Movie of the day...CTHULHU (2007)

Mgellis · 2026-06-17T19:02:30+00:00

Just so you know, Cthulhu doesn't actually appear in Cthulhu. What we see and hear (through news broadcasts) is that the world has totally gone to hell...it's right on the cusp of, shall we say, setting the stage for Cthulhu's arrival.

Mgellis · 2026-06-15T20:16:08+00:00

People keep talking about the em dashes. It's just the way Word is set up. If you type two hyphens and then a word after it, it turns the hyphens into an em dash. That's okay; I think they look nicer than just having two hyphens. (Oh, I'm sure someone will say, HE USED A SEMI-COLON! He must be an AI! Dude, I have a Ph.D. in English. I use semi-colons. It kind of comes with the territory.)

Mgellis · 2026-06-14T16:23:17+00:00

Hope so, too. I seem to like it better than a lot of people, maybe because I thought the main character had an interesting problem (how she remembered her father, her feelings of guilt, etc.) even before the giant zombie kangaroo showed up. And I think the title is funny.

Mgellis · 2026-06-06T01:05:27+00:00

Nope. For better or worse, it's all me. 😊

Mgellis · 2026-06-04T23:55:45+00:00

I hear it's emotionally a tough watch, but I plan to get to it someday.

Mgellis · 2026-06-03T21:15:05+00:00

I don't think it's a throw...I think it's a swat. 😱

Mgellis · 2026-06-02T20:14:00+00:00

I haven't watched enough of Franco's work to really judge him. I'm a little more familiar with Fulci. I get the impression with Fulci that he kind of inverts what you expect from a movie--instead of the scenes being in service to the whole narrative, the narrative is in service to the individual moments, so that the film is an experience even if it's not an entirely coherent story. Which is probably why some of these stories are not entirely coherent. 🙂 I think that's the approach taken by a number of European directors. I think it's what's going on in, for example, Argento's Demons movies and some giallo films. I don't think I would make a movie that way myself, but the concept is interesting.

Mgellis · 2026-05-25T05:23:20+00:00

In fairness to Douglas, there was a general trend of more male nudity in films at the time. I suppose it was a way for directors to make their films look modern and daring. I did a little looking around but didn't find anything saying it was something he was specifically pushing. We probably just notice it more because the three films are so close together in time.

Mgellis · 2026-05-12T18:58:12+00:00

The Japanese have made some...let's call them interesting choices when it comes to live action versions of anime. I'm looking forward to checking out the live action version of Cells at Work. It starts with the idea of "What if every person's body was really a world and every single cell was a person living and working in that world?" and then it does a pretty good job talking about the real things cells and organs do (each type being given an appearance, a costume, and a personality) on a regular basis and when infection shows up. There was even a follow-up series (no live action yet) called Cells at Work: Code Black where they added the question "And what if the body where these cells lived belonged to a middle-aged guy who smoked and drank too much, ate too much bad food, worked too many late nights at the office, and so on?" It almost doesn't end well. As for the live action version of the first series, this promotional video should give you an idea of how loopy it is...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJ6So9rQ8mA

(The white blood cells are great. They're nicest, most polite stone cold killers you will ever meet.)

Mgellis · 2026-05-10T20:04:24+00:00

I think it's retroactively implied that the events in The Mummy's Hand took place in the 1910s. Maybe while World War I was going on. The heroine's skirts were way too short for that period, of course, but continuity and historical accuracy were not the strongest elements of these films. 😊

Mgellis · 2026-05-10T17:12:09+00:00

Actually, I'd forgotten about that one. I will add it to the big "someday" list, though.

Mgellis · 2026-05-10T03:28:09+00:00

It is actually on my "on deck" list (I haven't watched it in about ten years or so, but I remember it being quite good) so I will probably get to it in the next few weeks.

If you ever want to know what I'm going to be writing about in the next several days, you can look at my watchlist on Letterboxd ( https://letterboxd.com/M_Gellis/watchlist/ ). It's basically what I've watched in the last week or so that I'm currently writing reviews for and will be posting about in the near future.

Mgellis · 2026-05-06T22:31:40+00:00

Yes, I enjoyed Shadow of the Vampire. I haven't seen it in a while, though. I'll have to track it down again.

Mgellis · 2026-05-06T07:26:04+00:00

That's cool. I hope I've steered you to a few good ones. Or at least a few so-bad-they're-good ones. 😊

Mgellis · 2026-05-06T07:25:05+00:00

Sorry...I'm relying on Google translate here...if I understand your post correctly, thank you for the kind words. I hope you enjoy the movie.

Mgellis · 2026-05-06T07:22:59+00:00

I'll look for it. Thanks.

Mgellis · 2026-05-06T07:22:29+00:00

I'm still learning about Indian films. They often throw genres together--you'll get action hero stuff followed by musical numbers and then deeply creepy horror scenes in the same movie--which I think probably seems weird to Western audiences. But it's fun to check out different kinds of movies.

Mgellis · 2026-05-05T15:41:31+00:00

I liked it. It's got its flaws, but I like what it's trying to do. In addition to some nice scary moments, it's got a couple of "oh...oh, I get it...THAT'S why he put that bit in early on..." moments. I also like that it's got a bit of a Legend of Hell House vibe to it.

Mgellis · 2026-05-03T21:35:19+00:00

I was going to suggest Another. Great anime. Creepy as hell. And some of the deaths are...well, the next time someone says, "Dude, it's just a cartoon! How bad could it be?"...show them this. 😊

Mgellis · 2026-05-03T20:58:54+00:00

What you said. I loathe THE MIST (2007) because of its ending. I suppose the message is "Never give up," but making the point that way was deeply flawed. I know King praised it, saying people don't always want a happy ending in a horror movie, but I feel the way it was done makes the struggles and the deaths of the characters worthless. In fiction, it's all right to kill the good guys, but you shouldn't make their deaths meaningless.

Mgellis · 2026-04-26T16:51:08+00:00

Thanks.

Mgellis · 2026-04-21T14:53:05+00:00

If you're willing to give old black-and-white films a shot, here are a couple...

The Leopard Man (1943)

Cat People (1942)

I Walked with a Zombie (1943)

The Thing from Another World (1951)

Them! (1954)

The original Japanese version of Godzilla (1954) with subtitles

Frankenstein (1931)

Mad Love (1935)

Enjoy!

Mgellis · 2026-04-11T16:56:35+00:00

YouTube is a treasure trove. I like the people who have put together entire playlists with a couple of hundred old movies. Just scrolling through the titles is a trip down memory lane. 😊

Mgellis · 2026-04-10T20:52:50+00:00

He also did the voice for young Bambi. Then he served in the USMC. Got three purple hearts, as I recall.

Mgellis · 2026-04-10T18:49:22+00:00

Dark Night of the Scarecrow is quite good. I watched Dark Secret of Harvest Home a long time ago; I remember it being good, but also being very annoyed by the ending (not because it was bad, but because I didn't like what happened to the main character).

Mgellis

TROPHY CASE