Let's Talk About Horror Fiction and Film

[RJDiogenes]

I'm about halfway through Overwinter. As the Werewolves headed farther and farther North, seeking a cure, I thought that it would be hilarious if they found Santa's Workshop. But it's turning out to be almost as weird. Looks like the sequel is going to be better than the original.

[Starbreaker]

Old Dark House wrote:

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So, my copy of REC 2 arrived today.

I popped it into the DVD player, and... discovered there were no English subtitles.

I could have limped though it if it was in French, but I don't habla espanol at all. So, needless to say, it was a pretty confusing movie--especially towards the end, when they seemed to be randomly switching back and forth between nightvision and normal light.

I will say the visuals were quite good, and made interesting use of video effects and frame-in-frame. The periodic explosions of violence were quite exciting, and the film employed an intriguing non-linear structure. Think of a mash-up of Aliens, The Blair Witch Project, 28 Days Later, Pulp Fiction, and The Exorcist, and you may have an idea of what REC 2 is like.

I am looking forward to the Region 1 DVD release, when I can finally find out exactly what happened. Until then--stay away from the all-region DVD, unless you speak Spanish.

http://www.all4divx.com/download_sub...D%202.subtitle

You can at least sync it up on your computer.

[Spaceman Spiff]

RJDemonicus wrote:

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I'm about halfway through Overwinter. As the Werewolves headed farther and farther North, seeking a cure, I thought that it would be hilarious if they found Santa's Workshop. But it's turning out to be almost as weird. Looks like the sequel is going to be better than the original.

I've noticed that with his vampire series. Each book really ratchets things up.

[RJDiogenes]

Things are really ratcheting now, baby. I forget, have you read this one yet?

[Captain Craig]

I just watched Daybreakers. The vampire movie where Earth is 95% infected by vamps. It came out January 2010 and has Ethan Hawke, Sam Neil and William DeFoe as the leads.

I wanted to see this in the theater but didn't. Turns out it had a modest showing making $50m Worldwide on a $20m budget. I'd be curious to see where a sequel goes(should it happen) as the resolution of the movie has only solved one problem to the obstacle stated in the movie. It's about a B/B- movie. I liked how they reworked a few different facets of vampire lore and it's the first vamp show in awhile to once again reestablish the lore of them without a reflection.

[RJDiogenes]

Well, I finished Overwinter. I liked the first one, but this was much better. It got totally nuts about halfway through, and the ending was quite eventful. The fates of the characters were fairly predictable (with one that surprised me) and there were some loose ends, but I was far from disappointed. Considering the ending, I'm not sure where a sequel could go, but I'd be very interested in reading one.

And I loved the Russian.

Now my four-day Halloween Marathon officially begins. I've started reading Halloween Tree by Bradbury and House Of Wolf Man is top of my DVD list; it'll have to wait till the morning, though, because there's a NatGeo special on tonight that I want to see. My Thriller DVDs came, too, so I'll be dipping into those. And I'm considering watching one of the newer Romero flicks on Pay Per View. But then, the new Zombie TV series starts Sunday night, so I don't know....

[Kirkman1987]

Watched Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein tonight. Great comedy, and gives proper respect to the monsters.

[Deckard]

Well I managed to get hold of a copy of the 1989 TV movie of The Woman in Black and watched it with a friend when we decided to have a Hallowe'en-themed night in.
We both enjoyed it immensely, and pretty much "jumped" at the same time when it got the scene where "she" appears in his bedroom. This is probably one of the better adaptations I've seen and while it changed certain aspects of the novel I thought that overall the changes it made were for the better.
This was a wonderful ghost story and is probably something that I will try to watch around this time each year. Apart from the bedroom scene mentioned above there were plenty of other chilling scenes that were equally effective (hearing the repeating sound of the pony and trap going into the marsh and the accompanying cries was unsettling and the scene in the child's bedroom was subtly unnerving).

I've just recently watched the first part of Tobe Hooper's miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot and I'd actually forgotten just how good it was. I'm looking forward to watching the second part tomorrow.

I've also been trying to track down some of the BBC's ghost stories for Christmas series on DVD but unfortunately they are out of print and the DVD copies that exist are far too expensive for me to afford. I was looking at two in particular (The Signalman by Dickens and Whistle and I'll Come to you by M.R. James) as I had heard good things about both. I suppose I could always buy the books (I'm considering buying the M.R. James ghost stories in time for Christmas so that I have some suitably spooky Winter reading for the long dark nights.)

This might not be relevant since it was a UK broadcast but did anyone else here manage to catch Mark Gatiss' three-part series on the history of horror movies? I just happened across it on Iplayer and thought it was pretty cool. It's obvious that Gatiss (probably better known as one of the League of Gentlemen and a writer/actor for both DW and the BBC's modernization of Sherlock Holmes) is a genuine fan of horror movies and has a real passion for the genre.

I've got the Masters of Cinema release of Nosferatu to watch at some point. I've had the DVD for about three years and still haven't watched it yet (I've been planning to watch it for the last three Hallowe'ens but just never seem to get round to it. Hopefully I'll find time to watch it over the next couple of days.)

[RJDiogenes]

The Invisible Kirkman wrote:

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Watched Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein tonight. Great comedy, and gives proper respect to the monsters.

I was always kind of sorry the A&C movies weren't included in the classic sets.

Deckard wrote:

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This might not be relevant since it was a UK broadcast but did anyone else here manage to catch Mark Gatiss' three-part series on the history of horror movies? I just happened across it on Iplayer and thought it was pretty cool. It's obvious that Gatiss (probably better known as one of the League of Gentlemen and a writer/actor for both DW and the BBC's modernization of Sherlock Holmes) is a genuine fan of horror movies and has a real passion for the genre.

That sounds pretty good. Maybe they'll show it here on History Channel or something.

[RJDiogenes]

Well, I saw House Of The Wolf Man today. It was a lot more amateurish than I expected, and most of the acting was pretty bad and it generally didn't measure up to the standards of the Universals. I still got a kick out of it, though. I'd like to see more movies made like this. The biggest problem with the acting was Dr Reinhardt; everybody else was fairly passable. And a rewrite would have helped the script; the opening sequence in particular was too flat and linear.

I also saw a direct-to-DVD movie called Dark House, starring Jeff Combs. Jeff Combs is always a hoot. And this movie was not bad at all. A nice straightforward horror movie mixing classic and modern elements. Nothing superlative, but no complaints either. Some scenes did border on parody a bit.

Aside from that I'm partway through Halloween Tree by Bradbury and the Four-Color Fear anthology.

[Lonemagpie]

Over the last couple of weeks? I read James Herbert's The Ghosts Of Sleath. Watched Mirrors, the original Nightmare On Elm Street (while carving the pumpkin on Thursday) and the new version of The Wolfman, as well as Mark Gatiss' History of Horror and its associated movies.

Yesterday and today: The Frighteners, some Buffy eps (Halloween, Band Candy, Fear Itself and Hush) and the Psychoville special.

Got White Noise on now, but it isn't grabbing me so I'll probably give up and go to bed....

[Servo]

Been having a Horror marathon all day today, which has so far included...

The Horror of Dracula (1958)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
City of the Dead (1960)
Devil's Playground (2010)
Dead Cert (2010)
Halloween (1978)

...and I'll be finishing the night off with Black Sunday (1960), and Night of the Living Dead (1968).

[RJDiogenes]

I forget everything I watched and read. There was this week's Supernatural, Werewolf Hunter on Sciffy (bad, but Felicia Day is good), silent Call Of Cthulhu, White Zombie, Revolt Of The Zombies and Twice Told Tales. I've also been reading Halloween Tree by Bradbury, Halloween Reader, Curse of the Full Moon (it has a story by Harlan Ellison), Dick Briefer's Frankenstein and Four-Color Fear.

I dozed off before Walking Dead came on last night, so I'll watch that today. I had the foresight to take the day off.

[Too Much Fun]

Sever-O wrote:

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Been having a Horror marathon all day today, which has so far included...

The Horror of Dracula (1958)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
City of the Dead (1960)
Devil's Playground (2010)
Dead Cert (2010)
Halloween (1978)

...and I'll be finishing the night off with Black Sunday (1960), and Night of the Living Dead (1968).

Good Gawd. And I was proud of my stamina for getting through two movies in one day. Some of you people are machines! I watched "Candyman" for the first time and "Halloween" 1978 for the umpteenth time for my Halloween movie marathon. Some of the supernatural stuff in "Candyman" was a bit hokey and his costume was silly and made him hard to take seriously sometimes, but overall I thought it was a solid horror film...an increasing rarity these days. I loved the effects on Tony Todd's voice and the way the story played out with his character constantly framing Virginia Madsen's character. The score was fun too. Virginia reminded me of a young Gillian Anderson.

"Halloween" is still riveting from start to finish and I'll never get tired of it. I think it's destined to be one of my top ten favourites forever. It's a shame that it inspired so many crappy movies, but the many that have been made and the many more than will be made cannot tarnish its legacy. The score and the way that it's shot just rock my world every time. The thrill of the opening sequence, the asylum escape, and the Michael Myers stalking scenes never wears off. The only thing that bothered me this time was I wished Donald Pleasance had more to do. He played such a great character and spent most of the movie waiting off screen, but that's okay, because all that time we're not seeing him, we're with characters who are almost as entertaining to watch.

[Greg Cox]

Had the original HOUSE OF WAX on in the background while I handed out candy last night. I had forgotten how good it was. Some of the shots of Vincent Price stalking his victims through gaslight NYC are really gorgeous.