31 Days of Halloween Movies (2018) - Horror Fans Unite!!!!!!

[assydingo]

The Church (1989)

Thankfully my kickoff film this year did not disappoint. The two things that set The Church or Cathedral Of Demons apart is how memorable it is visually and that it takes itself seriously. Sure there are a few cheesy moments but it gives the devil his due better than most and it explores its symbolism with genuine care.

[4EverJohnnyBoy]

It's almost time kids!!!!

Looking forward to this year's batch, time to get working on the list.

Stay tuned...

[snobird]

Thanks djgeneral, you are awesome for starting this early again. Time to get started and watch some movies.

[MassiveMovieBuff]

9/5
Fatal Attraction
Jacob's Ladder
Fear (1996)

[october27]

I've always waited until October to start but with so many sports that month, I'm always rushed just to get to 31 and I never get to watch as many movies as I want. So while I'm still going for 31 next month and will count those separately, I'm going to get started now and hope to hit around 50 total.




1. 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE

This is like a long episode of The Twilight Zone with great performances by the three leads. I especially like John Goodman. I wasn't sure this one would stand up to repeat viewings but I've enjoyed it each of the three or four times I've seen it.




2. THE MUMMY 1959

The Mummy is easily my favorite of the Hammer movies. Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing deliver as always and I really enjoyed the Egyptian settings and costumes as well as the excellent makeup job on Lee as The Mummy.




3. SALEM'S LOT

This was a great Tv mini-series and one of the better Stephen King adaptations. I can see some of the Tv show The Strain borrows from this. I wish we could have seen more of the master vampire but otherwise this is one of my favorite vampire movies.

[filmbuffTX]

Slaughter High (1986)




First-Time Viewing. A decent slasher with a fun premise and a good ending. I don't have high expectations for low budget slasher flicks and this was exactly what I expected it to be.

[kingdoxie]

Originally Posted by october27

2. THE MUMMY 1959

The Mummy is easily my favorite of the Hammer movies. Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing deliver as always and I really enjoyed the Egyptian settings and costumes as well as the excellent makeup job on Lee as The Mummy.

My favorite Hammer as well. Got tired of waiting to catch it on TCM so I finally ordered it, coming in today!

[chad_1138]

Starting this year with some films off Netflix and Amazon Prime before we dive into our collection. Here we go... (*denotes first time viewing)

09/01 - *Demon House
09/02 - *The Babysitter
09/03 - *The Ritual
09/04 - *Death Note
09/05 - *American Fable

[djgeneral]

Update on potential prizes for giveaway!

Blus (sealed) included !

[charlieray1]

I always feel a little funny about starting my list in September, but I have waaaaay too many horror movies to see in a one (or even 2) month period ... so here goes!

September is my warm up month, I'll keep two lists.



SEPTEMBER

Blue = blu-ray, * = first time viewing

The Orphanage (2007) A well-made, creepy, slow burn horror film. Very effective, and surprisingly moving at the end. This got our annual MonsterFest off to a great start!

Village Of The Damned Hadn't seen this in a few years. I forgot how very well-made and effective it is. Terrific movie, and a great looking new blu-ray from Warner Archive.

* The Devil's Daughter (1973) 1/2 (YouTube) My wife and I are old enough to have seen a lot of silly 70's TV movies as kids and we have a soft-spot for them. This is a completely predictable "Rosemary's Baby" rip-off -- campy, and a LOT of nostalgic fun. Decent cast too, with Shelly Winters, Joseph Cotton and a post "Dark Shadows" Jonathon Frid. We liked it ... but if you grew up after the '70's, you'll want to knock a couple of skulls off.

[Monterey Jack]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inOmUh1AebE

[door sequence runs in reverse]

[INTERIOR: SATELLITE OF LOVE BRIDGE]

[JONAH HESTON enters the frame from screen right, wearing his usual yellow jumpsuit. He is perusing a clipboard and looking perturbed. He bumps into CROW T. ROBOT, causing him to drop said clipboard to the table with a clatter]

CROW: Hey, watch it, meatbag…!

JONAH: Excuse me, but I was just going over our schedule of films, and found some interesting oddities.

CROW: Enlighten me, oh be-jumpsuited one.

[TOM SERVO enters from screen left, whistling.]

TOM: Greetings, my fellow cinema torture-ees! What’s going on?

JONAH: Oh, well, as I was saying, it seems like we have an awful lot of horror movies scheduled for the next thirty days or so.

CROW: [scoffs] Like that’s anything unusual.

JONAH: [thinks about it for a second] No, I don’t mean horri-BLE movies, but *horror* movies. You know, creaking doors, cheesy rubber bats flying around on strings, that sort of thing?

TOM: That *is* unusual. I know we get sent lots of crummy movies, but usual there’s at least the spice of variety to make out dreary existence of slavery somewhat more tolerable.

CROW: What, they can’t bother to send us a decent Sword & Sandal flick? Some nice, oiled pecs…?

[JONAH and TOM give CROW a look]

CROW: [taking a step back] What…?

JONAH: Well, going over the list, there are different *types* of horror movies on the menu, but still, it seems oddly…specific a genre.

[suddenly, alarms start blaring, and lights begin to flash]

JONAH: What the…?! Cambot, give me Rocket #9…!

[EXTERIOR, SOL]

[we see a tinkertoy shuttle docking]

[INTERIOR, SOL]

[The doors open…and reveal JOEL ROBINSON and MIKE NELSON, who enter in a cloud of photogenic Tony Scott steam. Both men are considerably older than the last time they entered the Satellite of Love, and yet are still clad in their trademark red and green jumpsuits, respectfully.]

TOM & CROW: [excited] JOEL…! MIKE…!

[THE BOTS happily embrace their former co-hosts as JONAH looks on in perplexity.]

JOEL: [frowning] The hell…?!

MIKE: [trying to disentangle Crow’s net from his belt] Hey, nice to see you too, buddy, but…how did we get here?

JONAH: Uhhhhh…

TOM: Oh, right, the new guy…

CROW: [Gesturing to Jonah] Yeah, we work with this mammal now.

JOEL: Dr. Forrester is still doing this silly experiment?

TOM: Well, a Forrester is…

JONAH: [making the “time out” gesture with his hands] Hold it, who the heck are these guys?

TOM: What, did you think you were the *only* man trapped in outer space riffing on bad movies with a pair of robots?

CROW: Yeah! There were, like… [glances at JOEL and MIKE, rolls his eyes around a bit as he calculates] …two others before you.

JONAH: This doesn’t explain what they’re doing here now.

JOEL: [confused] I’d like to know that, too.

MIKE: [holding out hands in a placatory manner] Now-now, let’s not panic, people, I’m sure there’s a very logical explanation for this.

[everyone in the SOL bridge looks at him for a very long beat]

MIKE: I don’t know what that logical explanation is, if that’s what you’re getting at…

[JOEL buries his face in his hand]

JONAH: Why don’t we just call Kinga and Max and see what they have to say, hmmm?

[JONAH taps the button]

JONAH: Come in Moon 13, please respond…

[INTERIOR, MOON 13]

[Instead of Kinga Forrester and Max aka TV’s Son of TV’s Frank, we see a sandy-haired man, approximately mid-40’s, inside the Moon 13 hangar. He smiles as he looks up at his captive audience]

MONTY: [smiles] I thought you’d be calling…

[SOL]

JONAH: [confused] Who are you?

[MOON 13]

MONTY: Who I am is unimportant. What is important, is that I now control the horizontal. I now control the vertical. I now control the films you are to watch for the next lunar cycle.

[SOL]

JONAH: So why’d you bring back these other clow -- [JOEL and MIKE give him a look] – uhhh, former experimentees? And why nothing but horror flicks?

[MOON 13]

MONTY: [looks confused] You do know what the particular lunar cycle concludes with, correct?

[SOL]

JONAH: Uhhhh…

JOEL: Wait a minute…

MIKE: You don’t mean…?!

CROW & TOM: …HALLOWEEN…?!?

[MOON 13]

MONTY: [touches nose] Correct, my little lab rats! And to give you all a bit of a treat to go along with the tricks you’re accustomed to, I thought I’d bring back some old hosts to add a bit of spice!

[SOL]

JOEL: [under breath] Terrific…

[MOON 13]

MONTY: And, to sweeten the pot, some of this month’s movies will actually be… [TARANTINO SNAP ZOOM into face] …good.

[SOL]

[JONAH covers his eyes with joy. JOEL slaps his hands to the sides of his head with anticipation. MIKE covers his mouth to suppress a squeal of excitement]

CROW: Uhhh, not to rain on anybody’s parade, but…why? Who are you? Why bring back Joel and Mike?

[MOON 13]

MONTY: Uhhh...it's just a TV show, and you should really just relax?

[SOL]

CROW: [nods] I can go with that.

[MOON 13]

MONTY: Okay, then, everyone hit the restroom, and remember to keep all arms, legs and other appendages safely inside the theater at all times. Oh, and free popcorn and ram chips for all, because... [pulls lever]

[SOL]

[lights start flashing, alarm sounds, shakey-Cambot feature is activated]

JONAH: Oh, we've got...

JOEL: ...horror movie...

MIKE: …siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiign...!!!!

CROW: I call dibs on sitting next to Joel!

TOM: Not if I get there first...!

[Everyone scrambles to the left and right as the DOOR SEQUENCE runs, opening to reveal...the 2018 Horror Movie Marathon]

[Monterey Jack]

First-time viewings marked with an *

9/05/18:

-The Little Stranger * (2018):



A slow-burn period psychological thriller with modest paranormal overtones is the right tack to take for an “appetizer” to my October main course. Set in 1948, The Little Stranger features Domhnall Gleeson as Dr. Faraday, a morose man called to the evocatively crumbling Hundreds Hall to tend to a young maid (Liv Hill) who has faked “stabbing and burning” pains in order to be let loose from her service to the lady of the house, Carolyn Ayres (Ruth Wilson), her domineering mother, Angela (Charlotte Rampling), and her brother Roderick (Will Poulter), left horribly battle-scarred from the War. It seems there are uneasy spirits from the past about…or is it just psychological stress from the isolation? Literate, well-acted and eloquently scored by Stephen Rennicks, The Little Stranger, well-directed by Lenny Abrahamson (Room…the Oscar-winning one, not the Tommy Wiseau one), will probably take too long to get to the creaky-door chills for hardcore horror fans (although there’s a startling early scene where a party guest’s young daughter gets horribly mauled by Carolyn’s dog), but this is more of a dissection of inwardly-focused psychological torment in a post-war England than a flat-out genre piece. For what it is, it’s an astutely-observed look at a specific time and place, and it certainly has a handful of effectively disquieting moments, but the crowds lining up for more obvious shudders with The Nun would likely find it lacking. A good film, though.

[sandman slim]

8, 9, & 10:



Predator:

Makes a good double feature with The Thing; crew of badasses stalked by an unrelenting alien, one in the jungle, one in the snow.

Predator 2:

Moves the action to the urban jungle and one-ups the original just like Aliens. Subway scene is a standout, as is the late, great Bill Paxton, essentially playing Hudson's great great grandpa. Fantastic sequel.

Predators:

Good, but not great. Decent setup, but goes fairly spectacularly off the rails when Laurence Fishburne shows up from crazytown. Loses an extra point for inflicting two hours of Adrien Brody on me. Only the second time I've seen this, don't really need to watch it again.

[assydingo]

9/6 The Nun (2018)

I love the setting, it's shot really well, and it has plenty of spooky moments. That's where the focus was. Same can't be said for the story which brings it down to a more average film.

[hagios]

9/6



Scars of Dracula

[Juels Winnfield]

9/6

The Sixth Sense

[MassiveMovieBuff]

9/6
Arachnophobia
The Guest
Don't Breathe
Identity

[Unknown450]

Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday! But I refuse to start my halloween viewings before October.

[samlop10]

Should I include Arizona (2018) as part of the 31 films? It is not particularly horror or scary but it is pretty violent... mmhh perhaps not.

[samlop10]

Previous:

1. Predator 2

2. Deep Blue Sea

3. Razorback

4. Revenge



Current:

5. The Nun



While it is not as bad as Annabelle, it is also definitely not as good as The Conjuring. I'd say it is almost as good as Annabelle: Creation. What is interesting about it is that although Annabelle: Creation had a recycled plot, the execution was very well done and that is what made it a very good horror film. Ironically, The Nun has a pretty good story but its downfall is its execution. I was actually worried about it given the director's previous film, The Hallow (2015), which had a nice concept but its pacing and tone was not very well set. Something similar can be said about The Nun, in which the atmosphere is very well realized but there is not as much dread or tension built up like in The Conjuring and Annabelle: Creation.

It is not a really a failure, however. While it does not live up to at least half of the films in the universe, it does have enough scares and surprises that it remains pretty entertaining throughout. It moves at a fast pace, perhaps a bit too fast, as I found the lack of 'building' the setting problematic and a pretty big missed opportunity. Except for Annabelle, the other films in the universe clearly take their time in developing the characters and even the setting, almost making the place where the hauntings occur a character in it of itself. In this entry character introductions are rushed and the setting is hardly setup for the audience before the scary stuff begins to happen. Thankfully, the characters ' background is explored somewhat as the film progresses, and it smartly uses that background to directly affect and interact with their investigation. Unfortunately, again, the same cannot be said of the setting. The characters move so quickly within the abbey (which seems to be huge from the outside), that there is no sense of their placement within it. They simply move from hallway to hallway, to a room, and then to another hallway as the plot needs it. Had they built up its sense of size, space, and inside locations, the execution would have been better and the setting would have been better realized instead of just seeming a bit gimmicky. The old abbey had such tremendous potential to become memorable, but alas, its development was skipped in favor of faster pacing.

Acting is very good all around with the younger Farmiga doing well in carrying the film as the main character. The other two lead actors are fine but Farmiga is the standout. Like mentioned above, the gothic atmosphere is well realized and although there isn't much tension or suspense, the scares do come often, without overstaying their welcome, that it still manages to be entertaining and somewhat engrossing, especially in the last third once

[Show spoiler]it is revealed that all the nuns have been dead since before they even got there

. Imagery is more disturbing than the other entries, with a little more violence to boot. Not that it should need it, mind you, The Conjuring had very little violence and it still managed to scare the crap out of most people. But in this case, since the suspense is lacking, the violence does help keep the audience more attentive.

Overall, not a waste of a horror film, but at the same time the story did call for better execution which sadly does not live up to Annabelle: Creation, much less The Conjuring. It is definitely better than (the firstly released) Annabelle, with a much better story and a grander sense of scale, but with that story, it should have been at least a little better than Creation. Not a bad horror film, and actually a pretty decent one to kick off the fall season for scary movies, but overall not a great one. Recommended with adjusted expectations.


Technical review is for the presentation in Dolby Cinema:

PQ: 4.5 / 5
Pretty great picture quality. The color palette is pretty monochromatic and dark throughout (the great majority of light sources are lamps and candles), but the Dolby Vision presentation still makes the most of it. Black levels are deep and inky, with a great amount of gradations within them that render shadow detail extremely well throughout the film. Bright highlights look nice and punchy with some nice gradations as well. Fine detail is not outstanding but it is still pretty decent nonetheless. The few scenes with color (vegetation in the bright outdoors, blood), standout with great saturation.

AQ: 5 / 5
This is how scary movies with hauntings should sound like. The Dolby Atmos presentation was pretty terrific. There are several discrete effects throughout that create a very immersive and convincing environment. The top layer is used quite often creating a more realistic sound bubble with some great effects that were isolated from ear-level. There are quite a few moments in which voices and groans travel around the listening area, creating a very creepy atmosphere. There were a couple of moments that almost made me turn around in fear of some evil spirit being behind me. One particular scene has a sequence in which something moves from the rear left to the front right, and you can feel it move through you thanks to the surrounding speakers and the low-end effect which complimented it extremely well. If the home version is anything similar to this, it should end up being demo material.

If you can catch this at a Dolby Cinema, it is worth the premium cost (or even better if you have A-List here in the states from AMC).