October Horror Movie Marathon

[MuckyFunster]

Film #1

Needs no introduction...

TCM is as hard hitting now as the first time I watched it, kept me glued to the screen from the very start and had me breathing out a big "ooft!!" as the credits started rolling. Great stuff, and exhilarating throughout!

I also watched the extras documentary on the making of the film, which also had little segments on the makings of TCM2, TCM3 and TCM the next generation. The docu was really enjoyable, and I had to laugh at the way the filmmakers used footage of Hitler, the Nazis and Bookburning when the narrator and interviewees started talking about the BBFC and Ferman.






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[Susan Foreman]

Originally Posted by Inspector Abberline

Childs Play (1988)

How the hell did they pull it off?a killer doll movie is not ain't exactly a new idea,but when you first see Chucky ,he certainly does not look like the new serial killer franchise he turned out to be.I mean with his ginger hair (no offence to any gingers out there) and his little dungarees he looks about as frightening as a Chuckle brother.

I dunno...they can be quite scary!!

[BAKA]

My Schedule for 2016:

Carnival Of Souls, Nightbreed, Blood Diner, Curtain, Nightmare City, In A Glass Cage, Short Night Of Glass Dolls, What Have You Done To Solange?, The Sweet Body Of Deborah, Death Walks On High Heels, Death Walks At Midnight, Lizard In A Woman's Skin, Mill Of The Stone Women, Craze, Clown House, Pigs, Some Kind Of Hate, Salem's Lot, Psychomania, Blood Rage, The Cat People, Blue Sunshine, Mardi Gras Massacre, Horror House On Highway 5, Slaughterhouse, Cherry Falls, Last Girl Standing, The Fan, Retribution, Chopping Mall and Tales Of Halloween (not pictured).

I'll be viewing Tales Of Halloween too, but the Arrow release isn't out until late October. I'll potentially be including any horror films I see at the cinema too (Under The Shadow potentially this week or next; I'm not sure what else is out) and Rob Zombie's 31 (may as well use up one of those AV credits Amazon is always giving me).


[01] Carnival Of Souls
Herk Harvey’s Carnival Of Souls is one of those films where the constraints of the production led to choices that shaped the film into something beyond its remit. There’s a sense of predestination, a feeling of a higher power laying the foundations, a sort of fore-ordainment. The central character of Mary Henry, played superbly with wide-eyed hysteria by Candace Hilligoss, was made a church organist due to the convenience of a location and the constraints of the budget. It’s a bit of a stretch that a church organist would be caught up in the opening drag race, but it lends what is essentially a parable of purgatory a weighty spirituality.

There feels an ambivalence to Mary Henry’s attitude to religion, almost defiance, she is not a church organist by calling, simply an organist by vocation, that happens to be working at a church, perhaps sealing her nightmarish fate. The ominous comments about soul and humanity from those with religious authority hint at Mary’s circumstance. Harvey’s film feels kin to the work of Lynch, disorientating, littered with nuances to what is happening beneath the surface, narratively, but overwhelmingly visual. Essentially an eerie Caligari-like tale, infused with Cocteau’s fantasy, Bergman’s disposition, sibling to Resnais, unquestionably a masterpiece of cinema far exceeding anything Harvey could have aspired to.



[02] Nightbreed
There’s a multiplicity to Nightbreed that sabotages the film, it never quite settles on an identity, perhaps mirroring the Morlock-like inhabitants of Midian’s subterrane, the Nightbreed. It opens, at its most effective, as a psychological horror, with an eerie softly spoken performance from Cronenberg as Dr. Decker, gradually transitions into fantasy territory, heading into all out action towards the finale, before climaxing with a science fiction tinged epilogue. It never manages to knit together into a cohesive whole. It’s hard not to compare the Nightbreed to Hellraiser’s Cenobites, lacking the deviant sexual overtones, but more animalistic, undoubtedly dangerous but also, rather than preying upon, victim to humanity. Despite an abundance of flaws, Nightbreed has a captivating heart, schizophrenically entertaining, its unmet aspirations endearing, a hypnotising visual distinctiveness. Sometimes failure is more interesting than success.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Quality post, Baka.

[BAKA]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Quality post, Baka.

The Chuckle Brothers are a tough act to follow!

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Quality post, Baka.

Seconded.

You have some great films lined up for the coming weeks.

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

The Return of Count Yorga (1971)



Count Yorga's back... and this time he means business.

Not content with lolling around in his luxury stately mansion seducing young voluptuous women as in his first incarnation, he instead turns to home invasion tactics and the corruption of orphans. Christopher Lee's wardrobe is still present, however The Count looks a little more rough around the edges in this one, which is evidenced when our lovable blood-sucker fails to win a costume contest, losing to a Drac wannabe in an off-the-peg cape and white make-up ensemble. For shame.

58/100

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

You seem to think the Count Yorga films are of a similar standard as i think. Watchable but no more than that.

I was a little disappointed when i saw them last Decemberdike for the very first time.

[trebor8273]

Wishmaster.





never going to be a classic but its fast paced with a load of gore and is like a who's who of horror with:

Robert Englund
Tony Todd
Angus Scrimm
Reggie Bannister
Kane Hodder

in various roles, story involves a djinn that has unlimted power but this power can only be used by granting wishes, unless it can trick the person that freed it into using 3 wishes. 7.3/10

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

You seem to think the Count Yorga films are of a similar standard as i think. Watchable but no more than that.

I was a little disappointed when i saw them last Decemberdike for the very first time.

Whilst they're certainly no Hammer, they have a odd, lovable charm to them. I think the first was originally going to be more of a sexploitation affair until they chucked in some more horror elements. The sequel, whilst working with a bigger budget, does lose some of the erotic trappings for more of an air of horror, but also some more comedic elements too - I smiled at the part when Yorga is engrossed whilst watching a vampire film on TV starring Ingrid Pitt.