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Post by someoldguy on Dec 22, 2019 9:06:45 GMT -5
Terror on the 40th Floor (1974) What a snooze fest. I think I remember this unimaginative ripoff of The Towering Inferno. If it is the one I remember, I am surprised anyone thought it important enough to preserve and exhibit. The Towering Inferno was packed with big names (and budget). But when your main star power is John Forsythe and the dollars are TV movie grade... My mind wanders to days of yore, when Forsythe did the TV series Bachelor Father. My pre-teen self was in pre-teen lust with teenage Noreen Corcoran. |
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Post by someoldguy on Dec 22, 2019 10:24:32 GMT -5
Prancer
Not horror at all but a most unusual fantasy, although you do not realize the extent of the fantasy until the end. This could have been a really schmaltzy kid's Christmas entry but is elevated into full watchability by grownups by the direction, plot development and above all by the acting. Sam Elliot does great Sam Elliot as the father, Cloris Leachman is really fine as the old lady recluse. But the real star is 8 year old Rebecca Harrell who gives an utterly natural and believable and surprisingly nuanced performance. It is her belief in Prancer despite all else that carries the movie. Call me an old softy but I really like this movie.
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Post by silverbullet63 on Dec 22, 2019 17:03:02 GMT -5
While She Was Out (2008)
Kim Basinger is terrorized by Thugs on Christmas Eve.
Led by Samuel Lapp from Witness.
Dark Was The Night (2014)
Not set during Christmas, but still the middle of Winter.
Both available to watch on Tubi and Amazon Prime.
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Post by someoldguy on Dec 22, 2019 20:58:34 GMT -5
The Blackcoat's Daughter Set in winter but not Christmas season. A very odd movie, told in non-linear segments, about young girls left at an isolated Catholic school during winter break with the nuns. Murder, devil worship, possession, insanity. This is a very moody, atmospheric piece. Not that much gore because this is more about the mental than the physical. Very little is explained and it seems ambiguity for its own sake was a pre-established goal, rather than an outcome of the story. This is also a complaint I have with Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander which tries to co-opt the ambiguity of Hamlet, the story within the story in that movie, but the director's heavy hand is much too obvious. In Hamlet, the ambiguity is in discerning motives, with a rich choice of possibilities for which arguments could be offered. In Fanny and Alexander, what really happened is in question - and there is no basis on which to decide! Um, where was I? Oh yes, the movie. The acting is very good for all three leads, who portray the two girls. Roger Ebert had bad things to say about this movie and for once I agree with some of them. But he appears not to understand that the three actresses are playing only two people. Missing that point blows the whole movie. The bad news. Pacing is at times very slow, with things like long slow zoom-ins or long walks down hallways that do not seem to serve any purpose other than filler. They do not build tension, except the tension of wanting something to happen. Likewise the classroom flashbacks. Some of the non-linear time sequencing works but IMO it is overdone, too often being just confusing rather than purposeful. And as I alluded to earlier, the ambiguity about what is real and what is not just strikes me as too artificial.
DEFINITE SPOILER coming up
Is she really possessed or just crazy and imagining she is? |
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Post by ArcLight on Dec 23, 2019 1:32:43 GMT -5
Roger Ebert had bad things to say about this movie and for once I agree with some of them.
Roger Ebert must've really hated it if he came back from the grave to trash it.* 
Meanwhile, it's on my "I'll watch it one day" lists (tho maybe a bit higher now since I just looked it up saw Kiernan Shipka is in it and I think she's great in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina)
*yeah, I know they still post reviews on his site and such
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Post by someoldguy on Dec 23, 2019 9:05:03 GMT -5
Roger Ebert had bad things to say about this movie and for once I agree with some of them. Roger Ebert must've really hated it if he came back from the grave to trash it.* Meanwhile, it's on my "I'll watch it one day" lists (tho maybe a bit higher now since I just looked it up saw Kiernan Shipka is in it and I think she's great in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) *yeah, I know they still post reviews on his site and such
Whoever is writing it, Ebert's spirit lives on. They have his slant on things so down pat that it might as well be him. Rather than explain all that each time, I just say 'Roger Ebert'. That way I do not have to bother checking who really wrote it. I guess I will stop using that shortcut. Kiernan Shipka is the central character in The Blackcoat's Daughter. |
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Post by someoldguy on Dec 23, 2019 17:49:29 GMT -5
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Post by someoldguy on Dec 23, 2019 18:25:47 GMT -5
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Post by someoldguy on Dec 23, 2019 20:44:10 GMT -5
Batman Returns
DeVito's monstrous and truly evil Penguin is a far cry from the dapper umbrella-toting Burgess Meredith TV version. Burton ignored the Batman of the comics, and most definitely the silly TV series, and brought a truly dark vision to the screen of what a Batman movie could be. Set in winter in the city, one can almost feel the chill seeping off the screen and into your bones in the outdoor shots and especially in the sewer scenes.
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Post by someoldguy on Dec 24, 2019 9:51:42 GMT -5
Christmas Presence Very uneven. There is some really good stuff in here once the movie gets down to business. (Although there is a brief intro that promises good stuff to come.) However the underlying story is not very coherent. Is this a ghost story or a sacrifice to the devil story? If the former, how to explain the ending? If the latter, why all the ghost stuff? All too often, 'house in the woods' movies are populated with the same old college age stereotypes. Here we have a very different mix. All adults, mostly of one LGBTQ variety or another, with the 'straight' couple about as mismatched as one could imagine. And apart from their orientations, they are also somewhat wacky, each in his/her own way. But none of that has much to do with the story, except to make the characters real. It is the newness of the mix and their idiosyncrasies and interactions that carry the first part of the movie before much happens. Acting is rather good. Dialog is ... interesting ... in an entertaining way, with some clever repartee. Who is E L James? There is some small use of FX and it is mostly good and creepy. Except the very fake FX at the end. Which seriously reduces the emotional impact of the ending. Bottom line: A mostly enjoyable watch if you do not expect a whole lot. |
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Post by silverbullet63 on Dec 24, 2019 22:39:08 GMT -5
Inside (2007)
Brutal and disturbing film, courtesy of the mid/ 2000's French Horror Wave.
Tales from the Crypt's And All Through the House
First segment from the 1972 British Horror Anthology.
The 1989 remake, from the HBO series
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Post by someoldguy on Dec 24, 2019 22:53:48 GMT -5
Slay Belles Beautiful women in oddball costumes doing oddball things, kids getting slaughtered, a nasty Krampus, a very strange Santa and likewise Mrs. Claus, lots of very unchistmasy language. A barrel of laughs.  You have to see it to believe it. |
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Post by ArcLight on Dec 24, 2019 23:04:55 GMT -5
I squeezed in that Christmas classic Black Christmas (the 1974 original, of course).
It's not an annual watch, but I like to run it every few years.
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Post by silverbullet63 on Dec 25, 2019 0:48:19 GMT -5
Black Christmas (1974)
MERRY CHRISTMAS Everyone! 🎅
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Post by ArcLight on Dec 25, 2019 1:57:34 GMT -5
At midnight I had to crank up Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 (courtesy of ShoutFactoryTV).
Way back in the ol' Air Force days, whoever else hadn't gone home for Christmas and I would rent however many of those movies were out at the time and marathon them in the dayroom. Good times...
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Le Loup-Garou Qui Rit
