What I've Been Watching: The Catch-All Film Thread

I went to see Halloween last night. I'm a big fan of the first two original movies, and it was interesting to see the remake. I liked how it followed the original in many ways (going as far as completely duplicating a couple of scenes), while at the same time being fresh and new by fleshing out the history of Michael Meyers as a child. Pretty good overall.
 
Joined
Dec 8, 2006
Messages
532
Location
Ohio
I almost forgot... over the weekend I watched Day of the Dead 2: Contagium

By its title you would think it was a sequel to Romero's Day of the Dead... but it's not. I'm not sure how they were able to name it that, but it has nothing to do with the "Dead" quadrilogy (I know... that may not be a real word... but you get the point) by Romero.

It is, however, a pretty decent "B" movie. It has an interesting take on the zombie type movie theme.

<edit> I just read that this film is a "prequel" to Romero's films... but I would take that very lightly when watching it. I don't consider it to be related in any way since it wasn't created by Romero...
 
Joined
Dec 8, 2006
Messages
532
Location
Ohio
ive seen that Contagium on the shelf but never rented it, reliable sources have warned me to stay away from it, so I left it alone for the time being. Plus, I was kinda offput by the false advertising of "Day of the Dead II", it would be like seeing a film on the shelf called "Evil Dead IV: The Last Stand" or something which had nothing to do with Raimi, Ash, et al. I almost wouldnt rent it on principle alone, it's just an underhanded and disrespectful thing to do. Then again, the whole Zombi/Zombi II situation with the aforementioned Fulci zombie flick almost mirrors the situation, but it wasnt done here in the US and it's just different. It just is.

Perhaps I'll give it a looksee if I see it on the shelf after all, thanks for your report, Commander Narpet.

Professors Pladio and Dt, I thank you both for your contributions to my zombie research. However, a merman is still technically humanoid, and it is a game after all, so I would be hesitant to state that as evidence for any further hypotheses I would formulate without further research establishing it as possibly inspired by real world events. Now, Ive seen many instances of animal undead, such as Return of the Living Dead, Re-Animator, and of course the well-documented cases detailed in Pet Sematary. I dont recall a direct bite from undead being the catalyst for any of those zombification tho.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
5,228
Location
San Diego, Ca
ive seen that Contagium on the shelf but never rented it, reliable sources have warned me to stay away from it, so I left it alone for the time being. Plus, I was kinda offput by the false advertising of "Day of the Dead II", it would be like seeing a film on the shelf called "Evil Dead IV: The Last Stand" or something which had nothing to do with Raimi, Ash, et al. I almost wouldnt rent it on principle alone, it's just an underhanded and disrespectful thing to do. Then again, the whole Zombi/Zombi II situation with the aforementioned Fulci zombie flick almost mirrors the situation, but it wasnt done here in the US and it's just different. It just is.

Perhaps I'll give it a looksee if I see it on the shelf after all, thanks for your report, Commander Narpet.

Before you get it I want to make sure that I'm not leading you astray ;) The movie is truly bad... but you have to remember that I enjoy bad movies. Most people give it a score of about 1/10... but I would give it a solid 6/10. I think most people are turned off by the first part of the movie (kind of like the prelude) which is REALLY bad. So, many viewers probably just stop watching before the movie gets going. Once the plot starts to kick in I think it has a nice take on the whole "zombie" thing... it strays slightly from the "your instantly a zombie and now you want to eat humans" formula, which I think can put some zombie lovers off.

I have to admit that I actually own the DVD and I have watched it several times. So it's good (or bad) enough to keep my interest more than once...
 
Joined
Dec 8, 2006
Messages
532
Location
Ohio
Beerfest

actually didnt want to watch this one, but due to peer pressure here at work (and the constant quoting) I begrudginly gave in and put it on while I was rolling up my Monk character for Saturday's game. Whaddya know, before long I put down the book and paper and gave it my full attention. I thought it was hilarious!

Mate, I'm living in Germany and I can tell you that everything you saw in the movie is 100% true... But yeah, I enjoyed the movie as well... it's not thaaaaat great, but seeing it as a German makes it probably even more funny. Btw I've been on the Oktober Fest - and it is definately worse than it was portrayed in the movie... I haven't stumbled upon some secret drinking contest yet, but who knows... maybe next time...
 
Joined
Dec 21, 2006
Messages
758
My favorite character was the gramma, she was great~!

Professor Pladio, I am very hesitant to enter into my meticulously compiled and pondered over research the data from a video game. If you can present some sort of evidence that this Wesnoth conflict was indeed a re-enactment of real world events, I will consider it. Until then, I will stand with my theory that there has been no known case of humanoid to non-humanoid transmission of zombification.

Thus, after much thought and consultation with my fellow researchrs I have come to the conclusion that no, the shark documented in "Zombie" that suffered direct trauma from a particularly fiesty aquatic variant of the undead species would not undergo zombification.


Dementia 13 is on TCM tonight!! Going to try an lure my friend Kasey over w/ some homemade california rolls. Tho I'm not as quick as that dude, and I use a sprinkling of sesame seeds instead of masago (fish eggs)='.'=
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
5,228
Location
San Diego, Ca
I saw Highlander 5: The Source. I never really was a Highlander movie fan, but since I liked the series, I did watch all of the movies and if I'd rate on a Highlander movie scale with the first one being the best and the second one being the worst, then this one would rate just a little bit better than the second one.

The story wasn't good, the acting was pretty mediocre, the characters didn't fit and so on...


:( Poor zombie Drakes :(
 
Joined
Nov 13, 2006
Messages
9,177
Location
Manchester, United Kingdom
I really enjoyed the first one, seeing it in theaters and then several times on cable. Remember catching the second one on cable and thinking it was awful and never watching another Highlander thing since ...
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
14,932
I've liked the series ever since I was small which is why I rented all the Highlanders except the ones I saw on TV. The second and the fifth are just horrible movies. The third is quite nice and the fourth gives Duncan a role in the movies.

The only problem is they always find a way to make it so that there are more immortals remaining while at the end of every movie there's only one :D

Oh, and I saw Rogue Assassin today at the theater, very mediocre action movie, the sword fighting is quite nice, but I knew almost everything that would happen in every scene. The story is quite bad. I'd give it a 60% on my movie scale.
Pros:
Good action scenes
Actors are fine

Cons:
Classical Action movie
People survive bullets straight in the face.
Getting a katana in the arm doesn't make people weaker or faint.
Very bad ending and most of the story
 
Joined
Nov 13, 2006
Messages
9,177
Location
Manchester, United Kingdom
caught the 2nd half of rockula on tv this evening which i had never seen prior. even 'bad" movies from the 80's(an early 90's) i nearly always get more enjoyment out of than most of the stuff that's come out since then.
 
Joined
May 26, 2007
Messages
812
Location
standing under everyone
I'm making a video tribute to the women of horror, and I'm like fried from scouring the net for hours. I think I got pretty much the essentials, but I no doubt missed some. I know not many people here are into this type of stuff, but any help that someone has would be appreciated. So far I have (either the name or the movies that they were in):


bride of frankenstein
brides of Dracula
hazel court
lily munster
morticia
Linnea Quigley!
Brinke Stevens
ginger snaps
jamie lee curtis
sheri moon zombie
alucarda
nightmare on elm st
asia argento
carrie
janet leigh
barbara crampton - reanimator / from beyond
barbara steele
carnival of souls
lori cardille - day of the dead
vampira
elvira
carol ohmart
night of the living dead
return of the living dead
ingrid pitt
twins of evil
eileen daly
texas chainsaw
evil dead
audition
suspiria
jan in a pan
misty mundae

If anyone knows of any more off the top of your head I might have missed, plz lemme know.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
5,228
Location
San Diego, Ca
I'm making a video tribute to the women of horror, and I'm like fried from scouring the net for hours. I think I got pretty much the essentials, but I no doubt missed some. I know not many people here are into this type of stuff, but any help that someone has would be appreciated. So far I have (either the name or the movies that they were in):


bride of frankenstein
brides of Dracula
hazel court
lily munster
morticia
Linnea Quigley!
Brinke Stevens
ginger snaps
jamie lee curtis
sheri moon zombie
alucarda
nightmare on elm st
asia argento
carrie
janet leigh
barbara crampton - reanimator / from beyond
barbara steele
carnival of souls
lori cardille - day of the dead
vampira
elvira
carol ohmart
night of the living dead
return of the living dead
ingrid pitt
twins of evil
eileen daly
texas chainsaw
evil dead
audition
suspiria
jan in a pan
misty mundae

If anyone knows of any more off the top of your head I might have missed, plz lemme know.

Add Deborah Foreman to your list... her claim to fame was as the star of the 80's flick "Valley Girls", but she starred in this little know gem - April Fool's Day
 
Joined
Dec 8, 2006
Messages
532
Location
Ohio
One Night With The King (2006) - 2.5/5

Some very good acting and overall very good filming and quality, but we spent the better part of the first hour trying to figure out what was going on ... and we knew something of the source material! It worked best when they didn't worry about the historical parts ... but the end segment unfolded so slowly that my wife was rolling her hands in a sort of 'wrap it up' gesture and saying c'mon, c'mon already ...
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
14,932
I'm making a video tribute to the women of horror, and I'm like fried from scouring the net for hours.
(snip)
If anyone knows of any more off the top of your head I might have missed, plz lemme know.

- Kathy Bates as the nurse in the movie adaption of Stephen King's Misery.
- The dead girl from The Ring?
 
Joined
Aug 30, 2006
Messages
3,486
Shoot, wanted to add something but I guess it's too late for editing. There seem to be lots of Zombie fans here. Have you guys seen Battle Royale?

It's not really a Zombie film (what dies stays dead), but equally bloody and gory. It's a Japanese movie about a class of students that is abducted to participate in a so called "Battle Royale". They start on an isle: Everyone gets some sort of survival kit with a random weapon in it and a couple minutes head start before the next student may go. The winner of the game is the last (wo)man standing . . .

One of it students is the girl who played Gogo Yubari, the crazy right hand of O-Ren Ishiiin Kill Bill 1.

If you aren't scared of some violence (ahum ;)), you'll be in for a treat!
 
Last edited:
Joined
Aug 30, 2006
Messages
3,486
Back
Top Bottom