October Horror Movie Marathon

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by bizarre_eye@Cult Labs

Black Mass (1928)



Neophyte to black mass orgy participant in under 6 minutes.

Watch it here.

Is that genuinely from 1928?

It's going to number one in my Extreme Horror list immediately.

[platostotal]

ABUKtober continues with...

[nosferatu42]

Originally Posted by bizarre_eye@Cult Labs

Black Mass (1928)



Neophyte to black mass orgy participant in under 6 minutes.

Watch it here.

If that's Black Mass count me in.
Think there was only one bloke, and didn't see any old or saggy amongst the other attendees, couldn't give a sod about the devil but with these odds i'd be tempted.

Interesting short, the style of the women certainly look the part for an old film.
Quite enjoyed the music too.

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Is that genuinely from 1928?

It's going to number one in my Extreme Horror list immediately.

There's some debate over that, however, as nos mentions the style and look of the participants look authentic for the period and it's listed on IMDb (and elsewhere) as such. Plus, it is set in Paris, so therefore quite likely.

[Susan Foreman]

Because of some of the film-making techniques and tricks, I'm not convinced that it is either genuine or from 1928

It's been edited!

At about 1:03, when she lays down on the altar, there is a cut in the film, and she lays down again
At about 2:30, the whipping scene consists of a number of different cuts and angles with the girl reacting in some shots and not others, and the wounds appearing and disappearing at regular intervals
At about 4:00, during the male oral sex scene, he seems very concerned about moving his cloak so that the viewer can see what is happening

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Susan Foreman

Because of some of the film-making techniques and tricks, I'm not convinced that it is either genuine or from 1928

It's been edited!

At about 1:03, when she lays down on the altar, there is a cut in the film, and she lays down again
At about 2:30, the whipping scene consists of a number of different cuts and angles with the girl reacting in some shots and not others, and the wounds appearing and disappearing at regular intervals
At about 4:00, during the male oral sex scene, he seems very concerned about moving his cloak so that the viewer can see what is happening

The editing is reportedly due to damaged/missing frames so whilst it has been re-cut and spliced via modern techniques the actual source content is believed to be from that period.

As I mentioned though, there's some debate over its authenticity.

[MacBlayne]

I never actually saw any of these films before (there’s around thirteen of them!) so I thought this month would be perfect to remedy this by watching the first three.

Well, it sounded like a good idea on paper…

The Amityville Horror

Apparently, this is seen as a bit of a classic but I’m not sure why. I was pretty much bored with it. It’s one of the post-Exorcist demon in the house films that followed in the wake of that film’s success.

The pacing is glacial, the direction is uninspired, the screenplay is bereft of ideas, and the performances range from overly hysterical (Rod Steiger) to barely awake (James Brolin). Only Margot Kidder seems to deliver a competent performance. Or maybe I was just drawn to her Catholic schoolgirl getup…

But, the biggest problem is that it’s just not that scary. The demon’s voice isn’t too threatening and all it seems to do is open and close doors or make a nun vomit, but a strong breeze coming from a piggery can do that too. Okay, fine, the stairs covered in blood was mildly creepy but for a film that runs almost two hours, this is a rather poor showing.

Watch The Conjuring instead.

Amityville II: The Possession

This was both a step-up from the first film, and a major let-down. The first section of this film is a loose prequel that explores what happens to the previous family that owned the house. This is the strongest segment as the film goes down some really dark corridors including incest and mass-murder. Coupled with that are some arresting visuals such as the columns of Hell in the basement.

Sadly, this demon’s war on God is abandoned halfway through to become a subpar Exorcist rip-off that's much worse than the original's attempt, only this priest is a loose-cannon that's too cool for Sunday school and doesn’t follow the rules. I actually started reading my emails instead as the film just got worse and worse.

Overall, if you have to watch one Amityville film, watch this one. There is the makings of a decent film here but I get the impression that it was an accident on the filmmakers’ part.

Amityville 3-D

The tagline read “WARNING: In this film, you are the victim!” They weren’t kidding as Amityville 3-D is an awful, awful, awful film. I cannot believe that Richard Fleischer (10 Rillington Place) directed this lifeless husk of a film.

Barring a rather creepy moment of a mother seeing her daughter climbing the stairs, despite the girl being dead outside, there is nothing of worth in this film. The script is atrocious, the director probably didn’t bother showing up at the set, the effects are woeful, the photography is wretched (the 3D filmmaking has resulted in very blurry looking film) and it launched Meg Ryan’s career.

There aren’t even any attempts at a scare. Instead it just cribs ideas from The Omen and Poltergeist. And that just sums up what’s wrong with this series. None of these films have an original idea or concept, nor can they bring something slightly different to the table. They’re just a marketing response to whatever was popular at the time. I say, avoid this series and watch the films it rips off or The House by the Cemetery or The Haunting or The Entity instead.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

House of 1000 Corpses (2001)

As with many rock stars Rob Zombie is known for his love of old horror films so it comes as no surprise that his directorial debut is a warped trip into B-movie horror, riffing on the likes of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and it's 1986 sequel.

Never moving out of classic grindhouse territory, House of 1000 Corpses plunges two young couples into a nightmarish Halloween back woods tale where they fall victim to a family of sick deviants and deformed grotesques including Karen Black, Bill Moseley, a demented Sid Haig in the now iconic role of Captain Spaulding and Zombie's wife to be, Sherri Moon.

Whilst the film is derivative it's also a homage to classic horror as we witness scenes from Universal classics such as The Wolf Man (1941) and House of Frankenstein (1944) thrust into the insanity of the Firefly family's chamber of horrors. In fact Zombie's direction is inspiring, at least to me. Witness the scene where Walton Goggins, sheriff is shot in cold blood. Moseley holds his gun to Goggins head and we wait for the shot to ring out. It doesn't. Zombie edges his camera out still focusing on the pair, again nothing. It's not until we get a birds eye view and you begin to check to see if the dvd counter is still running and the film hasn't froze before the inevitable finally happens. It's a sequence that takes about thirty seconds to play out but seems like an eternity. The cinematography is superb as is the mind bending use of film stocks and random weird clips that assault the viewer every so often, such as Moon sticking her tongue into a rotting corpse's mouth, along with various freaks and absurdities, whilst giving the impression of being an MTV style horror music video it also makes it seem even more disturbing than it is.

The film is similar to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in you think you are seeing more blood and gore than you actually do. Yes it's a relentless assault on the eyes but often it's all so quick that it really is a case of blink and you'll miss it. So yes, whilst it is practically a reworking of 70's films it's also fresh meat with outstanding performances and memorable new characters. So much so that it was inevitable we'd see them all again in sequel The Devil's Rejects (2005)

[Inspector Abberline]

Alone in the Dark (1982)

Donald Pleasence does two things in this film which you do not see him do that often in films,one is smile like a Cheshire cat and the second is try to cleave Martin Landau in halve.I only mention it because I think out of all the slasher films that came out of the 1980's Alone in the Dark maybe the most interesting and original slasher film from that decade.While the plot is fairly straight forward enough,a band of highly psychotic criminals escape there prison in the midst of a blackout and try and reek revenge on there new doctor played ironically by Dwight Schultz,because they believe he murdered there last doctor. Pleasence as Dr. Leo Bain spends most the time spouting new age psycho babble,and trying to cure his residents with alternative's to the usual psychiatry,unfortunately for Pleasence he has no more understanding of the criminal mind than anyone else and pays the price for his arrogance.What should come as no surprise to anyone is that Jack Palance plays the head nutter in the gang,with Martin Landau as nut job number two and Erland van Lidth (The Wanderers,Stir Crazy) as a rather unpleasant child rapist,there is also the bleeder,a hockey mask wearing killer who gets nose bleeds whenever he kills. While most slasher films feature a mute killer with very little idea apart from being Mr Stabbey,Palance and the boys are a distinctly chatty bunch who are not shy about there murderous intentions. Unfortunately the film seems more famous for the appearance of the punk band The Sick F**ks,who are highly amusing but so out live there welcome,luckily they ownly appear in a couple of scenes...So if you fancy a good slash then you could a lot worse,and if you have not scene this wee gem yet then its worth a stab in the dark...(see what I did there).

[platostotal]

(Stand back and prepare to duck, I stayed out of the fierce debate on here over this and Lost Boys a few years ago as I was a newbie, but for the record I like em both but this one just pips Lost Boys by the tiniest of margins.)

ABUK did me proud with this twin disc edition. ABUKtober scores a cracker...