It's October... Halloween/Horror Movies

having a drinks, acid & horror movies marathon this weekend w/ a few friends. we broke the lineup into nine different categories for a bit of variety; this is what we got going on:

The Guest
Vampyr
Bay of Blood
Club Dread
The Cremator
My Bloody Valentine
Ghostwatch
Killing Spree
Lifeforce
so this was last night & we were able to get through 6/9 on our list; The Guest, Vampyr, A Bay of Blood, Club Dread, Ghostwatch & My Bloody Valentine.

Club Dread was the obvious low point. it had its moments, but was basically a lot of rinse & repeat humor that wasn’t even funny the first time.

A Bay of Blood proved exactly what’s been on my mind a lot recently: i need to watch more Bava. it’s criminal how little Bava i’ve watched compared to how many gialli i’ve seen. the image of the decaying body covered in squids was truly unsettling.

after two of my friends packed it in & left around 4am, me & the last man standing decided to break away from our regularly scheduled programming & watched The Exorcist. holy fuck that movie never gets old. still makes my skin crawl & leaves me feeling violated lol
 
I need to know why bro, how come you don't watch movies? People are different from different cultures, we don't all get off on the same things, be interested to hear your take

I just don't have the concentration to watch them, unless they are really good. I can't watch something for 1.5+ hours unless I really like it - so most times, I don't even take the risk of starting a movie, as there is so much crap out there.
 
so this was last night & we were able to get through 6/9 on our list; The Guest, Vampyr, A Bay of Blood, Club Dread, Ghostwatch & My Bloody Valentine.

Club Dread was the obvious low point. it had its moments, but was basically a lot of rinse & repeat humor that wasn’t even funny the first time.

A Bay of Blood proved exactly what’s been on my mind a lot recently: i need to watch more Bava. it’s criminal how little Bava i’ve watched compared to how many gialli i’ve seen. the image of the decaying body covered in squids was truly unsettling.

after two of my friends packed it in & left around 4am, me & the last man standing decided to break away from our regularly scheduled programming & watched The Exorcist. holy fuck that movie never gets old. still makes my skin crawl & leaves me feeling violated lol
There is something special about Italian horror, they have an eye that is unique, you can spot a Bava/Argento/Fulci/Bava flick instantly.
perhaps it's the gothic back drops that you just can't replicate outside of European cinema.
Just like there is something about Hong Kong action thrillers that does not translate into Western cinema as romantically as the HK dudes do it.

How did you like Bay of Blood & more importantly what acid did you take? I plan on having a Mario Bava double bill soonish of Lisa & The Devil and then the recut of it as House Of Exorcism. See what differences they have

I watched Opera last night, it's a great movie, Dario Argento has an amazing eye, his run of films from Deep Red to Opera may be the greatest run of movies from any horror director.
What do you think @sweetviolenturg , does any other horror director have a better run of movies than Deep Red, Suspiria, Inferno, Tenebrae, Phenomena & Opera? All visually stunning movies, I'm blown away every single time I watch them
 
Ah, that’s what I forgot to mention! I watched the new Suspiria and immediately fell in love with it. Such a beautiful film. It’s a new favourite for sure!
 
What are the six movies? Inquiring minds want to know

Halloween 1978 is the only Halloween movie that really matters
Trick r Treat has grown on me.

I always have to watch Ginger Snaps as a Halloween movie too. I mean, it ends on Halloween so, good enough lol.
 
There is something special about Italian horror, they have an eye that is unique, you can spot a Bava/Argento/Fulci/Bava flick instantly.
perhaps it's the gothic back drops that you just can't replicate outside of European cinema.
Just like there is something about Hong Kong action thrillers that does not translate into Western cinema as romantically as the HK dudes do it.

How did you like Bay of Blood & more importantly what acid did you take? I plan on having a Mario Bava double bill soonish of Lisa & The Devil and then the recut of it as House Of Exorcism. See what differences they have

I watched Opera last night, it's a great movie, Dario Argento has an amazing eye, his run of films from Deep Red to Opera may be the greatest run of movies from any horror director.
What do you think @sweetviolenturg , does any other horror director have a better run of movies than Deep Red, Suspiria, Inferno, Tenebrae, Phenomena & Opera? All visually stunning movies, I'm blown away every single time I watch them

Nope. No one had a better stretch of films than Argento did during that period & they all still stand up as classics today.
I met Argento at a genre film convention called Fantaco in Albany, NY back in September of 1990 & I had the opportunity to spend a couple of hours with him discussing his & other director's work. It was awesome. One of the most surreal, sublime moments of my life was sitting in a hotel room drinking beer with Dario, his daughter Asia ( who was just a kid of about 15 at the time ), Edwin Neal ( the hitchhiker in TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE ) & a couple of other people watching a workprint of OPERA.
 
Ah, that’s what I forgot to mention! I watched the new Suspiria and immediately fell in love with it. Such a beautiful film. It’s a new favourite for sure!
I've yet to see it as I adore the original so much, but I've heard nothing but good things about this remake.

Trick r Treat has grown on me.

I always have to watch Ginger Snaps as a Halloween movie too. I mean, it ends on Halloween so, good enough lol.

Trick or Treat 1986 is another decent actual Halloween movie, just for having Gene Simmons and Ozzy Osbourne in it.
I need to rewatch Ginger Snaps one day
 
Nope. No one had a better stretch of films than Argento did during that period & they all still stand up as classics today.
I met Argento at a genre film convention called Fantaco in Albany, NY back in September of 1990 & I had the opportunity to spend a couple of hours with him discussing his & other director's work. It was awesome. One of the most surreal, sublime moments of my life was sitting in a hotel room drinking beer with Dario, his daughter Asia ( who was just a kid of about 15 at the time ), Edwin Neal ( the hitchhiker in TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE ) & a couple of other people watching a workprint of OPERA.
Ah man that's insane, I'm so jealous of that!!
That must have been such a strange experience, watching Opera with the man himself!!
Shit I'd never have left hotel room!
 
Ah man that's insane, I'm so jealous of that!!
That must have been such a strange experience, watching Opera with the man himself!!
Shit I'd never have left hotel room!

Yeah, it was wild. Like I said, just surreal. I don't mind telling you that I stayed as long as I could & that I got a little drunk in the process. LOL.
 
There is something special about Italian horror, they have an eye that is unique, you can spot a Bava/Argento/Fulci/Bava flick instantly.
perhaps it's the gothic back drops that you just can't replicate outside of European cinema.
Just like there is something about Hong Kong action thrillers that does not translate into Western cinema as romantically as the HK dudes do it.

How did you like Bay of Blood & more importantly what acid did you take? I plan on having a Mario Bava double bill soonish of Lisa & The Devil and then the recut of it as House Of Exorcism. See what differences they have

I watched Opera last night, it's a great movie, Dario Argento has an amazing eye, his run of films from Deep Red to Opera may be the greatest run of movies from any horror director.
What do you think @sweetviolenturg , does any other horror director have a better run of movies than Deep Red, Suspiria, Inferno, Tenebrae, Phenomena & Opera? All visually stunning movies, I'm blown away every single time I watch them
i absolutely loved A Bay of Blood. the narrative gets a little jumbled up at times, but it didn’t negatively effect my enjoyment of the film. the camera work stood out to me the most; the movements, framing & perspectives were brilliant. the practical effects were also a level above most gialli. now that i have A Bay of Blood out of the way, which Bava’s would you recommend i watch next/asap? also, not really sure what acid i took, but it did a smashing job on enhancing my night. Vampyr & A Bay of Blood in particular looked extra fucking fantastic lol

i second Argento’s legendary run being unmatched.

Ah, that’s what I forgot to mention! I watched the new Suspiria and immediately fell in love with it. Such a beautiful film. It’s a new favourite for sure!
i loved it as well. it has one of the most disturbing death scenes i’ve ever seen in any horror movie. are you familiar w/ the choreography of Pina Bausch & Martha Graham? if not, i highly recommend Pina (the Wim Wenders documentary) & Martha Graham: Dance on Film. adds an extra layer of appreciation.

I've yet to see it as I adore the original so much, but I've heard nothing but good things about this remake.
Suspiria is my favorite Argento, but i still loved the 2018 Suspiria. they are so different that it’s easy to view them as two unique entities, w/o one having to rely on the other for comparison.
 
i absolutely loved A Bay of Blood. the narrative gets a little jumbled up at times, but it didn’t negatively effect my enjoyment of the film. the camera work stood out to me the most; the movements, framing & perspectives were brilliant. the practical effects were also a level above most gialli. now that i have A Bay of Blood out of the way, which Bava’s would you recommend i watch next/asap? also, not really sure what acid i took, but it did a smashing job on enhancing my night. Vampyr & A Bay of Blood in particular looked extra fucking fantastic lol

i second Argento’s legendary run being unmatched.

i loved it as well. it has one of the most disturbing death scenes i’ve ever seen in any horror movie. are you familiar w/ the choreography of Pina Bausch & Martha Graham? if not, i highly recommend Pina (the Wim Wenders documentary) & Martha Graham: Dance on Film. adds an extra layer of appreciation.

Suspiria is my favorite Argento, but i still loved the 2018 Suspiria. they are so different that it’s easy to view them as two unique entities, w/o one having to rely on the other for comparison.
My horror tastes are mostly from 70 onwards, so I only really catch the tail end of Mario Bava movies, but lisa & The Devil is an old favorite, and I really want to see it back to back with House Of Exorcism, which is a re-edit of the same movie with added gore & nudity to cash in on the success of The Exorcist.

Danger: Diabolik & Kill Baby, Kill are both very good. I know his son, Lamberto's, movies a lot better than Mario to be fair
 
Watched Dario Argento's Inferno for the first time not long ago and enjoyed it. Sure the plot is all over the place and just a flimsy excuse to get from one random horror set piece to the next, but damn that movie is beautiful to look at.
 
Been trying to watch some horror movies I never knew about. Watched Eden Lake with Michael Fassbender a few days ago. Shows a whole new meaning to psychopathic teenagers.
Completely forgot about that one. Is that the one where he gets stabbed in the mouth?
 
Decided to watch “Scary Stories to tell in the dark” with my little brother the other night and I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed it. It was obviously tame in comparison to the horror movies I like, but this was still pretty decent.
 
Watched Dario Argento's Inferno for the first time not long ago and enjoyed it. Sure the plot is all over the place and just a flimsy excuse to get from one random horror set piece to the next, but damn that movie is beautiful to look at.
Totally agree, Suspiria, Inferno & Tenebrae are visually stunning.
The under water scene in Inferno is something else
 
Decided to watch “Scary Stories to tell in the dark” with my little brother the other night and I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed it. It was obviously tame in comparison to the horror movies I like, but this was still pretty decent.
This is a new one right? Can you liken it to anything else to give me an idea of what to expect?
 
i absolutely loved A Bay of Blood. the narrative gets a little jumbled up at times, but it didn’t negatively effect my enjoyment of the film. the camera work stood out to me the most; the movements, framing & perspectives were brilliant. the practical effects were also a level above most gialli. now that i have A Bay of Blood out of the way, which Bava’s would you recommend i watch next/asap? also, not really sure what acid i took, but it did a smashing job on enhancing my night. Vampyr & A Bay of Blood in particular looked extra fucking fantastic lol
I'm a huge fan of Mario Bava going back quite literally to my earliest days. His 1960 classic BLACK SUNDAY ( aka MASK OF THE DEMON ) is the first film that I can remember seeing as a child & as you can imagine, it left an indelible mark on me.
As for BAY OF BLOOD, it's a seminal giallo film that was pretty much responsible for the entire FRIDAY THE 13TH series of the '80s. Without the BAY OF BLOOD blueprint, those films wouldn't exist as we know them. BAY OF BLOOD is great stuff.
 
Totally agree, Suspiria, Inferno & Tenebrae are visually stunning.
The under water scene in Inferno is something else

I love INFERNO & of course, that sequence is just bloody brilliant.
I keep wanting to get INFERNO for my Blu-ray collection but I keep holding odd because I'm convinced that they're going to release a remastered/restored version. As it is I'm going to be getting SUSPIRIA on 4K disc next month this after having just bought the Synapse version on Blu-ray last year. But, I've got to have the 4K as I hear the print is flawless.
 
I love INFERNO & of course, that sequence is just bloody brilliant.
I keep wanting to get INFERNO for my Blu-ray collection but I keep holding odd because I'm convinced that they're going to release a remastered/restored version. As it is I'm going to be getting SUSPIRIA on 4K disc next month this after having just bought the Synapse version on Blu-ray last year. But, I've got to have the 4K as I hear the print is flawless.
Shit I can't even begin to imagine what Suspiria must look like on 4K, it would be awe inspiring.
I've not noticed any news about Inferno as yet but it is screaming out for 4K, it can't be long I would have thought.
 
I'm a huge fan of Mario Bava going back quite literally to my earliest days. His 1960 classic BLACK SUNDAY ( aka MASK OF THE DEMON ) is the first film that I can remember seeing as a child & as you can imagine, it left an indelible mark on me.
As for BAY OF BLOOD, it's a seminal giallo film that was pretty much responsible for the entire FRIDAY THE 13TH series of the '80s. Without the BAY OF BLOOD blueprint, those films wouldn't exist as we know them. BAY OF BLOOD is great stuff.
ahh yes, Black Sunday. i’d been meaning to watch that soon because i bought the Severin limited edition bluray of VIY & loved it. Black Sunday is loosely based on the same Gogol story, but what from i’ve heard, “loosely” is putting it nicely.

& yep, you can definitely see the slasher DNA of A Bay of Blood that would bring about Friday the 13th & other 80s slashers.
 
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