October Horror Movie Challenge: Day 6

I am beginning to realize that, despite thinking I'm not much of a slasher nut, that's basically all I've been watching as of late. How odd! Either way, the first film today was Humongous. Lately I've heard this movie getting praise so I decided to check it out. It was alright, but seemed to drag on for a while. This is weird particularly because the film is no longer than average so maybe there's just a fair bit of lulls in it.

I liked the introduction and was sad that the character wouldn't be a part of the cast later on. It seemed all very odd and mystical the way the pet dogs came to her aid, blah, blah, blah. I guess I was curious more how the "monster" of the film was pegged as being very near otherworldly in both power and look. Well, I guess you can't expect everything to be explained in horror films and that helps them quite often. It was an okay film overall but it doesn't seem worthy of praise over other slashers.

The Beyond was a pretty neat movie. I am not completely sure I understood what all was going on, but the basic premise came down to the fact that there is this hotel/apartment... and it's built on top of a doorway to Hell. This of course leads to a whole lot of problems for the new owner of the place as she tries to renovate it and get it ready for people to check in.

I really dug how weirdly dreamy it was at points so you weren't quite sure as to the authenticity of what was happening. There were just things that struck me as so odd, but entirely compelling. For example, a scene in the morgue: A young girl is waiting for her mother to finish dressing the father's corpse. However, even from sitting in the hall, she hears her mother yell. She hurries into the room only to see her mother's face boiling away thanks to a jar of some acidic substance that fell onto her. As her face melts away, it and the acid spread across the floor in an ever-expanding puddle. Instead of turning and leaving from the door she arrived in, the daughter simply stares at the wretched goo and tries to keep it from touching her as it continuously advances. It just felt very odd to me, especially when you had to wonder what caused the whole mess to begin with.

The movie is probably worth watching most for those who are Lucio Fulci fans. Personally, I watched it half in Italian and half in English. This was due to the fact that the subtitles playing stopped for some reason in the middle of the film. I then switched over to the English audio track to finish the film. It seems that the film was originally acted in English anyway, but I thought it would have been fun to try checking it out in aother language.

Although I wasn't really in the mood to watch anything else I checked out Mountaintop Motel Massacre. Maybe it was due to my lack of horror mood but it just wasn't entertaining. The story setup was fine though. Basically there was a woman and her daughter living alone together, but the mother had been in some mental institution years back. The daughter believed her mother to be slipping back to those ways so she tried to contact the dead father for advice. Stumbling upon the impromptu seance, the mother kills her daughter in a fury. After this, she is grief-stricken and just attempts to resume her life as a motel owner.

Of course, she can't go back to normal. Instead she hears the voice of her dead daughter calling out to her to kill people. So she does! I personally think it was kind of neat to see the fear on the mother's face when she knew what she was doing was wrong, but other than that, the characters weren't compelling. It also seemed to drag on.

October Horror Movie Challenge: Day 1

This year I'm going to be participating in my second October Horror Movie Challenge! For those of you who haven't heard of it, it's basically a little game that people on IMDB cobbled up a few years back and it has spread to other film-centric sites since. The goal, as it was initially rule, was to watch 31 horror movies in the 31 days of October. About half of them were meant to be films you have never seen before. It's a great idea and I tried to do it seriously two months back and managed to watch somewhere around 60-70 films.

Now I have more on my plate so I don't know if I'll be able to beat it, but I'd like to at least match myself. It's not as if I usually don't watch horror movies (as the contents of my blog should make readily apparent) but there's something special about watching them during October. It's always during this month that it feels like it's truly celebrated to enjoy horror.

With that, I'd like to share what I watched for day one of the change and some thoughts on them. I figure I won't be able to review each movie specifically, although maybe I will for ones that really got my attention.

First I watched Pieces which has been on my plate for a long time. A lot of people seem to find this a classic, and at first I couldn't see why. Sure, there were some gnarly death scenes but beyond that it didn't seem to lift itself up beyond everything else in the crowded slasher years of the 80s. However, as I continued watching something funny happened. I began to realize that the whole film is really a comedy, just played straight. Lines here and there are just too silly to have been meant to be taken seriously, as for other scenes. Oh, and that final scare? It's totally stupid, but also one of the most unexpected things that I've seen since the ending of Sleepaway Camp.

Then came The Funhouse. Well, initially I cued up I Know What You Did Last Summer before realizing I'd totally seen it before. Don't know how it evaded my watched list. Either way, The Funhouse is something that's been on the list for a while as well. However, I kept passing it up under the idea that it was already something I'd watched before. As it turned out, I was confusing the film with Clownhouse. Even though they didn't have similar descriptions, the amount of clown stuff advertising The Funhouse (as well as the names) made them connect in my mind.

The film actually turned out to be pretty neat, although not what I expected. The idea and cover conjured up some sort of possessed/evil carnival. That didn't turn out to be the case though and it was probably for the better. Instead we're treated to a butt ugly being and some entertaining teens. One big plus is how the film builds up for a long time (more than half the film) before anyone dies. I always appreciate when the director can keep things relatively "normal" for a long time before bringing in the monstrous elements.

Eyes of a Stranger

Year: 1981
Director: Ken Weiderhorn
Writer: Eric L. Bloom, Ron Kurz
Genre: Horror: Slasher

Eyes of a Stranger is one of those films that came out during the slasher craze but still managed to be something better than a simple body count flick. The story focuses around a woman and her sister who are living together... The local news is rife with stories of women getting sexually assaulted and then murdered. This would be scary enough for anyone living in the area, but it hits the main character especially hard as her sister was left blind and deaf after a similar attack.

Although this is easily considered a slasher the film doesn't focus on the ephemeral killer. Yes, there are some grisly kills in it (thanks to Tom Savini) but the main brunt of the film is much more focused on the struggle of the lead to find the killer. She doesn't want him around anymore and can't stand what he is doing to other women, in part because it is reminiscent of her sister's horrible experience.

When it comes right down to it, if it weren't for the fancy kills it would be a much more highbrow drama. I don't mean that as a slight against the film. What I'm saying is that if they were removed than snobbish film types would probably be really into this movie. It almost feels like something from Brian De Palma and is a great story. The lead character in particular really jived with me. I loved seeing her so driven to stop the evil she saw in her life.

If you're a slasher fan then maybe Eyes of a Stranger may feel a bit foreign, but it is a great movie all the same. It doesn't follow the same predictable patterns or focus on teens but that's hardly an issue here. I totally recommend the movie and if you're looking for more underrated slashers you should also check out The House on Sorority Row.

The Burning

Year: 1981
Director: Tony Maylam
Writer: Harvey Weinstein, Tony Maylam
Genre: Horror: Slasher

I've been avoiding watching The Burning for at least a year but probably several. I seem to have this problem a lot when it comes to slashers. I just expect that nothing can top the many great ones I've seen already. Especially if it is an 80s slasher I feel like it's all going to be too samey, as that's when the slasher genre had it's biggest popularity. Despite those reservations I sat down and gave it a watch.

I'm really pleased with The Burning. Perhaps it was due to my low expectations but it was a pretty fantastic little trip. Sure, it takes place in a summer camp like many others, but it works out better. The camp counselors are a pretty realistic bunch of people and all young at that. There's a fair bit of playing between them, but not loads of unnecessary sexual encounters.

The tale of the murderer is pretty interesting too. I don't often like modern films which try to inject reason into the killer, but it worked out well here. The characters were enjoyable and it was very interesting wondering if perhaps some of them were in on the joke. Although we know who the murder is from the start pretty much it's nice that the film still left things up in the air at times. I liked not knowing when someone would be caught next.

Also, I can't help but feel like the murderer's choice of weapon of large gardening shears inspired the creators of the Clock Tower games. In that game, it is a giant pair of scissors which is used to kill people. "Giant scissors" are pretty goofy and I'm not sure I've ever seen real giant ones, just play scissors. It makes more sense that it may have been a play off The Burning's shears.

This is a lovely little film and I suggest all slasher buffs check it out. I know not all of us have seen it since I'd been holding out on it for years. Surely at least one other person has missed out too.

Graduation Day

Year: 1981
Director: Herb Freed
Writer: Anne Marisse, Herb Freed
Genre: Slasher

The 80s were the decade of the slasher film. I've seen a great deal of them but there's always more out there to dig up. Since Graduation Day was up on streaming I decided to give it a look. While it doesn't realy stand out among the crowded genre, it's still an alright film. That's better than being a total and complete disaster, at least.

I've heard people complain about the acting a lot but it wasn't a big deal to me. Overall the characters seem to be relatively regular high schoolers (except that they look to be college aged a lot of the time). The story starts out where a young track star mysteriously dies after winning a race. It wasn't foul play as far as anyone can tell anyway, just a high school athlete being pushed too hard. I think that's a pretty pertinent tale even today where many students are pushing themselves much further than they can handle.

Anyway, quickly the film sets us up with suspects. If there's one thing that this movie deserves a compliment for it's how it manages to give us a list of suspects who all could be the killer. A smart horror fan could probably deduce the true murderer before too long, but even I was happy to let the movie guide my perception of who the killer was all the way through. The reveal makes sense too although it isn't the most exciting one.

The movie was okay. I wasn't crazy about it but it at least held my interest for the near hour and fourty minutes it drew on. If there was one thing I'd change it would be to cut down on some of the movie. Graduation Day is an acceptable film but not something to watch if you want to get your blood pumping.