Horror Movies

I’m your boyfriend now, Nancy.

Pleasant dreams!

It's Sunday, mein mouth-breathing mavens of the monsterous! Time for a visit to the HorrorHouse™! Today's selection, for the pedantic 200 of you out there, isn't strictly a horror film but a sub-genre, a member in a cross-section in your Horror ∩ Science-Fiction Venn diagram: the monster movie. And what an example of the monster movie it is! Featuring the always-breathtaking work of animation legend, Ray Harryhausen, 1957's 20 Million Miles to Earth!

Suspension-of-disbelief helmets strapped on tight? The movie, one of the extremely few horror or science-fiction films based in Italy ("it's sempre New York or Tokyo!"), tells of an alien egg brought back to Earth by the first explorers to Venus. This egg hatches and gives birth to a little monster that in no time at all—spoiler!—becomes a big monster and wrecks havoc in Rome. Aww… did I give something away?

Obviously important to cinema history (MovieSnob never sleeps) is Harryhausen's beautiful stop-motion work, the classic scenes at the Colosseum especially be to noted. One thing TIL that Harryhausen shot in Rome because he wanted to vacation there! Hey, films have been shot for more self-serving reasons.

YouTube Link to the movie…

• https://youtube.com/watch?v=6Fm0LLsB9FM

Google-free links…

• https://yewtu.be/watch?v=6Fm0LLsB9FM
• https://yt.artemislena.eu/watch?v=6Fm0LLsB9FM
• https://iv.melmac.space/watch?v=6Fm0LLsB9FM

So, sorry for the slight deviation in programming…no, no I'm not and you all like deviations anyway! See you next week, my knuckledragging nightcrawlers, here at Mongoose’s Drive-In HorrorHouse™! And remember…Parma spelled backwards is AMRAP!

This comment is spoiler-free, but my replies may not be.

V/H/S 85 is the sixth entry to the series. Overall, I felt it started off strong and ended a little weak. I think the standout segments are definitely No Wake/Ambrosia (the first segment, which finishes later) and Dreamkiller.

The man behind Dreamkiller is also responsible for Sinister, and it shows with the “home movie” style of found footage video.

The frame story had me interested at first but wasn’t fully developed.

I really enjoyed how they jumped around with stories, though. Instead of always having the entirety of a segment play out linearly, a couple segments just end/glitch and another one starts before we eventually cut back to something else. Sort of like how television jumps around to keep things moving. I feel that worked well here because it let the directors skip a lot of unnecessary build up or exposition that we see in the other VHS series entries.

Anyone here see it? Have a favorite segment? Where does this one fall on your list?

I think VHS 94 is still top of my list (unpopular, I know).

...~~Today~~ Yesterday.

Sue me.

Reminder: the linked article is USA-centric, meaning those of us in the rest of the world may not have the same streaming services available and/or release dates may be different.

Do you all know how much your King Mongoose loves you? I care for all of you defective darlings so much that I sat through this stinker of a film just to tell you, no, warn you to stay away, far away!

The dog of a movie in question is 1958's The Screaming Skull. You know a movie has to suck (and I don't mean blood) if it has to start out offering free funeral services to those who may die of fright in the audience. Oh, please! You could show this to your cardiopathic granny or your nine-year-old niece or nephew and the only fear generated would be that of your guests kicking your shins for showing them this tedious film! Its only real saving grace is that it's just over an hour (01:08:00), "free burial services" sequence included. I can't help question if it had been filmed hoping to be included in one of the anthology shows popular at the time such as Alfred Hitchcock Presents but ultimately rejected. Clumsily edited, dread factor zero, bare minimum production values, mediocre acting, trite script with the "clues" being dribbled as if from an eyedropper.

There's the haunted portrait of the departed wife created by someone from a beginner art class, painted not on canvas but posterboard!—there is a scene where the cursed painting is to be burned on a pyre and it curves under its own weight! There's a screaming skull, yes, but there are actually two—one is a stand-in, I suppose?—and you can see the difference! There's a shot of the titular skull on the staircase and you can see the stick that makes it "leap" from the step! One laughably "ominous" shot of perched birds flying away from their branch…not because of some ghostly force but because someone threw a rock at them clearly visible in the shot!

Run, my children, run away! Watch whatever else is "suggested for you" or next on the playlist! Or better yet, put down your cellphones, go outside and get some fresh air…and maybe some Halloween candy too, while you're at it!

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/6176443

My wife and I love to binge watch scary movies in October. Looking for stuff that's truly scary and not just gore. Watcha got?

What, did you really think you could escape?! No! Today at the Drive-In HorrorHouse™ is the gruesome The Ghoul, from 1933, starring one of the original masters, Boris Karloff!

Not only Karloff's character, Prof. Henry Morlant, refuses to die in this film but the film itself came back from the dead, considered for decades to be lost in time!

Google-free viewing links:

• https://yewtu.be/watch?v=CL7OUXeWPJk
• https://yt.artemislena.eu/watch?v=CL7OUXeWPJk
• https://iv.melmac.space/watch?v=CL7OUXeWPJk

See you next week, my foul followers of the fiendish, here at Mongoose’s Drive-In HorrorHouse™! And remember…Climb walls! Turn blue! Scratch glass! But don’t get caught!

Watched this movie last night and thought it was good. I was more interested in what happens than them figuring out what it was because you figure it out long before they do. Spoiler in the comment.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/6231471

One movie from this list I absolutely adore is Psycho Goreman. More funny than scary.

Thanks to @NataliePortland@lemmy.ca!

From the original post…

Pretty sure folks here will like this podcast, it's a couple comrades that take movies way too seriously and themselves not seriously enough.

Thanks to @Nakoichi@hexbear.net! I'm listening to episode 282: Phantasm -- the best movie ever!? as I write this.

Hello, my ghoulish gluttons for punishment! Following up on last week's torrid tidbit of terror, this week at the Drive-In HorrorHouse is the shocking segue, the frightening follow-up, the stupefying sequel!...Dr Phibes Rises Again! Starring the legendary Vincent Price with returning Terry-Thomas and the provocative Caroline Munro! Plus what would any self-respecting British horror film be without the grand Peter Cushing?!

Google-free viewing links:

• https://yewtu.be/watch?v=3OiExTyoQdc
• https://yt.artemislena.eu/watch?v=3OiExTyoQdc
• https://iv.melmac.space/watch?v=3OiExTyoQdc

See you next week, my dire disciples of the disgusting, here at Mongoose's Drive-In HorrorHouse! And remember...Scratch glass! Turn blue! Stay sick! But don't get caught!

For all you sick little monsters, Bishal Dutta’s new film It Lives Inside opens today! WARNING: link may contain spoilers. You know you're gonna have nightmares tonight! Better put down the rubber bed liners.

I wasn't scared by the movie, but it has a similar dread throughout the movie. There are also some jump scares, and the ending has that 'evil didn't really get defeated' quality.

What's the connection between the iconic film 2001: A Space Odyssey and art-house purveyors The Criterion Collection? It may seem the obvious link is direct, that 2001 is part of the Criterion Collection but that's not the case—Criterion offers five of Kubrick's works and 2001 isn't among them. The connection is a terrible little English B movie from 1964 titled Devil Doll. This low-budget horror film stars Bryant Haliday, William Sylvester and Yvonne Romain but it's the first two names we're interested in today.

Bryant Haliday, in 1959 with business partner Cyrus Harvey, Jr, founded Janus Films, an American film distribution company famous for essentially creating the American market for foreign film. Janus Films imported and distributed some the most iconic films to be created outside of American borders. Ultimately, riding out the wave of success the partners sold Janus Films in 1965, with present-day Criterion doing the distribution of the Janus Films library.

On the other hand, William Sylvester, the "token American"" in many British productions in the 1950s and 1960s, portrayed Dr Heywood Floyd in Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Permit me an aside: personally speaking, I always thought Sylvester had the makings of a bigger career. He certainly was handsome and talented enough, maybe with a small streak of ham in him. Even after his appearance in 2001 he (and/or his agent) never made the jump to bigger and better things, remaining in mostly smaller films and one-off television roles on both sides of the ocean.

But back to our nexus at hand. Despite any positive reviews you may have read, I can't recommend this film even at a historic level. Usually I'll try to identify with the era of a film but even so in this case, Rod Serling did this type of thing better with one hand tied behind his back. In fact, he did…twice[^1][^2]! That's what Devil Doll feels like: a Twilight Zone episode that goes on far too long. Apparently film critic Leonard Maltin (who?) found the film "…An exquisitely tailored, sharply edited sleeper." Well, I'll grant you the sleeper bit.

Prepare to not be scared. For your snoozing pleasure MovieSnob Horror Theatre presents the wasted opportunity Devil Doll! Waste an hour and twenty minutes of your precious time…if you dare!

[^1]: "The Twilight Zone," The Dummy (TV Episode 1962) - IMDb

[^2]: "The Twilight Zone," Caesar and Me (TV Episode 1964) - IMDb

The very first English horror movie I remember is Evil dead and the absolute hype surrounding it. There were stories of people dying of heart attacks after watching that movie. We borrowed a deck player to watch the movie. I don't remember much but I remember a girl pulled by the vines and someone's feet with cracks on the sole. What is your first horror movie that you remember?

For your ~~spewing~~ viewing pleasure, the 1970 American International classic The Abominable Dr. Phibes starring the iconic Vincent Price! Directed by Robert Fuest, and featuring the greats Joseph Cotton, Terry-Thomas with the sexy Carolyn Munro (uncredited) as the late Mrs. Phibes (look at the picture frames while Phibes despairs!)

Google-free viewing links:

• https://yewtu.be/watch?v=6_znqhYKGUY
• https://yt.artemislena.eu/watch?v=6_znqhYKGUY
• https://iv.melmac.space/watch?v=6_znqhYKGUY

You can ~~blame~~ thank @nieceandtows@programming.dev for suggesting this community and @Skoobie@lemmy.film for his seconding the motion (I'm fingering everybody!).

But since you're here anyway, might as well yell Trick or Treat! For all of you wannabe Tom Savinis and Rick Bakers, the King will point you to your Halloween goody: the Famous Monsters Of Filmland Monster Do-It-Yourself Make-Up Handbook by Dick Smith, courtesy of the schizophrenic-as-of-late Internet Archive.

So I'll leave you all to it…whatever you sick people do all alone in the dark. The Evil Dead? Carrie? I Know What You Did Last Summer? Profondo rosso? The Saw saga? Filipino zombie movies? Have at it! Just don't expect me to change your sheets after watching such trash!