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. 

 

[jaragon]

"Vengeance of the Zombies" (1973)  Paul Naschy plays several parts in this mystery horror film about voodoo worshipers terrorizing London.   The sexy female zombies act more like the brides of Dracula than the usual slow moving brain eaters.  Naschy is a lot of fun playing a Hindu guru. 

[LawrenceA]

I watched a couple of newer horror movies on Netflix last week.

Sweetheart (2019) - Kiersey Clemons stars as a young shipwreck survivor who washes up on a small, uninhabited island in the middle of the ocean. She sets about trying to survive as best she can until she is hopefully rescued, only to quickly realize that some sort of humanoid sea monster lurks about. The movie tries for a minimalist approach, with characters vaguely sketched out and very little dialogue. Some of the set pieces are suspenseful, and the creature design is an interesting if not altogether successful variation of the Creature from the Black Lagoon. One could do worse if looking for something to kill the time.  (6/10)

 

Doom: Annihilation (2019) - Rushed through production in order to keep the rights secured, this is based on the notoriously violent videogame (which I played quite a bit while at "work" some 25 years ago). Experiments on one of the moons of Mars lead to a portal to Hell being opened, allowing demons to escape who quickly create a small army of possessed zombies. A motley assortment of newly arrived Marine Corps soldiers fight to survive. This is very, very derivative, with nary an original moment on display. However, for all of its low-budget terribleness, it's still a more faithful reproduction of the videogame than the previous, big budget 2005 film was. Still, this is nothing more than a barely adequate , SyFy Channel type of affair, so enter at your own risk.   (4/10) 

[LawrenceA]

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.

 

On 11/19/2019 at 12:43 PM, 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+.

I just finished watching The Lighthouse, one of my most anticipated films of the year. Unfortunately, for me its now one of the biggest disappointments. The stark B&W cinematography is striking, as is the weather-blasted landscape, but I was never invested in the story, such as it is, nor the characters, who are really just sketches, and cliched ones at that. The performances are entertaining, although they get to be a bit much before it's all over. Speaking of which, while it ran a modest 109 minutes, it felt much longer, and I was ready for it to be over about 30 minutes before it actually was. In the end it all adds up to very little, although stylish in execution. The Witch was much, much better.   (6/10)

[jaragon]

29 minutes ago, LawrenceA said:

 

I just finished watching The Lighthouse, one of my most anticipated films of the year. Unfortunately, for me its now one of the biggest disappointments. The stark B&W cinematography is striking, as is the weather-blasted landscape, but I was never invested in the story, such as it is, nor the characters, who are really just sketches, and cliched ones at that. The performances are entertaining, although they get to be a bit much before it's all over. Speaking of which, while it ran a modest 109 minutes, it felt much longer, and I was ready for it to be over about 30 minutes before it actually was. In the end it all adds up to very little, although stylish in execution. The Witch was much, much better.   (6/10)

I agree with most of what you said- to me the film jump the shark- when you know who comes back from the grave-and yes you could have easily cut ten minutes

[jaragon]

The Omen series comes to a cheesy end with "Omen 4: The Awakening"(1991).  This time the evil child is a girl who goes all Carrie when ever anyone threatens her.  There is plenty of on unintentional laughs featuring hysterical nuns, new age crystals.  They did not have the budget to stage spectacular death scenes so a lot of victims just drop dead from heart attacks.

[Arsan404]

On 1/11/2020 at 8:30 AM, jaragon said:

The Omen series comes to a cheesy end with "Omen 4: The Awakening"(1991).  This time the evil child is a girl who goes all Carrie when ever anyone threatens her.  There is plenty of on unintentional laughs featuring hysterical nuns, new age crystals.  They did not have the budget to stage spectacular death scenes so a lot of victims just drop dead from heart attacks.

I only saw the First two Omen movies: I thought that the rest of the sequels weren't going to be very good.  I also saw the remake of The Omen, and it paled compared with the original.

[LawrenceA]

Just now, Arsan404 said:

I only saw the First two Omen movies: I thought that the rest of the sequels weren't going to be very good.  I also saw the remake of The Omen, and it paled compared with the original.

I saw the first three, and the remake. I wasn't crazy about any of them, although they each have their moments. In the third film, I liked Sam Neill as the grown Damien. The fourth one was a TV movie, if I remember correctly. 

[Arsan404]

2 minutes ago, LawrenceA said:

I saw the first three, and the remake. I wasn't crazy about any of them, although they each have their moments. In the third film, I liked Sam Neill as the grown Damien. The fourth one was a TV movie, if I remember correctly. 

I enjoyed the first two movies. They're not among my favorite horror movies, but they are fun to watch.

 

 

[jaragon]

"Birdemic 2; The Resurrection' (2013) a sequel to "Birdemic:Shock and Terror"( 2010)  which manages to be worse than the original movie.  Directed by James Nguyen who markets himself as  "the master of the romantic thriller" but he is not good at making either one. .  The original film had the charms of a real bad movie- an unintentional comedy about birds terrorizing a small town- yes it's a rip off of Hitchcock's "The Birds"  but with laughable special effects.  The birds looks like something from a bad video game.  Rod( Alan Bagh) and Nathalie ( Whitney Moore) are back this time helping a struggling film director Bill (Thomas Favaloro) make a film until those cheesy birds show up- along with cavemen, zombies and killer jelly fish.

 

[jaragon]

Maren Jensen, Sharon Stone and Susan Buckner are terrorized by religious zealots led by Ernest Borgnine  in Wes Cravens  "Deadly Blessing" (1981)  a still effective psycho thriller.  Craven knows to build suspense and delivers some decent shocks even with chickens.  Jeff East, Douglas Barr, Lisa Hartman, Lois Netleton and Michael Berryman also star.   James Horner composed the very creepy score which sounds like "The Omen"  The ending is truly shocking.   You can watch it on a great Blu ray from Shout Factory.

 

[Arsan404]

1 hour ago, jaragon said:

Maren Jensen, Sharon Stone and Susan Buckner are terrorized by religious zealots led by Ernest Borgnine  in Wes Cravens  "Deadly Blessing" (1981)  a still effective psycho thriller.  Craven knows to build suspense and delivers some decent shocks even with chickens.  Jeff East, Douglas Barr, Lisa Hartman, Lois Netleton and Michael Berryman also star.   James Horner composed the very creepy score which sounds like "The Omen"  The ending is truly shocking.   You can watch it on a great Blu ray from Shout Factory.

 

Thank you for the the review and the trailer. It does look interesting, and with Ernest Borgnine in the cast is a big plus.

[jaragon]

'The Werewolf and the Yeti" (1972) has everything the abominable snowman, sexy witches, bandits, torture chambers, and our favorite Spanish wolf man Paul Naschy.   The movie is non stop thrill ride adventure with plenty of action, female nudity and blood.  There is also an hommage to "The Werewolf of London"  You can see it on blu ray from Scream Factory part of their Paul Naschy collection volume 2. 

 

[jaragon]

Paul Naschy plays a very masculine priest in "Exorcismo" (1975).    He  is very convincing as the priest who battles witch craft in this very serious copy of "The Exorcist". There are plenty of campy Euro horror touches- female nudity and groovy black mass /**** which look like an evening at the Playboy mansion. I found the film a bit predictable  but there are a couple of decent scares and some effective make up.  Naschy really had a bigger range than just a wolf man .  You can watch it as part of Scream Factory's  The Paul Naschy collection Volume 2