Am I crazy or does he look a lot like a young Downey Jr.?
I thought the same thing, so maybe we're both crazy. 
Saw The Watchers. This is M Night Shamalanadingdongs daughter that directed this one. The setup is that deep in a forest in Ireland there's a small building. Several people are trapped in it because monsters come out at night, and they can't find a way out of the forest. One side of the building is glass where the monsters observe the 4 people trapped in there, but the people can't see out to see the monsters.
I like the Twilight Zone type setup, but the movie is pretty awful. They have the main character dragging around a bird cage for a fair bit of the movie. A bit too on the nose for what's going on with her and just a weird distraction. The people in the building don't ask smart questions and barely seem to try and figure out how to escape the situation.
There is a bit of a neat discovery 3/4ths of the way through the film but would have been better if they revelated that much earlier and worked off it.
The explanation for the monsters makes zero sense. According to the movie humans and the monsters worked almost hand-in-hand. So why is there barely a record of that? There's also the twist at the end which wasn't much of a twist and a final "battle" that was more the main character trying to drop logic bombs on a monster to defeat it. Just no.
I was ok watching the whole thing but can't really recommend it. I've sat through plenty of worse films, but this one isn't good.
I watched that this weekend as well and agree. The fact that it took me two days to watch the thing is pretty telling. Just meh and ended up being more background noise then anything else. The Shyamalan family needs to really try a new approach with their films. What worked before isn't working anymore.
Watched The Quiet Place: Day One yesterday and it’s my favourite of the three Quiet Place movies. It had an underlying poetry and pathos to it that made it something a bit special for me; although I can see others thinking it very rote. There was a restraint to it. They could have hit certain well worn horror beats and didn’t, which made for a better, more engaging film.
I loved that the main protagonists were:
30% Lupita Nyong'o, 30% world’s most sensible cat and 30% ineffectual Englishman.
I also watched Hundreds of Beavers which, if I described the plot, would sound like a fever dream of a survival horror movie but, to it’s eternal credit, it’s a silent comedy full of ‘Tom and Jerry’ style slapstick. I watched it in three or four separate sittings, as it can feel very repetitive, but it was a true delight.
The final season of Evil was good except for the last 3 episodes. The show got cancelled early and the last three episodes were tacked on to wrap the series up.
Watched the first four episodes of season 3 of Chucky. So far season 3 is great. The kills have been over the top in a good way.
I watched the recent film with a title that annoys me: In a Violent Nature It didn’t make sense when I first heard it and having seen the film it still didn’t make any sense. Why not ‘Of a Violent Nature’ or just ‘A Violent Nature?’
It’s a classic slasher viewed from the killer’s perspective which I thought worked brilliantly, especially at the start. There are slow parts but I found them refreshing and atmospheric. There is a recent trend, perhaps it’s always been the case to an extent, where potential victims don’t show a reasonable sense of urgency when faced with a potentially horrific death. They seem frozen between, ‘I should run like the friggin’ wind!!’ and, ‘but if I run now how’s he gonna kill me?’ They end up just standing there and waiting.
It was good over all. Worth a watch.
Edit: It was my kind of ending.
I hear there's a couple real gnarly kills in In a Violent Nature. How would you rate the gross out factor in this one, Higgledy?
Going to try to check out Talk to Me later today. There's been a bunch of hope for A24 movies over the years but I've only ever watched Hereditary. X is also on my watch list.
I really enjoyed A Quiet Place: Day One as well, but the two that have surprised me in the last few weeks have been Abigail and The First Omen. I didn't really know what to expect from either one, and I loved them both, Abigail in particular.
I hear there's a couple real gnarly kills in In a Violent Nature. How would you rate the gross out factor in this one, Higgledy?
I heard that and thought it might be a bit much for me but I didn’t think the kills were any worse than a Friday 13th say (although with better special effects.) There is one that’s quite ‘involved’ but it didn’t have me looking a way. A couple of kills are understated and I thought those were extremely well done.
Talk to me is very good.
I really enjoyed A Quiet Place: Day One as well, but the two that have surprised me in the last few weeks have been Abigail and The First Omen. I didn't really know what to expect from either one, and I loved them both, Abigail in particular. :)
I have yet to watch Abigail. It’s on my list!
I'll be curious to hear your thoughts on Abigail!
Watched Dead Space Downfall and liked it. This is a cartoon movie based on the video games. I guess it takes place before the first game. The animation okay. You can see where they cut corners. The movie is very gory as one would suspect if you played the games. The story is basic. People find a alien artifact. Artifact causes people to go crazy and unleashes monsters that changes people into monsters. I enjoyed the voice acting.
I give the movie 7 Fs out of 10. They say F a lot, its their favorite word. If you played the game I say its good watch not a must watch because it just shows you what you already know happen. If you haven't played the game but like gore I think you will like it. The lazy animation might turn some people off, Arcane this is not.
Movie night’s movie this week was The Omen starring Gregory Peck. We concluded that Gregor Peck wasn’t the best actor for the role but that the boy playing Damien was. I hadn’t watched it for ages and didn’t remember it was largely set in a 1970’s UK. I couldn’t remember the ending either. The last time I watched it it was at college on a black and white TV with no aerial, resulting in constant static. It wasn’t ideal but oddly added to the atmosphere of the Italian graveyard scene.
It’s interesting to watch a ‘People die in random accidents’ movie after the Final Destination series. The Omen feels very inefficient in the ‘killing people with creative accidents’ department but other aspects worked extremely well.
Interestingly, Damien and his mother visit Longleat Safari park where they drive their car through different enclosures including one with baboons. The baboons go wild and clamber all over the car. Karen wondered how they made them do it. When I was a lad we visited Longleat and did the same thing. The baboons pulled all the rubber seals out of the windows, yanked on the windscreen wipers and nicked a couple of hubcaps. Afterwards we were sent to a side area where a man gave us replacement hubcaps. We couldn’t help but notice piles of hubcaps, windscreen wipers and wing mirrors behind him.
Watched Abagail 2024 and didn't know much about it. I was spoiled on one major point. I have seen this type of movie before. The movie isn't scary. The kills weren't anything special. However, there is lots of blood. I was entertained.
Watched The Substance. Holy shit that ending goes hard.
Watched The Substance. Holy shit that ending goes hard.
I think it’s a great movie start to finish. Uncompromising.
Definitely. It's one that - after having stopped squirming - makes me excited about movies.
I’ve heard it’s quite something.
Definitely. It's one that - after having stopped squirming - makes me excited about movies.
I am not much of a squirmed anymore, though im not sure why, but I was viscerally involved in what the characters were doing and the consequences of their actions. And squirmed.
Watched Out of Darkness, where I love the setup but it didn't quite deliver. It takes place 45k years ago with early man. A small group fled their homeland to start a new life across the sea in a place they expected to be lush with life. But turns out this paradise is barren and lifeless and strange. Plus, something is hunting them.
Unfortunately, it's kinda slow moving where the thing hunting them is not really seen till near the end. Most of the film is the group in the dark, by a campfire hearing noises. These guys were also not great hunters and I have to believe 45k years ago hunters were bad asses and tough as hell. So it was a bit of a letdown they made them scared and a bit weak.
I did like the reveal at the end. But anything anthropological I'm almost always going to enjoy it. I'll even overlook the fantastic haircuts each of them had for 43k BC.
Independance Day: Resurgence - Not really horror but throwing this in here. Hadn't seen it since theaters. And recall really not liking it. My main memory was the stupid scene where the alien queen is so focused on crushing a helpless school bus she's ignoring getting shot up by jet fighters. Priorities woman!
In any case I really enjoyed it on this second watch through. The special effects, for the most part, were pretty fantastic, and there is some major FX eye candy in this one. It also helped going in to it knowing it was going to be goofy. So that made it more fun to watch.
When this movie was originally going to be released I remember the backlash of Will Smith not going to be returning (You get A-Train as his son replacing him). Also according to imdb there was backlash that that a new actress replaced the president's daughter from the original.
It sounds so pathetic now shunning a movie for those changes. But also such a common occurrence with todays movies/tv shows. Change is scary. Oh, the horror!
(see made the movie relevant to the thread topic there at the end)
Started watching FROM on MGM+.
It's a horror version of Lost (and much more adult - gore/language/nudity/sex/other adult situations/concepts), Even has Harold Perrineau as the lead.
Would not suggest watching this with kids.
Total of 3 seasons so far and I'm closing in on the end of season 1. Really liking it. I have no idea where it's going, which is one of the reasons why I like it.
Like Lost, they're slow dripping out plot and lore points while managing to weave in the backstory of the characters in a way that expands the world and moves the story forward. Some genuinely creepy moments and no characters are safe.
IMHO It's worth the $6.99/month subscription. I'll have weekend binged the whole thing this month for sure.
I love From. Season 2 made me a little worried about whether the writers actually know where they’re going but still enjoyed it a lot. Might even do a rewatch before S3.
I'm glad to see people enjoying From. I'm watching season 3 as it airs, and loving it.
We just started watching it after episode one auto-played following another show- while I’m enjoying it, I can’t help but think it’s the writer’s meta-commentary on other mystery box shows, because goddam like every 20 minutes some random left-field bullshit happens and they never explain any of it before moving on to the next random thing. We’re mid-season 2 now and I’ve lost track of all the balls they have in the air.
Yeah watched the first two seasons of From and it's a frustrating show. The setup is great and there's a lot of mystery but it's slow moving. No one seems to want to talk to one another about their discoveries. Like
the Lighthouse.
That was pretty major and the two people who saw it didn't tell anyone about it - in fact they barely told anyone about all the things they encountered.
Only near the very end of Season 2 did you get some collaboration and putting some pieces of the puzzle together. But even after that happened it didn't explain anything so it was still frustrating.
I still don't understand the music box. There was no explanation of why it was causing the affect it had, where it came from, or the significance of it. Same with the cicadas. Probably going to be the same thing with the ventriloquist doll.
That said when S3 rolls onto a streaming platform I have I'll watch it.
I love From. Season 2 made me a little worried about whether the writers actually know where they’re going but still enjoyed it a lot. Might even do a rewatch before S3.
I really enjoy From but I have the same worry.
Season 1 and 2 spoilers:
As Boyd constantly observes, we're seeing a lot of stuff that's flat out impossible. The lights work but there's no electricity. A prisoner in shackles somehow threw a rope down for Boyd to crawl out of the well. A storm came out of nowhere to destroy the radio tower, and then some invisible force crushed the house (twice), trapping Jim & the others.
There's clearly some malevolent force that can break the laws of physics.
But like in Lost, we keep getting new mysteries but no answers.
I watched The Brides of Dracula. I needed to pump the brakes a bit after The Substance - I'm going to try to watch a horror movie a day during October and they can't all be going that hard or I'll get exhausted a week in.
Anyway, The Brides of Dracula. A movie where the title is a lie several times over: There's no Christopher Lee as Dracula, the brides are not Dracula's, and the brides are barely even in it.
Peter Cushing is his usually reliable self as Van Helsing though, so that's something. It's also barely over 80 minutes, Terence Young was always a solid craftsman - there's reason he got to make so many Bond movies - and there's something charming and cozy about the Hammer aesthetic, so I didn't hate it.
Watched Project Wolf Hunting. A ridiculously gory action-horror about an extradition of Korean criminals from the Philippines. Transported on a freighter, they predictably get sprung, and carnage ensues. And then the bloodshed wakes up the genetic experiment at the bottom of the ship that's basically a nemesis on loan from Resident Evil, and things get even bloodier.
Could've done with losing 10-15 minutes, but still a solid entertainment.
Watch the first season of Sweat Home on netflix. I watched the first 8 episodes subtitled and the last two episodes dubbed. I liked watching the dubbed better.
The show is about people turning into monsters. No reason is given but it is related to emotions. One or more people can stay under control after turning into a monsters. One is a standard good guy. The others range from straight villain to goofy. Basically this show is Devilman if you ever watched that anime. Since no reason has been given the people might actually be demons just like in Devilman.
The show also has Resident Evil feel and a few Final Fantasy tropes. Hey that monsters looks like a licker. Hey that guy has one wing which final fantasy creators think is super cool for some reason.
The monsters are cgi and practical. They make some mistakes with the cgi or bad choices. For example they use the same model for two different monsters but one is bigger. Also the smaller one looked to big to fit through the door so I'm not sure how he got in. Their location is locked down so it is not like he could have walked in and then changed.
Note some of the monsters designs are really good or interesting in some way,
The story is okay. The biggest problem is sometimes they tell the story out of order for no reason. Also sometimes the start in a bad situation and never go back to how they got in that situation. However, these moments don't seem to be important.
The show isn't scary but there is a good amount of blood. Arms are cutoff, heads bashed in, people are shot and stabbed, and then the monsters get in some kills.
Today's movie was Eyes of Laura Mars. John Carpenter writes and Irvin Kershner directs what's basically an American giallo: Faye Dunaway is a photographer whose pieces sex and violence filled pieces are cause quite the stir, and who suddenly develops the ability to see through the eyes of a killer targeting the people around her. You got your art scene, lurid subject matter, pov sequences of stalking and killing - all the hallmarks of the genre.
On the plus side, in addition to Dunaway, you get young Tommy Lee Jones, Brad Dourif and Raul Julia, and grimy 70:s New York. On the minus, you're sorely missing the bumping soundtrack and more outré moments you'd get in a "real" giallo. Not bad per se, but a bit slack.
Watched Don't Turn out the Lights which wasn't good. The title has nothing to do with the movie. A group of friends are taking a van to a music festival. The run into some racists and then the van breaks down. Then ghost attack them by doing random ghost S. Spooky voices, funky time wackiness, unseen growling monster. No logic or reason for anything that happen.
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