Shouting out two of your reviews - Child's Play does in fact slap, and little creature movies ARE the worst so quit fucking around and watch Ghoulies next year.

Frankenstein

+

The OG! Good shit, I enjoyed it quite a bit. I also watched it awhile ago now so you know the drill, it isn't fresh so I don't have a ton to say Finally getting to see Karloff as the monster was cool. He was perfect Standout scene was deffff the father carrying his dead daughter through the streets. CHILLING! The way her arm was flopping was brutal. Didn't think it would get that dark The shot of Dr. Franky being hurled off the windmill was great too. Some surprising brutal violence for that time Really loved how vertical some of the shots were framed. There was a lot of that, it was neat. Excited for Bride soon ★★★½ very good/well executed [Monster - Classic & Myth] 1. Frankenstein (2021) 2. Dracula (2019) 3. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (2020) 4. Vampyr (2018) 2021: 27 2020: 22 2019: 28 2018: 19

Piercing [Gore - Torture]
Brain Damage [Gore - Splatter]
Motel Hell [Gore - Cannibal]
Zombi 2 [Gore - Extreme]

Sleep Tight [Psychological - Home Invasion]
The Wicker Man [Psychological - Fanaticism]
La Casa Lobo [Psychological - Phobia & Isolation]
Repulsion [Psychological - Madness & Paranoia]

Rituals [Killer - Backwoods & Redneck]
Childs Play [Killer - Slasher]
The Bird With the Crystal Plumage [Killer - Crime & Giallo]

Werewolves Within [Monster - Werewolf]
Nosferatu [Monster - Vampire]
City of the Living Dead [Monster - Undead]
Cat People [Monster - Animals & Nature]
Pontypool [Monster - Virus]
Puppet Master [Monster - Small Creatures]
Frankenstein [Monster - Classic]
King Kong [Monster - Giant Monsters]
Bride of Frankenstein [Monster - Neo Monster]
Body Snatchers [Monster - Aliens]

Possessor [Paranormal - Possession]
Black Sunday [Paranormal - Witches & Occult]
Don't Look Now [Paranormal - Supernatural]
The Night House [Paranormal - Haunted House]
Demons [Paranormal - Devil/Demon/Hell]
The Others [Paranormal - Ghost & Spirits]

Man Bites Dog [Misc - Meta]
The Man Who Laughs [Misc - Horror Romance]
Village of the Damned [Misc - Creepy Kid]
Dead Ringers [Misc. - Body Horror]
Mayhem [Misc - Revenge]
Tales From The Hood [Misc - Anthology]
Baby Blood [Misc - French Extremity]
Young Frankenstein [Misc - Comedy Horror]
A Record of Sweet Murder [Misc - Found Footage]
Sweeney Todd [Misc - Gothic Horror]
Altered States [Misc - SciFi Horror]
Censor [Misc - Technology]

Body Snatchers

+

Not bad. Not great! Not as good as either Invasion movie Liked the creepy stepmom once she turned, liked how nasty the transformation process was, liked how nasty the human SHELL crumbling was LOVED the terrible CGI shot of the little kid falling out of the helicopter. So bad, instant classic. Saved the movie from a 5 Anyway it was fine ★★★ average/good/interesting concept [Monster - Aliens] 1. The Hidden (2020) 2. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (2019) 3. Attack the Block (2018) 4. Body Snatchers (2021) 2021: 27 2020: 25 2019: 30 2018: 20

Piercing [Gore - Torture]
Brain Damage [Gore - Splatter]
Motel Hell [Gore - Cannibal]
Zombi 2 [Gore - Extreme]

Sleep Tight [Psychological - Home Invasion]
The Wicker Man [Psychological - Fanaticism]
La Casa Lobo [Psychological - Phobia & Isolation]
Repulsion [Psychological - Madness & Paranoia]

Rituals [Killer - Backwoods & Redneck]
Childs Play [Killer - Slasher]
The Bird With the Crystal Plumage [Killer - Crime & Giallo]

Werewolves Within [Monster - Werewolf]
Nosferatu [Monster - Vampire]
City of the Living Dead [Monster - Undead]
Cat People [Monster - Animals & Nature]
Pontypool [Monster - Virus]
Puppet Master [Monster - Small Creatures]
Frankenstein [Monster - Classic]
King Kong [Monster - Giant Monsters]
Bride of Frankenstein [Monster - Neo Monster]
Body Snatchers [Monster - Aliens]

Possessor [Paranormal - Possession]
Black Sunday [Paranormal - Witches & Occult]
Don't Look Now [Paranormal - Supernatural]
The Night House [Paranormal - Haunted House]
Demons [Paranormal - Devil/Demon/Hell]
The Others [Paranormal - Ghost & Spirits]

Man Bites Dog [Misc - Meta]
The Man Who Laughs [Misc - Horror Romance]
Village of the Damned [Misc - Creepy Kid]
Dead Ringers [Misc. - Body Horror]
Mayhem [Misc - Revenge]
Tales From The Hood [Misc - Anthology]
Baby Blood [Misc - French Extremity]
Young Frankenstein [Misc - Comedy Horror]
A Record of Sweet Murder [Misc - Found Footage]
Sweeney Todd [Misc - Gothic Horror]
Altered States [Misc - SciFi Horror]
Censor [Misc - Technology]

Sweeney Todd

+

It was.......okay. Didn't love it I really did not like the music. This is a musical, that's a problem! I thought every song sounded the same and sounded...bad. No classics, nothing catchy, drab and boring. Pales in comparison to last year's Little Shop of Horrors on the music front. PALES! I was ready to give it a 5 because of that but the surprising amount of gore really kicked it up a notch. I just didn't think it would go to that level but it was pretty brutal. Each shot of a body sliding down the trap door and slamming into the cobblestone was p nasty, I loved it Depp was good. Bonham Carter was good. Nice to see Rickman. Burton did fine Enjoyed the Shakespearean type ending ★★★ average/good/interesting concept [Misc - Gothic] 1. Bram Stoker's Dracula (2019) 2. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (2020) 3. Sweeney Todd (2021) 4. The Devil's Backbone (2018) 2021: 28 2020: 27 2019: 33 2018: 20

Piercing [Gore - Torture]
Brain Damage [Gore - Splatter]
Motel Hell [Gore - Cannibal]
Zombi 2 [Gore - Extreme]

Sleep Tight [Psychological - Home Invasion]
The Wicker Man [Psychological - Fanaticism]
La Casa Lobo [Psychological - Phobia & Isolation]
Repulsion [Psychological - Madness & Paranoia]

Rituals [Killer - Backwoods & Redneck]
Childs Play [Killer - Slasher]
The Bird With the Crystal Plumage [Killer - Crime & Giallo]

Werewolves Within [Monster - Werewolf]
Nosferatu [Monster - Vampire]
City of the Living Dead [Monster - Undead]
Cat People [Monster - Animals & Nature]
Pontypool [Monster - Virus]
Puppet Master [Monster - Small Creatures]
Frankenstein [Monster - Classic]
King Kong [Monster - Giant Monsters]
Bride of Frankenstein [Monster - Neo Monster]
Body Snatchers [Monster - Aliens]

Possessor [Paranormal - Possession]
Black Sunday [Paranormal - Witches & Occult]
Don't Look Now [Paranormal - Supernatural]
The Night House [Paranormal - Haunted House]
Demons [Paranormal - Devil/Demon/Hell]
The Others [Paranormal - Ghost & Spirits]

Man Bites Dog [Misc - Meta]
The Man Who Laughs [Misc - Horror Romance]
Village of the Damned [Misc - Creepy Kid]
Dead Ringers [Misc. - Body Horror]
Mayhem [Misc - Revenge]
Tales From The Hood [Misc - Anthology]
Baby Blood [Misc - French Extremity]
Young Frankenstein [Misc - Comedy Horror]
A Record of Sweet Murder [Misc - Found Footage]
Sweeney Todd [Misc - Gothic Horror]
Altered States [Misc - SciFi Horror]
Censor [Misc - Technology]

Motel Hell

+

MEH! Not for me I really hate that gritty, nasty aesthetic. Kinda like OG Hills Have Eyes. It's my least favorite vibe. This was satirical but still Didn't really work as a satire for me and didn't really work as a low budget nasty horror movie. I wish it committed harder in either direction I think Hated the Ida character, she perturbed me. The dumb sounds that the planted heads also bothered me Farmer Vincent was the only highlight. And the concept but not the execution ★★ disappointing/uninteresting [Gore and Disturbing - Cannibal] 1. Ravenous (2018) 2. The Neon Demon (2019) 3. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (2020) 4. Motel Hell (2021) 2021: 28 2020: 28 2019: 35 2018: 23

Piercing [Gore - Torture]
Brain Damage [Gore - Splatter]
Motel Hell [Gore - Cannibal]
Zombi 2 [Gore - Extreme]

Sleep Tight [Psychological - Home Invasion]
The Wicker Man [Psychological - Fanaticism]
La Casa Lobo [Psychological - Phobia & Isolation]
Repulsion [Psychological - Madness & Paranoia]

Rituals [Killer - Backwoods & Redneck]
Childs Play [Killer - Slasher]
The Bird With the Crystal Plumage [Killer - Crime & Giallo]

Werewolves Within [Monster - Werewolf]
Nosferatu [Monster - Vampire]
City of the Living Dead [Monster - Undead]
Cat People [Monster - Animals & Nature]
Pontypool [Monster - Virus]
Puppet Master [Monster - Small Creatures]
Frankenstein [Monster - Classic]
King Kong [Monster - Giant Monsters]
Bride of Frankenstein [Monster - Neo Monster]
Body Snatchers [Monster - Aliens]

Possessor [Paranormal - Possession]
Black Sunday [Paranormal - Witches & Occult]
Don't Look Now [Paranormal - Supernatural]
The Night House [Paranormal - Haunted House]
Demons [Paranormal - Devil/Demon/Hell]
The Others [Paranormal - Ghost & Spirits]

Man Bites Dog [Misc - Meta]
The Man Who Laughs [Misc - Horror Romance]
Village of the Damned [Misc - Creepy Kid]
Dead Ringers [Misc. - Body Horror]
Mayhem [Misc - Revenge]
Tales From The Hood [Misc - Anthology]
Baby Blood [Misc - French Extremity]
Young Frankenstein [Misc - Comedy Horror]
A Record of Sweet Murder [Misc - Found Footage]
Sweeney Todd [Misc - Gothic Horror]
Altered States [Misc - SciFi Horror]
Censor [Misc - Technology]

Zombi 2

+

Really dug this. Been wanting to watch it for awhile because of a couple of classic scene so I'm glad I finally got to it It has a stupid amount of titles. I just learned that it's called Zombi 2 because it's considered the Italian sequel to Dario Argento's recut of Dawn of the Dead. COOL! I wanna watch that now Anyway this movie was gnarly. I wanna read about how they filmed the infamous zombie vs shark scene, that was pretty wild. But the most classic scene was ofc the disturbing shard of wood into the eyeball bit. I've seen gifs of it before out of context but it was..."nice" to finally see it in full. It was gross. Real gross! The whole movie was pretty gross. Love fun 80's practical effects, that's my jam. A lot of good stuff here Only complaint is that the doctor died too soon. Though props to how sudden and unexpected it was, I thought he was gonna be a much bigger deal in the finale but they got me ★★★½ very good/well executed [Gore and Disturbing - Extreme] 1. Zombi 2 (2021) 2. Antichrist (2018) 3. Maniac (2020) 4. Gozu (2019) 2021: 31 2020: 29 2019: 35 2018: 25

Piercing [Gore - Torture]
Brain Damage [Gore - Splatter]
Motel Hell [Gore - Cannibal]
Zombi 2 [Gore - Extreme]

Sleep Tight [Psychological - Home Invasion]
The Wicker Man [Psychological - Fanaticism]
La Casa Lobo [Psychological - Phobia & Isolation]
Repulsion [Psychological - Madness & Paranoia]

Rituals [Killer - Backwoods & Redneck]
Childs Play [Killer - Slasher]
The Bird With the Crystal Plumage [Killer - Crime & Giallo]

Werewolves Within [Monster - Werewolf]
Nosferatu [Monster - Vampire]
City of the Living Dead [Monster - Undead]
Cat People [Monster - Animals & Nature]
Pontypool [Monster - Virus]
Puppet Master [Monster - Small Creatures]
Frankenstein [Monster - Classic]
King Kong [Monster - Giant Monsters]
Bride of Frankenstein [Monster - Neo Monster]
Body Snatchers [Monster - Aliens]

Possessor [Paranormal - Possession]
Black Sunday [Paranormal - Witches & Occult]
Don't Look Now [Paranormal - Supernatural]
The Night House [Paranormal - Haunted House]
Demons [Paranormal - Devil/Demon/Hell]
The Others [Paranormal - Ghost & Spirits]

Man Bites Dog [Misc - Meta]
The Man Who Laughs [Misc - Horror Romance]
Village of the Damned [Misc - Creepy Kid]
Dead Ringers [Misc. - Body Horror]
Mayhem [Misc - Revenge]
Tales From The Hood [Misc - Anthology]
Baby Blood [Misc - French Extremity]
Young Frankenstein [Misc - Comedy Horror]
A Record of Sweet Murder [Misc - Found Footage]
Sweeney Todd [Misc - Gothic Horror]
Altered States [Misc - SciFi Horror]
Censor [Misc - Technology]

20 out of 39! Halfway there

Rank!

1-20

+

1. Altered States 2. Child's Play 3. Sleep Tight 4. Frankenstein 5. Demons 6. Zombi 2 7. The Wicker Man 8. Piercing 9. The Others 10. Mayhem 11. Tales from the Hood 12. Black Sunday 13. The Bird with the Crystal Plumage 14. Body Snatchers 15. Sweeney Todd 16. Censor 17. Werewolves Within 18. Pontypool 19. Motel Hell 20. Puppet Master Two good picks in Frankenstein and Zombi 2. Two average/fine in Body Snatchers and Sweeney Todd. And one stinker in Motel Hell. Not bad! Already happy enough with my top ten no matter what, lots of 7's. At this point in one or two previous years I definitely had a top ten that I wasn't happy with yet

Woops, was trying to rank the movies I watched.

First half of my list reviewed and ranked

+

Well... BARELY reviewed. 01. I Saw the Devil - Goddamn this started with brutality and just kept doubling down as each scene went by. 02. Midsommar - Everything that needs to be said about this one has been said, I was really late to the party here. Just fantastic. 03. Annihilation - This just worked for me. The soundtrack, the bear, the story in general, the hopelessness. Could have used a little more horror and the mirror man thing was weird but w/e I vibed with it overall. 04. The Crazies - I wound up liking this one just as much as the remake, which I would always talk up given the chance. You can just feel Romero dripping from everything about this movie. Which could easily be a huge turnoff for some. 05. The Wailing - I still don't think I have everything straight with this one, even though I did a lot of reading and discussing with Ecto after I watched it. But I greatly enjoyed the ride. Asian horror (specifically Japanese and Korean) gets to me in a way that American horror doesn't. Or can't. 06. Wolf of Snow Hollow - Watched this the same night as the Werewolves Within movie and laughed at how similar they were. Definitely preferred this one even though well you know, no werewolf. 07. Angel Heart - Mickey Rourke was great in this. A sleazy detective story that feels like it's taking place in a nightmare. 08. The Changeling - Really solid older haunted house movie that I'd avoided for some reason. I love when a haunted house feels like a character in and of itself in a movie instead of just a place where a couple of ghosts are hanging out. 09. House - Japanese movie, was one of the weirdest things I've ever seen. The only way I can describe it is a folk tale shot as an extended Japanese commercial. It's that weird. The best quote I read about it was "the greatest thing about this movie is that the director saw Jaws, said 'I want to do that', and then made this." 10. Inside - This is just one of those movies that while it was good, I just don't think I'll ever want to watch it again. Exhausting. 11. Wrong Turn - I liked this. Or at least found it suitable for a "Wrong Turn" flim. I know a lot of people tore it apart for not having the "franchise favorite" mutant cannibals in it but... I don't think I even knew it was the same ones in every movie anyway. 12. Deerskin - The second weirdest thing on this list - a guy gets obsessed with a deerskin jacket and he hears it talking to him. They craft a plan to gather jackets from people and make them pledge to never wear jackets again. Yes this was the second weirdest movie. It's horror comedy so it escalates, but that's the starting point lol. 13. Mother's Day - Sort of a reverse home invasion movie, where the victims stumble into the killer's home. Something about it just feels dirty to me (before anything even happens) and it follows the roadmap of Last House on the Left almost to a T. 14. The Empty Man - It's like twelve hours long and sounds like a sequel to the Bye Bye Man but was better than I expected it to be. And that seems to be the general consensus on it. It moonwalks through like four different horror subgenres. The opening introduction might be the strongest, so it was deflating to move on from that so quickly. 15. Cronos - This felt like a longer Tales from the Crypt episode. Guillermo del Toro's first feature, and it definitely feels like it. 16. Saint Maude - It was fine, but it really didn't stick with me at all. Maybe deserves a rewatch? Or a never again watch. Only time will tell. 17. Old - I was down for the body horror stuff but that was only very loosely flirted with. I didn't like that there really wasn't much beyond "island make us old" to the mystery - like they figure that out pretty quickly and then the next step (why island make us old) isn't explored at all (AFAIR). Still I can just turn on 80% of M. Night's movies and watch them again, and this is no different. 18. Banshee Chapter - Found footage movie about a journalist looking into project MKUltra and her missing friend. Ted Lavine does an amazing Hunter S. Thompson impression that was worth watching alone. 19. Southbound - An unremarkable anthology horror movie I saw a ton of great things about before I ever got around to watching it. I enjoyed two of the stories (the middle two) vastly more than those that came before and after them. 20. The Fourth Kind - Liked this less and less as it went on. I remember being intrigued by the "this is real footage" wink wink stuff at the beginning but that wore off as they kept beating me over the head with it. Still as far as found footage movies go, and alien abduction ones particularly, the quality was great. 21. Army of the Dead - Man I am a huge fan of the Dawn remake so I was ready to enjoy this but it just bored me to death outside of a character and one or two scenes. The zombies are just Ghosts of Mars now.

A Field in England - Madness & Paranoia - "Review"

+

Placing the story aside for a minute, I really enjoyed the other facets of this film. Very briefly I want to say the soundtrack reminded me of Ravenous in that it would go back and forth between zany weirdness and dreamy, blooming tracks - so that immediately put me in a certain headspace. It was shot at times like a chaotic psilocybin trip (purposefully as mushrooms are a huge part of the movie) with flashing images and merging scenes. Other times things would move so slowly that the shot would sometimes just linger on a specific frame of the characters posed, frozen in action as if they were a period accurate painting. Black and white, as the movie is shot. There was probably a less autistic way to describe that but I'm stoned. There's one specific scene where the alchemist takes a stubborn character into a tent and then after some horrific screams said character reemerges grinning and obediently prancing on a lead for the alchemist that was shot in slow motion that was creepier than a shot of a smiling guy exiting a tent had any right to be. And it went on for so long I got a little uncomfortable. There are no monsters or anything here. I'm not sure if the devil is even present or the alchemical stuff presented is real in the film, as 90% of the movie seems like it could just be a magic mushroom trip as the eponymous field is full of them and they're constantly eating them. The synopsis for the film is literally the entire story, but I thought the way it was presented was really neat. Not pertinent to the film, but as I was watching the flashing imagery was reminding of another movie I watched earlier in the year called Into the Earth. Turns out they're by the same guy, Ben Wheatley, so I guess that is his thing. I didn't really like that movie, but he also did Kill List of which I was a fan. MADNESS feels like the most appropriate tag for this movie.

Rankings - 17 to Go	+
01. I Saw the Devil 02. Midsommar 03. Annihilation 04. The Crazies 05. The Wailing 06. Wolf of Snow Hollow 07. Angel Heart 08. The Changeling 09. A Field in England 10. House 11. Inside 12. Wrong Turn 13. Deerskin 14. Mother's Day 15. The Empty Man 16. Cronos 17. Saint Maude 18. Old 19. Banshee Chapter 20. Southbound 21. The Fourth Kind 22. Army of the Dead

Demonic - Misc. - Technology - "Review"

+

Headline on the NY Daily News two days ago: "‘District 9′ director Neill Blomkamp says new film ‘Demonic’ ‘only exists’ because of COVID!" I recalled this headline during the closing credits and came to the conclusion that he was actually trying to pass the buck with that statement, and it wasn't one of bittersweet celebration. This movie was dog shit. I was absolutely in love with the idea going in, too. Loved the concept when it was (sorta) similarly explored in The Cell a hundred years ago. And somehow the movie with Jennifer Lopez winds up being the vastly better film between the two. A traumatized woman is contacted by scientists to try to make contact with her comatose mother inside of a simulation, who is imprisoned for murdering a bunch of people. She agrees only to tell her mom off in the sim and this all unleashes a plague doctor bird demon thing, and the scientists are actually black ops ghostbuster hitmen with magical demon killing Castlevania weaponry and it all just spirals out of control so fucking quickly. The idea of a demon being trapped in a comatose person and becoming obsessed with their memories is really neat at the core. If it had tried to tell a more personal story like... I don't know, Eternal Sunshine or something, I feel like this could have really worked. Or hell if he went all in with the hitmen priests it could have at least been mindless fun I guess. But in the end it's the worst of both worlds, and that's what always hurts the most; when you really like an idea but have to watch it get dragged out and mangled for an hour and forty five minutes. I guess there's a reason no studio will let him go through with touching any of their sci-fi properties like Alien, Halo or Robocop. Maybe he can do Ghoulies V and send them to space.

Rankings - 16 to Go	+
01. I Saw the Devil 02. Midsommar 03. Annihilation 04. The Crazies 05. The Wailing 06. Wolf of Snow Hollow 07. Angel Heart 08. The Changeling 09. A Field in England 10. House 11. Inside 12. Wrong Turn 13. Deerskin 14. Mother's Day 15. The Empty Man 16. Cronos 17. Saint Maude 18. Old 19. Banshee Chapter 20. Southbound 21. The Fourth Kind 22. Army of the Dead 23. Demonic

I have a couple of updates to write for this.

In the meantime, have you seen the movie Possession from 1981, and if so, what did you think of it? This isn't one of the movies I'm going to be writing about since I've filled its category, but I watched it the other night and need to hear the thoughts of someone I know on it.

On Letterboxd it has more fives than threes (or fours), and it fell so far off of that mark for me that I feel like I need to watch it again. Or begrudgingly accept that just because something is acclaimed arthouse horror, it doesn't mean I'm going to love it.

Sure did! I watched it for this very challenge…last year? Year before? I gave it a 3.5. Can certainlyyyy see why someone wouldn’t be into it, my two friends watched it after me and each gave it a…1

I’ll have to dig up my thoughts in the previous thread for you later

I gave it a 2.5 and could see myself upgrading it to a 3 after some time just because of how much it has stuck in my head despite me saying I didn't like it. The main actress was strikingly beautiful but I just could not stand her performance (the scene in the tunnel aside, sheesh). Why was Margit always acting so goddamn weird, at least the other people had turmoil, tentacle sex and drugs to blame.

She’s definitely strange in it. I remember her being weird in Nosferatu too tbh. But nothing quite like this

Haven't updated in a month! But I've watched 7 in that time. Still on track to finish by Halloween

Also I swapped out Man Bites Dog for Jennifer's Body. Ty for listening