Experiencing a little burnout for some reason... may scale this back to 50 next year. Got a bit busy with work and other things coming down the home stretch, so the couple extra days at the end of September came in handy. Not sure I would have made it otherwise. Up to 95, but need to bring my list up to speed here:
59. Little MonstersI liked this one a little more than I expected too. Zomedies are a bit played out, but the cast (and I normally despise Gad... he's used well here) really deliver and it ended up being fairly self-aware. One of the better (intentional) horror-comedies I've watched in a while.
60. GwenThis one was certainly pitched as a horror film in its marketing, but it's more a bleak-as-fuck period drama in horror clothing. I've had a few of those this go around. Gwen was a little sluggish but the atmosphere it creates is pure folk-horror and, much like Anya Taylor-Joy a few years back with The Witch, it's a bit of a coming out party for Eleanor Worthington-Cox. Not an easy watch. Fairly miserable. Still, it's goddamned gorgeous and it accomplishes what it sets out to do.
61. Wax MaskBack to pure schlock. Italian remake of House of Wax sorta kinda. Originally meant as Fulci's final film, but he croaked in pre-production and a first timer with a background in SFX came on board last minute and delivered. Shame he didn't direct much more (two other movies, one in 2004 and another in 2013) because his enthusiasm is evident in the look of the film. Skin, blood, inventive visual design... the usual suspects. Again, it's schlock and it goes off the rails entirely by the finale, but a real fun watch if you just want something energetic.
62. The Strangeness AKA Terror CaveSorta loved this dumb little proto-Descent. Even the opening credits brought some game. Really, I am curious if Neil Marshall watched and unintentionally stored this deep in his subconscious, as there are A LOT of similar story beats, just done in a far more amateur and microbudgeted way (quite a few paper mache cave walls). Spelunkers get trapped in a cave with a monster intent on killing them, forcing them deeper into the cave in an effort to find a way out. They come across evidence of previous victims from years before, stumble across a chamber filled with bones, resort to a lot of lighting by red flare, turn on each other. Sound familiar? Quite liked it. It's an odd duck.
63. Rapture (1979)Speaking of odd ducks, fuck. The hell was this? Has a lot of support from a vocal sect of film fans, but I just don't know. Yeah, fun ending and fun set-up, but that middle section and the interminable narration and a million other quirks really stunted my enjoyment of this one. Not even really sure how to summarize the plot... filmmaker befriends weirdo who has a story to tell that leads down a weird rabbit hole. Has a very filmschool, arthouse wankery to it, but even with my misgivings I did find a certain respect for it by the end.
64. ThesisThis is one of my faves. Spanish thriller about a grad student who investigates a possible snuff film only to get pulled into a Hitchcockian web. Not a terribly original premise, but it's all in the execution. Alejandro Amenábar's debut. If you haven't seen it, track it down. It'd make a great double feature with Spoorloos.
65. Amsterdamned Really on a roll here. First time with this one (kicking off Sunday with some Full Moon releases) and it was a fucking hoot. Scuba killer terrorizes Amsterdam. High-action giallo that's too busy tossing out some insane set-pieces to worry much about a ton of plot. The boat chase at the center of the movie is one of the most suicidal looking things I've ever seen in a movie. How the hell was that remotely safe? I was hooked from the opening kill.
66. SeedpeopleWell, they can't all be slamdunks, though this incredibly stupid movie has some charm and off the wall monster design. Essentially just a straight up Invasion of the Bodysnatchers rip-off, right down to it's framing device, but with the added bonus of rubber suit monsters. Extra points for the clearly adult woman playing what was supposed to be a weirdo 13-year old? Is that a Critters ball?
67. Necropolis (1986)I could have posted another screencap... THE screencap, but I'll keep it clean. You can look it up yourself. You can probably skip the movie. It's all downhill after the opening dance sequence. A witch from the 17th century arrives in 80's LA to rejuvenate and raise some minions. It's all pretty dull but if you're into crazy dubbing and dark alleyways where sets should be, give it a shot I guess. Another one nowhere near as good as its poster.
68. Cannibal Terror (1980)That guy... up top there... he's one of your head cannibals. This is all so pathetic and embarrassing and so, of course, a great time. Sean Baker (Tangerine, Florida Project) compared this to The Room on Letterboxd and he isn't wrong. It feels so bizarre. Just everything about it and it all just piles up so fast (from a "the fuck are they doing?" standpoint) that I think this may cry out for a rewatch sometime soon. Everything from editing to set dressing to music choice. Everything. Just layers overlapping layers overlapping layers. Pure lunacy. This should be in a goddamned museum.
69. Totem (1999)Crazy night continues. I think I liked this one a bit more than Dan. Maybe not "liked". I don't know what. Yeah, the sway cam is the first sign of just how rough things will get (well, the opening credits are the first sign, but following seasick-o-vision cements it). Really, this is a treatise on the illusion of choice. Somehow, all the dudes keep their shirts on for this one. Dave Decoteau's Cabin in the Woods.
70. GhostkeeperStranded in a snow lodge with a nutjob and a wendingo. That's it. Great use of location. Very patient (some might say boring) set-up. Not a lost classic by any means but perhaps a little under seen. Cool ambient score. Just a confident lil' horror film from the early 80's.
Back to it. I have another 16 ready to go that'll I'll continue posting tomorrow or something.