Author Topic: Building the Horror/Thriller 1000  (Read 63078 times)

1SO

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Re: Horror: The Final Chapter
« Reply #190 on: March 30, 2017, 12:44:19 AM »
I reminded myself why I pulled the trigger on this Marathon. Having already seen hundreds of horror films – actually over 1000 features according to ICM – I thought that instead of picking at the bottom of the barrel for years it could be more fun to scoop up all the sludge at once looking for a handful of recommendable titles. I also knew that there are so many horror films that even after these 400+ titles, I could easily find a number of potential gems.

Game On!

1SO

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Re: Horror: The Final Chapter
« Reply #191 on: April 04, 2017, 01:36:30 AM »

Street Trash (1987)
aka. Horror in Bowery Street
½
Has anyone here seen Street Trash?  It's been years since a friend brought it over to my house, but the plot's pretty easy to remember: bums drink this stuff called "Viper" and it turns them to goo.  Each one melts in a different, spectacular way.  And some dude gets his wang bitten off.

Sleaze City (films that make you uncomfortable and maybe wanna take a shower)
Here is my defense of not giving Nekromantik a lower rating. This is like some cinematic Fear Factor, disgusting imagery, with little surrounding it. Bad actors fake their way through terrible scenes with no story to connect them besides the toxic drink, so all you have to look forward to are gross out moments of bodies melting
 

Blood Diner (1987)
aka. Blood Feast 2
½
Low budget, terrible acting and obnoxious comedy is a combination for a really bad time. Thank goodness I have a lot of work coming up because this Marathon is daring me to quit.


Slugs (1988)
* *
Another reminder of what started this Marathon. In Jan. 2016 I watched Frogs (1972), starring Ray Milland. This post by PeacefulAnarchy and Oldkid captures it well, not good but kind of enjoyable. Slugs is a bit like that. Filmed half in America, half in Spain (sometimes for the same scene), this isn’t a film with tight story structure or even loose story structure. What it has is killer slugs and lots of them. Some of it is amusing, but none of it is trying hard to be funny or campy. Some of it is gross. It could’ve been a lot worse.


Amsterdamned (1988)
* * 
A fun/sick opening, where school children touring the Amsterdam canal run into a dead body hanging from the bridge that proceeds to streak across the plexiglass roof of the boat. There are some slasher elements, but this is more of a late 80s cop thriller with car and speedboat chases. The canal city setting makes it unique and there are bizarre comedy touches, but the rest of the film is uninspired. Still better than filmmaker Dick Maas’ last horror film, Lift, about the killer elevator.


Dead Heat (1988)
*
Towards the end of the buddy cop cycle, filmmakers tried every crazy concept (though Whoopi Goldberg partnered with a dinosaur will never be topped). This one stars Joe Piscopo, whose partner Treat Williams becomes a zombie. The concept comes up with some inspired ideas with the unkillable and slowly decaying partner taking on a mysterious crew of robbing zombies, enough to make me think the idea might work if taken a little more seriously. Unlike Amsterdamned, there’s more than enough scares and gore to qualify this as horror. Piscopo is so annoying, so anti-funny that he drops out of the film after about an hour. The director is Mark Goldblatt, whose editing credits are extraordinary. Too bad he doesn’t know how to direct actors… or scenes.
« Last Edit: April 04, 2017, 01:51:57 AM by 1SO »

1SO

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Re: Horror: The Final Chapter
« Reply #192 on: April 09, 2017, 12:32:45 PM »

Evil Dead Trap (1988)
aka. Tokyo Snuff
* *
Very little to do with Sam Raimi’s similarly-titled series of films, this is Japanese hyper-gore with the expected large dose of weirdness. The visuals are sometimes wicked and sometimes overly hyper, with the emphasis being on creative kills, and on that score the film does pretty well. Too bad it couldn’t be shaped into more of a roller coaster and less of a bumper car ride.
 

Pin (1988)
* * * - Okay
Canadian horror is hard to define, but I’m starting to recognize its particular mix of odd and resourceful. (It’s like Ozploitation toned down to the limitations of Hitchcock’s filmed plays.) This one follows a brother and sister who are very close… and their father’s anatomy dummy who becomes the brother’s imaginary(?) companion. To quote Arsenic and Old Lace, insanity doesn’t just run in this family, it practically gallops. Too bad the film falls short of big scares or deep chills that would make it a true gem.


Waxwork (1988)
* ½
The problem with this Goosebumps type film is that the comedy is aimed at little kids but the violence is adult stuff. I’m not even sure kids would enjoy the broad humor. Unusual cast includes John Rhys-Davies as a werewolf and David Warner as the owner of the wax museum, and it stars Gremlins’ Zach Galligan and 80s hotties Deborah Foreman and Michelle Johnson.


Scarecrows (1988)
* *  ½
I’m torn because this is the kind of film I’m in this marathon to discover. Set during one night in the woods with killer scarecrows, the film is creepy, scary and told with great economy. Unfortunately the people are dummies and jerks and the production feels straight-to-DVD, which isn’t by itself a negative but combined with the other weaknesses I didn’t care about the people or the story.


Night of the Demons (1988)
aka. Halloween Party
* ½
Watching this unstylish, unfunny variation of Evil Dead, it’s astonishing to learn they made four of these. Most people will have never heard of the one film, but then you learn it’s a franchise? Reminded me that Linnea Quigley used to be a thing.

smirnoff

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Re: Horror: The Final Chapter
« Reply #193 on: April 10, 2017, 12:14:05 AM »
Do you know if any of these titles been featured on Best of the Worst (Redlettermedia)?

These bad films aren't going to watch themselves.

This made me laugh so much. :))

1SO

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Re: Horror: The Final Chapter
« Reply #194 on: April 11, 2017, 12:58:24 AM »
Do you know if any of these titles been featured on Best of the Worst (Redlettermedia)?
Episode 34's Halloween Spooktacular has Mystics in Bali

smirnoff

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Re: Horror: The Final Chapter
« Reply #195 on: April 11, 2017, 01:37:00 AM »
Do you know if any of these titles been featured on Best of the Worst (Redlettermedia)?
Episode 34's Halloween Spooktacular has Mystics in Bali
Nice, I'll go back and find that episode. I really enjoy the Best of the Worst episodes. God, some of the stuff they watch... it makes me laugh. You're seeing a lot of stuff on that level for this marathon, but finding the odd gem too.

DarkeningHumour

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Re: Horror: The Final Chapter
« Reply #196 on: April 14, 2017, 05:45:39 AM »
The last couple of films lifted my spirits, but this batch of terrible titles brought me right back down.

That's probably the worst string of ratings I have ever seen from you. Still going strong?
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1SO

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Re: Horror: The Final Chapter
« Reply #197 on: April 14, 2017, 09:39:27 AM »
I've been busy with work this week, and two of my most recent films - Men Behind the Sun, Celia - I didn't feel belonged here, so I posted in the main review thread. I'm also balancing this with Bondo's Top 100 month.

My last batch had Pin, which is a mild thumbs up from me. My first recommendation since 1983's The Boxer's Omen.

So still going, but not at a pace of three titles a day. According to Letterboxd, I'm 65% complete.

1SO

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Re: Horror: The Final Chapter
« Reply #198 on: April 17, 2017, 11:50:25 PM »

The Church (1989)
aka. Demon Cathedral
* ½ 
Italian horror from the director of Cemetery Man, co-written and co-produced by Dario Argento, whose teenage daughter Asia is cast in a major role. Typical of giallo there’s wild imagination and very little logic. The back half is designed like 1985’s Demons, the worst film I’ve ever seen, though this doesn’t go deep into the gore like that one. There’s also a sequence that’s a direct steal from Rosemary’s Baby.


Bride of Re-Animator (1989)
* * * - Okay
So nice to report that this sequel retains the fun of the original film. So many terrible comedy horrors in this Marathon, and while Bride never made me laugh out loud, I was constantly amused by the story and the wonderful performance by Jeffrey Combs, returning as Dr. Herbert West. There’s a terrible sub-plot involving a room of insane people who arrive without reason for the climax and the last three minutes goes too far with illogical body attachment combinations, including the returning head of evil Dr. Hill flying around on bat wings. Overall however, this is a worthy follow up and I’m now curious in 2003’s Beyond Re-Animator, even if just for Jeffrey Combs.


Laurin (1989)
aka. Laurin: A Journey Into Death
* * ½
A child in the world she barely understands. The mixture of reality and fantasy can be related to Heavenly Creatures or Pan’s Labyrinth, but this is less fantastical, using real-world surrealism and symbolism instead of imaginative creatures. The approach can produce nightmarish feelings, but this didn’t interest me. The atmosphere was more distancing than enveloping.


Baby Blood (1990)
aka. The Evil Within
* * ½
Predating New French Extremity by almost 10 years, this mixture of body horror, rough sex and an over-abundance of blood fits right in with others from the movement. Sometimes it goes too far in a fun way, but just as often it feels like blood and discomfort are its aim. It hits that target, but ends up a rougher watch than it probably needed to be. Typical of NFE.


Grim Prairie Tales (1990)
* * ½
Horror omnibus with a couple of new wrinkles: 1. The film is also a western, with the stories involving settlers, gunfighters and Indians. 2. The best part of the film is the framing device as a married bookworm and a buffalo hunter spend the night telling the stories. They’re played by Brad Dourif and James Earl Jones. It’s overhype to say their scenes are great, but they’re way more interesting than any of the stories.
« Last Edit: April 17, 2017, 11:55:27 PM by 1SO »

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Re: Horror: The Final Chapter
« Reply #199 on: April 18, 2017, 02:36:49 PM »
Next up is Troll 2, so to prepare I watched Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2, aka. "Garbage Day!"