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Dr. Herbert West's Horror Weekends (comments & convo welcome)

Dr Herbert West

Dr Herbert West

Super-Earth
Joined
Sep 2, 2010
Location
Dunwich, MA, USA
I was going to necro my old thread but instead I figured I'd just make a new one. For those who don't know me or don't remember me I'm a bit of a horror nerd. My posts will mostly consist of what horror films I'm watching on any given weekend and even sometimes during the week when I have the time. I also am happy to discuss horror films from pretty much any decade, country, subgenre, etc. So feel free to speak up if you'd like to talk about the movies I'm watching or any other horror film for that matter!

Tonight, I'm knocking out a movie that I've been sorta avoiding for a little while only because I don't typically go for gore-porn on this level. The movie in question is Srpski film aka A Serbian Film.

For the rest of the weekend I'll be planning to watch the following:

Orphan I've heard good things about and am looking forward to. Terror Train and The Seventh Victim were recommended to me. Antichrist and A Serbian Film are being watched mostly just for completion type reasons. It's the same reason I watched Cannibal Holocaust.

These movies are also a form of a break for me from my marathon of French Extremism films.
 
RE: Dr. Herbert West's Horror Weekends

So my thoughts on A Serbian Film aren't good.

At first I thought they would go the direction of having some seriously fucked up stuff happen to the main character(s) only for them to get some level of revenge. This was not the case at all. So then I thought perhaps they would go the direction of a thoughtful but tragic ending like in the case of the French version (the original version that is) of Martyrs. In the end, nope.

The whole thing just felt terribly juvenile. Shocking scenarios just for the sake of playing with the taboo. Like school yard kids making rape jokes just to be the "edgy bad kids" when really they're just desperate for attention.

The older I get the less I enjoy shock for shocks sake. Anyways, looking forward to watching Orphan and may watch it tonight!
 
RE: Dr. Herbert West's Horror Weekends

This weekend I had the pleasure of introducing a friend to the Critters series. So we literally sat down and watched all four back to back.

For anyone who hasn't seen them the first two are some of my all time favorites. The second one is almost better than the first. The last two...well a completionist would definitely watch them...
 
RE: Dr. Herbert West's Horror Weekends

Normally by mid-week I have a pretty good idea of what I'm going to watch during the coming weekend but this week I'm just drawing a blank.

I'm thinking I might not have a theme but rather just knock out some movies I've been meaning to watch. Some possibilities are:

Not sure. We'll see and I'll update.

update.jpg

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So I watched Unfriended earlier today and have mixed feelings. The format was interesting and I dig the concept but the execution wasn't the best. There is such a thing as leaving things to the imagination but then there's just not showing enough to really lock me in. I didn't really feel bad for any of the victims and found them generally to be assholes. But then again, the ghost wasn't someone I could really get behind either.

So I watched people I didn't like, mostly dying off screen at the hands of a ghost I didn't care about.

Disappointing. Not a bad movie per se but not a great movie either. I'd watch it again if someone really insisted on watching it but doubt I'd go out of my way to watch it again.
 
RE: Dr. Herbert West's Horror Weekends

So my thoughts on The Phantom Carriage...

The first thing that hits you about this movie is the incredible skill of Victor Sjöström, the director. Everything is framed so nicely that every shot seems like a beautiful still photo. The lighting is insanely good, very moody, and really does a lot with natural lighting. The technical side of this movie is just stunning. Normally I wouldn't bother mentioning that kind of thing BUT this movie was released in 1921 when film was a very new medium. Most directors had no idea what they were doing. Movies were filmed with mostly wide shots like they were simply recording a play. This movie has a far more contemporary composition.

When it comes to silent horror films I'd say this is a pretty good starter for that reason.

As for the story itself, it's a slow boil with some great pay offs. It has a very gothic feel along the same lines as Dracula or Frankenstein. Three drunks share a legend about how on New Years day if a man dies and he's been a real piece of shit then there's a chance he could be forced to drive the phantom carriage for Death, collecting the souls of the dead. Later one of the three drunks dies and finds himself facing the prospect of being the driver of the phantom carriage.

The influence on Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal is painfully obvious as you watch the movie. As I told Nihil in the chat last night, if you like Berman or even just The Seventh Seal it's a must see. Really happy with this movie and my only complaint is that I waited so long to watch it.
 
So this week's bad movies were all pretty enjoyable. Horror sub-genres are like my kids, I love them all. If you dig movies that are so bad they're good I'd say any of these are worth checking out. Swamp Ape was memorable for the Swamp Ape's huge red rocket that sort of plays into the plot. Little Dead Rotting Hood comes complete with a Deanna Troi cameo as Grandma. The Biker Warrior Babe vs The Zombie Babies From Hell has a brief cameo as well but this time from Tromaville's own Lloyd Kaufman. Both of those were pretty entertaining, though Rotting Hood had a MUCH higher budget than anything else I watched this week. Oh God No! was much more in line with The Biker Warrior Babe and Swamp Ape. Its inspirations are clearly from the grindhouse and biker movies of the 60's and 70's and despite trying too hard to be shocking at the end it was good for some cringe-y laughs here and there. It was easily the weakest of the four though.

I added Frankenstein Created Bikers, the sequel to the mostly okay Oh God No! biker flick. They clearly had more money but it was also clearly written by the same folks. Not bad for what it was but not blowing anyone away.
 
I tried watching Antichrist, I really did. I loved Melancholia, I thought Nymphomanic (part II mostly) was really good, and I've been told to watch Antichrist several times.

I got about half way through, and just stopped, not because it was bad, or too horrific, but because it just wasn't 'any good'. There's the whole debate over whether you should watch things through to the end, I did with Nymphomanic, but sometimes, there just isn't enough time in the world.
 
I have the feeling that I'll have a similar experience. Honestly I didn't want to finish Serbian Film and after watching it I just couldn't deal with Antichrist as well. I'll probably endure Antichrist as some point just because I'm a completionist and I watch horror movies like some people collect pokemon.
 
Dr Herbert West said:
I have the feeling that I'll have a similar experience. Honestly I didn't want to finish Serbian Film and after watching it I just couldn't deal with Antichrist as well. I'll probably endure Antichrist as some point just because I'm a completionist and I watch horror movies like some people collect pokemon.
Click to expand...

I consider myself quite the horror fan, but even then horror films fall under my 'I ain't got time for this shit' film watching policy.
 
It's not the weekend but I've been so busy dating a wonderful young woman that I've been slacking on the horror movie front. So I thought since I was doing nothing today that I might make up for it. Today I'm going on a bit of a Cosmic Horror/Lovecraftian binge so if you haven't seen some of these movies or are curious about/a fan of cosmic horror it's going to be a good day!
  • The Call of Cthulhu - A neo-silent film that boasts that it doesn't stray from the text any more than is absolutely necessary. Made on a modest budget it's a must see for any Lovecraft fan. If you enjoy silent films in general then I also highly recommend this one to you.
  • Dagon - Creepy fish people and based on a story from HP Lovecraft with a low budget. What else do you need to know?

I'll just update this post today as I watch 'em. Stay tuned!
 
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