Month of Horror V: the Seed of dsheinem & noiseredux
Re: Month of Horror V: the Seed of dsheinem & noiseredux
in short: I Eat Your Skin was pretty lame, despite a few good chuckles and lots of chauvinist dialogue... I Drink Your Blood was AMAZING and a really nice example of a great grindhouse film. Not to be missed...
Last edited by dsheinem on Fri Oct 10, 2014 10:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Month of Horror V: the Seed of dsheinem & noiseredux
Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead
You know, I think I’ve seen this before. It certainly seems familiar, but I couldn’t give you a time frame of when I actually viewed it. If I did it was probably on SciFi before SyFy came along and started to suck.
Phantasm III picks up immediately after the end of the last installment. Reggie and Mike are still trying to defeat the Tall Man, except this time Mike manages to get his ass captured and it falls to Reggie to not only find and save his friend, but to stop the demented morticians evil deeds as well.
Casting off the chains of the larger companies, Phantasm III returns to the series roots, reintroducing the more dream oriented elements from the first film. It also incorporates many of the action elements introduced in the second film, giving the third installment a nice balance between the action and chills.
Despite the smaller budget, the decrease in funds does little to affect the visual quality of the film. Less money, in this case, did not necessarily mean cheaper visual effects. By this point the filmmakers were adding in some digital effects and blending them into the more practical camera techniques, making much of the film look visually on par, if not better than, its immediate predecessor.
With those damn spheres flying around, people need to pay more attention where they’re going in these movies.
Michael Baldwin returns in this installment to reprise his role as Mike, his return handled with some clever costuming and editing. Not that you actually get much time to spend with him. Not too long after his return he’s promptly whisked away by The Tall Man and effectively drops off the face of the earth for 3/5ths of the story.
Welcome ba-…Aaaaand he’s gone again. Well, that was short.
It’s at this point in time when the series subtitle can effectively be changed to, “Reggie Takes A Road Trip,” because that pretty much summarized a good chunk of not only this film, but the next one as well. With Mike gone, Reggie takes center stage and the more screen time he has the more it becomes clear that he is this series Bruce Campbell (Not at all a bad thing.) His cross-country search for his absconded friend is surprisingly unhurried and often interrupted by a series of encounters with looters, gun crazed children and two, female ex-army women who seem to like to hang out in mausoleums.
Which brings me to the two new characters, Tim (aka Child Rambo) and Rocky, one of the aforementioned army gals with a fondness for nunchakus. Both add some interesting action to the film and buck a few trends by not being the helpless child/damsel in distress, but their main purpose here is for comic relief and to spur the horny advances of one Reggie Bannister.
Back off, baldy.
There are a lot of returning series traditions here. The dwarves and the human minions are back, and this time we also have a new addition to the club of evil: Zombies. Yes, Phantasm III introduces zombies into the mix to further thwart our heroes. At this point it feels like our heroes already had too much to worry about without the added annoyance of the snarky walking dead, but I guess the thinking here is that you can never have too many enemies.
Oh, and the spheres are back.
And there are a lot of them.
Like, A LOT.
Phantasm III also had the obligatory expansion of the stories ideas and themes, with a hint about the inner workings of the spheres.
Whether everything thrown into the mix of Phantasm III works is going to end up as a matter of taste. It has as many high points as it does low points and there are small instances where the budget starts to show (thought they aren’t nearly as laughably bad as the first film.) Those who enjoyed the first two movies will find something to enjoy here (and probably be pissed off by the ending.) It’s still fun and creepy and a little corny, but people who found nothing enjoyable in anything previous should look elsewhere. Those who did like the first two films will likely enjoy this one just as much.
Phantasm IV: Oblivion
While I’m pretty sure I saw the third film I know I haven’t seen Phantasm IV before. I wasn’t even sure I was going to be able to see it, what with the high DVD prices and all (this poor series really needs a new collection), but I’ll be damned if I didn’t find a VHS copy at my local thrift store. On top of that it was brand-damn-new. Still had the MGM imprint on the bottom of the cellophane. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve opened up a new VHS tape? I certainly couldn’t tell you. So not only did I manage to find part IV, but I also got to relive a little, unrelated moment of nostalgia.
Anyway, onward to part four!
Mike goes off on his own to try to find a way to defeat The Tall Man, forcing Reggie to go (on another long car trip) after him. Along the way Reggie encounters zombies and a stranded motorist, while Mike tries to learn about the The Tall Man and come up with a plan out in the dessert.
Even in the dessert Reggie finds all the hot babes.
Phantasm IV was released in 1998, 19 years after the original and this is the point in the series where low budget starts to show. The setting has been cut down to 90% dessert, and action scenes have been cut drastically. What is left we’ve seen before: car flip, explosion, aggressive dead things, and sphere attacks. Staples to be sure, but there’s nothing here that hasn’t been done several times in the series before, though perhaps if it had been new the toned down action could be more forgiving.
Instead Phantasm IV focuses more on the metaphysical style from the first and third films. But what it lacks in action, it tries to make up for in atmosphere. Mike’s sleepless dreams of the past, including unused flashbacks and alternate reality footage from the first Phantasm, is an interesting money saving technique. Watching new footage of a young and old Mike, both of whom are unmistakably played by the same actor is both intriguing and a little unsettling.
Dear Diary…
The biggest problem with Phantasm IV is the big build up that results in zero answers. The story starts off suggesting a quest for these answers (Who is the Tall Man? What makes him Tick? Why is he so fixated on Mike?), but in the end we know no more than we did during Phantasm III. Coscarelli doesn’t give up anything and the surreal moments and lack of narrative progression suggests that either he isn’t even sure where this is going or he wants viewers to make their own interpretation. The scene at the end suggests the later, but at this point it’s hard to tell.
One of my other gripes with the movie is how they handled the exit of Tim. Or perhaps I should say how they didn’t handle it, since there’s no mention of him in the fourth installment whatsoever. No one says his name, no one mourns his death(?) and he’s not even covered in a flashback. There’s nothing. Nadda. Zip. I mean, I get why he’s not in it. After four/five years he was probably too old and pimply to fit the part anymore, but he could have at least gotten a mention. Hell, even Liz got a fake decapitated head as a sendoff.
Phantasm IV is definitely the weakest in the series. It uses the constraints thrust upon it by its low budget to play to the series strengths, but in the end much of its story comes off as empty filler. It certainly has its moments, but the ground it covers is too rehashed and unfocused. Top that off with one of the vaguest of vague endings and there’s a good chance you’ll end up either hurting yourself by thinking too hard or wanting to tear your hair out with the knowledge that there is still a mountain of unanswered questions that you haven’t been given an answer to.
But maybe…
You will be….
One can only hope we get some kind of conclusive ending. Angus Scrimm is 88 years old and considering the series impressive character continuity, I’m afraid we’re going to have to settle for either a new Tall Man or a reboot if they try to string it along for a sixth chapter. If that happens I may have to send them a letter bomb in the shape of a giant silver sphere…
You know, I think I’ve seen this before. It certainly seems familiar, but I couldn’t give you a time frame of when I actually viewed it. If I did it was probably on SciFi before SyFy came along and started to suck.
Phantasm III picks up immediately after the end of the last installment. Reggie and Mike are still trying to defeat the Tall Man, except this time Mike manages to get his ass captured and it falls to Reggie to not only find and save his friend, but to stop the demented morticians evil deeds as well.
Casting off the chains of the larger companies, Phantasm III returns to the series roots, reintroducing the more dream oriented elements from the first film. It also incorporates many of the action elements introduced in the second film, giving the third installment a nice balance between the action and chills.
Despite the smaller budget, the decrease in funds does little to affect the visual quality of the film. Less money, in this case, did not necessarily mean cheaper visual effects. By this point the filmmakers were adding in some digital effects and blending them into the more practical camera techniques, making much of the film look visually on par, if not better than, its immediate predecessor.
With those damn spheres flying around, people need to pay more attention where they’re going in these movies.
Michael Baldwin returns in this installment to reprise his role as Mike, his return handled with some clever costuming and editing. Not that you actually get much time to spend with him. Not too long after his return he’s promptly whisked away by The Tall Man and effectively drops off the face of the earth for 3/5ths of the story.
Welcome ba-…Aaaaand he’s gone again. Well, that was short.
It’s at this point in time when the series subtitle can effectively be changed to, “Reggie Takes A Road Trip,” because that pretty much summarized a good chunk of not only this film, but the next one as well. With Mike gone, Reggie takes center stage and the more screen time he has the more it becomes clear that he is this series Bruce Campbell (Not at all a bad thing.) His cross-country search for his absconded friend is surprisingly unhurried and often interrupted by a series of encounters with looters, gun crazed children and two, female ex-army women who seem to like to hang out in mausoleums.
Which brings me to the two new characters, Tim (aka Child Rambo) and Rocky, one of the aforementioned army gals with a fondness for nunchakus. Both add some interesting action to the film and buck a few trends by not being the helpless child/damsel in distress, but their main purpose here is for comic relief and to spur the horny advances of one Reggie Bannister.
Back off, baldy.
There are a lot of returning series traditions here. The dwarves and the human minions are back, and this time we also have a new addition to the club of evil: Zombies. Yes, Phantasm III introduces zombies into the mix to further thwart our heroes. At this point it feels like our heroes already had too much to worry about without the added annoyance of the snarky walking dead, but I guess the thinking here is that you can never have too many enemies.
Oh, and the spheres are back.
And there are a lot of them.
Like, A LOT.
Phantasm III also had the obligatory expansion of the stories ideas and themes, with a hint about the inner workings of the spheres.
Whether everything thrown into the mix of Phantasm III works is going to end up as a matter of taste. It has as many high points as it does low points and there are small instances where the budget starts to show (thought they aren’t nearly as laughably bad as the first film.) Those who enjoyed the first two movies will find something to enjoy here (and probably be pissed off by the ending.) It’s still fun and creepy and a little corny, but people who found nothing enjoyable in anything previous should look elsewhere. Those who did like the first two films will likely enjoy this one just as much.
Phantasm IV: Oblivion
While I’m pretty sure I saw the third film I know I haven’t seen Phantasm IV before. I wasn’t even sure I was going to be able to see it, what with the high DVD prices and all (this poor series really needs a new collection), but I’ll be damned if I didn’t find a VHS copy at my local thrift store. On top of that it was brand-damn-new. Still had the MGM imprint on the bottom of the cellophane. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve opened up a new VHS tape? I certainly couldn’t tell you. So not only did I manage to find part IV, but I also got to relive a little, unrelated moment of nostalgia.
Anyway, onward to part four!
Mike goes off on his own to try to find a way to defeat The Tall Man, forcing Reggie to go (on another long car trip) after him. Along the way Reggie encounters zombies and a stranded motorist, while Mike tries to learn about the The Tall Man and come up with a plan out in the dessert.
Even in the dessert Reggie finds all the hot babes.
Phantasm IV was released in 1998, 19 years after the original and this is the point in the series where low budget starts to show. The setting has been cut down to 90% dessert, and action scenes have been cut drastically. What is left we’ve seen before: car flip, explosion, aggressive dead things, and sphere attacks. Staples to be sure, but there’s nothing here that hasn’t been done several times in the series before, though perhaps if it had been new the toned down action could be more forgiving.
Instead Phantasm IV focuses more on the metaphysical style from the first and third films. But what it lacks in action, it tries to make up for in atmosphere. Mike’s sleepless dreams of the past, including unused flashbacks and alternate reality footage from the first Phantasm, is an interesting money saving technique. Watching new footage of a young and old Mike, both of whom are unmistakably played by the same actor is both intriguing and a little unsettling.
Dear Diary…
The biggest problem with Phantasm IV is the big build up that results in zero answers. The story starts off suggesting a quest for these answers (Who is the Tall Man? What makes him Tick? Why is he so fixated on Mike?), but in the end we know no more than we did during Phantasm III. Coscarelli doesn’t give up anything and the surreal moments and lack of narrative progression suggests that either he isn’t even sure where this is going or he wants viewers to make their own interpretation. The scene at the end suggests the later, but at this point it’s hard to tell.
One of my other gripes with the movie is how they handled the exit of Tim. Or perhaps I should say how they didn’t handle it, since there’s no mention of him in the fourth installment whatsoever. No one says his name, no one mourns his death(?) and he’s not even covered in a flashback. There’s nothing. Nadda. Zip. I mean, I get why he’s not in it. After four/five years he was probably too old and pimply to fit the part anymore, but he could have at least gotten a mention. Hell, even Liz got a fake decapitated head as a sendoff.
Phantasm IV is definitely the weakest in the series. It uses the constraints thrust upon it by its low budget to play to the series strengths, but in the end much of its story comes off as empty filler. It certainly has its moments, but the ground it covers is too rehashed and unfocused. Top that off with one of the vaguest of vague endings and there’s a good chance you’ll end up either hurting yourself by thinking too hard or wanting to tear your hair out with the knowledge that there is still a mountain of unanswered questions that you haven’t been given an answer to.
But maybe…
You will be….
One can only hope we get some kind of conclusive ending. Angus Scrimm is 88 years old and considering the series impressive character continuity, I’m afraid we’re going to have to settle for either a new Tall Man or a reboot if they try to string it along for a sixth chapter. If that happens I may have to send them a letter bomb in the shape of a giant silver sphere…
-
noiseredux
- Next-Gen
- Posts: 38148
- Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2008 1:09 pm
- Contact:
Re: Month of Horror V: the Seed of dsheinem & noiseredux
Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings
It has Punky Brewster, Linnea Quigley and the dad from Hellraiser.
It's not nearly as creepy as the original. It got a sort of 90's makeover. But it's fun. And if you're a fan of the series, it's worth seeing.
Too bad SiFi Channel took over the other sequels. :\
Re: Month of Horror V: the Seed of dsheinem & noiseredux
It's Friday night, my girlfriend is out of town, and I have no plans. What to do?
MOVIE MARATHON!
School of the Holy Beast
When I said earlier that I enjoyed nunsploitation, I meant it, and School of the Holy Beast delivers. A woman infiltrates a nunnery to find out about the parents that supposedly abandoned or orphaned her and in the process discovers sadism, corruption, thievery, homosexuality, and torture are pretty much what nuns do in Japan. To top it off, what happened with her parents is a terrible secret concealed by the matron of the convent and a Japanese priest who gave up on God years ago when he survived the atomic blast at Nagasaki. Yes, this movie is a criticism on Christianity, but it can also be seen as a criticism of Western culture or of humanity in general. The important thing is God isn't here. Oh, and go to the bathroom before you watch the film. Trust me, it's important.
Friday the 13th
I made sure to watch this classic for the 13th horror film of the month. And yes, I will spoil this movie entirely. If you haven't seen it or don't know what happens in it at least, get out of this thread and go watch it right now.
First of all, let me say that I see this movie having two parts separated by the on screen appearance of Pamela Voorhees. The cinematography, the mood, all of this changes when she arrives, making it the critical moment of the film. Before her appearance, the camera angles are voyeuristic, as if stalking the camp counselors at Crystal Lake. Sometimes they are the representation of what Pamela sees. Sometimes it is a trick, meant to play with the audience but helping to give a constant feeling of dread, that the counselors are never alone. And they're not, as they are picked off one by one with stealthy ease. There is a creeping doom, as each one succumbs to an unseen predator, and we occasionally see their demises through Pamela's eyes. This is the best part of the film, and I genuinely loved how it was handled, with each shocking giallo-esque murder.
And then Pamela appears, and we watch as what was her stealthy hunting turns into a frantic chase, punctuated by moments where Alice fends her off and flees, only to hide and be discovered. After the initial reveal, this is where I see the film at its weakest. Alice manages to beat down Pamela and escape three times before finally finishing the job on the fourth encounter. The squat woman isn't physically imposing, and while her madness is disturbing, Alice's repeated knocking her over and hitting her makes her into less of a threat. It feels too dragged out and repetitious, as each time Alice grabs some kind of weapon, knocks Pamela senseless, and then drops her weapon and runs away.
And a word of advice to our Final Girl: if I find a lady has murdered my friends and then attacks me with a knife, and I disarm her and knock her to the floor while wielding a fire poker, screw running away! I'm gonna beat her with that fire poker until I'm beating wet chunks of bone into the floor! And then I will be the slasher in the sequel as I hunt down every person that lady has ever loved and beat them into the floor with the same fire poker! HOW'S THAT FOR A SEQUEL?!
Friday the 13th Part 2
Yep, I watched them back to back. Thank goodness for you, Jason Voorhees, you're far more menacing than your mother. And while you don't have your trademark hockey mask yet, your outfit is more than a little reminiscent of the Phantom Killer in The Town That Dreaded Sundown. The director even focuses on your shoes repeatedly in a similar fashion, while also capitalizing on the same first person stalking view of the original film, sometimes in the same scene!
Yes, there's a lot of the same things in the sequel that I enjoyed about the first film, but this time coupled with a much greater threat in Jason. He starts by avenging his mother, and from there everyone is a sacrifice for the shrine he has built to her head. I like this movie more than the first, for giving us the real series antagonist, but also for building successfully on the best parts of the original and doing so in a way that is effective and disturbing, especially since we already know the killer's identity. Now the first person view is there to shock and horrify us as we have to see the murders through Jason's one exposed eye without any chance to ponder whose eyes we are looking through. There is no break, there is only murder, one that the audience has to witness and take part in.
For me, the standout scene in the film is the murder of Vicki, who discovers Jason hiding in a bloody bed. The view of the kitchen knife, the bruised thumbnail, the slow stalk toward Vicki as she screams and cowers, all of it reminds me of a Dario Argento film, but with a better ending.
MOVIE MARATHON!
School of the Holy Beast
When I said earlier that I enjoyed nunsploitation, I meant it, and School of the Holy Beast delivers. A woman infiltrates a nunnery to find out about the parents that supposedly abandoned or orphaned her and in the process discovers sadism, corruption, thievery, homosexuality, and torture are pretty much what nuns do in Japan. To top it off, what happened with her parents is a terrible secret concealed by the matron of the convent and a Japanese priest who gave up on God years ago when he survived the atomic blast at Nagasaki. Yes, this movie is a criticism on Christianity, but it can also be seen as a criticism of Western culture or of humanity in general. The important thing is God isn't here. Oh, and go to the bathroom before you watch the film. Trust me, it's important.
Friday the 13th
I made sure to watch this classic for the 13th horror film of the month. And yes, I will spoil this movie entirely. If you haven't seen it or don't know what happens in it at least, get out of this thread and go watch it right now.
First of all, let me say that I see this movie having two parts separated by the on screen appearance of Pamela Voorhees. The cinematography, the mood, all of this changes when she arrives, making it the critical moment of the film. Before her appearance, the camera angles are voyeuristic, as if stalking the camp counselors at Crystal Lake. Sometimes they are the representation of what Pamela sees. Sometimes it is a trick, meant to play with the audience but helping to give a constant feeling of dread, that the counselors are never alone. And they're not, as they are picked off one by one with stealthy ease. There is a creeping doom, as each one succumbs to an unseen predator, and we occasionally see their demises through Pamela's eyes. This is the best part of the film, and I genuinely loved how it was handled, with each shocking giallo-esque murder.
And then Pamela appears, and we watch as what was her stealthy hunting turns into a frantic chase, punctuated by moments where Alice fends her off and flees, only to hide and be discovered. After the initial reveal, this is where I see the film at its weakest. Alice manages to beat down Pamela and escape three times before finally finishing the job on the fourth encounter. The squat woman isn't physically imposing, and while her madness is disturbing, Alice's repeated knocking her over and hitting her makes her into less of a threat. It feels too dragged out and repetitious, as each time Alice grabs some kind of weapon, knocks Pamela senseless, and then drops her weapon and runs away.
And a word of advice to our Final Girl: if I find a lady has murdered my friends and then attacks me with a knife, and I disarm her and knock her to the floor while wielding a fire poker, screw running away! I'm gonna beat her with that fire poker until I'm beating wet chunks of bone into the floor! And then I will be the slasher in the sequel as I hunt down every person that lady has ever loved and beat them into the floor with the same fire poker! HOW'S THAT FOR A SEQUEL?!
Friday the 13th Part 2
Yep, I watched them back to back. Thank goodness for you, Jason Voorhees, you're far more menacing than your mother. And while you don't have your trademark hockey mask yet, your outfit is more than a little reminiscent of the Phantom Killer in The Town That Dreaded Sundown. The director even focuses on your shoes repeatedly in a similar fashion, while also capitalizing on the same first person stalking view of the original film, sometimes in the same scene!
Yes, there's a lot of the same things in the sequel that I enjoyed about the first film, but this time coupled with a much greater threat in Jason. He starts by avenging his mother, and from there everyone is a sacrifice for the shrine he has built to her head. I like this movie more than the first, for giving us the real series antagonist, but also for building successfully on the best parts of the original and doing so in a way that is effective and disturbing, especially since we already know the killer's identity. Now the first person view is there to shock and horrify us as we have to see the murders through Jason's one exposed eye without any chance to ponder whose eyes we are looking through. There is no break, there is only murder, one that the audience has to witness and take part in.
For me, the standout scene in the film is the murder of Vicki, who discovers Jason hiding in a bloody bed. The view of the kitchen knife, the bruised thumbnail, the slow stalk toward Vicki as she screams and cowers, all of it reminds me of a Dario Argento film, but with a better ending.
Re: Month of Horror V: the Seed of dsheinem & noiseredux
You guys have no idea how geeked I am for Phantasm V. It will supposedly answer all the questions and tie up the loose ends.
Re: Month of Horror V: the Seed of dsheinem & noiseredux
This was an enjoyable thriller about a single mother (played by Elisabeth Shue) and her daughter (played by Jennifer Lawrence) who have just moved into a house in a new neighborhood which they were only able to afford because it neighbors a house where some notorious murders happened by a young girl who killed her parents and fled. The neighbors all complain about the house dropping their property values while being unkind to the son who survived and continues to live in the house, and they spread rumors that the girl lives in the woods nearby. Jennifer Lawrence's character sympathizes with the son, but is there something to the rumors?
This movie did a nice job of twisting the plot in some unexpected ways and it is a competent, though not quite excellent, thriller. The two leading ladies are great, especially Elisabeth Shue (aka Karate Kid's girlfriend) who is looking impressively hot at age 49 and plays the concerned but fallible parent role great. The movie meanders a lot and there is some weird editing, sort of like you would see in the trailer for a horror movie with lots of flashing white lights and jerky camera cuts. It feels forced inside the film. The plot has some implausible moments, particularly the idea that a person would become psychopathically homicidal following a mild traumatic brain injury, though this gets explained away later in the movie, but only by a plot twist that leaves you with more implausibility than answers.
There's nothing that truly stands out about the movie to make it a solid recommendation, but ultimately I enjoyed watching it and was actually surprised by the plot twists and enjoyed the actors.
Last edited by J T on Sat Oct 11, 2014 1:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
My contributions to the Racketboy site:
Browser Games ... Free PC Games ... Mixtapes ... Doujin Games ... SotC Poetry
Browser Games ... Free PC Games ... Mixtapes ... Doujin Games ... SotC Poetry
-
noiseredux
- Next-Gen
- Posts: 38148
- Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2008 1:09 pm
- Contact:
Re: Month of Horror V: the Seed of dsheinem & noiseredux
I'm also watching American Horror Story. The latest 4th season of the show has introduced the scariest clown since Pennywise.
See his horrifying introduction on the show here (don't worry, it doesn't spoil anything to the overall plot):
http://gawker.com/is-this-the-scariest- ... 1644352012
See his horrifying introduction on the show here (don't worry, it doesn't spoil anything to the overall plot):
http://gawker.com/is-this-the-scariest- ... 1644352012
My contributions to the Racketboy site:
Browser Games ... Free PC Games ... Mixtapes ... Doujin Games ... SotC Poetry
Browser Games ... Free PC Games ... Mixtapes ... Doujin Games ... SotC Poetry
Re: Month of Horror V: the Seed of dsheinem & noiseredux
With enough makeup, yes.
My contributions to the Racketboy site:
Browser Games ... Free PC Games ... Mixtapes ... Doujin Games ... SotC Poetry
Browser Games ... Free PC Games ... Mixtapes ... Doujin Games ... SotC Poetry