October/Halloween/Horror Recommendations

Ten of Swords

Terrifier 2 seems to be the next big thing for Halloween, got released about a week ago in the US and there are stories in the news (as well as plenty of Twitter and Instagram) about people fainting or getting sick in the theatres, I genuinely wonder how much of that is marketing hype.

The kills are extreme and gruesome, some are basically extended torture scenes.

Its available for pre-order in the Sky Store. Not sure when the release is over here, I heard Oct 24th anecdotally, not sure if accurate.

Fysh

I'd take the "people fainting and vomiting" stuff with a big heap of salt. Following the Wiki reference, it seems to be down to a couple of fans of the film saying that they heard this happen, and one of the producers tweeting a similar claim - with that being covered in a LadBible article that the Evening Standard then cribbed from.

(No real difference there from any other time this kind of thing had done the rounds about a film, really...)

flasher0030

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119733442#Comment_119733442

I watched the first 40 mins. God, it's pretty sick. I don't get freaked out by gore so didn't mind that part. But the film just seems to be a kill fest. The story wasn't going anywhere from the part that I saw anyway. Maybe it picked up. I watched the last 10 mins to see if there was anything interesting. But basically just the same thing again. Lots of fake blood, and trying to create the shock factor.

I guess I'm not really sure what the point of the whole film is. Just looks like a really cheap creation.

mrcheez

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119783450#Comment_119783450

Have you seen the first? It's great 😈

bodhrandude

Not going off topic but a film that scared the bejaysus out of me back in the late 70s, 1978 to be precise, was Long Weekend, an Australian psychological thriller about a couple, well a troubled couple who go out on a camping trip near a secluded beach to get away from the city. It seems they're disrespectful to the area and the nature, and nature seeks its revenge. There's no ghouls or Satanist's in it but its very quirky and freaky. I suspect it could be up in YouTube too because of its age.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Weekend_%281978_film%29

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lNqsXZuEy0

mrcheez

Looks good and yes it is up on YouTube

Mr Crispy

There was a remake with Jim Caviezel that I wasn't a fan of, but it's been years since I watched the original. Must rewatch to see how it holds up.

Spon Farmer

I was just about to start watching the UNIVERSAL MONSTER movies and NOSFERATU is on the recommendation list.

I have never seen so I was going to watch it before the Bela Lugosi version but iTunes have two releases for this film - one from Eureka and the is the one with a new score by Groundup Music & Alamo Drafthouse.

Which one should I watch? Does the original not have a music score?

silliussoddius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119784140#Comment_119784140

There is another Australian film called Wake in Fright, has anyone seen it? Think it’s more of a psychological/fever dream type film than a horror.

flasher0030

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119783593#Comment_119783593

Not a chance. Was just eating my lunch there and unfortunately started thinking about what I watched yesterday. Horrible. Put me off my chicken sandwich. All I could think of was heads being hacked off, and brains spewing. 🤢

Only good thing I can think off to come from the movie, is that "the terrifier" character would make a good halloween outfit.

mrcheez

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119785260#Comment_119785260

Eureka one seems to be the better-rated of the two, although the version they show on Shudder is the Kino classics version

It's up there now... definite must-see if you have Shudder: https://www.shudder.com/movies/watch/nosferatu/7912c11c1995f789

KilOit

Really enjoyed Terrifier2, didn't see the first one but I thought the main guy did an excellent job at the clown.

Gets a bit lost near the end but overall very enjoyable. It's cartoonish violent but it would be a little too much for some people. The gore level would be similar to Re-Animator or Return of the living dead with a touch of Hostel

gmisk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119789328#Comment_119789328

I watched the first one it was meh...but the clown villain is excellent in it.

Must check out the second one have heard it is really long though.

Markus Antonius

I watched Session 9 (2001) the other night. Quite an enjoyable watch - great acting and paced very well, no drawn out parts like many horrors.

rob316

Vomited and fainted from the terrifier? Haha. It's gory but it's really low budget cartoonish stuff. When art sawed the girl naked in half with the hacksaw in the first one I just laughed out loud it's so over the top.

Art the clown is a great killer, genuinely unnerving character even before he kills someone.

I'll have to watch the 2nd one

mrcheez

He's so terrifying (heh) in real life too... you actually feel he's going to do something insane with that air horn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cplJxTytHf4

Man Vs ManUre

The Babadook is on tg4 tonight. I couldn’t really get into it the 1 time I tried to watch it but must give it another try, it seems to have great reviews.

mrcheez

The kid in that annoyed the hell out of me (which I guess is the point!)

pixelburp

The Babadook was a fantastic film; very creepy with a great subtext that asked "hey, what if your subconscious really hated your child and blamed him for everything?"

Spon Farmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119787181#Comment_119787181

Nuts.

I wish I had waited for your response becasue I bought and watched the Eureka one on iTunes.

The music was woeful and the dialogue cards (don’t know what the actual name is for them) were terrible.

Great movie regardless. I don’t have a shudder subscription but I will get one to see a better version of this. I didn’t thing to check JustWatch to see if it was on streaming.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119785560#Comment_119785560

That is more commonly known as Outback I think. Its worth a watch, there is an extended scene in it that is horrific

Fysh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119796142#Comment_119796142

You should be able to get a Shudder trial for 7 days free. (As a service it's quite VPN friendly too, so if you have one it's worth checking what the US and Canada versions have available).

Fysh

While I think of it - if you like Nosferatu, you might also enjoy Das Cabinet Der Dr Caligari. It's not on Shudder but should be on Arrow Player, which again has a free trial (30 days) and a fair amount of good stuff on there.

mrcheez

There's a surprisingly huge number of classic films on YouTube... I always assumed they took these down, or they had some sort of filter on them to make them less "watchable" but I guess the admins are not quite as aggressive nowadays?

I just randomly watched a colourised version of House on Haunted Hill and Don't Go To Sleep today (slow work day)

I mean they even have the superb "Nosferatu the Vamprye 1979" which is quite possibly the best Dracula movie ever made

Spon Farmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119796476#Comment_119796476

I have never seen Caligari and I seem to forget it every year. I will definitely watch it this week.

I have a lot of horror lined up to watch including old films that I have never seen. I enjoy horror the most around Halloween and something always seems to get on the way each year. This year I’m getting a lot more time to watch.

Fysh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119796701#Comment_119796701

If you're doing a Shudder trial, you should also check out The White Reindeer - it's a Finnish folk horror from the early 50s, and is a slow but enjoyable watch.

dubstepper

Terrifier 2 is very gory. Art the clown is an excellent creation and I think there will be more movies with him in them. Where this one falls down is the script. It makes kind of no sense at points. The acting is at a decent level with a couple of exceptions and the special fx are great given the tight budget.

I wouldn't say the movie is scary though, just disgusting a points. The clown doesn't just kill people he actually deconstructs them at points. One last point, 2+ hours for a slasher movie??

Watched the new one Barbarian last night. Totally bizarre title for the movie that is almost completely unrelated to whats going on. But anyway, this is a pretty decent concept, and a good horror without being great. A good few crappy forced shock moments that didn't work but aside from that, decent entertainment 7/10.

saintsaltynuts

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119785560#Comment_119785560

Yeah. Wake In Fright is very good bit like an Australian Deliverance.

mrcheez

Full marathon of all Halloween movies today running in the background (every good slasher has a horror movie playing in the background)

...anticipating a dark figure smashing through the window at any moment

Fysh

I stuck on Phantasm yesterday on Shudder as I've not watched it in ages. The remastered version looks better than what I remember watching on my DVD copy, but I had forgotten how the moody parts of it (with that great theme music) were interspersed with bits of sometimes woeful acting and a really stacatto pacing. It evens out somewhat in the last third, but it's still quite distracting. Having said that, I do still like the core dynamic of the film between Jody and Mike; at their best the atmospheric momenta remind me of It Follows, albeit with the caveat that IF is a far better crafted and written film overall.

I looked it up on Wikipedia and apparently Coscarelli's original cut was much longer (around the 3 hour mark, according to an unattributed note on IMDB), so the process of editing that down to 90 minutes can't have been straightforward. It won't have helped that a lot of the material was inprovised along the way without a strict script (which explains the lack of coherent narrative throughline).

RickBlaine

I recently read that Bong Joon-ho had once described the 1997 Japanese film Cure as being one of the greatest films ever made and had a major influence on his career. I've seen most of the major J-horror films but I had actually never even heard of Cure, so I watched it today. Whereas it does contain some rather brilliant moments of horror, I'm not sure I'd describe it as a full horror in the same as Ringu or Ju-On. I'd put it in the same genre as Se7en which I suppose borders on the horror genre too.

Anyway, I really liked it. As I said, there are a few fleeting moments of shocking horror and other scenes where the tension is drawn out quite well. It is definitely a slow burner especially when compared to American horrors but it is a hearty recommend from me if this sounds like your thing.

rob316

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119799043#Comment_119799043

I watched it last night it was good but doesn't top the first one. It was just overly long and didn't need to be. The first one kept it so simple, it's a slasher masterpiece.

yerwanthere123

Against my better judgement I might give Terrifier 2 a go, but is it necessary to have watched the first one?

johnny_ultimate

Cure is definitely more of a dark thriller / chiller than a straightforward horror film. It has been a little while since I’ve watched it, but Kurosawa’s sorta spiritual successor to it Pulse is probably more of a horror film, but again perhaps more an exercise in atmosphere and dread than even the traditional J-horror fare. They’re quite different films to each other, but would together very much be considered his two ‘major’ works from that era. He’s returned to horror / thriller a couple of times with stuff like Creepy from a few years back, but Cure and Pulse are definitely the two biggies.

rob316

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119815737#Comment_119815737

Not at all, killer clown likes to kill people. I'd watch the first though

Man Vs ManUre

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119815737#Comment_119815737

Terrifier 1 is on the horror channel tonight. Have not seen 2 but 1 is good. Art the Clown 1st movie is ‘All Hallows Eve’ and that is worth a watch too.

CastorTroy

Would the Horror Channel have to tone down the violence? Can't remember if I've ever watched a violent film on there.

Decided to watch Ringu. Enjoyed it back when I saw it in the IFC in 2000. So will see if it holds up.

mrcheez

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119814508#Comment_119814508

Felt the same about Terrifier 2... was overly long and I don't think the "story" really added much to it, would have been better as a pure slasher similar to the first one.

rtron

Watched Infinity Pool last night very good.

Homelander

I actually bought Terrifier 2 on Blu-Ray. I don't know if that's different to what you'd get on streaming or broadcast, some services do tend to splice out the worst of sexual/violent content in titles that are particularly extreme.

I remember watching Possessor and was really annoyed to learn it was quite different to the Blu-Ray, violent and explicit as it still was. I bought the Blu-Ray and I'll watch it again in the proper format in the near future.

Anyway, Terrifier 2 is very gory, albeit in a silly way, but it's also a solid bit of entertainment, they achieved a lot with a small budget. I haven't seen Terrifier 1, the film really explains all you need to know.

bodhrandude

A film that flew under the radar in the late seventies is Full Circle / The Haunting of Julia with Mia Farrow from 1977, I remember seeing it as a teen and it scared the bejaysus out of me. Full film is on Youtube and is a haunted chiller.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_ZczCuyTUM&t=168s

Fysh

I suggested to the other half that we stick on Barbarian tonight as I've seen a few good reviews of it around the place. That was a mistake - while it has actors I have frequently liked in horror in the form of Bill Skarsgård and Richard Brake, it doesn't make any decent use of them. The premise and story are mind-bogglingly stupid, with a disjointed script and a random flashback to fill in details that were, frankly, neither interesting in plot terms nor a good use of the actor who appears in it - and the script relies on contrivance and idiot ball moments to the point that by half-way through the film you're hoping that the insistent, repeated stupidity of the protagonists will just get them killed so the whole tedious enterprise can come to a close.

mrcheez

and to counter, I thought it was good 😁

Enjoyable watch, not having seen any trailers (or reviews at the time) I didn't know what to expect, so was pleasantly surprised.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120404327#Comment_120404327

I think it had promise up until the bait and switch moment. There was some really smart, quite evocative use of the geography of the house during the first half, with some nice subversive work through the Skarsgard character. The way everything just went a bit bugnuts was ... a choice. And one that as you said, required a couple of really terrible Idiot Ball moments, especially around others'behaviour towards the main character.

Fysh

Yes, the first 20-30 minutes had some good stuff but then That Development happens and, well, it just immediately falls off a cliff.

I can just about see how watching it with the right crowd in the cinema might be fun, but if a film is only fun in that context it's still a pretty flawed exercise...

flasher0030

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120405624#Comment_120405624

Like others, I enjoyed the first half. Thought it was a decent thriller/horror. But then the silly stuff started happening, and it became ridiculous. Couldn't take it serious.

flasher0030

I watched The Collector and it's sequel Collection at the weekend. If you like the likes of Saw, Hostel Escape Room etc. you'll get a kick out of these. Bit of gore, but nothing over the top, and not particularly scary. But I'd stick both in as horror type movies. Easy watching in terms of no complicated storyline.

I would recommend them if you are at a loose end, but there are probably many better films that you could watch instead.

Man Vs ManUre

An oldie but I remember it scared the cr@p out of me when I was young, ‘Hell Night’. And it’s a film that never seems to be on tv now.

mrcheez

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120407074#Comment_120407074

you can find most of these older ones on YouTube nowadays (requires sign in)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqUXro_ZtKg