THREAD OF HORRORS (1 Viewer)

[Joe Karlosi]

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (Director's Cut) (1972) :star::star::star:

I've finally bought a Blu-ray player in order to get hold of the new PLANET OF THE APES set which contains this never-before-seen original cut of the movie. I've been an Apes fan for nearly 40 years and know all 5 films like the back of my hand, and I never thought I'd see the day where I'd see the original CONQUEST released. Of course, I have no doubts that Fox will issue this in SD at some point as is trying to get some fans like me into the Blu game, but I was going to go in at some point soon anyway.

Roddy McDowall gives a great performance as the angry chimpanzee child of Zira and Cornelius, an intelligent offspring in a world where primitive apes are being mistreated and trained as servants. Caesar leads a revolt which turns the table on their human masters.

Okay, the new footage here is absolutely bloody and disturbing. There is one scene in particular that is so upsetting that it's got to be seen to be believed. Here is a hidden spoiler if you want to know:

Villainous Governor Breck (Don Murray) in one sequence points a loaded gun at a gorilla and, at point blank rage, blows the ape's face to a bloody pulp

There are many violent and bloody additions to a cut that was deemed too intense, as parents reportedly took their kids out of the theater when director J. Lee Thompson's version was screened at an Arizona theater before release. The original ending is here too, which is bleak, gory, and uncompromising, and very unlike the theatrical faux edition we've all seen for the past 36 years, where Roddy McDowall came in to do some post-looping, with dialogue promising to treat Man with more compassion and understanding.

After seeing this version it really stayed with me in an uncomfortable way, and it's easy to see why the thing was revamped a bit for official release in 1972. This version would have earned them an "R".

 

[PatW]

11/7 Planet of the Apes (1968) :star: :star: :star: :star: 1/2

Where Joe started with Conquest, I decided to start with the first and my personal favourite of the series. For anyone who has blu-ray this is a must own collection. I've seen Planet of the Apes, oh numerous times, and I never get tired of watching it. I saw this at the show as a kid when it first came out and it was quite an experience. There is so much about this movie that I love from the apes upside down civilization as Taylor would put it, to the stunning conclusion. I know alot of people have become overly familiar with the twist or surprise ending. I'm sure some of the younger people seeing this for the first time might have already had the answer but back in the 60's, it was a complete shock and such an effective ending to this marvelous movie. This movie played right in with the fear of nuclear buildup and destruction and had alot of interesting things to say about the human race as a whole. But besides that it was a wonderfully entertaining movie and one I'm glad to own on bluray.

 

[Justin_S]

I just finished watching Maurice Devereaux's End of the Line, and wow. Taking place in a subway, the story involves several members of a large religous cult who simultaneously receive notice via pagers that it's Judgment Day. This gives them the go ahead to bring out their special daggers and "save" all the nonbelievers, if you get my drift. I wish I'd had this one in time to watch for Halloween. The director's previous film was a most cheesy affair. This, on the other hand, is quite serious. It's also highly imaginative and often times unnerving, especially if you find freaky cults to be, well, freaky. There's some spotty acting here and there, but the film rises above it. There's some effective music too... I loved the little ditty over the end credits. Bottom line? This low budget treat deserves to be seen.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Every year one of my friends and I have a "Go APE" marathon, watching all 5 films in one single day. We're planning to do this later this month. Since I've gone Blu-ray now, this will be an added bonus for the festivities. And we'll re-watch CONQUEST as part of the festival.

I know this may sound odd, but my friend and I look forward to the original PLANET the least of all the movies, and it's always a ritual we feel we have to go through in order to get to later sequels. Not that POTA it isn't a great film; just that it's overplayed the most to us, I suppose.

 

[Rolando]

does the conquest BD have the original TC as well?

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Yes, both versions are on the disc.

 

[PatW]

Eragon (2006) :star: :star:

Pales in comparison to other fantasy movies out there. Jeremy Irons tries but you know you're in trouble when the only good actor in the film is the dragon.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

The Creeping Terror (1964) BOMB

Okay, easily one of the WORST movies I've ever seen. The monster here is like some really huge rug or carpet that verrrrryyy sloowwwllyyy meanders about and "swallows" people head-first, sucking them through right down to their legs and feet. The film is horribly lit, and everything about it from the "acting" to the "direction" is pathetic. It's one of those cheap productions where narration is substituted for actual dialogue. I was almost going to give this one star just because some of the dialogue is unintentionally hilarious, but the overall effect for me was one of complete boredom so I didn't bother.

 

[Ruz-El]

I had no idea about the Blu-ray Conquest of The PLanet of the Apes. I might have to check it out one day. I'm not a huge fan of the series. I loved the first movie, but found the sequels a chore to get through.

I'm late updating, here's a weekly round up of my horror watching!

[url=https://static.hometheaterforum.com/imgrepo/6/66/htf_imgcache_36276.jpeg] [/url] Die Schlangengrube und das Pendel (Blood of the Virgins)(The Blood Demon)(Torture Chamber)


Odd mash-up of a Dracula picture with a "Pit & the Pendulum" adaptation. It all ads up to not much, with Christopher Lee not getting much to do again....

[url=https://static.hometheaterforum.com/imgrepo/8/83/htf_imgcache_36278.jpeg] [/url] The Devil Rides Out


Finally a Christopher Lee movie where he sticks around for the running time instead of popping in at the beginning and end! This was a dead spooky one too, with Lee stumbling upon a Satanic cult....

[url=https://static.hometheaterforum.com/imgrepo/c/ca/htf_imgcache_36280.jpeg] [/url] The Lodger


Silent Hitchcock is still pretty damned fine Hitchcock! Lot's of atmosphere and suspense in this one, and Hitch is very stylish with the camera.

I also watched the BBC series "DEAD SET". If your a zombie fan this is a must see! Packed with gore, dead suspenseful in parts and clever enough to keep you entertained for the near 3 hour run time. It's the Brit fast running zombies so some purists might have an issue, but on the whole, my fave Zombie picture of the past couple years.

 

[Andy Sheets]

I watched this with my wife a couple of months ago and it was her first time ever seeing it. The ending totally threw her for a loop. It's always cool seeing how someone reacts to a classic - as an animal rights advocate, I think the film affected her in ways that most audiences probably don't pick up on because of the focus on the nuclear destruction.

 

[PatW]

11/10 Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

Another movie that I felt compelled to re-buy on blu-ray. Though not the best by far, this is probably my favourite all-time movie. Re-watching it the other day certainly brought back alot of fond memories since I went into labour the night I saw this way back when, and had to leave the showing early.

There are many remarkable moments in this movie but my favourite has to be the appearance of the mothership. That was quite an awesome sight. Most of the acting is quite good except for Teri Garr whose character I really couldn't connect with. I like the friendly alien angle, but all the good feelings I had concerning aliens was blown away a couple of years later, when I saw Alien.


11/11 Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (2007) :star: :star: :star: :star:

This one belongs in my granddaughter's small collection of movies which she brought over for me to watch. This is quite a bright, colourful movie with amazing visuals that probably would appeal more to children but I enjoyed it just as much as my grandkids. This is G rated, so there is nothing objectable at all in this movie which is great for young kids. Of all of the non-disney, non-animated movies out there, this is my favourite.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Pieces (1983) :star::star::star:

This is a good slasher film which delivers, which is why I boosted this rating up to three stars. When you're in the mood for a gory '80s slice-and-dice flick, this doesn't disappoint. It's about a boy who hacks his mother to death and 40 years later is still at it. Christopher George stumbles his way through it and continually holds onto an un-lit cigar, for God only knows what reason. His wife Linda Day is hilarious in one scene where she angrily screams "Bastard!!!" over and over. The killings in the film are among the best gross-out effects you can get in such a movie, if you're into it.

 

[Radioman970]

I've been wanting to see this. Is it better than the Dungeons & Dragons flicks at least?

 

[PatW]

Much better.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Devil Times Five (1974) :star:

A bus from a psychiatric hospital crashes in the midst of a snowbound community and five children survive and make their way to a house in the middle of nowhere. Inside the house are a bunch of pretty annoying adults, and the children begin to kill them. While this sounds like a potentially disturbing idea, these kids never came across to me as being particularly "crazy" (when they're not engaging in their murderous acts, that is), and that hurt it a lot. Most of the running time is spent with the irritating grownups, which is pretty boring. It's got a couple of interesting kill scenes (the bathtub being the highlight) to keep it from being a total BOMB.

Deranged (1974) :star::star:1/2

A film inspired by Ed Gein, which is kind of a twisted black comedy about an old and sleazy mama's boy who loses his marbles when mom dies. He keeps her corpse around and continues to talk with her, and then goes around trying to bed and murder a variety of women. Its tongue in cheek style actually works bizarrely in its favor, and it's demented and sick enough to delight when you're in a perverse mood.

 

[PatW]

My computer crashed and burned Thursday. I got it back Saturday but they had to re-format it and I lost everthing. I had used DVD Profiler to keep track of my library and that's gone.
To top it off, my tv broke down Friday night and I think it will be a week before the part comes in. I wanted to watch more of the "Apes" movies plus I was given three new blu-rays as a gift. Right now, I'm not a happy camper.

 

[Ruz-El]

Sorry to hear that Pat, sucks how things seem to crap out like that all at once. Half way through Oct horror challenge my DVD players in both my HT and Laptop died within 40 minutes of each other.

 

[Brian Kissinger]

Zombie Strippers (2008)
Jay Lee

This film was languishing down at the bottom of my "to-do list" until my sister gave me a call and said (and I quote) "This is the greatest thing I've seen in forever." Now, I hold this particular sister's opinion on movies in pretty high regard so I had to bump it to the top. Sadly, I found myself more in the area of my brother's opinion (I didn't even know he had opinions on movies, I thought he was all about hair and Halo) which was the film was okay.

I admit I did have a good time with it (lots of gore, lots of boobs, and some funnies) but it was far from the "greatest thing in forever." I get the feeling that this would be a good "group-viewing" film.


Over-sexed Rugsuckers from Mars (1989)
Michael Paul Girard


How can you pass on a title like that?

In this basically one-joke film, aliens return to Earth to see how their "human experiment" is going. When they see what a mess us humans have of Earth, they decide to mate a human with a vacuum cleaner....so we can clean up after ourselves better.

Cue the Hoover on a rape-rampage. That's right, this has to be the first time I had the pleasure/discomfort to view a vacuum cleaner forcefully mate with a hot-chick. But our poor vacuum is really gay and in love with a homeless guy. You know it can't end good.

While this movie is far from good, I have to admit I had pretty good time with it. Recommended for lovers of ridiculous B movie crap.

 

[Radioman970]

God, I know how that sucks. About 3 years ago my PC crashed a day before I was to go on vacation (and stay home doing stuff on it). I had allowed my power supply to get full of dust and it died, taking the mobo with it.

 

[ChristopherG]

Hey Radioman970,

Sorry to hear that your beloved Goldie passed on. I know you said she was pretty ill and had lived past the expectation - but, it is still real hard losing your 4 legged best friends - my sympathies.

Chris