Halloween Movies 🎃

[Deimos]

He played a Teddy Boy in this strange semi-sequel to to Village of the Damned and Children of the Damned -- Hammer, 1962:

I have to say....This has exactly the kind of (1960s) British Pop music that I cannot stand... I'd have a lot of difficulty getting through an entire movie of it.

Besides the only "<whatever> Damned" movie worth watching is the first one.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

IIRC the music appears only in the early part of the film. It goes off in an unexpected direction pretty quickly.

 

[Deimos]

IIRC the music appears only in the early part of the film. It goes off in an unexpected direction pretty quickly.

I just read the whole plot on Wikipedia. Umm.... Pass. Totally.

 

[Deimos]

I know The Wickerman (1973) w/ Chris Lee) has been mentioned here, and recommended a for "Hallowe'en viewng" by others (Yours Truly included).
Watch the uncut version if you can find it.
Now.... There is also a remake (2006) starring Nicholas Cage as the Inspector and some woman as "Sister Summerisle" ... yep totally laughable feminist slant in the re-make.
Make you own decision about which one to watch....Oh, but I'll help you decide:
The original (1973) has a 7.5 On IMDB
The 2006 remake scores a whopping 3.8.
3.8... Wow. I don't think I'm aware of any other movie scoring that low.
But I guess a they are out there...

 

[Erestor Arcamen]

I know The Wickerman (1973) w/ Chris Lee) has been mentioned here, and recommended a for "Hallowe'en viewng" by others (Yours Truly included).
Watch the uncut version if you can find it.
Now.... There is also a remake (2006) starring Nicholas Cage as the Inspector and some woman as "Sister Summerisle" ... yep totally laughable feminist slant in the re-make.
Make you own decision about which one to watch....Oh, but I'll help you decide:
The original (1973) has a 7.5 On IMDB
The 2006 remake scores a whopping 3.8.
3.8... Wow. I don't think I'm aware of any other movie scoring that low.
But I guess a they are out there...

I’ll just leave this here…2.5 is generous

 

[Deimos]

I’ll just leave this here…2.5 is generous
View attachment 45306

Wow. 2.5... That is a first for me (seeing that there is actually something that bad.
So for comparison's sake:
1953 (w/Gene Barry) 7.0
2005 (w/ Tom Cruise) 6.6
and then.... this.

So if AI is up to date on its info 1.2 is [currently] the lowest rating given to a movie.
And the winner is........ Daniel the Wizard (Never heard of it)

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

Out of curiosity, I looked up "Plan 9 from Outer Space" on there. 3.9 -- but scrolling through some of the user reviews, I noticed many with a 1/10 rating then saying how much they enjoyed it.

Another case of "so bad it's good" -- but it certainly brings the overall rating down. And as Roger Ebert once said, "If something is 'so bad it's good', isn't it just . . .good?"

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

A movie from Mexico I heard recommended, if your Spanish is up to it: "The Black Pit of Doctor M".

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

Don't forget to tune in Saturday night for Monster Chiller Horror Theater:

Scary stuff! But next week, even scarier!

Be sure to send in for your 3D glasses!

 

[Ent]

Ent watched The Monster That Challenged The World (1957, Tim Holt, Gramercy). (Colorized version. A tiny bit of Ent wonders why it was considered worth the cost to colorize, but hey... there it is.)

Haven't seen it in ages. Somehow, missed the ending. Can't remember why - it was yesterday already Will need to go back and watch it again. Apparently a 'free download' of the thing is available at present. May check it out - it truly fits Ent's 'mindless movie' criteria..!

Oh yes, also watched Empire Of the Ants (1977, American International Pictures, Bert I. Gordon director.) Equally mindless, completely implausible, and fun fare.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

 

[Erestor Arcamen]

Another one worth watching, The Old Dark House (1932)

 

[Ent]

Oh NOW Ent feels really old. Forgetting the name of the spider movie he watched on Saturday, he googled "Old Spider Movies."
He was presented with "Spiders" and "Big A.. Spider" from 2013, "Arachnid" from 2001, "Ice Spiders" from 2007, and "Lavalantula" and "2 Lava 2 Lantula" from 2015 and 2016 respectively.

These are OLD???

But eventually the one watched was found. The impressive 1975 flick The Giant Spider Invasion.
No one can forget THIS spider, whose legs never quite touch the ground, yet it moves along at QUITE a respectable pace..!! (Or at least - the filmography makes it appear to do so. In some scenes it's quite apparent it can hardly move at all.)

Unfortunately, the Entwife needed substantial sleep-time this weekend just past, so a number of oldies found their way to the unsuspecting screen. (It complained loudly - then drank a nice English Breakfast tea to pacify itself. Ent was surprised, but @Klaatu may have heard of such things.)

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

I rewatched this one on Svengoolie a couple of weeks ago:

 

[Ent]

We must be cautious lest Tolkien Fandom determine these presented Tolkien with the inspiration for Ungoliant.
To the best of Ent's knowledge, even the earliest of the movies featuring or about a giant spider (1953 and 1955 respectively) post-date Tolkien's writing of Ungoliant into sub-creation (1914, in the early poem The Voyage of Earendel.)

This one need not go to The Great Halls of Speculation.

 

[Ent]

Due to someone whose name will remain secret (though it's @Squint-eyed Southerner) Ent is currently watching Tarantula from 1955.
Ent is indulging in the Colorized version, however - enjoying the 'adaptation' from the pure form of its Black and White original.

That said, it's also Ent's very first movie, free for the streaming on the "Internet Archive." Not bad at all.
"Ever in motion is the future." (Yoda.)

 

[Ent]

Colorized Tarantula - definitely colorized in the early days of colorization..!
But Ent must say, there are features of the 1955 Tarantula superior to the 1977 Giant Spider Invasion..
Some day, Ent may do a point by point comparision.
Of course, the premises for the situation are entirely different - but we're not not talking about the premises and their plausibilities. Both are equally implausible.
But we must remember the issues and fears spawning such movies, their times, the differences 22 years made, and even the differences the subsequent years made, into the next evolution of fears and implausibilities driving these types of 'horror' flicks.

 

[Ent]

Oh, snarl. Another 'indestructible' monster bites the dust to a big ball of fire. Napalm this time, vs. the supersized fire extinguisher (a tank) used in Caltiki, the Immortal Monster. Ent had forgotten the creature's demise. Sigh. But considering the day and age they were made in, well... they had to come up with something.

p.s. - never mind Ent's comment above about its colorization. It was colorized in 2022 using AI by someone, who confesses AI doesn't always get the colors right, and noting perhaps someone some day will do a proper job of colorizing it. Ent thinks - "highly unlikely." But ya never know.

At least Brain From the Planet Arous is done in by a big axe..!

Ent also notes quite a few of the old movies have been colorized by unknowns, most likely using AI, a number of them in the 2022-2023 timeframe so far. Very interesting.

LOL... it's also noted one of them at least is being sold as a "rare copy" someplace. What a landfall. Poorly colorize things using relatively early AI, and sell them as 'rare.' The human has no end to its proclivities to profit as much as possible based on minimalist effort.

But... they're in the public domain now, so... why not?

 

[Ent]

Ah, Ent is SO glad he found this Internet Archive. He had completely forgotten about The Mole People of 1956. (Perhaps a good thing? We'll know soon..!)

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

Napalm this time,

Yeah -- but napalm delivered by Clint Eastwood! 😁