Oktoberfest 2024

The segments were placed in a descending order of enjoyment for me. I think I would've liked the movie more if "The Drop of Water" was the last one rather than the first one. The movie is visually intriguing throughout the whole thing, but it has a few too many dull moments in my opinion.

Not my favorite movie ever, but still a fun gore-fest. The priest should've been in it more, though.

One of my favorite horror movies. I hadn't seen it in like 5-6 years and it still holds up.

I had plans on watching Suicide Club today, but by the time I got to it it was no longer available to me. Instead I watched the first Italian low budget movie available, which unfortunately ended up being Burial Ground.
The opening scene gave me somewhat of a hope. I enjoyed the tone of it and I really enjoyed the music. The scene then transitioned into the opening credits which had this 60's jazzy tune to it and I thought "Okay, this is going to be interesting. I can't wait for the plot to kick in". Little did I know that there would be absolutely no plot at all. The movie sets up a few things for no reason. None of the set-ups have any payoff whatsoever. Zombies wake up and slowly starts harrassing the boring characters. They spend the rest of the movie trying to get away from them, never once thinking of leaving the estate. The soundtrack just got annoying after a while. We needed more actual music rather than just droning ambience. I got so tired of listening to the sci-fi beeping while we got close-ups of zombie faces.
I have no idea how this ended up on my watchlist in the first place. It was so boring and I wouldn't recommend it. If you want to watch an Italian zombie movie, just watch Zombie 2 instead - which this incidentally is ripping off. Or watch Zombie 3 even, at least that one is funny and it actually has a plot.

I remember my first time watching this. I spent most of the time trying to figure out the plot before it unraveled, which in hindsight I believe skewed my enjoyment a bit. I remember liking it, but not as much as I would've if I just sat back and enjoyed what I was seeing. Today I was able to do that and I did enjoy it more than I did 6 years ago. Knowing how it ends made me appreciate the movie alot more for what it is. Much like when I rewatched Inland Empire. The difference being that Hereditary makes sense.

Fun blaxploitation movie. It's not hysterical, but it has some funny moments here and there. The climax was interrupted by an inappropriately framed "No smoking" sign that took alot of focus, which made me laugh quite a bit. Things like that will stick with me the most from this movie. Technically there's nothing special about it. William Marshall is a very captivating actor in my opinion and makes everything he's in 100% more interesting. No exceptions here. The supporting cast was decent as well.
The movie is not scary.

I don't think it has anything on the original, but it's still a decent zombie movie.

I really like the overall atmosphere of this movie, even though it does take a bit too long to get moving.

Fun slasher with some great gore. Probably one of the best Fulci movies that I've seen.

This is a difficult movie to rate because it's very effective in what it tries to do. However, they did some horrible shit in order to get that point across. I appreciate the scene where they burn down the tribes hut because even though it is somewhat difficult to watch it is a very effective way of demonstrating what bad people they are. Stuff like that will stick with you in a bittersweet kind of way. I'm not much for those kind of movies in general, it's not what I tend to watch all that much. However, I will speak highly of them afterwards. Come and See is a movie that I doubt I'll ever watch again, but I never miss a chance to bring it up and recommending it to people. And that movie also has scenes like that.
Cannibal Holocaust has so many scenes of animal cruelty and death, which I'm sure most people will already be aware of. I've probably been told about it as well, I guess I just forgot about it. Those kind of scenes will stick with you in a strictly bad way. I can't say that I appreciated that aspect of this movie. I'm okay with the aforementioned burning scene or the rape scene. Even though they're horrible to sit through, at least you know it's simulated. The animal death scenes were so blatantly matter of fact and you know that the Italian filmmakers of the era did not give a shit about what they were doing. In a way they were as cruel as the characters. This is why the movie is very difficult to rate. I'm sure that all this has been said before by numerous people, but god damn it I have to speak my mind.

I will give credit where credit is due. Ruggero Deodato has a knack for good filmmaking. Cannibal Holocaust is a well made movie. It looks great, the acting is decent and you can't talk about this movie without mentioning the fantastic score by Riz Ortolani. I will gladly watch other Deodato movies in the future because he was talented. A movie like Body Count, which is utterly incompetent, is very entertaining to watch because of the visuals and the pacing. I will never watch this movie again, though.

Overall a really solid slasher. It's not without it's flaws, of course. It has some really distracting day-for-night stuff, which sort of made passage of time a bit confusing. George Costanza plays a teenager and he just comes off as George Costanza. My apologies to Jason Alexander who was only about 21 when they shot this, but it's true. The movie lost it's steam in the last 20 minutes or so when the main character was just running around the woods looking for the killer.
Other than that I really enjoyed The Burning. It has a very solid pace, except for the last 20 minutes. Great Tom Savini effects, a great score by Rick Wakeman from Yes and I actually liked most of the characters, whether it be because of the acting or the writing. It's arguably my favorite straight up slasher film, if you don't count the franchises. Although, The Initiation is pretty great as well.

I love movies like this. Movies that are crazy and over the top in this kind of way, but still has so much sincerity to them. It has a wonderful October tone to it as well, which I very much appreciate.
Apparently I watched a version that was severely edited down, but I loved it nonetheless. It's not one of the greatest movies of all time or anything. In fact, some of it is a bit confusing. However, it looks great, has some solid atmospheric music and one of my favorite kind of tones to it.
Highly recommend it to horror fans.

I believe that this gets alot of shit from people. It's stupid and has stretches of boring , but I feel the same way about all of the Friday the 13th movies that I've seen. The 3D gimmick is also stupid. However, I feel like it gave the movie a uniqueness, a uniqueness that most Friday the 13th movies lack. I haven't seen all of them, by the way, only like half. The look of the movie in general kind of sets it apart from the other ones as well. I'm not sure how to explain it, but the look of the 3D cameras and their somewhat shallow depth of field appeals to me for whatever reason. I feel the same way about Jaws 3. I find it charming. I have no idea if it's a 3D thing or just a widescreen standard for the time. There might be ton of other non 3D movies from this era that looks the same. I can't think of any from the top of my head, though. What I do know is that none of the other Friday the 13th movies looks that way.
I might place this just below Part 4 as my favorite of the franchise for now. I do need to rewatch the first one, because I haven't seen it in 15 years. I don't remember liking it very much, though. I liked part 3 more than part 6, which is one of the more beloved ones. Controversial opinion perhaps.
That's it.

The movie looks fantastic and has some spectacular deaths, especially towards the end. Apart from Suspiria, this is Dario Argento's most celebrated movie. I'm not feeling it, though. This is my second time watching it and while I didn't hate it like I did back in 2019, I still don't get why this is praised more than Tenebre or Four Flies on Grey Velvet. One of my biggest problems with Deep Red is that things happen, but it feels like nothing is happening for long stretches of time. The music is good, it's just very inappropriate for alot of the time - a Dario Argento trademark incidentally. The famous scene with the mechanic doll would've been so much better if it was dead silent. Instead we get a really aggressive funk jam which completely ruins the tension, in my opinion. And it's not like Argento doesn't know any other way. There's plenty of tense scenes in Four Flies on Grey Velvet - his previous film - where he doesn't feel the need to blast inappropriate music.
He's very hit or miss for me. This is a miss, even though it's not technically a bad movie. My feelings on Deep Red has softened after a rewatch, unlike Suspiria which I still hate. I wouldn't place it on the top of the list of his filmography, though. Not in terms of personal enjoyment.

It's not a great movie. It's somewhat fun, not my favorite slasher/splatter/Italian B-movie. It's not even Italian, but it's the same principal. It's stupid and it's gory and that's all it has. If you've watched alot of these movies you'll recognize all of the dubbed voices from endless other ones of the time. I know I've heard the Professor Brown voice a bunch of times before. The voice of Willard is the same voice as the main character in Cannibal Holocaust and endless other ones. I go on about this because the movie didn't grip me in any sort of way. It's fine. The ending was funny.

This was fascinating, it was also very boring. It's an Argento movie that hardly feels like an Argento movie at all. There's a few shots here and there, but not enough to where I'd be able to pick it out from a line-up. It's a Giallo movie that infuses the worst part of a Eurospy movie. So you have alot of scenes of people just talking in rooms and giving blanket exposition. A few scenes of this is fine, not over half the running time. We needed more excitement and definitely more kills. One of the best parts was when they brought in Enzo G. Castellari on set for a day to shoot an awesome car chase. If you're gonna lean a bit into the Eurospy anyway then why not do more of that stuff? My favorite part was when they introduced this weirdo called Gigi. He shows up for one scene to do a goofy break-in with our main character. I think he's supposed to be a comic relief character, but they miss the mark so badly that it surpasses not being funny to being funny again. His look, facial expressions and dubbing made me laugh alot and I think for the wrong reasons. Then, after winning an insult competition against a priest, he turns out to be this brilliant lockpicker despite having the nickname "The Loser". He is never seen or heard from again afterwards. It almost comes off as he's a recurring character in a series of movies. There's so much implied backstory in this throwaway character and I find it very fascinating.
The movie could stand to be about 30 minutes shorter if you ask me. I think it's very telling how engaging a story is when the killer is revealed and my immediate reaction is "Who's this guy again?". Not one of Argento's best. However, I don't think it'll instantly drift away from my memory like some of the Gialli or Eurospy movies I've watched before. We have good ol' Gigi to thank for that.

This is Lucio Fulci's masterpiece. Obviously not a cornerstone in cinematic history. For his standards, though, it was pretty great.

A terrible no budget satanic panic movie that's just charming enough to be a funny bad movie. It's 100% sincere, which definitely helps. Had it been tounge in cheek it wouldv'e just been obnoxious. Everyone gives it their all in terms of performances, which leads to some good laughs. The sheriff in particular had some fantastic line deliveries. There's some awkward action scenes that I enjoyed. There's some unexpected gore.
I genuinely liked the tone of the movie. Perfect for an October/Halloween watch.

I think this tried way too hard to be an art movie. All of the peculiar editing choices felt meaningless, like the only reason they existed was to make the movie stand out. It felt disingenuous to me. I'm all for a unique style in a movie if it comes from a genuine place. I didn't feel that way with The Hunger. Instead it came across as if a blue collar filmmaker set out to make an art movie rather than an artist just making a movie his way. I think it would've been better if it was directed by Brian De Palma, because that's his natural style. It's pretty to look at, but that doesn't automatically make it a good movie.
Then at the end it turned into a Lucio Fulci movie.

Really well presented and well put together, especially for the time. Very much ahead of it's time. Nobody gives off any vibes of being fake, everyone is extremely natural. Had that not been the case, then this movie wouldn't have been as successful at traumatizing Great Britain as it was, I don't think. It's also very well paced, it never loses your interest. It wasn't as scary as I wanted it be, though, but that's completely subjective.

A bunch of fun.

Silent movies are very hit or miss for me. I don't think I can get down on this movie for it's structure, storytelling or filmmaking - definitely not the filmmaking which is very good for the time. It's just not a movie for me, I'm sorry. I get the appeal, I get why it has such a reputation, I respect it. I'll probably never watch it again. It did feel like a chore watching it. I felt like I was doing homework rather than enjoying a movie on my free time.

In terms of filmmaking and general pacing, it's not bulletproof. There's some ADR issues where the sound does not match the mouthes at all. There was one moment when it seemed like a line was being said by the actor, but there was no sound. Sometimes the sound would chime in like a second too late as well. So, the overall dubbing isn't that great. The movie also doesn't have enough of a story to warrant being feature length, so there are scenes that feel very stretched out. Which is a strange thing to say about an 80 minute movie.
In another movie these flaws could definitely take me out of it. However, I kind of loved the overall atmosphere of this movie. I loved the score and ambience, I love how it was shot and I loved the tone of it. The issues didn't bother me at all. I love finding these kind of movies around Halloween.

I love me a classy, well crafted haunted house movie every now and then and this is probably one of the best ones out there. On par with movies like The Others, The Innocents, The Uninvited, all the "The" movies out there in the world and The Changeling fits right in. It's super well shot, you'll love it if you like wide angle lenses. George C. Scott is one of the greatest actors of all time and he only yells one time in this movie. It's also perfect for the Halloween season, because it has a wonderful spooky October tone to it - a tone that I adore and always look for during the season.
It's been maybe 7-8 years since I last saw this and it still holds up really well.

This was like the quintessential early 60's horror movie. It was the exact type of movie that I hope I'll get every time I put on an early 60's horror movie. I loved the tone of it. I loved the score, even though I can't really remember any specific orchestration, it was ever present setting the perfect moody atmosphere for basically every scene. Probably Mario Bava's best movie, despite not having his usual colorful style.
Don't expect any top tier acting, though.