On Tuesday the 13th we watched Slither starring Nathan Fillion.
Slither is part of a new batch of monster movies with the old-school "small town horror" aesthetic but modern production values, and it was a hell of a lot of fun.
It managed to maintain a certain air of light-hearted fun without actually being funny, the situation and the way everything was put together was just so weirdly amusing on its own the movie didn't feel the need to force some more jokes. Plus it was absolutely disgusting, especially at the end during the final transformation of the Grant/Alien/Monster/Zombie thing. Again, not so over-the-top like Dead Alive was. The monster was also worthy of note since they never really went so far as to define what it was, where it was from (except SPACE), what it wanted to do, or even really how it worked. So whatever they decided they needed the monster to be capable of, it suddenly was. But they didn't abuse the mechanic too much so you were never sitting there going "Oh. Yeah, of course it does THAT now too! The hell, movie?"
This is probably the best movie of the month so far since it was really fun to watch and well paced but also bloody and gross without becoming ridiculous.
Monster week ends tomorrow with Feast.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
October Horror Season 2: Day 12
Day 12's movie was the Wolfman (2010) starring Anthony Hopkins and Benecio Del Toro.
I didn't read many reviews of the movie, but I did see it reviewed by Escapist's resident film geek Movie Bob and he gave it a fairly lukewarm reaction. His complaints stemmed mostly from the meandering nature of the movie which had been rewritten and redirected so many times it suffered from a sort of schizophrenia.
On my watch through I couldn't really see the jumpy nature, but I did notice a few things felt a little tacked together. The first half of the movie was pretty dull, to be totally honest, I know it was trying to build some kind of tension but I couldn't stop making jokes about Hugo Weaving wandering around calling everyone in town Mr. Anderson. All of a sudden, immediately following the attack on Benecio's Lawrence Talbot, it took a sharp turn for the AWESOME. Out of nowhere there were creepy shots of some deranged kid, talking statues, jarring flashbacks, and VERY well done gore. It got bloody real fast and then sprinted across the finish line. I got a little confused about exactly what happened towards the very end when they started killing off named characters, but it didn't matter because it was still fun.
Definitely a recommend, even if the first half was a little on the snoozery side it pays off by the end.
Tomorrow: Slither.
I didn't read many reviews of the movie, but I did see it reviewed by Escapist's resident film geek Movie Bob and he gave it a fairly lukewarm reaction. His complaints stemmed mostly from the meandering nature of the movie which had been rewritten and redirected so many times it suffered from a sort of schizophrenia.
On my watch through I couldn't really see the jumpy nature, but I did notice a few things felt a little tacked together. The first half of the movie was pretty dull, to be totally honest, I know it was trying to build some kind of tension but I couldn't stop making jokes about Hugo Weaving wandering around calling everyone in town Mr. Anderson. All of a sudden, immediately following the attack on Benecio's Lawrence Talbot, it took a sharp turn for the AWESOME. Out of nowhere there were creepy shots of some deranged kid, talking statues, jarring flashbacks, and VERY well done gore. It got bloody real fast and then sprinted across the finish line. I got a little confused about exactly what happened towards the very end when they started killing off named characters, but it didn't matter because it was still fun.
Definitely a recommend, even if the first half was a little on the snoozery side it pays off by the end.
Tomorrow: Slither.
Monday, October 11, 2010
October Horror Season 2: Day 11
For monster week day 3 we watched 1997's Mimic starring Mira Sorvino and Josh Brolin.
I wasn't sure what I was getting into here. I remember seeing the preview when I was younger but didn't really think much of it, it looked like a fairly boring standard movie. I didn't realize at the time what Guillermo del Toro was capable of it.
The movie was well paced, well written with good characters, and well shot for being - by virtue of its time - dark all the time. Although, the exposition seemed a little forced at times. The creature design was nicely creepy, and well split between CGI and models. I was really, genuinely impressed with a seriously entertaining movie with good portions of creepy, action, and gross coming out of the premise "6 foot tall killer cockroaches". I might even go so far as to check out the sequels, but everything about their creatives teams are different so they might not play nearly as well.
Tomorrow it looks like we'll finally get our netflix DVD so the movie of the night will be Wolfman.
I wasn't sure what I was getting into here. I remember seeing the preview when I was younger but didn't really think much of it, it looked like a fairly boring standard movie. I didn't realize at the time what Guillermo del Toro was capable of it.
The movie was well paced, well written with good characters, and well shot for being - by virtue of its time - dark all the time. Although, the exposition seemed a little forced at times. The creature design was nicely creepy, and well split between CGI and models. I was really, genuinely impressed with a seriously entertaining movie with good portions of creepy, action, and gross coming out of the premise "6 foot tall killer cockroaches". I might even go so far as to check out the sequels, but everything about their creatives teams are different so they might not play nearly as well.
Tomorrow it looks like we'll finally get our netflix DVD so the movie of the night will be Wolfman.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
October Horror Season 2: Day 10
The Host is this year's first non-English movie, also I believe the first foreign film.
Normally I tend to shy away from foreign films, most of this is because I really like my movies to be in a language I understand...this restricts me to English language movies and French children's film for ages 0-5 years. Every so often I make an exception, last year's Dead Snow (Norwegian) was phenomenal. Although I still found having to read subtitles distracting, I couldn't help but admire the sheer size of director Tommy Wirkola's sack: Filming bloody zombie Nazis in broad daylight against a snow-covered mountain.
This year we watched The Host. It was dubbed, which removed the subtitle annoyance, although it would've been nice for the Korean text on television to have been translated. I really enjoyed the movie, mostly because the monster was beyond amazing. Released in 2006, it has better integrated CG than any American film I've seen since then. Michael Bay could take a lesson. Also, despite the monster itself not looking too scary at all it was pretty frightening when it appeared because of the way it moved. I thought this aspect was enhanced by the film's general lack of shaky cam. Again, Michael Bay could take a lesson; so could J.J. Abrams. When the thing was on the screen you were forced to pay attention to it. What hampered the movie, in my opinion were the random attempts at slap-stick comedy. It would have been better served playing completely straight faced.
All in all this is one of the better creature features I've seen, even if it did have some WTF moments and clocked a little on the long side. The death of the monster was excellently well played, although they had mentioned something towards the beginning of the movie I wish they would have delivered on. Definitely worth watching.
Tomorrow, if we get it, will be Wolfman. Otherwise, tomorrow will be Mimic.
Normally I tend to shy away from foreign films, most of this is because I really like my movies to be in a language I understand...this restricts me to English language movies and French children's film for ages 0-5 years. Every so often I make an exception, last year's Dead Snow (Norwegian) was phenomenal. Although I still found having to read subtitles distracting, I couldn't help but admire the sheer size of director Tommy Wirkola's sack: Filming bloody zombie Nazis in broad daylight against a snow-covered mountain.
This year we watched The Host. It was dubbed, which removed the subtitle annoyance, although it would've been nice for the Korean text on television to have been translated. I really enjoyed the movie, mostly because the monster was beyond amazing. Released in 2006, it has better integrated CG than any American film I've seen since then. Michael Bay could take a lesson. Also, despite the monster itself not looking too scary at all it was pretty frightening when it appeared because of the way it moved. I thought this aspect was enhanced by the film's general lack of shaky cam. Again, Michael Bay could take a lesson; so could J.J. Abrams. When the thing was on the screen you were forced to pay attention to it. What hampered the movie, in my opinion were the random attempts at slap-stick comedy. It would have been better served playing completely straight faced.
All in all this is one of the better creature features I've seen, even if it did have some WTF moments and clocked a little on the long side. The death of the monster was excellently well played, although they had mentioned something towards the beginning of the movie I wish they would have delivered on. Definitely worth watching.
Tomorrow, if we get it, will be Wolfman. Otherwise, tomorrow will be Mimic.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
October Horror Season 2: Day 9
For day 2 of Monster week we've been forced to substitute "Wolfman" with 1972's "ZaAT", as presented by Mystery Science Theater 3000.
There's not much to be said about this. While last night's bad costumes and action were reminiscent of classic Kirk-era Star Trek, this had more in common with bad 50's/60's monsters: The lumbering, emotionless, man in a bad rubberized suit. Half the time I thought the actor was literally drunk and stumbling through the set. The narration was pure corn and the plot made almost no sense. I really am thankful that scifi and horror have grown past this as genres. Also, the MST3K crew's jokes and associated skits were pretty funny as usual and definitely kept my interest over the hour and a half of ZaAT's run time.
Since there is no mail delivered on Sunday, tomorrow will be "The Host", an import from Korea.
There's not much to be said about this. While last night's bad costumes and action were reminiscent of classic Kirk-era Star Trek, this had more in common with bad 50's/60's monsters: The lumbering, emotionless, man in a bad rubberized suit. Half the time I thought the actor was literally drunk and stumbling through the set. The narration was pure corn and the plot made almost no sense. I really am thankful that scifi and horror have grown past this as genres. Also, the MST3K crew's jokes and associated skits were pretty funny as usual and definitely kept my interest over the hour and a half of ZaAT's run time.
Since there is no mail delivered on Sunday, tomorrow will be "The Host", an import from Korea.
Friday, October 8, 2010
October Horror Season 2: Day 8
Monster week begins with 1982's "Swamp Thing" directed by Wes Craven.
Now, I had watched the 1990's TV series as a child and was told this was a horror movie so I expected a campy genre piece trying to play it serious. What I got was actually a pretty good precursor to the show. What I didn't get was a horror movie.
The story was surprisingly engaging for early 80's "Science Gone Wrong" cheese, and the cheese factor was actually quit low. They didn't play too much beyond what they were able to do, and thankfully didn't even TRY to explain the science...that shit just worked. The swamp thing suit was actually pretty good, era considered; and there were very few points where the though that this was a dude in a green painted wet suit really got in the way. Arcane's post-formula form was pretty retarded looking, though. No real save there, it looked like a retarded man-bear-pig fighting swamp thing with a broadsword.
Aside from the bright 80's camp of the whole thing, there's really nothing to set it up as a bad movie, actually it's a decent old style action flick. For my money the best swamp thing is still the 1990's live action TV show. Both movies, and the series are available streaming on hulu.
Day 9's movie will be: Wolfman, unless the DVD doesn't come in time...in which case we'll watch "Zaat" with Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Now, I had watched the 1990's TV series as a child and was told this was a horror movie so I expected a campy genre piece trying to play it serious. What I got was actually a pretty good precursor to the show. What I didn't get was a horror movie.
The story was surprisingly engaging for early 80's "Science Gone Wrong" cheese, and the cheese factor was actually quit low. They didn't play too much beyond what they were able to do, and thankfully didn't even TRY to explain the science...that shit just worked. The swamp thing suit was actually pretty good, era considered; and there were very few points where the though that this was a dude in a green painted wet suit really got in the way. Arcane's post-formula form was pretty retarded looking, though. No real save there, it looked like a retarded man-bear-pig fighting swamp thing with a broadsword.
Aside from the bright 80's camp of the whole thing, there's really nothing to set it up as a bad movie, actually it's a decent old style action flick. For my money the best swamp thing is still the 1990's live action TV show. Both movies, and the series are available streaming on hulu.
Day 9's movie will be: Wolfman, unless the DVD doesn't come in time...in which case we'll watch "Zaat" with Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
October Horror Season 2: Day 7
Vampire week concludes with 1987's "The Lost Boys" starring Kiefer Sutherland and the Coreys.
I was looking forward to this one because when I was but a wee lad I took a "College For Kids" course about horror movies and monsters taught by a Professor R. Cane. It was pretty neutered by necessity, since you can't really show the full gamut of gore to a class of pre-pubescent boys; however, The Lost Boys was tame enough and apparently "classic" enough for a few scenes to make the cut. So based on my limited preview of it and the implication that it somehow inspired vampire movie lore, I was pretty excited to finally see it.
After having watched it, I do not find myself disappointed. It's not the groundbreaking film I may have thought it was when I was younger, if I had seen it then I probably would've been disappointed. I've since developed a more even perspective and had brought down my expectations, and at that level it was actually pretty good. I enjoyed watching it and thought the vampires were pretty imaginative. They actually looked like they may have played a large part in influencing the Buffy The Vampire Slayer vampires, more so the series than the movie. Also, considering that last night I watched Dracula 3000 which have vampires in coffins in space 1000 years in the future, I really enjoyed that the Lost Boys vampires didn't sleep in coffins. Actually, they had funky mutated bat feet that let them hang from the ceiling of their cave, which would've looked supremely creepy at first if it had not been for Bill S. Preston, Esquire's weird-ass mullet. The vampire action aspects were all very well done, although the kill scene at the end where blood shoots from all the plumbing in the house was beginning to remind me of Peter Jackson's Dead Alive.
The movie suffered, actually, because of its vampire hunters. The entire comic shop hunter plot was made of pure cheese but played so straight by Corey Feldman it almost hurt. The odd "Oh yeah, we probably ought to include a romance" aspects of it also brought things down. I did enjoy the fake-out twist at the end, despite living in a post-Shyamalan world. I would enjoy a version of the film with this stuff taken out and focusing purely on a divorced mother with 2 teenage sons moving to an unfamiliar town that just happens to be teeming with vampires to live with her father.
Tomorrow we begin Monster week with "Swamp Thing"
I was looking forward to this one because when I was but a wee lad I took a "College For Kids" course about horror movies and monsters taught by a Professor R. Cane. It was pretty neutered by necessity, since you can't really show the full gamut of gore to a class of pre-pubescent boys; however, The Lost Boys was tame enough and apparently "classic" enough for a few scenes to make the cut. So based on my limited preview of it and the implication that it somehow inspired vampire movie lore, I was pretty excited to finally see it.
After having watched it, I do not find myself disappointed. It's not the groundbreaking film I may have thought it was when I was younger, if I had seen it then I probably would've been disappointed. I've since developed a more even perspective and had brought down my expectations, and at that level it was actually pretty good. I enjoyed watching it and thought the vampires were pretty imaginative. They actually looked like they may have played a large part in influencing the Buffy The Vampire Slayer vampires, more so the series than the movie. Also, considering that last night I watched Dracula 3000 which have vampires in coffins in space 1000 years in the future, I really enjoyed that the Lost Boys vampires didn't sleep in coffins. Actually, they had funky mutated bat feet that let them hang from the ceiling of their cave, which would've looked supremely creepy at first if it had not been for Bill S. Preston, Esquire's weird-ass mullet. The vampire action aspects were all very well done, although the kill scene at the end where blood shoots from all the plumbing in the house was beginning to remind me of Peter Jackson's Dead Alive.
The movie suffered, actually, because of its vampire hunters. The entire comic shop hunter plot was made of pure cheese but played so straight by Corey Feldman it almost hurt. The odd "Oh yeah, we probably ought to include a romance" aspects of it also brought things down. I did enjoy the fake-out twist at the end, despite living in a post-Shyamalan world. I would enjoy a version of the film with this stuff taken out and focusing purely on a divorced mother with 2 teenage sons moving to an unfamiliar town that just happens to be teeming with vampires to live with her father.
Tomorrow we begin Monster week with "Swamp Thing"
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