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House II (1987)

A bit of a departure from the first installment. The 'horror' elements are almost completely gone and now we're left with a pretty goofy mid 80's comedy with ghosts, dinosaurs and John Ratzenberger (continuing the Cheers cameo run). On the face of it this film is not scary but it doesn't try to be, this is a grown up Scooby Doo episode and I think it's got a lot going for it. Tons of fun if you enjoyed the first House or even if you didn't enjoy it because it was neither fish-nor-fowl and you'd prefer a straight horror or straight comedy.

Rating wise, I would probably give this one a 7/10 as a movie but 0/10 as a horror movie. I was not scared but by golly I was entertained!

House III The Horror Show (1989)

A swift and sharp departure from the more fun-filled installments of I & II, this is an out and out horror movie. Interestingly, when Halloween III tried to go off in a more accessible (and almost Hammer) direction, the transition was jarring and the film unrewarding but House III is absolutely convincing. Featuring a great leading cast - Lance Henriksen is always dependable and Brion James always gave utterly convincing baddie, it's certainly the filthiest of the series so far. House IV is up tonight so it's going to be interesting to see how the franchise finishes up.

8/10 for this one, no laughs per se but plenty of the nasty stuff.

@01010111 - Tnx m8. Had no idea.
@dapper - Keep them coming! I may have to start up my Shudder Subscription again for the month!

October 1st: Susperia remake. I liked it!

Not sure yet what I'm going to watch tonight.

28 mins in, is the start of one of the greatest horror sequences committed to film. Fight me.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeIadBJCPxA[/youtube]

Also spoopy.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXB8CztXYVk[/youtube]

Wednesday ended up getting away from us so we only managed to get one film in and boy was it a bit of a downer


House IV (1992)

The franchise that goes out with a whimper. Not a terrible film on it's own but compared to the previous 3 it really didn't cut the mustard. Didn't know if it wanted to be funny or scary but in a bad way. It was all done well enough, there was just that certain something missing that made the first two such a rewarding watch and it didn't bring the gore like the third.

Probably a 5/10 for this, it isn't terrible but you shouldn't feel obliged to watch this one at all.

Last night was a much more profitable night. While these were both rewatches we didn't care even a little bit.


Demons (1985)

Proper schlock horror, done 80's Italian style. The version we watched previously had a brilliantly over the top English dub but the original Italian audio with subtitles didn't distract. This is a silly gorefest from start to finish. Very little in the way of plot in a good way. Good ending too. If you can watch the English dub then you owe it to yourself just for the pimp's lines, we have been quoting him in daily life since we watched it maybe 6 years ago?

8/10. Not a masterpiece of cinema verite but it's a great way to spend 90 minutes

Demons 2 (1986)

More of the same, really. An even more paper thin plot but with extra lashings of the ultra violence. Features Sally, the most enraging antagonist in film history. Also features returning cast members from the first film much to the delight of all and a slight step up in FX quality. Some cool set pieces and the characters all feel a bit more fleshed out.

8/10 again. A cracking one-two punch of essentially mindless gore.

Also I want to check out Susperia, obviously the original would be the superior film, or would it? I will also check out those Youtubes when time permits.

I mean it depends; the original is obviously a Classic™, and the 2018 one makes no attempt to recreate the magic, thank god. I thought it was great, very good acting and some seriously creepy shit in it. Gets totally bonkers at the end. The soundtrack is okay but honestly Thom Yorke's singing took me out of the movie. Other than the plot they're two completely different movies, and for me that's a good thing--if I wanted the original Susperia, I would just rewatch the original.

Watched Green Room last night and Patrick Stewart makes a truly terrifying villain.

Watching SUSPIRA.
Girl is in troubling situation.
YOU DO IT TO YOURSELF... YOU DOOOOO... AND THAT'S WHAT REALLY HURTS
CAN'T GET THE GHOSTS OUT... THEY BEEN HANGING ROUND FOR YEARS

Been away for a couple of days but we still managed to get some films in. Now for the bumper retrospective special!

Friday night:

Return of the Kiler Tomatoes! (1988)

Listed in horror. Not a horror. Was a good-fun Airplane! pastiche of old B-Movies. Irreverent and enjoyable but sadly not inkeeping with the challenge. Due to life-things we were unable to get a second movie in so we watched an episode of Dragula instead, which usually manages to squeeze in better FX, horror and grotesquery than many actual horror movies.

7/10 anyway, it is a good film that has aged reasonably well and it's not the fault of the film that it was billed by our streaming service as something that it never tried to be

Saturday night:

The Happiness of the Katakuris (2001)

I've long had a confused opinion of Takeshi Miike. Guy is legit capable of making incredible films (Hi, Ichi the Killer!), genuinely uncomfortable psychological thrillers (yo, Audition, good to see you!) and total mindfuck Yakuza movies (Gozu, I still don't know what to make of you). Unfortunately as he was at one point directing 3 films a year, the consistency of his output it very much an issue for me. Shinjuku Triad Society is a mess of a film but the final act had some beautiful shots in it.

I watched this years ago, maybe even around the time it first got it's UK home release through Tartan and it confused the hell out of me at the time. It was billed as a horror/zombie movie but it isn't really one. It's also a musical, kind of. And a comedy on occasion. I filed it in my head as one of Miike's odder works and never really gave it much thought after but on rewatching it I've got to say it has grown on me. Still one of the stranger films that I've seen but it's almost giddy in it's freewheeling plunder of various genres. And looking back on it, it is basically a horror film but the story is told in an upbeat manner. So it's now refiled as an odd-but-great movie and I would recommend this film unreservedly.

9/10 for this bad boy.

Sunday:

Maniac (2012)

Utter dreck. Not seen the original and now I certainly have no desire to. We were lulled into a false sense of security by the presence of Elijah Wood (who for the record is a very capable actor in my opinion) but he gets next to no screen time thanks to the first person perspective shooting style that is present through the entire film. Paper-thin characters delivered in a wooden fashion by actors forced to deliver all their lines directly into the camera. The plot could be written on the back of a postage stamp (boy sees mum have sex, murders women) and the best bit of the movie was when they played Goodbye Horses.

TL:DR - third tier (at best, maybe I'm wrong) slasher movie from the 80's is given a full blown spit and polish remake for reasons best known to nobody. Set in the modern day but not modernised at all, given a heavy arthouse aesthetic without the art, a shallow cash grab that appears to have lost money so there is literally no reason for it to exist.

2/10 and that's one point for Goodbye Horses. The other point is for the one cool visual effect at the end and frankly if you just search for a gif of that then you'll be golden as I suspect that's probably be me being generous. In fact, it is.

1/10

Monday night:

Night of the Demons (1988)

Stereotypical late 80's horror. Teens party in old crematorium. Demonic possession. Corrosion of Conformity sticker on a boombox and Exodus sticker in a car window. Girls that have sex die, the virgin lives. Some decent FX with one particularly cool effect that held up really well. Pretty throwaway but still enjoyable.

I'll admit to some bias on my part at this point in the marathon. I'm kinda set against modern, slick horror movies. Even the jankiest European horror movie made on a shoestring budget back in the day would have some kind of redeeming feature. An intriguing concept, unexpectedly good make up and effects, atmosphere. Hell, I'll even find enjoyment in a film that feels like everyone had a good time making it (and that does shine through even the crappiest of movies) but anything after Blair Witch will inevitably have the stink of hunting to be the next blockbuster on it. A bad horror movie from the 90's can still be fun or enjoyable but a bad horror movie from 2016 is usually execrable. So this film does get a higher rating than Maniac, even though it's probably not that much better. The plot is equally thin but at least it doesn't insult my intelligence by trying to tell me that a fucking mannequin repair shop is a thing that exists in a post 2008 banking crash world.

4/10. Higher if you like casual nudity and knicker shots.