The 2008 Movie Genre of the Month Club

[slayrrr666]

Yeah, but outside of The Gate and it's sequel, there isn't much to begin with.

And Heiney, I checked that yesterday before I came here to make sure I was right, and IMDb didn't have a (V) after the title, so I assumed it did go to theaters.

[Heineken Skywalker]

THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD (1985)

I saw this at a drive-in when it was first released. The perfect place to see this campy, shlocky, fun zombie flick.
When a deadly military gas is accidentally released into the air at a medical supply warehouse (next door to a cemetery) it brings the dead back to life and you can guess what happens next.
The human cast consists mostly of a group of young people who are MTV/80's fashion victims before they start becoming zombie victims.
Not connected with the Romero LIVING DEAD movie, though it is referenced.

"More brains!"

6.5/10

[slayrrr666]

Friday the 13th-1980
And before I get into my thoughts, Heiney, I saw Parts 3 and 5 for franchise month, so I'm in the clear with this one.

I still love this one, but frankly, after having finally gotten to the half-dozen views mark, it's getting up there in terms of most re-watched, so most of the time, I knew what was going to happen ten minutes before the characters uttered the lines. Mainly, I just had this on in the background as I did another review, which was fine as I looked up whenever I knew something was going to happen due to cues from dialogue or the music. Of course, the commercial breaks here do cut into it significantly, but it's still enjoyable, the gore works and the use of giallo influences still gives it a creepy feel. Still better than Halloween, still one of the best of the 80s slasher wave and definitely up there in terms of the genre as a whole, it's just I need to stop watching this one and let it wallow around with others, as hitting the 5th time I've seen it, that's a lot for me and it just needs more time from when I've last seen it in order to be really impressed with it like I was the first time.
9.5/10

[slayrrr666]

The Beast Within-1982
One I'm actually really fond of, a solid creature feature that incorporates the advances in special effects along with a solid story that allows for some really good moments. Some nice suspense comes from the stalking scenes, some nice gore and a mildly entertaining finale also work for this one, while the film's is hurt by the fact that it does appear slightly slow in getting off the ground and either it was my TV or the film, but it appeared a little dark to see many of the scenes during the rampage, but overall, it wasn't that bad.
8.5/10

Home, Sweet, Home-1981
Full review will be posted Monday.
6.5/10

Child's Play-1988
Kinda like Friday, this one still manages to work despite the high number of rewatches. The fact that it's not really all that bad to begin with really helps, as the special effects are still impressive, the suspense is still worthwhile and it's still got the fantastic bookends with the stalking in the toy store and the final fight in the apartment building. It works well, making this one a worthwhile and rightful classic.
9.5/10

[slayrrr666]

Christine-1983
One I haven't had a whole lot of rewatches like many of the others I've seen so far, which has kept it fresh and somewhat new, which is a fine counterpoint and makes many of the stalking scenes feeling really enjoyable. A tad overlong, which is expounded even more because of the fact that this one came from commercial TV, but it's one I actually liked coming back to.
8/10

[ZapRowsdower]

Halloween II (1981, Rick Rosenthal)

Not quite as classic as the first movie, but still pretty damn suspenseful considering. The kills were pretty intense - especially the needle scene... that sent chills down my spine. Pretty decent scare for a relatively old flick, I'd say. 8/10

Hellraiser (1987, Clive Barker)

Creepy. Disturbing. A little nauseating at times. I have to say that this movie has one of the scariest lines in film history: "Jesus wept". Good film, even if it feels a little dated. 8/10

[Heineken Skywalker]

SCANNERS (1981)

David Cronenberg's sci-fi/horror film about telepaths aka scanners, involved in an underground movement attempting world domination and the group that is trying to stop them. Michael Ironside gives a creepy performance as the evil leader of the scanners, but the movie's a bit slow and dated. Pretty good effects though and a couple of shocking moments.

6/10

THE FLY (1986)

Cronenberg also directed this horror classic. Jeff Goldblum stars, in an Oscar worthy performance, as Seth Brundle, a scientist who has developed a method of teleportation, but things go horribly wrong when he decides to teleport himself. Geena Davis is the writer, and love interest, who agrees to document his experiments. Great performances, a memorable score by Howard Shore and jaw-dropping (literally) effects by Chris Walas are featured in this tight, fast-paced feature that packs a lot of story into it's short running time (only 90 minutes long!).
Now, this is how you film a remake.

9/10

THE FLY II (1989)

When mediocre sequels happen to great movies. Take away Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, David Cronenberg, a good script, a decent story, leave only the gory effects and what do you have? THE FLY II.

4/10

[slayrrr666]

Oct 12, 2008 14:33:24 GMT -5 ZapRowsdower said:

Halloween II (1981, Rick Rosenthal)

Not quite as classic as the first movie, but still pretty damn suspenseful considering. The kills were pretty intense - especially the needle scene... that sent chills down my spine. Pretty decent scare for a relatively old flick, I'd say. 8/10

I like it more than the original, which is grossly overrated and quite dull, especially considering the number of times it gets rewatched. One that doesn't work as well with repeat viewings, but Part 2 definitely holds up much more. The stalking is tenser, the kills are much better and actually have gore, Michael is a true force to be reckoned with, the confrontation in the gas room is outstanding and it still has a lot of great moments about it.

[LivingDeadGirl]

The Funhouse (1981) 1/4 Directed by Tobe Hooper, deformed human/monster stalks teens at a carnival. Just couldn't get in to it and definately not enough gore.

[Heineken Skywalker]

NEAR DARK (1987)

Overrated and pretty dull cult favorite about a gang of vampires in the southwest. Lance Henriksen looks pretty cool, but isn't given very much to do. Bill Paxton fares a little better because his role is a bit more showy. Very little gore and only spurts of action, with a shootout being the main centerpiece. Saw it once before around '90 or so and had forgotten all about it so thought I'd give it another look. Now I can forget about it for another 20 years or so.

5/10

[Heineken Skywalker]

An update. The scores for this month so far.

October: 80's HORROR

Slayrrr666 = 7
Heineken Skywalker = 6
Quorthon = 3
ZapRowsdower = 2
LivingDeadGirl = 1

[slayrrr666]

Glad to see you both think those are overrated as well. I don't think much of either of them. Funhouse had nothing for the majority of it's running time, and Near Dark got over on the strength of it's cast, but again nothing happened.

[Heineken Skywalker]

Oct 15, 2008 10:08:41 GMT -5 slayrrr666 said:

Glad to see you both think those are overrated as well.

Yeah, but I completely disagree with your assessment that the original HALLOWEEN is "grossly overrated and quite dull", a couple of posts above.
And I'm not sure if you're also saying that it's dull because you've rewatched it so many times, or just in general.

[slayrrr666]

First off-
Yes, it's because I've seen it so often. It's the second most-watched horror film on my list, and I just find it terribly dull now after all these times. Technical prowess doesn't really mean much to me, which is what I called it out for as being so great when I first saw it, and the only part that really sustains my interest is the mediocre showdown in the house at the end. Compared to Madman, The Prowler, just about any of the Friday entries or even something like the When a Stranger Calls remake, which is all that movie has anyway, the final confrontations in those are simply spectacular and really enjoyable. Halloween's just comes off as mediocre compared to those, and the rest of the movie is really forgettable now that it's so familiar. I don't mind suspense, I don't mind a slow-burn when done right, but due to familiarity, I don't think it's held up as much to repeat views like some of the others out there have.

Secondly-

The Return of the Living Dead-1985
Strangely, this is one I haven't seen too often, which is why this one feels new and quite good. The gore works with several great set-pieces, the humor has become a little hit-or-miss at times, but it's still funny at times and gets a couple of good laughs at times. The reanimation of the zombies is nicely done, their look is acceptable compared to what others have done before and it moves along pretty well, keeping the pace up nicely and not really hitting too big of a lull. Not that it's a terrible film, but it just has the feeling of a well-done film in a league with slightly better ones around it.
9/10

Erotic Nights of the Living Dead-1980
Full review will be up Monday. I will say this as a word of warning, though: if you're in any way a prude and are curious about this one, do yourself a favor and pick up the Rated version of the film. The uncut one won't do you any favors, and the Rated one will actually eliminate most of the flaws in here anyway, so it's win-win.

[ZapRowsdower]

Friday the 13th (1980, Sean S. Cunningham)

Cunningham used darkness to his advantage while making this film - it was decidedly difficult to see what was going on, and that added to the suspense he was trying to convey. Overall, I thought the film came through extremely well. The suspense began to diminish when the... ahem... "iconic" killer was revealed. It became a little difficult to take seriously after that, but overall it was one of the most enjoyable Slasher flicks I've ever seen. 9/10