31 Days of Halloween 2021

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NoOneofConsequence
Posts: 228
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2020 7:11 pm
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31 Days of Halloween 2021

Post by NoOneofConsequence »

SO, this month I've been trying to watch a horror (or at least horror/Halloween adjacent) film I've not seen before every day. At times this is easy, as there are a number of either older films or very new ones I've not seen. On the other hand, it's a bit hard as a number of the stuff over the years I've not seen is because they've been not very good. Anyway, from the first couple of days:

Phantasm (1979) - So I'd actually never seen this, in spite of being aware of it from certain behind the scenes special effects shows which aired on Nickelodeon (of all places) back in the mid 80s. I think it had just completely fallen off the radar by the late 80s when I started to take an active interest in horror films. This was the remasters version being shown on Amazon Prime. It's a good film, and the characters are rather different from what you think of as the standard horror film characters. Over all, the entire thing has this very surreal dream like quality to it that makes it more eerie than scary, but I think that kind of works in its favor.

Errementari: The Blacksmith & The Devil (2016) - From Netflix, based on the Basque version of a traditional European folktale, set in the Basque region of 19th century Spain. And in Basque with English subtitles. This is really more of a dark fantasy period piece rather than a horror story, but I rather like it. The set design and atmosphere are very good, and the acting and visual effects are both solid.

Books of Blood (2020) - Made for Hulu, this is billed as an anthology based on stories from the Clive Barker books of the same name. And that is at least partially true. It does use the titular story from Barker as the middle piece of the film, but the rest is entirely original and a little uneven. The first act drags just a little, and the final part is so short as to be almost an afterthought. I honestly wonder if the makers of this were honestly just trying to get their idea for the first story made into a film and shoehorned the Barker material in as a way to get financing and distribution. Which is a shame, because said original story isn't that bad and I think would've worked better as a stand alone (short) film. As for the Barker story in question, the 2009 film Book of Blood (singular) is a much better adaption of that story. The final part does at least present the interesting idea of a part of a city/town being permanently scarred by a paranormal event, which I have filed away for later idea fodder.

Blood Red Sky (2021) - Back to Netflix. A mother and son are flying from Germany to Boston for her to get medical treatment for her condition when the flight is highjacked and she has to protect her son. And I'm not giving anything away by saying that her condition is vampirism, as that's the film's high concept and is shown in the trailers and thumbnails. This works pretty well as both a vampire film and a highjacking film (or whatever we call the "Die Hard on an X" genre), with a good cast. My only real quibble is with Dominic Purcell as the lead highjacker, as he seems a little to TV-famous for this film IMO (being best known for Prison Break and Legends of Tomorrow - or as I call it, 8 Side Characters in Search of a Plot). If you enjoy either of those genres, I recommend giving it a watch.

The Field Guide to Evil (2018) - Hulu again. This is an international anthology collecting short films from different countries, each based on a piece of folk lore from that country/culture. Like all anthologies, it's a little uneven in places, but otherwise pretty solid. All of them are fairly different in their style, cinematography, and other aspects, though the ones from Austria and Germany are perhaps the most similar. The Greek story reminds me in some ways of John Boorman's 1981 film Excalibur with its visuals, and this may be intentional as it is set in the early 80s. The Hungarian film is the most avant garde/surreal in its style. If you have an interest in international film or in folklore, you may wish to give this a shot. The music played over the closing credits is nicely creepy.

Split Second (1992) - On Amazon Prime. An odd sort of cyberpunk sci fi horror thing starring the late Rutger Hauer as a burnt out (read deranged) cop chasing a serial killer in near future London. And by "near future", I mean 2008. (Those of you who live in the UK surely remember the massive flooding of that year which required police to go everywhere in hovercraft.) Hauer's character has gone a bit off the deep end since the killer murdered his partner a few years ago, and the fact that the killer apparently isn't human doesn't help him any. Overall, it's not too bad for early 90s sci fi, but doesn't stand out too much either. Neil Duncan plays Hauer's new younger and much more British partner, and Kim Cattrall is the mostly extraneous love interest. I did enjoy a lot of the setting details and set dressing. There's a number of ideas here that would be interesting to see resurrected and explored in some fashion.

Uzamaki (2000) - Amazon Prime. A Japanese film (the title means "Spiral"). It's based on a horror manga by Junji Ito, about a small town being plagued by a supernatural curse involving spiral patterns. However, it was apparently made before the manga finished, and has a totally different ending. It's a very strange film, apparently deliberately made to look like old film stock, and it incorporates some of the natural distortions of that media into its visual effects. No answers are given for the curse (again, this owes to the manga not being finished). Still, it is interesting and I'm slightly curious about the anime adaption slated for next year. (If you have issues with vertigo, I recommend skipping it though.)

More to come.
What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly. That is the first law of nature.
Voltaire, "Tolerance" (1764)
NoOneofConsequence
Posts: 228
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2020 7:11 pm
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Re: 31 Days of Halloween 2021

Post by NoOneofConsequence »

The Ritual (2017) - On Netflix. Somewhat loosely based on a novel by Adam Nevill. Four British friends go hiking in Sweden as a memorial of sorts to their late friend and after venturing off the trail, they find themselves being stalked by a mysterious entity. I really enjoyed this quite a bit. It's a fairly lean story that doesn't bog itself down with exposition. The creature design is really interesting, with you never really getting a clear look at it, and even the explanation behind its existence is totally unreliable. The atmosphere is great, even if Romania is standing in for Sweden, and the cast is solid. All in all a solid horror film.

Timecrimes aka Los Chronocrímenes (2007) - On Amazon Prime. A Spanish film. Not exactly a horror film, in spite of some of its marketing, but it has a some interesting ideas about predestination. It starts a little slow, but gradually builds to a decent climax. Overall, it was pretty good, especially considering it only has a cast of five people and very limited effects.

Ghost Stories (2017) - On Hulu. Based on a stage play by the same creators. A professional debunker of fake psychics finds himself contacted by his long missing idol/inspiration and challenged to investigate three cases the older man could never explain. The three cases give a nice cross section of Britain's economic tiers (working class, suburban, wealthy) and are pretty effective ghost stories on their own even without the overarching narrative. The last one does suffer just a bit from being the set up to the climax of said narrative. There's a twist at the end, one I already knew about from seeing this film discussed on various YouTube channels, but ironically I think this made me pay more attention to a lot of the smaller details that helped set it up. All in all a really good film and one I recommend if you've not seen it.

ParaNorman (2012) - On Netflix. A stop motion animation film from Laika, the same people who made Coraline and Kubo & The Twelve Strings. Unfortunately, this isn't anywhere as good as those two other films.
It's about Norman, an 11 year old boy who can see and talk to ghosts, and him having to deal with a 300 year old witches curse on his town. This is actually a great idea for a story, and I would've loved to have seen this done in the late 80s as a live action film in the same vein as something like Monster Squad. As it is, this is not a terrible film; It's just not all that good either. The characters are so universally moronic (to the point of being brain dead) and one dimensional (if that) that they are almost unbearable to watch. And that's the protagonists. Supporting characters are even worse. The climax at least makes having sat through the film almost worth it, as its pretty well done. But it only manages to balance out what came before instead of elevating to something really good.

Southbound (2015) - On Hulu. Sort of an anthology, but not entirely as the stories all segue from on to the next without much transition, ultimately adding up to a single whole. The stories are all suitably weird and that mood is helped a lot by the cinematography and lost desert highway setting. Also by the really excellent score. The cast is all solid as well. There's an interesting theme of guilt, remorse, and bad choices running through the entire thing. While this is unlikely to end up as one of the best films I'll be watching this month, there is a good amount of material for me to chew over for future inspiration, and I'm glad I picked it.

More to come.
What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly. That is the first law of nature.
Voltaire, "Tolerance" (1764)
NoOneofConsequence
Posts: 228
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2020 7:11 pm
Location: Beyond Thunder River

Re: 31 Days of Halloween 2021

Post by NoOneofConsequence »

The Devil Below (2021) - On Netflix. A five person research team go looking for a vanished Appalachian mining town which disappeared from official records back in the 1970s to find out what really happened. This was a surprisingly good film, and at only 90 minutes doesn't waste any time with unnecessary padding. The cast is good and the location shots in Kentucky are very atmospheric and nicely gothic in a way. Much like The Ritual, you never get a clear look at the cause of the events, nor is a definitive explanation ever given. Overall, I'm very happy I decided to watch this one.

Final Girls (2015) - On Hulu. A group of friends find themselves trapped in an 80s slasher film with chaotic results. This is primarily a comedy, but generally a pretty good one and with a decent amount of heart and depth to it. The CGI used for a few scenes is very low budget, but not to the point of being deal breaking. It almost fits some of the surreal tone of the film within a film. It's rated PG-13, so all of the usual slasher elements such as actual gore are toned down to the point on non-existence. I find myself kind of wishing there were an unrated version with ludicrously over the top gore, excessive swearing, and badly spliced in gratuitous nudity of both genders using obvious body doubles. But this is a good film.
(My biggest nit pick is my pet peeve of "You're doing the 80s wrong". Like when you see someone at an 80s themed party with Mr. T hair, a Miami Vice jacket, and hair metal pants. The slasher film is supposed to have been made in 1986, but at one point they play Warrent's "Cherry Pie", which didn't come out until 1990. And they play it on vinyl, no less.)

Blood Fest (2015) - On Amazon Prime. Another sort of horror-comedy, this one about a group of friends who go to a massive horror fan festival (one kind of set up like a Disneyland of horror, with various areas devoted to different sub-genres), and then real horror breaks out. I generally enjoyed this quite a bit, even if it is a little too self-aware/ironic at times, and I could see the twist at the end coming a mile away. There's a number of fun background references/Easter eggs and the cast is mostly likable. If you enjoyed Cabin in the Woods, you will probably find this entertaining as well.

Almost Human (2013) - On Hulu. A sci fi horror film in which a man is kidnapped by a UFO and returns two years later no longer normal. It's set in 1989 and in a refreshing change for an 80s period piece, it doesn't beat you over the head with "remember this?" 80s pop culture references (or get them wrong like above). Instead it's just detail work like car models, every day clothing, house phones with cords, and stores with actual stock on the shelves. I appreciate the effort. I also appreciate the realistic levels of gore which are neither glossed over nor done with bad CGI. Overall, this isn't a great film, as it has some pacing issues and repeats information unnecessarily fairly often. It's rough around the edges, and was apparently the first directing outing for writer Joe Begos. But it certainly isn't bad, being above average and mostly solid.

Uncaged (2020*) - Amazon Prime. OK, so I blame myself for this, as I really should've done more research before watching this, but trying to find any information on it online when doing this review was like trying to track down Bigfoot or something. I decided to watch this because I vaguely remembered some trailers for it back when it was released in theaters before the "2 weeks to flatten the curve", and through it might be interesting. I very quickly realized that this film was dubbed into English. Very badly dubbed. Like, makes 70s Kung Fu movies look good by comparison. And there was no option for the original Dutch audio. Because this is a Dutch film, originally released in 2016 as Prooi ("Prey"). And it was available for rental in that version on Amazon Prime for 99 cents. Had I known that, I would've gladly payed the dollar to not have to listen to terrible English dub voice acting. Because I hate that kind of thing by an order of magnitude more than I do doing the 80s wrong.
Anyway, this is about a man eating lion loose in Amsterdam. In a lot of ways, this feels a lot like the sort of science-thriller books you'd see in the 90s, by people like Michael Crichton, James Rollins, and Preston & Child. The ones were something on the fringes of theoretical real science - cloning dinosaurs, for example - would be the catalyst for an adventure and offer an excuse to have characters talk about the science behind it. I was actually a little surprised this wasn't adapted from such a book, because it kind of feels like someone took such a book, adapted it, and then had studio executives insist most of the science discussion be edited out. Because if this was a novel, then the zoo vet and the lion hunter who are primary characters would have spent a good amount of time discussing lion biology, hunting behavior, their trafficking as exotic pets, etc. But there's none of that here, and I kind of wish there was at least a little of it. Anyway, this is a decent film, especially as a sort of 90s throwback. I just really wish I'd seen it in the original Dutch.

More to come.
What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly. That is the first law of nature.
Voltaire, "Tolerance" (1764)
NoOneofConsequence
Posts: 228
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2020 7:11 pm
Location: Beyond Thunder River

Re: 31 Days of Halloween 2021

Post by NoOneofConsequence »

The Lighthouse (2019) - On Amazon Prime. Wow, this was a weird one. It's kind of amazing what you can do with just two people in a very isolated situation. There's no dialog for the first seven minutes. Just that repetitive foghorn that ends up hanging over the entire film like some sort of omnipresent omen of doom. While being in black and white and having that pre-widescreen square picture ratio gives it a classic film throwback quality, the description that first came to my mind was Lovecraftian. Not in the "big tentacled monster" sense, but in the "this is heavily driven by anxiety and a slow decent into mental instability" sense. It feels very claustrophobic and there's a feeling of sensory deprivation at times, with the perspectives of both characters being unreliable and the viewer never really knowing what is real or delusion. It's a good film, but I'm not sure I'll be in a hurry to watch it again soon.

The Old Ways (2020) - On Netflix. A Mexican-American reporter returns to her home town near Veracruz, but is kidnapped by locals who think she is possessed. You kind of get dropped into this in medias res, with some of the background filled in with flash backs. In addition, the main character is a little bit of an unreliable narrator, so there are periods when you wonder if what you are seeing is literal or if its metaphor. Overall, I think this was a pretty good film, but I do have a life long interest in mysticism and folk religions.

Nobody Sleeps in the Woods Tonight (2020) - On Netflix. This is a Polish film, doing a very strong homage to classic 80s slasher films but in a modern setting. It's a camp for kids with Internet addictions, where they have to spend a three day wilderness trip with no cell phones or other modern devices. Unfortunately, this set of woods happens to be home to something that likes to kill and eat anything it can get a hold of, including people. The teens (six of them, with one councilor, as the campers all got split up in groups) are actually likable. Seriously, it's like the writers looked at the biggest weakness of the slasher genre - irritating characters - and decided to fix it. While they start somewhat as stereotypes, you actually get to know them a little and they have some depth, to the point where I was actually kind of sad when they died. I really do recommend this if you enjoy the slasher genre.

The House with a Clock in its Walls (2018) - Off of my DVR (I recorded this last year when the cable company gave everyone free premium movie channels for a month when the "2 weeks" started and only now got around to watching it). Based on the novel by John Bellairs. In the 1950s, a young obligatorily nerdy recently orphaned boy moves in with his estranged uncle, who turns out the be a warlock. Adventure ensues. This is a pretty good film, with a lot of fun ideas (some of them similar to Harry Potter, though the book predates that by a few decades). Rather surprisingly, this was directed by Eli Roth, of Hostel infamy. I'm hoping for a sequel.

The 8th Night (2021) - On Netflix. A Korean film. Two and a half millennia ago, the Buddha defeated a demon and sealed the source of its power - its eyes - away in a pair of jars that were buried at the ends of the earth (in this case Pakistan and Korea), but they are destined to reunite and resurrect the demon. A Buddhist monk is tasked with preventing this. I have mixed feelings about this film. It is by no means bad. The acting, cinematography, and overall idea are good, and it does raise some interesting philosophical questions at times. But for some reason it didn't really click with me on some level. Part of that may be some of the pacing, and the fact that you never really get to know any of the victims of the curse/demon prior to them being possessed. Or it could've just been my mood at the time.

More to come.
What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly. That is the first law of nature.
Voltaire, "Tolerance" (1764)
NoOneofConsequence
Posts: 228
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2020 7:11 pm
Location: Beyond Thunder River

Re: 31 Days of Halloween 2021

Post by NoOneofConsequence »

(I'd hoped to post this yesterday so as to not do two in one day, but circumstances prevented it.)

Cadaver (2020) - On Netflix. More properly Kadaver, the original Norwegian title, as this is in Norwegian with English subtitles. Basically, in Norwegian city ruined by some sort of atomic disaster - it's not exactly specified what, but given that everyone wasn't relocated somewhere else, I presume it may have been some sort of war or other wide ranging event - the people who remain live in misery and hunger. This includes a former stage actress, her husband and their daughter. One day, someone shows up in the neighborhood offering tickets to dinner and a show at the huge luxury hotel which overlooks the town (and curiously the only place that seems to still have electricity). If you find this suspicious, you are minimally observant, or at least not so totally desperate as to ignore it. Said show involves the audience following the players as they roam through the hotel. What follows is a rather fascinating bit of surreal macabre, and at times you are questioning what is real and what is artifice. It doesn't hurt that the cinematography and sets are so nice to look at too. While this isn't exactly an original or ground breaking story, it's solidly done work that was enjoyable to watch.

Your Next (2011) - On Hulu. A family - parents, their adult kids and their significant others - is victim of a trio of home invaders/murderers. This was a really good film. The cast were all good and the story worked very well. None of the characters wear out their welcome or annoy. And a pretty decent amount of gore. If you enjoy slasher films, I do recommend it.

A Comedy of Terrors (1964) - On Amazon Prime. What can one say about a film staring Vincent Price and Peter Lorre with Basil Rathbone and Boris Karloff? And written by Richard Matheson* to boot. This was something of a followup to 1962's Tales of Terror, with Matheson being tired of writing films about people being buried alive and so wanting to make a farce about it. This is a very silly film, but I generally enjoyed it. I was a huge fan of Vincent Price as a child and had never seen this one. The sets are all nice, and it's very amusing seeing Price hamming it up as a drunken lout and cad. The other big highlight is getting to see Rathbone's manic renditions of sections of Shakespeare's MacBeth.

May (2002) - One Tubi. (I have mixed feelings about Tubi; One the one hand they have a lot of stuff I can't find anywhere else, but on the other is that they have commercial breaks, and are worse about them than YouTube.) This is one I've been meaning to watch for almost 20 years, but just never got around to it. Mainly because after all the Blockbusters closed, it never seemed to show up on any of the streaming services. Interestingly, this feels a lot like the various "indie" films from the 90s, and even feels like it pre-dates the self-referential period following Scream and the annoying snarkery spawned by Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The plot follows May, a young woman who is a social misfit and not entirely mentally stable as she unsuccessfully navigates the world of romance to an ultimately tragic end. The cast is all good, especially Angela Bettis in the title role. I like this film, but I'm not going to be in a hurry to rewatch it, as it involves a lot of awkward social interaction which I always find incredibly uncomfortable to watch.

The Turn of the Screw (2009) - One Amazon Prime. A BBC adaption of the Henry James classic story. The film moves the setting from the 1840s to the 1920s, shortly after the Great War, and looks very pretty. It also plays up a lot of the feminist and sexual elements some critics have interpreted from the original. The cast is all good, including the two child actors who manage to not be annoying. I generally liked it, mainly for the atmosphere and just because it's a good story.

More to come.
What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly. That is the first law of nature.
Voltaire, "Tolerance" (1764)
NoOneofConsequence
Posts: 228
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2020 7:11 pm
Location: Beyond Thunder River

Re: 31 Days of Halloween 2021

Post by NoOneofConsequence »

And the final four.

The Mummy (1932) - On Tubi. While I'd seen some of the classic Universal Monster films way back in the 80s as a kid, I'd never seen this one. I'd forgotten how short a lot of these were, with this coming in at only 73 minutes. It's rather interesting that the titular character only appears in his bandaged form for maybe a few minutes, as growing up I'd always seen the character portrayed that way (in the line of 3.75" action figures released in the 80s, for example, or when being referenced in things like Monster Squad or Waxworks, and even Marvel's The Living Mummy). And as a fan of the 1999 version, I was kind of fascinated to see just how many parts of the original were incorporated into the remake. I'll confess that the writing of this film leaves a little to be desired, especially from modern perspectives, but Karloff is imposing as the Mummy, and the sets are all really nice. Also, the presence of an expert in Egyptian magic and mysticism feels a little like it's trying to ape the Van Helsing role from Dracula. Curiously, both said expert and the heroic lead are totally ineffectual against the villain, with the day only being saved by the heroine beseeching the goddess Isis for aid.

Suspiria (1977) - on Tubi. This is considered one of the classics of Italian horror cinema, and for good reason. The basic plot is an American comes to attend a ballet school in southern Germany, and events go from odd to weird to horrific in short order. The acting is all good, and even though some of it is dubbed, they actually managed to do a decent job of it so that it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb. The music is uniquely strange, being done by Italian prog-rock band Goblin. But where this film really shines is visually. The sets are gorgeous in this sort of overdone 70s Euro style, and the film does a beautiful job of playing with color and lighting. If you have any interest in European horror films and have never seen it, I really recommend it.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) - On BluRay. I have a fascination with German expressionist films, mainly because they are often so pretty to look at. This very early work, involving a murderous doctor and his sleepwalking servant, and is effectively structured as a six act play. The sets all look like that of a stage play, and on top of that are all done in a distorted and leaning fashion which feels like it would be prefect for certain Kafka works. I'm honestly surprised that Tim Burton has never tried to remake this, as it is clearly a major influence on his style. It's interesting how the film switches from a gold sepia tone for day light and then to a blue tint for night and darkness. Also, rather than the standard caption cards from typical silent films, this uses very stylized ones.

Color Out of Space (2019) - On BluRay. "Colour Out of Space" is probably one of my favorite HP Lovecraft stories, mainly because its incredibly sense of atmosphere is one of the few times I can remember feeling a real sense of unease and even dread from reading it. So, in spite of its generally positive reviews and good word of mouth, I was a little apprehensive about watching this. But it ultimately turns out to be really good. As much as I like Nick Cage, he may be the weakest part of this film, just because you can't help but see him as Nick Cage, and some of his mannerisms occasionally lean too close to the living meme he's become. But thankfully the rest of the cast picks up a lot of the slack by being really good. Likewise the effects and the setting. I'd probably call this one of the best adaptions of Lovecraft's work, alongside Re-Animator and The Resurrected.

And so that's my 31 for Halloween. I think if I was going to pick the best thing I watched for this, it'd probably be The Ritual. . (Weakest is ParaNorman, hands down.)
What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly. That is the first law of nature.
Voltaire, "Tolerance" (1764)
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