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iamntbatman
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PostPosted: Mon May 22, 2017 9:26 am 
 

acid_bukkake wrote:
I don't think that's too good a barometer.
...
I know I'm going to see Alien: Covenant at some point.


Ok, maybe watch the movie and then tell me if it's a good barometer? I think the movies are pretty similar, with similar strengths and similar flaws, and a couple new ones of each thrown in. So yeah, I think it's a decent barometer. I liked Prometheus and thought Alien: Covenant was also good (flawed though, certianly), while Emp and MikeyC both hated Prometheus and also thought Alien: Covenant was terrible. I know that's only a sample size of three, but so far it holds!
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Empyreal
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PostPosted: Mon May 22, 2017 9:32 am 
 

Yeah, I'd actually say that's accurate. I remember Prometheus just being really generic sci fi that did nothing to draw me in - I was surprised I liked Alien: Covenant even less. They are pretty similar actually, with almost identical storylines in a broad way, the whole 'people go to a planet and awake aliens' type things. Covenant tried to have some other stuff in there, but it wasn't enough I thought.
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acid_bukkake
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PostPosted: Mon May 22, 2017 9:40 am 
 

I'm inclined to say I'll hate Covenant if it's that much like Prometheus since I think Prometheus is the worst entry in the entire franchise, including Resurrection and both AVP movies.

I'd maybe go as far to say that Prometheus summarizes everything I dislike about modern cinema, actually. Style over substance? Convoluted high-tempo plot? Good-to-great cast being wasted by shyte-to-mediocre writing? Trying to cash in on nostalgia but not realizing what made the classics work? Check, check, check, check.
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Azmodes
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PostPosted: Mon May 22, 2017 9:49 am 
 

I've heard that Covenant suffers from scientists plot-conveniently behaving like total morons just like Prometheus did, so that's bad news since that was one of my major gripes with the latter, something that really kept me from enjoying the movie.
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~Guest 21181
The Great Fearmonger

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PostPosted: Mon May 22, 2017 11:09 am 
 

I still haven't decided if I want to see Covenant yet. My feelings on the last film were not as strongly in either camp compared to virtually everyone else, though it's been a few years since I've watched it. I could accept more dumb scientists in the new film if everything else is spot-on but I've heard murmurs that the plot also shits all over the canon of the first two films, which would just be aggravating.

Do they come any closer to explaining the X-Files goo and why it affects every organic substance it comes into contact with in a completely different way?

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Resident_Hazard
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PostPosted: Mon May 22, 2017 12:40 pm 
 

I finally watched Two Evil Eyes, by Romero and Argento. The horror directors each tackle and modernize a different Edgar Allen Poe story.

Romero's half was like another Creepshow story, to the point that it would have fit into the first movie almost flawlessly. His was arguably done better overall, surprisingly less reliant on gore and splatter. It played out like a very classic Tales from the Crypt narrative. And I do mean very classic. People killing someone for greedy/sexual reasons, and then getting their comeuppance from the dead? That is a signature EC Comics narrative. Many notable actors from Romero and Carpenter's bodies of work in the 80's, and even callbacks to Creepshow (the banker being named Pratt, for instance).

The second story, a retelling of Poe's The Black Cat (the one from Argento) put Harvey Keitel in the role of a photographer. This one felt a little more disjointed and lacking in believable character motivation. Why does Harvey Keitel hate cats so fucking much? It didn't really get into that. He just fucking hates cats.

Overall, though, an enjoyable film. Not sure why I waited this long to finally see it.
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darkeningday
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PostPosted: Mon May 22, 2017 2:28 pm 
 

Angry Joe said it was worse than Alien: Resurrection and all-around one of the worst things to happen to cinema this century, so it's probably at least decent.
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Amber Gray
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PostPosted: Tue May 23, 2017 8:25 pm 
 

I just watched the Howling and them werewolves are no joke

Plus Faust is absurdly awesome and epic, might have taken over my favorite spot for silent films. It was (possibly still is actually, hard to decide) the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, then of course Metropolis. The scope and magnitude of these films is astronomical to be honest, and silent film imagery is always on point. They have some of the most inventive backdrops out there, and just all around go super hard. Like, there's more extras in Metropolis than there are residents of my town
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Necroticism174
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PostPosted: Tue May 23, 2017 11:23 pm 
 

I actually liked Prometheus despite a lot of the plot stupidity. Some of the visuals were nice and it had some ideas that were interesting, albeit not all that developed. Alien: Covenant, on the other hand is devoid of any redeeming factors. It's boring, the characters are barely one dimensional, they make even stupider decisions than in Prometheus, there isn't even any cool cinematography or set design, and the CGI alien designs all look stupid as hell (especially that spine-burster, holy fuck did that look terrible for a major film). It adds absolutely nothing new to the story and has basically no reason for existing except to see Michael Fassbender make out with himself.
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glen oswell
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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2017 1:05 am 
 

Mmm.. Its been a very long time since I saw a good movie.

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hey
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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2017 1:48 am 
 

Necroticism174 wrote:
I actually liked Prometheus despite a lot of the plot stupidity. Some of the visuals were nice and it had some ideas that were interesting, albeit not all that developed. Alien: Covenant, on the other hand is devoid of any redeeming factors. It's boring, the characters are barely one dimensional, they make even stupider decisions than in Prometheus, there isn't even any cool cinematography or set design, and the CGI alien designs all look stupid as hell (especially that spine-burster, holy fuck did that look terrible for a major film). It adds absolutely nothing new to the story and has basically no reason for existing except to see Michael Fassbender make out with himself.

And that wasn't worth the price of admission alone?

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darkeningday
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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2017 1:51 am 
 

I've had more than my fill of Fassbender since Shame, thank you very much.
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~Guest 21181
The Great Fearmonger

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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2017 1:59 am 
 

After accidentally coming across one particular spoiler in a few different articles now, I think I've decided I won't see the new Alien. Ridley Scott does indeed shit on the film canon, apparently. In fact, it appears my earlier contention that Scott intends to retcon the second film out of existence entirely has already happened, since the origin of the facehugger given in this new film no longer requires a Queen.

Blah. This looks worse for the Alien franchise than Episode I did for Star Wars.

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iamntbatman
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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2017 9:06 am 
 

Your pre-complaint makes no sense!
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darkeningday
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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2017 10:08 am 
 

I watched Once Upon a Time in the West for the first time in maybe a decade, and it's definitely something that belongs in my top 10. I think calling it "the best western ever made" undersells it. The soundtrack alone literally caused my eyes to well-up. Twice. Fuck, between this and Splendor in the Grass, I'm an emotional trainwreck. I need chocolate, Kleenex and a complete boxset of FRIENDS yesterday.

But first Imma go watch Virgin Spring and Lija-4-Ever. Those are very happy titles, I'm sure the movies are too!
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Resident_Hazard
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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2017 10:48 am 
 

Amber Gray wrote:
I just watched the Howling and them werewolves are no joke




The Howling is one of the best werewolf movies ever made. Up there with American Werewolf in London (which I think is the best). You might want to avoid every other Howling movie, though. They go downhill pretty quick after that, yet somehow made 5 or 6 more films. Or was it more? Did they get up to eight?

The third one is PG-13 and they're... marsupials.
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~Guest 21181
The Great Fearmonger

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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2017 11:12 am 
 

iamntbatman wrote:
Your pre-complaint makes no sense!


Well, you've seen the film and I haven't but

Spoiler: show
the android creating the eggs from scratch/from the goo kind of makes the Queen moot, no?

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Zelkiiro
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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2017 11:45 am 
 

So Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 was pretty great. Really well-done on just about every level, and I loved the new characters and settings. Exceptional blockbuster entertainment.
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acid_bukkake
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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2017 12:52 pm 
 

I would argue that The Howling is better than American Werewolf in London as far as it being a werewolf movie, if that makes sense. It's not a better movie overall, but as far as dealing with the lore? It makes John Landis' baby look like...well, like his actual son.

GOTG2 was alright. The cast was great and I'll always hold some sort of loyalty to James Gunn (the insanity of both Tromeo & Juliet and Terror Firmer made me a Gunn fan early on), but this one was missing something. The dialogue wasn't as great, the jokes weren't as funny, and the attempts at emotional moments were dry, but it was still a very fun time. It feels like Lethal Weapon 3 following the original instead of Lethal Weapon 2, if that makes sense.

Earthcubed wrote:
Spoiler: show
the android creating the eggs from scratch/from the goo kind of makes the Queen moot, no?

Spoiler: show
Yeah, that's the big take-away I got from checking out spoilers. WHYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!?!?!?!??! Her majesty was perfect.

Upside, though, is that it could potentially lead to further exploration of the Xenomorph as a species, since a key detail found in every entry has been its adaptability to survive and thrive.
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iamntbatman
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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2017 1:30 pm 
 

Earthcubed wrote:
Spoiler: show
the android creating the eggs from scratch/from the goo kind of makes the Queen moot, no?


Hmmm...I don't THINK this is a spoiler beyond what you've already read, otherwise I'm not sure what it is you're talking about. Care to link the "spoiler" you read before I try to argue any further? I don't want to give anything else away.
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Empyreal
The Final Frontier

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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2017 1:36 pm 
 

acid_bukkake wrote:
GOTG2 was alright. The cast was great and I'll always hold some sort of loyalty to James Gunn (the insanity of both Tromeo & Juliet and Terror Firmer made me a Gunn fan early on), but this one was missing something. The dialogue wasn't as great, the jokes weren't as funny, and the attempts at emotional moments were dry, but it was still a very fun time. It feels like Lethal Weapon 3 following the original instead of Lethal Weapon 2, if that makes sense.


I actually thought the humor was better in this, although it was very good in the original too. And the characters were also better written in Vol. 2 to me - it felt like a proper sequel that expanded upon the first rather than riding its coattails. I was really impressed.
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Resident_Hazard
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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2017 2:44 pm 
 

acid_bukkake wrote:
I would argue that The Howling is better than American Werewolf in London as far as it being a werewolf movie, if that makes sense. It's not a better movie overall, but as far as dealing with the lore? It makes John Landis' baby look like...well, like his actual son.


I think Howling handles the lore side better, but American Werewolf simply tells a better overall story with better characters. It also features some twists outside of traditional werewolf lore--his horrifying monster-addled nightmares, for instance. His being haunted by his friend, and the people he killed.

Howling also has a bit of a mixed ending, also.
Spoiler: show
Sure, they do a cool public reveal that werewolves exist, but her turning into like a Shih Tzu or Lasa Apso-like animal is kind of stupid,
and I always feel this damages the overall film. She's not fucking scary. She should be fucking scary. Otherwise people around her are freaking out for no good reason. She's such a cute puppy!


Overall, though, I'd hold them both pretty close to one another. I give the nod to American Werewolf for the fun, characters, and unique exploration of the whole thing.
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acid_bukkake
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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2017 4:01 pm 
 

Empyreal wrote:
I actually thought the humor was better in this, although it was very good in the original too. And the characters were also better written in Vol. 2 to me - it felt like a proper sequel that expanded upon the first rather than riding its coattails. I was really impressed.

I think the average joke quality was better than the first but the high's of the first were that much higher. It's still a fun movie and it's the cast that makes it all work (major kudos for snagging Kurt Russell), but it just felt more "going through the motions" than the first did. Nowhere near bad, but it also felt like Gunn wasn't trying as hard as he normally does.
Resident_Hazard wrote:
I think Howling handles the lore side better, but American Werewolf simply tells a better overall story with better characters. It also features some twists outside of traditional werewolf lore--his horrifying monster-addled nightmares, for instance. His being haunted by his friend, and the people he killed.

The Nazi mutant nightmare scene is iconic and I do love him being haunted by his victims, but it feels like by the time things start getting real interesting is when the end credits roll. I think that's one of the reasons I prefer Howling overall, because your issue...
Quote:
Spoiler: show
Sure, they do a cool public reveal that werewolves exist, but her turning into like a Shih Tzu or Lasa Apso-like animal is kind of stupid,
and I always feel this damages the overall film. She's not fucking scary. She should be fucking scary. Otherwise people around her are freaking out for no good reason. She's such a cute puppy!

...is one that I had when I was younger, but I've grown to love it.
Spoiler: show
She's not fully transformed yet and, since she never embraced the curse, she's becoming something less beastly overall. It's even addressed in her editorial prior to her transformation, where she talks about the struggle between "what is kind and peaceful in our natures and what is cruel and wild." Since she's demonstrably kind and peaceful, without a hint of cruelty, she morphs into a much less threatening beast.

The effect is poor compared to the others in the film, true, but that also adds to the epilogue where viewers who'd just seen it live think it to be fake.
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NTT
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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2017 4:07 pm 
 

I was close to walking out on GOTG2 at one part where they were doing some AWFUL character and relationship building. I was squirming in my chair. So awful.
Spoiler: show
wahhh my dad didn't play catch with me

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NTT
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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2017 4:09 pm 
 

darkeningday wrote:
Angry Joe said it was worse than Alien: Resurrection and all-around one of the worst things to happen to cinema this century, so it's probably at least decent.


Just watched AJ's review. Definitely not seeing this now. Great. Now I get to wait until Spiderman to see a movie. God damnit, Hollywood.

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acid_bukkake
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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2017 4:51 pm 
 

NTT wrote:
I was close to walking out on GOTG2 at one part where they were doing some AWFUL character and relationship building. I was squirming in my chair. So awful.
Spoiler: show
wahhh my dad didn't play catch with me

I think that was part of my issue. Gunn hit all the major notes that the story should've hit but it felt more like he wrote bullet-points in for dialogue instead of fleshing it out.

I will say, though, that...
Spoiler: show
Starlord FLIPPING SHIT when Ego said he gave his mom cancer intentionally made me love it. Personal reasons, but I was sold at that moment on liking it.
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Empyreal
The Final Frontier

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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2017 4:54 pm 
 

NTT wrote:
I was close to walking out on GOTG2 at one part where they were doing some AWFUL character and relationship building. I was squirming in my chair. So awful.
Spoiler: show
wahhh my dad didn't play catch with me


That was all perfectly fine to me. Well done stuff.
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~Guest 282118
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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2017 4:59 pm 
 

NTT wrote:
I was close to walking out on GOTG2 at one part where they were doing some AWFUL character and relationship building. I was squirming in my chair. So awful.
Spoiler: show
wahhh my dad didn't play catch with me

Talk about overreacting if that's the most awful kind of character building you can think of.

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NTT
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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2017 5:31 pm 
 

Lower than lowest common denominator screen writing. And how does it even work anymore, today's fat kids don't go outside and play sports. It's that kind of fantasy generalizing and movies that creates adults with imagined psychological issues.....'cause they saw it in a movie. Disgusting. Thanks for all the nothing, Hollywood.

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Empyreal
The Final Frontier

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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2017 5:34 pm 
 

Pretty sure it's not that simple.

What kind of character development do you think would suit a movie like GOTG then?
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Zelkiiro
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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2017 6:04 pm 
 

NTT wrote:
Lower than lowest common denominator screen writing. And how does it even work anymore, today's fat kids don't go outside and play sports. It's that kind of fantasy generalizing and movies that creates adults with imagined psychological issues.....'cause they saw it in a movie. Disgusting. Thanks for all the nothing, Hollywood.

Implying there aren't still a lot of households where sports are a frequent family and/or school activity. Playing catch with your dad is still, to this very day, a pasttime that many people I know still partake in. People in my neighborhood, in the park I live nearby, in houses I pass by going to work--all over the place, I'll still every so often see a dad playing catch-ball with his kids. It's still very much a thing, and didn't feel strange at all for Chris Pratt's character to lament having missed out on it.
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NTT
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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2017 6:14 pm 
 

Zelkiiro wrote:
It's still very much a thing, and didn't feel strange at all for Chris Pratt's character to lament having missed out on it.


Oh yes, it's not strange. I expect it in every movie because it's lazy writing. Right up there with 'protagonist's love interest gets kidnapped' and car conversations to bond two characters. It's the same shit over and over.

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Empyreal
The Final Frontier

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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2017 6:19 pm 
 

NTT wrote:
I expect it in every movie because it's lazy writing. Right up there with 'protagonist's love interest gets kidnapped' and car conversations to bond two characters. It's the same shit over and over.


Conversations to bond characters is cliche now? It can be if they do it in a cliche, hollow way, but conversations to develop characters in general is just a cornerstone of writing.

And you seem to have ignored my other post - I'm really curious what sort of character development you think would fit a movie like this.
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Amber Gray
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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2017 6:54 pm 
 

Resident_Hazard wrote:
Amber Gray wrote:
I just watched the Howling and them werewolves are no joke




The Howling is one of the best werewolf movies ever made. Up there with American Werewolf in London (which I think is the best). You might want to avoid every other Howling movie, though. They go downhill pretty quick after that, yet somehow made 5 or 6 more films. Or was it more? Did they get up to eight?

The third one is PG-13 and they're... marsupials.

on a semi-related note, what would be the best overall horror movie franchises? So many just have like 12 sequels and it seems to be a general consensus that they always start sucking, sooner or later. I can't say I've seen every film from all the big ones, because I never sought out to, but at least for sequels I think the second Texas Chainsaw Massacre is pretty cool.
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Resident_Hazard
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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2017 7:52 pm 
 

Amber Gray wrote:
Resident_Hazard wrote:

The Howling is one of the best werewolf movies ever made. Up there with American Werewolf in London (which I think is the best). You might want to avoid every other Howling movie, though. They go downhill pretty quick after that, yet somehow made 5 or 6 more films. Or was it more? Did they get up to eight?

The third one is PG-13 and they're... marsupials.

on a semi-related note, what would be the best overall horror movie franchises? So many just have like 12 sequels and it seems to be a general consensus that they always start sucking, sooner or later. I can't say I've seen every film from all the big ones, because I never sought out to, but at least for sequels I think the second Texas Chainsaw Massacre is pretty cool.


Good luck finding consistency on that one, ha ha.

Here's an overview:

Child's Play/Chucky: Most internal consistency, same writer for all 6 movies. First two movies are the best.

Nightmare on Elm Street: Story generally flows and evolves from the previous. Takes a dive starting with part 5. Brief reprieve with New Nightmare.

Halloween: Slap-dash overall. The third movie is very different and doesn't involve Michael Myers, but the Druid themes from the third eventually make a return. Rob Zombie's remakes were unnecessary, the last pre-remake movie is pure garbage. Overall, though, movies 1-6 are watchable.

Hellraiser: Took a serious nosedive in recent years. The last movie ditched the notable Pinhead for a new guy and apparently filmed in only a couple weeks. Haven't seen it. One of the franchises here to eventually have a part "in space!" (Part 4) First three movies worth watching.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre: All over the place, zero consistency. Third movie is actually one of the stronger entries. The fourth features Renee Zelweigger (whatever) and Matthew McConoughy. Man, I butchered those names.

Wishmaster: These were never good.

Critters: Stay pretty entertaining throughout. Leo DiCaprio is in part 3. Goes into space, but they started there, so they're allowed.

Predator: First movie awesome, second one garbage, third one good. Mixed with Aliens, meh.

Aliens: I think we're all well aware of this one swirling the drain.

Friday the 13th: Stories are held together so loosely from movie to movie as to be negligible. But, there is some consistency. Starts going off the rails when Jason goes to Manhatten, never recovers. Goes into space in movie X.

Leprechaun: The first one was actually a pretty solid movie. The rest seem to have been made as VHS Rental Place shelf filler. Stopped taking itself seriously a long time ago. Fourth movie "in space!" Last one made by WWE of all places. No longer features Warwick Davis.

Sleepaway Camp: Movies 1-3 are actually pretty good. The second and third were filmed pretty close together, if not back-to-back. There was a 4th one planned for years. When it finally arrived (Return to Sleepaway Camp, I think), it was a monumental trainwreck. Worth watching because it really is that fucking bad.

Psycho: Surprisingly solid through and through, even if logic not always present. Psychos 2-4 could be purchased together for a long time for like $10.

Scream: First one is watchable. Logic takes a field day immediately after absurdity abounds forevermore.

Saw: The first one has more holes than plot, and the rest of the movies meander about desperately trying to fill all those plotholes. The start of the torture-porn era of lazy-ass excuses for horror films. Still, not entirely unwatchable.

Romero's Dead franchise: Rumor has it a 7th fucking film is being made. They should've stopped at three. The first three films are incredible classics. The next three drop rapidly in quality.

Russo's Living Dead franchise: These are different from Romero's films, though both franchises trace back to the original 1968 film. In Romero's, the original film is in the same universe as the rest... Somehow. In Living Dead, the original movie was "made about a real incident" and these sprang from that. The first two movies are 80's horror classics, and everything goes downhill after that. You are probably noticing a trend here.

Howling: I noted this one already, but what the hell? The first one is a werewolf classic, the second is watchable, the third is weird, and everything after that is unnecessary garbage.

Re-Animator: Watch all three of them.

Edit:

Omen: 1-3 are all pretty good. Can probably skip the unnecessary remake.

Evil Dead & Army of Darkness: All good stuff here.

Phantasm: The first is a true 70's horror classic. Weird, off-putting, great atmosphere, great scares and action. The sequels gradually lose quality, but it was nice they got that 5th one finished, even if the end result clearly ran out of money. A few times over.

Finally: Silent Night, Deadly Night: Looks like they made more than two of these for some reason. The first one is a solid slasher film, the sequel is balls-out a laugh riot of almost unfettered nonsense, scene-devouring acting, and eventual internet memes.
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Last edited by Resident_Hazard on Wed May 24, 2017 10:05 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Amber Gray
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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2017 8:04 pm 
 

^nice

Last night I started watching the Descent but the file was corrupted half way through. I was super into it though. Even the completely unexpected jump scares, makin me actually jump, as well as the claustrophobic atmosphere dripping with dread. Gonna finish later after restarting, cuz that's really good stuff I think
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The arcane tactician
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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2017 8:29 pm 
 

Always dug the Phantasm movies. 3 & 4 dip in quality a little bit (with Oblivion being slightly better) but not to the ridiculous depths of some franchises. Something about an alien/mortician terrorizing people with a telepathically controlled sphere of death and Ewoks never fails to intrigue me.

Alien: Covenant was 50/50 for me. Hated the first half, but once
Spoiler: show
David shows up. it goes for broke and kicks ass. That character is written to be so fucking evil and Fassbender plays it with such maniacal subtlety it almost functions as a dark comedy by the end. Loved the last scene.

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BastardHead
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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2017 8:34 pm 
 

Pretty much every slasher franchise on the planet had a great first one and then nothing but terrible sequels. Oddly enough the third installments can sometimes fluke out (I like Halloween 3, Nightmare on Elm Street 3 is one of the most fun movies ever, I haven't seen it but I'm pretty sure Jason's iconic look with the hockey mask and machete started in Friday the 13th 3, etc) but overall they all got milked WAY past their expiration dates.
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Resident_Hazard
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Joined: Thu Oct 07, 2004 2:33 pm
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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2017 10:11 pm 
 

BastardHead wrote:
Pretty much every slasher franchise on the planet had a great first one and then nothing but terrible sequels. Oddly enough the third installments can sometimes fluke out (I like Halloween 3, Nightmare on Elm Street 3 is one of the most fun movies ever, I haven't seen it but I'm pretty sure Jason's iconic look with the hockey mask and machete started in Friday the 13th 3, etc) but overall they all got milked WAY past their expiration dates.


You are correct. A lot of these peaked at the second or third, and if the third was a peak, that means the second was probably less than impressive (a la Nightmare on Elm Street 2). Jason makes his first appearance in Friday 2, and dons the hockey mask for the first time in Part 3. Fun trivia, many spoofs show a man in a hockey mask with a chainsaw. Jason NEVER used a chainsaw. He does, however, have the highest on-screen body count of all the slasher villains.
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Resident_Hazard
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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2017 11:04 pm 
 

acid_bukkake wrote:
I think the average joke quality was better than the first but the high's of the first were that much higher. It's still a fun movie and it's the cast that makes it all work (major kudos for snagging Kurt Russell), but it just felt more "going through the motions" than the first did. Nowhere near bad, but it also felt like Gunn wasn't trying as hard as he normally does.
Resident_Hazard wrote:
I think Howling handles the lore side better, but American Werewolf simply tells a better overall story with better characters. It also features some twists outside of traditional werewolf lore--his horrifying monster-addled nightmares, for instance. His being haunted by his friend, and the people he killed.

The Nazi mutant nightmare scene is iconic and I do love him being haunted by his victims, but it feels like by the time things start getting real interesting is when the end credits roll. I think that's one of the reasons I prefer Howling overall, because your issue...
Quote:
Spoiler: show
Sure, they do a cool public reveal that werewolves exist, but her turning into like a Shih Tzu or Lasa Apso-like animal is kind of stupid,
and I always feel this damages the overall film. She's not fucking scary. She should be fucking scary. Otherwise people around her are freaking out for no good reason. She's such a cute puppy!

...is one that I had when I was younger, but I've grown to love it.
Spoiler: show
She's not fully transformed yet and, since she never embraced the curse, she's becoming something less beastly overall. It's even addressed in her editorial prior to her transformation, where she talks about the struggle between "what is kind and peaceful in our natures and what is cruel and wild." Since she's demonstrably kind and peaceful, without a hint of cruelty, she morphs into a much less threatening beast.

The effect is poor compared to the others in the film, true, but that also adds to the epilogue where viewers who'd just seen it live think it to be fake.


You have piqued my interest to watch Howling again, with a bit more discerning eyes. It's one I watch almost yearly, so I never really tire of it.
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