*** Official 9th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge (1 Viewer)

[TravisR]

60. Christine

John Carpenter's adaptation of Stephen King's novel is the second of my killer car double feature. This movie was kind of a transition movie for Carpenter when he went from low budget to studio movies (I know The Thing was a Universal release but I've always found that to be closer to Carpnter's low budget days than the studio movies he made in the 1980's). Keith Gordon gives a good performance in the movie. Like most novel-to-movie transitions, the book is better but the movie is a fun time.

My list (new titles in bold)
01. Cat People (1942)
02. Curse Of The Cat People
03. The Midnight Meat Train
04. The Leopard Man
05. I Walked With A Zombie
06. The Body Snatcher
07. 976-EVIL
08. The Howling
09. Waxwork
10. Waxwork II
11. 976-EVIL II
12. House Of 1,000 Corpses
13. The Devil's Rejects
14. Pet Sematary
15. 2001 Maniacs
16. Friday The 13th
17. Friday The 13th Part 2
18. Friday The 13th Part III
19. Friday The 13th- The Final Chapter
20. Friday The 13th- A New Beginning
21. Friday The 13th Part VI: Jason Lives
22. Friday The 13th Part VII: The New Blood
23. Friday The 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan
24. Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday (unrated)
25. Jason X
26. Freddy Vs. Jason
27. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
28. Psycho (1960)
29. Psycho II
30. Psycho III
31. Psycho IV: The Beginning
32. He Knows You're Alone
33. Eyes Of A Stranger
34. Terror Train
35. Prom Night (1980)
36. The Fog (1979)
37. Road Games
38. Someone's Watching Me!
39. Maniac (1980)
40. Saw (unrated)
41. Saw II (extended)
42. Saw III (director's cut)
43. Saw IV (unrated)
44. Saw V
45. Halloween (1978)
46. Halloween II
47. Halloween III: Season Of The Witch
48. Halloween 4: The Return Of Michael Myers
49. Halloween 5
50. Halloween: The Curse Of Michael Myers
51. Halloween H20
52. Halloween Resurrection
53. Halloween (2007) (director's cut)
54. The Strangers (extended cut)
55. The Seventh Victim
56. Scream
57. Scream 2
58. Scream 3
59. The Car
60. Christine

 

[Brian Kissinger]

Saw I through IV (2004-2007)
James Wan (I) & Darren Lynn Bousman (II-IV)

I'm lumping all these together to save space and time. My son and I decided to have a marathon with these. That made the viewing much better. I figure he'll be out the house by next Halloween, so we had some good old "quality time" via torture and bloodshed.

His favorite was part 3, with the torture chamber spinning thingy. My favorite kill Warning....part IV ending sorta revealed was
Donnie getting his head crushed via the ice blocks

If you haven't seen parts 3 and 4, you may want to skip this paragraph, as certain plot points will be ruined for you. One thing I noticed this time around, as the killers have changed, so too has the type of victims. Jigsaw was about finding people who just didn't appreciate their life. Amanda went after the cops. Part IV's killer went after pedophiles and wife-abusers. Each killer has their own special set of motivations. While I do find the need for a "twist" at the end of each movie a kind of pain, I do like how they have adapted the victims.

All in all, enjoyable time-wasters


White Noise (2005)
Geoffrey Sax

White Noise is the story of Jonathan Rivers, a man who loses his wife to a terrible accident, and then later is convinced he hears her voice from beyond the grave. A large chunk of the story deals with EVP (electronic voice phenomena) and contacting the dead. I think each viewers enjoyment will lie heavily in their beliefs of the paranormal and the afterlife. I enjoyed the movie for the most part, but admit that things do eventually get stretched way out of proportion.

the dead are some tricky bastards



Event Horizon (1997)
Paul W.S. Anderson

I really dig this movie. A spaceship is designed to open a black hole in order to travel almost instantly from one point in the universe to another. But in the ship's maiden voyage, somebody forgot to carry over the 3, and instead of going to the other side of the universe, it goes to Hell. Whoops. Hell gets tired of the ship after 7 years, and decides to send it back. Our lucky heroes get to go and investigate.

The one thing that I do not like about the movie, is at the end, the actual words "the end" come up. I won't reveal the ending, but (depending on your own point of view) it's a bit ambiguous. It's what I call a "cop-out" ambiguous, but it's there all the same. And for reasons I cannot comprehend, the words "the end" bother me. It implies closure, when the ending implores you to determine the end. It should have gone straight to the credits. Pointless rant over.

There sure are a lot of maggots in Hell. I guess insects do have souls.



1.Lost Boys:The Tribe At least I saw boobs
2. Captivity There's 2 hours I'll never get back
3. Undead or Alive Crap on a stick
4. Wrestlemaniac Spatterific
5. Bikini Bloodbath At least I saw boobs
6. Jaws Horrific
7. Jaws 2 Why do I keep doing this to myself
8. Jaws 3 Why yes, I do like cheese with my wine
9. Satan's Storybook crapcake...with whipped topping
10. Idle Hands Watch Evil Dead 2 instead
11. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Jessica Biel all dirty, grimy, bloody

12. Stupid Teenagers Must Die just like milk the day after it expires...you chance it, but you also know better
13. Quarantine Taking a bite of what you think is a piece of tasty banana cream pie, but really it is lemon
14. Session 9 Jif peanut butter can be scary
15. Feast super-horny-baby monsters.....yep, I'm in
16. Feast II: Sloppy Seconds Sadly, midgets+trashcan+dynamite doesn't always equal awesome
17. Pumpkinhead Splatterific
18. Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings Crap on a stick
19. Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes boobs would have added some much needed flavor
20. Pumpkinhead: Blood Feud bear traps and heads don't mix well
21. Saw
22. Saw II
23. Saw III
24. Saw IV All in all, enjoyable time-wasters
25. White Noise the dead are some tricky bastards
26. Event Horizon There sure are a lot of maggots in Hell. I guess insects do have souls.

 

[Michael Elliott]

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966) :star::star::star: Bill Melendez

The Peanuts gang is celebrating Halloween with Charlie Brown getting invited to his first party and Limus waiting for the Great Pumpkin to show up. I can't say I've ever seen, read or watched anything that dealt with the Peanut gang so this was a new experience for me and I really liked it. The movie certainly isn't anything special but it's certainly very cute and I reckon that was the whole point of it. The only stuff I didn't care too much for was Snoopy and his WW1 scenes, which I thought took away from the more interesting aspects of the film. I liked the trick or treating scenes with one character getting the same thing over and over. I like the teasing that Limus gets while skipping the good stuff in exchange for waiting for something that isn't coming. The comedy still holds up quite well for this pleasant little short.

Vampyr (1932) :star::star::star: Carl Theodor Dreyer

Dreyer's first sound film has traveler Allan Gray (Julian West) landing in a remote castle where he begins to see strange things ranging from shadows to possible vampires. I watched this movie for a first time a couple years ago and really didn't care too much for it. The technical beauty was certainly worth of four-stars but the story was pretty weak. In fact, I'd say there story was downright awful but since then I've become more familiar with the work of Dreyer and with that in mind this movie worked better for me on the second viewing but I still won't call it a masterpiece of the genre. There's no denying that on a visual level this film is terrific and I really love all the bizarre images that come up throughout the movie. Dreyer's use of shadows is extremely well done and I might argue that there's never been any better use of the technique. Another major plus is the wonderful cinematography, which also ranks as some of the greatest ever done. This work comes off even better in the recent Criterion DVD, which features a very good print especially when compared to the Image release. The performances are a bit on the weird side but this is what the director was going for. As beautiful as this film is I can't help but wish something more had been done with the story. I'm sure many would argue that Dreyer accomplished everything he set out to do and this might be true but I still needed more before calling this a masterpiece. Either way this is certainly a very important film to the genre.

Evening with Edgar Allan Poe, An (1972) :star::star:1/2 Kenneth Johnson

Vincent Price highlights this strange made for TV film that has him reading and acting out four different Poe stories. The Tell-Tale Heart, The Sphinx, The Cask of Amontillado and The Pit and the Pendulum are the four stories being done here and while Price is brilliant in all of them it's still rather hard to sit through this film on many repeat viewings. I think most of the charm comes from your first viewing and after that it's better to just check out other filmed versions of these classic stories. Price is really the only reason to watch this film as he dives head first into the readings and really makes them quite intense. My favorite is his reading of "The Tell-Tale Heart", which is already my favorite item from Poe. Price's narration of the beating heart is very well done and makes this first story the best. The biggest problem I have with this film is its direction, which in my opinion is pretty poor. I don't think the director had them filming everything very well and I found the editing of the performance even weaker. Still, for Price fans you should still see it once.

Evil Come Evil Go (1972) :star: Walt Davis

Insane sexploitation film has a God-loving woman calling herself Sister Sarah Jane (Cleo O'Hara) and she goes across the country teaching people that sex is evil. This Sister thinks the best way to teach people this lesson is by picking men up in bars, taking them to a motel and then cutting them up. Whenever you dive into the world of DVDs released by Something Weird you know you're going to get something weird and that's the case here. This is an extremely strange little film that features a lot of sex and nudity but very little plot. The idea of a religious nut going around killing people who have sex is something funny but not for a feature film. The plot here is enough for a short film but this here runs 72-minutes, which is just way too long as the film grows old very quickly. As is to be expected, the performances are all rather bad and the direction is even worse. The low-budget nature of the film doesn't leave for many pretty technical things but then again if you're watching something from Something Weird then you know this already. Another problem I had is that the lead actresses just aren't cute enough to carry this type of sexploitation film. If you're a fan of weird films then this here is certainly a must see but keep the remote handy.

Terror at Orgy Castle (1971) :star::star: Zoltan G. Spencer

A couple on their honeymoon are touring Europe when they come across a castle that looks like a fun place to have sex. They end up spending the night there only to learn that the castle is being used for orgies and a black mass. Here's another sexploitation film mixed with horror elements that only Something Weird could (or would) release. The film is actually very well made and looks like it has a bigger budget than I'm sure it did. You know this is low budget as there isn't any soundtrack but instead just silly narration explaining everything that's going on. This is the first film I've seen from the director but from what I've read he would go onto make some pretty notorious films within the adult industry so perhaps that's why this looks so good. There's nothing hardcore here but we get countless softcore scenes and thankfully all the women are very attractive. The film runs a short 63-minutes and for most at that time we just get naked women in various situations. This here certainly isn't anything ground breaking and no one will mistake it for Citizen Kane but if it's sexploitation you're after then this film delivers pretty well. The sets were leftovers from Al Adamson's Blood of Dracula's Castle and Gallery of Horrors.

 

[Malcolm R]

THE STRANGERS C
I'll have to come down on the side of those who found this nothing special. It's almost like some starving writer, being tossed out of the studio head's office, came up with a three-sentence film treatment just before the door slammed in his face. I say they still should have slammed the door. Instead they decided to make the movie and somehow managed to gross over $55 million.

A young couple, spending the night at a rural home after attending a wedding, are terrorized by a trio of masked "strangers". The film is all about the "gotcha" scares as there is no discernable plot. We don't learn anything about the strangers' identity, motivation, past or future. The antics and masks of the strangers make for a few creepy moments, but it's all rather pointless.

But, I guess that's the point of this story, supposedly based on true events, that the pointless nature and randomness of the events and mysteriousness of the invaders is the really scary part. But overall, I thought it was a disappointment as a film. It was more like a feature-length crime reinactment from "Unsolved Mysteries."

And having read the comments here about the Strangers' "mad ninja skillz", I did have to laugh when the hand grabbed Jack's neck in the car, but there was no trace of anyone when he turned around.

 

[Ruz-El]

Sorry about that, I think I'm to blame making the ninja comment. there's a running joke with some friends and I watching movies. whenever scenes like the above happen, we start whispering an echoey "Seikura, Seikura, Seikura" like Chuck Norris' ninja sense in "The Octagon."

i know I'm sad.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Freddy vs. Jason (2003) :star::star::star:
I'm a huge fan of FRIDAY THE 13th and Jason, and I'd waited for this movie to be developed for 10 long years. I also couldn't wait to see Jason kick Freddy Krueger's wisecracking ass. When the movie first came out I thought it was excellent, and gave it four stars! I was just so pleased that it was finally here, and that the script managed to successfully meld elements from FRIDAY THE 13TH and NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET into one coherent movie. However, these days -- while I still think it's a "good" film that properly pays homage to both franchises and satisfies fans from BOTH series -- I am more picky about certain things. There was no need for the heavy metal soundtrack in spots, and some of the acting is poor (not that any of these films ever boasted Oscar-winning performances!).

But I'm glad that New Line waited as long as they did to get this right... there were a TON of inferior scripts and plot ideas up to this point. Jason manages to get a tad of sympathy here as well, as the pawn of Freddy. I think the ending (which can always be subjective to suit individual taste) was brilliant.


I also watched more MUNSTERS (sorry, Jim ). I think I may fall a little short of all 70 episodes by the time ths all ends, but I will have made it to 60-something (and yep, just imagine if these counted as shorts! ):

THE MUNSTERS - "Grandpa's Lost Wife"
THE MUNSTERS - "The Fregosi Emerald"
THE MUNSTERS - "Zombo"
THE MUNSTERS - "Cyrano De Munster"
THE MUNSTERS - "The Musician"
THE MUNSTERS - "Prehistoric Munster"
THE MUNSTERS - "A visit From Johann"


2008 SCARY MOVIE CHALLENGE
01) Chamber of Horrors (1966) **1/2
02) Indestructible Man (1956) **1/2
03) The Earth Dies Screaming (1964) **
04) Village of the Damned (1960) ***
05) Children of the Damned (1963) **1/2
06) Dr. Renault's Secret (1942) ***
07) I Was a Teenage Frankenstein (1957) **1/2
08) The Mad Monster (1942) *1/2
09) Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) ***
10) Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) ***
11) House of Wax (1953) ***
12) Quarantine (2008) **1/2
13) Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) ***
14) Monster of the Campus (1958) ***
15) The Woman Who Came Back (1945) *
16) The Ape Man (1943) **
17) Decoy (1946) ***
18) Night Has a Thousand Eyes (1948) **
19) Paranoiac (1963) ***
20) The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960) *
21) The Gorgon (1964) ***
22) Scream of Fear (1961) ***
23) The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (1964) **
24) Nightmare (1964) **1/2
25) The House of Seven Corpses (1974) **
26) My Son the Vampire (1952) **1/2
27) The Walking Dead (1936) **1/2
28) The Body Snatcher (1945) ****
29) Targets (1968) ***1/2
30) I Walked With a Zombie (1943) ***
31) Saw V (2008) **1/2
32) Freddy vs. Jason (2003) ***


TV EPISODES Watched
THE MUNSTERS - "Munster Masquerade"
THE MUNSTERS - "My Fair Munster"
THE MUNSTERS - "A Walk on the Mild Side"
THE MUNSTERS - "Rock- A- Bye Munster"
THE MUNSTERS - "Pike's Pique"
THE MUNSTERS - "Low-Cal Munster"
THE MUNSTERS - "Tin Can Man"
THE MUNSTERS - "Herman the Great"
THE MUNSTERS - "Knock Wood, Here Comes Charlie"
THE MUNSTERS - "Autumn Croakus"
THE MUNSTERS - "The Midnite Ride of Herman Munster"
THE MUNSTERS - "The Sleeping Cutie"
THE MUNSTERS - "Family Portrait"
THE MUNSTERS - "Grandpa Leaves Home"
THE MUNSTERS - "Herman's Rival"
THE MUNSTERS - "Grandpa's Call of the Wild"
THE MUNSTERS - "All-Star Munster"
THE MUNSTERS - "If a Martian Answers, Hang Up"
THE MUNSTERS - "Eddie's Nickname"
THE MUNSTERS - "Bats of a Feather"
THE MUNSTERS - "Don't Bank on Herman"
THE MUNSTERS - "Dance With Me, Herman"
THE MUNSTERS - "Follow That Munster"
THE MUNSTERS - "Love Locked Out"
THE MUNSTERS - "Come Back, Little Googie"
THE MUNSTERS - "Far Out Munsters"
THE MUNSTERS - "Munsters on the Move"
THE MUNSTERS - "Movie Star Munster"
THE MUNSTERS - "Herman the Rookie"
THE MUNSTERS - "Country Club Munsters"
THE MUNSTERS - "Love Comes to Mockingbird Heights"
THE MUNSTERS - "Mummy Munster"
THE MUNSTERS - "Lily Munster, Girl Model"
THE MUNSTERS - "Hot Rod Herman"
THE MUNSTERS - "Herman's Happy Valley"
THE MUNSTERS - "Munster the Magnificent"
THE MUNSTERS - "Herman's Raise"
THE MUNSTERS - "Herman's Child Psychology"
THE MUNSTERS - "Herman, the Master Spy"
THE MUNSTERS - "Bronco-Bustin' Munster"
THE MUNSTERS - "Herman Munster, Shutterbug"
THE MUNSTERS - "Herman, Coach of the Year"
THE MUNSTERS - "Happy 100th Anniversary"
THE MUNSTERS - "Operation Herman"
THE MUNSTERS - "Lily's Star Boarder"
THE MUNSTERS - "John Doe Munster"
THE MUNSTERS - "A Man for Marilyn"
THE MUNSTERS - "Herman's Driving Test"
THE MUNSTERS - "Will Success Spoil Herman Munster?"
THE MUNSTERS - "Underground Munster"
THE MUNSTERS - "The Treasure of Mockingbird Heights"
THE MUNSTERS - "Herman's Peace Offensive"
THE MUNSTERS - "Just Another Pretty Face"
THE MUNSTERS - "Big Heap Herman"
THE MUNSTERS - "The Most Beautiful Ghoul In the World"
THE MUNSTERS - "Grandpa's Lost Wife"
THE MUNSTERS - "The Fregosi Emerald"
THE MUNSTERS - "Zombo"
THE MUNSTERS - "Cyrano De Munster"
THE MUNSTERS - "The Musician"
THE MUNSTERS - "Prehistoric Munster"
THE MUNSTERS - "A visit From Johann"

FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE SERIES - "The Inheritance"
FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE SERIES - "The Poison Pen"
FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE SERIES - "Cupid's Quiver"
FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE SERIES - "A Cup of Time"
FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE SERIES - "Hellowe'en"

 

[Jim_K]

Joe there's nothing wrong with watching the Munsters (though I'm more of an Addams Family guy) I just used it as an example.

Travis I get you on the Michael Meyers thing, but Halloween (the first one) has a twinge of the supernatural running through it while The Strangers was based on "true events" [snorts].

Quote:



Originally Posted by Michael Elliott

And yes, the director has made much, much worse.






Whaaa?!!

Well it's the final day [wipes away tear] it's been fun.

Ratings out of

First time viewing in Bloody Red

THEM! (1954)
Giant mutated ants terrorize the southwest. From the traumatized little girl with the doll to the final military bug-hunt in the drainage sewers of LA, James Cameron borrowed quite a bit from this film when he made Aliens. He couldn’t have picked a better film. A genuine creature feature classic!

The Masque of Red Death (1964)
Roger Corman and Vincent Price elevate their Poe adaptations to an art form in this Seventh Seal of Gothic Horror films.

 

[Pete Battista]

Halloween :star::star::star::star:
Fifteen years ago, Michael Myers brutally massacred his sister. Now, after escaping from a mental hospital, he's back to relive his grisly crime again, and again...and again..

My Thoughts:
This is of course a classic horror that I must watch every year around this time. Usually on Halloween day like I did this year. This is of course the one that started it all... and finding out from one of the featurettes on the disc... a movie that was shot very quickly and cheaply. You would never know it watching the movie. I feel they all did an awesome job on this movie! It comes highly recommended by me!

My Watched Listhttp://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/3439905-post19.html
Count: 99 Movies, 45 TV Show Eps. & 2 Other

 

[Lucia Duran]

31. *** Scream 3. Another fun ride on the scream train. I hadn't seen this one in long time.

32. **** Night of the Living Dead (Original). What is Halloween without a good George Romero flick? My favorite zombie movie ever! I can watch this one a million times and still be frightened by the slow shambling flesh eaters. What I love about this one is that it isn't so much about the zombies as it is about the people in the farm house trying to survive. Sure the zombies are frightening, but so is the bald guy! LOL! Never will I lock myself in the basement with only one way out.

33. **Jason Goes to Hell:The Final Friday. Good change up of the typical Jason comes back to kill everyone formula. This is one of the more engaging of the series because it goes out of it's way to be different. Still campy, but just as good as New Blood (which is one of my favorite of the series).

I had planned to watch Steven King's The Stand, but our DVR broke, we had to call the cable guy over to fix it and he replaced the box causing me to lose all the shows I recorded. The Stand is now in my netflix queue and I will not be able to get it in before tonight. Bummer.

 

[Mario Gauci]

10/25/08: INVASION USA (Alfred E. Green, 1952) :star::star:

To begin with, I had expected to be more engaged by this one – which I also was under the wrong impression would be a talk-fest: instead, about sixty per cent of its trim 74-minute duration is compiled of wartime stock footage (representing the potential decimation of the U.S. by invading Communist forces) – scenes of the London blitz from the celebrated Humphrey Jennings documentary FIRES WERE STARTED (1943) are supposed to stand in for the burning of New York! I wonder how Americans look at the film nowadays vis-a`-vis the events of 9/11 – which is perhaps the only reason why it ever saw the light of day on DVD in the first place!

As it stands, INVASION USA is both hysterical and unintentionally hilarious – never more so than when a car is caught in the flooding of Hoover Dam (hit by a nuclear bomb!) and a cowboy hat is seen floating on a branch as the sole remnant of its Texan owner!; Also worth mentioning are the fact that when the U.S. Senate is besieged, it’s seen to be peopled merely by doddering statesmen, while the intermittent ‘appearances’ by the American President addressing the nation are taken from a vague solitary angle! Equally queasy is the fact that handsome leads Gerard Mohr (a cynical TV reporter) and Peggie Castle are drawn together at such a precarious time, while the middle-aged bartender keeps mixing drinks as if his life depended on it – apparently oblivious to the ongoing calamities! Needless to say, the unnamed Soviets are depicted throughout as unemotional slogan-spouting caricatures.

The best thing about the film is the brief but typically riveting performance by Dan O’Herlihy (incidentally, years later he’d appear in a genuine Cold War classic i.e FAIL SAFE [1964]) – not least in view of the twist ending brought about by his particular line of work. In the DVD supplements, much is made of the fact that the film features the two actresses who played “Superman”’s Lois Lane on TV – Noel Neill and Phyllis Coates – but their contribution is, at best, negligible!; also on hand as a newscaster is character actor William Schallert, who’s said to have made more Atomic-related titles than anyone else (the top 100 such efforts compiled by “Conelrad” are listed, with a brief synopsis for each one, on the Synapse DVD itself); in an interview included on the disc, Schallert speaks of his brush with Orson Welles’ TOUCH OF EVIL (1958) where he was proposed for the role later played by Maltese actor Joseph Calleia – whom Schallert mistakenly thinks was an Italian! Oh, well, it’s near enough I suppose…

As can be gathered, therefore, the extras are quite nice, being pretty comprehensive about the whole Cold War aura which pervaded the first two decades or so of the post-war era (though I’ve only very briefly sampled the two radio programs which play back-to-back as an Audio Commentary to the film). One of the most telling comments in the extras comes from O’Herlihy himself – when he went to Russia in the late 1960s to film WATERLOO (1970), he was met by such an inefficient people that he couldn’t fathom how their threat was ever taken seriously!; Noel Neill, then, overhypes the film’s impact – I mean saying it blows PEARL HARBOR (2001) out of the water is not much of a feat, is it? In the end, I have to admit that when the Communist ideology (or critique thereof) was presented as a sci-fi allegory, the results were generally that much more fun…


10/25/08: RED NIGHTMARE (George Waggner, 1962) :star::star:1/2

This educational short – intended as a propaganda piece, solemnly narrated by Jack Webb (a familiar face of the era) and personally overseen by movie mogul Jack L. Warner – feels very much like an episode of “The Twilight Zone”. As in INVASION USA (1952), on whose DVD it’s included, the politics are hard to take nowadays – though the fantasy, albeit moralistic, framework of the narrative (wherein a passive working-class American wakes up one morning to find his hometown overrun by the Communists) makes it at least palatable in an IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) sort of way. On the other hand, being compact and on a much smaller scale than the earlier feature-film, it’s easier to suspend belief in its case. By the way, George Waggner (billed “waGGner”, for whatever reason) is best-known for his stint directing such classic Universal chillers as THE WOLF MAN (1941).


10/25/08: DOOMSDAY (Neil Marshall, 2008) :star::star:1/2

I had been reasonably impressed by both of director Marshall’s previous horror efforts – DOG SOLDIERS (2002) and THE DESCENT (2005); this isn’t up to their standards, but it’s not too bad if taken on its own terms. That said, the film relies all-too-lazily on previous sci-fi ‘classics’ for its plot and look – chiefly ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (1981) and the “Mad Max” franchise. Even so, the clash between the futuristic and the medieval during its latter stages works surprisingly well.

Similarly, Rhona Mitra is effective in the role of the one-eyed badass heroine (despite the fact that Marshall’s would-be cool one-liners aren’t exactly memorable or inspired); the rest of the cast includes veterans Bob Hoskins as a tough, foul-mouthed but sympathetic cop and Malcolm McDowell as the doctor who turned his back on country and profession in the face of a virus which has decimated Scotland and is threatening Britain (curiously enough, though, he’s pretty much forgotten by the end!). As expected, the film offers tons of action and gore at the expense of logic and characterization: its notion that cannibalistic punk rockers will prevail during the Apocalypse isn’t quite the type of dehumanization envisaged by George Orwell – but, after all, this is far more a no-holds-barred action flick than it is a socially-conscious political allegory.

Unsurprisingly, too, the long sought-after cure emerges to be nothing more remarkable than the immune blood system of a survivor (McDowell’s own daughter, while his son is – just as predictably – the rebellious leader of the punks)! Thankfully, for all its grime and inherent bleakness, the film generally takes a blackly comedic attitude – so that a moment as the one in which a punk riding a motorbike falls on his head and breaks his neck comes across as hilarious because one of those infiltrators he’s chasing (a member of the heroine’s band) stops his flight long enough to cringe at such a painful demise!


10/26/08: CHILDREN SHOULDN’T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS (Bob Clark, 1972) :star::star:1/2

Although there have been at least three separate DVD releases of this cultish horror flick, none have been really satisfactory (the R2 SE from Anchor Bay UK even contains a shortened version!) and the film’s decidedly mixed reception (Leonard Maltin awards it an unflattering :star:1/2 rating) has made me all the more reticent to acquire it on this format – despite my admiration for director Clark’s subsequent forays into the genre, namely DEATHDREAM (1974) and BLACK CHRISTMAS (1974). Amusingly, the late British film reviewer Leslie Halliwell had deemed Roger Corman’s Edgar Allan Poe adaptation PREMATURE BURIAL (1962) “the ultimate in graveyard ghoulishness” – I wonder what he’d say about this one, since it’s much more to the point (what with its scenes of a man’s body being dug up and made to ‘act’ as party guest, bride[!] and even bedmate).

Incidentally, I had begun to watch this on late-night TV during my late 2005/early 2006 stay in L.A. but, since it was shown as part of a would-be horror program – which meant that the film was interrupted every five minutes or so for witless interjections by the made-up hosts – I gave up on that particular viewing very early on. Clark’s first film (for which he’s actually billed “Benjamin”) is essentially amateurish but surprisingly engaging; the young cast – led by an enjoyably hammy Alan Ormsby (the film’s own screenwriter and scribe for DEATHDREAM [1974] itself) and including his then-wife Anya, a lovely but ill-fated heroine in Jane Daly, as well as Jeff Gillen (who would go on to direct DERANGED [1974] with Alan and which I watched the very next day) – is likewise agreeable.

For the record, the fact that the plot revolves around a group of unemployed actors who get together in a remote and eerie location and end up being ‘bumped off’ recalls Pete Walker’s THE FLESH AND BLOOD SHOW from the same year – though, of course, the details are entirely different. Needless to say, the film drew its flesh-eating zombies (whose munching ‘antics’ are, thankfully, downplayed) from George A. Romero’s groundbreaking NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) – even if the corpses here rise through occult incantations (or, more precisely, revenge on the participants when the ceremony deteriorates into a slew of insults directed towards “The Dark One”!) rather than as the after-effect of radiation. Interestingly, then, the very last scene – in which the monsters take a boat so as to extend their havoc onto the mainland – anticipates both WHO CAN KILL A CHILD? (1976) and Lucio Fulci’s genre-related ZOMBIE (1979)…


10/27/08: DERANGED (Jeff Gillen and Alan Ormsby, 1974) :star::star::star:

This is the first official cinematic account of necrophiliac mama’s boy Ed Gein (though the names have been changed) – for the record, he was the source for PSYCHO (1960)’s Norman Bates, while the same year as DERANGED another established genre classic, THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE, drew on his notorious exploits. Incidentally, this viewing came via the German Special Edition DVD which contains the infamous brain removal scene (albeit in footage displaying inferior quality to the remainder of the film) missing from the MGM/UA R1 disc.

The film is well enough done, hinging on Roberts Blossom’s excellent leading performance (most creepy when he mimics his dead mother’s voice); however, the latter half – in which he extends his activities to include murder – elicit a genuine eeriness, which is remarkably similar to what Tobe Hooper would do with TEXAS CHAIN SAW (especially when the sluttish barmaid stumbles into Blossom’s house and is ‘met’ by a ghastly dinner gathering of corpses, and the man himself in hideous make-up!). The evisceration finale, then, contains the requisite dashes of nudity and blood-letting which post-Vietnam era theatergoers – and genre fans in particular – had grown accustomed to by that stage.

Still, one isn’t quite sure how to react to Ezra Cobb (the Gein figure) – which makes for somewhat detached viewing (of course, for all their faults, one is more readily sympathetic towards his victims’ plight) and, this, in spite of intermittent asides/interjections by a geeky narrator grounding the events in a solid reality. There is, however, a definite and agreeably comedic undertone to the scenes involving the fat lady-cum-mystic who persuades Cobb to attend a séance ostensibly to contact his late mother but which only exposes the woman’s own essential loneliness (to her ultimate dismay). By the way, the film was made by several associates of late Canadian director Bob Clark (DEATHDREAM [1974], BLACK CHRISTMAS [1974], MURDER BY DECREE [1979], etc.) – including composer Carl Zittrer, whose work here adds yet another layer of unease to the proceedings.


10/27/08: MOON ZERO TWO (Roy Ward Baker, 1969) :star::star:

One of Hammer’s oddest films is this one, their sole foray into Science-Fiction, which has quite a maligned reputation but emerges to be reasonably tolerable under the circumstances. It obviously won’t stand comparisons with the likes of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968), though still valuable for being one of the very first films to exploit the 1969 landing on the moon.

The famed British studio were noted for making expensive-looking Gothic Horrors with limited means; here, however, the low budget shows through as the futuristic sets they came up with are rather shoddy! For what it’s worth, the film does contain at least one Hammer-type image involving a space suit found to be inhabited by a skeleton. Incidentally, MOON ZERO TWO has been referred to as a Space Western (in view of its mining, dynamiting, discovery of a priceless mineral, claim-jumping and shoot-outs): so far so good…however, having an outer space saloon (complete with dancing cowgirls) in 2021 is beyond ridiculous! Peter Hyams had the good sense to forego such puerile shenanigans when he made his own ‘Space Western’ with Sean Connery, OUTLAND (1981).

Having said that, It’s undeniably superior to ZETA ONE (1969), which I watched recently, though still containing a definite camp factor – starting with the goofy animated credit sequence (accompanied by a decidedly infectious title tune) but extending to hilarious costumes and props…not to mention the presence of a dapper megalomaniac villain (by the way, as was the case with ZETA ONE itself, the cast features a member of the “Carry On” gang in Bernard Bresslaw, again, appearing as a baddie albeit a dimwitted brute!). Having mentioned the cast, Hammer stalwart Michael Ripper turns up here as well for one brief scene; as for the film’s American lead, James Olson (with receding blond hair!) doesn’t exactly set the screen on fire. It’s interesting, though, that co-star Adrienne Corri would appear in Hammer’s more traditional VAMPIRE CIRCUS (though still contriving a twist in its tail) and Kubrick’s subsequent piece of sophisticated sci-fi, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, within the same year (1971).


10/28/08: MASTERS OF HORROR: CIGARETTE BURNS (TV) (John Carpenter, 2005) :star::star::star:

This is the fifth episode I’ve watched from the popular horror series, which gave a lease of life to many a genre exponent from the 1970s onwards; surprisingly, it was shown on a weekday on late-night Italian TV (albeit in English with subtitles). It is easily the best I’ve seen so far and also one of Carpenter’s most satisfying efforts in a very long time.

The premise is fascinating – especially for people like us, given that it basically deals in the workings of being a film-fanatic – but, needless to say, it’s treated as fantasy and obviously taken to extremes for greater dramatic impact. In fact, the title is a reference to the reel-change indicators visible on celluloid – though here it’s also the precursor to hallucinatory visions which afflict the various characters in search of a legendary ‘lost’ snuff film which, when viewed, changes the spectators into homicidal or self-mutilating maniacs! For the record, the overall style and level of gore displayed throughout is more typical of the series than the director’s traditional oeuvre; incidentally, his son provides a score which is highly reminiscent of the elder Carpenter’s compositions for his own earlier work!

The protagonist, a young theatre owner specializing in cult horror films (including DEEP RED [1975] by Dario Argento, whose two “Masters Of Horror” entries are among those I’m familiar with and which I even own), doesn’t exactly cut it – but Udo Kier (from Argento’s own SUSPIRIA [1977]) generates the requisite sinister obsession in his role of the ageing millionaire after the dangerous rolls of film. He even keeps one of the surviving crew members of that particular film, “La Fin Absolue Du Monde”, chained up inside a hidden room in his remote mansion – and, although the latter has shriveled to a wraithlike figure, his devotion to the cursed film itself hasn’t abated with time! Incidentally, it’s somewhat lame to have the elusive film traced after so many years at the place which it would have been automatic to look first i.e. in the possession of its late director's widow (nonchalantly stashed in her living room despite its ‘explosive’ nature!) but, I suppose, it’s a flaw that can be overlooked when seen against the carnage going on around it!


10/29/08: EATEN ALIVE (Tobe Hooper, 1977) :star::star:

Director Hooper’s mainstream follow-up to his seminal THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE (1974) doesn’t live up to its predecessor – or its own middling reputation as a blackly comedic macabre venture whose plot, basically, involves a crazy hotel owner deep in bayou country who feeds his customers to a crocodile living in the swamp adjoining his place!

The film, in fact, is a bit of a mess – generally heavy-handed and peopled by obnoxious characters (especially Neville Brand as the grizzled psycho, William Finley – the titular figure of Brian De Palma’s PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE [1974] himself – as a weirdo staying at the hotel with his family, and a young Robert Englund as a yokel who deems himself the self-appointed local stud). Besides, it manages to embarrass a handful of Hollywood veterans (Brand, Mel Ferrer as the dying father of one of the latter’s victims – incidentally, he’d be featured in another genre offering by this title, Umberto Lenzi’s Italian zombie flick, which I had intended to acquire for this challenge but its late-night screening began much later than advertised and my VHS tape ran out[!], Stuart Whitman as the local cop and Carolyn Jones as the wizened Madam of the local bordello). Marilyn Burns, heroine of TEXAS CHAIN SAW, appears as Finley’s wife and is once again degraded by spending most of the running-time strapped to a bed and, obviously, giving her vocal chords another workout whenever possible!

Though, as expected, the film incorporates gratuitous nudity by a variety of girls into its narrative, the best scenes involve Finley and Burns’ little daughter being pursued within an inch of her life by Brand – who then unleashes the crocodile (which doesn’t look that good, or even that much) on her! The abrupt high-pitched finale recalls both Hooper’s own earlier film and Wes Craven’s THE HILLS HAVE EYES (1977) which, coincidentally, I watched the very same day as this one; as far as I’m aware, Michael Reeves’ WITCHFINDER GENERAL (1968) was the first to use this highly effective practice – concluding events on a downbeat tone despite the inherent happy ending…

 

[Radioman970]

DAY THIRTY -- Thursday, October 30, 2008

111. Wolf Creek. (2005) ***this one is new to me***

"Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Wrong, biitch!!!" -radioman970 during this movie

I'd planned to watch this Halloween Day but decided I needed a good jolt of horror I've never seen before on Hallow-eve! Glad I went ahead, even though throughout the thing I was thinking I should have waited since it was everything a great horror film should be. I mean, I'm yelling at the TV screen over and over again hoping to direct the characters in some way and scaring the hell out of my dogs!! I even had to pause to take a breath during the conclusion of some major events in about three sections of the film. There were several parts I didn't want to pause because it was so intense and I didn't want to ruin it. This is one great film for some major discussion but it's hard to keep comments spoiler-free. I feel like the film would have been better without it saying "based on actual events" at the beginning. There is a lot here that doesn't exactly make it believable I'm seeing something that happened this way. If the events were based on an actual happening then you already know someone has to get loose to tell the story or the killer has to get caught to spill his guts about it. But the one who gets loose could not have told the story the movie tells. Details! Details! I know. Great film but....

My theory is the one who gets away is the one who did this and made up the rest. The killer presented is like some superman who shows up at the right places at the right times to take care of his escaped "toys". When they were intro'ing that guy I was thinking "no!! Don't make this guy the killer!! He's too good natured and likable!!" But...after watching those biopics about serial killers it does make sense that the freak in the movie would know how to behave until he got his victim to where he wanted them. I caught on to many of the signs the that guy was bad...like the fact that he drank from a bottle of water and gave those kids drinks from his water cooler. I like how they worked in those little details that make you wonder why those kids didn't catch on...like the fact that this guy just happens to show up at that dead end like he knew they'd be there. Shows you have to use your brain to keep from being victimized.


Anyway, it's clear I had a good time watching this film because I'm definitely someone who constantly comes up with "what would I do?" thoughts with every situation. Unnerving stuff! I won't trust anybody anymore thank you very much!!!! Everybody reading this right now wants to torture and kill me!! I just know it!

Horrorthon success level of film (1-10): 10.

112. Misery. (1990)

She's shaving his CUCKADOODIE face!

Yearly watch...and one I was also going to save for Halloween. But what the hell! I read (and much enjoyed) the book first, saw the movie at the theater not expecting much, but was floored. Bates is 100% perfect for her role. As soon as I saw her I was totally impressed, immersed and ironically became her "#1 Fan"!!! She earned an Oscar for this role. I love it when she's telling the "Chapter Plays" story. OMG! Caan doesn't look enough like Stephen King (who I pictured as the "Misery author" as I was reading) but Caan didn't take much to get used to because he's quite good. There's some scenes that require quite a bit of acting ability from him and he shines. This film usually doesn't fail me...but guess what? I was still thinking about Wolf Creek when I started this one and was thrown off a little. I couldn't quite give Misery my all this year which shows me I should have watched it first. Eventually I got there but not the perfect 10 viewing Im used to. Makes me want to watch it again soon.

Horrorthon success level of film: 8.

113. Last Man on Earth. (1964)

Hang nail!!! Aaaarrrgghh!!!

I'll admit I was half watching this while caring for my dog's wound. It's one of those films I can do that with since I've seen it (and loved it) so many times. Price gives a very sensitive performance as the "man" from the title. About the 45 minute mark I gave it full attention and felt like I wanted to restart it...but time was too short. It hits a lot of cords for me personally...just the whole idea of being that last normal person on the earth is strangely...erm, appealing? Maybe not the word....but kind of comforting since you wouldn't have to stay in the rat race. You'd just need to survive. Maybe this is the film to test to see if you're a loser. hahaha!! Yeah! bring on the appocalyse! I'm ready I'm ready! hahahaha! I've always been a fan of Heston's version, but the recent Smith version was also great fun to watch. The cgi in that one didn't bother me too much. I plan to buy that BluRay when I get a player. I also need to upgrade my version of this old Price version. I have Hestons recorded at EP on a VHS. I'm happy with that.

Horrorthon success level of film: 8.

 

[Radioman970]

Forgot to mention a few things:

1. I was very happy with the characters in Wolf Creek. I know their decisions aren't always the best but at least they came off like real people. Unlike so many horror characters from this side of the pond. It was refreshing. The guy in the group had that slight yellow streak (backed down during that fuel stop). Actually, I would have laughed that off and leave. But age does that to you. Still, I felt that was very realistic. If that film had been made over here there would have been a fight!!

2. Started watching Nightmare from the Hammer Horrors movie set. It started skipping so much on my somewhat new DVD player so I gave up and watched Last Man on Earth instead. That's pathetic! Does anyone know if they have done a replacement deal on those? I can only watch them at my PC (my old PC). Universal sucks sometimes.

 

[Radioman970]

Neat! I had no idea. Just located that scene on youtube. I'll have to watch it later since I'm at work.

YouTube - Deranged 1974 (Roberts Blossom) uncut scene

 

[Michael Elliott]

That brain scene DERANGED was not a part of the original movie. It was cut out because the director didn't like how it looked. The "outtake" showed up in a documentary on the video release and then people started putting it back into the film.

 

[Pete Battista]

Halloween (2007) :star::star::star::star:
Rob Zombie ('The Devil's Rejects') 'reinvents the ultimate slasher classic,' unleashing Michael Myers for a bloody rollercoaster of a rampage like fans have never seen. Including a retelling of the original story that unfolds at a breakneck pace, as well as a chilling new introduction that finally reveals the secrets behind Myers' disturbing childhood, 'Halloween' breathes new life into one of film history's most terrifying tales. "It will leave you speechless" ('Bloody-Disgusting').

My Thoughts:
I been watching all the different sites I post to through-out this month... and I noticed that this movie gets very little (if any) love. It seems that most people I have talked to hate this movie. This is something I just don't understand. Maybe it is because they are comparing it to the original... I don't know. But that is something I don't do. I look at each movie on it's own merits alone.

I personally really enjoyed every minute of this movie. It felt like a prequel and a remake all rolled into one... and I personally think they did a great job with it. I found it really interesting how they portrayed his childhood... and thought they did well with the remake half as well. I know I am in the minority here... but that is ok... I am used to that when it comes to the movies I watch! Anyway... I am definitely glad I watched it today to round off my month long marathon.

My Watched Listhttp://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/3439905-post19.html
Count: 100 Movies, 45 TV Show Eps. & 2 Other

 

[TravisR]

61. The Funhouse

Outside of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, this is my favorite Tobe Hooper movie. I love the widescreen cinematography and the classic horror movie references.

On to my last movie of the challenge...

My list (new titles in bold)
01. Cat People (1942)
02. Curse Of The Cat People
03. The Midnight Meat Train
04. The Leopard Man
05. I Walked With A Zombie
06. The Body Snatcher
07. 976-EVIL
08. The Howling
09. Waxwork
10. Waxwork II
11. 976-EVIL II
12. House Of 1,000 Corpses
13. The Devil's Rejects
14. Pet Sematary
15. 2001 Maniacs
16. Friday The 13th
17. Friday The 13th Part 2
18. Friday The 13th Part III
19. Friday The 13th- The Final Chapter
20. Friday The 13th- A New Beginning
21. Friday The 13th Part VI: Jason Lives
22. Friday The 13th Part VII: The New Blood
23. Friday The 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan
24. Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday (unrated)
25. Jason X
26. Freddy Vs. Jason
27. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
28. Psycho (1960)
29. Psycho II
30. Psycho III
31. Psycho IV: The Beginning
32. He Knows You're Alone
33. Eyes Of A Stranger
34. Terror Train
35. Prom Night (1980)
36. The Fog (1979)
37. Road Games
38. Someone's Watching Me!
39. Maniac (1980)
40. Saw (unrated)
41. Saw II (extended)
42. Saw III (director's cut)
43. Saw IV (unrated)
44. Saw V
45. Halloween (1978)
46. Halloween II
47. Halloween III: Season Of The Witch
48. Halloween 4: The Return Of Michael Myers
49. Halloween 5
50. Halloween: The Curse Of Michael Myers
51. Halloween H20
52. Halloween Resurrection
53. Halloween (2007) (director's cut)
54. The Strangers (extended cut)
55. The Seventh Victim
56. Scream
57. Scream 2
58. Scream 3
59. The Car
60. Christine
61. The Funhouse

 

[PatW]

10/30 65 Dracula (1958) :star: :star: :star: :star: 1/2

My favourite of the Hammer horrors and my favourite Dracula movie. Both Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing were great as Dracula and Van Helsing. Though Lee had very little screen time he makes the most of every minute. The movie looked great too which added to the enjoyment value. I'll be adding this one to my collection.

10/31 66 Jeepers Creepers (2001) :star:

Though it started out promising, it just ended up being about dumb kids being incredibly stupid in a dumb movie.

 

[Brian Kissinger]

Evil Dead (1981)
Evil Dead 2 (1987)
Army of Darkness (1992)
Sam Raimi

I don't really have anything new to add, these are just some of my favorite films. I love how the theme changes from each film from horror, to comedy, to adventure.

Horrorific



Darkness (2002)
Jaume Balagueró

I needed to get one more film in to get to 31, and picked this one off the shelf. A second viewing helped it, but it still really isn't anything too special. An enjoyable tale of a haunted house. Loses points for having super hot Anna Paquin and super hot Lena Olin and no nakedness.

Ghost kids aren't scary anymore....let's move on


Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead (2006)
Lloyd Kaufman

Anyone familiar with Troma will know just what to expect here:Gore, boobs, politically incorrect humor; and I'm glad to report Poultrygeist delivers the goods. My pal Stevie brought this over to share, and a group viewing definitely helps. I'm sure he'll go into more detail, but certainly worth a look for Troma fans.

Chicken zombies....what more do you need to know?





1.Lost Boys:The Tribe At least I saw boobs
2. Captivity There's 2 hours I'll never get back
3. Undead or Alive Crap on a stick
4. Wrestlemaniac Spatterific
5. Bikini Bloodbath At least I saw boobs
6. Jaws Horrific
7. Jaws 2 Why do I keep doing this to myself
8. Jaws 3 Why yes, I do like cheese with my wine
9. Satan's Storybook crapcake...with whipped topping
10. Idle Hands Watch Evil Dead 2 instead
11. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Jessica Biel all dirty, grimy, bloody

12. Stupid Teenagers Must Die just like milk the day after it expires...you chance it, but you also know better
13. Quarantine Taking a bite of what you think is a piece of tasty banana cream pie, but really it is lemon
14. Session 9 Jif peanut butter can be scary
15. Feast super-horny-baby monsters.....yep, I'm in
16. Feast II: Sloppy Seconds Sadly, midgets+trashcan+dynamite doesn't always equal awesome
17. Pumpkinhead Splatterific
18. Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings Crap on a stick
19. Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes boobs would have added some much needed flavor
20. Pumpkinhead: Blood Feud bear traps and heads don't mix well
21. Saw
22. Saw II
23. Saw III
24. Saw IV All in all, enjoyable time-wasters
25. White Noise the dead are some tricky bastards
26. Event Horizon There sure are a lot of maggots in Hell. I guess insects do have souls.
27. Evil Dead
28. Evil Dead 2
29. Army of Darkness Horrific
30. Darkness Ghost kids aren't scary anymore....let's move on
31. Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead Chicken zombies....what more do you need to know?

 

[RickER]

I might get one more in tonight. But at least i watched over 13!

The Decent:star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

The best horror movie i have seen in the last 4 or 5 years. Great movie, great cast, fantastic sets...and best of all, its scary as hell!

Now if only Marshall did as well with Doomsday!?

 

[Michael Elliott]

I'm not sure if I'll get any more on tonight or not but I'll go through and post my total later. Got behind on that.



Mr. Sardonicus (1961) :star::star: William Castle

Guy Rolfe plays the title character, a man whose face has frozen after digging up his father and seeing his decaying skull. Years past and Sardonicus asks his wife's former lover (Ronald Lewis), a doctor, to come to his castle in hopes of their being some sort of cure. This is a strange film in Castle filmmography considering the director is best known for his gimmick films and while this one does feature a small trick for the most part it's very serious with a mix of Hammer and Eyes Without a Face. The film is somewhat effective but in the end things are a tad bit too dull for it to work perfectly. I think the biggest problem with the film is the Gothic feel that Castle tries to bring to the film. He directing pace is very slow and I think this pacing works for most European films but not in an American one like this. I thought Castle handled the material pretty well but just not good enough to make the film work. Lewis is very good in his role and I enjoyed his character more as the film went on. I wasn't too thrilled with Rolfe and one can't help but wish someone like Vincent Price had gotten the role but he was with Corman and AIP at the time. Oskar Homolka is also very good as the deformed butler. The gimmick this time out features an intro by Castle as well as another appearance later in the film where he lets the viewer vote on the fate of Sardonicus even though only one ending was filmed.

Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (1949) :star::star:1/2 Charles Barton

A man at a hotel gets Costello fired from his job so Costello threatens him, which doesn't sit well later when that man turns up dead. Even though there are many strange characters at the hotel, including a swami (Boris Karloff), all the blame gets thrown towards the little fat guy. Apparently this film was intended to be a Bob Hope comedy but after the success of Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein the studio wanted another "meet" movie. This film is certainly far from a classic and it isn't even one of the duos best films but it's not too bad if you want some light entertainment. For every joke that works there's one that doesn't, which makes the film rather hit and miss all the way through. There are some very funny sequences including one where Costello has to play cards with a dead guy and another sequence where Bud and Lou must try to hide a body but things keep getting in their way. Other scenes, like the one where Karloff tries to get Costello to kill himself, doesn't work as well as it should. All of this leads to a big chase at the end, which is pretty well handled. Both Abbott and Costello are in top-form with Costello once again stealing the film. Karloff on the other hand comes off rather stale and actually doesn't add too much to the film, although he can't take all the blame since his character is poorly written. Lenore Aubert is also on hand but her character is also poorly written.

Tell-Tale Heart, The (1941) :star::star::star:1/2 Jules Daissin

Oscar winner Joseph Schildkraut stars in this adaptation of the Poe story. He plays the young man who murders an abusive old man but soon begins to hear his heart beating. This is my favorite story from Poe so I try and watch each version of it that I can and this here is certainly one of the best that I've seen. This was directed by Jules Daissin, who would later make Brute Force and Riffifi, so you know there's talent involved here. He does a very good job with the material and that's especially true when you watch the breakdown scene and how it's put together and edited. As the breakdown and heart beats keep pounding the director really builds up the tension. Schildkraut also does a fine job with the role as he too is responsible for building the tension up. He doesn't have too much dialogue but he doesn't need any as he really sells the character with just his looks.

Faces of Death (1978) :star::star: John Alan Schwartz

I'm sure everyone knows what this title is and what you're going to see inside it. The movie has been a lightening storm of controversy since it was first released and the debate on good taste continues thirty-years later. I'm sure there are many who would call this nothing more than cheap trash and they'd certainly be right but this is also one of the most important movies ever made. Did I say important? You bet I did because to really enjoy this film or even get it you have to really flash back to when you were a kid and heard the older kids talking about the film. You have to remember sneaking around the video store to just look at the cover before your parents caught you. You have to remember when you were finally able to talk to video store clerk into letting you rent it. You have to remember going home and calling all of your friends over because you got your hands on that movie all the older kids were talking about. If losing your virginity made you "grow up" then watching this trashy movie put you into another category. There's no doubt this is a terrible, fake documentary but that's part of the fun. Thinking back to when you thought what you were watching was real but now as an adult you know most of everything is fake and this is especially true since special effects artists are now giving interviews about their work. So is the film trash? Of course it is but this film will always live in the hearts of many kids who grew up trying to see it for themselves.