4th Annual N&G 31 Days* of Halloween (2022)

[gaporter]

MOVIE #50
The Mummy (1932)

Probably the weakest of the Universal Monsters movies so far, but it's saved by Karloff's effortless command of the screen and the always immersive atmosphere and meticulous production design of these old-school Universal pictures. I would probably like this much more if he was an actual mummy for more of the runtime. The design Imhotep sticks with for most of the movie isn't one I find very scary or interesting, which is probably why I don't connect with this one as much.

Rating:

A ★★★½ review of The Mummy (1932)

Of the classic Universal Monsters, the Mummy has never been my favorite, so part of me was hoping that finally watching this would help give me a better appreciation for the character. Unfortunately, while The Mummy is certainly a well-made film for its time, it isn't nearly as effective as its...

boxd.it

 

[gaporter]

MOVIE #51
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)

Didn't know if I should include this as I admittedly skipped straight to the Ichabod segment… but I counted Werewolf by Night so why not. For what it's worth, I like the Mr. Toad story too. I just don't always feel like sitting through it to get to the second half.

This Sleepy Hollow retelling is a Halloween staple. The artistry in these old Disney movies is always wonderful and this is no exception. It's a dark yet jovial tale for kids and the animation and narration give it a timeless feel. There's an expressiveness to the classic hand-drawn style that 3D just can't capture, so much personality is communicated just from the way a character moves around and the faces they make. The best part and what most people remember from it is definitely the chase at the end, but I enjoy the scenes leading up to the climax as well. If anything, it just makes me feel bad for Brom Bones. I know he's supposed to be the antagonist, but it's not like he's any worse than Ichabod, who is basically just a horny, money-hungry creep. That said, he's an entertaining main character and it's a lot of fun watching him get the crap scared out of him by none other than the Headless Horseman himself (I don't think that's a spoiler). Nobody knows how to give kids nightmares quite like Disney does.

Rating:

 

[duke86fan]

i dont normally watch horror but i actually did watch a few horror movies (and will be watching one horror adjacent movie) for my class on horror literature and film so i kinda wanted to give minor reviews since i never mentioned them

Robert De Niro's "Frankenstein": honestly not at all creepy and in fact goes into the realm of campy, and maybe its because im cynical but the amount of homoerotic subtext made it more of a laugh than a scare (... maybe a 4/5 if you take it as comedic.. honestly same opinion on the book tbh)

"Bram Stokers Dracula": i think when i got to the werewolf fucking scene i immediately snapped out of finding it intriguing and it became kind of parody. again i think my jaded cynicism got to me because the acting was well done and the set design was fantastic (, the book was better)

Brian DePalma's "Carrie": now we got something legit creepy... the ending scene was a legit jump scare that worked and i honestly had a good amount of fun with the build up. the "there all gonna laugh at you" scene was really well done. my issues is probably having to do with how the opening scene was overly male gaze-y (, book was better but the film is a great alternative, just missing out on a bit of context).

Jordan Peele's "Get Out": probably the best of the actual films i watched, i love the use of hypnosis as a major theme of horror as i actually have studied it and found the portrayal very interestingly done. my only personal flaw was one that was more of just a general opinion i have, is that though the dialog of the armitage family... i get its intentionally cringey but it still made me overly uncomfortable for the wrong reasons. (, no book to compare though i did read "frankenstein in baghdad" as a comparison piece for this, found it very interesting as a look into iraq through a civilian perspective)..

the only film left for the class is ex machina but that will be after halloween and is not really a horror movie.. i also had to do a presentation on carrie which i only mention to say i got a 96 on it which im happy about

 

[LeeVing]

Catching up with what I've watched the last few days...

#39.

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (2010)

Easily a movie I can just throw in and watch anytime.

 

[LeeVing]

#40.

Started a David DeCoteau 3-film marathon last night...

Creepozoids (1987)

An Alien/Mad Max post-apocalypse rip-off, that isn't great...but isn't that bad, either.

The score is very listenable, though.

 

[LeeVing]

#41.

Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama (1988)

A staple of late night paid cable, I'm sure I saw it back when Joe Bob had his Saturday night show on The Movie Channel.

 

[LeeVing]

#42.

Nightmare Sisters (1988)

If you want to see gratuitous nudity and an extended bathing scene featuring all 3 scream queens in a tub, this is that movie.

This was shot in only 4 days...it shows, but it's also its charm.




The TV version is also on this blu ray....the extended bathing scene is replaced by scenes with the girls fully clothed, and was filmed a few years later for airing on USA's Up All Night, as removing all the nudity scenes, the movie was only 40+ minutes.

The extended bathing sequence was replaced with the girls jumping on a bed with balloons.

 

[hype]

Pearl (2022)

My most anticipated Horror release along with Cabinet of Curiosities coming out in a few days! It was so tonally different then X which I loved as both films are 100% able to stand on there own but also provide a ton of insight for each other. Like @EvanBenner said, give Mia all the awards! It was super interesting seeing how Pearl became the lady we saw in X. It had such a Wizard Of Oz vibe/look to it at times but then also got grimy asf with some major Texas Chainsaw Massacre feels but at the same time it always felt like it's own thing. It's pretty rare for a newer movie to just straight up capture my full attention and keep it for the entire running length and this one did that and I was ready to keep going. I got to say though as excited as I am to see MaXXXine I really feel like we're missing a huge chunk now from Howard's perspective as he is potentially an extremely interesting character himself. I'd love to see another movie that takes place with both Howard and Pearl as the main characters in that large gap of time we now have between when Pearl ends and X takes place. Regardless though, I loved Pearl!

​

 

[hype]

V/H/S/99 (2022)

I was actually looking forward to this one too as I love the franchise and have liked at minimum good chunks of all the prior releases in the V/H/S series but this was pathetically awful and doesn't even feel like it belongs with the others. It starts off with the worst entry in the entire series right off the bat but with it being an anthology film I was just happy it was over and ready to move tf on. Well, the majority of the rest was pretty much trash as well besides a small segment about a kids game show that felt like a combination of something you'd find on Nickelodeon in the late 90's/early 2000's mixed with the Eric Andre show haha. It was awesomely batshit crazy but even the second half of this got significantly worse. If they made an entire Horror/dark Comedy version of the the first half of that segment it would be an instant cult classic I bet. There were a couple other small glimpses of hope throughout but overall it was just pretty terrible and i'm someone that actually generally enjoys a decent amount of Found Footage movies.

​

 

[Hemotep]

Day 52.

I needed a really good movie, so threw on one I already knew I'd love. Still haven't watched the sequel so might try for that tomorrow.

 

[LeeVing]

#43.

Jack-O (1995)

Decided to stay with some B-Horror. This could actually be a decent, cheap halloween movie for kids if it wasn't for the random, out of place shower scene and some gore.

This got a Rifftrax a few years back, but I haven't watched it yet.

I am giving this an extra skull just for including the infamous DVD commentary. (link is NSFW)

The first 1000 copies of this blu ray has a slipcover signed by Linnea Quigley.

 

[gaporter]

MOVIE #52
The Invisible Man (1933)

In a surprise I wasn't expecting from watching many of these Universal films for the first time, The Invisible Man may just be my favorite of all the ones I've seen so far. I didn't expect to love this movie as much as I did, it may seriously be a new all-timer. Too many great things to mention, but Claude Rains gives a brilliantly unhinged performance, the writing is great and even contains a fair amount of comedy to the horror, the special effects are absolutely mindblowing for 1933, and of course the talents of James Whale cannot go unrecognized. If Frankenstein and its sequel hadn't already convinced me of Whale's abilities, then this certainly would have done the trick. It's an incredible film and I hate that it took me so long to finally watch it for myself.

Rating:

A ★★★★★ review of The Invisible Man (1933)

"Even the moon is frightened of me. Frightened to death!" I'm kicking myself for never actually sitting down and watching this before now, because it absolutely ruled. The Invisible Man doesn't fuck around. He kills a cop, pushes a baby out of a stroller, and wrecks a train, laughing maniacally...

boxd.it

 

[gaporter]

MOVIE #53
The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

Another masterpiece from the Universal canon, The Bride of Frankenstein is the rare sequel that improves upon the original in almost every way. It's not that the first Frankenstein is bad by any means, but there's so much more depth and emotion to this film. It's so upsetting to see the monster constantly be denied love and happiness when the viewer knows that's all he really wants. A lot of people see the story as allegorical considering that James Whale was a gay man living in the 1930s, so it's not too out there of an idea that a lot of the sympathy Whale shows to the monster comes from knowing what it's like to be hated and attacked by close-minded fearmongers based solely on your identity. Whether this subtext was intentional or not, it adds a layer of poignancy to the monster's tragedy in what is undoubtedly a landmark work of horror.

Rating:

A ★★★★★ review of Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

"We belong dead." A deeply poignant and strangely beautiful masterpiece about what it feels like to be the "other", trying desperately to find love and kindness and being rejected at every turn by a cruel world you never asked to be brought into. While the first movie was groundbreaking in its...

boxd.it

 

[LeeVing]

#44.

Prince of Darkness (1987)

It's been at least 20 years since I've watched this one...and it's better than I remember it. Will be a regular re-watch.

An underrated Carpenter flick. Slow-burn and science vs religion are 2 things I like.

Carpenter's score is also one of my favorites of his.


Today is also it's 35th Anniversary.






This is from the Sacred Bones variant box set that includes a 7"

 

[gaporter]

Time to start playing catch up! I got a week's worth of movies to get through so let's get into it

MOVIE #49
The Howling: Reborn (2011)
View attachment 154847
Finally the Howling-ween(?) Marathon comes to an end.

The fact that the poster I pulled directly from Letterboxd is so low-res says it all. Nowhere near as bad as New Moon Rising (or even The Original Nightmare), but nothing special for the first installment of the franchise in sixteen years. It's pretty much just a schlocky early-2010s romantic teen movie with werewolves inserted. I guess the producers wanted to go for the Teen Wolf crowd or something? I don't know, I didn't hate it or anything but it wasn't really well-made or interesting on any level. A blah finale to a truly strange series of movies.

Also I was wondering where I'd seen the main girl before and it turns out she was on Ned's Declassified. I haven't seen that show since it was on in the 2000s but I'm sure it's aged better than this has in just eleven years.

Rating:

A ★★ review of The Howling: Reborn (2011)

I can't believe I actually watched all of these. Is there a support group for people who made it through the entire Howling franchise? In all seriousness, this one wasn't that bad, but then again, pretty much anything would have been upgrade from New Moon Rising. This just felt like a...

boxd.it

Ha, I wonder if someone read my comments about the Letterboxd poster, as it's since been changed to this. A big improvement, not that it fixes any of the movie's problems in any way, but still.

 

[Hemotep]

Ha, I wonder if someone read my comments about the Letterboxd poster, as it's since been changed to this. A big improvement, not that it fixes any of the movie's problems in any way, but still.
View attachment 155017

This makes it look good.

 

[zomgbear]

Catching up with what I've watched the last few days...

#39.

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (2010)

Easily a movie I can just throw in and watch anytime.

View attachment 154926

This is also on my list of things to watch. I've heard really good things

Okay, so The Babadook, was it as scary as I imagined? ...Not quite.

So, I knew quite a bit about it before going in. I knew it was about mental illness, and I knew the marketing of it was pretty misleading. That said, I didn't realize how small it all was - not at all in a bad way. There were a lot of great sequences where horror was crafted perfectly all on a small scale. It plays really well with shadows and atmosphere. However, I did still kinda expect more of The Babadook itself (the look of it is so goddamn creepy). But I get why you don't see it. I really loved the terrifying illustrations of the children's book. Like a lot. And although the movie is not as scary as I imagined, it still had some moments that were pretty scary. Towards the end, when there is more ramping up a bit, there are some scenes that are horrifying - just not in the way I imagined. Thing is, I don't see many people saying it's scary necessarily, but I have heard many positive things about it. Like with The Witch, I feel like maybe with another viewing I'd like it even more. It's interesting that so many people found Hereditary genuinely scary. That hype built it up so much for me that I wound up pretty disappointed in it (although I think it's a solid film, just not scary). The Babadook is much scarier to me, especially in what its overall metaphor and meaning is because it's something that hits close to some of my experiences (although much bigger and wilder).

I think my take on horror is very few truly scares me anymore. Most horror I watch is because I like the genre/style. Stuff like Hereditary really is scary to me tho, the ones that are sad horrors or really gets under your skin - sticks with you and you think about it even after watching.

I absolutely HATED this film. Visually cool at times, but otherwise no redeeming qualities.

It might be my favorite Noe film. UwU

I also don't really care for this one all that much. I really liked Enter the Void tho - that one might be my favorite

 

[Hemotep]

This is also on my list of things to watch. I've heard really good things

I think my take on horror is very few truly scares me anymore. Most horror I watch is because I like the genre/style. Stuff like Hereditary really is scary to me tho, the ones that are sad horrors or really gets under your skin - sticks with you and you think about it even after watching.


I also don't really care for this one all that much. I really liked Enter the Void tho - that one might be my favorite

You should definitely watch Tucker & Dale. It's a horror comedy done right.

 

[zomgbear]

21. Day of the Dead (1985)
Rating:
Loved it! So many elements of this movie has seeped into popular zombie movies / shows today. It's a very bleak look at people's options after the zombie apocalypse. The zombie themselves aren't really all that scary, it's the people. I loved that they used Bub to show that zombies can actually have more humanity. And the music is phenomenal - i looked it up before but I forgot that Gorillaz M1A1 sampled the intro sequence. I've only seen Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead but overall, as a horror, I still prefer "Night", but as a movie in general - this is probably my favorite of the Romero Dead series so far.

 

[Hemotep]

Day 53.

Matriarch

Rating:

I need to rewatch this to think harder on if I actually like it or not, but it has some very well done scenes that hit perfectly. I love Kate Dickie who was amazing as always, but the rest of the cast was the weak part of the film from my initial reaction.