Most of what I've seen lately isn't worth mentioning either as good or bad. It just was. Not worth seeking out and watching for anyone else but not worth avoiding totally either. Though last night I saw a movie called Last Shift and I really enjoyed it. Started nice and slow but built up to some really creepy scenes and nice acting as well. Almost had some Silent Hill vibes in it. The story lacked a bit but for a nice scary evening it was a good watch and I'm very glad I saw it. Basically a rookie cop is tasked with spending the last night in a closed police precinct that turns out to be not quite so empty. Find it if you can. You probably won't regret it.
I've seen too many duds as well. Also saw Ouija and thought it was meh. The Harvest (with Michael Shannon) was okay. Another slow burn, and not horror per se. I watched Annabelle awhile back and didn't expect much, since The Conjuring was such a cliche ridden mess, but it was pretty decent. Of course it devolved into the typical Catholicism/exorcism mumbo-jumbo by the end of it. Better than any of those damn Insidious movies. October always makes me pine for the classics. Hoping to catch plenty of '80s gore and slasher flicks OnDemand, etc.
It's been mentioned here a few times before, but I still find myself thinking about Ben Wheatley's Kill List all the time. It starts out as a sort-of kitchen sink drama, and proceeds slowly through what you could call a few different genres, ending as a genuinely unnerving and effective horror tale. Not for everyone, sure, but I'd like to see more genre cinema that travels with such disregard for keeping in line with a pat set of perimeters. Another film that I liked a lot from the same year - also British - was Lynn Ramsay's We Need to Talk About Kevin. Also not explicitly horror, but it has a deeply peculiar and disquieting tone throughout, and tells its fractured story in a thrillingly visual way. Worth a look... even though you might just hate it! Baghead, an early Duplass brothers effort, is another great experiment in the horror-that's-not-horror field of play. On it's surface a character piece, it descends very organically into something like, but not like, a cabin-in-the-woods slasher. I don't want to say too much about it, but I'm curious what others thought of this little picture.
Kill List is awesome, as is his other movie Sightseers. A Field in England was drivel, but 2 outta 3 ain't bad. Hoping his adaptation of Ballard's High-Rise is good.
Yes! Really looking forward to that one. Does anyone else consider Cronenberg's Shivers to be a bit of a riff on High Rise?
Shivers is what actually turned my on to High-Rise. Read that they were similar, then found out Wheatley was adapting it to film. Not sure if it's been release yet or not, but hoping it makes its way here, if only on Netflix.
Watched "Goodnight Mommy" last night...was really looking forward to it due to it's awesome trailer, but was let down Sadly, it was very predictable.
Been sticking with classics or at least decent stuff. Can't keep seeing bland so called horror. Throw on Madman and you will be so much happier
Just saw The Green Inferno. Worth a watch, but I wouldn't drop the monies on it for a second run. Mostly not what I was hoping for from what I gathered with the trailer.
I am not sure what to make of Eli Roth's latest forays actually. I haven't seen it yet, but I expect this is going to be more 'trying to cash in' on the genre, rather than an homage to that specific type of film. I watched "Cub"/Welp recently as well. I had heard of it a while ago, but it kinda of disappeared off the radar (as most of these films which don't make the regular circuit often do). It was actually quite okay. Sort of an indie, foreign take on horror, which I always tend to like more. It didn't rely on dumb jump scares or torture/gore, just a simple story and atmosphere. It wasn't anything fantastic I guess, and there are a few parts I would have changed or modified (esp. the way it ended) but well executed and entertaining. Just a nice change from the usual stuff.
Just got thoroughly grossed out by Contracted. Despite bad acting by everyone involved, and a HUGE plot hole (hello? anyone ever heard of quarantine?) I enjoyed the gross-out factor of this one.
DEATHGASM was actually really good. Incredibly funny with piles of gore. Nice throwback to when horror felt like it was supposed to be fun. Brains and guts and evil metal music. Probably a few too many sex toys as weapons to watch with your kids though. Best comedy horror I've seen in ages.
How did I miss this gem back in the day? Thanks to Amazon Prime, I just watched it, and have to say, I enjoyed the heck out of it. The really bad original songs notwithstanding, this has got to be one of the better Friday the 13th rip-offs around. Gotta say though, when anyone's walking around in the woods it sounds like they're traipsing through a garden of iceberg lettuce.
Watched something called Shock Value on Amazon Prime the other day. Not bad. A somewhat novel idea, passable acting, gratuitous nudity (is there a better kind?), and decent gore. I think I enjoyed it more than I should have. If you've got Starz they're showing the Evil Dead trilogy leading up to the premier of Ash vs Evil Dead (which has the potential of being the best TV show ever made). Watched the last half of Evil Dead last night, and am now watching Evil Dead 2. I often forget just how amazing these movies are. Hell, I even like the re-make. However, as blasphemous as this may be for some, I have no love for Army of Darkness.
^ Wow, it's rare that I encounter somebody else that's willing to admit their less than radiant adoration for Army of Darkness. I'm old enough to have caught that one in the theater, and have never been able to keep up interest enough to watch it again all the way through since. I'm pleased to hear that I'm not the only one.
The funnier they get, the less I like 'em. But 2 has some pretty amazing effects for such a low-budget.
I like all of the ED movies in different ways. I think anybody seeing them as 'sequels' vs. just a series of movies will be disappointed. And yes, the comedy aspects will certainly lead to some horror lovers not enjoying them. I fully appreciate them as genius, and I am still amazed at jut how great and enjoyable the first one is, for what amounts to being a student project. But I also think it is the passion of the folks involved that shows through to make it so good.
Maybe this... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9E-ZKXgJXI&list=PL6ECXh_5FO6HlG_xqScThQRH62Jof_03s&index=13
