What are you watching?

[Dom D Spoon! Find all posts View Profile Close Dom D]

MANIA
This has been at the top of my to see list for well over a decade. I know it's been available for a while on youtube but I was hanging out for a better quality copy and was pretty stoked to find one surface.

It's definitely a Polselli film. Lots of overwrought screaming that doesn't always have a lot of motivation and a general air of dementia keep things ticking over. It does, in a way, feel like a companion piece to Delirio Caldo. But, sad to say, I'm not entirely sure the wait was worth it. It's very short on story and the twist is blindingly obvious from a very early stage. More than those minor complaints though what it's really lacking is a central performance to ground the whole thing. There's no one here with the magnetism to hold the screen. No beauties like Rita Calderoni and no one as clearly unhinged as Mickey Haritay was. The last half hour definitely does have some momentum to it in the way that end of DC did which made it at least an interesting viewing.

Glad to have finally knocked it off the list though. If it had stayed lost it would have haunted me forever.

[Nabonga Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Nabonga]

Black Candles
Awesome film. Hella sleazy too (were they fucking for real in those scenes). I gotta buy this next time I get paid.

[Nabonga Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Nabonga]

Eye In The Labyrinth
Well made, intriguing giallo, shot on gorgeous locations. Soundtrack was really annoying however because those trumpets were super loud and dialogue super low so I had to be on my toes constantly with the volume button (watched it at 5 in the morning). Also, the moron who decided to use those awful jarring replacement sound effects needs to be ball-punched repeatedly as punishment. The film itself though was very interesting with cool actors. Everyone's a scumbag like in Bay Of Blood and it got quite unexpectedly gruesome at points.

[Takuma Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Takuma]

Silent Running (USA, 1972) [DVD] - 3/5
The world's last surviving greenhouses float through the space (attached to a spaceship) in a thematically interesting, slow paced hippie sci-fi film. The human characters - all 4 of them - can be a bit frustrating at times, but the film gets better towards the end and saves the best for the last.

What Have You Done to Solange? (Italy, 1972) [BD] - 4/5
Excellent, moody giallo with a beautiful Morricone score, strong storyline and good characters. I'm not especially a giallo super fan, and I was concerned about this film leaning too much towards drama, but those fears turned out to be unwarranted as the film is terrific.

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (USA, 1984) [VoD] - 2.5/5
One of the most popular films in the series, this is indeed quite watchable with passable characters, mostly decent pacing and plentiful nudity. The final act goes on a bit too long with Jason just walking around and killing people, though there are a couple effective moments.

Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI (USA, 1986) [DVD] - 2.5/5
Part 6 tries to pump more "fun" into the series, and occasionally succeeds at it (e.g. the sex scene, a very cool Alice Cooper theme song). Unfortunately the most painful moments tend to be those with humour rather than violence. But it could certainly be worse. Kevin Williamson has admitted the film('s self-aware approach to horror) as major influence for Scream.

Prince of Darkness (USA, 1987) [DVD] - 4/5
Atmospheric, under-rated John Carpenter film tackles satanic horror thru science. Not quite among his masterworks - the parts with possessed people taking out their victims in slasher fashion feel a bit lame considering Satan himself is lurking behind the corner - but it really is quite a good film.

Jason X (USA, 2001) [DVD] - 1.5/5
Friday the 13th meets Alien with a bit of Star Trek. Jason is the Alien. This actually has a pretty cool first 10 minutes. Gone are the usual teens, replaced by soldiers guarding the captured Jason on a space ship... which made me chuckle all the more when [spoiler] they still found a way to introduce "space teens" a bit later [/ end of spoiler]. Unfortunately it's downhill from there on with incredibly irritating characters you wish Jason would kill immediately and turn the film into a short movie. Visually the film looks like a mixture of late 90s low budget sci-fi TV series and a porn film. A couple of cool gore effects save the movie from being a complete waste of time.

And no, I'm not a Friday the 13th fan. So far seen part 1, 4, 6, 10 and "remake", and the "remake" is the only good one. Hah!

[Alex K. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Alex K.]

Surviving Edged Weapons. Very amusingly "funny bad" recreations with actual legit information to share.

About to binge on Season 2 of Ash VS Evil Dead.

[Alex K. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Alex K.]

A Nightmare on Elm Street part 5. This time it was a fan-edit that reinstates the cut gore footage. It's been many years since I've last seen it and even though it was my introduction to the franchise (and one of the earliest horror films I watched) I think it holds up. The cinematography is great. It has some great ideas. All the deaths are absolutely fantastic. But the 3rd act is rushed and I don't like the actor who played the comic nerd.

A solid entry in the series that's better than its reputation. It's definitely better than parts 4, 6, and (controversial opinion) part 7.

[Takuma Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Takuma]

Would you say the normal DVD version (theatrical cut?) of Elm Street 5 is worth a rental?

I've only seen parts 1, 3 and 4. Got part 2 on my rental list. What else should I see?

Slashers are something that never interested me as a kid (beyond the original Halloween, and Scream), but I've been checking out some stuff in the recent years.

[Alex K. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Alex K.]

If you're a Freddy fan than the theatrical cut is worth a look even though the uncut version is better for obvious reasons. I would skip part 6 and check out 7 (New Nightmare) and Freddy VS Jason.

[Alex K. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Alex K.]

I decided to re-watch Saw 1 and try to watch Jigsaw (2017) because reasons.

I saw the first three Saw films in the theater when they first came out and never re-watched them. I'm reminded that Saw 1 is a pretty damn good horror film. Not a masterpiece and I don't think anyone but the biggest die hards will claim that. But it's pretty damn good with limited flaws up until the twist ending.

Side bar: wtf happened to Danny Glover's character? He just vanished in the 3rd act and he doesn't even come back in the sequels. He apparently died but you never know when it comes to sequels.

Good film. Very impressively shot especially considering the time and money they had to work with.

I tried to watch Jigsaw and got maybe 20 minutes into it before I turned it off. The acting and dialog is right out of an episode of CSI. And not the Miami CSI show with David Caruso. The other ones that are terrible. Turns out that the writers for this POS did write for TV which was of no surprise to me. I said to myself "This is too retarded." And that was that.

I do remember most of Saw 3D (part 7) and the gore was great but everything else was lackluster.

You'd think they'd do something a little different with all of these sequels instead of re-using the same formula where so and so's are stuck in a trap, they need to solve the trap, cut back and fourth between their struggle with a few cops trying to figure it out. This franchise needs that "weird" entry that tried something different like Halloween 3, Jason Goes to Hell, Nightmare on Elm Street part 2, New Nightmare, and uhm... Bride of Chucky?

Here's my one word review of Jigsaw:

[Matt H. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Matt H.]

I tried to watch Jigsaw and got maybe 20 minutes into it before I turned it off.

Sooo.... you didn't really watch it then.

[Alex K. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Alex K.]

The Clint Howard "cult classic" Ice Cream Man. It's a fun concept and Clint is great as usual. But I hate the kids. And fuck this movie because it made me really hungry for ice cream.

The movie Dumplings/Three Extremes got the same gut reaction from me.

[Alex K. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Alex K.]

Mad Ron's Prevues From Hell: on Netflix right now for those who may be interested. All I have to say is that had I seen this when I was about 8 or even 12 I would have LOVED this. But as an adult it's a fun little nostalgia trip.

[paul h. woly boly Find all posts View Profile Close paul h.]

Watching Thunderbirds 6 with the sound off and listening to Killing Joke MMXII. It's pretty cool!

[paul h. woly boly Find all posts View Profile Close paul h.]

Still Thunderbirds 6, but switched over to Pink Floyd: Is There Anybody Out There? as the audio, just in time for the Egyptian pyramids. Works very well.

[Randy G Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Randy G]

Jeopardy - A forgotten low-budget semi-noir thriller by John Sturges with loads of Barbara Stanwyck, which is always a good thing. Ralph Meeker is really good as the psychopath con-on-the-run. Some of the dialogue between him and Stanwyck is surprisingly racey for the early 50s. It doesn't end the way you think it is going to. Good stuff.