Movie Recommendations

[miguel1984]

I saw Hereditary a week ago and cannot stop thinking about it; it has been a long time since this happened to me after watching a horror film.

My girlfriend told me I had nighmares (moving a lot, screaming, sweating) after seeing it, but I cannot remember what I dreamed about, unfortunately.

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

Six Japanese films.

Ghost Of Oiwa (1961) - It doesn't really stand out among the Oiwa & Lemon/Yotsuya films, apart from Oiwa's sister playing a bigger part and even taking up a sword. I had heard this is a bad version but it isn't, it just doesn't have enough to stand out.

Peony Lantern/The Bride Of Hades (1968) - This actually might be based on the same story as Hong Kong's The Ghost Lovers (if I remember correctly, a lot of these films blur together in my head). It certainly has a lot of the same elements. It's not bad, the sentimentality gets a little annoying but I liked Ko Nishimura in it. Kurosawa regular Takashi Shimura is in it too.

Cruel Ghost Legend (1968) - Like a lot of the other samurai ghost films but cruder, more sex and violence, everyone is horrible. So it stands out in the genre and it's a bit more fun. Two of the women look like bbw models.

Village Of Eight Gravestones (1977) - A quiet mountain village murder mystery. Beautiful landscape shots. Samurai warriors from centuries ago cast a curse on a large family, there's a spooky demon woman and a memorable chase scene in the caves under the mountains.
This was a huge hit when it came out and I'm surprised it isn't better known because I think it could have a much larger following. Based on a popular novel and remade in the 90s.

I watched parts of the 1981 and 2003 versions of Makai Tensho (there are many more). Supposed to be a historical epic with resurrections and demonically powered Christians (later anti-Christians?) but neither looked like they had a big enough budget and I just couldn't be bothered. The earlier version is a bit more noteworthy for the set design, Sonny Chiba, the Lone Wolf & Cub guy and the fight in the burning building looks pretty dangerous to film.

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

As I probably wont find Shinoda's Demon Pond, Kumashiro's Jigoku and Living Skeleton any time soon, I think I'm pretty much done for now with 50s-80s Japanese horror films until more emerge. Snake Woman's Curse is supposed to be a bit weak so I think I'm okay with avoiding it. Goke and Matango are supposed to be good but I was never interested enough (even with the latter being a William Hope Hodgson adaptation).

Here's my top 15 from 50s-80s from best to least best (I love Tetsuo but I'm going to avoid it here)

Haunted Castle/Secret Chronicles Of The Ghost Cat
Curse Of The Snow Witch
Under The Blossoming Cherry Trees
House
Ghost Of Yotsuya (Nakagawa)
Kwaidan
Kuroneko
Onibaba
Ghost Cat Of Otama Pond
Portrait Of Hell
Lake Of Dracula
Village Of Eight Gravestones
Snake Girl & The Silver Haired Witch
Mansion Of The Ghost Cat/Black Cat Mansion
The Woman Vampire

The sixties version of Jigoku has some cool scenes but I'm reluctant to include it.

Hard to find decent trailers of many of these sadly. I hope Arrow listens to my pleas to release some of these because the upper ones deserve to be standard viewing.

Eyes of Fire (1983) is stunning. Did it inspire The Witch?

[tartarusrussell]

Quote Originally Posted by miguel1984

I saw Hereditary a week ago and cannot stop thinking about it

Me too, but not for good reasons. I liked the build up, but actually laughed out loud when the mother ascended into the treehouse. This was just before the dead dog turned up having only appeared in one scene (which might have been a dream.) And all I could think at the end (SPOLIER ALERT) was, how do they do all that chanting when so many of them have no heads?!


It started well, but it all got a bit silly for me.

[Shear]

I am also not on the Hereditary train. Like Ray, I enjoyed a lot of the first hour, but the last fifteen minutes felt like a splicing of the outtakes from Insidious 9 and The Conjuring 7. It wasn't just not good, it was terrible. All the symbolism in the world (and it is all over this film) cannot make up for that. SPOILER. I don't think any horror movie that seeks to explore new textures needs to have anything crawling on the walls or floating. The film was far better as simple domestic drama. A shame, as I really looked forward to it.

Sounds like my reaction to 10 Cloverfield Lane. I was really enjoying it – then the ending left me utterly cold.

[Hecatombs For Hecate]

Hereditary does kind of go Blumhouse towards the end, but I think the reason Aster went over the top was that you were still supposed to be questioning whether the events were real or hallucinated. He could have been more imaginative with the special effects, but I felt the effects still worked. Aside from the last scene (which can be cut off without detriment to the plot), the only thing that bugged me about the finale was the resolution of the notebook subplot - it would have made sense from the mental illness angle, but as an actual event it was completely random - even witchery is supposed to have rules.

I am, however, also the type that would see Insidious 9 and The Conjuring 7. I liked Insiduous 2 and somehow missed that a third installment was released. I skipped the first Anabelle movie because I think the doll looks like a Chris Farley character, but Anabelle: Creation was a surprisingly good (if not original) horror film.

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

Haunted Palace - Just watched features and the commentary, I didn't expect David Del Valle to be as knowledgeable about horror books as he was (although I'm sure he mixes up Saki and Sarban at one point) and he talks about meeting August Derleth.

Vampyros Lesbos and She Killed in Ecstasy - I wasn't previously aware of Soledad Miranda but I'm glad I know her now, have to say I enjoyed the documentary about her (really just an interview with her biographer with lots of glorious clips and photos) more than these two films.
Vampyros Lesbos has a good soundtrack, some of the more surreal parts are good and She Killed In Ecstasy has some scenes of Soledad killing men that look quite cathartic for her and it's a more expressive performance than in Lesbos. But without her I wouldn't have got much out of either film.
Enjoyed the interviews with Franco in which he talks about not being that excited by awards and acclaim, he doesn't think highly of his own films and he says Yoda's face was based on his because he knew the Stuart Freeborn (based on some quick searching he's also claimed Borgnine, Einstein and himself for inspiration).

[GirlyGirlMask]

Quote Originally Posted by Hecatombs For Hecate

Hereditary does kind of go Blumhouse towards the end, but I think the reason Aster went over the top was that you were still supposed to be questioning whether the events were real or hallucinated. He could have been more imaginative with the special effects, but I felt the effects still worked. Aside from the last scene (which can be cut off without detriment to the plot), the only thing that bugged me about the finale was the resolution of the notebook subplot - it would have made sense from the mental illness angle, but as an actual event it was completely random - even witchery is supposed to have rules. I am, however, also the type that would see Insidious 9 and The Conjuring 7. I liked Insiduous 2 and somehow missed that a third installment was released. I skipped the first Anabelle movie because I think the doll looks like a Chris Farley character, but Anabelle: Creation was a surprisingly good (if not original) horror film.

I saw Hereditary a second time yesterday and, while still a fine film, it isn't quite as exceptional as I'd thought. I think it was excessive, I think it goes just a little too far. It's as if the director couldn't decide whether he wanted to leave things truly ambiguous and risk completely alienating mainstream movie goers or provide enough explanation to satisfy the average Joe. This in-between is where the movie suffers, IMO. In Aster's effort to walk the line between arthouse and cineplex, he failed to deliver what could have been a classic on either side had he just made up his mind what he wanted to do. I still think it's a great horror movie, the best I've seen in a while, but a lot of the dread was gone upon second viewing. To me, the real masterpieces of horror can still affect the viewer even after multiple viewings. Had this film remained a little simpler, a little more mysterious, and not so over-the-top during act three, it could have transcended the horror genre.