Topic: Eric's 2009 "Best Effort" October Horror Marathon.

[snowcat]

I love Misery, I read the book first and loved it, although there are some slight changes between the two, I think they are both great. I will have to get the film on DVD I have the VHS.

[Kathy]

I love Misery, I read the book first and loved it, although there are some slight changes between the two, I think they are both great. I will have to get the film on DVD I have the VHS.

The Shining is another terrific King book - I liked it as much as the movie.

[Touti]

The Silence of the Lambs




Overview: One of the most shocking, compelling and diabolical crime thrillers ever made is even more delectable on Blu-ray! Including in-depth documentaries about the film's journey from page to screen, exclusive new interviews with Jodie Foster, Sir Anthony Hopkins and Scott Glenn in the feature-length Breaking the Silence, generous servings of deleted scenes, still photos and outtakes – and much more, this powerful, five-time Academy Award® Winner* will chill you to the bone. When FBI Agent Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) is assigned a case involving a monstrous serial killer, she seeks counsel from an imprisoned cannibalistic psychiatrist – Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), whose fascination with the young woman is as great as his hunger for murder. As their relationship develops, Starling must confront her own demons – and an evil so powerful that she may not have the courage or strength to stop it!

*1991: Best Picture, Directing, Actor (Anthony Hopkins), Actress (Jodie Foster), Adapted Screenplay

My Thoughts:  What could I possibly write about this movie that hasn't already been said many times and in a much better way.  Although I've seen it many times and know what's gonna happen I can still feel the tension when I watch it. 

The Blu-Ray version is definitely worth buying.

A perfect score

[Touti]

I'm checking the bonus materials on this DVD, there's some nice stuff.  In the "Documentaries" section there's one called "Breaking the silence".  I thought it was gonna be a featurette or something like that but it's actually a full replay of the movie with comments from the actors as it plays.  The nice thing is that instead of being audio only it uses picture in picture and you can see the person while he/she comments the scene.

[Touti]

Shadow of the Wraith


Overview:Two brothers are plunged into the realm of psychic horror, one tormented by a stalker, and the other involved with a girl whose home is the site of eerie occurances.

Asaji is in love with Ryoji. Ryoji senses his presence wherever he goes, but he figures it's just a crush and that it won't go much further, but he couldn't be more wrong as Asaji begins stalking Mariko, Ryoji's girlfriend. When a female friend of Ryoji is killed in an accident while talking with him on phone, her last word is, "Asaji ...". But, she couldn't be involved, she was with Ryoji at the moment of her death ...

As soon as Naoko moves into room 505 of her new appartement, she hears sories about strange accidents and eerie phenomena surrounding appartements with the number "5". She runs into Kazuhiko, Ryoji's brother, whom she saw taking photos of her condo. He won't say what he was doing, but he warns her to be careful.Accidents continue to happen in condos with the number "5" and something in Naoko's closet is taking a gruesome form.

My Thoughts: I guess Horror really isn't my cup of tea.  I actually dozed off a few times during that movie.  Actually it's not 1 movie.  It's split in two parts but except for a few characters that appear in both they not related whatsoever.

My Score:

[Najemikon]

I do think the best new examples of proper scary horrors are coming from the East, however, they copy each other. A lot. Ringu was a massive success, so they all started making their demons scary girls with long dark hair. Heck, even the game F.E.A.R. nick is wholesale! It may be you're mining a vein of copycats with that set.

The trick to the successful ones is that they are solid dramas, without any need for theatrics. Problem is though that the copycats can't pull it off, so they end up... boring. Or so enigmatic they're impenetrable.

Try Ringu, Dark Water and A Tale of Two Sisters. Throw in Battle Royale and you've had a taste of the key styles and if you don't like them, then they are definitely not your thing. If you do, there's The Eye, The Grudge and Shutter to look forward to... 

[Jimmy]

Battle Royale

Even if this is an excellent Japanese movie this isn't an horror movie. Action, Drama and science Fiction (maybe), but no horror here...

[Touti]

I use to enjoy horror movie.  I had quite some fun with the early "Friday the 13th" series, I loved (and still enjoy) "Carrie" or the "Exorcists" movies.  Then at some point I lost interest in it because everything that came out seemed utterly stupid.  In movies like Carrie, The Exorcist, Poltergeist and the likes there is a story to support the movie but there seems to have come a point where everything was about blood and special effects and a bunch of movies came out with no story at all.

I hope this won't insult those who enjoy them but I find movies like "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" or the "Saw" series so ridiculous they don't even amuse me.  Maybe there's sub-genres in horror movies and some are just not my type ?

Movies I consider Horror and would gladly watch again.

Carrie
The Exorcist (All of them)
Stigmata
Constantine

I've taken a big risk in ordering BR versions of "Land of the Dead", "Otis" and "Pan's Labyrinth" but they all had some reasonably high scores on Rotten Tomatoes so I took the chance.  I'll see after I get them............maybe one of you will have a chance to buy 3 horror blu-rays at half price

[Najemikon]

Battle Royale

Even if this is an excellent Japanese movie this isn't an horror movie. Action, Drama and science Fiction (maybe), but no horror here...

No, it is fundamentally fantasy, leaning strongly to horror, not drama. It doesn't exist and is a high-concept idea, so it can't be merely drama. Not science-fiction really and you don't watch it just for action sequences. It's definitely fantasy, and so is horror.

[Najemikon]

I hope this won't insult those who enjoy them but I find movies like "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" or the "Saw" series so ridiculous they don't even amuse me.  Maybe there's sub-genres in horror movies and some are just not my type ?

Only if you mean the original TCM! If you're mentioning it in the same breath as Saw, you should be punished! Otherwise, I agree...

[Achim]

The Exorcist (All of them)

Never seen it myself, but I trust the legions of people who say that The Exorcist II: The Heretic is among the most terrible movies ever made.

[Touti]

I'll have to trust you on that Achim, it's been so long since I've seen any of them that I don't really remember what's in each one.

[addicted2dvd]

The Exorcist (All of them)

Never seen it myself, but I trust the legions of people who say that The Exorcist II: The Heretic is among the most terrible movies ever made.

The Exorcist II is so bad... I don't even acknowledge it's existence. And this is coming from someone that enjoyed The Omen 4! 

[Jimmy]

The Exorcist II is so bad... I don't even acknowledge it's existence.

It isn't that bad. Linda Blair look good in it and 

Nothing else, this is the only positive thing I can say about this movie.

[Najemikon]

The Exorcist (All of them)

Never seen it myself, but I trust the legions of people who say that The Exorcist II: The Heretic is among the most terrible movies ever made.

The Exorcist II is so bad... I don't even acknowledge it's existence. And this is coming from someone that enjoyed The Omen 4! 

There's an Omen 4?