Rewatched the 2008 swedish film "Let the right one in". If you haven't seen this one please do yourself a favor and go rent it.
It's amazing how well the movie can depict these complex characters. Excellent story, cinematography, pacing, soundtrack and incredible acting from the two leads. Everything about it just works. I was moved so deeply and I'm not even sure why.

I think I'm gonna go buy this one.

Fuck, thanks for reminding me! Can't believe I still haven't seen it, especially considering that the story takes place/was partly filmed in the same goddamn suburb I grew up in!

Hah We have the same taste it seems. I'll keep an eye on your next movie verdicts. Might find something good.

edit: It always blows my mind how quickly some movies can make you 'get' certain characters. Like in Pacific Rim. The two russian pilots don't have ANY dialogue and only a few minutes of screen time but you still can piece together a lot about them just by looking at the body language.

[EphelDuath666]

Rewatched the 2008 swedish film "Let the right one in". If you haven't seen this one please do yourself a favor and go rent it.
It's amazing how well the movie can depict these complex characters. Excellent story, cinematography, pacing, soundtrack and incredible acting from the two leads. Everything about it just works. I was moved so deeply and I'm not even sure why.

I think I'm gonna go buy this one.

Fuck, thanks for reminding me! Can't believe I still haven't seen it, especially considering that the story takes place/was partly filmed in the same goddamn suburb I grew up in!

terrific movie indeed. It's a shame that Hollywood had to remake it. I mean, they can say that it's just another movie based on the same book all they want. I think it's clear they just wanted to remake the movie for some quick money. Same goes for the Millenium trilogy. But at least the Dragon Tattoo remake seems to have been a flop. Oh and I read that Hollywood will remake Trollhunter too

[EphelDuath666]

Day 8: Demons

This is an old Italian Horror flick. Hmmm, dunno. I mean, I love quite a few Italian horror movies from the 70's and 80's, especially by Lucio Fulci and Dario Argento but this one....eeeeh. I have seen it before but seems like it did not age very well. The acting is just horrible, the American voice actors dubbing the (probably mostly Italian) cast just didn't do a decent job either. Now I could live with that as that is the case in a lot of old Italian horror movies. But the movie itself just doesn't do the trick for me. There's hardly any form of plot, the itty bitty bit of plot that can be found in this movie is just laughable.

It's clearly meant to be a rip-off of Evil Dead. Now I could live with that too. Zombie Flesh Eaters was a rip-off of Dawn of the Dead and was even promoted as Zombi 2. But Demons isn't even a good rip-off.
I don't know...this movie just used to be better, at least in my memory it seemed that way. I guess time is a bitch!

[EphelDuath666]

Day 9: Eraserhead

Eraserhead probably still is one of the most fucked up movies I've ever seen and I probably still don't quite know what's going on in the movie. But I love it. Watched it on Blu-ray which includes a brand new transfer approved by David Lynch and it's quite stunning. The movie has never looked this good before. Totally forgot that the guy who plays Henry is also the same guy who plays Pete in Twin Peaks, which I have recently re-watched from start to finish too. Anyways, this may not be a horror film by definition but I think it still fits into the marathon.

next up: a double feature
Day 10: Dead & Buried

for some reason I have never seen this one before but I loved it. It's basically a zombie movie but in the more traditional, voodoo/witchcraft type way. Set in a small American town, its citizens start to kill tourists and anyone who is not from that town. After the victims were burried they all of a sudden show up again in that town, with a different identity. I really, really liked this one and this movies just shows why I love old horror flicks. Great atmosphere, a little bit of cheese, weird characters...you gotta love it. Oh and Robert Englund is in it too, heh.

Day 10: Stoker

Directed by Park Chan-wook, the director of Oldboy, Stoker feels like a Hitchcock movie with some David Lynch'ian weirdness applied to it. And it is actually very good. Not that I had any doubts, considering who directed it. The cast does a very good job too actually. Even Nicole Kidman, despite her strange, waxy face. But Mia Wasikowska and Matthew Goode steal the show. Boy they both creeped me out. Anyways, Stoker might not be for everyone and a lot of people might see the plot twist from a mile away already but I very much enjoyed it.

Skipped a couple days in the last few, but here's a couple:

10/7: Today I went "old skool" and watched Karl Freund's The Mummy. No Brandon Fraser in this one, sorry folks. A classic of the Universal monster movie craze of the 1920s/30s, The Mummy has all the hallmarks--scary monster looks, damsel in distress, a pretty stupid male lead character (guess this isn't a "hallmark" but still pretty common), etc. I always enjoy watching the classic monster flicks for these hallmarks. It has a sense of nostalgia, despite my not being alive anywhere close to when the films were made. Horror movies at the time were simpler for the most part, and all you needed was an actor as amazing and still-creepy-as-hell as Boris Karloff to keep the audience hooked.

By today's standards, the movie isn't particularly scary and the story is slow when compared to modern horror. If for nothing else though it's good to look back and see the origins of where horror came from. Without the Boris Karloff's and Bela Lugosi's horror wouldn't be a shade of how we know it. So watch for the history, stay for the nostalgia and the (often) cheesy entertainment. That's what makes the Universal monster classics so good.

Also, I don't know if I mentioned it, but really-- Boris Karloff, you are a bad ass sir.

8/10

10/8: Alrighty! Today's horror movie was Scott Derrickson's Sinister. This is a haunted house/demonic possession flick pretty rooted in the tropes of modern horror-- i.e. make-you-jump-suddenly-by-things-popping-up, evil-children-are-scary-and-out-to-get-you gags, and there's-a-spooky-figure-who-wants-you-dead type stuff. It isn't bad in any of those areas, just not necessarily surprising or brining anything particularly new to the table.

The movie follows a true crime writer (Ethan Hawke) who moves into a house that was the site of a crime where a family of four were brutally murdered. He quickly discovers there is more to the story than he imagined and begins having spooky things occur around the house. The movie's main strength is in it's creating atmosphere, which is really well done and keeps you hooked in for the ride. It's unfortunate that the scares are so run-of-the-mill as it somewhat undermines what the atmosphere achieves; no scare ever feels like, even if it does make you jump, that it lives up to what the atmosphere was building toward. The idea behind the movie is intriguing as well (Hawke's character finding old Super 8s containing tapings of the murders) but is again somewhat undermined by an ending that I was pretty "eh" about.

Also, one last thing that bothered me: the very one dimensional characterization of the wife. She goes along with her husband at all times, no matter how much of a total asshole he's being and only caring for his own success. She is perfectly content to be submissive and say "Ok, honey, whatever you think is best" while her husband has only himself in mind. Even after her one token outburst she immediately goes to him, forgiving him and taking him to bed despite all he has done. She seems so much a caricature and for a modern film it was kind of unsettling.

All that said, the movie is good for some decent jumps but the more I think about it the more I see it's shortcomings. It has atmosphere, a good background, but it can't pay it off.

Oh, and seriously, this house has some soundproof-as-hell walls. Could ignite a bomb and no one would ever hear it... except Ethan Hawke.

6/10

[EphelDuath666]

I agree with you on Sinister. The ending was soooo....ugh...it almost ruined the movie for me which I really enjoyed up untill that point. I really did, it's one of the most atmospheric horror flicks I've seen in a while and then, wham, the ending is so ridiculous and clich

oh and guys and gals, if you have not done so yet then PLEASE go and watch Gravity because it's fucking amazing. Quite possibly the best sci-fi movie since Blade Runner. Believe the hype this time.

From what I've seen, the movie looks bleedin' gorgeous! I loved Children Of Men enormously, so I hope Alfonso has kept that momentum up!

oh and guys and gals, if you have not done so yet then PLEASE go and watch Gravity because it's fucking amazing. Quite possibly the best sci-fi movie since Blade Runner. Believe the hype this time.

I recently watched a hyper realistic space anime and been waiting for Gravity to fill the void, even if just a little.

Yes I agree on that one. Gravity is great and chock full of visual eye candy. For a while I didn't really think 3d was going anywhere with what movies they used it in recently, but having seen it in 3d...it was even more spectacular and threw all my thoughts on it out the window.

My love for space continues to grow

[EphelDuath666]

double feature time again

Day 11: Scanners

I love this movie. Sure, it's a little cheesy, the acting ain't always great either but it's a whole lot of fun and one of my favorite horror flicks from the 80's. But I gotta admit it can be a little comical to see the scanners do their thing and to see their facial expressions. That can be slightly unintentionally funny. I have not seen this one in a long time and for whatever reason there was more than just one exploding head in the movie. But I guess that is the case with most horror flicks that you saw when you were younger. You kinda remember them to be a lot more extreme. Like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Hardly anything happens in that one but when I was younger it was one of the most brutal movies ever to me, heh.

Day 1: House of the Devil

Finally saw this one and I gotta say I really, really enjoyed it. Sure it's not a splatter and action fest but it's not like there's anything wrong with that. Suspense and atmosphere, that's what matters here. Also love the fact that the movie was shot on 16mm. Gives it this very gritty, oldschool look. This little low budget flick that probably not too many have heard about was way more enjoyable than overrated "horror" movies like Insidious, in my opinion anyways. It was quiet and slow were it was supposed to be quiet and slow and effective with its scares where it had to be. No cheap clich

[EphelDuath666]

double feature: part 29383893

figured a good werewolf and a good vampire flick would work well together.

Day 12: The Howling

Joe Dante directed this one, the man who brought us Piranha and the Gremlins movies. I gotta say I actually liked it. It's quite a bit more campy and cheesy than 'An American Werewolf in London' , for example. And it features one of the worst werewolf transformation scenes ever (a guy and a gal are having sex and transform into werewolves at the same time...and it's done via cartoon animation. Yup, awesome). BUT it also features some the best werewolf transformations I've seen, (fortunately) using practical special effects rather than crappy animation. Certainly one of the better werewolf movies out there.

Day 12: Stake Land

now this one's a really, really (surprisingly) good vampire flick set in a post apocalyptic world. Think The Road meets 30 Days of Night. A guy, who's a vampire hunter, and a kid, who lost his parents, travel up north to find a safe haven for human beings. And on the way they of course get into all sorts of trouble with vampires and human beings. I really liked the fact that this movie didn't just follow the typical monster/vampire movie formula but also had some cool characters that you care about and atmosphere to offer. It's basically the exact opposite of that godawful Twilight garbage.
I'd actually say this might just be one of my 3 most favorite vampire flicks that are not Dracula related

.

So, here's an interesting one. I watched Hentai Kamen: Forbidden Superhero, and... hmmm, it's hard to put into words.
Ok, so the movie is about this shy, awkward high-schooler who has a hard time getting it on with l

[EphelDuath666]

Day 13: From Beyond

From Beyond is one of my favorite horror movies and I probably watched it last year and the year before that already during my Halloween marathon. But what the hell, I had to do it again because I picked up the brand new German Blu-ray edition which also happens to be the best edition of the movie worldwide so far. And no matter how often I watch this movie, I still love it. From Beyond was one of the first horror movies that I've seen when I was a kid. I still remember how much those mutated things from another dimension scared the shit out of me but it was also strangely fascinating. I sister should have probably not allowed me to watch movies like that but I'm definitely glad she did! Heh.
Anyways, From Beyond features some of the most awesome and gross practical special and make-up effects and that is part of the reason why I love it. And Jeffrey Combs is just wonderfully creepy in it. We shall meet again next year, From Beyond!

next up...another double feature
Day 14: Child's Play

Another one of those movies that I remember from my childhood. In retrospect I was lucky to have such cool cousins and sisters, heh. I love Chucky, maybe not all the Chucky movies per se but I love the character Chucky. And the first movie is just great and fun. The animatronics and special effects for this movie are just top notch, considering the time it was made. I just wish the franchise had not gone all silly and comedic. But apparently the new Chucky flick that is supposed to be released is more serious again so I'm kinda looking forward to it.

Day 14: Inferno

I like a lot of Dario Argento's stuff. But Inferno is not really among his best work I think. It's well done and all but there's just nothing going on untill the finale. Like, literally nada. There's a few cheesy and not so well done kills and gore scenes, sure. But there's nothing that moves the plot forward by any means, not that there's really much of a plot to begin with. The finale I liked though. It was pretty well done, pretty dramatic and quite cool. I just wish the first 3/4 of the movie had a few more scenes like that. But untill the finale there's some serious pacing issues.

Well I have obviously fallen crazy behind posting my reviews here, my apologies to anyone reading them! If it's any consolation I've been falling hardcore behind on watching anyway, but, ya know. Anyway, instead of posting a shit ton of latent reviews here anyone who wants to read them can go check out the blog. I will return to regular posting here tomorrow!

http://horrorbingechron.blogspot.com/

Also, watching some good shit Ephel! I saw Stake Land at my college a couple years ago at an advanced screening with the filmmaker; it didn't even have credits yet, which was crazy. But I really enjoyed it, a refreshing new vampire/zombie movie. Might have to rewatch it this month, actually...

[EphelDuath666]

Well I have obviously fallen crazy behind posting my reviews here, my apologies to anyone reading them! If it's any consolation I've been falling hardcore behind on watching anyway, but, ya know. Anyway, instead of posting a shit ton of latent reviews here anyone who wants to read them can go check out the blog. I will return to regular posting here tomorrow!

http://horrorbingechron.blogspot.com/

Also, watching some good shit Ephel! I saw Stake Land at my college a couple years ago at an advanced screening with the filmmaker; it didn't even have credits yet, which was crazy. But I really enjoyed it, a refreshing new vampire/zombie movie. Might have to rewatch it this month, actually...

yeah, I'm surprised that hardly anyone I know has seen it! Of course over here in Germany they changed the name of the movie to 'Vampire Nation', which sounds like a shitty B-movie title, and they also used a pretty crappy cover for the movie which makes it look like a campy vampire B-movie. Oh well.

Anywhoo....on with the show

it's double feature time again

Day 15: The Orphanage

I have to say...Spain could really become what Italy used to be to the horror genre. A force to be reckoned with. The Orphanage was surprisingly good actually. A good story, great atmosphere and pacing, good performances. It was neither too lengthy nor too short. The movie had a real oldschool vibe to it, almost like something that was made in the 70's or 80's. The boosted contrast and really interesting color scheme also add to the atmosphere. I'm pretty certain that I'll revisit this one.

Day 15: Dressed to Kill

Next up was Brian De Palma's 'Dressed to Kill'. The movie starts with one weird shower scene where you get to watch a...how can I put it without sounding too rude...not so young lady washing all her parts. And you kinda see it all. Not that there's anything wrong with it. But the scene was just very weird because it was quite long. Anyways, Dressed to Kill could best be described as De Palma's attempt to make a Hitchcock movie. And for the most part he actually succeeds. Although you sort of see the major plot twist from a mile away already. The only thing that might not work too well in this movie is the very, very slow start. But that's really the only negative aspect of it. And Michael Caine's great as usual. If you enjoy 'Psycho' then do check this one out.

Day 16: The Fly (1958)

I seriously thought this movie is b&w. I know part 2 and 3 are but I thought the first one's too. But I guess I haven't seen this movie since I was a kid and back then I had a b&w TV. So that sort of explains it, heh. Anyways, I enjoyed this one greatly. It probably scared the shit out of people back in the 50's and it's actually pretty well done for a movie from that time. It's a little corny but that's quite alright, I guess that goes for all movies from that era when you watch them today. The costume design is actually kinda cool too. If I had lived in the 50's I would have probably shit my pants. The movie also looked surprisingly good on Blu-ray. Well done, 20th Century Fox.

So after I was done watching the original I figured "hey, might as well watch the remake now." and that is what I did.

Day 16: The Fly (1986)

Gross!!! Grooooooosssssss!!!! Ewww...ewwww.....eeeeewwwwww. That pretty much sums it up. This is truely a great horror flick and definitely one of the best remakes out there. So I applaud Cronenberg for that. But damn, it's also really gross. 'The Fly' features some of the best and grossest transformation scenes that I have ever seen. I have watched this movie several times but the practical effects in this movie still creep me out. It's right up there with 'The Thing' when it comes to that. And Jeff Goldblum just does a terrific job too. Might have actually been the best performance of his career, even to this day. So yeah, this is one of the great ones.