"Spookies" Reviews/Discussion - 2020 Horror Challenge
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"Spookies" Reviews/Discussion - 2020 Horror Challenge
Spookies (1986) Selected by T-bone22 |
Additional Posters:
Spoiler:
IMDB ENTRY
YOUTUBE
ALYXSTARR LINK
ALYXSTARR LINK - Feature-length documentary Twisted Tale: The Unmaking of Spookies (2019)
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These "October Horror Movie Challenge" threads are for the discussion of the films in the 31 FILM SUBSET list.
The plan is for everyone to watch this film on the October day in the thread title, and to start discussing it the morning of the following day.
You may start discussion early if you want, but the preferred plan is for this to be as much of a group exercise as possible, with all of us viewing it "together" and discussing after.
Of course, you are totally encouraged to participate in these threads even if you haven't watched the movie on the designated day.
Even if you haven't watched it in years, or are not participating in the Horror Challenge, please feel free to chime in.
Spoiler tags aren't always used in here, so if you have yet to see the film BEWARE OF POSSIBLE SPOILERS.
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#2
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
Re: "Spookies" Reviews/Discussion - 2020 Horror Challenge
Yikes. I think I’d rather watch the directors cut of Boardinghouse before watching this again. I’m not sure who I wanted to shove down a mineshaft first. The Danzig guy, the schmuck with the puppet or that dumb kid. And what was the deal with the old timer with the super cute broad. Like a poor man’s Kevin Kline / Phoebe Cates.
theres no way these people would all be going anywhere together.
theres no way these people would all be going anywhere together.
#3
DVD Talk Reviewer & TOAT Winner
Re: "Spookies" Reviews/Discussion - 2020 Horror Challenge
One of the first laserdiscs I bought, $6.88 at Camelot Music! This was actually 2 unfinished movies cut together.
#4
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
Re: "Spookies" Reviews/Discussion - 2020 Horror Challenge
When I looked it up halfway through and saw that, it made much more sense. I think it actually made me appreciate it more ( not that I want to watch it again). I would be interested in seeing cobbled together cuts of the two films separately.
#5
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
Re: "Spookies" Reviews/Discussion - 2020 Horror Challenge
Overall I liked Spookies more than I expected. There is an admirable dedication ot 'spooky' 'Halloween' tropes above all with Spookies and I appreciate their dogged committment to horror elements even when the film is a dumpster fire of bad acting and inconsistencies. I thought the intro with the weird kid who was a ghoul kid or maybe not had a birthday was odd enough to seem interesting in a dumb comedy way, the alien/creature in the stairwell, the spider woman, mini-reaper... and some of the effects were gnarly, like under the surface is a cartoonish interesting horror comedy.
Fart sounding zombies? Hmm... just when you thought you'd seen everything - I think that proves they were not even trying for some of it.
The obvious differences in cut in material is an interesting exercise in editing; it's horrible but hypnotic and funny in a way that must have been intentionally bad. Sometimes I end up assuming bad films are being meta when they're not.
The Vinegar Syndrom disc has a feature length making of documentary, apparently the story behind Spookies is better than the film. Supposedly it was not 2 different movies but that the producer disliked the original cut so made someone else reshoot large amounts of extra material to 'fix it...' but since that makes no sense 2 different films might be more plausible.
Fart sounding zombies? Hmm... just when you thought you'd seen everything - I think that proves they were not even trying for some of it.
The obvious differences in cut in material is an interesting exercise in editing; it's horrible but hypnotic and funny in a way that must have been intentionally bad. Sometimes I end up assuming bad films are being meta when they're not.
The Vinegar Syndrom disc has a feature length making of documentary, apparently the story behind Spookies is better than the film. Supposedly it was not 2 different movies but that the producer disliked the original cut so made someone else reshoot large amounts of extra material to 'fix it...' but since that makes no sense 2 different films might be more plausible.
Last edited by Undeadcow; 10-15-20 at 05:21 PM.
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WillieMLF (10-16-20)
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Re: "Spookies" Reviews/Discussion - 2020 Horror Challenge
Yikes. I think I’d rather watch the directors cut of Boardinghouse before watching this again. I’m not sure who I wanted to shove down a mineshaft first. The Danzig guy, the schmuck with the puppet or that dumb kid. And what was the deal with the old timer with the super cute broad. Like a poor man’s Kevin Kline / Phoebe Cates.
theres no way these people would all be going anywhere together.
theres no way these people would all be going anywhere together.
This is not my flavor of 80's cheese, I guess. Also planning to watch Santa Sangre and Dead Zone today for the 80's theme.
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Toddarino (10-15-20)
#8
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Re: "Spookies" Reviews/Discussion - 2020 Horror Challenge
A crazy fun mash up of bad acting and fun special effects. I was surprised how good the make up was for such a bare bones production. Farting Mud Men? Whats not to like?
6/10
6/10
#9
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Re: "Spookies" Reviews/Discussion - 2020 Horror Challenge
Yikes. I think I’d rather watch the directors cut of Boardinghouse before watching this again. I’m not sure who I wanted to shove down a mineshaft first. The Danzig guy, the schmuck with the puppet or that dumb kid. And what was the deal with the old timer with the super cute broad. Like a poor man’s Kevin Kline / Phoebe Cates.
theres no way these people would all be going anywhere together.
theres no way these people would all be going anywhere together.
This was a real mess to watch. Unfortunately, I didn't have the observation above, so I was just adrift in the silliness of this movie. I have the VS disk, and was really looking forward to finally striking this off the list, for all I've heard through the years. Bill Olsen of Code Red always refused to talk about getting this film before VS released it. He always called it a 'kids movie', with a 'fart monster'. I don't really think of this as a kids movie, but it feels like someone made all these creatures, with effects, then decided to film it and try and make it fit with some narrative later. The VS has a packed 2nd disk, and I'm looking forward to checking this out when things settle down.
#10
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Re: "Spookies" Reviews/Discussion - 2020 Horror Challenge
This is an absolute trainwreck of a movie, I find it fascinating. I wish I could watch the original cut of Tortured Souls, because the reshoots are the worst part of the film for me. The runaway boy, the cat monster, and the old man with his hostage-bride are the parts that drag the movie down. I also hate the ending: hostage-bride, who is so underdeveloped and basically a 3rd act addition to the movie, is running away from monsters in a series of very repetitive scenes. At this point all of the interesting characters are dead and I found it hard to be invested in her fate.
However the creatures are fantastic and really fun to watch. My favorite spookies are the green crawly things and the spider queen.
It's hilarious how the main group of characters all seem to hate each other.
However the creatures are fantastic and really fun to watch. My favorite spookies are the green crawly things and the spider queen.
It's hilarious how the main group of characters all seem to hate each other.
#11
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Re: "Spookies" Reviews/Discussion - 2020 Horror Challenge
This is an absolute trainwreck of a movie, I find it fascinating. I wish I could watch the original cut of Tortured Souls, because the reshoots are the worst part of the film for me. The runaway boy, the cat monster, and the old man with his hostage-bride are the parts that drag the movie down. I also hate the ending: hostage-bride, who is so underdeveloped and basically a 3rd act addition to the movie, is running away from monsters in a series of very repetitive scenes. At this point all of the interesting characters are dead and I found it hard to be invested in her fate.
However the creatures are fantastic and really fun to watch. My favorite spookies are the green crawly things and the spider queen.
It's hilarious how the main group of characters all seem to hate each other.
However the creatures are fantastic and really fun to watch. My favorite spookies are the green crawly things and the spider queen.
It's hilarious how the main group of characters all seem to hate each other.
The character names were really bugging me. You have Duke, who is the silky-topped tough guy, and the puppet is named Mook, or something very similar.
Last edited by WillieMLF; 10-16-20 at 10:27 AM.
#12
Re: "Spookies" Reviews/Discussion - 2020 Horror Challenge
Not a good movie but a fun bad one. The difference in quality of the special effects was really noticeable from the original footage and what they filmed later on.
#14
Re: "Spookies" Reviews/Discussion - 2020 Horror Challenge
Charlotte Alexandra is British but she may have affected her accent for the movie.
So much going on in this movie -- I am looking forward to watching the documentary at some point.
The Gas of the Amontillado
So much going on in this movie -- I am looking forward to watching the documentary at some point.
The Gas of the Amontillado
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DaveyJoe (10-17-20)
#15
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: "Spookies" Reviews/Discussion - 2020 Horror Challenge
The Twisted Tale documentary is a great watch, the VIPCO documentary on the other hand is a bore.
#17
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Re: "Spookies" Reviews/Discussion - 2020 Horror Challenge
Such an odd mixture. At times, it really did feel like a kids movie and then would be much more adult. The special effects were also a mixed bag. Some were actually pretty good, and then other times it was just silly. All in all, I do think it acquitted itself as a good bad movie. I might check out the documentary. It sounds like it had an interesting production history.
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