***Official 20th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge 2019*** (1 Viewer)

[Ruz-El]

I'm sorry you ended up finally seeing this one.

When not even a dog flashback can't save a film...

That said, I got that arrow release so I'll be watching it a second time...

 

[dana martin]

When not even a dog flashback can't save a film...

That said, I got that arrow release so I'll be watching it a second time...

could be worse,...... Manos

 

[Ruz-El]

could be worse,...... Manos

As a primary caregiver, I made my now 80 year old mom watch Manos during the 2015 challenge. Halfway through the film she exclaimed "What the hell is wrong with this movie?!?!" and I'm still laughing about it.

 

[Michael Elliott]

Don't Fuck in the Woods (2016) ** 1/2

A group of young adults go to the woods for some weed, alcohol and sex but run into a monster that it appears is attracted to the sex. The title should let you know what you're going into but I found this low-budget film to be a mix between the slasher mentality of FRIDAY THE 13TH mixed with the creature work of something like HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP. The story is rather weak but I had fun with the picture as I did enjoy the cast, the practical effects and the non-stop nudity offered up.

The Beast of Yucca Flats (1961) BOMB

Tor Johnson plays a scientist (hahaha) who has an atomic bomb fall on him and turning him into the title character. Coleman Francis wrote, produced, shot, narrated and directed this picture and at the very least you have to give him credit for being willing to put his name all over this picture, which certainly ranks as one of the worst ever made. There's not a single "good" thing here but the picture is so bad that I can't help but be slightly entertained by it. After all, I re-watch it every few years.

The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues (1955) * 1/2

One of the first films to rip-off CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON has toxic waste dumped into a lake where a monster forms. You have to wonder why the producers of this would spend money on a creature outfit and then rarely use it in the final film. There's way too much boring human conversation going on here and it really kills the film since the "mystery" is rather bland and routine. We certainly needed more monster attacks here.

 

[dpippel]

OCTOBER 2:

2) The Reflecting Skin* (1991) - 3.5/5 stars - An interesting and off-kilter take on "vampires" and rural America, I found this film engaging and the performances outstanding. More of a thriller than a horror. Viggo Mortensen is just so YOUNG in this!

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

October 3: Crawl (2019) - 4 out of 5 - First Time Viewing

In the midst of a raging Florida hurricane, a father and daughter are trapped in a slowly flooding house by the storm and a group of alligators eager to snack.

This film is very entertaining, chiefly from the slow-rising tension (that rises as the flood waters do) and from the engaging characters that, rather than acting dumb to generate the thrills and scares, act pretty smart, making the entire absurd concept much more palatable. Never mind that Florida homes so rarely have basements, and never mind that alligator attacks during hurricanes (and acting as aggressive and predatory as they do here) are unheard of, this is a film that spins is yarn based on it's outlandish premise and dives headlong into everything that could happen if the situation was real. And it's quite intense and bloody at times.

The direction is lean and effective and the entire production is high quality (including the visual effects for the alligators themselves). That the majority of the film takes place in the overcast day is another unique element of this film that has it standing out. Honestly, this film is a blast and the two leads, Barry Pepper as the father and Kaya Scodelario as the daughter, are very good. This could have been dismissible schlock, but it's handled so well that you simply can't dismiss it. It's thrilling and the alligator attacks brutal and frightening when they come. I had so much fun with this one!

 

[sleroi]

OCT 3

10) Monsters - season 1 episode 5
My Zombie Lover

The best of the episodes Ive watched yet.

On the annual night of the dead in a cursed town a teenage girl stays home to study while her family goes out to do their civic duty and shoot zombies. She is visited by an (un)dead former classmate and romance is in the air.

A very silly/funny episode with great dialogue. "You dont want my hand in marriage, you want it in a sandwich!"
The episode also tackles the issue of bigotry and racism. And it has a deliciously dark ending.

 

[HawksFord]

2) Dracula (1931) - On Blu-ray from the Universal Classics Essential Collection set. A film we've seen before, of course, but a film that is well worth revisiting. It's from 1931 so it shows its age, but it's the classic Dracula movie and is timeless as well. Next up, the Spanish language version which we have not seen before.

 

[Michael Elliott]

Psycho from Texas (1975) **

This low-budget film was shot in Texas and deals with a troubled man who as a child saw his mom having sex with strangers so this set him off on a troubled life. I enjoyed this one a lot better than I thought I would thanks to two different sequences. The first is the flashback scene where we see the child watching his mother getting it on. This scene and the bizarre country song playing is just so weird that you can't help but love it. The other scene has Linnea Quigley in her first film getting totally naked and humiliated by the killer. Just wait until you see the beer!

Killer Crocodile (1989) *

It's rather confusing to see all of the great reviews being posted for this film. Did we watch the same movie? This later day Italian JAWS rip-off is so poorly made that you can't help but laugh at it at times. The plot, the acting and even the special effects are downright embarrassing and worst of all is the fact that the movie is just boring. The crocodile attack scenes and what gore is on screen are the only good things here but even the croc is so fake looking that you can't help but be reminded of where the Italian horror market was at the time.

The Man Who Changed His Mind (1936) ***

Boris Karloff plays a doctor doing experiments on transferring one person's mind into the body of another. This is perhaps the tamest horror movie ever made thanks to America and Britain coming down on horror films after THE RAVEN but at the same time it features a terrific performance by Karloff and that alone makes this a must see. I really thought Karloff did an excellent job and the lack of real violence or monsters makes this rather unique compared to what else was out there at the time.

 

[JohnRice]

Oh! Gonna have to get some Linnea in this month!

 

[John Stell]

010) 10/03/2019 House of Frankenstein (1944)

(out of four)

Boris Karloff plays acolyte of Dr. Frankenstein who discovers the frozen bodies of the Wolf Man and the Monster while searching for Frankenstein's records. He also frees Dracula by removing the stake from his heart. Highly entertaining monster mash has great, familiar cast and rousing music score. J. Carrol Naish steals the show as sympathetic assistant to Karloff.

011) 10/03/2019 House of Dracula (1945)

1/2

Esteemed doctor is asked by Dracula to cure his vampirism; the Wolf Man requests to be freed from his curse; and the Monster is discovered in the caverns below the doctor's home. Lesser monster rally is lazily scripted but enthusiastically performed, especially by Onslow Stevens as the scientist who becomes Jekyll/Hyde type after his blood is contaminated by Dracula during transfusion.

012) 10/03/2019 Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)

Cleverly constructed horror comedy; Lou's girlfriend wants his brain for the Frankenstein monster. She's in cahoots with Dracula to restore the creature. But Larry Talbot is trying to stop Dracula and enlists A&C's aid. Funny and scary with lively climax. Lugosi does better as Dracula than he did in 1931.

013) 10/04/2019 The First Purge (2018)

Prequel to the The Purge series details how the first "experiment" came about, with Staten Island being the chosen location of a 12-hour crime spree where no one will be punished for their transgressions. Well-made but all too familiar story-wise; the lack of subtlety in its politics really seemed to tick a lot of people off. But given the current state of things the premise doesn't seem as outrageous as it once did.

 

[dpippel]

OCTOBER 3:

3) The Dead Don't Die* (2019) - 3.5/5 stars - Jim Jarmusch's zombie apocalypse film is - interesting. It's slow and deliberate, with just enough weirdness to work. Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Chloe Sevigny, Tilda Swinton, and a host of other actors sprinkled throughout the movie are a hoot to see in this framework, particularly Iggy Pop as a hungry zombie. All-in-all it's rather droll, but I really enjoyed it. Any excuse to see Bill Murray work is fine by me.

 

[Ruz-El]

Got in two last night


003 10/03 The Vineyard (1989) 2/5 A James Hong—of all people—vanity project in which he stars, writes and co-directs this odd Asian voodoo mashup in which a mad scientist type vineyard owner ropes in young pretty folk to steal their life essence for a magic youth potion that’s kept him alive for centuries. I can see some people thinking this one is a cult classic since it’s such a bonkers premise, and Hong, to his credit, understands the genre enough to pack it with lo-fi effects and tits and it is a novel twist. I found that despite the attempt, the overall energy was lacking in it for it to rise to “so bad it’s good” levels.

004 10/03 The Devil’s Triangle (1973) 2/5 Vincent Price does his spooky best to narrate this 100% true documentary on the horrors of the Bermuda Triangle. This one scared the shit out of me as a kid, I think it must have played on Saturday afternoon television? That can’t be right? Anyway, it’s a plod with what I’m guessing is largely stock footage wrapped around the odd awkward interview with eyewitness types. The non-stop Price narration manages to get on your tits and the main takeaway from the film is don’t name your boat “Cyclops” and you should be okay.

 

[Michael Elliott]

In Search of Dracula (1975) ***

I've been wanting to see this documentary since the 1980s but never found a copy until just a couple days ago. Christopher Lee narrates this and discusses the various forms of vampires as well as Dracula in both the movies as well as novels. I was really shocked to see how much I enjoyed this because it's actually well-made, has a great atmosphere and there are some great stories told. A lot of times these 70s documentaries are poorly made and feature cheap re-enactments but that's not the case here. Lee's narration is right on the mark and especially the stuff with Vlad the Impaler.

It's also worth noting that this film features footage from the 1919 movie THE HAWK'S TRAIL, which is now considered lost so it was cool getting to see it here.

An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe (1970) ***

Vincent Price recites four stories from Edgar Allan Poe. I must admit that on a technical level I thought this thing was rather poorly made and it was just flat out ugly at times. The camerawork really isn't all that special and more times than not it takes away from the spoken words by Price. What makes this film so special is the fact that Price does a wonderful job with the stories and he certainly brings a lot of passion to the project. My personal favorite was The Tell-Tale Heart.

Mysteries from Beyond Earth (1975) ** 1/2

Yet another documentary from the 70s that was meant to get money from parents while also terrifying their kids on Satruday afternoons. For the most part this one was entertaining but it works best when it asks questions like whether aliens had visited humans in the past to teach them certain things or if they helped build the Pyramids. When they get into stuff like the Bermuda Triangle and Bigfoot the film loses its way a bit.

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

October 4: Dracula 2000 (2000) - 1.5 out of 5

A team of high tech thieves break into a highly fortified building in London (owned by a very, very old Van Helsing) searching for wealth and treasure, but end up stealing a coffin containing Dracula. The thieves are idiots, Dracula wakes up, kills them, and heads out to try and hook up with Van Helsing's daughter.

I remember liking this film okay enough back when it came out, at least enough to buy it on DVD. But it is a terrible film. The acting is so wooden it should have been shoved through the heart of every vampire Dracula creates. The action is stilted, the visual effects wonky even for its time, and the story pretty dull. The film earns marks for just it's effective score (by the great Marco Beltrami), and for a compelling plot nugget near the end of the film that is much more interesting than the 99% of film that surrounds it.

Honestly, Dracula 2000 is such a waste of talent. Gerard Butler, before he beefed up to star in 300, had the making of a good Dracula, but he's given trite dialogue to spew and even worse direction to work under. Christopher Plummer is reasonably good for the slither of film he's in, but is dispatched in such a forgettable way. Omar Epps and Jennifer Esposito, two members of the heist team, are dreadfully one-note, and a young Johnny Lee Miller, is more irritating than likeable.

One of the film's other fatal flaws is the lack of focus on who we're actually following. Characters are introduced and wander off into the story, never treated as a clear protagonist, and most without a sense of who they are or why we should care about them (until some boring exposition quickly lays it out for us to advance to the next plot point). As a horror film, it's pretty bloodless. As a thriller its dull, and as an action film its pedestrian. Ugh.

 

[HawksFord]

3) Dracula (1931, Spanish language version) - First time seeing the Spanish language version of Dracula from 1931. It's very good and, in many ways, better than the English language version I've seen so many times.

 

[Malcolm R]

Godzilla (1954) 1/2

Testing of hydrogen bombs off the coast of Japan has awoken/released a huge reptilian creature that proceeds to create havoc and destruction in the seas around Japan before coming ashore to destroy Tokyo.

I'd never seen this original Godzilla film, and it wasn't nearly as bad as I'd expected. Yes, the FX look quite fake and cheap -- a man in a rubber suit kicking the crap out of a bunch of balsa wood miniatures -- but overall they mostly serve the film pretty well. Having survived the nuclear bombing of WWII, the film is a warning against the continued pursuit of weapons of mass destruction with the testing of H-bombs having brought Godzilla to the surface, and though a scientist has discovered a possible way to destroy the monster, the potential weaponization of his discovery by the country's politicians is so horrible to contemplate that he'd rather let Godzilla's rampage continue than allow his invention to be used.

The print of this film is pretty rough, as seen on Turner Classic Movies.

Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1956) 1/2

Recut/edited version released in America of the original Toho film that cuts much of the politics and hand-wringing in favor of a more action-oriented pace, and inserts Raymond Burr as an American journalist visiting Japan during Godzilla's rampage. While the voice-over became a little tedious, Burr's insert footage was pretty seamless for the most part. Interesting that in the original Japanese film the monster was said to be 165 feet tall. In this recut American version, Godzilla is suddenly over 400 feet tall.

This print was also in much better condition than the original film. (Turner Classic Movies)

 

[Bryan^H]

In Search of Dracula (1975) ***

I've been wanting to see this documentary since the 1980s but never found a copy until just a couple days ago. Christopher Lee narrates this and discusses the various forms of vampires as well as Dracula in both the movies as well as novels. I was really shocked to see how much I enjoyed this because it's actually well-made, has a great atmosphere and there are some great stories told. A lot of times these 70s documentaries are poorly made and feature cheap re-enactments but that's not the case here. Lee's narration is right on the mark and especially the stuff with Vlad the Impaler.

One of my favorites. So rich in the Dracula lore.
I was going give it a spin this challenge, but you just summed up everything worthwhile about it.

 

[Ruz-El]

I was going to watch that Godzilla run on TCM, but decided to hold out for the Criterion boxset. A criterion Godzilla set, what a world we live in!

Got one in earlier tonight:

005 10/04 Beyond Evil (1980) 2/5 this one finds handsome John Saxon bringing his wife to a South American island to live in a haunted mansion where the spirit really gets her. This one hits most of the expected marks of an ancient spirit possession thing without really standing out. It just politely plods along.

 

[sleroi]

10/4

11) The Evil Dead - hulu ****

Gruesome, relentless. Perfect pacing, crude but oh so effective make-up fx. Inventive camera work. Perfect low budget filmmaking.

12) Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn -
UHD ****

Love this movie! 7 minutes to reset the plot from the first one, and then a stunning first act with even wilder, more inventive camera work and splatter gags. It really leaves you guessing wether whats happening is real or a case of sudden onset insanity. And a brilliant segue from grim to whimsy without ever losing its sense of horror.

And it looks great in 4k. The forest is greener, the blood is redder, and I can see some fine detailing in several scenes. But even though they had a bigger budget, (and again made the most of it), it is dark and grainy at times and a tad soft at others. I put in the blu for comparison, and while it looked fine, there was definitely a nice uptick in the UHD.

I was going to make it a trilogy, but decided instead to catch up on TV with the wife, so Army will have to wait until tomorrow.