Halloween and Horror Movies

[Ron]

October is Halloween month for many, and a reason to celebrate the dark side of things. That means costumes and spooky shenanigans. For me and many others it is also the month for watching "spooky" and or "scary" movies. I enjoy watching in the month of October (there are exceptions), these wonderfully bizarre and delightful movies.

Tonight, I am watching an old favorite from 1987, John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness, the Steelbook (1 of 10,000) Blu-ray version (2018). Can you say, Alice Cooper? Ha!

What wonderfully scary/spooky movie are you watching?

Edited October 10 by Ron

[Ron]

Tonight I am watching Batman Begins, the first of the 'Batman Trilogy'... Because Bats!

This movie is actually - not figuratively - deeply, disturbingly dark! 

*I watched the 4k Blu-ray of 

Spoiler

Moonstruck

last night. Yes -yes, I am not ashamed. It is a departure from the spooky and scary vibe of the month. But, you know, relationships can be scary!!!!! 

[Ron]

Oh, my! Last night was Spirited Away, a sort of spooky animated movie on Blu-ray disc. There was lots of fear and scares for poor Chihiro and that's what matters. That she persevered and freed her piggish parents so they could all escape was a darn miracle. 

What have you watched?

[Krista]

I do not do horror at all.

There's two films I find myself watching this time of year and those are, "Practical Magic," and "Hocus Pocus," but entirely for nostalgia reasons and nothing else. Halloween is my least liked holiday. I was totally that girl that used it as an excuse to dress as sexy as I thought I could. We all know what happens to those girls in horror/slasher films too... those little red heels do them in, every. single. time. 

[Mikiesboy]

I haven't watched much, but some of the oddball options Amazon Prime shows are fun to watch. Something I'd love to see made into a few films is the Evil Walks Among Us series by Erik Henry Vick. It's an excellent series of novels, the first of which is called Demon King. He's an excellent writer.

The last film I watched was The New Daughter. It's not a new film, and it's listed as drama/horror.  I'm looking through their list of horror films for something that will actually scare me a little. LOL.

[Jeff Burton]

3 hours ago, Krista said:

I do not do horror at all.

There's two films I find myself watching this time of year and those are, "Practical Magic," and "Hocus Pocus," but entirely for nostalgia reasons and nothing else. Halloween is my least liked holiday. I was totally that girl that used it as an excuse to dress as sexy as I thought I could. We all know what happens to those girls in horror/slasher films too... those little red heels do them in, every. single. time. 

Now I want to watch 'Practical Magic' which is a very lovely movie and maybe "The Craft" while not overtly scary it's got an edge to it.   Although I kinda wish I had the urge to use the holiday as an excuse to dress sexy, but I honestly have no idea what that looks like anymore. 😂

[Ron]

I skipped Saturday movie night. I just wasn't feeling the mood. Last night was that old classic movie from 1932 The Mummy, starring Boris Karloff as Ardeth Bey who is Imhotep who becomes the mummy. Confused? Well, it took the other actors in the movie a while to figure it out, too. Despite the lobby card being in color the movie is in black and white, having excellent contrast on my remastered DVD. The movie looked fantastic!

Before I began this post I had already watched: Alien (remastered 4k Blu-ray) - once you watch this version on a capable TV you won't watch any other version again; and The Planet of the Apes and Beneath the Planet of the Apes (remastered Blu-ray) - an excellent comment on human nature, but sadly mimicked by the apes.

What are you watching?

[Zombie]

A Warning to the Curious (subtitles in various languages)

This 1972 BBC ghost/horror film (50 minutes) is based on a short story by the Victorian scholar and antiquary, M. R. James.

Recently restored by the BFI from the original camera film, it beautifully captures the eerie landscape of an ancient and less visited part of Britain, the remote coastal settlements of East Anglia, with a haunting and atmospheric soundtrack.

Best watched on a dark night (with the lights dimmed 🙀), the story concerns the legend of the three crowns, dating from the Dark Ages, and the treasure hunter who foolishly goes looking for the last surviving crown…

https://youtu.be/Sq4Vb_Zrc2Y?si=TCBcBEzUwUOAGUy8

[Ron]

3 hours ago, Zombie said:

Best watched on a dark night (with the lights dimmed 🙀)...

I watched the first few minutes of the film. It looks interesting and I'll need to take a closer watch sometime soon.

[Ron]

Last night I watched The War of the Worlds. This was The Criterion Collection 4k restoration of this 1953 movie. The color is excellent, with green looking natural and not overblown and the red was spot on. Included is an uncompressed monoaural soundtrack and a new alternate 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack, which I used when watching the movie. There are a few excellent extras to watch, although once seen you may not feel it necessary to watch them again.

The layout of my living room only allows for a center channel speaker along with the left and right front speakers with two thirteen-inch subwoofers providing the foundational bass. Despite the lack of side-surround speakers in my system I often heard sound extending well beyond the sidewall of the front speakers and extending into the room, a testament to the new 5.1 soundtrack.

I enjoy watching the movie on repeat now and again. It is a classic after all. In prior versions you could see the strings holding up the Martian spaceships and other noticeable little snafus, but not here. That's not to say the movie is without questionable editing decisions but they do not take away from the enjoyment of watching the movie.

What are you watching?

Edited October 15 by Ron

[JamesSavik]

I'm not horrified by myths. The Mummy or Vampire don't excite me.

Give me a plausible reason to actually feel anxiety.

I like stuff like The Andromeda Strain, Event Horizon, or Alien.

We only think we're an advanced civilization, but we're only a few thousands years out of trees. We don't know what we don't know. What we don't know can hurt us badly.

[Zombie]

10 hours ago, JamesSavik said:

What we don't know can hurt us badly

“the unknown unknowns” 🙀😱  

[shanr1]

The new Salem's Lot ! Its on crave. Don't pay attention to the reviews, it was great !

[Ron]

Last night a watched a movie that I bought and began back in 2011 and never finished. But I remedied that and gave Attack the Block a full run through. It begins with a woman by herself walking and talking on her phone at night. What could happen! I'll tell you what, the young local thugs of her council flats surround her in a threatening manner and rob her of her belongings. Oh, my. But that's not all... All out mayhem ensues when an unknown object falls from the sky! The woman, acting smartly, uses the distraction to run away when the bully boys are distracted. They then go to investigate the fallen object. Who is their leader you might ask? Well, it's a young John Boyega of Star Wars fame.

I enjoyed this movie more than I thought considering the beginning. I don't like people who prey on other people. As the chimpanzee Cornelius read from the sacred scroll of the apes in The Planet of the Apes: "Man, for he is the Devil's pawn. Alone among God's primates, he kills for sport or lust or greed. Yea, he will murder his brother to possess his brother's land." But I digress.

Back to this 1h 28m movie. I watched this digitally on Apple TV+ and at 1080p definition. The picture is solid even in the dark scenes as an 8-million-dollar budgeted movie should be. Most of the actors are unknown, or not well known aside from Boyega. That doesn't mean they do not inhabit their characters fully. It's what makes the movie because the monsters are mostly there to move things along. Small frights and some light comedy.

What are you watching?

[Zombie]

I believe its genre is ‘creature feature comedy horror’

$8m is a micro-budget for Hollywood but the reviews are pretty favourable (maybe its garnered cult status over the years) - pretty sure I started to watch it on late night TV a few years back but I was tired and bailed out just as you did. When it comes around again I’ll definitely see it thru

[Ron]

18 minutes ago, Zombie said:

$8m is a micro-budget for Hollywood

It supposedly took in somewhere around $6.2-6.5 million, so it didn't meet its budget. But certainly, give the movie a look-see.

[Greg_A]

It's not super scary, but Devil (sometimes called Devil 2010 since there are other movies with the same name) is a decent watch.

 

 

[Ron]

27 minutes ago, Greg_A said:

It's not super scary...

It's one of those confuse-everybody-through-editing movies. I like the fact that it stars Logan Marshall-Green! I do like this actor. I first took notice of him in Ridley Scott's Prometheus and Leigh Whannell's Upgrade, both movies I enjoyed a lot. For some reason, his part in Spider-Man: Homecoming never registered when I watched it. 

Edited October 18 by Ron

[Ron]

I didn't watch anything scary, spooky, or horrifying last night. I watched a very kooky and fun movie about a clueless couple in a cabin (albeit a nice cabin) in the woods and an alien invasion some time ago and it has stuck with me. I can absolutely imagine some people (maybe me) stuck in the boonies and not knowing what to do. I'll leave the trailer here for you to watch because I highly recommend it.

What are you watching?

[Jeff Burton]

4 minutes ago, Ron said:

I didn't watch anything scary, spooky, or horrifying last night. I watched a very kooky and fun movie about a clueless couple in a cabin (albeit a nice cabin) in the woods and an alien invasion some time ago and it has stuck with me. I can absolutely imagine some people (maybe me) stuck in the boonies and not knowing what to do. I'll leave the trailer here for you to watch because I highly recommend it.

What are you watching?

GIANT TRIBBLES! *squees with glee*

[Greg_A]

Another movie I think worth a watch is Circle.  Technically not a horror movie, but instead a psychological thriller, I still think it fits well with the season.  Below is a link to the trailer:

 

 

[Ron]

1 hour ago, Greg_A said:

Technically not a horror movie...

You are right 

Personally, I'm not a fan of this type of movie/series. The Box, Saw and Squid Game all come to mind.

[Ron]

I thought that writing 'All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy' couldn't be written more creatively. I was wrong.

Last night I put on The Shining for a nostalgic horror hit. I bought the Blu-ray version a long time ago and never watched it. Another one of those movies I always intended on getting around to. I love the way the movie begins with the travelling overhead long shots; they suck you in right away, and the picture looks fantastic throughout on this version. I won't get into the specifics of the movie too much because most people have either watched it or heard enough about it to know what goes on. I said aloud "No! Not that hallway." at a certain prime moment late in the movie. If you know, you know.

As an aside, I very much enjoyed the scenes in Ready Player One where some clueless game contestants unfamiliar with the movie had to go into the Overlook Hotel in a simulation.  Oh, those poor gamers! 

What are you watching?

[Ron]

Last night I watched The Mummy from 2017. You know, that one starring Tom Cruise which was an undeniably critical flop. I read that it did okay at the box office though, so I guess that's enough. I'm not sure what this movie was trying to accomplish. There was nothing frightening, horrifying, or scary about it. In fact, there wasn't anything passing for real humor in it unlike The Mummy starring Brendan Frasure, et al, in 2001 though they tried. There was an Easter-egg moment where the Book of the Dead from the earlier movie was briefly glimpsed. I didn't care for the reappearing dead friend whose role was far too similar to that of the dead friend in An American Werewolf in London.

What I did like was Russel Crowe cast as Dr. Henry Jekyll. Well done that. Also, Tom Cruise has a very fine physique here, but he is clearly showing his age; the skin never lies.

What are you watching?

Edited October 24 by Ron

[Ron]

Many of us have some idea of how an alien's arrival might come about or what the result will be, if not because we've imagined it ourselves, it may have something to do with the science fiction we've read or watched in the movies or on TV. Author Jeff VanderMeer had a unique way of looking at the possibility in his novel Annihilation published in February of 2014, which was quickly followed by Authority in May, and ended with Acceptance in September all in the same year. Now, a decade later he has released a fourth novel Absolution which is described as a prequal written in a form of three contained novellas which I will be reading. Having read the original trilogy back in 2014, I highly recommend them if you like highly imaginative story telling. Mr. VanderMeer does not shirk on description, and you wouldn't want him to. He also wrote WONDERBOOK: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction (get the revised edition) which contains sidebars and essays from big name writers, and a companion website Wonderbooknow.com.

I watched Annihilation (4k Blu-ray 2018) last night. This movie is loosely based on the first book of the same name. The movie moves through a series of flashbacks and forward moving drama that makes complete sense to the viewer (a rare thing). The original score written for the movie mimics the underlying theme of the movie and works so well in conjunction with the visuals as to be inseparable. Natelie Portman is the lead actor here, but the entire cast of actors are well known - Oscar Isaac, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, and Tuva Novotny.

I won't go into details of the movie because that would be impossible without spoiling it for you. Suffice it to say that if you like creepy (very creepy), horrifying subject matter, slow building dread, excellent visuals, with a couple of good jump-scares then this is a movie for you. It was for me.

What are you watching?

Edited October 25 by Ron