Author Topic: Shocktober Group Marathon 2019  (Read 27246 times)

1SO

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #30 on: September 22, 2019, 03:02:12 PM »
Looking forward to watching You're Next again. First time, I was at maximum hype because of the delayed release. I liked it, but thought it could've been better in places. Will probably enjoy it more the 2nd time.


I like your forgiving attitude towards Goodnight Mommy. I thought the filmmakers were hanging too much onto the surprise, which I also figured out really early. It was a disappointing ride all the way.

1SO

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #31 on: September 22, 2019, 03:21:22 PM »

Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)
"Satan has become an embarrassment to our progressive views."

This appears on may lists of the worst sequels of all time and some lists of the worst films ever made. It is Mark Kermode's least favorite film, but The Exorcist is his favorite so consider the source. I don't have as much love for the original, and see it more interestingly as John Boorman's movie following the laughable Zardoz and leading into the Masterwork, Excalibur. (I want to know how Boorman was able to raise five dollars for a film after Zardoz and this?)

If you haven't seen Exorcist II, you might know it as the film where James Earl Jones wears a locust costume. He does, and it's pretty ridiculous, as is the film's overall obsession with locust. I don't think The Swarm had as many bees as this film has locust, locust watching scenes from up high and locust point-of-view as they fly through the landscape. You might have recently heard some re-apprasials focused around the scene I opted for over the locust cosplay. It's easily the best part of the movie, cleverly blending current characters with events from the first movie. I kind of wish there was more nostalgia leaning. At least it gives this film a reason to exist. The plot is complete and total nonsense. A collection of unbaked ideas and undeveloped thoughts that have little to do with the scenes that come before and after. Boorman's visual flourish is all there is. The rest is too dull to even be consistently laughable. 
Rating: ★ ½

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Junior

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #32 on: September 22, 2019, 03:50:04 PM »
Tried watching that one a few years back, found it to be so boring I fell asleep. I'm glad you were able to power through and confirm my half-baked opinions.
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1SO

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #33 on: September 22, 2019, 04:03:44 PM »
I did feel like I was powering through, exactly. I kept waiting for it to get funnier or have another interesting scene, maybe more connection to the first movie. Even the oft-cited moment where Jones spits out a Leopard isn't visually interesting. I wanted some Takashi Miike surrealism, but it was just an edit from the spitting to an isolated shot of the leopard.

Junior

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #34 on: September 22, 2019, 04:19:01 PM »
That's unfortunate. At least we'll always have III, an all time classic. Oh, and the original too.

I watched the last half hour of Willow Creek again last night. I really love that tent scene. It's pretty perfectly paced, with an emotional moment at its start that soon fades into excitement then paranoia and then outright fear. It's 18 minutes of a pretty static shot and I still couldn't look away, even the second or third time through. It's a little too bad, then, that the five minutes after it aren't as good as those 18 minutes. The ending's brevity is a plus, but only because it doesn't let too much air out of the balloon before sending us out into the world.
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Beavermoose

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #35 on: September 22, 2019, 08:02:47 PM »
I remember watching this movie friends and Pazuzu becoming an inside joke with us for a while.


"Pazuzu, you ungrateful gargoyle! I put you through college and this is the thanks i get?!"

smirnoff

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #36 on: September 22, 2019, 11:52:25 PM »
(I want to know how Boorman was able to raise five dollars for a film after Zardoz and this?)

Something like this.


1SO

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #37 on: September 23, 2019, 11:00:00 PM »

Twisted Nerve (1968)

It's pretty crummy for a film to be so unmemorable that I start doubting my initial reaction. Twisted Nerve has a wonderful title, an unforgettable whistle theme by Bernard Herrmann that's been used in Kill Bill and American Horror Story and it allegedly stars Hayley Mills early into her post-Disney career. I say "allegedly" because she's 2nd fiddle to Hywel Bennett as a man-child PSYCHOpath. Billie Whitelaw gets as much screen time and a more interesting part.

Bennett's character isn't interesting, a narrowly drawn unstable killer with none of the creep factor of Terence Stamp in The Collector, which came out three years earlier. Even that whistle is more of a gift to give the film a legacy, and not legitimately creepy when it plays. I wish the story did something dangerous instead of playing familiar notes. It needed a little transgression, if only so I don't accidentally sit through it a 3rd time.
Rating: ★ ★

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Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #38 on: September 24, 2019, 12:01:10 AM »
What a shame. I always wanted to see this one.

1SO

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #39 on: September 24, 2019, 11:55:34 PM »

Alligator (1980)

This was a gateway film for young me. I watched it numerous times on television and still remembered a couple of the big scenes. The kid about to jump into his swimming pool without looking down to see the giant gator was one of the scariest scenes of my youth. I hoped this would hold up at least well enough, especially since it stars Robert Forster and the script is by John Sayles.

It's so much more... schlocky than I remember. Indistinguishable from Ozploitation films, with an oddly cheery attitude towards the situation, some broad comedy - like the random mad bomber who just loves his radio - and cheap techniques like crimson-tinted flashbacks. I can't tell if the gator scenes were done with an eye towards saving money or to try and dodge an 'R' rating, but being scary was not the main goal. It's a pretty good looking gator, but unfortunately its jaws can't actually chomp down. So, it just chews on people for a bit before letting the bloodied victim (in untorn clothes) roll out.
Rating: ★ ★

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