Challenge Idea

Hey guys, I was thinking for December, or January we could do an 80s movie challenge. 80s movies are fun, and while I haven't worked out a point system there is a lot 80s movies can offer. Would any of y'all be interested in joining a challenge like this?

What movies did you watch or buy this week? (10-13)

I've had so little time for movies lately but have watched a few.

Who Saw Her Die (1972)
Graveyard of Horror (1971)
Pyewacket (2018)

Zombi 2: The First Zombi Movie

What a glorious piece of trash... In many ways, it's kind of the epitome of the Italian horror movie. It cashes in on every two-bit trend of Italian exploitation and makes it work, despite the director's incompetence. I for one am not a fan of Lucio Fulci. "Hack" is a word I use to describe him, but his hackiness works wonders in voodoo hoodoo bullocks zombie flick.

Made as an "unofficial" sequel to Dawn of the Dead, this turkey really has nothing to do with it, but zombies were all the rage back in the late 70s, and Argento (an Italian dude) produced Dawn, but I otherwise fail to see the similarities between the two.

This movie is basically a handful of people going to an island of voodoo zombies and all the fluff that it entails. This includes pointless zombie carnage and random acts of gratuity, like titties, sharks, gore, and dubbing. That about sums up Italian movies, don't you think?

Most people will tell you that one of the best things about Zombi 2 is the score. It isn't great, but at the same time, it is. There's something magical about it, and it's become a staple of old school horror soundtracks.

Also, another thing about Fulci flicks is that whenever someone gets their head bashed open and the blood comes out, it sounds like flowing liquids. Liquids being poured, which isn't a natural open-wound sound, but it's something you'll hear in several Italian movies. I attribute this to their bad sense of sound design and awkward follying. It's a charm, though. I wouldn't have it any other way.

It must have been an interesting experience to film a bunch of zombies crossing the Brooklyn Bridge, but that's part of what makes this such an iconic zombie movie. It had a decent (albeit contrived) ending.

Ready Aim Fire (RAF)

This is a very fun game I used to play on another site. It is very simple and similar to rock paper scissors.

Here are the rules:
Players have 3 options:
1. Shoot themselves
If you shoot yourself anyone else who shoots you dies and you live, but if no one shoots you then you kill yourself.
2. Shoot someone else
If you shoot someone else then they die, unless they chose to shoot themselves, then you die.
3. Shoot the sky
You kill no one, but you die if some one shoots you, however you don't run the risk of shooting someone who shot themself and dying from it.

Players will PM their choice to me.

SIGN UP PLEASE!

Players:
Snowy_Owl
Bambi
Ballz
Pick
Box

All Hallows's Eve (2013)

You can never have enough Halloween anthology movies, right? After watching Terrifier, I've always been curious to see where Art the Clown got his start, and this is it.

The opening credits sets the mood perfectly. You're in a Halloween VHS type of scenario and the titles have a static flicker to them that brings about a sense of Halloween III in a way. The wraparound takes us to a suburban house on Halloween night, and what is the address? 237, which as we all know is a haunted number. A woman is babysitting a boy and a girl when the kid finds a VHS tape in his bag of candy. Instead of watching Night of the Living Dead on tv, they convince her to watch this random-ass flick, but are they ready for it?

The first segment is about a girl waiting in the depot when none other than Art himself comes along, and suffice to say, her night quickly goes to hell. This segment involves sewer monsters, cults, demons, and Satan babies. It has some good imagery going for it because the team behind this movie is heavy on the special effects. This goes for gore as well as monsterous creature designs, and these creatures are fucked.

The next segment features a lady in her new isolated home as she unpacks. She seems to revel in the peace and quiet out here, but when everything suddenly stops working, it's cause for alarm. The rest of it features somewhat of a goofy threat, but it plays out alright.

The final segment features a girl who finds herself lost on the road at night, so she stops at Last Chance Gas for directions and a refill. Yeah, that's the name of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre gas station if you remember, and this segment is heavy on some Art the Clown action. This story alone is undoubtedly the main influence for the Terrifier movie and it has some good bits to it.

Like any anthology, things don't end well in the wraparound segment either. The VHS tape has gotten out of hand and while it'll end in a rather predictable manner, the execution is still pretty decent. If you want a solid little movie to kick off the month with, All Hallow's Eve is a good place to start.

Here's an Overview of my First Week of the October Horror Challenge

2019 SciFi/Fantasy Double Elimination Beat Down! (Round 1)

Rules for voting:
1. Contests will be held one at a time
2. Votes will only be cast by contestants not in the current contest
3. Ties will be broken by Vince


Contestants (X denotes a loss):
1. Der_Tables (X)
2. Box_a_Hair (X)
3. Snowey_Owl (X)
4. Bambithedeart (X)(X)
5. PickOfDestiny (X)(X)
6. Ballz
7. Gymnopedie (X)(X)
8. ZombieCPA (X)(X)


Picks:
PickOfDestiny: Mark Watney (The Martian), Predator (Predator), Starlord (Gaurdians of the Galaxy), Neo (Matrix), T-1000 (T2), Blade (Blade), Hackerman (Kung Fury), Alice (Residant Evil), Tallahassee (Zombieland), The Kid (Turbokid)

Der_Tables: T800 Terminator (T2), Lightning McQueen (Cars 3), Malcom Reynolds (Firefly), Ellen Ripley (Alien), Dr. Zaius (Planet of the Apes), Toxic Avenger (The Toxic Avenger), Triceracop (Kung Fury), Bender (Futurama), Doc Brown (Back to the Future), Herbert West (Reanimater)

Ballz: Robocop (Robocop), Roy Batty (Blade Runner), Max Rockatansky (Mad Max), Snake Plissken (Escape from New York), Darth Vader (Star Wars), Alex (A Clockwork Orange), Marty McFly (Back to the Future), The Gunslinger (Westworld '73), Reggie (Phantasm), Nada (They Live)

Box_a_Hair: Jack Burton (Big Trouble in Little China), Michael Waits (Troll 2), Kung Fury (Kung Fury), Swamp Thing (Swamp Thing), Special Agent Dale Cooper (Twin Peaks), Dr. Dan Challis (Halloween 3), Morty Smith (Rick and Morty), Tim, the Enchanter(Monty Python and the Holy Grail), Jack Deth (Trancers), Lucien Sanchez (Darkplace)

Snoweeey_Owle: Douglas Quaid (Total Recall), Sarah Connor (Terminator), Han Solo (Star Wars), Buffy Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Gordon Cole (Twin Peaks), The Flash (The Flash), Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare on Elm Street), Ashley "Ash" J. William (Evil Dead), Edward Scissorhands (Edward Scissorhands), Eric Draven (The Crow)


Bambithedeart: Dom Cobb (Inception), Xenomorph (Alien), Steve Rogers (Captian America), Furiousa (Mad Max 4), Frank N Furter (Rocky Horror Picture Show), Chewbacca (Star Wars), Gamora (Gaurdians of the Galaxy), Wonder Woman (Wonder Woman 2017), Ian Malcom (Jurasic Park), Trinity (Matrix)

ZombieCPA: Frankenstein's Monster (Frankenstein), King Kong (King Kong), Gojira / Godzilla (Godzilla), Dr. Jack Griffin (The Invisible Man), The Blob (The Blob), Killbot (Chopping Mall), Taarna (Heavy Metal), Flash Gordon (Flash Gordon), Jack Skellington (A Nightmare Before Christmas), Irena Dubrovna Reed (Curse of Cat People)



Gymnopedie: Vincent Freeman (Gattaca), Donnie Darko (Donnie Darko), Aaron, "Man" (Tetsuo), Jake Epping (11.22.63), John Oldman (The Man from Earth), Truman Burbank (The Truman Show), Nemo (Mr. Nobody), Winston Smith (1984), Tom Creo (The Fountain)



Round 1:

Box_a_Hair vs SnoweeeeeeeeeeeeyOwl
Pick_of_Destiny vs ZombieCPA
Der_Tables vs Bambithedeer
Gymnopedie vs Ballz

Round 2:
Bambithedeer vs Gymnopedie
Der_Tables vs SnowyOwl
Ballz vs Pick_of_Destiny
Box_a_Hair vs ZombieCPA

Round 3:
Der_Tables vs Pick_of_Destiny
Box_a_Hair vs Bambithedeer
Snowy_Owl vs Ballz

Back from the MIA List

2018 I went out to California to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. It's a long-distance trail from MExico to Canada, approximately 2650 miles long.
Got to mile 600 when I had to call it off, Going back out again in 2020.

Had fun while I was out there, interspersed with some not so fun.
Day 1: Mile four had a 1000 foot, four mile climb. Welcome to the PCT, ya mook!
Day 2: Tripped on a root and gashed my knee pretty good. Will have that scar for life.
Day 3: Walked into a scene where I got to see a hiker die. A Korean gentleman, and another Korean with him that didn't speak English very well, so I spoke with rescue to get them where they needed to be. Three miles by foot to get there, plus travel time to the trail head. Was dead long before they got there. (That was one of the not so funs.)
Day 4: Hiked a 24 miler.
Tripped an fell a few times, cut my face a few times. Nothing serious til the last one outside Tehachapi, CA, where I ended up biting a hole clean thru my lower lip. Didn't lose any teeth, but my bottom teeth hurt so bad I couldn't even bite a donut for two weeks.
Ended up calling it there and headed home, for family reasons. That's all sorted out now, so heading back out in April 2020.

Death

So I've died, or completely flatlined at least 4 times (It's why I have a pacemaker now). But after 15 seconds (Not that long to be dead, but still dying a few times is strange) my body did what is pretty much cpr on itself via constriction of muscles. Ever since I found this out I've changed a lot. Including a new value of what life is. This being said, does anyone else ever feel all of the overblown death in horror movies makes us devalue our own lives?

Boar! An Aussie Horror Flick

Okay. A movie about a giant killer pig sounds really stupid, doesn't it? And by all means, this movie ought to be a really stupid creature feature, but to my surprise, I really liked it.

Universal delivers this outback tale of animal atrocity involving a family who goes to visit a relative in an area that seemingly has some trouble with wild animals. Fences are getting destroyed, but that's the least of these people's problems, because as you guessed it... there's a giant killer pig on the loose.

This movie has quite a few things going for it. The high production values entail some good practical effects, and things get pretty messy when you have an animal as savage as this ripping through people. To contrast the nastiness of the titular enemy, the film also showcases some great Aussie scenery. There's a lot of that going around, and this country is really pretty to look at.

The best thing about this movie... what makes this nonsensical plot work... is that it's got a great cast with some likeable characters. It's really fun to watch John Jarratt NOT playing a maniac for a change. He actually has sympathy for other people, can you believe it?! And Bill Moseley is also another star, and he isn't playing a weird or eccentric character this time either, but rather a regular ordinary family man!

The coolest character is definitely Bernie, a huge hulking hunk who's the only guy that can stand a chance against a creature of this magnitude. This guy was a wrestler, if you couldn't tell just by looking at him.

So with all the right ingredients, you can turn a stupid premise into something wonderful, and this movie is proof of that. It's got good character development, a good cast, loads of gore and atmosphere, and some fine women in it to boot. A solid creature feature that gives Australia something to brag about.