October Horror Movie Challenge: Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)

Oh, what to say about this movie. I figured it was timely with all the clown "attacks" being reported.
Of course, I saw this when it came out, but wanted to watch it again with Connor.  He honestly didn't know what to think. But we were both laughing a lot.

Things I noticed/remembered.

Royal Dano as the farmer.  That was either inspired casting or lazy casting.
Suzanne Snyder as Debbie. She also played a "Debbie" in "Weird Science" and was from nearby Park Ridge Illinois.
Christopher Titus is in this movie too.  Wearing glasses I didn't even recognize them.

Though I swear there was a scene where the Dickies were playing in a concert.

A lot of the lines are really on the nose, no pun intended. It's not a great script. The movie is still a silly one.  The Klowns are scary though, but all clowns are scary.



2016 Movie tally
Watched: 28
New: 22

October Horror Movie Challenge: The Lords of Salem (2013)

I like Rob Zombie. I like Sherri Moon Zombie. I love anything to do with witches.
So yeah, I actually rather enjoyed this movie.  There is a lot about this movie that worked as far as I am concerned, though I do recognize the that there were some valid criticisms.

Unlike the Witch, which tried to play the witch stories of America with an even hand, this movie goes full on myth and fairy tale.

Not to be too much of a critic, Sherri Moon Zombie is not the best actress in the world, but she is good in this role.   The movie has a feel to it that reminds me a bit of Kubrick...or more to the point someone (Rob Zombie) trying to do Kubrick by way of Ken Russel.

The basic idea of this movie is a tried and true one; descendants of those wronged are not enacting their revenge/curse or whatever in the present day.

So far this movie has 100% more Rush than any other movie I have seen this challenge.

I am going to say this one was a good one.  Plus it had Meg Foster and Dee Wallace in it as witches, so how can that be bad?

2016 Movie tally
Watched: 27
New: 22

October Horror Movie Challenge: Horror Rises from the Tomb (1972)

Have not done a Paul Naschy film yet this year.
This one has a warlock and his witch bride coming back from the dead as something similar to a vampire.  It's not bad but less blood, gore and nudity than I expected from a Paul Naschy film to be honest.

Alaric de Marnac is the warlock from this tale and he would later go on to appear in other Naschy movies.  I kinda like the idea, even if this movie was only so-so.










2016 Movie tally
Watched: 26
New: 21

October Horror Movie Challenge: Carmilla (1989) & Styria (2014)

With the somewhat disappointing nature of The Unwanted, I went looking for some more Carmilla based movies.  Finding them wasn't the issue. Finding ones I have not seen was.

First up was Carmilla (1989) with Meg Tilly and Ione Skye.  This moves the tale to post-Civil War Georgia. The story is largely unchanged with Ione Skye and Laura and Meg Tilly as Carmilla.  There were some neat scenes but it was a Showtime Nightmare Classics episode, so there isn't the investment you see in a big movie production. Still though it was fun.  There isn't much chemistry between Skye and Tilly, which struck me as odd to be honest.  Plus you get the feeling in the end that Laura became a vampire after Carmilla was killed.

Styria (2014) or "Angels of Darkness" as it is known in the US, is also a retelling of the classic tale.  This time moved to 1986 and Styria, Slovenia.  This time Laura and Carmilla are played by Eleanor Tomlinson and Julia Pietrucha.  These actresses had more on-screen chemistry and the tale has a bit more terror.  Moving it to Communist-controlled Eastern Europe was an interesting twist and I liked it. Plus it gave them a good excuse to use music from Joy Division and The Jesus and Mary Chain.
Unlike the 1989 version or Unwanted, Carmilla is much more of a predator here and more of a classic vampire OR Laura is insane.  Could go either way. Of the three "Carmilla" movies I have seen this challenge so far, this is the best.

2016 Movie tally
Watched: 25
New: 20

October Horror Movie Challenge: The Blood on Satan's Claw (1970)

A deformed skull sends a small 18th century English town into a Satanic Panic as children begin to murder each other and others.

The movie, has a lot of style, but not a lot of substance.   While it is cut from the same general cloth as The Devil Rides Out and other folk-horror films it's not as good.  It does pick up a bit, but never enough to really get going.

I like folk horror and pagan horror, but one has to ask why the Devil is wasting his time in tiny little English village full of superstitious villagers.








2016 Movie tally
Watched: 23
New: 18

October Horror Movie Challenge: Witchtrap (1989)

Kathleen Bailey and Linnea Quigley are the only actresses here I recognize.

The rest are pretty terrible. In fact the entire movie is really bad.  The premise is interesting enough.  An occultist turns up dead and is supposedly haunting his own home.  The new owner wants the haunting confirmed and taken care of so he can turn it into a "haunted bed and breakfast".

We get a pscyhologist, her medium husband, another medium (Bailey), a videographer (Quigley), and three private detectives. Basically a big crew of people to get killed by the ghost...which is what happens.

Quigley was a staple in late 80s early 90s horror/splatter flicks and she doesn't disappoint here.  Which is the ONLY thing in this movie that isn't a disappointment. Oh there are some marginally interesting ideas that made me think of some things for the Pathfinder Occult adventures book...but that is about it.


2016 Movie tally
Watched: 22
New: 17

October Horror Movie Challenge: Devil's Plaything (1973)

The Devil's Plaything, or "Der Fluch der schwarzen Schwestern", is one of those notorious movies I have always heard about but never seen.  I got ahold of a copy, but only the R rated version.  There is one that is 18 mins longer that contains more graphic sex, many of the actresses were Swedish porn actresses, but sadly that won't help the plot of this one.

The plot, such as it is,deals with bringing back to life a dead vampire baroness, her lesbian lover and to kill the descendants of those that killed her.  She has her own cult with high-priestess and acolytes that I guess have to dance around in the nude all the time.

The actors and actresses are speaking English, but it is obvious that this is not their first language.  Add that to a terrible script makes this almost a yawner.

I think it must have the fairly graphic scenes of nudity, sex and implied incest that put this on the notorious list.  I have seen DVD copies at Half-Price Books go for a $100.  Don't waste your money.

If you are really curious the scenes that were cut are here.

Edited to Add: I have picked this one up on DVD and there is almost no similarity to the movie I saw here and what I now have. Yes the same movie, but the edit of this one was terrible.  I will review it for a new Horror Movie Challenge.


2016 Movie tally
Watched: 21
New: 16

October Horror Movie Challenge: The Unwanted (2014)

The Unwanted came up in my search for different sorts of vampire movies.  This one is a retelling of Sheridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla".  In this one Carmilla is the daughter of Millarca and it takes place in Georgia and not Austria.

Of course given that I should have guessed the ultimate fates of both Carmilla and Millarca, but no such luck. True it is closer to the original story this way but would it kill us to make something a little different once in a while?

William Katt plays the father in this with much creepiness.
Christen Orr and Hannah Fierman are both rather good as Carmilla and Laura respectively.

I was hoping for much better to be honest.





2016 Movie tally
Watched: 20
New: 15

October Horror Movie Challenge: Full Circle / The Haunting of Julia (1977/1981)

So with a book by Peter Straub and starring Mia Farrow you would think this would have been a hit.  It actually did quite poorly in the UK as "Full Circle" in 1977 and equally poorly in the US as "The Haunting of Julia" in 1981.

I remember this movie and thought I had seen it, but I didn't.  It came up while I was doing a serach about the ghosts of children for the Chill RPG.

Mia Farrow was, well, Mia Farrow in this.  The story is spooky, but could have been a lot more scary.  Though if it were made today there would have been more victims of the child ghost, Oliva.

In an interesting bit of trivia, Samantha Gates who plays Olivia is the same girl that appears on the cover of Led Zeppelin's "Houses of the Holy" album.

The daughter of Mia Farrow's character was played by a young Sophie Ward who later went on to be in "Young Sherlock Holmes".

This might a good one to read one day, but the movie is a little slow by today's standards.


2016 Movie tally
Watched: 19
New: 14

October Horror Challenge: Vampyres (2015)

It is not often I get to watch a horror movie when they first come out. Let alone on the day they are released.  But this is my day today (tonight).  The remake of the notorious 1974  José Ramón Larraz cult classic Vampyres was released on video today.  To my knowledge, this never was released in the US in the theaters, just in Spain.  The movie was also filmed in Spain, though it is supposed to be set in England.

Marta Flich and Almudena León take on the roles of Fran and Miriam respectively. Now maybe it is just my nostalgia speaking, but I find the original actresses, Marianne Morris and Anulka Dziubinska, more attractive.

The movie starts out in a similar fashion to the original.  Our heroes (Fran and Miriam are the heroes right?)  Our new Harriet is a photographer and not a painter as in the original.

Also at nearly 70 Caroline Munro still looks good and having her in movie gives it an air of authenticity, it is too bad that her talents are wasted here.  She is a better actor than most of this cast.  Though to be 100% fair I am pretty sure that English is not their first language save for Munro.

The movie doesn't really get going in terms of our Vampyres till about 20 minutes in.  The dialog is very similar to the original as well. Sadly though many of the plot problems have also been retained. Not to say it is a scene by scene remake, there are some differences and some improvement.  The shower scene from the first movie has been replaced with a bath-tub and a Bathory-esque shower.

This Fran and Miriam are much crueler than in the original.  In the original film you got the feeling that two innocent women had been killed and cursed to come back as vampires.  These two new ones are just killers.  Plus Marianne Morris and Anulka Dziubinska had more on-screen chemistry than these two actresses.

One could almost, almost, see this as a sequel of sorts to the first.  The fact that history is repeating itself some 40 years later is just one of those things that happen when you have a lot of vampires around.

In the end, I didn't like it as much as the original, but again it is more to do I think with nostalgia for me and maybe giving the edge out to the 1974 version only because I first saw it at a very impressionable age.

On it's own merits the movie is still fun.  Plus when was the last time we had a good female vampire movie?  Feels like forever.  If you are a fan of the original then see this one too.

I could not help but notice that one of the production companies for this film is "The Other Side Films".
http://theothersidefilms.com/portfolio-items/vampyres

2016 Movie tally
Watched: 18
New: 13

October Horror Movie Challenge: Under the Skin (2013)

Under the Skin is a 2013 art film with sci-fi and horror overtones.  The film is notable for starring Scarlett Johansson. She spends the first few scenes completely nude and most of the movie with little to no lines.

The movie deals with an alien (ScarJo) who seduces men and lures them to her home in Scotland. Here she strips while walking, having them do same where they slowing disappear into the floor.  Later we see what happens to them.  Their organs are sucked out of their skin leaving only their still living skin.

As the movie (slowly) progresses ScarJo (none of the characters have names) begins to act more and more human.

The movie is very arty and there are some very obvious nods to 2001: A Space Oddeysey.  Of course, there is another movie people have been comparing it too; Lifeforce.  Like Lifeforce this movie features an alien woman walking around, mostly nude, and killing men.  Though the aliens of Lifeforce are mostly vampires (based on Colin Wilson's "The Space Vampires") this alien, as far as I can tell is something different.

There are some genuinely scary moments but not as many as I thought there should be.  


2016 Movie tally
Watched: 17
New: 12

October Horror Movie Challenge: Victor Frankenstein (2015)

Every year it seems I get to watch a new Daniel Radcliffe horror movie.  This year it was Victor Frankenstein.  It's not a bad flick either.
It's a retelling of the Frankenstein story.  Well, not the book really, but the movies.

It has lots of call outs and Easter-eggs to other Frankenstein movies.
Daniel Radcliffe's makeup at the beginning of this reminded me a lot of the very first Frankenstein movie ever made.
"People will never remember the man, only the monster."
Loved the little Frankenstine-Frankenstein nod.
"It's alive?" "It's alive!"
Flat head. Bolts in the neck.
Victor shouting "You are not alive" instead of the expected "It's alive!" when the monster is walking.

Much better than I thought it would be.


2016 Movie tally
Watched: 16
New: 11

October Horror Movie Challenge: The Black Hole (1979)

The Black Hole is a movie that scared the crap out of me when I first saw it.  Granted I was 10 and it was at a drive-in theater.

I saw it again on VHS about 20 years ago and then again this past weekend with my wife and son.

Connor: "This is boring and not scary at all. I knew the 'robots' were people from the start. He didn't have an materials to make robots."

I have to concur. There are some frightening elements and the story really is a mad scientist in an old, maybe haunted castle.  Even the images of hell make this more horror in space than sci-fi.

The version I watched looked fantastic, but that doesn't make up for some glaring errors in this movie.  I remember back when I was 9 thinking the robots should not have psychic powers and I still think that.


2016 Movie tally
Watched: 15
New: 10

October Horror Movie Challenge: May (2002)

Here is an interesting bit of trivia. One of the first movies I EVER saw on Netflix was May.  It was back in 2003 or so, back when Netflix was still only shipping out DVDs.  I saw this under Horror and thought it sounded really cool.

May is a horror movie, but not like others.  May, played wonderfully creepy by Angela Bettis, is not your typical horror villain/monster.  Yes, she does have a body count, but in some ways, she is also the victim.

It also features an early role for horror movie regular Anna Farris and a younger Jeremy Sisto.

I watched again to see if held up to my memories of it. It did, but the film seems more like something from the 90s than the 2000s.  Maybe it is indie-vibe of the movie or the soundtrack. Or maybe I am getting old.

People describe this as a take on the Frankenstein tale. It's not. It's really more of a slasher flick.  A sympathetic slasher.


2016 Movie tally
Watched: 14
New: 10

October Horror Movie Challenge: Haunter (2013)

Saw this one on Netflix and thought I would give it a try.  It reminded me of The Others in a lot of ways.   Abigail Breslin is really good in this.  We kept thinking she looked like Amy Pond. Well my wife and son did. I did think she kind of a Doctor Who Companion vibe about her.

I don't want to reveal too much about the movie (it's worth watching) but it does give me an idea.

One day I'd love to run a game where the characters are dead, but don't know it yet.  The players will have to work it out as part of the adventure.
Could be fun with the right group.

The movie had a good if a little predictable, ending.





2016 Movie tally
Watched: 13
New: 10

October Horror Movie Challenge: The Frozen BrainS that Wouldn't Die (1962 & 1967)

Every year I like pulling out an MST3k version of a movie.  This year it was 1962's "The Brain that Wouldn't Die".  I saw this years ago of course and I had forgotten parts of it.  For example, I remember the ending being different.  Turns out the movie I was remembering was "The Frozen Dead" from 1967.  Both feature the head of a woman in pan.  The Frozen Dead head gains the psychic powers that apparently all heads or brains get when removed from a body.

Neither movie is particularly scary, but the image of Jan asking to be killed or Elsa begging to be buried is quite a haunting image.  One that stuck with me for years.

Frozen Dead

2016 Movie tally
Watched: 12
New: 9

October Horror Movie Challenge: Honeymoon (2014)

I will admit it, I am huge fan of Rose Leslie.  Honeymoon is a creepy little flick about what happens if something replaces someone you know.  It starts out and builds tension with each moment.

Rose is great as Bea, the new bride that may or may not be what she says she is.

The movie supremely creepy and the ending, while not a surprise, was still satisfying in a horror way.

The only thing that would have made this scarier is if it had been a couple celebrating their 10 year wedding anniversary.  Made the "otherness" of one of them seem even more out of whack.

There are moments in the film where Rose's Scottish accent comes out a bit.  But you could almost excuse it since she is supposed to be Canadian (I think) in this.


2016 Movie tally
Watched: 10
New: 9

October Horror Movie Challenge: The Offspring (2009)

I am not really into cannibal movies.  Too many contrivances to make them work, not to mention I just really don't care for them.   But the movie "The Woman" came up in a list of must see horror films and it is a sequel to this one.  So what the heck.

The film covers a group of feral human cannibals living in the Pacific Northwest (are we sure they just haven't had their Starbucks?) who kidnap and eat humans.  There is also some bit about needing a baby, which is where the title comes from. The acting is not great really, but the story is better than I thought.  It is likely then that the book is even better.

It has some scary bits but not as much as I had expected there would be.





2016 Movie tally
Watched: 9
New: 8

October Horror Movie Challenge: Eyes of Fire (1983)

This is one I was sure I had seen back in the day.  In fact, there is a lot I do remember about it. But it wasn't until it wasn't recently covered by House of Self-Indulgence that I remembered it. Or. More to the point I remembered I hadn't seen it.

There are bits I do remember.  I think it is due to seeing it on Showtime or Cinemax late at night.

Leah, the witch from the woods, certainly is a character I would have remembered.  In fact I think I do.  For my 3rd edition game I had a cleric character fall in love with a witch.  Granted this is not something strange for me, but there are a of lot similarities.

I love the idea of the devil-haunted woods/valley.  Keep an eye out for all the faces.   Expert tip: if the local Shawnee tribe is too afraid to go into a place...maybe don't go into that place.  Just saying.

What I like about this film is it mixes bits of witchcraft lore with Irish myths and local Indian legends.  A heady brew for someone that grew up in the mid-west not far from some of the most famous burial mounds in the country.

The final battle was cool, but really dark.  Dark as in a lack of light to see what was going on really.

Naturally, I am going to compare this to The Witch.  This covers the same time period (roughly) and the same area of the country (close enough).  Where the Witch is visually stunning and relies on mood and atmosphere.  Eyes of Fire is more dream-like and tests what we consider reality (in the film).   Comparing them on a visual level though is not fair.  The Witch was filmed in HD and I watched it on a Blu-ray.  Eyes of Fire wasn't and the copy I watched was a poor VHS to DVD transfer.  Both were, and are, stunning for their times.

I fear that Leah and Thomasin would not get along.

2016 Movie tally
Watched: 8
New: 7 (I am counting it as new)

October Horror Movie Challenge: The Church (1989)

Another Dario Argento flick.  The first 5-10 minutes was like Monty Python and Holy Grail that someone decided to play straight.  Seriously. Many points I was going "we are the Knights that say Ni!", "Burn her she's witch" and "Bring out your dead!".   Someone even looked like Patsy there was even a duck.

The rest of the movie is in modern times. And there it slows down to a crawl.  A church is built on the site where the Teutonic Knights killed a bunch of witches and in the modern day the church, now in disrepair is the home of a legion of demons.  The demons look kinda cool though.  Especially the last one.

There are some neat hallucination/possession scenes.

It does feature a very young Asia Argento as the last girl.

Not a great movie, but it have some really neat looking effects.


2016 Movie tally
Watched: 7
New: 6