If you're looking for some of the offbeat, strange, or cheesy horror films, Kino Cult launched today with a pretty good selection of oddities. It's free, but ad supported.
I’m two episodes into Midnight Mass. I really wasn’t into the first episode and took two long breaks during which I didn’t feel like I could be bothered to keep watching. Quite a few folks find it too slow and it isn’t working for them but I have heard from a few critics who found it gripping throughout so I popped it on today while eating a meal. I’m really into it. Hopefully it’ll hold my attention (I did find Hill House to drag quite a bit although there were fantastic elements to it.)
Dawn of the Dead 2004 edition just arrived on Netflix UK. Time to give it another watch.
Watched two horror movies over the weekend.
The Thing (2011), which is the prequel to John Carpenter's The Thing. I had actually never seen this before. Recall reading all bad reviews and just never felt like going out of my way to try and watch it. But it was on Prime and figure I'd check it out. I have to say it's not terrible. It starts off pretty strong but about half-way through, once the alien is doing its thing, it just becomes a poor rehash of the John Carpenter film. But it was doing good up until Kate, the main character, started making some major leaps of logic based on little evidence. She then takes control of the situation and she basically directs what everyone does for the rest of the film. So no twists or surprises.
Did read the director really had a difficult time dealing with the studio that ultimately lead to reshooting the entire ending - and not for the better it sounds.
But again. It wasn't as bad as I was expecting and enjoyed my time with it.
Also watched Malignant which I kinda liked for it's very gutsy move of mimicking the pacing and style of b-horror films from the 80s. Been watching a lot of 80s horror movies of late and this follows the mold. Have the crazy opening scene, like Re-Animator. Then you have the clueless cops that don't want to deal with the supernatural until it comes right up to them and bites them like Maniac Cop or even in this case Terminator. And you have a creeper slasher with a twist like Sleepaway camp or I guess in this case
Basket Case or Brain Damage.
But in the end it didn't wow me beyond the director trying to make an 80s b-horror movie today. It was watchable and enjoyed it while watching but ultimately forgettable.
On a side note I have been watching a few older horror films I hadn't seen before. They had this Elvira special on Shudder so watched the 60's films House on Haunted Hill and City of the Dead. I actually liked House quite a bit as it was more a murder mystery with the illusion it was going to be a ghost story. But both films just end immediately after the climax happens. Very jarring to watch today.
Watched Black as Night and thought it was interesting but not good. There was only one good actor. The dialogue was forced. A little heavy handed in their message. The colorism didn't make much sense. The plot was rushed. I think one vampire that made a point of doing somethin important just got lost.
The only thing that kept me watching was that I liked the idea of the movie. Vampires in New Orleans feeding off of homeless and young ladies. They are making allusions to sex trafficking and homeless problem.
I give it 3 why do I keep watching blumhouse movies out how many blumhouse movies there are.
Watched Werewolves Within and liked it. This is a mystery comedy where a group of people are trying to figure out who is the werewolf. I hear it is based on the game. I don't think you can actually do a movie version of the game. The basic idea has been done before, The Thing and that one movie where you are trying to figure out who is the devil. The game itself has a bunch of different iteration like Mafia and Battlestar Galactica.
Anyway the movie is filled with wacky characters. The acting is fine. The special effects are fine. The story is okay but filled with things that don't make sense. That what gives it character.
I give it 7 I'm telling you I'm not the werewolf.
Watching it again, I have to say, Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead is close to being my favourite zombie movie. Brilliant title sequences beginning and end. Incredible opening sequence showing society’s collapse. Exceptional use of music. Interpersonal conflict and asshole characters. Tragic fates. Humour at the expense of zombies. Clever ideas that don’t always work out and absolutely horrendous things happening (the worst thing, that last thing you’d want to happen, has to happen.)
Is that the shopping mall one? I enjoyed that one quite a bit! Oh no, the baby!
Is that the shopping mall one? I enjoyed that one quite a bit! Oh no, the baby!
Yep. That’s the one.
Ash vs Evil Dead isn't the best, but man the parts when it gets going and the spirit of Sam Raimi comes into play... man.. it's awesome.
See: the dolls
Watch: redneck in gas mask
Understand: lady cop
Appreciate: the wobbly filmed demon
Enjoy: the drink of Pablo's people
Watched Jack in the Box and it gave me diarrhea. Wait that was restaurant. Nope it was this movie also. Terrible movie. Bad acting, boring kills, boring story, mostly offscreen kills. Just plain bad.
The story is about a demonic jack in the box. The demon in the box kills people. A guy tries to stop it. That's about it and that would have worked if the kills were good. The only good thing about the movie was the design of Jack but you mostly only see his face.
The Jack in the Box near my house is druggie gang hang out. They have gotten my order wrong every single time which is one of the reason I stop going there. They also had some health issues dealing with the workers. Haven't been there in about 5 years. I would eat from their garbage can before watching this terrible movie.
I give this move 1 cool monster design out of every monster and bad guy named Jack. There is a remake or sequel that is coming out soon or is out. Probably watch that also because I'm stupid. Man I think I'll grab a burger from Jack in the Box. I'm starving.
Watched No one gets out Alive and liked it. A illegal alien tries to find the American dream but gets hammered at every turn. She ends up in a boarding house that is filled with ghosts. Now she just wants to get the F out.
Acting was good. The plot wasn't the best but I guess we got everything we needed to know. I just wanted some more answers to what was going on. There is a very good monster in this that looks like it came from Demon Souls. Great creature design.
The death count isn't very high but there are some good violent kills. Most of the scares come from the creepy ghost doing creepy things.
I give this 8 out of 10 ghosts.
Watched No one gets out Alive and liked it. A illegal alien tries to find the American dream but gets hammered at every turn. She ends up in a boarding house that is filled with ghosts. Now she just wants to get the F out.
Acting was good. The plot wasn't the best but I guess we got everything we needed to know. I just wanted some more answers to what was going on. There is a very good monster in this that looks like it came from Demon Souls. Great creature design.
The death count isn't very high but there are some good violent kills. Most of the scares come from the creepy ghost doing creepy things.
I give this 8 out of 10 ghosts.
Oh this leaves Netflix on Oct 23rd. I never seen such a short window for a movie on netflix. I would have thought it would go through Halloween but no. So watch this sooner than later.
Good heads up. I’ll give it a go.
Midnight Mass is starting to drag, at a time when you’d think they’d be past any danger of the show dragging. It doesn’t help that where the story was going always seemed, and still seems, obvious to me.
I like that it’s a look at religion and it’s problems from all kinds of perspectives including that of an atheist.
I fairly quickly worked out that the new pastor was actually the old pastor made young again and the man in the boat thing has a very obvious ending for me. It hasn’t happened yet.
Watched The Night House, did not like. Very slow burn. The acting was great. I like the main actress in other things. The look of the movie was pretty good and the audio was good.
The movie reminds me of the babadook but I really liked that movie. In both movies the crazy things going on represent something else or it wasn't just about the horror. The place where the movie failed for me is it is filled with stuff I just didn't get. I might just be to stupid for the movie. I had to watch a few videos explaining the movie. All I could think of is man I wish I seen that then maybe I would have liked the movie. When I was done with the movie I had no idea why the house did what it did, no idea if the certain bodies were real, no idea why things were being seen, no idea why someone killed themselves, no idea why there was extra house or if there were more houses, and no idea what the deal with the statue was.
So now I know these things but I have no idea at what point in the movie these things were explained. I'm pretty sure I didn't fall asleep and dream I was someone and miss part of the movie but heck maybe I did. Maybe I'm still dreaming.
I actually think most people will like this movie especially you have good attention to details. I give this move 3 I should have rewatched The Babadook instead out of ten.
Watched The Night House, did not like. Very slow burn. The acting was great. I like the main actress in other things. The look of the movie was pretty good and the audio was good.
The movie reminds me of the babadook but I really liked that movie. In both movies the crazy things going on represent something else or it wasn't just about the horror. The place where the movie failed for me is it is filled with stuff I just didn't get. I might just be to stupid for the movie. I had to watch a few videos explaining the movie. All I could think of is man I wish I seen that then maybe I would have liked the movie. When I was done with the movie I had no idea why the house did what it did, no idea if the certain bodies were real, no idea why things were being seen, no idea why someone killed themselves, no idea why there was extra house or if there were more houses, and no idea what the deal with the statue was.
So now I know these things but I have no idea at what point in the movie these things were explained. I'm pretty sure I didn't fall asleep and dream I was someone and miss part of the movie but heck maybe I did. Maybe I'm still dreaming.
I actually think most people will like this movie especially you have good attention to details. I give this move 3 I should have rewatched The Babadook instead out of ten.
Also I liked the monster when it was in The Never Ending Story better.
The horror movie for this weeks movie night was The Shallows. Nice change from ghost stories but just as stressful. Great movie. Obviously, all shark movies tend to have an inherent lack of reality to them but if you can get past that it’s a heck of a ride. Part way through my friend said, “See. This is why you should never go surfing.”
I showed her the trailers for Jeepers Creepers (that I’m pretty sure was the entire movie in a different order) and The Wolfman. Both got an enthusiastic nod of approval so they’re on the list.
I liked both Jeepers Creepers and The Wolfman. Jeepers Creeper changed things up a bit with having a brother and sister instead of boyfriend and girlfriend. The Wolfman really picked up on the second half. I loved the classic look mixed modern film making.
I loved The Shallows when I watched it a few years ago. 
Watched VHS 94 and liked it. It is an anthology and I liked all the stories. Not very scary but it is gory as F. The budget is low but do some really fun gore. The movie isn't a comedy but it isn't serious. All the stories are covered in a ton of cheese.
minor spoiler about the cheese
One story turns into a video game like in Doom.
The movie is a little long but I was not bored at all. I haven't seen the other VHS movies so I have no idea how they compare. Might check them out next or soon.
I give this 8 VHS tapes that you need to rewind before taking them back to block buster.
Mystery of the Wax Museum and the Wax Museum with Vincent Price are fun old movies. The wax figures melting scenes on both are visually pretty disturbing but great.
These are promotional interviews but good fun. I like Dead Meat’s videos.
Watched Blindness and liked it. This gave me some real unease probably because it reminds me of the covid situation we currently have. Also this a rape warning because some serious stuff goes down that will be upsetting for people. In this movie a virus hits the world that causes people to go blind. The world quickly falls into chaos. Sighted people round of the blind to put them into poorly run camps. Bad human nature takes over and people start hording food and raping. So at its core its about how we treat each other during a major crisis.
The movie has a strong all star cast. The pacing moves along perfectly. I'm not sure if many people will like the ending but I dug it. I also called the ending.
I give this movie 8 blind people leading the blind.
Ah, yes, that was very dark. Not something to watch as a pick me up for sure.
Somehow, despite it having some of the best box art in the Blockbuster, I never saw Ghoulies. Ghoulies is on HBO Max. I have now seen Ghoulies. Ghoulies is terrible.
There were multiple sequels, right? Or maybe that was Critters? Or maybe both? I saw all those when I was little, and of course loved them at the time. I don't remember absolutely anything about them (other than a scene in Ghoulies in which the creatures were in a toilet, I think?), but I'm sure they are not exactly masterpieces...
Both have multiple sequels. In the third movie, the Ghouls go to college. The Ghoulie in the toilet is just from the box art/poster not actually in the movie (they may have done it in one of the later movies but I'll never find out).
The big problem was going in expecting an '80s pseudo-comedy horror movie. Obvious Gremlin rip-off characters and produced by Charles Band (or his production company, not sure). But, the creatures have no personality and are just poorly executed. The only notable actors in it are Jack Nance, who's barely in it, and super young Mariska Hargitay.
The Critters collection is also on HBO Max so I will be watching that this weekend as well. I know I've seen at least one of those movies but damned if I remember anything about it.
I remember the Critter movies being campy fun. At least until they went to space (3 or 4, I believe). That never ends well for a horror franchise, unless it was in space from the start.
I watched The Girl with All the Gifts:
One of several children immune to a mutated fungal disease that has eradicated free will and turned the rest of humanity into cannibalistic zombies, a gifted young girl escapes the safety of a special school and helps guide mankind's survival.
Nice British take on the infected trope and made me think a bit. I give it 9 out of 10 fungal seed pods.
I remember the Critter movies being campy fun. At least until they went to space (3 or 4, I believe). That never ends well for a horror franchise, unless it was in space from the start.
I thought they were always in space? Or at least the one character was a space bounty hunter tracking them. So very sci-fi from the start
Both have multiple sequels. In the third movie, the Ghouls go to college. The Ghoulie in the toilet is just from the box art/poster not actually in the movie (they may have done it in one of the later movies but I'll never find out).
That's right --college! And maybe I'm just thinking of the poster, who knows?
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