The All Things HORROR thread~!

[J.T.]

21 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

http://www.rue-morgue.com/single-post/2017/05/10/Movie-Review-ALIEN-COVENANT-is-an-uneasy-evolution-of-the-franchise

As expected, Rue Morgue gives a pithy review of Alien: Covenant (warning: SPOILERS). As a magazine that has all but usurped the role Fangoria had, their reviews have never gotten any nicer despite the fact. I guess they took on Cinefantastique's mantle in that respect. 

I figured that Alien: Covenant would be interpreted as being the apology for Prometheus even though the only "bad thing" about Prometheus was that it was a science fiction movie pretending to be a body horror film while most of the films in the Alien franchise are body horror films pretending to be science fiction movies.

[Curt McGirt]

It probably is and the reviewer liked Prometheus too much to say that. Rue Morgue film reviews are always that way, just a general "mehhhhh" if not an outright assassination. 

Depending on how much money I spend in Chicago next Tuesday, I'll probably be seeing it by next weekend

[Roman]

2 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

It probably is and the reviewer liked Prometheus too much to say that. Rue Morgue film reviews are always that way, just a general "mehhhhh" if not an outright assassination. 

Depending on how much money I spend in Chicago next Tuesday, I'll probably be seeing it by next weekend

Sounds like me. I'll need to check them out.

[OSJ]

On 4/20/2017 at 5:57 AM, J.T. said:

Wizard & Glass and then The Running Man. 

Every short story In Night Shift is nearly note perfect. The Jaunt still remains one of the most terrifying stories I've ever read and it is fucking speculative fiction / sci-fi.

Wrong thread for it and all that stuff, but as frequently as Big Steve gets banged on for over-writing and not being capable of saying "enough" when it comes to novels, I've long contended that he's one of the English-language's great short story writers and that you could pretty easily assemble two volumes of about 500 pages each, one horror and one mainstream fiction of great short stories he's written and have quite a few left over. Bang! Start the genre volume off with "The Mist", "The Jaunt", and "The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet" and there's your first three entries and first 130-140 pages.

[Curt McGirt]

The Milkman duo from Skeleton Crew are still two of the creepiest things I've ever read. Shit, that whole anthology is. I love it as much as JT loves Night Shift.

[Meltzing Pot]

I started watching Hush months ago when people were talking it up, and finally finished it this afternoon. Holy shit, the villain in that movie is such a magnificent bastard. So many horror movies have charismatic bad guys that you wind up rooting for, but between the writing and the acting job of the two leads, I can't imagine someone rooting for that dude. If you haven't seen Hush, for the love of God, do so.

[Technico Support]

13 hours ago, OSJ said:

Wrong thread for it and all that stuff, but as frequently as Big Steve gets banged on for over-writing and not being capable of saying "enough" when it comes to novels, I've long contended that he's one of the English-language's great short story writers and that you could pretty easily assemble two volumes of about 500 pages each, one horror and one mainstream fiction of great short stories he's written and have quite a few left over. Bang! Start the genre volume off with "The Mist", "The Jaunt", and "The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet" and there's your first three entries and first 130-140 pages.

Right there with you.  With the exception of his last two collections, I've enjoyed his shorter work more.  But Full Dark, No Stars was so depressing (with a name like that, I should have known what I was in for) and I didn't even finish The Bazaar of Bad Dreams.

[BurningBeard]

The thing I'm noticing about Alien Covenant chatter is that people are complaining it answers too much. Which is funny because I reckon these were the same people who complained Prometheus didn't answer anything

[Lacelle]

4 hours ago, CreativeControl said:

The thing I'm noticing about Alien Covenant chatter is that people are complaining it answers too much. Which is funny because I reckon these were the same people who complained Prometheus didn't answer anything

Yeah but you don't know that and without proof it just seems like a strawman comment.

[BurningBeard]

No shit. My point is it just shows there's always a vocal section of fans you can't please and another reason why entitled nerd culture is awful.

"Without proof"... fucks sake lol  

[Lacelle]

Just seems like you're bitching for bitching's sake. 

[Eivion]

Finished Alien: Covenant a hour ago. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[RIPPA]

George Romero is working on the next "Of the Dead" movie and it is supposedly called "Road of the Dead" with the plot being that captured zombies on a remote island are forced to race cars for rich humans.

No I am not making that up

[Elsalvajeloco]

17 hours ago, Eivion said:

Finished Alien: Covenant a hour ago. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Took the day off work yesterday and watched it in the afternoon. The last 35-40 minutes were really enthralling. I think the beginning kinda telegraphed the ending, but it worked for me.

[Curt McGirt]

4 hours ago, RIPPA said:

George Romero is working on the next "Of the Dead" movie and it is supposedly called "Road of the Dead" with the plot being that captured zombies on a remote island are forced to race cars for rich humans.

No I am not making that up

"And now, for your SyFy Original Feature Presentation..."

Uncle George should have stopped after Land, clearly. 

[Curt McGirt]

House of 1000 Corpses was (I thought) the hat trick for movies I like actually showing up on TV on a Saturday, which are usually awful for stuff I actually want to watch, but then THIS just came on TCM

Sure beats Howling II on El Rey!

[HumanChessgame]

There really needs to be a crossover featuring the mutant babies from the It's Alive series and the characters from Flesh Eating Mothers.

[Curt McGirt]

Even though I probably should have saved up after the orgy of spending this week, went ahead out to Alien: Covenant at the matinee earlier. 

Spoiler

I expect my friend who's going later is going to be pissed at the lack of mayhem and the Prometheus connections. He hated that movie and this is gonna piss him off too. Take in mind, this is the same guy that argues with me over it and the AvP movies being canon. 

If the fanboys are complaining about too much being explained, they should focus on what isn't. Why does the Covenant necessarily need to be armed? What's the history of terriforming and colonizing on other planets? Have other hostile lifeforms been met? If we're building up to an Aliens scenario, obviously so. Plotwise, why only two facehugger eggs at the end? What's the point of impregnating two people only if the Xenomorphs cannot reproduce, unless fuckhead is going to go biotech happy on the ship while everyone's asleep and create more, and why then bring two in the first place if he can just make more on the ship? Why bother letting her know he's not who he says he is right before cryosleep at the end? I guess so he can kill her, but that brings us up to the question of we got two Xenos aboard to create mayhem, and how do they reproduce anyway? Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. 

My main complaint is this: CGI ISN'T SCARY. I'm tired of watching things that look like video games on the big screen, give me something tactile. Also, Alien scared you with what it didn't show you and all this movie is is showing its hole card over and over. The fact that there are only four aliens (two "Neomorphs"? I guess that's what people are calling them? and two Xenomorphs) in the movie along with a couple facehuggers is gonna disappoint people too, CGI or no. Another problem is that you really don't care about any of the minor characters at all. Alien and Aliens' casts were a litter of people with their own tics and quirks and identities. We get to know little of any of them in this one. 

Okay. All that said, it's a very well acted, very well written film with some great moments of suspense, and it looks great on the big screen. Waterston, McBride (who is fan-fucking-tastic), and Fassbinder are the glue that holds everything together and I applaud them. Is it better than Resurrection? Easily. Is it better than Prometheus? Yeah, probably. Is it better than Alien 3? Well... it sure isn't as scary. 

[Elsalvajeloco]

I just made the Walter and David connection to Walter Hill and David Giler like 15 minutes into film. That's kinda clever.

[Curt McGirt]

I didn't make the connect, but that's great. There was also the birdie thingamajig and a couple other tie-ins noted in reviews too. 

Also, a pair of great lines that I recall: 

Spoiler

"I've never heard my wife scared of anything." - Tennessee, which although the delivery is deadpan, is a simple and perfect way to develop his character without doing anything more. 

and the last line from David about how the new world will be kind if people decide to be kind, which when I think about it should instantly cue you in as to who he is -- his inherent misanthropy says that people are not kind and will not be kind, therefore...

 

[Elsalvajeloco]

As for everyone's CGI complaints:

IMO I dunno if Ridley having control is the best or worst thing for this franchise. When the ads first showed up, I expected the CGI right off the bat but it seems like everyone else was expect something different. However, Ridley Scott doesn't really shoot anything close quarters, in tight. I dunno if we're ever going to get that type of horror film ever again. Ridley Scott isn't that type of director anymore. You either take the awesome, beautiful locations and Dariusz Wolski's cinematography or you leave it. The people that will be able (or want) to shoot someone in suits are the folks that will probably never get a chance to direct an Alien film. Moreover, the directors that will probably take over for Ridley Scott will probably just double up on the CGI and bad effects. That's my worry moreso than having more than 2 or 3 sets.

What kept me intrigued in Covenant is there were stretches where we didn't have anything Xenomorph related. The shower scene wasn't scary as it should have been. There was probably maybe one other thing. Otherwise, I was bit startled at points.

Crudup's character was kinda undeveloped. However, I think that might be that none of the couples seem like they were actually married or had anything of substance beyond that. McBride kinda convinced me later in the film, but no one else really did. When someone would get killed off, it felt like they lost their off-and-on fuck buddy. Five minutes later, they would be over it. I guess they wanted us to assume that when something about to kill you that everything comes into perspective and you don't sweat the small shit (especially if you're basically trying to start your own civilization/settlement from scratch).

TBH I think because something like Life doesn't have its own canon, it makes it easier to do that type of film you got from Alien. Honestly, that felt more intense than Covenant (this also falls into the less is more argument given it's two sets essentially). Also, more characters had purpose other than married couples shipping out and headed somewhere else. However, if you take into account that Covenant is just a one part clearly built around one central character (just like Ripley for 3 films and the one real shitty one where it was robot Ripley), it makes it easier to digest especially if you like the one central character.

Now, the followups are going to be interesting as far as what they plan to do. I have a feeling Ridley won't be doing the next one. Does Fox and the producers have faith in a director to do more than Ridley Scott? The Chappie guy had the shortest rope in the history of directors taking over a storied franchise. He didn't get past concept art and a 10 page draft. IMO Fox might have more luck making this a 10 episode miniseries on FX. The formula that been recycled for several films just tired now. And I'm saying that as someone who liked Covenant. You can't redo Alien and Aliens or even Alien 3. If you make it episodic, there is no telling when someone is going to die. You also get a chance for better character development. If you want Sigourney Weaver or Lance Henriksen, throw them in as well. You're not limited to one plot that may or may not be all that interesting and is only there for people to get methodically killed off.

[Curt McGirt]

3 hours ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

However, I think that might be that none of the couples seem like they were actually married or had anything of substance beyond that. McBride kinda convinced me later in the film, but no one else really did. When someone would get killed off, it felt like they lost their off-and-on fuck buddy. Five minutes later, they would be over it. I guess they wanted us to assume that when something about to kill you that everything comes into perspective and you don't sweat the small shit (especially if you're basically trying to start your own civilization/settlement from scratch).

This exactly. No characterization, and (sorry for the reference) no selling of any fear of what's going on whatsoever. What makes these people so hardcore? They just go balls out into the middle of who the fuck knows and all we get is sweaty brows and pointed guns. And then some of them feel comfortable enough to fuck later! At least Bill Paxton freaked out under the circumstances. 

God, the more I analyze this film the more I dislike it. At the same time, the more I do the more I also like Fassbender's Sir Christopher/Vincent Price gothic scenery-chewing. This is one you're gonna have to figure out for yourself, folks; I've spent enough time debating it on Facebook.

EDIT: Let me recriminate myself: Not ENOUGH selling. If I saw some of the shit these people did I would not move, I would not fight, I'd just run or crumple into a ball and decide death is with me. But you have to let suspension of disbelief carry you on I suppose.

[Eivion]

1 hour ago, Curt McGirt said:

This exactly. No characterization, and (sorry for the reference) no selling of any fear of what's going on whatsoever. What makes these people so hardcore? They just go balls out into the middle of who the fuck knows and all we get is sweaty brows and pointed guns. And then some of them feel comfortable enough to fuck later! At least Bill Paxton freaked out under the circumstances. 

Spoiler

Some of them were soldiers/security and all them were pretty freaked out. Just because no one is going to Paxton levels of scared shitless doesn't mean they weren't frightened. FFS part of the reason it got so bad was because someone became so hysterical they did shit dumb enough to get everyone on land stranded. The two people who fucked later weren't on the ground and never saw that shit until it killed them.

 

I do agree with Elsalvajeloco that they would be best exploring further Alien stories in miniseries.

[Curt McGirt]

58 minutes ago, Eivion said:

  Hide contents

Some of them were soldiers/security and all them were pretty freaked out. Just because no one is going to Paxton levels of scared shitless doesn't mean they weren't frightened. FFS part of the reason it got so bad was because someone became so hysterical they did shit dumb enough to get everyone on land stranded. The two people who fucked later weren't on the ground and never saw that shit until it killed them.

 

Point taken, and a good one. But still,

Spoiler

landing on unexplored territory like that, I'd be afraid to step into the water before anything else... which they immediately did. 

There are a thousand points to pick apart. I need to just stop and watch the movie again instead of bothering. Everyone else needs to do that too, don't listen to us.

[pipGofern]

Saw Alien last night. I mostly enjoyed it. As a prequel it worked far better than Prometheus but overall it's not nearly in the same league as the first three Aliens.

Interestingly, Scott suffers from a similar problem that plagued Lucas in the first two Star Wars prequels. Namely, the first movie spends a ton of time explaining/setting stuff up that is either unimportant or could've been easily explained with a few scenes in the second.

As for Covenant itself, it's well acted and directed so that's why I say I enjoyed it but it isn't scary unless you're extremely sensitive (or have never seen any of the Quadrilogy films) and nothing really new or memorable happened. As much as I disliked Prometheus, there's nothing in this one that rises to the level of the MedPod Self-Surgery scene. It's basically just Xenomorph's Greatest Hits.

The characters were just kind of there. McBride was the best of the bunch and as someone mentioned he showed some pretty good dramatic range in addition to being the comedy guy. I think what bugged me more than anything was how fucking stupid just about everyone acted. If the scientist taking off his helmet and getting bit by the Alien Cobra in Prometheus bugged you, the people in this one will drive you nuts.

Fassbender was the best thing in the movie, from both storyline and acting perspectives. But it really irked me that the writers basically just cribbed his entire story from Star Trek TNG:

Spoiler

His entire storyline was basically just a redo of Data/Lore except with Aliens. In fact, I think of one the writers of this movie (John Logan) wrote a TNG movie as well. Fassbender is obviously a much more charismatic actor than Brent Spiner but there's not a single line in this movie that's as cool as "How disappointing, brother. You make me wish I were an only child."

I guess in conclusion I'll just say if you like Alien movies, you'll probably like this because it stays faithful to the material. But if you're expecting Scott to do something new or unexpected with the idea, you're going to be sorely disappointed.