***Official 23rd Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge 2022*** (2 Viewers)

[Kaskade1309]

Re-Watch

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[Kaskade1309]

 

[EricSchulz]

1. The Munsters
2. Feast
3. The Rental
4. Mystery of the Wax Museum
5. Texas Chain Saw Massacre
6. Halloween Ends
7. Brides of Dracula
8. The Lodge
9. The Man Who Laughs
10. X
11. We Need To Do Something
12. The Visit

13. The Black Phone
I was pleasantly surprised by this. In Denver during the 1970’s there’s someone known as The Grabber who’s abducting young boys. Finney and his sister Gwen know several of the boys. Their father is an abusive alcoholic who is especially brutal with his daughter who has “dreams” just like her mother. The movie has some supernatural elements: when Finney is taken he’s left in a bare room with a mattress and a black phone on the wall. Which is disconnected. And rings. With voices of the abducted boys. The boys try to help him escape but are unsuccessful. Without giving too much away, I was really impressed with the storylines all coming together, which I definitely did not see coming. Like so many “horror“ movies recently this one is more of a thriller and not really scary. If I’m not mistaken this was rated R, but there’s one major kill that’s a little graphic but otherwise not violent (bullying figures into the plot pretty heavily but nothing is really shown extensively). I enjoyed it.
3.5/5

 

[EricSchulz]

1. The Munsters
2. Feast
3. The Rental
4. Mystery of the Wax Museum
5. Texas Chain Saw Massacre
6. Halloween Ends
7. Brides of Dracula
8. The Lodge
9. The Man Who Laughs
10. X
11. We Need To Do Something
12. The Visit
13. The Black Phone

The Mummy
Out of all the classic horror movie characters mummies have been near the bottom of my list. I was never really a fan of the Karloff version but did enjoy the cheesy B movies with Lon Chaney Jr. This one follows the Karloff version for the most part and, unfortunately, has the same problem as the earlier version. The whole backstory of the princess and Kharis just grinds the movie to a halt. The other issue I had was similar to zombie movies: slow or fast? Lee’s mummy is a little too fast and limber for me. And out of all the Hammer classics the makeup for the mummy is the weakest. I guess audiences felt the same as there was no follow up filmed. 2/5

 

[sleroi]

88. Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children - S (D+) - I had never been interested in seeing this as it looked like a Harry Potter rip-off, but for whatever reason today I decided to give it a shot.
The first act sucked me in with Terence Stamp as a mysterious grandfather whose grandson witnesses a giant creature in the woods behind his house on the day of his death.
The second act was excruciatingly slow with a few nice visuals but it spent an hour amongst all the kids while not addressing the story at all. I almost turned it off. Then just before the third act the monsters finally show up and Miss Peregrine explains what is going on. And because she tells all we need to know for the third act, it essentially rendered the previous hour meaningless.
The third act is a bit long winded, but there is plenty of action, including a skeleton army and monsters that look like cenobites on stilts and who want to pluck out and eat the children's eyes.
The third act was good, but I'm not sure it was good enough to justify the bulk of the rest of the film.
.5

 

[Michael Elliott]

he Vengeance of Dr. Mabuse (1972) ** 1/2

Jess Franco's attempt at doing Fritz Lang is basically him re-working his Orloff character. For the most part this was a mildly entertaining film. At just 74-minutes the film doesn't overstay its welcome and there are some nice elements including the Frankenstein-like monster, which is more Frankenstein monster than the two monsters seen in Franco's real Frankenstein movies.

The 101 Scariest Horror Movie Moments of All Time (2022) *** 1/2

List like these are basically meant to make people talk. For the most part I thought the list was fine, although I certainly don't agree with the #1 movie picked. I'd also say that both FREAKS and MANIAC should have been on the list somewhere, although the Lustig film does have clips shown. The documentary has a lot of talking heads with some of them being good while others are pretty bland. This will expose new people to Universal, Fulci, Argento and Bava so that's a good thing.

The Corpse Packs His Bags (1972) ** 1/2

German Krimi from Jess Franco about a murderer who likes to pack the bags of his future victims. This was from a story by Edgar Wallace's son and the son doesn't quite have his dad's flare for stories. For the most part this was pleasant for what it was, which is basically Franco doing a crime picture with some comedic elements. The cast is good, the locations are great but the story itself just isn't all that.

Alone Against Terror (1986) ***

Lina Romay plays a paralyzed woman who hears the voice of her dead father (Antonio Mayans) asking her to kill those responsible for his death. This here is basically Franco remaking his very own THE SINISTER EYES OF DR. ORLOFF but without any sort of budget. I mean, I'd be shocked if the budget was over $10k. The good news is that Franco knows how to work without any money and I thought he did a very good job with the atmosphere and the story. The cast was in very good form and that includes Romay as the murderer. The locations were really beautiful and I liked some of the trick work Franco did to show the mental issues of the Romay character.

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

October 27: The Wolf of Snow Hollow (2020) – 4.5 out of 5

The quiet ski-town community of Snow Hollow is rocked by a brutal murder and the small-town sheriff's department is ill-prepared for the crime (and what soon follows). Officer John Marshall (Jim Cummings), a recovering alcoholic and angry, divorced father to a teenage girl, is particularly ill-equipped for the task as talk of the murderer turns to something not human. Ofc. Marshall is buckling under the stress of the murders and the worry about his sickly father (the Sheriff) on the edge of retirement seeps in, and his alcoholism rears its ugly head.

After enjoying the heck out of Werewolves Within, I wanted to stay with the incredible niche genre of Werewolf horror comedy, so The Wolf of Snow Hollow was the obvious choice. This is a movie that resonated with me, and I was curious if my appreciation for what this film offered would hold.

It certainly did.

This horror comedy hinges on the lead performance by writer/director Jim Cummings, who plays Officer Marshall. Cummings manages to bring a genuine quirk-fill zeal to a man unravelling under the pressure of his circumstances. He plays a mean, tightly wound jerk and yet, despite all his unpleasant behavior, engenders no small amount of sympathy. He becomes a tragic figure that you recognize as a poor leader but one that you soon see is hiding solid investigative prowess beneath his caustic, angry exterior.

The script is smart and the small cast delightful, including the late Robert Forster in his penultimate screen performance. Whereas Werewolves Within hedged a little on the horror and amped the comedy, this film allows the horror of the creature to be quite frightening and certainly a little grisly. I found it funny again, but I was impressed more with the drama that simmers beneath the horror and the laughs born of absurdness. There’s a genuine weight to one of the Alcoholics Anonymous meeting speeches that Cummings gives, and balancing things so well, he manages to get a great little chuckle in as well. I am glad I got this one in for this year’s challenge. I already want to watch it again.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Last night, I watched three more movies. Two of them I'm very familiar with including my favorite "Frankenstein" movie from my childhood. The third movie was a first time viewing, though, I've been well aware of this movie for several years. I think I caught the ending of the film once on TCM, but have never watched the movie in its entirety. See my summary for film grades!

68) Son of Frankenstein (1939) (Blu-ray) 4.5/5 Stars
My personal favorite of the Frankenstein movies for some strange reason which stretches back to my childhood. Baron Wolf Frankenstein/Basil Rathbone returns to his ancestral home and comes into contact with the Ygor/Bela Lugosi and the Frankenstein Monster/Boris Karloff, his last film appearance as the monster. This might be one of the reasons why I liked this movie so much. Also, we have Lionel Atwill playing a good guy as the police inspector with one arm. I always enjoyed the sequence when the monster rips off Atwill's fake arm and Atwill starts shooting at him. Rathbone was a little over-the-top in this movie and I enjoyed his back and forth with Atwill's character, especially when they're throwing darts. The first two movies are better films, but this movie makes me smile as it's just a fun movie for me. From the opening sequence with the thunderstorm, the movie sets in the castle, the different murders committed by the monster along with the finale with Rathbone kicking the monster into the molten sulfur pit. A good video presentation on the 2016 Blu-ray "Frankenstein Complete Legacy Collection".

69) The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) (Blu-ray) 3.5/5 Stars
Not nearly as good as the first three movies, but still an enjoyable movie with Ygor/Lugosi somehow surviving three bullets in the chest from Rathbone in the third movie. Frankie, survives the molten sulfur pit from the same movie. Both of them looking spry enough to look up Henry Frankenstein's second son, Ludwig in another German town. A good cast, but not so good screenplay. This viewing was from the same Blu-ray as "Son of Frankenstein" part of 2016 "Frankenstein Complete Legacy Collection" Blu-ray set.

70) The Return of the Vampire (1943) (Blu-ray) 3/5 Stars
This was the first time viewing of "The Return of the Vampire. I watched my 2019 Shout! Factory Blu-ray that has three different audio commentaries. Like I stated beforehand, I've seen the very ending of the movie on TCM, but never watched the rest of the movie before tonight. This was bad, but it was entertaining as hell. I laughed out loud a couple of times. It isn't everyday you can have a vampire, werewolf and fighting Nazis in the same movie. You even have Armand Tesla, the vampire killed twice in the same movie. In the future, I have to listen to those audio commentaries as I'm sure they're probably entertaining in their own right as they talk about this WWII propaganda movie that has vampirism associated with Nazism.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

(See my 2022 Summary for information on color coding and rating categories)

47) 10/27/2022 Halloween Kills [Director's Cut] (2021)

This is the sequel to David Gordon Green's 2018 resurrection of the franchise, confusingly also titled Halloween, but watching it directly after the original 1978 film actually worked really well, since this one opens with an extended flashback that takes place more or less immediately after the events of the original film -- providing alternative connective tissue to the ignored Halloween II.

Given that this movie was filmed over four decades later, and on the opposite side of the country, the 1978 scenes feel remarkably seamless with the original film. John Carpenter's score for that sequence is perfect, and the cinematography nicely mirrors how the original film was shot.

The transition to Halloween night 2018 is a bit jarring because the movie shifts tonally as well as chronologically; like the 2018 film, the rest of this one is full of odd characters and offbeat humor. In the '78 film, Haddonfield is Anywhere USA. The town is your town, the people are your friends and neighbors. That created an innate sympathy for Michael Myers's victims.

If the 2018 film was a satire of how desensitized to violence mayhem the world had become in recent decades, this one is a meditation on how the events of Halloween night 1978 have deeply, deeply warped the hearts and minds of Haddonfield's residents. The constant low-level baseline anxiety of living with the knowledge that the bogeyman is objectively real, and has walked the same streets as you, has festered into something dangerous and combustible. The panicked townspeople are, at times, even more dangerous than Michael himself.

But the cost of putting Haddonfield under a microscope is that there isn't that same emotional connection with Michael's victims. Michael kills far more people in this movie, in far more gruesome ways, but I didn't care as much as I did last night. The upside of that is that the murders can be enjoyed for their creativity, without feeling too bad in the process.

The ending felt disjointed, with a pretty major death seemingly tacked on at the last minute. On the plus side, it was fun to see Kyle Richards, Charles Cyphers, and Nancy Stephens all reprise their roles from the '78 original.

 

[Jeff Flugel]

20. The Funhouse (1981)
Four teens attempt to stay the night inside a carnival funhouse and come to regret it as they are hunted by a mutated killer. Director Tobe Hooper piles on the sleazy carnival atmosphere and the movie positively drips with dread from its opening riff on the original Hallowe'en to the wild, violent climax. Elizabeth Berridge makes for very pretty and sweet "final girl," and Kevin O'Connor has fun playing three different roles, most notably as the father of the pitiful yet deadly "thing" which stalks the funhouse. Also with Sylvia Miles as an ill-fated fortune teller.

21. Night Gallery
2.18 - “The Waiting Room/Last Rites for a Dead Druid”
A couple of solid segments of this '70s supernatural anthology series, hosted (and occasionally written) by Rod Serling. Steve Forrest plays a notorious gunslinger who arrives in an abandoned town on a cold, dark night. He seeks shelter in a saloon, but finds no comfort, only dark destiny, in "The Waiting Room." Features a great cast of leathery cowboy faces: Buddy Edson, Gilbert Roland, Albert Salmi, Lex Barker and Jim Davis. In "Last Rites for a Dead Druid," lawyer Bruce Tarraday (Bill Bixby) is not amused when his wife Jenny (Carol Lynley) brings home an ugly stone statue which resembles him, apparently modeled after a centuries' old Satan-worshiping monk. The statue soon starts to wreak its evil influence. Also starring Ned Glass and Donna "Elly Mae" Douglas, quite sexy in an ambiguous role as Jenny's divorcée friend who seems to know more than she lets on.

22. One Step Beyond – 2.28 “The Clown”
This low-key contemporary of The Twilight Zone doesn't hit that series' highs, but is eerie enough in its own right. In this one, a jealous, possessive husband (Christopher Dark) loses control and stabs his beautiful, innocently flirtatious wife (Yvette Mimieux) to death inside a mute clown's carnival trailer. Afterwards, the murderer sees the vengeful clown grasping for his neck in every reflective surface. Mickey Shaughnessy plays Pippo the Clown. Host John Newland isn't as terse or charismatic as Rod Serling but obviously had his fair share of talent, directing all 96 episodes of this series.

23. The Thing from Another World (1951)
I doubt there's any real need to provide a plot synopsis for this, perhaps the earliest "alien invasion" movie to come out of Hollywood. While I happily join the chorus which hails John Carpenter's 1982 remake as a masterpiece, I'm equally fond of this rousing sci-fi thriller, directed by Christian Nyby but bearing the unmistakable fingerprints of producer Howard Hawks. For my money, this is about as good as a classic sci-fi flick gets. No big stars here, just a roster of strong character actors who obviously enjoy sinking their teeth into a script full of choice, bantering dialogue (penned by screwball comedy ace Charles Lederer). Taut, suspenseful, funny and scary in all the right places. Though I've seen the film numerous times over the years, this was my first viewing of Warner Archive's (sadly bare-bones) Blu-Ray, and it looks terrific.

 

[TravisR]

46) 10/26/2022 Halloween (1978)

Strangely enough, this is my first time watching the original Halloween straight through; before now, I'd only seen bits and pieces on cable over the years.

A few things stood out to me:

• This movie is often described as the first modern slasher movie. That's not true, on a couple of levels: Other slasher movies, like Black Christmas, came first. And there are significant differences between this one and what the genre would become.
• Laurie's spidey sense is tingling from the moment she spots the Illinois state vehicle idling across the street from her classroom. Laurie does more screaming that she would if the film were made today, and she makes some stupid mistakes, like assuming Michael is dead and dropping the big ass knife -- twice! But by and large, she keeps her head and keeps the two children in her care safe.

Regarding two of your points...

I consider Halloween to be the first true slasher movie because it really set the template that so many movies would copy for the next 5 + years. I think of Black Christmas, Peeping Tom, etc. to be proto-slasher movies that aren't quite there and they didn't kick off the trend. To take it a little further, I'd even say that Friday The 13th is the movie that set truly the stage for the gore and inventive kills associated with slasher movies way more than Halloween did. Friday The 13th certainly copied Halloween but after 1980, low budget filmmakers were largely copying F13 and its special effects rather than Halloween.

As for Laurie dropping the knife, I'll respectfully tell everyone from you to Jamie Lee Curtis (who has the same criticism) that I don't think it's THAT dumb of a mistake on Laurie's part because she thinks Michael is dead (the second time, she stabbed him in the chest) and she's a terrified teenager in an unimaginable situation. Plus, if she kept the knife, the movie would be over.

 

[John Stell]

Rating out of 4

083) 10/27/2022 Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

Director Francis Ford Coppola's visually dazzling retelling of the classic novel boasts a great opening 45 or so minutes followed by a good 80. Gary Oldman as Dracula nails the classic lines; the use of shadow in the castle is freaking amazing; and Anthony Hopkins' quirky turn as Van Helsing is a nice variation on a traditionally serious character. Winona Ryder and and especially Keanu Reeves seem out of place though, doing their best to look and sound Victorian. But Sadie Frost as the doomed Lucy nearly steals the show with her ultra-sexualized performance.

084) 10/27/2022 Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)

Underrated and underappreciated, this is a largely faithful version of the classic novel. Kenneth Branagh (who also directed) plays title character as earnest student hoping to learn how to prolong life. He lacks the intensity of Colin Clive's performance or the ruthlessness of Peter Cushing's. But that's what makes his arc interesting, as he goes slowly mad as the film progresses. Robert De Niro is great as the creation, with several wonderful scenes, including one with his creator where child lectures father on responsibility. The opening 40 minutes feel a bit rushed, as the makers try to squeeze so much in. But the film is never less than interesting and the changes to the novel do work well.

085) 10/27/2022 Frankenstein (1910)

The first film version of the oft-told tale is a hoot. Frankenstein whips up a monster in his lab's crockpot without considering the consequences. It's fun but the later versions are certainly preferable.

 

[Malcolm R]

As for Laurie dropping the knife, I'll respectfully tell everyone from you to Jamie Lee Curtis (who has the same criticism) that I don't think it's THAT dumb of a mistake on Laurie's part because she thinks Michael is dead (the second time, she stabbed him in the chest) and she's a terrified teenager in an unimaginable situation. Plus, if she kept the knife, the movie would be over.

I've railed against this "bump-and-run" scenario in numerous horror film discussions (it happens in almost all of them to varying degrees), but as you say, the film would be over quickly if the potential victim continued the attack and decisively dispatched the killer/monster rather than running away after a single strike, thereby allowing the killer to recover and resume the chase.

I'd like to think if I were ever in one of these scenarios and I got the upper hand by attacking or finding a weapon, I'd continue to beat/slash the killer/creature until they were nothing but a bloody, pulpy mess on the ground. But who knows what you'd really do in the panic of the moment?

 

[BobO'Link]

Rating out of 4 View attachment 160322

083) 10/27/2022 Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) View attachment 160322 View attachment 160322 View attachment 160322

Director Francis Ford Coppola's visually dazzling retelling of the classic novel boasts a great opening 45 or so minutes followed by a good 80. Gary Oldman as Dracula nails the classic lines; the use of shadow in the castle is freaking amazing; and Anthony Hopkins' quirky turn as Van Helsing is a nice variation on a traditionally serious character. Winona Ryder and and especially Keanu Reeves seem out of place though, doing their best to look and sound Victorian. But Sadie Frost as the doomed Lucy nearly steals the show with ultra-sexualized performance.

084) 10/27/2022 Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994) View attachment 160322 View attachment 160322 View attachment 160322

Underrated and underappreciated, this is a largely faithful version of the classic novel. Kenneth Branagh (who also directed) plays title character as earnest student hoping to learn how to prolong life. He lacks the intensity of Colin Clive's performance or the ruthlessness of Peter Cushing's. But that's what makes his arc interesting, as he goes slowly mad as the film progresses. Robert De Niro is great as the creation, with several wonderful scenes, including one with his creator where child lectures father on responsibility. The opening 40 minutes feel a bit rushed, as the makers try to squeeze so much in. But the film is never less than interesting and the changes to the novel do work well.

085) 10/27/2022 Frankenstein (1910) View attachment 160322 View attachment 160322 View attachment 160322

The first film version of the oft-told tale is a hoot. Frankenstein whips up a monster in his lab's crockpot without considering the consequences. It's fun but the later versions are certainly preferable.

I agree with you on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. It's quite good and sadly, mostly ignored by most horror fans. I've liked from the first time I saw it when I purchased a 2-pack with it and Bram Stoker's Dracula on DVD. I went into it with more of a "Well... I'll watch it as it came with the other film." and wound up pleasantly surprised at how well it's done.

 

[Malcolm R]

I agree with you on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. It's quite good and sadly, mostly ignored by most horror fans. I've liked from the first time I saw it when I purchased a 2-pack with it and Bram Stoker's Dracula on DVD. I went into it with more of a "Well... I'll watch it as it came with the other film." and wound up pleasantly surprised at how well it's done.

Agreed. I was never quite sure why it seemed to fare so poorly being from the same producers as Bram Stoker's Dracula. Though it wasn't exactly a bomb, grossing $112 million worldwide vs. a budget of $45 million, it was a disappointment compared to BSD which grossed nearly double that.

Either the Frankenstein story is not as interesting to people as Dracula, or the faithfulness of the film to the actual source novel rather than the Universal portrayals, with the lumbering monster with bolts in the neck, was too different for audiences that had grown up with the Karloff version.

 

[dpippel]

Oddly, Nope is currently my favorite of Peele's pictures. I kind of felt like he had written two different stories with neither one being enough for a single film and so he fused them together and made it one film about spectacle. It was a good film if a bit confusing because of all the stuff he stirs into the pot. I honestly think the film is not about what we get as the surface story but instead has to do with our current society and how it is addicted to and reacts to spectacle. It's not your average sci-fi film but really that is kind of what this guy does with all his pictures.

You say toe-may-toe, I say toe-mah-toe.

 

[dpippel]

Well, I had an opportunity to take a few days and go camping/observing, so I won’t be back in the saddle until the very end of the Challenge on Sunday/Monday. I *did* get to see a SpaceX launch from Vandenberg last night, which was amazing! Sorry for the off-topic post.

 

[BobO'Link]

October 27th

103. Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971)

Young Dr. Jekyll is is determined to formulate an Elixir of Life using female hormones taken from the glands of fresh corpses, haunted by the fear that one lifetime will not be enough to complete his research. He succeeds but is transformed into a ravishing but evil raven-haired woman. To explain the sudden appearance of his female half around the house, Jekyll tells friends and neighbors that she's his widowed sister, Mrs. Hyde. However, Jekyll soon finds that the serum requires a regular supply of female hormones to maintain its effect, resorting to stalking the streets, murdering prostitutes to obtain their glands so that his female persona can continue to exist.

A fun twist on the standard story, for once not leaning on a grotesque persona for the murder spree. Ralph Bates is a good Jekyll and Martine Beswick is an excellent Hyde - actually looking enough like Bates for you to believe the transformation - they could easily pass for brother and sister without any makeup. And that's the weakest part as the transformation is mostly a series of dissolves, though done with cracked mirrors and other things to partly hide the simple effect. They throw in a bit of Burke and Hare as well as Jack the Ripper to keep things interesting - though they're not really needed. When I first purchased this (looong ago with the Anchor Bay DVDs) I wasn't expecting much - mostly a sex driven T&A kind of affair and was surprised to get a decent story with little of the T&A I'd expected. Of course I upgraded to Shout!'s BR - looks quite good.

104. The Mad Doctor of Market Street (1942)

After murdering a man in a botched suspended animation experiment, Dr. Ralph Benson escapes to a ship bound for New Zealand. The ship sinks and the survivors, which include Dr. Benson, drifts to a South Seas island occupied by hostile natives. The doctor impresses the natives when he revives the wife of the island chief, who's seemingly dead. This gives the doctor free reign on the island to continue his experiments.

Lionel Atwill, as Dr. Benson, delivers a very good performance as usual in spite of the rather uneven material. It can't seem to decide just what kind of film it wants to be. Toss in some rather lame comic relief to dilute the horror aspects and you have a movie that's mostly "just OK" but entertaining enough for its short run time. Watch it for the actors involved.

105. The Strange Case of Doctor Rx (1942)

A mysterious vigilante known as "Dr. Rx" strikes again. Assigned to the case is private detective Jerry Church but the crimes are baffling and involve strangulation and a possible attempt to implant a gorilla's brain into a human body.

This ones' more a "B" level murder mystery that could easily have been a Charlie Chan film. It even features a Chan regular, Mantan Moreland (who, IMHO, is always welcome), as comic relief as well as Shemp Howard (former/future Stooge). The two share a quite humorous scene concerning some alcohol and a game of craps. To inject some horror into the proceedings, the film features a rather sadistic scene of a private eye, captured for a brain swap experiment with an ape, who's apparently mauled by the ape (off screen of course). Second billed Lionel Atwill barely appears in the film and is involved in the surprise twist at the end. It's a fun, though minor, entry in the era's "B" detective movies, but not really much of a horror film.

 

[BobO'Link]

Either the Frankenstein story is not as interesting to people as Dracula, or the faithfulness of the film to the actual source novel rather than the Universal portrayals, with the lumbering monster with bolts in the neck, was too different for audiences that had grown up with the Karloff version.

That's exactly why I feel it's been ignored by most people - it's not the Frankenstein story they know. Few people have read the novel so don't know just how different the Universal film is from that story. I know when I read the book I was quite surprised with all the differences.

 

[EricSchulz]

1. The Munsters
2. Feast
3. The Rental
4. Mystery of the Wax Museum
5. Texas Chain Saw Massacre
6. Halloween Ends
7. Brides of Dracula
8. The Lodge
9. The Man Who Laughs
10. X
11. We Need To Do Something
12. The Visit
13. The Black Phone
14. The Mummy

15. Barbarian
With all the great press this is receiving I figured I'd check it out. The first 40 minutes is OUTSTANDING! Creepy story, REALLY eerie score (when someone does music that makes it seem creepy to drink THAT cup of tea, you've won!) and then...BAM! It all falls apart. There are several storylines that come together, but the overarching one (and the focus of that great 40 minutes) is about Tess who is renting an Airbnb in a REALLY bad part of Detroit where she's got an interview the following day. It turns out the house is listed on to rental sites and Keith is already staying in the place. Let's just say that even with the requisite lapses of logic it WORKS!!! Then the second storyline kicks in. And the third. And they all come together, but in a HORRIBLY executed fashion. The third storyline is so poorly done that I had no clue as to what was going on towards the end. A review I read after watching said (paraphrasing) "And the scene in the bathroom follows that popular Netflix serial killer series and sets up the satisfying conclusion". REALLY? Gore fans will be satisfied with a couple of graphic death scenes, though. I'm sticking with the classics I know are good and scary! 1/5