31 Days & Nights of Halloween: 2018 Edition

[Vakanai]

First movie I decided to go on this year was Elvira: Mistress of the Dark because honestly what better way to start than with a horror movie hostess?

It was fun, cheesy, B-grade movie stuff with the hostess providing plenty of her TnA and was planted firmly in the early 90s or whenever, and I enjoyed it for it. Not a movie everyone will like I'm sure, but it was plenty fun for me.

[CJStriker]

1.) Big Trouble in Little China (1986)! ~~ Blu-Ray DVD
2.) Shin Godzilla (2016)! - Blu-Ray DVD ~ English Dub


3.) Stigmata (1999)! ~ Regular DVD

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0145531/

[Sean Whitmore]

1. Tourist Trap (1979)
1. Poltergeist II (1986)



This is a perfect example of a first sequel to a successful horror movie, in that it's not especially good, but it's well-made enough not to be out-and-out bad. Everyone does well enough retreading the same ground as the first movie, but it is a retread, and none of the new elements are particularly exciting.

The most memorable thing about the movie (aside from Heather O'Rourke's famous, "They're baaa-aaack" line) is Julian Beck, the insane-looking old bastard pictured above. Creepy as all hell. If he'd been onscreen for more of the runtime, then they might've really had something.

[Jared]

October 1. Suspiria (1977)
October 2. Nosferatu: The Vampyre (1979)



From German nihlist Werner Herzog comes this remake of the 1922 Nosferatu. The original was really an unauthorized adaptation of Dracula with names and story changed. This one actually has the creep bald freak being Drac, which takes some getting used to.

Splendid cinematography and a haunting score. The pacing is slow and the presentation becomes more surreal when the count reaches civilized Germany. Isabelle Adjani is striking and eerie as a Lucy Harker with a touch of The Shinning.
I though some scenes with the vampire skulking around looked unintentionally comical.

Check out if you're a Dracula completeist or you like Herzog's work. I watched the English version, BTW.

[Tazirai]

October 3rd.

[comicscollector]

1-Hush (2016).
2-Rings (2017).


3-The Omen (1976) It´s not the scariest movie that i have seen by far,but the actors and story makes this movie to be a good horror movie despite the lack of scary scenes in the movie. 7.5.

[Sean Whitmore]

1. Tourist Trap (1979)
2. Poltergeist II (1986)
3a. Frankenstein (1931)



I have to revisit the Universal Monsters at least a few times each year, and there's always a good chance that one of those times will be the Frankenstein series. I know old films aren't for everyone--they weren't for me for the longest time--but I really can't recommend these enough (well, the first three, anyway). There's a good reason people are still talking about them 80 years later.

I actually think the first one is the weakest of the three, mostly just because it lacks wonderful side characters like Pretorius and Ygor to steal the show. (Dwight Frye's hunchback Fritz is fun, but is given comparatively little to do) But Karloff's performance as the pre-speech monster is still wonderful, and I love Colin Clive's manic energy a lot more than his reluctant role in the sequel. The lack of a score and long periods without dialogue really add to the atmosphere of pre-Code horror.



3b. Sleepaway Camp (1983)



This one is most notable for its shock ending, and honestly, that's pretty much all it brings to the party. And I even have my problems with that, which I won't go into for the sake of anyone who doesn't already know it. Basically, it's a great twist that lands with a thud due to a laughably bad reveal.

If you've never heard of the movie, the title alone is probably enough to let you imagine about 80% of it and be right on the nose. A couple of the kills are okay, but none of the characters are memorably likable or unlikable. The one exception is the predatory cook pictured above, who gets it early and gruesomely.

[Vakanai]

For movie #2 I did something unusual and went for an anime title - Aru Zombie Shoujo no Sainan (or Calamity of a Zombie Girl for us English speakers). It was a pretty cool, unusual let's say, entry. The basic gist without spoilers is a group of college kids break in and steal some stone out of a corpse that grants life to whoever has it inside them (corpse girl was a corpse because of some, I don't know spell or mummification thing or something, they kind of didn't go into depth with the explanation), which awakens the so-so dead girl who becomes awfully less corpse-looky thanks to the residual magic of the stone along with her also a zombie maid. And yeah, terrible things happen. I wouldn't really call the zombie girls, well, zombies in the traditional since, the only thing in common being the risen from the dead thing and just a smidge of human flesh eating (but only because that's how zombie maid can use a certain surprising power). Yeah, it's weird but in a neat way, and the zombie girls are actually pretty likable as they seek out to regain the life-giving stone back from college kids. That sums it up without going into spoilery details. There's a couple pretty brutal fights and such, but the story feels fairly low key and there's not much horror from a scary mood point of view. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone interested.

Movie #3 was Night of the Comet because I just happen to catch it on TV (channel was appropriately enough Comet), another not-really-a-zombie-movie zombie movie. A comet disintegrates almost everyone except for people who happened to be in steel building or rooms or whatever, and out of that group some people who weren't protected enough became sort of zombies(-ish). Not a bad movie, but mostly stands out for it's 80's soundtrack.

[Jokerz79]

Trailer for In Search of Darkness Documentary on 80's horror looks great

[Tazirai]

For the 4th. I'll be continuing my Journey into the Astral Plane with Insidious 2
Not the strongest of the series. But solidifies Elise as a badass.

[Jared]

1. Tourist Trap (1979)
2. Poltergeist II (1986)
3a. Frankenstein (1931)



I have to revisit the Universal Monsters at least a few times each year, and there's always a good chance that one of those times will be the Frankenstein series. I know old films aren't for everyone--they weren't for me for the longest time--but I really can't recommend these enough (well, the first three, anyway). There's a good reason people are still talking about them 80 years later.

I actually think the first one is the weakest of the three, mostly just because it lacks wonderful side characters like Pretorius and Ygor to steal the show. (Dwight Frye's hunchback Fritz is fun, but is given comparatively little to do) But Karloff's performance as the pre-speech monster is still wonderful, and I love Colin Clive's manic energy a lot more than his reluctant role in the sequel. The lack of a score and long periods without dialogue really add to the atmosphere of pre-Code horror.



3b. Sleepaway Camp (1983)



This one is most notable for its shock ending, and honestly, that's pretty much all it brings to the party. And I even have my problems with that, which I won't go into for the sake of anyone who doesn't already know it. Basically, it's a great twist that lands with a thud due to a laughably bad reveal.

If you've never heard of the movie, the title alone is probably enough to let you imagine about 80% of it and be right on the nose. A couple of the kills are okay, but none of the characters are memorably likable or unlikable. The one exception is the predatory cook pictured above, who gets it early and gruesomely.

I'm determined to watch Sleepaway Camp because the How Did This Get Made podcast episode about it was great.

[Vegan Daddy]

“I have made my pact with thee O Lucifer! Hear me, hear me! I will do thy bidding for all eternity. For all eternity shall I practice the ritual of Black Mass. For all eternity shall I sacrifice unto thee. I give thee my soul, take me into thy service."

[Tazirai]

“I have made my pact with thee O Lucifer! Hear me, hear me! I will do thy bidding for all eternity. For all eternity shall I practice the ritual of Black Mass. For all eternity shall I sacrifice unto thee. I give thee my soul, take me into thy service."

I FUCKIN Love this movie. One of Lees Best to me. I watch it at least 2x a month.
That scene where she's getting dressed to go to the party, and soon as she opens the door it's just SILENT!
I love it.

[Sean Whitmore]

Trailer for In Search of Darkness Documentary on 80's horror looks great

it does! But man, looks like the KS has a long way to go and not a lot of time to do it with.

I'm determined to watch Sleepaway Camp because the How Did This Get Made podcast episode about it was great.

I might just look that up, as I am also curious how it got made.

I FUCKIN Love this movie. One of Lees Best to me. I watch it at least 2x a month.
That scene where she's getting dressed to go to the party, and soon as she opens the door it's just SILENT!
I love it.

That whole sequence from start to finish was like pure, distilled Halloween atmosphere.

[comicscollector]

1-Hush (2016).
2-Rings (2017).
3-The Omen (1976).

4-1922. (2017)A movie of a Stephen King story.Not the best movie of a Stephen King story but the movie is quite creepy.6.5.