WELCOME TO HALLOWEEN HAVOC 2019 - The Reviews

[Curt McGirt]

Oh and I agree about Maitland. Her book Broken Mirrors, Broken Dreams about Argento is sitting around in a box over here somewhere, never expected to see her in the flesh and she is a bit creepy for sure.

You tell me she couldn't be a wicked stepmother...

Edited October 3, 2019 by Curt McGirt

[Ultimo Necro]

Just want to add I was pretty tired when I watched Under the shadow and in a pretty grumpy mood when I wrote the review.

having let it stew for a few days it really is a good movie.

[Brian Fowler]

I'm just going to say, as long as we're only talking about the first movie, The Terminator is absolutely a horror film. Specifically, it's a slasher dressed up in sci-fi action drag.

[RIPPA]

26 minutes ago, Brian Fowler said:

I'm just going to say, as long as we're only talking about the first movie, The Terminator is absolutely a horror film. Specifically, it's a slasher dressed up in sci-fi action drag.

My issue was again more if you are talking “moments” you can think of plenty of other scarier things than the climax of the original. (Heck the eye scene in the original is far more creepy)

[odessasteps]

Would that also include Westworld as a scifi slasher movie? What is Yul Brenner, if not a robotic Jason/Michael? 

[odessasteps]

The aforementioned Bell Book and Candle is on TCM tonight. 

[Curt McGirt]

27 minutes ago, odessasteps said:

Would that also include Westworld as a scifi slasher movie? What is Yul Brenner, if not a robotic Jason/Michael? 

It got the cover of Famous Monsters of Filmland when it came out. I'd say sure. It's rougher than you think, watching it back again.

[Brian Fowler]

1 hour ago, RIPPA said:

My issue was again more if you are talking “moments” you can think of plenty of other scarier things than the climax of the original. (Heck the eye scene in the original is far more creepy)

It's been a very long time since I watched the countdown, but my recollection is that that pretty much picked the last scene or scare in, like, 85% of the list.

[No Point Stance]

7 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

Oh and I agree about Maitland. Her book Broken Mirrors, Broken Dreams about Argento is sitting around in a box over here somewhere, never expected to see her in the flesh and she is a bit creepy for sure.

You tell me she couldn't be a wicked stepmother...

Not to be unkind (possibly to both parties), but she looks like a post-op David Hyde Pierce.

[J.T.]

9 hours ago, Ultimo Necro said:

Just want to add I was pretty tired when I watched Under the shadow and in a pretty grumpy mood when I wrote the review.

having let it stew for a few days it really is a good movie.

Yep.  It's in my Netflix to be watched queue.  Excellent Pick!

Gonna be checking it out this weekend if night duty doesn't force me to pass out during large portions of the day.

I should also probably get some leaf raking while it's officially Fall and still feels like Summer.

Edited October 4, 2019 by J.T.

[J.T.]

11 hours ago, odessasteps said:

Would that also include Westworld as a scifi slasher movie? What is Yul Brenner, if not a robotic Jason/Michael? 

It's hard to pigeonhole those technology gone apeshit movies from the 70's. 

Movies like Demon Seed, Colossus:  The Forbin Project, and Westworld had some horror movie trappings (Demon Seed scared the shit out of me as a kid), but there was also enough technobabble in them to convince you that they were more on the speculative fiction side of the coin and they just happened to be scary.

I tend to lump them in the same category as War Games and other Don't Trust Computers fables.

Edited October 4, 2019 by J.T.

[odessasteps]

Are killer technohouses all that different, in a sense, than demon houses like the Amityville Horror? 

What about evil vehicles? Possessed by demons (christine, the car) vs possessed by aliens (maximum overdrive) vs sentiment evilcomputers (heel KITT)? And what category does Duel fit in? 

Edited October 4, 2019 by odessasteps

[J.T.]

5 hours ago, odessasteps said:

Are killer technohouses all that different, in a sense, than demon houses like the Amityville Horror? 

Eh.  I'd argue that stereotypically, demons are (from a theological standpoint) enemies of mankind so the axe they have to grind against humanity is very personal.

The "evil" of computers and technology by comparison is very antiseptic in nature.  It's business, never personal.  Humans are the problem that computers try to fix so to speak.  They're not the threat to the world.  We are.

The reason the computer becomes the antagonist is because their usual solution to the problem of humans is to eradicate all of us down to the very last child so it becomes a matter of survival.

5 hours ago, odessasteps said:

What about evil vehicles? Possessed by demons (christine, the car) vs possessed by aliens (maximum overdrive) vs sentiment evil computers (heel KITT)? 

See above.  It is the function and nature of demons to torment mankind.  When it comes to computers an aliens, we're just an annoyance to be dealt with, a threat to be neutralized, or a commodity that needs controlling.

The nature of the conflict between humans and computers or humans and aliens is a matter of survival or autonomy.  When you're at war, the other side is always made up of the bad guys.

5 hours ago, odessasteps said:

And what category does Duel fit in? 

Neither.  The Truck in Duel is driven by a crazy person even though Speilberg did a great job of making The Truck the bad guy instead of the man behind the wheel of The Truck.

Given the hour of the day in which I processed all of that, I am surprised that my explanation / rebuttal sounds somewhat coherent and rational.

Edited October 4, 2019 by J.T.

[J.T.]

And yeah, just submitted my polished review so remove me from the naughty list.

[Brian Fowler]

Making horror movies that pretend to not be horror is a very popular thing though.
 

Remember how the MPAA was butchering the violence and sometimes sex in slasher movies in the 80's, but things like Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct got away with blood and sex just fine, because they were "thrillers" and not "horror" movies?

Plus you get things like Allen which is functionally a haunted house movie.

[J.T.]

23 hours ago, Brian Fowler said:

Remember how the MPAA was butchering the violence and sometimes sex in slasher movies in the 80's, but things like Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct got away with blood and sex just fine, because they were "thrillers" and not "horror" movies?

I think that is more because the nudity in slasher movies is expected and exploitative to the point of cliché.  You can almost set your watch for when the bustiest female in the cast is going to take a shower and subsequently get murdered by the masked killer.

Remember the scene in Friday the 13th Part 2 where the girl in the jean shorty shorts gets hit in the ass by a rock from the slingshot of the dude that has a thing for her?  The camera's vantage point is squarely on her ass the entire time!

It serves no real purpose but for better or worse, it WAS the sort of thing you'd expect to see in the quite moments of a slasher movie.  Objectification passes for character development and that sort of thing, but you don't watch slasher movies expecting Faustus in three acts, right?  You know what you paid to see and you made your peace with it when you bought your ticket.

Does that make you a horrible person..... It probably does..

I'm also going to (possibly incorrectly) assume that the ladies that shed their clothing in the big budget erotic thrillers like Basic Instinct or Fatal Attraction had a bit more artistic control about how their roles were going to be handled as I don't see any director out there having the spine or bravery to read Glen Close or Sharon Stone the facts of life.  

There is no Fatal Attraction without Glenn Close and no Basic Instinct without Sharon Stone, so if they're not comfortable with something and walk out in protest over the matter, you're fucked.

In the world of slasher movies, the director trumps all so if he says show your boobs or GTFO, the poor bit actress doesn't have too many options.

23 hours ago, Brian Fowler said:

Plus you get things like Allen which is functionally a haunted house movie.

Yeah, Alien and Event Horizon are haunted house movies set in outer space just as Predator is an action movie where the bad guy just happens to be an alien instead of a master criminal, freelance terrorist, or a Third World dictator.

Edited October 5, 2019 by J.T.

[odessasteps]

I'd have thought Sharon Stone was not a big enough star then to stand up to Verhoeven. I mean, other than Total Recall, had she done much before Basic Instinct? 

Tangentially,  the movie I'm reviewing has gratuitous boobs in the first minute and I dont think any more after that. It's like, "okay we got it out of the way. Now, the movie." 

[Brian Fowler]

I'm not sure how the nudity was accomplished is supposed to be a factor in MPAA ratings (also, Stone in the past has said she was misled about the infamous interrogation scene)

[Brian Fowler]

3 minutes ago, odessasteps said:

I'd have thought Sharon Stone was not a big enough star then to stand up to Verhoeven. I mean, other than Total Recall, had she done much before Basic Instinct? 

Tangentially,  the movie I'm reviewing has gratuitous boobs in the first minute and I dont think any more after that. It's like, "okay we got it out of the way. Now, the movie." 

That's something I've thought about in the past: which is actually more exploitative: an 80's slasher where a woman is topless for ten seconds, or something like I Still Know What You Did Last Summer which has no nudity, but kept JLH in low cut tank tops with the camera basically pointed into her cleavage for the entire movie?

Edited October 4, 2019 by Brian Fowler

[J.T.]

19 minutes ago, Brian Fowler said:

I'm not sure how the nudity was accomplished is supposed to be a factor in MPAA ratings (also, Stone in the past has said she was misled about the infamous interrogation scene)

Everyone says their misled until the rent comes due and it sure didn't keep her from making a horrible sequel with even more sex than the first movie.

The trashy sequel was rightfully savaged by the critics but it made up it's budget overseas and now Stone wants to direct and produce a third installment.

20 minutes ago, odessasteps said:

I'd have thought Sharon Stone was not a big enough star then to stand up to Verhoeven. I mean, other than Total Recall, had she done much before Basic Instinct? 

I think she was in Action Jackson before that so the answer would probably be no, but then I would challenge you to give me the name of the actress of the girl who got hit in the ass with the slingshot in F13 Part 2 and give me a list of the films she worked on or produced / directed after that.

There's a point in there somewhere I'm trying to make, I think.

Edited October 4, 2019 by J.T.

[J.T.]

2 hours ago, Brian Fowler said:

That's something I've thought about in the past: which is actually more exploitative: an 80's slasher where a woman is topless for ten seconds, or something like I Still Know What You Did Last Summer which has no nudity, but kept JLH in low cut tank tops with the camera basically pointed into her cleavage for the entire movie?

Name an episode of Ghost Whisperer or a JLH comedic performance where the camera isn't strategically pointed at her chest at some point.

The running gag of her character in Heartbreakers is that she counts on Eyes Up Here as a distraction while she's grifting poor rich bastards out of their money. 

She's constantly in short dresses with low cut tops, but her looks are her livelihood and suddenly it's okay since she's a con woman and her victims are dumb men who THINK they're in control, but they're not..

Exploitation is not exclusive to horror films, even though there is a lot to be found there.  It's just tragic that we acknowledge it willingly and still keep watching anyway.  I guess that makes us co-conspirators.

Edited October 4, 2019 by J.T.

[Brian Fowler]

Kirsten Baker (character is Terry)

No idea if she ever did anything else

[J.T.]

5 minutes ago, Brian Fowler said:

Kirsten Baker (character is Terry)

No idea if she ever did anything else

Did you know off the top of your head or did you Google it?

if you Googled it, you kinda support my whole point.

Edited October 4, 2019 by J.T.

[Brian Fowler]

I knew it, but I also just watched it last night, and watched Crystal Lake Memories a few weeks ago.

Edit: Well, to be fair, I did Google to double check I had it right, wherein I learned her name was Kirsten not Kristen.

Edited October 4, 2019 by Brian Fowler

[J.T.]

5 minutes ago, Brian Fowler said:

I knew it, but I also just watched it last night, and watched Crystal Lake Memories a few weeks ago.

You replied way too quickly at an ungodly hour where memory failure is a regular thing for me to honestly believe that, but I will give you the benefit of the doubt.

I will give you some recpeck knucks for giving her a name so that she doesn't have to be further remembered as the girl from F13 P2 that took a slingshot rock to the ass.  We can now remember her as Terry....

.... the girl from F13 P2 that took a slingshot rock to the ass....

... 

Edited October 4, 2019 by J.T.