October 7th, 2015 - The Beast of Xmoor (2014)

Oh, The Beast of Xmoor... you weren't what I thought you'd be, and then you were something even more different. Let me explain - I had assumed we were talking about some sort of Bigfoot thing, or at least a monster. That's just where I automatically go when I hear "Beast" - at least if I'm in an optimistic mood. But not here. Our intrepid documentarians - couple Georgia and Matt - are searching for the Beast of Exmoor. Which apparently a Real Thing in cryptozoology. Most people (if they believe in at all) assume it's a black panther/puma type big cat roaming the hillsides of Exmoor in southwest England. So I guess it's technically a "beast," and I like cryptozoology, so let's go with that. But then, when Georgia and Matt get out to Exmoor woods with Fox, an expert big game hunter they've hired, they stumble across a stash of dead bodies. So they end up dealing with more of a metaphorical beast - a serial killer who uses Exmoor as his dumping grounds.

So there's a little back and forth between our trio - Georgia and Matt want to get out of there and notify the cops, but Fox tries to convince them that they can be heroes if they can capture/kill the serial killer. They've got all of the equipment they need (including a bunch of game cameras to keep an eye on the woods) and a big-ass gun. And if they can document it, all the better. Plus, it's a long hike back, and it could be dangerous terrain to cover at night. Georgia and Matt aren't convinced that it's a good plan, and Matt even thinks Fox might know more about the victims than he's letting on. But luckily/unluckily/conveniently/whatever the serial killer guy happens to be making an appearance tonight. And as you may expect, he's a step ahead of our trio... and havoc ensues.

October 6th, 2015 - Alter Ego (2002)

Sometimes, when you're watching a movie every day, you are way more concerned with a movie being short than being good. And luckily for me,  Alter Ego did a fabulous job fulfilling that requirement. It's 63 minutes long, which is about as short as I'm willing to go runtime-wise and still consider it a feature film (at least for anything made in the last half-century). But it's a good thing Alter Ego is short, because man, is it ever bad.

imdb kind of cracked me up with its synopsis. The first line:

From Takashi Shimizu, the famed director behind The Grudge and Ju-On horror franchises comes one of his undiscovered films.

First off, it makes it sound like it's worth watching because it's "undiscovered." Maybe there's a reason it's undiscovered, you know? You should at least put "terrifying" in there or something. But wait, that would be a lie. Also, Takashi Shimizu is listed as a Supervising Producer on Alter Ego. I don't know an awful lot about behind the scenes roles, but I think that's stretching the "from" description about as far as it can go.

October 5th, 2015 - The Hidden (1987)

The Hidden is just really fun. I mean, maybe I'm easy, but I was pretty much on board the moment two workers were carrying a giant pane of glass across the street, and a car chase comes through and smashes through it. I haven't seen that done in earnest in a film for quite some time - and man, this was earnest. Honestly, that earned a lot of goodwill from me.

The film has pretty unique action/comedy/sci-fi vibe to it. I feel like there was a window of opportunity in the late 80's where you could get away with having serious action but being kind of goofy at the same time. The Hidden throws some sci-fi into that mix (our baddie is an extra-terrestrial), and there's just enough nasty creature work that you have to toss horror in there too. My biggest issue is that it felt like it peaked a bit too soon - it's a solid story and it's fun getting to know the characters, but it sort of runs out of steam by the end of the film.

October 4th, 2015 - The Riverman (2004)

"Funny" story. I was looking for a movie about the Green River Killer because I was at a Blitzen Trapper concert this evening (they're not necessarily my bag, but it was still pretty good). I *thought* they had a song about the Green River Killer, but it turns out it's called Black River Killer. It's a good, but really weird song, mixing folk with some g-funk synths. So it's ultimately unrelated, but I ended up watching The Riverman anyways. And it was pretty good - so I guess it was a happy mistake.

I don't really do much research for this blog - a movie a day is enough for my fragile little mind. So when I watched The Riverman, I couldn't help but think how it was a huge rip-off of Silence of the Lambs. Just substitute the Green River Killer for Buffalo Bill, Ted Bundy for Hannibal Lecter, and an older man for Clarice Starling - and it's pretty much the same thing. (And note - it *does* say "Based on a True Story" at the outset, but I pretty much just assume that's always a lie in horror movies nowadays.) Well, color me surprised when I *did* end up looking into it a little bit - it turns out that this is actually a true story, and Thomas Harris based Lambs on the events depicted here. So who's ripping off who now?

October 3rd, 2015 - The Psychic (1977)

I figured I was in for another Lucio Fulci gore/sleaze fest when I started The Psychic (released in Italy as Seven Notes in Black). Sure, anyone can throw a dummy off of a cliff. But it takes a special filmmaker to make sure you see her face bloodily hit the side of the cliff multiple times on the way down. So... good start?

But The Psychic ends up being more of a detective tale in the guise of a horror film. There's a little blood here and there, and feels a little unnecessarily mean at times, but overall it's a pretty interesting (if somewhat convoluted) and well-directed mystery/thriller.

October 2nd, 2015 - Evil Clutch (1988)

In honor of the release of my favorite band's new album, I decided to watch Evil Clutch today. That band, for the record, would be Clutch. Psychic Warfare came out today, and I have to say it's pretty darned great. Generally speaking, it takes a while for albums to grow on me, but there are a couple tunes on there that are already all-timers.

Although the "clutch" in Evil Clutch seems to imply a grasp - as in being in clutches of evil. And that's pretty evident, because it takes no time at all for a guy to get his dick ripped off by the clutch of a giant bird claw coming out from between the legs of our main zombie/vampire woman. So at least it starts "strong." But as for the rest of it? Well, this screen-cap sums it up nicely:

October 1st, 2015 - Dark Was the Night (2014)

One year! Hey-o! Happy anniversary to me. I was trying to think of something special to do - but after a cursory search of any horror movie with "anniversary" in the title, the only one I could find was The Anniversary at Shallow Creek - a flick about six best friends and a serial killer who has "more in store for them than death." I would have watched it, but it was only available to buy for $12.99. And that's not going to happen. Maybe I can save that for another anniversary. And for a while, I was like "what if I only watched good movies in October?" But that's a fruitless task too - tomorrow's movie is already chosen, and I have a feeling it will be stupid. So, I scanned around on Netflix, and Dark Was the Night was one that they actually e-mailed me about - "Jesse, we just added a movie you might like." They were right!

Dark Was the Night is one of those monster movies that pretty much lives and dies on *not* showing you the GD monster. And honestly? It kind of works. The lack of monster gives the film a pretty slow pace, but it's got some good performances/character work and a semi-decent dramatic subplot to fill in the non-monster spaces. It's actually kind of refreshing how seriously it takes itself. It's a little on the long side at 100 minutes and would probably bore some people to tears, but I for one dug it. Even if it is a little depressing for a monster movie.