Welcome to Metacouncil first 31 days of horror thread !
- A celebration of all things spoopy. No gate-keeping, everyone is invited to shit their pants in their own way. Isn't it wonderful ? -
What is it ?
A recent Internet phenomenon that sees horror fans celebrate the month of October by watching an horror movie each day.
31 days ?!
No hard rule, the aim is to enjoy it first and foremost, you do the rule. If it's one movie a week, that's cool. If you want to make it more than 31 days, that's cool too.
Only movies ?
No no, not at all. Once again, this is a celebration, so go nuts ! Movies, TV Shows, Books, Comic Books, Manga, Video Games... we are inclusive as fuck.
As promised, I'm going to have a thread with a focus on free and inexpensive horror games. I will have a link to each game and any that I have played already, I'll write short blurb about it. As the month of the High Holiday, I shall of course be diving into new experiences as well. First, I'll...
The Neon Demon
Martyrs
&
The Making of the Frighteners with partner
Resident Evil Vendetta with partner
Inland Empire with partner
Zombieland Double Tap with partner
Doctor Sleep with partner
All of these films will be first time watches for me! I'm going to start with Invasion of the Body Snatchers today, I think.
Started my 31 days of horror movies. First movie this year was Dark Water (2002). This lady truly must hate stairs or something because this is one unreliable elevator with spooky little girls, but she still keeps using it...
The pandemic should make this a lot easier than previous years.
Making a list is the hard part. I'm sure between netflix, shudder, prime, and Disney+, and my own physical movies; my wife and I will be able to scrounge up something.
If you haven't seen any of your list, Killer Klowns is good fun (it's a personal favourite, I keep quoting it), Braindead (I assume it's Peter Jackson's film) is a riot (I hope it's the original cut, not the shorter US version), Inferno (Dario Argento's?) has plenty of sequences that look like lovely paintings (no surprise there; Mario Bava shot part of the film), and I love all things Freddy Krueger.
Have fun!
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As for me, I never select the films I'm going to watch beforehand (except maybe the ones for Halloween night).
It's a bit of a "spur of the moment" thing. Besides the huge pile of stuff I have to watch, I bought like 40 films in the last couple of weeks (with a handful still coming), so I have plenty of stuff to choose from.
As for day one, I'm... still deciding what to watch!
Yeah, I always struggle with day one. I'll let you know what I end up watching later tonight (or tomorrow). I was think about In Fabric, but since I was looking for a shorter film to watch tonight (I was planning to leave the 2h+ films for the weekend), I'll probably watch something else.
Might try to start this, but with all the play off sports going on and gaming, and my laptop (essentially my media player) bricking on me, it might be hard to find some down time. I think I'll start 31 days with MANDY. BIG NIC CAGE FAN, unashamedly. Thanks for the inspiration, Funktion!
That's a good one!
I too watch anything Nicolas Cage is in. I known a lot of people make fun of his direct-to-video work, but like many other 70's or 80's character actors, his presence turns even the biggest turds into something enjoyable.
If you read my posts above, you would notice that it was past 10pm, and I was yet to decide on what to watch.
It has by now become a tradition itself, I always have a hard time with my day one plans.
The original plan was to watch a film on early midnight of October 1st (so, from the night of 30/09 to 01/10; I was planning to watch The Ghoul (1933), with Boris Karloff), and something else at night (during the day, I was thinking about In Fabric, from director Peter Strickland), so I would start with 2 films on day one.
But, at midnight of October 1st I was finishing another film, and I was tired as hell, so I abandoned that idea. And last night, I was watching a football match (soccer for our US friends) that was only decided after a 24+ penalty kickoff, so it was getting late, and I was yet to select and start a film.
Every film I would pick up was 2h+ (which is funny, considering most US horror films would usually last 90 minutes or less), and so for night one, I basically ended up picking up the films I received yesterday, and selected one that was slightly below the 90 minute mark.
And so:
Night #1:
Like I mentioned in the past, I'm not a big fan of modern horror films.
I bought a few recent films because my wife constantly asks me "don't you have anything less old to watch?" ( ) so i bought a few recent-ish films that were cheap, and that were either well received, and had some element that picked my interest.
In this case, Sam Raimi producing made me think the final result would not be a complete waste of time, plus I like Stephen Lang (and Jane Levy).
So yeah, the film was... enjoyable. A decent thriller, mostly well shot, that managed to pull a few good moments of tension.
And at 88 minutes or so, it doesn't overstay its welcome.
It's one of those films were I ended up rooting for the supposed bad guy, since every other character seemed like greedy, annoying little shits.
The deleted scenes I watched afterwards only made me dislike the main characters even more.
Where is Jason, or Michael Myers when you need them?
The Color Out of Space (2019)
Adaptation of the famous short story by HP Lovecraft, by Richard Stanley, starring Nic Cage.
In a land of an already pretty dubious hospitality, full of old trees, mystery and shit, a thing fall from the sky at night and crash on the propriety of a would be farmer's family.
Hilarity ensues.
I can't say I hated the movie, if only because I really love the short story and think it's one of Lovecraft masterpieces. So I guess I loved the parts in the movies directly lifted from the original material. There are several moments of tension and some interesting attempts at portraying the more funky side of cosmic horror. The movie is not big on gore per se, but there definitely are some gruesome imagery.
That being said, while the modernization of the story doesn't do too much harm, I would still say it's a bad call. Several of the added elements are anecdotal at best, like the daughter, or eye rolling, like the Ezra character.
The big issue ? It's a 2 hours movie. But it's not 2 hours of content worth. I can see the need for such run-time and calm scenes to establish the characters as believable, but imho they are the movie biggest flaw. The attempts at 'strange moments' don't work that much, and these characters never really feel like real people.
I can appreciate the effort, the movie has things going for it, but ultimately it's not that good.
Li Kao
I had a similar reaction to the film. It was... OK. I enjoyed it visually (both the nature bits, and some of the "cosmic horror" bits), it had some nice touches, but while I enjoy slower-paced films (as an European, I never understood America's "obsession" with fast cuts/pace, and cutting out all character moments from films and TV shows; for example. I love an Italian TV series called Il commissario Montalbano, whose episodes frequently last around 2 hours; in the US, they would take the story, and fit it in a 40 minute episode), there were moments that went nowhere, and it felt like padding for the sake of padding.
On a side note, the film was shot here in Portugal (in Sintra). At least, it showed a bit of our natural parks.
So, what will you all be watching tonight/this weekend?
I received 7 more releases today (and I have at least 12 titles arriving new week), to add to my ever growing pile of stuff to watch.
Now you know why it takes me ages to decide what to watch.
Ended up watching 28 Days Later. That movie is super atmospheric, it's creepy. I felt the same way playing Hunt: Showdown recently lol. It's so good. I'll watch Mandy today, I think. Are there any other horror-type movies starring Nic Cage?! Thanks! I might watch Alien tonight as well, one of the few blurays I actually have
I have just finished movie #2 and this week end, on the book front, I truly hope to finish The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (1926) by HP Lovecraft, which, while having its moments, is a slog.
Embarrassingly, it's one I haven't watched yet (despite owning it on Blu-Ray).
My wife's not much of an horror fan, and rather liked it, so I need to give it a go (it probably won't be this month, because I have a lot of stuff still boxed, and I don't know where the hell the BD is! )
Since I started off once again with my wife accompanying me, and she dislikes older films, and most non-US films (we really aren't a very good cinema-compatible couple ), I once again went with a recent film, this time a... reboot/remake. Oh how I love them!!!
Ok...
Night #2:
Yet another pointless reboot/remake. But this one has an added aggravation: it's a reboot to a franchise that... is still going.
Yes, the last sequel in the original franchise came out in 2017, the screenwriter behind all entries in the series continues work on a planned mini-series, and future sequels, and someone had the bright idea of creating a parallel reboot franchise. I mean, why?
I was naturally predisposed to hate the film, but allow me to be a bit fair, and say: this one is a lot more tolerable than most recent reboot/remakes I've watched.
It's not particularly good, but it has a few decent things going for it:
-Aubrey Plaza is hot
-Mark Hamill has some fun voicing Chucky (although he's a far cry from Brad Dourif)
-visually, it looks quite decent; I would even call it mostly well shot, considering the budget;
-there's a few references to other Horror films, from clips taken from Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, to Killer Klowns from Outer Space posters, among other nice touches;
-I... surprisingly quite liked the soundtrack. There's some tunes that really fit well with the action. Colour me surprised. As an example:
On the downside, there's plenty of unlikeable characters, lame dialogues with hipster talk (and black characters going "that's so white people" and similar crap), and once again, you end the film asking "why does this exist? why this reboot?".
---
After my wife went to bed, I was thankfully free to watch something a little more classical.
And so, continuing night number 2 (but already October 3rd, so film 1 in the 3rd day of this "marathon"), we reach film number 3 in total:
So yeah, it's 1 am, the weather's crap, what better way to continue my night than to watch a 1933 black and white film, starring Boris Karloff.
Once considered a lost film, this one was made just after his role in the Classic Universal Monsters film The Mummy.
And, his role is basically "I can't believe it's not butter The Mummy". All he is missing are the bandages.
This one is a bit of a weird film, in terms of tone. It starts off in a suspenseful manner, but then gradually introduces some weird comic relief, and ends up with a mixed, uneven tone, making it more of a farce, with lots of greedy, unlikeable characters. Oh, and the best kind of cinematic romance: cousins in love.
The sets are a mixture of decrepit house straight out of a haunted house film, and an Egyptian tomb... in London.
They really wanted to do a The Mummy film.
Anyway, it was an enjoyable way to pass 80 minutes in these late hours, although the film is a very "middle of the road" effort, with an uneven tone.
It's a minor entry in Karloff's filmography, and there's far better options in the genre and time period.
In 18/19 hours, I shall continue on with my 3rd day.
The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)
Directed by André Øvredal and starring Brin Cox and Emile Hirsch
While investigating a house where a killing happened, the dispatched police officers find a corpse buried in the basement. Unable to identify it, they send it to be autopsied by a mortician family. They have the night to find meaning behind what appears to makes no sense.
I'm conflicted on this one.
Let me say right now that this is a good movie. It's competently acted, the premise is intriguing as hell, it's a lean ~90 minutes... the downtimes are few and short, the soundtrack helps during these moments, it's not boring. When you finish the movie, you can say 'well, that was a good time'.
Maybe with a little 'meh' something you can't point to at first.
And the more I think about it, the more critical I am. Here's an excerpt from the movie wikipedia page :
'Dennis Harvey of Variety called it a "taut, yet often slyly funny scarefest", though he said the climax is unfulfilling.'
And yep, they aren't joking with the last part. Is there even a movie here ? How could they miss their shot at making a new classic ? In the first part of the movie they pile up intriguing facts discovered in the body, then in the last part they explain it with the most non surprising way possible. One of my big issue is that the explanation is given and you are literally saying 'well, ok' or 'no shit, Sherlock', it's incredibly vanilla horror movie plot.
So yeah, we once again go back to Borges* famous quote : 'The solution to the mystery is always inferior to the mystery itself'.
Other than that, I don't want to be politically incorrect but I found two minor plot elements to be so very 2016. Like we have nothing new to add to the genre, so let's add some wokeness. Well, ok I guess. For those that watched it I'm referencing the nature of the suffering of a background character and the spin on the nature of the antagonist. But it's minor nitpicking.
What isn't minor is that we have an enjoyable ride that just crumbles on itself when the time for the finishing touch comes.
Still a good movie, but it could have been so much more.
* though I can't find a good source and this is grinding my gears right now
Yesterday, I ended up re-activating Netflix for the first time in a really long time, so my wife could watch some of their shows, and I'll use the month to watch a couple of offerings that are exclusive to the platform.
Before I start, allow me to make a quick side note: if you read my comments, it may seem like I'll end up barely liking any film throughout the month.
Yes, admittedly, I struggle to find most modern films appealing, and that is not exclusive to horror. I like good photography, the look of film stock, practical effects, character actors, a sense of adventure, wonder, and creativity, and physical sets and locations. And I struggle to enjoy films shot digitally that all look the same, with barely any colours, crappy actors that all look and act the same (I feel there's so many that look like Barbie dolls, probably because many go heavy on the exact same cosmetic surgery), recycled/stale ideas/reboots/remakes, and the excessive use of CGI, in place of film sets and pretty much all things physical, sometimes even actors.
But, as long as I don't end up feeling like I wasted my time, I get some enjoyment out of most films.
I love cinema. Not necessarily what passes for cinema nowadays, but I love watching films. So while I may sound negative most of the times (unless it's something I really enjoyed), unless I say so explicitly, I got some enjoyment from watching these films.
Plus, not every film is a masterpiece. I'm not like a lot of people I read online that have two scales: "best ever", and "worse ever".
Some are just... OK. And that's fine. Many great directors did "OK" work most of their careers, until they finally did something truly great a couple of times.
But I digress.
And so...
Night #3:
I won't write another wall of text, since let's face it, no one reads long texts.
But, this one is a good example of a film that is... OK.
It has some good things, especially for a smaller production like this one. Visually, it looks well above average, and it's nicely shot. The actors (especially the two female leads) do a good job with the material (and, the nudity is greatly appreciated ).
On the downside, the "twists" are relatively predictable, and there's a couple of tonal shifts that not always work, especially one nearly the end.
An adaptation of a Stephen King novel.
Once again, it was an... OK film.
Sometimes, what works on paper doesn't necessarily translate well to the screen. In this case, the restricted space where the story takes place, and the nature of the events works better as a novel, than a film, I think.
But, it was enjoyable enough, more so in the first half. Thematically, funnily enough it ends up having some thematic connections with the film I had just finished watching (The Perfection), and like the former it too delves a bit too much on "drama" for my tastes, but overall, it was... OK.
To finish up my night, I wanted to watch something a little... older.
And, while checking Netflix (who has a very poor selection of older films in my country), I noticed they have Halloween 4 in their catalogue (funnily enough, they have no other title in the series). But, since 4 happens to be my favourite sequel in the series (at least as far as entries featuring Michael Myers go), I decided to rewatch it one more time.
Halloween 4 is what it is: a sequel that comes a decade after the original film, with barely any talent in and out of the camera coming back from the original. and it's the 4th entry in a series of low-budget slasher films (the 3rd featuring Michael Myers, since Halloween 3 was its own thing).
Normally, one shouldn't really expect high art from such a film, and most franchises are more than tired and lacking ideas by then.
But while Halloween 4 is no crowning achievement in the genre, it has a few things that I quite like about it.
First of all, like the original it translates well to the screen a very pleasant "small town in the Autumn" vibe. The trees are naked, the pallet has some orangey/brown-ish colours. And on Halloween night, the pumpkins, the lighting, the decorations. I quite dig that.
Additionally, the ending gives a nice twist to the series, and would be a great, effective ending to the Halloween franchise.
Was Michael Myers a "good" guy, trying to finish off a cursed bloodline doomed to be a tool of evil?
I quite dig the ramifications of the ending, whose first person sequence mimics the one from the start of the original Halloween.
Sadly, more sequels naturally came out, and Halloween 5 (a low point in the series in my opinion, only "bettered" by that disaster that is Halloween: Resurrection) ruined the effectiveness of the ending of Halloween 4.
Still, Halloween 4 is a very decent effort in the genre, especially as a forth entry in a series.
---
And so, by now I'm up to 6 films. 4 of which... modern/recent genre efforts.
How I long to start watching my Euro Cult titles.
There's still plenty of days to go, and plenty of films to watch.
If anyone's curious, here's a link to my list of watched films for the season, which I'll be updating:
A list of 43 films compiled on Letterboxd, including Don't Breathe (2016), Child's Play (2019), The Ghoul (1933), The Perfection (2018) and Gerald's Game (2017).
Nearly finished with Lovecraft‘s Dream Cycle. Regular moments of greatness, but generally boring and Kaddath was nearly physically hard to read.
I’m genuinely glad to have read it though, it lights a side of Lovecraft I didn’t know about and it strangely echoes my existencial crisis.
Bram Strokers Dracula- Real quick, this movie gets a lot of hate, especially for the casting of Keanu Reeves. He doesn't get enough screen time to make an impact on the film either way. In rewatching it, it is of particular interest to me the hints of early steampunk aesthec in the costumes and sets. Worthy.
Yeah, last night was far different from my original plans.
I was planning to watch 2-3 films (today is a national holiday here, so I didn't have to work), but ended up watching just one, and then went to bed and watch some silly cable supernatural show called "Paranormal Emergency".
Oh, the joys of being married.
I need to start watching some Gialli or gothic horror soon, or I'll start crawling up walls.
Anyway:
Night #4:
I like silly horror comedies as much as the next guy. Yeah, I love suspenseful, "serious" horror films, but this time of the year, especially when I used to gather a group of friends to watch something, nothing beats a good horror comedy.
The Babysitter, by McG, had a perfect recipe for disaster: a crappy music video/film director, with a tendency for going visually over the top, and with no sense of pacing (other than to go fast or faster), directing a lower budget horror comedy. What could go wrong.
Surprisingly, despite the film frequently walking that thin line between trying too hard to a point of almost being endearing, and obnoxious, I actually had some fun with the original film. His hyperkinetic style, frequently featuring gratuitous use of visual cues, info and graphics, and fast cuts, actually worked in the context of this silly horror comedy, as did the use of well known pop/rock tracks.
But, clearly the film wouldn't have worked as well as it did if it wasn't for the titular babysitter character, played by Samara Weaving, who has been turning into a scream queen of sorts (with roles in other genre efforts like Ready or Not, Ash vs Evil Dead, ...), and who always brings a sense of fun to her roles.
But that was the previous film.
Fast forward 3 years later, and we have a sequel. Bigger, and louder. And that fine line I mentioned above is totally crossed to obnoxious most of the film.
Yeah, the hyperkinetic style is back, as are the fast paced visual cues, but while that was kind of endearing at first, in this second film is just ends up being just plain annoying. The film wants to seem like it's clever, and all post-millennial, and most of the "jokes" completely misfire.
Also, inserting a bunch of annoying new characters, and relegating Samara Weaving to an almost "blink and you missed it" role really did not help.
So, the result is sadly a horror comedy where the comedy fizzles, and the results are just plain annoying most of the film.
It's a far cry from the original film.
HP Lovecraft Dream Cycle finished. Now to read The Horror at Red Hook to see what the fuss is all about and because one of the novellas in my backlog is heavily referencing it (The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle).
So far my main movies from 31 Days of Horror list I've watched, which are first time watches:
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1976) 4/5
Resident Evil: Vendetta 3/5
Don't Look Now 4/5
and then also a few rewatches with my partner:
The Cabin in the Woods 5/5
The Craft 3.5/5
Cabin in the Woods, I've only watched that one once it was in the cinema when it came out and I knew nothing of it going in, other than it was supposed to be good. Imagine how blown away I was!
My partner and I watched both seasons of What We Do in the Shadows (Series) within as many days. It was great. Great accents, great humor. I'm sad we finished it! We had watched the movie late last month, which was awesome, as well! Now to look for something else to watch.
I love revisiting films I watched decades ago, originally on VHS or on a TV broadcast (murky, in pan & scan), in HD and in their proper aspect ratio. It really feels like I'm watching a different film. So much in fact that in my log at letterboxd, unless it's a film I'm 100% sure I watched in its proper aspect ratio (basically, something I watched recently), I mark everything as a first time view (that's also a convenient way for me not to have to pick my brains, trying to remind myself if I did watch something, or just pieces of it or the trailer; after many thousands of crappy low budget films watched, there are some that leave such a small impression one sometimes struggle to remember it ).
Anyway, The Dark Half. Of the directors that are usually considered "masters of horror", I always felt that George A. Romero's output, like Tobe Hooper, to be very uneven (in the case of the later, far more than Romero's). No doubt they did some memorable work, but when looking at their filmography, those represented a small portion of it. Outside of films like the original Dead Trilogy, Martin, and Creepshow, most of his films were at least uneven, and at worse a bit of a waste of time (don't get me started on Survival of the Dead).
The Dark Half was an interesting film to revisit. Originally, it did not leave much of an impression. Watching it on Blu-Ray, in HD and with its compositions properly displayed, I did get a new appreciation for it, even though I remain of the opinion it's a flawed film. Watching it in HD brought some great visual shots to life (like I previously mentioned when I commented on Halloween 4, I love that small town look in some of these films), especially some of atmospheric shots of birds. Timothy Hutton's performance is also a highpoint, in a dual role.
But, as films like Monkey Shines and Land of the Dead showed, I feel like Romero struggled a bit to work within the studio system, and worked best when making smaller, lower budget films, since the bigger budget productions brought to light some of his limitations, and they appeared to show his somewhat inability to get the best out of his cast and crew (especially cast).
There are some pacing issues (the film is at least 20 minutes too long, considering the material), some wooden performances, and the occasional crappy dialogue, but overall, revisiting the film 20+ years later has brought a new appreciation for the film.
Oh, goody! I received some "reinforcements" today.
Not that I was lacking stuff to watch (on the contrary), but I received some cool stuff today that I ordered for the occasion, including a few more Italian genre releases, and a cool Blu-Ray set that includes Body Snatchers, The Hunger, Innocent Blood, and Wolfen. This set will surely provide the basis of one of my upcoming nights.
Yesterday, my wife worked at the hospital until late, so the choice of film was dictated by being something on the short side (in terms of length), and by being a bit faster-paced, so she wouldn't fall asleep.
And so...
Night #6:
There's not a lot to say about this one. I mean, you get what it says on the package: a loud, crass, stupid film. Naturally, you have plenty of dick and fart jokes, because yeah, be it an 80's film or a 2015 film, teens do love their dick and fart jokes, apparently. Also, zombie tits, and zombie cats.
But you know what: for what it is, the film is enjoyable, and it certainly entertained us on a crappy Tuesday night. We certainly enjoyed it more than the last horror comedy we watched, The Babysitter: Killer Queen.
You don't need to watch actual "horror" stuff.
Just seasonal appropriate content (like monster/ghost themed).
I watch a lot of horror-comedies this time of the year, and I'll be surely watching some Scooby-Doo animation films (bought the last 3 I was missing just for the occasion), and stuff like Little Shop of Horrors.
Havent been doing a structured marathon this year, just getting in the movies when I can with the wife (and games too when possible)
So far:
Idle Hands
Monster House
28 Days Later
Freaks (more sci-fi than horror)
Whoa, is it really page 2!? Consider it a success FunktionJCB hahaha. Anyway, watched The Devil's Rejects last night. That movie's mostly funny. nice film to watch on a cool evening / night hahaha. It was a fun watch and reminded me I haven't watched House of 1000 Corpses since high school, which is now too long ago. I kind of feel like watching a couple zombie films tonight. Thinking of watching Vampires vs The Bronx. I'm a fan of Mero (of Desus & Mero fame) and it seems like a nice little film to watch.
Any other suggestions on some zombie films? thanks!
If you haven't watched it yet, I have to recommend my absolute favourite zombie film ever, Jorge Grau's Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (aka The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue).
If you want something incredibly silly, trashy and fun, Nightmare City is a blast to watch, if you are in the right mood (that ending!!!).
I mean, it's a film where you have a scene where zombies are attacking a TV studio during an aerobics programme.
If you like Asian films, I always had a soft spot for the HK horror/comedy Bio Zombie.
If you want an accessible American 80's film, Night of the Creeps is quite fun as well.
Then there's the Italian comics adaptation Dellamorte Dellamore (aka Cemetery Man), based on Dylan Dog.
Peter Jackson's gory comedy Braindead is a blast!
I assume you have watched the Re-Animator series. If you haven't, the first film at least is a must!
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