The October Challenge Discussion Thread: 2017

[Jason]

I'm going to bed. Gonna finish this psychological racially-political dramedy flick tomorrow.

[DancesWithWerewolves]

Tales of Halloween has Drew Struzan in it, and they don't have him do the poster for the movie? For shame!

[showa58taro]

Jason, man, why be so thin skinned! Did not see that coming. Good to know though. Lol

[showa58taro]

What more horror films need, is Dolph Lundgren towering over sheriffs talking about how Demon's burn your soul.

[showa58taro]

The idea behind this is actually pretty clever. The basic idea of a demon possessing someone is fantastic, but in this case, the demon in question (which causes the possessed person to go berserk and kill people savagely) will basically get transported from one person to the next only when that person kills the possessed individual. So in other words, if someone sees a possessed person and kills them, they become possessed. Only works as one person at a time, so it's no mass possession or anything, but it's a really clever idea to have the one thing you can't do is kill the fucker. I mean, in theory it should be an easy enough fix, rubber bullets and the like, but still a great twist on a typical possession film.

And of course, Dolph Lundgren looks the part of a big demon killer who can fuck shit up, so that always helps. A few good bits of gore, and some creepy looking demons in a "here's a history of demons" speech. All told, a funky watch.

[showa58taro]

And here's where it all comes to a fantastic (and uniquely American) denouement. Demon jumps into the church where they're explaining stuff, and obviously starts killing, lots of gun owners start killing him, then others, then more people keep getting killed, and all the while making it impossible to trap. Some severed limbs and guts spilling out. A few exploding heads, which always makes my day. That being said, there's a fantastic moment where a guy fires a hand-gun (and over quite a distance) and yet that makes the head explode... That's pretty impressive hand-gun-age.

[showa58taro]

A few really funky things overall. Generally just impressed with the film as a whole. Could I be critical of it, sure, but why bother. It was just fun.

[Reign in Blood]

This ain't a horror flick, yo. Don't know what yall been smokin.

I said it was a heaping pile of suck months ago. Why you no listen? Of course Headward tried to tell me otherwise, that was fun.

[showa58taro]

Reign and Jason are both just too sensitive about politics to be able to appreciate a good film. Who knew.

[Reign in Blood]

I found the politics to only be mildly annoying. I found it to be boring and stupid and when it finally got to where anyone could see from a mile away it was going, it was time to put this bad dog to sleep and kick it straight the fuck out of my blu ray player. I know because it had one of those bull dyke chicks from "Girls" in it people thought "oh how progressive", but it was pretty lazy in it's execution.

[showa58taro]

I found the politics to only be mildly annoying. I found it to be boring and stupid and when it finally got to where anyone could see from a mile away it was going, it was time to put this bad dog to sleep and kick it straight the fuck out of my blu ray player. I know because it had one of those bull dyke chicks from "Girls" in it people thought "oh how progressive", but it was pretty lazy in it's execution.

I think you let the politics annoy you and found a way to look for a flaw in a film that everyone else thinks was well done. This is your version of my hatred for Leonardo di Caprio, to me. Easy enough to criticise but the criticism really stems not from a place of objective evaluation but of subjectively wanting to hate on something.

[Reign in Blood]

I found the politics to only be mildly annoying. I found it to be boring and stupid and when it finally got to where anyone could see from a mile away it was going, it was time to put this bad dog to sleep and kick it straight the fuck out of my blu ray player. I know because it had one of those bull dyke chicks from "Girls" in it people thought "oh how progressive", but it was pretty lazy in it's execution.

I think you let the politics annoy you and found a way to look for a flaw in a film that everyone else thinks was well done. This is your version of my hatred for Leonardo di Caprio, to me. Easy enough to criticise but the criticism really stems not from a place of objective evaluation but of subjectively wanting to hate on something.

Maybe as a drama or summat, I found it lacking as a horror movie.

[showa58taro]

Maybe as a drama or summat, I found it lacking as a horror movie.

I've often wondered what it takes to be "horror" when we do these challenges. I tend to go by subject matter and tone, personally, but I also allow for some things to be themed horror. I view horror as a much broader genre than most other genres, and so I feel quite comfy with all sorts in there, from your demon possession horrors to zombie comedies to shit psychological thrillers. They all have elements that I see as horror.

Get Out falls into that range for me, where really it is a thriller with an element of "bullshit science" thrown in, but it feels like it really is there to make you uncomfortable and to get you out of any kind of comfort zone. Seems a good horror in that regard. Plus the indication of torture, as it were, and abduction, all firmly in this sphere. Add the odd bit of gore, and it kind of works for me.

[showa58taro]

Also, I would have thought both Jason and you and Foo would appreciate just how much of a dig at "armchair liberalism" this really is.

[showa58taro]

Armynel did one thing right so far. A slasher mask worth remembering in one of those bird-beak style old medicine masks. Pretty creepy. The rest is a pretty fucking Meh.

[showa58taro]

Finished... Won't watch again.

[Tiggnutz]

The Living Dead Girl

[Monster]

The Darkness

[Jason]

This ain't a horror flick, yo. Don't know what yall been smokin.

I said it was a heaping pile of suck months ago. Why you no listen? Of course Headward tried to tell me otherwise, that was fun.

Absolutely sucks. Not even horror.

[Monster]

The Darkness

Parents having marriage problems... check
Weird kid doing weird things... check
Teenage girl full of teenage angst... check

Yep, the gangs all here. Not sure even Kevin Bacon can save this from mediocrity.