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@sock_monkey I often feel out-of-step with modern Horror film taste, so...You're not alone, lol!
It’s nice to hear it’s not just me!
Posted : September 30, 2026 8:42 pm
My nephew and his girlfriend saw it in the theater and hated it, so my expectations were in the gutter, which might explain why I responded so positively. I wonder if, in upon a revisit in a few years, we both start drifting in each other’s direction, eventually settling at some mean of a 7. Expectations have a huge sway in initial perception after all.
Very possibly. One movie that also offered something different and one to which I went into blind a few years ago, and still think about to this day, is Vivarium. For those in this thread who haven't seen it I'd highly recommend it. I loved it.
Posted : October 1, 2026 1:56 pm
My nephew and his girlfriend saw it in the theater and hated it, so my expectations were in the gutter, which might explain why I responded so positively. I wonder if, in upon a revisit in a few years, we both start drifting in each other’s direction, eventually settling at some mean of a 7. Expectations have a huge sway in initial perception after all.
Very possibly. One movie that also offered something different and one to which I went into blind a few years ago, and still think about to this day, is Vivarium. For those in this thread who haven't seen it I'd highly recommend it. I loved it.
I loved VIVARIUM! I’m glad to see others give it some love because it was barely a blip on the movie-going consciousness, then disappeared. It has surreal, TWILIGHT ZONE vibe, which I really liked.
Posted : October 1, 2026 3:42 pm
Halloween Horror Movie #7:
Don't Look Now (1973): Nicholas Roeg's famous adaptation of the Daphne du Maurier short story of the same name is often cited as one of the best horror movies of all time. Centered on a married couple (Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie) during their time in Venice a year after the accidental drowning of their young daughter, the film slowly allows the horror to seep in through the story's edges: Two older women, one blind and claiming to be psychic, appear to be insinuating themselves into the couple's lives with promises of a connection to the dead and, in the background, dead bodies possibly the victim of a single killer begin to pile up, while the city of Venice itself appears to be crumbling beneath our protagonists' feet. All of this builds to a famous climax that I won't spoil. It's all beautifully made and the actors are fantastic, yet I found myself oddly detached the entire time. In a very real way, it was like watching a horror movie through an arthouse director's perspective (which Roeg clearly is), who may be more interested in the craft than the effect. I appreciated it, but I don't know how much I liked it. This one could be grower for me, but as of right now, I'm grading a little low.
Grade: C+
Posted : October 1, 2026 6:58 pm
Last night was an "Anna Night", named after my son's girlfriend. She comes over for dinner and a movie a few times a week, and last night we watched THE SHINING, which I absolutely hate. The kids enjoyed it, but thought it was too "old-fashioned". For sure, the outrageous 70s clothes and decor were an eyesore, and very distracting. I hate the kid that played Danny, Duvall and Nicholson were woefully miscast, and the film is missing any trace of nuance or character development. I much prefer the King-approved mini-series. Hoping to show her DOCTOR SLEEP next week, which I consider to be a modern masterpiece.
Posted : October 4, 2026 5:16 pm
we watched THE SHINING, which I absolutely hate
I saw it when it was released - before I'd read the story - and didn't think it was too bad. Definitely relied more on jump scares and didn't really allow tension/dread to build. I know that King has expressed his dislike of that adaptation.
After reading the book I saw the movie again and was much more disappointed... there's so much great stuff that Kubrik didn't include which could have made the movie so much better.
I don't remember watching the later mini-series. I'll have to find the time to do that.
Posted : October 4, 2026 7:12 pm
Saw Beware Biuna the other night.
Standard giant snake in the Amazon tale.
The legend / mythos could have used some more development, the effects were OK, and the acting was adequate.
Overall, it’s a fun movie worth a view if you don’t go into it with high expectations.
It doesn’t hold a candle to the original Anaconda.
B
Posted : October 9, 2026 11:24 pm
Saw Beware Biuna the other night.
Standard giant snake in the Amazon tale.
The legend / mythos could have used some more development, the effects were OK, and the acting was adequate.
Overall, it’s a fun movie worth a view if you don’t go into it with high expectations.
It doesn’t hold a candle to the original Anaconda.
B
I was really looking forward to this one...I'm a sucker for giant snakes. But I didn't even know it was released yet! I'll catch it on streaming, I guess.
Posted : October 11, 2026 3:12 pm
Watched Good Boy on Hulu last night after seeing on a recommendation for it on some on-line list. I thought it was okay. The dog (and trainer) did a phenomenal job...the film was from solely the perspective of the dog, and the dog gave a better performance than most people I've seen in recent horror flicks. The way they really didn't show the people's faces, so your emotional investment in the dog's fate was absolute was pretty cool and, for me, unique...I haven't ever seen that in a film. It otherwise didn't break any new ground and there was a fair amount of redundancy in this fairly simple film, but as a dog lover it definitely kept my attention.
Posted : October 12, 2026 4:22 pm
I was on the receiving end of the generosity of "People with too many theater gift cards" these past few days, and saw a couple of new Horror movies.
THE OTHER MOMMY adapts Josh Malerman's novel INCIDENTS AROUND THE HOUSE, which I really loved until the end. The film was...OK, I guess. My friends loved it. To me, it felt incredibly rushed (You get into the meat of the demonic activity before you even really get to know the characters), and the film just rushes along at a breakneck, yet slow-seeming, pace. I'm not a fan of Jessica Chastain, so she never really seemed like a real mother to me, let alone an evil duplicate. As with almost everything I've seen lately, a meh film.
RESIDENT EVIL was another meh experience. I'm a huge fan of Zach Creggers, but this just didn't do anything for me. Like THE OTHER MOMMY, this was an unusually short film that felt incredibly long. I've never really played the games (I had the first, back in the mid 90's, on my PlayStation, and I sucked at it!), so I didn't have much of a frame of reference, aside from the Milla Jovovich films. This is basically a one-man-show, as a courier, transporting what he believes to be a transplant organ, stumbles into a Zombie/shape-shifter apocalypse scenario. There are some good effects and jump scares, but, as with THE OTHER MOMMY, I never felt involved with any of the characters.
Maybe I'm just getting old and picky, or maybe I'm jaded from seeing too MANY Horror films, but I haven't seen anything that has really WOWED me on the big-screen in a long time, especially a Horror film.
Posted : October 14, 2026 4:08 pm
Grad school has been kicking my butt lately, so I haven't had a chance to keep up with my Halloween Movie posts, so I'm going to try now.
Halloween Horror Movie #8:
Ju-On: The Grudge (2002): Considered one of the canonical works of modern J-horror, I'd only been familiar with the Sarah Michelle Gellar US remake. It was one of the first films my wife and I saw in the theater after we started dating and it freaked her the heck out. Even with our love of Asian horror, we never got around to seeing the "original" (for those who don't know, this film is actually a continuation of the series after Ju-On: The Curse 1 and 2). Anyways, both the Japanese and American Grudge movie share the same director and are almost identical in story beats/scares. As such, the horror factor didn't register as well on this, even though if I had seen this one first, I would have loved it.
Also, for whatever reason, this one made a lot more sense than the American remake. I don't know if it was because I was familiar with the story or the flashback at the beginning, but I remember trying harder to sort plot points out in the American version than I did this one. The very end of this one differed (I think) and I liked it a lot more, even if I felt it maybe a little to similar to the 2001 Korean film Pulse. Grade: B+
Halloween Horror Movie #9:
Hell House LLC (2015): This found footage film detailing the tragedy befalling a group of young adults when they decide to transform the abandoned Abaddon Hotel in a Halloween haunted house was a rewatch for me, but new to my wife. The film still works way better than it should, building tension throughout the movie until everything goes a little crazy at the end. I also still like the final ending spot. The acting is a little stiff, which can be a problem for some. Overall, I nice Halloween flick. I know there are three others in the series and I know I've watched two of them. I remember hating one of them and thinking the other was all right. I couldn't say which is which, so venture onward at your own peril. As the original...Grade: B
Halloween Horror Movie #10:
The Call of Cthulhu (2005): A faithful adaptation of the Lovecraft story crafted as a silent, black & white film. Low budget, but rather inspiring considering how much they were able to do with so little money. The film only runs 45 minutes, though probably due to the silent-movie nature, it feels quite a bit longer. I can't say the film is ever scary, but I did enjoy it. Grade: C+
Halloween Horror Movie #11:
Underwater (2020): I paired this with the previous Call of Cthulhu as a double feature, which worked pretty darn well. Where Cthulhu is a little slow and more psychological in nature, Underwater is essentially more of an action/thriller about a group of workers trapped six miles below the ocean surface after a mysterious earthquake destroys their mining operation buildings...and then monsters appear. This tanked when it was released back in January of 2020, but it deserves a little more love than it got. It has a lot of energy, even if it doesn't quite amount to a whole lot in the end. It very much pales in comparison to something like The Descent, which this carries a lot of in its cinematic DNA. Grade: C
Posted : October 16, 2026 2:39 pm
dannyboy121070 reacted
Last post to get me caught up with Halloween horror movie posts, then back to school work.
Halloween Horror Movie #12:
The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971): I've had the Arrow Blu-ray sitting in my To-Watch pile for years now and I decided it was time to finally give it a spin. I know this film is rather well-loved, but the campy mash-up of British humor and horror didn't work for me. Essentially, the film is about the titular Dr. Phibes enacting vengeance on those who failed to save his wife by killing them in ways reminiscent of the Biblical plagues. Some are interesting, others are preposterous. Especially those involving animals because that's just not how locusts work, man. There is a thread with a pair of cops trying to catch Phibes, but its almost as dull as the repeated scenes of Phibes talking to a picture of his dead wife. Virginia North is captivating as Phibes's mute assistant. Her screen presence is striking and her outfits outlandish. An unfortunate bust for me. Grade: D-
Halloween Horror Movie #13:
Annihilation (2018): Alex Garland's very loose adaptation of the Jeff VanderMeer book of the same name follows an academic biologist (played by Natalie Portman) joining group of five female scientists into an area called The Shimmer in an attempt to determine what has caused the change in her military husband, who ventured into The Shimmer a year prior, only to disappear and return unannounced a year later.
Garland's film actually worked better for me the second time around. While the alligator scene still felt a little off to me in regards to pacing, the scene with the bear remained pure nightmare fuel. Yet, even for all the craziness, the film still maintains some of VanderMeer's headiness in its grappling of nature, evolution, and questioning identity through the lens of a fixed perception of our physicality. I liked this one quite a bit, which reminds me I need to get around to finishing VanderMeer's series. Grade: B+
Halloween Horror Movie #14:
Hallow Road (2025): Matthew Rhys and Rosamund Pike star as a married couple who receive a disturbing phone call from their daughter who, after leaving taking off in the dad's car during a fight, is in a car accident. To reveal anything further would ruin the plot. Similar to the Thomas Hardy-led Locke, the film takes place almost entirely in the car with the parents as they drive to where their daughter is located, while talking to her on the phone.
In lesser hands, the film would fall apart. Luckily, director Babik Anvari (Under the Shadow, Wounds) keeps the camera engaged and cast two great actors in Rhys and Pike, who anchor the film through their performances, even as the film dips into stranger territory. The film attempts some ambiguity in the ending, which didn't work for me, but otherwise, I thought this was a neat little film. Grade: B
Halloween Horror Movie #15:
Primate (2025): I gave my wife the choice between something more drama-driven or something more bonkers and she chose bonkers, which is how we wound up watching this animal attack flick. The plot is incredibly simple: An older sister returns home to Hawaii with some friends, only to find them all trapped in their house with a murderous primate when their pet Chimpanzee contracts rabies. What sets the film apart, is its (mostly) adherence to practical effects, including the chimpanzee, and the film's sheer brutality. The film opens with a gnarly death and doesn't really let up, even if one of them felt rather silly. The film also refuses to play by rules and kills whomever it feels like whenever it feels like it, which was refreshing.
However, the script, with its obnoxious horn-dog characters, scant character development, and shoe-horned in backstory that does not matter at all to the plot, feels transported directly from 2001. This both worked for and against the film as I kinda loved the nostalgia felt from it, but it also left the characters rather one-note and the emotional beats of the film at the end rather flimsy. The cast is great, including the amazing Troy Kotsur (who I wanted in the film more; actually, the scenes with him and the two daughters were so good, it kinda hurt the film when this wasn't the focus) and Jessica Alexander, who I liked in a divisive film called Glasshouse. The real downfall for me was that the film ending feeling mean-spirited. I love a good animal attack film, but this one didn't quite sit well. Maybe it was because of the rabies aspect; the chimp wasn't "evil," it was sick, which just made it kinda sad.
Anyways, if brutal animal attack films with scant characterization are your jam, then Primate needs to be on your watch list. Grade: C
Posted : October 16, 2026 3:34 pm
@sock_monkey Ugh! So bummed you didn't like PHIBES! Damn it! (I hated ANNIHILATION, so...different strokes and all that. Sorry I recommended a dud.) For some reason, I was SURE that I read, while it was filming, that PRIMATE was supposed to feature a demonically possessed chimp. The rabies aspect didn't dampen my love for the film, but I still want to see a film about a possessed chimp. Let a guy dream.
Posted : October 16, 2026 4:19 pm
@sock_monkey Ugh! So bummed you didn't like PHIBES! Damn it! (I hated ANNIHILATION, so...different strokes and all that. Sorry I recommended a dud.) For some reason, I was SURE that I read, while it was filming, that PRIMATE was supposed to feature a demonically possessed chimp. The rabies aspect didn't dampen my love for the film, but I still want to see a film about a possessed chimp. Let a guy dream.
Yeah, different strokes. Don't worry about a bad recommendation. Not everyone can like everything. I'm surprised you didn't like Annihilation, though. I got the vibe from recs and whatnot that it might be up your alley.
As for Primate, a demonically possessed chimp would've been better for me in warding off my compassion. There's a silliness in that where you can't take it seriously. But then I'd want an exorcism scene with the chimp, so it would've been a far different--and much kookier--film. And I can absolutely see what there is so much love for Primate. Maybe the reason I had such a problem was because the chimp was their pet. If it had been a wild animal, maybe I would've been able to distance myself a little more. Still, a heck of a brutal film. That first kill dropped my jaw. I was not expecting it.
Posted : October 16, 2026 5:20 pm
I think the fact that it was a beloved pet added to the film, for me. It gave the chimp's action an added weight, making it harder to root against him. It was sad to see him hurting loved ones, and sad to know what was inevitably coming for him in the end. I actually wished the film had been a little longer, so we could have had a bit more at the beginning showing how a normal day between the family and the chimp looked, before things went sideways.
Posted : October 16, 2026 5:29 pm