[JuZ]

Watched Moneyball last night. I haven't read the book, which I hear is pretty good.

I really enjoyed it. Not sure why but I expected more of a Jerry McGuire feel. However it was much a more low-key, tense affair. Shot mostly in neon-lit corridors and windowless, poky offices, with a tense, sparse soundtrack. Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill are both solid and Seymour Hoffman collects a cheque for looking rough and gruff (not words you usually associate with him). But it's the whole moneyball concept that's the star of the film. Worth a watch.

Eden - Don't watch this if you're prone to be easily angered. Not because the movie is bad, but because of the subject matter.

Expendables 2 - Way WAY better than the first and way more self aware as well. Watch it if you grew up on a diet of 80s action movies.

[EphelDuath666]

Creature From The Black Lagoon

Loved it. I've never seen this one before and it was actually less cheesy than I expected. The creature costume looked pretty neat, considering the time the movie was made. And this movie was also more supsenseful than I thought. I kind of expected this super cheesy monster flick with a crappy looking monster making crappy monster noises without any suspense or horror elements. But Creature From The Black Lagoon really works well. Not quite sure if I want to see the sequels though because they sound kind of silly but this one I'd recommend if you have a thing for old horror flicks.

The Wolf Man

Well, I will admit the wolf man costume looked a liiiiiittle silly and I don't quite understand why the first werewolf you see in the movie is an actual wolf but the main werewolf of the movie is half man half wolf. But oh well, it was a really enjoyable flick anyways. Again, this is another movie that ends super abruptly. I assume that was just the way they used to make movies but it always leaves you a little puzzled in the end. But there's great atmosphere to be found in The Wolf Man. I loved the sets, the dark and foggy woods looked neat (again, considering the time the movie was made). Lon Chaney Jr. also did a very fine job playing Larry Talbot and his struggles with the curse.


Next up was a vampire movie that deals with the struggles of a young couple and their problems with other vampires. And a woman was responsible for this movie. That's right! I watched Twilight! NOT! I did watched Near Dark though. So yeah, basically imagine Twilight and then remove everything from Twilight that sucks (so pretty much all of it) and add plenty of blood, violence and motherfuckin' Lance Henriksen and you get Near Dark. This is a highly enjoyable movie that may be a little cheesy in parts but it was made in the 80's so that's a given. And it's almost like an Aliens reunion party because Bill Paxton and Jenette Goldstein were part of the cast as well besides Henriksen. If you like 80's flicks and love vampires but HATE Twilight then you'll enjoy this one.

and last but not least...

"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass...and I'm all out of bubblegum." blam blam blam

Fuck yeah, I watched They Live. So many years after watching it for the first time They Live still kicks so much ass! Awesome one liners, awesome action, amazingly cheesy but awesome looking aliens, one of the best (and longest) fist fights in movie history and fuckin' Rowdy Roddy Piper! What could possibly go wrong? Exactly. Absolutely nothing! Now I know this ain't quite a horror movie...probably not at all. It's more like a sci-fi action fest. But hey I think it still kind of fits into the Halloween movie marathon category. They Live is just full of awesome and never gets boring. Well, maybe you sort of had to watch it while growing up to fully appreciate it nowadays but again, if you have a thing for 80's flicks then this one shouldn't be missed!

[EphelDuath666]

oops, forgot one

Hellbound: Hellraiser 2

if you know the Lars then you know the Lars loves Hellraiser. Hellbound is no exception. It's a direct sequel to the first Hellraiser movie and is similar in some ways. Most of the cast returns with Andrew Robinson being the exception. If you think Hellraiser is bizarre then just wait untill you see Hellbound. It's much more bloody, grotesque, perverse and way more out there. This may be heresy but I think I actually like Hellbound more than Hellraiser.

This is the first and alas also the only great Hellraiser sequel. Kenneth Cranham...holy hell does he do a great job playing the completely insane Dr. Channard and an even better job playing the seriously creepy Channard cenobite. I mean, the very first time he appears on screen as a cenobite and goes "The doctor is in..." it just gives me chills down my spine. Love it.

like I said, it's unfortunate that this was the last truely great Hellraiser movie. The 3rd one is basically an action movie with monsters, the 4th one turned out worse than it should have...but the studio is to blame for that. And then came several direct to video "sequels". I still believe that Hellraiser Inferno is probably the best out of the many sequels that came after Hellraiser 2. Yes, it's not really a real Hellraiser movie anymore but just judging it for what it is, I'd say it's the best movie out of the many not so good sequels.

It's actually interesting. When you play the Silent Hill games you clearly notice the influence that the first two Hellraiser movies had on that franchise. And then you watch Hellraiser Inferno and notice that Silent Hill very likely influenced that movie.

[swervedriver]

Prometheus

Finally got around to seeing this, and glad I did; goo(d) stuff. Also, I've never seen the Alien series of movies, but may do that now.

Spoiler: show

Only gripe is that the ending seemed a bit odd to me as they've been going through that big alien launch pad for over an hour, and then after the final collision in one minute it's like "it's ok, there's tonnes more of spaceships and we can easily get in and fly another one despite the horrific black goo alien stuff everywhere".

Movies for the past few days:

10/12: For today's film I watched Deadgirl. Well... I can unequivocally say that this is hands down the most disturbing horror film I've watched all month, if not one of the most disturbing horror films I've ever seen. The film follows two high school boys who find the body of a woman in an abandoned insane asylum. They soon find that she can not die and they, without going into specifics (I think it should be more than clear), decide to use her. The movie is raw and realistic, and that's what probably makes it so incredibly disturbing. I would like to hope humanity is not as depraved as this movie makes them out to be, because if so... damn. The sort of angsty teenager part of the movie feels a bit tired, and the music is a total rip off of Michael Andrew's Donnie Darko score; in fact, that's putting it lightly. That said, the movie is well done in the sense that it more than achieves it's purpose and leaves you feeling sort of empty when it finishes. It looks into what makes humans human, and at the lows we can drop to. I feel I can't say the movie is "good," though. "Well-made" is about as far as I can get, because it's just so disturbing. 7/10

10/13: For tonight's film I watched Stephen King's It. I guess it's more of a made-for-TV miniseries, but whatever. The film follows 7 self-proclaimed losers who begin seeing an evil clown that wants to kill them and other children in the town. This switches between the kids in modern day, who begin having experiences with It again that lead them to reuniting and fighting the creature. Well... half of the movie is good? The first half is actually really interesting, albiet hilariously bad acted (save Tim Curry, who is a god amongst men). The parallels between the kids and their grown up selves and the idea of an evil entity that exists in the imagination of a child is unique subject matter. But then the second half goes off the deep end with an ending that is laughably ridiculous; honestly, one of the most tacked on, I-didn't-know-how-to-finish-my-sort-of-cool-story-so-uh...fart...here-I-guess endings ever. But Stephen King does do that a fair amount in his novels, so not all that surprising. 6.5/10 (mostly so high due to Tim Curry)

10/14: Tonight I watched Sint (Saint), a Dutch horror film dealing with the legend of St. Nicholas. In the world of the film jolly St. Nick was actually a monstrous bishop who took children from their homes and slaughtered their parents. Eventually the oppressed villagers rise up and kill Nicholas and his followers, causing St. Nick to place a curse on Amsterdam that exists up until the modern day. With such an interesting premise I was expecting so much more and really didn't get much. I got to see some cool death scenes but other than that... eh? It's a pretty typical zombie/slasher hybrid type affair, and with the wealth the Santa legend has it's kind of dumbfounding to me why more wasn't done. Maybe there was a disconnect in that I didn't fully understand the Dutch holiday which is evidently much different from how Christmas is celebrated here in America, but even then... it was just so typical. Pretty disappointing, sadly. 6/10

10/12: For today's film I watched Deadgirl. Well...

Strange film this one. When I watched it I was bit dissapointed first, can't really say what I was expecting but somehow it didn't deliver. But now even after several weeks I still find myself thinking about that movie every now and then... Maybe I'll watch it again now that it's soaked in nicely

The Cold Light of Day This starts quite nicely and gives impression of solid suspense and what not, then it goes somehow wrong and turns into pretty basic action film. And not even good one, somehow it feels forced and after a while only thing in your mind is "is this over soon...".

[JuZ]

Prometheus

Also, I've never seen the Alien series of movies, but may do that now.

[swervedriver]

I am in the same boat as you Pim. I only saw Alien this past summer, and just saw Aliens last night, interestingly enough. And here is my review, rant-ridden and James Cameron hate-filled. Prepare for long post! Post with pictures over at ze blog, go visit, I'm lonely. http://horrorbingechron.blogspot.com/

10/15:10/15: For tonight's film I watched James Cameron's sequel to Alien, Aliens. Which, as the title would lead you to believe, includes more aliens. Anyway, this is another one of those "dude, you haven't seen this?" gaps in my horror/sci fi knowledge. The even more egregious crime to you fans out there is that I only saw the first one this past summer. Gaps and shit, man. And I have to say, after watching Aliens, that I am probably in the minority from most people I talk to as I actually liked the first installment more. Allow me to explain why.

James Cameron.

Is there any more reason I need? Anyone who truly knows me knows I hate this man with the burning passion of a thousand suns-- or, to put it differently, I hate him on a level par with his ego. So, you know, that's saying something. For me, in a far less extreme way, Cameron "Avatared" Ridley Scott's first film. Honestly, the more I think about the first Alien the more I love it. It's a different kind of monster sci-fi/horror in the sense that it's in a very odd way subtle and makes you wait. Cameron, as a child of the modern era of filmmaking, wants to make you wait about as much as he didn't want to collect his check for Avatar. He creates the same cliched characters he makes in Avatar and many of his other films, with the sassy Hispanic kick ass (as one reviewer I read aptly put it, Michelle Rodriguez before there was Michelle Rodriguez), the hot headed asshole, the soldier who is about to piss his pants, the inept commander who screws everything up, and the guy who leaves everyone else out to dry so that he can make a quick buck. If there is one thing James Cameron is not is it is a good screenwriter. See: Unobtainium, Strange Days, and "No, Jack, no! No, wait Jack! No Jack I couldn't possibly Jack!" Gold, right there. What he does with Alien is create a movie that doesn't retain one iota of the nuance that the original had; this one is a balls out, as-many-aliens-die-per-second-as-possible movie.

Which, honestly, as much as my previous acidic language would lead you to believe, is not all a bad thing. If I can ignore what the first alien was and subsequently my fiery hatred for James Cameron, this is a pretty damn good action-y horror/sci fi flick. There's real fear and claustrophobia as you feel the coming onslaught of thousands of unstoppable creatures coming for the lives of this hapless group. I also enjoyed the mother vs mother (props to my girlfriend for pointing this out to me) aspect of Ripley vs. the Alien mother. But probably most of all, the special effects are incredible; I really have to hand it to Cameron. The aliens and their lair look slick, disgusting alien, and most of all, real. Which further supports my theory that Cameron should have taken up a career as a special effects artist and left the writing to, you know, someone who can actually write. The sheer quality of the effects in this too beg the question as well: what happened to Cameron? If he could make a movie like this where the animatronics and creatures look so real because they they are based in something physical what lead to wanting to make blue CGI monkey people that despite the billion dollars you spent on them still don't look real? I am of the opinion CGI will never reach what physical special effects can do because it's not real. The Thing, Aliens, An American Werewolf in London, etc. are all incredible because their special effects are real and mindblowingly stunning; if you have the capacity to do that then why computer blue people? The mind boggles.

As you can see, all my complaints are mostly pointed towards Cameron and his other films, but I really couldn't help exercising my thoughts on him and this subject in this review. Don't like it... go make your own blog. With all of that other shit out of the way, though, Aliens is a damn good flick.

And James Cameron, I still hate you. When you finally reveal yourself to be the Antichrist I know you are I will be there waiting to slay you, copy of "Screenwriting for Dummies" in hand.

8/10

^Wait until you see Alien 3. Great atmosphere and directing by David Fincher and some good acting, but the rest pretty much went to hell in a handbasket. Fincher will be the first in line to blast this film's many flaws.

Still, there are a few choice moments, the alien design and vocals were cool, and it's far better than the AVP abortions.

[EphelDuath666]

I am probably in the minority from most people I talk to as I actually liked the first installment more.

absolutely not. Alien is unquestionably better than Aliens

Yeah, no, I liked it, I just can't think about the first one or James Cameron to truly enjoy it lol.

I am probably in the minority from most people I talk to as I actually liked the first installment more.

absolutely not. Alien is unquestionably better than Aliens

Ah-ha! I'm not alone....

[EphelDuath666]

^Wait until you see Alien 3. Great atmosphere and directing by David Fincher and some good acting, but the rest pretty much went to hell in a handbasket. Fincher will be the first in line to blast this film's many flaws.

Still, there are a few choice moments, the alien design and vocals were cool, and it's far better than the AVP abortions.

The special edition of Alien 3 is actually quite good though. Sure the CGI is kinda crappy but they didn't have a huge budget for that special edition. It may not be a 'real' director's cut but at least they tried to recreate Fincher's original vision. A friend of mine actually thinks that this special edition of Alien 3 is the best out of all Alien movies. I don't agree but I do think it's a good movie.

^Wait until you see Alien 3. Great atmosphere and directing by David Fincher and some good acting, but the rest pretty much went to hell in a handbasket. Fincher will be the first in line to blast this film's many flaws.

Still, there are a few choice moments, the alien design and vocals were cool, and it's far better than the AVP abortions.

The special edition of Alien 3 is actually quite good though. Sure the CGI is kinda crappy but they didn't have a huge budget for that special edition. It may not be a 'real' director's cut but at least they tried to recreate Fincher's original vision. A friend of mine actually thinks that this special edition of Alien 3 is the best out of all Alien movies. I don't agree but I do think it's a good movie.

I am of like mind with this. The special edition was great - though I do prefer the birthing and finale of the orginial version. Still, the Blu-Ray of the special edition is worth the purchase.