The Fifth Floor (1978)

Has anyone here seen this?

I just found out there is a Blu-ray release of this. I haven't seen it in years and don't remember that it ever got mentioned on the old horror board. I don't remember a lot about it except the basic premise of an innocent girl wrongly committed to a corrupt mental hospital and that it had a lot of fairly big names in the cast including Bo Hopkins, Julie Adams and a pre-Freddy Krueger Robert Englund. The lead actress in it, Dianne Hull, is from my home town.

Malevolence 3: Killer

Back in 2004, Stevan Mena directed a total Halloween rip-off called "Malevolence". After a bank robbery goes bad, the thieves kidnap a woman and her child and hole up in a house in the middle of nowhere. That's when Martin Bristol comes a' knockin'.

Basically, he wears coveralls (like Myers), but he's got a sack mask (like Jason 2). And he also loves to organize bones in a decorative manner (like Leatherface). He's also mute, and he doesn't feel pain due to a rare medical condition.

His backstory is shown in greater detail in the 2010 prequel "Bereavement", starring Alexandra Daddario in one of her first titulating roles, as well as Michael Biehn in a somewhat prominent role, albeit an ultimately generic one.

Still, the prequel is a lot more polished looking, but it's the most bleak of these movies either way. It was said that a trilogy was in the making, and it took a long time for us to get it. Apparently, one of the main cast members died, and the film needed a lot of reshoots, but it happened. The movie finally came out, but was it worth it?



So "Killer" aka "Malevolence 3" begins with the climax of the first film. Obviously, the prequel's events are less relevant, so they pick the movie up right after the first movie, only now, he doesn't have a mask. For the rest of the movie, we're relying on low-POV shots and minimal emphasis on this dude's ugly face, as he kills a bunch of people for no reason.

It looks as though Stevan Mena had to go back to the basics. The budget is considerably lower, and the film quality looks worse than the 2004 original. There are no elaborate stunts or effects. Mostly, he just uses a regular old knife, and there's a lot of cutaways. I think they were trying to make the killer into a 100% Michael Myers clone, but he falls shorts. Way short. The main difference is that he isn't wearing a mask this time (which took a lot of fun away from it, to be honest), and he wore a more brown set of coveralls, instead of blue. That's how you differentiate the two, by the color of their damn outfit. 🙄

The whole movie felt very plain and uninspired. Maybe that's just the way she goes... You start off in the biz with all this passion, but as life gives you a beatdown, it all turns to shit after a while. That's what happened for Malevolence 3. It's really very meh.

And another thing that threw me off, but I found it awkwardly hilarious that they included a movie on tv made by "Harry Panderecki", who was the main character in the director's other film "Brutal Massacre - A Comedy", which is to say that this exists in the same universe. What was the movie on tv though? "I'll Take the Ring Back... and the Finger, Too!"

Thoughts on "Halloween"?

The title bugs me. The new one, I mean. I'm not sure what they should have called it but Halloween? That means there's three of them, although, this one isn't a remake. It's the new part 2, but fuck off, let's just call it Halloween, anyway. I feel like there needs to be something attached to the title to give it its own identity. Halloween II Part 2? Halloween H40? I think "The Last Halloween" has a nice ring to it, although I guess it's not going to be the last one after all cuz money. If I had my way, they would have just resurrected the series with a Halloween 9. I feel like they still could have made any movie they wanted and ignored any past sequel they wanted and still gotten away with calling it that.

Halloween

Yeah, I'm going there. I'll try to avoid spoilers, too, because I know everyone out there isn't as obsessive as I am, and they haven't seen it yet. So I'll try to say as much as I can without saying anything.

Clearly, the series is a mess, as it's gotten so involved in the family brother/sister angle over the years, we just couldn't get away from it. Every sequel, and the remake, focused on that aspect, even though JC himself thought it was a stupid idea, but fuck it. It's what we were stuck with, but finally, it's gone! Do you know what this means? It means that Michael can be a more whimsical slasher again, and he doesn't need a pattern. In this movie, he's just out there to fuck with people. Babysitters, children, cops, and of course... even Laurie Strode.

Jamie Lee is great, as always. Even if she doesn't like H20 in restrospect, she was still pretty awesome in that movie. Here, she plays another version of the character who's got a lot of PTSD from that night 40 years ago. She lives in a fortress and knows how to shoot a gun, because she knows that Michael is coming back.

The movie begins with Michael incarcerated again. We're never shown what happens to him after he fell off that balcony in part 1, but we're told that he was apprehended later, and has been in his typical catatonic state ever since. Eerie coincidences and convenient screenwriting break him out, and he ventures back to Haddonfield for one last scare.

The great part is that he has no rhyme or reason. Once he slips into his familiar getup, he carries on like it was 1978 again, and he's on a rampage. He's not even out to get Laurie, but she crosses his path because she's the one trying to find him. I really like that they were able to clear up all those dependencies, and let him run wild.

John Carpenter's score was pretty damn cool, too. This is stylistically the most similar film to the first movie. There are a bunch of cool homages in there, like the opening credits, "Mrs. Elrod", mention of a "Lonny" (assumed to be the same from H1, "Hey Lonny! Get yo' ass away from there!"), plus those damn Silver Shamrock masks! Hell, I think I even saw some similarities to RZ's movies. Not sure if that's a good thing. 😦 Even if they disregard all of these movies, they still throw nods at them.

One thing I was surprised to see no mention of was the Myers house. It just ain't there.

Overall, the movie works. Carpenter's score, Jamie Lee has a purpose, the actor playing Michael is spot-on, and the supporting characters are (mostly) interesting. Some of them are pretty dumb though, and you know they're there for a body count. Usually, I hate kids in movies, but there was a cool black kid in here that deserves his own movie.

I don't think the movie is perfect, but it's probably the best Halloween sequel we're ever going to get. I think it would be great if they never made another one, but I'm sure they will, because that's what they do.

Halloween Under Attack

Leave it to Facebook to piss me off in less than 3 seconds. I don't know why I even bother with that damn site.

Anyway, I was watching videos of some pretty cool Halloween animatronics. I'm talking really fucking cool ones. Impressive as hell, and I would love to own every one of them. As I'm enjoying the videos, I made the fatal mistake of Facebook, I ventured into the comments section. I thought it would be full of people praising the sheer design and creativity that it took to make these morbid beauties. How wrong I was...

The comments were mainly people whining and bitching about Halloween being too scary for their kids. How they thought laws should be in place not allowing people to have such displays in their OWN yards. One woman even stated she would call the police on any neighbor who owned such a horrendous display... I would love to punch that cunt in the face.

If your kids can't handle Halloween, then wrap them in bubble wrap like the fragile creatures you're raising them to be. Damn pussies.

Your Sister is a Werewolf - A Howling Rant

Yeah, they say that a few times in the beginning, just so you remember what movie you're watching. I threw this one on for some quick FTV points, knowing that it has a bad rep, but I've already seen The Howling III, and it can't be worse than that, right?

So most people should agree that The Howling is pretty bad-ass. Obviously, a sequel was needed, and this one was based on a novel by the original writer, so it can't be terrible... but it kind of is. After all, Robert Block who wrote the original Psycho wrote a sequel novel that apparently sucked, having Norman dressed as a tranny in Hollywood. They said fuck it and wrote another (great) story for that. So how does The Howling II fare? Well... it kind of sucks.

Don't get me wrong though, the 80s cheese is definitely there. It's got some corny visual effects, and some obvious dummies/animatronics are used for people, but they're also kind of awesome. Plus, there was some nudity, which replayed in an awkwardly amusing end credits music video type of deal. We just keep seeing Sybil Danning reveal her breasts while random scenes are edited to make it look as if people are staring at her tits. Seriously, it felt very weird, yet I couldn't really complain.


So where are we, anyway? None of the movie have anything to do with each other, so the series is basically in name only. I thought the first movie was good enough. A couple goes to a woodland retreat and find a cult of werewolves. Basic, simple, and to the point.

Part 2 is kind of a punk rock mess. It seems more about sorceresses and the club scene at the time, which was kind of stupid. Punk was done a lot better in Return of the Living Dead. Christopher Lee played it serious, Sybil Danning was pretty damn sexy, and the rest of the movie is a total mess. I think Christopher Lee had a pretty low opinion of this movie after the fact.

I thought Part 3 was awful. I barely remember it, but it was some marsupial shit in the outback, and the ending was basically the same thing as the first movie. They used to sell this movie dirt cheap at FYE. Only $1, because nobody wanted it.

I liked part 4 a bit more, because it went back to a simple woods setting, and it has a gnarly melting scene. Apparently, it's said to be a more faithful adaption of the original book. Not that I would know.

Part 5 is a gothic murder mystery set in a castle that was rather mundane because they barely showed the wolf. Still, it's kind of a unique concept it it's own right.

I suppose if someone had a good werewolf script, they'd take it and slap the "Howling" title on it. Maybe they were thinking of going in an anthology type of route like Halloween III, because they'd hardly know at the time that it wasn't a well received thing. Even Silent Night Deadly Night would do this random name-only sequel stuff. Part 5 of that movie had killer robots, which again makes it seem like Halloween III was an influence.

I haven't seen Part 6, 7, or 8. Should I bother?

Thoughts on The Howling series?

Cronenberg's Shivers

I like a few Cronenberg movies, but there are a few I haven't yet seen. I decided to knock this one of this list, and it was pretty good. It's one of his earlier movies, and definitely a product of the time. It had vibes of Black Christmas (some of the music), Night of the Living Dead, and most definitely The Crazies (had an actress from that too). I guess it's also similar to some Polanski movies, in the sense that it was set in an apartment.

So this movie was all about a sexual parasite that makes people go crazy. Good enough for me. You have some hotties in the movie, some decent gore (with that acryillic red paint look), and some other taboos, like killer kids and rape and whatnot. Basically, this movie had a good balance of everything. I don't remember much of 'Rabid', but this movie seems like it's similar in that it was about infection and madness.

However, I didn't see anyone actually shiver, but it's a cool title either way. I want to watch The Brood soon. That has to be good if it has Oliver Reed, right?

Jeremy Saulnier goes to Alaska

Netflix premiered "Hold the Dark" recently, and being a fan of Jeremy Saulnier's other works (Murder Party, Blue Ruin, Green Room), I had to see it. So what is it, anyway?

Hold the Dark starts off with a bang, as a mother's son disappears, and the local Alaskan wolves are to blame. She hires a tracker (Jeffrey Wright) to find her son, or at least the wolves, and that's what this movie is about. But wait! Alexander Skarsgard is in the movie too, as the dead boy's father. He's off fighting in "the war" overseas, but eventually finds his way into the current Alaska setting to get involved in the shit. There are a few scenes during the war, in the middle east somewhere, and it's fucked up, but also badass.

Some of the movie feels like a war movie, too. It gets tense, like you're out on the battlefield, but ol' Jeremy knows how to craft some decent suspense and tension. He's a really good director, in my opinion, and he's not afraid to go dark. The movie starts off a bit slow, and I don't exactly get the ending yet, but I was pretty captivated throughout the whole movie either way. If you like this director and have Netflix, then get on it.

I like a well crafted bleak movie, and that's what this dude is all about. The movie was also based on a novel, but I might watch it again to try to understand some of the subtext.

50's horror

Recently I made a thread about 60's horror, so I thought I would make it more difficult and go ahead and talk '50's horror. The 50's was a highly influential decade for horror films...you will find countless genre classics that went on to inspire future generations of horror directors and producers. The decade brought about the advent of Hammer Films

This is a list of the best horror films that I have seen (rated 7 or higher) from each year of the 50's:

1950
N/A

1951
Thing from Another World
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Death Is a Number

1952
N/A

1953
The War of the Worlds
House of Wax
It Came from Outer Space

1954
Creature from the Black Lagoon
Them!
Godzilla

1955
Les diaboliques

1956
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
The Bad Seed
Forbidden Planet

1957
The Incredible Shrinking Man
The Curse of Frankenstein
The Abominable Snowman
Night of the Demon
20 Million Miles to Earth

1958
The Fly
Horror of Dracula
The Blob
I Bury the Living
The Revenge of Frankenstein
Fiend Without a Face

1959
House on Haunted Hill
The Mummy
Return of the Fly
Journey to the Center of the Earth
The Man Who Could Cheat Death
The Tingler
The Hound of the Baskervilles
A Bucket of Blood


What about you what are some of your favorites from the 50's?

Has anyone here seen Halloween (1978)?

It is a very good slasher and I love the score. It is an early performance by Scream Queen Jamie Lee Curtis who would later star in Prom Night and Terror Train. If you haven't seen it, then you should this October.