October Horror Movie Marathon

[Frankie Teardrop]

HOLLYWOOD CHAINSAW HOOKERS - A Fred Olen Ray cheapie that carries the heady aroma of your nineties high street VHS rental outlet (the one near me smelled of chip fat and damp carpet). You know you're not getting Ingmar Bergman with a title like that, but even so, its 'comedy' was a bit broad for my taste. Playing fair, there were things I liked - Gunnar Hanson as a cult leader in a silken cowl, Linnea Quigley, the cod-Philip Marlowe detective guy and his voiceover, the silly gore scenes that amount to juggling a few rubber limbs and the contents of a ketchup bottle. Just the unrelenting cheapness, somehow matched with good lighting... and despite their dedication to lousy taste, there's a wit to many Olen Ray films, and a delight in schlock that looks genuine. There's also the feeling of watching something just very late eighties / early nineties, or the memory of reaching for that clambox up there on the shelf.

[Justin101]

Another round-up from me, been going strong this last week, some re-watches along with the new.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Justin101

Another round-up from me, been going strong this last week, some re-watches along with the new.

The House of Clocks eh? Funnily enough i'm just about to type something about The House of Witchcraft which i watched last night.

[Justin101]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

The House of Clocks eh? Funnily enough i'm just about to type something about The House of Witchcraft which i watched last night.

The Houses of Doom blu-ray boxset has just come out and is already sold out which made me sad so I stuck the DVD in

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The House of Witchcraft (1989)

Following a nervous breakdown a man is moved into an out of the way villa in the Italian countryside by his wife. However he soon becomes plagued by nightmares that the house is the home of a witch and then a ton of weird shit happens.

The last book i read The House of Last Resort by Christopher Golden was like a prose version of the complete Houses of Doom series from Italian greats Lucio Fulci and Umberto Lenzi who directed this film.

It's chilling and genuinely bizarre - for a start a blind Paul Muller goes round with a great big German Shepherd dog... you know that ain't gonna' end well for a start - whilst the witch sequences remain rather creepy in a murderous old hag with a hatchet kind of way.

Logic may well go out the window and this isn't prime Lenzi by any means but it's still an enjoyably oddball watch.

Evil Breed: The Legend of Samhain (2003)

If you can somehow ignore the often pitiful acting then there's a fair bit of fun to be had with this low budget piece of nastiness. Although it attempts to educate in the traditions of Halloween / Samhain it certainly is no Trick r' Treat (2007) as it deals with ancient Celtic legends and the cannibalistic Sawney Bean clan. Kinda strange as they were Scottish but this is set in Ireland, although i suspect nobody ever really left backwoods USA.

Gory highlights include a guy having his intestines ripped out via his arse, a large breasted porn star (Known as the breeder) shackled to a cave wall naked with an aborted fetus dangling from between her thighs, and Jenna Jameson - bound to a stone slab as a cannibal guts her and attempts to chow down on one of her silicon breast implants.

There's not a chance in hell i can pretend this is a good film but it has become a regular Halloween / October staple with me. Lore and gore = Always fun.

[MrBarlow]

Jigsaw. 2017.

Bodies turning up dead and everything points to John Kramer who has been dead for 10 years.

This took two watches to enjoy a few years ago and now i actually enjoy it more than I did, the traps are brutal especially the motorcycle trap, how anyone can survive that one is beyond me. Some of the acting can be a bit OTT from the game players but you with what you been given and how take some direction.

jigsawheader_orig.jpg


Hereditary. 2018.

Is this a horror or a disturbing psychological thriller...either way this is a slow burner of a movie that still kept me hooked, what starts off as a family preparing for a funeral and then a slow decent into depression and another death that leads the family to become separated from from each other. While everyone is dealing with greif, secrets begin to unfold in a darker way. The only downside for this one is the ending seemed to be a bit rushed but still enjoyable.

download (4).jpeg

[Frankie Teardrop]

HARD ROCK NIGHTMARE - Some college kids who seem a bit too clean cut to be really into 'hard rock' visit an ancestral home deep in the woods, where bad memories lurk along with a werewolf. It's by the maker of 'Evil Laugh'. 'Evil Laugh' was capable of moments of rank stupidity that had me beaming and made me wish it had shoulders so I could hug it, so it I was slightly disappointed when 'Hard Rock Nightmare' turned out to be a more subdued affair, even though it's still as daft as f*ck. Hokey dream sequences, intrigue-driven plotlines that disappear into vapour, and just little bits like the one where a character hides in a well and wonders aloud "why am I hiding in a well?" all do their bit for the cause and make it likeable, watchable. The pleasure offered by grainy film stock and eighties fashion disasters is a 21st century indulgence gifted by the whims of time and place, and I wonder if I would've still enjoyed 'Hard Rock Nightmare' if I'd seen it in its day. It doesn't have enough about it to transcend its moment in schlock horror history, it's no twisted beast along the lines of the similarly named 'Heavy Metal Nightmare' - its quirks are in a lower key. But it's amiable, I had a good time with it.

[MrBarlow]

Smile. 2022.

Sosie Bacon plays the psychiatrist who witnesses a patient killing herself while smiling and believes a entity is tormenting her. The protagonist is extremely unlikable, but the movie tries to convince us that we should be rooting for her. This movie tells me that she's not crazy, but the character acts totally insane. I thought this would be something more people would be tormented instead of one person being tormented and trying to find the answer how and why. This was going down decently until the last 15-20 minutes and then went off the rails a bit.

MV5BODI4ZDFkMjMtNDhmOC00YzIzLWE5Y2YtNzAxOWUyNDc4YTU2XkEyXkFqcGc@._V1_.jpg

[nicholasrope]

Terrifier 3

Art The Clown is back and does what he does best, kill in the most gruesome ways and make really funny expressions.

Yes it's very gory, yes it delivers but it doesn't properly explain what is Art and where he came from. Hopefully it's the 4th one.

Again David Howard Thornton is amazing, his facial expressions are incredible and make his scenes captivating.

Watching at the cinema, you could sense that the audience was anticipating and I believe the humor helps negate the depravity.

Is this a Xmas Film or a Halloween Film, who cares I'm watching it all year round.

Last Week Joker II came out and received some of the most scathing reviews because mainly because they had some ideas which should have been reined in and this Film came out to mainly positive reviews because they gave the fans what they wanted and didn't go crazy overboard with the creativity (Kills aside LOL)

Maybe lessons can be learned

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by nicholasrope

Terrifier 3

Art The Clown is back and does what he does best, kill in the most gruesome ways and make really funny expressions.

Yes it's very gory, yes it delivers but it doesn't properly explain what is Art and where he came from. Hopefully it's the 4th one.

Again David Howard Thornton is amazing, his facial expressions are incredible and make his scenes captivating.

Watching at the cinema, you could sense that the audience was anticipating and I believe the humor helps negate the depravity.

Is this a Xmas Film or a Halloween Film, who cares I'm watching it all year round.

Last Week Joker II came out and received some of the most scathing reviews because mainly because they had some ideas which should have been reined in and this Film came out to mainly positive reviews because they gave the fans what they wanted and didn't go crazy overboard with the creativity (Kills aside LOL)

Maybe lessons can be learned

Fantastic.