The detective
Ayo - the best licensed horror comics I’ve read are Jason vs. Leatherface (3 issue mini that Topps published in the 90s), Halloween: Nightdance (DDP) and Boom’s Hellraiser series (Hellraiser vol. 1-5, Dark Watch vol. 1-3).
The Wildstorm Friday the 13th comic series was REALLLLLLLY good, wasn’t focused soley on gore like the previous series & did a superb job building atmosphere & it’s own mythos.
@ Ramrod: I read the Jason/Leatherface one last night, that shit was sick lol. Halloween: Nightdance is great and should be read by more people, I need to get into the Hellraiser comic soon. Working on Hack/Slash and Army of Darkness ongoing right now. Herbert West just popping up everywhere these days.
@Raptor: Yeah I agree, I read the series before Wildstorm got the rights and it felt like the films: Typical teens doing sexy shit gets killed by Jason, the only build up was some Organization that wanted him but that was quickly tied up in a forgettable one-shot. Jason versus Jason X was bad but at least entertaining enough to sit through.
Now to do my tradition of watching The Evil Dead I and II, fuck AoD.
I agree with the V/H/S viral comments… Movie was aaa huge let down…
First video was the best, and thats not saying much…
The wrap up story was confusing as fuck… Id say until netflix puts it up…
Watching City of the Living Dead tonight after a long day at work
yaaaaaay werewolf movies.
Picked up Intruder, City of the Living Dead, Zombie, and In the Mouth of Madness for Halloween viewing. Have to wait a bit on Nightbreed, hopefully the collector’s edition sticks around and possibly drops a bit in price despite the limited numbers.
Just watched The Dead 2, didn’t really like it. First one was pretty awesome IMO, this one had almost nothing going for it. I didn’t give a shit about the main guy (forgot his name already) and the kid he befriends. Gore was toned down big time from part 1, tension was lower, scenes weren’t as scary, story was cliched, continuity issues, etc. Overall I’d say they struck out on this one, hopefully a third and final installment will be better.
So this game looks absolutely terrifying:
ABCs of Death 2 absolutely SUCKS so far. Not even in comparison to the first, just in general. I’m only up to the letter P so far. Which was P-P-P-P-P-P-fucking stupid.
I watched Halloween 2 for the first time in probably 15-20 years last night. Still holds up, love the hospital setting. I was a little disappointed to see that the nurse who gets drowned in the hot tub had fake tits. I remember being pretty impressed with those things even as a young boy. Guys, I can’t be sure about this but she might have been responsible for my first boner.
Her or Debbie Sue Vorhees from Friday the 13th V. Now that is a set of jugs to be proud of.
Halloween 4:
[details=Spoiler]Halloween 4 and 5 are the two movies I associate most with the Halloween season because for the past 10-ish years they have played constantly on television (usually AMC) the days leading up to and on the 31st and I’d always make it a point to watch them then. For whatever reason I watched Halloween 4 more critically this time around on blu ray and found it lacking in many aspects I hadn’t really considered before.
First things first, I really don’t like George Wilbur as Michael here. His walk is terrible, his mannerisms are non-existent, and his body type makes Michael look like a neck-less retard. Seriously, Michael looks like he is afflicted with a perpetual wedgie. It’s just not scary.
Nothing is particularly scary in this movie. There are a few thrilling set pieces, mainly the one on the roof, but nothing you could call scary or eerie or creepy. I never liked that Michael’s first appearance in the film is a daydream. It kills any build up to the reveal and all suspense with it. The kills in this movie are terrible and the tamest of any up to this point. Almost all of them felt like they were just Michael snapping a neck or squeezing a neck. No gore associated with any of them and had me wondering if I was viewing a television cut.
I like the pace of the movie, I like how focused the plot is how it becomes kind of like a western. The cast is a big step up from Halloween 2.[/details]
Halloween 5:
[details=Spoiler]Now this is a great sequel. Revenge addresses most of the problems I had with Return by giving us a scarier atmosphere, better Michael, better kills, and more Loomis. The movie is a crazy, stylish Euro romp that is more fast-paced than 4 and much more engaging.
I love how the opening picks up right at the end of 4 - it’s a device they used in part 2 (as well as in one of my favorites, Waxwork II) and it works better here, showing us exactly what happens from a 3rd person perspective instead of switching between Loomis and Michael’s pov. The sequence of Michael going down the river is great and I love the cinematography inside the old man’s cabin. Here we get another thing we missed from 4 - a real “Michael is back!” hero shot as he puts the mask on and kills the old man (the whole thing also being a cool nod to Bride of Frankenstein). Instead of all the b.s. nightmares/dream sequences/cop-outs of part 4, this time we get the real Michael from the start and his presence is more powerful throughout the film because of it.
I like Michael’s mask a lot more in this one than the pasty, well-kept previous one. I really like how it remains open at the bottom instead of being neatly tucked in. Michael himself is much better acted this time around - more imposing, relentless, and without the awful chicken walk and stick-up-the-ass, neckless standing posture.
Danielle Harris is better in this one because we’re spared her awful line readings for half of the movie. She also gets to be more pro-active in this one and for my money the garbage chute scene is much more tense than the rooftop.
Loomis is the best he has ever been in this one since the first movie. I love how they took his character to its logical conclusion and really made him darker and twisted in his pursuit of Michael above all else. He is a maniac in this movie and Donald plays it up wonderfully.
This is a really good looking movie. The shot composition is really strong throughout, and it’s a stylish, inventive and very Euro take that was very lacking in the bland, by-the-number H4.
The ending could’ve been more satisfying, and of course the whole Man in Black thing is weird as hell and was probably a mistake. I would’ve liked to have seen Sheriff Bracket be the one who stayed behind with Jamie in the house, then has his own confrontation with Michael after all these years, wounding him considerably but then dying in the process. Then when Loomis comes in and beats him over the head with the 2x4, it’s more believable that Michael goes down. I love the shot of Loomis collapsing on top of Michael - yeah the symbolism is about as subtle as a sledgehammer, but hey, at least it’s symbolism!
Also the blu ray looks great - I don’t remember being able to see Ellie Cornell’s ass and bush so clearly through the shower curtain before.[/details]
Halloween 6 Theatrical Cut:
[details=Spoiler]I have a love/hate relationship with this one. I’ve always been fascinated by how it came into being - how such an abomination made it on screen and into theaters. Now of course I know all the backstory and am intimately familiar with the Weinsteins and how they ran their company back then so it all makes a bit more sense, but there’s still something about Curse that keeps me coming back.
I like the start of the opening with Jamie giving birth and then being let out by the nurse with Michael chasing after her. That initial moment where she reaches the outside and it’s raining and Michael walks out of the hidden entrance looks cool, and the whole thing is high energy and really gets you into the movie. But then there’s a prolonged car chase that seems really out of place for a Halloween movie. I know Michael has driven vehicles in several of the sequels, but it doesn’t seem like running someone off the rode is really his M.O.
I like most of the deaths in this movie, and Jamie’s death in and of itself is a good one, but the fact that it’s happening to Jamie makes it not work for me. She’s freakin Jamie - it’s tasteless overkill to not only impale her, but to then push her further in, and then turn the machine thing on. It’s just crass for such a pivotal character in the series.
I guess my main complaint with this movie besides the acting is that the story makes no sense. So it’s the Strode family that lives in the old Strode house (“Strode Realty”)? But they just moved in? To their family’s old house? And I thought Jamie was the last Strode? If there are Strodes who are alive, why bother with Jamie’s kid? Why not just center the movie around the blonde girl’s son?
The man in black is an old friend of Loomis? Huh? And what the hell happened to the man in black? Did he die in the hospital room scene? What was the goal of the druids in creating Michael or doing anything?
What the heck is up with Paul Rudd’s accent? Who thought that was a good idea?
I like the brother and his girlfriend, I wish they had a little more screen time. She looks great nude too. I really hate the deejay and have no idea why he’s in this movie.
Pleasence is a shell of his old self and his arc makes no sense and seems completely chopped to pieces and left on the cutting room floor. He went out so well in part 5 that it’s a shame he’s even in this one.
George Wilbur is the worst Michael Myers on the planet. His head is so wide and fat that it seems like Sloth from The Goonies is hiding behind the mask. The rest of him seems chunkier in this one too, so we get Pillsbury Doughboy Michael the whole movie. He screws up the head tilt homage in the beginning of the movie, then he randomly does it later on in the movie, but in response to a line of dialogue instead of after a kill so he looks more like a lost puppy dog than a butcher admiring his cut of meat.
I really don’t like the ending of the theatrical cut. Michael was already pummeled to submission in part 5, so doing it again here (with none of the gravitas) is really weak. It’s pretty sad that all this is a reshoot and they still couldn’t come up with anything better.
I like the hospital/sanitarium set and how it’s used. Michael walking down the pipe-lined hallway was an image burned into my brain since seeing the first trailer. I like the old lady who ends up being one of the cult members. The score is…interesting. There is one really weird moment where Michael is going to town on someone, heavy action, but the music cue is the more calm “Jamie Lee Curtis walks down the sidewalk” sample of the original score. The early 90s computer stuff is hilarious.
I dunno, this movie is terrible, it has some decent ideas that could have been turned into a good movie and I always like when these kinds of movies go deeper into exploring the mythology behind them…but yeah…
And to think, Joe Chappelle got to butcher Hellraiser: Bloodline based on THIS![/details]
Not sure if it can be categorized under horror, maybe thriller, but imma catch Nightcrawler at the cinema tonight.
Need to finish watching Under the Skin. Loved the cinematography but I’m not sure what to think of it just yet.
Going to re-watch Halloween 3 and hopefully Nightmares in a Damaged Brain again.
When you think about it Conal Cochran is a far greater villain then Michael Myers and the majority of slashers. In one move he killed (probably) hundreds of thousands of kids and destroyed families.
Nightmares in a Damaged Brain kicks fucking ass. One of the greatest serial killer/slasher pictures. It’s on Youtube uncut and I think there’s torrents too. Grab it, the owner of the DVD company that put it out is a douchebag.
Halloween 6 Producer’s Cut:
[details=Spoiler] I was wanting to watch this one closer to my viewing of the theatrical cut, but events transpired and I didn’t get to it until today, so I may not have been able to pick out everything different from each cut (despite having seen each of them multiple times in the past). Like most of you I have an old bootleg copy of the Producer’s Cut buried somewhere in my closet, but watching this was a welcome upgrade to that one. Honestly I feel like some of the stuff in this blu ray weren’t even on my old copy. I wonder if my bootleg wasn’t just the added stuff/different ending cut into it versus the different little choices that permeate the film.
What’s interesting about the Producer’s Cut is that you can totally see the thought process of the film execs (and Bob W.) in terms of why they felt they needed to go back and re-shoot stuff. I probably agree with them on most of the problem areas, although I don’t agree with what ended up being most of their fixes.
The P. Cut’s opening narrative is by Loomis, and Donald really does sound like he’s about to die, his inflection completely lifeless and flat. Tommy Doyle is more of our guide to the Halloween mythos throughout the movie, so it makes sense for him to do the narrative instead (although again - what is up with that accent?!)
I complained about Jaime Lloyd’s tasteless death in the theatrical cut, but you can see why they would want to re-shoot it here - you don’t even see her getting stabbed, and the entire scene is completely anti-climactic after all the build-up of her escape from the compound (still the best thing in the movie) and car chase in the rain. Her not dying until later in the movie also makes sense to cut out as it adds nothing (and her later death by the man in black is laughable) and they could’ve found a different way to shoehorn the black and white flashbacks in (blonde girl could be having visions from jaime or something).
The additional scenes with Loomis and the doctor/man in black are welcome here, and is the biggest thing I think this cut gets right. This storyline makes no sense in the theatrical cut and goes nowhere. It still doesn’t really make sense here, but at least it’s all there.
Once again with the ending you can see why the felt they had to reshoot it. I’ve always kinda liked the circle of runes, but in a so-completely-stupid-it-becomes-surreal-genius kind of way. I think there’s a version where the runes could’ve worked, but it needed a lot more build-up in order to be the climax of the movie. Something like a hybrid of both cuts, where we get the theatrical cut’s good “fleeing from michael down the halls” stuff, then the syringes and a little beating, then when Michael is hurt but still coming he traps him in the rune circle.
I also prefer the theatrical cut’s scene of Michael slaughtering the people doing the ceremony - it makes Michael scarier and ties into him killing the doctors in the beginning (was that just theatrical cut too?).
The Loomis ending is awful in the theatrical and much better here, even though again it’s hokey and not great - but what else are you going to do at this point? We don’t know what happens to the man in black in the theatrical and it wraps up much better here because it wraps up at all.
I didn’t really notice the score being all that different. There is still that really weird scene where blonde girl is trying to get away from Michael in the house and the music is playing the calm original halloween track meant to be played before any scares or action happens.
Overall Halloween 6 just isn’t very good. I give the slight edge to the Producer’s Cut because more of the mythology is there and at the end of the day that’s all I care about with this movie.[/details]
Movies I saw this past 2 weeks:
- Maniac Cop 2 : I loved it, even more than the first one!
- The Babadook : Enjoyed this one too although I think the movie tried a bit too hard in the “the monster is very likely a metaphor for …” department…
- Nightcrawler : Pretty great flick with great suspense in some scenes… but then maybe not horror.
- Interstellar : Enjoyed it but wasn’t mindblowing or anything.
My copy of Nightbreed Bluray Directors Cut Limited Edition just arrived today, planning to watch it tonight! 
Maniac Cop 2 is one of those rare sequels that outdoes the original. But I stand by Maniac Cop because I am a Bruce Campbell fan and not really into seeing him get bodied early into films.
That’s right Congo, you can go fuck yourself.
whoa…WHOA :wtf:
The Babadook was amazing. basically its on the same level as the original Shinning. Id say it falls under that “category”. totally legit and recommended.
@Ramrod
Any good horror pics you could recommend me on netflix? You know my tastes in horror.
^ torrent Babadook
right now