Scream Factory Blu-ray Discussion Thread

[AKORIS]

Originally Posted by nousefouraname

Thinking of an October scream factory purchase. can't decide between Terror Train or Prince of Darkness. Haven't seen either in a long time. Was never a huge fan of Prince when I first saw it, but thinking maybe i'll give it another look.

Thoughts?

Terror Train solid, good film. entertaining throughout with a good ending

Prince Of Darkness one of the last really good Carpenter flicks... incredible sense of dread throughout, many terrific horror sequences.... it's different and I can see how some people may not appreciate it... but I've always felt like this one works very well...

[Zoltar]

Originally Posted by nousefouraname

Thinking of an October scream factory purchase. can't decide between Terror Train or Prince of Darkness. Haven't seen either in a long time. Was never a huge fan of Prince when I first saw it, but thinking maybe i'll give it another look.

Thoughts?

When in doubt...Carpenter.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by AKORIS

Prince Of Darkness one of the last really good Carpenter flicks... incredible sense of dread throughout, many terrific horror sequences.... it's different and I can see how some people may not appreciate it... but I've always felt like this one works very well...

I hope that this does not ruffle any feathers, but I've always thought of Prince of Darkness as the last great John Carpenter film.

I think that the Scream Factory Blu-ray of Prince of Darkness is marvelous. It's a strange-looking film on the disc, but it always looked that way to my eyes.

[NoirFan]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I hope that this does not ruffle any feathers, but I've always thought of Prince of Darkness as the last great John Carpenter film.

What about In the Mouth of Madness? I think that's easily among his top 10.

[demonknight]

Originally Posted by NoirFan

What about In the Mouth of Madness? I think that's easily among his top 10.

Or They Live?

[nousefouraname]

I may have to go Carpenter on this one. It'll up my collection anyway since I already have the Halloween collection, Assault On Precinct 13, The Fog, and They Live.

[Mr. Thomsen]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I hope that this does not ruffle any feathers, but I've always thought of Prince of Darkness as the last great John Carpenter film.

I think that the Scream Factory Blu-ray of Prince of Darkness is marvelous. It's a strange-looking film on the disc, but it always looked that way to my eyes.

I know what you mean, and I have always been very fond of the two movies that come out of Carpenters double-deal with Alive Films (They Live being the other). But I am partial to In the Mouth of Madness as his last great film.

Maybe because it was the only one of Carpenter's movies I watched in a cinema first. Few of his productions after Prince of Darkness ever got the chance on a big screen here. Or maybe because I was and still am a huge H.P. Lovecraft fan, and it so closely emulated the feeling of Lovecraft's short stories. I remember, though, that the friend I watched it with originally hated it. And I can easily see why many don't care for it (the Lovecraft angle seems essential).

[NoirFan]

Also, the cast in Prince of Darkness (other than Pleasance and Wong) is the weakest of any pre-90's Carpenter film. Jameson Parker (whoever the hell he is) as the lead is no Kurt Russell. He looks and acts like a guy who should be doing Taster's Choice ads or something. One of the signature elements of Carpenter films is a lively, colorful supporting cast. Most of the folks in Prince of Darkness are bland, anonymous nobodies playing characters that barely register and/or are wholly unconvincing. Plus, the dialog Carpenter puts in their mouths is some of the worst he ever wrote.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I hope that this does not ruffle any feathers, but I've always thought of Prince of Darkness as the last great John Carpenter film.

It's the last true Carpenter-y Carpenter film--with Carpenter score, Donald Pleasance, weird post-apocalyptic looking locales (a neat side-effect of Carpenter's refusal to use background extras), and Quartermass & the Pit kissups--in that he officially went loopy with "They Live" a year later, and never came back.

As for great Carpenter movies, still say Halloween III was the better Kneale/Quatermass-kissup, and didn't have Kurt Russell camping everything up like the ones in between.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by NoirFan

What about In the Mouth of Madness? I think that's easily among his top 10.

I've been meaning to give this one another go, actually. I liked it a lot years ago, but I did not love it like I love the earlier Carpenter films. For me, In the Mouth of Madness had a great Lovecraft-esque buildup, but fizzled later on.

That's a lovely Joan Blondell avatar, by the way. One of my faves from the older eras of cinema.

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I've been meaning to give this one another go, actually. I liked it a lot years ago, but I did not love it like I love the earlier Carpenter films. For me, In the Mouth of Madness had a great Lovecraft-esque buildup, but fizzled later on.

That's a lovely Joan Blondell avatar, by the way. One of my faves from the older eras of cinema.

There's a slight fizzle in In the Mouth of Madness when crazy stuff starts happening but Sam Neil's character still denies it and just kind of randomly stumbles around. The actual ending sequence is brilliant though, I think, and the film is really great. Let us know what you think if you ever watch it again.

I have a weird soft spot for Escape from LA as well. It's just so silly/trashy/fun for me.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

I have a weird soft spot for Escape from LA as well. It's just so silly/trashy/fun for me.

EfLA captures a little West Coast equivalent of the pre-Koch NYC humor that made EfNY so memorable (unfortunately, it also got the same campy-hamming Kurt Russell, now doing his Clint Eastwood voice...)
The line in EfLA where one of the bad guys tells him, "You think you survived NY, but this town will kill anybody!" conjures of a little bit of the satire that the old "classic" Carpenter brought in in '81.

Just not sure why he felt he had to make a 1996 movie look like it was made seven years after the first one, with cheesy, dingy 1987-'88 effects and film stock. (Sort of like Spielberg's "retro" film look on Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.)
Moral Majority villains? Euro-Disneyland jokes? John Carpenter loves the 80's!

[jthefrank]

Kurt Russell is the greatest thing that ever happened to John Carpenter IMO...

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by jthefrank

Kurt Russell is the greatest thing that ever happened to John Carpenter IMO...

I think that cinematographer Dean Cundey is the greatest thing that ever happened to John Carpenter.

[rickah88]

Originally Posted by jthefrank

Kurt Russell is the greatest thing that ever happened to John Carpenter IMO...

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I think that cinematographer Dean Cundey is the greatest thing that ever happened to John Carpenter.

I think all three were the greatest thing that ever happened to ME!

[Monroville]

Originally Posted by cakefactory

I hated Prince of Darkness the first time I watched it, the acting was so bad and the effects were lackluster and I was just confused by what was going on. The second time I loved it, the insane plot just amused me to no end and I even thought it had some effective shocks and the incredibly unfunny comic relief guy didn't bug me as much and I was more conscious of Alice Cooper's role. It's such a distinctive and weird movie that I think it's a must-own.

I liked Terror Train quite a bit, but I would definitely suggest Prince of Darkness over it.

While I still consider POD to be a second tier Carpenter movie, I do like it more than I used to. While I like the 2 asian guys from BIG TROUBLE, I think they are completely out of place in this movie. Same thing with the moustache who should have been Tom Atkins. Having Tom play that guy other than the actor they went with would have immensely improved the movie alone.

In the end, the concept is much better than the execution. The idea of green gooey liquid posing a threat just isn't very threatening.. especially when you have characters do things like dramatically look up at the ceiling with their mouths open so the liquid can conveniently zip in.

[fuzzymctiger]

Originally Posted by Monroville

While I still consider POD to be a second tier Carpenter movie, I do like it more than I used to. While I like the 2 asian guys from BIG TROUBLE, I think they are completely out of place in this movie. Same thing with the moustache who should have been Tom Atkins. Having Tom play that guy other than the actor they went with would have immensely improved the movie alone.

In the end, the concept is much better than the execution. The idea of green gooey liquid posing a threat just isn't very threatening.. especially when you have characters do things like dramatically look up at the ceiling with their mouths open so the liquid can conveniently zip in.

I really need to give this a watch again. I love all of Carpenter's stuff up to and including They Live, and In the Mouth of Madness is a great film, a good glimpse of what could have been.

But the first time i watched POD I was so underwhelmed. The concept was so cool, as was the imagery and everything. But it just felt boring and nonthreatening and at times a tad silly. Maybe with maturity I might enjoy it more than i did before.

[JLaw1719]

Originally Posted by fuzzymctiger

I really need to give this a watch again. I love all of Carpenter's stuff up to and including They Live, and In the Mouth of Madness is a great film, a good glimpse of what could have been.

But the first time i watched POD I was so underwhelmed. The concept was so cool, as was the imagery and everything. But it just felt boring and nonthreatening and at times a tad silly. Maybe with maturity I might enjoy it more than i did before.

Prince of Darkness definitely seems to be a film that gets better with each watch until the person completely falls in love with it. I think there's too much going on to take it all in the first time.

In the Mouth of Madness is his last really good movie to me. He just loses something afterwards but no shame in that. He basically had a 15 year run where nearly everything he did was gold. I'd love to see one last movie that is truly his out of him, but I think he's enjoying retirement, smoking and playing games more and well, good on him for earning the right to be lazy.

[StingingVelvet]

Most directors/writers/actors have a 15-20 year run where they're good and everything before and after is suspect. That's extremely common. People have a voice that resonates in a certain time.

[fuzzymctiger]

Originally Posted by JLaw1719

Prince of Darkness definitely seems to be a film that gets better with each watch until the person completely falls in love with it. I think there's too much going on to take it all in the first time.

In the Mouth of Madness is his last really good movie to me. He just loses something afterwards but no shame in that. He basically had a 15 year run where nearly everything he did was gold. I'd love to see one last movie that is truly his out of him, but I think he's enjoying retirement, smoking and playing games more and well, good on him for earning the right to be lazy.

Once I finish working my way through my local international stations on demand movies they just put out, I'll dig out my tape or DVD of POD and give it another go

And I agree completely. Like Dario Argento, he put put more than enough classics to be settled with his career. The difference is, Argento had some weak links in his strong area, and some strongs in his weak area. Carpenter put out gold from Assualt to They Live without a single dud, then dropped off and then stopped.

Also, Argento needs to learn a lesson from Carpenter and just stop now