Rate the Last Film You Watched

31 Days of Halloween 2023! Day XIII:

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984, Joseph Zito), The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971, Robert Fuest), Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972, Robert Fuest)
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It’s rare that Friday the 13th falls on Halloween, so it was a no-brainier to watch one of the best entries in the franchise tonight. 3.5/5

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I also watched this Vincent Price duology which was solidly entertaining, largely thanks to Price himself being an actor that could elevate any film he started in, but also owing to the inventive murders by the titular Phibes. The sequel is a lesser affair but was still quite entertaining overall. 3.5/5, 3/5
 
Shivers (1975)

The doctor employed by an isolated, high-class housing development in Quebec finds the residents resorting to their base carnal instincts, as a man-made parasite sweeps through the building, in David Cronenberg's commercial filmmaking debut. While it features plenty of the body horror and weird eroticism that seems to define so much of Cronenberg's work, this is a less thoughtful outing than his later films, and feels more like what it is, I guess - a modestly budgeted commercial product that's trying to shock just for the sake of getting attention.

It dances around some interesting commentary on the dangers of self-imposed isolation, but it's hard to feel invested in any of the characters, and JG Ballard's book High Rise (released in the same year) covered those kind of themes to more interesting effect. I did enjoy the aesthetic of it though; the very 60s-modernist apartment block it takes place in is pleasing to look at. I'm so used to seeing those sort of buildings after they've already started to crumble and fall apart that seeing one in all its shiny, plate-glass glory is kind of endearing.
 
31 Days of Halloween 2023! Day XIV:

Psycho (1960, Alfred Hitchcock), Psycho II (1983, Richard Franklin)
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What else can be said about Psycho? It’s a seminal piece of filmmaking that remains massively influential to this day. Psycho II, meanwhile, shouldn’t be as good as it is, bringing Anthony Perkins back in a more sympathetic turn as Norman Bates and including a sturdy script from Tom Holland (who has been quite prominent in this marathon so far.) Arrow have just released a boxset with all four films, so the other sequels will be watched next. 4.5/5, 4/5
 
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The first curse movie. I'm not Planning to watch these back to back though. I liked this movie, it was a creepy ghost story that didn't rely on jump scares. More of an anthology style movie that ties all the stories together into one, alao worth mentioning that there is also a prequel web series on youtube that is almost mandatory viewing as it fills in the a few references this movie makes too.

I will rate this one a solid 7.5/10
 
31 Days of Halloween 2023! Day XV:

Psycho III (1986, Anthony Perkins), Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990, Mick Garris) IMG_8717.jpeg
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Anthony Perkins steps into the director’s chair for the third instalment, a sleazier affair that features more sex and nudity though wasn’t as good as the preceding entry. IV, subtitled The Beginning, is a made-for-TV feature that acts as both a sequel and a prequel, and was also Perkins’ last portrayal of Bates before his passing two years later. Both III and IV have something to offer, but do pale - but compared to how II exceeded expectations. 3/5, 3/5
 
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In many ways I think Freddy Kruger is the ultimate horror movie antagonist. A spectre that can only hunt you in your dreams, a perfectly unstoppable force that has the power to affect the real world in your dream world. You stay awake as long as possible but you know you can't hold out forever. Sadly it does cop out a bit with the idea that you can bring him out of the dreams into the real world, and you can just ignore him to also stop him. I guess you couldn't have a bad ending in those days of horror movies. Though the movie does still end on a cliffhanger all that said.

The movie really jumps right into the action too, there isn't much in the way of build up besides the question of who is this monster as he chases his victims though a dreamscape. Though as a consequence the movie gives up any semblence of tension in return. It was a fun time all in all and I think a 7/10 is fair.
 
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31 Days of Halloween 2023! Day XVI:

The Dunwich Horror (1970, Daniel Haller)
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In contrast to the Roger Corman’s Poe adaptations of the time, and their gothic sensibilities, The Dunwich Horror takes on a more psychedelic approach when handing this Lovecraft material. It’s a rather odd offering and I’m not sure what to make of it. 2.5/5
 
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HWR said:
31 Days of Halloween 2023! Day XVI:

The Dunwich Horror (1970, Daniel Haller)
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In contrast to the Roger Corman adaptations and their gothic sensibilities, The Dunwich Horror takes on a more psychedelic approach. It’s a rather odd offering and I’m not sure what to make of it. 2.5/5
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Ooh I might be tempted to add this to the list, the book is one of my favorite Lovecraft tales and I must have read it into the double digits by now. I wonder how well this adapts it?
 
HWR said:
I’ve yet to read the source material myself. You might get more out of this than I did in that regard.
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Well... I have since read the synopsis and it doesn't sound like the book at all. Sound like the Dunwich Horror in name only lol. Who the heck is Nancy?

EDIT:

I'm just watching Ash vs Evil Dead again tonight.
 
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31 Days of Halloween 2023! Day XVII:

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974, Tobe Hooper)
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This is another seminal horror film where not much else new can be said. It’s a visceral and brutal, yet mostly bloodless, storyline that remains unnerving to this day. Second Sight did a great job remastering this and it’s a must-buy for any fans of the film. 5/5
 
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31 Days of Halloween 2023! Day XVIII:

ParaNorman (2012, Sam Fell & Chris Butler)
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Laika have produced some great films over the years, and whilst Coraline was also a worthy choice for the marathon, ParaNorman was an overdue watch, and delivered a very good film with a sharp and funny, but also thoughtful script to go alongside the zombie-centric storyline. 4/5
 
Excalibur (1981) - Could you compress the entire Arthurian legend into a 2 hour film without it feeling disjoined? No but John Boorman put everything he had into making each of those disjoined pieces feel unique. Nicol Williamson's portrayal of Merlin helps immensely as he transitions from sinister sorcerer to wily mentor to tired old man as the film shifts into a different sub-genres of fantasy. It really does capture the feeling of watching the rise and eventually decline of a Golden Age, even if it is on fast forward and there's some really bad voice dubbing at times. I appreciate how utterly committed it is to the aesthetic. King Arthur's armour is so polished and flawless I swear you can actually see the entire camera crew reflected in his chest plate in one scene. The ending is a bit sudden and also drawn out. Really enjoyed it. Probably nonsense if you aren't somewhat familiar with these legendary figures but it worked for me a lot. 4/5

Inferno (1980) - The first 45 minutes of this are just women going into very scary buildings and then trying to leave. The film is really cool, Dario Argento clearly cared more about atmosphere and set pieces than coming up with a conventional story. The film will just go off on tensions and diverge off into new scare. Visuals become both real and otherwolrdly. With lighting that makes everything seem alien and locations that both feel real and also like the geography only makes sense in a nightmare where buildings are built on building. I also liked the musical score even if some of it sounds like Oingo Boingo melted up with a Latin Choir. But it struggles with having it's best stuff in the first half and the rest just not having the same impact. 3/5
 
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Hey remember Slendy? The internet phenomenon creepy pasta who bacame famous through the Marble Hornets youtube series and a very creepy video game that all the content creators at the time played for reactions? The entity that was once dubbed the modern folklore monster that even made the global mainstream news after a certain tragic real life incident.

Well poor Slendy has fallen on hard times of late. People have forgotten him, if you ask a Zoomer who Slenderman is they probably won't be able to answer you. Wasn't too long ago he had to star in this movie just to make ends meet. Jesus this was a bad movie, I was always curious about it though as I was thinking at worst it must be a generic hollywood slasher flick featuring Slender man. Nope it's worse, my expectations were very low already but holy sh*t movie.

The movie stars four girls, named Katie, Girl 2, Girl 3 and Girl 4 respectively. They have a sleep over and as a joke decide to summon Slenderman. It works and they all die over the course of an hour and 30 minutes.

Anyway I rate this a 3/10. I give it two extra points than it deserves because at one point Slenderman livestreams one of his haunts on girl 2 in an unintentionally hilarious moment that was supposed to be creepy by the tone of it.
 
Vincentdante said:
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Hey remember Slendy? The internet phenomenon creepy pasta who bacame famous through the Marble Hornets youtube series and a very creepy video game that all the content creators at the time played for reactions? The entity that was once dubbed the modern folklore monster that even made the global mainstream news after a certain tragic real life incident.

Well poor Slendy has fallen on hard times of late. People have forgotten him, if you ask a Zoomer who Slenderman is they probably won't be able to answer you. Wasn't too long ago he had to star in this movie just to make ends meet. Jesus this was a bad movie, I was always curious about it though as I was thinking at worst it must be a generic hollywood slasher flick featuring Slender man. Nope it's worse, my expectations were very low already but holy sh*t movie.

The movie stars four girls, named Katie, Girl 2, Girl 3 and Girl 4 respectively. They have a sleep over and as a joke decide to summon Slenderman. It works and they all die over the course of an hour and 30 minutes.

Anyway I rate this a 3/10. I give it two extra points than it deserves because at one point Slenderman livestreams one of his haunts on girl 2 in an unintentionally hilarious moment that was supposed to be creepy by the tone of it.
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Likely never gonna touch this movie but I've got a real soft spot for the series and community behind the original Slenderman mythos. Just a load of film students riding the wave and each creating their own unique take on the character. It was fun while it lasted with series like Marble Hornets, TribeTwelve and EverymanHYBRID paving the way for newer independent internet horror series such as the Monument Mythos, Kane Pixels' Backrooms and LOCAL58TV. I'll probably give my Marble Hornets Blu-ray a watch to mark the series' 15th anniversary next year.
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Spark_Heal said:
Excalibur (1981) - Could you compress the entire Arthurian legend into a 2 hour film without it feeling disjoined? No but John Boorman put everything he had into making each of those disjoined pieces feel unique. Nicol Williamson's portrayal of Merlin helps immensely as he transitions from sinister sorcerer to wily mentor to tired old man as the film shifts into a different sub-genres of fantasy. It really does capture the feeling of watching the rise and eventually decline of a Golden Age, even if it is on fast forward and there's some really bad voice dubbing at times. I appreciate how utterly committed it is to the aesthetic. King Arthur's armour is so polished and flawless I swear you can actually see the entire camera crew reflected in his chest plate in one scene. The ending is a bit sudden and also drawn out. Really enjoyed it. Probably nonsense if you aren't somewhat familiar with these legendary figures but it worked for me a lot. 4/5
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I rather like the Hallmark miniseries version of Merlin if you haven't seen that would def recommend :)

www.imdb.com

Merlin (TV Mini Series 1998) ⭐ 7.1 | Action, Adventure, Drama

3h 2m | PG
www.imdb.com www.imdb.com
 
ActionFaust said:
Likely never gonna touch this movie but I've got a real soft spot for the series and community behind the original Slenderman mythos. Just a load of film students riding the wave and each creating their own unique take on the character. It was fun while it lasted with series like Marble Hornets, TribeTwelve and EverymanHYBRID paving the way for newer independent internet horror series such as the Monument Mythos, Kane Pixels' Backrooms and LOCAL58TV. I'll probably give my Marble Hornets Blu-ray a watch to mark the series' 15th anniversary next year.
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I did not know Marble Hornets was on blu-ray that is really cool. And yeah I strongly recommend don't touch the movie. It just boils down to cheap CGI Slenderman walking through tree's, with most of the so called jump scares leaving me scratching my head wondering what that even had to do with Slenderman in the first place.

I am with you that the original Slenderman was such a really cool mythos at the time.
 
Vincentdante said:
I did not know Marble Hornets was on blu-ray that is really cool. And yeah I strongly recommend don't touch the movie. It just boils down to cheap CGI Slenderman walking through tree's, with most of the so called jump scares leaving me scratching my head wondering what that even had to do with Slenderman in the first place.

I am with you that the original Slenderman was such a really cool mythos at the time.
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Having looked into it the Marble Hornets Blu-rays are out of stock on the creator's website and it looks unlikely they'll be printing more sadly.

Also just remembered this video where a lot of Slenderman creators met up to watch the movie and their reactions are pretty much what you'd expect.
 
31 Days of Halloween 2023! Day XIX:

The Lighthouse (2019, Robert Eggers)
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Quite the claustrophobic watch, this delivers two heavy-hitting performances and a descent into madness, all whilst taking advantage of a great locale for a horror film. It worked well for Doctor Who and it certainly worked well here too. 4.5/5
 
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