Halloween Horror Watch 2018: Creep 2 (2017) 4/31

I watched Creep in 2016. Didn't really know what a sequel would have to offer.

Not quite as creepy or scare filled as the first one, but it went in an interesting direction.

Halloween Horror Watch 2018: The Wicker Man (2006) 3/31

Does this count as horror? I'm counting it. Comment if you don't agree.

It's not very good. But Nick Cage is pretty crazy, which is always a good thing.  I should try to get out to see Mandy soon.

Halloween Horror Watch 2018: What We Do in the Shadows (2014)

This one is a fun little mockumentary that I'm sure just about everyone's already seen.  It features (and is cowritten by) Jermaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords.

Halloween Horror Watch 2018: Nightmare City (1980) 1/31

I realized pretty quickly into this one that I had seen it (or slept through it) at Terror Tuesday sometime a couple years ago.

Nightmare City is a sort of play on the zombie film, although the director wants it to be something else.  It's fairly passable, although the ending is pretty dumb.

2017 Horror for 31 Days: Alien Ressurection (1997) - Day 4

2017 Horror for 31 Days: Alien 3 (1992) - Day 3

A big reason I ended up starting out with this Alien series was to finally watch Alien 3.  I read a couple things online about how the extended cut made more sense and was probably better so I plunged into that one.

David Fincher walked away from making this movie at somepoint, I assume he tried to Alan Smithee it, but was unable to scour his name from the movie.  If this longer version is better, I maybe still wish I would have watched the shorter version.  Not a lot in this really worked for me.  Once again they kind of start Ripley off in a more passive role, and then she ends up taking some charge.  I don't know who's to blame, I mean the script couldn't have been that good, but the movie isn't really any good.

2017 Horror for 31 Days: Aliens (1986) - Day 2

I am fairly certain I haven't seen Aliens since the 80s. James Cameron takes the movie into the action realm, and Bill Paxton adds quite a bit of comedic relief.

It's definitely taking the series in a new direction, and is an enjoyable film, but I will always have more appreciation for Alien. Watching Ripley go from a more passive consultant on the journey to taking charge and kicking ass is pretty great.  Maybe not quite horror, but, close enough.

2017 Horror for 31 Days: Alien (1979) - Day 1

Another year, another go at 31 horror films in October.

To start off I thought I would watch the Alien series of films.  I can't remember the last time I saw Alien, but I quite enjoy it. Aliens takes the Xenomorphs and Ridley in a new direction. I've never seen Alien 3 and I barely remember Alien Resurrection (besides maybe some weird sex scene between Ridley and an alien?

The first in the series holds up. I'm watching the newish bluray set and the picture is better than I ever remember.  Not a whole lot to say about this gem.

2016 Horror for 31 Days: Night of the Living Deb (2015) - Day 16

Another horror/comedy film. This one isn't very good.

I'd skip.

2016 Horror for 31 Days: Deathgasm (2015) - Day 15

Ridiculous New Zealand shot possession film. Lotta comedy. It's not as esteemed as yesterdays film, but, I had a good time watching it.

2016 Horror for 31 Days: Psycho (1960) - Day 14

One of the classes I really dug while in film school was Tom Schatz' Modern Horror. The class digs into the modern age of horror films, and Schatz credits Psycho as the start of this era.

Some credit Psycho as the start of the slasher film.

The studio didn't want to make this movie, but Hitchcock pushed and was able to get the budget low enough to do it himself.  It's a great piece of cinema.

2016 Horror for 31 Days: Darling (2013) - Day 13

My buddy Nate is also watching a ton of Horror films this October and he dug Darling, so I decided to check it out (You can track Nate's watching at his Tumblr: http://therearemonsterseugene.tumblr.com/ ).

The black and white photography is so beautiful, more stuff should be shot in Black and White.

Great little film, super tense. Definitely worth watching.

2016 Horror for 31 Days: Mr. Jones (2013) - Day 12

Just a warning, this is NOT the film adaptation of the Counting Crows song that we all love.

The climax is a bit long, but, the movie is pretty enjoyable.

2016 Horror for 31 Days: Poison (1991) - Day 11

This is listed as a horror film, but, I don't know that I agree with that. I wasn't really in the right headspace to enjoy it. I'll have to give it another try sometime in the future.

2016 Horror for 31 Days: Southbound (2015) - Day 10

This is an anthology movie, where they all kinda feed into the next. It's ok. 

2016 Horror for 31 Days: Intruder (1989) - Day 09

Pretty good gore-centric slasher film. The gore effects are done by the KNB team and are top notch quality. Story is a bit weak, but it's definitely worth checking out.

Bruce Campbell is in it, but not to the extent that this graphic would lead you to believe. Ted Raimi kinda steals the show.

2016 Horror for 31 Days: Bloody April Fools (2013) - Day 08

I was scrolling through the horror films on Netflix and this one caught my eye. Mostly because the title is Bloody April Fools and the synopsis mentions it taking place in December.

In Spain and Latin America 12/28 is the Feast of the Holy Innocents, a festival celebrated with pranks. The Spanish title of the film is Los Inocentes, which translates to 'the innocent' but whoever translated the film for English took the prank holiday too literal and tagged the April Fools into the title.

It's a basic youth slasher. In Spanish. Not very great, but, it was interesting to see how they basically retold Friday the 13th.

2016 Horror for 31 Days: Hush (2016) - Day 07

I feel like I'm not all that in to most of the more recent horror films, I feel like they all went down a path I didn't really care about. But so far this year I've come across several that I've dug. Hush is kinda a standard slasher/invasion film, but the final girl is deaf. This adds a whole new dimension to the story. 

The way they handle her deafness is fairly interesting, and it really adds to the terror. Towards the end it does go a bit wonky, but overall I dug it.

2016 Horror for 31 Days: Creep (2014) - Day 06

So, The Final Girls isn't streaming. I'll have to head by a a video store and rent it.

But Nate also liked Creep so I watched that. It's another Mark Duplass movie. It's about a videographer who takes a job that goes weird, so I can related. I once took a gig where I went out in the woods with a bunch of strangers for a weekend.  There's part of my 'work' where I just go places without quite knowing what I'm getting into which, does present some scary situations.

This one was pretty tense, and made a very watchable movie with 2 actors 1 voice actor and very little crew. Would recommend.

2016 Horror for 31 Days: Final Girl (2015) - Day 05

I trust my friend Nate, I mean he likes the worst possible baseball team, but other than that...I thought he had said he really dug Final Girl, so I watched it. It turns out he enjoyed a movie called Final Girls (which, I'll watch tomorrow).  I was pretty confused because Final Girl wasn't very good.

The whole climax happens in the woods, and there are these really magical placed lights that look like lights, and I just kept thinking 'why are these lights in the middle of nowhere?'.

The movie does star Abigail Breslin, who is the titular Final Girl, so she didn't die after that movie with the yellow VW bus. I still miss my VW bus, those things don't handle front end wrecks well.

I'd probably say skip this one. The film doesn't look much better than the one sheet featured here.