Month of Horror V: the Seed of dsheinem & noiseredux

[Jagosaurus]

Any1 like the Hatchet trilogy?

I keep reading reviews on how it's old in the style of school slasher. Any truth to this?

Also... parts 2 & 3 have Danielle Harris. As always, bonus points.

[noiseredux]

Any1 like the Hatchet trilogy?

I keep reading reviews on how it's old in the style of school slasher. Any truth to this?

Also... parts 2 & 3 have Danielle Harris. As always, bonus points.

the first one is pretty good. Second is better. Haven't seen the third yet.

[Jagosaurus]

Any1 like the Hatchet trilogy?

I keep reading reviews on how it's old in the style of school slasher. Any truth to this?

Also... parts 2 & 3 have Danielle Harris. As always, bonus points.

the first one is pretty good. Second is better. Haven't seen the third yet.

Hm, a better sequel in the recent horror era.... I'm definitely interested now.

[Michi]

Peoples' thoughts on movies seem to be getting pretty short in this thread...It makes me feel like I'm trying too hard

No! Your reviews are immensely entertaining! Please keep up the good work.

@Michi: Sorry my posts have gotten so short. I tend to write them right after I watch a movie, so I'm tired and not really up for typing. :\ But we all enjoy your posts hardcore, I assure you.

Don't worry, guys. I'm just messing with you. It's true that I'd like you'alls thoughts of movies to be longer than one sentence, but I get it. Writing all your thoughts down after seeing something can be tiresome when you have a life (and more movies to watch). Believe me, I know. I've got a write-up done down below, but I'm still finishing off one that I hope to have up in the next day or so. Not to mention Trick r' Treat arrived last weekend, so I'm looking forward to that... I almost feel like I'm back at school and have multiple short essays due this week









Cronos



Ah, Guillermo Del Toro’s first full length film. I don’t know about you, but his name is associated with a bunch of stuff I like, so this seemed like a no brainer. I had high hopes for this and I was not disappointed.


Over 400 years ago, a brilliant alchemist fled Europe and settled in Mexico. His life’s goal: To perfect an invention that would grant him eternal life. He named his invention, the Cronos Devise.



Four hundred years later, part of a vault in a building collapses, killing and injuring several people. Among those killed is an old man, his chest pierced and his skin the color of a freshly cut slab of marble.

Fast forward a few decades and we meet our protagonist, Jesús Gris. Jesús lives a quiet life with his wife and granddaughter, Aurora. After a strange encounter with a youth at his store, Jesús finds the Cronos Device hidden in the base of an angel statue and, having no clue what he’s doing, activates it.

The mechanism injects something into him and he slowly becomes addicted to it. But he also starts looking younger and feels more energetic than he has in years. But all good things come with a price as Jesús develops an uncontrollable thirst for blood. Add into the mix the head of a shady corporation who will stop at nothing to get his hands on the device that he believes will cure him and his violent, foulmouthed nephew and poor Jesús is in for far more than he bargained for.



Cronos is like a combination of your atypical vampire movie and Hellraiser, minus the weird S&M. The term ‘vampire’ is never once uttered and Jesús is not what one would consider your typical movie vampire. He’s a calm, older gentleman with white hair and an established family that he loves dearly. There be no sparkly, angst-ridden teens or saving the world from a monstrous evil bent on sucking it dry here, thank you very much.


Clearly, he’s never seen Hellraiser. If he had he would have known that once the funny
device starts to move you drop that shit and get the f*&$ out.

The acting in the film is quite excellent, Federico Lupi in particular. He acts just about as anyone would expect a kindly old grandfather to act in the situation he finds himself in. Ron Perlman is fantastic is his role as the awkward human thug with a rinoplasty obsession. And Tamara Shanath, who plays his young granddaughter Aurora, may be the best granddaughter ever. She is just so inarguably sweet and smart and helpful (and good at being helpful) that she’s just too lovable not to like. She is by far one of the least annoying youngsters I’ve come across in the horror genre.


I see dead peop-… Oops. Wrong movie.

The movie doesn’t use cheap tricks to scare you and instead focuses on atmosphere, dark humor and believable dialogue to set the mood. The make-up effects are marvelous and there are no cheap looking devices or man-made set pieces here. Scenes shot outside are shot outside. Scenes in a warehouse are shot in a warehouse. As a result, everything feels very genuine, grounding the feel of a film that focuses on very unreal, fantasy-like situations.


Why'd he keep all of those? As a reminder of his failure? With all that and the mood lighting it's no wonder he's so pissed.

There is very little gore in Cronos. However, there are some very unsettling moments, such as when Jesús is so overcome with bloodlust he starts trying to lick blood off the sink and floor in a public bathroom. Or, for those of us who are squeamish about needles, when the Cronos Device slowly injects Jesús in the wrist.


What are you-…Oh, dude, NO! Unsanitary! Unsanitary!

The movies also got quite a bit of symbolism in it, the names standing out specifically. Cronos is an alternate spelling to Kronos, the mythical Greek god known for eating his children. Jesús should be a no-brainer and Aurora means ‘dawn.’ And that’s just off the top of my head. I’m sure there is quite a bit more.



I really enjoyed Cronos. It does its own thing and never conforms to the rules of the genre. It’s creepy and thoughtful and unsettling and compassionate all rolled into one. The horror isn’t thrown in your face, but subtly creeps along until it’s tragic conclusion. It’s less a tale about vampires and more a tale about a kindly old gentleman who finds himself in possession of a sinister device and quickly becomes a victim of its addictive powers and the ever-seductive idea of youth and immortality. It’s the kind of movie that I would gladly pick up the Criterion release for.

Ginger Snaps
The Relic
Phantasm
Phantasm II
Phantasm III
Phantasm IV
The Unnamable
Eyes of Laura Mars
Kolobos
Repulsion
Seed People
Cronos

[Michi]

Any1 like the Hatchet trilogy?

I keep reading reviews on how it's old in the style of school slasher. Any truth to this?

Also... parts 2 & 3 have Danielle Harris. As always, bonus points.

the first one is pretty good. Second is better. Haven't seen the third yet.

Hm, a better sequel in the recent horror era.... I'm definitely interested now.

The Hatchet series is good stuff. As Noise said, the second film is the high point, but they're all pretty solid.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Cronos

That is a very good movie. If it weren't for Hellboy II: The Golden Army, it would be my favorite Guillermo Del Toro film.

.....

Last night, I finished off:



and I enjoyed it quite a bit. At its core, the game is a servicable third-person shooter with an interesting "team" mechanic. (You only lose if all of the members of your party are knocked over, and helping the other Ghostbusters to their feet is critical to winning the game's most difficult battles). The writing and pacing elevate the game substantially, however. The game's script, which was written by Dan Akyroyd and the late Harlod Ramis, is genuinely funny and captures the spirit (pun intended) of the Ghostbusters movies perfectly. The voice actors include all of the films' primary cast, and the game recreates some of the films' most memorable settings. Most importantly, hunting for ghosts with the PKE meter and using your proton pack to capture them is very fun, and the game is just long enough not to wear out it welcome. (I was able to beat it and locate most of the hidden items in a little over eight hours.) My only complaint is that, while there is no in-game loading, the game does take an unreasonable amount of time to load if you fail a mission, and the game's jokes and wisecracks aren't nearly as funny when you are trying to get back to a frustrating battle for the third time. Accordingly - and if I were going to play through the game again - I would actually play it on the easiest difficulty setting. Most of the game's appeal comes from its excellent script and voice acting, and playing the game on the easiest setting is probably the best way to enjoy the game's strongest points.

[Ack]

The Fly II

The Fly is an incredible movie that provides both excellent body horror shocks and wonderful performances along with a stellar plot. It's sequel...not so much. Sure, it can be every bit as gross, but the script just isn't up to snuff of its Academy Award winning predecessor. That doesn't mean it's not worth checking out if you like monster movies, because the Martin Fly is quite imposing and an impressive looking puppet, both hideous and awesome. Once again, the makeup and practical effects are phenomenal.

But the film falters due to its bad script, which produces some bland characters. You have the "mean" scientists who are likely overworked. You have the head of security who is mean for no real reason. You have the evil CEO who wants to make money on mutation and will do anything to do it, including keeping alive a mutant dog...for some reason. It's not like they were studying him. And why did they literally throw him in a hole full of hay? There have been much better corporate boogeymen in 1980s scifi films(I'm looking at you, Dick Jones). I don't blame the actors: Garry Chalk does a smarmy rent-a-cop really well, and Eric Stoltz does a good job of coming across as highly intelligent but immature and naive. But despite that, they're playing caricatures of characters.

Still...nice acid spit.

30/31 - 1 to go!

La chute de la maison Usher
Werewolves on Wheels
Opera
Satánico pandemonium
The City of the Living Dead
The Town That Dreaded Sundown
The Sentinel
Silver Bullet
Tourist Trap
Dead & Buried
The Giant Gila Monster
School of the Holy Beast
Friday the 13th
Friday the 13th Part 2
The Entity
From Beyond
Burnt Offerings
The Company of Wolves
The Brain That Wouldn't Die
The Indestructible Man
Blacula
The Crawling Eye
Kwaidan
Mark of the Vampire
The Toolbox Murders
Halloween
Halloween III: Season of the Witch
Flesh for Frankenstein
Corruption
The Fly II

[noiseredux]

The Fly is an incredible movie that provides both excellent body horror shocks and wonderful performances along with a stellar plot. It's sequel...not so much.

probably cuz of the lack of Cronenberg.

[Ack]

The Fly is an incredible movie that provides both excellent body horror shocks and wonderful performances along with a stellar plot. It's sequel...not so much.

probably cuz of the lack of Cronenberg.

Definitely because of the lack of Cronenberg. And most of the original's cast. And different screenwriters.

That said, the director was special effects chief Chris Walas...hence why the effects are so good.

[Luke]

Double feature.

LITTLE MONSTERS & TEEN WOLF

I adore these two movies. Not much to say than they are highly entertaining, very silly, and are visual time capsules of a sort.