Month of Horror V: the Seed of dsheinem & noiseredux

[Luke]

Anyone see that House of Wax flick from the 2000s? Pretty by the numbers, but not bad.

the Paris Hilton one?

I saw that one - years ago. I remember thinking it was a lot more enjoyable than I had expected.

Could be wrong, but I think Noise gave it praise. Not much, but a "This is a lot better than you would think" kind of praise.

[Ack]

Anyone see that House of Wax flick from the 2000s? Pretty by the numbers, but not bad.

I haven't, nor the original...nor Waxwork, now that I think about it.

never cared for Tourist Trap. It's one of those movies that I feel like I *should* like. Like it's got a bunch of stuff that would normally be a movie I enjoy, and something about it just doesn't click with me. The same thing with Boogie Man (the 80's one). That's a movie that if I read about it, I'm like "oh I'd love that," but every time I try to watch it I just end up not into it and shutting it off after a half hour.

That's a real shame, as I figured you'd get a kick out of its bizarre take on the genre.

Do you think this year we'll find out once again how oddly different our tastes are in horror?

[TSTR]

Yeah I'm talking about the Paris Hilton one. I rented it just because she was everywhere at the time and I was like "okay, gory fake Paris Hilton murder, I can dig it." Turned out to be better than I thought.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Putting Castlevania on hold. That game is hard as balls. Fired up THE COUNT this morning.

[TSTR]

That is one game genre I just cannot handle.

[Michi]

Now, I can't say for sure off the top of my head, but the version of The Town that Dreaded Sundown that's found on DVD, along with the streaming versions, has something wrong with it. I want to say that its either a quality of video thing, or something about whether or not it is in widescreen. That may have changed or I may be misinformed, I'm not totally sure.

There's also a remake of the Town That Dreaded Sundown coming out on the 16th, though I believe its a straight to DVD affair.

The version I watched of The Town That Dreaded Sundown was a DVD double pack alongside The Evictors, but it was in widescreen. As far as I know, it's the only DVD version to exist.

Forlorn's memory is accurate in that many of the previous releases had quality issues. I remember reading a lot about it when I did my write-up a couple years ago. A lot of the transfers were bad, making the picture too dark, so those night scenes were near impossible to watch.

But noise is also right. Shout Factory recently released the film as a blu/DVD combo pack and, from what I've read, it looks pretty damn good. So that's probably the version to watch. Shout Factory in general has been doing a pretty kick-ass job with their horror releases recently. New version of Howling, Sleepaway Camp, Pumpkinhead, Night of the Demons... Lots of good stuff recently.

[TSTR]

Many of those above mentioned SF releases are on my Amazon Wish List for sure.

[Ack]

But noise is also right. Shout Factory recently released the film as a blu/DVD combo pack and, from what I've read, it looks pretty damn good. So that's probably the version to watch. Shout Factory in general has been doing a pretty kick-ass job with their horror releases recently. New version of Howling, Sleepaway Camp, Pumpkinhead, Night of the Demons... Lots of good stuff recently.

Oh, did they fix the audio issues and add subtitles to all of these? I watched The Howling a few years ago but had trouble hearing what people were saying and had no options for subtitles.

[Michi]

But noise is also right. Shout Factory recently released the film as a blu/DVD combo pack and, from what I've read, it looks pretty damn good. So that's probably the version to watch. Shout Factory in general has been doing a pretty kick-ass job with their horror releases recently. New version of Howling, Sleepaway Camp, Pumpkinhead, Night of the Demons... Lots of good stuff recently.

Oh, did they fix the audio issues and add subtitles to all of these? I watched The Howling a few years ago but had trouble hearing what people were saying and had no options for subtitles.

I don't have all of them, but according to Bluray.com, Howling has:

Audio
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0

Subtitles
English

Actually, at a quick glance, it looks like all/most of them have English subtitles.

[J T]

This is three short stories that are tenuously held together by sometimes following the exploits of a traveling cat. The first story is about a man (played by James Wood) that is trying to quit smoking by using an agency that has a particularly sadistic form of aversion therapy. The second story is about a man (played by Robert Hays of Airplane! fame) who in an encounter with his lover's gangster husband, is forced to climb around the ledge of building while being taunted. In the third story, a little girl (played by Drew Barrymore) is being tormented by a troll that lives in her wall. Cat's Eye is silly, but enjoyable, though it is difficult to enjoy at times because it is so hard to suspend disbelief when the plot lines are so ridiculous. Nevertheless, this was an overall fun movie, despite the janky, gonzo plotlines. Most impressive is the acting of the cat in the final scenes. It's worth watching just for the amazing cat performances.


Yet another Paranormal Activity movie. If you've seen one, you've pretty much seen them all and the idea that people will film everything gets increasingly hard to believe as you watch through this series. This one does freshen up the series with a novel setting. This movie is set in an apartment complex and follows the exploits of a Mexican-American family and a strange lady next door. I enjoyed watching the movie because it was culturally interesting and a change of pace from your typical horror movie cast. There are a lot of horror movie cliches though, and the scares are pretty predictable. It feels like they could have got a lot more out of this great setting and concept.


I've been watching Twin Peaks recently, and this game clearly apes from Twin Peaks. There are obvious references throughout, including a picture of Snowqualmie Falls in picture frames on the walls, similar characters, a plot about a recently murdered girl in a logging town, etc. The game is a nice throwback to older survival horror games and I am enjoying it for it's oddness, but it is slow moving. Its storyline is original for a game, but its influences from television are obvious, which detracts from its originality. But, if you're going to copy something, Twin Peaks is at least quality source material. I let you know more of what I think as I get further into it.