Films You Have Watched

[Neon Ignition]

I'm going to be burnt out on the genre come 31st

[Neon Ignition]

31 Nights of Horror - Night 10
Brooklyn 45
Not having a great run at the moment, this is another weak film in the line up. A group of friends meet up in the last days of World War II and hold a seance for a recently deceased widower of the group. Things go wrong etc and whilst it tries to mark itself out with a story also focused on a potential Nazi spy the film wears its low budget made for TV vibe too heavily and is just dull.

[Neon Ignition]

31 Nights of Horror - Night 11
Pet Semetary: Bloodlines
The new prequel to the remake which is set in the 1960's when on the verge of leaving town, a guy realises that a recently returned from war friend isn't quite right. Not much to really say on this one, it's pretty bad.

[Neon Ignition]

31 Nights of Horror - Night 12
IT: Chapter One
A return to reliable ground, still a brilliant film

[charlesr]

The Creator. Lush visuals. Looks real in places where it obviously shouldn't.

Huge plot holes but worth a watch

[Lebowski]

My son and his Girlfreind put on Totally KIller over the weekend a homage to 80s slasher horror movies, The main plot is after his first murder spree 35 years ago the "Sweet Sixteen Killer" returns to claim more victims. 17-year-old Jamie doesn't get on with her super over protective mum and just wants to be a normal teen. This all changes when she comes face to face with the sweet sixteen killer and while trying to escape him is transported back to 1989 and the scene of the original murders.

Part Back To The Future part Scream its a crazy old ride in a scooby doo murder mystery way, as 17 year old Jamie trys to stop the killings before they start. This is firmly aimed at the 16+ teen market its full of grizzly murders sexual references, and bonehead teenagers and its dose a pretty successful job of keeping things barreling along. Theirs stuff here for an older audience too as It's good at lampooning 80s culture in quite a funny way. its also a pretty good at poking fun at the culture of celebrity murders and the infamy that fuels the endless books, podcasts documentary, and netflix specials.

[wakka]

I rewatched Saw.

Hadn't seen this one for ages, maybe since it very first came out in 2004.

It's still a great, original story and you can absolutely see on a rewatch why this was the film that launched a thousand sequels. It's got an extremely 2000s feel which I enjoy, too - the rapid cuts, sped up footage and furious rock soundtrack of the torture scenes in particular are very 'MTV Cribs does horror', in the best way.

There's a scene or two which lets it down, and some pretty cornball acting in parts, but it's overall a very likeable, intense watch.

I want to see Saw X now, which is by all accounts a direct sequel.

[Neon Ignition]

Yep, the only reason Saw X would need to be held off on is for spoiling stuff that relates to Saw II-IV but as those films are upward of 20 years old themselves it's likely not a concern

[wakka]

Yeah, I'm not that bothered. I saw Saw 2 when it came out, didn't think that much of it, and didn't bother with the rest of the franchise anyhow.

[Neon Ignition]

Leprechaun
Part of assumes that if a franchise has loads of entries, that the original film must be worthwhile on some level. This proves otherwise, an awful film.

31 Nights of Horror - Night 13
Friday the 13th: Part VI - Jason Lives
We wanted to jump in at one of the more fun entries, this one was alright but not as wacky as I recall it being. A good set up though considering for fan films it's often the point they themselves jump off from.

31 Nights of Horror - Night 14
Never Hike Alone 2
Following up on the original fan film as well as the fan short, this sequel launched on Friday the 13th on Youtube and continues the plot of both. A hiker is brought into the local hospital having been found injured, but at every step of the way Jason is in pursuit determined to finish the job because the hiker dared to go near 'mother'. With two of the actors from Part VI returning for this, it's a surprisingly well made and solid addition.

31 Nights of Horror - Night 15
Influencer
I think I need to just step away from films when Shudder is mentioned, this is about a social media influencer travelling alone in Thailand who befriends another woman when a guy tries it on with her unwantedly. Returning to her hotel room to find it ransacked and her passport gone, she soon discovers the situation she's actually facing. It's got some nice vistas of Thailand to see but it's within that sphere where it's almost criminal to refer to it as a horror, there's absolutely nothing of the genre present and it was just about fine enough to stick with to the end but utterly unessential viewing.

[Atticus]

Hats off to the 31 Nights of Horror crew ...

I went to a screening of Don't Look Now on Saturday night at the Picture House in York, presented by Mike Muncer and the Evolution of Horror podcast gang with a live discussion and Q&A sesh. Brilliant. They were in Leeds the following night for a screening of Rope too.

[fuse]

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is a Wes Anderson short film based on a Roald Dahl story. I probably don't need to tell you that it looks and moves like an elaborate theatre production, but the more polarising thing here is how everything is told via the cast narrating directly to camera in speed-read unwavering monotone. You might find it charming, you might utterly despise it; I'm somewhere in the middle just wondering why it had to be done this way.

[wakka]

In line with all the horror action going on, I went to see Saw X last night.

I had fun with it for sure, but watching just a few days after seeing the original film again for the first time in ~20 years did put it starkly in contrast how much weaker this one is.

The story takes place directly after the first film, with Jigsaw forking out for an experimental treatment in Mexico for his terminal cancer. When it turns out to be a fraud, he goes on the warpath and punishes those responsible with his usual 'games'. That's the setup, and there's a bit more to the story as it goes on, but not a whole lot.

It's mostly focused on the extended 'game' sequences, where people do a variety of gruesome things to themselves which I won't spoil for those who want to watch it.

->Open Spoiler<-

A bit where a bloke digs out a chunk of his own brain was a particular highlight

Suffice to say the latex and red food colouring budget for the production must have been substantial. It's so unbelievably grisly in parts it had me laughing at how unashamedly bad taste the whole thing is!

Overall, fairly enjoyable OTT fare but nothing special at all.

One thing that was funny is that Taylor Swift was playing in the next screen so in the quiet bits between the extended torture sequences you'd get the strains of a 'Shake It Off' singalong floating into the room

[Neon Ignition]

31 Nights of Horror - Night 16
The Offering
A demonic presence that is preying on children moves on to its next prey when a guy and his pregnant wife come to visit his estranged Jewish father in New York only to find their unborn baby be the next target. Very little in the way of scares yet again with too much run time spent on the set up and even when things start to happen the direction is bad.

Friday the 13th: Vengeance
Another fan film that uses Part VI as a jumping point. Tommy Jarvis has gone missing having gone looking for Jason so his daughters and other survivors go in search of him only to find Jason hunting them. Nowhere near as good as Never Hike Alone, the acting and filming is a big step down with very clunky male leads and most of the female leads seeming to be adult content actors hired to take their tops off before being killed. More the kind of fan film you'd get when the fans are actually quite surface level in what they like in it.

[Atticus]

I watched The Thing (John Carpenter's) last night. I was going to double-bill it with the 2011 film (which I've never seen before) but old-man-mode kicked in and I lacked the required stamina. Enjoyed a viewing of the 1982 film though. The atmosphere is so good. The dog so creepy. And Outpost 31 the best man cave ever.