BobO'Link

I agree 100%. I've just never gotten into MST3K in spite of loving those really bad "B" films they riff. That said, I *do* own 2-3 of the RiffTrax DVDs *just* for these challenges. Got 'em all at BL for $3 or less each.
Growing up there was a local horror host (1 film Friday night, and a double-feature on Saturday night) which is where I saw *lots* of the "B" horror and sci-fi films. I've watched a few Elvira ones and like them fairly well. I, too, really like the idea of combining the 2 items as one as they're arguably the same thing.

BobO'Link

True, but watching a MST3K type item seems to be in almost every checklist/challenge. Maybe a cadre of rotating stuff so items like this are not there every year/every checklist. After all, once you've "broadened your horizons" and found you don't like something it's very difficult to force yourself to do so again because of the need/desire/compulsion/obsession to complete the checklist.

That brings up the question of using a wild-card. Would *any* horror film work as a wild-card on either the MST3K or Horror Host checklist items? If so, that makes it much easier to avoid sub-genres you know you do not like.

Undeadcow

If anyone was wondering [Rec] 2 is an intense and worthwhile followup to the original that takes the film in an interesting direction that expands on the evEnts in a fresh/fun manner. Huge recommendation.

It's been a while since I last saw it but I vote to count Leslie Vernon for today's found footage theme. Although the footage is generally cleaner there is a very clear first person narrator involvement with viewer material being presented after the fact in circumstances other than intended by original recording. Same 4th wall playfulness and narrative structure.

Trevor

Fear has overwhelmed me for the first time this month. I'm too scared to continue watching The Last Exorcism.

I've always been most scared by horror films involving demon possession; refused to watch The Exorcist until just a few years ago. If done in a realistic style at all, all possession films really unnerve me. Well, a found footage exorcism film is more than I can take, at least home alone in the dark.

I'll watch the rest tomorrow at work, when it's sunny, I'm surrounded by friends, and I have multiple movies between it and bedtime. Yes, I'm a wimp tonight. I really want to walk out to the living room and turn the air conditioning up a bit, but the thought of looking down the hallway and seeing that girl standing there waiting for me is too much to bear. I'll just sweat tonight.

I should put in a horror comedy like Shaun of the Dead or Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein, but they are down that hallway as well. I'll try that free torrent of The Tunnel now.

ViewAskewbian

Well, counting or not, I just watched: Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon. LOVED IT! Shit, how did this flick squeak by my radar.

And Trev, you got me really wanting to watch The Last Exorcism.

jmsmath

Just finished The Girl Next Door (2007) and all I can say is I couldn't look away, but I never want to see it again. I was absolutely fascinated by it and completely disgusted at the same time if that makes any sense.

riotinmyskull

this rules.

BobO'Link

I just finished Cloverfield for "Found Footage". I almost gave up on it the first 20-25 minutes - how did anyone sit through that drivel in the theater? It was simply horrible. Do people actually make home videos like that? If so, why would anyone want to watch them? More importantly, why would anyone think it would make a "good" introduction to characters for a feature film, especially at that length? Once they actually got into the meat of the film it was pretty good and then... 10+ minutes of *credits* on a film that only runs 84 minutes?!?!! Take away the open studio banner, fake Defense Dept. warnings, the lame as crap party/intro segment, and the overly long credits and you're left with a fairly decent little ~53 minute made-for-TV length show. The creatures were fairly good but very reminiscent of the Graboids in Tremors crossed with a cave cricket. I'd have like to have seen more of the large creature and how the military dealt with it. Basically, remake it *not* as a "found footage" film but as a true "creature feature" and you might have something. I'd give it a better score if it were a truly feature length film without the awful "setup" segment as it failed in its attempt to make me care about the characters.

Undeadcow

Regarding Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon the producers have organized a grassroots movement to fund a sequel through fan donations and preorder of merchandise. It's an interesting marketing/development ploy. Here's a recent Dread Central article about it.

Giles

same here.

terrycloth

im in the same boat. For awhile i was getting my hands on as much "stf" stuff I could fine..august underground, cannibal, murder set pieces, nekromantik, vomit gore trilogy etc...and stumbled across this movie and while not alot of gore...this movie made me disgusted and angry and well like you said i never wanna watch it again.

it was a wierd experience as i never invest in the characters and feel for em especially in horror, but this one really got to me.

coyoteblue

Just finished my second helping of Tsui Hark's We're Going to Eat You. If it weren't for all the cannibals you could almost mistake it for a straight action flick.

J. Farley

Internet problems have kept me offline for the past two days, but it's certainly nice to come back and read this. I first watched Sauna around 3 AM one cold December morning, and despite having trouble keeping my eyes open before I popped it in, the film really woke me up and kept my attention from beginning to end. Out of all the horror films I've seen over the last few years, it's the one that has festered in my mind the longest.

This film seems to get shit on a lot, at least at some of the boards I've frequented, but my friend (who normally doesn't care for found footage films) and I both loved it. I'm one of the few who thought the ending was a plus instead of a minus as well.

Another found footage film that I'd recommend is Lake Mungo, a slow-burning Australian film that creeped me out much more than I expected. One image in particular, seen late in the film, really got to me. It isn't often that I'm sitting there dreading what might pop up on screen next, though maybe I was simply in the right frame of mind at the time.

SethDLH

As far as The Last Exorcism goes I thought it was an exceptional movie right up to the very end when it became cliched crap. That type of ending isn't always bad but for a movie drenched so heavily in reality it really just killed the whole thing for me.

SethDLH

http://celluloidterror.blogspot.com/...ge-day-13.html day 13!

clckworang

Can a skinless guy hanging out upstairs constitute as supernatural or haunted house? I'm looking for a way to justify having a Hellraiser double feature night Friday.

NoirFan

Would Blood on Satan's Claw count for the Evil Child category? They're teenagers not children, but they sure is bloomin' evil!

ViewAskewbian

Ultimately, I find that these found footage flicks suffer from one thing that really urks me. I call it simply: Just put the fucking camera down, asshole!!! (PTFCDA) Take a film like Grave Encounters where people film themselves going down ladders or Cloverfield going over rafters. It just doesn't make sense to me, when in a life threatening situation where you have to do a lot of running to weigh yourself down with cumbersome camera gear.

Now, the Blair Witch Project gets away with it at first with Heather explaining how she wants to document the events and her obsession in doing so but then hits this PTFCDA when they get to the house at the end. Do you really need to film yourself running up and down steps to find your in peril friends?

Paranormal Activity 2 and Grave Encounters try to skitter around this by having locked down cameras like security cameras. Okay, not a bad idea. However, in Paranormal 2 why do they NEVER turn the cameras off, even when they are home if they installed due to fear of robbery. Do they not go through hundreds of dollars in tape to keep cameras going 24 hours a day. Same for Grave Encounters where supposedly 78 hours of footage was discovered yet we are lead to believe those locked off cameras were never turned off.

Then there is the explanation of needed the light on the camera to see or the night vision. Well, folks, you don't have to record to utilize your light or even night vision. If you're worried about saving battery life STOP RECORDING!!!

In the end, I realize this is needed for the soul purpose of the genre. The camera needs to film it for the footage to be found. Sometimes, though, suspending my disbelief on this isn't easy.

jacob_b

agreed, too much CG crap.

Undeadcow

I started Boardinghouse, I knew it would be bad but it is real bad and I feel compelled to finish. Damn you Code Red DVD; last year Night of the Dribbler sunk my rhythm, now this. I am going to try to psyche myself into some sort of so bad it's good trippy mentality but this is pretty amateurish.

If Hellraiser doesn't count for supernatural then count me out of the challenge. The first should definitely be considered haunted house.

Spiderbite

Trevor...like others, you have convinced me to watch The Last Exorcism sometime this weekend. I saw it pop up on the streaming list and I will definitely check it out now. I'm not religious but for some reason, exorcist movies creep me out as well. The last one I saw, The Exorcism Of Emily Rose, creeped the shit out of me...and I loved it.

Also glad to see I am not the only one that hears noises in the night after a scary movie. I was going to watch The Changeling (1980) tonight but changed my mind since it would be the last film for tonight and I didn't want to hear noises keeping me awake until 2am. That movie scared the piss out of me and the first time I saw it was just a couple of years ago. Not a nostalgia thing at all.

Also nice to see a few people speak ill about Mystery Science Theater 3000. I thought I was the only person that found their comments to be completely and utterly void of humor. They are akin to a 5th string comedian giving a play-by-play of a bad movie...and they think they are hilarious. Ugh. And also nice to see some hate for Cloverfield! This thread as taken an awesome turn!

mhg83

Bride Of Chucky and Seed Of Chucky today. Bride was awesome fun. The first three took itself too seriously. Liked how this one had a sense of humor. Had no idea Katherine Heigl and John Ritter were in this.

Seed on the other hand was dreadful. There were a few funny scenes here and there but majority of the time I was bored by most of it and glad when it was over. I did at Jennifer Tillys line

Also saw From Dusk Till Dawn today. Forgot how great that movie is. One thing i could never figure out about the end with Seth Gekko

Gobear

A dead guy on the run from S&M demons who persuades his ex to procure men for him so he can consume their flesh? Even the Russian judge would give a perfect 10 supernatural points for that.

clckworang

That's great. It's just not at all your traditional haunted house, ghost, things that go BOO! kind of movie. Hellraiser has always sort of just defied typical classification for me. I just got in the sequel on Blu-ray and was thinking how nice it would be to make a night of it.

The squeegee I bought for when it gets really humid outside? Doesn't really help a bit. It was really humid tonight. I think it would have bothered me more, but I was watching Hobo with a Shotgun and thought it added to the feeling of the film.

Watching it made me think a lot more about buying the Maniac Cop Blu-ray. I guess because it was in a similar action horror type of vein. I think I'm going to hold off for another week or so and figure out if I'll even have to time to watch it this month. As each day passes, I realize I have less and less time to watch everything I planned. Granted, some of them are scheduled for certain days because of the themes, but I think I really need to hit the checklist and daily films the next week.

dcrw6

Had a day full of running around so I only got a whopping one movie in today. But at least it was for the daily theme. I had to rely on The Asylum's Paranormal Entity since my wife and I had already watched the other ones. I've got some more running around to do tomorrow so it looks like my numbers are really going to take a hit. I was looking forward to potentially finishing in the top five for the first and probably only time, but what are you gonna do?

And you count another one as liking the ending to The Last Exorcism. I know it gets crapped on a lot, but we really liked it. I think it showed just enough before any sort of terror would be wiped away completely.