2017 Halloween Scary Movie Challenge

Re: Sweeny
It's good! And, unless you're a complete dolt, quite funny. Wicked Streamer Not for the squeamish!

 

#2 - The Mummy (1932)



What makes Universal's Monster films classic, has little to do with being innovators in the horror genre (although that helped). These films are simply well made, with quality scripts and acting. This one is no different.

I had not seen this one in a long time, and was surprised that the cliched bandaged mummy is really not present here (well, he is for the opening, but never seen moving in full). Great film.

 

The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)

This was the 4th Frankenstein movie, and the last in which the monster is the central character. He would return is some other movies, but always as part of an ensemble of other monsters. It is not as good as the previous 3 Frankenstein movies in my opinion. It only runs a little over an hour, and the story itself is rather bland and uninspired.

The biggest problem with the movie lies in the performance of Lon Cheney as the monster. His facial expression barely ever changes and he just seems so aloof throughout with no emotion. Even when they harken back to the first movie by having him show interest in a little girl, he just holds her and acts like a robot. Boris Karloff was sorely missed in this one.

The rest of the cast is very good though, particularly Bela Lugosi as Ygor. He is just fabulous, and steals the show, picking up right where he left off in 'Son of Frankenstein.' So sneaky and creepy, no one can play it like Lugosi.

This one ends with Dr Frankenstein's residence being burned with the monster still in it, and he loses his sight in the process. This is notable because he puts his arms out in front of him as he walks. This would be continued in the next outing the following year 'Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman.' And it seems that whenever the monster has been depicted in popular culture since, while there is no mention of his blindness, he still walks with his arms outstretched. Well, that came from the ending of this movie.

 

John Goodman is so great in that.

 

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956, Don Siegel)
Amazon Prime just added this to their streaming movie app so this is my choice tonight. Classic (original) pods from space flick that still has bite, though the political punch (McCarthy era allusion) is less pungent now. Still thrilling if not a strict horror classic. Looking forward to it - again.

 

Dr. Giggles..scary creepy!

 

he is great in everything love him!

 

The Curse of Sleeping Beauty Haunted house inherited from an unknown uncle, lots of creepy mannequins, and a thin plot that connects sleep paralysis to the Djinn. This isn’t a movie so much as a springboard for a franchise.

Remember kids, all-Black eyes = evil

3/5 for good production values. But it’s more Witchboard and less Hellraiser.

 

My favorite line in this one is "do you have to dig up graves to find girls to fall in love with".
Going from memory but I think that's the line.

 

Agreed. John Goodman is an underrated actor, who can do silly comedy to drama and anything in between.

 

I like.

Saving this thread as I'm always up for a good horror flick.

 

is he great in the Big Lebowski or what?! Shut Up Donnie!

 

The Void (2016). Well this movie is just gross. The internet likes to compare it (especially its latex practical monster effects) to John Carpenter’s The Thing, but I think it owes much more to the video game Dead Space with its resurrection cult Unitology. Only the movie isn’t nearly as well acted as the former, nor as well written as the later. But if you like gore and latex corpse amalgam monsters you should watch it.

3/5. Only for Gore-Hounds.

 

Did 2 horror flicks last night. Invasion (as mentioned above) and a revisit of the original 1931 Frankenstein.



What a crushing bore. The possibilities, as you can see from the above pic, were really endless but the creation ends up being nothing more than the shadow of Victorian "virtue and ingenuity". Zzzzzzzz. I used to think it was the coolest flick. Perhaps I'll feel differently another night.

 

So there’s a gross urban legend:

... A woman (a friend of a friend, of course) met a man while out on the town one night. One thing led to another, as they say, and she ended up having sex with him. Later, the woman fell ill. She went to the doctor, who examined her and announced that she was "infected with corpse-worms" (maggots). A subsequent investigation revealed that the stranger she had slept with was a pathologist in a local hospital. He had fornicated with a decomposing corpse earlier that same day.



Contracted (2013) is the 90 minute movie adaption of the urban legend. The acting wasn’t terrible (except maybe Katie Stegeman, Boo!) but the premise is silly. Maybe this would be Gynohorror and could sit in your DVD rack next to Teeth (2007), make a double feature out of them.

3/5. I don’t know why but I randomly picked the grossest movies today

 

So far:
The Possession of Joel Delaney (Found it to be rather boring)
Dark Harvest (2004) (Average, cheesy, low budget fare.)
Night School (1981) (Had seen this once before, didn't really enjoy)
Final Exam (1981) (Average)
Dark Harvest 3 (Terrible!)

 

Oct 1st- Wes Craven's New Nightmare. Some great Freddy scenes, my favorite being Cosmic-Freddy over the LA freeway. Good meta-level fun from Craven.
2nd - Cabin in the Woods. Fun horror flick, with a nice surprise ending. Did an admissible job of deconstructing and being a horror movie at the same time.
3rd - The Wicker Man. All around great film. Wholly unique with a nice thematic depth and interesting examination of the confrontation of the Pagan and Christian worlds.
4th - The VVitch. Effective classical witch tale with some downright haunting visuals that will never leave my mind.
5th - Halloween H20. Good 90s fun.
6th - A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors. Some excellent Freddy incarnations, including Snake-Freddy, Puppet-Master-Freddy, and the disturbing Syringe-Freddy.

 

2,001 Maniacs

 

looks interesting!

 

October is the month!

 

Well, Horror's in the title! Never actually sat down to watch The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975, Jim Sharman). And I know the way to do it properly is to grab a bunch of crazy friends, dress up and head down to the midnight screening of the "interactive" show but I had a long hard week. Plus I don't knoGin, juice and my 50 inch (tv) will do. Cheers! clueless?

 

Netflix is streaming Raw, about a flesh eating Vet student. I found it pretty good but there are bunches of better movies out there, even the past few years.

Just watched Alice, Sweet Alice on Amazon. It's a poor transfer but an interesting take on the Catholic Horror of the time. I didn't realize it is supposed to be set 10-15 years earlier than release, until reading up on it. I was scratching my head at all the 10-15 year old old cars and a few of the women's haircuts.

 

Watched the Spanish version of Dracula '31 tonight, which I've always wanted to do (but never did, always opting for the Legosi version instead). And while I appreciate what people like about the Spanish version - the way its shot, etc., I found myself missing Legosi a LOT as well as Dwight Frye's incredible portrayal of Renfield. The Spanish actors did a fine job, but Frye is just so good in that role no one could ever rival it. For me, anyway.

I did like some scenes better in this one, however. Dracula shown coming out of his coffin, Dracula smashing the living crap out of the mirror, and the scene where they show what Renfield actually does to the maid. (Spoiler - he does nothing to the maid, he was merely going after a fly.)

All in all, it was worth watching but I still prefer the Legosi/Frye version.

 

Unfortunately with my work schedule, watching a movie every night in October is not possible. On the other hand, since Halloween is my favorite holiday (and my wedding anniversary) I always start celebrating in September. My wife and I try to watch at least one or two horror films a week until Halloween. Here is what I have watched so far.

Jug Face
Bride Of Reanimater
God Told Me To
Once Bitten (Yes it counts!!!)
The Prowler
Slumber Party Massacre
Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night 2
Among Friends
Deathgasm
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre part 2
Ghoulies

Next weekened I'm thinking of a Friday the 13th marathon

 

One of my favorites for many years.