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Author Topic: Shocktober Group Marathon 2018  (Read 31106 times)

Junior

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2018
« Reply #110 on: October 17, 2018, 08:18:54 AM »
The Howling
Mostly agree. John Sayles co-wrote the screenplay, and this is often brought up as a sign of quality, but it's not a good script so maybe Horror isn't really Sayles' thing.

I was more excited about the Joe Dante of it all, but even that comes up lacking, unfortunately.

Revenge
The direction is bold, but not in a good way. More in a pretentious film school way. The most striking shots are the extreme close-ups with the exaggerated sound effects. I'd like to see Lutz prove me wrong by being awesome the next time out.

Film school pretentious is a bit harsh. It's not subtle, but there are plenty of subtle horror movies. I'm definitely interested in the next outing, so at least we have that in common.

The Bay
Barry Levinson! Like with Sayles, he seems ill-suited to the material. There's an entertaining way to be gross in horror. This misses the fun of it completely. 

I wouldn't say it misses it completely, but it definitely could be more fun.

Demons
Demons is slightly less off-putting to watch than 2 Girls, 1 Cup. And it's about as professional in the technical qualities. Screenplay would be a tie.

Any remake would be better. It simply has to be.

Lol, it's not that bad! I did watch the sequel the other day and that one is pretty bad. It doesn't have the meta-ness that propels this one up a notch or two.

I'm working my way through Mike Flannigan's The Haunting of Hill House and its the best new thing I've seen this Shocktober so far, but I don't want to write about it until I've seen the whole thing. Same goes for season 2 of Channel Zero, which I'm liking a lot.
I didn't know that was Flannigan. Now I'm certain to see it.

I hope you enjoy it!
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Sandy

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2018
« Reply #111 on: October 17, 2018, 02:39:36 PM »
I have 8 more to go, including Libel (1959), which I've had in my collection for about a year and That Lady (1955), where she wears an eyepatch. I've been sitting on My Cousin Rachel for the better part of a year, waiting for Shocktober to come around.

I would also remind you of Trouble For Two, which takes more of a turn into Shocktober and stars the safe hands of Robert Montgomery, Rosalind Russell and Frank Morgan.

I put Trouble For Two on my watchlist, but it's not at my library, so maybe I can find another route some time. But! My Cousin Rachel is there, so I'll give it a go!

8 more films is a good amount. You won't run out of de Havilland films for a while. :)

philip918

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2018
« Reply #112 on: October 17, 2018, 04:03:24 PM »
8 more films is a good amount. You won't run out of de Havilland films for a while. :)

Are you kidding? That's a lazy weekend for 1SO.

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2018
« Reply #113 on: October 17, 2018, 04:41:19 PM »
A Quiet Place



Silence is one of the go-to tricks of many a horror film. It’s a classic way to lead up to a jump scare or build suspense. It naturally draws the viewer in, puts them on edge, because there’s something unnerving about silence in a world where we’ve become so used to the noise.

It’s the sound of silence that makes A Quiet Place an interesting vision of a post-apocalyptic future . Monsters of an unknown origin are extremely sensitive to any sound, meaning that the few humans left are humans who have committed to lives of silence. Raiding shops in silence and laying down paths of sand to traverse barefoot reshape the world into a place where the slightest noise could bring death.

The Abbott family may be the only people left on earth as far as they know, able to adapt to the silence due to their eldest, Regan (Millicent Simmonds), being deaf. The family communicates through sign language and builds an entire abode around making as little noise as possible. Their youngest Beau dies after an incident with a toy that makes noise. The father, Lee (John Krasinski), retreats into his grief while the mother, Evelyn (Emily Blunt), tries to emotionally support Marcus (Noah Jupe) as Lee begins to place more responsibility on him.

If that sounds more like a family drama than a horror film it’s because a lot of the early film is building up that family drama and exploring the different relational tensions between family members. Writing duo Bryan Woods & Scott Beck team up with John Krasinski to craft one of the most humane horror movies of recent years. The shocks and schlock take a back-seat to a lot of quiet character moments.

It’s the performances that hold this film together. The vast majority of this film is communicated through sign language so it’s gestures with hands, facial expressions and a gaze that will communicate more than words alone could say.

The obvious standout performance is Millicent Simmonds, a deaf actress who--beyond giving an authenticity to the performance--is able to express so much emotion with her eyes and hands that a wellspring of intensity comes out well beyond most actresses her age.

John Krasinski melts into his role as the stern father with this deeply intense sadness about him. There’s always this sense he’s on the edge of tears, that he is in a constant state of emotional fragility.

Emily Blunt works as the cornerstone of the cast, able to play off the more intense emotions flung about her while also giving what looks like a rather physically intense performance given an early plot twist.

With such a cast and premise, it’s not surprising that the best moments of the film are quiet bits where a character wants to scream in frustration but can’t or a father shows his son how to fish. Life here happens in the silence, in the unspoken, in the little tasks. Laundry hung out to dry or a silent prayer before a dinner eaten in silence. Those moments speak to much of meant of what it means to be family: to live in proximity but to also share in life for good and ill.

In a world falling apart, A Quiet Place finds solace in family. The world it envisions is terrifying and horrible, but it never comes across as bleak or insane as its post-apocalyptic contemporaries such as Mad Max: Fury Road or The Walking Dead. There’s a sense that even if the civilization falls apart people will continue to live and love and that will be enough to keep the world going.

Bondo

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2018
« Reply #114 on: October 17, 2018, 07:14:55 PM »
Ghost Stories (2017)

That connected-anthology structure gives Ghost Stories its imaginative frights and unfortunately undercuts their power. We know, because Nyman interviews each subject, that they survive their paranormal encounters and that each segment will be relatively short.

Junior (in an extremely positive review) highlights a significant shortfall here. Admittedly the rules of horror often put certain people largely in a safe position (you often know who the final girl will be from early on) but the flashback structure definitely dulls the dread. What also dulls the dread is that the three horror sequences are simply not interestingly crafted. That more than knowing the subject survives is the damning factor for me. After the stories the film takes some very twisty turns, one of which is blatantly telegraphed by atrocious makeup.

At the end of the day, I guess I didn't get it. It's interesting that often times the fanboy's taunt of a reviewer who doesn't like the thing they like is "you didn't get it" as if that defends the work of art. Having the audience get it is kind of the point, so accusing someone of not getting it is accusing the art of failing.

smirnoff

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2018
« Reply #115 on: October 17, 2018, 10:37:45 PM »
The Bay

A rewatch that reminded me how much bugs crawling inside people freaks me out.

You must like that bit in the Matrix... :)

Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2018
« Reply #116 on: October 17, 2018, 11:09:53 PM »
The Bay

A rewatch that reminded me how much bugs crawling inside people freaks me out.

You must like that bit in the Matrix... :)

Or the segment in Creepshow.

smirnoff

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2018
« Reply #117 on: October 17, 2018, 11:14:50 PM »
A Quiet Place

The Abbott family may be the only people left on earth as far as they know, able to adapt to the silence due to their eldest, Regan (Millicent Simmonds), being deaf. The family communicates through sign language and builds an entire abode around making as little noise as possible. Their youngest Beau dies after an incident with a toy that makes noise.

Even though they chose to telegraph that outcome somewhat, the speed and viciousness of it was way beyond anything I had expected. I put on my seatbelt after that...

smirnoff

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2018
« Reply #118 on: October 17, 2018, 11:15:44 PM »
The Bay

A rewatch that reminded me how much bugs crawling inside people freaks me out.

You must like that bit in the Matrix... :)

Or the segment in Creepshow.

Or Russell Crowe's maggoty shoulder wound in Gladiator. *Picture it* :))

1SO

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2018
« Reply #119 on: October 18, 2018, 12:40:23 AM »
Congratulations to Mike Flanagan. His 4th episode of The Haunting of Hill House contains the first scene of the year where I'm now worried about getting a peaceful night's sleep.

My thoughts so far: If you're only in it for the scares, this will come off as slow. I initially questioned a 500-minute adaptation, but the attention paid to the characters has me wanting to see a lot more horror treated this way. From Wikipedia:

Quote
Jackson's novel relies on terror rather than horror to elicit emotion in the reader, using complex relationships between the mysterious events in the house and the characters’ psyches.

I didn't quite understand the meaning, but there is a different approach to the chilling moments here then I'm used to. Flanagan has a lot of story to tell over multiple time frames and a it's fascinating to see how events shape and change the characters over the years. When he then puts the story into scare mode, the resonance amps things up in a natural way that's way more effective than loud noises and sharp edits.

 

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