noiseredux Presents THE MONTH OF HORROR (2015) (remake)

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Re: noiseredux Presents THE MONTH OF HORROR (2015) (remake)

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Sorority House Massacre II

You know how yesterday I posted my thoughts on Sorority House Massacre being surprisingly unexploitative, with limited nudity, sexuality, and excessive violence, intelligent characters whose behavior was understandable, and a plot that was heavily inspired by the greats of its genre? Sorority House Massacre II goes entirely in the opposite direction. But then what should I have expected from a movie where a bunch of porn stars and Playboy bunnies spend the night acting as sorority girls in an old murder house? There's lots of nudity, there's lots of blood, there's bad acting and even worse production quality. The only real similarity between this movie and the first is that they feature sorority girls getting killed.

A bunch of sorority girls from an unnamed sorority decide to spend the night in a house that will become their new sorority house so they can be there when the utilities folks and the movers arrive. Unfortunately this house has a creepy neighbor and a creepy history, home to a set of brutal murders by a man named Hokstedter, who slaughtered his whole family. Hokstedter died, but the girls decide to pull out an Ouija board and call out to him. The next thing they know, they're getting hooked to death, possibly by the creepy neighbor who might be the real killer from before! Or not. I'm gonna ruin it, Hokstedter's ghost has possessed one of the young ladies. It doesn't matter, it doesn't make much sense when watching the film. You're probably not watching this for the plot anyway.

No, you're probably watching this because it features a bunch of porn stars running around in lace underwear for 2/3 of the movie. That's not a joke either, these ladies get naked around 20 minutes in, and by the 30 minute mark they're wearing underwear and negligees. It's an 80 minute movie. The other remaining minutes not spent on sexy starlets in thong panties are spent on a subplot with a couple of dumb cops who think that the creepy neighbor is really the killer and then visit a strip club. Look, the whole script was written over a weekend, ok?

Ok, so the script is bad and the acting is worse, but you know what else this movie does? It steals footage directly from the first Slumber Party Massacre and then attempts to completely repackage it by claiming it has a totally different plot. It also claims that Slumber Party Massacre was set in the same house DESPITE OBVIOUSLY BEING A DIFFERENT BUILDING! It tries to make up for this with blood and guts, but even here it fails. In one scene a woman gets killed just off screen by a big ol' meat hook, and blood sprays the walls. The only problem is you can see the shadow of the guy holding the tube that shoots blood in the corner of the screen. Later, another of our nubile co-eds steps in a bear trap and gets dragged away by our killer, but for half a second as she is pulled back, we can see her foot again, magically sans trap or injury!

To put it bluntly, Sorority House Massacre II is one of those beautiful train wrecks, where you just can't look away...mainly because let's face it, there are a lot of shots of hot porn stars running around in their skimpy underwear and getting soaking wet in the rain. I know, it's a bad, sexist movie, it's still a fantasy, don't judge me! Oh, but surprisingly there is no actual sex in this movie, so I guess I have to give it credit there. I think.

Anyway, OCTOBER HORROR MOVIE MARATHON COMPLETE! I'll go over my list later and break it all down, but this is 31 out of 31 films. God, I love October.

My progress so far:
31/31 *COMPLETE*

Zombi 3
Halloween II
Hellbound: Hellraiser II
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning
Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives
Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood
Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan
Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday
Jason X
Amityville 3-D
Amityville 4: The Evil Escapes
House 4
Prom Night
Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II
Silent Night, Deadly Night
Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2
A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge
Prom Night III: The Last Kiss
Basket Case 2
Basket Case 3: The Progeny
The Slumber Party Massacre
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
Carnosaur 2
Sleepaway Camp
Slumber Party Massacre II
Slumber Party Massacre III
Zombie 5: Killing Birds
A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare
Sorority House Massacre
Sorority House Massacre II
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Re: noiseredux Presents THE MONTH OF HORROR (2015) (remake)

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Ack wrote: To put it bluntly, Sorority House Massacre II is one of those beautiful train wrecks, where you just can't look away...
For a minute there I thought you were gonna say you didn't like it, but yeah this sentence sums it up for me as well. A good bad movie.

Anyway, OCTOBER HORROR MOVIE MARATHON COMPLETE!
Damn, congrats!
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Re: noiseredux Presents THE MONTH OF HORROR (2015) (remake)

Post by prfsnl_gmr »

noiseredux wrote:
Anyway, OCTOBER HORROR MOVIE MARATHON COMPLETE!
Damn, congrats!
I love your reviews! Please don't stop, Ack! There are still four night left!
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Re: noiseredux Presents THE MONTH OF HORROR (2015) (remake)

Post by Michi »

Ack wrote:Anyway, OCTOBER HORROR MOVIE MARATHON COMPLETE!
Awesome! Goal achieved with a few days to spare.







Dark Vision
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It's more of a saunter than a "Rise", actually.

The Dark Vision internet Hub has set up a streaming online competition. Five teams compete in a paranormal competition, streaming their activities to the masses who will vote to choose the winner. The winner’s prize? Their very own series. Host Spencer Knights is one such contestant and he is willing to do just about anything, including putting his own crew in jeopardy, in order to win the coveted prize.

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In other words, he's the only one who gives a damn. Everyone else's experience can be summed up like this.

Dark Vision has an odd set up. The first thing you see is a blank screen where words are slowly typed in to reveal the short back story Dark Vision ‘competition’. I put that in quotes because you never actually see any of the other four supposed groups vying for the prize, though the blank screen does occasionally pop back up to tell you when other teams are out of the running.

Instead the film focuses solely on Knights and his crew’s production of Mind Full and their exploration of the Baylock home, or more precisely, the tunnels below it. It’s not a bad setting, all things considered. There’s a rather odd groundskeeper, a nice plague back-story, mentions of the occult and lots of dark, poorly lit tunnels. It’s an adequate set-up, but nothing that hasn’t been seen before.

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No, not even you, screeching death-child.

All the characters are pretty believable, if not the most bright or likable. Knight himself is a complete a$$, the type of character who seems tailor made to do nothing but piss off the audience. He’s pompous and manipulative and the kind of person the viewer wishes a gruesome death upon before the first scene has even ended. That he ends up eventually seeing the error of his ways and seems genuinely upset by it, comes as too little, too late.

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The British accent does him no favors.

Everyone else just muddles along, initially just trying to get the damn production over with, but later shifting to just trying to stay alive. The exception to this is Clem, the groundskeeper, who not only steals the show (not really difficult with how dull the other characters are), but also walks away with not only the creepiest scene, but also adds layers of both humor and honor, two elements sorely lacking in the rest of the production.

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Shockingly, the most interesting and capable person in the entire film.

One of the better aspects of this film is the choice of imagery for the ghost- uh, demon, er,- well, whatever the hell it is, it jumped around a bit. It’s simple, sure, and the look of the bird-like plague mask can initially come across as a little goofy, but by using it sparingly I think they pulled off its execution quite nicely.

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Being primarily centered around a ‘reality’ show, the film is presented in a multitude of different ways, including TV-like fixed camera angles, hand held cameras, traditional shots and yes, shaky cam. This is one of the things I wish the film would have just made a decision on and stuck with. At first I assumed it was going to be shown in a reality show docu-style, but then they just went for a little bit of everything and I felt that short of muddled what they were going for.

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At the end of the day, Dark Vision’s greatest sin is that it’s just sort of…dull. The atmosphere was great and visually, the movie looked pretty good, but at the same time the setting was familiar. The acting is fully competent, but you don’t know enough about the characters to understand their motivations or even care. The story is rather solid, but suffers from being over told. There isn’t anything new to grab your attention here. What the story boils down to is just another team of ghost hunters wandering around a haunted location who happen to stumble on exactly what they were looking (not looking) for. On top of that, one of the more interesting elements of the show, that there were four other team supposedly vying for the same prize, is completely washed over. Hell, I forgot all about them until the blank screen came up and helpfully reminded me.... Perhaps that was its sole purpose.

If you enjoy the ghost hunter, shaky-cam style of horror movie, than by all means, feel free to give this a go. If not, it’s probably better off skipped.
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Re: noiseredux Presents THE MONTH OF HORROR (2015) (remake)

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Sounds like it has been downhill for you since Town That Dreaded...
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Re: noiseredux Presents THE MONTH OF HORROR (2015) (remake)

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noiseredux wrote:Sounds like it has been downhill for you since Town That Dreaded...
:lol: That's not completely true. I very much enjoyed Theatre of Blood, and Terror Vision was fun despite some of its more muddled aspects. But I agree, the last two 'shots in the dark' were a bit poorly aimed. I tried, Origins, I really did...

I have confidence the last two I have lined up will be more enjoyable. Though no matter how much I like them The Town That Dreaded Sundown will still walk away this year with the prize of "Most Shockingly Enjoyable Film That I Didn't See Coming."
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Re: noiseredux Presents THE MONTH OF HORROR (2015) (remake)

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Yeah that was out of left field. Glad you recommended it.
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Re: noiseredux Presents THE MONTH OF HORROR (2015) (remake)

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Are you a fan of art nouveau art and architecture? Did you ever watch one of Mario Bava's most stylistically daring giallo films and wish he had done away entirely with the plot? Are you curious what Suspiria would look like after dropping acid? Then you will love:
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(Potentially NSFW poster!)

The Strange Color of You Body's Tears (2013). This surreal Belgian production is an homage to the most daring giallo films, and it consists almost entirely of psychedelic imagery, prog rock, and jarring sound effects. Despite its complete lack of a discernible plot, it nonetheless held my attention for its nearly 100 minute running time, and I certainly prefer it to some of the other surreal films I have watched recently. Moreover, the building where they filmed it is beautiful, and the set design is fantastic. The cinematographer's tricks become a bit stale by the end of the film, and I never did figure out the killer's identity (or any of the character's motivations, really). Accordingly, if you are looking for a great horror film, you should probably skip it. (If you are still curious about it, however, you can stream it on Netflix.)

prfsnl_gmr's 2015 LIST OF TERROR!
1. Stephen King's Children of the Corn (1984) - :(
2. I Walked with a Zombie (1942) - :D
3. Village of the Damned (1960) - :)
4. The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014) - :(
5. Late Phases (2014) - :)
6. Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (1988) - :)
7. Genocide (1968) - :|
8. The Pact (2012) - :)
9. The Body Snatcher (1945) - :D
10. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985) - :)
11. The Town That Dreaded Sundown (2014) - :D
12. Burnt Offerings (1976) - :D
13. Bug (2006) - :|
14. Oculus (2013) - :D
15. Berberian Sound Studio (2012) - :)
16. Silent Night, Bloody Night (1972) - :|
17. Starry Eyes (2014) - :D
18. Fiend Without a Face (1958) - :)
19. Cure (1997) - :D
20. House of 1000 Corpses (2003) - :)
21. The Strange Color of You Body's Tears (2013) - :|
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Re: noiseredux Presents THE MONTH OF HORROR (2015) (remake)

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If you are so inclined:

No cheating...Seriously, don't cheat. No google, no yahoo, nada, zilch. The Winner will receive the coveted "Know it all" reward.

1) Place these candies in the chronological order of their release:
-Hershey Bar
-Tootsie Roll
-Juicy Fruit
-Necco Wafers

2) What was Ichabod Crane's profession?

3) What U.S State was the first to have a statewide official Halloween celebration?

4) From most to least, how many people died last year from...
-Falling out of bed
-Hippo attacks
-Ants
-Texting while driving

5) Place these classic Universal horror movies in chronological order of their release:
-Dracula
-Frankenstein
-Phantom of the Opera
-The Wolfman

6) Which television horror/comedy series was released first?
-The Munsters
-The Addam's Family

7) Vincent Price has voiced and starred in over 200 motion pictures. What major motion picture did he last star in physical form before his demise?

Good Luck.

Count Lukie Spadookie
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Re: noiseredux Presents THE MONTH OF HORROR (2015) (remake)

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I'm not through with watching horror movies of course, but since the marathon is now officially through, I think it's time I do some breakdowns of what I watched. Here is the list in order of how I watched it:
Zombi 3
Halloween II
Hellbound: Hellraiser II
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning
Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives
Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood
Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan
Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday
Jason X
Amityville 3-D
Amityville 4: The Evil Escapes
House 4
Prom Night
Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II
Silent Night, Deadly Night
Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2
A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge
Prom Night III: The Last Kiss
Basket Case 2
Basket Case 3: The Progeny
The Slumber Party Massacre
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
Carnosaur 2
Sleepaway Camp
Slumber Party Massacre II
Slumber Party Massacre III
Zombie 5: Killing Birds
A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare
Sorority House Massacre
Sorority House Massacre II
=============================================================

These are the series which I watched a film from(in alphabetical order), along with breakdowns of how many in the series I have seen. The total numbers include spin-offs and remakes, though not all of the mislabeled entries in a few cases(I'm looking at you, Zombi):
Amityville Horror - 3/13[14 is in the works]: I have seen the 1st, 3rd, and 4th films. I don't understand how these keep getting made. So far the series is synonymous with boredom.

Basket Case - 3/3: I've now seen them all! Woo!

Carnosaur - 2/5: I have seen the first two. The last two films are technically spin-offs, but I count them.

Friday the 13th - 11/12: At this point only Freddy vs. Jason is left, but I refuse to watch it until I've seen Wes Craven's New Nightmare.

Halloween - 4/10: I've only seen 1, 2, 3, and H20.

Hellraiser - 2/9: I've seen 1 and 2. I hear that's all I need to see.

House - 3/4: I've seen 1, 2, and 4, but not The Horror Show.

Massacre Series - 5/7: This is a weird, amorphous series. I think there are only 7 in total: 3 Slumber Party Massacres, 3 Sorority House Massacres(including Hard to Die), and 1 Cheerleader Massacre. The confusion comes from a bunch of other films using the word "Massacre," like Hospital Massacre, as well as the movie Hard to Die not using the word while another supposed Sorority House Massacre 3 was filmed but never released.

A Nightmare on Elm Street - 6/9: I've seen 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6...but I also own New Nightmare and Freddy vs. Jason, so don't think I won't be watching them eventually!

Prom Night - 3/5: 1, 2, and 3 are down. Not sure if I'll ever track down 4 or the remake.

Silent Night, Deadly Night - 2/5: Yeah, I know, it's Christmas in October. I've now seen the first two.

Sleepaway Camp - 1/5: Now I can at least say I've seen the first.

Zombie Series - 4/5: I'm counting Dawn of the Dead, Zombi 2, Zombi 3, After Death, and Killing Birds. The only one of those I have not seen is After Death.
=============================================================

The end result is that I only managed to polish off one series(Basket Case) this year, but I'm now very close to seeing all of several more horror franchises. Since the purpose of this year's marathon was to visit the longer series and try to knock them out, I think I've done a good thing in filling out some gaps in my horror knowledge. That's no excuse to quit though. Expect to see me continue on with more movies in the future.

Best film of the lot? I can't really say, as there were several I ended up liking a lot. I recommend almost all of them...

...Almost. It's tough to say, "Yeah, Silent Night, Deadly Night 2 is worth checking out." That simply isn't true, unless you want to laugh at a truly awful movie. I dislike Jason X more than Jason Takes Manhattan, but I really dislike both. And though Amityville 4 is the best I've seen in that series so far, it's still about a freaking lamp monster.

I don't know if I'll do a theme next year. Heck, I could go back to this theme again to watch more in the big franchises, as there are some series I haven't even touched yet. But next time I might also add some stipulations and discuss what makes a franchise worth considering. I also highly recommend doing something like this in the future, guys. You discover the highs and lows of the big names, find out about the numerous little titles that somehow managed to see release after release, and occasionally you find a real gem.

Or you could simply go with another theme. Try coming up with 31 movies you have not seen in these groups:

Zombie films
Werewolf films
Vampire films
Slasher films
Giant Monster films
Black and White horror
Horror Comedy
Cannibal films
Killer Animal films
Haunted House films
Religious Horror films
Scifi Horror films
Killer Robot films
Killer Alien films
Torture films
Killer Bug films
Foreign/Non-US films

You may well end up finding some awesome movies as a result.
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