The Annual October Horror Movie Watching Thread -- 2021!!!

Movie 1:
Mikey (1992)
First Time Viewing (Amazon Prime)
***1/2 (out of 5)

Started this at 2 AM because I had a one-year-old passed out on me in a rocking chair after he insisted on screaming at the top of his lungs for hours instead of going to bed. So it probably got a rating bump due to the fact that in that moment I really hated Mikey and all the shit he was pulling.


Movie 2:
Cemetery Man (1994)
Rewatch (Anchor Bay DVD)
**** (out of 5)
Scarecrow Video Psychotronic Challenge Guideline:
1. RE-ANIMATED: Businesses are opening back up (we did!) and things are getting back to “normal” so to kick things off you get to watch a movie where something gets brought back to life. We’re baaaaaack!

Delightfully unique zombie picture loses steam for me as doppelgangers start appearing, which is probably when most fans will say it becomes brilliant. Different strokes.

 

OCTOBER 1ST:

After midnight on the 30th, but before I went to bed. So it still counts!



1. Girls School Screamers (1985) (Blu-ray) - This got a scathing review on here recently. It's definitely not the movie for you if you're after the usual 80s slasher gore and sleaze. In fact, in the extras the director talks about how he made a virtually bloodless movie in the older tradition with Troma inserting the gore after the fact. I found the movie totally quaint and charming. Great atmosphere, fun cast. It reminds me a lot of Blood Sisters, only a more family-friendly version. In fact, you could totally show this to your child who is getting into the genre but not quite ready for the more graphic stuff yet.

Then the next day:



2. No One Gets Out Alive (2021) (NetFlix) - So, for the first hour of this movie I kept thinking wait... didn't I watch this movie last October? And I had. It was called His House, and it is also a NetFlix original movie. I'm unsure why NetFlix decided to produce the same movie twice in less than a year, but here we are. This one does take a bit of a departure in the last 20 minutes, turning from a slow-burn ghost movie to a crazy bloody cult thing, but by that point I was maybe a little put-off by how derivative the first hour was. I'm thinking this is going to be the new norm for ghost movies, especially in the push to where everything has to be so socially conscious: an immigrant who can't leave the haunted house because they don't have the resources to do so. If you stick with it, it does pay off. That said, if you skip this one altogether you'll still be okay.

3. Welcome To The Blumhouse: Black As Night (2021) (Amazon Prime) - So, during this entire movie I kept thinking wait... didn't I watch this movie last October? And I had. If you're feeling a sense of deja vu here, welcome to my world. Anyway, that movie was called Vampires Vs The Bronx, which was a super charming NetFlix original that is about a hundred times better than this Blumhouse rip-off. Anyway, this one was pretty bland, bringing absolutely nothing new to the table. There are teens, they find out there are vampires in town, they fight the vampires. This has been a fun plot in the past, including when NetFlix did it last October, but this version of it is pretty hollow and uninteresting. Only thing of note: the vampire mansion is the same house from the Night Of The Demons remake. I went there in New Orleans last year. Anyway, SKIP IT. Go with the NetFlix version if you missed it last year.



4. Coming Home In The Dark (2021) (VOD) - This movie opens pretty quickly with a gut-punch, and really doesn't stop hitting until the end. I found it to be a very effective movie, but it's extremely grim and mean-spirited. Fans of movies like Wolf Creek should dig it, but be warned that it is a total downer. I was expecting it to simply be a "cruel to be cruel" type of movie, but surprisingly there are some late reveals that turn the tables a bit and bring some interesting commentary to the table. Definitely not the feel-good movie of the year, but recommended if you're okay with that.



5. Tales From The Darkside: The Movie (1990) (Blu-ray) - Love this movie. A tight 90-minute anthology where every segment is a winner. Amazing cast, cool effects, and fun from start to finish. The Scream Factory blu-ray even has a feature-length making-of that is broken up into six parts. Don't have a lot to say about this one as I imagine everyone has seen it. If for some reason you haven't, RUN don't walk.

OCTOBER 2ND:



6. Welcome To The Blumhouse: Bingo Hell (2021) (Amazon Prime) - This one was better than Black As Night, but not by much. The best thing about it is Richard Brake as the villain. It is interesting because if you swap vampires for zombies, and teenagers for adults, the blueprint of this one is almost identical to Black As Night. It's like Blumhouse made the same movie twice and released it on the same day. Holy deja vu, Batman. Hopefully next week's Welcome To The Blumhouse offerings will fare better.

I typically don't watch horror movies in the daytime or afternoons, I save them for night. The exception being October. I'm finding that these disposable free streaming movies are perfect forgettable afternoon watches, then I'm saving the heavy hitters (Coming Home) or discs of old favorites (Girls School, Darkside) for the evening. I'll probably try to stick with that formula throughout the month.

Anyway, Happy October!

 

Happy October everyone!

I didn't get to see anything on the first, but made sure I got something in today!

2nd October:

Maniac (The Original)

I'd not seen this for a while and had forgotten how sleazy it feels. All in all I enjoyed it, the ending was great, great gore by the mighty Tom. However, it could have done with a bit of tighter editing but my biggest criticism is his introduction to Caroline Munro's character, she takes a picture of him, he finds where she lives (how!), turns up at her house, asks her out then they are acting like a long term couple, it took me out of the movie a bit.

 

October 2nd: X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes



Ray Milland has developed some eye drops that give him X-ray vision. When funding for his experiments is terminated, Milland continues to use the the drops, with unfortunate consequences. The gimmick of Milland being able to gradually peel away layers of matter is sometimes effectively realized, sometimes crudely, but at the center of it all is Milland's character and his plight. It's interesting that throughout the movie, Milland is mostly decent. Heck, even when he suddenly finds himself undressing a room full of good-looking young people with his eyes, he has the courtesy to look only at their ankles. Or maybe it was a censorship thing. Towards the end, he does use his powers to rip off a casino, but hey, casinos exploit people with gambling problems, so I will give him a pass. The drama kept me engaged, though there might not be enough action or horror in there for a second viewing. The ending did leave me wishing that Corman had gone with the speculated ending King mentions in his book Danse Macabre, where Milland screams "I can still see!" after blinding himself. Now that would have been a payoff worthy of the build-up!

 

Movie # 1:
Assignment Terror (1970)
Scarecrow Video Psychotronic Challenge Guideline:
1. RE-ANIMATED: Businesses are opening back up (we did!) and things are getting back to “normal” so to kick things off you get to watch a movie where something gets brought back to life. We’re baaaaaack!

I dig this groovy blend of Universal monster mashes, Euro Spy antics, Paul Naschy werewolf flicks and the plot from Monster Zero.

 

Nice! Every October I try to incorporate some themed or linked films. This year my plan is to watch all of the Waldemar Daninsky films (with the exception of Yeti and Magic Sword, since I've watched those more recently). Most of them I haven't seen, including Assignment Terror, which I just picked up from Scorpion a few months ago. So I'm looking forward to checking it out soon. But first, on October the 1st, I watched:

1. Frankenstein's Bloody Terror (Enrique Eguiluz, 1968)



The chutzpah of this film's American distributors is to be admired. Of course this is the first Naschy werewolf film, and it has nothing...absolutely nothing to do with Frankenstein. There's a hilarious tacked-on prologue where a cartoon Frankenstein face morphs into a werewolf face and the narrator solemnly intones that the Frankenstein family changed their name to Wolfstein (or something like that). Otherwise it's werewolves and vampires. Naschy's Daninsky plays a smaller role in the film than I expected. (I wish I could have seen it in blu ray 3D, although as far as I'm aware, such a thing doesn't exist. That seems like something that would be in Vinegar Syndrome's wheelhouse.) Good fun, although fairly light. Looking forward to more Naschy werewolf madness as the season continues!

 

October 2

The Guilty (2021)

Good thriller. Jake G. is good as always but doesn’t reach the level of some of his recent work like Nightcrawler. Well made, enjoyable, but also forgettable. Not a bad way to spend 90 minutes.

 

October 1st

SATAN'S TRIANGLE (1975)



There's a lot of older genre films that still have not gotten disc releases. This motivated me to search for other ways to see these movies in the past year. YouTube is where I found some of them. Your mileage may vary in terms of viewing quality. Some have been a pleasant surprise or maybe I was just eager to finally see these films I heard about? Satan's Triangle was one such film I watched early this year and was happy for a return journey.

A pair of US Coast Guard officers are dispatched to a distress call out at sea. Nursing a hangover, the younger officer Haig (Doug McClure) is lowered onto the located vessel. He finds all but one passenger dead, a pretty blonde lady named Eva (Kim Novak). Some deaths are on the gruesome side while another is downright bizarre, a dead man floating in air. The pilot has no choice but to refuel at base, leaving plenty of time for Eva to explain just what happened. No explanations are easy since everything went down in the Bermuda Triangle, the epicenter for so many unexplained phenomena...at least back several decades ago.

The 70's and 80's were a peak time in the realm of made for TV horror and science fiction films. So much memorable content was broadcast. There's still many I never saw. Satan's Triangle boasts a strong cast in addition to Novak (Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo) and McClure (Humanoids from the Deep). Ed Lauter (Cujo, Magic) is here along with Jim Davis (Dallas, the TV series) and Michael Conrad (Hill Street Blues). Novak is more than a damsel in distress. Maybe there's more to her story? McClure's character is a real horndog who refuses to believe in any of the supernatural tales coming from the triangle. There is an ongoing debate between faith and skepticism. Haig is determined to disprove everything through logical explanations. Regardless of where he thinks this is all heading, the twist in the final minutes is creepy and effective.

THE HAUNTED (1991)



Keeping the retro made for television medium intact, I went for this one on YouTube as well.

After surviving a destructive flood, the Smurl family purchases a duplex home fixer-upper. Jack (Jeff DeMunn) brings his elderly parents to live on the other side. His wife Janet (Sally Kirkland) stays at home to raise the kids and take care of the place. Strange events begin to occur over time like moving objects, hearing voices, and electrical malfunctions. Much greater concerns arise when a black shadow figure is seen on both sides of the residence in addition to all kinds of malevolent energies which seem to be increasing in intensity. Some help arrives from celebrity paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, long before they wore out their welcome in The Conjuring universe.

Despite only watching this for the first time last night, the Smurl family haunting is a topic of personal interest. Why you might ask? I grew up in the very same Pennsylvania county and remember reading this in the local newspaper when their story went public in the mid 1980's. As a kid it scared the shit out of me. I even met one of the daughters years later when working at a video rental store. She was a customer.

As for the movie, it's immediately obvious none of this was filmed anywhere in Pennsylvania. Los Angeles Metro looks more like it. The real home looks different than the movie version. Didn't ruin the viewing experience however. Jeff DeMunn will be familiar to fans of Christmas Evil, The Hitcher, and more recently The Walking Dead. A bedtime scene featuring a hand shadow hovering above him is memorable as is a demonic rape sequence despite the awkward visual effects. Still succeeds in disturbing you. Sally Kirkland (Fatal Games) sustains the most trauma within the family and delivers a credible performance.

I would love to see more of these retro made for TV horror films on Blu-ray. Some may never materialize. The films included in Vinegar Syndrome's Televised Terror box set Volume One were a personal disappointment. Just made me get more creative in finding ways to watch better quality TV horror films of yesteryear.

 

- Annabelle
- Elvira Mistress of the Dark
- Blackula

All better than I remember.

I already rewatched The Guest last month and have been watching an episode of the Munsters every morning.

 

The Bermuda Triangle was a popular subject matter back then, probably exceeded only by UFOs and Satanic possession on the paranormal popularity meter. It was common knowledge in the late 70s that if you went in or over the water due east of the Florida keys you were certain to get possessed by the devil, anal probed by aliens, possibly both, and then never be seen again.

I'm surprised more films weren't made on the subject given the pop culture buzz at the time. With The Bermuda Depths, Beyond the Bermuda Triangle, and The Bermuda Triangle being the other better known intentionally fictional. Then there was the parade of only somewhat fictional, pseudo-documentaries trying to ape In Search of....

Satan's Triangle had one of the more memorable (if contrived) end twists of the group. Not everyone who watched the film remembers the title or the plot, but they usually remember the last few minutes.

 

I almost checked out Amazon's Blumhouse's Bingo Hell on Friday, but I watched the trailer and it looked just awful. I couldn't finish the trailer, so I don't think I'll be watching the whole movie. Instead I chose to start the month off with a classic I'm embarrassed to admit I've never seen before: Salem's Lot. I've actually seen A Return to Salem's Lot before, but I have a terrible attention span so a 3 hour movie (or miniseries, I guess) is hard for me to get through, so I put it off for years. Glad I finally saw it, it has some great creepy scenes and the design for Barlow is awesome and his first appearance at the 2 hour and 8 minute mark is very startling even though I've seen images of him hundreds of times over the years. I also loved the look of the house when we finally get in there, it's so wonderfully dilapidated. I don't know if they designed it that way or if they lucked out and found the grimiest house of all time, but it looks amazing.

Tonight I watched a couple of Asian movies. First up was actually a short film called Shyness Machine Girl, which is a spinoff of Machine Girl on the DVD bonus features. Not as fun as Machine Girl, and it has even worse CGI than usual but worth a look if you're into this kind of stuff and have seen all the actual movies already.

Then I checked out Erotic Ghost Story to see if I want to drop a good chunk of money to import the new Blu-ray release. The first hour is very heavy on the erotic part of the title but the horror stuff kicks in during the last 20 minutes with some great and hilarious effects. In typical Hong Kong horror fashion it ends with a guy exploding 5 seconds before the end credits. I wish more American movies ended with the bad guy exploding. The only I can think of are Death Wish 3 and Kick-Ass, and that scene was just a rip-off of the one from Death Wish 3. I had a lot of fun with the horror parts, but I was a bit bored at times during the erotic stuff. I'm all for seeing attractive women without any clothes on (and the women here are certainly attractive), but sex scenes bore me to tears if they last more than like 30 seconds. Pretty good movie though, I don't think I want to drop $30+ for it, but I'll buy it if a cheaper or US release comes out.

10/01 - Salem's Lot
10/02 - Shyness Machine Girl
10/02 - Erotic Ghost Story

 

Day 2

6. The Hitcher II: I've Been Waiting (2003) DVD - I have owned this for a very long time and had not opened it until today. I always enjoy the 1986 movie, but this was a bit of a re-hash. I couldn't get on board with Jake Busey as the villain. He's such a goofy guy and it's hard to take his role serious here. The movie was okay, but definitely not up to the original's standards.

7. Voodoo Island (1957) DVD - A childhood favorite of mine from a Saturday night Nightmare Theater that used to show a lot of this type of stuff. I always looked forward to Saturday's for this very reason. I didn't quite make it to the end decades ago and finally was able to finish it when the double movie DVD was released in the early 2000's. Possibly a weak Karloff movie by other people's standards, but one that I have always liked.

8. Isle Of The Dead (1945) DVD - Decided to do a Karloff Two-fer. He played so many different characters throughout his career and did a good job as a military general who ends up quarantined on a Greek Island due to a plague. More classic stuff.

9. A Quiet Place II (2020) 4K - Really ended up liking these two movies. This one picked up where the first movie left off. Good tense stuff with a sci-fi feel. It was first time watch for me for both of these movies. Will have a few more recents in my marathon that I haven't seen before.

10. The Hitcher (2007) DVD - Another DVD that I had not opened before today. My unwatched pile continues to get smaller. A remake of the original 1986 movie with Sean Bean as the villain. I thought he did okay with the role. Better than Busey in the sequel mentioned above. The original movie set the bar and this one was okay I thought. Was never bored, but would go to the original first if I need a Hitcher movie.

~Rocker10

 

A lot of the actresses in Hong Kong Cat 3s were runners up of beauty pageants, so even if the movies themselves aren't good, the women are just damn beautiful. But the men are...well....Elvis Tsui.

 

If your into movies with people exploding, you've got to see Brian De Palma's 'the Fury'. I think you will enjoy it!

 

Yeah, probably the most epic body explosion, ever put on film.

 

When it comes to the exterior, they added a fake facade to a house they found. The house looks very different in real life.

https://sites.google.com/a/blowupth...then-now/locations-01-09/02-the-marsten-house

 

Oct. 2nd
​

5) Jakob’s Wife: An unfulfilled wife of a preacher finds a new lease on life, and a thirst for blood, when she encounters “The Master”. A surprisingly fun horror/comedy with quality performances from Barbara Crampton and Larry Fessenden. The gore is outrageously over the top – a la Troma Films – and has some solid attempts at humor. Although the vampire subgenre is tired and true, I appreciate several clever tweaks to the cliches (there is a rather hilarious moment at a dentist office). What really holds this back is the tone, which starts off very straight forward, and then shifts to dark comedy around the 40-minute mark. It doesn’t drop the domestic drama elements at any point, but the transition is awkward. It also gets heavy handed with its social commentary in the final act – I hate overbearing exposition – and the ending kind of falls flat. It’s overall an entertaining film, but it does miss the mark. (6/10)


6) Teddy: The outcast in his rural, French town, Teddy is attack by an unidentified beast and undergoes a horrific transformation. This Cannes Film Festival submission happens to be one of the better werewolf movies I’ve seen in a long while. Anthony Bajon, who plays the titular character, brings plenty of humanity to the character, actively showcasing just how much it sucks to be the black sheep. The supporting cast is very strong as well, with Ludovic Torrent stealing the show as the buffoonish, father figure to Teddy, and offering up some of the better comedic moments in the film. The F/X are top of the line, featuring a few gross and squirm worthy scenes. But the narrative, overall, lacks originality, with many moments’ feeling too oddly familiar to DePalma’s adaptation of “Carrie”. The filmmakers also owe a lot of gratitude to Julia Ducournau’s “Raw”, and often feels like a lesser version of her film. But when the shit hits the fan, it’s a wild ride to the finale. A solid addition to the werewolf subgenre, despite its shortcomings. (6/10)


7) Ten Minutes to Midnight: A soon-to-be retired radio host finds her last night on the job to be a nightmare when she is bitten by a rabid bat. Despite its crisp 70-minute runtime, “Ten Minutes to Midnight” is a waste, feeling like a bad episode of “Tales from the Crypt”. It struggles to pad out its minimal length, relying on overly dramatic – and repetitive – dialogue sequences to get to the finale. The attempts at humor are cringe – especially the snarky security guard who is insufferable – and the surrealist aspect is confusing. God bless Caroline Williams, who does her best with piss poor material, and blows the rest of the supporting cast out the water. When the ending does come, it’s a complete mess, trying to tie together themes of aging, self-identity, and mortality for a sappy and stupid conclusion. Don’t waste your time. (3/10)


8) Werewolf: Post WWII Europe, a group of orphans – who survived life at a concentration camp – take refuge at an abandoned mansion in the woods, where they must face threats both internal and external. To consider this a horror film would be very misleading since it’s more of a drama/survival thriller. And it is not long into the film – about 30-minutes – when we learn about who/what the werewolf is

Spoiler

a group of wild dogs

which may piss off some viewers and want to stop watching. The child actors are all fantastic, doing a great job conveying trauma. It does have good atmosphere, with the plight of their situation being dyer, but the tension is low. Once the threat is established, it should have been off to the races, with the fight for survival being palpable, but the conclusion is underwhelming. Solid enough, but nothing special. (6/10)

 

Movie # 2:
Eyes of the Werewolf (1999)

A film about an eye transplant that turns a man into a werewolf. Featuring a very horny nurse, a dwarf into the occult and a lesbian cop.
Eyes of The Werewolf is filled with questionable acting at best. Special effects GWAR would pass on. And is filmed like a porno. Speaking of porn, there's two very long sex scenes. They're so long, nations rose and fell while they were on. The werewolf runs around in the same ripped white shirt despite whatever the dude was wearing before he changed. The puppet they use for the werewolf biting people is the cutest thing ever. This my 2nd viewing of it this year and it only got better. Amazing trash.



Movie # 3:
Satan’s Blade (1984)

There's no doubt about it, Satan's Blade is gold. A review isn't enough. So here's a list of it's many nuggets.

1. The bank robbery and "amazing" bank set.
2. Awkward lines and stilted delivery.
3. The mustaches on display.
4. Perfectly cheesy synth score.
5. Mr. Boom mic's cameos. (Take a drink every time he appears. You'll be dead before the movies over.)
6. There's an actor name Ski, playing a character named Ski.
7. Speaking of skiing. Lots of characters talk about doing it. None actually are seen in the act.
8. Marriage Drama!
9. Mercilessly killing off characters.
10. Beautiful snowy landscape.
11. The locals.
12. Some really effective and creepy scenes.
13. A well done fight in shadows in front of a fireplace.
14. Lots of '80's hair.
15. Jack Daniel's inspired prank.



Movie # 4:
Science Crazed (1989)

What did we do to deserve this Canada? And may we have another?
I...I...I...I don't know what to say. This film broke me. The one or two synth songs that shit the bed and turn into Nintendo sound effects every so often. The dubbing, the amazingly crummy dubbing. The swimming pool scene. The cop character. The 10 minute aerobatics scene with the blonde girl and her Rebel Wilson looking pal that ends in the biggest, longest anti-climax. I've never witnessed anything like this movie.

 

Orphan




First time viewing for me. I picked up the dvd a few weeks ago. Always read positive things.

I wasn't disappointed. I really enjoyed this one. It was predictable as my wife and I both guessed the reveal early on but that didn't ruin the ride for me. Well acted all around too. Solid way to start my month.

 

One of things I love about this yearly thread is the amount of info you find in here, be it films you've never seen and getting honest opinions from like minded people or films you've never heard of, case in point satans-sadists mentioned this film earlier on, I'd never heard of it before and it peaked my investment so.....

3rd October

Satan's Triangle

I got to say this was a fun little movie, Doug McClure was great in this, I enjoyed his checky chappie persona at the beginning and how it changed as the situation changes around him.

The priest was fantastic, what a voice! Not sure if he's been in much else (will check later) but if he hasn't it's a crying shame.

The movie moved at a brisk pace to a satisfying conclusion with a twist that I enjoyed but had kind of guessed before hand.

The film is available on YouTube and I got to say the stream I watched was of great quality looked like a DVD rip, certainly not the sub VHS quality I was expecting. All in all It's well worth a viewing and at 74 mins it doesn't outstay it's welcome.