October Movie Madness Marathon!

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October Movie Madness Marathon!

Post by Morthrai »

Game writer and Protodimension contributor Scott Dorward is currently doing an "October Horror Movie Challenge". This involves him watching a horror movie every day up to and including Halloween, and then passing on his opinions of said movies on his Google Plus account.

I have decided to bend the idea a little to include science fiction, conspiracy and action movies along with horror. I will post my brief thoughts on each movie here, but remember these are not reviews, just my opinions and random thoughts :D
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Re: October Movie Madness Marathon!

Post by Morthrai »

Movie #1:

Starting with something serious, my first pick was "Fear of the Unknown".

This is a documentary about the life and works of HP Lovecraft featuring interviews with many authors and film directors about HPL's works and influence on them and the horror and SF genres. I found it quite enjoyable and illuminating, though I'm not sure why the guy who provides Lovecraft's "own voice" in the narration talks in such an odd way. Mind you I have no idea what the man sounded like anyway :? Also, I wonder why does Neil Gaiman think it's DuLwich rather than Dunwich.

You can see it on YooChoob: http://youtu.be/Spoz_1KyZiA
Last edited by Morthrai on Fri Oct 03, 2014 5:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: October Movie Madness Marathon!

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Movie #2:

Following on from the Lovecraft documentary I decided to plump for the 1993 effort "Necronomicon: Book of the Dead". Also known as HP Lovecraft: Necronomicon this is very much like one of the old Amicus portmanteau movies, made up of loose adaptations of three HPL tales. The linking segments all feature HPL (played by genre stalwart and Reanimator star Jeffrey Combs) poring over the legendary tome, gaining inspiration for his writing.

This movie gets plaudits and derision in equal amounts, but there are some genuine creeps to be had and it even features David Warner in one story - always good value is our Dave! 8)

This is currently on YooChoob here: http://youtu.be/MiiJnhqqCxI
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Re: October Movie Madness Marathon!

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Movie #3:

Simply because I hadn't seen it in several years today's movie was "The Crow", the movie that made a posthumous star of Brandon Lee and sold a billion copies of the soundtack album.

Okay, it was very much of the Goth and related sub-cultures, and continues to shape them 20 years later. That said, it's a decent movie with strong supporting performances from Ernie Hudson as the local cop, and Michael Wincott makes a superb messed-up snarling villain. There's some good dialogue too, plus plenty fighting action, sleazy minions and even Tony Todd. :)
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Re: October Movie Madness Marathon!

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Movie #4:

Today's choice is essentially one of the most DC movies. almost by accident! 1990's "Dark Angel" (aka "I Come In Peace") features Dolph Lundgren as a maverick narcotics detective who loses his partner during a stakeout and fetches up battling both an extraterrestrial drug dealer and scumball FBI chief Switzer.

I like this big explosive B-movie simply because it doesn't pretend to be anything else! There's goodies and baddies, scumbags on both sides of the law, and a car chase towards the end which almost shot-for-shot goes like this: Terminator ripoff - Highlander ripoff - Robocop ripoff :twisted:

Even has a bit part from the king of "that guy" roles, Al Leong :D
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Re: October Movie Madness Marathon!

Post by ReHerakhte »

I have to say Lee, you're pretty good at this!
Your reviews show a good knowledge of cinema and are quite entertaining to boot :D

I think you should perhaps consider doing something along these lines as a column in Protodimension.
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Re: October Movie Madness Marathon!

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ReHerakhte wrote:I have to say Lee, you're pretty good at this!
Your reviews show a good knowledge of cinema and are quite entertaining to boot :D

I think you should perhaps consider doing something along these lines as a column in Protodimension.
Not sure about doing a column, after all there is already the DC Movie Database plus Eric Fabiaschi's occasional B-movie articles. This is just me riffing off someone else's idea. Last year I did a similar thing with a bunch of classic (and not so classic!) horror movies, the Hammer archive mainly, but didn't do reviews.

This is just me larking about but I'm glad you enjoy it. :D
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Re: October Movie Madness Marathon!

Post by Phulish »

Morthrai wrote:Movie #3:

Simply because I hadn't seen it in several years today's movie was "The Crow", the movie that made a posthumous star of Brandon Lee and sold a billion copies of the soundtack album.

Okay, it was very much of the Goth and related sub-cultures, and continues to shape them 20 years later. That said, it's a decent movie with strong supporting performances from Ernie Hudson as the local cop, and Michael Wincott makes a superb messed-up snarling villain. There's some good dialogue too, plus plenty fighting action, sleazy minions and even Tony Todd. :)
A good idea for a tulpa in DC as well!
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Re: October Movie Madness Marathon!

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Movie #5:

My next choice was 1998's "Dark City". Written and directed by Alex Proyas who also directed The Crow, this particular weird tale involves ordinary guy John Murdoch who fears that he may unconsciously be a serial killer. However, there's a whole lot more going on and things soon escalate into a struggle against truly alien powers. Telekinesis, evolution, identity and sanity are all part of this story.

I especially love the casting of the "Strangers", who all have one-word names. Their leader Mr Book is played by Ian Richardson with all his customary gravitas, while his top enforcer is the always strange Richard O'Brien as Mr Hand. The supporting cast also features Bruce Spence (Mad Max 2's Gyro Captain) as a Stranger, and Colin Friels turns in a superb performance as an ex-cop whose realisation of the truth has driven him raving mad. :shock:
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Re: October Movie Madness Marathon!

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Movie #6:

A low-budget UK-Irish production, "Stitches" features British comic Ross Noble as a seedy clown who ends up dead at a childrens party, because of the bratty kids. However, clown lore has it that if a clown dies before the end of a performance, in certain circumstances he can return to finish things off. Can you see where this is going? :twisted:

Some people think that The Simpsons' Krusty is a seedy clown - they have no idea! Silly, darkly funny, twisted, gory and cringe-making in some parts. Also, teenagers on mountain bikes being chased by an undead evil clown on a child's tricycle...what else would he ride?
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Re: October Movie Madness Marathon!

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Movie #7:

I freely admit that this one isn't actually a movie, but as it's my challenge there's no proper rules anyway!

I spent this evening rewatching the BBC series "A History of Horror". Originally shown in 2010 it is a personal exploration of the horror movie genre by writer, comedian and actor Mark Gatiss. I think the main reason I enjoy these is because in this series Gatiss talks in plain English rather than "moviespeak", and is a Brit of a similar vintage to myself :P

I too remember staying up late as a kid on Friday nights to see if there was a Hammer or Amicus film on after the news!
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Re: October Movie Madness Marathon!

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Movie #8:

Saturday's choice was one of those typical early 70s light-hearted "horror" films. Theatre Of Blood features Vincent Price as Lionheart, a scenery-chewing Shakespearian ac-TOR who exacts a terrible revenge upon the London Critic's Circle.

A fun little movie with just one major plot hole, what really makes this special is the supporting cast. It seems that almost every British character actor of the time is in here: Jack Hawkins, Harry Andrews, Ian Hendry, Robert Morley are all here. The cast is rounded out by Diana Rigg as Lionheart's daughter, with Milo O'Shea and his right-hand man Eric Sykes as the investigating police officers (who in the best traditions of this type of film are always one step behind).
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Re: October Movie Madness Marathon!

Post by Linden »

Morthrai wrote:
This movie gets plaudits and derision in equal amounts, but there are some genuine creeps to be had and it even features David Warner in one story - always good value is our Dave! 8)

This is currently on YooChoob here: http://youtu.be/MiiJnhqqCxI
I do remember this one being quite poor - the David Warner segment, based on Cool Air(?), is by far the best bit.
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Re: October Movie Madness Marathon!

Post by Morthrai »

OK, I admit to falling way behind on this thing. I will do some catching up over the next couple of days. As you will be aware, there is a certain group of films and TV shows that are the very essence of what Dark Conspiracy is all about. I make certain to watch them at least once a year, so this movie madness thing gives me the excuse to collect them all one after another :)

Movie #9 is one of these. Tobe Hooper's "Lifeforce" has alien vampires laying dormant inside a huge spacecraft hidden in the tail of Halley's Comet. Obviously the fact that the comet's tail isn't actually behind it doesn't matter, this isn't that kind of movie!

What we actually have here is a hot naked alien woman nipping from one body to another whilst being pursued by Dominick Hide's Peter Firth as an SAS colonel. There's even an appearance from Patrick Stewart as the head of an asylum.

Seriously, if it weren't for the nudity you could be watching a Quatermass story. The climax even takes place inside a church in London!
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Re: October Movie Madness Marathon!

Post by Linden »

Morthrai wrote:
Movie #9 is one of these. Tobe Hooper's "Lifeforce" has alien vampires laying dormant inside a huge spacecraft hidden in the tail of Halley's Comet. Obviously the fact that the comet's tail isn't actually behind it doesn't matter, this isn't that kind of movie!
I remember this one being very cheesy, but with some good creature effects in a lab scene. Didn't your mate John Turner list it as essential viewing in one of his DC articles from the 1990s?

I read Colin Wilson's source novel The Space Vampires many years ago. I recall it being fairly standard Garth Marenghi style pulp horror, distinguished only by Wilson's occasional exposition of his crankish views on human psychology.

I think the vampires themselves may have been statted up for Call of Cthulhu in one of Chaosium's Ye Bookes of Monstres. Not that difficult to convert to DC I'd have thought, if you wanted to.
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