October Horror Movie Marathon

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

House of 1000 Corpses (2001)

No matter how many times i watch this i always notice or hear something new. That's the beauty of Rob Zombie's grimy yet wonderfully colourful debut feature film.

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 soon wife to be, Sherri Moon.

I do think there's far more to it though. It's a far more technically proficient film than the ones it emulates like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Funhouse and is influenced as much by the 30's and 40's Universal horror classics that seem to play constantly on tv in this film. Zombie takes us on a daringly wild ride of a hallucinatory mindf*ck of weird images, colours, varying film stocks and sounds in a relentless assault on the senses which is stunningly enhanced in HD with it's 7:1 surround soundtrack.

It's a film that's perhaps not as gory as you may think but the overall tone reeks of putrification and i can't get enough of it.

The Witch (2015)

Banished by their Puritan elders over a religious dispute, William (Ralph Ineson) and his family of English settlers build a new home on the edge of a secluded forest. In a shocking scene the family's youngest member, baby Samuel, is stolen from under the nose of teenage daughter Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy) by a witch who uses the dead baby's body to make a flying ointment.

From there on things become increasingly more unsettling as director Robert Eggars thrusts us headfirst into a historically accurate, beautifully crafted exercise in sustained tension and ultimately madness that's as disturbing and genuinely frightening as any horror film i can remember. Oh and it's as creepy as f*ck with it.

A modern masterpiece.

[Nordicdusk]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

House of 1000 Corpses (2001)

No matter how many times i watch this i always notice or hear something new. That's the beauty of Rob Zombie's grimy yet wonderfully colourful debut feature film.

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 soon wife to be, Sherri Moon.

I do think there's far more to it though. It's a far more technically proficient film than the ones it emulates like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Funhouse and is influenced as much by the 30's and 40's Universal horror classics that seem to play constantly on tv in this film. Zombie takes us on a daringly wild ride of a hallucinatory mindf*ck of weird images, colours, varying film stocks and sounds in a relentless assault on the senses which is stunningly enhanced in HD with it's 7:1 surround soundtrack.

It's a film that's perhaps not as gory as you may think but the overall tone reeks of putrification and i can't get enough of it.

The Witch (2015)

Banished by their Puritan elders over a religious dispute, William (Ralph Ineson) and his family of English settlers build a new home on the edge of a secluded forest. In a shocking scene the family's youngest member, baby Samuel, is stolen from under the nose of teenage daughter Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy) by a witch who uses the dead baby's body to make a flying ointment.

From there on things become increasingly more unsettling as director Robert Eggars thrusts us headfirst into a historically accurate, beautifully crafted exercise in sustained tension and ultimately madness that's as disturbing and genuinely frightening as any horror film i can remember. Oh and it's as creepy as f*ck with it.

A modern masterpiece.

Both master works in their own right the Witch is one of the most unnerving films I have ever seen and it doesn't loose any impact with multiple viewings

[Frankie Teardrop]

THE LAST SLUMBER PARTY - Here's one HD upgrade I never thought I'd see, a true holy grail of out-there indie horror with a semi-legendary reputation for inspired ineptitude. Even if you've never heard of it, you've already guessed what it's about - someone's holding a slumber party and someone else has 'escaped'. 'What it's about' is the least interesting thing about this film; 'The Last Slumber Party' uses the basic slasher format to pile strangeness upon strangeness. It's often (but not always) hard to tell which of these strangenesses are intended and effective attempts at atmosphere, and which are just total misfires. Innumerable instances of both spring to mind... a woman makes a phone call at a window whose billowing curtains have an irrational drama about them... a killer in surgical scrubs, always staring with the same mad eyes, only ever appears in close up wielding a bloodied scalpel... a stretch of wallpaper running up the stairs onto the landing looks like it's been infected with some kind of horrendous virus, and might give you it too if you stare too long... and so on. Dysfunction of varying degrees creeps into nearly every performance, every line of dialogue - the lead character is so whiny and slur-fixated she's almost repulsive. But then some things hit. The droning synth we hear as we're running around near the end, that's actually quite haunting. Something about the lighting, the framing, even the placement of the prone limbs of the fallen victims feels authentically dreamlike at times. If almost everything about 'The Last Slumber Party' is 'off', there are still bits they get right, which just compounds the enigma. 'The Last Slumber Party' is a mishmash of low-key crazy and only Doris Wishman's 'A Night To Dismember' tops it as the pinnacle of accidentally abstract slasherdom.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Sleepy Hollow (1999)

A New York police constable played by Johnny Depp is sent to the village of Sleepy Hollow to investigate the murder and decapitation of three of its citizens. Once there he learns of the mythical ghostly Headless Horseman whom the locals are sure is the killer.

Tim Burton perfects his love of all things Gothic in Sleepy Hollow, from the misty and foreboding woods to the numerous jack o' lanterns lighting the way. The headless horseman is a classic supernatural spook and it has never been bettered before or after Burton's film. Surround sound systems positively thunder whenever the horse charges into a scene.

As good as ever, Tim Burton's brisk Gothic tale is just as fun to watch now as it was 25 years ago. One i never get bored with.

Fido (2006)

I always find Fido an absolute joy to watch, it manages to do what so many horror / comedy's fail and that is to produce a film that works on both levels to a high standard. The comedy on the whole is subtle rather than gross out gags. The script more or less follows on from the events of Romero's Night of the Living Dead, bringing us to a time when boffins have produced a collar that removes the zombie need to eat and makes them in effect servants, if a little dim witted. Fido, brilliantly played by Billy Connolly, is one such zombie who goes to live with the Robinson family and is instantly welcomed by the young son and wife ( A delightful Carrie-Anne Moss who makes me go a little weak at the knees) but not by Dad (Dylan Baker) who fears them.

What we have from then on is essentially a "boy and his dog" movie as the two bond, despite Fido eating his elderly neighbours arm thus ensuring another zombie upsurge and Moss falling for the zombie rather than her uptight husband.

Its thanks to the excellent performances from all involved, a well crafted, fifties suburban American setting and above all, an energetic, carefully written script from people who know and love the zombie horror genre ensure that Fido is a true delight for zombie fans.

[MrBarlow]

The Theatre Bizarre. 2011.

A young girl is told stories by a puppet in a theatre. A couple travel through France and come across a lustful witch. A man has pushed his partner too far who she then shows her anger. A unfaithful man blurs the lines between dreams and reality. A small child sees the world of it's real horror. A woman who steals memories from people and injects them into her begins to unravel a nightmare. A couple go to deep with their perverse desires.

Anthology films can go one way or another and this one I have always enjoyed even though the second one I still find hard to really enjoy but at least Tom Savini pops up as a psychologist in a segment and Catriona MacColl appears in the first segment as a witch.

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Halloween. 1978.

Classic slasher film that never disappoints for this time of the year and I still bloody jump at the same point of the film.

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[MrBarlow]

Night Of The Demons. 1988.

Teens having a party in a possessed house, do a seance and unleash hell, typical teenagers and most of them become possessed and Kevin Tenney managed to create a cheese fest horror from the 80s and make it into a classic. Linnea Quigley shines out as the girl who does the magic trick with the lipstick and shows off her rear and front part which she was use to doing in other films. The acting is more comedy but good creative make-up effects.

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[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Cat People (1942)

The first of producer extraordinaire Val Lewton's 1940's horror films which veered away from the monsters and creatures of Universal and subjected the viewer to the powers of suggestion and the terror of what might happen.

The fabulous Simone Simon a sensual accomplice who believes thanks to an ancient curse that any form of physical intimacy with the man she loves (Kent Smith) will turn her into a feline predator, as all our fears play out against a chilling backdrop of light and shadow.

This is wonderfully directed by the great Jacques Tourneur.

Trick 'r Treat (2007)

Watched during the witching hour of October 31st, Halloween, time almost stood still as it became apparent that after 17 solid years of tricks and treats Michael Dougherty's film remains as good as ever. Perhaps the finest portmanteau horror ever made, the different story strands blend seamlessly and with each viewing a different segment becomes my favourite. This time it was the werewolves and Anna Paquin's right of lupine passage. Sweet dreams are indeed made of this.

A genuine Halloween treat. With no tricks in sight.

[MrBarlow]

Stagefright 1987.

We all know Michele Soavi is a pupil of Dario Argento who does the giallo/gory murder and passed some talents onto Michele and Lamberto Bava. Soavi's debut goes in the opposite, we are given the story of a psycho who is locked up and escapes from the sanitoriun and goes after a group of actors in the small theatre next door, so que the rampage. Soavi doesn't shy away from the gore and the brutal killings. The actors do what they can as stage performers with a unbearing director with a severe bad attitude and time scale. Still entertaining for me.

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[Frankie Teardrop]

HALLOWEEN 3: SEASON OF THE WITCH - So here we are, at the end of another epic journey to the doorstep of Halloween itself. Before I slip on my mask, head out to the suburbs and whisper "trick or treat?" from the shadows of a dimly lit porch, let me shed a few lines about the last film in my Halloween run-down. H3 is as cosy as a mug of Horlicks, a film I've snuggled up with time and time again over the decades, and, to me, remains an unparalleled classic somehow more definitive of its season than John Carpenter's original; it's certainly my favourite of all the sequels. I use the word 'cosy', but it's not at all, is it? There's something nasty about it, the way those bugs pour out from that poor kid's mask, his dad screaming like that... really sets me on edge. On the other hand, a deftness lightens the menace, as does a slightly overshadowed ludicrousness - they nicked Stonehenge! "You wouldn't believe how difficult THAT was," croaks sinister Dan O'Herlihy. Ancient rites, corporate horror, a bodysnatcher town and that terrific eighties doomsday ending, all of it brought together by glowering synths that sound like storm clouds on the horizon.

Have a good one, guys.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The pumpkin i bought last Friday seemed great until i noticed there was a crack in the bottom of it. By Sunday a section was beginning to go a bit squelchy so i carved an eye hole where the softness was and then on Monday carved the pumpkin properly. It was a simple design supposedly a little scary (see pic 1) by Tuesday the bloomin' thing was starting to collapse where i'd carved (see pic 2). By last night i had it's mouth propped open with matchsticks.

Last night whilst watching Trick 'r Treat i noticed a really cool looking pumpkin on fire so i paused the film and quickly drew the design and carved that face on the opposite side of my gnarled pumpkin which was as firm as you'd expect (see pic 3) and in my humble opinion looks pretty effective and simple with it. If you notice the new design has a black spot in it's right eye. That's because there's no orange backdrop for it as it's all caved in.

Anyone who watches the film tonight see if you can spot the pumpkin in question. A clue - It's almost in the center of the screen at one point.