BobO'Link

Since I have a open pre-order of Burnt Offerings I watched it last night courtesy of Amazon Prime streaming. It was a first time viewing and I was rather underwhelmed. I must state up front that I've never cared much for Karen Black but *do* like Oliver Reed and was looking forward to the performances by Burgess Meredith, Eileen Heckart, and Bette Davis. Wow... those last three were woefully underused! Still, the cast all turned in good performances in spite of a very cliche' script that feels borrowed from a half dozen other films and has somewhat vague and disjointed goings on. There were several unanswered questions that begged answering to make the film a bit more satisfying. Maybe part of my feeling is due to the way certain scenes/events were telegraphed, maybe it's due to the constant victim aspect of their son, maybe it's the amount of time Karen Black has on the screen, maybe if I'd seen it in 1976 I might have a different opinion as at that time I'd not seen many of the films from which this one seems to borrow ideas. This is a film that, generally, is right up my alley. One of understated, psychological type horrors, and unseen happenings in a slow burn horror house setting. The gauze-over-the-lens photography employed in every other scene annoyed me no end. Maybe I need a second viewing... but not this year.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

I've been working through the '80s rebirth of Twilight Zone and one episode had a bunch of people in an office teleport away by putting on Devo power domes that had been painted black.

I also hit a story that was written by Ray Bradbury. I don't like his stories and I can't see what's great about them. I bought the Ray Bradbury Theater set and couldn't even finish them, even though I generally like that style of show. In the intro, he asks what he should write about and eventually I was saying "a story about Mars" because it felt like half of them were about Mars.

At the end of that Twilight Zone episode, I saw his name as being the writer of that story and then it made perfect sense why I thought the story was awful.

orlmac

If anyone has a Roku and has a burning desire to see the sequel to The Blob (Beware! the Blob) it is on Drive-In Classics. With the commercials and the quality of the film it's like watching an old UHF channel in the 1970's. With actors like Shelley Berman, Larry Hagman, Robert Walker Jr., Dick Van Patten, Richard Stahl, Gerrit Graham and others it is a classic 1970's film. I'm not saying it is very good but I'm a sucker for 70's films and this is very much a 70's film.

Dick Laurent

Ahh, the OHMC equipment curse. Every year. Guaranteed. I had my share of malfunctions a couple days ago, and I hope that's it. And I hate to say, but don't get your hopes up on the lens cleaner. I've never found those to do anything. But I hope it works for you.

Thanks!

Trevor

I agree, and I even enjoyed the recent remake.
Thanks, that sounds great, but vaguely familiar. I remember reading a lot about the Dyatlov Pass Incident recently, probably spurred by so,etching I watched, but I don't think it was this. Adding to my queue.
Congrats! I'm trying my best to not even look at the checklist. Evil thing that is...

Darkgod

It is. I feel like a weight is off now that i "completed" it. Buy I am sure it will come back when my ocd kicks in and I have to 100% it.

Trevor

First failure of the year? Like Dick said, the curse is back.

I guess it's hit me too. My downstairs 3D bluray player asked to do a software update and apparently bricked itself in the middle of it. I haven't really tried much to fix it, but I'm pretty sure it's hosed. So much for getting to all my 3D content this month.

coyoteblue

Blu-Ray - defective by design.

SethDLH

Posted up the reviews for day 5 - a pair of Italian horrors and an indie splatter fest. http://celluloidterror.blogspot.com/...015-day-5.html

terrycloth

So to recap my views from yesterday

Cannibal was for theme night...a movie i never planned on revisiting. this movie is way to beautifully shot for such a screwed up movie

tremors 5 i didnt know there was 4 either way i liked the first two but lost interest by the end of 3. either way really enjoyed this movie and enjoyed the humor in it.

tremors was the first horror movie my sister (forced) let me watch and remember my mom gave me some liquid tylenol to calm me down so i would sleep

Trevor

Browsing Netflix and stumbled upon a 2014 film called The Canal. Decided to go off theme for for awhile and watched it. Best FTV of the Challenge so far for me. A really gritty and disturbing film.

Dick Laurent

I'm kinda surprised Misery isn't listed with any horror sub-genres. I know it's a thriller, but I really was thinking it would qualify. Not trying to campaign for it or anything, just found it odd. Been 20 years since I saw it last. I may be remembering it differently than it actually is.

davidh777

After working through the bulk of the Friday the 13th and Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchises last year, I'm now working on my fourth Final Destination film. Frankly, this series has never appealed to me, but for some odd reason I watched the 2009 film's trailer multiple times but never actually watched the movie. I happened to find the 4 Film Favorites release and am just about down with it. Pretty absurd overall, but decent background watching. Funny that the disc for the second film is actually the Infinifilm edition (does anyone remember infinifilm?)--even if they can't recycle the actual discs to make this double-sided disc release, they can burn the same content onto them.

TheBigDave

Is tomorrow's theme based on any horror novel? Or is it just Lovecraft, Poe, King & Matheson?

SethDLH

It is definitely a horror film and I don't think anybody would argue otherwise.

SethDLH

Infuriatingly bad.

Undeadcow

Dead Snow 2 is an absurd comedy but better than the first (which I hated because too little too late). Still so far Outpost II: Black Sun is my favorite zombie nazi movie (although I do still need to check out Shockwaves). I've heard similary good feedback about The Canal; it's on my watch list.

Trevor

I almost did as well. Decided to watch a Franco film as part of LGBT night. What a mistake. Female Vampire was pretty much softcore porn and I regret watching it. Not sure why I stuck with it, except that I often read that some people think his films are classics or something. Ugh.
Taking a break as I'm almost done with Cold Prey and think I agree.
Thanks! I think there is still a horror or two that I haven't upgraded to BD yet.
Iirc, I really enjoyed the sequel. Watched the original as the Challenge started, so I'll add that channel to my underused Roku.

BobO'Link

That's nice to know as I picked up a copy from Big Lots a few weeks back. I'd been debating as to whether or not to purchase the first film before watching the second. With that comment I'll go ahead with the viewing.

clckworang

It's absolutely a horror movie!

Dimension X

I watched Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead this morning and liked it a lot. Outpost II is on my to-watch list.
You've seen the first and just don't own it, right? Because the second one picks up right where the first one ends, so you should really have seen it before you watch the second.

Chad

I'm flying by the seat of my pants here. I am literally deciding on what I'm gonna watch minutes beforehand, and that is not the best route to go when you're trying to do primarily first time views and complete the daily themes.

Luckily for me, I received a push notification that said We Are Still Here was sitting on my front porch, and it just so happens to meet today's theme.

Any horror novel. Since we'd already done separate themes for each (including 'based on a horror novel'), I just combined them all.

J. Farley

Been singing this one's praises for years. One of my top ten favorite horror films. Winner's other horror effort, Scream for Help, is also well worth seeing, soapy horror done right, and has an equally lovely lead in Rachael Kelly.

I have this one waiting on my Netflix list to watch for the challenge, so that's encouraging to hear.

Most of his work is unmitigated crap, but there are a few gems sprinkled in, namely Venus in Furs and Night of the Skull.

shadokitty

Just did a revisit of Bride of the Gorilla. Raymond Burr plays a good heavy. If anyone has a Roku, it is on Pop Flix Classic.

Dick Laurent

Franco is one of those he's either for you or he isn't. I can say I absolutely love his films. Since I know he is primarily a jazz musician, it's nice to watch that aspect of musical execution done with a camera (and his soundtrack playing). His style just as a director is unique and unquestionably one of a kind. I used to defend him like crazy, but now that I'm on the "40's" side of living, I realize in my current age of wisdom that there's really no point trying to convert a non fan. Either you like him or you don't.

I can say that not only do I love Franco's work, but my wife does as well. What's the chances of two strangers that end up both being a Franco-phile? I'd say probably pretty slim. And I don't think it's something I can really explain, but I believe I'm pretty lucky to have her.