***Official 3rd Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge*** (1 Viewer)

[Justin_S]

Okay, last night I watched IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS, and today I watched GINGER SNAPS (I've seen and own both). I'm up to 5, and will be getting to A LOT more this week. I'll post thoughts on the above classics and RED DRAGON some time later today, Monday.

 

[Lew Crippen]

Shock Corridor, which I consider one of Sam Fuller’s best. Just watching Johnny Barrett’s decent into madness makes the movie worth watching. And a big bonus is the way the movie address racism and communism during a time when neither subject was addressed by mainstream cinema.

 

[Bruce Hedtke]

Lew,
What a strange coincidence. I have Shock Corridor waiting to be watched as I rented The Wicker Man but it wouldn't play on either of my players, so SC was my exchange choice. Is it a horror film? I know I picked it up in the horror section but the description reads more like a drama. That being said-I haven't watched a single horror film to date. I knew this was gonna be a "challenge"
Bruce

 

[Lew Crippen]

I don’t think Shock Corridor could properly be called a ‘horror’ movie. But it certainly meets almost everyone’s criteria of a scary movie. Fuller’s point (at least one of them) is that any of us could be Johnny Barrett. And suffer his fate.

I really likethe film, but then I’m a Sam Fuller fan. If some have suffered from revisionist criticism, Fuller has benefited from a distanced view of his films.

 

[Peter M Fitzgerald]

Well, here are my initial viewings in this year's competition:
[an asterisk * indicates a first-time viewing]
1. REVENGE OF THE ZOMBIES* (1943) Down in the Louisiana bayou, mad scientist John Carradine creates zombies for the Third Reich (!). Sounds pretty exciting... except that the film seems to be designed more for a showcase for black comedian Mantan Moreland to act scared (as he did previously in KING OF THE ZOMBIES (1941)), after a promisingly creepy opening sequence. The zombies themselves walk around in an amusing unified cadence, and when Carradine zombifies his wife, she doesn't submit to his will and wanders off to scheme against him. Co-stars include James Baskett ("Uncle Remus" in Disney's SONG OF THE SOUTH), Robert Lowery (Batman in the caped crusader's 1940s screen serial incarnation), Gale Storm (TV's MY LITTLE MARGIE), screen cowboy Bob Steele, and Veda Ann Borg. A (mildly) fun film while it lasts, but ultimately forgettable. Directed by Steve Sekely, who would later helm the supreme killer plant opus, DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS (1963).
2. TERROR TRAIN* (1979) A neat premise for a post-FRIDAY THE 13TH body count movie, good cinematography by John Alcott (A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, BARRY LYNDON, THE SHINING, etc), Jamie Lee Curtis, and a most-welcome Ben Johnson all raise this a little above most of its contemporaries. Plus, magic tricks by co-star David Copperfield! Still, most of the shocks and suspense could've been handled much better, making this a true classic. Early roles for Hart Bochner (son of Lloyd, perhaps best known as the doomed yuppie scumbag in DIE HARD) and Vanity (billed here as D.D. Winters). Directed by Roger Spottiswoode (TOMORROW NEVER DIES).
3. THE UNDYING MONSTER* (1942) 20th Century Fox tries its hand at a WOLF MAN clone, and stumbles, story-wise. A cursed man-beast, the stuff of local legend, is stalking the grounds of an imposing seaside English manor. Though the action sticks to the house and its property, and no gypsies figure in the narrative, this movie wants to be THE WOLF MAN very badly. There's even a poem that's just different enough from "Only a man who's pure of heart, and says his prayers at night..." to avoid copyright infringement. Unlike THE WOLF MAN, however, we only get a brief glimpse of the title fiend (so-so makeup, but an excellent transformation effect), and then the movie tries to explain away the monster we've just seen as just a psychological delusion in the cursed character's mind (Boo! Hiss!). The (good) cast includes James Ellison, Heather Angel, Heather Thatcher, John Howard, Bramwell Fletcher & Halliwell Hobbes.
The Fox studio must've been wary of churning out actual monster movies in the early/mid 1940s, despite the fact that Universal was making some decent profits off the genre at the time, since Fox's (very) infrequent attempts at horror movies always involved madmen (THE LODGER, HANGOVER SQUARE). I suppose that was so they could be advertised as "thrillers", or "melodramas", which had a classier cache than "monster movies". Too bad, because THE UNDYING MONSTER sports excellent, atmospheric direction by John Brahm (THE LODGER, HANGOVER SQUARE, several memorable TWILIGHT ZONE and THRILLER episodes), and superb, glossy cinematography by the great Lucien Ballard (LAURA, THE KILLING, RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY, WILL PENNY, THE WILD BUNCH, etc). If Fox had any real interest in making classy horror movies at that point, they could've held their own against Val Lewton's crew at RKO, and mopped the floor with much of Universal's 1940s product (as fun as much of those films are).
4. THE BROTHERHOOD OF SATAN* (1971) A pretty creepy, well-done little movie about a family of three (Charles Bateman, ENTER THE DRAGON's Ahna Capri, and a cute little girl) stumbling into a remote western town that is currently in the grip of a powerful satanic cult, led by Strother "what we have here is... a failure to communicate" Martin. On the side of good are sheriff L.Q. Jones (along with Strother Martin, a regular member of Sam Peckinpah's stock company) and Alvy Moore (GREEN ACRES' Mr. Kimball!), both of whom also produced this film. Features some cool scenes of toys growing huge and killing people, achieved purely through editing (rather than via traditional special effects techniques). Unfortunately, the print I watched (airing on Encore's Mystery Channel) was panned & scanned from anamorphic 2.35:1 ratio; however, Columbia just released the film on DVD in anamorphic widescreen. Well-directed by TV veteran Bernard McEveety. Recommended.
5. THE GATES OF HELL* (1980-aka CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD) Italian goremeister Lucio Fulci cooked up this somewhat-Lovecraftian hybrid of elements from THE EXORCIST and DAWN OF THE DEAD, in which a priest hangs himself in the fictional New England town of "Dunwich", opening up a portal to hell, changing residents into bloody, worm-eaten zombies, bringing forth torrents of maggots, and generally causing horrible deaths. Some psychics in New York City remotely sense this, and our hero, Christopher George, is sent in to investigate and problem-solve. Well, nice try anyway, Chris. There is little in the way of rhyme or reason, but some genuinely nightmarish imagery (particularly the way some faces are lighted & framed) is achieved by Fulci throughout much of the flick.
6. THE VAULT OF HORROR (1973) Five more tales of terror, culled from the pages of early-1950s E.C. Comics, made in the wake of the success of the previous year's TALES FROM THE CRYPT movie (which I coincidentally watched in last year's Scary Film Challenge). Roy Ward Baker (A NIGHT TO REMEMBER, QUATERMASS & THE PIT, DR. JEKYLL & SISTER HYDE) directed all five, which recount the recurring bad dreams of a male quintet (Daniel Massey (son of Raymond Massey), Terry-Thomas, Curt Jurgens, Michael Craig & Tom Baker), who find themselves in a strange room (equipped with a table, comfortable chairs, and fine wine) in the sub-basement of a London skyscraper. For my money, the best tale was the last, "Drawn & Quartered", starring Baker (best known as the scarf-wearing 4th DR. WHO), in a tale of art and voodoo revenge. A fun show all-around, though (as are all of the horror anthology flicks made by Amicus). Co-stars include Glynis Johns (the suffragette mom in Disney's MARY POPPINS), Edward Judd (DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE, FIRST MEN IN THE MOON), Denholm Elliott (INDIANA JONES & THE LAST CRUSADE), Dawn Addams (THE 1000 EYES OF DR. MABUSE).
7. DEMONS* (1985) Dario Argento produced and co-scripted this horror entry directed by Mario Bava's son, Lamberto Bava. The plot doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but there's always something going on to keep our interest. Basically, a strange guy with a half-metal face (influenced by THE TERMINATOR?) silently hands out free tickets to that night's screening at a huge movie palace, "The Metropol". The movie turns out to be horror film about demonic zombies, and life in the theater begins to imitate art...and the as-yet-unpossessed patrons find that they're trapped in the theater. Some coke-snorting punks find their way into the theater later, to their ultimate regret. Lots of gore & action & atmospheric lighting, although Lamberto doesn't quite have the stylistic touch that his dad or Argento had in their films. Still, it's a fun B horror flick (owing much to both DAWN OF THE DEAD and Sam Raimi's first EVIL DEAD film), and the huge bijou setting is used well. Followed by a sequel, DEMONS 2 (1986), which I plan to watch soon.
8. BLOOD FEAST* (1963) Initial entry in "Godfather of Gore" Herschell Gordon Lewis' series of early color splatterfests. Attractive color photography and disgustingly realistic gore are combined with acting, dialogue & plot worthy of Ed Wood, Jr! Crazed, Miami-based "exotic caterer" Faud Ramses (director/cameraman Lewis, with fake grayed hair and ludicrous dark, greasepaint eyebrows) slaughters pretty young women in preparation for a cannibalistic "Egyptian blood feast" to honor the goddess Ishtar (I wonder if Warren Beatty, Dustin Hoffman and/or The Mole People were hip to this?). Connie Mason, as the lead ingenue, gives one of the all-time bad performances, with Lewis gaining fast.
9. DEAD & BURIED* (1981) "Welcome to Potter's Bluff!"... strange things are afoot in this New England seaside community, where a goodly number of its citizens gang up on and simultaneously murder (horribly) and photograph visitors to their hamlet, seemingly without reason. Town sheriff James Farentino investigates, and encounters more than he bargained for. In his final film role, Jack Albertson (WILLY WONKA & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE, TV's CHICO & THE MAN) plays the town mortician, who takes special pride in his work. Some good shocks, a generally well-mounted film with an interesting premise, but undermined a bit by some predictable revelations and some bad acting. That said, this would make an okay double-bill with THE FOG. Script by Dan O'Bannon & Ron Shusett, who had both scored previously by writing ALIEN. Co-stars include Melody Anderson and a pre-ELM STREET Robert Englund.
--Back in a few...
Current scary film tally: 9 watched

 

[Justin_S]

Okay, here goes:
RED DRAGON- I liked MANHUNTER a lot, but I've gotta say that RED DRAGON was even better. Excellent film with spectacular performances from the cast, especially Fiennes as The Tooth Fairy! The score was pretty powerful, and this film may be my new favorite Lecter film too, but I haven't decided yet. I was glad to see that they kept the reporter's death the same as in MANHUNTER, because I always thought that scene was fucking hilarious for some reason!
Overall, a great film, and I highly recommend it!
IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS- This classic is one of my favorite John Carpenter films, and is a true horrific work of art in the HP Lovecraft vein. Sam Neill delivers a fantastic performance, and it is definitely one of his best to date! Jurgen Prochnow is also wonderfully creepy and insidious as Sutter Cane. The score, as usual in Carpenter films, is masterful, and the film is very freaky, and extremely well done. Spectacular ending too! One of the best films of the 90s!
GINGER SNAPS- This is a stellar film with a wonderful new twist on lycanthropy, and is one of my top 5 favorite lycanthrope films! The film is very gruesome and bleak, and it is also constantly full of very dark humor. The two leads, especially Katherine Isabelle, both deliver very powerful performances, and they have a great chemistry together as well. There are several great supporting performances too, and the film kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. A new classic!
I'll get to one or two more tonight, and lots more throughout the week.

 

[Scott Bell]

Hate to chime in late.:b I have been busy watching already...I love October. Here is my list so far.

..Ring, Ring2 and Ring0 (getting ready for the the 18th)
..Deadly Eyes (early 80's "dachshunds" rat movie)(thanks to the Showtime Channel)
..Frogs
..The Fog
..Opera & Sleepless (Argento double feature)
..Red Dragon (good but I liked the changed ending of Manhunter more)
..Night Angel (early 90's)(Showtime again)

There will be plenty more to come.

 

[Brian Kissinger]

Here comes another.
Carnival of Souls (1962)
This film evoked a couple of responses from me. On the one hand, I really liked the creepy "man", but on the other, all throughout the movie I kept thinking to myself, she's dead.

I thought the movie seemed to drag at parts, and much of it was just plain unnecessary. Perhaps I just went in expecting too much from all the praise it gets. However, I loved the ballroom dancing scene. There was some good stuff in here, and I liked the emphasis on frights over gore. A good story, but I guess I was just looking for something more.:star: :star: 1/2

 

[Scott Weinberg]

My first Netflix batch arrived today! Man, that was fast!
So tonight I watched Spiders (which is fun in a moronic sort of way) and Session 9 which was a whole lotta dark, creepy fun! (We have a hospital here in Northeast Philly that is VERY reminiscient of Danvers.) Man, nothin's creepier than an old abandoned lunatic asylum!
In a new review batch, I spied the Oblong Box / Scream and Scream Again double feature. That's where I'll be heading next! Yay horror movies.

My list so far:
From Hell
The Initiation
Office Killer
Friday the 13th
The Devil's Backbone*
Sleepaway Camp 2
Red Dragon*
From Dusk Till Dawn
Carnosaur
Carnosaur 2
Evil Dead 2
Carnosaur 3: Primal Species*
Spiders*
Session 9*
* = first-time visits

 

[Lew Crippen]

Crazy am I?

Double-dipped, watching

Frankenstein, which is also in the 30s top 100. Good to see the villagers on the march once again.


Its alive!

 

[Matt Stone]

Alright, watched some more. Here's my updated list:
1. Black Christmas - First Time
2. Frailty - First Time
3. Red Dragon
4. Manhunter
5. The Thing
6. Halloween

 

[Rob Lutter]

Watched Jason X tonight... and it was GREAT
Here is my list thus far:
1. Red Dragon
2. Se7en
3. Sleepaway Camp
4. Jason X

 

[Seth Paxton]

Added Red Dragon though it barely counts as a horror film. Really, like Manhunter, its more of a crime thriller despite a few moments.
BTW, I think I still lean to Manhunter as a better film, it may have some dated aspects but its also loaded with good mood and tone.
Frankenstien, Se7en, Red Dragon...so far.

 

[Scott Weinberg]

Late last night I watched both ends of the Oblong Box / Scream and Scream Again double feature. Both were fun, though I liked the first flick a lot more.
Earlier this evening I revisited My Bloody Valentine, which is NOT as entertaining as I'd remembered.
I have a stack of non-horror DVDs I need to address this week, so my horror input may vanish for a day or two, but I shall return! Enjoy your jolts, folks!

My list so far:
From Hell
The Initiation
Office Killer
Friday the 13th
The Devil's Backbone*
Sleepaway Camp 2
Red Dragon*
From Dusk Till Dawn
Carnosaur
Carnosaur 2
Evil Dead 2
Carnosaur 3: Primal Species*
Spiders*
Session 9*
The Oblong Box*
Scream and Scream Again*
My Bloody Valentine
* = first-time visits

 

[Brian Kissinger]

I got two in tonight.
Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
I'm still not entirely sure what I make of this one. I haven't been feeling to well, and I know I didn't give it the attention it deserves. I found it funny at times, and a bit off the mark at others. All in all, not bad. :star: :star: 1/2
Return of the Living Dead (1985)
I had seen this one years ago, but decided to include it in here in case I make it to 31. I still enjoy this picture. It's a fun one. I loved the idea that the zombies wouldn't die, and that they moved at more than a crawl. And even today, the "Tar Man" is visually impressive. :star: :star: 1/2

 

[Lew Crippen]

I’m a normal human being; we’re all normal human beings. Its not as though we're monsters from outer space.
I managed to clear out one more from my unwatched DVD backlog. A lot of fun, if you can get in the proper mood.
I thought the Criterion edition commentary by the producer was very informative for anyone interested in how these films were made and funded way back then.

 

[Scott Bell]

I watched #'s 11 & 12 last night.
Jason Goes to Hell and Jason X
Why cant the studios get along and put out a uber-box set with the ten so far.

 

[Brian Kissinger]

I've been sick, so watching movies is about all I've done the last two days. I got two more in today, and I'll probably get in another tonight.
The Old Dark House (1932)
This one started out really well, and then just lost all it's momentum. I found the climax a bit of a disappointment. A good story that just didn't seem to know where to go. The characters were quite engaging, but were not given anything to do. :star: :star:
I also watched the great Jaws today. This movie never gets old. :star: :star: :star: :star:

 

[Ross Williams]

I'm up to #7.
I watched Last House on the Left for the first time. A very disturbing flick. Not really scary, just disgusting what the killers do. Wes Craven's first film.
Then I watched Sleepaway Camp 2. The original was no classic, but compared to it's sequel, it's a freaking masterpiece. Really boring death scenes in this one. Only the doodie/leech scene stands out. No mystery behind the killer also ruined it.
Last night I had the pleasure to see Link Removed A locally made supernatural thriller. A very well made independent film, that will hopefully get it's premerie at the Sundance Film Festival.
I also watched Blue Velvet the other night. I wouldn't count it as a horror film. But it's creepy as hell.
So far:
#1 Near Dark
#2 The Fog
#3 Jeepers Creepers
#4 April Fool's Day
#5 Last House on the Left*
#6 Sleepaway Camp 2
#7 Inheritance*

 

[Lew Crippen]

I rented

Dracula, the version in Spanish.

I’d never seen this version before and it was pretty interesting to see the same sets and script being used by a different set of actors. I thought this version very effective, but I need to see the English version again to be sure which I prefer.