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Author Topic: Shocktober Group Marathon 2017  (Read 42375 times)

1SO

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2017
« Reply #140 on: October 15, 2017, 01:49:02 AM »
A Taste of Evil (1971)
* * * - Okay 
This TV Movie was written by Jimmy Sangster, a name I didn’t know but whose work I’m very familiar with. He’s the writer of Taste of Fear, Nightmare and The Nanny, #s 6, 11 and 54 on my list of Hidden Horror. This is a reworking of the other three films, which I didn’t realize until now share a lot of plot. It stars Barbara Stanwyck, which is why I watched and late in her career she still delivers the goods. Going big without stepping into camp like other Grande Dames at the time.


The House That Would Not Die (1970)
* *
From the director or A Taste of Evil (and Kolchak: The Night Stalker) and also starring Barbara Stanwyck, this TV Movie is a hokey piece of nonsense about restless ghosts and demonic possession. Conforming to the 70-75 minute TV running time, the story is so rushed that the characters don’t have time to be skeptical about séances, exorcisms and possessed relatives who suddenly try to kill them. Their quick acceptance of such events is incredibly weird, like an alternate universe where ghosts and witches are part of everyday life.


Something Evil (1972)
* * ½
Completing this TV Movie trilogy is this Steven Spielberg film, made after Duel and before The Sugarland Express. A completely unoriginal haunted house story, I particularly hate the cliché of the largely absent husband who’s too busy with work and dismissive of what is happening to his wife and children. Spielberg hasn’t reached his peak yet, but you can see a lot of his images of wonder and fear. One of the best directed TV Movies, but the paint-by-numbers script drags Spielberg down.

All Three:
- Safe for Sandy


Killer Snakes (1973)
* *
From the director of Horror Marathon Discovery The Boxer’s Omen, this is a disappointingly formula story about a picked-on nerd in love with an impossible beauty who gains special control over rats a red Plymouth Fury snakes, and if you’ve seen the other two films I’m referencing you know exactly where this is headed. (And if you haven’t, the remake of Willard with Crispen Glover is pretty great.) Only this time the picked-on nerd has excessive psychological damage that makes him even more of a vengeful jerk than usual. The snakes provide some good creeps, but the exploitation fixings, especially in terms of sexuality, are largely off-putting. Still interested in this director, but I need to find something more fantasy horror.

- This movie was Rated X for good reason

1SO

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2017
« Reply #141 on: October 15, 2017, 01:50:11 PM »

The Bat (1959)

A large mansion, a hidden fortune and a serial killer known as "The Bat" who slashes throats and is reported to have no face. This is all very simplistic and silly, with most of the plot given in two giant exposition dumps. The first is at a bank where half the cast gathers to explain their relationships and the second involves a friend reading an unusually knowledgeable newspaper. The lighting looks like 1950s television and the scares are just as awkwardly crafted.

However, that doesn't mean there's no fun to be had. The two leads are Agnes Moorehead (maybe her only leading role) and Vincent Price (right at home.) The mystery of who is "The Bat" seems obvious because all the potential are extremely obvious. Just because it's not a good movie doesn't mean it's not an enjoyable one.
Rating: * * ½

- Slightly Scary, mostly jump scares with loud music cues

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2017
« Reply #142 on: October 15, 2017, 06:58:51 PM »

Duel (1971)

What is the greatest Made for TV Movie? It's become a difficult question since the dawn of HBO, the era of Netflix and the number of films made originally for hopeful theatrical release that end up being purchased by a network for broadcast, but as far as I've known the most popular answer has always been Duel, and it's easy to see why. (That said, I watched the 90 minute theatrical cut on Blu-Ray for the first time ever.) With minimal cast and sets, director Steven Spielberg is able to focus his limited time and resources on suspenseful driving sequences. It's easy to see this being the filmmaker who went on to make Jaws. It's also brimming with classic Hitchcockian suspense, if only The Master spent less time on stage and more on location.

The HD presentation has removed the 70s grit, which makes the film even more timeless. It also sounds as good as any of Spielberg's blockbusters. There are some moments that feel TV-ish, like a lengthy stop in a diner. I don't think Spielberg is able to marry Dennis Weaver's minor breakdown to the actions he takes with a fellow diner. This is a minor moment and there are a couple of more. They can't all be Jaws. However, the bulk of the film is Hitchcock level and this is from a director only in his mid 20s at the time. Credit also to Richard Matheson's screenplay - a personal favorite writer of mine - who keeps it stripped down and focused on Spielberg's wizardry.
Rating: * * * ½, #367 on my List of Essentials

- Scary. Sometimes it's not about on-screen violence but the constant escalation of tension and suspense.

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2017
« Reply #143 on: October 15, 2017, 11:52:16 PM »

Over Your Dead Body (2014)

This Takashi Miike film combines elements of Kwaidan, Moulin Rouge, The French Lieutenant's Woman and Revenge of a Kabuki Actor, but is really unlike any of them. It's a horror film, but it starts as a relationship drama with a theater troupe performing a famous Japanese folktale I'm not familiar with. This layering of reality and artifice continue to blur as Miike brings in fantasy, curses and moments of horror that still shock me even though I know with Miike I need to be ready for anything.

As you might guess from my description, this is a dense and layered work, beautifully shot and unpredictable. I've never seen such a polished work from Miike, comparable to last year's The Handmaiden. Because I don't know the play being performed and the cast faces aren't familiar, I had a difficult time following what was happening in places. I would like to watch this again, perhaps when I'm taking deeper breaths between films. I'm already a fan of Miike, but this shows how far he's gone from being a cinema bad boy to a true master craftsman.
Rating: * * * - Good

- Shocking




The Gorgon (1964)

Hammer Horror with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, so... watchable. Still, I wish the film did less talking and had some more Gorgon in it. Maybe there isn't enough to the legend to sustain a feature, though the effect of characters slowly turning to stone is pretty cool. These wonderful final minutes when they know their fate is sealed and they're trying to make their last moment count. Lee plays it big, but still gets upstaged by a silly, bushy moustache. The climax is rushed and ends suddenly, which is typical for Hammer. I don't know why they always end in a fight when they're never good at staging one.
Rating: * *

- Safe for Sandy

Knocked Out Loaded

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2017
« Reply #144 on: October 16, 2017, 03:18:23 AM »
Duel (1971)

- Scary. Sometimes it's not about on-screen violence but the constant escalation of tension and suspense.
The Duel is in my Top 100, partly for nostalgic reasons, but anyways.... As well as being one of the best made for TV movies ever I also think that it is among one of the best first time feature efforts around. I always have found the sequence with the terrariums to be a little weird. Maybe it is in the movie as a breather, from an otherwise claustrophobic journey?
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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2017
« Reply #145 on: October 16, 2017, 03:56:19 AM »
Ouija: Origin Of Evil (Mike Flanagan, 2016)

A single mom in a strained financial position with two daughters carries out fake seances at her home to stretch out their economy. To refine the business she gets an ouija board. This rocks the balance of the spirit world around them and thus we end up with both a haunted house and a possessed person on our hands. The movie is set the mid sixties and looks very good, with much attention to detail. It gets pretty scary a few times, but towards the end we get stranded at third base and the movie fails to bat us in.

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- Slightly Scary. If you beleive in spirits: Scary.
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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2017
« Reply #146 on: October 16, 2017, 09:15:15 AM »
I always have found the sequence with the terrariums to be a little weird. Maybe it is in the movie as a breather, from an otherwise claustrophobic journey?
Do you mean the rattlesnake farm? That’s where he calls the cops and the truck tries to run him over. He also gets a spider on his leg - my phobia - so not much of a breather. The breather is the lengthy diner scene where Dennis Weaver has a small breakdown trying to figure out if the truck driver is inside.

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2017
« Reply #147 on: October 16, 2017, 02:57:56 PM »
We're halfway through the month and it's going to be hard to find time in the next two weeks to watch some more scary movies and I'm kinda bummed about it. Might be able to slip a couple in the next two nights, but I also have a lot of personal stuff I need to be getting through on the handful of free evenings I do have.

I do plan on having a review of Mother! out tonight, which I guess I'm going to count as a horror film because I may as well.

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2017
« Reply #148 on: October 16, 2017, 03:41:46 PM »
Good call.
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Knocked Out Loaded

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2017
« Reply #149 on: October 17, 2017, 06:27:07 AM »
I always have found the sequence with the terrariums to be a little weird. Maybe it is in the movie as a breather, from an otherwise claustrophobic journey?
Do you mean the rattlesnake farm? That’s where he calls the cops and the truck tries to run him over. He also gets a spider on his leg - my phobia - so not much of a breather. The breather is the lengthy diner scene where Dennis Weaver has a small breakdown trying to figure out if the truck driver is inside.
Yes, the rattlesnake farm! Weird as in it feels surreal, does a thing like that exist in real life? Breather as in there we get to focus on other phobia than the chase itself. The diner scene has less action but still is very tense as Weaver tries to fox out who the driver is. I wouldn’t like to have that spider on me either, btw!
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