***Official 8th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge*** (2 Viewers)

[JohnRice]

(25) Transformers - :star::star::star: / :star::star::star::star::star:
I know there's "Suspension of disbelief", but this movie creates the concept of "Suspension of Consciousness". This almost feels like Michael Bay lampooning himself, and maybe it is. I was constantly finding myself stating, out loud, what was going to happen next. "Ok, she's going to get out of the car and start working on it." "Sugar Rush". It's also just a really weird movie, but also kind of fun in the end, and has lots of nice cleavage on display.

(26) Petrified (2006) - bomb
The RedBox synopsis for this direct to video masterpiece includes the line "After an undercover antique deal gets ruined by an idiot pair of low-lifes, a mummified alien comes back to life and is let loose on a psych ward filled with unsuspecting, stunning nymphomaniacs" so it sounded promising at least as some amusing trash. Of course, the imdb page lists a complete cast of 15, and 210 producers. It's really just a pile of trash.

(27) The Devil's Rejects - :star::star::star::star: / :star::star::star::star::star:
This is an extremely well made film, if sick, sadistic stories are your type of thing. The "Wrath of God" aspect was interesting to me, on my second viewing. Sherrie Moon sure is interesting too. I can't imagine how much they must have spent on music rights for this one, or how they even got the rights to some of it for this kind of movie. I actually found myself "enjoying" it a lot of the time.

I know QT and Robert Rodriguez got a lot of ink and attention for their lame-ass, simple minded "homage" cheap rip-offs of "Grindhouse" films, but unlike the similarly ham-fisted "homages" they have done recently (particularly the thoroughly successful attempts to show how little they understand Sergio Leone, in Kill Bill 2 and Once Upon a Time in Mexico) Rob Zombie did a far more skilled and creative homage here, minus all the hype. Scratched film and abrupt "reel changes" don't make for creativity, or even a good movie. This is the true homage, and a significantly better result, in my opinion. Apologies to all the QT (and RR) worshippers out there.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Yes, THE DEVIL'S REJECTS is an excellent homage to grindhouse exploitation films (****).


UPDATE:


SCARY MOVIE CHALLENGE 2007
01) The Phantom of the Opera (1925) ***
02) The Black Cat (1941) **1/2
03) Horror Island (1941) *1/2
04) Man Made Monster (1941) ***
05) Dracula (1931) ***
06) The Monster and the Girl (1941) *
07) The Lodger (1944) ***1/2
08) Hangover Square (1945) ***
09) The Undying Monster (1942) **1/2
10) Cat People (1942) ***
11) Cry of the Werewolf (1944) **
12) Night Monster (1942) **1/2
13) Captive Wild Woman (1943) **1/2
14) The Invisible Man Returns (1940) ***
15) The Invisible Man's Revenge (1944) **1/2
16) The Return of the Vampire (1943) ***
17) The Werewolf (1956) **1/2
18) Creature with the Atom Brain (1955) **1/2
19) The Giant Claw (1957) **
20) The Mummy (1932) **1/2
21) The Mummy's Hand (1940) ***
22) The Mummy's Tomb (1942) **1/2
23) The Mummy's Ghost (1944) ***
24) The Mummy's Curse (1944) **
25) Count Dracula (BBC 1977) ***
26) Frankenstein (1931) ****
27) The Old Dark House (1932) ***1/2
28) Bride of Frankenstein (1935) ****
29) 28 Weeks Later (2007) ***1/2

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Re: DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1931)



Not all that safe... I have a book of horror movie reviews that's pretty good called TERROR ON TAPE (compiled 1994 by James O'Neill, before DVDs came out) and he says that the Spencer Tracy JEKYLL AND HYDE is his personal favorite of all the versions.

But regarding the 1931 Fredric March JEKYLL -- I think it's a truly great classic horror film which still holds up strongly today and had some sexual elements well in advance of its time. I think March fully deserved his award, in that he really makes a great schizophrenic turnaround and is excellent as Hyde. I do agree that March is too theatrical as Jekyll at times - especially the scenes when he is spouting romantic gibberish - but it's not really anything that weakens the movie for me. The direction is also masterful. Even though I am a Universal nut, I just might pick this JEKYLL AND HYDE as the best horror film of 1931.... or at the very least, right up there with FRANKENSTEIN.

As for Michael Elliott's claim that nobody ever gives the 1931 movie a great critical rating or four stars, or whatever... there are so many hundreds of reference books out there that I don't know how he can be so positive about that. I have been plugging an excellent book for years now, called GOLDEN HORRORS: AN ILLUSTRATED CRITICAL FILMOGRAPHY, 1931-1939 (by Bryan Senn). This is a complete necessity for fans of 30s horror films, and it's very throrough and informative, and a perfect companion to UNIVERSAL HORRORS by Weaver and Brunas (both books are distributed by McFarland). Anyway .... Senn praises this film, though he writes his entries as a series of "assets" and "liabilities". Under the liabilities he also lists March's performance as Jekyll to be overdone, and I agree... but it doesn't really affect the film.

Also in Senn's book, he lists some actual segments of reviews of the day for every movie. For JEKYLL, here are some snippets Senn offers:

VARIETY (Jan 5 1932) despite lavishly praising the artistic merits of this "over-elaborated" version and considering it "assured of good returns", expressed some misgivings as to the palatability to the public: " The picture is infinitely better art than the old stage play - indeed, in many passages it is an astonishingly fine bit of interpreting a classic, but as popular fare it loses in vital reaction.... As a literary artistic interpretation, the picture is the last word in artistic interpretation, done by understanding adaptors and an extremely skillful director..."

Mordaunt Hall, of THE NEW YORK TIMES (Jan 2, 1932) called this version "a far more tense and shuddering affair than it was as John Barrymore's silent picture. True, the producers are not a little too zealous in their desire to spread terror among audiences, but while there are pardonable roamings from the original, there is in most instances a good excuse for making the scenes as they are in this current study. Mr. March's portrayal is something to arouse admiration... as Dr. Jekyll he is a charming man, as the fiend he is alert and sensual".

Whatever the case, this version is held up highly as a classic horror film. At the end of the GOLDEN HORRORS book there is a section where many writers are asked to vote on which films they consider to be the greatest of the entire decade from 1931 through 1939 (45 films are reviewed in the book). At the end of the voting, the results are tallied up and the Top Ten results average out to this:

01) BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN
02) KING KONG
03) FRANKENSTEIN
04) DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE*
05) THE INVISIBLE MAN
06) THE MUMMY
07) THE BLACK CAT
08) ISLAND OF LOST SOULS
09) THE OLD DARK HOUSE
10) FREAKS

11) SON OF FRANKENSTEIN
12) DRACULA
13) THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME
14) THE BLACK ROOM
15) MAD LOVE

*What's interesting about the results, is that even though JEKYLL is at #4, it's still an amazing accomplishment, because the first 3 movies on the list are all the usual established cinematic greats (BRIDE, KONG, FRANKENSTEIN)... and JEKYLL is the first one to follow on their heels. (also interesting is how low DRACULA scores!).

 

[Mario Gauci]

Hey Joe,

I thought you didn't give much creedence to what film critics say...and yet you're quoting them now!

All joking aside, thanks for taking the time to look through your sources again and posting these quotes here. I always enjoy reading what contemporary critics had to say about films which are nowadays acknowledged as classics. I'm sure I mentioned this before but, personally, I have only 3 Horror/Sci-Fi sources - Carlos Clarens, Alan Frank and the late Philip Strick - so, for me, the by-now popular names of Forrest Ackerman, Paul Jensen, David Skal, Tom Weaver, etc. were totally unknown before I "met" them via DVD supplements.

As for the 1941 Spencer Tracy version, I have to admit that it does improve on subsequent viewings...but, there's no denying that Tracy is miscast in the central role and his reluctance to don excessive make-up when impersonating Hyde really hampers the film.


P.S. I should be watching 2 more versions of the old chestnut before this Halloween challenge is out!

 

[Michael Elliott]

Those listing are pretty interesting from that Golden Horror book for many reasons:

1. There's no shock that BRIDE is #1 as I'm sure all three of us will agree with that. Heck, I think the overall opinion everywhere is that this is the greatest horror film of this period and perhaps of all time.

2. THE MUMMY is rated way too high and I'm curious as to when this book was written as it seems THE BLACK ROOM, THE BLACK CAT, THE OLD DARK HOUSE and perhaps SON OF FRANKENSTEIN are now considered a lot better than that film. Heck, ISLAND and DANGEROUS GAME would probably rank higher if you took a pole.

3. I'm also shocked to see that DRACULA'S DAUGHTER didn't make the list. It's not a great movie but I'd rank it over DRACULA, THE MUMMY and even KING KONG but then again, I'm not overly fond of the ape.

4. THE RAVEN is one that I'd put on that list but I guess the writers share one of the low opinions of the film.

As for me saying no one gives JEKYLL & HYDE "great" reviews, let me rewrite what I was saying. Of course there are fans, horror experts and so on who give it great reviews but these are personal opinions. If you get a book that lists a films general reputation (Maltin, VideoHound, any other movie book in Borders) then I've never seen it get over a three-star rating. We know people who hate BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN but I've never seen one of these books give it under four-stars. The "general reputation" is what I was talking about.

As for March's performance, it's overdone and I'd pick at least two other performances from that year, which are better. I'd start with Colin Clive in FRANKENSTEIN or even Van Sloan or Karloff. All three were much better and even with Clive went over the top he didn't go to the extreme as March. After that film there are maybe one or two I've seen from 1931 that I'd rank higher and I certainly wouldn't rank March's performance anywhere near the Top 10 for the actor himself.

As for 1941, it's the worst version I've seen and I will go on record saying it's the worst performance EVER by Tracy. It's common knowledge that he hated the film, the director, the screenplay, doing the film and I think it shows on film.

 

[Ruz-El]

I was blown away from the March version of Jeckel when I saw it. I'll have to revisit it some time.

FROM HELL 2.5/5 : The stylish look can't save this one. This was a second viewing and it still left me flat. I guess I'm like the book too much. I don't mind minor changes, but when the change is making a detective a opium den inhabiting hippie who sees visions? What's the point in that? This could of been something special.

THE GRUESOME TWOSOME 1.5/5 : The plot about a old lady who runs a wig shop by having her retarded nephew kill and scalp unsuspecting girls is odd enough, but nothing can explain the 4 minutes of talking styrofoam heads that open this. Not a particularly great Hershel Gordan Lewis film, it suffers a bit from having a huge Nancy Drew like subplot that drags the film down when it should have more gore. That said, it does have the trademark of the villain playing with the gore for no real good reason. I don't think anyone else made more movies where once someone is stabbed, the murderer just HAS to stick his hands in the wound for a feel.

SOMETHING WEIRD 2.5/5 : The gonzo plot of LSD, psychics, secret agents and witches help you to overlook the crap story and acting. Fun in a train wreck sort of way.

tallies :
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/...70&postcount=7

 

[Garrett Lundy]

Scale: 1=awful 2=bad 3=average 4=good 5=excellent. 1st viewings in red.

Panic In Year Zero! (1962):star::star::star: Pretty good WW3 survivalist flick.

The Last Man On Earth (1964):star::star::star: This was OK, I was kind of expecting more of a movie remade several times.

Poltergeist 2: The Other Side (1986):star::star: This was just a dumb sequel. I especially loved the subliminal message that Craig T. Nelson is worthless... it takes an Indian with a magic spear to beat the demon and a dead grandma to save the little girl..... You suck Craig!

Poltergeist 3 (1988):star::star: Yet another terrible sequel. Most of the cast was smart enough to not bother returning for part 3, and Heather O'Rouke died so at least we were spared part 4.

The Terminator (1984):star::star::star::star: Had to watch something good to wash the Poltergeist sequels out of my eyes.

the butcher's bill...
1. Monster Squad
2. Call of the Cthulhu
3. Mimic
4. The Omen
5. The Descent
6. Manos: The Hands Of Fate
7. Isolation
8. Insatiable
9. The Changeling
10. Perfect Creature
11. The Ninth Gate
12. The Nightmare Before Christmas
13. Nekromantik
14. Nekromantik 2
15. Bride Of The Monster
16. Saw 3
17. Plan 9 From Outer Space
18. Primeval
19. Slither
20. Bug
21. 28 Weeks Later
22. Fright Night
23. Feast
24. Dead Silence
25. C.H.U.D.
26. The Abandoned
27. Unrest
28. The Gravedancers
29. The Hamiltons
30. The Tripper
31. Penny Dreadful
32. The Fly
33. The Fly 2
34. Panic In Year Zero!
35. The Last Man On Earth
36. Poltergeist 2
37. Poltergeist 3
38. The Terminator

 

[Radioman970]

Before last weekend I'd be laughing at that. :frowning:

 

[Michael Elliott]

Horror Island (1941) :star::star::star:

Shockingly effective “B” thriller from Universal perfectly blends the mystery, horror and comedy genres. A con man (Dick Foran) takes a group of people to an island for a treasure hunt but soon a crazed madman starts killing them one by one. I was really shocked at how much I enjoyed this film considering how many of these types of films I’ve seen. The movie runs at lightening speed, which isn’t the norm and all the jokes work wonderfully well. Foran makes for a good and charming leading man and the supporting cast does fine work as well. Unlike others in its genre, I didn’t catch onto who the killer was either.

Living Coffin, The (1959) :star::star:

Mexican film that mixes the Western and Horror genres while at the same time connects the main villain to The Crying Woman character of various other Mexican films. Two cowboys show up to help some ranchers rid their curse, which appears to be the work of the ghost The Crying Woman. I was shocked to see how fast this 71-minute film flew by. A lot of these Mexican movies move rather slowly but that wasn't the case here. The look of The Crying Woman is very cheap but effective and the performances aren't as bad as you'd think and in fact they manage to be pretty good. The horror elements work very nicely but the Western stuff never really takes off too well. The ending is also a major disappointment and comes over very badly but overall this isn't too bad of a film but I'd recommend starting with a different Mexican film. Original title: Grito de la muerte, El.

Man and the Monster, The (1958) :star::star:1/2

Mexican film about a concert pianist who sells his soul to Satan in exchange for him to become a great musician. The only downside is that he also turns into a hairy, murderous monster. I was somewhat letdown by this film but overall it was a pretty good movie but it takes way too long for the story to get started and the monster isn't used nearly enough. The screenplay does allow time for the relationship between the man and his mother to grow and this here is actually the best thing about the movie. I'm not sure if this film was meant to be a version of Jekyll and Hyde because it does share some of the same ideas even though the monster appears to be more of a werewolf with a rat's face. The monster make up is cheap but effective. Original title: Hombre y el monstruo, El.

Last Warning, The (1929) :star::star::star:1/2

Paul Leni (The Cat and the Canary, The Man Who Laughs) directs this Universal horror film, which has been forgotten over the years but if you've seen some of the studios bigger pictures then you've can tell what all this film has influenced. A popular show on Broadway, inside a creepy theatre, is closed down after the mysterious murder of one of the actors. Years later the police reassemble the original cast and bring them back to the theater to see if they can trap the murderer but it might be a ghost they're dealing with. This film mixes elements of The Phantom of the Opera with the old dark house themes of films like The Bat and delivers a terrific entertainment. This film has never been officially released so I had to view it via what appears to be a 16mm print and the quality was pretty bad throughout so if I get a chance to see a pristine print then I'll probably bump my review up. The technical eye of Leni, who died after this film, is untouched by nearly everyone as he's constantly trying new and different things with the camera. I love how he'll have a medium shot and then move the camera in to show some evidence before moving it back out to let the action role. The film runs just under 80-minutes and goes by very fast with some exciting action but also a great story to work with. The actors, including John Boles who would later appear in Frankenstein, all do nice work as well. There are a few twists and turns along the way that actually work well within the story. This film works on a technical level as well as the story level and that makes this a wonderful little gem that needs to be rediscovered. The only thing people know about this movie nowdays is that it was a huge influence on James Whale and this is easy to see. There's a woman here, used as comic relief, which is later a carbon copy in Una O'Connor. The Old Dark House also lifts some shots here but I won't say which ones since it'll ruin scenes in both movies. The score here was also later reused in Dracula and this film was shot on the same sets as The Phantom of the Opera so there's a lot of connections here.

House of Fear, The (1939) :star::star:

Lazy, routine and by the numbers remake of The Last Warning from Universal. The story is pretty much the same as an actor gets murdered during a performance and then years later the cast is brought back together to try and trap the killer. This certainly sinks to the "C" level in Universal's library and it comes off very lazy compared to the original film. Several scenes are redone here but they don't come off nearly as good as the original film. The cast is also rather boring and bland but the 67-minute running time does go by fast.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

No problem. Glad you enjoyed reading them.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

I gave it *** but it's been awhile since I saw it. It was good, I thought, but not exceptional.

And the silent Barrymore version was only average for me; if you want to talk about over-acting and coming off as unintentionally hilarious, it's when Barrymore distorts his facial features to "turn into Hyde"! I seldom laugh out loud unintentionally, but I did at that!

 

[Malcolm R]

DARKNESS FALLS :star::star:

One should expect that when the movie blurb describes the film as a terrifying take on the legend of the Tooth Fairy, that you shouldn't expect great art. And it certainly wasn't. But there were some effective scare scenes and some great sound design, but the plot was rather thin and ridiculous and the film violated its own rules so often that it really degenerated into a farce by the end. It's also a bad rip-off of A Nightmare on Elm Street. The Tooth Fairy is essentially the female Freddy Krueger. She was burned alive after the villagers thought she'd murdered two children and pledged eternal vengeance on the town. Instead of in their dreams, she haunts the dark which also seemingly makes the children terrified of sleeping.

Young Kyle was terrorized by the Tooth Fairy as a child and now harbors a near paralyzing fear of the dark. Twelve years later, a childhood friend tracks him down and describes her brother's "sickness" which sounds very much like a haunting by the Tooth Fairy. So adult Kyle returns to town, has a run-in with some old redneck acquaintances and law enforcement, and faces down the Tooth Fairy once and for all.

There are a number of instances where this film violates its own logic such as the elevator that somehow manages to function despite a power failure, and a Tooth Fairy that flees from the beam of the weakest flashlight or flickering flame, but has no problems flying around the sky during a continually flashing lightning storm. The filmmakers seem to have got caught up more in what they thought looked "cool" rather than sticking to the logic of their story.

ROSEMARY'S BABY :star::star:

Another horror classic that, despite all the raves I've heard over the years, ends up being a disappointment to me. Many praise the film for its subtlety, but I think there is such a thing as being too subtle and boring the audience out of its mind. This film is a yawn-inducing 136 minutes of really nothing that would frighten anyone born within the past 30 years. How this continues to rank high on lists of "most scary" films is baffling to me. Even the big climax is a huge letdown.

Mia Farrow gives a decent, if overly naive, performance as Rosemary. Ruth Gordon was interesting as Minnie Castevet, the buttinsky neighbor who is more sinister than she appears. The rest of the cast was adequate, if unexceptional.

A couple of things that made no sense, IMO:

After coming to her conclusions about the Castevets, Rosemary still seems to have complete faith and trust in Dr. Sapirstein despite the fact that it was the Castevets who practially forced her to see him in the first place. She spills her guts to him about her entire theory of the Castevets without seemingly a single thought that he might be part of the problem. Even after he has spoken so highly of the Castevets and even prescribed Minnie's "vitamin drink" for Rosemary to take everyday. At this point, I really thought Rosemary was hopelessy stupid.

Also, the door in the closet between the apartments. It's pretty obvious that this is how Guy and Dr. Sapirstein enter the apartment after Rosemary has locked them out. Yet, when Rosemary decides to check for the door, she has to remove all the towels and shelves to even get to the door. Guy and the Dr. certaily didn't have time to remove all the shelves when they used the door earlier.


THE CARNAGE SO FAR...

 

[EricSchulz]

#20 It Came From Beneath The Sea: Kind of a low-budget version of Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. Pretty typical and predictable storyline, but Harryhousen's effects still shine through. 2/5

#21 Creature from the Black Lagoon: I listened to the commentary track on the Legacy Collection this time since I've seen it so many times. About an hour into it I switched to the movie soundtrack. For every interesting fact on the commentary track you have to hear three or four snoozers. The Times Cinema in Milwaukee is showing this in 3-D next month and I already have the weekend off to see it! The only other 3-D movies I've seen were House of Wax, Coming at Ya!, a cheesy spaghetti western released during the 80's 3-D resurgence, Jaws 3-D and Friday the 13th 3-D. Commentary Track rating: 1.5/5 Movie: 3/5

 

[EricSchulz]

#22 The Fog (2005): I haven't seen the original in years, but I do believe that it's a hell of a lot better than this. NO thrills or suspense in this boring retread. The location shots of the island are stunning, and it gets a point for Tom Welling running around with no shirt on. 1.5/5

#23 The Mummy (1955): At least the Universal original version had great atmosphere... Hated Christopher Lee's make-up (even the worst Universal sequels had good mummies!) and his agility/movements. They did follow the Universal storylines a bit with the Steve Banning and Isobel characters, but pretty much a let-down. 1.5/5

 

[Joe Karlosi]

 

[EricSchulz]

#24. The Mummy's Ghost: Pretty boring and formulaic entry. John Carradine doesn't make the most convincing Egyptian, either. 1.5/5

#25. Going To Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film: Pretty entertaining, above-average compilation documentary. It scores points for including more than just the 'usual suspects' and takes a good look at the backlash the genre has received. 3/5

 

[TravisR]

As always, I'm not a critic- I just know what I like but I'm not very good at articulating it.

10/27/07
95. Saw IV
Obviously, this was a first time viewing. I like this one more than the original but not as much as the other sequels. The movie's timeline is pretty confusing (see Saw IV thread for details) and the obligatory twist ending is reminiscent of the first movie where you barely even know who the killer is when he's revealed.

They finally get kill off Donnie Wahlberg's character by having his head crushed by two huge blocks of ice.
Given that it's already made its budget back, you can bet that Saw V will be out on October 24 next year.

96. Friday The 13th
This is the movie you can blame (or thank) for the slasher subgenre. Needless to say, Friday The 13th copied Halloween but the slasher movie took off when they all started copying Friday The 13th's violence and completely tossed aside Halloween's style and suspense. All that being said, I love Friday The 13th despite its obvious drawbacks. If nothing else, there's some excellent special effects from Tom Savini.

97. Friday The 13th Part 2
I've always enjoyed this sequel. I think it's the potato sack that does it for me.

98. Friday The 13th Part III
Alot of stuff in this movie is just copied from the original (stabbing from under a bed, tossing a body through a window, a dead character rising from the lake to grab the surviving girl) and tons of the score is just music from the original. I wish I had seen it 3-D though since I've always heard it looks pretty cool and covers alot of the sins of the special effects.

99. Friday The 13th- The Final Chapter
A very brutal entry for this series and my favorite of the sequels. More excellent special effects work from Tom Savini and Jason is actually threatening in this entry. The best part is that Corey Feldman is in it.

100. Friday The 13th- A New Beginning
Crap. Everything wrong with horror movies and teen movies from 1980's is on display here. There's gotta be 20 people killed in this movie and most of them are characters that are introduced just to be killed, there's a ton of profanity for no reason and there's a ton of nudity for no reason. Usually, I'd be all for those things but this movie just sucks. EDIT: I will say that the Reggie character is the one good thing in this movie.

I've accomplished my goal of 100 movies (but I'll keep going). Let this be a lesson for the kids, aim high and you'll always win... although it may be better to have loftier goals than watching 100 movies in one month.

My full list is in post #389.

 

[JohnRice]

Since Steve wussed out on starting a Sci-Fi challenge earlier this year, I was thinking of starting a few (3 actually) different challenges over the new few months, probably starting in January, so the holidays can pass first. I was thinking of "Sci-Fi", "Historical Drama" (as in, anything significantly in the past) and "Gangster". Each separated by a couple months. I think the goal would be more moderate then this one, Probably 13 for each, and like this one, the "winner" could start it again next year?

Anyone interested?

 

[Michael Elliott]

I'd certainly be interested in a Sci-Fi one. Even if only a few people jump in it'll be nice to break up what I try to cram in this month. I was going to watch some of the Universal Sci-Fi titles over the next few days but I'll hold off on them.

 

[Michael Elliott]

Freaks (1932) :star::star::star::star:

Last year's review:

Until last year's viewing, this Tod Browning film never really worked with me because I felt is was exploitation trash but I'm shocked to see it working better with each new viewing. Unless my first couple of viewings I can now see the love/revenge story and not just simply see the "freaks" that are on screen. To say the film is a tad bit bizarre would be an understatement but the film has a heart and soul to it and seems to be a warning from the director to those who would typically pick on these sorts of people. The performances by all are very good, although it's sometimes hard to understand what the little people are saying. This film was originally banned all over the world and it's easy to see why as the film still has the power to shock even today's jaded viewers. The ending, 70+ years old, still packs one hell of punch.

Added comments: My girlfriend makes another appearance in this challenge as she took time to watch this one with me. She liked this one and was actually caught up in the story, which I didn't think she would. As for myself, this film continue to grow on me and I'd currently put it as the third greatest horror film of the decade. I'm also willing to cut Browning some slack when it comes to his direction as I found myself enjoying his visual style a lot more on this go around. The final revelation as to what happened to the money hungry woman also worked wonders on me this time. I knew what was coming yet the thing really grabbed a hold of me.

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) :star::star::star::star:

Incredibly disturbing and vile film takes a look at a fictional serial killer. I still remember all the buzz this film created when it was first released. Various horror magazines were hyping this up as one of the greatest films of the genre. When I first saw the film it was with a group of friends. We’d always watch horror movies together, laugh at them and just have a good time. When we all viewed this I remember quite well that only one another guy and I made it to the end. Three others left the screening with another puking halfway through the film. The hype that this wasn’t your casual 80’s horror film was certainly right and nearly 20 years after its making the thing still holds up quite well. The wonderful music score and sound effects give the film a lot of jolts. Michael Rooker, Tracy Arnold and Tom Towles all give brilliant performances especially Rooker.



2007 Scary Movie Totals:

1. Frankenstein (1910)
2. Dr. Chopper (2005)
3. Beast of Yucca Flats, The (1961)
4. Grizzly Rage (2007)
5. Earth Dies Screaming, The (1962)
6. Raven, The (1935)
7. Evil Breed: The Legend of Samhain (2003)
8. Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932)
9. Tomb, The (2003)
10. Sealed Room, The (1909)
11. Land of Death (2003)
12. Borderline Cult (2007)
13. Invisible Ghost (1941)
14. Corpse Vanishes, The (1942)
15. Giant Gila Monster, The (1959)
16. Man Made Monster (1941)
17. Maniac (1980)
18. Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958)
19. Ghost Wanted (1940)
20. Earth vs. the Spider (2001)
21. Murder By Numbers (2002)
22. My Son the Vampire (1952)
23. Return of the Vampire, The (1943)
24. Scooby-Doo and the Legend of the Vampire (2003)
25. Scooby-Doo and the Loch Ness Monster (2004)
26. All Work and No Play (1942)
27. Spook to Me (1945)
28. One Spooky Night (1955)
29. Pardon My Nightshirt (1956)
30. Ghost of Slumber Mountain, The (1917)
31. Scooby-Doo: Where's My Mummy (2005)
32. Adoration (1987)
33. Hollywood Babylon (2000)
34. Le Poeme (1986)
35. Maneater (2007)
36. Strangler of the Swamp (1946)
37. Tomb, The (2007)
38. Blue Demon (2004)
39. Corruption (1968)
40. House on Bare Mountain (1962)
41. Kiss Me Quick! (1964)
42. Vampyros Lesbos (1970)
43. Venom (2005)
44. Body Snatcher, The (1945)
45. She Creature (2001)
46. Vampire, The (1957)
47. Maniac (1934)
48. Zodiac Killer (2005)
49. Curse of the Zodiac (2007)
50. London After Midnight (1927)
51. Teenage Monster (1958)
52. Lycantropus (1996)
53. Sister Lulu (2001)
54. Chambre Jaune (2002)
55. Miss Greeny (1997)
56. Tea Break (2004)
57. Bad Moon (1996)
58. Zombie Island Massacre (1984)
59. Cannibal Campout (1988)
60. Watch the Skies (2005)
61. Unknown, The (1927)
62. Masters of Horror: Pick Me Up (2006)
63. Demons of Lust (1999)
64. Return of Dracula, The (1958)
65. Purei (2005)
66. To Heir is Human (1944)
67. Raven, The (2006)
68. Wolf Man, The (1941)
69. Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)
70. Homicidal (1961)
71. Ghosts (1915)
72. Savage Man...Savage Beast (1975)
73. Women's Camp 119 (1977)
74. Strike of the Tortured Angels (1982)
75. MOH: Dreams in the Witch-House (2005)
76. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1912)
77. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920) Lewis version
78. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
79. Horror Island (1941)
80. Living Coffin, The (1959)
81. Man and the Monster, The (1958)
82. Last Warning, The (1929)
83. House of Fear, The (1939)
84. Freaks (1932)
85: Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)