Saw the trailer for this movie, and I could've sworn I saw this film back in 1992.

Me and the ol' lady re-watched The Blair Witch Project last night. I hadn't seen it since 1999, when I saw it in theaters with my best friend. It scared the shit out of me then, but most everything did at the time. Today, I have to say it had a much bigger impact on me. Just the sheer panic of being completely lost in the woods gets my anxiety meter going, but then the shit that starts happening to them at night...

I still really enjoy this movie. I think another more recent favorite of mine, As Above So Below, took a lot of inspiration from Blair Witch.

When you saw Blair Witch originally did you think it was real?

I'm not gonna lie, I was skeptical when I was heading in, but there was definitely a part of me that was secretly hoping it was real.

I don't remember ever thinking or believing it was truly real. I can definitely say that the performance and quality of filming makes it FEEL real. The panic, the in-fighting, the hopelessness. It got to me as a child and I'd say it gets to me even worse as an adult.

I watch a lot of this show called "I Shouldn't Be Alive" and it's mostly about people getting lost by themselves in the woods, or desert, or mountains, and it creates such anxiety. So Blair Witch is like that, plus the supernatural aspect tormenting them...man, it rules. I didn't have high expectations going into it last night.

Oh cool, I'll have to check that out. I saw it pop up in Netflix and always really liked that phrase and thought it would be a good name for a great horror movie, but reviews said it was not great, but hey, what do they know. If you liked it I'll give it a go for sure.

I've seen those bad reviews! I'll be honest man, I don't think many people like the movie as much as I do. I saw it for the first time last year, and I've probably watched it ~7 times since then, with various friends? All of them liked it, to varying degrees, but I think watching a movie with someone who loves it can help in a weird way.

It's a found footage jam, which is a style I'm already a big fan of. To me, AA/SB just played with lots of occult elements and creepy scenarios in a very satisfying way. They could have taken things a few steps FURTHER, in my opinion, but as is it's one of my favorite found footage films ever. I hope you dig it, but even if you hate it let me know!

As Above, So Below was awesome, the Dowdles are great. Be sure to also check out The Poughkeepsie Tapes and No Escape from the same guy/s.

Alright, I watched all four Purge movies.

The first movie was kind of disappointing because for some reason when I thought of "The Purge" I pictured like Mad Max level post-apocalyptic shit where civilization ends because of this attempt at a one night purge thingy, but it was basically just a home invasion movie with this lore wrapped up around it. Thankfully, the sequels took that lore to interesting places, and, well, I guess I should spoiler this:

That said, despite the premise winding up being more interesting than I anticipated, most of the time the characters sucked. Sometimes acting performances seemed ok but just shittily captured or something, and the direction and cinematography rarely excited. There was one sequence in the fourth movie that's clearly inspired by The Raid that was actually quite cool and easily the stand-out action of the series. Most of the time, though, this really felt like I was watching an FX t.v. series with more f-bombs. So, not a complete waste of time, but hardly something I'd go back to or really recommend.

I thought Frank Grillo, the "victim" from Purge 1 and the mother and daughter duo had great character arcs, making 2 & 3 my favorite. However, I can't deny the action scenes in 2 & 3 were insanely bad and even embarrassing: I actually laughed out loud during the shootout/chase in the tunnel, it was cable TV quality, even borderline SyFy movie.

As a contrast, the latest entry had good action with, as you say, clear influence from The Raid and some cool ideas in the plot, but my god, I dare you to find less interesting characters or lamer dialog. The only things I remember about any of them is that the lead gang member looked like 50 Cent in the early 2000's and that the leading lady was almost offensively attractive.

I unabashedly love these movies and still agree with everything in the last two posts. They manage to get so much right and so much wrong all at once, which is why I refer to them as punk rock cinema.

Also, I'm peeved that the "game show" in Anarchy wasn't examined further. If you're going to introduce such a clever way of saying that wealth enjoys the suffering of the poor then open that bitch up.

I don't think any of the character arcs were "good." Some were just like...normal, while most others were bad enough to make the normal ones look good, I think. Here's my biggest gripe about the movies' broader plot:



I will definitely say that as dumb as these movies usually were, they did have me thinking about the meta-narrative for most of their collective duration, which is saying something, I guess.

I've never watched any of The Purge movies, but now As Above So Below is on my Netflix list. I've been sort of over found footage flicks since the Paranormal Activity franchise went off the rails, but I'll give it a shot.

Tell me about it. The sharp decline in quality between 3 and 4 is staggering.

I liked the Paranormal Activity series. I can see why it'd get crucified but I found them enjoyable.

I revisited my youth and watched Space Jam. It's a big, dumb movie but it's worth watching again. The acting is obviously not up to scratch but it's a fairly decent movie and well animated for 1997.

I also watched Eagle Eye, a movie from 2008 starring Shia LeBouf (or however you spell that) and Michelle Monaghan. The premise seems a little crazy but overall it's a good watch and I liked the characters in it.

Ghostwatch and Noroi: The Curse are definitely found footage flicks I'd recommend in a heartbeat, although perhaps horror mockumentary may be a more appropriate tag. Either way, they rank among the scariest and most effective horror movies I've ever seen. Heard good things about Alien Abduction: Incident in Lake County, too. Anyone jaded by found footage should definitely take the time to have a look at the first two movies though.

I plan on watching this for the frst time soon.

We did saw The Mission (https://www.filmaffinity.com/en/film791884.html) and Aguirre, the Wrath of God (https://www.filmaffinity.com/en/film728535.html) recently:
https://viviendoapesardelacrisis.blogspot.com/2018/10/aguirre-la-colera-de-dios.html
I saw the first one at school YEARS ago and it was Ok.
Second one is a hard one. Very strange and oniric but interesting.

One of my favorite found footage movies, besides the first two masterpieces of ever-building tension known as [REC] 1 and 2, is The Taking of Deborah Logan. It hits pretty close to home if you've ever had an older relative suffering from Alzheimer's or any other mentally deteriorating illness, but it stays clear of "exploitation" territory and firmly holds to its allegory about demonic possession.

I guess a lot of people really liked Taking of Deborah Logan. I found it to be atrocious crap and worse than even the usual found footage stuff or James Wan-style ghost stories - the allegory to dementia or whatever else was hamfisted and mostly used for cheap shocks from what I remember. It didn't have anything important to say. No real characterization beyond the idea of using demonic possession to try and talk about deteriorating mental conditions - to me it came off gimmicky and shallow.

The one found footage thing I go back to is Houses October Built, a gleeful story about Halloween haunted houses... just fun. The two Hell House, LLC ones I watched this year were enjoyable. The genre can be intriguing but too often they just have to make up increasingly dumber excuses for there to be a camera on. After a while it's like, why bother, just make a regular damn movie.

Watched The Howling finally. Pretty good. A few eerie atmospheric shots and some good action. Great special effects and occasional gore. Not really much depth, I guess, and the villains were never really fully fleshed out, but I enjoyed myself enough. Have to say I'd take American Werewolf in London over this, though.

Yep, I dug the hell out of Taking of Deborah Logan. It gets over-the-top towards the end but the whole ride was pretty unsettling in a fun way, for me. Old people losing their minds is scarier than fuck. It's too real and relatable.

Found footage can be so good, and so bad. Sometimes both! Any of you guys ever watch the first two Grave Encounters films? It's a low budget (I guess?) Canadian-made project. I hate to admit it, but I really like both of them. They're what I would classify as "architectural horror", which As Above/So Below does extremely well.

Yes, that. Better than I could have said it. That's the whole problem with the genre, and the main reason why I don't find many of those films entertaining. Take Paranormal Activity, since I was talking about that series. The third one is supposed to take place 18 years before 1 & 2, which would have made it 1989 or so. Even though it's not a terrible movie overall, the hoops they have to jump through to explain why 80s era videotape recorders seems to be everywhere and in constant use (even by the children) is just stretching the concept too far.

I can imagine that this dominated the whiteboard in the writing room - "Item One: Hope nobody remembers that those things were bulky, heavy, fucking expensive, and the batteries lasted about an hour."

The Paranormal Activity series is all over the place, in my books. Ghost Dimension or whatever the fuck was one of the worst movies I've ever seen, truly. On the other hand, The Marked Ones, or "Paranormal Activity in the Bario" as we lovingly call it, might be my favorite out of all of them. It's REALLY believable ie kids just fuckin' around with forces they don't understand.

Paranormal Activity 3 > PA1 > Blair Witch Project > PA2 >>>>>>>>>>> Marked Ones > PA4 > Ghost Dimension.

This is the objective truth.

man i hated the shit out of the og paranormal activity and never bothered with any of the others. there's no real tension or suspense or anything and it's just not scary to see a chair move or whatever when you know it's not real.

blair witch project is great though. blair witch 2 is also maybe one of the worst sequels i've ever seen.

Victor Crowley (Hatchet 4) - Yup, they made another one. This time there's no Marybeth and the main character is the guy who played different people in parts 1 to 3. He's now on a book tour cashing in on his survivor status, which reminded me of Loomis in Zombie's Halloween II (barf). Angela from Sleepaway Camp is his agent, and she convinces him to return to the swamp for a lucrative interview so the movie can happen.

This must have been especially low budget, because way too much of it takes place on a plane, even after it crashes into the swamp. I recall at least some exploration of the terrain in the earlier entries, whereas this time the bulk of the action seems to occur in a Little League infield sized area. Some OK gore and a bunch of genitalia jokes cannot justify this lame rehash. Might as well take Victor Crowley into space if this is the best they can do with the same old setting. 4 / 10

Altitude (2010) - Five young people are on a small plane when a mechanical failure locks that tail-fin thing into "climb" position. I won't defend any of the physics in this, and the final third gets really strange and corny. But I found myself sort of caring about what would happen next, which automatically makes this better than the past few movies I watched. 5.5 / 10


I think the first one is a good example of found footage despite being set in the most predictable horror location (abandoned mental hospital). Also liked the way the main guy started out as a fraud who paid the locals to say "Oh yeah, that place is totally haunted, I've heard weird noises and stuff!"

I watched the classic western A Fistful Of Dollars this weekend and really enjoyed it. I saw it once probably 15 years ago and didn't remember much at all. I wonder how much Miller's Crossing was influenced by it, as the plots are quite similar.

Finally watched Django Unchained.
Who else but Tarantino could make a modern film like this? Simultaneously one of the most fun and harrowing films I've seen.

I should probably watch more Tarantino movies. No one I've known till recently IRL enjoys Tarantino. Only one I've seen was Reservoir Dogs, and it was too set-piecey for me though the snappy dialogue was fun. Friend tells me Inglorious Basterds is a flick I'd enjoy, since it's the "artsiest" of his movies apparently. Looking forward to more snappiness.

I thought Django was alright though it didn't really click with me. Inglourious Basterds is my favorite of Tarantino's. It's structured quite uniquely in that instead of a bunch of short scenes, it's made up of only a few long scenes - each starting with relative peace and then building and building in suspense and intensity.

I watched Summer Of 84 the other night. It was decent. It was quite suspenseful and fun though the ending left much to be desired IMO.

A Quiet Place - really interesting dynamics throughout. Very different to everything out there.

I thought it was incredibly well written, didn't leave any horrendous questions throughout (often answering them as I'm thinking them), and excellent acting. 9/10 for me.

I watched The Lost World: Jurassic Park last night (aka Jurassic Park II). I did that mental trick you do where you haven't seen a movie in like a decade, so you think "Was it really as bad as I remember?" Yes, yes it was. Jeff Goldblum constantly forgetting if Ian Malcolm was supposed to have a limp or what. Julianne Moore's Sara repeatedly vowing to "observe, not interact" while doing literally the opposite of that the entire movie. T-rexes that both announce themselves with ground tremors from their mighty footsteps, but are also uncommonly stealthy, sneaking up on a camps of heavily armed mercenaries and casually strolling through suburban San Diego without much of a fuss. Gah.

I like this one, actually. I thought it had a really good story despite the issues. Anything is better than Jurassic World.

Profondo Rosso (Deep Red)

Excellent. Really liked the soundtrack - a mix of jazz and synths which was a bit different for a horror! I need to watch the extended version at some point. 8/10

We did saw the Evil Dead Trilogy this last saturday night:
https://www.filmaffinity.com/en/film939051.html
https://www.filmaffinity.com/en/film216255.html
https://www.filmaffinity.com/en/film618571.html
Fun, fun, fun!
P.S: The second is STILL my fav.

I enjoyed this movie a lot too. I don't really concern myself with plot holes or characters acting "logically", but a lot of people took gripe with some plothole/logical problems with this movie and was curious about how you answered them when you watched it.

^

I hate how "plot hole" morphed from a legitimately baffling decision that goes against a story's internal logic (and A Quiet Place has a couple of them) and into "stupid things that characters do." The above? Not plot holes. Two real ones...



It's a movie I thought was stupid and trope-reliant, but I can see why people enjoy it. I also hate Jon Krasinski, though, but hey...

The ending was pretty stupid, yeah, but unfortunately it isn't terribly uncommon for movies like this - a lot of em tend to end with rather easy resolutions. Not excusing it though.

Easy resolutions are fine so long as they're either ironic or symbolic. Signs, for example, has a pretty simple ending, but it's one that is built to. Every version of War of the Worlds ends the same, but they all serve the greater narrative. A Quiet Place just feels very slapdash in its finale.

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I agree with First Man being trash. Complete garbage and possibly the worst wide release I watched this year. Walked out of the theatre when there was an hour left.

Suspiria was amazing. I would say I easily loved it ten times more than the original. A gutsy, artsy, movie that has deep contempt for any audience that doesn't love audacious art horror. I actually might see it in theatres a second time, and I never do that. This year has been insane for horror.