October 2015 Horror Movie a Day

[SJP]

Day 8: Creature from the Black Lagoon

The original classic.  While it may not have been the first monster movie, it is certainly one of the better written ones, and while it is clearly a guy in a rubber suit, fish look a lot like rubber at times anyway, so it works out well.

A group of scientists, having discovered a strange fossil, go to the Amazon where it was found to try and recover the rest of it.  Unfortunately for them, one of the creatures is still alive, and doesn't much care for their intrusion into its home.

The wife and I watched this one, and whereas we had just watched one of the Harry Potter 3D conversions, watching this made me realize how good 3D can actually be, when it's filmed that way.  Plenty of eye-popping moments on it, and the restoration on the Blu-ray looks fantastic.  Well worth watching.  It has its '50s' moments, and while it certainly isn't scary, it is still great fun.

[Edward J Grug III]

Ghostbusters - it's still Ghostbusters, guys!

[Johnny Unusual]

Triangle - We have seen it before once, but back when it came out (2009). I enjoy this movie a whole lot. Great low budget movie with a clever execution. When it hits its stride 40 something minutes in, it really pays off.

That's the time loop one, right?  I remember seeing the trailer for it and thought it looked really cool.

Less cool Friday the 13th 3D and Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter.

Both are when the films begin to get too broad for their own good.  I mean, the first too aren't particularly clever or subtle, but there's more stagey humour that feels a little more forced than the first installments.  Jason definitely goes into Terminator mode her despite not being undead yet (that's for part 6 and beyond).  The formula is also a little dull by this point: they get picked off one by one, unaware of the real danger until the last person (or in the case of 4, persons) have to kill the killer.  But the formula doesn't really have enough curveballs.  What's more, the characters get progressively less likable.  It's not like the first films have great wells of depth to the characters, but here it assumes you don't bother to make you care if they live or die.  The closest argument against that is Shelley from number 3, which is interesting.  He's a character who by his nature is annoying, but they also work hard to give him a few small victories and awareness of how others see him.  If the cast was full of characters like this, I might be pulling for them to escape Jason a bit more.

Well, I wasn't planning to watch the whole series, but I think I may as well.  Next is A New Beginning, which is the only whodunnit in the series (the first could have been, but really wasn't).  Then I'll get to 6, where things start to get supernatural in earnest.  But not in Ernest.  That's Ernest Scared Stupid.

[SJP]

  Then I'll get to 6, where things start to get supernatural in earnest.  But not in Ernest.  That's Ernest Scared Stupid.

The only true way to destroy Jason for good is Hungarian Miak.

[Darth Geek]

Triangle - We have seen it before once, but back when it came out (2009). I enjoy this movie a whole lot. Great low budget movie with a clever execution. When it hits its stride 40 something minutes in, it really pays off.

That's the time loop one, right?  I remember seeing the trailer for it and thought it looked really cool.

Less cool Friday the 13th 3D and Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter.

Both are when the films begin to get too broad for their own good.  I mean, the first too aren't particularly clever or subtle, but there's more stagey humour that feels a little more forced than the first installments.  Jason definitely goes into Terminator mode her despite not being undead yet (that's for part 6 and beyond).  The formula is also a little dull by this point: they get picked off one by one, unaware of the real danger until the last person (or in the case of 4, persons) have to kill the killer.  But the formula doesn't really have enough curveballs.  What's more, the characters get progressively less likable.  It's not like the first films have great wells of depth to the characters, but here it assumes you don't bother to make you care if they live or die.  The closest argument against that is Shelley from number 3, which is interesting.  He's a character who by his nature is annoying, but they also work hard to give him a few small victories and awareness of how others see him.  If the cast was full of characters like this, I might be pulling for them to escape Jason a bit more.

Well, I wasn't planning to watch the whole series, but I think I may as well.  Next is A New Beginning, which is the only whodunnit in the series (the first could have been, but really wasn't).  Then I'll get to 6, where things start to get supernatural in earnest.  But not in Ernest.  That's Ernest Scared Stupid.

Are you going to watch the movies with Hor-Riff-ic Productions riffs too?

[Relaxing Dragon]

Triangle - We have seen it before once, but back when it came out (2009). I enjoy this movie a whole lot. Great low budget movie with a clever execution. When it hits its stride 40 something minutes in, it really pays off.

Excellent little movie. It does take a while to find its footing (some rather awkward moments in the first few scenes), but given the nature of the story, it at least makes a little sense. I especially like how it throws you for enough loops that you think you have a handle on where it's going next, and then it chucks another curveball (Timecrimes was similar in that respect).

[Edward J Grug III]

Johnny, you have the right movie, but I think watching it without knowing that the first time makes the movie a lot more fun. (Still really held up on the second viewing though)

(Best autocorrect ever - changed Johnny to johnnycake.)

[SJP]

Day 9: The Wolf Man

Well, I guess I'm on a classics kick.  Either that, or I really just didn't want to put my Universal Monsters Box Set away.  Anywho, for anyone who doesn't know, Lon Chaney comes back home, kills Bela Lugosi, and starts being a werewolf all of a sudden.  It ends a lot more quickly than it sounds.

It's a short film, and I now realize how creepy the romance between Lawrence Talbot and Gwen starts (he flat tells her he was creeping on her with a telescope and won't shut up about it), but what gets me on every re-watching is Claude Rains' performance.  In an era when most people talk really fast and loudly, like they are in a stage play, his John Talbot is subtle, quiet-spoken, and very sympathetic, despite being a side character and supposedly a harsh and demanding man.  I haven't seen The Invisible Man, but between this and the Phantom of the Opera remake, he really seemed like an actor ahead of his time.  He conveys more in a handful of facial expressions than Chaney does in the entire movie.  Not to be harsh on Chaney, either, but I love how his initial reaction to suddenly developing wolf feet is less abject horror than, "Dammit!  And I just shaved this morning, too!"

Still fun, but not as much fun as Black Lagoon, if I compared them head to head.

[JimJ]

Day 9: Zombeavers (2014) 1.5/5

Look, I wasn't expecting a movie called Zombeavers to be a cinematic classic, but I hoped it would be entertaining and fun,  It's not.  None of the humor really worked for me and the characters were fucking insufferable.  This movie doesn't even hit 80 minutes but it still felt too long.  I will say that the two truckers in the beginning and end of the movie were amusing.  The final gag with them got at least a smile out of me.  There's also a post credits scene that teases a sequel, as it seems to imply that a group of bees have been infected with the zombie virus.  Get it?  Zom-bees! 

[Compound]

Terrorvision (1986)

After being disposed of, an alien creature is absorbed by a family's satellite dish and runs amok, manifesting though television sets.

I don't think I've watched this movie before, but I kept having deja vu moments while watching it, so I must have seen it at some point in the past.  Anyway, a family of horrible 80s cliches gets a new satellite dish. But it absorbs an alien creature which then begins to feed on the family. Sadly, none of these characters is empathetic and my reaction to their deaths tended to be "They're dead? Good." That doesn't a good movie make.  Seriously, Rod from "Birdemic" is more likable than these folks.

On the plus side, I recognized about half the cast in this. The army obsessed young son? Tommy Westphal. (Which I guess makes it part of the Westphal universe?) The Cyndi Lauper-ish sister? The French girl from Better Off Dead. Aerobic Mom? The Principal from Rock and Roll High School. Swinging Dad? Jay Sherman's dad too. The head-banging boyfriend? Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite. It's a talented cast, with a very bad movie. On the plus side, this is the first TPK film of this October, so woot. No. Skip this unfunny comedy.

[Compound]

Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers (1956)*

After shooting down a number of satellites, a group of aliens threaten Earth. Only Science! can save the day!

Okay, I decided to watch this after seeing clips of it (and Robot Monster) in Terrorvision. It's a much better film. Aliens tell us to stop launching satellites. We don't get the message in time and start shooting when they land to talk to us. They blow up the rocket base and "borrow" the general running the place. The head scientist finally manages to decipher their message and recontacts them. Boarding their saucer, the scientist, his wife, his army officer bodyguard, a cop who'd been chasing them, a newsboy, the Pope, and 2 of the Ronettes are given a "Nice Planet. Think we'll take it" ultimatum from the aliens, who demand that the world's leaders meet in Washington in "Two moon cycles" to discuss a surrender. This causes more shooting at the aliens. They blow up a destroyer in response. The scientist returns back to his lab, helps build a sonic device to fight the aliens and then engages them in combat over Washington DC, managing to damage practically every landmark in the city.  Earth is saved!

Okay, this is quite watchable and pretty good, aside from the tendency from the Army of shooting everything. "Things have walked out of the saucer! We better shoot them! Ah! A bee! Shoot it! We're out of coffee! Shoot the coffee pot!" They may have jumped the gun in a few of the situations in the movie. Still, decent enough story. The science mostly holds up, even 60 years later and Ray Harryhausen FX. It's a pretty decent little film.

[Edward J Grug III]

Yesterday we watched:

The Adventures of Ichabod And Mr Toad (Just the Ichabod Crane half) - It's a middle-tier Disney feature, but this is the better half of it. The animation and backgrounds are beautiful (Mary Blair did a lot of the backgrounds, and she was amazing). Has a very dark ending.

The Lonesome Ghosts - The classic Disney short where Mickey, Donald and Goofy are ghostbusters. It's a great short, lots of excellent gags. The version included on the AoI&MT is not a nicely restored one like on the Disney Treasuries DVD, but I was too lazy to switch the DVDs.

Sleepy Hollow - The last great Tim Burton movie*. Packed full of great "that guys," it has an excellent cast, including Johnny Depp before he became a parody of himself.

After watching both versions of Sleepy Hollow, I realized I had never read the story and have no idea if any of the adaptations are accurate, so I downloaded it. I was too tired to read very far, but what I read seemed very like the Disney version, down to a lot of the text lifted verbatim.

[JimJ]

Day 10: The Sacrament (2013) 4/5

I've been meaning to get around to this for a while since I've liked the other stuff I've seen from Ti West.  I think this might be my favorite of his work (though I'm due for a rewatch of House of the Devil).  The first half is a great build and the second half is a wonderfully disturbing payoff.  My only complaint is that it was a little disappointing that they went for a pretty much straight copy of the Jonestown incident, instead of doing something more original with the idea.  Which leads me to think this movie must take place in a universe in which Jonestown never happened, because no one, including the cards at the end of the "documentary", makes mention of the fact that it's basically the same thing that happened at Jonestown.  Anyway, those are mild complaints, I really enjoyed this one.  Gene Jones gives a fantastic performance as the Jim Jones figure.  I totally bought that a bunch of desperate people would throw away their possessions and family to follow this guy into the jungle. 

[Edward J Grug III]

Day 10: The Sacrament (2013) 4/5

I've been meaning to get around to this for a while since I've liked the other stuff I've seen from Ti West.  I think this might be my favorite of his work (though I'm due for a rewatch of House of the Devil).  The first half is a great build and the second half is a wonderfully disturbing payoff.  My only complaint is that it was a little disappointing that they went for a pretty much straight copy of the Jonestown incident, instead of doing something more original with the idea.  Which leads me to think this movie must take place in a universe in which Jonestown never happened, because no one, including the cards at the end of the "documentary", makes mention of the fact that it's basically the same thing that happened at Jonestown.  Anyway, those are mild complaints, I really enjoyed this one.  Gene Jones gives a fantastic performance as the Jim Jones figure.  I totally bought that a bunch of desperate people would throw away their possessions and family to follow this guy into the jungle.

Yeah, I liked it a lot too - It's my second favourite after House of the Devil.

[Johnny Unusual]

Watched Friday the 13th: A New Beginning.  One of the more forgettable entries that has gotten even broader in trying to create characters you are indifferent to the deaths of, same that some of them finally get their goddamned mouths shut.

And, no, I haven't seen the rifftrax for it.

Taking a break from Friday the 13th with the treat: Gremlins 2: The New Batch.  This movie holds up better than I remember (and I remember liking it a lot).  There's some stuff that feels a bit stale but nothing that falls completely flat in a way that harms the film, which zips along.  I appreciate that even though Dante is more invested in the monsters than the human characters, he does spend enough time in the more grounded world so that it means more when things go comepletely off the wall.  The reality of the movie is elastic in a way that not a lot of movies can pull off.  On paper, it shouldn't work when things get more slapsticky (heck, a bat-gremlins flies through the wall and makes a perfect Bat-Symbol) and yet it completely works.  John Glover is great as the Ted Turner/Donald Trump hybrid.  But what really surprised me was how good the gremlins and mogwai look.  Those puppets look fantastic with some fantastic expressions and look much better than the first.