The 2016 October Horror Marathon

HLTB · Post by **Xeogred** » Mon Oct 17, 2016 1:37 pm

Can you recommend those? They look promising and I'm currently not sure what I should watch next.

The other day I actually tried diving around seeing if Shinji Mikami has ever listed some of his favorite movies or key influences on Resident Evil, but I didn't come up with anything.

Retro Achievements · Post by **Jagosaurus** » Mon Oct 17, 2016 1:43 pm

Knocked out 4 tales in The No Sleep Podcast, updated below in spoiler. The most notable addition for the weekend is:

Alien 3

I had seen a lot of this over the years in pieces on TV, but was surprised at how much I had never watched. Also my first time viewing the R rated content so I'll count it as a first watch. This is full of spoilers.

We find Ridley crash landing on a planet of prisoners that are a group of religious fanatics. This is missed opportunity #1 IMO. Either make them monks or prisoners... not some weird combo. Would've been cool to see some bad A felons make a stand against the xenomorph! Instead we get scared monk prisoners...

Overall, I like the movie. I love the first movie and really enjoy the second movie. Alien 3 is average. I imagine it looked great on paper but the atmosphere just doesn't deliver.

Even this scene, although cool, isn't as tense as it should have been:

Ridley mentions the xeno moves different than the others. It moves like a cat to me

... was this ever explained? Why was it different?

Also, how did Ridley get infected? They gloss over this .... "well probably when I was in hypersleep." ... huh? I don't remember this being answered in Resurrection. Maybe I'm wrong. If not, major plot hole just simply avoided.

This is a fun sci-fi flick but just doesn't hold a candle to Alien, Aliens, or Prometheus. Nice CGI for 1992. Instead of Alien 3, go watch one of those... or Riddick for mindless sci fi monster fun. I only recommend this for hardcore Alien or David Fincher fans.

2016 Month of Horror so Far:

Post by **prfsnl_gmr** » Mon Oct 17, 2016 1:45 pm

Xeogred wrote:Can you recommend those? They look promising and I'm currently not sure what I should watch next.

The other day I actually tried diving around seeing if Shinji Mikami has ever listed some of his favorite movies or key influences on Resident Evil, but I didn't come up with anything.

I have not seen the original version of The Town That Dreaded Sundown, but the remake/sequel is outstanding. I haven't seen The Strangers, either, but it is sitting on my current pile of horror films.

Do you have any streaming services? If so, I can recommend a host of movies that you probably have not seen yet.

Post by **Ack** » Mon Oct 17, 2016 1:52 pm

The original Town That Dreaded Sundown is ok. It tries to go for a pseudo-documentary style at times, and when it does, it's outstanding. Of particular note are shots of people's feet, emphasizing that literally anyone could be the murderer. This is where the film excels.

Unfortunately it falls apart whenever Charles Pierce tries to inject comedy, which comes across as out of place and borderline offensive with how stupid his comedic character is. As a result, it's an interesting watch, but one that is at times severely hampered.

Post by **strangenova** » Mon Oct 17, 2016 1:55 pm

@Jag I don't know if it's explicitly stated in the movies, but the Xenomorph takes on traits of whatever creature was the host. At this point Ripley had only seen Xenos that came out of human hosts. The one in alien 3 came out of a quadrupedal animal.

Post by **noiseredux** » Mon Oct 17, 2016 2:01 pm

strangenova wrote:@Jag I don't know if it's explicitly stated in the movies, but the Xenomorph takes on traits of whatever creature was the host. At this point Ripley had only seen Xenos that came out of human hosts. The one in alien 3 came out of a quadripedal animal.

yeah, this.

http://aliens.wikia.com/wiki/Category:X ... h_Variants

Retro Achievements · Post by **Jagosaurus** » Mon Oct 17, 2016 2:06 pm

strangenova wrote:@Jag I don't know if it's explicitly stated in the movies, but the Xenomorph takes on traits of whatever creature was the host. At this point Ripley had only seen Xenos that came out of human hosts. The one in alien 3 came out of a quadrupedal animal.

Ahhhh gotcha, the ox. Thanks. I didn't put that together. That does bring me to another point, all the shots of the lice.

What was the point of that? I kept waiting for some significance, perhaps blood transmission impacting the cycle... nope. Just David Fincher randomness.

Regarding The Town that Dreaded Sundown...

The fact the original movie exist within the reboot itself is interesting. That was a cool take. The scene shot with the security lights turning on & off was very well done & creepy.

Post by **noiseredux** » Mon Oct 17, 2016 3:08 pm

Jag, have you seen Prometheus yet?

Post by **Michi** » Mon Oct 17, 2016 3:28 pm

The Gate

The recent removal of a tree in Grant’s back yard unearths a geode and a giant hole. Grant’s friend Terry, clearly on the look for a quick buck, convinces him to dig further into the now covered hole in search of more geodes. The deep cavern gives Grant the heebie-jeebies, but he’s not sure why. His metal-loving friend Terry has an idea, though. He’s convinced it’s a gate to hell. Through an implausible string of unlikely circumstances, the Gate cracks open, allowing multitudes of tiny demons to pour out and trap them in their own house. Of course, Grant’s parents have chosen this time to conveniently go on a three-day vacation, so it’s up to Grant, his sister Al, and Terry to figure out a way to close the gate before all Hell, quite literally, breaks loose.

The innocuous beginning of the end...

The Gate is what one could consider dumb 80’s monster movie fun. The PG-13 rating makes it a relatively inoffensive horror movie, though there are a couple of words uttered that might make some parents hesitant to show it to the younger crowd. Also, despite the rating, there’s some pretty creepy and violent imagery at work here.

Turns out Eye Gouge Barbie was appropriately named.

But while it’s violent at times, I wouldn’t call it too violent. It sort of walks a fine line between a kids horror movie and an adult horror movie. I probably wouldn’t show it to anyone under ten. But for those of you who might have younger or mid-range teens, this might be a good thing to show on family horror movie night. Then again, I was watching Nightmare on Elm Street movies when I was five, so I might not be the best judge in that regard.

Honestly, I found the two in the middle there more frightening than the monsters.

The main protagonists of the film are all kids, so don’t go in expecting any stellar performances. The acting here ranges from decent to...well, more decent. There aren’t any particular standouts, but like I said, they’re kids. Nobody was wretched, so I really have no complaints.

I totally bought the ‘amazed at shiny rock’ scene.

The best thing about The Gate is the monsters. Most of them include tiny little imp-like demons that are more of a nuisance than a real terror (though they do bite, gotta watch that.) But there’s also zombies, ghosts, slimy hands under the bed and the big-bad Demon Lord. Just about all the effects used to portray them are practical make-up effects, forced perspective and stop motion, which is quite effective and very much welcome.

My only real complaint about the movie is the pacing. The first half of the movie is sadly kinda slow. It isn’t until the first imp shows up that the pacing picks up, and even then it’s another good 10 minutes until it really gets to where it needs to be. I get it, the film needed to establish a build-up before the demons could be unleashed, but 40 minutes of bratty new wave teens sparked with glimpses of potential malevolence is pushing it. It was close, but it didn’t quite hit the balance it needed to.

Hell, the zombie moved faster than the first half of the movie.

But even with the small issues it has, The Gate still winds up being good fun. It’s got a good mix of horror, suspense and humor. The story might be silly and a bit slow moving at the beginning, but the effects were pretty good and child actors didn’t make me want to jab a pencil into my ear. And while I might complain about their acting being meh, the characters themselves were actually pretty resourceful and clever, which was very refreshing. Overall, I greatly enjoyed the experience and recommend it to anyone looking for a good-time monster movie.

Retro Achievements · Post by **Jagosaurus** » Mon Oct 17, 2016 4:52 pm

noiseredux wrote:Jag, have you seen Prometheus yet?

Oh yeah. I was pleasantly surprised. I'm a little obsessed with the idea of space travel and ancient civilizations (independently, not necessarily related as in Ancient Aliens although it's a fun idea) in real life. So mix that with Alien....

Right up my alley.

Also very cool in the commentary, Scott sure does elude to Alien and Blade Runner being the same universe. That's freaking awesome.

Excited to see what he does with the next installment, Alien Covenant. Looks like an August 2017 release.

The 2016 October Horror Marathon

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