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You know how the Hellboy reboot got kicked around town by audiences and critics recently? I've now seen it, and it's actually pretty enjoyable. Maybe because it's basically Lifeforce without the gratuitous nudity. If you can live with that, give it a go.
 
Eerie: Filipino Ghost Story/Murder Mystery. It's been done before, the haunted school. girls dying, this film has a few interesting twists though. The voiceover is by the school's guidance counsellor, Pat Consolacion (Bea Alonzo) she relates the tale of a girl who committed suicide in the toilets decades ago and who is now rumoured to haunt the school. The story has effects on some of Pat's troubled pupis, one is found gibbering in the toilets, totally insane, another is murdered. The school is run by nuns who are more worried about the school's image than the girls.

Pat is herself psychic and in communication with the ghost, Eri. She tries to find out why Eri (Gillian Vicencio) died and who really murdered her pupil. Much of the action is shot in dark corridors of the school and the toilets. Even when it is filmed in offices, ghosts appear. Pat's vivid and terrifying nightmares are often difficult to distinguish from the reality of contact with spirits and may be another form of communication. Angry ghosts, bullying, nasty nuns and Dybbuks feature in this dark narrative. Directed and written by Mikhail Red. 8/10. On Netflix.

Quite enjoyed Eerie, which I watched a couple of nights back. Probably helped that the lead actress was such a looker!
My wife found it genuinely creepy and even gave a little shriek at the rather staged make-you-jump moments.

Last night watched Possum on Netflix.
Grim as hell but memorable and haunting and certainly gets under your skin.
Felt almost like a throwback to the classic German impressionist horror movies:

 
It's sad how often this needs to be said, because not enough people listen, but here's a lucid defence of horror movies and other entertainments deemed less respectable:
Relevant article

I could have equally posted it in the gaming thread. But every time violent crime is in the news, please don't blame horror movie fans or gamers, there's really no correlation.
 
Quite enjoyed Eerie, which I watched a couple of nights back. Probably helped that the lead actress was such a looker!
My wife found it genuinely creepy and even gave a little shriek at the rather staged make-you-jump moments.

Last night watched Possum on Netflix.
Grim as hell but memorable and haunting and certainly gets under your skin.
Felt almost like a throwback to the classic German impressionist horror movies:

That is a must-see. I like the actor. He played Ian Brady and (I think) Ian Curtis, plus a host of supporting roles which were always good. Yes, Sean Harris. Very good. A craftsman.

Hmm from the wiki. Interesting:
Personal life
Harris maintains a very private life. Known as an intense actor of Stanislavski's system, Harris frequently remains unavailable for interviews while filming, preferring not to break with character.[26] However, his "method" allows him to film with few takes.[27]

Stanislavski's System
 
Ah, Possum. I was lucky enough to see a screening and Q&A with Matthew Holness last year. One of the most disturbing and unsettling films I've ever seen; a brilliant piece of work but quite definitely not for everyone. I recall the few seconds of dead silence in the packed cinema just after the credits rolled!
 
It's sad how often this needs to be said, because not enough people listen, but here's a lucid defence of horror movies and other entertainments deemed less respectable:
Relevant article

I could have equally posted it in the gaming thread. But every time violent crime is in the news, please don't blame horror movie fans or gamers, there's really no correlation.
I love what I call slice and dice movies, though they do need a reasonable plot. I relax at home killing numerous zombies and bad guys (usually defined as someone in my way lol). I have read horror novels from an early age.

Can I hit the broad side of a barn? Hahaha. Do I think all people are out to harm me? No.

I enjoy fantasy and that is exactly what these genres are. Those of us that enjoy them know the difference between real life and imagination.
 
Last night watched Possum on Netflix.
Grim as hell but memorable and haunting and certainly gets under your skin.
:
I got through it with some effort and very glad to have done. Not one I'll go back to too often. It unrelentingly downbeat, but stay with it as the ending is a worthy payoff.
Particularly effective use of sound and music.
Felt almost like a throwback to the classic German impressionist horror movies:
Good call. I was reminded of Jurgen Haarbermahster's The Doctor And The Pencil. Some of you might need to look that one up on Eine Internetten. So playful.
 
Just saw the "The Nun", definitely one of the better ones. Great plot and special effects (but not overdone maintains solid plot. I believe this movies was posted earlier but if so reinforcing that post.
 
Crawl: You may have seen previous films about people trapped in flooded buildings being hunted by alligators or crocodiles but Crawl brings something new to the table and ir's not just human limbs. Plenty of arms and legs bitten during the (main) course of the film though. These alligators are a hungry lot, devouring looters who take advantage of the hurricane and generally snapping off any tidbit put close to their snouts.

The action begins when competitive swimmer Haley (Kaya Scodelario) becomes worried about her father (Barry Pepper) when she can't contact him and heads directly into a hurricane. No one is suggesting nuking this one but a shock-jock warns against discharging shotguns into it. Finding her father trapped in a crawl space under a house they soon come under attack from the gators. Truly disturbing scenes of gators pursuing them in confined spaces becoming even more terrifying when the house is inundated by water and the creatures are in their natural element. Even in the open, gators converge to frenzy feed on people in flooded streets.

Some great editing (by Elliot Greenberg) and cinematography (by Maxime Alexandre) provides plenty of shocks and suspense. Nothing supernatural no weird monsters, no aliens, just the existential terror of facing a natural predator when the conditions favour them. Director Alexandre Aja has delivered a horror film to rival his epic The Hills Have Eyes. 8.5/10.
 
Watched "Wither" last night. A Swedish supernatural - slasher flick. Normally I avoid slasher type horror movies, however this one actually had a plot. A group of young adults plan a weekend of sex and booze at an old abandoned house. The 1st one in heads downstairs which go quite a ways down into a cave of sorts. She spots a creature from some ancient legendary race. As it turns out if one looks directly at the thing you rapidly morph into a murderous zombie like being whose only desire is to kill - maim. It rapidly gets very bloody from their.
 
Just noticed Mother on Netflix. Any good?

Pretty good but certainly one you love or hate. My review back in 2017:

mother!: Poetry lovers battling riot police. A house under attack not just from the police but from military forces is shelled, burned, ripped apart by a mad mob. A man (Javier Bardem) and a woman (Jennifer Lawrence) live in an isolated house, he is trying to rediscover his muse and write poetry once more, she is single handedly refurbishing a dilapidated, damaged house. First one, then two, then four strangers arrive, violence erupts. Now a mob is present as a wake turns into a fanfest for the poet.

This film by Darren Aronofsky has the structure of a bad dream, nay, a a nightmare. Themes of rebirth and renewal merge chaos and fire in this Beckettian drama. Some scenes of extreme violence and one particularly disturbing sequence involving human sacrifice cannibalism. Lawrence keeps the film rooted whilst Bardem leads and inspires the chaos. 8/10.
 
Finally saw Midsommar. I found it rather beautiful. The whole journey was very logical, almost felt like I knew what was going to happen, like I was one with the Swedes (no turnip jokes, lads). American college folk were shown up as weird, callous and ignorant in that ancient context. A great success to subvert the order of normality so calmly. Aster's bloody good at his work. The washed out lighting was difficult to bear at times, but no points off for that given the title and the seasonal geographical setting. 5/5
I'm going to see it again next week. Haven't done a rapid rewatch at t'cinema for many years. Will drag a friend along. To be sure I'm there.
 
Pretty good but certainly one you love or hate. My review back in 2017:

mother!: Poetry lovers battling riot police. A house under attack not just from the police but from military forces is shelled, burned, ripped apart by a mad mob. A man (Javier Bardem) and a woman (Jennifer Lawrence) live in an isolated house, he is trying to rediscover his muse and write poetry once more, she is single handedly refurbishing a dilapidated, damaged house. First one, then two, then four strangers arrive, violence erupts. Now a mob is present as a wake turns into a fanfest for the poet.

This film by Darren Aronofsky has the structure of a bad dream, nay, a a nightmare. Themes of rebirth and renewal merge chaos and fire in this Beckettian drama. Some scenes of extreme violence and one particularly disturbing sequence involving human sacrifice cannibalism. Lawrence keeps the film rooted whilst Bardem leads and inspires the chaos. 8/10.
Thanks Ramonmercado, I can rely on you for a good re view!
 
mother! is a religious epic of the sort they used to make back in the 1950s. It's just remade as a horror movie. I thought it was great.
 
Peelers: No, it's not about rozzers, rather it's about a strip club and it's employees who comes under attack from zombiesque customers. Its the closing night and Blue Jean (Wren Walker) is feeling blue as she has had to sell up to a local shady businessman. Her strippers all have their own idiosyncrasies when it comes to performances. Some customers are unwell - turns out they were infected by an oily substance in the local mine, they die but reanimate!

Some good zombie make up and effects with dark eyes exuding a tarry oil but perhaps a tad too much of the oil being vomited up. Lots of gore with stabbings and biting. But the characters here are fleshed out and I don't mean just nude. Blue Jean in particular has a strong back story, being an ex-cop, she also has troublesome and troubled son, Logan. A Horror/Comedy which delivers more than the opening credits suggest. 6/10
 
1981 was a good year for Werewolf films. Andrew Strombeck reviews The Howling, An American Werewolf in London and Wolfen. situating them in the cultural and political context of their time.

Year of the Werewolf
By Andrew Strombeck

... This was not the case in 1981. In that year, the film industry released three popular, innovative werewolf films: The Howling, An American Werewolf in London, and Wolfen. The Howling spawned seven sequels; American Werewolf is celebrated as a cult film with a campy soundtrack; though Wolfen is often not remembered at all, at the time it was a critical success. ...

The werewolf films of 1981 were part of what’s been called the Golden Age of American horror film. In that sense, they filled a cultural appetite for on-screen violence that was also being met by films like Friday the 13th and Halloween, whose sequels were also released in 1981. But the sheer fact of three werewolf films in the top 100 grossing films of 1981 indicates that filmmakers and audiences alike found something politically significant in the werewolf. As a cultural form, the werewolf narrative has distinct traits that made it an appealing subject for filmmakers and audiences alike in 1981. These films told good stories, but in doing so, they reflected the cultural pressures of their era in ways that resonated with the concerns of their mainstream audiences.

The werewolf films narrate a complex cultural transition, as American culture segued from self-improvement and Esalen to aerobics and Wall Street. On-screen werewolves both acknowledged the power of self-indulgence and dismissed it as threatening and marginal. From the vantage point of the present, it’s clear that the declining productivity visible in the 1970s was less a problem of self-indulgence and more a product of longer economic trends. The werewolves of 1981 tapped into rising fears of the dissipation of productivity. But watching them on-screen, mainstream Americans could interpret critiques of the productive center as monstrous. ...

https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/year-of-the-werewolf/
 
Black Christmas remade AGAIN:

Good luck working out what's supposed to be going on in that trailer. That's not real snow, is it?
 
"St. Agatha" very dark. A terrifying story of deception, depravity, sadism, etc. Not the typical weirdo murder - sadist movie however. A pregnant girl in trouble is given shelter in a "supposedly" beneficial convent, located in the rural south of the 50's. Well the "nuns, if You can call them that" don't have the girls well being in mind. She and other pregnant young girls are subjected to brutal torture, mutilations and mind altering drugs. It's all a very nasty scheme and I won't ruin the "cloak and dagger" with further detail. Nothing supernatural but riveting suspense throughout, 9/10 IMO.
 
Manhattan Undying: This story of a romance between a Vampire and a dying artist paints a lovely picture but doesn't totally please the palate. Luke Grimes is a jaded young artist who enjoys a hedonistic rock star life, not caring for his art, unable to find inspiration. He is brought back to reality by the discovery that he has terminal lung cancer, with weeks to live at most. He is determined to find the perfect model on which to base his masterpiece.

Sarah Roemer pays the equally jaded Vampire who is tiring of the continuous avocation of picking up men to drain them dry. She is perhaps getting a tad careless as the police start to link the deaths and suspect a serial killer is at work. This police subplot doesn't work too well as the cops veer between seeing Grimes (he attended the same depraved clubs as the victims) and Roemer as suspects.

Inevitably Sarah and Luke meet up, Sarah has never seen her likeness and wants Luke to paint it. Luke finally has a muse but will he live long enough to complete the portrait? A dark tale of doomed love reminiscent of Only Lovers Left Alive but not quite up to that standard. Directed by Babak Payami from a screenplay by Matt Deller this is an effective Vampire film. 7/10. On Netflix.
 
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Anyone seen Greta? A 1990s-style psychohorror update, and a lot of fun. But there's one scene in it where famously French star Isabelle Huppert reveals herself to... NOT BE FRENCH!!! It's really funny, but she gets angry in a restaurant and growls at our leading lady Chloe Grace Moretz in an Eastern European tongue (I've read it's Hungarian, but I wouldn't know).

Anyway, it seems to me Isabelle actually snarls "ENDUT! HOCH HECH!", you know, from that Worker and Parasite cartoon that Krusty the Clown shows on The Simpsons? Now, I doubt that she does, but if anyone's planning to give this film a go, could they confirm or deny that's what Isabelle says? Many thanks.
 
Wolf: 150 AD, a troop of Romans are north of Hadrian's Wall, searching for four peace envoys who had been sent to the King of the Picts, offering him assistance as a plague had broken out. The Legionnaires are attacked by a rogue band of Picts but manage to defeat them. A far stranger attack takes place however and two of the Romans are savagely slaughtered. Fast moving creatures streak past and lunge at the Legionnaires as they form an orb. It is difficult to wound the attackers. Under constant attack the Romans retreat towards Hadrian's Wall.

A low budget film which makes the most of it's forest setting. Mist runs through the primeval forest restricting visibility by day, inspiring a sense of existential terror even more so at night as dark shapes strike. Minimal effects concentrating on fangs and claws on the transformed creatures which are mostly fleetingly glimpsed. The acting is amateurish at times but good portrayals of Roman NCOs by Stuart Brennan and Mark Paul Wake who reminisce through flashbacks about previous battles. Also powerful female roles with Victoria Morrison, Adana Oji and Jennifer Jones as scouts and warriors. The screenplay is a bit disjointed but with some work the narrative structure could have been more convincing. This was obviously a labour of love for Stuart Brennan who directed, wrote, produced and acted in the film.

A watchable horror film with an interesting setting. 6/10.
 
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I watched the second IT. I thought it was a big bloody mess. It had interesting moments but I really didn't get a lot of enjoyment from it.
 
Extra Ordinary: Rose is a driving instructor and former Psychic who gave up the spiritual stuff after killing her father (also a psychic( when she messed up a ritual (there was a dog spirit involved). Now she is followed by a magpie and can see all the local ghosts who haven't moved on. She is persuaded to help Martin whose late wife is now a poltergeist and sends him messages printed on toast. Martin's daughter is also possessed through a Satanic ritual. There's a failed popstar who believes that he can make a comeback through a deal with a Demon, the ritual involves sacrificing a virgin.

All in all a typical Irish small town complete with a woman who loves going to funerals. Some nasty scenes, especially when a virgin is accidentally sacrificed prematurely resulting in a mess. But this is leavened by the comedy of a possessed recycling bin and a rather disgusting method of collecting ectoplasm. Martin's wife is also hilarious when she dybbuks him. A good Comedy-Horror film though some of the jokes may be lost on non-Irish viewers. Directed and written by Mike Ahern. 8/10.
 
Rabid: A remake of the Cronenberg horror film. If anything this one is even more gruesome. When Rose (Laura Vandervoort) is horribly disfigured in a road accident we see every detail when the bandages come off. Rose goes for experimental stem cell treatment at an Institute run by Dr Burroughs (Ted Atherton) which has unexpected results. Rose develops a craving for blood and has strange nightmares about attacking and biting people. Burroughs is more of a Dr Moreau than a Dr Frankenstein and has a sinister agenda.

While Rose is vampiric her victims act like zombies, devouring the victims they don't just infect. Soon the city is being overrun by a plague of rabid biters. Funny scenes of a rabid Santa on the loose in a hospital and an arrogant womaniser encountering Rose. There is also a pretty good satire on the fashion industry and the facile nature of beauty and celebrity. GoryHorror/Comedy/Satire directed and written by Jen and Sylvia Soska. 8/10.
 
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THE DEVIL'S CANDY: A haunted/possessed house, a killer who has gotten out of the asylum and is now killing again, heavy metal. An artist inspired by a muse that may be the haunted house itself. Great fun! 7/10. Showing again on Horror Channel, 10.55 pm, Thursday 26 September
 
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