The Horror Thread - Part 4

[rnewbz]

Day 4-Friday the 13th (2009)

http://newbyfadeto.blogspot.com/2014/10/31-days-of-horror-day-4-friday-13th-2009.html

 

[Goshdarn Batman]

In regards to The Blair Witch Project, the house at the end, for me is most unsettling.

Yeah, I wouldn't go near a house like that. It looks evil! Eeeeviiiiil (Grandpa, you said that about all the houses)!

I'm with you on this one. I remember I couldn't sleep and I even cried once after I had seen it because I was so terrified of how it ended. Haven't seen it in a while, I'd be up for it.

When I watched it on tv, I didn't believe that the movie was real...but then it ended, and the same channel showed a fake "documentary" called "Curse of the Blair Witch". It featured interviews with family members, police etc. Fooled me!

 

[Piper Maru]

I remember that Curse of The Blair Witch documentary, that was really well executed.

 

[Maximus One]

Watched Horns with Daniel Radcliffe tonite. I highly recommend it. I'm not exactly sure exact what type of film you would call it, not a typical horror comedy, bit of a mystery too but god damn was it some great gothic fantasy/horror/comedy at the same time. Ugh, it was so good. Didn't stick to the book exactly and omitted some of my favorite things but still ****ing amazing performance from Radcliffe

 

[Lasirius]

I decided to pass on Annebelle due to the reviews and word of mouth. Sad that there isn't any decent horror movies coming out this month to coincide with Halloween. I am even sad that Paranormal Activity 5 has been pushed back into next year. Pretty weak October I say.

Just came back from it, you've made a wise decision.

 

[Heretic]

Watched Open Windows (2014) starring Elijah Wood and Sasha Grey, by Nacho Vigalondo (who did the much loved Timecrimes).

Great concept here, not so great execution.

Added spoiler tags, for those who think that I ruined the entire movie by talking about a 5 minute minor plot point that results in nothing.

Spoiler

The entire film exists on Elijah Woods' laptop...so...you watch the "open windows" he has on his screen and that tells the story.

Sasha is a famous actress (a huge plot point is that the world has not seen her naked...and Sasha Freaking Grey is the actress they hired lol)...and Elijah is a huge fan who runs a blog dedicated to her. He thinks he's won a dinner date with her in a contest, so he flies down to Austin, TX during a film festival...and turns out some mysterious guy contacts Wood and gets him involved in hacking video cameras and Grey's computers, kidnapping and other Horror/Thriller movie stuff.

This movie is out in the midst of a real world celebrity hacking/nude picture and video leak. I kind of wish that the movie had something to say about privacy and celebrity, but it's already off in a million directions, so forget it.

It's a unique enough idea...and Elijah is good (Sasha is not)...so it could have been great. Unfortunately, there's a bunch of nonsense thrown in. She's made out to be rude...and there's this throwaway thing about the movie producers leaking a fake home made adult film to get hype for her new movie...and she wants to retire, but the press will for some reason be all over her if she announces her retirement (how about just stop acting without an announcement??). There's too much meaningless crap thrown in to make Hollywood and the people in it seem terrible and it comes off fake and I don't even care about that stuff anyway. How about just make her an actress who isn't cheating on her boyfriend with an agent who isn't a piece of garbage...you know...make me want them to survive this movie.

This is a spoiler, but here goes...since she wants to retire and hates everyone she works with and no one seems to want to let her retire...I spent the entire film assuming that Sasha's character was actually in on the crime and was in no danger whatsoever. I felt ZERO drama because I thought she was acting like she was in danger. After all, the crimes hinges on half the victims making decisions that play into the villains plan. But no...turns out...she really was in danger...and the film just set up the "desperate and unable to retire" storyline as a red herring...a red herring that destroys any possibility of tension being built in a Thriller! Of course...had they made her actually in on it, it would have been so obvious that I'd trash that decision...which is why the movie really didn't need that subplot at all.

There's also a team of French hackers who I really wish weren't in the film. It's yet another "clever" curve-ball to keep you on your toes that means nothing in the end. I cringed a bit every time they showed up exactly when needed in the story.

I'm not upset that I watched this. Vigalondo is CERTAINLY an emerging talent who is going to blow us away in the future. I just don't think he did it this time.

 

[Goshdarn Batman]

I just watched "The Willies" from 1990. No, it's not a documentary about male genitalia, but a horror anthology rated PG-13.

It had four short stories, the first two lasted maybe a minute each, while the last two main stories were longer. I liked the first main story best, about a man-eating monster in the school's toilet.

The second story is about a fat kid who tortures flies, scares cats and bullies his classmates. I'm not sure, but it seemed like they tortured flies for real by pulling off their wings. Not cool... and it lasted way too long.

 

[Maximus One]

Damn, guess nobody needs to see Open Windows now.

 

[Heretic]

Damn, guess nobody needs to see Open Windows now.

There is a TON more to the film that what I revealed. What I revealed is basically the set-up of the movie. Yes, I revealed that

Spoiler

Sasha Grey is a victim...but the plot of the movie is that she's a victim. I merely pointed out that there is not a twist in that regard.

What's funny is that the vast majority of what I typed above is literally just filler fluff in the movie...just side info that has no real bearing on the plot (if you don't know that a guy is hacking into stuff and using Frodo to get to Sasha Grey, then you have never heard of this movie).

 

[The Shape]

Try using spoiler tags, dude. I was planning to watch Open Windows this week.

 

[Heretic]

Sorry...

You now know that Sasha Grey is a famous but unhappy actress who is being victimized, and Frodo is a fan of hers that is being screwed with by some guy using technology.

I'm stunned that you didn't know that, but were planning on watching the film anyway. I mean...have you even heard of the movie??? If you have heard of it, how did you get interested without already finding that info out?

PS: SPOILER...The movie is NOT a dream.
PPS: SPOILER: They are NOT all dead the entire movie.
Sorry if the above spoilers ruin the movie for you.

 

[Heretic]

For those who AREN'T planning to see Open Windows...

Legit spoilers...seriously legit spoilers this time. Don't read this unless you want the end of the film spoiled completely.

Spoiler

Frodo is actually the hacker the entire time...and there's this OTHER fan of hers that stole his equipment and has been pretending to be him...so Frodo was posing as a fan to find out how to get to the guy who stole his equipment. Plus, Sasha actually DOES use that opportunity to fake her death/retire...so that twist that I claimed wasn't part of the plot DOES become part of the plot...and the people who think I spoiled the movie for them will spend the entire film thinking that she isn't going to use the crime as a chance to retire. So, if anything, I threw them a curve ball in my spoiler.

So...yeah...the movie is totally ruined by that little info I posted in my first comment.

 

[NDX]

5. Video Violence

Really do enjoy this film. Makes me miss renting videos, too.

I'm a Lifer.

 

[Heretic]

Watched Werewolf Rising, starring Melissa Carnell (Boggy Creek, Humans vs Zombies), an actress that I used to think deserved a higher profile...but wow...not only is she terrible in this, her looks have kind of taken a dive as well. What happened???

As usual, I dont give any story spoilers past like Act 1 or so and instead will probably rant for 4 paragraphs about stuff that happens during the build-up (that don't matter at all but it'll seem like it really does)...but for the sake of people who feel spoiled by that kind of thing...

Spoiler

This movie is about a girl with a drinking problem who goes out to the middle of nowhere to get her life back in order. She's consistently being bothered by creepy dudes who are being way too forward...and she seems aware that they are being inappropriate...creeped out by it...yet entertained enough to keep things rolling. Meanwhile, some criminals have escaped from prison and are on the loose. Also, there's a guy wearing a Spirit Halloween werewolf suit prowling the woods.

Then the werewolves are revealed to be aliens and they take over planet Earth.

Anyway...this film is awful, just terrible. The acting (aside from an all-in Bill Oberst Jr), the script, the special effects...there's nothing good to say about it.

However...once the action starts I did laugh once or twice at things they likely intended to be scary. Plus...man, there's some real head-scratcher decisions going on here...just...I'd like to have been there when they decided that this stuff would improve the film. I actually rewatched the end because...what and why and huh???

 

[Thundarr]

Day 4: I missed Day 3, so I tried making up for it today. Watched Ghostbustrs 1 & 2, followed by an Australian movie called Road Kill.

Road Kill is a kind of odd cross between Christine, Duel, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It starts off with four friends out camping in the Australian outback. On their way home they're run off the road by a "road train" (a huge three trailer truck). They find the truck not far away, abandoned, so they comandeered the truck to try and reach the next town. But it turns out he truck has a mind of its own and takes them off the main road. It then drives one of the four friends mad, compelling him to try and kill his friends, because it runs on human bodies instead of gasoline. Not a great movie, and kind of confusing at points, but not terrible either. I've certainly seen worse.

 

[Thundarr]

Day 4-Friday the 13th (2009)

http://newbyfadeto.blogspot.com/2014/10/31-days-of-horror-day-4-friday-13th-2009.html

Blech! I won't spend any money on that crap. I've got the original 1980 movie and its sequels, any one of which is much better than the remake.

 

[Thundarr]

It scared me as a kid. My parents didn't let me watch horror movies (except for Ernest Scared Stupid...man, it traumatized me), but I hid behind a door and watched some of it...

I hated Freddy long before I saw it, because of some pictures of him in a TV magazine. I couldn't believe how scary he was...and one of my friends told me that he was real. "If you dream about Freddy Krueger, you will die!"

The best movie is the first one, though.

I was much the same way. I didn't want to see any Nightmare On Elm Street movies as a kid because the poster for Part 2 in the video store freaked me right the hell out. And my sister told me something similar about John Carpenter's Halloween, that it was based on a true story.

Well, the character of Michael Myers is actually very, VERY loosely based on an actual mental patient. When he was in college, John Carpenter studied psychology. His class was taken to a mental hospital so that they could observe actual phyciatrists treating actual mental patients, where he saw a boy of about 12 years of age just sitting and staring out the window with a blank, emotionless face. This was the inspiration for Dr Loomis's speech about Michael having "The blackest eyes. The devil's eyes." But as for the murders themselves? All fiction.

Incidentally, A Nightmare On Elm Street actually was based (very loosely) on a true story. A number of refugees from south east Asia had died in their sleep after suffering from a series of nightmares which became progressively worse and worse. At the time the phenomenon was called SUDS (Sudden Unexplained Death Syndrome). Today its referred to as Sleep Paralysis. Its believed that deaths during Sleep Paralysis occur due to a combination of factors, namely cultural beliefs. In countries in South East Asia, many people believe that such nightmares are caused by a demon, and unless certain rituals are performed, the demon will eventually kill the person having the nightmares. The reason the refugees die is because they are unable to perform these rituals, and they believe so strongly in the existence of this demon that they end up literally frightening themselves to death. Its kind of the reverse of The Placebo Effect.

 

[Thundarr]

Freddy's Revenge is alright; best Krueger makeup, but that pool scene is confusing as hell. Who's dreaming there?

Nobody's dreaming. That's the weakness of the film. They had a bunch of crazy supernatural stuff happening in the real world, which should only be able to happen in dreams. But the general tone and creepy imagery of the movie is what I like about he movie. I tend to be more forgiving of the second movie than most people are for hat very reason. The sillier the movies got, the less I liked them.

 

[rnewbz]

Day 5: House on Haunted Hill (1959)

http://newbyfadeto.blogspot.com/2014/10/31-days-of-horror-day-5-house-on.html

 

[Goshdarn Batman]

he saw a boy of about 12 years of age just sitting and staring out the window with a blank, emotionless face. This was the inspiration for Dr Loomis's speech about Michael having "The blackest eyes. The devil's eyes."

That made me sad poor boy.

The reason the refugees die is because they are unable to perform these rituals, and they believe so strongly in the existence of this demon that they end up literally frightening themselves to death. Its kind of the reverse of The Placebo Effect.

...or is it? (scary, dramatic music)

 

[Thundarr]

...or is it? (scary, dramatic music)

Well, I suppose that depends on whether or not you believe in demons yourself. However, this is the explanation given by scientists who have studied this phenomenon. And it explains why they die in the USA, while not in their native countries (where presumably they have similar nightmares). The rituals to get rid of he demon have to be performed by a legitimate shaman from their culture (easy to find in their native country, almost impossible to locate in North America). Or in some cases, requires the ritual sacrifice of a specific animal (highly frowned upon in our culture, thus difficult to do). So SUDS/Sleep Paralysis can be lethal here in North America (at least to South East Asians who believe their nightmares are being caused by a demon), but not in South East Asia (where spiritual shaman/ritual animal sacrifices are commonplace).

 

[Thundarr]

Day 5: Wrestlemaniac

As a wrestling fan and former masked wrestler myself, I have a bit of a soft pot in my heart for this movie. As a horror fan I will admit it's not as good of a slasher flick as it could have been.

One problem with it was the location. The original script called for it to take place in an abandoned psychiatric hospital. But due to scheduling problems they were forced to change it to a ghost town, which doesn't work as well for the story.

Another is the movie needed a larger cast of victims. The story, for those of you who don't know, revolves around a group of adult film makers going to Mexico to make a movie. There are the three female leads, Dallas, Debbie, and Daisy. The director/producer/male lead Alfonse. Then there's Steve, the cameraman/Mexican wrestling fan. And then there's the stoner, Jimbo, who's there to be the film's stoner guy (seriously, that's his only purpose in the film). I think the story would definitely have benefited from a few more characters. Have some men cast in the adult film they were planning on making. Give them some professional looking camera equipment to film with (lights, a boom mike, etc). Make Jimbo their boom operator instead of just the group's designated stoner. That would've improved the movie somewhat.

One last improvement I would've made. Since they were supposed to be there to make a XXX adult film, I would've had a LOT more naked women and wild sex happening.

One bit of trivia for you horror enthusiasts. The crazy guy at the gas station that warns the film makers to avoid the ghost town, was played by "Crazy Ralph" from Friday The 13th Parts 1 & 2.

 

[rnewbz]

Day 6: Children of the Corn (1984)

http://newbyfadeto.blogspot.com/2014/10/31-days-of-horror-day-6-children-of.html

 

[chamber-music]

Did any of you guys ever check out slasher mystery show Harper's Island?

It was like a tv series of Scream

 

[rnewbz]

Day 7: Afflicted (2014)

http://newbyfadeto.blogspot.com/2014/10/31-days-of-horror-day-7-afflicted-2013.html