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October HorrorDays 2014


Burgundy LaRue

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I am picking up Afflicted on the cheap from the WalMarts tomorrow.

 

afflicted-poster-web.jpg

 

Review forthcoming.

 

So far, my watching / rewatching queue for the next few days consists of:

  • V/H/S
  • V/H/S 2
  • Oculus
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Will be watching 13 Sins tonight.  Hoping they kept the awesome ending from the original Thai version.

 

Will also be seeing ABCs of Death 2 and The Babadook in a few weeks.  Maybe I'll try to do the little league version of the October marathon and see 15 horror movies this month.  There's lots of recent mainstream stuff I never saw - The Conjuring and the Insidious movies, for starters.

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Will be watching 13 Sins tonight.  Hoping they kept the awesome ending from the original Thai version.

 

Will also be seeing ABCs of Death 2 and The Babadook in a few weeks.  Maybe I'll try to do the little league version of the October marathon and see 15 horror movies this month.  There's lots of recent mainstream stuff I never saw - The Conjuring and the Insidious movies, for starters.

 

If you are going to check out The Conjuring, don't forget that the kinda prequel, Annabelle, starts this Friday!

 

13 Sins and The Babadook are also on my list of stuff to see.

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Scars of Dracula playing now. One of the sleazy latter-period Hammer Draculas that was kind of a turning point before they did the really goofy modern-day renditions. The venerable Sir Lee at least gets some dialogue in this time in comparison to some of the earlier ones. Lots of sex and lots of blood for a Hammer film -- there's stabbing, postmortem dismemberment, and other craziness that you wouldn't expect. I wouldn't put it up there with the previous two films, or certainly not Horror of Dracula, but it's fun.

 

EDIT: Oh shit! I thought I recognized Dracula's manservant/slave in this film, and it's Patrick Troughton -- the priest in the original The Omen who gets impaled, and who might be more recognizable to a lot of you as Doctor Who in one incarnation.

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Scars of Dracula playing now. One of the sleazy latter-period Hammer Draculas that was kind of a turning point before they did the really goofy modern-day renditions. The venerable Sir Lee at least gets some dialogue in this time in comparison to some of the earlier ones. Lots of sex and lots of blood for a Hammer film -- there's stabbing, postmortem dismemberment, and other craziness that you wouldn't expect. I wouldn't put it up there with the previous two films, or certainly not Horror of Dracula, but it's fun.

 

That is one of my favorite sleazy Hammer vampire movies.  Ranks up there with The Vampire Lovers and Vampire Circus.

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BORDELLO OF LOLLIPOPS & REAPERS

 

001. Survival of the Dead (Romero, 2009): a continuation of Diary of the Dead, this movie follows the National Guard troops who went AWOL and robbed the Winnebago-traveling college kids in the previous film.  Weaved into this is the story of the years-long feud between the O'Flynn and Muldoon families on a remote Delaware Island.  Patrick O'Flynn believes in putting down the zombies (now called deadheads) as quickly as possible, while Shamus Muldoon tries to keep the undead corralled until a cure is found.  O'Flynn finds himself exiled from the island.  Following a video O'Flynn posted about Plum Island, the troops (along with a teenage boy they pick up along the way) make the journey to a ferry boat.  O'Flynn, whose men tried to fight and rob the troops, is the lone survivor of his group and also boards the boat.   They make their way to Plum Island, where they find Muldoon has chained up the undead in various states of their former lives.  Fighting ensues, and a precious few manage to escape the island, now populated with deadheads.

 

This movie didn't get a wide theater release, and you quickly see why.  It has direct-to-video written all over it. It's rather pedestrian and the story just plods along.  The acting, coming from the Canadian cast, isn't bad.  But they have little to work with.  I appreciate Romero's continuing his Dead legacy, but this one misses the mark.  Even the societal notes that Romero is known for fall flat.  Not horrible, but definitely not a must-watch.  Only recommended to die-hard Romero completists.

 

002. Alyce Kills (Jay Lee, 2011): a modern variation of Alice in Wonderland, Alyce and Carroll are young urbanites having bad days.  Carroll's boyfriend has dumped her for someone else, and Alyce's life just stinks in general.  The two women go out for a night of drinking and drugging, and eventually wind up on the roof of Alyce's apartment building.  In a drugged-up stupor, Alyce accidentally pushes Carroll off the roof.  Alyce retreats to her apartment, certain she's killed Carroll.  She later learns that Carroll survived the fall, but is severely hurt and disfigured.  Alyce then descends into madness with sex, drugs, and eventually, actual murder.

 

Lee was clearly influenced by several films.  Lucky McKee's May is the most obvious.  Even one of the actors from that movie makes an appearance here. There's a scene where the drug dealer gives a speech that could have been recited by Tony Montana if he was semi-lucid.  There are some interesting parts to the film, but they don't add up to much.  It felt forced, especially with trying to make the viewer feel bad for Alyce, who's clearly a latent lesbian with deep-seated mental issues.  But where May Canady and Mary Mason from American Mary truly have sympathetic stories, Alyce is--well, kind of a cold fish who just needs to own up to who she really is and see a good therapist.  The feminism/girl power angle doesn't ring true here.  The effort to humanize Alyce in the beginning takes too long and fails at its goal.  The attempts to shock are anything but shocking.  The acting is sub-par at best and the kills have been done before. 

 

There are much better movies that tackle this sort of story in more intriguing ways.  Look them up, and leave this one alone.

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Okay, despite being directed by the same guy who did The Last Exorcism, 13 Sins isn't really a horror movie.  There are a couple of extreme gore scenes, but not enough for it to qualify.  It was decent, though, and the lead character very much becomes Dean Ambrose by the end (even showing glorious flashes of Dean Ambrose as written by piranesi).  Worth a watch in some month other than October.

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BORDELLO OF LOLLIPOPS & REAPERS

 

I watched several short films, so here are my short reviews:

 

1.  Porcelain Rising:  an evil doll is looking to possess a young girl's body so she can wreck havoc again.  Not good.  Six minutes long and should have been over in three.  The dad is one of the dumber characters I've seen in any film in a while.  Stop knocking on the door and kick that fecker in!

 

2.  Play Time:  grand prize winner from the BC Horror Challenge.  The story isn't special, but the technical aspects are incredible.  The camera work, lighting, sound mixing--all top notch.  Worth a watch just to see the technique that went into it.

 

3.  A:  a variation on the demon/AntiChrist angle.  Pretty interesting and creepy when you think about it in relation to how easy it is to pass along serious disease, in light of anti-vaccination movements and Ebola.

 

4.  Invectum:  takes the common trope of a man waking up in an ice bath, thinking his organs have been harvested.  Only it's worse.  A great story told in three minutes.

 

5.  Living Dolls:  I haven't seen this one in decades!  Says it debuted in 1980, but no way I saw it then.  It must have been 1982/1983 for me.  Still creepy as ever.  Poor Melvin.

 

6.  Still Life:  the most relatable, because who hasn't been sleep deprived and found themselves thinking about some crazy stuff?  Hopefully, we don't wind up like the guy in this film!  A good movie bolstered by a stronger finish.

 

7.  The Ten Steps:  the stuff of nightmares.  I'll probably lose some sleep over this one.  I don't have children, but I can imagine something like that happening to a loved one.  You'll be uneasy after watching this.  The sense of dread that comes over you is really bad.  Very well done.

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I noticed someone mentioned how everyone hated TEXAS CHAINSAW in the Havoc thread and it's on now.  But I just want to point out that "Marvin" the bald super confident cop who goes in the house when everyone is telling him not to...is my favorite person in horror right now.

 

 

"Marvin, Don't go in there.  We believe Jed Sawyer is in there."

"Roger that, but...a chainsaw don't make you bullet proof."

 

Love that guy.  Good on you, Marvin.  You show 'em, buddy.

 

R.I.P. Marvin.

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Jingus chose it last year, insisting it was unfairly hated on.  The person who reviewed it hated it.  One or two more people popped up hating it. 

 

I haven't seen it, personally, but a horror film dumped into theaters in January has never yet been a good sign.

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Jesus fuck I wake up with a full-on hangover and Survival is being discussed and Anthrax is coming on the goddamn digital radio. At least today I got through: 

 

1. Scars of Dracula

2. *Halloween Havoc pick for someone else not to be as yet disclosed*

3. most of Hellraiser

4. most of Creepshow

 

Things are already going swimmingly as long as I can keep the liquor and the movies coming, and my back doesn't fully give out again. 

 

EDIT: And all of THE DRILLER KILLER! I think I have all of you beat so far this year, maybe due to disability, but hey.

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BORDELLO OF LOLLIPOPS & REAPERS

 

I watched several short films, so here are my short reviews:

 

1.  Porcelain Rising:  an evil doll is looking to possess a young girl's body so she can wreck havoc again.  Not good.  Six minutes long and should have been over in three.  The dad is one of the dumber characters I've seen in any film in a while.  Stop knocking on the door and kick that fecker in!

 

2.  Play Time:  grand prize winner from the BC Horror Challenge.  The story isn't special, but the technical aspects are incredible.  The camera work, lighting, sound mixing--all top notch.  Worth a watch just to see the technique that went into it.

 

3.  A:  a variation on the demon/AntiChrist angle.  Pretty interesting and creepy when you think about it in relation to how easy it is to pass along serious disease, in light of anti-vaccination movements and Ebola.

 

4.  Invectum:  takes the common trope of a man waking up in an ice bath, thinking his organs have been harvested.  Only it's worse.  A great story told in three minutes.

 

5.  Living Dolls:  I haven't seen this one in decades!  Says it debuted in 1980, but no way I saw it then.  It must have been 1982/1983 for me.  Still creepy as ever.  Poor Melvin.

 

6.  Still Life:  the most relatable, because who hasn't been sleep deprived and found themselves thinking about some crazy stuff?  Hopefully, we don't wind up like the guy in this film!  A good movie bolstered by a stronger finish.

 

7.  The Ten Steps:  the stuff of nightmares.  I'll probably lose some sleep over this one.  I don't have children, but I can imagine something like that happening to a loved one.  You'll be uneasy after watching this.  The sense of dread that comes over you is really bad.  Very well done.

 

Hopefully you checked out the horror shorts we listed in the previous thread.  There are some gems on the YouTubes.

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Started October off with Maniac Cop & Maniac Cop 2. 

 

I rewatched Oculus yesterday before getting into some Destiny. 

 

I find the short film to be far superior than the feature length movie even though both films are enjoyable.  Some stories just don't need to be stretched out, or maybe that is the horror book maven in me that prefers short prose and anthologies to full length novels.

 

I will have to wait until next Monday to go and see Annabelle by myself.  There is no way my girlfriend will make it through a horror movie. 

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DAY 1 of 31

Busy day but managed to slip in Insidious 2. James Wan, his DP, and his set designer are great at creating and filming houses and corridors so that you're always aware that there are spaces you or the character can't see around. It's kind of genius. The jump scare business gets kind of lazy, and I hate that with every jump scare it sounds like Vader did a moonsault into the string section. WE GET IT WE'RE SCARED ARE YOU HAPPY. This one got kind of boring after about 15-20 minutes, and only picked up for a second when it detailed the truth behind the Bride in Black, which I really didn't care about by that point. Lots of hokey scares that I think were played for serious chills and came off like a Wayans parody. Not a great start. But I'll make up for it with the goods as I go along. Haven't decided what my big finale will be this year though. 

 

 

Also the website I write for is doing a 31 Days of Horror deal, and some of the writers will have a day of the week that is centered on a theme. For example Wednesday is Witchcraft Wednesday with yesterday kicking off with Suspiria. I'll be doing Hammer Horror on Tuesdays, which is somewhat of a blindspot for me. Last year I saw the first three major ones, and this year I plan on branching out to not only the sequels but the lesser known stand alone films. I actually went to a video store last night to find them. A honest to god video store and I loved every second of it.

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The wife and I are alternating Friday the 13ths and Elm Streets as she's sure she has missed a few of each. We did the first Friday and man it is so tonally different from the others but in a good way. 

 

I need to look at these shorts you all are talking about.

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Started October off with Maniac Cop & Maniac Cop 2. 

 

I rewatched Oculus yesterday before getting into some Destiny. 

 

I find the short film to be far superior than the feature length movie even though both films are enjoyable.  Some stories just don't need to be stretched out, or maybe that is the horror book maven in me that prefers short prose and anthologies to full length novels.

 

I will have to wait until next Monday to go and see Annabelle by myself.  There is no way my girlfriend will make it through a horror movie. 

 

 

I could not get into Oculus. It just felt really long. It also didn't help that they put the coolest scene in the previews. I will have to see the short that it was based on. 

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