Rawhead Rex (1986)

First of all, everyone go read shadow-345's posts about this movie. I wouldn't have watched it if not for his posts. I'm gonna try to watch it again soon, by the way, because it was very late in my time zone when I watched it and I was dozing off by the end.

Having said that, I basically liked it. The monster (supposed to be an ancient pagan deity actually, if I got that right) seems to be intended to represent a sort of combination of berserker barbarian fury and sheer (raw?) animal power. He is disturbed from his rest beneath an ancient menhir in a field by a bunch of farmers, and things basically go way the hell downhill after that, for the people in the town.

Just quickly, a few movies that it made me think of include Lair of the White Worm (1988), The Green Man starring Albert Finney from 1990, The Guardian (not the 2006 Kevin Costner movie, but the 1990 Jenny Seagrove movie), and the books about Corum by Michael Moorcock. Also, it made me think of Conan a little, only because of the Crom stuff.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crom_(fictional_deity)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crom_Cruach

Also, something about the monster kept making me think of Victor Crowley in Hatchet. Just the style of violence, the sense of brute force and power, the general shape of his body maybe... hard to explain.

So anyway, yeah, an enormous ancient pre-Christian, pre-Roman era, pre-literacy savage god/monster gets awakened, and wreaks havoc. You get the idea. There is one hell of a body count in this movie, I'll give it points for that. There are even more kills if you count the people killed by a guy who is sort of Rawhead's henchman or servant... he falls under the spell of Rawhead and is responsible for a few deaths.

I thought the main character guy added a lot to it, the actor, David Dukes, took it seriously and did a good job. His character was basically following clues and piecing together the story of what the hell Rawhead was. They could have had him be a journalist or a detective, but they made him an historian researching a book. That worked for me. He kept reminding me of Kirsty's father in Hellraiser: basically a good guy, loves his family and takes an interest in them, etc. I wonder if Clive Barker drew both characters from someone he knew? For some reason they seem very similar to me.

So, yeah, in some ways it's not super high quality but I liked it anyway. Just the general mid-80's Irish/British ambience of the times is kInd of cool, it made me think of Local Hero and Threads.

ok, THAT'S ALL i CAN THINK OF TO SAY RIGHT NOW. Oops, frigging caps lock. If anyone can recommend similar movies, books, or short stories about roughly similar topics, and ancient Celtic or other pre-literacy gods, demigods, spirits or monsters returning to life in modern Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales, Cornwall, etc, I would be interested in that. It doesn't necessarily have to have any carnage, by the way, I just like the idea of the remote past suddenly rearing its ugly head and becoming unwelcomely relevant in modern people's lives.

A Month Ful of Fulci

Hey cunts. Rather than clog up the Oct challenge thread with reviews, I'd thought I'd post my Fulci month here. My goal is to watch every Lucio Fulci horror movie over the course of the month. Will I achieve this? Probably not. And that's fine. Because perhaps the real massive fucking splinter in the eyeball is the friends we made along the way...

Let's do this!

October Challenge 2024



Well it soon comes around. You all know the drill but for any newbies, here are the rules:

> At least 31 horror films must be watched during the month of October. 16 of these must be FTVs (first time viewings).
> You get 1 "point" per movie watched.
> Runtime is 1 hour minimum (fuck the 45 minutes nonsense).
> Kiddy-friendly "Halloween themed" movies will be permitted as long as there is some element of horror or spooky fun, i.e. A Nightmare Before Christmas, Goosebumps, The Addams Family, etc.
> If unsure on whether a movie is "horror" or not, please refer to the usual suspects: IMDb, Wiki, Letterboxd, etc.
> Documentaries and TV shows will not be accepted, however mockumentaries will be.
> The challenge will begin at 00:00 hours on October 1st in your time zone.

If there is anything I have missed, let me know over in the shoutbox. Use it for discussions too.

Previous year threads:

https://trashepics.com/post/9/160/
https://trashepics.com/post/9/218/
https://trashepics.com/post/142/130/
https://trashepics.com/post/30/34/
https://trashepics.com/post/30/38/
https://trashepics.com/post/30/53/
https://trashepics.com/post/30/62/

So make your spot below and have fun!

The Loved Ones (2009)

An Aussie horror about a girl who asks a guy to the prom, but he says no. Not to be a dick, but he's already going with his girlfriend, so no hard feelings, okay?

He should have said yes. With help from her equally demented father, this girl kidnaps the guy and makes him regret ever rejecting her. The fuckery in this movie is actually sticking with me, so I guess that means it gets the job done. The torture and stuff is quite gross, made worse by how the victims don't die from it. Particularly when it comes to the brain boiling. •shudders•

This movie is part Texas Chainsaw Massacre, part Motel Hell, and it has echoes of High Tension at the end. An effective horror film, I'll say.

#Review

MaXXXine (2024)

The so-called "finale" of Ti West's 'X' trilogy finds our survivor in Hollywood to make a name for herself. It's hard when you get your start in porn, because no one takes you seriously. Set in the backdrop the Night Stalker killings in the mid-80s, this is a jab at Hollywood. I think the moral of the story is to suck that dick, or you'll never work in this town again!

I was wondering how the story would connect to the first film, and Kevin Bacon is there as the sleazy PI to act as the bridge to that grand ending twist. I found him amusing though. Kevin Bacon recently listed his top-20 horror flicks and put all the X trilogy in there. He must have enjoyed playing this weasel.

Mia Goth is good as ever. It may take a few more viewings for me to fully appreciate, though. I feel like I'm missing something, but I certainly didn't dislike it. I just didn't love it.

#Review

Smile 2 (2024)

Naomi Scott goes insane in this infectious psychdrama sequel. She does a good job with the material, but it's a lot of jump scares and more of the same. Most of the movie is a delusion, and we use that excuse to have a disjointed plot that plunges our doomed protagonist forward in time to speed up the inevitable deadline that is her life.

There are at least a few decently unsettling moments, but they're borderline hilarious. Like the group of smiling folk in her apartment who keep smiling and posing closer and closer? And sometimes when the hero just can't catch a break? I find those moments are the ones to cherish. Laugh at others misfortunes, if it helps make it more enjoyable.

Ray Nicholson was a minor role, mostly in flashbacks, but damn does he resemble his father. His role is definitely a nod to The Shining.

Give me a week and I'll forget most of what happened in this movie. They'll probably make a bunch more of these movies, but should they? Nah.

#Review

Mr Inbetween (2018-2021)

A quick shout-out to this Aussie FX show starring Scott Ryan as Ray Shoesmith, a hitman trying to balance his work life and his home life with his young daughter.

The main actor hasn't done anything outside of this show and the movie it's spun-off from, The Magician, but he's dope. The series showcases his various jobs, as well as him helping his friends out of various jams.

For instance, a prominent side character friend Gary needs Ray to cover for him by telling Gary's Russian mail-order bride that a golden-showers porno dvd she found wasn't Gary's, but Ray's rather. It's a multi-season storyline.

Anyway, it's a good watch like many FX shows. A good dark comedy. Some laughs, some depressing bits, and a lot of crime. 3 seasons, 30 episodes total, 25 minutes long each, easy to binge.

#Review

Terrifier 3

Set 5 years after part 2, Art the Clown comes back from the dead after growing a new head that his mangled victim grew and vomited up for him. Meanwhile, Sienna is trying to move on and move in with some family. Her nerdy brother Steve Smith^Jonathan is also trying to move on and do some schoolin'. Art finds a Santa Claus and, much like Nightmare Before Christmas, he thinks he can do it better, but seriously misunderstands the holiday!

If you saw the others, you know you're in for an endurance contest. This movie is disgusting. That kill in part 2 is probably still the worst, but there are a few that come close. Art likes to torture his victims, who tend to survive brutal maimings only to be tormented to even more demented degrees. Meanwhile in other movies, people can stub their toes and go into a coma.

The lead actress is one fine lady. I'd ask how she's able to survive all this assault, but the movie gives a weird and wacky answer for it.

And Art is funny in how sadistic he is. •slaps her in the back of the head• What a fucking prick. 😄


Only a few people in the theater. Some couple and a few girls who arrived late and left early. They'll probably claim they watched the whole thing, but I know they're liars.

#Review

Hurricane horror

I was trying to think of horror movies set in the midst of massive hurricanes, for no particular reason.

Crawl isn't bad at all. It has Kaya Scodelario and Barry Pepper, stuck in a house in the middle of a huge hurricane, with (the plot thickens!) a bunch of gigantic alligators. Kaya and Barry both took it seriously, and did a solid job. There are also a bunch of extra characters, mostly just to add to the body count.

There should be... maybe a horror comedy, in which they show multiple Weather Channel reporters abruptly getting brutally killed by flying debris, as they stand out in the wind and rain in insanely dangerous conditions. Like, maybe having there be a two-by-four board with a huge, long, thick nail sticking out of it, just flying out of nowhere in the wind and KA-CHUNK impaling the reporter through the head with the nail. That could actually be made to be funny, if they did it enough times in a single movie, sort of like the repetition of Kenny getting killed in early South Park got to be funnier and funnier. Also, it would serve to drive home the point that they just shouldn't be sticking reporters out there in those conditions. It is totally retarded that they do that. They should just stop it.

This reminds me of my old "abrupt beheadings" threads. I haven't done one of those in a long time. Thank you, whoever here first reminded me of the abrupt beheading toward the end of Phenomena! That was a really good one. OUCH.

F13 memorabilia at a silent auction in a mall aquarium. 

This past weekend while vacationing in San Antonio, me and the gal went into the mall on the River Walk, to take a look at the Sea Life aquarium. Oddly, while making our way through, we came across a couple of tables set up with a silent auction. None of the stuff had anything to do with aquatics, it was mostly just signed memorabilia, pertaining to movies or sports. There was just one thing that caught my eye.




A framed Friday the 13th poster and license plate signed by Ari Lehman. It had 0 bids! I thought what the hell and signed myself down for the lowest possible bid. I forgot all about it, but just today I was notified that I won! It will be shipping shortly.