BobO'Link

I've not seen and of the films in that series and don't have much interest in doing so, in spite of having easy access (I purchased the series for my daughter for Christmas last year - she lives across the street). They look too much like standard romance/drama films with vampirism tacked on to keep them from looking like standard romance/drama films. Maybe I'm not giving them a fair shake - after all, I pretty much blew off the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer until a year or so back when I picked up S1 for a couple of $$ to see if it was any good. I found it much better than I'd given it credit for and picked up the rest of the series. It's possible I'd find the same with the Twilight series but I just can't bring myself to watch the first to find out.

Trevor

I finally watched the sequel, and was surprised to enjoy it.

pacaway

Well, with today's theme, maybe I'll finally take the wrapper off my Blu-ray of Only Lover's Left Alive. Saw this at the theater a couple of times and really liked it. I'm not sure that is a common opinion. At the Calgary International Film Festival a few weeks ago, I saw Jarmusch's new one, Paterson and was bored out of my mind!

JOE29

I've been surprised about how good it's been after the past few years when it's been mediocre at best. But Episode 6 set it back last night. Going off the story track didn't fly with me. I don't know what they were thinking there.

SethDLH

I watched Only Lovers... earlier in the month and really really liked it. Great stuff.

shadokitty

For today's theme movie, I watched Queen Of The Damned. I've always enjoyed that movie, and felt Aaliyah did very well in her role. It was sad that she died so young. I'm also in the home stretch of 100. Only 15 more to go.

clckworang

I'm seriously behind on posting my theme shirt for the day, so I'm going to play catch up right now.

I noticed there were some issues with the last one I uploaded, way back on nanny/babysitter/governess day. Let's try it again

Conspiracy/thriller brought out another favorite shirt of mine. This one from They Live

Embassy theme day was a little trickier. I ended up watching The Video Dead, so I figured one of my favorite zombie shirts would be appropriate. This one goes out to all of you watching post-season baseball

Werewolf day was an easy one

For chronological day, I used Child's Play 3 for inspiration

For the stormy night theme, I went with 28 Days Later

Yesterday was also easy. I went with the film of the day, Jaws

And one last shirt so that I can be fully caught up. Another easy choice for today. I went with the shirt that Trevor called something along the lines of Obama vampire

Sorry for all of the image posts, but since I started doing this, I wanted to try to follow it through to the end, even though I got way behind. I hope some people enjoy them! It's essentially my version of the beer of the day.

Spiderbite

I have that T-shirt and it is one of the most asked about T-shirts I own when I wear out in public. People love that shirt.

DaveyJoe

Frankenstein (1931)

The perfect film to watch on the Dark and Stormy theme night, this was always one of my favorite Universal monster movies. When you think about it, this must have been a pretty grisly movie for the 1930s, and could you consider the monster to be a zombie? I guess he's not technically a re-animated corpse, but a cobbled together monstrosity from various body parts, so maybe not. I did a double take when Frankenstein referred to his assistant as Fritz, I guess Igor doesn't show up until the sequel. Speaking of Fritz, this guy is basically the first bully in film history. As soon as they give the monster life, Fritz starts whipping the guy for no reason. What a douche! It's no wonder the monster freaks out and starts killing people.

So is the monster a complex character, or just a mindless villain? He seems to be more reactionary than blood thirsty. He doesn't really hurt anybody until Fritz starts fucking with him, shoving a torch in his face. I guess Fritz was just eager to have somebody to look down upon, but man, Dr. Frankenstein needs to keep his assistants under control. Handle your shit, Herr Doctor. There's also the famous scene with the little girl, where the monster shows some tenderness.. before killing her. So I think there's some complexity in Karloff's performance, even if I can't help but think of Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood calling him a talentless cocksucker.




The Devil's Wedding Night (1971)

This is a sleazy Italian horror movie, I know that statement is kind of redundant, starring Mark Damon as twin brothers who investigate a Carpathian castle in search of the Ring of Nibulungen. This ring is said to hold great power, but there are legends of vampires in the region. This movie seems to be part Countess Bathory, part Count Dracula, with a zombie servant thrown in for good measure. The film is pretty atmospheric, with lots of great scenes of the brothers wandering through the Gothic castle complete with spiderwebs and thunderclaps.

When the brothers meet Countess Dracula, they see the Ring of Nibelheim on her finger. She uses its power to lure sexy village girls to the castle, so she can bathe in their blood in an ancient skin moisturizing technique. There is plenty of seduction, nudity, and blood flow as the film progresses, but can the brothers stay in control of their souls as they try to defeat the evil Countess and claim the Ring of Nimbletoes? The dubbing is awkward, but if you dig Italian genre flicks from this era, it's pretty entertaining.

davidh777

I've watched a lot of Buffy and most of the Twilight series, and Twilight is no Buffy. No need to watch those movies.

BobO'Link

Thank you! I will continue to avoid the series.

Chad

Gotta love websites like Dinosaur Dracula and I-Mockery during the Halloween season:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/j4wK6KbDU-4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

http://dinosaurdracula.com/blog/anti-halloween-tape/


<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/46407427" width="640" height="427" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe>

Spooky World 1994 (VHS) from Dave Grant on Vimeo.

http://www.i-mockery.com/minimocks/s...orld-1994-vhs/

Dick Laurent

Hit my first major speed bump today. Thank you, Vanishing on 7th Street. It happened at #79; I think that's the longest I've gone without a dud. Really makes my soul cry.

SterlingBen

The Fog, Dead And Buried, The Wickerman

What else in this vein do I need to see?

Undeadcow

My HamiltonBook.com Super Prize Pack showed up today; I have never received a more spectacular box of movies. Blood Sucking Bastards will be perfect for today's theme. Many thanks again to Hamilton Books \ GoldenWheels for the generous contribution and to Chad for the trivia contest \ hosting!!!

DaveyJoe

Dark Water (2002)

Hideo Nakata's follow up to the Ringu films is another moody horror film with an effective narrative and strong emotional core. Yoshimi is going through an ugly divorce and trying to win custody of her five-year-old daughter. She's told that at that age mothers typically have an advantage, but psychological issues in her past could complicate matters. She moves into a dilapidated apartment with her daughter where she begins to have visions of water stains and a little girl in a yellow rain coat. Yoshimi struggles to keep her life together as she juggles the stress of finding work, the divorce, news that her daughter is acting strangely at school, and increasing sightings of flooding water and dripping apparitions.

Featuring dark hallways and near constant rain, this is one gloomy movie. Typical of other J-horror films of the era, this is a slow burn that focuses more on creepy atmosphere than loud noises and jump scares. The driving force of the movie is the touching relationship between Yoshimi and her daughter. They really have great chemistry, and at times I forgot I was watching a horror movie because I was so sucked into their interactions and the story at large. Yoshimi's husband is slimy, and even with Yoshimi's personal flaws, you can tell he doesn't deserve custody. As the spooky visions increase, the final act of the film grows unbearably tense and ends with an amazingly powerful punch to the gut I did not see coming. This is easily the best first-time-viewing I've had this month, and after the movie I sat watching the credits in silence, feeling completely emotionally drained. This movie is going to stick with me for some time.





Jaws (1975)

Jaws is one of the most effective suspense movies that succeeds because of its most famous failure. I wonder if the movie would have had the same staying power if the shark effects worked as intended, because they couldn't get the damn thing to work, they had to keep it hidden and let the audience use their imagination. This was a hidden blessing, as it what makes the film so scary, especially when you consider how shitty the shark looks today in high definition. Of course the film has an unforgettable soundtrack, awesome photography, and well developed characters that keep the audience invested, but it's the mystery around the shark that terrorizes viewers and elevates the film beyond a creature-feature.

Some things that occurred to me while watching this for the umpteenth time: during the hippy beach party at the beginning, the young woman invites a strange dude to go skinny dipping with each her, and they don't even know each other's names, is this what the 70s was like? Little Alex Kitchner, 2nd shark victim, was 12 years old, but his parents look like they're in their 60s. Mrs. Kitchner slaps Chief Brody in the face without getting shot or at least tazed, perhaps the most dated aspect of the film. The anti-semitic shark hunter Quint is oddly likable, even though he's introduced by scratching his finger nails down a chalkboard. The homo-erotic scene where the guys compare scars could never work today with a millennial cast. Instead they'd compare who has the most student loan debt.

Trevor

Finally watched the Fright Night remake today. Wasn't expecting much, but am (sadly) loving each film I see with Anton Yelchin. He was terrific here, the 3D was great, and it was a lot more fun than I anticipated. Still enjoy the first the most, but that might be partially nostalgia.

Chad

Forgot how much I enjoyed Brides of Dracula. One of my top Hammer films, despite Lee's absence.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osbourne replaces the Fredric March version as my new favorite adaptation. Udo-rific. And seriously, what is with Borowczyk and prosthetic penises? Second one after catching The Beast earlier.

Dagon immediately comes to mind.

rbrown498

I really enjoyed Wake Wood; I think that it would fit nicely with those three.

This, the original version of Dark Water, is my favorite Japanese film, and one of my favorite films of any sort. I saw it in Japan when it first hit DVD, and there were no English subtitles on the disc. My Japanese is so bad that my boss's three-year-old daughter would get exasperated talking to me, so I didn't understand what was going on in most of the conversations in the film, but the movie, for the most part, tells its story visually, with a minimum of explanatory dialogue.

I watched it late at night (I started it at somewhere around 2:00 AM) and got extremely uneasy, as I was watching it alone in the front room of the cram school where I taught, with the sliding glass front doors that wouldn't lock situated behind me. Dark Water contains what is, to me, the scariest moment in any movie, ever, so I didn't sleep too well that night. It was glorious.

TheBigDave

The Rocky Horror Picture Show performance that aired last night on FOX is now available on Hulu:

http://www.hulu.com/the-rocky-horror-picture-show/

Also, the live stage performance celebrating the 40th Anniversary is available FREE on Youtube (in HD). It's the full show that was simulcast in UK/Europe theaters (not the cut version from BBC America). I really liked this one.

shadokitty

For today's theme movie, I went with the original Halloween II. At first I thought it was going to be a first time view, but as I watched it, I remembered some of the scenes. I've always loved the original Halloween movies, even III, which may not have Michael in it, but is still a good movie.

exharrison

I was actually really surprised to have liked it as much as I did. When I first saw it, I wanted to dislike it because I loved the original. But I actually really like most of how they changed it. It makes it different enough that it is easy to enjoy both as separate entities.

WillieMLF

I saw both of these a few months back. I couldn't really get into Nina Forever, but I just loved Backcountry.

Trevor

The Final Girls, a fun little romp, is a free rental at Microsoft this weekend. Once you rent it, you have two weeks to view it iirc.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/stor...s/8d6kgx05pstp

EdTheRipper

I agree. I'd heard rumors that that was going to be the route they'd go for the back half of the season. Episode 6 definitely didn't do much for me.

In keeping with the clearing of the DVR project I've kind of started, I'm working on wrapping up season 2 of Scream. Definitely not as good as the first season, IMO.