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Post by thwhtguardian on Oct 1, 2019 18:21:45 GMT -5
October: Monster Mash! Already preparing myself as just bought the Universal Monster's Dracula and Creature from the Black Lagoon DVD collector sets this weekend. Bought Frankenstein, Mummy and Wolfman last year. Have several horror DVD's purchased after the Halloween season last year for marked down prices so I have plenty fear-fests to enjoy this season! Month: Dracula (1931, Universal) Special Mention: 2 DVD Discs of Rod Serling's Night Gallery Season 2. One Piece Anime: the storyline where Brook the Skeleton joins up with the crew and go to Zombie Island to retrieve Brook's shadow and we see zombie creations galore along with a giant spider monkey that is wild and we have crazy wild Pirates versus Zombie fights!!! Month Total: 1 I love those Universal Monster movies. I've also invested in almost all of the DVD sets (Frankenstein, Wolf Man, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Mummy), missing only Dracula and the Invisible Man. The only downside to these sets is that the monsters crossed over so much that there are a lot of duplication in the sets. For example, the Dracula set includes three movies on the Frankenstein set (House of Dracula & House of Frankenstein & Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein), leaving only three movies not duplicated elsewhere. Still, great sets and great values. I may participate in this months theme, if I can get my family to agree to watching the old movies. I may sneak some in this week since I'm off recovering from knee surgery, but I'm also trying to catch up on past seasons of the Flash TV series. Those sets are great, I love the Creature of the Black Lagoon set in particular as until I got that DVD I had no idea it had ever had a sequel never mind a third outing. While the second two didn't capture my love like the original I have to admit that they were fun.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Oct 1, 2019 21:28:25 GMT -5
Classic horror films are my go-to pretty much all year long, so I watched my first film for this thread today entirely by accident/habit. I was grading papers at school and had my favorite guilty-pleasure horror film on in the background for company:
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Post by brianf on Oct 1, 2019 21:53:33 GMT -5
I started off with Dracula since it was showing on Svengoolie Saturday night. Sven and Universal go together like peanut butter and chocolate! It really struck me during this viewing of what an idiot Harker is portrayed as in this movie. Something I hadn't really noticed before is how much this 1931 Dracula would be right at home during the silent film era and that so much of the movies atmosphere and mood is done with lighting and "over acting" by everyone. Also it is interesting that none of the vampires are ever shown with fang like teeth and Lugosi never really does anything physically as Dracula and his menace comes from his ability to "seem" dangerous is more about his performance and those glaring mesmerizing eyes of his. Coming up for viewing this week will be more black and white goodness in Them! and The Thing from Another World. I've only recently found out about Svengoolie, but I'm looking forward to catching a few episodes Look who's got a DC comic this month
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Oct 2, 2019 4:50:51 GMT -5
Added The Blob a Paramount (back in 1958) Release picture film done by three independent film companies with a budget of $110,000 and made $4,000,000 in box office starring a young Steve McQueen and Aneta Corsaut today and this is one of my favorite one during that period. That's another film that I've seen clips of a million times but never actually the whole film. As a whole I think 50's cinema is a pretty large blank spot for me. I really need to see this one. I've seen virtually every horror film made between 1894 and 1944, but I've watched so little beyond that point.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 2, 2019 8:23:40 GMT -5
That's another film that I've seen clips of a million times but never actually the whole film. As a whole I think 50's cinema is a pretty large blank spot for me. I really need to see this one. I've seen virtually every horror film made between 1894 and 1944, but I've watched so little beyond that point. It is a great film and done just right and it's very suspenseful and the acting of a young Steve McQueen is outstanding. I've pretty much got hooked on the 1950's horror and sci-fi mix. It's well received and enjoyed by a wide range of audiences and the pace is right on the nose and keeps you on the edge of things. The 1958 ... The Blob is a must see film.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Oct 2, 2019 12:55:26 GMT -5
I really need to see this one. I've seen virtually every horror film made between 1894 and 1944, but I've watched so little beyond that point. It is a great film and done just right and it's very suspenseful and the acting of a young Steve McQueen is outstanding. I've pretty much got hooked on the 1950's horror and sci-fi mix. It's well received and enjoyed by a wide range of audiences and the pace is right on the nose and keeps you on the edge of things. The 1958 ... The Blob is a must see film. I caught maybe ten minutes of it when it was on Svengoolie this summer, but then I got called away for some reason or another. Maybe I'l get back to it this month!
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Oct 2, 2019 17:06:41 GMT -5
My company while grading today: The House on Haunted Hill (1959):
The plot stinks, and I never cared for the modernistic Frank Lloyd Wright decor in a creepy horror film, but I love having this one on in the background, as it's truly the SOUND of the film that wows me -- the unexpected screams, Elisha Cook's delicate, unhinged quietness, and Vincent Price enunciating like there's a ghastly secret to be found in each inflection.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Oct 2, 2019 20:27:54 GMT -5
My company while grading today: The House on Haunted Hill (1959): The plot stinks, and I never cared for the modernistic Frank Lloyd Wright decor in a creepy horror film, but I love having this one on in the background, as it's truly the SOUND of the film that wows me -- the unexpected screams, Elisha Cook's delicate, unhinged quietness, and Vincent Price enunciating like there's a ghastly secret to be found in each inflection. I started watching this before I headed in to work this afternoon but didn't finish. I've always felt that it had the bones there to make a great horror film but the pacing just kills it and the lest said about the overly narrated opening the better.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Oct 2, 2019 20:43:18 GMT -5
My company while grading today: The House on Haunted Hill (1959): The plot stinks, and I never cared for the modernistic Frank Lloyd Wright decor in a creepy horror film, but I love having this one on in the background, as it's truly the SOUND of the film that wows me -- the unexpected screams, Elisha Cook's delicate, unhinged quietness, and Vincent Price enunciating like there's a ghastly secret to be found in each inflection. I started watching this before I headed in to work this afternoon but didn't finish. I've always felt that it had the bones there to make a great horror film but the pacing just kills it and the lest said about the overly narrated opening the better. I actually really enjoy the opening. It's campy as hell, but it's so fun. My big problem with the plot is the ending. The final reveal about what's really been going on makes zero sense and accounts for almost none of the strange goings on witnessed throughout the film.
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Post by Hoosier X on Oct 2, 2019 22:16:07 GMT -5
I started to watch The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) last night but we were having trouble with the wi-fi. I have to get up very early tomorrow so I don't think I'll be trying again tonight. If I get home early enough, I'll watch it tomorrow night.
I've discovered a couple of new favorites over the last four or five years. I've seen Eyes without a Face (1959 or 1960) every year since I discovered it (about five years ago) and the last couple of years, I try to DVR it and save it for Halloween! It's a French film about an evil plastic surgeon! (My favorite French film!)
And then there's House (1977, I think), also known as Hausu, a Japanese film about an evil house!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 3, 2019 1:38:59 GMT -5
The Gorgon (1964, Hammer Films, Columbia Pictures) The Black Scorpion (1957, Warners Bros) The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954, Universal)
The Gorgon, an excellent mythological horror film about a lady who is quite lovely and under a full moon she becomes the Gorgon a hideous woman that looks that turns men into stone and cripples them to death.
The Black Scorpion a pairing of Richard Denning and Mara Corday combating giant scorpions in Mexico City is a horror nightmare film delight and it was scary at times and quite eventual too. Packed full of intensity that really delivers.
The Creature of the Black Lagoon is a Julie Adams treat that also starred Richard Denning as well and I enjoyed this film on a yearly basis. Has everything under the sun and more and one of the titans in horror films history.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 3, 2019 2:48:12 GMT -5
Off to a bit of a late-ish start as I was finishing up the three seasons of Penny Dreadful before diving into any monster movies. After wrapping up the finale of Penny Dreadful before work today, I watched the Hammer version of The Mummy from 1959 after work to complete my first entry for this.
-M
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Oct 3, 2019 5:13:05 GMT -5
I started to watch The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) last night but we were having trouble with the wi-fi. I have to get up very early tomorrow so I don't think I'll be trying again tonight. If I get home early enough, I'll watch it tomorrow night. I've discovered a couple of new favorites over the last four or five years. I've seen Eyes without a Face (1959 or 1960) every year since I discovered it (about five years ago) and the last couple of years, I try to DVR it and save it for Halloween! It's a French film about an evil plastic surgeon! (My favorite French film!) And then there's House (1977, I think), also known as Hausu, a Japanese film about an evil house! Calipari is massively overrated, in my opinion. The visual look is distinct, and I love the twist ending, but the rest is just plain tedious. Eyes Without A Face rocks my world. Whenever my kids want an example of a terrifying film with no blood, there you go. I didn't realize House was initially a japanese film. I saw the American House II decades ago while I was still a child and didn't understand it was supposed to be satire.
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Post by Hoosier X on Oct 3, 2019 7:33:00 GMT -5
I started to watch The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) last night but we were having trouble with the wi-fi. I have to get up very early tomorrow so I don't think I'll be trying again tonight. If I get home early enough, I'll watch it tomorrow night. I've discovered a couple of new favorites over the last four or five years. I've seen Eyes without a Face (1959 or 1960) every year since I discovered it (about five years ago) and the last couple of years, I try to DVR it and save it for Halloween! It's a French film about an evil plastic surgeon! (My favorite French film!) And then there's House (1977, I think), also known as Hausu, a Japanese film about an evil house! Calipari is massively overrated, in my opinion. The visual look is distinct, and I love the twist ending, but the rest is just plain tedious. Eyes Without A Face rocks my world. Whenever my kids want an example of a terrifying film with no blood, there you go. I didn't realize House was initially a japanese film. I saw the American House II decades ago while I was still a child and didn't understand it was supposed to be satire. I like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari a lot. It's the oldest feature film (1920!) that I like enough to watch on a regular basis. I've probably seen it 6 or 7 times over the years. I don't find it tedious at all.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Oct 3, 2019 13:29:46 GMT -5
My grading companion today: Blood of Dracula's Castle (1969)
Oh, it's bad. Real bad. But I have a serious appreciation for B films that can be laughably terrible while also having something beautiful and unique at their core. In this case, once you get past the tacky awfulness that can be found literally everywhere in this film, the characters at the heart of it are true gems. It turns out, Dracula has settled down. He's changed his name, fallen in love, gotten married, and the happy undead couple has loyal servants they saved from tragedy who truly care for them and prepare their victims for them in the most civilized, humane way possible. They're....cute. And they are played tremendously well. It's all so unexpected. And yet it's fun rooting for their deaths at the same time.
So much is wrong with this film. So very very much. But the villains at the heart of it all are endearing and unforgettable enough to make the rest worth watching.
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