Horror/Supernatural Movies, Shows, and Books

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Olorin wrote: Sun Sep 18, 2022 5:45 am ... Right now I am in the thick of my annual watching of select horror and supernatural themed movies in the run up to Halloween. ..
(So my question has absolutely nothing to do with Star Trek in any of its permutations)....

My dear Olorin... do you, for one minute , think you can get away with a statement like that (above) and not tell us (or at least tell me) what movies you are watching/planning to watch? :O
Good heavens, with a teaser like that we can have all sorts of conversations. :D

"Eternity is an awful long time, especially towards the end."

"What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing.
It also depends on what sort of person you are.” -- CSL

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

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Valkrist wrote: Sun Sep 18, 2022 7:19 pm Oh, oh, oh... I know, I know!!!

He's doing all the classics: Scream and its endless sequels; Saw and its endless sequels; Paranormal Activity and its endless sequels... did I miss anything? AmIrite, AmIrite, AmIrite? :crazy:
You're kidding, right? Yes, of course you are. No way Olorin watches that tripe.

(Please, please, Olorin, don't disappoint me, don't give me cause to apologize for knowing you :( ....)

"Eternity is an awful long time, especially towards the end."

"What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing.
It also depends on what sort of person you are.” -- CSL

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

4
Hey! Whats wrong with Scream and Saw?!?

Scream 1 was a classic for my generation :) You know us ACTUAL "millennials" :P Not the catchall "millennial" that people use for "the youngest generation"
Deimos wrote: Sun Sep 18, 2022 7:31 pm
Valkrist wrote: Sun Sep 18, 2022 7:19 pm Oh, oh, oh... I know, I know!!!

He's doing all the classics: Scream and its endless sequels; Saw and its endless sequels; Paranormal Activity and its endless sequels... did I miss anything? AmIrite, AmIrite, AmIrite? :crazy:
You're kidding, right? Yes, of course you are. No way Olorin watches that tripe.

(Please, please, Olorin, don't disappoint me, don't give me cause to apologize for knowing you :( ....)
The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

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Valkrist wrote: Sun Sep 18, 2022 7:19 pm Oh, oh, oh... I know, I know!!!

He's doing all the classics: Scream and its endless sequels; Saw and its endless sequels; Paranormal Activity and its endless sequels... did I miss anything? AmIrite, AmIrite, AmIrite? :crazy:
Uhg. I hope not, but some people love those McDonalds horror movie franchises. The first Saw was basically a cheap knockoff of of Seven and a few other films, but it's a good psychological horror film.

ST: TMP was the last movie I watched before going into Halloween mode. This year I am going through My David Croneneberg "horror" film collection, in the order they were made. Shivers, Rabid, The Brood, Scanners, and Videodrome, so far. I still have The Dead Zone, The Fly, Dead Ringers, Naked Lunch, Existenz, and Crimes of the Future to go!
KRDS

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

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Nasnandos wrote: Mon Sep 19, 2022 2:40 am ...
ST: TMP was the last movie I watched before going into Halloween mode. This year I am going through My David Croneneberg "horror" film collection, in the order they were made. Shivers, Rabid, The Brood, Scanners, and Videodrome, so far. I still have The Dead Zone, The Fly, Dead Ringers, Naked Lunch, Existenz, and Crimes of the Future to go!
Oh my , I'm Shocked! Shocked to find gambling in this.... Oh, wait, wrong genre...

OK I'm shocked to find nary a mention of the Hammer movies (for fun), and
Rosemary's Baby (not so fun, and the book is scarier),
The Haunting (1963... and book by Shirley Jackson is far scarier),
The Creature from the Black Lagoon (was that a Hammer film?...can't recall),
Night of the Demon (which made it into Martin Scorsese's list of the top 10 scariest movies),
House on Haunted Hill (Vincent Price hamming it a bit, which he not only enjoys doing, but does it well),
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (First one ...1956?),
The Thing from Another Planet (first one, not Carpenter's)
Fright Night (first one with Chris Sarandon and Roddy McDowell)
Bram Stoker's Dracula (the one with Gary Oldman and, w/o checking, I think Coppola directed. It is also the one imo most faithful to the book )
Freaks (1932)
The Invisible Man (1933 w/ Claude Raines*** in the title role)
Oh, and two silent ones:
Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920)
Nosferatu (1922)

*** Science Fiction Double Feature
Michael Rennie was ill
The day the Earth stood still
But he told us where we stand
And Flash Gordon was there
In silver underwear
Claude Rains was The Invisible Man.

Then something went wrong
For Fay Wray and King Kong
They got caught in a celluloid jam.
Then at a deadly pace
It came from outer Space
And this is how the message ran:

Science fiction double feature
Doctor X will build a creature
See androids fighting Brad and Janet
Anne Francis stars in Forbidden Planet
At the late night, double feature, picture show.

I knew Leo G. Carroll
Was over a barrel
When Tarantula took to the hills
And I really got hot
When I saw Janette Scott
Fight a Triffid that spits poison and kills.

Dana Andrews said prunes
Gave him the runes
And passing them used lots of skills
But when worlds collide
Said George Pal to his bride
I'm gonna give you some terrible thrills.

Like a Science fiction double feature
Doctor X will build a creature
See androids fighting Brad and Janet
Anne Francis stars in Forbidden Planet
At the late night, double feature, picture show.

I wanna go,
To the late night, double feature, picture show
By R.K.O.,
To the late night, double feature, picture show
In the back row,
To the late night, double feature, picture show
Last edited by Deimos on Wed Sep 28, 2022 10:03 am, edited 3 times in total.

"Eternity is an awful long time, especially towards the end."

"What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing.
It also depends on what sort of person you are.” -- CSL

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

8
Deimos wrote: Mon Sep 19, 2022 4:36 am
OK I'm shocked to find nary a mention of the Hammer movies (for fun), and
Rosemary's Baby (not so fun, and the book is scarier),
The Haunting (1963... and book by Shirley Jackson is far scarier),
The Creature from the Black Lagoon (was that a Hammer film?...can't recall),
Night of the Demon (which made it into Martin Scorsese's list of the top 10 scariest movies),
House on Haunted Hill (Vincent Price hamming it a bit, which he not only enjoys doing, but does it well),
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (First one ...1956?),
The Thing from Another Planet (first one, not Carpenter's)
Fright Night (first one with Chris Sarandon and Roddy McDowell)
Bram Stoker's Dracula (the one with Gary Oldman and, w/o checking, I think Coppola directed. It is also the one imo most faithful to the book )
I watch all of those too (not a fan of Fright Night though), just not annually. I usually pick a horror category for Halloween, and just watch all of that type of film from my library. This year I am watching all of my 'body horror' type films, starting with Coneneberg's films. The Haunting and House on Haunted Hill were part of my haunted house/ghost story category that I watched last year. That included The Innocents (probably my favorite haunted house movie of all time), The Uninvited, The Others, Legend of Hell House, Crimson Peak, The Orphanage, Devil's Backbone, Night House, Woman in Black, The Changeling, and The Shining, among others.

I think we have gotten away from "pure Star Trek" in this thread :)
KRDS

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

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Nasnandos wrote: Mon Sep 19, 2022 5:55 am ...not a fan of Fright Night though.... That included The Innocents (probably my favorite haunted house movie of all time), The Uninvited, The Others, Legend of Hell House, Crimson Peak, The Orphanage, Devil's Backbone, Night House, Woman in Black, The Changeling, and The Shining, among others.

I think we have gotten away from "pure Star Trek" in this thread :)
The reason I liked Fright Night was that is it showed "ordinary people" (the kid and Roddy McDowell's TV show character) rising to the occasion, especially R-M's character... it took extraordinary courage for a two bit TV actor (in the movie) to confront a real horror, and he initially tried to avoid it.

Yep....maybe one of the mods can move all this to a Media forum titled something like Horror movies.

"Eternity is an awful long time, especially towards the end."

"What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing.
It also depends on what sort of person you are.” -- CSL

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

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Nasnandos wrote: Mon Sep 19, 2022 5:55 am
I think we have gotten away from "pure Star Trek" in this thread :)
All you have to do is say that you'll be watching the TOS episode "Catspaw" as well and all will be forgiven. :laugh:

Deimos, yes, I was indeed kidding, or as the Brits say "taking the piss". I'm pretty sure my good friend Olorin has far better taste in film than that dreck I mentioned.
This Space for Rent

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

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Valkrist wrote: Mon Sep 19, 2022 6:46 am
Nasnandos wrote: Mon Sep 19, 2022 5:55 am
I think we have gotten away from "pure Star Trek" in this thread :)
All you have to do is say that you'll be watching the TOS episode "Catspaw" as well and all will be forgiven. :laugh:

Deimos, yes, I was indeed kidding, or as the Brits say "taking the piss". I'm pretty sure my good friend Olorin has far better taste in film than that dreck I mentioned.
But really, Val, why not move the discussion to its own thread (I guess in the media section) ?
It's a legitimate genre worth discussing.
It will go quasi-dormant after Hallowe'en, but then awaken in October the following year(s) [having heard its master's call :D ]

(Nice nod to TOS with the Catspaw ref :thumbs_up )

"Eternity is an awful long time, especially towards the end."

"What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing.
It also depends on what sort of person you are.” -- CSL

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

12
Valkrist wrote: Mon Sep 19, 2022 6:46 am All you have to do is say that you'll be watching the TOS episode "Catspaw" as well and all will be forgiven. :laugh:
Or Children Shall Lead, Wolf in the Fold with Scotty/Jack the Ripper, or that exploding head episode in the first season of TNG. Or the creepy one where Riker's limbs get amputated.

There are actually quite a few creepy, nightmarish Trek episodes that are perfect for Halloween. Some pretty cheesy/bad ones too.
KRDS

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

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Oh no doubt! I specifically mentioned Catspaw because, if memory serves, it actually aired on Halloween during season 2? Can't be sure as I was recently arrived in the world as of 1968, but I thought I read somewhere they specifically wrote it as a Halloween episode.

Deimos, I'll likely move these later to a dedicated thread unless Olorin beats me to it. :thumbs_up
This Space for Rent

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

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Valkrist wrote: Mon Sep 19, 2022 7:30 am Oh no doubt! I specifically mentioned Catspaw because, if memory serves, it actually aired on Halloween during season 2? Can't be sure as I was recently arrived in the world as of 1968, but I thought I read somewhere they specifically wrote it as a Halloween episode....
Close.... 31 OCT 1967 was a Tuesday, so Catspaw aired the previous Friday.

"Eternity is an awful long time, especially towards the end."

"What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing.
It also depends on what sort of person you are.” -- CSL

Re: Horror/Supernatural Movies, Shows, and Books

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Alright, as suggested, I moved these into a new thread. It was a HUGE pain in the butt to figure out how to do this, so this thread better take on a life (unlife?) of its own!

So, a number of years ago while thinking about the very large number of BDs and DVDs I have and how little most of them get watched, I hit on the idea of watching the horror titles in the run-up to Halloween and the Christmas related ones in the run-up to Christmas. By a few years later, when I noticed I was up to about 65 titles that I'd flagged in my database for my Halloween viewing, I decided that it was too many to watch between September 1 and October 31, and that a fair number of these titles, while worthy of being in my collection, did not merit an annual watch. So each year I print out the list and kind of make up my mind on the fly as to what I'm going to watch. I always start with the "funny horror" movies. So, Ghostbusters comes first (the original, of course). Somewhere in the next week or so, there will be The Witches of Eastwick, Sleepy Hollow, The Fearless Vampire Killers (great Hammer spoof), and finally Ghost. I typically then transition more to non-comedic, yet with funny elements (i.e., Carrie, which I watched just last night). Then it's on to the more series stuff. I won't run through it all, but I'll say a relatively recent addition is The Witch, the Robert Eggers movie that introduced us to Anya Taylor Joy. Toward the end of the two month period, I get to my classics, which include Poltergeist, The Haunting (the old Robert Wise one from the 60s), The Changeling (a 1980 ghost movie with George C Scott based on a true story), The Sixth Sense, The Blair Witch Project, The Shining, Interview with the Vampire, Bram Stoker's Dracula, and finally Halloween on Halloween night. In between will be thrings like Noferatu (the 1979 Herzog/Kinski remake, a much more watchable movie than the original one), the 1977 BBC adaptation of Dracula (which I'd actually give the nod to for most faithful adaptation, despite how much I love the Coppola version), and The Mummy (1932). Oh, on Dia de los Muertos, I watch Pixar's Coco, an absolutely wonderful movie, to round things out with something light, totally heartwarming, and uplifting.

One that I do not watch every year that is absolutely deserving of it is The Exorcist. It's one best watched when there are other people in the house, which is not usually the case for me and not since Covid started. It is generally considered the best horror movie of all time and is all the more unsettling because it is based on a true story. The true event happened in the 1940s and involved a young boy in a Maryland suburb of Washington. During the course of his affliction, the word "Louis" appeared in raised letters on his skin (much as "help" appears on the girl's skin in the movie), and the family took that as a sign to take the boy and stay with relatives in St. Louis. It was while they were there that the exorcisms (it too many) occurred. The final ones were at the Alexian Brothers Hospital, which has long since been demolished, but the house where they stayed still exists. https://www.slu.edu/news/2019/october/s ... orcism.php So anyway, it is a really scary movie. I don't know what actually was the issue with the kid, but the thought that is possible that he was actually possessed by a malign noncorporeal entity is unnerving. Hey, you can't be as into science fiction, fantasy, etc., as we are and not allow for the possibility that some weird things may be real.

I do not, nor have I ever, watched the Saw movies. The basis of the story is truly repugnant to me. I have, on the other handed, watched and enjoyed the Scream movies.. I do not include them in my watching as it's just too much of a challenge to work them in with all my other TV watching, sudden arrivals of Star Trek box sets, etc.

Creature from the Black Lagoon is not a Hammer movie; it was late in the run of what Universal calls its Classic Monsters (most of which are about unwatchable by modern standards).

I have all of the Hammer/Christopher Lee Dracula movies. Lee was undoubtedly the greatest screen Dracula of all time. He was just bloody (pun intended) terrifying in the role. I usually only watch the first one, as they get pretty cheesy pretty quickly.

I am totally not into body horror. Whatever taste for it I may ever have had, faded years ago. That's partly why I have little interest in further Alien sequels, no matter how classic the first two movies were. John Carpenter's The Thing is a classic also, but just so freaking gross I rarely watch it. The 1950s B&W version, while not nearly as faithful to the original book, is one of the best 1950s sci-fi movies and retains scare value to this day. But I don't watch scary sci fi in the run-up to Halloween, only supernatural horror.

And that's more than I ever imagined writing on this topic, so I'll knock it in the head. At least for now. At least until...it rises again.
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

Re: Horror movie/Halloween marathon chat

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Great reply...triggered a number of thoughts and not a few memories.
And I totally forgot about The Exorcist which, according to the author, was written as a story about faith (Blatty is Catholic), not as a horror story.
Will post a longer reply later, but tell us (or moi) why you would watch the Exorcist only, or preferably, with other people in the house?

"Eternity is an awful long time, especially towards the end."

"What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing.
It also depends on what sort of person you are.” -- CSL

Re: Horror/Supernatural Movies, Shows, and Books

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It didn't look like you named it anything. When you split posts off from the original, the new thread automatically takes on the name of the old one. Even editing the first post with the title doesn't fix that, only editing the title on the most recent post moved makes the new title appear on the main page.

So, when I came on earlier and you'd already done the split, all that was visible on the main page were two threads bearing the exact same title of Pure Star Trek discussion thread.

If you wish to retitle, simply edit the title in this last post of mine before you post again yourself.
This Space for Rent

Horror/Supernatural Movies, Shows, and Books

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Well try as I might, I can't seem to get the title to change, so if you can change it to Horror/Supernatural Movies, Shows, and Books, I'd appreciate it. I certainly don't blame you for giving it a new title after finding two identically titled threads, but I picked my title hoping it would give the thread a little more longevity, and so seeing it gone after my struggles is very frustrating.
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

Re: Horror movie/Halloween marathon chat

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Deimos wrote: Mon Sep 19, 2022 12:21 pm ...but tell us (or moi) why you would watch the Exorcist only, or preferably, with other people in the house?
Sorry, I overlooked your question. The answer is....

Because I live alone and it's so f'in' scary that I'd prefer not to watch it alone.

Last time I watched it, a friend was visiting who's a nurse. Seeing the cuts and whatnot on the possessed kid, she said, "why aren't they tending her lesions?" I said, "I imagine they're afraid to get too close to her!"

So since we have this thread now and it includes books, and Deimos mentioned Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House (which I have and will theoretically read some day), what are some of folks' favorite books?
  • I've read both Dracula and Frankenstein, of course, as well as a couple of collections of vampire short fiction.
  • I've read the first, let's count, five, I think, Stephen King novels (through The Dead Zone) and thought most of them were quite good. The Dead Zone left me a bit flat and I quit reading King.
  • I've read pretty much all of Anne Rice's horror/supernatural fiction. The first four vampire novels are quite good, and The Witching Hour is tremendous.
  • There's an author named Laurell K. Hamilton that I like who writes supernatural fiction that is essentially in an alternative reality where vampires, werewolves, etc. have legal status in the United States. In her Anita Blake series, the title character is a necromancer who is also a US Marshall empowered to destroy supernatural creatures if they break the law (OK, they have some rights but due process is not necessarily among them!). In her Merry Gentry series, the title character is a princess of the Sidhe, the elf-like people native to Ireland but who have been given permission to inhabit the old Native American mounds in the St. Louis metro area. (The author is based in St. Louis so she sets her stories there, which is part of why I like them). Unfortunately her stories devolved into erotica more or less, and I've largely lost interest.
But what I like more than any of that are purportedly true ghost stories, especially ones here in the Midwest. The weather is turning sharply cooler tomorrow across most of the US and autumn is upon us (in the northern hemisphere). Grab a mug of hot cider, light your candles, and tell me...do you believe in ghosts?
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

Re: Horror movie/Halloween marathon chat

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Olorin wrote: Wed Sep 21, 2022 11:39 amBut what I like more than any of that are purportedly true ghost stories, especially ones here in the Midwest. The weather is turning sharply cooler tomorrow across most of the US and autumn is upon us (in the northern hemisphere). Grab a mug of hot cider, light your candles, and tell me...do you believe in ghosts?
Not to hijack... But what's autumn... It was 90 plus here today, I'm currently in the pool with a cold beer ;)
The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Re: Horror movie/Halloween marathon chat

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BladeCollector wrote: Wed Sep 21, 2022 12:08 pm
Olorin wrote: Wed Sep 21, 2022 11:39 amBut what I like more than any of that are purportedly true ghost stories, especially ones here in the Midwest. The weather is turning sharply cooler tomorrow across most of the US and autumn is upon us (in the northern hemisphere). Grab a mug of hot cider, light your candles, and tell me...do you believe in ghosts?
Not to hijack... But what's autumn... It was 90 plus here today, I'm currently in the pool with a cold beer ;)
Autumn is something those of us living in less hellish parts of North America experience between summer and winter...and it's glorious....

Now, back to the question at hand....
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

Re: Horror movie/Halloween marathon chat

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Olorin wrote: Wed Sep 21, 2022 11:39 am
So since we have this thread now and it includes books, and Deimos mentioned Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House (which I have and will theoretically read some day), what are some of folks' favorite books?
  • I've read both Dracula and Frankenstein, of course, as well as a couple of collections of vampire short fiction.
  • I've read the first, let's count, five, I think, Stephen King novels (through The Dead Zone) and thought most of them were quite good. The Dead Zone left me a bit flat and I quit reading King.
My favorite horror author is HP Lovecraft, but his writing style is an acquired taste. The Shadow Out of Time, At the Mountains of Madness, and Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories are a few of my favorites, but I like practically everything he has written. A lot of his works are sci-fi horror.

Jackson's Haunting of Hill House is excellent. The story has been borrowed and adapted so many times you will likely already be familiar with it, but it's still worth a read. Turn of the Screw by Henry James is another great horror/Ghost story classic. Peter Straub's book Ghost Story is another great horror/ghost story.

If you want to read a short, classic creepy story for Halloween, check out The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen. I read that as a kid and it still haunts me. I'm sure Lovecraft and Bram Stoker were inspired by it, because both have swiped things from it. Even Stephen King copped that story a few times.

Speaking of King, I really like a lot of his books, but they are hit and miss. Salem's Lot is one of my favorites. Pet Sematary too, although if you have seen either of the terrible movies made from it, the story is probably ruined for you if you tried to read it now. I love his Dark Tower books, but those are not entirely horror. I can't think of many of his later books I would really recommend. King often suffers from writing really good stories, then ruining them with crappy, let down endings. That was the case with the last two I read, Doctor Sleep, and The Outsider. The series HBO made of the Outsider was really good though, and I highly recommend it.
KRDS

Re: Horror/Supernatural Movies, Shows, and Books

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I had forgotten Lovecraft, probably because I consider him on the science fiction side of the divide (though Frankenstein is technically science fiction and yet that didn't stop me from remembering it). In addition to the stories you mentioned, I also found The Thing on the Doorstep to be a hair-raiser, and The Mound and The Dreams in the Witch House were also good. His writing style is indeed an acquired taste, as he intentionally wrote in an affected style that felt antiquated even when he was writing (a hundred years ago!). As I'm sure you know, Guillermo del Toro has circled a movie adaptation of At the Mountains of Madness for years but was never able to move forward because the studio was unwilling to give him the amount of money he said it would take unless he guaranteed a PG-13 rating. That effectively killed it, though if memory serves, I read something recently to suggest it might not be totally dead.
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

Re: Horror/Supernatural Movies, Shows, and Books

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Olorin wrote: Thu Sep 22, 2022 11:18 am I read something recently to suggest it might not be totally dead.
He has a deal with Netflix, and that's one of the films he said he wants to make with them. He wants to re-write his old script though. It was written as more of a big blockbuster type of film, but he wants to make it smaller and weirder. That was about a year ago though, so I'm not sure the status now.

Speaking of Del Toro, I just watched his last film, Nightmare Alley. Pretty good, Not exactly a horror film, but has a nice and creepy story centered around a circus performers. Cate Blanchet is really good in it.
KRDS

Re: Horror/Supernatural Movies, Shows, and Books

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I saw Nightmare Alley back in the winter on HBO Max. It was like a lot of GdT movies I've seen: lovingly and expertly crafted, yet leaving me at a loss as how to feel about it. My indecision on this one is how to feel about a character who is pretty loathsome, yet whom you to tend to root for as the lead of the story, when he comes to a well-deserved comeuppance? I realized where the story was going about half an hour before it got to the end, and I was like, oh, no, no, no! I guess I will just have to try to remember how good Cate Blanchett was, the great costumes and sets, etc., and forget the conclusion....
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

Re: Horror/Supernatural Movies, Shows, and Books

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Nasnandos wrote: Tue Sep 27, 2022 2:11 am I knew it was going to be one of those sleazy carnival movies with grifters and con men as the main characters up front. I guess I watched it with a different frame of mind knowing that the main characters were not going to have any particularly good or redeemable qualities. It's one of those you-get-what-you-deserve tales.
A new subgenre: horror noir ;)

"Eternity is an awful long time, especially towards the end."

"What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing.
It also depends on what sort of person you are.” -- CSL

Re: Horror/Supernatural Movies, Shows, and Books

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Nasnandos wrote: Tue Sep 27, 2022 11:13 am
Deimos wrote: Tue Sep 27, 2022 10:18 am A new subgenre: horror noir ;)
Or "Carny Horror Noir", but that's kind of already a thing with Freaks, Carnival of Souls, Cabinet of Dr Caligari, and the original Nightmare Alley film from 1947.
Have you seen the original? If so, what did you think of it?

I have Carnival of Souls on DVD.... picked it up maybe 10 years ago.
I have yet to watch it. Maybe the end of October is the perfect time to finally watch it. :D
Last edited by Deimos on Wed Sep 28, 2022 4:22 am, edited 1 time in total.

"Eternity is an awful long time, especially towards the end."

"What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing.
It also depends on what sort of person you are.” -- CSL

Re: Horror/Supernatural Movies, Shows, and Books

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Yes. The original is really good. I like it a little better than del Toro's version, but that's probably because it's the one I saw first. The B&W cinematography is great for the time. Del Toro wanted to do his version in black and white too, but I guess the studio was not going for that. He made a black and white version anyway, but it's not on the Blu Ray.

The original is basically the exact same story as the new one, as they are both adapted from the same book, but the original's ending is slightly different than del Toro's. The new ending is more just for what Stan deserves.

I kind of wish del Toro had added a bit of supernatural element to his version, just to make it different and more his own.
KRDS

Re: Horror/Supernatural Movies, Shows, and Books

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Nasnandos wrote: Wed Sep 28, 2022 3:37 am Yes. The original is really good. I like it a little better than del Toro's version, but that's probably because it's the one I saw first. The B&W cinematography is great for the time. Del Toro wanted to do his version in black and white too, but I guess the studio was not going for that. He made a black and white version anyway, but it's not on the Blu Ray.

The original is basically the exact same story as the new one, as they are both adapted from the same book, but the original's ending is slightly different than del Toro's. The new ending is more just for what Stan deserves.

I kind of wish del Toro had added a bit of supernatural element to his version, just to make it different and more his own.
Thank you for the "review" :D ...I'm going to check it out. Then maybe I'll watch del Toros version.

"Eternity is an awful long time, especially towards the end."

"What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing.
It also depends on what sort of person you are.” -- CSL

Re: Horror/Supernatural Movies, Shows, and Books

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@ Kit (but anyone else can weigh in)...
You mentioned that one of your Halloween Movie marathons was watching ones that involved a Haunted House.
(And bravo for seconding my opinion of The Haunting, 1963)
You listed House on Haunted Hill with Vincent Price.

Did you ever get a slight (or maybe not so slight) impression that VP was hamming it up a bit?
Because I did with my first and only viewing.
And don't get me wrong... I dearly love Vincent Price (he is from St Louis, and so am I :D).

But he liked to ham it up depending on the movie (or TV show...remember his part in Batman?) and was very good at it.
He knew just how far to take it without letting it become slapstick, which is why I said it was a faint impression in HoHH.
Class act (and actor) no matter what parts he played.

"Eternity is an awful long time, especially towards the end."

"What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing.
It also depends on what sort of person you are.” -- CSL

Re: Horror/Supernatural Movies, Shows, and Books

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Olorin wrote: Wed Sep 28, 2022 12:12 pm I feel like I may have seen the Price flick as a kid but not sure. Deimos, you should track down the Vincent Price collections that were released a number of years ago. I have the first one: https://www.shoutfactory.com/product/th ... ct_id=7435

I have seen Vincent Price's star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame on Delmar in U-City.
I never knew St Louis had a Walk of Fame. Is this something relatively new? (I moved away in 1982).
Found it on a map...it's due north less than a mile of the [main] Wash U campus

The collection: What did you think of the Witchfinder General?

"Eternity is an awful long time, especially towards the end."

"What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing.
It also depends on what sort of person you are.” -- CSL

Re: Horror/Supernatural Movies, Shows, and Books

47
Wikipedia says it was established in 1989, so not recent, but more recent than when you last lived in St. Louis. It was established by Joe Edwards, who runs the Blueberry Hill restaurant and music venue on Delmar. He’s a real mover and shaker locally, being almost single handedly responsible for the U-City Loop renaissance and spreading it eastward into St. Louis with a hotel and music venue. Almost everything he touches turns to gold. I say almost, because apparently the Delmar streetcar is a flop.
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

Re: Horror/Supernatural Movies, Shows, and Books

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Just dipping my toes in here to quickly say that though I do enjoy a good horror flick, it's always been at best a 4th place genre for me, behind fantasy, sci-fi, and action.

As such, I fear I can't contribute much to any high-brow discussion since my preferences are probably too mainstream or downright silly for you guys. In general, I do love a lot of the stuff that Carpenter, Barker, and King put out (in filmic form). Usual Halloween mainstays at my house:

The Shining
The Thing
The Fog
The Serpent and the Rainbow
Hellraiser (1 and 2)
The Ring
The Omen Trilogy
Prince of Darkness
Bram Stoker's Dracula
An American Werewolf in London
The Evil Dead
This Space for Rent
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