off with some interesting mysteries. Unfortunately, the mysteries take forever to get answered and they pile on mysteries and 'twists'. The plot became murky to the point of where I didn't even care what was happening by the end. The editing was so rapid (probably to cover the rubber mask effects on the monsters) that it was occasionally hard to follow the action sequences. I've seen worse but I wasn't surprised to see someone walk out before the movie ended.

(bold = new viewing)
 

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