The Spookey, Ookey, Hallowookey FilMarathon

[Dapper Bandit]

Monday night:

The Hills Have Eyes (1977)

Never seen this before, shockingly. Nice to see where Rob Zombie got the other half of his two ideas from.

Pretty good film and we did enjoy it overall but it did feel a bit uneven. Also ended a little abruptly but it's clear why it was such an influential movie and obviously Wes Craven knows his apples. Unfortunately it just left me a little lukewarm.

6/10

[calfzilla]

Love The Hills Have Eyes. The dog bite scene is particularly gruesome for it's time and held up pretty well as far as the effect itself goes.

[$harkToootth]

Wow I have not watched anything but HALLOWEEN RESURRECTION so far... oph...

[Dapper Bandit]

So, things got away from us. The marathon slowed down. Then I didn't have much time to update the thread so this is a bit of a retrospective update but hopefully things will pick up again now.


Brain Damage (1988)

This was a fun and slightly odd film. An unusual approach to parasites in horror but campy and enjoyable. Has some out-of-the-blue sexy business in there (which is usually a turn-off in horror for me, no pun intended) but it doesn't detract from the film. Some top notch FX that have held up really well.

7/10 - not super scary but a bit gruesome.

[Dapper Bandit]

Island of Death (1976)

A dumb, dumb exploitation movie. "Surely that goes without saying? They're all kinda dumb!" I hear you cry, but this is a joyless Texas Chainsaw Massacre wannabe. Every scene reeks of rewrites intended to increase the shock value without any thought given to the quality of the film. Within five minutes of the titles you watch the protagonists screw in a phonebooth while on the phone to the guy's mother, for the specific purpose of letting her know they are at it. From there on in, it's a bunch of edgelord bullshit trying desperately to convince you this is a nastier film than Tobe Hooper pulled off but it falls flat because it's too outlandish. The classic video nasties felt plausible to some degree and that's what gave them their power. Obviously Evil Dead isn't cinema verite but there was a sort of internal consistency and a storyline for it all to hang off of.

Dawn of the Dead is a disgusting and nasty movie, on paper. Dead people kill living people and eat them for 90 minutes. Ugh, icky and gross, right? But when you factor in the story and performances and subtext you're left with a film that has commentary on consumerist society, the role of nihilism in human endeavour and a cool bit where people throw custard pies. That is what a good horror movie can do. This film did not and it feels like it did not do it on purpose.

1/10 - did not finish because this was within days of Maniac and while I can enjoy a kinda crappy movie that has heart, we just couldn't find it in us to watch something that was clearly made without regard for the audience. Gross out cinema in a very lame way.

[Dapper Bandit]

City of the Dead (1960)

Great atmospheric film about witchcraft in (then) modern day America. Featuring a mostly British cast. Which makes it seem a bit quaint but then add in Christopher Lee and you know you're golden. Featuring a slow build with some good ol' fashioned spooks like we've come to expect from this era of British horror. Really cool end sequence too. Well worth a watch, especially for fans of Hammer Horror.

8/10

[$harkToootth]

You got me beat. I've only watched HOCUS POCUS with my Grandma as of late.

[Snufkino]

City of the Dead (1960)

Great atmospheric film about witchcraft in (then) modern day America. Featuring a mostly British cast. Which makes it seem a bit quaint but then add in Christopher Lee and you know you're golden. Featuring a slow build with some good ol' fashioned spooks like we've come to expect from this era of British horror. Really cool end sequence too. Well worth a watch, especially for fans of Hammer Horror.

8/10

I love this one! There's a next-level filmmaking moment near the end that elevates the whole thing despite it being a cheesy (And slightly boring at times) B-movie.

[codetocontra]

High recommendation for Sleepaway Camp if anyone has never seen it.

[Dowi]

Don't know how much it fits in the category since it's a comedy, but yesterday i saw "What we do in the sahdows" (the movie, not the series) for the first time, and it's brilliant. Nice twist of the usual mockumentary thing, loved it.

[calfzilla]

Don't know how much it fits in the category since it's a comedy, but yesterday i saw "What we do in the sahdows" (the movie, not the series) for the first time, and it's brilliant. Nice twist of the usual mockumentary thing, loved it.

They did a fantastic job with that, I'd love to see the series.

If you liked that horror mockumentary kind of thing, Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon is pretty solid. Very much mockumentary in the beginning and then feels like a traditional/legit slasher at the end.

[$harkToootth]

I really shit the bed this month... I did the same thing last year. F U QQQQQQ.

[$harkToootth]

On November 1st we're repurposing this thread for Hallmark Movies right?

[calfzilla]

On November 1st we're repurposing this thread for Hallmark Movies right?

Wouldn't that just be the Shitty Movies thread?

[$harkToootth]

On November 1st we're repurposing this thread for Hallmark Movies right?

Wouldn't that just be the Shitty Movies thread?

I wanted to be offended but... yes, that would be the case