The Official Horror Thread

[iwokeinrelief]

Oh - I turned on HBO for free for 7 days to watch The Empty Man - anyone here have a subscription and know of any other good horror movies to watch on the service currently? 

(I'm set on TV Shows / Limited Events; I've either seen the ones I want, or will watch them next month once some viewing time frees up to where we can catch Mare of Easttown and The White Lotus)

[Rip]

4 minutes ago, iwokeinrelief said:

Oh - I turned on HBO for free for 7 days to watch The Empty Man - anyone here have a subscription and know of any other good horror movies to watch on the service currently? 

(I'm set on TV Shows / Limited Events; I've either seen the ones I want, or will watch them next month once some viewing time frees up to where we can catch Mare of Easttown and The White Lotus)

Damn dude we really have some similar interests haha.  Mare of Easttown was incredible and we just finished up The White Lotus the other night.  Also really good.

 

Nothing horror related comes to mind right now (I’m at work so I can’t look).  But I know The Outsider is really good.  Based on the Stephen King book that came out a couple years ago.

[iwokeinrelief]

27 minutes ago, Rip said:

Damn dude we really have some similar interests haha.  Mare of Easttown was incredible and we just finished up The White Lotus the other night.  Also really good.

 

Nothing horror related comes to mind right now (I’m at work so I can’t look).  But I know The Outsider is really good.  Based on the Stephen King book that came out a couple years ago.

Cool, cool.  Saw the Outsider last year when we turned HBO on last (and watched Chernobyl, Watchmen, and Perry Mason that go round as well); I don't have enough time to justify paying for it monthly, so we try to just do a once a year catchup.

[Rip]

Never got around to Perry Mason but Chernobyl and Watchmen are incredible.

 

I’ll try and skim through it soon to see if there’s anything else worth checking out.

[iwokeinrelief]

12 minutes ago, Rip said:

Never got around to Perry Mason but Chernobyl and Watchmen are incredible.

 

I’ll try and skim through it soon to see if there’s anything else worth checking out.

Perry Mason is one of the best tv shows I’ve seen in recent memory. Seriously don’t sleep on it.

 

and yes, Chernobyl and Watchmen were both amazing; I was blown away by how they moved the source material forward with Watchmen.  And that Life on Mars cover had me in tears when that episode ended.

[iwokeinrelief]

Jakob’s Wife: Really enjoyed this despite the first 20 minutes or so being a bit dull; after that though it’s funny and bloody - oh so bloody - with a decent set of characters. I can take or leave the last shot before it cuts to credits, but that’s fine because this was a fun ride.

[radiatorhums]

On 8/19/2021 at 6:33 AM, Rip said:

Damn dude we really have some similar interests haha.  Mare of Easttown was incredible and we just finished up The White Lotus the other night.  Also really good.

I'd recommend The White Lotus as well, one of my favorite shows of the summer.

[iwokeinrelief]

Super late to the party on this one, but I thought The Taking of Deborah Logan was really great. I’m a big fan of the docu-horror sub genre, and it’s one of the stronger entires I’ve seen. Have wanted to see it for a while, but my wife wasn’t interested just due to her family history of Alzheimer’s/dementia, so I snuck most of it in while WFH yesterday and finished it off this morning while the kids were playing video games.

 

She and I watched Vampires vs the Bronx last night and thought it was a lot of fun. It’s basically Attack the Block except I didn’t dislike the kids for the first 20 minutes of the film 😂

Edited August 21, 2021 by iwokeinrelief

[Rip]

2 hours ago, iwokeinrelief said:

Super late to the party on this one, but I thought The Taking of Deborah Logan was really great. I’m a big fan of the docu-horror sub genre, and it’s one of the stronger entires I’ve seen. Have wanted to see it for a while, but my wife wasn’t interested just due to her family history of Alzheimer’s/dementia, so I snuck most of it in while WFH yesterday and finished it off this morning while the kids were playing video games.

 

She and I watched Vampires vs the Bronx last night and thought it was a lot of fun. It’s basically Attack the Block except I didn’t dislike the kids for the first 20 minutes of the film 😂

Can’t say enough good things about TToDL.  One of the most original entries in that genre.

[Rip]

@iwokeinrelief I didn’t get a chance to look myself yet but this was just posted an hour ago.  Seems like most things on here are staples that even your average horror fan has probably seen by now.  But I know this can’t be all that’s on there: https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/arts-and-culture/g37284574/best-horror-movies-on-hbo-max/

[Rip]

Here’s a bigger list that was posted a couple weeks ago: https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/hbo-max/best-horror-movies-hbo-max-streaming/#4-kwaidan

[iwokeinrelief]

33 minutes ago, Rip said:

Here’s a bigger list that was posted a couple weeks ago: https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/hbo-max/best-horror-movies-hbo-max-streaming/#4-kwaidan

Appreciate it!

Looks like I've seen basically all of these (absent a few that are Criterion crossover titles where i own the blu-rays but haven't got around to them yet).  I *do* need to see The Bay though, so that's the one that stood out from the list that i need to watch, but i might need to wait until next month when I turn the subscription back on (as my trial ends in like 2 days and i need to actually be in the office those days, so i don't think i have time to watch anything).

OT - on a conference call right now but have about 10 minutes left on Dave Made a Maze (which has been on my list for a bit since it was on Prime, but went ahead and dove in with it popping up on Shudder).  I have thoughts on it, but i'll circle back on that.

[iwokeinrelief]

1 hour ago, iwokeinrelief said:

OT - on a conference call right now but have about 10 minutes left on Dave Made a Maze (which has been on my list for a bit since it was on Prime, but went ahead and dove in with it popping up on Shudder).  I have thoughts on it, but i'll circle back on that.

I love movies like this (quirky, absurdly creative, *actually* unique) so tend to always rate these on the high side - but I enjoyed the hell out of this one. No idea why it’s on Shudder, but I’m not going to turn my nose up at a free movie that’s that’s this good.

Probably as close to a House of Leaves movie as we’re ever going to get.

[radiatorhums]

Watched Kandisha yesterday and enjoyed it.   Doesn't really break new ground, but I thought it was a well made supernatural slasher. 

[Rip]

Last night the wife and I watched The Boy Behind the Door and Scare Me

 

BBTD was okay.  The actors playing the boys did a great job but I was kind of hoping/expecting something a little more fucked up.  That sounds terrible but it didn’t really break a whole lot of ground for me.

 

Scare Me was really fun.  Even my wife who isn’t super into the horror-comedy genre enjoyed it.  Definitely worth checking out if you want something a little different 

[iwokeinrelief]

1 hour ago, Rip said:

BBTD was okay.  The actors playing the boys did a great job but I was kind of hoping/expecting something a little more fucked up.  That sounds terrible but it didn’t really break a whole lot of ground for me.

lol - had it been more on the fucked up side I likely wouldn’t have liked it as much 😂 but it’s definitely on the lighter side. Reminded me a lot of Alone in that way, tense peril almost throughout but never trips that line.

I do like some fucked up stuff in my horror, but I’m a completely softy when it comes to kids now.

I really wanted to like Scare Me more (pretty sure I watched it the night it hit the service last year) - I remember the lead from back in his College Humor days - and enjoyed a lot of it, but I thought the end was pretty well telegraphed throughout so it fell a bit flat for me in the final third.

[iwokeinrelief]

My lunch meeting unexpectedly cancelled so I was able to duck home and do a (relatively) quick eco-horror doubleheader.

The Bay: as noted earlier, I reallylike the docu-horror genre, and this was a really solid entry. Super tense throughout, pretty fucked up also. Gross body horror stuff. Thumbs up.

The Beach House: Overall the movie isn’t bad, but it was frustrating how frequently the film maker choose to bump the fog machine up to max as or had the lights super low, as I don’t really care for not being able to see what’s going on. And I don’t mean the “oh the lights went out and oh shit there’s a clown” type of moments, I just mean there were long stretches where there’s just no visibility, and while I get it’s done for effect, it just was not effective.

[Rip]

Watched Daniel Isn’t Real last night.  Man that ended up being really, really good.  For sure wasn’t expecting it to go the direction it did and I’m glad.

[iwokeinrelief]

1 hour ago, Rip said:

Watched Daniel Isn’t Real last night.  Man that ended up being really, really good.  For sure wasn’t expecting it to go the direction it did and I’m glad.

I would honestly have *so many* questions if you saw the ending to that one coming 😂

[Rip]

I can’t believe I’m saying this but the first 2 episodes of the new season of American Horror Story were actually pretty good.  I mean… by AHS standards at least.  Wife and I have been hate-watching it for years now but if this season keeps going at this rate it might be one of the better seasons.

[iwokeinrelief]

On 8/18/2021 at 7:26 AM, Rip said:

Just came in here to say I finished Brand New Cherry Flavor last night.  Man it was so sooo good.  Highly recommended if you’re a fan of Lynch and/or Cronenberg.

 

Been a huge fan of Nick Antosca ever since Channel Zero (which I loved A LOT.  Such a shame it got cancelled).  Pretty much enjoyed everything he’s done since then so I’m super excited for the new Chuck series too.

Finally finished BNCF last night (school +soccer + softball all starting back are playing havoc with our weekday watching times!) and we both really enjoyed it. Much darker / more fucked up than the Channel 0 stuff, but still very much in that vein.

 

There’s one scene (I won’t put spoilers here, but you can probably guess which one @Rip) that I’m honestly surprised and impressed Netflix let them put in 😳

[Rip]

12 hours ago, iwokeinrelief said:

Finally finished BNCF last night (school +soccer + softball all starting back are playing havoc with our weekday watching times!) and we both really enjoyed it. Much darker / more fucked up than the Channel 0 stuff, but still very much in that vein.

 

There’s one scene (I won’t put spoilers here, but you can probably guess which one @Rip) that I’m honestly surprised and impressed Netflix let them put in 😳

The big one is particular that comes to mind is the part where… uh.  Let’s just say the one guy gets a little “hands-y.”  We thinking of the same thing? 

[iwokeinrelief]

1 hour ago, Rip said:

The big one is particular that comes to mind is the part where… uh.  Let’s just say the one guy gets a little “hands-y.”  We thinking of the same thing? 

YUP 😂

[radiatorhums]

17 hours ago, iwokeinrelief said:

Finally finished BNCF last night

I finished it last night  and enjoyed some of it, but overall something didn't quite work for me.  I can't pin down what specifically, because on paper this is right up my alley.  I thought Rosa Salazar and Catherine Keener were great.  Those two and the gore / weirdness kept me coming back.  I watched it over the course of a few weeks and maybe it works better as a binge.

 

Couple other things I watched and liked recently

 

Teddy - Takes some familiar werewolf/puberty themes and executes them really well. 

 

Bloody Knuckles - This was a lot of a fun in a Troma-esque way.

[Rip]

4 minutes ago, radiatorhums said:

I finished it last night  and enjoyed some of it, but overall something didn't quite work for me.  I can't pin down what specifically, because on paper this is right up my alley.  I thought Rosa Salazar and Catherine Keener were great.  Those two and the gore / weirdness kept me coming back.  I watched it over the course of a few weeks and maybe it works better as a binge.

 

My only major complaint is that the ending felt kind of anticlimactic.