Johnny Depp wins

In an unlikely scenario, common sense prevailed and JD actually won in that shit-show.

I couldn't care less about him making anymore Pirates movies, but I would like to see him make some more good movies again.

Black & White Challenge 2022

I'll keep this short and sweet. Watch black & white stuff. You get 1 point per minute. The challenge starts NOW and ends when May ends.

Freddy's Nightmares is on Tubi

This is a fun chunk of Springwood Americana in the late 80s. It's nice to think of these frequent mishaps as the events responsible for the town's decline between Dream Child and Freddy's Dead.

The continuity is up for interpretation. Freddy is featured in a starring capacity in maybe 7 of 44 episodes, and you can skip directly to those if you want.

Give it a watch if you're an Elm Street nut.

The Hidden (1987)

Are there already posts here, about this movie? Maybe I'm missing them... anyway, I just wanted to ramble about it, a little bit.

The Hidden is very much a Trash Epic, and therefore eminently suitable for this forum. It features Kyle MacLachlan as some kind of alien interstellar cop, pursuing an evil alien interstellar criminal. Kyle M's character appears human, but he comes across almost like an angel, really. In one scene, we see that his animating lifeforce is sort of a glowing, spiritual-looking mist, whereas the alien criminal that inhabits various human hosts is a freaky-looking thing, like... sort of like if someone made a cyborg carp (yeah, the fish) in the style of our old pal Ash the Android from Alien.

But, the fun thing about this movie, and the reason to watch it, is just the sheer level of mayhem and gonzoness that permeates every scene. The alien criminal liks fast cars, heavy metal music, and strippers. Don't ask me why a cyborg carp is into human (female) strippers. Anyway, the movie takes itself seriously enough to do a good job with the car chases and shootouts, but not so seriously that it forgets to have fun with the material. It's just a blast to watch. The setting of Los Angeles in the 80s, usually in the daytime, calls to mind several other movies that have stood the test of time, like The Terminator, Lethal Weapon, Fletch, Beverly Hills Cop... I think of Fletch and BHC because this is a movie with lots of cops in it, I guess, although it is not nearly as much of a comedy as those movies. Anyway, if you think of a sci-fi version of those movies, with a soundtrack that is comparable to the one in Demons or Demons 2, you will have the right expectations of what this movie is like.

A sci-fi version of The Terminator is totally redundant, of course... well, you know what I mean.

I also want to mention that somebody in the YouTube comments section for this movie mentioned that he thinks Jason Goes to Hell borrowed heavily from this movie. I don't think I have ever noticed that before, in my entire life, but it's a pretty fair point to make. The Hidden is not supernatural in any way, but, of course, the effect is pretty much the same, of normal average people suddenly getting possessed by some kind of psycho killer entity that just generally does a shitload of damage to everything around him.

There is a funny little scene that I like a lot, when one of the people carrying the alien (a middle aged guy named Miller) is driving down a major street with expensive looking shops and hotels... maybe Rodeo Drive, I have no idea... and he tries to pick up a cute young woman. He just pulls up to the sidewalk next to where she is walking with her friend, points at her, and makes his intentions clear. She just says "Fuck off!" and walks away. He immediately scrambles for his gun, to blow her head off. That little exchange just cracks me up, the way they did it... it's one of those things that I would personally not be able to film, because I would just not be able to keep from cracking up. Anyway, it's just under a half hour into the movie, if you want to keep an eye out for that scene. (He does not actually blow her head off, by the way, although there is plenty of carnage through the movie in most of the other scenes).

Coming back to edit: I said the alien was like a cyborg carp. I should correct that. The texture of its skin makes me think of a carp, but it is shaped more like a combination of a giant slug and a baby bird, with tarantula legs and some kind of plastic looking tentacles or other appendages in the rear. So, I just wanted to say that. The tentacles/appendages in the rear still make me think of Ash the Android from Alien, because his innards contained some crap that looked a little like that.

Anyway, I just watched this recently and wanted to share it. It really is a lot of fun... if you want a little escape from all the crap in the news lately, you could do a lot worse than to watch The Hidden. Two thumbs up from Tommix!

Strangeland (1998) inspired by When A Stranger calls (1979)...?

I was just thinking about this today. I have no idea if it's significant, but I noticed that there are some similarities between those two movies. They both feature a seriously deranged man who kills people, whether it is deliberately (WaSC) or by accident (in Strangeland, the psycho tortures people, and is clearly out of his fucking mind, but he doesn't actually intend to commit murder).

In both movies, the deranged man is apprehended and locked up, fairly early in each movie. Then later on, both men get out of jail, one by escaping, and the other because he is actually released legally. Both movies include a scene or two, at this point in the story, where we are given reason to feel some pity for the escaped lunatics, and arguably even start to be on their side a little.

Both movies feature a cop who is basically obsessed with catching and stopping the psycho. Both cops take the search for the psycho very personally, and just generally get completely obsessed and absorbed with their mission of catching each psycho.

Both movies have... well, what all movies like this have. The psycho is cornered, and either definitely killed or at least stopped in his tracks somehow. In Strangeland, it is a little ambiguous whether the psycho is killed... maybe De Snider had a sequel in mind, I don't know.

Anyway, the similar endings probably don't mean anything, because tons of horror movies end almost exactly like they both do. But, just the general course of events in both movies is pretty similar, and the fact they they both have the word "strange" in their titles... I don't know, it just got me wondering.

Had to share.

A Malignant Thread

People seem to be really offended that I don't like a mainstream Hollywood horror. This reminds me of that time on imdb where I hated on 'Inside' and people thought I had to be trolling so they banned me. I'd lost my account of many years, hundreds of ratings and posts, and dozens of reviews. Glad to see the good old days haven't gone away completely. But you can't ban me here! I run this dump! Well, actually... I did the dumbest thing ever and made a way that you can get rid of me, but fuck if I'll ever tell you how!

Definition of paranormal: Events or phenomena such as telekinesis or clairvoyance that are beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Our heroine has recurring visions of a killer with electrokinesis. MY BAD IF THAT SEEMS PARANORMAL TO ME.

And yes, I know the twist and I've seen it done before. Technically not a ghost, but it plays out very much like your usual J-horror, which I've never been a fan of, so does my opinion of this movie really surprise anyone? That's like expecting Johan to like First Blood or The Thing.

This movie is definitely flashy, too. Besides the literal sense of lights flashing and jump cuts and erratic movements, this movie reminds me of another turkey I saw and hated called "Lights Out". Wan may say he was inspired by the old giallo, but I think he must have pulled from this movie too, thinking he could do it better because he's considered an A-lister.

Bonkers ending or not, I simply didn't care enough by that point, and buckets of blood and mindfuckery can't fix everything. Fortunately for me and unfortunately for my (lack of) integrity, I can't give this movie another shot because my HBO Max subscription ran out yesterday.

Moon Knight TV Series

This comes out today. We'll see how it goes. It's supposed to be Disney's first mature content series, and while they say it'll be "brutal", I doubt it'll ever be as gnarly as Daredevil and Punisher. The word brutal has a much different meaning in such a family-friendly platform. To them, brutal is probably something like joking about a woman's hair. Or lack thereof.

I've never read any MK comics, but the character seems interesting. This is Disney Marvel finally making a show around a unique character instead of lame side characters.

Oscar Isaac is a good choice and I'm interested in seeing him play a character with multiple personalities, but the biggest draw here is the inclusion of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead's input on the material. They're awesome. (Resolution, Spring, The Endless, Synchronic). Their movies are always about temporal fuckery and surreal grit. It's definitely got me intrigued.

Animation challenge 2022 - Results

Only 5 of us but congrats to Ballz for pretty much wiping the floor with everyone else. All I can say for myself is, thank goodness Zombie took part...

1. Ballz (2825)
2. Box (1820)
3. Troma (1695)
4. Markus (1115)
5. Zombie (146)

Anything you watched that you particularly enjoyed? I thought Netflix's Arcane was one of the best animated series I've ever seen.

Hereditary

Now THIS is a horror movie! The less you know, the better, so I won't say anything about the plot. It's got an oldschool 70's slowburn thing going, and boy does it pay off in the end. Really, I have not been this impressed by a theatrically released horror film in a long, long time.

Photoshopping Leatherface into old pictures

Some of these are funny. If you scroll down on this guy's account, you can see that he has put Leatherface into over 80 images from history, old movies, etc.
https://twitter.com/DonnieGoodman_