"Official **Halloween** Movie thread" Topic

Starting it off with a bang! HP Lovecraft on film. So far, have collected:

Reanimator (of course) and the 2 sequals

From Beyond

Dagon (my favorite, and yes, I would do that gal with the tentacles for legs)

Dunwich Horror

Chill (a modern "Cool Air", so they say)

Die, Monster Die! (Colour out of Space)

That AIP pic with the Poe title and Lovecraft story (forgot the name)

Oh, and on Xfinity, a GREAT documentary about Lovecraft, featuring Stuart Gorden, Straub, Bloch, Benicio Del Torro, et al. I'll get the name for y'all, it's great!

Next week, gonna try to have a Zombie fest, starting with NOTLD.

What you got for me?

Please, no PG-13, CGI ghost stories, mostly copied from G rated Korean and Japanese CGI ghost stories. All fed up with any "Conjuring" stuff.

Dark Shadows had a Lovecraft arc at one point.

haunted mansion is a fave. the whole Innsmouth storyline rocks!
(the one with Vincent Price not the Disney one.)

Do you mean "House on Haunted Hill?"

Dagon (my favorite, and yes, I would do that gal with the tentacles for legs)

Don't let DWW hear you – she may be a relative!

"I had to kill him."

"What--he's dead?"

"Not…any more."

I just finished watching Re-Animator, director Stuart Gordon's 1985 adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's 1921 serial, Herbert West: Reanimator. It is one of my favorite "B" horror films.

Dan Cain (portrayed by Bruce Abbott) is a promising student at Miskatonic Medical School. He has the respect of Miskatonic's Dean, Alan Halsey (Robert Samson). He is also secretly sleeping with Halsey's daughter, Megan (Barbara Crampton). He takes on as a roommate another student, Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs), who has recently transferred from a school in Switzerland under mysterious circumstances.

West loses no time in showing himself to be both arrogant and brilliant; alienating his professor, Dr. Hill (David Gale). As Dan gets to know his new roommate, he finds out that West was expelled following the death of his mentor. He also learns that West claims to have developed a reagent which can reverse brain death. The reagent works (after a fashion), but West and Hill come into conflict thanks to West's disregard for proper methodology and Hill's covetous desire to steal both West's reagent and Cain's girlfriend. It doesn't take long for things to get out of hand, culminating in murder (and un-murder).

Director Gordon goes at Lovecraft's tale with gusto, streamlining it considerably and bringing its undercurrent of macabre humor to the forefront. The cast do not disappoint, with the interplay between Combs and Gale being a delight to watch. Lovecraft wasn't noted for writing memorable female roles, but Barbara Crampton earns her Scream Queen crown in this film. The movie also saves its best sick joke for last; the final cut is just about perfect. I recommend this one highly if you're in the mood for a good (R-rated) Halloween cult movie.

Ron

Since Halloween is sort of a campy holiday, I prefer to watch scary movies that are also a little campy, for example:

Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Johnny Depp)
Frankenstein (original)
Bride of Frankenstein
Dracula (original)
Abbott & Costello meet Frankenstein
The Tingler
The Shining

…for example.

Think I am going to watch "Trick r treat" That was really good

Toshach´s list is excellent, I would especially recommend Sleepy Hollow. Who cares if it doesn´t follow the original story, it´s great! And of course, who could not love Boris Karloff???

I also love The Others, with Nicole Kidman (really!). It is an excellent ghost movie with no blood but lots of scary stuff.

Dont forget…
The Abominable Dr. Phibes! and its sequel.

I just watch a "lost footage type" slasher movie called Evidence, It was so much better than I thought it would be. Acting was really good and lots of twists and turns

"The Day" A post apocalyptic horror type was really good too, not really a scary move but well worth watching.

Yep, for Campy at it's best, the Phibes movies, The Tingler, and that Price movie where he plays a Shakeperean actor who comes back from the "grave" to kill critics in classic Shakeperean ways is a fun one.

That Lovecraft documentary is SOOO Awseome!

I lost "Dagon" in the divorce. :( One of my favorite movies.

Oh, and Barbara Crampton! I LOVE her in Re-animator, From Beyond and Castle Freak.

I just finished re-watching Young Frankenstein. I had not seen it in a long while, so it was good to renew the acquaintance. Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle, and Teri Garr head a great ensemble cast, but Marty Feldman steals the show. It is easily my favorite Mel Brooks movie.

Ron

Here are a couple of more recent movies I enjoyed in spite of lackluster reviews:

'Maniac': Elijah Wood plays a sadistic serial killer of young women in this remake of an '80's cult classic.

'All the boys love Mandy Lane': Maybe it's just that Amber Heard's in it, but this whodunit slasher reminds me of the early 'Scream' and 'I know what you did last summer' films.

'All Cheerleaders Die': Darkly funny in a 'Heathers' meets 'Clueless' way, but it's like Lucky McKee took 'Mean Girls,' 'Jennifer's Body' and 'The Craft,' threw them in a blender, and mixed them into a bloody cocktail. Delicious!

'Curse of Chucky': The 'cute' little plastic psycho is back, and he's meaner than ever terrorizing a wheelchair-bound young woman in a large house. You go, Chucky!

The movie guy (visit my blog here for reviews of current movies): link

A marathon of the "Hellraiser" movies is set to be on Encore Suspense this month.

Yep, Old Slow, also they are all free on Xfinity OnDemand. The first one was great! And Clare Higgens is kinda sexy.

Saw one I never heard of: "War Gods of the Deep", a AIP Vincent Price, Poe movie. It had Deep Ones!!!

Also enjoyed "The Oblong Box", a Hammer/AIP joint effort, with price and Christopher Lee

Also the ORIGINAL Corman "Humanoids from the Deep" is GREAT! (the remake is awful)

More Hammer movies tonight. Curse of Frankenstein, Horror of Dracula and a sequal or two if I'm awake.

Tomorrow, its the Creature from The Black Lagoon trio.

I like mine with a good dose of humor(Scary Movie,Young Frankenstein,Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday The 13th,etc.)

I just watched Horror of Dracula (dir. Terence Fisher, 1958). The movie takes some liberties with the characters, and is missing many of the famous scenes (such as the Demeter entering harbor). However, it's a compelling take on the story; Christopher Lee has limited screen time as the Count, but makes the most of it. Peter Cushing opposes him as a resolute van Helsing. The film also stars Melissa Stribling and Michael Gough. It's in Technicolor, so you can see the red blood; I can't imagine what they must have thought of it in 1958.

Ron

And IFC was showing the "Saw" collection last night.