Recently Watched Horror

[jaragon]

"The Lighthouse" (2019) Herman Melville meets David Lynch in this psychological drama.  In the 1890's  William Defoe and Robert Pattinson are light house keepers in an isolated island off the coast of New England.   Defoe dominates Pattinson turning him into a virtual slave until the young man begins to experience strange visions. Is the lighthouse haunted or is he loosing his mind?  Atmospheric direction by Robert Eggers who also made "The Witch" (2015).  I liked that film better.

 

[jaragon]

"Hannibal" (2001) Ridley Scott directed this stylish sequel to "Silence of the Lamb" with an emphasis on over the top horror.  Anthony Hopkins returns as our favorite sophisticated cannibal but Julianne Moore replaced Jodie Foster as Agent Sterling.  Foster was not too crazy about the romantic aspects of the Hannibal-Sterling relationship. But this is an expensive gore show with Gary Oldman playing a horribly disfigured rich child molester who wants to feed Hannibal to man eating boars imported from Italy. Yes it's that type of movie.  There is plenty of high art Florence, opera and gourmet dining mixed in with the grotesque deaths by strangulation, pig and having to eat your own stir fried  brains - yes it's that type of movie.  Scott might have tried to dress up this over cooked horror stew with beautiful cinematography and classical music but it's pure gore show at heart.  The end seems to set up a third sequel but instead we got the pointless re-make of "Red Dragon".

[cinemaspeak59]

On 11/14/2019 at 10:41 PM, jaragon said:

"Hannibal" (2001) Ridley Scott directed this stylish sequel to "Silence of the Lamb" with an emphasis on over the top horror.  Anthony Hopkins returns as our favorite sophisticated cannibal but Julianne Moore replaced Jodie Foster as Agent Sterling.  Foster was not too crazy about the romantic aspects of the Hannibal-Sterling relationship. But this is an expensive gore show with Gary Oldman playing a horribly disfigured rich child molester who wants to feed Hannibal to man eating boars imported from Italy. Yes it's that type of movie.  There is plenty of high art Florence, opera and gourmet dining mixed in with the grotesque deaths by strangulation, pig and having to eat your own stir fried  brains - yes it's that type of movie.  Scott might have tried to dress up this over cooked horror stew with beautiful cinematography and classical music but it's pure gore show at heart.  The end seems to set up a third sequel but instead we got the pointless re-make of "Red Dragon".

I remember watching this and it is indeed very gory.

[cinemaspeak59]

On 10/26/2019 at 6:44 PM, jaragon said:

"The Lighthouse" (2019) Herman Melville meets David Lynch in this psychological drama.  In the 1890's  William Defoe and Robert Pattinson are light house keepers in an isolated island off the coast of New England.   Defoe dominates Pattinson turning him into a virtual slave until the young man begins to experience strange visions. Is the lighthouse haunted or is he loosing his mind?  Atmospheric direction by Robert Eggers who also made "The Witch" (2015).  I liked that film better.

 

The Lighthouse is certainly rife with ambiguity. Take your pick: Is it about sirens, spirits of dead sailors, an extraterrestrial lighthouse? Something else?  I enjoyed the acting. Willem Dafoe’s bonkers Thomas, and Rob Pattinson as Ephraim (gradually descending into madness) complemented each other well.  The black & white photography, score, and haunting imagery all portend to an ending that is loose and open to interpretation. As he did in The Witch (which I too liked more), Robert Eggers continues to use animals as supernatural entities. I’ll give The Lighthouse a B+.

[jaragon]

5 hours ago, cinemaspeak59 said:

The Lighthouse is certainly rife with ambiguity. Take your pick: Is it about sirens, spirits of dead sailors, an extraterrestrial lighthouse? Something else?  I enjoyed the acting. Willem Dafoe’s bonkers Thomas, and Rob Pattinson as Ephraim (gradually descending into madness) complemented each other well.  The black & white photography, score, and haunting imagery all portend to an ending that is loose and open to interpretation. As he did in The Witch (which I too liked more), Robert Eggers continues to use animals as supernatural entities. I’ll give The Lighthouse a B+.

It's an interesting film but it would have been a more effective short- or a "Twilight Zone" episode.  The ending does have that classical mythology vibe

[jaragon]

"Psycho 2" (1983)  Anthony Perkins returns as Norman Bates in this effective sequel. Richard Franklin is not Hitchcock but he does create a sense of dread and there are couple of effective shocks.  A very good supporting cast Vera Miles, Meg Tilly and Robert Loggia help.  The plot ads new twist to the original story line but it does make sense- but would Norman Bates even if he was cured would move back into his mother's terrible house?

[LawrenceA]

51 minutes ago, jaragon said:

"Psycho 2" (1983)  Anthony Perkins returns as Norman Bates in this effective sequel. Richard Franklin is not Hitchcock but he does create a sense of dread and there are couple of effective shocks.  A very good supporting cast Vera Miles, Meg Tilly and Robert Loggia help.  The plot ads new twist to the original story line but it does make sense- but would Norman Bates even if he was cured would move back into his mother's terrible house?

I haven't seen that since its theater release. I wasn't expecting much at the time, but didn't find it terrible. Better than part 3, anyway.

I recently watched all of Hitchcock's films on disc, and watched all of the making-of featurettes on each release. Many of them featured Psycho 2 director Richard Franklin as a Hitchcock expert. I also remember him for directing the cult Aussie horror flick Patrick (1978).

 

[Arsan404]

As with The Silence of the Lambs, I never saw any of the Psycho  sequels. I thought they would dilute the power of the originals.

[jaragon]

1 hour ago, Arsan404 said:

As with The Silence of the Lambs, I never saw any of the Psycho  sequels. I thought they would dilute the power of the originals.

Nothing can dilute the power of  Hitchcock's  "Psycho" not even that pointless Gus Van Sant remake from 1998

[jaragon]

"Psycho 3" (1986) Anthony Perkins returns as Norman Bates for the second sequel and directs himself.  This time the scrip seem a bit convoluted- with a runaway nun (Diana Scarvid) and a sexy drifter (Jeff Fahey) ending up as guest at the Bates Motel.  There are plenty of references not just to the original film but to other Hitchcock classics like "Vertigo" and " The Birds". Perkins probably had fun wrestling Fahey in the climax ; )

 

[jaragon]

"The Werewolf" (1956) effective sci-fi horror B movie about a man who is transformed into a wolf man by a pair of mad scientist, moodily directed by Fred F Sears who stages a couple of shocking scenes.

 

[jaragon]

Allison Hayes hotness is the main reason to sit through "Zombies of Mora Tau"(1957) another psychotronic classic from schlockmeister  Sam Katzman.   Mora Tau is off the voodo coast of Africa ( but there are no black people in sight?!)  Sexy  Hayes is part of an expedition which is trying to find a sunken ship filled with diamonds.  The treasure is protected by the underwater living dead ( the dullest zombies in film history) The film is more adventure than horror with plenty of low budget laughs .   Gregg Palmer plays the hero and Morris Akrum is in too.