racketboy.com

Last night I took yet another trip to world of 1980s Italian horror.



I'd absolutely LOVE to throw a Demons-themed party. Basically just rent a place out, set up an "auditorium" to screen Demons and its sequel Demons II, and possibly the all but in name and tone The Church (directed by Michele Soavi, who played the masked man at the beginning and end of Demons, as well as Jerry in the in-universe horror movie). And then set up a "lobby" like the one from the Metropol theater (IRL, the Metropol was a decades-old theater that became a discotheque back in '77), though obviously with a totally-not-magical replica of the demon mask.

For the uninitiated, Demons starts off with a young woman receiving a ticket for a film screening. When she and her friend, convinced to blow off their university classes, arrive at the apparently-reopened Metropol along a group of random people. But soon, the scary events in the in-universe horror film, which follows a group of college students running afoul of a creepy mask found in Nostradamus' tomb, begin to flow into the real world. And as the bodies pile up, the increasingly few survivors seek to find an exit from the apparently magically sealed building while avoiding the increasingly many demons.

It should be noted that the demons here seem to follow a variation of zombie rules, in that they are driven to violence against the living and can turn others into demons via fluid-to-fluid contact.

I used to have it and the sequel on Blu-ray until upgrading to the Demons 1 & 2 UHD Limited Edition release.

Oh, and as I was typing this, I found an (unsuccessful) Kickstarter from a few years ago from Garetta Garetta (who played first victim Rosemary) and Lamberto Bava (who directed Demons) that sounded a lot like this. Sucks it didn't get funded.

Being self-aware is tough. It's a very line between being just stupid and annoying as hell, or great. This jumps back and forth between each other that it was one of the strangest film experiences I've had in a while in terms of wondering what I think of it. Scott Adkins still shows why he's such a good action star with his acting chops here. He gives the same vibes as Bruce Campbell. However, on top of that issue with its self-awareness, it also tries way too hard in some segments to give off the video game vibe, and for heavy 80s nostalgia despite it being set in 1990.

Still, I feel the need to recommend it here, because I know some people are big on gen x era nostalgia, so this would be perfect for them.

A few nights ago I rewatched Deadpool 2. Definitely can't wait for Deadpool 3.

I was watching Frozen the other day and I was a bit surprised at how dated the computer animation looked.

In contrast, I watched The Little Mermaid today and was amazed at how timeless the hand drawn animation still held up after all these years.

My partner and I watched Hell or High Water the other night. It's a neo-Western crime drama from 2016, about two brothers who commit a string of armed bank robberies with a motivation to save their family ranch, while being pursued by two Texas Rangers.

I can always go for a crime movie, and this one did a great job of scratching that itch. I wasn't familiar with the movie before, but it popped on Hulu in a section for award nominated movies.

Markies wrote:I was watching Frozen the other day and I was a bit surprised at how dated the computer animation looked.

In contrast, I watched The Little Mermaid today and was amazed at how timeless the hand drawn animation still held up after all these years.

I'm still kind of amazed by the awesome casting they did for Frozen on ABC's Once Upon a Time. Makes me think that a live action Frozen movie could work.

Yes, because what we need is MORE live-action Disney remakes. Yeah, let's not encourage Disney to make traditional hand-drawn animated motion pictures or anything.

PretentiousHipster wrote:

Being self-aware is tough. It's a very line between being just stupid and annoying as hell, or great. This jumps back and forth between each other that it was one of the strangest film experiences I've had in a while in terms of wondering what I think of it. Scott Adkins still shows why he's such a good action star with his acting chops here. He gives the same vibes as Bruce Campbell. However, on top of that issue with its self-awareness, it also tries way too hard in some segments to give off the video game vibe, and for heavy 80s nostalgia despite it being set in 1990.

Still, I feel the need to recommend it here, because I know some people are big on gen x era nostalgia, so this would be perfect for them.

I just watched this and liked it.

Finally saw Oppenheimer last night. After hearing friends and coworkers mention it throughout 2023, it's nice to finally have it checked off my list. I was skeptical going into the movie and wasn't thrilled about the 3 hour run time, but I ended up being pretty impressed and enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would.

I just saw Poor Things and loved the heck out of it! Endless curiosity and boundless freedom!!