Horror Movies Thread

[Jake S]

Give the HELL HOUSE LLC movies a try if you haven't.

I’ve seen the first one and really dug it. I’ll report back!

 

[belloq87]

I’ve seen the first one and really dug it. I’ll report back!

The second and third ones are kind of middling (both literally and figuratively, but certainly watchable), but the fourth one is the best of the quadrilogy they've made so far. Injects a fresh energy into things after II and III tread water a bit.

 

[Jake S]

We’ve got a week of vacation to get locked into some of these, so I’m game.

 

[saint.piss]

 

[rageofthegods]

‘Crystal Lake’: Brad Caleb Kane Set As New Showrunner For Peacock’s ‘Friday The 13th’ Prequel Series From A24

The 'Crystal Lake' series has set Brad Caleb Kane as its new showrunner following Bryan Fuller's exit from the Peacock project announced back in May.

deadline.com

This thing is still happening

 

[belloq87]

ODDITY, a new movie on VOD from the U.K./Ireland, is very good. Clever, old-school genre storytelling that is executed very effectively. If you're a fan of any of the British horror anthology films from the 1970s, this very much feels in that world.

And it has one particularly tremendous jump scare.

 

[Cwoolboy]

Well, I saw Blink Twice yesterday. What a disappointment. Ironic that a film about forgetting ends up being forgettable. The cast is stacked with talented actors, but every single person is given nothing to do and essentially zero character. It’s nice to see Channing Tatum play against type for a change, and he’s likely the best one here, but it’s not enough to save the film. Blink Twice has some fun with colors. There’s a good deal of yellow and a lot of reds.

While this wants to be a horror comedy, it’s rarely funny and never scary. It is incredibly dark and mean, though. It doesn’t have much to say that hasn’t been said in better films or in more interesting/novel/unique ways. The one kind-of new thing it brings to the table is the theme of forgetting vs forgiving. I also like that it deals with the question of if change is ever really possible.

I commend Zöe Kravitz for trying her hand at directing and writing (with E.T. Feigenbaum credited as co-writer), but she just does not have the sauce. Nice try, though. Unfortunately, Blink Twice is dull and uninteresting. There are very few surprises here, and the opening trigger warning basically gives away the whole game before the film even starts. Forgetting is a gift, just be grateful this film isn’t one you’ll be likely to remember in T-minus a year (or less).

1.5 STARS

 

[Lucky Planet]

‘Crystal Lake’: Brad Caleb Kane Set As New Showrunner For Peacock’s ‘Friday The 13th’ Prequel Series From A24

The 'Crystal Lake' series has set Brad Caleb Kane as its new showrunner following Bryan Fuller's exit from the Peacock project announced back in May.

deadline.com

This thing is still happening

it will be 2030 and still no show lol

 

[CoryLevy91]

ODDITY, a new movie on VOD from the U.K./Ireland, is very good. Clever, old-school genre storytelling that is executed very effectively. If you're a fan of any of the British horror anthology films from the 1970s, this very much feels in that world.

And it has one particularly tremendous jump scare.

Been looking very forward to this one as it's seeming to run under the radar in a stacked year. Believe it's coming to Shudder at some point so I'll be checking it out there if I can wait!

 

[mks]

I have to trust it'll be superior to the Dark Universe script, which I may or may not have had the displeasure of reading.

But will it be better than John Carpenter's The Creature From The Black Lagoon that never got off the ground?

 

[Jake S]

Alright, fair bit of catch up to do here. My wife and I watched a bunch of horror movies while on vacation the past week, so here are some abridged thoughts.

We watched the entire Hell House LLC series and really enjoyed them. The most recent entry (Origins) is the weakest of the bunch, but all still plenty enjoyable if you're into found footage (we are).

We followed that up with History of the Occult (Historia de la Oculta), an Argentinian horror film that we both found more effective than the similar Late Night with the Devil. Black and white, quite paranoid and thematically resonant. We really enjoyed this one.

Then we went back to found footage with As Above, So Below. It's largely panned by critics, but I actually found it enjoyable. Our protagonist is a bit grating, but frankly the plot wouldn't move forward without her. It's worth a watch!

We went back to Spanish with El Conde, a Chilean horror film that posits Pinochet as a vampire. My wife has done much of her work in Chile and we've both seen a handful of Pablo Larrain's previous films. El Conde didn't work for me, despite being beautifully shot and featuring a fun concept. It's quite slow and very self indulgent.

Our marathon wrapped up with When Evil Lurks, another Argentine horror film. This is tremendously messed up but in a surprisingly watchable way. It's quite violent and, at times, shocking, but absolutely worth a watch if you're in the right headspace.

 

[mks]

Oooof When Evil Lurks is wild!

 

[belloq87]

Then we went back to found footage with As Above, So Below. It's largely panned by critics, but I actually found it enjoyable. Our protagonist is a bit grating, but frankly the plot wouldn't move forward without her. It's worth a watch!

This is a very underrated movie. Unlike most found footage films, this one has an actual narrative arc that resolves instead of just ends.

 

[Jake S]

This is a very underrated movie. Unlike most found footage films, this one has an actual narrative arc that resolves instead of just ends.

I was very pleasantly surprised! Nice to watch one of these with a full, coherent narrative.

 

[Cwoolboy]

Saw Strange Darling last night. Below are my thoughts.

'Strange Darling' is one of those films that works best if you walk in knowing nothing about it. Don’t read any reviews (Heck, don't even read this review! I try to avoid spoilers, but there's always the chance something in here could inevitably tip you off to any number of this flick's numerous surprises or twists). Don’t watch any trailers. Go in blind and let the film work it’s magic. In 'Strange Darling', a one-night stand between The Lady (Willa Fitzgerald) and The Demon (Kyle Gallant) spirals wildly out of control when one is revealed to be a serial killer. A psycho-sexual battle for dominance and power ensues. Yes, this is VERY loosely based on a real serial killer.

Kyle Gallner and Willa Fitzgerald go toe-to-toe in the acting department. Both are superb. Kyle Gallner is an experienced horror alum, having appeared in 'Red Eye', 'A Haunting in Connecticut', 'Jennifer's Body', 'A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)', 'Red State', 'The Cleanse', 'The Cleansing Hour', 'Alien Code', 'Mother, May I', '5cream', and 'The Passenger'. Gallner has quickly become a horror darling with a rapidly growing fan base. You know whenever he's involved in a project, no matter how small his role, he's going to bring the goods.

Willa Fitzgerald is no stranger to acting, having appeared in multiple tv shows and films. She played the lead, Emma Duval, in the first two seasons of the 'Scream: The TV Series'. She also slayed as the insanely hot and insanely bad young Madeline Usher in Mike Flanagan's 'The Fall of the House of Usher' on Netflix. While watching that show, I took to calling her Queen Bitch for a reason. It was a title she easily earned. Happily, Fitzgerald doesn't disappoint here and once again massively impresses. As for supporting players: Barbara Hershey and Ed Begley Jr. are sweet as an elderly couple, but it's Stephen Michael Quesada who is most memorable as an experienced cop.

J.T. Mollner directs and writes. His direction is superb and the screenplay is strong. Giovanni Ribisi (best known for his acting roles in 'Ted' and 'Avatar') is in charge of cinematography. This is his first theatrical effort, and he nails it. There are plenty of lingering close-ups that allow audiences to get the full range of an actor’s emotions, as well as some great creative shots too.

'Strange Darling' is a puzzle-box of a movie. There are some great twists and many, many, many turns. What might be most surprising is just how much fun this film is. It’s also got a great gallows sense of humor to it at times as well. Those expecting horror will likely be disappointed, as this is more of a psycho-sexual thriller than anything else. There is a good deal of blood, though. When this film wants you to see blood, it shows you blood.

'Strange Darling' is yet another welcome surprise in 2024. It’s actually some of the most fun you’ll have in a theater this year. It’s got two phenomenal lead performances, memorable cinematography, and more-than competent direction…in other words, there’s a lot to recommend and commend here. If you want to see one of the best films of 2024, then I say it’s time to get a little strange, darling.

5 STARS

 

[Lucky Planet]

Alright, fair bit of catch up to do here. My wife and I watched a bunch of horror movies while on vacation the past week, so here are some abridged thoughts.

We watched the entire Hell House LLC series and really enjoyed them. The most recent entry (Origins) is the weakest of the bunch, but all still plenty enjoyable if you're into found footage (we are).

We followed that up with History of the Occult (Historia de la Oculta), an Argentinian horror film that we both found more effective than the similar Late Night with the Devil. Black and white, quite paranoid and thematically resonant. We really enjoyed this one.

Then we went back to found footage with As Above, So Below. It's largely panned by critics, but I actually found it enjoyable. Our protagonist is a bit grating, but frankly the plot wouldn't move forward without her. It's worth a watch!

We went back to Spanish with El Conde, a Chilean horror film that posits Pinochet as a vampire. My wife has done much of her work in Chile and we've both seen a handful of Pablo Larrain's previous films. El Conde didn't work for me, despite being beautifully shot and featuring a fun concept. It's quite slow and very self indulgent.

Our marathon wrapped up with When Evil Lurks, another Argentine horror film. This is tremendously messed up but in a surprisingly watchable way. It's quite violent and, at times, shocking, but absolutely worth a watch if you're in the right headspace.

I could not stop laughing in As Above, So Below
when she punches the demon out of the way and he goes AAAGHHHG. I never laughed harder in my life at something that wasn't supposed to be funny.
I saw that movie many years ago when it came out and that scene stuck with me because of how much I laughed even thought it was serious. ( I'm not criticizing or hating on the movie. it was really scary really claustrophobic, very successful found footage )

 

[Allison]

I found Milk & Serial (YouTube) to be a really interesting story while also somehow not worth all the hype? If that makes sense. It’s good for a free YouTube horror film, but, maybe with a bigger budget it could have been better?

 

[CoryLevy91]

Caught Alien: Romulus yesterday and it is quite the mixed bag. Tremendous cast, production design, music arrangement and Fede Alvarez does an amazing job bringing his distinct voice to the world of the Xenomoprh. The film opens with some of the best aesthetic and world building in genre history, really smothering you in the depressive, soulless world of the working hell that is Weyland-Yutani. Rain and Andy are some of the most well crafted characters you'll find in a horror film and the rest of the cast do very well playing up to their lesser note characters despite not given much time for characterization. The crew's foray into the dangerous alien battleground starts so wonderfully tense, atmospheric and nightmarish it feels like this may be in contention for BEST film in the entire franchise.

Then Romulus just absolutely bogs itself down in a shell of callbacks and remnants of almost every other Alien film that came before it. There are homages then there are blatant fan film esque lines of tinkering with a film. There is absolutely ZERO need for the AI and or CGI enhanced legacy character to appear in his jarringly bad composited state for so much of the film and I still can not wrap my head around the fact that no one really seems to care that much while it was grounds of nuclear termination when Late Night at the Devil had 3 AI generated background images that meant nothing to the plot.

But I digress; Romulus reaches a point where less than five minutes there is a call back or echo to something that happened in a prior Alien film and it's just super frustrating and disappointing. I'm fascinated by whether this was the actual desire of Fede Alvarez and his team or if this is the cynical design of the real life corporate overlords with the mouse ears. The first third to half of the film is amazing and shows Fede is a great director, the cast is brilliant and the team behind the movie KNEW what the hell they were doing but then the film gets dripped on by Xeno blood and dissolves into a mash up of franchise history.

The film also suffers from my biggest dislike of the franchise:

Spoiler: Spoiler

Turning the Xenomorphs fright factor into being their numbers instead of their base primal terror. Giving the characters means to easily dispatch and dispose the Xeno takes away most of the fear factor you accrue from the perfect, deadly organism. It's why I'm less high on Aliens than most. The Alien is always better and more frightening to me when a single one is treated with the respect it deserves.

It really is a shame, if the last two thirds/second half of the movie followed the same tracjectory of the first third, it would legitimately probably be an instant horror classic and traverse a new path. Instead, it falls in love with what came before it and crashes into the astroid belt of franchise past.

EDIT: Yes, I did think I was in the Romulus topic.

 

[Rideguy70]

Okay, I know this is a flash back, but I just watched Event Horizon for my first time since I saw it in a theater in 1997.

And aside from the very dated opening and ending credit sequences (and a few minor CGI effects), this movie still totally holds up today. Well acted, unique blending of genres (gory horror and sci-fi), and great set production that still totally holds up today.

Like many horror films, the plot doesn't hold up to scrutiny, but if you're willing to suspend disbelief and go for the ride, it's really entertaining.

 

[belloq87]

Okay, I know this is a flash back, but I just watched Event Horizon for my first time since I saw it in a theater in 1997.

And aside from the very dated opening and ending credit sequences (and a few minor CGI effects), this movie still totally holds up today. Well acted, unique blending of genres (gory horror and sci-fi), and great set production that still totally holds up today.

Like many horror films, the plot doesn't hold up to scrutiny, but if you're willing to suspend disbelief and go for the ride, it's really entertaining.

EVENT HORIZON's got some terrific stuff in it. Great Fishburne and Neill performances.

The recordings (both audio and visual) of what happened to the crew are pretty potent in terms of horror. They shot a lot of extreme material for that stuff that had to be cut in order to avoid an NC-17 rating, and that footage is apparently lost in a salt mine somewhere.