Author Topic: Shocktober Group Marathon 2019  (Read 27250 times)

Sandy

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #100 on: October 09, 2019, 09:11:12 PM »
The Curse of La Llorona

This one scared the bejeebers out of me! I thought my heart was going to burst, I was so afraid. I must be a really big wimp. :))

oldkid

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #101 on: October 09, 2019, 09:28:15 PM »
I’ve been watching some much scarier stuff, and I think CoLL has some good jump scares and the endangerment of children is really scary!
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

Sandy

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #102 on: October 09, 2019, 09:30:04 PM »
Yeah, child endangerment put me right into terror mode. I don't think I was just watching the film, I was living it.

1SO

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #103 on: October 09, 2019, 09:58:47 PM »
Mrs. 1SO Not-So-Scary

Terror on a Train
(1953)
★ ★
This was a mistake. All I knew was the marketing, which shows Glenn Ford running on the tracks and the tag lines "Can they... Will they... Stop That Terror on a Train" and "80 Minutes of Pure Suspense." IMDB starts, "When a saboteur places an explosive device on a train..." and I was in. Turns out the film is more like a Richard Linklater examination of the citizens of the town in danger and the private life of the explosives expert. (Not a cool Hurt Locker inner life, but petty domestic squabbles.) The engine dumps the cargo on the tracks and Ford disarms them as a way of marking time while they wait for the morning. No terror and very little train.


1SO

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #104 on: October 10, 2019, 12:07:20 AM »
Exorcist: The Beginning (2004) and Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005) are two bad movies that combine to form one interesting misfire. I started with the Renny Harlin version, where the various story threads barely connect, the scares are mixed too loud and the horror has a mechanical soullessness to it. Paul Schrader's film makes sense of the plot, adding the inner struggle of Father Merrin's lack of faith, something Schrader does often and always. (Stellan Skarsgård is well-cast as Merrin and is the glue that holds both films together.) There's an interesting God vs. The Devil battle of ideas to Schrader's film, marred by terrible effects that seem to have been slapped on once the filmmaker walked away from the project.
Exorcist: The Beginning: ★ ½
Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist: ★ ★

Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #105 on: October 10, 2019, 02:34:32 AM »
Exorcist: The Beginning (2004) and Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005) are two bad movies that combine to form one interesting misfire. I started with the Renny Harlin version, where the various story threads barely connect, the scares are mixed too loud and the horror has a mechanical soullessness to it. Paul Schrader's film makes sense of the plot, adding the inner struggle of Father Merrin's lack of faith, something Schrader does often and always. (Stellan Skarsgård is well-cast as Merrin and is the glue that holds both films together.) There's an interesting God vs. The Devil battle of ideas to Schrader's film, marred by terrible effects that seem to have been slapped on once the filmmaker walked away from the project.
Exorcist: The Beginning: ★ ½
Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist: ★ ★

Outside the Cinema has just covered the 5 films plus Repossessed. They did these 2 films this week and provide some background to the 2 films. The films were made from the same script, Dominion was made first and the producers did not like its lack of horror and rather than re-cutting it had The Beginning made.

FLYmeatwad

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #106 on: October 12, 2019, 06:38:58 PM »
I'm planning to watch The Banana Splits Movie/apparent FNaF ripoff tonight.

1SO

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #107 on: October 12, 2019, 11:14:05 PM »

Alien vs. Predator (2004)

When this movie opened in theaters, it was destroyed by the fans, mostly upset that the carefully constructed mythologies had been chucked away for bad pulp thrills. I've had a long time to prepare for this kind of treatment to the Aliens, one of the most perfectly constructed movie monsters given a properly lengthy analysis in the first film. Predators have always been vaguely defined beyond a few basics, especially in regard to their weapons and the purpose of their hunts. (I'll go one step further and say there's never been a good Predator movie.) There's also never been a good Paul W.S. Anderson movie, but he has an aesthetic that can be occasionally fun.


That shot above is an example. The humans have walked into a sacrificial chamber where Alien eggs raise up from the floor. They open up and face huggers spring from them, flying across the room like a coordinated attack. Does this match up to previous face hugger behavior? Not at all, but it's a cool trap and it looks great as Anderson slows everything down, returning to normal speed when they land on a face. There are a half-dozen of these moments. It doesn't make up for the franchise destruction or the overall poor quality of the early digital photography, but I got those PWSA money shots I came for.
Rating: ★ ★

- Violence against humans is shocking low, but Alien and Predator violence is quite graphic.

Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #108 on: October 13, 2019, 01:12:09 AM »
RE: "there's never been a good Predator movie": Predator is a good Predator movie.
RE: "There's also never been a good Paul W.S. Anderson movie": I have not seen Event Horizon, but from all the reports I have heard it is a good movie. That said Resident Evil is pretty good, and up there in the top video game movies (a low bar to jump admittedly). I vaguely remember liking Shopping, but it is too faint a memory to go by.

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #109 on: October 13, 2019, 01:30:15 AM »
RE: "there's never been a good Predator movie": Predator is a good Predator movie.
I always thought that over time people would come to their senses, but the film's reputation has only dug in deeper as a fun slice of 80s action. I always thought it was a generic Arnie action film (with ridiculous characters) welded onto a generic alien film. The best thing about Predator is it's the first time Arnold shows fear. For tough guys who end up against fantasy creatures, I'll take From Dusk Till Dawn.

 

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