2017 Halloween Scary Movie Challenge

#4 - Carnival of Souls (1962)



I had never seen this film, and was VERY impressed. It is amazing what can come from low-budget, amateur filmmakers. It is one of the creepiest films I have seen. And the cinematography and score were very impressive. For those more familiar with the film, is the longer version better, or the slightly shorter version? I am not even sure which version I saw. It was on TCM. Also, which DVD version of this would you recommend?

 

I started last month because I knew I was going to be busy with work in October. The tally so far:

TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER (1976) - Had never seen the whole thing. Now I have.
THE MIST (2007) - The Black and White version.
THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS (2016) - So tired of Zombie flicks, but this was pretty good.
HELL NIGHT (1981)
THE AWAKENING (1980)
SILVER BULLET (1985)
INNOCENT BLOOD (1990)
ANNABELLE 2: THE CREATION (2017)
IT COMES AT NIGHT (2017)
CARNIVAL OF SOULS (1962)
THE INNOCENTS (1960)
DEAD CALM (1990)
MORTUARY (1983)
THE MUMMY (2017)

 

Slaughter High (1986)

Ugh. This one was a chore to get through. I suppose the premise is decent enough, if not downright derivative of countless other movies from over the years. A nerd gets picked on in high school and vows to get his revenge. In this case, he attacks each of the former classmates who wronged him one by one at the 10 year reunion which takes place in the old high school. The school is now closed and somewhat dilapidated which makes for a nice setting for this type of schock fest.

My biggest problem with this one is the glacial pacing. I can deal with the ridiculous dialogue and horrendous acting, as those are to be expected in these sorts of low budget slasher flicks, and often add to the charm even. But this one takes forever to get into gear.

We're treated with the high school scenes early on, and then comes the 10 year reunion, and by now we're about halfway through the 90 minute running time, and no one has been offed yet. Heck, nothing has occurred to even let on that this is supposed to be a horror flick by this point. We might as well be watching a remake of the Big Chill.

Also, the actors are all way too old to be in high school, and they all look exactly the same at the 10 year reunion. Silly I know, but the beginning reminded me of the third Porky's movie where the guys were all pushing 30. Another ridiculous aspect is the fact that this is a British production with British actors, but it's supposed to take place in the United States. The actors are all terrible, and making them speak with American accents is just cruel, both to them and to us.

Anyway, the actual death sequences are fairly decent, with several of them showing some real imagination. You see, our jaded nerd who snaps and goes on the killing spree is really into chemistry, so he's got a few sick ideas up his sleeve. But overall, it's hard to get excited or feel any real tension when a nerdy little pipsqueak is hunting the victims through the hallways; he's no Jason Voorhees. Kind of wish I'd watched something else instead.

 

I cannot believe the Blu-ray of the Horror of Dracula with restoration is setting there, and unavailable in the U.S. Do they not like making money?

Curse of the Demon is a fantastic film, even if the Demon itself disappoints.

 

A Dark Song - A grieving mother hires an occultist to perform a months-long ritual in a remote farmhouse to speak with her deceased child.

As a young man I had an interest in the occult and it’s followers (Golden Dawn, Thelema, Gardnerian Wiccans, Rosecrucians et cetera) and I’m amazed that this movie did actual research into ritual magick. Most movies draw some pentagrams, chant some Latin and call it a day.

Great performances from Steve Oram and Catherine Walker, excellent direction from Liam Gavin. They play the drama so ‘straight’ I got caught up in the story and forgot it was a horror movie (supernatural events don’t occur till the final twenty minutes).

4/5. Very good. Slow paced and if you’re expecting traditional scares you’ll be disappointed, but like Abramelin ritual magick you need to invest a lot of time before they payoff.

 

Yeah...I really dislike that sequence. Reportedly director Tourneur didn't even shoot the footage someone else did. He was reportedly furious when he saw the footage added by the producer (that's if my memory is accurate).

As far as Horror of Dracula Warner Archieve has promised this a couple of times over the years. NOW is the perfect opportunity to release it and surprise us all for Halloween. I'd also ask them where Curse of Frankenstein is as well.

 

The Hellstrom Chronicle (1972)

 

Terrific "documentary" wish it had been restored between that "Phase IV" (wish that we got the director's cut )

 

#5 - Bedlam (1946)



I appreciate the social commentary on treatment of the mentally ill in this film, but did not find it very enjoyable to watch. I prefer spooky films, or monsters, and Lewton's work is of a much more serious nature. Karloff is brilliant here.

 

These two films made me paranoid about the future of humanity on Earth as a kid. I would often wonder if ants and other insects truly could demonstrate some sort of consciousness after an event. Clearly inspired by the beginning of 2001 when humanity experienced the first rise to consciousness and the use of tools. Michael Murphy and. I gel Davenport are both terrific. A bit of trivia although it takes place in The U.S., it was shot on location in Kenya(!) standing for Arizona and the interiors were shot at Pinewood Studios in the U.K. (Probably both for tax reasons). It's an ambitious and sometimes frustrating as a film because the narrative is so obtuse at times but it is still a fascinating and flawed classic IMHO.

 

I agree. I really didn't need to see the puppet they used ( as I recall Harrynausen was asked but wouldn't do it because he only want to work on his productions at the time) and the puppets really aren't all that convincing or scary.

 

I saw it as a kid and while I figured out she was, you know, no longer here I found it to be a fascinating and underrated film that could hold,its own with other bigger budgeted films. It's surprisingly adult in much the same way as Curse of The Demon and has aged well.

 

First, an admission: I can't stand slice & dice movies. I much prefer any terror engendered to be plot/character driven--gore & guts are a cheap effect. That said, here are a few exquisitely creepy movies:

Nosferatu the Vampyre--Klaus Kinski in the title role (1979)

The Wicker Man--the 1973 Christopher Lee/Edward Woodward original, not the Nicholas Cage remake

And one I've never been able to finish because it gave me a terminal case of the heebie-jeebies:

Suspiria (1977) by Dario Argento

 

This has been released twice by Criterion.
If your only interested in dvd just go for the old release that's about 10 or so years old.
It includes both the directors cut and the regular theatrical cut and has the original movie poster on the cover.
If you want Blu-Ray its more complicated because the version released by Criterion recently according to online reviews is the best the film has looked but it only contains the original theatrical cut not the directors cut.
Criterion really dropped the ball by not releasing both cuts on the new release.

 

They may not have been able to get the rights to both.

 

The Devil's Bride is playing now on TCM. Decent enough flick, but I wouldn't call it scary. Definitely a bit hokey.

 

After that last “my kid is dead” mope-fest I needed something on the lighter side. The Babysitter (2017) really hit the spot. I don’t think I laughed that hard in months. I skewers the tropes of teen slasher and is a loving homage to the genre at the same time.

5/5 - Most entertaining flick I’ve seen so far. Watch it with someone having a bad day.

 

Great picks though I never really got the appeal of Suspiria. The trailer, which now looks quite hokey, scared me sh*tless as a kid -



Somebody's got it up on The Tube. I'll give it a go in a night or so. Thanks!

 

“Netflix! You’ve been greenlit, who am I speaking with?”

South Park recently had the running gag that Netflix would buy just about any crap to feed binge-watching subscribers and Clinical demonstrates that pretty well. A “thriller” about the worlds dumbest psychiatrist (seriously, stop running back into the house full of people that are trying to kill you!). The actors are all OK. The material is pretty much LMN with 5% more blood. And it co-stars India Eisley who was the baddie in Curse of Sleeping Beauty that I watched last week.

2/5. It’s a not very thrilling thriller.

 

Re: Night of The Living Dead

Well, the ending of this horror classic is the best thing about it. Hadn't watched it in years but it's obvious that the still frame scans at the end were meant to simulate the murders in the American South and Vietnam in the late 60s via newspapers and tv programs of that time. Despite myriad films and times far bloodier (and in color) than 1968 the film still retains it's power to shock.

 

"The Babysitter" (2017) - a 12 year old boy's babysitter is a tall, blonde dream girl... unfortunately she's also a member of a Satanic sacrifice cult. Hilarity ensues. Netflix original.

 

Alien (1979)

Considering that I remember Aliens pretty well, and remember seeing the 3rd one and Resurrection in the theater, it's weird that I couldn't really remember anything about the first movie. I think I'd seen parts of it on television over the years, but had never sat down and actually watched it all the way through. Well, I recently came across the blu for a great price, and decided to watch it last night.

While Alien isn't a horror film in the traditional sense, I feel more comfortable describing it as horror than pure science fiction, as it's essentially a horror movie in a sci-fi setting. And it is downright scary at times.

Ridley Scott has a knack for creating distinct atmospheres in his movies, and this one has it in abundance. From the set design of the ship, to the fog and moisture used, from the incredible designs of the alien in its different stages, to the minimal and often atonal dissonant score, this movie really creates a mood and really put me in an alert emotional state as I watched intently while the alien hunted the crew one by one. I got a couple legitimate shocks while watching it, and my wife actually screamed at one point. Now that's a horror movie in my book.

On a related note, sometime last year, I was at a second hand shop and picked up a 50s b-movie DVD set that included 'It! The Terror from Outer Space.' Now, I'm sure there were numerous influences that Scott and the script writer borrowed from while creating 'Alien,' but to anyone who likes this movie, I suggest seeking out 'It! The Terror from Outer Space' because it shares many, many, many similarities with 'Alien,' and is pretty good in its own right.

 

Yes. In fact, your feeling about Alien is similar to the way I feel about Apocalypse Now. Now I know people will scoff at the notion of a "war film" being regarded this way but, to begin with, AP doesn't have the appeal of either a traditional war film or a Vietnam War film. You go in looking for a journey down The River Styx (like the Conrad novel, Heart of Darkness, on which it's based). That journey takes us right into a metaphorical hell. Actually, one of the most frightening scenes is Martin Sheen's emotional breakdown at the beginning of the film. F.F. Coppola makes it clear that this dude is primed to take us through the literal horrors that we'll meet down that river right up to Kurtz (Brando). Most of what we're asked to consider has to do with the insanity of war, not its logistics ("Who's in charge here, soldier?" "Ain't you?"). What's shocking is the insanity of grown men murdering each other with zero protocol. The uninterrupted horror show is absolutely stalled by the French plantation sequence in the Redux version. Coppola realized this and wisely cut it for the theatrical release. With that segment included the film asks us to seriously consider the political specifics of the conflict. Without it the film is on the proper horror film trajectory of us vs. "the gooks" surface level drama.

 

Loved The Babysitter (2017).

Hated Life, the sci fi horror movie from this year. The characters’ actions make no sense. The high schoolers in any typical 80s slasher flick have more common sense.

I saw Pet Semetary for the first time. The final act had me laughing, jumping out of my chair, and cringing at the gore in equal measures.

 

Has the classic Sci-Fi trope “We carefully explain the safety protocols in the first ten minutes only to completely ignore them the entire rest of the movie.”