TODAY I WATCHED... (Movies, TV) 2017

We Are X

Cabin Fever (2002)

A group of 5 college students rent an isolated cabin and soon start falling victim to a flesh eating virus. I don't know how I've missed this one over the years but always heard good things about it. I have to say I was a bit disappointed in it. It wasn't bad, I guess I had too high of expectations. Also what brought it down for me ,

Spoiler:

"Never Hike Alone" (2017)


While video-blogging his hike through the Catskill Mountains, a backpacker stumbles across the ruins of Camp Crystal Lake -- and soon learns that its most famous resident isn't an urban legend after all.
This Friday the 13th "fan film" (available for free on YouTube) is a way-cool salute to the classic horror film series and a pretty damn decent suspense thriller in its own right. A lot of "fan films" are cheap crap but this one obviously had some serious backing and a skilled crew, and is actually worth watching. Well done, folks.

Fat Freddy wrote:

"Gerald's Game" (2017)


Looking to re-ignite the spark in their love life, a married couple heads off to a secluded beach house for some private sexy time, which includes handcuffing Wifey to the bed. Unfortunately Hubby then drops dead of a sudden heart attack, leaving her trapped and alone. Soon she learns that in order to escape her current situation, she'll have to overcome some demons from her past as well.
A tight, disturbing, well done psychological thriller based on Stephen King's novel. Kudos to Carla Gugino's performance as the trapped wife, since she plays a good chunk of this movie as a one-woman show.

Watched this Saturday night with the wife. Not usually my genre of choice, but I was looking for something creepy to get me in the Halloween mood. This did the trick just fine. Not at all familiar with the book this is based on, so I couldn't tell you how it compares, but as a stand alone movie, it was very good.

Spoiler:

Bob's Burgers
The Simpson (Treehouse of Horror; man these things used to be fantastic, this one seemed rather mundane to me)
Ghosted
The Walking Dead

007 wrote:

The Simpson (Treehouse of Horror; man these things used to be fantastic, this one seemed rather mundane to me)

Yea, they really took a nosedive. Even when the regular shows started to decline in quality, I still would look forward to the Halloween episodes. But they've gone down the crapper too. The 'Coraline' one from last night looked promising. The character design and stop motion animation was really neat, but the story just went nowhere.

The "Exorcist" parody in last night's "Treehouse" was pretty good, and I liked the weird animation style in the "Coraline" parody (I might have found it funnier if I'd ever seen "Coraline," I guess) but yeah, overall it was kinda blah.

I did like the opening sequence w/the Simpson family as treats in the Halloween candy bowl.

You really should check out 'Coraline', especially now in the Halloween season. It's billed as a kid's movie, but it's creepy as hell.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

You really should check out 'Coraline', especially now in the Halloween season. It's billed as a kid's movie, but it's creepy as hell.

It looks cool, but now that my youngest son has finally started aging out of the "all cartoons all the time" phase of his TV/movie viewing life, I have watched more than enough animation to last me a while, I need a break!

New episodes of Gotham and The Orville.

So Gotham has totally jumped the shark.  So far this season has really sucked IMO.

The Orville on the other hand has really grown on me; I thought tonight's episode was brilliant.  An Earth-like society where everyone walks around with Like/Dislike buttons on their clothes and your very life can depend on your number of dislikes.  Brilliant!

"The Redwood Massacre" (2015)

Campers encounter a hulking, masked axe murderer at an abandoned house in the British countryside. Yup, that's the whole plot. Cheap, gory slasher nonsense that we've seen a thousand times before, except this time everybody's got English accents. 
AVOID.

Fat Freddy wrote:

"The Babysitter" (2017)

12 year old Cole doesn't think his parents need to hire a babysitter for him... till his leggy, blonde teenage dream girl from down the street shows up at the door. Unfortunately, in addition to her awesome babysitting skills "Bee" also happens to be a member of a Satanic cult who needs Cole's "blood of an innocent" to complete a ritual. Hilarity ensues.
This bizarre blend of horror comedy and coming of age story (yes, seriously) has a lot of laughs, but it doesn't skimp on the gore, either. A pleasant surprise.

I'll probably end up watching this, if only to ogle Bella Thorne.

Supernatural

Friday the 13th roundup thus far:

Jason X: B+
Part VI: B
Freddy v Jason: B
Jason Take Manhattan: B-
Jason Goes to Hell: C+
Part III: C+
The original: C+
Part 2: C
Part IV: C-
Part VII: D- (would have gotten an F if it weren't for Kane Hodder)

Still need to see V and the remake, but I am so damn burnt out at this point haha.

The first 4 episodes of the second season of Stanger Things.

007 wrote:

Cabin Fever (2002)

A group of 5 college students rent an isolated cabin and soon start falling victim to a flesh eating virus. I don't know how I've missed this one over the years but always heard good things about it. I have to say I was a bit disappointed in it. It wasn't bad, I guess I had too high of expectations. Also what brought it down for me ,

Spoiler:

I hate Cabin Fever.  Eli Roth is a hack.  He thinks overt depictions of violence and gore makes a good horror movie.  You won't find a bigger gorehound on the board than I am but Roth's movies just suck because they pretend to be more than just gore for gore's sake.  Cabin Fever, Hostel, Green Inferno...all make pretenses to be more than they are.  If all you're going to do is make a gory movie than dammit make a gory movie; don't dress it up with weak attempts at characterization and thin plot.

Since it's the last weekend before Halloween, we'd usually OD on horror movies around my house.

Unfortunately, we had to have our old dog put to sleep yesterday ... so to make my 10 year old son feel better I watched this with him while we both had a good cry.

"Hotel For Dogs" (2009)

A pair of street-savvy orphans and dog lovers (one of whom is played by a young Emma Roberts) set up shop in an abandoned luxury hotel and turn it into a secret hangout for stray pooches and the kids who love them. Naturally, they can't keep it a secret forever and soon they have to protect their pups from Animal Control and the police.
Charming, silly kid stuff with lots of cute canine hi-jinks, just what the doctor ordered after a rough day.

Doctor Who - The Armageddon Factor

Back in the Halloween groove...

"Trick 'r' Treat" (2009)


Michael "Krampus" Doughterty's way-cool "Creepshow" style anthology of scary tales set in the same small town on Oct. 31st is tons of spooky fun and has become a Halloween season tradition for me.

Finished up Stranger Things season 2

The Walking Dead

The Conjuring(2013)-Based on a true story, a family moves into a new home and soon discovers that an evil presence lives there as well and intends to destroy them. A husband and wife demonologist team is called in to try to cleanse the house of the spirit and save the family. There is a couple of decent little jump scares in the film and while this wasn't the scariest or most original film I've ever seen, it was at least a well made and a solid effort. I give it 2.5 out of 5 chainsaws.

Halloween II (1981)

The first sequel to one of the best (and first) slasher films. Literally taking place mere moment after the original, this story follows up Michael Myers hunt for the survivor of the first film (Jamie Lee Curtis) and also reveals exactly why he's so interested in her and will take anyone out in his way in completing the task. A satisfying albeit not spectacular film.