clckworang

I thought it was the Anchor Bay 30th Anniversary Edition that had the additions.

http://www.dvdcompare.net/comparisons/film.php?fid=1041

Trevor

You're 100% right, with all the various editions out there (9 now?), I get confused.

I was stupid and bought that 30th AE before I knew better. Still waiting to find a better edition on sale or in a used bin someday.

clckworang

You caught me off guard because I watched the Millennium edition this weekend and didn't notice anything added.

I also have the 30th anniversary edition. That was a huge pile of crap.

Dimension X

I watched my old Elite DVD (the one in the funky clear case) which I hadn't watched it in several years. Now I don't remember if I've ever listened to the commentaries, so I guess I have something to look forward to in Nov.

I love the news footage of the posse hunting the zombies, but how exactly did the TV news crew "just get back" at 3 am with daylight footage? And after the electric lines went down, where was all that light in the cellar coming from?

Darth Maher

I would definitely give Part 3 a try before you write off the series. Freddy hadn't become a full blown goof ball yet. In fact Part 3 does a good job of balancing old and new Freddy. When he is being "funny", it's not over the top.

NoirFan

He's all business in New Nightmare, and sports the best makeup job of the series.

clckworang

I agree with both of the above comments. I would at least try watching Part 3 and New Nightmare. Part 4 is when Freddy starts to get increasingly campy, though I thought there were a couple of good moments in 4.

chris_sc77

The only Freddy movies one really needs are Nightmare on Elm street (part 1), ANOES pt. 3, and New Nightmare (my pick for the best film in the entire series).

Numes

Personally, I really liked watching all 7 movies in a row, it was a lot of fun. I had seen 1-6 before, but I had never seen New Nightmare. A Nightmare on Elm Street 1 and 3 are a must. I also liked 2. New Nightmare was ok, but I wasn't terribly impressed and the plot didn't win me over. As for the makeup in New Nightmare, yes it was different, but I wouldn't necessarily say better/best (that's a relative term). I did love Freddy in the bright green hat though.

Trevor

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I actually don't own any Freddy, rented the first one for this list. So based on 3 of them being worthwhile, and my love of extras, I'll go ahead and buy the boxset for $23, add in another Something Weird sale title for free shipping I imagine.

Numes

First off, let's get baselined. I watched the Elite Millenium Edition (the one with the red case.) I have seen this movie once before, and I can certainly appreciate the movie for what it was when it was made, but it is not really a movie I will watch many more times in the future. I'll probably listen to the Romero commentary more times than watching the movie.

I wish I was old enough to have watched this when it came out (or near when it came out) to perhaps appreciate it as a turning point in horror cinema (if not cinema itself.) I doubt there were many leading actors at that time who were black.

I think my favorite part of the movie is the zombie daughter eating the dads arm and then going and killing (stabbing like 15 times) the mom...the scream is great. Good stuff. Apparently she was full after all that arm eating, because mom wasn't touched. I know I get quite full after eating arm.

Darth Maher

Although I am late to the game, I figured I'd finally throw in my two cents on Nosferatu.

Here's what I wrote on my list...

I don't know which version of the movie this was as the DVD I own is from a local horror host show so their segments were intercut with the movie. The movie was using the Dracula names (as somebody mentioned before) and the soundtrack was kind of varied. Some it was kind of jazzy with a beatnik kind of drum and bass line.

Mondo Kane

I'll save compliments for tomorrow since that's the rules, but It's too bad this movie couldn't have been picked to watch on the 10th of October.

Trevor

Kubrick was a genius with the camera. This and Nosferatu are the only movies I've watched so far this challenge that have actually scared me.

Apparently, the original edit was about 30 minutes longer, and seen in theaters in NY during a test release. Shame those scenes aren't available on DVD, unless I'm (hopefully) wrong.

Here are a couple of DVDtalk threads trying to make sense of the ending.

I'll go with, "It's a Kubrick movie, it could be a dozen different things." Not a negative statement btw.

Numes

This movie is a masterpiece. The music and the cinemetography are second to none. The acting is superb. Jack is amazing, as usual. I can't imagine Danny being any more perfect than he was. His subtle change in look from Danny/Tony was brilliant. It's hard to believe a little kid pulled that off so beautifully. Shelly Duvall is perfect in her role as Wendy. I was not a big fan of Scatman Crothers as Dick Hallorann. I thought his scene with Danny in the kitchen was great, but all of his other scenes felt a little forced. This is my favorite Kubrick movie.

This is probably the 4th time I've seen this movie. The first time was very very intense. Now, since I know what's going to happen, it doesn't impact me nearly as much, but there are definitely some spine-tingling moments.

The tagline for this movie is: "A Masterpiece of Modern Horror." I think they got that exactly right.

P.S. I just realized this movie counts as an Academy Award winner for the checklist.

Trevor

Agreed.

But I don't think it won an Oscar.

Numes

Whoa. What the heck happened. I was on the IMDB page looking for Shelley Duvall's name, and I swear under awards it said "Won Oscar."

I must have clicked on a different movie. It wasn't even nominated for an Oscar I will edit my post.

Edit: Ok, I clicked on Stanley Kubrick on IMDB, and he won an Oscar. Whoopsies.

Chad

Wow, this film even impressed Ebert:

Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four stars and wrote, "I walked out somewhat surprised and reinvigorated (if not re-animated) by a movie that had the audience emitting taxi whistles and wild goat cries".


What's the significance of that date? I'm holding off until the 18th in honor of its original release back in '85. That, and certain classics I just prefer watching closer to Halloween.

Mondo Kane

That's the date of West's first human subject in the morgue.

I was also really surprised when I heard that Ebert gave the film a positive review. But then I later found out that Stuart Gordon basically worked right across the street from Ebert on stage plays. Could've been a "Hometown-cooking" review, but the movie still kicks ass nonetheless.

Trevor

How many of you have triple dipped on this title?

Each release has slightly different extras, and I'll admit I've been suckered into them all.

Trevor

Some interesting stuff on the wiki page. Another sequel (or three) in the works!

As much as I love this film, I don't think I've ever watched either of the two sequels. Any thoughts on them?

Dimension X

I watched Bride of Re-Animator and Beyond Re-Animator for the first time the other day. I thought Bride was really good. If you like the first one, I think it's safe to say you'll like Bride. Beyond I thought was just so-so.

The sequels both have 5.9 ratings on IMDb for what it's worth.

Numes

I've only seen the first one. I own Re-Animator and Beyond Re-Animator. I've always wanted to get Bride of Re-Animator, but I was holding out for the OOP Pioneer version that had the additional extra features. However, I just looked on dvdcompare.net and that version is non-anamorphic. Now I don't know what I'm going to do. I am very particular on watching all the sequels of a movie if I haven't seen them before, so I will probably not watch Re-Animator for this challenge since I don't own Bride of Re-Animator. I guess just hope the unrated version gets re-released someday with the commentaries.

Darth Maher

I bought the Millennium Edition when it first came out. Then I won the new Anchor Bay version at Flashback Weekend this summer.

I really liked Bride of Re-Animator, but I don't own it yet, nor do I own the third one. I thought the beginning of Beyond Re-Animator was decent and I liked the premise, but it got silly really fast.

I hope if House of Re-Animator happens, it is more in the same vein as the first two movies.

Trevor

Too busy at work to post this really, but I just wanted to try to get something started about this classic. More tomorrow.