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Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, I'd read reviews that we mostly positive but simultaneously slightly dismissive: along the lines of "it's a good film to het kids/teens into Horror but not great in itself". Whilst I think that assessment is broadly true, I'd say it's pretty involving and coherent for a film based on old anthologies, it's also a lot scarier than both Sinister and The Conjuring two modern Horror "classics" that I saw for the first time recently. I also cared about the characters more. I'd recommend it.
 
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, ... I'd say it's pretty involving and coherent for a film based on old anthologies ...I also cared about the characters
The front of the hospital (and possibly some of the interior) was filmed at an unused psychiatric hospital right in my town. The overview of the grounds are also the actual hospital grounds. I was quite surprised at the area size, as from the road, it doesn't look as large.

I saw the movie just to see what was filmed on site. I did enjoy it. It didn't try to go beyond the fun horror movies with good urban legends stories. It stayed true to its intent.
 
The front of the hospital (and possibly some of the interior) was filmed at an unused psychiatric hospital right in my town. The overview of the grounds are also the actual hospital grounds. I was quite surprised at the area size, as from the road, it doesn't look as large.

I saw the movie just to see what was filmed on site. I did enjoy it. It didn't try to go beyond the fun horror movies with good urban legends stories. It stayed true to its intent.

Did you find it scary at all? I was surprised at how effective the monsters were and how they were deployed.
 
Did you find it scary at all? I was surprised at how effective the monsters were and how they were deployed.
Not much scares me in horror movies unless it's psychological horror. For example Cronenberg's movie Crash.
But the Scary Stories is well done and worth watching. I also liked The Mist based on Stephen King's story for similar reasons. The monster effects were well done and the actors' characters were well done.
 
The Call: South Korean film which mixes genres, Horror, Time Travel (sort of), Serial Killer. Two women are in communication via telephone but one lives in 1999, the other in 2019. The past is changed as is the future through their actions and sharing of information. Deaths are undone or delayed, more deaths occur, the protagonists' material circumstances change in front of our eyes, people vanish as the changes wrought means they died years ago. Their contact also results in the creation of a serial killer. We also get a shaman thrown in for good measure. Some really disturbing and violent scenes with a growing atmosphere of dread as the narratives. develop. The differing and changig times periods and the resulting paradoxes are well handled. Written and Directed by Lee Chung-hyun. On Netflix. 8/10.
 
1BR (that's an abbreviation for one bedroom - a description of an apartment for hire), is a psychological horror movie just debuting on Sky movies.
A young woman rents a flat in a large complex, where every neighbour initially seems too nice to be true.
Go with your instincts! You will be yelling at your TV, as it soon becomes apparent that she is signed up for life with a weird mind-controlling cult (with more than a few hat-tips to scientology). A movie that messes mostly with your mind, but strays into torture-porn briefly. Something horrible happens to a cat and there's a clever non-Viking invocation of the Ættestup ritual. Large chunks of the plot were predictable, but the final twist blind-sided me somewhat and was quite effective.
Probably a 7/10:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7541106/

Also posted to the lookalikes thread, for the remarkable resemblance of the head cultist and one of Yvette Fielding's gang from Most Haunted.
 
New Spanish film Don't Listen (Voces) is on Netflix. It's a bit Amityville, a bit Shining, a bit *film that's a spoiler* ...

For some reason, merely reading "*film that's a spoiler*" makes me immediately think you must be referring to to The Sixth Sense. But I suppose you can't confirm or deny this without giving away more spoilers!
 
The Hills Have Eyes (1977): Watched this low budget classic again and it still packs a punch. A family travelling through Nevada are beset by a clan of inbred cave-dwelling cannibals. Some great lines: " dogs thrown in the well, chickens with their heads bit off", one of the cannibals chiding another about not eating their food: "what's the matter, you don't like dog anymore?"; a threat: "I'll eat the brains of your kids kids". They crucify a man on a cactus and then barbecue him alive,, they kidnap a baby intending to eat it! Luckily the travelling family have a dog that's smarter than Lassie and a lot more vicious. Some really gruesome, bloody scenes. Written and Directed by Wes Craven. On the Horror Channel. 8/10.
 
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The Call: South Korean film which mixes genres, Horror, Time Travel (sort of), Serial Killer. Two women are in communication via telephone but one lives in 1999, the other in 2019. The past is changed as is the future through their actions and sharing of information. Deaths are undone or delayed, more deaths occur, the protagonists' material circumstances change in front of our eyes, people vanish as the changes wrought means they died years ago. Their contact also results in the creation of a serial killer. We also get a shaman thrown in for good measure. Some really disturbing and violent scenes with a growing atmosphere of dread as the narratives. develop. The differing and changig times periods and the resulting paradoxes are well handled. Written and Directed by Lee Chung-hyun. On Netflix. 8/10.

Just finished watching this, on your recommendation, Ramon.

Whilst I will happily salute The Call's cleverness, I have to say that it's probably the most convoluted, over-elaborate and baffling plot of any movie that I can recall.
I couldn't help my attention wandering at several points during the almost 2 hours run time and the extra clips inserted into the end titles just added to my confusion. I'm still not sure if it was a happy ending or not.
I guess I'm basically a simple soul and this was a tad too clever for me.
 
Just finished watching this, on your recommendation, Ramon.

Whilst I will happily salute The Call's cleverness, I have to say that it's probably the most convoluted, over-elaborate and baffling plot of any movie that I can recall.
I couldn't help my attention wandering at several points during the almost 2 hours run time and the extra clips inserted into the end titles just added to my confusion. I'm still not sure if it was a happy ending or not.
I guess I'm basically a simple soul and this was a tad too clever for me.

It was convoluted. Lots of time paradoxes and the two (changing) timelines were bound to confuse. Watch the ending again and remember that there are agents of change at work in both eras.

There is a synopsis of the film here: WARNING SPOILERS! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Call_(2020_South_Korean_film)
 
Saint Maud: This dark psychological drama is very much a film of two parts. Starts off with Maud (Morfydd Clark) taking a job as a live in carer for Amanda (Jennifer Ehle). a dancer who has terminal spine cancer . Maud is filled with religious fervor and wants to save Amanda's soul as well as provide palliative care. Amanda smokes, drinks, wants to live a hedonistic lifestyle during her final days. Maud disapproves but they reach a modus vivendi for a time. Eventually though Maud's reverence coming up against Amanda results in a worrying clash. After this the film takes off in the direction of horror. Much of what then occurs is filtered through Maud's perceptions but is she a reliable narrator? While the horror is mostly psychological there are a few violent and disturbing scenes. The narrative is very much driven by Maud's religious conviction, she sees herself as akin to the Saints, an incipient martyr. There is a frisson of apprehension as this movie heads towards it's denouement. Written and Directed by Rose Glass. Showing at the Irish Film Institute, Dublin. 8/10.
 
A new Cronenberg movie is always something to look forward to.
I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, as "Possessor", directed by Brandon Cronenberg is receiving excellent reviews and typifies the violent and gross-out horror (but always with a sub-theme of social commentary) that his dad David Cronenberg excelled at.

Available to stream from 27th November.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/20...on-cronenberg-andrea-riseborough-sc0fi-horror

Brandon Cronenberg interviewed about his movies and why he prefers traditional body-horror effects, rather than using CGI:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/20...-knifings-pokerings-cgi-floaty-unreal-eyeball
 
The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion: Not really witch related, Horror/SF of The New Mutants variety. A young girl, "Little Witch", escapes from a research lab after an incident when most of the other test subjects are killed. Those in charge presume that she is dead and also allow a young boy to live. But she is found by a farming family who adopt her and name her Ja-yoon. She enters a talent competition and sings a great version of Danny Boy but her trick of making the microphone levitate wins the competition for her. The sinister organisation which ran the lab notices this and tries to capture her. There are competing factions in the group and this results in internal assassinations. A coming of age drama in more ways than one as hidden powers are revealed. A team of young liquidators take on the old guard in the struggle to take Ja-yoon captive. Not a film for the squeamish as heads are smashed, necks broken along with shootings and stabbings. Perhaps more upsetting though is a scene where a character kills attack dogs (in self defence). International conspiracies and intrigues abound. A bit unevenly paced but this is an effective .Horror thriller. Written and Directed by Park Hoon-jung. On Netflix. 7/10.
 
Echoes of Fear : After her grandfather dies in a bathroom fall, Alysa (Trista Robinson) inherits his house and prepares it for sale. Strange noises and movements start to disturb her. A bathtub is blocked but a plumber is scared off when he tries to fix it. Whenever it looks as if the there is a rational explanation for the events things turn weirder, Alysa has strange visions and dreams, she sees creatures. A deceptive tale which reels you in only to change course. A few plot twists which will make you reconsider the narrative you are observing. While most of the horror is psychological there are some violent and disturbing scenes including a sword stick being put to good use and a couple of stranglings . Not a great horror film but it's certainly worth watching. Directed by Brian Avenet-Bradley and Laurence Avenet-Bradley, written by Brian Avenet-Bradley. On the Horror Channel. 6.5/10.
 
The Hills Have Eyes (1977): Watched this low budget classic again and it still packs a punch. A family travelling through Nevada are beset by a clan of inbred cave-dwelling cannibals. Some great lines: " dogs thrown in the well, chickens with their heads bit off", one of the cannibals chiding another about not eating their food: "what's the matter, you don't like dog anymore?"; a threat: "I'll eat the brains of your kids kids". They crucify a man on a cactus and then barbecue him alive,, they kidnap a baby intending to eat it! Luckily the travelling family have a dog that's smarter than Lassie and a lot more vicious. Some really gruesome, bloody scenes. Written and Directed by Wes Craven. On the Horror Channel. 8/10.
Great film! .. and apologies if you already know this Ramon but for anyone reading who hasn't heard this funny story before ..

During a scene in The Hills Have Eyes, a torn JAWS poster can be seen on the wall of the camper van .. Wes Craven put it there for fun to say "As scary as you thought JAWS was, my film tears JAWS in half!"

Sam Raimi noticed this so when he made The Evil Dead, a torn The Hills Have Eyes poster can be seen on the wall of the cellar, Sam Raimi saying to Wes "My film The Evil Dead is so scary, it tears your The Hills Have Eyes in half!"

Wes Craven spotted this so during a scene where Nancy's trying to stay awake in the first "A Nightmare On Elm Street", the TV set in the background in her bedroom is playing The Evil Dead. Nancy starts nodding off in the scene and switches the TV set off.

Sam Raimi spotted this so when he came to make Evil Dead 2, Freddy Kruger's glove can be seen hanging on the wall in the background as set dressing a couple of times ...

Wes Craven spotted this so, in a scene where the teenagers are choosing a video to watch, The Evil Dead being one of the choices, the teens vote to watch Halloween instead ..

Sam Raimi spotted this so ....... in Ash vs Evil Dead, in an episode where Ash goes back to the cabin, the Freddy Kruger glove is still hanging there. In a later episode, Ash time travels back to 1982 and guess which film poster is on the wall of a cinema in a background shot .. yep .. a complete The Hills Have Eyes Poster. Wes Craven had passed away at this point to it was Sam Raimi's final gesture of respect ..

edit: The only other time I'm aware of that Sam Raimi and Wes Craven shared the same horror universe was in John Carpenter's horror anthology 'Body Bags'. Raimi is seen once in a framed photograph on the wall of an all night petrol station with the words 'Employee Of The Month' on it and again later as the same employee but as a corpse tumbling out of a locker. Craven has a speaking part as a creepy drunk customer turning up there on the same night.
 
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Blackwater Abyss: The amuse- gueule provides us with a couple lost in a North Australian rainforest, bright sunlight floods through the trees, still a sense of threat though, The duo fall through a crevasse into a waterlogged cave and are devoured by a crocodile.The starter is a group of five friends who enter the cave system through another entrance and advance through tunnels to the larger caverns. Calamity strikes as yet more water surges into the caves and a crocodile strikes. Bringing us to the main course when the rising water forces the friends to either shelter on ever higher ledges or attempt to escape through the flooded caves. Meanwhile the determined crocodile stocks up it's meat larder. The dessert is just a bit too twee. Some good scenes of leaping snapping crocs and gore, though the underwater filming is a tad too murky. Some good tension is built up but things become too much of a soap opera with the characters personal problems. A bit like Neighbours with a crocodile. Not as good as the original. Directed by Andrew Traucki, written by Sarah Smith and John Ridley. On Netflix. Can't give it more than 5.5/10
 
U-Turn (2020): A treacherous stretch of road but people don't just die on the road itself. Those who make u-turns at the spot are followed home by spirits and killed, police classify the deaths as suicide. A journalist investigates these demises and her actions attracts the attention of the angry ghosts. A Philippines remake of a 2018 Indian film. Some good scary scenes with a little girl appearing, first giggling, then blood stained and crying. Her mother is much more fearsome, a wraith, sometimes just her arm;hand appearing.These angry ghosts can force their victims to harm themselves and others. Not great but worth watching. Directed by Roderick Cabrido, written by Cenon Palomares. On Netflix 6/10.
 
Blackwater Abyss: The amuse- gueule provides us with a couple lost in a North Australian rainforest, bright sunlight floods through the trees, still a sense of threat though, The duo fall through a crevasse into a waterlogged cave and are devoured by a crocodile.The starter is a group of five friends who enter the cave system through another entrance and advance through tunnels to the larger caverns. Calamity strikes as yet more water surges into the caves and a crocodile strikes. Bringing us to the main course when the rising water forces the friends to either shelter on ever higher ledges or attempt to escape through the flooded caves. Meanwhile the determined crocodile stocks up it's meat larder. The dessert is just a bit too twee. Some good scenes of leaping snapping crocs and gore, though the underwater filming is a tad too murky. Some good tension is built up but things become too much of a soap opera with the characters personal problems. A bit like Neighbours with a crocodile. Not as good as the original. Directed by Andrew Traucki, written by Sarah Smith and John Ridley. On Netflix. Can't give it more than 5.5/10

From your synopsis, how are this team not being sued by the people behind The Descent and Rogue?

maximus otter
 
The Beach House: Horror/SF in some ways reminiscent of 60's films. An old couple and a young couple are sharing a beach house through happenstance. Strange glowing mites are seen in the sea and on trees/bushes. There's something wrong with the water from taps. The couples start to feel odd, at first they put it down to edible marijuana but ten things get stranger. People driven to take to the water and drown themselves, undergo chilling metamorphoses. What's causing this isn't clear but it's a widespread phenomenon and is linked to the sea. Crawling, white-eyed infectees attack, fully transformed hybrids dine on human corpses and possibly the living. More than a few disturbing scenes. Written and Directed by Jeffrey A. Brown. 7/10.
 
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Let's Scare Julie currently has 2.9/10 on IMDB, which only goes to show how obtuse the voters on there can be, because it's actually pretty great. It looks like a typical slasher movie with a gimmick (it's almost shot in one take), but the more you watch it the weirder it gets, until it's truly baffling, in a very pleasing way.

Basic story is about teenage girls playing pranks, but then things get very strange. As I say, it comes across as total cliche, but then if you think about it you realise you haven't seen anything exactly like it before. Give it a look for a seasonal chill (though it's not a Christmas movie, it is set in winter).
 
Relic: An old woman goes missing. Her daughter and granddaughter go to her home. Strange noises during the day and night, odd stains on the walls. The old woman turns up, gives no explanation for her absence but it's obvious that she is suffering from intermittent dementia. A very odd type of horror film, maybe a riff on the haunted house trope but more than that. The house itself has hidden depths which can entrap the unwary. A little gore and some disturbing scenes but the horror is mostly psychological. A tale of three generations of women which is also an allegory about decay and mortality. Moving performances by Robyn Nevin, Emily Mortimer and Bella Heathcote. Written and Directed by Natalie Erika James. 8/10.
 
Blackwater Abyss: The amuse- gueule provides us with a couple lost in a North Australian rainforest, bright sunlight floods through the trees, still a sense of threat though, The duo fall through a crevasse into a waterlogged cave and are devoured by a crocodile.The starter is a group of five friends who enter the cave system through another entrance and advance through tunnels to the larger caverns. Calamity strikes as yet more water surges into the caves and a crocodile strikes. Bringing us to the main course when the rising water forces the friends to either shelter on ever higher ledges or attempt to escape through the flooded caves. Meanwhile the determined crocodile stocks up it's meat larder. The dessert is just a bit too twee. Some good scenes of leaping snapping crocs and gore, though the underwater filming is a tad too murky. Some good tension is built up but things become too much of a soap opera with the characters personal problems. A bit like Neighbours with a crocodile. Not as good as the original. Directed by Andrew Traucki, written by Sarah Smith and John Ridley. On Netflix. Can't give it more than 5.5/10

Watched this tonight.
Rather like a Star Trek away mission, it was glaringly obvious who would survive and who would get mullered, from the start.
Also the cut from a real croc to a model one wasn't that convincing.
Rogue did it far better.
 
Paranormal Activity 2 (2010): Finally caught up with this, it's a prequel, inbetweenquel and sequel to the original. Found footage from vidcams and security cams. Slow build up with some oddities like the robo-poolcleaner hopping out of the pool, things out of place. Then the poltergeist effects eally hit in. A dog sees things that we don't as does a toddler. The Mexican housekeeper knows that evil spirits are about but her concerns are dismissed. The real horror doesn't start until we're 3/4 of the way through the film so that will annoy some viewers. Still, the characters are (in the main) likable and it's good to have a demon in the house rather than just a ghost. Directed by Tod Williams from a screenplay by Christopher Landon & Michael Perry. On Netflix. 7/10.
 
Watched Trench 11 on Prime Video last night.

Whilst comparisons with the Nazi Zombie flick Overlord are inevitable, this Canadian horror movie has enough originality to recommend it on its own merits.
For starters, it's set in WW1 (although the chief villain is very much a "ve haf vays" proto-Nazi). Germany realises the war is all but lost and resorts to desperate measures to turn things around. They discover that an organism designed to poison allied cattle would turn soldiers into supremely violent berserkers, who can shrug off pain and injury.
The setting is some delightfully creepy and claustrophobic tunnels, with several effective make-you-jump moments and a fair bit of quite gruesome body-horror.
My wife isn't a fan of the zombie genre, but admitted to enjoying Trench 11.
I would rate it as a solid 8/10.
 
Watched Trench 11 on Prime Video last night.

Whilst comparisons with the Nazi Zombie flick Overlord are inevitable, this Canadian horror movie has enough originality to recommend it on its own merits.
For starters, it's set in WW1 (although the chief villain is very much a "ve haf vays" proto-Nazi). Germany realises the war is all but lost and resorts to desperate measures to turn things around. They discover that an organism designed to poison allied cattle would turn soldiers into supremely violent berserkers, who can shrug off pain and injury.
The setting is some delightfully creepy and claustrophobic tunnels, with several effective make-you-jump moments and a fair bit of quite gruesome body-horror.
My wife isn't a fan of the zombie genre, but admitted to enjoying Trench 11.
I would rate it as a solid 8/10.
Thanks for the recommendation, would have been unlikely to have found it otherwise. Listed as Death Trench rather than Trench 11.
 
The Vigil: A story of interstices, between life and death, fundamentalism and the modern world, madness and sanity. Yakov (Dave Davis) has left his Hasidic community of Brooklyn and is struggling to adapt to the modern world, conversing with women is difficult, using a mobile phone is a challenge is short of money. A Rabbi offers him a job to stand vigil over the dead Mr Litvak, the only other occupant of the house is Mrs Litvak (Lynn Cohen) who suffers from dementia. Yakov hears strange noises, sees things, lights buzz and flicker. He suffers from a psychiatric condition so wonders if he is having an episode. Mrs Litvak in a lucid moment tells him that her husband was haunted by a demon, a Mazzick who infests the house and now won't leave him leave either. Will this entity go Dybbuk and possess him? Belief, disbelief, reality and possible fantasy combine to create a terrifying atmosphere. There appears to be a link between The Shoah and the events which are now occurring, related to a traumatic incident which involved Mr Litvak, a Holocaust survivor. Yakov also underwent a terrible experience which has left him infused with survivor's guilt. Most of the horror is psychological in this harrowing tale of slipstreams. A truly Jewish Horror Film, in English and Yiddish. Written & Directed by Keith Thomas. On Netflix. 8/10.
 
Child of Darkness, Child of Light: Not one but two Immaculate Conceptions! One will be The Second Coming, the other The Antichrist! But which is which? The Vatican sends a priest to investigate. There is also have a Prophecy of The Virgin Mary which is only incrementally revealed. Teenage bullies, vicious crows, black clad assassins on motorbikes! Even a friendly pet dog is turned savage by the powers of darkness. Not great but considering that it's a TV movie from 1991 not bad either. Entertaining and worth watching. Showing again on the Horror Channel on Monday 4th January at 11.00 AM. 6/10.
 
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