TODAY I WATCHED (Movies, TV series) 2015

S.D. wrote:

Hey FF, I saw a trailer for a new horror film called "The Forest" in the theater the other day.  It was filmed in Japan and stars Natalie Dormer (Game of Thrones, Elementary, The Hunger Games).  Looks pretty cool...

Yeah, that looks a lot cooler than the one I watched last night.

True story: while I was watching the '82 "Forest" last night, I was laying on my side on the living room floor. My wife swears I dozed off for about ten minutes during the movie because she heard me snoring.

I, naturally, can't remember if I dozed off or not, but if I did, I certainly didn't miss much.... cuz I supposedly nodded off right after the first of the four main characters got killed, and when I woke up the other three were still alive.

High Fidelity (2000) - I saw this in the theater when it came out and it's been on HBO several times this month so I watched it last night. I was struck by how repellent the main character Rob is. What a douchebag. I was rooting against him the entire film. Also, the female lead - Iben Hjejle - is an awful actress. The plot was beyond absurd in several parts. I still enjoyed several scenes that poked fun/celebrated the bizarre conversations that we music lovers have, but overall it has not aged well. Mrs. Witchfinder said the book is much better, but I've never read it. She spent the majority of the movie laughing at how terrible Iben Hjejle's hair was, and how John Cusack is an ugly man with bad teeth. So take that for what it's worth.

Schlock-tober continues with...

"Asylum" (1972)

A job-seeking doctor arrives at a creepy old mental hospital and meets its four most interesting patients, who tell him their stories of how they got there. These tales involve a corpse in a freezer, a murderous imaginary friend, a tailor who makes an unusual suit, and a doctor who creates living dolls.
A creepy-cool British horror anthology from Amicus Studio, who also brought us the similarly styled "Vault of Horror" and "Tales From the Crypt." All four of the stories were written by Robert "Psycho" Bloch. Retro fun!

Fat Freddy wrote:

Schlock-tober continues with...

"Asylum" (1972)

A job-seeking doctor arrives at a creepy old mental hospital and meets its four most interesting patients, who tell him their stories of how they got there. These tales involve a corpse in a freezer, a murderous imaginary friend, a tailor who makes an unusual suit, and a doctor who creates living dolls.
A creepy-cool British horror anthology from Amicus Studio, who also brought us the similarly styled "Vault of Horror" and "Tales From the Crypt." All four of the stories were written by Robert "Psycho" Bloch. Retro fun!

I love all those old anthology movies. I saw Asylum not too long ago. It's a good movie.

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I love all those old anthology movies. I saw Asylum not too long ago. It's a good movie.

Yep, it was a lot of fun (and WAY better than that turd burger "The Forest" that I watched the night before, haha). I've seen their "Vault" and "Crypt" anthologies before but "Asylum" was new to me.
Amazon Prime streaming has been a treasure trove of forgotten 70s/80s horror flicks like this lately.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Quote :

I love all those old anthology movies. I saw Asylum not too long ago. It's a good movie.

Yep, it was a lot of fun (and WAY better than that turd burger "The Forest" that I watched the night before, haha). I've seen their "Vault" and "Crypt" anthologies before but "Asylum" was new to me.
Amazon Prime streaming has been a treasure trove of forgotten 70s/80s horror flicks like this lately.

I was just checking that out over the weekend and caught Konga (1961) , the British giant gorilla movie (which was rather bland, and I have a high tolerance for those types of movies). I'll have to delve further into their selections.

The complete list of the Amicus anthology films.

Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965)
Torture Garden (1967)
The House That Dripped Blood (1971)
Tales From The Crypt (1972)
Asylum (1972)
The Vault of Horror (1973)
From Beyond The Grave (1974)

S.D. wrote:

The complete list of the Amicus anthology films.

Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965)
Torture Garden (1967)
The House That Dripped Blood (1971)
Tales From The Crypt (1972)
Asylum (1972)
The Vault of Horror (1973)
From Beyond The Grave (1974)

"House that Dripped Blood" and "Dr. Terror's..." are on Amazon Streaming right now, I think "Torture Garden" may be in there as well.

The print of Dr Terror is probably the shit pan & scan print that has been circulating for decades. It has been restored for blu-ray and DVD in Europe.

S.D. wrote:

The print of Dr Terror is probably the shit pan & scan print that has been circulating for decades. It has been restored for blu-ray and DVD in Europe.

Wouldn't surprise me. I've been watching a lot of 70s/80s movies on Amazon lately and several of them looked like they were dubbed off of well worn VHS tapes.
Though actually that sort of intensifies their "retro" vibe for me...
The listing for "Asylum" claimed that it was "digitally remastered" but it sure didn't look like it!

Fat Freddy wrote:

S.D. wrote:

The print of Dr Terror is probably the shit pan & scan print that has been circulating for decades. It has been restored for blu-ray and DVD in Europe.

Wouldn't surprise me. I've been watching a lot of 70s/80s movies on Amazon lately and several of them looked like they were dubbed off of well worn VHS tapes.
Though actually that sort of intensifies their "retro" vibe for me...
The listing for "Asylum" claimed that it was "digitally remastered" but it sure didn't look like it!

I kinda dig the bad transfers too, depending on the movie. Hell, I still collect various VHS titles that I prefer to remember in pan & scan and with high noise levels. It's like travelling back in time.

Those Amicus anthologies are fun and I haven't seen them in some time. Think I might make these my Halloween day viewing (with the kids...?).

Fat Freddy wrote:

S.D. wrote:

The complete list of the Amicus anthology films.

Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965)
Torture Garden (1967)
The House That Dripped Blood (1971)
Tales From The Crypt (1972)
Asylum (1972)
The Vault of Horror (1973)
From Beyond The Grave (1974)

"House that Dripped Blood" and "Dr. Terror's..." are on Amazon Streaming right now, I think "Torture Garden" may be in there as well.  

Cool ! Looks like I have some movies to check out.

Fat Freddy wrote:

S.D. wrote:

The print of Dr Terror is probably the shit pan & scan print that has been circulating for decades. It has been restored for blu-ray and DVD in Europe.

Wouldn't surprise me. I've been watching a lot of 70s/80s movies on Amazon lately and several of them looked like they were dubbed off of well worn VHS tapes.
Though actually that sort of intensifies their "retro" vibe for me...
The listing for "Asylum" claimed that it was "digitally remastered" but it sure didn't look like it!

Most of the Amicus titles have fallen into public domain in the states, including Asylum. So anybody can release however poor of a print they want.

Agents of Shield
Modern Family
South Park

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Most of the Amicus titles have fallen into public domain in the states, including Asylum. So anybody can release however poor of a print they want.

Yeah, awhile back I had Amicus' "Vault of Horror" on one of those ultra cheapo "double feature" DVDs that used to turn up at dollar stores all the time.

The official releases from Europe are much better, they even restored some cut gore footage from Tales From The Crypt.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 - C. Technical achievements aside, this film was a bit of a disappointment. Recommended to me by several genre fans and some trusted websites, I found it to be rather tedious. The set design and gore are impressive, and some of the performances, while OTT, are enjoyable; but it's like not a whole lot of thought went into the story. Which would be fine I guess if it were in the same vein as the first, but with the satirical bite and Hopper's character showing promise of an expanded TCM universe, it almost seems like they gave up part way through and went for broke with lazy, lengthy sequences of mayhem. There's also some really weird dialogue in this--"TELL. ME. HOW. GOOD. YOU. ARE," "incoming mail--" that's delivered with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer and minimal relevance. I will give credit to the lead actress, she really delivers; but Hopper's talents are wasted. I was always fascinated by the "Breakfast Club" cover art on the old VHS as a kid, but as it turns out the satirical bite is more of a gumming.

Back to the Future 1 & 2 - A-/A-. These are still the strangest mainstream genre films ever made.

corplhicks wrote:

Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 - C. Technical achievements aside, this film was a bit of a disappointment. Recommended to me by several genre fans and some trusted websites, I found it to be rather tedious. The set design and gore are impressive, and some of the performances, while OTT, are enjoyable; but it's like not a whole lot of thought went into the story. Which would be fine I guess if it were in the same vein as the first, but with the satirical bite and Hopper's character showing promise of an expanded TCM universe, it almost seems like they gave up part way through and went for broke with lazy, lengthy sequences of mayhem. There's also some really weird dialogue in this--"TELL. ME. HOW. GOOD. YOU. ARE," "incoming mail--" that's delivered with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer and minimal relevance. I will give credit to the lead actress, she really delivers; but Hopper's talents are wasted. I was always fascinated by the "Breakfast Club" cover art on the old VHS as a kid, but as it turns out the satirical bite is more of a gumming.

"Lick my plate!!!!"

Who watches TCM movies for story????

I think the opening scene with the cars and the kids being live on the phone with the DJ when the maniacs hit is one of the coolest openings in horror.

BTW: thanks for bringing this movie up. I was researching reviews on IMdb out of curiosity to see how many other people feel like you do about the film (about half apparently) when I noticed that ChopTop is played by Bill Moseley. He's the best thing about not only this movie but also House of 1000 Corpses and Devil's Rejects.

In looking at his filmography, it seems he always plays characters like that. Makes me wonder if he really isn't a little bit nuts.

Holy shit! He's even in Evil Bong!!!! Now I have to rewatch that turd just to see him!

The only truly great scene in Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is when Dennis Hopper asks to try out the chainsaw and starts hacking at the log.  I laughed so hard I thought I was going to die.

I actually watched most of Back To The Future III last night before I got too sleepy to finish it.

I hate part 2, it's one long product placement and so much about that film just annoys me.

In the context of other horror movies that were out in the mid 80s, I applaud TCM2 for being so over the top. I think if you go in wanting more backstory about the maniacal family, you'll be disappointed. But if you go in (especially back in the mid 80s when I first SAW -pun intended- it), it's so much more violent and graphic than the other crap that was out at the time. I think that's why TCM2 holds a special place in my horror pantheon.

TCM2 was certainly different for its time, that's for sure. In fact, methinks a C+ would be more fair for that reason. There was nothing cookie-cutter about it in the least. And yes, the two standout scenes were the opening (although man that car sure could drive itself haha) and Hopper dueling against the tree. The latter was sheer wtf and had me cracking up as well. I would also add the sequence were Leatherface runs his chainsaw up the DJ's legs. Very unsettling.

It felt strange going into it with the script inching towards a delivery of story and then dropping it for basically an augmentation of the first film. There was even some character development with the DJ chick and Dennis Hopper--but it was all for naught. I would've been fine without any story at all, but that kind of awkward momentum threw me off. It also dragged in parts and I kind of lilted off here and there.

But it's certainly not the worst. Leatherface (III) was quite a bore. I did like the one with McConoughay (sic) and Zellweiger (sic?).

Yeah I pretty much gave up on the TCM franchise after 2.

Although I will admit I sort of enjoy the remakes with R. Lee Ermey just because I think he's a hoot in everything he's in.

"Jurassic World" (2015)


The dinosaur park is open for business, and to draw in new crowds InGen has whipped up a brand new, supersized, genetically engineered monster dino they call "Indominus Rex." Needless to say, this will turn out spectacularly bad for everyone involved.
There's really nothing here that you haven't already seen in the previous three "JP" movies but it's still a fast paced ride full of stunts,narrow escapes, and dino chowin' action. A fun popcorn flick.

Ok so I went to Amazon Prime to catch some of those anthology films. Instead, I clicked on the link Because You Watched... (in this case Konga) and got interested in their suggestions. Since I couldn't quite decide where to start, I just went from the beginning.

Queen Kong (1976) - a British film parody of the classic, with a total gender bender reversal. Pretty terrible film through and through. It's not funny in the least (save for the theme song) and basically degenerates into a women's lib film. There is some nice eye candy but otherwise a waste of time.


King Of Kong Isand (1968) - an Italian import with some nonsense about a mad scientist who devises a way to control gorillas. Through in a white Jungle Girl and some mild action and you get an hour and a half of sci fi adventure strangeness.

Unknown Island (1948) - an adventurer and his fiancee pay a ship's captain to take them to an island the adventurer had discovered during World War II. Said island is inhabited by giant creatures and dinoasurs and the adventurer wishes to exploit for personal gain. Needless to say, trouble follows. Not too bad a movie, considering the year of release. And on a side note, the dinosaurs were actually men in suits, pre-dating Godzilla by 7 years.