So I'm working on watching 31 Horror Movies (preferably one a day, but that hasn't worked out really) from Oct. 1 - Halloween. It's been a trip, lots of good, some pretty bad, and more than a few boundary blurring movies with RiffTrax :) Anyways, here goes the movies I've watched so far with some comments:
1. Q (aka "The Winged Serpent" or "Q the Winged Serpent") - Larry Cohen flick with Michael Moriarty, wonderful, psychotic, random yet sense making. One of my favorite old horror flicks.
2. Witchfinder General (aka "The Conqueror Worm") - Vincent Price is evil witchfinder who pisses guy off when he fucks with his girlfriend and thereby revenge is sworn. Based on a real person the movie is totally fiction as nothing that happened in the movie happened to the guy in real life. One of the most intense endings ever.
3. Blood and Donuts - Canadian vampire movie that's sort of not horror, but is, and well, there are vampires and it's scarier than Twilight but more of a comedy and character piece, nice stuff though, excellent flick, kinda happy about it to be honest, improbable ending gets better if you look at it right.
Has David Cronenberg in it!
4. Basket Case - Ahhhh oh yes, if you haven't seen it watch it ASAP, super scurry.
5. Runestone - Trainwreck of a film that has something or other to do with a blond clock maker, a sorta dorky young boy a cop that says "fuck" alot and a Norse demon. Stupid is the word for this one, but it still counts.
6. Hellraiser - The Cliver's finest hour, or maybe not, there is always "Rawhead Rex" to consider, but great movie as always, Julia is creepier now than she ever was and Frank...well...he's Frank. Poor Kirstie, why did they torture her so? Not since Nancy (Nightmare on Elm Street) has a girl gone through that much shit in a horror flick....
7. Altered States - It's sorta horror and VERY Ken Russell. Trippy, weird, and somehow still not as disturbing as Lisztomania.
8. Kingdom of the Spiders - William Shatner is a veterinarian in this creep apocalypse of tarantula hell with a hell of an ending. Personally I like it in a very good unironic way, awesome flick.
9. Paranormal Activity (plus RiffTrax) - I'm not sure how much it counts to watch movies with RiffTrax for Halloween Horror Fest, but this is a movie that is just fucking awful, some of the most boring horrid people in the world standing around being stupid fighting a demon and being mostly boring, a couple kinda creepy parts, but honestly having seen it without the RiffTrax a while back (when everyone swore it was actually good for whatever reason) it's much better with them. I have a tendency to love lots of MST3K and RiffTrax stuff, so it's only natural that several of my movies are actually RiffTrax versions.
10. The Quest (aka. "Frogdreaming" or "The Go-Kids") - Not EXACTLY a horror movie, but a good scare for the kids. Australian happiness trip film starring the kid from E.T. some aborigines and a monster in the water...great movie though.
11. Martin - George Romero movie from 1978 about a vampire told in a very awesome way, supposedly Romero's favorite movie he made and supposedly also originally over an hour longer than the version that exists, too bad the original print is gone because I'd love to see the director's cut. Truly twisted, scary movie that isn't really like anything else I've seen. Wonderful.
12. Twilight (plus RiffTrax) - Twilight is the stupidest movie ever. The Twilight RiffTrax are the funniest things Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett have done. If you like RiffTrax/MST3K you absolutely owe it to yourself to watch these. There are no words to describe their hilarity.
13. The Room (plus RiffTrax) - Not strictly "horror" again, but scarier than "Twilight" and just about as dumb (maybe not quite as dumb) but definitely a horrific movie and a hell of a good Riff Track, not as funny as "Twilight" but disturbing for the sheer grossness of all the characters (sort of like "Twilight...")
14. The Stuff - Larry Cohen and Michael Moriarty again and again awesome. Kid from some 80s soap opera (Brian Bloom) and his little brother who sees moving yogurt and winds up on a whirlwind with Moriarty and a woman trying to kill the moving yogurt. Awesome but sort of badly edited.
15. From Beyond - Stuart Gordon at his most Lovecraftian, seriously fucked up and wonderful movie. Kinda scary.
16. Repulsion - OOOOOhhhhh boy! Early Polanski, disturbing, scary and honestly maybe the most horrific thing I've seen all season (besides Twilight)....must watch!
17. R.O.T.O.R. (Plus RiffTrax) - Really stupid ripoff of RoboCop that takes place in Dallas, one of the more unappealing casts I've seen, really really stupid dialog, great jokes.
18. Scanners - Cronenberg, heads blow up, people die (alot of them) and then there's Ephemera...oooh boy! Remember when Howard Shore was creepy?
19. Twilight New Moon (with RiffTrax) - More pale people (except the Native American werewolves, they aren't pale, just hairless) stand around and sigh and occasionally say some stuttered line and look forlorn into the distance before shambling across the screen. Some really nice screams that manage to be alarming, and a great line or two (great as in fucking hilarious.)
20. Hellraiser II - Hellbound - Again with Julia and Kirstie and lots of moist dead people, the maggot/straight razor scene has always fucked with me and I'm glad to say it still does. Yay for not being completely bored with life.
Updates soon!
Bless the monkey!
