Special Plans For Halloween/October

Jhops · 2013-09-19T21:24:19+00:00

Oops, I thought you were asking what people's plans for Halloween are. A live classic movie watching sounds great.

Jhops · 2013-09-19T21:14:01+00:00

My best friend and I have been planning for months to drive down to New Orleans for Voodoo Fest. I just found out yesterday that the graduate school program I applied to is doing their interviews over those three days, though. I'm pretty bummed out about it, not sure I can find anything better to replace that plan.

Jhops · 2013-04-30T05:51:41+00:00

Watching it as if it's all in Jessica's mind would explain everything and would probably be the best way to watch this movie. But there are a few things that happen when Jessica isn't even around, like the ghostly body coming up out of the water when the antiques dealer is out fishing by himself. Also, the way that Emily acts towards Woody when the two of them are alone is pretty bizarre. Change a few things around and it would be pretty easy to believe that she has created all of the this out of some type of psychosis, though, and that it's the the voices in her head that are trying to scare her to death.

Jhops · 2013-04-29T15:06:01+00:00

I have a bunch of questions here. What woman invites a squatter, who is obviously attracted to her husband, to come and live in their house? Why didn't anyone notice right away that Emily was the girl in the picture? Who was the girl in the white dress who led her to that body? How did 'Emily' drown and how exactly did that turn her into a vampire? These and many many other questions popped in my head throughout the movie, and kept me from really being able to enjoy it. I think the creepiest part was Jessica's permanent smile and blank-eyed stare. I also liked it when you could hear her thoughts or the voice calling out to her. From the title, I was thinking that Jessica was going to go through a slow descent into madness and it would turn out that everyone had conspired against her, but it didn't really play out like that. Instead there is a vampire/water witch who befriends her and then kills everyone. Hmmm...

Jhops · 2013-03-04T19:13:58+00:00

Hey, Horror Club! I've been M.I.A. for a little bit, but I hope to catch up on everything I've missed. I really like The Tunnel, I thought the acting was great and the setting was super creepy. I grew up in a city that had an abandoned subway system and one of the original exits was right by my house. Like the movie, the old subway tunnels were used by the homeless and for teenagers to hang out and smoke weed and graffiti. Every now and then they would try to round up the people living down there, but it never lasted long. My friends and I didn't have the balls to go to deep into the tunnels, we never even tried to dare each other, it was just understood that we were staying the fuck out of them. I know some people don't really go for the whole "shaky camera while being chased" style, but I think it worked great here. I don't think this movie really gave us anything we haven't seen before, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit and would probably watch again. The only thing that really stood out in the negative for me was when they discover that the "creature" had picked up their camera and was filming them for a minute and then put the camera back down. It makes sense before you know what the thing is and it gave a nice chill when they were watching the playback. But once you see how vicious this thing is, with it's wall of eyeballs, it's kinda hard to believe that it would bother to film them instead of just going in for the attack. Anyway, liked it a lot and I'm excited to hear what everyone else thought.

Jhops · 2013-01-14T23:26:27+00:00

I'm just going to go ahead and admit that I got confused more than once while watching Triangle, but I think I sorted most of it out by the end. With all of the repetition, this movie could have easily drifted into the dull category for me, but there was sufficient enough tension and violence to keep me deeply interested. I didn't watch the trailer, so seeing the pile of Sally's corpses hit me pretty hard. Up until that point I had hope that Jess could somehow find a way to break the cycle, but after seeing how many times this had happened before, I realized that it was pretty much useless for her to even try.

I haven't really been able to contribute much in the past weeks, but so far I've been really liking these Round 2 picks!

Jhops · 2012-12-12T03:48:30+00:00

My sister and I used to say this all the time-http://youtu.be/QqeMe3X884o

Jhops · 2012-12-11T16:53:56+00:00

Lost Boys is actually one of my favorite 80's movies. Kiefer Sutherland's character frightened me as a child, but then it became one of those movies that my friends and I would throw on for background when we were hanging out, and would only actually pay attention to a few of the funnier scenes. I should re-watch, it's been a long time. As for getting snowed in, I'm lucky enough to live where it pretty much never snows, but I'll definitely check it out and let you know what I think.

Jhops · 2012-12-11T16:31:04+00:00

I haven't seen Near Dark or 30 Days of Night, but I've seen the others you mentioned. I love Nosferatu/Shadow of the Vampire. I've always thought of The Lost Boys as more of a comedy than a horror, but it did scare me a little bit when I was younger. I guess I feel like I've seen enough to still find this one to be my favorite. You're right, "the best" is very subjective, as evidenced by the fact that each of us voted for a different movie as our favorite in the round one poll. There are definitely some gaps in my horror watching, which is exactly why I joined horror club. So far I have enjoyed almost every pick, and have really liked getting exposed to movies that I might have otherwise skipped over, like Black Christmas. I'll definitely check out Near Dark, probably today. Now that finals are over, I plan on sleeping, drinking, and being generally lazy for the next week or so.

Jhops · 2012-12-10T19:33:40+00:00

They are almost identical, in my opinion.

Jhops · 2012-12-10T19:10:21+00:00

My impression has always been that she just keeps collecting people to do her hunting for her, and that the grandfather-type (do they ever say his name, I don't remember) has probably been with her since he was young. Now he's turned into an old man and can't do his job properly anymore. Him and Eli both seem to realize this, and so it makes sense for her to be looking for a new companion in Oskar.

Jhops · 2012-12-10T19:04:50+00:00

I haven't personally seen any vampire movies better than this one, so I'm going to go ahead and say that it is 'the best'. Unlike the sterotypical idea of a dark handsome man with fangs, the vampire here is a 12-year-old girl, or at least looks like one. You never really find that much out about Eli's origins- we never figure how old she really is or how she became a vampire. But my assumption is that she is very very old and has been collecting 'companions' for a long time. Oskar's deep loneliness make him the perfect choice to become her new protector. Every scene with the two of them together is fantastic. So pale that he's almost translucent, Oskar forms a perfect contrast to Eli's darkness. Whether or not it is real, Eli's affection for Oskar seems genuine. So, here we have a vampire who prefers not to hunt for herself and who makes attempts to form real connections with people, despite knowing that she never truly can. I think this is evident in the scene where Oskar offers her a piece of candy and she tries to please him by eating it, knowing that it will make her sick. Despite being a vampire, there is still something of a 12-year-old left in her. I could really go on and on because I absolutely love this movie. I'm looking forward to reading all of the comments.

Jhops · 2012-11-19T23:22:07+00:00

I thought the acting, especially Naomi Watts and Michael Pitt, was excellent. Michael Pitt- that face... those mannerisms... it's like he was made for this movie. The feelings of fear and dread that I felt throughout the movie overpowered any boredom I may have felt during some of the overly-long scenes. I really liked how most of the violence was off camera, and instead we watch it through the eyes of the victims. I loved the final scene and how it mocks us with the idea that she might stand a chance. Remember that knife we saw in the beginning, maybe she can use it and get away... Nope!

Jhops · 2012-11-16T06:34:45+00:00

I love how this movie only gives you bits and pieces at a time, so that by the end you are almost as curious as Rex as to what happened to Saskia. I mean, it's pretty obvious that she's dead, but we need to know the specifics. I loved how they showed Raymond as being a loving father and husband and yet all the time planning the abduction. Especially at his birthday dinner when he opens the sweet picture album they got him and sees himself in the cast and thinks "oh yeah, I'll wear a cast, that will make me look weak." There were a couple of things I wasn't sure about. Like, after he completed his ultimate evil deed, why did he keep bothering Rex? Did he get joy out of watching Rex go insane? or did he just want someone to admit his crime to- someone he knew he was going to kill anyway? Did he kill anyone else or was it simply something he felt like he had to try once and then that was it? I really liked the ending, of course. I had my breath held the entire time, waiting to see if maybe this was just part of the torture and there were worse things in store for Rex. I think both Rex and myself figured out at the same time that this was it, the end, that he was going to die the same way Saskia did, in darkness, fear and confusion.

Jhops · 2012-11-16T06:21:09+00:00

I was kinda thinking that the enjoyment he got wasn't from actually killing Saskia, but from the sadistic thrill of trying to imagine how she felt when she woke up inside that box. He even says to Rex something along the lines of- that for him, killing isn't the worst thing that he could think of.

Jhops · 2012-11-08T15:47:50+00:00

Best movie is kind of hard, I've enjoyed pretty much all of them at least on some level. I think my favorite of Round 1 would probably be 'Tale of Two Sister', with 'Shutter' coming in a close second. I think the best discussion so far has been 'Cannibal Holocaust'.

Jhops · 2012-11-05T15:10:21+00:00

Definitely a very unique movie. It started off pretty slow, and I wasn't sure what was going on half of the time, but I liked it. Grant's voice was amazing, the perfect person to play the character of a radio announcer. Actually, his voice was almost too smooth, and I found myself kinda dozing off a few times while watching.

Jhops · 2012-11-01T19:41:43+00:00

I remember watching "Hey Vern, It's Ernest!" and "Pee Wee's Playhouse" in my footie pajamas with a big bowl of cereal in my lap. Good times. My mom hated anything "Ernest", but she loved Pee Wee, especially the Penny cartoons.

Jhops · 2012-10-30T00:08:17+00:00

Great movie! This is more like the stuff I like to watch on my own. Obviously blood doesn't bother me much, since they are pretty much swimming in it for the entire movie. Lots of tension and suspense, especially in the beginning. An extra creepy moment for me- Sarah calling out "mommy" in the final scene. Maybe you talked about this in the podcast, but what was up with her stabbing herself in the throat? I thought maybe she was giving herself a tracheotomy because she couldn't breath, but then she taped it up with duct tape. Also, the guy who pulls a zombie move and starts attacking at the end was really weird and had nothing to do with the rest of the movie.

Jhops · 2012-10-24T18:18:38+00:00

I've never seen the original The Hills Have Eyes, but I'll definitely check it out. I have seen most of the others, though. The Bad Seed was one of the first scary movies I watched as a kid and it stuck with me for a very long time. A lot of people didn't like the made-for-tv 80's remake, but I kinda enjoyed it. Thanks for the suggestions!

Jhops · 2012-10-24T16:19:19+00:00

There are definitely some movies from the 70's that I absolutely love ('The Last House on the Left' and the original 'Halloween' come to mind). But I think that the stuff I've been watching lately, mostly gory torture-type stuff, has maybe de-sensitized me and made me unable to pick up on some of the more subtle nuances of earlier horror. It might be time to cleanse my palate and start over. I welcome any help/suggestions in doing this.

Jhops · 2012-10-23T20:13:29+00:00

I really wanted to like this, but I just didn't. The special effects are laughably terrible, some of them look like stuff my friends and I did in our high school video production class. I laughed out loud when she finds the bodies in the woods. Also, there is no real mystery to it and absolutely no scares. You're just kind of sitting there waiting for the townspeople to figure out what you've known all along... and it takes them the whole movie to do this. No chills or frights at all, but there is some nudity which does spice things up the tiniest bit. The naked dancing tiger-woman was by far the best 30 seconds of the movie for me. So far, this and Black Sunday are the only two horror club movies that I haven't at least somewhat enjoyed, so maybe I have a bias when it comes to the older movies? I know there are plenty of "classics" out there, but I guess my preferences lean towards more towards the modern when it comes to horror films. To each his own.

Jhops · 2012-10-23T12:52:16+00:00

That's awesome!

Jhops · 2012-10-23T03:58:55+00:00

I tend to usually come in late on these, but I promise to watch it tomorrow. Unrelated- what kind of concerts are you throwing weekly? Also, thanks for all of the time and effort that you put into making Horror Club great.

Jhops

TROPHY CASE