[MONTH OF HORROR] Evil Dead Trap

There isn’t any Evil Dead in this film, but it is a kind of a trap for a young reporter and her brave little team of investigators. It’s a very mean film and I’m not sure why I like it. But there you go. I have no taste.

This puts us at 12 reviews total. I’ve gotten through the rest of this year and most of January. So far the project’s worked a wee bit better than expected.

There are a few reviews that need touched up. Oh, and for the record I rewrote the one for The House of Seven Corpse. I decided I needed to go in more depth there.

Might have to do that again.

No idea what tomorrow will bring.

[MONTH OF HORROR] The House of Seven Corpses

Wow. That was a disappointment.

The House of Seven Corpses is about a film crew who are filming in a murder house. One recital from the Book of the Dead and… well, it takes more than one reading. And it takes most of the movie before the killing starts…

I can’t say I was bored, but the end was so nonsensical…

I dunno. Waste of a good cast, I think.

Anyways, the review for this is done and the review for V/H/S/85 is done. Though there may be… reworkings. What I have will work, but there’s a doubt.

So far, ten days down, twenty one to go, eleven reviews written.

[MONTH OF HORROR] V/H/S/99 & V/H/S/85

So I watched two movies today. What of it?

The V/H/S series is a Found Footage anthology that’s near and dear to my heart. These are the newest entries in the series. I hadn’t intended to watch them for this marathon, but Brother Todd expressed an interest.

To give a brief review, V/H/S/99 is the weaker of the two, though it arguably has the best story. That particular story was created by the same people who did the awesome Deadstream. Well worth watching just for that. The poor segments won’t hurt too bad.

Anyway, I’ve finished the review for V/H/S/99 and still have one to do for V/H/S/85. So we’re at 9/31, perhaps 10/31. Being a wee bit ahead is good, as every other Month of Horror I’ve burned out before the end.

[MONTH OF HORROR] Curse of the Doll People and a Summation of the First Week

Okay, tonight’s feature was Curse of the Doll People, a rip off of A. Merritt’s classic Burn, Witch, Burn. It was okay, I guess. Little doll monsters, an interesting Zombie, and a bad guy who was dumb as a post.

This marks the seventh review I’ve written as a buffer for the sister site. That’s 7/31.

And now the week’s summation. Here’s what I watched, with the scheduled dates for the full reviews. This may change–it’s a lot of Horror one after the other and I might want to through in some Sci Fi or Fantasy. Or a Golden Oldie.

Speaking of which, the week gaps you’ll see are where I already had Golden Oldies in place.

Anyways, in watch order:

  • As Above, So Below (10/13/23)
  • Demons (10/27/23)
  • Demons 2 (11/10/23)
  • Man Made Monster* (11/24/23)
  • The Comedy of Terror (12/1/23)
  • The Church (12/8/23)
  • The Curse of the Doll People (12/15/23)

Next is the obligatory pointless Awards for the week:

Best Movie of the Week: As Above, So Below. Hands down the best one. The Comedy of Terror comes close.

Worst Movie of the Week: Man Made Monster.

Best Pizza Shlock: Demons 2. Almost wrote Demons by mistake.

Biggest Surprise: Man Made Monster is my first full review since I believe February. Which is nice. As Above, So Below being as good as it is gets it a mention here. Also in the running is The Church, which I honestly believed was Demons 3 at one point (which it is, but not the point I thought.)

Newest Film Watched: As Above, So Below at 2014.

Oldest Film Watched: Man Made Monster at 1941.

Most Sophisticated a Film: The Comedy of Terror. It quotes Shakespeare and that instantly classes things up. Which, now that I think about it, would mean the American Version of King Kong Versus Godzilla would be sophisticated for the same reason. That’s just wrong.

Film Not Even Mentioned In Passing in These Awards Despite Having Its Name in the Title: The Curse of the Doll People. I was feeling guilty, alright?

One week down, three weeks and a few days to go. Will I make a full month?

Never have before…

[MONTH OF HORROR] The Church

For a movie about Demons and Hell, this flick strikes me as awfully Lovecraftian. Which is a stitch as according to the IMDb it rips off an M R James tale called The Treasure of Abbot Thomas.

Going to have to look into that.

Anyways, the story is basically about an unscrupulous librarian unlocking an ancient curse while looking for loot. It’s stylish, it’s incoherent, it’s basically what people think of when they think Italian Horror. It’s pretty good.

Though the James story is undoubtable better.

Because of who wrote it.

Anyway, my streak continues. Six reviews written. About a month and a half, give or take. Not to shabby. 6/31.

[MONTH OF HORROR] The Comedy of Terrors

Another one down! And an even better one than what’s come before. Who’d have thunk?

A small digression, if you don’t mind. WordPress now allows writers to have its AI to generate excerpt commentary. I don’t use it as a rule, but I keep trying it to see what happens. Tonight’s effort came out surprisingly good. I didn’t use it, but I put it here as a curiosity.

Thus the AI on my upcoming review on this particular film:

The 1963 film, featuring legendary actors like Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, and Boris Karloff, explores the story of a desperate, disreputable undertaker who finds shady ways to carry out his business. Despite flaws such as poor comedy direction and noticeable stunt double placement, the film is praised for its witty scripting and entertaining performers, particularly Karloff.

That’s not half bad, really. Kind of a shock.

Anyways, another review in the buffer. And as I finished Man Mad Monster, my count is 5/31. I’m doing decent writing work here.

Hope it helps over all.

[MONTH OF HORROR] Man Made Monster

This wasn’t the intended feature of the day, but I ran out of time. I needed a quickie and at an hour this fit the bill. Besides, I’ve been meaning to see it. I watched it once as a kid and always wanted to watch it again. Kept confusing it with The Indestructible Man.

In a nutshell, this is EVERY FIFITIES SCI FI MOVIE (even though it came out in the forties). A mad scientist gets a hold of a carny who has an immunity to electricity and turns him into a monster. The usual brouhaha ensues. It is marginally better than most due to the acting and the tightness of the plot. Lon Chaney Jr. does his thing here, but he could have been playing any one of a dozen monsters. It’s unusual in that the female lead tries to save the monster instead of being threatened by him.

I liked it, but I have no taste.

My problem is that on finishing it I got the urge to go ON AND ON about it. As I’m supposed to be doing shorts, this might be a problem. I’m going to try to write a long form out of it tomorrow (it’s only an hour, how hard can it be?). However this has to be considered a stumble in my goals. How bad of one… remains to be seen.

3/31 done. Let’s hope the number grows tomorrow.

[MONTH OF HORROR] Demons

God, I love this picture.

People are given tickets to see a nameless movie in a brand new theater by a guy who looks like he’s depriving an Opera house of a phantom. This proves to be a mistake, as it’s some sort of plot to unleash Hell on Earth.

I am so not impartial with this one. It’s one of those “Can watch anytime” flicks.

So we are now 2/31 in terms of reviews for the Sister Site. So far so good.