Horror Films

31 DAYS of HALLOWEEN - DAY 27

Tuesday, I went with little-known horror/western gem Dead Birds (Turner, 2004), written by Simon Barrett who also wrote home invasion thriller You’re Next (Wingarde, 2011) and starring Henry Thomas. Yes, Henry Thomas! You know: “Elll-iiii-ootttt” from E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (Spielberg, 1982). Grisly and atmospheric tale of a group of former Confederate soldiers who desert the army, rob a bank and hole up in an abandoned plantation house, only to find themselves surrounded by supernatural evil.

31 DAYS of HALLOWEEN - DAY 28

“We’ve only just beguuuuuuuun…”

Yesterday’s offering was 1408 (Håfström, 2007), a nerve-ripping ghost story almost exclusively starring John Cusack (with a memorable supporting turn by Samuel L. Jackson) which expands upon the short story of the same name by Stephen King and tells of a cynical haunted house/ghost story debunker (Cusack) who finally falls upon a haunted hotel room which gives him everything he ever wanted. Which of course turns out to be everything he didn’t want. “It’s an evil f*cking room”, opines hotel manager Gerald Olin (Jackson), and he’s right.

31 DAYS of HALLOWEEN - DAY 29

Tonight, it’s a reprieve for a movie I abandoned earlier in the challenge: Insidious: Chapter 3 (Whannell, 2015). I was going to watch The Strangers (Bertino, 2008) but remembered late on that it didn’t fit my “Supernatural Shenanigans Only” criteria for a Halloween challenge and, well, Insidious 3 is still sitting here on the pc. So, let’s see.

31 DAYS of HALLOWEEN - DAY 30

Yesterday, we went essential.

31 DAYS of HALLOWEEN - DAY 31

We’ve relatives coming over this evening and we need a movie which works slightly better as a colourful, up-tempo piece of background ambience. Something you can glance at, dip into for five minutes, dip out again. John Carpenter’s slasher classic remains the guv’nor of October but tonight’s kerfuffle will be better served by Halloween’s able deputy Trick 'r Treat (Dougherty, 2007), the fun and frantic four-part portmanteau pic which imo captures the spirit of the evening perfectly, retaining just enough of a rusty, jagged edge within its wide-eyed “Ghost Train” funfair aesthetic. A Dog Soldier in a Scooby-Doo disguise, and for my money a bona fide seasonal classic.

Happy Halloween, everyone.

WOLFCREEK (2005, Greg McLean)

Made on a shoestring, this surprisingly successful horror movie was one of the spear-heads of a series of horror movies, made after the turn of the Millennium and set in the Australian outback. In Wolf Creek three backpackers are held captive, tortured and (after two of them manages to escape) hunted by a serial killer.

Wolf Creek is a slow starter; the first 45 minutes are mainly used to introduce the characters and make us impatient, but the second 45 minutes are a true ride through torture hell. Wolf Creek benefits enormously from a terrific performance by John Jarrett as the killer (Jarrett would return in a sequel and a 6-part mini-series yet to be released). The film is not as graphic a some other recent examples of torture porn (e.g. Hostel), but still might be experienced as repulsive and objectionable. It’s unrelentlessly downbeat, offering no relief or redemption at all. Roger Ebert wrote that he wanted to walk out of the theatre and keep on walking.

As a study in sadistic madnes it is quite effective, but I had some trouble with the claim that it was “based on true events”. Director McLean later confessed that he only read about some ‘disappearances’ in the Outback after the completion of his movie. Attentive viewers might have guessed this already: the killer picks up his victims at an isolated tourist attraction, and one particular scene in the movie shows us that he has been doing this for years. No serial killer would do such a thing, and if he did, he would soon be caught. People usually tell others about their holiday plans and when backpackers keep disappearing after visiting a famous tourist attraction, the police would no doubt add two and two together.

In short: great shocker, not too much brains. And not - I repeat: not for the squeamish.

A fantastic horror picture, imho. As you say, not quite as visually gory as an Eli Roth picture but it is plenty gory and the atmosphere of dread is as thick as fog, making Wolf Creek all the more horrific for it.

I received the ALIEN Quadrology Box as a Christmas present, so i’m watching and experiencing the entire franchise all over again:

Watched a neat little horror short not so long ago; that short, entitled Vicious (Park, 2015), has just been released to YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WOYI7lVbXQ

My review of the movie HERE.

Violent Shit 3…what a movie :grinning:

How did you like it? Was it scary? Old-fashioned and outdated? Silly?

Keep in mind that at this time in 1963, so their wasn’t much in the “supernatural” on film. You had suspense, thrillers, some mystery/crime, and of course you had Hitchcock, but their wasn’t anything like “The Haunting” before “The Haunting.” Names like Romero, Fulci, Gordon Lewis, and Carpenter, ( The four filmakers who truly, I think changed the “supernatural” genre forever, ) did not exsist, or were just getting started with their film careers. So I think its safe to say that “The Haunting” is well worth viewing and I also think a lot of folks who enjoy modern supernatural films ( The Conjuring, Fog, Dead Silence) and any other “supernatrual” film should check “The Haunting” out. I think “The Haunting” has been ripped off countless times and does NOT get the credit it deserves.

1 Like

Man, is it October again already? Are we doing the marathon this year or what? Caress where art thou?

I wasn’t going to do a 31-Day Halloween marathon this year, I’ve done it for the last couple of years and, this year, I fancied returning to maybe just a five or six-film slog spread over the 30th/31st, or maybe an all-nighter over the nearest weekend to Halloween (which would be Sat 29 this year, I believe).

You can still go for it though! Reading about your exploits might inspire me to join in. I lifted the idea from someone else on here (Phil H? You? John Welles? I can’t remember now) in the first place.

I’m going to set myself a mini Kaiju-thon weekender in a couple of weeks too, which I might write up for another site. Cloverfield, Pacific Rim, a bunch of ***Gojira***s, some ***Gamera***s, you know.

I’m just kidding, I cannot really live up to the challenge, it is impossible for me to watch a movie per day, especially this time of year. But, as last couple of years, I’ll use this month as an excuse to do a horror cleanup of my watchlist. Also, this Stranger Things thing has inspired me to revisit some old (80s) favorites from childhood (and go check few that I’ve missed). And instead of watching King’s It, I’ll finally read the book.