Oh, the Horror!

[Bramblethorn]

Netflix has it I believe.

Not here, alas. Australian Netflix has a more limited selection :-(

Re. The Thing, there's a board game "Who Goes There?" based on the original Campbell story. It does a pretty good job of capturing the mood of the original - at first everybody's human and you're all on the same side, but as time goes on people get the chance to become infected and the paranoia grows. But it plays best with four or five, so it's gathering dust until lockdown eases...

 

[RetroFan]

When I was growing up, I always found the TV show Unsolved Mysteries hosted by the late Robert Stack more scary than any horror movies, yet of course used to watch the show religiously.

The scariest Unsolved Mysteries episode I remember was the Tallman's Ghost episode, where a couple from Wisconsin purchased some bunk beds for their kids and as soon as the beds were installed, their ordinary suburban house turned into a nightmare as evil spirits tormented the family, eventually out of the house to which they never returned.

My PTA Queen Bee & Teen Rebel stories feature a house that appears to be haunted and cursed, and given it is set in the late 1980s the eerie happenings at this house have an 'Unsolved Mysteries' vibe about them.

 

[lovecraft68]

Hmm, I'd have said the basic plot is pretty close to "Shadow over Innsmouth". Change in setting and expanded cast to allow for some more gruesome deaths and T&A, but the key elements are still there. Even the town's name "Imboca" - "boca" is Spanish for "mouth".

A good HPL adaptation that always gets overlooked is The Resurrection with Chris Sarandon based on Charles Dexter Ward pretty faithful to the original story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzsEYPZt1Ts

There was also this low budget attempt at the Color Out Of Space few know about because they called it the curse.

The new version is flashy and glitzy and gory, but this one, as campy as it was, is more a direct representation of the story IMO....and hell it had the guy who played Sheriff Lobo in it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVgikAaoKtE

I love the cheesy narration of the trailer....Will from stand by me must stand alone...

 

[PoisonPen33]

If we're talking HPL, we have to mention Re-Animator and Bride of Re-Animator.

They're dark, they're funny, they're wonderfully gross, the special effects are amazing, and I'd rank Jeffrey Combs' Herbert West as one of horror's greatest villains. Combs is an actor who found his niche and thrived.

The below monologue (for me personally) easily matches and maybe even surpasses the "it's alive" speech from Frankenstein.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouPU0xazha4

 

[lovecraft68]

If we're talking HPL, we have to mention Re-Animator and Bride of Re-Animator.

They're dark, they're funny, they're wonderfully gross, the special effects are amazing, and I'd rank Jeffrey Combs' Herbert West as one of horror's greatest villains. Combs is an actor who found his niche and thrived.

The below monologue (for me personally) easily matches and maybe even surpasses the "it's alive" speech from Frankenstein.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouPU0xazha4

The first two were great....we don't talk about Beyond Re-animator in these here parts.

Combs is a legend for all his HPL inspired roles, but he was also in the Frighteners and was awesome in it.

 

[lovecraft68]

When it comes to the franchise horror killers, everyone knows Freddy, Jason, Myers...but here's one that seems to get overlooked.

The Tall Man from Phantasm. Angus Scrimm was didn't need a mask, he was just a creepy looking guy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIRVOepV9Ik

I have to share this scene from Phantasm 2...Reggie's infamous four barrel shot gun

. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqD2jdKBdA8

 

[lovecraft68]

Calling it a night on a musical note

This is Halloween by Marilyn Manson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU6iP0WLsU8

 

[Bramblethorn]

The first two were great....we don't talk about Beyond Re-animator in these here parts.

Beyond is the only one of those three that I've seen. It... wasn't great... but the credits scene with the reanimated severed penis fighting a rat was something. Not sure what kind of something, but definitely something.

The other thing I remember from it was this song. Speaking of things that belong dead.

 

[Brutal_One]

For me a lot of Horror I first became aware of with the Hammer House of Horror series. The original Dracula, Frankenstein with great actors like Bela Lugosi, Vincent Price and Christopher Lee.

Then of course there were the films like Halloween and Carrie.

But the earliest memory of the real horror scares were from those Hammer films.

Brutal One

 

[lovecraft68]

Beyond is the only one of those three that I've seen. It... wasn't great... but the credits scene with the reanimated severed penis fighting a rat was something. Not sure what kind of something, but definitely something.

The other thing I remember from it was this song. Speaking of things that belong dead.

I only have myself to blame for clicking on that song this early.

I needed to cleanse my ears after that so here's some Horror Metal from Dawn of Demise. Not sure there's a real difference between Horror Metal and Black Metal, but I guess it helps sell if you pretend you have a different niche.

I like hard and heavy, but even I need to be in a certain mood for this stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=an3YVWK-jq0

You know, like when I think of my soon to be ex son in law

 

[Bramblethorn]

I only have myself to blame for clicking on that song this early.

I needed to cleanse my ears after that so here's some Horror Metal from Dawn of Demise. Not sure there's a real difference between Horror Metal and Black Metal, but I guess it helps sell if you pretend you have a different niche.

Not as heavy, but definitely Halloweeny, here's a couple from EwiG:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4SLz0SxLcQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgFf2iVMA6M

Both in German but the clips give a pretty good idea of what they're about.

 

[ChasPHX]

I have a pretty good Halloween movie story.

About 20 years ago when I first moved to Toronto, I went to see a midnight screening of Texas Chainsaw at a reperatory theatre. I didn't know many people yet and the few I did weren't interested in horror movies, so I went alone. It was a packed house.

When the film was on the last shot, with Leatherface flailing around in the road waving his saw around, the film print melted down. It looked exactly like it looks in movies that depict film prints melting down, with a big white hole in the middle extending out toward the edges and the chololate brown colour of the film dripping and curling.

The audience was dead silent for a heartbeat, and then suddenly the whole place erupted in wild applause, everyone standing up and cheering. It could not have been more perfect.

It wasn't my first time seeing Chainsaw, but I think that experience boosted the film to even greater heights for me.

 

[Ian_Snow]

I always use threads like this to shout about Pontypool, which if you haven't watched it is both a smart zombie movie of sorts and an excellent tribute to words and language. I know that doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but trust me, watch it and you'll be hooked.

 

[Abbafan]

I always use threads like this to shout about Pontypool, which if you haven't watched it is both a smart zombie movie of sorts and an excellent tribute to words and language. I know that doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but trust me, watch it and you'll be hooked.

Pontypool is an original take on the zombie genre, yes. I second that recommendation.

 

[Bramblethorn]

A good HPL adaptation that always gets overlooked is The Resurrection with Chris Sarandon based on Charles Dexter Ward pretty faithful to the original story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzsEYPZt1Ts

There was also this low budget attempt at the Color Out Of Space few know about because they called it the curse.

There was a decent German adaptation a few years back, Huan Vu's Die Farbe. I think it was an amateur production but pretty good on a low budget.

Same guy was/is doing a crowd-funded production of "The Dreamlands". It seems to have stalled and I'm not sure it's ever going to get made, which would be a shame. Trailer looked promising.

 

[lovecraft68]

There was a decent German adaptation a few years back, Huan Vu's Die Farbe. I think it was an amateur production but pretty good on a low budget.

Same guy was/is doing a crowd-funded production of "The Dreamlands". It seems to have stalled and I'm not sure it's ever going to get made, which would be a shame. Trailer looked promising.

That does look good...talk about an ambitious undertaking. There's a couple of good animated HPL stuff on You tube...this is a cool version of Haunter of the Dark

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyqoNvcmEcM

A kittle trivia for those not aware, the character in Haunter is supposed to be Robert Bloch, one of HPL's close friends...so of course he writes him into a story and kills him. Bloch returned the favor by killing his HPL based character in Shambler from the Stars

Bloch's early writing was all mythos based...then he went and wrote that silly little novel named Pyscho.

 

[lovecraft68]

Couple of excellent foreign horror movies.

May the Devil Take you...best described as he Indonesian version of the Evil Dead...subtitles are a little distracting because you can tell the interpretation is way off, some lines sound silly, but overall a nasty little movie.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=may+the+devil+take+you+trailer+netflix

The Wailing

This Korean movie takes a while to get going, but its tense, pretty damned twisted and has you guessing the entire time as to who the evil entity truly is

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43uAputjI4k

 

[lovecraft68]

Technically not a horror movie, but its pretty close.

Se7en is-next to Silence of the Lambs- about the best serial killer movie I've seen.

The jump scare in this is what horror is all about. I saw this opening weekend in a packed theater and when it happened...not a person in that theater didn't yell, jump or scream, then we all laughed at ourselves, but that nervous wow I'm freaked laugh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7J02CRoYUk

One nitpick always goes through my head in this scene...a writer's detail nitpick maybe...

This is New York..even in a terrible neighborhood how does an ex con with no job afford a place that big...there's an entire swat team running around in there...that's a lot of money....

 

[Bramblethorn]

Technically not a horror movie, but its pretty close.

Se7en is-next to Silence of the Lambs- about the best serial killer movie I've seen.

The jump scare in this is what horror is all about. I saw this opening weekend in a packed theater and when it happened...not a person in that theater didn't yell, jump or scream, then we all laughed at ourselves, but that nervous wow I'm freaked laugh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7J02CRoYUk

One nitpick always goes through my head in this scene...a writer's detail nitpick maybe...

This is New York..even in a terrible neighborhood how does an ex con with no job afford a place that big...there's an entire swat team running around in there...that's a lot of money....

Maybe John Doe paid for it. Not like the guy in that scene was going to be paying bills himself, no matter how small.

In hindsight, though, what's really unrealistic is Brad Pitt's character getting arrested at the end.

 

[lovecraft68]

Maybe John Doe paid for it. Not like the guy in that scene was going to be paying bills himself, no matter how small.

In hindsight, though, what's really unrealistic is Brad Pitt's character getting arrested at the end.

I thought the arrest was realistic, he shot Doe in full view of the guys in the copter, and it added poignancy to Pitt's plight.

However, I imagine, no charges stuck due to a temporary insanity plea, probably lost his job.

The thing for me was the entire movie the only thing I didn't like was Paltrow, her character was annoying to me for some reason so I didn't mind the end.

But...Doe better not have killed the dogs, then I'd be pissed.

 

[SimonDoom]

In hindsight, though, what's really unrealistic is Brad Pitt's character getting arrested at the end.

Not unrealistic at all. I agree with LC. With it happening in plain view like that there's no way he could not get arrested. And it's necessary for the drama, to give tragic weight to the choice he made. He might well get off with an insanity defense in the end but he'd be arrested, no question about it.

Such a great movie ending. Spacey's in two of the best all-time movie endings -- that and The Usual Suspects.

 

[lovecraft68]

Not unrealistic at all. I agree with LC. With it happening in plain view like that there's no way he could not get arrested. And it's necessary for the drama, to give tragic weight to the choice he made. He might well get off with an insanity defense in the end but he'd be arrested, no question about it.

Such a great movie ending. Spacey's in two of the best all-time movie endings -- that and The Usual Suspects.

I keep finding myself wondering what John Malkovich would have been like as John Doe, that could have been interesting

 

[lovecraft68]

Back to 1932 one of the most disturbing films of its time, and still is considered pretty solid Tod Browning's Freaks.

This is a fan made trailer, I don't think a real one exists.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJVXTKkjsxA

 

[lovecraft68]

1967 Spider Baby or The Mddest story ever Told...this is an....interesting movie, disturbing, and just plain fucked up.

One of Sid Haig's early roles. Horror fans recall Haig(RIP) as Captain Spaulding from Rob Zombies movies...on that note this is an obvious inspiration for the Fire Fly family..

Everything is subjective, but I'm a fan of Zombie's music, but for his movies...I like his music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i85Q0AeKcYU

 

[Bramblethorn]

Not unrealistic at all. I agree with LC. With it happening in plain view like that there's no way he could not get arrested.

Nah. John Doe went for Somerset's gun. Mills had no option but to shoot him in self-defence. Sadly no video, but four cops saw the whole thing go down.

I mean, much stranger things have happened.

And it's necessary for the drama, to give tragic weight to the choice he made. He might well get off with an insanity defense in the end but he'd be arrested, no question about it.

The drama certainly does require his destruction. But for a movie that prides itself on its darkness, it's quite touchingly naïve about what the consequences are likely to be for a cop who shoots the serial killer who just murdered his wife, with only other cops to witness.

(Would Somerset testify against him? I dunno. Does a guy willing to rat on his partner in those circumstances get to Detective Lieutenant in the NYPD?)