November 30th, 2014 - Devil Seed (2012)

Everything I've read about Devil Seed says it's pretty much just an Exorcist rip-off. But I haven't seen that (tsk tsk) so I can't comment. But to me, it did seem reminiscent of another big horror hit - here's how I saw the pitch go: "Think of the Paranormal Activity franchise. Although no found footage stuff. And instead of just haunting this girl, the demon gets her pregnant. And we'll make it cheap. And in Canada."

November 29th, 2014 - The Boogens (1981)

With a name like The Boogens, I think it's reasonable to expect that our antagonists would be impish little monsters that cause havoc/kill people, a la Gremlins/Ghoulies/etc. But that's not the case here. In fact, if you're expecting a lot of monster action, you'll be pretty disappointed - we're maybe an hour into things before we see our first full Boogen. But while it doesn't deliver in that department, it is a just plain fun and uncynical early 80's horror flick. The Boogens has really likable characters (including the dog Tiger, who may be my new favorite cinematic canine), a straightforward story, and fun special effects.

Oh, and there is a legitimate "Oh Hi Mark!" 25 years before its time. If you know my love for The Room, you know this just tickles me pink.

November 28th, 2014 - The Driller Killer (1979)

Another movie from the Thankgiving trip. I'm thankful for archive.org! So, I wasn't taking notes, and this may be a bit on the brief side. I was planning to watch something that would help satiate my Black Friday bloodlust (seriously, I don't think I could feel any more depressed about the state of our society than the day after Thanksgiving. The combo of stressful family time and the idolization of sales just gets to me, I guess.) Driller Killer seemed like it would fit the bill. It's an odd, grindhousey film and doesn't have much by the way of a traditional narrative, but was off-kilter and creative enough to be interesting. Plus, sleazy and grimy New York City!

Driller Killer centers around a struggling artist named Reno (Abel Ferrara, who also directed) - he's the emotionally explosive type of artist, prone to yelling and berating his two female roommates (one of whom he's in a relationship with, I think). He obviously has a lot of talent, but doesn't have the money to show for it. The pictures in his apartment are really cool - sort of surreal, but with great detail/technical-prowess/finesse. Despite being months behind in rent and having trouble paying the bills, he thinks his next painting, a psychedelic buffalo, is his masterpiece and will bring him the big bucks. He cracks under the pressure (I think) and starts killing people with a drill. It's not really that plot-heavy.

November 27th, 2014 - Beast from Haunted Cave (1959)

This was a Thanksgiving weekend trip movie. Which meant I needed something I could download to the old tablet. I came across archive.org about a month ago - it's a pretty rad (and legal) site where you can download many different types of media for free. The people who own the rights on any sort of property in any sort of medium can upload it there - with movies you can either stream through the site or download them. So I perused the horror section and came up with Beast from Haunted Cave. I knew I probably wouldn't be up for anything crazy after a long day of driving and family, so I wanted something that would go down easy. I didn't end up taking any notes, but I'm afraid there just isn't all that much to say about it anyways. It's a pretty bland 50's monster flick with really nothing to get excited about.

You might think this would be about a beast, but really it's more about a gang of bandits at a ski resort (shot on location in "picturesque" South Dakota). They have a plan to rob a bank or some such place - whatever it is, there are gold bars there. They will steal the loot and cross-country ski to an isolated cabin where a helicopter will pick them up. Along for the ride is Gil (Michael Forest), a ski guide who will help them get to the cabin but is ignorant of their illegal shenanigans.

November 26th, 2014 - The Howling IV: The Original Nightmare (1988)

First off, check out this theme song. Does that really make you want to watch a scary werewolf movie?

Another Howling, another sequel unrelated to the last. Despite *really* hating part 3, I was oddly anticipating part 4. Maybe I'm just a glutton for punishment. And it definitely isn't a good movie. But it's kind of a good "bad movie," at least for a little while. It's interesting: part 3 tries to be funny and ends up being seriously bad, and part 4 tries to be serious and ends up funny bad.

November 25th, 2014 - The Phantom of the Opera (1998)

I have limited Phantom experience. Up until now, I've only seen the musical (I may have fallen asleep) and watched a pretty okay 80's retelling of it called Phantom of the Mall. But I gather one needn't be familiar with the mythology to enjoy Dario Argento's take on the tale. When it starts off with an abandoned baby in a basket floating down an underground river (baby Moses style), which then gets rescued and raised by telepathic rats (!), you have to figure you've already strayed a bit from the canonical telling of the tale.

But yeah, this movie is pretty damned great. I know director Dario Argento starts to get some flak around this time, so I was a little hesitant at first, but I loved this movie. It's stylish, surreal, and kind of goofy. It's unquestionably it's own beast, and I can't think of any other movie to compare it to. The Phantom of the Opera is just awesomely odd.

November 24th, 2014 - Meridian (1990)

Meridian was on another budget pack of mine (The Midnight Horror Collection). Four of the eight are Charles Band jams. I have a kind of affection for his films (bearing in mind that I've only seen a handful). Even when they are really bad, they are always watchable to me. I recently watched The GingerDead Man and have the sneaking suspicion that Evil Bong will be next. But Meridian is a little older (1990), and it's clearly more of an attempt at a mainstream film than some of his "little-things killing people" movies. I don't know if it went direct to video, but there is some money on screen here. The Italian scenery is awesome (they shoot in a particularly good-looking sculpture garden), the monster effects are good, and it's got a game cast. Unfortunately, it's at the behest of a story that's quite convoluted and unsuccessfully tries to bridge the gap between horror and romance.

Now, I've never been into the "adult" fairy tales, which I think is what Meridian is going for. It's sort of a riff on Beauty and the Beast, and includes ghosts, magic, and a family curse (the fairy tale part). It's also got some blood and a lot of nudity (the adult part). But to me, the two just don't mix well. There are ways to successfully portray the fantastic elements of a fairy tale in an adult way (Neil Gaiman comes to mind), but it fails far more often than it works for me. You try to take the best of both worlds, and end up alienating fans of both instead.

November 23rd, 2014 - Shock (1946)

Janet Stewart (Anabel Shaw) has been on a psychological roller-coaster ride as of late. Her husband Paul is a presumed dead P.O.W. - only recently did she learn that he is in fact alive and coming home. She checks into the hotel where they've agreed to meet, but he's not there. Has someone played a cruel joke on her? As she anxiously awaits his arrival in her hotel room, she overhears a marital spat going on in a nearby room. It sounds intense (it's about the husband being unfaithful) so she peeks out. Just as she does, the man (Vincent Price) bashes his wife in the head with a candlestick! (It's 1946, so it's hidden behind a curtain. But you get the gist.) The next morning, Paul shows up, but instead of a happy reunion he finds Janet in a catatonic state. He quickly calls a doctor, who finds her to be in a state of shock. Luckily, an expert in the field, Dr. Cross, is staying in the hotel. Unbeknownst to anyone (except for Janet), the doctor is the very same man who drove her to her condition when she witnessed him murdering his wife!

Dr. Cross takes Janet to his private sanitarium outside of the city. There, he learns that she witnessed his brutal crime. He has been able to cover up the murder by staging a accident, but one eyewitness could make it all unravel. Dr. Cross is torn with guilt. Will he be a good doctor and nurse Janet back to health? Or will he use his knowledge of the inner-workings of the brain to manipulate her into thinking she's crazy? Or if that fails, will he take the encouragement of his nurse Elaine (also his mistress) and take even more drastic steps?

November 22nd, 2014 - Night of the Demons 2 (1994)

I was cruising through horror movies on Amazon Prime the day after I watched Night of the Demons 2. To my amazement, it had a four-star average with 48 5-star ratings. Granted, this is the internet, but still. Even if you are a huge fan of dumb comedy, gratuitous nudity, and exceptionally annoying characters, I don't see how this could be considered "Excellent." Words still mean things, you know?

And it's not because I am a huge Night of the Demons fan. From what I recall, I thought it was fun and seemed just about perfect for a late 80's VHS rental (I remember the box from Mr. Movies!) which I didn't actually see until 2000-something. But it fit the "idea" of a late-80's VHS rental, you know? I saw the remake (with Shannon Elizabeth) a couple of years ago and thought it was okay. But this - ugh. It's obviously aiming for comedy more than horror, but that doesn't give it carte blanche to suck.

November 21st, 2014 - Find Me (2013)

There ought to be some kind of law where you should have to list if a house is haunted when you are selling it. I mean, you are bound by law to say if there's ever been water in the basement - why not malevolent spirits? I guess there *is* a buying history. As it is explained by a somewhat helpful neighbor in Find Me, the haunted house in question has been moved in and out of in a span of a day (in one case) or a week (in another). But he never thought to ask why. Although I suppose the buying history would only say when it's been bought and sold, not when it's been moved in and out of. It would suck to buy a haunted house, is what I'm saying.

Anyways, Tim (Cameron Bender) and Emily (Kathryn Lyn) are moving back to the town Emily grew up in. They got a great deal on an old house, but from the moment they move in, strange things start to happen. Emily is the main witness to most of this, as Tim is always either at work or getting food. Things are knocked off of the shelves, a music box turns up out of nowhere, notes saying the titular "Find Me" start to show up written on the mirrors. Despite being scared, they cannot afford to leave, having spent all of their cash on this place. So, they do a little research on the house, and they set out to do what the ghost is asking. Will they Find [it]? Will the increasingly malicious spirit cost Emily and Tim their sanity, or something even worse? Tune in to find out!

November 20th, 2014 - The Prowler (1981)

Could The Prowler really be my first proper slasher? It's not my favorite sub-genre, but it's so ubiquitous it seems kind of amazing that I haven't hit one until now. BTW - my definition of a "slasher" - an unknown person/entity grossly kills several or more people, but there has to be some realism there too. As such, I do not count the Nightmare on Elm Street films as slashers. There should be some sense of mystery there too, if not directly who is under the mask, why are they doing it?

Anyways, The Prowler is right smack in the middle of the Golden Age of slasher films (roughly '78-'84), and is probably most notable nowadays for the effects work of Tom Savini. I wouldn't go so far as saying it's an oft-maligned film, but it's never mentioned in the same breath as many of the classics of that era. It could be because it was heavily edited upon it's release and never really caught on because of it. But my guess is because it suffers from some issues that stop it from being really good, namely an obvious killer and an over-reliance on fake jump-scares. But overall, it's solid - it's got some great effects work and a pretty wicked mean streak. I was expecting "eh" and got "pretty good."

November 19th, 2014 - Count Yorga, Vampire (1970)

Or, if you listen to the title screen, The Loves of Count Iorga, Vampire. I like the alternate title more, but the "Y" sound is certainly less confusing. I liked this one. It's got a solid "Swinging late 60's-70's vibe," a fun, smooth as silk vampire in Count Yorga (Robert Quarry), and is never too trashy but never too serious. Overall, it's an enjoyable but pretty low-key vampire flick.

It starts off at a port by the sea where a sketchy looking guy is picking up a wooden coffin and tosses it in the back of the truck. Nothing shady about that!

I wouldn't want to be behind this on the highway

At least put a tarp over it! Anyways, shortly after the truck arrives at a gated estate, we cut to a seance led by Count Yorga (in non-vampire form). There are three couples at the seance, and they are attempting to contact the recently deceased mother of Donna (the mother who also happened to be in a brief but passionate relationship with the Count). After we establish the skepticism of several of the guests, the lights go out and some weird stuff starts to happen. Donna, who seems *way* too attached to dear old mom ("I need you [mother] - I never want to be alone!") goes into hysterics, and the Count hypnotizes her to calm her down. His evil intentions are made clear (as if the title of the film didn't give it away) when he telepathically instructs Donna to "do everything I say, whenever and from wherever I say it." The seance party winds down, and one of the couples (Erica and Paul) offer the Count a ride home. But before he leaves? "I believe I had a cape." Ah, the 70's.

November 18th, 2014 - Invitation (2003)

I do like to rip on Amazon Prime, but Invitation seriously has the all-time best description of a movie I have ever seen: "Fifteen years ago, a group of young friends were playing a sandlot game of baseball." That's it? Would that make anyone (besides me) want to watch it? The fact that it's listed as being directed by "Maxim Media International" doesn't make it super-appealing either. But I like fifteen years ago, so let's do this!

Right off the bat, you get "indiehorror.com" presents, and yeah, it looks it. The video-y look, the static camera shots, the drab color - I've used the tag micro-budget for these before (the super bad Knight Chills), but really indie horror is more apt. Plus, for a $7,500 budget, this is pretty damned good.

November 17th, 2014 - God Told Me to (1976)

So I'm really excited about God Told Me To. It's the closest I've come so far to a hidden gem. Now, it's presumably not very difficult to track down, but I legitimately thought I was sitting down to watch a generic TV movie from my Possession Budget Pack. Even more, the credits list a Guest Star - not sure how that works for a movie, but whatever. Once we got to "Directed By Larry Cohen" I let out an audible "Cool!" I love Q: The Winged Serpent and The Stuff, and now I'll go so far as saying I love God Told Me To as well. It's well acted, well directed, has a good story, some creepy religious overtones, and a significant amount of WTF'ery.

The movie opens in New York City, where a sniper is picking people off at random from a water tower. You don't see any splatter or anything - it's actually an interesting visual, with people just dropping like rag dolls in the midst of a large crowd. Our hero is Peter Nicholas (Tony Lo Bianco), a homicide detective who bravely/stupidly puts his gun aside and climbs up the water tower to speak to the shooter, who ends up being a creepy but calm young man. When Nicholas asks him why he did it, he responds with the titular "God told me to." Nicholas follows up with several other heinous crimes - the only connection being they were all committed by otherwise peaceful people, and they all claim they killed because "God told them to."

November 16th, 2014 - Vampire Men of the Lost Planet (1970)

I had come across director Al Adamson before. Looking at his imdb page, he's got quite the collection of B-movie "-ploitations" - sex- (Blazing Stewardesses, The Female Bunch), black- (Black Samurai), and, uh... blood- (Hell's Bloody Devils, Brain of Blood, Horror of Blood Planet - the last being the better but less accurate alternate title of Vampire Men of the Lost Planet.) Anyways, judging from those titles you pretty much know what you're getting into. B-grade movies may be being generous - I often see "Z-grade" associated with his name.

My only personal experience with Adamson thus far has been 1971's Dracula vs. Frankenstein - a very cheap but fun mad scientist-slasher movie with a vampire and Frankenstein thrown in to sexy it up a little bit. It was most notable to me because the backstory is Adamson had parts of two films shot (I think a Dracula movie and a mad-scientist movie) but didn't have the financing to finish either. So he just shot a little connective tissue with Frankenstein and viola - now we have a movie. It is this same commitment to the craft of filmmaking that is on display in Vampire Men of the Lost Planet... although taking it a step further, a bunch of the footage here is recycled from other movies he didn't even shoot.

November 15th, 2014 - Dark Wolf (2003)

Breasts.

I just thought I'd start this blog entry how Dark Wolf starts, and see how that works out. Seriously, this movie wastes no time in getting to the strip club. The description at imdb says it's a "hip, very erotic twist" on the werewolf thriller. Well. "Very Erotic" gets you one extended strip club scene over the opening credits, and nude modeling photo shoot, then one (really awkwardly) long scene where two women are covered in body paint and sort of rub up against each other for a while. "Hip" gets you - I don't know. If it's hip to be a pretty terrible B-movie, then yeah, Dark Wolf is hip. But it is oddly watchable... Although you better stretch out your eye muscles because they may get tired from rolling. (rimshot!)

The Dark Wolf in question is played by Kane Hodder (yay!), who is on the trail of a young woman named Josie (Samaire Armstrong). We know Josie is a good person and has a bright future because she is pulling double shifts as a waitress and saving up to go to medical school. What Josie doesn't know is that she some sort of hybrid werewolf (bear with me), and her werewolf side is only just now starting to come to the surface. Dark Wolf is out to find Josie and mate with her, to make an even stronger breed of werewolf that will take over the world, or something!

November 14th, 2014 - Hallowed Ground (2007)

After generally liking Husk but being a bit disappointed in the purity of it's scarecrow-ness, I was hoping Hallowed Ground would scratch my scarecrow itch - there's a sack-faced one right there on the cover! It was half-successful at that. I'm still waiting for a totally sentient, murderous scarecrow. But for the time being I'll take a one possessed by a crazy-ass evil preacher who is burned at the stake and comes back 100 years later via some strange prophecy. Yeah, he inhabits one for a little while, but then moves on to other people/things. It kind of bummed me out that it wasn't Pure Scarecrow®. Trademarked by me.

Anyhow, after the prelude (where our preacher is burned at the stake) makes you fear for the next 90 minutes of your life due to some exceptionally poor CGI, we flash forward 100 years and are brought into the small town of Hope (state un-named). Our heroine Liz's car has just started to break down on the highway, and she pulls into Hope to get it fixed. The scary gas station attendant proves to be quite polite, but informs her he will not be able to get the part for the fix until the next day. She'll need to stay in town for the night. So now we've got all the fixings for your typical "hero stranded in a town full of crazies" tale. She heads to the local diner, and ignoring the creepy vibes and leering locals, orders a meal. While there, she meets Sarah Austin (Hudson Leick), a reporter for a "National Enquirer"-esque tabloid who is there to do a story on the violent local history. (She may as well just be named Mrs. Exposition, because everything we learn about the city we learn from her.) Sarah talks Liz into coming with her to check out the epicenter of the town's violence, an old farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. They hop in Sarah's car, and for a minute, it seems like we're going to get some kind of buddy picture.

November 13th, 2014 - The Eyes of the Mummy (1918)

I suppose by 2014 you are either on board with old silent films or not - that is - you either appreciate them and find the old-timeyness interesting and/or charming, or you just can't get into them all. I don't watch a ton of silent films, but I occasionally I'll check one out and enjoy my time in the way-back machine.

Now, the German way-back machine is probably one of the more loaded way-back machines there is. I'm not a history guy, but it's hard not to watch something like this and wonder what kind of effects World War I had on filmmaking (and creative minds in general) at the time. The Eyes of the Mummy doesn't explicitly deal with any sort of politics (other than the fact that rich people have really good lives), although it's hard not to see some of the xenophobia that was present at the time.

Our tale starts with a wealthy aristocrat named Wendland (Harry Liedtke), who is on a vacation to Egypt. He comes across a beautiful Egyptian woman named Ma (Pola Negri) alone in the desert and is instantly smitten. She runs away from him, but he insists on tracking her down. The next day in town, he offers big money to any guide that is willing to take him to her. However, the guides are hesitant to do so, because everyone that goes there comes back cursed! Anyways, money talks and eventually Wendland is taken to the cursed temple where Ma lives.

November 12th, 2014 - Dark Souls (2010)

It was one of those days that I was actively looking for something bad. Things had been going a little too well lately (as in I've liked everything I've seen) - so it was time to watch something terrible. So off to Amazon Prime. I know that's not exactly a ringing endorsement of their service, but it is why I kind of love it. After cruising through their horror section, I came across Dark Souls - the picture had a girl's face looking up at a drill bit.

Okay, needlessly gruesome box art? Check.

The description: "The hit horror film! A young girl is attacked and left for dead. When the police calls the girl's father to identify his daughters body, he tells them that she has just walked in the door. But there's something seriously wrong with her." Confusing grammar ("police calls") and overhyping? Check.

I checked out the info. Date of 2014, supposedly a hit, and I've never heard of it? Check. I felt confident that this would be bad.

November 11th, 2014 - From Beyond (1986)

Over the last couple of years I've gotten rather into the writing of H.P. Lovecraft - I've got a big, fancy collection of his most well known tales from the Library of America, and am working through it story by story for the second time. I think he's very readable, consistently disturbing, and I find his archaistic writing style rather charming. However, movies made from his stories tend to be lacking. I think a big draw of his stories is the way he invites you to use your own experience and imagination to think of "things so horrible the mind cannot possibly comprehend them." Which is obviously an issue for the visual medium of film.

I have not read his story "From Beyond," although from what I've heard it is an earlier story of his that was not particularly well received. It's pretty short too (about 7 pages), so obviously not easy to adapt into a movie. So the filmmakers here used the basic gist of the story (a scientist creates a device that stimulates the pineal gland, which in turns let you see/interact with beings from an alternate dimensions), and basically adapted Lovecraft's tale as a prologue.

November 10th, 2014 - The Phantom of Soho (1963)

The Phantom of Soho is okay. There isn't much to write about when you think a movie is just okay... and The Phantom of Soho is okay. Obviously, I'm having some issues here... It's my second krimi (German crime film based on the works of an Edgar Wallace - in this case his less prolific son Bryan) - after The Bloody Dead / The Blue Hand. It had a lot of the typical crime fiction trappings - a number of suspects, red herrings, several deaths, a last minute reveal. While this was not quite as enjoyable as The Blue Hand, it was still... okay.

We start in a seedy area in the Soho district of London (I didn't know that there were multiple Sohos). Most of the action takes place in and around a high profile strip club/brothel. A couple of high profile people turn up murdered, stabbed in the stomach and always left with some sort of trinket or money in their hands. The local media are up in arms and dub the killer "The Phantom of Soho." We follow around our two policemen from Scotland Yard as they attempt to solve the case. Eventually, they find that the murders are *not* random, and find a shady insurance deal could be behind it all. Nothing is more exciting than insurance! The cops also have to deal with their oft-absent Chief, who seems more interested in hanging out with a young, attractive crime novelist who thinks she can help solve the case.

November 9th, 2014 - Madhouse (1974)

My wife has been nothing but supportive while I've been doing this daily horror movie thing. She's not into horror, so if I want to spend time with her, it generally will not count towards any daily movie watching. But today she was okay checking one out, so I went through the ol' Netflix queue and looked for one that would be palatable to her.

Madhouse seemed like if would fit the bill. It's rated-PG, and who doesn't like Vincent Price?  Plus I've heard decent things about it. I didn't take notes (since I was watching with her, which doesn't really make any sense in hindsight), but was hoping it would be easy enough to remember. Well, it was certainly enjoyable and a decent flick, but not super-memorable. So if this is a bit on the brief side, my apologies.

November 8th, 2014 - The Stendhal Syndrome (1995)

I've mentioned before that I'm a big time Dario Argento fan. I love his work throughout the 70's and 80's, but have just now gotten around to his later works, and starting things off with Dracula was maybe not the best idea. I think I hesitated because from what I've read the 90s is where things kind of go off the rails for him. The Stendhal Syndrome was solid (if uneven), and maybe a little too rape-focused. But it's got lots of style, some big ideas, and is overall a good watch.

The Stendhal Syndrome is about Anna Manni  (Argento's daughter Asia), a young female cop trying to catch a serial rapist. (He also kills many of his victims - I'm not sure where you draw the line between serial killer/serial rapist, but I'll go with what the film goes with.) Early on in the film, she has tracked him to a museum in Florence where she is struck by the titular syndrome, which apparently is a real thing (I love it when horror movies teach me stuff!).  Per wikipedia, the Stendhal Syndrome is a "psychosomatic disorder that causes rapid heartbeat, dizziness, fainting, confusion, and even hallucinations when an individual is exposed to an experience of great personal significance, particularly viewing art." Anna is overcome by the art, which Dario Argento represents with crazy visuals, swooping camera shots and claustrophobic/tight angles. It looks really cool, and lets you know right away that there is going to be some stylistic flourishes here (honestly, one of my favorite things about his movies). Anna passes out, and is aided by a strange man (Thomas Kretschmann), who turns out to be the very criminal she is after. When she comes to, she is raped but left alive - he's one of those serial killers that likes to toy with the cops.  The rest of the film is about Anna trying to cope with what happened to her - not only dealing with the psychological impact of her sexual assault, but also trying to move on with her life and ultimately catching her attacker. However, the rapist seems to be after Anna again...

November 7th, 2014 - Hellinger (1997)

"Hellinger is a man with the black eyes on his eternal search for damned souls to take to hell with him." Hellinger! Hellinger! Hellinger!

I just want to chant it like I'm at a pro wrestling event... because this movie is pretty damned great.  I'm always on the look out for "so-bad-they're-good" flicks.  As I've said, I'm a huge fan of Tommy Wiseau's "best-worst movie" The Room.  So when I read a review of Hellinger at chud.com - one of my top five killing time at work sites - comparing the performances in this to the performances in The Room I was determined to track it down. And when I saw the $9.99 price it was a no brainer - one highly recommended Hellraiser rip-off + one killer nun movie = one of the best purchases I've ever made. And I haven't even watched Holy Terror yet.

November 6th, 2014 - Dark Mountain (2013)

Okay, back to the found footage well.  Three friends set out to make a documentary about their quest for the Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine - a lost mine in the Superstition Mountains near Phoenix, AZ. They never return, but we found the footage. Here is their story.

At the very least, I learned that the Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine is a real thing - it's a pretty cool story! So even their fake (and unfinished, since (*SPOILER*) they might not make it back) documentary was educational for me.

One big issue that you have to know up front is that this is a complete and utter failure as a found footage film. There are multiple camera angles, swift edits/cuts, music stings over jump scares, and a (pretty cool) soundtrack added in.  It's almost like these folks' friends found their footage and decided "I really miss my friends - to mourn, I'm going to edit the events that led to their deaths and make it TOTALLY EXTREME!" So really, Dark Mountain treats the found footage aspect like much more of an aesthetic than sticking to the "rules" of the genre. But that's not what makes it a little bad - there are other things that take care of that.

November 5th, 2014 - The Mummy (1932)

Ah, another Universal Monsters jam.  I already wrote in my entry of The Invisible Man about the issues inherent on writing about these films from the 1930s, so I won't go into that here.  Suffice to say that there's a different scale that you grade these on, you're wearing a different hat as a viewer.  You feel more detached, and I think it's impossible to ignore the decades and decades between then and now.   The films are not inherently better or worse, just... different.  I would say that The Mummy was less of an era-shock (a term I just made up) than The Invisible Man. Looking at it with my 2014 sensibility, dealing with a creature/plot from the ancient past was a better fit with the 1930's mentality as opposed to The Invisible Man - who really is more or less from the future. (Science!)  And even though I had some fears going in, it's another great entry in the Universal Monsters canon.

The movie starts with several British archeologists gloating about their latest find - the remains of the high priest Imhotep, who was mummified alive for breaking all sorts of holy ancient-Egyptian rules. He's just kind of propped up against the wall in the back... I guess they felt okay treating their priceless finds like that. Also amongst their findings is an ancient scroll that has the power to bring the dead back to life. The archeologists, being science-first folks, scoff at the idea that the scroll has any real-life power. The brashest young archeologist waits until he is alone and reads from the scroll. Our mummy begins to stir, and the young man freaks out and starts laugh/screaming, and doesn't stop. When the others come to see what the fuss is about, the mummy has vanished and the young man has gone totally mad. We later find out that he "died laughing, in a straight jacket." It's a pretty solid way to start the movie, and was already scarier than anything from The Invisible Man.

November 4th, 2014 - Galaxy of Terror (1981)

It's hard to overestimate the impact Alien had on the horror/sci-fi world.  You can really almost divide any sort of outer-space movie into pre-and-post-Alien categories.  The concepts, the production designs, the goriness - there were just a *ton* of knock-offs in the early 80's that didn't really even try to hide that they were riffing on Ridley Scott's slasher in space. Galaxy of Terror is one such "homage," and while it gets the mood and the atmosphere mostly right, ultimately it felt a little hollow to me and just wasn't very memorable.

It starts of a little confusingly - we jump straight into a super synthy pulsing score where some guy is attacked by a ghost or something?  The official story is "a crew is sent to find out what happened to another ship that crashed on a distant planet" - sound familiar?  But they spice it up by having a character called "the Planet Master" calling the shots - he's some sort of leader of the human race (who leads by playing an oracle-type board game) and has a glowing red aura instead of a head.  He chooses a seemingly random team of military types to check out the crashed ship.

November 3rd, 2014 - The Pot (2008)

Old people are scary.  So is religion.  That seems to be the general concept behind The Pot. Incidentally, I can't figure out why that is the title. Other than a brief reference to our main character being trapped in a pot (!) as a child, it really doesn't make a lot of sense.

The Pot is from South Korean Writer-Director Tae-gon Kim, and it's possible that there is something lost in translation, as the main arc of the story involves a non-religious family getting involved with a (potentially cultish) Christian church.  My extremely rudimentary research says that Buddhism is the dominant religion in South Korea, although there is a large Christian population there as well.  But obviously, with Christianity being the big boss here in the US, it will resonate differently with me.

November 2nd, 2014 - Willow Creek (2013)

I'm a big fan of bigfoot movies.  I'm a big fan of found footage films.  I've always thought Bobcat Goldthwait is an interesting filmmaker.  So when I heard he was making Willow Creek - a found footage bigfoot horror movie! - I was really stoked.  I've always enjoyed when established filmmakers dip their toes in the found-footage horror world (i.e. the extremely overlooked The Bay from Barry Levinson), and I assumed Goldthwait had a good reason to get into the game.

And generally speaking, he did.  Willow Creek suffers from some of the typical issues with found footage films (namely treading water a bit in the first half of the film), but ultimately is successful as a horror film.  (As a bigfoot film?  hmmm... maybe not so much.)

November 1st, 2014 - The New York Ripper (1982)

Basically everything in my life revolves around The Room.  (For those of you not in the know, that is the name of writer/director/star Tommy Wiseau's 2003 cult classic film.  It's in the "so-bad-it's-good" category - I think it totally transcends that simple categorization, but that's a discussion for another time.)  But I really cannot watch any other movie without comparing shots/lines/characters from it to The Room.  It is my curse.  A Room line that wasn't spoken in The New York Ripper, but was constantly front and center in my mind was "He is a Hateful Man!"  It's in regards to director Lucio Fulci, because, man - as far as sexual violence goes, this was a rough one.

I've heard a lot on DVD extras about Fulci - saying he's kind of a big asshole and that he hates women. (Although it's never the person being interviewed that voices these opinions - it's always second hand "he has a reputation for..."  The person being interviewed always likes him.)  It's almost like this film is some sort of response to that criticism - "oh yeah?  You think I hate women?  I'll show you!"  This movie is just flat out mean.  Think of any body part that represents women & sexuality, and chances are it is graphically mutilated in The New York Ripper.   Is it supposed to be provocative?  Sleazy?  Perversely enjoyable?  I suppose it depends what you bring to the table as a viewer.