Month of Horror V: the Seed of dsheinem & noiseredux
Re: Month of Horror V: the Seed of dsheinem & noiseredux
Do they have Tales From The Quadead Zone?
Re: Month of Horror V: the Seed of dsheinem & noiseredux
Maybe. I can ask. The DVD's also not too expensive, so even if the shop doesn't have it, they might order it. I've asked before about films they didn't have, and the staff jumped on Amazon and started checking prices or began pulling out personal collections of ripped rare DVDs. That's how I got to see Split Second:TSTR wrote:Do they have Tales From The Quadead Zone?
http://www.amazon.com/Split-Second-Rutg ... cond+movie
The name of the place is Videodrome: http://www.videodromeatl.com/
All hail the new flesh.
Re: Month of Horror V: the Seed of dsheinem & noiseredux
I'd be super surprised if they did. LMK.
Just got done re-watching Re-Animator with a buddy. Classic. Excellent balance of gore, suspense, humor, and insanity. Plus Jeffrey Combs. Can't touch it. Also, takes place on October 10, so perfect timing!
Just got done re-watching Re-Animator with a buddy. Classic. Excellent balance of gore, suspense, humor, and insanity. Plus Jeffrey Combs. Can't touch it. Also, takes place on October 10, so perfect timing!
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noiseredux
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Re: Month of Horror V: the Seed of dsheinem & noiseredux
Reanimator kills it. Combs should be in every Lovecraft adaptation.
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Hobie-wan
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Re: Month of Horror V: the Seed of dsheinem & noiseredux
Now get thee to some From Beyond.TSTR wrote:I'd be super surprised if they did. LMK.
Just got done re-watching Re-Animator with a buddy. Classic. Excellent balance of gore, suspense, humor, and insanity. Plus Jeffrey Combs. Can't touch it. Also, takes place on October 10, so perfect timing!
I've never met a pun I didn't like. - Stark
My trade, sale and services - Rough want list - Shipping weight reference chart - AC Power Adapter reference list
My trade, sale and services - Rough want list - Shipping weight reference chart - AC Power Adapter reference list
Re: Month of Horror V: the Seed of dsheinem & noiseredux
Love that one too. That 'ol pineal gland will get ya every time. And Barbara Crampton is at her hottest there.Hobie-wan wrote:Now get thee to some From Beyond.TSTR wrote:I'd be super surprised if they did. LMK.
Just got done re-watching Re-Animator with a buddy. Classic. Excellent balance of gore, suspense, humor, and insanity. Plus Jeffrey Combs. Can't touch it. Also, takes place on October 10, so perfect timing!
Re: Month of Horror V: the Seed of dsheinem & noiseredux
I'm just going to post the first two tonight (or, I guess it's 'this morning' now.)
Phantasm
It’s been a long, Long, LONG time since I’ve seen Phantasm. So long, in fact, that other than a few still images and basic concepts I couldn’t remember a damn thing about the movie. However, I did remember enjoying it, and since I had such a good time revisiting Ginger Snaps, I decided to give Phantasm its due.
Musician Jody returns home after his parents’ death to take care of his younger brother, Mike. After the death of one of Jody’s friends, Mike notices the funeral director single-handedly remove the coffin from the ground as if it were Styrofoam and take it back to the funeral home.
Suspecting something fishy, Mike breaks into the funeral home after hours where he encounters aggressive, hooded dwarves; a flying, silver sphere that has a penchant for human flesh and a very pissed off funeral director.
"BOY!"
Suffice it to say, there are a lot of buried (haha) secrets at Morningside cemetery and it’s up to Mike, Jody and their buddy Reggie to uncover them before those secrets consume the town.
And as everyone knows, the best way to uncover secrets is with the help of heavy firepower.
One of the first things anyone who watches Phantasm is going to notice right off the bat is that the film is low budget. Writer/Director Don Coscarelli got everything from the actors to the funding locally, so the whole thing has a very low budget, almost amateur-is vibe to it. His dad was the producer, his mom designed some costumes (and wrote the novelization) and the extras were either his, or other actors’ family members. When it comes to ‘independent’ films you really can’t get much more ‘independent’ than that.
But just because it was low budget doesn’t mean everything looks cheap. Sure, the acting can feel a little wooden and they threw in a bizarre folk duet for some reason…
Clearly, what every horror film needs more of.
…but you can tell the whole movie was a labor of love. Considering the budget and the time, the special effects are pretty damn impressive, especially the detached finger and the now iconic flying, silver balls that like to dig deep into a persons thoughts.
Oh sorry, mind. I meant they like to dig into a persons mind, drill and splurty blood and all.
You know another iconic gem the film is known for? That creepy-ass mortician; aka, The Tall Man. There’s a reason why people recognize him when they might not even know what movie he’s from. Angus Scrimm plays him with such malicious glee that there’s just no way you couldn’t be creeped out by him. When I was younger this was the guy that gave me nightmares. Not Freddy Kruger, not Michael Myers, or Jason Vorhees. That guy.
That’s right, the guy in the pressed, black suit freaked me out more than all the supernatural beings with sharp, pointy object combined.
Pictured: Every childs worst nightmare.
I’m guessing what’s going to throw a lot of people off by Phantasm though, probably won’t have anything to do with the characters or special effects, but the story itself. The plot’s a bit nutty, the narrative is often choppy and the pacing is uneven. Those aren’t exactly things that are going to guarantee a wide audience. Couple that with the fact the most of it shot at night in near darkness and the almost surreal effect that gives the film is probably not going to be everyone’s cup of tea.
Though Phantasm is best remembered as a horror movie, it isn’t really a horror movie at all. It’s actually closer to a dark fantasy, albeit one with elements of gore and sex. The blurred line between what’s real and what isn’t makes the entire thing feel less like a movie and more like a fever dream, where the real and the surreal become almost interchangeable. Is any of it real, or is the whole film just a figment of Mike’s imagination, a re-direct of his grief into some unstoppable specter? Who knows. What we do know is that Director Don Coscarelli conceived of the premise of the movie after “thinking about how our culture handles death.” And if that’s true, than Coscarelli has some really disturbing thoughts regarding the afterlife.
Personally, I think Phantasm is pretty awesome and really like the surreal, dreamlike vibe. It’s certainly different than a lot of the other horror movies out there, but no one should go into it thinking it’s going to make a whole lot of sense.
Phantasm II
Yes, I watched the second one. And the third… And the fourth... (NOTE: I’m going to try to keep spoilers to a minimum, which is really hard for this series. So forgive me if these are kind of short and don't make sense.) It’s a short series, I told myself. Why not plow through them all?
Phantasm II picks up directly where the first Phantasm leaves off. It then goes through a great big time skip that finds Mike and Reggie hunting down their old nemesis. The Tall Man is up to his old tricks, stealing the dead and raising an undead army with the help of some very swift metal spheres as he travels through the US, decimating town after town. It’s no longer about just saving themselves, now it’s up to Mike and Reggie to save the world.
Looks like it’ll be fun.
Thanks to the success of the first film, Phantasm II was picked up by Universal. This gave Coscarelli a much bigger budget to work with and it shows. Everything is nicer, production-wise. The sets are look better, the spheres are slicker, and the deaths are gorier.
Even the back cysts are more lifelike.
The formatting of the sequel has shifted significantly. The head honchos at Universal wanted a few changes this time around. So where the first film contained everything into a surreal vision of a small town, Phantasm II takes everything on the road and removes all dreamlike elements in favor of a linear, more action oriented script. So while the basic premise of the film remains the same, the story is much more coherent this time around. The changes in no way make it scarier than the original, but it does make it more fun.
Actually, he looks like he's having too much fun.
A couple new enemies have been added to the story as well. On top of the creepy, evil Jawa knock-offs we now have human minions and gas mask wearing gravediggers. Yay.
There’s also a new hero in the form of Liz, a psychic (because every horror franchise needs at least one of them, I guess) who has some sort of link with Mike, who also has psychic power now as well. It’s not exactly explained when Mike developed any psychic power. I think we’re just supposed to roll with it.
Speaking of Mike, he gets a re-cast. James LeGross (who beat out Brad Pit for the role) comes in to replace Michael Baldwin. The change is a little jarring, since even with the 10-year time lapse the two look nothing alike. He adds a lot of youthful energy to the action scenes, but falls a bit flat with everything else. I much more preferred Baldwin’s nervous energy in those quieter moments. Granted, with all the added action, those quieter moments are few and far between.
The only other returning character, other than Angus Scrimm, is Reggie. In Phantasm II, Reggie’s role shifts from secondary character, to main character, giving him a much bigger focus and Coscarelli does his best to give him his moment to shine. Reggie is wisecracking, he’s badass, he’s horny, he’s got a great car and he has absolutely no idea what the hell is going on. His dialogue and facial expressions often mirror exactly what the viewer is thinking. Reggie is, in a way, the audience. If you can’t believe what’s going on, don’t feel bad. Most of the time it looks like Reggie can’t believe what’s going on either.
Ha Ha! You bastards! I’ve got a chainsaw!
Well, I’ve got a bigger one.
Well…shit.
The end of Phantasm II really doesn’t make a bit of sense, but then, the ending in the first was exactly the same, so at least they’re remaining consistent. It’s the most well produced Phantasm film and probably the most entertaining, with comedy, fun action scenes and a linear plot that will probably appeal to a lot more people than the first film. The biggest weak link in the film is the love interest sub-plot (mercifully ditched in the following entries) that just feels awkward and shoehorned in for the sake of having a female party member. The horrible specter of a controlling board of directors may hover over the production, but Coscarelli’s sometimes gleeful inclusion of other horror cinema influences (some of which were probably initially influenced by the first Phantasm) makes it a fun romp, even with all the narrative changes.
Phantasm
It’s been a long, Long, LONG time since I’ve seen Phantasm. So long, in fact, that other than a few still images and basic concepts I couldn’t remember a damn thing about the movie. However, I did remember enjoying it, and since I had such a good time revisiting Ginger Snaps, I decided to give Phantasm its due.
Musician Jody returns home after his parents’ death to take care of his younger brother, Mike. After the death of one of Jody’s friends, Mike notices the funeral director single-handedly remove the coffin from the ground as if it were Styrofoam and take it back to the funeral home.
Suspecting something fishy, Mike breaks into the funeral home after hours where he encounters aggressive, hooded dwarves; a flying, silver sphere that has a penchant for human flesh and a very pissed off funeral director.
"BOY!"
Suffice it to say, there are a lot of buried (haha) secrets at Morningside cemetery and it’s up to Mike, Jody and their buddy Reggie to uncover them before those secrets consume the town.
And as everyone knows, the best way to uncover secrets is with the help of heavy firepower.
One of the first things anyone who watches Phantasm is going to notice right off the bat is that the film is low budget. Writer/Director Don Coscarelli got everything from the actors to the funding locally, so the whole thing has a very low budget, almost amateur-is vibe to it. His dad was the producer, his mom designed some costumes (and wrote the novelization) and the extras were either his, or other actors’ family members. When it comes to ‘independent’ films you really can’t get much more ‘independent’ than that.
But just because it was low budget doesn’t mean everything looks cheap. Sure, the acting can feel a little wooden and they threw in a bizarre folk duet for some reason…
Clearly, what every horror film needs more of.
…but you can tell the whole movie was a labor of love. Considering the budget and the time, the special effects are pretty damn impressive, especially the detached finger and the now iconic flying, silver balls that like to dig deep into a persons thoughts.
Oh sorry, mind. I meant they like to dig into a persons mind, drill and splurty blood and all.
You know another iconic gem the film is known for? That creepy-ass mortician; aka, The Tall Man. There’s a reason why people recognize him when they might not even know what movie he’s from. Angus Scrimm plays him with such malicious glee that there’s just no way you couldn’t be creeped out by him. When I was younger this was the guy that gave me nightmares. Not Freddy Kruger, not Michael Myers, or Jason Vorhees. That guy.
That’s right, the guy in the pressed, black suit freaked me out more than all the supernatural beings with sharp, pointy object combined.
Pictured: Every childs worst nightmare.
I’m guessing what’s going to throw a lot of people off by Phantasm though, probably won’t have anything to do with the characters or special effects, but the story itself. The plot’s a bit nutty, the narrative is often choppy and the pacing is uneven. Those aren’t exactly things that are going to guarantee a wide audience. Couple that with the fact the most of it shot at night in near darkness and the almost surreal effect that gives the film is probably not going to be everyone’s cup of tea.
Though Phantasm is best remembered as a horror movie, it isn’t really a horror movie at all. It’s actually closer to a dark fantasy, albeit one with elements of gore and sex. The blurred line between what’s real and what isn’t makes the entire thing feel less like a movie and more like a fever dream, where the real and the surreal become almost interchangeable. Is any of it real, or is the whole film just a figment of Mike’s imagination, a re-direct of his grief into some unstoppable specter? Who knows. What we do know is that Director Don Coscarelli conceived of the premise of the movie after “thinking about how our culture handles death.” And if that’s true, than Coscarelli has some really disturbing thoughts regarding the afterlife.
Personally, I think Phantasm is pretty awesome and really like the surreal, dreamlike vibe. It’s certainly different than a lot of the other horror movies out there, but no one should go into it thinking it’s going to make a whole lot of sense.
Phantasm II
Yes, I watched the second one. And the third… And the fourth... (NOTE: I’m going to try to keep spoilers to a minimum, which is really hard for this series. So forgive me if these are kind of short and don't make sense.) It’s a short series, I told myself. Why not plow through them all?
Phantasm II picks up directly where the first Phantasm leaves off. It then goes through a great big time skip that finds Mike and Reggie hunting down their old nemesis. The Tall Man is up to his old tricks, stealing the dead and raising an undead army with the help of some very swift metal spheres as he travels through the US, decimating town after town. It’s no longer about just saving themselves, now it’s up to Mike and Reggie to save the world.
Looks like it’ll be fun.
Thanks to the success of the first film, Phantasm II was picked up by Universal. This gave Coscarelli a much bigger budget to work with and it shows. Everything is nicer, production-wise. The sets are look better, the spheres are slicker, and the deaths are gorier.
Even the back cysts are more lifelike.
The formatting of the sequel has shifted significantly. The head honchos at Universal wanted a few changes this time around. So where the first film contained everything into a surreal vision of a small town, Phantasm II takes everything on the road and removes all dreamlike elements in favor of a linear, more action oriented script. So while the basic premise of the film remains the same, the story is much more coherent this time around. The changes in no way make it scarier than the original, but it does make it more fun.
Actually, he looks like he's having too much fun.
A couple new enemies have been added to the story as well. On top of the creepy, evil Jawa knock-offs we now have human minions and gas mask wearing gravediggers. Yay.
There’s also a new hero in the form of Liz, a psychic (because every horror franchise needs at least one of them, I guess) who has some sort of link with Mike, who also has psychic power now as well. It’s not exactly explained when Mike developed any psychic power. I think we’re just supposed to roll with it.
Speaking of Mike, he gets a re-cast. James LeGross (who beat out Brad Pit for the role) comes in to replace Michael Baldwin. The change is a little jarring, since even with the 10-year time lapse the two look nothing alike. He adds a lot of youthful energy to the action scenes, but falls a bit flat with everything else. I much more preferred Baldwin’s nervous energy in those quieter moments. Granted, with all the added action, those quieter moments are few and far between.
The only other returning character, other than Angus Scrimm, is Reggie. In Phantasm II, Reggie’s role shifts from secondary character, to main character, giving him a much bigger focus and Coscarelli does his best to give him his moment to shine. Reggie is wisecracking, he’s badass, he’s horny, he’s got a great car and he has absolutely no idea what the hell is going on. His dialogue and facial expressions often mirror exactly what the viewer is thinking. Reggie is, in a way, the audience. If you can’t believe what’s going on, don’t feel bad. Most of the time it looks like Reggie can’t believe what’s going on either.
Ha Ha! You bastards! I’ve got a chainsaw!
Well, I’ve got a bigger one.
Well…shit.
The end of Phantasm II really doesn’t make a bit of sense, but then, the ending in the first was exactly the same, so at least they’re remaining consistent. It’s the most well produced Phantasm film and probably the most entertaining, with comedy, fun action scenes and a linear plot that will probably appeal to a lot more people than the first film. The biggest weak link in the film is the love interest sub-plot (mercifully ditched in the following entries) that just feels awkward and shoehorned in for the sake of having a female party member. The horrible specter of a controlling board of directors may hover over the production, but Coscarelli’s sometimes gleeful inclusion of other horror cinema influences (some of which were probably initially influenced by the first Phantasm) makes it a fun romp, even with all the narrative changes.
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Nintendork666
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Re: Month of Horror V: the Seed of dsheinem & noiseredux
I have a sudden urge to watch the Wishmaster films. At least the original, can anyone confirm that they hold up?
AMD Ryzen™ 9 7900X // MSI GAMING X TRIO GeForce RTX 3090 
Re: Month of Horror V: the Seed of dsheinem & noiseredux
Phantasm is my favorite movie of all time. So there. Good write up, Michi.
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noiseredux
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Re: Month of Horror V: the Seed of dsheinem & noiseredux
both of you... The Banshee Chapter. Not so much a "remake" of From Beyond as much as it's an homage to From Beyond. One that actually mentions From Beyond. Also, there's a character that is pretty clearly supposed to be Hunter S. Thompson. And it's creepy.TSTR wrote:Love that one too. That 'ol pineal gland will get ya every time. And Barbara Crampton is at her hottest there.Hobie-wan wrote:Now get thee to some From Beyond.TSTR wrote:I'd be super surprised if they did. LMK.
Just got done re-watching Re-Animator with a buddy. Classic. Excellent balance of gore, suspense, humor, and insanity. Plus Jeffrey Combs. Can't touch it. Also, takes place on October 10, so perfect timing!
If by hold up you mean "still silly and fun?" then yeah, they hold up just fine.Nintendork666 wrote:I have a sudden urge to watch the Wishmaster films. At least the original, can anyone confirm that they hold up?