The Month of Horror PART IV: dsheinem vs. noiseredux

[Luke]

Can't believe I forgot about this:
Arsenio Hall interviews Jason Vorhees.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Last night, my wife and I watched:



The Hunger (1983) is an entertaining vampire film that plays out like a feature length Duran Duran music video. It does not feature nearly enough David Bowie, and like me, the film thinks it is a lot smarter than it actually is. (The director can add all the classical music he wants, but at the end of the day, he ended up making a lipstick lesbian vampire exploitation film.) That said, the film does have a stellar introduction - which features Bauhaus performing Bela Lugosi is Dead over flash cuts of the vampires feeding - but it only serves to raise expectations for a decidedly mediocre film.

.....

prfsnl_gmr's 2013 List of TERROR!
1. The Frighteners (1996)
2. Kill, Baby...Kill! (1966)
3. Salem's Lot (1979)
4. Blood Thirst (1965)
5. The Hunger (1983)

[Ack]

Anguish
Demons
Creepshow
The Beyond
Zombi 2
From Beyond
The Beast with Five Fingers
The Screaming Skull
The Killer Shrews
The Tingler
Viy
At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul
Black Sunday
Children of the Corn
The Burning
The Descent
Trick r' Treat
The Innkeepers
Stake Land
The Evil Dead (remake)
The Lords of Salem
The Gate
Kuroneko

Alternates: Silent Night, Santa's Slay, The Slender Man

Not easily accessible:

Night of the Demons
Night of the Demons (remake)
Rawhead Rex
Werewolf of London
The Incredible Melting Man
Marianne
Warlock
Killing Machine

I spent last night perusing the local rare video place with my list to see what they had and bugging the employee, who apparently got a kick out of looking up all kinds of horror films. The "Not easily accessible" list is all the stuff they didn't have. He actually got upset over not having the original Night of the Demons, and I was told they used to have The Incredible Melting Man on VHS but never upgraded. They have the 1950s Western film Warlock, but not the 1980s horror film. Perhaps the saddest case of all though was Rawhead Rex, which the guy said they would likely never be able to procure since it was out of print, and the private sellers on Amazon charge an arm and a leg. Netflix apparently doesn't have the film in its system, so I may just be screwed on that one. Sad, too, as I really wanted to see it. So anyway, it looks like I might be using those alternates after all.

And don't worry Noise, I'll rewatch them for Christmas, along with films like Black Christmas and its remake, Silent Night, Deadly Night, Jack Frost, Jack Frost 2, Sint, Gremlins, etc.

That said, I went ahead and watched Anguish last night!



This film is middling for me. It's difficult to follow due to its film within a film format(with the murderer in the film's film going into a movie theater to murder more people, meaning at one point I've got a film within a film within a film...), but the gyst is that a couple of girls are watching a movie about a mama's boy killing people and cutting out their eyes, unaware that a man in the theater has been hypnotized by the film into thinking that the onscreen mother is actually his mother, and he has to shoot up the theater to please her. But then comes the shocking twist ending!

Anyway, there is a decent amount of eye trauma in this, and while it's generally not too graphic, there is one shot of ongoing eye surgery that makes me cringe to think about. And cleaning eyeballs in a bathroom sink to keep in a plastic bag...nasty.

[noiseredux]

I love Black X-Mas (the remake). Since it was released on DVD, we've watched it every year while wrapping presents. It's an awesome tradition.

[Stark]

I love Black X-Mas (the remake). Since it was released on DVD, we've watched it every year while wrapping presents. It's an awesome tradition.

Awesome! I do a tradition like this as well, except for it's Die Hard instead.

[TSTR]

I love Black X-Mas (the remake). Since it was released on DVD, we've watched it every year while wrapping presents. It's an awesome tradition.

Hell yeah! Everyone shits on all these horror remakes so this one flew under the radar, but I really enjoyed it. Lots of tasty eye violence.

We also have a family Xmas movie tradition that involves getting drunk and watching the Trailer Park Boys Christmas Special.

[noiseredux]

yeah I don't really 'condone' remakes and would always prefer a sequel. But there are good remakes. I honestly prefer Black X-Mas over Black Christmas. Shrug.

Most of the remakes I really like go in a completely diff direction than the original, thus functioning as sequels. For example The Evil Dead (2013) is a totally new set of characters visiting the original shack in modern day. If it had been the same exact film but titled The Evil Dead 4, it would have worked just as well.

[Damm64]

So far Undying is really cool, not scary but the atmosphere is great and the level design reminds a lot of half life, i like that.

[Ack]

Most of the remakes I really like go in a completely diff direction than the original, thus functioning as sequels.

How many horror remakes actually take this direction though?

I'm expecting the first to be good to ok, and the collection to be...cheezy. Am I right or did I luck out and get a good couple of movies?

Gothika, I have no idea. I've heard mixed things. As for your others, I have some info.

If Good Against Evil is what I think it is, it's a made-for-TV film that was meant to be a possible pilot for a show, but it's effectively just an Exorcist rip-off with elements of Rosemary's Baby thrown in.

Don't Look in the Basement is also known as The Forgotten. It is most notable for being double-billed with The Last House on the Left. It's apparently not great but not totally terrible for its meager budget.

Blood Tide (or Bloodtide) stars a young James Earl Jones, but it's another mediocre cheese fest with a limited budget and even less screen time for the monster.

Death Screams is a slasher film set in a carnival.

As for Legacy of Blood, there are actually two films with this title, both horror films from the 1970s. Neither are great, though the 1978 film is considered better.

[noiseredux]

Most of the remakes I really like go in a completely diff direction than the original, thus functioning as sequels.

How many horror remakes actually take this direction though?

not many. But those are the ones I like, haha.