Horror films

[Brundle-Fly]

I'm sure this Netflix movie must've been already discussed somewhere on this sub-forum but last night I finally watched The Perfection (2018) after people were OMG'ing about it on Twitter a while back.

It was stylish, sexy, suspenseful and the story setting made a refreshing change. However, after the first half, I felt it went down the usual well-trodden path of

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revenge

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mainstream psychological horror movies. Very convincing performances from everybody though, it was tightly paced and some dazzling photography/ location stuff in and around Shanghai. They crank up the tension admirably and there are truly icky moments that make it worth the watch for the horror fan but some of the plot twists stretched plausibility like the required hand span width of a classical cellist. Oh yeah, and unsurprisingly, effective use of music in the score. I read it's supposed to be a comment on

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MeToo

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but I wasn't entirely convinced by that because it went a bit camp ' American Horror Story' to my liking for it to be taken too seriously dealing with

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such delicate subject matter.

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A mad hybrid of Hilary & Jackie (1998) and

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American Mary (2012)

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. And if you've seen the latter you'll know The Perfection clearly half inched the plot and the

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nasty and gruesome but utterly absurd

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payoff.

[zomgmouse]

Iranian horror The Night. Real insomniac hours, a couple with a young baby stay the (titular) night in a hotel, they're both overtired and start seeing and hearing things. Simple stuff - not too bad, but gets a bit predictable towards the end.

[zomgmouse]

The Empty Man is surprisingly good considering its fuck awful poster and title.

Just read the graphic novel this was based on (not hugely impressed but had some good ideas), will hopefully get to the film fairly soon

[SteveDave]

Blood Red Sky

A woman and her son are on a flight from Germany to America so she can have her "bad blood" cleaned/changed. Some bad terrorists are on the flight too.

As I've put this in the horror thread (and if you look at either poster or the Netflix picture for it) you'll be pleased to know that horror style business happens.

[holyzombiejesus]

Blood Red Sky

A woman and her son are on a flight from Germany to America so she can have her "bad blood" cleaned/changed. Some bad terrorists are on the flight too.

As I've put this in the horror thread (and if you look at either poster or the Netflix picture for it) you'll be pleased to know that horror style business happens.

One of the stills from the film that Netflix displays if you hover over the film contains a massive spoiler.

[Dave The Triffids]

One of the stills from the film that Netflix displays if you hover over the film contains a massive spoiler.

Yeah, that unavoidable Netflix spoiler annoyed me (although it didn't detract greatly from the film as I really enjoyed it anyway).

[TrenterPercenter]

Wow really enjoying Blood Red Sky great recommendation.  Didn't know much about but thought it was just going to be trash but it's great.

[ImmaculateClump]

One of the stills from the film that Netflix displays if you hover over the film contains a massive spoiler.

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To be fair to netflix, it's pretty heavily signposted within the first five minutes of the film when she's drinking blood in the toilet, and the title pretty much gives it away if you know the genre, but yeah, since it was in the horror thread and you mentioned there was a spoiler, I immediately thought "vampires on a plane", so yeah, it would have been nice to not be sure what genre it was and for that to at least have been a bit of surprise, but I'm not sure how much that would have added.

Goes a bit dumb action film at times and there are a lot of bits where you're rolling your eyes, as an example that bit at the end "let me go, the boys with me"
"ah right, mr terrorist, up you get, chase after the child, we'll stay here with our guns lowered and just watch, aye?"

Sometimes when the vampires made noises, it sounded like vic and the gang in house of fools when they'd had a slurp on the old pump me up juice, so that made it unintentionally funny at times when I was imagining the vampires going "Yooooou daft ... bastard!"

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Thanks for the recommendation. That was good fun!

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Haven't seen a vampire film for years! I was well into vampires when I was little :D

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[Echo Valley 2-6809]

Thanks for the recommendation. That was good fun!

I enjoyed last year's Vampires Vs The Bronx, which might be up your street. Good fun with some decent scares, but cert 12 so not horribly gory. Still on Netflix.

[ImmaculateClump]

Thanks, man! I'll grab that ready for the next time I fancy some bitey bitey action.

[SteveDave]

"Stakes On A Plane"

[zomgmouse]

Just read the graphic novel this was based on (not hugely impressed but had some good ideas), will hopefully get to the film fairly soon

Got to this today.

Before watching it I watched his previous short feature (it's 40 minutes which is borderline), AM 1200. Uploaded here: https://vimeo.com/102372269
A great debut, full of dread and madness and blood and gore alike.

Then finally:

The Empty Man - initially unsure about this but I got on its level about a third of the way through and from then on was hooked. All the time everything just feels a little off. Someone compared it to J-horror and I think that's what made me reframe it. I should have realised from the title. It's all about the emptiness. Feels completely different to the rampant sliminess of the graphic novel. But then... it went ahead and spoiled it all by doing something stupid like

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revealing the entire thing to be a fabrication of his mind based on guilt from cheating on a woman and his wife and child dying in a car accident. FUCK I hate when they ruin a fantastic sense of surreal mystery with some grounded bit of boring reality. Aghhhhh

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. Don't know how to react to it now, just felt like such a letdown.

[Jerzy Bondov]

It sort of was that but then

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even those memories were fake because he was a tulpa created by the cult to house the demon thingy

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, wasn't he?

[ImmaculateClump]

"Stakes On A Plane"

Haaaa! Yes, that's much better.

[zomgmouse]

It sort of was that but then

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even those memories were fake because he was a tulpa created by the cult to house the demon thingy

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, wasn't he?

I thought

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the cult was all a fake to cover up his guilt and grief

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... but I like your theory and will have more of a think

[Dave The Triffids]

It sort of was that but then

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even those memories were fake because he was a tulpa created by the cult to house the demon thingy

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, wasn't he?

I thought the same;

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I assumed the cult was real, he was a tulpa created by the cult and the memories of loss and regret were implanted so that the demon could more readily connect with him/eventually use him as the new host.

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[TrenterPercenter]

Gave Gerald's Game a go against my better judgement.  After scanning a a few things about it online it seemed to get the thumbs up but I must have missed all the warnings

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that it is massively about child sexual abuse

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which I really wasn't in the mood for.  Other than that I found it in the main really dull.

[Noodle Lizard]

Gave Gerald's Game a go against my better judgement.  After scanning a a few things about it online it seemed to get the thumbs up but I must have missed all the warnings

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that it is massively about child sexual abuse

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which I really wasn't in the mood for.  Other than that I found it in the main really dull.

I thought it was decent, as someone who doesn't rate Mike Flanagan as a filmmaker. The

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Man Made Of Moonlight

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stuff was done really well, and actually quite scary. I don't remember the thing you mentioned being overly prominent throughout, just contextualizing her relationship with her husband, but it's been a minute since I saw it.

[ImmaculateClump]

I watched The Dead Don't Die tonight.

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I liked the languid pace and found it quite relaxing to begin with but it could have really used some witty or at least droll dialogue or something to keep things ticking along instead of just the characters trading mundanities, and all the meta shit can fuck right off.
Then just doing the whole consumerism spin from Dawn of The Dead at the end. Mate. What is point?

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Shiter.

[McChesney Duntz]

Yeah, not great Jarmusch to be sure, though there was plenty I liked about it (mostly the [un-]deadpan performances of Murray and Driver and the sight of Eszter Balint in a J.J. joint again). Now, Only Lovers Left Alive, which I just saw for the first time the other night, that's top-drawer Jimbo. (Though probably the vampire movie with the least horror ever made.)

[zomgmouse]

I thought the same;

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I assumed the cult was real, he was a tulpa created by the cult and the memories of loss and regret were implanted so that the demon could more readily connect with him/eventually use him as the new host.

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You know I've slept on it and I think I agree with this now. Somehow I completely overlooked the prologue which basically has nothing to do with the main guy right? So it means this empty man stuff is bigger than him. I got caught out on my snap angry reaction to

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these kinds of endings and reveals

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. It all makes much more sense now and I've gone back to liking it again. Might rewatch it to put the pieces together again, or at least flip through it to double check what I missed now that I'm less riled up about it.

[Dave The Triffids]

You know I've slept on it and I think I agree with this now. Somehow I completely overlooked the prologue which basically has nothing to do with the main guy right? So it means this empty man stuff is bigger than him. I got caught out on my snap angry reaction to

Spoiler alert

these kinds of endings and reveals

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. It all makes much more sense now and I've gone back to liking it again. Might rewatch it to put the pieces together again, or at least flip through it to double check what I missed now that I'm less riled up about it.

I agree with you about

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those kind of endings; lazy and cliched.

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I definitely think The Empty Man is the kind of movie that benefits from a re-watch though.  I may well watch it again myself this weekend.

[Jerzy Bondov]

Found Double Date on Prime, a British horror comedy thing. I wouldn't say it's great but I enjoyed it. Michael Socha is very funny playing a Legend Gary type. Him and his friend meet a couple of nice young ladies who are doing human sacrifices. Great soundtrack.

[Brundle-Fly]

Watched on Prime last night. The Odds (2019). (Pretty much) a two-hander in real-time in one setting so probably shot during the Covid restrictions. It is a nice idea, not madly groundbreaking, sort of a less gratuitous Saw (2004) meets Hostel 3 (2011) but strong enough performances from the leads to keep me going to the actually quite gripping conclusion. Reminded me of Buried (2009).

[ImmaculateClump]

Now, Only Lovers Left Alive, which I just saw for the first time the other night, that's top-drawer Jimbo. (Though probably the vampire movie with the least horror ever made.)

Just looked at his filmography. Ghost dog! I remember that. That was good fun! That's the only one I remember seeing.
I'll give that vampire one a go at some point, thanks McChesney!
Yeah, there was plenty to like in there, it was a nice relaxing ride for the most part.

[ImmaculateClump]

Watched "The Empty Man" tonight and thought it was long thin ropey goldfish shit.

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So the guy at the start wasn't the ex-cop we cut to in the future?
Gah! This is why I hate american films, everyone is so generic handsome/beautiful they all blend into one. I thought the film was reaching for lynchian at times so I suppose it succeeded in that regard!

Was pretty upset when (googles) "Virginia Kull" got kulled.
I was thinking "you look just like my Laura"
Maybe David thought so too since she was in twin peaks!

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[zomgmouse]

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So the guy at the start wasn't the ex-cop we cut to in the future?

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No

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the guy at the start was the guy lying in the hospital who gets splattered at the end

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[paddy72]

Blood Red Sky. Load of old toss, more like.

[Jerzy Bondov]

The main guy out of Double Date liked my review of his film on Letterboxd even though I dinged him for a transphobic joke. Wish I'd given it more stars now. Embarrassing

[Junglist]

My Heart Can't Beat Unless You Tell It To

Ultra low budget family horror drama. Brother and sister strugging to get on with life whilst their younger brother suffers from a crippling, mysterious illness.

Very slow burn and it's clear from the start what the illness is, but that's intentional. Surprised me, decent watch. Some good moments.