Horror Movie Round-Up

[RottingCorpse]

Man, that sounds great.

[RottingCorpse]

The VVitch was one my favorite movies last year. (I'm late, I know.) his is from the same director and looks just as good, if not better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hyag7lR8CPA

[nacho]

I'd be so much more into this if the Flannan Isles things wasn't the go-to mystery/horror du jour for films and books in 2016-2019.

[nacho]

Zombie round up!

Finally saw Last Train to Busan, the K-horror. It's a wildly traditional zombie movie (base under siege/we are our own worst enemy/the center cannot hold) with a wildly non-traditional setting (a train desperately trying to get to a safe zone). The combination is both entertaining and brilliant and, even though you can pick out who's gonna die, and everyone fills all of the roles you expect, I still felt like this was something fresh and new.

Zombie movie #2 was Zombieland part 2. This is just more of the same, which is fine because I loved Zombieland. But if you didn't like Zombieland... Well, don't bother.

[RottingCorpse]

Caaaan-deeee-maaaan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPBH3XO8YEU

[nacho]

Last Night in Soho is easily the best horror film I've seen in the last 20 years.

It's not unique or amazing. It's Stir of Echoes basically. And it's a little bit of everything else -- Sliding Doors comes to mind, and many other movies came to mind while I was watching.

But, somehow, it's a perfect distillation of what's come before. It's slow-paced in a good way (you eventually get a handful of jump scares, but they're mainly in the final act). In terms of pacing, it feels like The Changeling -- where you spent a long time knowing that something is wrong, but you can't quite figure out what.

I even guessed the twist about an hour before it happened and was still surprised!

Great stuff. Plus you get Anya Taylor-Joy's butt.

[RottingCorpse]

The Hellraiser reboot really did it for me.

The beauty ( and staying power) of the original was that it leaned into kink and body modification taboos, but I worried about how it would play in an age where everybody has lip piercings, and you can buy bondage toys at Walmart. But they leaned into the otherworldliness with the art direction, and gave all the iconography a little bit more meaning. It's one of the rare instances where trying to explain every little visual detail form the original rules actually worked. (The rules of the box have never been clearer, and they still managed to make "hell" mysterious and scary. The Cenobites look great. Femme / androgynous Pinhead is somehow creepier than Doug Bradley.

From a Hellraiser sequel standard, the story is fine, which is a really low bar. The first half/set-up is really good. They did a bunch of stupid late 2nd act horror movie shit to keep it from being three hours long that took a bit of shine off, but it sticks the landing in a satisfying way.

Not for the squeamish, but if you can handle torture gore, RC says check it out

[nacho]

I'm shocked to read that review! I totally dismissed this without a second thought. So...will give it a go!

[RottingCorpse]

Don't Worry Darling isn't as bad as you've heard, but isn't as good as it should be. It's more a script problem than a director problem, though one could argue a more experienced director might have figured it out.

I can't say what movies it's ripping off without giving stuff away, though the move gives you way too much time to figure out what's going on. (A buddy of mine said he figured out "the twist" five minutes in, and I don't doubt it.)

Still, it's a gorgeous take on a story you've seen before. That Flo Pugh is pretty talented.

[monkey!]

Don't worry about it, Darling.

[nacho]

Don't Worry Darling isn't as bad as you've heard, but isn't as good as it should be. It's more a script problem than a director problem, though one could argue a more experienced director might have figured it out.

I can't say what movies it's ripping off without giving stuff away, though the move gives you way too much time to figure out what's going on. (A buddy of mine said he figured out "the twist" five minutes in, and I don't doubt it.)

Still, it's a gorgeous take on a story you've seen before. That Flo Pugh is pretty talented.

Never heard of it! Though I am about to watch Adult Swim's Yule Log right now, the current internet darling.

[RottingCorpse]

Last Voyage of the Demeter is the best "Dracula on a boat" movie ever made. I don't get all the hate on this. Sure, it could have used one more rewrite to tighten the bolts of the break into Act III, but it does everything you want a movie like this to do. Very old-school Hammer vibe for the first 2/3rds. They have to go CGI gonzo monster at the end, but the fact that it does a nice (if predictable) slow-burn up to that point is respectable.

And it's the Victorian remake of Alien 3 you didn't know you wanted. RC says check it out.

[nacho]

Will totally stream it in the background while I do chores!

[nacho]

2020's lockdown Home Alone horror Becky was terrific, violent, insane fun.

The Wrath of Becky just dropped on Showtime, picks up six years later with a now kick-ass killer Becky fucking over neo-nazis because it turns her on. It's cool.

[RottingCorpse]

Guys... GUYS! ... You're not going to believe this.
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That new Exorcist movie is fucking terrible.