Racketboy Month of Horror 13

[REPO Man]

So, apparently The Simpsons decided to do TWO Halloween specials this year, one of which aired last night and served as a parody of the 2017 adaptation of Stephen King's It and its 2019 follow-up. They're still doing a proper Treehouse of Horror episode next week, with parodies of The Babadook, Death Note and Westworld, along with an appearance of John Roberts' Linda Belcher from the show "Bob's Burgers".

[PretentiousHipster]

Was curious to see Werewolf by Night as it's Marvel doing a horror, but I realized that Marvel meant a lot more than just superheroes, but rather a formula that they apply to their works. It really does not work for me.

American Movie was an obvious watch after Mike Schank recently died. Not a horror movie per-se, but a documentary about someone making a horror movie. A fantastic insight of a talented man full of personal demons, and it somehow becomes inspiring yet depressing at the same time.

What Josiah Saw seems to have gotten some hype as an in-depth psychological horror. It basically just felt like I was reading that garbage books in high school all over again.

Big Monster on Campus was, odd. One of Ryan Reynolds' first films, where he plays a goth highschool student that becomes the monster, after being resurrected by a student named Frank Stein. It was honestly just surreal humour at this point, so I of course loved it.

I will continue it more this week, but there is the Interview With a Vampire reboot, and it is just a complete masterpiece. A fantastic New Orleans setting, and the best depictions of both characters I've seen in the adaptations thus far.

I've been too busy with working on a video this month... that is why I haven't watched much.

[Michi]

Dr. Jekyll’s Dungeon of Death



Dr. Henry Jekyll, the great grandson of his namesake, is currently living in San Francisco and continuing his ancestor's experiments. Not on himself, mind you, but on other, unwilling participants. He has his goons kidnap people off the street, after which he injects them with chemicals that turn them into mindless, rage-filled puppets, and then has them beat up on one another. Oh, and he also has his assistant drugged and tied up in his bedroom.

That's it, really. That's the whole movie. It's a weird combination of exploitation/horror/martial arts film. Which, you'd think would sounds kind of fun, but the karate sections end up being slow and tedious, and the exploitation portions are, well, pretty much non-existent (don't let those near-naked ladies on the poster fool you). The acting is over-the-top, dialogue is obnoxiously repetitive, and there's really not all that much in the way of plot, to the point where the initial story-line introduced to the audience gets completely forgotten about half-way through the film. But on the plus side, the gothic atmosphere is lovely, and the lead actor chews more scenery than a family of woodchucks, so I can't say I wasn't at least mildly entertained.

But only mildly.

[REPO Man]

Watched Doom Asylum today. I watched it through the Arrow Streaming app, which thankfully allows for syncing videos for offline playback.

It's basically a big, dumb 80s slasher set in a decrepit insane asylum where two groups of young teens get picked off one-by-one by a horribly disfigured killer who literally looks like a zombie. Story's basic and the characters aren't necessarily likeable but it makes up with decent kills.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Tonight’s film was Titane (2021), which one the Palme d’Or at the 2021 Cannes film festival. I loved Julia Ducournou’s previous film, Raw (2016), about a cannibal veterinarian student, but this one, perhaps intentionally, left me a bit cold. Don’t get me wrong. It’s a beautiful/horrible film with stunning imagery. Some aspects of it are also deeply, deeply sad. (Next to, We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (2022) - which is so sad it’s not even a horror film - Titane is easily the most heart wrenching film I’ve watched this month.) Moreover, the performances are amazing. Still, the plot, about a young woman/serial murderer impregnated by a vintage Cadillac finding acceptance from a grieving father through a cruel act of deception, was mostly inscrutable, and I’m not sure it had, or was intended to have, much meaning…which is fine. Movies, like video games, don’t need meaning to be good, but without it, I think they have to do a bit more to resonate with me.

Also, and after a bit of practice, beat Once Upon a Time on Halloween (Switch) tonight! It’s a very fun game, and I recommend it to anyone who likes both Halloween and classic gaming. I’ll put a review up in the games beaten thread tomorrow.

[PretentiousHipster]

Well, I've done my review of the Phantasmagoria games. Does that count as Month of Horror activity? it's a whopping 97 minutes long!

[Ack]

Well, I've done my review of the Phantasmagoria games. Does that count as Month of Horror activity? it's a whopping 97 minutes long!

I'd say yes, but also...wow, that's an impressive overview and review!

[REPO Man]

Just a reminder that the Japan exclusive Saturn port of the first game was fan translated into English some time ago.

Also, I'd fuck HARD with those games getting Switch ports.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Not sure what that means, exactly, but uh…anyway…

Tonight’s film was Barbarian (2022), which is just a completely nuts, totally awesome, unelevated horror film. In it, a young woman finds herself inadvertently sharing an Airbnb with a young man after a software error books them both there for the same night. From there, things go completely off the rails in wild, wholly unpredictable ways. It’s frequently terrifying and hilarious, and it is the most bonkers horror film I’ve seen since Malignant. I thought it was great, and I highly recommend it.

[REPO Man]

I watched VHS99 last night, which once again affirms my love for horror anthology films. In lieu of a frame story, in between each story is a stop motion short directed by one of the characters from the penultimate story. It's a Shudder exclusive as VHS84 before it was.

First, a group of punk rockers with a penchant for pranks break into an abandoned club where a band was trampled to death during a fire. After that we get stories about a sorority hazing prank turned deadly, a "Double Dare"-esque children's game show that leads to a revenge plot years later that produces unusual results, a group of teens spying on their attractive neighbor who isn't what she seems and finally a literal trip to Hell.

Naturally I'm excited about hopefully getting another entry in this series.