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Horror Films

blessmycottonsocks said:
Evil

Evil Dead 3: Army of Darkness is an absolute blast, full of cheeky one-liners and countless visual gags.
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It's great, yeah. I've got loads of different versions of it including the UK and US alternate endings which I don't want to spoil for Skinny. My work mug even reads 'Shop smart shop S-Mart'. I've own loads of collectables from that one :). It's in a completely different tone to the newest two of the films though.

One of my mates has also visited the gravel pits where the set was built and it was filmed .. his site's so vast, even I struggle to keep up now. He's called me one of the pioneers of Evil Dead research stuff, he's hugely outpaced me since.

There's stuff on this site you won't have even thought about thinking about, I helped him out with one or two things at first and now I'm happy to be in this dude's shadow ..

https://www.bookofthedead.ws/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=194
 
I went to see the most recent Evil Dead Rise and I actually walked out on it at about halfway. Not to dissuade anyone from seeing it.

First, I generally hate horror movies with kids in it. I definitely would not have gone to see it if I'd known that.

The special effects are wonderful and if you like in your face gore, you can't fault them.

I just found that it seemed to be more of a nasty horror movie with little humour (even the black humour that I enjoy). I did not like any of the characters, even the evil ones.

I did recognize the tips of the hat to several horror movies, but imo, they were superfluous and seemed to be forced rather than a thoughtful homage to them. I was kind of confused by them as they didn't seem (to me) to be placed because of the director's love of them.

Part way through, I realized that I was bored enough that I was not interested to see if any surprises were coming up nor care enough to find out who survived.

I love horror movies. This one, to me, is a good technical horror movie, but it lacked story (it makes the audience fill in backstory of the book, so anyone who doesn't know Evil Dead will be at a loss), character development in that I couldn't care less who survived as there was no real concern built for any character, and the gore factor seemed to be there just to show what they could do rather than to create fear or dread.
 
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brownmane said:
I went to see the most recent Evil Dead Rise and I actually walked out on it at about halfway. Not to dissuade anyone from seeing it.

First, I generally hate horror movies with kids in it. I definitely would not have gone to see it if I'd known that.

The special effects are wonderful and if you like in your face gore, you can't fault them.

I just found that it seemed to be more of a nasty horror movie with little humour (even the black humour that I enjoy). I did not like any of the characters, even the evil ones.

I did recognize the tips of the hat to several horror movies, but imo, they were superfluous and seemed to be forced rather than a thoughtful homage to them. I was kind of confused by them as they didn't seem (to me) to be placed because of the director's love of them.

Part way through, I realized that I was bored enough that I was not interested to see if any surprises were coming up nor care enough to find out who survived.

I love horror movies. This one, to me, is a good technical horror movie, but it lacked story (it makes the audience fill in backstory of the book, so anyone who doesn't know Evil Dead will be at a loss), character development in that I couldn't care less who survived as there was no real concern built for any character, and the gore factor seemed to be there just to show what they could do rather than to create fear or dread.
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It would really be a shame if they've ditched the wickedly black humour that permeated ED2 and was widespread in ED3.
 
brownmane said:
I went to see the most recent Evil Dead Rise and I actually walked out on it at about halfway. Not to dissuade anyone from seeing it.

First, I generally hate horror movies with kids in it. I definitely would not have gone to see it if I'd known that.

The special effects are wonderful and if you like in your face gore, you can't fault them.

I just found that it seemed to be more of a nasty horror movie with little humour (even the black humour that I enjoy). I did not like any of the characters, even the evil ones.

I did recognize the tips of the hat to several horror movies, but imo, they were superfluous and seemed to be forced rather than a thoughtful homage to them. I was kind of confused by them as they didn't seem (to me) to be placed because of the director's love of them.

Part way through, I realized that I was bored enough that I was not interested to see if any surprises were coming up nor care enough to find out who survived.

I love horror movies. This one, to me, is a good technical horror movie, but it lacked story (it makes the audience fill in backstory of the book, so anyone who doesn't know Evil Dead will be at a loss), character development in that I couldn't care less who survived as there was no real concern built for any character, and the gore factor seemed to be there just to show what they could do rather than to create fear or dread.
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This is exactly what's putting me off watching Evil Dead Rise. Again, I've seen them all and I'm also a hardcore collector of all things Evil Dead but ... I just don't want to watch a family, fictional or not, destroy each other as entertainment. I want to walk out of a cinema after one of these chapters with a big goofy 'ha ha! .. 'got me!' grin on my face instead.

Having said that, people laugh at the '81 The Evil Dead now but it was just as mean spirited as RISE sounds today. UK police were even seizing '81 The Evil Dead VHS tapes in targeted raids. (I own 2 of those tapes) .. so maybe I need to toughen up and watch this little bastard? .. I dunno .. like Last House on the Left:

Keep repeating ..

It's only a movie ..
only a movie..
only a movie ...
 
ramonmercado said:
I posted a review of it above, 8/10 imo.
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And that's why I didn't rate it. Technically, it's a good horror movie.

Someone looking for straight up horror and gore would enjoy it.

I just wonder why the director chose to do an Evil Dead franchise movie rather than a one of his own.

I don't feel that this director's view of what is horror is anything like the type of horror of the franchise. I did feel that the filming was slightly strained because the director was trying to inject some of the original feel of Evil Dead into his movie, but it fell short because it is not his style. I have not seen any of this director's movies.

I just should have stuck to my own rule of not following franchise movies.
 
brownmane said:
And that's why I didn't rate it. Technically, it's a good horror movie.

Someone looking for straight up horror and gore would enjoy it.

I just wonder why the director chose to do an Evil Dead franchise movie rather than a one of his own.

I don't feel that this director's view of what is horror is anything like the type of horror of the franchise. I did feel that the filming was slightly strained because the director was trying to inject some of the original feel of Evil Dead into his movie, but it fell short because it is not his style. I have not seen any of this director's movies.

I just should have stuck to my own rule of not following franchise movies.
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Sam Raimi had 3 rules:

"The innocent must suffer
The guilty must be punished
You have to taste blood to be a man"

............... after that mission statement, he just loved pranking people, whether if was by scares or laughs, it didn't make any difference to him so so long as he got a reaction!..

i love him to bits because his ultimate goal has just been to "entertain" and to see how far he can get away with within those boundaries .. re watching this '82 interview with him, it's obvious he wasn't pretentious or 'deep' .. exactly the opposite .. he'd lick his finger, jam it in your ear while shouting "WET WILLY!" then run away laughing. I'm talking about him like his dead but fortunately he's still alive .. and an extremely multi skilled film director/producer .. here's him pissing about and being fun ..

 
brownmane said:
And that's why I didn't rate it. Technically, it's a good horror movie.

Someone looking for straight up horror and gore would enjoy it.

I just wonder why the director chose to do an Evil Dead franchise movie rather than a one of his own.

I don't feel that this director's view of what is horror is anything like the type of horror of the franchise. I did feel that the filming was slightly strained because the director was trying to inject some of the original feel of Evil Dead into his movie, but it fell short because it is not his style. I have not seen any of this director's movies.

I just should have stuck to my own rule of not following franchise movies.
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Check out that video I posted on the previous page. RLM agree with your points.
 
Swifty said:
Sam Raimi had 3 rules:

"The innocent must suffer
The guilty must be punished
You have to taste blood to be a man"

............... after that mission statement, he just loved pranking people, whether if was by scares or laughs, it didn't make any difference to him so so long as he got a reaction!..

i love him to bits because his ultimate goal has just been to "entertain" and to see how far he can get away with within those boundaries .. re watching this '82 interview with him, it's obvious he wasn't pretentious or 'deep' .. exactly the opposite .. he'd lick his finger, jam it in your ear while shouting "WET WILLY!" then run away laughing. I'm talking about him like his dead but fortunately he's still alive .. and an extremely multi skilled film director/producer .. here's him pissing about and being fun ..

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Hey that looks like the guy in your avy. :)
 
skinny said:
Hey that looks like the guy in your avy. :)
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That is the guy in my avy, yes :) .. I young Sam Raimi breakin' in a pair of Nikes at one of the wrap parties for The Evil Dead. I told you I love Evil Dead. You've just won a yacht. Where am I sending it mate?.
 
Just watched 2019 movie Infernum on Prime.

Camille (Suziey Block), loses her parents at a young age, when they disappear during a camping trip.
The incident is heralded by a ghastly sound, reminiscent of the wailing of tortured souls.
Fast forward 25 years and a now grown-up Camille hears news reports of the same sound being heard in rural Nevada.
Her rather surly husband Hunter has no interest in such phenomena, so Camille sets out with her student friend James to investigate.
A landslide cuts short their road trip and they take the rail replacement service - a delightfully atmospheric/creepy ancient train.
Around half-way to their destination, the train crawls into a long tunnel and Camille, James (and Hunter, who decided to tag along anyway) wake from a doze to find things feel very wrong indeed - and I don't just mean the failing lights and sub-zero temperatures.
Can't say much more without including spoilers but, suffice it to say that Infernum is clearly rather low on budget, but very high on disturbingly claustrophobic atmosphere. It made my blood run cold on a couple of occasions.
The ending is open to interpretation and may not be to everyone's taste.
I liked it overall though and, if you're a sucker for weird things happening during an eerie train journey on a cold, dark night, I expect you will too.
7.5/10.


infer.png
 
Swifty said:
It's a bit depressing then?.
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If you go thinking that it is a Sam Raimi/Bruce Campbell like horror movie, yes. There is no real dark humour, but a pretty cut and dried horror movie for the horror.

If you like OTT good special effects, this one has it. It doesn't disappoint on that. Again, technically it is a good movie.
 
brownmane said:
If you go thinking that it is a Sam Raimi/Bruce Campbell like horror movie, yes. There is no real dark humour, but a pretty cut and dried horror movie for the horror.

If you like OTT good special effects, this one has it. It doesn't disappoint on that. Again, technically it is a good movie.
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It's starting to sound like the Jimmy Carr of Evil Dead films to me but I'll give it a go anyway.
 
brownmane said:
If you go thinking that it is a Sam Raimi/Bruce Campbell like horror movie, yes. There is no real dark humour, but a pretty cut and dried horror movie for the horror.

If you like OTT good special effects, this one has it. It doesn't disappoint on that. Again, technically it is a good movie.
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I did see some dark humour in it but tastes vary!
 
The Offering: Jewish esoteric and Kabbalah horror film set among a Hassidic Jewish community in Brooklyn. An old man has been engaged with the darker paths of Jewish Mysticism, trying to contact his dead wife, unwittingly he summons up a demon but seals it in his body through suicide and an amulet. A prodigal son returns to his undertaker father and through greed and ineptitude sets the demon loose. Some good representations of the demon both as a child and a horrific monster but not just those, it is a trickster taking on many forms. Really disturbing in places, with the demon levitating people and killing them. always ensure that your summoning circle is unbroken, The film is mostly shot in a dim home/funeral parlour with it's morgue underground. The building itself is a star in the narrative. Directed by Oliver Park and written by Hank Hoffman. 7/10.

On google play and youtube (pay).
 
Sick: A slasher flick set during the Covid pandemic. Many of the familiar themes, strange texts, being followed then SLASH! That's the first victim dealt with, After that two young women head to an isolated lodge to get away from the city. But they are also pursued by slashers. What makes this different is the motivation of the slashers but you'll have to watch the film to discover what that is. Pretty good action and chases through the large log lodge, across the nearby lake and through the woods. The one on one fights are expertly choreographed with some interesting impalings via varied weapons. The pandemic setting adds to the tension with masks adding some dark humour in one scene. Well worth watching. Directed by John Hyams, written by Kevin Williamson and Katelyn Crabb. 7/10.

Streaming on peacock via Sky.
 
There's Something Wrong with the Children: Another cabin in the woods and yes, the children are behaving oddly. Two couples, one with two kids, the other more fortunate head go on a weekend trip to an isolated woodland site. Drinks, food relaxing but some tensions emerge. Next day they go for a trek through the woods and come across some ruins which back onto a cave, the children insist on playing with dead thing and almost fall into an abyss like hole. After that the fun starts with strange behaviour by the kids which at first is only witnessed by one of the adults and the others don't believe him. There ensues mayhem and murder with the child actors, Briella Guiza and David Mattle quite convincing as being (literally) little monsters. The use of shadows is quite important in suggesting an explanation for what's really going on. The underground sequences are quite effective at adding to the aura of threat and despair. A disturbing film but there's too much time spent on the unhappy relationships of the couple, this would have been put to better use giving a back story to the ruins. Maybe it would have worked better as a 45 minute anthology episode, Still, it's worth watching. Directed by Roxanne Benjamin and written by T. J. Cimfel & David White. 6/10.

On Google Play and Apple TV.
 
Blood: An interesting twist on the Vampire trope is slightly derailed by an over concentration on Jess's (Michelle Monaghan) attempted recovery from addiction. Going through a messy divorce she brings her son, Owen (Finlay Wojtak-Hissong) and daughter Tyler ( Skylar Morgan) to an isolated farmhouse to live. She loves the kids but obviously should never have gotten custody of them in the first place, her mad stares reminds me of Claire Danes in Homeland. Sympathy for the ex-husband is muted due to the fact that he has a baby by the much younger nanny. Anyway the kids go to a dried out pond where their dog senses something strange in dead tree. Later the dog runs off and when he returns is acting savagely and bites Owen. Owen has a bad reaction to the bite and in hospital Jess sees him drinking blood from his IV bag. It soon becomes clear that Owen will not survive without blood, being a nurse Jess can steal blood at first. Things turn ever darker as Jess goes to increasingly desperate lengths to source blood. Owen going from being a lovable if demanding kid to a beast doesn't happen overnight. The process is interesting to observe and is obviously demanding for Finlay but he puts in a tremendous performance. Skeet Ulrich is really just a cypher as the father. The woods, dried up pond and the farmhouse could also be seen as characters, each provides a battleground both psychic and physical which allows the narrative to unfold. Some grisly scenes but much of the horror is psychological. Could have been a better film but still well worth watching. Directed by Brad Anderson and written by Will Honley. 7/10.

On youtube movies (pay).
 
ramonmercado said:
The Offering: Jewish esoteric and Kabbalah horror film set among a Hassidic Jewish community in Brooklyn. An old man has been engaged with the darker paths of Jewish Mysticism, trying to contact his dead wife, unwittingly he summons up a demon but seals it in his body through suicide and an amulet. A prodigal son returns to his undertaker father and through greed and ineptitude sets the demon loose. Some good representations of the demon both as a child and a horrific monster but not just those, it is a trickster taking on many forms. Really disturbing in places, with the demon levitating people and killing them. always ensure that your summoning circle is unbroken, The film is mostly shot in a dim home/funeral parlour with it's morgue underground. The building itself is a star in the narrative. Directed by Oliver Park and written by Hank Hoffman. 7/10.

On google play and youtube (pay).
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That one's for me. I bet Justin Sledge at ESOTERICA does a review. Ooooh I forgot!, he's doing a live viewing of A Dark Song (2017) with experienced occultists and authors Aaron Leitch and Marco Visconti in May. I don't think it has happened yet as I have a subscriber alert. I can post the date/time if anyone else wants to be in on it.

ed. Here tis
Thursday
7 waiting • Scheduled for 12 May 2023
The 2016 A Dark Song written and directed by Liam Gavin and starring Steve Oram and Catherine Walker is one of the stand-out occult films of recent years. Depicting a version of the famed Abramelin Ritual, @TheEsotericaChannel will be joined by experienced occultists and authors Aaron Leitch - @kheph777 and Marco Visconti @MarcoVisconti as we watch and comment on the film live, providing both an academic and differing views of occult practitioners. Feel free to start the film with us and watch along or watch later. This will be our rough schedule (all times in New York / Eastern time):
4:00pm - Go Live - Introductions
4:15pm - Start Film
c.. 5:15pm - 15 minute Intermission / Discussion (5 minutes each)
c. 5:30pm - Restart film
c. 6:20pm - Wrap Film, Discussion & Final Thoughts
 
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skinny said:
That one's for me. I bet Justin Sledge at ESOTERICA does a review. Ooooh I forgot!, he's doing a live viewing of A Dark Song (2017) with experienced occultists and authors Aaron Leitch and Marco Visconti in May. I don't think it has happened yet as I have a subscriber alert. I can post the date/time if anyone else wants to be in on it.

ed. Here tis
Thursday
7 waiting • Scheduled for 12 May 2023
The 2016 A Dark Song written and directed by Liam Gavin and starring Steve Oram and Catherine Walker is one of the stand-out occult films of recent years. Depicting a version of the famed Abramelin Ritual, @TheEsotericaChannel will be joined by experienced occultists and authors Aaron Leitch - @kheph777 and Marco Visconti @MarcoVisconti as we watch and comment on the film live, providing both an academic and differing views of occult practitioners. Feel free to start the film with us and watch along or watch later. This will be our rough schedule (all times in New York / Eastern time):
4:00pm - Go Live - Introductions
4:15pm - Start Film
c.. 5:15pm - 15 minute Intermission / Discussion (5 minutes each)
c. 5:30pm - Restart film
c. 6:20pm - Wrap Film, Discussion & Final Thoughts
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Really liked A Dark Song.
 
Consecration: The opening scene features a nun with a big gun. Then we have a flashback to the recent past, Grace (Jena Malone) learns that her brother committed suicide and has murdered a fellow priest. Not believing that her brother would have done this she makes her way to Scotland and visits an isolated Convent run by an strict and odd order of nuns. After a series of faints she ends up first in hospital and then in the Convent itself after being pulled from the sea. She also experiences visions of the past, Medieval Knights disrupting pagan ceremonies, also of nuns committing suicide. All of the nuns are odd, the sanest one has just plucked out one of her eyes as she had seen the Devil. The Mother Superior (Janet Suzman) believes in One God and His Shadow (Satan) a Dualistic view which is shared by the other sisters and by Father Romero (Danny Huston) who is sent by the Vatican to investigate the deaths. There are many twists and turns in this narrative with flashbacks to Grace's youth and the search for a lost relic. A Templar like Order of Knights are also involved. Are we witnessing Angelic or Demonic powers at work? Naturally there are some gory scenes and further killings. A bit of a slow burner but a mystery/horror film which is well worth watching. Directed by Christopher Smith from a script he co-wrote with Laurie Cook, 7/10.

On Google Play and Apple TV.
 
I struck silver when I stumbled on The Last House on Cemetery Lane, written and directed recently by someone called Andrew Jones.

In this gentle spooky old house yarn, a scriptwriter living in London rents out an old house in rural Wales for eight weeks in the hope of overcoming writer's block. He is dismayed to be told that he will be sharing the house with an elderly reclusive blind lady who lives in the attic. Various spectral events occur but, meanwhile, he meets what seems to be the woman of his dreams....

It strings together a lot of generic cliches - there's even a ouji board session in it - but its British-Welshness and the relatable characters make it seem fresh and up-to-the-minute.

Do give it a watch - it's like a mug of Horrlicks with a dash of brandy in it.

 
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ramonmercado said:
I've seen it twice now, improves with a second watch!
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You probably already know about Within the Woods Ramon but for anyone who doesn't ....

In '78, Sam Raimi, 'Rip' (Rob) Tapert and Bruce Campbell (the same people now behind EVIL DEAD RISE) made a short film called Within the Woods so they could show it to independent business people to raise enough cash to make The Evil Dead. They didn't know any movie industry people so that was the plan they came up with. It worked.

Amongst lots of anecdotes, the film Within the Woods was never intended for public release and still hasn't been publicly released. Part of the reason for that is copyright issues with music they used for the short film. Tom Sullivan provided the F/X for the film (as well as for ED1 and ED2 later on). He owned a copy of Within the Woods on a VHS tape which was then stolen from his house one night during a party (as well as a large amount of vinyl records he told me). The person was caught in the end but before that, they were savvy enough to make copies of the VHS tape and some of those ended up on the underground bootleg circuit.

One of these tapes was found about 20 years ago, a few people I knew online decided to go to work on it which the developments of computers. The uncleaned up version was dreadful to watch but we couldn't risk losing Within the Woods forever. Even my brother in law got involved and he doesn't even like horror films .. anyway, there are cleaner versions of Within the Woods out there than this one but this is essentially EVIL DEAD - 0 ..

(Evil Dead fans will recognise the cellar used in WTW. It was also presented as being underneath the cabin in The Evil Dead. In truth it was/is under Rob Tapert's parents farm house used as the setting in WTW)

 
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