*** Official 10th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge 2009 *** (2 Viewers)

[John Stell]

071) 10/28/2009 Valley of the Zombies (1946) https://static.hometheaterforum.com/imgrepo/4/4d/htf_images_smilies_star.gif">:star:

The Angel team are offered jobs at the renovated Wolfram & Hart's LA office, while Connor cannot take being miserable anymore. There's a nice wrap-up of the Connor story here, and the set-up for season 5 is promising. A nice way to close the 4th and, so far, best season.

 

[TravisR]

Originally Posted by Joe Karlosi

I think it helps to see this right after the first three rather than cold on its own, but even being somewhat familiar with the characters and scenarios set up in the storyline so far, many people are bound to get lost and mixed up.

I'm always surprised by how much you 'need' to know the series to fully comprehend each sequel in this series. As a fan, it's cool that there's alot of continuity but I'm sure it can get confusing for the person who saw the previous movie one time a year ago.


Quote from Joe Karlosi "Director Darren Lynn Bousam at this point has established himself as the go-to guy for this franchise (he also directed II and III, each with lessening quality) and his fondness for dizzying camerawork and bouncing around from flashback to flashback take on new heights of tedium."

I don't really like rapid cutting/skipping frames/shake the camera around stuff either but I thought it was just something that he considered the Saw-style. Then I saw an episode of Fear Itself that Bousman directed and he did the same crap. Eventhough I don't care for it, I think that editing style works to varying degrees in Saw (and builds on what James Wan did with the original Saw) but to see that he uses it in something other than the Saw movies is just sad.

 

[Malcolm R]

Let the Right One In (2008) B-

Just finished the book and was looking forward to the movie. But, as is usually the case with literary adaptations, they had to cut so much away to fit into a 2-hour movie that the story suffers greatly.

Oskar is a lonely 12-year old. Constantly bullied in school, he often slips into violent fantasies where he takes imaginary vengeance on his tormentors. One day, he meets an odd young girl, Eli, who just moved in next door. She smells funny and only seems to come out at night. However, with Oskar having few other options, they strike up a close friendship. Eventually, Oskar discovers that Eli is a vampire. Understanding what it means to be an outcast from society, Oskar does not expose Eli's secret, but feels even closer to her.

There are lots of plot points and subtext missing due to the cuts from the book to movie. Although the author also wrote the screenplay, the film still plays like a disjointed series of highlights (the Cliff's Notes version, if you will) strung together rather than a coherent story. Much of the bullying is missing from the film, so while in the book Oskar seems to be tormented greatly, nearly to the point of a psychotic break, his situation doesn't seem nearly so dire in the film. There's actually a deleted scene on the DVD that would have reinforced some of this...why it was deleted, I'm not sure. The whole scene at Oskar's father's house is so condensed and brief that anyone who didn't read the book is likely baffled at the situation. Also, how Lacke finally tracks down Eli (after she murdered his friend) is completely ambiguous as they cut away huge chunks of plot involving Hakan (Eli's "assistant), which provides the connection in the book for Lacke to find Eli.

The casting wasn't very good, either. The actor they chose for Oskar isn't that great an actor and doesn't fit the body type in the book at all. Part of the reason for his torment and loneliness stems from his "chubbiness," hence the taunts of "Piggy...squeal like a pig." The movie Oskar is a stick figure, so the taunts don't make any sense. Also, the boy who bullies him in the film does not seem imposing enough to play the character; he's even smaller than Oskar.

Then there are my favorites that seem to occur in any adaptation...changes just for the sake of change. They seem irrelevant and only serve to call notice to themselves for anyone who is familiar with the source material (my all time favorite example being The Bone Collector, where the female lead's last name is changed from "Sachs" to "Donaghy" and the medical/personal assistant to Lincoln Rhyme morphs from a gay white man (Thom) to a black woman (Thelma)...but I digress):

• The lead bully in the book is named Jonny, in the movie he's Conny (though perhaps that's just a Scandanavian pronounciation thing).
• The challenge in the climax in the book is to "hold your breath for 5 minutes," in the movie it's 3 minutes. Why the change? The whole point of the challenge is that it's impossible. Five minutes seems more implausible than three.
• They changed how Eli spends her days "resting". No reason I can think of, except perhaps to save on the FX budget.

And on and on...I guess I should have learned by now to watch movies first, then read the books after. To do so in reverse is generally always setting yourself up for disappointment.

 

[TravisR]

92. Friday The 13th- The Final Chapter
Jason returns from the dead and heads back to Crystal Lake to target a group of young adults and a small family. My favorite entry in the F13 series. Jason is big and runs after his victims (which makes him more creepy). There's a good atmosphere created by director Joe Zito. Corey Feldman as the rubber mask-making Tommy Jarvis is my favorite Jason survivor. And best of all, the great Tom Savini returns to the series to do the special effects.

93. Friday The 13th- A New Beginning
Someone is killing lots of people near a halfway house that Jason survivor, Tommy Jarvis, is currently living at. This movie is terrible but it's lousiness is somehow fascinating to me. The amount of 1980's horror stereotypes goes over into parody but you can tell that they somehow take everything seriously. In 90 minutes, they must kill nearly 25 people (probably half of which have one scene and are killed), say 'fuck' almost 50 times and there's at least 4 topless girls. I'm not neccessarily complaining about any of that but it's more like someone's idea of what they do in a F13 movie than what most F13 movies are like.

On a Blu-ray note, I'm really surprised that these two movies didn't get a BR release this year. I'm really looking forward to when they do come out though.

 

[PatW]

The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)

I've been busy the last couple of days and really haven't had time to jot down any thoughts. This is what I've watched lately, The Abominable Dr. Phibes being my favourite. You can't go wrong with Vincent Price.

 

[Ockeghem]

Originally Posted by PatW

I've been busy the last couple of days and really haven't had time to jot down any thoughts. This is what I've watched lately, The Abominable Dr. Phibes being my favourite. You can't go wrong with Vincent Price.

I really do love the Phibes films. This year I've watched the first one (1971) you listed, but have yet to watch Dr. Phibes Rises Again for this year's Challenge. Maybe that will have to be viewed this weekend.

 

[Ruz-El]

Originally Posted by TravisR


I'm always surprised by how much you 'need' to know the series to fully comprehend each sequel in this series. As a fan, it's cool that there's alot of continuity but I'm sure it can get confusing for the person who saw the previous movie one time a year ago.

I watched SAW 1-5 last challenge, and by the 3rd one I was pretty much baffled by and just not buying the plot anymore. It gets so damned complex, there's no way anyone could plan all that and make it work. Unless they have telepathic powers that allow them to control people, which might of been introduced in the 6th one. I haven't seen it yet.

I'm petering out on the challenge.

10/28 057 [COLOR= rgb(128, 0, 0)]Ghoulies 3 : Ghoulies Go to College[/COLOR]
http://content7.flixster.com/movie/10/04/17/10041789_tmb.jpg">[/url] 2/5

[COLOR= rgb(128, 0, 0)]My Name Is Bruce [/COLOR][/b]
[url=http://apps.facebook.com/flixster/m/770670891] [img]http://content8.flixster.com/movie/10/92/00/10920030_tmb.jpg">[/url] 3.5/5

 

[TravisR]

94. Jason Lives: Friday The 13th Part VI
Jason returns from the dead and starts killing counselors at the reopened camp. This movie is enjoyable because the writer/director had some fun with it. He still takes the movie seriously but he does allow for some moments of levity and that gives some distinction to the movie and makes it one of the best in the F13 series.

EDIT:
95. Friday The 13th Part VII: The New Blood
Jason gets awoken from his watery grave by a troubled telekinetic teenage girl. Needless to say, he gets right back to killing people in the area surrounding Crystal Lake. I'm not a big fan of this entry in the series. Half of the characters are so annoying or hateful that you want to see them die and that's a bad idea because not wanting them to die can create suspense (something that's missing entirely from this movie). It is nice to see that they tried something different by having a girl with a supernatural power fight Jason but that always seemed too outside the realm of F13 for me. The best thing about the movie is Kane Hodder playing Jason. I know Hodder's contribution has been blown out of proportion (he's not Boris Karloff playing the Frankenstein monster or Robert Englund playing Freddy Krueger) but his Jason is still pretty cool.

 

[Malcolm R]

Dance of the Dead (2008) B+

Pinched this synopsis from IMDB, but it's a perfect single-sentence summary of the film: "On the night of the big High-School Prom, the dead rise to eat the living and the only people who can stop them are the losers who couldn't get dates to the dance."

I'm not really a zombie fan, but I really like this movie. Laughs and scares, humor and gore. If you enjoyed "Shaun of the Dead," you should enjoy this film, too.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Saw V: Unrated Director's Cut (2008)

A much-needed improvement over the disapointing SAW IV, this one has Detective Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) now firmly established as Jigsaw's apprentice and successor in crime. He is trailed closely in his gruesome activities by the intensely committed and undeterred Agent Strahm (Scott Patterson), and there are some neat twists and turns that help this entry sustain interest. Old flashbacks reveal more and more new information (and feature Tobin Bell again as Jigsaw), and tie up loose ends. It's a real challenge sometimes in trying to keep up with what events over this ongoing series happened where and when, as everything is out of sequence. This chapter is boosted by the dedicated and determined Agent Strahm and features some cool and grisly new death traps, along with a strong ending.

TV:

The Munsters: "Just Another Pretty Face" -- Herman gets struck by a bolt of lightning from a machine down in Grandpa's laboratory and is disfigured for life --- he turns into Fred Gwynne! He visits his family doctor (Dom Deluise) to discuss the possibility of plastic surgery, but the doc tells him his new face is a distinct improvement.

 

[Jim_K]

A better batch of films this week, for the most part.

Out of
No monsters here in this pretty good serious sci-fi tale as a scientist discover a world threatening isotope.....[GASP]

 

[Ockeghem]

Oct. 29:

Films:

The Wasp Woman (1959) 1/2

 

[John Stell]

072) 10/29/2009 The Creeper (1948)

 

[TravisR]

96. Friday The 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan
Jason returns from the dead and kills most of the graduating class of Crystal Lake High on a cruise to New York City. There's lots wrong with this movie- it feels too long (and it's only 100 minutes), it's not scary, the majority of New York City is obviously Vancocuver, Jason without his mask looks like crap, the ending is dumb, etc.

97. Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday (uncut)
Jason is killed and tries to get reincarnated via a body of a relative. The 'body hopping Jason' idea seems more like something from one of the Nightmare On Elm Street sequels than a Friday The 13th sequel. The opening of the movie (with the FBI shooting and blowing Jason up) is pretty cool and the girl getting torn in half is the most violent kill in the entire series but the lack of regular Jason doesn't help this movie.

 

[Michael Elliott]

Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein (1972) :star::star:

Jess Franco



This Franco product, also known as DRACULA CONTRA FRANKENSTEIN is perhaps one of his most seen films because with a title like this, people are going to check it out. In what was rumored to have been his attempt at a HOUSE OF DRACULA remake, Dr. Frankenstein (Dennis Price) brings Dracula (Howard Vernon) back to life so that he can use him as a slave. At the same time he creates a monster and soon everyone is doing battle as a female vampire (Britt Nichols) also shows up. Oh yeah, a werewolf shows up out of nowhere as well. Those going into this expecting a pure homage to the early Universal films are probably going to be disappointed because this aspect of the film doesn't happen until the final five minutes. For the most part this film comes off as an attempt for the Spanish director to make a silent film because there's very little dialogue here. I've heard some say this was to make the film more marketable around the world but I doubt this since dubbing wouldn't have been that big of an issue. The film doesn't really work for several reasons but the biggest is that it's never quite clear what's trying to be done. As I said, the first seventy-five minutes features very little action while the final five minutes goes into overdrive in terms of camp. The final showdown between Frankenstein's monster and the werewolf is bound to get many laughs as it's extremely funny especially the sequence where the werewolf goes to jump on the monster but misses. The fake bats used here are among the worst I've ever seen and why Franco uses a real bat shown drowning to death is beyond me. The make up on the monster is pretty bad but it's unique in a strange way. Vernon looks the part of Dracula but he doesn't really do too much. Price, who would die the following year, doesn't look too good as he comes off ill and doesn't get to do that much either. Nichols is always easy on the eyes even though she actually doesn't get naked here for a change. In the end, most people are going to find the film extremely boring and I really don't blame them. I do respect what Franco was going for in regards to the silent nature of the film but in the end it just doesn't work.

Paranormal Activity (2007) :star::star::star::star:

Oren Peli

By now everyone knows the story but a couple (Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat) begin to experience paranormal activity in their home so they set up a video camera to try and capture what's going on. As a die-hard horror fan I pay attention to all the news floating around year in and year out. Each and every year fans hype up the latest scary movie but more times than not that hype ends up being nothing more than the build up for a bad movie. That's certainly not the case here. I've had several people tell me this was the scariest film they had ever seen. I had people telling me they saw folks leaving the theater in tears. I had heard just about everything you'd want to hear about a horror movie but the most shocking this is that, even knowing the hype, the movie got under my skin like no other that I can remember seeing. I love a good ghost movie and this here is certainly one of the best. On a "critic" proof level the film is probably just a three and a half but the overall impact is quite remarkable and in the end this certainly lives up to the opinion of being one of the scariest films ever made. I'm not going to call out any of the scary sequences as to not ruin them for anyone else but I can think of three that had my blood turning ice cold. The film has been compared to THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, which I think is fair because both movies take simple things that can frighten anyone. In this film we get a wide angle view of the bedroom and at first I didn't like this because you never knew where the "scary" part was going to happen so you were constantly looking all over the frame to pick up that moment. After a while I realized this was a masterful touch because, like the characters, you never knew where the scary moment was going to happen so by constantly looking around you were just building up the fright level in your head because you had no idea where it was going to come from or what they had in store for you. The performances by Featherston and Sloat were very good to say the least. This type of low budget movie usually doesn't feature this type of performances but it's another plus for the film. Another major miracle is the fact that the filmmakers could do so much with so little, which once again proves that you don't need money to show off talent. As with the previously mentioned hyped movie, I'm sure this one will take a lot of backlash but that's going to happen with any popular movie. For me, the movie worked marvelously well and certainly lived up to everything I had heard about it. Sitting here thinking back on a few of the scenes still gives me goosebumps.

 

[TravisR]

98. Jason X
Jason goes into outer space and kills people. This movie was never a classic but when it first came out, I had some fun watching it. However, it's already aged terribly and is arguably the worst movie in the F13 series (though I'd say that Part V edges it out by a hair). It's no surprise that New Line considered putting this out as a direct to video release because there's little about it that makes it look or feel like a theatrical feature.

 

[Ruz-El]

Hey gang! we are on the final stretch of the Horror Challenge! It all comes to an end midnight Saturday, in what ever crazy time zone you live in. Hell, if you're in China, the torture might already be over! Please PM me a link to your final tallies when you got them, and I'll try to post a final wrap up Monday or Tuesday night. That should give you all enough time eh? Please include running times for the TV shows too, since I might not be familiar with them. Of you can add them up yourselves and PM me your totals. I shall figure it all out!

I'm going to try to finish that Ghost House Underground boxset from a few years back. So far, it's sucking the life out of me like a Giant Leech to the head!

10/29 059 [COLOR= rgb(128, 0, 0)]Room 205 [/COLOR]
2/5
Dull Danish ghost story. All the cliches are on display here, and all it really did was make me appreciate "Paranormal Activity" all the more. The piss poor dubbing probably didn't help either. I've lost faith in "Ghost House" releasing good movies with this one.

10/29 060 [COLOR= rgb(128, 0, 0)]The Substitute[/COLOR]
2.5/5
What the hell is it with "Ghost House" releasing Danish horror films? This one was a novel idea for a sci fi horror flick with some neat scenes, but ultimately not worth the time. At least in the dubbed version I watched.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

The Stepfather (2009)

Knowing that some people are aware of my crusade against what I call "needless modern remakes of already modern-enough movies," I'm guessing they may very well ask why I bothered seeing a new version of the 1987 original (which was already a good horror-thriller as it stood). Well, my wife and our friends wanted to go to the movies and we'd already seen PARANORMAL ACTIVITY and SAW VI. Also, during one of those other recent trips to the theater I had spent a little time before the show sneaking into THE STEPFATHER for about ten minutes and examining what I now realize was its one best scene, so that made me more willing to take a chance and see the whole thing if everyone else was willing at a later date.

"By the numbers" is probably the best term I would use to sum up my impression of the new 2009 STEPFATHER. Not only had I seen the whole formula before (and I mean in a whole lot of other movies besides just the 1987 STEPFATHER), it offered nothing new or different (I won't spoil the ending except to say it was typical). Thankfully, Dylan Walsh in the title role (some may remember him as the good guy from the NIP/TUCK television series) manages to be effective enough. As an obsessed family man who murders one wife and set of children after another and keeps moving on, ever in search of the perfect household, he is suitably intense and deranged when he needs to be. But as the latest divorced woman he chooses to shack up with, Sela Ward isn't especially memorable here, and the best that may be said for her is that she looks pretty good for a lady in her 50's. The story spends far too much time on her teenage son and his pretty girlfriend, and for some reason we're inundated with a pop music soundtrack almost every time they're together, like we're watching FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH.

It's been about ten years since I've seen the 1987 version, but I recall it being better than this one, and Terry O'Quinn as being superior in the part. I am currently awaiting a shipment of the recently released DVD of the original and hope to revisit it very soon just to make sure.

 

[Mario Gauci]

10/27/09: I DON’T WANT TO BE BORN (Peter Sasdy, 1975)

This 35-minute surreal Spanish short is a one-joke movie that, while perhaps a mite too extended to achieve maximum effect, has a splendidly horrific punch-line that belies the blackly comedic touches of its earlier stages. In fact, for at least half its length, this virtually resembles a Tatiesque farce (complete with negligible dialogue and pompous characterizations) with a Bunuelian premise (the inexplicable confinement of its protagonist in the titular cubicle seems to come right out of my own second favorite among the Spanish maestro's films, THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL [1962]). The plot itself is disarmingly simple: a newly-installed red phone booth incites the curiosity of a man who has just accompanied his boy to school but, as he is making a call, the previously invitingly open door shuts itself and, subsequently, he is unable to open it from the inside. As time passes, bystanders start to accumulate and become a veritable microcosm of humanity: from laid-back pensioners to mischievous school-children, from young couples to old housewives...and, of course, a gluttonous onlooker, the heavy-set man who clearly thinks he can effortlessly break the door open and the incredulous police officers who, invariably, all make fools of themselves; before long, the professionals come to the rescue: first the firemen who are about to use the axe on the thing when the phone company people who installed it in the first place appear on the scene and literally lift the telephone box off its hinges and drive away with it wholesale! Then follows the lengthy trek through the city streets (where a couple of other equally imprisoned callers can also be seen being carried away!) until the truck arrives at its destination: a tunnel replete with similar telephone boxes whose occupants have either gone off the wall, killed themselves or even decomposed!! Although nothing further is explained about this phenomenon, one cannot fail to be reminded of similarly bleak ‘twist’ endings like those seen earlier in John Frankenheimer's SECONDS (1966) and later in Richard Fleischer's SOYLENT GREEN (1973). Finally, I watched this Spanish TV production in its original Spanish language version with no subtitles whatsoever but, as I said before, one can easily follow what is going on the screen and, thankfully, the mostly dialogue-free movie is further boosted by an excellent music score.

 

23) [COLOR= #ff0000]Scanners[/COLOR] (1981)

I thought I might round off my first attempt at this contest by watching this comedy classic, more a tribute to than a satire of James Whale's Frankenstein and its sequel, featuring memorable use of the original set from the original film! (Yay!) And even more memorable characters, and one of the most memorable turns from the lovely Madeline Kahn, surely one of the greatest comediennes ever. A real nostalgic treat for fans of 1930's horror.