Saw The Lords of Salem tonight.

Unlike Sean, I actually like Rob Zombie's films - to a point. I'll agree House of 1000 Corpses was a disappointing affair (but Devil's Rejects made up for it), and Halloween II, despite the dark atmosphere, gore effects and a menacing Michael, really should not have been made; at least, it should have been handled much better. The rest of his films I have no problem enjoying, regardless of their flaws.

This latest one however tested my tolerance. Again, I'll agree it was beautifully shot and had a pretty interesting soundtrack. However, the loud clanging noises that are meant to startle get tiresome rather quickly. The scary images really aren't that scary. The are some effectively creepy scenes here, but they don't make up for a load of indulgent artistry. It's as if Zombie wanted to emulate Kubrick whilst under an acid trip, particularly during the final act. The three antagonist witches were fairly interesting, though (it's always fun to see Dee Wallace play evil). As for Sherri Moon, she is overused in his films but I didn't think she was bad here, all things considered.

Overall, it felt too long but at the same time lacking development. A shame, because there's a lot of likeable aspects and potential here. 5.5/10 from me.

[EphelDuath666]

I'm even more glad that I didn't blind buy The Lords of Salem then, heh.

alright, so finally here's my Halloween movies from the 31st. I can sit again long enough without pain as my back seems back to normal so I can write it all up...


Day 31: Carrie

Carrie is always fun to watch and despite being a little cheesy it's also very, very creepy. Hmmm, and I guess it was the 3rd movie in a row for me that included religious extremists. Performances are overall good and the movie never really gets boring at any point despite being a bit of a slow burner. And the grand finale is just awesome. And of course Hollywood had to remake Carrie but apparently it ain't all that great. How surprising, heh.

Day 31: Peeping Tom

Peeping Tom came before Hitchcock's Psycho and is kinda similar in a way. You got a weird loner who turns out to be a crazy serial killer. It's just weird that Peeping Tom never got the same kind of recognition that Psycho got.

Apparently it got quite a bit of heat from critics because of its content and was considered too sick. That created a scandal which the movie's director Michel Powell never really recovered from. Way to destroy a career. And it's ironic considering that Psycho was just as "sick" and became a a cult classic. It was censored, sure but it did not ruin Hitchcock's career. Some people may even go as far as saying that Peeping Tom is actually the better movie.

Day 31: Pet Sematary

Another one of those horror movie classics. Everyone who digs horror films has probably seen Pet Sematary multiple times. And it's been referenced or parodied many times, not for no reason. It's one of the better movies based on a book by Stephen King, in my opinion anyways.

Day 31: Two Evil Eyes

Two Evil Eyes consists of two (short) movies, one directed by George A Romero and the other directed by Dario Argento, both stories are based on books by Edgar Allan Poe. And while Romero's 'The facts in the case of M. Valdemar' is good, it feels more like a not too bad appetizer before Dario Argento's main dish 'The Black Cat' is served. That one is really good, largely due to good writing and a very good Harvey Keitel. The Black Cat might actually be one of Argento's finest works.

Day 31: The Crazies (original)

next up was George A Romero's The Crazies. I watched the remake of The Crazies not too long ago and while it was really, really good and one of the best horror film remakes I have seen so far, I must say I like the original better. It may be a lot cheesier but what George A Romero has always been really good at is adding a healthy amount of social commentary to his movies. That's something that none of the remakes that are based on his movies have managed to replicate.

The original The Crazies just works better because it doesn't just focus on the protagonists but it also shows the other side of the coin, so to speak and portraits the whole situation of a virus outbreak with better finesse and more realistically.

Day 31: Trick 'r Treat

Finished off my movie marathon (within my Halloween movie marathon) with Trick 'r Treat. This one has sort of turned into a bit of a cult classic already actually. I think I saw it on TV a few years back and of course on TV you got commercials and I had to watch it dubbed back then. So this was my first 'proper' viewing of this movie and it's been every bit as fun as it's been the first time.

I love how there's several different little stories that somehow are all connected in a quite clever way. It's quite bloody and creepy but always maintains an almost cartoonish style. Which makes sense I guess since it's based on an animated short film. And I was glad to hear that they're making a sequel. I hope it will be as good or even better!

[EphelDuath666]

let's see...

-wonderfully talent-free Tara Reid and that blond dude from Beverly Hills 90210...check
-incredibly horrible performances including the worst reactions to deaths I have ever seen....check
-atrocious special effects and cgi...check
-flying sharks....check

Yup, I now can say I've seen it all because I've seen Sharknado. As awful as it is, it's also strangely entertaining. I am not even sure if this is one of those so-bad-it's-good cases. But I constantly had to shake my head and my jaw constantly dropped in disbelief because I didn't know just how awful special effects and acting can be. And I also laughed out loud quite a few times. Too bad I watched it alone because this one is probably a lot more fun when you watch it with friends. Drunk friends.

let's see...

-wonderfully talent-free Tara Reid and that blond dude from Beverly Hills 90210...check
-incredibly horrible performances including the worst reactions to deaths I have ever seen....check
-atrocious special effects and cgi...check
-flying sharks....check

Yup, I now can say I've seen it all because I've seen Sharknado. As awful as it is, it's also strangely entertaining. I am not even sure if this is one of those so-bad-it's-good cases. But I constantly had to shake my head and my jaw constantly dropped in disbelief because I didn't know just how awful special effects and acting can be. And I also laughed out loud quite a few times. Too bad I watched it alone because this one is probably a lot more fun when you watch it with friends. Drunk friends.

I'm kinda on the fence with this one. Is it funny when it's intentionally bad?

[EphelDuath666]

I'm kinda on the fence with this one. Is it funny when it's intentionally bad?

well, I don't know if it's actually funny per se. Unintentionally funny, that it probably is. It's just the amount of shittiness that makes you laugh a lot.

I'm kinda on the fence with this one. Is it funny when it's intentionally bad?

well, I don't know if it's actually funny per se. Unintentionally funny, that it probably is. It's just the amount of shittiness that makes you laugh a lot.

That's what I mean. They made it shitty on purpose. I don't know if you know what kind of films Asylum puts out but in Sharknado it's obvious that they are in on the joke.

[EphelDuath666]

I'm kinda on the fence with this one. Is it funny when it's intentionally bad?

well, I don't know if it's actually funny per se. Unintentionally funny, that it probably is. It's just the amount of shittiness that makes you laugh a lot.

That's what I mean. They made it shitty on purpose. I don't know if you know what kind of films Asylum puts out but in Sharknado it's obvious that they are in on the joke.

so far I always stayed miles away from their releases because they always sounded just bad. This one just sounded too shitty AND awesome to ignore though. And 2-Headed Shark Attack is on the disc too as a bonus. I'm sure it's gonna be a real "treat".

Although...I watched the Making Of for Sharknado and it didn't really sound like they made it shitty on purpose, heh. At least nothing they said sounded very self ironic.

Thankfully I can confirm, Two Headed Shark Attack is fantastic. Includes such classic moments as man crippled by wussiest flesh wound ever caught on film and Brooke (I'm only in this because of who my father is) Hogan, showing her full range starting with "pissed off and bitchy" and spanning the gamut right up to "pissed off, bitchy and also running and shouting". Had alot of fun watching this one.

Watched a low budget Australian Horror/Mystery/Drama recently called "Lake Mungo" that was really quite excellent. Shot as a mockumentary, it's a story about a family coming to terms with the recent death of their daughter who drowned on a family day out. Shortly after her death strange noises begin to be heard about the house and are accompanied by various other strange occurences, so naturally the family set about attempting to document these things. The whole film is one long slow burn and did a great job pulling me in and getting me interested in the story which takes some really nice twists and turns along the way. Did a fantastic job of creeping me out and leaving me fairly unsettled, at one point pulling me into something of a false sense of security, which actually managed to increase my curiosity as to just where they were going, before finally unleashing it's trump card. As I said to my friends, if you're a "lights off/pay attention" kind of viewer "Lake Mungo" is definitely a winner. Was having flashbacks of this one for days, a feat very few films have managed up to this point.

Just watched the final cut of The Wicker Man on the big screen. I gotta say, though the transfer and restoration is excellent, I'm surprised that this version is shorter than the DVD director's cut from ten years ago. Not by much, maybe five minutes or so in total, but the opening in the mainland was missing quite a bit of footage, as well as a few investigative scenes throughout the film.
Not sure if this was an artistic choice on Hardy's part, or if the film was so degraded since 2003 that it couldn't be restored for the final cut.

Either way, I'll be getting this version on Blu-Ray as it's still fantastic; plus there should be a feature discussing the restoration, as well.

[EphelDuath666]

Just watched the final cut of The Wicker Man on the big screen. I gotta say, though the transfer and restoration is excellent, I'm surprised that this version is shorter than the DVD director's cut from ten years ago. Not by much, maybe five minutes or so in total, but the opening in the mainland was missing quite a bit of footage, as well as a few investigative scenes throughout the film.
Not sure if this was an artistic choice on Hardy's part, or if the film was so degraded since 2003 that it couldn't be restored for the final cut.

Either way, I'll be getting this version on Blu-Ray as it's still fantastic; plus there should be a feature discussing the restoration, as well.

just be prepared to spend quite a bit of money. The UK Blu-ray costs

Thor - The Dark World

I love Avengers, together and solo, so it'll earn some points for this movie. It wasn't bad but somehow didn't quite lived to full potential, and potential was there. Still, this is going to find it's way to my collection when released BD.

I'm equally puzzled by and impressed with Ephel's determination to watch all these movies. Personally, I can barely watch any horror at all. Shit be scary yo!

Star Trek: Into Darkness was a cool blockbuster-flick. I think it's already safe to say that Star Wars is in, at the very least, better hands now with Abrams.

[JuZ]

I'm equally puzzled by and impressed with Ephel's determination to watch all these movies. Personally, I can barely watch any horror at all. Shit be scary yo!

Star Trek: Into Darkness was a cool blockbuster-flick. I think it's already safe to say that Star Wars is in, at the very least, better hands now with Abrams.

Yeah I'm in that boat. I love me some zombie fun but don't watch anything else that would really be considered horror these days. I just don't find it to be an enjoyable experience.

As for the new Star Wars films, I agree that ichthyosaurs have to be made then it's better to have Abrams (read: anyone at all) rather than Lucas.

Star Trek: Into Darkness was a cool blockbuster-flick. I think it's already safe to say that Star Wars is in, at the very least, better hands now with Abrams.

As for the new Star Wars films, I agree that ichthyosaurs have to be made then it's better to have Abrams (read: anyone at all) rather than Lucas.

Original Star Wars was great because it was character driven and had a coherent plot. Neither of these things were in Into Darkness in my opinion. It was a lot closer to the prequels. Still I have to agree with you both, Abrams is a lot better than Lucas.

[EphelDuath666]

2-Headed Shark Attack. OMG...my brain....it hurts! Brooke Hogan's acting I've seen better acting in porn!