Agreed, although I would say the second goes even further with its giant centipede and riding it around like it's a sandworm from Dune.
A Chinese Ghost Story III - 7/10 Madeleine - 6/10 50 First Dates - 5/10 How to Make a Killing - 6/10 Final Cut (1980) - 6/10
Lady, Stay Dead - 6.5/10 Project Hail Mary - 9.5/10 Carnival of Sinners (aka The Devil's Hand) - 8/10 Scarlet - 7/10 Shango - 7/10
This is secretsociety's thread now, but I'm debating on posting the 30 or so I've watched in the past month and a half. Or maybe just the highlights and lowlights.
Nah, I just watch too many films. I still, and I am sure other people do as well, enjoy seeing what others are watching. So post all thirty.
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple - 8.5/10 Boyle's frenetic directing is missed, but DaCosta does a good job with the human elements that are here, and both Fiennes and O'Connell are putting on masterclasses. My jaw was on the floor during the Iron Maiden scene, never seen anything quite like it. Send Help - 8/10 RETURN OF THE KING. When people talk about "dumb fun movies," they don't realize exactly how fun a dumb movie can be with someone like Raimi behind the camera. Might go on one twist too long, but just so worth watching McAdams and O'Brien chew on the material. Almost shocked two A-listers(?) took this on, it's prime B-movie shit in the best way. Warthog scene had me hootin' and hollerin'. The Housemaid - 7/10 A borderline parody of erotic thrillers that suddenly turns into a comedy version of Saw? Oh BABY are we cooking. Give me two or three of these a year, please. Sweet, delicious garbage. A Desert - 7/10 Faults - 8/10 This one could honestly use more runtime just to draw out the descent into madness a little longer, but for a dark-comedy thriller mostly set in a single location between two outstanding leads and four or less side characters... it feels completely unique and close to perfect. Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers - 8.5/10 I expected this to be sleazy cheapo fun... I didn't expect it to have as many bits as a Naked Gun movie. Move over Wong Kar-wai...this is cinema 2001 Maniacs - 6/10 Obviously dated but shockingly fun if you can get past the racism (which obviously comes with the territory, but yeesh). Still... it's no Blood Diner. Blood Diner - 8/10 Truly one for the sickos. It feels like Blood Feast (already a banger) through the lens of Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, but also written by aliens. Nude aerobics, a wrestler names Jimmy Hitler, and deep fryer kills. Herschel Gordon Lewis would be proud. House on Haunted Hill (1959) - 9/10 Can't stop thinking about how bonkers the twist is now, let alone in 1959. OG Saw ending type shit The Innkeepers - 3/10 As someone who enjoys both Ti West and slowburns, I do think this film could have benefitted from at least one thing happening Big Trouble in Little China - 7/10 Pure vibes, 50% cozy blanket and 50% neon-soaked theme park ride. I never get tired of it. You remember what ol' Jack Burton used to say...the check is in the mail. Broadcast Signal Intrusion - 8/10 Incredibly underrated and genuinely unsettling. Would make a great double-feature with Censor. Censor - 8.5/10 One of thee most underrated psychological horror flicks of the decade so far. Just let the atmosphere and paranoia roll over you, baby Possum - 7.5/10 Sean Harris kills it. Woof. DEAD GRANDMA - 3.5/10 As a Dad, I "get it" (it being the 90-second existential horror short), but I don't "get it" (the ridiculous amount of hype I've seen around it being one of the most unsettling shorts of all-time). Kind of feels like some Requiem for a Dream concentrated into 90 seconds, which I'm really not sure any of us (nor the genre) needs right now. Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning - 7/10 at the end of the day, they tried something here, and I think that's neat The Crazies (1973) - 8/10 In another life, I like to think I would have been total PA horror buds with George Romero. My Bloody Valentine (1981) - 8/10 Hollis :( Resident Evil - 6.5/10 Honestly expected this to be so much worse than it was. Obviously dumb, but also lots of campy fun to be had. Feels like a video game (maybe not the video game), mostly I'm a good way. As a devout AVP fan, I'm starting to wonder if I'm destined to become a Paul W.S. Anderson defender the same way I've (kind of) become a Roland Emmerich defender. Resident Evil: Apocalypse - 5.5/10 Video game movies are so dumb that they'll let an actual monster named Nemesis walk around and instead of tearing people limb from limb, he'll lumber around with a fucking rocket launcher and gatling gun. (This is not a criticism.) Carnival of Souls (1962) - 8/10 Raiders of the Lost Ark - 9/10 Seen with a live score performed by the Erie Philharmonic. Pieces - 8/10 A Self-Induced Hallucination - 6.5/10 Extended cut. Basically the Schoenbrun origin story. Would simply be a YouTube compilation if there wasn't so much craft and care out into the sequencing of the material. Fascinating stuff. Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell - 9/10 Dead of Night (1994 Miniseries) - 8/10 To the surprise of absolutely no one, I found this SOV cable-access mall-cop X-Files show where actors constantly flub and step on each others' inaudible lines to be rieiculously watchable and charming. Seriously - I couldn't put this thing down and was sad when it ended. Go support VHShitfest and purchase this sucker. We Await - 6/10 This one doesn't quite come together for me the way Twisted Issues and Red Spirit Lake did, but there's still enough DIY/punk esotericism here to make the sub-55 minute runtime worthwhile. Pinion has the juice. Friday the 13th Part 2 - 8/10 Pamela shrine is one of the sickest setpieces (if not the sickest) in the whole franchise. I can't in good conscience say burlap sack Jason is better than the obviously iconic hockey mask Jason, but...get a couple of beers in me and I could make the argument. undertone - 6/10 This mostly won me over. I was skeptical at first -- a lot of the dialogue and delivery is...not great -- but some of the shots and the sound design in particular were super effective, especially in my theater experience. There's a weird tonal moment/mini-monologue in the third act that really took me out for a moment, but by the time we left, I think enjoyed myself more than I didn't. Simultaneously felt like it was on the verge of something new with the sound design/focus on audio while also feeling like a hodgepodge of at least three other A24 movies. The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962) - 8/10 Head so good I defied science and kept it alive using various untested and unethical medical procedures
Can almost guarantee you'll watch the first episode and feel slightly underwhelmed and by episode three will be like "I don't really want to watch anything else" lol. It's so funny, the last three episodes (in order) are like, a cliffhanger, an unfinished episode that does not pick up the cliffhanger, and then what looks like a reboot of sorts with a higher budget? I'm excited to watch the short films on the second disc.
That movie is a BLAST. Did you look up the gimmick they used in the theater? Fucking love this one. More enthusiastically a comic book movie than pretty much any comic book movie
Yessir - actually looking at recreating some of Castle's theater gimmicks for a double-feature fundraiser we are likely doing for our annual Horror Fest this year. House on Haunted Hill and either Mr. Sardonicus or The Tingler.
One thing I wish I could get a taste of after hearing so much about those gimmicks on Blu-ray extras and how they went down with audiences at the time.
28 Weeks Later Pros: Brutally tense opening scene. Also clever that it ultimately didn’t matter that the man escaped and his wife was left behind. I love the concept of some people being asymptomatic carriers, plus Harold Perrineau mowing down a crowd of infected w/ a helicopter was sick as hell Cons: At least 15 mins too short, Idris Elba was barely featured 4/5 stars
Crosstalk - 5.5/10 The Bride! - 8/10 Scream 7 - 4.5/10 The Revenant - 9/10 The Sound Barrier - 7.5/10
I've been meaning to watch The Sound Barrier for legit years and somehow have just never pulled the trigger. How was it?
It was good, surprised it is a lesser-known film from David Lean, given the cast it has and the docudrama style it goes for.
Desolation Angels - 7/10 Coda (1987) - 5.5/10 Ghost in the Shell (1995) - 9/10 Hobson’s Choice - 8/10 The 13th Floor (1988) - 5.5/10 Reached film #200 for the year as of yesterday.