Board 8 > All Purpose Horror Topic 2021: Living Through Our Own Horror Stories

(+) Yeah! (+)

Lamb
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnEwJKVWjFM

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Rank of 2021's Horror Films (so far, of what I've seen):

1. Spiral - A surprise, to me at least. Chris Rock plays a role that works for the type of actor he is and the story is surprisingly engaging. The Saw franchise really needed something new, I think, and while it wasn't perfect I do feel it breathed some much needed life into the mythos.

2. Escape Room: Tournament of Champions - The movie excels at being tense and dramatic. I didn't like the cast as much as the first film's; really only Nathan I found interesting. It will be curious to see if the franchise continues where it goes from here, but I do like the lead actors and their characters. It has yet to really cash in on ALL the potential it has in theme, but I feel like among mainstream horror films lately, few have managed to be as tense from start to finish.

3. Quiet Place II - It's a well made, well acted film, but it just didn't need to be made. It didn't really tell a story I felt needed to be told. The characters themselves are good and all, but didn't really feel like they were growing. Also the new male lead was shoehorned into the film and it really showed.

4. The Forever Purge - Surprisingly, despite ranking it low right now, I like the film. It's well acted, the story is fairly engaging and I like the cast of characters. This was another franchise that needed something a little different, and it did it well enough I think.

5. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It - Fantastic; well, the first act anyway. It goes downhill a bit after that, but never to like La Llorona levels of bad. The main villain wasn't all that compelling and the scariest moments were all pretty early on.
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Snake5555555555 posted...

Lamb
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnEwJKVWjFM

this strikes me as somebody seeing The VVitch and thinking "man that goat should've been the main character"

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anway following up on other horror stuff

Maneater

Finished the game now, and while the gameplay loop definitely gets old after a while, I'm not complaining too much because I got it for free. Loved the style of it (done as a sometimes hilarious parody of Discovery Channel reality shows like Deadliest Catch) and it has more Easter Eggs than probably any other game I've played. Offhand I recall references to Jaws (obviously), Spongebob, Arrested Development, Moby Dick [the endgame battle against the Apex Sperm Whale was brutal], Lord of the Flies, Rick and Morty, It, Cast Away, and probably dozens more. Plus I just really love getting to explore the ocean; kinda reminded me of Abzu but with more slaughter.

Old

really interesting premise, some great uses of the idea, and some of the worst, most stilted dialogue I've ever seen. A few great actors here seem just absolutely terrible because they're given such nonsense to work with. (on a minor note, how the hell do a man with a heavy Spanish accent and a woman with a heavy German accent raise a daughter in America with a heavy New Zealand accent?????!!??!?). Several hilarious scenes, but it's not always clear what's intentional and what isn't.

Slaxx

man I don't even know where to start with this one. It's legitimately funny, and really bloody (though its low budget is pretty obvious at times). Then it does a thing where it tries to handle a kinda serious subject matter, and kinda makes good points, but at the same time feels kinda exploitative in its covering of a serious matter in such a goofy, nonsensical way and edges maybe a bit too close to unintentional racism for my taste. Anyway, worth a watch, but not one I think I'll watch again.


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since I've watched Slaxx, every horror movie about a sentient inanimate object I've watched, ranked

1. Hausu
2. Rubber
3. Velvet Buzzsaw
4. Christine
5. Maximum Overdrive
6. In Fabric
7. Slaxx
8. Small Soldiers
9. Child's Play 1 & 2 [this barely feels like it counts though]
10. Death Bed: The Bed That Eats
11. Demonic Toys

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also 2021 Horror Movie ranking (so far) while I'm at it

1. Werewolves Within
2. A Quiet Place, Part II
3. Saint Maud
4. Fear Street: 1666
5. Spiral: From the Book of Saw
6. Fear Street: 1978
7. Fear Street: 1994
8. Come True
9. Escape Room: Tournament of Champions
10. Old
11. Slaxx
12. The Unholy
13. Willy's Wonderland
14. Koko-di Koko-da
15. The Forever Purge

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v_charon posted...

5. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It - Fantastic; well, the first act anyway. It goes downhill a bit after that, but never to like La Llorona levels of bad. The main villain wasn't all that compelling and the scariest moments were all pretty early on.

Conjuring 3 really didn't stick with me too hard unfortunately. Shame because I think the first two are spectacular. Though I do still think it's a solid, enjoyable film, I guess the other two had more compelling and fleshed out cases to go on.

My ranking for this year so far:
0. PIG...?!

1. A Quiet Place Part II
2. Wrong Turn
3. Hunted
4. Saint Maud
5. Fear Street 1978
6. Fear Street 1666
7. Fear Street 1994
8. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It
9. Spiral
10. Godzilla vs. Kong
11. Willy's Wonderland
12. Koko-di Koko-da
13. The Forever Purge

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edited in Saint Maud and Kokodikokoda because I hadn't been thinking of them as 2021 movies

release years are weird for international and festival releases

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So Censor was awesome. It's like they scanned my brain for the perfect horror movie.

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ooh I need to find a place to see that

edit: wait nm I forgot I already downloaded it

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Just watched Blood Red Sky. Awesome movie. Recommend it to those that love genre-benders like I do. It just gets more and more crazy as it goes on, it has such a manic energy to the whole production, you never know where it's going to lead. Just a blast front to back.

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I'm starting to play Parasite Eve and by jove I am going to see it through this time, and then I'm gonna do the second one. You guys are my witnesses!

I dunno how far I made it through the first one a few years ago. I remember being parked outside a pharmacy with my cop partner or something.

Then I'll be looking for recommendations of other PS1 Survival Horror (other than RE and SH(. Not sure if there are (m)any. @Snake5555555555 or anyone :)

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Parasite Eve is fucking amazing and I wish they'd do a remake of it, or revisit the series again.

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I replayed PE last year because it reminded me of the pandemic, and I don't think I ever loved it as much as I did during that playthrough. The friggin' music especially.

A great rec to go along with PE is another Survival Horror-RPG, Koudelka. The combat is turn-based strategy but it leans more heavily into survival horror than even PE does, you have to conserve weapons for harder enemies otherwise you will be fucked. It has an amazing story too with well-detailed character personalities (Koudelka herself should be a survival horror icon if you ask me), and the story is sort of a mix of medieval Gothic fantasy and Lovecraft. You might know this but it's also the first game in the Shadow Hearts series.

I'm also going to throw out a rec for Hellnight (Dark Messiah in Japan). It's first-person and there's no combat, you go through maze maps avoiding monsters while also solving puzzles. It's like a very proto Amnesia or Outlast but I think the atmosphere is creepy and the story is interesting, with occult-leanings.

If your're ever looking for more I have a list of every horror game for PS1 right here (it's part of a larger list of almost every horror game ever):
https://www.grouvee.com/user/CrossbonesGT/shelves/522941-horror-games/?platforms_on=playstation&num=50&sort_by=date&dir=

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Awesome mate. Knew you'd come through!

That Hellnight sounds right up my street! I will definitely be giving that a whirl!

I'm also intrigued about the blend of genres you mentioned in Koudelka!

Awesome list mate. That's why you're B8's king of all things horror :)

Thanks again!

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Happy to help!

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Just got back from seeing Don't Breathe 2

Overall a solid enough thriller, but much less original of a concept the 2nd time around. It instead takes the odd direction of making the Blind Man an anti-hero taking down just the most objectively despicable group imaginable in an almost John Wick kind of way. Didn't fully make sense (if they were very specifically trying to capture the girl alive, why did the first guy try to drown/electrocute her? If she died their whole plan would've been squashed) and kind of skims over the fact that the guy we're supposed to be rooting for is kind of disgusting, but it's still a fun (if goofy) thrillride.

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I just finished Don't Breathe 2 as well! I don't even need to say anything else because you captured my thoughts pretty perfectly.

But man, I had a great time watching this movie regardless. It's not as good as the first by any means, but I consider the first an untouchable masterpiece. Go into it just wanting a great time and you are set. Extremely satisfied with what I got, and I preferred it to trying to just do the same first movie, but worse.

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still nervous about gvsi being overbought, but looking great today after getting in yesterday kinda near the top
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Night House

Definitely not as strong as The Ritual, which had the same director. The positives are atmosphere and premise, but it's a little heavy on cheap jump scares and the story kind of sputters out at the end - it felt like the script needed another revision to tie up the loose ends. Frustrating in that the pieces were there for it to be good or even great. Rebecca Hall does a very good job carrying it basically by herself, though - her character had some great gallows humor.

6.5/10

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I have officially watched every episode of American Horror Stories.

Why did I watch every episode of American Horror Stories?

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is it any good?


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Adding in two more films to my 2021 rankings now.

1. Spiral

2. Don't Breathe 2 - Very enjoyable even if flawed. I realize the common complaint of making the former villain into a sort of protagonist, but I felt compelled enough to root for him anyway. The originality of the first film was lost, but it's still a good time.

3. Escape Room: Tournament of Champions

4. Quiet Place II

5. Old - I'll always be a fan of his, but Shyamalan's offering gets more and more convoluted the more videos I watch about the film. I think I've resolved myself to not checking out any more about it at this point. It's, as it often is with his films, a great concept in theory but at times crudely executed.

6. The Forever Purge

7. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It
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I enjoyed 2 episodes and even then they weren't the best. One was about a cursed/lost film which I enjoyed on concept and the other was a pretty typical plot about a devil baby. The rest of the show is laughably terrible, it's nearly as bad as The Twilight Zone reboot.

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tbh I haven't even watched AHS since Roanoke though I do want to catch up someday

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I absolutely loved 1984

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1984 was good. Roanoke was the absolute drizzling shits.

I'm enjoying the American Horror Stories for what they are--popcorn short stories. They're not particularly good, and fall apart when thinking about them at all, but they're entertaining enough if you don't invest anything in them.

I enjoy it more than the back half of most American Horror Story seasons, at least.

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Hey guys what's up? Shut the fuck up it doesn't matter.

Go see Night House. It was amazing. It's the only thing that matters.

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ooh I want to see that, maybe next week

Saw Candyman last night and it was really good, definitely among the all-time best horror reboots (not that that's a super high bar but still)

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I'm seeing Candyman next week.

But goooood damn did Night House scratch my itch for an incredible psychological horror.

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1. Spiral

2. Don't Breathe 2

3. Escape Room: Tournament of Champions

4. The Night House - Not as good as the first 2/3rds painted it out to be unfortunately. Still solid, but the narrative was too heavy-handed to really leave you mystified or doubting what really happened. It wasn't a twist I saw coming at all, I'll give it that much, but it didn't feel like it should have happened the way it did either. I've read commentary from the director stating that the intention was to let the audience believe that either ghosts are real, or that they aren't, and you'll imagine whichever you find scarier. It's a good concept, but it takes too much suspension of disbelief to believe the main character simply imagined all the bodies in the house or explain away the encounter she had with her husband's "mistress". For me, it was too heavy handed and I wasn't super into the film being about what's essentially the Grim Reaper. That said, it captivated me for most of the way and it's still a pretty decent offering.

5. Quiet Place II

6. Old

7. The Forever Purge

8. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It
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Man I cannot agree with that review at all.

i didn't think the narration was that heavy handed at all, and I thought the execution was nearly perfect. It kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time and I had no idea where any of this was going, and I loved how it left what it did open ended enough. Just the absolute perfect story about grief and contending with thoughts of suicide. Just tremendous even to the closing line.

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PrivateBiscuit1 posted...

Man I cannot agree with that review at all.

i didn't think the narration was that heavy handed at all, and I thought the execution was nearly perfect. It kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time and I had no idea where any of this was going, and I loved how it left what it did open ended enough. Just the absolute perfect story about grief and contending with thoughts of suicide. Just tremendous even to the closing line.

The closing line was good, and the boat scene itself was as well. The writing here would have been a perfect fit for a film that was more ambiguous during it's final act.

But the bit with the Night House being out in the woods, the fact so many other characters verified her suspicions and even contributed their own, unique ideas is what did it for me. It wasn't subtle enough to achieve the effect I feel it was intended to go for; that none of what she was experiencing was real and that she created this narrative as a coping mechanism for her grief and perhaps as an excuse for her own death. The problem was that so many elements were introduced and I had a hard time simply believing what was shown on screen wasn't just what actually was happening. You had the neighbor giving her an account of her husband cheating on her, you had the mistress in town not being all that she initially expected. If we're to believe the encounter was only in her head or some byproduct of grief, then one would expect that when she confronted this mistress that she wouldn't have learned the things she did and that instead, we'd get to see what she believed the truth about their relationship to be, because she went there believing it and even flatly said the line "you slept with my husband and I'm asking you nicely", when that character continued to deny it happened even until the end.

To me, it falls into the category of many other TV shows/movies/games where the narration simply tries telling you "all this stuff you just saw, it wasn't real!". Obviously not in an extremely negative way like many other forms of this style of storytelling, but I still got a little taste of that vibe. I also just really didn't like the personification of Death and intended to be real or not, how an omnipotent being like Death could be fooled for any amount of time into thinking all white brunette women are the same.
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1. Candyman

2. Spiral

3. Don't Breathe 2

4. Escape Room: Tournament of Champions

5. The Night House

6. Quiet Place II

7. Old

8. The Forever Purge

9. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It
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Also don't know why I used purge (twice) instead of future endeavour'd

So Escape Room: Tournament of Champions has two different cuts huh? I saw the extended 95 minute version just now, and realized afterwards the original had none of the scenes involving Claire and her father?

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oh the amazong thing

no that was a literary criticism book

although it would make my life easier if i could buy the porn i wanted on amazon

just saw malignant

jfc

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Johnbobb posted...

jfc

Yup

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That third act is the wildest shit I've seen in a movie in a long time.

I loved it. So much. Just a perfectly twisted movie. There's plotholes and stuff that makes you go "Okay but why?" but in terms of an entertaining movie, Malignant is so far up there.

I love that film.

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So I actually can't wait to watch Midnight Mass until October, so I'm watching it now and it's gonna be entry 0. for me.

But simply put, three episodes in and this show is positively amazing so far.

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Figure I ought to pimp my topic here too!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/79686314

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<div class="message_mpu">
<div class="ad ad_mpu_top" id="mpu_top-wrap"><div class="ad_wrap" id="mpu_top"></div></div>
</div>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvtJ4Y-wz9g

i got it.

one cool thing about this show is that there are these scenes where you're not sure whether you're supposed to laugh or not. that kind of consistent tonal duality is impressive.

Any Shudder-exclusive movie reccomendations?

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After Midnight, One Cut of the Dead, Color Out of Space, Mandy, Revenge, Peninsula if you liked Train to Busan (if you didn't watch TtB watch that first instead), Hunted (I liked it but it won't be for everyone).

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Spiral is the best Shudder original I've seen. Room, Still/Born, Lucky, Beach House, and Z are also big recs for me!

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Snake5555555555 posted...

After Midnight, One Cut of the Dead, Color Out of Space, Mandy, Revenge, Peninsula if you liked Train to Busan (if you didn't watch TtB watch that first instead), Hunted (I liked it but it won't be for everyone).

I can second all of those except the last two, which I didn't see

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Thanks!

I watched VHS 94 today. I liked it! Obviously the third short was the setpiece one, and it was cool, but personally I liked the second one the best.

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You guys helped me realize I've seen quite a few 2021 horror flicks already (despite not yet doing any "Halloween season" viewing).

Quiet Place II
Don't Breathe 2
Malignant
Fear Street (x3)
Candyman

The only one I genuinely liked was Fear Street '78. I'll take this topic's general recommendation and check out Night House next - hopefully things will start picking up!

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Depends on the type of horror you like, but Night House is very psychological. I loved it, but YMMV!

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