The Official Horror Thread

[Rip]

Woah.  Livide is coming to Shudder next month!  First time it’s ever been available to watch in the US since it’s festival run in 2011.  I grabbed the region-b blu-ray from Amazon UK years ago and it’s totally worth it.  I absolutely love this movie and I’m so glad more people get to see it: https://bloody-disgusting.com/movie/3703094/alexandre-bustillo-and-julien-maurys-previously-unreleased-livid-comes-to-shudder-next-month

[Rip]

Alien invasion??  Let’s goooooo

 

[iwokeinrelief]

Not specifically horror but enough overlap to warrant mention here - my wife and I finished up that Netflix limited series Hellbound (by Yeon Sang-ho who directed Train to Busan) last night.  It's a quick watch at only 6 episodes, and i highly recommend it.  With a couple small caveats.  First, the CGI of the angel and the creatures looks *not great* which is easy to get past, but it stands out since overall the series is really well done and in general has really solid production.  Second, I went in expecting something completely different than what i got, and i should note that the series is waaaaay more meditative and contemplative than i expected.  It's still pretty bonkers, but it's way more on the smart side than the crazy side.

[Rip]

New Texas Chainsaw out tomorrow on Netflix.  Supposed to be a direct sequel to the original.  Kinda like what Halloween did recently.  Might rewatch the first one right before because it’s been a while.

[iwokeinrelief]

11 hours ago, Rip said:

New Texas Chainsaw out tomorrow on Netflix.  Supposed to be a direct sequel to the original.  Kinda like what Halloween did recently.  Might rewatch the first one right before because it’s been a while.

Interested to hear your thoughts on it - the reviews I've seen so far have been... less than kind.

We started that Netflix limited series Sweet Home last night and I'm really digging it through one episode, even if most of it was setup.  The overall trajectory they're putting in place by the end of the episode looks completely batshit insane (a quality I treasure in horror media) so very much looking forward to this one.

[iwokeinrelief]

Completely independent of how good or bad the new TCM is I went ahead and picked up the soundtrack through Waxwork because I ❤️ Colin Stetson a great deal.

[radiatorhums]

I watched Scream (2022) last night and it's a bit of a mixed bag, but I found it enjoyable enough.   Some of the dialogue is awful and Melissa Barrera's performance is pretty bad.   I think this plagues most reboot/sequel hybrids, but it leans a little too heavily on homages to the original and probably spends too much time with Dewey/Sydney/Gale and not enough on the new cast.   On the plus side, they got the meta stuff right.  It's got a similar look and feel to the originals as well.

 

Going to watch TCM tonight.  I'm cautiously optimistic, but that seems to be a franchise than no one gets right.

[Rip]

3 hours ago, iwokeinrelief said:

Completely independent of how good or bad the new TCM is I went ahead and picked up the soundtrack through Waxwork because I ❤️ Colin Stetson a great deal.

I need to do that too.  Looks great.

[Rip]

Had a pretty good day yesterday.  Watched:

- Last Night in Soho: not a full on horror movie of course but there were for sure elements.  I loved it a lot though.  Edgar Wright is so damn consistent.

- Antlers: I also really liked this one.  Not a feel-good movie in any sense, but I don’t ever expect that out of a horror movie.  It looked fantastic as well, especially the monster.

- Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022): seems like most people didn’t like this one but it didn’t mind it.  Some really cool kills and the soundtrack was awesome.  I also thought it was interesting that they pretty much made Leatherface a sympathetic character in this.  And I think this is the point a lot of people missed.  I couldn’t stand any of the main characters and I couldn’t have cared less if they died.

 

Also gonna throw this out there: if anyone has only watched like… the first season or 2 of The Servant, do yourself a favor and stop there.  3rd season has been “fine” I guess but they’re halfway through it and literally nothing has happened.  I don’t know what the end game is gonna be, but they really should’ve just stopped after the first season.

[radiatorhums]

15 hours ago, Rip said:

- Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022): seems like most people didn’t like this one but it didn’t mind it.  Some really cool kills and the soundtrack was awesome.  I also thought it was interesting that they pretty much made Leatherface a sympathetic character in this.  And I think this is the point a lot of people missed.  I couldn’t stand any of the main characters and I couldn’t have cared less if they died.

I mostly enjoyed it!  I thought it was a really fun slasher, but it wasn't necessarily a good TCM.  Kind of thought it would've made a better Friday the 13th or maybe Halloween movie.  Definitely some cool kills!  The first one was something I don't think I've seen before.

[radiatorhums]

I watched Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) for the first time last night.  I really enjoyed it!  Cool visuals, great monster design and a fair amount of gore.  I was expecting it to be a more conventional film and was pleasantly surprised with how stylized it was.

[Subdomestic]

On 2/23/2022 at 11:27 AM, radiatorhums said:

I watched Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) for the first time last night.  I really enjoyed it!  Cool visuals, great monster design and a fair amount of gore.  I was expecting it to be a more conventional film and was pleasantly surprised with how stylized it was.

That is a great movie. I don't know how many times I watched it before I realized Gary Oldman was Dracula.

 

I've finally had some time to get back to horror stuff again and have been kinda aimlessly picking things on Shudder.

 

In the past few weeks I watched...

 

Castle Freak (1995). Spooky naked goblin lives in a castle (duh) and terrorizes occupants. Pretty straightforward story but I enjoyed it. Didn't pick up on the cast/director connection with Reanimator until afterwards.

 

Castle Freak (2020). Didn't enjoy it as much as the original. Started off thinking it was a note-for-note remake and then it took a weird left turn into (incestuous?) sex cults. The plot felt kind of forced into being overly complicated and all of the characters were unlikeable. 

 

Hellmaster (1992). I picked this at random and ended up really liking it. Scratched an itch for the vibe of a late 80's/early 90's horror movie with gross monsters, a mad scientist and dumb students who get killed.

 

I also finished watching the Deadhouse Dark series. Like any anthology, it's a little hit and miss but it has some good episodes. The episodes are short (less than 20 minutes) and there's only six so it's a pretty easy watch.

 

[jhulud]

Just watched Studio 666. It was greatly enjoyable. Plenty of gore & goofiness. I highly recommend it. 

[radiatorhums]

 

1 hour ago, Subdomestic said:

Hellmaster (1992). I picked this at random and ended up really liking it. Scratched an itch for the vibe of a late 80's/early 90's horror movie with gross monsters, a mad scientist and dumb students who get killed.

This sounds right up my alley

[Subdomestic]

4 minutes ago, radiatorhums said:

 

This sounds right up my alley

It has its share of headscratcher moments, and it drives some religious themes pretty hard, but I had a good time with it.  Not a perfect movie by any means but it is fun.

[iwokeinrelief]

We’ve still got three episodes of Sweet Home left - ugh life gets in the way some time - and I’m still loving it.
But we took a quick pause on that last night to delay the rush to denouement (I’m going to a couple experimental composition concerts the next two nights, so it’ll be next this coming week before we can string 3 nights in a row together) to watch Hellbender (on Shudder): Another one - much like We’re All Going to the World’s Fair - with the outer coating of horror but instead is much more interested in telling a coming of age story than anything close to horror. Which is a bit odd for a movie about a mother-daughter witch duo, as in there are 100% unambiguous horror trappings here, but it’s ultimately about navigating and testing a relationship through sudden and violent change. It’s an unapologetically sweet film, so I’m sure it’ll be well received by all the horror-heads that always get really pissy when movies fail their purity test 😂

Edited February 26, 2022 by iwokeinrelief

[Rip]

Got through some stuff today:

 

Halloween Kills: this was actually… not great.  Some cool kills but holy hell some of the cringiest, corny dialogue throughout.  It was like non-stop.  I couldn’t believe it.  Pretty disappointing seeing as I remember liking the last one that came out.

 

The Deep House: I thought it was just okay.  Concept was cool with it being actually filmed underwater for like 80% of it, but it felt like that was it’s whole “gimmick” and the actual story took a back seat.  Definitely my least favorite of  Bustillo and Maury’s stuff so far.

 

Megan is Missing: this one was pretty rough.  Mainly for the god-awful acting.  Only time it got interesting was within the last 30-40 minutes or so.  And it gets pretty fucked up.  I won’t spoil anything but if you’ve heard anyone talk about this movie, it’s mainly for the last 20 minutes.  Overall I wouldn’t recommend it, but it’s only an hour and 25 minutes so if you got the time to spare, then go ahead.

[radiatorhums]

Was at home most of the weekend, so I got some things watched

 

6:45 - starts out promising enough, but gets worse at such a slow rate that by the time I realized it was awful I only had ~20 minutes left.

 

Alligator - It has a giant alligator and Robert Forster, what more could you want?!  This was a ton of fun and a perfect movie to recover from the dud that was 6:45.

 

Breeder - Based on the synopsis and poster, I was expecting a sci-fi/horror movie and it's very much not that.  It doesn't quite hit the extremes of Martyrs/A Serbian Film/etc, but it's close.  Has some Hostel vibes too.  In terms of quality, it's a decent movie, but nothing fantastic.  Worth a watch if you're the mood for that type of film

 

On the non-horror side of things, I really liked Licorice Pizza.

[iwokeinrelief]

Watched the new Mattie Do film “The Long Walk” (great write up here: https://www.polygon.com/reviews/22962239/the-long-walk-review-mattie-do) and was really impressed with it.

 

Watched the Turkish flick Baskin and was… less impressed. It was kind of meh.

Edited March 7, 2022 by iwokeinrelief

[iwokeinrelief]

+ I watched Martyrs for the first time.  Did not expect to actually enjoy it just based on reputation, but it was really good.  Pitch black nihilism, but *good* pitch black nihilism 😂

[Rip]

7 hours ago, iwokeinrelief said:

+ I watched Martyrs for the first time.  Did not expect to actually enjoy it just based on reputation, but it was really good.  Pitch black nihilism, but *good* pitch black nihilism 😂

Duuuude.  Would kill to see that for the first time again.  Might be my favorite horror film of all-time.

[iwokeinrelief]

7 hours ago, Rip said:

Duuuude.  Would kill to see that for the first time again.  Might be my favorite horror film of all-time.

It's reputation is actually a bit unfortunate as people always seem to hold it up as this extremely difficult to stomach flick, so that always kept it lower on my list of things to watch, but I found it much more thoughtful and evenly paced than I expected.  It's troubling as hell, but that's a feature, not a bug.

[iwokeinrelief]

Then I did an Inside / Frontier(s) double header this morning. (great way to start a day 😂) Inside was definitely the best I've seen from those directors, and I enjoyed it quite a bit (for certain values of "enjoy); Frontier(s) was meh and pretty standard for that post-Saw/post-Hostel timeframe.

[Rip]

10 hours ago, iwokeinrelief said:

Then I did an Inside / Frontier(s) double header this morning. (great way to start a day 😂) Inside was definitely the best I've seen from those directors, and I enjoyed it quite a bit (for certain values of "enjoy); Frontier(s) was meh and pretty standard for that post-Saw/post-Hostel timeframe.

You’re knocking out all the classics!  So much good stuff.  

[iwokeinrelief]

7 hours ago, Rip said:

You’re knocking out all the classics!  So much good stuff.  

Would rather be playing Elden Ring but am instead killing time waiting for my wrist to heal 😂 Shudder throwing a bunch of this stuff up last week was convenient though because it's given me something to watch the past couple days.